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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 05, 2019 View in browser
By Anna Palmer, Jake Sherman, Daniel Lippman, Garrett Ross and Eli Okun

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SPEAKER NANCY PELOSI'S SOTU GUESTS include José Andrés, D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser, union officials and two active-duty transgender soldiers. The full list

SPOTTED: VALERIE JARRETT having dinner with SEN. ELIZABETH WARREN (D-MASS.) on Monday at Olivia in Penn Quarter. ... Sens. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) and Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) dining together at Prime Rib on Monday.

SO MUCH FOR UNITY ... THE PRESIDENT TWEETS at 10:29 a.m.: "I see Schumer is already criticizing my State of the Union speech, even though he hasn't seen it yet. He's just upset that he didn't win the Senate, after spending a fortune, like he thought he would. Too bad we weren't given more credit for the Senate win by the media!"

-- FOR WHAT IT'S WORTH ... Most Senate Democratic insiders didn't think they'd win control of the Senate.

-- SENATE MINORITY LEADER CHUCK SCHUMER (D-N.Y.) tweeted at 10:18 a.m.: "President Trump will report tonight on the state of our union. But, the state of the Trump economy is failing America's middle class. The state of the Trump healthcare system is failing American families. The state of the Trump Administration is chaos." Matthew Choi: "Schumer predicts 'empty' unity talk and policy promises from Trump's address"

THANKS, BUT NAH ... ADAM CANCRYN and SARAH OWERMOHLE: "Democrats bat away Trump's olive branch on drug pricing": "President Donald Trump keeps telling Democrats he wants a big bipartisan drug pricing deal. But Democrats don't believe him - and are rolling out a series of bills that would set the framework for talks far to the left, defying Trump to stand in the way. ...

"Trump is expected to tout his progress on drug pricing during Tuesday's State of the Union, including a proposal unveiled last week that would make the rebates drugmakers give insurance plans subject to fines under anti-fraud law. House Democrats quickly panned it, in what some interpreted as a sign they're digging in on dictating the terms of the debate." POLITICO

PREVIEWING SOTU ... NANCY COOK: "Trump offers private SOTU preview to close allies": "The gathering was called so acting chief of staff Mick Mulvaney could detail the main themes of Tuesday's speech to roughly 20 Republicans close to the administration, including former campaign officials like Corey Lewandowski and David Bossie. At the session, Mulvaney outlined the speech's main themes while reminding attendees the draft was still influx and could change in the hours leading up to the speech.

"A hand-out from the meeting obtained by POLITICO said the speech will focus on 'choosing greatness' and will zero in the themes of immigration, American workers, healthcare, the rising cost of prescription drugs and national security." POLITICO

-- CNN'S KAITLAN COLLINS (@kaitlancollins): "A little news -- President Trump is not currently expected to announce the location/date of his second summit with Kim Jong Un during the State of the Union, I'm told. It wasn't in the latest version of the speech he practiced yesterday, but that is fluid and could change."

-- ELIANA JOHNSON (@elianayjohnson): "Trump will spend three hours this afternoon preparing for his speech with Stephen Miller, according to his private schedule, after taking pictures with @FLOTUS' SOTU guests."

-- MICHAEL CALDERONE: "Trump having lunch with news anchors before State of the Union"

BLOOMBERG'S JENNIFER EPSTEIN (@jeneps): "Kamala Harris will do a SOTU pre-buttal on Facebook Live tonight at 7:45 to 'push back on the president's expected message of division, highlight the importance of speaking truth, and outline her vision for a country that works for all its people.' & [Sen. Bernie] Sanders has response planned."

ABOUT THE WALL ... CNN'S KAITLAN COLLINS: "Trump, Kushner met with contractors to discuss building border wall": "President Donald Trump and his son-in-law and senior adviser, Jared Kushner, met with contractors at the White House to discuss building the border wall late last week, two sources with knowledge of the meeting told CNN.

