You are young reporter and then a big hotshot reporter but talk about the two different encounters that is the arc of the book. It is an incredible book and i was in my twenties working for the New York Post there is a mayor named Rudy Giuliani at the time. And there was this is absolutely unbelievable story that gripped new york city at that particular moment. Not one that i was interested in but i was working for the post and all my editors cared about. Because the news had just broken Michael Jackson, the king of pop had just married lisa marie presley, Elvis Presleys daughter. They were married in secret, they had not been seen in public yet, and they were staying at trump tower. So in this news broke out, all the paparazzi, everybody the curiosity seekers. And this is the new york pos post. Michael jackson is at his absolute peak of popularity at this moment. So the crowd around trump tower became so intense they put a police corridor or around the block people had to cross the street because there were just too many people trying to get in and get a glimpse of the newlyweds. Not donald trump that its Elvis Presleys daughter and Michael Jackson for god sake but i am at city hall. Nobody cares about city hall at this moment particularly at the New York Post so i think how can i get a piece of the story . I called up the number for the Trump Organization. Just a general number. I didnt know donald trump or have any connection to him whatsoever had only been at the post seven or eight months as a new reporter in town and i called the number and said can i talk to donald trump . [laughter] i was connected to his gatekeeper at the time long time press secretary actually a member of the trump family she was right outside his office on the 26 floor and every went through on everything went through norma i said i have a story to pitch to mr. Trump. What is it . Why were the most famous newlyweds in the world want to have their honeymoon at trump tower . She passed it on i got a call back almost immediately from trump himself. I didnt know how he would respond but he said come over and come now. [laughter] so i am at the New York Post office going down to midtown manhattan used to be Lower Manhattan at the time on the other side of chinatown. I tell my editor i have this they said great and send me with a photographer so we get to the police core door and we are led through trump is there we are brought up to his office and there is a photo in the book which is a little embarrassing. [laughter] you look like the kid that you were. [laughter] yes. I remember at the time he said let me show you around and show you why they are here. The story by the way we also have a picture of the front page article the secret honeymoon hideaway for michael and lisa marie massive coverage in the paper i had five pages and we went around and met his bodyguard we saw the secret tunnel they got in and out of trump tower to avoid all the people they showed me the secret getaway car and telling me where everybody lived in trump tower all the famous people. Steven spielberg, andrew lloyd webber, the British Royal family, sophia loren, we actually ran inside a drawing of trump tower with arrows pointing to the apartment joined one owned by these people trying to be discreet probably. But at one point he says do you want to picture . Is that i have my photographer but it was obvious he met do i want to take a picture with him. As a journalist you dont usually stop in the middle of an interview and say can we get a shot together. So the picture was snapped and you can see it in the book. Actually have this picture i put it in a frame when i was living in new york 25 years ago than when i moved to dc a few years later it was in a box with old photos and only after trump became president i thought i wonder if i have that picture. I broke it out and it is an amazing moment because he looks exactly the same. A little bit heavier now but he is wearing the same type of suit, long red tie, little longer than anyone else would wear. The hair is essentially the same and he has his expression i have seen in a thousand pictures he had taken from the oval office. And i was thinking as i was writing this book when im almost done i got so into the oval office to meet with the president that is the book and. I was president of the white house Correspondents Association. You talk specifically about a story i had done and also a story that had run in the Washington Post over Labor Day Weekend by the way. I dont know if any one else even notice the story but he was keenly aware of both had some things he wanted to raise with us so we were brought into the oval office. I described the scene as one of the harder moments there have been many but you spent a lot of time there as White House Press secretary. You know. I was brought in by the press secretary and chief of staff. Stephanie grisham and Mick Mulvaney and two of my colleagues from the board we were brought in through the oval office it was empty. We were asked to sit at the three chairs in front of the desk and then we were told weight. Mulvaney and Stephanie Grisham walks into the oval office. You work there i know how may times you are in the oval office alone. But i have never been in there alone. The doors were closed just the three of us. I cannot tell you exactly how long it was. Two or three minutes but it felt like an hour. Zeke miller leaned over and said what do we do . Of course we are being taped and watched. So we just sat there in silence and the president came back in and we had this meeting that lasted upwards of an hour. I am one. Sat there thinking that here i am sitting across the desk from the president of United