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Presented by U.S. Chamber of Commerce: Playbook is POLITICO's must-read briefing on what's driving the day Feb 06, 2019 View in browser
By Anna Palmer, Jake Sherman and Daniel Lippman

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DRIVING THE DAY
FORGET THE SUBSTANCE OF LAST NIGHT, because as you know, we are SOTU skeptics. But we have some observations from inside the chamber last night.

-- THERE WAS DEFINITELY a weird vibe. It seemed a tad bit emptier than usual. Just two Democrats sat on the aisle to greet the president. Democrats chatted during parts of the speech. They barely stood, even when the president rattled off statistics about the growing economy that would've, in other years, had both sides on their feet.

-- THE DEPLETED HOUSE REPUBLICAN MINORITY was on its feet frequently, chanting and cheering, hooting and hollering months after their 40-seat loss. They were especially inspired when the president said there could not be "ridiculous, partisan investigations" into his administration, perhaps forgetting that they investigated Barack Obama in ways that could be described in similar words.

-- HMM? PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP said he wants legal immigration in the "largest numbers ever." Nevermind that Hill Republicans and his White House have dumped all over that, and have in fact called for cuts to legal immigration.

-- IMMIGRATION POLITICS ARE GETTING WORSE. The president was booed when he mentioned a caravan coming to the U.S. Democrats laughed at Trump when he called the caravan an "onslaught." He said: "I will never abolish our heroes from ICE." Trump's prepared remarks

TELLING: Democrats brought undocumented immigrants to the speech. Republicans brought people who had family members killed by immigrants.

-- DEMOCRATS HAD SOME PEP IN THEIR STEP. Democrats cheered loudly when Trump talked about new jobs created during his administration -- namely theirs, in Congress. They hollered when he talked about women in the workforce and in Congress. They were not applauding him -- in fact they hardly did. They were applauding the fact that they were elected because of him.

SPOTTED: MICK MULVANEY working the room. He started on the Republican side, chatting with Reps. Sean Duffy (Wis.), Tom Emmer (Minn.) and Mark Walker (N.C.). ... He moved to the Democratic side, where he chatted with Reps. Dan Kildee (Mich.) and Peter Welch (Vt.). (ICYMI: John Bresnahan and Jake: "Mulvaney invites bipartisan group of lawmakers to Camp David")

... AT SOTU: Former Reps. Alan Grayson (D-Fla.), John Mica (R-Fla.), Jack Kingston (R-Ga.) and Darrell Issa (R-Calif.). Former Rep. Kevin Yoder (R-Kan.), who recently announced a new career in government affairs, sat in the back of the chamber next to Rep. Don Young (R-Alaska), the dean of the House. Former Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) stood by the back door.

JUSTICES IN THE HOUSE: Chief Justice John Roberts and Justices Neil Gorsuch, Elena Kagan and Brett Kavanaugh. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo shook hands with the justices.

IN HIS HEAD? ... BLOOMBERG'S BILLY HOUSE and ANNA EDGERTON: "Pelosi's Take on Trump Was Written All Over Her Face" ... L.A. TIMES' JEN HABERKORN and SARAH WIRE: "With some smirks and an eye roll, Nancy Pelosi expresses Democratic opposition to Trump's speech"

Good Wednesday morning. AP ... BREAKING: "NATO says Trump to meet other alliance leaders in London summit in December"

HOW IT PLAYED ...

-- BURGESS EVERETT, HEATHER CAYGLE and JOHN BRESNAHAN: "'WTF': Dems rip Trump speech as phony outreach": "President Donald Trump urged bipartisanship during his State of the Union address Tuesday. Then he promptly called for Democrats to help him build a border wall, enact a new abortion ban and preemptively end the House's investigations. Needless to say, it did not go over well.

"'WTF,' said Sen. Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii) afterward about Trump's immigration rhetoric. 'Sickening,' added Senate Minority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill). Rep. Emanuel Cleaver (D-Mo.) said he wasn't sure Washington needs to even hold a State of the Union anymore. And Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-Va.) invoked Richard Nixon three times when discussing Trump's speech." POLITICO

FRONT PAGES ... NYT: "ASKING FOR UNITY, TRUMP RENEWS BID FOR BORDER WALL ... A Fluctuating Tone - the President Says Investigations Are 'Ridiculous'" ... WaPo (banner): "A discordant appeal for unity" ... WSJ: "Trump Seeks to Reset Wall Debate: President signals some flexibility on border security but sticks to demand in speech"

NYT'S PETER BAKER on A1: "President Trump delivered a message of bipartisan unity on Tuesday night in his first address to Congress in the new era of divided government, but signaled that he will continue to wage war for the hard-line immigration policies that have polarized the capital and the nation.

