| | | | | President Donald Trump holds up a signed bill Tuesday to help religious minorities in Iraq and Syria. Credit: Yuri Gripas/Bloomberg via Getty Images | | | Michael Cohen, Judgment Day: Ex-Trump attorney gets three years in prison
Stormy Daniels Ordered to Pay Trump Legal Fees: The adult film star must pay nearly $300,000
Michelle Obama Talks Pop with Questlove: She discussed the first album she ever got and her love of the Jackson 5 | | | What the White House Is Talking About:
President Donald Trump is to sign an executive order this afternoon establishing the White House Opportunity and Revitalization Council. The signing is open to the press pool.
What the White House Press Corps Is Talking About:
Michael Cohen's sentencing today in New York. And whether Trump will talk about it at the signing.
🚨 🚨 🚨 : COHEN GETS THREE YEARS
This morning, Cohen pleaded with the judge to be lenient, saying in part:
"Recently the president tweeted a statement calling me weak and it was correct but for a much different reason than he was implying. It was because time and time again I felt it was my duty to cover up his dirty deeds."
Judge William Pauley walked through each of the counts against Cohen, saying:
"Each of these crimes is a serious offense against the United States." and "Mr. Cohen pled guilty to a veritable smorgasbord of fraudulent conduct."
Michael Cohen, Judgment Day:
Today was the day for Trump's former "fixer" and attorney, who once said he would take a bullet for the President. Cohen will report to federal prison in Otisville, New York, on March 6, per the judge.
Cohen was facing more jail time for his crimes, so the sentence of three years in prison, while harsh, is not as extreme as some had expected. From CNN's reporting: "Cohen's sentence, resulting from both the special counsel's investigation and a related case from Manhattan federal prosecutors, will be the most significant marker yet in the overarching Russia investigation, which has encircled Trump and numerous senior officials in his orbit."
The photo below is of Cohen arriving at court this morning with his family -- daughter Samantha recently had surgery on her foot. I honestly wonder how the President feels today, seeing his former friend and employee sentenced to prison for, ostensibly, actions related to his association with Trump. | | Credit: Drew Angerer/Getty Images
Michael Flynn Also Doesn't Want to Go to Prison:
Former Trump national security adviser Michael Flynn has sent a memo to the federal judge in his case, asking for no prison time. Last year, Flynn pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI. Special counsel Robert Mueller has said Flynn's help in the investigation was "extensive," and he also argued he should not receive prison time. Flynn will find out next week at his sentencing whether Mueller's endorsement, and his own memo to the judge, will keep him out of prison.
Trump Gets Insulted by Nancy Pelosi (I Think?):
After Tuesday's bizarre and dramatic dust-up in the Oval Office between the President and Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer, Pelosi headed back to Capitol Hill, where she proceeded to associate the border wall with Trump's manhood. "It's like a manhood thing for him," the House minority leader told Democratic members at a closed meeting of the Steering and Policy Committee. "As if manhood could ever be associated with him. This wall thing." She also said of her fight with Trump: "It was so wild. It goes to show you: You get into a tickle contest with a skunk, you get tinkle all over you." I analyzed this extensively with Hunter on Tuesday, and I'm still like 🤷♀️.
Our Daily Melania:
Today, first lady Melania Trump went to three military outposts to visit with troops and their families. She flew in a V-22 Osprey, and she got to tour the F-22 stealth jet, also cool. The first lady also went aboard the aircraft carrier USS George H.W. Bush. Listen, I think it's great she is paying close attention to the men and women serving our country, especially during the holidays, but I'm also annoyed that most of today was closed to the press. It's difficult to report on her without the access and accommodation that we, to be fair, usually have to her as media. So I'm a little bit cranky about that today. Mark Knoller tweeted some shots he got from the live feed: | | Credit: @markknoller/Twitter
Hillary Clinton Dancing with John Kerry in India:
Video du jour belongs to this clip of Hillary Clinton and John Kerry in India this week, dancing Bollywood-style. Clinton was there for the wedding of Isha Ambani, the daughter of India's wealthiest man, Mukesh Ambani, who is a big donor to the Clinton Foundation. For an idea of the scale of the wedding, Beyoncé performed. | | Credit: @SameeraKhan/Twitter
Dress Like the First Lady:
Mad for plaid, edition #Ihavelostcount. Melania Trump really has worn a lot of plaid this holiday season. She did it again Tuesday at Joint Base Anacostia-Bolling, where she participated in a toy sorting event with military families and Marines for Toys for Tots. She was wearing a $1,050 jacket-blouse by Tomas Maier, which is sold out on Maier's website, but there's a similar version here for $525. Also, it's not you; I think her hair has gotten blonder this week, too. | | | Credit: Nicholas Kamm/AFP/Getty Images, bergdorfgoodman.com | | What Washington Is Talking About:
The Senate has passed a $867 billion farm bill; Sen. Orrin Hatch delivered his farewell address from the Senate floor; Bryce Harper has reportedly not renewed his Arlington, Virginia, condo lease, which isn't exactly a promising sign that he'll stay in Washington; and the National Gallery of Art is getting its first female director, Kaywin Feldman, who's been director of the Minneapolis Institute of Art.
