Thursday, January 4, 2018
Forget 2012! Press embraces Mitt Romney for Trump detractor-in-chief
The press is developing a strange new respect for Mitt Romney.
You know, the guy who drew such derision and ridicule when he ran for president in 2012.
That guy was widely depicted as an out-of-touch
plutocrat who had a house with a car elevator, babbled about binders
full of women, and strapped his dog to the roof of the family car.Ah, but as Romney gears up to run for the Senate in the wake of Orrin Hatch's retirement, many pundits have found something to love about the man:
He's a fierce critic of President Trump.
And that's why the press has been in a run-Mitt-run mode.
Romney is considered the heavy favorite in Utah now that Hatch, at 83, says he’s hanging it up. And there is media excitement at the prospect of having a nationally known Trump detractor in Washington.
CNN says it all in the lead: "The Republican opposition to President Donald Trump is poised to get a new champion: Mitt Romney."
Politico delights in "the fraught relationship between the Republican heavyweights — one that will now take center stage as Romney prepares a Senate bid."
Center stage! That didn't take long.
Now it's obviously true that Trump and Romney don't exactly think highly of each other. The president, who backed the former Massachusetts governor six years ago, later accused him of choking like a dog. And Romney ripped the president last year, despite the little dance they had when Trump was ostensibly considering him for secretary of State—which never seemed like a serious prospect.
"While laying the groundwork for a prospective bid," Politico says, "Romney has made little secret that he will be unafraid of taking on the president. The 2012 GOP nominee has informed a series of Republican Party donors, senators and power brokers in recent weeks that, while he isn't looking to pick a fight with Trump, he is more than willing to speak out against him. During the 2016 campaign, Romney derided Trump as a 'phony' and 'fraud' and implored the party to nominate someone else ...
"Romney is also guided by frustration with the president ... The president and his top advisers remain suspicious of Romney, who criticized Trump over the course of his first year in office."
The New York Times says "Romney’s potential ascent is particularly alarming to the White House because the former presidential candidate has an extensive political network and could use the Senate seat as a platform to again seek the nomination. Even if he were not to run again for president, a Senator Romney could prove a pivotal swing vote, impervious to the entreaties of a president he has scorned and able to rally other Trump skeptics in the chamber."
Now some of this may be wishful thinking. Liberal Washington Post blogger Greg Sargent says the expectation is "that Romney will vote for Trump’s policy agenda 99.9999 percent of the time." But since the president is "catastrophically unfit to serve," in his view, left-wingers "should hope that Romney does become at least a serious voice of opposition to Trump."
Obviously, a presidential candidate draws far tougher media scrutiny than someone running for one of 100 Senate seats. And candidate Romney made more than his share of mistakes. But most of the media back then were wedded to a portrait of Romney as a wealthy 1950s sitcom dad who liked firing poor people.
Now that he’s poised to take on Donald Trump rather than running against Barack Obama, Romney is getting a far warmer media reception.
Howard Kurtz is a Fox News analyst and the host of "MediaBuzz" (Sundays 11 a.m.). He is the author of five books and is based in Washington. Follow him at @HowardKurtz. Click here for more information on Howard Kurtz.
Matt Lauer still sending notes to 'Today' producers, report says
Fired "Today" host Matt Lauer has been sending
unsolicited feedback to show producers, despite being kicked to the curb
more than a month ago.
The New York Post reported
late Wednesday that Lauer's notes include critiquing the music that was
used to launch a segment on the long-running news program.
The report added that Lauer's feedback has "not been warmly received by 'Today' staff."Lauer was dismissed in late November after a colleague accused him of what NBC described as "inappropriate sexual behavior" at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia. Reports in Variety and The New York Times detailed a sordid history of sexual harassment and assault allegations against the anchor, who had been a fixture on "Today" since the mid-1990s.
The allegations against Lauer led to criticism of NBC News executives, some of whom were accused of turning a blind eye to the sordid deeds of one of the network's highest-paid stars.
EX-NBC NEWS PRODUCTION ASSISTANT REVEALS SECRET RELATIONSHIP WITH MATT LAUER
Addie Collins Zinone, a former NBC production assistant who had a consensual relationship with Lauer in the summer of 2000, wrote in Variety that there was "no way [Lauer] could have gotten away with it without others above him making these situations go away — manipulating, strategizing, whatever it is they did to wield their power against the powerless."
In a statement after his firing, Lauer said, "Repairing the damage [from the allegations] will take a lot of time and soul searching and I’m committed to beginning that effort. It is now my full-time job."
MATT LAUER STILL LIVING WITH WIFE IN HAMPTONS AS SOURCE REVEALS DISGRACED HOST JUST WANTS TO 'PLAY GOLF'
A source told the Post last month that Lauer "plans to disappear and play golf ... and stay in the Hamptons. He has no intention of mounting a Billy Bush-style comeback campaign. He is going to stick to his one statement and not address the allegations further."
On Tuesday, NBC named Hoda Kotb as co-anchor of the "Today' show's first two hours with Savannah Guthrie, the first all-female team to headline "Today" in the show's 65-year history.