"In a nationally televised speech that toggled between conciliation and confrontation, Mr. Trump presented himself as a leader who can work across party lines even as he pressed lawmakers to build a wall along the nation's southwestern border that leaders of the newly empowered congressional Democrats have adamantly rejected." NYT

L.A. TIMES' JANET HOOK: "In his 1 hour, 22 minute speech to a joint session of Congress - one of the longest on record - Trump addressed two audiences and tried to accomplish two goals at odds with each other. Even as he exhorted members of Congress to come together on an agenda of shared legislative interests, he provoked Democrats on immigration, abortion and investigations of his administration." LAT

TRUMP'S 2020 PREVIEW ... via ANITA KUMAR: "In an 82-minute speech to Congress Tuesday, Trump boastfully claimed a long list of accomplishments likely to form the contours of his campaign to reclaim the White House: An economic turnaround. Trade agreements to help American workers. Criminal justice reform. Defeating the Islamic State and concluding 'endless wars.'" POLITICO

A message from U.S. Chamber of Commerce:

A new HHS proposal would import foreign drug pricing policies that block access to life-saving drugs, inhibit R&D necessary to discover new drugs, and threaten our nation's free-market health care system. Tell HHS: Protect America's free market healthcare system!

WAPO'S BOB COSTA: "'They know it's his party': Despite tensions with Trump, GOP lawmakers roar with approval for their president": "Tuesday night's State of the Union address, with thunderous applause and gushing accolades from Republicans, offered a reminder that, for all their policy differences and frustrations, the GOP is still very much the party of Trump." WaPo

FROM 30,000 FEET -- JOHN HARRIS: "Why Trump's zig-zagging speech made perfect sense": "President Donald Trump's State of the Union address, as it unfolded, was a dizzying and even disorienting experience, a cascade of rhetorical passages that seemed to contradict each other every few moments.

"Appeals for unity and bipartisanship jostled with ideological and cultural scab-picking. Theatrics used by all modern presidents to swell the heart or moisten the eye - We are joined in the gallery tonight by... - were followed by the honking boasts of a MAGA rally.

"At first blush this all may have seemed like incoherence, as though the speech was a composite of recommendations from warring factions, every zig offset by a whiplashing zag. But taken as a whole, the address revealed a clear strategic purpose - one designed to revive and strengthen the ideological connection between the Trump of 2019 with the Trump who first began his astonishingly effective takeover of the Republican Party four years ago." POLITICO

THE RESPONSE ... "Stacey Abrams bashes Trump for shutdown 'stunt' in SOTU response," by Daniel Strauss: "Democrat Stacey Abrams, the 2018 Democratic nominee for governor in Georgia, bashed President Donald Trump for the recent government shutdown as she delivered her party's response to the State of the Union Tuesday night.

"In her rebuttal to Trump's speech, Abrams shared her family's history and her experiences as the state House minority leader in Georgia, and she strongly criticized the president for trying to gut Obamacare and warned about voter suppression in America.

"But she centered her most pointed criticism on the president's role in the most recent government shutdown, saying that Trump made federal workers' 'livelihoods a pawn for political games.'" POLITICO

NEWS ... HOUSE MINORITY WHIP STEVE SCALISE (R-LA.) will file a discharge petition to try to bring the Born Alive Survivors Protection Act to the House floor. The legislation aims to bar doctors from declining to care for a baby if it survives an abortion. The petition would have to reach 218 signatures to get to the floor.

2020 WATCH ... ELENA SCHNEIDER: "Klobuchar to announce 2020 plans Sunday in Minnesota"

-- CHRIS CADELAGO: "Schultz's toxic investments: For-profit college, tax shelter for the rich"

THE INVESTIGATIONS ... "Firms Recruited by Paul Manafort Are Investigated Over Foreign Payments," by NYT's Ken Vogel: "Federal prosecutors in recent weeks have been interviewing witnesses about the flow of foreign money to three powerful law and lobbying firms that Paul Manafort recruited seven years ago to help improve the image of the Russia-aligned president of Ukraine, people familiar with the questioning said.

