Subject: POLITICO Playbook: Cancel your Christmas plans …
From: "Anna Palmer Jake Sherman Daniel Lippman" <[email-masked]>
To: <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 11 Oct 2018 04:18:06 -0600
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Presented by ExxonMobil: Playbook is POLITICO's must-read briefing on what's driving the day in Washington                Oct 11, 2018 View in browser                   
 By Jake Sherman, Anna Palmer and Daniel Lippman 
         
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              DRIVING THE DAY      
CANCEL YOUR CHRISTMAS PLANS ... OVER THE LAST few days, we've seen a massive ramp-up of the "build-the-wall" rhetoric from key Hill Republicans -- signaling that the Dec. 7 funding deadline will be a major funding clash over the physical border with Mexico. 

SENATE MAJORITY LEADER MITCH MCCONNELL (R-KY.) said at an AP event yesterday that "we are committed to helping the president get wall funding," and signaled he would fight to get PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP the amount he's seeking, which is far more than what the Senate offered. HOUSE SPEAKER PAUL RYAN (R-WIS.) said earlier this week there would be a "big fight" for wall funding. And HOUSE MAJORITY LEADER KEVIN MCCARTHY (R-CALIF.) -- the top Republican in waiting -- went as far as introducing a bill that would allocate $23 billion to build Trump's border wall.

-- MOST OF THE GOVERNMENT IS FUNDED through next year, but a slice of the government runs out of money on Dec. 7, and the insiders we talk to expect a clash could last weeks. The only backstop is Christmas and New Year's. Democrats won't be any help -- especially if they win the House majority. Remember: It's usually Hill leaders that have been skeptical of a fight over wall funding. Now they're lining up, ready to go to war. 

HEADS UP, MR. PRESIDENT ... S.F. CHRONICLE'S JOHN WILDERMUTH: "Expect Democrats to immediately try to force President Trump to release his tax returns if they take back the House in November, Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi said Wednesday.

"Demanding the president's tax returns 'is one of the first things we'd do - that's the easiest thing in the world. That's nothing,' Pelosi told The Chronicle's editorial board in an hour-long interview." S.F. Chronicle

-- CERTAIN CONGRESSIONAL COMMITTEES can obtain the records from the IRS.

Good Thursday morning. JAKE and ANNA will be sitting down with REP. BRENDAN BOYLE (D-PA.) and REP. RYAN COSTELLO (R-PA.) for a special Playbook Elections event Oct. 29 at the Ritz-Carlton in Philadelphia. The event, which is part of the POLITICO-AARP Deciders series, will focus on the midterm elections, what's happening on the ground in Pennsylvania and more. Doors open 8 a.m. RSVP

MARKETS CONTINUE TO SPIRAL DOWNWARD ... FT: "Global market sell-off spreads to Europe," by Michael Hunter in London and Emma Dunkley in Hong Kong: "A sharp Wall Street sell-off has sent tremors through global equity markets, pulling down Asian and European stocks on Thursday as worries over the end of years of cheap money and an escalating U.S.-China trade war darken investor sentiment. 

"Technology shares, which led the selling during Wednesday's New York trading day, were also hit hard internationally, with the Stoxx technology index down 1.7 per cent after falling nearly 3 per cent earlier in the day. 

"Taiwan's bourse, which is heavy in electronics and semiconductors, closed down 6.3 per cent, one of its biggest one-day losses, while Chinese online powerhouse Tencent lost almost 7 per cent in Hong Kong. Chipmakers also led the losses in Europe, with Austria's AMS falling almost 4 per cent and ASML of the Netherlands down more than 2 per cent. The Europe-wide Stoxx 600 fell to its lowest level since February 2017, down almost 2 per cent in early trading." FT 
       
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MBS: THE REFORMER, UPDATE ... "Crown prince sought to lure Khashoggi back to Saudi Arabia and detain him, U.S. intercepts show," by WaPo's Shane Harris: "The crown prince of Saudi Arabia, Mohammed bin Salman, ordered an operation to lure Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi back to Saudi Arabia from his home in Virginia and then detain him, according to U.S. intelligence intercepts of Saudi officials discussing the plan. 

"The intelligence, described by U.S. officials familiar with it, is another piece of evidence implicating the Saudi regime in Khashoggi's disappearance last week after he entered the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul. ...

