| | | | | Good evening from Washington... This is a special Saturday edition of the newsletter. Day two of the Donald Trump presidency brought the return of Trump's anti-media attacks and a jaw-dropping statement from new press secretary Sean Spicer. But an even bigger story happened in the streets of DC, NYC and dozens of other cities and towns. While Team Trump over-promised about the inauguration, the march organizers under-promised and over-delivered. The crowds were much bigger than the leaders (and the journalists there to cover the events) expected. Scroll down for complete coverage of the #WomensMarch... | | "I have a running war with the media" | | On his first morning waking up in the White House, the president apparently turned on the TV and turned angry at what he saw.
He lashed out, first in private with his aides, then in public. Speaking at CIA headquarters at 3:15 p.m., Trump started and finished a speech by criticizing the "dishonest media." Several of the things he said were inaccurate. Here's my full story about the speech... | | Here are a couple examples of his exaggerations | | | Trump exaggerated the size of the crowd at his swearing-in ceremony Friday and complained about what he said was unfair coverage. He said the crowd "went all the way back to the Washington Monument," but it did not. He even described the inauguration weather inaccurately, saying that the skies became "really sunny" after his speech, when in fact it remained cloudy. I'm sitting with CNN's Jim Sciutto right now... and he pointed out that the most egregious, consequential misstatement was Trump's assertion that the media "made it sound like I had a 'feud' with the intelligence community" when "it is exactly the opposite." | | "The stars on the wall behind Trump, who is talking about his crowd sizes and complaining about the media, mark dead CIA operatives," LATimes columnist Cathleen Decker tweeted. CNN's Dana Bash said on air, "It's unfortunate that he said that there, on hallowed ground. It happens to be not true that we conflated things that he said. All you have to do is look at his Twitter feed to see what he said."
"The president just tried to rally CIA workforce around the idea that media is the enemy. Let that sink in," wrote the NYT's Mark Mazzetti... | | Focusing on what's most important | | | As Jake Tapper deadpanned on "The Lead" Saturday afternoon: "I can't think of anything more important to the American people" than crowd size... | | While POTUS was speaking at the CIA, the White House informed the press corps that Spicer would be making some sort of statement in the briefing room later in the afternoon. Reporters waited and waited... and eventually Spicer came out and stunned them.
On his first full day as press secretary, his first-ever statement from the podium was a tirade. He said "this was the largest audience to ever witness an inauguration, period," Spicer said, contradicting all available data.
He said, without any evidence, that some photos were "intentionally framed" to downplay Trump's crowd.
In the five-minute statement, he said at least five things that are provably false. For all the details, here's my story... | | | Jim Acosta said afterward that Spicer's statement was "astonishing:" "I've never seen anything like it." | | Who wrote Spicer's statement? | | Spicer may have genuinely meant every word of what he said. But he was reading from a prepared statement, leading to speculation that someone else -- POTUS? -- wrote it for him. Ari Fleischer, who had the same job as Spicer during the George W. Bush administration, tweeted, "This is called a statement you're told to make by the President. And you know the President is watching."
Some CNN commentators argued that Spicer "had no choice" but to go and say what Trump wanted him to say... Others disagreed and said Spicer should have put his foot down and refused... | | An embarassment for Spicer, for Trump, and for America | | | Dylan Byers emails: The press conference was an embarrassment: for Spicer, for Trump, and for America. Spicer gave the impression that he lacked the integrity to tell the truth. Trump only called more attention to his relatively paltry crowds, as well as his thin-skinned self-consciousness and utter disregard for the responsibilities of his position. America suffered yet another day looking like a nation spiraling out of control. | | "I've run out of adjectives" | | David Maraniss: "Spicer is delivering the most irresponsible, angry & scary statement I've ever heard in WH. They are at war with press. It will not hold." Glenn Thrush: "Jaw meet floor." Chuck Todd: "I've run out of adjectives." Maggie Haberman: "This is not a campaign or an RNC spokesman anymore. Taxpayer-funded briefing room in which several falsehoods told."
All politicians and administrations lie, but this kind of lying is different... | | CNN decided not to show Spicer's speech live | | Fox News carried Spicer's angry lecture live. CNN made a conscious choice not to do so. Instead, reporters and control room staffers monitored the statement and reported it, with context, minutes later. When I pointed this out on Twitter, my feed was overwhelmed by people cheering the decision. Variety's Brian Steinberg wrote about it...
