Make Sonic Boom Again Mark Meadows Congress

Mark Meadows, the point, and the dissonance

Concluding Tuesday, nosotros learned that Marker Meadows, who served as chief of staff in the waning days of the Trump White Firm, had agreed to cooperate with the congressional committee probing the insurrection at the Capitol on January 6. Meadows—who worked to try to overturn Trump'southward election defeat and was by his side while the Capitol was attacked—had initially refused to cooperate with the probe, citing Trump'due south (dubious) claims of executive privilege, then U-turned later on the committee started to pursue antipathy charges against recalcitrant witnesses. He turned over documents and agreed to sit for a degradation. Large questions remained, however, equally to how meaningful Meadows'due south cooperation would be. He continued to cite executive privilege.

Throughout the day, reporters and pundits seemed to disagree with each other—and themselves—as to how big a deal the understanding really was. CNN'southward story that broke the news called it "a critical shift" that also "could exist delicate." On the network's air, Alisyn Camerota called information technology "a big development" while Paula Reid called it "a really significant development" but also noted that "there's a big question about what exactly will happen"; later, Anderson Cooper sounded notes of skepticism virtually its significance earlier request John Dean, the star Watergate witness, whether in that location are "any circumstances under which you see Mark Meadows being a John Dean level bombshell witness for this committee?" (John Dean said he thought Mark Meadows would be a Marker Meadows, non a John Dean.) Over on MSNBC, Brian Williams said that Meadows had given the committee "a bang-up headline," before quipping that of the six g emails Meadows already handed over, "three thousand could be from Wayfair." The New York Times called Meadows'south move "a notable reversal for a crucial witness" earlier noting its "strict limits." The development, Political leader'southward DC Playbook newsletter judged, "shows that the Jan. half dozen console's aggressive tactics are working, obviously and elementary," but as well that "no one seems to expect that Meadows is going to show up and spill the beans about what exactly happened on Jan. 6," adding that a fight over executive privilege could before long "transport usa right back to Square One."

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Yesterday, Meadows suspended his cooperation with the committee, on the grounds that it was failing to respect executive privilege. (He says he may answer written questions.) He was slated to exist deposed today; the commission has threatened to pursue antipathy charges. "Last week, we and many others predicted that Marking Meadows's offering to 'cooperate' with the January. half dozen select committee would autumn through, putting the panel back at Square One," Playbook wrote. "That prediction proved right." The Times reported that "Meadows's reversal was the 2nd in two weeks." On MSNBC, Williams called the news "less than surprising." On CNN, Camerota said it was a "major reversal" and a "major development," while Reid called it "a significant blow" for the committee. (I'g nonetheless awaiting John Dean'due south have; someone permit me know if I missed it.)

Lawmakers on the commission take been quick to betoken out that Meadows is claiming executive privilege around his feel in the White Firm while at the aforementioned time shopping a book near his experience in the White House. (Information technology came out yesterday; every bit of last dark, it was in one,436th place on Amazon'due south book nautical chart.) The book has made headlines for its revelations nearly an episode carve up from the insurrection—Trump's diagnosis with COVID-19 final fall. Final Tuesday, just as Meadows was agreeing to cooperate with the committee, Martin Pengelly, a reporter at The Guardian, obtained a copy of the volume; the adjacent day, he broke the news that, per Meadows, Trump tested positive for COVID about a week before informing the public of a positive test. (Meadows writes that Trump tested negative later on the first positive test, only also says that Trump showed symptoms of mild illness and that he told officials in Trump's orbit to treat the president equally if he had COVID.) In the interim, Trump attended a presidential debate with Joe Biden, at least two press briefings, and various other events. On the day of his first positive test, he traveled for a rally and spoke maskless with reporters on board Air Force I. One announcer present, Michael D. Shear, of the Times, tested positive for COVID shortly after, every bit did 2 other members of the White House press corps.

It'south long been suspected that Trump may already accept known he had COVID at the debate with Biden—the moderator, Fox'southward Chris Wallace, said afterward that Trump had shown up besides late to get tested—so it's no surprise that Meadows's acknowledgment blew upwards as a big story. Maggie Haberman, of the Times, quickly confirmed Trump's early positive exam with ii other officials from his administration; over the weekend, Ashley Parker and Josh Dawsey, of the Washington Post, published a detailed reconstruction of Trump's movements that week, concluding that betwixt his first positive test and his eventual hospitalization with COVID, he came into contact with more than than five hundred people, not including attendees at his rally. (Trump called the reporting based on Meadows'due south book "false news"; Meadows went on the right-wing network Newsmax and agreed. "If you really read the book—the context of information technology—that story outlined a false positive," he claimed, contradicting what the book says.) In the days since, other stories from the book have dripped out. According to Haberman and Noah Weiland, Meadows writes that Trump was sicker than officials publicly disclosed at the time. We already knew that they lied—Meadows was literally caught on photographic camera trying to offer more a honest assessment off the tape, before going on the record and contradicting himself. Still, the confirmation seemed to irk Haberman. "In an interesting move, Meadows seems to suggest they had to mislead the public because the media might write stories proverb Trump was in even worse health," she wrote on Twitter.

