The continued bloodshed in Ukraine claimed the life of its first journalist over the weekend when Brent Renaud, a filmmaker who has worked for The New York Times, was killed by Russian forces at a checkpoint near Kyiv. It was a tragic reminder of the price that foreign correspondents pay to ensure that the first casualty of war isn’t the truth.

We are back this week with some nuggets sure to have the chattering class chattering all week. Here at Source Material we believe a fast game is a good game so let’s just cut to the chase.

#METOO LAWYERS STILL REP RUSSIAN OLIGARCHS: The bloodshed in Ukraine has given many who’ve greatly profited over the years from working for Russian oligarchs a much needed reality check: Prominent global law firms and PR agencies here and across the pond have quickly dumped Putin-linked billionaire Russian clients. Linklaters and Norton Rose Fulbright have both closed their Russian operations entirely, while Skadden Arps bailed on repping the now-sanctioned Alfa Bank. But one well-known, U.S.-based law firm has seemingly not had such a crisis of conscience. Clare Locke LLP, the husband-and-wife duo who have boasted on their website of killing media stories and have repped media #MeToo villains like Matt Lauer, Jeff Fager, and Michael Corn, can still count three oligarchs among their clientele, according to court documents reviewed by Source Material. Russian billionaires Mikhail Fridman and Peter Aven were sanctioned by the EU for their close ties to Putin and are locked in litigation against D.C.-based research firm Fusion GPS over allegations in the infamous Steele dossier. Tom Clare filed a declaration on March 5, 2021, in support of the pair and fellow oligarch German Khan in their effort to combat a Fusion GPS motion for partial summary judgment, according to docs. Clare has repped the trio since last year. The firm has a lengthy history of working with oligarchs: In one 2019 letter they warned The New York Times that they may be “liable for the catastrophic economic damages” facing then-sanctioned Russian industrialist Oleg Deripaska. The firm also threatened the Times before and after publication over an article about Yuri Milner, another Russian billionaire with close ties to Putin, according to two people familiar with the matter. Clare Locke did not respond to multiple requests for comment.

SUCCESSION, OLBERMANN VS. MADDOW STYLE: To fill its upcoming Rachel Maddow void, MSNBC almost took a time machine back to the good ol’ days of 2011. Keith Olbermann, who shaped the network’s liberal voice before being canned more than a decade ago, was in lengthy discussions with NBCUniversal CEO Jeff Shell and news boss Cesar Conde to return to MSNBC and take over the key 9 p.m. time slot, the former Countdown host told Source Material. But any dream of an Olbermann reunion was squashed when Maddow, who recently signed a massive $30 million deal to work less and transition out of her nightly broadcast, stepped in to personally veto him as her successor. “I offered to have her production company ‘produce’ the show. Would give her some proxy control and a fuckton of money but she and [former MSNBC chief-turned-consultant to Maddow’s production company] Phil Griffin refused,” Olbermann told Source Material, claiming that the network also offered him a show in 2016. “I do not expect to continue negotiations with the successors to this management team,” he added. “Management is worse than asleep at the switch.” MSNBC declined to comment in response. Maddow’s rejection of Olby as her replacement is especially noteworthy considering the role he played in turning her from an Air America radio host into his protégé as an MSNBC regular and eventual star voice of the channel. Olbermann may have gotten the last laugh when, this weekend, Maddow’s show embarrassed itself with a now-deleted tweet boosting an outrageous claim about Putin and Hitler (more on that below), which an incensed Olbermann personally emailed to Shell.

CONDÉ CRAMS BACK INTO OFFICE: Condé Nast staffers returned to the offices on Monday to kick off the company's “three-day full hybrid” program and some were less than happy to come back to their shiny digs at 1 World Trade Center, complaining to Source Material about the cramped workspaces and less-than-stellar perks on offer. Writers and editors were lured back with complimentary food and beverages on the 35th floor cafeteria including canned water, a cheesesteak lunch option, or a garden salad described to Source Material by one hungry Condé writer as “loose spinach and cherry tomatoes with three small shavings of cheese.” Devil Wears Prada appears to have undersold the glamorous magazine lifestyle! Speaking of which: Anna Wintour, who was behind the push to return alongside Condé Nast CEO Roger Lynch, did make the schlep to the 25th floor, which Vogue now shares with Vanity Fair and GQ after the company squeezed some titles together—much to the chagrin of staffers hoping to maintain some personal space. The New Yorker is now sharing floor space with Wired and Ars Technica and private spaces for star writers appear to be few and far between, according to a staff-wide memo from boss David Remnick, obtained and reviewed by Source Material. “If the room becomes overcrowded (doubtful) or if you need to make a sensitive call (possible) come see me and we’ll work something out,” he wrote, seemingly hoping to allay concerns about the lack of privacy. “In the future, we hope to have other private spaces in the building to use if needed.” There was some good news, however: “I’ve ordered a printer for [the writers’] area, hopefully it will get here next week.”

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POLITICO POWER PUZZLE: The Beltway news powerhouse Politico is struggling to fill newsroom leadership vacancies left by longtime editor Carrie Budoff Brown, who departed for NBC in June, and former managing editor Blake Hounshell, who exited for a New York Times gig in October. The Washington Post’s Phil Rucker was offered a modified version of Brown’s gig but opted to stay at the Jeff Bezos-owned newspaper, according to two people with knowledge of the matter. In late January, Rucker was promoted from White House bureau chief to deputy national editor. According to those sources, another WaPo name previously in talks for the plum gig was Steve Ginsberg, who in January was promoted from national editor to managing editor. “We have purposely cast a wide net and conducted a thorough search over the last several months, speaking to a number of candidates of diverse experience and backgrounds in order to find the right person for the role,” Politico spokesperson Brad Dayspring wrote in a statement. Politico also looked internally to fill Hounshell’s shoes, including deputy managing editor Mike Zapler—though multiple insiders familiar with the situation told Source Material that his handling of several stories that infamously required corrections has worked against him. “Mike Zapler is one of the most respected leaders at POLITICO and one of the best editors anywhere in political journalism. For over 11 years, in several critical roles at the publication, he has driven impactful and distinctive coverage of Congress, national politics and policy, and Washington,” Politico‘s top editor Matt Kaminski told Source Material.

