White House Correspondents Insider

Behind the scenes of one of the most powerful clubs in America.

CAROL MELTON, POWER WOMAN

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Carol Melton and Dana Bash. Photo courtesy Dana Bash.

A DC Cheer to Carol Melton, Time Warner’s Executive Vice President for Global Public Policy, for being named to Moves Magazine annual Power Women list.

Honored at a year-end celebration gala held in Manhattan on November 10th, Melton is one of 25 women chosen this year who represent Moves Magazine mission of advocating for women’s rights, social fairness and equal opportunity.

The gala was hosted by acclaimed actors, Gugu Mbatha-Raw and Isabelle Huppert, and the audience was treated to a live performance from international opera star James Valenti and Michelin star dining by chef Laurent Tourondel.

Melton was chosen for leading by example and being a role model for future generations. As EVP for TimeWarner she is responsible for overseeing the Company’s policy offices in Washington, D.C., London, Brussels, Hong Kong and Buenos Aires.

Melton serves on the Board of Trustees of JBG Smith Properties (NYSE: JBGS), the Board of Directors and First Vice President of the Economic Club of Washington, D.C., as well as the Boards of start-up incubator Halcyon and the Phillips Collection. She is also a member of the Council on Foreign Relations.

#movespowerwomen

Reince Priebus Joins Washington Speakers Bureau, Michael Best and Friedrich Law

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Chairman Reince Priebus speaking at the RNC at the DNC opening press conference. Photo courtesy Haddad Media.

Reince Priebus, former White House chief of staff and former chairman of the Republican National Committee, announced that he will both rejoin the Washington D.C. office of the Milwaukee-based law firm Michael Best & Friedrich, LLC and be represented by the Washington Speakers Bureau.

Priebus will serve as president and chief strategist at Michael Best, where he worked more than a dozen years before his election as head of the RNC.  He will also serve as chairman of the advisory board for Michael Best Strategies LLC, the firm’s government relations and public affairs group.

“We are pleased to announce that Reince Priebus is joining Michael Best & Friedrich LLP as President and Chief Strategist in the firm’s Washington, D.C. office. After serving the American people under the Trump Administration as Chief of Staff, Reince will bring his wealth of knowledge and unique understanding of federal, state, and local issues to advise and counsel the firm and its clients,” managing partner David Krutz announced via a statement on the firm’s website.

Additionally, Priebus will be represented by the Washington Speakers Bureau, giving speeches on Trump, Capitol Hill and politics in Washington.  He currently has events lined up in New York and London, as well as speaking at a dinner in South Korea last week.

“Reince has a truly 360° view of the current state of affairs in Washington. He offers insight into the inner workings of the Trump White House, forecasts the progress that is possible during the current Administration, and explains not only where the Republican Party has been but also where it’s going in the lead-up to the midterms,” said Washington Speakers Bureau vice president James Schiefer, Jr.

Priebus served as chairman of the Republican National Committee from 2011 through January 2017, when he began service as White House chief of staff under President Donald Trump until last July.

New Poll: Public Confidence in News Media Rises, Trust in Trump Falls

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Photo courtesy Pixabay.

According to data released by Reuters / Ipos, the public is placing more trust in the news media, while also increasingly distrusting the administration of President Donald Trump.

The poll found that 48 percent of adults say they have either a “great deal” or “some confidence” in the press, an 11-point increase since November 2016.  Additionally, 45 percent say they have “hardly any” confidence in the press, measurably down six percent from a similar study in January.

“What you’re seeing now is a gradual recognition of the importance of the press,” said Martha Kumar, a political scientist at Towson University and director of the White House Transition Project.

Simultaneously, public confidence in President Trump has been declining across partisan lines since taking over the White House this year.  Forty-eight percent of adults say they have a “great deal” or “some” confidence in the Trump administration, down from 52 percent in January.  Republicans’ trust in the president has decreased six percent since January, and three percent among Democrats.

The Reuters / Ipsos opinion poll surveyed 14,328 adults from August 24 through September 5th.  This survey is the third so far this year on confidence in major public institutions.

Protesters Blocked From Discussion on Free Speech Headlined by Attorney General at Georgetown

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Photo courtesy Wikipedia.

Attorney General Jeff Sessions visited the campus of Georgetown University Law Center in Washington on Tuesday to give a lecture on the First Amendment and freedom of speech.

However, over 100 students that had reportedly been invited to the event were barred and dis-invited due to the threat of protests against the Trump administration’s top justice official.

Greyson Wallis, a law student at Georgetown, told the Washington Post that:

“It seemed like they were rescinding those invites because they didn’t want any sort of hostile environment, and I can understand not wanting to have a violent environment, but that’s not at all what we were trying to do. We’re law students. We all just wanted to hear what he had to say and let him know where we differ from his opinions.”

As Sessions read remarks about plans to defend free speech, some students in attendance silently protested the event by placing duct tape over their mouths.  Roughly 100 other students and approximately 40 faculty members stood outside the building in protest, holding signs and chanting through bullhorns.  They also took a knee and later linked arms, in a symbolic reference to protests over the weekend by NFL players against accusations of police violence toward African Americans.

