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Today's POLITICO Playbook presented by Better Medicare Alliance

07/10/2017 06:30 AM EDT

By JAKE SHERMAN (sherman@politico.com; @JakeSherman), ANNA PALMER (anna@politico.com; @apalmerdc) and DANIEL LIPPMAN (daniel@politico.com; @dlippman)

Listen to the Playbook Audio Briefing | Subscribe on iTunes | Visit the online home of Playbook
Driving the Day
Good Monday morning. WELCOME TO 3 VERY CONSEQUENTIAL WEEKS. Let's be brutally honest: there is a better than even chance Congress leaves town at the end of this month without a single major legislative achievement to talk about back at home. Not one. The Senate is squirming on health-care reform, and faces long odds in their quest to pass an overhaul to Obamacare. The $1-trillion infrastructure plan that, seven weeks ago, the Trump administration promised would be out in the "next several weeks" has not come out. Tax reform is still in the hearing phase, and the Trump administration still says it will be done by the end of the calendar year.

-- CRISIS MODE: DEBT CEILING UNLIKELY TO HAPPEN BEFORE AUGUST RECESS: Capitol Hill has not been able to chart a path forward on lifting the nation's debt limit because of infighting in the administration about whether it should come with or without strings. THE TRUMP ADMINISTRATION is pushing for Congress to take action before the August recess, but most Hill aides we speak to say it won't happen. THE LIKELY GAMEPLAN, AS IT STANDS NOW: the Senate will push a clean debt limit increase to the House in the fall, and after a day or two of squirming and posturing, the GOP will pass it with Democratic votes. Congress has until October to get this done, so hold your horses.

-- GOV'T FUNDING: Government funding needs to be reupped by the end of September. As of now, we've heard from people in the House and Senate that Congress will likely extend funding until December, and then fight over the rest of the year's funding in the final month of the year. That could impact tax reform, which, under the Trump administration's schedule, will also need to be finished by the end of the year.

-- THE TAKEAWAY: The year is quickly being eaten up by must-do housekeeping instead of big-picture legislating.

NEWS -- JAKE AND ANNA ARE WRITING A BOOK! Congress is the most exhilarating, exciting and juicy story in town. The backstory about how deals get done -- or don't get done -- is filled with intrigue, twists, turns and personality clashes. After more than seven years of talking about writing a book about Capitol Hill, we decided this is our time to do it. We'll chart the first two years of Trump's presidency, through the lens and prism of lawmakers and aides on Capitol Hill. This is a book about people and personalities, political chess and the battle for power in Congress. It's a snapshot of official Washington in the era of Donald Trump.

IN MANY WAYS, this is a book we've been writing in our head since 2010. Congress is an institution we've spent a lot of time observing, studying and thinking about. We hope you come along for the ride.

CROWN, which published our friends Jon Allen and Amie Parnes' books about Hillary Clinton, will publish our work. We anticipate it will be released in March of 2019 -- just months after the midterm elections. DAVID LARABELL and RACHEL ADLER of CAA represented us.

-- VANITY FAIR: "HOW POLITICO'S NEXT GENERATION TOOK OVER WASHINGTON: Inside the transfer of power at Playbook, the most influential newsletter in politics," by Sarah Ellison. http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=ac4484127ac75acbfd5a4eb79d23480a5709378f32d3094ce584c23e0d3d9ab9def7a714d84d67641e1566c9dd900c6b6f88243b7a79763c

THE STORY EVERYONE IS TALKING ABOUT -- NYT'S JO BECKER, MATT APUZZO and ADAM GOLDMAN -- "Trump's Son Met With Russian Lawyer After Being Promised Damaging Information on Clinton": "President Trump's eldest son, Donald Trump Jr., was promised damaging information about Hillary Clinton before agreeing to meet with a Kremlin-connected Russian lawyer during the 2016 campaign, according to three advisers to the White House briefed on the meeting and two others with knowledge of it. The meeting was also attended by his campaign chairman at the time, Paul J. Manafort, and his son-in-law, Jared Kushner. Mr. Manafort and Mr. Kushner recently disclosed the meeting, though not its content, in
confidential government documents described to The New York Times. ...

"It is unclear whether the Russian lawyer, Natalia Veselnitskaya, actually produced the promised compromising information about Mrs. Clinton. But the people interviewed by The Times about the meeting said the expectation was that she would do so.

