| | | | | BREAKING: The Weinstein Co. just filed for bankruptcy protection... Scroll down for details... | | A theme of TV news for the past two days: Will President Trump try to fire Robert Mueller again? If so, what will happen?
Gloria Borger on CNN Monday night: "The president clearly wants to start punching."
To that end, the NYT and WashPost just popped new stories about Trump's legal morass. Josh Dawsey sums up the situation this way: "Trump is making Russia legal decisions without advice from top aides. Fuming about Rosenstein. Infighting grips team. Trump has said he wants to fire almost all of them -- but hasn't done it."
--> The NYT story says Trump's legal team is "poised for a shake-up..." Trump has recently pondered firing Ty Cobb, but perhaps backed off to "prevent a narrative that his team was in disarray after The New York Times began making inquiries."
--> The Post story says "Trump is not consulting with top advisers" about Russia legal choices. "He is instead watching television and calling friends..." | | John Dean's blunt assessment | | | "What I think we're witnessing is a very public obstruction of justice," former Nixon W.H. counsel John Dean said on "AC360." "He, as I see it, has already exceeded everything that Nixon did. He's really much more intimately involved than Nixon ever was in the cover-up..." | | | Scroll down for more of TODAY IN TRUMP... | | There are new developments in the Facebook-Cambridge Analytica scandal almost every hour. (Check the CNNMoney home page for the latest.) FB stock fell nearly 7% on Monday, its worst single-day decline in four years. The tech sector dragged the entire stock market down.
While British investigators seek a warrant for Cambridge Analytica... And some FB users vow to delete their accounts... I keep coming back to this: Mark Zuckerberg's silence on the matter. Both Zuckerberg and COO Sheryl Sandberg have let anodyne statements speak for the company. But the backlash is intensifying. As Dylan Byers wrote Monday, Facebook is facing an existential crisis...
So: Will Zuckerberg testify on Capitol Hill, as some lawmakers are calling for? | | Reporters can't repeat this often enough | | | "On Facebook, you are the product. Advertisers are the customer." This story isn't just about alleged misuse of Facebook data, it's about the core business model... | | FB chief security officer on the way out | | The NYT broke this news: "Facebook's chief information security officer, Alex Stamos, will leave the company after internal disagreements over how the company should deal with its role in spreading disinformation."
WHY IT'S A BIG DEAL: Recode's Kurt Wagner followed up: "Stamos is the most high profile Facebook executive to leave since the 2016 election, and really the first public word of that Facebook's leadership team might not be on the same page with how to deal with the company's fake news problem..."
OFFICIALLY: Stamos remains on the job, for now, as CNN's Selena Larson reports... But the NYT says he's leaving in August... | | New interviews with Wylie | | | He's been characterized as a "whistleblower" in this case. CNN's Hala Gorani and Don Lemon both interviewed former Cambridge Analytica contractor Christopher Wylie on Monday... He told Lemon that he helped build a "psychological warfare weapon..." Here are some of the highlights... | | | Donie O'Sullivan emails: The guy who gathered all the data for Cambridge Analytica, Aleksandr Kogan, sent an email to his colleagues in academia on Sunday -- and we got a copy of it... | | Channel 4's undercover video | | The twenty-minute documentary aired in the UK on Monday evening. "An undercover investigation by Channel 4 News reveals how Cambridge Analytica secretly campaigns in elections across the world. Bosses were filmed talking about using bribes, ex-spies, fake IDs and sex workers..."
--> Cambridge Analytica CEO Alexander Nix tried to get out ahead of the documentary by going on a rival network, the BBC, beforehand. He said on "Newsnight" that he felt "deliberately entrapped" by the journalists, and called the report a "misrepresentation of the facts."
