New York Times White House Correspondent Maggie Haberman joined PBS/CNN anchor Christiane Amanpour on the latters’ The Ex Files podcast on Tuesday to talk about President Trump’s relationship with the press. During their conversation, Haberman lamented Trump’s “attacks on women” journalists, but Haberman is the same person who claimed on Sunday that Trump aide Natalie Harp is “his binky.”
During her discussion with Amanpour, Haberman conceded Trump also goes after male journalists but claimed his attacks on female reporters are nastier, “But the attacks on women are usually much more pointed about their looks in particular. And so he has always done—he's attacked me for years, years, years, years. I mean, he first attacked me on what was then Twitter in 2012 when I was still at Politico.”
After denouncing Trump’s speech at the White House Correspondents Dinner, Haberman reiterated, “It is not a White House control dinner. And that also gets to a question that you asked before, which I should talk about in terms of the media, but his attacks on female reporters have gotten much nastier and much more aggressive and much less just about being a keyboard warrior where he would do it on, you know, Twitter in term one. He has done it about me. He's been calling me a hag. He has called me the least attractive, whatever. I mean, who cares? I mean, he can say whatever he wants.”
A couple of days prior, MS NOW’s Connect host Jacob Soboroff asked Haberman how certain aides were selected to go with Trump during his famous deception flight out of Turkey, “Tell us about the people that he brought with him in the catering truck to the plane and why them and not all these other folks like Marco Rubio or Stephen Miller or Karoline Leavitt.”
Haberman pointed out that Leavitt was not, in fact, on the trip, but as for the actual question, he claimed, "That is actually a question we still don't have answers to as to how he picked. I can guess why Natalie Harp and Walt Nauta and Dan Scavino were with him. There may have been others. Those are the ones we know about. Pete Hegseth, I believe was there because this was a military operation, primarily. And he was on a military jet. So that doesn't surprise me.”
She then claimed, “But Natalie Harp, because she is sort of his, his binky, for lack of a better way of putting it. Comfort blanket. Walt Nauta is something similar. You know, he also always carries that brown leather briefcase that became very familiar in term one. It had things like Tic Tacs and hairspray and all kinds of stuff.”
Haberman’s derisive “binky” remarks were not a mistake. Haberman was quite proud of the analogy because elsewhere on Tuesday, she told the far-left Democracy Now! that “I described her as something like a human binky a couple of days ago, and that really is what she is.”
Some nasty attacks on women are apparently better than others.
Back on The Ex Files, Amanpour tried to argue the press isn’t hard enough on Trump, “Can you explain why the rest of the press corps doesn't do what I believe in which is an attack on one is an attack on all and either you all don't go or you all don't show up or each and every one of you ask that person's question until it is answered or until they've run out of breath?"
Haberman replied, “So I think there's a couple of pieces there and it does get to some of what I wanted to say about the media. I don't happen to agree that we should be, you know, getting into an argument with him about what he says to us because that is actually the distraction that he is sometimes looking for.”
She also claimed one of the impediments to Amanpour’s wish is “they've taken control of the press pool. They pick the outlets that go in. It used to be done by the White House Correspondents Association. The Trump administration now does it. They have very successfully, in many cases, pitted the media against other media… The media as, you know, we are not a union collectively. It's a bunch of different businesses and they have now set it up where there's a lot of new media, a lot of influencers, a lot of people who are frankly in the pool who are just Trump supporters.”
What Haberman and Amanpour are really upset about is that there are people in the press corps who are now allowed to ask questions from a different perspective and don’t call White House aides a “binky.”
Here are transcripts for the August 16 and 18 shows:
Christiane Amanpour Presents: The Ex Files
8/18/2026
MAGGIE HABERMAN: But the attacks on women are usually much more pointed about their looks in particular. And so he has always done—he's attacked me for years, years, years, years. I mean, he first attacked me on what was then Twitter in 2012 when I was still at Politico.
CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR: But you have so much access, Maggie. That's what's kind of interesting about it.
