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Maggie Haberman's highly anticipated magnum opus on Donald Trump is less than a week away -- and the book is already making waves. Several news stories based on reporting from the book were published Wednesday in advance of its release. (See here, here, and here.) While the book contains a mountain of explosive political reporting, it is also packed with several media-related stories. Here are four previously-unreported excerpts I obtained:

► Trump Berates Stephanopoulos: Haberman offers a behind-the-scenes look into a stunning episode that took place after George Stephanopoulos interviewed then-candidate Trump in 2016 and asked about Russia and his relationship with Vladimir Putin. "Once the cameras turned off, storm clouds came over Trump’s face," Haberman writes.

"Trump summoned an ABC producer into a small area away from the cameras, where Trump was surrounded by Secret Service agents, and snarled, 'That was bullshit,'" Haberman reports. "The producer, John Santucci, asked which part of the interview he meant. 'Russia,' Trump replied. 'Eight fucking follow-ups—are you fucking kidding me?' he thundered. 'It’s like asking me if I beat my wife. You ask me once, I say ‘Fuck no,’ and we move on. You don’t then ask if I hit her with a fucking baseball bat or a fucking golf club! That was bullshit and you better fucking fix it in the edit.'"

"Then Trump called for Stephanopoulos to join them," Haberman continues. "When Trump mentioned Russia, Stephanopoulos chuckled, saying, 'I know, my team says I didn’t ask you enough about it.' Trump exploded. 'Are you fucking kidding me! Eighteen fucking follow-ups—how many different ways do I have to say I don’t know the guy?' he said, before eventually stalking off." ABC News declined to comment to me on the matter.

►  Trump, the New York Post, and Melania's Nudes: Haberman reports that the day after Trump taped the Stephanopoulos interview, Rupert Murdoch's New York Post published decades-old nude photos of Melania Trump. But Trump's reaction wasn't what one might expect. "Trump, asked about the photos for the Post story accompanying them, had none of his typical bluster," Haberman writes. "'This was a picture taken for a European magazine prior to my knowing Melania. In Europe, pictures like this are very fashionable and common,' he said. Inside the tabloid’s newsroom, the understanding was the photos had been obtained directly from the photographer."

The next day, Jason Miller appeared on CNN's "Reliable Sources." "Trump called Miller early that day, asking if he had gotten many inquiries about the pictures," Haberman reports. "'Not really,' Miller said. Most reporters would ignore them, he told Trump, treating them as tabloid material unfit for serious coverage. 'Well, if you get asked about the photos, I want you to say this,' Trump said, beginning to dictate a statement. 'Say, ‘It was a different time, sensibilities in Europe are different, they’re artistic.'' Trump also directed Miller to call the shots 'tasteful' and to point out that they were taken before the candidate had met his wife." Miller did just that on "Reliable." A spokesperson for the New York Post declined to comment.

► Murdoch Reveals Succession Plan: Haberman reports that, in 2017, while Trump was searching for a new chief of staff, Rupert Murdoch met with Trump to talk about a potential candidate. But Trump's mind was elsewhere. Haberman reports he spent 30 minutes "hectoring Murdoch about the supposed leftward drift of Fox News." "'It's going to become too liberal when James [Murdoch] takes over,' Trump said, referring to the Murdoch son expected to follow his father as the parent company’s chairman," Haberman writes. "'No,' Murdoch interrupted. 'It’s going to be Lachlan [Murdoch].' That was one of the first times the succession plan ... had ever been made public, and Trump only managed to elicit it because he was so uninterested in dealing with his own staffing issues." A spokesperson for Murdoch did not respond to a request for comment. 

► Hannity's Influence Underscored: Haberman reports on incidents in her book that highlight the tremendous influence Sean Hannity had over Trump. In one case, Haberman reports, Hannity called Trump "to share a rumor spreading online, initially promoted by the far-right media personality Mike Cernovich," about who had leaked a story to The Washington Post. Trump ordered then-National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster to find the leaker. Haberman explains in the book why the person blamed for the leak, Fernando Cutz, could not have been The Post's source. But Trump didn't seem to care. "You’ve got three hours to find the leaker," Trump told him, according to Haberman. She writes, "McMaster later returned to Trump to say he would be unable to identify the person responsible in that time frame. 'The leaker is Fernando Cutz,' Trump said. 'I have a very trusted source telling me that.'" Spokespeople for Hannity did not respond to requests for comment.

