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Jim Acosta
Jim Acosta scored big viewership numbers this weekend -- often beating out CNN’s weekday prime time lineup.
Acosta brought in 754,000 total viewers at 5 p.m. on Saturday and scored a rare win over Fox News in the key 25-54 age demographic in the same hour.
Acosta’s 4 p.m. hour brought in 141,000 demo viewers on Saturday, while Fox News Live brought in 130,000 demo viewers during the same hour.
The CNN anchor also beat all of the network's regular lineup on Saturday, only falling short compared to the 9 p.m. hour, which ran special programming looking back at the Watergate scandal of the 1970s.
Acosta's midday show on Saturday came out on top when compared to most of CNN's weekday prime time lineup.
It goes without saying that it's a big deal when a CNN weekend show beats out all of the network's regular prime time programming in the ratings. A big deal and a big win for Acosta.
Anderson Cooper's Monday show scored the network's second-highest ratings last week -- not including those boosted by the prime time Jan. 6 hearings on Thursday.
Acosta scored impressive views while interviewing Jan. 6 committee member Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-CA) on Saturday, during which Lofgren condemned Fox News for skipping the House's primetime hearing.
“And isn’t it ironic that the Fox News commentators, they’re constantly talking about so-called cancel culture, and what they’re trying to do is make sure that the American people don’t actually see the committee’s work," she said. "Cancel culture on steroids."
Acosta also beat his previous shows -- bringing in upwards of 100,000 more viewers than the previous two Saturdays. |
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 | MEDIA LOSER:
Rudy Giuliani
Rudy Giuliani was the not-so-shinning star of the Jan. 6 committee hearing on Monday.
Things looked bad for Giuliani pretty quickly on Monday, as committee co-chair Re. Liz Cheney (R-WY) kicked off the hearing by implying he was drunk on election night.
"President Trump rejected the advice of his campaign experts on election night, and instead followed the course recommended by an apparently inebriated Rudy Giuliani to just claim he won and insist the vote-counting stop, to falsely claim everything was fraudulent," Cheney said.
The hearing went on to include interviews and testimonies from Donald Trump's current and former allies, in which Jason Miller claimed Giuliani was intoxicated when they spoke on election night.
White House political director Bill Stepien went as far as to claim that Trump officials broke into two camps once Giuliani was brought on to investigate baseless claims of voter fraud in the 2020 election.
Stepien described his team as "team normal."
Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-CA) also introduced a series of clips showing once close allies of Trump distancing themselves from Giuliani and fellow lawyer Sidney Powell.
“What they were proposing, I thought, was nuts,” former White House attorney Eric Herschmann said in his interview.
"Because the theory was also completely nuts. It was a combination of the Italians, the Germans, different things had been floating around as to who was involved. Hugo Chavez, Venezuelans, she has an affidavit from somebody who said they wrote some software … just all over the radar."
Giuliani could not help but hit back following the hearing, saying he was "disgusted and outraged" by Stepien and Miller's claims. |
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| Trouble for Trump
The House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol held its second hearing on Monday.
While remarks on "an apparently inebriated" Rudy Giuliani stole the show, the hearing largely highlighted that several Donald Trump allies attempted to shut down baseless claims of voter fraud as he continued to push them to his supporters.
The committee aired interviews with Trump team members saying while they opposed challenging the 2020 election, Trump continued to do so, per Giuliani's advice.
“If he really believes this stuff, he has lost contact -- he’s become detached from reality,” former Attorney General Bill Barr said of Trump during his recorded deposition.
So did Trump know he lost the election and lie about it -- or did he really believe his voter fraud claims?
That's the big question coming out of Monday's hearing, and pundits seem to think there is trouble for Trump ahead.
"His daughter, his son-in-law, his attorney general, his White House counsel, his campaign counsel, his campaign manager," CNN's John King said after the hearing. "Team Trump is hanging Donald Trump.”
In Other News... January 6 Committee Postpones Wednesday Hearing, Will Resume on Thursday
Rep. Zoe Lofgren On Kim Guilfoyle’s $60K Speaking Fee on Jan 6th: ‘Not Saying It’s a Crime, But I Think It’s a Grift’
Trump Wants to Rub 2024 Announcement in Ron DeSantis’s Face — From Right Outside His House
Amber Heard Says She Stands By ‘Every Word’ of Her Testimony, Accuses Depp of Lying in Bombshell Interview |
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| Karen the Alligator is not facing any charges at this time A man and a TikTok-famous alligator named Karen were taken into custody after a car chase in Michigan this weekend.
The Oak Park, Michigan man was reportedly “driving at a high rate of speed” around 11 pm on June 11, and fled when deputies with the Lake County Sheriff’s Office attempted to pull over his car.
After a car chase between the driver, the Michigan Department of Natural Resources, and deputies with the LCSO, the driver eventually got his vehicle stuck between two trees on a recreational bicycle and running trail.
Karen, an alligator with a TikTok following of over 80,000, was described as "an unwilling participant during the incident" by the LCSO.
"The passenger, 'Karen' the Alligator, attempted to flee the scene, but was taken into custody after a short scuffle," the LCSO wrote in a Facebook post.
"Karen is not facing any charges at this time. We believe she was an unwilling participant during the incident, nor do we believe she was ever in control of the vehicle."
Sending Karen our best during this difficult time. |
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