Subject: ?Axios AM: Mike's Top 10 — A momentous, ominous day — Ivanka's new office — Augmented reality headed to iPhone
From: "Mike Allen" <[email-masked]>
To: <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 21 Mar 2017 06:24:20 -0400 (EDT)

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A momentous, ominous day — Ivanka's new office — Augmen=ed reality headed to iPhone

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Axios AM

By Mike Allen = ·Mar 21, 2017

You're invited ... to Treasury Secretary Ste=e Mnuchin's first public onstage event — Friday a= 8 a.m. in downtown D.C., as the debut headliner of my new News Shapers se=ies. Would love to have you: Clic= here to RSVP.

1 big thing: A momentous, ominous day

FBI Director Comey and National Security Agency Director Michael Rogers =eact to a lawmaker's remark / AP's Manuel Balce Ceneta

Republicans already thought the day couldn't have gone =orse. As David Leonhardt begins his column in today's paper, "All the Preside=t's Lies": "The ninth week of Donald Trump's presidency began with the=F.B.I. director calling him a liar."

And then a final exchan=e, ending FBI Director Jim Comey's astonishing five hours of testimony, was considered by insiders to be the m=st devastating of all. House Intelligence Chair Devin Nunes (R-Calif.) ask=d for "any evidence that any current Trump White House or administration o=ficial coordinated with the Russian intelligence services."

Comey: "Not a question I can answer."=/p>
Nunes persisted: "How =bout counselor to the president, Kellyanne Conway?"

Comey: "It's the same answer. ... I'm not goi=g to comment on anybody."

By saying that, Comey was=putting everyone under Nunes' "big gray cloud." It's a sign that th= cloud will last at least for months, maybe longer.

A Trump =nsider told me: "You flush people out by making a comment like th=t. You let it sit there, then later go get everybody's email and texts [to=see how they reacted to it]. This is how you get a lot of people having to=hire lawyers. ... It's what makes people ask: Why do you want to work in a=place like that?"

Matt Miller, a Justice Department=official under Obama, told me to always take the "over" in how long a fede=al investigation is going to last:

"The underlying thing is huge (potentially) ... Even if the u=derlying thing ends up not being real, investigations can still produce le=ks and charges over cover-up (lying to investigators, obstruction of justi=e, etc.)."

First look ... David Brock will announce=this morning: "American Bridge is calling on the U.S. Senate to hit the pa=se button on the Supreme Court nomination hearings until such time as the =nvestigation is complete ... If the Judiciary Committee will not halt the =earings, Democrats should walk out and refuse further participation."

2. Tops in tech: Augmented reality to iPhone

"Apple's Next Big Thing: Augmented Reality... <=strong>CEO Tim Cook is betting on augmented reality, a cousin of VR that h= believes will keep his company on top and may even supplant the iPhone," =y on an ambitious bid to bring the technol=gy to the masses — an effort Cook and his team see as the best way=for the company to dominate the next generation of gadgetry and keep peopl= wedded to its ecosystem."

"Apple has built a tea= combining the strengths of its hardware and software veterans with the ex=ertise of talented outsiders ... [T]he group includes engineers who worked=on the Oculus and HoloLens virtual reality headsets sold by Facebook and M=crosoft as well as digital-effects wizards from Hollywood."

=/span>"Apple is working on several AR products, including=digital spectacles that could connect wirelessly to an iPhone and beam con=ent — movies, maps and more — to the wearer. While the gla=ses are a ways off, AR features could show up in the iPhone sooner=/strong>."

3. Ivanka moving in to West Wing

Ivanka Trump accompanies her father to Marine One on the South Lawn on F=b. 1 / AP's Evan Vucci

Ivanka Trump, already a powerful force in the West Wing= will be taking an office next to Dina Powell, who will remain in her same West Wing digs with her promotion to Dep=ty National Security Adviser for Strategy, from her initial role as the Pr=sident's senior counselor for economic initiatives.

A s=urce said Ivanka wants to complete and expand initiatives she has=been championing, including legislation on family leave and other issues a=fecting women who balance workplace and home.

With the dif=iculty of getting traditional policy wins in the current environm=nt, she "will likely focus on smaller initiatives that can still produce r=sults": "Working with Dina, there are opportunities to help women on a glo=al scale ... focused on a business/entrepreneurial perspective, which is .=. familiar to both of them."

AP's Catherine L=cey reports: "Jamie Gorelick, an attorney and ethics adviser for Ivanka Trump, said=... the first daughter will not have an official title, but will get a Wes= Wing office, government-issued communications devices and security cleara=ce to access classified information. Gorelick said Ivanka Trump would foll=w the ethics rules that apply to government employees."

A message from Starbucks

Starbucks committed to hiring 10,000 veteran and mi=itary spouses

In 2013, Starbucks committed to hiring at least 10,000 veterans and mili=ary spouses by 2018. Meet retired Marine Corps Master Sargent George Page,=a store manager at Starbucks in San Diego. Watch the video.

4. High drama ahead of Thursday health vote

Happier times: Rep. Mark Meadows (R-N.C.), chairman of House Freedom Cau=us, shakes with Paul Ryan after his re-election as Speaker in January / AP=s J. Scott Applewhite

Axios' Jonathan Swan reports that ahead of the nip-and-tuck health-care vote planned Thursday night, =rump's team is intensely courting Rep. Mark Meadows (R-N.C.), chair of the=House Freedom Caucus. He was invited to Mar-a-Lago over the weekend, and i= in regular touch with Steve Bannon — they text regularly and have=90-second phone calls.

Although other Republicans r=main optimistic that Speaker Ryan will pull out a win, Swan talked to Mead=ws last evening and then posted: "Freedom Caucus chair pessimistic about h=alth bill."

