In apparent fit over new legal woes, President Trump cancels annual White House holiday party for the press.
It made a big, big stir yesterday when the Manhattan US Attorney’s announced yesterday that the parent company of The National Enquirer, AMI, had entered a non-prosecution agreement with prosecutors. AMI agreed that the Daniels and McDougal payments were meant to protect Trump’s campaign. I’m less impressed than others that this dramatically raises the legal stakes for Trump: AMI and Cohen vs Trump rather than Cohen vs Trump. This will never be a conventional trial, whether it’s in a courtroom or in the court of public opinion. More interesting to me is what else AMI revealed. Read More
I’m glad this is finally getting some attention and sorry I hadn’t gotten on it earlier. The AP ran a piece yesterday about how Jared and Ivanka stand to profit from a wildly sleazy developer tax credit they pushed in the big tax cut bill last year. They’re called Qualified Opportunity Zones. And they create huge – and I mean huge – potential tax shelters for extremely wealthy people, especially those who play in the real estate game. Read More
We went all in yesterday on that wild Oval Office meeting with Trump, Pelosi, Schumer and a wax figure version of Vice President Pence installed in the background. Here are the top video moments in case you missed it yesterday. But TPM Reader MRK flagged something I’d missed in all the antic energy of the moment. I don’t get the sense many others caught it either. Trump always shares everything going through his head out loud and in real time. And just before letting the Pelosi/Schumer tag team bait him into saying he was eager to shut down the government and make it his personal shutdown he said out loud what his original plan has been before Pelosi got in his face and slapped him around.
I’ll let MRK explain.
My heart was racing as I watched this insane interaction in the Oval Office today. If the stakes weren’t so high, it might have been enjoyable, although as things stand, I just feel nervous about what’s going to happen once Trump feels completely cornered.
TPMers Allegra Kirkland and Josh Kovensky are in the courtroom in downtown Manhattan as we await word of Michael Cohen’s fate – which seems likely to be multiple years in prison. Here’s a primer on what’s coming.
When it comes to scandals, 2018 was a doozy. Between the expansive Russia probe, the near-constant cabinet secretary snafus, and a wild midterm election, it’s hard to keep track of all the muck.
And so, as we do every year, we’ve rounded up some of the best instances of corruption, stupidity and craziness for the 12th Annual Golden Duke Awards!
In case you missed it yesterday, I want you to see this deep dive on Ted Malloch, a guy who’s been hovering around the Russia scandal for more than a year and looks like he was probably a key link in the chain of communication between Wikileaks and the Trump campaign. If you’re a Prime member, here’s a companion piece on how his career has been sustained by the general non-enforcement of so many white collar crime laws.
As we get past the midterm election and into the thick of the accelerating Mueller probe, I wanted to remind you: If you’re a dieheard TPM Reader and interested in a new way to support and be a part of TPM beyond the cost of a Prime membership, please consider joining TPM Inside. You can find out the details here. If you sign up for an annual membership before December 21st you become a Launch Member and have your subscription extended through the end of January 2020. Click here for the details and here to sign up.
We’ve just finished a wild press availability with President Trump, Vice President Pence and Democratic leaders Pelosi and Schumer. This was clearly not something Trump was prepared for, as predictable as it was. There are a few takeaways. One is Schumer at the very end baiting Trump into defiantly insisting he’ll be “proud” to shut down the government. (“I am proud to shut down the government for border security, Chuck.”) Another is Pelosi, steel without bluster, formidable in any circumstance but particularly for Trump who couldn’t seem to find either weakness or escalation. He would switch over to Schumer for a break. My tweeted blurbs for some of the clips are a bit flippant. But each captures a revealing moment in the increasingly combustible exchange. Clips after the jump. Read More
This following is from an SEC filing released today by Verizon regarding it’s “Oath” media business. That’s the unit which owns the assets of Yahoo, AOL and Huffington Post …
Verizon’s Media business, branded Oath, has experienced increased competitive and market pressures throughout 2018 that have resulted in lower than expected revenues and earnings. These pressures are expected to continue and have resulted in a loss of market positioning to our competitors in the digital advertising business. Oath has also achieved lower than expected benefits from the integration of the Yahoo Inc. and AOL Inc. businesses. Effective August 1, 2018, Hans Vestberg became Chief Executive Officer of Verizon, and effective October 1, 2018, K. Guru Gowrappan was appointed Chief Executive Officer of the Media business.