Lazarus Lethière, O’Donnell Shockwaves, Bankers for Harris

Welcome back to The Daily Courant, your afternoon memo containing Puck’s best new reporting.

First up today, Dylan Byers digs into the revived Will Lewis-related tremors at the Washington Post—a drama temporarily obscured by the whirlwind political news of the past month. What to make of the recent Times report implicitly questioning his ability to stand up the mission-critical “third newsroom”?

Plus, below the fold: John Heilemann reveals the three most pressing tasks on the Harris campaign’s punch list. William D. Cohan hears from Charles Phillips about Harris’s galvanized Wall Street allies. Marion Maneker chronicles a major museum effort to resurrect a forgotten art world icon. And on The Powers That Be, Jon Kelly joins Peter Hamby to unpack what Norah O’Donnell’s anchor chair abdication really means for the industry, before weighing in on the press pool’s Kamala Harris gripes.

DYLAN BYERS

Having survived a multifront newsroom fracas, Will Lewis endured another couple of love taps this week about his ongoing credibility challenges—one from Folkenflik, another from the Times. Now he faces an even thornier question: With the worst presumably behind him, how will he lead The Washington Post into the future?

JOHN HEILEMANN

With the Democratic convention two weeks out and the Labor Day kickoff of the fall campaign looming, Kamala Harris and her people have a jillion big decisions and tasks to tackle in no time flat. But three items on their punch list matter most of all: map, message, and running mate.

WILLIAM D. COHAN

Charles Phillips, the former Morgan banker and Oracle co-president and Shari whisperer, is one of Kamala Harris’s oldest allies from the finance and tech world. We chatted about her evolution as a candidate, a fundraiser, and more.

MARION MANEKER

Born in Guadeloupe to a sugar plantation owner and a freedwoman, Guillaume Lethière rose to become the head of the French Academy in Rome, but is now almost entirely forgotten. The Clark Institute and the Louvre are mounting an eye-opening revival.