| | | | | A demonstrator holds up a sign and flag after leaving the Albert V. Bryan US Courthouse after the jury announced verdicts in the trial for former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort Tuesday. Credit: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images | | | The President's Former Campaign Chair and Personal Lawyer are Convicted Felons: What everyone's talking about
Front Pages for History: How A1s covered the news
What Trump Talked About at His Rally: ESPN and his mother's Thanksgiving turkey, but not Cohen or Manafort | | | What the White House is Talking About:
President Trump at 3 p.m. today will give the Medal of Honor posthumously to Air Force Tech Sgt. John Chapman, who in 2002 valiantly protected American troops under fire in Afghanistan during an al Qaeda attack. A White House briefing is scheduled for 2:15 p.m.
What the White House Press Corps is Talking About:
Drinking news from a fire hose.
Two of the President's former right-hand men are now, as of yesterday, convicted felons.
There will be a press briefing with Sarah Sanders today, scheduled for 2:30pm.
Michael Cohen Pleads Guilty, Collective Gasp:
Yesterday afternoon was a doozy of a few hours for news as Trump's former personal lawyer and fixer Michael Cohen pleaded guilty to eight criminal charges, and implicated the President. Cohen also admitted to using funds to pay for the silence of two women during the campaign who claimed to have had affairs with Trump. Cohen is now looking at up to five years in prison as part of his punishment.
In response, Trump this morning had some solid legal advice: | | Credit: @realDonaldTrump/Twitter
Ok, guy.
Then he said the charges that Cohen had been charged with and admitted guilt to and could send him to prison aren't really crimes. | | Credit: @realDonaldTrump/Twitter
Meanwhile, Lanny Davis, Cohen's lawyer, said last night to Chris Cuomo that Cohen has information that would be valuable to Robert Mueller and the Russia investigation. Davis also this morning on CNN said that Cohen could testify before Congress -- there is renewed interest from the Senate Intelligence Committee to speak to him -- without immunity.
No, Pardon Me:
There are conspiracy theorists out there who believed Cohen's guilty plea was part of an elaborate plan to fall on the sword for his boss and then received a pardon from him. We're not into theories around these parts, but just in case anyone was going down that road, Davis this morning clearly stated Cohen does not want, nor will he ask for, a pardon from the president. And he would refuse one if offered.
Cherchez le Birkin. It's Always The Birkin:
One of the things Cohen was guilty of was not reporting on his tax forms the $30,000 he apparently made while brokering the sale of a Birkin bag. For the fashion uninitiated, a Birkin is a famous bag made by Hermes, and prices for them can range from $10,000 to $500,000, depending on the leather and the type of skin used to make them, etc. They are the ultimate symbol of wealth and luxury in certain circles (Melania as at least seven of them, by my count) and it's not uncommon for women to re-sell or consign them from time to time.
Paul Manafort Also Went Down Yesterday:
Former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort, he of the fancy-pants suits and ostrich jackets, was found guilty in a courtroom yesterday as well. Manafort was charged with 18 counts of various felony financial misdoings. The jury there deliberated for days before announcing Manafort's fate: He was found guilty of eight of the charges and could face up to 80 years in prison. Trump, however, doesn't have the animosity he has expressed for Cohen. The President this morning gave Manafort the Twitter equivalent of an "'atta boy!" praising him for not breaking and "making up stories," clearly a dig at Cohen and his credibility.
Front Pages for History:
Lots of folks buying the print versions of these newspapers today, I'm guessing. | | Credit: washingtonpost.com, nytimes.com
The Running of the Interns:
Since there were no electronics allowed in the Manafort courtroom, it was up to media interns to race out with the news of a verdict. This is what it looks like: | | Credit: @mitchellreports/Twitter
Michael Cohen's Daughter Deletes Her Jet-Setting Instagram Account:
Michael Cohen's daughter Samantha had an (open) Instagram account, on which she chronicled her pretty fabulous recent travels. This summer, while her dad was deep in legal hot water, she was in all sorts of playgrounds of the rich and famous: Monte Carlo, Ibiza, Positano, St.-Jean-Cap-Ferrat. It was a tour de bikinis and parties, as you can see from a screen shot I took yesterday afternoon, just for posterity. And it's a good thing I did, because several hours later when I went back to take a look again, it had all been deleted. Cohen has cited his family as the main reason he wanted to come clean with his legal issues and plead guilty. Listen, everyone has a right to social media how he or or she chooses, I'm the last one to pass judgment on that front. And how a family handles its business is nobody's business but that family's. But I did think it interesting that she took the step of deleting all 761 images of her personal life on the evening her father was convicted. | | Credit: washingtonpost.com, nytimes.com
Our Daily Melania:
Oh, ok, NOW y'all are paying attention.
