White House Correspondents Insider

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

Archives for May 2018

Roseanne Cancelled After Star’s Tweet Storm

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Roseanne Barr’s racist tweets led to the cancellation of her hit ABC show. 

ABC has cancelled its top-rated hit TV show “Roseanne” following a Monday night tweet storm from the show’s creator and lead star, Roseanne Barr.

Channing Dungey, ABC Entertainment president,  confirmed in a statement that the network decided to cancel the hit reboot saying, “Roseanne’s Twitter statement is abhorrent, repugnant and inconsistent with our values, and we have decided to cancel her show.”

On Monday night, Barr attacked former Obama Senior Advisor Valerie Jarrett, using Jarrett’s initials, tweeting, “muslim brotherhood & planet of the apes had a baby=vj.”

Bob Iger, Chairman and CEO of The Walt Disney Company, which owns ABC, reinforced Dungey’s decision on Twitter saying, “There was only one thing to do here, and that was the right thing.”

ICM Partners also dropped Barr as a client following the tweets. In a statement, the agency said, “What she wrote is antithetical to our core values, both as individuals and as an agency. Consequently, we have notified her that we will not represent her. Effective immediately, Roseanne Barr is no longer a client.”

Barr issued an apology on Tuesday morning on Twitter stating, “I apologize to Valerie Jarrett and to all Americans. I am truly sorry for making a bad joke about her politics and her looks. I should have known better. Forgive me- my joke was in bad taste.”

The highly-rated show was a commercial success for ABC with an average 21.17 million total viewers, making it one of the top viewed shows in 2018.

Uber’s Danielle Burr and DC Tech Leaders Meet Brotopia Author Emily Chang to Discuss Empowering Women Tech Execs

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Danielle Burr & Emily Chang

DC’s tech and media leaders gathered just steps from the Capitol at Charlie Palmer Steak on Tuesday, May 22nd to toast the publication of Bloomberg Technology host Emily Chang’s new book, Brotopia: Breaking Up the Boy’s Club of Silicon Valley, on the eve of her nationwide book tour.

Emily Chang’s book, which Kirkus Reviews calls “an in-depth analysis of the tech-industry brotherhood,” explores how tech became known as a male-dominated industry. Uber’s Head of Federal Affairs Danielle Burr hosted the lunchtime discussion. Chang applauded the steps certain tech companies have taken to expand on diversity and inclusivity initiatives that seek to bring more women and people of color into tech executive roles.

Attending the discussion was Daniel Lippman, Michael LaRosa, Katherine Vargas, Craig Gordon, Juleanna Glover, Meredith Balenske, Jen Stout, Jessica Nigro, Cecilia Kang, Pete Eskew, Heather Childs, Ruth Marcus, Pete Selfridge, Parita Shah, and Patrice Willoughby. Uber executive Amanda Anderson, Rachel Holt, Arathi Mehrotra, and Dave Barmore were also spotted at the gathering.

Washington Celebrates Bret Baier at Three Days in Moscow Book Party

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Bret Baier’s newest book is already creating buzz. On Monday evening, an A-list of Washington politicos descended on the Marriott Marquis at the invitation of co-hosts David & Carrie Marriott and Ande & Mae Grennan for a reception celebrating Fox News Anchor Bret Baier’s new book, Three Days in Moscow: Ronald Reagan and the Fall of the Soviet Union.

Bret and Amy Baier were joined by Kellyanne Conway, Attorney-General Jeff Sessions and Mary Sessions, Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross and Hilary Ross, and Secretary of Transportation Elaine Chao.

Marriott Executive Chairman Bill Marriott and wife Donna entertained guests alongside their son and daughter-in-law in the hotel’s Liberty Ballroom.

Fox News Anchor Chris Wallace mingled with National Economic Council Director Larry Kudlow before Baier gave his remarks.  He discussed key moments in the book and told previously unheard stories about the Reagan family, including a humorous account of Nancy Reagan saving longtime White House Correspondent Helen Thomas from a flash mob in Moscow. When Secret Service agents formed a protective circle around the First Lady, she spotted Helen in the crowd, pointed to her, and exclaimed, “She’s with us!”

The reception kicked-off a two-week national book tour, which concludes just before the author heads to Singapore to cover the much-anticipated U.S.-North Korea summit.

Guests included Rep. Debbie Dingell (D-MI), Azerbaijani Ambassador Elin & LaLa Suleymanov, Jordanian Ambassador Dina Kawar, Kuwaiti Ambassador Salem & Rima Al-Sabah, Barbara Allbritton, Heather Podesta, Kay Kendall and Jack Davies, Janet Donovan, Willie and Finlay Lewis, and Ryan Williams.

Kellyanne Conway: Expect Staff Shake Up in Wake of Explosive White House Leaks

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Kellyanne Conway at the 2018 Garden Brunch

Counselor to the President Kellyanne Conway took to the airwaves to defend the Trump administration against a series of leaks coming out of the White House press shop. One of the leaks has sparked outrage from all sides when communications staffer Kelly Sadler claimed that Senator John McCain’s opposition to Gina Haspel becoming CIA Director “doesn’t matter” and that “he’s dying anyway.”

In an appearance on FOX News Monday morning, May 15th, Conway hinted that there may be personnel changes coming soon. “There are all kinds of leaks. Some leaks exist to hurt, I guess, colleagues, some leaks exist because they disagree with the policies that are being put forth, but none of them are helpful…Something else that’s gone on in this White House but not as badly as it was at the beginning, where it’s not so much leaking as using the media to shiv each other, and that was going on quite a bit at the beginning of this administration and it’s less so now.”

