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Presented by Google: Playbook is POLITICO's must-read briefing on what's driving the day Jan 29, 2019 View in browser
By Jake Sherman, Anna Palmer and Daniel Lippman

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DRIVING THE DAY
UPDATE ... HOW HOWARD SCHULTZ'S presidential flirtation is going:

-- SOMEONE AT A BOOK EVENT in New York on Monday night interrupted him and screamed, "Don't help elect Trump, you egotistical billionaire a**hole!" The 14-second video

-- DEMOCRATS are dumping on veteran Democratic operative Bill Burton for his decision to work for the former Starbucks CEO. CNN story ... People are also pointing out that Burton warned against a third-party candidate in a Sacramento Bee op-ed in August 2016, saying it could help elect Donald Trump. The SacBee op-ed

-- MICHELLE GOLDBERG writes this on the NYT op-ed page: "Howard Schultz, Please Don't Run for President"

-- NYT'S MAGGIE HABERMAN (@maggieNYT): "Trump told the crowd at the Trump Hotel [Monday night] fundraiser that he was trying to get Howard Schultz into the race with his tweet earlier [Monday] because he thinks he'll help him, per attendee."

BUT, BUT, BUT ... "Schultz camp: Ex-Starbucks chief could save Democrats from far-left nominee," by David Siders, Daniel Lippman and Daniel Strauss

JON FAVREAU (@jonfavs): "None of the explanations coming from Howard Schultz or his advisors answer a very simple question: if he thinks he has a winning message, why can't he run in the Democratic primary? Why does he get to skip that contest? Just because he's a billionaire? Would love an answer."

STARBUCKS CEO KEVIN JOHNSON'S letter to partners from Monday morning: "Starbucks does not get involved in national political campaigns. As we have for 48 years, we respect and celebrate the diverse views of our 350,000 partners working at Starbucks and our millions of customers." The letter

Good Tuesday morning. SPOTTED having dinner at the Trump Hotel on Monday night: President Donald Trump, VP Mike Pence, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) and Eli Miller. The president was at the hotel for the "2019 MAGA Leadership Summit."

HEADS UP! ... CAPITAL WEATHER GANG: "Tuesday's snow could slow evening rush hour, then roads may freeze overnight"

17 DAYS until the government runs out of funding. ... The House-Senate conference committee will meet Wednesday at 1:30 p.m. in HC-5.

-- THE WALL UPDATE ... WAPO'S SEUNG MIN KIM: "President Trump signaled to a GOP senator over the weekend that he is searching for a 'simple' border wall deal in advance of the new funding deadline next month - casting more doubt on the prospects of a broader immigration deal before portions of the government shut down again.

"Sen. David Perdue (R-Ga.), who lunched privately with the president Sunday at the White House, also indicated that Trump is prepared to act on his own should a new committee on Capitol Hill struggle to come up with an agreement on the wall that satisfies him. Trump is mulling the prospect of issuing a national emergency declaration to start wall construction without congressional approval - a move that will almost certainly face an immediate challenge in the courts.

"'He wants as simple of a solution as we can get,' Perdue said in an interview Monday. While the president would like a more sweeping immigration package at some point, Perdue said Trump acknowledges 'that's just not realistic in three weeks.'" WaPo

THE BIG WEEK NEXT WEEK ... Sunday: CBS' Margaret Brennan is interviewing the president for "Face the Nation" and the Super Bowl broadcast. Tuesday: The State of the Union. ... Friday: Michael Cohen will testify behind closed doors to the House Intelligence Committee.

-- NOT TO MENTION ... NYT: "Mueller Investigation Nearing Its End, Acting Attorney General Says," by Sharon LaFraniere and Katie Benner: "'The investigation is, I think, close to being completed, and I hope that we can get the report from Director Mueller as soon as possible,' [Matt] Whitaker said.

"His impromptu remark, at the end of a news conference about an unrelated case, was a highly unusual confirmation of the state of the special counsel's investigation. Justice Department policy ordinarily prohibits public comment on open criminal inquiries, and Mr. Mueller has refused to publicly discuss the investigation since he was appointed in May 2017 to oversee it. Mr. Whitaker, who is considered intensely loyal to President Trump, said that he had been 'fully briefed on the investigation' and that he looked forward to Mr. Mueller delivering a report." NYT

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BURGESS EVERETT, JOHN BRESNAHAN and SARAH FERRIS: "Republicans may block Trump from another shutdown": "Senate Republicans can't stomach another government shutdown. After weathering 35 days of a partial shuttered government, the Senate GOP is dreading the possibility another one will hit in fewer than three weeks - a sentiment that could prevent President Donald Trump from closing the government again.

