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Presented by H&R Block: Playbook is POLITICO's must-read briefing on what's driving the day Nov 20, 2018 View in browser
By Jake Sherman, Anna Palmer and Daniel Lippman

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DRIVING THE DAY
BREAKING OVERNIGHT ... AP'S NOMAAN MERCHANT in HOUSTON: "A federal judge barred the Trump administration on Monday from refusing asylum to immigrants who cross the southern border illegally.

"U.S. District Judge Jon S. Tigar issued a temporary restraining order after hearing arguments in San Francisco. The request was made by the American Civil Liberties Union and the Center for Constitutional Rights, which quickly sued after President Donald Trump issued the ban this month in response to the caravans of migrants that have started to arrive at the U.S.-Mexico border." AP

CROOKED IVANKA ... WAPO'S CAROL LEONNIG and JOSH DAWSEY: "Ivanka Trump used a personal email account to send hundreds of emails about government business last year": "Ivanka Trump sent hundreds of emails last year to White House aides, Cabinet officials and her assistants using a personal account, many of them in violation of federal records rules, according to people familiar with a White House examination of her correspondence.

"White House ethics officials learned of Trump's repeated use of personal email when reviewing emails gathered last fall by five Cabinet agencies to respond to a public records lawsuit. That review revealed that throughout much of 2017, she often discussed or relayed official White House business using a private email account with a domain that she shares with her husband, Jared Kushner.

"The discovery alarmed some advisers to President Trump, who feared that his daughter's practices bore similarities to the personal email use of Hillary Clinton, an issue he made a focus of his 2016 campaign. He attacked his Democratic challenger as untrustworthy and dubbed her 'Crooked Hillary' for using a personal email account as secretary of state." WaPo

-- FLASHBACK: JOSH DAWSEY in POLITICO on Sept. 24, 2017: "Kushner used private email to conduct White House business"

ON PELOSI ... RACHAEL BADE, HEATHER CAYGLE and JOHN BRESNAHAN: "Pelosi's bid for speaker imperiled as public opposition grows": "The show of force underscores the depth of the challenge facing Pelosi, who has led the caucus for 16 years. Pelosi needs 218 votes among lawmakers present and voting to be elected speaker on Jan. 3. House Democrats have won 233 seats, meaning Pelosi can currently afford to lose only 15 votes. ...

"[P]elosi's critics had been trying for weeks to garner 20 signatories on their letter. They fell short of their own goal by four names - five if McAdams is excluded." POLITICO

MOULTON GETS BLOWBACK ... STEPHANIE MURRAY in AMESBURY, MASS.: "Rep. Seth Moulton faces town-hall pushback for opposing Pelosi": "The push by Rep. Seth Moulton against House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi's bid to become speaker took center stage on Monday night at a town hall in his district, where constituents shouted and interrupted Moulton and one another in a lively debate over the future of the chamber. ...

"Dozens among the 150 people crowded into the Amesbury Town Hall pushed back against Moulton's comments. Several shouted 'no' when he said, 'The majority of Democrats want this change.' Some protesters held signs that were green on one side and red on the other. When Moulton or another attendee said something they didn't like, the protesters held up the red signs to signal disagreement." POLITICO

ONE STRIKING THING ... THE REBEL LETTER, which you first read here (probably!), doesn't mention one single reason to dump NANCY PELOSI besides the need for "change." When conservatives sought to dump JOHN BOEHNER they said he was too quick to compromise and not a vociferous enough fighter. You don't hear that kind of stuff with Pelosi.

FIRST IN PLAYBOOK ... DCCC DONORS PEN PELOSI LETTER OF SUPPORT: "We understand and respect the fact that you are all much better informed about your internal deliberations than any of us, that this is your matter to decide. That is as it should be. However, as long time supporters of your caucus, and given the affection, and more importantly the respect, we have for Nancy, we feel compelled to share our view. ...

"But we do believe the competence and effectiveness of the Leader is a critical component in motivating us to reach in our pockets. On that basis it is hard to imagine a replacement for Nancy engendering the same level of confidence at this critical time. Your recent success in winning the majority is only a first step in changing our country's direction. As critical as it was, the coming cycle is even more so.

