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07/23/2018 07:56 AM EDT


By Nolan D. McCaskill (nmccaskill@politico.com or @NolanDMcCaskill)

RANDSTANDING? -- Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) insists he's undecided on yet another key vote: Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh's confirmation. "Paul is again inviting fellow senators to play the will-he-or-won't-he guessing game when it comes to his decision -- expressing grave concerns about Kavanaugh's approach to personal privacy while insisting his vote could go either way, depending on what the judge says in the coming weeks and months," Burgess reports. With Sen. John McCain's (R-Ariz.) absence, Paul could tank Kavanaugh's confirmation -- if every Democrat opposed Kavanaugh. But Republican senators and strategists are skeptical Paul would go against the president by opposing his
nominee for the high court.

Still, the libertarian has been more critical than Sens. Susan Collins (R-Maine) and Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), two more potential swing votes. "If Paul's concerns about a high-profile Senate issue sound familiar, they should," Burgess adds. "He has a long record of becoming the center of attention in the Senate as the GOP's contrarian: He shut down the government briefly once this year, threatened another shutdown, fought Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell on the PATRIOT Act in 2015 and famously filibustered former CIA Director John Brennan for 13 almost hours in 2013." He also came out against secretary of state nominee Mike Pompeo and CIA director nominee Gina Haspel. He ultimately
voted for Pompeo but against Haspel. More: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=5f6f1ff731a42921145f785dc033dd95fe3a7f044c0c94222fc67c27df2374dd555c9f9413e8827a0ba8b4d4a713b2ab

Related: "Kavanaugh inches closer to confirmation hearing with new filing," by Elana: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=e45c21e9bbb18824e07dc102c72a64a3d32169d3301650815c94c5fefcbaaae9b6f28c95304701082a3b1914176e3d67 "'Brett was involved': Inside Supreme Court nominee's work for Bill Clinton probe," from Josh Gerstein: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=e45c21e9bbb18824cf15c7d593b199b957595cd713ca7337f751b2551ee58f1118433174206fbba886a2e20a0fbd3c33 and "Kavanaugh: Watergate tapes decision may have been wrong" via The Associated Press' Mark Sherman: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=17c13840e74950dca721603db9c913205b80d58264e7feb413b8672953f22edda27a583ec8f69f9e34fa82d2dc8e9690

NEW WEEK, SAME TOPIC: RUSSIA -- This time last week, President Donald Trump was meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin. And after a week of provocative statements and walk-backs, the president is still talking about Russia, meaning congressional Republicans will have to endure another week of reporters' Russia-related questions before lawmakers, at least in the House, head home for August recess. Republicans have played competing roles on Russia throughout the Trump presidency. "Some have pressed to impose sanctions on Russia and quietly pursue investigations, but they have been outshouted by Republicans who have obfuscated and undercut efforts to uncover the Kremlin's plot," The New
York Times' Nicholas Fandos and Sheryl Gay Stolberg report.

"The Republicans' split-screen response was underscored with this weekend's release of highly classified documents underlying the F.B.I.'s requests to eavesdrop on a former Trump campaign adviser, Carter Page, who the bureau believed was a Russian agent," they write. Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) discredited the president's claim that his campaign was "illegally" spied on, but the president's GOP allies in the House argued "the documents contained revelations damaging to the F.B.I." Secretary of State Mike Pompeo will also face questions Wednesday before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on the president's meetings with Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un,
likely generating more headlines and drawing out news coverage. Much more: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=17c13840e74950dce8f45883d4db72b305768a3c963be9c7e9127168f3bcb8289a18bd48903ebf6d5d114a462fe41127

Related read: "Dems plan longshot gambit to force action on Mueller protection bill," by Kyle: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=17c13840e74950dc10dc1b75c1681348d71d590315d242ec13e72512427a718b58eb00b9a7d65a213594acc54b317451

THE TRUMP EFFECT ON MIDTERMS -- For some Republicans, avoiding the Russia topic outside the halls of Congress isn't any easier. Rep. Andy Barr (R-Ky.) wants to focus on local issues, tax cuts and the prospect of a Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) to win reelection. "But President Trump keeps happening, and then everything gets more complicated," The Washington Post's Michael Scherer and Josh Dawsey report. "It has been a common pattern this summer for House Republican candidates around the country: Trump sparks local and national controversies around issues of trade, immigration and foreign policy that throw many of the most vulnerable House incumbents for a loop."

