Forward

Exec summary: Scroll down for Netflix's "Friends" deal, Jeff Zucker's interview with David Axelrod, a special podcast episode with Matt Lewis and Margaret Sullivan, and much more...

Mueller, Trump and the truth

"By the end of this week, we will know much more about the strength of Robert Mueller's hand and the threat his investigation poses to President Donald Trump and his administration."

That's according to CNN legal analyst Elie Honig, who explains it all in this new CNN.com piece.

It's now widely believed that Mueller is using court proceedings to disclose crucial info -- perhaps even writing his report in real-time. And this week, the special counsel is due "to make three crucial court filings -- sentencing memos for Michael Flynn, Michael Cohen and Paul Manafort." Honig says "each document will tell us something important about what the future holds for these defendants and, more importantly, about what Mueller knows and where he might be headed."

Flynn has been "something of a mystery man," Honig notes. Maybe that's about to change... Mueller's sentencing memo for Flynn is due on Tuesday...

About Manafort...

Per CNN's Katelyn Polantz, the special counsel's office indicated on Monday "that at least some part of the Manafort [sentencing] memo will be public." So we'll learn about what Manafort allegedly lied about. "Friday is the deadline for Mueller's team to file a brief on the details," Polantz says, but theoretically it could come sooner...

"Previously on The Russia Plot..."

The Russian interference in the 2016 election happened on several fronts. And Trumpworld's contacts with Russians happened on many fronts. This scandal is incredibly complex -- and I think journalists need to spend more time explaining what is known, what is unknown and what may never be known.

Otherwise, it feels like we're turning on a show in the middle of episode 11... not knowing if this season is 13 episodes or 22... but definitely knowing that we've missed some key plot points.

>> Related: BuzzFeed's Katherine Miller says the Russia probe is "the best TV show Donald Trump will ever create." Here's her argument...

Notes and quotes

-- Michael Isikoff's brand new story for Yahoo uses the word "endgame:" He says "Mueller's prosecutors have told defense lawyers in recent weeks that they are 'tying up loose ends' in their investigation..."

-- Numerous lawyers, including George Conway, said Trump's tweet about Roger Stone could be a form of witness tampering and obstruction. Jeffrey Toobin on "AC360:" "This is potentially an abuse of power that could lead to impeachment..."

-- Related: Honig told CNN's Ana Cabrera: "If you look at the president's tweets from this morning, if I was a prosecutor and we had a wiretap up on someone's phone and they said those exact things that the president tweeted, I would say, 'Wow, we just got him on obstruction.' So, he's really right on the edge..."

-- Trump biographer Tim O'Brien said Trump sometimes speaks/tweets "to his former compadres like a mob boss..."

-- Sara Murray on "CNN Right Now" with Brianna Keilar: "Part of the reason we are seeing this anxiety from the president on Twitter is that all of these bread crumbs are bringing this investigation closer and closer to President Trump, not just the people around him..."

Garrett Graff's insights

Mueller biographer Garrett Graff on Sunday's "Reliable Sources:" Trumpworld's lies "sort of fold in on themselves in this story, lies on top of lies... So you don't even know which set of lies to believe... I think the biggest challenge in this story is trying to connect all of these different dots, because we are really staring at the Mueller investigation through little soda straws or individual puzzle pieces, not really sure how everything connects." Watch the segment here...

The bottom line

This is what Chris Cuomo asked on his CNN show Monday night: "Why do so many people around this president feel the need to lie about Russia? And why does he feel the need to be so sympathetic to Vladimir Putin's cause? Are they connected?"

Cuomo ended his monologue by saying: "This week, we will get much closer to an answer" to the question about lying…

FOR THE RECORD, PART ONE

-- BREAKING: "Oath, the owner of AOL and Yahoo, has agreed to pay about $5 million to settle charges from the New York attorney general that the media company's online advertising business was violating a federal children's privacy law," Sapna Maheshwari reports... (NYT)

-- The hiring sprees continue at WaPo and the LA Times... The Post shared plans for a fresh expansion of foreign coverage, while the Times announced more than a dozen new hires... (Twitter)

-- New Republic editor J.J. Gould has resigned, and now an editor search is underway, Erik Wemple reports... (WaPo)

-- The Washington Examiner says it is expanding its weekly magazine with a "nationwide subscriber footprint" starting in January... (The Hill)

REMEMBERING 41

Paying respects

CNN's Clare Foran writes: "In a deeply divided political climate, DC witnessed a rare moment of unity on Monday as lawmakers from both sides of the aisle came together to remember George H.W. Bush..."

-- The Grammy nominations, originally set for Wednesday morning, have been postponed til Friday due to Wednesday's memorial service for Bush... Lisa Respers France has details here...

