The White House Correspondents' Association announced Friday that ABC News' Jonathan Karl had been elected as their president for 2019-20.

Karl, who received 104 of 265 votes on the way to sealing his victory, was also appointed to a 3-year term as an at-large member of the WHCA's board of directors, according to a White House press pool report from the group.

While he currently serves as Chief White House Correspondent for ABC, Karl, 49, has notably covered almost every major beat in Washington, D.C., from Congress to the Pentagon to his current role. A 2013 Walter Cronkite Award and 2009 Emmy Award winner, he began his ABC tenure in 2003 covering the State Department.

Karl edged-out Todd Gillman of the Dallas Morning News, who earned 87 votes, for the role of president, but Gillman also notched a position on the board as a newspaper representative. The New York Times' Doug Mills, meanwhile, was elected to fill the photography seat on the board.

Jeff Mason, current WHCA president, extended his congratulations to all of those elected on Twitter Friday.

Congrats to @jonkarl, elected #whca president for 2019-2020. And congrats to @toddgillman & @dougmillsnyt who were re-elected to the board

— Jeff Mason (@jeffmason1) July 14, 2017

President Donald Trump has not held a wide-ranging news conference since February, instead choosing to keep his media interactions limited to handpicked interviews and short, four-question news conferences with foreign leaders.

But overnight, as he flew from Washington to Paris, Trump sat with reporters and held a roughly hourlong conversation. The reporters on the plane had been told it was off the record, and that’s how it was conveyed to the larger White House press pool.

But during a photo spray with French President Emanuel Macron on Thursday, New York Times reporter Maggie Haberman asked a question which had apparently been asked during the flight.

"POTUS asked your pooler why she didn't use what he has said last night. Your pooler reminded him last night was off the record. POTUS asked if I had heard him say it could be on-record; your pooler replied truthfully no (co-poolers also were not under impression it was on-record, since [White House deputy press secretary] Sarah Sanders had declared it off record),” Haberman wrote in her pool report.

Presidents will often hold conversations with reporters aboard Air Force One, and it’s not uncommon for them to be off the record. However, Trump is known to change his mind and make a previously off-the-record conversation on the record.

In an Oval Office meeting with POLITICO reporters in April, one aide said the chat was off the record, but Trump insisted, over objections from nervous-looking staffers, that he be quoted. At a reception for conservative media in April, Trump turned the evening into an impromptu news conference, leading to some complaints among some of the reporters who were not prepared.

As the pool was leaving the photo spray, Trump and White House economic adviser Gary Cohn called Haberman back to tell her the communications shop would put “most” of the off-the-record conversation on the record. But Sanders later told her that “excerpts" will be released.

Not all reporters were pleased with that explanation.

"If the president speaks to reporters off the record, and then puts parts of it on the record, we're essentially giving him quote approval,” tweeted Gregory Korte, White House correspondent for USA Today. "I've never been a huge critic of quote approval. It's better than 'on background' and ensures accuracy. I'm uncomfortable with it from POTUS. Even if 99% is on-the-record, I'd want to hear a pretty good argument about why the 1% can't also be on the record.”

"If [White House] puts out excerpts, it means they've put it all on record. Up to those reporters attending to put entire report on record now," tweeted "Meet the Press" host Chuck Todd.

A couple hours after Trump asked for the conversation to be put on-record, the White House released some excerpts. But they did not include two portions the pool had requested, which Haberman later provided separately to the email list. Haberman initially said in a pool report that Sanders was going "around the AF1 traveling pool," by not answering the requests and sending the transcript out via the supplemental pool. But in a follow up tweet, Haberman wrote that it was a miscommunication.

"Apologies to @SHSanders45 for a miscommunication among ourselves that she got tagged with in a pool report as doing an end-run. She did not," Haberman wrote.

Sanders did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Megyn Kelly's NBC morning show will debut Sept. 25 with a live studio audience, POLITICO has confirmed.

The show will air at 9 a.m. and will be part of the "Today" show lineup, though a live studio audience will set it apart from the other hours. The possibility of a live audience had previously been reported, but now it’s official.

The network is currently looking for an audience coordinator ahead of the late September debut, the same week NBC is kicking off its prime-time schedule, which means it will benefit from maximum promotion time.

Kelly's morning show will be in addition to her Sunday night news magazine, which has made a splash with interviews with the likes of Russian President Vladimir Putin and conspiracy-theory radio host Alex Jones, but has yet to put a crack into the ratings dominance of CBS' "60 Minutes."

