Timothy O’Brien reports that Donald Trump said on his own syndicated radio show in 2005 that although the idea was “fairly controversial,” he wanted The Apprentice to host “a team of successful African-Americans versus a team of successful whites. Whether people like that idea or not, it is somewhat reflective of our very vicious world.”
Said Trump: “And it would be nine blacks against nine whites, all highly educated, very smart, strong, beautiful. Do you like it?”
The Atlantic: “In what appears to be a signal of intensifying political warfare ahead of the November election, One America News Network, the Trump-supporting cable channel that has been promoting anti-Biden conspiracies for several months, says it has obtained several hours of secret recordings of then–Vice President Biden’s conversations with Ukrainian officials.”
“If such recordings exist, they’re likely linked to pro-Russian interests in Ukraine and a Russian intelligence operation, two former U.S. ambassadors to Ukraine and a former ambassador to Russia told me. The OAN employee who claims to have the tapes would not say what was on them, other than suggesting that they will be revelatory.”
Gabriel Sherman: “On a Friday last August, Sean Hannity flew his private helicopter to Trump National Golf Course in Colts Neck, New Jersey, to attend the wedding of Fox & Friends weekend host Pete Hegseth and Fox producer Jennifer Rauchet. Inside Fox, the wedding had been a topic of much discussion. Hegseth and Rauchet reportedly had an affair and a child together while still married to their respective spouses. But Hannity’s helicopter arrival, a Trumpian piece of theater, was what one former Fox executive remembered most about the event.”
Said a former executive: “Hannity emerged from the chopper with Fox & Friends host Ainsley Earhardt, and they made this grand entrance together. People were like, Wow, okay.”
“It was as if Hannity and Earhardt were the first couple of Fox News—which they are. Four current and former Fox News staffers told me that Hannity and Earhardt are dating—and have been for quite some time.”
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Brian Stelter: “Watch Fox News for a few hours, and you might think rioters are still prowling America’s biggest cities, smashing windows and stealing handbags. You might think Minneapolis is still burning. You might think the unrest is getting worse.”
“In the Fox & Friends and Hannity alternative universe, the rioting is still a present-tense threat and could restart at any time. This is contradicted by every news report from every other outlet. The story now is about peaceful, powerful, sustained protest all across the country. But ‘riot porn’ video is irresistible to Fox’s producers and hosts, even though the video is out of date now.”
Daily Beast: “If the stories broadcast by the Trump-endorsed One America News Network sometimes look like outtakes from a Kremlin trolling operation, there may be a reason. One of the on-air reporters at the 24-hour network is a Russian national on the payroll of the Kremlin’s official propaganda outlet, Sputnik.”
James Bennet has resigned as editor of the New York Times’ editorial page.
Axios: “Bennet had been under fire for green-lighting an op-ed by Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR) that called on President Trump to ‘send in the troops’ in order to quell violent protests over the death of George Floyd. Times employees organized a protest on social media and claimed that publishing the op-ed put black staff in danger.”
“Facebook chief Mark Zuckerberg said Friday the social media giant will reexamine its policies against violent threats and voter suppression after facing intense backlash over its recent handling of incendiary posts by President Donald Trump, particularly from its own employees,” Politico reports.
Jonathan Karl of ABC News slammed the White House for positioning reporters closer together than usual for President Trump’s remarks in the Rose Garden.
Said Karl: “This is a flagrant violation of CDC guidelines on social distancing and a move that puts reporters at risk for the purpose of turning the press corps into a prop for a so-called ‘press conference’ where the president refuses to answer a single question.”
The New York Times issued a statement saying the op-ed by Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR) calling for President Trump to send troops into cities to break up protests fell short of the newspaper’s standards.
Jack Shaffer: “You can criticize the page for running Cotton’s retrograde views, which anybody with even a tincture of civil libertarianism running through their veins knows is wrong. But you can’t accuse the page of inconsistency. The 50-year-old section has been outraging or disappointing—depending on your point of view—readers since its founding.”
Rudy Giuliani got into a screaming match with Piers Morgan on Good Morning Britain.
Nate Silver: “On a whim I decided to look up what the top news story was at this point (June 3 at 4:40 pm) exactly 4 years ago.”
President Trump, via his son-in-law Jared Kushner, encouraged the National Enquirer in 2017 to push the debunked conspiracy theory that MSNBC host Joe Scarborough murdered a female congressional aide, the Daily Beast reports.
President Trump said he believed that Joe Scarborough “got away with murder,” returning to talk of an unfounded conspiracy theory about the “Morning Joe” host, The Hill reports.
Said Trump: “I’ve always felt that he got away with murder. That was my feeling, a very strong feeling, and I do feel it.”
Journalist Robert Bumsted is heard on a video clip explaining to New York City police officers that the press are considered “essential workers” and are allowed to be on the streets after curfew.
One officer responds, “I don’t give a shit.”
Another officer told Bumsted, “Get the fuck out of here you piece of shit.”
Meanwhile, a video clip shows pepper spray being shot directly at a live CNN camera outside the White House.
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg stood firmly behind his decision to not do anything about President Trump’s inflammatory posts on the social network, saying that he had made a “tough decision” but that it “was pretty thorough,” the New York Times reports.
In a question-and-answer session with employees conducted over video chat software, Mr. Zuckerberg sought to justify his position on Mr. Trump’s messages, which has led to fierce internal dissent.
“Tucker Carlson, the Fox News host, expressed dismay at President Donald Trump’s leadership on Monday, criticizing the president’s handling of mass protests that have engulfed cities across the country and singling out an influential member of his family,” Politico reports.
“Carlson, who often uses his show to ardently defend the president and attack Trump’s foes, lambasted the nation’s leaders across the political spectrum for letting protests get out of hand. He also went after Jared Kushner, saying ‘no one has more contempt’ for the president’s supporters than Trump’s son-in-law and senior adviser. He accused Kushner of breaking starkly from Trump’s platform and talking Trump out of taking decisive actions.”
Fox News: “An angry mob of rioters stoked by the death of a black man at the apparent hand of a Minneapolis cop turned its rage on a Fox News crew early Saturday, chasing and pummeling the journalists outside the White House in a harrowing scene captured on video.”
“This has been just a remarkable day in the news, and I don’t mean that in a good way; I almost never do.”
— Rachel Maddow, on MSNBC.
Taegan Goddard is the founder of Political Wire, one of the earliest and most influential political web sites. He also runs Political Job Hunt, Electoral Vote Map and the Political Dictionary.
Goddard spent more than a decade as managing director and chief operating officer of a prominent investment firm in New York City. Previously, he was a policy adviser to a U.S. Senator and Governor.
Goddard is also co-author of You Won - Now What? (Scribner, 1998), a political management book hailed by prominent journalists and politicians from both parties. In addition, Goddard's essays on politics and public policy have appeared in dozens of newspapers across the country.
Goddard earned degrees from Vassar College and Harvard University. He lives in New York with his wife and three sons.
Goddard is the owner of Goddard Media LLC.
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