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Presented by Salesforce: Playbook is POLITICO's must-read briefing on what's driving the day in Washington Oct 15, 2018 View in browser
By Anna Palmer, Jake Sherman, Daniel Lippman, Eli Okun and Garrett Ross

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THE ATTENTION-GRABBING GRAF IN THE BOSTON GLOBE'S Elizabeth Warren story, by Annie Linskey: "The inherent imprecision of the six-page DNA analysis could provide fodder for Warren's critics. If her great-great-great-grandmother was Native American, that puts her at 1/32nd American Indian. But the report includes the possibility that she's just 1/1024th Native American if the ancestor is 10 generations back." Globe story

-- JIM MESSINA, who just appeared on Hallie Jackson's 10 a.m. hour on MSNBC, wondered on air why Warren is doing this 22 DAYS before an election that could have Democrats gaining back some control of power in D.C. Why not do it the day after the election?

-- MESSINA TWEETS, at 11:04 a.m.: "Argue the substance all you want, but why 22 days before a crucial election where we MUST win house and senate to save America, why did @SenWarren have to do her announcement now? Why can't Dems ever stay focused???"

-- NATIONAL JOURNAL'S HANNA TRUDO (@HCTrudo): "News: @SenWarren's team is in talks with multiple Democratic officials in IOWA planning a trip *before the midterms,* adding to her growing list of presidential prep work."

SPOTTED: Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein shopping at Jos A. Bank on Rockville Pike Sunday.

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP tweeted this morning that he talked to SAUDI KING SALMAN, "who denies any knowledge" of the disappearance of Jamal Khashoggi. Trump said SECRETARY OF STATE MIKE POMPEO would be headed to meet with Salman "immediately." And he made sure to note that the king called Khashoggi "our Saudi Arabian citizen."

-- TRUMP, as he left the White House for Joint Base Andrews for his trip to Florida and Georgia: "We're going to try to getting to the bottom of it. I can only tell you that his denial to me is -- just one very, you know, relatively fast phone call. Probably lasted 20 minutes. His denial to me could not have been stronger that he had no knowledge. And it sounded like he, and also the Crown Prince, had no knowledge."

-- ROGUE KILLERS: "We are going to leave nothing uncovered. With that being said, the King firmly denied any knowledge of it. He didn't really know. Maybe -- I don't want to get into his mind -- but it sounded to me like maybe these could have been rogue killers. Who knows? We're going to try getting to the bottom of it very soon. But his was a flat denial."

CBS' KYLIE ATWOOD (@kylieatwood): "Traveling w Pompeo to Riyadh: -- Tim Lenderking, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Near Eastern Affairs -- David Hale, Undersecretary of Political Affairs -- Robert Palladino, Deputy Press Spokesperson -- Heather Nauert, Press Spokesperson ... Where is Kushner today?"

THE LATEST, FROM ISTANBUL ...

-- AP'S FAY ABUELGASIM, SUZAN FRASER and JON GAMBRELL: "Turkey says joint 'inspection' planned at Saudi Consulate": "Such a search would be an extraordinary development, as embassies and consulates under the Vienna Convention are technically foreign soil and must be protected by host nations. Saudi Arabia may have agreed to the search in order to appease its Western allies and the international community.

"However, it remained unclear what evidence, if any, would remain after nearly two weeks since Khashoggi's disappearance. As if to drive the point home, a cleaning crew with mops, trash bags and cartons of milk walked in, past journalists waiting outside the consulate on Monday." AP

KNOWING JAMAL KHASHOGGI -- "For Khashoggi, a Tangled Mix of Royal Service and Islamist Sympathies," by NYT's Ben Hubbard and David Kirkpatrick: "His attraction to political Islam helped him forge a personal bond with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey, who is now demanding that Saudi Arabia explain his friend's fate. The idea of self-exile in the West was a blow for Mr. Khashoggi, 60, who had worked as a reporter, commentator and editor to become one of the kingdom's best known personalities. ...

"But settling in Washington had advantages. A friend invited him for Thanksgiving last year ... When his turn came to share what he was thankful for, he said: 'Because I have become free, and I can write freely.'