What America Is Talking About:
Ellen DeGeneres is considering leaving her show; "Jurassic Park," "Brokeback Mountain," "The Shining" and Disney's animated "Cinderella" are among the films being added to the National Film Registry; and the word "idiot" was the top search term on Google in the US on Tuesday after Democratic Rep. Zoe Lofgren asked Google CEO Sundar Pichai during a hearing why images of Trump showed up if you searched that word. It led to Trump appearing even more when the word was searched.
Poll of the Day:
Trump's vow to shut down the government if a border wall isn't funded doesn't look like it would go over well with most the country. An NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist poll found 57% of Americans believe Trump should compromise on a border wall to prevent gridlock, compared with 36% who say he shouldn't, even if that means a shutdown. | | Credit: NPR
Ex-HUD Chief Castro Sets January Announcement:
Former Housing and Urban Development Secretary Julian Castro launched a presidential exploratory committee today and said he would have an announcement next month. For comparison, Ted Cruz was the first candidate in the 2016 cycle to announce his candidacy formally, and that wasn't until March 23, 2015.
Stormy Daniels Ordered to Pay Trump Legal Fees:
A federal judge ordered the adult film star to pay Trump's attorneys $293,052 in legal fees for her defamation case. Trump's attorney Charles Harder called it a "a total victory for the President," while Michael Avenatti celebrated the fact the amount was far less than the nearly $780,000 Harder had asked for and predicted Daniels would win more in her nondisclosure agreement case.
Ford Presents Sports Illustrated Winner:
Christine Blasey Ford made her first public statement since the Brett Kavanaugh hearings Tuesday night in a prerecorded video introducing Sports Illustrated's Inspiration of the Year Award to Rachael Denhollander, the first woman to accuse USA gymnastics doctor Larry Nassar of sexual assault publicly.
"In stepping forward, you took a huge risk and you galvanized future generations to come forward, even when the odds are seemingly stacked against them," Ford said. | | Credit: @sportsillustrated/Instagram
Michelle Obama Talks Pop with Questlove:
On an episode of the musician's "Questlove Supreme" podcast, former first lady Michelle Obama spoke about some of her childhood pop music firsts. Her first album was Stevie Wonder's 1972 Talking Book, which she received twice one Christmas and loved not only listening to but looking at. "That cover to me was as much the experience of the album for me," she said, per excerpts released early on Billboard. "I was really trying to figure out what goes on in his mind: What is he thinking? What does it feel like being blind? How does he feel music?" Stevie Wonder was also her first concert, which she attended in Philadelphia when she was a college sophomore, and she and her friend had front-row seats.
As for the music she bought on her own, she mentioned singles from the Jackson 5 such as "ABC," and "The Love You Save." "That was the music that I was allowed to play on my own, keep the record in my bedroom kind of thing," she said. Obama discussed the group's pop rivalry with the Osmonds and said picking a side "was sort of a political statement" at the time, and though she liked Osmonds hits such as "One Bad Apple," her heart was always with the Jacksons. | |
The Nobel Prize Gets a Rebrand:
The new brand identity, by the agency Stockholm Design Lab, uses a typeface called Alfred Regular inspired by the engravings on the medal. If you're a font nerd, you can read more from the agency about it here. Here's the before and after: | | Credit: via Under Consideration
Street Art Sighting:
Trump's statement that he would be "proud to shut down the government" along with Pelosi's preliminary "Trump Shutdown" name for it, was projected onto the San Francisco Federal Building by AE Marling. | | Credit: @aemarling/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. | | | | | | |
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