“A law school is a place for people to learn about the deepest principles that undergird our democratic republic. Those principles are trampled upon by Attorney General sessions in particular and Donald Trump,” Georgetown law professor Heidi Li Feldman said. “You cannot invite people who so thoroughly threaten the basic premises of American law to a campus and not speak up if your mission in life is to educate people about the American legal system.”

Tanya Weinberg, a spokesperson for the law school, replied to criticisms lobbed against the school saying “At events like today’s, we designate protest areas to allow free expression on campus in a manner that upholds safety and security and minimizes potential disruptions to learning. Additionally, students in the auditorium were allowed to protest in a way that did not disrupt the event.”

Washington Post Names Steven Ginsberg as New National Editor

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Steven Ginsberg has been named the new national editor at The Washington Post.

The Post welcomed Ginsberg into his new role by announcing that:

“For the past six years, Steven has brought a combination of zeal and Zen to the leadership of our national political report, inspiring reporters and editors to deliver fast-paced, creative and revelatory work.  A master of recruiting, retention and the morale-boosting chat, he has built the politics team into the powerhouse it has become, delivering peerless coverage of the 2016 race and the early months of the Trump presidency.”

He steps into the national editor role after former editor Scott Wilson left the position earlier this month.  He left “after disputes with his superiors over newsroom resources for his coverage areas,” sources said.

Ginsberg has worked at The Washington Post since 1994, when he joined the paper as a nightside copy aide.  He is a graduate of the University of Virginia.

White House Lawyer Overheard Discussing Russia Probe at Restaurant in DC

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Photo courtesy Wikipedia.

Ty Cobb, a top attorney on President Donald Trump’s legal defense team, was overheard by reporters at a prominent Washington, DC steakhouse discussing White House strategy dealing with special prosecutor Robert Mueller in his investigation into Russian influence.

Cobb was brought in to oversee the White House’s legal and media response into the Russia probe last July, and was talking openly at BLT Steak with Washington lawyer John Dowd, who has experience in high-profile political cases.  Cobb and Dowd were sitting next to New York Times reporter Ken Vogel, who could clearly hear the conversation.

“The friction escalated in recent days after Mr. Cobb was overheard by a reporter for The New York Times discussing the dispute during a lunchtime conversation at a popular Washington steakhouse. Mr. Cobb was heard talking about a White House lawyer he deemed ‘a McGahn spy’ and saying Mr. McGahn had ‘a couple documents locked in a safe’ that he seemed to suggest he wanted access to,” reported the New York Times.

White House chief of staff John F. Kelly “erupted” and reprimanded Cobb for his indiscretion of discussing sensitive matters loudly in public, according to several people contacted by the New York Times following the incident.

“If you’re sitting, talking with someone at dinner, you need to be careful,” said Rep. Chris Collins, when asked on CNN about public officials audibly discussing official business in a public venue.

Valerie Jarrett Announces Launch of the Galvanize Program

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Valerie Jarrett shows her support for SAP NS2 Serves, a veteran’s education and training program. Photo courtesy Haddad Media.

Following the first-ever United State of Women Summit sponsored by President Obama’s White House Council on Women and Girls, former senior presidential advisor Valerie Jarrett announced the launch of the Galvanize Program to bring conversations to communities across the country.

“[T]oday The United State of Women is launching the Galvanize Program to build on the momentum of the Summit and bring the conversation to communities across the country,” Jarrett said in a statement. “Galvanize will host mini-United State of Women Summits in six cities over the next year, bringing people together to discuss the challenges that women face and empower participants to become the next generation of local and national leaders. These summits will provide women with the tools and training they need to organize, to advocate for policy solutions, to run for office or to become an entrepreneur.”

The Galvanize Program will start with seminars in Chicago, Columbus and Atlanta, and will include workshops on critical local and national issues, skills training and an engagement fair. Attendees choose their track based on interests to receive in-depth and skills-based training developed by partner organizations.

With the launch of the Galvanize Program, Jarrett and the United State of Women are pledging to work across America to support women, defend progress and make lasting change toward gender equality.

Russian State-Owned Sputnik Denied Congressional Press Credentials

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Photo courtesy of Pixabay / Geralt.

For the second time in a month, online news outlets have been rejected in attempts to obtain press credentials in the U.S. Congress.

The Russian state-owned news website Sputnik has been denied a permanent congressional press pass, based off a decision by the Congressional Periodical Press Gallery committee.

Gallery rules state that members cannot “act as an agent for, or be employed by the Federal, or any State, local or foreign government or representatives thereof.”  Senate Periodical Press Gallery Director Justin Wilson stated that no member of the gallery is a state-sponsored news outlet.

Andrew Feinberg, the Washington correspondent for Sputnik and former staff member for The Hill, declined official comment on the committee decision.  He posted on his personal Facebook page that the decision “is the most absurd thing I’ve ever encountered in a decade of work as a Washington-based journalist.”

