- Dan.
- Do you think

at some point we'll finally see

those tax records?

- The tax returns.

- Whether Mueller does
it, or someone else?

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

Donald Trump's tax returns.

(audience laughs)

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

people say, with regard to
the Mueller investigation

and stuff that
people have wanted to

get access to, but haven't.

Mueller already has blank.

And one of those things
people say, well Mueller

must have, already
has those tax records.

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

experts on white collar
investigations, they say the

first thing that a
prosecutor would do is

would go and get
the tax records.

- Get the tax records.
- And they can

easily get them.
- And he has the

ability to get them in the
context of his investigation.

- Correct, and he has
the ability to get

pretty much...
- Pretty much anything

he wants.
- Pretty much

anything he wants.
- Correct.

- Sir.
- Thank you for coming.

Welcome to Austin.

- [Mike] Thank you.

- I really appreciate
the series of interviews

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

giving us more insight.

And thanks for having
the series here.

When I read the article this
morning, I was wondering

why you and Maggie Haber
added the stuff about

the internal drama and
intrigue, rather than just

sticking with the
top three quarters?

- That context?

I think that to understand
what's going on inside

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

and how that may be impacting
his decisions are as

important as the simple fact
of him going out and looking

for a new lawyer.

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

the more that we understand
the president, what may

be motivating him, and
what may be going on.

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

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

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

and spends a lot of
time on the phone.

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

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

he will listen to them.

And those people have
an enormous amount

of influence on
him, in a way that

previous presidents
probably relied more on

the staff around them.

- Do we know more about
the palace intrigue

in this administration?

Do we know more about the
principles, the players?

I'm remembering that
chance meal at BLT Prime,

that Ken Vogel, your
colleague at the Times had,

and he's sitting there
having lunch and looks over

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

talking about the
president, in full view,

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

sitting there having...

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

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

and takes a picture.

I mean, I feel like
these guys have all been

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

previous administrations
we've known the characters

as well as we know
these characters.

- I think that people tend
to emulate their boss,

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

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

- The fish emotes
from the head down.

- Correct.
- Sorta how it goes.

Okay, ma'am.

- Hi, a lot of the
articles lately, seem to be

co-written, like you're
doing with Maggie.

Could you talk just, if
it doesn't take long,

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

who writes what, and how
the final product evolves?

- It's a great, I love
process questions.

Good.

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

one plus one equals three.

You can move at a much
faster pace working

with someone else.

And given the amount of
pressure and competition

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

And it enables us to
move very quickly.

One thing that is a huge,
sort of, technology changer

for us, that's a big
deal, is Google Docs,

because we're able to all
work in the same file,

on the same thing,
at the same time.

We're not passing
drafts back and forth,

we're doing it together.

Recently we were all, there
was like, three or four

reporters in a Google Doc,
writing separate parts

of the story while
it was being edited.

And that just enables
us to go at a speed,

and to work more quickly.

The other thing is that we
all have different sources,

and if you're really
doing this the right way,

you're using folks from here
to find out what's going on

over here, to playing over
here, to get to there.

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

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

hitting behind you.

They, you know, she makes
you look a lot better

because she can take the
dribs and drabs that you have

and turn them into text.

- Is she the best sourced
of the group of you?

- Definitely, and she
understands the president

better than anyone
else in Washington.

- Well he called her a
Hillary flunky today, which,

whatever the criticisms
of Maggie Haberman can be,

the Hillary people might take
issue with the suggestion

that she somehow is carrying
Secretary Clinton's water.

I mean, so, well anyway,
Maggie has become

kind of a character.

- Totally, and she
deserves every,

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

Is there a literal
division of labor?

You know, it's like,
I write, you do this?

- Sometimes one of us
writes, sometimes, you know,

it goes back and forth.

If it's usually your,
you started with the tip,

and you usually
would take the lead.

- Yeah.
- But, you do go

back and forth.

You know, we were doing this
yesterday on this story.

- You all have pride of
authorship and ownership,

regardless of who did what.

- Yeah, at the end of the day,
our names are in the story.

- And you own it.
- Correct.

- More importantly, you own it.

Sir.

- What political issue did
you care the most about

these days, and why?

- In terms of politics, I'm
not like, I don't wake up

in the morning thinking like,
oh, man, like, you know,

immigration is something
that I'm, you know.

I'm just really just
trying to figure out what

Bob Mueller is doing, and how
that relates to the president.

And that's just sort of
the day to day mission

that I have.

I don't have like, I'm
not sitting around worried

about the taxes.

I actually don't even
focus a lot on the policy

of my coverage.

It's just simply just trying
to figure out what's going on.

Where's this
investigation headed?

How serious is it?

What has the president
done in the past?

What does that mean,
and how can we get

that in the newspaper?

- But of course, I'd come
back to the fact that

before there was a Trump
beat, formal or informal,

your vertical focus was
federal law enforcement

and national security.

Now those things have
become the Trump beat

by virtue of the
Mueller investigation
and everything else,

but those are the things
that still kind of motivate

and drive you, right?

That's kind of the angle
that you come at this from.

- Correct.
- You're not a

political reporter
as far as it goes?

- Correct, no.

I'm a national security
reporter, covered the FBI

for five years, covered
the Pentagon for a year,

or four or five, whatever.

And it, that's the stuff
that I've focused on,

and tried to understand best.

And I find most
interesting at this point.

- You looking forward
to the Comey book?

(laughs)

- Comey.

Sure, it'll be interesting.

- Comey, he said with a laugh.

Everybody tweet that.

(audience laughs)

I mean, you think you're
gonna learn anything?

- I don't know.

In a sense, you had Comey
for several hours in front

of the Senate last summer,
in which we learned

an enormous amount.

Is there more there
in more details?

I'm not sure.

- Okay.

Let's let Mike Schmidt...

You're hopping a plan
back to New York today?

- I am.
- Hop a plane back.

(audience applauds)

Give him a big
hand. Thank you all.

Thanks for sticking
with us today.

We'll see you again soon.

All right.