Subject: POLITICO Playbook: What the White House should be worried about
From: "Anna Palmer Jake Sherman Daniel Lippman" <[email-masked]>
To: <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 03 Aug 2018 04:19:15 -0600
List-Id: <1376319.xt.local>

Presented by the PepsiCo Foundation: Playbook is POLITICO's must-read briefing on what's driving the day in Washington             Aug 03, 2018 View in browser                   
 By Jake Sherman, Anna Palmer and Daniel Lippman 
             
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              DRIVING THE DAY      
REPUBLICANS AND DEMOCRATS don't agree on much these days, but perhaps the thing we hear the most from both on Capitol Hill is just how intense congressional investigations will get if the House or Senate flip.

ON THE LEGISLATIVE FRONT, it's clear PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP will have to adjust to a new reality. But an equally important thing to think about is just how many subpoenas will be flying if Democrats have control of the House.

FOR EXAMPLE, take a look at this BuzzFeed story by Tarini Parti and Jeremy Singer-Vine. "Democratic Senators Want An Investigation Into Trump's Air Force One Tours" 

FOR RIGHT NOW, Democrats can ask for whatever investigation they want, but they won't get a blessed thing. If Democrats take control of the House, they'll have subpoena power, and they can drag whoever they want to the Capitol for an interview or hearing. It is, perhaps, the most powerful tool the majority has. Democrats can -- and will -- investigate everything from the president and his businesses down to agencies and how they operate. 

REP. DARRELL ISSA (R-CALIF.), as chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, did this quite successfully in 2010 and 2011. 

HEADS UP ... JOBS NUMBERS come out this morning.

ARGUING WITH THE UMPIRE ... "'They Can Make Anything Bad': Trump Bashes a Familiar Foe," by NYT's Emily Cochrane in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania: "President Trump devoted the majority of his time at a rowdy rally here on Thursday targeting the news media, deriding the reporters present as 'fake, fake disgusting news.' The rally, intended to galvanize support for Representative Lou Barletta, a Republican who is running for Senate in this fall's midterm elections, did eventually turn to what Mr. Trump called 'boring subjects,' but for much of the event, the president focused on his multiple grievances with the Washington press corps.

"It underscored yet another day of tensions between the White House and the news media. ... And while en route to Pennsylvania, Mr. Trump sought to play down comments from Ivanka Trump, his elder daughter and senior adviser, that explicitly disagreed with his description of journalists as 'the enemy of the people.' During the rally, supporters gleefully booed at every dig at the so-called fake news, laughing and jeering as Mr. Trump recalled conversations with his wife, Melania, about anticipating positive coverage, only to be disappointed by what he deemed to be critical headlines." NYT

-- TRUMP: "I have great respect for the U.K. United Kingdom. Great respect. People call it Britain. They call it Great Britain. They used to call it England, different parts." 16-second video (h/t @kylegriffin1)

WHAT THE PRESIDENT WON'T LIKE ... THE DAILY MAIL -- "EXCLUSIVE: 'Something serious was going on in Donald's brain.' Omarosa tells how President Trump exhibited a 'mental decline that could not be denied' as she watched his rambling Lester Holt interview in her explosive book." Daily Mail

TENNESSEE REPUBLICAN REP. DIANE BLACK became the fifth House Republican to lose a bid for higher office this cycle. Businessman Bill Lee prevailed in the six-person GOP primary for governor. (h/t Daniel Strauss and James Arkin)

-- WAPO: "Tenn. GOP braces for Senate fight in Trump country vs. Democratic centrist," by Sean Sullivan: "Republicans braced Thursday for a difficult, high-stakes campaign in the heart of Trump country as Tennessee Democrats nominated a popular former governor to run for the state's open Senate seat. 

"The Associated Press projected a primary win by Phil Bredesen, who gives his party its best chance of statewide general election victory in more than a decade. He has presented himself as an affable centrist willing to work with President Trump, and his presence on the ballot forces the GOP to play defense on its home turf as the party seeks to preserve a narrow 51-49 Senate majority. 

"AP projected that the Republican nominee will be Rep. Marsha Blackburn, who is backed by Trump and has largely championed his agenda." WaPo

ALEX ISENSTADT: "RNC warns donors to steer clear of Kochs"

-- NEWSFLASH: The kind of donors that are involved in the Koch network aren't terribly interested in the RNC's warnings. Millionaires and billionaires don't like getting told what to do. Furthermore, there's probably a good deal of overlap between the RNC's top donors and members of the Koch network. 

WHAT TO EXPECT IN TODAY'S MANAFORT TRIAL, from Darren Samuelsohn ... "Week one of the Manafort trial will come to an end Friday. We start again at 9:30 a.m., ready for more Judge Ellis jokes for the jury about their lunch options and more testimony about Manafort's taxes. Questioning will resume for witness Philip Ayliff, a retired accountant who worked at the firm Manafort used for his taxes. After him is another accountant from the same tax firm, Cindy LaPorta. ... 

