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Today's Playbook Power Briefing presented by the Embassy of the United Arab Emirates

By ANNA PALMER (anna@politico.com; @apalmerdc), JAKE SHERMAN (sherman@politico.com; @JakeSherman), DANIEL LIPPMAN (daniel@politico.com; @dlippman), ZACH MONTELLARO (zmontellaro@politico.com; @ZachMontellaro)


BREAKING... HOUSE ETHICS OPENS KIHUEN INVESTIGATION: Rep. Ruben Kihuen (D-Nev.) was previously accused of sexual harassment by an aide during his 2016 campaign. He has denied the allegations. Story developing, read more here http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=7afc947964b27fa59a03bf0934e50f14c10874481e859050b7ea48c4596884b5e500bdd9cf92f0b642ea64aa9a580047

Good Friday afternoon. NEWS: SEN. JEFF FLAKE (R-ARIZ.) remains undecided on the tax bill, as he tries to work with the White House and leaders on their plans on DACA.

LIKE WE TOLD YOU THIS MORNING ... Republicans have upped the child tax credit from $1,100 to $1,400 to appease Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), who was pushing for a higher number. He's not said whether this new level is acceptable.

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP spoke to reporters on the South Lawn, before departing for the FBI National Academy ceremony:

-- ON THE FBI: "Well, it's a shame what's happened with the FBI. But we're going to rebuild the FBI. It will be bigger and better than ever."

-- ON WHETHER ROY MOORE SHOULD CONCEDE: "I think he should. He tried. I want to support -- always, I want to support the person running. We need the seat. We'd like to have the seat."

-- ON WHETHER THE SPECIAL COUNSEL IS BIASED: "You'll have to make that determination. We're hoping for a very -- let's put it this way: There is absolutely no collusion. That has been proven. When you look at the committees, whether it's the Senate or the House, everybody -- my worst enemies, they walk out, they say, 'There is no collusion but we'll continue to look.' They're spending millions and millions of dollars. There is absolutely no collusion. I didn't make a phone call to Russia. I have nothing to do with Russia. Everybody knows it. That was a Democrat hoax. It was an excuse for losing the election, and it should have never been this way, where they spent all these millions of
dollars." Darren Samuelsohn with more http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=7afc947964b27fa5decf7eba0d4fbfaf7b3b5921fcaa81a5e0470a001cb2e6acdb42bd83f3be398102cd1e3f9a25ff60

-- THE CALL WITH PUTIN: "It was great. He said very nice things about what I've done for this country in terms of the economy, and then he said also some negative things in terms of what's going on elsewhere."

-- WILL HE PARDON MIKE FLYNN: "I don't want to talk about pardons for Michael Flynn yet. We'll see what happens. Let's see. I can say this: When you look at what's gone on with the FBI and with the Justice Department, people are very, very angry."

NOTE: Michael Flynn has pleaded guilty and is cooperating with the special counsel.

-- @PeterAlexander: "NEW: White House Counsel Ty Cobb tells @NBCNews: 'There is no consideration at all for a pardon for Michael Flynn at this time.'"

TRUMP AT THE FBI CEREMONY, per pooler Goff Earle of The Daily Mail: "He mocked the visa lottery system, mentioning two recent terror attacks in New York. He described the system as if it was a lottery drawing on TV. 'They give us their worst people. They put them in a bin,' he said. 'What kind of a system is that? They come in by lottery,' Trump said."

-- @seungminkim: "This is not true. Visa lottery applicants are vetted by State. Not simply giving America the 'worst people'" Politifact fact check of a similar statement from Sarah Sanders http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=7afc947964b27fa5bc2b13b45b10591ce5de5918ccb105d23502a5ca7d7aa980ace5cb6dba95525219a7b7d579b2b3d9

KANSAS CITY STAR -- LINDSAY WISE and BRYAN LOWRY: "Kansas Dem Andrea Ramsey, accused of sexual harassment, to quit U.S. House race": "Andrea Ramsey, a Democratic candidate for Congress, will drop out of the race after The Kansas City Star asked her about accusations in a 2005 lawsuit that she sexually harassed and retaliated against a male subordinate who said he had rejected her advances.

"Multiple sources with knowledge of the case told The Star that the man reached a settlement with LabOne, the company where Ramsey was executive vice president of human resources. Court documents show that the man, Gary Funkhouser, and LabOne agreed to dismiss the case permanently after mediation in 2006.

