Subject: POLITICO Playbook: Dems lay out investigation priorities
From: "Anna Palmer Jake Sherman Daniel Lippman" <[email-masked]>
To: <[email-masked]>
Date: Sun, 11 Nov 2018 10:21:15 -0600
List-Id: <1376319.xt.local>

Presented by BP: Playbook is POLITICO's must-read briefing on what's driving the day                Nov 11, 2018 View in browser                   
 By Jake Sherman, Anna Palmer and Daniel Lippman 
             
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                     DRIVING THE DAY      
SUNDAY BEST -- MARGARET BRENNAN, back from maternity leave, spoke with HOUSE MINORITY LEADER NANCY PELOSI on CBS NEWS' "FACE THE NATION" as the California Democrat is poised to lead the Democratic opposition to PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP in Washington. 

-- ON HER DECISION TO SEEK THE SPEAKERSHIP: "Well, I -- I'm staying as Speaker to protect the Affordable Care Act. That's my main issue, because I think that's, again, about the health and financial health of the America's families and if Hillary had won, I could go home. Nobody from California ever gets Potomac fever."

-- ON THE MUELLER INVESTIGATION: BRENNAN: "Do you think under [Matt] Whitaker that the integrity of this investigation is in peril?" PELOSI: "Yes I do. First of all, I think that he should recuse himself for any review of the investigation because of statements he has made already in the public domain about the fact that this investigation should not --" 

BRENNAN: "You don't have confidence in him as America's top law enforcement officer?" PELOSI: "No I don't, and don't just take it from me. There's bipartisan editorializing about this that -- that he should never have been appointed and that it -- it does violence to the Constitution and the vision of our founders to appoint such a person in such a manner to be the chief legal officer in our country. And that's bipartisan."

IMPEACHMENT TALK ALREADY STARTING ... THE ATLANTIC'S ISAAC DOVERE: "Nancy Pelosi: Mueller Doesn't Have to Indict Trump for Congress to Impeach Him": "'Recognize one point,' Pelosi told me in an interview in the conference room of her minority leader suite in the Capitol late Friday. 'What Mueller might not think is indictable could be impeachable.' ... 

"She says her attention is on Trump. 'Anybody who saw his press conference the other day would know that we have to pray for our country, very deeply. Pray for him too, but for our country,' she said. So does she think Trump is stable? 'I don't know,' she said. 'You can't make a diagnosis over TV, they tell me.'" Atlantic

Good Sunday morning. Happy Veterans Day. FIRST IN PLAYBOOK: THE PRESIDENT'S WEEK AHEAD: Tuesday: Trump will participate in a Diwali ceremony. Wednesday: He will have lunch with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. Friday: The president will present the Medal of Freedom. 

ABOUT THOSE INVESTIGATIONS -- GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS spoke with REP. ELIJAH CUMMINGS (D-MD.), who is expected to chair the House Oversight Committee, on ABC NEWS' "THIS WEEK": STEPHANOPOULOS: "[The president] said that if Democrats investigate it's going to be a war-like posture. Are you ready to go to war?" 

CUMMINGS: "I'm not going to war with anyone. What I am going to do is do what the American people said they wanted us to do through this election, even in Trump country they basically are saying that we want transparency, we want honesty and we want integrity. ... But George, I'm not going to be handing out subpoenas like somebody's handing out candy on Halloween. I take this as a lawyer and as an officer of the court, I take subpoenas very seriously."

-- ON HIS PRIORITIES: "I really want to look at some things that affect people on a day-to-day basis such as, as I said drug prices and health care issues. But I also want to look at things like the census. We are having some problems right now with regard to the Trump administration wanting to put in a citizenship question. 

"We want to look at things like the FBI building fiasco where the president injected himself into that debate as to where it would be located -- we think for his benefit. We got to figure out when is he acting on behalf of the American people in a lot of his decisions or -- or is he acting on his own behalf."

-- ON POTENTIAL W.H. NONCOMPLIANCE: "We will cross that bridge when we get to it. We will cross that bridge when we get to it. ... I'm more optimistic than that."

