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Ariana Baio
Aug 08, 2022
Donald Trump renews attack on lightbulbs and goes after toilets and showers
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There is now apparent photographic evidence that former president Donald Trump may have flushed notes down the toilet while in the White House, according to Axios and reporter Maggie Haberman.
Earlier this year, Haberman revealed that several White House staffers claimed toilets would become clogged with crumbled up notes supposedly written by Trump while he served as president. It's something Trump has vigorously denied.
But now, Haberman appears to have provided photographic evidence to support her claims.
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On Monday, Haberman and Axios reporter Mike Allen published two photos apparently taken by White House staffers who found the supposed notes in toilets.
One photo contains a note at the bottom of a toilet bowl from the White House with the word "qualified" written on it.
Another, a photo of a note with the words "Rodgers" and "Stefanik" seemingly written on it sitting in a toilet bowl from a trip Trump took overseas.
\u201cNEW: Here are photos that the NY Times\u2019 Maggie Haberman obtained from a White House source showing documents with Trump\u2019s handwriting on them \u2014 in two different toilets. Trump reportedly flushed both sets of documents repeatedly. This contradicts his repeated denials.\u201d— Jon Cooper (@Jon Cooper) 1659960711
Upon seeing the photos, people on Twitter had a field day using #FlushGate and "Trump's toilet" as keywords to share their feelings toward the new photos.
\u201cA flushing toilet should be the last sound we ever hear of the Trump presidency. A clogged toilet being plunged will forever be my lasting image of his presidency.\u201d— Joe Walsh (@Joe Walsh) 1659959608
\u201cWe are flush with new information about the former guy this morning\u201d— George Conway\ud83c\udf3b (@George Conway\ud83c\udf3b) 1659959781
\u201cTrump\u2019s reputation plunges further down the toilet.\u201d— Tim O'Brien (@Tim O'Brien) 1659960683
The report from Haberman comes ahead of her new book Confidence Manwhich "chronicles his life and its meaning from his rise in New York City to his tortured post-presidency."
Haberman is a New York Times senior political reporter who has spent years following Trump from his business endeavors to his presidency.
The flushing-notes-down-a-toilet story is part of Haberman's new book. She told Axios that this method of 'discarding documents' was "not widely known within the West Wing, but some aides were aware of this habit, which he engaged in repeatedly"
Trump has come under fire recently for allegedly violating the Presidential Records Act.
In January, the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) recovered 15 boxes of information from Trump's presidency that he took with him to Mar-a-Lago rather than hand over to the National Archives.
\u201c"We have a situation where we're looking very strongly at sinks and showers, and other elements of bathrooms," Trump says.\n\n"People are flushing toilets 10 times, 15 times, as opposed to once."\u201d— The Washington Post (@The Washington Post) 1575663987
Trump has denied flushing any notes down the toilet.
When the report first emerged in February, Trump called it "categorically untrue and simply made up by a reporter in order to get publicity for a mostly fictitious book".
The denial was reiterated today.
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