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By Jake Sherman, Anna Palmer and Daniel Lippman

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DRIVING THE DAY
SIREN ... ELLISON SPEAKS ... ELANA SCHOR and HEATHER CAYGLE: "Ellison denies abuse allegations: 'I never behaved in this way'": "Rep. Keith Ellison (D-Minn.) on Sunday denied allegations posted on social media accounts linked to the family of his former girlfriend that he had behaved abusively towards her. Ellison, who is battling four challengers for his party's nomination in the race for Minnesota attorney general, spoke out through his campaign after a Facebook post alleging past abuse began circulating. The post came from the son of his former girlfriend Karen Monahan. ...

"The six-term House Democrat, who is also deputy chair of the Democratic National Committee, issued a statement through his campaign denying the existence of the video portrayed in Austin Monahan's Facebook post.

"'Karen and I were in a long-term relationship which ended in 2016, and I still care deeply for her well-being,' Ellison said in a statement. 'This video does not exist because I never behaved in this way, and any characterization otherwise is false.'

"Monahan, however, posted on her own social media account standing by her son's depiction. 'What my son said is true. Every statement he made was true,' Monahan tweeted. Addressing Ellison, she added. 'you know you did that to me. I have given every opportunity to get help and heal. Even now, u r willing to say my son is lying and have me continue to leak more text and info just so others will believe him.' POLITICO ... The original post

-- STAR TRIBUNE'S J. PATRICK COOLICAN, MAYA RAO and JESSICA VAN BERKEL: "A Star Tribune reporter went to Monahan's apartment on Sunday and spoke through a call-box to a woman who said she was Karen Monahan. She said she was not ready to talk and was focused on her children and family. 'This is a really difficult time,' she said. ...

"Austin Monahan said in an interview Saturday night that he did not have the video that he said he saw in 2017. He stood by the veracity of his Facebook post. 'I only know what I saw and I know what's true,' he said. 'It was my job to stand up for my mother.' Of Ellison, he said: 'I have no reason to tear down this man.'

"A search of court records found no reports of any incidents between Monahan and Ellison. Monahan, who is an organizer for the Sierra Club, has made numerous Twitter posts in recent weeks about being in an abusive relationship, and more broadly about the MeToo movement; but before Saturday, she never identified Ellison in those posts.

"In one tweet, she said: 'I was physically abused, emotional and psychological and sexually manipulated by this man. I am not the first woman he has done this to and I wasn't the last.' Minnesota Public Radio News reported it reviewed more than 100 texts and Twitter messages between Ellison and Monahan that she provided to the station. None included any evidence of the alleged abuse, according to the report, characterizing some as friendly and others as more combative." Star Tribune

-- BALLOTS will be cast Tuesday in the DFL primary for the AG race, a contest in which Ellison has been seen as a favorite to win.

BOBBY GOODLATTE, whose father is House Judiciary Chairman Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.), tweeted this last night: (@rsg): "I just gave the maximum allowed donation to Jennifer Lewis, a democrat running for my father's congressional seat. I've also gotten 5 other folks to commit to donate the max. 2018 is the year to flip districts - let's do this!"

BLOOMBERG'S CALEB MELBY, DAVID KOCIENIEWSKI and GERRY SMITH: "Kushner's Ties to Russia-Linked Group Began With Kissinger Lunch"

ELIANA JOHNSON -- "Why Omarosa's attack on Kelly could backfire": "Apprentice star-turned-spurned White House aide Omarosa Manigault Newman opened a new front in her war on the West Wing Sunday, attacking chief of staff John Kelly as a bully who drummed her out of the White House unfairly.

"With new prey in her talons, Manigault Newman gave voice to many of the problems that have roiled the West Wing. In a tell-all interview with NBC's Meet the Press, she spoke in dramatic terms about the White House's difficulties with race, honesty and loyalty, at the same time that President Donald Trump is reckoning again with criticism of his equivocal response one year ago to violence at a white-supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia.

"And Manigault Newman put some of the problems she described on stark display Sunday, surfacing a tape she surreptitiously recorded in the White House Situation Room. 'You have to have your own back, because otherwise you'll look back and see 17 knives in your back,' she said of her decision to record conversations in the White House.

