Brian Stelter here. Here's the latest on Stephanie Winston Wolkoff, Facebook, Michael Bloomberg, the NYT, Charlie Hebdo, TikTok, "The Comey Rule," and much more...

Conspiracy and conjecture

Two of Tuesday's big storylines were rooted in conspiracy-theorizing and conjecture, rather than real reporting. The result: More confusion and more polarization.

First, let's look at President Trump's claim that "people that you’ve never heard of" are controlling Joe Biden from the "dark shadows." He talked about a plane "almost completely loaded with thugs wearing these dark uniforms, black uniforms with gear and this and that."

"It's almost too stupid to fact-check," CNN's Daniel Dale commented.

When asked to back up the claim on Tuesday, Trump predictably doubled down while contradicting his original story -- "changing the direction the plane was flying, compared to what he claimed the day before," ABC noted.

>> My overall thought: What a waste of precious time...

>> Vox's headline: "Trump went full authoritarian in his latest Fox News interview." Alex Ward said the plane conspiracy theory "is exactly what a dictator would say..."

"The media" did not "report" this

Let me tell this story in seven parts:

1: Last November, Trump made an unscheduled visit to Walter Reed hospital. The visit has never been fully explained.

2: In his new book, Michael Schmidt reports that "in the hours leading up to Trump's trip to the hospital, word went out in the West Wing for the vice president to be on standby to take over the powers of the presidency temporarily if Trump had to undergo a procedure that would have required him to be anesthetized."

3: On Monday night, Clinton WH press secretary and CNN analyst Joe Lockhart asked on Twitter, did Trump "have a stroke which he is hiding from the American public?"

4: On Tuesday, Trump said "they are trying to say" that he "suffered a series of mini-strokes." Then his physician Sean Conley denied that Trump has experienced any strokes or mini-strokes. Conley said this has been "incorrectly reported in the media." Tweets by political commentators are not "reports" by "the media." And it's unsettling to see a doctor use such sloppy, imprecise language.

5: The Trump campaign said Lockhart should be fired. Needless to say, Lockhart has not been fired.

6: On Fox, VP Mike Pence told Bret Baier that "I don't recall being told to be on standby."

7: Lockhart tweeted, "We are no closer tonight to knowing why Trump took an unannounced visit to Walter Reed in November. The WH doctor ruled out some things, but notably did not confirm the WH story that it was just a checkup. I think we need to keep pressing until we get an answer."

Drudge needles Trump over "mini stroke" denial

Oliver Darcy writes: "Matt Drudge sure knows how to get under Trump's skin. On Tuesday, the conservative news mogul needled the President (again) by spotlighting his denial that a mini-stroke sent him to the hospital. Accompanying the banner headline was a video which Drudge dug up and characterized as showing Trump 'dragging' his right leg. Drudge has been known to hype potential health issues with Democratic candidates, and in 2016 he aggressively went after Hillary Clinton, but it's quite striking to see him do so with Trump..."

Trump bashes Drudge in return

"Drudge didn’t support me in 2016, and I hear he doesn’t support me now," Trump tweeted. "Maybe that’s why he is doing poorly. His Fake News report on Mini-Strokes is incorrect. Possibly thinking about himself, or the other party’s 'candidate'."

Darcy writes: "Trump's tweet is simply false. Drudge strongly supported Trump in 2016, not only in the general but in the Republican primaries. In fact, the Drudge Report was so pro-Trump in 2016 that Ted Cruz complained that it had 'basically become the attack site for the Donald Trump campaign.' It's also worth noting that when Trump last swiped at Drudge's web traffic, Drudge responded on the record, telling me in an email his site was experiencing record numbers. No comment today..."

FOR THE RECORD, PART ONE

-- Trump's "plane loaded with thugs" conspiracy? Ben Collins pointed out that it is "almost identical to a rumor that went viral on Facebook three months ago..." (NBC News)

-- Reacting to Monday night's Laura Ingraham interview: "Having someone around to clean up any problematic comments is also why Trump has given more interviews to Fox News than any other outlet as president," Philip Bump wrote... (WaPo)

-- Kevin Roose noted that "Diamond & Silk," which Facebook had reportedly let off the hook for sharing misinformation in the past, had the "top-performing link post by a U.S. page" on Tuesday... (Twitter)

-- "MSNBC host Joy Reid on Tuesday faced accusations of Islamophobia over remarks she made during her Monday evening broadcast comparing radicalized Trump supporters to 'the way Muslims act,'" Justin Baragona reported... (Beast)

-- Stephanie Winston Wolkoff was on Rachel Maddow's program Tuesday night to promote "Melania and Me." After the segment, WaPo dropped this story: "Melania Trump used private email accounts while in the White House, says former colleague and friend." Jada Yuan has details here... (WaPo)

YOU HEARD IT HERE FIRST...

