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Presented by Salesforce: Playbook is POLITICO's must-read briefing on what's driving the day in Washington Oct 16, 2018 View in browser
By Anna Palmer, Jake Sherman, Daniel Lippman, Eli Okun and Garrett Ross

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THE LATEST ON KHASHOGGI ... "Turkish official: New evidence writer slain in consulate," by AP's Fay Abuelgasim, Suzan Fraser and Jon Gambrell in Istanbul: "Police who searched the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul found evidence that Saudi writer Jamal Khashoggi was killed there, a high-level Turkish official said Tuesday, as authorities prepared to search the consul's residence nearby after the diplomat left the country.

"Security forces began setting up barricades in front of the residence just hours after Consul Mohammed al-Otaibi flew out of the country on a 2 p.m. flight, state media reported. ... Leaked surveillance footage show diplomatic cars traveled to the consul's home shortly after Khashoggi's disappearance at the consulate on Oct. 2." AP

-- IN RIYADH ... "Pompeo thanks Saudi King for Khashoggi investigation," by Rebecca Morin: "State Department Spokesperson Heather Nauert said in a statement that Pompeo also thanked 'the King for Saudi Arabia's strong partnership with the United States.' Pompeo was in Riyadh meeting with the King and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman." POLITICO

-- @realDonaldTrump at 9:15 a.m.: "For the record, I have no financial interests in Saudi Arabia (or Russia, for that matter). Any suggestion that I have is just more FAKE NEWS (of which there is plenty)!"

-- CNN'S ABBY PHILLIP (@abbydphillip) replies: "Trump in 2015: 'Saudi Arabia, I get along with all of them. They buy apartments from me. They spend $40 million, $50 million. Am I supposed to dislike them? I like them very much.'" Flashback: AP story from last week delving into Trump's business ties with the Saudis: AP

HILL REAX ... MARY LEE: "Graham says U.S. should 'sanction the hell out of Saudi Arabia'" ... REBECCA MORIN: "Rubio: U.S. risks 'credibility on human rights' with weak response to Khashoggi disappearance"

NEW MCCONNELL INTERVIEW ... BLOOMBERG'S ARIT JOHN and STEVE DENNIS: "McConnell Calls Khashoggi Disappearance 'Extremely Disturbing'": "'Clearly we need to find out what happened before deciding what action should be taken,' McConnell said Tuesday in an interview with Bloomberg News. 'I can't imagine if what we think happened, that we would take no action.'

"Asked whether that action would include halting arms sales to the Saudis, McConnell of Kentucky said he's not ready to say which form of action he would take." Bloomberg

MCCONNELL ALSO TOLD BLOOMBERG that a vote on the new trade deal with Mexico and Canada won't happen until 2019. And he said he does not want a shutdown in December: "Nobody likes a shutdown. There is no education in a second kick of the mule. ... How many times do we have to figure out this is not going to work whether it's a Democrat-inspired shutdown or a Republican-inspired shutdown?"

Good Tuesday afternoon. FIRST IN PLAYBOOK -- AMERICA FIRST ACTION, a pro-Trump super PAC, is announcing major ad buys in competitive races with the midterms 21 DAYS out. The group has spent more than $20 million this election cycle.

-- INDIANA/MISSOURI: $1 million in both of the Senate races for Mike Braun in Indiana and Josh Hawley in Missouri, bringing the total in those races to $3 million and $2.8 million, respectively. The bulk of the spends is for TV ads.

-- ARKANSAS: $400,000 into Arkansas GOP Rep. French Hill's Little Rock-based district. (The DCCC went in to try to boost Clarke Tucker, the Dem, recently. Republicans think this race is out of reach for Democrats, but there is still a smidge of concern.)

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BREAKING -- The Treasury Department this afternoon put sanctions on the Bonyad Taavon Basij financial network, which the U.S. accuses of supporting an Iranian paramilitary force. Treasury said at least 20 institutions and corporations in the network have hidden their ties to the Basij Resistance Force, which is connected to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and accused of using child soldiers. "The recruiting of 12-year-olds is unacceptable. It's disgusting. It's deplorable," a senior administration official said on a background call, per Matthew Choi.

TOP-ED -- SECRETARY OF STATE MIKE POMPEO in FOREIGN AFFAIRS: "Confronting Iran: The Trump Administration's Strategy": "Iran's actions have made the country a pariah, much to the despair of its own people. ... We do not seek war. But we must make painfully clear that escalation is a losing proposition for Iran; the Islamic Republic cannot match the United States' military prowess, and we are not afraid to let Iran's leaders know it. ...

"President Trump's actions in confronting outlaw regimes stem from the belief that moral confrontation leads to diplomatic conciliation. ... At the rate that the Iranian economy is declining and protests are intensifying, it should be clear to the Iranian leadership that negotiations are the best way forward." Foreign Affairs

IN FOGGY BOTTOM ... "Menendez, Pompeo Feud Over Diplomatic Nominees," by Roll Call's Rachel Oswald: "In an unusually charged four-paragraph statement on Oct. 10, Pompeo accused [Sen. Bob] Menendez of 'putting our nation at risk' by holding up Senate votes over 60 department nominees ...

