White House Correspondents Insider

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

Vice President Pence Denounces Media for Lack of “Honeymoon” Period

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Photo courtesy Björn Hermansson / Pixabay.

Vice President Mike Pence blasted the news media on Wednesday for its coverage of the Trump administration, saying “if there was a honeymoon, it was pretty short.”

Blaming the media for a rocky start, Pence told conservative talk radio host Rush Limbaugh:

“I have to tell you that in all of my life, there was always a grace period. Right? New president’s coming in, I think they call it a honeymoon. Right? Where the media, like the others, gives the new administration a chance to come in and start to do what they do. And boy, if there was a honeymoon, it was pretty short. I sure don’t remember that.”

The vice president’s position that the media is taking an aggressive tone against the new administration is far more critical than that of President Trump, who has referred to CNN as “fake news” and has taken an aggressive stance against media stories critical of his actions.

Julia Louis-Dreyfus Wins Big at SAG Awards, Criticizes Refugee Ban

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Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Chris Godsick and Brad Hall. Photo courtesy Haddad Media.

Julia Louis-Dreyfus won the award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Comedy Series at the SAG Awards Sunday night.  Louis-Dreyfus  portrays former president Selina Meyer  on HBO’s Veep. Now, she is taking her formidable speaking skills into the real world to defend American immigrants.

The 2017 Screen Actors Guild kicked off with numerous passionate political speeches, and Louis-Dreyfus began by taking a humorous look at the presidential predicament, before her speech quickly took a serious turn.

She began by joking about current events and President Trump’s propensity to exaggerate and use “alternative facts.”

“Whether the Russians did or did not hack the voting of tonight’s SAG awards, I look out at the million or probably even a million and a half people in this room, and I say this award is legitimate and I won. I’m the winner. The winner is me. Landslide!” Louis-Dreyfus said to a roar of laughter from the audience.

Taking a more serious tone, Louis-Dreyfus referenced her family’s immigrant history and described Trump’s recent immigration ban as a “blemish” on the country and “un-American.”

“My father fled religious persecution in Nazi-occupied France, and I’m an American patriot and I love this country, Louis-Dreyfus continued.  “I am horrified by its blemishes.”

The seven-time Emmy Award-winner concluded her speech by quoting a statement from SAG’s “sister guild” the WGA.

“Our guilds are unions of storytellers who have always welcomed those from other nations, and of varying beliefs, who wish to share their creativity with America. We are grateful to them, we stand with them, we will fight for them.”

Bryan Cranston, friend of White House Correspondents’ Insider, also won Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor for his role as LBJ in a Television Movie or Miniseries for HBO’S “All the Way.”

Ann Hand Releases Inaugural Gift Collection

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Inauguration Scene By White House photo by Paul Morse [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons. Jewelry

An American staple and the go-to jewelry designer to Washington, DC’s most famous residents and visitors, Ann Hand has been accessorizing women and men for the past three decades.

Hand continues her tradition of creating inaugural jewelry celebrating the swearing-in of another president.  She predicts that it is “going to be interesting to watch this incredibly different family.” Her $75 “Made in America” Trump inaugural pin is already on back order. “The factory is rushing to do as many as they can.”

“My jewelry reflects our pride in government, the military, our faith, our family and the various organizations, corporations and charities that make up the national tapestry of our country and the values we hold dear,” she recently stated.

In 1993, Hand received her first commission to design a brooch commemorating the reinstatement of the Freedom statue atop the US Capitol. Since then she has received dozens of commissions from a wide variety of groups, corporations, and national organizations such as the Smithsonian, the White House, the Departments of State and Defense, all of the branches of the United States Military, the Ritz Carlton, Mount Vernon, the National Historic Trust, and the Congressional Medal of Honor Society.

You can see Ann’s fabulous work and find more information on ordering from her jewelry collection celebrating President-elect Trump’s upcoming inauguration at AnnHand.com.

Trump Sides with Assange, Bashing U.S. Media

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Photo courtesy of Wikipedia.

President-elect Donald Trump took to Twitter to voice his agreement and support of Wikileaks founder Julian Assange.

During the interview, Assange and Sean Hannity both railed against the “very dishonest,” liberally biased “mainstream media.”