-- Wednesday's hearing with Sundar Pichai has been postponed... It will likely be rescheduled sometime next week...

A conservative media mammoth?

Oliver Darcy emails: TheBlaze and CRTV, two of the largest online conservative media organizations, have merged to form a new company called Blaze Media, uniting personalities Glenn Beck and Mark Levin under one umbrella. For years, TheBlaze and CRTV have competed against each other, offering readers and viewers a similar product. Each company featured an on-demand video library of daily programs from conservative commentators. Both companies also operated websites on which writers posted conservative commentary and news. Now united, Blaze Media will be one of the largest carriers of on-demand conservative media content on the Internet. My full story here…

>> Stelter's Q: Was this a deal born out of desperation? Beck had been looking for a partner or buyer for a while. The Daily Beast is framing this as a "bailout" of The Blaze...

An array of hosts… including some on fringes of right-wing media

Oliver Darcy adds: Blaze Media will include traditional conservative voices, but will mostly consist of right-wing pro-Trump luminaries. Hosts will include former Fox News host Eric Bolling, author Michelle Malkin, "Duck Dynasty" star Phil Robertson, and others. The Blaze Media lineup will also include more radical elements of right-wing media, like Gavin McInnes, the Vice co-founder who started the "Proud Boys" group...

Could this spell trouble for Fox Nation?

One more observation from Darcy: When I first got word of the merger, my first thought was about Fox Nation, the on-demand streaming service launched last week by Fox News. Blaze Media will be a viable competitor for the conservative OTT market. Quite frankly, for those looking for their fix of daily conservative media content, Blaze Media will offer more bang for the buck...

Speaking of conservative media...

Over the weekend we posted a BONUS episode of the "Reliable Sources" podcast. It's a conversation with Margaret Sullivan and Matt Lewis. We talked about how principled conservative pundits are awkwardly sharing space with pro-Trump propagandists. So what does the future look like for conservative media? Here's the 20-min podcast...

FOR THE RECORD, PART TWO

-- Edmund Lee tweeted: "Vox Media laid off 9 people last week across SB Nation, Verge and Eater. That's < 1% of staff but still sucks for people who lost their jobs..." (Twitter)

-- And that's what the aforementioned Margaret Sullivan's newest column is all about... (WaPo)

-- Tom Dotan's latest: "How Bryan Goldberg became media's buyer of last resort..." (The Information)

-- The WaPo's entry into the podcast wars, Post Reports, debuted on Monday... (WaPo)

Tim Cook's message

"We only have one message for those who seek to push hate, division and violence: You have no place on our platforms. You have no home here," Apple CEO Tim Cook said while accepting the ADL's first-ever "Courage Against Hate" award on Monday.

"If we can't be clear on moral questions like these, then we've got big problems," Cook told attendees, per Sara Ashley O'Brien's story...

Tribune + Nexstar

As Jordan Valinsky noted here, Tribune and Sinclair "are still embroiled in lawsuits over the failed merger" from earlier this year. But now Tribune has a new buyer: Nexstar. Perry Sook, Nexstar's CEO, said Monday that the two companies have a "clear path to closing." Now his belief will be put to the test.

Rep. David Cicilline, who is poised to chair the House Judiciary Committee's antitrust subcommittee, came out on Monday and said the merger would eliminate "direct competition in more than a dozen local markets" and would "undoubtedly lead to mass layoffs in newsrooms at a time when our free and diverse press is already under assault."

BOTTOM LINE: The FCC, not Congress, approves these deals, but Dems can make a lot of noise and make the deal more difficult...

Update on Fox v. TVEyes

"The U.S. Supreme Court won't be reviewing a big copyright lawsuit brought by Fox News against TVEyes, a media monitoring services that stores a massive amount of television news programming for use by researchers," THR's Eriq Gardner reports. "The decision to deny review leaves in place an opinion from a lower appellate circuit that affirmed TVEyes' copyright liability for making verbatim reproduction of Fox News' content."

WHY IT MATTERS: "The development is a blow for TVEyes, which has become a critical tool for journalists to keep tabs on what is said on the air by Fox News commentators..."

Zucker speaks

CNN Worldwide president Jeff Zucker dissected Trump's hatred of CNN and discussed his own interest in running for office on a new episode of David Axelrod's popular podcast. Here's the audio... And here's my recap...

>> When Axe asked if Trump's steady stream of anti-CNN comments are "personal," stemming from a sour relationship between Zucker and Trump, Zucker said he believes that's one of several factors at work. Trump attacks CNN because it's "relevant," it's an "institution" he grew up with, AND because Trump thought CNN "should give him a pass because we were friends," Zucker said...