Michael Bloomberg's big gathering

Michael Bloomberg is about to announce his next big leadership event, the New Economy Forum global summit, now set to take place virtually November 16 through 19.

These forums usually take place in person, but Bloomberg, I'm told, didn't want to wait until in-person meetings are possible to convene a global event. The timing is striking, coming just two weeks after the presidential election. And so is the structure, typically an invite-only event, which will now make some sessions available via live-stream for public viewership...

Debate moderator news is imminent

Via CNN's Keith Allen: Commission on Presidential Debates co-chair Frank Fahrenkopf said in an online forum on Tuesday that his group plans to announce debate moderators by the end of this week, with an individual moderator for all four debates. He said moderator "diversity" was a priority.

Regarding real-time fact-checking, Fahrenkopf said there is no plan for it: "There are a lot of fact-checkers, and the minute the debate is over, you can go on any network, you can pick up your paper the next morning, and they're all going to be there. It's not our job to be the fact-checker, it's our job to put on the debate, with the candidates, to be fair, balanced, and not take sides, and let the American people make a decision."

FOR THE RECORD, PART TWO

-- Jennifer Mercieca tweeted: "The story today is about the millions and millions of Americans who have rent due and no way to pay it. It isn't the most visually dramatic story of the day. It isn't the story that Donald Trump wants us to talk about. But, it is the most important story to the most people." (Twitter)

-- CNN's Bianna Golodryga landed an interview with Jill Biden about schools in the age of Covid-19, and more... (CNN)

-- Kathryn Watson of CBS wrote, "Today would be a great day for Joe Biden to hold a press conference so reporters can ask questions on behalf of voters. People are already getting ready to vote by mail in a lot of states. Americans are voting earlier than they normally might..." (Twitter)

-- "French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo will republish controversial cartoons depicting the Prophet Mohammed this week as people allegedly involved in the deadly attack on its newsroom go on trial in Paris." The next edition of the magazine will be published "as the trial begins on Wednesday..." (CNN)

Cheapfakes...

Donie O'Sullivan writes: "We talked a lot last year about deepfake videos – super realistic fake videos created with artificial intelligence technology and how they could be used to cause havoc in this year’s election. The DNC went as far as making a deepfake of Tom Perez to highlight the issue. But so far all we have really seen are cheapfakes… crudely edited, misleading videos, that can be just as impactful in spreading misinfo. Between Sunday and Monday top Republican officials shared at least four different false or misleading videos that went viral on social media. So Daniel Dale and I teamed up to tackle this one — he fact-checked the videos and I took a look at how they spread all across Facebook and Twitter, clocking millions of views before Big Tech took any (or in some case no) action."

As for deepfakes…

Donie adds: "While we have not seen deepfake videos (at least yet) in the wild this election season, on Tuesday we learned that Facebook, acting on a tip from the FBI, identified a website posing as an independent leftwing online magazine as being linked to the people tied to the Russian troll group that wreaked havoc on social media in the lead up to the 2016 election. The website, named 'Peace Data,' recruited real unwitting freelance writers to contribute to it… the persona used by the 'editor' of the website however was fake, linked the troll group, and was using a profile picture of a face that looked like a real person, but was actually a face generated by a computer, deepfake tech..."

FOR THE RECORD, PART THREE

-- "Apple and Google are moving ahead with the next stage of their contact tracing technology by integrating it more directly into their mobile operating systems, a step the companies say should help promote adoption of the notification tool..." (CNN)

-- Huh?! Trump "said he's told people involved in the sale of the U.S. assets of ByteDance's TikTok that the deal must be struck by Sept. 15 and the federal government must be 'well compensated,' or the service will be shut down..." (Bloomberg)

-- WSJ team's latest: "Deal talks for TikTok's U.S. operations have hit a snag over the question of whether the app's core algorithms can be included as part of a deal..." (WSJ)

-- MSNBC has revived the MSNBC Films moniker and hired "veteran producer Molly O'Brien to oversee its premium documentary business..." (Variety)

-- High Country News is making a $10 million investment in its future "through a capital fundraising campaign..." (HCN)

-- Nielsen is now including "out-of-home (OOH) ratings for television with its linear TV ratings for the fall TV season..." (Axios)

Facebook's attempt to 'bully the Australian government?'