--> Notable: The BBC says he "declined to be interviewed after the undercover footage was broadcast..." | | Channel 4 says there's more to come... | | | "Part Three, on the company's work in the United States, will be broadcast" Tuesday at 7pm GMT...` | | Bannon at FT conference later this week | | Since Steve Bannon sat on the Cambridge Analytica board, and Wylie keeps talking about Bannon's role, I'm sure there will be lots of Q's at the FT's Future of News conference on Thursday... Bannon is scheduled to speak around 4:50pm... | | Ferro "retires" from Tronc | | Michael Ferro's "retirement" announcement on Monday morning came as a surprise. Ferro had been the chairman of Tronc for only two years. He juiced the publisher's stock price, but at a high cost for newsrooms like the LA Times and the Chicago Tribune. Some of the company's journalists cheered his exit.
And THEN Fortune magazine posted its investigation into allegations of "inappropriate advances" by Ferro. Suddenly the "retirement" news made more sense. Fortune said it "reached out to Ferro last week" with on-the-record accounts from two women who said they were negatively affected by Ferro's alleged advances. The magazine also spoke with former Ferro employees who described questionable behavior in his past. A spokesman for Ferro didn't refute the allegations. Instead, in a statement on Monday, he cited Ferro's departure from Tronc as a reason to stay quiet... | | | Fortune's Kristen Bellstrom and Beth Kowitt deserve a lot of credit here. As Joshua Benton tweeted, "A lot of reporters were chasing this story." Here's my write-up... | | The Q's Tronc is not answering | | -- When did Tronc CEO Justin Dearborn find out about these allegations against Ferro?
-- Was the retirement an attempt to preempt the Fortune story?
-- Ferro recently signed a contract that pays $5 million each year for the next three years. Will he still be paid?
BTW, David Folkenflik has more Q's over on Twitter... | | -- Another sign of Facebook competing with YouTube: "Facebook will soon let you subscribe to your favorite creator for $5 a month..." (Recode)
-- "Why Roger Ailes Took Me Off Fox News" -- a remarkable piece by Erick Erickson -- he says "Elaine Chao did not like me writing critically about her husband, Mitch McConnell," and she leaned on Ailes in 2014, so his Fox hits were limited... (The Resurgent)
-- Another TV star from NYC running for office: Cynthia Nixon officially entered the NY governor's race on Monday, challenging Andrew Cuomo in the Democratic primary... (NY1) | | Weinstein Co. bankruptcy process begins | | The Wrap's Matt Donnelly reports: "The Weinstein Company filed for bankruptcy in Delaware on Monday, hoping to enter an organized sale process with a stalking horse bidder in Lantern Capital Partners. The Dallas-based private equity firm has agreed to keep all employees on as a 'going concern' if the bankruptcy court approves the process..."
--> Deadline's Mike Fleming Jr. broke the news and has updates here...
--> And here's our full story on CNNMoney... | | Schneiderman says Weinstein Co. is lifting NDA's | | | A statement from NY A.G. Eric T. Schneiderman: "The Weinstein Company's agreement to release victims of and witnesses to sexual misconduct from non-disclosure agreements -- which my office has sought throughout this investigation and litigation -- will finally enable voices that have for too long been muzzled to be heard..." | | Meantime, Cuomo ups the pressure on Vance... | | Here's the timeline:
FRIDAY: NYMag published a new story questioning why Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr. hasn't prosecuted Harvey Weinstein...
MONDAY MORNING: The Time's Up organization called on NY governor Andrew Cuomo "to launch an independent investigation" of Vance's handling of the case...
MONDAY AFTERNOON: Vance's office responded and said "our investigation of Mr. Weinstein is active and ongoing..."
MONDAY EVENING: Cuomo answered Time's Up's call and referred the matter to Schneiderman's office, instructing the A.G. to review Vance's handling of the Ambra Battilana case "in a way that does not interfere with the current investigation..."
A FEW MINUTES LATER: Schneiderman welcomed the opportunity. "We are committed to pursuing a full, fair, and independent review of this matter..."
