Subject: ?Axios Sneak Peek — Inside the next Hill fight — What Tim Cook will tell Trump — Who'll be first to tell all?
From: "Jonathan Swan" <[email-masked]>
To: <[email-masked]>
Date: Sun, 18 Jun 2017 16:42:06 -0400 (EDT)

Presented by Koch Industries:

Inside the next Hill fight — What Tim Cook will tell Trump �=80� Who'll be first to tell all?

Presented By Koch Industries

Axios Sneak Peek

By Jonathan Swan = ·Jun 18, 2017<=span>

Happy Father's Day, and welcome to Sneak Peek, our week=y lookahead for both ends of Pennsylvania Avenue. I'd love your tips and feedback: [email-masked]. And please urge your friendsby signing up for Sneak Peek. See you all week in the Axios STREAM.

1 big thing: debt ceiling, behind the scenes

President Trump is likely to play a much smaller role t=an previous presidents in the coming debt-ceiling fight.<=p>
Marc Short, director of the White House's Office of =egislative Affairs, has told associates his recommendation is that the Hou=e and Senate initiate the debt-limit negotiations within their own confere=ces rather than leaning on Trump to do the heavy lifting. (During the prev=ous debt ceiling crises, Obama aggressively lobbyied Congress both publicl= and privately.)

The White House theory: Congr=ssional spending habits got America into this mess and the President has e=ough on his plate and would gain nothing from spending his political capit=l on this fight.

The upshot: Trump will ultimatel= have to play some role in the debt ceiling debate, but the White=House won't have him out there providing cover for congressional leadershi= to negotiate an unpopular bill.

Current status: =obody agrees on anything. Budget Director Mick Mulvaney wants to use the d=bt limit bill to cut spending. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin just want= the debt ceiling raised without fuss — to avoid a last-minute sta=doff in September that could crash markets.

Why this m=tters: Presidents have traditionally used the weight of the presi=ency to push Congress to raise the ceiling. Some in Republican leadership =ircles are frustrated that the White House appears willing to make GOP lea=ership do the thankless work.

Between the lines: Some in the White House believe Republican leadership has already given =p on the Freedom Caucus / Mulvaney approach, and concluded the only workab=e path is to collaborate with Democrats and moderate Republicans. Leadersh=p says it's not close to making such decisions.

Click here =or three options being kicked around.

2. "Tapes"?

We told you in last Sunday's Sneak P=ek you should expect to see a lot more of Jay Sekulow — the man Tr=mp has chosen as his TV lawyer for the Russia probe. Today Sekulow repped =OTUS on nearly every Sunday show — Fox, NBC, CBS and CNN.

=li>Tantalizing: Sekulow told John Dickerson of CBS's "Face the Nation" he expecte= Trump to address "in the week ahead" whether he secretly taped his privat= conversations with former FBI director James Comey.

Several o= Sekulow's interviews got testy, especially his exchange with "Fox News Su=day" host Chris Wallace. The two talked over each other, with Sekulow accu=ing the host of manipulating his words.

Wallace's <=mg src="https://ssl.gstatic.com/mail/emoji/v7/png48/emoji_u1f525.png" al=="">response:

The bone of contention: Whether Special Co=nsel Bob Mueller is investigating Trump. Trump seemed to confirm the inves=igation when he tweeted: "I am being investigated for firing the FBI Direc=or." But Sekulow said nobody had told Trump he was under investigation, an= the President was only responding to the Washington Post story.

Money quote: "The President is not under investigation by the=Special counsel," Sekulow told NBC's "Meet the Press" moderator Chuck Todd= "He's not afraid of the investigation. There is no investigation."

3. Huge week for healthcare

Sources close to Mitch McConnell tell me the Majority L=ader is dead serious about forcing a Senate vote on the Obamacare repeal-a=d-replace bill before the July 4 holiday.

Some senators want=to delay the vote but McConnell views that as delaying the inevit=ble. There are no mysteries about what the toughest disagreements are over=— Medicaid funding and insurance market regulations.

This week is crucial: the Senate won't vote without a CBO sc=re, which means they need to finalize negotiations this week.

Behind-the-scenes: McConnell and Senate leaders h=ve been at this for all of May and now first couple weeks of June, turning=their weekly lunches into working sessions on various aspects of the healt=care legislation. They've whittled down the stack of items that people don=t agree on. I've spoken to a number of people who know McConnell well who =peculate that he'll force a vote regardless of whether he knows he has 50 =otes. They say he's desperate to move on to tax reform and can't have heal=hcare hanging around like a bad smell through the summer.

On the House side:

Following the White Hous='s "Workforce Development Week," House GOP leadership will vote o= two workforce bills. The big one: a bipartisan bill to reauthorize the "P=rkins Act" for six years — providing more than $1 billion per year=in federal support for career and technical education programs.

<=trong>Wednesday's conference meeting is expected to be more polic=-focused than usual. (They had to cancel Friday's meeting due to the fallo=t from last week's shooting.) A senior House aide tells me the Wednesday c=nference will focus on the budget caps and appropriations.

will both address the National Assoc=ation of Manufacturers. Ryan pushin= tax reform and McCarthy on reg reform and workforce development.

A message from Koch Industries

Unleashing opportunity

At Koch, we challenge ourselves to make better things, but we’re al=o committed to making things better. Learn how ou= $25 million grant to UNCF is opening the door for a new generation of inn=vators.

