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Today's Playbook Power Briefing presented by PhRMA

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


Good Wednesday afternoon.

WHAT MARCO RUBIO TOLD US AT OUR PLAYBOOK INTERVIEW -- On his priority for the end of 2017: "The child tax credit is a priority. ... It needs to be fully refundable, against every penny of payroll tax." ... And on working with Ivanka: "She's become a great ally and an advocate."

-- On his relationship with the Trump White House: "The relationship is a good working relationship. I've never had a negative personal relationship with Donald Trump, even at the height of the difficulties of a campaign."

-- On DACA: "Any permanent change ... will have to be paired with some permanent change on the security front in immigration, in order for it to pass. That's real." ... And on the wall: "We know the priority for the president is some sort of physical barrier on the southern border -- the wall -- which we should do. ... We should. I think the Mexican authorities will tell you there's wisdom in a physical barrier."

-- On harassment charges in Congress: "We've seen it leave virtually no part of our society immune. ... It is an important reckoning we're coming to grips with. ... One of the things we'll be doing now in the Senate is mandatory training of members and staff that clearly delineate what is appropriate and what isn't. We shouldn't take for granted that people automatically know that. We shouldn't excuse it when they violate it; but we shouldn't take it for granted, I think that's important. I've asked my staff to sign all of us up for the very first opportunity..." And on what the next step is: "People need to stop being creeps. ... Maybe part of it is generational, I don't know where it
comes from, to be honest with you. I think everyone around here should be more conscious of it. ... People need to regulate yourself. Whatever happened to that?" Video http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=ef44fda596d50a5404c8447cc72f0b30406eec2f07fa6f660b3b245eedea38e87dc5320491c29287b67da280bdd73a89

-- On how Trump has avoided the backlash: "I don't know. I think part of it is that it happened in the midst of a very heated and divisive political campaign. People had kind of gone to their corners ... Beyond it, I don't know."

-- On Roy Moore's impact: "I'm not sure [Moore] has an impact on '18 [elections]. It might ... As far as governing, if he's elected he'll come here and we'll see what kind of senator he's going to be, if that's the choice the people of Alabama make. It is a complicated, difficult situation because on one hand as a Republican you want the Republican party to keep the seat. On the other hand, I personally find the accusations against him to be credible and I don't think he has done or said anything in the last month that has helped himself or in any way made me feel better in any way about it." Video http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=ef44fda596d50a54470ea1c1d682f66d284adc43f193d2e2c13ba40c270d22651509a8225b6655e13089d8ee5e995ac6

-- On Steve Bannon's influence on the Republican party: "I don't know Steve very well. I think there are elements of his message that can't be ignored. ... The angst among millions and millions of Americans who feel like elites in American politics, media, entertainment and academics have ignored them for the better part of 30 or 40 years. And not just ignored them, but disrespected them and their values. And the challenge for us now is how do we address that in a way that's unifying and not divisive."

-- On his future plans in 2020 and 2024: "I'm not running for anything in 2020. I had two elections last year. ... I don't know what the future holds. I enjoyed the campaign." Full video of the event posted here soon http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=ef44fda596d50a54f0d6986c8d5afb2e0f19e0960e9107994798d19b9245a8f8e58be94895f63c1f0281687d1ef60207

BULLETINS -- "MINNEAPOLIS (AP) - Garrison Keillor says he's been fired by Minnesota Public Radio over allegations of inappropriate behavior." ... "MINNEAPOLIS (AP) - Minnesota Public Radio confirms Keillor fired, says single 'inappropriate behavior' allegation received, no others known." MPR's statement http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=ef44fda596d50a544e298f4459a59aabb762427b56b38defd87abbe4af67575660cd8a7078deb07298ae9ea6eb6271f1

MATT LAUER OUT AT NBC -- From Michael Calderone: "NBC has fired Matt Lauer, the longtime host of the 'Today' show, as a result of what the network labeled 'inappropriate sexual behavior.' Lauer, who is reportedly paid around $25 million a year to helm the NBC morning show, is the biggest television news star to fall after several high-profile journalists faced allegations of sexual misconduct in the workplace. ...

