The New York Times spent decades pretending its reporters were above politics.
Then Maggie Haberman published a story about Trump and 9/11.
And Jake Tapper confirmed everything Donald Trump said about Maggie Haberman in his rush to defend her.
The Story Haberman Published
Haberman and three Times colleagues reported Thursday that Trump planned to skip Ground Zero's 25th anniversary ceremony – and the reason, her sources said, was that organizers wouldn't let him speak.
Here's what Haberman either didn't know or chose not to lead with: the National September 11 Memorial and Museum has barred politicians from speaking at Ground Zero since 2012.
That rule was created to keep the ceremony focused on victims' families and free of politics.
Every president, every governor, every senator.
https://twitter.com/jaketapper/status/2093468646215393666?s=20
Nobody speaks.
The Times framed it as a Trump scandal.
What it actually was: a 14-year-old nonpartisan policy that applies equally to every Democrat who ever wanted a microphone at Ground Zero – and didn't get one either.
Then Jake Tapper Walked Straight Into the Trap
Trump went to Truth Social and unloaded on Haberman – called her "Maggot Hagerman," called her sources fictional, threatened to sue her and the Times, and demanded she return every dollar she ever made covering him.
That's Trump being Trump.
Then Jake Tapper opened his mouth – and handed Trump a gift he couldn't have bought.
Tapper posted that Haberman is "a great person, beautiful inside and out, an incredible mom and wife and colleague, and an amazing journalist" – and called Trump's response "disgusting and beneath the office."
A CNN anchor vouching for a New York Times White House reporter.
On social media.
While the story about that reporter was still under dispute.
You genuinely cannot script this better if you're trying to prove that the mainstream media is one coordinated club that covers for its own members.
Trump said her sources either don't exist or didn't say what she reported.
https://twitter.com/SpencerHakimian/status/2093444619518284160?s=20
Tapper's answer was to tell everyone how great she is personally.
That's not a defense of journalism.
That's two colleagues at the same club closing ranks.
And every person in your life who ever said the mainstream media is biased just got proven right – by Jake Tapper, who lectures America about journalistic standards for a living.
Haberman's Own Response Buried the Story
Haberman went on MS NOW and said this: "We went to the White House. We were quite transparent with them about what we were reporting, including the part about that part of the reason why he was not going to New York was because he did want to speak, and the White House did not say anything, pushing back on what we were reporting."
Read that carefully.
The White House didn't confirm it.
The White House didn't deny it.
They said nothing – and Haberman published anyway, sourced to anonymous people "with knowledge of the events."
She also said: "And then 24 hours later, the president started attacking the piece. Readers can make their own assessment about a denial that comes a day later."
That's a clever line – but it cuts both ways.
https://twitter.com/GuntherEagleman/status/2093458036975132877?s=20
Readers can make their own assessment about a story built on anonymous sources that the White House never confirmed, published by a reporter who just co-wrote a book called Regime Change: Inside the Imperial Presidency of Donald Trump.
That's not a neutral reporter covering a beat.
That's someone with a decade of financial and professional investment in a specific Trump narrative – and sources who know exactly what she wants to hear.
The Pattern Nobody in Media Will Say Out Loud
Haberman won a Pulitzer for the Russia collusion story.
Robert Mueller found no conspiracy.
The Pulitzer stayed.
She covered Trump through two impeachments, one federal indictment cycle, and now a second term – always with anonymous sources, always with a frame that assumes the worst about his motives, always with colleagues at competing networks ready to call her an amazing journalist the moment anyone pushes back.
That's not journalism.
https://twitter.com/Newsforce/status/2093441113264676888?s=20
That's a franchise.
Trump knows it, which is why he's been saying it for ten years.
And Jake Tapper just spent a weekend proving him right – not by defending the sourcing, not by addressing the substance, but by reminding everyone that Maggie Haberman is "an incredible mom and wife."
The 25th anniversary of 9/11 deserves better than anonymous sources turning a president's schedule into a tabloid hit – and so do the families who have been showing up at Ground Zero for two and a half decades without asking anyone for a microphone.
Sources:
- Carlos Garcia, "Trump RIPS into 'maggot' journalist over NYT report on 9/11 — and Jake Tapper comes to her defense," The Blaze, August 31, 2026.
- Maggie Haberman, Zolan Kanno-Youngs, Dana Rubinstein, Sally Goldenberg, "Trump plans to mark 9/11 at the Pentagon, not ground zero," The New York Times, August 29, 2026.
- Fox News Staff, "Trump confirms Pentagon plans for 25th anniversary of 9/11 attacks, disputes report on Ground Zero absence," Fox News, August 28, 2026.
- Mediaite Staff, "Trump Erupts at Maggie Haberman in Tirade Over 9/11 Report," Mediaite, August 28, 2026.