"When he was first asked about the meeting on Saturday, Donald Trump Jr. said that it was primarily about adoptions and mentioned nothing about Mrs. Clinton. But on Sunday, presented with The Times's findings, he offered a new account. In a statement, he said he had met with the Russian lawyer at the request of an acquaintance from the 2013 Miss Universe pageant, which his father took to Moscow. 'After pleasantries were exchanged,' he said, 'the woman stated that she had information that individuals connected to Russia were funding the Democratic National Committee and supporting Mrs. Clinton. Her statements were vague, ambiguous and made no sense. No details or supporting information was
provided or even offered. It quickly became clear that she had no meaningful information.'

"He said she then turned the conversation to adoption of Russian children and the Magnitsky Act, an American law that blacklists suspected Russian human rights abusers. The 2012 law so enraged President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia that he halted American adoptions of Russian children. 'It became clear to me that this was the true agenda all along and that the claims of potentially helpful information were a pretext for the meeting,' Mr. Trump said. Two people briefed on the meeting said the intermediary was Rob Goldstone, a former British tabloid journalist and the president of a company called Oui 2 Entertainment who has worked with the Miss Universe pageant. He did not immediately respond
to messages seeking comment. Mark Corallo, a spokesman for the president's lawyer, said on Sunday that 'the president was not aware of and did not attend the meeting.'" http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=ac4484127ac75acb9a5d04213d3408d1175c2256e071ad9a1e86b3c3d963c2f56b0ed78dc1c6100f26a6e14132cf519918fd5b0c276af0fa

-- IF YOU'RE KEEPING SCORE: Washington Post's Roz Helderman and Tom Hamburger broke the story that Goldstone was the intermediary between Trump Jr. and the Russian lawyer.

-- SOMEONE GOT TO HIM! -- TRUMP at 8:45 last night: "The fact that President Putin and I discussed a Cyber Security unit doesn't mean I think it can happen. It can't-but a ceasefire can,& did!" ...

... BUT, BUT, BUT: 22 HOURS AGO the president said the cyber-security unit would be "impenetrable" and would prevent "election hacking" and "many other negative things."


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THE GOP DONOR PAPER -- WSJ EDITORIAL: "Putin Is Not America's Friend": "We'll find out in the coming weeks how Vladimir Putin sized up Donald Trump in their first mano a mano meeting on Friday, but one bad sign is the Trump team's post-meeting resort to Obama-like rhetoric of cooperation and shared U.S.-Russia purposes. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson frequently lapses into this form of John Kerry-speak as he did trying to sell the new U.S.-Russia-brokered cease-fire in a corner of Syria. 'I think this is our first indication of the U.S. and Russia being able to work together in Syria,' Mr. Tillerson told reporters.

"He added: 'I would tell you that, by and large, our objectives are exactly the same. How we get there, we each have a view. But there's a lot more commonality to that than there are differences. So we want to build on the commonality, and we spent a lot of time talking about next steps. And then where there's differences, we have more work to get together and understand. Maybe they've got the right approach and we've got the wrong approach.' The same objectives? The Russians want to help their client Bashar Assad win back all of Syria while retaining their military bases. If they are now talking about a larger cease-fire, it's only because they think that can serve Mr. Assad's purposes.
The Trump Administration doesn't seem to know what it wants in Syria after Islamic State is ousted from Raqqa, and we hope Mr. Tillerson isn't saying the U.S. shares the same post-ISIS goals as Russia.

"Congress can play a fortifying role here by moving ahead with the bill toughening sanctions against Russia for its election meddling. The Senate passed the bill 98-2, and Republicans can move it quickly in the House with some fixes for oil investments. The White House objects that the bill takes away discretion from Mr. Trump to reduce sanctions unilaterally. But that discretion shouldn't be granted until Messrs. Trump and Tillerson show that they understand that Mr. Putin is not America's friend." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=ac4484127ac75acb391da8e4bd753f4e6d245955b1815baed028cfca34aa210f3ddb2cf50b66a9f390f465d4c89a622f82fcd7ec5ea85dfd

-- THE WHITE HOUSE has been working behind the scenes to try to exert influence over the Hill in regards to this sanctions bill. That is going to be increasingly difficult. This legislation can -- and probably will -- pass with veto-proof margins.

