| | | | | First lady Melania Trump stands alongside the gown she wore to the inaugural ball as she donates the dress to the Smithsonian's First Ladies Collection on Friday. Credit: Saul Loeb/AFP/Getty Images | | | Still Reeling a Bit from John Kelly's Appearance? Yeah, us too...
Melania Trump's Dress is Now in the Smithsonian: The first lady and designer Hervé Pierre are on hand for National Museum of American History ceremony
Paul Ryan Makes Fun of POTUS: Ryan brings the lols at the Al Smith dinner, with digs at Donald Trump's tweets and Cabinet | | | What the White House Is Talking About:
No public events on President Donald Trump's schedule today.
What the White House Press Corps Is Talking About:
The continuing back-and-forth between the White House and US Rep. Frederica Wilson over Trump's call to the widow of Army Sgt. La David Johnson, one of four US soldiers who died this month in Niger. I think Jake Tapper has a good thread here about the whole thing, and I'm choosing to go with it.
Another briefing is scheduled for 2 p.m. today.
Still Reeling a Bit from John Kelly's Appearance? Yeah, Us too:
I'm going to admit I'm still processing Thursday's briefing appearance by White House Chief of Staff John Kelly. There are two sides to it: the human side, that clearly is affected by the dramatic first part of his words, explaining in detail what families go through in the immediate aftermath of losing a loved one to combat; and the political side, in which the second portion of Kelly's lengthy statement reared its head. I don't think there's a way to reconcile the two, but I know the politics were clearly there, and that media-shaming around a sensitive issue is not going to stop journalists in the room from pursuing answers about what happened to the soldiers in Niger.
BUSHOBAMA:
This Drudge headline caught our attention Thursday night. Barack Obama was campaigning in Virginia, and George W. Bush gave a stirring speech in Dallas -- together the two seemed to send a collective message that pretty much felt like, "What is even happening out there, guys?" | | Credit: @DRUDGE_REPORT/Twitter
The Saga of Lulu:
If you follow me on Twitter, you know I became engrossed in the story of Lulu, the CIA bomb-sniffing dog that wasn't. Lulu's a black lab that was being trained to do law enforcement work, but was then like, meh, about it, so she got fired. It was an emotional roller coaster, tbh. There were plenty of post-Lulu takes floating around, but I think Katie Rogers' from The New York Times handled it best. And, if it's any consolation to this sweet doll face: I ❤️ you, Lulu.
| | Credit: @CIA/Twitter
The CIA is now chronicling the story of another black lab in the program, "Harry," so once again I'm sucked into the damn thing, and seriously at this point I'm just hoping for the best.
Melania Trump's Dress is Now in the Smithsonian:
The first lady and designer Hervé Pierre were at the National Museum of American History this morning to introduce the dress, which will now be a part of the First Ladies Collection. Pierre squealed and clapped his hands when he saw the dress on a cut-to-fit mannequin. Melania Trump said she gave Pierre two weeks' notice to design something. "To be honest, what I would wear to the inaugural ball was the last thing on my mind," she said. She called the dress a "wonderful piece." She also said, "The president, Barron and I love living" in Washington. | | Credit: @KateBennett_DC/Twitter
Here the dress is: | | Credit: @KateBennett_DC/Twitter
The updated exhibit with Trump's dress opens back up to the public at 2 p.m. today.
Dress Like The First Lady:
The first lady gave a rare speech Thursday night at the Kuwait-America Foundation's gala dinner at the Kuwaiti Embassy, where she was the guest of honor. She wore a $2,695 white, tailored Dolce & Gabbana shawl collar blazer. | | What Washington Is Talking About:
The Senate passed a budget Thursday night that could pave the way for Republican tax cuts.
What America Is Talking About:
The 26-year-old French model Ines Rau will be Playboy's first openly transgender Playmate.
Poll of the Day:
Congress' approval rating has hit its lowest mark since July 2016, according to Gallup. | | Credit: Gallup
Paul Ryan Makes Fun of POTUS:
The House Speaker spoke at Thursday night's white-tie Al Smith dinner in New York and brought some lols, like such as: - "I don't think I've seen this many New York liberals, this many Wall Street CEOs in one room since my last visit to the White House."
