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Today's Playbook Power Briefing presented by Chevron

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


Good Wednesday afternoon. THE DUAL-HEADED SHUTDOWN MONSTER -- ONE THEORY BOUNCING AROUND ... Many in the Capitol believe that September will be the first of two government-shutdown fights. The theory goes like this: Congress will pass a clean debt ceiling and a short-term government funding bill that extends funding only until December, setting up a Christmas-season dustup. There simply isn't time to solve everything in September. Of course, Trump clearly wants a fight on border wall funding, so it's completely feasible that he stands firm next month. But many on the Hill think there will be a second legislative fight, as well. LIKELY SCENARIO: They screw up both September and December for
Washington. Womp womp.

-- OF COURSE, a prolonged government-shutdown fight would adversely affect the prospects of tax reform.

TEXT FROM A HILL REPUBLICAN: "Remember when the [White House] was going to do a big push for tax reform?"

THE PRESIDENT used Twitter this morning to repeat much of what he said last night. @realDonaldTrump at 9:20 a.m.: "Phoenix crowd last night was amazing - a packed house. I love the Great State of Arizona. Not a fan of Jeff Flake, weak on crime & border!" ... at 9:40 a.m.: "Last night in Phoenix I read the things from my statements on Charlottesville that the Fake News Media didn't cover fairly. People got it!" ... at 9:50 a.m.: "If Republican Senate doesn't get rid of the Filibuster Rule & go to a simple majority, which the Dems would do, they are just wasting time!"

FOR THE PRESIDENT -- @jmartNYT: "This came up during reporting w @alexburnsNYT: Sen Rs especially resent the Flake attacks bc Flake is unfailingly decent to colleagues."

-- FACT CHECK: True.

-- ALSO: Senate Republicans have been having trouble getting to a simple majority on legislative priorities. The whole get-rid-of-the-filibuster-and-all-of-Trump's-problems-with-Congress-will evaporate theory doesn't jive with reality.

BIRTHERISM'S STILL KICKING -- "GOP Senate candidate Roy Moore has said he doesn't believe Obama is a natural-born citizen," by CNN's Andrew Kaczynski and Paul LeBlanc: "Former Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore, a Republican candidate for US Senate, has cast doubt on former President Barack Obama's citizenship repeatedly and as recently as December 2016, fueling the debunked 'birther' movement that sought to delegitimize Obama's presidency. Moore, who started questioning the legitimacy of Obama's citizenship back in 2008, last year told a meeting of the Constitution Party that he personally did not believe Obama was a natural-born citizen.

"'My opinion is, there is a big question about that,' Moore said when asked how he defines natural-born citizen as it relates to qualifications for president. CNN's KFile reviewed video from the event. 'My personal belief is that he wasn't, but that's probably over and done in a few days, unless we get something else to come along,' he added. ... Moore's campaign declined to make him available for interview and did not respond to follow-up emails about the details of this story." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=82bcbc825d3c32192000556af93c15e1e3341c5e0bb7c1f8262f97ba881623fa1c57450657cd2c59e3010de0af6083576bf390cc5c2db2e5

OOPS -- "Why Ben Carson's appearance in Phoenix was likely a violation of federal law," by WaPo's Philip Bump: "Right before Ben Carson took the stage at President Trump's rally in Phoenix on Tuesday night, the announcer introduced him. 'The secretary of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, Dr. Ben Carson,' the voice intoned, prompting cheers from the audience. And, as simply as that, a law was likely broken. ...

"Among the prohibitions included in the Hatch Act is one prohibiting Cabinet secretaries from leveraging their positions for a political cause. That means that the head of, say, the Department of Housing and Urban Development can't appear at a campaign rally in a way that implies he's doing so in an official capacity. Say, by being introduced with his official title." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=82bcbc825d3c321931d73eb03eb8643636f0751dc1aef6c9e13601c5e4eb2afe8de6f49dfddc1c1e32c3968d36267e94b71c5ec40c7200f7

-- RESIGNED: @dan_kammen: "Mr. President, I am resigning as Science Envoy. Your response to Charlottesville enables racism, sexism, & harms our country and planet." His letter to Trump. The first letters of each paragraph spell "IMPEACH" http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=82bcbc825d3c3219ff101b873ee3fa12956e3d222e00346131d06343cd68b9dafec56bf682b1332da63242297df084dbd1128f2a9cdaa870 (He was appointed before Trump took office.)