"Several of Khashoggi's friends said that over the past four months, senior Saudi officials close to the crown prince had called Khashoggi to offer him protection, and even a high-level job working for the government, if he returned to his home country. Khashoggi, however, was skeptical of the offers. He told one friend that the Saudi government would never make good on its promises not to harm him. ...

"The intelligence about Saudi Arabia's earlier plans to detain Khashoggi have raised questions about whether the Trump administration should have warned the journalist that he might be in danger. Intelligence agencies have a 'duty to warn' people who might be kidnapped, seriously injured or killed, according to a directive signed in 2015. The obligation applies regardless of whether the person is a U.S. citizen. Khashoggi was a U.S. resident." WaPo

-- "Khashoggi's Disappearance Puts Kushner's Bet on Saudi Crown Prince at Risk," by NYT's Mark Landler, Edward Wong and Eric Schmitt

-- "Naming Names, Turks Turn Up Heat on Saudis in Consulate Case," by NYT's David D. Kirkpatrick in Ankara and Malachy Browne in New York

-- EXCHANGE OF THE DAY, from the State Department press briefing with deputy spokesman Robert Palladino: AP DIPLOMATIC WRITER MATT LEE: "Who again -- what's the name of the ambassador in Turkey right now?" PALLADINO: "I don't have that in front of me right now and I -- Matt --" LEE: "What's the name of the ambassador in Saudi Arabia right now?" PALLADINO: "I see what you're getting at. OK. We are confident in our diplomatic --" LEE: "The answer is that you don't have an ambassador in either place, right?"

PALLADINO: "We --" LEE: "And in fact, the charge in Riyadh has now been nominated to be the ambassador to Yemen. So just is it correct that you do not have ambassadors in place in either Ankara or Riyadh?" PALLADINO: "But we have diplomatic staff, senior diplomatic officials --"

LEE: "I'm sure you do." PALLADINO: "-- very much -- very much in charge. And yesterday Heather spoke at the top as well about the need for the State Department to get its full team on the field, and we definitely would reiterate our request for our colleagues in the Senate and their assistance in fielding our full camp." 

LEE: "Understood. Who has been nominated to be the new ambassador to Turkey, and who has been nominated to be the new ambassador to Saudi Arabia? Who are the nominees who are awaiting Senate movement?" PALLADINO: "Matt, I don't have that in front of me right now. And -- but let me just say these are senior Foreign Service officers that have had full careers, and we're confident in our team's ability." LEE: "You're sure someone's been nominated for both positions?" PALLADINO: "I would have to take the question, Matt." 

LEE: "Robert. Robert, really quickly, just --" PALLADINO: "Alright, one more. Let's go to Fox."

-- BUZZFEED'S RYAN MAC: "Following Journalist's Alleged Murder, Top Tech Execs Distance Selves From Saudi's City Of The Future": "Neom, the Saudi government-backed mega-city project, said Tuesday that 19 tech and business luminaries - including Apple design chief Jony Ive, venture capitalists Marc Andreessen and Sam Altman, and former Uber CEO Travis Kalanick - had joined its advisory board. ... A few hours after that announcement, individuals supposedly associated with the group began to deny their involvement. Apple told BuzzFeed News that Ive was never part of the project.

"Meanwhile, a source familiar with the project said that the Apple design chief's inclusion had been blamed on a translation error. ... Sidewalk Labs CEO Dan Doctoroff denied ever being part of the project through a spokesperson. And former US energy secretary Ernest Moniz told Axios that he would not participate until more information was made available about Khashoggi's disappearance." BuzzFeed

WHERE THE PRESIDENT IS ... "Trump reluctant to cut off arms sales to Saudis in response to Khashoggi's disappearance," by Brent D. Griffiths: "President Donald Trump said late Wednesday that he is reluctant to cut off arms sales to Saudi Arabia if the kingdom is found to be responsible for the assumed death of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi, believing such a move could be detrimental to the U.S. economy.

"'We have a country that's doing probably better economically than it's ever done before,' Trump said. 'A part of that is what we are doing with our defense systems and everybody is wanting them and, frankly, I think that would be a very, very tough pill to swallow for our country.' Trump added that he wants to know what happened, but would not like to commit to a U.S. response until all the facts are known." POLITICO

-- NYT'S PETER BAKER (@peterbakernyt): "Kushner and Bolton spoke with Saudi's MBS yesterday about Khashoggi and Pompeo followed up with his own call. 'In both calls they asked for more details and for the Saudi government to be transparent in the investigation process,' says @PressSec."

