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dlwritings · 4 years

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Never Have I Ever | Tom Holland

masterlist found here

pairing - Tom x reader word count - 2,193 warnings - implications of sex and mention of nudes A/N - for the two anons who requested | the Never Have I Ever bit is based on this classic One Direction interview

summary - You and Tom had been dating for a while, and a stupid iCloud hacker caused some intimate pictures to leak. When things get a little awkward at an interview, your cast mates had your back.

It’s in the moments when life is going really well that one should start to get suspicious. Especially when your life is so publicized, you should always be on your toes.

You should’ve known when things were going so well with Tom that they were bound to come crashing down eventually.

Your relationship had been going on privately for about six months. You met on the set of Spider-Man: Far From Home. You weren’t playing an important character or anything, just one of the background students going on the European trip. Something about you just caught Tom’s eye. The more time he spent with you, the more he realized he was falling for you.

However, your publicists were both very strict about your relationship needing to remain private. While nothing about the two of you being together was illegal, the world didn’t exactly need to see Hollywood heartthrob 23-year-old Tom Holland parading around with up-and-coming singer-slash-actress 18-year-old (Y/N) (Y/L/N). Everyone on your teams could already see the headlines, and they wouldn’t exactly do wonders for either of your images. Tom would be seen as a perverted cradle robber, and you would be seen as a ladder-climbing slut. It was pretty much a lose-lose situation.

So, you kept it on the downlow. Your friends, immediate family, and fellow castmates knew, but you never went public about it. This didn’t mean you couldn’t go on dates together, but PDA had to be minimal to non existent. This wasn’t a huge deal, because you weren’t one to make out with your boyfriend in public anyway. So, everything was going fine.

Again, that was when you should’ve realized everything was about to go to shit.

There were a few weeks when Tom was filming in Prague and you didn’t need to be there, so you were home in London. During those weeks, it was only natural for you and Tom to have some intimate conversations. You were both young, and going from almost daily sex to none at all wasn’t easy. You sent him a few pictures, he reciprocated, there were a few steamy phone calls and some text messages here and there, but that was it. It was all normal young adult behavior. The only thing was, neither of you were considered normal young adults.

You got the phone call in the dead of night. One phone call you might’ve missed, but the endless stream that was coming in was impossible to ignore. You saw the caller ID read Monica - manager, so you answered it, feeling panic settle in your chest immediately. Monica was a friend at this point -practically an older sister- but she would have no positive reason to call at 1:00 in the morning.

“Everything’s fine,” she said as soon as you picked up.

“Monica-”

“Someone hacked Tom’s iCloud,” she said.

“Okay,” you said slowly. “So?”

She cleared her throat awkwardly. “Apparently, the two of you have shared some, um, intimate phot-”

“OH MY GOD!” you screamed. “NO! No way! FUCK!”

“It’s okay,” she said, trying to calm you down. “It’s okay.”

“It’s very clearly not okay!” you shouted. “My naked photos are on the internet! You know who has access to the internet?”

“I mean-”

“Everyone!” you said. “And you know who is a part of everyone?”

“(Y/N)-”

“My mom!” I shouted. “My mom is going to see naked photos of me. She probably thinks I’m still a virgin! Oh my god. The whole world is going to think I’m a slut.”

“Okay, but you’re not a slut,” Monica said, her voice soothing.

“But-”

“It’s very important to me that you know that this does not make you a slut,” she said. There was that older sister vibe coming out. “Everyone shares nudes, alright? Someone else stealing and sharing those doesn’t make you a slut. Okay?”

You took a stabilizing breath. “Okay.”

“We took the picture down where it was originally posted,” she said. “I’m sure people have already saved it though, but you know what? It’s going to be fine. We’ll tackle the PR when it comes up. There’s nothing we can do about it now except handle it like adults and remind the world that you and Tom are both adults.”

Tom.

“Okay,” you said again. “Thanks for calling me.”

“Try and get some sleep,” she said. “I’ll call you in the morning.”

“Sleep,” you scoffed. “Right.”

As soon as you hung up with Monica, you called Tom. He picked up on the first ring. “(Y/N)-”

“Why’d you put it on the cloud?” you shouted, unable to stop yourself.

“Everything backs up automatically!” he said defensively. “This isn’t my fault!”

“Well it isn’t my fault!”

“I’m not saying it is!”

“Whose fault is it then?”

“The 40-something-year-old pervert who hacked into my account and leaked the photos!”

You couldn’t help but let out a short laugh. Tom did the same, and you ran a hand through your messy bedhead. “This is a disaster, Tom,” you mumbled.

“I know,” he said. “I’m so sorry.”

“It’s okay,” you said, waving a hand dismissively even though he couldn’t see it.

“You know, it’s going to be brought up next week during press,” Tom said. In your sleepy state, you had forgotten that next week, you were starting press for the film. You sighed into the receiver.

“We’ll cross that bridge when we get there,” you said.

The following week came, and neither you nor Tom had responded to any of the internet’s comments on the nudes. Your publicists both decided it would be best to address the situation only when it arose during an interview. That way, the words could come directly from your mouths without any chance of misinterpretation or poor wording from a tweet or Instagram post. It would also come across as more professional than if Tom blabbed about it during an Instagram live.

The first interview that happened was on Jimmy Kimmel Live. You had both done an interview with Jimmy before, and he was one of the nicest guys on late night TV. You hoped he would be kind about it all. Maybe, if you were lucky, he wouldn’t even bring it up. To make the night even better, you would be sharing the couch with Jake, Jacob, and Zendaya. You knew you’d be a little bit more at ease with them there.

Everything about the interview was going fine at first. Jimmy was asking you all questions about the film and what life behind the scenes was like with such a crazy cast. After the commercial break, Jimmy informed the audience that you would be playing a game. The game, of course, had already been approved by your PR team. That didn’t mean you had any idea what it was.

“We’ve asked Twitter to send in their best questions for never have I ever,” Jimmy said. “Now, I’ve not seen any of these questions, but they have been cleared by our team.” Jimmy handed the five of you paddles that read I HAVE on one side and NEVER on the other. “I will be playing too, because I think it’s only fair,” he said with his usual smile.

You could hear your heart beating in your ears, but you painted on your superstar smile to mask your nerves. Surely the questions wouldn’t be that bad if Jimmy’s team cleared them.

“From Paula comes, Never have I ever danced naked in the rain,” Jimmy said.

“In the rain?” Tom said.

“Naked?” Jacob clarified. Jimmy nodded with a laugh as he flipped it to the NEVER side. Everyone put NEVER except Jacob.

“Alright, Jacob?” Tom laughed.

“Listen, we’ve all had some wild nights, alright?” he said. “This is a judgement free couch.”

“Alright, next,” Jimmy said with a laugh, “comes from John: Never have I ever joined the mile high club.”

You and Tom looked at each other for a millisecond that you hoped wasn’t caught on camera. Even though it was a lie, you put NEVER. There were some things you just weren’t going to reveal about yourself, even if the whole world had already seen you naked. Jake put I HAVE, and swore he wouldn’t say who he joined with.

“From Alex: Never have I ever-” Jimmy cut himself off with an awkward laugh. You could tell he wasn’t too thrilled with the questions either. You wondered if someone would get fired after this. “Never have I ever been naked in public.” More questions went by like that: smoked a joint, slept with someone twice or half my age. All things that could stir up PR nightmares and just made you into a liar.

Jimmy started to read the next. “From Kayla: Never have I ever-” It was evident he was upset, and you wondered for a moment if he’d even read it aloud. “Never have I ever taken a nude photo.”

Laughter spread across the audience as you all played with the paddles in your hands. You couldn’t even get yourself to look at the camera, and Jimmy threw his paddle over his shoulder. “Whoever picked these questions,” he said with a slight laugh, “is in for a stern talking to tonight.”

“Honestly, what did they expect?” Jake asked. “You give us these paddles, and you really think we’re suddenly going to answer these questions? Like Yeah!” He waved his own paddle in the air. “I’ve done all the drugs! Cocaine, heroine! Marijuana is a pussy’s drug.” At this point, you couldn’t tell if he was being sarcastic or serious. Still, the audience laughed, and Jake threw his paddle behind him too. He looked at the camera and pointed at it. “We know what you sick perverts want,” he said, “but listen here. These kids-” He pointed at you, Tom, Zendaya, and Jacob. “-are media trained superstars, alright? You really think that Tom “Spider-Man” Holland is gonna stand up and say, This morning, I woke up, rolled a joint-” He was doing a terrible British accent while miming his actions and had everyone dying. “-and then took a dick pic before running through the streets of Los Angeles butt ass naked? You really think this guy is gonna say that? They’re not gonna say that!”

Zendaya took the paddle from Tom and took yours as well, then put them together so the I HAVE sides were touching and both sides of the paddle said NEVER. “They might as well say this, Jimmy,” she said, thrusting the paddles back into your hands. “Never, and never. Never. Never.”

“Yeah!” Jacob agreed. “You all are sick!” He folded his arms across his chest with a sarcastic huff, and everyone applauded him while laughing. You almost had tears in your eyes.

Within a few minutes, the show went to commercial break, and Jimmy apologized profusely to the five of you, mostly to you and Tom since everyone knew the questions were directed more at you. “I honestly had no idea what the questions were,” he said. “I have no idea why they were cleared.”

“It’s fine,” you said. “I think it’s safe to say though that you guys-” You looked at Jake, Zendaya, and Jacob. “-saved us.”

“We’ve always got your back,” Zendaya said, giving your arm a comforting squeeze. You smiled and laid your head on her shoulder while Jacob reached out and squeezed your hand. Jake was talking quietly to Tom, and you could see in both of their eyes that Jake was saying something meaningful. Tom was smiling appreciatively and nodding along.

By the time you and Tom got back to your hotel, the clip of you on Jimmy’s show was already trending. You showed Tom all the tweets, and the two of you shared a laugh. “Glad we can laugh about it now,” Tom said, getting under the covers of the bed beside you.

“Oh believe me, I’m still crying inside,” you said, “but the others made it a little easier.”

“And I didn’t?” Tom teased.

“You’re the one who got them leaked in the first place,” you said.

“You said-”

“I’m joking, div,” you said, hitting him with one of the pillows. Tom laughed and lightly smacked you back. You eventually curled back up to his side, and Tom put his arm around you.

“In all seriousness,” he said, “I’m really sorry this all happened.” You looked up at him to see him already looking down at you. “It’s not fair that this shit is already happening to you. I feel like, like I’m supposed to protect you, you know? And I just fucked that right up.”

“You don’t need to protect me,” you said. “That’s an extremely outdated gender role.” You placed a kiss to his neck, just below his jaw. “But I appreciate you looking out for me. We can’t control the rest of the world. Just ourselves. Just because I can’t trust the rest of the world to respect my privacy doesn’t mean I can’t trust you.”

You were both quiet for a long time, and just when you thought Tom had dozed off-

“You’ll still send me nudes when I’m away, right?”

“I hate you.”

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TAGLIST

#tom holland #tom holland imagine #tom holland x reader #tom holland fluff #marvel #request

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howtohero · 4 years

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#281 Hubris

Hubris, the quality of having excessive pride or confidence, or the quality of trying to fight the Greek gods. If you’re a superhero, both definitions are going to apply to you at one point or another. And fair enough, I’ll tell you right now, if I had your powers, I too would try to fight the Greek gods. (Starting with Poseidon because one time I tried to drink sea water and I nearly died.) A little hubris isn’t the worst thing in the world but, unfortunately, a lot of hubris is the worst thing in the world. And there’s a very thin line between a little hubris and a lot of hubris, there is no medium amount of hubris. Hubris works in a binary.

