Trump's showdown at the New York Times: Donald accuses paper of treating him 'very unfairly', says he doesn't feel 'strongly' about prosecuting Hillary and suggests Middle East role for Kushner 

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Donald Trump finally sat down with The New York Times on Tuesday afternoon for a showdown meeting after he cancelled and then un-cancelled the meeting over the course of a few hours earlier in the day. 

And the President-elect wasted no time in getting down to business, using the first four minutes of his audience with Times staff to criticize the paper for it coverage of him during the election.

Trump's remarks on a range of issues - including Hillary Clinton, his businesses, the Middle East, his son-in-law Jared Kushner, his chief strategist Steve Bannon and the alt-right movement - were shared by members of the Times staff on a Twitter live feed. 

'I have great respect for the New York Times. I have tremendous respect. I think I've been treated very rough,' said Trump, who was seated next to the paper's publisher Arthur Sulzberger Jr. 

On his way out of the building, Trump made a point of shaking hands with the security guards in the building before making his way into his car and back to Trump Tower. 

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Donald Trump (above) met with reporters from The New York Times on Tuesday afternoon. He is pictured waving to onlookers in the lobby while leaving

Trump met with New York Times publisher Arthur Sulzberger (above) for discussions that were both on and off the record

 He went on to say their coverage was 'the roughest of all' and said of his campaign: 'It's been 18 months of brutality in a true sense.'

Trump also made it clear that he wanted to have a good relationship with the Times, noting that it would make his job easier. 

At one point he even directly addressed the Times' publisher, saying: 'If you see something or you get something where you feel that I’m wrong, I'd love to hear it. You can call me. Arthur can call me.'

He also admitted to being a fan of the Times, joking at one point: 'I do read it. Unfortunately. I’d live about 20 years longer if I didn’t.'  

His final words to the group were that the Times was 'a world jewel.' He then added: 'I hope we can all get along.' 

But his relationship with the Times was just one of the issues raised during the wide-ranging 75-minute conversation. 

He was asked a number of questions, including whether or not he planned on appointing a special prosecutor to go after Hillary Clinton for her private email servers.

After being pressed on the matter, Trump said: 'I don’t want to hurt the Clintons, I really don’t. She went through a lot and suffered greatly in many different ways.'

He then added about bringing charges against her: 'It’s just not something that I feel very strongly about.' 

'My inclination would be for whatever power I have on the matter is to say let's go forward.This has been looked at for so long, ad nauseum' 

When asked about the Clinton Foundation, he said it has done some 'good work' according to Times reporter Maggie Haberman. 

The Times reported just before the meeting that three sources claim Trump's chief of staff gave him false information hoping he would not go

A man carries a framed New York Times front page of President-elect Donald Trump's victory after his meeting

Trump's adviser Kellyanne Conway (above) was seen closely watching her computer during the meeting, which was being live tweeted by members of the Times staff

Later asked about what he hoped to accomplish during his presidency, Trump said: 'I would love to be the one who made peace with Israel and the Palestinians, that would be such a great achievement.'

He said that he believes his son-in-law Jared Kushner could help make peace between the two countries, and when asked what kind of role he might see for Kushner, Trump said it would be one involving the Middle East. 

Trump also disavowed the alt-right, defended his chief strategist Steve Bannon against claims that he is racist, and once again raved about how much he likes President Obama.

'I didn't know if I’d like him. I probably thought that maybe I wouldn’t, but I did. I really enjoyed him a lot,' said Trump. 

When asked about potential conflicts of interest between his business interests and role as president, he said: ' The law's totally on my side, the president can't have a conflict of interest.'

'My company's so unimportant to me relative to what I'm doing.' 

And he added: 'If it were up to some people, I would never, ever see my daughter Ivanka again.' 

When asked about Bannon, he said: 'If I thought he was a racist or alt-right or any of the things, the terms we could use, I wouldn't even think about hiring him.'

Incoming White House chief of staff Reince Priebus also defended Bannon. 

When asked about so-called alt-right white supremacists who are aligning themselves with Trump, he offered a strong rejection. 

“I don’t want to energize the group, and I disavow the group.” 

And the president-elect was also asked about The First Amendment and libel laws. He said that one friend at one pint said to him about loosening libel laws: 'You know, YOU might be sued a lot more.’ I said, You know, I hadn’t thought of that.'  

