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Today's Playbook Power Briefing presented by Morgan Stanley

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


Good Tuesday afternoon. YA CAN'T MAKE IT UP ... SPOTTED: EPA Administrator SCOTT PRUITT flying first class on the American Airlines DCA to Boston shuttle early this morning.

-- Sunday's story from WaPo's Juliet Eilperin and Brady Dennis on Pruitt's extensive first class travel http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=b14b448dfa3d6d255d0dab950f11ee4d24d9e85e08da57bad85604d2fdc006c4635eb5f0063d790163bf0c850ed70eb5

TRUMP ADMINISTRATION: RUSSIA WON'T STOP, via Josh Gerstein and Kyle Cheney: "The Trump administration's top intelligence officials said during a Capitol Hill hearing Tuesday that Russia is intent on disrupting elections in the United States and elsewhere. President Donald Trump is facing sharp criticism for failing to act decisively to head off potential attempts by Russia to interfere in the upcoming U.S. midterm elections.

"At a minimum, we expect Russia to continue using propaganda, social media, false-flag personas, sympathetic spokespeople, and other means of influence to try to exacerbate social and political fissures in the United States," Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats said in his opening statement at the hearing. ... 'We have seen Russian activity and intentions to have an impact on the next election cycle,' Pompeo said. Coats backed up the statement." More highlights http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=b14b448dfa3d6d2551c2b5e772f52051d63b7ab06ab8dedaf54c618ec3f56ac6bfc4fdde1421aa99dce658d531dded0e

NOT THE TIMELINE THE WHITE HOUSE GAVE -- @GeoffRBennett: "FBI Director Chris Wray says the FBI submitted a partial report on the Rob Porter investigation in March and a completed background investigation in late July. 'Soon thereafter we received a request for a follow-up. We did that.' Provided it in November & closed file in January". Bloomberg's report that the FBI s report in July included the domestic violence allegations http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=b14b448dfa3d6d2508f136598ed44ab3111a66de1e6c7c677fdec3c3d41a061c2b6f19c21e4e8a8c2239029bf004c250

JOHN KELLY, via Mike Bender of the WSJ: Asked on Monday if the White House should have handled Mr. Porter's situation any differently, Chief of Staff John Kelly said, 'No.' 'It was all done right,' Mr. Kelly said in a brief interview." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=b14b448dfa3d6d25dc8645c14f63744f6c42906df4b768e321d54dd18dfae81c0073a320a9d4e0606d7fb183c11d1e8c

SIREN -- "McConnell: One week only to solve DACA," by Burgess Everett: "Mitch McConnell is not going to let the immigration debate get out of hand. The Senate majority leader on Tuesday announced that the Senate's work on a solution to the expiring Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program will be limited to this week. McConnell said Democrats should have been ready for this week's crucial test of whether the Senate can produce 60 votes for an immigration bill.

"'Senators have had plenty of time to prepare. There's no reason why we should not reach a bipartisan solution this week. But to do this, we need to get the debate started, look past making political points and focus on actually making law,' McConnell said." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=b14b448dfa3d6d25b916c75ecce70985a5f471b1528415435d5e8217ca5d9788a5c6c31b662aba6ac1a872223bde01e3

-- UPDATE, from Burgess, on Twitter: "McConnell tries to call up Toomey amendment on sanctuary cities. Schumer rejects because it doesn't address DACA ... This isn't a great sign of success this week, by the way"

JERUSALEM POST: "POLICE TO SUBMIT RECOMMENDATIONS ON CHARGING NETANYAHU FOR CORRUPTION TONIGHT": "After a 14-month-long investigation, the police are expected to announce if they found enough evidence to recommend the state's prosecution to indict Netanyahu in Case 1000 or in Case 2000.

"In Case 1000, the 'gifts affair,' it is alleged that Netanyahu improperly accepted expensive gifts from different businessmen. In Case 2000, the 'Yediot Aharonot affair,' Netanyahu allegedly negotiated with publisher Arnon 'Noni' Mozes for favorable coverage of himself in Yediot Aharonot in exchange for support of a bill to weaken Israel Hayom, the largest circulation Hebrew-language paper and Yediot's biggest competitor." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=b14b448dfa3d6d2511ecca2db4e13d0c7f8f9b68d19b861397373c3bafd358c8abc8fd7f2fc3cf316b1b29befe8d6e5d

WAR REPORT -- "U.S. Strikes Killed Scores of Russia Fighters in Syria, Sources Say," by Bloomberg's Stepan Kravchenko, Henry Meyer and Margaret Talev: "U.S. forces killed scores of Russian mercenaries in Syria last week in what may be the deadliest clash between citizens of the former foes since the Cold War, according to one U.S. official and three Russians familiar with the matter. More than 200 contract soldiers, mostly Russians fighting on behalf of Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad, died in a failed attack on a base held by U.S. and mainly Kurdish forces in the oil-rich Deir Ezzor region, two of the Russians said. The U.S. official put the death toll at about 100, with 200 to 300 injured.

