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Guidance: Ask Ex-administration Officials About NDAs

When interviewing officials who have left the White House about their time with the Trump administration or current issues involving the administration, it is important that we ask whether they signed non-disclosure agreements covering their work and what they can say about the president.

Many people in the administration have signed NDAs. While those NDAs may not be enforceable, we should know whether the persons we're interviewing feel bound by any restrictions about what they can say. If so, that is information that will inform our decision about whether to go ahead with an interview and is information we need to share with our audience if we do proceed. Consult with a DME if you have questions.

Show producers and bookers: Ask the person, "have you signed a non-disclosure agreement that restricts what you can say about your time in the administration or about the president?" If the answer is yes, follow up with "do you feel bound by that agreement?" Other questions could follow, of course, to fill in details and help us make the decision about whether to go ahead.

Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

Mark Memmott is NPR's supervising senior editor for Standards & Practices. In that role, he's a resource for NPR's journalists – helping them raise the right questions as they do their work and uphold the organization's standards.