Subject: Playbook PM: Kudlow overheard on Kelly, Bolton fight
From: "Anna Palmer Jake Sherman Daniel Lippman" <[email-masked]>
To: <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 19 Oct 2018 11:15:08 -0600
List-Id: <1376319.xt.local>

Presented by Salesforce: Playbook is POLITICO's must-read briefing on what's driving the day in Washington                Oct 19, 2018 View in browser                   
 By Anna Palmer, Jake Sherman, Daniel Lippman, Eli Okun and Garrett Ross 
             
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OVERHEARD: LARRY KUDLOW on his cellphone in the boarding area waiting for a flight from Detroit to DCA on Thursday afternoon: "... can't be yelling at each other in the hallway outside the Oval ..." He sat in the first row of first class on the Delta 2972 flight. Kudlow spoke at the Detroit Economic Club on Thursday. Detroit Free Press story on his speech

FIRST IN PLAYBOOK ... REPUBLICAN WOMEN FOR PROGRESS is ramping up its political arm. The group, co-founded by JENNIFER PIEROTTI LIM and MEGHAN MILLOY, has raised $1 MILLION from REID HOFFMAN, founder of LinkedIn, KATHRYN MURDOCH, co-founder and president of Quadrivium Foundation, and DAN TIERNEY, of KCG Holdings, for its recently launched PAC.

-- THE REPUBLICAN WOMEN, who oppose President Donald Trump, have already put $50,000 in TV ad buys against incumbent Republican Rep. Mike Bishop and Republican candidate Lena Epstein, the Republican running against Democrat Haley Stevens for Rep. David Trott's Detroit-area seat. More from Detroit Metro Times article on the Michigan buy

-- WHAT'S NEXT: The group is "still assessing the response to this current round of ads and will adjust based on that" focused on candidates, both Democratic and Republican, who will provide a "check" on Trump, according to a source familiar with the effort. 

Good Friday afternoon. GUESS WHAT -- There are actually 18 DAYS until the election. Apologies for any confusion this morning.

WAPO'S DAMIAN PALETTA and JOSH DAWSEY, "Mnuchin still plans to attend Saudi anti-terror financing meeting after Khashoggi disappearance": "Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin has decided to take part in an anti-terror finance meeting with Saudi security officials and their Middle Eastern counterparts in Riyadh later this month, opting to attend despite growing global outrage over the suspected murder of a U.S.-based journalist at the hands of Saudi operatives, according to three people familiar with his travel plans.

"The security gathering next week is separate from a Riyadh financial summit that Mnuchin announced on Thursday he would not attend. ... The event Mnuchin still plans to attend -- a gathering of the Terrorist Financing Targeting Center in Riyadh -- would include participation by Saudi security services that are under scrutiny in Khashoggi's death." WaPo 

FORMER VICE PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN is heading to Florida next week for a Monday event in Tampa and Jacksonville with Sen. Bill Nelson, gubernatorial candidate Andrew Gillum and Tuesday with Nelson, Rep. Stephanie Murphy and Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer.

WHAT'S ON THE PRESIDENT'S MIND -- @realDonaldTrump at 10:04 a.m.: "When referring to the USA, I will always capitalize the word Country!" 

NEW -- THE BLACK ECONOMIC ALLIANCE PAC and the BLACK ECONOMIC ALLIANCE FUND are launching a combined $2.6-million campaign in 15 races. They're spending in Florida, Maryland, Michigan, Mississippi, New York, Nevada, North Carolina, Ohio, Texas and Virginia. The PAC got a half-million dollars from Robert F. Smith of Vista Equity Partners and $100,000 each from Clarence Otis -- former CEO of Darden Restaurants -- and Jerry Speyer, the New York real estate magnate. Deval Patrick, the former governor of Massachusetts, kicked in $15,000.

-- BlackPAC announced an $8 million push to mobilize voters through mailers and radio ads in Florida, Georgia, Missouri, Tennessee, Indiana, Nevada, Virginia, Ohio, Illinois and California. BLACK PROGRESSIVE ACTION COALITION, an affiliated nonprofit social welfare organization, is spending $6 million on a campaign in Tennessee, Missouri, Florida, Virginia, Ohio and Indiana to mobilize voters.

2018 WATCH -- MAGGIE SEVERNS: "Senate Dem super PAC's midterms fundraising hits $113 million" 

-- "How Tom Steyer Built the Biggest Political Machine You've Never Heard Of," by The Atlantic's Isaac Dovere: "Mike Bloomberg has made headlines for becoming the biggest Democratic donor of the midterm cycle, spreading $100 million to campaigns as he looks to build goodwill for a possible 2020 campaign. Tom Steyer is in over $120 million-though it's all gone to building his own machine. ... 

