| | | | | President Trump pushes a shopping cart as he tours the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints' food distribution center at Welfare Square in Salt Lake City on Monday. Credit: Saul Loeb/AFP/Getty Images | | | So What's All This Costing Anyway?: The Russia investigation's price tag is now at about $6.7 million
Trump's Portrait, Coming Soon to a Federal Building Near You: Yesterday was mass-printing day
Obama Has Three of the Most Retweeted Tweets of 2017: None of Trump's made the top ten | | | What the White House is Talking About:
President Trump today hosts Senate Republicans for lunch at the White House. Later he has a photo op with American business owners. And tonight, he and first lady Melania Trump host the annual Congressional Ball at the White House.
What the White House Press Corps is Talking About:
Today's White House briefing (now pushed to 2:30 p.m.) as it's the first since the news of Michael Flynn's guilty plea, among other Russia-related stuff.
So, What's All This Costing Anyway?:
About $6.7 million dollars, so far. The Department of Justice today released numbers on the expense of the Russia investigation: $3.2 million by Mueller and his efforts, and another $3.5 million spent on separate law enforcement efforts from entities that do not report to Mueller.
LaVar Ball, Take Two:
Ball was on "New Day" with Chris Cuomo again this morning, two weeks after his first highly entertaining chat with Cuomo. Today he talked about how business is still going fine, despite the fallout from his son LiAngelo Ball's permanent suspension from the UCLA basketball team following shoplifting charges in China. (It's at this moment I am really hoping you are proficient on the background of this story because it's a lot.) Anyway, today Ball said he had sent three pairs of his Big Baller Brand Z02 sneakers to Trump at the White House -- in red, white and blue -- and that he had yet to get a thank you. Touché. He said the President has them, probably: "I tell you what, behind closed doors, I think he got them on his feet, just dancing," said Ball. I actually reached out to the White House to see if he did get shoes and they told me they will "look into it." I am a realistic person and will therefore not hold my breath.
Everyone's Talking About This Mike Pence Feature:
This morning, McKay Coppins' lengthy Mike Pence deep-dive debuted via The Atlantic and it has some juicy reporting about Pence's youth, career, and behind-the-scenes political maneuvers. Specifically compelling are the parts that say Pence told the RNC he was willing to step in at the top of the ticket during the campaign after the "Access Hollywood" tape came out; Condoleezza Rice's name was inserted as a possible running mate. Pence's team is pushing back hard. His press secretary Alyssa Farah tweeted this: "Regarding The Atlantic's tired, false claim about the VP during the campaign -- we denied this in the article and deny it again today. Didn't happen. 😴 " I can guarantee you, despite the denial, there are loads of outlets spending today chasing down the finer points of the piece. Also, the opening art, by illustrator Tim O'Brien, is pretty great. | | Credit: theatlantic.com
Poppy Harlow is My Hero:
Um, if you guys didn't see this clip, I highly recommend you watch it. I'll warn you, you will cringe, you might even get angry, but you will ultimately understand why my colleague Poppy is a damn fine human being, not to mention journalist. She interviewed Roy Moore's campaign spokeswoman, Janet Porter, who brings up Poppy's pregnancy, not once, but twice. People, man. | | Trump's Portrait, Coming Soon to a Federal Building Near You:
Yesterday was mass-printing day at the Government Publishing Office for the the official portrait of Donald Trump, which, although behind schedule, will now be shipped out to the 1,600-some federal government buildings all over the world for display. Getty's Chip Somodevilla shot some cool photographs of the process as the prints came off the machine and were trimmed and boxed up ... | | | Credit: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images | | What Washington is Talking About:
The Supreme Court today is hearing oral arguments in Masterpiece Cakeshop v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission, a case about a baker who refused to make a wedding cake for a same-sex couple.
What America is Talking About:
Thousands of residents evacuated overnight in Ventura County in Southern California when strong winds helped a wildfire spread to cover 31,000 acres.
Poll of the Day:
As the Supreme Court hears the cake case today, here's a 2016 Pew poll that found Americans are split on whether they believe businesses should have to provide wedding services to same-sex couples. The poll found 49% say they should have to, while 48% say they should be able to refuse. | | Credit: Pew
The RNC Will Again Back Roy Moore:
They withdrew from a joint fundraising agreement with the candidate accused of child molestation last month, but after President Trump's endorsement, they're back. "The RNC is the political arm of the president and we support the president," a senior RNC official told CNN.
Obama Has Three of the Most Retweeted Tweets of 2017:
You can see the full top-ten list here (Carter Wilkerson's tweet asking Wendy's how many RTs for a year's supply of free "nuggs" was No. 1 with 3.6 million). Obama's response to Charlottesville was No. 2 with 1.7 million RTs and it remains the most liked tweet ever. | | Credit: @BarackObama/Twitter
Another Obama tweet from the night of his farewell address in January is No. 5, with more than 869,000 RTs. | | Credit: @BarackObama/Twitter
Obama's third tweet on the list was a goodbye tweet from the day of Trump's inauguration. It was the No. 8 most RTed tweeted, with more than 630,000 retweets. | | Credit: @BarackObama/Twitter
LeBron James' tweet calling Trump "u bum" for disinviting Steph Curry to the White House after Curry said he didn't want to go was No. 7 with more than 660,000 RTs.
More 2017 Twitter Records: - The US elected official who appeared most frequently in tweets: @realDonaldTrump
- The most-tweeted activism hashtag in the US: #resist
- The most-followed new political account: @PreetBharara (553,000 followers)
- The most-retweeted Trump tweet: the 28-second video he posted in July showing him wrestling with a man with a CNN logo superimposed on his head (more than 363,000 RTs)
- My most-retweeted tweet: a photo of a woman posing in a grocery store cheese aisle (more than 21,000 RTs)
Spielberg Said he Had to Make His Washington Post Movie This Year:
Here's what Steven Spielberg told The Hollywood Reporter about reading the script for "The Post," about WaPo's decision to report on the Pentagon Papers, by 31-year-old first-time screenwriter Liz Hannah:
"I thought this was an idea that felt more like 2017 than 1971 — I could not believe the similarities between today and what happened with the Nixon administration against their avowed enemies The New York Times and The Washington Post. I realized this was the only year to make this film."
You can read the full interview with Spielberg, Hannah, and others who worked on the film, including Meryl Streep, who plays Post publisher Katharine Graham, here.
Also, can we talk about the poster for this movie? It's incredible: | | Credit: 20th Century Fox
Street Art Sighting:
Spotify has rolled out an end-of-the-year ad campaign looking at listener habits, and quite a few of them are political, like this one about someone spinning Selena Gomez's "Bad Liar" 86 times the day Sean Spicer resigned ... | | Credit: via Adweek
And this one about a playlist titled "DADDY PENCE COME DANCE." | | Credit: via Adweek
Read more about the campaign at Adweek.
Send your political street art pics to me at coverlinehunter@cnn.com, tweet me @hunterschwarz or tag @cnncoverline on Instagram. | | | | | | |
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