White House Correspondents Insider

Morning Consult has released a new poll in partnership with Bloomberg as part of the Global Business Forum, Wednesday, September 26th highlighting business leaders’ belief in the economic benefits of globalization and the fear that the global economy has gotten off on the wrong track.

Bloomberg’s Global Business Forum gathers heads of states and CEOs to pursue common interests and economic prosperity. The poll, released on Tuesday, September 25th finds that while most Americans agree on cooperation, there is a divide in other areas. 44% of Americans said that the US should act as a convener for the world’s problems while 38% said the US needs to put its own interests first. 36% also believe that free trade has helped other countries other than the US.

The Bloomberg Global Business Forum kicks off with a keynote address by UK Prime Minister Theresa May. May will also participate in an interview with IBM CEO Ginni Rometty on free trade as a driver of growth throughout the world.

At the #BloombergGBF on Wednesday, more than 70 heads of state and delegation will join over 200 CEOs from around the world to discuss common goals and foster economic prosperity for future generations. https://t.co/5i7mcMjVJB pic.twitter.com/ZsAymDjCec

— Mike Bloomberg (@MikeBloomberg) September 24, 2018

Highlights from the Wednesday schedule include Mexican President Peña Nieto, Swiss President Alain Berset, SAP CEO Bill McDermott discussing that ways in which large demographic changes will impact the global economy and trade around the world.

President Bill Clinton will be moderating a discussion between world leaders including Colombian President Iván Duque Márquez, Norwegian Prime Minister Erna Solberg, and South African President Cyril Ramaphosa on global leadership in trade. Bloomberg founder Michael Bloomberg will be giving opening and closing remarks.

Wednesday will also feature the One Planet Summit, French President Emmanuel Macron’s initiative in partnership with UN Secretary-General António Guterres and World Bank President Jim Yong Kim. The Summit was launched to help aid countries in fulfilling their part of the Paris climate agreement and bring coalition countries together with private industry to forge public-private collaboration.

Many world leaders will be participating in Wednesday’s events including Spanish President Pedro Sánchez Pérez-Castejón, Malaysian Prime Minister Dr. Mahathir Mohamad, Netherlands Prime Minister Mark Rutte, and New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern.

Other notables participating on Wednesday include European Commissioner for Competition Margrethe Vestager, Managing Director of the IMF Christine Lagarde, Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi, BlackRock CEO Larry Fink, Ford CEO James Hackett, Anne Finucane, Vice Chairman of Bank Of America and Goldman Sachs President David Solomon.

Lafayette 148 New York hosted their fall fashion show on Thursday, September 20th in partnership with Bring Change to Mind, the nonprofit organization that seeks to raise awareness and understanding about mental health issues, with Bring Change to Mind’s Executive Director Pamela Harrington.

Bring Change to Mind was founded by actress Glenn Close after her sister Jessie Close was diagnosed with bipolar disorder.

Notable guests at the show included Dylan Dryer of The Today Show, Political Consultant Heba Abedin, actress Paula Garces & daughter Skye Mahoney, Event Co-Chairs Nicole and Harris Schwartzberg, Chuck Thomas, and Michaela Babuskova of FIGTNY. You can check out looks from the show below.

April Ryan stopped by her favorite design house Lafayette 148 New York’s Soho store on Saturday, September 13th for a launch event for her new book, Under Fire: Reporting from the Front Lines of the Trump White House.

CNN’s Brooke Baldwin was on hand to interview Ryan about the book and her experiences in the White House briefing room. Ryan has been called the most fearless White House correspondent in the Trump era, and she looked the part in a Lafayette 148 New York agave leopard silk dress.

Notables in attendance included Broadway’s James Monroe Iglehart, Gavin Gregory, Carla Stewart, and Lafayette’s Chief Creative Officer Barbara Gast.

In a surprise move, President Donald Trump has withdrawn his request to declassify information related to the ongoing Russia probe. A statement released by the White House suggested that Trump was planning to order the Department of Justice to declassify parts of the secret court order and to publish the unredacted texts of FBI and Justice Department officials, including Andrew McCabe and James B. Comey.

The Washington Post’s national security reporter Devlin Barrett writes that the order by Trump to keep the information classified illustrates “ongoing tensions between the White House and the Justice Department over the probe.” For months, conservative officials have been requesting the release of the documents on the Russia probe investigation, as it seems as though they have been hiding information that, according to Barrett, “might discredit the Mueller investigation.”

Multiple tweets by Trump Friday morning attempted to explain how, even though he has been told by key allies not to release the documents as they claim it will not reflect positively on the Russia probe, Trump can still “always declassify if it proves necessary.”

Senator Mark Warner responded to the President’s tweets saying, “This underscores why the President should be relying on the expertise and advice of intelligence and law enforcement professionals, not cable news hosts.”

You can read Barrett’s full report here.

Eleanor McManus, a former senior producer for CNN and the co-founder of Press Forward, a movement seeking to change newsroom culture by speaking up for women, in a show of solidarity with Christine Blasey Ford, the woman accusing Supreme Court Nominee Brett Kavanaugh of sexual assault while the two were in their late teens, has penned an op-ed on CNN.com urging readers to “recognize the cost women pay when they come forward”.

McManus relates the pain caused to many women who come forward to expose powerful men- the risk of retribution, backlash, and shame saying, “Reliving a traumatic event is hard and painful. Being disbelieved, disregarded, or retaliated against is hard and painful — especially if the women have partners and young children.”

