Subject: POLITICO Playbook, presented by the Coalition for Affordable Prescription Drugs (CAPD): PENCE does what Trump hasn’t and disavows neo-Nazis and white supremacists -- TRUMP aides predict 'brutal' September -- RISEN to The Intercept -- B'DAY: Adam Goldman
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Date: Mon, 14 Aug 2017 04:45:39 -0600
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Today's POLITICO Playbook presented by the Coalition for Affordable Prescription Drugs (CAPD) 
    
08/14/2017 06:42 AM EDT
        
By ANNA PALMER ([email-masked]; @apalmerdc), JAKE SHERMAN ([email-masked]; @JakeSherman) and DANIEL LIPPMAN ([email-masked]; @dlippman)
        
Listen to the Playbook Audio Briefing | Subscribe on iTunes | Visit the online home of Playbook
                  Driving the Day         
Good Monday morning. PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP is coming back to D.C. He meets with John Kelly at 11:15 a.m. and then signs a "memorandum on addressing China's laws, policies, practices, and actions related to intellectual property, innovation, and technology." At 3:45 p.m., he'll meet with the National Economic Council before heading to New York for a few nights. At 9:30 p.m. he'll speak to Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe by phone from Trump Tower.

LAST WEEK the White House indicated that there would be a press conference today. Trump's schedule does not indicate he's holding a media availability.

ABOUT TODAY -- @realDonaldTrump at 6:26 a.m.: "Heading to Washington this morning. Much work to do. Focus on trade and military. #MAGA".

MORE FROM CHARLOTTESVILLE -- WASHINGTON POST: "Alleged driver of car that plowed into Charlottesville crowd was a Nazi sympathizer, former teacher says," by T. Rees Shapiro, Alice Crites, Laura Vozzella and John Woodrow Cox: "A man accused of plowing a car into a crowd of activists here -- killing one person and injuring 19 -- long sympathized with Nazi views and had stood with a group of white supremacists hours before Saturday's bloody crash.

"The alleged driver, James Alex Fields Jr., a 20-year-old who traveled to Virginia from Ohio, had espoused extremist ideals at least since high school, according to Derek Weimer, a history teacher. Weimer said he taught Fields during his junior and senior years at Randall K. Cooper High School in Kentucky. For a class called 'America's Modern Wars,' Fields wrote a deeply researched paper about the Nazi military during World War II, Weimer recalled. 'It was obvious that he had this fascination with Nazism and a big idolatry of Adolf Hitler,' the teacher said. 'He had white supremacist views. He really believed in that stuff.'" http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=b4ab8fc10ea0ca00de8fd2315a57f04980cf5adb562970029af07c04c3bee8fbff32ab98bb7c5b733600c64be8f95b20ad33355a5ed8987c 

-- VIRAL TWITTER REACTION -- FORMER REP. JOHN DINGELL (D-MICH.) @JohnDingell: "I signed up to fight Nazis 73 years ago and I'll do it again today if I have to. Hatred, bigotry, & fascism should have no place in this country." (257K retweets and 740K likes)

-- MORE TO COME -- "In blog posts after the violence, the Daily Stormer, a leading white nationalist website that promoted the Charlottesville event, pledged to hold more events. 'We are going to start doing this nonstop,' the post said. 'We are going to go bigger than Charlottesville. We are going to go huge.'" http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=b4ab8fc10ea0ca00067f8d1086405d4571cbfee1716582b9e73413bb9e6e80d69a134ab9055361e5e4ede405a90a610d931736dab2ca7a75 

-- "Charlottesville victim: 'She was there standing up for what was right,'" by WaPo's Ellie Silverman and Michael Laris: "Heather Heyer was killed Saturday as she pushed back against hatred. ... 'I'm not really surprised my child died this way, because she would stand up for what she believed in,' [mother Susan] Bro said. Despite her pain, Bro said she doesn't want people to hate Fields. It isn't what her daughter would want, she said. 'Our daughter did not live a life of hate and hating this young man is not going to solve anything ... It's not that I think he should go unpunished for his crime. But hate only engenders more hate and there's no purpose in hate,' Bro said. 'Heather's life
 was about, passionately about, fairness and equality and caring and that's what we want people to take away from this.'" http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=b4ab8fc10ea0ca0058e1daf89f107f92b357a5b9aa96f085a671ba1133794b947d1d3cad8ed6e36ef3d39e959d3fad880ab5656570b07a8d

VICE PRESIDENT MIKE PENCE, at a joint press conference Sunday with Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos: "We have no tolerance for hate and violence from white supremacists, neo Nazis or the KKK. These dangerous fringe groups have no place in American public life and in the American debate, and we condemn them in the strongest possible terms," Pence said, per pooler Phil Rucker of the Washington Post. "The president also made clear that behavior by others of different militant perspectives are also unacceptable in our political debate and discourse."