-- JAKE TAPPER spoke with REP. JERRY NADLER (D-N.Y.), who is expected to chair the House Judiciary Committee, on CNN'S "STATE OF THE UNION": TAPPER: "What are the first three things that you want to hold hearings on?" NADLER: "Well, the very first thing, obviously, is to protect the Mueller investigation. The president's dismissal of Attorney General Sessions, and his appointment of Whitaker, who is a complete political lackey, is a real threat to the integrity of that investigation. 

"That investigation is of utmost importance in making sure that we adhere to the rule of law and that the administration is held accountable. And we will certainly hold hearings on that. Our very first witness on -- after January 3, we will subpoena Mr. -- or we will summon, if necessary, subpoena Mr. Whitaker."

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TRUMP ON THE WORLD STAGE -- "Critics pile on after Trump cancels visit to U.S. military cemetery outside Paris, citing weather," by WaPo's David Nakamura, Seung Min Kim and James McAuley in Paris: "President Trump flew 3,800 miles to this French capital city for ceremonies to honor the military sacrifice in World War I, hoping to take part in the kind of powerful ode to the bravery of the armed forces that he was unable to hold in Washington. But on his first full day here, it rained on his substitute parade weekend. Early Saturday, the White House announced Trump and the first lady had scuttled plans, due to bad weather, for their first stop in the weekend's remembrance activities - a
 visit to the solemn Aisne Marne American Cemetery, marking the ferocious Battle of Belleau Wood.

"It was not completely clear why the Trumps were unable to attend. The cemetery is 50 miles from Paris. Perhaps the president was planning to travel on Marine One, which is occasionally grounded by the Secret Service. But the sight of dignitaries arriving at other sites outside Paris, including Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Emmanuel Macron, led some foreign policy analysts to speculate the U.S. commander in chief just wasn't up for it." WaPo

-- NANCY COOK in Paris -- "Trump's rain decision casts dark clouds over his Paris trip": "President Donald Trump's decision to cancel his visit to an American military cemetery outside of Paris threatened to overshadow his trip here, as government officials, historians, and fellow Republicans hammered him for more than 24 hours for that move.

"'President @realDonaldTrump a no-show because of raindrops? Those veterans the president didn't bother to honor fought in the rain, in the mud, in the snow - & many died in trenches for the cause of freedom. Rain didn't stop them & it shouldn't have stopped an American president,' wrote former Secretary of State John Kerry, a veteran of the Vietnam War." POLITICO

-- BEN RHODES (@brhodes): "I helped plan all of President Obama's trips for 8 years. There is always a rain option. Always."

-- TUCKER MARTIN, a Republican operative who worked on the super PAC backing Chris Christie's 2016 presidential bid (@jtuckermartin): "If Dems can't figure out how to make hay for days out of Trump not visiting military cemetery on anniversary of conclusion of WWI because of a little rain...while other leaders attend...they really don't deserve to win in 2020. Dem POTUS did this? Would be relentless".

-- MACRON REBUKE, PART TWO: "Macron warns against nationalism in apparent rebuke of Trump at WWI commemoration," by NBC News' Carol Lee, Kristen Welker and Kelly O'Donnell in Paris: "French President Emmanuel Macron delivered a rebuke of President Donald Trump's 'America first' approach to international affairs at a ceremony on Sunday commemorating the 100th anniversary of the end of World War I. 'Nationalism is a betrayal of patriotism,' Macron said. 'By saying, "Our interests first, who cares about the others," we erase what a nation holds dearest, what gives it life, what gives it grace and what is essential: its moral values.'

"Macron's remarks, which he delivered just steps from Trump and more than 80 other world leaders, come on the heels of the U.S. president proudly declaring himself a 'nationalist.' 'A globalist is a person that wants the globe to do well, frankly not caring about our country so much, and you know what, we can't have that,' Trump said at a campaign rally in Houston on Oct. 22. 'I'm a nationalist. Ok? I'm a nationalist. Nationalist. Use that word.' After Macron finished his remarks, Trump appeared to grimace while offering muted and delayed applause." NBC News

THE PRESIDENT gave remarks honoring Americans who fought in World War I at the Suresnes American Cemetery and Memorial, the final event on his schedule before he flies back to the U.S. Trump said he was there to "pay tribute to the brave Americans who gave their last breath in the mighty struggle," according to WaPo's Seung Min Kim, who is the pooler. 

