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).
Markets opened slightly higher to kick off the final trading week of the year as investors continue to watch the Omicron variant in the U.S. Sean O'Hara, President, Pacer ETFs joined Cheddar's Opening Bell to discuss what drove early market activity.
Carlo and Baker kick off the weirdest week of the year with all the news you missed over the holiday weekend, including calls for the CDC to shorten its isolation window as Omicron sweeps through the country.
Former professional tennis player Patrick McEnroe joined Cheddar to discuss the troubling issues surrounding player Peng Shuai who appeared potentially to have been silenced following her social media post accusing former Vice-Premier Zhang Gaoli of sexual assault. Shuai's subsequent disappearance, reappearance, and apparent retraction of the accusation in an interview only added to worries. "When this happened, all of us in the tennis community were very concerned. And, by the way, another thing Peng said in this interview was that she doesn't speak very good English," McEnroe noted. "Well I can assure you, she speaks darn good English, 'cause I spoke to her on many occasions over the last 15 years."
Universities like UCLA, Yale, and Duke have announced they're implementing remote learning amid the COVID omicron variant surge, despite President Biden recommending that K-12 schools should continue in-person education. Jared C. Bass, senior director for Higher Education at American Progress, joined Cheddar to break down what institutions of higher education might be considering differently. "I think some universities are allowing periods of a bit of a respite to allow students to get testing and make sure when they do return back to campus that they're healthy," he noted.
The S&P closed at a record at the major markets ended Thursday's session higher for a third straight day. Adam Coons, Portfolio Manager at Winthrop Capital Management, joins Cheddar News' Closing Bell, where he discusses what has investors feeling jolly before Christmas, and gifts investors with winning buying opportunities entering 2022.
The Supreme Court will hear arguments on President Joe Biden's vaccine mandates for large companies and health care workers on January 7, 2022. The mandates will remain in place until then.
Carlo and Baker cover the heartening news on the Covid front ahead of the holiday, plus President Biden punting student loan repayments again, a new space telescope and Love, Hate, Ate: Christmas Eve Eve Edition!
This year's worldwide semiconductor shortage limited the supply of everything from new cars to smartphones; and now, many in the chip industry expect the shortage to continue deep into 2022, and maybe even 2023. Semiconductor senior research analyst for Robert W. Baird & Co., Tristan Gerra, joins Cheddar News' Closing Bell to discuss.
