All posts tagged "maggie haberman"

White House 'not a happy place' right now amid Trump's 'frustrated mood': Maggie Haberman

New York Times reporter Maggie Haberman revealed the mood inside the White House amid President Donald Trump's frustration.

During a Thursday appearance on CNN, Haberman was asked about the White House environment as Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt wrapped up her final day. CNN anchor Laura Coates noted that the second Trump administration isn't seeing as much turnover as the first, but she expects "a lot of midterm anxiety" in the White House right now.

"What's the morale like right now in the West Wing?" Coates asked Haberman.

"A midterms [race], as you know, is often a time when people leave White Houses. These are grueling jobs. There are, you know, intensity times a thousand," Haberman explained, but she added that staffers are feeling more pressure than usual as Trump is in a bad mood.

"It's not a happy environment by any of the reporting that we have," Haberman said. "The president has been in a pretty frustrated mood for a while about Iran, which, again, is of his own making."

Haberman added that Trump "does not have the patience for long-term diplomacy or having these lengthy conversations to try to get out of a situation."

Haberman and fellow New York Times reporter Jonathan Swan wrote Regime Change, which looks inside the White House during Trump's second administration. She told Coates that the book noted that Trump expected the conflict in Iran "to be a quick war."

Trump expected that "this would be over fast, and that just is not how it worked out, and now there is a further depletion of munitions, and there are stories about that all the time," Haberman said. "And he is frustrated about leaks and on and on and on."

As a result, "It's just not a happy environment" in the White House right now. "It is normal that people want to leave and want to go make money at this point, but it is very much not a happy place right now."

Trump staff 'not happy' after he blindsided them with Michael Cohen reunion: expert

President Donald Trump's team didn't expect him to agree to an interview with his former fixer turned foe Michael Cohen, a White House reporter shared.

During a Thursday appearance on CNN, Maggie Haberman, a White House correspondent for The New York Times, revealed that Cohen had a reputation in Trump's circle of being unforgivable, which is why insiders were caught off guard when the president signed on for a 40-minute interview with him.

" Trump really never closes the door on almost anyone entirely. Actually, I always said — and others in Trump's world, who would say too when having this conversation — was except for Michael Cohen," Haberman said. "That was because most people believed around Trump that there was just no way that Trump was ever going to get past that trial in 2024."

Haberman was referring to Cohen's testimony that led to Trump's New York criminal conviction for hush money, which Trump is appealing. However, the two appeared to bury the hatchet with an interview that will be released in full later this week.

In a preview of the interview that came out on Thursday, Cohen gushed and reminisced with Trump, calling him "sir" and "boss" while praising his second administration. According to Haberman, Trump's inner circle didn't want the president to reunite with Cohen, though.

"There are a number of people in Trump's world, his staff, former staff, extended advisers, who are — even if they are staying silent about it — within Trump's world, they're not happy about this," Haberman said. "They feel like Cohen, with his various forms of testimony, caused a lot of problems for a bunch of other people."

Trump insiders "are kind of stunned to see him walking away from his own role and that Trump is going on this radio show," Haberman added. She also noted, "Cohen is one of the only people who actually did prison time during all of this...and Trump has expressed some empathy over that, believe it or not."

Maggie Haberman reveals Trump's secret motive for sitting down with Michael Cohen

New York Times White House reporter Maggie Haberman said President Donald Trump hopes to play his reunion with his fixer to his advantage.

Michael Cohen announced he would interview Trump on his podcast, despite their fallout in 2018. During an interview on CNN on Thursday, Haberman said Cohen's interview with Trump isn't as surprising on its face, given how it could play to the president's advantage.

In 2018, Cohen pleaded guilty in Manhattan federal court to eight criminal counts and implicated Trump in a scheme to silence women who claimed affairs with him during the 2016 campaign. Haberman noted that Trump is appealing his conviction in that case after he was found guilty by a jury on 34 felony counts in 2024.

