Politico

Once again, Donald Trump left his traveling press pool behind while on the campaign trail. Trump, who regularly chastises the press and calls out specific reporters, claiming they don't cover him fairly and don't show the crowds in attendance, showed up 10 minutes early to his rally in Concord (NC). But while Trump gets the benefit of a motorcade that can skip traffic, his accompanying press pool, whose travel is organized by the campaign but paid for by the individual media companies, do not. So, they were at least 15 minutes late to the rally.

For media with cameras, that means there's almost no time to set up (local media, and those who arranged their own travel, were likely already on site, which means the GOP nominee still got some coverage). Unlike all other modern-day candidates, Trump does not allow the press pool to travel with him on his plane. As a result, the press are not necessarily always within the Secret Service "bubble" and do not get the benefit of the motorcade. Though Clinton does travel with her press pool, they are not considered a full "protective pool" and are therefore not with her at all times.

The FBI never asked Hillary Clinton's top aides to turn over all the computers and smartphones they used while Clinton was secretary of state, an omission that is now triggering questions from Republican lawmakers. While the FBI made a concerted effort to obtain all the computers that were used as Clinton's private server and ultimately asked two of Clinton's lawyers for laptops used to review her e-mail messages, investigators never requested or demanded all equipment her top staffers used for work purposes during her four years at State, apparently.

"No one was asked for devices by the FBI," said an anonymous source. The decision left the FBI at least partially dependent on the aides' attorneys' decisions about which messages were work-related and therefore might have contained classified information the agents were looking for. Those messages were turned over to State in response to its request in 2015. GOP lawmakers say the decision not to demand the aides' electronics, or even to ask for them, raises doubts about how the FBI and prosecutors handled the probe.

ProPublica and The Marshall Project have stepped forward to assume control over several data tools from The Sunlight Foundation’s data tools division in an effort to maintain and update the research and analytical tools that Sunlight, an open government advocacy group, can no longer afford to preserve.

ProPublica, the independent investigative newsroom, is taking on five federal legislative tools from Sunlight Labs, including Politiwoops, which tracks deleted tweets from politicians. The Marshall Project, another nonprofit news outlet, will assume control over the Hall of Justice, which contains datasets and research about criminal justice. The Center for Responsive Politics, which tracks money in politics, has also stepped forward to take over two campaign finance data tool, as have The Department of Commerce and Cornell Law School’s Legal Information Institute. ProPublica will assume control over the five tools immediately, ProPublica deputy managing editor Scott Klein said in a post about the changes. Come Election Day, the nonprofit news site will implement a series of larger changes to the tools, and will integrate them into existing ProPublica datasets and tools, he said. The other transfers will be completed on a rolling basis through November 10, Sunlight Labs director Kat Duffy said in a post about the changes. None of the organizations will receive financial assistance from Sunlight in order to take over these projects.

New York Times executive editor Dean Baquet took aim at CNN and Fox News for their coverage of the presidential race, calling the cable news channels' coverage of this election cycle “ridiculous” and “bad for democracy and those institutions.” “This mix of entertainment and news, and news masquerading as entertainment, is kind of funny except that we now have a guy who is a product of that world nominated as Republican presidential nominee,” Baquet said. Baquet called CNN’s decision to hire Donald Trump’s former campaign manager Corey Lewandowski “outrageous,” and criticized Fox News for what Baquet said was pandering to a partisan audience.

“Fox News at its heart is not a journalistic institution,” he said. “Megyn Kelly is a great journalist, Chris Wallace is a great journalist, but it is some weird mix of a little bit of journalism, a little bit of entertainment, a little bit of pandering to a particular audience … I don’t think Roger Ailes will go down as one of the great journalists of his time.” Baquet also defended the Times’ coverage of Trump. The Times raised eyebrows earlier this election cycle when it flatly called Trump’s statements about President Barack Obama’s birthplace a “lie," and the Republican candidate has regularly criticized the Times' political coverage, and even threatened to sue. “I am not opposed to his presidency, that is not my job,” Baquet said. “But my job is not to beat around the bush when a candidate lies.”

In July 2015, Hillary Clinton ally Neera Tanden, who is head of the progressive think tank the Center for American Progress, passed along advice that Hillary Clinton should try to set up a meeting with The New York Times publisher, Arthur Sulzberger Jr., to get more favorable coverage from the newspaper.

