Scoop: Trump aides fear Haberman and Swan obtained Situation Room tapes for "Regime Change"

Cover: Simon & Schuster. Photo of Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan: Doug Mills/The New York Times

Top White House officials believe New York Times reporters Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan obtained audio recordings of Situation Room meetings for their forthcoming book, "Regime Change."

Why it matters: Such a taped leak would be a shocking breach of one of the most secure settings on Earth. Independent recording devices in the Situation Room are forbidden.

"We're afraid some of our most sensitive conversations were being recorded," an administration source told us. "And we have no idea which ones."

Verbatim accounts of several Situation Room meetings were included in excerpts about the Iran war and the Epstein files that The Times posted ahead of the book's June 23 publication. The authors conducted more than 1,000 interviews for "Regime Change," which covers Trump's second term.

Tellingly, White House officials haven't disputed verbatim dialogue from the top-secret Sit Room talks, including Secretary of State Marco Rubio saying about Bibi's regime-change scenarios for Iran: "In other words, it's bullshit."

We hear President Trump is furious about the blow-by-blow accounts.

Haberman and Swan refused to comment.

Reality check: Haberman and Swan didn't need audio recordings. Bob Woodward pioneered contemporary historical political journalism by including dialogue in his books that was reconstructed from the memories of people in the rooms where things happened.

The big picture: Audio recordings or not, the speculation about them, and the extensive coverage of the book's juicy excerpts, mean more buzz, more book sales ... and the making of a classic.

Axios' Marc Caputo contributed.

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Scoop: Trump aides fear Haberman and Swan obtained Situation Room tapes for "Regime Change"

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