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Today's Playbook Power Briefing presented by Better Medicare Alliance

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


REMINDER: The Big 4 meets with Marc Short and John Kelly this afternoon. ... TWO NEW DEMOCRATIC SENATORS SWORN IN TODAY -- DOUG JONES from Alabama and TINA SMITH from Minnesota. IN THE CAPITOL: Three vice presidents: Biden, Mondale and Pence.

GOV'T SHUTDOWN COUNTDOWN: 16 days

Good Wednesday afternoon. THE WOLFF BOOK -- WITH FRIENDS LIKE THESE ... "Trump Tower meeting with Russians 'treasonous', Bannon says in explosive book," by the Guardian's David Smith: "Donald Trump's former chief strategist Steve Bannon has described the Trump Tower meeting between the president's son and a group of Russians during the 2016 election campaign as 'treasonous' and 'unpatriotic', according to an explosive new book seen by the Guardian. Bannon, speaking to author Michael Wolff, warned that the investigation into alleged collusion with the Kremlin will focus on money laundering and predicted: 'They're going to crack Don Junior like an egg on national TV.' ...

"The meeting was revealed by the New York Times in July last year, prompting Trump Jr to say no consequential material was produced. Soon after, Wolff writes, Bannon remarked mockingly: 'The three senior guys in the campaign thought it was a good idea to meet with a foreign government inside Trump Tower in the conference room on the 25th floor - with no lawyers. They didn't have any lawyers. ... Even if you thought that this was not treasonous, or unpatriotic, or bad s***, and I happen to think it's all of that, you should have called the FBI immediately.' ...

"Bannon has criticised Trump's decision to fire Comey. In Wolff's book, obtained by the Guardian ahead of publication from a bookseller in New England, he suggests White House hopes for a quick end to the Mueller investigation are gravely misplaced. 'You realise where this is going,' he is quoted as saying. 'This is all about money laundering. Mueller chose [senior prosecutor Andrew] Weissmann first and he is a money-laundering guy. Their path to f***ing Trump goes right through Paul Manafort, Don Jr and Jared Kushner ... It's as plain as a hair on your face.'" http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=a2f492ba20b0d52e4a7f0040d9dd0983b85bd1a2ae931f385709c5f0569120cae6e5d63a2d5236756b60bef4aee2fffb

-- The Drudge headline: "Bannon Turns" ... HOW WILL TRUMP REACT to Bannon going after his child and son in law?

-- HMM ... ! ... NBC'S PETER ALEXANDER (@PeterAlexander): SIREN: 'Steve Bannon was certain that after the (July 2016 Trump Tower) meeting, Trump, Jr. had taken the participants to see his father,' per excerpts from new Michael Wolff book, 'Fire & Fury.' Trump has claimed he was unaware any meeting with Russians took place." ... (@PeterAlexander): "NEW: Here's the Bannon quote regarding the July 2016 Trump Tower meeting: 'The chance that Don Jr. did not walk these Jumos up to his father's office of the 26th floor is zero,' per "Fire & Fury." (pg. 255)".

MORE FROM WOLFF in NEW YORK MAG -- "Donald Trump Didn't Want to Be President: One year ago: the plan to lose, and the administration's shocked first days": "Shortly after 8 p.m. on Election Night, when the unexpected trend -- Trump might actually win -- seemed confirmed, Don Jr. told a friend that his father, or DJT, as he calls him, looked as if he had seen a ghost. Melania was in tears -- and not of joy. ... There was, in the space of little more than an hour, in Steve Bannon's not unamused observation, a befuddled Trump morphing into a disbelieving Trump and then into a horrified Trump. But still to come was the final transformation: Suddenly, Donald Trump became a man who believed that
he deserved to be, and was wholly capable of being, the president of the United States."

AND DETAILS ON THE FIRST DAYS: "Trump did not enjoy his own inauguration. He was angry that A-level stars had snubbed the event, disgruntled with the accommodations at Blair House, and visibly fighting with his wife, who seemed on the verge of tears. Throughout the day, he wore what some around him had taken to calling his golf face: angry and pissed off, shoulders hunched, arms swinging, brow furled, lips pursed.

"The first senior staffer to enter the White House that day was Bannon. On the inauguration march, he had grabbed 32-year-old Katie Walsh, the newly appointed deputy chief of staff, and together they had peeled off to inspect the now-vacant West Wing. The carpet had been shampooed, but little else had changed. It was a warren of tiny offices in need of paint, the décor something like an admissions office at a public university. Bannon claimed the non­descript office across from the much grander chief of staff's suite and immediately requisitioned the whiteboards on which he intended to chart the first 100 days of the Trump administration. He also began moving furniture out. The
point was to leave no room for anyone to sit. Limit discussion. Limit debate. This was war. Plus more on Rupert Murdoch calling Trump a "f***ing idiot", Bannon's meeting with Roger Ailes, Trump's lunch with Mika and Joe, Ivanka musing running for president, the White House power struggles and more http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=a2f492ba20b0d52ef2c71a8e14fc547ad079070153305e766110a3b9e3f6da640fd627bd41f8c2692cae1c5f37b5fab6

-- Part of the excerpt says Trump questioned who John Boehner was. But Trump has tweeted about Boehner on multiple occasions, and Jake and James Hohmann reported back in 2013 that the pair had golfed together. http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=a2f492ba20b0d52e1995b897244f5c960da7e83c6a4bd87589f2e9a220e8ec3c97f1a46eb80b6684c335fd4349c41ff9 ALSO: Boehner has been in touch with this White House.

