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Today's POLITICO Playbook presented by Charter Communications

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

Listen to today's Audio Briefing | Subscribe on Apple Podcasts | Visit the online home of Playbook
Driving the Day
Good Thursday morning. FRONT PAGES THAT TRUMP WILL LIKE ... NYT,banner headline: "G.O.P. EXULTS AS CONGRESS DELIVERS TAX BILL ...Gamble by Trump on Expansion Defies Odds ... Savoring a Major Win in a Year of Setbacks" http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=6ca8adcbc962683a8dc039fb4c432931f7485d9978384d5837f82668b7af0ad3cd410114059b700467154a3615325175 ... WAPO, banner: "Sweeping tax overhaul clears Congress" http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=6ca8adcbc962683a527ea594ca70d181ed64409e41a33c7b7555be4c15a0233e27129546904609e08b27798540bc03c0

THE NEXT PROBLEM ... GOV'T FUNDING ... BREAKING OVERNIGHT -- RACHAEL BADE and JOHN BRESNAHAN: "Speaker Paul Ryan and his top lieutenants plan to bring a short-term government funding bill to the House floor on Thursday despite internal resistance - in the hopes of averting a shutdown and then leaving town for the holidays.

"GOP leaders are betting that their conference doesn't want to trample on their tax victory by shuttering federal agencies. They plan to call up the bill, along with a separate $81 billion disaster package for hurricane relief. If the House passes the funding patch Thursday, the Senate will move on it as quickly as possible, GOP aides said.

"With House Democrats united against a short-term spending plan that doesn't include their top priorities, Ryan is being forced to rely on his divided conference to carry the bill over the finish-line. GOP defense hawks and conservatives alike spent Wednesday criticizing Ryan's current plan. But Republican leaders think they can garner the needed 217 votes nonetheless. ...

"The $81 billion relief package has run into problems in the Senate, however - and may get pushed into next year's calendar. That, however, would infuriate Texas and Florida lawmakers who have vowed not to leave town for the holidays until they get the disaster funding approved." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=6ca8adcbc962683aa89a6a4e6058285cc491f4f63d36db3e3a4a323a8fe35b15338b7b032aa65943e04b0de2222c3533

OK, LET'S UNPACK THIS A BIT -- The $81-billion disaster relief supplemental spending bill is already becoming a problem for Republicans for several reasons. GOP leaders are in a tough spot: conservatives don't love it and House Democrats are in no mood to give the majority a hand. Yet Floridians and Texans need this bill in order to consider supporting the stopgap government-funding measure. It's likely that the GOP will need House Democratic votes to get the disaster relief bill across the finish line, and the Democratic leadership has been noncommittal. The package has moved Democrats' way, though -- they were planning to slip in a provision to bolster Medicaid for the U.S. Virgin Islands
and Puerto Rico.

-- ON THE GOV'T FUNDING BILL: It extends CHIP -- the children's health insurance program -- through the end of March, which could help attract a few Democratic votes, but Republicans will have to carry the bulk of this bill on their own. Watch defense hawks: they're mad. But leadership says they are coming around. ALSO IN THE C.R.: Language to waive pay-as-you-go requirements for Republicans' tax bill. ... An extension of a key FISA surveillance provision until the expiration of the government-funding measure.

-- TO BREAK IT DOWN: These bills will have tight votes in the House. Then they go to the Senate, where both Republicans and Democrats have issues with the supplemental spending bill. It's not clear the disaster bill gets through that chamber before the end of the year. TO BE CLEAR: We don't expect a government shut down at this point.

IF THE HOUSE CAN MOVE THIS TODAY, the Senate expects to get it done. POSSIBLE STICKING POINTS: the Pay-go waiver and FISA language.

A FIRST-QUARTER HORROR SHOW ... Yes, tax reform passed, and it was a really big deal for Republicans on the Hill and the White House. But this year has set up a legislative logjam in the first quarter of 2018 that will be massively messy for the House Republican leadership.

HERE'S WHAT'S ON TAP IN Q1 2018 ...