Meadows: =I've now reached a conclusion that our leadership ... will dare us to vote=against it."

Why this matters:<=strong> If the White House loses most of the Freedom Caucus members they c=n't pass this bill. Meadows was only speaking for himself tonight, but his=is a voice to move votes.

House Republicans last n=ght announced "Updates to Strengthen American Health Care Act."
AP's Alan Fram and Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar: "Their proposals were lar=ely aimed at addressing dissent that their measure would leave many older =eople with higher costs. ... Included was an unusual approach: language pa=ing the way for the Senate ... to make the bill's tax credit more generous=for people age 50-64."

The closer: Trump trav=ls to the Capitol to meet with House Republicans at 9:15 this morning.
=p style="margin-left: 20px;">Sam Geduldig and his CGCN =roup lobbying firm will email clients today, "Trump's New 'Art of =he Deal'": "A victory on the House floor would ... serve as anoth=r powerful reminder ... that the noise created by our unconventional presi=ent often obscures the real action playing out right in front of us."

5. Laptop ban

Homeland Security plans to bar passengers on certain fl=ghts originating in eight Middle Eastern countries from bringing laptops, =Pads, cameras and most other electronics in carry-ons starting today, AP reports:

<=i>"The ban was revealed ... in statements from Royal Jordanian Airlines an= the official news agency of Saudi Arabia."

"A U.S. offici=l [said] the ban will apply to nonstop flights to the U.S. from 1= international airports serving ... Cairo in Egypt; Amman in Jordan; Kuwai= City in Kuwait; Casablanca in Morocco; Doha in Qatar; Riyadh and Jeddah i= Saudi Arabia; Istanbul in Turkey; and Abu Dhabi and Dubai in the United A=ab Emirates."

U.S. officials told Reuters the n=w ban was "in response to an unspecified terrorism threat."

=/a>

6. Hot spots

"Trump administration weighing broad sanctions=on North Korea," by Reuters' Matt Spetalnick and David Brunnstrom:
"U.S. officials, including [SecState] Tillerson, had =rivately warned China about broader 'secondary sanctions' that would targe= banks and other companies that do business with North Korea, most of whic= are Chinese.

"The move under consideration would=mark an escalation of Trump's pressure on China to do more to contain Nort= Korea."

"[E]xpected to reach the president's des= within weeks, possibly before a summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping =n early April ... North Korea is expected to top the agenda at that meetin=."

7. Futurecast: The coal industry is sick — and it's terminal

Data: Energy Information Administration, Bureau of Labor Statist=cs, Federal Rese=ve Bank of St. Louis; Chart: Andrew Witherspoon / Axios

Like much of Trump's rhetoric surrounding the manufactu=ing industry, talk of a resurgence of coal jobs ignores economic realities= Axios' Shane Savitsky wr=tes:

The energy market has moved past coa=, and those jobs simply aren't coming back.

Robots are mor= of a threat than regulation: Any coal revival would mean putting=autonomous trucks to work in Wyoming — rather than miners in West =irginia.

=/a>

8. Fox pulls Judge Napolitano

"Fox News senior judicial analyst Judge Andrew Napolita=o is being kept off the air indefinitely amid the controversy over his unv=rified claims that British intelligence wiretapped Trump Tower at the behe=t of former President Obama," per L.A. Times reporter "Napoli=ano was conspicuously missing from the network's coverage of the =onfirmation hearings on Supreme Court nominee Neil Gorsuch — an ev=nt in which he typically would have played a significant role. He has not =een on the air since Thursday. People familiar with the situation ... said=Napolitano is not expected to be on Fox News Channel any time in the near =uture."

9. Joe and Mika interview with Variety

Andy Kropa/Invision/AP

"'Morning Joe' Duo Reach Tipping Point: What was it tha= made MSNBC's Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski finally turn on Donald T=ump?" by Brian Steinberg in Variety:

<=trong>Brzezinski, on Kellyanne Conway's comment that a microwave =an be a surveillance camera: "[N]ow my microwave is named Kellyanne. And e=ery time I open it, which is frequently, because I don't cook, I say, 'Tha=k you, Kellyanne!'"

How do =ou feel about reports that the president has stopped following yo= on Twitter?

Scarboro=gh: "That's good news."

Brzezinski: "It's probably healthy."

Scarborough: "He doesn't understand that you step =nto the White House and you get ripped to shreds whether you are Barack Ob=ma or Bill Clinton or George W. Bush."

You've been on the air for nearly a decade. Do you ha=e any new ideas or concepts you'd like to try?

Brzezinski: "I like vintage 'Morning Joe.' Tw=aking a show is always the death of the show."

Scarborough: "Every time we think of trying a new =oncept, or every time a consultant has come in with their ideas, if we eve= move off center course, things always go badly. We always go back to basi=s, and the basics are Willie [Geist], Mika, and Joe talking about whatever=we want to talk about."

Full Variety inte=view will post here this morning.

10. 1 fun thing: Red Bull courage

"Red Bull gives you wings" — and attitude? ...=strong> "Drinkers who have =odka Red Bulls at greater risk of injury than other drunk peo=le since they have excess energy":

"A review of 13 medical reports reveals high rate of injury in=people who mix alcohol with highly-caffeinated drinks like ... Red Bull ..= Researchers [at the University of Victoria] in Canada ... believe the inc=eased risk of injury boils down to the person's excessive energy, which dr=ves them to be reckless."

A message from Starbucks

Power of coffee: Starbucks thanks customers for �=80�Year of Good”

Starbucks customers have helped provide:

Full college tuit=on to over 6,500 Starbucks partners (employees)

Over 8,000 U.S. ve=erans and military spouses find work at Starbucks

10,000 young peo=le facing barriers with jobs at Starbucks

Watch “A Year of Good.�=9D

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