| | | | | Exec summary: Big week ahead...Netflix earnings on Monday afternoon... New revelations about Michael Cohen... The beginning of James Comey's book tour... Plus, Martin Sorrell is out at WPP... Scroll down for details... | | "Morally unfit to be president" | | With "A Higher Loyalty" coming out on Tuesday, the president's fitness for office is back in the news.
George Stephanopoulos to James Comey: "You write that President Trump is unethical, untethered to the truth. Is Donald Trump unfit to be president?"
Comey: "Yes. But not in the way I often hear people talk about it. I don't buy this stuff about him being mentally incompetent or early stages of dementia. He strikes me as a person of above average intelligence who's tracking conversations and knows what's going on. I don't think he's medically unfit to be president. I think he's morally unfit to be president."
So much will be said and written and tweeted about Sunday night's interview and all the Comey interviews to come. Trump allies are working overtime to discredit him. Some Fox talkers are saying there's "no bombshell." But the book IS the bombshell!
As John Avlon tweeted on Sunday night: "The inevitable book tour aspect of the Comey interview actually undercuts the importance of its insights. But it shouldn't obscure them. Having a Republican FBI director detect commonalities between mob bosses and the culture surrounding the president is damning." | | One of the biggest interviews of the year... | | ABC News called Sunday's night program an "EXCLUSIVE EVENT." The hashtag on screen: #COMEY.
So how high will the ratings be? I honestly don't have a good guess... What do you think? | | | This was a tough edit. Stephanopoulos and Comey spoke for nearly five hours... ABC News president James Goldston and numerous other execs were on hand for the taping... And the edit was a serious challenge. The hour-long special was finally "locked" early Sunday afternoon. When the broadcast began, ABC published the transcript of the FULL interview on ABCNews.com... | | Here's what Stephanopoulos told me... | | I thought Stephanopoulos struck just the right tone in the interview. There are still some unanswered questions, of course, but he told the Comey tale from start to finish.
After the broadcast, I asked Stephanopoulos what he hoped viewers took away from the prime time special... He replied: "No FBI director has ever played such a consequential role in a presidential election. No FBI director has ever been fired as he was investigating a president. After tonight, I hope people know more about what James Comey has been thinking and feeling since that day. I tried to ask the most critical questions about the critical decisions he made." | | | David Gergen on Sunday's "Reliable Sources:" Comey "can be a showboat, as the president has said. But it's also true that he speaks from a deep ethical place, and he's saying some things that he thinks the country NEEDS to say and needs to HEAR." Gergen said this book could "change the narrative..." | | Insta-reactions via Twitter | | What reporters and TV critics and filmmakers were saying during the broadcast:
-- Michael Smerconish: "Any reasonable person should conclude that Stephanopoulos is asking all the right questions and conducting a terrific interview..."
-- John Stanton: "The whole 'Comey is debasing himself/hurting his credibility by talking like this' criticism seems weird in a world where Donald Trump is president..."
-- Liz Garbus: The edits are "very distracting and makes it hard to feel like we're getting the full context of his answers/ideas..."
-- Bill Carter: "It feels rushed, almost like a speeded-up record..."
-- Paul Farhi: "One striking thing in this interview about James Comey: He seems to have a lot of pity for James Comey..."
-- Sean Hannity: "Omg I'm stunned! ABC, Stephanopoulos that was the worst interview I have ever watched in my life..." | | Special cable news coverage | | | In the 9pm hour, leading into ABC's special, MSNBC aired an hour-long profile of Comey and Fox News aired a special titled "The Trial of James Comey." At 11pm, CNN aired a post-show program anchored by Jim Sciutto and Pamela Brown... Sciutto called the interview a "jarring critique of a sitting president..." Jeffrey Toobin said it was a "completely devastating account of the president's behavior..." | | USA Today DC bureau chief Susan Page and justice correspondent Kevin Johnson interviewed Comey the other day... It's the "first print exclusive..." Appearing in Monday's print edition. The story is up on USAToday.com now. A video version of the interview will be released at 8am ET...