-- BUSTING SPENDING CAPS: Republicans told us all fall that they would use the little downtime in December to strike a bipartisan deal to boost spending caps. But talks between Democrats and Republicans fell apart, as the two parties quibbled about increasing defense and non-defense discretionary spending equally. But after this three-week stopgap measure, defense hawks will be crowing about bolstering military spending, conservatives will be furious at the significant uptick in spending and the GOP will need Democrats to drag this across the finish line.

-- OMNIBUS SPENDING BILL: All of that leads up to an omnibus spending bill -- legislation that would keep government funded through the end of the fiscal year, which ends Sept. 30. Anytime Congress starts talking about spending it gets messy -- which is why they have been operating on stopgap funding bills for a while now. Expect fights here on both parties' priorities. This is a must-pass bill, so Congress will want to load it up with whatever needs to get the president's signature.

-- OBAMACARE FIX: A fix to so-called cost-sharing reduction payments will have to come in the early part of 2018 because it was supposed to get solved this month. Sens. Susan Collins (R-Maine) and Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) -- who supported a bipartisan patch -- relented under pressure from the White House and Republican leadership. There's no doubt that the GOP needs to bolster this payment scheme in the first month of 2018 -- almost certainly on the back of an omnibus spending bill, which will contain lots that Republicans will hate.

-- DEBT LIMIT: All of this emergency spending -- more than $100 billion worth -- has raised questions about when the nation's borrowing limit will need to be lifted. The United States government has stopped investing in certain vehicles because of Congress's inaction in raising the debt limit. The government is using extraordinary measures to avoid default. Expect a fight here, because Republicans will want spending cuts -- most likely -- after a summer and fall filled with spending.

-- IMMIGRATION POLICY/DACA: Republican leaders have all-but promised quick action on a legislative fix for so-called Dreamers -- people brought to this country through no fault of their own. To say the least, this is an issue that splits Republicans -- even if it rides alongside a package to boost border-security spending. Trump wants a fix. But you have plenty of House Republicans who will look to squeeze the speaker if he moves an inch away from their worldview.

NEW POLITICO/MORNING CONSULT POLL -- "Polls show sizable advantage for Democrats in 2018 midterm election," by Steve Shepard: "Democrats will enter 2018 with a substantial lead in next year's congressional elections, with President Donald Trump and the GOP congressional leadership serving as anchors on Republicans' poll numbers. The midterm election is more than 10 months away, but polls this month --including a new POLITICO/Morning Consult survey -- show Democrats opening up a double-digit lead on the generic ballot, a test of whether voters nationwide prefer to be represented in Congress by a Democrat or a Republican.

"Democrats' advantage in the new POLITICO/Morning Consult poll stands at 10 percentage points, 44 percent to 34 percent -- the party's largest lead of the year. Democrats and liberals are as motivated as Republicans and conservatives to vote in next year's elections, the POLITICO/Morning Consult poll shows, in a reversal from recent midterms, when conservatives were more energized. That trend has been evident during the 2017 off-year and special elections, when turnout spiked in Democratic areas, relative to other non-presidential races." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=6ca8adcbc962683aca9565704b08567b7cb51c82d2b4ddf68c87d7417830101f4d4671424cb4437bc3c361f3c660dcc7


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BIG SCOOP: "House Republicans quietly investigate perceived corruption at DOJ, FBI," by Kyle Cheney and John Bresnahan: "A group of House Republicans has gathered secretly for weeks in the Capitol in an effort to build a case that senior leaders of the Justice Department and FBI improperly - and perhaps criminally - mishandled the contents of a dossier that describes alleged ties between President Donald Trump and Russia, according to four people familiar with their plans.

"A subset of the Republican members of the House intelligence committee, led by Chairman Devin Nunes of California, has been quietly working parallel to the committee's high-profile inquiry into Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election. They haven't informed Democrats about their plans, but they have consulted with the House's general counsel.