"It is our duty to preserve the civilization they defended," POTUS said of those who died. "We renew our sacred obligation to memorialize our fallen heroes" here at the cemetery, "where they rest for all eternity."

THE LATEST IN CALIFORNIA -- L.A. TIMES: "'It's gone. Paradise is gone.' Fire destroys a town, taking so many lives with it," by Louis Sahagun, Liam Dillon and Michael Finnegan: "Two days after walls of flames devoured the entire Sierra foothills town of Paradise in minutes, three firefighters set about surveying the damage Saturday so they could report back to evacuees they'd grown up with on what they'd seen. Capt. Alejandro Saise, firefighter A.J. Mount and engineer Phil Rose had little good news to share.

"Saise, 45, shook his head in sadness as he took in the scorched, smoking landscape. It was a vast patchwork of ash piles, mangled metal and skeletal pines more than 100 feet tall in a once thriving neighborhood of retirees and young families. 'There's no easy way to say it,' Saise said. 'I've texted, 'Sorry, brother, but it's gone,' at least 30 times in the last 48 hours.'" LA Times

-- Gizmodo: "Video Shows the Terrifying Drive to Escape Massive Fire in Paradise, California"

-- NYT: "California Hasn't Seen Fires Like This: Pictures of a State in Flames" -- 17 pix on one page

REPLACING SESSIONS -- "Ratcliffe, Gowdy join list of potential attorney general picks," by NBC News' Leigh Ann Caldwell and Julia Ainsley: "Two members of congress, a cabinet official, a presidential confidant and a frequent guest on Fox News are among those being considered by President Donald Trump to be the next attorney general, multiple sources tell NBC News. ... Rep. John Ratcliffe, R-Texas, and retiring Rep. Trey Gowdy of South Carolina, have also joined the list of those in the running, the sources say." NBC

FIRST IN PLAYBOOK -- DOJ DEPARTURE LOUNGE - DANIELLE CUTRONA has left the Department of Justice where she was senior counsel to the attorney general. A DOJ spokesperson confirmed that her last day was Friday and that she accepted a new job "a while back" but didn't reveal what her new job was. Cutrona, who previously served as chief counsel to then-Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) on the Judiciary Committee, didn't respond to requests for comment.

MORE SUNDAY BEST -- CHRIS WALLACE spoke with KELLYANNE CONWAY on FOX NEWS' "FOX NEWS SUNDAY": WALLACE: "So does the president know Matt Whitaker or not and specifically did he know before appointing him that Whitaker was a critic of the special counsel's investigation?" 

CONWAY: "The president does know Matt Whitaker, has gotten to know him over the course of the last year since he has been the chief of staff to the attorney general. The president's point is it's not like he's putting a friend in there who he's known for his entire life, he's putting somebody who has been working at the Department of Justice for 13 months now in a very senior position as chief of staff to Attorney General Sessions. And the president has dealt with Matt Whitaker in many different situations in the White House." 

-- CONWAY ON THE MUELLER PROBE: "The President has said he's not discussed the Mueller investigation with Whitaker, he made that very clear the other day, I believe somebody asked him that question. I never witnessed them discussing it and I'll go a little bit farther it would be a mistake to shut down the Mueller investigation in the way that you describe it because we've been so compliant."

-- CHUCK TODD talked with REP. ADAM SCHIFF (D-CALIF.) on NBC NEWS' "MEET THE PRESS": SCHIFF on Matt Whitaker: "I want to make this very clear, if he doesn't recuse himself, if he has any involvement whatsoever in this Russia probe we are going to find out whether he made commitments to the president about the probe, whether he is serving as a back channel to the president or his lawyers about the probe, whether he's doing anything to interfere with the probe. Mr. Whitaker needs to understand that he will be called to answer. And any role that he plays will be exposed to the public. We don't want there to be any ambiguity about that."

