Subject: POLITICO Playbook, presented by the Alzheimer’s Association: What we’ve learned this week
From: "Anna Palmer Jake Sherman Daniel Lippman" <[email-masked]>
To: <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 20 Jul 2018 04:11:45 -0600
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Today's POLITICO Playbook presented by the Alzheimer's Association 
            
By JAKE SHERMAN ([email-masked]; @JakeSherman), ANNA PALMER ([email-masked]; @apalmerdc) and DANIEL LIPPMAN ([email-masked]; @dlippman)
        
Today's Audio Briefing
                  Driving the Day         
JUST POSTED - "Bill Shine, Trump's Top Communicator, Was Questioned by Federal Prosecutors," by NYT's Elizabeth Williamson and Emily Steel: "Mr. Shine's appointment to the White House job has drawn criticism from some women who worked for him at Fox News, and has brought new scrutiny of his record there. In one previously undisclosed action, Mr. Shine was subpoenaed last year by a federal grand jury in New York as part of a criminal investigation into Fox News's handling of sexual harassment complaints, according to a document viewed by The New York Times." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=edffeda7b5286aab35dd90c95aef94833635c3c43cf93e67064745448e17746fb1b8205becc0a40819566f5ad2462f92 

LET'S TAKE A STEP BACK ... WE HAVE HAD a lot of unconventional weeks since DONALD TRUMP took office in January 2017. But we are closing what might be one of the most humiliating weeks in Trump's presidency -- one that left his supporters cringing and worried for the future of the country.

WHAT WE'VE LEARNED THIS WEEK ... 

-- RUSSIA IS WHERE REPUBLICANS STAND UP TO PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP. Trump smashed Republican trade orthodoxy. He boosted the debts and deficits they once looked to erase, and tore up the GOP's claim on fiscal discipline. All the while, Republicans stood behind him. We can't put too fine of a point on this -- these were once matters of almost biblical importance to the GOP. 

BUT REPUBLICANS have found their voice and have stood up in unprecedented numbers after it seemed like Trump was cozying up to RUSSIA and its strongman president VLADIMIR PUTIN. It's black and white, one Republican told us -- there are no two sides to the issue. This is a defining issue for the Republican Party -- even if Congress isn't pushing back on Trump legislatively, as Democrats have pressed them to do. 

BY THE WAY, there is next to no chance Putin will get the invite to the Capitol when he comes to D.C., sources told us.

THE MODERN GOP was born, in large measure, around confronting the "evil empire" of Russia. In defying traditional Republican thought on trade and budget, Trump was doing so in the context of looking strong and flexible. In his sidling up to Putin -- and the subsequent clean-up -- he has almost universally been seen as looking weak.

-- JOHN KELLY LEAVING? WHO CARES. The Washington parlor game about when John Kelly will actually leave the White House could not be more irrelevant. He's already gone. Whether he has a hard pass or not is irrelevant. The president equated Putin's word to the word of his director of national intelligence. He met with Putin with no one besides an interpreter. He allowed his press secretary to go out in public and leave open the possibility that they might ship a former U.S. ambassador to Moscow back into the arms of Mother Russia. Clearly the chief of staff has no ability to rein in his boss or effectively manage up. 

-- TRUMP'S OWN PEOPLE ARE USING TRUMP-STYLE TACTICS TO DEFY THE BOSS. Trump's aides are mixing it up publicly, often in defiance of their boss. DNI Dan Coats -- himself a 26-year veteran of Congress -- put out a statement after the Putin summit saying he would keep analyzing intelligence the way he knew best, thank you very much. During an appearance with NBC's Andrea Mitchell at the Aspen Security Forum, Coats was in open defiance of Trump when he was told Putin was coming to the White House in the fall. "Say that again," he said with a laugh. She repeated the announcement and he then said: "OK. ... That's gonna be special."

DHS Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen also said in Aspen yesterday that it would be "foolish" to think Russia gave up meddling in the U.S. election apparatus. And FBI Director Christopher Wray told Lester Holt that he disagrees with Trump on Russia meddling and that special prosecutor Robert Mueller's probe isn't a witch hunt. 

COATS FALLOUT -- WAPO'S SHANE HARRIS, FELICIA SONMEZ and JOHN WAGNER:"Underscoring how little is known about the [Trump-Putin] meeting, Coats acknowledged that he has not been told what happened in the room. Asked whether it was possible Putin had secretly recorded the more-than two-hour meeting, Coats answered, 'That risk is always there.' 

