Trump Unleashed: 'Master of All Media' Becomes His Own Spokesman
*By Carlo Versano*
President Trump raised the possibility on Monday that missing and presumed-dead journalist Jamal Khashoggi may have been murdered by "rogue killers" from Saudi Arabia, a theory he floated to reporters after a phone call with Saudi King Salman.
Trump also said he was dispatching Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to Saudi Arabia "immediately" in the hopes of quelling a mounting geopolitical crisis stretching from Istanbul to Riyadh to Washington, D.C.
Trump said Salman issued a "very strong denial" that he was involved in the disappearance of Khashoggi.
In an interview with "60 Minutes" that aired on Sunday night, Trump said there would be "severe punishment" if it turns out the Saudi royal family carried out a hit under diplomatic cover on Khashoggi, a dissident Saudi citizen and columnist for the Washington Post who lived and worked in the U.S.
Trump's interview ー in which he opined on several issues in confident and defiant terms, at one point telling CBS's ($CBS) Lesley Stahl, "I'm president and you're not" ー is part of a coordinated media strategy that has allowed the president to hold multiple Q&As per day.
"They're finally unleashing Trump to be this master of all media," Politico's Daniel Lippman said Monday in an interview on Cheddar. "He's putting himself out there," even as Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders has slowed the rate of press briefings to a trickle.
Meanwhile, three weeks out from the midterms, the 2020 race is heating up. Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) over the weekend released results of a DNA test that showed she was part Native American ー a response to Trump's repeated questioning of her ancestry. It was clearly part of a plan to pit her against the president and "lay the groundwork" for a run, said Lippman.
Trump responded "who cares," to a shouted question about Warren on Monday. He denied that he ever [offered](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RwNlyiUy2Qk) to donate $1 million to charity if the Senator took a DNA test that showed she was "an Indian."
For full interview [click here](https://cheddar.com/videos/im-the-president-and-youre-not).
Stephanie Akin, Politics Reporter for CQ Roll Call, breaks down
Senator Manchin's donation pool, and highlights what this support means for the conservative Democrat as well as the Republican party.
The global oil benchmark surpassed $90 for the first time in more than seven years. This comes as growing tensions between Russia and Ukraine add to concerns about the already-tight market. Jay Hatfield, Chief Investment Officer at ICAP, joined Cheddar to discuss what this benchmark means for the oil industry, and what might happen if Russia does invade its neighbor.
With the Beijing Winter Olympics set to get underway on Friday, Dan Wolken, a national columnist for USA Today, joined Cheddar News to break down the big storylines as the pandemic and international conflicts threaten to cast a cloud over the event that is aspirationally seen as a beacon of international cooperation. Wolken noted specific issues over cybersecurity for visiting athletes and disputes over human rights leading to a diplomatic boycott have been making waves even before the opening ceremony. "So you've got sort of these barbs going back and forth already between the Americans and the Chinese, and things haven't even started yet," he said. "We don't even know what's going to happen once the games start and people actually start winning medals."
We are a week away from the 2022 Beijing Olympics, and China has already faced a host of problems leading up to the opening ceremony of the Beijing games. DJ Peterson, president of Longview Global Advisors, joins Cheddar News to discuss the many concerns and controversies surrounding the event.
In 2021, QAnon, the community which traffics in conspiracy theories saw a rapid growth in its numbers. As a result of vaccine rollouts, a number of conspiracies surrounding them also began to circulate which then led to the rise of "Anti-Vaxxers". As a result, the QAnon and anti-vax communities have become increasingly intertwined and the results could be costing lives. Senior Researcher at Media Matters Alex Kaplan, joined Cheddar to discuss more.
Supreme Court Justice Breyer has announced that he will officially retire from his post. He has served as the senior member of the more liberal wing in recent years. Now his retirement puts pressure on President Biden to decide on who will replace Breyer. Attorney and Media Editor at SCOTUS blog Katie Barlow, joined Cheddar to discuss more.
A long awaited report in the UK looking into the alleged parties held at 10 Downing Street during lockdown finds a culture of excessive drinking and a "failure of leadership" in Boris Johnson's government. Cheddar News speaks with international journalist Thomas Cole, who is closely monitoring latest developments.
While Donald Trump stated he would be willing to pardon Capitol Hill insurrectionists should he return to the presidency, the January 6 Committee issued subpoenas to 14 individuals who cast bogus electoral votes for the former president in seven states won by Joe Biden in 2020. Molly Jong-Fast, editor-at-large at The Daily Beast, joined Cheddar News to discuss the ongoing congressional investigation. "It is kind of crazy that every time Trump speaks, he kind of confesses a little more of what he was up to, but you really have to have proof," said Jong-Fast.
Natalie Fertig, federal cannabis policy reporter at Politico Pro, joins Cheddar News to discuss a new YouGov poll that looks at how Americans feel about marijuana and politics.
