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Presented by the National Retail Federation: Playbook is POLITICO's must-read briefing on what's driving the day Jan 18, 2019 View in browser
By Jake Sherman, Anna Palmer and Daniel Lippman

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DRIVING THE DAY
BREAKING ... TESLA is cutting its full-time workforce by 7 PERCENT. The company announcement

WHAT EVERYONE WILL BE TALKING ABOUT TODAY ... BUZZFEED'S JASON LEOPOLD and ANTHONY CORMIER: "President Trump Directed His Attorney To Lie To Congress About The Moscow Tower Project": "President Donald Trump directed his longtime attorney Michael Cohen to lie to Congress about negotiations to build a Trump Tower in Moscow, according to two federal law enforcement officials involved in an investigation of the matter. Trump also supported a plan, set up by Cohen, to visit Russia during the presidential campaign, in order to personally meet President Vladimir Putin and jump-start the tower negotiations. 'Make it happen,' the sources said Trump told Cohen.

"And even as Trump told the public he had no business deals with Russia, the sources said Trump and his children, Ivanka and Donald Trump Jr., received regular, detailed updates about the real estate development from Cohen, whom they put in charge of the project. Cohen pleaded guilty in November to lying about the deal in testimony and in a two-page statement to the Senate and House intelligence committees. ...

"[T]wo sources have told BuzzFeed News that Cohen also told the special counsel that after the election, the president personally instructed him to lie - by claiming that negotiations ended months earlier than they actually did - in order to obscure Trump's involvement. The special counsel's office learned about Trump's directive for Cohen to lie to Congress through interviews with multiple witnesses from the Trump Organization and internal company emails, text messages, and a cache of other documents.

"Cohen then acknowledged those instructions during his interviews with that office. ... The White House did not return detailed messages seeking comment, nor did an attorney for Donald Trump Jr. or the Trump Organization." BuzzFeed

-- BY THE WAY ... Since the president canceled the Democratic trip to Afghanistan, all top key Democrats -- people like CALIFORNIA REP. ADAM SCHIFF and SPEAKER NANCY PELOSI -- are probably around to comment about this story.

POLITICO MAGAZINE: CHRIS CHRISTIE BOOK EXCERPT: "How Jared Kushner Tried to Stop Me From Running the Trump Transition": "I'd been around politics long enough to grasp what was happening. Jared was trying-and not so subtly-to derail my appointment as transition chairman. ...

"'Jared,' [Trump] said, 'why would we have to wait on this? It's going to be a great announcement for him and a great announcement for us.' Jared let a beat pass before he spoke up. But when he started talking, he sounded like a person who'd been holding poison inside himself for a very long time. 'You really want to know why?' Jared asked. 'Yeah,' Trump said. 'Because I don't trust him to have this, and you know why I don't trust him to have it.'" ...

"Jared began to detail his ancient grievances against me. 'He tried to destroy my father,' Jared said. ... As Jared spoke, he never raised his voice. But some strong emotions are not dependent on volume. Jared delivered his in a soft quiver. As he continued, his voice began to crack.

"'It wasn't fair,' he said. ... 'This was a family matter,' Jared said, 'a matter to be handled by the family or by the rabbis' - not by a hard-charging federal prosecutor. Jared glanced at me, then fixed his gaze on his father-in-law, Donald. 'How can he be trusted to handle the transition?'" POLITICO Magazine ... $18.30 on Amazon

SHUTDOWN ... DAY 28 ...

THE FOLLOWING THINGS ARE TRUE:

-- PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP has every right to direct the military not to fly PELOSI and her congressional delegation to Brussels and Afghanistan. He's the commander in chief. But disclosing a speaker's travel to a war zone is unprecedented, and many believe it to be petty. So ...

-- ... PELOSI also has every right to decide, using whatever metric she'd like, to use her perch as speaker to strip money from any and all of the president's priorities. Every spending bill has to go through her House, and as an appropriator, Pelosi is very familiar with the budget and how to exact pain through the appropriations process.

-- PELOSI also is overseeing the oversight of TRUMP'S administration. She's been somewhat benevolent to the president, saying impeachment would have to be bipartisan, and the oversight of the administration has to be organized and not scattershot. But she can make life exceedingly painful for Trump.

-- TRUMP'S DECISION to ground Pelosi's flight will not necessarily mean there will be a breakthrough in ending the shutdown. The two sides are dug in, and that has nothing to do with her trip to visit the troops. There are also lawmakers scattered across the globe at the moment.