"Inside the White House, Trump's advisers were in an uproar over Coats's interview in Aspen, Colo. They said the optics were especially damaging, noting that at moments Coats appeared to be laughing at the president, playing to his audience of the intellectual elite in a manner that was sure to infuriate Trump. 'Coats has gone rogue,' said one senior White House official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to provide a candid assessment. 

"After Coats indirectly rebuked Trump's Helsinki performance on Monday, senior administration officials were concerned that the intelligence director could perhaps resign and so implored Trump to reassure Coats and calm the waters. Trump tried to do just that on Wednesday in an interview with CBS Evening News anchor Jeff Glor, singling out Coats by name for praise. A transcript of the president's interview was sent to Coats to ensure the director of national intelligence saw the comments." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=92e547e969245f0c56ba7fcdfc11cd1118a9307993137b011306e903b0ffc71a3b2af6de61730dde898437999002cc39 ... The amazing video http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=92e547e969245f0cdca1486210d75653b7b39750b5074cca1b5e994eb7dead822d673e3a0ce9d8b09b44ed8fca2ae1a2 ... Full video http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=92e547e969245f0cc4bc10e1d65697f821ee04cfc0b8caff9df5c232e70771089b17b1b738babc46e65c82e5e49ea056 

-- @ChrisMegerian: "Dan Coats says he starts his mornings by asking his staff to 'tell me the bad things that happened since I fell asleep.'"

SCOOP: BIPARTISAN PUSHBACK ON RUSSIA -- "Russia sanctions bill gains bipartisan traction in Senate," by Elana Schor: "Sens. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) and Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) are stepping up their push for action on their bipartisan proposal to hit Russia with automatic new sanctions for future interference in U.S. elections.

"Rubio and Van Hollen have asked bipartisan leaders of the Banking and Foreign Relations committees, which share jurisdiction over sanctions legislation, to hold a hearing on and mark up their plan to impose new penalties on Moscow within 10 days after the director of national intelligence determines that further electoral meddling has occurred." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=92e547e969245f0c13b05c408d71abb461f52a2f0813aa11e01e8bdcab722217895dc85085bd0e7697591f81f1197540 

-- BUT, BUT, BUT: -- L.A. TIMES' SARAH WIRE (@sarahdwire): ".@JohnCornyn and @RandPaul block two non-binding resolutions to back U.S. intelligence communities, etc in response to the President's meeting with Putin in Helsinki".

****** A message from the Alzheimer's Association: Alzheimer's is the most expensive disease in the country. Every hour, Alzheimer's costs taxpayers $21 million dollars. Today, Alzheimer's costs the country $277 billion a year and that will quadruple to more than $1 trillion over the next generation. Funding for Alzheimer's research must increase. Learn more at alz.org/askcongress ******

MORE PUTIN-TRUMP SUMMIT FALLOUT -- "Putin Tells Diplomats He Made Trump a New Offer on Ukraine at Their Summit," by Bloomberg's Ilya Arkhipov: "Vladimir Putin told Russian diplomats that he made a proposal to Donald Trump at their summit this week to hold a referendum to help resolve the conflict in eastern Ukraine, but agreed not to disclose the plan publicly so the U.S. president could consider it, according to two people who attended Putin's closed-door speech on Thursday." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=92e547e969245f0c0d247bc1b5887661c59b40c975f4023894567736af99cc6049c0e19b91b1fa9d00208541ce284518

-- Susan Glasser (@sbg1): "Days after Helsinki, it's like the US government has disappeared. Russians brief on summit 'agreements' with Trump. What happened to SecState Pompeo, NSA Bolton? Are there deals or not? Where are the briefings about what happened?" Glasser's latest New Yorker column, "'No Way to Run a Superpower': The Trump-Putin Summit and the Death of American Foreign Policy" http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=92e547e969245f0ccf1eb083173c8e550244da2b604a321345fe07371ec1e2e6d03413d57dfc32e34d5d42f9a61f89b4 

CASE IN POINT -- "Senior Army General Says He Has 'No New Guidance' About Trump-Putin Summit," by WSJ's Nancy A. Youssef: "A top commander of U.S. military operations in Syria said he wasn't informed of any agreements President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin reached at their summit this week. 

