White House Correspondents Insider

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

Archives for March 2017

Attention Veeples! New Season Six Trailer!

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Photo courtesy Haddad Media.

Veep Showrunner David Mandel premiered a new trailer for Season Six during a panel at the SXSW Film Festival in Austin, Texas.

Moderated by NBC News host Chuck Todd, Mandel was accompanied on the panel by Veep actors Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Tony Hale, Reid Scott, Gary Cole, Anna Chlumsky, Timonthy Simons, Matt Walsh and Sam Richardson.

Asked if the show would address topics coming out of the Trump administration, Louis-Dreyfus explained that story-line wouldn’t make sense in the show.

“I think that we’ve set up this premise for our show which is this alternative political universe. And we don’t have any real-life celebrities on the show, we don’t have real-life journalists, and frankly in terms of actual political history, we don’t really reference anybody beyond Ronald Reagan.”

Mandel concluded that the show will continue to attempt a bipartisan punchline in most topics. “For the most part, I think we’re sort of equal opportunity cynical. We’ll just as soon do a joke about cutting an arts budget as we will a gun joke or something. We go both sides.”

Season Six of Veep premieres on HBO April 16th.

President Trump Calls Media “Rude” Following Conway Interviews

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Photo courtesy of Pixabay / Edar.

President Donald Trump tweeted Monday that journalists and news outlets have been rude toward administration officials. He said if journalists begin treating administration officials nicely, “you will do much better.”

While not referencing any specific interview or story in his tweet, the president’s reaction follows several interviews conducted by presidential advisor Kellyanne Conway Monday morning.

George Stephanopoulos asked Conway on ABC’s “Good Morning America” to explain her statements Sunday to the Bergen Record suggesting President Obama had used household electronics such as smart phones and televisions to spy on Trump. Conway said she had no evidence to back up her claims, but was speaking broadly about surveillance, not specifically toward any allegation against Obama.

Facing a similar line of inquiry on CNN’s “New Day” – which has largely been boycotted by the administration in recent weeks – Conway said proving claims was not her responsibility.

“I’m not Inspector Gadget. I don’t believe people are using the microwave to spy on the Trump campaign. However, I’m not in the job of having evidence. That’s what investigations are for,” Conway told CNN host Chris Cuomo.

Conway also faced inquiry about her statements on NBC’s “Today” show. Host Savannah Guthrie asked Conway, “can I stop you right there? The media did not bring up this topic. President Trump did.” Conway responded saying the media was focused too much on wiretapping accusations and not on other issues “that the American people want to hear about.”

President Trump Still Welcome to Attend White House Correspondents’ Dinner

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Correspondents’ Dinner place setting. Photo courtesy Haddad Media.

The White House Correspondents’ Association is keeping open the possibility that President Donald Trump may appear at the annual White House Correspondents’ Dinner in April. The president announced last month on Twitter that he would not attend.

“If President Trump changes his mind, he is welcome to attend the dinner,” said association President Jeff Mason of Reuters.

There have been no announcements yet on who would be at the head table if Trump does not attend. Traditionally, members of the WHCA board sit on stage, joined by the president, first lady, vice president, White House press secretary and entertainment.

President Trump has attended events in the past where he had declined invitations, such as a post-election interview with the New York Times.

C-SPAN political editor and former WHCA president Steve Scully commented on this possibility. “President Trump is the master showman so he may decide to attend at the last minute, but I doubt it.”

The president has attended every White House Correspondents’ Dinner since 1981, when Ronald Reagan missed as he was recovering from an assassination attempt. Reagan called the dinner and addressed the crowd over the phone. Jimmy Carter was the last president to decline an invitation to the annual dinner.

The Association Dinner will be held on April 29. Proceeds from the event go toward scholarships for emerging journalism students.

Mark Halperin and John Heilemann Sign Deal with Penguin Press for Game Changer 3

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Photo courtesy Haddad Media.

On Thursday, Penguin Press revealed that political journalists and analysts John Heilemann and Mark Halperin will write a third installment of their “Game Change” series.  HBO has also purchased the book for a mini-series, with Jay Roach signing up to direct and produced by Tom Hanks.

Speaking about the book’s focus, Heilemann said “We’ll be looking at all the big unanswered questions of the race, some of them obvious, some of them are less obvious.  But of course we’re interested in breaking news.”

Some interesting areas of focus include WikiLeaks, potential Russian collaboration, FBI Director James Comey’s actions, and more.

“Despite all the coverage, we don’t know the answers to those questions,” Heilemann said in an interview.  “We think there’s still an awful lot to write about here.”

Penguin Press has scheduled the book for publication in early 2018.

