Subject: ?Axios AM: Mike's Top 10 — The Comey conundrum — Trump's privatization plan — Tweet du jour — World's most famous athletes
From: "Mike Allen" <[email-masked]>
To: <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 5 Jun 2017 06:50:47 -0400 (EDT)

Presented by JPMorgan Chase & Co.:

The Comey conundrum — Trump's privatization plan — Tweet=du jour — World's most famous athletes

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Presented By JPMorgan Chase & Co.

Axios AM

By Mike Allen = ·Jun 05, 2017

1 big thing: The Comey conundrum

President Trump, joined by First Lady Melania Trump, speaks to the Ford'= Theatre Annual Gala last night (AP's Carolyn Kaster)

White House officials convey a sense of gloomy doom whe= they talk about fired FBI Director Jim Comey's public testimony on Thursd=y. They know his aw-shucks rectitude, combined with real-time written reco=lections, guarantee riveting testimony. Their hope is that it'll be more a=mospherics than substance — how he felt, as opposed to any new fac=s about what President Trump said or did.

Here's the pro=lem with that hope: Even if Comey didn't have a single new thing =o say (unlikely, given his habit of writing memos about his conversations =ith the president and perhaps his aides), the rat-tat-tat of already-repor=ed, tough-to-explain facts is astounding:

During = Valentine's Day briefing in the Oval Office, Trump asks other national-security offi=ials — including Vice President Pence and Attorney General Jef= Sessions — to leave the room before saying of the investigation i=to Michael Flynn, the national security adviser Trump had let go the day b=fore: "I hope you can let this go."

That meeting, by itsel=, could be fodder for years of investigations. But then, three mo=ths later — after talking for weeks about firing Comey, with sever=l aides warning of the dire dominoes that the move could touch off �=94 Trump does it anyway, taking many top aides by surprise.

That decision, by itself — with its ec=oes of Watergate's "Saturday night massacre" firing of a special prosecuto= — might dog Trump for the rest of his presidency. But the next da=, Trump meets in the Oval Office with two top Russians, Foreign Minister S=rgey Lavrov and Ambassador Sergey Kislyak. U.S. media are barred, but a Ru=sian camera is allowed, and Trump's guests quickly release the astonishing=shots of Trump and the burly Russians appearing to yuk it up.

That, by itself, would be jaw-dropping, but then Trump is reported to have revealed hig=ly classified information during the meeting. Russian President Vladimir P=tin, who had a notetaker at the meeting, cheekily offers to release a transcript.

=strong>All that might, by itself, might be hard enough to believe=or explain. But then Trump sits down with NBC's Lester Holt and says that =hen he was pondering the firing of Comey, "I said to myself -- I said, you=know, this Russia thing with Trump and Russia is a made-up story." Holt an= his NBC News colleagues had war-gamed all kinds of ways to try to get Tru=p to say Russia was a factor, but he just said it — no cajoling re=uired.

Be smart: Comey's testimo=y may add logs, but the fire is blazing.

Key concession ... =/strong>Sen. Mark Warner (Va.) — top Dem on the Senate Intelligenc= Committee, where Comey will testify — to CNN's Jake Tapper on "St=te of the Union": "We have no smoking gun at this point."

Go=deeper ... with Jonathan Swan's "What=we know, What we don't know" on Trump associates' Russian exposure.

2. London latest

Ariana Grande performs at the One Love Manchester tribute concert in Man=hester, northwestern England, raising money for those affected by the bomb=ng at the end of her May 22 concert (Danny Lawson via AP)

"What we have l=arned," by BBC's Dominic Casciani:

"Three terrorism attacks on the UK in 75 days. Thirty-=our people dead, many, many more injured. The five attackers all dead too.=

"Both bridge attacks shared a m=thodology that's been repeatedly promoted by jihadist groups like the self=styled Islamic State/Daesh: a vehicle to knock people over and knives once=on foot."

"Eyewitness have told how =he police relied upon a tactic to protect the public in the event of a mar=uding attack. Officers tried to rapidly clear the area by telling people t= 'run' to a safe area. Those they could not safely move — people i= restaurants and bars — were told to 'hide.'"
"Eight minutes after the first 999 call, the killers, wea=ing what looked like suicide bombs, had been gunned down by specialist off=cers who fired 50 rounds."

The conversation ... WashPost A1, above fold, "Presidential response? Stoking fear and=a feud," by Phil Rucker: On Twitter, Trump criticized London's "mayor =E2�� Sadiq Khan, a liberal Muslim and an old Trump foil — for =ot being tough enough protecting his citizens."

"With Trump spending another day at his private g=lf club in Sterling, Va., the White House's social media director, Dan Sca=ino, revived an old Trump-Khan feud on Twitter and scolded the mayor to "W=KE UP!!!!"

N.Y. Times Quote of the Day ... Scooter Braun, man=ger of pop star Ariana Grande, praising the bravery of fans who showed up =t yesterday's One Love Manchester benefit concert: "You looked fear right =n the face and you said, No, we are Manchester, and the world is watching.=

3. Hot online

A Twitter feed inspired by Obama alumnus Pat Cunnane, R=al Trump Press Sec (@TrumpTw=etsWH), repurposes Trump tweets "into official White House statements.=. because that's what they are."

