| | | | | Good evening from the cradle of liberty -- Faneuil Hall in Boston -- I'm here for a full day of meetings and events on Tuesday. But the action right now is in DC, so let's get to it... | | The Intercept obtains secret FBI docs | | On Tuesday morning The Intercept will publish "The FBI's Secret Rules," an investigative series about how the government's law enforcement agency interprets the legal limits on its own powers, sometimes in ways that might shock you. Glenn Greenwald and Betsy Reed write: "The FBI has quietly transformed the system of rules and restraints put in place after the scandals of the '70s, opening the door for a new wave of civil liberties violations."
The main headline: "Secret Docs Reveal: President Trump Has Inherited An FBI With Vast Hidden Powers."
There will be many other headlines — nine stories in all — and more than a thousand pages of documents for readers to view for themselves. Editors at The Intercept have been working on this for months, and FBI officials have been trying to tap the brakes for months. But the agency ultimately provided on-the-record responses. I'm told the project will be published around 7 a.m. ET... | | | -- Jeremy Scahill's tease on Twitter: "We will publish a major story at @theintercept that the government does not want out. Stay tuned..." | | Meanwhile, at the Justice Department... | | Trump fires acting attorney general | | "The president and his presidency is in chaos," Carl Bernstein said on "CNN Tonight" Monday evening. Bernstein was reacting to Trump's firing of acting attorney general Sally Yates, but he was also talking about several days of dizzying stories. David Martosko's reaction: "He's just operating in a section of the chessboard that's unfamiliar to most political reporters." Matt Lewis said something similar on "AC360:" "They're operating on a different plane than the rest of us..."
-- Related: Laurence Tribe on MSNBC: "It's as though history is being collapsed into a black hole, and everything is happening faster than the speed of light..." | | | Hey, you're not the only one. I can't keep up either... | | | Chris Cillizza tweets: "The Trump Administration has been 50 pounds of news stuffed in a 5 pound bag." | | Sean Spicer: Press is always negative | | Dylan Byers emails: White House press secretary Sean Spicer called on the media to stop being so negative in its coverage of President Trump during a fiery one-on-one with Frank Sesno at George Washington University on Monday night. "The lead is always the perceived negative," Spicer said of the media's coverage. "It's never lead with the positive, it's always lead with the perceived negative."
"The press should be skeptical," he added. "It's healthy, it's part of what they do. But there's a big difference between a skeptical press that says 'show me' and a press that is always negative." | | Highlights from Spicer's Q&A | | On the White House's treatment of the press: "We have shown an abundance of access in trying to get the press involved... We have shown a willingness to engage with the press... We have been extremely generous with our time and access."
On expanding the daily press briefing to other outlets: "The press plays a very healthy role in democracy, no question, but they're not the only game in town anymore.... At some point, I don't know where this sense of media entitlement comes from."
On whether he regrets statements he made about crowd size at his first press briefing: "I'm not -- I'm a forward thinker.... But I probably should have taken questions that day."
On what drives President Trump: "You can disagree with his agenda. Please don't question his motives: He truly cares about making this country better for every American." | | Will Trump attend the correspondents dinner? | | | Spicer's answer was "I don't know." Some of his allies, like conservative radio host Laura Ingraham, are encouraging him to skip the event... Remember, there's already a contract with the Hilton, so the event will take place, one way or another... | | Sam Bee offers an alternative | | | Sandra Gonzalez emails: One of my favorite pieces of news on Monday: Samantha Bee is throwing her own party the same night as the correspondents dinner. The event's name? "Not the White House Correspondents' Dinner." Proceeds will benefit the Committee to Protect Journalists. On a conference call, she said it's "basically going to be a prom for the nerds not invited to nerd prom." Read more... | | NBC's newscast from the Statue of Liberty | | | A live shot with a purpose! NBC moved "NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt" to Liberty State Park in New Jersey on Monday. "Good evening," Holt said, "Behind me: The Statue of Liberty, which for nearly 130 years has symbolized the welcome arms of a country of immigrants. But tonight, she also stands as a symbolic flashpoint in a country in the midst of soul searching over the limits of its generosity in an age of international terrorism..." | | O'Reilly invoking Lady Liberty too... | | | Bill O'Reilly had this message for his #1 viewer, POTUS, on Monday night: Tough policies must be balanced by compassion... "We don't want to tarnish the message the Statue of Liberty sends... Protecting Americans is obviously priority number one, but the nobility of our nation demands we help suffering, helpless people if we can." Josh Feldman has a full recap at Mediaite... | | What media CEOs are saying about the travel ban | | Dylan Byers emails: The top execs at 21st Century Fox have weighed in on Trump's travel ban, informing staff that they "deeply value diversity and believe immigration is an essential part of America's strength." In a memo to employees on Monday, James and Lachlan Murdoch described 21st Century Fox "as a company that is driven by creativity and innovation" and said it recognized "the unique perspective offered by our many people who came to the U.S. in search of the opportunity for unfettered self-expression."
