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The first excerpt from a new book by New York Times White House reporters Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan is out, and wow, it’s a doozy.
The excerpt was published Wednesday by the Times under the headline: “Inside the White House Freakout Over the Epstein Files.”
It’s an excerpt from the book, “Regime Change: Inside the Imperial Presidency of Donald Trump,” which is due out June 23. The official description of the book says it is “based on hundreds of interviews and unprecedented reporting from deep within the administration’s most closely guarded rooms.”
This excerpt focused on the fallout from Trump’s relationship with notorious pedophile Jeffrey Epstein.
In a companion piece to the excerpt — “6 Takeaways From the Story of How the Epstein Files Paralyzed the White House” — Haberman and Swan wrote, “The secure Situation Room complex, where President Obama and his team monitored the raid that killed Osama bin Laden, became the setting for a string of meetings in which the Trump administration’s most senior officials gathered — without the president — to manage the fallout from public fury over their failure to release the Epstein files.”
Why did they meet without Trump? According to Haberman and Swan, “Trump made clear to his aides that he had no interest in releasing anything related to Epstein. He snapped at anyone who raised the issue, and his staff mostly learned to avoid the subject in front of him.”
The reporters also wrote that Trump tried to kill The Wall Street Journal’s damaging story about his relationship with Epstein, going as far as calling the Journal’s owner, Rupert Murdoch, and the paper’s editor-in-chief, Emma Tucker.
There’s much, much more to all of this, but clearly Haberman and Swan talked to people inside the White House — something else that has some White House officials quite rattled. Haberman and Swan recount things said by Trump, Vice President JD Vance and chief of staff Susie Wiles.
For example, Haberman and Swan wrote, “Vance pressed repeatedly for the administration to release everything — even unsubstantiated material about Trump — arguing that Congress would force the issue eventually and that getting ahead of it would earn the White House credit for transparency.”
The Times also reported about the “lingering distrust” between then-Attorney General Pam Bondi and the FBI’s top two officials: Director Kash Patel and then-Deputy Director Dan Bongino over the Epstein story. That included multiple accusations of leaking stories to the media.
CNN’s Brian Stelter writes, “Triggered by the book, ‘there is a massive leak hunt underway,’ a person who has detected the hunt told me this morning.”
The headline on Stelter’s “Reliable Sources” newsletter sums it well: “Freaking out over ‘Freakout.”
So if officials are freaking out, you’d have to think the conversations and details from inside the White House are accurate.
Good morning
MS NOW’s Joe Scarborough brought up the Times excerpt on his “Morning Joe” show and talked about its importance.
Apparently, the president was watching.
At 6:55 a.m. Eastern on Wednesday, Trump took to his Truth Social to write, in part, “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. 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.”
A few moments later, Scarborough read Trump’s post and said, “Donald, thank you for writing this.”
Addressing the part about having Trump Derangement Syndrome, Scarborough said, “I tell people that we actually talk on the phone, and sometimes I go talk to you in the White House, and we disagree on things, but nothing deranged here, sir. Unless you’re deranged, if there’s any derangement, it would have to be on your side of the relationship, because I’m not deranged, not about you. I just state the facts, and maybe that makes you deranged.”
Scarborough added, “As you know, I’m praying for you and your health and that you’ll do what is right for this country.”
The latest from ‘60 Minutes’
According to Edmund Lee, Helen Coster and Dawn Chmielewski of Reuters, new “60 Minutes” executive producer Nick Bilton has hired a TV production consultant to help with his transition to the TV newsroom. Bilton is a former New York Times technology columnist and documentary filmmaker who has no real experience in traditional TV news. The consultant is Kelly Funke, who has worked in television production for more than a decade.
Reuters wrote, “One staffer described Funke’s role as someone brought in to ‘fix the trust’ with staff. Another staffer said she has been operating as Bilton’s ‘chief of staff.’ … Bringing aboard Funke, who a source said is on a 90-day contract with a renewal option, suggests Bilton anticipated some difficulty in managing a newsroom that has chafed under Weiss’s leadership.”
A CBS News spokesperson told TheWrap’s Josh Dickey, “Kelly Funke is excellent. She is supporting Nick in an operational capacity — not as a journalist or editorial consultant.”
Reuters added, “Another Bilton hire is Nick De Lucca, 24, who has described himself to staff as ‘Nick 2.0,’ according to a fourth person familiar with the matter. De Lucca was given the title ‘operations manager,’ a significant role typically focused on logistics, according to the person. According to his LinkedIn bio, he has worked as an associate producer at Bilton’s production company since 2024.”