"Though House Republicans aren't ruling out supporting the president should he choose another confrontation over his border wall, the Republican Senate majority - which actually has governing power - has another view. 'I did not love the shutdown. I wouldn't think anybody would have another shutdown,' said Sen. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.), one of the key negotiators trying to strike a deal on border security." POLITICO

-- "'Slow roll'?: Trump admin says shutdown means delays in responding to House Dem oversight," by Anita Kumar

-- "'I came back to 4,459 emails': Washington is back to work, and in a tizzy," by WaPo's Dan Zak, Caitlin Gibson and Ben Terris

THE INVESTIGATIONS ... "Impeachment cries cloud Democrats' vow to leave Mueller alone," by Darren Samuelsohn, Andrew Desiderio and Rachael Bade: "Publicly, the committee chairs have said repeatedly that their staffs are constantly coordinating with the special counsel's office to prevent congressional interference in the ongoing criminal probes and to determine what topics are fair game for House investigators. But privately, lawmakers and aides alike have grown frustrated with the deconfliction process, three sources familiar with the matter told POLITICO. ...

"Democrats are privately placing at least some of the blame on Stephen Kelly, [Robert] Mueller's congressional liaison. Kelly, who once served as the FBI's legislative affairs chief, has long had a reputation for being stringent and difficult to work with, and lawmakers and aides alike have grown concerned that Kelly isn't sharing enough guidance with the Hill. One congressional aide speculated that Kelly fears that any information shared with lawmakers will leak." POLITICO

2020 WATCH -- MARC CAPUTO in Fort Lauderdale, Fla.: "Biden says he'll make 'the decision soon'": "Joe Biden brought his not-yet-a-campaign campaign to Florida's biggest liberal bastion on Tuesday and said he's 'a lot closer' to deciding to run for president in 2020 and plans to make 'the decision soon.'

"Biden made his remarks about his future plans during a question-and-answer portion of an event billed as 'An Evening with Vice President Joe Biden' at the Broward Center for the Performing Arts, which had so many people in attendance that Biden said even his daughter wondered about 2020.

"'Dad, are we running?' Biden said she told him as they walked in. 'The answer,' Biden said to the crowd, 'is that I'm running the traps on this. I don't want to make this a fool's errand. I'm a lot closer than I was before Christmas and we'll make the decision soon.'" POLITICO

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THE JUICE ...

-- HOUSE MINORITY WHIP STEVE SCALISE (R-LA.) announced at a whip meeting Monday night that he is giving $500,000 to the National Republican Congressional Committee this month, a big early-cycle transfer for the No. 2 House Republican. Scalise told the members of his whip team that if they want to win back the majority, they need to stay current with their party dues -- something both parties struggle with.

-- "Meadows keeps top Freedom Caucus post," by Melanie Zanona and Sarah Ferris

-- SARAH FERRIS: "Liz Cheney rises amid GOP rubble"
PLAYBOOK READS


PHOTO DU JOUR: Pro- and anti-Brexit demonstrators protest outside the British Houses of Parliament on Monday. | Alastair Grant/AP Photo

TRADE WATCH -- "Big Divides Remain as U.S.-China Trade Talks Resume," by WSJ's Bob Davis and Lingling Wei: "Cabinet-level delegations from the U.S. and China will resume trade negotiations here Wednesday, but early indications are that the two sides remain sharply divided, suggesting a hard slog ahead for a deal to be cut before a March 1 deadline." WSJ

-- "U.S. Charges Huawei with Stealing Trade Secrets, Bank Fraud," by Bloomberg's Patricia Hurtado and Chris Strohm

ON THE WORLD STAGE -- ANDREW DESIDERIO and JOHN BRESNAHAN: "House Democrats to challenge Trump again on Yemen": "House Democrats are renewing their push to cut off U.S. involvement in Yemen's bloody civil war, teeing up a direct challenge to President Donald Trump's foreign-policy agenda.

"Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) told POLITICO on Monday that he planned to reintroduce a War Powers resolution in the coming days, and the chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Rep. Eliot Engel (D-N.Y.), indicated that his panel would make the issue a top priority. The Trump administration, meanwhile, continues to support the Saudi-led coalition, which has been engaged in bombing campaigns in Yemen targeting Iran-backed Houthi rebels." POLITICO

NYT'S JONATHAN MARTIN: "Prominent Democrats Form Pro-Israel Group to Counter Skepticism on the Left": "The group, whose board includes former Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm and a former Clinton administration housing secretary, Henry Cisneros, will create a political action committee later this year and may engage in Democratic primaries, [group president Mark] Mellman said." NYT

SEN. CHUCK GRASSLEY (R-IOWA) says it's time for drug companies to embrace 'TRANSPARENCY AND ACCOUNTABILITY.' The Senate Finance Committee chairman sat down with POLITICO's "Pulse Check" podcast Monday, ahead of today's kick-off hearing on drug prices.

