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Today's POLITICO Playbook presented by Morgan Stanley

By JAKE SHERMAN (sherman@politico.com; @JakeSherman), ANNA PALMER (anna@politico.com; @apalmerdc) and DANIEL LIPPMAN (daniel@politico.com; @dlippman)

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Driving the Day
THE PRESIDENT's new Twitter banner is a photo of him smiling and giving the thumbs up while meeting with Broward County police officers. They responded to the horrible massacre at Douglas High School. http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=d125d87c7d4da2451dac880ed8619c5a9cfc39e0d80d8f4a7c55cc75acbd3df69fcd6f2b2eb40a9772013c4cc7da75df

TRUMP IN FLORIDA -- MIAMI HERALD: "President Donald Trump made a surprise visit Friday night to a Broward hospital treating some victims of this week's shooting massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High in Parkland. Trump said he had met with victims at the hospital: 'It's sad something like that could happen,' he said, according to a White House press pool report. Standing in a hallway with first lady Melania Trump, he shook hands with an unnamed doctor and said he was impressed with the speed of first responders, calling it 'record-setting.'" http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=d125d87c7d4da2459dc8cbd665fdeb5e7bd0c3b47862c01109dd64f8989ba1475462384ed6164861fa228291de0f934e

-- WAPO'S JOSH DAWSEY in POMPANO BEACH: "President Trump, as he often does while responding to natural disasters, mass shootings or unfolding crises, spent much of his time congratulating the responders instead of memorializing the victims of Wednesday's school shooting during a visit here Friday.

"Trump, in two quick stops at a hospital and sheriff's office near the school where 17 were killed and scores were injured, praised the doctors, police officers, fire officials and others who responded quickly to the mass shooting in Parkland, casting their response as heroic and record-setting.

"'Incredible job, and everybody is talking about it,' Trump said of the response, with dozens of officers flanking a large circular conference room table on the fifth floor of the Broward County Sheriff's Office. ... 'They were in really great shape,' he said of the families. 'The job they've done is incredible, and I want to congratulate you,' Trump said as he shook the hand of Dr. Igor Nichiporenko at the hospital. ...

"'It's an incredible thing,' Trump said. He later said the officers deserve a raise." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=d125d87c7d4da245e825de4b892dd9241f0cc06fa86658b9c813b86766397432ddfc6fde8692a40f27aa91f113ea92e3

MORE ON THE GUNMAN ... PALM BEACH POST: "Alleged Parkland shooter left suburban Lantana home over gun dispute," by Alexandra Seltzer and Eliot Kleinberg in Lantana: "Nikolas Cruz, the man charged in this week's school massacre, left a suburban Lantana mobile home in November because his benefactor gave him an ultimatum: you or the gun.

"'He bought a gun and wanted to bring it into my house,' Rocxanne Deschamps said publicly in comments that have since been removed from her Facebook page. And Chad Bennett, Deschamps' friend, said Cruz 'chose the gun and he left.'" http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=d125d87c7d4da245e0de0f574b72b2f41512e811ef77ce0268b6452ad781f4d6cc346ed83d942fe8e18ee8b37960c23c

-- "Group chat messages show school shooter obsessed with race, violence and guns," by CNN's Paul P. Murphy: "In a private Instagram group chat, confessed school shooter Nikolas Cruz repeatedly espoused racist, homophobic and anti-Semitic views and displayed an obsession with violence and guns. ... CNN, investigating comments the shooter may have left on a now-deleted YouTube channel, was added to the private Instagram group by one of the active members in it. ... Racism was a constant theme in the chat group, which was called 'Murica (American flag emoji) (eagle emoji) great' -- a name it was given by Cruz." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=d125d87c7d4da2450ff7c40d47ed46a693d0cfeaf06110cfe69e3d395626ad71eaf70314db5656cb76406468ad32138b

THE AMERICANS ... INSIDE RUSSIA'S ATTEMPTS TO SWAY U.S. ELECTIONS

-- NYT'S SCOTT SHANE and MARK MAZZETTI: "A 37-page indictment, handed up on Friday by a Washington grand jury and charging [Irina] Kaverzina and 12 other people with an elaborate conspiracy, showed that she and her colleagues did not, in fact, hide their tracks so well from United States investigators. The charges, brought by Robert S. Mueller III, the special counsel, introduced hard facts to a polarized political debate over Russia's intervention in American democracy, while not yet implicating President Trump or his associates.