--TRUMP has not condemned the Nazis or white supremacists by name on the record yet. The White House did issue a statement doing so from a nameless spokesman yesterday. QUESTION OF THE DAY: Will the president do it today from D.C.?

MORE FROM PENCE -- ON VENEZUELA: "President Trump is a leader who says what he means and means what he says, but the president sent me here to continue to marshal the unprecedented support of countries across Latin America to achieve by peaceable means the restoration of democracy in Latin America, and we believe it is achievable by those means." ... "You hear in President Trump's words the resolve of the United States of America to see this through, to restore democracy and constitutional government in Venezuela."

FOR YOUR RADAR -- REUTERS: "Chinese state newspaper says Trump trade probe will 'poison' relations": "In an editorial, the official China Daily said it was critical the Trump administration doesn't make a rash decision it will regret. 'Given Trump's transactional approach to foreign affairs, it is impossible to look at the matter without taking into account his increasing disappointment at what he deems as China's failure to bring into line the Democratic People's Republic of Korea,' the English-language paper said. 'But instead of advancing the United States' interests, politicising trade will only acerbate the country's economic woes, and poison the overall China-U.S. relationship.' An
 administration official has insisted diplomacy over North Korea and the potential trade probe were 'totally unrelated', saying the trade action was not a pressure tactic." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=b4ab8fc10ea0ca0033f646afe86b0302d483ad7964974ff29cdbe847472af3a2d32be0a51737e7d019a670c1935864be9d71c73059e5a1ba

****** A message from the Coalition for Affordable Prescription Drugs (CAPD): If you know only one fact about rising drug costs, know this one: drug makers set prices for prescription drugs. To help manage nearly double-digit price increases, employers, unions and government programs use PBMs to negotiate lower net prices to help curb costs for employers and patients. Learn more at affordableprescriptiondrugs.org ******

CULTURE SHIFT -- Washington has always been a place for people with sharp elbows. The old saying "Politics ain't beanbag" is apt and accurate. The difference: it was done behind closed doors. Trump insiders seem to revel in the credit they get for knifing whoever is on the outs with Trump. Crowing about shoving people under the bus seems more prevalent than ever.

There have been a lot of pieces about how the Trump administration and the various players who have come to Washington have impacted D.C. Cache now comes from hanging out at the Trump Hotel and the stock of pubs like Breitbart has soared as the White House looks to leak info to sympathetic reporters. But the most stunning example of a pervasive culture shift in the past several weeks has been the overt campaign by conservative operatives and factions in the West Wing to take out National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster. Lots of people have told us unflattering and sordid details of people's lives that may, or may not be true. But the steady drumbeat of personal attacks against aides in this
 White House is stunning.

STRANGE'S STRUGGLES -- "Despite Trump's Support, Alabama Senator Struggles to a Primary Finish," by NYT's Alan Blinder in Homewood, Alabama, and Jonathan Martin in Birmingham: "Senator Luther Strange of Alabama wields an endorsement from the president of the United States, is the beneficiary of a multimillion-dollar campaign from allies of Mitch McConnell, the Senate majority leader, and has the backing of influential conservative interest groups like the National Rifle Association.

