Hey, good morning. Here's the latest on Kash Patel, Disney, Joanna Stern, "Strike Force Five," Tom Llamas, Kari Lake, BuzzFeed, Meta, and many more... |
About the 'lone Democrat' |
FCC commissioner Anna Gomez did something remarkable yesterday: She wrote to Disney CEO Josh D'Amaro and said her own agency was taking "dangerous" steps to "punish and intimidate your company."
Gomez is, of course, the sole Democratic commissioner at the agency, and she is blaming her Republican counterparts for this "coordinated campaign of censorship and control."
Still, as the WSJ's Joe Flint wrote, "it is highly unusual for a government regulator to tell a company under investigation that the probe is without merit."
Later in the day, Gomez was on CNN's "The Lead," telling Jake Tapper that the FCC's actions are "all meant to silence any dissent." She added: "My letter was meant to call this out and to encourage Disney to continue its really courageous pushback."
It got me wondering about Gomez's really unusual role as a thorn in the side of FCC chair Brendan Carr and ultimately President Trump — and how much longer it will last.
All throughout the government, Trump has forced out Democratic dissenters like Gomez. So why hasn't she been fired?
The answer likely has to do with FCC rules requiring a quorum of three commissioners (out of five total seats) to pass any major pieces of business. Right now, there are only three: Carr, Gomez and the Trump-appointed Olivia Trusty. The other two seats are vacant. Pushing out Gomez would hamper Trump and Carr's deregulatory agenda, which Carr can advance through 2-1 votes.
That is why, in a strange way, Carr may need his most outspoken critic right where she is.
Here's the other thing: Gomez's term only runs through next month. So maybe Carr has been content to wait her out. But my understanding is that Gomez can stay in her position until January 2028 unless a successor is confirmed.
So far, Trump hasn't even nominated anyone for the seat yet. And the Senate confirmation process is another complication. Getting any FCC nominee through the Senate would take up precious time that can otherwise be spent on approving judicial nominees, cabinet members and other officials.
So the press will probably be quoting the FCC's "lone Democrat" for quite some time. Carr will likely keep using the power of his bully pulpit — and Gomez will keep urging media companies to ignore the bullying tactics.
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'The threat is the point' |
In the letter to D'Amaro, Gomez charged that Carr's FCC probes are "often announced with much fanfare, pursued selectively against perceived critics of this administration, and most are destined never to be brought to any enforcement conclusion that could face judicial review. That is because the threat is the point."
She also addressed Disney's December 2024 settlement of Trump's lawsuit against ABC and George Stephanopoulos, writing, "The settlement did not buy you peace."
"You cannot buy this Administration's favor," Gomez wrote. "For the right price, you can only borrow it. And the price always goes up."
>> From Disney's POV, even today, that settlement was warranted because the company's legal defense had holes on it, and a loss in court could have been a setback for the First Amendment writ large...
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Disney's annual upfront presentation to advertisers starts today at 4 p.m. ET. Jimmy Kimmel will, as usual, be delivering a stand-up routine during the show.
"By all appearances, Disney's Upfront audiences seem to love this annual tradition and look forward to it," MediaPost TV columnist Adam Buckman wrote in a post wondering if Kimmel will deliver an anti-Trump "diatribe" on stage. Probably not, but I'd be surprised if he doesn't allude to Trump's pressure campaign in some way.
At NBC's upfront yesterday morning, Seth Meyers opened by saying, "I'm Seth Meyers — or as the FCC calls me, 'Next.'"
LateNighter's Matt Webb Mitovich recapped the zingers here. Meyers aimed perhaps his sharpest remarks at David Ellison's Paramount, which he said is "so in the pocket for Trump that I heard next year's 'Survivor' is in the Strait of Hormuz."
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'Strike Force Five' reunites |
Last night's "Strike Force Five" reunion "was funny, warm — and pointed," Bill Carter wrote for LateNighter overnight.
He noted that the "mutual-admiration festival predates the solidarity they now feel as targets of a vengeful government with an extremely low tolerance for satire," though that reality "was certainly in the air" during the taping, which you can watch on YouTube here.
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Trump's leak hunt escalates |
"Trump's Complaints About Iran War Leaks Prompt Aggressive DOJ Investigations" was how the Wall Street Journal headlined this scoop. The story also revealed that the Journal "has received subpoenas for records of reporters."
An unknown number of other news organizations have also been sent subpoenas in recent months, I confirmed, but some of the outlets have chosen not to comment for the time being.
I appreciated that the WSJ did: It said the subpoenas "represent an attack on constitutionally protected newsgathering. We will vigorously oppose this effort to stifle and intimidate essential reporting."
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'Treading on very dangerous ground' |
CNN's Hannah Rabinowitz and Kaitlan Collins matched the WSJ's reporting last night. What a lead: "Trump personally pushed the Justice Department to issue subpoenas to reporters covering the war in Iran in an effort to flush out their sources, according to officials familiar with the matter. He delivered the message on a sticky note — the word 'Treason' in Sharpie — placed atop a stack of printed articles he handed to acting Attorney General Todd Blanche in a White House meeting, the officials said."
Aaron Blake wrote yesterday that "Trump is normalizing things that would have been scandals in his first term," and this is another example. As I said on "CNN News Central" this morning, past administrations, though far from perfect, had guidelines and guardrails in place to limit the pursuit of reporter records...
>> Elie Honig to Collins last night: "DOJ is treading on very dangerous ground here with respect to the First Amendment..."
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As Trump embarks on his long flight to China, this analysis piece is one of the top headlines on the NYT homepage: "China Increasingly Views Trump's America as an Empire in Decline."
