Marvel’s Inflection Point, Phillips’ Auction Switcheroo, Epstein
Crisis Comms
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Welcome back to The Daily Courant, your afternoon digest of Puck’s best new reporting. First up today, Eriq Gardner digs into Trump’s $10 billion defamation lawsuit against Rupert Murdoch and The Wall Street Journal over its story about a lewd birthday card, signed to Jeffrey Epstein, that the president swears he never wrote. While there’s plenty for Murdoch’s lawyers to chew on, Florida courts have been receptive to recent Trump-adjacent libel claims. In
any event, will the discovery process put the president under oath about his history with the late sex offender?
Plus, below the fold: Ian Krietzberg enumerates the A.I.-related hurdles that could waylay Uber’s multi-hundred-million-dollar fantasy fleet of robotaxis. John Heilemann and Democratic comms guru Lis Smith analyze how Trump has fumbled the Epstein fallout. Marion Maneker
dissects Phillips’ new fee structure and the auction house’s “priority bidding” system. Sarah Shapiro chats with La Ligne C.E.O. Molly Howard about the brand’s hybrid D.T.C.-wholesale business model. And exclusively for Inner Circle members, Julia Alexander peruses Netflix’s audience data for clues about their sports programming playbook. Meanwhile,
on the pods: Matt Belloni is joined by The Wall Street Journal’s Ben Fritz on The Town to debate whether The Fantastic Four can salvage Marvel’s cinematic universe. On The Varsity, John Ourand rings up Sports Business Journal’s Bret McCormick to examine team owners’ shifting priorities. And on The Powers That Be, Julia Ioffe and Eriq foreshadow
Trump’s legal endgame in his case against the Journal. P.S.: In case you missed it, Leigh Ann Caldwell and Rep. Angie Craig convened for Puck’s latest Power Breakfast in D.C. last week, presented by the Modern Ag Alliance. You can listen to their wide-ranging conversation here, or read some of the
highlights here.
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| Eriq Gardner
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The president’s attorneys could seize on the mogul’s advanced age for expedited examination of his dealing with Wall
Street Journal executives. For their part, the defendants might welcome discovery—especially if it involves Epstein-related D.O.J. files. Read Now
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| Ian Krietzberg
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A new multi-hundred-million-dollar partnership between Uber, Lucid, and Nuro aims to deploy some 20,000 self-driving
robotaxis across the U.S. over the next six years. But with a slate of complex technological hurdles and attendant safety challenges, can self-driving vehicles actually replace human drives at scale in the near term? Read Now
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| John Heilemann
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A conversation with the legendary Dem operative Lis Smith about how Trump is bungling the Epstein messaging, plus the
Democrats’ opportunity with dude voters. Read Now
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| Marion Maneker
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As auction houses look to regain their mojo by tweaking pricing and structures, Phillips has announced a true potential
game-changer—a triple whammy that increases the buyer’s premium, offers a discount to early bidders, and previews intent. So… will it work? Read Now
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| Sarah Shapiro
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A wide-ranging conversation with La Ligne’s Molly Howard about how she and her partners turned the French girl aesthetic
into a legit business. Read Now
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| Julia Alexander
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With two full years of Netflix audience data, we now have a clear sense of how its series perform. So what’s still
working, and what absolutely isn’t? And when it comes to sports, is it better to be “adjacent” or in on the action? Read Now
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| Matthew Belloni
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Matt is joined by Wall Street Journal entertainment reporter Ben Fritz to discuss the pressure on The
Fantastic Four: First Steps to succeed as the MCU enters its next era. They cover some of the changes Marvel has made to combat superhero fatigue, Kevin Feige’s future, and whether Marvel or DC is better positioned to win the rest of the decade. Listen Now
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| John Ourand
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Sports Business Journal’s Bret McCormick joins John to chart the shifting priorities in sports ownership, from
media rights deals to real estate development. They explore how organizations across professional leagues are leveraging real estate for steady income, unpack the myriad challenges of financing new stadiums, predict whether the Washington Commanders will return to R.F.K. Stadium, and much more. Listen Now
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| Julia Ioffe
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| Eriq Gardner
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Eriq Gardner joins guest host Julia Ioffe to unpack Trump’s $10 billion defamation lawsuit against The Wall Street
Journal over its story about a lewd birthday card he allegedly doodled for Jeffrey Epstein, which he vehemently denies creating. Eriq explains why this lawsuit is notably flimsy—and why Trump may be aiming for a settlement rather than a public reckoning. Listen Now
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