Reporter who broke 's-hole' story: 'We stand by our reporting 100 percent'

Source: The Hill




BY JOHN BOWDEN - 01/12/18 09:33 AM EST

The Washington Post reporter who broke the story Thursday that President Trump referred to Haiti and several African nations as "shithole countries" during an Oval Office meeting with lawmakers says he stands by the story in the wake of Trump's denials.

Josh Dawsey told CNN that the fact that the White House did not deny the story overnight until Trump's tweet this morning was proof enough that the quote was real. "In the course of our reporting yesterday we took the comments we were going to report directly to the White House, told them exactly what we were going to say. We did not get a denial," Dawsey told CNN.

"Obviously, [White House spokesman Raj Shah's] statement did not deny. We got it confirmed from multiple places, The New York Times, The Associated Press, CNN have confirmed it as well," he added.

"This comes 15 hours later," the reporter continued. "So the president obviously has the right to express his opinion on the story, as he has on Twitter, but we stand by our reporting 100 percent."

Read more: http://thehill.com/homenews/media/368684-reporter-who-broke-s-hole-story-we-stand-by-our-reporting-100-percent