SUSAN GLASSER'S THE GLOBAL POLITICO -- "Does Trump Have a Point About Obama and Russia?: Tom Donilon, former national security adviser, says 'no doubt about it' Obama should have done more about Russia hacking of 2016 election": "Normally cautious, careful and exacting, Donilon argues that Obama as early as last summer should have made "aggressive public attribution" that Russia was responsible, long before the president ultimately did so last October just a few weeks before the election.

"'Given the fact that they were attacking a fundamental element of our democracy,' Donilon says in the interview, the Obama administration should have been 'pushing back harder and publicly' rather than worrying so much about appearing to use the national security apparatus for partisan ends or assuming a Clinton victory would end the matter. That 'would have been a better course of action, frankly.'" http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=ac4484127ac75acb3468ac1100b709ee62962f655f63563571a66506614a5858c2a3bf4d4062c096a9ea5e00fcef751325884271b7120246 ... Subscribe http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=ac4484127ac75acb7897702dd5d25822dab90d5e4f13d3c32e32311b2a4405d3cbfc76ada179be3c04bf4d2aa918c56d20d89e3941e1d673

ALEX ISENSTADT SCOOPS: "President Trump's enemies list: The president remembers every political slight - and the politicians who abandoned him during the Access Hollywood scandal": "Donald Trump is less than six months into his presidency, yet one of the organizing principles of his political operation is already becoming clear: Payback. In private, Trump spoke of spending $10 million out of his own pocket to defeat an incumbent senator of his own party, Jeff Flake of Arizona, according to two sources familiar with the conversation last fall. More recently, the president celebrated the attacks orchestrated by a White House-sanctioned outside group against another Republican senator, Dean
Heller of Nevada, who has also been openly critical of him. Fear of Trump reprisals has led one Republican congresswoman, Martha Roby of Alabama, to launch an intense campaign to win over a president who remembers every political slight." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=ac4484127ac75acba3f6723e0b9335441e524e2a2cc50f3b9a87c0507fafb5632367dec743a9f92af7d4cda3feccdee2eb0b9b7c933a7629

JONATHAN MARTIN and ALEX BURNS -- "Alabama's Special Senate Election Is All About Wooing Trump": "[T]he contest may boil down to a single question: How will President Trump respond to the candidate who denounced him for 'serial adultery'?

"The campaign for the Senate seat once held by Attorney General Jeff Sessions is ostensibly playing out between Muscle Shoals and Mobile Bay. But the battle is being waged just as fiercely inside the White House, where Mr. Trump's endorsement could determine who will serve as the state's junior senator for the next three years. The Republican race has pitted the current, appointed senator, Luther Strange, against Representative Mo Brooks, a conservative firebrand whose brash, anti-immigrant, pro-gun politics are distinctly Trumpian -- save that 'serial adultery' jab.

"That has created tensions between Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the majority leader who strongly backs Mr. Strange, and the West Wing, where some sympathies lie with Mr. Brooks. What Mr. Trump does will beam a message to his supporters well beyond Alabama about which Republican faction he favors: the pragmatic establishment or uncompromising hard-liners. And in Alabama, Mr. Trump's preference matters. He may be saddled with national disapproval ratings that no modern president has seen this early in an administration, but among Alabama conservatives, the president ranks up there with college football, air-conditioning and pork shoulder." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=ac4484127ac75acb146ac82ed9fb3c8836c37ccb086c85cbb09c2efbb03bd41ea892e8ff2eb143394f135de5fad5e73448f50ceebe9f5bbc


-- COMING ATTRACTIONS: "Mo Brooks in Senate Ad: Fund President Trump's Border Wall or Face Government Shutdown," by Breitbart's Matt Boyle: "Rep. Mo Brooks (R-AL), a Republican candidate for U.S. Senate in Alabama, is threatening to shut the government down in the U.S. Senate if his colleagues do not fund President Donald J. Trump's planned border wall along the U.S. border with Mexico. Mo Brooks, one of three major candidates in the race to succeed now Attorney General Jeff Sessions for Sessions' seat, made the threat in a new ad set to air statewide in Alabama on television soon." With the ad http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=ac4484127ac75acbab3569350e67b521af5f7e1b54b172235b0923b250b70f8fc20b095ea9eaa3b4db3cf2995eea137d2349b80a383d359c

THE JUICE ...

