NYT reporter Maggie Haberman book tour event with story about George H.W. Bush Donald Trump

Former President George H.W. Bush was never a fan of Donald Trump, so much so that during the early 1990s he hid behind a newspaper in order to avoid speaking to him. 

The story was recalled by New York Times correspondent Maggie Haberman who  revealed how former H.W. Bush’s dismissal of Donald Trump during the chance airport encounter led to decades of Trump shunning the Bushes in return.

Haberman, who also serves as a CNN analyst, is currently on tour promoting her tell-all book which was released last Tuesday, Confidence Man: The Making of Donald Trump and the Breaking of America.

During a one-to-one with CNN’s Chief White House Correspondent Kaitlan Collins at a Washington D.C. bookstore, Haberman explained how she actually left out the anecdote which goes some way to explaining Trump’s long-strained relationship with the Bushes. 

‘It was stuff that I couldn’t either confirm enough that I felt comfortable… but I heard two stories after I had finished the book that I would have included if if I could have,’ Haberman teased.

New York Times reporter Maggie Haberman, pictured, said despite writing a 608-page book there are several anecdotes that were left out of her tell-all on Trump

‘One is H.W. Bush how newly out of office maybe a year or two, is at JFK Airport. He’s getting ready to go to a speech overseas. And he’s reading a newspaper, possibly a newspaper I work for. And someone comes over to him and says, “Excuse me, Mr. President, Donald Trump is here and he’s wondering if you’d like to meet him.” 

‘Bush pulls the paper down and says ‘no’, and then goes back to it. And thus began a decades-long warmth toward the Bushes,’ she joked.

The response generated laughter from those present at the Politics and Prose bookstore in the nation’s capital.

‘That’s why he hates the bushes. So that’s [the] one,’ Haberman added.

Author of the book Maggie Haberman, right, was pictured being interviews by journalist and chief White House correspondent for CNN, Kaitlan Collins

Author of the book Maggie Haberman, right, was pictured being interviews by journalist and chief White House correspondent for CNN, Kaitlan Collins

The story Haberman told about the Bushes appeared to draw laughter from the audience

The story Haberman told about the Bushes appeared to draw laughter from the audience

Then-Republican presidential hopeful VP George Bush is pictured socializing with real estate mogul Donald & Ivana Trump during campaign event at Waldorf Astoria in New York in 1988

Then-Republican presidential hopeful VP George Bush is pictured socializing with real estate mogul Donald & Ivana Trump during campaign event at Waldorf Astoria in New York in 1988

There was famously no love lost between the Bush family and the Trumps. Pictured in  2009,  former President George H. W. Bush poses with his sons former President George W. Bush and Jeb Bush

There was famously no love lost between the Bush family and the Trumps. Pictured in  2009,  former President George H. W. Bush poses with his sons former President George W. Bush and Jeb Bush

President George H.W. Bush holds a news conference at the White House in June 1989

President George H.W. Bush holds a news conference at the White House in June 1989

The anecdote had been told previously by author Mark Updegrove's 2017 book called The Last Republicans. The details are similar, although the encounter occurs at Boston's Logan Airport

The anecdote had been told previously by author Mark Updegrove’s 2017 book called The Last Republicans. The details are similar, although the encounter occurs at Boston’s Logan Airport

It is well documented how Trump has made a number disparaging remarks about the Bush family over the years and even mocked H.W.’s campaign rhetoric in the past. 

The anecdote had been told previously by author Mark Updegrove’s 2017 book called The Last Republicans. The details are similar, although the encounter occurs at Boston Logan Airport.  

The 41st President had little respect in return for Trump and was often candid about his disdain for Trump and Trumpism. 

The late Bush Sr. was once quoted as saying, ‘I don’t like him. I don’t know much about him, but I know he’s a blowhard. And I’m not too excited about him being a leader.’ 

Bush Sr., who did not endorse a candidate in the 2016 election, ending up voting for Democrat Hillary Clinton. 

Trump appears to be widely disliked within the Bush family, having belittled ‘low energy’ Jeb Bush, as he defeated him during the 2016 Republican primary.

Jeb fired back, remarking that he goes home to children ‘who actually love me.’

The late Barbara Bush, wife of Bush Sr., called Trump a ‘showman’ and said she didn’t understand why people liked him. 

Haberman, who has broken insider scoops about the Trump administration for years, released a tell-all:  Confidence Man: The Making of Donald Trump and the Breaking of America

Haberman, who has broken insider scoops about the Trump administration for years, released a tell-all:  Confidence Man: The Making of Donald Trump and the Breaking of America

Former President Donald Trump seen on stage during a rally on Sunday night in Mesa, Arizona

'Here we go again! Another Fake book is out, this one, supposedly very boring and stale, by self appointed head case, Failing (unfunded liability!) New York Times writer, Maggie Hagerman,' Trump wrote on Truth Social last month

‘Here we go again! Another Fake book is out, this one, supposedly very boring and stale, by self appointed head case, Failing (unfunded liability!) New York Times writer, Maggie Hagerman,’ Trump wrote on Truth Social last month

Haberman’s reporting has long flustered the former president, leading him to call her ‘Maggot’ Haberman, yet he agreed to sit down with her three times over the course of her reporting for the book. 

‘I love being with her; she’s like my psychiatrist,’ Trump reportedly told aides of Haberman. 

‘Here we go again! Another Fake book is out, this one, supposedly very boring and stale, by self appointed head case, Failing (unfunded liability!) New York Times writer, Maggie Hagerman,’ Trump wrote on Truth Social. 

‘In it she tells many made up stories, with zero fact checking or confirmation by anyone who would know, like me. In one case she lies about me wanting to fire my daughter, Ivanka, and Jared. WRONG, pure fiction. Never even crossed my mind. Just have to fight trouble making creeps like Maggie, and all the rest!’ 

Last week Haberman revealed how those close to Donald Trump predict he will run again in 2024 despite many saying his ‘heart’s not in it.’ 

‘The second he says he’s not, he’s irrelevant,’ Haberman explained to Politico. 

The late Barbara Bush, wife of Bush Sr., called Trump a 'showman' and said she didn¿t understand why people liked him

The late Barbara Bush, wife of Bush Sr., called Trump a ‘showman’ and said she didn’t understand why people liked him

‘Everyone I speak to around him says that they believe he’s going to run. And, not all of them, but many of them say his heart isn’t quite in it.’ 

The reporter added: ‘Now, those two things are not mutually exclusive. You can run and have your heart not be in it. However, we have seen with other people who run when their heart isn’t in it, voters actually can tell you it has an impact on how you run.’

The potential for a former president to launch another campaign amid a whole host of legal challenges and a refusal to accept the 2020 election results is ‘an unprecedented situation,’ Haberman said. 

‘I think Trump misses the pomp and legal protections that the presidency afforded him,’ Haberman said in a separate interview with the New York Times. 

In a separate interview the reporter who has covered Trump for decades since the height of his New York empire, Haberman said she believed the former president had ‘backed himself into a corner where he has to run.’ 

She predicted that Trump believes a run for president could protect him legally and added it is how he raises cash. 

‘I think that he needs the protections that running for president (he thinks) would afford him in combating investigations that he calls a ‘witch hunt.’ And it is the way that he fundraises and makes money. So much of his identity now is about being a politician. So, I expect that he will run. That doesn’t mean that even if he declares a candidacy, that he will stay in the whole time.’ 

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