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Presented by U.S. Chamber of Commerce: Playbook is POLITICO's must-read briefing on what's driving the day Feb 08, 2019 View in browser
By Anna Palmer, Jake Sherman and Daniel Lippman

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DRIVING THE DAY
DETROIT FREE PRESS FRONT PAGE: "Man of the House"

REMEMBERING JOHN DINGELL ... JOHN BRESNAHAN and JAKE SHERMAN: "John Dingell, the longest-serving member of Congress, dies at 92": "Former Democratic Rep. John D. Dingell Jr., the longest-serving member of Congress whose tenure stretched from Dwight Eisenhower to Barack Obama, died on Thursday. He was 92. ...

"Dingell's legendary tenure in Congress - he served in the House for 59 years and 21 days - is matched only by the scale of his contributions to American society. He was involved in crafting and passing legislation that aimed to ensure clean air and water, safer food and health care for Americans. He worked vociferously to protect the American automobile companies - the dominant industry in his southeastern Michigan district, which stretched from Detroit's edge to the college town of Ann Arbor.

"Dingell's power came from his chairmanship of the Energy and Commerce Committee, the panel he controlled from 1981 until 1995, and then again from 2007 to 2009, when he was knocked off by California Rep. Henry Waxman, whose candidacy was tacitly backed by Nancy Pelosi, a longtime Dingell foe.

"So vast was Dingell's jurisdiction atop 'E & C' that the entire planet came under his purview. 'If it moves, it's energy, if it doesn't, it's commerce,' Dingell declared." POLITICO

Good Friday morning. THE PRESIDENT will receive his annual physical exam at Walter Reed this afternoon. He will leave the White House around noon, and will arrive back around 4:40 p.m.

NEWS ... THE DCCC raised more than $3 million at a dinner at the W Hotel on Thursday night hosted by House Ways and Means Chairman Richie Neal (D-Mass.) and members of his panel. SPEAKER NANCY PELOSI announced the cash haul at the dinner. It comes as Democrats are focused on stockpiling cash to re-elect their "Frontline Members" and target 33 new Republican seats -- the majority of which Republicans won by 5 or fewer points.

SPOTTED at House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy's birthday party held Thursday night at Pearl Street Warehouse: Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner, Shahira Knight, Brad Rateike and Reps. Tom Emmer (R-Minn.), Jim Banks (R-Ind.), Ron Estes (R-Kan.), Brian Fitzpatrick (R-Pa.), Jim Hagedorn (R-Minn.), Kevin Hern (R-Okla.), Mark Green (R-Tenn.), Will Hurd (R-Texas), John Joyce (R-Pa.), Roger Marshall (R-Kan.), Dan Meuser (R-Pa.), Bryan Steil (R-Wis.), Denver Riggleman (R-Va.) and Don Young (R-Alaska).

REMEMBER KAVANAUGH? ... WAPO'S PAUL KANE: "Democrats struggle to answer for Virginia lieutenant governor after unified stand against Kavanaugh": "Rep. Jennifer Wexton (D-Va.), at first, did not equivocate. 'I believe Dr. Vanessa Tyson,' the freshman lawmaker tweeted Wednesday evening, just hours after Tyson publicly alleged Virginia's lieutenant governor, Justin Fairfax, sexually assaulted her in 2004.

"Other Democrats have urged caution and raised suspicions about why Fairfax is now facing the charges. 'This was 15 years ago and it's mighty suspect that it would come out now,' said Rep. G.K. Butterfield (D-N.C.), a senior member of the Congressional Black Caucus. Democrats are grappling with how to respond to charges against one of their own after their unified stand in the fall when Supreme Court Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh faced years-old sexual misconduct allegations, which he denied." WaPo

-- ANITA KUMAR and MAGGIE SEVERNS: "Inside Ralph Northam's plot for survival"

ONE WEEK UNTIL THE GOVERNMENT SHUTS DOWN ... ELIANA JOHNSON, BURGESS EVERETT and GABBY ORR: "Trump cornered on border wall": "Inside the White House, the Trump team is increasingly aware that the president is trapped. Facing a Republican Party unwilling to back another government shutdown or a national emergency declaration to build his border wall, President Donald Trump is in an unfamiliar position, according to multiple White House officials and lawmakers: prepared, potentially, to accept a compromise foisted on him by Congress.

