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Presented by Morgan Stanley: Playbook is POLITICO's must-read briefing on what's driving the day in Washington Aug 30, 2018 View in browser
By Jake Sherman, Anna Palmer, Daniel Lippman and Eli Okun

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THE FBI arrested Robert Chain, 68, of Encino, California, today for allegedly threatening journalists at the Boston Globe. Here is what he said in one of a dozen threatening phone calls to the newsroom, per the FBI's criminal complaint:

"YOU'RE THE ENEMY OF THE PEOPLE and we're going to kill every f---ing one of you. Hey, why don't you call the F, why don't you call Mueller, maybe he can help you out buddy. Still there fa---t? Alright, why, you going to trace my call? What are you going to do motherf-----? You ain't going to do s---. I'm going to shoot you in the f---ing head later today, at 4 o'clock. Goodbye."

THE FBI alleges that chain owns several weapons. He purchased a new gun in May -- a 9mm carbine rifle, according to the FBI. The full criminal complaint

-- THE WHITE HOUSE does not have a press briefing scheduled for today. The president is traveling, so perhaps there will be a briefing on Air Force One.

THE PRESIDENT THIS MORNING ON THE MEDIA ... @realDonaldTrump at 6:50 a.m.: "The hatred and extreme bias of me by @CNN has clouded their thinking and made them unable to function. But actually, as I have always said, this has been going on for a long time. Little Jeff Z has done a terrible job, his ratings suck, & AT&T should fire him to save credibility!"

... at 7:02 a.m.: "What's going on at @CNN is happening, to different degrees, at other networks -- with @NBCNews being the worst. The good news is that Andy Lack(y) is about to be fired(?) for incompetence, and much worse. When Lester Holt got caught fudging my tape on Russia, they were hurt badly!"

... at 7:11 a.m.: "I just cannot state strongly enough how totally dishonest much of the Media is. Truth doesn't matter to them, they only have their hatred & agenda. This includes fake books, which come out about me all the time, always anonymous sources, and are pure fiction. Enemy of the People!"

NYT's JIM RUTENBERG and MAGGIE HABERMAN: "National Enquirer Had Decades of Trump Dirt. He Wanted to Buy It All": "[Trump] and his lawyer at the time, Michael D. Cohen, devised a plan to buy up all the dirt on Mr. Trump that the National Enquirer and its parent company had collected on him, dating back to the 1980s, according to several of Mr. Trump's associates. ... The move by Mr. Trump and Mr. Cohen indicated just how concerned they were about all the information amassed by the company, American Media, and its chairman, David Pecker, a loyal Trump ally of two decades who has cooperated with investigators. ...

"It is not known how much of the material on Mr. Trump is still in American Media's possession or whether American Media destroyed any of it after the campaign. ... In the end, the deal never came together." NYT

WHAT JEFF SESSIONS IS UP TO ... "Justice Department sides with students suing Harvard over use of race in admissions," by Benjamin Wermund: "The department, which has been investigating Harvard's admissions policies, made the claims in a strongly worded court filing Thursday, asserting that 'Harvard's race-based admissions process significantly disadvantages Asian-American applicants compared to applicants of other racial groups' ... And it comes as conservatives see a fresh opening to end affirmative action through Donald Trump's creation of a new conservative majority on the Supreme Court if nominee Brett Kavanaugh is confirmed this fall." POLITICO

JUST POSTED -- NBC's KEN DILANIAN: "Ex-Trump adviser Roger Stone says he expects Mueller to charge him with a crime"

Good Thursday afternoon. PROGRAMMING NOTE: We won't publish Playbook PM on Monday, which is Labor Day. We'll be back Tuesday, which is the first day Congress is fully back in session.

TRAILER for the new Gary Hart movie: 2:11 clip

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WHAT ELSE IS ON TRUMP'S MIND -- @realDonaldTrump at 7:20 a.m.: "The news from the Financial Markets is even better than anticipated. For all of you that have made a fortune in the markets, or seen your 401k's rise beyond your wildest expectations, more good news is coming!"

-- at 7:44 a.m.: "Ivanka Trump & Jared Kushner had NOTHING to do with the so called 'pushing out' of Don McGahn.The Fake News Media has it, purposely, so wrong! They love to portray chaos in the White House when they know that chaos doesn't exist-just a 'smooth running machine' with changing parts!"

... at 9:17 a.m.: "The Rigged Russia Witch Hunt did not come into play, even a little bit, with respect to my decision on Don McGahn!"