-- NYT'S JULIE HIRSCHFELD DAVIS, ANNIE KARNI and NICK FANDOS: "White House officials - including Mick Mulvaney, the acting chief of staff - had been irked by Ms. Pelosi's invocation of security concerns as her premise for urging Mr. Trump to move his speech, and sought to put her in her place after she had emphasized that she represented a coequal branch in governing, according to aides who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe internal discussions." NYT

Good Friday morning. FIRST LADY MELANIA TRUMP is in Florida for the weekend. She flew a government plane from Andrews to Palm Beach. Jake was listening to air-traffic control after the very helpful @CivMilAir Twitter feed noted that EXEC1F -- the first lady's call sign -- had taken off.

-- "Trump Pulls U.S. Delegation Out of Davos Forum, Citing Shutdown," by Bloomberg's Justin Sink and Saleha Mohsin

A message from the National Retail Federation:

Do tariffs help American businesses and consumers? Anyone? Anyone? No, they don't. They almost certainly make things worse. Scroll down to learn more. www.tariffsarebad.com

THE SCENE -- "Chasing Nancy Pelosi's bus to nowhere," by Andrew Desiderio: "Pelosi's office learned from reporters about the president's letter to her. At the time, the delegation's mode of transportation to Joint Base Andrews - the Air Force bus - was parked outside the Rayburn building on the south side of Capitol. It eventually made its way to the east front of the Capitol building, where reporters chased after it and, after it parked, tried to identify the lawmakers on board through the tinted windows.

"At least three dozen journalists were accompanying the bus as it made its journey around the Capitol complex, while Capitol Police officers kept them at bay and instructed anxious gawkers to stay behind the group of reporters. Wide-eyed tourists were taking photos of the bus on their smartphones, suspecting someone important was on board. One reporter grabbed a shared electric scooter and rode toward the bus, leaving everyone else in the dust." POLITICO

THE MOOD -- "'Feel like I'm going to strangle you': Shutdown breaks Congress' spirit," by Burgess Everett and Heather Caygle: "A dismal mood has descended on Capitol Hill ... The House speaker and the president are at war. A bipartisan Senate push to reopen the government failed for a second consecutive week. And no shutdown talks are even planned between party leaders. 'I feel like I'm going to strangle you,' quipped one senator who's tried in vain to find a breakthrough when a reporter asked about their state of mind.

"That lawmaker was joking, probably, but the vibes in the Capitol are funereal at best. And with most members headed home for a long weekend, the partial shutdown is essentially guaranteed to enter into its second month. It's an unheard-of impasse even in a capital that's seen debt crises, blunt budget cuts and scores of unprecedented political conflicts over the past decade." POLITICO

THE IMPACT -- "As Shutdown Drags On, Some Step Up to Help Unpaid Federal Workers," by NYT's Glenn Thrush, Julie Bosman and Kirk Johnson: "The efforts range from the grass-roots to the institutional. Banks and credit unions have suspended late-payment fees on credit cards, and some are offering low- or no-interest bridge loans. Utilities and cellphone companies have also offered to help in varying degrees, and mass transit systems in Florida and other states are providing free or reduced-price rides for those who are furloughed or working unpaid." NYT

-- WAPO'S FAIZ SIDDIQUI: "Metro is losing $400,000 a day during shutdown, agency says"

-- NAHAL TOOSI: "State Department calling employees back to work during the shutdown": "The Trump administration on Thursday called all U.S. diplomats and other State Department employees back to work despite the ongoing government shutdown, telling them they will get salary for at least one pay period. The decision to fully restaff U.S. embassies worldwide as well as State's headquarters in Washington comes as thousands of other government employees are being brought back to work, but in many cases without pay." POLITICO

-- JENNIFER SCHOLTES: "The longest government shutdown in U.S. history will scar the federal bureaucracy and U.S. economy long after the doors are unlocked and workers return. The feds will struggle to dig out of a backlog of hiring and training that's essential to pushing out tax refunds, protecting U.S. borders and guiding air traffic. Government contractors are expected to jack up prices on everything from helicopters to IT support, growing wise to an administration that doesn't pay its bills for weeks on end." POLITICO

JUMPING THE GUN? ... TED HESSON: "DOJ hiring attorneys to handle property seizures for border wall": "The Justice Department placed an online job posting for a pair of attorneys to tackle border wall litigation in South Texas - a sign of coming property seizures and other legal controversies that President Donald Trump anticipates if he plows ahead with his signature project. ... The two advertised jobs, based in McAllen and Brownsville, will pay between $53,062 and $138,790, according to a posting to a federal jobs website." POLITICO

AXIOS' JONATHAN SWAN (@jonathanvswan): "Per two sources with direct knowledge: Tony Blair met with Jared Kushner at the White House earlier this week to discuss Middle East policy. Blair worked on the unsuccessful Quartet. Kushner prepping to release admin's plan, after months of effectively no contact w Palestinians."

ALEX ISENSTADT: "Popular GOP governor Hogan flirts with primary challenge vs. Trump": "Republican Gov. Larry Hogan is acting a lot like a guy who wants to run against Donald Trump in 2020 - and the president's reelection team is taking notice.