"Only a few days ago, Trump called a committee tasked with hammering out a border-security deal 'a waste of time.' But he seemed warm to the idea of a bipartisan deal on Thursday after he met with Senate Appropriations Chairman Richard Shelby (R-Ala.). Shelby later briefed Senate Republicans on their meeting at a party lunch, which left them hopeful the president would be willing to support something that gives him more money for fencing - even if it isn't the $5.7 billion he's been seeking, said one attendee." POLITICO

A message from U.S. Chamber of Commerce:

A new HHS proposal would import foreign drug pricing policies that block access to life-saving drugs, inhibit R&D necessary to discover new drugs, and threaten our nation's free-market health care system. Tell HHS: Protect America's free-market healthcare system!

WHAT EVERYONE WILL BE WATCHING TODAY ... ANDREW DESIDERIO and DARREN SAMUELSOHN: "Whitaker agrees to testify amid subpoena standoff": "A subpoena fight between the House Judiciary Committee and the Justice Department ended with a cease-fire Thursday night when acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker ultimately agreed to testify before the panel. Whitaker initially told the committee that he would not show up as planned on Friday unless Chairman Jerry Nadler dropped his threat to issue a subpoena to compel his testimony.

"In response, Nadler (D-N.Y.) refused to withdraw his subpoena threat, which was approved by the full committee earlier Thursday. But a DOJ spokeswoman said Nadler eventually 'made the commitment' to not issue a subpoena if Whitaker appears before the committee voluntarily on Friday." POLITICO ... The hearing begins at 9:30 a.m. in 2141 Rayburn. It will be live-streamed.

WAPO'S ROBERT BARNES: "Supreme Court on 5-to-4 vote blocks restrictive Louisiana abortion law": "Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. joined with the Supreme Court's liberals Thursday night to block a Louisiana law that opponents say would close most of the state's abortion clinics and leave it with only one doctor eligible to perform the procedure.

"The justices may yet consider whether the 2014 law - requiring doctors at abortion clinics to have admitting privileges at nearby hospitals - unduly burdens women's access to abortion. The Louisiana law has never been enforced, and the Supreme Court in 2016 found a nearly identical Texas law to be unconstitutional." WaPo

NYT SCOOP ... MARK MAZZETTI: "Year Before Killing, Saudi Prince Told Aide He Would Use 'a Bullet' on Jamal Khashoggi": "Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman of Saudi Arabia told a top aide in a conversation in 2017 that he would use 'a bullet' on Jamal Khashoggi, the journalist killed in October, if Mr. Khashoggi did not return to the kingdom and end his criticism of the Saudi government, according to current and former American and foreign officials with direct knowledge of intelligence reports.

"The conversation, intercepted by American intelligence agencies, is the most detailed evidence to date that the crown prince considered killing Mr. Khashoggi long before a team of Saudi operatives strangled him inside the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul and dismembered his body using a bone saw. ... The conversation appears to have been recently transcribed and analyzed as part of an effort by intelligence agencies to find proof of who was responsible for Mr. Khashoggi's death." NYT

DEMOCRATIC IN-FIGHTING ... LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ and STEPHANIE MURRAY: "Billionaire liberal threatens to unload on Dems if they don't impeach Trump": "Billionaire Tom Steyer is cranking up pressure on key House Democrats to impeach President Donald Trump where he thinks they'll feel it most - back in their home districts. Steyer's first targets are three powerful committee chairmen, Richard Neal (D-Mass.), Jerry Nadler (D-N.Y.) and Elijah Cummings (D-Md.).

"But the liberal megadonor isn't stopping there: He will soon turn his attention to rank-and-file members seated on the committees that would be involved in impeachment proceedings, including freshmen. And Steyer's Need to Impeach PAC is considering going after the top three Democratic leaders, Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) and Majority Whip Jim Clyburn (D-S.C.)." POLITICO

THE INVESTIGATIONS -- "Manafort continued Ukraine work in 2018, prosecutors say," by WaPo's Spencer Hsu, Roz Helderman and Matt Zapotosky: "Prosecutors allege that Paul Manafort was working on Ukrainian political matters in 2018, after his indictment in the special counsel's investigation, and also revealed that a former business associate of his who was assessed by the FBI to have ties to Russian intelligence attended President Trump's inaugural, according to new court filings. ...

