Morning! While you were sleeping (or staying up to binge-watch Friends for the tenth time, or pulling an all-nighter in the library), a few things went down that you’ll probably want to know about. So grab a cup of coffee, settle in, and get scrolling.
Rumor Has It
Taylor Swift is set to reveal a MAJOR Easter egg today and we need to calm down!
The pop singer took to Instagram on Monday to tease an announcement, sharing a clip from her music video for her latest single “You Need to Calm Down,” Billboard reports. In the clip, you can see an arrow hitting a target with the number five in the middle of it.
“I have some stuff I’m reeeeeally excited to tell you about, including some info on this Easter egg right here,” Swift wrote on Instagram, announcing a live stream, set to take place at 5:00 p.m. EST today, July 23.
So, what does this mysterious number five mean?
You might remember that in the video, Hayley Kiyoko was the one to fire the arrow at the target. Could Kiyoko possibly have something to do with the announcement?
Swift is set to release her upcoming album, “Lover,” on August 23, which is exactly one month from today. Does this mean a Swift-Kiyoko collaboration on the way? Plus, the target had a number five on it, which could mean that this potential collaboration is the fifth track on “Lover.”
Kiyoko recently talked with E! News’ Justin Sylvester about being a part of Swift’s video for “You Need to Calm Down” — which stands up for LGBTQ rights — saying that it “was so much fun” to work on the video.
“To have so many incredible people in the community in that three minutes and thirty seconds, or however long it is, was so powerful,” she shared.. “Taylor’s been a huge ally to me, just as a friend and as a musician, and it’s really cool that she just did that on her own.”
News You Can Eat
Listen up, “Beverly Hills, 90210” fans! Now is your chance to visit one of the hottest hangouts of the ‘90s, because the Peach Pit is opening up as a pop-up in Los Angeles!
To celebrate the highly anticipated August 7 premiere of “BH90210,” Fox and Popsugar have teamed up to revive the famous Peach Pit for a few night’s of ‘90s nostalgia. The diner, which was the center of a lot of drama among the California teenagers, will pop up in Los Angeles at 7507 Melrose Avenue in Los Angeles from August 1-3, PEOPLE reports.
Tori Spelling and Jennie Garth announced the news in a video, which also featured clips of the gang at the diner in the series reboot.
“You and your friends are invited to come and hang out at our favorite hangout and have some diner food, some ’90s nostalgia and some fun photo ops,” says Garth.
“Don’t miss out on this limited-time experience,” Spelling added.
The restaurant, which is taking reservations, has lunch and after-dark options.
The lunch hours on August 2 and August 3 will include complimentary classic diner fare, while the after-dark option from 7 to 10 p.m. will feature “cocktails after curfew” which includes two complimentary beverages during a reservation.
According to ABC News, reservations for the pop-up diner are currently sold out, but walk-ins are welcome. If you are interested in attending the Peach Pit pop-up, you’re encouraged to check back because “reservations may become available.”
#BHPeachPit reservations might be sold out, but you can still join us — walk-ins are welcome! ??? #BH90210 pic.twitter.com/rvEgA1FWQh
— BH90210 (@BH90210) July 19, 2019
In the “BH90210” reboot, Spelling, Garth, and their cast mates Brian Austin Green, Ian Ziering, Shannen Doherty, Jason Priestley and Gabrielle Carteris will reunite to play “heightened versions of themselves in a brand-new serialized drama – with a healthy dose of irreverence – that is inspired by their real lives and relationships,” according to Fox.
“BH90210” premieres Wednesday, August 7 on Fox.
Then This Happened
Three months after the special counsel’s team released a redacted report on its Russia investigation, former special counsel Robert Mueller is set to testify before Congress on Wednesday.
For his hearings before the House Judiciary Committee and the House Intelligence Committee, Mueller has prepared an opening statement that the Justice Department has not seen, a spokesperson for Mueller told NBC News on Monday.
According to CNN, Mueller has been preparing for the hearings with a team from the special counsel’s office at a Washington D.C. law firm.
Mueller will testify about the findings of his report, which was released in April and detailed how Russia interfered with the 2016 presidential election as well as President Donald Trump’s possible obstruction of justice.
The report outlined several contacts between Russia and the Trump campaign, however, there wasn’t sufficient evidence to establish charges of criminal conspiracy against the Trump campaign, HuffPost reports.
The former special counsel’s report did, however, detail 10 instances in which Trump may have tried to obstruct justice, but it stopped short of charging him with the crime. Mueller had based that decision on a Justice Department memo that forbids prosecuting a sitting president. Attorney General William Barr and then-Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein chose not to charge Trump with obstruction.
In his first public statement following the completion of the report, Mueller said the report did not exonerate Trump, and that “it’s important the office’s written work speaks for itself.”
Mueller has repeatedly stated that if he was forced to testify, he would not stray far from what he had written in the report.
The Justice Department told Mueller in a letter on Monday to limit his testimony before Congress to his report on the Russia probe, arguing that issues within the probe’s scope “were covered by executive privilege, including information protected by law enforcement, deliberative process, attorney work product, and presidential communications privileges,” Reuters reports.
DOJ warns Mueller that his testimony “must remain within the boundaries” of his public report and anything beyond that would be covered by executive privilege. It states view that DOJ believes Mueller’s testimony is “unnecessary” pic.twitter.com/ldxkqcn9oG
— Manu Raju (@mkraju) July 22, 2019
The former special counsel was originally scheduled to testify earlier this month after lawmakers subpoenaed him to appear before Congress. Mueller will testify for three hours before the House Judiciary Committee at 8:30 a.m. EST, and then will testify before the House Intelligence Committee at noon EST.
While Democrats believe that the testimony likely won’t provide any new evidence, they do hope that Mueller’s testimony will reach a wider audience than his report did. Democrats also argued that the former special counsel’s testimony is important since the White House continues to prevent from testifying before Congress about incidents detailed in the report, HuffPost reports.
Happy Thoughts
Happy National Vanilla Ice Cream Day!