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Writers Ashley Parker and Michael Scherer of The Atlantic accidental they've learned 1 happening during their years of covering President Donald Trump: His archetypal connection is seldom his past one.
That's evident from their circuitous travel successful landing interviews with the Republican president, which included an evident late-night “butt dial” and Trump's unexpected invitation to see successful the league their editor, Jeffrey Goldberg, whom Trump had bashed arsenic a “sleazeball” weeks earlier.
That past interview, this past Thursday, sparked a existent “stop the presses” moment. The Atlantic had already sent Parker and Scherer's piece, the screen communicative for its June issue, to the printers. They called it backmost to adhd caller material.
The article, titled "Trump is Enjoying This” and published online Monday, was successful the works earlier Goldberg was inadvertently included successful a Signal chat group among medication leaders astir a subject onslaught successful the Middle East.
The interrogation wasn't expected to happen
The writers, who precocious joined The Atlantic from The Washington Post, had pitched an interrogation to speech astir the details of Trump's improbable governmental comeback. He was consenting to talk, but connected March 17 — during the week they were expected to conscionable — Trump posted connected societal media that Parker was a “Radical Left Lunatic” incapable of doing a just interview. Scherer's past pieces astir him were, Trump wrote, “virtually each LIES."
The interrogation was off. The writers surmised in their article that idiosyncratic successful Trump's campy had persuaded him not to bash it.
At 10:45 a.m. connected a Saturday successful precocious March, Scherer — equipped with Trump's cellphone fig — called him anyway. “Who's calling?” Trump asked. Scherer identified himself.
“Oh, I cognize who you are, Michael,” Trump replied, according to a portion released by The Atlantic. “I cognize who you are. You ne'er constitute — you ne'er constitute bully astir me, Michael. Never, ever.”
And helium proceeded to springiness Scherer an interrogation connected the spot.
An accidental dial and much developments
Wanting to inquire immoderate follow-up questions, the writers called Trump again connected April 12. They near a connection that wasn't returned, but Scherer's compartment telephone recorded a telephone from Trump's fig astatine 1:28 a.m. the adjacent greeting with nary connection left. They figured it had been dialed inadvertently.
The journalists made a petition done Trump's unit for an in-person interview, but were rejected. Nine days aboriginal — past Wednesday — with their communicative already written, the White House called and said to travel to the Oval Office the adjacent day. And bring Goldberg with them.
Goldberg, The Atlantic's editor-in-chief, had written connected March 24 astir being included successful the highly delicate radical chat, arguably the astir embarrassing communicative astir the caller medication truthful far. Striking back, Trump called Goldberg “truly a sleazeball,” and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth called him a “deceitful and highly discredited alleged journalist.”
On his Truth Social platform, Trump explained helium was doing the interrogation “out of curiosity, and arsenic a contention with myself, conscionable to spot if it's imaginable for The Atlantic to beryllium truthful. Are they susceptible of penning a just communicative connected TRUMP? The mode I look astatine it, what tin beryllium truthful atrocious — I WON!”
There was nary contiguous reply from the White House to questions astir however they deliberation the interrogation went. In a briefing for “new media” connected Monday, White House property caput Karoline Leavitt compared Trump agreeing to immoderate interviews to his willingness to talk to leaders similar North Korea's Kim Jong Un.
“The president believes successful nonstop diplomacy, whether it is our adversaries and competitors astir the satellite oregon left-wing activists similar Jeffrey Goldberg,” she said.
Trump's adversarial narration with the property has been plain connected respective fronts since returning to the White House. His FCC is investigating respective outlets, including CBS and ABC News, and he's been fighting successful court with The Associated Press implicit entree to White House events.
It was a civilian interview
When Goldberg came into the Oval Office, Trump gave him a lukewarm handshake — adjacent if the faces of galore of the president's aides did not look astatine each blessed to spot him, Goldberg said successful an interrogation with the journalists posted by The Atlantic connected Monday.
“If you called maine the names that Donald Trump has called me, I deliberation you and I would some find a idiosyncratic brushwood very, very, precise awkward,” Goldberg said. “He doesn’t find it awkward, due to the fact that helium believes that it’s conscionable a game. It’s conscionable a performance.”
From the infinitesimal The Atlantic projected the interview, it had been a dialog for Trump, Scherer said successful the aforesaid interview. “It's a transaction,” helium said. “What are they trying to do? Could I payment from it? Is it going to wounded me? I deliberation it is simply a model into the astir indispensable information of Donald Trump, which is that everything helium engages successful is simply a transaction.”
The president was besides good alert of the worth of an interrogation to The Atlantic, on with the worth of Goldberg's Signal story. Goldberg said that helium correctly guessed that Trump was trying to charm him past week. The president seemed little funny successful talking astir the nationalist information implications of the communicative that Goldberg broke than successful conveying, “Well, you won,” Goldberg said.
“He's an absorbing feline to speech to and perceive to,” helium said. “And our occupation is — to the grade that he's understandable — to recognize him. And truthful the much vulnerability I person to him, the amended it is for maine from an analytical standpoint.”
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Associated Press writer Michelle Price successful Washington contributed to this report. David Bauder writes astir media for the AP. Follow him astatine http://x.com/dbauder and https://bsky.app/profile/dbauder.bsky.social
Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This worldly whitethorn not beryllium published, broadcast, rewritten oregon redistributed without permission.
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