-- CNN's MANU RAJU (@mkraju): "Roughly two dozen members of Senate from both parties trigger probe into what happened with missing Saudi journalist and whether sanctions under Magnitsky act are warranted. All members of Senate Foreign Relations signed letter except Rand Paul".

HURRICANE MICHAEL ... "Michael charges into Southeast after slamming north Florida," by AP's Jay Reeves and Brendan Farrington in Panama City, Fla.: "The most powerful hurricane on record to hit Florida's Panhandle left wide destruction and at least two people dead and wasn't nearly finished Thursday as it crossed Georgia, now as a tropical storm, toward the Carolinas, that are still reeling from epic flooding by Hurricane Florence. ... As the tropical storm continued to weaken it was still menacing the Southeast with heavy rains, blustery winds and possible spinoff tornadoes.

"Authorities said at least two people have died, a man killed by a tree falling on a Panhandle home and according to WMAZ-TV, an 11-year-old girl was also killed by a tree falling on a home in southwest Georgia. ... The National Hurricane Center in Miami said the eye of Michael was about 25 miles (40 kilometers) east of Macon in central Georgia at 2:00 a.m. Thursday. The storm had top sustained winds of 60 mph (96 kph) and was moving to the northeast at 20 mph (32 kph)." AP

TRUMP ON THE TRAIL ... "Trump prays for hurricane victims, criticizes Democrats," by AP's Catherine Lucey in Erie, Pa.: "As Hurricane Michael pounded Florida, President Donald Trump took shelter at a campaign event in Pennsylvania, where he sought to boost Republicans before the midterms.

"Trump acknowledged the hurricane at the top of his rally Wednesday night in Erie, offering his 'thoughts and prayers' to those in the storm's path and promising to 'spare no effort' in the response. He promised to travel to Florida 'very shortly.' He added: 'We will always pull through. ... We will always be successful at what we do.'" AP

-- TRUMP speaking with FOX NEWS' SHANNON BREAM last night defended going on the campaign trail during the storm: "Well, if I didn't go, they would also criticize. The problem I had, Shannon, is this was set up a long time ago. We had thousands of people lined up from yesterday. I mean, literally they stayed 24 hours and sometimes more than that to go to these rallies. They like them. ...

"And more importantly than anything, we have people in Florida. We have people in the White House. I had everything set up on Air Force One. I was in total communication. In fact, I spoke with the governors of Alabama, the governor of, as you know, of Georgia. I spoke with Rick Scott. We were in constant communication. Did the rally and people had a fantastic time. It was a very important rally tonight.

"But it would have been very unfair to have people waiting for 10 and 12 and more than that hours and then say, 'By the way, I'm not going to be there tonight.' Would have been pretty tough."

-- MARC CAPUTO: "Breaking taboo, negative ads fly during Florida hurricane" 

HOUSE MAJORITY WHIP STEVE SCALISE (R-LA.) will announce today that he has raised more than $15 million this cycle, and $4.8 million in the third quarter. He transferred $2.1 million to the NRCC in the third quarter -- part of the $5.2 million he's given to the campaign committee this cycle. FASCINATING STATISTIC: Scalise had 45,000 small donors from all 50 states, which raised him $2.8 million.

ON THE DEMOCRATIC SIDE ... "Hoyer eyes majority leader post in next Congress," by Nolan D. McCaskill and John Bresnahan: "Steny Hoyer wants to be House majority leader next year. Very badly. Hoyer - who came to Congress when Ronald Reagan was a brand-new president - is hoping that Democrats win on election night and return him to the No. 2 House job, a post he last held eight years ago.

"Hoyer is also confident Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi of California can assemble the votes necessary to become speaker, despite calls from some Democrats to replace her. But if for some reason Pelosi doesn't become speaker, Hoyer will run to lead House Democrats, according to lawmakers and aides familiar with the Maryland Democrat's plans. Hoyer will never challenge Pelosi for speaker. However, if the job is open, he'll run for it." POLITICO

-- WORTH NOTING FROM THE STORY: "Hoyer visited 94 districts in 22 states this cycle, campaigning for at least 112 Democrats - 37 incumbents and 75 candidates, including everyone on the [DCCC's] 'Red-to-Blue list' - and raising or contributing nearly $9 million for the effort to retake the House, according to his aides."