“Knowing what WikiLeaks revealed about the Podesta emails, on Clinton corruption, on Bernie Sanders being cheated – all of this was revealed and not a lot of it was covered,” Hannity proposed during the interview. “So what does that say to the American people about media coverage in America? Dishonest?”

Assange replied, “It is very dishonest… it is an ethical corruption.”

Trump referenced this section of the interview specifically in his tweet, saying the U.S. media is “very dishonest… More dishonest than anyone knows.”

Former WH Press Secretaries Warn About Trump’s Press Relationship

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James Brady Press Briefing Room. Photo courtesy of Wikipedia.

In a recent interview with Chuck Todd on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” several former White House press secretaries issued warnings and concerns about the incoming Trump White House and its relationship with the media.

“We’ve just elected a man who bullies female reporters at his rally as an applause line,” said Nicole Wallace, communications director under former President George W. Bush. “We have just elected a man who started a hot war with a female anchor instead of attending a debate she moderated. We are in a new place. And I don’t think it’s good. And I don’t think it has any parallels to the past.”

Bill Clinton’s press secretary, Joe Lockhart, warned over Trump’s tendency to ignore or simply make up facts. “It’s somewhat Orwellian, which, you know, you redefine the past, which means you can define the present and the future,” Lockhart said. “And that’s going to be very difficult for both sides to come to grips with.”

Ari Fleischer, who served as press secretary under Bush, addressed the mutual animosity between the press and Trump. Especially with public confidence in the press at historic lows, “the press has made itself vulnerable, because it lost the trust of their readers and their viewers — and Trump has widely taken advantage of it,” Fleischer concluded.

Incoming White House Press Secretary Says Media Doesn’t Understand Trump’s Twitter

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Daniel Lippman, Tammy Haddad, Sean Spicer. Photo courtesy of Haddad Media.

In an appearance on ABC’s “This Week,” incoming White House press secretary Sean Spicer called on the nation to support the president-elect, instead of focusing and criticizing on his Twitter account.

“So the idea is everyone wants to talk about the tweets he sent. But I would actually focus on the action he’s getting. Donald Trump is not president yet and he’s getting action, successes and wins, both abroad and here at home,” Spicer said.

Spicer explained the media’s focus on Trump’s Twitter account, saying his tweets “freaks the mainstream media out,” because it marginalizes them.

“I think it freaks the mainstream media out that he has this following of over 45-plus million people that follow him on social media, that he can have a direct conversation. He doesn’t have to have it funneled through the media,” Mr. Spicer said. “Business as usual is over, as I’ve said before. There’s a new sheriff in town, and he’s going to do things first and foremost for the American people.”

Members of the press have called on the incoming president and his team to cease hostilities toward the press, and pledge continuing access for the media to his administration.

FBI Investigating Huffington Post Editor for Tweet

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Photo courtesy of Pixabay / Edar.

Nick Baumann, a senior enterprise editor for the Huffington Post, has been contacted by the FBI for joking about destroying election ballots for Donald Trump.

On October 31, 2016, Baumann tweeted:

“I love my job working at a voting site in washington dc destroying trump ballots [sic]. ”

The following day, Baumann said the tweet was “a joking reference” to a fake news report circulated on right-wing blogs and social media, relying on a forged Wikileaks email stating that Democratic consultants and activsts were “pre-programming” voting machines in favor of Hillary Clinton.  The erroneous news item was picked up by Drudge and Limbaugh as well.

Baumann says an FBI agent contacted him regarding his tweet.  “We recently received some complaints regarding some online postings that were made. I don’t know if you know what that’s in reference to, but would you be willing to sit down with us for a couple minutes tomorrow morning, by chance?”

Although the meeting has yet to take place, Baumann writes that the “investigation is ongoing.”

CNN’s Amanpour Strikes Back Against Media Bashing

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BizBash's David Adler and CNN's Christiane Amanpour. Photo courtesy of Haddad Media.

BizBash’s David Adler and CNN’s Christiane Amanpour. Photo courtesy of Haddad Media.

CNN chief international correspondent Christiane Amanpour struck back at critics of the mainstream media, saying her “blood ran cold” seeing tweets from Donald Trump claiming protests following his election as president were “incited by the media.”

Several statements by Trump in recent weeks, such as calling reporters “despicable and dishonest,” “liars” and “crooks” lay the groundwork for a dangerous and unstable political narrative.

