President Donald Trump gave an impromptu with the New York Times Washington Correspondent Michael Schmidt at his Mar-A-Lago property Thursday. Alexander Heffner, Host of PBS' "The Open Mind," explains what this interview reveals about the relationship between Trump and the media.
"All forms of media will tank if I'm not there because without me, their ratings are going down the tubes," Trump told the NYTimes. Heffner says the report in the New York Times showcasing a thirty minute conversation with Trump amplifies the president's microphone.
"There is incest in every situation with Trump and the media," said Heffner. "There's incest when you want access." Schmidt reportedly crossed paths with Trump while he was meeting Newsmax founder Chris Ruddy at the Florida resort.
"We have to acknowledge--I think--on part of the media that its important that we use discretion, deliberation, precision in our reporting of this administration," says Heffner.
Maintaining diplomatic momentum after the historic meeting Friday between the North Korean leader Kim Jung-un and President Moon Jae-in of South Korea will likely fall on the shoulders of President Trump, who will have his own summit with Kim next month.
Former White House Communications Director Anthony Scaramucci tells Cheddar that, since he was fired last year, he has spoken to President Trump about a dozen times to talk about both political and personal issues.
Anthony Scaramucci, who only lasted 11 days as the White House Communications Director, tells Cheddar one of his biggest accomplishments last year was letting cameras back into White House briefings. That, and hiring a hair and makeup artist.
The former White House communications director gave a profane interview to The New Yorker that essentially led to his firing. "I got bagged inappropriately," Anthony Scaramucci told Cheddar's J.D. Durkin.
The former White House Communications Director, who was fired in after a brief 11-day tenure last year, tells Cheddar that both the Deputy Attorney General and Special Counsel Robert Mueller are fair and principled men.
Anthony Scaramucci, the former White House Communications Director, told Cheddar's J.D. Durkin that the fall out around Dr. Ronny Jackson's nomination for Secretary of Veteran's Affairs is purely partisan politics.
Former White House Communications Director Anthony Scaramucci said the President should "get out more," because his direct appeals to his base via on-air interviews is what they love about him. His comments came after Trump gave a wide-ranging interview to Fox News, in which he admitted, after previous denials, that his personal attorney Michael Cohen dealt with adult film actress Stormy Daniels for him.
Since Russia banned the encrypted messaging service last week, Google and Amazon have also been dragged into the fight. This comes at a time when Telegram is considering an ICO and has already raised a total of $1.7 billion, making it the biggest potential coin offering in history.
Weeks after President Trump took office, he issued the first travel ban restricting entry into the U.S. for people from some majority-Muslim countries. Since then, after backlash and appeals, Trump has put out two more versions of the directive and now the Supreme Court is deciding whether or not the ban is Constitutional.
More and more politicians are throwing their weight behind legalizing marijuana, now seeing it as more of a "political opportunity" than a liability. That, in part, is driven by pressure from voters, says Paul Armentano, deputy director of the National Organization for Marijuana Laws.
