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Today's Playbook Power Briefing presented by Morgan Stanley

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


Good Tuesday afternoon. BREAKING -- A Republican campaign official tells us to expect SEVERAL HOUSE GOP retirements as soon as this week. "Don't be surprised to see some retirements this week. Mostly in safe seats but could also see in a competitive seat or two. Still well below average on retirements." Republicans are telling us not to read into these retirements -- they are all for personal reasons, officials say. But, needless to say, the DCCC would love some more open seats.

INSIDE THE ROOM -- CASH STILL COMING IN -- NRCC CHAIRMAN STEVE STIVERS addressed the House Republican Conference this morning and went through polling on tax reform. The stats: 50 percent of people are living paycheck to paycheck and 33 percent of people are $400 away from personal economic collapse.

-- Several GOPers also followed Speaker Paul Ryan's lead in transferring cash to the NRCC. He transferred $1.5 million today, as we scooped yesterday in Power Briefing. House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (Calif.) ponied up $900,000. Rep. Drew Ferguson of Georgia committed $330,000 to Team Ryan and Rep. Jim Renacci of Ohio committed $50,000.

QUOTE OF THE DAY -- @cimarcos: ".@RepChrisCollins (R-NY) on tax reform: 'My donors are basically saying, 'Get it done or don't ever call me again.''"

THE NEWS YOU WERE WAITING FOR -- AP'S ZEKE MILLER: "The White House is declining to comment on the president's ability to tweet in China or the precautions being taken to protect his communications in the heavily monitored state. It's about more than cybersecurity. Knowing the president's penchant for showmanship, some aides are trying to build up social media suspense before Air Force One is wheels-down in Beijing. Spoiler alert: The American president will get his way. Multiple officials familiar with the procedures in place but unauthorized to discuss them publicly said the president will, in fact, be able to tweet in China." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=a6b0a6d2d1389088aa4a2de1bc30da85f0f0be1aed2c38bbbf7b9d37d94136b33b62c126a1f828159fdff8d94f655507

PALACE INTRIGUE -- "Omarosa's West Wing bridal adventure highlights broader dysfunction," by Josh Dawsey: "The Apprentice villain turned senior White House official brought members of her 39-person bridal party to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue for an extended wedding photo shoot, catching fellow senior aides and some security officials by surprise in her bridal attire. They loudly wandered around, looking to snap photos in the Rose Garden and throughout the West Wing, according to four current and former White House officials.

"While it's unclear if she received any formal permission for the photo shoot, at least some lawyers and other senior aides were not briefed in advance, the officials said. They quickly banned Manigault, the director of communications for the Office of the Public Liaison, from posting the pictures online, citing security and ethical concerns.

"The incident -- which created buzz in the West Wing for weeks -- did little to help the reputation of the Office of Public Liaison, seen by some White House officials as one of the most unruly and under-utilized operations in the West Wing, according to eight current and former White House officials and advisers. The office has floundered for months, these people say, and has drawn particular scrutiny from Chief of Staff John Kelly, who has asked for changes." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=a6b0a6d2d138908830299739e95dae682a0dee3d1ac14dcfdb72c7a19d7aded715d93daf30dca21d53bec6f27db16de9

STAYING AT MAR-A-LAGO -- Trumpettes USA, a group of pro-Trump women, is holding a "red, white and blue celebration" at Mar-a-Lago on Jan. 18. Invitation http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=a6b0a6d2d13890887c7acabd576f2394b634ca5d16d5c0a4fe1a9ee5f0800d3ac54394ca877ab9da585b83be20968ae9

WEIRD STORY -- "The Case of Wilbur Ross' Phantom $2 Billion," by Forbes' Dan Alexander: "Fresh off a tour through Thailand, Laos and China, United States Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross Jr. picked up the phone on a Sunday afternoon in October to discuss something deeply personal: how much money he has. A year earlier, Forbes had listed his net worth at $2.9 billion on The Forbes 400, a number Ross claimed was far too low: He maintained he was closer to $3.7 billion. Now, after examining the financial-disclosure forms he filed after his nomination to President Donald Trump's Cabinet, which showed less than $700 million in assets, Forbes was intent on removing him entirely. Ross protested,
citing trusts for his family that he said he did not have to disclose in federal filings. ...

