Welcome to a special Saturday edition! Here's the latest on DOGE, Karoline Leavitt, MSNBC, CPAC, the Kennedy Center, and more...
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What 'this fight is about' |
The themes of today's newsletter are President Trump, the press and the public's right to know – with some inspiration from Reporters Without Borders. The press freedom group asserts that a "monumental assault on freedom of information" is underway. You can read its "one month of Trump" recap and see if you agree.
Reporters Without Borders USA executive director Clayton Weimers says "Donald Trump wants to make this about him versus the press. In reality, this fight is about Donald Trump versus every American's First Amendment rights."
On Friday, that fight arrived in federal court when The Associated Press filed its inevitable lawsuit against three Trump administration for banning The AP from presidential events, thereby prohibiting reporters from doing their jobs...
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The AP says the White House has ordered journalists "to use certain words in its coverage or else face an indefinite denial of access." (Here's my full story.)
"The press and all people in the United States have the right to choose their own words and not be retaliated against by the government," attorneys from Ballard Spahr wrote in the news organization's complaint. "The Constitution does not allow the government to control speech. Allowing such government control and retaliation to stand is a threat to every American's freedom."
In other words, The AP says it's bringing this suit partly to protect other news outlets from similar punishment by the Trump White House...
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The AP is seeking an emergency hearing and a court order to declare the ban unconstitutional and require them to rescind it. The case has been assigned to Judge Trevor McFadden, a Trump appointee. Seth Stern, director of advocacy for the Freedom of the Press Foundation, told the Washington Post's Jeremy Barr that the suit "should be a slam dunk," adding, "this type of case shouldn't even need to go to the court of law."
But it does. Press secretary Karoline Leavitt, one of the three defendants, reacted by saying "we'll see them in court." WH comms director Steven Cheung called the lawsuit "demented" and said The AP is "clearly suffering from a severe, debilitating case of Trump Derangement Syndrome that has rotted their peanut-sized brains. We will defeat them in court just like we crushed their leftist reporters at the ballot box."
"Crushed their leftist reporters at the ballot box."
That quote proves my next point – that Trumpworld wants to beat the press – wants to be seen as fighting the people who are there to report on them.
>> Example: Yesterday the WH's @RapidResponse47 account posted a "MUST WATCH" clip of Leavitt deflecting common-sense questions from NBC's Peter Alexander. The caption: "@PressSec smacks down Fake News loser @PeterAlexander."
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More Pentagon restrictions |
The Pentagon ratcheted up its restrictions on the press corps yesterday.
You'll recall that some of the country's biggest news outlets, from NBC to CNN to the NYT, were evicted from their longtime workspaces in favor of smaller, right-wing and explicitly pro-Trump media outlets. The outlets had to move out by Friday, and pro-Trump social media accounts enjoyed seeing CNN give up its broadcast booth.
The exiled news outlets are undeterred; they'll cover the U.S. military one way or another. You might have seen CNN's Oren Liebermann live from the Pentagon briefing room the other day. But now that's off-limits, too: On Friday afternoon, the Pentagon said the briefing room will be closed "when not in use for public briefings." (And there haven't been any Pentagon briefings since Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth took over.)
"The Pentagon does not provide internet access to reporters — except in the briefing room" and the workspaces, Defense One reporter Meghann Myers explained on X. So this is a major crackdown on access – and it's in line with Hegseth's vocal criticism of the media. As I observed up above, these officials want to fight. Reporters just want to report.
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Doing the DOGE math, or not |
It's not just one instance of a billion being only a million:
"DOGE's only public ledger is riddled with mistakes," a team of New York Times reporters found. The figures are "full of accounting errors, outdated data and other miscalculations." The Washington Post is out this weekend with a similarly damning analysis.
But MAGA media isn't fretting about the inflated #'s and other foolishness. The top story on the FoxNews.com right now says "DOGE takes a chainsaw to federal spending with 7 major victories." The article is a list of "DOGE's big wins this week," even though some of the items are just publicly available data points that DOGE decided to tweet about.
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MSNBC's hosts of "The Weekend," Symone Sanders-Townsend, Alicia Menendez and Michael Steele, are moving to a new weekday time slot. That's one of the imminent changes to MSNBC's programming lineup under new president Rebecca Kutler. Puck's Dylan Byers, who first reported the change, also said "Jen Psaki is poised to take an even higher-profile role at the network with more time on weekdays."
"Giving both of those programs new space suggests MSNBC is eager to maintain its progressive stance, rather than trying to tack towards middle ground," Variety's Brian Steinberg wrote overnight...
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A timely 'Cross Border Conversation' |
As an American with lots of friends (and readers!) in Canada, I wish others in the U.S. could hear more from our neighbors to the north. That's why I love what Jeremy Hobson and Ian Hanomansing are cooking up.