In the e-mail, which was released Oct 26 as part of the WikiLeaks’ ongoing release of e-mails from Clinton campaign manager John Podesta, Tanden said that former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg used the tactic to “[change] the coverage moderately.” Tanden said in the e-mail that the advice came from “Howard,” presumably a reference to former New York City Deputy Mayor Howard Wolfson, a longtime Democratic strategist who is now a senior adviser to Bloomberg. “[W]hen Bloomberg was having problems w the times he called Arthur Schulzberger (sic) and asked for coffee,” Tanden wrote in an e-mail to Podesta, dated July 9, 2015 and labeled as “Howard’s advice” in the subject line. “He made the case that they were treating him like a billionaire dilettante instead of Third term mayor. It changed the coverage moderately but also aired the issues in the newsroom so people were more conscious of it." Tanden added this caveat: “But Arthur is a pretty big wuss so he’s not going to do a lot more than that.”

Donald Trump pushed back against rumors that he has been looking into launching a media venture, telling a Cincinnati (OH) radio station that he only had “one interest” — winning the presidential election on Nov 8. “No, I have no interest in Trump TV,” Trump said. “I hear it all over the place. I have a tremendous fan base, we have a tremendous base. We have the most incredible people, but I just don’t have any interest in that.”

On Oct 24, Trump’s campaign launched a half-hour show on Trump’s Facebook page that is serving as a lead-in to Facebook livestreams of Trump’s campaign rallies. The live show, which is being filmed from Trump Tower in New York, is scheduled to continue every weeknight through Election Day. The show is similar to a pre- and post-debate live show on Trump’s Facebook page that the campaign launched to cover the final presidential debate last week as an alternative to mainstream media coverage of the debate.

Federal Communications Commissioner Mignon Clyburn’s summer pursuits are fueling speculation about whether she's eyeing an eventual run for her father's seat in Congress. Her just-completed cross-country tour and policy conference in DC have the trappings of someone looking to set the stage for a bigger role, and many expect that her 7-year stint at the FCC is nearing its end. Rep Jim Clyburn (D-SC) has shown little sign he's getting ready to step down. But key South Carolina Democrats who know Commissioner Mignon say the congressional role is squarely on her radar -- and state Democratic powerbroker Dick Harpootlian says she would immediately be the front-runner. DC folks in her orbit, however, are less convinced she will go the Capitol Hill route -- and they have their own thoughts on what she might pursue after the FCC.

Register of Copyrights Maria Pallante submitted her resignation to Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden, a Library spokesperson confirmed. Pallante had been removed as head of the Copyright Office and was reassigned to be a senior adviser for digital strategy -- but she's not taking the job. In a statement, House Judiciary Committee leaders Bob Goodlatte and John Conyers called her departure "a tremendous loss" for the office and for American creators. The lawmakers, who are in the middle of a broad review of copyright law, also suggested it might be time for a reassessment of how the register of copyrights is selected -- right now, the decision is up to the Librarian of Congress.

Apparently, Aaron Black, an associate with Democracy Partners and a former Occupy Wall Street organizer, coordinated with reporters from the conservative news site Breitbart during the primaries to cover his disruptions of events for candidates such as Sen Marco Rubio (R-FL). Black worked with the pro-Trump site Breitbart, tipping it off about his stunts, exchanging raw video and coordinating coverage, according to an unnamed source. Black coordinated with Breitbart via email, phone and in person, including when he dressed up as a robot and trolled Marco Rubio’s events. The relationship was described as very friendly. An article subsequently published on Breitbart featured video footage of a physical confrontation between Black and Rubio's New Hampshire campaign chairman.

Sen Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and her progressive allies are pushing Hillary Clinton to curb the market power of tech giants like Apple, Amazon and Google - putting the Democratic nominee in a bind over how hard to police an industry that's showered her with money and support in 2016. If she wins in November, Clinton would have to fill a raft of positions at the Department of Justice and the Federal Trade Commission, the government's twin cops on the competition beat.

The tech industry - which has largely avoided major showdowns with Washington's antitrust regulators during the Obama Administration - could easily face new scrutiny if Clinton bows to the Sen Warren wing and appoints people with a tougher eye for enforcement." Another name being circulated for a Clinton antitrust position is Daniel Weitzner, a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology who served in key roles at the Commerce Department and the White House during Obama's presidency. There's also chatter about whether Sharis Pozen, now the vice president for competition at GE, could return to government. During her tenure as acting assistant attorney general at DOJ, she oversaw the agency's landmark effort to block AT&T's proposed purchase of T-Mobile - and she also brought DOJ's successful case against Apple for the way it priced its ebooks. Two Federal Communications Commission aides - Gigi Sohn , an adviser to Chairman Tom Wheeler, and Travis LeBlanc, the agency's enforcement chief - are also seen as contenders for an FTC commissioner post.