"[H]e has driven most top Democrats crazy by pushing them to take out the president, which they argue only helps vulnerable Republicans keep their seats. Bring up his name with Democratic officials and strategists and the answer is a reliable variation of 'oh god,' or an eyeroll. They complain ... that the money could have been better spent. ... Steyer likes calling this DC cocktail party talk from people too caught up in chasing the majority to tell the truth, and it only encourages him to go harder, with more money, for a bigger splash." The Atlantic 

AP'S TOM BEAUMONT in Clear Lake, Iowa, "Democrats eyeing White House flock to Iowa's new star": "Prospective presidential candidates often curry favor with local politicians in the state that holds the nation's first caucus. But even by Iowa standards, this is a lot of high-wattage attention being paid to [Deidre DeJear] who [has] not yet won her campaign for secretary of state, typically a low-profile position focused on overseeing elections.

"The spotlight reflects the excitement surrounding the woman who is the first African American to win a primary for statewide office in vastly white Iowa. And she is perhaps the best example of the importance Democrats around the country are placing on the role of secretary of state at a time when voting rules are being steadily tightened in states under Republican leadership." AP 

ANNIE KARNI in POLITICO MAGAZINE -- "How Do You Solve a Problem Like Hillary?": "'It's curious why Hillary Clinton's name isn't in the mix-either conversationally or in formal polling-as a 2020 candidate,' said Philippe Reines, her longtime gatekeeper in the Senate and at the State Department. 'She's younger than Donald Trump by a year. She's younger than Joe Biden by four years. Is it that she's run before? This would be Bernie Sanders' second time, and Biden's third time. Is it lack of support? She had 65 million people vote for her.' ... 

"Does Reines plugging Clinton as a viable 2020 candidate mean that she's running? 'It's somewhere between highly unlikely and zero,' he said, 'but it's not zero.'" POLITICO Magazine 
       
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K-FILE -- "GOP Rep. Jason Lewis once mocked women who felt traumatized by unwanted touching," by CNN's Andrew Kaczynski and Jamie Ehrlich: "The Minnesota congressman made his comment during a November 2012 broadcast of 'The Jason Lewis Show,' a syndicated radio program that aired from 2009 until 2014 before he was elected to the House in 2016. Lewis was discussing sexual harassment allegations leveled against then-Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain from his time as president of the National Restaurant Association.

"'I don't want to be callous here, but how traumatizing was it?' Lewis said. 'How many women at some point in their life have a man come on to them, place their hand on their shoulder or maybe even their thigh, kiss them, and they would rather not have it happen, but is that really something that's going to be seared in your memory that you'll need therapy for?' 'You'll never get over? It was the most traumatizing experience? Come on! She wasn't raped,' Lewis added, using a voice mocking an emotionally distraught woman." CNN ... The 1:35 audio clip 

AT THE JUSTICE DEPARTMENT -- "Justice Dept. Rank-and-File Tell of Discontent Over Sessions's Approach," by NYT's Katie Benner: "[D]iscontent and infighting have taken hold at the Justice Department, in part because [Attorney General Jeff] Sessions was so determined to carry out [a] transformation that he ignored dissent, at times putting the Trump administration on track to lose in court and prompting high-level departures, according to interviews over several months with two dozen current and former career department lawyers who worked under Mr. Sessions. ... 

"President Trump has exacerbated the dynamic, they said, by repeatedly attacking Mr. Sessions and the Justice Department in baldly political and personal terms. ... More unnerving, employees said, was the president's threat to remove the security clearance of Bruce Ohr, a civil servant who worked to combat Russian mobs and oligarchs. The message, said one lawyer in the criminal division: Doing your job can make you vulnerable to a career-ending attack." NYT 

ON THE BORDER -- WAPO'S KEVIN SIEFF in Mexico City, "Pompeo meets with Mexican officials as a migrant caravan inches north": "By Friday morning, at least a thousand migrants had arrived in the city of Tecun Uman, in northern Guatemala, and said they were preparing to cross into southern Mexico, even as Mexican authorities deployed additional police and Guatemalan officials shut a major border crossing.

"Mexican authorities, in search of a way to satisfy President Trump's demands to deter the migrants without appearing to violate international law, have asked the United Nations to set up a migrant processing center near its southern border. In a statement, Pompeo said he welcomed that plan." WaPo 

-- WAPO'S DAVID NAKAMURA (@DavidNakamura): "Marc Short just said on CNN that he negotiated with Dems a deal offering path to citizenship for 1.7 million for border wall funding. But deal fell apart over WH insistence on legal immigration cuts/closing law 'loopholes' to tighten border/speed deportations."

