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- Dan. 
- Do you think

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at some point we'll finally see

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those tax records?

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- The tax returns.

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- Whether Mueller does 
it, or someone else?

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- Between now and the end 
of time, I think we will see

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Donald Trump's tax returns.

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(audience laughs)

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- There is a theory, of 
course, you know, you'll hear

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people say, with regard to 
the Mueller investigation

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and stuff that 
people have wanted to

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get access to, but haven't.

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Mueller already has blank.

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And one of those things 
people say, well Mueller

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must have, already 
has those tax records.

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- We have no insight into 
this, but if you talk to

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experts on white collar 
investigations, they say the

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first thing that a 
prosecutor would do is

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would go and get 
the tax records.

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- Get the tax records. 
- And they can

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easily get them. 
- And he has the

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ability to get them in the 
context of his investigation.

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- Correct, and he has 
the ability to get

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pretty much... 
- Pretty much anything

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he wants. 
- Pretty much

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anything he wants. 
- Correct.

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- Sir. 
- Thank you for coming.

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Welcome to Austin.

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- [Mike] Thank you.

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- I really appreciate 
the series of interviews

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with people from the New 
York Times, 'cause it's

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giving us more insight.

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And thanks for having 
the series here.

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When I read the article this 
morning, I was wondering

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why you and Maggie Haber 
added the stuff about

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the internal drama and 
intrigue, rather than just

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sticking with the 
top three quarters?

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- That context?

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I think that to understand 
what's going on inside

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the White House, and what people 
are telling the president,

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and how that may be impacting 
his decisions are as

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important as the simple fact 
of him going out and looking

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for a new lawyer.

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I think that the more sunlight 
that we can bring to that,

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the more that we understand 
the president, what may

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be motivating him, and 
what may be going on.

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One of the things that goes 
on with the president, that

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we try and capture is that 
he will speak with anyone,

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take advice from anyone, 
and has a lot of friends,

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and spends a lot of 
time on the phone.

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He would, whether it's someone 
that was a security guard,

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or someone that he's known 
in business for 25 years,

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he will listen to them.

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And those people have 
an enormous amount

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of influence on 
him, in a way that

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previous presidents 
probably relied more on

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the staff around them.

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- Do we know more about 
the palace intrigue

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00:02:05,766 --> 00:02:07,266
in this administration?

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Do we know more about the 
principles, the players?

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I'm remembering that 
chance meal at BLT Prime,

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that Ken Vogel, your 
colleague at the Times had,

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and he's sitting there 
having lunch and looks over

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and there's John Dowd 
and Ty Cobb having lunch,

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talking about the 
president, in full view,

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and more importantly in full 
ear, of anybody who could be

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sitting there having...

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And so, like, Vogel's like, 
do-de-do, do-de-do, do-de-do.

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You know like, gets out his 
phone, does one of these deals

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and takes a picture.

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I mean, I feel like 
these guys have all been

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characters in the play, 
and I don't know that in

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previous administrations 
we've known the characters

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as well as we know 
these characters.

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- I think that people tend 
to emulate their boss,

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and this is a boss who likes 
drama, and he likes conflict,

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and because of that, you 
learn a lot about them.

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- The fish emotes 
from the head down.

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- Correct. 
- Sorta how it goes.

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Okay, ma'am.

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00:02:57,466 --> 00:03:01,900
- Hi, a lot of the 
articles lately, seem to be

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00:03:01,900 --> 00:03:04,400
co-written, like you're 
doing with Maggie.

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00:03:05,566 --> 00:03:08,266
Could you talk just, if 
it doesn't take long,

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a little bit about the 
process, about who does what,

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who writes what, and how 
the final product evolves?

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00:03:14,766 --> 00:03:16,366
- It's a great, I love 
process questions.

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Good.

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- I think in journalism, when 
you're working on a story,

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one plus one equals three.

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00:03:22,500 --> 00:03:25,366
You can move at a much 
faster pace working

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00:03:25,366 --> 00:03:26,833
with someone else.

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00:03:26,833 --> 00:03:31,533
And given the amount of 
pressure and competition

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that we have, we need to 
move as quickly as possible.

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00:03:35,200 --> 00:03:37,166
And it enables us to 
move very quickly.