"Democratic Hill staff took umbrage at Pompeo's characterization of all of his nominees as 'excellent' and 'outstanding' candidates. ... [T]he nominee to serve as ambassador to Malta - publicly identified as Christine Toretti - had a restraining order taken out against her a decade ago for leaving a bullet-riddled target sheet in the office of an Arizona doctor she was upset with." Roll Call

WHAT'S ON THE PRESIDENT'S MIND ON THIS DAY WITHOUT A PUBLIC EVENT ...

-- ELIZABETH WARREN: @realDonaldTrump at 8:06 a.m.: "Pocahontas (the bad version), sometimes referred to as Elizabeth Warren, is getting slammed. She took a bogus DNA test and it showed that she may be 1/1024, far less than the average American. Now Cherokee Nation denies her, 'DNA test is useless.' Even they don't want her. Phony!"

... at 8:16 a.m.: "Now that her claims of being of Indian heritage have turned out to be a scam and a lie, Elizabeth Warren should apologize for perpetrating this fraud against the American Public. Harvard called her 'a person of color' (amazing con), and would not have taken her otherwise!"

... at 8:24 a.m.: "Thank you to the Cherokee Nation for revealing that Elizabeth Warren, sometimes referred to as Pocahontas, is a complete and total Fraud!"

-- IMMIGRATION ... at 9:05 a.m.: "The United States has strongly informed the President of Honduras that if the large Caravan of people heading to the U.S. is not stopped and brought back to Honduras, no more money or aid will be given to Honduras, effective immediately!"

-- THE ECONOMY ... at 10:12 a.m.: "Incredible number just out, 7,036,000 job openings. Astonishing - it's all working! Stock Market up big on tremendous potential of USA. Also, Strong Profits. We are Number One in World, by far!"

-- STORMY DANIELS ... at 11:04 a.m.: "'Federal Judge throws out Stormy Danials [sic] lawsuit versus Trump. Trump is entitled to full legal fees.' @FoxNews Great, now I can go after Horseface and her 3rd rate lawyer in the Great State of Texas. She will confirm the letter she signed! She knows nothing about me, a total con!"

-- THE 'WITCH HUNT' ... at 11:26 a.m.: "Is it really possible that Bruce Ohr, whose wife Nellie was paid by Simpson and GPS Fusion for work done on the Fake Dossier, and who was used as a Pawn in this whole SCAM (WITCH HUNT), is still working for the Department of Justice????? Can this really be so?????"

WILD STORY ... "American Mercenaries Were Hired To Assassinate Politicians In The Middle East," by BuzzFeed's Aram Roston: "[Abraham] Golan said that during his company's months-long engagement in Yemen, his team was responsible for a number of the war's high-profile assassinations, though he declined to specify which ones. He argued that the US needs an assassination program similar to the model he deployed. 'I just want there to be a debate,' he said. 'Maybe I'm a monster. Maybe I should be in jail. Maybe I'm a bad guy. But I'm right.' ...

"Experts said it is almost inconceivable that the United States would not have known that the UAE - whose military the US has trained and armed at virtually every level - had hired an American company staffed by American veterans to conduct an assassination program in a war it closely monitors." BuzzFeed

TIM ALBERTA in POLITICO MAGAZINE: "'He Showed Me Where the Shooter Was'": "[House Majority Whip Steve] Scalise, one of Washington's most reliably on-message lawmakers, is even more cautious than usual these days. ... Right now, with a career-climaxing promotion potentially awaiting him next month, Scalise can't afford to alienate Republicans on either end of Pennsylvania Avenue.

"The internal dynamics are fragile: [Majority Leader Kevin] McCarthy's allies have eyed Scalise warily for months, worried that he is undermining his superior's bid for speaker. Scalise, for his part, promises not to run against McCarthy for the top spot if Republicans hold the House, and moreover, he tells me, 'I think Kevin would have the votes.'" POLITICO Magazine

DAN DIAMOND and BRIANNA EHLEY: "Controversial former aide to Maine's LePage to run Medicaid": "The Trump administration has tapped Mary Mayhew - the architect of Maine's aggressive conservative reforms to the social safety net - to oversee the national Medicaid program. ... Mayhew served as Maine's health commissioner for six years under [Gov. Paul] LePage, leading efforts to tighten the state's Medicaid eligibility standards, add work requirements to the food stamp program and implement other conservative reforms. She supported LePage as he rejected efforts to expand the state's Medicaid program." POLITICO

-- DAN DIAMOND, "Scott Walker, in fight for political life, slow-walks Medicaid work rules": "Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker sought for years to put Medicaid recipients to work. Now federal officials have given him most of what he wanted, but he's delaying the process for fear the changes will doom his flailing reelection bid, say three federal officials familiar with the deliberations. ...