"Inserting ourselves into internal House Politics is not something we would normally do. But if we lose Nancy, and the new Leader can only raise half the funding, the Republicans will not reduce their funding and we will be back to the structural disadvantage that prevailed for many years."

-- CO-SIGNERS INCLUDE: James Atwood, Philippe Brugere-Trelat, Jim Chanos, Mitchell Draizin, Jeff Gural, Judith Hope, Michael Kempner, Marsha Laufer, Dennis Mehiel (the organizer), Karen Mehiel, Keith Mestrich, Dick Ravitch, Ken Sunshine, Maureen White and Leslie Williams.

PELOSI'S THANKSGIVING "DEAR COLLEAGUE": "Thanks to the historic Democratic victory in the midterm election, this is a Thanksgiving of hope. Our Democratic House Majority must now honor that spirit of hope by showing that we can govern. We must ensure that the Congress is run with great openness, in the same spirit of transparency as a national town hall meeting.

"We must also intensify this springing of hope by demonstrating that Democrats can govern in a bipartisan way, with great conviction in our values and our views, but with the confidence to be unifying and bring peace to the national debate." The letter

-- ROLL CALL reported that Pelosi endorsed Steny Hoyer and Jim Clyburn as the No. 2 and No. 3 in House Democratic leadership.

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NOLAN MCCASKILL and JOHN BRESNAHAN: "Dem chairman fight pits old guard vs. new generation of black leaders": "Two members of the Congressional Black Caucus are in direct competition for a Democratic leadership position, including a young upstart who is bypassing the unwritten rule to wait his turn.

"Rep. Hakeem Jeffries' (D-N.Y.) late entrance into the race for House Democratic Caucus chair pits him against Rep. Barbara Lee (D-Calif.), a former CBC chairwoman who announced her candidacy in June. The competition is a sign of the CBC's growing power and the challenges it faces as it expands. But it's also a symptom of the leadership bottleneck threatening to shake up the entire Democratic Caucus in January." POLITICO

Good Tuesday morning. L.A. TIMES: "California fires: Trump administration now blames devastation on 'radical environmentalists'"

THAT WAS FAST ... POLITICO SCOOP! ... "Troops at U.S.-Mexican border to start coming home," by Wesley Morgan: "The 5,800 troops who were rushed to the southwest border amid President Donald Trump's pre-election warnings about a refugee caravan will start coming home as early as this week - just as some of those migrants are beginning to arrive.

"Democrats and Republicans have criticized the deployment as a ploy by the president to use active-duty military forces as a prop to try to stem Republican losses in this month's midterm elections. The general overseeing the deployment told POLITICO on Monday that the first troops will start heading home in the coming days as some are already unneeded, having completed the missions for which they were sent." POLITICO

FOR JARED ... "Exclusive: After Khashoggi murder, some Saudi royals turn against king's favorite son" - Reuters: "Amid international uproar over the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, some members of Saudi Arabia's ruling family are agitating to prevent Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman from becoming king, three sources close to the royal court said. Dozens of princes and cousins from powerful branches of the Al Saud family want to see a change in the line of succession but would not act while King Salman -- the crown prince's 82-year-old father -- is still alive, the sources said.

"They recognize that the king is unlikely to turn against his favorite son, known in the West as MbS. Rather, they are discussing the possibility with other family members that after the king's death, Prince Ahmed bin Abdulaziz, 76, a younger full brother of King Salman and uncle of the crown prince, could take the throne, according to the sources. Prince Ahmed, King Salman's only surviving full brother, would have the support of family members, the security apparatus and some Western powers, one of the Saudi sources said." Reuters

CENSUS WATCH -- "Trump administration officials suggested sharing census responses with law enforcement, court documents show," by WaPo's Tara Bahrampour: "Trump administration officials have privately discussed the possibility that in the future census information could be shared with law enforcement, according to documents filed in a legal challenge over plans for a new citizenship question on the 2020 survey. The subject came up after a Democratic lawmaker asked whether responses to the survey could ever be shared with law enforcement agencies, something that has been strictly illegal according to federal law governing the census." WaPo

2018 WATCH ... STILL GOING -- "Mississippi Senate race devolves into racial melee," by Daniel Strauss: "Republicans hoped to spend the final days of the special election in Mississippi coronating Cindy Hyde-Smith as the first woman to represent the state in the Senate. Instead, the race has become a bare-knuckle brawl infused with ugly racial politics.