"But Mr. Strange is wheezing into Tuesday's Republican Senate primary here. He is grasping to secure a second-place finish and a slot in a September runoff with Roy S. Moore, the twice-deposed former State Supreme Court justice and evangelical-voter favorite who is expected to be the top vote-getter but may fall short of the majority needed to win outright. Mr. Strange is in a political vise, pinched by his links to a pair of Republicans, one local and one national, held in low esteem by many in the party here: the disgraced former Gov. Robert Bentley, who appointed Mr. Strange, and Mr. McConnell." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=b4ab8fc10ea0ca002df47e83b939aa24652be3aff3930bfa83d854558486640045205e99280ada922ec97e34aa330e485cc38ad237803c7c 

-- QUICK PRIMER ON ROY MOORE: "The GOP rebel threatening to snag Sessions' Senate seat," by Seung Min Kim in Homewood, Alabama: "Roy Moore lacks the war chest of two chief rivals in his bid to become the next senator from Alabama. He didn't land the coveted endorsement of President Donald Trump, and doesn't enjoy the advantages of incumbency. Yet the controversial former state Supreme Court justice is coasting over his Republican challengers in Tuesday's closely watched GOP Senate primary. Moore is set to easily secure a place in a September runoff, as the establishment-backed Sen. Luther Strange and Rep. Mo Brooks scrape for the second spot.

"Should Moore become the GOP nominee and the next senator from Alabama, his bombastic personality and antipathy toward Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) are sure to make more trouble for the GOP leader, who's taking constant flak from Trump as it is. McConnell and his allies are spending millions to elect Strange, and in response, Moore has made McConnell the symbol of everything he opposes in Washington. 

"'I resent people from Washington, raising money in Washington, and sending negative ads to Alabama and trying to control the vote of the people,' Moore said in an interview after a GOP executive committee meeting here. "'If the Washington crowd wants somebody, the people of Alabama generally don't.'" http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=b4ab8fc10ea0ca00a6d96c4f9c298737e64ccccc3788be34a5b240f0299e66ce57d223b4fea1d50a1d4279a263b934c8e2c433f9d64db9e3

-- FOR GOOD MEASURE: @realDonaldTrump at 6:38 a.m.: "Luther Strange of the Great State of Alabama has my endorsement. He is strong on Border & Wall, the military, tax cuts & law enforcement."

COMING ATTRACTIONS -- "Trump aides predicting 'brutal' September," by Josh Dawsey: "Inside President Donald Trump's White House, no one seems to be looking forward to September. Senior officials have described the coming month as 'brutal,' 'bad' or 'really tough' because of the confluence of complicated issues -- but they also say it's pivotal to getting the presidency back on course. Aides hope to have a better blueprint for how the president wants to proceed on a series of thorny issues -- the nation's debt ceiling, the 2018 federal budget, tax reform, infrastructure spending and perhaps another stab at repealing Obamacare -- after a series of meetings in New York this week.

"Their goal is to partially temper Trump's expectations, hammer out some compromises and get a competing band of aides on the same page. The month has taken on outsize importance among some top aides and outside advisers, who view it as key to getting the presidency on a better track. ... Trump, who is impatient, wants it all done immediately, said people close to the president -- and he has ratcheted up pressure on aides in recent weeks, even though he doesn't always engage with the substance of issues." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=b4ab8fc10ea0ca000f808a74b7a0687c9bffd76ee58c2c58884e6a28f8bb4eaf0b241dc906c0d39603fa65cd66ccce6a43a3460722bb4117 

2020 WATCH -- Trump's campaign yesterday released a new TV ad, "Let President Trump Do His Job," which criticizes the president's "enemies" for not wanting him "to succeed." The Trump campaign did not respond to a request about how much they are spending on this ad, and where it is running. http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=b4ab8fc10ea0ca0002b146f370f30a05b32581a389806c70edee0bd710ce2d060cf9229387b41d2bb2ced5b2efe4ad9657efcfc843f46467 

-- THE AD features House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), Sens. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) when the narrator reads "Democrats obstructing." When the narrator says "career politicians," it shows Rep. Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) and Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.). When the narrator says the media is attacking the president and "the president's enemies don't want him to succeed," it shows Mika Brzezinski, Anderson Cooper, Joe Scarborough, Scott Pelley, George Stephanopoulos, Chris Hayes, Dana Bash, John King, Brian Williams, Gloria Borger, Don Lemon, Erin Burnett, April Ryan, Rachel Maddow, Chuck Todd, Brian Stelter and Fareed Zakaria. NOTE: The president's campaign
 is labeling reporters his "enemies."

THE JUICE ... 

