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Presented by the National Retail Federation: Playbook is POLITICO's must-read briefing on what's driving the day Jan 15, 2019 View in browser
By Jake Sherman, Anna Palmer and Daniel Lippman

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DRIVING THE DAY
SHUTDOWN ... DAY 25 ... THE WHITE HOUSE sent a bunch of moderate House Democrats invitations to meet with the president, as Heather Caygle and Jake first reported late Monday afternoon. The idea is twofold: The White House is trying to show activity and is trying to look reasonable by hosting "negotiation" meetings. In a practical sense, it is also a play to try and build pressure on SPEAKER NANCY PELOSI. More from Andrew Restuccia, Rachael Bade, John Bresnahan and Burgess Everett

-- WE'RE IN UNCHARTED WATERS HERE, since this is now by far the longest shutdown ever. It's also the most intractable negotiation we've ever seen. So it stands to reason that the White House is trying to do something -- anything -- to unlock the negotiation. We're skeptical this will work, at least immediately, because the House isn't the Senate.

ANY DEAL will have to be a Pelosi-Schumer-Trump production. Getting a few moderates to moan will grab cable headlines, but won't change the fact that most House Democrats remain firmly opposed to PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP and his wall, and Pelosi understands that better than anyone.

WE DO GET THE SENSE, THOUGH, that both sides are getting sick of this shutdown. Of course, most White House aides want an off-ramp, because the president is getting the lion's share of the blame for the federal funding gap. But House Democratic aides are beginning to get a bit concerned that it will be tough to maintain their position, as more people miss paychecks and more of the government grinds to a halt.

WHAT HOUSE DEMOCRATS ARE LOOKING FOR: At the moment, TRUMP is firm both on building a barrier, and on the $5.7 billion he wants for it. He says he's negotiating, but at the moment, he's not. Changing his position on the wall around the edges doesn't suffice for most Democrats.

-- IF HE came down publicly on the number, and threw in something to sweeten the pot for Democrats, it might be tougher for them to hold firm against a border security package. It's tough to track this president, because he is on every side of every issue: He is fine with the shutdown, he wants it to end, he wants to discuss DACA, he'd rather wait for the courts, etc.

-- ONE IS THE LONELIEST NUMBER: AS OF THIS MOMENT, the president keeps saying he's at the White House alone, waiting for Democrats to talk to him. Guess what: Most presidents don't have vacation homes that they escape to most winter weekends, so, as a matter of fact, most presidents have spent their weekends in the White House. This isn't exactly sympathy inducing. NYT's Katie Rogers: "'I've Been Here All Weekend': A Shut-in President Weathers the Shutdown"

-- ONE MAJOR HANG-UP ... Dems are going to want the government opened to begin negotiating. But, if crafted correctly, Democrats and the White House can open government for a few weeks to get a border security package worked out.

Good Tuesday morning. FIRST IN PLAYBOOK -- TREASURY SECRETARY STEVEN MNUCHIN is headed to the Capitol this afternoon to speak with Republican senators at their weekly lunch. He is expected to tell the lawmakers that a vote for SENATE MINORITY LEADER CHUCK SCHUMER'S resolution of disapproval on the administration's move to ease sanctions on three Russian companies associated with Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska is a "vote for the Kremlin, China and Iran," according to a source familiar with Mnuchin's thinking. Schumer could force a vote as soon as today.

THE MAN OF THE HOUR ... BURGESS EVERETT: "McConnell tightens grip with Senate GOP amid shutdown fallout": "A handful of Senate Republicans are expressing frustration with their party's handling of the ongoing government shutdown. But Mitch McConnell is a long way from facing any sort of rebellion.

"The Senate GOP leader is standing firm in his resolve to not move a muscle on any government funding bill that doesn't have the president's approval ahead of time. That's earned him scorn among Democrats given that he endorsed a funding bill that didn't include the president's much-sought after border wall funding increases of more than $5 billion in December.