"The indictment presented in astonishing detail a carefully planned, three-year Russian scheme to incite political discord in the United States, damage Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign and later bolster the candidacy of Donald J. Trump, along with those of Bernie Sanders and Jill Stein. The precise description of the operation suggested that F.B.I. investigators had intercepted communications, found a cooperating insider or both.

"The Russians overseeing the operation, which they named the Translator Project, had a goal to 'spread distrust toward the candidates and the political system in general.' They used a cluster of companies linked to one called the Internet Research Agency, and called their campaign 'information warfare.'" http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=d125d87c7d4da245a0ae148bb31ccc9bdbfbdc7b4417aa60ddae50aee14a5c768ce8cda134dfbd98fe539c42ba6038fd

-- WAPO'S MARWA ELTAGOURI: "Among the 13 Russians charged is Yevgeniy Viktorovich Prigozhin, an oligarch and financial backer of the troll farm known as the Internet Research Agency, according to Russian media. He is a caterer who has been nicknamed 'Putin's chef' because of his proximity to the Russian president. According to The Washington Post's Devlin Barrett, Sari Horwitz and Rosalind S. Helderman, Prigozhin is linked to two of the three Russian businesses also named in the indictment, Concord Consulting and Concord Catering." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=d125d87c7d4da245f51a2625a4865b749f448b17fb5dbad5275aed55b8194ec7f3c3545689967d13f915f2cded497c30

-- "How Russia turned the internet against America: Some who value the online world's freedoms are 'at a loss' after Friday's indictment offered new details about how trolls exploited its weaknesses," by Nancy Scola: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=d125d87c7d4da245ed05b5368a041ec462f7bb97697c9473f18480d4cd08388ec6e08102ad2dbd83aff4d2fa0b3e0b7a

-- "The Troll Farm: What We Know About 13 Russians Indicted by the U.S.," by NYT's Ivan Nechepurenko and Michael Schwirtz: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=d125d87c7d4da24586d004edfad34e436e1e2923037fa1f46594be7e3013a46a0cce554b19e8df76ad042b00f510cc8e

-- FLASHBACK - Adrian Chen in NYT Magazine, June 2, 2015, "The Agency: From a nondescript office building in St. Petersburg, Russia, an army of well-paid 'trolls' has tried to wreak havoc all around the Internet - and in real-life American communities." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=d125d87c7d4da245fafc8dc16974d0dd75f0294f0a6ce09fc74dd4e28b7753adcfe347307ff03feabfc5f6299cc0edf3

-- @JohnBrennan: "DOJ statement and indictments reveal the extent and motivations of Russian interference in 2016 election. Claims of a 'hoax' in tatters. My take: Implausible that Russian actions did not influence the views and votes of at least some Americans."

SCARY -- How does the U.S. stop something like this from happening again? The Russians are accused of staging rallies and launching grassroots campaigns that are pretty common in our elections.


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ON MUELLER -- "Mueller shifts focus back to Russian 'information warfare'," by Darren Samuelsohn: "Special counsel Robert Mueller had spent nine months on the job with little evidence that he was focusing on his original mandate: to investigate Russian influence in the 2016 presidential election. On Friday, a stunning new court document from Mueller changed that. ...

"The May 17 order from deputy attorney general Rod Rosenstein appointing Mueller as special counsel to lead the FBI's Russia probe called the move part of the Justice Department's effort 'to ensure a full and thorough investigation of the Russian government's efforts to interfere in the 2016 presidential election.'

"And that was the core question Mueller returned to Friday, with an indictment that detailed a Russian 'information warfare' operation that sewed dissent and confusion among American voters to the benefit of Trump and the detriment of his Democratic opponent, Hillary Clinton. 'What's described in this indictment is the heart of the matter,' said William Jeffress, a Washington-based white-collar attorney who represented Richard Nixon after he left the White House." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=d125d87c7d4da245fdc0b16c14dcf19a90a68cb8cb2cac6b89a06e27d6689c9e1a2c9256715955a94d4e138c62b99f2b

BUT, BUT, BUT -- "Mueller Still Investigating Possible Collusion, Source Says," by Bloomberg's Chris Strohm: "Special Counsel Robert Mueller and his prosecutors haven't concluded their investigation into whether President Donald Trump or any of his associates helped Russia interfere in the 2016 election, according to a person with knowledge of the probe. Friday's indictment of a St. Petersburg-based 'troll farm' and 13 Russian nationals should be seen as a limited slice of a comprehensive investigation, the person said. Mueller's work is expected to continue for months and also includes examining potential obstruction of justice by Trump." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=d125d87c7d4da2456de26dbd71aed407a69a0efc734225018d2cfacb8cbea13b68b2ddf85e97012116a93dabce87161d

-- MORE ON MANAFORT: "Mueller levels new claim of bank fraud against Manafort," by Josh Gerstein: "Special counsel Robert Mueller's office has told a federal judge it has found evidence that Paul Manafort, the former Trump campaign chairman, committed bank fraud not addressed by the indictment last October in which he was charged with money laundering and failure to register as a foreign agent. ...

