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Presented by Google: Playbook is POLITICO's must-read briefing on what's driving the day Feb 03, 2019 View in browser
By Jake Sherman, Anna Palmer and Daniel Lippman

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DRIVING THE DAY
WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW ... PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP on CBS' "FACE THE NATION" with MARGARET BRENNAN:

-- ON SENATE REPUBLICANS OPPOSING HIS FOREIGN POLICY: BRENNAN: "The Senate Republicans voted, the vast majority of them said that they don't support what you're doing. That what you're doing risks national intelligence by a precipitous withdrawal from Syria and Afghanistan. Doesn't that concern you?"

TRUMP: "I ran against 17 Republicans. This was a big part of what I was saying, and I won very easily. I think the people out in the world -- I think people in our country agree. We've been fighting for 19 years. Somebody said you were precipitously bringing to - precipitously? We've been there for 19 years. I want to fight. I want to win, and we want to bring our great troops back home.

"I've seen the people. I go to Walter Reed Hospital. I see what happens to people. I see with no legs and no arm - arms. And I've seen also what happens to them up here because they're in this situation, and they come back and they are totally different people -- where the wives and the fathers and the mothers say, 'What has happened to my son? What has happened in some cases to my daughter?'

"It's a terrible thing. We've been there close to 19 years. And it's time. And we'll see what happens with the Taliban. They want peace. They're tired. Everybody's tired. We'd like to have -- I don't like endless wars. This war. What we're doing is got to stop at some point."

-- TRUMP ON THE NORTH KOREA SUMMIT: "You'll be finding out probably State of the Union or shortly before. But the meeting is set. He's looking forward to it. I'm looking forward to it."

-- TRUMP ON THE INTEL ASSESSMENT ON IRAN: "We were in many many locations in the Middle East in huge difficulty. Every single one of them was caused by the number one terrorist nation in the world which is Iran. So when my intelligence people tell me how wonderful Iran is -- if you don't mind, I'm going to just go by my own counsel."

-- THE PRESIDENT is keeping troops in Iraq to watch Iran: "All I want to do is be able to watch. We have an unbelievable and expensive military base built in Iraq. It's perfectly situated for looking at all over different parts of the troubled Middle East rather than pulling up. And this is what a lot of people don't understand. We're going to keep watching and we're going to keep seeing and if there's trouble, if somebody is looking to do nuclear weapons or other things, we're going to know it before they do."

-- TRUMP SAYS POMPEO IS STAYING PUT: "[Secretary of State Mike Pompeo] may have spoken to [Mitch McConnell about running for Senate], but I think he loves being secretary of state. He's doing a fantastic job. And I asked him the question the other day, he says he's absolutely not leaving. I don't think he'd do that. And he doesn't want to be lame duck. And he's doing a fantastic job as our secretary of State. Great energy and great -- a great, smart gentleman.

-- TRUMP WOULDN'T 'STEER' BARRON TO PLAY FOOTBALL: "It's very, it's very tough question. It's a very good question. If he wanted to? Yes. Would I steer him that way? No, I wouldn't. ... [H]e actually plays a lot of soccer. He's liking soccer. And a lot of people, including me, thought soccer would probably never make it in this country, but it really is moving forward rapidly. I -- I just don't like the reports that I see coming out having to do with football ...

"I mean, it's a dangerous sport and I think it's -- I -- it's -- really tough, I thought the equipment would get better, and it has. The helmets have gotten far better but it hasn't solved the problem. So, you know I -- I hate to say it because I love to watch football. I think the NFL is a great product, but I really think that as far as my son -- well I've heard NFL players saying they wouldn't let their sons play football. So. It's not totally unique, but I -- I would have a hard time with it."

-- TRUMP said it's "totally up to the attorney general" whether the Mueller report becomes public. Transcript of the full interview

THE PRESIDENT is on the golf course today, per the Dallas Morning News' Todd Gillman

FIRST LOOK ... TRUMP'S WEEK: Monday: THE PRESIDENT will have lunch with VP Mike Pence. Tuesday: The State of the Union. Wednesday: The president will have dinner with "faith leaders." Thursday: The president will deliver remarks at the National Prayer Breakfast, and will have lunch with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.

