Donald Trump knocked out New York Times writer Maggie Haberman on her new book about him, Confidence Man: The Making of Donald Trump and the Breaking Up of America.
The former president accused her of telling made-up stories and failing to check facts, while calling her a “creep” and misspelling her name.
Mr. Trump wrote on Truth Social: “Here we go again! Another bogus book has come out, this one, supposedly very boring and outdated, by self-proclaimed lead case Failing (unfunded liability!) New York Times writer Maggie Hagerman.
He continued, “She tells many made-up stories in it, without fact-checking or confirmation by anyone who knows, like me. In one instance, she lied about me wanting to fire my daughter, Ivanka, and Jared. FALSE, pure fiction. It never even crossed my mind. I just have to fight to do creeps like Maggie and all that!”
Haberman, who has documented Mr Trump’s life since before he was in the White House, was quick to hit back at the accusation that she failed to verify his stories, with – as Mr Trump suggests – “Anyone who knows, like me”.
On Twitter, alongside her Truth Social post, she posted a photo of a typed list of questions with answers written in the former president’s distinctive style, in her preferred format, the black Sharpie marker pen, proving that she had gone to him.
Of all the snippets published in the media in recent days, the former president seems the most offended that he wants to fire his daughter Ivanka Trump and his son-in-law Jared Kushner.
In Haberman’s notes, Mr. Trump indeed denies wanting then-chief of staff John Kelly to kick his daughter and her husband out of the White House when asked why he ultimately decided to. do not do it.
He writes in pen: “False story – Kelly was too stupid to properly handle such an event if it was true, which it was not.”
However, as attorney Ron Filipkowski notes on Twitter: “There are a lot of people who served in the Trump administration who support the story that he wanted to fire Jared.”
Haberman’s account of the incident in her book is that the then-president was seconds away from launching a tweet that would have alerted her daughter and husband that they were no longer employed at the White House.
Both worked as senior White House aides and the former president – who reportedly grew tired of his son-in-law’s presence and described him as looking like ‘a child’ – only decided not to fire them from the fury of his thumbs because his Mr. Kelly, then chief of staff, and Don McGahn, then a White House attorney, warned against it.
Mr Kelly reportedly stopped the president from launching a tweet that would have quickly signaled the couple’s departure from the Trump White House, warning that the news would be best communicated through a face-to-face conversation.
This conversation, writes Haberman, never took place. Ivanka and Mr. Kushner remained employed at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue until their boss and relative left in January 2021.