HABERMAN: Well it's here's the thing. He’s—there was this rant that he did—I shouldn't say rant. There was this whatever he did at the redone White House Correspondents Association Dinner, which there's a there's a whole lengthy, you know, seminar to have on the utility of that dinner at this point and in that particular case it was he really took control of it and that's just not at all— I mean this whole thing where he's talking about how the ballroom is necessary for the White House Correspondents Dinner—it's a journalist dinner. It is not a White House control dinner. And that also gets to a question that you asked before, which I should talk about in terms of the media, but his attacks on female reporters have gotten much nastier and much more aggressive and much less just about being a keyboard warrior where he would do it on, you know, Twitter in term one.
He has done it about me. He's been calling me a hag. He has called me the least attractive, whatever. I mean, who cares? I mean, he can say whatever he wants.
AMANPOUR: Well, first of all, it's a lie, so—
HABERMAN: Well, thanks. But I mean, even if—whatever. I mean, it's—
AMANPOUR: It's nuts.
HABERMAN: We don't—no, but—well, we don't expect a president to be—
AMANPOUR: No. Or anybody, frankly, in any elected office like that.
HABERMAN: No. And it—but it's—and some of—
AMANPOUR: Let me ask you something because the thing that bothers me about it, Maggie, actually, and it goes after Kaitlan, our colleague, Kaitlan Collins—
HABERMAN: Oh yes.
AMANPOUR: —and many others.
HABERMAN: She is made of steel, Christiane, I just need to say that. Kaitlan’s incredible.
AMANPOUR: Yeah, I agree. But can you explain why the rest of the press corps doesn't do what I believe in which is an attack on one is an attack on all and either you all don't go or you all don't show up or each and every one of you ask that person's question until it is answered or until they've run out of breath?
HABERMAN: So I think there's a couple of pieces there and it does get to some of what I wanted to say about the media.
AMANPOUR: Yeah.
HABERMAN: I don't happen to agree that we should be, you know, getting into an argument with him about what he says to us because that is actually the distraction that he is sometimes looking for.
AMANPOUR: Yeah.
HABERMAN: I am much more interested in having him answer questions.
AMANPOUR: Exactly.
HABERMAN: And that has gotten very, very hard. Now, in terms of the Kaitlan of it, part of what is remarkable about her just, sort of, steely presence there is that this White House has done something that no White House that I've ever covered has done, which is they've taken control of the press pool. They pick the outlets that go in. It used to be done by the White House Correspondents Association. The Trump administration now does it.
They have very successfully, in many cases, pitted the media against other media. That is one of the things that Trump—
AMANPOUR: Yeah.
HABERMAN: —is really expert at going back to his days when, you know, when he was dealing with tabloids in New York.
AMANPOUR: Yeah.
HABERMAN: The media as, you know, we are not a union collectively. It's a bunch of different businesses and they have now set it up where there's a lot of new media, a lot of influencers, a lot of people who are frankly in the pool who are just Trump supporters.
***
MS NOW Connect with Jacob Soboroff
8/16/2026
10:50 AM ET
JACOB SOBOROFF: Tell us about the people that he brought with him in the catering truck to the plane and why them and not all these other folks like Marco Rubio or Stephen Miller or Karoline Leavitt.
MAGGIE HABERMAN: Again, this is this—well, Karoline Leavitt, by the way, wasn't on this trip. It's actually important — there's like a huge internet rumor that she was there and that's why she's leaving. She was not on the trip. So just for anybody who's still asking about that, it was Steven Cheung who was the press person there.
SOBOROFF: Got it.
HABERMAN: But that is actually a question we still don't have answers to as to how he picked. I can guess why Natalie Harp and—
SOBOROFF: Dan Scavino.
HABERMAN: Walt Nauta and Dan Scavino were with him. There may have been others. Those are the ones we know about. Pete Hegseth, I believe was there because this was a military operation, primarily. And he was on a military jet. So that doesn't surprise me.
SOBOROFF: But he didn't go sort of the sneaky route. He went up the steps.
HABERMAN: Right. Which seems to have been part of the ruse—
SOBOROFF: — Yes
HABERMAN: in the deception. But Natalie Harp, because she is sort of his, his binky, for lack of a better way of putting it. Comfort blanket. Walt Nauta is something similar. You know, he also always carries that brown leather briefcase that became very familiar in term one. It had things like Tic Tacs and hairspray and all kinds of stuff.
