"Is the Department of Justice sanitizing its connection to Media Matters for America?"

"Needless to say, nobody’s talking over at DoJ... at least they’re tacitly admitting that getting caught at treating with MMfA too openly is a public relations disaster…"

Treating with?

Could the people inclined to inform us about this Fast & Furious episode please write more competently? I went to that link (at RedState) after reading this story at Breitbart where I couldn't find a quotable sentence. It seems like an important story. How about making it easy to share?

IN THE COMMENTS: mariner said:

"Treating with" is "making nice with" or "allying with".

I haven't seen that usage in a long time.

So "treat" in the sense used in "treaty"? I don't remember ever seeing that. But let me check the OED. The oldest meaning of "treat" as a verb is:

intr. To deal or carry on negotiations (with another) with a view to settling terms; to discuss terms of settlement; to bargain, negotiate.

I'm surprised at this usage, which I think I would have picked up if I'd seen it written in something from the 19th century or earlier....

1617 F. Moryson Itinerary i. 195, I‥. was forced to treat with unknowne Merchants for taking money upon exchange.

I would have understood that easily. I'm not sure that's the usage needed in the quote in the original post, since the point is that the DOJ and Media Matters were already in an alliance, and it was showing, not that they were negotiating in public.