"Also, the mood in the room has seemed to lighten a little bit since the opening day. Ellis keeps making fun of the jurors because they've started settling into the same seat every time they return from a break. Prosecutors and defense lawyers are regularly seen smiling and chatting with each other when the court is in a recess. ... 

"Last but not least, I made my first call on a pay phone since about 2003. With no phones allowed in the courthouse, that's the only way to get word out of some news nugget without leaving the building. But since who remembers phone numbers any more I found myself having to look up Politico's main number in the White Pages! Sadly, no one answered what was listed. Then I tried 4-1-1, which still exists. But they charge 50 cents."

-- POLITICO'S JOSH GERSTEIN clarified that there are two pay phones, but one will eat your change! 

-- "Manafort trial Day 3: The bookkeeper speaks, a man-made waterfall and a Rick Gates guarantee," by Darren and Josh. POLITICO
       
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FAN GIRL TIME ... WAPO's ROBIN GIVHAN: "Paul Manafort's ostrich jacket pretty much sums up Paul Manafort": "Where to begin in the dumbfounding tale of Paul Manafort and his fashion habit? The gluttony. The indulgence. The preening bad taste. The pathetic pretentiousness of it all.

"His is the story of a man's inexorable slide into a nauseating spectacle of insatiable consumption - a parable, or perhaps, a farce that included salivating merchants flying across the country to cater to his appetites. There are so many enticing, beguiling entry points in this story of unbridled decadence: the use of wire transfers from foreign bank accounts to pay his clothing bills, the capacity to spend more than $929,000 on suits in a five-year period, a perplexing fixation on plaid sport jackets. 

"But ultimately, the one thing that most folks will remember from the first week of Manafort's trial on bank and tax fraud charges is his $15,000 ostrich-leather bomber jacket." With five pics.  WaPo

ANOTHER 10 DAYS... "Giuliani: Trump to make Mueller sit-down call within 10 days," by Kyle Cheney: "President Donald Trump and his legal team are likely to decide whether to grant special counsel Robert Mueller an interview with Trump within a 'week to 10 days,' Trump personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani said Thursday.

"The former New York City mayor said Trump's legal team will spend the weekend contemplating a new set of parameters proposed by Mueller for an interview with the president, then make a decision shortly thereafter.

"'I think our decisions will get made in the next week to 10 days,' Giuliani told POLITICO, noting that Trump intends to reside at his property in Bedminster, New Jersey until mid-August. But he added that the team is still considering declining an interview altogether, despite what he described as Trump's ongoing desire to meet with Mueller. The two sides remain deadlocked over whether Mueller will get to ask Trump about possible efforts to obstruct the FBI's investigation of Russian contacts with the Trump campaign." POLITICO

-- THIS IS JUST THE LATEST time Giuliani has invoked a short timeline for making a decision about whether the president will sit down with Mueller. Remember Trump was supposed to sit down with Mueller in January. That decision got pushed to May. Then June. And then July. We're now in August. 

-- BLOOMBERG'S SHANNON PETTYPIECE and CHRIS STROHM: "Trump Fury Over Mueller 'Conflicts' Date to Oval Office Meeting": "President Donald Trump sat with Robert Mueller in the Oval Office in May of last year to interview him for a job: director of the FBI. The next afternoon, Trump was in another Oval Office meeting when an aide interrupted with news that Mueller had taken a different post: special counsel to investigate Trump's campaign.

"Trump and Attorney General Jeff Sessions, who attended both meetings, were blindsided, according to a person familiar with both meetings. The president immediately blasted Sessions for not knowing the announcement was coming and challenged how the person he'd just interviewed for the FBI job -- and who Trump said had a past dispute with him over golf club fees -- could now be investigating him, the person said." Bloomberg

Good Friday morning. SPOTTED: Cory Booker getting pizza at &pizza in Terminal C at DCA. He was flying to New Orleans to speak at Netroots Nation. Pic ... Stan Wawrinka, the world's former #3 tennis player, hanging out at the DCA terminal A bar after suffering a loss at the Citi Open on Tuesday (pic)
       
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THE WASHINGTON NATIONALS beat the Cincinnati Reds last night 10-4. They have won three in a row.

MICHAEL COHEN'S BIZ ... "Top Trump Donor Agreed to Pay Michael Cohen $10 Million for Nuclear Project Push," by WSJ's Michael Rothfeld, Rebecca Ballhaus and Joe Palazzolo: "A major donor to President Trump agreed to pay $10 million to the president's then-personal attorney if he successfully helped obtain funding for a nuclear-power project, including a $5 billion loan from the U.S. government, according to people familiar with the matter. 

