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Presented by the Stop The HIT Coalition: Playbook is POLITICO's must-read briefing on what's driving the day Dec 18, 2018 View in browser
By Jake Sherman, Anna Palmer, Daniel Lippman, Garrett Ross and Eli Okun

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MICHAEL FLYNN'S sentencing hearing is underway now -- but it won't conclude today. CBS' STEVEN PORTNOY (@stevenportnoy): "BREAKING: Flynn's attorneys say they are now taking the judge up on his offer to delay today's sentencing because he's still cooperating with prosecutors."

-- DARREN SAMUELSOHN FROM THE COURTROOM: "'Arguably, you sold your country out': Judge admonishes Flynn ahead of sentencing": "A federal judge poised to issue Michael Flynn's sentence on Tuesday blasted the former Trump national security adviser for lying to the FBI and questioned whether special counsel Robert Mueller's prosecutors could have tried him for treason. ...

"'All along you were an unregistered agent of a foreign country while serving as the national security adviser to the president of the United States,' said U.S. District Court Judge Emmet Sullivan. 'Arguably that undermines everything that flag over here stands for. Arguably, you sold your country out.'" POLITICO

-- @dsamuelsohn: "Judge Sullivan tries to put the treason topic back in the bottle. 'Don't read too much into the questions I asked. I'm not suggesting he committed treason.'"

SHUTDOWN UPDATE ... THE LATEST THINKING FROM THE HILL, AND 1600 PENNSYLVANIA ... (With the typical caveat that we're a few days from a shutdown and the White House has been mostly out of the game here):

-- Sources told us yesterday that SENATE REPUBLICANS had planned to file a seven-bill minibus package last night. But it got delayed. There was a last-minute request by Sen. Richard Shelby (R-Ala.) to include money for harbor maintenance, according to multiple sources with direct knowledge with the negotiations.

-- PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP does not want to accept a short-term stopgap spending bill, and, as of now, wants Congress to send him the seven-bill minibus package, which includes $1.6 billion in border security money. TRUMP will make the argument that he can use the $1.6 billion for "wall" spending, plus the White House believes they can redirect other money to pay for the physical border with Mexico.

WHAT SARAH HUCKABEE SANDERS SAID: "We have other ways that we can get to that $5 billion that we'll work with Congress if they will make sure that we get a bill passed that provides not just the funding for the wall, but there is a piece of legislation that has been pushed around ... that provides roughly $26 billion in border security including $1.6 billion for the wall." More from Sarah Ferris and Burgess Everett

-- SANDERS is holding an on-camera briefing at 1:30 p.m.

... BUT, BUT, BUT: A SENIOR DEMOCRATIC AIDE tells us that the offer MITCH MCCONNELL made to CHUCK SCHUMER includes the $1.6 billion for border security, plus $1 billion in other money for immigration. That would be a non-starter for Democrats.

-- NO MATTER WHAT THEY DECIDE, the Friday deadline is fast approaching.

NEW ... CONSERVATIVES ARE STARTING TO FRET ... Unlike many members of Congress, who have viewed the president's utterances on the border wall as a joke, there are many conservatives who thought the president would finally fight for some wall money. One conservative House Republican texted us this this morning: "Book the flights, trim the trees, there will be no fight for border wall funding, no shutdown and Pelosi will have gone into the Oval Office and won."

SIREN ... CONSERVATIVES WARN TRUMP, from the House GOP conservative lawmaker: "The political future of the President and the backdrop for the next two years will be decided in 72 hours. It is all over but the crying. At least we can rejoice that there will not be a shutdown and [R]epublicans won't get blamed."

BULLETIN ... TRUMP INC. -- LAURA NAHMIAS: "Trump Foundation to shut down under agreement with New York attorney general": "The agreement to shut down the Trump Foundation is a significant victory for the attorney general's office, which sued the charity in June, alleging the president and several of his children used it for their own political benefit. That lawsuit, which seeks millions of dollars in restitution, will continue, even as the foundation agrees to cease existence. ...

"'Our petition detailed a shocking pattern of illegality involving the Trump Foundation - including unlawful coordination with the Trump presidential campaign, repeated and willful self-dealing, and much more. This amounted to the Trump Foundation functioning as little more than a checkbook to serve Mr. Trump's business and political interests,' [NY AG Barbara] Underwood said in a statement Tuesday." POLITICO

IF AT FIRST YOU DON'T SUCCEED ... "Arizona governor to appoint Martha McSally to Senate," by Alex Isenstadt: "Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey has appointed GOP Rep. Martha McSally to the Senate seat being vacated by GOP Sen. Jon Kyl - tapping McSally as the Republican contender in a 2020 special election that will be among the most competitive Senate races in the country that year." POLITICO

Good Tuesday afternoon. THE DOW WAS UP MORE THAN 300 POINTS AND 1.3 PERCENT as of 1:05 p.m. WSJ'S DAVID HODARI: "U.S. Stocks Rise After Sharp Selloff on Wall Street"

A message from the Stop The HIT Coalition:

Small business employees and their families will pay, on average, nearly $500 more for their health care in 2020 if Congress allows the Health Insurance Tax (HIT) to return early next year. Congress can't let this $16 billion tax hit millions of hardworking Americans. It's time to Stop the HIT. Learn more.

