THE DAILY NEWSLETTER - WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 31, 2022

Media Winners & Losers

MEDIA WINNER:
Steve Doocy

Steve Doocy pressed a resistant Gov. Kristi Noem (R-SD) on new reports regarding the FBI's search of former President Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago residence.

During Wednesday's edition of Fox & Friends, Doocy questioned Noem on a new filing from the Department of Justice, which says they have evidence thatTrump “concealed and removed” classified documents as part of a likely effort to “obstruct the government’s investigation.”

Noem bashed theJustice Department in response, claiming, “Republicans, Democrats, the public, they don’t trust the DOJ and they want this to be transparent.”

Doocy followed up by pointing out that the documents were marked to contain “the biggest secrets in the world.”

“Why would he have all that secret stuff at Mar-a-Lago?” he asked Noem.

Noem attempted to defend the former president by claiming he had "declassified all this information" prior to bringing them to his estate.

“I don’t think any president has ever carted off that many documents to their house after they left the presidency,” Doocy countered.

Much to Dan Bongino's ire, Doocy has consistently shown support for the FBI and previously questioned why Trump had classified documents in his desk in the first place.

“At least five yellow folders marked top secret and another secret SCI —that stands for sensitive compartmentalized information — these are the biggest secrets in the world!” Doocy said Wednesday — sharing a level of disbelief that any reasonable person might have.

MEDIA LOSER:
Fred Ryan

The Washington Post is set to lose money in 2022 following profitable years, according to a report from the New York Times' Benjamin Mullin and Katie Robertson.

The Post, helmed by CEO Fred Ryan,reportedly has less than three million paying digital subscribers, a number they once boasted about internally near the end of 2020.

The report highlights that the outlet's dropoff has caused frustration among the staff, as some top executives are concerned that Ryan, "hasn’t moved decisively enough to expand coverage."

"Some have also become irritated by the company’s halting marketing efforts, which are guided by Mr. Ryan, and inconclusive talks about acquiring another large news organization," the report added.

Digital ad revenue generated by the Post also fell to roughly $70 million during the first half of the year, according to the Times, which obtained and reviewed an internal financial document.

The report noted frustration over Ryan's focus on "building The Post’s capacity for covering new areas rather than acquiring rivals," and his decision to cut some of the paper's marketing campaigns.

Mullin and Robertson also reported that Ryan suggested newsroom leaders cut "100 positions, according to several people with knowledge of the discussions,” by “hiring freezes for open jobs or other ways.”

A Post spokesperson denied this.

Ryan has essentially failed to lead a profitable paper in a post-Trump era, while both the Times and Wall Street Journal have continued to gain paying subscribers. 

The A-Block

DOJ's bombshell filing

A midnight filing from the Department of Justice reveals documents kept at former President Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate were moved and hidden as the agency attempted to retrieve them.

The 36-page filing came in response to Trump’s request for an independent review of documents seized from Mar-a-Lago and includes several details that confirm previous reportings on the search.

The filling further lays bare the reasoning behind the “obstruction of justice” claims mentioned in the highly-redacted affidavit released last Friday.

George Conway reacted to the Department of Justice’s filing while on Don Lemon Tonight, saying that the former president’s attorneys had “basically asked for the Justice Department to punch them in the face.”

320 classified and/or top secret documents have been retrieved in sum total from Mar-a-Lago, the Justice Department revealed in the filing, of which over 100 were obtained in the unprecedented search and seizure of the former president’s home.

The Aug. 8 retrieval of the documents also found three classified documents found in a desk in Trump’s Mar-a-Lago office. 

Most notable in the revelations is that the Justice Department has evidence that Trump “concealed and removed” classified documents in what was portrayed as an effort likely taken to “obstruct the government’s investigation."

The Department of Justice also released a photo of documents seized, which shows top secret documents strewn across the carpet at Mar-a-Lago.

The picture garnered a ton of reaction on social media, although the filing clarifies that these documents were not actually found lying on the carpet as depicted.

Rather, they were “recovered from a container in the ’45 office.'”


In Other News...

CNN Reporter Warns Biden Could Alienate Voters with ‘Law and Order Message’

Maggie Haberman Flags Stunning Detail From ‘Remarkable’ Trump Espionage Investigation Evidence: ‘Framed Time Magazine Covers’

Fmr. FBI Agent Timothy Thibault Denies Sabotaging Hunter Biden Investigation: ‘Not Involved In Any Decisions’ With the Laptop

Fox News’ Gutfeld! Makes History as First Cable Show to Win Late Night for an Entire Month

RATINGS: Rachel Maddow Boosts MSNBC, But Sean Hannity Still Wins 9 P.M.

Must See Clip

'That’s f*cking bullshit'

Detroit Lions defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn went off on the team’s defense after they performed one of the NFL’s worst seasons last year.

“Here’s what I want us to understand about practice yesterday. But we cannot let our offense go out there and complete 16 of 18 passes,” Glenn yelled. "That is f*cking bullshit. That is f*cking bullshit for that to happen."

The rant was aired on Tuesday night’s episode of HBO’s Hard Knocks, noting that the defense had given up 72 percent of passes throughout training camp.

“That’s f*cking bullshit,” exclaimed Glenn. “That’s not f*cking football. That’s not secondary play or linebacker play."

Watch here.

Links We Like

- Elahe Izadi, Washington Post - The Bulwark Podcast
Mikhail Gorbachev's tragic heroism
- Anton Fedyashin, National Interest
How Serena Williams became the world's greatest athlete
- Sean Gregory, TIME
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