"Army Gen. Joseph Votel, commander of U.S. Central Command, which is responsible for the Middle East, said Thursday in a briefing with reporters that he had 'no new guidance as a result of Helsinki' ... But U.S. officials across government have said they aren't clear what the two leaders agreed upon." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=92e547e969245f0ccf768f93fb3bcd6418103b3c46c7adab48684a22ef535ad15592857c9dc7ab6d643b435637445516 

IN FOGGY BOTTOM -- "Foreign Service officers fear Trump may erode diplomatic immunity," by Nahal Toosi: "The White House's suggestion that it may allow Russia to interrogate a former U.S. ambassador, among other Americans, has infuriated U.S. officials who fear such a move would badly undermine core legal protections offered to foreign service officers overseas. Although the Trump administration tried to backtrack on the issue Thursday, the anger exposed the ongoing tensions between the White House and U.S. diplomats. 

"It also left some asking whether President Donald Trump and his top aides understood a basic pillar of international diplomacy. 'I can't imagine who would accept an ambassadorial nomination in light of this betrayal,' Dana Shell Smith, a former U.S. ambassador to Qatar, said ahead of the administration's apparent reversal. 

"The concept at stake is 'diplomatic immunity' - a long agreed-upon international rule that gives diplomats of any country protection from being legally prosecuted by the countries where they are serving in embassies and other outposts." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=92e547e969245f0c0ff796f11e4e47cb6b8e70a7d0217ac2bb736a89b23e8cecb3dd230beb05687c858184c1a497c703 

AS IF ON CUE -- "White House morale tanks amid Helsinki fallout: Staffers are considering accelerating their departures in the wake of the president's equivocations on Russian meddling in the 2016 election," by Eliana Johnson: "President Donald Trump's disastrous performance since his news conference alongside Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin has sent West Wing morale to its lowest level since the Charlottesville fiasco almost a year ago. ... 

"'People are just depressed,' said one Republican close to the White House. 'Nobody wants to take on the public heat of resigning right now, but there are a bunch of people who were thinking maybe they'd leave after the midterms who are very seriously starting to consider accelerating their timetable.'" http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=92e547e969245f0c25bb87b07b86d1934df724f8d2f546e0a0dfdcba1bf570726fa82cca9966f16234d1ccf72705c6d8 

IT'S NO BETTER ON THE OUTSIDE -- "Objections erupt at UVa over appointment of top Trump aide," by Benjamin Wermund: "University of Virginia professors, alumni and others are up in arms over the school's plan to hire President Donald Trump's former legislative affairs director, calling it 'unconscionable' as the one-year anniversary of the deadly white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, approaches.

"Marc Short, a frequent Trump spokesman on television, is leaving the White House Friday and, beginning in August, will teach at the university's business school, where he earned an MBA. He is also slated to serve as a senior fellow at the Miller Center, a wing of the university focused on presidential history and public policy.

"But an online petition blasts the school for hiring Short, saying 'the university should not serve as a waystation for high-level members of an administration that has directly harmed our community.' The petition was circulated on social media on Thursday." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=27a3703e77c60a3f46a5be35b5dfbf40c1528bd0d7f7061615d1c268d2c6e339097e1282883a030f0f9151d3ba082c51

TOP-ED -- REP. WILL HURD (R-Texas) in the NYT, "Trump Is Being Manipulated by Putin. What Should We Do?": "Over the course of my career as an undercover officer in the C.I.A., I saw Russian intelligence manipulate many people. I never thought I would see the day when an American president would be one of them. The president's failure to defend the United States intelligence community's unanimous conclusions of Russian meddling in the 2016 election and condemn Russian covert counterinfluence campaigns and his standing idle on the world stage while a Russian dictator spouted lies confused many but should concern all Americans.

"By playing into Vladimir Putin's hands, the leader of the free world actively participated in a Russian disinformation campaign that legitimized Russian denial and weakened the credibility of the United States to both our friends and foes abroad.