Now if you’ve ever found yourself feeling hubristic you need to gain some perspective. Sure you’re great now, but think back to when you weren’t great. Think back to the time before you were bitten by that radioactive vat of acid. You were kind of a dweeb then, and deep down, I believe you’re still that dweeb. (No disrespect, please don’t fly to our office and eviscerate us for bruising your fragile super ego.) Remembering who you were and where you came from is great way to keep yourself humble and prevent you from biting off more than you can chew. Superheroes who allow themselves to succumb to hubris often meet grisly ends and die alone and broken at the hands of an army of supervillains who only teamed up because the haughty hero made them believe he couldn’t be defeated otherwise.

That’s probably the main reason to avoid acts of hubris, the notion that that the bigger they are, the harder they fall. If you talk yourself up to as the best and strongest and the tallest and the handsomest (basically, if you describe yourself as me) then you can be sure every two bit supervillain on the block is going to try to bring you down a peg. Maniacally gloating is their thing. And while gloating and inflating your own image might make you look more intimidating that only lasts until one (1) villain is able to hurt you. Once that happens all the other villains in the world will see that you can be hurt and they will try to hurt you, incessantly, until you die.

Let’s take a moment to look at a practical example from relatively recently:

Hubris Man

Hubris Man was a superhero. He did superhero things like stopping bank robbers and posing in front of flags. But he also did hubris things. (Oh no!) He would get up at the crack of dawn every morning, piss in a river, and then tell everybody that he never used the bathroom. (All of the fish in that river now have superpowers.) He would stand atop tall places (buildings, mountains, stair cars) and proclaim his majesty and might to the whole world. How did he proclaim it to the whole world you ask? Well it was quite simple (it was not) he did tests to see how far his voice carried and then set up speaker phones in those locations. He would then have his staff (he referred to his friend and allies as his “staff” such hubris!) place long distance calls to all over the world using these phones. Thus everybody in the whole world was constantly being told how amazing Hubris Man was. (Just to clarify one point, the superpowered fish have the same intelligence as regular fish, they just can shoot lasers from their eyes and teleport now. It’s a disaster.)

Hubris Man became so hubristic that everybody in the world started to hate him a little bit. And when everyone in the world starts to hate you a little bit you’re going to get in a lot of trouble real fast. Anytime Hubris Man would fight crime random civilians would decide they’d rather help the bad guys succeed in committing crimes than have to listen to Hubris Man gloat about stopping another crime. Being near Hubris Man quickly became the number one cause for becoming a supervillain in the whole world (number 33 is having your brain explode and then put back together incorrectly. But number 18 will leave you speechless.) things were getting out of hand. Regular civilians would literally carry around masks and wear homemade supervillain costumes under the clothes in case they bumped into Hubris Man on the street and needed to become a supervillain. Hubris Man quickly found himself having to fight dozens of supervillains at the same time! Every day! Yet he still found time to climb the Eiffel Tower (this was during the few months when the Eiffel Tower was relocated to rural America because of that tear in the fabric of space-time. Anyone remember that? That was wild.) and proclaim his greatness to the world. Every victory only made him worse. He didn’t get a clue when he was kicked off every superhero team he was on. He didn’t wise up when his parents publicly disowned him using the same methods he used every day to declare his amazingness. And he certainly didn’t get the message when he was summoned to Mount Olympus and warned to stop being such a hubris man.

Unfortunately the story of Hubris Man doesn’t have a happy ending. As is the case with all hubris heroes, his story ends in tragedy. In this specific case the tragedy was that he was standing atop the Eiffel Tower, singing a song he wrote about himself, and playing a fiddle just as the Metanauts managed to repair the rip in spacetime and send everything that got displaced, Eiffel Tower included, back to where it belonged. This sent Hubris Man plummeting to the ground, which, owing to his power set, would not have normally killed him. Unfortunately for him, protesters had set fire to the field he was in and he fell face first into a massive inferno. And died.

(If you learn anything from this entry it should be this: Don’t climb tall surfaces to announce how great you are, just use a sponsored Tweet or an email blast or something. You gotta be a Hubris Man for the modern age. You never know when the thing you’re standing on could be shunted halfway across the world from under your feet.)

What? No, the lesson here is to not be a hubris person at all. Be humble, respect your fellow superheroes, don’t antagonize supervillains, and don’t inspire civilians to commit crimes to spite you! (But do fight the Greek gods, especially that Apollo fellow. You think you can be the god of poetry, medicine, archery, the sun, prophecy, music, dance, and finger guns??? That’s too many things buckarooni and you are definitely being a hubris man!)

#superhero #superheroes #comics #comedy #humor #funny #hilarious #greek gods #hubris #apollo #zeus #poseidon #Hubris Man #Metanauts #the eiffel tower

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wematch · 6 years

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The Truth Behind It

Neil finally makes a Twitter account the year after he leaves the Foxes. His PR has been nagging him about making a social media account since he joined the team but ultimately he uses it to annoy Andrew. Of course things escalate and the rumours of a rivalry between the two form, that is until Neil clarifies everything.

You can also read it on [AO3]

As always a big thank you to @velvetnoodle for being such a wonderful beta!

Neil is lying on the sofa of his empty apartment staring at the ceiling. The match he had been watching in the TV just ended and now the post game interviews are about to start; the sound of Andrew’s voice coming from the screen draws his attention back to the TV. He grabs the remote to turn the volume up and sits up on the couch to pay attention.

He can’t help but be surprised when he sees Andrew’s blank face right next to his team captain ready to do the interview. Andrew never liked to do this sort of thing and has always left that pretty clear in the past. But this wasn’t college anymore, they were now playing for professional teams and the contracts they signed were different, interviews and the occasional photos were part of their careers as professional athletes.

But that doesn’t mean that Andrew would go there and put on a smile for the cameras and pretend to be nice like Kevin does. No, Andrew will be there because that’s what’s required of him. Nothing else.

Neil is amused at the whole interview; Andrew either ignores the questions thrown at him or gives the shortest answers possible. And when it becomes clear that the reporters are no longer asking Exy related questions, Andrew just exits the room leaving his captain behind.

When the interview is over, Neil’s phone starts beeping so he fumbles on the couch in search of it. When he unlocks it he finds a message in his chat with Allison. It’s only a screenshot, and when Neil clicks to expand it he can see that it’s from a tweet of Nicky just saying next with laughing smiles and then Andrew’s reply to it saying You’re next.

Neil snorts. When did Andrew get a Twitter account? Maybe his PR had him make an account just like they’ve been asking Neil to do. He puts his phone away and watches the sports channel that is currently showing a game from the past season. But he doesn’t pay too much attention to it; he keeps thinking about what Allison showed him so he grabs his phone again and decides to download Twitter to try the damn thing. It will get his PR off his back and he can tease Andrew a bit.

He makes an account in a few minutes, and then he proceeds to type his first tweet.

@JostenN10: Who let @AJMinyard loose near the press?

In no time his phone begins to beep like crazy. People are beginning to follow him and retweet what he said, including some of the Foxes. Neil follows his friends back, and takes some time to figure out how to disable all the notifications except for theirs. He gets distracted trying to read what they’ve tweeted to each other lately until a notification letting him know that Andrew had just mentioned him appears.

@AJMinyard: @JostenN10 Mind your own damn business.

He smiles at his phone when he reads Andrew’s reply and gets up to prepare to go to sleep. His phone rings a few minutes later so he lays down and answers it. “Are you banned from interviews yet?”

“Not yet,” Andrew replies.

Neil begins to grin; of course Andrew will try to make it happen soon. He turns off his lamp and makes himself comfortable in bed to talk to Andrew. They haven’t seen each other in two weeks and Neil misses him. “You still coming here next weekend?”

“Yes,” Andrew answers, and then he proceeds to tell Neil about the book Renee let him borrow a few days ago when she went to visit him.

And like most nights they don’t talk for long as they both have practice in the next morning. So after Neil tells Andrew about his teammates becoming really stressed about the upcoming matches, they hung up to get some sleep.

***

A few days pass, and Neil’s team wins a game where he scores an impossible shot. Once he’s dressed after the game he comes to sit on his car to make some time for the stadium to clear out.

He checks his phone to see what time it is, but finds that he has a few notifications on Twitter so he clicks to open it. He sees several of the Foxes congratulating him about the game. All except for one.

@NickyHe: What an amazing shot @JostenN10, so proud!!

@AJMinyard: @NickyHe you forgot the part that he face planted himself into the plexiglass. Bravo.

Neil snorts when he reads what Andrew sent him and immediately begins to type his answer.

@JostenN10: Fuck you @AJMinyard

He then puts his phone away and drives back to his apartment. Once he arrives, he takes off his shoes and sits on the couch, the adrenaline of the game has passed and Neil feels his legs giving out.

He takes out his phone from his pocket to call Andrew. “I’m probably going to be told off tomorrow for that,” he comments, remembering his PR warning him to think about what he posts online because it could impact him and his team.

“Tell that to someone who cares,” Andrew replies and Neil can hear the slight amusement in his voice. “They should just ban you from social media before it’s too late.”

“Probably,” Neil agrees. “If they were smart they would ban us both, just to be safe.”

Andrew hums and for a few moments neither of them speak. Andrew is going to stay over during the weekend so Neil walks to his fridge and opens freezer to check if he still has ice cream for him. He sees a container of Andrew’s favorite flavor and grabs it.“Your ice cream container is almost empty, do you want me to buy a different flavor or the same one?”

Andrew doesn’t answer right away and sounds like he’s walking around. So while he waits for Andrew to answer, Neil closes the freezer and starts to look at the take out menus to think about what he’s going to order for dinner.

“The same,” Andrew tells him.“You going shopping tomorrow?”

“Yeah, but I should be back before you arrive,” Neil replies.

***

Almost two weeks later, Neil’s sitting in the locker room putting away his things in a gym bag and he can feel the tense atmosphere of his team in the air. They just lost an away game and it will make it difficult for them to move to the next round. So he takes a deep breath, closes his bag and follows his teammates in silence.

On his way to the parking lot Neil checks his phone and goes on Twitter where he sees he has several mentions from the others about the match. He’s not really in the mood to talk about it, so he ignores them until he notices that Andrew also mentioned him.

@AJMinyard: @JostenN10 I thought you knew how to run

@JostenN10: @AJMinyard At least I played, what did you do on your last game?

@AJMinyard: @JostenN10 You have a death wish

After a short drive, his team gets back to their city. Neil leaves the team bus and enters his car, feeling slightly calmer after bickering with Andrew. He begins to drive and only checks his phone again when he stops at a gas station, and he sees that he has a message from Andrew.

Andrew: How long?

Neil: At the gas station, 20min

Neil pays for the gas and buys some chocolate bars for Andrew that were in the counter. When he enters the car and throws the chocolates to the other seat he realizes that it’s getting late and he’s getting hungry so he sends another message to Andrew.

Neil: Indian tonight?

Andrew: Yes. Number 37?

Neil: Yeah and Naan bread

Once he arrives at Andrew’s apartment he opens the door and Andrew calmly gets up from the couch to stop in front of him. Neil silently drops his bag to the floor and holds up the chocolates one in each hand in front of them.

