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Today's Playbook Power Briefing presented by Morgan Stanley

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


THE WHITE HOUSE will host a Passover seder Monday night, an aide told us. No word on who is attending and whether the president is going.

Good Friday afternoon. THE RUSSIA INVESTIGATION -- THEO MEYER and MARIANNE LEVINE: "Inside the lobbying campaign that caught Mueller's attention": "The lobbyists hired by Paul Manafort launched a lobbying blitz barely a week after the Senate began weighing a resolution to publicly condemn the man who was effectively their client, Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych, for throwing a political opponent in jail.

"A lobbyist for one prominent Washington firm, the Podesta Group, emailed the staff of Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.) shortly after he introduced a resolution condemning Yanukovych in May 2012, and a lobbyist for another firm, Mercury, met with one of his aides the next month. They fought for months to kill the resolution -- or at least delay it until Ukraine held parliamentary elections that fall. ...

"The battle over the resolution was part of a two-year lobbying effort orchestrated by Manafort and his deputy, Rick Gates, designed to burnish Yanukovych's image in Washington and bolster Ukraine's ties to the European Union. The effort met with limited success. But Manafort's failure to disclose his role has helped special counsel Robert Mueller build a formidable case against him and has provided a case study of the potential landmines facing lobbyists looking to grab a piece of the lucrative business of helping foreign entities sway Washington decision-making." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=54a249dbc499fb088f5be94bdd20040a67cab50cd4e1d599a049fb8cfe27f3997619889c78640408bd91e1fe43acb919

WAR REPORT -- "White House chaos jeopardizes war on ISIS, U.S. commanders warn," by NBC News' Richard Engel and Kennett Werner: "'We're on the two-yard line. We could literally fall into the end zone. We're that close to total victory, to whipping out the ISIS caliphate in Syria,' one U.S. special forces commander told NBC News. 'We're that close and now, it's coming apart.'

"More than a half-dozen senior officials interviewed by NBC News shared the commander's views. The hours of interviews revealed a profound sense of frustration, bordering on anger. NBC News agreed not to reveal the officials' identities because they were not authorized to discuss U.S. policy in Syria publicly." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=54a249dbc499fb08ec642000041991f2ca03fc40d81105ec46bcaeaf0a1ef2d7b6f41f1b902f77bc59fe6aabee500204

-- @BarbaraStarrCNN: "One U.S. service member killed in an IED attack in the #Manbij, Syria, area on Thursday, a U.S. official with knowledge of the initial reports from the battlefield tells CNN. Two members of U.S.-led coalition in Syria were killed and five were wounded in the attack, the coalition said".

****** A message from Morgan Stanley: How will U.S. tax reform impact an already aging economic cycle? Morgan Stanley's policy experts, economists and market strategists weigh in on the implications for 2018. Read more. ******

PALACE INTRIGUE -- "Behind the chaos: Office that vets Trump appointees plagued by inexperience," by WaPo's Robert O'Harrow Jr. and Shawn Boburg: "An obscure White House office [the Presidential Personnel Office] responsible for recruiting and vetting thousands of political appointees has suffered from inexperience and a shortage of staff, hobbling the Trump administration's efforts to place qualified people in key posts across government, documents and interviews show.

"At the same time, two office leaders have spotty records themselves: a college dropout with arrests for drunken driving and bad checks and a lance corporal in the Marine Corps reserves with arrests for assault, disorderly conduct, fleeing an officer and underage drinking. ... One senior staffer has had four relatives receive appointments through the office. ...

"PPO leaders hosted happy hours last year in their offices that included beer, wine and snacks for dozens of PPO employees and White House liaisons who work in federal agencies, White House officials confirmed. In January, they played a drinking game in the office called 'Icing' to celebrate the deputy director's 30th birthday. Icing involves hiding a bottle of Smirnoff Ice, a flavored malt liquor, and demanding that the person who discovers it, in this case the deputy director, guzzle it." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=54a249dbc499fb08a20d8c2a10caaa95f93174da65b0fef7262c7bb438bc85fc6ae95905e611ec0957e7ddefacf03abd

RUSSIA RESPONDS TO EXPULSONS -- "Russia summons Western diplomats to announce spy rift expulsions," by Reuters' Dmitry Madorsky: "Russia summoned a slew of senior Western diplomats on Friday to tell them how many of their embassy officials it was expelling in a worsening standoff with the West over the poisoning of a former Russian spy and his daughter in Britain. ...

"Embassy officials from France, Germany, Italy, Poland, the Netherlands, Croatia, Belgium, Ukraine, Sweden, Australia, Canada and the Czech Republic were all seen arriving in their official cars at the Foreign Ministry building in Moscow." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=3c228ef5b6ebebd27515489be437bc54dbacbe3d17678deabe8a036239ac03eac1464688f67a825ca0cd092a683cd1a1

PULSE SHOOTING TRIAL UPDATE -- "Omar Mateen's widow not guilty of all charges in Pulse massacre," by the Orlando Sentinel's Gal Tziperman Lotan and Krista Torralva: "Noor Salman is not guilty of helping her husband, Omar Mateen, carry out the mass shooting that claimed 49 lives at Pulse nightclub on June 12, 2016, a jury decided Friday.

