White House Correspondents Insider

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

Donald Trump Jr. On Road to Divorce With Wife Vanessa

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Former Iowa Governor Terry Branstad now Ambassador to China with Donald Trump, Jr. and wife, Vanessa, at the Snowflake Garden Brunch in Des Moines, Iowa days before the Iowa Caucus, Photo Courtesy Haddad Media

Donald Trump Jr. and his wife Vanessa Trump are on the rocks and reportedly heading for divorce. The couple, married since 2005, is weighing their options after the tumultuous first year of father Donald Sr.

Don Jr. has reportedly been traveling a lot lately without his wife, who has apparently been left to raise their five children alone. Don Jr. and his brother Eric Trump have been left with the Trump Organization after their father made his splash in Washington, surely adding to the relational strain. Friends tell Page Six that Don Jr. has been acting strangely and tweeting erratically, which may or may not run in the family.   

While divorce papers have not yet been filed, friends are expecting them to do so very soon.

You can read the full report here.

Students Walk Out While Viacom Steps Up to Demand Gun Control

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Students across the country march for gun control, Photo Courtesy Reuters

Public school students around the country left their classrooms on Wednesday, March 14th in a show of solidarity to the victims of the Parkland, Florida massacre which led to the shooting deaths of 17 high schoolers. The 17-minute walkout memorialized the victims while students held signs demanding gun control legislation.

During the walkout, Viacom-owned networks from MTV to BET to Nickelodeon and Comedy Central suspended their regular programming to bring the walkouts to television, airing interviews with students from around the country. MTV took things a step farther by handing over the reins to their Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter accounts to students so that they could use the expanded platform to get their message out.

Shari Redstone, the vice chair of Viacom, has also announced that she is donating $500,000 to support the March for Our Lives, a protest calling for stricter gun laws taking place in Washington, DC and around the country on March 24th.

Facebook to News Publishers: Don’t Count On Us

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Graph showing traffic estimates between Google, Facebook, and Twitter over time, Photo Courtesy Parse.ly

A new study finds that social media giant Facebook has become increasingly less influential when it comes to the way news is distributed. Analytics firm Parse.ly has gathered data from over 2,500 publishers and found that “ahead of the 2016 US presidential election, more than 40 percent of traffic to [the 2,5000 sites] came from Facebook. By the end of 2017, Facebook accounted for less than 26 percent of traffic to those publishers,” according to a report on Parse.ly’s findings from Wired’s Fred Vogelstein.

Vogelstein says that, “Facebook’s role in distributing news has been falling dramatically for more than a year,” and that this trend is expected to continue into the foreseeable future. Facebook claims that the decline in clicks is due to the increasing appetite for video in news feeds.

Another important factor driving Facebook’s flailing news distribution is the increasing use of Google’s Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP), which allows certain content to load more quickly. Vogelstein attributes Google’s push to deliver more newsy content with Facebook’s decline.

He also speculates that publishers consider Facebook’s responses since January to be “schizophrenic” and therefore less willing to deliver content through the platform.

Vogelstein highlights a number of fumbles on Facebook’s part, “For example, one week after announcing that it was changing news feed to promote more meaningful interactions between friends and family and deemphasize news, Facebook said it would start giving boosts to the most trustworthy publications based on user surveys. A few weeks later it said it also plans to boost content from local newspapers, in an effort to help struggling publishers who’ve watched much of their ad revenue flow to Facebook and Google.”

Campbell Brown, Facebook’s news partnership leader, said at a Recode conference last month that, “My job is not to go recruit people from news organization to put their stuff on Facebook. This is not about us trying to make everyone happy.  My job is to ensure that there is quality news on Facebook and that the publishers who want to do quality news on Facebook have a business model that works.”

You can read Wired’s full report here.