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00:03:37,166 --> 00:03:40,166
One thing that is a huge, 
sort of, technology changer

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00:03:40,166 --> 00:03:42,866
for us, that's a big 
deal, is Google Docs,

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00:03:42,866 --> 00:03:46,300
because we're able to all 
work in the same file,

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00:03:46,300 --> 00:03:47,900
on the same thing, 
at the same time.

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We're not passing 
drafts back and forth,

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00:03:49,566 --> 00:03:51,033
we're doing it together.

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00:03:51,033 --> 00:03:53,466
Recently we were all, there 
was like, three or four

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00:03:53,466 --> 00:03:56,366
reporters in a Google Doc, 
writing separate parts

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00:03:56,366 --> 00:03:59,033
of the story while 
it was being edited.

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00:03:59,033 --> 00:04:03,900
And that just enables 
us to go at a speed,

105
00:04:03,900 --> 00:04:06,566
and to work more quickly.

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00:04:06,566 --> 00:04:08,633
The other thing is that we 
all have different sources,

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00:04:08,633 --> 00:04:12,033
and if you're really 
doing this the right way,

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00:04:12,033 --> 00:04:14,466
you're using folks from here 
to find out what's going on

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00:04:14,466 --> 00:04:16,666
over here, to playing over 
here, to get to there.

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And, if you have someone 
like Maggie, it's kinda like

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if you're playing baseball 
and you have a great hitter

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00:04:22,566 --> 00:04:24,033
hitting behind you.

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00:04:24,033 --> 00:04:25,466
They, you know, she makes 
you look a lot better

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because she can take the 
dribs and drabs that you have

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and turn them into text.

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00:04:29,266 --> 00:04:30,733
- Is she the best sourced 
of the group of you?

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00:04:30,733 --> 00:04:32,233
- Definitely, and she 
understands the president

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00:04:32,233 --> 00:04:33,666
better than anyone 
else in Washington.

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00:04:33,666 --> 00:04:35,900
- Well he called her a 
Hillary flunky today, which,

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00:04:35,900 --> 00:04:38,533
whatever the criticisms 
of Maggie Haberman can be,

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00:04:38,533 --> 00:04:42,333
the Hillary people might take 
issue with the suggestion

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00:04:42,333 --> 00:04:45,766
that she somehow is carrying 
Secretary Clinton's water.

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00:04:45,766 --> 00:04:48,900
I mean, so, well anyway, 
Maggie has become

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kind of a character.

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00:04:50,133 --> 00:04:51,866
- Totally, and she 
deserves every,

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- In, in her own way. 
- every amount of praise...

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00:04:53,533 --> 00:04:55,800
Is there a literal 
division of labor?

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00:04:55,800 --> 00:04:58,466
You know, it's like, 
I write, you do this?

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00:04:58,466 --> 00:05:01,366
- Sometimes one of us 
writes, sometimes, you know,

130
00:05:01,366 --> 00:05:03,333
it goes back and forth.

131
00:05:03,333 --> 00:05:07,133
If it's usually your, 
you started with the tip,

132
00:05:07,133 --> 00:05:09,100
and you usually 
would take the lead.

133
00:05:09,100 --> 00:05:09,933
- Yeah. 
- But, you do go

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00:05:09,933 --> 00:05:11,400
back and forth.

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00:05:11,400 --> 00:05:12,900
You know, we were doing this 
yesterday on this story.

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- You all have pride of 
authorship and ownership,

137
00:05:14,400 --> 00:05:16,066
regardless of who did what.

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00:05:16,066 --> 00:05:17,766
- Yeah, at the end of the day, 
our names are in the story.

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- And you own it. 
- Correct.

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- More importantly, you own it.

141
00:05:20,733 --> 00:05:22,233
Sir.

142
00:05:22,233 --> 00:05:23,833
- What political issue did 
you care the most about

143
00:05:23,833 --> 00:05:24,833
these days, and why?

144
00:05:26,266 --> 00:05:29,000
- In terms of politics, I'm 
not like, I don't wake up

145
00:05:29,000 --> 00:05:31,533
in the morning thinking like, 
oh, man, like, you know,

146
00:05:31,533 --> 00:05:34,300
immigration is something 
that I'm, you know.

147
00:05:34,300 --> 00:05:36,400
I'm just really just 
trying to figure out what

148
00:05:36,400 --> 00:05:39,700
Bob Mueller is doing, and how 
that relates to the president.