Meanwhile, President Trump took to Twitter to claim the leaks were “fake news”:

The White House has yet to issue an apology to Senator McCain for the staffer’s comments despite calls to do so from Congressmen and women on both sides of the aisle.

Carol Melton Hosts Washington Women for “Life of the Party” Screening

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Carol Melton, Time Warner’s Executive VP of Global Public Policy, Gail MacKinnon, MPAA’s Executive Vice President for Government Affairs, and Chief of Staff to MPAA chairman and CEO Charles Rivkin, Mila Venugopalan

Giving a new meaning to dinner and a movie, Time Warner’s Executive VP of Global Public Policy, Carol Melton, hosted a private reception and screening of New Line Cinema’s Life of the Party starring Melissa McCarthy at National Cable and Television Associates on Tuesday, May 8th.

Melissa McCarthy's Life of the Party Screening and Reception at the National Cable and Television Associates - 5/8/18

Guests of Melton included Rep. Debbie Dingell, Rita Braver, Elena Allbritton, Gail MacKinnon, Genny Ryan, Lee Satterfield, Gloria Dittus, Heather Podesta, Betsy Fischer Martin, Jodie McLean, Susanna Quinn, Kathy O’Hearn, Mary Brady, Lauren Pratapas, Jenny Abramson, and Jacquie Bloom.

Tammy Haddad interviews Ronan Farrow for Washington Insider Podcast

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Ronan Farrow Book Party 5/3

Ronan Farrow appeared Friday, May 4th at Cafe Milano in an event hosted by Franco Nuschese, Kathy O’Hearn, Hilary Rosen, and Tammy Haddad to discuss his new book War on Peace: The End of Diplomacy and the Decline of American Influence and his Pulitzer Prize-winning reporting on the Harvey Weinstein sexual abuse scandal. Tammy Haddad interviewed Ronan during the event as part of the Washington Insider podcast. You can listen and subscribe here.

Farrow’s book charts the militarization of diplomacy, and he interviewed every living Secretary of State, including Rex Tillerson in his final days in office, who for the first time expressed regret that he did not fully familiarize himself with the inner workings of the State Department before agreeing to take the job.

Ronan Farrow and Franco Nushcese

Fellow Pulitzer Prize-winner and New Yorker colleague Jane Mayer joined Ronan for a toast to Pulitzer Prize-winning reporting. He spoke with Tammy Haddad about the experience of writing these complex stories, “The stories needed to be bulletproof. They needed to account for every counterargument…I try to tell the stories that have staying power and reach an incredibly high level of seriousness…you owe it to all the parties to interrogate the claims as skeptical and rigorously as possible.”

Seth Meyers: Trump Demanded I Apologize for WHCD Roast

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Comedian and “Late Night” host Seth Meyers sat down with Edward-Isaac Dovere, chief Washington correspondent for Politico and the host of the “Off Message” podcast, where he claimed that Michael Cohen approached him about Trump appearing on his show as a way of repairing ties after Trump’s comedic roasting at the 2011 White House Correspondents’ Dinner.

According to Meyers, the “Late Night” host invited Donald Trump to appear on his show. Trump’s fixer Michael Cohen stipulated that he would have to publicly apologize to Trump for the supposed slights during Meyers’ stand up routine at the Correspondents’ Dinner. Meyers refused to the terms and the talks stalled.

You can listen to the full Seth Meyers’ interview here.

Pulitzer Prize-Winner Ronan Farrow at Cafe Milano War on Peace Book Lunch

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Ronan Farrow Book Party 5/3

Franco Nuschese gathered Washington politicos and journalists at Cafe Milano to toast Ronan Farrow on the publication of his new book War on Peace: The End of Diplomacy and the Decline of American Influence on Thursday, May 3rd. Farrow’s new book features interviews with every living former Secretary of State and challenges the rise of the use of military power over the use of diplomacy.

Tammy Haddad interviewed Farrow for the Washington Insider podcast, asking him about his work at the State Department and his reporting on the Harvey Weinstein sexual abuse allegations for which he recently won the Pulitzer Prize for public service.

Toasting the author were Washington influencers Wayne Reynolds, Greta Van Susteren and John Coale, Virginia Shore, Sally Quinn, Ryan Williams, Robyn Bash, Kristine Coratti, Juleanna Glover, Jane Mayer, Emily Lenzner, Greta Van Susteren, John Coale, Ann Klenk, Ann Hand, Adrienne Arsht, Mariella Trager, Lynn Sweet, Kevin Latek, Betsy Fischer Martin, Ruth Marcus, Elisabeth Bumiller, Holly Page, Kevin Baron, Jennifer Maguire, Autumn VandeHei, Dan Meyers, Eileen Shields, Samia Farouki, Megan Smith, Courtney Haynes, Lisa Dickey, Helena Andrews, and Kendra Barkoff.

2018 Garden Brunch Video

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2018 marked the 25th anniversary of the White House Correspondents’ Garden Brunch!

This year, we honored the men, women, and families who have served in the U.S. Military. Staff Sgt. Dominic Perrotte was given the deed to his new 100%-mortgage free home by ABC News’ Bob Woodruff and Virginia’s Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax as part of a program by Wells Fargo and Military Warriors Support Foundation.

Also, the 10th graduating class from NS2 Serves was honored with the Champions of Freedom Award by Rep. Don Beyer of Virginia. Special thanks to co-hosts Tammy Haddad, Kevin Sheekey, Hilary Rosen and Megan Murphy, Fred Humphries, Mark and Sally Ein, Mark Testoni, Greta Van Susteren and John Coale, Fritz Brogan, and Franco Nuschese.