| | | | | Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg is escorted by US Capitol Police as he walks in a hallway prior to a meeting with US Sen. John Thune Monday. Credit: Alex Wong/Getty Images | | | Raid Makes Trump Mad: Trump isn't happy about Michael Cohen's office, home, and hotel room being raided by the FBI
No, They Didn't Get Invited: Neither the Trumps nor the Obamas are going to the Royal Wedding
Happy Facebook Day: Mark Zuckerberg to get grilled | | | What the White House is Talking About:
President Trump today meets at the White House with the Emir of the State of Qatar. Later he welcomes NCAA football champs the University of Alabama Crimson Tide.
What the White House Press Corps is Talking About:
😲😲😲 Just trying to keep our heads above water mmkay.
Sarah Sanders briefs at 2 p.m.
Raid Makes Trump Mad:
Trump isn't happy at all about the office, home and hotel room of Michael Cohen being raided by the FBI. "They broke into the office of one of my personal attorneys," the President said yesterday. Actually, a judge had to sign a search warrant for federal agents to make entry, but whatev. The Cohen move sets off an entirely new phase of the Mueller investigation, and makes clear the special counsel and his team are onto something -- and on the President's side, it marks a potential turning point in his thought process about firing Mueller. Aside: Sen. Chuck Grassley told CNN "it would be suicide" for Trump if he were to fire the special counsel now.
POTUS' Last-Minute Canceled Trip:
In a surprise announcement that apparently even caught some White House staff off-guard, Sarah Sanders this morning said Trump is killing his planned trip to the Summit of the Americas in Lima, Peru, and a visit to Colombia. He had been scheduled to leave on Friday. Sanders said he wasn't going because he needs to stay here and monitor the situation in Syria -- but he's also sort of got a lot of other stuff, too. One person who didn't know Trump was pulling out was new economic adviser Larry Kudlow, who said this just prior to the White House announcement of the cancellation: "Of course he can compartmentalize. I'm going to bet you he holds his regular schedule today. ... I'll be traveling with him with a group going to Latin America ... I don't think it's going to stop him." Awks.
Trump's Staff Turnover Rate is Bananas:
Brookings has done an analysis of the turnover rate among Trump's senior and executive-level team and it stands at 49%, which is way higher than his predecessors' at this time in their tenure, since Ronald Reagan. | | Credit: brookings.edu
Oh, And Tom Bossert Probably Got Fired:
New National Security Adviser John Bolton appears to be cleaning house -- this morning Tom Bossert is out. CNN is reporting he was "pushed out," and wasn't expecting to be let go. On Sunday he appeared on morning talk shows on behalf of the administration and its response to the situation in Syria. If you're following along at home, Bossert was Trump's homeland security adviser.
No, They Didn't Get Invited:
Today Kensington Palace made the official announcement on behalf of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle that there would be no government officials or political leaders, both from the UK and abroad, invited to the royal wedding. Which means, no Trumps. The Obamas aren't going either.
Our Daily Melania:
One kid who attended the first lady's small discussion at the White House about the challenges facing middle-schoolers today will have a story to tell. Melania invited each of the students to come up to an electronic whiteboard and write a word to describe their emotions -- "happy," "nervous," etc. -- and a boy who went up and wrote "energized," then turned to go back to his seat and bumped a table holding Melania's glass of water, which spilled onto the floor. I have to say, because I was there, I was so happy to see the first lady spring into action to make him feel ok about the spill. "No problem, don't worry," she said, putting her arm around him. "It's just water, ok? No worry at all. It happens." The Blue Room had been set up like a classroom: | | Credit: Saul Loeb/AFP/Getty Images
About that Vogue Cover:
Now, it's Anna's magazine and Ms. Wintour can do as she pleases, but I feel like it's kind of unfair not to put Melania Trump on the cover of Vogue. Michelle Obama got THREE Vogue covers during her tenure as first lady -- just saying. Amal Clooney is on the new May issue, announced today, see below. And in her editor's letter, I feel like Wintour is throwing shade at Melania, or those who, like me, think she deserves a cover turn. I'm hopeful that once she announces a real platform (see my screed in this space yesterday) Melania will be deemed worthy in Vogue's eyes -- because clearly being first lady of the United States still isn't enough. (Kate gets down from soap box.) | | Today in Weird Casting:
Wait, what? | | What Washington is Talking About:
Mark Zuckerberg's testimony before a joint hearing of the Senate Judiciary and Commerce committees begins at 2:15 p.m. ET. I'll be tweeting out highlights, so you can follow along on Twitter if you won't be watching live.