"The people familiar with Nunes' plans said the goal is to highlight what some committee Republicans see as corruption and conspiracy in the upper ranks of federal law enforcement. The group hopes to release a report early next year detailing their concerns about the DOJ and FBI, and they might seek congressional votes to declassify elements of their evidence." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=6ca8adcbc962683a26dcf319cc6d3e5454f6735983966ce721420dec5becebf00051b274dca1e1a0c9b6d6af5bf3ac44

-- JUST POSTED: "Prosecutors ask FBI agents for info on Uranium One deal," by NBC's Tom Winter, Pete Williams and Ken Dilanian: "On the orders of Attorney General Jeff Sessions, Justice Department prosecutors have begun asking FBI agents to explain the evidence they found in a now dormant criminal investigation into a controversial uranium deal that critics have linked to Bill and Hillary Clinton, multiple law enforcement officials told NBC News.

"The interviews with FBI agents are part of the Justice Department's effort to fulfill a promise an assistant attorney general made to Congress last month to examine whether a special counsel was warranted to look into what has become known as the Uranium One deal, a senior Justice Department official said." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=6ca8adcbc962683abd45a2ceb4ead413b0630f543f434d49fe3d3cdbebe3b697250fa42fe9155a0182158d18557c7e02

AROUND THE TAX HORN, ONCE AGAIN ...

-- "In Tax Overhaul, Trump Tries to Defy the Economic Odds," by NYT's Patricia Cohen: When President Trump adds his distinctive signature to the tax bill, he will also be making a huge bet that the Republican strategy of deep cuts for businesses and wealthy individuals will fuel extraordinary growth across the board. Perhaps more than any other American political leader, Mr. Trump knows that long shots, like his own presidential bid, sometimes pay off. In that vein, he and congressional Republicans are arguing that their bitterly contested and expensive rewrite of the tax code will ultimately create more jobs and raise wages.

"If they are proved correct, they will be repudiating not only historical experience, but most experts. From Congress's own prognosticators to Wall Street's virtuosos, scarcely any independent analyses project anything like the rosy forecasts offered by the president's top economic advisers. To Mr. Trump and his allies, the normal models just do not fully capture the high-octane "rocket fuel" embedded in the tax plan. Mr. Trump intuitively understands just how much attitudes and expectations can shape economic decisions." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=6ca8adcbc962683a3d0b7369045aa854ff3366880bbc04cd6ef899a9914120af32101e657003e656199158ce2adbfbeb

-- WSJ: "Industry by Industry, Who Wins and Who Loses": http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=6ca8adcbc962683abc10e5f3c64ffd6196b0974771eeafe63cc4e984bd47bee888cf2cba7028cd91074ab21fd5b832fc

IMMIGRATION COMING BACK TO THE CAPITOL -- "McConnell will allow immigration vote if senators strike a deal," by Seung Min Kim and Ted Hesson: "Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell will bring an immigration bill to the floor by the end of January if lawmakers and the White House can reach a compromise, he said in a statement Wednesday. McConnell acknowledged that a bipartisan group of senators has engaged in discussions with the Trump administration about legislation regarding the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, which offers work permits to undocumented immigrants brought to the United States at a young age and which President Donald Trump is rescinding. The conversations
also covered border security, interior enforcement and changes to the legal immigration system, according to the majority leader.

"'If negotiators reach an agreement on these matters by the end of January, I will bring it to the Senate floor for a free-standing vote,' he said. 'I encourage those working on such legislation to develop a compromise that can be widely supported by both political parties and actually become law." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=9af5bf5790548bca3445dca3c70b1ec6ae195541b6993885c16b2997320e76726c131f5d74f65feda3e84a08c71e0983

-- @joesonka: "McConnell's office just released this pic of him giving Trump a Louisville Slugger in the Oval Office today": http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=9af5bf5790548bca965743c898bb3f1f083d564ea0c4509e4039ceb2b18802f0bd0535daadff476aa21bb7778997f402 ... @JeffFlake:"Just spoke to @SenJohnMcCain. He sounded good and is recuperating well in Arizona. He sends best wishes to his colleagues here in Washington."