-- DEFINERS PUBLIC AFFAIRS, founded by Matt Rhoades, Romney-Ryan 2012 campaign manager, and Joe Pounder, former RNC research director, is expanding to London. Its affiliate UK Policy Group will "produce campaign-style research, media monitoring, opinion research, and communications strategy advice for private sector clients." Trygve Olson of Viking Strategies and Andrew Goodfellow, former director of research for the Conservative Party will serve as UKPG's vice president. ... The Politico Europe story http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=ac4484127ac75acb8b1fece43ba5afd139fc7b28ffe7fcdd6b4f9508eff7f340f6604fa37b1151ee22a2288825cd356ac4d61e50d4a145c2

-- @JoePerticone: "Walking along Mass Ave, casually overhead Mitch McConnell walking w/ wife Elaine Chao say 'I'd really like to get that Kennedy slot'"

-- SAVE MY CARE, which is working to stop the repeal of Obamacare, is launching what they say is a "seven-figure TV ad buy" in Alaska, Nevada, Maine and West Virginia to target Lisa Murkowski, Dean Heller, Susan Collins and Shelley Moore Capito. The ad urges the senators to "keep your promise, vote no on health care repeal." Nevada http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=ac4484127ac75acb6aff16ee267fe5edf3edca1345cf5f83ff90ff24377e494dd852f707d25d679ebe363647eb81a2c2e83ef10b89bc2d0a ... Alaska http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=ac4484127ac75acb297d53bc23493708b3f5cad39433d421a947f24db09fe111053f2853f5af12610ad75c3c66f118387be52ed1c24425a2 ... Maine http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=ac4484127ac75acb212d71727ae23a4bbb6c27b59fda67d1699c02d564730d7b61bbd0b70629403158e6437aa9de213ebe6f736fee0765d3 ... West Virginia http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=ac4484127ac75acb7da3e84da8b34d64aceedab1a5910ab78f8dda114bb4ca340a84ce35bbb0cfd9bfc022ed44fc10b2adac313812f2b3cb

#PLAYBOOKLOYAL: It's been one year since we took over Playbook and we want to thank you for reading. We want to hear from you -- so we're creating a competition. The prize: a signed copy of one POLITICO's Pulitzer Prize winning cartoonist Matt Wuerker's famous cartoons. HERE'S HOW IT WORKS: Tweet or post a message to us on Facebook using the hashtag #PlaybookLoyal -- each time you post with the hashtag will increase your chances of winning! Post as often as you wish from today until Friday, July 14. So get to sharing and tell us why you're #PlaybookLoyal and include this link http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=ac4484127ac75acb69a8658cf7bf5d39bc6392dee4ec4bd739394d061ba416198b58835f65d8c1fcd032a4956875d5f86683488213a1171f


Playbook Reads


PHOTO DU JOUR: Iraqi Special Forces soldiers celebrate after reaching the bank of the Tigris river as their fight against Islamic State militants continues in parts of the Old City of Mosul, Iraq on July 9. | Felipe Dana/AP Photo

THE RESISTANCE -- "Obama returns to politics with redistricting group fundraiser," by Isaac Dovere: "Barack Obama will make the first official political move of his post-presidency on Thursday, headlining a private fundraising for the National Democratic Redistricting Committee at a private home in Washington. The event, which will also be attended by NDRC chair Eric Holder and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, is to support the group he's helping back to coordinate Democratic efforts in state races and lawsuits to push back on Republican success in gerrymandering over many cycles. In many statehouses and Congress, that's left Democrats at a baked-in disadvantage."
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=ac4484127ac75acb4d525d41fa06508566a3678ec5edfbdf2a0c1b4f5c9c9e01139338ca1a3d665999855dfcbf658577bf15cf62bec8273a

TRUMP'S WHITE HOUSE -- "The Scholar Who Will Help Lead Trump's Assault on Rules," by NYT's Steve Eder: "When George Mason University changed the name of its law school last year to honor Antonin Scalia, the late conservative Supreme Court justice, the tribute rankled many liberal faculty members and students. ... One outspoken advocate for the name change was Neomi Rao, an associate law professor who had come to know Mr. Scalia while serving as a clerk for Clarence Thomas, another conservative member of the court. ... [Q]uietly, Ms. Rao also worked to win over liberal critics. In a public relations coup, she helped secure an endorsement for the name change from Ruth Bader Ginsburg, one of
the Supreme Court's most liberal justices and a longtime friend of Mr. Scalia. ...