"Manigault Newman said that she taped conversations with Kelly and others to protect herself, but her accusations may backfire. She argued that she was terminated unfairly, revealing that she had taped the conversation in which Kelly dismissed her, citing 'integrity violations,' back in December.

"But national security experts say recording a conversation in the Situation Room, though unbeknownst to Kelly at the time, constitutes exactly the sort of integrity violation of which she was accused - and worse, it was a potential security breach in a room that's meant to be one of the most locked-down in Washington. POLITICO

-- DAMAGE CONTROL: SARAH HUCKABEE SANDERS on OMAROSA: "The very idea a staff member would sneak a recording device into the White House Situation Room, shows a blatant disregard for our national security - and then to brag about it on national television further proves the lack of character and integrity of this disgruntled former White House employee."

INSIDE THE WHITE HOUSE ... DANIEL LIPPMAN, "Trump's diplomatic learning curve: time zones, 'Nambia' and 'Nipple': The president has often perplexed foreign officials and his own aides as he learns how to deal with the world beyond America's borders": "Several times in the first year of his administration, President Donald Trump wanted to call Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in the middle of the afternoon. But there was a problem. Midafternoon in Washington is the middle of the night in Tokyo - when Abe would be fast asleep.

"Trump's aides had to explain the issue, which one diplomatic source said came up on 'a constant basis,' but it wasn't easy. ... Trump's desire to call world leaders at awkward hours is just one of many previously unreported diplomatic faux-pas President Trump has made since assuming the office, which go beyond telephone etiquette to include misconceptions, mispronunciations and awkward meetings. Sometimes the foibles have been contained within the White House.

"In one case, Trump, while studying a briefer's map of South Asia ahead of a 2017 meeting with India's prime minister, mispronounced Nepal as 'nipple' and laughingly referred to Bhutan as 'button,' according to two sources with knowledge of the meeting. ... It was in that same meeting that Trump appeared confused by Nepal and Bhutan, which lie sandwiched between India and China. 'He didn't know what those were. He thought it was all part of India,' said one person familiar with the meeting." POLITICO

A message from AARP:

Join POLITICO for a Playbook Elections event in California to discuss the 2018 midterm cycle and issues shaping the races. This event is part of the POLITICO-AARP series, "The Deciders." View the latest issue of "The Deciders" at politico.com/thedeciders.

MANAFORT TRIAL PREVIEW -- DARREN SAMUELSOHN: "Day 10 of the Manafort trial starts at 1 p.m. Monday in Alexandria - and the end is in sight. Mueller prosecutor Greg Andres told the court Friday afternoon that the government expects to rest its case Monday after calling one or two more witnesses. Then comes the Manafort defense. Unclear how many witnesses they'll call - if any. His lawyers have requested about a half dozen subpoenas.

"Judge Ellis has also signaled closing arguments could begin as soon as Tuesday, though that's up in the air too. There was a lengthy and still-unexplained delay Friday morning, for example, that messed with the trial schedule and it certainly seems possible other obstacles can still come up.

-- CLOSING ARGUMENTS: "When we get to closing arguments, look for both the Mueller and Manafort legal teams to speak for about two hours maximum. Andres initially signaled he wanted two hours to make his statement and then a half hour for rebuttal. Ellis, however, knocked that down on Friday. "I'll tell you, I think it's no accident TV programs are half an hour,' the judge said. 'If you think you can hold a juror's attention for two straight hours, then you live on a different planet.' Ellis plans to give the 12-person jury (and the four alternates) their instructions for verdict deliberations after closing arguments.

-- FOR THOSE KEEPING SCORE AT HOME: "Manafort has pleaded not guilty to an 18-count indictment in the Virginia trial. That's five counts for filing false tax returns between 2010 and 2014; another four counts for failing to report foreign bank accounts; and then nine counts for bank fraud and conspiracies to commit bank fraud."

