| | | | Rosenstein: "Americans should be skeptical about anonymous allegations" | | Have you ever seen a statement like this from a government official before? I have not. Out of the blue on Thursday night, deputy attorney general Rod Rosenstein made this declaration on Justice Department letterhead:
"Americans should exercise caution before accepting as true any stories attributed to anonymous 'officials,' particularly when they do not identify the country — let alone the branch or agency of government — with which the alleged sources supposedly are affiliated. Americans should be skeptical about anonymous allegations. The Department of Justice has a long-established policy to neither confirm nor deny such allegations." | | Journalists and commentators immediately wondered: was this statement a prebuttal to some story that's about to come out? Or was it a belated response to the latest WashPost scoop about the special counsel "investigating Jared Kushner's business dealings?" Rosenstein alluded to the possibility of leaks from foreign officials... The Post story originally just cited "officials..." now the story has been updated to specify "U.S. officials."
>> MSNBC's Chris Hayes floated this alternative theory: "POTUS called him and said 'put out a statement saying I'm not under investigation' and this was the best he could do." | | This almost goes without saying... | | | ...But DOJ officials, Trump aides and other government officials routinely level "anonymous allegations." Of course, Rosenstein's statement is targeting leaks about potential Trump administration wrongdoing. Drudge's headline at deadline time: "MORE MUELLER LEAKS JOLT DC." Sean Hannity's essay: "DEEP STATE REVENGE." Speaking of Sean... | | Trump sounds just like Hannity. (Or does Hannity sound like just Trump?) | | | Honestly, it's like Hannity picked up Trump's phone and started tweeting on Thursday. It is astounding how much the two men sound alike. Hannity on Wednesday night: "James Comey, Hillary Clinton and Loretta Lynch are the people, in fact, who should be under investigation, NOT the president." Trump on Thursday afternoon: "Why is that Hillary Clintons family and Dems dealings with Russia are not looked at, but my non-dealings are?" | | CNN sues FBI for copies of Comey memos | | | In federal court Thursday morning, "CNN filed a lawsuit seeking to force the FBI to turn over former director James Comey's memos documenting his conversations with President Donald Trump," CNN's Gregory Wallace reports. The suit alleges that the FBI has violated the federal Freedom of Information Act. CNN and many other news outlets filed FOIAs last month to try to obtain the memos. Other outlets are likely to now sue too... in fact, USA Today filed on Thursday afternoon... for now, the FBI is declining to comment... | | | For the record, Trump edition | | | -- The Daily Beast says the W.H. "is now referring inquiries about the existence, or nonexistence, of recording devices in the Oval Office to Trump's personal attorney..." (The Daily Beast)
-- Chris Ruddy talking about his relationship with POTUS: "He'll reach out to me and I'll reach out to him..." (WashPost)
-- Reporters are getting more and more blunt about the Republican efforts to craft a health care law in secret. The headline on Sarah Kliff's latest: "I've covered Obamacare since day one. I've never seen lying and obstruction like this..." (Vox) | | NBC's Alex Jones problem is getting worse... | | On Thursday night, Alex Jones "leaked audio of what he says was his private, pre-interview conversation" with Megyn Kelly, THR reports. It sounds like Kelly says to Jones, "this is not going to be a contentious, sort of 'gotcha' exchange."
Jones claims he's going to post the entire interview -- a/k/a Kelly interviewing him -- on his web site.
NBC's story about Jones is still set to air on Kelly's newsmag this Sunday. Page Six's Emily Smith hears that Kelly "has completely overhauled" the segment, "inviting Sandy Hook families on the program and editing her interview with Jones to be tougher on him." Of course, it's not unusual to be tinkering and rewriting and editing up until airtime... | | Families of Sandy Hook victims hire a lawyer and ask NBC to reconsider airing the interview | | | A law firm representing several families of Sandy Hook victims sent a letter to NBC News execs on Thursday. An excerpt: "This decision may be driven by the simple urge to gain an edge in a well-publicized ratings war; but it has devastating human consequences as well. Airing Ms. Kelly's interview implicitly endorses the notion that Mr. Jones' lies are actually 'claims' that are worthy of serious debate; and in doing so it exponentially enhances the suffering and distress of our clients. For that NBC is responsible. We urge you to consider the ethical and legal ramifications of broadcasting this interview to millions of Americans. By now, it should be clear to NBC that airing the interview will cause serious emotional distress to dozens of Sandy Hook families. NBC – and NBC alone – has the power to prevent that harm." | | Lowry: She'll "have to thread the needle" | | Brian Lowry emails: Andrew Tyndall's latest THR piece on Kelly-Jones echoes a point I've made before — namely, that while some would have objected to giving Jones publicity under any circumstances, part of the issue stems from the baggage Kelly brings with her as a former Fox News anchor, unlike "60 Minutes," which recently did its own "fake news" piece that featured Mike Cernovich. Kelly, for her part, hit the right note talking to the NYT's Jim Rutenberg — "As journalists, we don't get to interview only the good guys" — but will still have to thread the needle, as Rutenberg notes, in terms of how she handles the segment.