"Ramsey, a 56-year-old retired business executive from Leawood, was one of the Democratic candidates vying to challenge Republican Rep. Kevin Yoder in 2018 in Kansas' 3rd District." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=7afc947964b27fa5544b603f2ff2e421cc06bedd43363888363dd1aca1d461910f1ead6b927df43ab7f4741b3fd98ae0

****** A message from the Embassy of the United Arab Emirates: The UAE and the US are partnering to create economic growth and jobs for people in both countries. For eight years in a row, the UAE has been the top market in the Middle East and North Africa for US exports. http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=eafe206ccd46829873835031b960ce73522f7e422321404fbbd20d24bab806875b027950264178f0e251e48e37e7b8c4 ******

ABOUT PENCE'S MIDDLE EASTERN TRIP -- "Despite Trump's Recognition of Jerusalem as Israel's Capital, Pence's Visit to Western Wall Expected to Be 'Private'," by Haaretz's Noa Landau: "U.S. Vice President Mike Pence is expected to visit the Western Wall on Wednesday during his scheduled trip to Israel next week, but the visit is planned as a 'private' one that is not officially part of his trip. Pence's family and the rabbi of the Western Wall will accompany him to Judaism's holiest site, located in Jerusalem's Old City.

"Over the years, most diplomats have avoided making official visits to the Western Wall because most of the international community considers it to be disputed territory not under Israeli sovereignty. The question was whether Trump's recognition of Jerusalem as Israel's capital has changed this and would allow such a visit to be categorized as official." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=7afc947964b27fa568076a67c1fdfd3a4847ab87b3ab0ccc920782e71036e2b8eafc869435fbbfa457b934176abfcf56

RUSSIA WATCH -- "Mueller Sought Emails of Trump Campaign Data Firm," by WSJ's Rebecca Ballhaus: "Special Counsel Robert Mueller has requested that Cambridge Analytica, a data firm that worked for President Donald Trump's campaign, turn over documents as part of its investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. election, according to people familiar with the matter.

"Mr. Mueller asked the firm in the fall to turn over the emails of any Cambridge Analytica employees who worked on the Trump campaign, in a sign that the special counsel is probing the Trump campaign's data operation. The special counsel's request, which the firm complied with, wasn't previously known. The emails had earlier been turned over to the House Intelligence Committee, the people said, adding that both requests were voluntary." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=7afc947964b27fa500ee7402bc662f562516666466f9d32078096b2d225108ad036ca48167f91b53c74da6e41b4aeb0b

-- "Another Russian Hacker Claims He's The One Who Hacked The DNC," by BuzzFeed's Jane Lytvynenko and Kevin Collier: "A Russian hacker issued a stunning confession in a Moscow courtroom earlier this year claiming that he hacked the [DNC] on orders from the FSB, according to a courtroom recording that's been posted on Facebook. But as cybersecurity experts try to parse the supposed confession -- and why it's only coming to light now -- some are casting doubt on the hacker's assertion. The hacker's name is Konstantin Kozlovskiy. He is on trial alongside 50 other people for allegedly creating a virus called 'Lurk' that targeted banking systems and allegedly stole 1.7 billion rubles (USD $28.7
million) from Russian banks." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=7afc947964b27fa539789bc862aa1295c36679f5842462ccf7cb907086e46b3333faefae48d95c877ef61c1e8a635eb5

HMM... -- "The EPA Hired a Major Republican Opposition Research Firm to Track Press Activity," by Mother Jones' Rebecca Leber, Andy Kroll and Russ Choma: "Using taxpayer dollars, the Environmental Protection Agency has hired a cutting-edge Republican PR firm that specializes in digging up opposition research to help Administrator Scott Pruitt's office track and shape press coverage of the agency. According to federal contracting records, earlier this month Pruitt's office inked a no-bid $120,000 contract with Definers Corp., a Virginia-based public relations firm founded by Matt Rhoades, who managed Mitt Romney's 2012 presidential campaign. ... USASpending.gov, a website that tracks federal
spending, shows that in early 2016 the EPA signed a $207,000 contract with a firm called Bulletin Intelligence, requesting similar services." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=7afc947964b27fa56098c1cf9b677e5f8cec3f02bcefa56fd86ca55d0d7d62ca5455b8e94e82737bd7183c300ecc0e21

-- Joe Pounder (@PounderFile), president of Definers Public Affairs: "Biggest takeaway from this story is that @definersdc just saved taxpayers more than $80K on doing press clips..."

