Forward

EXEC SUMMARY: House Judiciary is about to hold its first impeachment hearing, the NATO Summit is about to wrap up, and ViacomCBS is about to take effect. Scroll down for sneak peeks at Variety's new Billie Eilish cover and the launch of a new online publication covering hate and extremism...

Getting to the truth in San Diego

Republican Rep. Duncan Hunter is guilty. He is likely out of office and on the way to jail. And it all started when a reporter asked reasonable questions about his spending habits.

On Tuesday, Hunter pleaded guilty to a federal corruption charge. Assistant US Attorney Phillip Halpern said Hunter and his wife used campaign funds "as a piggy bank to float their lifestyle that they otherwise could not maintain."

Up until now, Hunter had been denying any wrongdoing. But on Tuesday he said "I made mistakes, and that's what today was all about." Prosecutors, however, say this was not about "mistakes" -- this was about corruption. CNN's Paul Vercammen has details here...

How it all started

Per Vercammen, "this case began with an article in the San Diego Union-Tribune, by investigative reporter Morgan Cook." Specifically it was this April 2016 story about Hunter using campaign funds "to pay for video games on 68 separate occasions."

An editor asked Cook to look into a form letter from the FEC to Hunter's campaign. "I love campaign finance investigations," she told me by phone Tuesday night. "I think they are important and interesting and poorly understood." So she dug in, and saw some unusual spending, and started to investigate.

"I read that article," Halpern said at a Tuesday presser, explaining that he then discussed it with colleagues; consulted with other agencies; and pursued the crime. "Today, in many ways, is a triumph for the press and shows the importance of having a free press," Halpern said. Other reporters congratulated her after the presser.

"I think I'm most gratified that Morgan has been vindicated," Cook's colleague Jeff McDonald said on a recent podcast, "The amount of pushback that she got, personally, from this member of Congress was inexcusable. The denials and the fake news arguments that he put forward were nothing short of despicable. And I think it's nice that the system does work."

Yes, indeed. The Union-Tribune modestly acknowledged its own role in this story on Tuesday. I hope readers in San Diego and across the country find out about the paper's impact...

Halpern's key point

The assistant US Attorney said: "No figure, regardless of the heights they've reached, no figure regardless of what they've contributed, and no figure regardless of the office they occupy, should be allowed in this country to cry witch hunt or fake news in an attempt to deflect their criminal wrongdoing."

Outside the courthouse on Tuesday, Cook was interviewed by other news outlets about her role... Photo via Jaime Chambers:

--> MSNBC's Stephanie Ruhle tweeted: "For clarification -- the HUNTER pleading guilty to conspiracy is NOT Hunter Biden. Reminder -- Duncan Hunter and Chris Collins (who pled guilty to insider trading) were the first two members of Congress to endorse Trump..."

YOU HEARD IT HERE FIRST

New online publication about hate and extremism

Nick Martin, who has covered hate and extremism for Talking Points Memo, The Daily Beast and the Southern Poverty Law Center, is launching a newsletter called The Informant to track this topic in more detail.

"Racism and hate are thriving in the United States today," he writes. "Emboldened hate groups and so-called 'lone wolves' are menacing and killing Americans... Beginning on January 6, I'll bring you The Informant with intelligence and original reporting based on sources I've developed over my career to help you better understand this American crisis." The newsletter will be free for a few months, and then it'll move to a pay model...

WEDNESDAY PLANNER

Trump holds more bilateral meetings in London and then flies home...

The ViacomCBS merger takes effect after the market closes for the day...

Apple Music is holding a special event with Billie Eilish at Steve Jobs Theater... Details below...

For the history books

CNN's lead: "The House Intelligence Committee voted along party lines Tuesday night to approve a report that found evidence of President Donald Trump's misconduct and obstruction of Congress is 'overwhelming.'"

And via Tom Jolly, here is the all-caps headline on Page One of Wednesday's NYT: "REPORT DESCRIBES ACTIONS BY TRUMP TO UNDERMINE U.S."