-- "The Rise and Fall of Paul Manafort: Greed, Deception and Ego," by Sharon LaFraniere, Ken Vogel and Maggie Haberman: NYT

-- "What's next for Paul Manafort?," by Darren Samuelsohn: "A verdict in Paul Manafort's Virginia trial could come as early as this week, but it will hardly be the last word on his fate. A conviction would threaten to jail Manafort, 69, for the rest of his life. But he would have the option to appeal - or hope for a politically explosive pardon from President Donald Trump.

"Even if a jury acquits the former Trump 2016 campaign chairman on the tax and bank fraud charges that special counsel Robert Mueller's prosecutors have detailed out over the past two weeks, Manafort is hardly out of the woods.

"Most notably, the longtime GOP operative still faces a second federal trial slated to begin in mid-September in Washington. And that case, accusing Manafort of money laundering and failing to register as a foreign agent while lobbying for the government of Ukraine, could be even more challenging." POLITICO

2018 WATCH -- WAPO'S ASHLEY PARKER and PHIL RUCKER: "'A natural': Donald Trump Jr. emerges as a campaign star, despite Russia baggage": "President Trump was watching Fox News Channel with aides in his private dining room off the Oval Office recently when Donald Trump Jr. flashed across the giant flat screen. 'Don's gotten really good,' Trump said, according to someone who was present. 'My people love him.'

"The remark suggested a swell of unexpected pride from Trump about his namesake son, whose relationship with his father has been difficult at times but who has emerged as the president's political alter ego and an in-demand campaign celebrity ahead of November's midterm elections.

"Trump Jr.'s increasing prominence also comes at a time of heightened scrutiny by the special counsel investigating Russian interference in the 2016 election, who is examining his role in a Trump Tower meeting with a Kremlin-aligned lawyer. Trump has fretted to confidants about the fate of his eldest son, concerned he may be in legal jeopardy regardless of whether he knowingly conspired with Russian agents to obtain dirt on Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton." WaPo

-- BURGESS EVERETT in Indianapolis: "'Sleepin' Joe' hears alarm bells in Indiana Senate brawl": "Most of the red-state Democratic senators have larger-than-life personalities and storied political lineages that have allowed them to succeed despite their party label, from a blunt-talking Montana farmer to a cunning former prosecutor from Missouri. Then there's Joe Donnelly.

"Privately referred to by some colleagues as the 'accidental senator' because of his good fortune in drawing a deeply flawed GOP opponent in 2012, the first-term Indiana senator's presence is often barely noticed in the Capitol. His heads-down style distinguishes him among a quintet of centrist Democrats scrapping to survive this fall.

"Donnelly rarely gives news conferences and stays away from cable news. For years, he assiduously avoided reporters who blanket the Capitol hallways. Now, the burly 62-year-old is running for reelection like a city council candidate, highlighting small-bore accomplishments and projecting an agreeable demeanor that contrasts sharply with what comes out of the other end of Pennsylvania Avenue most days.

"It's a risky strategy to break through in this political environment, but it's what Donnelly is comfortable with. He believes his conservative state is looking for someone who's willing to occasionally tell President Donald Trump no, but otherwise keeps his mouth shut in D.C. and diligently sticks to the basics.

"'I can't be somebody else,' Donnelly said during an interview at an Au Bon Pain that had to be hastily rescheduled in order to shed a Republican tracker. Indiana 'leans Republican,' he added. 'I'm not naive about that. But it's also a state that's really common sense, that respects hard work, that wants normal. And that's where we are.'" POLITICO

FOR YOUR RADAR -- "Voting Rights Advocates Used to Have an Ally in the Government. That's Changing," by NYT's Michael Wines: "A new voter ID law could shut out many Native Americans from the polls in North Dakota. A strict rule on the collection of absentee ballots in Arizona is being challenged as a form of voter suppression. And officials in Georgia are scrubbing voters from registration rolls if their details do not exactly match other records, a practice that voting rights groups say unfairly targets minority voters.

"During the Obama administration, the Justice Department would often go to court to stop states from taking steps like those. But 18 months into President Trump's term, there are signs of change: The department has launched no new efforts to roll back state restrictions on the ability to vote, and instead often sides with them.

