Subject: Playbook PM: Rahm out, Kyl in and Woodward drops Trump bombshells
From: "Anna Palmer Jake Sherman Daniel Lippman" <[email-masked]>
To: <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 04 Sep 2018 11:28:21 -0600
List-Id: <1376319.xt.local>

Presented by the National Retail Federation: Playbook is POLITICO's must-read briefing on what's driving the day in Washington                Sep 04, 2018 View in browser                   
 By Anna Palmer, Jake Sherman, Daniel Lippman and Eli Okun 
             
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WELCOME BACK ... THE WHIRLWIND OF NEWS CONTINUES: CHICAGO MAYOR RAHM EMANUEL announced today he will not run for re-election. JON KYL, who is currently acting as a sherpa for BRETT KAVANAUGH in the Senate, will replace John McCain in the Senate. Since he retired from the Senate in 2012 after 18 years, Kyl has spent time as a contract lobbyist for entities like SAP America, Qualcomm and Georgetown University. 

BOB WOODWARD has a new book that reveals PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP called Attorney General Jeff Sessions "mentally retarded" and floated assassinating Syrian President Bashar Assad. According to Woodward, DEFENSE SECRETARY JIM MATTIS called the president a fifth- or sixth-grader. JOHN KELLY, the president's chief of staff, called him an "idiot" and said it was pointless to try to convince him of anything.

WOODWARD told the president in a phone call that he asked six people close to him to speak to the president, and they didn't relay the message to him (transcript of the phone call). Democrats protested the beginning of the confirmation hearing to place Kavanaugh on the Supreme Court. And HOUSE MINORITY LEADER NANCY PELOSI told her members this morning that they need to be prepared to govern in the majority. Copy of the Pelosi letter

BREAKING ... "Former U.S. Sen. Jon Kyl will be John McCain's successor in the U.S. Senate," by the Arizona Republic's Yvonne Wingett Sanchez and Maria Polletta: "Gov. Doug Ducey is scheduled to unveil the 76-year-old as McCain's successor at a 10 a.m. news conference at the Arizona Capitol ... Kyl, who served alongside McCain during his 18 years in the U.S. Senate, will fly to Washington, D.C., following Ducey's announcement. ... 

"Kyl has agreed to serve at least through the end of the year, a representative for Ducey said. If he opts to step down after the end of the session, the Republican governor would be required to appoint another replacement." Arizona Republic

ALSO NEW ... RAHM EMANUEL BOWS OUT ... CHICAGO TRIBUNE: "Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel says he won't run for re-election next year": "In a stunning decision, Mayor Rahm Emanuel announced Tuesday morning that he will no longer seek a third term in office, signaling the end to what has been a tumultuous - and at times transformative - eight years in office.' ... 'I've decided not to seek re-election,' Emanuel said. 'This has been the job of a lifetime, but it is not a job for a lifetime.'" Chicago Tribune

WHAT BOB WOODWARD GOT ... "Bob Woodward's new book reveals a 'nervous breakdown' of Trump's presidency," by WaPo's Phil Rucker and Bob Costa: "A central theme of the book is the stealthy machinations used by those in Trump's inner sanctum to try to control his impulses and prevent disasters, both for the president personally and for the nation he was elected to lead. ... 

"At a National Security Council meeting on Jan. 19, Trump disregarded the significance of the massive U.S. military presence on the Korean Peninsula ... Trump questioned why the government was spending resources in the region at all. 'We're doing this in order to prevent World War III,' Defense Secretary Jim Mattis told him.

"After Trump left the meeting, Woodward recounts, 'Mattis was particularly exasperated and alarmed, telling close associates that the president acted like - and had the understanding of - "a fifth- or sixth-grader."' ... 

"Inside the White House, Woodward portrays an unsteady executive detached from the conventions of governing and prone to snapping at high-ranking staff members, whom he unsettled and belittled on a daily basis. ... 

"After Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad launched a chemical attack on civilians in April 2017, Trump called Mattis and said he wanted to assassinate the dictator. 'Let's fucking kill him! Let's go in. Let's kill the fucking lot of them,' Trump said, according to Woodward." WaPo ... $28.70 on Amazon

-- "Bob Woodward: Trump's aides stole his papers 'to protect the country,'" by CNN's Jeremy Herb, Jamie Gangel and Dan Merica: CNN

-- "Trump irritated he wasn't interviewed by Woodward for upcoming book," by CNN's Kaitlan Collins: "Woodward made several attempts to interview Trump, CNN is told, and there were serious discussions between high-ranking officials about whether the President should sit down with him. But the interview never panned out, and in recent weeks, Trump has complained to confidants that he didn't have the chance to speak with Woodward before the book went to print." CNN

THE CONFIRMATION HEARING -- "Democrats create chaos at Kavanaugh hearing," by Elana Schor: "Democrats grabbed the reins of Brett Kavanaugh's Supreme Court confirmation hearing even before his first words, pressing Republicans to adjourn the hearing on President Donald Trump's nominee as multiple activists on the left erupted in their own disruptions. ... 

