| | | | | Ivanka Trump walks across the White House South Lawn as she departs with President Donald Trump en route to Tampa for a campaign rally. Credit: Win McNamee/Getty Images | | | Trump Tweets for His AG to Stop Investigation: His most direct and explicit call yet
Rallies Are Trump's Thing: Trump in Tampa
Facebook Shuts Down Suspected Russian Pages: New interference efforts reported ahead of the midterms | | | What the White House Is Talking About:
The President has three closed-press meetings on his public schedule today. The first with Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson, then with inner-city pastors and later this afternoon with Republican senators.
What the White House Press Corps Is Talking About:
Tuesday night's rally in Tampa and a White House press briefing, scheduled at 1 p.m. today.
Trump Tweets for Attorney General to Stop Investigation:
In the most direct and explicit way he has done to date, the President tweeted this morning that he thinks Attorney General Jeff Sessions should intervene to stop the Robert Mueller investigation, even though Sessions has recused himself. | | Credit: @realDonaldTrump/Twitter
Trump continued to tweet more on the "witch hunt" topic. However, the Sessions tweet is particularly interesting -- and the timing, with the Paul Manafort trial underway, is potentially telling, raising fresh questions about possible obstruction of justice.
Manafort Trial Underway:
The Trump ex-campaign chairman's trial over alleged financial crimes enters its second day today in an Alexandria, Virginia, courtroom. In opening statements Tuesday, the talk was all about Manafort's unusually lavish spending -- with money that might have been illegally procured -- including an ostrich jacket for $15,000. But, as I pointed out on Twitter, it's not especially uncommon for luxury brands to use ostrich skin for things such as jackets and belts and bags. I digress. CNN's digital team has made an awesome Manafort trial tracker that is totally worth your time if you want to follow along. Click here.
Rallies Are Trump's Thing:
I have long contended that Trump needs a rally every few weeks to re-energize. It's almost as though to survive in Washington, he requires feeding elsewhere in the country, via cheers and applause, signs, feedback, roar of crowds, chanting, accolades -- and most clearly, the freedom to talk about whatever is on his mind. Yes, ostensibly, the rallies are designed to support XYZ local political candidates, but more importantly, I feel they serve to provide Trump with the (literally) forward-facing adulation someone with his personality type needs. OK, that's my theory. In Tampa on Tuesday night, Trump mostly focused on the success of the economy, but he veered off into Christmas (it's OK again), being presidential (zzzzz), showing your ID at the grocery store (a head scratcher), Abe Lincoln ("I'll admit it, Abe Lincoln is tough. But we love Abe Lincoln"), and the first lady ("Our first lady is home watching. And everybody loves Melania, they love Melania. Doing a fantastic job, she's doing a fantastic job.").
Perhaps, as is becoming more the norm, the most disturbing part of the rowdy rallies is the way the audience rails against the media, specifically CNN's Jim Acosta, and the way Donald Trump Jr., gets excited about the profanity and threats of violence lobbied against the network's chief White House correspondent. Trump Jr. whooped it up on Instagram, applauding the people who got in Acosta's face with the F-word and other assorted curse words -- the first son ended his post by saying, "MAGA BITCHES!!" For Acosta's account of the activities, his Instagram is worth a peek, if only to see Jim's pic of this baby. | | Credit: @jimacosta/Instagram
You Thought Tom Cruise was the Star, But It's Actually Wolf Blitzer:
I don't know if you've seen the new "Mission: Impossible" movie, but spoiler alert: CNN's Wolf Blitzer basically steals the film. I'm not just saying that because, as you might have learned from this space, he's my favorite, but it's because he actually does. His scenes are pivotal to the plot, and if you don't believe me, just read this piece Esquire dedicated to his role.
