"Phony Leaks"

I've had interactions with journalists in which they have claimed that sources won't lie to them because they'd burn the source if they did. In all of my years of media watching I have seen precisely one journalist burn a source for lying. If the Trump administration (or anyone) is trying to give "fake leaks" to journalists there is a pretty easy way to deal with them: burn the source.

Let's get serious for a moment: Mitchell's scheme is rather facile, but that does not mean phony leaks are not a real threat. According to Haberman, members of the Trump administration already have tried to dupe the New York Times on several occasions — presumably with tips that seem plausible and are not easily dismissed as “crazy.”