****** A message from Chevron: Advanced technology is helping us find safer ways to deliver energy. We're piloting a program that uses drones to monitor tanks and pipelines. Watch the video: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=82bcbc825d3c32192199d746ebcb73ab670148fdb65c9b758e721c93787a2fc9223d617624abd285c10051aa84a304b4f11681c10afe3206 ******

ON RUSSIA -- "How Alan Dershowitz Went From Hillary Donor to Trump's Attack Dog on Russia," by The Daily Beast's Betsy Woodruff: "Alan Dershowitz -- a liberal Harvard law professor and ardent backer of Hillary Clinton -- has emerged as one of the Russia probe's most vocal critics. He's likened the investigation to a KGB hunt, and special counsel Bob Mueller to a notoriously obsessed sailor. It's made him a Fox News fixture, and that has left some of his counterparts in the legal world baffled and skeptical. But those close to Dershowitz say his vociferous criticism of Mueller's investigation is the opposite of surprising -- and that Mueller and Dershowitz have a history. ...

"Some suspect Dershowitz's advocacy goes beyond his television appearances. A person familiar with the president's legal affairs said there are concerns Dershowitz has talked about legal affairs with Trump. Dershowitz told The Daily Beast this isn't true. He said he and the president have spoken, but never privately. He said the two men spoke at Mar-a-Lago once when Dershowitz dined there with Newsmax CEO Chris Ruddy, a mutual friend of the two. Trump came over to their table and chatted with them about the travel ban." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=82bcbc825d3c321939ad2fbebf3ac47419104f1a2412df2014b0665cb10833093881cbbb16af6b50836d2ae7398c6a7d4a0c0ab0180c85a1

SLOWED TO A CRAWL -- "Regulatory activity dips to new lows in Trump administration," by Bloomberg Government's Cheryl Bolen: "The Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, which reviews all significant federal regulations, processed 67 regulatory actions in the first six months of this administration, including notices, proposals, and final rules, compared with 216 actions by the same point in the Obama administration, according to government data. The question now is whether this pace will continue, or inch back up as agencies complete their assessments of existing rules that can be rolled back and new regulations that are required." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=82bcbc825d3c3219a6bfc188eb03c9227b17f58a30d923be0b0d33c46d32825375adc0dc71aba742944c430468ef23f045e1bf0e8b962255

WAR REPORT -- "U.S. Has More Troops in Afghanistan Than Publicly Disclosed," by WSJ's Gordon Lubold and Nancy Youssef: "The Pentagon maintains more than 12,000 U.S. troops in Afghanistan, defense officials said, currently about 3,500 more than it publicly acknowledges, a critical factor as military planners weigh how many additional forces to deploy under a new strategy.

"The actual number of troops, which hasn't been previously disclosed, reflects the true U.S. force level on the ground in Afghanistan. The Pentagon for many years has kept the actual number of forces deployed to a war zone hidden, choosing to publicly disclose only those deployed for longer periods while not counting those who slip in and out of a war zone on temporary status. In recent years, when tens of thousands of troops were deployed to places like Afghanistan and Iraq, the difference between the public and the true numbers was largely inconsequential. But in recent years, overall troop numbers began to dwindle and the hidden number became more significant, analysts and military
officials acknowledge." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=82bcbc825d3c32198dd35dbf4cfae8fa8b20461a4ca21c01723de2a705bbab4a70a0e7c6ce257921438e9c1ba0a14efa56d5d24bcdc4bd2e

NEW GIG -- "Comey takes lecture post at Howard University," by Negassi Tesfamichael: "The university said Wednesday that Comey, who was fired earlier this year by President Donald Trump, would speak at the opening convocation ceremony slated for Sept. 22, which is designed to welcome students to the historically black university. Comey will also hold a one-year position at Howard, delivering a series of five lectures related to public policy, the university said." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=82bcbc825d3c321995deeabc74249e1d9b38023ad6c0d1fa2e0088c78d72ae823cb70bf35dc0c2f37422be69362ba2e4025fd4f1f2aa7817

