EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: First things first, happy second birthday to my daughter Sunny 😍 Party pictures here. Now to the news about Comcast's test, Medium's growth, Ellen's extension, Rahm's two new new deals, Hegseth's lobbying, Scahill's statement, PEN America's gala, and much more...
| | The impeachment inquiry inquiry
Something is shifting. More and more Democratic politicians are coming out in favor of an impeachment inquiry into President Trump. And all eyes are on House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
The subject was in the A-block of the NBC, ABC and CBS nightly newscasts on Tuesday. And it was prominent all across news homepages. At a CNN town hall event, Beto O'Rourke said for the first time that "we should begin impeachment proceedings."
On Tuesday's "AC360," Anderson Cooper called it the impeachment inquiry inquiry: "We are now one House subpoena defied and two more issued since last time we met." And with that, he asked "a single question" that has many legal, political and psychological dimensions to it: "How fast and how far will Democrats push the impeachment process?"
"You get nothing"
MSNBC's Chris Hayes, channeling Willy Wonka's famous "YOU GET NOTHING" line, opened his Tuesday night show this way: "The White House's position towards Congress is clear -- you get nothing. The question is, will Congress take it or not? It looks like they are NOT going to take it."
Reality check
CNN senior congressional correspondent Manu Raju's reality check: "The cold reality for impeachment backers is that until Pelosi moves, the caucus won't move on impeachment even if pressure builds," he tweeted.
Raju's report on "The Situation Room" described the "growing rift in the Democratic caucus..." Watch...
>> Raju to House Oversight chairman Elijah Cummings: "Are you there yet?" "I'm getting there."
>> House Judiciary Committee member Rep. Steve Cohen told MSNBC's Ari Melber: "The Judiciary Committee, as a whole, is for at least an inquiry of impeachment. It's been discussed by several members... There might have been two members who are particularly close to Speaker Pelosi that kinda were not on-board, but most, I'd say 80-90% of the committee is on-board to go forward."
>> NYT's Page One recap: "Though outspoken and growing in numbers, supporters of an impeachment inquiry remain a relatively small minority of House Democrats..."
FOR THE RECORD, PART ONE
-- Hope Hicks has been subpoenaed. What will she do now? (CNN)
-- Philip Rucker on MSNBC: "The big get, the star witness, for the Democrats would be Hope Hicks. She's somebody who can go beyond establishing a fact pattern..." (Twitter)
-- The Post's most-read story on Tuesday evening: "Confidential draft IRS memo says tax returns must be given to Congress unless president invokes executive privilege..." (WaPo)
-- Ben Carson mixing up an REO with an Oreo was a gift to late-night comics... Here's how Trevor Noah reacted... (Beast)
Cuomo's take
"You've got to look at the political reality," Chris Cuomo said Tuesday night as he weighed the plusses and minuses of impeachment for the Democratic party. "It's an unknown, alright," he said. "And there is a real risk of making the bully in this so far -- this president -- look like a victim if you overreach in the name of oversight, like he keeps saying."
Cuomo concluded by commenting, "I suggest this: If you get Mr. Mueller on the stand and he says what he found, how he found it, and why he explained it the way he did, the path forward from there will be clear."
It has now been 60 days since Robert Mueller handed in his report. He still hasn't spoken on camera. He still hasn't committed to testifying publicly. CNN's team reported on the negotiations on Tuesday. Here's the headline from Chris Cillizza's The Point newsletter: "What's Robert Mueller afraid of?"
WEDNESDAY PLANNER
-- Trump is scheduled to meet with Congressional Democrats at 11 a.m. ET...
-- NBC says Lester Holt has "an exclusive interview with the CEO of American Airlines, who's speaking out for the first time since the 737 MAX planes were grounded..." It will air on "Nightly..."
-- Thanks to a lawsuit by CNN and other outlets seeking the release of court records, Mueller's search warrants in his investigation of Michael Cohen will be made public with redactions on Wednesday...