"Despite CNN reporting that several senior Senate Republicans and members of GOP leadership have raised serious concerns about the possibility of Trump bypassing Congress and using an emergency declaration to build his wall, the President's meeting with contractors shows that he is seriously considering doing so." CNN

A message from U.S. Chamber of Commerce:

Today the U.S. Chamber of Commerce hosted their Infrastructure Summit and urged the President to make infrastructure modernization a priority in his State of the Union address tonight. Now is the time for Congress and the President to act. Learn more.

Good Tuesday afternoon. Happy Lunar New Year (it's the year of the pig).

WHAT ELSE IS ON THE PRESIDENT'S MIND -- @realDonaldTrump at 9:10 a.m.: "Tremendous numbers of people are coming up through Mexico in the hopes of flooding our Southern Border. We have sent additional military. We will build a Human Wall if necessary. If we had a real Wall, this would be a non-event!"

THE LATEST IN VIRGINIA ... NPR'S SARAH MCCAMMON (@sarahmccammon): "NEWS: A California woman accusing Virginia Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax of sexual assault has hired Christine Blasey Ford's legal team -- Katz, Marshall and Banks -- and is consulting with them about next steps, according to a source close to the legal team."

-- NYT'S JONATHAN MARTIN (@jmartNYT): "TUESDAY AM NEWS: as part of his investigation into the yearbook, @RalphNortham is planning to hire a private eye."

A.G. UPDATE -- "Nadler prepares subpoena for Whitaker if he backs out of testimony," by Andrew Desiderio: "House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerry Nadler is preparing to issue a subpoena to compel acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker's testimony before his panel, signaling he might be anticipating a no-show for Friday's public hearing. ...

"The committee will debate a resolution to approve a subpoena later this week, Nadler said. It's the closest a Democratic committee chairman has come to issuing a subpoena since the party swept back into the majority in the lower chamber last month." POLITICO

MARIANNE LEVINE: "Trump's pick to replace Kavanaugh grilled for writings on sexual assault": "Neomi Rao, currently head of the White House Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, which reviews executive branch regulations, testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee that she would approach recusal from legal challenges to the Trump administration on a 'case by case' basis. ...

"The aftermath of Kavanaugh's controversial Supreme Court nomination hearings last year was evident in Rao's hearing Tuesday, with several references to controversial statements Kavanaugh made in his high school yearbook." POLITICO

THE INTERCEPT'S RYAN GRIM: "Top Nancy Pelosi Aide Privately Tells Insurance Executives Not to Worry About Democrats Pushing 'Medicare for All'"

ABC'S BEN SIEGEL: "Trump's early trips to Mar-a-Lago cost nearly $14 million: Watchdog report": "President Donald Trump's four trips to his Mar-a-Lago club in Florida over four weeks in March and February 2017, including his summit with the Japanese prime minister, cost the government nearly $14 million, according to the results of a nonpartisan government watchdog's investigation obtained by ABC News.

"The accounting provides one of the clearest pictures to date of the costs incurred by the government for the president's travel to his properties. The report, from the Government Accountability Office, a nonpartisan watchdog that works as an investigative arm of Congress, also found that the U.S. Secret Service spent $396,000 protecting the president's sons, Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump, on three international trips in early 2017." ABC

THE INVESTIGATIONS ... ANDREW DESIDERIO and MARIANNE LEVINE: "Dems revive push to shield Mueller from firing and make his final report public"

-- BUZZFEED'S AZEEN GHORAYSHI, JASON LEOPOLD, ANTHONY CORMIER and EMMA LOOP: "Secret Files Show How Trump Moscow Talks Unfolded While Trump Heaped Praise On Putin": "BuzzFeed News is today publishing a cache of internal Trump Organization documents that lay bare the secret negotiations that continued long after [Michael] Cohen claimed the deal had been abandoned. The documents, many of which have been exclusively obtained by BuzzFeed News, reveal that - despite Trump's claim that the development was never more than a passing notion - the effort to get the tower built was long-running, detail-oriented and directly entwined with the ups and downs of his campaign." BuzzFeed

2020 WATCH -- WAPO'S MICHAEL SCHERER: "Howard Schultz plans Thursday policy speech as he moves toward presidential run": "Undaunted by Democratic attacks, former Starbucks chief executive Howard Schultz plans to deliver a major policy address at Purdue University on Thursday to further explain his vision for an independent presidential campaign that would take aim at the country's two-party political system.