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00:05:39,700 --> 00:05:42,333
And that's just sort of 
the day to day mission

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00:05:42,333 --> 00:05:43,800
that I have.

151
00:05:43,800 --> 00:05:45,733
I don't have like, I'm 
not sitting around worried

152
00:05:45,733 --> 00:05:47,933
about the taxes.

153
00:05:47,933 --> 00:05:49,666
I actually don't even 
focus a lot on the policy

154
00:05:49,666 --> 00:05:51,166
of my coverage.

155
00:05:51,166 --> 00:05:53,566
It's just simply just trying 
to figure out what's going on.

156
00:05:53,566 --> 00:05:55,300
Where's this 
investigation headed?

157
00:05:55,300 --> 00:05:56,700
How serious is it?

158
00:05:56,700 --> 00:05:58,800
What has the president 
done in the past?

159
00:05:58,800 --> 00:06:00,333
What does that mean, 
and how can we get

160
00:06:00,333 --> 00:06:01,800
that in the newspaper?

161
00:06:01,800 --> 00:06:03,300
- But of course, I'd come 
back to the fact that

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00:06:03,300 --> 00:06:04,633
before there was a Trump 
beat, formal or informal,

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00:06:04,633 --> 00:06:07,500
your vertical focus was 
federal law enforcement

164
00:06:07,500 --> 00:06:09,066
and national security.

165
00:06:09,066 --> 00:06:10,933
Now those things have 
become the Trump beat

166
00:06:10,933 --> 00:06:13,733
by virtue of the 
Mueller investigation 
and everything else,

167
00:06:13,733 --> 00:06:16,566
but those are the things 
that still kind of motivate

168
00:06:16,566 --> 00:06:18,033
and drive you, right?

169
00:06:18,033 --> 00:06:19,100
That's kind of the angle 
that you come at this from.

170
00:06:19,100 --> 00:06:20,366
- Correct. 
- You're not a

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00:06:20,366 --> 00:06:21,300
political reporter 
as far as it goes?

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00:06:21,300 --> 00:06:22,800
- Correct, no.

173
00:06:22,800 --> 00:06:24,600
I'm a national security 
reporter, covered the FBI

174
00:06:24,600 --> 00:06:26,600
for five years, covered 
the Pentagon for a year,

175
00:06:26,600 --> 00:06:28,000
or four or five, whatever.

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00:06:28,000 --> 00:06:31,066
And it, that's the stuff 
that I've focused on,

177
00:06:31,066 --> 00:06:32,533
and tried to understand best.

178
00:06:32,533 --> 00:06:35,600
And I find most 
interesting at this point.

179
00:06:35,600 --> 00:06:37,733
- You looking forward 
to the Comey book?

180
00:06:37,733 --> 00:06:38,966
(laughs)

181
00:06:38,966 --> 00:06:40,566
- Comey.

182
00:06:40,566 --> 00:06:42,000
Sure, it'll be interesting.

183
00:06:42,000 --> 00:06:43,266
- Comey, he said with a laugh.

184
00:06:43,266 --> 00:06:44,333
Everybody tweet that.

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00:06:44,333 --> 00:06:46,633
(audience laughs)

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00:06:46,633 --> 00:06:49,366
I mean, you think you're 
gonna learn anything?

187
00:06:49,366 --> 00:06:50,900
- I don't know.

188
00:06:50,900 --> 00:06:53,133
In a sense, you had Comey 
for several hours in front

189
00:06:53,133 --> 00:06:55,433
of the Senate last summer, 
in which we learned

190
00:06:55,433 --> 00:06:56,866
an enormous amount.

191
00:06:56,866 --> 00:07:00,000
Is there more there 
in more details?

192
00:07:00,000 --> 00:07:00,900
I'm not sure.

193
00:07:00,900 --> 00:07:02,000
- Okay.

194
00:07:02,000 --> 00:07:03,266
Let's let Mike Schmidt...

195
00:07:03,266 --> 00:07:04,533
You're hopping a plan 
back to New York today?

196
00:07:04,533 --> 00:07:05,666
- I am. 
- Hop a plane back.

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00:07:05,666 --> 00:07:06,833
(audience applauds)

198
00:07:06,833 --> 00:07:08,000
Give him a big 
hand. Thank you all.

199
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Thanks for sticking 
with us today.

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00:07:09,166 --> 00:07:10,400
We'll see you again soon.

201
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All right.