"As a member of Congress, a coequal branch of government designed by our founders to provide checks and balances on the executive branch, I believe that lawmakers must fulfill our oversight duty as well as keep the American people informed of the current danger. Somehow many Americans have forgotten that Russia is our adversary, not our ally, and the reasons for today's tensions go back much farther than the 2016 election." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=27a3703e77c60a3fd86bdc8103e811b3f94b5cc03225c5a7f15a8dfbdfaf8f9d09ed09661543be47aaec1de0e031fad5 

SCOTUS WATCH -- "McConnell issues Supreme Court ultimatum," by Elana Schor and Burgess Everett: "Mitch McConnell has a warning for Democrats demanding copious documents on Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh: Be careful what you wish for. The Senate majority leader privately told senior Republicans on Wednesday that if Democrats keep pushing for access to upwards of a million pages in records from President Donald Trump's high court pick, he's prepared to let Kavanaugh's confirmation vote slip until just before November's midterm elections, according to multiple sources.

"Delaying the vote past September would serve a dual purpose for McConnell, keeping vulnerable red-state Democrats off the campaign trail while potentially forcing anti-Kavanaugh liberals to swallow a demoralizing defeat just ahead of the midterms. Senators said McConnell believes the Democratic base will be 'deflated' if they raise hopes of defeating Kavanaugh only to lose just days before the election.

"Democrats have no intention of backing down in their call for maximum transparency about Kavanaugh's record, but the GOP is betting that they'll start to sweat the Supreme Court timeline as the summer wears on." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=27a3703e77c60a3fcf2884d287bf5983842bc7a9305239d17743d887bb438e954534fdff3bf8d57ea6495c3b32ced161

PROFESSOR KAVANAUGH ... NYT'S ADAM LIPTAK: "'Best Professor.' 'Very Evenhanded.' 'Great Hair!': Brett Kavanaugh, as Seen by His Law Students": "Judge Kavanaugh taught once at Georgetown and once at Yale but did most of his teaching at Harvard, where he was hired by Justice Elena Kagan, who was the law school's dean before her appointment first as solicitor general and then as a Supreme Court justice by President Barack Obama. Some Harvard students said his class attracted a larger than usual proportion of conservative students, particularly in the early years.

"'There was a heavy Federalist Society tilt in the enrollment of the class ... but Judge Kavanaugh's presentation seemed very evenhanded.'" http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=27a3703e77c60a3f28cc170a23838d30017dd053d34e33bd59ed621f17f8340f42c6319cc51f0711fd27bee2f2a0f1f4 

THE JUICE ...

-- FIRST IN PLAYBOOK ... SENATE MAJORITY PAC, the Senate Democrat-linked outside group, raised $14 million in June and has $32.6 million on hand. 

-- FIRST IN PLAYBOOK: DAN BALZ is returning to the Institute of Politics at Harvard Kennedy School to be a senior fellow for the 2018-19 academic year. He's staying at the Washington Post.

-- TRANSITION, per POLITICO Influence: "Nadeam Elshami, who was chief of staff to House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, will join Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck next week as a policy director. Elshami joins Brownstein, less than a year after joining Signal Group as executive vice president."

TRUMP'S FRIDAY -- THE PRESIDENT is leaving D.C. at 3:30 p.m. for his home in New Jersey.

          Playbook Reads         

PHOTO DU JOUR: President Donald Trump holds up an executive order establishing a National Council for the American Worker at a White House ceremony Thursday. | Andrew Harnik/AP Photo

BURGESS EVERETT: "Trump judicial nominee pulled over racially charged writings": "Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) pulled the nomination of Ryan Bounds to serve on the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals from the Senate floor after it became clear Thursday that a number of Republicans would oppose him over racially-charged writings in Bounds's record. 

"The move came after Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.) on Thursday morning flagged Bounds's past commentary with Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.). The Florida senator then reviewed the record of Bounds, who was nominated by President Donald Trump. Rubio, who had grown close to Scott during his 2016 White House campaign, soon after sided with Scott against the nomination, according to two people familiar the matter. ...

"As an undergraduate at Stanford, Bounds, now 45, had lamented organizations on campus that 'divide up by race for their feel-good ethnic hoedowns' and called for those groups to be discontinued, among other racially charged remarks, according to a report from the Alliance for Justice." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=27a3703e77c60a3faacac3427db3cc631a5a48c16ace7fac6e09e924a0c7fe6f28024ca268b3e7957b9e4f2df942fbef 

THE FIGHT FOR NO. 4 -- "Jeffries weighs bid for Democratic Caucus chairman," by Heather Caygle: "Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, the three-term lawmaker from New York and one of Democrats' rising stars, is considering jumping in the race for Democratic Caucus chair, he told POLITICO Thursday. Jeffries said the race is something he's going to look at closely 'in the next several days' but added an official announcement before members leave for recess next week is unlikely. 

