| | | | | Exec summary: Lots of Trumpworld leaks... lots of Sean Hannity chatter... Plus, Apple is working on a news subscription service, BuzzFeed is promoting a fantastic "fake news" PSA, and the Tribeca Film Festival is starting Wednesday... | | SUNDAY MORNING: UN ambassador Nikki Haley appears on "Face the Nation" and "Fox News Sunday" and says new Russia sanctions will be announced as early as Monday.
SUNDAY NIGHT: The WashPost reports that the president "instinctually opposes many of the punitive measures pushed by his Cabinet." The story recounts a briefing where there were "a lot of curse words."
MONDAY: The White House walks back Haley's statement. The Post reports that Trump told his national security advisers "he was upset the sanctions were being officially rolled out because he was not yet comfortable executing them."
MONDAY NIGHT: Anderson Cooper asks W.H. spokesman Hogan Gidley about the disconnect. Did Haley misspeak? "Was she misinformed?" Gidley says "we just don't have the decision yet."
TUESDAY MORNING: Larry Kudlow says Haley got "ahead of the curve" about the sanctions, adding, there "might have been momentary confusion about that."
TUESDAY AFTERNOON: At the end of "The Five," Dana Perino says, "In the last half hour, I was able to get in touch with Nikki Haley and she said, quote, 'With all due respect, I don't get confused.'" To get the word out, Haley also shared her statement with MSNBC's Joe Scarborough and CNN's Jake Tapper. | | | "I don't get confused." You could almost hear the cheers for Haley when she stood up for herself. Here's CNN's full story about the dispute... "A White House official said Kudlow apologized to Haley for saying that she might have been confused..." | | -- WashPost's scoop: "CIA Director Pompeo made top-secret visit to North Korean leader weeks ago"
-- NYT's scoop: "Mattis Wanted Congressional Approval Before Striking Syria. He Was Overruled."
-- The relationship between Trump and Sean Hannity is even tighter than you thought. This WashPost story is full of new details from W.H. sources... | | The "shadow" chief of staff | | Fox News admits it was surprised by the Sean Hannity-Michael Cohen legal connection. But the network says "he continues to have our full support." You're not surprised, are you? Hannity is the network's highest-rated host and the president's chief defender. A source close to the president told CNN's Mark Preston that "the relationship between the two of them has grown stronger and stronger" since Trump took office. "Hannity affirms what Trump believes and Trump obviously is giving him unparalleled access."
In fact, this WashPost story by Robert Costa, Sarah Ellison and Josh Dawsey says advisors sometimes call Hannity the "shadow" chief of staff. "The two men review news stories and aspects of Hannity's show, and occasionally debate specifics about whatever the president is considering typing out on Twitter. There have also been times when Trump has assessed the merits of various White House aides with Hannity." Read the rest here...
--> ICYMI: Rosie Gray's scoop: "Sean Hannity's Ties to Two More Trump-Connected Lawyers" | | | On Tuesday night's show, Hannity called his critics "hypocrites" and said he's "honest" about who he is... | | Too big to manage? That's the logical conclusion here: Hannity is too powerful to be reined in by his Fox bosses. But there's an alternative explanation as well: Fox really treats its opinion shows differently. Opinion hosts have a LOT of latitude... and support from Rupert Murdoch...
--> Key line in Gabriel Sherman's latest for VF: "Hannity is a ratings machine and winds up liberals, including his son James, in a way that is entertaining to Murdoch..."
--> Chuck Todd on MSNBC: "I am stunned that Fox had no punitive response..." | | What about the "News" in "Fox News?" | | A provocative lead to Margaret Sullivan's latest column: "Does Fox News deserve the second part of its name? Does it deserve to call itself a news organization?"
When I get asked questions about this, I say Fox is really two channels in one: Fox News, which employs serious journalists, and Fox Opinion, which is a political organization. Others disagree with me...
"This is a clarifying moment about Fox," James Fallows said on "CNN Tonight." He said "it's really misleading to call it a news organization anymore, because it is an entertainment/political combine..." | | Brian Lowry emails: Fox's statement didn't go nearly far enough, not just in addressing what it didn't know (networks don't generally like to be "surprised" by such revelations), but more significantly, what its policy is going forward. Specifically, will Hannity have to provide disclaimers about his relationships with other figures in Trump's orbit? What are the standards for the network's opinion hosts re: becoming professionally or personally involved with other newsmakers?