"At the hearing, attorneys discussed whether Manafort may have been motivated to lie in one unspecified instance 'to at least augment his chances for a pardon,' the transcript states, suggesting prosecutors' suspicion that Manafort might be trying to deceive them even now, after his guilty plea in September in Washington, in the hope of winning a reprieve from the president.

"In another instance during the hearing, prosecutor Andrew Weissmann alleged Manafort may have lied to hide a scheme to funnel cash to himself while doing unpaid work for the Trump campaign." WaPo

-- "Trump Fears Schiff Is Recruiting White House Employees for Probe," by Bloomberg's Billy House, Margaret Talev and Jennifer Jacobs: "[House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam] Schiff has hired one former career official at the National Security Council, Abigail Grace, who left the White House last year, the people said. She has a congressional email address and is listed in a directory as working for the Intelligence Committee's Democratic majority.

"A second career employee detailed to the Trump White House is also considering joining Schiff's staff, according to people familiar with the matter. They didn't identify the person." Bloomberg

-- "'I Am Disgusted': Behind the Scenes of Trump's Increasingly Scrutinized $107 Million Inauguration," by Vanity Fair's Emily Jane Fox: "Stephanie Winston Wolkoff was the mastermind event producer behind Trump's inaugural celebration, which has since come under S.D.N.Y. investigation. Now, taped conversations reveal Wolkoff's concerns with how money was being spent, the general chaos of the process, the involvement of the Trump family, and the people in charge, namely Rick Gates and Tom Barrack. ...

"The two were close enough that Wolkoff could openly express divergent views. According to sources familiar with the conversations, Wolkoff told Melania and East Wing staffers that the name for her anti-bullying initiative, 'Be Best,' sounded illiterate. (The First Lady, according to these sources, feared that an alternative, 'Children First,' was too similar to her husband's 'America First' branding.)" VF

-- BUZZFEED'S ZOE TILLMAN (@ZoeTillman): "New [Thursday night]: Former Roger Stone associate Jerome Corsi (aka 'Person 1' in Stone's indictment) is suing ... Roger Stone, accusing Stone of defamation for repeatedly saying that Corsi lied." The lawsuit

A message from U.S. Chamber of Commerce:


A new HHS proposal would import alarming drug pricing policies from foreign governments, threatening America's free-market health care system and strong business environment. Learn more.

SUNDAY SO FAR ...


FOX

"FOX News Sunday": Sen. Richard Shelby (R-Ala.) ... Sen. Jon Tester (D-Mont.). Panel: Rich Lowry, Donna Edwards, Michael Anton and Juan Williams. Power Player: Tara Westover, author of the memoir "Educated"

CNN

"State of the Union": Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) ... Pete Buttigieg. Panel: Rep. Nanette Barragán (D-Calif.), Mia Love, Nina Turner and Ken Cuccinelli

CBS

"Face the Nation": Panel: Jamelle Bouie, Jonah Goldberg, Ed O'Keefe and Margaret Talev

ABC

"This Week": Panel: Jonathan Karl, Chris Christie, Monica Crowley and Andrew Gillum

NBC

"Meet the Press": Panel: Kimberly Atkins, David Brody, Markos Moulitsas and Katy Tur
PLAYBOOK READS


PHOTO DU JOUR: Sen. James Lankford (R-Okla.), President Donald Trump and Sen. Chris Coons (D-Del.) pray during the National Prayer Breakfast on Thursday, Feb. 7. | Evan Vucci/AP Photo

2020 WATCH -- "Brown runs as Biden without the baggage," by Daniel Strauss and Holly Otterbein in Waterloo, Iowa: "Former Vice President Joe Biden and Sen. Sherrod Brown are on an early collision course in the initial days of the 2020 presidential race.