"So began the mystery of Wilbur Ross' missing $2 billion. And after one month of digging, Forbes is confident it has found the answer: That money never existed. It seems clear that Ross lied to us, the latest in an apparent sequence of fibs, exaggerations, omissions, fabrications and whoppers that have been going on with Forbes since 2004. In addition to just padding his ego, Ross' machinations helped bolster his standing in a way that translated into business opportunities." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=a6b0a6d2d1389088a678b590129697744ff150c655b2701616823888e1587cace619440a258bf46398bd1b5a80c0bd10

****** A message from Morgan Stanley: Seed investors don't just want to hear great data, they also need to be hooked by the personal story and vision of a startup. In the Morgan Stanley Innovation Lab, our in-house technology startup accelerator, we helped AptDeco find ways to connect with potential investors. Read more. ******

ALL ALONE ON CLIMATE -- "Syria to ratify the Paris agreement, leaving the U.S. alone," by POLITICO Europe's Sara Stefanini: "Syria announced today it will join the Paris climate agreement, leaving the U.S. as the only country outside the international accord. The Syrian delegation announced it would ratify the 197-party agreement during a plenary meeting on the second day of the U.N.'s two-week COP23 climate summit, hosted by Fiji in Germany." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=a6b0a6d2d13890888acae8e64f5fb9edc4fadb16257752b710fba9dd3c8449009f1fc7c212238354456ed7e88d6d2c33

FOGGY BOTTOM WATCH -- "Trump Undercuts His Advisers Again With Saudi Tweets," by Bloomberg's Nick Wadhams: "President Donald Trump again showed how quickly his tweets can outrun U.S. foreign policy planning, after he backed Saudi Arabia's king and crown prince over the arrests of dozens of officials before the State Department had completed its review of the moves. While Trump had talked with Secretary of State Rex Tillerson about Saudi Arabia as they toured Tokyo together Nov. 5 and 6, there was no formal consultation before he tweeted early Tuesday that King Salman and Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman 'know exactly what they are doing.'" http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=a6b0a6d2d138908895bdd1d6b8ea6d46eb33b9aa9d85f8df46c14c7a24e5c9283cd9fa20d8561e5e712c54bda5315446

IN LANGLEY -- "CIA director met advocate of disputed DNC hack theory -- at Trump's request," by the Intercept's Duncan Campbell and James Risen: "CIA Director Mike Pompeo met late last month with a former U.S. intelligence official who has become an advocate for a disputed theory that the theft of the Democratic National Committee's emails during the 2016 presidential campaign was an inside job, rather than a hack by Russian intelligence.

"Pompeo met on October 24 with William Binney, a former National Security Agency official-turned-whistleblower who co-authored an analysis published by a group of former intelligence officials that challenges the U.S. intelligence community's official assessment that Russian intelligence was behind last year's theft of data from DNC computers. Binney and the other former officials argue that the DNC data was 'leaked,' not hacked, 'by a person with physical access' to the DNC's computer system.

"In an interview with The Intercept, Binney said Pompeo told him that President Donald Trump had urged the CIA director to meet with Binney to discuss his assessment that the DNC data theft was an inside job. During their hour-long meeting at CIA headquarters, Pompeo said Trump told him that if Pompeo 'want[ed] to know the facts, he should talk to me,' Binney said." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=a6b0a6d2d138908888720aff37cf7bea241a9cb35f0c1897266ac41a47dec1bdcad2bd97a304f28be3bf8dd2d68ce3e1

GABE DEBENEDETTI in POLITICO MAGAZINE -- "Robby Mook Can't Stop Not Talking About 2016: Hillary Clinton's campaign manager has a new project: Helping election professionals stop foreign hackers. But there's one topic he can't avoid": "Mook has spent the last year fending off media requests to talk about What Went Wrong, and trying to pivot to Russia. He's mostly ignored the sniping and second-guessing from Democratic operatives like Donna Brazile and Stan Greenberg, insisting he doesn't even read the criticism. Even here in the Ivory Tower, though, 2016 is a subject he can't avoid -- and he's presenting his last two years as a cautionary tale for a bunch of still-caffeinating twenty- and
thirty-somethings.

