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By Anna Palmer, Jake Sherman and Daniel Lippman

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DRIVING THE DAY
ALERT ... BIG TROUBLE FOR THERESA MAY ... FT: "Theresa May's battle to win wider backing for her Brexit deal was dealt a severe blow on Thursday morning by the resignation of Dominic Raab, the minister responsible for negotiating Britain's exit from the EU.

"Mr. Raab, who was only appointed this summer after the resignation of David Davis, said in his resignation letter that he could not support an 'indefinite backstop arrangement.'

"His departure is likely to embolden other Eurosceptic ministers to quit the government and makes it less likely that Mrs. May can get her plan through parliament. At a marathon cabinet meeting on Wednesday, at least nine cabinet ministers spoke out against the prime minister's draft agreement with the EU. One official close to cabinet said Mr. Raab's resignation would 'trigger the others.'" FT

NOVEMBER SNOW UPDATE ... THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT is open today, but with the option for "unscheduled leave or unscheduled telework."

NEW ... NBC'S VAUGHN HILLYARD in Singapore (@VaughnHillyard): "New per the @VP's Office-> The VP's office says Vice President Pence directly addressed Russian meddling in the 2016 election in a conversation with Vladimir Putin on Thursday in Singapore. The conversation took place following the plenary session this afternoon at ASEAN."

BREAKING NOW ... WAPO'S KAREEM FAHIM in Istanbul: "Saudi Arabia seeks death penalty for five suspects in killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi"

THE SPEAKER RACE ... 49 DAYS UNTIL A VOTE ... NANCY PELOSI'S THURSDAY ... PELOSI is going to a breakfast for newly elected female Democrats being hosted by Florida Rep. Lois Frankel. ... THE HOUSE DEMOCRATIC CAUCUS is meeting at 1 p.m. -- there will be an hour of Pelosi introducing new freshmen, and then an hour focused on the rules package, which presumptive incoming Rules Chairman Jim McGovern of Massachusetts will lead.

LAST NIGHT at an "End Citizens United" reception honoring member-elects at Nationals Stadium, Maryland Rep. John Sarbanes introduced Pelosi as the "general you keep and need in the fight against Donald Trump."

MORE THAN 65 PEOPLE attended including: Max Rose, Dean Phillips, Katie Porter, Chris Pappas, Angie Craig, DCCC Chairman Ben Ray Luján of New Mexico, Jason Crow, Reps. Brad Schneider (D-Ill.), Ted Lieu (D-Calif.), Ted Deutch (D-Fla.) and Katherine Clark (D-N.Y.), laine Luria, Abigail Spanberger, Antonio Delgado and Colin Allred.

LOOK FOR PELOSI ALLIES TO SAY THE FOLLOWING ... Per a senior Dem aide: Members looking to take Pelosi out are all less liberal than her ... Pelosi will take her quest for speaker to a floor vote. She's not backing down. ... Rep. Marcia Fudge (D-Ohio) has been seen as being on the wrong side of some LGBTQ issues, which Pelosi allies are sure to play up.

WE HAVE NOT SEEN the letter from the so-called anti-Pelosi rebels yet, but those opposed to the California Democrat remain quite vocal. Next week is Thanksgiving. Being out of town could shift the dynamics in the race, a bit.

FUDGE'S OPENING GAMBIT ... CLEVELAND PLAIN DEALER: "Rep. Marcia Fudge weighing a bid for House Speaker": "'People are asking me to do it, and I am thinking about it,' Fudge told cleveland.com. 'I need to give it some thought and see if I have an interest. I am at the very beginning of this process. It is just in discussion at this point.'

"Fudge said voters backed Democrats because they wanted a change, and Pelosi doesn't represent that. Fudge is also dismayed that neither of the party's two top leaders, Pelosi and Maryland's Steny Hoyer, is a minority, and said an African American woman should be in leadership.

"'When you look at the people who support this party the most, they are women and African Americans and especially African American women,' said Fudge. 'We keep talking about diversity, but there is nothing diverse about the top of our ticket. We have to not just talk the talk, but walk the walk.'

