“$545″ — The rough price of Karl Lagerfeld’s new product. It’s a stuffed animal version of his cat. Faux fur, so hot right now.

FIRED WORKS

THE STORY

Everyone is still reeling from President Trump’s firing of FBI Director James Comey.

REMIND ME.

Earlier this week, President Trump told Comey he’s out of the job for damaging the FBI’s reputation by mishandling its investigation into Hillary Clinton’s emails. That’s the investigation that wrapped up last year. Trump said this decision was based on recs from his attorney general and deputy attorney general.

SO WHAT’S NEW?

Yesterday, it came out that days before Comey was fired, he asked the deputy attorney general for more money to help with the agency’s Russia investigation. The one that’s looking into whether the Trump campaign had anything to do with Russia’s election interference. The Dept of Justice is saying ‘we never got that Venmo request.’ Also yesterday, it came out that Trump had been thinking about firing Comey for weeks because he was angry that Comey publicly confirmed the FBI’s investigation into his campaign team.

WHAT ARE PEOPLE SAYING?

Trump says Comey had to go because he was “not doing a good job.” Comey says he’ll be “fine” and that he’s not dwelling on how or why the decision was made. But Dems say ‘the timing sure looks fishy.’ And lawmakers on both sides of the aisle are calling for an independent investigator to take over the Russia probe.

WHAT’S NEXT?

Yesterday, a Senate committee that’s also investigating Russia’s election interference asked Comey to privately testify next week. And Comey’s not the only one this committee has some Qs for. They’ve also issued a subpoena for Michael Flynn. Reminder: he’s the retired Army general who was Trump’s former national security adviser. Flynn was forced out earlier this year for misleading the White House about his convos with the Russian ambassador to the US. Now, the Senate is asking Flynn to turn over docs they believe are connected to the Russia investigation.

theSKIMM

The FBI is supposed to be politically neutral. By firing Comey, Trump has made the agency the eye of a political storm. Now everyone’s watching whether or not Comey will accept the Senate’s invite and what he might have to say if he shows up.

REPEAT AFTER ME...

WHAT TO SAY WHEN YOU MISS OUT ON TEAM HAPPY HOUR BECAUSE YOU’RE OUT OF TOWN …

Disappointing. Investors feel the same about Snap. Yesterday, the Dancing Ghost gave its first financial report since going public. It was a flop. Earlier this year, Snap (aka Snapchat’s parent company) hit the stock exchange dance floor. It was the biggest tech IPO in years. Ever since, investors have been watching to see if Snap would live up to the hype. So far, nope. Yesterday, Snap said that in recent months, it didn’t make as much cash money or get as many users on the flower crown train as people were expecting. It also probably doesn’t help that Facebook and Instagram have been stepping up the competition by rolling out features that look a lot like Snapchat’s (hi, Insta stories). After the report came out yesterday, Snap’s stock price tanked…by a lot. Deja vu for Silicon Valley, because Facebook and Twitter didn’t do so hot after their first earnings reports either. Speaking of businesses that need a Friday, Whole Foods just hired a new CFO and replaced some of its board members. The company’s sales have been wilting for months since customers started shopping at other grocers that offer healthy foods that aren’t expensive AF. So it’s been facing a lot of pressure to come up with a way to revive its business. Consider this exhibit A.

WHAT TO SAY WHEN YOU WIN $20 ON A LOTTERY TICKET FROM YOUR GRANDMA…

Well that was unexpected. Yesterday, the Senate voted against revoking an Obama-era rule limiting methane emissions on federal land. Plot twist: three GOP senators were part of the group that wanted to keep the rule in place. Methane gas is a primary contributor to climate change. And since methane isn’t as much of a money maker as oil, companies regularly get rid of it during the production process by burning it off. Good for oil and gas companies. Bad for the environment. Shortly before former President Obama left office, he pushed through a rule requiring oil and gas producers operating on federal land to limit how much methane they burn off. Critics of the rule say it’s unnecessary because it duplicates state regulations. Supporters say it protects the environment. Under President Trump — who promised to lend a hand to the energy industry —  the House immediately voted to repeal this rule. But the Senate’s been dragging its feet. Now they’re saying ‘we’ll stick with it.’ Gas, not passed.

WHAT TO SAY WHEN THE LIGHTS COME ON AT THE BAR…

Closing time. Last week, Puerto Rico said ‘we’re broke’ and filed for bankruptcy protection in the US. Now, Puerto Rico plans to shut down around 180 public schools. For the past decade, the US territory’s been in a crippling recession that’s led to thousands of people moving off the island to the US. Those who are still there are suffering from sky-high unemployment and a major rise in poverty. Its public school system has also taken a major hit. Enrollment is way down, and in some cases the gov’s reportedly still paying for school buildings that are abandoned. So Puerto Rico’s hoping that closing these schools will help save some cash money while the territory deals with that little thing called bankruptcy. Not saved by the bell.

WHAT TO SAY WHEN YOUR CO-WORKER POSTS A VACAY INSTA WHILE SITTING AT THE DESK NEXT TO YOU...

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