"'While it is the first complaint about his behavior in the over twenty years he's been at NBC News, we were also presented with reason to believe this may not have been an isolated incident,' NBC News chief Andy Lack said of Lauer Wednesday in a memo sent to employees shortly before the 7 a.m. broadcast." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=ef44fda596d50a546ef3ca52e2bb1c678aa83873585343e243aac12630284a691b7eb232057ebe444b0b040317d9b26a ... Video of Savannah Guthrie announcing the move on TODAY http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=ef44fda596d50a54f0ce979451ca8284318d336f23eb252b97c8b8e3419869eabbfd25b40caad2672a462b5e51b3cbcc

NEW YORK TIMES' JIM RUTENBERG, ELLEN GABLER and RACHEL ABRAMS: "Ari Wilkenfeld, a civil rights lawyer with the firm Wilkenfeld, Herendeen & Atkinson in Washington, said he represented the woman who made the complaint to NBC, but declined to publicly identify her. In a statement provided to The New York Times, he said:

"'My client and I met with representatives from NBC's Human Resources and Legal Departments at 6 p.m. on Monday for an interview that lasted several hours. Our impression at this point is that NBC acted quickly, as all companies should, when confronted with credible allegations of sexual misconduct in the workplace. While I am encouraged by NBC's response to date, I am in awe of the courage my client showed to be the first to raise a complaint and to do so without making any demands other than the company do the right thing.' The Times met with the woman Monday afternoon, but she said she was not ready to come forward and tell her story publicly."
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=ef44fda596d50a54e654816fed92320185dc8bb216dcb3dd52d0e65e7fc0000f54ad229e0032bda8937cc93c3ae86afd

VARIETY'S NEW YORK BUREAU CHIEF RAMIN SETOODEH (@RaminSetoodeh): "For the last two months, @EWagmeister and I have been reporting on a story about serious sexual harassment allegations against Lauer. There were multiple victims."

CNN'S BRIAN STELTER (who literally wrote the book on morning news) REPORTED that Lauer might release a statement today.

-- PRESIDENT TRUMP REACTS -- @realDonaldTrump at 7:16 a.m.: "Wow, Matt Lauer was just fired from NBC for 'inappropriate sexual behavior in the workplace.' But when will the top executives at NBC & Comcast be fired for putting out so much Fake News. Check out Andy Lack's past!" ... at 9:14 a.m.: "So now that Matt Lauer is gone when will the Fake News practitioners at NBC be terminating the contract of Phil Griffin? And will they terminate low ratings Joe Scarborough based on the 'unsolved mystery' that took place in Florida years ago? Investigate!"

TRUMP'S CONTROVERSIAL RETWEETS -- "Trump Shares Inflammatory Anti-Muslim Videos," by NYT's Eileen Sullivan and Maggie Haberman: "President Trump shared videos supposedly portraying Muslims committing acts of violence on Twitter early Wednesday morning, images that are likely to fuel anti-Islam sentiments popular among the president's political base in the United States. ... Mr. Trump retweeted the video posts from an ultranationalist British party leader, Jayda Fransen, who has previously been charged in the United Kingdom with 'religious aggravated harassment,' according to news reports. The videos were titled: 'Muslim migrant beats up Dutch boy on crutches!' 'Muslim Destroys a Statue of
Virgin Mary!' and 'Islamist mob pushes teenage boy off roof and beats him to death!' ...