ON THE WORLD STAGE -- "U.S. cancels major military exercise with South Korea," by CNN's Barbara Starr and Ryan Browne: CNN 

TRADE WARS ... ADAM BEHSUDI, BEN WHITE and DOUG PALMER, "Trump's plan to tout Mexico-Canada deal hits roadblocks over tariffs": "White House and Canadian sources said there are discussions about inviting Canadian and Mexican officials to an event in an industrial, U.S. Midwest city that would allow the president to get credit with voters for last month's agreement to replace the 24-year-old NAFTA. ...

"Canadian Ambassador David MacNaughton told POLITICO he'd heard talk of a potential event, but Canada won't consider attending unless the penalties are removed. ... Mexican officials said all options are being considered. Any ceremony would largely be symbolic because U.S. law requires at least 60 days to pass before the deal can be formally signed. And the deal must still get approval from Congress to go into effect, a vote that won't happen until next year." POLITICO 

-- SOUTH CHINA MORNING POST'S ZHOU XIN and JUN MAI: "Xi Jinping, Donald Trump agree to talks at G20 summit next month, source says": "An initial date has been set for November 29, the day before the summit formally gets under way, the person said on condition of anonymity. If confirmed, it would be the first face-to-face meeting between the two leaders in nearly a year and suggest both Washington and Beijing were ready to de-escalate the trade tensions.

"Chinese Vice-Premier Liu He, one of Xi's top economic aides, told state media on Friday that Beijing and Washington 'are contacting each other at present.' His comments came as Beijing is trying to shore up investor confidence in its stock market and economy. But the impact of the trade war on Chinese stocks was 'more psychological than real,' he said." SCMP 

-- "Exports Keep China's Economy Warm, but Winter Is Coming," by WSJ's Chao Deng in Guangzhou, China: "As China's economic growth weakens faster than expected and uncertainty from the trade fight with the U.S. casts a shadow over business, a surprising driver has been exports. But that may soon peter out. ...

"[F]irms have been gearing up for U.S. tariffs on Chinese products to hit their bottom lines. That doesn't appear to have happened yet, as U.S. firms have piled up purchases ahead of the tariffs. ... Still, analysts say China's economy can't avoid the headwinds as the trade fight chips away at business confidence." WSJ 

-- NYT'S MOTOKO RICH in Tokyo: "Japan Caved to Trump on Trade Talks. Now the Real Haggling Begins" 

VALLEY TALK -- "Facebook Turns to U.K. Politician to Help Repair Its Image," by WSJ's Stu Woo in London: "Facebook Inc. has hired one of Britain's best-known politicians as its top policy and communications executive, giving a Silicon Valley outsider the task of mending the social network's image as it deals with increased political scrutiny in the U.S. and abroad.

"Facebook said Friday that Nick Clegg, who as deputy prime minister was Britain's No. 2 leader from 2010 to 2015, would replace Elliot Schrage, who said in June that he was stepping down." WSJ 

PLAYBOOK METRO SECTION -- "Amazon Revisits Some Cities as HQ2 Decision Looms," by WSJ's Laura Stevens, Shayndi Raice and Keiko Morris: "The visits over the past couple of months include New York City, Newark, N.J., and Chicago, according to people familiar with the matter. In addition, Amazon has been following up with other locations, including Miami and the Washington, D.C.-area, according to some of the people. ... Amazon ... appears to be favoring an urban site, say people familiar with the matter, which could be a problem for some sites in Northern Virginia and Montgomery County, Md." WSJ 

TV TONIGHT -- Bob Costa sits down with NBC's Hallie Jackson, CNN's Abby Phillip, WaPo's Dan Balz and NYT's Mark Landler on PBS' "Washington Week" at 8 p.m.

SPOTTED: Biden receiving the Medal of Honor last night from the American Cancer Society at a black tie event at the Reagan Center - pic ... another pic ... Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao at DCA yesterday heading to an American Airlines flight to Columbus - pic 

WELCOME TO THE WORLD -- OBAMA ALUMNI: Matt McAlvanah, principal at Monument Policy Group and an Obama USTR and Patty Murray alum, and Anna Sperling McAlvanah, director of congressional relations at the Export-Import Bank, on Thursday welcomed Edward (Teddy) Robert McAlvanah. Pic 

BONUS BIRTHDAY -- Mike McElwain is 5-0 (h/t Brooks McElwain)

                        
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