Frank Bruni today wrote an op-ed in the New York Times basically saying what I've been saying for the past year and a half but it's cool. | | What Washington is Talking About:
Republicans are being pretty chill about Tuesday's news about Paul Manafort and Michael Cohen, at least publicly. Some dismissed it because it had nothing to do with Russia, and Speaker Ryan said he wanted "more information than is currently available at this point." Democrats are relatively chill too; Nancy Pelosi told the AP impeaching President Trump is "not a priority" right now "unless something else comes forward."
And Rep. Duncan Hunter, a California Republican, and wife have been indicted and accused of illegally using campaign funds for personal expenses. Ryan said Hunter has been stripped of his committee assignments.
What America is Talking About:
The President of the United States' former personal attorney pleaded guilty to eight counts of campaign finance violations, tax fraud and bank fraud, and he said he did so "in coordination and at the direction of a candidate for federal office" (aka Trump, or as he's referred to in court documents, "Individual-1") to keep information that would have hurt Trump's chances of winning in 2016 from going public, and the President's former campaign chairman was found guilty of eight counts of tax fraud, failing to file a foreign bank account, and bank fraud.
Poll of the Day:
The percentage of Americans who hope the US will elect a female president has risen from 38% in 2014 to 45% today, according to a Pew poll. | | Credit: Pew
Facebook and Twitter Just Deleted More Than 900 Iranian Pages and Accounts That Were Part of a Disinformation Campaign:
Facebook said Tuesday it removed 652 pages, groups, and accounts for a campaign that originated in Iran. The company said it also removed pages linked to Russia, but found no activity by these particular pages that targeted the US this time. The Iranian efforts targeted the US, Middle East, Latin America, and the UK. Twitter said it suspended 284 accounts that were involved in "coordinated manipulation" and said many of the accounts appeared to originate from Iran. Here are two examples of English-language memes shared by Iran-linked pages on Facebook: | | Credit: via Facebook
This is What Trump Talked About at His Rally:
Trump covered a lot of ground during his rally in Charleston, West Virginia, last night. Here is some of what Trump said: - He said his mother's Thanksgiving turkey took eight hours to cook.
- He criticized ESPN for not showing the National Anthem before Monday Night Football.
- He said, "Everyone of us is sort of like a newspaper" because of social media.
- He said he prefers "fake news" to social media censorship. "You can't pick one person and say, 'We don't like what he's been saying, he's out,'" he said. "So we will live with fake news. I hate to say it, but we have no choice because that's by far the better alternative."
- He said Iowa student Mollie Tibbett's death "should have never happened" and alluded to the undocumented immigrant arrested in connection to her death, saying Republicans need to be elected to Congress to get immigration laws "changed."
- He again claimed there was "no collusion."
And here's what he didn't say: - The name "Paul Manafort"
- The name "Michael Cohen"
| | Credit: Spencer Platt/Getty Images
Get Abs Like Karen:
If you'd like to exercise like Karen McDougal, the former Playboy bunny Cohen paid off to keep quiet about her alleged affair with Trump, she's on the cover of the September issue of Men's Journal. | | Credit: Hunter Schwarz
In the magazine, she gives four moves for stronger abs: 1. top banana, 2. V-up banded row, 3. pushup with cross reach, and 4. side plank twist. Men's Journal is owned by American Media, Inc., the parent company of the National Enquirer, and Cohen allegedly worked with the company's CEO David Pecker as well as with Trump to cover up the alleged affair. | | Credit: Hunter Schwarz
The Library of Congress Got a New Logo:
The Library of Congress unveiled a new brand identity Tuesday, and I'm here for it. "Library" is written in the font Druk Condensed Super, and the letters move to fit in other images, inspired by books being arranged around items on a bookshelf. Pentagram, the firm behind the brand identity, posted more about it here. | | Credit: Pentagram
Street Art Sighting:
Projection artist Robin Bell lit up the Trump International in D.C. last night with the words "Felons Welcome Here," "Criminal," and "Guilty." | | Credit: @bellvisuals/Instagram
If you spot political street art, tweet me @hunterschwarz, tag me on Instagram @hunterschwarz, or email me at coverlinehunter@cnn.com with your sighting so I can feature it in COVER/LINE. | | | | | | |
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