All eyes on Wednesday's hearing

NBC, ABC, CBS and the cable newsers will all be live at 10am ET for the House Judiciary Committee's hearing titled "The Impeachment Inquiry into President Donald J. Trump: Constitutional Grounds for Presidential Impeachment." Four witnesses will testify, including constitutional law professor Michael Gerhardt, who joined CNN as a legal analyst earlier this year.

>> CNN's Impeachment Watch newsletter has a detailed preview of Wednesday's hearing, right here...

"False narratives"

"Armed with never-before-seen phone records, Democrats on Tuesday accused Trump's allies of coordinating with a conservative journalist" -- John Solomon -- "to peddle 'false narratives' about Trump's opponents as part of his multi-pronged pressure campaign on Ukraine," Marshall Cohen writes.

Solomon is no longer affiliated with The Hill. On Tuesday the site's EIC Bob Cusack sought to reassure people that "The Hill is conducting a meticulous review of opinion columns written by John Solomon on the subject of Ukraine that will be handled by a team of editors and reporters. All results of the review will be transparent and public..."

What Mark Warner wants you to know

Warner, the vice chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee, tweeted Tuesday: "There is absolutely no factual basis for this Ukrainian election interference / CrowdStrike nonsense. None. Spreading this discredited conspiracy theory only serves to advance Russia's ongoing disinformation campaign against the United States."

>> Meanwhile... WaPo's headline captures the current situation... "GOP embraces a debunked Ukraine conspiracy to defend Trump from impeachment."

>> And there's this, from the NYT's editorial board, in Wednesday's paper: "Of All the Efforts to Defend Trump, This Conspiracy Theory Is the Worst"

FOR THE RECORD, PART ONE

-- Bottom line: "The president is really the one who has a lot to answer for," Adam Schiff said on "AC360..." (Twitter)

-- "As impeachment inquiry rages at home, Trump unsettles the world stage at NATO..." (WaPo)

-- Key words, "at least:" According to Daniel Dale's fact-check, Trump made "at least 21 false claims at NATO meetings..." (CNN)

Trump versus your own eyes and ears

-- NYT: "Speaking to reporters in London, President Trump denied knowing Prince Andrew, despite having been photographed with him on several occasions."

-- The Guardian: "Photos contradict Trump's claim not to know Prince Andrew."

-- CNN: "A number of photos show the President alongside the Duke of York during his state visit to the UK in June this year."

Nunes sues CNN

CNN's Vicky Ward and Katelyn Polantz report: "Rep. Devin Nunes is disputing claims made by the lawyer of an indicted associate of Rudy Giuliani regarding an alleged trip he made last year. The lawyer, Joseph Bondy, said his client, Lev Parnas was told by a former Ukrainian prosecutor about a meeting with Nunes in Vienna last year to discuss efforts to dig up dirt on former Vice President Joe Biden. Nunes, the ranking member of the House Intelligence Committee, denied the claim in a defamation lawsuit filed in federal court in Virginia against CNN, which first published the assertions made by Bondy."

The suit was filed on the same day that the House Intel Committee revealed new evidence "of calls between Nunes and Parnas in April 2019, in addition to Giuliani and others involved in spreading conspiracy theories about the Bidens in Ukraine." One big Q: Who is -1?

He keeps suing and suing...

Ward and Polantz note that "Nunes' complaint on Tuesday is the latest in a string of lawsuits the California Republican congressman has filed against news organizations and other entities. Nunes filed lawsuits earlier this year against the newspaper chain McClatchy, Hearst Magazines, and Twitter." As I originally wrote in October, his existing suits are viewed, in media law circles, as troubling distractions -- part of a troubling trend of nuisance suits against media companies...

FOR THE RECORD, PART TWO

-- The headline on Erik Wemple's newest blog post: "Fox can't shake anti-Semitism." It's about Lou Dobbs' fixation on George Soros... (WaPo)

-- Michele Norris is joining WaPo Opinions as a contributor and consultant... (WaPo)

-- Congrats to all of this year's Forbes 30 Under 30 Media list honorees, from Elaina Plott to Bonnie Cao, Joe Bruno to Sara Fischer, Taylor Dunn to Alexi McCammond, Elizabeth Bruenig to Emily Kassie... (Forbes)

The Kamala Harris pre-mortems were right...

