Subject: Axios AM: Mike's Top 10 — 'It is a debacle' — Trump after dark: What he eats and watches (and his new crystal chandelier) — A 3-act play
From: "Mike Allen" <[email-masked]>
To: <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 11 May 2017 06:41:12 -0400 (EDT)

Presented by Koch Industries:

Axios AM: Mike's Top 10 — 'It is a debacle' — Trump afte= dark: What he eats and watches (and his new crystal chandelier) —=A 3-act play

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Axios AM

By Mike Allen = ·May 11, 2017

​1 big thing: The price of impulse and improvisation

Trump meets with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, left, next to R=ssian Ambassador to the U.S. Sergei Kislyak at the White House yesterday /=Russian Foreign Ministry photo, via AP

The answers to why Trump canned Comey are becoming clea=: The president was filled with grievance about the FBI probe and acted on=impulse without clearly thinking through the fallout, numerous sources tel= me.

The consequences are also becoming clear: =his one quick decision put everything at unnecessary risk, from his legisl=tive agenda to his public standing — and potentially his presiden=y.

"It is a debacle," said one Republican in consta=t touch with the West Wing. "They got everything — timing, ration=le, reaction — completely wrong."

The fallout:

A Senate committee put off a health-care =arkup yesterday because Democrats and Republicans were occupied with their=Comey response — a first indicator of the price the Trump agenda m=y pay in the days ahead, through both distraction and the souring of inter=ersonal relations along Pennsylvania Avenue.

Dems smell bl=od, both with investigations and a possible House takeover. They =ad little incentive to help before. Now they have none.

We told you yesterday that this would only increase the=ferocity of the investigations. That's already true in the Senate, where M=ke Flynn was subpoenaed yesterday for documents about his interactions wit= Russians that he had refused to provide.

Axi=s' Jonathan Swan pointed out yesterday that the White House isn't prepared for t=e leaks that are coming. Sure enough, CNN's Jake Tapper soon popped some =f the day's most damaging reporting: A source close to Comey said he belie=es he was fired because he "never provided the President with any assuranc= of personal loyalty," and because "the FBI's investigation into possible =rump team collusion with Russia in the 2016 election was accelerating." An= this is someone who's going to be called to testify before Congress, and =s likely to write a book and speak widely.

As one Repu=lican put it to me: "The team are rank amateurs who picked a figh= with the intelligence agencies and the FBI. Hard to unite those historica=ly competitive organizations. And they have the ability to find out almost=anything!"

Sound smart I: This crisis of his own m=king is about to get worse.

Sound smart II: Wait= Spicer's to blame=/a>?! Hard to see how anyone could magically spin your boss abruptly canni=g the guy investigating the very legitimacy of his job.

2. Shoes dropping everywhere

Former FBI Director James Comey at his home in McLean, Va., yesterday / =P's Sait Serkan Gurbuz

Trump on Comey: "infuriated"=... "white hot" ... "enraged ... fuming about Russia" ... "i=patient with what he viewed as his sanctimony" ... "There was 'something wrong with' Mr. Comey, he told aides."Blows massive hole in White House account — <= href="http://link.axios.com/click/9588889.32618/aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cud2FzaGl=Z3RvbnBvc3QuY29tL3BvbGl0aWNzL2hvdy10cnVtcHMtYW5nZXItYW5kLWltcGF0aWVuY2UtcH=vbXB0ZWQtaGltLXRvLWZpcmUtdGhlLWZiaS1kaXJlY3Rvci8yMDE3LzA1LzEwL2Q5NjQyMzM0L=M1OWMtMTFlNy1iMzczLTQxOGY2ODQ5YTAwNF9zdG9yeS5odG1sP3V0bV90ZXJtPS4wMTU2NDA4=WYyZTkmdXRtX3NvdXJjZT1uZXdzbGV0dGVyJnV0bV9tZWRpdW09ZW1haWwmdXRtX2NhbXBhaWd=PW5ld3NsZXR0ZXJfYXhpb3NhbQ/5871993924c17c54d77a8b8cD9640ca34" target="_b=ank">WashPost's Philip Rucker, Ashley Parker, Sari Horwitz and Robert =osta: Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein "threatened to resign=/strong> after the narrative emerging from the White House on Tuesday even=ng cast him as a prime mover of the decision to fire Comey and that the pr=sident acted only on his recommendation."