First Lady Announces 2017 White House Easter Egg Roll

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First Lady Melania Trump announced the initial details of the 139th annual White House Easter Egg Roll today.   The event is scheduled to take place on April 17th on the South Lawn of the White House.  The President and First Lady are inviting families with children aged 13 and under to join them and White House staff for a day full of festivities and celebrations.

White House Easter Egg Roll tickets are allotted through an online lottery, although tickets are free to the public.

The Easter Egg Roll is a tradition at the White House dating back to President Rutherford B. Hayes in 1878.

Further information surrounding the Easter Egg Roll and the lottery for tickets will be announced later this month.

TMZ’s Harvey Levin Meets President Trump in Oval Office

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President Donald Trump met with TMZ founder Harvey Levin in the Oval Office last week for about an hour. The meeting was not on the president’s public schedule.

This was not the first meeting between the president and the head of TMZ. Last fall, Levin interviewed Trump for the special “Objectified: Donald Trump,” which aired on Fox News. White House spokeswoman Hope Hicks emailed reporters suggesting this meeting was along the same vein.

“The show was a huge success, and the two were discussing future opportunities,” Hicks stated.

Levin’s stop at the White House included a tour of the presidential residence, including a visit of the Lincoln Bedroom.

President Trump Again Calls Media “Fake News”

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Photo courtesy of Wikipedia.

President Donald Trump again pushed back against highly-reported stories in the mainstream media about West Wing infighting and turmoil.  Trump said his administration is “getting along great, and getting major things done.”

Posting on Twitter, the president said “Don’t let the FAKE NEWS tell you that there is big infighting in the Trump Admin. We are getting along great, and getting major things done!”

Several media outlets, including the Washington Post and POLITICO, have recently written that the White House has been operating in a chaotic state of uncertainty since Trump was inaugurated, with several aides and insider factions struggling to gain the president’s attention.

On Sunday, POLITICO reported that White House chief of staff Reince Prebius is receiving most of the blame for the administration’s missteps so far.  Several stories emerged last week discussing the president’s anger at Attorney General Jeff Sessions’ desicion to recuse himself from any investigations related to the 2016 election.

As White House Tours Resume, President Trump Surprises Visitors With Personal Welcome

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Photo courtesy Pixabay.

First Lady Melania Trump recently announced that White House tours would resume this morning.

“I am excited to reopen the White House to the hundreds of thousands of visitors who come each year. The White House is a remarkable and historic site and we are excited to share its beauty and history. I am committed to the restoration and preservation of our Nation’s most recognizable landmark.”

As the visitors embarked on their 45-minute self-guided tour, one group was surprised when President Donald Trump emerged from behind a screen on the first floor of the White House, near a portrait of former First Lady Hillary Clinton.

Trump welcomed a touring group of grade school children and invited them to pose with him for a photo, which Jack Cornish from Birmingham, Alabama, took the president up on his offer. Before returning to his private quarters, the president told the group of students to “work hard everybody, work hard.”

White House tours are open to the general public and can be obtained by requesting tickets through congressional offices. Tours take place Tuesday through Saturday.

Brig Graff Appointed Vice President of Strategic Solutions at Zignal Labs

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Zignal Labs CEO Josh Ginsburg. Photo courtesy Haddad Media.

Brig Graff has accepted a new position of Vice President of Strategic Solutions at Zignal Labs.  In this role, he will work with Zignal’s enterprise customers to create and implement solutions that address challenges to corporate communications and marketing.  Graff makes the move to Zignal Labs after working at firms such as Adobe, Omniture, Captora and Domo.

Josh Ginsberg, CEO of Zignal Labs, said of the new appointment:

“Our customers view media intelligence as a strategic asset to building stronger brands.  We are excited to have Brig join our team and drive innovative solutions into the marketplace that help our enterprise customers succeed.”

Zignal Labs empowers corporate communications, marketing and executive teams understand trends and hot topics through analyzing the full media spectrum in real-time.  Based in San Francisco and with offices across the country, Zignal assists clients such as Airbnb, IBM, Bacardi and FleishmanHillard.

President Trump’s Address to Congress Draws Over 40 Million Viewers

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Photo courtesy likedavid / Pixabay.

According to data provided by Nielsen, President Donald Trump’s initial address to a joint session of Congress reached approximately 43 million television viewers.

Networks such as ABC, NBC, CBS and Fox aired the address live, as did cable news channels including CNN, MSNBC and Fox News.

Comparatively, President George W. Bush’s first address to Congress in 2001 was watched by approximately 39 million viewers, while President Barack Obama’s initial Congressional speech in 2009 averaged approximately 52 million.

More people watched this week’s joint address than President Trump’s inauguration speech, which drew an average of 30.6 million viewers. The inauguration speech was conducted at noon on a Friday, while his address to the joint session was conducted during prime time on Tuesday evening.

The channel C-SPAN is not included in Nielsen measurements, nor does the firm measure viewers that streamed the speech online.