-- TODD also spoke with SEN. CORY GARDNER (R-COLO.) about the Mueller investigation: GARDNER: "I support the Mueller investigation. I know I've heard Senator McConnell say he supports the Mueller investigation. It's important for the American people. It's important that we have this for transparency. And I think it's important for the president to have this information out there fully, transparently, and accurately..." TODD: "Does it need protection legislatively, though? Do you need to do that in the Senate?" GARDNER: " ... Mueller is not going to be stopped. It's going to continue and it should continue."

2018 WATCH -- "GOP Rep. Dana Rohrabacher loses, and the Republicans' 'bad year' may get worse yet," by L.A. Times' Joe Mozingo and Jazmine Ulloa: "Rep. Dana Rohrabacher has lost the congressional seat he held for 30 years in one of the most conservative stretches of Orange County, a stunning defeat for the GOP as other Republicans' early leads receded in the latest ballot counts, putting the party in fear of losing all six tightly contested House races in California. The defeat to Democrat real estate entrepreneur Harley Rouda represents a landmark shift away from the GOP for suburban America. 

"No county - no part of a county - has been at the heart of conservatism since the 1960s like the coast between Dana Point and the Los Angeles County line. This was John Wayne country. Even now Republicans have a 10-point voter registration advantage in Rohrabacher's 48th Congressional District - but President Trump and his supporters in Congress do not." LAT

IN ARIZONA ... 

-- "Sinema lead grows again as Arizona Senate vote count continues," by Scott Bland: "Democratic Rep. Kyrsten Sinema has expanded her lead over GOP Rep. Martha McSally in Arizona after another day of ballot-counting in the state's Senate race. Sinema stretched her lead to 28,688 votes on Saturday evening as officials in the two most-populous counties, Maricopa and Pima, counted tens of thousands more absentee ballots, though that margin could shrink slightly if smaller counties where McSally has an edge report new totals later Saturday evening. Sinema now has 49.5 percent of the vote to McSally's 48.2 percent, with hundreds of thousands more votes still left to count." POLITICO

IN FLORIDA ... 

-- Scott: Nelson is 'trying to commit fraud to win' Florida's Senate race," by Brent D. Griffiths: "Florida Gov. Rick Scott said Sunday that he's won his closely contested Senate race against Democrat Sen. Bill Nelson and that his opponent is 'committing fraud' in an effort to steal back the race from him and is a 'sore loser.' 'Senator Nelson is trying to commit fraud to win this election,' Scott told host Chris Wallace on 'Fox News Sunday.'" POLITICO

AP RETRACTS FLORIDA GOV RACE CALL - "The Associated Press is retracting its call in the race for Florida governor. The AP had declared Republican Ron DeSantis the winner over Democrat Andrew Gillum. ... It is AP policy not to call a race facing a recount." AP

-- "Gillum rescinds concession in Florida governor's race," by Arek Sarkissian in Tallahassee

TRUMP on Florida Saturday at 2:09 p.m.: "Trying to STEAL two big elections in Florida! We are watching closely!"

WORTH NOTING -- DAVE WASSERMAN (@Redistrict): "Overlooked: at the moment, Republicans are on track to lose nearly half of their 23 women in the House; there could be just 13 in the next Congress."

         
2020 WATCH -- "Democrats Have Two Paths for 2020: Daring or Defensive. Can They Settle on Either?" by NYT's Jonathan Martin and Alex Burns: "While [Beto] O'Rourke has quickly become a beloved figure among many grass-roots activists, some elders in the party argue that Democrats should be careful about swooning too soon. 'We're always looking for rock stars but I don't think the country is looking for rock stars,' said Tom Vilsack, the former governor of Iowa and agriculture secretary for President Barack Obama. ... [Kamala] Harris, the senator from California, is seen by allies as likely to announce a campaign early in next year, after the release of a book due out in January.

"Her sister, Maya Harris, a former top adviser to Mrs. Clinton, has already been quietly gauging the intentions of some influential Democrats in order to have an early roster of supporters ready. The Harris camp has also been reaching out to potential campaign staff members who could manage fund-raising operations and a strategy for amassing convention delegates over a long primary while the senator herself has been courting Democrats in the states that begin the nominating process, such as Mr. Vilsack and former Gov. James Hodge of South Carolina." NYT

-- SPOTTED: Sen. Kamala Harris and Maya Harris at Le Diplomate yesterday for a late brunch. Harris and Hillary Clinton spoke yesterday at Tyrone Gale's memorial service at the Howard Theater.

