Trump Campaign Sues the NY Times

President Donald Trump’s 2020 presidential campaign is suing The New York Times for libel over a 2019 opinion piece on the Russia scandal.

The suit takes aim at an opinion piece which argued that accused the Trump administration of enacted a “pro-Russian foreign policy,” after Russia helped Trump defeat Hillary Clinton in 2016.

In a statement, Trump campaign legal adviser Jenna Ellis rejected Frankel’s argument that “the campaign had an ‘overarching deal’ with ‘Vladimir Putin’s oligarchy’ to ‘help the campaign against Hillary Clinton’ in exchange for a new pro-Russian foreign policy, starting with relief from … economic sanctions.”

Filing specious lawsuits has long been a time-honored tradition for Trump. This one strikes as lofty too. As CNBC's Christina Wilkie pointed out: "Suit claims the Times must've known the *March 2019* op-ed was false because of what was in the *April 2019* Mueller report."

Womp, womp.

Ellis will be appearing tonight on Tucker Carlson's Fox News show — where else? — to make the case.

Wallace Scolds Acosta

Fox News anchor Chris Wallace scolded Jim Acosta for a heated exchange the CNN reporter had with Trumpin India Tuesday morning.

Acosta got into a fiery back-and-forth with the president over the recent Russian intel briefing, prompting the CNN reporter to quip, “Mr. President, I think our record on delivering the truth is a lot better than yours sometimes, if you don’t mind me saying.”

While appearing at a Columbia Journalism School panel Tuesday night with New York Times correspondent Maggie Haberman, Wallace said he was “horrified” by Acosta’s comments and said, “It’s not our job to get in fights with presidents, it’s not our job to one-up presidents, it’s our job to report on presidents.”

CNN spokesman Matt Dornic had a brutal response in which he deemed Fox "state TV."

The ABC's of Socialism?

ABC News suspended senior correspondent David Wright on Wednesday after he was caught on camera calling himself a “socialist” and offering criticism for the media.

Washington Post got news of Wright’s suspension ahead of the release of footage from Project Veritas, the right wing group known for attacking media outlets with surreptitious recordings of their staffers.

Wright was recorded slamming the media for prioritizing viewership and commercial engagement ahead of informing the public, and he made those comments with respect to how the press covers President Donald Trump and politics in general.

Many in media came to Wright's defense on Wednesday, calling out ABC for capitulating to a Veritas op.

Politically Weaponized Pandemics!

While the world seems increasingly freaked by coronavirus, the political rhetoric surrounding the potential pandemic continues unabated. The latest? Conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh bashed a top official from the Centers for Disease Control by insinuating she’s among those trying to overhype fears of the coronavirus in order to bring down Trump.

After claiming that the virus was “weaponized” by the Chinese and that the media is “gleeful” that this will be a new problem for Trump, Limbaugh called out Dr. Nancy Messonnier, director of the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases who warned that the coronavirus pandemic will inevitably spread to the United States. But instead of focusing on the doctor's assessment, Limbaugh focused on the fact that Messonnier is the sister of former deputy attorney general Rod Rosenstein.

Bernie Bros Gone Wild

A group of Bernie Sanders supporters posted a video of themselves screaming at Illinois Democratic congressional candidate Betsy Dirksen Londrigan and trapping her in her car, yelling “Medicare for All” slogans and demanding that she debate democratic socialist candidate Stephanie Smith.

On Tuesday, local CBS Capital Bureau Chief Mark Maxwell posted a video of a group of Democratic Socialists surrounding Londrigan’s car screaming “Block her in!”

Mayor Pete's Photo Op Gone Horribly Wrong

Pete Buttigieg attempted to get a quick photo with a group of minimum wage protesters largely made up of McDonald’s workers, but it all went haywire when a group of Black Voters Matter protesters shouted, “Pete can’t be our president, where was $15 in South Bend?” over the former Mayor.

These chants continued while Buttigieg fled the march, and protesters followed him back to an SUV, which was waiting for the presidential candidate. The protesters continued to chant and chase the car as it drove away.

Rep. James Clyburn's Moving Biden Endorsement

Joe Biden scored the coveted endorsement of House Majority Whip and South Carolina Democratic kingmaker James Clyburn on Wednesday, who delivered a powerful speech in which he said for the first time, “I fear for this country.”

“I know where this country is," he said. "We are at an inflection point.”

“As I stand before you today, I am fearful for the future of this country,” Clyburn said. “I’m fearful for my daughters and their futures, and their children’s and their children’s future. This country is at an inflection point, it’s time for us to restore this country’s dignity. This country’s respect. That is what is at stake this year.”

Check it out here.