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."

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Ex-NBC staffer details secret affair with Matt Lauer

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."

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Matt Lauer still living with wife, no plans for a comeback

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 dossier has come under increased scrutiny after it was revealed that it received funding from the Clinton campaign and the Democratic National Committee, prompting Trump to accuse the FBI of using “this Crooked Hillary pile of garbage” dossier to go after his campaign.
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.

New York Times Fake News Cartoons

It's a new year: Trump takes whack at New York Times' new publisher

No sooner did the new publisher of the New York Times promise his readers to uphold the principles of independent journalism yesterday than President Trump took a giant whack at the paper.

Welcome to 2018, which is shaping up much the same as 2017 when it comes to the president and the press.

A.G. Sulzberger, who just took over the job from his father, Arthur Sulzberger Jr., said in a full-page letter:
"Misinformation is rising and trust in the media is declining as technology platforms elevate clickbait, rumor and propaganda over real journalism, and politicians jockey for advantage by inflaming suspicion of the press."
Well, he’s right about the declining trust part. And it’s not hard to figure out which "inflaming" politician he had in mind.
That person quickly got on Twitter and said: "Get impartial journalists of a much higher standard, lose all of your phony and non-existent 'sources,' and treat the President of the United States FAIRLY, so that the next time I (and the people) win, you won't have to write an apology to your readers for a job poorly done!"
(Actually, Sulzberger Jr. had written a public letter after the 2016 election asking: "Did Donald Trump’s sheer unconventionality lead us and other news outlets to underestimate his support among American voters?" There was no apology.)
Just last week, President Trump told the same newspaper that he has an ace in the hole for 2020: the press.
Now this might seem a tad counterintuitive, since he has been lambasting the news business for more than two years as a bastion of bias, a fortress of fake news. And much of the media have responded with aggressive coverage that every study has found to be predominantly negative.
If there's any entity out there that is not exactly disposed to give this president the benefit of the doubt, it’s the fourth estate.
Yet Trump believes that, when it comes to the bottom line, the media need him.
This is not based on unnamed sources, whose very existence is often challenged by the president, but from the newsmaker-in-chief himself.
As Trump told Times reporter Michael Schmidt:
"Another reason that I'm going to win another four years, is because newspapers, television, all forms of media will tank if I'm not there because without me, their ratings are going down the tubes ...
"So they basically have to let me win. And eventually, probably six months before the election, they'll be loving me because they're saying, 'Please, please, don't lose Donald Trump.' O.K."
Well, let’s just say I’m skeptical about the "have to let me win" part. But I’ve been saying for a long time that Trump, as a political phenomenon, has been a gold mine for the media business.
Fox News was the highest-rated cable network in 2017, for the second straight year. But MSNBC and CNN also had record-breaking years. The Times is not so failing, enjoying a mammoth surge of digital subscriptions.
In fact, there are very few media outlets that haven’t benefited from Trump’s nonstop newsmaking. Those openly opposed to Trump are marketing themselves to the resistance, those openly backing Trump appeal to his loyal supporters (who don’t trust the MSM), and those that are trying to position themselves in the middle benefit from a hyped-up atmosphere in which everyone is debating politics, from the coffee shop to Twitter and Facebook.
That’s the great irony of this new era: the media, targeted and taunted by Trump, are also riding the financial wave he’s created.
And the president, in turn, feeds off the constant media attention to drive his agenda.
As a businessman, it's not surprising that Trump believes the press will want to keep the cash registers ringing after 2020. He thinks in terms of monetizing assets. He once threatened to pull out of a CNN debate, noting the soaring advertising rates, unless its president Jeff Zucker donated the profits to veterans' causes.
But most journalists don't think like corporate suits. The notion that they would go easy on Trump in the next campaign to avoid killing the golden goose strikes me as far-fetched (though they have a responsibility to be equally tough on the Democratic candidate). In fact, I could imagine many pundits taking a victory lap if they felt they had contributed to sending the president back to Trump Tower.
Donald Trump undoubtedly knows this. I suspect he's trolling the media, having a little fun at their expense. But he's also right that the constant combat has been ringing their cash registers.
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. 

US judge orders release of detained Iraqis waiting deportation over criminal convictions

U.S. District Judge Mark Goldsmith, Obama appointed

 

A U.S. District Judge in Detroit snubbed the Trump administration’s crackdown on immigrants on Tuesday, ordering the federal government to either release or grant bond hearings to Iraqi immigrants waiting to be deported due to criminal records.

U.S. District Judge Mark Goldsmith said in the ruling that the Iraqis held in custody for six months or longer must either be granted a bond hearing or be released within 30 days, Reuters reported.

“Our legal tradition rejects warehousing human beings while their legal rights are being determined,” wrote the judge in the ruling.
Roughly 1,400 Iraqi immigrants, including hundreds already in custody, are facing deportations back to their native country due to criminal convictions. Until recently Iraq refused to take them back, but an apparent deal between the Iraqi and U.S. governments in March allowed the government to proceed with the crackdown.
The move against Iraqi immigrants with criminal convictions was part of a larger move by the Trump administration to enforce existing immigration laws and ensure other countries - which previously ignored U.S. calls to take their citizens back – comply with the orders.
But last year, Goldsmith halted the deportations of the Iraqis, claiming they, many of whom are Christians, would be subjected to dangers in the country over their religion.
“Each petitioner faces the risk of torture or death on the basis of residence in America and publicized criminal records. Many will also face persecution as a result of a particular religious affiliation,” the judge said.
He also said that the U.S. government does not have a “written agreement” with Iraq regarding the cooperation and it remains unclear if the country wishes to take back its nationals, according to Reuters.