As I've argued before, news cycles driven by a book near the Trump assistants tin exist deadening: often, a reporter volition exclusively obtain a book written by a Trump official or another reporter and then cover its details as urgent news, fifty-fifty if those details aren't particularly new or urgent or interesting; this then tends to drive frenzied, somewhat nostalgic cablevision-news chatter about how awful Trump was that doesn't really add anything to our understanding of his presidency. (This is not to say that such details aren't useful for the historical record, but the demands of the news are more immediate.) Nosotros've seen some of these dynamics play out effectually Meadows's volume, and its event on his standing in Trumpworld. Still, newsworthiness is the ultimate standard hither—and Meadows'due south accounting of Trump's experience with COVID is conspicuously newsworthy. As I've written before, Trump committed many of his worst sins in full public view, raising the bar, in my view, for reporting on his individual conduct. His unreported positive COVID test is an example to the contrary—we didn't know almost it earlier, information technology's undoubtedly interesting, and while it'southward not as urgent to know nearly it at present as it would have been when Trump was president, Trump plainly remains a big grapheme in public life. A longstanding issue in Trump coverage has been separating true significance from angry noise. The positive-exam story looks like a signal.

Which brings u.s.a. back to Meadows and the committee. It's non inherently a contradiction for a development to exist both meaning and still tenuous. Merely—given what nosotros know about Meadows's character, and what he told us about executive privilege—it's not articulate to me that his professed cooperation was peculiarly significant without knowing what information technology would look like. That'south not to say that his brief interactions with the committee weren't significant at all—he already handed over documents which, if Meadows's approach to his book is anything to go past, could be incriminating without him necessarily intending them to be. Indeed, CNN reported yesterday that commission members already view some of the communications that he shared equally relevant to their probe. But many of them could still exist from Wayfair; once more, nosotros just don't know still. The work of reporting out what happened on January vi will continue, committee or none.

Beneath, more on the Meadows book and politics:

• Newsy nuggets: News organizations have pursued stories about other claims from Meadows'southward volume that vary in their significance: Trump threatened to wipe out a Taliban negotiator'southward hometown; Trump "strongly considered" withdrawing his nomination of Brett Kavanaugh to serve on the Supreme Court because he was "put off" past Kavanaugh's exclamation that he "liked beer"; Trump pushed a red button on his desk, leading Meadows to brace for "whatsoever sonic boom, breaking glass, or cloud of smoke I causeless was coming," before discovering that Trump had merely ordered a Diet Coke. Meadows as well writes that he banned members of his family from making facial expressions—or even blinking—in the audience during Trump'south starting time debate with Biden, because he feared cameras would catch them and the media would pounce.
• The books beat out: The Post's Paul Farhi profiled Pengelly, of The Guardian, who scooped a number of loftier-contour books—including titles by Michael Wolff, James Comey, and Stormy Daniels—even before getting concur of Meadows'due south. Pengelly "somehow manages to get a contraband re-create of each book first—and beat the earth in spilling the most consequential and interesting details," Farhi writes. "His work has caused consternation in publishing circles because it preempts the carefully managed publicity campaigns surrounding high-profile volume releases. His stories tend 'to blow upward [publishers'] rollout plans,' said one frustrated but admiring Trump book author."
• "Complete crap": Late last calendar week, Dana Milbank, a columnist at the Mail service, published an article claiming that "the media treats Biden as badly every bit—or worse than—Trump" and citing every bit proof a "sentiment analysis" he commissioned that claimed to "measure the negativity with precision" beyond more two hundred g articles. Milbank's cavalcade was widely discussed—including at the White House—but his claims have as well drawn criticism. On Monday, Nate Silver, of the information site FiveThirtyEight, called its sentiment assay "complete crap." He added, "designing good algorithms is hard, but this is an peculiarly bad one. And as a news consumer, y'all should exist extremely wary of statistical methodologies yous don't understand simply that ostend your priors."
• Quayle's eggs-ample: Mark Z. Barabak, a columnist at the LA Times, assessed the wave of recent negative media coverage nigh Vice President Kamala Harris and situated information technology in the context of coverage of vice presidents past. Dan Quayle, who served every bit vice president to George H.West. Bush, "spent much of his iv years in the White House every bit the rep-tied, apple tree-cheeked butt of countless jokes, from which his reputation never recovered," Barabak writes. "I retrieve 1 particular visit, a domestic trip to Rochester," David Beckwith, who was Quayle'south vice presidential press secretary, told Barabak. "The headline of the paper was, 'Quayle fails to make gaffe.'"

