| | | | President Trump has not tweeted or commented on James Comey's testimony... but everybody else has. The partisan fight is on, spinning and downplaying and reinterpreting what Comey said and how he said it. "Hope folks who keep saying it was a 'good day' for X or Y realize that nothing about today was good for anyone, period," Chuck Todd tweeted Thursday evening. I'm inclined to agree.
I wonder: was Thursday's only real winner Vladimir Putin? Comey was most animated when discussing Putin's election disruption. "A foreign adversary attacked us" last year, and "they will be back," Comey warned. Yet the day was dominated by partisan squabbling.
-- Noted: Putin's news agencies emphasized Trumpworld's POV after the hearing. The headline on Russia Today's web site Thursday evening: "Trump's lawyer calls for investigation of Comey for leaking 'privileged communications.'" And a similar one on Sputnik: "Trump Never 'Sought to Impede' Russia Probe - Trump's Private Lawyer." | | "A lot of this comes down to, who should we believe?" | | That's what Martin Heinrich, Democrat of New Mexico, said while questioning Comey. Along those same lines, Dylan Byers emails -->
1. "Those were lies, plain and simple." --James Comey on Trump's official explanation for why he fired Comey.
2. "No, I can definitively say the president is not a liar. It's frankly insulting that that question would be asked." --Deputy press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders.
Who you gonna believe? The former director of the FBI or the deputy press secretary for what is arguably the most unreliable White House in modern history? | | Ratings? I'll have 'em on Friday | | | I think the overall viewing #'s for the Comey hearing will be lower than insiders might expect... but we'll see what Nielsen says on Friday... | | | Embattled Attorney General Jeff Sessions takes the stand on Tuesday, CNN's Ted Barrett notes. "The Senate appropriations subcommittee hearing is billed as a discussion on the Justice Department budget, but Democrats say they will use the opportunity to grill their former Senate colleague about his alleged contacts with Russians" and the firing of Comey... | | | "Jared Kushner is expected to meet with Senate intelligence committee staff as soon as this month, a source familiar with the matter told CNN." How much will leak out? | | NOW BACK TO THURSDAY'S HEARING: | | The tweet that started a leak | | | Fascinating, wasn't it? Comey confirmed what most folks suspected... that he engineered leaks about Trump's alleged behavior... and said he did it because Trump tweeted about the prospect of "tapes." | | | "Can't recall a public figure ever explaining how he leaked a story," Ron Fournier tweeted. Indeed, it was remarkable candor from Comey... perhaps meant to support his credibility on the subject... | | Comey's go-between is not talking | | | Comey's friend Daniel C. Richman, a former federal prosecutor, was the go-between who shared one of Comey's memos with NYT reporter Michael Schmidt. Richman declined all interview requests on Thursday... we'll see if that changes... and Schmidt told me he had no comment... | | Tom Kludt emails: Many of Trump's biggest media boosters – Bill O'Reilly, Breitbart – howled at Comey's admission about the leak. O'Reilly called it "a huge and possibly illegal breach." Breitbart's Matt Boyle wrote that Comey's "open admission he orchestrated a potentially illegal leak puts him in serious potential trouble."
Trump's lawyer Marc Kasowitz (small world: he recently represented O'Reilly) slammed Comey and said "we will leave it the appropriate authorities to determine whether these leaks should be investigated along with all those others being investigated." Many experts, however, shrugged it off. As the NYT reported at the time, the memo in question was "unclassified." Time's Michael Scherer put it this way: "If he leaked his own recollections after leaving office, then every political memoir would also be leaks." | | One of Friday's front pages | | | Frank Pallotta emails: The NY Daily News is not pulling any punches with its front cover tomorrow. Hoo boy... | | Here's how Comey's testimony could benefit pro-Trump media | | Oliver Darcy emails: While the conventional wisdom suggests Thursday was a terrible day for Trump, it's worth keeping in mind how the news is playing in media circles favorable to him. On talk radio and pro-Trump websites/blogs, Comey's testimony is being cherry-picked to support narratives the right has been peddling for some time. For instance, Comey's admission that he provided a memo to a friend is seen as proof the "deep state" has been leaking negative info about Trump. Comey disputing an NYT story and articles that rely on anonymous sourcing gives pro-Trump media figures ammo to combat future stories critical of the president. The list goes on and on. Check out Oliver and Tom Kludt's full story about it here...
