The Two Sides of The Times
On Thursday, The New York Times published the first public interview with Kathy Ruemmler, the former Goldman Sachs chief legal officer and White House counsel whose ties to Jeffrey Epstein have come under scrutiny following the release of emails detailing their relationship. Yet the interview was not conducted by one of the newspaper’s journalists. Instead, it appeared in the opinion section as a guest essay—an unusual arrangement that quickly sparked criticism from nearly 1,500 commenters who saw the piece as a sympathetic forum for a powerful figure seeking to rehabilitate her reputation.
Beyond the backlash to the interview itself, the circumstances surrounding its publication generated blowback inside The Times. The interview was conducted by Ankush Khardori, a legal analyst and former federal prosecutor who is not a Times staffer, even as the newsroom continues its extensive reporting on Epstein and the shadowy figures who enabled his notorious sex-trafficking operation. According to multiple people familiar with the matter, the opinion section didn’t commission the interview; instead, Khardori approached The Times with the piece himself.
The episode has revived frustration inside the newspaper about the relationship between the opinion section and the newsroom, two operations that function independently but have occasionally found themselves at odds. Recent controversies have laid bare how the columns published by Kathleen Kingsbury’s department has generated tension within the broader organization, with some questioning whether the standards and priorities of the opinion section are aligned with those of the Joe Kahn-led newsroom. Multiple staffers told Status they worry some public figures could begin viewing the opinion section as a way to “end run” tougher scrutiny from Times reporters and secure a more favorable hearing.
The Ruemmler interview landed less than a month after The Times published a front-page news story examining the extraordinary lengths she had gone to repair her reputation amid revelations about her ties to Epstein. In that article, reporter Robert Draper noted that Ruemmler declined to comment on reporting about the involvement of reputation management firm Terakeet in efforts to downplay her relationship with Epstein.
Some staffers found it striking that Ruemmler sat for more than three hours of interviews with Khardori after largely declining to engage with the newsroom’s inquiries. Status has learned that staffers privately complained about the “uncritical” nature of the interview, which concluded that “castigating Ms. Ruemmler will not change the incentives that allowed Mr. Epstein to evade prosecution for so long, and it will not fix the deficiencies in federal law enforcement and the American legal system.” Another staffer questioned whether the opinion section had effectively served as a “loophole” in this instance.
A spokesperson for The Times disputed that characterization, telling Status in a statement: “A recent guest essay from New York Times opinion presented compelling and illuminating coverage of Kathy Ruemmler. As you know, our news and opinion sections do not coordinate with each other.”
Of course, the concern among staffers is not that opinion contributors conduct interviews. The Times opinion section has a long history of securing exclusive conversations with newsmakers. The issue is that a public figure facing intense public scrutiny can decline to engage with newsroom journalists, only to tell their story in a more favorable forum under the same masthead.
The backlash arrives just weeks after the opinion section found itself at the center of another controversy. Last month, columnist Nicholas Kristof published a deeply reported investigation detailing allegations of sexual abuse against Palestinians in Israeli detention facilities, triggering intense public criticism and forcing The Times to publicly defend the reporting. Some critics argued that the more explosive claims made in Kristof’s reporting shouldn’t be treated credibly, considering they came from an opinion journalist and hadn’t been independently advanced by the newsroom.
While the two episodes are obviously different in nature, together they have exacerbated tensions between the newsroom and opinion section, raising questions about whether opinion is operating out of sync with the rest of the organization on high-stakes stories and potentially undermining the newspaper’s credibility.
And as much as The Times emphasizes the independence of the opinion department from the newsroom’s reporting, that distinction may not be entirely clear to readers. When opinion columns spark questions about reporting standards—as with Kristof’s explosive piece—the resulting discourse rarely remains confined to one side of the institution. Instead, critics frequently seize on those moments to attack the credibility of the newspaper at large.
There is no indication that opinion editors coordinated with Ruemmler to help her sidestep newsroom scrutiny. But the perception that a public figure can shape a narrative through one corner of The Times after declining to engage with another raises uncomfortable questions about the relationship between the paper’s two famously walled-off sides.