According to Haberman, Trump's team in the White House sees the interview as a way to help him with the appeal.

"There's also a utility to some in the White House, not many, but some in the White House who support the president, who think that Cohen's speaking out about that trial could be useful as they are trying to appeal the conviction," Haberman said.

Haberman noted that although it seems like a big reunion, considering Cohen has been an outspoken, public critic of Trump since then, it's not as much of a make-up as it seems.

Cohen used to be Trump's personal lawyer and self-proclaimed fixer. Cohen has called Trump a "cheat, a liar, a fraud, a bully, a racist, a predator," and Trump has branded Cohen a "rat," Forbes noted.

However, Haberman pointed out that she reported that the two had a "brief meeting" at Trump's Bedminster golf course last year, "and that was the first time they had spoken."

She said, "That was the beginning of what you are seeing now," but she added that Cohen hasn't completely soured on Trump.

"If it were up to Cohen, he would still be working for Trump," Haberman said.

Maggie Haberman reveals Natalie Harp's 'incredible power' within the Oval Office

Devoted aide Natalie Harp is President Donald Trump's channel to the outside world and even texts world leaders on his behalf, a veteran Trump reporter revealed on Wednesday.

New York Times reporter Maggie Haberman revealed the details of Harp's role during an appearance on CNN. Haberman wrote about Harp's role in the Trump administration in a Wednesday article for The Times, as well as in the book she co-authored, Regime Change.

"She is not the White House Staff Secretary, which is supposed to be the last step for paper flow. She's not the Press Secretary from whom certain media requests are supposed to come. She is a channel by which foreign leaders try to reach him if they can't some other way," Haberman said. "She has a channel by which he reaches people he sees on television who he likes."

Throughout the day, Harp is talking to Trump about his social media posts. The CNN segment included clips from the documentary "Art of the Surge" about Trump's 2024 campaign, in which she's shown writing Trump's Truth Social posts as he dictates them, random capitalizations and all.

"She is a specific channel of information, but she is one that he considers very important. So do other people outside the White House," Haberman said. "She's got a position of incredible power, but it's not outside the Oval Office. It's inside the Oval Office."

According to Haberman's Wednesday article for The Times, Harp has a $150,000 taxpayer-funded salary. During the CNN segment, Haberman said she and co-author Jonathan Swan understand Harp has a security clearance. Haberman also described Harp's relationship with other White House staffers as a "food fight," noting that she's "not beloved."

The Times article also mentions videos it obtained that show Harp sprinting across a Scottish golf course to keep up with Trump's cart. She later wrote him a letter.

"I also am sorry if I was an embarrassment walking the course in Scotland," Harp wrote Trump. "I want things to always be right between us."

Harp signed off, "With all my heart, Natalie."

Author reveals 'complete canard' Trump admin has been selling: 'Good at keeping secrets'

A New York Times reporter detailed how good the Trump administration is at keeping secrets.

Jonathan Swan, who co-wrote the book Regime Change with fellow NYT reporter Maggie Haberman, explained during an appearance on MS NOW's "Deadline: White House" that the Trump administration even kept secrets from senior officials.

"There is this phrase that they use, 'We're the most transparent administration ever.' Trump says it all the time," Swan said. "It's a complete canard. When they actually want to keep secrets, they're very good at it."

Swan added that the administration kept secrets about "the Trump family, investment from the Emiratis in their crypto business, or whether it's the memorandum of understanding to end the war [with] Iran."

Even "very senior people in the U.S. government had no idea what was in the document," Swan continued, referring to the memorandum of understanding at the heart of Trump's Iran deal.

"I'm talking about very senior people at the Pentagon, State Department, intelligence community," Swan said. "This is really a country being run by five, seven people, sitting around, and when you're that concerned with secrecy, with limiting leaks, you're not allowing certain people in the room who might have subject-matter expertise to offer."

Swan and Haberman's book has already revealed stories from inside the administration, like a "freakout" among President Donald Trump's top staffover the Epstein files and First Lady Melania Trump's objections to his White House overhaul. Swan said that the second administration is much different from the first in regard to its secrecy.