"'What you guys are doing here is way more important than any of our campaign tactics right now, because part of my experience from my campaigns was that all those tactical things we do in campaign management are about the margins, right? Like one, two, three points -- something like that. Three points is amazing, actually, if we can achieve something like that. If our adversaries continue to be successful with what they're trying to do, none of that matters anymore,' he tells the students, who fall silent for the first -- but not the last -- time this morning. They sense what's coming from the guy whose new project is called 'Defending Digital Democracy,' and which is hosted not only by
the [Harvard] Institute of Politics, a traditional landing spot for former campaign operatives, but also by the university's Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=a6b0a6d2d1389088531859d6ca4adaf15a5730f3000793513c9ab883d8dd683a3b907aab274217ed201ad3367a0458b1

TICK TOCK -- GQ's BEN SCHRECKINGER -- "Inside Donald Trump's Election Night War Room": "Nobody saw it coming. Not the pundits or the pollsters, not even the Donald himself. From the backrooms of Trump Tower to the studios at Fox News to the VIP lounges of his victory bash, this is the story of Donald Trump's Election Day -- perhaps the wildest, weirdest 24 hours in American politics -- as told by dozens of the people who found themselves at the center of it." Featuring Steve Bannon, Bret Baier, Frank Luntz, Kellyanne Conway, Sean Spicer, Katrina Pierson, Armstrong Williams, Chris Wallace, Boris Epshteyn, a cameo by Felix Sater, and many more http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=a6b0a6d2d1389088bf3e8117ac0f7c94e8308194f005a9473295f6e43ff5b640db784fc6dff78d9aeeff7cef6dfc609e

PLAYBOOK METRO SECTION -- "Capital Weather Gang D.C. winter outlook: Colder and snowier than last year, but not extreme," by WaPo's Matt Ross: "If anything, Washington winters have proven wildly variable in recent years. This winter is sure to take on its character, but will it be memorable? We think it will end up pretty ordinary but should deliver more of a punch than last winter, which closed six degrees warmer than average." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=a6b0a6d2d1389088589fd58f269d7253ce225a738f1abe2fa095fb6048087cbc019065fc28666c65f2f4922e2944fd75

TRANSITIONS -- Sam Nurick has joined UpShift Strategies as a senior strategist. She was previously at Oxfam America and is an Obama 2012 alum.

ENGAGED -- Tom Dunn, producer at OnMessage Inc. and an NRCC alum, on Sunday proposed to Annie Dwyer, VP of communications at the Competitive Enterprise Institute. They got engaged on their Navy Yard rooftop and "met through their close mutual friend Emily Mueller, Dunn's former NRCC colleague and Dwyer's fellow DC-Kansan." Pic http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=a6b0a6d2d1389088def1cb180f9e3e105ae60cb83ef228c972d684ccb93df34e4760fbc4a75519f5d8cd313a72177286

****** A message from Morgan Stanley: Morgan Stanley helps startups understand that seed investors don't just want to hear great data, they also need to be hooked by the personal story and vision of a startup. Reham Fagiri checked all the boxes before going out to venture capitalists for seed funding for her startup, AptDeco, which buys and sells new and used furniture online. Yet in spite of its obvious customer appeal, it took longer than she anticipated to reach her fundraising goals. As a participant in Morgan Stanley's in-house technology startup accelerator program, Fagiri was able to tap into the firm's expertise and networks. For startups, being embedded in a global financial
services firm and being in close contact with its technologists not only allows them to tap their experience at any time, but immerses them into the real world problems that many of their potential customers are trying to solve. Read more. ******

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