"The 12-member jury delivered its verdict after deliberating for about 12 hours over three days. Salman was also acquitted of obstruction of justice. Prosecutors accused her of lying to the FBI agents who investigated her husband's mass murder, which he carried out in support of a foreign terror group, the Islamic State." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=3c228ef5b6ebebd2482bccfa6f5dc8e0832c866ba6b705a6a13c8a0b7f789acf50cd5ad70e8a1230375d557cb994514e

NOT A GOOD LOOK -- "Onetime aide testifies against former Rep. Steve Stockman," by the Houston Chronicle's Gabrielle Banks: "Despite repeated assurances to a wealthy donor that hundreds of thousands of dollars in contributions would be spent on voter education mailings, U.S. Congressman Steve Stockman used the money to pay off old debts, a top aide [Thomas Dodd] testified Thursday at Stockman's federal fraud trial in Houston." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=3c228ef5b6ebebd24207f9ce4604ae091d0b9af3f155a7c3a947a8b619c7cf9da1eb9751104af4a444b7685f1c7b1b2e

VALLEY TALK -- "Silicon Valley Warms to Trump After a Chilly Start," by NYT's Jack Nicas: "Once one of Mr. Trump's most vocal opponents, Silicon Valley's technology industry has increasingly found common ground with the White House. When Mr. Trump was elected, tech executives were largely up in arms over a leader who espoused policies on immigration and other issues that were antithetical to their companies' values. Now, many of the industry's executives are growing more comfortable with the president and how his economic agenda furthers their business interests, even as many of their employees continue to disagree with Mr. Trump on social issues.

"The relationship remains bumpy. ... Yet quietly, the tech industry has warmed to the White House, especially as companies including Alphabet, Apple and Intel have benefited from the Trump administration's policies. ...

Mr. Trump 'has been great for business and really, really good for tech,' said Gary Shapiro, who leads the Consumer Technology Association, the largest American tech trade group, with more than 2,200 members including Apple, Google, Amazon and Facebook. ... 'This isn't Hitler or Mussolini here,' Mr. Shapiro said." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=3c228ef5b6ebebd2182d2b420bc9134449195124f49795d117979cfb725459915a1a6f7134bcbbb3731c2a64b4215db0

-- "Growth At Any Cost: Top Facebook Executive Defended Data Collection In 2016 Memo -- And Warned That Facebook Could Get People Killed," by BuzzFeed's Ryan Mac, Charlie Warzel and Alex Kantrowitz: "The [Facebook VP Andrew] Bosworth memo reveals the extent to which Facebook's leadership understood the physical and social risks the platform's products carried -- even as the company downplayed those risks in public. It suggests that senior executives had deep qualms about conduct that they are now seeking to defend. And as the company reels amid a scandal over improper outside data collection on its users, the memo shows that one senior executive -- one of Zuckerberg's longest-serving
deputies -- prioritized all-encompassing growth over all else, a view that has led to questionable data collection and manipulative treatment of its users. ... Facebook was unable to provide comment at the time of publication." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=3c228ef5b6ebebd244007b07caf2c44f9b2a5ddc9acfa4d326ae3006b1c10a184befb175031848541f82027a85c998cc

TV TONIGHT -- Bob Costa is joined by NYT's Mark Mazzetti, VICE News' Shawna Thomas, NBC News' Andrea Mitchell and Fox News Radio's Jon Decker on "Washington Week" tonight at 8 p.m. on PBS.

HOLLYWOODLAND -- NEWS THE PRESIDENT MIGHT LIKE -- "ABC is about to announce Season 2 of 'Roseanne' reboot," by CNN's Brian Stelter http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=3c228ef5b6ebebd26ed411a1ef776873a3146162ced09754aaf1189396e110e7d06e9524cb91bc1f5e8c621592c0e04c

HILDY KURYK PROFILE -- John Ortved in the N.Y. Times: "[I]n June, Ms. Kuryk decided to strike out on her own and start a consulting film, Artemis Strategies, which she is pitching to clients as a vehicle to help them craft their message for socially aware consumers. ... She worked in Bill Clinton's White House and as a fund-raiser for Barack Obama's 2008 presidential campaign before joining the finance wing of the Democratic National Committee. With her business not yet a year old, Ms. Kuryk has picked up some splashy clients, including Nordstrom ... the news briefing service the Skimm, as well as Condé Nast, with a focus on Vogue and its high-profile Met Gala."
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=3c228ef5b6ebebd2a04ecd9b09f36d36ca4519bf3a2cc4b91dfe2d011987b21929c279fceb1f37383ddf52b2f8703537

TRANSITIONS: OBAMA ALUMNI -- Alexis Serfaty is joining Access Partnership as the firm's new director for global public policy. He previously was VP and chief of staff at the U.S.-U.A.E. Business Council and is an Obama DOT alum.

WELCOME TO THE WORLD -- Angie Kubicek, SVP at the ad and marketing agency Firespring and a Yahoo alum, and Todd Kubicek welcomed Crosby Jon Kubicek at 7 lbs 8 oz., 20.5 inches long. "Head full of hair and very vocal."

****** A message from Morgan Stanley: How will U.S. tax reform impact an already aging economic cycle? As 2017 came to a close, a comprehensive tax reform bill was passed. Now that 2018 is underway, will the new tax policy give the expected stimulative jolt to the U.S. economy and capital markets? According to Michael Zezas, Head of U.S. Public Policy for Morgan Stanley Research, the answer is a measured yes-but much of that impact could be front-loaded. "Though the tax bill lifts growth further in 2018 and 2019 compared with the previous baseline, the shape of growth could remain the same. Much of the fiscal impulse may be absorbed in 2018, then less so in 2019 as the initial impact
fades." Morgan Stanley policy experts, economists and market strategists share four key investor considerations for 2018 and beyond. Read more. ******

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