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Presented by Google: Playbook is POLITICO's must-read briefing on what's driving the day Feb 01, 2019 View in browser
By Jake Sherman, Anna Palmer and Daniel Lippman

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DRIVING THE DAY
PAGING A TEMP AGENCY ... THE TRUMP CABINET NEEDS HELP ...

-- SECRETARY OF STATE: Mike Pompeo, who has met with a top Senate campaign operative about running in Kansas. He will appear at a Kansas-Missouri breakfast next week.

-- DEFENSE SECRETARY: Patrick Shanahan, who is in an acting role. PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP has not named anyone to succeed him.

-- ATTORNEY GENERAL: Matt Whitaker, who is in an acting role. The Senate postponed a vote on Bill Barr, whom Trump nominated for the role.

-- INTERIOR SECRETARY: David Bernhardt, who is in an acting role. Trump has not nominated a replacement, but is said to be close.

-- COMMERCE SECRETARY: Wilbur Ross, whose future is always speculated about. Acting chief of staff Mick Mulvaney is angling for his job.

... ALSO: U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Jonathan Cohen is in an acting role. The administration has not yet officially nominated Heather Nauert.

-- EPA ADMINISTRATOR: Acting Administrator Andrew Wheeler had his confirmation hearing recently. But there has been no permanent administrator since Scott Pruitt resigned last July.

-- CHIEF OF STAFF: Mulvaney holds the acting chief title now. Trump has not named anyone to fill the role permanently.

TRUMP SPEAKS ... THE PRESIDENT sat down with NYT'S MAGGIE HABERMAN, PETER BAKER and PUBLISHER A.G. SULZBERGER. The full story

-- TRUMP conceded he didn't expect much from the conference committee on DHS appropriations and said he's readying to issue an emergency declaration.

-- INTERESTING NUGGET, via Annie Karni, Katie Rogers and Michael Tackett: "President Trump wanted to talk. He initially invited A. G. Sulzberger, the publisher of The New York Times, to an off-the-record dinner. Mr. Sulzberger countered with a request for an on-the-record interview that included Times reporters. The White House accepted."

-- TRUMP said he thought SEN. KAMALA HARRIS (D-CALIF.) -- he pronounced it Kameela -- had the "best opening so far."

-- MAGGIE asked Trump if he was happy with DAN COATS, the director of national intelligence. "I'm happy with Dan Coats. I am. That doesn't mean --" HABERMAN: "Is that a change?" TRUMP: "Well, no, everybody changes. You know, this business, other than me, everybody changes."

-- THE PRESIDENT told Maggie that he never spoke to ROGER STONE about WikiLeaks.

-- AN AIDE told Trump he had important calls to make when he was done with the interview, and the president said: "OK, I'll be in in a little while. What's more important than The New York Times? OK, nothing, nothing." More excerpts

TRUMP will also sit down with MARGARET BRENNAN on CBS' "FACE THE NATION" for an interview that will be aired Sunday.

Good Friday morning and happy February. 14 DAYS until the government shuts down.

SPOTTED: Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah), who was eating SmashBurger, on a JetBlue flight from DCA to Ft. Lauderdale. Kamala Harris was also seen at DCA on her way to SFO. Pic ... Paul Begala at Palm Beach International Airport. ... Madeleine Albright at The Study in New Haven having a late lunch Thursday. ... Roger Stone greeting people Wednesday night near the entrance to Charlie Palmer Steak before retreating to a private room.

GREAT READ ... WAPO'S MICHAEL KRANISH: "How the relationship between Trump and Bloomberg went into a tailspin": "Trump, in an interview this week with The Washington Post, said, 'I really liked Michael and I think he liked me, but it went really strangely haywire once I ran for office.' He said Bloomberg did not care about his political views when he was merely a New York City developer, but now 'he probably doesn't like my policies. I'm for guns, he's against guns ... A developer is a lot different than as a candidate.' ...

"Bloomberg, in a brief interview this week during a visit to the first-primary state of New Hampshire, said, 'My objection to Donald Trump is the way he's filling his current role, in terms of representing the country, in terms of representing the public. There's an attitude, and a style, and lack of civility that I think is bad for the country, and I find offensive.' ...

"On the surface, Bloomberg and Trump have much in common: Both have named their businesses after themselves; both have become billionaires in New York City; both unexpectedly won their respective political offices; both have switched their party registrations repeatedly. But they come from very different backgrounds. Bloomberg was raised in working-class Massachusetts while Trump benefited from his father's fortune." WaPo

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THIS WOULD BE BIG -- "'Everything stays on the table': 2020 Dems weigh killing the filibuster," by Burgess Everett and Marianne LeVine: "Democrats have a lot of big ideas if they win back the White House and Congress in 2020. But it's not clear they are willing to do a key thing needed to implement them: eliminating the filibuster.

"Senate Democrats pursuing the White House are split on whether to even consider getting rid of the chamber's longstanding supermajority requirement. The debate is heating up as the race for the presidential nomination begins and will largely determine whether the party can enact a "Green New Deal," Medicare-for-All and other top priorities on the left.