States who is donald trump and 25 years ago almost to the day, i had been with him and trump tower running around trying to find Michael Jacksons bodyguard and doing this gossip tour of celebrity apartments in his building. Who could have imagined i would end up where i was and he would end up where he was. Here i was a junior tabloid reporter in new york city. He was a flamboyant developer who like to get his name in the tabloids. Then 25 years almost to the days later i am the president of the Correspondents Association sitting across from that developer donald trump as president of the United States. So is the incredible story of that final moment is what front row at the trump show is about. There is this quality that rings through all of this that he declares you to be an enemy of the people and i want you to talk about that but at the same time he is looking for approval and engagement to be involved to have some kind of a relationship with the people he is dealing with in the media. Its a fascinating text on juxtaposition and you see that play out and you write about that in the book but what is that like we have that simultaneous quality of wanting to declare to be the enemy of the people and at the same time looking for personal approval so it is weird. It is fascinating because i had the incredible privilege of being a reporter who has covered for four different president s i was also a junior cnn reporter. I remember being there with you during the chaos of Monica Lewinsky and george w. Bush and barack obama and now this. Every one of those complained about the press coverage that it was way too negative that is Standard Operating Procedure but trumps attacks go far beyond any of that so you have enemy of the people which is a phrase that i spent time in the book about the origins of that phrase it is a very ugly phrase used by stalin and hitler during the french revolution to justify the beheadings of people by guillotine. Talk more about that thats one of the most interesting parts of the book and you do that at some length and what noxious phrase that is if you look back at the history talk about that a little bit. I spent some time looking for the origin of the phrase and it was used quite prominently during the french revolution where the most significant place people were beheaded. So basically the justification those that were targeted by which they were found guilty and to be headed the law uses that phrase enemy of the people and i use that during the reign of terror. And then the other place i saw it was in germany. That gave hitler his powers and then i go back and find this article the Associated Press article and other newspapers around the world and the lead paragraph you can see the National Socialist party making a case to make this an enemy of the people so the nazis use the phrase and then later by joseph stalin. Im not saying donald trump knew that was the history behind the phrase but for those that have this dark and morbid into the history and kept using it. So the act of being an aggressive reporter trying to hold those accountable but essentially you are a traitor to your country so i would argue it is the exact opposite is the essential part of what makes america great. But the flipside that you allude to is this is a president who consumes more news than any president. He knows the reporters. He reads the stories. He watches the News Coverage he wants tivo said it was the greatest invention of mankind because he has all the shows on dvr and he watches and he sees of he is being portrayed. At one point phil rucker with a Washington Post the press conference he made reference to a story that phil had written before the New York Primary and 2016 about the Staten Island ferry. So the interviewed people on the Staten Island ferry that people liked really like donald trump and they wrote a story about it. I didnt even see the story. He sought and read it and all that he has been through a great reporter. He says that story that you about the Staten Island ferry thats a wonderful story it is mind blowing he knows the reporters but most people in that room he knows by name many of them have probably gotten phone calls to complain or to offer something up. Barack obama and people say the media was infatuated but the white house complained bitterly. So every president complains about press coverage so theres nothing new about that. That obama would come into the Briefing Room and i swear he didnt know who was in the room. I remember at one point on who to call on from the press secretary which some do and some dont but that was a practice with obama. And i remember at one point he reads the name of the ap reporter where is he. Of course hes in front that is the seat and he didnt even know them. He had no idea. George w. Bush knew the personalities and the people in the camera operators they were with him on the campaign. But donald trump consumes the news and fascinated and relishes and how he dominates the front page of the New York Times and he so proud of the fact that when is on the front page of the times even if its negative. It is a fascinating dichotomy. It is a lovehate relationship. You are primarily involved in the white house Correspondents Association. So why hasnt the press corps more aggressively challenge the war he has declared . Why havent you fought back more aggressively . There has been fighting back when you first use the phrase i was anchoring the sunday show with George Stephanopoulos that sunday and at the end of the program i pointed out the history of the phrase and push back aggressively. That no journalist feels that they want to report the news but thats part of the dont dilemma. But we are