Anonymous Source of Scoop? Looks Like You-Know-Who

President Trump scolded the media last week for using anonymous sources in stories—they "shouldn't be allowed," he said—but BuzzFeed reports that the president allowed himself to be quoted as one on Tuesday. It came during a meeting with TV news anchors, when the president signaled a softening of his stance on immigration reform. Outlets including CNN quoted a "senior administration official" on the subject as saying, "There's got to be a coming together." BuzzFeed reports that the official was none other than the president. A bit later, the White House allowed reporters to quote Trump himself from the meeting.

As the AP notes, it's commonplace for presidents to have off-the-record conversations with journalists ahead of major speeches. (Trump addressed Congress on Tuesday night.) This meeting was a bit different in that the journalists were allowed to report the immigration scoop on background—meaning they could quote the anonymous "senior" official. Before Trump publicly became the source of the immigration news, the AP confirmed that the source of the scoop was indeed Trump, though, perhaps fittingly, it attributed that nugget to an unnamed "White House official." (More anonymous sources stories.)