"'Everything stays on the table. You keep it all on the table. Don't take anything off the table,' Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) said when asked about the fate of the filibuster. 'That's a clear answer. You're not going to have a clearer answer than that.'" POLITICO

-- THIS PLAYS RIGHT INTO Trump's hands. He's been ragging on Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell to get rid of the legislative filibuster for months. So far, the Kentucky Republican has been unmoved.

MEANWHILE ... "Freedom Caucus plots with GOP leaders to cause Dem misery," by Sarah Ferris and Melanie Zanona

2020 WATCH ... NATASHA KORECKI reports that Elizabeth Warren is expected to officially announce her bid for the White House on Feb. 9.

-- "Trump enters the 2020 election cycle with a massive fundraising lead over Democrats," by WaPo's Michelle Ye Hee Lee and Anu Narayanswamy: "President Trump's campaign and affiliated committees raised more than $21 million in the final three months of 2018, entering the presidential election cycle with a massive head start just as a wide-open Democratic field begins to take shape.

"The latest fundraising disclosures bring the total haul for Trump's reelection effort to more than $129 million, a record amount for a sitting president at this point in the election cycle. The campaign had more than $19.2 million in cash on hand by the end of 2018, according to new Federal Election Commission filings made public Thursday night." WaPo

SOTU LOOK-AHEAD ... GABBY ORR and ANDREW RESTUCCIA: "Trump to address abortion controversies in State of the Union speech": "President Donald Trump is telling conservative allies he wants to incorporate firm anti-abortion language into his State of the Union address next Tuesday, and potentially include an anti-abortion figure among his list of invitees, according to four sources familiar with his plans

"Trump sees an opening to energize his evangelical supporters and capture moderate voters who administration officials believe may be turned off by widespread coverage of New York's newest abortion law, which allows for termination of some pregnancies after the 24-week mark for health reasons.

"The issue is one of many the president will address in a Tuesday night speech which aides say currently clocks in at about one hour. Although it comes amid an ongoing standoff with Congressional Democrats over a wall Trump wants to build along the southern border, people familiar with its contents say it will range widely and include a call for bipartisanship." POLITICO

-- "Republicans Seize on Late-Term Abortion as a Potent 2020 Issue," by NYT's Vivian Wang

MESSAGING WARS -- "Republicans seize on liberal positions to paint Democrats as radical," by WaPo's Matt Viser: "Democrats, after two years largely spent simply opposing everything President Trump advocated, are defining themselves lately in ways Republicans are seizing on to portray them as far outside the American mainstream.

"Casting Democrats as a scary and radical force is giving a fractured Republican Party a common thrust at a time when Trump's standing even within his own party has started to dip. And it is giving Democrats a bit of the heartburn that Republicans have been grappling with for more than two years." WaPo

THE INVESTIGATIONS ... MAGGIE SEVERNS: "Adelsons pumped $500K into Trump aides' legal defense fund": "Billionaire Republican donors Sheldon and Miriam Adelson gave $500,000 to a legal defense fund set up to help aides to President Donald Trump that are involved in special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation.

"The Adelsons each contributed $250,000 on October 1 to the Patriot Legal Expense Fund Trust, which was was set up last year to help campaign aides pay for legal bills related to the investigation." POLITICO

-- ABC'S JOHN SANTUCCI and MATTHEW MOSK: "Blocked calls, long a mystery, went to longtime Trump family friends: Sources": "Investigators on the Senate Intelligence Committee have learned the identities of three blocked phone calls with Donald Trump Jr. just before and after the now-infamous Trump Tower meeting on June 9, 2016, three sources familiar with the calls told ABC News.

"The calls to blocked numbers, which came on June 6, and after the meeting on June 9, were between Trump Jr.'s cell phone and two family friends -- NASCAR CEO Brian France and real estate developer Howard Lorber, according to the sources." ABC

THE JUICE ...

-- FIRST IN PLAYBOOK: PELOSI ADDS POLITICAL FIREPOWER: Mary Plasencia, finance director for Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.), is rejoining Speaker Nancy Pelosi's operation as finance director and deputy political director. Missy Kurek of mKz Strategies & Events is also returning as a senior political adviser to the speaker.

Mike Smith, who oversaw Pelosi's fundraising in the 2018 cycle, will continue to serve as political director. And Jorge Aguilar, who played a critical role in Pelosi's speaker's race whip operation, will continue to serve as her executive director and political spokesman.

-- MORE PELOSI NEWS ... THE SPEAKER will be feted at the VH1 Trailblazer Honors awards in Los Angeles. The event will air March 8 on VH1. The other honoree is Ava DuVernay.

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TRUMP'S FRIDAY -- The president will hold a meeting at 11:45 a.m. in the Cabinet Room to discuss human trafficking on the border. He will have lunch with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. At 4 p.m., he and first lady Melania Trump will leave the White House en route to Mar-a-Lago.

SUNDAY SO FAR ...