"The Russian assault may have been a rogue operation, underscoring the complexity of a conflict that started as a domestic crackdown only to morph into a proxy war involving Islamic extremists, stateless Kurds and regional powers Iran, Turkey and now Israel. Russia's military said it had nothing to do with the attack and the U.S. accepted the claim. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis called the whole thing 'perplexing,' but provided no further details." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=b14b448dfa3d6d250f3b48395e0d9a2ab458adcca1d69a4a5704101ec52bc3ca52619266f6c92ee0b75d7dae20f51b19

****** A message from Morgan Stanley: Across the globe, disparities in income, wellbeing and living standards are growing. Opportunities to invest in technologies that provide access to critical tools that can create opportunities to close those economic gaps-such as education-exist in a wide range of geographies. Read more. ******

TAKE THREE? -- "Alan Grayson says he's running for Congress, but won't say where," by Florida Playbookers Matt Dixon and Marc Caputo: "Firebrand Democrat Alan Grayson says he wants to return to Congress in 2018, but is not yet saying which seat he's running for. 'Yes, this cycle is what I'm looking at,' Grayson told POLITICO Florida in a telephone interview Monday. 'But Florida law says I can run anywhere.' ...

"The Orlando Democrat has never stopped accepting online contributions since leaving Congress in 2016 to run for the U.S. Senate. He has $556,000 cash-on-hand, and has continued receiving small-dollar contributions since his loss in the Democratic primary to Patrick Murphy. Republican Sen. Marco Rubio defeated Murphy in the general election. ...

"Central Florida Democrats for more than a month have been buzzing with talk that Grayson might run against his Democratic successor, U.S. Rep. Darren Michael Soto, who beat Grayson's wife and his former aide in the 2016 Democratic primary when the former congressman decided to run for U.S. Senate." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=b14b448dfa3d6d25aec00f3d5f22c1d04276ec933bb2f7fcab924723ee58571fd1d62ef3e325055318e49699779263cd

MORE BOOKS! -- "Trump's Lawyer Michael Cohen Is Shopping a Book About the First Family, Stormy Daniels, and Russia," by The Daily Beast's Maxwell Tani: "According to a proposal shopped to multiple publishers and obtained by The Daily Beast, Michael Cohen's book will likely be titled 'Trump Revolution: From The Tower to The White House, Understanding Donald J. Trump,' and will focus on the attorney's role in the president's campaign and businesses.

"'No issue was too big, too sticky or too oddball for me to tackle,' Cohen teases in the proposal. 'I saw it all, handled it all. And still do.' Positioned partially as a rebuttal to Michael Wolff's massively popular White House exposé 'Fire and Fury,' Cohen's proposal posits that few people outside Trump's family understand the president besides him; and he casts himself as the 'family fix-it guy' and the original Trump 'special counsel.'" http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=b14b448dfa3d6d25bb71150842fde28f6f3bf8d7e01ce36c8f23e5fdad0b79967a376651746c7ba047b8fc774f3c61ae

THE NEW WASHINGTON ELITE -- CARRIE BATTAN in Elle: "Louise Linton Is Super-Duper Sorry": "That Instagram comment has been playing on repeat in Linton's mind for the last six months. 'I think after being kicked and slapped on social media a billion times, I had this one time. This lady said I was a deplorable human being, and that hurt,' Linton says, her voice trembling in sincere horror and self-pity. Her hands are shaking. 'So I had this knee-jerk reaction and I was like...blarghhhh. I was feeling like a regular person. And regular people, when someone says something mean to you on social media, regular people are allowed to respond.' ...

"Linton's sometimes treacherous lack of filter is only matched by [her husband, Treasury Secretary Steven] Mnuchin's extreme caution -- he keeps one of the lowest profiles of any top-ranking Trump official, and generally finds himself in the spotlight only because of his wife. If he is impacted by the vitriol aimed at his family and his colleagues -- he and Linton received a package of horse feces two days before Christmas, sent by 'The American People' -- he doesn't show it. Nor does he seem to express any concern that his wife's snafus will damage his own reputation. When asked about his wife's turn in the spotlight over email, just a few days after the horse poop incident, he wrote: 'I
think social media has made her misunderstood and she is not at all the person that has been portrayed. She has a huge heart, is sensitive, deeply compassionate, and kind. She has humility and gentleness. She's also funny and makes people laugh.... She loves gadgets and has a bird feeder in the backyard. She reads John Stuart Mill and writes notes in the margins of her books. She's an incredibly warm and loving person.'" http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=b14b448dfa3d6d2505e9a251250e44bdd288e087a0a9fc364f98600f4b5af44f585b81582e647de4027468d3a95bd190

PAGING ZUCKERBERG -- "I Approved This Facebook Message -- But You Don't Know That," by ProPublica's Jennifer Valentino-DeVries: "Hundreds of federal political ads -- including those from major players such as the [DNC] and the Donald Trump 2020 campaign -- are running on Facebook without adequate disclaimer language, likely violating Federal Election Commission rules, a review by ProPublica has found.

