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08/14/2017 08:00 AM EDT


By Elana Schor (eschor@politico.com or @eschor)

With an assist from Daniel Lippman

GOP COLD-SHOULDERS TRUMP AFTER CHARLOTTESVILLE TRAGEDY - After the second straight day of rallying by white supremacists in Charlottesville, Va., left 32-year-old Heather Heyer dead and dozens other injured, President Donald Trump blamed "many sides" for the escalation of violence. That conspicuous failure to personally condemn the white supremacist groups involved in the violence prompted public rebukes from leading Republicans - but no sign that Trump's party is ready to follow up their alarm by abandoning the president's agenda.

"And Republicans have criticized Trump before," Nancy Cook notes. "After the release of the 'Access Hollywood' video in which Trump boasted about grabbing women's genitals without their consent, many lawmakers said they could no longer support him ... Still, Republicans worked with Trump anyway after he took the White House. Nancy's full story: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=48fa2c9d5bbc036efaa679a0c8731b0c4d851ddc1d0e97b8b1e8618c5278e6079753d736202052d95733563ab9d5122ec60d38bda7e1b5a2

FIRST LOOK: NEW ANTI-FLAKE AD IS OUT - The super PAC allied with conservative Arizona Senate candidate Kelli Ward, who is mounting a primary challenge to Sen. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.), is out with its first ad of the election cycle. The PAC, which got a cash infusion recently from major Trump donor Robert Mercer, takes on both Flake and senior Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), lamenting that "once again, Arizona conservatives are sold out by our senators" on immigration and Obamacare repeal. Check out the full ad: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=48fa2c9d5bbc036e91bdc3cf82205fdcf7f04e744e8dedcb3d0f7bd320db30c55f8bd4fed74ce097531043916e5704d5e4edd94a38264ec6

MOORE THROWS CURVEBALL INTO AL-SEN- Judge Roy Moore is handily beating incumbent Sen. Luther Strange (R-Ala.) and upstart challenger Rep. Mo Brooks (R-Ala.) ahead of their state's Senate primary on Tuesday, Seung Min reports from Alabama. And while Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) is leveraging his vast network to help Strange beat back Brooks, Moore's unpredictable personality is bound to complicate McConnell's life even further if he prevails in the Sept. 26 runoff election that's a sure bet to happen - since none of the three major Republican candidates is polling near the 50 percent needed to avoid it.

When POTUS called Strange - Seung Min was there as Strange recounted the unexpected call he got from President Donald Trump before winning the White House's endorsement last week. "He said, 'You know, I have 118 million Twitter followers. [Trump actually has 35.7 million followers.] I said, 'I do, sir, I know that very well.'"

TRUMP'S MONDAY MORNING TWEETS - After reiterating his endorsement of Strange in the Alabama Senate contest, Trump took to his favorite social media platform to preview action this week on trade: "The Obstructionist Democrats have given us (or not fixed) some of the worst trade deals in World History. I am changing that fast!" Trump tweeted.

Attorney General Jeff Sessions also told CBS on Monday morning that he plans to meet with Trump as the president returns to Washington today to discuss the Justice Department's planned investigation into the vehicle attack that took Heyer's life in Charlottesville.

MONDAY IS UPON US. It's Aug. 14 and thank you for tuning in for POLITICO's Huddle, the play-by-play guide to all things Capitol Hill. Your usual host Heather Caygle is outside the Beltway for a spell, so I'll be filling in before Kyle Cheney and Austin Wright take over the helm.

FRIDAY'S MOST CLICKED: Seung Min's dispatch from Alabama about the GOP Senate candidates not defending Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell was the most popular.

TAX REFORM, THE NEW REPEAL & REPLACE? - Republicans are still reeling from their failure to make good on their seven-year campaign promise to rip up Obamacare, and many of them want to move on to crafting a tax bill this fall. But anyone in the GOP who thinks taxes will be an easier lift than health care is sorely mistaken, thanks to the intense divisions already splitting the party and the other contentious votes looming on lawmakers' schedule. Rachael and Bernie Becker outlined the myriad of potential pitfalls that the tax reform effort faces this year.

OBAMA TEAM WAS WARNED OF RUSSIAN MEDDLING - The Obama administration received word as early as 2014 that Russia was crafting a disruptive campaign against Western democracies, Ali Watkins reports. Although no specific reference was made to the electoral meddling that intelligence officials now believe Vladimir Putin's government engaged in to help Trump win the White House, Ali spoke to one official who said that Moscow-based diplomats found the former administration overly dismissive of the likelihood that Russian efforts could directly affect America.

