This combination photo shows actress Viola Davis at the Glamour Women of the Year Awards in New York on Nov. 12, 2018, left, and former first lady Michelle Obama on NBC's "Today" show in New York on Oct. 11, 2018. Davis is set to portray Obama in a Showtime series about America's first ladies. Davis also is an executive producer on the project, which is still in development. (Photos by Evan Agostini, left, and Charles Sykes/Invision/AP)
LOS ANGELES (AP) --
Viola Davis is set to portray Michelle Obama in a Showtime series under development about America's first ladies.
Davis also is an executive producer on the project, which Showtime said Monday will "peel back the curtain" on the lives of presidential spouses.
The first season will focus on Eleanor Roosevelt, Betty Ford and Obama.
Showtime said it's committed to three scripts for the proposed series. There is no air date since the series has yet to be ordered.
Former President Barack Obama and his wife launched their own production company in 2018, and have announced deals with Netflix and Spotify.
President Donald Trump speaks at the Governors Working Session in the State Dining Room of the White House in Washington, Friday, Feb. 21, 2025. (Pool via AP)
The Associated Press sued three Trump administration officials Friday over access to presidential events, citing freedom of speech in asking a federal judge to stop the 10-day blocking of its journalists.
The lawsuit was filed Friday afternoon in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C.
The AP says its case is about an unconstitutional effort by the White House to control speech — in this case refusing to change its style from the Gulf of Mexico to the "Gulf of America," as President Donald Trump did last month with an executive order.
"The press and all people in the United States have the right to choose their own words and not be retaliated against by the government," the AP said in its lawsuit, which names White House Chief of Staff Susan Wiles, Deputy Chief of Staff Taylor Budowich and Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt.
"This targeted attack on the AP's editorial independence and ability to gather and report the news strikes at the very core of the First Amendment," the news agency said. "This court should remedy it immediately."
In stopping the AP from attending press events at the White House and Mar-a-Lago, or flying on Air Force One in the agency's customary spot, the Trump team directly cited the AP's decision not to fully follow the president's renaming.
"We're going to keep them out until such time as they agree that it's the Gulf of America," Trump said Tuesday.
This week, about 40 news organizations signed onto a letter organized by the White House Correspondents Association, urging the White House to reverse its policy against the AP.