FOR YOUR RADAR -- "U.S. Ambassador to Israel David Friedman Says Trump's Charlottesville Response 'Was Not Fine'" -- Haaretz: "Asked by a Channel 10 TV reporter about if Trump's response to events following a white supremacist rally was 'fine,' Friedman said, 'I think that it was not fine,' and added he would rather not comment any further on the matter. Friedman also said Trump 'is being treated unfairly by the media. I think he'll do a great job for America.'" http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=82bcbc825d3c321933f85e6b1db63ab4d5784cb3408747ce2ff004de5146abfef314fd3900eca33d64f7a25be94a3ac5de2d2a5ff6e61f66

TOP TALKER -- MORNING JOE had exclusive excerpts from HILLARY CLINTON'S new book. Some nuggets: "I don't have all the answers, and this isn't a comprehensive account of the 2016 race. That's not for me to write. I have too little distance and too great a stake in it. Instead, this is my story. I want to pull back the curtain on an experience it was exhilarating, joyful, humbling, infuriating and just plain baffling. Writing this wasn't easy. Every day that I was a candidate for president I knew that millions of people were counting on me and I couldn't bear the idea of letting them down. But I did. I couldn't get the job done. And I'll have to live with that for the rest of my life."

Clinton on the second presidential debate, when Trump hovered directly behind her: "This is not OK, I thought. It was the second presidential debate, and Donald Trump was looming behind me. Two days before, the world heard him brag about groping women. Now we were on a small stage and no matter where I walked, he followed me closely, staring at me, making faces. It was incredibly uncomfortable he was literally breathing down my neck. My skin crawled. ...

"It was one of those moments where you wish you could hit pause and ask everyone watching 'well, what would you do?' Do you stay calm, keep smiling and carry-on as if he weren't repeatedly invading your space? Or do you turn, look him in the eye, and say loudly and clearly 'back up you creep, get away from me! I know you love to intimidate women, but you can't intimidate me, so back up.'

"I chose option A. I kept my cool, aided by a lifetime of dealing with difficult men trying to throw me off. I did, however, grip the microphone extra hard. I wondered though, whether I should've chosen option B. It certainly would've been better TV. Maybe I have overlearned the lesson of staying calm, biting my tongue, digging my fingernails into a clenched fist, smiling all the while determined to present a composed face to the world." 3-min. video from Morning Joe, with Clinton reading the excerpts http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=82bcbc825d3c3219ea647c8c9560e9ecf4e7f9439ad6d809ba53841a34d80446d5bb4974603c27a321e5990be4dd070229c2354e584d2ffd

NEW EXCUSE FOR DODGING THE PRESS -- @JimmyVielkind: "Cuomo did not take press questions - aides said cuddling the puppies threw them off schedule. He left reporters waiting beneath the gondola."

FIRST IN PLAYBOOK -- BINYAMIN APPELBAUM, a Washington correspondent who covers economics for the New York Times, has signed a deal with publisher Little Brown to write "The Economists' Hour" with a goal to publish in the fall of 2019. He told us it's a history of how free market economics went from the classroom to being used in the halls of power around the world and will also look at the people and ideas who have affected the role of government in citizens' lives and the recent populist backlash.

WEEKEND WEDDING - Henry Ross, a recent graduate of Columbia Law School, incoming associate at Sullivan & Cromwell and a DOJ alum, married Charlotte Dillon, an associate on the tech investing team at New Enterprise Associates and a Goldman Sachs alum, on Saturday in front of family and friends at St. Mary's Church in Lakeville. The bride and groom met at Hotchkiss and became a couple during a school trip to Antarctica in December 2008 (h/t maid of honor, Natalie Boyse). Pic http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=82bcbc825d3c32197a808f2d30bbac21ce29beeebb9d8f4873449b6c7780105827d418750efb5c56f4c1a2ce781d70bc560587a376c956fa

****** A message from Chevron: Advanced technology is helping us find better and safer ways to deliver energy to America. We're piloting a program that uses drones, HD imaging, and thermal mapping capabilities to monitor Chevron wells, tanks, and miles of pipeline. Watch the video http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=82bcbc825d3c32192199d746ebcb73ab670148fdb65c9b758e721c93787a2fc9223d617624abd285c10051aa84a304b4f11681c10afe3206 ******

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