Dress Like the First Daughter:
While Ivanka Trump's looks aren't always my fave, she nailed it Tuesday for the trip to Florida. I'm not just saying that because I also own this suit (in sky blue), but because I think she looked professional but modern, and trendy but age- and event-appropriate. Well done. You can buy the Sandro cropped leg, double-breasted jacket ensemble here -- bonus, it's on sale. | | | Credit: Al Drago/Bloomberg/Getty Images, us.sandro-paris.com | | What Washington Is Talking About:
The Senate Intelligence Committee is holding a hearing on foreign influence on social media, the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit ruled that the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority can ban religious ads from appearing on buses and trains, and the Major League Baseball trade deadline passed with Bryce Harper staying put with the Nats.
What America Is Talking About:
MoviePass has raised its price to $14.95 and limited the availability of some major releases, and Facebook and Instagram will begin rolling out usage tools that allow users to mute push notifications and alerts when they've been on too long.
Reminder:
Rent is due.
Poll of the Day:
The United States is an outlier when it comes to wealth and religiosity. A Pew Research Center study found America has a higher level of citizens who pray daily, attend religious services weekly and say faith plays a big role in their lives than other wealthy Western democracies. This graph shows daily prayer rates compared with 2015 per capita gross domestic product for 102 countries: | | Credit: Pew
July, a Retrospective:
Can't stop, won't stop. Here's my Notes app for the last month in news:
| | Credit: Hunter Schwarz
Facebook Takes Down New Round of Suspected Russian Pages:
The social network said Tuesday it has removed a network of pages it believes are Russia-connected. Reps for Facebook told lawmakers a Russian group is responsible for more than 30 pages, including "Aztlan Warriors," "Black Elevation," "Mindful Being" and "Resisters," which organized the event "No Unite the Right 2" to protest the anniversary of last year's Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Virginia. Pages also pushed "Abolish ICE," a source told CNN. Facebook said the pages ran a total of 150 ads with a budget of $11,000. | | Facebook said these pages took additional steps to hide their origins than previous ones connected to the St. Petersburg-based Internet Research Agency. The company said in a statement:
"It's clear that whoever set up these accounts went to much greater lengths to obscure their true identities than the Russian-based Internet Research Agency (IRA) has in the past. We believe this could be partly due to changes we've made over the last year to make this kind of abuse much harder. But security is not something that's ever done."
Mar-a-Lago Hoedown Starring Lee Greenwood:
The "God Bless the USA" singer is scheduled to perform at the Trumpettes' Red, White, and Blue Celebration on February 23, according to The Palm Beach Post. The theme of this year's party is "Country Comes to Mar-a-Lago." There will be a hoedown after dinner, and seats are as much as $20,000 for a table of 12, per a flyer for the event. Fun Schwarz family fact: My father once drove Greenwood around when the singer came to perform at my hometown's Constitution Week Fair.
Designers Imagine Space Force Patches:
Bloomberg asked a few top designers to create a fictional logo for Trump's proposed Space Force. Some look like they could be legit, like the bottom left, by ELLA, while others were more abstract. Milton Glaser got political with his, bottom right. "The image represents the relentless intrusion of our president in every aspect of our lives and future," Glaser told Bloomberg. "The image can be read as his next conquest or simply that there is very little inside that skull." See all the designs here. | | Credit: ELLA and Milton Glaser for Bloomberg
Swamp Thing:
Jon McNaughton's latest painting is titled "Crossing the Swamp," and it pays homage to "Washington Crossing the Delaware" by Emanuel Leutze. There's Sarah Sanders rowing, Vice President Mike Pence and Melanie Trump by the flag and John Bolton on watch. Amazing. You can get it here starting at $29 for a 10-by-15 litho. | | Credit: jonmcnaughton.com
Street Art Sighting:
This political-themed dog poster series by PETA was spotted on Second Avenue and 47th Street in New York. The posters say that Trump doesn't have a pet and the last President without one got impeached. Except the last President to get impeached -- Bill Clinton -- did have pets: Buddy the dog and Socks the cat. 🤷 | | Credit: @platofries/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. | | | | | | |
