It’s time for another round of Trump/Epstein stories. On Wednesday, the New York Times published the first excerpt from Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan’s new book about the Trump White House, titled “Inside the White House Freakout Over the Epstein Files.”
On Wednesday, per The Daily Beast, MSNBC host Joe Scarborough discussed the scoops on air, prompting Trump to freak out on Truth Social about Scarborough’s ratings, although he didn’t mention the Epstein issue specifically.
“Joe Scarborough’s ever shrinking, low rated show, one of the most inaccurate detailers of truthful facts on television, is being crushed in the ratings,” Trump said in the Truth Social post. “His serious case on Trump Derangement Syndrome, often referred to as TDS, has made him a laughing stock among those who know what is going on in the ‘Wonderful World of Television.’ His show is being cut because his ratings are TERRIBLE, and Mike and Willie, who wants to be his father but doesn’t have the talent, are falling further and further into the TDS Swamp! They all suffer from Low Ratings Disease!!!”
So what did the actual scoop say?
The Times story, from the Haberman/Swan book, details a July 2025 White House Situation Room meeting in which Trump’s advisers discussed what to do about the possible release of the Epstein files.
“Now, however, Trump’s most senior advisers had gathered — without him — to figure out how to gain some measure of control over a very different kind of crisis threatening to engulf the presidency: the Epstein files,” the excerpt said. It was also shortly before the Wall Street Journal published the “Epstein birthday book” story.
“The Wall Street Journal was preparing a damaging article about Trump’s relationship with Epstein,” the story said. The president’s desperate attempts to kill the story had failed. His team now had to get everyone onto the same page about how to counter the growing swarm of attention. They needed a gesture of transparency to appease an increasingly angry base, but also a way to convey the message that the president was sympathetic to his supporters’ concerns. Which itself was a problem, because he clearly wasn’t.”
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