>> Key quote about CNN's coverage: "I think that our job at CNN is to tell the truth," Zucker said. "The problem is, in this day and age, I do understand that sometimes when you're pro-truth, it comes off as anti-Trump. In no way should we set out, ever, to be anti-Trump. We should always set out to be pro-truth. And all I encourage our shows and our anchors to be, is to hold those in power accountable and tell the truth. If that comes off as anti-Trump, then that's a byproduct of being pro-truth..."

Zucker "still interested" in running for office

At the very end of the pod, Axelrod asked where Zucker might be in five years. "I don't know for sure where I'll be, but here's the two things I do know: if the Miami Dolphins call, that's where I'll be," he said, calling back to an earlier comment about his love for the team. "And number two, look, I still harbor somewhere in my gut that I'm still very interested in politics."

The context: A few years ago, there were discussions about Zucker running for New York City mayor. He didn't mention that specific role to Axelrod, but said "I'm still interested" in a political run, "and it's something I would consider..."

FOR THE RECORD, PART THREE

By Oliver Darcy:

-- The cop who was photographed wearing a QAnon patch with Mike Pence has been "reprimanded and demoted…" (Miami Times)

-- An ex-Marine admitted on Monday that he lured Seth Rich conspiracy theorist Jack Burkman to a hotel parking garage and then shot him in the buttocks… (WaPo)

-- Will Sommer takes a look at the early life of Jerome Corsi and how the far-right conspiracy theorist once authored a children's picture book called "The King, the Dragon, and the Witch…" (The Daily Beast)

-- Per an internal staff memo, Anita Kumar will jump from McClatchy to POLITICO. She will start next month as a White House correspondent and associate editor…

Highlights from the UBS Conference...

Monday was day one of the UBS Global Media Conference. Some of the takeaways:

-- Discovery stock shook after David Zaslav acknowledged ratings and ad revenue "softness..."

-- Viacom's Bob Bakish said the company is working on three more streaming services... But not some "transformational" takeover deal...

-- Charter's Tom Rutledge said cable distribution "is a great business" from an M&A perspective, so "if there were assets for sale that we could do more of, we would do that..."

Sarandos on his theatrical dealings

Jill Disis emails: Netflix has made no secret of its desire to shake up the movie industry. Its probable Best Picture contender, Alfonso Cuarón's "Roma," will become available to stream December 12, just a few weeks into its theatrical run. It's a move that bucks traditional theatrical exclusivity windows that usually run for much longer.

The streaming giant has no qualms about its decision. At a conference Monday, Chef Content Officer Ted Sarandos chastised theater exhibitors for "disconnecting" people from the movies by demanding exclusivity. "We're trying to connect people with movies in a meaningful way," Sarandos told UBS analyst Eric Sheridan. "I think this kind of exclusivity for the theater theatrical experience is actually disconnecting people from movies in a way."

-- More: Sarandos on live sports: "If it becomes the next best place to spend $10 billion, I would look at it," Sarandos said. "But I don't think that's the case for today."

FOR THE RECORD, PART FOUR

-- Jill Disis emails: The Journal reports that "shareholder pushback" has led Disney to raise the bar Bob Iger needs to clear to collect his bonus -- a $100 million equity grant he'd receive in 2021... (WSJ)

-- The "Serial" team says its third season "surpassed 50 million downloads last week to become the show's biggest to date..." (Vulture)

-- Andrew Wallenstein has results from a new Raymond James survey: "Early but interesting glimpse at what the consumer appetite is like out there for Disney+..." (Twitter)

-- Correction: In last night's newsletter, I said that CNN showed the HBO documentary "41" in the hours after Bush's passing on Friday. Actually CNN Films' "41 on 41" aired at that time... HBO's "41" aired the next night...

What WhatsApp is doing to discourage harmful hoaxes

Hadas Gold emails: WhatsApp is launching an ambitious new advertising push on TV, Facebook and YouTube to try and encourage its users in India not to share fake news.

Made-up stories, frequently spread via WhatsApp, have become a huge issue in India – the app's biggest market – after a spate of lynchings that have been blamed on hoaxes sent over the platform. So the three commercials follow individuals who use WhatsApp groups and talk to their friends or family who are spreading fake news. "The campaign is timed to start just prior to the elections in Rajasthan and Telangana and WhatsApp will build on this effort headed into the national election next year," the company said.

But one thing stood out to me – the ads aren't being pushed out on the WhatsApp platform itself...