THE TRUMP ADMINISTRATION -- LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL'S DEBRA SAUNDERS: "Bump stock ban to become law in 90 days": "The long road to banning bump stocks in the wake of the Oct. 1, 2017, Las Vegas mass shooting will come to an end in 90 days when a final rule drafted by the Department of Justice and prompted by President Donald Trump becomes law, the Review Journal has learned." LVRJ

-- KIM HEFLING: "Trump school safety group backs off his call to arm trained teachers": "[T]he panel took a far less confrontational approach by sidestepping President Donald Trump's call for trained teachers to carry guns and avoiding recommendations on age restrictions for the purchase of guns.

"The final report in many ways is largely symbolic, amounting to a list of ideas states and school districts can take or leave on issues like school mental health. ... The advisory group also went after a policy put in place by the Obama administration that deals with school punishment. The group recommended scrapping that civil rights policy, which was intended to keep minority students from being punished more often than whites." POLITICO

COMING ATTRACTIONS -- "Democrats are going to attack the GOP tax law from several angles, including SALT caps and breaks for corporations," by CNBC's Ylan Mui: "One emerging line of attack takes aim at public companies such as General Motors and AT&T that have laid off workers despite receiving big tax breaks under the new law. Democrats are also promising changes to the new limit for households that deduct state and local taxes, which hits blue states particularly hard.

"Massachusetts Rep. Richard Neal, the incoming chairman of the tax-writing House Ways and Means committee, has vowed to hold public hearings on the sweeping $1.5 trillion legislation. ... Conservative groups are starting to gird for battle over business taxes." CNBC

WHAT'S ON THE PRESIDENT'S MIND -- @realDonaldTrump at 7:13 a.m.: "I hope the people over at the Fed will read today's Wall Street Journal Editorial before they make yet another mistake. Also, don't let the market become any more illiquid than it already is. Stop with the 50 B's. Feel the market, don't just go by meaningless numbers. Good luck!" The WSJ editorial

... at 7:26 a.m.: "Facebook, Twitter and Google are so biased toward the Dems it is ridiculous! Twitter, in fact, has made it much more difficult for people to join @realDonaldTrump. They have removed many names & greatly slowed the level and speed of increase. They have acknowledged-done NOTHING!"

THE INVESTIGATIONS ... "Mueller Ready to Pounce on Trumpworld Concessions to Moscow," by The Daily Beast's Erin Banco: "The Special Counsel's Office is preparing court filings that are expected to detail Trump associates' conversations about sanctions relief-and spell out how those offers and counter-proposals were characterized to top figures on the campaign and in the administration ...

"The new details would not only bookend a multi-year investigation by federal prosecutors into whether and how Trump associates seriously considered requests by Moscow to ease the financial measures. The new court filings could also answer a central question of the so-called 'Russia investigation': What specific policy changes, if any, did the Kremlin hope to get in return from its political machinations?" Daily Beast

ON THE WORLD STAGE -- WAPO'S RICK NOACK: "U.S. alone in its opposition to parts of a U.N. draft resolution addressing violence against girls": "It was the only country that opposed nonbinding language in a draft resolution designed to tackle violence against girls and women, as well as sexual harassment. It was also almost alone in its opposition to language used in another draft resolution against early and forced marriage." WaPo

-- WSJ'S FELICIA SCHWARTZ in Tel Aviv, MARGHERITA STANCATI in Beirut and SUMMER SAID in Dubai: "Covert Saudi Outreach to Israel Sputters After Journalist's Murder": "A secretive U.S.-backed initiative to forge closer ties between Saudi Arabia and Israel faces setbacks ... The international uproar that followed the murder and the fallout within the royal court also curbed the prince's room to maneuver among prospective rivals and dampened appetite for risky foreign policy endeavors such as the outreach to Israel ...

"The setback to burgeoning links between the Saudi kingdom and Israel also throws into doubt the broader realignment in the region that the Trump administration sees as crucial to its Middle East strategy, including containing Iran and resolving the decadeslong conflict between the Palestinians and Israelis." WSJ

WAR REPORT -- WAPO'S SAYED SALAHUDDIN in Kabul: "U.S.-Taliban talks stretch into second day as government delegation arrives"

NYT'S JULIAN BARNES, ADAM GOLDMAN and CHARLIE SAVAGE: "Blaming the Deep State: Officials Accused of Wrongdoing Adopt Trump's Response": "President Trump has long tried to explain away his legal troubles as the work of a 'deep state' ... Now junior officials and others accused of wrongdoing are making the case that the same purported forces are illegitimately targeting them, too. ...