"The secrecy we have now, the lack of transparency ... is something that allows the shenanigans that we read about every day," Grassley said on the podcast, alluding to skyrocketing drug prices. Grassley also vowed to hold a series of hearings and detailed some of the questions that he says pharma needs to answer. Listen

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TRUMP INC. -- "Trump Winery Is Trying To Hire 23 More Foreign Guest Workers," by BuzzFeed's Jeremy Singer-Vine, Ken Bensinger and Jessica Garrison: "The work on the 1,300-acre estate, which pays $12.25 an hour, would start in mid-March and could run through late October.

"The posting Monday did not describe working conditions. In the past, however, the winery's applications have warned that workers would have to labor outside in weather as cold as 10 degrees while 'on their feet in bent positions for long periods of time.'" BuzzFeed

SEXUAL HARASSMENT FILES -- "De Blasio Aide Who Was Forced Out Had Been Fired Over Sexual Harassment Before," by NYT's William Neuman: "When Mayor Bill de Blasio acknowledged this month that his administration had kept secret that a former chief of staff was forced to resign after two women accused him of sexual harassment, the mayor said he was shocked and sickened by the aide's conduct.

"But it turns out that barely a month before he was hired by the de Blasio administration, the aide, Kevin O'Brien, had been fired from his previous job as a senior adviser at the Democratic Governors Association in Washington for similar reasons, the association confirmed on Monday. Mr. O'Brien had been a senior staff member for Gov. Steve Bullock of Montana." NYT

VALLEY TALK -- YIKES -- "FaceTime bug lets you listen in on people you call, even if they haven't picked up their iPhone," by CNBC's Todd Haselton
PLAYBOOKERS
WELCOME TO THE WORLD -- Emily Stephenson, news editor at POLITICO, and Brian Austin, a data scientist at ByteCubed, welcomed Adeline Rebecca Austin. Pic

BIRTHWEEK (was yesterday): CNN's Ariel Bashi ... Matt Bassett, assistant secretary for legislation at HHS ... (was Saturday): Peter Urbanowicz, HHS chief of staff (hat tips: Caitlin Oakley)

BIRTHDAY OF THE DAY: Tom Collamore, founder of Collamore Consulting Group and a U.S. Chamber alum. How he got his start in his career: "I was working for a candidate for governor of Connecticut in 1978, Lew Rome (now deceased). He was leader of the State Senate back then. I was Lew's driver (best job in politics for a kid starting out), and he asked me to go pick up someone named George Bush at the airport. That began a 40-year association with President Bush 41 that changed my life in a myriad of ways, big and small." Playbook Plus Q&A

BIRTHDAYS: Former Speaker Paul Ryan is 49 ... Oprah is 65 ... Robyn Bash, VP of gov't relations and public policy operations at the American Hospital Association (h/t Adrienne Elrod) ... Bethany Hudson of WH press advance ... Geoff Smith, who works for the secretary of Transportation (h/t Todd Inman) ... Kim Ghattas ... Laura Rosenberger, director of the Alliance for Securing Democracy and senior fellow at the German Marshall Fund ... Denielle Sachs (h/ts Ben Chang) ... CNN's Lauren Dezenski ... Jocelyn Frye ... Kristy Schantz ... Monica Melton ... Stephen Hagenbuch ... Tarah Donoghue ... Seth Appleton ... Edelman's Mary Kate McCarthy and Aaron Guiterman ... Kate Oliver ... Thomas DiFonzo,
Endeavor Strategies creative director (h/t Kurt Bardella) ... Jonathan Fischer, tech editor at Slate, is 34 ...

... Brian Donahue, founder and CEO at CRAFT | Media/Digital ... Michael Duga is 43 ... Kara Van Stralen, COS for Rep. Mike Levin (D-Mich.) (h/t Mitchell Rivard) ... Holyoke Mayor Alex Morse is 3-0 (h/t Max Clermont) ... Barbara Fiala (h/t Qianwei Zhang) ... Henry Ross (h/t wife Charlotte) ... Jesús Rodríguez ... Google's Stephanie Gunter ... Gavin Proffitt of the Republican Study Committee (h/t Scott Bennett) ... Rich Rubino is 41 ... Emily Tara Weberman ... Eric Roston, sustainability editor for Bloomberg (h/t Tim Burger) ... Sean Walsh ... Michael Bassik is 4-0 ... Sam Conchuratt ... former Rep. Lee Terry (R-Neb.) is 57 ... Ahmad Pathoni ... Shirley Krug ... Mike Gronstal

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