I asked Trump's spokesperson, Taylor Budowich, about each of these excerpts. Budowich replied with a predictable statement, saying "coastal elites" are obsessed with "boring books" from "unreliable sources." Of course, it goes without saying that Haberman has arguably been the most reliable source of information on Trump for many years. 

———  BELOW THE FOLD  ———

Keeping Crews Safe: Hundreds of media personnel are deployed to cover Hurricane Ian's wrath -- and keeping them safe is a full time job. I spoke with CNN's senior director of coverage, Vivian Kuo, to learn more about how networks balance safety precautions with covering an unpredictable and dangerous storm. Here's a Q&A with her, condensed for this newsletter. 

► What basic measures are taken to ensure crew safety? "There are pre-deployment conversations on what people are comfortable with. We do our best to pair newbies with veterans so we can bring the best combination of intelligence and experience to bear. Each reporter on the air also has a field producer and a two-person crew. Internal CNN departments then work together to be the field teams’ support systems."

► How do you track crew movements? "We use an app to triangulate teams’ movements and see where they are even when comms are down. It’s not only useful for hurricanes, but other natural disasters as well – and international uses it frequently in war zones."

► How do you maintain a TV signal? "Before field teams even head out the door, they’re armed with a multitude of redundant broadcast options including bonded cellular gear, BGAN equipment, and satellite phones. CNN’s national desk also deployed state-of-the art multi-path satellite trucks, which come equipped with mast cams, drones, production switchers, TelePrompter, return monitors, and WiFi bubbles."

► How does CNN balance the need to bring viewers the story, with the necessity to keep staff out of harm’s way? "Putting even the most seasoned of teams out in these kinds of storms is often what keeps me awake at night. ... It’s a dance between the whole storytelling aspect of demonstrating a clear and present threat to the public and listening to the field teams on their personal wherewithal even in the midst of deteriorating conditions."

Fast Company Still Offline: The Fast Company site is still unavailable, an entire day after the outlet said it was hacked, resulting in two racist push notifications being sent to its Apple News subscribers. For much of Wednesday, those who tried to access the site were greeted by an error page. Later in the day, a splash page with the company's statement was posted.

Fast Company says that the Tuesday hack was "apparently related" to another intrusion that it suffered on Sunday afternoon. The company said it has "retained a leading global incident response and cybersecurity firm and together are investigating the situation." Its website, Fast Company added, will remain offline "until the situation is resolved." Meanwhile, users can access its work on its social media pages.

Couric's Cancer Fight: Katie Couric on Wednesday revealed in a blog post that she was diagnosed with breast cancer in late-June. Couric wrote in the blog post, titled "Why Not Me," that she had surgery in July to remove a tumor that was roughly 2.5 centimeters in size. Couric said she underwent radiation as well, which ended just this week. She explained she went public with the news to encourage others to get their annual mammograms. "I was six months late this time,” Couric wrote. “I shudder to think what might have happened if I had put it off longer." CNN's Lisa Respers France has more. 

Reuters' Review Rattles Twitter Advertisers: Major advertisers are suspending or altogether ditching Twitter after a Reuters review found their ads "have appeared on the profile pages of Twitter accounts that peddle links to the exploitative material," Reuters' Sheila Dang and Katie Paul reported Wednesday. The duo said the advertisers included big names such as Dyson and Mazda. Cole Haan brand head David Maddocks said his company was "horrified" by what Reuters uncovered. 

► A Twitter spokesperson told Reuters the company has "zero tolerance for child sexual exploitation" and is working with advertisers to prevent the incident from happening again.

🔎 Zooming in: This is yet another example of a news organization doing the work that a billion-dollar tech company should be doing: policing its platform for brazen policy violations and taking action. 

Strong Speaks: Doing press for "Armageddon Time," actor Jeremy Strong spoke about a wide-range of subjects, including how he prepares for different roles. Strong, whose acting process has been the subject of much intrigue after a 2021 New Yorker story, commented, "There’s a lot of mythologizing about my process. But it’s very unremarkable and is really just about concentration." Here's the full THR cover story.

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