Details come to light about Sally Buzbee clashing with Will Lewis, Shane Smith returns to a diminished Vice News, Shari Redstone keeps us all waiting for at least another day, the radical right continues flooding the discourse with talk of jailing Donald Trump's critics, Apple prepares to embrace A.I. at WWDC, OpenAI faces more backlash, and the "Bad Boys" look to save the anemic summer box office. But first, the A1.

The Journal Infernal

CNN Photo Illustration/CNN

The Wall Street Journal owes its readers — and the public — better.

The business broadsheet published and hyped a story Wednesday declaring that "behind closed doors," President Joe Biden has shown "signs of slipping." The story questioned Biden's mental acuity, playing into a GOP-propelled narrative that the 81-year-old president lacks the fitness to hold the nation's highest office.

But an examination of the report reveals a glaring problem: Most of the sources reporters Annie Linskey and Siobhan Hughes relied on were Republicans. In fact, buried in the story, the reporters themselves acknowledged that they had drawn their sweeping conclusion based on GOP sources who, obviously, have an incentive to make comments that will damage Biden's candidacy.

"Most of those who said Biden performed poorly were Republicans, but some Democrats said that he showed his age in several of the exchanges," Linskey and Hughes conceded. The duo also noted that they had spoken to sources in the administration "who found no fault" with the way Biden conducted himself in meetings for which they were present.

Republicans accusing their political foe of lacking the mental fitness to hold office is nothing surprising. Such accusations are made every night on Fox News. And Donald Trump, who at 77 years old has also shown plenty of signs of waning mental faculties, including repeatedly falling asleep at his own high-stakes hush money trial, has made the accusation a centerpiece of his campaign. In other words, these accusations from the right aren't exactly news.

"It’s a little surprising that The Wall Street Journal thought it was breaking news when congressional Republicans told them the same false claims they’ve spouted on Fox News for years," White House spokesperson Andrew Bates said, "but it’s also telling that the only individuals willing to smear the President in this story are political opponents afraid to use their names – plus one proven liar."

Even more inexplicable is why The Journal would quote former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy in the piece as a serious person speaking in good faith. McCarthy is, in fact, a MAGA Republican who has for years lied on behalf of Trump. I'm sure reporters at The Journal would acknowledge McCarthy's extreme record of dishonesty in private. So why present him to readers as an honest arbiter of reality?

The New York Times' Katie Rogers and Annie Karni even reported last year that McCarthy had praised Biden's mental faculties when speaking amongst confidantes — a starkly different tune than the one he is now singing in public. "Privately, Mr. McCarthy has told allies that he has found Mr. Biden to be mentally sharp in meetings," Rogers and Karni reported in March 2023. Rogers re-upped that reporting on Wednesday in the wake of The Journal's story.

Bizarrely, while quoting McCarthy, The Journal apparently ignored on-the-record statements provided by high-ranking Democrats. Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi disclosed that she spoke to the newspaper, but she was notably not quoted in the piece. Other Democrats went public on Wednesday with similar experiences. Instead, one of the only on-the-record quotes in the entire story was delivered by the former Republican leader who would lie about the color of the sky if it pleased Trump.

"The Journal ignored testimony by Democrats, focused on attacks by Republicans and printed a hit piece," Pelosi protested on X. 

Hughes responded to the criticism Wednesday, telling "CNN News Central" that her job "is to be the agent of the reader" and that she is not going to "publish the quote provided to me or us by every single Democrat."

A spokesperson for The Journal told me that the Rupert Murdoch-owned newspaper, which is under the stewardship of newish editor Emma Tucker, "stands by its reporting." If Tucker is comfortable with such shoddy journalism, it is worrisome.

It is difficult to imagine that the newspaper, or any outlet, would run a similar story declaring that Trump is "slipping" behind the scenes based on the word of top Democratic figures — despite the fact that the Democratic leadership has demonstrated a much stronger relationship with the truth in recent years than their Republican counterparts.

More broadly speaking, The Journal's piece pointed to a continued problem roiling the news media as it covers the 2024 election. Trump is permitted to fall asleep in court and make nonsensical public statements on a routine basis without any serious questions raised about his mental acuity. Meanwhile, Biden is judged on an entirely different standard.

Where are the stories about Trump's former inner circle raising questions about his mental fitness? Alyssa Farah Griffin, who served as his communications director, has publicly stated that Trump is "not as sharp" as he once was. Nikki Haley, the former South Carolina governor who served as ambassador to the United Nations under Trump, has also repeatedly raised issues about the Republican candidate's mental fitness, describing him as "declining" and "diminished" and "not the same person he was in 2016."

"Hope the Wall Street Journal feels free to reach out to any one of us who worked in the Trump Admin. Happy to discuss Trump’s mental acuity & fitness for office," Olivia Troye, a former Trump administration official, sarcastically wrote on X. "We can start with the closed doors discussions on milkshakes during intel briefings, windmills causing cancer, what bleach does & doesn’t do & go from there."