NBC's Tom Llamas is anchoring "Nightly News" from Beijing starting tonight. His preview piece last night noted that Trump is "bringing American CEOs to Beijing to sit down with the Chinese as that bruising trade war between both nations continues." Among those CEOs: Elon Musk and Tim Cook...
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Patel testifies this afternoon |
FBI director Kash Patel is set to testify before the Senate Appropriations Committee later today. It's ostensibly a budget hearing, but Patel will undoubtedly face questions about The Atlantic's reporting.
Yesterday, in what might be a preview of a Patel talking point, administration sources pushed back against the report that Sarah Fitzpatrick was targeted in a leak investigation. Rachael Bade reported that Fitzpatrick recently went to the FBI "seeking help after a series of threats against her," and the bureau "opened a 'threat assessment' case" accordingly.
"The irony of the entire situation won't be lost on those who've read Fitzpatrick's work," Bade wrote.
The Atlantic said it followed "our standard protocol for responding to security threats against our journalists," which is "to notify law enforcement... The local police department referred us to the FBI, and we followed their referral."
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Today's new nonfiction releases |
Joanna Stern, founder of the new tech news venture New Things, is out today with "I Am Not a Robot: "My Year Using AI to Do (Almost) Everything." At her book party hosted by Campbell Brown last night, I was sufficiently persuaded to start using chatbots more often.
>> Also new today and already high up on Amazon's best sellers page: "Suicidal Empathy: Dying to Be Kind" by Gad Saad and "Take Me to Your Leader: Perspectives on Your First Alien Encounter" by Neil deGrasse Tyson.
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Kari Lake's next assignment... |
Despite her best efforts, Kari Lake was not able to dismantle the US Agency for Global Media, "so they've decided to have her do something else."
That's the conclusion of Kate Neeper, a director at the agency who joined the lawsuit to save VOA. Yesterday, Trump named Lake the next ambassador to Jamaica. On X, "Lake said she would continue serving at the global media agency while the Senate considers her confirmation for the ambassadorship," the NYT's Minho Kim wrote...
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>> This morning, Trump lashed out at the NYT and investigative reporter David Fahrenthold over a report on the costs of reflecting pool repairs. (Mediaite)
>> A disheartening new survey by NewsGuard shows that "about 1 in 4 Americans think the April shooting at the White House correspondents’ dinner was staged, with a marked partisan divide," Liam Scott writes. (WaPo)
>> Andrew Morse, the president and publisher of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, is stepping down. He'll be replaced by Paul Curran. (NPR)
>> Michael Savage is wondering if ITN CEO Rachel Corp is "off to run BBC News." Corp announced her sudden departure from ITN this morning. (X)
>> This morning, CNN "launched its new weather app in the U.S., marking its first standalone lifestyle product since management overhauled digital strategy last year," Sara Fischer writes. (Axios)
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'BuzzFeed's fire sale to Byron Allen marks the end of an era' |
That's the headline on Peter Kafka's analysis for Business Insider. Shareholders and alums were shocked last night when BuzzFeed and HuffPost were acquired by Byron Allen for $20 million upfront and a $100 million promissory note due in five years. Allen will become CEO, and Jonah Peretti will move into a newly created "president of BuzzFeed AI" role.
There is ample reason to be skeptical that Allen can turn around BuzzFeed — though he has been able to keep The Weather Channel afloat, and he is essentially paying to have his show take over Stephen Colbert's time slot on CBS soon. As Kafka put it, "in the past, BuzzFeed was the future of media. But in 2026, BuzzFeed looks just about done."
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California county sues Meta |
Santa Clara County, California, counsel Tony LoPresti — where Mark Zuckerberg lives at least part-time — is suing Meta "over allegations that the company 'knowingly facilitates and profits from billions of scam advertisements' on its social networks, including Facebook and Instagram," Bloomberg's Kurt Wagner reports.
A Meta rep said "the suit relies on a report last year from Reuters that 'distorts our motives and ignores the full range of actions we take to combat scams every day...'"
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Texas AG Ken Paxton is suing Netflix, accusing the company "of spying on children and other consumers by collecting their data without consent," Reuters' Jonathan Stempel reports. The case mirrors the recent landmark suits against the social media giants in that Paxton charges that Netflix is "designing its platform to be addictive." The streamer has not responded...
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Around the entertainment world... |
>> There was some confusion yesterday after Vin Diesel said on stage at NBC's upfront that Peacock is developing four "Fast & Furious" TV series. But "only one is in development, NBCUniversal says." Oops? (THR)
>> Peacock is also launching "two unscripted Bravo microdramas." (TechCrunch)
>> Fox promoted "Family Guy" spinoff "Stewie" from Seth MacFarlane, among other series, at its upfront. (Variety)
>> Christopher Nolan is on the cover of this week's TIME in his first major interview about "The Odyssey." (TIME)
>> 👀 Spotted at Bruce Springsteen's MSG show last night: Tom Hanks and Rita Wilson, Jon Bon Jovi, Tom Colicchio, Robert Kraft and Roger Goodell, who is expected to appear today at Disney's upfront.
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SAVING THE BEST FOR LAST... |
Some of the best five-word speeches at the #Webbys |
Last night I presented a Lifetime Achievement Award to PBS at the Webby Awards in lower Manhattan. The Webbys are known for their five-word acceptance speeches, and here are a few of the spiciest lines from the show:
"The View" co-host Joy Behar: "Don't fuck with the comedians."
Don Lemon: "A free press is essential."
Druski: "Thanks to my makeup artist."
Patreon: "Life's too short for brainrot."
Anthony Po: "Make memories, mistakes, and friends."
PBS exec Ira Rubenstein: "We taught the internet everything."
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