Journalist Jonathan Swan discusses his book "Regime Change: Inside the Imperial Presidency of Donald Trump" with Sumi Somaskanda on the BBC podcast Americast. Swan gained access to the inner workings of Trump's White House in 2021, alongside Maggie Haberman, and their reporting is based on that year. The president has dismissed their book as "mostly made up", but the authors' access has sparked interest within the White House about how they obtained it. The podcast assesses key relationships within Trump's team and compares senior figures like JD Vance and Marco Rubio.
Written by the local model on 2026-09-07,
using this article's own text rather than the other coverage of the
same event (that is the story summary below).
Story summary
Donald Trump's White House was infiltrated by a reporter and his team, who spent over a year gaining unprecedented access to the inner workings of the administration. Jonathan Swan and Maggie Haberman wrote a book, "Regime Change," about their experiences, but Trump has dismissed it as "mostly made up". In reality, the book offers a detailed account of how decisions were made in the Oval Office and the relationships between top officials, including JD Vance and Marco Rubio, who had differing opinions on key issues like going to war with Iran. The access was so close that inquiries have been raised about how Swan and Haberman were able to gain such privileges. The reporting provides a unique look at Trump's second administration, from its early days in Mar-a-Lago to his relationships with tech moguls like Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg.
Written for “Inside Trump's White House” on 2026-09-07,
grounded in this article and the 0 other(s) covering the same event.
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No political leaning scored for article 6275 · logged 2026-09-07
Available for over a year
The reporter Jonathan Swan gained unprecedented access to the inner workings of Donald Trump’s White House in the first year of his second administration.
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reporter → gain → administration
Who were the main characters fighting for the president’s attention?
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characters → fight → attention
How were decisions made in the Oval Office?
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decisions → make → Office
And how was the decision taken to go to war with Iran?
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decision → take → Iran
On today’s episode, Sumi sits down with Jonathan to talk about the reporting he did alongside Maggie Haberman for their book ‘Regime Change: Inside the Imperial Presidency of Donald Trump’.
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he → sit → Trump
The president says the book is “mostly made up” but that has not stopped inquiries inside the White House as to how Swan and Haberman were able to gain such close access to operations.
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Swan → say → operations
From the early days of Trump’s presidency inside Mar-a-Lago to his relationship with Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg, we assess the key relationships within Trump’s top team and the differences between senior figures like JD Vance and Marco Rubio.
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we → assess → Vance
This episode was made by George Dabby with Alix Pickles and Grace Reeve.
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episode → make → Pickles
If you want to be notified every time we publish a new episode, please subscribe to us on BBC Sounds by hitting the subscribe button on the app.
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we → want → app
You can now listen to Americast on a smart speaker.
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You → listen → speaker
If you want to listen, just say "Ask BBC Sounds to play Americast”.
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you → want → Americast
It works on most smart speakers.
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It → work → speakers
Sign up for Anthony’s BBC newsletter: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-68093155 Americast is part of the BBC News Podcasts family of podcasts.
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Americast → sign → podcasts
The team that makes Americast also makes lots of other podcasts, including Newscast.
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that → make → Newscast
If you enjoy Americast (and if you're reading this then you hopefully do), then we think that you will enjoy some of our other pods too.
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you → enjoy → pods