Sen. Orrin Hatch announces he will not run for re-election in 2018

The chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, at a House-Senate conference meeting last month. He will not seek re-election in 2018, he announced.  (Reuters/Joshua Roberts)

Utah Senator Orrin Hatch, the longest-serving GOP senator, announced Tuesday that he would not seek re-election in 2018 – opening up a possible pathway to the political resurrection of 2012 Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney.

Hatch, 83, who first took his seat in 1977, had been debating whether to run again, and President Trump had publicly beseeched him not to retire.

In a video statement released Tuesday, however, Hatch said that he would vacate his seat at the end of his term.
"I was an amateur boxer in my youth, and I brought that fighting spirit with me to Washington,” Hatch said. “But every good fighter knows when to hang up the gloves. And for me, that time is soon approaching.”
Romney, a former governor of Massachussets and a vocal critic of the president, is widely reported to be considering running for Hatch’s seat. In a statement, Romney said Hatch had "represented the interests of Utah with distinction and honor."
The move is a blow for Trump, who pushed Hatch to stay on in a visit to Utah in December.
“We hope you will continue to serve your state and your country in the Senate for a very long time to come,” Trump said.
Hatch has been a strong supporter of the president’s agenda, and as chairman of the Senate Finance Committee was a key player in getting the tax reform bill passed in December.
White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said at the daily press briefing on Tuesday that Trump was "very sad" to see Hatch leave.
“The president certainly has the greatest and deepest amount of respect for Senator Hatch and his over four decades of experience in the Senate,” Sanders said. “He is particularly thankful for the senator's leadership and massive effort that he played and the role that he played in getting the tax cut and reform package passed.”
Trump later took to Twitter to congratulate Hatch "on an absolutely incredible career."
"He has been a tremendous supporter, and I will never forget the (beyond kind) statements he has made about me as President. He is my friend and he will be greatly missed in the U.S. Senate!" the president said.
In his statement, Hatch noted that he had authored more bills that became law than any living member of Congress. He also hailed the passage of the Religious Freedom Restoration Act as one of his proudest legislative achievements.
“I'm deeply grateful for the privilege you've given me to serve as your senator these last four decades,” he said in the statement. “I may be leaving the Senate, but the next chapter in my public service is just beginning.”

Trump fights fake news with 'awards' for 'most dishonest & corrupt media'

President Trump taunted the media Tuesday night with a mysterious announcement of “the most dishonest & corrupt media awards.”

“I will be announcing THE MOST DISHONEST & CORRUPT MEDIA AWARDS OF THE YEAR on Monday at 5:00 o’clock,” Trump tweeted, without specifying if the event would take place in the morning or the afternoon. “Subjects will cover Dishonesty & Bad Reporting in various categories from the Fake News Media. Stay tuned!”

The tweet was the latest shot in a longstanding battle between the president and what he’s derided as the “fake news media.” Based on his past comments, it's clear who could get nominated for the new “awards.”
Throughout the past year, the commander-in-chief often has called out major newspapers and news networks for getting stories wrong, and has questioned their anonymous sources.
“Whenever you see the words ‘sources say’ in the fake news media, and they don’t mention names,” Trump wrote in May 2017, “it is very possible that those sources don’t exist but are made up by fake news writers. #FakeNews is the enemy!”
TRUMP TELLS KIM JONG UN HIS ‘NUCLEAR BUTTON’ IS LARGER, ‘MORE POWERFUL’
For example, Trump slammed the Washington Post in December 2017 for a story claiming he came close to “rescinding” the nomination for Supreme Court pick Neil Gorsuch prior to his confirmation hearing.
And also, when he called out CNN in a tweet for its report on WikiLeaks documents provided to his campaign. The network eventually backed off its initial report saying the documents weren't public.
TRUMP LAUNCHES 2018 WITH TWEET TORNADO ON HUMA, DACA, KIM, NYT AND MORE
To end 2017 and welcome in the New Year, the president drafted a tweet wishing his “friends, supporters, enemies, haters, and even the very dishonest Fake News Media, a Happy and Healthy New Year.”
And most recently, Trump congratulated the new publisher of “The Failing New York Times” and offered a bit of unsolicited advice.
“The Failing New York Times has a new publisher, A.G. Sulzberger. Congratulations!” Trump tweeted. “Here is a last chance for the Times to fulfill the vision of its Founder, Adolph Ochs, ‘to give the news impartially, without fear or FAVOR, regardless of party, sect, or interests involved.’”
He continued: “Get impartial journalists of a much higher standard, lose all of your phony and non-existent ‘sources,’ and treat the President of the United States FAIRLY, so that the next time I (and the people) win, you won’t have to write an apology to your readers for a job poorly done! GL.”