What America is Talking About:
Controversy in how "The Simpsons" responded to criticism of Apu.
Poll of the Day:
Back in 2016, Pew polled US adults on how they felt about institutions protecting their privacy. Even then, social media came in last, with about half saying they weren't confident the sites would protect their data. | | Credit: Pew
It's Not Just Fake Russian Pages:
The biggest Black Lives Matter page on Facebook is fake, but it's not Russian, it's Australian. A page called "Black Lives Matter" with almost 700,000 followers was run by a middle-aged white Australian man, CNN has learned. The page raised at least $100,000 supposedly for Black Lives Matter causes, but some of the money went to Australian bank accounts. The page was taken down a week after CNN contacted Facebook, and months after the legit Black Lives Matter page flagged it. | | Credit: via CNN
Facebookception:
Sen. Bill Nelson posted about his meeting with Facebook's CEO on Facebook. It received more than 1,500 likes, 518 comments, and 257 shares. | | Credit: Bill Nelson/Facebook
The Raid Was Related to Stormy and Taxi Medallions:
The FBI raid on the offices of Trump's personal attorney Michael Cohen was related to Stormy Daniels, who received $130,000 from Cohen to not talk about an alleged affair she had with Trump, a source told CNN. The warrant also included a request for documents related to taxi medallions Cohen owns.
More Stormy on the Horizon:
We're expecting later today a composite sketch of the man Stormy Daniels said threatened her if she talked about her alleged affair with Trump, and a tell-all interview with Penthouse, complete with a nude shoot, by the end of the month. In her Penthouse cover story, Daniels "answers a lot of questions about Trump that Anderson Cooper didn't ask," a source told Page Six. That sounds NSFW to me, but we'll see.
Here's the Paid Ukrainian Conference Speech Trump Gave that Mueller's Team is Allegedly Looking Into:
Special counsel Robert Mueller's team is looking at a $150,000 payment made to Trump's foundation by a Ukrainian oligarch for a 20-minute speech Trump gave on September 11, 2015. The speech, given several months after Trump announced he would run for president, was to the Yalta European Strategy Forum in Kiev via streaming video, according to the New York Times.
The speech didn't get much attention at the time (this was between the first and second Repub debates, back before many people thought Trump could win the nomination, despite his leading in polls) but a Guardian reporter who covered the speech from Kiev called it "bizarre" and noted Trump repeatedly said "the Ukraine" instead of "Ukraine," which Ukrainians consider insulting.
You can watch video of Trump's speech for yourself here. Let's just say if I paid $150,000 for it, I'd want my money back. Throughout, Trump pauses between speaking, even after he's told he doesn't need to wait for a translator, and he said on multiple occasions his video kept cutting out. Trump said during the speech that his "feeling toward the Ukraine and towards the entire area is very, very strong." | | Credit: via Team Trump Comms/YouTube
Street Art Sighting: Facebook Edition
Zuckerberg and Facebook have become a favorite target for street artists around the world. Today in Washington, the advocacy group Avaaz put up an army of cardboard cutouts of Zuckerberg wearing a shirt that reads "fix fakebook" in front of the Capitol... | | Credit: Saul Loeb/AFP/Getty Images
At the Central Railway Station in Sydney, someone put up a responsibility-regulation hourglass with the time running out... | | Credit: @travellerneety/Instagram
And street artist Lushsux, who's done a number of Zuckerberg pieces, made this one of the Facebook founder with an "I'm not a robot" captcha. | | Credit: @lushsux/Instagram
If you spot political street art, tweet me @hunterschwarz, tag me on Instagram @hunterschwarz, or email me at coverlinehunter@cnn.com with your sighting so I can feature it in COVER/LINE.
P.S.:
Some of YouTube's biggest music videos have disappeared, including "Despacito," its most-viewed video of all-time, after they were defaced by hackers. | | | | | | |
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