-- Lowry adds: In the meantime, some recommended viewing: "Newtown," the devastating Sandy Hook documentary by Kim A. Snyder, which premiered on PBS in April... | | CNN prez Jeff Zucker held a press breakfast celebrating the fourth birthday of "New Day" on Thursday, and media reporters peppered him with Q's about Kelly/Jones. He praised Kelly and said people should reserve judgment of the interview 'til it airs, but said NBC's marketing "has thus far been unfortunate." His main point: "If you're going to do this story, the tease needs to be you holding up a picture of the dead kids at Sandy Hook and saying, 'How dare you?'"
-- Another headline from the press breakfast: CNN Chief Calls Politicians' Attacks On The Media 'Shameful' And 'Dangerous' | | Interviewing Oliver Stone about interviewing Putin | | | The fourth and final night of Oliver Stone's "The Putin Interviews" aired Thursday on Showtime. The overnight ratings have registered little interest in the series, but I'm wondering if it'll pick up more attention on-demand. I interviewed Stone for this Sunday's "Reliable Sources," and there's a preview on CNN.com now... he downplays the allegations of Russian meddling in the U.S. election, saying "everyone's hacking, there's nothing special about that..." and he defends his "softer" approach to Putin: "Sometimes honey attracts more flies than vinegar, so to speak." Watch... | | "We're moving from a reality TV presidency to a Court TV presidency."
--Matthew Continetti on Thursday's "MTP Daily..." | | NYT corrects editorial about political violence | | | Oliver Darcy emails: Thursday morning, amid widespread criticism, the NYT issued a correction to an editorial that incorrectly linked the 2011 shooting of Rep. Gabby Giffords to a map circulated by Sarah Palin's political action committee which showed certain electoral districts under crosshairs. Then, after I flagged another error in the story, the Times quietly changed the editorial again. When I asked why the new revision wasn't reflected in the editor's note, the Times took action and updated the note at the bottom of the page. Read Oliver's full story here... | | Editor says the error "doesn't undercut or weaken the argument" | | | The NYT also said sorry in a tweet. Of the larger issue with the editorial, James Bennet told me in a statement, "While it's always agonizing to get something wrong, we appreciate it when our readers call us out like this. We made an error of fact in the editorial, and we've corrected it. But that error doesn't undercut or weaken the argument of the piece." Critics strongly disagreed and skewered the Times for standing by the editorial. Some suggested that the screw-up revealed a lot about the liberal mindset of the editors... | | Palin "talking to attorneys" | | | I hesitate to even mention this. But Palin seemed to threaten to sue the NYT for "libel and slander" over the editorial. "Talking to attorneys this AM and exploring options," she wrote on Twitter. As David Uberti pointed out in response: "Remember all those times Trump threatened to sue media outlets?" | | -- At Thursday night's Congressional baseball game, Jake Tapper had the first-ever joint interview with Paul Ryan and Nancy Pelosi... (CNN)
-- "Time Warner CEO Jeff Bewkes defended his company's financial support for New York's embattled Public Theater" at Thursday's shareholders meeting... (Variety)
-- The Daily Caller's Kaitlan Collins, who you might recognize from her appearances on "Reliable Sources" for the past few months, is joining CNN... she'll be a White House reporter for the network starting Monday... (Mic)
-- Jeremy Barr is joining THR as a media and politics writer based in NYC... (THR) | | Friday is Scott Pelley's last night anchoring the "CBS Evening News" | | | "Violence almost always begins with words," Scott Pelley said in a put-down-the-remote commentary on Thursday night's "CBS Evening News." He remarked that "too many leaders and political commentators who set an example for us to follow have led us into an abyss of violent rhetoric that has, it should be no surprise, has led us to violence..." Mediaite has a full recap here. | | | Friday is Pelley's final night behind the anchor desk... on Monday Anthony Mason will be taking over as interim anchor... | | "Reliable" podcast with Los Angeles Times boss Davan Maharaj | | My midweek "Reliable Sources" podcast guest this week is Davan Maharaj, the EIC and publisher of the LATimes. He was recently in Germany for the International Press Institute's World Congress... He sensed that his fellow journalists from other countries "had already given up on the U.S. being a leader for press freedoms, especially under the Trump administration."