YOU'RE INVITED: ANNA and JAKE are sitting down Thursday at 5:30 p.m. for a "PLAYBOOK ELECTIONS: WHAT'S NEXT?" event, part of the POLITICO-AARP Deciders series. NADEAM ELSHAMI, former chief of staff for House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, now policy director at Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck; JOSH HOLMES, former chief of staff to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, now president and founding partner of Cavalry LLC; and GREG STRIMPLE, president of GS Strategy Group, will be there to discuss. RSVP

SNL LAST NIGHT - "Jeff Sessions Farewell Cold Open": "Jeff Sessions (Kate McKinnon) packs up his office as Sarah Huckabee Sanders (Aidy Bryant), Mike Pence (Beck Bennett), Eric Trump (Alex Moffat), Donald Trump Jr. (Mikey Day) and Robert Mueller (Robert De Niro) stop by." 8-min. video

-- IF YOU WATCH ONE THING -- "Weekend Update: Pete Davidson Apologizes to Lt. Com. Dan Crenshaw" - 4-min. video

                 PLAYBOOK READS         

PHOTO DU JOUR: Russian President Vladimir Putin shakes hands with first lady Melania Trump as he arrives to attend a ceremony at the Arc de Triomphe in Paris as part of commemorations marking the 100th anniversary of the armistice ending World War I on Sunday, Nov. 11, 2018. | Ludovic Marin/Pool Photo via AP
   
THE AVENATTI-CARLSON NEXUS -- "Avenatti takes on Tucker Carlson after bar incident involving Fox News host's children," by Natasha Korecki and Quint Forgey: "Michael Avenatti, who was once dubbed a 'creepy porn lawyer' on Tucker Carlson's Fox News program, claimed Saturday he's 'investigating an alleged assault ... committed by T. Carlson' stemming from an incident at a Virginia restaurant. 

"The attorney, who is exploring a 2020 presidential run and rose to national prominence by representing porn star Stormy Daniels against President Donald Trump, posted video on his Twitter account Saturday showing Carlson in a verbal altercation at a country club and asks for help in identifying other people involved in the incident.

"Carlson, in a lengthy statement provided through Fox News, said the incident began when a man at the club last month verbally harassed his teenage daughter on her way back from a bathroom and called her a 'whore' and 'c***.' He acknowledged that his son then confronted the man and threw wine at him. But Carlson maintains neither he nor his son assaulted the man involved. Avenatti disputed that account, saying it's an 'absolute lie.'" POLITICO

-- SPOTTED: MICHAEL AVENATTI yesterday at a 2020 "meet and greet" in Philadelphia hosted by Laura Goldman at a friend's home in the Society Hill section of Philadelphia. "He wants to run on election reform such as making Election Day a national holiday. People came out in the middle of a monsoon," Goldman told us, calling Avenatti "wildly impressive." Pic ... Another pic

FOR YOUR RADAR -- "Once Censored, Billionaire Saudi Prince Returns to Spotlight," by WSJ's Benoit Faucon and Summer Said in Dubai: "Prince al-Waleed bin Talal has emerged from a corruption probe to seize his previous role as the kingdom's unofficial business ambassador." WSJ

-- "Trump discussed Khashoggi response with Turkey's Erdogan: White House official," by Reuters' Steve Holland in Paris: "U.S. President Donald Trump and his Turkish counterpart Tayyip Erdogan discussed how to respond to the killing last month of Saudi dissident Jamal Khashoggi, a White House official said on Sunday." Reuters

   
         
TRUMP INC. - "Trump properties received $3.2 million during midterms, FEC records show," by CNN's David Wright and Aaron Kessler: "No single group spent more than the [RNC], which spent at least $1.2 million at the properties since the start of 2017. About half of the RNC spending came in two installments -- $367,000 for travel expenses at Trump National Doral Miami in mid-June, after the group's spring meetings at the Florida club, and $222,000 for 'venue rental and catering' at Mar-A-Lago in March connected to fundraising events at the resort." CNN