THIS COULD GET UGLY -- "State officials panicked over children's health program: Several states have already notified enrollees that their coverage could be terminated at the end of January unless Congress acts in the coming days," by Rachana Pradhan: "Families are becoming increasingly panicked about children losing health insurance without new funding from Congress, state officials warned Wednesday as a new report showed nearly 2 million kids could be dropped from coverage next month.

"Roughly 1.9 million children across the country could lose insurance in January if Congress fails to renew Children's Health Insurance Program funding, according to a new report from the Georgetown University Center for Children and Families. Another 1 million could lose coverage by the end of February if the congressional stalemate drags on." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=9af5bf5790548bcad73e399d8c2ebb916bc7e21f27f949cf707fa3fe5fa6739bb6555fedd332cb77df19439af78bcd94

THIS COULD BE IMPORTANT -- "Cochran's future in the Senate in doubt," by John Bresnahan: "Sen. Thad Cochran, chairman of the powerful Appropriations Committee, hasn't presided over a hearing since early September. The Mississippi Republican has not given a speech on the Senate floor all year, and he's introduced only two bills during that time, both of them minor. To the extent that Cochran weighs in on any issue, it's in the form of an official statement from his office or the appropriations panel. He has stopped meeting with anyone about substantive committee business, including other senators or House members, according to several sources familiar with his activities. Cochran's aides
deny this is the case.

"The 80-year-old's feeble performance has fueled expectations -- among senators and aides who've witnessed his physical and mental decline firsthand -- that Cochran will step down from the Appropriations chairmanship early next year, or resign from the Senate altogether. 'The understanding is that he will leave after Jan. 1,' said a Republican senator who serves on the Appropriations Committee. 'That's what most of us believe will happen.'

"A spokesman for the Mississippi Republican said Cochran hasn't divulged his plans. 'Sen. Cochran has not made any statements regarding leaving office. He continues to do his work for Mississippi and the nation,' Chris Gallegos said. Some sources in contact with Cochran's office believe that he might stay until a major government spending bill is completed, which might happen in January or February." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=9af5bf5790548bca66643ff46b63e4338ff8abe86a1ff7dff65325c4f19f5f83477e16bff122ce8d1fb38d2db6e332db

POWER OF THE PEN -- "President Trump commutes sentence of Sholom Rubashkin, ex-Iowa slaughterhouse executive," by Des Moines Register's Luke Nozicka: "Trump on Wednesday commuted the prison sentence of former Iowa slaughterhouse executive Sholom Rubashkin, who was sentenced to 27 years for bank fraud and money laundering ... [T]he White House said the decision ... had bipartisan support from leaders across the political spectrum, such as House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-California) and Orrin Hatch (R-Utah). ... Rubashkin, a 57-year-old father of 10 children, oversaw operations at Agriprocessors, a large kosher meatpacking plant ... [that] was raided by agents with U.S. Immigration and
Customs Enforcement in May 2008, leading to the arrests of nearly 400 Mexican and Guatemalan immigrants who were living and working in the country without authorization." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=9af5bf5790548bca2f43afff3f5a4da840758df77dd8953ca21e1f8c0bd1bf7164211d6f508d72b99e6ed43d3e6569eb

JOSH ROGIN in WaPo, "Trump administration approves lethal arms sales to Ukraine": "The Trump administration has approved the first ever U.S. commercial sale of lethal defensive weapons to Ukraine, in a clear break from the de facto U.S. ban on arms sales that dates back to the Obama administration. The move was heavily supported by top Trump national security Cabinet officials and Congress but may complicate President Trump's stated ambition to work with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

"Administration officials confirmed that the State Department this month approved a commercial license authorizing the export of Model M107A1 Sniper Systems, ammunition, and associated parts and accessories to Ukraine, a sale valued at $41.5 million. These weapons address a specific vulnerability of Ukrainian forces fighting a Russian-backed separatist movement in two eastern provinces. There has been no approval to export the heavier weapons the Ukrainian government is asking for, such as Javelin antitank missiles." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=9af5bf5790548bcacfad10c18520ddefbb2c4993892d8d29870a30600348b61516dc23487aa0d12423e56a144cc345f5