“They target the press and set the press up as an opposition to the government, and they do it by subtly ratcheting up the accusations against the press — so, inciting, sympathizing, associating, actually being terrorists and subversives,” she said speaking to CBC News’ The Investigators.

Amanpour continued that Trump’s language is strikingly similar to political leaders in non-democratic countries, where journalists are regularly criticized, harassed and even imprisoned for their reporting.

“And, as you know, journalists around the world are routinely locked up, put in jail, put on trial on phony charges. So that’s why that worried me very much, and I felt I had to push back on that and take a stand against that.”

Amanpour received an award Wednesday for “extraordinary and sustained achievement in the cause of press freedom” by the Committee to Protect Journalists.

 

LEARN MORE:  “We Tracked Down A Fake-News Creator In The Suburbs. Here’s What We Learned” by Laura Sydell at NPR

Meeting Between Trump, Press Execs Goes Off the Record

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Throughout the transition, much attention has been paid to those coming and going from Trump Tower in New York City.  Among recent visitors includes executives and anchors from TV news, attending an “off the record” meeting with the president-elect.

Organized by Kellyanne Conway, the Trump campaign manager, attending networks include ABC, NBC, CBS, CNN and Fox News.  Spotted via a C-SPAN camera, notables such as CNN’s president Jeff Zucker and anchor Wolf Blitzer were in attendance.  Also spotted was NBC News president Deborah Turness and MSNBC president Phil Griffin.

According to Brian Stelter, other meeting participants included NBC’s Chuck Todd and Lester Holt; CNN’s Erin Burnett; CBS’s Norah O’Donnell, Charlie Rose, John Dickerson, and Gayle King; and ABC’s George Stephanopoulos, David Muir and Martha Raddatz.

The New York Times released a statement prior to the meeting announcing that publisher Arthur Sulzberger Jr. “and others are meeting with the President Elect tomorrow at the request of his team.  There will be a small, off the record meeting first, followed by an on the record session with Times reporters and editorial columnists.”

A report on Politico also pointed out that even as he asked for a “cordial” relationship, Trump complained that NBC had used unflattering pictures of him.

But Trump also attempted to build the groundwork for a positive relationship between his incoming White House team and the media. One meeting participant said that a New York Post account – described as Trump giving the attending media a “dressing down” — was overstated.

However, Trump cancelled this morning’s “on-the-record” meeting himself over Twitter.

Eileen Murphy, the top spokeswoman for the New York Times, said the paper “was unaware that the meeting was cancelled until we saw the President-Elect’s tweet this morning.”

FORMER WH PRESS SECRETARY CALLS FOR NEW RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN WHITE HOUSE, PRESS CORPS

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Mike McCurry and Tammy Haddad. Photo courtesy of Haddad Media.

Mike McCurry and Tammy Haddad. Photo courtesy of Haddad Media.

During a Q&A session with National Journal, Mike McCurry, White House press secretary during Bill Clinton’s presidency, suggested a new relationship between the incoming Trump administration and reporters, especially dealing with protective press pools and televised daily briefings.

Recently, the Trump transition team has breached protocol by travelling multiple times unannounced without his assigned press pool and by failing to notify reporters of the President-elect’s schedule.

Speaking about the protective press pools, McCurry said they can often be a waste of time.

“I think having a bunch of talented journalists sitting around a country club sipping Arnold Palmers while the president plays golf is an utter waste of time and a drain on news organization budgets that are already strained,” McCurry said, referring to where the pool normally works from while President Barack Obama is golfing. “So, yes, I think adjusting the terms of engagement for the protective pool makes sense.”

Instead of focusing on press pools that could result in reporters’ time spent on non-newsworthy information, McCurry called on the media to fight for more reliable access to senior transition and administration officials.

“The White House press corps should fight for things that really matter like access to senior officials, more openness when it comes to sharing of documents and regular ‘real’ briefings from senior decision-makers and staff,” McCurry said.

He also criticized the current state of daily briefings, stating they have devolved into stagesmanship instead of producing newsworthy information.

“The daily briefing has become less than helpful and I bear responsibility for that because I let it become a televised event. It should not be,” McCurry said. “It should be embargoed until completion and not carried ‘live’ except in unusual circumstances…like real news happening.”