Happy Sunday. THE SUPER BOWL - between the New England Patriots and Los Angeles Rams - kicks off at 6:30 p.m. in Atlanta and will be broadcast on CBS. The Patriots are a 2 1/2-point favorite.

IF YOU'RE A GAMBLING MAN ... Odds are that the Super Bowl MVP thanks their teammates first. The longest odds: that the MVP thanks the referees.

ATLANTA JOURNAL CONSTITUTION FRONT PAGE: "IT'S FINALLY HERE"


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SPOTTED: Michael Cohen at Barneys on the Upper East Side yesterday ... Roger Stone at the Palm in D.C. last night

TUCKER WARREN is taking a leave from Hamilton Place Strategies to work for Howard Schultz.

MOOD MUSIC ...

-- WAPO'S PHIL RUCKER, JOSH DAWSEY and TOLUSE OLORUNNIPA: "Trump dealt himself a political defeat with the 35-day government shutdown. He has secured no funding to construct a border wall and is preparing to declare a national emergency to fulfill his campaign promise. He is newly at odds with the nation's intelligence chiefs and some senators in his own party. The Russia investigation, which has ensnared several of the president's allies, appears to be nearing its conclusion. New congressional oversight investigations will start soon. And the race to defeat him at the ballot box has kicked off in earnest." WaPo

-- WSJ'S THEO FRANCIS and RICHARD RUBIN: "For Some Companies, Tax-Cut Gains Are Smaller Than They Once Appeared": "Casino chain Las Vegas Sands Corp. has already taken a $727 million hit to its fourth-quarter profit, after a corporate tax regulation proposed in November made the 2017 tax overhaul less favorable than the company expected. International Business Machines Corp. said the same provision reduced its profit by $1.9 billion in the fourth quarter." WSJ

TRUMP'S SATURDAY ... WAPO'S JOSH DAWSEY in West Palm Beach: "Trump just played a round of golf with Tiger Woods and Jack Nicklaus": "Trump has spent more than 150 days at his golf courses since becoming president, playing significantly more than his predecessors, whom he had mocked for golfing too much. Aides used to worry about how much time Trump spent playing but have largely accepted it. They say the president is calmest when he's on the greens. He is a talented player by many accounts, usually breaking 80, though he sometimes takes mulligans. Par for most courses is 70 or 72 shots. ...

"He usually wears a 'USA' hat and often orders two chili dogs after nine holes, playing partners say. He likes to quiz fellow golfers about current events. He's complained about the Mueller probe and regaled partners with stories of his life as a single man in New York. He swears when he makes a bad shot or splashes in the water and complains about his chipping game, players say. He talks nearly nonstop. ...

"Trump shocked Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe by having so many impromptu chats with members on the course and driving his cart so quickly and all over, according to people familiar with their round. Then, the protocol-obsessed Japanese were surprised to be served a buffet lunch with hot dogs." WaPo

HARD UP FOR CASH ... NYT'S DAVID ENRICH, JESSE DRUCKER and BEN PROTESS: "Trump Sought a Loan During the 2016 Campaign. Deutsche Bank Said No": "Donald J. Trump was burning through cash. It was early 2016, and he was lending tens of millions of dollars to his presidential campaign and had been spending large sums to expand the Trump Organization's roster of high-end properties. To finance his business's growth, Mr. Trump turned to a longtime ally, Deutsche Bank, one of the few banks still willing to lend money to the man who has called himself 'The King of Debt.'

"Mr. Trump's loan request, which has not been previously reported, set off a fight that reached the top of the German bank, according to three people familiar with the request. In the end, Deutsche Bank did something unexpected. It said no. Senior officials at the bank, including its future chief executive, believed that Mr. Trump's divisive candidacy made such a loan too risky, the people said. Among their concerns was that if Mr. Trump won the election and then defaulted, Deutsche Bank would have to choose between not collecting on the debt or seizing the assets of the president of the United States." NYT

ON NORTHAM ...