21CF is just the latest media company to react to Trump's exec order. The NYT's publisher and CEO sent a similar memo to their staff earlier on Monday, saying they "will do everything in our power to support and protect every one of our colleagues, regardless of their race, country of origin, and religion or belief system." Read more from Dylan here... | | He saved Bob Woodruff's life. "Now his family's lives are in danger." | | | NBC's Meena Hart Duerson writes on Medium: "In 2007, I was lucky enough to have the opportunity to work directly with an Iraqi translator as he worked to get a visa to the United States. Omar Aljaff had been an interpreter working with the United States Army when, in 2005, he was traveling in a convoy with ABC News reporter Bob Woodruff as they were hit by a roadside bomb. Omar jumped in and saved Bob's life by administering immediate first aid." Omar is now in America... His parents and brothers are trying to join him... But now "their hopes and dreams are on hold." Read the rest here... | | | Tuesday morning will be Ajit Pai's first time chairing an FCC meeting. Trump promoted him to chairman last week. Here's the agenda... | | Three pieces of CNN news... | | Carol Costello moving to L.A. and moving to HLN | | On Monday "CNN anchor Carol Costello announced that Friday would be her last day with the network as she'll be moving to California and will work for HLN," Mediaite's Justin Baragona reports. "Costello explained that the decision was personal and a big life change. Noting that she had lived apart from her husband for many years, she pointed out that it hadn't been that bad because he also lived on the East Coast. However, he recently got a new job in Los Angeles, adding 'and I kind of miss him.'"
Her HLN show will be based in L.A. No details yet... and no word on who will take over CNN's 9 and 10 a.m. hours... your guess is as good as mine... | | "CNN beefs up investigative unit" | | "CNN is embarking on what it characterizes as a major new initiative in investigative reporting as executives pull together accomplished reporters into a single unit and promise to hire at least a dozen more," NPR's David Folkenflik reports.
EVP Andrew Morse's memo: "CNN needs to be an organization that breaks news, not just an organization that covers breaking news or talks about breaking news on television. There's no better way to do that than to invest in investigative reporting."
Lex Haris, who's been the exec editor of CNNMoney (including our media coverage!) will oversee the team, uniting Patricia DiCarlo, Sara Ganim, Drew Griffin, Nelli Black, Scott Bronstein, Curt Devine, Tom Frank, Blake Ellis, Melanie Hicken, Scott Glover, the KFILE crew, and several new hires to come...
-- More: Per the memo, Carl Bernstein and James B. Steele will be contributing editors... | | Congrats to Rich Barbieri! | | | I can not imagine working at CNN without Rich Barbieri. Which is why this is very good news: Barbieri, CNNMoney's managing editor, will succeed Haris as executive editor... Details from Talking Biz News here... | | Trump governing like a TV exec | | Dylan Byers emails: With the nation still erupting over his travel ban on refugees and people from seven majority-Muslim countries, President Trump made a programming announcement: Tuesday at 8 p.m. -- what's known as "prime time" in the TV business -- he will announce his nominee for the Supreme Court.
In television parlance, Trump was counterprogramming: pitting one show (his announcement) against another (the rolling and largely negative coverage of his exec order and the protests against it). By turning one of the most consequential decisions of the presidency into a primetime television event, and doing so before publicly sorting out the details of the travel ban, Trump is governing in the way a TV executive might, making moves that have the effect of controlling the narrative and driving ratings... Read more... | | Huge web traffic -- here's an example | | | These waves of Trump news are sending people to news sites. The Atlantic's Anna Bross emails: "We had a record traffic day at TheAtlantic.com Sunday, which may be surpassed today." I'm hearing the same thing from other sites... It's due to the travel ban, the protests and other Trump news... | | Tom Kludt emails: "This is America," said Breitbart's Neil Munro Monday afternoon. "We have freedom of speech, freedom of movement." Unfortunately for Munro, he also happened to be at a press conference hosted by the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), a Muslim advocacy group that has launched a legal challenge to Trump's immigration ban. CAIR, it seems, has a pretty clear policy when it comes to its events: Breitbart is not allowed. So Munro was given the boot before today's presser even began.
"Very often at our news conferences, we have agent provocateurs or representatives of hate sites on the internet who show up to disrupt or cause problems," CAIR spokesman Ibrahim Hooper told me. "We regard Breitbart as one of those anti-Muslim, white supremacist websites that we don't allow at our news conferences."
Munro has a reputation as a confrontational reporter. (He interrupted Obama back in 2012.) As he prepared to leave Monday's event, Munro estimated that it was the third time he was thrown out of a CAIR press conference. "I've lost count," Hooper replied.
Tom and Laura Jarrett have all the details here... | | Authoritarian tendencies? | | On "CNN Tonight," both Bernstein and Tim Naftali made reference to "authoritarian" behavior. As a followup to Sunday night's newsletter, I wrote this story about how the term keeps popping up in news coverage and commentary.