P.R. UPDATE -- "Sin Luz: Life Without Power," by WaPo's Arelis R. Hernández, Whitney Leaming and Zoeann Murphy: "Puerto Rico's apagón, or 'super blackout,' is the longest and largest major power outage in modern U.S. history. Without electricity, there is no reliable source of clean water. School is out, indefinitely. Health care is fraught. Small businesses are faltering. The tasks of daily life are both exhausting and dangerous. There is nothing to do but wait, and no one can say when the lights will come back on." Scroll through with headphones on, a lot of videos http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=eafe206ccd4682981b6e77dbafcee5796b2b7a348a71c50d2a10dee959a895b3fe4098950d32084c6730d5ab1ae47042

ON THE HILL -- "House office silently helps members resolve harassment claims," by Maggie Severns and Marianne LeVine: "Members of Congress and government watchdogs are questioning why a little-known House agency used taxpayer funds to investigate a sexual harassment complaint involving Rep. Blake Farenthold's office last year, and then failed to make the results public.

"The Office of House Employment Counsel operates under the auspices of the House clerk's office and advises members on employment practices. It also facilitates investigations into employee complaints, a spokesperson confirmed to POLITICO. But what happens afterward is murky: The office appears to serve House members and their offices -- not necessarily the employees -- and makes no public accounting of its determinations or its expenditures. ...

"The revelation that there is a separate office facilitating and paying for sexual harassment investigations, with little transparency and apparently little oversight, rankled critics of Congress's handling of sexual harassment, who said that without established procedures and a commitment to transparency the office may be playing more of a role covering up offenses than revealing them." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=eafe206ccd468298db01cb34dcfcc4be9c9d9cc278b6f6f3475ae43a2375cdf1256a9c42546cfc346423ada4cfb29575

FIRST IN PLAYBOOK -- 45Committee, the group backed by the Ricketts and Adelson families, is running an ad this Sunday promoting tax reform with a spot called "Kennedy-Reagan" which will air in Washington on CBS' "Face the Nation," NBC's "Meet the Press," ABC's "This Week," CNN's "State of the Union," and "FOX News Sunday." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=eafe206ccd4682981b3b56e2b309a27cdc863ef98ed497a28a5713fae2d39d090f5f8e56d1a5738e4a4e8fac7f88994c

MORE SUNDAY SHOWS -- "Fox News Sunday": Sen.-Elect Doug Jones (D-Ala.) and Secretary of the Treasury Steven Mnuchin ... Panel: Rich Lowry, Juan Williams, Donna edwards, Brian Kilmeade ... Power Player: Lynsey Addario

MEDIAWATCH -- NOLAN MCCASKILL, a breaking news and White House reporter at POLITICO, will join our Congress team and take over the Huddle newsletter early next month. The great HEATHER CAYGLE, the current Huddle author, will cover House Democrats full-time.

-- Bill Moyers is retiring and announced that his site BillMoyers.com will go into "archive mode" on Dec. 20. http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=eafe206ccd468298642269f4aadfeed5a259f6d271599798d6b3d94b0aef08923383c561c680f6e1d03f07fff1ff0451

SPOTTED: Steve Case drinking a Guiness at Martin's Tavern this afternoon, seated in the Bradlee booth with two others ... Bill Kristol this morning at the Loew's Madison hotel's PostScript restaurant

SPOTTED at a Christmas party at the White House last night, where they "served fake champagne-California sparkling wine from Chandon," per an attendee: Ed Cox, Chris Nixon Cox, Bob Paduchik, Dennis Lennox, Susie Hudson, Shawn Steel, Katrina Pierson, Morton Blackwell, Jim Dickie, Bettina Inclan, Jim Dickie, Ronna Romney McDaniel, Kristen Hughes, Kristen Hughes, Wayne LaPierre, Dennis Lennox, Energy Secretary Rick Perry, OMB Director Mick Mulvaney, Don Trump Jr., Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, W.H. Chief of Staff John Kelly, CIA director Mike Pompeo.

TRANSITIONS -- End Citizens United is adding four new staffers: Courtney Corbisiero as digital director, Scott Fay as deputy political and PAC director, Lynn Jorden as research director for ECU's independent expenditure, and Andrew Laskar as national finance director. Jordan Wood, ECU's previous national finance director, is taking over as the organization's political director.

****** A message from the Embassy of the United Arab Emirates: With trade in aviation, high tech, and defense, the UAE delivers a $19 billion trade surplus for the US. These exports support hundreds of thousands of American jobs. They also help the UAE diversify its economy. By working with the US, the UAE has become a center for innovation and opportunity in the Middle East. http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=eafe206ccd46829873835031b960ce73522f7e422321404fbbd20d24bab806875b027950264178f0e251e48e37e7b8c4 ******

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