The executive editor of The New York Times, Dean Baquet, on Monday said he did not attend the private meeting between the Times publisher A.G. Sulzberger and President Trump Donald John TrumpSteele Dossier sub-source was subject of FBI counterintelligence probe Pelosi slams Trump executive order on pre-existing conditions: It 'isn't worth the paper it's signed on' Trump 'no longer angry' at Romney because of Supreme Court stance MORE because he doesn't "go off the record with high-ranking officials, particularly the president."

"As a rule, I don't go off the record with high-ranking officials, particularly the president," Baquet said in an email to Buzzfeed News. "As the person overseeing coverage, I don't think officials should be able to tell me things that I can't publish. And I don't want to be courted or wooed."

James Bennet, the Times editorial page editor, also attended the meeting with Sulzberger.

"The publisher and the editorial page editor have very different roles," Baquet said. "They shouldn't have to adhere to my rule, which is very personal."

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Baquet said his experience at a publicized editorial meeting with Trump in 2016 reaffirmed this long-held belief. At the off-the-record meeting, Trump reportedly said he might not stand by the views he expressed on immigration during his candidacy.

"I couldn't resist [attending],” Baquet said. "I’m still a reporter and I wanted to get a look at him. But I kept wanting to write about the things he said, and I couldn't. It was a mistake that proved my point."

Trump on Sunday broke his off-the-record agreement with the Times about a July 20 meeting with Sulzberger and Bennet. Trump on Twitter claimed they discussed "the vast amounts of Fake News being put out by the media & how that Fake News has morphed into phrase, 'Enemy of the People.' "

"Sad!" he added.

Had a very good and interesting meeting at the White House with A.G. Sulzberger, Publisher of the New York Times. Spent much time talking about the vast amounts of Fake News being put out by the media & how that Fake News has morphed into phrase, “Enemy of the People.” Sad! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 29, 2018

Sulzberger responded with a five-paragraph statement about the meeting, claiming he warned Trump that his anti-media rhetoric is dangerous.

"I told him that although the phrase ‘fake news’ is untrue and harmful, I am far more concerned about his labeling journalists ‘the enemy of the people,' " Sulzberger wrote. "I warned that this inflammatory language is contributing to a rise in threats against journalists and will lead to violence."

Trump in a series of tweets later Sunday called journalists "very unpatriotic" for reporting on government affairs.

The president has continued to call the press the "enemy of the people" in the wake of the Capital Gazette shooting, in which a suspect shot and killed five journalists working in their Maryland newsroom.