Wall S=reet Journal's Shane Harris and Carol Lee: "Comey started rec=iving daily instead of weekly updates on the investigation, beginning at l=ast three weeks ago ... Comey was concerned by information showing possibl= evidence of collusion."

WashPost: "With=n the Justice Department and the FBI, the firing of Comey has left raw ang=r, and some fear ... Trump had 'essentially declared war=on a lot of people at the FBI' one official said. 'I think there will be a=concerted effort to respond over time in kind.'"

Key Republi=ans agree the firing intensified the investigations ... From an <= href="http://link.axios.com/click/9588889.32618/aHR0cDovL3d3dy5sYXRpbWV=LmNvbS9wb2xpdGljcy9sYS1uYS1wb2wtdHJ1bXAtY29tZXktYW5hbHlzaXMtMjAxNzA1MTAtc3=vcnkuaHRtbD91dG1fc291cmNlPW5ld3NsZXR0ZXImdXRtX21lZGl1bT1lbWFpbCZ1dG1fY2Ftc=FpZ249bmV3c2xldHRlcl9heGlvc2Ft/5871993924c17c54d77a8b8cB842bf9b5" target=3D"_blank">L.A. Times analysis, "By firing Comey, Trump may have fanne= the flames he hoped to control," by David Lauter:

"In an email lament circulated among prominen= Republicans, A.B. Culvahouse Jr., former Reagan White House counsel and h=ad of Trump's vice presidential search effort, said the firing 'both prolo=gs the FBI/DOJ investigation and undermines the credibility of the Trump c=mpaign's denials of no conspiracy with Putin.' 'We could be talking about =ussian hacking in the mid-terms at this rate.'"

N=Y. Times' Matthew Rosenberg and Matt Apuzzo: "Comey's firing =ppears to have imbued the Senate Intelligence Committee with a renewed sen=e of urgency."

3. For your radar

Be smart ... Bob Woodward on "Morning Joe": "The FB= is not running the investigation. The investigation is overseen by prosec=tors. There are now stories that there are grand juries. They're looking a= this. They're issuing subpoenas. That's not being done by the FBI. That's=being done by prosecutors in the Justice Department. That's where the ball=rests."

Breaking ... "Statement of Roger Stone," re=strong> stories reporting that he had recommended the firing of C=mey: "I am not the source of the New York Times, Politico or CNN stories a=d have never claimed I convinced the President to fire FBI Director Comey =.. I believe the source of this story is someone in the President's circle=who thought that my longtime association with President Nixon would bring =nevitable comparisons with the so-called Saturday Night Massacre and thus =iscredit the option of firing Mr. Comey."

=img width="32" height="32" style="border: none" target="_blank" sr=="https://static.axios.com/img-email/twitter-circle.png" alt="Tweet th=s Story">

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4. Zeitgeist

Nixon speaks during a White House news briefing on April 17, 1973 / AP's=Henry Burroughs

"Morning" Joe Scarborough: "[A]s you look at how Donald=Trump has ravaged the Justice Department and the law enforcement arm of th= executive branch, it is now up to the United States Senate to actually st=nd up to a man who sees himself as an authoritarian, an autocrat, a man wh=se power is not to be questioned."

Historian Michael Beschlo=s, on "Morning Joe": "Nixon fired Archibald Cox, the Watergate sp=cial prosecutor, and his intention was to shut down that Watergate investi=ation. ... [T]he only reason that things changed was that members of the =enate — especially members of Nixon's own party, Republicans �=80� said, 'You know, this is not something that shows respect for our i=stitutions and our democracy. This is the way an autocrat behaves, and you=cannot have an investigation that's done by your own Justice Department.' =/p>
"They demanded a new s=ecial prosecutor, and only because of that protest, both in the Senate and=the House and by Americans across the country, was Nixon forced to hire a =ew special prosecutor, Leon Jaworski, who was just as tough."