TRUMP (KIND OF) TAKES IT A STEP FURTHER ON IRAN ... @realDonaldTrump at 8:37 a.m.: "Such respect for the people of Iran as they try to take back their corrupt government. You will see great support from the United States at the appropriate time!"

-- ANDREW PEEK, the deputy assistant secretary of state for Iraq and Iran, in an interview with The National's Joyce Karam: "[W]e are calling for the rights of the people to be respected. We are not talking about anything else. What we would like to see above all is the regime change its behaviour in a whole lot of ways but in particular towards the protesters." ... Karam: "So we are not talking about regime change [in Iran]?" Peek: "No." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=a2f492ba20b0d52e9e144a39f37788105417b90a2817ae88a6ba7d66039d0e3033a8f75a178ef5c545077a7422144155

****** A message from Better Medicare Alliance: HEALTH CARE POLICY ALERT: We can all agree that high need, high cost patients deserve the best care. And with Medicare Advantage, seniors and people with disabilities are getting the high-value care they need through flexible benefits and specialized care. Learn more: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=a2f492ba20b0d52e4b8abf5fc52f86b09956b10ec14ae40dbf465a96a983679ac730bf428d0fdec9324db4bd27942760 ******

HARASSMENT WATCH -- "How the federal government hides sexual harassment payouts," by Andrew Restuccia, Emily Goldberg and Rebecca Morin: "Despite a 2002 law aimed at improving federal accountability in discrimination cases, the system for tracking sexual harassment payments in the executive branch is almost as opaque and bureaucratic as the one governing Congress, where payouts similarly lack transparency -- a setup that obscures the extent of workplace problems and allows for little oversight of how taxpayer money is spent, according to a POLITICO analysis.

"Requests for information about the broad scope and total cost of sexual harassment settlements from the Treasury Department, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and more than a dozen federal agencies yielded no clear answers. An administration official, who requested anonymity to speak frankly about the process, acknowledged that the figures are difficult to compile because agencies don't track the settlements separately from other harassment claims that touch on everything from an employees' age to religion." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=a2f492ba20b0d52e095db7662336ab5b5f103a295c74e991d96179ee6044e522203431b0387e95d605c731b2e906c4ee

BARACK OBAMA to CHRIS LIDDELL-WESTEFELD in an oral history on the tenth anniversary of his victory in the 2008 Iowa Caucus on Crooked Media: "That's my favorite night of my entire political career. To me, that was a more powerful night than the night I was elected President. ... I thought about my mom at that point, who was very idealistic and I think was the person who was most responsible for giving me a sense of my values and the belief in helping people, and who had passed away over a decade earlier-and thinking about her I started tearing up. And that was the only time I think during the campaign where the full weight of what we were trying to do really affected me that way." With
cameos from Dan Pfeiffer, Josh Earnest, David Plouffe, Jon Favreau, Mitch Stewart, Paul Tewes, Larry Grisolano, Jon Carson and many more Obama alumni http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=a2f492ba20b0d52eb2b29530d06f6f0817aa68b51266b560d9fd9ddc3415dc700c53471301c76fb4de6d2e12221316a0

HEADLINES THE PRESIDENT WILL LIKE -- "Manufacturing in U.S. Accelerates to Cap Best Year Since '04," by Bloomberg's Katia Dmitrieva: "U.S. manufacturing expanded in December at the fastest pace in three months, as gains in orders and production capped the strongest year for factories since 2004, the Institute for Supply Management said Wednesday." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=a2f492ba20b0d52e405c888fa37a8a97f7f2aab20a226db6105d67839d317c508b09cbd6ca9dde42f73d74020a53affe

IN UTAH -- "The Private Prophet: Mormon Church President Thomas Monson Dies At 90," by KUER's Lee Hale: "Thomas S. Monson, president and prophet of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, died Tuesday night at the age of 90. In a statement, church spokesman Eric Hawkins wrote that Monson died at 10:01 pm in his home in Salt Lake City surrounded by family.