"Ms. Rao's ability to work both sides of the ideological divide, emblematic of her career in academia and government, is about to be tested anew. On Monday, the Senate is expected to approve Ms. Rao's nomination to lead an obscure but powerful White House agency called the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs - placing her at the heart of President Trump's politically contentious agenda to overhaul government rules and regulations." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=ac4484127ac75acb79b1a9baab9dbf759384413c0ff5559a21cae1b47d46f2eda29ed252057498cad5ad95d62afaecd1154f147a86cf1142

JOSH GREEN with an excerpt from his new Bannon book in NYMag, "Attack, Attack, Attack: Why does Trump double-down every time it seems like he should retreat? Because Steve Bannon is back in his boss's good graces": "On May 22, just as a strange photo of President Trump, Saudi king Salman, and Egyptian president Abdel Fattah el-Sisi touching a glowing orb reached the apex of its memehood, Steve Bannon, who was lurking somewhere beyond the orb's glow, got on a plane in Riyadh and flew back to his book-stuffed apartment in a glass high-rise in Arlington, Virginia. ... His former position largely restored, Bannon is now back in his natural element, at the center of the chaos. He modeled Trump's
war room after the one set up by Bill Clinton to handle Ken Starr's Whitewater probe. Bannon was convinced that Trump needed his own Lanny Davis - Clinton's pit-bull lawyer and TV surrogate - to go against Mueller, according to a source familiar with his thinking. (Bannon even called Davis to consult him.) ...

"Despite his portrayal as Trump's Rasputin, Bannon's return was prompted less by his own influence than by the president's needs. ... Bannon is less 'The Great Manipulator' than Trump's indispensable henchman, the man he turns to when everything's going to hell. Bannon is astute enough to discern Trump's desires and heedless enough to carry it out. 'If the whole White House is backed up against the wall facing a firing squad, Steve will stay there,' says Ken Cuccinelli, president of the Senate Conservatives Fund. 'Reince [Priebus] and the other guys will run.'" http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=ac4484127ac75acb40fa4898a3cc2551fb76709ea85f08ce481724edbac8154140baa19ca0148fb9945dd198f6298764e2d1249f48bdc9f4 ... $21.90 on Amazon http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=ac4484127ac75acb1687e2373bd2d5cee49e8423c20dd48886c674f9606834e95f60d774fce47aa442e0a5c912c6ced88fd486fbdca79fb8

LARRY SUMMERS in the FT, "Donald Trump's alarming G20 performance": "A corporate chief executive whose public behaviour was as erratic as that of Mr Trump would already have been replaced. The standard for democratically elected officials is appropriately different. But one cannot look at the past months and rule out the possibility of even more aberrant behaviour in the future. The president's cabinet and his political allies in Congress should never forget that the oaths they swore were not to the defence of the president but to the defence of the constitution." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=ac4484127ac75acbe30ebac5515110e90f5885ca11a9a6f5b78590ac65e91684641f290bde20db356a7d4591651b2bd621ed9a4d6fe386e3


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MEDIAWATCH -- RESTUCCIA, COOK and MCCASKILL TO W.H. TEAM -- CARRIE BUDOFF BROWN emails the staff: "Since the start of the year, our White House team has delivered a nonstop diet of powerful coverage dominating attention in Washington and around the world. ... We've been looking for ways to build on that success and are excited to announce several additions to the White House team from within our ranks: Andrew Restuccia and Nancy Cook, who helped anchor our coverage of the Trump transition and the mechanics of the new administration as senior policy reporters, and Nolan McCaskill, who has brought a keen sense of observation to coverage of Trump world from his perch on the breaking news desk."

JIM ACOSTA PROFILE -- "'Grandstanding' or truth teller? CNN's Acosta walks a fine line with Trump," by WaPo's Paul Farhi: "At a time when CNN is under attack by President Trump and his supporters, Acosta has been fighting back. He has said on the air that White House press secretary Sean Spicer's unresponsive answers were rendering him "just kind of useless' as a credible source; that the ever-briefer briefings have become 'basically pointless'; that covering this White House has at times been like 'covering bad reality television.' ... He has repeatedly needled Spicer on Twitter, too: 'I can't show you a picture of Sean,' he tweeted, over a photo of his ankles, during a blacked-out
briefing on June 19. 'So here is a look at some new socks I bought over the wknd.'" http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=ac4484127ac75acb04c0d84064cb98aa48e3b6855ca848212d702b5baca4f7e80acdda51b47e88c221de66f0e8933e0a6bc97d1c80940eb5