"The donor, Franklin L. Haney, gave the contract to Trump attorney Michael Cohen in early April to assist his efforts to complete a pair of unfinished nuclear reactors in Alabama, known as the Bellefonte Nuclear Power Plant ... Had he been paid the success fee, Mr. Cohen's deal with Mr. Haney could have been among the most lucrative of the known consulting agreements he secured after Mr. Trump's election by emphasizing his personal relationship with the president." WSJ

TRUMP'S FRIDAY -- The president has nothing on his public schedule. He's at his residence in New Jersey. 

PLAYBOOK ON THE ROAD -- Thank you for all the great entries so far! Send a pic of you or a friend reading Playbook on vacation to get featured next week and a chance to win a signed Matt Wuerker cartoon to [email-masked] or tweet your photos to @playbookplus with the hashtag #PlaybookLoyal -- MIKE MCCURRY, former Clinton WH press secretary now at Wesley Theological Seminary and at Public Strategies Washington: "Reading Playbook with Deep Creek Lake in the background. My 'Bowdoin' shirt is because the aunts and uncles take turns wearing swag for our nieces and nephews. Swarthmore, University of Denver and Michigan (Go Blue!) also on tap." Pic ...

... SHAWNA THOMAS of VICE News: Belize. Pic ... PETE SEAT of the Indiana Republican Party and a Bush WH alum: Niagara Falls. Pic ... IAN PRIOR, a DOJ alum recently hired by Mercury: "Stopping for lunch in Sleepy Hollow, NY on way back to VA from Martha's Vineyard." Pic ... MELISSA KELLY, chief of staff for Rep. Pete Olson (R-Texas): "Reading Playbook at a Dodgers game". Pic ... See the rest of the entries, which feature places like Moscow, Berlin, Paros, Greece, the Grand Canyon, Cape Cod, Yorba Linda, Calif., Germany, Bethlehem, Pa., Sawtooth National Forest, Idaho, Hawaii, Monterey, Calif., and Lake Michigan.
                 PLAYBOOK READS         

PHOTO DU JOUR: Bill Lee and his wife, Maria, thank supporters at a victory party in Franklin, Tennessee after Lee won the Republican nomination for governor there on Thursday. | Mark Humphrey/AP Photo 
   
FLAGGING FOR JARED AND JASON GREENBLATT ... United is launching a non-stop between Dulles and Tel Aviv. The flight begins in May. One Mile at a Time 

ILLINOIS PLAYBOOKER SHIA KAPOS in Chicago: "Rosenstein: 'I think informing the American people is an important part of deterrence'": "Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein seemed relaxed on Thursday during a gathering of his legal peers here for the American Bar Association's annual meeting. A standing ovation that lasted well over a minute might have played a role.

"Rosenstein didn't say a word about recent Republican efforts to impeach him. Nor did he utter the name Robert Mueller, the special counsel whose investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 election he is overseeing. But both issues hung in the air as the deputy attorney general spoke at length about the rule of law and the seriousness of foreign meddling.

"He managed to sound sanguine while mentioning President Donald Trump, who has shown irritation at Rosenstein's allowing Mueller to continue the inquiry for more than a year. 'President Trump selected a superb team of skilled and principled lawyers to lead the Department of Justice and our U.S. Attorney's Offices,' Rosenstein said, adding, 'Our decisions do not please all the people all the time - in case you haven't noticed.'" POLITICO

FOR YOUR RADAR -- "'Miller is not deterred': Top immigration aide pushing cuts in refugee numbers," by Nancy Cook, Nahal Toosi and Ted Hesson: "One Republican close to the White House and a former White House official familiar with the discussions predicted the cap could fall as low as 15,000 in 2019, continuing a contraction of overall immigration, both legal and illegal. A tiny group of key administration officials led by the National Security Council's Mira Ricardel were planning to meet Friday to debate the coming year's refugee cap. Late Thursday, however, a White House official said the meeting about refugees had been postponed. It is not yet determined when it will be rescheduled."
 POLITICO

         
CONCORD MONITOR: "Top N.H. Senate Democrat Jeff Woodburn arrested on domestic violence charges," by Ethan DeWitt: "New Hampshire's top-ranking Democratic Senator was arrested by Concord police Thursday on domestic violence charges, including four counts of simple assault, the attorney general's office announced. 

"Senate Democratic Leader Jeff Woodburn, 53, of Whitefield was charged with four counts of simple assault, two counts of domestic violence, two counts of criminal mischief and one count of criminal trespassing, the office said. ... The charges allege that Woodburn struck, bit and threw objects at the victim, and forced his way through a locked door and into her residence." Concord Monitor

SUNDAY SO FAR ... 
          