Kelly is expected to give her morning show a less formal tone and has publicly stated that her goal is to “merge a little Charlie Rose, a little Oprah, and a little me all together.”

The White House asked the White House Correspondents' Association to single out a reporter and criticize an article, WHCA President Jeff Mason said Monday evening.

Mason’s comments were made during a WHCA town hall, where White House reporters pose questions to the WHCA board.

“The White House has come to ask me specifically, asking me to intervene or criticize a news organization or a reporter … to release a statement criticizing a reporter’s story,” Mason said, declining to elaborate on when the request was made or identify the article.

Mason said he declined to do so and that “we’ve made clear that’s not our role.”

Asked after the panel whether the request was due to a new White House team learning how the WHCA works, Mason said he wasn’t sure but that he didn’t think so and that the White House clearly thought it was the WHCA’s role to publicly chastise the reporter.

“I think it’s a reflection of frustration they have with the media, and they’ve used the relationship with the board sometimes to take that out, just as we have raised our concern and frustrations with them,” Mason said. “Part of that relationship has been drawing boundaries on what we do and don’t do.”

Mason said he didn’t “equivocate” and that he immediately turned down the White House when it asked him to release a statement.

The WHCA represents the White House press corps. It organizes the rotating press pools, assigns seating in the White House briefing room, and acts as mediator and advocate for reporters with the White House press staff.

Asked about the matter, White House deputy press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders referred questions to Mason and said she did not know what he was referring to.

Even while under fire for requiring its outlets to run conservative content, Sinclair Broadcast Group is increasing the "must-run" segments across its affiliates featuring former Trump White House official Boris Epshteyn to nine times a week, the company confirmed on Monday.

The move comes as the company is seeking to dramatically expand its holdings by purchasing Tribune Media for $3.9 billion, which would make it the largest local television operator in the country, with more than 200 stations.

But Sinclair's unusual practice of requiring all its stations to run reports dictated from the corporate offices has been flagged by critics of the Tribune acquisition and even become a subject of late-night TV ribbing by HBO's John Oliver.

"Should this Tribune acquisition go through, there are going to be even more good journalists having to see their hard work placed alongside terror-desk nonsense, just as there will be more unsuspecting audience members who will get a heaping dose of Sinclair content, possibly without realizing that," Oliver said, referring to one of Sinclair's required segments, Terrorism Alert Desk. "You should find out who owns your local station and bear that in mind as you watch."

Epshteyn was hired by Sinclair as chief political analyst in April after a short ride in the White House overseeing the choice of Trump surrogates for TV appearances.

Now, on Sinclair, he is offering his own political commentary.

His "Bottom Line with Boris" segments already air three times a week, but will now triple in frequency, featuring a mix of his political commentary as well as "talk backs" with local stations and interviews with members of Congress. The segments will have a “billboard,” meaning they’re sponsored, but will not be sponsored content, a Sinclair spokesperson said.

Epshteyn’s segments are “must runs,” so all the Sinclair stations across the country will air them along with their other “must-run” segments including conservative commentary from Mark Hyman and the Terrorism Alert Desk segments. Epshteyn reliably parrots the White House's point of view on most issues. For example, he claimed last month that former FBI Director James Comey's testimony on Capitol Hill was more damaging to Hillary Clinton and former Attorney General Loretta Lynch than to the president.

"Contrary to widespread expectations, we actually learned much more about the president's opponents and his critics from Comey's testimony that about any issue involving the president himself," Epshteyn said.

Sinclair declined to comment on what went into the decision to add more segments from Epshteyn.

But the company defended its practice of requiring stations to run certain types of content, even in the wake of Oliver's ridiculing.

"While we appreciate John Oliver's unique brand of humor, we stand by our approach to sharing content among our stations to supplement the excellent work our newsroom staffs do every day in service to their communities," Sinclair said in a statement. Epshteyn also released a segment responding to Oliver.

The Smith family, which has owned the Maryland-based Sinclair since its founding in 1971, is known for its conservative views.

Last month, POLITICO reported that Frederick G. Smith, vice president and director of Sinclair Broadcasting, sent a contribution to Montana's Republican representative Greg Gianforte on the day after Gianforte was charged with assault for putting a "body slam" on a reporter for The Guardian.

More conservative outlets now have official seats in the White House briefing room according to a new seating chart the White House Correspondents' Association unveiled on Friday.