--> Oliver adds: A key takeaway: The pro-Trump media can put the face of Comey -- who the mainstream media has characterized as an honest broker over the past few months -- on some of their claims. It's no longer Mike Cernovich calling the NYT fake news, it's now Comey on camera disputing one of the paper's bigger stories. For Trump's defenders, that's gold... | | So, ABOUT that NYT dispute... | | Comey's testimony backed up many of the anonymous-sourced news reports about the FBI, Trump and Russia, but he took exception to one specific story from February. "In the main, it was not true," Comey said, disputing the NYT's February 14 story titled "Trump Campaign Aides Had Repeated Contacts With Russian Intelligence."
Comey's comment was part of a broader media critique. But The Times shot back a few hours after his testimony, saying it has found "no evidence that any prior reporting was inaccurate." Comey never specified what portions of the story were supposedly wrong... Here's my explainer... | | | I did appreciate Comey's depiction of journalists as hungry "seagulls at the beach..." | | Another example of alternative realities | | Oliver Darcy emails: Same hearing, starkly different phrasing of the news. At one point while watching the hearing, I looked up at my screen and noticed an interesting juxtaposition. CNN's chyron: "COMEY: I TOOK TRUMP'S REQUEST ABOUT FLYNN AS A DIRECTIVE." Fox News' chyron: "COMEY: PRES DID NOT ORDER ME TO LET FLYNN PROBE GO." Both chyrons are technically accurate, but paint an acutely different version of the news...
-- Related: The WashPost did an excellent job documenting all the cable news chyrons throughout the Comey hearing... Check it out here... | | | Megan Thomas emails: DC wasn't the only town hosting Comey viewing parties. But here in Los Angeles, the bars were more frequently serving up pressed juice than gin. With the inevitable "Russiagate" movie in the works, screenwriters all over town were undoubtedly casting their Comey. Some names floated on Twitter included Ben Affleck, Vince Vaughan, Kyle Chandler, Chris Cooper, Chris Noth and my favorite casting choice, Michael Shannon... | | | This was Sunny's first time watching congressional testimony... (Well, she's 18 days old, so saying she actually "watched" is a real stretch...) | | The top three moments on Twitter were... | | | Francesca Giuliani-Hoffman emails: Twitter's data team shared the top three moments of the hearing on Twitter: John McCain's strange number ruled at #1, "Lordy, I hope there are tapes" was #2, and Comey saying there is "no fuzz" regarding Russian interference in the US elections was #3... | | Speaking of McCain's confusing Q&A... | | | Brian Lowry emails: I had a strange experience with the Comey testimony. Had to run out for a bit, so I heard the John McCain questioning on the radio, then watched it on TV later. As bad as the reaction was on Twitter, it sounded considerably more scattered and garbled just hearing it... | | Arizona Diamondbacks to McCain: ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ | | | Frank Pallotta emails: Even Major League Baseball got in on "Comey day." McCain put out a statement after the hearing saying he got "the sense from Twitter" that his line of questioning went over people's heads and that "maybe going forward I shouldn't stay up late watching the Diamondbacks night games." This led the baseball team to respond on Twitter with a beautifully simplistic shrug emoji... | | | Keep scrolling for the rest of the day/night's news... | | -- The BBC and all the other British broadcasters are pulling an all-nighter right now. Here's the latest from CNNI about the UK election...
-- "Facebook wants your elected officials to know what news stories you're reading." Within reason. Details here...
-- "Former HBO executive Michael Ellenberg has teamed with Bron Studios to launch a TV and film production company dubbed Media Res," Variety's Cynthia Littleton scoops... | | Al Jazeera under hack attack... | | | Al Jazeera said Thursday that hackers are targeting its web sites and other digital platforms. "It described the cyberattacks as 'systematic and continual' but said the attackers had not been successful so far," CNNMoney's Heather Kelly reports. "The Al Jazeera website and social feeds did not show any signs of being compromised in the U.S..." | | Reality Winner pleads not guilty | | | The government says Reality Winner leaked a top-secret NSA document to The Intercept. She says she's not guilty... She entered the plea in court on Thursday afternoon... CNN's Nick Valencia, who was there, says she spoke very little during the proceeding... The judge did not grant bond, so she will remain in custody... | | COUNTER-PROGRAMMING COMEY DAY... | | Funny new podcast conversation with Andy Borowitz | | | On this week's "Reliable" podcast, I talked with The New Yorker satirist Andy Borowitz about the "liberal fantasy" of impeachment; what happens when people misinterpret his humor column as real news; and his personal decision to step away from Twitter. Listen to the conversation via iTunes here, or through other podcast apps... | | By Francesca Giuliani-Hoffman:
-- This analysis by Duke Reporters' Lab says that conservative websites were responsible for 97% of all accusations of bias leveled against fact-checkers during the 2016 election. Poynter's Alexios Mantzarlis has a story all about it...