"If she were to seek the Speaker's job, Fudge says her legislative priorities would include fighting student loan debt, making sure people with preexisting medical conditions can get health insurance, and making infrastructure improvements that would help create better paying jobs." Cleveland.com

-- RACHAEL BADE and NOLAN MCCASKILL: "Rep. Ed Perlmutter (D-Colo.), who opposes Pelosi for speaker, stood [in a closed party meeting] to advocate for a proposal that would allow members to vote for whomever they want on the House floor for speaker.

"Democrats are currently bound by caucus rules to vote for whomever wins the nomination for speaker. The nominee is decided behind closed doors in a secret ballot vote, and requires only a simple majority of members to clinch. It's a much lower threshold than is needed on the House floor, where a small number of Democrats could conceivably block Pelosi. Pulling out a copy of the Constitution, Perlmutter argued that such rules go against founding principles of the nation.

"But Rep.-elect Katie Hill of California challenged Perlmutter on why the rule needs to be changed, since it's not enforced anyway. She suggested that Perlmutter was raising the issue to make hay. 'On behalf of the freshman class, I would like for all of us to move forward,' she said, according to sources in the room." POLITICO

MINORITY LEADER KEVIN MCCARTHY ... "McCarthy hits hard at Dems after winning minority leader post," by Kyle Cheney, John Bresnahan and Sarah Ferris: "House Republicans immediately resumed a wartime posture Wednesday after electing its new leadership - vowing to aggressively resist Democrats' agenda and work to recapture the House majority after being routed in last week's elections.

"In his first press conference after Republicans chose him to be House minority leader next year, Rep. Kevin McCarthy largely attributed the GOP wipeout to historical trends while also repeatedly blaming spending by former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg as the cause of several Republican defeats in close contests." POLITICO

-- WSJ EDITORIAL BOARD: "The Minority Leader's Only Job: House Republicans are about to discover the pain of irrelevance"

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THE NEXT REPUBLICAN CHALLENGE ... OHIO REP. JIM JORDAN, who was trounced yesterday in his bid for minority leader, seems to be aiming for Judiciary chairman. HOUSE FREEDOM CAUCUS CHAIRMAN MARK MEADOWS (R-N.C.) said yesterday that Jordan deserves the ranking member slot on judiciary. He also has to run for that position -- it's a decision made by the steering committee. GEORGIA REP. DOUG COLLINS has been working that vote for a long time, and many believe he has it locked up. Jordan is next in line on Oversight and Government Reform, but again, that's something he'd have to win.

Happy Thursday morning. SPOTTED: Incoming House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy last night at Capital Grille.

IMPORTANT STORY ... ELANA SCHOR and MARIANNE LEVINE: "Flake to oppose Trump's judicial picks to protect Mueller": "Flake announced his move during a failed attempt to get unanimous consent for a vote on the bill designed to shield Mueller from being fired by Trump. His gambit promises to make trouble - but not an insurmountable amount - for fellow Republicans as they churn ahead with a blistering pace of confirming Trump's judges. The party has only a one-vote majority in the Judiciary Committee and a 51-49 advantage on the Senate floor. ...

"But Flake's bid to play hardball has a quick expiration date since he's retiring at the end of the year. Twenty judicial nominees are currently waiting for a vote in the Judiciary panel, in addition to another nominee still awaiting a hearing, and 32 nominees have already cleared committee but not yet gotten a floor vote." POLITICO

KNOWING MATT WHITAKER -- "Whitaker's unusual path to Justice Department included owning day-care center, trailer maker and concrete supplier," by WaPo's Shawn Boburg and Robert O'Harrow Jr.: "Over the past two decades, Whitaker - now the acting attorney general - has owned a day-care center, a concrete supply business and a trailer manufacturer, state records show. He led a taxpayer-subsidized effort to build affordable housing in Des Moines, but he walked away from the stalled project two years ago after the city threatened him with a lawsuit.

"In 2004, when he started a five-year stint as U.S. attorney in the Southern District of Iowa, Whitaker cited a personal-injury case and a dispute involving a dry-cleaning business as some of his most consequential legal work.

"When he left office, he started a modest legal practice and a short-lived lobbying and consulting firm. Whitaker, 49, stands in vivid contrast to his predecessors, whose résumés typically boast judgeships, partnerships at prestigious firms and senior roles in the Justice Department. He is the latest in a series of unorthodox appointments in the Trump era." WaPo

THE INVESTIGATIONS ...