"The filing by Mueller's office says Manafort obtained a mortgage using 'doctored profit and loss statements' overstating 'by millions of dollars' the income for his consulting company, DMP International. Prosecutors appear to be referring to a $9.5 million mortgage that Federal Savings Bank of Chicago extended in late 2016 to a Manafort-linked firm, Summerbreeze LLC. Prosecutors' references to 'conspiracies' suggest that someone beyond Manafort was involved in the alleged fraud, but no further details were given." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=d125d87c7d4da245e8692753b1cc23a5f2a1e07da212c272c8b4ba7f62aa97edf6a6c3f5aa9bed84c60cb52a5598103c

JARED WATCH -- "New White House security clearance policy could put 'bull's eye' on Kushner," by WaPo's Shane Harris, Josh Dawsey, Carol D. Leonnig and Bob Costa: "White House Chief of Staff John F. Kelly announced Friday that beginning next week, the White House will no longer allow some employees with interim security clearances access to top-secret information - a move that could threaten the standing of Jared Kushner, President Trump's son-in-law. Kushner, a senior adviser to the president, has been able to see some of the nation's most sensitive secrets even as his background investigation has dragged on for more than a year. White House officials have privately discussed concerns that
Kushner's clearance faces obstacles ...

"A senior administration official with knowledge of Kelly's thinking said that the chief of staff has been frustrated with Kushner's high level of access without a final clearance and that he was aware the new policies announced Friday could jeopardize Kushner's ability to carry out his duties in the West Wing. The move puts a 'bull's eye' on Kushner, the official said. ... [A]part from staff on the National Security Council, he issues more requests for information to the intelligence community than any White House employee." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=d125d87c7d4da24572ef9d89ac9f124ccec29fc75e4c72876a442524e6bae00248f643a52907d63f1a28b301ce0337e9

BEHIND THE SCENES ... ALEX ISENSTADT: "House Speaker Paul Ryan, looking to salvage his party's majority in the midterm election, implored Republican lawmakers during a closed-door meeting this week to step up their lagging fundraising.

"The appeal, which came during a conference-wide meeting at the Capitol Hill Club on Wednesday, followed news that more than 40 House GOP incumbents were outraised by Democratic challengers during the fourth quarter, a troubling development for a party that controls all the levers of power in Washington. 'Campaigns,' Ryan told the group, 'cost money.'" http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=d125d87c7d4da2458b4f41178669d28198907f6a3bebbd5d80700c795d0eb01aff9ec80b0714671a3a88b05f898875fa

BACK ON THE STUMP -- MITT IN PROVO -- SALT LAKE TRIBUNE: "Mitt Romney outlines policies to cap his first day of campaigning for Utah's soon-to-be-open U.S. Senate seat," by Courtney Tanner: "Hours after announcing his campaign for U.S. Senate, Mitt Romney spent his first speech as a candidate making the case to a roomful of Republicans that he is conservative enough and Utahn enough -- just maybe not as young as they might think.

"'I'm not worried about the junior-senator title,' the 70-year-old said with a laugh. 'At my age, being called junior is a compliment.' ... He outlined the concerns that drove him into the race during his nearly 40-minute address at a Utah County fundraiser Friday night. Solving intergenerational poverty. Reducing carbon emissions. Shrinking the national debt. Lowering the cost of health care. Restructuring federal land management.

"Romney lingered longer on one issue: school shootings. He was originally scheduled to announce his bid Thursday but pushed it back 'out of respect for the victims and their families' after a gunman killed 17 people at a Florida high school. 'I think we can't just sit and wait and hope for things to get better,' he said. 'It is wrong and unacceptable for children in our schools to fear for their lives.'" http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=d125d87c7d4da245ee0c2bc286d5b04b55ba582b8e0b57da0581486bff61e52f7a5d5946fed1298e6b928e0d80b497d7

THE JUICE ...

-- KEEP IT COMING: The RNC dropped another $304,180 on mail and get-out-the-vote efforts in the special election in Pennsylvania 18 -- a district they should win by 10 points.

