Forward

EXEC SUMMARY: Scroll down for the latest on Nancy Pelosi, Mitch McConnell, Bob Woodward, Stephanie Grisham, Bill Cowher, Jimmy Johnson, and "1917." Plus: "America's Great Divide" and Critics' Choice winners...

The projector in chief?

There was a moment in President Trump's interview with Laura Ingraham that most people missed. He once again accused credible reporters, this time at the WSJ, of making up information out of whole cloth. "They just make it up," he said. So he's claiming that reporters create fictional anonymous sources and launder anti-Trump lies through them. That's what he's saying. It is outrageous and offensive. But he has leveled this "made up" allegation dozens of times before.

I'm left wondering: Is this all just a form of projection by the commander in chief, because he makes things up?

Numerous Trump observers, up to and including Nancy Pelosi, have suggested that Trump is "always projecting." That's what Pelosi said back in 2016, and she said it again on Sunday. When I searched for the term "projector in chief," I found commentaries on the websites of Psychology Today, WaPo, and AlterNet, to name a few.

Did he make it up?

Right now the big question is whether Trump made up his comment about "four embassies" being targeted by Qasem Soleimani. Trump's track record of dishonesty suggests that he did. He used two weasel words -- "I believe" -- while making the "four embassies" claim to Ingraham. Unfortunately, Ingraham did not follow up on it at all.

Two of Trump's top national security officials were on the Sunday shows, and they "are declining to provide evidence of the intelligence used to justify the US drone strike," CNN's Devan Cole writes.

"The President never said there was specific intelligence to four different embassies," Defense Secretary Mark Esper told CNN's Jake Tapper. But Esper said he shared the president's belief that the embassies were threatened by Soleimani. "Belief."

The lead headline in Monday's WaPo is "Details murky on Iran threat." I'm sure many Trump supporters are rolling their eyes at the media's followup coverage about this. But long chapters of American history have been devoted to presidential deceit at wartime. After the "fog of war," the fog eventually clears and the truth emerges, but the explanations for the Soleimani strike are just getting foggier and foggier with time...

FOR THE RECORD, PART ONE

-- Where George Conway's head is at: "The open and clearly stated presumption should be: @realDonaldTrump is lying unless there is clear and convincing evidence otherwise. It's just a simple matter of experience and logic."

-- Former AP DC bureau chief Ron Fournier: "He's making it up. He's lying. We know that."

-- Samantha Vinograd tweeted: "Is anyone coordinating comms at the W.H.? It shouldn't be this hard to get the story straight. Consistency adds to credibility. These guys are all over the map. Doesn't instill confidence on any level..."

Trump was right about this:

In a tweet on Sunday morning, he urged Iran to restore internet access and "let reporters roam free." He supported press freedom -- in Iran, not the US.

Iran's reporters need all the help they can get. CPJ calls Iran one of the top 10 most censored countries – local journalists are routinely arrested and jailed. Obtaining visas to report in the country can be very difficult. Gathering info, also very difficult. AP exec editor Sally Buzbee recently told me that the news outlet's Iran reporters are generally free to move around Tehran but there are restrictions on travel "to certain other parts of the country."

Iran lied and lied...

Iranian authorities lied and lied until they had to fess up and admit that Flight 752 was unintentionally shot down by Russian-made surface to air missiles. Al Jazeera has a look at Iran newspaper front pages, which mixed tributes to the victims with passionate calls for accountability.

>> As a new day begins in Iran, here are CNN's live updates on the massive anti-government protests in the country...

Woodward's next book

"In his Friday interview with Ingraham, President Trump let slip he's been talking to Bob Woodward for an upcoming book." Jonathan Swan noticed... And pointed out that Trump's opinion of Woodward has changed dramatically...

-- Maggie Haberman tweeted additional info: "POTUS has met with Woodward at least twice for" this followup to "Fear..."

-- And Josh Dawsey tweeted even more: "Trump has also told skeptical senior aides to cooperate with Woodward this time..."

Why Stephanie Grisham is wrong

Following up on Friday's open letter from 13 former government officials urging the restoration of regular press briefings: Briefings help leaders "make better decisions" and provide "accountability" to the public, John Kirby told me on "Reliable Sources."