 

SXSW Media Roundup

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CNN’s Apple-themed party, Photo Courtesy Brian Stelter, @brianstelter

The media stars were out in full force at this year’s SXSW in Austin, TX, which was characterized by big questions like ‘How do we separate truth from fiction in our social media timelines?’, ‘How do you engage online audiences in deeper, more meaningful ways?’, and ‘What’s with all the apples?’

CNN’s Jeff Zucker hosted an apple-themed party dubbed “Go Bananas”. Fake news, get it? Think apple pillows, apple old fashioneds, and for Plain Janes, regular old apples. The apple theme comes from CNN’s new campaign “Facts First”, which you can find below. Also at the party, David Axelrod hosted a live taping of his podcast “The Axe Files” with Pod Save America host Jon Favreau.

The New York Times celebrated its music issue at Irene’s Bar with a live band and discussions on music, tech, and politics. The Times also gave out “Truth” swag to remind folks to check out their new truth-in-news themed campaign.

Vox’s Jim Bankoff and Kara Swisher hosted an invite-only event called “The Deep End” with dinner supplied by food blog giant Eater where Recode’s Kara Swisher interviewed Jose Andres to a crowd that included Sen. Mark Warner, Ezra Klein, Austin mayor Steve Adler, and Katie Couric.

There’s still plenty of politics left at SXSW. Politico’s Daniel Lippmann will be hosting a panel with Joe Lockhart, Tim Miller, and Aubrey Quinn called “Communicating in the Era of Constant Crisis” on Tuesday at 9:30am at the JW Marriott.

AFL CIO President Richard Trumka Praises Trump’s Steel Tariffs in Exclusive Interview with Bloomberg’s Kevin Cirilli

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Bloomberg’s Kevin Cirilli Scores Interview with AFL CIO President Richard Trumka

Bloomberg’s Kevin Cirilli nabbed an exclusive interview with AFL CIO President Richard Trumka, who out is supporting Democrat Conor Lamb in Pennsylvania’s 18th Congressional district, on Friday, March 9th. The Pennsylvania election, happening Tuesday, March 13th, is the first special election of 2018. The victor will fill the seat vacated by Tim Murphy, who retired in October.

While Trumka is supporting a Democrat he is quick to give credit to President Trump for his recently proposed tariffs on steel and aluminum and says the move will help Republican candidate Rick Saccone saying, “You’re going to see steel plants expand their capacity. It’s going to create jobs. When you enforce laws, everybody gets a fair playing field.”

You can watch Cirilli’s full interview with Richard Tumka here.

NYT Haberman Says Trump Will Contact Reporters Directly in Post-Hope Hicks White House

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Maggie Haberman in front of Air Force One, Photo Courtesy Vanity Fair

Donald Trump stunned reporters in the White House briefing room on Thursday, March 8th with a surprise appearance, his first ever in front of the correspondents who usually grill Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders. The brief appearance acted as a teaser for his planned meeting with Kim Jong Un. President Trump is reportedly angry at Sanders for her comments about his legal case with the porn star Stormy Daniels.

Washington’s favorite White House columnist, New York Times’ Maggie Haberman, says that this move is indicative of a post-Hope Hicks White House and for Trump’s interactions with the press a sign of things to come.

President Obama to Netflix Spokesman Confirms Conversations with Barack and Michelle Obama

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The New York Times has exclusive reporting on conversations between President Barack Obama and his wife, Michelle, to join Netflix. “Former President Barack Obama is in advanced negotiations with Netflix to produce a series of high-profile shows that will provide him a global platform after his departure from the White House, according to people familiar with the discussions.

Under terms of a proposed deal, which is not yet final, Netflix would pay Mr. Obama and his wife, Michelle, for exclusive content that would be available only on the streaming service, which has nearly 118 million subscribers around the world. The number of episodes and the formats for the shows have not been decided.

Mr. Obama does not intend to use his Netflix shows to directly respond to President Trump or conservative critics, according to people familiar with discussions about the programming. They said the Obamas had talked about producing shows that highlight inspirational stories.