Andrew spares them a glance and holds Neil’s hands with his own. “You can live. For now,” he comments and Neil can see that he’s amused. Then he moves forward and kisses Neil for a moment, and just as quickly Andrew steps back taking the chocolates with him. “Dinner should be arriving anytime now,” he informs him turning his back to Neil.

“Good,” Neil says, thinking that he’s quite hungry and follows Andrew into the living room to wait for dinner to be delivered.

***

Neil takes a deep breath and steps into the room full of reporters to follow his captain. He was put to press duty because the reporters have been asking why he never makes them, so of course they sent him today with the warning to watch his mouth.

After a few questions about the match they just had, one reporter changes the subject. “You seem to have a rivalry with your former teammate Andrew Minyard, care to comment?”

“No,” He replies, trying not to roll his eyes at the so-called rivalry that, according to Allison, everyone has been talking about.

“Are you excited to go against him next week?”

“Yes, I can’t wait to see him,” he replies and fights the urge to smile when he thinks about Andrew and the time they’ll get to spend together next weekend.

“There’s some rumors going around that while you were at Palmetto you two didn’t get along?” another reporter immediately asks, interrupting his thoughts.

“Yeah, I’m pretty sure he hates me,” Neil says to the camera with a grin, choosing to let them interpret that however they want.

Later that night he checks in at the hotel where his whole team is staying before they fly back to their city in the morning. He goes to his room and opens the window to light a cigarette on the small balcony. He breathes in the smell of smoke and once the cigarette is gone he thinks about calling Andrew so he grabs his phone. He unlocks it and notices that he has a notification from Twitter and opens the app.

@AJMinyard: @JostenN10 You’re right, I do hate you.

His heart skips a beat after reading Andrew’s message from two hours ago. He stares at the message for a few moments but ultimately realizes that is already quite late and he doesn’t want to wake Andrew, so instead of calling him tonight he only answers him on Twitter.

@JostenN10: @AJMinyard Good

***

After the game between their teams, Neil silently follows his team into the locker room to wait for their turn to do the post-game interview. His coach comes inside and turns the TV on so that they can watch the other team’s interview. Andrew’s team won and Neil almost has the urge to roll his eyes when he sees that they sent Andrew to do the interview.

“Andrew, what was it like to play against your former captain?” a reporter asks as soon as he steps into the room.

“Interesting,” Andrew replies with a blank face.

“You confirmed on Twitter that you hated him - did something happen between the two of you?” another one asks.

Andrew turns to the side to look the reporter in the eye before he answers. “You could say that.”

“Would you like to share some details about that? The fans have been wondering what happened to the two of you; even Kevin Day won’t comment about it.”

“It’s good to know that someone has learned to shut their mouth,” is all Andrew says, ignoring the question completely. And then he turns around as if preparing to leave.

“Just one more question; did you had a chance to speak to Josten after the game?”

Andrew pauses after hearing Neil’s name being brought up again. “If only there were days were I didn’t have to fucking deal with him,” he says without looking at the cameras. “I’m done with this,” he adds, and then leaves.

A few minutes pass, and Neil follows his captain to do the interview for his team. As soon as he’s in front of the cameras the reporters don’t even ask about the game, choosing instead to try and see if Neil can give them more information about the situation with Andrew.

“Neil care to comment about your rivalry with Andrew?”

“Rivalry?” Neil asks, feigning confusion.

“Yes, the public is concerned about what really happened between the two of you and why you hate each other so much.”

“Oh, that,” Neil begins to grin; their so called rivalry is what is making his PR send him to press duty after every game. The press has been dying to know more about them.

“Andrew didn’t say anything about it in his interview moments ago, but can you give us an inside scoop? Did you guys have a serious fight while you were in the same team?

“What?”

“Andrew has been known to have violent tendencies. Did something happen?” another reporter quickly asks.

“What? Fuck, no.” Neil says, no longer grinning. Fuck the reporters; they’re only interested in the gossip that could make them sell more and they were going too far with their assumptions. He doesn’t want anyone to think that about the two of them, so he turns around and leaves before he says something he really shouldn’t. He did swear on camera, but his PR should be proud that he shut his mouth after that and walked away.

Later that night they’re both back at Andrew’s apartment in bed and Neil has been scrolling through Twitter for the past half an hour reading a lot of opinions about their so-called fight, and he’s just done with the whole thing. At the beginning, it was fun to tease Andrew and watch everyone start to wonder why, but now it was all getting out of control. He takes a deep breath and looks at Andrew by his side. “I’m tired of this stupid rivalry.”

Andrew stops reading his book and looks back. “It is getting boring,” he comments, and when he sees that Neil isn’t going to add anything else for now, he turns his attention back to the book.

Neil goes back to Twitter and sees that Nicky’s making jokes about the interviews they did today and commenting about the whole situation between them. Neil decides to reply to one of Nicky’s tweets that is full of laughing and crying smiles.

@NickyHe: @AJMinyard He really hates @JostenN10

@JostenN10: @NickyHe @AJMinyard He really does. Especially today since I scored him so many goals

Neil can hear Andrew’s phone vibrating from the notification and watches him grab his phone to check it so he waits, looking at his own phone to see if he’s going to reply.

@AJMinyard: @JostenN10 I hate you everyday. Now shut the fuck up, you’re distracting me

Neil snorts and begins to type his reply:

@JostenN10: @AJMinyard Is that a threat?

@AJMinyard: @JostenN10 It is now

@AJMinyard: @JostenN10 I’ll fucking kill you if you don’t let me finish this book tonight

@JostenN10: @AJMinyard I’m not afraid of you

Out of the corner, of his eye he sees sudden movement and reflexly brings his arm up to defend himself. He isn’t fast enough, however, so he feels a object hitting him on the head. He grabs it to check what it is and sees the book Andrew was just reading. Andrew had just thrown the book at him without any force behind it so Neil looks to his side and grins. He’s met with Andrew looking at him with an eyebrow raised, as if daring him to do something about it. So Neil keeps the book against his chest and grabs his phone once again.

@JostenN10: @AJMinyard just fucking threw the book at my head!

Then Neil, still grinning, turns to look at Andrew again, wondering if it would be okay to post a picture of them together to just end this mess once and for all.

“Staring,” Andrew comments turning to the side and props up his head with his hand to look back at Neil.

“Can I post a picture of us?”

Andrew stills for a moment, clearly not expecting that.“Yes,” he tells him after a moment. “Now give me back the book.”

Neil turns on his camera, takes a picture and gives him back the book. He shows the picture to Andrew and once he glances at it and returns to focus on his book, Neil posts it. It’s a picture of him seated on his bed holding the book and looking at the side grinning, where you can see half of Andrew’s side looking back at him.

@AJMinyard: @JostenN10 You should’ve learned how to duck by now

(And the media goes crazy.)

#andreil #aftg #aftg fic #andreil fic #tfc #tfc fic #andrew minyard #neil josten #social media #twitter #exy #interviews #minyard-josten rivalry but not really

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covered-in-ash-archive · 7 years

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eddie is horribly abusive and y’all need to be aware of him

i really did not want to have to resort to this. i fully intended to not call eddie out and just let this die off. since it hasn’t, multiple friends have convinced me to come forward with the abuse, stalking, harassment, manipulation, gaslighting, misgendering, etc i have been subjected to at the hands of eddie over the past week+. i haven’t used tumblr in... ages, so i’ve completely forgotten how to use coding in tumblr posts. sorry in advance for that. this is going to be both a call out and a “hey, this is what really went down” type of thing.

before i hop into covering the hot garbage that has been happening, here’s is where to find eddie. i fully encourage everyone to block him and warn others. he has been getting away with abusing people for years.

his twitter: https://twitter.com/mrgluskin

his horror blog: https://outlastwikia.tumblr.com/

if anyone knows the url for his main blog, please let me know.

update: been told his main blog is gluskin. i have not confirmed it for myself because i simply want nothing to do with eddie.

this is going to be long, sorry. tw for... pretty much everything. reblogs are encouraged and appreciated. let’s expose this abuser before he can abuse anyone else.

alright. for background’s sake, eddie followed me on twitter because we had a mutual friend, catherine. right off the bat, he bombed me with positive attention, liking all of my tweets, complimenting me, etc. a friend has since pointed out that abusers often do this before abusing their victims. i just figured he was a friendly guy and didn’t think anything of it. catherine and i had a falling out because she kept frequently using the r slur, despite not being autistic, and it was really making me, an autistic person, feel extremely uncomfortable (this is a whole different can of worms, though. catherine has also been outed as an abuser and a suicide baiter). disgruntled by the situation, i posted this to vent my frustration.

this is my personal opinion on the issue, as an autistic person with autistic friends and family, all who agree with my stance. i’m not here to debate this. i want this to focus on eddie and not get derailed.

eddie absolutely flipped his shit at me. he claimed that since he has adhd (which he went on to say is EXACTLY LIKE AUTISM... not even gonna bother to explain how wrong that is. i have both. i should know) he is entitled to use that slur, my feelings be damned. he said that me saying he should not use the r slur erases the ableism people with adhd face. again, this is... not how it works. i wish i had grabbed screencaps because it seems that his tweets have been deleted. all i have is my side of the conversation, where you can see that i was perfectly calm and polite.

i ended things by explaining that i could agree to disagree for the sake of our friendship & that as long as he didn’t use the slur around me i would be fine. he stopped replying to the thread after that.

a while later, i received this message from eddie.

i’m going to point out real quick that the last time i posted to twitter about my makeup was months ago. eddie could only know this if he dug through MONTHS worth of tweets. this was where his stalking began. he went through hundreds upon hundreds of tweets looking for any tiny thing he could use to attack me over. he was actively looking for conflict & things to be mad about. he needed something to demonize me over, because “they asked me to not say r*tard” is obviously going to make him look bad if he cites that as his reason why he has beef with me. we discussed jeffree star briefly & then he blocked me. i wrongly assumed that was going to be the end of it.

i noticed that, during all of this eddie/catherine drama, someone had stolen my url. i thought it was petty/funny, and posted this to twitter. this is the only thing i said about the url. this is literally it. i did not and have not accused anyone of stealing it. i honestly don’t care because i very rarely am on tumblr nowadays.

i’m not sure of exactly what happened, but i’m assuming either catherine told eddie i had said it was him, or eddie somehow convinced himself of it. eddie unblocked me instantly and sent this.

he reblocked me after this. at that point, i consider it harassment.

as i’m combing through his twitter for all of this shit he did to me, i just now saw that he posted screenshots of our conversations in an attempt to turn people against me, while omitting that this whole thing began because he wanted to use SLURS. he posted a handful of tweets gossiping about me.. he has been attempting to paint me as a racist transphobe and he has been telling everyone i accused him of stealing my url, even though i told him i hadn’t accused anyone.

a mutual friend of ours (who has since ditched him) then contacted me saying eddie was posting screenshots of my social media while shit talking me.

the green thing is a screenshot of my listography. i don’t like or associate with q*eer because it’s a slur. i’ve been distancing myself from the lgbt community as of late due to the influx of rape threats, misgendering, harassment, racism, and overall nastiness i’ve been dealing with from lgbt people. i shouldn’t have to justify this. i have my reasons. this is, again, eddie grasping for anything he can use against me.

because liking problematic things makes someone a bad person, amiright? it’s not like i’m an adult who can recognize when something is problematic & still have the capacity to enjoy aspects of it. to put into perspective... eddie is vocally kin with a serial killer from a game that demonizes mentally ill people. he has no room to talk.

this whole time, eddie has been telling people that he cut me off as a friend over me owning jeffree star makeup and was incessantly trashing my name publicly while spreading lies about me. we have mutual followers, so i posted this, trying to keep his name out of things in an attempt to not escalate the drama.

eddie continues to vague and obsess. meanwhile, i’m trying to move on with my life.

not wanting to be associated with a community that treats me poorly doesn’t mean i suddenly don’t face the same struggles as them or can’t have an opinion on the issues i face, just so you know.

at this point, i sent him a message politely asking him to stop talking about me all over his twitter and to move on with his life. he deleted the response but the preview is still on his twitter.

here he is, again, lying about me. i have not contacted a single one of his friends once. i have harassed no one. i haven’t even spoken with catherine since this all began.

anyway.