-- ON THE GROUND IN MUNICH ... Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) is getting "lots of love" at the Munich Security Conference this weekend despite not attending, according to a tipster. Other interesting moments: National Security Advisor H.R. McMaster firing back at the Russians, who deny allegations that they meddled in elections, saying the "the evidence is now incontrovertible." SPOTTED: Peter Thiel, Ret. Adm. James Stavridis and Defense Secretary Jim Mattis.

TRUMP'S SATURDAY -- The president has no public events scheduled. He's in Florida.


Playbook Reads


PHOTO DU JOUR: President Donald Trump, accompanied by first lady Melania Trump and Dr. Igor Nichiporenko, speaks to reporters while visiting with medical staff at Broward Health North in Pompano Beach, Fla. on Feb. 16., following Wednesday's shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, in Parkland, Fla. | Andrew Harnik/AP Photo

MATT DIXON and MARC CAPUTO -- "'Something was weird': Inside the Russian effort to bamboozle Florida: The operation in the nation's largest swing state was in a class by itself": "The interactions were part of planning events that were collectively called 'Florida Goes Trump' rallies, and held throughout the state. Russians also helped organize some of the most recognizable anti-Hillary Clinton displays of the election cycle in Florida. 'For example, defendants and their co-conspirators asked one U.S. person to build a cage on a flatbed truck ... and another U.S. person to wear a costume portraying Clinton in a prison uniform,' the indictment read. 'Defendants and their co-conspirators paid
these individuals to complete the requests,' it continued. ...

"[F]ormer Republican Party of Florida Executive Director David Johnson detected something amiss as well. 'It was all the social media stuff, that's where you could see something was weird,' said Johnson, who consulted for Jeb Bush's super PAC in 2016. 'It was syntax errors and odd ways of saying things that were apparent.' The Florida Goes Trump rallies were held in more than 20 cities across the state on Aug. 20, 2016. News releases touting the event were rife with grammatical errors and used language ripped from a traditional Trump stump speech." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=d125d87c7d4da24518e8719612458a4e66bd7c2d9a795a3f238f75a15edf7609c0ddef6fc9156ee2c8be00e185891b63

THE ADMINISTRATION - "Trump Administration Proposes Stiff Penalties on Steel and Aluminum Imports," by NYT's Ana Swanson: "The Trump administration for the first time declared imports of steel and aluminum from China and other nations a threat to national security, laying the foundation for President Trump to impose the types of punitive tariffs he has long championed. In a report released on Friday, the Commerce Department said a recent influx of foreign metals posed a risk to national security by threatening the viability of American manufacturers who make planes, armored vehicles and other products for the military. It outlined an array of recommendations the president could take to help
domestic manufacturers struggling to stay competitive, including a sweeping tariff of 24 percent on steel imports from all countries." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=d125d87c7d4da245f491f64a7cdf324c50bd4c71a3c45a8503ca8c0260fedd25c7e8ed1fdb8a4d618094c1bfe7f27d75

HHS DEPARTURE LOUNGE -- "Yoest expected to leave HHS, considering move to White House drug office," by Adam Cancryn and Dan Diamond: "Charmaine Yoest, the top HHS spokeswoman, is expected to soon leave the department and she may join the White House's office of drug control policy, according to two people briefed on her plans. Yoest, a longtime anti-abortion advocate, was tapped by the Trump administration last April to run HHS communications strategy as the agency's assistant secretary of public affairs. Her replacement has been selected with input from new HHS Secretary Alex Azar, now into his third week on the job. That person is expected to be installed at HHS in the next several
weeks." For Pros http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=d125d87c7d4da2457000c5490911e2dc0e4a4ba0cb09feb225f99426fad1fc39f907a035abc96dc6bed98e63a9dd4565

DEEP DIVE -- "Inside the Trump Administration's Internal War Over the VA: The president likes him, but the VA secretary is at odds with his own staff over policy. And the fight is spilling out into the open," by ProPublica's Isaac Arnsdorf in POLITICO Magazine: David "Shulkin is a technocratic Barack Obama holdover. He not only participated in the past administration, but defends the VA's much-maligned health care system. He seeks to keep the organization at the center of veterans' health care. (An adviser to Shulkin said the White House isn't permitting him to do interviews.) But others in the administration want a much more drastic change: They seek to privatize vets' health care. From
perches in Congress, the White House and the VA itself, they have battled Shulkin. In some instances, his own subordinates have openly defied him." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=d125d87c7d4da245826bfdf382cc1e55dc269463946856525777e363017102afadf1572e814fdba8694c74d0206fe602