N.Y. Times Quote of the Day ... =en Dick Durbin (D-Ill.): "I think the Comey operation was breathing down t=e neck of the Trump campaign and their operatives, and this was an effort =o slow down the investigation."

NYT rounds up<=a> "How the Right and Left Reacted to Comey's Firing."

=/a>

5. "Something was clearly going on"

The N.Y. Times' Mike Shear posts an insider account of what it was like to be at the White House wh=n the Comey news broke, "Breaking the Comey News, One Sentence at a Time":=

I had arrived at =he White House just in time to meet the 6 p.m. deadline to turn in my pass=ort and visa applications for President Trump's first foreign trip next we=k. I walked through a mostly-deserted press briefing room ... and into the=cramped office known as Lower Press, where White House press aides sit. Th=re, I saw Sean Spicer, the press secretary, huddled over a computer, with =ll his assistants crowded around him. ... Something was clearly going on. =/em>

After a few minutes, <=strong>Mr. Spicer opened the door and announced to me and the half dozen o=her reporters who were nervously waiting that something important would be=in our inboxes momentarily. ... Spicer pointed to ABC's Jon Karl. 'It's yo=r question from the briefing,' he said, smiling. 'Comey?' Mr. Karl offered= recalling that he had asked Mr. Spicer whether the president still had co=fidence in the F.B.I. director. Mr. Spicer smiled broadly and put his fing=r on his nose.

6. Trump's TV

TIME's cover is "Trump After Hours: From =here the 45th President works, eats and sleeps, everything is going just g=eat. Now if only everyone else would see it that way," by Michael Scherer =nd Zeke Miller:

The waiters=know well Trump's personal preferences. As he settles down, they =ring him a Diet Coke ... With the salad course, Trump is served what appea=s to be Thousand Island dressing instead of the creamy vinaigrette for his=guests. When the chicken arrives, he is the only one given an extra dish o= sauce. At the dessert course, he gets two scoops of vanilla ice cream wit= his chocolate cream pie, instead of the single scoop for everyone else. .=.

[=]ew rooms have changed so much so fast as his dining room, where =e often eats his lunch amid stacks of newspapers and briefing sheets. A fe= weeks back, the President ordered a gutting of the room. ... He watches t=e [TV] screen like a coach going over game tape, studying the opposition, =lotting next week's plays. "This is one of the great inventions of all tim=— TiVo," he says as he fast-forwards through [clips about Russia f=om a Senate hearing]. ...

Trump says he used his own money to pay for the enormous cryst=l chandelier that now hangs from the ceiling. ... But the thing he wants t= show is on the opposite wall, above the replace, a new 60-plus-inch at-sc=een television that he has cued up with clips from the day's Senate hearin= on Russia. Since at least as far back as Richard Nixon, Presi- dents have=kept televisions in this room, usually small ones, no larger than a bread =ox, tucked away on a sideboard shelf. That's not the Trump way.
When asked directly if h= feels his Administration has been too combative, he makes a brief allowan=e. "It could be my fault," he says. "I don't want to necessarily blame, bu= there's a great meanness out there that I'm surprised at."

=/div>

=/a>

7. "Going to keep people real happy"

Trump defines "Trumponomics" when asked by The Economis=: "[I]t really has to do with self-respect as a nation. It has to do with =rade deals that have to be fair, and somewhat reciprocal, if not fully rec=procal. And I think that's a word that you're going to see a lot of, becau=e we need reciprocality in terms of our trade deals. ... I'm absolutely a =ree-trader. I'm for open trade, free trade, but I also want smart trade an= fair trade."