-- SEN. JEFF FLAKE (R-ARIZ.) is starting to see the opposition. The super PAC supporting his challenger Kelli Ward is up with a $100,000 statewide cable buy. The group just got cash from the Mercer family. The ad blasts Flake and Sen. John McCain for working with Democrats, saying anything to get elected and "blocking the conservative agenda." The ad http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=b4ab8fc10ea0ca0057ab5b1ca4c37c7a292d1fc9f6180899edb253f968cd0a5e3bd79ad7e12ce0c2006223ca447eff0cbca729a3ffe32ffb

-- CNN'S BRIAN STELTER: "On August 1, one day after the abrupt exit of White House communications director Anthony Scaramucci, President Trump dined with a communications whiz: Rupert Murdoch. The two men had a private dinner at the White House, according to two sources with direct knowledge of the meeting." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=b4ab8fc10ea0ca00ab0b28b9cb28342c2623c6b58d5570563abba1ffbecba5d0e1d9fd8f4c5b5ebddb4a6049a173b69558081ff3be3d5127

          Playbook Reads         

PHOTO DU JOUR: People light candles in the form of a peace sign in front of the White House on Aug. 13 for a vigil in response to the death of a counter-protestor rallying against white nationalists in Charlottesville, Virginia the previous day. | Zach Gibson/AFP/Getty Images

DEEP DIVE -- A LOOK BACK AT TILLERSON'S FIRST SIX MONTHS: "Critiques fly as Tillerson struggles to define his mission," by AP's Josh Lederman in Manila and Matt Lee in Washington: "Since taking office in February, Tillerson has earned praise from President Donald Trump despite policy differences, top Cabinet members and even some Democrats, including those who take solace in the tempering role he plays in an otherwise frenetic and unpredictable administration.

"Yet he's also stoked deep doubts about his leadership among many U.S. diplomats and the traditional foreign policy establishment, with a daily drumbeat of editorials like 'Why Has Rex Tillerson Belly-Flopped as Secretary of State?' and 'How Rex Tillerson is Wrecking the State Department.' And so difficult has Trump made Tillerson's job at times that it's sparked talk of a 'Rexit,' a potential early departure from the job. As with the histrionic headlines, Tillerson has brushed it all off, calmly telling reporters last month, 'I'm not going anywhere.'" http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=b4ab8fc10ea0ca0052f5b750137473b2482056cbe789676c208fe42b1046a4c457227377bf3baed02b7524cc67174b0a98f6008e78922323

TOP OP-ED -- SECRETARY OF DEFENSE JIM MATTIS and SECRETARY OF STATE REX TILLERSON in the WSJ: "We're Holding Pyongyang to Account: The U.S., its allies and the world are united in our pursuit of a denuclearized Korean Peninsula": "In the past few months, multiple illegal North Korean ballistic-missile and ICBM tests-coupled with the most recent bellicose language from Pyongyang about striking the U.S., Guam, our allies and our interests in the Asia-Pacific region-have escalated tensions between North Korea and America to levels not experienced since the Korean War.

"In response, the Trump administration, with the support of the international community, is applying diplomatic and economic pressure on North Korea to achieve the complete, verifiable and irreversible denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula and a dismantling of the regime's ballistic-missile programs. We are replacing the failed policy of 'strategic patience,' which expedited the North Korean threat, with a new policy of strategic accountability.

"The object of our peaceful pressure campaign is the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula. The U.S. has no interest in regime change or accelerated reunification of Korea. We do not seek an excuse to garrison U.S. troops north of the Demilitarized Zone. We have no desire to inflict harm on the long-suffering North Korean people, who are distinct from the hostile regime in Pyongyang." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=b4ab8fc10ea0ca0052d2c9803960b3d305928a94780401d13f0d2c69fbaa4794d5d42704847ab33b3040b36829db15c2384bdf0991ce983b

-- "Top U.S. General Readies Military Plan for North Korea, but Pushes for Diplomacy: Arriving in Asia, Gen. Joe Dunford says he is prepared for war, but supporting Secretary of State Rex Tillerson's efforts," by WSJ's Gordon Lubold at Osan Air Base in South Korea: "'As a military leader, I have to make sure that the president does have viable military options in the event that the diplomatic and economic pressurization campaign fails,' Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Joe Dunford said in his first public remarks since the crisis escalated with North Korea's launch of a second intercontinental ballistic missile late last month.