"Instead, Jeffries told POLITICO he will probably head into the five-week August break 'without committing to one thing or the other' in hopes of not distracting from the bigger task at hand - the midterms. 'I still believe that we absolutely need to keep our focus on taking back the House,' Jeffries said." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=27a3703e77c60a3f6e75e8ae6c1b43d9ba1b4960808c38efe46176acb8be5c664ace728fb422c11ef853a41b9e347551 

THE TRUMP ADMINISTRATION - "Endangered Species Act stripped of key provisions in Trump administration proposal," by WaPo's Darryl Fears: "The Trump administration unveiled a proposal Thursday that would strip the Endangered Species Act of key provisions, a move that conservationists say would weaken a law enacted 45 years ago to keep plant and animal species in decline from going extinct. The proposal, announced jointly by the Interior and Commerce departments, which are charged with protecting endangered wildlife, would end the practice of extending similar protections to species regardless of whether they are listed as endangered or threatened.

"If the proposal is approved, likely by year's end, protections for threatened plants and animals would be made on a case-by-case basis. In another rollback of a key provision, the administration wants the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to strike language that guides officials to ignore economic impacts when determining how wildlife should be protected." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=27a3703e77c60a3f4f22e7f25a66876c492adfb9d6378e191bbb9e41a72378f03c951c0796a1a44d6d0343a9cc511c8c 

FOREIGN MEDDLING RECAP ... "Justice Department plans to alert public to foreign operations targeting U.S. democracy," by WaPo's Ellen Nakashima: "'Exposing schemes to the public is an important way to neutralize them,' said Deputy Attorney General Rod J. Rosenstein, who announced the policy at the Aspen Security Forum in Colorado." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=27a3703e77c60a3f9940dc74575b6767021cbe2bd3ec09b910446c0ac8fc494419d6dc09589c024450bbcbbef526f595

-- "The Russians Who Hacked The DNC Have Targeted At Least Three 2018 Campaigns, Microsoft Says," by BuzzFeed's Kevin Collier: "The same Russian intelligence agency charged with hacking Democrats' emails in 2016 has targeted at least three candidates running for election in 2018, a Microsoft executive said. Speaking on a panel at the Aspen Security Forum on Thursday, Tom Burt, Microsoft's vice president for customer security and trust, said that his team had discovered a spear-phishing campaign targeting three candidates running for election in 2018." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=27a3703e77c60a3fbebd8df0d6bb7b5391d352d0aaab277a3dbdf0c6a3c63252b7b669929dbdfd590a0292035fedb3c8 

-- "Three Top FBI Cybersecurity Officials to Retire," by WSJ's Dustin Volz and Shelby Holliday: "Three of the top cybersecurity officials at the Federal Bureau of Investigation are retiring from government service, according to people familiar with the matter-departures that come as cyberattacks are a major concern for the country's security agencies." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=6258b9a7999eb4ef79d5781a9a04f1930b7bf888eb8b0c4f8c7dc768724cd8e8bb138a2cc30c391822ac9430e21e6681 

****** A message from the Alzheimer's Association: Costing taxpayers $21 million every HOUR, Alzheimer's is the most expensive disease in the country. More than 5 million Americans are living with Alzheimer's and 16 million family and friends are providing care. Alzheimer's is a national issue, and needs a national response. Alzheimer's yearly cost of $277 billion will quadruple to more than $1 trillion over the next generation - a crisis we cannot afford and shouldn't accept. While it is the only leading cause of death that can't be prevented, cured, or even slowed, research and medical advancement can change that. That's why the Alzheimer's Association is fighting to end the disease
 through the advancement of research, while also providing care and support for all affected. Learn more at alz.org/askcongress. ******

VALLEY TALK - "Congratulations, Mr. President: Zuckerberg Secretly Called Trump After The Election," by BuzzFeed's Ryan Mac and Charlie Warzel: "In the days following Donald Trump's election victory over Hillary Clinton, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg placed a secret, previously unreported call to the president-elect during which, sources told BuzzFeed News, he congratulated the Trump team on its victory and successful campaign, which spent millions of dollars on advertising with Facebook. ... While Facebook has been reluctant to publicly acknowledge how well Trump used its social network to reach voters, it has celebrated the Republican presidential candidate's campaign internally as one of
 the most imaginative uses of the company's powerful advertising platform.