"According to interviews with dozens of people who knew Mr. Khashoggi and his relationship with the Saudi leadership, it was his penchant for writing freely, and his organizing to push for political reform from abroad, that put him on a collision course with the crown prince." NYT

MEANWHILE ... THE GUARDIAN'S HANNAH SUMMERS: "Yemen on brink of 'world's worst famine in 100 years' if war continues": "Yemen could be facing the worst famine in 100 years if airstrikes by the Saudi-led coalition are not halted, the UN has warned. If war continues, famine could engulf the country in the next three months, with 12 to 13 million civilians at risk of starvation." The Guardian

Good Monday afternoon. The White House today announced its 2018-2019 class of fellows. The 14 bios

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WHAT ELSE IS ON THE PRESIDENT'S MIND -- @realDonaldTrump at 8:11 a.m.: "The crowds at my Rallies are far bigger than they have ever been before, including the 2016 election. Never an empty seat in these large venues, many thousands of people watching screens outside. Enthusiasm & Spirit is through the roof. SOMETHING BIG IS HAPPENING -- WATCH!"

AT THE PENTAGON -- "In between tangling with Trump, Mattis attempts to reshape the U.S. military," by WaPo's Paul Sonne, Dan Lamothe and Josh Dawsey: "Mattis's ability to execute his vision will largely determine whether he leaves a lasting mark on the armed forces or becomes known as the defense chief who spent the bulk of his tenure protecting the military and its alliances and stanching the impulses of an erratic president.

"How far Mattis can go with his plans will also depend on how long he manages to stay in his job in an administration beset by upheaval and firings. ... In his 21 months running the department, Mattis, 68, has laid the groundwork for substantive changes but largely has yet to cement any hallmark, legacy-defining reforms to the way the armed forces train, fight and are equipped." WaPo

NEXT UP ... "Lawmakers clamor for piece of Trump action on House Intel," by Kyle Cheney and Martin Matishak: "The interest has veterans of the committee worried that a new class of lawmakers will reinforce the partisan impulses that drove the committee toward dysfunction the past two years. The politicization of the once sober, above-the-fray panel has undermined what some lawmakers and national security officials say has been a decades-long partnership with the intelligence community. ...

"Republican and Democratic leaders have been compiling lists of dozens of members - one Republican lawmaker recently suggested upward of 70 on the GOP side - who want to join the committee. ... It's precisely the partisan warfare that's been attracting some rank-and-file lawmakers." POLITICO

BEYOND THE BELTWAY -- "First Came a Flood of Ballot Measures From Voters. Then Politicians Pushed Back," by NYT's Timothy Williams: "Over the past two years, governors and state legislatures around the nation have used an array of tools to overturn, delay, diminish or pre-emptively declare unconstitutional a variety of initiatives approved by the same voters who put them in office. Those moves follow a rise in efforts by residents to enact their own legislation, in a growing battle over who will make laws - legislators or voters. ...

"Aiming to shape public policy directly, voters in some states have legalized marijuana, raised income taxes, expanded Medicaid and imposed term limits - positions that their lawmakers had opposed or simply avoided. In turn, elected officials have asserted that their moves to undo voter initiatives are a necessary corrective. One indication of how bad things have gotten: Officials have resorted to doing something that politicians usually studiously avoid, openly questioning the choices of their own constituents." NYT

BUZZFEED'S LISSANDRA VILLA, "The Next Generation Of Democratic Leaders Is Struggling To Find Ways To Move Up": "The House of Representatives has always been seen as a training ground for higher office, and it's hardly surprising that members would leave for positions where they could punch higher at a time when Republicans control Congress and the White House.

"And while the number of Democrats exiting the House this year isn't much different than in previous congresses, the departure of some of the caucus's rising stars is particularly striking at a time when Democrats may be poised to win back the House in 2018." Buzzfeed

AFTERNOON READ -- POLITICO MAGAZINE'S MICHAEL KRUSE in Levittown, Pa.: "The Great American Health Care Panic": "Here in Bucks County ... the margins of electoral victories traditionally are as slim as the spectrum of political opinion is vast. Heading, though, into this year's midterms, there is one thing everybody seems to agree on. ... [T]he people and particularly the senior citizens and retirees who live in the state's newly drawn 1st Congressional District are all but in lockstep when it comes to the health care system. It's broken, they think, and it needs to be more available, affordable and reliable. ...