ARTICLE OF THE DAY -- OLIVIA NUZZI in NY Mag, "My Private Oval Office Press Conference With Donald Trump, Mike Pence, John Kelly, and Mike Pompeo": "I walked to the Oval Office. I guessed that the president wanted to disabuse me of any notion that Kelly was about to be fired, or had almost been fired many times before. ... [T]he president's repeated comments about how serendipitous all of this was made it feel like a big production. 'This is Olivia, she's going to say very, very wonderful things about you. This is General Kelly,' Trump said. 

"'Come in, Mike!' Closely behind Kelly was Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who was scheduled for a 12:30 lunch with the president. 'Olivia can write badly about you,' Trump told him. The men laughed at the president's joke. 'Stay there for a second. I just wanted to see Olivia for two seconds,' Trump said. 'Look, look who comes in, and we actually have lunch today,' Trump said.

"I jokingly asked if I was invited to the lunch. 'Anytime you want,' Trump said. Kelly, who was sitting down near me across from the president's desk, remarked, 'Best French fries in the world.' Trump didn't acknowledge him. 'But Bannon,' he said, picking up the conversation where we'd left off, 'if you've seen Bannon on shows over the last month ...' He briefly went off the record. 'Look who you have here,' he said. He glanced toward the entryway again. 'Look who you have here. We had a meeting scheduled!' Vice-President Mike Pence walked into the room.

"'This is Olivia. She's a disruptive writer but that's okay,' Trump told him. He laughed. This was beginning to feel ridiculous, like this was the reunion episode of a sitcom, in which Bob Saget might come out next to an applause track." NY Mag

-- @MichaelCBender: "So President Trump's day [Tuesday] included: * 30 mins of remarks to the press w Haley * A personal news conference for Olivia * 15 mins of remarks to the press before departing the WH * 35 mins with the press aboard AF1 * A local media TV interview in Iowa * A 75 min rally."

BRINGING BACK THE OLD CREW... "Trump eager to woo back advisers who have moved on: Dina Powell could show that the revolving door of Trump's West Wing doesn't work in just one direction," by Annie Karni: "Powell has emerged as the lead contender to replace Haley, according to three current and former White House officials familiar with the process. Trump said he is considering four other unnamed candidates, and it's far from a done deal that Powell would return to the West Wing. 

"But Powell, who the president once considered as a potential chief of staff to replace Reince Priebus, comes with a good rapport with the president and buy-in from some of the top officials in the administration, including Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis and Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin." POLITICO

2018 WATCH -- "GOP closes in on Heitkamp knockout - and control of the Senate," by Burgess Everett: "Republicans say they're on the cusp of delivering a knockout blow to North Dakota Democratic Sen. Heidi Heitkamp - and virtually ending Democrats' hopes of winning the Senate.

"Heitkamp is down in public polls by a significant margin, and most political handicappers think Rep. Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.) is the favorite to beat her. If she goes down, Democrats would basically have to run the table in every other battleground race to take the chamber." POLITICO

-- QUINNIPIAC POLL ... CRUZ UP 9 IN TEXAS. The poll

         
THE JUICE ... 

-- LANHEE CHEN -- the former policy director to Mitt Romney, top adviser to Sen. Marco Rubio's (R-Fla.) presidential campaign and fellow at the Hoover Institute -- is joining Brunswick Group as a senior counselor. He's also launching a podcast on Ricochet called "Crossing Lines, with Lanhee Chen." Chen's first podcast will feature an interview with Paul Ryan, a close Chen confidant. 

-- MARY SCHAPIRO, who has served under four presidents in both parties, is joining Bloomberg LP as vice chair for global public policy and special adviser to Mike Bloomberg. Schapiro is the former chair of the Securities and Exchange Commission and has also served as chair of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission and Financial Industry Regulatory Authority.

TRUMP'S THURSDAY -- The president is participating in a signing ceremony of two bills -- the "Save Our Seas Act of 2018" and the "Orrin G. Hatch-Bob Goodlatte Music Modernization Act" -- this morning. At 2 p.m. the president will deliver remarks for the annual meeting of the interagency task force to monitor and combat human trafficking. 
                 PLAYBOOK READS         

PHOTO DU JOUR: A man wades through floodwaters in St. Marks, Fla., on Wednesday after the massive impact of Hurricane Michael. | Chris O'Meara/AP Photo
   
