Maggie Haberman Draws Laughs by Comparing Trump to ‘Steak au Poivre’ in 86 47 Parable

CNN anchor Kaitlan Collins laughed at New York Times White House correspondent Maggie Haberman’s parable comparing President Donald Trump to “Steak au Poivre” to illustrate a point about the indictment of former FBI Director James Comey for posting a photograph of seashells forming the numerical phrase “86 47.”

After the failures of revenge cases against Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James last year, news broke on Tuesday that a grand jury in North Carolina returned an indictment against Comey over an Instagram post that the Trump DOJ is claiming constituted a threat on President Donald Trump’s life.

Legal experts from across the gamut deride the case as “weak” or even “fatally flawed.”

On Wednesday night’s edition of CNN’s The Source with Kaitlan Collins, Collins asked Haberman for her take on the case, and was understandably amused by the steak analogy — as well as the revelation that Haberman used to wait tables:

COLLINS: When the President was talking about — the other thing he got asked about in the Oval Office today. We hadn’t heard him weigh in on, on James Comey being indicted for a second time today. What is your — what are you hearing from sources? What’s your reporting on that second indictment, and whether or not they actually think it will make it to trial or be successful?

HABERMAN: It’s a great question, Kaitlan, and I don’t think we’re going to know for a while.

I think that, you know, predictions tend to be somewhat useless. Although obviously saying that this was an immediate threat or an urgent threat, or whatever words have been described. I don’t know what they presented to the grand jury. But this took place a 11 months ago. So it’s not — it doesn’t seem as if this was something that was at the front burner.

It is the second indictment that they have brought against him, and one was, as statute of limitations were about to expire, so I suspect that that will get raised by Comey’s lawyers.

And then there’s the point of intent. And Comey took the post down. He apologized. Whether people think it was wise for him to post that or not, is an entirely different point. 86 is — yes, President Trump is right, that it sometimes can be used by mobsters.

It originally was a restaurant term, as I understand it, and certainly when I was working at a restaurant, and we were saying we were 86-ing Steak au Poivre, it was because we were out of Steak au Poivre. It wasn’t because somebody wanted to hurt the Steak au Poivre.

COLLINS: (LAUGHS)

HABERMAN: So, I think there’s going to be — I think this is an uphill battle for them. I’m not a lawyer. But I think that Comey is almost certain to file a vindictive prosecution memo. And the judge is a George W. Bush appointee. So, we’ll see.

COLLINS: Yes, Maggie Haberman as a waitress, I have questions about that. But I want to ask you about–

HABERMAN: Many people did, Kaitlan. Particularly the customers, yes.

(LAUGHTER)

COLLINS: We’ll talk about that offline.

Watch above via CNN’s The Source with Kaitlan Collins.

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