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Presented by Better Medicare Alliance: Playbook is POLITICO's must-read briefing on what's driving the day Nov 26, 2018 View in browser
By Anna Palmer, Jake Sherman, Daniel Lippman, Eli Okun and Garrett Ross

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NEWS ... JORDAN KAREM, the director of Oval Office operations, is leaving the White House, sources told us. Karem was a personal aide to the president, and the director of Oval Office operations. He's planning to leave around the 1st of the year.

-- COMMENT FROM PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: "Jordan Karem is a great guy who I have gotten to know well over the last several years. He was with me from the beginning and I appreciate his loyalty and his commitment to my administration. He did an excellent job working with me and my team. I know he will do many great things in the future." More from Nancy Cook

THE TRUMP SLUMP? ...

-- AP/DETROIT: "GM to slash 14,700 jobs in North America": "General Motors will lay off 14,700 factory and white-collar workers in North America and put five plants up for possible closure as it restructures to cut costs and focus more on autonomous and electric vehicles.

"The reduction includes 8,100 white-collar workers, some of whom will take buyouts and others who will be laid off. Most of the affected factories build cars that won't be sold in the U.S. after next year. They could close or they could get different vehicles to build. They will be part of contract talks with the United Auto Workers union next year.

"Plants without products include assembly plants in Detroit; Lordstown, Ohio; and Oshawa, Ontario. Also affected are transmission factories in Warren, Michigan, as well as Baltimore. About 6,000 factory workers could lose jobs in the U.S. and Canada, although some could transfer to truck plants." AP

-- FLASHBACK: PRESIDENT TRUMP on July 26, 2017 in Youngstown, via the Columbus Dispatch: "'I said, those jobs have left Ohio. They're all coming back. They're all coming back. Don't move, don't sell your house,' the president told the cheering audience.

"'We're going to fill up those factories or rip them down and build new ones,' Trump said, adding later, 'After years and years of sending our jobs and wealth to other countries, we are finally standing up for our workers and for our companies. ... We never again will sacrifice Ohio jobs and those in other states to enrich other countries.'" Columbus Dispatch

GM'S stock is booming, up nearly 6 percent as of 12:30 p.m.

ABC'S TARA PALMERI: "Jared Kushner pushed to inflate Saudi arms deal to $110 billion: Sources": "President Donald Trump's reluctance to hold Saudi leadership accountable for the brutal murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi stemmed from a partly aspirational $110 billion arms deal between the U.S. and Saudi Arabia that was inflated at the direction of Trump's son-in-law and adviser Jared Kushner, according to two U.S. officials and three former White House officials.

"Kushner, in a bid to symbolically solidify the new alliance between the Trump administration and Saudi Arabia while claiming a victory on the president's first foreign trip to Riyadh, pushed State and Defense officials to inflate the figure with arms exchanges that were aspirational at best, the officials said. Secretary of Defense [Jim] Mattis supported Kushner's effort and ultimately endorsed the memorandum, according to a former NSC official familiar with the matter." ABC

Good Monday afternoon. UTAH REP. MIA LOVE on TRUMP in her concession speech, via CNN: "'The President's behavior towards me made me wonder: What did he have to gain by saying such a thing about a fellow Republican,' Love said during her speech in Salt Lake City. 'It was not really about asking him to do more, was it? Or was it something else? Well Mr. President, we'll have to chat about that.'" CNN

MORE ON KHASHOGGI -- WAPO'S KAREEM FAHIM in Istanbul: "Turkish police raid villa outside Istanbul in search for Khashoggi's body": "Turkish police raided a villa in a rural district southeast of Istanbul early Monday as part of their ongoing search for the body of Jamal Khashoggi, the journalist who was killed in Istanbul by Saudi agents last month, the state-run Anadolu news agency reported.

"Investigators focused on the property after new intelligence showed that one of the Saudi agents involved in Khashoggi's murder had called the property owner a day before the killing, a Turkish official briefed on the investigation said Sunday." WaPo

-- THE DAILY BEAST'S ANDREW DESIDERIO (@desiderioDC): "Jim Mattis and Mike Pompeo will brief all senators on Wednesday morning about Saudi/Khashoggi, I'm told."

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WHAT'S ON THE PRESIDENT'S MIND -- @realDonaldTrump at 6:19 a.m.: "Mexico should move the flag waving Migrants, many of whom are stone cold criminals, back to their countries. Do it by plane, do it by bus, do it anyway you want, but they are NOT coming into the U.S.A. We will close the Border permanently if need be. Congress, fund the WALL!"

... at 9:33 a.m.: "When Mueller does his final report, will he be covering all of his conflicts of interest in a preamble, will he be recommending action on all of the crimes of many kinds from those 'on the other side'(whatever happened to Podesta?), and will he be putting in statements from....."

... at 9:44 a.m.: "....hundreds of people closely involved with my campaign who never met, saw or spoke to a Russian during this period? So many campaign workers, people inside from the beginning, ask me why they have not been called (they want to be). There was NO Collusion & Mueller knows it!"

