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).
House Republicans in key battleground districts are working to contain the political fallout expected when thousands of their constituents face higher bills for health insurance coverage obtained through the Affordable Care Act. For a critical sliver of the GOP majority, the impending expiration of the enhanced premium tax credits after Dec. 31 could be a major political liability as they potentially face midterm headwinds in a 2026 election critical to President Donald Trump’s agenda. For Democrats, the party’s strategy for capturing the House majority revolves around pinning higher bills for groceries, health insurance and utilities on Republicans.
President Donald Trump says a deal struck by Netflix last week to buy Warner Bros. Discovery “could be a problem” because of the size of the combined market share. The Republican president says he will be involved in the decision about whether federal regulators should approve the deal. Trump commented Sunday when he was asked about the deal as he walked the red carpet at the Kennedy Center Honors. The $72 billion deal would bring together two of the biggest players in television and film and potentially reshape the entertainment industry.
Real estate software company RealPage has agreed to stop sharing nonpublic information between landlords as part of a settlement with the Department of Justice.
A legislative package to end the government shutdown appears on track. A handful of Senate Democrats joined with Republicans to advance the bill after what's become a deepening disruption of federal programs and services. But hurdles remain. Senators are hopeful they can pass the package as soon as Monday and send it to the House. What’s in and out of the bipartisan deal has drawn criticism and leaves few senators fully satisfied. The legislation includes funding for SNAP food aid and other programs while ensuring backpay for furloughed federal workers. But it fails to fund expiring health care subsidies Democrats have been fighting for, pushing that debate off for a vote next month.
Sabrina Siddiqui, National Politics Reporter at The Wall Street Journal, joins to break down the SNAP funding delays and the human cost of the ongoing shutdown.