D.C. TO NYC IN 30 MIN -- WAPO'S MICHAEL LARIS and JONATHAN O'CONNELL: "The Boring Company team has received an early, and vague, building permit from the D.C. government that will allow some preparatory and excavation work at the fenced-off parking lot at 53 New York Avenue NE beside a McDonald's and amid the construction cranes of Washington's booming NoMa neighborhood. Asked about the permit, issued Nov. 29, a Boring Company spokesman said Friday that 'a New York Avenue location, if constructed, could become a station' in a broad network of such stops across the new system." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=d125d87c7d4da24517fc9451065377e5134d3f8de231dd0720329bfae33492a685eb4df8f5d259075e3fb03e1745e602

QUOTE OF THE DAY -- NYT'S AMY CHOZICK on her reading habits during the presidential campaign: "But mostly, my reading diet consisted of Twitter and Politico." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=d125d87c7d4da24531fceec7c74f27a0494ba69d3e3f4327913855fda71f9eb9d584729396a323bca031a57f4e4a2f80


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GABE DEBENEDETTI: "The Thriller That Predicted the Russia Scandal": "David Pepper recently had to block someone on Twitter for the first time in his life, because he was tired of being accused, repeatedly, of hiding his real identity as a Russian spy. 'If I were a Russian spy, would I really release my plot in novel form in advance?' the 46-year-old Cincinnatian asks me, mock-bewildered, on a recent Friday morning. 'Then I wouldn't be a very good spy.'

"The online tormentor isn't just throwing out random espionage allegations for no reason. He's decided to go after Pepper because his first book -- 'The People's House,' a quick, lively thriller full of labyrinthine scandal and homey Rust Belt touches -- reads like a user's guide to the last two years in U.S. politics. And Pepper wrote the book before any of it actually happened." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=d125d87c7d4da2456273c0e3658a19962eb2a08c15d88465e32ad270b0d383de05120bc776ec9715a0a4886381581d45 ... $12.52 on Amazon http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=d125d87c7d4da245cf7d80cf49452f0bc6f696b1ea7ca1b64dd67b3f8dbdd9d6580674b6f51a7ab342d5ef0b2d20c148

CLICKER - "The nation's cartoonists on the week in politics," edited by Matt Wuerker -- 16 clickers http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=d125d87c7d4da245b24bdd762e1140238f40c71f19dff4b4743139f7655ef04c8d6c75e83688d4674a4078954499431d

GREAT HOLIDAY WEEKEND READS, curated by Daniel Lippman, filing from Stowe, Vermont:

-- "The Final, Terrible Voyage of the Nautilus," by May Jeong in Wired: "Kim Wall went for a ride on a submarine, hoping to write a story about a maker of 'extreme machines.' She never did. I needed to know what happened." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=d125d87c7d4da2459ac0926059b8ddc18d296f8be5c71ff54a774b79f4e4702108dff8bba124343fe7e4f4c77770a887 (h/t Longform.org)

-- "A Literary Road Trip Into the Heart of Russia," by Karl Ove Knausgaard on the cover of tomorrow's NYT Magazine: "In the land of Tolstoy, Turgenev and now Putin, what are the stories Russians are telling themselves?" http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=d125d87c7d4da245fc90c9b144acc40da22f27a1588ada4a94335a6a98518fe7e93d3c3b1f5627225fa3150216a43d6a ... The cover http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=d125d87c7d4da245394531f5c05e1c551061c0b7ce7b4b31b9adb50f3a167b5e7f173ec09d761ac27f2f08ac2420ad9c

-- "The New Dating Requirement: Consuming All of Your Partner's #Content," by the Daily Beast's Taylor Lorenz: "'Be respectful and watch my [Instagram] Story,' one 20-something demanded. Her relationship prerequisite isn't unique-but when stories expire in 24 hours, it's not easy, either." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=d125d87c7d4da2459076578f93914dbd89f505d3b1f234307eaafc520a0d90b41a0080cecd04d3c2d8a61c437df986ac

-- "The Intellectual War on Science," by Steven Pinker in the Chronicle of Higher Ed - per ALDaily.com's description: "Pinker may be the most optimistic man in America. But his optimism curdles into despair at the way science is treated on many campuses." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=d125d87c7d4da245080b92c50a528ac359ef9b372ad9d5e2da822f1a1c084c7ccb84766f6cb162b6f0f73ad36fcd81fb

