Trump attacks Maggie Haberman book, touts Walter Reed physical

Trump the president called the New York Times reporter's work “Fake News,” vowed his multibillion-dollar lawsuit would reach court soon and said he aced three cognitive tests.

First Published: July 11, 2026, 8:34 AM ET

WASHINGTON D.C. — LEDE Donald Trump renewed his assault on New York Times reporter Maggie Haberman, dismissing her book as garbage and pledging his lawsuit against the paper would soon reach court, in a Truth Social post on July 11, 2026 at 12:23 PM ET.

The post reinforced a long-running feud. The president claimed 90% of Haberman’s work is false and warned she would pay a price once his “Multi Billion Dollar Lawsuit” against the newspaper is heard. He also used the message to promote a recent physical and cognitive test at Walter Reed.

VERBATIM Here is the full post on truthsocial: “Maggot Hagerman has covered me incorrectly for ten years. Her book is a joke! 90% of it is Fake News. She has made a living off her bad reporting, and will pay the price when our Multi Billion Dollar Lawsuit against The Failing New York Times gets to Court, which should not be that long. I don’t mind bad press, if they are right. I do mind Fake Reporting, like what’s in her boring book, and like she’s done for eleven years, with only one aim in mind, to have Trump lose Elections but, as I sit in the Oval Office and ponder, that hasn’t worked out too well. Maggot is a loser! If she ever wrote the true story about me, it would actually be quite boring, but loaded with lots of SUCCESS. Also, I just finished a perfect physical at Walter Reed, I do it every six months, and I requested another Cognitive Test, the only President to do so, three times, and I aced them all — Got every question right. Few people in Washington, D.C., could do so, including Maggot and her flunky associate, Jonathan Swan. I would be willing to bet they couldn’t get 50% of the questions right. Anyway, don’t buy their book, it’s garbage! Trump”

NARRATIVE Trump used the derogatory nickname “Maggot” for Haberman, a senior political correspondent at the newspaper whose reporting has focused heavily on him. He said her only aim was “to have Trump lose Elections,” adding that the effort “hasn’t worked out too well.” He also targeted Jonathan Swan, whom he called Haberman’s “flunky associate,” and claimed neither could pass the cognitive test he said he aced.

The attack extends a feud that stretches back years. Trump called on the newspaper to apologize for “getting years of “Trump” coverage so wrong” in November 2024, when he labeled Haberman a “third rate writer” (see hindustantimes.com). The newspaper defended her, with a spokesperson saying she and her colleagues have “an unrivaled record of providing deeply-reported and authoritative coverage” (see hindustantimes.com).

Trump first deployed the “Maggot” nickname in 2022 while attacking Haberman’s book “Confidence Man: The Making of Trump and the Breaking of America” (see hindustantimes.com). He has repeatedly framed her reporting as biased, part of a broader pattern of attacks on the outlet he calls “The Failing New York Times” (see truthsocial).

BUTTON Presidential clashes with the press stretch across American history. Thomas Jefferson, who won the presidency in 1800, wrote in 1807 that “nothing can now be believed which is seen in a newspaper,” even as his allies funded partisan papers (see britannica.com). Richard Nixon compiled an enemies list that included reporters and pursued grievances against outlets before resigning in 1974 amid the Watergate scandal (see britannica.com). Such fights have rarely silenced the newsrooms, and coverage of those presidents endured long past their time in office.

In the last 30 days, 10 of 510 Trump posts focused on media bias.