"The second-term Maryland governor has been implicitly going after Trump in speeches, meeting with Never Trump Republicans, and planning a March trip to Iowa as vice chair of the National Governors Association.

"It's all fueling speculation that Hogan, a 62-year-old cancer survivor who coasted to reelection in liberal Maryland and remains one of the most popular governors in the country, is open to the prospect of a long-shot primary challenge to the incumbent president. His flirtation comes at a time when Trump is facing increasing blowback over his handling of the protracted government shutdown and bracing for a potentially devastating report by special counsel Robert Mueller. ...

"The White House is paying close attention. The president's political aides have been monitoring the Maryland governor for months, and several said they regarded the inauguration speech as an unmistakable act of aggression. They noted that Trump 2016 primary rival, Jeb Bush, was a featured speaker at the ceremony, and that Mark Salter, a longtime Republican speechwriter and a fierce Trump critic, helped craft Hogan's address.

"'Any potential challenger should understand that the Trump campaign is better organized than any campaign in history, especially with the support of the Republican Party, which is firmly behind the president,' said Chris Carr, the Trump 2020 political director." POLITICO

KEVIN MCCARTHY AT THE WHEEL ... WAPO'S BOB COSTA and MIKE DEBONIS: "McCarthy's challenge to Steve King after years of GOP inaction stands as first test for minority leader": "For McCarthy, 53, the hour-long confrontation with King was a critical moment early in his tenure as the new leader of Republicans in the House, testing whether the easygoing Californian was willing to take on a popular conservative and assert himself in the wake of sweeping GOP defeats in the 2018 elections and the high-profile speakership of Rep. Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis.).

"It was also a reminder of how Republican leaders have done little to police their ranks on the charged issue of race in recent years, from their embrace of Trump despite him casting doubt on President Barack Obama's U.S. citizenship to their support of the divisive King - making his punishment an outlier rather than the standard. ... McCarthy referenced that history in an interview with a local radio station this week. 'Past leaders did not act,' he said. 'I just felt, I don't care if it hurts me or not - I've got to just do the right thing.'" WaPo

-- "Rep. Steve King raising money off controversy from white nationalism, supremacy comments," by The Des Moines Register's Robin Opsahl

GABBY ORR: "'When are we going to start up again?' Conservatives want Trump to act on judicial nominees"

DEPT. OF WOOING ... WAPO'S SEAN SULLIVAN and JOSH DAWSEY: "McConnell courting Pompeo to run for an open Senate seat in Kansas": "Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) has personally courted Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to consider running for an open Senate seat in Kansas, according to people familiar with the effort, a move that could anger President Trump and further roil his tumultuous Cabinet. Senate GOP leaders have been so dedicated to recruiting Pompeo that McConnell directly urged him to consider it in a recent telephone call, according to two people familiar with the conversation, which has not been previously reported." WaPo

TRUMP'S FRIDAY -- THE PRESIDENT will meet with Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin at 12:45 this afternoon.

TV TONIGHT ... BOB COSTA sits down with Jake, NYT's Mike Schmidt, CNN's Laura Jarrett and NBC's Kelly O'Donnell on PBS' "Washington Week" at 8 p.m.

A message from the National Retail Federation:


SUNDAY SO FAR ...

CBS

"Face the Nation": Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) ... Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) ... Jason Rezaian. Panel: Molly Ball, Ramesh Ponnuru, Jamelle Bouie and David Sanger

NBC

"Meet the Press": Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.) ... Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) ... Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.). Panel: Peter Baker, Joshua Johnson, Danielle Pletka and Heidi Przybyla

FOX

"FOX News Sunday": House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn (D-S.C.). Panel: Newt Gingrich, Donna Edwards, Guy Benson and Charles Lane

CNN

"State of the Union": Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) ... Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D-Hawaii). Panel: Rep. Nanette Diaz Barragán (D-Calif.), Mia Love, Rick Santorum and Jennifer Granholm

CNN

"Inside Politics": Eliana Johnson, Kaitlan Collins, Seung Min Kim and Michael Shear
PLAYBOOK READS


PHOTO DU JOUR: Central American migrants cross the Suchiate river by raft and bridge at the Mexico-Guatemala border on Thursday, part of a new caravan trying to reach the U.S. | Marco Ugarte/AP Photo

CLICKER -- The New Yorker's new cover "Walled In" by John Cuneo shows Trump building a wall around himself on the Resolute Desk in the Oval Office. The cover

SCOOP -- "Trump admin weighed targeting migrant families, speeding up deportation of children," by NBC's Julia Ainsley: "The draft ... shows officials wanted to specifically target parents in migrant families for increased prosecutions, contradicting the administration's previous statements. In June, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen said the administration did 'not have a policy of separating families at the border' but was simply enforcing existing law." NBC

