Maggie Haberman Reveals ‘Primary Driver’ Of Trump Psyche In Wake Of Charlie Kirk Killing

New York Times reporter Maggie Haberman on Wednesday broke down why Charlie Kirk’s assassination is now taking up the most space in President Donald Trump’s White House. (Check out her comments below.)

In an appearance on CNN’s “The Arena with Kasie Hunt,” Haberman told the host that “threats” on Trump’s life — and those around him — are at the top of his mind, pointing to the two failed assassination attempts against him last year.

“It is really hard to overstate how shaken the White House and the president was and were by Charlie Kirk’s assassination,” she said of Trump, whose administration requested a $58 million security boost following the killing.

“A lot of people in the White House were very close to Charlie Kirk — or knew him or admired him — and President Trump was also close to him but also sees this in terms of the threats on his life. And so, I think that’s what you’re seeing is a primary driver [for the White House] right now.”

Haberman said the administration’s Jeffrey Epstein saga would have taken up most of its headspace a couple of weeks ago but Trump has since made it “very clear” that he’s engaging in “crackdowns” against the left.

The president has pinned the blame for Kirk’s assassination on the “radical left” and cherry-picked episodes of political violence to make the case that the left is more violent than the right.

In his video message from the Oval Office on the killing, he referred to the assassination attempt against him in Butler, Pennsylvania, last year as well as attacks against federal immigration agents, the UnitedHealthcare CEO shooting and the 2017 shooting that injured then-House Majority Whip Steve Scalise (R).