Former Vice President Joe Biden isn't bashful about the reason he's running for president.
Biden, though not bereft of policy plans, isn't leading a specific "movement" like some of his Democratic competitors, namely Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.). In that sense, there doesn't appear to have been an ideological motivation that spurred the 77-year-old's decision to jump into the crowded Democratic primary last year, except for defeating the incumbent, President Trump, The New York Times reports.
In fact, Biden reportedly told the Times while campaigning in Iowa before the state's caucus kicks off the election process next week that he likely wouldn't even have launched a campaign if someone like Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) was the one seeking re-election, amplifying Biden's message that Democrats and Republicans need not be in a state of "perpetual war" in a post-Trump America. It's Trump, and Trump alone, that compelled former President Barack Obama's right hand man to take one last crack at the Oval Office. Read more at The New York Times. Tim O'Donnell
Former National Security Adviser John Bolton has another ex-Trump official on his side.
Former White House Chief of Staff John Kelly spoke to a crowd in Sarasota, Florida, on Monday, where he was asked about Bolton's forthcoming book that reportedly says Trump spoke to Bolton about a Ukraine quid pro quo. "If John Bolton says that in the book, I believe John Bolton," Kelly said, per the Sarasota Herald Tribune.
Kelly, a retired general, left the Trump administration more than a year ago, but a good chunk of his tenure overlapped with Bolton's. A Sunday New York Times report describes how Bolton's memoir reportedly describes how Trump told Bolton he wanted to withhold Ukraine's security aid until the country agreed to investigate his Democratic rivals.
Kelly said if the reporting was true, he believed Bolton. "Every single time I was with him ... he always gave the president the unvarnished truth," Kelly said of Bolton, calling him an "honest guy." Kelly then said "half of Americans think this process is purely political and shouldn't be happening, but since it is happening," Americans should "hear the whole story." "If there are people that could contribute to this, either innocence or guilt ... I think they should be heard," Kelly continued, per the Sarasota Herald Tribune. Kathryn Krawczyk
Andy Samberg's new movie just set a new record for biggest Sundance Film Festival sale ever, and when it comes to teeing up Twitter jokes, the sum sure didn't disappoint.
Palm Springs, the new Groundhog Day-esque comedy that Samberg stars in with Cristin Milioti, was purchased by Neon and Hulu for $17,500,000.69, making it the highest-selling film in Sundance history, Variety reports.
The previous record for biggest sale was set by The Birth of a Nation, the 2016 Nate Parker film that sold for $17.5 million, meaning the record was broken by exactly 69 cents.
Directed by Max Barbakow, Palm Springs stars Milioti as bridesmaid who, as Polygon explains, "attempts to tough out her sister's wedding without being noticed, until she accidentally gets stuck in an endlessly repeating day with an amiable slacker and his would-be murderer." Samberg produced the film with his Lonely Island partners, who said in a statement, "We spent over $85 million of our own money on this movie, WE ARE TAKING A BATH on this deal."
After earning a warm reception at Sundance, Deadline previously reported that Palm Springs was set to sell for closer to $15 million. But apparently, the opportunity to break the previous record and spawn more "nice" tweets than one could ever hope for was simply too good to pass up. Brendan Morrow