White House Correspondents Insider

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

Top UN Human Rights Official: Freedom of Press Under Attack by Trump

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Photo courtesy John Gillespie.

The top human rights official at the United Nations stated that freedom of the press is under attack by U.S. President Donald Trump.

”It’s really quite amazing when you think that freedom of the press, not only sort of a cornerstone of the U.S. Constitution but very much something that the United States defended over the years is now itself under attack from the President,” said Zeid Ra’ad al-Hussein, the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights.

He continued, “it’s sort of a stunning turnaround.  And ultimately the sequence is a dangerous one.”

President Trump has consistently attacked the mainstream media, even before his inauguration as a candidate.  His standard response to news stories that aren’t positive of him or the administration consists of him ripping the media as “fake news” and accusing journalists of being unpatriotic.

At a political rally in Phoenix last week, Trump claimed that journalists are “truly dishonest people” following criticisms of his response to a white supremacist rally in Virginia where he blamed “both sides” for the violence.  One woman was killed when a man attending the rally drove his car through a crowd of counter-protestors.

Fox News Goes Off the Air in UK

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Fox News Channel newsroom. Photo courtesy Wikimedia.

Fox News will end its feed airing the network throughout the United Kingdom on Tuesday afternoon, according to an announcement by its parent company 21st Century Fox.

“21st Century Fox has decided to cease providing a feed of Fox News Channel in the U.K.,” the company said in a statement.  “Fox News is focused on the U.S. market and designed for a U.S. audience and, accordingly, it averages only a few thousand viewers across the day in the U.K.”

There has been stiff competition for viewers in the United Kingdom, where U.S.-based Fox News was going up against British-based news organizations such as the BBC, ITV and Sky News.

A decision to approve 21st Century Fox’s bid for ownership of Sky TV was postponed last June by U.K. Culture Secretary Karen Bradly, pending additional review and analysis by the country’s Competition and Markets Authority.  21st Century Fox currently owns 39 percent of Sky TV.

In the United States, Fox News finished August as the most-watched channel on basic cable, according to Nielsen Media Research.  The network has held this title for 14 consecutive months.

President Trump Blames Media for Racial Tensions

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Photo courtesy Wikimedia.

On Tuesday, President Donald Trump led crowds in his first campaign-style rally in Phoenix, the first since a white supremacist rally in Virginia resulted in the death of one counter-demonstrator and nearly two dozen others injured.  At the rally, Trump spent much of his time speaking blaming the media for the racial tensions highlighted since Charlottesville.

“Not only does the media give a platform to hate groups, but the media turns a blind eye to the gang violence on our streets, the failures of our public school, the destruction of our wealth at the hands of our terrible, terrible trade deals made by our politicians that should’ve never been politicians, and the hostility to our local police that work so hard and do an incredible job,” he said.

Turning specifically to criticisms he faced across the political spectrum following his initial response on Charlottesville, Trump misquoted and toned down his own statement, leaving out that he blamed people “on many sides” for the violence.

“This is me speaking. ‘We condemn in the strongest possible terms this egregious display of hatred, bigotry, and violence.’ That’s me speaking on Saturday, right after the event.”

He continued with blaming the media for the confusion stemming directly from his several days of contradictory statements following the violence: “Truly dishonest people in the media and the fake media, they make up sources.  They don’t report the facts, just like they don’t want to report that I spoke out against hatred and violence and strongly condemned the neo-Nazis, the white supremacists and the KKK.”

The president was playing to his base supporters at the rally, where he was interrupted frequently with chants of “drain the swamp” and “CNN sucks.”

Trumps Will Skip Kennedy Center Honors

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Photo courtesy Wikimedia.

President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump will not attend this year’s annual Kennedy Center Honors in December.

According to a White House statement, “The President and First Lady have decided not to participate in this year’s activities to allow the honorees to celebrate without any political distraction.”

Several honorees had said they would boycott the White House reception.  Both dancer Carmen de Lavallade and television producer Norman Lear had announced they would not attend that portion of the celebration.

