THE HEADLINES
CNN PUTS STELTER OUT OF HIS MISERY: CNN media commentator Brian Stelter, host of the scantly viewed “Reliable Sources,” has been fired after months of speculation that CEO Chris Licht sees him as too partisan for a real news network. Read more.
EX-TRUMP EXEC PLEADS GUILTY: Allen Weisselberg, a longtime top executive at the Trump Organization, pleaded guilty today to tax evasion, including failing to report around $1.7 million of income in the form of free rent, school tuition and car payments. Thus concluded what many supporters of former President Trump see as a political prosecution. Read more.
CHENEY SAYS “NEVER TRUMP” FOREVER: Following her decisive rejection by Republican primary voters, Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., revealed a new PAC named “The Great Task” in reference to Abraham Lincoln. She is expected to launch a new organization to combat Trump’s influence over the GOP in coming weeks, the Wall Street Journal reported yesterday. Read more.
CDC SELF-DIAGNOSES ACUTE FAILURE: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention wracked up “dramatic, pretty public mistakes from testing to data to communications” during the COVID-19 epidemic and must be overhauled to restore public trust, director Rochelle Walensky said yesterday in a video address to the agency’s 11,000 employees. Read more.
PENCE BLASTS “DEFUND THE FBI”: Former Vice President Mike Pence yesterday denounced Trump supporters’ recent calls to “defund the FBI” as “just as wrong as calls to defund the police,” further distancing himself from his ex-boss. Read more.