"But aside from some rank-and-file Republicans like Susan Collins (R-Maine), Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) and Cory Gardner (R-Colo.) who say Congress should again pass spending bills that don't provide additional wall funding, McConnell's allies say he's facing little pressure to change his stance as the longest shutdown in history lingers ever longer." POLITICO

-- WHAT REPUBLICANS ARE READING ... WILLIAM MCGURN in the WSJ: "Mitch McConnell Rules: The Senate majority leader's low-key shutdown strategy is working"

A message from the National Retail Federation:

American small businesses will be among the biggest losers of a trade war as tariffs threaten their bottom lines and force price increases. Scroll down to learn more. http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=92f63094a08df9bb0f02d94848367a96a4497e2e2ecc2259ea09c254a7e9d57f4da3fbad81f75fa7f6f479e1a57243e8

THE IMPACT -- "FDA to restart more food safety inspections affected by shutdown," by Helena Bottemiller Evich: "The FDA plans as soon as Tuesday to restart food safety inspections at facilities that handle riskier products like fresh-cut produce, as the partial government shutdown extends into its fourth week, FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb said Monday.

"Under the agency's initial shutdown plan, most routine food safety inspections were halted. Staff who were excepted from the shutdown have been working without pay to keep a number of high-priority functions running." POLITICO

-- ERIC WOLFF: "Shutdown's hidden impact: Frozen inspections, fraud cases"

THE LATEST ON STEVE KING ... HEATHER CAYGLE, SARAH FERRIS and JOHN BRESNAHAN: "Steve King stripped of committee seats - with more punishment coming": "House GOP leaders moved to strip embattled Rep. Steve King from his committee assignments on Monday, part of wave of congressional action over recent racist comments by the Iowa Republican.

"King will lose his seat on three panels, including the Judiciary Committee, where he served as chairman of the subcommittee on the Constitution and civil justice. House Democrats will also hold at least one floor vote this week denouncing King after he defended the terms 'white supremacist' and 'white nationalist' during a New York Times interview." POLITICO

-- TWO GOP LAWMAKERS -- Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) and Rep. Chris Stewart (R-Utah) -- have called for King's resignation.

-- KING TWEETED his statement last night, saying: "My Statement on Kevin McCarthy's Unprecedented Assault on my Freedom of Speech." At the same time, he says that he's being pushed out for something he didn't say. Both can't be true.

HAPPENING TODAY -- "Trump's AG pick to steer through Dem, GOP queries at hearing," by AP's Michael Balsamo and Eric Tucker: William "Barr will face questions Tuesday from the Senate Judiciary Committee about his relationship with Trump and his views on executive powers. Barr plans to tell legislators that Trump never sought any promises, assurances or commitments - and that he didn't offer Trump any - before he was nominated for the post." AP

SCOOP -- "Trump Discussed Pulling U.S. From NATO, Aides Say Amid New Concerns Over Russia," by NYT's Julian Barnes and Helene Cooper: "There are few things that President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia desires more than the weakening of NATO, the military alliance among the United States, Europe and Canada that has deterred Soviet and Russian aggression for 70 years. Last year, President Trump suggested a move tantamount to destroying NATO: the withdrawal of the United States. Senior administration officials told The New York Times that several times over the course of 2018, Mr. Trump privately said he wanted to withdraw from the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.

"Current and former officials who support the alliance said they feared Mr. Trump could return to his threat as allied military spending continued to lag behind the goals the president had set. In the days around a tumultuous NATO summit meeting last summer, they said, Mr. Trump told his top national security officials that he did not see the point of the military alliance, which he presented as a drain on the United States." NYT

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THE INVESTIGATIONS -- "Conservative writer Jerome Corsi says Mueller has summoned his stepson to testify before grand jury," by WaPo's Roz Helderman: "Corsi said in a Fox Business Network interview Monday night that his stepson, Andrew Stettner, had recently received a subpoena for his testimony. As part of their investigation, Mueller's prosecutors have sought information about emails from 2016 that Corsi deleted from his computer, including exchanges with Stone, according to draft court documents that Corsi released last year." WaPo

TRUMP'S TUESDAY -- The president is having lunch with congressional lawmakers in the Roosevelt Room at 12:30 p.m. He will hold a phone call on the border at 2:30 p.m. with state, local and community leaders in the Oval Office.
PLAYBOOK READS


PHOTO DU JOUR: President Donald Trump presides over a fast food reception for the Clemson Tigers at the White House on Monday. | Susan Walsh/AP Photo

2020 WATCH -- "Eyeing 2020, Priorities USA blows up 'television-first strategy,'" by Chris Cadelago: "Priorities USA Action, the top Democratic super PAC targeting President Donald Trump in 2020, is promoting its head of digital operations to a new role overseeing all paid media - something akin to a watershed moment in presidential politics.