"It was unclear on Wednesday morning whether the perpetrators in the videos were Muslim, as Ms. Fransen suggested. ... Ms. Fransen is the deputy of the far-right party Britain First, which was co-founded by a man who later supported Mr. Trump during the 2016 presidential campaign and was part of the efforts to spread anti-Clinton news on social media. British politicians were quick to condemn Mr. Trump's tacit endorsement of the videos. The office of Theresa May, the British prime minister, said, 'It is wrong from the president to have done this.' " http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=ef44fda596d50a54a3ea842dd00c018cf15e0d2ebe19d8e5187f4e3dea473b374dafc57f1b537ed336bd07fe5daf2b42

-- @NBCNews: "Question on President Trump's retweets this morning: Does it matter if it's a fake video? Sarah Sanders: 'I'm not talking about the nature of the video. I think you're focusing on the wrong thing. The threat is real, and that's what the President is talking about.'" http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=ef44fda596d50a54f95e460f5314cd834626b3b932c7e09d00fdde4fca39672bb0457c746aebca80ac6b16cb7f2366cc

FULL STEAM AHEAD ON THE TAX BILL -- "Senate Republicans round up more votes for tax plan," by Seung Min Kim: "One by one, the GOP holdouts on the Senate tax bill are falling into place for Republican leadership. Sen. James Lankford of Oklahoma, who had raised concerns about the tax measure's red ink, said Wednesday morning that he would support the overhaul, particularly with a backstop measure meant to help guard against a ballooning deficit. Lankford's support comes after another wavering GOP senator -- Sen. Jerry Moran of Kansas -- said he would back the bill, too." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=ef44fda596d50a54215e4440fa04a1f50e60c46ac6c0c6c0ce0369337ff4964db0c16c3de4756608b3ecac00509f7b07

****** A message from PhRMA: How much are hospitals marking up medicine prices? According to new Moran Company analysis, hospitals mark up medicine prices nearly 500 percent. The analysis of 20 medicines also found a hospital is paid 2.5 times what the biopharmaceutical company, who brought the medicine to market, receives. Read more: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=8fe051ade2dd5c5c238a18d1aad1e5b4c4eb843c734d33f8b93b1feb3c59e6b62e7b4f43e1d1a21b098b5f57328f7160 ******

ON THE PRESIDENT'S MIND -- @realDonaldTrump at 6:32 a.m.: ".@foxandfriends, we are in record territory in all things having to do with our economy!" ... at 6:49 a.m., quote-tweeting Sarah Sanders, who linked to a POLITICO story about CNN boycotting the W.H. holiday party: "Great, and we should boycott Fake News CNN. Dealing with them is a total waste of time!" ... at 7:03 a.m.: "Looks like another great day for the Stock Market. Consumer Confidence is at Record High. I guess somebody likes me (my policies)!" ...

... at 9:40 a.m.: "Just spoke to President XI JINPING of China concerning the provocative actions of North Korea. Additional major sanctions will be imposed on North Korea today. This situation will be handled!" ... at 9:49 a.m.: "Economy growing! Excluding hurricane effects, CEA estimates that real GDP growth would have been 3.9% in Q3. Stock market at a new high, unemployment at a low. We are winning and TAX CUTS will shift our economy into high gear!"

RESPONSE TO THE N. KOREA MISSILE LAUNCH -- "White House: 'Additional sanctions' on North Korea coming 'very shortly,'" by Cristiano Lima: "White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders vowed Wednesday that 'additional sanctions' would be imposed on North Korea 'very shortly' in response to their latest intercontinental ballistic missile tests. ... '[Trump] said earlier today we're going to continue putting maximum pressure on North Korea and to do it by increasing and adding additional sanctions,' Sanders said during an interview on Fox News." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=ef44fda596d50a54e5bc249c57a8f764a5d1a3c06cd85701d7a5e64a0766566f13fc02040e676862a3719497f4910db9

ON THE WORLD STAGE -- "War crimes convict reportedly dies after poison claim," by the AP's Mike Corder at The Hague: "Croatian state TV reported Wednesday that a convicted Croat war criminal has died after swallowing what he said was poison seconds after a United Nations judge confirmed his 20-year sentence for involvement in crimes during the Bosnian war of the 1990s. In a stunning end to the final case at the U.N.'s International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, Slobodan Praljak yelled, 'I am not a war criminal!' and appeared to drink from a small bottle." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=ef44fda596d50a54bf108d9c5c1468f4e5cc06b37073d7d7de4fb8da3c381f29cbafe88380e30c9aa645ac8174d3f145

TODAY'S BEYOND THE BELTWAY -- Potential candidates step up for Gutierrez's seat -- High drama in the NYC city council speaker race http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=ef44fda596d50a54e38584712d3c221a67ae1a3cbf73b5116f00eaa7aac2b7f2a7cbe6a2f56a6d417a162bfdf453ac97

TV TONIGHT - DANICA ROEM, the transgender Democratic candidate for Virginia's House of Delegates who won earlier this month, will be on Jordan Klepper's Comedy Central show "The Opposition" tonight. This is her first late night appearance, according to the network.