SEXUAL HARASSMENT FILES -- "Senate shields taxpayer-funded harassment settlements from public," by Elana Schor: "The congressional office that handles sexual harassment complaints, along with a top Republican senator, have refused to divulge information about taxpayer dollars doled out to settle harassment claims - and pressure is mounting on them to come clean. Congress' Office of Compliance, which oversees payments to resolve sexual harassment claims and other workplace disputes, has given data on the Senate's taxpayer-funded settlements to Senate Rules Committee Chairman Richard Shelby (R-Ala.). The House has already released the compliance office's settlement totals for that chamber
going back a decade.

"But the compliance office has declared that the comparable data for Senate offices 'may contain inaccuracies,' rejecting a request from Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) to divulge the numbers. And Shelby, who was given the information in his role as head of the Rules panel, is in talks with his Democratic counterpart on releasing the data as Kaine vows to 'start raising hell' to shake it loose. 'It's not classified, like national security stuff,' Kaine said. 'I think I'm as entitled to it as anybody.'" http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=9af5bf5790548bca2c4e59e2ce6d5ecea83628da1f5ce02a17fd8e05bace1f1716ea4b19907d47674d889a39d5478968

BIG CASH ALERT -- STEVEN RATTNER, frequently seen on TV, gave $33,900 to the DCCC in November ... JAMES SIMONS, hedge fund impresario, gave the DNC $339,000 ... STEVE COHEN, another hedgie, shipped a quarter-million to the RNC.

THE JUICE ...

-- TIM LIM, founder and president of Precision Network for the past six years and a partner at Bully Pulpit Interactive, is launching a new firm, Lim Consulting. He will focus on political strategy, organizational development and fundraising.

-- STEVE MILLER, a GW grad and James Carville alum, is now advising the Labor Party in Israel. Israeli journalists frequently have to clarify that he's not the same Stephen Miller who works for Trump.

-- SNEAK PEEK - PETER HAMBY has a special edition of "Good Luck America" on Snapchat, where he looks back at 2017's biggest moments in American politics. Video: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=9af5bf5790548bca2b51aeef85713fe5d9b28883f7ca4b69d800293944ece55ac9ecd4e81469d13fc840e8e122b03992

GREY GARDENS SOLD, per WSJ: "Grey Gardens, the East Hampton, N.Y., mansion immortalized by a documentary and an HBO movie, has sold for $15.5 million, according to the listing agency. ... The seller was journalist Sally Quinn, who owned the property with her late husband Ben Bradlee, the longtime executive editor of the Washington Post. Ms. Quinn recently released a memoir, entitled 'Finding Magic,' about her relationship with the property. ... The listing agent, Michael Schultz of the Corcoran Group, declined to comment on the buyers, identifying them only as a couple who loved the house and who plan on restoring it." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=9af5bf5790548bca71444161e80baf852f71d0362634c73b4544303bb01690c12654f5cac14fe7804c09d8d54399a8e5
Playbook Reads


PHOTO DU JOUR: President Donald Trump, flanked by Republican lawmakers, celebrates Congress passing the tax bill on the South Lawn of the White House on Dec. 20. | Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

MIDDLE-EAST PEACE UPDATE -- "Trump's Mideast Envoy Meets With Netanyahu in U.S. Bid to Show 'Commitment to Peace,'" by Haaretz's Amir Tibon: "Jason Greenblatt, U.S. President Donald Trump's special envoy for Israeli-Palestinian peace, met in Jerusalem with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday during a short visit to Israel. Despite strong criticism from the Palestinian Authority and leading Arab countries following Trump's speech on Jerusalem two weeks ago, the White House cites Greenblatt's visit as evidence of the Trump administration's continued commitment to reaching a peace deal. Greenblatt's visit did not include any meetings with Palestinian officials, as the Palestinian
Authority announced it will stop cooperation with the U.S. and instead attempt to gain recognition of Palestinian statehood through international forums following Trump's formal recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=9af5bf5790548bcaa3d3768af06d3d57ae24e7645db7376c2989a472e15031d2e0073509ea6a22820b3fe0d528eb0596