PELOSI UPDATE -- NYT'S JULIE HIRSCHFELD DAVIS: "Pelosi Faces Another Internal Threat to Her Leadership, This Time Over Partisan Gridlock": "The nine Democratic members of a bipartisan coalition calling itself the Problem Solvers Caucus are now insisting that [Nancy] Pelosi embrace their proposals or risk losing power when Democrats take control of the chamber in January. ...

"The group is essentially asking Ms. Pelosi and the incoming Democratic leadership to fundamentally alter the procedures of the House, where the majority rules absolutely and its leaders have ultimate say on what legislative proposals are considered. They instead support allowing bipartisan measures to have a chance of being debated and voted upon." NYT

-- WAPO'S BOB COSTA: "Democratic rebel seeks negotiations with Pelosi on races for leadership": "The decision by Rep. Seth Moulton (D-Mass.) to shift his attention from Pelosi ... to potential discussions over the lower-ranking positions of House majority leader and House majority whip underscored Pelosi's strength and the desire of her critics to reshuffle the leadership even if she holds the gavel." WaPo

COMING ATTRACTIONS ... "GOP strategy on Democratic probes: Resist," by CNN's Jeremy Herb, Manu Raju and Lauren Fox: "Republicans, privately and publicly, are beginning to argue that Democrats are bound to overreach, so there's little incentive for the White House to turn over information to their foes looking for fresh ammunition. So, in the words of one senior Republican, the White House should 'delay, delay and delay' by not turning over documents immediately.

"And if the House seeks to hold them in contempt, some Republican sources privately say, let them do so since there are no real consequences and punishing Trump officials may only serve to rally the GOP base." CNN

DEPT. OF NOT GOING ANYWHERE ... "Bipartisan Climate Fee Backers to Plant Flag During Lame Duck," by Bloomberg's Dean Scott: "A small group of Democratic and Republican House members plans to introduce a carbon tax bill this week, the first bipartisan climate legislation in a decade. While it has virtually no chance of moving during the lame-duck session of Congress, the bill could be a starting point for climate legislation after Democrats assume House control in January. ...

"According to a bill summary obtained by Bloomberg Environment, the measure would apply a $15-per-metric-ton carbon fee to the U.S. oil, gas, and coal industries, but rebate all of the revenue as a dividend to households to shield them from increased fossil fuel costs related to the carbon fee. The bill ... is set to be introduced this week by Rep. Ted Deutch (D-Fla.), joined by Republican Reps. Brian Fitzpatrick (Pa.) and Francis Rooney (Fla.)." Bloomberg

HEADS UP -- "Russian 'creeping annexation' hits Ukraine in Sea of Azov," by NBC's Alexander Smith and Yuliya Talmazan: "Tensions in the Sea of Azov have been simmering for months and this weekend its waters came to the boil." NBC

-- NPR'S MICHELE KELEMEN (@michelekelemen): "Here's how Nikki Haley describes Russia's actions against Ukrainian ships: 'a reckless escalation' & 'an outrageous violation' of Ukraine's sovereignty. 'The US would welcome a normal relationship. with Russia but outlaw actions like this one continues to make that impossible.'"

ALSO IN RUSSIA ... AP'S VLADIMIR ISACHENKOV in Moscow: "Russia warns U.S. against deploying new missiles to Europe": "A senior Russian diplomat warned Monday that the planned U.S. withdrawal from a Cold War-era arms control pact could critically upset stability in Europe. ...

"[Sergei] Ryabkov warned that if the U.S. stations the currently banned missiles in Europe, Russia will have to mount an 'efficient response.' He didn't elaborate." AP

2020 WATCH -- "Democrats Learn a Big Lesson for 2020 Vote About Taking on Trump," by Bloomberg's Sahil Kapur: "Democratic strategists are absorbing a big lesson from their electoral success this month -- stay focused on economic issues and refuse to play on President Donald Trump's turf. ...

"Democrats largely ignored Trump's provocations about the caravan of refugees in Mexico and a call to end birthright citizenship, and didn't engage with most of his inflammatory talk delivered through a string of campaign rallies. Instead they focused on health care and economics." Bloomberg

-- NY MAG'S GABE DEBENEDETTI: "Inside Bernie Sanders's Head": "[H]e's pretty certain he's already the country's second-most-important politician, and the logic for running in 2020 is obvious to him: His ideas are the best for the country, a majority of Americans will agree once they're exposed to them, no other national politician has proved to be as uncompromised or effective a messenger of his platform as he is, and no one else seems better positioned to actually win.