TUESDAY: On book launch day, Comey will be on "GMA," "Morning Edition," "Fresh Air," and "The Late Show with Stephen Colbert..." | | | On "Reliable," Jennifer Palmieri, the communications director for Hillary Clinton's 2016 campaign, reacted to the book... She said Comey was "very clearly out of the bounds of the way the FBI is supposed to operate..." Here's the segment... | | Coming soon: Fresh attacks on Comey's credibility? Trump's "fusillade of tweets" on Sunday morning served up "several of his favorite theories and unsubstantiated allegations of misdeeds," the WashPost's Josh Dawsey writes. His key point: "The tweets were filled with unproven assertions."
On "Reliable Sources," I recapped the tweetstorm and said reporters always try to make sense of the president's behavior. It's a natural instinct! But right now there's no sense to be made. He's just swinging wildly, hoping to land a punch... | | | BACK TO THE ABC SPECIAL... | | | I hope I'm not leaving anyone out, but the Stephanopoulos interview was supported by, among others, James Goldston, David Sloan, Muriel Pearson, Chris Donavon, Thea Trachtenberg, Eric Avram, Heather Riley... | | This was a well-timed promotion | | | Brian Lowry emails: After teasing the question about Trump's fitness, ABC ran a promo for this week's "Designated Survivor" -- the show that stars Kiefer Sutherland as the president -- that said, "Is President Kirkman Mentally Fit to Run the Country?" (For those who haven't been watching, the plot hinges on Kirkman facing a potential challenge to his presidency, based on his response to the death of his wife...) | | NYT's full-page editorial | | With a 1,366-word editorial in Monday's newspaper, the NYT is making a forceful statement: "The President is not above the law." The editorial warns that President Trump "may act to cripple or shut down" special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation. "More Republicans need to make it clear that they won't tolerate any action against either man," The Times says.
The editorial takes up a full page of Monday's Times. Normally there are several editorials and letters from readers on the page. But editorial page editor James Bennet said this moment in time called for a unique response: "It's become apparent in recent days that this political and legal struggle could escalate at any moment into a full-blown constitutional crisis that no one should want," Bennet told me via email Sunday night. "We hope that won't happen, but we wanted to prepare our readers -- and maybe even help fend off the crisis -- by making clear how high the stakes would be." Here's my full story... | | | The NYT jump-started the #MeToo movement. The Times and several other papers fiercely competed for Trump scoops. What will the Pulitzer jury recognize? The prizes will be announced 3pm Monday in the The World Room at the Columbia School of Journalism... | | -- Big story in Monday's WashPost: "Trump, a reluctant hawk, has battled his top aides on Russia and lost" (WashPost)
-- Prayers for the Bush family: CNN's Jamie Gangel reported Sunday afternoon that Barbara Bush, 92, is in "failing health..." (CNN)
-- CBS accidentally published an obit for Bush, then took it down... (THR)
-- Via ABC News PR: "Starbucks president and CEO Kevin Johnson speaks out" on Monday's "GMA..." It is Johnson's first interview since this video of two black men being arrested at a Philly store went viral... (ABC) | | Lara Spencer going part-time on "GMA" | | People mag's Sunday night scoop: "Lara Spencer will spend less time behind the Good Morning America desk..." She is "stepping away from her role as coanchor of GMA to concentrate on her growing lifestyle brand and production company..."
A source confirmed this change to me and said Spencer will appear on "GMA" on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays going forward... So she'll have a long weekend... The morning show has been centered around Stephanopoulos, Robin Roberts and Michael Strahan for a while already... | | Media week ahead calendar | | -- Monday evening: The NBA Playoffs continue with Heat v. 76ers and Spurs v. Warriors...
-- Tuesday: Tax deadline!
-- Wednesday: Cambridge Analytica faces UK lawmakers...
-- Thursday night: "Over A Cliff," the final episode of "Scandal," airs on ABC...
-- Next Sunday: "Westworld" is back! | | Netflix earnings on Monday | | | The earnings will come after the bell... The stock is up almost $100 since the last quarterly earnings report... This time around, "analysts expect Netflix to add a little over 6.5 million net new subscribers in the first quarter, which is a 32% jump from the same period last year," the WSJ reports... | | CEOs expected to testify this week | | Hadas Gold emails: Court resumes on Monday morning. This week we'll hear from a couple more expert witnesses called by AT&T to testify about FCC rules that they believe add another layer of protection for distributors who may have disputes over Turner carriage. ALSO: Time Warner CEO Jeff Bewkes and AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson are expected to testify this week, possibly as early as Tuesday.