Read Sandra Gonzalez and Elizabeth Joseph's full story here... | | -- CNN's Andrew Kaczynski tweeted: "Steve Wynn settles with second woman over sex allegations. Reminder that RNC -- which slammed Democrats on Weinstein for weeks -- refuses to return Wynn's money as of yet..." (AP)
-- "Digital advertising is still a duopoly" controlled by Google and FB. But Amazon and Snapchat are making important gains, according to a new eMarketer report... (Recode) | | | Hadas Gold and Jessica Schneider recapped Monday's evidentiary arguments here. AT&T attorneys tried to convince Judge Richard Leon to "throw out several pieces of evidence that the Justice Department wants to submit in its lawsuit..." Leon "said he is not inclined to let an email or a PowerPoint in as evidence unless a witness is able to provide the proper context, but he did not issue any ruling on the emails." Tuesday: More evidentiary arguments. Wednesday: Opening statements... | | This trial is going to take a while | | More from Gold and Schneider's story: "Leon also noted that additional witnesses may be necessary (above and beyond the 30 witnesses both sides have already agreed to) because the case is 'too important to both sides and the future of this industry' to not see the full view of the evidence." A Google exec may also be called to the stand...
🔌: Gold and I will be on the 7am hour of CNN's "New Day" Tuesday... And Schneider will be on "Newsroom" in the 9am hour... | | John Oliver's parody book outsells Pence family's book | | I can't believe I'm about to write this sentence, but here goes:
John Oliver used Sunday's "Last Week Tonight" to launch a parody children's book about VP Mike Pence's pet bunny Marlon Bundo, one day before the Pence family's own children's book about the bunny came out. In Oliver's book, the bunny is gay.
"Buy it for your children" or "just buy it because you know it would annoy Mike Pence," Oliver told his viewers.
Sure enough, the parody book is outselling the Pence family's book... No. 1 versus No. 5 on Amazon right now... CNN's Betsy Kiein has the full story here, with bonus bunny puns... | | Comey holding steady at #2 | | | James Comey's "A Higher Loyalty" was No. 1 on Amazon's best selling books list, but the "Last Week Tonight" book has punted Comey to No. 2. Still pretty impressive for a book that's not out for four more weeks... | | | For the record, part three | | | -- Nancy Benac is the AP's new White House news editor...
-- Former Clinton W.H. press secretary and NFL PR chief Joe Lockhart is CNN's newest political commentator...
-- Former Obama W.H. staffer Karine Jean-Pierre on "The Lead" decrying "insane" Trump W.H. chaos: "Essentially what you have is like 'Survivor' meets 'The Apprentice' meets 'Game of Thrones.'" | | Just a few of Monday's CNN headlines... | | -- "Mueller team gives Trump lawyers more details of what they want to talk to President about"
-- "Republicans say we don't need a law to protect Robert Mueller"
-- "Michael Cohen taunts Stormy Daniels: Might take 'an extended vacation on her dime'" | | A "major news conference" next month? We'll see | | POTUS in NH talking about driving prescription drug prices down: "We're going to have a major news conference, probably at the White House, in about a month" on the subject.
Hmmm. If he follows through... a big IF... this will be Trump's first formal solo press conference in more than a year... | | The TV-to-Trump pipeline in action | | Eight days ago, Trump "said reports about him hiring a new lawyer were simply not true... Today, of course, it DID happen," CNN's Jeff Zeleny said on "The Lead" Monday afternoon. "He's hiring a new lawyer, Joe DiGenova, a longtime Washington lawyer, who did indeed catch the president's attention -- where else? -- by appearing on Fox News..."
--> WashPost's Aaron Blake: "Trump just hired a deep-state conspiracy theorist as his lawyer. Here's what Joe diGenova has said..."
--> MSNBC's Ari Melber tweeted: "This is Trump moving his formal legal strategy towards Hannity Conspiracy Theories/Johnnie Cochran defense..." | | Stormy Daniels' lawyer Michael Avenatti has been all over the tube this month. His interviews have doubled as teases for Sunday's "60 Minutes" interview with Daniels. But have you noticed that he hasn't been on Fox? Speaking to the aforementioned Ari Melber on Monday, Avenatti said, "I haven't received a single request, not one, from Fox News..."
