Haberman says Trump aides fear a lengthy shutdown will be 'problematic for the president'

New York Times reporter Maggie Haberman on CNN on July 25, 2025 (Image: Screengrab via CNN / YouTube)

President Donald Trump's administration is growing increasingly worried that they're losing control of the narrative about the ongoing government shutdown with each passing day, according to one White House reporter.

On Friday, CNN host Jim Sciutto asked New York Times chief White House correspondent Maggie Haberman if there was fear among administration officials that "the politics of this could be damaging for them." Haberman said that despite Trump posting AI-generated videos depicting Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Director Russ Vought as the Grim Reaper, White House aides are privately fretting about the optics of hundreds of thousands of federal workers being furloughed.

"There is concern about that, Jim, they don't quite yet know it's going to play," she said. "If this shutdown continues to go on then it could end up becoming problematic for the president."

"His aides are not certain where this goes. Some of his aides had believed and hoped, for whatever reason, this would have reached some kind of a turning point by today. That obviously has not happened," she continued. "This is now going to head into at least another several days. The House is not supposed to be back for another week and a half. So, we'll see."

Haberman went on to remind viewers that Trump was particularly worried about the political blowback from the antics of Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk – whose Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) gutted multiple federal agencies – who famously brandished a "chainsaw for bureaucracy" onstage at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) earlier this year as a means of making light of mass firings. According to Haberman, administration officials feared that the stunt would result in federal workers who voted for him in 2024 turning against him.

"Trump's advisors were worried about voters were going to see that," she said. "I don't know how any of that helps them, but again, I don't think people are that tuned into this yet. They will be, if this goes on for awhile."

Watch the segment below:

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