Over the last week I’ve seen a handful of those ‘predictions for 2019’ articles by people who write about journalism and the journalism business. So I thought I’d add my own take, with a special emphasis on our own plans for 2019 and how the two things relate to each other. Read More
TPM Reader PB has this idea about what is behind Rudy Giuliani’s big revelation yesterday about the Trump Tower Moscow deal that apparently remained live through the 2016 election.
The last time Giuliani admitted a fact that was not publicly known, it was to get ahead of the Stormy Daniels story before it was disclosed in a likely indictment of Cohen. It seems safe to assume that he is revealing the fact that Trump was negotiating the Trump Tower Moscow deal/bribe in the closing days of the election for the same reason.
Rudy Giuliani says collusion is not a crime and in any case the collusion ended before the election.
Rudes: "Collusion is not a crime. It was over with before the election." pic.twitter.com/YHAj8SyZK1
— Josh Marshall (@joshtpm) December 16, 2018
We set a super ambitious goal this year that is critical to our organization’s future. We wanted to get to 30,000 Prime subscribers by the close of 2018. And we are really, really close. We’re currently at 29,351. So we are 649 subscribers short of that number with about half of December to go. I know from a lot of conversations – one as recently as yesterday – that there are still a lot of devoted readers who just haven’t gotten around to joining us. So if that’s you, this one is for you. It’s super easy to join and it’s just $4.99 a month, barely more than a fancy cup of coffee at the local cafe. Take a moment and take the plunge. Building what we’re building is super important. So like literally stop for a just a moment, break the slipstream of your daily routine … grab your wallet, get out the card and sign up.
I didn’t want to write about The Weekly Standard’s closing until it was official. I was hoping that an angel would descend from the heavens, but it seems that the magazine’s owner, who was eager for the subscriber list for a magazine version of the Washington Examiner, did not want to sell. You ask: Why should I – whose disagreements with the Standard’s editorial stances would fill a short book – care? It has to do with the valuable role that opinion magazines like The Weekly Standard have played in American politics.
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Tierney Sneed spent the morning at the D.C. federal courthouse looking into a sealed case that many reporters covering the Russia probe believe is related to Mueller’s work. She writes about her sleuthing for Prime members.
Yesterday’s news is a good reminder of a fundamental point drawing together all unfolding scandals: The Trump campaign, like its parent organization the Trump Organization, was fabulously corrupt. That limitless, flagrant and ravenous corruption made it ripe for compromise, subversion and control by foreign actors.
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