Revealed: who gets to ask the White House questions?

An official guide to covering the White House created by the White House Correspondents’ Association confirms that Karine Jean-Pierre is intentionally selective about which media outlets she calls on at White House press briefings. The document, last updated in March 2023, notes that “the current press secretary has indicated she prefers not to call on people who are standing.” Of course, the seats in the briefing room are assigned by the WHCA and mostly reserved for left-leaning legacy media outlets — particularly the first few rows. Anyone else looking to get a question in is probably better off staying home…

Tucking in to Tucker

Fox News may have gone cold on him, but Tucker Carlson’s biographer Chadwick Moore sure knows how to put on a spread. Cockburn was somehow admitted to the Tucker book party at the Metropolitan Club Wednesday, where guests were treated to lamb chops, bacon-smothered scallops and a glorious ham. Attendees included former acting attorney general Jeff Clark, Alabama senator Tommy Tuberville and enfant terrible of the White House press corps Simon Ateba, along with a smattering of older Tucker fans, ousted Fox employees and some of Cockburn’s fellow hacks. Carlson’s father Dick was sadly a no-show for health reasons, so instead Moore took part in an on-stage discussion with Justin Wells, Tucker’s executive producer (both at his Fox show and his new Twitter venture.) Wells teased another “very big” longform interview, on the heels of Carlson’s first on Twitter, a two-hour chat with accused sex trafficker Andrew Tate. Who could be next… Trump? Putin? We’ll have to wait and see…

Alejandro Mayorkas’s softballs

DHS secretary Alejandro Mayorkas was spotted Tuesday night walking his dog past an intramural softball game between the Urban Institute and the Daily Caller in Georgetown. The secretary, who was being tailed by a couple of bodyguards, stopped to watch a bit of the action and even shagged a few balls for the Daily Caller team. However, Mayorkas quickly scooted off after one of the Caller reporters approached him to ask about the recently released border crossing numbers. Apparently the secretary prefers a different kind of softball: he gave a rather easy interview to Politico Playbook this morning…

Barack Obama’s ‘Fast Car’ faux pas

Twice a year we are treated to former president Barack Obama’s playlist. His latest picks include SZA and boygenius alongside Bob Dylan, Ice Spice and Nicki Minaj. “Like I do every year, here are some songs I’ve been listening to this summer. Look forward to hearing what I’ve missed.” Well for some fans, the former president couldn’t have missed the mark more, after including Luke Combs’s cover of “Fast Car.” The Washington Post tied themselves in knots over the country star’s version of Tracy Chapman’s song, saying it was “complicated” that a straight white man was finding success with a gay black woman’s song. Goodness. 

Lucy Dacus of boygenius also reacted to the playlist after Obama featured their hit “Not Strong Enough.” She quote-tweeted it with the words,“war criminal :(” So much for No-Drama Obama!

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