Subject: Playbook PM: Trump heading to the border Thursday
From: "Anna Palmer Jake Sherman Daniel Lippman" <[email-masked]>
To: <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 07 Jan 2019 12:04:32 -0600
List-Id: <1376319.xt.local>

Presented by Better Medicare Alliance: Playbook is POLITICO's must-read briefing on what's driving the day                Jan 07, 2019 View in browser                   
 By Anna Palmer, Jake Sherman, Daniel Lippman, Eli Okun and Garrett Ross 
         
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TRUMP TO THE BORDER ... SARAH HUCKABEE SANDERS: "President @realDonaldTrump will travel to the Southern border on Thursday to meet with those on the frontlines of the national security and humanitarian crisis. More details will be announced soon."

-- DOES THIS MEAN everyone assumes the shutdown will last through Thursday?

JUST POSTED from NYT'S MAGGIE HABERMAN and EILEEN SULLIVAN: "Trump Wants to Deliver Prime Time Address on Government Shutdown and Will Visit the Border"

-- TRUMP'S CONSERVATIVE backers on Capitol Hill have been privately urging an address for some time.

THOUGHT EXERCISE ... IF PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP builds a wall on the southern border through emergency measures, do you think this will go over easily with a Democratic House? This will end up in litigation, investigations, etc. 

WHAT'S AT STAKE ...

HELENA BOTTEMILLER EVICH: "Food stamps for millions of Americans become pawn in shutdown fight": "As the partial government shutdown extends into its third week, the Department of Agriculture won't say how long it can keep paying out food stamp benefits for the nearly 39 million people who depend on them each month. ... 

"Senior administration officials said last week they think the program has enough money for January, but not enough to cover all benefits in February ... But the Trump administration may in fact have more leeway to use reserve funds to keep food stamps afloat if Congress and President Donald Trump can't reach an agreement to break the impasse ... In the meantime, however, both the White House and Democrats are trying to use SNAP as a point of leverage." POLITICO

WHAT THEY'RE SAYING ... 

-- THE PRESIDENT tweeted at 8:38 a.m.: "Congressman Adam Smith, the new Chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, just stated, 'Yes, there is a provision in law that says a president can declare an emergency. It's been done a number of times.' No doubt, but let's get our deal done in Congress!" Quint Forgey on Smith's initial comments

-- CNN'S MANU RAJU (@mkraju): "Adam Smith responds with @KateBolduan: 'There is no national emergency. ... The president can declare a national emergency and take money from [DOD] ... It'd be wrong, horrible policy. ... He'd be challenged in court ... It's a terrible idea, but he can do it.'"

-- A DIFFERENT TAKE ... MSNBC'S KYLE GRIFFIN (@kylegriffin1): "Jeff Merkley on CNN says Trump 'absolutely' does not have the authority to declare a nat'l emergency over the wall. 'In 2000, there were 200,000 people at peak coming to our border ... We're at about a fifth of that ... How could this possibly be framed as a nat'l emergency?'"

-- CAITLIN OPRYSKO: "Coons: Trump's steel-slat proposal is 'progress' toward ending shutdown": Sen. Chris "Coons (D-Del.), in an interview with Fox News's 'Fox & Friends,' urged the president to stick with his proposal, made to Democrats over the weekend alongside additional funding for other needs at the southern border. The lawmaker called the idea 'a minor but important difference in technology,' with the caveat that Trump has at times been inconsistent in his demands and rhetoric on the issue." POLITICO 

BREAKING -- WSJ'S JOSH ZUMBRUN: "World Bank President Resigns to Join Investment Firm": "World Bank President Jim Yong Kim plans to resign on Feb. 1 to join a firm focused on infrastructure investments, leaving the bank nearly three years before his term was set to expire.

"Mr. Kim's unexpected resignation, announced Monday, will potentially set off a fight between the Trump administration and critics of U.S. control at the World Bank, which is the world's largest development-finance institution. ... In the bank's seven-decade history, its president has always been picked by the U.S., but many other countries have sought an end to Washington's control of the pick." WSJ

BULLETIN ... AP/JERUSALEM: "Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says he will deliver a 'dramatic announcement' set to coincide with the evening news broadcast.

Netanyahu said in statement on Twitter on Monday that he would broadcast a 'special announcement to the press.'

"The embattled prime minister's mysterious statement left even veteran political reporters baffled as to its nature. There was speculation it was related to investigations into alleged corruption by Netanyahu. Police have recommended that Netanyahu be indicted in a series of corruption probes." AP

Good Monday afternoon. SIREN ... SCOTUS WATCH -- MATTHEW CHOI: "Ruth Bader Ginsburg will miss oral arguments for the first time": "Supreme Court spokesperson Kathleen Arberg confirmed Ginsburg would not be at the court Monday. Ginsburg will still read transcripts of arguments scheduled for Monday, but remain at home." POLITICO
       
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TRADE WARS -- WAPO'S ANNA FIFIELD and GERRY SHIH in Beijing: "Trade talks open in Beijing amid optimism about an end to U.S.-China dispute": "Chinese stock markets rose sharply Monday, partly on hopes for progress on a trade deal. In a sign that the working-level meeting appeared to be off to a good start, China's economic czar, Vice Premier Liu He, dropped by the talks to spur on the negotiators. ... An American delegation led by Deputy U.S. Trade Representative Jeffrey Gerrish arrived in Beijing at the weekend for two days of negotiations on Monday and Tuesday. ... 

