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politics lead
Monica Lewinsky's PR man: Scandal will define Sydney Leathers for the rest of her life
The woman at the center of the latest Anthony Weiner scandal, Sydney Leathers, gave in interview to "Inside Edition," which was a bad move, said reputation expert Howard Bragman.
"I would advise someone to get small," said Bragman, vice chairman of Reputatation.com and founder of public relations company Fifteen Minutes.
"This is going to define her, really, for the rest of her life right now. You're going to Google this young lady, and this is what you'll see," said Bragman.
Sexually explicit messages between Weiner and Leathers – some of which included lewd photographs of Weiner – came to light Tuesday on the gossip website TheDirty.
The site claimed Weiner vowed to purchase a condominium for Leathers in Chicago, as well as secure her a place on a panel for political bloggers.
Bragman worked with Monica Lewinsky and Rachel Uchitel in the past.
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politics lead
Analysis: Are GOP's recent scandals, missteps more costly than Democrats'?
Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi criticized her former house colleagues, San Diego Mayor Bob Filner and Anthony Weiner, on Thursday, calling their conduct "reprehensible."
"It is so disrespectful of women, and what's really stunning about it is they don't even realize it. They don't have a clue. If they're clueless, get a clue, if they need therapy, get it in private," said Pelosi.
Three women have accused Filner of sexual harassment in recent weeks. As for Weiner, sexually explicit messages between him and another woman came to light Tuesday on the gossip website TheDirty.
Both Filner and Weiner are Democrats, and Republicans could capitalize on the recent negative publicity for the party.
"Nancy Pelosi, the last thing she wanted to do today ... was answer questions about Filner or Weiner," said CNN contributor and Republican strategist Kevin Madden. "It distracts them from being able to deliver the message they want to deliver."
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money lead
Investors ‘like’ Facebook, and put their money behind it
It suffered a rocky premiere on the open market last year, but the numbers don’t lie: investors “like” Facebook.
“Google has become a verb … but Facebook’s bigger than that,” Rocco Pendola of TheStreet.com said on CNN’s “The Lead.”
Investors indicated the friendship between them and the tech giant was strong by snapping up the stock, sending it up 25% on Thursday after a strong second quarter earnings report came out late Wednesday.
The company beat analysts’ predictions, posting revenue of $1.8 billion and righting its balance sheet by posting net income rather than losses. It prompted major market-watchers to reevaluate their target price for the stock significantly upwards.
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national lead
Zimmerman juror to ABC: He 'got away with murder'
(CNN) - A juror in the George Zimmerman trial says she feels the man who killed Trayvon Martin "got away with murder."
"George Zimmerman got away with murder, but you can't get away from God. And at the end of the day, he's going to have a lot of questions and answers he has to deal with," Juror B29 told ABC, according to an article posted on the network's website Thursday. "(But) the law couldn't prove it."
The juror, who used only her first name of Maddy out of concerns for her safety, told ABC that she and others on the panel felt Zimmerman was guilty, but that wasn't enough.
"You can't put the man in jail even though in our hearts we felt he was guilty," she said. "But we had to grab our hearts and put it aside and look at the evidence."
Maddy is the second juror to speak about the high-profile case since the six-person, all-female jury acquitted Zimmerman earlier this month.
She and other jurors also have identified themselves by their numbers from the jury pool.
national lead
Anthony Weiner, Ryan Braun and a summer of lies
Washington (CNN) - Psst! Here's a truth: Politicians lie. They lie about their personal lives like Anthony Weiner did. And Eliot Spitzer. And Mark Sanford. And Bill Clinton. And John Edwards. Shall we go on?
They lie about policy too. America's top spy, Director of National Intelligence James Clapper had to issue a statement explaining why he testified before Congress that the U.S. government is not gathering dossiers on American citizens when it's now clear that the U.S. government is gathering all their Internet and phone data.
They lie to supporters. When some Republicans pledge to repeal Obamacare, it might be what the voters back home want to hear. But the lawmakers know it's not going to happen.
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