Some Republicans, however, are more fortunate than others. "The impact hits unevenly," they explain. "While members of Congress in safely Republican districts are free to always side with Trump, those serving in more moderate districts have repeatedly found themselves squeezed between their need to court Trump supporters and the friction his actions have prompted in their districts. Their fallback is often silence." Barr's opponent, Democrat Amy McGrath, seized on his silence following the Trump-Putin summit, asking via Twitter, "When will Republicans in Congress put the country before their political party and flat out condemn these actions?" Much more:
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=17c13840e74950dc13fc203467079b84f13789462e9a619caa07f7614dbbecd9872de56d60c555bbed4ebf6c41d5f90e

Related: "Trump's new midterm threat: A trade war smacking voters," from Megan Cassella: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=17c13840e74950dc7fe45d0e0819728fe481a69eb18a77ce58f6f4c693709b3a80cd4b2002114c26371f5ef9220d7f05

GOOD MORNING! Thanks for reading Huddle, the play-by-play guide to all things Capitol Hill, on this Monday, July 23.

FRIDAY'S MOST CLICKED: Elana and Burgess' report on Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell's (R-Ky.) Supreme Court ultimatum was the winner.

LEE VS SANCHEZ, AGAIN -- Rep. Barbara Lee (D-Calif.) will announce her bid for House Democratic Caucus chair today in a letter to colleagues, setting up a rematch against Rep. Linda Sánchez (D-Calif.), who beat Lee for the vice chair position in 2016 by just two votes. "The strength of our caucus lies in our diversity of experiences and ideas,'' Lee says in the letter obtained by California Playbooker Carla Marinucci. "Whether it's working across the aisle to enact HIV/AIDS laws, or bringing the [Bernie] Sanders and [Hillary] Clinton campaigns together behind a cohesive and progressive Democratic platform, my career has been dedicated to finding common ground and delivering results."

Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.) says she will actively campaign for Lee, "a real doer" who is "absolutely the best choice." Lee was also name-checked by Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who stunned Rep. Joe Crowley (D-N.Y.), the current caucus chairman, in a primary last month, and Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) has said he would work to win Lee the backing of the entire 78-member Congressional Progressive Caucus. "It's about time that an African-American woman is in leadership and I can't think of a better person than Barbara Lee," Khanna said. "I mean, she has really become an icon in Congress." More: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=17c13840e74950dc607ac1c3e61892e88b086c8d2e3e11996954837fcc82569c9da0a3dfc2ab205fd4f877d5a5a95ba5

HOYER TO UNVEIL HOUSE DEMS' ECONOMIC AGENDA -- House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) has embarked on a listening tour over the past year hearing from business owners, workers, economic leaders and students. This morning, he'll share what he's heard and how Democrats can bolster the economy. His remarks will focus on entrepreneurship, education and infrastructure, including "portable benefits" that help people transition between jobs, "stackable credentials" that provide pathways for students to gain new, transferable skills and receive training outside of their college degree programs, broadening the use of Pell grants and expanding access to high-speed internet.

"Some of the ideas Hoyer will mention are ones that Democrats leading the committees of jurisdiction have already been working on; others they will be looking to refine in the coming months," Roll Call's Lindsey McPherson reports. "The goal is ultimately to develop a package of bills focused on the three areas of the 'Make It In America' agenda ... that Democrats can introduce and hopefully bring to the floor next year." More: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=17c13840e74950dc39c511ed6437481c897ce2d06c549f815204175dee07678b5125f715ddd6d365c36811d772f5ff55

Key excerpt: "[W]hen you go out to the heartland and talk to workers and employers, to innovators and entrepreneurs, it's clear that many people are underemployed and that our economy continues to face serious long-term challenges. That's why I launched the Make It In America Listening Tour last autumn... Throughout the Listening Tour, what we heard from the people we met was essentially the same: Congress needs to be a partner in enabling our people to get ahead. We heard a lot about challenges. But we also came back to Washington with new ideas that come straight from the front lines of our economy."

GOWDY'S ADVICE TO TRUMP ADVISERS -- House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Trey Gowdy (R-S.C.) challenged the president's rhetoric on Russia in an interview Sunday and suggested the president's advisers resign if he rejects their input. "It can be proven beyond any evidentiary burden that Russia is not our friend and they tried to attack us in 2016," Gowdy told "Fox News Sunday." "So the president either needs to rely on the people that he has chosen to advise him, or those advisers need to reevaluate whether or not they can serve in this administration. But the disconnect cannot continue."