-- ALSO: Monday's exchange with Alan Dershowitz -- in which he chided Hannity for his lack of transparency -- makes me wonder if the host will retreat to an even greater degree in terms of featuring voices that might not be 100% on board with the program. If so, Fox's lineup becomes even more insular, and the echo chamber that much louder... | | Napolitano says Hannity "can't have it both ways" | | | Oliver Darcy emails: While Fox News management is supporting Hannity, the network's senior judicial analyst appears a bit more skeptical. Appearing on "Outnumbered" on Tuesday, Judge Andrew Napolitano – who disclosed that he's worked with Hannity for 20 years – said Hannity "can't have it both ways" with regard to his relationship with Michael Cohen. "If he was a client, then his confidential communications to Mr. Cohen are privileged," Napolitano said. "If Mr. Cohen was never his lawyer, then nothing that he said to Mr. Cohen is privileged." Mediaite has video of the segment here… | | | Erin Burnett's Q on "OutFront" Tuesday night: "What exactly was that relationship?" It's still unclear... | | Barbara Bush's death was announced just after 7:30pm ET on Tuesday. The cablers showed pre-prepared obits and the broadcast networks aired brief special reports.
There was a wistfulness in some of the news coverage -- a sense of mourning not just for the woman but for the Republican Party she represented. "She had a blessed life and a loving family, but her loss will be felt by those who miss the decorum and public decency of the Bush/Reagan era," Kate Andersen Brower wrote for CNN...
--> Wednesday morning: Fox Business morning host Maria Bartiromo has a pre-scheduled interview with George W. and Laura Bush... | | | This book cover hasn't been seen until now... | | | This is USA Today Washington bureau chief Susan Page's forthcoming biography of Barbara Bush. Page has been working on it since last year. It will be published this time next year by Hachette's Twelve imprint. The book is not an "authorized" biography, but Page received unprecedented cooperation from Bush... Including monthly interviews that started last October. "The former first lady also granted her access to her personal diaries," per a spokeswoman. "Susan has interviewed former President George H.W. Bush for this book, as well as other family members, friends, associates and former staffers..." | | | NPR is in mourning. Carl Kasell, a fixture on "Morning Edition" and "Wait Wait ... Don't Tell Me!," died Tuesday from complications from Alzheimer's disease. He was 84. He "became one of public radio's most recognizable voices," Brian Lowry writes here... | | -- FCC commissioner Mignon Clyburn, a Democrat, is stepping down after eight years. She "may be replaced by FCC official Geoffrey Stark..." (The Verge)
-- Josh Gerstein's latest: "The Trump administration's drive to crack down on government leaks scored its first guilty pleas on Tuesday as a former FBI special agent admitted to leaking classified information to the media and to keeping classified information at his home without permission..." (Politico)
-- Podcasts aren't just for your ears anymore, Jill Disis reports. TV networks are betting big on the format this year with a bunch of shows based on some of the most popular audio series, including "Pod Save America," "Homecoming," "Dirty John," "2 Dope Queens" and "StartUp..." (CNNMoney) | | Inside Comey's Colbert taping | | | Frank Pallotta had exclusive access to Tuesday evening's "Late Show" taping... The interview is a three-parter, meaning it takes up pretty much the entire episode... Click here to read his recap of the episode... | | Comey's Wednesday schedule | | | He's on "Today" with Savannah Guthrie at 7am... Then "The View" at 11am... In the evening, he'll hold a book signing at B&N in Union Square... | | "Apple Is Planning to Launch a News Subscription Service" | | That's the headline on Mark Gurman and Gerry Smith's scoop: Apple plans to "integrate recently acquired magazine app Texture into Apple News and debut its own premium subscription offering... The move is part of a broader push by the iPhone maker to generate more revenue from online content and services." It is "expected to launch within the next year..."
-- Joshua Benton tweeted: "Apple working on a subscription news bundle is a very big deal. Big Q is whether it'll be just the magazine bundle that Texture was or something bigger/newsier. And if bigger, how do they manage pricing tiers?" | | Disney is moving Nate Silver's FiveThirtyEight from ESPN to ABC News instead of selling to an outside buyer.
"What's really happening here is that FiveThirtyEight is moving to a home that's better suited" to what it does, ABC News prez James Goldston told the WSJ's Ben Mullin. "Obviously, FiveThirtyEight also does sports, but the balance of what FiveThirtyEight does is politics." Some of those sports stories will still appear on ESPN.com...
IMPACT: There will be a "small # of layoffs," with cuts in "its coverage of culture and economics," but "total head count will go up" because of "additional hires in politics... | | Can ABC turn this around? | | Mullin says "potential buyers of FiveThirtyEight were told it was losing about $6 million annually on revenue of about $3 million."