1) i’m 22 but that’s irrelevant

2) anyone else think him calling my friend ‘babe’ is kind of creepy? just saying

eddie began implying if not outright saying that i’m abusive. he posted this while talking about me. he was “confronting” me at the time so... who else could it possibly be about?

i tweeted these in response, because i take abuse allegations extremely seriously. as an abuse survivor, i do not appreciate even having it be IMPLIED that i am abusive.

after posting these, i hopped in the shower. eddie proceeds to have a meltdown. he had me blocked but i had not blocked him. at this point, i had blocked our mutuals. the only way he could have seen these tweets was by refreshing my twitter over and over again, waiting for me to say something about him/the situation. eddie unblocked me & quoted my tweets with this.

i haven’t lied about anything, as my screencaps illustrate. he just wants to be absolved of any responsibility. i also did not “throw a fit” - i very politely requested that he stop gossiping about me publicly. he also messaged me around the time he quoted my tweets.

again, have not lied about anything. he attempted to gaslight me by saying he was actually calling jeffree star abusive, which is absolutely not what he did. check the screencaps.

i was tired of being nice to the person who had so far harassed and stalked me, lied about me, and attempted to gaslight me.

*drops this here*

well i mean, at least he admits he’s been harassing me?

this tweet below was confirmed about me. in it, he calls me a trans man. i have explicitly stated many times that i am not a trans man. i am nonbinary. i have told my twitter following countless times that calling me a man is misgendering. it is in my bio.

@ranunculae aka fawn reached out to me late at night on the 21st. we had a 5+ hour long conversation in which they explained to me that eddie had abused them and has spent the past 2 years harassing and stalking them like he was doing to me. eddie and catherine had teamed up and suicide baited fawn until fawn had to go inpatient. eddie and catherine have been attempting to socially isolate fawn for 2 years now by spreading lies and doctored screencaps in a sketchy “call out”. you can read fawn’s statements here.

https://ranunculae.tumblr.com/post/166659734265/i-never-abused-eddie/amp

https://ranunculae.tumblr.com/post/166779554950/ranunculae-ranunculae-keythecoward

the 2nd link includes a conversation in which a minor talks about eddie grooming him and attempting to be sexual with him.

i’m going to post some things that fawn sent to me over chat just because they’re semi-relevant.

my irl best friend, cat, was close friends with catherine. fawn and i felt that cat needed to know that catherine was involved in suicide baiting and abusing fawn with eddie. so, we approached cat about it and fawn explained their entire side of things to cat.

eddie, through his relentless stalking of me, noticed we were all in contact.

i want to clarify that fawn/katie has not been on his twitter once throughout all of this. fawn’s boyfriend periodically checks eddie’s twitter to see if he’s still stalking and obsessing over fawn. fawn’s boyfriend saw eddie harassing me, and he let fawn know that eddie had picked a new target to abuse. then fawn contacted me. it literally is a smear campaign. and fawn said the smear campaign was against ME, not them, even though eddie has been posting libel about fawn for years.

1) actual minors have come to me and fawn to tell us about eddie preying on them and grooming them

2) this was a response to cat taking mine and fawn’s sides

3) eddie called cat a ‘cuntbag’, which is misogynistic

4) these ‘victims’ have not come forward because they don’t EXIST. meanwhile, i am nearly the 30th victim of eddie’s that has ACTUALLY COME FORWARD.

eddie attempting to guilt trip and manipulate cat, a csa/incest survivor, for siding with fawn.

again, more lying about me. as you can clearly see, i never threw a fit. i have been calm during this entire ordeal. also... this is, once again, him trying to divert attention away from what really started this; his NEED to use the r slur around someone who is uncomfortable with it.

cyberfuneral = cat’s twitter handle

cat sent me screenshots. eddie does not have her blocked. this is, again, lies and manipulation. if it looks like we’re sneaking around a block, then we’re obviously the bad guys, right?

when cat confronted catherine about eddie calling her misogynistic insults, eddie lied to catherine and claimed he never called cat a cunt. he didn’t even bother to delete the tweets to hide his lies.

scroll up to see him calling me a man, which i am not, thus it was misgendering. also, childish insults.

this is referring to something i added at the bottom of my listography. i’d like to point out that he posted this within minutes of me updating my listography. further stalking right there.

this is what my listography currently says. it is a temporary placeholder in lieu of an actual call out. it will be replaced or updated with the link to this post after it is published. you wanted the screencaps posted, eddie, so you’re getting your wish.

i can only imagine what filth eddie is saying on his locked personal twitter. i think i’d rather not know, though.

it has been more than an entire week of stalking, harassment, gaslighting, manipulation, lying, smear campaigns, misgendering, misogyny, etc etc from eddie. he is awful. he is abusive and a manipulator. do not befriend him. the second you upset him, he will turn on you and treat you like he has countless others. i am just one victim out of many. stay away. block him. spread this to warn people.

@eddieabuser2

#outlastwikia #ranunculae #avas demon #call out post #abuser call out #gluskin #gayfreddy #edgiegluskin #ptsdgluskin

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jos-corner-of-the-world · 7 years

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Wonho - Overwatch

“Guys! GUYS!” Wonho said, running into the living room.

“What?!” Kihyun asked, jumping a little from his spot on the couch.

“The Overwatch tournament is on!” Wonho said, grabbing for the remote.

“Okay, and? You’re the only one here right now that wants to watch it so watch it in your room.” Hyungwon said, not letting go of the remote.

Not wanting to miss anything, Wonho ran to his room and fired up his laptop.

Opening the Twitch website, Wonho smiled at seeing the tournament as the featured stream.

Wonho has liked Overwatched since it’s release last year. After competitive teams started surfacing, he started watching different ones to find a favorite.

One stuck out to him more than anyone, if for the name only, at first.

“Alright, we’re a few minutes away from starting the best of five finals between fan favorite Lunatic Hai, and underdog Monster eX. MX comes as somewhat of a Cinderella story in this. Barely beating out every one of their previous competitors to make the playoffs. Then showed tremendous team work in the playoffs, sweeping their series to make it into the grand finals. Monster eX also has the only female competitive player from this series so far. Y/N is the team captain, having founded the team only weeks after the release of the game last May.”

As soon as the camera left the announcer, your face popped up. Your team was on the stage behind all of your designated computers, and the camera man happened to be on you at the moment. You smiled and gave out a few peace signs before winking cutely to the camera before it panned away.

Wonho felt the fanboy in him rejoice.

He smiled to himself, feeling proud of you, even though he had never met you in person.

Is this what our fans feel for us when they see us? He asked himself.

He grabbed his phone and sent out a tweet from his personal account.

“Currently watching OW tournament. I know who I’m rooting for, how about all of you? MX fighting!”

He set his phone down on the table and turned his full attention back to his computer.

The first two maps were dominated by Lunatic Hai. Wonho had never felt so intensely about a video game, as he did when he was watching you play.

He kept going back to his phone, tweeting out words of encouragement to your team.

Some of the guys came and went as they watched it with him, but Wonho was glued to his computer.

He was getting more and more excited as the time went on.

The third map could have been the last one, but Monster eX came back from behind to win it.

The fourth map was dominated by Monster eX and before Wonho realized it, they were on to the final map that would decide it all.

Wonho had put his laptop on his desk and was pacing around his room, unable to contain all of his emotions.

“You’ve got it bad” Changkyun said, walking into the bedroom.

“What?” Wonho asked, not tearing his eyes from the screen.

“What are the chances that you meet her?” Changkyun asked him, watching him pace.

“This isn’t about y/n. This is such an intense final, you have no idea.” Wonho responded.

“Yeah, and why are you watching it at all?”

“Because of yn of course.” Wonho said, before realizing he’d finally admitted it. He’d never actually said why he started watching Overwatch so much, but they all kind of guessed.

“Whoomp, there it is.” Changkyun said, laughing as he walked back out the door.

Wonho was jumping up and down in his room, excited for grand finals outcome.

“Holy shit! That was so good!” Wonho yelled into his empty room. His attention was drawn back to his computer at the sound of them announcing the trophy ceremony.

“Well, we’re here with MX and Y/n. How did you guys come back from 0-2 to win the finals?” the announcer asked.

“Great teamwork. It sounds cliche, but without communication, your team isn’t going to accomplish anything. I prefer to play tank with Winston, but Lunatic Hai is such an amazing team that I knew for the last 3 maps I needed to play support instead, because they’re really dominant and get kills easily. So I switched to Mercy and that was kind of a turning point.” you said, smiling widely at the trophy.

“Coming into this tournament, you guys were pretty much unknown in the competitive world. You have been playing as a team since launch, but this is your first time doing a tournament, how do you feel about getting that win?”

“It feels great. We wanted to be solid as a team before entering into tournaments. We thought, the more experience we had under our belt, the farther we would go. I think it was the best decision for us a team to wait. I can’t thank the team enough for all the hard work we’ve all put in and how much of my crap they’ve had to deal with.” you said.

“Alright, last question. Is there any meaning behind the name of your team?”

Wonho’s interest was peaked tenfold. He knew it was more than likely just a coincidence that your name was Monster eX, but now he really wanted to know.

“Do you want the real story..or the story the guys came up with?” you asked, smirking at the rest of your team.

“Oh, this should be good...what’s the real story?”

“Oh, that’s simple. I’m a huge Monsta X fan.” you said shamelessly.

Wonho’s mind was blank. There was no way that he had heard correctly.

“You’re talking megastar group Monsta X?” The announcer clarified.

“Absolutely. When I first got the team together, I already had the name in place. I thought it was just going to be a fun way to pass time, but then we started gaining popularity on streaming sites and in the game. By that time, it was too late to change the name. Sorry guys.” Wonho watched you turn to the rest of the team, giving them a huge smile.

Wonho wasn’t sure what he was feeling. It was a mix between joy, and for some reason, anxiety. He had been following your team for a year, and now he knew that you were just as much of a fan of his as he was of you.

“Funny you should say that, we’ve been following twitter feeds on the tournament and Monsta X’s Wonho seems to be a fan of your team.” the announcer said.

“No shit?!” you said, before realizing you’d swore. “Sorry.” you said, not sounding sorry in the slightest.

Wonho laughed lightly to himself as he continued to stare at the computer screen.

“There are multiple tweets from him...such as...MX fighting...You guys got this...and lastly, that’s the best ending to a tournament I’ve ever seen, y/n as Mercy is the way to go!”

“I honestly don’t know what to say to that. It’s both exciting and slightly embarrassing to know that. Because now he knows I’m a fan of his also. So, um, just gotta say..MX FIGHTING!” you said, pumping your fist in the air.