"Hyde-Smith's comments about attending a public hanging and suppressing liberal votes - remarks she maintained were made in jest - have upended a contest that a week ago was seen as a mere formality for the GOP.

"Democrats and allied outside groups have seized on Hyde Smith's musings to spur black voters to the polls and paint her as an embarrassment to the state. They're trying to crack open a narrow path for Democrat Mike Espy - a Cabinet secretary under Bill Clinton who would be the first African-American to represent Mississippi in the Senate since Reconstruction - as a viable alternative." POLITICO


THE INVESTIGATIONS ...

-- "Trump to give Mueller written answers by Thanksgiving," by Eliana Johnson and Darren Samuelsohn: "President Donald Trump will give special counsel Robert Mueller written responses to a slate of questions as early as Tuesday. Trump's lawyers set an informal Thanksgiving deadline for the president to finalize his responses on topics surrounding the Russian hacking of the 2016 election, and he's almost ready to submit them, according to two sources familiar with the conversations." POLITICO

-- DARREN SAMUELSOHN: "Mueller says powers still intact amid DOJ overhaul": "Robert Mueller's top attorney said Monday that the special counsel's investigative powers remain fully intact despite the recent change atop the Justice Department that gives Mueller's team a new supervisor. Michael Dreeben, the deputy solicitor general who represents Mueller, told the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit that acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker taking charge of the Russia probe 'neither alters the special counsel's authority to represent the United States nor raises any jurisdictional issue.'" POLITICO

TRUMP'S TUESDAY -- The president and First Lady Melania Trump will participate in the pardoning of the National Thanksgiving turkey in the Rose Garden at 1:05 p.m. The two will leave the White House at 3 p.m. traveling to Palm Beach, Fla. At 6 p.m., they will arrive at Mar-a-Lago.
PLAYBOOK READS


PHOTO DU JOUR: Chicago police officers and firefighters form an honor guard for slain Chicago Police Officer Samuel Jimenez on Monday, after a gunman opened fire at a hospital. | David Banks/AP Photo

2020 WATCH -- ALEX THOMPSON: "Steyer takes step toward 2020 presidential bid": "Former billionaire investor, climate activist and impeachment agitator Tom Steyer will take several steps toward a 2020 presidential bid Tuesday. That will include a six-figure web ad buy on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and Instagram, along with a full-page ad in USA Today and other Gannett newspapers outlining a political platform, a revamped TomSteyer.com and the announcement of five town halls across the country, the first of which will be in the crucial early primary state of South Carolina, according to copies of the ad and platform provided to POLITICO.

"The first town hall is set for Dec. 4 in Charleston, S.C., and the next will be in Fresno, Calif., sometime in December, according to Aleigha Cavalier, senior communications adviser for TomSteyer.com, who also works for Steyer's climate-focused group NextGen America. There will be one town hall for each of the '5 rights' on Steyer's platform: the right to an equal vote, to clean air and water, to learn with pre-K education through college, to a living wage, and to health." POLITICO

-- "Bernie Sanders to huddle with progressive leaders in Burlington," by David Siders and Natasha Korecki: "The Sanders Institute, the Vermont-based think tank formed by Sen. Bernie Sanders' wife, Jane, in 2017, has quietly lined up progressive activists from across the country for a three-day gathering next week in Burlington, assembling a speaker lineup billed as 'thought leaders from across the country and around the world.' ...

"Listed speakers include New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D-Hawaii), Our Revolution President Nina Turner, intellectual and activist Cornel West, 'The Young Turks' founder Cenk Uygur, environmentalist Bill McKibben, writer and activist Naomi Klein, and Carmen Yulín Cruz, the mayor of San Juan, Puerto Rico." POLITICO


TRUMP ADMINISTRATION MUSICAL CHAIRS -- "Trump's refugee director moved to new post," by Rachana Pradhan: "The Trump administration's controversial refugee office director is being reassigned inside the department, according to an internal HHS email obtained by POLITICO. Scott Lloyd, who has come under fire for his oversight of migrant children in federal custody, is being moved to the HHS Center for Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships, where he'll be a senior adviser.