-- WHAT DECISION? He decided to leave on his own, according to media reports.

... at 9:39 a.m.: "I am very excited about the person who will be taking the place of Don McGahn as White House Counsel! I liked Don, but he was NOT responsible for me not firing Bob Mueller or Jeff Sessions. So much Fake Reporting and Fake News!"

TRADE WARS ... "U.S.-Mexico Trade Pact Faces Scrutiny From Lawmakers at Home," by WSJ's Juan Montes in Mexico City and Natalie Andrews: "The early read: Mexican lawmakers will clear the pact with little trouble, while the U.S. Congress remains wary, especially if Canada doesn't join soon. ...

"Lawmakers from both parties have complained that the Trump administration has broken with precedent by not regularly briefing with Capitol Hill and leaving them largely in the dark about crucial details of the negotiations." WSJ

-- "EU says it is willing to scrap car tariffs in U.S. trade deal," by POLITICO Europe's Hans von der Burchard: "[Cecilia] Malmström's comment went beyond what was agreed in July in the joint statement between European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker and U.S. President Donald Trump, which only mentioned eliminating tariffs, non-tariff barriers and subsidies for 'non-auto industrial goods.'" POLITICO Europe

PETER HAMBY in VANITY FAIR: "'It Seems Like Iowa in 2007': Is Beto O'Rourke the Left's Obama-Like Answer to Trump in 2020?": "Winning a Senate race and flying straight to Iowa would be audacious, way more brazen than Obama's decision to run after just two years in Washington. But what the wise men of Washington are absolutely wrong about is this: O'Rourke can absolutely run for president if he loses. Who is the Democratic primary voter who would care? Does that person exist?

"He's a star who would pack any room in Des Moines or Nashua, end of story. Since 2008, there is simply no evidence that voters in either party care more about ladder-climbing credentials than personality and vision. Our last two presidents have been a half-term senator and a reality-television star, and even Orange County attorney Michael Avenatti is currently getting 'buzz' as a possible White House contender. So on what planet is Beto O'Rourke not a presidential contender? Only on planet Twitter, where most people are wrong." Vanity Fair

-- 2020 WATCH: "Elizabeth Warren's 2020 Maneuvering Is Getting Even More Aggressive," by New York magazine's Gabe Debenedetti: "She dropped one long-shot policy proposal that would try to remake corporate America, then another that aims to actually drain the Washington swamp. She put restrictions on her own fundraising practices and opened her financial books, and bid two staffers farewell as they shipped up to new jobs in New Hampshire. ...

"[T]he potential front-runner's moves stand out largely because they break beyond the serious groundwork she's already laid ... further muscling her ahead of the rest of the potential field in terms of political preparation." New York

2018 WATCH -- "Here's What Keeps The Democratic Party's Technology Boss Awake At Night," by NPR's Tim Mak and Alina Selyukh: "'We all still have work to do. And we're not getting the support that I think we need from ... governmental agencies,' [Raffi] Krikorian said. ... [S]ome of his work still involves teaching simple best practices, such as encouraging all branches of the party to use complex passwords and two-factor authentication." NPR

-- "DCCC surpasses online fundraising total from 2016," by Scott Bland: "It is possible the DCCC could pass $100 million raised online by Nov. 6, since online giving rates grow so rapidly in the final weeks of an election." POLITICO

-- WAPO'S AMY GARDNER, SEAN SULLIVAN and ALICE CRITES with a Defuniak Springs, Florida, dateline: "A 'bootstraps' story like no other: Kyrsten Sinema lived in a shuttered country store and gas station. Now she's running for Senate": "Sinema, now 42, talks about the experience frequently on the campaign trail, crediting those difficult years with forming her political philosophy: that people should 'work really hard and pull yourself up by your bootstraps' and be able to turn to the government for help when they are most vulnerable. ...

"The way Sinema has described her early years in DeFuniak Springs, the hometown of her stepfather, has surprised a few members of his family, who say she does not adequately credit their efforts to give her a home. ... Sinema's account is backed by her parents, other relatives and friends ... All of Sinema's friends and relatives interviewed for this article, even those with differing recollections, agree that the tough years her family experienced shaped her deeply." WaPo

-- "Scott Taylor Staffer Who Allegedly Forged Signatures Still Working for Campaign," by Roll Call's Griffin Connolly: Roll Call

WAR REPORT -- "Trump admin may send captured ISIS fighters to Iraq prison, Guantanamo," by NBC's Courtney Kube, Dan De Luce and Josh Lederman: "The Trump administration is weighing a plan to send hundreds of captured ISIS fighters to an Iraqi prison after other countries refused to take them ... according to five U.S. officials and two European diplomats. The possible Guantanamo detainees include two ISIS fighters who participated in the murder of Americans and other Western hostages ...