-- "The Great Stink," by Laurie Penny in Longreads: "It's time for men to stop worrying about who they are, and start thinking about what they do." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=d125d87c7d4da245abef663b13c713a59c0a8cd3f9bce419290ffd9a473fde956536c75e12c36a3e51bf51e0589a23ef

-- "Get Schooled in the No-Nonsense Art of Survival," by Eva Holland in Outside Magazine: "Students in the Extreme Polar Training course, a two-week freeze-fest held near the Arctic Circle on Canada's Baffin Island, learn how to live in Earth's coldest conditions. Still, nothing really prepares you for 72 hours of a sled-pulling, pathfinding ordeal on a skinny pair of skis." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=d125d87c7d4da2457d691e70c1928aaf419050245df670e42e5fc42ec5b4234ef03f3d41be624927256ddc89dbe48614

-- "Chicago is a City Divided by Barbecue," by Kevin Pang in Saveur: "The South Side's smoked rib tips and hot links represent an indispensable regional barbeque style, but half the city doesn't know it exists. Why?" http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=d125d87c7d4da2458443d0ecf04f3c33ec4931994e3433be5871dd0e9c26a17f5433f0640d789172522db7346eb53eab

-- "The man's man's kitchen," by Ashley Fetters in Curbed: "Appliances and the kitchens they fill have evolved around the men who now inhabit them-even if appliance brands would prefer not to talk about it." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=d125d87c7d4da245b98f6ee238a544a1e32c0f2f74d70b57a93630f172f575663c05210310c21addd524a7369cbe0709

-- "The Sound and the Fury: Inside the Mystery of the Havana Embassy," by Tim Golden and Sebastian Rotella in ProPublica: "More than a year after American diplomats began to suffer strange, concussion-like symptoms in Cuba, a U.S. investigation is no closer to determining how they were hurt or by whom, and the FBI and CIA are at odds over the case. A ProPublica investigation reveals the many layers to the mystery - and the political maneuvering that is reshaping U.S.-Cuba relations." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=d125d87c7d4da245f8fb754c379b196abacb01fa39cfdaffa60700ce1da07b4b1fd1cf25993492c5ca951a836cde52ea

-- "Inside Auburn's Secret Effort to Advance an Athlete-Friendly Curriculum," by Jack Stripling in the Chronicle of Higher Ed: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=d125d87c7d4da245f523fdae4768b60e89c2af6e5c1c2d16218ff1c5454f05c77c7ba27e0fd1bf62da07cd5365bdf396

-- "Inside North Korea's Hacker Army," by Sam Kim in Bloomberg Businessweek: "The regime in Pyongyang has sent hundreds of programmers to other countries. Their mission: Make money by any means necessary. Here's what their lives are like." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=d125d87c7d4da2457584a81d3103368912f6e62dfcfab8f3679e8b1144270f22d47a85e6ac56821957eba7f5f8873ba5

-- "Not the end of The World: the return of Dubai's ultimate folly," by Oliver Wainwright in Dubai in The Guardian: "Underwater bedrooms, 'Lohan Island' and snow all year round - a decade after it was scuppered by the financial crash, the fantasy archipelago of 300 artificial 'countries' is back in business. Has anybody learned anything?" http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=d125d87c7d4da2450a312ed2e322dfe79fa7961f8093364c27eef4a481902e9411002e1e9b27c779f1f7c9b9acb9cd07

-- "Why Silicon Valley billionaires are prepping for the apocalypse in New Zealand," by Mark O'Connell in The Guardian: "How an extreme libertarian tract predicting the collapse of liberal democracies - written by Jacob Rees-Mogg's father - inspired the likes of Peter Thiel to buy up property across the Pacific." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=d125d87c7d4da2450bc85909ce8d19e046bdb62f41befd21391bf1270944c014b9b667a52fc5a227c97fda6f3f4484b3

-- "Delaware's Opioid Crisis," by Paul Blest in The Outline: "'It is perhaps the defining feature of someone my age and from my state to have a friend, sibling, or cousin who has died from opioid addiction.'" http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=d125d87c7d4da245267d5937cca5c5e28850bc17c5dc39c77626f9bc65aa693f1b64bd2b1b585c96cecc6176574ce3bb

GREAT WEEKEND LISTENS, curated by Jake Sherman:

There were two big concerts in D.C. this week: Phish leadman Trey Anastasio's acoustic show at Sixth and I synagogue in Chinatown, and Umphrey's McGee at the Anthem.