FIRST LOOK
"The View" makes the cover of NYT Mag
Amanda FitzSimons, in her first piece for The New York Times Magazine, explores how ABC's "The View" became DC's most important TV destination. Here's the cover reveal: | |
The story will be online at 5 a.m. Wednesday via this link. "That even Republicans subject themselves to the panelists' questioning suggests how central 'The View' has become to the national political conversation," FitzSimons writes. She quotes Joy Behar: "They thought we were a bunch of ladies who lunch. Now they come on because we're influential."
FOR THE RECORD, PART TWO
-- I love it when Comcast-owned CNBC breaks news about Comcast! Christina Farr reports: "Comcast is working on an in-home device to monitor people's health, and aims to begin pilot-testing it later this year..." (CNBC)
-- How many paying subscribers does Medium have? A source tells Alex Heath that "the number is between 200,000 and 400,000." In an interview, Ev Williams told Heath that Medium "may consider" buying other media companies... (Cheddar)
-- "YouTube is changing how subscriber counts are displayed, possibly shifting its culture," Julia Alexander reports... (The Verge)
-- "CBS is expected to continue talks in the coming weeks with Lions Gate about buying Starz," Alex Sherman reports. "No banks have been hired yet, as talks are still early and a deal is far from assured." Lots of context here... (CNBC)
SF police say they are investigating freelancer for criminal conspiracy
Oliver Darcy emails: San Francisco police said at a press conference on Tuesday that authorities are investigating freelance journalist Bryan Carmody for taking part in a possible criminal conspiracy to steal the police report he obtained. "We believe the line was crossed," said SF police chief Bill Scott. "We believe he took part in this act." I reached out to Carmody's lawyer via text Tuesday evening to see if he had any comment on the latest developments, but he declined. An Phung has our full CNN story here... And the SF Chronicle has additional info...
What happened in court earlier in the day
More from Darcy: There was some good news, however, for Carmody on Tuesday. An attorney for the city said during a court hearing that Carmody would soon get back the electronics police confiscated during the widely condemned police raid. The judge did not rule on anything significant though... He declared that all oppositions should be filed before May 31, and said a hearing would be set on June 10 at 9 a.m. In a statement, Carmody said he was "pleased" that he would be getting his belongings back. Carmody noted, however, that his team's "main goal" continues to be "prevailing on our motion to quash" the search warrants "so that nothing seized" can be "used against" him or his sources. Stay tuned...
Scahill: Prosecutions of whistleblowers hurt all of us
When Daniel Hale was arrested earlier this month and accused of leaking classified info to a reporter, the recipient was not identified by name. But the court docs clearly pointed to Jeremy Scahill, a co-founder of The Intercept. The website is obviously not commenting on sourcing questions, but Scahill came out with a passionate video essay about the broader subject on Tuesday. Watch it via Twitter.
Scahill says the Trump admin "is waging a war on journalistic sources and using the Espionage Act like a chainsaw." His message: "It doesn't matter what you think of any of these individual whistleblowers. It doesn't matter what you think of The Intercept. But it does matter that we all recognize that this is an attack on our basic rights to information about what the U.S. government does in our names and with our tax dollars. It matters that people who blow the whistle on crimes and war crimes be defended and not abandoned or portrayed as violent criminals or traitors. All of us must ask ourselves where we stand. History will remember our answers."
FOR THE RECORD, PART THREE
By An Phung:
-- Vice Media has tapped Mic's former publisher Cory Haik to be its chief digital officer... (Variety)
-- Sara Fischer got the scoop about Al Jazeera's new business vertical called AJ Impact... (Axios)
-- Pre-election junk news still thrives on Facebook, according to a new EU study... (TechCrunch)
-- These two moms are trying to fight misinformation by infiltrating private Facebook groups that urge parents to serve their kids bleach to cure their autism, Brandy Zadrozny reports... (NBC News)
Fond farewell to Tom Kludt
CNN's media team won't be the same without Tom Kludt. If you're a regular reader of this newsletter, you know about his myriad contributions to our coverage. On Tuesday he shared his plans to leave CNN after four and a half years. He said he's relishing "the freedom and space to pursue my own projects. There are some things I've been working on that I look forward to sharing soon, and I am eager to begin fleshing out some other ideas."
Thank you, Tom, for all of your scoops and stories and insights!
