Subject: POLITICO Huddle: WHITE HOUSE OUT OF SYNC ON DEBT CEILING – Gowdy as Oversight chair could mean a Benghazi probe reunion – HOUSE INTEL ISSUES SUBPOENAS – Hillary Clinton plays pundit on 2018
From: "POLITICO Huddle" <[email-masked]>
To: <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 01 Jun 2017 06:06:03 -0600
List-Id: <1376319_6669437.xt.local>

06/01/2017 08:03 AM EDT

By Kyle Cheney ([email-masked] or @kyledcheney) 

WHITE HOUSE OUT OF SYNC ON DEBT CEILING -- Two of President Donald Trump's top advisers are now in open conflict about how to approach a looming debt ceiling fight just as the administration has begun warning Congress to move on the matter with urgency. In a remarkable interview with the Washington Examiner on Wednesday, Trump's budget director Mick Mulvaney - a former Freedom Caucus firebrand who's no stranger to fiscal brinkmanship - rejected Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin's call for a clean debt ceiling hike. Instead, he urged Congress to attach spending reforms. That's a mixed message Congressional leaders could do without as it attempts to navigate already thorny politics of a debt
 limit hike.

Per the Examiner: "Mulvaney said Wednesday that Mnuchin's comments did not necessarily represent the stance of the administration as a whole and downplayed the threat of a default ... The question of whether the federal government missing a payment on something other than the debt would constitute a default remains 'open for discussion,' he said."

Mulvaney wasn't done making news: He also said he didn't think any future budgets could balance without significant reforms to Medicare and Social Security. Buckle up.

BENGHAZI PROBE REUNION? - Rep. Trey Gowdy appears the likely choice to succeed Rep. Jason Chaffetz atop the House oversight committee, which would put him opposite his longtime sparring partner, Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-Md.). The two squared off, sometimes heatedly, during the investigation into the deaths of American security personnel in Libya, and now they may have to tango again as the committee decides how to address matters related to the unfolding Russia scandal, as well as potential business conflicts of interests for the Trump White House. 

-Democrats are cautiously hopeful that Gowdy, a hard-nosed investigator and former prosecutor, will show the same vigor for probing the Trump administration that he did fro Benghazi, and they describe Gowdy as a personable guy when the cameras are off. Asked about the possible pairing with Gowdy, Cummings simply said, "Whoever they send, I'm gonna be me." Story from me and Austin: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=8a502c48e38162b2d8a2a03f72967d32788f1717cac17d09b621d0d1289915e6d9fdaffd9c976edefc382f85e74cfda5

HAPPY THURSDAY, JUNE 1, and thanks for reading POLITICO's Huddle, the play-by-play guide to all things Capitol Hill. It was a pleasure being your guide on this holiday-shortened week. Let's do it again sometime.

BLINDFOLDED BUDGETING -- Think Congress is on track to keep the lights on in September? Think again. Appropriators are preparing to start crafting their annual spending bills without knowing how much cash they have, thanks to a way-behind-schedule budget process. Sarah Ferris has some harrowing details: "Lawmakers are in session for just three more months before the September funding deadline, but Republican leaders are likely still weeks away from releasing a budget. So GOP appropriators say they've been left to guess how much money they'll have for each bill." Sarah's story: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=8a502c48e38162b2f5e3959a365f6bc5274f9042e0004a73228605d60e0bc185ffa4243e9edd7d6d672e9b5f91b3796c

DRIVING THE DAY -- President Donald Trump will announce his decision on whether to remain in the Paris climate accord at 3 p.m., after months of intense lobbying by aides, world leaders and his daughter Ivanka. Early signals suggested Trump was ready to withdraw, but he has repeatedly sidestepped questions on his intentions.

RUSSIA UPDATE:

--COMEY'S COMING TO THE HILL - The timing isn't quite a done deal, but former FBI Director James Comey is expected to testify before the Senate Intelligence Committee as soon as next week, and he could provide explosive testimony under oath that confirms reports he felt pressured by the president to back off his investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election. But the announcement raises significant questions about how his public testimony might affect the parallel probe by special counsel Robert Mueller, a former FBI head himself who has a long relationship with Comey. Mueller has begun making moves to fill out his team as the investigation kicks into gear. 
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=8a502c48e38162b2546ac62175f0c5b8354a665e47955fae402303eb0d4c73dc79e2de52e4f8bc1190fae95c3a48818d

-Josh Gerstein also reports that deputy attorney general Rod Rosenstein, who made the decision to appoint Mueller and then briefed Congress about it, may face pressure to recuse himself from any oversight role, since he could be an important witness in questions about whether Trump attempted to obstruct the FBI's investigation by firing Comey last month.