"Democrats in Congress and human rights groups oppose sending new detainees to Guantanamo and say those ISIS fighters suspected of murdering Americans should be tried in federal court..." NBC

UP NEXT ... "Manafort Judge to Let D.C. Jury Hear Evidence He Knew Lobbying Rules," by Bloomberg's Daniel Flatley: "Prosecutors plan to introduce evidence that shows that the Justice Department had advised him of the rules surrounding [the Foreign Agents Registration Act] in the mid-1980s. ... The defense objected to the introduction of the evidence, calling it outdated and prejudicial. [U.S. District Judge Amy Berman] Jackson rejected that argument but said that prosecutors couldn't talk about who Manafort's foreign clients were or the work he did for them." Bloomberg

A BIG KEITH ELLISON READ ... "A Broken Relationship and Accusations of Emotional Abuse: The Case of Keith Ellison," by NYT's Julie Turkewitz and Farah Stockman in Minneapolis: "[Karen] Monahan's accusations represent a potentially new chapter in the #MeToo movement in which the allegations against a public figure are not primarily about sexual violence or harassment, but emotional abuse. But the allegations against Mr. Ellison, who declined a request for an interview through a spokesman, are turning into a test among many liberals for where to draw the line between a messy relationship and an emotionally abusive one, and some say they aren't sure where it is." NYT

H.R. MCMASTER in Foreign Affairs: "John McCain and the Meaning of Courage": "He often broke with his party and never adapted his political positions to the latest opinion polls. He also refused to attack the character of his political opponents, even as political competitions across the country reached new depths of incivility. McCain's unwillingness to callously disparage his rivals was rooted in his empathy for his fellow man." Foreign Affairs

-- "Lindsey Graham says Trump's stand on John McCain 'pisses me off to no end'": CBS ... The video

ON THE WORLD STAGE -- "Declassified Interrogation Reports Show How Much Iran Shaped Iraq War," by WSJ's Michael R. Gordon and Ben Kesling: "Recently declassified U.S. interrogation reports shed new light on one of Iraq's most prominent Shiite political figures and Iran's role in training and arming Iraqi militias that attacked U.S. troops during the Iraq war. ... The reports have been circulating in Washington as lawmakers and Trump administration officials have been debating whether to designate [Qais al-Khazali] and his militia group as terrorist entities." WSJ

FOR YOUR RADAR -- "Judge rejects bid to block end of aid to Puerto Rico storm evacuees": Reuters

MEDIAWATCH -- Doyle McManus, a contributing writer for the Los Angeles Times in Washington, will be director of Georgetown's undergraduate journalism program.

-- THE DAILY BEAST's SAM STEIN (@samstein): "Tampa Bay Times lays off 50 staffers because of tariffs on newspaper print. Tariffs get lifted yesterday. Newspaper says the laid off staff likely WON'T be re-hired."

ENGAGED -- Ryan Shay, a legislative aide for Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), proposed to Euojin Lee, a consultant at Makse Group. "I proposed all in Korean (my fiancé is a first generation immigrant from South Korea) ... The WH's East Room holds special significance for us, given my ancestry (descendant of a John Adams, the first WH resident)." Pic ... Another pic

WELCOME TO THE WORLD -- Chrissy Terrell Murray, director of communications and PR at Gannett/USA Today, and Drew Murray, VP of business development at Mgroup, on Monday welcomed Andrew "Lee" Murray, who came in at 9 lbs and 15 ounces, 22.5 inches. Instapic ... Pic with big sister Margot


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Artificial Intelligence (AI) is an exciting growth area, but the investing opportunities are not always obvious. The emergence of intelligent machines, sometimes known as "the fourth industrial revolution," has the power to disrupt many aspects of the business world. While investment in AI and machine learning has come in and out of vogue since first discussed in the 1950s, the current mix of economic forces could unleash a wave of spending. And new tax rules provide incentives for investment. Commercializing AI technologies is still in the early stages. While many investors might begin their search among the companies that provide the actual automation services, they may find greater
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