House Intel committee to get long-sought documents from DOJ on Fusion GPS, Nunes says
The House and Justice Department reached a deal
late Wednesday to provide records relevant to investigations of possible
Trump 2016 campaign ties to Russia that could shed a light on whether
the infamous Trump-Russia “dossier” was used to justify surveillance on
Trump campaign officials and kick-start the FBI investigation.
The deal comes after FBI Director
Christopher Wray and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein met with
House Speaker Paul Ryan to talk about the demands by the Republican-led
House Intelligence Committee to turn over documents related to the probe
into the allegations of Russian meddling in the 2016 election campaign
to prop-up the Republican candidate against Hillary Clinton, Reuters reported.
"After speaking to Deputy Attorney General Rosenstein
this evening, I believe the House Intelligence Committee has reached an
agreement with the Department of Justice that will provide the committee
with access to all the documents and witnesses we have requested,"
House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes said in the statement. "The committee looks forward to receiving access to the documents over the coming days.”Last month, Nunes reportedly threatened to vote to hold the DOJ and FBI in contempt of Congress if they did not turn over the sought materials.
The House intelligence committee reportedly issued subpoenas to Wray and Rosenstein in August – with a deadline to comply in September – requesting records related to the bureau’s relationship with former British spy Christopher Steele who produced the salacious yet unverified “dossier”.
WOW, @foxandfrlends “Dossier is bogus. Clinton Campaign, DNC funded Dossier. FBI CANNOT (after all of this time) VERIFY CLAIMS IN DOSSIER OF RUSSIA/TRUMP COLLUSION. FBI TAINTED.” And they used this Crooked Hillary pile of garbage as the basis for going after the Trump Campaign!— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 26, 2017
The panel, led by Nunes, also sought to know to what extent the dossier was used to justify FISA warrants to surveil Trump campaign adviser Carter Page and to launch the FBI’s probe into Russian alleged interference in the 2016 election campaign.
Both agencies refused to comply with the issued subpoenas until now, according to Reuters, because the FBI was in the process of conducting their investigation, as supervised by Special Counsel Robert Mueller.
Trump lawyer threatens 'imminent' legal action against Steve Bannon, gives 24 hours to cease and desist
President Trump’s lawyers sent a
cease-and-desist letter Wednesday night and threatened ‘imminent’ legal
action against former top strategist Steve Bannon, capping a whirlwind
day marked by a no-holds-barred war of words between the two men.
The letter is a response to sharply
critical comments that Bannon reportedly made to journalist Michael
Wolff about Trump’s campaign and leadership.
Charles Harder, Trump’s attorney, charges in the letter
that Bannon violated a non-disclosure agreement signed during the
campaign by disclosing confidential information, speaking to the media
about the campaign and disparaging members of the Trump family.Additionally, Harder suggests that Bannon told lies that defamed and slandered Trump.
FLEISCHER: TRUMP STATEMENT LIKE A '2x4 TO THE HEAD' OF BANNON
“You have breached the Agreement by, among other things, communicating with author Michael Wolff about Mr. Trump, his family members, and the Company (the Trump campaign), disclosing Confidential Information to Mr. Wolff, and making disparaging statements and in some cases outright defamatory statements to Mr. Wolff about Mr. Trump, his family members, and the Company,” Trump attorney Charles Harder wrote to Bannon.
In a statement Wednesday night, Harder wrote that Bannon’s actions give rise to “numerous legal claims including defamation by libel and slander, and breach of his written confidentiality and non-disparagement agreement with our clients. Legal action is imminent.”
Harder requests in the letter that Bannon cease publishing defamatory or confidential information and immediately begin preserving relevant documents, a standard demand typically made before the commencement of legal action.
"Please confirm in writing within twenty-four (24) hours of the transmission of this letter that the foregoing demands will be, and are being, fully complied with," the letter states.
Bannon told Wolff in an interview that senior Trump officials’ meeting with Russians in Trump Tower in 2016 was “treasonous” and “unpatriotic,” multiple outlets reported.
“[T]hey’re going to crack Don Junior like an egg on national TV,” Bannon added, according to accounts of the interview.
And in excerpts from Wolff’s upcoming book, “Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House,” also published Wednesday, Bannon is quoted maligning the Trump campaign’s organization and divulging other details of his time in the White House.
Trump fired back in an official White House statement later in the day.
“Steve Bannon has nothing to do with me or my presidency,” the statement said. “When he was fired, he not only lost his job, he lost his mind.”
“Steve had very little to do with our historic victory, which was delivered by the forgotten men and women of this country,” Trump added. “Yet Steve had everything to do with the loss of a Senate seat in Alabama held for more than thirty years by Republicans. Steve doesn’t represent my base—he’s only in it for himself.”
Bannon appeared on Sirius XM’s Patriot Channel’s “Breitbart News Tonight” late Wednesday and called Trump a “great man.” When asked by a caller about Trump’s comments about him on Twitter, Bannon appeared to shake off Trump’s remarks.
“You know I support him day in and day out, whether going through the country giving the Trump miracle speech or on the show or on the website,” he said.
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