Axios

Sean Spicer said from the White House podium this afternoon that he was going to let President Trump's "tapes" tweet speak for itself, and it looks like Paul Ryan is taking the same approach. He told reporters in Delavan, Wisconsin today:

I've decided I'm not going to comment on the tweets of the day or the hour. I haven't seen them all to be candid with you.

Other quick hits: Ryan said there's "a lot of reasons" that he's chosen to do telephone town halls over in-person meetings with his constituents. He also said that Trump had never asked him for a loyalty pledge and dismissed a question regarding Trump potentially taping their conversations.

Clover Health, a Medicare Advantage insurance company, has raised $130 million from Greenoaks Capital, GV (Alphabet's venture-capital arm formerly known as Google Ventures), and several other exiting investors. The news was reported first by Bloomberg. Clover, which now has a valuation around $1.2 billion, confirmed the funding round to Axios Friday.

Why this matters: Clover gets a new big-name backer and more cash to expand its tech-based health plans. The company just ended the recent Medicare Advantage annual enrollment period with about 25,500 members, but Clover is still losing a lot of money.

Music streaming service Spotify had been considering an IPO, but sources tell CNBC's David Faber that it's planning a direct listing on the New York Stock Exchange as early as this fall.

Why a direct listing? Spotify, with 100 million users, isn't looking to raise capital; they're already cash-flow positive. Instead, it wants a liquidity event for employees and early investors looking to cash out, as CNBC reports. In a direct listing, only investors are allowed to buy shares through the open market.

Spotify v. Pandora: Pandora reported growing net loss in its Q1 earnings earlier this week and announced it was raising money to explore a sale. Spotify is such a dominant player in the music market that, once listed, it's expected to trade on the peer multiple of Netflix rather than Pandora.

Google's messaging app Allo has unveiled its newest interactive feature: automated technology that can create a Bitmoji-like illustration based on your selfie.

How it works: The user takes a selfie, and Google's neural network gets to work. The algorithm pinpoints the "qualitative features" of the user's face — such as hair style and eye color — then pulls from more than 563 quadrillion combinations to create a cartoon-like version of the user.

Thinking ahead: Google said in its announcement that it hopes to expand the feature's capabilities in the future and eventually create a "pack" of different styles. "This first style that launched today speaks to your sarcastic side but the next pack might be more cute for those sincere moments. Then after that, maybe they'll turn you into a dog," said Jennifer Daniel, Allo's Expressions Creative Director. The feature is currently only available on Android, but it should make its iOS debut "soon."

President Trump took to Twitter today to address the critics that have been calling out the White House for its mixed messaging on FBI director James Comey, which has resulted in Trump considering a replacement for White House press secretary Sean Spicer.

A federal judge has denied Uber's request to move to arbitration a trade secrets theft lawsuit filed by Waymo, Alphabet's self-driving car unit. He also is referring the theft claims to the U.S. Attorney's office, which may or may not investigate.

What it means: With the request denied, Uber and Waymo's battle over allegedly stolen self-driving car technology will continue to play out in public. The judge's ruling is a blow to Uber, which had sought to avoid a PR nightmare of a trial, in which all parties will be required to reveal information about their operations, business, and technology.

But the U.S. attorney referral could be an even bigger deal, as it could theoretically expand Uber's troubles from civil to criminal.