“In light of the socially decisive and morally caustic narrative that our existing leadership is choosing to engage in, and in keeping with the principles that I and so many others have fought for, I will be declining the invitation to attend the reception at the White House,” de Lavallade said last week, prior to the White House announcement.

In a joint statement, Kennedy Center Chairman David M. Rubenstein and President Deborah F. Rutter said the center “respects the decision made today by the office of the President of the United States.  In choosing not to participate in this year’s Honors activities, the Administration has graciously signaled its respect for the Kennedy Center and ensures the Honors gala remains a deservingly special moment for the Honorees.  We are grateful for this gesture.”

This will be the fourth time a sitting president is not in attendance at the Honors, following Presidents Jimmy Carter in 1979, George H.W. Bush in 1989 and Bill Clinton in 1994.  All three former presidents had attended the annual celebration other years while in office.

Steve Bannon Returns to Breitbart

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Steve Bannon speaking at the 2017 Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in National Harbor, Maryland. Photo courtesy Wikimedia.

President Donald Trump has been shuffling senior staff at a brisk pace of late, including firing of chief strategist Steve Bannon on Friday.  Following his dismissal, Bannon announced he would be turning to the right-wing online blog he ran since the death of founder Andrew Breitbart in 2012.

“The populist-nationalist movement got a lot stronger today,” said Breitbart editor-in-chief Alex Marlow.  “Breitbart gained an executive chairman with his finger on the pulse of the Trump agenda.”

Only hours after being dismissed by the president, Bannon was already leading an editorial meeting for the online venue.  “We have a duty to the country to be the vanguard of ‘The Movement,’” he reminded staff, according to one person on the call.

Since returning to Breitbart News, the portal has already published stories critical of many current Trump staffers, including criticizing “New York Democrat globalists” in the administration such as first daughter Ivanka Trump, senior advisor Jared Kushner and chief economic advisor Gary Cohn as well as “hawks” like national security advisor H.R. McMaster and his deputy, Dina Powell.

In an interview with the Weekly Standard following his dismissal, Bannon seemed to lay down the line for the next phase of his relationship with the White House.

“The Trump presidency that we fought for, and won, is over,” Bannon said.  “We still have a huge movement, and we will make something of this Trump presidency.  But that presidency is over.  It’ll be something else.  And there’ll be all kinds of fights, and there’ll be good days and bad days.  But that presidency is over.”

Meanwhile, the “War Room” strategy of Bannon’s White House seems to be on pause, with most promises such as countering the rise of China, trade and immigration still unfulfilled.  According to an administration official, Bannon’s white boards he used to map out political strategies were now in storage.

James Murdoch Blasts Trump, Donates $1M to ADL

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James Murdoch in 2008.  Photo courtesy Wikimedia.

James Murdoch, CEO of 21st Century Fox and a trusted informal advisor to President Donald Trump, wrote a blistering email denouncing the president’s reaction to the violence and death last weekend in Charlottesville.

In the letter, he said that what “we watched this last week in Charlottesville and the reaction to it by the President of the United States concern all of us as Americans and free people.”

“These events remind us all why vigilance against hate and bigotry is an eternal obligation — a necessary discipline for the preservation of our way of life and our ideals. The presence of hate in our society was appallingly laid bare as we watched swastikas brandished on the streets of Charlottesville and acts of brutal terrorism and violence perpetrated by a racist mob,” Murdoch continued.

Also, he made the point that “I can’t even believe I have to write this: standing up to Nazis is essential; there are no good Nazis.  Or Klansmen, or terrorists.”

Murdoch concludes the email by noting he and his wife Kathryn would donate $1 million to the Anti-Defamation League, a renown international non-governmental organization working to fight anti-Semitism, and encouraged his friends to give as well.

Murdoch’s firm, 21st Century Fox, is the parent company of Fox News.  His father Rupert also has very close ties with Trump, speaking with the president several times a week, as confirmed by sources in both the White House and at Fox News.