"Under Attorney General Jeff Sessions, the department has filed legal briefs in support of states that are resisting court orders to rein in voter ID requirements, stop aggressive purges of voter rolls and redraw political boundaries that have unfairly diluted minority voting power - all practices that were opposed under President Obama's attorneys general." NYT

A message from AARP:


The Playbook Elections event in California on Aug. 16, 2018 will feature interviews with candidates and party leaders on issues that matter most to voters.

GET READY FOR THE CAPITOL HILL INVESTIGATION -- "AP Exclusive: Google tracks your movements, like it or not," by Ryan Nakashima in San Francisco: "Google wants to know where you go so badly that it records your movements even when you explicitly tell it not to. An Associated Press investigation found that many Google services on Android devices and iPhones store your location data even if you've used privacy settings that say they will prevent it from doing so. Computer-science researchers at Princeton confirmed these findings at the AP's request." AP

TRUMP'S MONDAY -- The president is traveling to Hanger 2060 in Fort Drum, New York, to give remarks and sign the "John S. McCain National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2019." Trump is then heading to Utica, New York, where he will meet with supporters at a Hilton and attend a political fundraiser before returning to Washington.

PLAYBOOK ON THE ROAD -- Tweet or send us a photo of you, your friends and companions reading Playbook this August to @playbookplus using hashtag #PlaybookLoyal or email them to Daniel at daniel@politico.com for the chance to be featured on Friday each week this month.
PLAYBOOK READS


PHOTO DU JOUR: White nationalist marchers arrive in downtown Washington for the "Unite the Right" rally Sunday, which drew far more counter-protesters. | Jacquelyn Martin/AP Photo

STEPHANIE MURRAY: "Police, counter-protesters outnumber white supremacists as rally kicks off in Washington": "Police and counter-protesters significantly outnumbered so-called 'Unite the Right' participants Sunday in Washington, D.C. at the start of a rally on the one-year anniversary of the deadly clash in Charlottesville, Virginia that left one person dead.

"About 30 rally-goers, representing a loose coalition of groups including white supremacists and neo-Nazis, arrived at a metro station in Vienna, Virginia Sunday afternoon and took the Metro into the city, where they headed toward Lafayette Square across the street from the White House." POLITICO

-- POLITICO MAGAZINE -- "What Charlottesville Changed: We asked 16 of the most thoughtful people we know to describe the impact of the violence-and how we should think about it a year later." POLITICO Magazine

JUST POSTED - GQ: "The Poison War: The Inside Story of How the Poisoning of a Russian Double Agent Became the Latest -- and Most Terrifying -- Front in Vladimir Putin's War with the West," by Tom Lamont in the September issue. GQ

A message from AARP:


Join POLITICO for a Playbook Elections event in California on Aug. 16, 2018.

SNEAK PEEK -- STEVE SCHMIDT on the new "Words Matter" podcast with Elise Jordan, talks about his role in the decision to pick Sarah Palin as John McCain's running mate: "I have regret about that every day that I wake up. But what happened here was -- that my idea, and McCain supported it, was that he was going to pick Joe Lieberman. ...

"What happened though is Lindsey Graham went out, not maliciously, but he let the secrets spill, it leaked when he was talking to a group of activists in South Carolina, and within a very short period of time we had heard from Limbaugh from Hannity, directly from President Bush, from Karl Rove saying 'you can't do it.'" The podcast

VALLEY TALK -- REUTERS: "Tesla's slow disclosure raises governance, social media concerns," by Michelle Price and Jessica DiNapoli: "Tesla's handling of Chief Executive Elon Musk's proposal to take the carmaker private and its failure to promptly file a formal disclosure has raised governance concerns and sparked questions about how companies use social media." Reuters
PLAYBOOKERS
TRANSITION -- Mac Abrams is now campaign manager for Sen. Dean Heller's (R-Nev.) reelection campaign. He previously was Heller's chief of staff in his official office and ran his congressional reelect in 2008 and Senate race in 2012. Consultants were running the campaign during the primary.