ON THE BORDER - "Deployed Inside the United States: The Military Waits for the Migrant Caravan," by NYT's Thomas Gibbons-Neff and Helene Cooper in Base Camp Donna, Texas: "There is no mess hall, just the brown, prepackaged M.R.E.'s. Military police officers patrol the perimeter at night, armed with handguns. The tents sleep 20 soldiers and have no electricity or air-conditioning. Phone charging is relegated to a few generators that power the spotlights around the living area." NYT

HMM -- "The DEA and ICE are hiding surveillance cameras in streetlights," by Quartz's Justin Rohrlich & Dave Gershgorn: "The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) have hidden an undisclosed number of covert surveillance cameras inside streetlights around the country, federal contracting documents reveal. According to government procurement data, the DEA has paid a Houston, Texas company called Cowboy Streetlight Concealments LLC roughly $22,000 since June 2018 for 'video recording and reproducing equipment.' 

"ICE paid out about $28,000 to Cowboy Streetlight Concealments over the same period of time. It's unclear where the DEA and ICE streetlight cameras have been installed, or where the next deployments will take place." Quartz

BONUS GREAT WEEKEND READS, curated by Daniel Lippman:

-- "Why Doctors Hate Their Computers," by Atul Gawande in the New Yorker: "Digitization promises to make medical care easier and more efficient. But are screens coming between doctors and patients?" New Yorker

-- "A Gilded Age at Architectural Digest," by Martin Filler in the N.Y. Review of Books - per ALDaily.com's description: "The Beast of Beverly Hills. Architectural Digest made a fortune by placing a good bet: Americans would drool over celebrity, money, and power." NYRB

-- "In the Age of A.I., Is Seeing Still Believing?" by Joshua Rothman in the New Yorker: "Advances in digital imagery could deepen the fake-news crisis-or help us get out of it." New Yorker

-- "The Stranger in the Shelter," by Earl Swift in Outside: "Told here in full for the first time, this is the horrifying story of the first murder on the Appalachian Trail, the kidnapping that followed, and how one woman learned to survive." Outside (h/t TheBrowser.com)

-- "The War Inside 7-Eleven," by Lauren Etter and Michael Smith in Bloomberg Businessweek: "The company has been battling its store owners for years. It seems to have found a new tool: U.S. immigration authorities." Bloomberg

-- "Pope vs. Pope: How Francis and Benedict's Simmering Conflict Could Split the Catholic Church," by John Cornwell in December's Vanity Fair: "When he retired, the ultra-conservative Pope Benedict XVI was expected to disappear from view, clearing the way for his liberal successor, Francis, to clean house in the notoriously corrupt Vatican. Instead, he stayed, setting the stage for a de-stabilizing brawl over morality, theology, and the Church's horrific legacy of sexual abuse." VF

-- "Is More Democracy Always Better Democracy?" by Yascha Mounk in the New Yorker: "Parties are losing control over their candidates. Two scholars argue that ordinary Americans are the ones paying the price." New Yorker

-- "How the GOP Gave Up on Porn," by Tim Alberta in the Nov./Dec. issue of POLITICO Magazine: "Once, the fight against pornography was the beating heart of the American culture war. Now porn is a ballooning industry-and maybe a harmful one-with no real opponents. What happened?" POLITICO Magazine

-- "A Serial Killer, a Receipt, and My Mom: Haunted by the Murder of 33 Boys," by Courtney Lund O'Neil in Harper's Bazaar: "My mom's role in capturing the prolific serial killer, John Wayne Gacy, has haunted me since I was a child. This summer, I sat down with her after he re-emerged in the news cycle to get an insight into how he affected her motherhood-and ultimately my own." Harper's Bazaar (h/t Longreads.com)

-- "'I Don't Really See Any Value in Saying, "I Told You So"': Prince 
Charles on His Climate-Change Fight, Life with Camilla, and Becoming King," by James Reginato in Vanity Fair: "As the Prince of Wales turns 70, James Reginato hops on a royal flight to catch up with the longest-waiting heir apparent in history." VF

                 PLAYBOOKERS      
SPOTTED at the memorial service yesterday for former Sen. Joseph Tydings (D-Md.) at University of Maryland Chapel in College Park: Nancy Pelosi, Ben Cardin, Chris Van Hollen, Barbara Mikulski, Jane Harman, Steny Hoyer, Jamie Raskin, Doug Gansler, Steve Sachs, Tom McMillan, Rod Rosenstein, Tammy Haddad, Mary Tydings, Mark Turgeon, Gary Williams, speakers Hardin Marion, Tim Maloney, Brit Kirwan, Mark Wasserman and Ben Tydings Smith.

