New Book: Trump Vowed to Remain in White House

Facts

• According to an upcoming book by New York Times reporter Maggie Haberman, then-Pres. Trump repeatedly told his aides he wouldn't leave the White House in the weeks following Biden's victory in the 2020 election, asking "How can you leave when you won?"
• At first, according to the book "Confidence Man: The Making of Donald Trump and the Breaking of America," he seemed ready to accept the election results, telling one adviser "we did our best." But his tune soon changed, and he began claiming the election was stolen.
• While he allegedly made these statements to aides in private, Trump said the opposite in public, answering a reporter's question about whether he would leave by saying, "I will, and you know that."
• Haberman has covered Trump since his 2016 presidential campaign, and was part of a team that won a Pulitzer Prize for reporting on alleged Russian interference in the 2016 election, though the allegations have never been proven. She has repeatedly clashed with Trump and his allies over her reporting of him.
• The latest allegations come as Trump is the subject of several legal controversies, including a House select committee's investigation into the Jan. 6, 2021 Capitol riots, and an FBI investigation into whether he illegally stored classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago residence.

Sources: CNN, New York Post, Guardian, and Daily Mail.

Narratives

• Democratic narrative, as provided by AlterNet. Haberman had a duty to her employer, and to the American public, to reveal this information in real time, not to wait until her book came out two years later. Her reporting proved what many were saying about Trump prior to the election, and had she released this information properly more could've been done to oppose Trump's lies about the election results and to prevent the Jan. 6 Capitol riot.
• Pro-Trump narrative, as provided by FOX News. Liberals are in a tizzy because Haberman revealed one of their favorite things – dirt on Trump – but not in a timely enough manner. Haberman has always been a shady reporter, but liberals didn't seem to mind when she and her colleagues at The Times reported on alleged connections between Russian election interference and the Trump campaign, despite a lack of conclusive evidence. She clearly has an anti-Trump agenda and this is a non-story.