‘Don’t Talk To Me This Way!’ Trump Scribe Maggie Haberman Tells Off Mystery Source in Phone Call During Politico Interview
L: Leigh Vogel/Getty Images R: Jeff Swensen/Getty Images
New York Times correspondent and author Maggie Haberman told off an unidentified source during a phone call she took while being interviewed to promote her book on former President Donald Trump.
Haberman’s controversial but much-buzzed-about upcoming book Confidence Man: The Making of Donald Trump and the Breaking of America drops in four days. Politico’s Michael Kruse is out with a profile that dives deep into the author’s past and present.
Haberman’s book has become a lightning rod, with critics questioning her for holding back damaging and potentially criminal details for the tome instead of reporting them out immediately — or, in the case of Trumpworld, trying to wish it out of relevance.
The piece features copious quotes from colleagues praising Haberman, and while Kruse sums up some of the criticism that has been lobbed at Haberman, he never gets his subject to address them. For her part, though, Haberman is well-known for engaging directly with critics on Twitter — though not recently.
Haberman’s contributions include an apparently brief afternoon conversation at Gargiulo’s restaurant in Coney Island. They also visited City Hall and Rue 57 near Trump Tower. If Kruse asked about the criticism, he doesn’t say so.
What Haberman does have to say to Kruse in that interview at Gargiulo’s is frequently interrupted by presumably important phone calls, like when she tells her interviewer that she is “stuck” covering Trump:
“If I went and covered something else, do you think I really get away from this?” she said.
“No,” I said.
“Even if I did move on,” she said, “I don’t get to move on, because at this point I am so publicly associated with this story — so, until he stops being a story, I think I’m stuck.”
“So what do you —?”
“What do I want? Some sleep,” she said. “I just want some sleep.”
Her phone buzzed. “I’ve got to get this. I’m sorry,” she said. She stood up abruptly from the table and walked away.
The author also contributes some very intimate quotes about her family life growing up, into which Kruse delves with some rigor.
The interview ends with a tantalizing one-sided phone call as Haberman and Kruse drive away from Gargiulo’s and into Brooklyn:
Her phone kept buzzing. And now it was a source from a different story. I could hear only her end of the conversation, but it was obvious that the source was not at all pleased, and it was equally obvious Maggie Haberman was not having it. “It’s not a cheap shot,” she said. “You think facts you don’t like are cheap shots, and they’re not,” she said. “Don’t talk to me this way!”
The full profile can be read here.