Other notable stories:

• Vanity Fair's Joe Pompeo reports that CNN and its fired host Chris Cuomo are "on the brink of all-out war": the two sides are sniping at each other via the press while also lawyering up, with Cuomo preparing to sue CNN for the remainder of his contract, according to the New York Post. Yesterday, Jeff Zucker, CNN'southward president, confirmed at a town-hall meeting with staff that the network has not paid Cuomo whatsoever severance; Zucker likewise suggested that he does not regret waiting so long to discipline Cuomo for giving political advice to his brother, Andrew, but should have made him take take a exit of absence to do it. Meanwhile, the publisher HarperCollins said that information technology will no longer release Chris Cuomo'south forthcoming book, which was to be titled (wait for it) Deep Denial.
• In media-jobs news, The 19th*, a nonprofit newsroom that covers gender and politics, named Julia B. Chan—formerly a managing editor at KQED, in the Bay Area—as its new editor in master. Elsewhere, Yamiche Alcindor, a White Firm correspondent at PBS, will bring together the Washington team at NBC News, where she is already a correspondent. (Alcindor will continue to host Washington Calendar week on PBS.) And Emerald Robinson—the White Business firm correspondent for Newsmax who recently linked COVID vaccines to Satan and hasn't been on-air since—is officially existence axed. James Rosen, a one-time Play a trick on reporter (who has himself been accused of sexual harassment), will take Robinson's Newsmax task.
• In his newsletter, The Salve Journalism Committee, Jeremy Arnold poured some cold water on the musician Benn Jordan'south recent claim, in a YouTube video, that the reporter Ian Urbina is using a music-journalism project to "scam" artists. "The story hither from my perspective is really merely: A well-pregnant announcer tried his hand every bit a music industry innovator and made a lot of rookie errors, compounded by some bad comms decisions," while "a well-meaning musician tried his hand at journalism and fabricated a lot of rookie errors, compounded by typical mob dynamics on social media," Arnold concludes.
• According to Jewish Insider's Matthew Kassel, the Times has updated its style guide to supersede "anti-Semitism" with "antisemitism," following other outlets including BuzzFeed and the AP. The alter "reflects a deeper linguistic contend that has long been brewing inside the Jewish community," Kassel writes. The International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance has said that the hyphenated form, which was popularized by a right-fly High german polemicist, "legitimizes a form of pseudo-scientific racial classification."
• For Poynter, Julia Métraux explores why "LGBTQ+ stories are ofttimes non proportionally included in religion reporting, both in religious and mainstream publications," even though nearly one-half of LGBTQ+ adults identify as being religious. Newsroom multifariousness is one issue, Métraux reports, while "positive representation of stories at the intersection of LGBTQ+ issues and religion also varies by organized religion and denomination."
• Yesterday, French authorities arrested Khalid Aedh al-Otaibi, a Saudi man who has been linked to the assassination of the journalist Jamal Khashoggi, as he tried to leave France—simply to subsequently admit that they don't still know if they detained the right person. This morn, officials confirmed that they arrested the wrong human; the confusion reportedly stemmed from a shared name. The detained man has now been freed.
• Yesterday too marked i year since Chinese authorities arrested Haze Fan, a news assistant in Bloomberg'southward Beijing agency, on suspicion of violating national-security laws; Fan has not been seen since then, and officials have non provided further information about her case. John Micklethwait, Bloomberg's editor in chief, said that he was "very worried about her well-being." Bloomberg'south Madeleine Lim has more details.
• In the UK, Boris Johnson'southward government has come nether fire over reports that it held a Christmas political party for staff a year ago, in violation of COVID rules; Johnson has denied this, but yesterday, a leaked video showed his then-comms team joking almost a party at a practice printing briefing last December. Johnson's former adjutant Dominic Cummings (who knows a flake almost breaking COVID rules) has said that journalists were at the political party, too.
• And Greg Tate, who wrote about Blackness music and culture for the Village Voice and many other outlets, has died. He was sixty-four. The New Yorker's Hua Hsu once described Tate equally "the critic who convinced me that criticism could be fine art." Tate'south "best paragraphs throbbed like a party and chattered like a salon," Hsu wrote in 2016. "They were stylishly jam-packed with names and reference points that shouldn't have got along merely did."

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Jon Allsop is a freelance announcer whose work has appeared in the New York Review of Books, Foreign Policy, and The Nation, among other outlets. He writes CJR's newsletter The Media Today. Find him on Twitter @Jon_Allsop.

Superlative IMAGE: Quondam White House Chief of Staff Marker Meadows, center, arrives at the U.South. Capitol for the starting time day of former President Donald Trump'due south second impeachment trial in the Senate, Tuesday, Feb. 09, 2021 in Washington. (Chip Somodevilla/Pool via AP)

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