The meeting lasted 75 minutes in total, and as Trump left one woman yelled out: 'We love you!' That was then drowned out by some loud booing in the lobby. 

Trump was joined at the meeting by his chief of staff Rience Priebus, senior adviser Kellyanne Conway, spokesperson Hope Hicks and top aide Stephen Miller.

Shortly before the meeting on Tuesday, the Times reported that it was Priebus who wanted him to cancel 'because he would face questions he might not be prepared to answer.'

Three people with knowledge of Trump's decision said that Priebus 'erroneously' told Trump that the paper had changed their conditions 'believing it would result in a cancellation.'

Hicks told reporters at Trump Tower on Tuesday morning that he would be meeting with reporters from the paper and that part of the session would be on the record.

That announcement came a little over three hours after Trump said the meeting was off.   

Times spokesperson Eillen Murphy confirmed that the meeting was back on, saying: 'Mr. Trump's staff has told us that the President Elect's meeting with The Times is on again. 

'He will meet with our publisher off-the-record and that session will be followed by an on-the-record meeting with our journalists and editorial columnists.' 

Trump himself made it clear he was back on board for the meeting on Tuesday as well, tweeting: 'The meeting with the @nytimes is back on at 12:30 today. Look forward to it!'

Trump said during the meeting that he does not 'feel strongly' about prosecuting Hillary, stating: 'I don’t want to hurt the Clintons'

The President-elect said that he 'would love to be the one who made peace with Israel and the Palestinians'

The President-elect had accused the Times earlier in the day of trying to change the ground rules for their session, and cited that as his reason for cancelling the planned meeting.

'I cancelled today's meeting with the failing @nytimes when the terms and conditions of the meeting were changed at the last moment. Not nice,' Trump wrote on Twitter at 6:15am Tuesday morning.

The Times however was quick to respond to Trump's claims, revealing that they did not change any terms of the meeting but did refuse to speak with him off the record, a last second request that was made by Trump's team. 

The original terms stated that Trump would speak off the record at the start of the meeting, and that would be followed by a lengthy on-the-record discussion with reporters and columnists.

Ms. Murphy had revealed earlier on Tuesday morning that the paper was not informed by Trump or any member of his camp about the meeting being cancelled, and that they only learned about his change of heart when he announced his decision on Twitter. 

'We were unaware that the meeting was canceled until we saw the president-elect’s tweet this morning. We did not change the ground rules at all and made no attempt to,' said Murphy. 

'They tried to yesterday - asking for only a private meeting and no on-the-record segment, which we refused to agree to. 

'In the end, we concluded with them that we would go back to the original plan of a small off-the-record session and a larger on-the-record session with reporters and columnists.' 

Reince Priebus wanted Trump to cancel 'because he would face questions he might not be prepared to answer'

Donald Trump let his Twitter followers know his meeting with the New York Times was back on Tuesday

Trump had previously announced at 6:15am on Twitter that he had cancelled his meeting with the Times 

Trump meanwhile set about listing his grievances with the Times on Twitter after announcing he was cancelling the meeting early Tuesday.  

'Perhaps a new meeting will be set up with the @nytimes. In the meantime they continue to cover me inaccurately and with a nasty tone!,' wrote Trump 15 minutes after stating that the meeting was off on Tuesday.

On Tuesday, three of the four stories above the fold on the cover of the Times were about Trump.

One was about his desire to hire members of the military and generals for top jobs in his administration and another was about the YouTube video he released which provided an update on his policy plans for his first 100 days in office.

The third story meanwhile focused on how Trump's business would run once he took office, and ran under the headline: 'Donald Trump’s Business Dealings Test a Constitutional Limit.'

Their story provided a laundry list of companies that are controlled by foreign governments or people with ties to them that do business with Trump's companies. 

Trump has 'multimillion-dollar real estate arrangements' in which he is the 'full owner' or 'branding partner' in Ireland and Uruguay reports the paper, and the Bank of China is a tenant in Trump Tower. 

'Experts in legal ethics say those kinds of arrangements could easily run afoul of the Emoluments Clause if they continue after Mr. Trump takes office,' read the story in the Times.

The Emoluments Clause is a provision in the Constitution that prohibits any individual holding office from accepting 'any present, emolument, office or title, of any kind whatever, from any king, prince or foreign state.'   

