Veteran reporter and author Bob Woodward said in a recent interview that he would release tapes of the interviews he conducted for his new book for any source who requests it.
The Friday morning interview with conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt is part of Woodward’s media tour to promote his book, “Fear: Trump in White House,” which saw more than 750,000 copies sold in its first day of release on Tuesday alone.
{mosads}”If you one of your sources, who you have taped, comes forward and publicly asks you to release those tapes, would you do so?” asked Hewitt.
“Yes, I think I would,” Woodward replied. “This is meticulously done, trying to cross reference everything and so forth. I would expect somebody would not want to release their information because they’re confidential sources and, as you know, I protect my sources. I think it’s one of the building blocks of journalism and book writing.”
Woodward told CBS on Thursday that he has “boxes of recordings and documents” that proves how careful he was with sourcing in “Fear.”
“When somebody looks at this in 20 or 30 or 40 years, boxes of recordings and documents, they will see that this was very carefully done,” Woodward told “CBS This Morning.”
“I can argue with a straight face that an ardent Trump supporter would read this and have to pause. Because whether you like Trump or don’t like Trump, it’s a management issue.”
Several top Trump administration officials, including White House chief of staff John Kelly, Defense Secretary James Mattis, former chief economic adviser Gary Cohn, former White House staff secretary Rob Porter and U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley have all publicly disputed accounts in the book in recent days.
On Tuesday, Woodward pushed back in an interview with The New York Times, stating a “key” official in the administration privately told him that the book’s details are “1,000 percent true,” while publicly dismissing them.