Rahm Emanuel exits politics, enters media
Oliver Darcy emails: Rahm Emanuel appears to be jumping from politics to media. The former Chicago mayor, who exited office on Monday, has signed a deal with ABC News, people familiar with the matter told me. Emanuel will serve as an on-air contributor. Separately, The Atlantic announced on Tuesday morning that Emanuel will serve as a contributing editor. The magazine said it will be the "primary home" for Emanuel's writing, and that he will be "contributing frequent essays." His first essay in the new role was published on Tuesday, titled, "It's Time to Hold American Elites Accountable for Their Abuses."
Samantha Henig leaving NYT
Quoting from Sam Dolnick's internal memo: "I am sorry to report that Samantha Henig, one of the newsroom's most successful entrepreneurs and a key architect of our Audio Department, is leaving The Times. Before Sam, there was no Audio Department. After Sam … well, look at us now." Dolnick called her "a singular problem-solver with an uncanny ability to make things happen." Henig "plans to spend the summer adventuring with her husband and two young daughters somewhere very far from Times Square before deciding what's next for her in the world of media innovation..."
| | Fox silent about Hegseth lobbying Trump for accused war criminals
Oliver Darcy emails: Fox News was silent on Tuesday after it was revealed that one of the network's hosts, Pete Hegseth, has been encouraging Trump behind-the-scenes to pardon servicemen accused of war crimes. The Daily Beast, of course, first reported the news Monday night, which I confirmed via a source on Tuesday morning.
Requests for comment sent to a Fox News spokesperson were not returned. It's worth noting that, according to The Beast, Hegseth has not publicly disclosed his efforts to persuade Trump to pardon the servicemen. That seems like a cut-and-dried case of a breach of ethics. So why is Fox silent?
FOR THE RECORD, PART FOUR
-- WaPo is out with "Pathways to Power," one of the video team's major accountability projects of the year, looking at the reach and influence of the Federalist Society's Leonard Leo. It is a 29-minute-long documentary... (WaPo)
-- Anthony Kuhn reports that North Korea is giving its propaganda TV shows "a makeover" with "new style, new graphics," etc... (NPR)
-- Nancy Wigginton, "the first woman to read the news on BBC television," has died at the age of 93. She became a BBC newsreader back in 1960... (BBC)
PEN America's Literary Gala
I missed PEN America's annual gala at the American Museum of Natural History on Tuesday night... Which means I missed remarks by Bob Woodward and Anita Hill and emceeing by John Oliver... "What brings us together in this room is what unites all (of #PENAmerica's) efforts -- the mission of celebrating creative expression and defending the liberties that make it possible," Oliver said...
Spotted: Jennifer Egan, Suzanne Nossel, Carl Bernstein, Preet Bharara, Robert Costa, Salman Rushdie, Amani Al-Ahmadi, Hari Kunzru, Alec Baldwin, Dick Robinson, Lupita Nyong'o, Robert Caro, many more...
Two Hollywood projects scrap plans for Georgia shoots in wake of anti-abortion bills
Time's Andrew R. Chow scooped this on Tuesday: "This week, the director Reed Morano was supposed to fly to Georgia to scout locations for a new show for Amazon Studios called The Power. The drama series is adapted from a novel by Naomi Alderman, in which young women suddenly develop the power to release electrical jolts from their fingers, shifting gender and power dynamics around the world. At least two scouts hired by the show had been working in the Savannah area for several months, prepping for her arrival. But when Ga. Gov. Brian Kemp signed the 'heartbeat' bill on May 7, which effectively bans abortion after six weeks, Morano decided to cancel the trip, pull the scouts, and shut down any possibility of filming a story arc in Georgia." Of note, Morano "won an Emmy for directing three episodes of Hulu's The Handmaid's Tale..."
>> More from Chow's story: "Morano is one of the first directors to publicly pull a project out of Georgia after the state passed a law that critics say will make almost all abortions illegal. A representative for Kristen Wiig also confirmed that her upcoming Lionsgate comedy Barb and Star Go to Vista Del Mar, which she co-wrote and will star in alongside Annie Mumolo, was also pulled out of the state following the bill's signing..."