"In addition to interviews with Trump campaign staffers and former Facebook employees, BuzzFeed News obtained company presentations and memos that show the social media giant viewed Trump's campaign as an 'innovator' of a fast-moving, test-oriented approach to marketing on Facebook." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=6258b9a7999eb4ef2d2b0e825da99eb02c021c12267059589c21a28c44d6498e93be747dedc9b7d049cc0d6f24f49aeb 

MEDIAWATCH - "Rival networks see boost from Sinclair deal's likely demise," by Jason Schwartz: "After the Federal Communications Commission's likely death blow to Sinclair Broadcasting Group's $3.9 billion proposed merger with Tribune Media, there is at least one group of clear winners: rival conservative TV news outlets. Newsmax and its CEO, Chris Ruddy, lobbied particularly hard against the deal, both in the news media and with the government, and One America News Network also actively opposed it.

"But if the Sinclair deal does go down, the biggest beneficiary will be Fox News and Rupert Murdoch, analysts and experts say. For months, Sinclair has been laying the groundwork to launch a block of conservative TV programming, likely on WGN America, a Tribune cable network. ... Ruddy, a friend of President Donald Trump, said he discussed his opposition to the merger with the president. 'I did chat with him about my concerns about the deal,' Ruddy said." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=6258b9a7999eb4efb29fafe6d0680efe66a031e9526dffadefc3e03430a4ecb18bea315c1f6c67ce1028bf3f93ac3e6f 

-- "U.S.-Funded Broadcaster Directed Ads to Americans," by NYT's Kevin Roose: "A broadcasting organization backed by the federal government has used Facebook to target ads at United States citizens, in potential violation of longstanding laws meant to protect Americans from domestic propaganda. 

"Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, which typically broadcasts to audiences in Europe, Asia and the Middle East, bought several ads on Facebook in recent days that were targeted at users in the United States. The ads included several human-interest stories about Russia and a graphic about NATO's popularity. As with other state-funded media organizations, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty is mostly restricted by law from promoting its content in the United States except on request." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=6258b9a7999eb4ef672676992ec010f2151a85552d5da7823397d7358da512e6ebaf5c33c1fa00541ee52565c6fec013 

-- "Rupert Murdoch's summer of good fortune," by CNN's Hadas Gold: "Three times this summer, government regulators have had to make major decisions regarding media ownership. Three times, the decision has gone the way that Murdoch and his company, 21st Century Fox, would have wanted. Murdoch is known to speak regularly with President Donald Trump. And some of the biggest stars of Murdoch's network, Fox News, have arguably been the president's most important supporters over the past year and a half. There's no evidence that either of those things led to the regulators' decisions, or that the decisions coming together this way are anything but a coincidence, but Murdoch's string of good
 fortune has set some tongues wagging." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=6258b9a7999eb4efd705d2bc425b90bca3e5ea224b3f6b69ef67cb6ac87ce01a6ea85dcc998993f3860e311059e88b3a 

SUNDAY SO FAR - CNN's "State of the Union": Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.). Panel: Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.), former Rep. Mike Rogers (R-Mich.), Karine Jean-Pierre and Rick Santorum

-- CNN's "Inside Politics," hosted by John King: Eliana Johnson, Josh Dawsey, Manu Raju and Mary Katharine Ham

-- "Fox News Sunday," with Bret Baier guest-hosting: highlights from Chris Wallace's Putin interview ... Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-S.C.). Panel: Brit Hume, Marie Harf, Guy Benson and Juan Williams

-- ABC's "This Week": Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) ... Tom Bossert. Panel: Alex Castellanos, Stephanie Cutter, Matthew Dowd, Michelle Goldberg and Margaret Hoover. 

-- CBS' "Face the Nation": Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) ... Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez ... Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) ... Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) ... John Kerry ... Florida voter focus group with Ed O'Keefe. Political panel: Susan Page, Susan Glasser, Ramesh Ponnuru and Jeff Goldberg 
                  Playbookers         
SPOTTED: Sens. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) and Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) on a Delta flight Thursday from DCA to ATL. Booker was in first class and Corker sat in coach ... Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker leaving the West Wing yesterday ... Ivan Rodriguez yesterday at the Congressional Country Club, on the Blue Course ... Senate candidate Matt Rosendale walking out of the NRSC Thursday afternoon - pic http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=6258b9a7999eb4ef7338a75505d30f53ae3cfb991dee5ae2e20786aab98f4f28f11282e73522efe8229c71e839c9eb05 ... 

... Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.), Sen. Ben Sasse (R-Neb.) and Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa) on a Southwest flight from DCA to Omaha.

BIRTHWEEK (was Sunday): S&eacute;verine de Lartigue, social secretary to the Ambassador of France to the U.S. ... (was yesterday): Kelly Magsamen, VP for national security and international policy at CAP (hat tip: Ben Chang) ... Daniel Kile, executive editor of Vanity Fair, turned 40 (h/t Brian Ulicky)

BIRTHDAY OF THE DAY: Jamal Simmons, host of a new hill.tv show coming late summer. He's celebrating with his wife and son Truth, who was born four months ago. A trend he thinks deserves more attention: "The burgeoning innovation crisis. We have seen new company starts flatten out, small business loans drop, and 76% of VC money concentrate in California, NY and Massachusetts. The average white guy startup founder can raise about $1.3 million in VC funds while a black woman raises about $36,000 on average. We have to democratize entrepreneurship and investment if we hope to maintain our lead in innovation." Read his Playbook Plus Q&A: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=6258b9a7999eb4ef8c485e7f98a2609d39d3cdd338976914cd93b8740d1b31acb83e028f023fd1215d70c73170dcc94d 

BIRTHDAYS: The Nats' Stephen Strasburg is 3-0. He is starting tonight against the Braves at Nats Park ... Katrina Pierson, senior adviser for the Trump 2020 campaign ... CNN political director David Chalian ... Anita Decker Breckenridge ... Katie Price, WH production assistant (h/t Ninio Fetalvo) ... former Sen. Barbara Mikulski (D-Md.) is 82 ... Ed Henry, chief national correspondent at Fox News, is 47 (h/ts Jack and Susanna Quinn) ... Lucas Baiano is 3-0 ... NYT alum Stuart Elliott ... Andrew Do ... former Sen. Larry Craig (R-Idaho) is 73 ... Frank Reynolds ... James Gibson ... Jon Kuhl (h/t Jon Haber) ... Julia Pyper ... Anne MacDonald ... Politico's David Giambusso and Aloise Phelps ...
 Sarah Guo ... Robert Jones, VP at GS Strategy Group ... Patrick Kelly, speechwriter for Mayor Emanuel ... Hunter McKay, a marketing manager at the Pinkston Group (h/t Amanda Gonzalez Thompson) ... NBC News senior publicist Joya Manasseh (h/ts Olivia Petersen and Rachel Zuckerman) ... 

... Franklin Foer, staff writer at the Atlantic and author of "World Without Mind," coming out in September ... BuzzFeed's Steven Perlberg (h/t Katherine Miller) ... Amy Elinski (h/t Chris Gordon) ... Leah Grace Denny ... Ashley Morgan ... Don Seymour, U.S. politics and gov't outreach manager at Facebook ... Paula Cino of NMHC (h/t Colin Dunn) ... Julie Sarne, senior associate at HPS and #1 UMich fan (h/ts Elliott Owensby and Savannah Haeger) ... Richard Kolko ... Justin Dews, associate counsel for NJ Gov. Phil Murphy ... Tate Ericson ... Chris Hartmann ... Julie Sarne ... David Schwartz ... Jeff Liszt ... Katie Paris ... Julie Edwards ... Christopher Harvin ... ABC News' Kirit Radia ...
 Christina Hage ... Tom Diaz ... Carrie Simms ... Annie McLean. 

****** A message from the Alzheimer's Association: Alzheimer's is not a red or blue issue. 73 million American voters - nearly half - know or have known someone with Alzheimer's or another dementia. And nearly a quarter of all registered voters have served as an unpaid caregiver to a friend or relative with the disease. Alzheimer's remains the only leading cause of death in the United States that cannot be prevented, cured or even slowed - yet. Only medical breakthroughs can change that. The Alzheimer's Association is committed to supporting advancements in research that will lead to the first Alzheimer's survivor. With 4 in every 5 voters supporting an increase in federal funding for
 Alzheimer's research, Congress should make the same commitment. Learn more at alz.org/askcongress. ******

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