The NYT just published an incredible excerpt from "Regime Change." The House just started a hearing on the NFL's streaming deals. And Sony just released the first trailer for "The Social Reckoning." Let's get to it...
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Freaking out over 'Freakout' |
"Inside the White House Freakout Over the Epstein Files" is the title of Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan's explosive excerpt from their forthcoming book "Regime Change."
Now comes the freakout over the "freakout" article.
The New York Times published the "Regime Change" excerpt at 6 a.m. ET today, and it immediately intensified the White House's anxiety about the book.
Haberman and Swan have detailed reporting from inside the Situation Room, "a guarded space used not to weigh a foreign threat but to steer the president around a political problem concerning a notorious dead pedophile." They describe highly sensitive conversations about containing the scandal and convey quotes from President Trump, VP JD Vance, chief of staff Susie Wiles and many others.
After digesting the in-the-room detail, readers can't help but wonder: Who leaked and why?
Triggered by the book, "there is a massive leak hunt underway," a person who has detected the hunt told me this morning.
All of this, of course, is likely to stoke even more interest in the book, which comes out June 23...
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The cable-news president reacts |
At the start of the 6 a.m. hour on "Morning Joe," Joe Scarborough said the Times "just dropped the first installation of what is going to be, I think, one of the most important books on the Trump presidency." By the end of the hour, Trump had denounced Scarborough's "ever shrinking, low rated show, one of the most inaccurate detailers of truthful facts on television."
An MS NOW source quipped that Trump just proved that he still watches "Joe."
The co-hosts reacted to Trump's attack in real time, speculating that it was caused by the book excerpt talk. "I think clearly Epstein is a sensitivity," Jon Lemire said...
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'HATE AMERICA' and other striking details |
The "Regime Change" excerpt has tons of new details of interest to media insiders:
>> Many White House officials "were initially unconvinced about the reach of the Epstein crisis." But Dan Bongino, who'd helped stoke Epstein conspiracy theories on his podcast and radio show before joining the administration, knew better. The internal battles over how to handle the files turned "volcanic."
>> Bongino later said "Blondie" (Pam Bondi) "fucked this whole thing up" and said, "This is going to be President Trump's Iran-contra."
>> Vance floated an "extraordinary P.R. gambit — that the White House enlist Tucker Carlson to interview Epstein's longtime girlfriend and co-conspirator, Ghislaine Maxwell, in prison." But the VP's suggestions "were far from popular with the core Trump team, and most of them went unheeded."
>> The WH considered having Todd Blanche appear on Joe Rogan's podcast to talk about the Epstein files. Vance proposed that he do it instead, and after getting off the phone with Rogan, he "told others that Rogan said he wouldn't have Blanche on his show but would take Vance." Neither interview happened.
>> When Trump made calls to stop the Wall Street Journal from publishing its Epstein birthday book story, he told editor Emma Tucker, "who is British, that she must 'hate America.' He told her he would file a lawsuit." The Journal published anyway, and the lawsuit hasn't gone anywhere.
>> Trump tried to declare that Epstein was "a dead issue... but as he began the second year of his presidency, his own team could see that voter concerns about Epstein were still breaking through to an alarming extent."
Here's the full excerpt, plus the NYT's "six takeaways" sidebar piece...
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Speaking of the co-authors... |
Swan and Haberman are also on Page One of today's Times with this story: "Trump seeds ballot doubts in fall preview." They report that Trump "has pressed aides to find ways to 'stop them stealing it from us.'"
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Scrutinizing NFL streaming deals on Capitol Hill |
The House Judiciary Subcommittee is holding a hearing this morning titled "Examining the Sports Broadcasting Act" – the latest sign that lawmakers think it's politically advantageous to take on the NFL over its streaming deals. Roger Goodell declined an invitation to testify. National Association of Broadcasters chief Curtis LeGeyt will be there to defend traditional networks...
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Celebrating Ted Turner in Atlanta |
Warner Bros. Discovery is holding an internal employee and alumni event today celebrating the life and legacy of CNN founder Ted Turner, who died last month at the age of 87. The gathering will take place in Atlanta at what is known as "The Ted Turner Campus" and will be live-streamed to WBD offices around the world.
Remarks are expected from David Zaslav, Mark Thompson, Christiane Amanpour, Wolf Blitzer and others. I'll file a CNN.com story about the memorial this afternoon...
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Ellison navigates CBS turbulence |
Bari Weiss is not in it for the fame or the money — besides, she already sold The Free Press for $150 million. She's in it for influence, a point that Puck's Kim Masters articulated the other day in this piece. Masters quoted Weiss's friend Andy Mills, who said she "wants to have the largest amount of impact that she can to influence the world to be what she sees as more moral."
Weiss believes she's just getting started at CBS News. But does she still have David Ellison's full support? Some of the criticism of Weiss is coming from inside Paramount's house, including from Ellison's lieutenants. Yesterday,
Jeremy Barr scooped the fact that Ellison personally called "60 Minutes" correspondent Lesley Stahl the other day and tried to make amends.
TheWrap's Jose Alejandro Bastidas and Sharon Waxman said the call was "one of the first signs that the chief executive is making moves to appease the escalating turmoil within the network."