The point of boycotts
Brian Lowry emails: In his latest column for THR, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar offered a thoughtful take on boycotting Southern states in response to recently passed anti-abortion laws, which included urging Hollywood studios to stop filming in Georgia. As for those who have suggested that would punish those who are not responsible for the legislation, he wrote, "Boycotts cause hardships to the innocent as well as the guilty. That's the whole point. Hardships motivate the self-righteous leaders to face the consequences of their political greed. A boycott's success depends on the commitment of those seeking change to endure suffering." Read on...
FOR THE RECORD, PART FIVE
-- Apple announced some improvements to News+ on Tuesday, namely "exclusive covers and a new follow button," Macworld reports... Here's the press release...
-- ByteDance, "owner of the popular video app TikTok, is developing a paid music service that will challenge industry leaders Spotify and Apple Music in emerging markets," Bloomberg's Lucas Shaw reports...
-- "Billy Ray Cyrus is gonna ride till he can't no more. In a video posted to Twitter on Tuesday, Lil Nas X surprised the country star with a red convertible Maserati to celebrate the success of their hit song, 'Old Town Road...'" (Page Six)
| | "Quentin Tarantino shocks Cannes again"
That's the headline from the LA Times after "Once Upon a Time ... in Hollywood" premiered at the film festival. Early reviews are popping up everywhere. Justin Chang calls it a "richly evocative, conceptually jaw-dropping, excessively foot-fetishizing, inescapably terrifying and unexpectedly poignant movie." There were six minutes of post-screening applause, per THR and Variety. (Deadline counted seven minutes worth!)
A brand new trailer for the film is out too...
FOR THE RECORD, PART SIX
By Lisa Respers France:
-- Twenty-five years ago today Quentin Tarantino's film "Pulp Fiction" debuted at Cannes. In honor of that milestone, I put together 25 fun facts about the movie...
-- The "Downton Abbey" movie trailer dropped Tuesday, and it gets the royal treatment...
-- The Queen of the North wants the haters to chill. Sophie Turner thinks that "Game of Thrones" petition to redo the final season is "disrespectful..."
-- Seven years after her death, Whitney Houston is set to release new music and go on tour -- as a hologram...
-- Celine Dion and James Corden recreated that famous "Titanic" scene during "Carpool Karaoke!"
Ellen re-ups
Ellen DeGeneres shared this news with viewers on Tuesday: "I'm excited to announce that I'll be doing my show for three more years. Mostly because I love doing it so much every day but also because that takes me to the end of my car lease."
The context via Deadline: "Previously renewed through the 2019-20 season, the show already has been licensed by the NBC Owned Television Stations (10 stations) and Hearst Television (22 stations) through the 2021-22 season..."
>> "According to sources, DeGeneres now has a large ownership stake in the show, having been granted more points with every contract," Variety reports...
Colbert's newest win
Brian Lowry emails: Notch another milestone for "The Late Show with Stephen Colbert," which has narrowly edged "The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon" for the first time among adults 18-49 in the official September-through-May TV season. CBS also widened its total viewer lead in late-night, with Colbert averaging 3.8 million viewers to Fallon's 2.44 million -- the network's largest margin of victory since David Letterman's first season, in 1993-94...
Wrapping up the September-to-May season...
THR's Rick Porter is out with a comprehensive look at broadcast prime time's winners and losers. Two of the takeaways: "NBC manages a season-long demographic win without the Super Bowl or Olympics, and CBS is once again first in viewers." Read on...
An updated # for the "Big Bang" finale
Lowry notes: "The Big Bang Theory" also added nearly 6 million viewers to its total with three days' worth of delayed viewing, per CBS, bringing the audience for the May 16 finale to 23.4 million...
The importance of the "Idol" runner-up
Lisa Respers France says Alejandro Aranda losing "American Idol" is actually great for reality TV.
"By coming in second, he is actually freed from the pressure that comes along with the title," she writes. "As far as I'm concerned, Aranda is the future of reality singing competitions if they are smart. NBC appears to get it. The network has a new show, 'Songland,' that aims to 'find the next generation of hit songwriters.' With any luck, they'll find us more like Aranda." Read on...
| | Thank you for reading! Click here to send me your feedback anytime. See you tomorrow...
| | | |