"After repeated interruptions from anti-Kavanaugh demonstrators who were escorted from the hearing room by police, Senate Majority Whip John Cornyn (R-Texas) suggested that Democrats would be held in 'contempt of court' - drawing quick pushback from Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) - and likened the moment to 'mob rule.'" POLITICO
       
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Tariffs are B-A-D Economics. Do they work? Anyone? Anyone? No, they do not. They've never worked and almost always made things worse. See why by visiting tariffsarebad.com.
         
-- THERE'S TREMENDOUS POLITICAL RISK in fighting a fight that you know you're going to lose. Republicans did a lot of that back in 2009 and 2010, which, according to them, led to the rise of the Tea Party. That said, Democrats have a fiery base that's itching for a fight to tank Kavanaugh. 

-- "Almost two dozen demonstrators arrested at Kavanaugh hearing": POLITICO

-- KAVANAUGH ... NOT THAT POPULAR ... WAPO'S SEUNG MIN KIM and EMILY GUSKIN: "Just under 4 in 10 - 38 percent - say he should be confirmed, while a similar 39 percent say he should not; almost a quarter, 23 percent, have no opinion. Middling levels of overall support plagued the nominations of failed Supreme Court picks for Presidents Reagan and George W. Bush." WaPo

Good Tuesday afternoon. SPOTTED: John Brennan in first class on the 8:50 a.m. Acela to New York ... Denis McDonough on the Red Line this morning. 

POLITICO SPEAKS WITH TWITTER CEO JACK DORSEY ... NANCY SCOLA and ASHLEY GOLD: "Twitter: There's a line Trump could cross": "Twitter said Tuesday that not even President Donald Trump is immune from being kicked off the platform if his tweets cross a line with abusive behavior. 

"The social media company's rules against vitriolic tweets offer leeway for world leaders whose statements are newsworthy, but that 'is not a blanket exception for the president or anyone else,' Twitter legal and policy chief Vijaya Gadde told POLITICO in an interview alongside CEO Jack Dorsey." POLITICO

WHAT'S ON THE PRESIDENT'S MIND -- @realDonaldTrump at 10:58 a.m.: "NBC FAKE NEWS, which is under intense scrutiny over their killing the Harvey Weinstein story, is now fumbling around making excuses for their probably highly unethical conduct. I have long criticized NBC and their journalistic standards-worse than even CNN. Look at their license?"

POLITICO 50 -- POLITICO Magazine is out with its annual list of the "50 Ideas Driving Politics (and the People Behind Them)." Trump leads the list, with the top 10 rounded out by the Parkland teens; Leonard Leo; Ronan Farrow, Jodi Kantor and Megan Twohey; Rod Rosenstein; Michael Avenatti and Stormy Daniels; Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez; Jim Mattis; Justin Trudeau; and Ryan Coogler and Ava DuVernay. The full list ... What they're reading

HEADLINES THE PRESIDENT WON'T LIKE -- "How Europe plans to skirt Trump's sanctions and keep doing business with Iran," by NBC's Josh Lederman and Dan De Luce: "The goal is to persuade Iran's leaders to stay in the deal for a few more years - perhaps long enough for Trump to be replaced and for a new U.S. president to rejoin the deal.

"Among the creative workarounds under discussion in Brussels and other capitals: Devising an alternative - free from U.S. influence - to the current electronic system used to transfer money from place to place ... And since commercial banks must stop handling transactions with Iran or face U.S. penalties, European countries are considering using their own central banks to transfer funds to Iran, wagering that Trump wouldn't go so far as to sanction an ally's central bank." NBC

2018 WATCH -- "Midterms: Could gay rights support push red-state Democrats across the finish line this election?" by USA Today's Maureen Groppe: "[T]he Human Rights Campaign (HRC) has significantly expanded its grassroots activity ... Top priority states are Arizona, Michigan, Nevada, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin ... 

"But even red-state Democrats could benefit from HRC's effort to identify - and target - millions of 'equality' voters across the country who are more likely than others to support 'pro-LGBTQ policies' and to oppose candidates who don't. The group has identified more than 500,000 sympathetic voters in Indiana and Missouri, for example, and nearly 100,000 in Montana." USA Today

-- PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER's JONATHAN TAMARI (@JonathanTamari): "News: @BarackObama will headline a fund raiser for @Bob_Casey in Philly Sept 21."