FIRST PERSON - DEAN WINSLOW in WaPo, "I spoke my mind on guns. Then my Senate confirmation was put on hold": "My appointment had been put on indefinite hold by the Senate Armed Services Committee, and I felt the Defense Department needed to fill the position without undue delay. Our soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines deserve the full complement of Pentagon appointees to support them. I am sorry not to be able to assist Defense Secretary Jim Mattis, whom I deeply respect, in building the best and most efficient military health-care system possible.

"I have the credentials to help, including 35 years of experience in the Air Force (including four deployments to Iraq and two to Afghanistan after 9/11), in military and academic medicine, and in private practice, public hospitals, the Department of Veterans Affairs, the pharmaceutical and diagnostics industries, and public health. But unfortunately, I do not possess one credential the committee wanted to see: I do not support the unrestricted ownership of semiautomatic assault weapons by civilians." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=9af5bf5790548bcac46a3ac62c94a61d3ed5944e177ecafc17ad022a23724ba6aaac404381ba36cf6faf225b8e16c5d1

NEW BLOOMBERG BUSINESSWEEK COVER STORY - "Satya Nadella on AI, Sexual Harassment, and Microsoft's Soul," by Megan Murphy: "The successor to Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer stresses empathy and has a strategy for populism. Plus, the best piece of advice he ever got from the company's first leaders." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=9af5bf5790548bca9634b8fce2505715f5accea42f5b3b5362028658a0baa259144c2506292e50296dd373f8fe8ccb56 The cover, which calls Nadella "Microsoft's Chief Empathy Officer" http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=9af5bf5790548bca13181be638bb22f10eaba3effd17a2ed421da646a54c883e1aee1f2169dd895d9df4e0e337757132

ON THE WORLD STAGE -- "Venezuela's Brutal Crime Crackdown: Executions, Machetes and 8,292 Dead," by WSJ's Juan Forero and Maolis Castro in Barlovento, Venezuela: "The young men had already been tortured at an army base when soldiers piled them into two jeeps and transported them to a wooded area just outside the Venezuelan capital. Stumbling in the dark, with T-shirts pulled over their faces and hands tied behind their backs, they were steered to an open pit. Soldiers then used machetes to deliver blow after blow to the base of their necks. Most suffered gaping wounds that killed them before they hit the ground. ... Prosecutors, criminologists and human-rights groups say it was only one of
many recurring and escalating lethal attacks carried out by police or soldiers." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=9af5bf5790548bcaf96448217baf7b1251d04c98a05411b81c1a43b3125988de320bef4cbcb210eb39b24a463afecb2c

-- "Shots fired at DMZ as North Korean soldier defects to South," by Reuters' Haejin Choi and Josh Smith in Seoul: "South Korean guards fired warning shots across the heavily militarized border with North Korea on Thursday as a soldier from the North defected in thick fog, complicating efforts to ease tensions over Pyongyang's nuclear and missile programs. A South Korean defense ministry official said up to 20 warning shots were fired as North Korean troops approached too near the 'military demarcation line' at the demilitarized zone (DMZ), apparently in search of the missing soldier." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=9af5bf5790548bca30babbc1dc5ed920802fc7d9e4a8c9579cbc2d141b6cc936ca53385a94a90e22fefe9a75998981d8

TRUMP INC. -- @Fahrenthold: "Confirmed @ilyamarritz reporting: Trump SoHo will be re-branded The Dominick, at midnight tonight. The @realDonaldTrump Org. won't manage it, no employees lose their jobs. Soo...can guests just steal the 'Trump SoHo' bathrobes? 'You said that, not me,' hotel flak says."