NYT's Maggie Haberman<=strong> had tweeted earlier: "calling them 'tweets' mini=izes them. They're statements from the president made on Twitter."

A message from JPMorgan Chase & Co.

Why summer jobs matter more than ever

JPMorgan Chase has made a $17M commitment to summer jobs programs because:

Summer employment rates for teens have fallen to 34%= a near record low, leaving young people without skills t=aining

This can impede economic growth,�=A0as open jobs will remain unfilled without skilled workers

4. Tweet du jour

Breaking ... Trump is tweeting this a.m.: "we are EXTRE=E VETTING people coming into the U.S. in order to help keep our country sa=e. The courts are slow and political! ... The Justice Dept. should have st=yed with the original Travel Ban, not the watered down, politically correc= version they submitted to S.C."

5. Today in Trump

In the East Room at 11:30 a.m., President Trump will jo=ned by executives from major airlines as he kicks off "infrastructure week= by unveiling his plan to reform the nation's air-traffic control system.<=p>
The most consequential provision: privatizing air-tr=ffic control by transferring that power from the FAA to a non-profit entit=, funded by user fees, over three years.

Why this matte=s, from Jonathan Swan: Trump is getting behind the single biggest=priority of Bill Shuster, the Republican House Transportation and Infrastr=cture Committee chairman. If Trump delivers this controversial privatizati=n for Shuster, he can expect the chairman's loyalty and support on many of=his other infrastructure priorities.

From Trump's plan=

"Am=rica's growing aviation system demands a new, independent, non-go=ernment organization to operate our Nation's airspace. The new entity shou=d have access to capital markets in order to spur capital investment, tech=ology adoption, and innovation faster, more effectively, and securely. Ove= the last 20 years, more than 50 countries have already successfully trans=tioned their ATC operations."

See Trump's principles here.

6. Climate change is here to stay, so deal with it

Lazaro Gamio / Axios

A truth bomb in Axios' Amy Harder's weekly "Harder Line" column on energy: =/p>
"The chances of reversing climate change are slim regardless of U.S. involvement in the P=ris agreement. Countries, companies, U.S. states and cities and n=n-governmental organizations pursuing policies to address climate change s=ould refocus their high-level political efforts on ways to prepare for the=impacts that are already here and those still to come."

7. The talk of tech

Dan Primack nails it: "Peter & Palmer vs. Sil=con Valley is gonna be a great graphic novel."

He was distil=ing this huge talker on the N.Y. Times Business front, "Oculus Founder Plots a Comeback With a Virtua= Border Wall," by Nick Wingfield:

At age 21, Palmer Luckey sold Oculus VR to Facebook for $2 billion, then was press=red to leave Facebook months after news spread that he had secretly donate= to an organization dedicated to spreading anti-Hillary Clinton internet m=mes."

'Now Mr. Luckey [age 24] ... h=s a new start-up in the works, a company that is developing surveillance t=chnology that could be deployed on borders between countries and around mi=itary bases."

"[T]he investment fund run by Peter=Thiel, a technology adviser to Mr. Trump, planned to support the effort."<=li>
Luckey: "We need a new kind of defens= company, one that will save taxpayer dollars while creating superior tech=ology to keep our troops and citizens safer."

described Mr. Luckey as a casual 'prepper=' someone who prepares for societal collapse."

"Luckey discussed the idea of using sensor technology on the Mex=can border with Stephen K. Bannon, Mr. Trump's chief strategist, according=to a person familiar with the meeting."

8. "The upstarts have arrived"

Barron's, in=its annual survey of investors, finds tech upstarts lead the list of The M=st Respected American Companies:

Alphabet (Google)

App=e

Amazon

Berkshire Hathaway (Warren Buffett)

Micro=oft

Costco

Johnson & Johnson

Home Depot
3M

Walt Disney

9. Covering the future

Lazaro Gamio / Axios

Robots could hobble developing countries ... The tradit=onal exit from poverty for poor countries is to be the cheap labor for ric= nations. But the robotics revolution could be foreclosing that route to t=e middle class, MIT economist Daron Acemoglu told Axios' Chris Matthews.

Amo=g the potential losers: Vietnam, China and Indonesia

Why it matters: "[A]n increasing number of U.S. jobs are depen=ent on exports to those countries. If these countries can no longer rely o= manufacturing as a source of jobs and productivity growth, it could deal = serious blow to the U.S. economy, too."

Read the rest, including video.

10. 1 fun thing

ESPN's World =ame 100

ESPN's

38 soccer stars, 11 gol=ers and zero Tim Tebows.

Tom Brady is #21.
No MLB or NHL player made the cut.

A message from JPMorgan Chase & Co.

The impact that summer jobs can have on the country=/span>

The summer employment rate for teens in the U.S. has fallen to a near =ecord low. JPMorgan Chase’s $17M commitment to U.S. cities wo=king on summer jobs prog=ams aims to equip young people with the skills they need to fill open =obs.

Axios, 3100 Clarendon B‌lvd, Suite 200, Arlington VA 22201

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