White House Alarm Grows Over Haberman, Swan The Situation Room Tapes

Axios reported growing concern inside President Donald Trump’s White House after excerpts from Regime Change raised suspicion that Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan may have obtained audio from the situation room. The book, Regime Change: Inside the Imperial Presidency of Donald Trump, is scheduled for release on June 23.

The concern followed excerpted passages that reconstructed internal talks on Iran and the Epstein files controversy with unusual detail. One Trump source put the question bluntly: "Do they have tapes?"

Regime Change Excerpts

Haberman and Swan said their reporting drew on roughly 1,000 interviews with officials, lawmakers, donors, and others. That explanation sits alongside the White House reaction: one source told Axios the passages felt closer to a transcript than to traditional reporting.

In the Iran excerpt, Secretary of State Marco Rubio was reported to have said, "In other words, it’s bullshit." White House officials have not publicly disputed that reported line.

Situation Room Details

The reporting also described senior officials meeting in the Situation Room to manage political fallout from the Epstein files controversy. The passage said Vice President JD Vance, Chief of Staff Susie Wiles, Attorney General Pam Bondi, FBI Director Kash Patel, and other senior figures were involved.

It said they were weighing messaging strategies and political damage control, including debate over whether arranging an interview between Ghislaine Maxwell and Tucker Carlson might shape public perception. The same reporting led to concern because the Situation Room is one of the most secure facilities in the federal government.

June 23 Release

There is no public indication that Haberman and Swan possess recordings of any White House meetings. What the excerpts have changed is the level of scrutiny around how closely their book reconstructs private conversations before it reaches readers on June 23.