CNN has sued the president. What will happen now?
CNN's lawsuit against President Trump and several top aides is specifically about Jim Acosta's access to the White House, but the case could have repercussions far beyond CNN. | | "This is a very, very important case," Ted Olson said. He and Theodore Boutrous are representing CNN along with the network's chief counsel David Vigilante. Olson said it was Acosta whose press pass was suspended this time, but "this could happen to any journalist by any politician."
It was striking to hear Olson, a Republican heavyweight who successfully argued for George W. Bush in Bush v. Gore, speaking so forcefully against Trump's action. "The White House cannot get away with this," he told Brooke Baldwin on Tuesday afternoon...
The next steps
When the suit was filed in U.S. District Court in DC Tuesday morning, it was docketed and assigned to Judge Timothy J. Kelly, a Trump appointee. The judge has given the defendants an 11 a.m. Wednesday deadline to file responses to the suit. He has scheduled a hearing for Wednesday at 3:30 p.m.
So you can expect some late afternoon headlines after the hearing. CNN is seeking a temporary restraining order and a preliminary injunction that restores Acosta's access right away. Will the judge deliver?
Here are the facts
-- Both CNN and Acosta are plaintiffs. The suit alleges that First and Fifth Amendment rights are being violated.
-- Along with Acosta's immediate reinstatement, CNN wants a declaration that Trump's action was "unconstitutional, in violation of the First Amendment and the Due Process Clause of the Fifth Amendment." This could protect other reporters against similar actions in the future.
-- Many media law experts believe CNN has a very strong case.
-- Some observers are predicting a swift resolution. But if there is no settlement, CNN is requesting a jury trial.
-- Here's my full FAQ story...
A view from the W.H.
Sarah Sanders, one of the six defendants, said in a statement that CNN is "grandstanding" by suing. She complained about Acosta's style and called him unprofessional. But that has nothing to do with the legal case. This is really about Acosta's First Amendment rights, the reasoning behind Trump's ban, and the admin's failure to follow the federal regulations that pertain to press passes. Maybe that's why the pro-Trump media voices who mocked the suit on Tuesday didn't make legal arguments, they made emotional appeals...
How the W.H. has changed its tune
WaPo's Aaron Blake has a strong piece about this here. Sanders is no longer claiming that Acosta placed his hands on an intern at last week's presser. Her Tuesday statement said he "physically refused to surrender" the mic. Of course, reporters frequently try to ask follow-up questions at press events...
The GOP's spin
David Shortell writes: Parroting CNN's motto, "facts first," GOP Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel called the suit a "political stunt" and claimed Acosta still has access to the W.H. "via a daily pass." But in fact, as CNN said in court documents, the W.H. denied Acosta's application for a day pass on November 8, the day after his hard pass was suspended. And during the president's trip in Paris over the weekend, the Secret Service continued to deny Acosta access to press events -- including a ceremony for which he had acquired separate credentials to cover from the French government, according to the suit...
"This is not a step we have taken lightly"
That's what CNN boss Jeff Zucker said in an internal memo to staff. "This is not a step we have taken lightly. But the White House action is unprecedented," he wrote. We published the full memo on CNN.com...
What happened behind the scenes
Before resorting to a lawsuit, CNN execs say they sought to resolve the dispute privately. Last Thursday, Zucker wrote to chief of staff John Kelly and requested Acosta's reinstatement. Zucker's message said that "no complaints were raised with CNN and there was no attempt to reach anyone at CNN before taking this unlawful action." Zucker also noted that the W.H. had not attempted to reach anyone at CNN before banning Acosta, and called the move part of a "pattern of targeted harassment" against the network, according to the lawsuit...
Several days went by. So "we really had no choice but to sue," outside counsel Boutrous said. "We didn't want to have to go to court. We wanted to just report the news. Mr. Acosta wants to report the news. CNN wants to report the news."
WaPo expresses support
Post publisher and CEO Fred Ryan said Tuesday night: "We support CNN in its effort to restore the press credentials of its White House reporter. It is a journalist's role to ask hard questions, hold the powerful to account and provide readers with as much information as possible."
Notes and quotes
-- David McCraw, the top newsroom lawyer at the NYT, told me that instances of news organizations suing a president are extremely rare...
-- The headline on Jason Schwartz's piece for Politico: "CNN seen as likely to prevail..."
