Just my way-out-there- thought: White House Communications Director Steven Cheung and Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt, aka the upper press, got tired of being asked questions that they don’t have answers to. Limit the access the so-called-press to appointment only means they will have answers to the questions they approved to be asked.
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He also did not address questions about the pattern of insults, indignities, and increased partisanship in the White House press shop.
Way to go, Hunter!
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Form an alternate that meets at the same time.
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I object to the comment that there are few true journalists out there. I am the widow of an investigative reporter/columnist for a major publication. We had death threats and all kinds of harassment. His publication had bomb threats that forced them to shut their offices and printing plant down for a day until they were searched and declared safe. And that was decades BEFORE Trump et al. began encouraging, bad mouthing, threatening and harassment of the working press. It is a dangerous, often low paying and thankless job.
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Perhaps the White House press corp will become more adversarial, and less friends. More (early) Woodward and Bernstein, and less pals cracking jokes on AF-1.
But CF-DJT forgets this. Surprising for a self proclaimed tough guy.
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At this point I would eye that “beltway bling” with suspicion, a token of not-a-real journalist. It screams, “I can fawn over Sir better that you can, he loves me more!”
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I am sorry for your loss, but I am guessing your spouse was working in a Different day and time. Today, there is little truly investigative reporting for fear of losing access or getting fired or both.
The loss of the WH press corps as a duplicate of the DoD press corps should be a huge loss to us all, but of late nothing of note has come from any of their reporting.
One could run a press corps that reports on what they do versus what they say and probably win a Pulitzer.
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As indicated, he did work in a different time, but I am still in contact with working journalists who were his younger colleagues. They are still courageous and capable, despite worsening conditions. On what do you base your very broad brush comment?
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I am posting a second time because I apparently didn’t hit reply when I posted the first time. —-As indicated, he did work in a different time, but I am still in contact with working journalists who were his younger colleagues. They are still courageous and capable, despite worsening conditions. On what do you base your very broad brush comment?
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I don’t know how else to more usefully model this than as a power-struggle between the in-government clique of the oligarchy and the individual billionaires who now own most of the social and mainstream media outlets. They have, by their lights, been as accommodating to his needs and whims as any reasonable autocrat could expect. But their continued refusal to just hand direct control over their platforms threatens and enrages him, makes Trump suspect they’re plotting against him and/because it makes it difficult for for him to plot against them.
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Quite a large number of ICE captives remain missing. And unaccounted for.
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Wagner Group, Venezuela and Prigozhin.
Speculation is also rife that the Wagner Group has been tasked with President Maduro’s security. The Wagner Group is a Russian State-funded private military company that was controlled until 2023 by the late Yevgeny Prigozhin, a close ally of President Putin.The Wagner Group is now largely integrated into Russia’s military structure as the so-called Africa Corps. In 2024, Wagner-affiliated fighters were spotted training Venezuelan security forces and embedding with local police during post-election protests. Some commentators have suggested that the Wagner Group could offer defensive capabilities to the Venezuelan forces or help President Maduro’s potential evacuation to Moscow if a U.S.-backed intervention takes place. It fits Russia’s pattern of using mercenaries as deniable assets to extend influence without full military commitment.
The Wagner Group’s footprint in Venezuela is not new. In 2019, its forces were deployed for several months after Juan Guaido challenged President Maduro’s hold on power. In 2023 and 2024, a smaller presence of its fighters was again seen for giving security to mining activity and suppression of protests after the July 2024 presidential election. The most recent activity centres on the arrival of a transport plane operated by the U.S.-sanctioned company Aviacon Zitotrans, which has deep ties to the Wagner Group. This company has in the past ferried weapons, helicopters and mercenaries to African conflict zones. It carried an undisclosed cargo, speculated to include up to 200 personnel or advisers and 50 tons of weapons. The landing coincided with U.S. strikes on Venezuelan-linked narco-vessels and Trump’s threats of direct action against President Maduro.
There is a long-standing story that Prigozhin holed up on Margarita Island after he was killed. Apparently, even Putin’s decision to put a cement slab over Prigozhin’s grave is insufficient to keep the deceased former Kremlin chef from attempting a comeback.
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