One month before the 2016 presidential election, Fox News had a story ready to go about an alleged extramarital affair between adult film actress Stormy Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, and President Trump, but it never published it, four people familiar with the matter told CNN.
The Wall Street Journal reported last week that in October 2016, Trump's personal attorney, Michael Cohen, arranged a $130,000 payment to Clifford to keep her quiet about the alleged 2006 sexual relationship. Fox News reporter Diana Falzone had a completed story about Clifford and Trump, which included a statement from Clifford's manager confirming the relationship, but "Fox killed it," one person familiar with the matter told CNN. Fox News wasn't the only outlet writing about this story; The Daily Beast and Slate both said they were speaking to Clifford before the election, but she backed out of an interview with The Daily Beast and stopped returning phone calls from Slate.
Noah Kotch, who became editor-in-chief and vice president of Fox News digital in 2017, said in a statement that "like many other outlets, we were working to report the story of Stephanie Clifford's account in October 2016 about then-presidential candidate Donald Trump and a possible payment by Trump lawyer Michael Cohen. In doing our due diligence, we were unable to verify all of the facts and publish a story." Cohen and Clifford have both denied the Journal's report, and in a statement distributed by Cohen, Clifford said her involvement with Trump "was limited to a few public appearances and nothing more," and "rumors that I have received hush money from Donald Trump are completely false." Catherine Garcia
If you love Keanu Reeves, clear your schedule on May 21, 2021, because Hollywood is treating you to a double feature.
Warner Bros. has announced that The Matrix 4 will arrive in theaters on that date, which also happens to be the date Lionsgate had previously scheduled for the fourth John Wick movie. Honestly: Just cut out the middleman and give us the John Wick vs. Neo movie of our collective dreams. Read more at The Wrap. Scott Meslow
Let's hope Vacation is all you ever wanted, because you're about to get a lot more of it.
The Griswold family — immortalized on the big screen in the movies Vacation, European Vacation, Christmas Vacation, Vegas Vacation, and an Ed Helms-starring reboot you probably forgot about — is bound for the small screen, reports Deadline.
The new TV series, titled The Griswolds, will premiere on the upcoming streaming service HBO Max, and promises to explore the family's "daily lives in the suburbs of modern-day Chicago," because nothing says "Vacation adaptation" like a bunch of people sitting around at home. Read more at Deadline. Scott Meslow
The upcoming Game of Thrones prequel spinoff House of the Dragon is set hundreds of years before the events of the original series, which makes it rather unlikely that fan favorites like Tyrion Lannister or Arya Stark will be popping in for cameos.
But one Game of Thrones actor who could actually, plausibly appear in House of the Dragon says she might be down to reprise her role: Carie van Houten, who played the "red witch" Melisandre.
Melisandre was eventually revealed to be very, very old in one of many Game of Thrones plot twists that didn't actually go anywhere — but hey, at least that gives the spinoff something to explore. Read more at Entertainment Weekly. Scott Meslow
Between HBO's Big Little Lies and and Apple TV+'s The Morning Show, Reese Witherspoon has spent much of 2019 on the small screen. But there's one big-screen character she's keen to revive: Elle Woods, the protagonist of 2001's Legally Blonde and its sequel.
A third Legally Blonde hasn't formally been greenlit, but Witherspoon confirmed to The Hollywood Reporter that it's on her list: "We discussed it and thought, maybe it's time to revisit" — and given that the last Legally Blonde movie ended with Elle Woods setting her sights on the White House, the 2020 election could be about to get very interesting.
Read more at The Hollywood Reporter. Scott Meslow
President Trump's impeachment saga is just begging for an HBO adaptation.
There's foreign intrigue. There are talkative star witnesses. And there's the possibility of seeing Timothée Chalamet squeeze on a bald cap to play Rudy Giuliani once he's a few decades past his prime. All of that — but in the present day and shoved into the Senate floor — is what Trump wants out of his upcoming Senate trial, Politico reports via interviews with eight current and former senior administration officials, Trump campaign aides and Republicans close to the White House.
Trump used to be worried about impeachment, even angry, Politico says. Yet lately, Trump has started laughing the whole thing off, calling the charges against him "flimsy" and the whole thing "impeachment lite." The change in attitude comes as "White House and campaign officials" start to believe "impeachment could become politically advantageous" both for swing-state Republicans and those challenging vulnerable House Democrats, Politico reports. They've gotten their confidence from polling that has shown impeachment is "unpopular with Republicans" and questionable among independents, and also the fact that no Republicans on the Hill have defected to back the process, Politico continues.
But Trump and Senate Republicans aren't on the same page about everything. While the Senate reportedly just wants to get this whole thing over with, Trump "would prefer it become more of a TV spectacle with high-profile witnesses and smooth-talking attorneys to fully exonerate him," Politico writes. After all, an appearance from Alan Dershowitz would make the O.J. Simpson parallels just too much to handle. Kathryn Krawczyk