Conservative television networks Newsmax and One America News now have seats, though One America News' is shared with the BBC. Other changes enacted since the last time the seating chart was adjusted in 2015 include the Daily Mail's U.S. website getting a seat, as well as the Huffington Post and the Spanish-language television network Univision getting shared seats. While the first row remains the same, populated by the major television networks and wires, USA Today has moved up to the second row, switching spots with AP Radio.

For the past two administrations the WHCA, not the White House, has determined the seating in the briefing room, though White House officials have previously suggested they may seek to make changes in the future.

"The board considered multiple criteria during this decision-making process, including regular briefing attendance and commitment to the White House beat, we did not want scarce real estate going unused," WHCA President Jeff Mason wrote in an email to the association. "We also looked at news outlets’ audiences, both in terms of reach and in terms of preserving (or in some cases adding) diversity in the briefing room. We took stock of the changing landscape of our industry. Weighing these and other factors, we worked through what is always a difficult process affecting news outlets, colleagues and friends."

MSNBC has parted ways with anchor Greta Van Susteren after just six months on air, as her show failed to live up to the network's ratings expectations.

An MSNBC executive said the decision to remove the former Fox News host was purely for business reasons, based on ratings.

"MSNBC and Greta Van Susteren have decided to part ways. Greta is a well-regarded television veteran and one of only a few broadcasters who can say they’ve hosted shows at all three major cable news networks. We are grateful to her and wish her the best,” MSNBC President Phil Griffin said in a memo to staff on Thursday afternoon. "Please join me in wishing Greta well as she departs. We have enjoyed having her on our air and we’re thankful to her and the show team.”

Ari Melber, MSNBC’s chief legal correspondent, host of “The Point” on the weekends and a regular fill-in for prime-time shows, will now be the permanent host in the 6 p.m. time slot occupied by Van Susteren.

Reached by phone, Van Susteren declined to comment. Just as Vanity Fair broke the news of the show ending, Van Susteren tweeted “I am out at MSNBC.” Her husband and agent, John Coale, told CNN they were notified Thursday morning.

An MSNBC executive speaking on background called the split “amicable,” saying that they tried to support the show but that the numbers “weren’t there.”

MSNBC has seen significant gains in ratings for its prime-time lineup, especially in the coveted advertising demo of 25- to 54-year-olds. The 6 p.m. hour is an important segue into prime time. With MSNBC experiencing a ratings boom for the shows hosted by Rachel Maddow and Lawrence O’Donnell, there was a concern that Van Susteren's low numbers were hurting those shows, the executive said.

The executive said they had worked with Van Susteren for some time to help bring up the show’s low performance but nothing seemed to catch on.

Van Susteren, a former lawyer, joined MSNBC after 14 years with Fox News, from which she was similarly taken off the air without a chance to say goodbye. Her MSNBC show broadcast out of a newly built studio in Washington where she was known to attract both Republicans and Democrats to her show for wonky discussion about policy and politics.

Van Susteren’s last show was on Wednesday evening. Melber takes over in July.

The vice president and director of Sinclair Broadcasting Group, which has often been criticized for its conservative slant, donated to Rep. Greg Gianforte's campaign the day after the Montana Republican was charged with assaulting a reporter.

The donation of $1,000 by Frederick G. Smith, a member of the family that owns the company, came on May 25, the day Gianforte was elected, according to Federal Election Commission reports. Smith also gave $1,000 to Gianforte's campaign in March.

On May 24, Gianforte assaulted Guardian reporter Ben Jacobs as Jacobs attempted to ask Gianforte a question about the healthcare bill, breaking Jacobs' glasses and sending him to the hospital for X-rays. Though Gianforte's campaign initially decried Jacobs as a "liberal" reporter and placed some of the blame on him, Gianforte eventually apologized, pleaded guilty to the assault, and donated $50,000 to the Committee to Protect Journalists as part of an agreement under which Jacobs did not pursue a civil case. Gianforte was sentenced to community service and anger management classes, while being assessed a $385 fine.

Gianforte's campaign received a flood of new donations the day after the incident, raising about $118,000 on May 25, more than double the amount he raised the day before.

Smith was not available for comment, but a Sinclair spokesperson said, “Campaign contributions made by our board members are personal to them and do not reflect company policy or support.”