"The move to install Danielle Butterfield as paid media director leading the organization's integrated marketing effort, first reported by POLITICO, is a tacit acknowledgment of the growth of digital spending as a share of campaign ad dollars." POLITICO

-- ALEX THOMPSON: "The time Julián Castro did business with Trump - and quickly regretted it"

HMM -- "Old land deal quietly haunts Mick Mulvaney as he serves as Trump's chief of staff," by WaPo's Michael Kranish in Indian Land, S.C.: "Mick Mulvaney was a young businessman and budding politician 11 years ago when he became co-owner of a company that wanted to build a strip mall near a busy intersection in this upscale bedroom community outside Charlotte.

"All that was needed was money. The company cobbled together the financing - which included borrowing $1.4 million from a family firm owned by a prominent local businessman named Charles Fonville Sr., according to court records and interviews. Eventually, the project fell apart. The mall never got built.

"And Mulvaney moved on, building a political career as a firebrand fiscal hawk and tea party pioneer in Congress who railed against out-of-control government deficits - eventually rising a few weeks ago to be President Trump's acting chief of staff. Fonville, however, said his company has not received the $2.5 million with interest that he said it is owed. In explaining the debt to a Senate committee during his 2017 confirmation hearing, Mulvaney cast it as a casualty of a bad real estate deal, saying the sum 'will go unpaid.'" WaPo

A message from the National Retail Federation:


IVANKA UPDATE ... "Ivanka Trump to Help Choose New World Bank President," by NYT's Annie Karni: "Ivanka Trump, the president's eldest daughter and senior adviser, will play a role in helping to select the next head of the World Bank, the White House said Monday. Ms. Trump, who had been rumored to be a contender for the position herself, will not be a candidate, a Trump administration official said.

"But she will assist the Treasury secretary, Steven Mnuchin, and the acting White House chief of staff, Mick Mulvaney, in choosing a successor to Jim Yong Kim, the current president of the World Bank who announced last week he would be stepping down. Mr. Mnuchin called Ms. Trump last week and asked her if she would be involved." NYT

TRUMP'S INAUGURATION ...

-- NYT'S MAGGIE HABERMAN, SHARON LAFRANIERE and BEN PROTESS: "At Trump's Inauguration, $10,000 for Makeup and Lots of Room Service": "Private donors put up $107 million to usher Donald J. Trump into office in style two years ago, and it is now clear just how enthusiastically his inaugural committee went to town with it. There was $10,000 for makeup for 20 aides at an evening inaugural event.

"There was another $30,000 in per diem payments to dozens of contract staff members, in addition to their fully covered hotel rooms, room service orders, plane tickets and taxi rides, including some to drop off laundry. The bill from the Trump International Hotel was more than $1.5 million. And there was a documentary, overseen by a close friend of Melania Trump's, that was ultimately abandoned." NYT

-- ABC'S JOHN SANTUCCI, MATTHEW MOSK, ALLISON PECORIN and BEN SIEGEL: The inauguration spent "more than $130,000 for customized seat cushions at two gala dinners for the president-elect, $10,000 to provide makeup to the servers at another formal dinner, and $2.7 million to a company that produced a Broadway-style rendition of Frank Sinatra's 'New York, New York' using Las Vegas show girls flown in by Trump pal Steve Wynn for a private event." ABC

WHAT THEY'RE DOING NOW -- Per Ben Lefebvre: "An investment fund has hired former Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke as a managing director ... Zinke will be based in Montana and California, but have 'extensive travel' overseas and help 'pursue investing and development opportunities globally' for Artillery One, which lists its address as a post office box in North Carolina."

