The New York Times said Tuesday that it complied with a White House request not to publish audio from an interview with a top aide to President Trump Donald John TrumpBiden on Trump's refusal to commit to peaceful transfer of power: 'What country are we in?' Romney: 'Unthinkable and unacceptable' to not commit to peaceful transition of power Two Louisville police officers shot amid Breonna Taylor grand jury protests MORE even though Stephen Miller's comments were on the record.

The newspaper said that reporters Julie Hirschfeld Davis and Michael D. Shear interviewed Miller, a staunch supporter of the president's immigration policies, for a story that was published in the paper's print and online editions over the weekend. The Times had also planned to use audio from the Miller interview for its podcast "The Daily," which is downloaded more than 1 million times a day.

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Miller was directly quoted several times throughout the story, which focused exclusively on a "zero tolerance" immigration policy announced by Attorney General Jeff Sessions Jefferson (Jeff) Beauregard SessionsGOP set to release controversial Biden report Trump's policies on refugees are as simple as ABCs Ocasio-Cortez, Velázquez call for convention to decide Puerto Rico status MORE that has resulted in the separations of thousands of undocumented children from their parents at the border. But the White House later said it was "uncomfortable" with audio from the interview being made public, and claimed the interview was only supposed to be used in print and online form.

The Times relented, saying that the ground rules for the interview were not clear.

"After the original story was published, producers of The Daily planned to talk with the reporter and use audio excerpts from the Miller interview. White House officials objected, saying they had not agreed to a podcast interview. While Miller's comments were on the record, we realized that the ground rules for the original interview were not clear, and so we made a decision not to run the audio," the statement from the Times's communication department explains.

Davis, who interviewed Miller along with Shear, took to Twitter to offer a similar explanation for not using the audio for the podcast.

"Actually [Shear] & I interviewed Miller WH before last for our piece on the evolution of the family separation tactic, & after the fact, The Daily decided to do an episode based on that conversation. WH would not allow audio to be used," Davis wrote.

Actually @shearm & I interviewed Miller WH before last for our piece on the evolution of the family separation tactic, & after the fact, The Daily decided to do an episode based on that conversation. WH would not allow audio to be used. — Julie Davis (@juliehdavis) June 19, 2018

The Times immediately faced blowback for its decision, with some members of the media saying the paper caved too easily.

Stephen Miller designed the plan to snatch migrant children from their parents. The NYT now won't run his on the record statements because it makes him "uncomfortable".



It's more important to NYT to placate white supremacists than to speak the truth about the abuse of children. https://t.co/A5KYgQ76aB — Sarah Kendzior (@sarahkendzior) June 19, 2018

NYT has audio of Stephen Miller talking about the family separation policy but it isn’t playing it because, even though on the record (as far as I can tell), White House says interview wasn’t conducted with understanding it might wind up on a podcast. Huh? https://t.co/Z1wxOPhY9B — Josh Greenman (@joshgreenman) June 19, 2018

So New York Times has big, newsworthy interview with Stephen Miller. Story posts last week. The White House knows there is a podcast called The Daily. Miller knows he is speaking into a microphone. But yesterday WH says, don’t use audio. And then NYT says... okay, never mind? — Robert Mentzer (@robertmentzer) June 19, 2018

I've had conversations when recording interviews that it's for accuracy, not broadcast. So I'd get NYT not running Stephen Miller audio if violating a source agreement. But the decision to hold back a clearly newsworthy recording is because it makes the White House uncomfortable? https://t.co/ah9q3sTkcU — Michael Calderone (@mlcalderone) June 19, 2018

This seems odd. Unless the Times felt that it miscommunicated about the audio somehow. What the White House is comfortable with is not normally a factor. https://t.co/cACSzlVXUG — Jay Rosen (@jayrosen_nyu) June 19, 2018

In the best of circumstances, the @nytimes would have apprised Miller that they wanted to use his voice in a podcast. That said, if the comments were on the record, the @nytimes can decide how to use it. — ErikWemple (@ErikWemple) June 19, 2018

This is rather explicit acknowledgement by the NYT that it's willing to make sacrifices to preserve its access to senior people within the White House. Is that access worth it? Maybe—they get a lot of scoops! But let's not pretend there aren't trade-offs. https://t.co/VJe4jrQixX — Nate Silver (@NateSilver538) June 19, 2018

According to Times reporters who conducted the interview, Miller was a key figure in urging the president to enforce the zero tolerance policy toward migrant families, which has sparked heated debate across the country via heavy media coverage.

Several polls show Americans decidedly objecting to the policy.

A Quinnipiac University on Monday poll found respondents oppose the policy by a 66 to 27 percent margin. A majority of Republicans, 55 percent, support it, however.

Just 28 percent of Americans surveyed in a CNN poll said they support Trump's policy. It was supported by more than half of Republicans, 58 percent, pollsters found.