Stephanie Grisham responded to the letter in an email to Mike Allen: "This is groupthink at its finest. The press has unprecedented access to President Trump, yet they continue to complain because they can't grandstand on TV. They're not looking for information, they're looking for a moment."

Let me just un-spin that. This isn't an either/or scenario. The president should take questions from the press corps, which he does do regularly; he should speak accurately, which he frequently does not; and he should empower his press shops to hold regular briefings, which they do not. The public should expect all of the above, not just one or the other...

FOR THE RECORD, PART TWO

-- WaPo media critic Margaret Sullivan says Grisham can't be described as the worst W.H. press secretary ever -- because she's not really a press secretary at all. "She may hold the title but she's not doing the job..." (WaPo)

-- Christiane Amanpour's big picture view: "The crisis between the US and Iran is far from over..." (CNN)

-- "Inside the White House, the president's advisers have closely tracked how supportive or negative Fox hosts have been about Trump's Iran actions, but, they said, Trump has relied on his own advisers for Iran strategy..." (Politico)

-- On Sunday Joy Behar tweeted a photo of her dining with Pelosi. The caption: "Nancy and I calculating Trump's lies to date..." (Twitter)

YOU HEARD IT HERE FIRST...

Rest of World appoints executive editor

First, what is Rest of World? "Sophie Schmidt, a tech industry veteran and the daughter of Eric Schmidt, the former Google and Alphabet executive chair, is starting a new publication about the effects of technology on the non-Western world," Joe Bernstein of BuzzFeed News reported last May.

Now the publication, Rest of World, is getting ready to launch. On Monday Anup Kaphle will be named executive editor, "building the publication's international team and editorial strategy" ahead of a March debut date, a spox for the startup tells me. Kaphle has been an editor at Roads & Kingdoms, BuzzFeed, and WaPo. He is currently the EIC of Kathmandu Post, Nepal's largest English-language newsroom...

Royal crisis summit on Monday

CNN's preview by Max Foster and Lauren Said-Moorhouse: "A royal showdown at Sandringham looms over Harry and Meghan's decision to go it alone..."

No comment from Disney...

Disney has not confirmed OR denied this story from The Times UK: "The Duchess of Sussex has signed a deal with Disney to benefit a wildlife charity." The story dropped about 24 hours ago, so the lack of a denial is notable. The paper said this arrangement -- "the duchess doing a voiceover in return for a donation to Elephants Without Borders" -- offers "a hint of the couple's future life, using their celebrity status to benefit their chosen causes..."

Will Harry and Meghan grant a TV interview?

Several British tabloids are buzzing about the possibility... Monday's front page of the Daily Mirror says "PALACE FEARS MEGHAN TELL-ALL INTERVIEW" while The Sun describes a "ROYAL SOAP OPRAH," claiming that Meghan's "American PR team is already in touch with major US networks and chat show queen Oprah Winfrey." Here are all the Monday front pages...

>> "Without question, this treatment by the tabloids -- that has long been a sort of fraught relationship -- is part of the reasoning" behind the royal retreat, Hadas Gold said on Sunday's "Reliable..."

Week ahead calendar

Awaiting movement in the impeachment process...

Monday: Oscar nominations come out in a two-part presentation timed to the A.M. shows, starting at 8:18am ET...

Tuesday: "Jeopardy: Greatest of All Time" tournament resumes at 8pm ET...

Tuesday: CNN and the Des Moines Register's #DemDebate starts at 9pm ET... Here is the podium order...

Thursday: Peacock Day. NBCUniversal will preview its streaming service for investors and reporters...

Thursday night: "Dolittle" arrives in theaters...

Sunday: The AFC and NFC championship games...

Three notable books coming out Tuesday

Scoop machines Michael Rothfeld and Joe Palazzolo are releasing "The Fixers: The Bottom-Feeders, Crooked Lawyers, Gossipmongers, and Porn Stars Who Created the 45th President." First excerpt is in the WSJ...

NPR's Steve Inskeep is coming out with "Imperfect Union," about a political power couple from the 1800s who "helped cause the Civil War." NPR's preview here...

Nick Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn are launching "Tightrope: Americans Reaching for Hope." I interviewed the couple on Sunday's "Reliable Sources" about the rise of "deaths of despair" and the media's failures to fully cover America's working-class crisis.