"'Even as we develop those options, we are mindful of the consequences of executing those options, and that makes us have more of a sense of urgency to make sure that we're doing everything we absolutely can to support Secretary Tillerson's current path,' he said. Gen. Dunford began a scheduled swing through the region Sunday, with a stop to meet with South Korean President Moon Jae-in, along with newly appointed defense officials and commanders. Gen. Dunford leaves Monday for Beijing and will also visit Tokyo this week, defense officials said." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=b4ab8fc10ea0ca00755b707461744e444b109c7b5f02c4b3b634ae51413ab2752964cf26515b5aae3340952a8e88e5ce3e3b844e8a382fbb

****** A message from the Coalition for Affordable Prescription Drugs (CAPD): Pharmacy benefit managers negotiate the lowest net price for prescriptions on behalf of employers and other health care purchasers; however, the list price - the important starting point for those negotiations -- continues to rise, at a rate of nearly ten percent in 2016 alone. Increased competition, faster reviews of generics and biosimilars and ending anti-competitive practices can also bring down the cost of medications for patients. Learn more at affordableprescriptiondrugs.org ******

VOLLEY TO BREITBART -- "U.S. National Security Adviser McMaster is a Friend to Israel," by former senior Israeli military officials Yaakov Amidror and Eran Lerman in the Jerusalem Post: "It was sad to see scurrilous and harmful personal attacks launched by some American Jews and even a few Israelis at US National Security Adviser Gen. (ret.) H.R. McMaster. ... But such an attack is not mere opinion; it is an offense against the truth, against basic decency and against the best interests of Israel as we see them. In the opinion of many in the professional Israeli defense establishment who have come to know Gen. McMaster over the years, directly and indirectly, the general is a friend.

"Israeli officers and scholars who have worked with McMaster say that he was always highly appreciative of Israel and of its contributions to the security of the US. They attest to his broad support for and admiration of the IDF. It is absurd to assert that all these years, hidden underneath McMaster's friendliness was a grudge against Israel that the general is now free to act on. We reject this churlish insinuation. And whatever the reasons may have been for his decision to relieve certain senior National Security Council officials of their duties, antisemitic or anti-Israeli sentiments were certainly not part of the calculus." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=b4ab8fc10ea0ca0038fc95e341869ebbb3d7a20ef7f444321ff1678c14289fce454d2dd3f1151433e76832d1a25901914110cca7715f0a2d 

NEWT on FoxNews.com -- "America needs to be better prepared for a nuclear attack": http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=b4ab8fc10ea0ca0012a3caaf3ee60afc52f60a16a889f0333181051bfd950e44eb0c3345d9f740a0a49e39bf31a4b00ced17a843a08229fa

JUST POSTED - "Julian Assange, a Man Without a Country: From his tiny sanctum in London, the founder of WikiLeaks has interfered with the world's most powerful institutions," by The New Yorker's Raffi Khatchadourian: "Assange ... argued that any attempt to associate WikiLeaks with Guccifer 2.0 was pernicious spin -- trying to turn a coincidence into a conspiracy. ... [But w]hatever one thinks of Assange's election disclosures, accepting his contention that they shared no ties with the two Russian fronts requires willful blindness. Guccifer 2.0's handlers predicted the WikiLeaks D.N.C. release. They demonstrated inside knowledge that Assange was struggling to get it out on time. And they
 proved, incontrovertibly, that they had privileged access to D.N.C. documents that appeared nowhere else publicly, other than in WikiLeaks publications. ...

"[But members of the intelligence community ... [have affirmed that] Russian military intelligence-the same group that appeared to control Guccifer 2.0 and DCLeaks-released the D.N.C. and the Podesta e-mails to WikiLeaks through a third party. ... Assange once told me that he did not 'accept' the allegation that Russia had provided him e-mails through a third party, which of course was different from saying that the allegation was untrue. I asked if he was even able to know the chain of custody of his election material before it came to him. He declined to answer." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=b4ab8fc10ea0ca00f01c8fece304e0f3726376bfd5558e923dc5090e76a4a2184fbaca1ecc2afa55bcc8cb222610f98bab0e9869ff412820

