All posts tagged "maggie haberman"

An official at Arlington National Cemetery who filed an incident report over a reported dust-up with staffers of the Trump campaign declined to press charges because she feared MAGA supporters may come after her.

New York Times reporter Maggie Haberman joined CNN's "The Source" on Wednesday night to talk about her newspaper's reporting that the family of a Green Beret soldier buried in the cemetery was "clearly displeased" that his gravesite appeared in a TikTok video posted to Trump's account.

Lawmakers and legal experts have said Trump may have violated federal law banning campaign photos and videos in certain sections of the cemetery, including Section 60 — reserved for members who served in Iraq and Afghanistan — where the Green Beret soldier is buried.

During their conversation, Haberman noted an "important" aspect of their reporting that the official who filed an incident report at the cemetery declined to press charges.

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"Military officials said that she was afraid that she was going to be retaliated against by Trump supporters," said Haberman. "It's worth noting that the Trump campaign targeted her, suggesting she was having a mental health episode."

Steven Cheung, a Trump campaign spokesman, has flatly denied a physical altercation took place, telling NPR: "We are prepared to release footage if such defamatory claims are made."

"The fact is that a private photographer was permitted on the premises and for whatever reason an unnamed individual, clearly suffering from a mental health episode, decided to physically block members of President Trump's team during a very solemn ceremony," Cheung said in the statement.

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A New York Times reporter joined CNN on Wednesday night to discuss her reporting on the family of a Green Beret buried in Arlington National Cemetery expressing concern that former President Donald Trump's campaign filmed at his gravesite without permission and in an area where campaign photos are banned.

Trump's TikTok account posted a video showing him smiling and giving a thumbs-up as he attacked the Biden administration's handling of the Afghanistan exit.

Master Sgt. Andrew Marckesano died by suicide in 2020 and was buried in Section 60 of the Arlington cemetery, which is reserved for people who served in Iraq and Afghanistan. His family told the Times that Marckesano's gravesite was caught in pictures with Trump.

While another family said they wanted Trump there, this family did not. Furthermore, the cemetery bans photos and videos taken for campaign use.

ALSO READ: Democrats are reclaiming freedom and the American flag

"The Marckesano family was not contacted or asked for this, but his gravestone is now in that TikTok video from behind," said Times reporter Maggie Haberman on CNN, noting the front of the gravestone with his name is in pictures posted online with Trump giving a thumbs-up.

"They were very clear, the family, in a statement to us, that they really support this other family and other families that lost people in the Abbey Gate bombing in Kabul in Afghanistan, but that this is a restricted area and that they would hope that everyone would be respectful of that. It was a restrained statement but it was very clearly displeased," said Haberman.

The Trump campaign declined to "directly address" what the family said when asked about the TikTok video, according to Haberman.

Steven Cheung, a Trump campaign spokesman, told the Times in a statement that “the campaign will continue to respect the wishes of the Gold Star family members who invited President Trump.”

Haberman noted Gold Star families are not a "monolith" and have differing political opinions. The "broader issue" in this case is whether Trump violated federal law.

"So far the Trump campaign has yet to provide documentation of its claim that it was permitted to do this and that there was an agreement," she said.

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Kamala Harris and the Obamas clearly got under Donald Trump's skin at the Democratic National Convention — and Democrats appear to be baiting the MAGA leader, according to New York Times senior political correspondent Maggie Haberman.

Haberman joined CNN on Friday afternoon, and was asked about Trump's rebuttal on Fox News in which he slammed Harris for failing to talk about China, fracking crime, poverty, the trade deficit and more.

"It was just a lot of complaining," Trump said.

Haberman told anchor Wolf Blitzer the interviews show Trump is "very reactive in all things when he is not in command."

"We've seen this over the course of the last nine years that he's been in politics or the political arena," she said. "He's clearly jarred by her."

ALSO READ: Inside the Democratic National Convention corporate moneyfest

Trump has tried to return to the national conversation following Joe Biden's exit from the race.

Blitzer played a clip of former President Barack Obama attacking Trump over his "obsession with crowd sizes." In the clip, Obama appears to mock Trump using hand gestures to describe the "sizes."

"Both of the Obamas speeches got under his skin," said Haberman. "He is very reactive to both of them. We have seen that since 2011 when Trump spread the lie that Obama was possibly born in Kenya and therefore illegitimate to be president."

Haberman then revealed what "struck" her most at the convention.

"There was a pretty focused message about Trump and we heard it over and over again from the Obamas, from the vice president, from others that he is a rich guy who cares about his rich friends," she said. "What you also saw were comments that I think were designed to bait Trump. That was one of them."

"The more that Trump reacts self-destructively," noted Haberman, "the better Democrats feel it is for them."

