White House Correspondents Insider

Behind the scenes of the most powerful city in the world — Washington, D.C. — and those who cover it.

“The Daily Show’s Donald J. Trump Presidential Twitter Library” to Open This Friday

By

Photo courtesy of Wikipedia.

Comedy Central’s The Daily Show has announced the grand opening of the Donald J. Trump Presidential Twitter Library with a grand opening this Friday in New York City.  The library will remain open to the public through the weekend.

Announced by host Trevor Noah in March, the library “will feature visual installations and a fully interactive experience for hands of all sizes, giving patrons the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to memorialize and celebrate the many “unprecedented” moments of President Trump’s Twitter history.”

Exhibits will include “Trump vs. Trump,” designed to “document President Trump’s unique ability to hold a variety of different opinions on the same subject.”  A video retrospective titled “Sad!” will “solemnly display a collection of people, places and things that the President has deemed ‘SAD!’”

According to The Daily Show,

“The library will be so tremendous that the public is going to get tired of the tremendousness.”

The library will be located within a two-minute walk of Trump Tower in New York City on West 57th Street.  It will be free and open to the public from 11AM to 7PM Friday, June 16 through Sunday, June 18.

Trump Again Characterizes Mainstream Media as “Fake News” on Twitter

By

Photo courtesy of Wikipedia.

President Donald Trump reiterated one of his usual phrases on Twitter Tuesday morning, blasting the press again as “fake news” after articles were published critical of the administration.

“The Fake News Media has never been so wrong or so dirty. Purposely incorrect stories and phony sources to meet their agenda of hate. Sad!”

The president regularly refers to the media as “fake news” and accuses journalists of printing fabrications and promoting an agenda when stories negative of the administration are published.

This latest tweet was posted the morning before Attorney General Jeff Sessions is scheduled to testify before the Senate Intelligence Committee. It has been suggested the Attorney General mislead or incorrectly testified before the Senate that he only met with Russian officials twice during the presidential campaign, where stories have inquired as to whether a third meeting at the Mayflower Hotel in Washington, D.C. took place in April 2016.

Trump also tweeted this week about the DOW and NASDAQ, stating the “#FakeNews [mainstream media] doesn’t report the great economic news since Election Day.”

According to TrumpTwitterArchive.com, President Trump has branded the mainstream media as “fake news” on Twitter at least 52 times on his personal account so far this year.

Media Likely to be Excluded During Trump-Putin Meeting

By

Photo courtesy Gage Skidmore via Wikimedia Commons

President Donald Trump is likely to sit down with Russian President Vladimir Putin during the G20 summit in Germany this upcoming July, although no firm plans have been made so far according to a Kremlin spokesperson.

But according to Russian newspaper Izvestia, if that were to occur, the media would likely be excluded. There would likely be no photo opportunity, no press briefing, and no joint statement issued after the meeting.

“There will just be the meeting,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov was quoted in the newspaper.

Trump and Putin agreed during a phone call in May to try to meet face-to-face around the dates of the G20 summit in Hamburg.

CNN Fires Kathy Griffin

By

Photo courtesy Josh Hallett.

CNN has fired Kathy Griffin as co-host for the network’s annual  New Year’s Eve special after the comedian appeared in a video Tuesday holding a prop designed to look like the bloody severed “head” of President Donald Trump.

Griffin quickly apologized for the stunt, amidst backlash from both conservative and liberal politicians as well as countless others.

CNN posted on its Twitter account that: “CNN has terminated our agreement with Kathy Griffin to appear on our New Year’s Eve program.”

White House Communications Director Mike Dubke Resigns

By

Photo courtesy Pixabay.

After only three months on the job, White House communications director Mike Dubke has resigned. Dubke tendered his resignation on May 18, but the news has only become public, according to stories first published in Axios and the Washington Post.

According to reports, Dubke tendered his resignation on May 18, but offered to stay with the administration throughout President Trump’s first international trip.

As communications director, his primary focus was helping restructure the press operations of the White House, and is leaving on good terms, according to a senior administration official.

Dubke’s last day has yet to be set. It is assumed his job will remain open in the short term.

White House Deliberately Sending Fake News “Leaks” to Journalists

By

The White House has been providing intentionally false information and “fake news” to The New York Times, according to White House correspondent Maggie Haberman.

On Twitter, conservative radio talk show host Bill Mitchell posted: “You know what we should do? Start flooding the NYTimes and WAPO tip lines with all kinds of crazy “leaks.”  Then laugh when they print them!”

However, New York Times White House correspondent Maggie Haberman responded that this was already the case, replying “The Trump administration has tried this a few times, sir.  We actually vet these things.”

In a recent interview with the Washington Post, Kyle Pope, editor in chief and publisher of the Columbia Journalism Review discusses the greatest threats to a free press today.

“I think the bigger risk right now is of somebody getting duped — intentional misdirection or fabricated leaks. In this climate, that is more what I would be worried about.”

President Trump has frequently criticized the mainstream media, and particularly The New York Times, saying recently in an interview with a conservative blog that the Times’ “intent is so evil and so bad” that “they write lies.”

Comey Memo: Trump Asked FBI Director to “Lock Up” Reporters

By

Photo courtesy Rich Girard via Flickr.

