BuzzFeed News reporter Anthony Cormier and editor-in-chief Ben Smith said several times on CNN Brian Stelter's "Reliable Sources" that they are confident in their reporting despite the challenge from special counsel Robert Mueller's office that claimed the story was inaccurate.
Why it matters: Because of the rare comments from special counsel spokesperson Peter Carr, lawmakers and reporters both scaled down the hype of whether BuzzFeed's story is a smoking gun.
Walmart pharmacies will stay in the network of CVS Health's pharmacy benefit manager after the two sides agreed to a new pricing contract.
The big picture:So much for that spat. However, the Wall Street Journal reported Walmart "didn't ask CVS to increase the amount it pays when shoppers fill a prescription," and instead asked to "maintain rates at current levels." That detail fits with a new Columbus Dispatch story, which showed the CVS pharmacy benefit manager paid Walmart stores 46% less for some drugs than CVS' own pharmacies.
For all his media bashing,President Trump sees the White House as the greatest show on Earth and obsesses over the staging — micromanaging his own lighting and constantly consuming the coverage of himself as if it were sports highlights.
Why it matters: We learnin a forthcoming book by campaign confidant Cliff Sims ("Team of Vipers," out Jan. 29) that this fixation extends to the chyrons — the all-caps text at the bottom of the screen.
Last night's rareon-the-record statement from the Mueller team is a reckoning that journalism had coming: Amid some of the most impressive reporting of our lifetimes, there's plenty of questionable coverage in this shock-a-minute era.
Why it matters: BuzzFeed's report that President Trump directed Michael Cohen to lie to Congress, if true, would put this presidency at existential risk.