Wonho watched you on his computer screen in a state of awe.

“Y/n, your fangirl is showing” one of your teammates said.

“I don’t care. This is the best day of my life.”

Mine too Wonho thought to himself.

“We did a little research and found out that Wonho is also a fan of Overwatch. He’s said in many interviews that he likes playing in his spare time.” the announcer said.

“Yeah, I’d heard that. If you’re watching Wonho, hit me up sometime. I’d love to challenge you to a 1v1 mystery duel!” you said, knowing it was probably a long shot.

“Oh, we have a challenge. Can’t wait to see if anything comes of this. Once again, congratulations to Monster eX on their first tournament victory!!”

The stream had cut away from the team and back to the announcers, but Wonho didn’t notice. He was too busy looking up the contact information for your organization. He was never one to turn down a challenge.

Part 2

#wonho #hoseok #monsta x #mx #scenario #fic #request #prompt #monsta x scneario #overwatch fic #joy-bangtan #Wonho scenario #wonho fic #fanficion #changkyun #hyungwon

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saraseo · 4 years

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lovehardenemycollector · 4 years

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WASHINGTON -- President Donald Trump and Attorney General William Barr agree on one thing at least: The president is making the attorney general's job much harder. What they don't agree on: Trump sees no reason to stop.Defying Barr's pleas, the president renewed his public attacks on law enforcement Tuesday, denouncing the prosecutors, judge and jury forewoman in the case of his longtime friend Roger Stone and defending his convicted former adviser Michael Flynn against Trump's own Justice Department.Explicitly rebuffed, Barr was left by the end of the day to consider his own future. He expressed dissatisfaction to associates, and his irritation soon fed news reports that he was considering resignation if the president continued to publicly weigh in on individual prosecutions of his own associates. But it was unclear whether that would persuade Trump to back off or only get his back up.The suggestions of resignation came at the end of a day when the president asserted his dominance over a justice system that had long sought to insulate itself from political pressures. Calling himself "the chief law enforcement officer of the country," Trump demanded a new trial for Stone, urged federal judges to address the "tremendous" abuse of the special counsel investigation of his campaign and bypassed the traditional pardon process to grant clemency to celebrity convicts recommended by his friends, allies and political donors.Trump insisted he had not directly interfered in the prosecution of advisers like Stone and Flynn but declared again that he had the power to if he wanted and that, at the very least, he planned to speak out for them. "You take a look at what's happening to these people," he told reporters. "Somebody has to stick up for the people."In doing so, Trump acknowledged that Barr was right last week when he said that the president was making it "impossible" for him to do his work. "I do make his job harder," Trump said. "I do agree with that. I think that's true."But while he praised Barr's "incredible integrity" and avowed "total confidence" in him, Trump dismissed the suggestion that he stop discussing individual cases. "Social media for me has been very important because it gives me a voice, because I don't get that voice in the press," he said. "In the media, I don't get that voice. So I'm allowed to have a voice."Even as he refused to take Barr's advice, Trump expressed no anger toward his attorney general, and some officials said he understood why Barr felt the need to complain last week to ABC News about the presidential tweets. But The Washington Post reported Tuesday night that Barr was thinking about stepping down if the president's tweets continued, a story confirmed by an administration official and seemingly aimed at an audience of one.Barr was especially irritated by the president's tweet Tuesday morning denigrating Judge Amy Berman Jackson shortly before she was to hold a conference call with lawyers in Stone's case. Trump insisted in his tweet that she order a new trial for Stone but the Justice Department then disclosed that it opposed just such a retrial, a position personally approved by Barr.The attorney general then had lunch with Pat Cipollone, the White House counsel and a longtime friend and colleague, in what officials said was a previously scheduled get-together. While Barr has been incredibly frustrated and has a limit to what he will put up with, people who know him said they doubted he would give in so quickly.An abrupt departure by Barr would roil a Justice Department on track to deliver several initiatives important to Trump, including an overhaul of the FBI, a criminal investigation into the origins of the Russia inquiry and a continuing leak investigation into James Comey, the former director of the FBI. It would also leave the president with a vacancy at the top of the Justice Department that might be hard to fill eight months before the election.Barr has taken heat from critics both inside and outside his department over what they see as the politicization of the law enforcement system. More than 1,100 former Justice Department officials have called for Barr's resignation, and a group representing the nation's federal judges scheduled an emergency telephone conference to address the president's attacks on one of their own.The Justice Department dismissed suggestions Tuesday night that Barr's departure was imminent. "Addressing Beltway rumors: The Attorney General has no plans to resign," Kerri Kupec, the department spokeswoman, wrote on Twitter. Stephanie Grisham, the White House press secretary, retweeted Kupec's message.The president told reporters on Tuesday that Stone, an off-and-on adviser, and Flynn, a campaign adviser before serving briefly as his national security adviser, were both "treated very unfairly." He called Stone's conviction "a very, very rough thing" and said that Flynn's "life has been destroyed."Stone, who was convicted in November of seven felonies for obstructing a congressional inquiry into the Trump campaign's ties to WikiLeaks, which disseminated Democratic emails stolen by Russian agents, is scheduled to be sentenced Thursday. Flynn pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI about his dealings with Russian officials but wants to withdraw his plea.Asked whether he was considering pardons for Stone, Flynn or Paul Manafort, his former campaign chairman convicted on tax and other financial fraud charges, Trump said, "I'm not even thinking about that." But aides said he had broached the idea, and critics said Tuesday's pardons and commutations for convicted political figures like Rod Blagojevich and Bernard Kerik sent a clear message to the president's associates that he may yet clear them."The real test will be, what does this president do with Stone, Manafort and others who are directly connected to him and who have the ability to provide information that is harmful to him?" said Eric Holder, who served as attorney general under President Barack Obama.On Twitter, Trump cited a "Fox & Friends" legal analyst, Andrew Napolitano, who has insisted that the president "has every right" to intervene in a criminal case. He quoted Napolitano's calls for Jackson of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia to reconsider Stone's case."Judge Jackson now has a request for a new trial based on the unambiguous & self outed bias of the foreperson," Trump tweeted, quoting Napolitano.Jackson ruled Tuesday morning that Stone's sentencing would go forward as planned Thursday despite last-ditch motions by his defense lawyers. She said she would allow the defense to file an amended motion for a new trial, give the government a chance to respond with its own filing and schedule a hearing if warranted. Defense lawyers argue that juror misconduct led to an unfair trial.The handling of Stone's case has generated tumult throughout the Justice Department and grabbed the attention of Washington's broader legal establishment. After Barr scrapped the original sentencing recommendation in favor of a lighter one, the four career prosecutors handling the matter withdrew from the case, and one resigned from the department entirely.As the president has repeatedly pointed out, two of the four prosecutors had worked for the special counsel, Robert Mueller, whose investigation of Russia's interference in the 2016 election dogged Trump for two years. The president attacked Mueller's team anew Tuesday, saying if he were not president, he would sue it.The president said he had not intervened in Stone's case, evidently making a distinction between his public commentaries and explicit orders, but added that he had the power to do so if he wanted. "Just so you understand, I chose not to be involved," he said. "I'm allowed to be totally involved. I'm actually, I guess, the chief law enforcement officer of the country."Republican congressional leaders defended Barr. "Suggestions from outside groups that the attorney general has fallen short of the responsibilities of his office are unfounded," Sens. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky and Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and Rep. Kevin McCarthy of California said in a joint statement.Trump's attacks on Jackson generated alarms in the judiciary. The Federal Judges Association, a voluntary organization, scheduled an emergency telephone conference for this week. Judge Cynthia Rufe of U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania told USA Today that the group wanted to discuss "plenty of issues that we are concerned about."Trump countered that the judges should instead investigate misconduct in the Mueller investigation. "I hope the Federal Judges Association will discuss the tremendous FISA Court abuse that has taken place with respect to the Mueller Investigation Scam, including the forging of documents and knowingly using the fake and totally discredited Dossier before the Court," he wrote on Twitter.The role of Trump's lawyer Rudy Giuliani in another politically fraught matter before the Justice Department has also come under scrutiny.Barr said last week that the department had an "intake process" for information from Ukraine, prompting complaints that law enforcement officials were giving Giuliani special treatment because he has said he turned over evidence against former Vice President Joe Biden and his son, Hunter Biden, about their dealings in Ukraine.Giuliani led the campaign to pressure Ukraine to announce investigations into Biden and other Democrats, a campaign that ultimately led the House to impeach Trump for abuse of power; he was acquitted this month in a Senate trial.The department routes all Ukraine matters through a central process, not to circumvent channels but to avoid duplicating efforts, Stephen Boyd, an assistant attorney general, clarified on Tuesday. The U.S. attorney in Brooklyn, Richard Donoghue, oversees the process, and his counterpart in Pittsburgh, Scott Brady, accepts any unsolicited information from the public, including from Giuliani, Boyd wrote in a letter to Congress.This article originally appeared in The New York Times.(C) 2020 The New York Times Company

from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://ift.tt/38Nnocs

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otisoverturf · 5 years

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Bill Cosby’s Father’s Day Tweet Was Crafted From Behind Bars: Report

Bill Cosby still thinks he’s America’s favorite dad, although he was officially stripped of that title after he was convicted of sexual assault. Although he’s behind bars, he wished fathers across America a Happy Father’s Day. "Hey, Hey, Hey…It’s America’s Dad…I know it’s late, but to all the Dads… It’s an honor to be called a Father, so let’s make today a renewed oath to fulfilling our purpose – strengthening our families and communities,“ the message read. Many thought it was sent out by his PR team but apparently, he was the one telling them what to say.

TMZ recently spoke to Bill Cosby’s rep, Andrew Wyatt, who revealed that he got a call from the disgraced comedian on Sunday night, asking to send out a Father’s Day message on his social media accounts. Bill Cosby dictated what the tweet should read and apparently, this is something he does often. Wyatt said that Cosby’s on the phone or speaking with his team three to four times a month.

Cosby was met with criticism for the tweet, as you could imagine. No one really wanted to hear any sort of advice of parenthood by a convicted predator, especially since he still thinks of himself as America’s TV dad. Wyatt later clarified that Cosby was simply referring to what the other inmates refer to him as.

The post Bill Cosby’s Father’s Day Tweet Was Crafted From Behind Bars: Report appeared first on Social Juicebox.

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Here is your dose of FAKE NEWS – The Mullet Wrapper – Jeff Sessions’s grilling highlights tension between chumminess of Senate, seriousness of Russia probe

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Jeff Sessions’s grilling highlights tension between chumminess of Senate, seriousness of Russia probe — BREAKING: A gunman opened fire on a Republican congressional baseball practice in Alexandria, Virginia, this morning, injuring House Majority Whip Steve Scalise and others. Rep. Peter King (R-N.Y.) and Rep. Devin Nunes (R-Calif.) told The Post that Capitol Police informed them that Scalise had been shot. Rep. Mo Brooks (R-Ala.) said in a televised interview this morning on CNN: “I hear a loud ‘bam’ and I look around and behind third base … I see a rifle, and I see a little bit of a body and then I hear another “bam” and I realize there’s still an active shooter. At the same time I hear Steve Scalise over at second base scream — he was shot.” The local NBC affiliate just reported, citing an unnamed congressional aide, that Scalise is in stable condition at George Washington University Hospital. This is a developing story. We’ve just launched a live blog. Go to washingtonpost.com for the latest.