"Anecdotally, I'd say that journalists are starting to recognize the authoritarian tendencies of this administration and to be more explicit about the risk of democratic erosion in their coverage," Dartmouth poli sci professor Brendan Nyhan, who's been sounding the alarm about authoritarianism, told me. "One key factor seems to be the growing number of conservatives and former Bush officials who are speaking out, which helps make clear that these concerns aren't just partisan or ideological opposition to Trump." Read more... | | The Atlantic's new cover story | | It is titled "How to Build an Autocracy."
"We are living through the most dangerous challenge to the free government of the United States that anyone alive has encountered," David Frum writes. "What happens next is up to you and me. Don't be afraid. This moment of danger can also be your finest hour as a citizen and an American."
This cover story was going to be published next week. But "given the precipitous quality of this past weekend's executive order, I thought that David's piece ought to be read sooner, rather than later," EIC Jeffrey Goldberg told me... | | Ben Affleck no longer directing standalone 'Batman' film | | | Frank Pallotta reports: Ben Affleck will still be under the cowl, but not behind the camera. The actor, who plays Warner Bros. and DC Entertainment's Batman, will no longer be directing the studio's standalone film about Gotham City's Caped Crusader, "The Batman." Read more... | | | Entertainment editor Megan Thomas emails: Hollywood producers booed at Mark Burnett "to produce the tapes" at the PGA Awards over the weekend... | | Strong showing by Netflix at the SAG Awards | | Brian Lowry emails: The politics were so thick at the SAG Awards, it obscured two more run-of-the-mill award-show matters. One involved the strong showing by Netflix, which snagged ensemble awards for "Stranger Things" and "Orange is the New Black" and a pair of additional honors for stars of its period drama "The Crown." Those sort of inroads in the prestige department have largely come at the expense of HBO, which obviously remains a force but had a relatively muted showing Sunday.
Second, some observers were quick to throw open the Oscar race because "Hidden Figures" won the cast ensemble award among features. But not so fast: The historical drama is a true ensemble piece, with a strong supporting cast beyond the three leads that includes Kevin Costner, Kirsten Dunst, Jim Parsons and Mahershala Ali. "La La Land," by contrast, is largely a two-character piece, and Emma Stone won for that. So while the odds might have changed a bit, it's still the frontrunner... | | | Chloe Melas emails: CNN's entertainment team produced a visually stunning cinemagraph initiative at the SAG Awards, shot by photographer to the stars, Miller Mobley. Jeff Bridges, Taraji P. Henson, Sarah Paulson, and Dev Patel are just a few of the 60 stars who stopped by. Check them out here... | | | "Reliable Sources" highlights | | | "Neutrality" versus "fairness" | | A stand-out part of Sunday's "Reliable Sources:" Lydia Polgreen, the EIC of HuffPost, said this travel ban story is about something "fundamental to our identity as Americans."
I had asked whether it's possible for journalists to achieve "neutrality" while covering it. Her answer: "How can someone be neutral or dispassionate" when "you have colleagues whose family members escaped the Holocaust or escaped oppression in Eastern Europe during the Cold War? I think it's a little bit unreasonable to think that journalists are not going to have skin in the game." She seemed to agree with "On the Media" co-host Brooke Gladstone, who said "I don't know that neutrality, any more than objectivity, is possible. But fairness, of course, is always possible. And bringing a wide variety of views is also possible..." | | Faulty information, faulty conclusions | | On the show, I urged viewers to log on to State.gov and look for the page titled "Facts and Myths About Refugees" so they'd see that the page is gone. This State Department fact sheet -- detailing intensive security checks for refugees -- was deleted a few days ago.
Every new administration revises web sites, but the disappearance of a page like this underscores why so many people are concerned about a Trump administration "clamp down on communications" (that's what the WSJ called it).
-- BTW: After the show, I learned that the Democrats on the House Committee on Foreign Affairs have preserved the State Dept fact-sheet here... | | "Facts and Myths About Refugees" deleted | | What I asked on Sunday's show: Where is Trump getting his ideas about dangerous immigrants? The way I see it, this all comes back to media consumption and Trump's sources of info -- what he's hearing, what he's reading, who he's talking with. A few days after the mass shooting in San Bernardino, California, while on the campaign trail, Trump called for a "total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the U.S. until our country's representatives can figure out what the hell is going on." For months afterward, he told an untrue story about "many, many people" knowing about the attackers' plans ahead of time. He said they saw "bombs on the floor" of the apartment. There is no evidence to support this claim, which originated in second-hand info from local TV. Trump essentially received faulty information and reached faulty conclusions, and then he told the story over and over again, stoking fear about Muslims.
Over the weekend, according to CNN's Athena Jones, the White House justified the ban by citing the San Bernardino attack, even though, quoting Jones here, "neither of the attackers in the shooting would have been affected by the new ban..." | | | What do you like about this newsletter? What do you dislike? Send your feedback to reliablesources@cnn.com. See you Tuesday! | |  | | 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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