-- Fox's Judge Andrew Napolitano: "I think CNN's got a very good case. I think this will be resolved quickly. I don't expect a jury trial. I think it will either be settled or CNN will prevail on motion..."
-- "Should the lawsuit proceed to discovery, CNN could find some rare opportunity," THR's Eriq Gardner notes...
-- The ACLU, in a statement supporting CNN, said "it is un-American and unlawful for the president to expel a reporter from the WH briefing room for doing his job. It shouldn't take a lawsuit from CNN to remind the president of the First Amendment..."
-- In an interview with Wolf Blitzer, Boutrous said the government officials are being sued in their "official capacity," but "there is a possibility of damages claims," which would mean suing them personally... Blitzer pointed out that the officials would have to "go out and hire their own attorneys..."
-- Jack Shafer says "the martyrdom of Jim Acosta provides an entertaining sideshow..."
No comment from Trump on Tuesday
There was not a tweet or a peep from Trump about the lawsuit. @realDonaldTrump was silent about it... even while he railed against the NYT.
But the lawsuit said a lot. It noted that Trump has threatened to ban other reporters. "The revocation of Acosta's credentials is only the beginning," the suit says... You can read it for yourself here...
The bottom line
The White House Correspondents' Association said Tuesday that the president "should not be in the business of arbitrarily picking the men and women who cover him."
That was true with the last president and that'll be true with the next president. Surely most Americans can agree with the wisdom of that statement... | |
FOR THE RECORD, PART ONE
-- Fun and revealing read: Steven Perlberg interviewing Noah Shachtman about the future of The Daily Beast... (Recode)
-- Forbes is out with its annual 30 Under 30 lists. The Media industry list is always worth reading. There's so much talent on the list this year... (Forbes)
-- Sad: "For the second straight year," Trump "will not be attending the Kennedy Center Honors celebrating cultural achievement..." (AP)
-- Smart: CNN's Abby Phillip gave an interview to ELLE about Trump's "stupid question" insult... (ELLE)
In other Trumpworld news...
West Wing rage
Remember all those stories about "talkative Trump," about his interviews and chats and media avails? I remember because I wrote one of 'em. The stories turned out to be true for about a week. Since the midterms, Trump has retreated, and now there are a spate of stories about his isolation and rage. The LA Times's Eli Stokols says Trump is "brooding over midterm losses and the Mueller probe."
WaPo's Josh Dawsey and Philip Rucker use the word "brooding" too... Other descriptors in this "five days of fury" story include angry, resentful, disconnected, and irritable...
East Wing intrigue
Most people had never even heard of Mira Ricardel until Tuesday afternoon, when Melania Trump said she should be relieved of her deputy national security adviser duties. The extraordinary statement from the first lady's office triggered hours of news coverage... And some confusing stories.
Just before 3:30, the WSJ reported that Ricardel had been "escorted from the White House moments ago." Corporate cousin Fox Business flashed the news, too. But other sources denied it. And the WSJ's Michael Bender had to follow up at 4:18 and say "Ricardel hasn't been escorted from the building." What happened? Well, he said "some White House officials are operating under the belief she has, but at this moment Ricardel is in the building — though multiple White House officials say they expect her firing to be imminent. Apologies for the error."
--> Here's CNN's latest about Ricardel heading for the exit...
--> The aforementioned Josh Dawsey tweeted: "Did anyone have the first lady issuing a public statement to oust a top national security official in the season two plot?"
--> Colbert says the "Be Best" initiative has been renamed "Be Fired..."
It's (still) Election Night in America
| | The CNN Election Center returned on Tuesday night -- for a three-hour prime time special tonight -- making the point that votes are still being counted and the midterms still are not over.
The takeaway from the special coverage: The Democrats "had a good night a week ago. They've had a great WEEK since then," Jake Tapper said.
John King, back at the Magic Wall, said "A lot of people out there who say 'is this a blue wave?' This IS a blue wave...
Fifty dead in the fires
The authorities keep finding more human remains at the site of the Camp Fire in northern California. Per CNN's Hollie Silverman, the death toll there now stands at 48. The death toll from the Woolsey Fire in southern CA remains at 2, for a total of 50...