HARRY & MEGHAN’S MEDIA WAR: The royal family has traditionally followed a hard-and-fast rule for dealing with critical media coverage: “Never complain and never explain.” But that age-old PR strategy has been tossed aside by Prince Harry and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, who have white-shoe law firm Schillings on speed dial, firing off legal letters to newsrooms at the mere whisper of a new “royal revelation” about the couple. Last month, the pair filed a new libel lawsuit against Associated Newspapers Limited, publisher of the Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday, after it ran a story about Harry’s legal fight with the British government to reinstate police protection for him and his family. Source Material’s review of legal letters sent by Schillings to U.K.-based newsrooms over the last several months turned up one curious and previously unreported note from early January, marked “strictly private and confidential.” The letter said that Archewell, the couple’s charity, received a media inquiry about an “allegation about The Duchess taking advantage of a friendship.” The Schillings note warned that such a claim “is false and defamatory.” Just who the friendship was with and how Meghan allegedly took advantage of it remains a mystery. Source Material reached out to reps for the couple but has yet to hear back. Guess who! Don’t sue!

IN PLAIN SIGHT: Spotted at Ralph Lauren’s swanky Polo Bar restaurant in Manhattan on Tuesday evening: newly minted CNN boss Chris Licht dining with an unidentified woman. If you know who she was, please email us. Meanwhile, Source Material dined earlier this month at D.C. power meal spot Le Diplomate—where Beltway icons go to be seen—and spotted nothing besides average food.

More from the Beast’s Media Desk

—“MSNBC Deletes Tweet That Hitler Didn’t Kill Ethnic Germans.” As we mentioned above, MSNBC became the internet’s “main character” for a day when The Rachel Maddow Show account was forced to delete a tweet and issue a groveling apology after it boosted former U.S. ambassador to Russia Michael McFaul claiming Hitler didn’t kill “ethnic Germans.” The offending post drew widespread criticism, including from the Auschwitz Memorial.

—“Fox News Reporter Benjamin Hall Hospitalized After Injury in Ukraine.” The British foreign correspondent for Fox News, sustained injuries while newsgathering outside Kyiv on Monday, the network confirmed. Details were scant throughout the day, but Fox said he’d been hospitalized. We wish him well.

—“Bill Barr Makes Nice With the Media—After Blasting It in His Book.” The former Trump AG spends much of his new 595-page book expressing contempt for the news media—the very same media he has giddily used for his press tour promoting the book.

—‘The View’ Wants DOJ to Probe Tucker and Tulsi for ‘Russian Propaganda.’” Please, God, no, not another Red Scare, this time spearheaded by a daytime chat show. The View on Monday veered into dangerous territory, suggesting former Democratic Rep. Tulsi Gabbard and Fox News star Tucker Carlson should be investigated by the feds for peddling pro-Kremlin disinformation. Whoopi Goldberg went one step further and noted how “they used to arrest people for doing stuff like this.”

Recent Reads

—The New York Times dove into what it was actually like to work at RT America, the now-shuttered U.S. outpost of a Kremlin-funded cable channel that often served as a landing spot for journalists and pundits who couldn’t find work anywhere else in news media.

—When Gen Z grows out of TikTok and fully graduates into the workforce, LinkedIn hopes to attract them, The Guardian reported this weekend. The social-media app once viewed as buttoned-up and overly professionalized is adding new features in the hopes of luring a younger, more multimedia-focused generation of users who view work differently than their elders.

—First Amendment lawyers are actually rooting for right-wing outlets like Fox News and Project Veritas to lose defamation lawsuits brought against them for intentionally pushing lies about voter fraud, the Times reported, because such losses would prove that it is “possible to punish the intentional or extremely reckless dissemination of false information while protecting the press from lawsuits over inadvertent errors.”

—Rolling Stone reported on the cozy relationship former CNN boss Jeff Zucker and his girlfriend and ex-lieutenant Allison Gollust shared with embattled ex-Gov. Andrew Cuomo. Text messages revealed that Gollust, who briefly worked for Cuomo in 2012, kept up a friendly relationship with the disgraced guv, including Cuomo offering to be her “pool boy” and Gollust once joking to him: “I’m pretty sure I stopped being your publicist 8 years ago, but apparently I still am.”

**WHAT ARE WE OUTRAGED ABOUT NOW?**

Fox News, Newsmax, and pals kicked off a multi -day outrage cycle last week. The target this time: Vice President Kamala Harris’ “laughing fit” during a Thursday joint presser with Polish President Andrzej Duda. When asked about the Ukrainian refugee crisis, the veep looked at Duda and said, “a friend in need is a friend indeed,” punctuated by her now-trademark nervous chuckle. By Friday, the “laughing fit” fueled dozens of segments across conservative cable, with hosts calling it “humiliating” for the U.S. while describing the veep as “child” with the “intellectual horsepower of a fourth-grader.” Former Trump adviser and cartoon villain Stephen Miller took it several steps further on Sunday, using a laughably out-of-context clip from the veep’s trip abroad to declare to Fox News host Maria Bartiromo that Harris is “clearly not well” and “not a well person.”

We’ll be back next week with more saucy Source Material. In the meantime, send us questions, complaints and tips and subscribe here.