They also quoted "an individual with knowledge of CBS's thinking" who said "there is no intention" for Weiss to run a combined CNN and CBS News — contrary to yesterday's Axios report, which sparked all sorts of social media commentary.
🔌: I analyzed the current state of play with Peter Kafka on a new episode of his "Channels" podcast. Here's the episode and Kafka's recap for Business Insider.
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Trying to be constructive |
Stahl led a "champagne toast" for "60 Minutes" staff on Monday "in an attempt to shore up morale at the program," the NYT's Ben Mullin and Michael Grynbaum reported. Jon Wertheim also spoke during the toast: He turned to Nick Bilton "and told him that he had been dealt 'a hell of a hand,' noting that there were 'bridges to build and fences to mend and assorted other structural metaphors,' according to two people familiar with his remarks. 'But there’s a path here,' he told Mr. Bilton..."
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Another sign state AGs are preparing to sue... |
"Robert Van Nest, a superstar trial lawyer for leading tech companies across Silicon Valley facing bet-the-company litigation, is in talks to represent California and other states if they file a lawsuit to block Paramount's $110 billion megadeal for Warner Bros. Discovery," THR's Winston Cho reported yesterday. "No final decision has been made..."
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WaPo editorial board corrects false L.A. election claim |
Liam Reilly writes: A Washington Post editorial board piece about Spencer Pratt's failed Los Angeles mayoral bid sparked backlash yesterday after incorrectly claiming that Nithya Raman, the councilwoman who edged out Pratt in the primary, conceded on election night. She did not.
The Post deleted the line and added a correction: "An earlier version of this editorial incorrectly said that Raman conceded last Tuesday." The LAT's Noah Goldberg noted how the error echoed "a talking point that has been bandied about X over the last week." One prominent source of that talking point was far-right influencer Benny Johnson, whose completely false X post claiming Raman "sobbed & conceded the race" has gone mega-viral and stoked "stolen election" lies. Speaking of those...
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When 'rigged' goes too far for Fox? |
Fox News commentators routinely indulge Trump's "rigged" rhetoric — but maybe there are still some lines they're discouraged from crossing.
CNN's Donie O'Sullivan noticed that Fox News Digital columnist David Marcus went full-blown-conspiracy on Monday, emotionally tweeting that "we just watched 2 major California elections stolen before our eyes," before deleting the post without any explanation. I asked a Fox News spokesperson if the company required him to delete it, and did not receive a response. Marcus hasn't responded either.
>> In a way, it's quaint to think that Fox might be enforcing any standards at all, given that right-wing social media feeds are completely clogged with "stolen" claims that are far more extreme than the Marcus post...
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White House 'ceding control' to UFC on fight night |
For Sunday's UFC Freedom 250 fight on the South Lawn, the UFC, not the White House, will decide which reporters attend, WaPo's Scott Nover reported yesterday.
According to an email from the White House Correspondents' Association, only the designated pool reporters will be allowed on White House grounds.
"The WHCA has been pushing back on this," Weijia Jiang wrote in the email. But ultimately, she said, "If you have not received a UFC press credential, you will need to utilize other public spaces" to cover the fight on the South Lawn. More on this later in the week...
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>> Pat McAfee is in talks with ESPN for "an extension to his contract that would pay him more than $60 million per year," Andrew Marchand reports. (The Athletic)
>> The BBC "has appointed Rhodri Talfan Davies as deputy director general, following his tenure as interim chief of the broadcaster before Matt Brittin was hired." (Variety)
>> Reuters and TIME have "started blocking all AI bots by default, and created whitelists of approved bots to access content on their sites," Sara Guaglione reports. (Digiday)
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>> "Internally, Amazon employees mock the company's AI tools, refer to its output as 'slop,' and joke about the company's failed attempt to motivate employees to use AI tools effectively," Emanuel Maiberg reports, based on leaked Slacks. (404 Media)
>> "Google just fired a warning shot in the AI subscription price wars" by making its "AI subscription plan a lot more budget-friendly," Lucas Ropek and Connie Loizos report. (TechCrunch)
>> ICYMI from Apple's WWDC keynote: "For the first time, Apple will allow developers to partner with one another to offer subscription bundles through the App Store that would give users access to multiple apps at a lower price than if they subscribed to each separately," Sarah Perez reports. (TechCrunch)
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👀 First 'Social Reckoning' trailer |
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'Toy Story 5' premieres to rave reviews |
"Welcome to the Oscar race, 'Toy Story 5' and Taylor Swift," THR's Scott Feinberg wrote after last night's splashy L.A. premiere, where Swift performed her new song for the movie.
"Come awards season, 'Toy Story 5' will be hard to stop in all races for best animated feature and best original song, and could also factor into best picture and best adapted screenplay competitions," he wrote. "Aside from being immensely entertaining, the film also has something profound to say about the world today."
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A few more Hollywood headlines |
>> Swift and Travis Kelce's wedding is a "cloak and dagger" operation, with its date and location remaining well-kept mysteries despite all sorts of rumors, Alli Rosenbloom writes. (CNN)
>> A new filing indicates that Paramount "is aiming to produce a total of 40 TV shows by 2030, with around 30 projects currently in different levels of production." (TheWrap)
>> Last but not least, there's been a "Doctor Who" shakeup. (Variety)
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