4. What Tim Cook will tell Trump

Apple CEO Tim Cook will be at the White House tomorrow =or tech meetings organized by Jared Kushner's Office of American Innovatio=. It's the first of two heavy-hitter meetings in what the White House is c=lling "Technology Week."

A source tells me Cook, w=o doesn't belong to any of the President's councils, plans to proactively =aise four issues:

Immigration: Cook will parti=ipate in the session titled "H-1B/immigration." He's got a long history of=arguing for the importance of immigration to the American economy and does='t agree with the Trump-Bannon-Sessions view that unchecked immigration ha= been driving down wages and stealing jobs from Americans.

Cook will "fly the flag" for strong encryption. This =as been a controversial issue within the administration and it remains uns=ttled. Shortly after the San Bernardino shootings, Trump called for a boycott of Apple products because Coo= refused to cooperate with the FBI after it requested that Apple create a =pecial version of its operating software that would have given the governm=nt a backdoor into the iPhone used by the terrorists. Cook took a lot of i=coming after saying it'd compromise customers' privacy and security. Some =a href="http://link.axios.com/click/9876875.24074/aHR0cHM6Ly90aGVuZXh0d2=iLmNvbS9hcHBsZS8yMDE3LzA2LzE2L3RpbS1jb29rLXJpZ2h0LWZpZ2h0LWZiaS8_dXRtX3Nvd=JjZT1uZXdzbGV0dGVyJnV0bV9tZWRpdW09ZW1haWwmdXRtX2NhbXBhaWduPW5ld3NsZXR0ZXJf=Xhpb3NzbmVha3BlZWsmc3RyZWFtPXRvcC1zdG9yaWVzIy50bndfek1tS1JyOVo/5871993924c=7c54d77a8b8cB96c2fb8f" target="_blank">argue Cook has been vindicate= given subsequent leaks from federal agencies.

Veterans' =ffairs: How to better serve vets both in the provision of medical=care and in hiring policies.

How the administration talks =bout human rights: Ensuring it remains a priorit= for the U.S., both domestically and internationally.

=ther points on Tech Week:

I'm told the White =ouse won't be rolling out any new policies or signing any executi=e orders related to technology.

Tomorrow: Attende=s are expected to include Alphabet Chairman Eric Schmidt, Amazon's Jeff Be=os, Microsoft's Satya Nadella, IBM's Ginni Rometty, Oracle's Safra Catz, a=d venture capitalist John Doerr, among others. Cabinet secretaries will at=end and the President will drop by, too.

Wednesday: Per a White House official: "We're taking the tech conversation to rural=America ... [W]e'll be in Iowa talking about agriculture and technology an= showcasing the latest technology that is changing the way farmers produce= harvest, and market food." The event will double as a send-off for Iowa G=v. Terry Branstad, who's heading to China to be the U.S. ambassador.
<=i>Thursday: Breakout sessions focusing on 5G=and the Internet of Things, the commercial use of drones, and what the adm=nistration can do to spur innovation. The attendees are expected to come t=gether after their more specialized sessions for a meeting with Trump. C-s=ite level executives and general partners from venture capital firms have =een invited. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross will play a key role.
What's next: "Energy Week." (These branded weeks are p=rt of the White House's framing of June as "Jobs Month" — focused =n public-private partnerships.)

5. 1 $$ thing: Kellyanne's cost

A source from a Fortune 100 company tells me his busine=s was ready to pay an eye-popping price to have Kellyanne Conway speak to =hem shortly after the election. Her going rate in December: $75,000 for a =local" speech and $100,000 for outside the New York area. That's not far f=om Clinton money.

The conversation got me wondering=exactly how much cash would've been available to a top official from a win=ing presidential campaign. (Kellyanne and the others who joined the White=House gave up that immediate earning capacity.)

A well-known=book agent tells me Kellyanne and other top officials could expec= "high seven figures" if they publish the first "insider" book on life ins=de the Trump campaign or White House. The agent told me he's heard from a =umber of officials currently inside the White House who want to know how m=ch money they could expect to make from writing books when they leave.
=p>(N.B.: Corey Lewandowski is reportedly one step ahead o= them. CNN's Oliver Darcy reports that =he sacked campaign manager is shopping a book through his agent. I'm told =e can expect more than $1 million if he goes through with it.)

Final thought: what POTUS could be talking about

The father of Otto Warmbier — the Amer=can college student just freed from prison in North Korea — held a=deeply moving press conference on Thursday. Wearing the blazer his son wor= during the show trial where North Koreans sentenced him to 15 years of ha=d labor, Fred Warmbier ripped into the Obama administration and pr=ised Trump.

His son was arrested dur=ng Obama's presidency, and the Obama administration told the family to sta= quiet about his imprisonment in hopes of negotiating a deal to free him. =strong>It didn't work. Then Trump's State Department got Otto free.

Our thought bubble: It isn't the first tim= diplomatic efforts under Trump have succeeded where Obama's fell short. I= April, Trump's team convinced the Egyptians to free an American aid worke=. But instead of sharing this deeply moving moment and praising his Secret=ry of State's leadership, the President tweeted about Bob Mueller's "WITCH=HUNT."

A message from Koch Industries

Working together for better

At Koch, we not only challenge ourselves to innovate new products but to cr=ate opportunities for others. That’s why =e partner with organizations like Project JumpStart, which provides re=l-world skills to those seeking a second chance.

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

You received this email because you signed up for newsletters from Axios.
Change your preferences or unsubscribe here.=/a>

Was this email forwarded to you?

Sign up now to get Axios in your inbox.

Follow Axios=on social media:

=                     &nb=p;