-- THE LATEST ... MARC CAPUTO: "Northam refuses to resign but says he once did Michael Jackson blackface": "In defiantly refusing a chorus of calls from state and national Democrats to resign, Northam admitted he had donned blackface before, in 1984, when the yearbook in question came out. But it was to look like Michael Jackson at a San Antonio talent show. And he talked about the difficulties of blackening white skin. 'I had the shoes. I had a glove. And I used just a little bit of shoe polish to put on my cheeks and the reason I used a very little bit because - I don't know if anyone's ever tried that - you cannot get shoe polish off,' he said.

"'I had always liked Michael Jackson. I actually won the contest because I had learned to do the moonwalk.' Northam said he had not realized how offensive it was to darken his face to look like Jackson and distinguished the transgression from the photograph on his medical school yearbook that led to so many calls for his resignation." POLITICO

-- WAPO'S LAURA VOZZELLA and GREGORY S. SCHNEIDER: "After the news conference, the state's two Democratic senators, Mark R. Warner and Tim Kaine, and Rep. Robert C. 'Bobby' Scott (D), the dean of the Virginia congressional delegation, called Northam and told him he needed to step down. L. Douglas Wilder, the former Virginia governor and first African American to lead a state since Reconstruction, said, 'It is difficult for anyone who watched the press conference today to conclude that (Northam) has any other choice ... but to resign.'" WaPo

-- A1: NYT'S JONATHAN MARTIN in Richmond, TRIP GABRIEL and ALAN BLINDER: "The governor's refusal to resign plunged Virginia into political turmoil and created a crisis for national Democrats, who have assailed President Trump for his demagogy on racial issues and have made plain that they cannot abide a prominent party leader associated with emblems of bigotry." NYT

-- VIRGINIA DEMOCRATIC REP. DON MCEACHIN spoke to CHUCK TODD on NBC'S "MEET THE PRESS": TODD: "Congressman McEachin, have you talked with Governor Northam in the last 48 hours, and if so, what's his explanation to you?"

MCEACHIN: "I haven't spoken to him since Friday, I believe. And at that time he was apologetic for having been in the photograph and that sort of thing. So I was really surprised when the next day he comes out and says it's not him. That was a, quite a surprise to me. He's lost the authority to lead. He's lost the authority to govern. He has to resign, it's in the best interest of the Commonwealth, it's in the best interest of the party."

-- CNN'S JAKE TAPPER spoke to TERRY MCAULIFFE on CNN'S "STATE OF THE UNION": TAPPER: "Northam is now saying it's not him in the photo. Do you believe him?" MCAULIFFE: "It doesn't really matter what I believe or anyone else believes. When this first came out Friday afternoon, and I -- and, Jake, when you invited me on the show, I, in my wildest dreams, never thought you and I would be having this conversation.

"So, when the photo came out Friday afternoon, when it was sent to me, I said there is absolutely no way that Ralph Northam is in this picture. And then, Friday evening, it came out that Ralph indeed was -- he said he was in the picture. At that point, for me, morally, the only right thing to do -- and it was hard. I called Ralph on Friday night. It was one of the hardest things I had to do, was my lieutenant governor.

"We worked closely together. We did so many great things working together for the Commonwealth of Virginia. But once that picture with the blackface and the Klansman came out, there is no way you can continue to be the governor of the Commonwealth of Virginia. ...

"But I do know this. Ralph is a good, moral, decent man, and may have made some mistakes in his past. We all have made mistakes. Ralph will do the right thing for the Commonwealth of Virginia. He will put Virginia first. And I think that will happen relatively soon. He's worked hard. Thanks to Ralph's efforts, we got Medicaid expansion done."

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-- HMM ... BLOOMBERG'S STEVE DENNIS (@StevenTDennis): "Strom Thurmond has a room named after him in the Capitol Byrd was in the KKK Segregationist Richard Russell's name is on the most prestigious Senate office building Robert E. Lee is one of Virginia's 2 statues in the Capitol VP & president of the Confederacy still honored".

