CBS This Morning on Thursday devoted over six minutes to a scoop featuring the two New York Times journalists who first reported accusations that Donald Trump touched them inappropriately Hyping the appearance of Megan Twohey and Michael Barbaro, Norah O’Donnell trumpeted, “They are in Studio 57 for their first TV interview about this article.”
Co-hosts Gayle King, Norah O’Donnell, and Charlie Rose did not wonder why the New York Times wasn’t doing similar investigations into the women who have made repeated accusations to Bill Clinton.
To her credit, however, King did press the two journalists on past claims that have since been disputed.
GAYLE KING: But you all had done another story. You were here back in May talking about Donald Trump's behavior around women and after that story, Rowanne Brewer came out and said that you misrepresented her experience. She said, quote, "They spun it to where it appeared negative. I did not have a negative experience with Donald Trump."
TWOHEY: Yes. That was — we did, in fact, do a story in may about looking at trump's treatment of women and, you know, it was an extensive story.
KING: She said she was misrepresented.
Twohey justified, “Rowanne Brewer did not like the story in the end, but we have not received any request for a correction or retraction from Brewer.”
However, according to Politico, Ms. Brewer flatly stated, “Well, because The New York Times told us several times that they would make sure that my story that I was telling came across. They promised several times that they would do it accurately. They told me several times and my manager several times that it would not be a hit piece and that my story would come across the way that I was telling it and honestly, and it absolutely was not.”
But that doesn’t count because it’s not a letter to the editor in the Times?
A transcript is below:
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CBS TM
10/13/16
7:33GAYLE KING: We reported earlier that more women are accusing Donald Trump of improper physical conduct. This morning's New York Times features accounts by two of those women. CBS News has not confirmed their stories but Rachel Crooks was a 22-year-old receptionist at a company inside Trump Tower back in 2005. The Times says she introduced herself to Trump and they shook hands. The report says that soon after, quote, he began kissing her cheeks and then she said he kissed me directly on the mouth.” Another accuser, her name is Jessica Leeds, she told the Times that Tump's hands were all over me during an airplane flight. The 74-year-old said it happened more than three decades ago.
RACHEL LEEDS: He was like an octopus. It was like he had six arms. He was all over the place. If he had stuck with the upper part of the body, I might not have gotten — I might not have gotten that upset but when he started putting his hand up my skirt and that was it.
NORAH O’DONNELL: The Trump campaign immediately responded saying, quote, “This entire article is fiction. This truly is nothing more than a political attack. This is a sad day for the Times." And overnight, Trump's lawyer demanded the Times retract its story and issue an apology, saying, quote, “Failure to do so will leave my client with no option, but to pursue all available actions and remedies.” We asked the Trump organization to provide someone to talk to us, but it was unable to do so. The New York Times national political reporter Michael Barbaro and Times reporter Megan Twohey wrote the story. They are in Studio 57 for their first TV interview about this article. Good morning.
MICHAEL BARBARO: Good morning.
MEGAN TWOHEY: Good morning.
O’DONNELL: So, tell us about these allegations made in your story, Megan.
TWOHEY: So, Jessica Leeds is a woman who shared her story with us and said that a little over 30 years ago she was on a plane seated next to Donald Trump when he proceeded to grope her and put his hand up her skirt, forcing her to fleet to another seat in the plane.
O’DONNELL: So, that allegation comes forward, it's from 30 years ago. How do you verify it? How do you know that something like that is worth putting in the paper?
TWOHEY: We can also — we are heavy to discuss that, but the second allegation was made, dates back to 2005 from a young woman who was working in Trump Tower at the time. She was a 22-year-old receptionist for Bayrock, a company located there. She said she bumped into Trump outside of an elevator and that, you know, she introduced herself. They shook hands. He kissed her on the cheek and then proceeded to kiss her on the mouth and she felt uncomfortable about it. So, what do you do when you get, you know, when, when two women come to a newspaper and tell stories like that?
GAYLE KING: Did they reach out to you all or did you put out a call for them? What happened?
BARBARO: They did.
TWOHEY: They reached out to us.
KING: Back to Norah's question. How do you verify?
TWOHEY: So, what we do we interview the women more than once to make sure what they told us in their e-mails lined up with what they told us in interviews. And then we also, in both cases, these are women who shared their stories with friends and family. In the case of the 22-year-old, she immediately made a phone call to her sister right after this happened. She went home that night. She told her boyfriend, you know, so we talked to the boyfriend. We talked to the sister in the case of Jessica we talked to other people she had told as well.
ROSE: And did you talk to Donald Trump?
BARBARO: Yes. We did. But before we get to that, we talked, not just to the two women who went on the record and used their names, we talked to the people around them who went on the record and uses their names. There are no anonymous quotations in the story. These are people who are putting their names and their reputations by the claims that were described in these stories. I think that is important.
O’DONNELL: At the time they allege these assaults, they had told close friends and family who recall similar stories?
BARBARO: In the case of Rachel Crooks, that is absolutely correct. In the case of Jessica Leeds, about a year and a half ago, she said, to tell a widening circle of people, including her son, her nephew and more than two friends but we talked to two friends as well as the nephew and son who recall the details of what she told them, which lined up with what she told us.
KING: Megan, you talked to Donald Trump, you said?
TWOHEY: Right. Absolutely. So, e would never go ahead and publish these accounts without talking to the presidential candidate himself. So on Tuesday night, he got on the phone with me and I spelled out the allegations and, you know, gave him a chance to respond.
KING: What did he say? Don't leave that line hanging.
TWOHEY: He insisted that all of the allegations were a fabrication and the New York Times made them up and he increasingly agitated as I continued my questions and started to yell at me and told me I was a disgusting human being.
O’DONNELL: What did you think of that? Have you had anyone speak to you like that in the past?
TWOHEY: That — I have not had that experience before. But —
KING: And what do you say to that? “Okay, thank you so much? Talk to you later?” You keep talking?
TWOHEY: You keep asking questions. You keep asking questions. Once again, these women, I think, were inspired to go on the record, especially after the debate on Sunday when Trump was asked about this. As we all know on Friday, there was a recording released in which he in his own words was describing kissing women and groping women without consent. Anderson Cooper asked him about in the debate on Sunday directly. “You’ve said this on — You were caught talking about this behavior on tape. Have you, in fact, done this?” And he looked at Cooper and said, “No, no I haven't.” Which was, you know, I think for the women that we spoke to, you know, part of a motivation to speak out.
BARBARO: They were watching the debate.
KING: They reached out to you after the debate?
BARBARO: Jessica Leeds were watching the debate and she and her friend turned to each other and mouths agape, according to both of them and the next day they wrote an e-mail to the New York Times.
KING: But you all had done another story. You were here back in May talking about Donald Trump's behavior around women and after that story, Rowanne Brewer came out and said that you misrepresented her experience. She said, quote, “They spun it to where it appeared negative. I did not have a negative experience with Donald Trump.”
TWOHEY: Yes. That was — we did, in fact, do a story in may about looking at trump's treatment of women and, you know, it was an extensive story.
KING: She said she was misrepresented.
TWOHEY: We included the voices of many women and, you know, Rowanne Brewer did not like the story in the end, but we have not received any request for a correction or retraction from Brewer.
BARBARO: Or from Donald Trump.
TWOHEY: Or from Donald Trump.
KING: You point in your story the two latest women you're talking about told you that they support Hillary Clinton? Which Donald Trump would say, look, this is another way of attacking me?
BARBARO: Well, we believed it was important. We actually proactively sought information about their political views and decided to include it, thought it was an important disclosure.
O’DONNELL: Thank you.