President Trump just tweeted:

Jeff Sessions’s heated testimony, in 3 minutes

BY JAMES HOHMANN with Breanne Deppisch and Joanie Greve

THE BIG IDEA: It is widely presumed on Capitol Hill that Jeff Sessions chose to testify before the Senate Intelligence committee, rather than the committees that have jurisdiction over his department, because he has more friends there who would run interference on his behalf. If that was indeed the attorney general’s strategy, yesterday’s hearing validated it.

Hoax Note: Name a few on Capitol Hill to back up this claim. Or don’t make the claim! FAKE NEWS

The tension between the chumminess of an old boys’ club that traditionally looks after its own and the seriousness of a Russia investigation that clouds the presidency was neatly captured in the closing minute of the two-and-a-half-hour hearing.

Mark Warner, the ranking Democrat on the committee, expressed displeasure that Sessions was not forthcoming about his role – and the role of the Russia investigation – in Donald Trump’s decision to fire James Comey as FBI director. “There were a number of very strange comments that Mr. Comey testified last week that you could have, I believe, shed some light on,” the Virginia senator lamented.

Richard Burr, the Republican chairman of the committee, concluded by pointing out that Alabama Sen. Luther Strange, who was appointed to replace Sessions when he stepped down earlier this year, had sat through the session in the audience. “He’s made us regret that we don’t have an intramural basketball team because he’s six-foot-nine,” said the North Carolina senator, who has been in Congress for 22 years.

“Big Luther is a good player,” Sessions replied with a knowing chuckle, noting that his successor played college ball at Tulane.

“You have helped us tremendously,” Burr said as he gaveled the hearing to a close, “and we’re grateful to you and to Mary for the unbelievable sacrifice that you made in this institution and also, now, in this administration.”

— The tribalism that has infected our politics has also transformed the Senate. Republicans, for the most part, either pulled their punches or batted cleanup. Democrats whacked at the former senator like a piñata.

Sessions: I will defend ‘my honor against scurrilous and false allegations’

— Sessions pleaded for some old-fashioned senatorial courtesy in his opening statement. “I was your colleague in this body for 20 years, at least some of you,” he said, “and the suggestion that I participated in any collusion, that I was aware of any collusion with the Russian government, to hurt this country … or to undermine the integrity of our democratic process, is an appalling and detestable lie.”

Speaking in the vernacular of the Old South, Sessions said he had come to “defend my honor against scurrilous and false allegations.” “I’ve earned a reputation for (integrity) … in this body, I believe,” he said. A minute later, he implored them again: “Please colleagues, hear me on this. … Colleagues, that is false.” Then Sessions corrected himself. “I cannot say colleagues now,” he said. “I’m no longer a part of this body.”

Sessions met with Russian envoy twice, encounters he did not disclose in confirmation hearings

— But in the process of trying to clear his name, Sessions antagonized Democrats and suggested that he doesn’t believe in the chamber’s Golden Rule: Treat your colleagues as you’d like to be treated. The nation’s chief law enforcement officer acknowledged that he met twice with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak — once during the Republican National Convention and once in his Senate office — and that he did not disclose these contacts during his confirmation hearing. But his excuse for what some legal experts think might have constituted perjury was that Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.) had asked him “a rambling question.” Referring to “the so-called dossier,” Session complained: “I believe that’s the report that Sen. Franken hit me with.” In fact, Franken didn’t even ask Sessions about his interactions with the Russians. Without prompting, he volunteered: “I did not have communications with the Russians.”

Sessions incensed other former colleagues by reneging on his commitment to appear before the Appropriations subcommittee that controls the Justice Department’s budget. It was the second time he backed out. He sent a deputy in his stead. “You’re not the witness that should be behind that table,” Pat Leahy (D-Vt.) told Rod Rosenstein yesterday morning. “You’re not who I’m interested in speaking with at the hearing today.” Leahy, the longest-serving Democrat in the Senate, said Sessions “provided false testimony” and questioned how he “can credibly lead the Justice Department.” He also called the DOJ’s budget request “abysmal.”

During the Intelligence hearing, Sessions suggested that he won’t necessarily agree to answer additional questions about Comey or Russia before the committees tasked with overseeing his department. “I don’t think it’s good policy to continually bring cabinet members or the attorney general before multiple committees going over the same things over and over,” he said. (Sessions undoubtedly would have complained if Eric Holder or Loretta Lynch ever made this comment.)

Harris and Sessions’s contentious back and forth

— If Sessions thought he’d get special treatment from his Democratic counterparts because he spent two decades in the Senate, he thought wrong. The attorney general struggled not to let their tough questions – which he is unaccustomed to answering – get under his skin.

Kamala Harris pressed harder than anyone else on the committee. She served as California’s attorney general for the past six years and San Francisco’s district attorney for the seven years before that. With the savvy of a seasoned prosecutor, the freshman Democrat peppered Sessions with specific yes-or-no questions. It didn’t take long for him to become exasperated. When she asked if he had contacts with Russian businessmen last year, he said no. Then he began to clarify that it’s possible he met some at the Republican convention because there were lots of people he met with. Harris noted that she didn’t have much time and wanted to move quickly. “Will you let me qualify it? If I don’t qualify it, you’ll accuse me of lying,” Sessions shot back. “So I need to be correct as best I can. I’m not able to be rushed this fast! It makes me nervous!”

Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) cut in. “The witness should be allowed to answer the question,” he told Harris. “Senator Harris, let him answer,” Burr, the chairman, admonished. Sessions then didn’t directly answer her question – and Burr announced that Harris’s time had expired.

Wyden, Sessions get into tense exchange

Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) asked Sessions what Comey was cryptically referring to last week when he said that he had been aware of “problematic” facts that he knew would force Sessions to recuse himself. The fired director said he couldn’t discuss them outside of a classified session. The question peeved the attorney general, who responded: “Why don’t you tell me?!?! There are none, Sen. Wyden! There are none! This is a secret innuendo being leaked out there about me, and I don’t appreciate it.”

Sen. Angus King (I-Maine) pressed Sessions on why he was talking about some private conversations with Trump but then clamming up about others. “I just don’t understand the legal basis for your refusal to answer,” he asked. “I am protecting the right of the president to assert it if he chooses,” Sessions said. “You’re being selective,” King replied. “No, I’m not intentionally,” said Sessions.

Attorney General Sessions can’t recall a whole lot of things

— Yesterday’s hearing offered a fresh illustration of a long-term trend away from senatorial deference:

The watershed moment was 1989, when Democratic senators rejected John Tower’s nomination to be secretary of defense despite his 24 years as a senator from Texas.

In 2013, Republicans tried to blockade Chuck Hagel – a former GOP senator from Nebraska – after Barack Obama appointed him as secretary of defense. They used the confirmation fight to try extracting information about Benghazi. It was the first time a pick for defense chief had ever been filibustered, though he eventually made it through.

In January, Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) spoke against Sessions at his confirmation hearing — the first time in U.S. history that a sitting senator had testified against a colleague’s nomination for a cabinet post. Booker said he could not stay silent, even though he knew some of his colleagues weren’t “happy that I am breaking with Senate tradition.” “In the choice between standing with Senate norms or standing up for what my conscience tells me is best for our country, I will always choose conscience and country,” he said.

Just last week, senators also excoriated Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats, who until last year was a Republican senator from Indiana, when he declined to discuss whether Trump asked him to try reining in Comey’s investigation.

Heinrich accuses Sessions of impeding Senate investigation

— Part of this shift is generational. A changing of the guard is underway. Booker is 48. Harris is 52. Sen. Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.), who lectured Sessions on the rules of executive privilege during yesterday’s hearing, is just 45. These are relative youngsters by Senate standards.

Other Democrats fell more into the throwback category. “You and I are about the same vintage,” Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.V.), who is 69, told Sessions, who is 70. Manchin politely referred to Sessions as “sir” and noted that the attorney general understands what it’s like to be a senator. “All in all, it’s better on that side,” Sessions replied with a smile. “Nobody gets to ask you about your private conversations with your staff!”

Mary Blackshear Sessions, right, wipes a tear as her husband testifies yesterday. (Jonathan Ernst/Reuters)

— Friendly Republicans on the committee helped Sessions offer a full-throated defense:

Sen. James Lankford (R-Okla.) read a statement in the attorney general’s defense from the Center for the National Interest, which hosted Trump’s April 2016 speech at the Mayflower Hotel, where the AG acknowledges he might have interacted with Kislyak for a third time. Lankford asked Sessions: “Do you have any reason to disagree with that?” He did not, of course. “You speak as a man eager to set the record straight,” Lankford told him.

Sen. Jim Risch (R-Idaho) noted that senators meet with ambassadors all the time, and even run into them at the grocery store. He asked Sessions, “Is that a fair statement?”

It’s very rare for a top administration official to bring his wife to what he knows is going to be a contentious oversight hearing. But Mary Sessions sat in the front row yesterday, offering moral support to her husband of 48 years. “It’s good to see Mary,” Sen. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) said at the start of his five minutes of questioning. “I know there are other places you’d both probably rather be.” Blunt praised the couple for approaching public service as a joint enterprise. “I’ve been blessed indeed,” said Sessions. “I agree with that,” Blunt replied.

Senate Minority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) speaks during another hearing yesterday. (Zach Gibson/Getty Images)

— Meanwhile, after the hearing, some Democratic members who used to be friendly with Sessions said that the attorney general’s unwillingness to give straight answers only stiffened their resolve to pursue him as part of the ongoing congressional inquiries. Dick Durbin, who is number two in Democratic leadership, voted against Sessions in January, but he reminisced about how they worked out together in the gym and came up with a compromise on drug sentencing after one workout. In a statement last night, the Illinois senator said: “It is hard to see how he can continue to serve.”

Minority Leader Chuck Schumer complained that Sessions “repeatedly refused to answer pertinent questions … without offering a scintilla of legal justification for doing so.”

Franken called Sessions’s testimony “very unsettling” and said he didn’t buy his explanations. “I believe he’s trying to downplay the gravity of and whitewash the fact that he misled the Senate Judiciary Committee under oath and failed to correct the record until he was forced to do so seven weeks later after reporting by the Washington Post,” the Minnesotan said in a statement.

‘Detestable lie’: Jeff Sessions’s combative hearing, explained

HOW THE HEARING IS PLAYING:

Matt Zapotosky: “Sessions finds a shield in executive privilege — but it might not be a strong one.”

Amber Phillips: “Sessions appears to have contradicted himself several times. … About the only thing Sessions can recall for sure is that he didn’t do anything wrong.”

Philip Bump: “Sessions’s testimony highlights Trump’s deep lack of interest in what Russia did in 2016.”

Right Turn’s Jennifer Rubin: “Sessions wilts on the hot seat.”

Plum Line’s Sarah Posner: “Sessions’s testimony raises more questions than it answers.”

The Fix’s Callum Borchers: “Sessions wants you to do what he wouldn’t — distinguish between his roles as senator and surrogate.”

Politico: “Sessions and his deputy show some daylight.” From Josh Gerstein and Seung Min Kim: “One such moment came when Sessions testified that Comey likely had an obligation to notify Congress when new evidence emerged in the probe into Hillary Clinton’s State Department emails last October. … However, the letter Rosenstein wrote last month as part of the process of firing Comey indicated that the FBI director actually should have remained mum. … Sessions had appeared to endorse Rosenstein’s memo last month, so it was surprising that he took the opposite position at one point on Tuesday.”