Bilton told staffers in an email that the show will continue to have editorial independence. Naturally, they are skeptical after all the recent changes to the show. Aside from firing longtime “60 Minutes” employee Tanya Simon as executive producer and replacing her with Bilton, CBS News editor-in-chief Bari Weiss also fired correspondents Cecilia Vega and Sharyn Alfonsi. Veteran correspondent Scott Pelley was then fired after confronting leadership about the changes, and has since accused Weiss of trying to insert political bias into stories, a bias that favors the Trump administration.
Speaking of ‘60 Minutes’
“Pivot” podcast co-host Scott Galloway told co-host Kara Swisher that he was approached about a job at “60 Minutes.”
When asked by Swisher, Galloway said, “I said, no (expletive) way.”
Galloway told Swisher that the job was kind of an Andy Rooney-type role. Rooney, as you might recall, was on “60 Minutes” from 1978 to 2011. He would give brief, often humorous, commentaries at the end of the program.
Galloway told the New York Post’s Ariel Zilber, “Bari called me and asked me if I’d be interested in having some sort of contributor role.”
Galloway added to the Post, “I am clearly not qualified to be one of their journalists. So on the phone we zeroed in on the potential of me contributing an Andy Rooney-like segment.”
Oddly, a CBS News spokesperson told the Post that it was actually Galloway who approached them, saying, “We think Scott’s great. When he approached us with a pitch for an Andy Rooney-esque segment in December, we were happy to consider it.”
However, Galloway disputed that account, saying it was Weiss who reached out to him.
During his “Pivot” conversation with Swisher, Galloway also criticized veteran correspondent Lesley Stahl for staying at “60 Minutes.”
For more on that, check out this story from Mediaite’s Alex Griffing.
Another social network
Writer and director Aaron Sorkin, shown here in March 2025 at the Vanity Fair Oscar Party. (Evan Agostini/Invision/AP)
The trailer for “The Social Reckoning” — a follow-up to the 2010 movie “The Social Network” about Facebook — dropped Wednesday. While the first movie was about Facebook’s beginnings, “The Social Reckoning” looks to be about “The Facebook Files,” a 2021 investigation in The Wall Street Journal that exposed the dangers and negative impacts of social media. It’s set to be released in the U.S. in October.
Like the first movie, this one is written by Aaron Sorkin, who will be directing, as well. The first movie was directed by David Fincher.
Based on the trailer, Jesse Eisenberg is not reprising the role of Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg. Instead, Zuckerberg will be played by Jeremy Strong, best known for his part in HBO’s “Succession.” With the goofy haircut, they make Strong sort of look like Zuckerberg, but there’s no question that Strong nails Zuckerberg’s voice.
The new movie also stars Jeremy Allen White, Mikey Madison and Bill Burr.
Kick things off
The World Cup, hosted this year in North America, gets underway today in Mexico. The tournament will be played across 16 cities in Mexico, Canada and the United States. The tournament will feature teams from 48 countries playing a total of 104 games. The final is set for July 19 at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey.
To get you ready, be sure to check out the latest episode of “The Poynter Report Podcast.” I spoke with Laura Williamson, The Athletic’s editor-in-chief for the U.K. and Europe, who is helping lead that outlet’s World Cup coverage.
The Athletic will have more than 100 full-time soccer journalists writing stories for The Athletic’s website, as well as producing work for social media, newsletters and podcasts.
Williamson told me, “We talk about sporting moments, but this is just unlike anything that the company has ever done before. I was in Qatar for the duration of the tournament in 2022 and it’s just such a different animal, because you could go to four games in a day, you know. You can’t go to six across three countries this time around.”
Aside from watching on YouTube, you can also find the show on Apple, Spotify, and most places where you find podcasts.
Meanwhile, check this out: “The Athletic Is Bringing Fans Everywhere Free Access to Its World Cup Coverage.”
Media tidbits
- My Poynter colleague Amaris Castillo with “Five laid-off Eater journalists are betting on a different future for food media.”
- Mediaite’s Michael Luciano with “Fox News Host Plays Montage of Trump Saying Iran War Is ‘Close’ To Ending: ‘That’s Nine Weeks.’”
- CNN’s Brian Stelter with “At Ted Turner tribute, CNN journalists vow to uphold independence in uncertain times.”
- Al.com’s Ruth Serven Smith with “Tommy Tuberville threatens to sue Alabama journalist who posted redacted tax returns.”
- Variety’s Brian Steinberg with “Bravo Bucks Tough Ad Trends, Keeping Some Upfront Dollars Moving Away From Traditional Cable.”
- Awful Announcing’s Drew Lerner with “The case for and against Pat McAfee’s $60M ESPN deal.”
Hot type
The New York Times’ Kashmir Hill and Aric Toler with “They Tried to Catch a Predator. They Trapped Themselves Instead.”
More resources for journalists
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Have feedback or a tip? Email Poynter senior media writer Tom Jones at tjones@poynter.org.
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