not the resistance we are not the opposition party. But trump grabbed onto that he cant be the opposition party. But we do have to push back and especially my role with the press corps when is dangerous and overthetop it needs to be called out. There was an incident there was an event a pro Trump Organization at one of the president s properties in florida and they had and exhibit where they played the video clip a doctrine scene from the movie that shows someone in a Church Killing news people. And it was horrific. You have to call this stuff out. It is actually dangerous. The guy with the pipe bombs that there will be people. I say this to the president directly, there are sick people that will take the words literally into heart and hurt people. Its dangerous and particularly irresponsible coming from the person coming from the presiden president. Host with the press secretar secretary. But the one thing you have to recognize with the white house and he does seek out advice and listen to people but ultimately he does his own direction. And as their own chief of staff. And then to have some moderate success he is his own National Security advisor we saw that with john bolton the National Security advisor. With some several major hot button issues. Talk about that. With a press briefing that the subject having done many of myself. And into the platform. And outdoing rallies and things like that. Why do we need to have a Daily Press Briefing cracks. All that time we went without having and the briefings with the press secretary occasionally like Mick Mulvaney. We just passed a oneyear anniversary which i find astonishing. And you make a point that is valid. Which is what i want to get to but my argument is the press secretary having regular press briefings. When the president is doing his own briefings every day. The best extraordinary time of crisis but i think it is important during any time to see speaking on behalf of the executive branch on behalf of the president to come out and take questions every day from all comers. In terms of news gatherings , the information does it always all that useful. But is important symbolically to send a message to the country and to the world the most powerful person in our government that we dont have question periods but this is on behalf of the executive branch to take questions which some of them are quite uncomfortable. But you make the other point of the process to prepare for the briefing. With that clarified policymaking. Thats an interesting point. My point is the preparation to do that briefing every day requires you to go around the government to talk to cabinet officials and other senior officials to get clear information. You know youre getting the questions. The process to get the right answer sometimes leads to better policies so clinton would say heres the answer i am supposed to give today and he would say thats crazy and you say yes but thats your policy. So he picks up the phone to call somebody and say we have to get this right. So that would improve the functioning of government and the reality of doing that briefing is much more and to have that reverberating effect all through government because people have to come up with better answers. And with better policy. I am a very strong advocate to do that the other question is that turns into performance art. Of that whole encounter of sitting in the front row asking the questions to be on live tv does that make it less useful . Is it the impediment to get the right information . What should we do about that . Its not easy to ask a Television Personality that question. I know we disagreed at this where the briefings might be more useful if not televised. I do think there is an element is that more than once in my colleagues but come on. We are trying to do a serious thing and it is definitely a knowing what it does. There is a symbolic value in the world to see this play out. Nobody is above scrutiny. There are 49 seats in the Briefing Room is a very small room. And space accordingly and now there are 14 people. Now people can stand in the aisles for obvious Public Health reasons. And those that watch those briefings in realtime and those that are watching cspan. I think it is important they are televised with the background briefings that are not on camera but the press secretary to go out on the regular basis is a valuable exercise. Cspan was a great relief to nursing mothers. I was up in the middle of the night watching your briefing when i was nursing my baby. [laughter] that we were reduced to that. Weve seen a big chunk f the trump era so far there were long periods of time we would go by the state department briefing. Im a former state department reporter. I wasnt there when you were there but those were really substantive briefings as you make reference but they are important and its a whole different set of questions. The idea of those going away and if they come back at the pentagon there was a pentagon reporter for some time. Long periods of time without a pentagon briefing that is not guest i told president clinton one time there are three great public spokesman jabs in washington, the White House Press secretary, state Department Spokesman, pentagon spokesperson and you gave me two of the jobs i have to say the best one was being state Department Spokesman and he was curious about this. Its much more substantive you dont get a lot of political questions and the stuff that happens in the white house you get informed questions and as you know at the state department they will stay on the subject and go through it and feel it back layer by layer and someone will say next subject and that kind of substance justice and the way the po