"It became really apparent to us through this reporting," he said. "This group of people around Trump, much more than the first term, is very good at keeping secrets."

'Biggest leaker' in the Trump White House singled out by ex-CNN anchor

A high-profile ex-CNN anchor singled out the insider said to be the "biggest leaker" in the Trump White House.

Don Lemon said during an interview with Legal AF host Michael Popok that Vice President "J.D. Vance is like the biggest leaker of them all" in the White House based on what "many people have said and according to some of the reporting."

Lemon and Popok were talking about Trump's efforts to hunt down the insider who leaked details of a "freakout" in the Situation Room over the Epstein files. The freakout is detailed in the forthcoming book Regime Change by New York Times reporters Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan.

"Donald Trump could very well be one of the people who leaked to" Haberman, Lemon admitted, adding that it's possible Trump "doesn't even realize it."

However, he and Popok made the case for suspecting Vance is at least "the biggest source for people," as Lemon put it.

"He looks good in the story, relatively," Popok said, referring to the NY Times reporting on the Epstein freakout in the Situation Room. "Among the liars in the room, he looks like he's the one that says, 'let's get the story out about Donald Trump'...I'm like, among those people in the room, that was like the best thing to say."

Lemon pointed to reporting on the Iran war that also seemed to favor Vance.

"Remember, the reporting was that J.D. Vance was the only one in the room who was against it," Lemon explained. "It's like, well, how does J.D. Vance always come out looking better than anyone?"

Trump Chickens Out and Won’t Go After NYT Reporters for Epstein & Iran Leaks?! by Legal AF

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Trump White House hunting for insider who leaked details about Epstein freakout: report

The Trump administration is launching a "massive leak hunt" to find out who spilled details on a panicked conversation inside the White House.

A new book by journalists Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan has the Trump White House scrambling to find out who leaked details about the Trump administration's "freakout" over the release of the Epstein files, according to reporting by CNN. The New York Times published an excerpt of the book, "Regime Change: Inside the Imperial Presidency of Donald Trump," on Wednesday.

The book's excerpt describes a meeting that Trump didn't attend or know about in the Situation Room. Included in the meeting were his senior aides, Vice President JD Vance and White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles, last year to plan how to contain the fallout.

Others present included then-Attorney General Pam Bondi, then-Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, and FBI Director Kash Patel, according to reporting by The Daily Beast. According to an excerpt of Haberman and Swan's book, Vance "appeared panicked" about how the Epstein files would divide the president's base.

CNN cited a person who "detected" the search for the leaker to confirm that the White House is now hunting them down.

NYT's Maggie Haberman delivers blunt verdict on Trump's 'very confusing' war

Trump's reasoning for carrying on the war in Iran while facing upcoming midterms and trying to open the Strait of Hormuz for shipping doesn't make sense, said New York Times White House correspondent Maggie Haberman.

"I see it as very confusing," Haberman told CNN's Jake Tapper on Thursday. "It is very hard to know what is happening. Frankly, from either government."

Haberman pointed out that Iranians "are facing economic difficulties. There's no question about that," but "gauging exactly what that means is quite hard," she said.

"The economic issues that are being created by the energy crisis from this war are pretty measurable in terms of the cost of gas at the pump," at home in the U.S., though, Haberman added. But Haberman is perplexed that Trump's strategy with the war doesn't factor in voters' discontent with the bump at the pump.

"We'll see if President Trump gets more engaged in the midterms and feels as if there's some personal interest in it for him," Haberman said. "Maybe he will decide he wants to travel, but as long as gas prices remain where they are, it's not a great climate for his party."

Iran and U.S. Naval forces exchanged fire on Thursday. Trump boasted U.S. military action in a Truth Social post shortly after the skirmish, writing that Iranian ships "dropped ever so beautifully down to the Ocean, very much like a butterfly dropping to its grave!