MEDIAWATCH -- "Pulitzer-Winner James Risen Joins The Intercept And First Look Media," by HuffPost's Michael Calderone: "At the Intercept, Risen will serve as senior national security correspondent, writing a column based on his own reporting, and help steer the site's investigative work. ... Risen, 62, was among the most prominent journalists to leave the New York Times last month in the paper's latest round of buyouts. ... Risen ... was part of a Pulitzer Prize-winning team delving into the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks and won a second Pulitzer with colleague Eric Lichtblau for their 2005 investigation into the National Security Agency's secret domestic spying
 program." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=b4ab8fc10ea0ca00ae9ca826880b2f3490f0e47f3188f30246ff996a6511c7d6b3ca735c1969ede94137f1b88564909f4ae175b000736477 

--NEW DOC ABOUT THE NYT -- per Hadas Gold's Morning Media: "A crew is filming inside the New York Times for a documentary about the paper's coverage of the president, two sources told me. They've filmed meetings, reporters on the phone and other material in both Washington and New York. It's not clear who is behind the film and Times spokespeople declined to comment."

                  Playbookers         
SPOTTED at this weekend's annual Congressional Black Caucus Institute's policy conference in Tunica, Mississippi hosted by Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.): Rev. William Barber, D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser, FCC Commissioner Mignon Clyburn, Dr. Michael Lomax, Spencer Overton, Mary Cathryn Ricker, Derrick Figures, Derrick Johnson, Paul Brathwaite, Tracie Washington, DuJuan McCoy, Gwen Brown, Karis Gutter, Cherie Wilson, Barbara Whye, LaKeitha Anderson, Derron Parks, Nichole Reynolds, Alonzo Byrd, LeMia Jenkins, Erica Johnson, Calvin Smyre, Alvin Brown, Steven Horsford, Hassan Solomon, Marcus Jadotte, Wanda Townsend, Curtis Etherly, Franklin Davis, Julia Chaney, Dionna Dorsey, LaQuita Honeysucker,
 Montee Wynn, Ebony Simpson, Portia White, Earl Jones, Leroy Nix, Albert Wynn and Ibn Salaam.

WEEKEND WEDDING -- Eric Walker, the incoming communications director for the Colorado Democratic Party and former DNC deputy communications director, and Madison Case, senior manager of public affairs for The GRODAN Group, were married Saturday in front of family and friends in a traditional Jewish wedding ceremony at the National Museum of Women in the Arts in downtown D.C. "The bride and groom took their pre-wedding photos at the U.S. Capitol, and Eric joined the father of the bride on guitar for a song with the band. The couple are moving to Denver at the end of the month. ... [T]hey've been dating three years and their first date was at the Brixton. They got engaged in Turks and Caicos
 on the beach in November of 2016." Pic http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=b4ab8fc10ea0ca003ed3b610a501b37d20a17df00c6f62ea00b4f949ee93059ac141a803c47cc522c449ffc3e9c9daefdcdeb22cfa2e9a6e 

ENGAGED - Adam Janov, analyst at the State Department, proposed yesterday to Katie Hughes, account manager at Washingtonian and a Politico alum. "Adam and I met studying abroad our senior year at University of Maryland in New Zealand. He proposed here in Fort Collins, Colorado on vacation visiting his family who recently relocated from the D.C. area." Pic http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=b4ab8fc10ea0ca0093f6eb4f154b47c1df87496b65b29b670a54d58da09db3e9042b25b0d9d16d2fe84b4b2db893cb69ee6815f2b4a097f0 

TRANSITIONS - Amanda DeBard is joining the National Beer Wholesalers Association as communications director. She has most recently worked as a comms consultant for clients including NAM and was an editor at SmartBrief. ... ILLINOIS GOV. BRUCE RAUNER has hired Betsy Ankney as campaign manager. Ankney managed Sen. Ron Johnson's (R-Wis.) campaign.  http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=b4ab8fc10ea0ca009442f4473d4405b62b40c4890653493d1de2d1a46229d670280ebb77dfd432cb08f3f5b83160a508c9a3cceabc18b0bc

BIRTHWEEK (was yesterday): Jamestown Associates CEO and Trump ad man Larry Weitzner (hat tip: Barney Keller, who was on time)