KFILE -- "Senior White House adviser at Homeland Security repeatedly promoted fringe conspiracy theories on the radio," by CNN's Andrew Kaczynski, Chris Massie and Nathan McDermott: "A KFile review of more than 40 hours of [Frank] Wuco's radio appearances shows he regularly promoted unfounded conspiracy theories that have been spread by members of the far right over the years. Among the conspiracy theories Wuco pushed were claims that former President Barack Obama's memoir was ghost written by former anti-Vietnam War radical Bill Ayers, claims that former CIA director John Brennan converted to Islam and claims Attorney General Eric Holder had been a member of the Black Panthers."
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=9af5bf5790548bca5dfaba8e0b4e49c4d086b33e91f1d28a3c8e7c80c76b7aa58c737e1526237f0fbbc29ec8d942e2f6


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TRAILER OF THE DAY - "Chappaquiddick," starring Kate Mara and coming out April 6th next year: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=9af5bf5790548bca40a7d77e2e88ef52aa066344d667d2898d5e3c01593e0663a8d398ce1c32b66d0a73312551828a9f

MEDIAWATCH -- "Glenn Thrush, Suspended Times Reporter, to Resume Work but Won't Cover White House," by NYT's Sydney Ember: "The New York Times said on Wednesday that Glenn Thrush, one of the paper's most prominent political reporters, would remain suspended until late January and then be removed from the team covering the White House after he faced allegations of inappropriate sexual behavior. The decision came a month after the website Vox published a report that contained allegations from four female journalists of inappropriate behavior by Mr. Thrush.

"After learning Vox planned to run its article, which was published on Nov. 20, The Times began an investigation into Mr. Thrush's conduct. The inquiry was led by Charlotte Behrendt, a lawyer in the Times newsroom, and involved interviews with more than 30 people in New York and Washington, both inside and outside The Times, according to a person briefed on the process. Ms. Behrendt compiled a report with her findings that was reviewed by Dean Baquet, the executive editor, and a group of top editors. Mr. Thrush was told of the decision on Wednesday during a meeting with Mr. Baquet." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=9af5bf5790548bca6603bb823a7fd7ce5aa2220b88ec11b27a0f2e83e82d76e78029a10887c68b8c1a11a90d743cda8b


--@mlcalderone: "Random House says it's planning to move ahead with Maggie Haberman book on Trump, though 'it will not be with Glenn Thrush attached.'"

- "2 Women Who Settled With O'Reilly Over Sexual Harassment Sue for Defamation," by NYT's Emily Steel: "Two women who reached sexual harassment settlements with Bill O'Reilly joined a defamation lawsuit against Mr. O'Reilly and Fox News on Wednesday, asserting that statements that he and the network made depicted them as liars, political operatives and extortionists. The women are Andrea Mackris, a former producer on Mr. O'Reilly's show on Fox News who sued him for sexual harassment in 2004, and Rebecca Gomez Diamond, a former host on Fox Business Network who reached a settlement with Mr. O'Reilly in 2011 after coming forward with sexual harassment allegations against him. Both women had
recorded conversations with Mr. O'Reilly, and he paid both settlements, according to people briefed on the matter." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=9af5bf5790548bca2614001f0226aebca56b72f158b83724f42e56a6d232867c8c31a23fe32a5b09b95b7a19c9dca4b2

PER MORNING MEDIA: "WASHINGTON POST RAIDS THE WALL STREET JOURNAL: Journal reporters Paul Sonne and Shane Harris are heading to the Post to cover the Pentagon and intelligence, respectively, according to sources familiar with the moves. The Post has already nabbed four reporters from the Journal's Washington bureau since fall 2016: Devlin Barrett, Beth Reinhard, Damian Paletta, and Adam Entous, the latter who is now heading to the New Yorker."