"How Kamala Harris's Campaign Unraveled," by the NYT's Jonathan Martin, Astead W. Herndon and Alex Burns last Friday, made Tuesday's announcement at least a little bit less surprising. Still, it was stunning.

"Most failing presidential campaigns have post-mortems. In her case, the pre-mortems in the NYT and elsewhere were largely accurate – with a lack of clarity on message, on leadership and direction from the candidate herself," CNN's Jeff Zeleny reported, based on conversations with three people close to the senator and her campaign...

Lowry's point

Brian Lowry writes: With Kamala Harris pulling out of the presidential race, it seems like a good time to point out that media coverage too frequently cites the fact that a candidate can't raise enough money as a perfectly reasonable reason for him or her to withdraw from a political campaign, without pausing often enough to contemplate how undemocratic that sounds...

DNC raises concerns about Facebook's ability to catch trolls

Donie O'Sullivan emails: With just two months to the Iowa caucuses, the DNC says Facebook needs to be doing more to catch foreign troll campaigns. The details were outlined in a letter the DNC sent Sheryl Sandberg before Thanksgiving... I obtained it from a source...

--> Context: The DNC has a small in-house team that monitors online misinformation and the like. They say they've tipped off Facebook to foreign accounts targeting Americans that FB later removed. But the DNC says FB should be finding these operations themselves...

The NYT's new endorsement process

Forgot to include this news from Politico's Michael Calderone yesterday: The NYT's editorial board "is veering sharply away from its traditional closed-door endorsement process for Democratic presidential aspirants, conducting interviews with the 2020 Democratic contenders on the record and airing parts of the discussions — along with the board's final decision — on its FX show, 'The Weekly.'" The endorsement will be unveiled on January 19. Details here...

"Fox News personalities continue to stump for GOP candidates"

"Despite a network policy against it, Fox News personalities continue to raise funds for Republican candidates and organizations," WaPo's Paul Farhi reports.

His story lists lots of examples, but says there could have been even more: "Behind the scenes, the network appears to have to gone to considerable effort to stop its on-air personalities from promoting Republican events and causes. Network executives have intervened to cancel a long string of fundraising appearances that were to have featured Fox News figures, according to people at Fox, who spoke on the condition of anonymity..."

FOR THE RECORD, PART THREE

-- Margaret Sullivan's column about justice for Daphne Caruana Galizia: "Through the efforts of an international group of journalists and human rights advocates, something approaching accountability is happening in Malta — prompted by the relentless dedication of three devoted sons..." (WaPo)

-- Paola Ramos, a writer and host (and daughter of Jorge Ramos), is joining Vice News as a correspondent, "starting this week, in the first notable new hire by Jesse Angelo since he joined the company as head of news and entertainment in June." Michael Anthony Adams, a journalist for ABC10 in Sacramento, is also joining Vice... (Deadline)

-- Brian Steinberg's latest: Norah O'Donnell's move to DC "brings early ratings spike" to the "CBS Evening News..." (Variety)

-- Laura Ingraham is still charging fans $49.95 per year "for a podcast that apparently no longer exists," Justin Baragona reports... (Beast)

Page and Brin are stepping down

Kaya Yurieff writes: "More than 20 years after launching Google out of a Menlo Park garage, Larry Page and Sergey Brin are relinquishing their executive roles at its parent company Alphabet. Page and Brin are stepping down as CEO and president, respectively, of Alphabet, the company announced Tuesday. Sundar Pichai, the current CEO of Google and a longtime executive at the company, will take over as CEO of Alphabet in addition to his current role." The cofounders will still serve on Alphabet's board of directors.

They've been checked out for a while. But this is still a remarkable moment. The Verge's Casey Newton put it this way: "Page and Brin's Google was a historical triumph. But there's little that feels triumphant about their sudden departure. The heat turned up on Google, and they decided to head for the exits. Google's outsized success will dominate stories about their legacy. But the way they left — bored and mostly absent in a time of crisis — is part of their legacy, too..."

--> Jennifer Elias of CNBC writes: "Sundar Pichai will have to step it up to become the wartime CEO Alphabet needs..."