"[M]any retirees, soon-to-be retirees, senior citizens and veterans are uneasy, they say, not even so much about themselves but about their children and their children's children. Will Medicare still be there? Will costs keep climbing?" POLITICO Magazine

THE ATLANTIC'S MCKAY COPPINS, "How Newt Gingrich Broke American Politics": "During his two decades in Congress, [Newt Gingrich] pioneered a style of partisan combat-replete with name-calling, conspiracy theories, and strategic obstructionism-that poisoned America's political culture and plunged Washington into permanent dysfunction. ... But as he surveys the wreckage of the modern political landscape, he is not regretful. He's gleeful.

"'The old order is dying,' he tells me. 'Almost everywhere you have freedom, you have a very deep discontent that the system isn't working.' And that's a good thing? I ask. 'It's essential,' he says, 'if you want Western civilization to survive.'" The Atlantic

SARAH KARLIN-SMITH: "Drug industry tries to preempt Trump on prices": "The drug industry's main lobby on Monday moved to head off a Trump administration push on pricing transparency, saying member companies will begin using television ads to direct consumers to information about the cost of medicines.

"The move by PhRMA, which takes effect April 15, attempts an end run around the administration's anticipated announcement this week requiring drug companies to include the list price of a drug in advertisements and drew a swift rebuke from HHS Secretary Alex Azar." POLITICO

MEDIAWATCH -- "The Growth of Sinclair's Conservative Media Empire," by The New Yorker's Sheelah Kolhatkar: "There are regulations that prevent any single company from controlling too large a share of the press, in order to protect competition and the free exchange of ideas.

"Sinclair has achieved its formidable reach by exploiting loopholes in these regulations. During the past few decades, it has bought small and midsized television-station operators and then circumvented regulations by setting up shell companies that on paper appear to be separate entities but over which Sinclair exerts almost total control.

"Sinclair's stations-there are often several in the same broadcast area, branded as local ABC, CBS, NBC, or Fox affiliates-enjoy the trust of viewers because they appear independent, even though much of the content is dictated at a national level. ... Sinclair has even greater ambitions for expansion." The New Yorker

TRANSITION -- Maria Thorbourne is now director of public affairs and communications at FP1 Strategies. She was previously senior manager for D.C. public affairs at the Hoover Institution.

ENGAGED -- Sarah Davey, press secretary for Rep. Jimmy Panetta (D-Calif.), got engaged to Daniel Wolman, a law student at GW and a Podesta Group alum, in a proposal on the National Mall at sunrise on Saturday.

-- Michael Munoz, a judicial law clerk for U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia and Georgetown Law grad, proposed to M.J. Kirsch, a law student at Georgetown. Pic ... Another pic

WEEKEND WEDDINGS -- Chris Bedford, editor-in-chief of The Daily Caller News Foundation, married Katie Frates, co-founder and editor-in-chief of The Daily Walkthrough. The couple met while both working at the Daily Caller. They got married at St. Matthew's Cathedral with a reception at Great Marsh Estate in Bealeton, Va. Pic by Nick Woodall ... Another pic

SPOTTED: Ben Domenech and Meghan McCain, Emily Jashinsky, Heather Swift, Jordan Gehrke, Josh Fisher, Keith Urbahn, Marion Smith and Anna Smith Lacey, Matt Wolking, Neil Patel, Nika Nour, Peter Doocy, Robbie Myers, Melissa Brown, Vince Coglianese, Zach Graves and Rebecca Bernbach Graves, Lauren Ehrsam and Jason Gorey, Alex Pappas, Benny Johnson and Katelyn Rieley Johnson, Ryan Coyne and Brian Danza.

-- OBAMA ALUMNI -- Pete Kavanaugh, partner at Hilltop Public Solutions and New Hampshire state director for the Obama 2012 campaign, married Alison Rhodes, nurse practitioner at Massachusetts General Hospital, at the Blithewold Mansion in Bristol, R.I. Pic


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