BIRTHDAYS OF THE DAY: NYT's Adam Goldman, a Pulitzer Prize winner, celebrating on "an undisclosed spot along the coast of North Carolina." How he got his start in journalism: "Got a job at a little newspaper called The Daily Progress in Charlottesville, Va. I covered city hall for $8 an hour." Read his Playbook Plus Q&A: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=b4ab8fc10ea0ca0072febff12536eb78d64fbba1f1188367fb6f6bcebb84873a0fcf4a063777b511b2d8e825626342933a09171c0541efa2 ... Boris Epshteyn, chief political analyst at Sinclair Broadcast Group, host of "Bottom Line with Boris" and former special assistant to President Trump, is 35. A fun fact: "When my wife [Lauren] and I first started dating at Georgetown University we wrote a 'he says/she says' opinion column in the Georgetown Hoya newspaper
 about the best places to go on dates in DC. We published our top 100 columns as a book called 'Where to Date in D.C.'" Q&A: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=b4ab8fc10ea0ca004a1ba5c917a72debcae84336b5cf06b308e8454922737f10774ebf9fa1c210b32f70986b66fc299c51fac7d7400c2c0e 

BIRTHDAYS: Jen Myers, executive director at Jennifer Bush-Lawson Foundation (hubby tip: Sam) ... Politico's Peter Canellos and Shoaib Qureshi ... Rob Flaherty, deputy digital director at Priorities USA, is 26. He celebrated with friends on Friday night with karaoke and margaritas and then bullpen seats on Sunday at the Nats game ... Bill Couch ... Tim Carney, commentary editor at the Washington Examiner ... Lori Montgomery, WaPo deputy national editor ... Ian Rayder of Cisco gov't affairs ... Katrin Bennhold, NYT correspondent based in London (h/t Ben Chang) ... David Ellis, senior associate at Energy Futures Initiative and a CQ alum ... Rep. Louise M. Slaughter (D-N.Y.) is 88 ... Darren
 Goode, communications director at ClearPath Foundation, is 43 ... Sean Miles, Florida Gov. Rick Scott's senior adviser, is 5-0 (h/t Bo Ollison) ... Tiffany Stecker, environment reporter at Bloomberg BNA ... Jessica Pavel ... Social Security is 82 ... Rep. Mark Pocan (D-Wis.) is 53 ... former Rep. Tom Campbell (R-Calif.) is 65 ... former Rep. Robin Hayes (R-NC) is 72 ... Gary Endicott ...

... John Meza, Rep. Beto O'Rourke's comms. director, is 31 ... Matt J. Lauer, EVP at Qorvis/MSLGroup (h/t Kevin Chaffee) ... Erik Sperling ... Politico Europe's Maia De La Baume (h/t sister Josephine) ... Paige Decker ... Gray Kinsella ... Melissa Johnson ... Josh Goldberg ... Jeff Krehely ... Colby Bermel, energy reporter at S&P Global Market Intelligence, is 24 ... Spike Whitney ... Mark Mitchell ... Jane Hautanen ... Eric Wohlschlegel ... Nicole Stickel ... Matt Nappe ... Alia Awadallah ... Jon Hoadley ... Jon Selib is 42 ... Bill Couch ... DCCC's Dan Sena ... Josh Freed ... Catherine Coleman Flowers ... comedian-actor Steve Martin is 72 ... Susan Saint James is 71 ... Kate Carr ...
 Denise Feriozzi (h/ts Teresa Vilmain)

****** A message from the Coalition for Affordable Prescription Drugs (CAPD): The high prices that drug makers set for prescription drugs can put financial strain on patients, employers, unions and others who provide health care coverage to more than 50 percent of Americans. Pharmacy benefit managers negotiate the lowest net price for prescriptions on behalf of employers, unions and government programs. But, as list prices - the starting point for those negotiations -- continue their nearly double-digit increases, the effects ripple throughout the system. The key to ensuring greater access and affordability lies in fostering greater competition. Facilitating faster reviews of generics and
 biosimilars, identifying off-patent drugs with little or no generic competition, and ending anti-competitive practices that keep safe, effective alternatives out of the market are also key to abating rising drug costs for patients. Learn more at affordableprescriptiondrugs.org ******

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