-- "How Antitrust Undermines Press Freedom," by News Media Alliance president and CEO David Chavern in WSJ: "Whenever President Trump attacks CNN or berates the Washington Post, journalists and free-speech advocates rise up to defend the media and the First Amendment. Meanwhile, a greater threat to America's news industry looms mostly unnoticed: Google and Facebook's duopolistic dominance of online advertising, which could do far more damage to the free press than anything the president posts on Twitter. ... The News Media Alliance, which represents digital and print publishers ... is proposing a solution: a new law granting a limited safe harbor under antitrust for publishers to negotiate
collectively with dominant online platforms. This would grant media organizations the flexibility to expand innovative digital models of news distribution, while also giving them more ways to sustain high-quality journalism." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=ac4484127ac75acbc13de00f6041b2237742e158e31d89f39a3832863ef476bf3fa130dc7a0771cc6b44659509c6632dd6c43422dc4e9b06

Playbookers
SPOTTED: Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Rep. Claudia Tenney (R-N.Y.) yesterday at the 40th annual Utica Boilermaker. Pic http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=ac4484127ac75acbc04f89d3293cc433fb36e8a7f710f3cfc12c729644d60ea2caa5e8d058ee30b731a4293ae49e119de92a7d34351df39a ... National Intelligence Director Dan and Marsha Coats exiting an armored vehicle (with security detail) for Sunday morning service at McLean Presbyterian Church. ... former Amb. Norm Eisen (and Obama's ethics czar) walking down 14th street yesterday holding a cactus yesterday - he was with his daughter.

TRANSITIONS - Jonathan Nabavi is joining the NFL as VP of public policy and government affairs. Nabavi most recently served as majority counsel for the Senate Judiciary Committee and is a former college football player at Penn State. ... The Hispanic Leadership Fund has hired Gus Portela as its director of external affairs and operations. He previously served as political director and executive director of the College Republican National Committee.

... Kate Leone has been named SVP of government relations and a member of the executive team of Feeding America, an anti-hunger organization. She previously was general counsel for Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.). http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=ac4484127ac75acb5af391ee42901143ca7cfd785ff1afdfbac17a9b85848ef1a0849d34a929876e06757d29aaebd9fc11bc1c3ac5f1a9b9

ENGAGED -- Caren Auchman, SVP at Fleishman-Hillard and former Dodd/GSA/Waxman flack, got engaged to Aaron Bregman, history teacher at Charles E. Smith Jewish Day School. "He popped the question in a suite at the Mayflower Hotel, then insisted they rush to dinner - and in the hallway of the hotel were 14 of their closest friends ready to toast the couple. Engagement celebrations continued at Bibiana and Zaytinya until 1 a.m. The couple met in 2015 on JSwipe, a.k.a. 'Jewish Tinder.'" Pic http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=ac4484127ac75acb8607ce1ebcdbb5e09d15b604acc1499016a9e770945d4161f6c74d81db3d29f7c2b92325100f52d00a4987313353cf0e

--Chris Crawford, program associate at Democracy Fund, on Saturday got engaged to Carolyn VanBrocklin, a communications specialist at Bethesda-based Concepts Inc., a small business that offers subject matter expertise in disability, employment, and veterans issues. The couple met at Holy Trinity Church in Georgetown and he proposed outside Darlington House restaurant in Dupont Circle, where they went on their first date. Instapic http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=ac4484127ac75acb3826fa8868ee8d5b9d0fad9a85db34b75269b84f5d81d4f16652ff92e7d6d3ffde0a7ade6eba9dae8b802820191c91ef ... Pic of the ring http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=ac4484127ac75acb089db06e74207e9e86bc6a7b8816c25fc7de206e877bedd705cc6e1fd7b6e5e4619b283b23d1fcbd8f896e96e17dbdd7

WEEKEND WEDDINGS -- Zachary Cohen (son of Politico's Joanne Kenen and Ken Cohen) got married to Sam Greenberg at Adas Israel on Sunday. They are both grad students at NYU Wagner School of Public Policy. They met via mutual friends five years ago when Sam was at Penn and Zach at Columbia. Pic http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=ac4484127ac75acbe42fe51ad145c27f2e2207ba13063549b282046997eb7ce03c644b731f33bf3296264239536727e44ad5e35c5bb0cc68 (h/t Steve Rabinowitz)