-- SPOTTED at Poolhouse's fifth anniversary party last night at New Vegas Lounge: Will and Kelli Ritter, Tim O'Toole, Matt and Julia Mazzone, Ron Kaufman, Leah Malone, Jill Barclay, Annie Starke, Meridith McGraw, Natalie Boyse, Julia and Matt Mazzone, Eric Wilson, Jahan Wilcox, Olivia Perez-Cubas, Laura Howard and Matt Kilfoyle, Annie Donaldson, Kevin Sheridan, CoCo Panell, Jesse Hunt, Sara Murray, Maeve Reston, Colin Reed, Jeremy Adler, Courtney Alexander, Sam LaHood, Scott Tranter, Brett Talley, Matt Gorman, Shoshana Weissmann and Will Martinez.

WELCOME TO THE WORLD - ASHLEY PARKER, a White House reporter for WaPo and an MSNBC and NBC News political analyst, and MIKE BENDER, a White House reporter for WSJ, welcomed Mazarine Elizabeth Bender. She posted on Instagram: "Born 6 lbs, 4 oz, w lots of black hair, solid side eye, and a limited repertoire of tricks." Instapic ... Mike's Instapic of Maz and her big sister, Zoe

WEEKEND WEDDING - OBAMA ALUMNI: "Ioanna Kefalas, Alexander Niejelow" - N.Y. Times: "Shaun Donovan ... officiated. Until 2017, Mrs. Niejelow, 34, worked as the adviser to Mr. Donovan who was the director of the White House Office of Management and Budget, and until 2014 was the special assistant to him while he was the secretary in the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development ... Mr. Niejelow, 36, is the senior vice president for cybersecurity coordination and advocacy in New York at Mastercard. ... The couple met in April 2014 while working at the Obama White House." With a pic. NYT

BIRTHDAYS: Facebook's Tucker Bounds is 4-0 (hat tip: Blain Rethmeier) ... former Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) is 78 ... Alec MacGillis is 44 ... Sean Joyce ... Nate Bailey, COS of the Dept. of Education (h/ts Gillum Ferguson and Liz Hill) ... Norm Eisen, senior fellow at Brookings, CNN commentator, chair of CREW, and former U.S. Amb. to the Czech Republic ... Politico's Matt Kaminski, John Hendel and Edgar Estrada ... Matt Ortega ... Salesforce's Lauren Thorbjornsen ... Taylor Holgate ... former Rep. Tim Huelskamp (R-Kan.), now president of the Heartland Institute, is 5-0 ... former Rep. Pete Stark (D-Calif.) is 87 ... former Rep. Corrine Brown (D-Fla.) is 72 ... Lyft's Jake Swanton ...
 Joel Foster ... Meredith Dyer ... Melissa Stark ... 

... David Leiter, president of Plurus Strategies (h/ts Sarah Litke and Jon Haber) ... Daniel Huey, partner at Something Else Strategies ... Rebecca Sharer ... Edelman's Michael Boisjolie ... McKinsey's Greg Romano ... Pew's Ruth Igielnik ... Mike Frankfurt ... Susanna Cagle ... Anya Firestone ... Carlos Monje ... Trad Almasri ... Craig Pittman ... Jeffrey S. Malashock ... Eric Ezzy Rappaport ... Jon Hartley ... Gretchen Michael ... Nathan Imperiale ... Emily Pollock ... Jessica Jennings .... Linda Rozett ... Ryan Tronovitch ... Grant Lebens ... Ben Hall ... Gillian Morris ... Eric Oginsky ... Frank Wilkinson ... Sarah Esty ... Christian Flynn ... Mandi Wimmer (h/ts Teresa Vilmain)

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