"They're chasing the same potential supporters, touting the same themes and even using some of the same language to go after President Donald Trump. And Brown, kicking off a pre-campaign tour of key presidential voting states last week, made clear that if he gets into the race he intends to run, essentially, as Biden without the baggage." POLITICO

-- JOHN DELANEY will speak at Al Sharpton's National Action Network conference in April.

COMING ATTRACTIONS -- "Kushner to visit Mideast for peace plan push," by Eliana Johnson: "Jared Kushner will crisscross the Middle East later this month seeking buy-in for his peace plan from leaders throughout the region. During the trip, the president's son-in-law will for the first time share significant details of the economic portion of the Trump administration's Middle East peace plan, whose development he has spent nearly two years overseeing. ...

"Kushner's weeklong trip - which begins the last week of February - will include stops in Oman, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates. Joining him will be Jason Greenblatt, the president's Middle East envoy, the State Department's Special Representative for Iran, Brian Hook, and Deputy Assistant to the President Avi Berkowitz." POLITICO

A message from U.S. Chamber of Commerce:


America's free-market health care system and strong business environment are at risk. Learn more.

FOR YOUR RADAR -- "Exclusive: Once spoiler, Pakistan starts behind-scenes aid to U.S.-Taliban talks," by Reuters' Phil Stewart and Idrees Ali in Washington and Jibran Ahmad in Peshawar: "Pakistan, long at odds with the United States over the war in Afghanistan, has begun to play a behind-the-scenes but central role in supporting U.S. peace talks with the Afghan Taliban, including by facilitating travel to negotiations, U.S. officials and Taliban sources tell Reuters.

"The Pakistani assistance, which has not been reported in such detail before, also includes exerting pressure on Taliban leaders who fail to cooperate, including by detaining members of the militants' families, the insurgents say." Reuters

-- "U.S. Military Sets April Target Date for Leaving Syria," by WSJ's Dion Nissenbaum and Nancy Youssef: "The Pentagon is preparing to pull all U.S. forces out of Syria by the end of April, even though the Trump administration has yet to come up with a plan to protect its Kurdish partners from attack when they leave, current and former U.S. officials said." WSJ

MEDIAWATCH -- "Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos accuses National Enquirer of extortion over intimate photos," by WaPo's Paul Farhi, Sarah Ellison and Devlin Barrett: "Amazon chief executive Jeffrey P. Bezos said Thursday that he was the target of an extortion and blackmail effort by the National Enquirer, which he accused of threatening to publish intimate pictures of him unless he backed off an investigation of the tabloid.

"In an extraordinary post to the online publishing platform Medium, Bezos said the Enquirer and its parent company, American Media Inc., made the threat after he began investigating how the tabloid obtained text messages that revealed his relationship with former TV anchor Lauren Sanchez." WaPo ... Bezos' Medium post

-- @RonanFarrow: "I and at least one other prominent journalist involved in breaking stories about the National Enquirer's arrangement with Trump fielded similar 'stop digging or we'll ruin you' blackmail efforts from AMI. (I did not engage as I don't cut deals with subjects of ongoing reporting.)"

-- KNOWING GAVIN DE BECKER -- "Bezos' Security Chief Is a Guardian to the Stars," by NYT's Patricia Cohen

-- "Ex-NYT editor Jill Abramson says she will update her book following allegations of plagiarism," by CNN's Oliver Darcy: "Former New York Times Executive Editor Jill Abramson, facing allegations of plagiarism, conceded on Thursday that some of the passages in her new book 'Merchants of Truth' too closely mirrored work that first appeared in other publications. 'The language is too close in some cases and should have been cited as quotations in the text,' Abramson said in a statement provided to CNN Business.

"The veteran journalist added that the language in question would be 'fixed,' saying that while writing her book she 'tried above all to accurately and properly give attribution to the many hundreds of sources that were part of my research.' Abramson's statement came one day after she fiercely denied allegations of plagiarism during a Fox News interview. At the time, she said, 'I certainly didn't plagiarize in my book.'" CNN ... Her full statement
PLAYBOOKERS
SPOTTED: Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin meeting with the Problem Solvers Caucus in the Capitol on Thursday ... Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.) with Ted Leonsis in the Capital One Arena, walking into suite 103 for the Colorado Avalanche versus the Washington Capitals ... Rep. Raúl Grijalva (D-Ariz.) at the Tune Inn on Thursday ...