HOT JOB - WSJ -- editor of its "Mansion" section: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=9af5bf5790548bca6e6f7cdaed86934bf328680eb13c027269bce74275fce7c5c10bfba8c9e181e326647de2252e85b2
Playbookers
SPOTTED: WaPo's Bob Costa talking with Sean Penn at Joe's ... UK Brexit leader Nigel Farage dining at Bombay Club last night in D.C ... Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen and Gary Cohn having dinner last night at Del Frisco's

SPOTTED at the Trump International Hotel last night: Gary Cohn, Hope Hicks, Stephen Miller, Shahira Knight, Sarah Sanders, Tony Sayegh, Andy Koenig, Richard Chalkey, Joe Lai, Dan Murphy, Jeff Freeland, Nick Owens, Ryan Eaton, Dan McCarthy, Patrick Anderson, Loretta Greene, Justin Muzinich, and Andrew Smith.

OUT AND ABOUT -- Pool report: "French Ambassador to the U.S. Gerard Araud threw a dinner honoring The Atlantic's Steve Clemons for his stewardship of the Kalorama Conversations, a successful salon series organized by The Atlantic at the Ambassador's residence on issues of transnational and global consequence. This was Social Secretary Francesca Craig's final dinner before departing to become the MPAA's [director of events]. Clemons received a statue of Tintin."

SPOTTED: David and Katherine Bradley, Sens. Mark Warner (D-Va.), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), and Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.), Rep. Will Hurd (R-Tex.), Heather Podesta, Helene Cooper, Margaret Carlson, Ruth Marcus, David and Danielle Frum, Kathleen Biden, Amb. Mark Dybul, Jason Claire, Jeff Carneal, Richard Vague and Laura Vague, Meridith Webster, Andrew Oros, Billie Pick, Emmanuelle Lachaussee.

TRANSITION -- Sarah Culvahouse Mills, former director of communications and media relations at the Heritage Foundation and former assistant press secretary for First Lady Laura Bush, is joining the Glover Park Group as a VP in the firm's strategic communications practice.

BIRTHDAY OF THE DAY: lawyer John Coale is 71. A fun fact about John: "In 1979 my around the world sailing trip ended abruptly when my sailboat sunk off the coast of Spain in a storm and I was rescued in my life raft by a Portuguese fishing boat." Read his Playbook Plus Q&A: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=9af5bf5790548bcadc61a10e874a0f36720149a840d37290bac977a1e95ba9560a2bd2b24f2da489bb370b5804379199

BIRTHDAYS: Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin is 55 ... French President Emmanuel Macron is 4-0 ... Annie Linskey, chief national correspondent for the Boston Globe, and the pride of Fairfield County ... Brian Goldsmith, political consultant for Yahoo News and co-host of the Katie Couric podcast ... Vlad Duthiers of CBS News ... Rich Galen ... Joe Gaylord ... Jeffrey Katzenberg is 67 ... Phil Donahue is 82 ... Jane Fonda is 8-0 ... Dave Stroup ... Elena Waskey, associate director of communications at the NGA ... WaPo's Karen Heller ... Michael Negron, chief of policy in Mayor Emanuel's office ... Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.) is 7-0 ... Sam LaHood, director for gov't and external affairs at
the International Republican Institute ... Lindsay McKenna ... Swopa Needlenose ... Julia Mellon, VP at Bliss Integrated Communication ... PwC's Roz Brooks ... Lisa Kountoupes ...

... CNN's Kelly Wallace ... Zev Yaroslavsky is 69 ... Adam Schefter is 51 (h/ts Jewish Insider) ... Adam Topper, scheduler for Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.), is 3-0 (h/t Mitchell Rivard) ... Sarah Bufkin ... Josh Scheinblum of KCRG ... Alejandra Lopez-Fernandini of the New America Foundation ... Benjamin Sendejas ... Brian Heindl, director of public affairs and government relations at Henkel ... Lesley Russell ... Boston Globe's Josh Miller ... Gary Lee ... Jessica Brady, director of strategic communications and external affairs at the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights ... Carl Gray, M.S. real estate development candidate at NYU Schack Institute of Real Estate and a Hillary alum ... Beth
LaMontagne Hall ... Sally Armbruster ... Bush 43 WH alum Tracy Young ... Nathan Colvin ... D'Ann Grady Lettieri ... Nicole Hudzinski ... Carl Zingale ... Sarah Leonard ... Sari Bourne (h/ts Teresa Vilmain)

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