| | | | | Exec summary: Brian Ross has a new role at ABC...ESPN has dropped two contributors after harassment allegations... Barack Obama has lined up his first TV talk show appearance since leaving office... And Golden Globes preparations are underway... But first... | | | Presidential historian Douglas Brinkley to Jake Tapper: "I've never seen a book like what Michael Wolff has produced here." He added: Imagine if Bob Woodward "were living in the Nixon White House!" Brinkley's point: "Our country may be benefiting" from Wolff's access to the West Wing, because "we may be able to see now that perhaps the president isn't mentally stable..." | | "He's helping me prove the point of the book." | | "Where do I send the box of chocolates?" Michael Wolff started his "Fire and Fury" promo tour by playfully thanking President Trump for all the free publicity. Savannah Guthrie asked him: "You think he's helping you sell books?" I think Wolff's answer is the quote of the day: "Absolutely," Wolff said, and "he's helping me prove the point of the book."
Wolff's argument in a nutshell: By erupting about the Steve Bannon quotes and pressing his personal attorney to send cease-and-desist letters and attacking the book via Twitter, Trump is providing even more evidence that he's unfit for the most powerful office in the country. Here's my full story... | | Wolff's next interview is on Sunday | | Here's the current promo tour schedule... subject to changes and additions... Wolff will be on "Meet the Press" this Sunday, then "CBS This Morning" and "Morning Joe" on Monday morning... Katy Tur and Lawrence O'Donnell's MSNBC shows on Monday... Stephen Colbert on Monday night... "Hardball" on Tuesday... "The View" on Wednesday... Michael Smerconish's CNN show next Saturday... and more to come. I hear a Fox News appearance is also in the works, but there's nothing confirmed yet...
--> In-person appearances: Wolff will be at the Philadelphia Free Library on 1/16 and Politics and Prose in DC on 1/18... | | Still no comment from Charles Harder | | | The attorney who tried, on Trump's behalf, to stop publication of the book, entertainment industry litigator Charles Harder, has not responded to requests for comment. As you know by now, the book was released on Friday despite the cease-and-desist letter... | | -- Politico: "Trump is still fuming behind the scenes..."
-- The book says that spokesman Mark Corallo quit repping Trump's personal legal team because he thought he observed likely obstruction of justice. Adam Schiff tweeted in response: "We will want Mr. Corallo to come before our committee... Corallo may shed invaluable insights..."
-- Schiff will be on "State of the Union with Jake Tapper" on Sunday...
-- Jennifer Rubin's view: "Wolff's book leaves breadcrumbs for Mueller to investigate..."
-- Via KQED's Scott Shafer: Tom Steyer says he bought 535 copies of the book so he can have 'em hand-delivered to every member of Congress...
-- Wolff on NPR: "People regret what they said to me," but "they said it..."
-- David Gergen on CNN: "This book is having major repercussions overseas." He pointed out that newspapers in other countries are openly questioning the president's mental health... | | Readers are finding more errors in the book. There are at least three errors on just one page: This paragraph misspells Hilary Rosen's name, says Wilbur Ross was the labor secretary nominee (he's the commerce secretary) and says the WashPost's Mark Berman was at breakfast (he says he was not).
MIND MELD: Based on my conversations throughout the day, this is the prevailing view: Yes, there are mistakes and typos. Yes, Wolff should have been more careful and the publisher should have provided more editing and fact-checking help. BUT many of his key sources are not disputing the material. The story he's telling rings true and lines up with previous reporting from other journalists. If even half the book is true, it's deeply disturbing. I agree with that. However, the errors weaken Wolff's case... | | | Guthrie broached this issue on "Today." Wolff told her "I've written millions upon millions of words. I don't think there has ever been one correction." There are clearly some details in the excerpts and in the books that call for corrections... | | This illustration sums up the week: | | | Friday's New Yorker cartoon is by Jeremy Nguyen: "A blizzard descends on the White House..." | | Wolff: "I said what was necessary to get the story." | | Another key exchange from "Today:" Guthrie asked about how Wolff buttered up his sources. "Did you flatter your way in?" she asked. "I said what was necessary to get the story," he said. Erik Wemple says Wolff is the "king of the beat sweetener..."