BEYOND THE BELTWAY ... TEACHERS STRIKE IN L.A. ... L.A. TIMES' HOWARD BLUME, SONALI KOHLI and HANNAH FRY: "Only about a third of LAUSD students attended school on first day of teachers' strike"
PLAYBOOKERS
MEDIAWATCH -- Claire McCaskill has joined NBC News and MSNBC as a political analyst. She will first appear this morning on MSNBC's "Morning Joe." ... Sam Brodey is joining The Daily Beast as a congressional reporter. He previously covered covered Congress and Washington for MinnPost.

BIRTHDAY OF THE DAY: Stuart E. Eizenstat, senior counsel at Covington and Burling, is 76. How he's celebrated: "[F]irst, with my special friend Marion Ein Lewin, whose birthday is the day before; second, as a proud father and grandfather, watching my son and daughter-in-law Jay and Jessica Eizenstat receive a special award for their service to the Torah School of Greater Washington, and at the same event, to dedicate a resource room for children with different learning requirements at the Torah School in the name of my wonderful late wife of 45 years Fran Eizenstat." Playbook Plus Q&A

BIRTHDAYS: Jonny Hiler, principal at Miller Strategies ... CNN's Jeremy Diamond ...Mark Penn, president of PE firm The Stagwell Group, is 66 (hat tip Alexis Williams) ... Deesha Dyer, senior executive at the Ford Foundation ... Hawaii Gov. David Ige is 62 ... Robin Goldman (h/t Tammy Haddad) ... Scott Hall is 35 ... Andrew Wills ... Scott Stanzel, managing VP of corporate communications at Capital One ... Chuck Babington ... New Yorker staff writer Jon Lee Anderson is 62 ... Lorraine Voles, VP of external relations at GWU ... Carol Kellermann (h/ts Jon Haber) ... Pat White ... Adam Levine (h/ts Blain Rethmeier and Dick Keil) ... Valeri Vasquez ... Lisa Zamosky ... Lisa Garcia (h/t Amy
Brundage) ... Sam Schulz ... POLITICO's Dale Bishop, Wesley Morgan, Don Sapatkin and Mina Hamblet ... Alison Percich ... Jason Larrabee is 46 ... Sarah Kliff, senior policy correspondent at Vox ...

... former Rep. Dave Brat (R-Va.), now dean of Liberty University's business school, is 55 ... Katherine LaBeau ... Margaret Richardson, global head of policy at Airbnb and former COS to Eric Holder at DOJ (h/tt Liz Jarvis-Shean) ... Adam Sexton (h/t Jeff Grappone) ... Sadie Belle ... IPCC's Jonathan Lynn is 64 ... Rebecca Haller ... Biden alum Claire DeMatteis (hubby tip: Michael Marquardt) ... Sarah Svoboda, BBC producer (h/t Ben Chang) ... WaPo's Aaron Gregg ... Doug Gottlieb is 43 ... Airbnb's Christopher Nulty ... Spencer Chretien ... Erin Lardy ... Daniel Arkin ... Mike Hoffman ... Stephen Lewis ... Sprint's Lisa (Burgess) Belot ... Melissa Green, a partner at Rational360 (h/t Brian
Bartlett) ... David Agnew ... Joe Coletti ... Jordan Ray ... Gregory Ehrlich ... Alex Xu ... James Thompson is 29 ... Toni Verstandig ... Todd McKinley ... Israr Khan ... Joe Fuld (h/t Teresa Vilmain)

A message from the National Retail Federation:

Faced with limited resources, local retailers simply cannot absorb the cost of tariffs. They're forced to raise prices and reduce hiring, making it harder to compete in the global economy. As a small retailer based in Illinois said, "When I hear tariff, I think tax." Visit http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=92f63094a08df9bb1d0163f09fb448712c20c256af6d95abe6f89bc3ffd932019482ba99336a2771c41536c1724a83e1 to hear the stories of Main Street retailers impacted by the trade war.

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