-- WSJ: "Mueller Probes Possible Witness Intimidation by Roger Stone," by Shelby Holliday and Aruna Viswanatha: "Special Counsel Robert Mueller's office is exploring whether longtime Trump adviser Roger Stone tried to intimidate and discredit a witness who is contradicting Mr. Stone's version of events about his contacts with WikiLeaks, according to people who have spoken to Mr. Mueller's investigators. In grand jury sessions and interviews, prosecutors have repeatedly asked about emails, text messages and online posts involving Mr. Stone and his former friend, New York radio personality Randy Credico, the people said.

"Mr. Stone has asserted that Mr. Credico was his backchannel to WikiLeaks, a controversial transparency group, an assertion Mr. Credico denies. Mr. Mueller's investigators are probing whether Mr. Stone had direct contact with WikiLeaks and knew ahead of time about its release of stolen Democratic emails, as he claimed during the campaign and now denies. Mr. Stone says he is angry at Mr. Credico because his ex-friend has 'refused to tell the truth' about being his conduit to WikiLeaks." WSJ

FIRST AMENDMENT WATCH -- JASON SCHWARTZ and MICHAEL CALDERONE: "Trump seeks to land blow against media in court fight with CNN": "Donald Trump sought Wednesday to land a massive blow in his long-fought battle against the news media, with administration lawyers asserting in court that the president could bar 'all reporters' from the White House complex for any reason he sees fit.

"The sweeping claim, which came in the first public hearing over CNN's lawsuit to restore correspondent Jim Acosta's White House credentials, could have a dramatic impact on news organizations' access to government officials if it is upheld in court. CNN argued in its lawsuit filed Tuesday that the White House infringed on Acosta's First Amendment rights by revoking his access in response to a dispute over a press conference last week.

"But Trump's lawyers replied Wednesday in a legal filing that he has 'broad discretion' to police journalists' access to the White House. 'If the president wants to exclude all reporters from the White House grounds, he has the authority to do that,' Deputy Assistant Attorney General James Burnham said during the hearing in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. 'There's no First Amendment right.'

"Judge Timothy Kelly postponed until Thursday a decision on whether to at least temporarily restore Acosta's press pass. But the arguments Wednesday represented a significant escalation in Trump's fight against the media, with more than a dozen news organizations, including POLITICO, weighing in on CNN's side." POLITICO

-- @MarshallCohen: "Just read through the Trump administration's new filing in the CNN lawsuit. Notably, in their 28-page memo to the court, they never accuse Jim @Acosta of 'placing his hands on a young woman,' like @PressSec claimed last week. Why not? For one, you can't lie to a federal judge."

2020 WATCH -- "Avenatti arrested in domestic violence case," by Natasha Korecki: "Stormy Daniels attorney Michael Avenatti was arrested Wednesday in Los Angeles and booked on a felony domestic violence charge, Los Angeles police confirmed.

"Avenatti, an anti-Trump fixture on the cable news circuit who is exploring a 2020 run for president, was arrested at 2:05 p.m. on the 10000 block of Santa Monica Boulevard, police said. The attorney held a brief news conference late Wednesday after he was released from jail.

"'I have never struck a woman. I never will strike a woman. I've been an advocate for women's rights my entire career and I'm going to continue to be an advocate,' Avenatti told reporters. 'I'm not going to be intimidated from stopping what I am doing.' Avenatti welcomed an investigation, saying he expected to be 'fully exonerated.'" POLITICO


BIG NYT INVESTIGATION ... SHEERA FRENKEL, NICK CONFESSORE, CECILIA KANG, MATT ROSENBERG and JACK NICAS: "Delay, Deny and Deflect: How Facebook's Leaders Fought Through Crisis": "It was the social network's security chief, Alex Stamos, who had informed company board members [in Sept. 2017] the day before that Facebook had yet to contain the Russian infestation. Mr. Stamos's briefing had prompted a humiliating boardroom interrogation of Ms. Sandberg, Facebook's chief operating officer, and her billionaire boss. She appeared to regard the admission as a betrayal. 'You threw us under the bus!' she yelled at Mr. Stamos, according to people who were present. ...