The Boston Globe’s Annie Linskey: “Sessions’ non-answers do nothing to dispel questions.”

USA Today’s Susan Page: “Jeff Sessions defends Jeff Sessions. But what about Donald Trump?”

The New York Times’s Andrew Rosenthal: “Sessions Gives a Master Class in Dissembling.“

CNN’s Chris Cillizza thinks the winners were Angus King, Tom Cotton, Martin Heinrich, Kamala Harris and Jim Comey. The losers were Sessions’s memory, Jim Risch, and Susan Collins.

The Birmingham (Alabama) News: “Sessions Forcefully Denies Impropriety on Russia, Comey.”

The Arizona Republic: “John McCain sticks to a script with Sessions testimony.” From Dan Nowicki: “Unlike his performance at the June 8 Comey hearing, when his questions came out slow and, in at least one case, garbled, McCain at all times appeared serious and deliberative, never smiling. He sounded a little hoarse and occasionally coughed or cleared his throat. He also appeared to refer closely to written material.”

The Los Angeles Times: “Sessions said Kamala Harris’ questioning made him ‘nervous.’”

The Guardian: “’Nervous’ Jeff Sessions’ attempt at Trump-like bravado falls flat.”

Rolling Stone: “25 Times Jeff Sessions Had a Convenient Memory Lapse While Testifying. ‘I don’t recall’ was the attorney general’s refrain.”

The Intercept: “Sessions Can’t Remember Anything.”

Vanity Fair: “Does Jeff Sessions have a memory problem?”

Huffington Post: “Sessions And The Trump Team Really Don’t Want To Say ‘Executive Privilege.’ The attorney general struggled to articulate a legal basis for dodging questions.”

Vox: “The real story of Sessions’s testimony is the questions he didn’t answer.”

The Root: “Senate Intelligence Committee Let Sessions Off the Hook.”

The New York Times’s Frank Bruni, widening the aperture in his column, calls Sessions “a flustered Gump in the headlights”: “The appearance … didn’t bring us much closer to understanding what did or didn’t happen … But as I watched him … I saw a broader story, a dark parable of bets misplaced and souls under siege. This is what happens when you draw too close to Trump. You’re diminished at best, mortified at worst. You’ve either done work dirtier than you meant to or told fibs bigger than you ought to or been sullied by contact or been thrown to the wolves. … For all Trump’s career and all his campaign, he played the part of Midas, claiming that everything he touched turned to gold. That was never true. This is: Almost everyone who touches him is tarnished, whether testifying or not.”

Pro-Trump conservative commentators rallied to the AG’s defense:

The banner headline on the Drudge Report was: “SESSIONS SENATE SMACKDOWN.”

Breitbart: “Sessions Counters Comey’s Story.”

The Washington Times: “Sessions takes the gloves off.”

“Democrats created enough fodder on executive privilege to drive some negative news coverage over the next 12-18 hours,” National Review Editor Rich Lowry argued, “but otherwise the hearing has been a nothing burger.”

Welcome to the Daily 202, PowerPost’s morning newsletter. Sign up to receive the newsletter.

WHILE YOU WERE SLEEPING:

What happened during the Virginia gubernatorial primary

— Republican Ed Gillespie barely prevailed and Democratic Lt. Gov. Ralph Northam easily won in the Virginia gubernatorial primaries. Gregory S. Schneider reports: “The nation was watching Virginia as a political laboratory for how the political parties handle the deep divisions that followed last year’s election of President Trump. The establishment forces seemed to win out, as Virginia voters resisted efforts to pull further to the right or left. … Overall, Democrats turned out in far greater numbers than Republicans. About 540,000 voters cast ballots in the Democratic gubernatorial primary, while just over 360,000 voters cast ballots on the Republican side.”

— In the race for lieutenant governor, Republicans nominated state Sen. Jill Holtzman Vogel, and the Democrats chose former federal prosecutor Justin Fairfax, who would be the first African-American to win statewide since Doug Wilder in 1989.

— The president’s presence loomed large over the results, both in Democratic turnout and in diehard Trump supporter Corey Stewart’s surprisingly strong showing. Robert McCartney reports: “Hostility to Trump spurred strong turnout among Democrats, raising their hopes that … Northam can retain the governor’s mansion for the party. On the GOP side, enthusiasm for the president lifted outspoken Trump supporter Stewart to an unexpectedly strong finish in his race against the GOP establishment’s favored candidate … Although Stewart came up short, his showing in the primary creates a new challenge for Gillespie in the general election. Gillespie had hoped to keep some distance from Trump to help him with Virginia’s notably centrist voters. But now he may need to warm up to the president to bring along the Republican base.”

— Stewart had faced ridicule for modeling his primary campaign off Trump’s since the president lost Virginia to Hillary Clinton in November. Paul Schwartzman reports: “But Stewart insisted that he understood Virginia’s electorate and refused to abandon his divisive rhetoric and raw-toned defense of Confederate monuments that drew support from white nationalist groups. On Tuesday, Stewart proved himself something of a political sage, astounding Virginia Republicans by coming within a shade over one percentage point of upsetting Gillespie, the front-runner throughout the campaign who was far better-known and raised more than $4 million more than his opponent. Standing before a cheering crowd of supporters, Stewart refused to concede, saying he would not support Gillespie as the party’s nominee and promised ‘to continue the revolution that Donald Trump started.’”

— Stewart’s decision to embrace Confederate statues struck Republican strategists as a recipe for disaster, but it may have helped his image as an enemy to liberals. The University of Virginia Center for Politics’ Kyle Kondik said this last month when attempting to explain Stewart’s strategy: “If you’re an underdog candidate looking for something to get attention with, Stewart has certainly gotten attention for this … Just the name ID can be more than half the battle … Sometimes it matters not so much what your own position is, but who your enemies are. Maybe Stewart’s calculation is if he can fire up these protesters, those are people that conservative Republicans think are riffraff. Therefore, he becomes an enemy of the left, and that generates more support on the right.”

— Gillespie seems to have sensed the hard-right edge among voters late in the game, reportedly running last-minute digital ads in which he promised to protect Confederate statues from being removed — something that will come back to haunt him in the general.

— Gillespie also included a “get the facts” section on his website, which highlighted this Politifact article debunking Stewart’s claim that Gillespie “would not mention (Donald Trump’s) name unless he was condemning him.”

— Gillespie’s half-hearted support of Trump illustrates his tough road ahead on the way to November, the New York Times’ Jonathan Martin reports: “The surprisingly close Republican contest foreshadowed Mr. Gillespie’s quandary heading into the general election: how to handle a president who remains broadly popular on the right but is politically toxic among the broader electorate in Virginia, the only Southern state carried by Hillary Clinton.”

— The Democratic primary was noteworthy for being called so early. Tom Periello, a progressive former congressman who had received endorsements from Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren, suffered a double-digit loss. After conceding, he quickly endorsed Northam and called for unity:

— But Perriello’s loss delivers another blow to the progressive wing of the Democratic Party, which, as Politico’s David Siders explained recently, has been unable to pick up victories that reflect grassroots energy: “Nearly a year after Sanders’ presidential run fell short, one thing is missing in the afterglow — a reliable string of victories at the ballot box.”

— Before Perriello’s fate was sealed, the New York Times published an op-ed from Sanders entitled (you really can’t make this up) “How Democrats Can Stop Losing Elections,” in which he stood by his message of economic populism. Sanders writes: “The Democrats must develop an agenda that speaks to the pain of tens of millions of families who are working longer hours for lower wages and to the young people who, unless we turn the economy around, will have a lower standard of living than their parents … While Democrats should appeal to moderate Republicans who are disgusted with the Trump presidency, too many in our party cling to an overly cautious, centrist ideology … If the Democrats are prepared to rally grass-roots America in every state and to stand up to the greed of the billionaire class, the party will stop losing elections.”

— But Northam’s win provides further evidence that, in many cases, Democratic candidates still need establishment support to succeed. The Atlantic’s Clare Foran wrote yesterday before the polls closed: “If Northam prevails, it may be a sign that candidates who win the backing of establishment Democrats in their state remain in the best position to win intra-party contests.”

— Democratic strategist Jon Cowan, president of the centrist think tank Third Way, pointed to Perriello’s loss as evidence that much of the country is not ready to get behind a Sanders-like liberal agenda. “The lesson [of Northam’s win] is that liberal populism is not what Democratic voters are seeking in purple and red regions,” he said in an email. “Perriello deserves praise for raising important issues and running a positive campaign. But he was too populist for the state. If Democrats are to have a successful 2018 and begin to stop the madness of Trump, the lesson of Virginia is to not force an agenda that works in the bluest parts of the country onto the places with ideologically diverse voters. It just won’t work, and the stakes for failure are just too high.”

Danica Roem makes her pitch to voters in Manassas, Va. on June 2. (J. Lawler Duggan/The Washington Post)

— Away from the governor’s race, a Democrat who would be Virginia’s first openly transgender lawmaker won her primary and will next face off against Robert G. Marshall, who proposed a “bathroom bill” in the House of Delegates. Fenit Nirappil reports: “Danica Roem, a former Gainesville and Prince William Times reporter, beat three rivals Tuesday to join the largest slate of Democratic House candidates in recent memory, joining the launch of a general election campaign in which the party hopes to retake control of a legislative chamber that has a staggering Republican majority. The Democrats — many of whom say they were inspired to run after the election of President Trump — will compete in 87 of the state’s 100 House districts in November, making for the largest number of contested races in at least 20 years.”

Richard Blumenthal speaks during a news conference in Washington, D.C., on May 16. (Zach Gibson/Bloomberg)

— Nearly 200 Democratic lawmakers have agreed to file a lawsuit accusing the president of violating the Constitution’s emoluments clause. Tom Hamburger and Karen Tumulty report: “The lead senator filing the complaint in federal district court, Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), said Tuesday that the lawsuit has already drawn more congressional plaintiffs — 196 — than any legal action previously taken against a president. No Republicans had joined in the lawsuit so far, although they will be invited to do so, Blumenthal said. An advance copy of the legal complaint reviewed by The Washington Post argues that those in Congress have special standing because the Constitution’s ‘foreign emoluments clause’ requires the president to obtain ‘the consent of Congress’ before accepting any gifts. The legal effort, led in the House by Rep. John Conyers Jr. (D-Mich.), is likely to escalate tensions between the White House and Capitol Hill.” Trump and Blumenthal have faced off before, with the president tweeting (here, here and here) about his Vietnam war record.

Speaking of questionable Trump Organization transactions, secretive shell companies have become the predominant buyers of Trump’s companies’ real estate. USA Today’s Nick Penzenstadler, Steve Reilly and John Kelly report: “Over the last 12 months, about 70% of buyers of Trump properties were limited liability companies – corporate entities that allow people to purchase property without revealing all of the owners’ names. That compares with about 4% of buyers in the two years before. USA TODAY journalists have spent six months cataloging every condo, penthouse or other property that Trump and his companies own – and tracking the buyers behind every transaction. The investigation found Trump’s companies owned more than 430 individual properties worth well over $250 million.”