KNOWING PATRICK HOWLEY -- "A tip from a 'concerned citizen' helps a reporter land the scoop of a lifetime," by WaPo's Paul Farhi

FRONT PAGES ... RICHMOND TIMES-DISPATCH: "Northam: 'It's not me'" ... VIRGINIAN-PILOT: "Northam adamant amid calls to resign"

THE MONEY CHASE ... VARIETY'S TED JOHNSON: "Kamala Harris Headlines First 2020 Fundraisers Before L.A., Showbiz Crowds": "Universal's Jeff Shell and his wife Laura hosted Harris at their Beverly Hills home for an early evening reception, drawing a crowd that included Jeffrey Katzenberg, Fox Television Group's Dana Walden, ICM Partners' Chris Silbermann, Paramount's Jim Gianopulos, Amazon Studios' Jennifer Salke, manager Scooter Braun, political consultant Andy Spahn, Lionsgate's Michael Burns and Jon Feltheimer, actress Eva Longoria, director Lee Daniels, and producer Dayna Bochco, according to attendees." Variety

CONFERENCE COMMITTEE UPDATE ... CHRIS WALLACE spoke to REP. HENRY CUELLAR (D-TEXAS) on "FOX NEWS SUNDAY": "We're not going to have a wall. Now, can we look at some sort of enhanced barrier? That's something we can certainly look at. But I have to say, living on the border, you have to let the local border patrol chief have the say so, and let the local communities be involved so they can come up with maybe some sort of enhanced barrier. But again Washington cannot dictate what sort of barrier, and where to put it at."

PLAYBOOK READS


PHOTO DU JOUR: Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam pauses during a news conference in the governor's mansion in Richmond on Saturday. | Steve Helber/AP Photo

2020 WATCH - "Warren flexes muscles with campaign kickoff tour," by Natasha Korecki: "Sen. Elizabeth Warren is preparing a robust, official launch to her presidential campaign in her home state of Massachusetts next week, followed by a six-state, cross country tour that will take her to four early presidential states, key southern states and to delegate-rich California, where an early primary is becoming an increasingly critical calculation to 2020 Democratic aspirants.

"Warren's live launch announcement will take place in Lawrence, Massachusetts from the steps of Everett Mills, the site of the 1912 'Bread and Roses Strike' where thousands of women walked off their factory jobs protesting working conditions and low wages." POLITICO


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BONUS GREAT WEEKEND READS, curated by Daniel Lippman:

-- "The business of kidnapping: inside the secret world of hostage negotiation," by Joel Simon in The Guardian: "Official policy in the UK and U.S. - unlike in many other countries - is to never make concessions to kidnappers. Those taken sometimes die as a result. Is it time to rethink?" The Guardian (h/t TheBrowser.com)

-- "The Bicycle Thief," by Steven Leckart in Chicago Mag: "Tom Justice was once a cyclist chasing Olympic gold. Then he began using his bike for a much different purpose: robbing banks." Chicago Mag (h/t Longreads.com)

-- "Chance the Rapper Bids to Become a Chicago Kingmaker," by Edward McClelland in POLITICO Magazine: "He's campaigning for a long-shot mayoral candidate, supporting public schools and taking on Rahm Emanuel. What does a music superstar want from local politics?" POLITICO Magazine

-- "The Family Vice," by Tom Junod in ESPN: "Everybody thought Lou Junod was a gangster. He chased down men when they cut him off in traffic and got into fistfights well into his seventies, his anger an eclipse you couldn't help but look at even though you knew it would strike you blind. He had an underworld glamour, even to his own children, and a reputation." ESPN (h/t TheBrowser.com)

-- "Want to Stop Fake News? Pay for the Real Thing," by David Chavern in NYT: "Facebook and Google flatly refuse to pay for news even though they license many other types of content. Both companies have deals to pay music publishers when copyrighted songs play on their platforms. ... There's no reason those who produce the news shouldn't enjoy the same intellectual property protections as songwriters and producers." NYT

-- "The End of Economics?" by Fareed Zakaria in Foreign Policy - per ALDaily.com's description: "Since the end of the Cold War, economics has enjoyed a kind of intellectual hegemony, first among equals in the social sciences. That reign is over." FP

-- "The dark web puts a new twist on the age-old practice of counterfeiting," by LA Times' Del Quentin Wilber: "The Secret Service, best known for protecting presidents, was formed in 1865 to fight an epidemic of counterfeiting that was strangling the U.S. economy. ... [T]he Secret Service made more than 1,580 counterfeiting-related arrests last fiscal year, seizing $204 million in phony bills. Banks and retailers collected an additional $107 million." LAT

