New York Times reporter Maggie Haberman said Saturday that she can name the point when President Donald Trump's supporters started to lose faith in him. According to Trump's own allies, it was his handling of the Jeffrey Epstein files.
"That was the moment, by the way, that last year with how Trump handled Epstein and the files, that was when, according to his own top allies and advisers, that was when they could start seeing his own base not believing in him quite as much," Haberman said at the Texas Tribune Festival in Austin.
She said something happened then that she and her Times colleague Jonathan Swan had never seen before.
"It was the first time Jonathan and I could recall Trump saying believe me, not what you're hearing over there, and it didn't work," Haberman said.
Haberman made the remarks during an interview with Texas Tribune co-founder Evan Smith, while explaining why Republicans are nervous about the midterms. She listed promises she said Trump has failed to keep, including exposing Epstein's associates.
"If you run on I'm going to shatter the Epstein cabal," she said. She noted that Trump "actually did it less than some of his own people, including Vance."
During the 2024 campaign, Trump allies, including JD Vance, who is now vice president, promised to release the Epstein files. After the administration took office, the Justice Department and FBI said last year that no "client list" existed and that no more files would be made public. That set off a revolt among parts of the MAGA base. Trump then told his supporters to move on and called the uproar a "hoax."
In the same interview, Haberman said "every Republican I talk to is completely freaked out" about November. She also recounted a Trump voter in Miami telling her the president "turned out to be a real disappointment. He's just another politician."
"That is the danger for Trump, when someone who runs as different is seen as more of the same," she said.
Maggie Haberman: “Every Republican I talk to is completely freaked out. It’s gonna be bad. If you run on Joe Biden didn’t fix the economy, it’s clear that I am the only one who can do this, I am going to reduce prices, I am going to keep inflation down, I am going to fix this and… pic.twitter.com/szPKN6TUQ3
— Marco Foster (@MarcoFoster_) September 26, 2026