Welcome back to The Daily Courant, your afternoon assortment of Puck’s best new reporting. First up today, Bill Cohan gets his hands on Saks’s now-infamous $2.2 billion bond prospectus. As Wall Streeters wonder whether Richard Baker’s fraught department store roll-up can make its first interest payment next month, the head-spinning math in the 400-plus-page document offers cold comfort for Saks Global optimists… Plus, below the fold: Dylan Byers examines the financial motives driving Shari Redstone to settle Trump’s CBS News lawsuit. Leigh Ann Caldwell chronicles Speaker Mike Johnson’s Sisyphean battle to pass the president’s “big, beautiful bill.” Marion Maneker marvels at George Lucas’s quixotic quest to erect a museum of narrative art in Los Angeles, before previewing the must-see gallery shows going down uptown. And Sarah Shapiro considers how outlet malls are reshaping modern fashion retail strategy. Meanwhile, on the pods: John Heilemann and Anthony “The Mooch” Scaramucci reflect on the knives-out sycophancy that defines membership in Trump’s cabinet. And on The Powers That Be, Peter Hamby and Jon Kelly chew over the transformation of HBO in the Zaslav era, and discuss whether Peacock’s NBA gamble will pay off.

WALL STREET

Since Saks acquired Neiman Marcus Group for $2.7 billion, Wall Street has been trying to figure out why the deal got done in the first place. A deep dive into the 400-page bond prospectus reveals some very creative accounting, including my new fave: “Pro Forma Run-Rate Adjusted EBITDA.” Read Now

MEDIA

Facing a Trump lawsuit, massive debts, and a $400 million kill fee if the Skydance sale falls through, Redstone has privately discussed settling with the president for as much as $20 million. In fact, according to sources close to the company, she’ll likely have to pay much more. “Shari has to make this deal,” said one source close to the principals. “There is no plan B.” Read Now

WASHINGTON

One hundred days into Trump’s term, the speaker faces his greatest test yet: passing the president’s “big, beautiful bill” through a fractured and mutinous conference. “Rarely have the stakes been higher; rarely have the margins been narrower,” said one of his closest confidants. “And rarely has the difference of opinion of where we need to go in the House been starker.” Read Now

ART

For more than 15 years, George Lucas has been quietly building a museum of narrative art, whatever that is. What the museum seems to lack in cohesion and transparency, it makes up for in ego, with its founder’s ultimate mission being to put his movies on par with other art-historical masterpieces. Read Now

ART

As the May gallery season gets into full swing, Marion tours a few recent openings on the Upper East Side—and shares the best of what he saw, including works by Basquiat, Picasso, Franz Kline, Ilana Savdie, Miquel Barceló, and more. Read Now

FASHION

In a sign of the times (and the changing outlet mall model), many brands have started to manufacture clothes specifically for outlets. The result: a third model, in which retailers are opening full-price locations in outlet settings, banking on foot traffic and shoppers seeking real-world experiences. Read Now

WASHINGTON

John is joined by hedge fund manager Anthony Scaramucci to discuss the first White House personnel shake-up of Donald Trump’s second term and the culture of sycophancy in his cabinet. Scaramucci offers his take on why Mike Waltz lost his job as national security advisor, Marco Rubio was chosen as his replacement, and Trump, contrary to his reality TV persona, is actually terrible at firing people. Listen Now

MEDIA

Jon Kelly reunites with Peter to dig into HBO’s Zaslav era and break down its pivot away from the “everything for everybody” strategy as it navigates the streaming landscape in Netflix’s shadow. Then the duo discuss whether Peacock’s $27 billion gamble on the NBA will pay off. Listen Now

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