FOR THE RECORD, PART FIVE

-- Remember Tumblr? Its big announcement on Monday: It is "banning images and videos that feature 'adult content,' including pornography, from its platform..." (CNN)

-- One of the most-shared stories on social media Monday: "Bari Weiss and Eve Peyser were Twitter enemies. Then they met..." (NYT)

-- What's your TikTok strategy? (I kid.) If you're not familiar with the app yet, read Kevin Roose's column... (NYT)

-- Apple "plans to hold off until at least 2020 before offering an iPhone that can connect" to 5G networks... "The delay may make it easier for rivals like Samsung..." (Bloomberg)

-- Milo Yiannopoulos is... deeply in debt? (The Guardian)

Rusbridger's new book

Former Guardian editor Alan Rusbridger is in NYC promoting his new book "Breaking News."

Spotted at Craig Newmark's home for a Monday night book party: Jill Abramson, Vivian Schiller, Bill and Emma Keller, Jay Rosen, Jeff Jarvis, Sarah Bartlett, Sarah Ellison, Margaret Sullivan, Joanne Lipman, Ben Smith, Melissa Bell, Joel Simon, Kerry Paterson, Suzanne Nossel, Jameel Jaffer, Tim O'Brien, and many more...

What's going on with "Friends"

Fourteen years after ending its run on NBC, "Friends" is still a "strong performer" for Netflix -- as evidenced by a news cycle full of concerns that the show "would be leaving the service at the end of the year," the WSJ's Joe Flint writes.

Fear not, "Friends" fans: WarnerMedia, which owns the show, "has reached an agreement in principle" to keep the reruns on Netflix, Flint reports.

The developing deal says a lot about the streaming wars. WarnerMedia (CNN's parent) wants to keep getting checks from Netflix, but it's also building a streaming service of its own. So Netflix "will continue to be the exclusive streaming home of 'Friends' for 2019," but after that, Warner "has an option to put the show on its own streaming platforms either exclusively or in a shared window," Flint reports, citing a source. Presumably Netflix would pay less $$ for the show if it has to share...

REALITY CHECK: Netflix knew this sort of thing was going to happen. I used to call it "tightening the spigot." Ted Sarandos et al knew that other content owners would tighten the spigot, and that's one of the reasons why he started producing so so so much original programming...

Lowry's take

Brian Lowry emails: For all the (understandable) focus on Netflix's original content, the fact that fans were "freaked out" (to quote THR) by the prospect of the service losing "Friends" -- a series that went off the air 14 years ago -- is a good reminder that the streaming services also rely on studios to flesh out their content roster. So while I'd be saying the same thing in Ted Sarandos' shoes about not worrying about Disney, Warner Bros. or other studio-backed services, the truth is even Netflix can't afford to be cavalier about losing significant pipelines of product...

Lifetime focusing on its strength in movies

Brian Lowry emails: Speaking of Netflix, the service continues to be Hollywood's disposal system -- in this case, picking up the second season of "You," a macabre drama that Lifetime, in one of those fits of optimism, picked up for two seasons prior to its premiere. Despite its flirtation with series, Lifetime is shifting its programming resources back toward its established strength in movies, another sign -- after YouTube's move away from scripted development last week -- that the let's-everyone-do-dramas glut might be cooling a bit...

FOR THE RECORD, PART SIX

By Lisa Respers France:

-- Beyoncé fans saw just 25 minutes of performance in South Africa via streaming...

-- Halsey had a strong message for Victoria's Secret Fashion Show...

-- Kat Von D and her husband have introduced their first child...

ICYMI

Catch up on Sunday's "Reliable Sources"

Watch the video clips on CNN.com... Listen via Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, TuneIn, or your favorite podcast app... Or watch the whole episode via CNNgo or VOD...

On the meaning of a state funeral

"You know, we're not a very historical society," Frank Sesno told me on Sunday's "Reliable Sources." And we live at a time when events fly by in real time, "instantaneously, and then it's gone." So memorials, like this week's tributes to Bush 41, are a rare chance to "reflect on a life and to think what service to country actually looks like," Sesno said...

Reflections from veteran reporters

H.W. Bush was "available and accessible" to the press corps, former White House correspondent Charles Bierbauer said on "Reliable."

"He also understood our job," Sam Donaldson added. "Presidents don't like everything they read or see, but he understood what we were about." Read/watch here...

Inside the Herald's investigation

Julie K. Brown, who wrote "Perversion of Justice" for the Miami Herald, told me how she tracked down sources and obtained documents about the Jeffrey Epstein case. "I had to try to get people to trust me," she said. In some cases, the sources feared that the Herald's editors or the paper's owner, McClatchy, would kill the story to appease Epstein. They feared that "someone in power" would intervene, Brown said. Thankfully, the story WAS published. Watch our Q&A here...

That's a wrap on today's letter. Thank you for reading. Send me your feedback anytime. See you tomorrow!