-- BTW: Right now I'm on the set of "CNN Tonight," and long clips of Spicer's comments are being played on the show, followed by fact-checking and analysis... | | What about Spicer's credibility? | | That's a big question now. Will Spicer have credibility with the White House press corps in the days, weeks and months to come? What he said was contradicted by photos and videos.
On "AC360," this credibility conversation sounded awfully partisan at times, with Democrats taking one side and Republicans taking the other side.
"Today the White House lied to the American public. The first day in office," Bakari Sellers said. "You can call it whatever you want to, but they lied." Peggy Nance responded: "Most of America believes Sean Spicer over all of you… His credibility is higher than yours." David Axelrod: "That is a very cynical view…" | | Spicer's deputies were watching | | | CNN's Kevin Liptak, who was in the room, notes that "Spicer was joined in the Brady Press Briefing Room by members of his new White House press and communications staff, who are still moving into their offices and learning the way around the West Wing..." | | | A very plugged-in news exec pointed out to me: "Steve Bannon WANTS a grand divide between Trump and the mainstream media. He wants his world to never trust the media. Maybe this was a win for them." | | Keeping an eye on pro-Trump news outlets | | Media editor Alex Koppelman emails: One thing worth keeping in mind as you see all the shocked reactions to Spicer's statement: the conservative Washington Examiner's headline about it was "White House slams 'shameful' media reports downplaying inauguration crowds." The story similarly took him at his word.
Normally, this would just be a disappointing if not totally unusual example of a skewed perspective from a partisan outlet. But consider the message the Trump team sent today, and what it has been saying about how it might shake up the press briefing room. The danger with changes to the briefing room isn't that some network will lose the best seat in the house; it's that the Trump team will pack the place with friendly outlets that can be trusted not to question the official line, and will treat them as if they are just as trustworthy a news source as the NYT, if not more so.
The Examiner's coverage is a reminder that there are some outlets that will be more than happy to play along... | | | NBC's Katy Tur notes that Spicer, in his statement, also objected to two specific tweets by reporters. This is what happened during the campaign too. "Trump's obsessed with tweets -- campaign hardly dinged me for my on-air reporting but they'd call/email to say Trump found my tweets 'disgraceful,'" Tur tweeted. She also recalled how Kellyanne Conway tracked and printed out reporters' Twitter timelines... | | Fiery reactions from reporters | | "The White House is trying to take us into post-factual America" | | The Boston Globe's Matt Viser: "The White House is trying to take us into post-factual America. The press, and the public, cannot let that happen."
The Economist's David Rennie: "Why it's alarming Sean Spicer was sent out" to misstate the facts: It "implies his job is to reassure Trump loyalists, not inform USA."
WashPost's Dave Weigel: "The man who forced Spicer to give that statement controls our nuclear arsenal. Enjoy your Saturday!"
NYT's Jonathan Weisman: "I've known Sean Spicer since he was the press aide to the House Budget Committee. I don't know this Sean Spicer."
Toronto Star's Daniel Dale: "Trump's lying has always been a central story. It's not a sideshow, it's the show. Big media still largely unprepared to deal with it." | | What Washington is wondering: | | Is this what every single day will be like? | | Joe and Mika disappointed | | Mika Brzezinski: "Sean Spicer's first hostage video ... that was pathetic. Embarrassing. Bad. Just bad."
Joe Scarborough: "A president who speaks from hallowed ground at Langley about crowd size and press coverage may soon see his ratings drop into the 20s." | | Fox News #1 during inauguration coverage | | If you guessed that the inauguration would draw 30.6 million viewers, you were right! It was "significantly lower than the crowd that turned out for Barack Obama's first inauguration in 2009," Variety's Daniel Holloway reports. But it was higher than the audience for Obama's second inauguration in 2013. These #'s are for the full-day coverage, not just the swearing-in.
"The highest-rated inauguration remains Ronald Reagan in 1981, which brought in 41.8 million viewers," Holloway writes.
Notable data point: "Fox News was the most watched network, averaging 8.8 million viewers from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. ET..." | | Don't miss "Reliable Sources" at 11 a.m. ET Sunday | | | Live in DC: White House Correspondents Association president Jeff Mason, Lynn Sweet, Karen Tumulty, David Fahrenthold, Michael Oreskes, Frank Sesno, Martha Joynt Kumar and more... Join us at 11am ET Sunday on CNN... | | Women around the world march | | It's relatively easy to cover a big protest march in one city. It's hard to cover a groundswell in dozens of cities and towns. That's what Saturday was... with events not just in NYC, DC, Chicago, Boston, L.A., and Seattle, but in many state capitals and smaller towns too.