Sinclair Broadcasting Group recently struck a $3.9 billion deal to obtain Tribune Media's dozens of television stations, making Sinclair the largest owner of television stations in the country. For years, Sinclair has been pegged by critics as a company with conservative leanings. The Smith family has long been supporters of conservative causes, and the network has been known to send "must run" packages to its local affiliates, segments that sometimes come with a conservative political bent. Sinclair also recently hired Boris Epshteyn, formerly the White House director of surrogate operations, to be its chief political analyst.

POLITICO in December reported that Trump's son-in-law and adviser, Jared Kushner, told business executives the campaign had struck a deal with Sinclair for better media coverage. Sinclair disputed the characterization, saying it was an arrangement for extended sit-down interviews that was offered to both candidates, though Clinton never sat down with the network.

Three CNN staffers have resigned following the publication and subsequent retraction of a story linking a Trump transition team member to the Russia-related investigations.

The piece, published late last week, cited an anonymous source saying the Senate Intelligence Committee was looking into the chief executive of a $10-billion Russian investment fund who met with financier Anthony Scaramucci before the inauguration. The report also said that two Democratic senators wanted to know whether Scaramucci had indicated in the meeting whether sanctions against Russia would be lifted, a decision that could impact the investment fund.

Out are: The reporter, Pulitzer-Prize nominee Thomas Frank; assistant managing editor Eric Lichtblau (who recently joined from the New York Times and is a Pulitzer winner himself); and Lex Haris, the executive editor in charge of investigations.

"In the aftermath of the retraction of a story published on CNN.com, CNN has accepted the resignations of the employees involved in the story's publication," CNN said in a statement.

"On Friday, CNN retracted a story published by my team. As Executive Editor of that team, I have resigned," Haris said in a statement published by CNN. "I've been with CNN since 2001, and am sure about one thing: This is a news organization that prizes accuracy and fairness above all else. I am leaving, but will carry those principles wherever I go."

According to a source familiar with the situation, Scaramucci called Washington Bureau Chief Sam Feist on Friday after the story was posted, and alluded to the possibility of a lawsuit if the piece was not taken down.

By Friday night, the piece was retracted with an editor's note appended, saying in part that the "story did not meet CNN's editorial standards and has been retracted. Links to the story have been disabled. CNN apologizes to Mr. Scaramucci."

Scaramucci has publicly expressed his appreciation, tweeting on Saturday that "CNN did the right thing. Classy move. Apology accepted. Everyone makes mistakes. Moving on."

CNN already had processes in place for anonymous sources, requiring a sign-off by an executive editor before publication. Now, extra restrictions are being placed on stories connected to Russia, according to a leaked memo published by BuzzFeed on Sunday, requiring further scrutiny by higher-ups.

According to a CNN source, the standard procedures in place were not followed for the story. The legal team had not fully reviewed the final piece and was concerned and, in some ways surprised, when they saw it had been published before the sign-off.

A CNN spokesperson declined to comment beyond the statement.

White House Correspondents' Association President Jeff Mason said they are "not satisfied" with the White House putting a halt on their daily, on-camera briefings.

In an email to members of the association, Mason said he met with White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer and Deputy Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders to discuss the issues of the briefings. The White House has increasingly changed the daily briefings, either not having them on certain days, making them increasingly short, or hosting off-camera briefings, sometimes even not allowing the use of audio from the briefings.

"The WHCA’s position on this issue is clear: we believe strongly that Americans should be able to watch and listen to senior government officials face questions from an independent news media, in keeping with the principles of the First Amendment and the need for transparency at the highest levels of government," Mason wrote.

The White House has long signaled it would consider changing up the daily briefings and has already instituted some changes, such as incorporating "Skype Seats" to get questions from reporters and talk show hosts across the country.

"We're going to do what we can to communicate our message," Spicer said at Tuesday's briefing when asked about the frequency of press briefings. "The briefing is one aspect of what we do."

Taking the daily briefing off-camera is not a new idea. Former Press Secretary Mike McCurry, who served under President Bill Clinton, has publicly said he regrets being the first press secretary to put the briefing on camera. Now, he says, every reporter asks the same type of question just so they get the clip of themselves being tough on the press secretary. It all becomes just a show.

“The daily briefing has become less than helpful and I bear responsibility for that because I let it become a televised event. It should not be,” McCurry told POLITICO in November after the election. “It should be embargoed until completion and not carried ‘live' except in unusual circumstances…like real news happening."

Several print reporters have made similar complaints in the past. Mason said in the email that while off-camera "gaggles" "can play an important role in informing the press and the public," they are "not a substitute for the open back-and-forth between reporters and administration officials that regular televised briefings allow."