"While Mr. Zuckerberg has conducted a public apology tour in the last year, Ms. Sandberg has overseen an aggressive lobbying campaign to combat Facebook's critics, shift public anger toward rival companies and ward off damaging regulation. Facebook employed a Republican opposition-research firm to discredit activist protesters, in part by linking them to the liberal financier George Soros. It also tapped its business relationships, lobbying a Jewish civil rights group to cast some criticism of the company as anti-Semitic." NYT

-- @patrickgaspard: "My letter to @facebook regarding the smear campaign they paid for and disseminated against George Soros & @OpenSociety as reported by @nickconfessore in the @nytimes. These tactics out of Putin's playbook have no place in an important debate about the integrity of our elections". His letter

-- NYT: Facebook has ended its relationship with Definers

TRUMP'S THURSDAY -- The president and First Lady Melania Trump will leave the White House at 11:40 a.m. to visit the Marine Barracks. They will return to the White House at 1:20 p.m. At 1:30 p.m., Trump will deliver remarks about supporting veterans and military families. He is also meeting with Senate Republican leaders at 2:45 p.m. in the Oval Office.
PLAYBOOK READS


PHOTO DU JOUR: Michael Avenatti leaves the Los Angeles Police Department Pacific Division after posting bail for a felony domestic violence charge on Wednesday. | Michael Owen Baker/AP Photo

MARKET WATCH -- "Global Economy Shows Strain as U.S. Steams Ahead," by WSJ's William Boston in Berlin, Josh Zumbrun in Washington and Nina Adam in Frankfurt

-- BEN WHITE: "The looming threat to Trump's booming economy": "President Donald Trump, already in a grumpy post-midterm mood, faces a growing list of economic problems that could irritate him even more next year. Chief among them is a withdrawal from the economy's sugar high.

"Fiscal stimulus from the GOP tax cuts is likely to start running out. The Federal Reserve is expected to keep bumping up interest rates. And few analysts expect a divided Congress - facing soaring deficits and with its eyes on 2020 - to join hands and pass a big infrastructure package or sweeping middle-class tax cuts to keep the fiscal juice flowing." POLITICO

TRADE WARS -- REUTERS: "Exclusive: China sends written response to U.S. trade reform demands - U.S. government sources," by Jeff Mason and David Shepardson: "China has delivered a written response to U.S. demands for wide-ranging trade reforms, three U.S. government sources said on Wednesday, a move that could trigger more formal negotiations to resolve a withering trade war between the world's top economies. ...

"Three U.S. government sources told Reuters on Wednesday that China had sent a response to U.S. demands on those and other issues, but gave no further details on its contents. It was unclear if the response contained concessions that would satisfy Trump's demands for change. While two industry sources familiar with the contents of the response said it was largely a restatement of previous Chinese commitments, it was seen as a necessary starting point for continued negotiations." Reuters


WHAT THE PENTAGON IS READING -- "Pentagon Began Clampdown on Senior Leaders' Public Speaking Months Ago, Memos Reveal," by Defense One's Kevin Baron: "Pentagon leaders nine months ago ordered a sharp clampdown on public appearances by senior U.S. military leaders and senior civilian Trump administration appointees, limits that have kept them largely out of sight - and out of trouble with President Trump. The new rule: only one senior military leader and one civilian leader are allowed to appear at each 'outside' non-government events, per day." Defense One

MIRA RICARDEL OUT -- "A White House aide picked a fight with Melania Trump. The first lady won," by WaPo's Anne Gearan, Josh Dawsey and Emily Heil: "As the East Wing prepared the flight manifest for the marquee trip [to Africa], deputy national security adviser Mira Ricardel became angry that seats on the first lady's government jet were assigned to a larger-than-usual security entourage and a small press corps with none for Ricardel or another NSC staffer ... Policy experts from the NSC and State Department were advised to fly separately and to meet the first lady's party on the ground, a practice the State Department had often used, but Ricardel objected strenuously ...