HMM -- "Donnelly family business uses import practice he criticizes," by AP's Brian Slodysko in Indianapolis: "In the high-stakes battle for a pivotal Indiana Senate seat, Democrat Joe Donnelly has repeatedly attacked his opponent, multimillionaire auto-parts magnate Mike Braun, for importing the products he sells from China. ... Yet for Donnelly, whose neck-and-neck race with Braun could help determine which party controls the Senate, it ignores one inconvenient detail. Stewart Superior Corp., a family business that he owned stock in, has also received repeated shipments of goods from China for much of this decade, records reviewed by The Associated Press show." AP

THE INVESTIGATIONS -- "Late GOP Activist Peter W. Smith Met With Former Trump Adviser Michael Flynn in 2015," by WSJ's Shelby Holliday, Byron Tau and Dustin Volz: "A veteran Republican activist whose quest to obtain Hillary Clinton's emails from hackers dominated the final months of his life struck up a professional relationship with Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn, the former national security adviser to President Trump, as early as 2015, and told associates during the presidential campaign that he was using the retired general's connections to help him on the email project. 

"The late Peter W. Smith, an Illinois financier with a long history in Republican politics, met with Mr. Flynn in 2015, according to people familiar with the matter. At the time, Mr. Flynn had recently left his job as head of the Defense Intelligence Agency and was trying to set up his own consulting firm, while Mr. Smith was looking at investment opportunities in cybersecurity. Mr. Flynn was a top adviser to Mr. Trump during the 2016 campaign. ... 

"Additionally, in an email reviewed by The Wall Street Journal, one of Mr. Smith's former associates wrote to a friend last week, 'As you are aware Peter started a business relationship with Gen. Mike Flynn in November 2015. We spoke with him on the day he left for his trip to Moscow.' The associate, John Szobocsan, sent the email as the Journal was preparing a story on Mr. Smith and was attempting to reach Mr. Szobocsan. He didn't respond to requests for comment." WSJ
       
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SCOOP -- "Trump talked with Jeff Sessions's own chief of staff about replacing him as attorney general," by WaPo's Matt Zapotosky and Josh Dawsey: "The conversation between Trump and Matthew G. Whitaker was somewhat nebulous ... It was not clear, for example, whether Whitaker would take over on an interim basis or be nominated in a more permanent capacity, or how definitive the president's intentions were." WaPo

SPY GAMES -- "U.S. Detains Alleged Chinese Spy It Says Tried to Steal GE Trade Secrets," by WSJ's Aruna Viswanatha: "An alleged Chinese intelligence operative arrested in Belgium has been brought to the U.S. and charged with conspiring to steal trade secrets from GE Aviation and other companies, marking a rare break for the U.S. in its increasingly aggressive effort to target Chinese industrial spying. 

"Prosecutors have previously charged Chinese government officials with economic espionage and hacking-related offenses pointing to state-directed efforts to steal U.S. technology, but have never publicly identified anyone in custody as a Chinese intelligence officer. ... [Yanjun] Xu was identified in court papers as a deputy division director in a department of China's Ministry of State Security, the country's intelligence agency." WSJ

MEDIAWATCH -- "Trump, no longer ratings gold, loses his prime-time spot on Fox News," by Jason Schwartz and Gabby Orr: "President Donald Trump loves to brag about ratings, but he's not getting them anymore. As he's ramped up his rally schedule ahead of the midterms, viewership numbers for the raucous prime-time events have been roughly similar to - sometimes dipping below - Fox News' regular programming, and the network has recently stopped airing most evening events in full. During three Trump rallies last week, Fox News showed clips and highlights from his speeches but stuck largely with its normal weekday prime-time programming. ...

"[S]ome in the White House are worried that the president is losing a prime-time megaphone to his base. One senior White House official was unsure why the network would decide to cut away from presidential rallies, saying officials planned 'to look into that' and wouldn't be surprised if White House communications director Bill Shine, a former Fox News executive, was in touch with former colleagues about the trend." POLITICO

-- "Newsweek's Ex-Parent Company Charged With Defrauding Lenders," by WSJ's Lukas Alpert and Rebecca Davis O'Brien: "Newsweek's former parent company has been charged by Manhattan prosecutors with carrying out a complex scheme to defraud lenders out of millions of dollars as part of an effort to keep the struggling media organization afloat. 