--SUBPOENAS START FLYING - The House Intelligence Committee issued seven (!) on Wednesday, most prominently targeting former NSA Michael Flynn and Trump's longtime personal lawyer Michael Cohen. The committee also issued three related to the "unmasking" process intelligence officials used to ID Americans who were identified in reports passed around during the previous administration. A top committee aide indicated that the "unmasking" subpoenas appeared to have been unilaterally approved by committee chairman Rep. Devin Nunes (R-Calif.), who recused himself from the Russia probe but has long focused his ire at the unmasking process. Austin and Darren report: 
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=8a502c48e38162b2ea0fcc39253cfe152d8f9191aa6dca242dce702384ab503e807dd72db3a8f40f6a84c2230f18dda5

-And the unmasking-related subpoenas appeared to give Trump a talking point Thursday morning. @realdonaldtrump at 7:05 a.m.: "The big story is the 'unmasking and surveillance' of people that took place during the Obama Administration."

--DEMS TARGET KUSHNER - More than 40 House Democrats signed a letter calling for the president's son-in-law, Jared Kushner, to have his security clearance revoked while the FBI probes his secretive meetings with prominent Russians. Though a smaller band of Democrats had issued a similar call in April, after reports revealed Kushner omitted a meeting with the Russian ambassador on his security clearance application, the renewed request comes after reports Kushner may have sought a backchannel to the Kremlin. http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=8a502c48e38162b24df11f0df585f4091fc73cc0936eb2b1bc3315292576298b3c8ba2854cac43f4d87efa7171400e30

HILLARY CLINTON: THE HOUSE IS IN PLAY - The former Democratic presidential candidate said it's "certainly realistic" for Democrats to retake the House in 2018, but it's "hard to make progress" in the Senate, where the map is stacked against her party. Speaking at a tech conference on Wednesday afternoon, Clinton panned the DNC's preparedness for her own race and worried that Republicans had gained a distinct edge in their data operation. "Republicans build institutions. Republicans invest in those institutions," she said. "We are not good, historically at building institutions. We've got to get better." 

O-H ... I-O --So much for clearing the field. Ohio Treasurer Josh Mandel will face at least one challenger in his bid for the Republican gubernatorial nomination to succeed Ohio Gov. John Kasich. Investment banker Michael Gibbons announced his candidacy Wednesday. POLITICO Campaign Pro's Daniel Strauss reports that Gibbons will be working with Michael Biundo, a veteran GOP consultant who ran Rick Santorum's presidential campaign in 2012 and advised the campaigns of Rand Paul, Kasich and Trump in 2016

WEDNESDAY'S MOST CLICKED - Apparently, the forecast called for Kevin McCarthy yesterday. His stint as a weatherman at his local TV news station got the most eyeballs yesterday. ICYMI: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=8a502c48e38162b20adda019bf8e3ec1c8923f9ae758f3653a255f8934b356d09308208380fb582473689ed1f0aa5f92

COMINGS AND GOINGS:

-Everett Eissenstat, the Senate Finance Committee's top Republican trade counsel, is expected to join the National Economic Council as deputy director, Adam Behsudi, Andrew Restuccia and Ben White report. http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=8a502c48e38162b2df59813ba0499dab3e2b8c6b72c6ef2a757371242f38a554b10cb4e55f187b4bd94d2dee949b2ebf

-And Sen. Chuck Schumer just added a deputy director for Hispanic media. Audrey Lopez, who ran comms for Voto Latino, recently joined the staff, and will work with director Pili Tobar, who's heading for maternity leave today until the end of August.

-On the other side of the Capitol, Michael Woeste, press secretary for the House Judiciary Committee, announced Wednesday he'd be moving down the hall to become education press secretary for the Committee on Education and the Workforce. 

HAPPENING TODAY -- Rep. John Lewis (D-Ga.), best known for his activism alongside Martin Luther King, Jr. in the civil rights era, will be honored Thursday evening by the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law. The ceremony in New York will feature a keynote speech by the congressman and will also feature an award for Home Depot CEO Craig Menear.

WEDNESDAY'S TRIVIA WINNER - Jon Deuser - once the chief of staff to the late Sen. Jim Bunning - was the first to correctly identify the other former Kentucky lawmaker in the baseball Hall of Fame. It was, of course, Happy Chandler, who received the honor for his time as commissioner of the league.

TODAY'S TRIVIA - Name the American city that, in 2010, became the country's first to be represented, simultaneously, by a black mayor, governor and president.

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