FOR THE RECORD, PART FOUR

-- This year's five most popular podcasts, according to Apple, in order: "The Joe Rogan Experience," "The Daily," "Stuff You Should Know," "The Dave Ramsey Show," and "The Ben Shapiro Show..." (MacObserver)

-- "Inspired by The Daily, dozens of daily news podcasts are punching above their weight worldwide." Nic Newman has a detailed look here... (NiemanLab)

-- Apple's lists of the year's top apps and games are also very interesting... This is what TV networks and podcasts and other forms of media are competing with... (Engadget)

-- Eriq Gardner says "a significant antitrust battle" could upset how the NFL "sells game telecasts for billions of dollars, and usher in an era when teams would compete for licensing deals..." Details here... (THR)

FIRST LOOK

Billie Eilish on the cover of Variety

Variety is unveiling its annual Hitmakers issue, featuring Hitmaker of the Year Billie Eilish on the cover, on Wednesday morning... Her brother and producer Finneas is also featured on the Hitmakers list...

And speaking of Eilish...

Apple is starting the Apple Music Awards, honoring achievements in music, with winners "chosen through a process that reflects the service's editorial perspective, combined with what customers around the world are loving most." Here's the announcement. Eilish took the inaugural top honor -- "Global Artist of the Year" -- and Apple will be hosting a live-streamed performance by Eilish at the Steve Jobs Theater in Cupertino Wednesday at 6:30pm PT...

FOR THE RECORD, PART FIVE

-- Spotify has revealed its most-streamed artists of the decade, with Drake claiming the top spot... (CNN)

-- Bloomberg has renamed its TicToc streaming news service QuickTake, "partly to avoid confusion" with TikTok... (Variety)

-- Emily Nussbaum is stepping away from TV criticism... And Doreen St. Félix is taking over as The New Yorker's new TV columnist. Nussbaum said Tuesday that she's heading off on book leave for a year, working on a book about the roots of reality TV, and "when I get back, I'm stepping off criticism, to write profiles, essays, etc." Follow St. Félix if you don't already... (Twitter)

More prizes for "Marriage Story" and "The Irishman"

Brian Lowry writes: Netflix has picked up a couple of early movie-award-season accolades for "The Irishman" (the National Board of Review) and "Marriage Story" (the Gotham Awards), although as critic Guy Lodge noted, the former, at least, doesn't necessarily have the best track record in terms of anticipating the major awards to come, which, of course, is why anybody pays attention to most of these honors...

--> More from the Gotham Awards, via CNN's Marianne Garvey: "Netflix's 'Marriage Story' led the night with four wins, including best feature. Director Noah Baumbach won for best screenplay, and star Adam Driver won the best actor prize for his role in the film. Netflix had six wins throughout the night..."

Black Widow trailer shows off Marvel's past and future

Frank Pallotta emails: Disney released the first look at its next Marvel film, "Black Widow," on Tuesday. The film, which has Scarlett Johansson reprising her role as the avenging assassin, has a stacked cast that includes Florence Pugh, David Harbour and Rachel Weisz. The prequel film opens in May...

No Baby Yoda toys til the new year

Brian Lowry writes: Disney uncharacteristically appears to be leaving some money on the table -- or in the pockets of consumers -- with reports that the company won't have plush toys for "Baby Yoda," the much-GIF-ed character from the Disney+ series "The Mandalorian," in time for the holidays. Of course, between "Frozen 2" and "The Rise of Skywalker," the company shouldn't be hurting for stocking stuffers between now and the end of the year, so it's perhaps more money deferred than lost...

FOR THE RECORD, PART SIX

By Lisa Respers France:

-- Sharon Osbourne talked about her experience as a judge on "America's Got Talent" in the wake of Gabrielle Union's exit. Osbourne shared her thoughts on "The Talk" where she's a co-host and said she left "AGT" because of the network...

-- Eddie Van Halen's son Wolfgang wants people to stop shaming 17-year-old singer Billie Eilish for not knowing his dad's band...

-- "Queer Eye" star Jonathan Van Ness makes history with Cosmopolitan UK magazine cover...

-- Katy Perry both chills and heats things up with Santa in the music video for her single "Cozy Little Christmas..."

Thank you for reading! Email your feedback here. We will be back around this time tomorrow... ⏰