CBS

"Face the Nation": President Donald Trump

FOX

"Fox News Sunday": Sen. John Hoeven (R-N.D.) ... Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-Texas). Panel: Jason Chaffetz, Liz Marlantes, Jonah Goldberg and Mo Elleithee

NBC

"Meet the Press": Panel: Hallie Jackson, María Teresa Kumar, Mark Leibovich and Rich Lowry

CNN

"State of the Union": Sen. Richard Shelby (R-Ala.). Panel: Karen Finney, Scott Jennings, Linda Chavez and Bakari Sellers

CNN

"Inside Politics": Julie Pace, Jonathan Martin, Jennifer Jacobs and Manu Raju
PLAYBOOK READS


PHOTO DU JOUR: Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), who is weighing a presidential bid, chats with Iowans during a meet-and-greet in Crisco on Thursday. | Charlie Neibergall/AP Photo

SCOOP -- "ISIS could reclaim territory in months without military pressure, warns Pentagon in draft report," by NBC's Courtney Kube, Josh Lederman and Carol Lee: "A draft Pentagon report warns that without continued pressure, ISIS could regain territory in six to 12 months, according to two U.S. officials familiar with the draft. The finding is in a draft of the Department of Defense Inspector General Quarterly Report about Operation Inherent Resolve that is expected to be released early next week. The report draws on information from the U.S. military, U.S. government agencies, and open source reports.

"The draft says ISIS is intent on reconstituting a physical caliphate and that with ungoverned spaces in Syria and no military pressure, the terror group could retake land in a matter of months, according to the officials familiar with the report." NBC

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FOR YOUR RADAR -- "U.S. expected to announce treaty withdrawal as soon as Friday," by AP's Deb Riechmann, Robert Burns and Matthew Lee: "The Trump administration is poised to announce Friday that it is withdrawing from a treaty that has been a centerpiece of superpower arms control since the Cold War and whose demise some analysts worry could fuel a new arms race.

"An American withdrawal, which has been expected for months, would follow years of unresolved dispute over Russian compliance with the pact, known as the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces, or INF, treaty. ... Leaving the INF treaty would allow the Trump administration to counter the Chinese, but it's unclear how it would do that." AP
PLAYBOOKERS
BIRTHWEEK (was yesterday): DoD's Morgan Dwyer

BIRTHDAY OF THE DAY: Jake Siewert, partner and global head of comms at Goldman Sachs, is 55. How he's celebrating: "Every other year, Goldman convenes its partners from all over the world for a couple days of meetings, talks, and dinners. This year, it coincides with my birthday so I'll be celebrating with 450 colleagues, their husbands, wives, and partners at dinner in New York City. Then, my wife and I will take our kids skiing upstate for the weekend." Playbook Plus Q&A

BIRTHDAYS: Michael Kives of K5 Global ... Fred Barnes, former executive editor of The Weekly Standard, is 76 ... Todd Inman, COS to the secretary of Transportation (hat tips: Geoff Smith and Scott Jennings) ... ABC News' Ali Dukakis (h/t Luc Bruggeman) ... Liz Breckenridge ... Sen. Mike Enzi (R-Wyo.) is 75 ... Jamie Radice ... Christine Halloran ... Marc Elias of Perkins Coie (h/ts Jon Haber) ... Mara Sloan ... Mat Lapinski, EVP of Crossroads Strategies ... Matt Moon, VP of advocacy at the Business Roundtable ... POLITICO's Andrew Friedman is 32. He's celebrating at Masseria (h/t wife Taylor) ... USO's Ashley Hicks ... Joseph Jones ... Miguel Ayala is 4-0 ... Stan Kasten is 67 ... David
Thomas, partner at Mehlman Vogel Castagnetti ... Alexa Kissinger ... Dan Arbell ... AIPAC's Tara Brown ... Jordyn Phelps, who covers the White House for ABC News (h/ts Jonathan Karl and Arlette Saenz) ... Erin Dooley (h/t Arlette) ... Icelandic Prime Minister Katrín Jakobsdóttir is 43 ...

... Natalie Cucchiara, senior producer for NBC's "Meet the Press" ... Rachel Walker (h/ts Kelbi Culwell and Annie Humphrey) ... David Redl, assistant secretary for communications and information at Commerce ... Julie Samuels of Tech:NYC (h/t Stu Loeser) ... Jason Russell ... David Barnhart, founding partner at Locust Street Group (h/t Ben Jenkins) ... Tara McGowan ... Willa Prescott ... Obama alum Meaghan Burdick (h/t Chuck Pruitt) ... Bloomberg News' Michelle Jamrisko (h/t Ben Chang) ... Deloitte's Jaime Berk ... Emmett McGroarty ... CBS News' Alana Anyse ... Uber's Alex Luzi ... Susan Coll ... Catherine Kim, executive editor at NBC News digital ... Maria Reppas ... Dan Chmielewski ...
Josh Nelson ... Alex Otwell ... Karl Bach ... Kelly Collins ... Ian Patrick Hines ... Ken Klippenstein ... Zachary Tumin ... Jordan Lillie ... Michael Frias ... Carter Bell ... Bill Sweeney ... Carrie Goux (h/ts Teresa Vilmain)

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