FOR THE RECORD, PART THREE

-- GOP primary candidate Bill Weld joined me on Sunday to talk about campaign coverage... (CNN)

-- Ethan Epstein, who knows GOP politics and talk radio well, is dismissive of Weld and Joe Walsh, but he's out with a new column that says "there is perhaps one potential Republican candidate who could present a real challenge to the incumbent. Dave Ramsey, the Tennessee-based personal finance guru who hosts an eponymous radio show with some 14 million weekly listeners, would likely be a real contender were he to enter the race..." (Wash Times)

-- A sweeping story by Dana Goldstein in Monday's NYT print edition: A review of eight textbooks in two states shows how "political divides shape what students learn about the nation's history..." (NYT)

-- Hannah Natanson reports: "Public schools in Virginia can censor student journalists any time, for any reason. A proposed law would change that..." (WaPo)

Instagram irks Iran

Donie O'Sullivan emails: Instagram and its parent company are removing posts that support Soleimani, they say, to comply with US sanction laws. Instagram shut down Soleimani's own account last year after the US designated the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) a foreign terrorist organization. Instagram (unlike Twitter and Facebook) is one of the few western platforms not blocked in Iran and its removal of posts supporting Soleimani has irked some high-profile Iranian Instagram users. No word if Google and Twitter are doing the same, but some have raised Q's about Instagram's decision.

>> Politico's Josh Gerstein tweeted: "I don't see how any sanctions require this any more than the WaPo can't run an op-ed from Hamas. If FB/IG want to censor such posts, it's up to them, but they should own it..."

"Twitter war" followed by Twitter diplomacy

"Twitter has really become the public place of diplomacy," and can operate as a "front channel" between world leaders, retired Rear Admiral John Kirby said on Sunday's "Reliable Sources."

Later in this segment, James Fallows talked about having a "tragic imagination of the consequences of war." And Hadas Gold discussed how the US-Iran conflict is being covered outside the United States...

Fallows' thought experiment about Trump

James Fallows asked "Reliable" viewers to "try to think of a personality like the one who's currently in the White House, in any other position of responsibility, as the pilot of your airplane, as the principal of your children's school, as the boss you have at a company, as the doctor you go to, somebody driving a school bus. Would you want somebody with this kind of temperament to be in a position where other people's welfare depends on him or her? My guess is no." I asked him, is that what impeachment is fundamentally about? Here's the video...

Are news outlets prepared for flood of 2020 misinformation?

"The rise of misinformation" is the biggest difference between this prez election and past cycles, AP exec editor Sally Buzbee told me. The "intensity and the volume and the speed of it is radically different." Will newsrooms be able to keep up? "We're gonna see!" she said. "That's obviously our biggest fear." She said the AP's goal is "not just to do fact checks, but to find out who's behind this information." Also: "We need to be able to move faster when things start to pop up." Amen to that...

How to catch up on the show

Listen to the podcast version via Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, TuneIn, or your podcast player of choice... Catch the video clips on CNN.com... Or watch the entire episode via CNNgo or VOD...

FOR THE RECORD, PART FOUR

-- Julia Jacobs writes about a new legal battleground for #MeToo cases: Defamation lawsuits... (NYT)

-- The American Meteorological Society celebrates 100 years this week. Here's Daniel Stillman of the Capital Weather Gang with "Why I'm proud to be a meteorologist..." (WaPo)

-- Bill Cowher on Saturday, Jimmy Johnson on Sunday – both men learned on live TV that they are heading to the NFL Hall of Fame. Two incredible TV moments... (CNN)

-- Ahead of the Super Bowl, Fox "has launched a new on-air campaign touting 'Super Monday' — a day that everyone should take off and catch up on TV (and, specifically in this case, Fox TV shows)..." (Variety)

-- Breaking: "ESPN is preparing an offer that would make Tony Romo the highest-paid sportscaster in TV history, with a multi-year deal that would pay him between $10 million to $14 million annually, said sources..." (Front Office Sports)

McConnell backs Journalism Competition & Preservation Act

Mitch McConnell is now on the record supporting the News Media Alliance's No. 1 legislative priority: The Journalism Competition & Preservation Act. Cecilia King wrote about why the bill has found "rare bipartisan agreement in DC." One factor: Every lawmaker needs local news coverage!