"Alleging misconduct by law enforcement has long been a standard defense tactic, especially in white-collar cases, but the political cast of deep-state-style claims is new, said Samuel Buell, a Duke law professor and former federal prosecutor. He said it seemed to be aimed at getting conservative media attention in the hope that Mr. Trump will come across their case and intervene." NYT

2020 WATCH -- @yashar: "First 2020 ad? This Trump ad, featuring his campaign manager @parscale, just aired on CNN. It's a minute long and asks viewers to call an 800 number to leave a thank you message for POTUS. I called the number and it leads to a fundraising appeal (not unusual for pres campaigns)." The ad

-- SUSAN GLASSER'S NEW YORKER INTERVIEW: "Senator Amy Klobuchar on How Democrats Can Defeat Trump in 2020"

MEDIAWATCH -- Alexandra Svokos is now a news editor at ABC News digital. She previously worked at Bustle. (hat tip: Morning Media)

IN NEW YORK ... SPOTTED at Joanna Coles' annual lunch for 100 top women at Michael's on Monday: Reps.-elect Lauren Underwood (D-Ill.) and Mikie Sherrill (D-N.J.), Leana Wen, Dina Powell, Kara Swisher, Brooke Neidich, Megyn Kelly, Stephanie Ruhle, Norah O'Donnell, Vanessa Friedman, Charlotte Jones, Cecile Richards, Jane Rosenthal, Stephanie Cutter, Christine Quinn, Maria Trabocchi, Megan Twohey and Jodi Kantor.

OUT AND ABOUT -- SPOTTED on Monday night at a "celebration of Washington power women" hosted by Susanna Quinn and Glamsquad at Quinn's house: Kate Bennett, Abby Phillip, Stephanie Cutter, Gloria Dittus, Dana Bash, Nancy Cook, Nancy Cordes, Amy Argetsinger, Betsy Fischer Martin, Pam Stevens, Amy Baier, Jean Marie Fernandez, Sarah Morgenthau, Susan Tynan, Evan Ryan, Kimball Stroud, Robyn Bash, Alice Lloyd, Lisa Spies, Brittany Shepard, Jack Quinn, Alex Marquardt and Alex Skatell.

-- SPOTTED at Tom Quinn's 81st birthday drinks at Joe's on Monday night: Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), John McCarthy, Miranda Green, Ellen Mitchell, Lyndon Boozer, Lynly Boor, Paul Quinn, Michael Lonergan and Kaitlan Collins.

-- SPOTTED: Nikki Haley in the shoe department at Bloomingdale's on 59th Street in New York City Sunday. Pic ... at the Trump hotel lobby/restaurant this morning: Rudy Giuliani and Jimmy Finkelstein ... Eric Bolling and Diamond and Silk.

NSC ARRIVAL LOUNGE -- Michael Martin has started in the strategic comms shop at NSC. He was most recently a public affairs advisor to the Secretary of the Air Force. He joins Cale Brown, Lauren Ehrsam, Robert Raines, Tonia Weik and Joshua Hodges as a director of press.

TRANSITIONS -- Marty Durbin will leave the American Petroleum Institute as EVP in January. He will work more with the nonprofit A Wider Circle, where he's board chairman, and determine his next steps in policy and politics. ... Kathryn Yontef is now director of corporate initiatives at Everytown for Gun Safety. She previously was chief of staff and director of U.S. government affairs at Microsoft and is a Teneo and Burson alum.

ENGAGED -- Julia Ager, chief digital officer at the DCCC and a DSCC alum, got engaged to Tony Ferrero, brand finance manager at AstraZeneca. Pool report: "Tony popped the question after a romantic dinner at Iron Gate. The couple met in 2016 at The Liberty Tavern in Arlington." Pic ... The ring

WEEKEND WEDDING -- Lizzie Ulmer, communications director for the Democratic Attorneys General Association and an alum of Everytown for Gun Safety, on Saturday married James Clarke, senior associate at the public-sector consulting firm Guidehouse and an MBA candidate at Georgetown. Readings included a passage from Michelle Obama's "Becoming." Pic by Shelly Shimon Photography ... Another pic

WELCOME TO THE WORLD -- Jordan Lieberman, VP at A4 Media, and Missy Lieberman, manager of government relations at the Pew Charitable Trusts, on Monday welcomed Charles Brody Lieberman. "He entered the world at a rather large 9lbs 3oz and already prefers Springsteen's earlier work. Mom and baby are doing great." Pic ... Another pic ... Another pic

-- Amber Phillips, a writer for The Fix politics blog at WaPo, and Jeffrey Phillips, a country manager at the U.S. Trade and Development Agency, welcomed their first child, Quinn Anne. Pic ... Another pic


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