Republicans rebuked Trump last week after he seemingly accepted Russian President Vladimir Putin's denial on interfering in the 2016 election over his own intelligence community during a joint news conference in Helsinki, Finland, after a one-on-one meeting. Following a series of inflammatory comments and positions on Russia -- and subsequent walk-backs -- Trump went back to square one, calling Russian meddling "a big hoax" Sunday night. Despite the uproar over Trump's coziness to Putin, the White House has extended an invitation for Putin to visit Washington, D.C., this fall. More: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=17c13840e74950dc8d9656afef17c9d26c6083ba93318a88ee3c17536a90afeceb4bb89b81d6cab09f98436929bc5e1e

Related read: U.S. ambassador to Russia Jon Huntsman's Salt Lake Tribune op-ed on why he's not resigning: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=98eaca0e9921b143da935add30497f56dd31d3ec3a3f7cff47dbcdb6cda7b3b096dbaa6bd88da1bf5664a0a16ce9bf38

ELIZABETH WARREN, LEADER OF THE PERSISTENCE? -- With no clear favorite to challenge Trump in 2020, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) has emerged in recent weeks as the de facto leader of the Democratic Party and the candidate of the moment, Rebecca Traister reports for New York Magazine. "She has the progressive vision and drive, the willingness to go tweet-to-tweet with the president, and that boundless stamina," Traister writes. "Perhaps it was hard in the wake of 2016 to imagine pinning Democratic hopes on another woman. But sometimes you need a crisis (or five) to see the obvious, and this summer's cascade of them has brought Warren's role into sharper relief." NY Mag's profile of the
Massachusetts senator and potential 2020 hopeful: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=98eaca0e9921b143cc715efe75725e7b321c0920c246bdb0e9edf8e0fd9a3ae0af6fff5adde537096f9d39121d8b531d

Related: "Inside the mission to blow up the 2020 Democratic field," by Christopher Cadelago: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=98eaca0e9921b1430bb8a2137844c62cf30041295ab9d6db4cf7c54d3b09757f50d825e0660200cb15fafa9ea818716e

GOP SOFTENS ZTE BAN -- Republicans are watering down legislation to punish Chinese telecom company ZTE, with NDAA conferees choosing to include the House's softer language on ZTE over the Senate's. The House version excludes ZTE from U.S. government contracts but allows it to do business with private companies in the U.S., while the Senate's language would have restored a full ban on ZTE that the administration imposed but later lifted. Democratic leaders panned the move, with Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) accusing the president and Republicans of "once again" making Chinese President Xi Jinping and his government "the big winners and the American worker and our national
security the big losers." Much more from John Hendel: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=98eaca0e9921b14384aa92849be8afd214d322a147510cccad78627dc367ea35f4f1bc6c6b0dd74acb5eecc4fddd6bb6

TRANSITIONS -- Brittni Palke has left as press secretary for the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee. She plans to head back to her home state of Minnesota.

Zach Lilly, a legislative aide who worked on education, telecom, labor, science and tech for Rep. Dave Reichert (R-Wash.), is leaving the Hill on Friday. He is going to the University of Chicago to get an M.A. in the social sciences and will be focusing on political theory.

TODAY IN CONGRESS -- The House gavels in at 12 p.m. with votes postponed until 6:30 p.m. Today's agenda: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=98eaca0e9921b143f3b7e96aafb338d2b5979d72d10451308eb9bd432f7a2a8ec4ef795a960aae813166bc81e5b49d0e The Senate meets at 3 p.m. to resume consideration of VA secretary nominee Robert Wilkie. At 5:30 p.m., the chamber will vote on Wilkie's nomination.

FRIDAY'S TRIVIA WINNER -- Andrew Bostjancic was first to correctly guess that Benjamin Harrison was the first sitting president to attend a professional baseball game. He attended two MLB games while in office.

TODAY'S TRIVIA -- From Andrew: Who has the highest U.S. military rank of all time and in which Congress was this achievement reached? The first person to correctly guess gets a mention in the next edition of Huddle. Send your best guess my way: nmccaskill@politico.com.

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