--> Background: The proposed bill would would provide newspapers and online publishers with a four-year antitrust exemption, allowing them to band together in negotiations with online platforms. I wrote about it last summer... (CNN)

--> McConnell's support is crucial, but here's a dose of skepticism about the bill: Joshua Benton says it is "unlikely to have a substantial impact on the dysfunctional relationship between publishers and platforms..." (NiemanLab)

Frontline looks at "America's Great Divide"

Brian Lowry emails: Full review to come, but this two-part documentary from Michael Kirk's team is well worth viewing -- not only for the methodical way it details how we got here in terms of partisan rancor, but for the sobering point that the situation might be beyond repair. It premieres Monday and continues Tuesday...

'Talent' controversy: NBC says it will make changes 'if necessary'

Brian Lowry emails: Appearing at the TV Critics tour on Saturday, NBC Entertainment Chairman Paul Telegdy tap-danced around Gabrielle Union's claims of a toxic work environment after leaving "America's Got Talent," saying that the investigation was ongoing and changes would be made "if necessary." He did note that the network's look into the matter should be concluded by the end of the month...

More NBC headlines from TCA

-- Jimmy Fallon "is coming to primetime for the first time," Variety's Joe Otterson writes: Fallon will be hosting a "comedy variety event series" based on his "That's My Jam" segment on "The Tonight Show..."

-- NBC "has handed out a straight-to-series, 11-episode order for Dwayne Johnson comedy Young Rock, inspired by his life and featuring the mega-star," THR's Lesley Goldberg writes...

-- In other NBC news, the network showed huge confidence in its sophomore medical drama "New Amsterdam" by renewing the drama for three more seasons...

-- Furthermore, "there is a potential for a spinoff," Telegdy said. "I can imagine a whole world around New Amsterdam."

-- Planning way ahead: Amy Poehler and Tina Fey are hosting next year's Golden Globes...

CBS orders "Tooning Out The News"

Stephen Colbert, Chris Licht and the other producers of Showtime's "Our Cartoon President" have come up with something new for CBS All Access: "Tooning Out The News." The comedy series will feature "a cast of animated characters mocking news of the day, and interviewing real-world guests and newsmakers," CBS said on Sunday.

Check out the trailer here -- it has mock shows, like "Inside The Hill," "Hot Take" and "Virtue Signal." The show will consist of short clips every day and a full episode once a week. It'll be "the first animated series to cover news the same day it happens," thanks to advances in computer animation, the promo says. No premiere date yet...

Golden Globes boost for "1917?"

Frank Pallotta writes: "A war movie once again topped the box office this weekend. However, this one was set in the trenches of World War I rather than a galaxy far, far away. '1917,' Universal's intense and award-winning World War I drama, brought in an estimated $36.5 million in North America. That was enough to take the top spot this weekend and knock 'Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker' off its box office perch."

>> "1917" exceeded expectations domestically... and it has made $60.3 million globally so far...

Lowry's take

Brian Lowry emails: Those box-office results for "1917" are not only good news for Universal, but for ABC and those Oscar voters who always like to see more movies with popular appeal in the race, seeing a relationship between rooting interest and ratings. Still, the good news for the studio, at least — still smarting from the declawing of "Cats" — could be short-lived depending on how another splashy title, the Robert Downey Jr. starrer "Dolittle," performs this weekend...

FOR THE RECORD, PART FIVE

-- Steven Zeitchik: "Uncut Gems is about to become the second-highest grossing movie in the history of A24 -- the company of Moonlight and Lady Bird, Hereditary and The Witch -- and will not long after that become the highest..." (Twitter)

-- The Critics' Choice Awards just wrapped up. "Once Upon a Time in Hollywood" won the best picture prize, Chloe Melas reports... (CNN)

-- And click here for the complete winners list... (CNN)

LAST BUT NOT LEAST...

The tech of the future paints a very lonely picture for all of us

Samantha Kelly's final CNN Business story from CES this year is a takeaway from the show floor. She emails: "I had bleak realization that, as innovative as a lot of the tech was, so much of what I'd seen painted a dystopian picture of life alone." Read her full piece here...

Thank you for reading! Send me your feedback via email... See you tomorrow...