Late Tuesday, the New York Times reported a bombshell that former FBI Director James Comey had authored at least one memo documenting one-on-one discussions he had with President Donald Trump. Most devastating in the reported memo is that the president asked Comey to halt FBI investigations into former National Security Advisor Michael Flynn.

However, other dark hints at the president’s war with the press were also reported in Comey’s memo, including Trump asking the head of the FBI to “consider putting reporters in prison.”

According to the memo, Comey met privately with President Trump following a meeting in the White House with other administration officials such as Vice President Mike Pence and Attorney General Jeff Sessions. The president began the discussion with Comey by condemning “leaks” to the media, and asked the head of the FBI to consider putting journalists in prison for publishing classified information.

No American journalist has been prosecuted for publishing government secrets. But President Trump notably said in April that “it’s OK with me” if the Justice Department brought charges against WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange.

During a House Intelligence Committee hearing in March this year, Comey testified on the topic of jailing journalists.

“That’s a harder question, as to whether a reporter incurs criminal liability by disclosing classified information,” he replied to an inquiry whether there was a law protecting journalists from prosecution.

Comey authored the memo immediately after meeting with the president as a paper trail documenting his perceived improper efforts by the president to influence an ongoing investigation.

Courts routinely consider FBI agents’ notes as credible evidence regarding the contents of conversations.

The White House has so far been silent on the reports regarding the contents of former director Comey’s memo. White House press secretary Sean Spicer did not take questions from journalists travelling on Air Force One Wednesday morning. President Trump also did not speak with reporters aboard the aircraft. Trump’s twitter feed was also uncharacteristically silent Wednesday morning.

Trump Contradicts White House Press Team, Threatens to End All White House Press Briefings, Hints Recordings May Exist

By

Photo courtesy of Wikipedia.

In a week dominated by the news of President Trump firing former FBI director James Comey late Tuesday, the narrative from the White House and its supporters has been inconsistent and unclear, ranging from contradictory and misleading to adversarial.

Since Comey’s dismissal, the explanation and reasoning from White House press staff has been constantly evolving. Deputy press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said during Wednesday’s press briefing that the president fired the former FBI director after receiving such recommendation from the Department of Justice. This argument has also been aggressively stated by others in the White House, including Vice President Mike Pence and special advisor Kellyanne Conway.

President Trump contradicted his press team Thursday night during an interview with NBC’s Lester Holt.

“I was going to fire Comey – my decision,” Trump said. “There is no good time to it, by the way. I was going to fire regardless of recommendation.”

Facing backlash on Thursday, Sanders stated she had answered questions based on facts as she had understood it at the time.

“I didn’t ask that question directly, ‘had you already made that decision.’ I went off of the information that I had when I answered your question,” Sanders stated during Thursday’s press briefing.

In response to the confusion and contradictory statements coming from White House staff and supporters, President Trump has suggested he may end all press briefings.

In addition, the president hinted that there possibly could be recordings of conversations he held with Comey in the White House.

The White House press office has not yet commented on the existence of recordings between the two individuals.

Trump Bans U.S. Media at White House Meeting with Russian Officials

By

Photo courtesy Pixabay.

President Trump met with Russian foreign officials in the Oval Office on Wednesday. The event was listed on the official schedule as “closed press,” meaning no journalists would be allowed in the room.

Soon after the meeting began, several photographs of the president, Russian foreign minister Sergey V. Lavrov and Russian ambassador Sergey I. Kislyak, emerged via TASS, Russia’s official news agency. The Russian foreign ministry also posted photos of the meeting on Twitter.

“We were not informed by the Russians that their official photographer was dual-hatted and would be releasing the photographs on the state news agency,” a White House official told the Washington Post.

U.S. media struggled with how to use the Russian-sponsored photographs and coverage of the event. Fox News chose not to air them, with anchor Jenna Lee stating on-air that “we are choosing not to show them because as part of the press here in the United States, we think it’s important that the press have access to official photos from the White House.”

The meeting itself was held at the request of Russian President Vladimir Putin. “[Trump] chose to receive him because Putin asked him to,” an anonymous White House source told POLITICO. “Putin did specifically ask on the call when they last talked.”

The White House Correspondents’ Association criticized President Obama in 2013 for holding closed press meetings only covered by official government photographers, stating the practice amounted to creating “the White House’s own Soviet-style news service.”

President Trump Says He Would Attend 2018 White House Correspondents’ Dinner

By

Photo courtesy Gage Skidmore.

The president announced in February that he would not attend this year’s White House Correspondents’ Dinner, scheduled to take place this Saturday, April 29.  But in a recent interview with Reuters, President Donald Trump suggested he may participate in future dinners.

“I would come next year, absolutely,” Trump replied when asked if he would attend future White House Correspondents’ Dinners.

This year marks the first time a sitting president was not at the annual White House Correspondents’ Dinner since Ronald Reagan was recovering from an assassination attempt in 1981.  Jimmy Carter was the last president to turn down an invitation to the 1978 Dinner.

Instead of attending the dinner, President Trump is schedule to speak to a political rally in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.

Jeff Mason, White House Correspondent for Reuters and president of the WHCA, has said the president’s absence is not all negative.  He said it would be “a great opportunity to make clear that this dinner is about celebrating the press, not the presidency.”