In March 2013, it was announced that Stewart would be taking a 12-week hiatus from "The Daily Show" to direct the film "Rosewater", which is based on the book "Then They Came for Me" by Maziar Bahari. Beginning June 10, 2013, "The Daily Show" correspondent John Oliver assumed primary hosting duties during Stewart's break. The "TV Guide" annual survey for 2013 star salaries showed that Stewart was the highest-paid late night host, making an estimated $25–30 million per year. On July 14, 2014, Stewart interviewed Hillary Clinton about the Middle East. Clinton's condemnations of Hamas led Stewart to ask her: "But don't you think they would look at that though as, they've given a lot of different things a chance and these are the only guys to them that are giving any resistance to what their condition is?" For Gazans living in that situation, he said Hamas could be viewed as "freedom fighters". During a taping of the show on February 10, 2015, Stewart announced he was leaving "The Daily Show". Comedy Central president Michele Ganeless confirmed Stewart's retirement with a statement. Later, it was announced that South African comedian Trevor Noah would succeed Stewart as the host of the show. On April 20, 2015, Stewart indicated that his final show would be on August 6, 2015. On July 28, 2015, Darren Samuelsohn of "Politico" reported that twice, Stewart had been at the White House for previously unreported meetings with President Obama: once in October 2011 and once in February 2014. Michael D. Shear of "The New York Times" also picked up on the story. Stewart responded on his show by pointing out that the meetings were listed in the president's publicly available visitor log and that he has been asked to meet privately by many prominent individuals, including Roger Ailes of Fox News. He said Obama encouraged him not to make young Americans cynical about their government and Stewart said that his reply was that he was "skeptically idealistic". On June 19, 2015, due to the horrific events of the Charleston Church Shooting, Stewart decided not to write jokes for the opening monologue. Elaborating on his decision Stewart stated, "I honestly have nothing other than just sadness". Stewart spoke about the racial disparity and injustices in America saying “The Confederate flag flies over South Carolina...and the roads are named for Confederate generals" describing it as "racial wallpaper" Instead he designated a large portion of the show to his guest that night Malala Yousafzai, calling her “an incredible inspiration,” and that “to be quite honest with you, I don’t think there’s anyone else in the world I would rather talk to tonight than Malala.