-- "The Supreme Court Case That Enshrined White Supremacy in Law," by Louis Menand in the New Yorker: "How Plessy v. Ferguson shaped the history of racial discrimination in America." New Yorker

-- "The 'Campus Free Speech Crisis' Ended Last Year," by Jeffrey Adams Sachs in Niskanen Center - per TheBrowser.com's description: "College campuses have become relatively quiet places, politically speaking. Last year there were fewer deplatformings of controversial speakers, fewer professors fired for political speech, and fewer violent protests than in 2017. There was more dialogue, greater respect for faculty free speech rights, and increased tolerance on both the right and the left." Niskanen Center

-- "Why We Invited the Pope to the Arabian Peninsula," by UAE Ambassador to the U.S. Yousef Al Otaiba in POLITICO Magazine: "Pope Francis [is traveling] to the Arabian Peninsula-the first such visit for any pontiff. He will celebrate mass in Abu Dhabi with 120,000 of the more than 1 million Catholics who live in the UAE, and visit the local Catholic Cathedral that opened in 1965 on land donated by the government." POLITICO Magazine

-- "A Onetime Rising Democratic Star Faces Questions About Voter Privacy," by ProPublica's Jessica Huseman and Lexington Herald-Leader's Daniel Desrochers: "Kentucky Secretary of State Alison Lundergan Grimes, who attained national prominence for a failed Senate run against Mitch McConnell, is taking heat because her staff has routinely examined the voting records of state employees, job applicants and even potential political rivals." ProPublica

PLAYBOOKERS
BIRTHWEEK (was yesterday): Victorino "Vic" Matus ... (was Friday): Boston Police Commissioner Willie Gross (h/t Ed Cash)

BIRTHDAYS: Matt Rhoades, founder of Definers Public Affairs, is 44 (hat tips: Tim Griffin and Andy Hemming) ... former SEC chairman Arthur Levitt is 88 ... Jose Antonio Vargas, founder of Define American, is 38 ... Seth Lavin ... Virginia Boney ... Douglas Holtz-Eakin, president of the American Action Forum, is 61 (h/t Anne Schroeder) ... former Sen. Paul Sarbanes (D-Md.) is 86 ... Amy Chapman, the pride of Ridgewood, N.J. (h/t Amy Weiss) ... Mark Webster ... Billy Shore is 63 ... Anne Muscarella ... former Alabama Gov. Robert Bentley is 76 ... Adriana Gindlesperger is 31 ... John Hendren ... Mike Ryan ... Justine Turner, political manager at Senate Majority PAC ... Romen Borsellino ...
Kyle Tharp of NGP VAN ... James Holm, executive producer of MSNBC's "AM Joy," is 47 ... MaryAlice Parks of ABC News ... Todd Sadowski ... Ben Wikler is 38 ... Lisa Boothe ... Kathryn Lyons (h/ts Amos Snead and Michelle Fields) ...

... Fred Hochberg, author of the forthcoming book "Trade is Not a Four-Letter Word" (h/t Kevin Cirilli) ... Brian Braiker ... Rep. Rob Wittman (R-Va.) is 6-0 ... Rep. Tom Graves (R-Ga.) is 49 ... Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.) is 45 ... Janet Kanzawa ... POLITICO's Claritza Jimenez, Sr. and Chris Price ... Latia Curry ... Lys Mendez ... Josh Lipsky, speechwriter and adviser to IMF managing director Christine Lagarde, is 33 (h/t Herbie Ziskend, filing from Atlanta, where he's attending the Super Bowl) ... Dave Arnold, Tesla's senior director for global comms (h/ts Juleanna Glover and Kam Mumtaz) ... Rebecca Mark ... Sean McCormick ... Dana Thomas (h/t Ben Chang) ... NPR's Neal Carruth is 43
... Lisa Francis ... Steve Weiss ... Jonathan Lachman ... Tara Kutz ... Chris DeRose ... Al Shofe ... Lawrence Kluttz ... Dennis Cariello ... Alex Boian ... Katina Niarchos ... Diana Hartstein Beinart ... Zaida Ricker ... Clay Hollis.


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