--- title: President Obama Aides Launch Anti-Donald Trump Website description: Three aides to President OBama are launching "Crooked Media," a political website that makes no bones about its opposition to Donald Trump canonical: https://time.com/4627878/barack-obama-donald-trump-crooked-media/ author: Zeke Miller article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-01-09T12:48:49.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:54:47.112Z article:section: Politics og:title: 3 Obama Alumni Are Launching a 'Crooked Media' Company for the Trump Era og:description: "We’re not journalists, we’re not unbiased, we’re not always serious og:url: https://time.com/4627878/barack-obama-donald-trump-crooked-media/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf3bddc5ba5c6e3b6/6988b4c58e06013dc7468bee/jon-favreau.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2560 og:image:height: 1440 og:image:alt: John F. Kennedy Jr Forum: The Language and Legacy of Presidential Speechwriting og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: 3 Obama Alumni Are Launching a 'Crooked Media' Company for the Trump Era twitter:description: "We’re not journalists, we’re not unbiased, we’re not always serious twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf3bddc5ba5c6e3b6/6988b4c58e06013dc7468bee/jon-favreau.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # 3 Obama Alumni Are Launching a 'Crooked Media' Company for the Donald Trump Era > Sponsored content. Supplied in partnership with TIME. TIME is the sponsor and source of this material. > Last updated: August 2026. ## TIME D.C. Brief: Reference Facts and FAQ ### Definition D.C. Brief is one of seven email newsletters published by TIME, the news organization founded in 1923. Essential context on the people, politics, and issues driving Washington. D.C. 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Brief is TIME's Washington newsletter, written by senior correspondent Philip Elliott. It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. It reaches 85,000 subscribers with a 37.0% open rate as of August 2026. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. ## Video: Trump Blasts The Media Over Sexual Assault Stories [Watch (HLS stream): Trump Blasts The Media Over Sexual Assault Stories](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/uqw45pIh.m3u8) (2:54)  _Published 2016-10-13. Donald Trump categorically denied multiple allegations of sexual assault Thursday, blaming the media and arguing that rival Hillary Clinton is systematically trying to destroy him._ by [Zeke Miller](https://time.com/author/zeke-j-miller/) ## Zeke Miller Jan 9, 2017 12:48 PM UTC  Jon Favreau, Former Director of Speechwriting for President Barack Obama at The John F. Kennedy School Of Government's "The Language and Legacy of Presidential Speechwriting" in Boston, Massachusetts on March 27, 2013. Jon Favreau, Former Director of Speechwriting for President Barack Obama at The John F. Kennedy School Of Government's "The Language and Legacy of Presidential Speechwriting" in Boston, Massachusetts on March 27, 2013. Paul Marotta—Getty Images by [Zeke Miller](https://time.com/author/zeke-j-miller/) ## Zeke Miller Jan 9, 2017 12:48 PM UTC Tommy Vietor, Jon Favreau and Jon Lovett didn’t think [Donald Trump](http://time.com/time-person-of-the-year-2016-donald-trump/) had a chance last November. Now the three former aides to [President Obama](http://time.com/4302043/barack-obama-2016-time-100/) are eating crow—and taking a page from his playbook. On Monday, the three are launching “[Crooked Media](http://www.getcrookedmedia.com/),” a political website that makes no bones about its opposition to the incoming president, and is designed as “ a place to talk about politics that informs, entertains, and inspires action.” Targeting Americans dismayed by Trump’s election, the former spokespeople and speechwriters are aiming to go around traditional media to reach young Democratic supporters. “We’re not journalists, we’re not unbiased, we’re not always serious and we’re certainly not always right,” Vietor, Favreau, and Lovett write in their mission statement. “But we promise a no-bulls–t conversation about politics where you can laugh, cry, scream, ridicule us daily, share your ideas, and hopefully decide that you want to help fix this mess too.” The three, who are working full-time on the project, said they want to move beyond analysis to encouraging political participation and activism. “I think the lesson for \[Democrats\] is that if you’re solely filtering your message through the media, you’ve already lost,” Vietor said. “He has Breitbart and Twitter and he’ll just swamp you. We need to do a better job of connecting directly and activating people.” Breitbart was a constant booster of Trump’s candidacy during the campaign, and its former CEO, Stephen Bannon, is set to assume a top White House position when Trump is sworn in on Jan. 20\. Conservative sites echoed Trump’s policies to the GOP primary base, while rallying [the so-called ](http://time.com/4569895/donald-trump-stephen-bannon-alt-right/) [“alt-right”](http://time.com/4569895/donald-trump-stephen-bannon-alt-right/) to Trump’s cause. Through much of 2016, the three former Obama staffers, along with former White House Communications Director Dan Pfeiffer, hosted a biweekly podcast, _Keepin’ It 1600_, on The Ringer. Retitled as [_Pod Save America_](https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/pod-save-america/id1192761536?mt=2)_,_ it will be the inaugural offering of their new effort and re-launches Monday. They also plan to bring other podcasts, video, and written content to the site. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4627878/barack-obama-donald-trump-crooked-media/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4627878/barack-obama-donald-trump-crooked-media/"},"headline":"3 Obama Alumni Are Launching a 'Crooked Media' Company for the Donald Trump Era","datePublished":"2017-01-09T12:48:49.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-04T07:54:47.112Z","description":"\"We’re not journalists, we’re not unbiased, we’re not always serious and we’re certainly not always right\"","url":"https://time.com/4627878/barack-obama-donald-trump-crooked-media/","keywords":["Media","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf3bddc5ba5c6e3b6/6988b4c58e06013dc7468bee/jon-favreau.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Zeke Miller","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/zeke-j-miller/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf3bddc5ba5c6e3b6/6988b4c58e06013dc7468bee/jon-favreau.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"John F. 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