MARK HALPERIN (CO-HOST): Every news organization in the country has to report with care on Wikileaks now, on Trump accusations. We're close to the election. Everybody has to take care getting it right is more important than fast. The Times story seems perfectly appropriate -- they talked to the women involved, they asked the Trump campaign for a response, they did talk to some of the other people involved. But it is possible that the women's accounts are not wholly accurate, even possible that they're both not telling the truth. Possible. The paper though gave them a chance to tell their stories, they gave Donald Trump a chance to respond. What I object to is I think the paper is making a big mistake, even though it is the lawyers and not the editors. Fighting with Donald Trump making additional sort of ad hominem accusations against him, they should do their speaking in the paper, in their journalism, and they did some great journalism yesterday and they should do their arguing in court if necessary. But to put that letter in public making those accusations, if my news organizations did that, I would be uncomfortable. We have to be fair and even in this campaign and not basically take sides and say this is an accurate portrayal of who Donald Trump is.

[…]

Ad hominem may not be the right phrase, but they’re putting their finger against him more than they need to do to commit the journalism that they did and that should speak for itself I think. The lawyers will try and win a legal argument, not try and uphold the standards of the paper as far as I’m concerned.

Previously: 

Committee To Protect Journalists Declares Trump “Unprecedented Threat” To Free Press

Libel Laws, Threats, Nasty Insults: A Guide To Trump’s War Against The Media

Reminder To The Media: Trump Is The Worst Possible Messenger On The Clintons’ Marriage