| | | | | President Trump speaks to reporters before walking to Marine One on the South Lawn of the White House Thursday. Credit: Brendan Smialowski/AFP/Getty Images | | | "He's a Weak Person": What Trump said about Cohen, who pleaded guilty to lying to Congress
How Does Planet Hillary Feel About Ivanka's Emails?: They don't seem too happy
Yes She Did: 16 days after its release, "Becoming" is Amazon's No. 1 selling book of 2018 | | | What the White House is Talking About:
President Trump and Melania Trump travel to Buenos Aires, Argentina, today for the G20 Summit.
What the White House Press Corps is Talking About:
Michael Cohen pleading guilty to having lied to Congress about the Russia probe.
"He's a Weak Person":
Cohen surprisingly popped up in Manhattan Federal Court this morning to make his guilty plea, part of his apparent ongoing mea culpa tour to try to make right the things he feels he did wrong in the years he was Trump's close friend, attorney and fixer. It's significant for a number of reasons, not the least of which is that special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation of Trump is still digging deep, and still finding things, and still, sorry, Mr. President, isn't going away. And now Cohen has a new plea deal.
Trump, while leaving the White House for Argentina, stopped to answer some press questions, and addressed the Cohen news by discrediting Cohen, which isn't surprising. "He's a weak person," said Trump, who noted that Cohen is facing jail time for other charges and is just trying to reduce whatever sentence he might have to serve. As for Cohen's news that Trump was talking to Russia long past October 2016, the President, also predictably, defending the accusations by saying the project he was discussing with Russia was related to his real estate dealings -- and that it was being done in preparation for the possibility that he might lose the election. "I was running my business while I was campaigning," Trump said today, referring apparently to a deal to possibly build a Trump Tower in Moscow. So I think that's the basic outline of how this is going to go down: Cohen is going to cooperate with the special counsel and prosecutors and, it appears, Congress. And in response, Trump is going to call Cohen a liar and downplay the information that Cohen is discussing as simply business that was ongoing and completely normal in the capacity of his day job as a real estate operator.
Trump was also asked by a reporter: "So why did you hire him if he was such a bum?" (which is an awesome way to post the question, tbh.) And Trump answered, "Because a long time ago he did me a favor. A loooong time ago he did me a favor." Dying to know the favor ... 🤔
"It's all very Shakespearian," - CNN's Gloria Borger
Giuliani Weighs In, But Do We Even Care Anymore?
I mean, I'm sorry, but Rudy Giuliani seems more and more an odd side chorus in the chaos of all of this, just answering and making statements that echo Trump. Nothing feels solid from him, or factually based. Case in point, this tweet: | | Credit: @PeterAlexander/Twitter
Russia Meeting is On... Or IS IT?:
After some light chatter that Trump would not meet with Vladimir Putin at the G20, the meeting appeared to be on. The timing is interesting in light of all the new Russia investigation stuff, and also because of Russia's behavior with Ukraine, which Trump has said is "bad."
But, almost as soon as the President boarded Air Force One en route to the summit, he tweeted the meeting was ... OFF.
Trump: "Based on the fact that the ships and sailors have not been returned to Ukraine from Russia, I have decided it would be best for all parties concerned to cancel my previously scheduled meeting in Argentina with President Vladimir Putin. I look forward to a meaningful Summit again as soon as this situation is resolved!"
New York Times Reporter Reveals How She Does It:
People often ask us what it's like to cover the White House in this era of Trump -- I get it a lot, and so does my friend, Katie Rogers. Katie works for the New York Times and she's a pistol of a writer, I love her stuff. She tends to focus on the cultural impact of POTUS and FLOTUS news more than the nitty-gritty details that her colleagues drill down on. Yesterday, Katie did a fun little Q&A about how she handles the beat. Worth your time for some sweet nuggets of insider info.
DC's Newest Garbage Bar is Actually Garbage:
Literally DC9 is being turned into a pop-up garbage bar featuring actual garbage and I can't. "Nobody comes out to the bars in DC to escape the real world. They come out to bars to talk at length about what's happening outside the bar," manager Lauren McGrath says to Washingtonian. "So I think people will actually feel pretty OK when they're in our hellscape."
Dress Like the First Lady:
Melania is headed to Argentina, too, where she will likely participate in the usual leader spouse events and join the President for the formal closing dinner, as she has done at summits in the past. I'm all over the outfit she wore today to depart Washington -- the purple leather skirt was Derek Lam, and the dark brown leather coat was Ralph Lauren Collection. However, both pieces were from 2017 seasons, so they're no longer for sale. | | Credit: Brendan Somodevilla/AFP/Getty Images, neimanmarcus.com
But ... last night's Max Mara alpaca white wool coat is still for sale, if you're interested, and rich. It's for sale here -- for $4,150. Melania wore it to the Christmas tree lighting on the Elipse. | | | Credit: Mark Wilson/Getty Images, matchesfashion.com | | What Washington is Talking About:
Speaker Ryan thanked his staff and constituents in a speech on the House floor today, and his portrait as House Budget Committee chair will be unveiled tonight at 6 p.m. ET; House Democrats nominated Nancy Pelosi speaker, 203-32 Tuesday afternoon (the final vote will be held in January, and she will need to win over more than a dozen members to get the job); and former Rep. Ed Pastor, an Arizona Democrat and the first Latino to represent Arizona in Congress, died at the age of 75.