"'If there's somebody else who appears who can, for whatever reason, do a better job than me, I'll work my ass off to elect him or her,' he says. But 'if it turns out that I am the best candidate to beat Donald Trump, then I will probably run.' ... He is now the dean of the American left ... and everyone is watching to see how he spends the substantial political capital he has, over a four-decade career, recently accumulated." New York

MORE 2018 LESSONS -- AP'S BILL BARROW in Atlanta: "Midterms reveal South split along urban, rural differences": "A century of rule by 'Southern Democrats' followed by a generation of Republican domination is evolving into something more complex. ... An Associated Press analysis of election returns along with data from AP VoteCast, a national survey of more than 115,000 midterm voters, found two factors largely driving election outcomes. Competitive races required both a racially diverse electorate and Democratic success in building support from white voters in growing metro areas." AP

IMMIGRATION FILES -- "Singing 'Amazing Grace,' a church surrounded an ICE van to stop an arrest. 27 were jailed," by WaPo's Meagan Flynn: "It was supposed to be routine, just a fingerprint - a step on the road to a deportation reprieve. [Samuel] Oliver-Bruno, a 47-year-old father to a U.S.-citizen son, had been living in a Sunday-school classroom in the church basement for the past 11 months, a refuge where immigration authorities couldn't arrest him. His appointment with USCIS would mark the first time he stepped beyond the church property line since then ...

"In a joint statement, Democratic Reps. David E. Price and G.K. Butterfield of North Carolina said they were 'alarmed' by the manner in which Oliver-Bruno was arrested, describing it as entrapment 'at worst' and a 'catch-22 dilemma' at best, saying USCIS appeared to 'act in concert' with ICE. They asked USCIS to grant Oliver-Bruno deferred action on the deportation, saying his 'wife and U.S. citizen son would suffer greatly if Mr. Oliver-Bruno is removed from the country.'" WaPo

HMM ... "$3,700 Generators and $666 Sinks: FEMA Contractors Charged Steep Markups on Puerto Rico Repairs," by NYT's Frances Robles in San Juan: "More than 60 percent of what FEMA is spending in the program, the largest emergency housing program in the agency's history, is not paying for roofs, windows or doors, The New York Times found in a review of its expenditures. Instead, it is going toward overhead, profit and steep markups." NYT

THE INVESTIGATIONS -- KYLE CHENEY: "'I connect the dots': Mueller target claims Podesta hack knowledge was educated guess": Jerome "Corsi said he determined in August that WikiLeaks head Julian Assange had obtained Podesta's emails and was likely to release them in October - and he said several emails he sent in the summer of 2016 would confirm that fact. But he said his awareness was simply a logical deduction, not inside information from WikiLeaks. ...

"Mueller and his team are examining whether Corsi - who gained fame for stoking the debunked birther conspiracy theory against President Barack Obama - was a conduit for information from WikiLeaks to Stone over the summer of 2016. ... [O]n Monday, the conservative personality proclaimed that he will never plead to willfully lying to Mueller's team." POLITICO

VALLEY TALK -- "Facebook's Sheryl Sandberg Is Tainted by Crisis After Crisis," by Bloomberg's Sarah Frier: "In October 2017, Facebook was preparing for its first-ever congressional hearing on Russia's interference in the U.S. presidential election. Before the public grilling, Sandberg wanted to make a personal visit to Washington D.C., thinking she could smooth things over behind the scenes.

"But the company didn't have much to say about how it was fixing holes in its system that let Russia run its manipulation campaign, and it didn't have satisfying answers about why it failed to catch the operation. So the company's policy advisers asked Sandberg not to go. And if she did go, they suggested she listen more than talk, according to people familiar with the matter. Sandberg went anyway, with plenty of talking points. It didn't work." Bloomberg

BOOK WATCH -- NYT'S ADAM LIPTAK: "'It's a Long Story': Justice John Paul Stevens, 98, Is Publishing a Memoir"

TRANSITION -- Ben Goldey will be digital director for the Hudson Institute. He previously was digital director for House Natural Resources Chairman Rob Bishop (R-Utah).

ENGAGED -- Mike Lurie, a senior advisor at In Pursuit Of, proposed to Rebecca Coffman, SVP at UPFRONT Strategies, a subsidiary of Advoc8. The couple attended Ithaca College but met while working at Freedom Partners. Pic ... The ring

WELCOME TO THE WORLD -- OBAMA ALUMNI: Scott Jacobs, VP at Albright Stonebridge Group and an Obama USTR and WH Cabinet affairs alum, and Beth Jacobs, lead surgery PA at GW Hospital, welcomed Anna Catherine Jacobs. Pic

-- Sam Black, NASA budget examiner at OMB and former policy director at the Satellite Industry Association, and Kate Black, a policy adviser to FCC Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel and a former COS at EMILY's List, welcomed Charles Samuel (Charlie) Black. Pic ... Another pic

WEEKEND WEDDING -- OBAMA ALUMNI: Fran Holuba, an alum of the Obama NSC and POLITICO who is now founder of the consulting firm Chief Social Architects, married Giuseppe Lanzone, co-owner of the Peruvian Brothers food truck and a former Olympian rower on the U.S. men's national team. Instapic ... Another pic

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