FOR THE RECORD, PART TWO
-- Dylan Byers tweeted: "Comcast and NBCUniversal are making a $1 million donation to organizations supporting local relief efforts for the California fires, including The Entertainment Industry Foundation and the North Bay Fire Relief Fund..." (Twitter)
-- This story will haunt you: "Rumours of child abductors spread through WhatsApp in a small town in Mexico. The rumours were fake, but a mob burned two men to death before anyone checked..." (BBC)
-- The second installment of Dana Bash's digital series "Badass Women of Washington" has launched with a Nancy Pelosi interview... Wednesday's episode will feature Cathy McMorris Rodgers... (CNN)
Quartz announces its membership model
NYMag's paywall was announced on Monday... On Tuesday, it was Quartz's turn...
Quartz is introducing a new, free app that is sponsored by advertisers, and a membership "which costs $14.99 per month, or $99.99 for the first year as a special limited-time founding offer" with exclusive content, conference calls, and events. Here's the announcement...
Benton's followup
All this paywall action is why I led yesterday's newsletter with the "How much will you pay for?" question. Many of you replied and said you're willing -- even happy -- to pay for a few trusted sources. But there's a limit.
NiemanLab's Joshua Benton wrote all about this on Tuesday. "There's a segment of the population that can grudgingly be convinced to pay for a news site, out of some mix of consumer reward, civic duty, and peer pressure," he wrote. "But that second or third subscription requires a level of devotion that can be hard to sustain in a digital environment where the links come at you from every direction..."
Coming on Wednesday: The Correspondent in the US
De Correspondent is a groundbreaking, crowdfunded news site in the Netherlands. Now it is ready to launch in America.
The Correspondent's membership campaign will launch at midnight ET Wednesday. Co-founder and CEO Ernst Pfauth tells me "we want to raise $2.5 million from readers by December 14. If we make the goal, we launch in Spring 2019. If we don't make the goal, we'll refund the money."
Here's the fund-raising video featuring Nate Silver, Rosanne Cash and DeRay Mckesson...
Facebook's Instagram problem
Donie O'Sullivan emails: Despite an extensive effort from Facebook, on the eve of last week's midterm elections 600,000 Instagram users in the U.S. were following what is now suspected to be a network of Internet Research Agency (IRA) accounts -- that's the Kremlin-linked troll farm. Three key points:
-- If it is indeed the IRA, it's brazen – the agency was indicted by Mueller earlier this year.
-- Many of the accounts looked like those that were run in 2016, targeting Americans across the political spectrum. Facebook found the pages acting on a tip from the FBI.
-- Instagram is owned by Facebook but the photo app has rarely been a part of the disinformation conversation, until now. The company will need to figure out how these accounts went undetected. FB said Tuesday that its opponents are "smart, well-funded and have every incentive to continue their efforts…" What about the other tech giants?
Donie adds: At least Facebook is being open. Google/YouTube and Twitter haven't said if they have found any pages associated with this network, even though FB tells me they have shared details about the suspected Russian effort with their Silicon Valley counterparts.
Keep in mind: 600,000 is a lot of users, but it is also in the trolls' interests for the media to make this effort appear more successful than it might have been in reality. Here's a longer piece on that...
Is Mark Zuckerberg the Schroeder to the UK parliamentary committee's Lucy?
Hadas Gold emails: The UK's Digital Culture Media and Sport committee, the one investigating the dissemination of fake news and Cambridge Analytica, has repeatedly asked Facebook to send Mark Zuckerberg across the pond for a hearing. They even teamed up with their corresponding committees from Canada, Australia, Argentina and Ireland for an international joint hearing on disinformation and "fake news."
But once again, Facebook said thanks, but no thanks, writing in a letter to the committee that the Facebook chief is sending "his apologies."