--> CJR quotes what Wolff admitted to me last February -- that he was "sucking up a bit to get access" -- and says "that brown-nosing seems to have paid off..." | | Sherman: "Wolff is the Trump of journalism" | | | NYMag's Gabriel Sherman tweeted in response: "So basically Wolff's approach was to lie in service of getting the truth." This comment resonated with me: "Essentially, Wolff is the Trump of journalism. Breaks rules and norms to win. Talk about a perfect pairing of writer and subject!" | | "It's Even Worse Than You Think" | | | Earlier this week, I suggested on CNN that Henry Holt could have subtitled Wolff's book "It's Even Worse Than You Think." The dysfunction in the West Wing was even worse than we thought. Well, it turns out David Cay Johnston is about to release a book with that exact title! It comes out in two weeks... | | This week's "Reliable Sources" podcast | | Johnston and Michelle Cottle joined me on this week's "Reliable" podcast. Cottle, of course, wrote the 2004 profile of Wolff that was widely cited this week. We talked about Wolff's methods, how he "burns" sources, and what the book reveals about POTUS. Listen to the podcast via iTunes, Stitcher or TuneIn...
--> Great point by Cottle: "The Q of why Trump would allow this makes much more sense when you think of Michael Wolff as the darling of Manhattan's media scene in the late 90s..." | | For most of the day Friday, the book occupied TWO spots on Amazon's top ten list: The book remains #1, and the audio CD version was #9 for a while. But so far we have no firm #'s about the book's performance. Henry Holt declined to release any figures when I asked on Friday... So we'll have to wait for BookScan data...
--> BuzzFeed's Anne Helen Petersen tweeted: "It's not just coastal Twitter elites obsessed with FIRE AND FURY: Totally sold out in Missoula, Montana. Bookstore owner told me even Costco sold out immediately." | | -- Can this book have a long tail, or will the coverage and sales taper off in the net few days?
-- Is Wolff seeking a TV analyst gig? If so, what network will he end up at? Surely not Fox, given the Trump-Murdoch relationship...
-- Will Wolff now be viewed as a complete political partisan? One of his associates said to me on Friday that "Michael doesn't have a political ax to grind. He's a journalist." But I see lots of Trump fans labeling him as "anti-Trump..." | | "What I think is really mentally unstable is people that don't see the positive impact that this president is having on the country."
--Sarah Sanders, speaking on Fox News on Friday... | | Oliver Darcy emails: It's been more than 24 hours since we learned of a "hard push" underway to oust Steve Bannon from his perch as Breitbart exec chairman -- but he still hasn't provided any comment. In fact, since Bannon's quotes to Wolff blew up the media cycle, the former W.H. chief strategist has remained rather silent. As we reported on Thursday, Bannon was "minutes away" from releasing a statement earlier this week, but scrapped that plan after Trump nuked him with his own statement...
--> The Daily Beast says it got ahold of the draft statement... | | Bannon "ignoring reality?" | | | More from Darcy: According to Axios' Jonathan Swan, some of Bannon's allies are still trying to convince him to release a statement and attempt to make peace with Trump. But Bannon is apparently resisting, much to the frustration of his allies. A person close to Bannon's inner circle texted me earlier, "It seems like [Bannon is] not aware of the fact that his closest friends and fiercest defenders are taking shrapnel because he's ignoring reality." I checked in with Bannon Friday afternoon, and he again declined comment... | | Things that make you go "hmm" | | | Jake Tapper tweeted about the NYT's Thursday night scoop: "Source close to White House tells me that Bannon was 'aware of the fact that WH counsel misled POTUS about his authority to fire Comey' -- which was in NYT story last night -- and notes that the NYT story appeared after POTUS began attacking Bannon publicly. 🤔" | | -- A reminder from Peter Baker: "Just one year in, Mr. Trump faces many years of books to come..." (NYT)
-- A surprising # of people fell for a "satirical fake excerpt" from Wolff's book that claimed Trump was obsessed with gorillas and wanted a "Gorilla Channel" on his W.H. TV's... (Politico)
-- "Setting what is likely to be a landspeed record for stranger-than-fiction irony, the White House has requested and received permission to screen 'The Post...'" (NYT) | | | Twitter reiterated on Friday that it will not suspend the accounts of "world leaders" or remove tweets they post. This statement was a giant subtweet of President Trump... since reporters like yours truly have been asking since Tuesday about whether Trump's "nuclear button" threat against North Korea was a violation of the site's rules. Here's Twitter's answer and Seth Fiegerman's full story... | | CNN's Jim Sciutto tweeted: "I'm old enough to remember when the biggest story of the week was Trump's nuclear button tweet."
