| | | | Why Sarah Sanders should quit | | Even on its best days, being the press secretary for President Donald Trump is a near-impossible job.
Thursday was not one of White House press secretary Sarah Sanders' best days.
The night before, she had learned that Trump had -- contrary to Sanders' past assertions -- reimbursed his personal attorney, Michael Cohen, for the $130,000 hush payment to porn star Stormy Daniels 11 days before the 2016 election.
How did she learn that troubling fact? The same way the rest of us did: By watching former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani on Sean Hannity's show on the Fox News channel.
Talk about a gut punch.
Here's a quick refresher course. On March 7, Sanders was asked whether Trump knew anything about the payment to Daniels. Here's what she said: "Yeah, I've had conversations with the President about this. ... There was no knowledge of any payments from the President and he's denied all of these allegations."
It's not hard to see what happened there. Knowing she would be asked about the hush money, Sanders asked Trump. And he told her something that simply wasn't true.
Which brings us to Thursday, when Sanders was forced to face down the White House press corps after this public embarrassment. What explained the discrepancy between what she said on March 7 and what Giuliani said on Wednesday night? This exchange with CNN's Jim Acosta tells that story:
Acosta: "Why can't you just answer yes or no whether you were in the dark. I think it's a fairly simple question whether you just didn't have the information at the time."
Sanders: "I think it's a fairly simple answer that I've given you several times now. I gave you the best information that I had and I'm gonna continue to do my best to do that every single day."
In this instance, "the best information I had" is a euphemism for "the President of the United States didn't tell me the whole truth and then I went out and repeated it."
To the extent Sanders retained credibility among the White House press corps, she lost it with that answer. Admitting that you misled the press because the President misled you is tantamount to taking your credibility, pouring gasoline on it and then setting it on fire.
The Point: A boss who would not only mislead you, but also do so knowing full well you would then put your credibility on the line publicly to defend that misinformation, is a boss no one should be willing to work for. That includes Sarah Sanders.
-- Chris | | "Blaming the intern is so 1990's. 🙄"
-- Monica Lewinsky, in a tweet linking to Sen. Marco Rubio's critique of a Politico article he said was "written by intern at Politico." | | | Chris wrote on Thursday: "Give Rudy Giuliani this: He knows how to make an entrance. The former New York City mayor, 2008 presidential candidate and longtime pal of President Donald Trump has been on the job as a legal adviser to the President for exactly two weeks.
But, in that fortnight, he has managed to repeatedly inject himself directly into the center of the news cycle -- the latest example being his revelation on Wednesday night that Trump reimbursed Michael Cohen for the $130,000 hush payment made to porn star Stormy Daniels. Giuliani has also taken the lead on laying out the preconditions that he says would be necessary for Trump to sit down with special counsel Bob Mueller and emerged as the top attack dog against former FBI Director James Comey. And he even revealed on Thursday morning that the Trump administration had successfully negotiated the release of three US prisoners from North Korea -- even though the releases have not been formally announced.
...As the last 24 hours have shown ... an empowered Giuliani scheming with Trump -- and with little consultation with, or heads up to, senior White House aides -- is very, very problematic." Read Chris' full take here. | | KEEP YOUR CALENDAR UP TO DATE | | If you're like us and addicted to political news, we have a new calendar tool for you! Thanks to some of our CNN colleagues, you can stay up to date on the most important election events, as well as town halls and debates, as we add them throughout the year.
Subscribe on your Google (http://bit.ly/2pqLKE6) or Apple (http://bit.ly/2pqmeyB) calendar. | | | For you musical theater nerds out there, here's a YouTube video of Aaron Tveit performing "Come What May" from "Moulin Rouge." | | TRUMP CHANGES STORMY STORY | | Following the Giuliani news, President Donald Trump took to Twitter on Thursday morning to shift his story about the Stormy Daniels controversy. From today's big story by CNN's Veronica Stracqualursi and Clare Foran:
"Trump -- who previously said he was not aware of the $130,000 Cohen paid to Daniels before the 2016 election in an effort to keep her quiet about an alleged affair between her and the President -- denied on Thursday that any campaign money was used to reimburse Cohen and said he was paid via retainer. The payment has prompted complaints to the Justice Department and Federal Election Commission over potential violations of campaign finance law.
"Mr. Cohen, an attorney, received a monthly retainer, not from the campaign and having nothing to do with the campaign, from which he entered into, through reimbursement, a private contract between two parties, known as a non-disclosure agreement, or NDA," Trump wrote on Twitter Thursday morning. Read more here. | | AWAITING THE 'GREEN LIGHT' | | From CNN's Eli Watkins: "Former President George H.W. Bush tweeted Thursday he had 'not taken up residence" at the Houston hospital he was admitted to late last month and is awaiting a 'green light' to leave.
'Quite moved by this announcement by @MethodistHosp. The atrium is beautiful, but recent developments notwithstanding I have not taken up residence here. The doctors, nurses and support staff are so nice, but the second I get the green light I'm outta here," the 41st President said in a tweet. | | | Speaking of POTUS...the President will head to Indiana next week for a May 10 campaign rally in South Bend. "The President will use the rally to tout the benefits of his historic tax cuts and booming economy to middle class families throughout Indiana and encourage people to vote in the mid-term elections this fall to increase the GOP majority in the Senate to support his America First agenda," the Trump campaign announced Thursday. | | | From Brenna: "Look how excited President Trump was about the National Day of Prayer! Get other people pumped about The Point and tell people to subscribe to the newsletter." | | We'd love to share our other newsletters with you. Follow this link for daily coverage of the world's top stories, savvy market insights, an insider's look into the media and more. Our authors for The Point are Chris Cillizza and Saba Hamedy. Send your tips and thoughts via email to Chris or Saba. Follow on Twitter: Chris and Saba. | | | | | | |
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