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Cruz: Trump should ask NYT to release ‘secret tape’
Posted On Mar 01 2016
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Much has been said today about the alleged “secret tapes” The New York Times has of Donald Trump reneging on his famed immigration stance. Trump held the conversation with Times editors on January 5 as one of several candidates seeking the paper’s endorsement. “But it was off the record, so now the New York Times can’t release the audio of that interview”, Rubio said at a campaign event in Conway, Ark.
The most optimistic analysis of Trump as a presidential candidate is that he just doesn’t believe in positions, except the ones you adopt for strategic purposes when you’re making a deal.
However, the publication is unwilling to release any other portion of those statements made off-the-record absent Trump’s consent.
Sources familiar with the recording and transcript – which have reached near-mythical status at the Times – tell me that the second sentence is a bit more than speculation.
‘Pay no attention to what I’m saying on immigration because I, Donald Trump, don’t intend to do anything.’ .
But Mr Trump’s opponents have accused the business tycoon of insulting the intelligence of his supporters after he reportedly went back on his hard-line views during an off-record meeting with the New York Times.
“If it is in fact the case that The New York Times has a tape showing Donald saying he doesn’t believe what he’s saying on immigration right now, then the voters deserve to know”, Cruz told reporters.
The BuzzFeed report published Monday said Trump’s remarks “called into question whether he would stand by his own immigration views”.
The Times said it could not release the transcript of the meeting without permission from Trump, since it was an off-the-record meeting.
Naturally, Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio are calling for Trump to have the recording released, the Washington Post reports.
New York Times spokeswoman Danielle Rhoades Ha said the newspaper was “not commenting beyond what our editorial page editor told BuzzFeed”.
Rubio also called upon Trump to release the tape.