-- HERE ARE SOME SELECT CUTS FROM TREY ANASTASIO in Chinatown. http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=d125d87c7d4da2455d77461253b2c05f56da2bba673e0cb8ddb25e17b54b08c11eda2429d4901b710d53f91b2497259b (The recording comes to us from THE TAMPA BAY TIMES' ALEX LEARY. Leary moonlights as one of the best live-music tapers in the rock and roll scene.)

-- UMPHREY'S MCGEE at the Anthem, full show video http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=d125d87c7d4da2451c564c708fd0e27dd64becb469b1d5b6558926f278279d004bd9061bd20346e7aebc49fc1f4d8780
Playbookers
SPOTTED at a fundraiser for EMILY's list at Melissa Moss' house in Georgetown: Lynda Carter, Kathy Calvin, Maria Teresa Kumar, Tamera Luzzatto and David Leiter, Mandy Grunwald, Tipper Gore and Bill Allen, Tracey Bernstein, Anjali Gupta, Jodie McLean, Amy Weiss, Rep. Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.), Stephanie Schriock, George Frampton, Misha Petkevich.

WELCOME TO THE WORLD -- Ilya Shapiro, senior fellow in constitutional studies at the Cato Institute, and Kristin Shapiro, assistant general counsel to the House of Representatives, welcomed Charles Alexander "Charlie" Shapiro, born Friday at 4:44pm, weighing in at 7lbs. 12oz. "Big brother Jacob, who just turned two, is thrilled with 'my baby.' Mama is doing great, looking forward to maternity leave, and wishes that every parent had access to the budget-neutral parental leave that she has proposed." Pic http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=d125d87c7d4da245f7be4a6679afa4cbd58e5ba4c489305627bec3cf39e1029bb165d1322e3a8481dd8cb3fb49fd4975

BIRTHWEEK (was yesterday): Nigel Cory, ITIF's trade policy analyst (hat tip: Samantha Greene)

BIRTHDAYS: Betsy Fischer Martin (hubby tip: JMart) ... Kristin Roberts, executive editor of McClatchy Washington ... Dianna Heitz, assistant managing editor at CNN Politics ... Ashley Berrang of the Information Technology Industry Council ... Curtis Tate, transportation reporter for The Record of Bergen County (h/t Sandy Smith) ... Sean Cartwright ... White House Deputy Political Director Brian Jack is 3-0 (h/t Dave Pasch) ... Cliff Sims, special assistant to the President and director of White House message strategy ... Surya Gunasekara of Capitol Hill Consulting Group ... Mark Shriver, SVP of U.S. programs and advocacy at Save the Children ... Keegan Goudiss, partner at Revolution
Messaging ... The Daily Beast's Lachlan Markay (hat tip: Swin) ... former Bush 43 director of WH advance Spence Geissinger ... Fred Schwien, Bush 43 DHS alum who's now a Boeing exec (h/ts Ed Cash) ... Shantanu Chandra ... Richard W. Pinto Jr. ... Cara Camacho, VP for government affairs at the Clearing House... Drew Cantor ... Ted Gavin ... AARP SVP Barbara Shipley (h/t Jon Haber) ... Brian Cohen ... Politico's Kelsey Tamborrino and Lindsey Sullivan ... Greg Matusky ... Andrew Bilski ...

... Virginia Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax is 39 (h/t Ray Glendening) ... Howard Megdal ... Google's Will Hayworth (h/t Rebecca Bernbach Graves) ... Anna Koval ... Edith Honan ... Danielle Most, LD for Rep. Elizabeth Esty (D-Ct.), is 34. She's celebrating in Napa (h/t Peter Cherukuri) ... CNN national security analyst Samantha Vinograd is 35. She's "celebrating by having a dinner party with the (very large) Vinograd clan in NYC" (h/t Morgan Ortagus) ... Frederick Hill, comms. director for the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation ... Alison Kutler ... Kelsey Rohwer of 360i ... Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) is 54 ... Rep. Suzan DelBene (D-Wash.) is 55 ... former Rep. Randy Forbes
(R-Va.) is 66 ... Adam Benson ... Alicia Davis ... James Lynch is 31 ... Alex Sutton is 52 ... Deborah M. Hohlt ... Allison Hunn ... Ali McLaughlin ... Shana Marchio ... Bush 43 WH alum Skyla Freeman ... Frederick Velez Burgos ... David Carriero ... Emmanual Guillory ... Ashley Graham ... Dave Cieslewicz ... Mike Sager ... Eric Traczyk (h/ts Teresa Vilmain)

