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Presented by the American Beverage Association: Feb 21, 2019 View in browser
By Anna Palmer, Jake Sherman, Daniel Lippman, Eli Okun and Garrett Ross

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THE LATEST ON VENEZUELA -- MCCLATCHY'S FRANCO ORDONEZ: "Vice President Mike Pence will go to Colombia to demand Maduro step down": "Pence will go to Colombia on Monday to speak with the Colombian president and regional leaders about the ongoing turmoil in Venezuela and rally the international community behind opposition leader Juan Guaidó.

"The White House said Pence will deliver remarks to the 14 nations that are part of the 'Lima Group' in Bogota about addressing the humanitarian crisis in Venezuela and ongoing U.S. efforts to deliver aid to the country. He'll meet with Colombian President Ivan Duque and other officials from the Western Hemisphere 'to define concrete steps that support the Venezuelan people and a transition to democracy.' Senior administration officials said Pence will state plainly that 'the time has come for Nicolas Maduro to step aside.'" McClatchy

-- AP: "Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro is ordering the border with Brazil closed as opposition leaders plan to bring in foreign humanitarian aid from neighboring nations. Maduro said on state television Thursday he's also considering a closure of Venezuela's border with Colombia." AP

AXIOS' JONATHAN SWAN: "Scoop: McConnell recommends Kelly Craft to Trump for U.N. ambassador": "Like McConnell, Craft is from Kentucky, where she and her husband, billionaire coal CEO Joe Craft, rank among the state's highest-profile Republican donors. Last month, she was being eyed as a potential candidate for lieutenant governor by Kentucky Gov. Matt Bevin in his re-election race later this year, per Insider Louisville." Axios

SPOTTED: U.S. Ambassador to Germany Ric Grenell at the White House today. ... Roger Stone boarding a JetBlue flight this morning from Fort Lauderdale to D.C., where he is scheduled to appear in court. Pic ... Another pic (hat tip: Ally Brito)

Good Thursday afternoon. Today's AM edition misstated the dates of the Campaign Journalism Conference hosted by the University of Chicago and the Nieman Foundation. The conference will be held April 11-12, 2019, at Google's HQ in Chicago.

WHAT'S ON THE PRESIDENT'S MIND -- @realDonaldTrump at 8:55 a.m.: "I want 5G, and even 6G, technology in the United States as soon as possible. It is far more powerful, faster, and smarter than the current standard. American companies must step up their efforts, or get left behind. There is no reason that we should be lagging behind on........."

... at 8:59 a.m.: "....something that is so obviously the future. I want the United States to win through competition, not by blocking out currently more advanced technologies. We must always be the leader in everything we do, especially when it comes to the very exciting world of technology!"

... at 11:09 a.m.: ".@JussieSmollett - what about MAGA and the tens of millions of people you insulted with your racist and dangerous comments!? #MAGA" HuffPost's Andy Campbell and Yashar Ali: "Jussie Smollett Accused Of Staging Attack Due To Salary Woes: Chicago Police"

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2020 WATCH ... WELL, THAT'S THAT -- "Pompeo on Kansas Senate run: 'It's ruled out,'" by Caitlin Oprysko: "The former Kansas congressman and CIA director has previously dodged questions about whether he plans on running in 2020 to claim the seat currently held by retiring GOP Sen. Pat Roberts, fueling speculation that he might by attending certain events and meeting with GOP operatives in the state.

"But in an interview on NBC's 'Today' show on Thursday, the secretary of state threw cold water on the prospect, telling anchor Craig Melvin that 'it's ruled out.' 'I love Kansas. I'm going to be the secretary of state as long as president Trump gives me the opportunity to serve as America's senior diplomat,' Pompeo said." POLITICO ... Video of the interview

-- NYT'S WILLIAM NEUMAN and J. DAVID GOODMAN: "With 2020 in Sight, de Blasio Turns Left After Amazon's Exit": "He has suggested that he is considering running for president in 2020, and taking a highly visible stand against a big corporation and its phenomenally wealthy chief executive, Jeff Bezos, could score points with the energized Democratic activists on the left who are likely to vote in primaries.

"It gives him a platform to discuss corporate behavior and income inequality, one of his core progressive issues. It provides an avenue for Mr. de Blasio to position himself on the campaign trail as a mayor who stood up to Amazon - even if he once stood alongside them." NYT

-- "Obama political arm to merge with Holder-run group," by The Hill's Reid Wilson: "President Obama's political organization is merging with Eric Holder's National Redistricting Action Fund, giving it control of the vaunted list of supporters, donors and volunteers that Obama and his team built over more than a decade." The Hill

NC-09 UPDATE -- LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: "North Carolina election board says Mark Harris' campaign withheld relevant documents"

THE INVESTIGATIONS, INAUGURATION EDITION ... BLOOMBERG'S CALEB MELBY: "Trump's Inaugural Team Scrambled to Defend Staff and Record Haul": "The draft document, which was reviewed by Bloomberg News, shows how the group prepared to defend its work as questions intensified about its reported $107 million haul.

"According to nine inaugural staffers and others familiar with the committee's efforts, the process of planning for Trump's big week was chaotic and opaque, dominated by staff culled from Colony Capital, the real estate firm founded by [Thomas] Barrack, and by ex-Trump campaign chairman [Paul] Manafort's circle of associates." Bloomberg

-- WSJ'S REBECCA DAVIS O'BRIEN and REBECCA BALLHAUS: "Trump Inaugural Committee Challenged Vendor Requests and Budgeting, Documents Show": "In the weeks before his inauguration, top officials on President Trump's inaugural committee repeatedly sounded alarms about the budgets submitted by several vendors, according to correspondence, committee records and draft budgets reviewed by The Wall Street Journal. ...