THE BIG PICTURE -- "Mad about Trump: Two Americas, both political parties in upheaval and the midterm elections around the corner. The president is smack in the middle," by NBC's Alex Seitz-Wald, Jon Allen and Benjy Sarlin: "Democrats are moving further left; Republicans are gravitating toward Trump; and the voters increasingly disdain anyone who doesn't agree with them.

"This is the story of a jostled American electorate on the cusp of rendering its midterm judgment on the Trump presidency. That verdict will shape the final two years of his first term and provide valuable markers for the early contours of the 2020 political battleground that will decide whether the president will have four more years." NBC

THE INVESTIGATIONS ... "Mueller's Office Will Grill Him About Roger Stone. He Will Respond With Comedy," by NYT's Danny Hakim: "Randy Credico, a comedian and left-wing political activist, has an appointment on Sept. 7. With Robert S. Mueller III. Before a grand jury. Under oath. And he is planning to do impressions, because that's what he does. ... 

"Mr. Mueller is interested in Mr. Credico's odd friendship with Roger J. Stone Jr., the self-proclaimed political dirty trickster, Republican consultant and President Trump's longtime political adviser. Mr. Credico is seen in New York political circles as a dedicated if madcap activist. But he acknowledges that he also took part over the years in some of Mr. Stone's acts of political deception." NYT

ALEX GUILLEN: "Watchdog says EPA did not justify Pruitt security spending": POLITICO

ON THE WORLD STAGE -- "U.S., India Look to Patch Up Rocky Relationship With Diplomacy, Defense Deals," by WSJ's Rajesh Roy and Bill Spindle in New Delhi: "In a rare top-level meeting set for Thursday, senior American and Indian officials will try to push past an array of irritations in the two countries' relationship to forge new, far-reaching agreements for military and diplomatic cooperation.

"U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Defense Secretary Jim Mattis are scheduled to meet Indian counterparts ... to discuss ways to ramp up joint military exercises, sell more sophisticated U.S. military hardware to India, coordinate development assistance in Asia and boost economic ties. Together, the agreements would take relations between the world's largest democracies to a new level." WSJ

2020 WATCH -- CBS' EMILY TILLETT: "John Kerry on 2020: 'I doubt very much I'll be running for office again'"

MEDIAWATCH -- Toby Harnden will be the Washington Examiner's managing editor. He is currently Washington bureau chief of The Sunday Times. Harnden will replace Philip Klein, who's becoming executive editor.

-- The Atlantic is launching a new Ideas section, helmed by the magazine's Yoni Appelbaum and Juliet Lapidos, most recently op-ed editor at the Los Angeles Times. The Jeffrey Goldberg introduction

TRANSITIONS -- Derek Mitchell is now president of the National Democratic Institute. He has previously worked as the U.S. ambassador to Myanmar and at the Pentagon. ... Morgan Butler is now deputy digital director for Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and the Senate Democratic Caucus. She was previously digital press secretary for the Joint Economic Committee's minority staff.

SPOTTED: Sen. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.) on Monday at the Nats-Cardinals game, which the Nats won 4-3.

ENGAGED -- Jon Adame, legislative counsel for Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.), proposed to Kara Wheeler, who works in government relations at MetLife. "He proposed on the Speaker's balcony before the two jetted off to Napa for the weekend to celebrate with family." The couple met while working for the RNC in Maryland in the 2010 cycle. Pic

WEEKEND WEDDINGS -- James Hewitt, press secretary for the EPA and an RNC alum, on Sunday married Cara Read, a senior account manager at BGov, in Freeport, Maine. Pic ... Another pic

SPOTTED: Rob and Ali Lockwood, Michael Short and Natalie Strom, Brent and Cassie Scher, Morgan and Raffi Williams, Russ Read, Todd and Katy Scher, Hugh and Betsy Hewitt (the groom's parents) and Al Weaver.

-- Dan Black, press secretary for Rep. Joe Kennedy III (D-Mass.), married elementary school teacher Kaitlyn Roman at Woodlawn Farm in Maryland. Kennedy and his wife Lauren as well as Jen Psaki were among the attendees. Pool report: "Fun fact: the groom's parents Bill Black and Rita Kelliher met decades ago working for former Congressman Barney Frank -- whose seat Rep. Kennedy now holds." Pic

WELCOME TO THE WORLD -- Ben Anderson, director of health policy at Children's Defense Fund, and Alysia Grummert, a teacher, welcomed James Cary Anderson, who came in at 8 lbs 6 oz.
           
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