"The indictment follows a more than yearlong fraud probe by the Manhattan District Attorney's Office that has also been examining possible advertising abuses at IBT Media and its connections to Olivet University, a bible college in California, according to people briefed on the investigation. IBT Media owned Newsweek during the period of the alleged fraud; the company said Wednesday it completed a spin-off of Newsweek into a separate entity." WSJ

-- Isaac Chotiner (@IChotiner): "I'm so excited to announce that I'll be joining The New Yorker as a staff writer in January, where I will be doing interviews for newyorker.com, as well as some other writing for the print magazine and the website." Internal memo
                 PLAYBOOKERS      
SPOTTED: Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) waiting on the couches last night at E Street Cinema ... At adjoining tables at the side room off of the Round Robin bar at the Willard last night: Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper drinking a ginger ale at one table and Defense Secretary Jim Mattis and Mich&egrave;le Flournoy at another. Hickenlooper and Ohio Gov. John Kasich were in town to receive the "Publius Award" from the Center for the Study of the Presidency and Congress.

OUT AND ABOUT -- Music industry execs, lawmakers and staff celebrated Trump signing the "Music Modernization Act" this week with a fete at City Winery. Gospel singer CeCe Winans was the featured performer, and Sam Moore attended. SPOTTED: Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.), Michele Ballantyne, Michael Beckerman, Alex Byers, Tom Clees, Jason Everett, Daryl Friedman, Mitch Glazier, Lauren Hancock, Chris Harrison, Bart Herbison, Mike Huppe, Shelley Husband, David Israelite, Reps. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.), Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.) and Jerry Nadler (D-N.Y.), Joe Keeley, Sally Rose Larson, Dina LaPolt, Joyce Moore, Lisette Morton, Beatrice Pollard, Branden Ritchie and Paul Williams. 

-- SPOTTED at a book party last night hosted at Juleanna Glover's house for Steve Hilton and his new book "Positive Populism: Revolutionary Ideas to Rebuild Economic Security, Family, and Community in America" ($15.91 on Amazon): David Chalian, Molly Ball, Polson Kanneth, Niki Christoff, Mike and Susan Pillsbury, Melissa Shuffield, Gayle Lemmon, Bob Barnett, Chris Liddell, Alex Thompson, Nihal Krishan, Avik Roy, Michael Schaffer, Michael Falcone, Katherine Finnerty, Robin Sproul, Brittany Shepherd, Eric and Jennifer Felten, Kristen Soltis Anderson, Swin Suebsaeng, Carlos Mark Vera, AB Stoddard, Tara Palmeri, Tammy Haddad, Margaret Carlson, Heather Podesta and Keith Urbahn.

BIRTHDAY OF THE DAY: Jamie Weinstein, host of National Review's "Jamie Weinstein Show" podcast and founding partner of JMW Strategies, is 35. Playbook Plus Q&A

BIRTHDAYS: U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer is 71 ... Charlie Black, chairman of the Prime Policy Group, is 71 ... Katie Boyd, comms director for Sen. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) (hat tip: Stew) ... Maura Gillespie, comms director for Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.) ... Veronica Walsh ... Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) is 68 ... Walt Roberts ... former Defense Secretary William Perry is 91 ... Ron Prosor is 6-0 ... Chris Reese of the WH office of management and administration ... Tishman and Speyer CEO Rob Speyer ... Joel Riethmiller ... Trey Bohn ... Bruce DePuyt ... Wendy Riemann ... USA Today alum Cooper Allen ... Mike Riggs, reporter at Reason magazine ... BuzzFeed's Tarini Parti ... Rep.
 Chuck Fleischmann (R-Tenn.) is 56 ... Rep. Sam Johnson (R-Texas) is 88 ... POLITICO's Sara Smith and Bradley Anderson ... John Lipp ... 

... Bruce Bartlett is 67 ... Ben Mendelson ... Lauren Culbertson, public policy manager at Twitter ... Edelman's Emily Teitelbaum ... Kristina Costa, CAP senior fellow ... Mandy Frohlich ... John Robinson, a Gore and Edwards alum ... Bill Triplett ... Ashley Drummond Garcia ... Jennifer Williams ... Rachel Deahl ... ProPublica's Talia Buford ... former Rep. Bob Inglis (R-S.C.) is 59 ... Meaghan Gilmore ... Maggie Fly ... Alice Berman ... Marcus Veazey ... Ken Danieli ... Sandra Klassen ... Mike Wolfe ... Jessica Lerner ... Karen Sommer Shalett ... Amanda Cooper (h/ts Teresa Vilmain)
       
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