--> Important to note: The government's case still hasn't actually rested. We're waiting on more witnesses from them. Closing arguments should come in the closing days of April... | | -- RIP Art Bell. The "mysterious narrator of the American nightscape" has died... He was 72... (WashPost)
-- Over the past week, Fox News "helped fuel a false narrative about Diamond & Silk to accuse Facebook of censorship." Oliver Darcy explains it all here... (CNNMoney) | | | THE END OF AN ADVERTISING ERA... | | "Martin Sorrell has stepped down as chief executive of WPP following the conclusion of an investigation into an allegation of personal misconduct, ending his more than three decades of leadership atop the world's largest advertising company," the WSJ's Nick Kostov and Suzanne Vranica report. It's being portrayed as a retirement...
-- NOW IN CHARGE: 'Roberto Quarta, chairman of WPP's board, will take on the role of executive chairman until a new CEO is appointed..."
-- RESUMES WELCOME: "The board is conducting a search for internal and external candidates for a new CEO with 'no set time frame,' the company said..."
-- CNNMONEY'S STORY: "Sorrell has said he 'unreservedly' denies any inappropriate action..."
-- WHAT'S NEXT: Sorrell "didn't have a non-compete agreement with WPP," so he is "free to launch a new ad group," the FT's Matthew Garrahan reports... | | | "Reliable Sources" highlights | | | | What did you think of Sunday's "Reliable Sources?" Lemme know! Email me or send me a tweet... | | What Dershowitz is telling the president | | | "I'm not here to defend" President Trump, attorney Alan Dershowitz told me. "I'm here to defend civil liberties and due process." Watch the full segment here... | | Trump's "shelters from the storm" | | Pro-Trump media personalities and outlets are Trump's "shelters from the storm..." Defending and protecting the president... BUT it's worth noting that many of these commentators criticized his decision to strike Syria on Friday. Alex Jones even cried.
On "Reliable," I said I think it's a very good thing that we're hearing skeptics and critics of Syria intervention on TV. We didn't hear enough of it on TV in 2002/2003.
"Well, you are hearing some of this criticism actually from the president himself, who has said at the same time that he is engaging and sending missiles into Syria that we should be pulling out," my guest Bruce Bartlett said. "So, he is trying to have both sides." Watch the full segment here... | | | Brian Lowry emails: Bruce Bartlett got it exactly right on "Reliable." Whatever criticism the president might face from conservative media, anti-anti-Trump sentiment -- the sense that "the enemy of my political enemy is my friend" -- ultimately trumps it, perhaps more so now than at any time in recent memory... | | How to catch up on the show | | | The Rough Cuts, led by "NBC Nightly News" anchor Lester Holt on the bass, performed for a packed house at Hill Country BBQ in NYC Sunday night... The band is comprised of NBC News producers, editors, and reporters... It's almost time for the band's first "road trip," in DC during WHCD weekend... | | Chloe Melas emails: The ACM Awards were televised Sunday night on CBS... From the MGM Grand in Las Vegas... The show opened with a tribute to the victims of the Las Vegas massacre last fall. It also featured a highly anticipated performance by Carrie Underwood -- her first since injuring her face last year.
Here's Chloe's full story >>> | | Beyoncé makes history with Coachella performance | | Via CNN's Nicole Chavez: "Beyoncé performed for throngs of screaming fans Saturday night at Coachella after a year's wait. 'Y'all ready Coachella?,' she asked the crowd as she opened her set, becoming the first woman of color to headline the music festival." Read her full story here...
--> Jon Caramanica's review for the NYT: "Let's just cut to the chase: There's not likely to be a more meaningful, absorbing, forceful and radical performance by an American musician this year, or any year soon, than Beyoncé's headlining set at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival Saturday night..." | | Hulu renews "I Love America" | | | "Sarah Silverman's talk show has been renewed by Hulu," THR reports. "The streamer on Sunday announced it has ordered 11 more episodes of 'I Love You, America,' which will return Thursday, Sept. 6. The new season is said to be much more political, focusing on the mid-term elections..." | | | Email brian.stelter@turner.com... the feedback helps us improve this newsletter every day... Thanks! | | | | | | |
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