"Monson had been at the helm of the 16 million member Mormon church for nearly a decade and will be remembered as as much for his personal ministry as for his aversion to grand pronouncements. He was a traditionalist without a bold agenda whose presence as a church leader faded as he aged. In recent years, he remained quiet as the church grappled with issues like ordaining women and baptizing children of gay couples." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=a2f492ba20b0d52e3c034d86e8ae2cf27b04fe8e0b0008a68d036e682d20a9560b849b2f1ae62b4abb4e1ef45e3d2578

VALLEY TALK -- "Spotify files for its IPO," by Axios' Dan Primack: "Music streaming giant Spotify confidentially filed IPO documents with the SEC at the end of December, Axios has learned from multiple sources. ... All indications are that Spotify wants to list in Q1, and timing of the confidential F-1 filing would support such a calendar. But yesterday came news that the company has been sued for $1.6 billion for copyright infringement. It's unclear how the suit will affect Spotify's direct listing plans, outside of needing to add a new risk factor to the confidential docs." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=a2f492ba20b0d52e7faa72d6587b231129a99288c005e7c077e3e0bc348d141faa1dc1a5841c817e3f12547a4480ba64

MEDIAWATCH -- NYT's Lara Jakes has been named deputy editor in Washington, overseeing foreign policy. She was previously Washington night editor. Memo from Elisabeth Bumiller http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=a2f492ba20b0d52eaffdea33b9fa609c1e1fe4817bc0f4f45f9f6b881010a0fe88260387574edcb326efb4d09b55f651 ... Miranda Green is joining The Hill as an environment and energy reporter. She was previously at CNN. ... Haley Byrd has joined the Weekly Standard to cover Congress. She previously was at IJR.

TRANSITIONS -- Matt Herrick has joined the Rockefeller Foundation as managing director of communications. He was most recently SVP at Story Partners and is a USDA and USAID alum. ... Jon Boughtin has joined NewDemPAC as political director. He was previously at the National Association of Realtors.

ENGAGED -- Chris Carroll, press secretary for Rep. Jim Cooper (D-Tenn.), proposed to Taylor Walker, policy analyst at the American Council of Life Insurers. "Taylor formerly served as campaign manager for Rep. Cooper, and she is an alum of Faegre Baker Daniels. Chris is a former reporter and Washington correspondent for the Chattanooga Times Free Press. On Dec. 27, they were in Tennessee when Chris dropped to one knee ... and Taylor said yes! The couple met at a 2013 Cooper staff happy hour in Nashville." Instapic http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=a2f492ba20b0d52e35268f93358b04c94526932d8bf69f8aca88958b775c1f4854c191dffb735008829b840aebe257c7

WELCOME TO THE WORLD -- BUSH ALUMNI -- Julie (George) Hillson, a Bush-Cheney 2004 campaign and Bush 43 DOD alum, and Matthew Hillson recently welcomed Harper Evelyn Hillson. The couple works at United States Special Operations Command in Tampa, where she works in counterterrorism as a strategist/analyst and he is a senior consultant. Pics http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=a2f492ba20b0d52e09df7f1c0a16c0e6d71ff422df8c898cc29b092ea1d1d504132e08362993491c37f8105d2c3b3738 ... http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=a2f492ba20b0d52e168e9bdd19157964a9be0f9c017788ed472369b8a832481fca0d1a958231afb08a6287c5c374f1c4 ... http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=a2f492ba20b0d52e9c4b628b1d94b19c5a4978ebfa3a150cc177ea3460b5bf7608f3fee7c58e252eeeca56091c6b7115

WEEKEND WEDDING - Sally Slater, VP at Bliss Integrated Communication, a Fleishman-Hillard alum and an author, recently married Brian Aston, prime finance at JP Morgan, in a celebration at The Vineyards at Aquebogue, Long Island. The couple met at their CrossFit gym back in August 2012. Pic by Nathaniel Johnston http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=a2f492ba20b0d52e3b877002b426621ea9643a416e3aaca67ae13ef782e2d72904090b804d717c8c37cc564235aef8c3

****** A message from Better Medicare Alliance: CONGRESS HAS UNFINISHED BUSINESS TO PROTECT MEDICARE ADVANTAGE SENIORS: 19 million seniors and people with disabilities choose Medicare Advantage for one reason: it gives them the flexible, affordable, and robust health care they need. And with health needs in this country becoming more complex, it's clear that innovative, integrated solutions are required.

Better Medicare Alliance urges Congress to act quickly to enhance care for Medicare beneficiaries by approving the CHRONIC Care Act providing enhanced flexibility in supplemental benefit designs for high-cost, high-need beneficiaries and permanently reauthorization of Special Needs Plans (SNPs). And, Congress should vote to delay the Health Insurance Tax (HIT) to protect Medicare Advantage beneficiaries from unaffordable premium hikes.

Enrollment in Medicare Advantage and consumer satisfaction is growing. There is more evidence that Medicare Advantage is improving outcomes and leading efforts to implement innovations in delivery of care. Learn more: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=a2f492ba20b0d52e4b8abf5fc52f86b09956b10ec14ae40dbf465a96a983679ac730bf428d0fdec9324db4bd27942760 ******

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