But the Netflix deal, while not a direct answer to Fox News or Breitbart.com, would give Mr. Obama an unfiltered method of communication with the public similar to the audiences he already reaches through social media, with 101 million Twitter followers and 55 million people who have liked his Facebook page.”

“President and Mrs. Obama have always believed in the power of storytelling to inspire,” Eric Schultz, a senior adviser to the former president, said Thursday. “Throughout their lives, they have lifted up stories of people whose efforts to make a difference are quietly changing As they consider their future personal plans, they continue to explore new ways to help others tell and share their stories.”

Read the rest here.

Donna Shalala, Favorite of Both Parties, Running for Congress

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Donna Shalala and Sally Quinn at the Alfalfa Club afterparty at Cafe Milano, Photo Courtesy Haddad Media

Donna Shalala, the former President of the University of Miami and Health and Human Services secretary under Bill Clinton, has announced her plans to run for Congress in Florida’s 27th district. The news comes nearly one year after incumbent Ileana Ros-Lehtinen announced her plans to retire from Congress.

Despite being a longtime Clinton ally, serving as head of the Clinton Foundation after a 14-year stint as University of Miami’s President,Shalala has a storied history of bipartisanship in Washington, working for both Democrats and Republicans over the course of her career. In 2007, she was handpicked by George W. Bush to run the Commission on Care for Returning Wounded Warriors along with Senator Bob Dole. In 2008, President Bush awarded her with the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Before joining the Bush administration, Shalala was appointed HHS Secretary by President Bill Clinton, staying in the position for 8 years, the longest tenure for an HHS Secretary in history.

Shalala released a video explaining why she’s throwing her hat in the ring saying, “Everything we fought for in our lives is under attack under the slogan, ‘Make America Great Again’,” and adding, “Running for Congress was never in my plans. But now I realize everything we fought for is at risk.”

The district, which encompasses the greater part of Miami and Coral Gables, is relatively Dem-friendly, going for Hillary Clinton over Donald Trump by nearly 20 points during the 2016 presidential election.

Shalala was in Washington for the annual Alfalfa Club Dinner shaking hands and greeting old friends including Sally Quinn. Here’s an interview with Shalailah and the Miami Herald after news of the announcement broke.

 

Sex and the City’s Cynthia Nixon Mulls Run for NY Governor

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Cynthia Nixon accepting this year’s HRC Visibility Award, Photo Courtesy AP

Another celebrity is seriously considering joining the ranks of actors-turned-politicians like Al Franken, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Sonny Bono, and Frank Grandy. Cynthia Nixon, of HBO’s “Sex and the City” fame, is reportedly weighing her options in a potential primary showdown with Andrew Cuomo, who many see as a strong contender for a presidential run in 2020, for governor of New York. While she is yet to make any sort of official announcement, she “is in serious conversations about jumping in and has begun reaching out to potential campaign staffers,” according to a new report in Politico.

Nixon has been vocal in her criticism of both Donald Trump and Governor Cuomo. In an op-ed published by CNN in January, she wrote, “President Trump’s first year in office has been a dark year for many in America. For those of us who value equal rights for all, or economic and racial justice, or want to combat climate change, we’ve taken huge steps backwards.”

Governor Cuomo, who many see as a strong contender for a presidential run in 2020, and his team were reportedly caught off guard by the news. Politico claims that the reelection campaign has not done any polling on Nixon or any other potential primary opponent.

You can read Politico’s full report on Nixon here.

Drag Diplomacy: Nancy Pelosi to Address the Queens on RuPaul’s Drag Race

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House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi and drag race star RuPaul, Photo Courtesy Viacom

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi is set to appear on “RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars 3” this Thursday, March 8th at 8pm.

VH1 has released a 10-minute teaser for the special, which you can watch here. In it, Nancy Pelosi urges the Queens to vote and reminds them to have pride in themselves and what they do.