The Information's read on the transfer news: "FiveThirtyEight was bleeding money. Other money-losing online news sites that want to sell should take this as a warning: buyer interest is limited..." | | The government rests its case | | | Hadas Gold and Tom Kludt's latest dispatch from the courthouse: "Government attorneys rested their case on Tuesday in their lawsuit to block AT&T's $85 billion purchase of Time Warner as the two company's top executives prepare to testify. AT&T had already started calling witnesses last week due to a scheduling issues with the government's final witness, RCN Chief Executive Jim Holanda..." More here... | | Bewkes and Stankey will testify on Wednesday | | | >>> Time Warner CEO Jeffrey Bewkes and John Stankey, AT&T's senior EVP in charge of the Time Warner merger integration planning, will take the stand Wednesday... | | -- "For the right price, you can buy Glenn Beck's private jet," Betsy Woodruff and Maxwell Tani report... (The Daily Beast)
-- "Seattle radio station KEXP has received a nearly $10 million gift from an anonymous donor known as Suzanne..." (NYT)
-- Via Lucas Shaw: "458,000 people watched Beyoncé's Coachella performance on YouTube. That is the most-watched live concert on YouTube ever, and tiny by TV standards..." (Twitter) | | Alex Jones is facing another lawsuit | | | Oliver Darcy emails: On Tuesday, three parents whose children were killed in the 2012 Sandy Hook massacre filed a defamation lawsuit against Alex Jones, the first legal action taken against Jones for the false claims he spread about the shooting. The two lawsuits, which each seek at least $1 million in damages, said the parents had suffered "a severe degree of mental stress and anguish" and "high degree of psychological pain." I asked a representative for Jones and InfoWars for comment multiple times on Tuesday, but did not hear back… Read more here... | | Something to know about Sinclair's controlling family | | An emailer asks: "I wonder how this news is sitting with the thousands of journalists who work at Sinclair."
Here's the news: Robert E. Smith, "one of the brothers who control Sinclair," has "donated more than $10,000 to Greg Gianforte, the Republican congressman who assaulted a journalist and then lied to police about it," The Guardian reports. Smith maxed out his annual contribution to Gianforte last month, just like he did last year. Also: Another Smith family brother, Frederick, "donated $1,000 to Gianforte the day after the assault..." | | Word of the day: Apoplectic | | | A source close to POTUS tells CNN's Pamela Brown that he's still "apoplectic" about the info the FBI seized from Michael Cohen... Trump is said to be concerned that the feds have everything... | | | This reminder is courtesy of Chris Cillizza's nightly CNN newsletter: "Trump has never released any year of tax returns." He is "the first president in the modern era not to release any tax returns..." | | | For the record, part three | | | -- New: The Northwestern Local News Initiative, a two-year R&D project between Medill and three papers, the Chicago Tribune, San Francisco Chronicle and Indianapolis Star... (Medill)
-- Kelly Clarkson "will be hosting this year's Billboard Music Awards on NBC," marking her first time hosting an awards show... (Vulture) | | Jordan Peele, BuzzFeed create PSA on fake news | | Frank Pallotta emails: On Tuesday BuzzFeed shared a "fake news" PSA made with "Get Out" director Jordan Peele, and the results were spooky. The video has Peele doing his Barack Obama impression off screen while a "deepfake," an image that's digitally altered to make it look like Peele's words are coming out of the former president's mouth. The PSA is a pretty effective, frightening example of what the future of fake news may look like...
--> BF's Craig Silverman wrote a companion "how to spot a deepfake" story... | | | Lisa Respers France writes: Johnny Galecki made a guest appearance "on Tuesday's episode of the rebooted comedy, returning to his role as David Healy, the husband of Darlene Connor's character played by Sara Gilbert..." | | Billboard Music nominations are out | | | Sandra Gonzalez writes: Hot off the heels of a Pulitzer Prize win, Kendrick Lamar scored 15 nominations for the Billboard Music Awards on Tuesday morning... | | "Walking Dead" ratings update | | | Brian Lowry emails: Ratings for "The Walking Dead" season finale fell more than 30% from the corresponding episode last season, which has been the general trend this year. But what caught my eye in Variety's story was just how far the show has dropped since its peak in 2015, down more than 50% in both key demos and total audience. In context, the demos in particular are still the sort that elicit envy among programmers. But the show is nowhere near the phenom that it once was... | | | Email brian.stelter@turner.com... the feedback helps us improve this newsletter every day... Thanks! | | | | | | |