Here's an example that's close to home to me: In Frederick, Maryland, near where I grew up, "Frederick Police estimated about 500 people showed up for the protest, but organizers estimated the number was more than 1,000 by the time it ended." | | Never seen "anything like today" | | | The P.R. firm Sunshine Sachs handled all the press for DC march. The firm's founder Ken Sunshine, a prominent Democrat, emails: "I've handled the press for demonstrations, rallies, marches since anti-Vietnam in the late '60's -- never anything like today..." | | Pop icon of the march: Princess Leia | | Frank Pallotta emails: One familiar face kept popping up in the NYC crowd: Princess Leia. Yes, images of the late Carrie Fisher's beloved "Star Wars" character holding a blaster along with the inscription: "A Woman's Place Is In The Resistance" kept showing up on signs all over the city.
Mark Hamill, Fisher's friend and co-star, commented on the use of the imagery, writing on Twitter, "I know where she stood. You know where she stood. Such an honor to see her standing with you today. Bigly. #Resistance" | | Twisted use of video on "Judge Jeanine" | | Something I spotted on Fox around 9:25 p.m.: Judge Jeanine Piro started a segment about "today's march" (her words) by showing video of anarchists breaking windows yesterday.
Saturday's marches were overwhelmingly peaceful and joyous. My tweet about this outrageous distortion went viral within minutes. At 9:52 p.m., she read a "quick correction," saying, "Earlier we were talking about the protests today in Washington, but we SHOWED video of the violence yesterday. Today's protests were largely peaceful. We regret the error." | | The photographer in chief? | | A story I wrote on Saturday afternoon: Shealah Craighead is in the running to become Trump's chief White House photographer. Craighead previously worked in the W.H. during the George W. Bush administration. She photographed Trump at the inaugural balls on Friday night, and the photography world is abuzz that she might be the Trump pick.
Hours before Spicer's on-cam statement, he told me that a director of photography has not been named yet. Craighead, he said, is one of the photographers working with the new administration.
So what's going on? According to a person who has been in contact with the Trump admin, Craighead is on something of a tryout. "She is at the top of the list," the source said. But new presidents often want to make sure they are comfortable with the person who will be following them around snapping photos all the time. That's why no announcement about the position has been made yet, the source said... | | ICYMI: The next FCC chairman | | From Friday's newsletter: Republican FCC commissioner Ajit Pai is Trump's pick "to lead the FCC in the new administration," Politico's Alex Byers and Tony Romm reported Friday afternoon, citing "four industry sources."
Reached via Twitter DM, Pai told me he couldn't comment.
Obama's pick to lead the FCC, Tom Wheeler, who just stepped down as chairman, believes it's true -- he tweeted congrats to Pai. Byers + Romm note that Pai "could take the new role immediately and wouldn't require approval by the Senate because he was already confirmed to serve at the agency."
-- What it means: "As chairman, Pai will be able to start the process of undoing the net neutrality order and pursuing other deregulatory efforts..." | | "What the hell?"
--Michael Smerconish on CNN Saturday evening... | | IN OTHER NEWS THIS WEEKEND... | | NYT public editor Liz Spayd published this column on Friday evening: "Times editors knew the federal authorities were looking into allegations of ties between Donald Trump and Russia. But they decided not to report it." She said "I have spoken privately with several journalists involved in the reporting last fall, and I believe a strong case can be made that The Times was too timid in its decisions not to publish the material it had."
NYT exec editor Dean Baquet responded overnight via email: "The public editor column was dead wrong. We didn't publish the story because we couldn't prove it. And for no other reason." | | Final thought of the day... | | | Trump surrogate Joe Borelli tweets: "We can now all be defined and categorized by red baseball caps or pink ear shaped knits." | | | What do you like about this newsletter? What do you dislike? Send your feedback to reliablesources@cnn.com. See you Sunday from DC! | |  | | We'd love to share our other newsletters with you. Check out Five Things for Your New Day, CNN's morning newsletter. Give us five minutes, and we'll brief you on all the news and buzz people will be talking about. | | | Get Reliable Sources, a comprehensive summary of the most important media news, delivered to your inbox every afternoon. | | | | | |
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