What America is Talking About:
US life expectancy has fallen due to drug overdoses and suicide, per the CDC; Brandon Moore, the creator of the "What are thoooooose?" meme, died at 31; a California real estate developer named Bob Wilson gave $1,000 to every student and staff member of Paradise High School, to spend on clothes, gas, groceries, or whatever they needed after the devastating Camp Fire. His donations totaled more than $1 million. 💕
Poll of the Day:
It appears President Trump's "America First" philosophy may have had an unintended consequence of pushing Democrats to want the US to play a bigger role in the world. In 2010, 61% of Democrats believed the US "has a special responsibility to be the leading nation in world affairs." In 2018, that figure has risen to 81%, by far the largest increase by political affiliation, according to a Gallup poll. | | Credit: Gallup
How Does Planet Hillary Feel About Ivanka's Emails?:
They don't seem too happy, judging by this tweetstorm from longtime Hillary Clinton spokesman Nick Merrill that other Clinton alum retweeted.
"Both are stupid scandals, but this deserves scrutiny due to the sheer hypocrisy of it," Merrill tweeted. "Ivanka engaged in behavior when her father won an election in part by claiming such behavior should land a woman in jail."
"We Are Living in the Aftermath of the Detonation of a Cyber WMD":
That's what Cambridge Analytica whistleblower Christopher Wylie wrote about foreign influence campaigns on Facebook in his op-ed for Paper magazine. Wylie has had a unique perspective of the modern Facebook crisis, and honestly, everything he wrote here kind of blew me away. Some other lines that stood out: - On Silicon Valley euphemisms: "Silicon Valley uses language to obfuscate and hide what they do. Surveillance networks are called 'communities,' the used are 'users,' server facilities are 'clouds,' addictive design is called 'user experience' and people's identities are profiled from 'data exhaust' or 'digital breadcrumbs' — as if human behavior itself is simply a worthless waste product."
- On social media filtering us into echo chambers: "The civil rights movement was fought to de-segregate society, but under the auspices of 'personalization,' algorithms are beginning to re-segregate society into echo chambers and cognitive monocultures."
- On protecting the internet: "We protect our borders at land, sea and air with dedicated public agencies. We do not leave this critical public service to private companies or land owners. We should protect our digital spaces with the same level of care."
- On ISIS: "ISIS is not just a terrorist organization — ISIS is a digital-first brand. They spread their propaganda online. They organize online. They recruit online. And yet the American military still acts like boys with toys — buying new tanks and missile systems, not hiring programmers and data scientists."
- On social media being a utility: "The Internet is a vital public utility — like electricity, water and roads. So let's treat it like one — and regulate it like one. We need to stop talking about these platforms as if they are a service. Social media is not a service — it is an architecture."
Newseum to Honor Capital Gazette Shooting Victims:
A new exhibit, "Behind the News: A Deadly Attack on a Community Newspaper," looks at the June shooting and the Capital Gazette's decision to put out a paper the next day. The exhibit will be open until next June.
D.C. Commission Votes to Rename Street After Khashoggi:
The Advisory Neighborhood Commission for an area that covers Washington's Foggy Bottom and West End neighborhoods voted Wednesday to rename a portion of New Hampshire Ave. outside the Saudi Arabian Embassy after Jamal Khashoggi. To become official, the D.C. Council will still have to approve. | | Credit: Katherine Frey/The Washington Post via Getty Images
You may remember earlier this year, Washington renamed part of Wisconsin Ave. in front the Russian Embassy after Boris Nemtsov, a critic of Vladimir Putin who was murdered in 2015. Major Washington streets tend to be named after numbers or states, and personally, I love adding "critics of authoritarian regimes" as an additional street name category.
Yes She Did:
Michelle Obama's "Becoming" became the No. 1 bestselling book on Amazon in 2018 in the latest update of the list today, 16 days after its release. There are still 26 days till Christmas, and I have a feeling this book still has many copies left to sell. Absolute blockbuster.
Obama will be in Philadelphia tonight on her "Becoming" tour, and she's added new dates overseas. Next week she'll head to London with Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, the writer whose speech on feminism was featured on Beyoncé's "***Flawless," and she'll also go to Paris.
Ravens Player Wearing Cleats for Pro-Israeli Group:
The Baltimore Ravens' Michael Pierce is wearing cleats for the pro-Israeli Christian group Israel Collective. In a video released by the group, Pierce said that "having the Israel flag front and center was paramount for me" and spoke about his experience visiting Israel. NFL players will wear cleats to support organizations and charities for the league's "My Cause, My Cleats" campaign at games this weekend. | | Credit: Israel Collective/YouTube
Street Art Sighting:
A "This is not normal" sticker of Trump was spotted on a light post in Philadelphia. | | Credit: Hunter Schwarz
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.
P.S.:
Mariah Carey said her iconic "I don't know her" response about Jennifer Lopez was her trying to be nice. "I really was trying to say something nice or say nothing at all," Carey told Pitchfork. Lol, ok, shade queen. | | | | | | |