"The speech comes after a week-long media blitz that prompted sharp verbal sparring between Schultz and Democratic leaders, who worry that a self-funded bid by a billionaire fiscal moderate and social liberal will ultimately help President Trump win reelection." WaPo

-- CHRIS CADELAGO: "Kamala Harris to focus on early states this month"

TRADE WARS -- HANS VON DER BURCHARD and ADAM BEHSUDI: "The great trans-Atlantic trade charade": "The trade talks between the United States and the European Union seem to be doomed before they even start. Both parties have released their goals for a free trade deal, but both have put forth targets that the other side considers unacceptable.

"Although talks are still widely expected to take place, the intractable demands are casting doubt on hopes of real progress. The U.S. has already announced that it wants to win greater access to EU agricultural markets. But the Europeans want to leave food out of the talks out of fear of a massive popular backlash, especially among farmers who wield enormous political clout." POLITICO

ON THE KOREAN PENINSULA -- WSJ'S TIMOTHY MARTIN and ANDREW JEONG in Seoul: "U.S., South Korea Break Impasse Over Military Alliance's Costs": "The U.S. and South Korea struck an agreement in principle over the costs of their military alliance, ending a monthslong dispute that had loomed over President Trump's planned second summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

"The two sides have agreed to a preliminary deal covering roughly 28,500 U.S. military personnel in South Korea, though the final details are being sorted out, a U.S. State Department spokeswoman said. The previous agreement expired Dec. 31, though the two sides had until to April 15 to come to new terms. ... Under the agreement, Seoul is set to pay roughly $1 billion, according to South Korea's semiofficial Yonhap News, representing a roughly 20% increase from previous payments." WSJ

ALEX GUILLEN: "Pruitt legal fundraising started months before his exit"

CLIMATE FILES -- "Climate Change Could Leave Thousands of Lakes Ice-Free," by NYT's Nadja Popovich: "In a study published last week in the journal Nature Climate Change, scientists for the first time quantified the effects of rising temperatures on ice cover across 1.4 million lakes in the Northern Hemisphere.

"They found that, from Wisconsin to Japan, thousands of lakes that used to freeze reliably every winter already see some years without ice, and that 'an extensive loss of lake ice will occur within the next generation.' The vanishing ice will affect cold-water ecosystems and be felt by millions of people who live near northern lakes, the study said." NYT

KNOWING LISA MURKOWSKI -- BURGESS EVERETT: "'The most independent': Murkowski carves own path in Trump era": "The Alaska Republican's vote against [Brett] Kavanaugh - the only GOP dissent - cemented her status as the most unpredictable Republican senator and sparked one of her most high-profile splits with [Maine Sen. Susan] Collins, with whom she has long shared the Senate's middle lane.

"But it was the exclamation point on Murkowski's work to build a remarkable political brand distinct from others in her caucus that's only been magnified by the presidency of Donald Trump. The two share few character traits - where Trump is impulsive, Murkowski deliberates. And she has been among Trump's toughest GOP critics for shutting down the government to get border wall funding." POLITICO

N.Y. MAG'S OLIVIA NUZZI: "Former White House Staffer Cliff Sims on Trump's Emotional Life and the Fine Points of Leaking"

SPOTTED at a fundraiser Monday night for Kentucky attorney general candidate Daniel Cameron at BGR Group: Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), Indiana AG Curtis Hill, Pam Bondi, Kristin Strobel, Samantha Dravis, Loren Monroe, Adam Piper, Brian McGuire and Ashley Montenegro.

TRANSITIONS -- Renee Ellmers is leaving HHS, where she was a regional director in Atlanta. She previously was a North Carolina GOP congresswoman. (h/t POLITICO Pulse).

ENGAGED -- Katie Grant, communications director and senior adviser for House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.), on Saturday got engaged to Justin Drew, a professional classical musician. Pool report: "The couple celebrated Saturday evening on the Hill with a wine tasting class at DCanter and dinner at Lavagna." Pic

A message from U.S. Chamber of Commerce:


Our nation's infrastructure is crumbling and will only get worse. Learn how we can rebuild.

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