Firefighters tackle a huge fire at Grenfell Tower in Latimer Road, West London, on June 14. (Leon Neal/Getty Images)

— A number of fatalities were reported from a fired that whipped through a west London apartment complex. Griff Witte and Karla Adam report: “A thick plume of smoke could be seen for miles around, while witnesses reported people jumping from open windows near the top of the 24-story building after being trapped by the advancing flames. Hundreds of other residents, many who had been asleep when the blaze broke out shortly before 1 a.m., were forced to flee down dark and smoky stairwells. The building, which is located in a poverty-stricken pocket of one of London’s wealthiest neighborhoods, was engulfed within minutes, said locals. ‘It was like a horror movie, smoke was coming from everywhere,’ said building resident Adeeb, who hobbled down nine flights of stairs on crutches with his wife and three children.”

Uber CEO Kalanick takes leave of absence

GET SMART FAST:

Embattled Uber CEO Travis Kalanick announced an indefinite leave of absence from the company, as the ride-hailing service seeks to recover from a months-long string of controversies. In the interim, Uber’s board is slated to conduct an overhaul of existing workplace culture, including the implementation of “independent” board members and the creation of an oversight committee to improve corporate ethics. In another embarrassing fumble for Uber, one of its board members was forced to resignafter making an “inappropriate” comment about women while attending a company-wide meeting meant to address sexual harassment. (Craig Timberg and Brian Fung)

Rolling Stone is paying $1.65 million to a University of Virginia fraternity, moving to settle a defamation lawsuit. (T. Rees Shapiro)

The jury in Bill Cosby’s sexual assault trial could not yet deliver a verdict after 12 hours of deliberation. They will reconvene this morning. (Manuel Roig-Franzia)

The “Pizzagate” shooter wrote a letter apologizing to his victims and seeking a lenient sentence. Edgar Maddison Welch will be sentenced June 22 after pleading guilty to a District assault and a federal firearms charge in March. (Spencer S. Hsu)

NBC is reportedly holding crisis meetings over the backlash from Megyn Kelly’s interview with Alex Jones. At least one advertiser has already pulled ads because of the interview, which is set to air Sunday. (Page Six)

President Trump’s disapproval rating hit a record high. According to Gallup, 60 percent of Americans disapprove of the president, one percent point higher than his previous record, set in late March. (The Hill)

United was forced to apologize (again) after a video emerged showing an employee shoving a 71-year-old passenger over a ticket dispute. (Samantha Schmidt)

Government contractor DynCorp International faced charges that employees attempted to bilk the State Department out of millions. The corporation is also confronting an unrelated civil case by the DOJ. (Rachel Weiner)

Nancy Pelosi is expected to announce today the House Democratic Diversity Initiative, meant to bring about more representative House staffs. The concept derives from a plan first pursued in the NFL. (Ed O’Keefe)

Emily’s List has named former Maine state legislator Emily Cain as executive director. Cain led Maine Democrats to a majority in the state House in 2010, and members of the influential women’s political group hope she can do the same for their endorsed candidates. (Philip Rucker)

A French historian tasked with retracing the lives of U.S. pilots whose planes crashed in German-controlled territory during World War II has allegedly been stealing the dog tags of dead American heroes and auctioning them off on eBay for personal gain. If convicted, he could face up to a decade in prison. (John Woodrow Cox)

Ever paid for a therapeutic massage that’s felt a little, well, off? If so, you may be seeing one of the many licensed professionals and sports trainers who have replaced pricey massage equipment with power tools. One popular, cost-friendly substation is the Jigsaw — so long as its users first remember to file down an extremely sharp saw blade on the device. (Wall Street Journal)

Tracy K. Smith was named the new U.S. Poet Laureate. (Ron Charles)

Trump touts GOP health-care plans, says Democrats’ goal is to ‘resist’ his agenda

WHAT TRUMP REALLY THINKS:

— The president privately told a group of Republican senators yesterday that the House GOP health-care bill is “mean” and that he expects the Senate to “improve” the legislation considerably. Sean Sullivan and Kelsey Snell report: “Trump’s comments, during a White House lunch with a group of 15 GOP senators from across the ideological spectrum, signaled that he may be willing to embrace a less-aggressive revision of the Affordable Care Act than Republicans have previously promised. The meeting came as Senate Republicans were struggling to build support for their health-care rewrite among conservatives who are concerned that the legislation is drifting too far to the left … Following the meeting, several top Republicans sought to temper expectations that leaders could produce a final health-care draft by the end of the week, as had previously been expected … Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) also declined to say whether the Senate would hold a vote on the bill before the July 4 recess.” Don’t forget: When the House’s health-care bill passed, a very long six weeks ago, Trump held a celebration in the Rose Garden.

Paul Ryan listens as Kevin McCarthy answers questions during a press conference. (Win McNamee/Getty)

SOUNDING THE ALARM:

— Paul Ryan warned his caucus yesterday that they should prepare for a potentially brutal 2018 election season. Mike DeBonis reports: “[Ryan] and Rep. Steve Stivers (R-Ohio), chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee, told lawmakers in a closed-door meeting Tuesday morning at the Republican National Committee to expect a difficult political landscape ahead of the midterm congressional elections next year. They cited increased grass-roots engagement on the left and robust fundraising for Democratic candidates in recent special elections in urging lawmakers to accelerate their own political efforts in response … [Stivers] warned that the NRCC has already spent some $10 million on special elections in 2017 — far outstripping amounts from previous non-election years. From 2009 through 2016, the committee spent about $9.7 million combined on special elections. In an interview Tuesday, Stivers said he simply reiterated sage advice for any election cycle — ‘You always need to be ready for every race.’”

Marc Kasowitz, Trump’s personal attorney, responds to Comey’s testimony last week at the National Press Club. (Ricky Carioti/The Washington Post)

ALL THE PRESIDENT’S MEN:

— Trump’s longtime personal lawyer and counsel in the Russia investigation, Marc Kasowitz, has boasted to friends and colleagues that he played a “central role” in the March firing of U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara, ProPublica’s Jesse Eisinger and Justin Elliott report: “Kasowitz told Trump, ‘This guy is going to get you,’ according to a person familiar with Kasowitz’s account. Those who know Kasowitz say he is sometimes prone to exaggerating when regaling them with his exploits. But if true, his assertion adds to the mystery surrounding the motive and timing of Bharara’s firing … Kasowitz’s claimed role in the Bharara firing appears to be a sign that the New York lawyer has been inserting himself into matters of governance and not just advising the president on personal legal matters.”

Preet had a colorful response on Twitter:

— Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats has been spending a lot of time at the White House recently—maybe too much time. Foreign Policy’s Jenna McLaughlin and Elias Groll report: “Current employees and veterans of the intelligence community are wondering whether the former Indiana senator is being kept on a tight leash by the administration. Twelve weeks into the job, Coats … is rarely seen at the office’s so-called Liberty Crossing headquarters in McLean, Virginia. Instead, Coats typically works out of the Eisenhower Executive Office Building, where he has an office and frequently attends meetings with the president and his top advisors.”

Rosenstein says only he can fire special counsel

THERE’S A BEAR IN THE WOODS:

— The idea of firing special counsel Robert Mueller was first floated publicly by Newsmax’s Christopher Ruddy on Monday night, and official Washington spent yesterday signaling to Trump that he shouldn’t even think about it. Philip Rucker reports: “To some of Trump’s most loyal allies, terminating [Mueller] as special counsel of the expanding Russia investigation is a tantalizing idea — one that has gained currency on the right and, according to one of Trump’s friends, has been considered by the president himself … Trump has been counseled strongly against trying to remove Mueller and appears unlikely to take such a drastic step … But neither [press secretary Sean] Spicer nor other Trump aides would explicitly dispute Ruddy’s assertion that the president has considered firing Mueller.”

And Trump himself repeatedly ignored questions on whether he would fire Mueller. “Reporters asked Trump four times during a health-care meeting at the White House whether Mueller should be fired, and the president gave no answer,” Phil reports. “They asked again as he walked across the South Lawn to board the Marine One helicopter, and again he gave no answer. Reporters asked once more as Trump stepped off Air Force One in Milwaukee, and once more he had no answer.” But Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, who has been in charge of the Russia investigation since Sessions recused himself, testified before Congress yesterday that he would not fire Mueller “without good cause.”

— But Trump firing Mueller is not completely off the table. The New York Times’ Glenn Thrush, Maggie Haberman and Julie Hirschfeld Davis report: “People close to Mr. Trump say he is so volatile they cannot be sure that he will not change his mind about Mr. Mueller if he finds out anything to lead him to believe the investigation has been compromised. And his ability to endure a free-ranging investigation, directed by Mr. Mueller, that could raise questions about the legitimacy of his Electoral College victory, the topic that most provokes his rage, will be a critical test for a president who has continued on Twitter and elsewhere to flout the advice of his staff, friends and legal team.”

— The Fix’s Philip Bump designed a flowchart to explain how Mueller could potentially be ousted:

— Former Republican Rep. Bob Inglis (S.C.), who helped to draft the articles of impeachment against Bill Clinton, argues that the charges against Trump are far more serious. He writes: “If Comey had angered a President Hillary Clinton by restarting the investigation into her private email server and she had fired him, Republicans would be howling. Rightly so … In the current case, Comey was exploring the possibility of American involvement in the Russian plot, a treasonous offense. While it’s not time to start drafting articles of impeachment, it is time to pursue this investigation into Russian meddling in our presidential election with vigor, without friends to reward and without enemies to punish.”

— Nancy Pelosi said she believes Trump will “self-impeach” – seeking to implore Democrats to wait for the Russia investigation to play out before publicly pushing for his removal from the White House. Politico’s Heather Caygle and John Bresnahan report: “Pelosi also believes that if Trump fired Mueller … it would be enough to push Republicans to begin seriously considering acting against the president on their own. In the meantime, Pelosi argued, Democrats risk turning the spotlight on themselves when it should remain on Trump and his actions during the ongoing congressional and independent investigations.”

— Jack Goldsmith, who led the DOJ’s powerful Office of Legal Counsel under George W. Bush, assessed the potential consequences of Mueller being dismissed on the Lawfare blog: “This seems like such a bad idea — for the nation, and for the President — that I have a hard time believing it is a live possibility. I hope it is no more than wishful thinking or encouragement on the part of the Trump allies … Nonetheless, in the hope that this proves to be an irrelevant exercise, I sketch below what I think would happen if Trump did, in fact, decide he wanted Mueller gone.”

“Unless Trump comes up with a clinching reason for firing Mueller that is now hard to fathom, it is hard to see how Rosenstein carries out the order. He will resign.”

Goldsmith says the more unpredictable question is how Congress would — or would not — choose to respond: “[How much of a backlash would] be enough to cause Republican leadership to intervene strongly with the President, and ultimately with impeachment?” Goldsmith says this depends on the reasons Trump gives for his firing and how DOJ officials responded. “If the crazy scenario that got me to this point in the hypothetical decision chain materializes, Congress would rise up quickly to stop the President, and the pressure on the cabinet would be enormous as well. If I am naive in thinking this, then we are indeed in trouble.”

— Post columnist David Ignatius explains why the consequences of Trump firing Mueller would be disastrous: “The protection against lawless behavior in a democracy, in the end, isn’t the institutional framework set forth in our Constitution, but the will of public officials to make that system work — and the ability of the public to put aside factional differences and support the rule of law. If Trump is wise, he’ll leave Mueller in place and let this investigation run its course. But if he tries to sack the special counsel, he will be making a bet that the country is too weak and disoriented to stand together behind its constitutional structure of law — which, really, would be the saddest outcome of all.”

Ted Cruz campaigns last year in Indianapolis. (Michael Conroy/AP)