-- Reuters' Tomorrow's News report says that readers are becoming more skilled at verifying breaking news. NiemanLab's Ricardo Bilton writes that "Of the 1,711 Reuters readers polled in early May, 74 percent 'strongly' agreed that they check with sites they trust to verify breaking news stories..."
-- Over at Fortune, Mathew Ingram writes about a worrisome metric for Snap investors: downloads of Snapchat are down 22% in the last two months, according to industry analysts at SensorTower, while Instagram continues growing year-over-year... | | Dickerson contributing to The Atlantic | | | Dylan Byers emails: Jeffrey Goldberg continues to strengthen his ranks at The Atlantic: John Dickerson, the host of CBS's Face The Nation, has joined the magazine as a contributor. "I'm thrilled that our readers will be benefiting from his reporting and analysis," Goldberg says. Dickerson's first column: "Donald Trump Is an Impossible Boss." | | | An Phung emails: Check out this piece from CJR, making the case for theSkimm: The newsletter has long been criticized for its tone and language, but CJR's Kaitlin Ogolik is arguing that we should embrace it because its creators are reaching out to a swath of the population that's largely been dismissed as indifferent to current events, millennial women. It's a demo that is underserved, "regularly underestimated, and written off at times as entitled and uninterested. What we as journalists haven't yet seemed to grasp is that to reach more people — whether in a factory in Kentucky or at a cocktail party in Manhattan — our approach may need to change..." | | Ava DuVernay's praise for Patty Jenkins | | | Melissah Yang emails: "Wonder Woman" is tearing it up at the box office, but it's the wonder woman behind the camera, director Patty Jenkins, who moved Ava DuVernay to tears. The "Selma" director told me Jenkins' take was a "beautiful example of what Hollywood can be, and that's what happens when you let women behind the camera." Another case in point? DuVernay's "Queen Sugar," which will once again feature an all-female directorial lineup in its second season. More... | | Lowry reviews season five of "OITNB" | | | Brian Lowry emails: I actually owe this line in part to Sandra Gonzalez, but the fifth season of "Orange is the New Black" -- which picks up where the cliffhanging prison riot began -- feels like about seven hours worth of story stretched over 13 episodes. Netflix starts streaming the new season on Friday... Read more here... | | Samantha Bee with the win for most creative Emmy campaign | | Megan Thomas emails: The "Full Frontal" host apparently sent out Emmy screeners to members of the Television Academy in the form of fake tapes proving Russia's alleged collusion with Team Trump. According to THR, "the case the screeners come in includes a made-up confidential intelligence report titled, Republican Candidate Donald Trump's Activities in Russia and Compromising Relationship with the Kremlin. Over the document is text from Bee that reads, 'The only veritable thing about this report is how much joy it gave me.'"
Fun fact: President Trump has been a member of the Television Academy since 2004 and is eligible to vote on the Emmys. You can see photos of the screener here... | | | For the record, part three | | | By Lisa Respers France:
-- Singer Phil Collins was hospitalized snd had to postpone his tour after he fell and hit his head on his way to the toilet...
-- "Gilmore Girls" fans won't want to hear this: it seems likely like star Lauren Graham is good with not revisiting the series beyond the Netflix reboot...
-- It was a big night for Keith Urban and Carrie Underwood at this year's CMT Music Awards... | | By Chloe Melas:
-- I sat down with Stella McCartney to discuss World Oceans Day and she told me how she's doing her part by using recyclable plastics from the ocean in her line. Watch it here!
-- Brad Pitt should stick to his day job -- check out his grim weather report on "The Jim Jefferies Show..."
-- For real: Leo DiCaprio has partnered with Mexico's president to save a rare porpoise... | | | What do you like about this newsletter? What do you dislike? Send your feedback to reliablesources@cnn.com. We appreciate every email. | | | Get Reliable Sources, a comprehensive summary of the most important media news, delivered to your inbox every afternoon. | | | | | |
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