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Donald Trump isn't making things easy for his advisors, who now have to try and mend relations with a conservative mega-donor that Trump lashed out at over text.

That's according to New York Times reporter Maggie Haberman, who shared the information during a CNN interview Wednesday night with Kaitlan Collins.

"It's a mess that Trump world would like to not be dealing with," Haberman said.

Trump's texts to Miriam Adelson, which accused her Preserve America PAC of being run by "RINOS," reveal how Trump is coping with recent setbacks. The Republican nominee's "anger is seeping out," Haberman notes, leading to "erratic behavior that people around him are seeing and seeing during times of stress."

ALSO READ: Sen. John Fetterman violates financial law with botched corporate bond disclosures

His team has begged the former president to stay on message, but Haberman said Trump could not help himself from veering during a Wednesday campaign stop in Asheville, North Carolina.

At this point in the campaign, Haberman said Trump's running mate, Ohio Sen. J.D. Vance, may actually be doing a better job as an "attack dog" while staying on target.

"He's actually delivering a more coherent message than Trump is about Harris," Haberman said. "Trump talking about the economy today is what his advisors wanted him to do because that's an area that he does well on against Harris."

"He still would prefer to attack," Haberman said.

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Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump backtracking from a commitment to a debate with Vice President Kamala Harris shows he’s less confident in his ability to stand up to the former prosecutor.

“In terms of the debate, I think he is finding himself a little less than sure footed as this race as changed and it seems as if he’s buying time,” journalist Maggie Haberman said during an interview with CNN’s Pamela Brown Friday afternoon.

While Harris says she’s ready for a debate, Trump’s campaign said in a Thursday statement that scheduling a debate with her “would be inappropriate,” before she’s officially confirmed as the Democratic nominee, “because Democrats very well could still change their minds.”

Read also: Maggie Haberman shares big lesson Trump has learned since 2020 debates

That didn’t stop Trump from debating Biden in June, when neither had gained their party’s formal endorsement, and Haberman says Trump’s reluctance is telling.

“There aren’t very many big moments left that we can predict in this race, but a debate between these two nominees … that would be a big moment,” Haberman says. “I think he’s just playing for time at this point.”

Trump’s plan to return to Butler, Pennsylvania – where he was nearly shot and killed by a would-be assassin earlier this month – was also a revealing move to Haberman, who suggested that it may counterintuitively be a safe place for Trump where he could regain his confidence.

“That was a moment that came at the end of a month where his popularity had increased and it started increasing after his debate with President Biden," Haberman said. “I think some of that is level setting for him.”

Watch the clip below or at this link.

A no-mess Donald Trump isn't underestimating the 46th president.

When they face off June 27, Trump expects the incumbent from working-class Scranton to be on his game — and playing to win.

"I was told that this was where he and his team were heading as they went into the debate. They were trying to move from, you know, Biden can't tie his shoelaces and is going to trip his way all over the stage, to trying to suggest that they expect that he will be good in the same way he was, say, at the State of the Union several months ago," New York Times reporter Maggie Haberman told CNN's Kaitlan Collins on "The Source." "So there is an awareness in Trump's world that they have lowered the expectations pretty solidly for Biden; I don't know that you know a week out from the debate is enough time to try to recast that."

In a bit of self-humility, Haberman said that internally Trump acknowledges that he discounted Biden when they last debated back in 2020, and much of the reason for that was his incessant interrupting.

"Trump did not help himself in 2020 when he was constantly interrupting Biden — he knows that... and his folks are aware that they set the expectations too low for Biden, and Biden beat him."

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On an "All In" podcast that aired Thursday, Trump said he rewatched a 2012 debate where then Vice President Biden squared off against then-Wisconsin Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI). Ryan was running on GOP candidate Mitt Romney's ticket.

Trump said Biden "destroyed Paul Ryan" in the 2012 vice presidential debate, chiding the retired Republican for "chugging water left and right."

"I didn't think a human being would be able to drink so much water at one time," he joked.

But as far as the contender in his path to win the White House, Trump is clear-eyed on needing to keep his fists up this time around.

"I happen to think he's incompetent for a lot of reasons," Trump said of Biden. "I think he's incompetent because he has gotten the worst policies, both foreign policy and internal policy."

"I assume he's going to be somebody that will be a worthy debater. I don't want to underestimate him," Trump added.

Much of the prep — so far — for the presumptive Republican nominee is a course of sessions with lawmakers.

"They're doing what is described to me as 'policy time'," she said. "They are having him meet with various people. They're cycling in advisers senators, a bunch of folks to talk about different topics, whether that's abortion or health care or in some cases talking about how to answer questions about Jan. 6 and the attacks on Trump about posing a threat to democracy."

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