THE SHOWS, by @MattMackowiak, filing from Washington:

-- CBS's "Face the Nation": Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-S.C.) ... Sen. Chris Coons (D-Del.) ... Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.) ... John Podesta ... Retiring lawmaker panel: Sen. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.), Rep. Charlie Dent (R-Pa.), Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-Fla.) and Rep. Ed Royce (R-Calif.). Political panel: David Frum, Susan Page, Jonathan Swan and Shawna Thomas

-- "Fox News Sunday": Mark Kelly ... Rush Limbaugh. Panel: Michael Needham, Julie Pace, Marc Lotter and Charles Lane ... "Power Player of the Week" with amateur paleontologist Ray Stanford

-- NBC's "Meet the Press": Sen. James Lankford (R-Okla.). Panel: Cornell Belcher, Hallie Jackson, Carol Lee and Rick Santelli

-- ABC's "This Week": Rep. Ted Deutsch (D-Fla.) ... Jeh Johnson ... Chris Christie

-- CNN's "State of the Union": Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.)... Ohio Gov. John Kasich. Panel: Bakari Sellers and Amanda Carpenter, Jennifer Granholm and Andre Bauer (substitute host: CNN's Dana Bash)

-- CNN's "Inside Politics": Panel: Mike Shear, Eliana Johnson, Karoun Demirjian and Rachael Bade (substitute anchor: CNN's Nia-Malika Henderson)

-- Fox News' "Sunday Morning Futures": Attorney General Jeff Sessions ... Ken Starr ... Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.). Panel: Ed Rollins and Al D'Amato

-- Fox News' "MediaBuzz": Jessica Tarlov ... Susan Ferrechio ... Mollie Hemingway ... Kristin Tate ... Cathy Areu ... Ari Fleischer

-- CNN's "Fareed Zakaria GPS": Bill Gates ... Jung H. Pak ... Tracy Gordon and Kristina Swallow

-- CNN's "Reliable Sources": Sam Vinograd ... Karen Tumulty and Lachlan Markay ... Ronan Farrow ... Dan Pfeiffer and David Gergen ... David Zurawik

-- Univision's "Al Punto": Parkland shooting survivor Isabella Benjumea and her parents Liliana Palomino and Mauricio Benjumea ... Sen. Bob Menendez (D-N.J.) ... Rep. Joe Kennedy III (D-Mass.) ... "United We Dream" executive director Cristina Jiménez and DREAMers advocates Gaby Pacheco and José Patiño ... musicians Gloria Estefan and Emilio Estefan

-- C-SPAN: "The Communicators": LG Electronics USA new product development director Tim Alessia ... Qualcomm product marketing director Sherif Hanna ... author and CREATV Media founder and chair Peter Csathy ("Media 2.0 (18): An Insider's Guide to Today's Digital Media World & Where It's Going") ... National Science Foundation industrial innovation program director Rick Schwerdtfeger

-- MSNBC's "Kasie DC": Arne Duncan ... State Sen. Creigh Deeds (D-Va.) ... Julia Ioffe ... Rick Tyler ... Ken Vogel ... Mary Bono ... Ken Dilanian ... Mike Memoli ... Garrett Haake ... Carrie Dann

-- "The McLaughlin Group": Moderator Tom Rogan with syndicated columnist Pat Buchanan, The Daily Beast's Eleanor Clift, syndicated columnist Clarence Page and guest panelist Real Clear Politics' AB Stoddard

-- Washington Times' "Mack on Politics" weekly politics podcast with Matt Mackowiak (download on iTunes, Google Play, or Stitcher or listen at http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=d125d87c7d4da24588a0cf26c18d0e1e912c711a3e39f404cc205bc8675ecf6b9a0a17a939615ea5ab2a30bae9e4f9ce Yahoo News' Olivier Knox.

****** A message from Morgan Stanley: For years, many industry watchers have predicted the demise of traditional gas-guzzlers and the rise of electric cars. Yet, despite the advent of hybrid vehicles, better and cheaper batteries, and the entry of high-performance luxury electric competitors, the former continues to dominate roads globally. Now, however, the automobile's long-promised electric future may be in sight, according to a new report that projects that as many as a billion battery electric vehicles will be on the road worldwide by 2050, reaching parity with vehicles powered by the internal combustion engine. Why have electric cars never been successful before and why is it
different this time? Read more from Morgan Stanley. ******

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