"She threatened to revoke NSC resources associated with the trip, meaning no policy staff would advise the first lady during her visits to Ghana, Kenya, Malawi and Egypt. ... After an uncomfortable day of limbo, White House press secretary Sarah Sanders announced Wednesday evening that Ricardel was leaving the White House." WaPo

MEDIAWATCH -- "Financial Times tool warns if articles quote too many men," by The Guardian's Jim Waterson: "The Financial Times is automatically warning its journalists if their articles quote too many men, in an attempt to force writers to look for expert women to include in their pieces. The media organisation found that only 21% of people quoted in the FT were women, prompting the development of a bot that uses pronouns and analysis of first names to determine whether a source is male or a female. Section editors will then be alerted if they are not doing enough to feature women in their stories." Guardian

-- "Fox News Host Laura Ingraham Drops Radio Show for Podcast, Citing Family," by the Hollywood Reporter's Jeremy Barr: "Ingraham, a strong supporter of President Donald Trump, has hosted a radio show since 2001 and was known most prominently as a radio host before landing a primetime slot on Fox News late last year." THR
PLAYBOOKERS
TRANSITION -- per Politico Influence: "Brian J. Walsh, a well-known Republican consultant, is joining FP1 Strategies as a partner. He was previously a partner at ROKK Solutions."

SPOTTED at a reception last night at the Newseum for Everytown for Gun Safety and Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America hosted by John Feinblatt, Shannon Watts, and Rep.-elect Lucy McBath: Sens. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) and Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), Reps. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-Texas), Tim Ryan (D-Ohio), Mike Thompson (D-Calif.), Ted Lieu (D-Calif.), Earl Blumenauer (D-Ore.), Suzanne Bonamici (D-Ore.), Katherine Clark (D-Mass.), Brian Fitzpatrick (R-Pa.), Jerry McNerney (D-Calif.), Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.), Brad Schneider (D-Ill.), Donald Norcross (D-N.J.) and Ted Deutch (D-Fla.), Rep.-elects Mikie Sherrill, Chrissy Houlahan, Dean Phillips and Jason Crow
...

... Steve Elmendorf, Brynne Craig, Heather Podesta, Tammy Haddad, Eric Schultz, Bob Costa, Michael LaRosa, Kevin Cirilli, Isaac Dovere, Reid Epstein, Tracy Sefl, Robyn Bash, Gisel Kordestani, John McCarthy, Nate Howell, Kathleen Biden, Francesca Chambers, Ted Johnson and Bill Knapp.

BIRTHDAY OF THE DAY: Zeke Miller, White House reporter at AP and also a pilot. What he's been reading recently: "I've been reading 'The Millionaire's Unit: The Aristocratic Flyboys who Fought the Great War and Invented American Airpower.' It's the true story of how a century ago some (mostly) crazy-rich college students essentially built their own air force." Playbook Plus Q&A

BIRTHDAYS: Robert Draper, author and writer for the N.Y. Times Magazine and National Geographic ... Jen Palmieri ... Amanda Renteria ... Gail Gitcho ... Zach Bauer, body man for Vice President Mike Pence ... Bill Richardson is 71 ... Davan Maharaj, former L.A. Times editor-in-chief and publisher ... Helen Brosnan of f the Domestic Workers Alliance and co-founder of OWN IT (h/ts Ben Chang) ... WaPo's Greg Miller ... Fox News' John Roberts is 62 ... Alexandra Lippman ... Liz Hunger ... Reid Kaplan ... Madge Bush ... Robert McCreary ... John Easton (h/t Liz Johnson) ... Lee Cochran of Bloomberg Philanthropies ... Jennifer Jones ... Tim Keating ... Chris Doherty (h/ts Jon Haber) ... Josh
Venable, former COS at the Dept. of Education ... Adam Snider, director of public affairs at American Association of Airport Executives, is 39 ... Xochitl Torres Small ...

... CNN's Laura Bernardini (h/t Mark Preston) ... Sarah (Novascone) Fanning is 4-0 ... Eugene Mulero is 4-0 ... Chris Graham of Koch Industries (h/t wife DiAnne Graham) ... Tammy Sun ... former Rep. Ellen Tauscher (D-Calif.) (h/t Tammy Haddad) ... Matthew Fried ... Tomos Lewis ... Rep. Drew Ferguson (R-Ga.) is 52 ... Emily Schlichting ... Elliott Phaup ... POLITICO Europe's Silvia Sciorilli Borrelli ... James Boyle ... AARP's Joe Valenti ... Ben Goodman ... Cyril Dadd, director of federal legislative affairs at CenturyLink ... Bert McCarthy ... Mike Mills ... Mark Naymik ... Erin Shaw Stinner... Ryan Miner is 33 ... Bryant Johnson ... Nancy Kohn ... Chris Fluhr ... Joe Sandler (h/t Teresa
Vilmain)

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