-- "Brahna Siegelberg, Richard Kreitner" -- N.Y. Times: "The couple met while working as editors for the college newspaper at McGill University in Montreal, from which they graduated. The bride, 28, is an English teacher at the New York City Museum School in Manhattan. She received a master's degree in education from Hunter College. She is also a writer who has published articles in Slate and Tablet magazines. ... The groom, 27, is an assistant editor in Manhattan for The Nation magazine." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=ac4484127ac75acbe8d0b280b0c3c3728f9be8e1e9afde310baf7968788369475795ffc4165c1eb1bee0a40d3b58ef8538045ab5024994ab

BIRTHWEEK (was yesterday): KP Trueblood, director of strategy for the ACLU and former budget director for HFA/director of ops for the Clinton-Kaine transition (hat tip: Lisa Vedernikova)

BIRTHDAY OF THE DAY: Julianna Smoot, co-founder of the Smoot Tewes Group, former Obama national finance director and W.H. social secretary. She celebrated with a party her husband, Lon Johnson, threw her in Detroit on Saturday. Read her Playbook Plus Q&A: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=ac4484127ac75acbf8a681559c005c4bb5741fff8904f77a57e283164dad8a649b186ca2f254f7fa0d051e30592c71bd87d3c9e226ff4238

BIRTHDAYS: Sam Stein, recently hired by The Daily Beast ... Kenny Day, SVP of political at iHeartMedia ... Sarah Boxer, the pride of Stamford, Connecticut -- Politico's Matt Daily, Catherine Boudreau, Ashley Afranie-Saky, and John Appezzato ... former NYC Mayor David N. Dinkins is 9-0 ... Rep. Tom McClintock (R-Calif.) is 61 ... Rep. Brian Mast (R-Fla.) is 37 ... Rep. Dan Newhouse (R-Wash.) is 62 ... former Rep. Phil Gingrey (R-Ga.) is 75 ... former Rep. Russ Carnahan (D-Mo.) is 59 ... Rena Shapiro, VP of politics and advocacy at BuzzFeed ... Emil Caillaux is 33 (h/t Katy Summerlin) ... Morgan Ortagus, a navy reservist, and an executive director at Ernst & Young ... Megan Ortagus ... Vice's
Shawna Thomas ... Sam Harper, director in the public affairs and crisis practice at Burson-Marsteller (h/t Ben Chang) ... De Blasio alum Karen Hinton ... WSJ's Heather Haddon ... Rob Bogart ... Phillip Hedayatnia ... Grant Thomson ... Jamie Lockhart ... Peter Bondi ... Christine Turner, global policy at WhatsApp and an NSC alum ...

... Remley Johnson, former Defense Sec. Don Rumsfeld's chief of staff, is 26 (h/t Robert Flock) ... Morning Consult's Eli Yokley is 25. He celebrated this weekend with a house party on Friday night, brunch at Centrolina on Sunday (Instapic http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=ac4484127ac75acb866150519ebc37fc0a815d96253bc727f5d1daa0b476f75ab29c040e2ea39a9680e5cd590d647cecda4c062fd9bdd0b2 and birthday dinner at Bourbon Steak tonight (h/ts Lauren Weber and Evan Hollander) ... Caroline Ciccone, a managing principal on the communications team at Precision Strategies (h/t Tom Zigo) ... Bill Thompson, former NYC Comptroller ... Ian Rivera, campaign manager at Kopser for Congress and an HFA alum ... Amanda Woloshen ... Kevin Call ... Bill Roberts ... Debbie Palacios ... Sarah Hodgkins ... Caroline
Gransee ... Mary Conlow (h/t Teresa Vilmain) ... Clay Haynes ... Chris Terris ... Max Blachman ... Tim Schlittner ... Kristin Chesemore ... Finlay Lewis is 79 ... Elie Jacobs ... Monty Warner ... Elizabeth Bartz ... Chuck Lewis ... JJ McCoy ... Edie Mead Holway ... Jeff Mitchell ... Arlo Guthrie is 69 ... Sofia Vergara is 44 ... Adrian Grenier is 4-0 ... Jessica Simpson is 36 (h/ts AP)

****** A message from BMA: Better Medicare Alliance is helping to build the future of care through Medicare Advantage. As a community of experts, we're leading the way on health care through research, policy, and grassroots advocacy. Together, we're creating a path forward for innovative, modern health care. Stand with us: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=ac4484127ac75acb0df5380677663778ebef76de373d72b858c8692798958ab5afb32b724dced92442f87de121a6a9785e673613b4e14215 ******

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