- "Every morning I wake up in my office and I scroll through Twitter to see which tweets I will have to pretend I didn't see later on."
- "Steve Bannon said I was born in a petri dish at the Heritage Foundation. This is amazing -- no one knew Steve believed in science."
- "When you read the papers tomorrow, everyone's going to report this thing differently. Breitbart's going to lead with "Ryan Slams the President Amongst Liberal Elites." New York Times is going to report "Ryan Defends the President In State Hillary Won." And the President will tweet "300,000 at Al Smith dinner cheer mention of my name."
- "Enough with the applause. You sound like the Cabinet when Donald Trump walks into the room."
The Bill to Regulate Political Ads Online:
The Honest Ads Act, backed by Democratic Sens. Mark Warner and Amy Klobuchar and Republican John McCain, would regulate social networks, search engines and websites with at least 50 million unique monthly users, requiring them to collect information on campaigns that spend more than $500 on ads and show "reasonable efforts" to prohibit foreign governments and those working for them from purchasing political ads. The tech lobbying group Internet Association told Recode, "We are reviewing the legislation and look forward to further engagement with the sponsors."
If Literally Anyone Else Said What John Kelly Did During the Second Half of his White House Briefing ...:
Kate talked above about the two sides to the White House chief of staff's briefing Thursday. I found it interesting that the briefing was juxtaposed in the news with the one-two punch by former Presidents Barack Obama and George W. Bush criticizing Trump without using his name. It got me thinking, if someone else other than Trump's chief of staff had said the things Kelly did, it could have been interpreted as another attack on the President without mentioning his name. Consider: - What Kelly said: "You know, when I was a kid growing up, a lot of things were sacred in our country. Women were sacred, looked upon with great honor."
- How that could have been interpreted: An attack on Trump for the "Access Hollywood" tape and accusations of sexual harassment.
- What Kelly said: "Religion (being sacred), that seems to be gone as well."
- How that could have been interpreted: An attack on Trump for his call during the campaign to ban people from entering the country based on their faith.
- What Kelly said: "Gold Star families, I think that left in the convention over the summer. But I just thought -- the selfless devotion that brings a man or woman to die on the battlefield, I just thought that that might be sacred."
- How that could have been interpreted: An attack on Trump over his politicization of presidents reaching out to Gold Star families and his attack on the Khan family during the campaign.
The Spurs Had a Message for Fans After the Anthem Played:
The San Antonio Spurs hosted the Minnesota Timberwolves on Thursday night, and after the National Anthem played, they showed text on the arena video screen that began, "We understand your desire to attend our games as an escape and chosen form of entertainment," then went on to say that social justice, freedom of speech and equality should bring us together. | | Credit: @Abrjsdad/Twitter
Las Vegas Shooting Survivors Gather for Concert:
First responders got seats up front at Thursday night's free show at the Orleans Arena near Las Vegas. Big & Rich and Rascal Flatts were among the artists who performed, and Trump even tweeted about it -- it might have been because "Big ratings getter Sean Hannity" was there. | | Credit: @Abrjsdad/Twitter
It's been nearly three weeks since the mass shooting that killed 58 people and injured hundreds more at a concert in Las Vegas. MGM Resorts International told the Las Vegas Sun it has no intention of renting the 32nd-floor room at the Mandalay Bay Casino and Resort, from where the gunman conducted the deadly attack on the outdoor concert.
Full Moon:
Some guy in an apartment on Connecticut Avenue in Washington mooned Trump's motorcade en route to the Kuwait dinner Thursday night, per the pool report. #Resist, I guess? | | Credit: Pool report
Street Art Sighting:
Artist Ravi Zupa has a print and line of T-shirts out celebrating the First Amendment. Zupa makes his art by cutting an orange traffic cone and carving out a plate from it for the print. (You can watch a video of his process here.) Items from his series will be on sale Tuesday and include this shooting target print with an Aristotle quote and "Fight With Words" between two pens, and a shirt that says, "I Support The 1st Amendment." | | Credit: Obey Giant
Send me your pics of political street art to coverlinehunter@cnn.com, tweet me @hunterschwarz or tag @cnncoverline on Instagram. | | | | | | |
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