SUNDAY SHOWS SO FAR -- "Fox News Sunday": W.H. national security adviser H.R. McMaster ... Panel: Gen. Jack Keane and Michele Flournoy ... Panel: Karl Rove, Jennifer Griffin, Jason Chaffetz, Juan Williams. Power Player: George Shultz

SPOTIFY'S POLITICAL ADS -- Spotify launched its 2018 year-end campaign and some of the messages have a political tune. Some notable ones: "2018 Goals: Be as savage as the person who made a 1-hour, 55-minute playlist called 'Lasting Longer Than The Mooch.'" ... "2018 Goals: Deliver burns as well as the person who streamed 'Bad Liar' 86 times the day Sean Spicer resigned." The ad at Penn Station http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=8fe051ade2dd5c5cf68c5fbdd1a8930a4bbaad3e8a41b02d88fa586255414995ad979e6fad0dbd2f6ada903f113c97f0 ... A Pence-themed ad http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=8fe051ade2dd5c5cf0638ce7a89c295258e038da203d3f750e1a833c8aa7d690353a3c5afa7cf49983f508f409e98e48 ... A Bannon resignation ad http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=8fe051ade2dd5c5c3db4be2dbf1066bb79d05d310b66bc798bb794db3a2594491cc9e40b66717b04282d38d81680ab9b

AFTERNOON READING -- JAMES WINNEFELD, who was vice chairman of the joint chiefs of staff from 2011 to 2015, in The Atlantic, "No Family Is Safe From This Epidemic: As an admiral I helped run the most powerful military on Earth, but I couldn't save my son from the scourge of opioid addiction." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=8fe051ade2dd5c5c09e52136e9928732c785d0eb99503f97eebaeb606f0c0ac6724d31c2ae7a60456cb5dddf798b8d52

MEDIAWATCH -- "BuzzFeed Plans Job Cuts, Business Reorganization After Revenue Miss," by WSJ's Lukas Alpert: "Facing a significant revenue shortfall this year, BuzzFeed is laying off about 100 employees and reorganizing its advertising sales and business operations as it moves away from relying purely on native advertising. BuzzFeed plans to reduce its U.S. staff by 8%, with all the cuts coming from the business and sales side of the organization, the company said Wednesday. Some editorial staffers and business-side employees in the U.K. will also be let go. BuzzFeed employs about 1,700 people world-wide." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=8fe051ade2dd5c5c0ceddb3113b86f0d5ee5da30e9eae57b1413f7c2d9cbb21f5b8a58c4904be84bf9671016cbdb2c85

-- DEAN BAQUET interviews JAY-Z http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=8fe051ade2dd5c5ce37f48032c17ba1ad00ad3436c532d74179a9a91401296dfdfde4a3d120e6f980442d2395d18c5e0

-- UNIVISION launched a new campaign urging their viewers to call Congress to support the DACA program. They have a website (http://bit.ly/2AkfZTO) and new PSA videos. One of the PSAs http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=8fe051ade2dd5c5c61e533dd7bfa6de8e5d75c3138af506a35478ba4347efd4d42bccdc0069ceff399d231fa7ba8af39

-- Hannah Yoest has been named social media editor of the Weekly Standard; she was previously assistant literary editor of the magazine's Books & Arts section.

