Even by Washington’s sordid standards, this has been a particularly grubby week. Things kicked off with the departure of vacation queen and Josh sauvi B enthusiast Lori Chaves-DeRemer from the Department of Labor; they continued with a tell-all from the ex-girlfriend of former ICE deputy director Madison Sheahan. Don’t get Cockburn started on Congress (Juliegrace Brufke’s “Case Study in Congressional Smut” is worth a peruse.)
There is no shortage of salacity, yet Cockburn can’t put his finger on why he’s so entranced by the stories from the Daily Mail and the New York Post regarding DHS Deputy Assistant Secretary for Counterterrorism Julia Varvaro and her much older ex-boyfriend, Robert Bianchi.
Bianchi withheld his identity and approached the Mail with text messages and tales about his brief relationship with 29-year-old Varvaro. The tabloid gushes about how Varvaro and “Robert B.” matched on Hinge in January and went on a $1,400 first date to Minetta Tavern, for which Bianchi paid. After a “few dates,” they spent MLK weekend together in Aruba. In other words: three weeks into knowing this young lady, Bianchi flew her out to the Caribbean! Moving fast, much?
Bianchi drones on about how Varvaro demanded hotel upgrades, Bottega bags and Cartier jewelry. He also shares his text exchanges with the Mail, in an attempt to demonstrate how imperious she was in her requests for money and goods. In doing so, however, “Robert B.” perhaps reveals too much. In March, Varvaro sends Bianchi a picture of a sandal. “So cute,” he responds four hours later. Then nothing until the following morning, where he challenges her to a virtual game of 8-Ball pool.
They eventually fall out over – what else – money, when Varvaro wants Bianchi to pay for a $2,000 cellulite treatment and support her financially during the government shutdown. “Hm, I’ve dropped $30-40K on/with you in the three months we’ve dated,” Bianchi texts her. “I told you I am not paying your bills until we are engaged.” To revisit the timeline: “Robert B.” has decided to spend tens of thousands of dollars of his own money on a Hinge date he met three months prior, and is already discussing the possibility of marriage with her. In Cockburn’s cigar lounge, the guys refer to such behavior as “being taken for a sucker.” Bianchi is aggrieved at the prospect of being taken advantage of by someone who’s only interested in his money. The guys call that “living in America.”
The relationship doesn’t last, quelle surprise, and Bianchi works through it by reporting Varvaro to DHS for alleged drug use and reportedly having a profile on the sugar baby site Seeking. Varvaro has since been suspended pending investigation. In the New York Post follow-up that identified Bianchi as a multimillionaire defense contractor, sources tell Jacqueline Sweet that there’s “a lot of false information” in his complaint.
In the complaint, per the Post, Bianchi says that he “did not want a sugar daddy/prostitute relationship.” Isn’t hindsight 20/20?
Cockburn advises that Bianchi spends the next three months dropping “$30-40k” on therapy – and talking to his daughters about what attributes he should be looking for in their new mommy. Or he could blow it at the strip club, if he can remember that the dancers don’t actually love him.
On our radar
SPLC President Trump said on Truth Social that if the SPLC is found guilty of fraud, “the 2020 Presidential Election should be permanently wiped from the books and be of no further force or effect!” (More on the SPLC here.)
WHCD Tonight’s warm-up parties for the White House Correspondents’ Dinner include: the Daily Mail at the British Embassy; Vanity Fair/CAA at the Belgian Embassy; the Renegade Women’s Cocktail Hour and, yes, Grindr. (Read entertainer Oz Pearlman’s preview Diary here.)
FPPO Press secretary Karoline Leavitt is due to give birth to her second child, a girl, next week. In her absence, cabinet officials are expected to brief the press.
Newsletter-on-newsletter violence at WHCD
So it begins. Cockburn rolled into the first of a hundred or so White House Correspondents’ Dinner parties early yesterday evening, just as the local gay bocce league was finishing at a nearby park. The shindig, jointly hosted by C-Span and YouTube, took place in the high-ceilinged halls and expansive gardens of the Meridian International Center. Guests could walk the red carpet as they entered, posing for the gathered photographers. Dangerously, trays of Tequila Sunrise and Moscow Mule-flavored Jell-o shots on fancy white spoons were circulating. Spotted: Representative Nanette Barragán; Syedah Asghar; Juliegrace Brufke; Dylan Byers; Oriana González; Sara Cook; Taylor Lorenz; Michael Petricone; Tom Rogan; Mychael Schnell; Robby Soave; Mica Soellner; Sage Steele, and Al and Anne Weaver.
Down at Fish Shop on the Wharf, Oliver Darcy’s media newsletter Status hosted a kickoff event with Beehiiv, billed as “a gathering of those who truly value a free press.” Beehiiv is sponsoring a couple of events this weekend, angling for a slice of the territory Substack staked out in previous years.
If you wanted to make the case that the sole purpose of the WHCD is for journalists to clap themselves on the back and talk with other journalists about the state of the media, the Status guestlist would be exhibit A: in a room of several hundred people, Cockburn spoke to only one who wasn’t a journalist. Spotted: Jim Acosta; Dasha Burns; David Chalian; Eugene Daniels; Josh Dawsey; Michael Grynbaum; Mehdi Hasan; Zolan Kanno-Youngs; Don Lemon; Ryan Lizza and Caroline Motley; Hugo Lowell; Aidan McLaughlin; Ed O’Keefe; Donie O’Sullivan; Zack Stanton; Maxwell Tani; Kara Voght, and David Weigel.
Tony part of town
Cockburn whet his appetite for the ouroboros of the weekend by tucking into Aidan McLaughlin’s Vanity Fair profile of CBS Evening News anchor Tony Dokoupil. As well as containing some fruity morsels about the network’s new leadership, the piece recounts how Dokoupil defended his “populist” critiques of legacy media by saying he’d be “more accountable and more transparent than Cronkite or anyone else of his era.” Then in the next paragraph: “CBS News declined to make Dokoupil available for an interview.” Delicious.
Your correspondent was also amused by the tone of the response CBS provided Vanity Fair in lieu of an interview. “Tony Dokoupil is an exceptional talent and experienced journalist who continues to build a program designed to reach audiences wherever they consume the news,” the network said. “While Vanity Fair’s unnamed sources continue to peddle old and false rumors, that won’t stop Tony and his team from doing what they do best: reporting the news and telling the truth.” Swap the anchor’s name for that of any under-fire cabinet secretary and that statement reads like it’s straight out of Karoline Leavitt’s comms shop. No notes.
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