Trump's spokeswomen Hope Hicks (above on Tuesday) told reporters thee hours after her boss' tweet that the meeting was on, and that part of it would be on the record

Trump followed up his initial tweet 15 minutes later with one announcing that the Times covers his with 'a nasty tone'

Trump later questioned why the Times chose to reveal that 'complaints about them are at a 15 year high'

Trump seemed to have moved on 30 minutes later, announcing that he had a busy day ahead of him at Trump Tower

Trump's tweet about the Times coverage of him was followed seconds later by the president-elect writing: 'The failing New York Times just announced that complaints about them are at a 15 year high. I can fully understand that - but why announce?'

The Times addressed that tweet on Tuesday, saying that Trump appeared to be referencing a story published by the paper over the weekend in which the paper's public editor revealed that the number of letters to the editor that they were receiving in the wake of the recent presidential election was similar to the number received after the 9/11 attacks.

Trump then waited another 15 minutes before writing on Twitter: 'Great meetings will take place today at Trump Tower concerning the formation of the people who will run our government for the next 8 years.' 

The president-elect will then be leaving New York City at the end of the day and heading down to his Palm Beach estate Mar-a-Lago to spend Thanksgiving with his family. 

The meeting with the New York Times follows the discussion he had with executives from the major television networks and their top on-air talent on Monday which ended up playing out 'like a f***ing firing squad' a source later told theNew York Post.

Trump criticized and attacked those in attendance claimed another source, and kicked things off by telling the group: 'We're in a room of liars, the deceitful dishonest media who got it all wrong .

Some of those in attendance also got a 'Trump-style dressing down' according to the source, most notably CNN president Jeff Zucker and ABC's chief global correspondent Martha Raddatz. 

Trump kicked things off by going after Zucker, according to the source, who claimed that the President-elect told the CNN president, 'I hate your network, everyone at CNN is a liar and you should be ashamed.'

He later turned his attention to two of the women who had been covering the election said the second source.

'Trump didn't say Katy Tur by name, but talked about an NBC female correspondent who got it wrong, then he referred to a horrible network correspondent who cried when Hillary lost who hosted a debate – which was Martha Raddatz who was also in the room,' claims the source.

Tur was not present at the meeting on Monday.

A source claimed after the meeting that Trump went after CNN president Jeff Zucker (above on Monday) during the meeting

Gayle King and her CBS This Morning co-host Norah O'Donnell (above) were among those in attendance on Monday

Fox News co-president Bill Shine was one of four executives from the cable news network present at the meeting

That account differed wildly from the one Kellyanne Conway gave to members of the press after she left the meeting, which she said was 'very cordial, very productive, very congenial.'

She went on to say that Trump was 'very candid and honest' in the meeting, and on a personal note stated that it was 'great to hit the reset button' after a 'long, hard-fought campaign.' 

Conway responded to the story in the Post on Monday evening by saying that Trump did not 'explode in anger,' but did not comment beyond that. 

Representatives from CNN, Fox News, MSNBC, Fox Business Network, NBC, ABC, and CBS were present at the meeting on Monday, which lasted an hour. 

ABC was represented by president James Goldston and anchors George Stephanopoulos, David Muir, and Martha Raddatz.

Nightly News host Lester Holt and Meet the Press moderator Chuck Todd were on hand for NBC , along with president Deborah Turness.

And rounding out the broadcast network presence at the meeting was Face the Nation host John Dickerson and the entire CBS This Morning team of Charlie Rose, Gayle King and Norah O'Donnell along with Washington Bureau Chief Chris Isham. 

On the cable television side, CNN president Jeff Zucker attended on behalf of his network with on-air talent Wolf Blitzer and Erin Burnett.

Fox News had a handful of executives present at the meeting, including co-presidents Bill Shine and Abernethy, vice president of news and editorial Jay Wallace and Suzanne Scott, the vice president of programming and development at the network.

MSNBC president Phil Griffin was there for his network and Brian Jones attended for Fox Business Network.

Members of Trump's team present at the event included chief of staff Reince Priebus, chief strategist Stephen Bannon, spokesman Jason Miller, communications director Sean Spicer and Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner, a source told Politico. 

Trump's wife Melania also reportedly made a brief cameo during the sit down.