... at Trattoria Alberto's last night: Reps. Blaine Luetkemeyer (R-Mo.), French Hill (R-Ark.), and Lee Zeldin (R-N.Y.) and other GOP members at one table. Rep. Vicente Gonzalez (D-Texas) was at a different table ... Reps. Mark Meadows (R-N.C.), Ted Budd (R-N.C.) and Rick Larsen (D-Wash.).at the Wilson Center SOTU event at the Library of Congress.

BIRTHWEEK (was Wednesday): Catherine Gabel, Sherrod Brown's digital director (hat tip: Courtney Corbisiero)

BIRTHDAY OF THE DAY: Mark Corallo, owner of Corallo Media Strategies. How he's celebrating: "I'll do what I've been doing since I turned 50 -- get up at 5:30 and do 10 push-ups for each year in less than 30 minutes (so 530 this year), then after dropping my kids at school, I'll go to the gym and work out. For the real excitement, it's noon Mass at St. Mary's Basilica in Old Town followed by dinner and cake at home with the family. If all goes to plan, I'll be asleep by 9:30. There, I've effectively discouraged your readers from continuing with this profile or ever wanting to meet me in person." Playbook Plus Q&A

BIRTHDAYS: Will Levi, special assistant to the president for domestic policy ... Anthony Paranzino of the WH office of cabinet affairs (h/t Emily J. McBride) ... Matthew Haskins of DoD ... Amos Snead, partner at S-3 Public Affairs and co-founder of FamousDC ... Ted Koppel is 79 ... Lisa Jackson, VP for environment, policy and social Initiatives at Apple, is 57 ... Brian Katulis, senior fellow at CAP for national security (h/t Ben Chang) ... Matt Jaffe, director of comms. at the Institute of Politics at UChicago ... Vox's Zack Beauchamp ... USAID's Adam Kaplan (h/t wife Melissa Boteach) ... CAP's Marlene Cooper Vasilic and Billy Flanagan ... Scott Bennett, director of congressional relations
for the American Farm Bureau Federation, is 3-0 (h/t Heather Smith) ... Hilary Badger ... Nicole Dicocco ... Jen Yeh ... Greg Brower of Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck (h/t daughter Hayley Brower) ... Tony Baker is 37 ... Elliot Schwartz, partner at QE Intelligence ... POLITICO Europe's Arnau Busquets Guardia ... Raul Vidal ... L.A. Times' Melissa Etehad ...

... John Kartch, VP of comms at Americans for Tax Reform ... Heather Zichal ... Jascha Franklin-Hodge ... Stephanie Cherry, Pelosi press adviser (h/t Shana Mansbach) ... Rep. Gus Bilirakis (R-Fla.) is 56 ... BBC's Sarah Montague ... Rep. John Joyce (R-Pa.) is 62 ... Samantha Smith, senior product manager at POLITICO ... Brian Besanceney, SVP and chief comms officer at Walmart ... Kevin Carmichael of the Financial Post (h/t Bill McQuillen) ... Murphy McCullough ... Joe Briggs ... Corey Coon ... Dy Brown ... Julie Gunlock ... Mansie Hough ... Shea Loper ... Jenny Thalheimer Rosenberg ... Caitlin Webber ... Dave Hughes ... Matt Stoller is 41 ... Jason Redmond ... Jonathan Scherck ... Barry
Newman ... Matt Glass ... Denise Diminuco ... John Grisham is 64 ... Mauricio Macri, president of Argentina, is 6-0 ... the former president of the Philippines, Benigno Aquino III, is 59 (h/ts AP)

A message from U.S. Chamber of Commerce:

HHS has proposed a dangerous new policy that would set prices for some Medicare drugs based on an international benchmark. This would import the foreign government price controls set by countries with socialized health care systems.

It's not a coincidence that patients in these foreign countries have access to a fraction of the cures Americans do.

This proposal would threaten our free-market health care system, inhibit the R&D necessary to discover new treatments, and block access to life-saving drugs for America's seniors. Protect U.S. businesses and our free-market health care system. Tell HHS: Drop this dangerous proposal.

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