CNN's "State of the Union"
 
Former Mass. Gov. Deval Patrick. Panel: Rep. Nanette Barrag&aacute;n (D-Calif.), Rick Santorum, Bill Kristol and Karen Finney
   
CNN's "Inside Politics"
 
Guest-hosted by Nia-Malika Henderson: Jeff Zeleny, Catherine Lucey and Karoun Demirjian
   
NBC's "Meet the Press"
 
Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.). Panel: Al Cardenas, Helene Cooper, Bob Costa and Eliana Johnson
   
ABC's "This Week"
 
Ohio Gov. John Kasich. Panel: Chris Christie, Amanda Carpenter, Michelle Cottle, and Patrick Gaspard
   
"Fox News Sunday"
 
Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) ... Cody Wilson, director of Defense Distributed, maker of the 3D printed-gun blueprint. Panel: Karl Rove, Susan Page, Jason Riley and Philippe Reines
   
CBS' "Face the Nation"
 
Arne Duncan ... Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.). Political panel: Leslie Sanchez, Mark Landler, Seung Min Kim and Paula Reid
                         PLAYBOOKERS      
SPOTTED: Georgetown head men's basketball coach Patrick Ewing having dinner at Fiola Mare last night ... Condoleezza Rice in the lobby of the Hotel Jerome in Aspen. 

BIRTHWEEK (was yesterday): NRCC lead designer Mary Corley (hat tip: Miranda Dabney)

BIRTHDAY OF THE DAY: James Wegmann, comms director for Sen. Ben Sasse (R-Neb.), who recently welcomed a new baby girl Etta (pic). A trend he thinks deserves more attention: "The drift toward illiberalism (on the left and right) is going to throw gasoline on all kinds of fires, from 'fake news' to college protests. We're not doing a good job teaching basic American civics. We've got this incredible First Amendment society where we can work through big problems. Yeah, it's messy but it works. And it only works as long as we keep teaching it." Playbook Plus Q&A

BIRTHDAYS: Jacob Weisberg, chairman and editor-in-chief of the Slate Group ... Joe McLean, president of the Crockett Policy Institute (h/t wife Kiki) ... Josh Cherwin is 41 ... Politico's Nick Juliano, Rachana Pradhan and Emily Goldberg ... The Parkinson twins: ABC News' John Parkinson and Scott Parkinson, chief of staff for Rep. Ron DeSantis (R-Fla.) ... ABC News' Ben Siegel (h/ts Arlette Saenz) ... Joe McCarthy ... Brian Morgenstern, senior adviser at Treasury, is 36 (h/t Natalie Boyse) ... WaPo's Gene Park ... Allison Haley ... Rick Murphy, partner at Forbes Tate Partners (h/t Liz Johnson) ... Michael Frazier ... Addison Smith, principal at Alta Crest ... Uber's Jordan Burke ... Claire
 Olszewski ... Julia Fahl ... Reuters' Bradley Brooks ... Jennifer Swanson ... Cap File EIC Michael Clement (h/t Kelley McCormick) ... Ann Davison (h/t Jon Haber) ... Tom Freedman, president of Freedman Consulting, LLC ... CNN's Joe Ruiz ... Josh Greenman is 45 ... Ken Nahigian is 47 ... Max Samis is 31... Jonathan Smith, COS for Rep. Derek Kilmer (D-Wash.) (h/t Mitchell Rivard) ...

... Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) is 45 ... former Sen. Roland Burris (D-Ill.) is 81 ... Jeff Dressler, national security adviser for Speaker Ryan ... Nathan Thomas of Sen. Lamar Alexander's office (h/t Megan Paulsen) ... Tom Qualtere ... former Puerto Rico Gov. Alejandro Garc&iacute;a Padilla is 47 ... Rebecca Rice ... Ed Carberry ... Alex Mackler ... Allison Abner ... Jonathan Young ... Bernadette Meehan, chief international officer for the Obama Foundation (h/ts Ben Chang and Steve Clemons) ... AP alum Charles Dharapak (h/t Ben) ... Erikka Knuti ... Rosario Marin ... Graham MacGillivray ... Andrew Craft ... Dmitri Mehlhorn ... Alberto Pimienta ... Roger Kodat ... Ryan Mackenzie ... Robin
 Joy Robinson ... Jessica Ennis ... Drew Brophy ... Brian Kateman ... Matt Compton ... Kenneth Grubbs ... Vicki Cram ... Katie Todd Reilly ... Walter Bishop ... Matthew Foldi ... City Journal editor Brian Anderson ... Aaron Lewis ... Michael Hilder ... Laura Schneider ... Joe Peyronnin ... Nancy E. Smith ... Krista Lane ... Doug Burnett ... Doug Haddow ... Karin Walser ... Tom Parker (h/ts Teresa Vilmain)
       
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