The Trump White House briefings have become daily television moments. In the early days of the administration, Spicer's briefings were attracting higher ratings than daytime soap operas and became regular fodder for skits for comedy shows like "Saturday Night Live." When they occur, they're often still carried live by the cable networks. During Thursday's audio-only briefing, CNN aired the entire briefing, putting up a photo of Sanders in place of video with chyrons later noting that the White House "Blocks Public From Viewing Daily Briefing."

"We are not satisfied with the current state-of-play, and we will work hard to change it," Mason wrote. "In the meantime, I have asked that reporters be able to use audio from all gaggles going forward. We will keep you posted as developments occur."

The Wall Street Journal has fired chief foreign affairs correspondent Jay Solomon for what the paper called a “breach” and ethical lapses over his involvement with an Iranian-born arms dealer.

Washington Bureau Chief Paul Beckett made the announcement to staff during a hastily called meeting on Wednesday after meeting with senior editors in New York the day before. Beckett did not elaborate on Solomon’s situation, only to say that an upcoming Associated Press investigation would have more details. Beckett took no questions and asked any staffers who knew anything about the situation to come forward, according to multiple sources.

Shortly after the announcement, the Associated Press on Wednesday afternoon published an article that said Solomon was offered a 10 percent stake in a company called Denx LLC by "Farhad Azima, an Iranian-born aviation magnate who has ferried weapons for the CIA.” Azima, the article said, was also one of Solomon's sources for years. Solomon’s involvement was unearthed as part of an AP investigation into Azima, in which the AP obtained a "collection of tens of thousands of emails his lawyers say was stolen by hackers,” which included conversations between Azima and Solomon.

According to the AP, Solomon spent more than a year discussing the business effort with Azima, though it's not clear from those messages that Solomon took any concrete steps to make the ideas a reality. The hacked messages included one in which Solomon said in October 2014, “Our business opportunities are so promising."

In another email from April 2015, Azima wrote to Solomon about a $725 million proposal contract with the United Arab Emirates that would "allow planes to spy on activity inside nearby Iran." According to the emails, Solomon was expected to "ferry the proposal" to government representatives from the UAE at a lunch the next day.

“We all wish best of luck to Jay on his first defense sale,” Azima wrote in an email also sent to Solomon, according to the AP.

In a statement, the Journal said Solomon "forfeited" the newspaper's trust.

“We are dismayed by the actions and poor judgment of Jay Solomon,” the Journal said in a statement. "The allegations raised by this reporting are serious. While our own investigation continues, we have concluded that Mr. Solomon violated his ethical obligations as a reporter, as well as our standards. He has not been forthcoming with us about his actions or his reporting practices and he has forfeited our trust. Mr. Solomon is no longer employed by The Wall Street Journal."

Solomon, a veteran correspondent who published a book last year about Iran and the “spy games, bank battles and secret deals that reshaped the Middle East,” did not respond to emails seeking comment. But in a statement to the AP, he said he "clearly made mistakes in my reporting and entered into a world I didn’t understand.”

“I never entered into any business with Farhad Azima, nor did I ever intend to. But I understand why the emails and the conversations I had with Mr. Azima may look like I was involved in some seriously troubling activities. I apologize to my bosses and colleagues at the Journal, who were nothing but great to me," Solomon said.

According to the AP, Solomon did not mention Azima by name in any of his articles over the past four years, and Azima is not listed in the index of Solomon's 2016 book. But on Twitter, Solomon was Azima's first Twitter follower and Azima's first tweet was to Solomon in 2014.

"Hi @WSJSolomon," Azima wrote. "@azimausa welcome to Twitter, your excellency!" Solomon wrote in return.

Carol Lee is joining NBC News as a national political reporter.

Lee is currently a White House correspondent for The Wall Street Journal. A former White House Correspondents' Association president, Lee has been with the Journal since 2011, having previously covered the White House for POLITICO.

Already a frequent presence on television, Lee will appear across all NBC platforms including MSNBC, an NBC spokesperson said. She starts in July.

"I have loved working at The Wall Street Journal for six years alongside journalists who are not only as good as it gets at their jobs, but really great colleagues and friends too," Lee said in a statement. "I am thrilled to be joining an exceptional team at NBC News and couldn't be more excited to have this opportunity to grow as a journalist in new ways."

A Journal spokesperson said in a statement, "Carol has done a remarkable job here at the Journal and we wish her all the best."