--> Related from Philip Bump: "Up to speed on the Stormy Daniels story? If you watch Fox, probably not..." | | Megan Thomas emails: If Washington's rapid-spin news cycle has left you feeling dizzy, I found this New Yorker profile on Jerry Brown and "California's war against Trump" refreshingly frank.
Brown on the resistance: "What is that?" Brown said. "People are striving to frame their campaigns rhetorically. But I'm not running a campaign... I've criticized the president when I thought he was wrong, but my life doesn't revolve around Donald Trump." | | | For the record, part four | | | -- Jason Rezaian's latest: "Iran's global campaign to silence journalists crosses a line, and borders..." (WashPost)
-- Al Jazeera English's Mehdi Hasan says the "60 Minutes" interview with the Saudi crown prince "resembled more of an infomercial for the Saudi regime than a serious or hard-hitting interview..." (The Intercept)
-- "Saudi Arabia's sovereign wealth fund is taking a $400 million stake in Endeavor, one of Hollywood's biggest talent and event managers..." (Bloomberg) | | Cheddar raises $22 million | | WSJ's Ben Mullin with the news: Jon Steinberg's Cheddar streaming service "has raised $22 million" in its fourth funding round... "The company is now valued at $160 million, up from $85 million after the last fundraising round..." Steinberg said Cheddar is close to profitable and looking to expand to other countries...
--> I checked in with Steinberg on Monday night... Here's what he said... "Our bet is on the bundle. Or at least the new bundles. We currently have base bundle distribution on Sling (right near CNN!), Philo, and Comcast X1, and hope and plan to be in all 5 million of those sub homes by mid year. We think that number goes to 10 million by year end. We only make 3 hours of content 'free' a day - for the full 8 you need to be authenticated through one of these platforms. And so I think our business model is traditional, just the content and delivery is new!" | | Chloe interviews Lena Dunham | | | Chloe Melas emails: Lena Dunham spoke with me about her life since having a hysterectomy due to her battle with endometriosis. "I have ups and downs," she said... | | Lin-Manuel Miranda and Ben Platt's duet | | | Sandra Gonzalez writes: "Two of Broadway's most popular voices have joined forces for a song to benefit March For Our Lives. Lin-Manuel Miranda and Ben Platt are featured on the new song 'Found/Tonight.' The mash-up combines the sentiments and messages in the songs 'The Story of Tonight' from 'Hamilton' and 'You Will Be Found' from 'Dear Evan Hansen...' A portion of proceeds made from sale of the song will go toward March For Our Lives." Read the rest here... | | | Joe Adalian tweeted Monday: "ABC has to be pretty happy so far with the early performance of AMERICAN IDOL: Last night's episode notched a 1.8 A18-49 and should end up the No. 1 broadcast show of the night in the demo. Not a monster smash, but given network's overall performance? A much-needed boost..." | | Catch up on Sunday's show | | Ben Shapiro on "Reliable Sources" | | | TheBlaze's recap of our Sunday segment: "Conservative commentator Ben Shapiro and CNN host Brian Stelter had a very candid conversation Sunday that was widely praised on social media. During the seven-minute interview, Shapiro exposed the mainstream media and explained why they are disconnected from mainstream America." Here's the video on CNN.com... | | Carl Bernstein's bottom line | | | Carl Bernstein on Sunday's show: "The reportorial fact is this president lies. Why do we have any reason to believe that he is not lying about the Russia investigation and what's underneath it?" | | Why the TV-to-Trump pipeline works | | John Bolton as national security advisor? Pete Hegseth as VA secretary?
On "Reliable," Jeff Greenfield joked that he's in line to be the director of NASA... And Alicia Menendez made this point: By hiring from Fox, "it creates this positive feedback loop. If you love the president, if you love Fox News, then his hiring from Fox News validates Fox's credibility and it also validates the president's great taste, right? It works both ways." Watch the rest of the segment here... | | | Email brian.stelter@turner.com... the feedback helps us improve this newsletter every day... Thanks! | | | | | | |
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