"The calculus is that focusing voters' attentions on health care in a year when Republicans are playing defense on the issue is likely to hurt Walker with independent voters who are expected to decide the election." POLITICO

DEEP DIVE -- "How the gutting of the Voting Rights Act led to hundreds of closed polls," by Vice's Rob Arthur and Allison McCann: "[A]n exclusive analysis by VICE News has found that ... [i]n the years following the Shelby decision, jurisdictions once subject to federal supervision shut down, on average, almost 20 percent more polling stations per capita than jurisdictions in the rest of the country. There are now 10 percent more people per polling place in the formerly-supervised areas than in the rest of the country.

"Furthermore, within 18 counties in 13 states examined at a granular level, many of the closed polls were in neighborhoods with large minority populations." Vice

2018 WATCH -- "House Races Tighten as Midterm Elections Near," by WSJ's Kristina Peterson: "[I]n the last three weeks before November's midterm elections, [Rep. Jaime] Herrera Beutler's re-election is looking shakier, one of a handful of sleeper House races that have grown increasingly competitive down the final stretch.

"In a year where Democrats are considered the favorites to win back control of the House, many of the races now tightening are in districts where President Trump won in 2016-but not by much. Still, Republicans say they are becoming more confident that they could have a shot at a pair of Nevada races." WSJ

-- THE WEEKLY STANDARD'S HALEY BYRD: "How Will Hurd Thrives in a Sprawling, Divided Texas District"

-- "DHS finds increasing attempts to hack U.S. election systems ahead of midterms," by NBC's Pete Williams and Ken Dilanian: NBC

THE STEP BACK -- "Guns or butter? Republicans pick both," by Sarah Ferris: "When faced with the age-old political trade-off between guns and butter, the same GOP that came to power by condemning the nation's rising red ink has now chosen to fund both - with potentially ominous long-term consequences for the nation and the party itself. ...

"Republican leaders have ditched their sermons on fiscal restraint, running up a credit card bill that could saddle the federal government with tens of billions of dollars in interest, while taking decades to pay off. The precedent set by those drastic funding increases has begun to stoke fears of a potential fiscal crisis that could upend spending negotiations on Capitol Hill in the years to come. Already, the Trump administration reported Monday that the nation just produced its largest budget shortfall in six years." POLITICO

FOR YOUR RADAR -- House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) is taking questions from Harvard students at 2:30 p.m. today. The discussion will be live-streamed on the Harvard Institute of Politics' Facebook page. The details

MEDIAWATCH -- Nancy Barnes will be SVP of news and editorial director at NPR. She is currently executive editor of the Houston Chronicle and Hearst Texas Newspapers.

-- "Big advertisers still shunning Ingraham's Fox News show months after boycotts," by Jason Schwartz: "[T]he sustained loss of advertising minutes and big, nationally recognized brands from 'The Ingraham Angle' shows the power of activist-led boycotts and the depth of major corporations' concerns about offending would-be consumers in the hyper-politicized era of President Donald Trump. ...

"Conservative cheerleaders for Ingraham have been quick to point out that her ratings have increased in the face of the boycotts, but, it turns out, having fewer commercials could be a big reason for those gains." POLITICO

-- PER MORNING MEDIA: "The American Conservative has tapped James Antle, a former senior writer for the magazine ... as its new editor. The move comes just five months after TAC selected former Atlantic national and literary editor Benjamin Schwarz for the job. ... Schwarz never ended up taking the reins ... [and] is currently writing a biography of Winston Churchill for Harper Collins."

-- Mollie Bowman is leaving POLITICO, where she has been a marketing and communications specialist. She is headed to Deloitte.

SPOTTED: Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) at West 45th and Broadway in New York City this morning. ... Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) on the 10 a.m. Acela from New York toward D.C. this morning.

BONUS BIRTHDAYS ... Libby Callaway of Rep. Bill Shuster's (R-Pa.) office is 2-5. ... The Weekly Standard's Haley Byrd.

FIRST IN PLAYBOOK -- WHITE HOUSE DEPARTURE LOUNGE: Jennifer Locetta has left the White House, where she was special assistant to the president and associate director for presidential personnel. She has started on the Ron DeSantis Florida gubernatorial campaign, where she is helping plan events and build out surrogate and field programs.

HHS ARRIVAL LOUNGE -- Natalie Boyse has started as a special assistant in the office of the assistant secretary for public affairs at the Health and Human Services Department. She previously worked in the secretary's office at the Department of Education and is also a Romney 2012 alum.

TRANSITIONS -- Abby Berg will be a special assistant in the Middle East bureau at USAID. She previously was senior congressional affairs specialist at the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom. ... Nic Adams is now national security adviser to Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa). He was previously military legislative assistant for Rep. Brad Wenstrup (R-Ohio).

WEEKEND WEDDING -- Tim Carlton, senior LA for Rep. Glenn Grothman (R-Wis.) and a Duncan Hunter alum, married Lainey Godwin, student programs and recruiting coordinator at the Institute for Justice, in a ceremony in her hometown of Austin, Texas. Pic ... Another pic


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