Boston Mayor’s Top Aide Daniel Koh Running for Open Congressional Seat?

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Photo courtesy City of Boston.

Following Representative Niki Tsongas’ announcement that she is retiring at the end of her term, several public figures have been mentioned as potential replacements for the Boston-area seat.

Many insiders mention Daniel Koh, Boston Mayor Martin Walsh’s chief of staff, as a likely candidate in the upcoming Democratic primary.  The Andover native and Harvard alum has long been suspected of eyeing a congressional run.

The 32-year-old recently commented on his plans to run for federal office:  “I’d be disingenuous if I said I never thought about it.”

Mayor Walsh explained he and Koh have grown close as a team during his term for the better.  “We’ve really learned off each other.  I’m certainly more analytical now… [Koh] has picked up a lot of my passion for politics.”

Real victories in the political arena, according to Koh, are assisting constituents.  He says helping a Roxbury senior citizen fix a ramp was his most gratifying accomplishment of his career.  Koh has also played a critical hand in streamlining city permits, overhauling the Cabinet structure, and helping close the deal on General Electric’s recent decision to relocate to Boston.

Asked to comment on Koh and the open congressional seat, City Hall spokeswoman Laura Oggeri declined to comment.

Huckabee Sanders: Televised White House Briefings to Remain ‘For Now’

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Photo courtesy Pixabay.

Last week, new White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders gave tepid support to returning to the tradition that White House press briefings would likely remain on-camera, potentially defusing an issue of contention with the press corps.

“Yeah, I think for now,” she said in an interview with The New York Times. “We’ll see what happens.”

Sanders was promoted to press secretary after her predecessor, Sean Spicer, resigned following the announcement that Anthony Scaramucci would be appointed White House communications director. Less than two weeks later, Scaramucci was fired by incoming chief of staff John Kelly.

She also recently took over the White House press secretary’s Twitter handle from Spicer, which has been handed down to staffers in that role since the Obama administration.

Attorney General Announces Review of Policy Regarding Subpoenaing Reporters in Leak Crackdown Efforts

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By U.S. Customs and Border Protection (160120-H-NI589-0103) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced a government-wise, comprehensive effort to crackdown on government “leakers,” including a review of the Justice Department’s policies toward media outlets that publish information that is considered sensitive.

Joined by Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats, the attorney general said agencies will direct additional resources into investigations of leaks, and would focus on prosecuting individuals that relay sensitive information to the media or foreign agents.

“We respect the important role the press plays and we’ll give them respect, but it’s not unlimited,” Sessions said. “They cannot place lives at risk with impunity. We must balance the press’ role with protecting our national security and the lives of those who serve in the intelligence community, the Armed Forces and all law-abiding Americans.”

Sessions declined to elaborate on specific investigations, but noted that four individuals have already been charged with the unlawful release of government information.

Scaramucci Removed as White House Communications Director

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SkyBridge Capital founder Anthony Scaramucci speaks at the 2016 SkyBridge Alternatives “SALT” Conference at the Bellagio Resort & Casino in Las Vegas. Photo courtesy Wikipedia.

President Donald Trump has removed Anthony Scaramucci from his role as White House communications director, as reported by The New York Times.

The Wall Street financier was brought to Washington just 10 days prior, which resulted in several staff members to leave, including Sean Spicer as press secretary and Reince Priebus as chief of staff.

The decision came as former Secretary of Homeland Security John F. Kelly began his tenure as new chief of staff.  Several people with knowledge about the decision said the president removed Scaramucci at Kelly’s request.  Scaramucci had said he was to report directly to the president, instead of the traditional role answering to the chief of staff.

“Anthony Scaramucci will be leaving his role as White House Communications Director,” said press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders in a release. “Mr. Scaramucci felt it was best to give Chief of Staff John Kelly a clean slate and the ability to build his own team. We wish him all the best.”

There was no clarification as to whether Scaramucci will remain a White House employee in a different position or out of the administration altogether.