After hearing from the first source, the two POLITICO reporters on the story, Jonathan Allen and John Bresnahan, quickly confirmed Biden’s words with three other sources who were in the same room. They also contacted a fifth source, who confirmed the basic reporting. The original tip came in at about 1 p.m. Aug. 1, and POLITICO spent the next few hours in contact with the vice president’s office, which was aware of what the story was going to say and had been given several hours to respond by the time the story posted at 4 p.m…

The original story was also clear about the context of Biden’s remarks, noting that he was responding to someone else. According to our reporting, Rep. Mike Doyle (D-Pa.) said “we have negotiated with terrorists,” and the story quotes Biden agreeing, saying: “They have acted like terrorists.”

To be clear, the quotes came to POLITICO from sources both in real time from the meeting and immediately after the meeting, so the comments were fresh from the sources involved.