"An FEC opinion in December clarified that the requirement for political ads to say who paid for and approved them, which has long applied to print and broadcast outlets, extends to ads on Facebook. So we checked more than 300 ads that had run on the world's largest social network since the opinion, and that election-law experts told us met the criteria for a disclaimer. Fewer than 40 had disclosures that appeared to satisfy FEC rules." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=b14b448dfa3d6d258f7c06a573182e9f4d736b28fbf5c946753b90c5c57ad92edd406fdf4aa062bce002fe8c9d7e992e

WARNING SIGN FOR DEMS? -- "Internal Dem polling shows Trump's standing on the rise," by McClatchy's Alex Roarty: "A leading Democratic group -- Priorities USA -- is warning party leaders they could squander a strong political climate in 2018 if they don't start to emphasize pocketbook issues over loose and unfocused critiques of Donald Trump. According to internal polling by the super PAC, President Trump's approval rating climbed to 44 percent in the first week of February, compared to 53 percent who disapprove. That mirrors Trump's improving position in public polls." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=b14b448dfa3d6d255a6f9fa0c542b5a51b19248cdf3198091a5874727ca2158bdd861528de605a8ac9a687b80c12d21e

MEDIAWATCH -- John Hudson is joining WaPo as a State Department reporter. He is currently the foreign affairs correspondent at BuzzFeed. ... Chico Harlan is heading to Rome to be the Washington Post's bureau chief ... Rachel Stassen-Berger has been named the politics editor for the Des Moines Register. She was most recently the capitol bureau chief for the St. Paul Pioneer Press in Minnesota. ...

... Cristina Marcos is joining MSNBC's "Meet the Press Daily" as a producer later this month. She is currently a reporter at The Hill. ... Caroline Chen, who recently left Bloomberg, has been hired as a reporter at ProPublica covering health care.

-- "Two journalists exposed a massacre in Burma. Now they'll be awarded for their work -- from prison," by WaPo's Jason Rezaian: "For more than two months, the Burmese government has held two Reuters reporters in prison for their investigation into a massacre by the country's military. Now, just days after their explosive and detailed account of the operation was finally published, the two men will win a renowned journalism award for their work. PEN America, a nonprofit organization that supports freedom of expression, will announce Tuesday that it is honoring Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo with its PEN/Barbey Freedom to Write Award." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=b14b448dfa3d6d25b9770a1ffffda78372a0fd174779e39a8d3753c89e9d022a76a2abbabaebb188077fe2514d0722c1 ... The
Reuters' investigation http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=b14b448dfa3d6d252e1ef102cc84bcab69e620f81609ee1603d33e71b53e136f30209c95ce31c956fd87ddfa6c197ffe

ONE FUN THING -- LAURA BUSH talks to her daughter JENNA BUSH HAGER and KATHIE LEE GIFFORD on TODAY about her first date with former President George W. Bush http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=6906920b8efe25e40a3ccb3d1e3825b68b30909fd7fd9fe3823c0cb862a2f695e39841ddd88561817e1ffc87f91307b8

TRANSITIONS -- Seth Schermer has been named the VP of development for the LGBTQ Victory Fund. He was most recently the VP of philanthropy for the U.S. Soccer Foundation. ... Amanda Munger has recently joined Rep. Rick Larsen's (D-Wash.) office as communications director. She was deputy press secretary for Interior during the Obama administration. ... Crossroads Strategies has hired Jason Gleason as an EVP; he is the former chief of staff for Rep. John Sarbanes (D-Md.). The firm also hired Sally Adams, previously with Sixkiller Consulting, as a VP. Shay Hancock has been named COO while Katie Dapper has been promoted to SVP.

****** A message from Morgan Stanley: Education Technology is taking off in China and India, where there are large disparities in basic and advanced education levels between rich and poor, rural and urban. Both countries are attracting large amounts of investment related to digital learning and performance measurement. In India, where the number of internet users is increasing quickly and is expected to reach 550 million - or 40% penetration - by 2020, digital education's potential is enormous. Technopak, a consultancy, estimates that the Indian digital learning market will almost triple between 2016 and 2020. In advanced countries, a multi-year tertiary degree does not provide life-long
skills that keep up with the pace of technological change. Retraining has become necessary to keep employees up to speed, and Massive Online Open Courses (MOOCs) like Coursera and Udacity are helping close the gap. Read more from Morgan Stanley. ******

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