Hanomansing, the host of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation's weekly open-phones show "Cross Country Checkup," and Hobson, the host of the American call-in show "The Middle," are working together on a two-nation radio show this Sunday. "51st State: A Cross Border Conversation" will let citizens of both countries sound off (and maybe even talk with one another). The show starts Sunday at 4 p.m. ET, and C-SPAN will also carry it live.
>> Related: Thursday's US-Canada match "garnered 9.3 million viewers, with 10.4 million viewers at its peak," a record audience for a hockey game on ESPN.
>> Plus: Kyle Feldscher explains why the "Four Nations Face-off was a runaway success for hockey..."
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Dueling media-centric conferences in DC |
As CPAC wraps up today with a mid-afternoon speech from POTUS, "leaders of the global right see a new world, led by Trump," the NYT's Charles Homan wrote. CNN's Steve Contorno talked with CPAC attendees and found that "the MAGA base is skeptical of Trump’s Big Tech alliance." Check out his full report here.
Meantime, "some of the president’s staunchest right-leaning critics" have convened "for their own event just 10 miles away," The Guardian's Joan E. Greve wrote. The Principles First summit "has become a venue for anti-Trump conservatives." The summit runs through Sunday...
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Political media notes and quotes |
>> "We've got ourselves an old fashioned Friday news dump," as Bloomberg's Zoe Tillman said last night. On top of numerous court rulings and looming firings, there was an "unprecedented purge of military leadership." (CNN)
>> "Newly appointed FBI Director Kash Patel started calling out journalists for 'defamatory' stories right after being sworn in to lead the agency" yesterday. (Mediaite)
>> A smart take by Aaron Blake: "Trump and his top allies appear increasingly consumed with trolling their opponents — real and perceived — as they run the country." (Wash Post)
>> "If you expected a second Trump term to usher in some sort of new era of free speech, you might by now be feeling some rueful second thoughts," Walter Olson of the Cato Institute writes. (Cato)
>> Speaking at CPAC, the Kennedy Center's Trumpy new president Richard Grenell said "we're going to celebrate Christ at Christmas with a big traditional production." The implication was that he is ending the "war on Christmas." But the Times notes that the Kennedy Center "has long held Christmas-themed events." (NYT)
>> Meanwhile... "As sales drop, artists weigh canceling Kennedy Center shows in protest," Travis M. Andrews reports. (Wash Post)
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Selzer files motion to dismiss Trump suit |
In a new filing that is full of straight 🔥, pollster J. Ann Selzer and her attorneys at FIRE have asked a federal judge to dismiss Trump's lawsuit against her, the Des Moines Register and Gannett. (This is the suit over last fall's far-off-the-mark Iowa poll.) FIRE says "the legal theory underlying Trump's lawsuit has no logical stopping point. It would allow suing the network weatherman for a wrong forecast."
"Throughout American history, thanks to the First Amendment, no court has ever accepted claims like these. This case should be no different," FIRE chief counsel Robert Corn-Revere says...
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>> "It sure looks like Musk's newfound power is scaring advertisers back to X," Thomas Maxwell writes. (Gizmodo)
>> NBCUniversal "has agreed to settle a federal defamation lawsuit filed by a Georgia gynecologist" over stories that aired on MSNBC in September 2020. (NPR)
>> I loved this Kara Voght and Ben Strauss piece: "What Democrats talk about when they talk about Stephen A. Smith." (Wash Post)
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Verdict in defense of free speech |
A jury in western New York has "found a New Jersey man guilty of attempted murder in the stabbing of the author Salman Rushdie, which left him partially blind." The NYT's Lola Fadulu reported from the courthouse that "the jury deliberated for less than two hours" before reaching the verdict.
>> PEN America said the case is a "stark reminder of the enduring threats faced by writers who challenge authority and orthodoxy."
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🙌🏻 Saying thanks to Jon Passantino |
Normally Jon Passantino would be editing this newsletter right now – fixing my mistakes, flagging what's missing, improving and upgrading the coverage in so many different ways, all while juggling a dozen other balls. But Jon is saying farewell to CNN after five years, so I'm here to say thanks.
As a deputy managing editor, and as a just plain wonderful human being, Jon championed and truly embodied Reliable Sources, both with Oliver Darcy at the helm and now with yours truly. You made us better, Jon! Thank you.
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Closing here with a special shoutout to my better half Jamie. We were married in Philly 11 years ago today. (And – funny story – thanks to CNN I finally got ahold of the wedding video last year.) Happy anniversary, my love!
Today's newsletter was edited by Robert Ilich and produced with Liam Reilly. Please email us your feedback and tips here. We'll be back Monday morning...
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