"Federal prosecutors are probing the committee's dealings with vendors as part of a wide-ranging investigation into the 2017 inaugural committee, according to a subpoena the committee received earlier this month and people familiar with the investigation. Among other matters, prosecutors are interested in whether any vendors were paid off the books, the people familiar with the investigation said." WSJ

DARREN SAMUELSOHN: "Manafort's Virginia sentencing set for March 8"

ANDREW DESIDERIO: "Jim Jordan: Michael Cohen's testimony a 'charade' to begin impeaching Trump"

THE TRUMP ADMINISTRATION -- ABC'S MERIDITH MCGRAW (@meridithmcgraw): "White House releases the 2018 Science & Technology Highlights Report. Noticeable -- not one mention of 'climate change.'" The report

TRADE WARS -- BLOOMBERG: "China Offers to Buy $30 Billion More U.S. Agricultural Imports a Year": "China is proposing that it could buy an additional $30 billion a year of U.S. agricultural products including soybeans, corn and wheat as part of a possible trade deal being negotiated by the two countries, according to people with knowledge of the plan.

"The offer to buy the extra farm produce would be part of the memoranda of understanding under discussion by U.S. and Chinese negotiators in Washington, according to the people, who asked not to be identified because the plans are confidential. The purchases would be on top of pre-trade war levels and continue for the period covered by the memoranda, they said." Bloomberg

AT THE BORDER -- USA TODAY'S ALAN GOMEZ: "The Trump administration keeps breaking up migrant families. Here's how they do it": "[H]undreds of children crossing the border continue to be separated from their parents in a process requiring none of the oversight used to remove children in the United States from their homes, according to a USA TODAY review of the system. ...

"At the border, the removal decision is made solely by U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents in the field. No child welfare specialist is required, and no judge is involved in a decision that cannot be appealed. ... In the seven months after Trump and [Judge Dana] Sabraw issued their orders, Homeland Security separated at least 218 children from their parents in part by using the danger exception." USA Today

AT 1600 PENN -- THE DAILY BEAST'S ASAWIN SUEBSAENG: "Trump White House Is Forcing Interns to Sign NDAs and Threatening Them With Financial Ruin": "Upon orientation, the interns signed their very own non-disclosure agreements (NDAs), with the envoy of the counsel's office warning them that a breach of the NDA-blabbing to the media, for instance-could result in legal, and thus financial, consequences for them. Interns were also told that they would not receive their own copies, these sources said. ...

"To veterans of other administrations, the act of compelling interns to sign these types of NDAs would seem odd, if not downright unenforceable or legally dubious. To this White House, it's standard operating procedure." The Daily Beast

GOLDEN STATE REPORT -- "California Democrats to Congress: Don't bulldoze our privacy law," by Cristiano Lima and John Hendel: "Congressional efforts to pass a national data privacy law could face a major obstacle: California's powerful bloc of House Democrats.

"That's because many California Democrats are happy with their home state's new privacy law, which is tougher than what Republicans in Congress seem likely to entertain. And those same Democrats are wary of giving Republicans a chance to pass federal legislation that weakens California's rules, which could set a de facto national standard if left alone." POLITICO

-- POLITICO MAGAZINE'S MICHAEL GRUNWALD: "Trump's War on California": "Of course, every state is in better economic shape than it was during the Great Recession, but California has enjoyed its renaissance while pursuing policies Republicans associate with economic ruin. It has an $11-an-hour minimum wage, scheduled to rise to $15 by 2023. Its unusually aggressive implementation of Obamacare since 2013 has reduced its uninsured rate from 17 percent to just 7 percent.

"Its ambitious clean energy and climate policies in many ways inspired the Green New Deal; the state is committed to generating 50 percent of its electricity from renewable sources by 2030 and 100 percent by 2045, and its stringent fuel-efficiency standards help explain why it's home to half the nation's electric vehicles. In general, California is flourishing while pursuing the exact opposite of the policies Trump is pursuing in Washington." POLITICO Magazine

MEDIAWATCH -- NYT'S ANNIE KARNI (@anniekarni): "Hannity's world tour with Trump continues. 'Hannity to Present an Interview with President Donald Trump From Hanoi.'"

-- WSJ'S KHADEEJA SAFDAR: "Meet Under Armour CEO's Unusual Adviser: an MSNBC Anchor: Kevin Plank flew journalist Stephanie Ruhle on private jet, took her advice on business issues, according to current and former executives; board questioned CEO about ties." WSJ

-- NBC'S CLAIRE ATKINSON: "New WSJ editor on China, big tech, and the struggle to cover a 'unique' president"

DOJ ARRIVAL LOUNGE -- FIRST IN PLAYBOOK: Will Levi is now counselor to Attorney General Bill Barr. He previously was special assistant to the president for domestic policy and is a Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) alum.

TRANSITIONS -- Mitch Bainwol will be chief government relations officer at Ford Motor Company. He most recently was president and CEO of the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers. ... Corey Platt has launched Rose Public Affairs, a public and government affairs firm. He previously was political director at the Democratic Governors Association.

ENGAGED -- Matt McGrath, press secretary for Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel and a Tammy Duckworth alum, on Saturday proposed to Lourdes Duarte, an anchor at WGN. Instapics

WEEKEND WEDDING -- Jack Blanchard, author of POLITICO Europe's London Playbook, married Emily Midorikawa, an author, on Wednesday at Old Marylebone Town Hall.

BONUS BIRTHDAY OF THE DAY: Jeremy Gaines, SVP of corporate communications at PBS. What he's been reading recently: "I just picked up 'Zucked: Waking Up to the Facebook Catastrophe,' by Roger McNamee. Like many people, I've been fascinated with Facebook's influence over our lives." Playbook Plus Q&A

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