Michael S. Schmidt

Michael S. Schmidt (born September 23, 1983) is an American journalist, author, television producer and correspondent for The New York Times in Washington, D.C. He covers national security and federal law enforcement, has broken several high-profile stories about politics, media and sports and has won two Pulitzer prizes. He is also a national security contributor for MS Now.

Among the major stories he has broken was the existence of a private email server used by Hillary Clinton. During the Trump presidency, he broke several major stories including details of the Mueller investigation, investigations of Trump and Trump's efforts to overturn the election and Trump's attempts to weaponize the federal government against his enemies. He also has written extensively about Trump's retribution campaign against universities and law firms and the efforts by those around Trump to contain him during his first term.

In June 2026, he broke the story that the Ultimate Fighting Championship star Conor McGregor used performance-enhancing drugs and was supported in doing that by Neal ElAttrache, the Dodgers team doctor and one of the most high profile doctors in sports. In 2024, he broke the story that nearly two dozen elite Chinese swimmers -- including gold medalist -- secretly tested positive for banned drugs.

Schmidt was among a group of four New York Times reporters Trump sued in Sept. 2025 for $15 billion. Trump sued Schmidt for publishing an interview with former White House chief of staff John Kelly on the brink of the 2024 election in which Kelly said Trump met the definition of a fascist. Schmidt was later dropped from the suit.

In 2023, he broke the story about the contents of text messages sent by Tucker Carlson that led to his ouster at Fox.

In 2018, Schmidt won two Pulitzer Prizes for his work in the previous year. One of the Pulitzer Prizes was awarded for breaking the news that President Trump had asked the FBI director James Comey for a loyalty pledge and to close the federal investigation into Michael Flynn. That story led the Justice Department to appoint Robert S. Mueller III as a special counsel to investigate President Trump.