Moreover, while meeting with Angela Merkel's aides and encouraging them to become more engaged in the fight to free jailed journalists, "it dawned on me that we, the U.S., had lost some of our moral standing in the world, when we had to fly across the pond to make sure we got support on this issue."
On the pod, we also talked about the "Trump effect" on newspaper subscriptions; his paper's digital strategy; and more. Francesca Giuliani-Hoffman has a story recapping the interview here... and you can subscribe to the podcast on iTunes right here... | | Two new Bill O'Reilly sightings | | I noticed Bill O'Reilly in a promo for ABC's Friday night Watergate documentary... turns out he taped the interview post-Fox departure... but it was a one-off with ABC.
Last week O'Reilly popped up on Newsmax TV, and on Thursday he gave an interview to another small Fox rival, One America News. The channel's CEO Robert Herring told me "I would like to have him" join the network. "Other than that, i don't want to say anything..." | | Here are your suggestions for Fox's next slogan | | "Faux news," "junk news," "America's RT," "Stoking fear 24/7," "where truth never gets in the way." Some of you are not Fox News fans! Those are a few of the slogans you sent in when I asked for suggestions to replace "fair and balanced." Here are some of the slightly nicer submissions...
"Fox: Trump Approved" --Angela
"Fox News -- Always RIGHT" --Kevin
"Freedom of the pressed" --Alan
"Not fair. Not balanced. Just right." --Stuart
"Fox: the original fake news" --Angela
"We are NOT CNN" --Tom
"Our bubble is better than their bubble" --Mary
"The only news you need" --Jenny
"You know we're right" --Eric
"Because you can't handle the truth." --Michael | | | Variety's Brian Steinberg tweets: "By the way folks, MSNBC has stopped using 'Lean Forward.'" | | -- An in-depth profile by the WashPost's Erik Wemple: "How moving to CNN saved Alisyn Camerota's career..."
-- Facebook PR/public policy chief Elliot Schrage is launching a series called "Hard Questions" and asking for input...
-- Via Francesca Giuliani-Hoffman: Layoffs at the HuffPost are also impacting Pollster. Ariel Edwards-Levy tweeted that the only charts the leftover staff will keep updating are the Trump approval rating and the 2018 House race tracker...
-- BuzzFeed got a copy of a draft of Milo Yiannopoulos's book... and Joseph Bernstein says it's "awful..." (BuzzFeed) | | Office of Government Ethics taking issue with Bannon's Breitbart waiver | | Walter Shaub, the director of the Office of Government Ethics, "is taking issue with a White House waiver that allows" Steve Bannon to talk to Breitbart, CNNMoney's Jill Disis reports.
Shaub says the waiver was "problematic" because it isn't signed or dated and "purports to have 'retroactive' effect." Details here... | | | Brian Lowry emails: Pixar has become much more sequel-friendly, a pragmatic move that so far (see "Finding Dory") has yielded better financial returns than creative results. The latest? "Cars 3," which comes six years after the last model, and despite improving on that, spends too much time idling before it gets into gear... | | -- Lisa Respers France emails: Los Angeles decided to light the Bat-signal Thursday night in honor of the TV actor who portrayed Batman, Adam West. On June 9 West died of leukemia at the age of 88.
-- Related: This Sunday night "Family Guy" will pay tribute to West "by re-airing the episode 'The Dating Game' featuring the late actor in his recurring role of Mayor Adam West..." | | Emmy Rossum reveals sexist behavior by director | | Megan Thomas emails: Lots of buzz about THR's Comedy Actress Roundtable featuring Emmy Rossum, America Ferrera, Pamela Aldon, Minnie Driver, Kathryn Hahn and Issa Rae.
This quote from Rossum is getting the most attention: "I've never been in a situation where somebody asked me to do something really obviously physical in exchange for [a job], like a pay-to-play kind of situation. But even as recently as a year ago, my agent called me and was like, 'I'm so embarrassed to make this call, but there's a big movie and they're going to offer it to you. They really love your work on the show. But the director wants you to come into his office in a bikini. There's no audition. That's all you have to do.'" | | | For the record, part three | | | -- Lisa Respers France emails: You may say she's a dreamer... but Yoko Ono is getting an "Imagine" songwriting credit as per her late husband John Lennon's wishes...
-- More from Lisa and Brian Lowry: The business of "The Bachelor" is highly profitable...
-- Chloe Melas emails: This should give everyone a nice chuckle. KISS frontman Gene Simmons is attempting to trademark the sign language symbol for "I love you..." | | | What do you like about this newsletter? What do you dislike? Email us... we're at reliablesources@cnn.com... we appreciate every email. | | | Get Reliable Sources, a comprehensive summary of the most important media news, delivered to your inbox every afternoon. | | | | | |
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