CNN Photo Illustration/Carlotta Cardana/Bloomberg/Getty Images

When Will Clashed With Sally: 72 hours after Sally Buzbee's abrupt ouster from The WaPo, more details are being brought to light about her frayed relationship with the newspaper's new publisher and chief executive, Will Lewis. The NYT's Benjamin Mullin and Katie Robertson reported Wednesday that Lewis and Buzbee "clashed over whether to publish an article about a British hacking scandal" that is playing out in a British court. Lewis, per The NYT reporting duo, told Buzbee the case didn't warrant coverage in the Jeff Bezos-owned paper. "When Ms. Buzbee said The Post would publish an article anyway, he said her decision represented a lapse in judgment and abruptly ended the conversation," Mullin and Robertson reported, adding that the whole affair "rattled" Buzbee and that she "consulted with confidants outside The Post about how she should handle the situation." Mullin and Robertson pointed out that a story was ultimately published on the court case — though, if you'll remember, Semafor's Max Tani reported at the time that a top editor at the paper then instructed editors not to promote the story. Suffice to say, none of this is a great look for Lewis. That said, the single event was obviously not the deciding factor in Buzbee's ultimate exit.

► Over at Puck, Dylan Byers offered a detailed "'Post' Mortem." Byers pointed out that, with Buzbee gone, "Lewis now appears to have all the power. It's his way or the highway." 

CNN Photo Illustration/Julia Nikhinson/AP

Radical Right Plots Revenge: Disturbing — and, frankly, unAmerican — calls for Donald Trump to warp the justice system and weaponize it to target members of the media and Democratic Party continue to grow in right-wing media. On Wednesday, MAGA extremist Laura Loomer, who has been praised by Trump, said that she believes the now-convicted former president should strip Judge Juan Merchan, who oversaw the hush-money trial, "of his citizenship and deport him back to the Third World hellhole he came from." Meanwhile, "War Room" host Steve Bannon proudly told Axios' Mike Allen and Jim VandeHei that Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg "should be — and will be — jailed" under a second Trump presidency. Bannon added that he wants "investigations to include [Democrats'] media allies." And Trump himself, is also publicly talking about jailing critics. The GOP candidate told Newsmax "it's very possible that it's going to have to happen."

🗞️ The NYT's Jonathan Swan, Maggie Haberman, and Charlie Savage published a smart story Wednesday about the alarming rhetoric drenching conservative spaces: "The more extreme calls for not just oversight scrutiny and political obstructionism but revenge prosecutions are coming from former senior Trump administration officials and people close to the former president who are expected to play even larger roles in a potential second term. Their message is often apocalyptic."

🔎 Zooming in: This repeated rhetoric, which has now been coursing through right-wing media for months, is working to normalize the potential weaponization of government and convince Republicans that it is actually necessary. While Hunter Biden's trial is capturing media attention, the effect of the far-right's demands for retribution is far more consequential.

CNN Photo Illustration/Marcio Jose Sanchez/AP

Apple Embraces A.I.: Apple is preparing to go all in on A.I. Bloomberg's Apple whisperer Mark Gurman pulled back the curtain Wednesday on the Silicon Valley titan's plans to infuse their products with the technology (with announcements expected at next week's WWDC), even partnering with OpenAI in the near future as it races "to catch up in that area." Per Gurman, Apple's own teams are "working furiously" to develop its own ChatGPT competitor. But, for now, it has determined its products are simply not as good as OpenAI's — meaning the two will soon get in business together. That could cause problems for Apple, given that, as Gurman noted, it links the company to "a startup beset by upheaval and controversy." Which is perhaps why, Gurman reported, Apple "is expected to offer its new AI features as an opt-in service." Read Gurman's full story.

► Long term, Gurman reported, Apple has much grander plans: "Apple also is looking beyond chatbots. It aims to use large language models — a key technology behind generative A.I. — to help power a pair of robotic devices that it is secretly developing, the people said. That includes a table-top robotic arm with a large, iPad-like display. The company also has been working on a mobile robot that can follow users around and handle chores on their behalf. And it’s looking to equip its AirPods with cameras and A.I. features."

CNN Photo Illustration/Frank Masi/Sony Pictures

'Bad Boys' Ready to Ride or Die: Will the "Bad Boys" be able to rescue the anemic summer box office? That's surely the hope of theaters as the fourth entry into the Michael Bay action-comedy series readies to hit theaters. Box Office Pro reported Wednesday, "Our Forecasting Panel believes there should be enough walk-up business and positive buzz for this movie to cross the $40M mark—with real potential for the title to go up as high as $60M if everything goes its way." The Wrap's Jeremy Fuster reported that current projections for the $100 million budgeted film are sitting at $45-50 million. We'll see. As Fuster noted, only "King of the Planet of the Apes" has opened above $35 million in the last two months — which would make "Bad Boys" crossing the $50 million mark a big deal. Read Fuster's full story.

► "Bad Boys" is inching upward on Rotten Tomatoes. The film now boasts a decent 71% score from critics. My bet is that it will receive good word of mouth from fans.

► Martin Lawrence assured fans that he is "healthy as hell" amid worries sparked by the press tour that he might be ill. "I'm all good," he said. "No need for people to be concerned."

► THR's Tatiana Tenreyro pointed out that the movie "may remind viewers of Will Smith's Oscars slap." 

► Big picture from THR's Pamela McClintock: "The summer box office crisis: Is the sky really falling this time?"