Brooke Baldwin's show put together a three-minute-long scroll of all of 2018's big news stories... We're only 5 days in, and Baldwin's report took 3 minutes... | | A parting thought from Brian Karem... | | | Briefing room regular Brian Karem tweeted Friday: "Remember this: Today he's 'Sloppy Steve' who lost his mind. However, when POTUS brought him to D.C. he was part of: 'I will only hire the very best people...'" | | Sunday on "Reliable Sources" | | | 👆 Karem will join me, along with Carl Bernstein... Michelle Cottle... Indira Lakshmanan, who wrote this on Friday: "How to cover Trump without getting sucked into his war on the media..." and more guests TBA... | | -- New from Pew: "Until now, local TV news viewership has been declining slowly. But a new Pew research study shows that from 2016 to 2017, the decline picked up speed..." (Poynter)
-- The Committee to Protect Journalists is hosting a "Press Oppressors Awards" event in response to Trump's "Corrupt Media Awards" tease... (The Hill)
-- "Steve Mosko is in serious negotiations to become partners with Jeff Robinov in his Studio 8 venture and to head the company's television division..." (Variety) | | Alex Jones says I "run your kids" and "run the banks" | | Presented without comment:
On Friday's "Infowars," Alex Jones called me a "cowardly degenerate sack of anti-human trash." He went after Michael Wolff too. He said, "These people are the literal demon spawn of the pit of hell." He put my picture up on screen and said: "He runs your kids, he runs the schools, he runs the banks." Hmm. He told viewers that I am the "enemy," yelled the word half a dozen times, and said "you will pay." He kept going. He said, "God is going to destroy you." He said, "Oh, God, they're so evil. Just please God, free us from them. They're drunk on our children's blood for God's sake." | | ESPN drops Donovan McNabb, Eric Davis | | | Ahiza Garcia reports: "ESPN has parted ways with former NFL stars Donovan McNabb and Eric Davis after conducting an investigation into alleged sexual harassment against the two radio hosts." SBJ scooped the news on Friday. "A representative for McNabb did not respond to a request for comment on Friday. Attempts to reach Davis for comment were unsuccessful..." | | | Remember, the alleged harassment happened back when McNabb and Davis worked at NFL Network. Three other former players turned on-air talent at NFL Network are still suspended. The network "declined to comment on the status of its investigation," Garcia notes... | | Brian Ross returns to ABC -- but in a new role | | Here's my scoop from earlier in the day: Brian Ross's four-week unpaid suspension is over. He is coming back to ABC News -- but not to his old job. He's moving to Lincoln Square Productions, ABC's nonfiction production unit, to work on "long-term projects" like prime time documentaries. He will also contribute to "20/20" and "Nightline." This move will take effect on Monday. Ross told me he's pleased to be back...
--> Why it's significant: Ross will not be involved with live special reports, like the one that caused trouble for ABC last month, or with live coverage more generally, per a source... | | This was the end of Robert Siegel's farewell message after decades on NPR's "All Things Considered:"
"And so, for the last time I'm signing off, proud of my association with this unique institution, mindful of things I might have done better, grateful for the company of thousands of gifted colleagues, and thankful to you, for being -- as we used to say in those hackneyed but truthful fundraising messages -- for being the public in public radio. I'm Robert Siegel. And you're listening to All Things Considered from NPR News."
