‘Is That Real?’ Stunned John King Asks Maggie Haberman If Trump Actually Asked His Diet Coke Sommelier How To Overturn Election
CNN’s John King asked New York Times correspondent and CNN analyst Maggie Haberman to verify that a stunning anecdote from her book about former President Donald Trump was real.
Haberman has been making the rounds to promote the release of her controversial but much-buzzed-about book Confidence Man: The Making of Donald Trump and the Breaking of America.
On Friday’s edition of Inside Politics, Haberman spent most of the hour with King, discussing the political news of the day. But during one segment, King had to ask her about a bizarre scene from the book.
At issue is Trump’s well-documented fascination with Diet Coke, which included a red button on the Resolute Desk that would send a White House valet running to fetch him a bottle of the soft drink.
King read a passage from the book that had Trump asking the Diet Coke wrangler for advice on how to overturn his election loss, then asked Haberman: “Is that real?”:
JOHN KING: So one last one here. This is about what to do. Trying to challenge the election, “quizzing nearly everyone, even the valet who brought him Diet Cokes after he pressed a red button on the Resolute desk about which different options would lead to success.” A: Is that real? And B, in the context, I’m not making– the White House valets are incredibly hard working people who love the institution of the building. But if Donald Trump runs again, who will be around him?
MAGGIE HABERMAN: I mean, you just hit on the important, most important point about a future Donald Trump presidency. I know there’s some theory that he’s figured out how to do it better next time. And that’s not really true. What he, he is obsessed with personnel. Everything with Donald Trump comes down to personnel. Where’s my Roy Cohn, searching for his fixers. Now, what he did figure out in 2020 is that he finally had the, quote unquote right people whom he thought would help him. Those are the kinds of folks he would turn to.
JOHN KING: Right. It’s fascinating. It’s great. From beginning to end.
Watch above via CNN.
