It was probably the P-G's call as far as disabling comments for the reprint on its website. Did the NYT disable comments for the article on its own website?
ff
Good point. Actually they did not at first be did close it for comments after received 847 posts. See here: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/27/opinion/trump-civility-sarah-huckabee-sanders.html#commentsContainer