The UFC Freedom 250 stage is constructed on the White House South Lawn. (Photo by Aaron Schwartz/Getty Images)
On Donald Trump’s 80th birthday, thunderstorms threaten to derail the UFC fights. Accordingly, Paramount+ pushed back pre-fight television coverage an hour. [NYT]
Relatedly, the White House attacked The Weather Channel after it had the audacity to report that the UFC event faced a “chaotic weather setup,” claiming it was made by a “friendless loser who wrote this bullshit clickbait headline.” [Mediaite]
Among those in attendance so far: J.D. Vance, Stephen Miller, Pete Hegseth, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Scott Bessent, Lee Zeldin, Kelly Loeffler, and more. [WaPo]
Earlier in the day, David Ellison attended the pre-fight brunch Paramount hosted at the Ned, as Status first reported.
A different way to mark Trump’s big day: Jimmy Kimmel wished Trump a happy 80th birthday by spoofing the now-infamous Jeffrey Epstein card. [Deadline]
White House officials believe Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan obtained audio recordings of Situation Room conversations for their forthcoming book, which would serve as a significant security breach, Jim VandeHei and Mike Allen reported. [Axios]
Status Scoop | Ryan Broderick’s Garbage Media is expanding with a splashy hire—tapping Lisa Tozzi as chief operating officer. Tozzi, the former Rolling Stone executive digital director and BuzzFeed News global news director, will help scale Garbage Day’s expanding slate of newsletters, podcasts, and live events.
The outlet now reaches more than 100,000 newsletter readers and draws about 200,000 podcast downloads each month.
Broderick told Status that Garbage Media expects to generate $1 million in revenue this year. “We’ve built a really solid creator business over the last few years, but we’ve been looking for someone who knows how to take all the different pieces and turn us into a proper digital media brand,” he said. “Lisa was our dream hire and we’re honored that she’s coming aboard.”
NBCU News Group boss Cesar Conde granted a rare interview, speaking about facing political pressure, A.I., and more. [NYT]
FBI director Kash Patel has adopted Trump’s strategy of launching defamation lawsuits against news organizations, filing six suits of his own against outlets publishing critical coverage, Erik Wemple catalogued. [NYT]
Pete Hegseth snapped at Margaret Brennan, claiming that coverage of U.S. military stockpiles in crisis is a “manufactured story that the media wants to peddle.” [Mediaite]
Jeff Jarvis pointed out that The NYT did not lead its digital site with the Knicks winning the NBA championship, arguing “it is proof” the outlet “is not a New York newspaper anymore.” [Bluesky]
A slew of A-listers jetted to San Antonio to watch the New York Knicks clinch their first championship in over five decades, including Sydney Sweeney, Prince Harry, and, of course, Spike Lee, Ben Stiller, and Timothée Chalamet. [Deadline]
The Trump administration’s decision to crackdown on Anthropic’s A.I. models came after conversations with Amazon chief Andy Jassy. [WSJ]
The U.K. is poised to ban children under 16 from major social media platforms such as TikTok, Instagram and X and add new restrictions on messaging apps. [Guardian]
Tyra Banks sued Netflix and the producers of the docuseries “Reality Check: Inside America’s Next Top Model,” alleging that a “false and defamatory narrative” was constructed. [The Wrap]
Emily Blunt and Josh O’Connor in “Disclosure Day.” (Photo by Niko Tavernise/Universal Pictures and Amblin Entertainment)
Steven Spielberg’s “Disclosure Day” beamed up an estimated $44 million domestically for Universal, on the high side of expectations.
Last week’s newcomers “Masters of the Universe” and “Scary Movie” both fell off a cliff, each dropping just over 70% from their openings.
“Obsession” remains the little horror movie that could, nabbing second place with a near-$20-million weekend, losing just 25%, and lifting its total to $188 million.
The other big YouTube-infused hit, “Backrooms,” has now reached $160 million but is fading faster, down 54%.
The latest episode of Power Lines is out.
In this week’s episode: We break down the escalating crisis at “60 Minutes” and explore the question circulating across the industry: Could Bari Weiss really end up running CNN? Plus, we talk about the three-month on-air disappearance of CNN’s high-profile fact-checker and break down how Elon Musk’s unrelenting legal war on Media Matters has resulted in layoffs and belt-tightening at the progressive watchdog.
You can watch on YouTube—or listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. If you enjoy the program, subscribe so you never miss an episode!