"Democrats have long sought Lloyd's ouster over his efforts to block unaccompanied teens in federal custody from obtaining abortions. Lloyd, a longtime anti-abortion advocate, is writing a book about his views on abortion, POLITICO reported last week." POLITICO

FOR YOUR RADAR -- "A Lawyer With Conservative Ties And No Diplomatic Experience Is Being Vetted For U.S. Ambassador to Mexico," by BuzzFeed's Zoe Tillman and Emily Tamkin: "Christopher Landau, a veteran appellate lawyer in Washington, D.C., who does not have formal diplomatic experience, is being vetted as a potential nominee for U.S. ambassador to Mexico, four sources familiar with the situation told BuzzFeed News." BuzzFeed

-- "Trump administration prepares to add Venezuela to list of state sponsors of terrorism," by WaPo's John Hudson and Lena H. Sun

MEDIAWATCH -- JASON SCHWARTZ and CAITLIN OPRYSKO ... WHITE HOUSE lays out new press conference rules: "The first states that a journalist who is called upon 'will ask a single question and then yield the floor.' The second rule says that follow-ups may be granted 'at the discretion of the President or Other White House official' taking questions.

"The third defines 'yielding the floor,' saying that includes 'surrendering the microphone to White House staff.' ... The final rule states that 'failure to abide' by any of the others 'may result in suspension or revocation of the journalist's hard pass.'" POLITICO
PLAYBOOKERS
SPOTTED: Rudy Giuliani on Sunday in the Brooks Brothers on Connecticut Ave in D.C. He was also spotted by a separate tipster that day in Georgetown Tobacco.

BIRTHDAY OF THE DAY: Charlie Cook, editor and publisher of the Cook Political Report and columnist for National Journal, is 65. How he got his start in his career: "I was a high school debater in Shreveport, Louisiana and was recruited my senior year (1972) to help out on the campaign of a former state senator from my hometown who was running for the U.S. Senate. I did opposition research and drove the candidate around, a great way to start in politics. The candidate, Bennett Johnston, won and went on to serve four distinguished terms in the Senate ... He and Mary and their sons and daughters (who I used to babysit for) remain dear friends of ours today." Playbook Plus Q&A

BIRTHDAYS: former Vice President Joe Biden is 76 ... National Security Adviser John Bolton is 7-0 (hat tip: the NSC staff) ... Judy Woodruff, anchor and managing editor of PBS "NewsHour"... POLITICO's Sushant Sagar, Ian Kullgren, Dan Goldberg, Ian Levin and Jack Koppa ... Philip Ewing, national security editor at NPR ... Jay Lefkowitz ... Don Baker is 86 ... CNN producer Ryan Struyk ... Carlton Owen ... Cecelia Prewett, SVP at SKDKnickerbocker, former FTC and Hill staffer (h/t Jon Haber) ... Matt Miller ... Jayne Sandman, principal at BrandLinkDC ... Julie Hyman, Yahoo Finance anchor and Bloomberg TV alum ... Parita Shah (h/ts Ben Chang, filing from Lima, Peru) ... Shawn Hils ... Devorah
Adler ... Beverly Hallberg, president of District Media Group ... Brand USA's Peter Dodge is 34 ...

... Robert Edmonson, COS of Nancy Pelosi's congressional office, is 34 (h/t Shana Mansbach) ... Aaron Harison of the Washington Free Beacon ... Rep. Jim McGovern (D-Mass.) is 59 ... Rep. Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.) is 39 ... Boyd Bailey ... Brian Reisinger, VP of Platform Communications and a Wisconsin GOP operative, is 34 ... Cassie Gerhardstein ... Emily Matthews, associate at SCN Strategies ... Courtney Corbisiero, digital director at End Citizens United ... Jeff Amster ... Margaret Rives ... John Darnton ... Linda Bowman (h/t Claude Marx) ... Vincent Coppola ... Elizabeth O'Connor ... Ciara Torres-Spelliscy ... Nikki Buffa, counsel at Latham & Watkins ... Alex Navarro-McKay, a managing
director at BerlinRosen .... Al Baldasaro ... Ciara Torres-Spelliscy ... Beth Foster (h/t Teresa Vilmain)

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