In a flurry of Saturday morning tweets, President Donald Trump came to the defense of his personal lawyer Michael Cohen and criticized New York Times writer Maggie Haberman.
Trump’s tweets come in the wake of an article published by Haberman in which she and fellow writers Sharon LaFraniere and Danny Hakim write about the president’s relationship with Cohen, whose office was raided by the FBI on April 9. The article builds a case based on a handful of interviews with folks close to the situation that Cohen could soon turn against Trump.
Per the Times: “Mr. Trump’s lawyers and advisers have become resigned to the strong possibility that Mr. Cohen, who has a wife and two children and faces the prospect of devastating legal fees, if not criminal charges, could end up cooperating with federal officials who are investigating him for activity that could relate, at least in part, to work he did for Mr. Trump.”
Trump hated the suggestion that his lawyer, who once said he would “take a bullet” for the president, might betray him in order to cooperate with federal investigators.
“The New York Times and a third rate reporter named Maggie Haberman, known as a Crooked H flunkie who I don’t speak to and have nothing to do with, are going out of their way to destroy Michael Cohen and his relationship with me in the hope that he will ‘flip,’” he wrote, before calling their sources “non-existent.” “Most people will flip if the Government lets them out of trouble, even if it means lying or making up stories. Sorry, I don’t see Michael doing that despite the horrible Witch Hunt and the dishonest media!”
The New York Times and a third rate reporter named Maggie Haberman, known as a Crooked H flunkie who I don’t speak to and have nothing to do with, are going out of their way to destroy Michael Cohen and his relationship with me in the hope that he will “flip.” They use….
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 21, 2018
….non-existent “sources” and a drunk/drugged up loser who hates Michael, a fine person with a wonderful family. Michael is a businessman for his own account/lawyer who I have always liked & respected. Most people will flip if the Government lets them out of trouble, even if….
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 21, 2018
….it means lying or making up stories. Sorry, I don’t see Michael doing that despite the horrible Witch Hunt and the dishonest media!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 21, 2018
Haberman—the “third-rate reporter”—is a White House correspondent for the New York Times and has been on staff since 2015, when she was brought on as campaign correspondent. She was part of a team that won a Pulitzer Prize in 2018 for national reporting on the Trump team’s connections with Russia, according to her bio.
Ironically, when tweeting about the story herself, Haberman said that when she asked one person if Trump had been abusive to Cohen, the source replied, “He’s abusive to everybody.”
When I was reporting this story, I said to one person who’s observed the Cohen-Trump relationship that Trump has been abusive to him. The person replied, “He’s abusive to everybody.” https://t.co/coxNMRVCUl
— Maggie Haberman (@maggieNYT) April 21, 2018
Haberman and her colleagues haven’t responded to Trump’s tweet.