WEEKEND WEDDING -- Alex Miller of kglobal and a veteran Democratic communications operative, wed Rory Murphy, formerly of the Senate Finance Committee and now at Squire Patton Boggs, Saturday at the National Museum of Women in the Arts. SPOTTED: Will and Rachel Sehestedt, Rachel Cohen, Julie Alcarez and Alex Armstrong, Janis and Alexis Laszda, Callan Smith and Ariana Reks, Ayesha Khanna and Tim Molino, Jack and Meg Leavitt, Matt Peterson, Chelsea and Ro Thomas and Scott Mulhauser and Kara Carscaden, among many others. Pic

BIRTHDAY OF THE DAY: Jeremy Bash, a founder and managing director of Beacon Global Strategies and a CIA and DOD alum, celebrating in Hawaii. How he got his start in his career: "I got my start in my career as an intern for Sen. Chuck Robb, from my home state of Virginia, in 1989. He was the only senator who served simultaneously on the Armed Services, Foreign Relations, and Intelligence Committees. I opened mail, manually clipped and taped up newspaper articles, and Xeroxed the clips." Playbook Plus Q&A

BIRTHDAYS: Sarah Huckabee Sanders is 36 (hat tips: Bryan Sanders, Lindsay Walters, Jessica Ditto and Tim Griffin) ... Molly Henneberg ... Vanessa Lindlaw ... former Fed Chair Janet Yellen is 72 ... Sam Champion is 57 ... Rep. Tom Marino (R-Pa.) is 66 ... former Surgeon General Joycelyn Elders is 85 ... Nate Jablow ... Addy Baird ... Josh Romney is 43 ... Jim Spiegelman, Aspen Institute's VP and chief external affairs officer (h/t Doug Farrar) ... Kelly Rzendzian of the Dept. of Commerce and a Romney and McCain alum (hubby tip: Kyle Hauptman) ... Allison Lessne of BlackRock ... Tim Johnson ... Crystal King ... Nora McAlvanah ... Sara Sorcher, deputy editor of WaPo's PowerPost ... Jamestown
Associates CEO Larry Weitzner ... Sam Gaynor, principal at Altamont Capital, is 33 ... Karine Jean-Pierre ... Gonzo Gallegos of the State Department ... Lauren Kirshner ...

... Adam Sharon, managing director of Prime Strategies, is 41 ... Kevin Plank, CEO of Under Armour, is 46 ... Alan Bash ... Chris McCannell, partner at boutique gov't relations firm Eris Group ... Douglas Rivlin, comms director for Rep. Luis V. Gutiérrez (D-Ill.) ... Bridget Roddy (h/t Tommy Burr) ... Jeff Snow ... Ben Pack ... Andrew Malkin ... Fred Miller of Weyerhaeuser ... Rep. Pete Visclosky (D-Ind.) is 69 ... former Rep. Lincoln Diaz-Balart (R-Fla.) is 64 ... Seth Minkel ... Sharlett Mena ... Ben Pack ... Kate Bryan ... Politico Europe's Aurélie Burnier ... Mallory Morrison ... Alec Davis ... Gabriel Laizer ... Josh Hollander ... Bitsy Whipple ... Google's Kelly Pilchard
... Monique Lyons ... AP's Kelly Daschle ... Alice McKeon ... Samuel Tenenbaum ... Goody Marshall ... Elizabeth Wilkerson ... Andrea Sims ... Maer Roshan ... Karine Jean-Pierre ... Joanna Ossinger ... Jeff Kuepper ... Susan Garraty.

A message from AARP:

Learn more about the 2018 midterm cycle and issues shaping the races with POLITICO Playbook co-authors, Anna Palmer and Jake Sherman, and Playbook California author, Carla Marinucci at a Playbook Elections event at the InterContinental Los Angeles Downtown Hotel on Aug. 16, 2018 at 8:30 a.m. This event is part of the POLITICO-AARP series, "The Deciders," and will feature interviews with candidates and party leaders to address the issues that matter most to voters. Featured speakers include: Jim Brulte, chairman, California Republican Party and Gavin Newsom, lieutenant governor of California and gubernatorial candidate. RSVP here.

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