DESSERT -- The first trailer for Marvel's "Avengers: Infinity Wars" movie http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=8fe051ade2dd5c5cc22581c90e3598e79479a9ace10f7c134af69120b49105fbebc9ed6d2a70fbd6caad21c740384b5c

TRANSITIONS -- Soren Dayton has joined Protect Democracy as director of communications and policy. He was previously at Hill+Knowlton Strategies. Cameron Kistler also joined as counsel. He most recently clerked for the Eastern District of Louisiana. ... David Andelman has been named visiting scholar at the Center on National Security at Fordham Law and director of the Red Lines Project. ... Brian Crawford has been promoted to SVP and department head for government affairs at the American Hotel & Lodging Association. His promotion is to fill Vanessa Sinders' role, who is leaving in December.

SPOTTED last night at the Nasdaq MarketSite for a party celebrating the new set of CNBC's "Squawk Box" -- (pics of the anchors and producers in their new digs: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=8fe051ade2dd5c5ceece4b1b4a3cf1b25fd730ce06c3ad73c706abcaf044f6cd12dd6d6a02b3909a68074486584181a9 ... http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=8fe051ade2dd5c5c23748c3dd24d5ecfdca315ada849e5fdfd1b41701c86fcfdcba70c63741a220afdfc9752d5d48a56 Mark Hoffman, Bob Greifeld, Jack Lew, Ron Meyer, Kevin O'Leary, Jeff Wilpon, Tom Rogers, Jim Cramer, Steve Forbes, former Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.), Terry Lundgren, Carl Quintanilla, "Squawk Box" anchors Joe Kernen, Andrew Ross Sorkin and Becky Quick, Tony Fratto, Sara Fagen, Kate Rooney, Aleksandra Sanford, Jeremy Skule, Brian Steel, Bob Pisani, Contessa Brewer, Lisa Villalobos, Matthew Quayle, Sandy Cannold.

SPOTTED last night at Toro Toro at the joint birthday party for Robb Watters, who turned 49, and Beau Phillips, who turned 50: Sen. Bob. Menendez (D-N.J.), Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-Calif.), Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.), Ari Storch, Marcus Mason, Marissa Lorenzetti, Rodney Emery, Carl Hulse, Shane Harris, Kelley Hudak, Ed Brookover, Lyndon Boozer, Michael Hutton, Jonathan Day, Christina Sevilla, Sarah Bovim, Ed Kelley, Virginia Del. Tim Hugo.

WELCOME TO THE WORLD -- Brent Robinson, deputy chief of staff for Rep. Rob Wittman (R-Va.), and Sarah Robinson welcomed Eve Robinson. "At 8 lbs and 7 oz, she is a happy and healthy new edition to the Robinson family." She joins big sister Willa. Pic http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=8fe051ade2dd5c5ceb31cfbc509fc32037b843a26e1e42ae53909198aa05b03da96351c638ee1784c6f4961861eb5bf7

-- Abdul El-Sayed, who's running as a Democrat for governor in Michigan (and who Daniel Strauss profiled in POLITICO Magazine: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=8fe051ade2dd5c5cfebfdd9b5bd8808cfc08cbb674a7b95a70267da830d88ad23de2ac54acb7ccfb6adb7f3da5878ac5 and Dr. Sarah Jukaku welcomed daughter Emmalee on Sunday. "She is 8lbs, 7oz; mother and baby are healthy. Her name means 'my hope.'" Pic http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=8fe051ade2dd5c5cbade051f3a61f9a2fa51e1b033a52f9090c680b605169f6e14daf9c348298b515df06b0e1375095d

****** A message from PhRMA: According to new analysis from the Moran Company, hospitals mark up medicine prices, on average, nearly 500 percent. The analysis of 20 medicines also found a hospital is paid 2.5 times what the biopharmaceutical company, who brought the medicine to market, receives. While hospital markups lead to higher costs for patients, employers and payers, these markups are often overlooked in conversations about medicine costs. As the provider market continues to become more concentrated and the number of medicines being administered in hospital-owned facilities is growing, the amount hospitals mark up medicine prices needs greater scrutiny.
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=8fe051ade2dd5c5c8c7743aac9c93b39fd876e6c34b2492419c2c387071ff2df82e6a51318f68076028db706cd10fb16 ******

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