Fox you, Media Matters!

You’d think Fox Corporation would be sick of lawsuits by now — but there’s life in the old dog yet. The company has sent a letter to Media Matters for America, after the left-wing watchdog spent the week drip-feeding what they’ve brazenly titled “FOXLEAKS.” So far the “scoops” consist of… Tucker Carlson cracking a few jokes between segments.

Fox lawyers write that the footage was “unlawfully obtained.” This has ruined Cockburn’s chances of winning $5, because he was sure Fox were the leakers. Cockburn’s second guess was Abby Grossberg, the former Tucker booker suing her old bosses for maintaining a toxic work environment — but a source familiar with the show says they don’t think it’s Abby. Should Cockburn place a bet on the leaks coming from Tucker himself? However much money Cockburn will lose, it certainly won’t be as much as Fox…

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You’ve been Dunn, Tara…

Cockburn speculated whether Joe Biden was a bad feminist this week, after a report in Politico suggested he was set to rehire TJ Ducklo for 2024.

Former press secretary Ducklo resigned in disgrace after screaming at a female Politico reporter, Tara Palmeri, due to a story she was working on about him dating a journalist, Alexi McCammond. Ducklo claimed Palmeri was doing the story because she was “jealous” that an unidentified man in the past had “wanted to fuck” McCammond “and not you.” Oddly the Politico story about Ducklo’s imminent return quoted various Bidenworld women, such as senior advisor Anita Dunn, but not Palmeri, their former employee.

At her new venture Puck, Palmeri tells her side — and unmasks the tale’s true villain. “I always thought that it could have been resolved if Ducklo and I had sat down together and a real apology was exchanged,” she writes. “Instead, Ducklo sent me a two-line email apology and… Anita Dunn called my editor to argue that I broke our ‘off the record’ agreement by outlining the incident in an internal memo at the time. For a full month, I felt shunned by the White House, and by Dunn, who warned young press aides about reporters who break off the record, I was told, winking and nodding about what happened between me and Ducklo. ‘Reporters can’t be trusted,’ Dunn said, according to a witness.”

Dunn may be right that some reporters can’t be trusted — but does that justify taking a Mean Girls approach to one that her colleague had unduly threatened to “destroy?” Between this and the insidious image rehab her firm did for TikTok earlier this year, Cockburn thinks further questions could be asked about the quality of “advice” Dunn offers the president…

White House Correspondent Degenerate

Given Cockburn’s reputation as an intrepid DC party reporter, regular readers may have been put out by the lack of coverage from White House Correspondents’ Dinner weekend. Cockburn was NFI’d from the dinner itself, but managed to sneak in to the UTA shindig at Fiola Mare on Friday night. He behaved impeccably, as you would expect.

His highlights: minesweeping a glass of Prosecco from CNN’s Dana Bash (thanks Dana!); loudly and boorishly grilling comedian Billy Eichner (apt), sneaking outside for a cigarette in the rain with the only hacks still cool enough to be hedonists. He was the second drunkest person there — top honors go to swaying Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff, who appeared to be concerning the Secret Service detail that he has for some reason — and so doesn’t remember leaving in the most expensive DC cab he’s ever gotten. He is also ashamed to confess he missed the evening’s highlight: Don Lemon showing up four days after his ouster, being tailed by Brian Stelter.

Cockburn would love to tell you that he woke up in Julia Fox’s hotel suite, tied up and smothered in kisses, but alas: he spent Saturday curdling in his own fluids. Needless to say, he would do it all again in a heartbeat. Send your Washington party invites to cockburn@thespectator.com so he can do just that.

Ron DeSantis targeting Texas Latinos

Never Back Down PAC, which is supporting Florida governor Ron DeSantis’s impending presidential run, is hiring a huge field team in South Texas, Cockburn hears. The thinking is that DeSantis’s success with Hispanics in Florida can translate to border-adjacent towns in the Lone Star State. Of course, Cubans and Puerto Ricans are a far different demographic than Mexicans. Not to mention South Texas is hardly a target-rich area for a Republican primary. If this is demonstrative of the political genius of a DeSantis campaign, Cockburn is not optimistic… but wishes them all a happy Cinco de Mayo regardless.

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