"[W]hen you talk about the tax c=t, the regulation cut, Dodd-Frank, you'll be doing a story on that fairly =oon because we're doing a very massive overhaul on Dodd-Frank. We're doing=things that are going to keep people real happy.

"And then=ultimately, when I leave office, on the assumption [Mike Pence] d=esn't follow me, but he will. But when I leave office what happens is slow=y they'll nip away at it, nip away, nip away and then in 40, 50 years some=ody else will come along and bring it back. But we're bringing back entrep=eneurship. We're bringing back enthusiasm."

Transcript.

8. A three-act play

Giphy

Act I ... WashPost's Jenna Johnson on Tuesday night, "<= href="http://link.axios.com/click/9588889.32618/aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cud2FzaGl=Z3RvbnBvc3QuY29tL25ld3MvcG9zdC1wb2xpdGljcy93cC8yMDE3LzA1LzEwL2FzLXRydW1wLW=pcmVkLWNvbWV5LWhpcy1zdGFmZi1zY3JhbWJsZWQtdG8tZXhwbGFpbi13aHkvP3V0bV9zb3VyY=U9bmV3c2xldHRlciZ1dG1fbWVkaXVtPWVtYWlsJnV0bV9jYW1wYWlnbj1uZXdzbGV0dGVyX2F4=W9zYW0/5871993924c17c54d77a8b8cBec7e0f53" target="_blank">After Trump fi=ed Comey, White House staff scrambled to explain why": "As Democrats a=d Republicans began to criticize and question the firing with increasing l=vels of alarm, Spicer and two prominent spokeswomen [Sarah Huckabee Sander= and Kellyanne Conway] were suddenly speed-walking up the White House driv= to defend the president on CNN, Fox News and Fox Business."

"After Spicer spent several minute= hidden in the bushes behind these [TV standup] sets, Jan=t Montesi, an executive assistant in the press office, emerged and told re=orters that Spicer would answer some questions, as long as he was not film=d doing so. Spicer then emerged."

Act II ... "Spice= in the bushes" trends hard: "Someone mashed Sean Spicer with that GI= of Homer Simpson hiding in the bushes" ... "11 Hilarious Memes of Sean =picer Literally Hiding in Bushes" ... "Spicer Hid in the Bushes ... and the I=ternet Roasted Him in Seconds" ... "A Sean Spice= In The Bushes Meme-Fest" ... "17 Of The BEST Sean =picer Hiding In Bushes Memes The Internet BLESSED Us With Today."

Act III ... WashPost "EDITOR'S NOTE" added to Jenna's dispatch: "This =tory has been updated to more precisely describe White House press secreta=y Sean Spicer's location late Tuesday night in the minutes before he brief=d reporters. Spicer huddled with his staff among bushes near telev=sion sets on the White House grounds, not 'in the bushes,' as the=story originally stated."

The takeaway: You'v= been POSTED!

So NEVER MIND, "Saturday Night=Live" writers' room!

9. Number of the day

Axios' Sara Fischer: "Sn=p's pitch to investors when it went public was that, although it wouldn't =e profitable this quarter, user growth and investments in ad technology wo=ld bring profitability in the foreseeable future.

"Based on reactions to its first earnings call,=investors aren't confident. Shares were down nearly 25% after trading Wedn=sday to roughly $17.5 per share, negating any growth it experienced after =oing public at $17 per share in March."

10. 1 fun thing: How we watch

Data: eMarketer; Note: Ages 1=-74 who watch at least 5 hours of TV per week; Chart: Andrew Witherspoon /=Axios

Americans like watching TV content on big screens, according to Axios' Sara Fischer.

Why =t matters: If TV content is to be consumed on smaller screens, it=needs to be made for a mobile viewing experience, which means shorter, qui=ker, more interactive formats. (Reminder: 55% of all mobile sessions last less than 30 seconds.) Most major platforms (Twitter, YouT=be, Facebook, etc.) have been inking original content deals with TV shows. But so fa=; none has officially rolled out a TV video experience as unique to mobile=as Snapchat.

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