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2020 WATCH ... K-FILE -- "How Kirsten Gillibrand went from pushing for more deportations to wanting to abolish ICE," by CNN's Andrew Kaczynski: "A review by CNN's KFile of Gillibrand's old campaign websites and materials, speeches, interviews and legislative history show how central Gillibrand's conservative positions on immigration were to her message during her brief career as a member of the House." CNN

MEDIAWATCH -- "Jesse Angelo Is Out as Publisher of The New York Post," by NYT's Jaclyn Peiser: "Taking his place is Sean Giancola, The Post's chief revenue officer. Mr. Angelo, 45, started out as a stringer for Page Six, the paper's saucy, celebrity-skewering gossip column. ... Mr. Angelo has known Rupert Murdoch's younger son, James R. Murdoch, since kindergarten. The two attended Harvard together, and Mr. Angelo was the best man in the younger Mr. Murdoch's wedding. They are still close." NYT
PLAYBOOKERS
AU SINE INSTITUTE OF POLICY AND POLITICS' INAUGURAL CLASS OF FELLOWS: Abdul El-Sayed (former director of Detroit Health Department and candidate for governor of Michigan) ... Former Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam ... Bill Kristol ... Ruth Marcus ... Karen Zacarias (playwright)

TRANSITION -- Jason Bresler, the outgoing political director for the DCCC, will join the Strategy Group as a partner.

BIRTHWEEK (was Monday): Dan Scavino ... Amanda Callanan, director of communications for the Claremont Institute (hubby tip: Brian)

BIRTHDAY OF THE DAY: Yudhijit Bhattacharjee, contributing writer at National Geographic, contributor to The New Yorker and the NYT Magazine, and author of "The Spy Who Couldn't Spell," is 46. How he got his start in journalism: "After studying chemical engineering in college, I realized I wasn't an engineer at heart. I tried my hand at poetry, which was impossible to make a living in. Then I got a job covering crime, courts and politics for an English daily in Kolkata. I found journalism to be a happy middle between engineering and poetry." Playbook Plus Q&A

BIRTHDAYS: Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-Md.) is 68 ... Brett Horton, COS to House Minority Whip Steve Scalise (R-La.) ... Martin O'Malley is 56 (hat tip: Lis Smith) ... Brian Callanan, deputy general counsel at Treasury, who with wife Amanda recently welcomed baby Charlie -- pic ... Ellen Eckert ... Ben Adams is 38 ... Brandye Hendrickson, acting administrator of the Federal Highway Administration ... Kirk Bell ... Kara McKee, a Trump WH DPC alum ... EPA's Kelly Kundinger, a Trump WH alum (h/t boyfriend Nathaniel Kase) ... JoAnne Wasserman ... Ben Jealous, a partner at Kapor Capital, is 46 ... former Sen. Paul Kirk (D-Mass.) is 81 ... Sandy Cannold, EP for CNBC's "Power Lunch" (h/t Brian Steel)
... Anna Morris of Treasury ... Rep. Kay Granger (R-Texas) is 76 ... Rep. Debbie Mucarsel-Powell (D-Fla.) is 48 ... POLITICO's Evan Gaskin ... Phil Chambers (h/t Stephen Groves) ... Yagmur Cosar, VP/director for public affairs at BCW (h/t Shaila Manyam) ... FT editor Lionel Barber is 64 ...

... Beth DeFalco, who recently started as managing director at Mercury ... Paul Equale ... Allie Wright ... Austrian President Alexander Van der Bellen is 75 ... Ireland's Taoiseach Leo Varadkar is 4-0 ... John Hume is 82 ... Ryan Taylor, VP at Forbes Tate Partners (h/t Matthew Felling) ... GMMB's Samara Yudof ... Caroline Ross ... APCO's Gadi Dechter ... former Rep. Mike Michaud (D-Maine) is 64 ... Alex Korey ... Jonathan Hayes ... NBC News' Jane Timm ... Lindsay Monaghan ... Laura Maloney, press secretary for Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) (h/t Chris Harris) ... David Jacobs ... Matthew Kemeny ... NewsChannel 8 anchor Dave Lucas ... Sarah Muntzing ... Josh Orton ... Abdul Wahid Sanjar ...
Bryce Cullinane is 33 ... Craig Shaffer ... George Nassar ... Nan Powers Varoga ... Andrew Sullivan, partner at Hudson Pacific consulting firm (h/ts Teresa Vilmain)

A message from the National Retail Federation:

Hardworking American families and small business owners should not have to be forced to pay the price for other countries' unfair trade practices. These trade abuses must be stopped, but tariffs are not the answer. It's time to negotiate a deal and put an end to the trade war. Learn more at www.tariffsarebad.com.

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