Donald Trump has stayed up until the early hours of the morning going on tirades about news stories that have enraged him.
The 80-year-old president—whose late-night posting habits and lack of sleep have drawn scrutiny amid questions surrounding his health—had two separate meltdowns over The New York Times’ coverage on Wednesday morning.
The first post, sent at 1:25 a.m. ET, took umbrage at one detail in a Times story headlined “Trump Trots Out His Chaotic Greatest Hits to a Weary Public.” The article detailed the president’s chaotic actions in the wake of the GOP’s disastrous midterm results, including resorting to pushing unsubstantiated election fraud claims, suggesting UFC president Dana White as the new White House press secretary, and removing his chief of staff, Susie Wiles.
“The New York Times incorrectly reported that ‘Mr. Trump called into the premier of a C-Span show, APPARENTLY WITHOUT NOTICE.’ This is WRONG,” Trump posted. “It was a fully scheduled call, as a favor to C-Span, set up through White House Communications. It was done at C-Span’s request, not mine. The Times knew this, but lied, in order to demean - But this is the least of their lies!”
Trump was referring to the phone interview he gave just after 9 p.m. on Monday, where Washington Journal Prime Time host Mimi Geerges struggled to keep the president on topic or get proper answers as he rambled on for eight minutes.
The interview had some additional intrigue, as it began with the sound of a woman—suspected to be Trump’s favorite White House aide, Natalie Harp—giggling on Trump’s end before the president started talking.
At 1:47 a.m., Trump also lashed out at another story the Times published on Tuesday about his former personal lawyer, Alina Habba Mildon.
Habba, who was found to have been serving illegally as New Jersey’s top federal prosecutor, is facing disciplinary action following an investigation by the Office of Attorney Ethics in New Jersey into a settlement she brokered between a waitress at Trump’s Bedminster golf club, who had accused a club manager of sexual harassment, and the club.
Trump’s former lawyer befriended the then-21-year-old Alice Bianco and allegedly convinced her to drop her lawyer and accept a $15,000 settlement and other terms “favorable” to the golf club—where Habba was a member—and “unfavorable” to Bianco, according to a complaint.
Habba’s office then drew up a nondisclosure agreement for Bianco to sign, even though New Jersey law prohibits NDAs in workplace harassment cases.
“The failing New York Times wrote about the ‘settling of a sexual harassment suit brought years ago by a waitress at President Trump’s golf club in Bedminster, N.J,’” Trump posted just before 2 a.m. “What they fail to say is that it did not involve President Trump, a rather important omission. FAKE NEWS!!!”
The Daily Beast has contacted The New York Times for comment.
The Daily Beast has long reported on the worrying trend of Trump staying up all night posting on Truth Social.
In April, the 80-year-old president, who has a habit of falling asleep in public, posted between 9 p.m. and 6 a.m. so much that there were only five days that month when Trump could have had a full night’s sleep.