"The previously unreported interviews about the flow of the money are among the latest developments in the investigation of key figures who worked at the three firms - Mercury Public Affairs, the Podesta Group and Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom." NYT

-- "Democratic Donor Who Pivoted to Trump Draws Scrutiny in Inaugural Inquiry," by NYT's Ken Vogel, David Kirkpatrick and Maggie Haberman: "In the world of big-dollar political donors, Imaad Zuberi is notable less for the scale of his giving than for its baldly transactional nature. ... Telling friends he needed to act quickly to balance out his political connections if he hoped to maintain access, he donated more than $1.1 million to committees associated with Mr. Trump and the Republican Party in the three months after the 2016 election. ...

"In an interview, Mr. Zuberi said that his donations were 'more of a networking thing," intended mostly to help him meet people who could help with a New York real estate investment fund. 'To open doors, I have to donate,' he said. 'It's just a fact of life.' He added, 'Not only did it not yield any business, but it actually backfired,' because of the attention he has received since his donation was cited in the subpoena.'" NYT

-- "Confidential Memo: Company of Trump Inaugural Chair Sought to Profit from Connection to Administration, Foreigners," by WNYC's Ilya Marritz and ProPublica's Justin Elliott

-- "New York federal prosecutors seek interviews with Trump Organization executives," by CNN's Erica Orden and Cristina Alesci

A message from U.S. Chamber of Commerce:


A new HHS proposal would import alarming drug pricing policies from foreign governments and threaten our nation's free-market health care system. Learn more.

TV THIS MORNING -- VP Mike Pence will speak to Jeff Glor for an interview on "CBS This Morning."

TRUMP'S WEDNESDAY -- The president will announce the next World Bank president at 1:30 p.m. in the Roosevelt Room. POLITICO has scooped it's David Malpass. At 2:50 p.m., he is leaving the White House for the State Department, where he will deliver a speech to the ministers of the global coalition to defeat ISIS. Trump will host a dinner at 6:30 p.m. in the Blue Room with the host committee and pastors ahead of the National Prayer Breakfast.
PLAYBOOK READS


PHOTO DU JOUR: President Donald Trump turns to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), as he delivers his State of the Union address on Tuesday, Feb. 5. | Doug Mills/The New York Times via AP, Pool

THE LATEST ON NORTHAM -- "'It's a mess': Race and gender fault lines in Virginia cripple Democrats," by Marc Caputo and Maggie Severns in Richmond: "Democrats couldn't react fast enough to the racist photo in Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam's old yearbook showing one man dressed as a Klansman and another in blackface.

"But a newly surfaced sexual assault allegation against the man who would replace Northam if he resigns - Justin Fairfax, the state's African-American lieutenant governor and a rising star in the party - has left Democratic national figures and Virginia lawmakers at a loss for words.

"The back-to-back stunners in Richmond exposed fault lines in the Democratic Party coalition that were unimaginable just five days ago. And with the state's political hierarchy in the balance, the stories triggered a potential collision of two powerful forces in Democratic politics - the battle to combat racism and the movement to stop sexual harassment." POLITICO

-- "'This isn't me': Gov. Northam's defiance caught advisers off guard," by WaPo's Gregory Schneider and Laura Vozzella in Richmond: "Over the past several days, he has even toyed with the idea of leaving the Democratic Party and governing as an independent - a sign of the degree that he is isolated from every political ally, from his state party and from the national party." WaPo

HMM -- "Trump's travel to Mar-a-Lago alone probably cost taxpayers more than $64 million," by WaPo's Philip Bump: "On Tuesday, [the GAO] released a report looking only at Trump's first four trips to Mar-a-Lago as president: on Feb. 3-6; Feb. 10-12; Feb. 17-20; and March 3-5, 2017. The total? Just under $14 million, for an average cost of $3.4 million per trip.

"That includes about $8.5 million spent by the Defense Department and $5 million by the Department of Homeland Security. It also includes about $60,000 paid directly to Mar-a-Lago itself, $24,000 of which was for lodging for Defense Department personnel and $36,000 for operational space used by DHS." WaPo

A message from U.S. Chamber of Commerce:


America's free-market health care system is at risk. Learn more.

WSJ'S KATHERINE CLARKE: "Trump's Childhood Home in Queens-With Life Size Cutout-Up For Sale": "In Queens, N.Y., sits a roughly 2,500-square-foot President Trump collectible: the modest, yellow Tudor-style home he lived in during his early years is coming on the market for $2.9 million. ... In the corner of the living room looms a cardboard cutout of the president dressed in a suit and his trademark red tie. 'In this bedroom, President Donald J. Trump was likely conceived, by his parents, Fred and Mary Trump,' reads a sign in one of the bedrooms.