Facebook's stance re: the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission's proposed rules has sent shockwaves through the news industry. Per the BBC, "The ACCC responded to Facebook's threat to block news content saying it was 'ill-timed and misconceived.'"

>> US reaction: David Chavern, CEO of News Media Alliance, said "Facebook's threat to block real journalism from its properties is simply an attempt to bully the Australian government and legislature. It is also a clear attempted exercise of their massive, anticompetitive market power. I suspect the Australian authorities won't be easily intimidated..."

"No hurry," but lots of NYT succession speculation

"2020 upheaval has scrambled succession at The New York Times," VF's Joe Pompeo reports: While there's always lots of newsroom speculation over who will succeed Dean Baquet someday, "any decision is far from imminent," as publisher A.G. Sulzberger has made clear.

>> Key paragraph in Pompeo's story: "Times executives traditionally step down by the end of their 65th year (although it's not some indelible edict, and Sulzberger could always decide to forego that tradition). Baquet is about to turn 64, and there's a growing sense in the newsroom that he will, and should, stay in charge for as long as possible. Sulzberger declined to chat with me about all of this, but said, 'All speculation is likely to be inaccurate, because I am in no hurry for the best editor in the business to leave anytime soon.'"

>> Pompeo reports that a handful of very senior NYT editors got big "360" performance reviews this year, including Marc Lacey, who people are now talking about as a serious contender...

FOR THE RECORD, PART FOUR

By Kerry Flynn:

-- "For BIPOC communities, local news crisis extends beyond major cities," Tow Center fellows Andrea Wenzel and Letrell Deshan Crittenden wrote. They shared research about news coverage in Chambersburg, a small town in Pennsylvania, and Maywood, a suburb in Illinois... (CJR)

-- Vox Media, Ben & Jerry's and The Who We Are Project are launching a podcast about racism in America... (CNN Business)

-- Sara Fischer spoke with AccuWeather and The Weather Channel about how they've adjusted their reporting amid the pandemic... (Axios)

-- Tiffany Hsu wrote about the "onslaught of ads promising relief in a stressful time" from relaxing toys, apps and other products... (NYT)

FOR THE RECORD, PART FIVE

-- Fifteen years after Katrina: "John Ridley and Carlton Cuse are set to adapt Sheri Fink's novel 'Five Days at Memorial' for Apple as a limited series..." (Variety)

-- "'Judge Judy' has once again finished the TV season as the top-rated show in syndication." Right behind the judge: "Family Feud," "Jeopardy!" and "Wheel of Fortune." (TheWrap)

-- More from Reid Nakamura's story: "In daytime, 'Dr. Phil' will finish the season the most-watched talk show with a 2.2 rating, maintaining its spot at No. 1 among talk shows for the ninth year in a row..."

-- AT&T (CNN's parent) "is exploring the potential sale of its digital advertising operations, a sign the telecommunications company is curbing its ambitions to become a force on Madison Avenue..." (WSJ)

-- Lillian Rizzo reports: "A new streaming service featuring more than 200 TV stations launched Tuesday, part of an effort by local-TV groups," including Gray and Meredith... (WSJ)

Special screenings of '42'

"In celebration of Chadwick Boseman's life and his work, '42,' in which he portrayed MLB's first Black ballplayer Jackie Robinson, will be booked at 740 locations nationwide at AMC, Regal, Cinemark, Alamo Drafthouse, Marcus, Harkins and other chains," Deadline's Anthony D'Alessandro reports...

Early reviews of 'The Comey Rule'

Brian Lowry writes: "The review embargo lifted Tuesday for 'The Comey Rule,' which is sort of insanely early for a miniseries with a Sept. 27 premiere. Here are some of the early reviews via Metacritic. I can only imagine that the embargo lifted so early because Showtime is eager to begin drumming up interest in the project and understandably confident that there will be no shortage of coverage as the actual date draws near. Personally, I was most impressed by the casting from top to bottom, but for a formal review, stay tuned..."

The rediscovery of 'Cobra Kai'

Brian Lowry emails: "The rediscovery of 'Cobra Kai' with its shift to Netflix is further evidence that platform still matters, and even engaging programs (as this is) can get lost in the shuffle on smaller networks and services. We've seen this play out with Netflix before, where series like 'Black Mirror' have taken off after Netflix acquired them, but that isn't true of everything, as this Decider piece detailed its somewhat uneven track record reheating leftovers like 'Designated Survivor' and 'The Killing...'"