You can read McManus’ full op-ed here.

Urban Radio Network’s April Ryan, a veteran White House correspondent, has released a new book, Under Fire: Reporting from the Front Lines of the Trump White House, giving readers an inside look at the trials and tribulations of reporting on the Trump White House. Ryan has been in the news recently with stories about her accusing the White House of attacking her due to her race, and since her profile has risen as the thorniest White House correspondent in the Trump White House briefing room, she has added a security team and travels with bodyguards.

In a new interview with NPR’s All Things Considered, Ryan discusses why this administration is different from any she has previously covered. She has been a White House Correspondent since the Clinton Administration. According to Ryan, there’s one question that she felt compelled to ask. “I have asked each administration the same questions except for one: ‘Mr. President, are you a racist?’” President Trump did not respond, he instead continued to shake hands with the guests.

Ryan details her contentious public relationship with Trump Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders. “She doesn’t even want to give me eye contact, but she can’t. I am in her line of sight, third row, smack dab in the middle. I don’t communicate with them anymore beyond the briefing room. I don’t go upstairs to see them — I haven’t for a long time.”

You can read April Ryan’s full interview here.

In the wake of Les Moonves departure, CBS has installed six new directors it hopes will help run a tighter ship at the network in the years to come.

The six board members entering CBS are Candace Beinecke, a partner at the law firm of Hughes Hubbard & Reed, Barbara Byrne, former vice chairman of Barclays and Council on Foreign Relations member, Brian Goldner, CEO of Hasbro, Richard D. Parsons, former Citigroup chairman & former Time Warner CEO, Susan Schuman, CEO of SYPartners, and Strauss Zelnick, the founder of the video game publisher Take-Two Interactive Software.

The board members leaving CBS to make room for the departures are Arnold Kopelson, Leonard Goldberg, Charles Gifford, David Andelman, and Doug Morris.

Women’s advocacy group UltraViolet, which previously called for the board to fire Les Moonves, said in a statement, “This is proof that the era where powerful men abused and harassed women without consequence is starting to come to an end, and a testament to the enduring strength and power of the #MeToo movement.”

You can read more on the CBS Board of Directors shakeup here.

American University has named Emmy Award-winning former “Meet the Press” executive producer Betsy Fischer Martin to the School of Public Affairs’ Women & Politics as their new executive director.

Vicky Wilkins, the dean of AU’s School of Public Affairs, said in a statement, “We were looking for an entrepreneurial leader who is passionate about the empowerment and representation of women, and Betsy combines all of those attributes. We are thrilled to have her back in the SPA community in this important leadership role.

Fischer Martin said of the appointment, “I can’t think of a more exciting time to be at the epicenter of a university that recognizes the importance of women’s political leadership and is dedicated to furthering academic research and empowering students and young women to engage in the political system. The fact that American University played such a significant role in shaping my career in political journalism makes returning to lead WPI all the more meaningful to me.”

American University’s Women & Politics Institute offers graduate and undergraduate certificates and provides training programs for female students who want to get involved in politics.

Martin is one of the longest serving Executive Producer of Meet The Press. She began at NBC as an intern while attending American University and was there for 11 years, working with Tim Russert during his legendary run as host. Martin also co-hosted the Bloomberg Politics podcast, “Masters in Politics” during the 2016 election.

NBC Chairman Andy Lack has pushed back on claims that NBC executives tried to torpedo Ronan Farrow’s reporting on the Harvey Weinstein abuse allegations in a letter to employees on Monday, September 3rd.

In the letter, which addresses claims made by Farrow’s former producer Rich McHugh, Lack states that, “We spent eight months pursuing the story but at the end of that time, NBC News — like many others before us — still did not have a single victim or witness willing to go on the record. (Rose McGowan — the only woman Farrow interviewed who was willing to be identified — had refused to name Weinstein and then her lawyer sent a cease-and-desist letter.) So we had nothing yet fit to broadcast. But Farrow did not agree with that standard. That’s where we parted ways — agreeing to his request to take his reporting to a print outlet that he said was ready to move forward immediately.”

Lack continues, “We regret the deterioration of NBC’s relationship with Ronan, and genuinely wish we had found a path to move forward together. That is why, in August of 2017, when Farrow objected to his editors’ conclusion we convened an independent group of the most experienced investigative journalists in our organization to review his material with fresh eyes. We asked them — tell us what, if anything, we can broadcast. But their conclusion was unequivocal — this story is not ready for air. (Further, they found several elements in Farrow’s draft script which did not hold up to scrutiny — described in the accompanying document.) It was Farrow’s decision, in the midst of this process, to pursue the story elsewhere.”

McHugh responded to Lack’s statement in a tweet suggesting that Lack’s statement “only raises more questions than answers”.

NBC recently published a memo and “fact sheet” from Andy Lack regarding their handling of the Harvey Weinstein sexual assault story that was never aired.  Here is my response: pic.twitter.com/H9RbsW78jB

— Rich McHugh (@RichMcHughNBC) September 4, 2018

Ronan Farrow, who has been reluctant to weigh in on the drama, has put out a statement refuting certain claims in Lack’s memo while teasing that “They’ll be more to say at the right time.”

pic.twitter.com/8vBcYvsl52

— Ronan Farrow (@RonanFarrow) September 4, 2018