Launched in 2014, Sputnik was founded with the mission of promoting “alternative interpretations that are, undoubtedly, in demand around the world,” according to the website head, Dimitry Kiselyov.  The site was formed by combining wire services Voice of Russia and RIA Novosti.

Also on Friday, the website LifeZette, founded by Laura Ingraham, was approved for a press pass.

Newseum Hosts Trump Press Sec Sean Spicer and Kellyanne Conway for Press Summit, Discusses First Amendment, Democracy, and Media

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Photo courtesy Haddad Media.

On Tuesday, the Newseum was ground zero for a discussion on the the First Amendment, democracy, the Trump White House, and the press, from the people who are in the spotlight everyday. Panelists included current and former White House Press Secretaries led by Sean Spicer, Jen Palmieri, and Ari Fleischer, Counselor to the President Kellyanne Conway, Pulitzer Prize winning journalist David Fahrenthold, and writers Glenn Thrush, Mike Allen, Michael Wolff, Charlie Spiering, David Kirkpatrick, and commentators like the legendary Bob Schieffer, Brian Stelter, Bret Baier, Greta Van Susteren, Kristen Welker, Julie Pace, Carrie Budoff Brown, and Cecilia Vega.

Press Secretary Sean Spicer made headlines by continuing his apology tour for comments he made in a press briefing Monday concerning the atrocities committed by Hitler and Assad saying, “I have let the president down,” and calling his comments “inexcusable.”

Photo courtesy Haddad Media.

Presidential Counselor Kellyanne Conway, in conversation with author Michael Wolff, graded the presidency so-far and gave it an “I” for incomplete, saying it was “Too early to tell,” what would happen.

Photo courtesy Haddad Media

The New York Times’ Glenn Thrush, in a panel moderated by FOX’s Bret Baier, said, “The presidency shapes the president, not the other way around.” Breitbart’s Charlie Spiering said of senior advisor to Present Trump Steve Bannon that “[He] probably talks more to the New York Times these days than Breitbart.”

Schedule of the day’s events:

WELCOME

Jeffrey Herbst, President and CEO of the Newseum

SESSION 1: THE PRESS AS A WATCHDOG

Guest: David Fahrenthold, The Washington Post

SESSION 2: COMMUNICATING FOR THE PRESIDENT

Moderator: Mike Allen, Co-Founder and Executive Editor, Axios

Guests:

Ari Fleischer, Former White House Press Secretary for President George W. Bush

Jennifer Palmieri, Former White House Communications Director for President Barack Obama

SESSION 3: CONVERSATION WITH WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY SEAN SPICER

Moderator: Greta Van Susteren, MSNBC Anchor

Guest: Sean Spicer, White House Press Secretary

SESSION 4: COVERING THE TRUMP WHITE HOUSE

Moderator: Bret Baier, Fox News Anchor

Guests:

Jim Acosta, White House Correspondent, CNN

Julie Pace, White House Correspondent, Associated Press; board member, White House Correspondents Association

Charlie Spiering, White House Correspondent, Breitbart News

Glenn Thrush, White House Correspondent, The New York Times

Kristen Welker, White House Correspondent, NBC News

SESSION 5: CONVERSATION WITH KELLYANNE CONWAY, COUNSELOR TO THE PRESIDENT

Moderator: Michael Wolff, The Hollywood Reporter

Guest: Kellyanne Conway, Counselor to the President

SESSION 6: FUTURE OF NEWS IN A DIVIDED AND CONNECTED WORLD

Moderator: Brian Stelter, CNN

Guests:

Carrie Budoff Brown, Editor, Politico

David Kirkpatrick, journalist and author of “The Facebook Effect: The Inside Story of the Company That Is Connecting the World”

Cecilia Vega, White House Correspondent, ABC News

SESSION 7: A LOOK TO THE FUTURE

Guest: Bob Schieffer, former CBS News Anchor

Breitbart Application for Permanent Congressional Press Passes Rejected

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Photo courtesy Pixabay.

Breitbart News, the right-wing online news site formerly run by White House Chief Strategist Stephen Bannon, has been denied permanent press credentials by the U.S. Senate press gallery.

The press gallery has requested Breitbart to clarify questions about its ownership and funding, such as several links between the site and employees and the wealthy Mercer family, who supported President Trump during the 2016 election.  According to the Wall Street Journal, the Mercers spent $10 million in acquiring a majority interest in Breitbart News in 2011.

Senate passes are often seen as a step toward membership in the White House Correspondents Association, which would allow being part of the official White House “pool” of journalists that file reports on the president and administration activities.

Any media outlet wishing to obtain permanent access to the Capitol through press passes are required to reveal certain financial information to guarantee the news organization is not tied to a special interest group.

Additionally, the Senate press gallery committee was concerned over the office location of Breitbart, which is not zoned for office use.  Breitbart had said it was in the process of moving offices.

The committee has granted a two-month extension on Breitbart’s temporary press passes, and requested new information on the application by April 18.