WAKE ME UP WHEN SEPTEMBER ENDS - Speaking of Congress' busy schedule, Trump's aides are already dreading next month, when members will return to Washington to face polarizing votes on the debt limit and keeping the government funded, with no clear path ahead for Trump to score any major legislative victories. "The month has taken on outsize importance among some top aides and outside advisers, who view it as key to getting the presidency on a better track," Josh Dawsey reports: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=48fa2c9d5bbc036effb1a46c86ac2b9632c61b94e7fd769d93016076dd551f40f2065717815196e5a2561f18b7735bb5b11800344f2a0d2b

POSSIBLE ASSASSINATION PLOT AGAINST RUBIO - Sen. Marco Rubio has played a key role in escalating tensions between the U.S. and Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro, prompting a threat to his safety from a Maduro ally who's thought to control Venezuelan security forces, The threat from the Venezuelan politician, Diosdado Cabello Rondon, was taken seriously enough to prompt heightened protections for the Florida GOP senator from Capitol Police and Miami-Dade County law enforcement, Marc Caputo reports.

FRANKEN OUTDRAWS WARREN IN BOOK SALES - Two Democrats who are frequent players in the party's burgeoning 2020 speculation are staging an unofficial early contest on bookshelves nationwide, with Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.) releasing his memoir a month after Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) published her own new book. But Franken's occasionally comedic tale is selling more than twice as many copies as Warren's treatise. Another new Senate tome, from Arizona Republican Jeff Flake, is getting a boost thanks to his recent public criticism of the president. More from CNN: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=48fa2c9d5bbc036e5ae814699abb7568a3a468b55d365d5c3b0031bcb41c73ce70bd4f0cafea87ce6764e5c45eeefde19da3c4537c19a7f6

WEEKEND WEDDINGS -- "Lisa Krestynick, David Bond": "Ms. Krestynick, 31, is a staff lawyer in the corporation finance division at the Securities and Exchange Commission in Washington. She graduated summa cum laude from Temple University and received a law degree magna cum laude from Drexel. ... Mr. Bond, 35, is the deputy chief of staff for [Rep. Katherine] Clark and works in her Washington office. He graduated from American University in Washington. ... The couple met on Tinder in 2015, just a few days before the bride was to move to Washington. Their first date was on her first night in Washington, and their easy conversation on the app held true in the real world. 'We met and we just kept
talking and here we are,' she said." With pic http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=48fa2c9d5bbc036e5e960d56a15ed7c160c43467773f614a4797438d1bcaafb3b4fefc892a165c1bb2477c890b1fa9ba2fb52a84c62d4a81

"Katrina Valdes, Joseph Bishop IV" -- N.Y. Times: "Mrs. Valdes Bishop, 26, is the communications director in Washington for Representative Mario Diaz-Balart, Republican of Florida. She graduated from George Washington University. ... Mr. Bishop, also 26, is a government contractor in Washington. He also graduated from George Washington. ... Though the bride and the groom attended George Washington and had many mutual friends through their Greek organizations, they did not meet until after they had both graduated, in September 2013." With a pic http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=48fa2c9d5bbc036eb9cccaa0d3f5cc91ffc2975796c92e1f5ca3950bbd4d5a3d41601836c058ce72b8d8dbcee05a07627ec3d26d3b2d8c65 ... Wedding pics http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=48fa2c9d5bbc036e99368d9f4ec33bf97fe829cdd2768537a83dde6a93d77401ac0c0457fd8ab82bc348699f135653d64faef69cace32d77 ...
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=48fa2c9d5bbc036e579701e018fdfbae37c2a82b290c84649123e57d0d15d1853d9d723b6fc3f4dd388e0c3603f09eb0299bf3bf1044e4ad

TODAY IN CONGRESS - The House and Senate are out until September.

AROUND THE HILL - Recess, all we ever wanted.

FRIDAY'S TRIVIA WINNER - Eli Schechner was first to guess that Sen. Richard Shelby, first elected in 1987, is the last Alabama senator elected as a Democrat. Shelby switched parties in 1994. The late Sen. Howell Heflin, who was elected in 1979 and served until 1997, was the last Democrat to serve as a senator from Alabama.

TODAY'S TRIVIA - Eli with today's question: Which three Cabinet departments have only ever had leaders from the same party as the president who appointed them?

The first person to correctly answer gets a shout out in tomorrow's Huddle. Send me your guesses: eschor@politico.com

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