The DCMS is not pleased, with chair Damian Collins saying the letter is "hugely disappointing" and that denying the invitation makes it look like "he's got something to hide." Collins: "We will not let the matter rest there, and are not reassured in anyway by the corporate puff piece that passes off as Facebook's letter back to us…"
| |
FOR THE RECORD, PART THREE
-- Nicholas Quah reports: "Pandora wants to map the 'podcast genome' so it can recommend your next favorite show." Yes please! (NiemanLab)
-- I missed this Gary Levin story yesterday: "How much have younger viewers bailed on traditional TV? New stats are alarming..." (USA Today)
-- Don't miss Amelia Lester's profile of Claire Lehmann and her online magazine Quillette, "the voice of the 'intellectual dark web...'" (Politico)
-- Dan Crenshaw is right about the "outrage culture" problem: "I get the feeling that regular, hard-working, generally unoffended Americans sigh with exhaustion — daily..." (WaPo)
"Today" beating "GMA" in total viewers
Since Megyn Kelly's exit from the 9 a.m. hour of "Today," "viewership in the key demographic favored by advertisers in that time period is up around 10%, according to Nielsen," Variety's Brian Steinberg reports. "And in each of the last three weeks, overall audience for the flagship first two hours of the NBC A.M. mainstay has been larger than that" for "GMA." Steinberg credits "some of the big breaking news stories that have recently gripped the nation..."
Michelle Obama on NBC and CBS
Robin Roberts had a special live interview with Michelle Obama in Chicago on Tuesday's "GMA." Afterward, Obama sat down with Gayle King for "CBS This Morning" and Jenna Bush Hager for "Today." Both those interviews will air on Wednesday morning...
RBG back at work
Megan Thomas emails: It made me smile to read that Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is back at work. I attended a screening for "On the Basis of Sex" on Tuesday... And like the documentary "RBG," the film is a beautiful look at Ginsburg's remarkable life...
"On the Basis of Sex" focuses on Ginsburg's time in law school and her first legal efforts to end gender discrimination. It's incredibly timely, inspiring and the early Oscar buzz for Felicity Jones, who portrays Ginsberg, is going to get thunderous when the movie debuts December 25...
-- BTW: Irin Carmon, co-author of "Notorious RBG," is officially CNN's newest contributor... She was on "New Day" Tuesday morning...
| | 'Game of Thrones' final season is coming in April
Read Sandra Gonzalez's full story about the announcement here...
Brian Lowry emails with his take: The April premiere date isn't really as significant, for HBO's purposes, as its end date, which is almost certainly the network's biggest "farewell" since "The Sopranos" went black in 2007. Not only is the pay service losing its signature series, but it's doing so under new management from AT&T/WarnerMedia, which should ratchet up the pressure for a very big summer next year, seeking to capitalize on the show's sendoff...
About Tuesday's "This Is Us..."
Mild spoiler alert!
Chloe Melas emails: I spoke with Mandy Moore about this week's "This Is Us," and she told me she sings a song written by her fiancé, Dawes front man Taylor Goldsmith. She also spoke about their wedding plans and shared some insight into what's to come this season...
'Walking Dead' ratings update
Brian Lowry emails: AMC has to be breathing a sigh of relief over Sunday's episode of "The Walking Dead," the first since Andrew Lincoln's exit, which essentially mirrored results from his swan-song the previous week. There are two more episodes before the show takes its annual midseason break...
Netflix cancels "The Good Cop"
Brian Lowry emails: In another sign that Netflix isn't wholly immune from the laws of television, "The Good Cop," a dramedy that starred Tony Danza, won't be back for a second season. THR has details here...
"Colbert Just Scored a Key Ratings Win Over Fallon"
That's the headline from Vulture's Joe Adalian. Stephen Colbert's "Late Show" "is now No. 1 this season among adult viewers under 50, the key demo group most attractive to advertisers," he reports. "While Colbert has dominated in overall audience for close to two years now, Fallon's Tonight Show has clung to an ever-shrinking lead in the demo. But per Nielsen data released Tuesday, Late Show is averaging 658,000 adult viewers under 50 in the TV season to date, just barely ahead of Tonight (656,000 or 657,000 viewers, depending on which network you ask)..."
Chloe interviews Celine Dion
Chloe Melas emails: In my exclusive sit-down with Celine Dion, we discuss her latest business venture, her new music, and life after the death of her husband. It will air on HLN's "Morning Express" at 8:45 and 9:45 a.m. Wednesday. It'll air on CNNI as well... I'll share the link tomorrow...
FOR THE RECORD, PART FIVE
By Lisa Respers France:
-- Drake inadvertently helped John Mayer to quit drinking...
-- Here's what we know about Chip and Joanna Gaines' return to television...
-- Alex Trebek has revealed the type of "Jeopardy!" contestants who irk him...
-- Dave Chappelle photobombed an Ohio couple's engagement shoot, and even he had to laugh... | |
Thanks for reading. Email me feedback anytime! See you tomorrow... | | | |
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