"At $2.9 million, the house is seeking a mighty premium over neighboring homes in the Jamaica Estates area. A comparably sized home across the street is asking $1.25 million, and another similarly sized home a block away sold for just over $640,000 in 2016, public records show." With three pics, WSJ

MEDIAWATCH -- "A Leaked Memo Says Chinese State TV Registered As A Foreign Agent 'In The Spirit Of Cooperation,'" by BuzzFeed's Mark Di Stefano and Rosalind Adams

-- "John Cantlie, a British Journalist Held Hostage by ISIS, Is Believed to Be Still Alive," by NYT's Rukmini Callimachi in Hasaka, Syria, and David Kirkpatrick and Richard Pérez-Peña in London: "More than six years after he was abducted in Syria by jihadists, John Cantlie, a British journalist, is believed to be still alive, a British government official said on Tuesday. Mr. Cantlie has been seen in several propaganda videos made by the Islamic State, also known as ISIS or ISIL, but the last one was released more than two years ago.

"On Tuesday, Ben Wallace, Britain's minister for security, told journalists at a Home Office briefing that Mr. Cantlie was thought to be alive, though he did not disclose how the government might have knowledge of his condition." NYT
PLAYBOOKERS
SPOTTED: Beto O'Rourke in NYC on Tuesday night across the street from the NY Athletic Club. Pic with Jonathan Seabolt ... Nikki Haley on Tuesday night having dinner at Bluebird London Restaurant in Time Warner Center.

BIRTHWEEK (was yesterday): Jason Nichols ... Harshitha Teppala (hat tip: Nihal Krishan)

BIRTHDAY OF THE DAY: Amy Robach, co-anchor of ABC's "20/20," is 46. A trend she thinks deserves more attention: "Compassion. I don't think we share enough of the heroic inspiring stories that are happening every day around the world. We're oftentimes focused on what's going wrong, and what or who to be afraid of, and I'd like to see more men and women highlighted who are making the world a better place. As journalists we can help create a bigger and better feeling of community and compassion." Playbook Plus Q&A

BIRTHDAYS: Tom Brokaw is 79 ... Jerry Seib, executive Washington editor at the WSJ, is 63 ... Mike Lukach ... Todd Abrajano, acting deputy director at U.S. Trade and Development Agency ... Ronald Reagan was born 108 years ago in Tampico, Ill. ... The Daily Beast's Lloyd Grove ... CBS News' Fernando Suarez is 4-0 ... Aoife McCarthy ... Rebecca Cooper ... WaPo national political correspondent Jenna Johnson ... David Brown, executive producer for WNET's "MetroFocus," is 52 ... C. Boyden Gray is 76 ... POLITICO's Connor Coleman ... Chris Slevin, VP at Economic Innovation Group ... Daniel Wessel, spokesperson and deputy Trump war room director at the DNC ... Evan Wessel, deputy director of the
National Conference of Democratic Mayors (h/ts Michael) ... Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-N.J.) is 74 ... Rep. Brendan Boyle (D-Pa.) is 42 (h/t John McCarthy) ...

... Alexa Cassanos, VP of corporate comms at Viacom (h/t Deirdre Latour) ... TheBeatDC's Tiffany Cross (h/t Kurt Bardella) ... Jacquie Bloom ... Missayr Boker ... Annie Burns, partner at GMMB (h/t Jon Haber) ... Eric Weiner ... Mike Soraghan ... Richard Cohen is 78 ... Jay Dardenne is 65 ... Jessica Mulligan ... RNC's Sarah Wood ... Ray Conger, a recent NYU Stern MBA grad ... Clay Helton, who recently joined Kraft Heinz Government Affairs ... Jeremy Bowen, BBC Middle East editor, is 59 ... Justin Pope, VP and COS at Longwood University, is 44 ... Scott Atran is 67 ... Ken Lisaius, SVP of comms at BIO ... Rob Johnson ... Helaine Klasky, chief comms officer at SoundExchange (h/t Ben Chang)
... Mike Schmuhl ... Britt Grant ... Richard Seifman ... Peter Stolz is 37 ... Uber's Malcolm Glenn ... Peter Lutrario is 63 ... Tommy Brown ... Patrick Urbanus ... Doug Campbell ... Ricky Feller (h/ts Teresa Vilmain)

A message from U.S. Chamber of Commerce:

HHS has proposed a dangerous new policy that would set prices for some Medicare drugs based on an international benchmark. This would import the foreign government price controls set by countries with socialized health care systems.

It's no coincidence that patients in those foreign countries have access to a fraction of the cures Americans do.

This proposal would threaten our free-market health care system, inhibit the R&D necessary to discover new treatments, and block access to life-saving drugs for America's seniors. Learn more.

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