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(Exclusive.) In what may be viewed as the first big test of new Global EIC Jonathan Greenberger’s leadership, respected legal expert and senior writer at Politico Magazine, Ankush Khardori, has departed the publication following a dispute with Politico's Senior Executive Editor, North America, Alex Burns.

“Alex Burns is incompetent and an egomaniac, and everyone in and around Washington media — including Politico’s owners in Germany — is well aware of this fact,” Khardori told Breaker.  

This dispute between Khardori and Burns is over …

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⁘ As credited in The New York Times, CNBC, Axios, The New York Post, CNN, Bloomberg, The Guardian, and more.

(Exclusive.) In what may be viewed as the first big test of new Global EIC Jonathan Greenberger’s leadership, respected legal expert and senior writer at Politico Magazine, Ankush Khardori, has departed the publication following a dispute with Politico's Senior Executive Editor, North America, Alex Burns.

“Alex Burns is incompetent and an egomaniac, and everyone in and around Washington media — including Politico’s owners in Germany — is well aware of this fact,” Khardori told Breaker.  

This dispute between Khardori and Burns is over coverage of birthright citizenship.

“POLITICO holds all our employees to the highest standards for ethical and professional conduct,” a spokesperson told us about the incident. 

“Multiple legal scholars contacted Alex with specific and concerning information about the conduct of a now-former employee. Alex directed the then-employee to rectify the situation and, in line with company policy, forwarded the information to HR,” the Politico rep told us. 

Khardori claims that the ‘multiple legal scholars’ from Politico’s statement are two of the most widely discredited legal academics in the US. 

“I will not kowtow to people who traffic in the most disgusting elements of American history — literally attempting to rewrite the 14th Amendment based on the words of ex-confederates and racists — and I will not be pushed around on an issue of this significance by Alex Burns or Jonathan Greenberger, who is running the company at the moment only because a widely publicized external search failed to produce a credible candidate who was actually willing to take the job,” he told Breaker.

An impassioned Khadori, a birthright citizen himself, continued on, showing concern for the children that could be rendered stateless if the Trump administration's birthright citizenship order were to be approved.

“This is a difficult time in American politics and society. I have tried to be polite and keep my very deep concerns internal, but Politico has utterly failed the American public over the last year in the coverage guided by Burns and Greenberger, and I had enough.”

But Politico is backing Burns.

“POLITICO appreciates Alex’s swift handling of this situation and his strong leadership of our North American newsroom,” the spokesperson added.

The Breaker podcast is back with a bang for season three. Comedian Adam Friedland sat down with Breaker at the historic James Brown House above The Ear Inn this week (Cheers to the owner Rip Hayman for inviting us down).

From 2016-2022, Friedland co-hosted the comedy podcast Cum Town alongside Nick Mullen and Stavros Halkias. It was a sleeper hit for the trio with a dedicated audience, though Friedland admits he has no idea how popular their podcast was at the time.

“We thought it sucked. We would hit record and then have a timer for an hour. I literally had to work two hours a week. It was the laziest thing of all time,” Friedland told us. “They couldn't write our name in the newspaper. So like, we're like, we had no idea how it was growing.”

With Halkias stepping down to focus on comedy and acting, Friedland and Mullen hit the reset button, launching the spinoff pod The Adam Friedland Show in late 2022. 

Since launching the show, the podcast has featured a who’s who of guests from the cross-section of celebrity, internet, and politics, including Gov. Gavin Newsom, Clavicular, Olivia Nuzzi, and Zohran Mamdani. 

But it was his interview with actor Alec Baldwin that struck Friedland.

“While I was doing the research, I was reading Reddit pages for 30 Rock and stuff, and what became apparent from like social media and stuff, is that like, this guy did not premeditatedly kill anyone. Like an accident happened.” 

Friedland is referring to an accidental shooting death on the set of the film Rust in 2021. 

“Then it dawned on me while I've been prepping. I was like, this is a real thing that happened in the real world. And a real human being is gonna have to live with that the rest of their life. You know that gun fired, and then a person died.” 

Friedland also tells us whether Vox (where he previously worked) should sell its podcast network and what the Ellisons should buy next. 

Catch more in this week's episode of The Breaker Pod. Make sure you check us out and subscribe on YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your pods.

(Exclusive.) Puck's ace media reporter Dylan Byers spent last week in the San Juan Islands, just off the coast of Washington state. How do we know this? Byers told us in his In The Room newsletter. 

"Greetings from the San Juan Islands, where life is analog, and we keep time by the ship traffic," Byers wrote last Tuesday. The San Juan Islands that skirt the US and Canadian border are best known for whale watching and kayaking. It must be nice! At The Breaker bureau, the grind continues, but back in 2021, when Jon Kelly was trying to entice Breaker to join Puck, maybe we should have said yes. Then we too could vacation on the San Juan Islands, admiring the maritime traffic. 

Maybe it was there that Byers was busy on his latest project. Breaker has learned that the former CNN, Politico, and NBC journalist has been…

The rest of this newsletter is for paid subscribers.

⁘ Unlock full access to our twice-weekly newsletter and archive.

⁘ As credited in The New York Times, CNBC, Axios, The New York Post, CNN, Bloomberg, The Guardian, and more.

(Exclusive.) Puck's ace media reporter Dylan Byers spent last week in the San Juan Islands, just off the coast of Washington state. How do we know this? Byers told us in his In The Room newsletter. 

"Greetings from the San Juan Islands, where life is analog, and we keep time by the ship traffic," Byers wrote last Tuesday. The San Juan Islands that skirt the US and Canadian border are best known for whale watching and kayaking. It must be nice! At The Breaker bureau, the grind continues, but back in 2021, when Jon Kelly was trying to entice Breaker to join Puck, maybe we should have said yes. Then we too could vacation on the San Juan Islands, admiring the maritime traffic. 

Maybe it was there that Byers was busy on his latest project. Breaker has learned that the former CNN, Politico, and NBC journalist has been shopping a book with his agent at UTA Pilar Queen. Queen is married to New York Times Journalist Andrew Ross Sorkin, who was honored last month with a First Amendment award from – you guessed it – Puck.  

So, what type of book does an ace media reporter write? Maybe one on Netflix? (As Breaker first reported on Tuesday, Bloomberg's Lucas Shaw has beaten him to it by selling a book to Penguin Random House). 

How about CNN or WBD owner David Zaslav? Surely he could lean on his colleague Bill Cohan for an assist - after all, it's Cohan's son who works in the marketing department at HBO Max. 

No. The book Byers is shopping is tentatively titled "FANATIC: How Affinity Becomes Identity," which "examines the progression from fan to fanatic, tracing the precise moment when admiration evolves into identity,” according to the proposal reviewed by Breaker. 

We can see this one flying off the shelves quicker than you can ask McNally Jackson directions to their non-existent media books section. There really is No Juan like Byers (who did not respond to a request for comment).