Thanks, Robert. Read and hear his entire message right here... | | | Danielle Mattoon exited on August, and since then the NYT has needed a new culture editor. On Friday the paper appointed its television editor Gilbert Cruz to the job... Congrats Gilbert... Here's the memo... | | E&E owner and editor on "indefinite leave" | | | E&E News, which bills itself as the "essential news for energy and environment professionals," said Friday that its EIC and owner Kevin Braun is on an "indefinite leave of at least six months." Braun admitted to "inappropriate behavior toward the company's staff." He said it happened because he "abused alcohol." Cy Zaneski is the new EIC. The trade publication has been a launching pad for journos at Politico, CNN and many other outlets... | | | Via THR's Jeremy Barr: "Ann Curry said at a lunch this afternoon that the vast majority of men she's worked with 'have been exemplary,' and that real change in media and other industries is only possible if employees 'stand up' and the glass ceiling is broken..." | | "Today" celebrates Hoda's promotion | | My wife Jamie tweeted this out: "How I'm choosing to end my week: celebrating Hoda Kotb and how awesome it is to watch a working mom land a job she has worked her ass off for. A job she will crush. A job she will use to empower countless younger women. Cheers to you, Hoda. And your beautiful daughter, too 💪🏼💓"
Jamie linked to this segment... NBC's celebration of Kotb's first week as the official co-host... | | FX's latest tally of original series | | | Brian Lowry emails: FX's latest tally of scripted TV -- which has become an annual highlight of TCA -- puts volume for 2017 at a new record, with a whopping 487 original series. That's up 7% over 2016, with streaming shows, like Netflix, accounting for nearly a quarter of the total. Variety has more details, but as a critic, when the market hits 500, my intent is to sell... | | Via Chloe Melas: Here's your Golden Globes viewing guide. Where to watch, who's hosting, likely winners, presenters, and more...
-- Related from Chloe: This is the anti-harassment fashion accessory you'll be seeing on the Golden Globes red carpet...
-- "The women behind #TIMESUP initially considered boycotting the #GoldenGlobes. Instead, they decided to show up in all-black, hoping to make one of the most dramatic political statements in awards season history," Amy Kaufman of the LATimes reports... | | | Brian Lowry emails: As former USA Today critic Robert Bianco tweeted, trying to get inside the minds of the Golden Globes voters -- a group known for its unpredictability -- is a fool's errand. And nothing really sums that up better than the fact the group keeps taking advantage of its split best-picture format, with separate awards for drama and musical/comedy, by nominating films like "The Martian" and now "Get Out" in the latter category. Read Lowry's full column here... | | | The NYT is premiering a new TV ad during the Globes. Titled "the truth has a voice," it reminds viewers about the paper's groundbreaking reporting about Harvey Weinstein, Bill O'Reilly and others. The ad debuted on "Megyn Kelly Today" on Friday... | | Netflix, Letterman and Obama | | That's quite a combination! Right around the one-year mark of Trump's presidency, Barack Obama is granting his first TV talk show appearance since leaving office... And the interviewer is David Letterman.
As Frank Pallotta reports here, Letterman is "coming out of retirement for his Netflix show on January 12," and Obama will be his first guest.
The six-episode show will come out once a month. The other five guests are George Clooney, Malala Yousafzai, Jay-Z, Tina Fey and Howard Stern... | | | Brian Lowry emails: Fox's new singing competition, "The Four," premiered to 3.7 million viewers, with a 1.2 rating in the key adults 18-49 demo. That was good enough to narrowly put the network in second place in demos for the night, although by way of comparison, "American Idol" still drew more than 10 million viewers for its premiere in its final season... | | | Email brian.stelter@turner.com... I appreciate the feedback. Have a great weekend! | | | Get Reliable Sources, a comprehensive summary of the most important media news, delivered to your inbox every afternoon. | | | | | |
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