"Before this week's talks, China has been proactively making gestures to show it is serious about committing to reforms unlike in past rounds of negotiations ... Now, the question is not only whether China and the United States can reach a satisfactory deal this week on a list of 'deliverables,' but also how to make sure China will keep its promises." WaPo

ON THE WORLD STAGE -- WSJ'S GORDON LUBOLD and JEREMY PAGE: "U.S. Ship Sails Near Disputed South China Sea Islands in Challenge to Beijing"

-- AP/BEIRUT: "Kurdish official asks for U.S. clarifications over withdrawal": "Speaking to The Associated Press from northern Syria Monday, Badran Jia Kurd says the Kurds have not been informed of any change in the U.S. position and were in the dark about the latest comments by U.S. national security adviser John Bolton and what they indicated." AP 

-- "Trump claims Syria withdrawal plan hasn't changed," by Rebecca Morin: POLITICO 

2020 WATCH -- DES MOINES REGISTER'S BRIANNE PFANNENSTIEL: "2020 candidate John Delaney hires Iowa staff, schedules office openings" 

LEONARD LEO DEEP DIVE -- "Top Trump Backer Financed Supreme Court Confirmation Fights Through Shadowy Network," by The Daily Beast's Lachlan Markay: "The effort has been a resounding success, but Americans remain largely in the dark about who provided the tens of millions of dollars to bankroll it. Previously unreported documents ... underscore the degree to which anonymous, high-dollar donors have bankrolled the advocacy behind Trump's highly successful efforts to reshape the federal judiciary. ... 

"The flows of money to, from, and among those and other arms of the Leo network can make it difficult to trace the actual sources of funding for his advocacy efforts. And some of that money has flowed directly to a Trump political group: the committee set up to pay for his 2017 inauguration." The Daily Beast

BEYOND THE BELTWAY -- "Florida Set to Restore Voting Rights to Felons Amid Threats of Lawsuits," by WSJ's Arian Campo-Flores: "Some Florida officials are balking at the state's new amendment restoring voting rights to about 1.4 million people with felony records that is set to take effect Tuesday. ... 

"Opponents, including Republican Gov.-elect Ron DeSantis, say before the amendment can be implemented, the legislature needs to pass a bill to clarify its terms and fulfill its intent. Supporters say it should be implemented immediately. The disagreement is generating confusion and the threat of lawsuits." WSJ

AFTERNOON READ -- JOHN LAWRENCE in THE ATLANTIC: "When America Stared Into the Abyss: The untold story of how America's political leaders crossed the aisle to stave off financial collapse in 2008": "Ten years ago this past September, financial markets imploded, threatening to collapse the entire U.S. economy and setting off an extraordinary, and improbable, collaboration between the deeply divided Congress and the Bush administration. 

"Prospects for successful cooperation were inauspicious: a highly partisan atmosphere, significant divisions within each party, deep suspicions of the administration's credibility, displeasure over Bush's indifferent record on regulating the financial-services industry, and a national election just six weeks away. And yet, remarkably, a political system widely castigated as dysfunctional proved capable of passing an enormously expensive, complex, and contentious piece of legislation that prevented a second Great Depression." The Atlantic 

AFTERNOON LISTEN -- DAN DIAMOND'S PULSE CHECK PODCAST: Family separations were "unconscionable," says a former HHS official. The Trump administration's decision to separate thousands of migrant families at the border was "an ill-fated policy ... devised by Jeff Sessions and Stephen Miller," Chris Meekins, a Trump appointee who helped put those families back together, said on POLITICO's "Pulse Check" podcast. But Meekins, who left the Trump administration last week, defended the care that migrant children received in HHS facilities and said he's proud of the work that agency officials performed to reunite most families within a month. Listen 

DEPT. OF MAKING MOVES -- Former Reps. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-Fla.) and Lamar Smith (R-Texas) have joined Akin Gump's public law and policy practice as a senior adviser and senior consultant, respectively. The announcement

-- CNN'S BRIAN STELTER (@brianstelter): "Straight from Capitol Hill to CNN: former lawmakers Mia Love and Luis Gutierrez are CNN commentators, starting today."

MEDIAWATCH -- DALLAS MORNING NEWS' DOM DIFURIO (@DomDiFurio): "The newsroom just got news that the Dallas Morning News is laying off 40 people amidst a 'restructuring'. We're told about half of those will be from the newsroom."

-- Rachael Bade will join WaPo's national politics team to cover Congress in March. She currently is a congressional reporter at POLITICO. ... Karen Finney is now a political analyst at CNN. She most recently was senior adviser to Stacey Abrams and is a veteran Democratic strategist and former MSNBC host.

-- FIRST IN PLAYBOOK: Josh Resnik is now chief content officer and publisher/SVP of FiscalNote, which recently purchased CQ Roll Call. He most recently was COO and general counsel at software startup Spree Commerce and is also a Gannett and AOL alum. He told us that FiscalNote is building new studio space for both video and audio and plans to hire a number of new journalists, although he declined to give specific numbers. Last week CQ Roll Call hired Herb Jackson of the (Bergen, N.J.) Record.

-- VARIETY'S BRIAN STEINBERG: "Kendis Gibson Joins MSNBC as Weekend Anchor" 

SPOTTED: Steve Case dining with his wife Jean at Dyllan's Raw Bar Grill on Sunday.

TRANSITIONS -- Kathleen Mellody is now senior government affairs officer at the Investment Company Institute. She previously was head of federal affairs at The Hartford. ... Jarrod Backous will be partner and VP of social media firm 4degre.es' new D.C. office. He previously was political adviser at EMILY's List. ... Kelley Hudak is now a VP at Cassidy & Associates. She previously was coalitions director for Rep. Steve Scalise (R-La.). 

NSC ARRIVAL LOUNGE -- Richard Goldberg will be director for countering Iranian weapons of mass destruction at the White House NSC. He most recently was a senior adviser at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies. Jewish Insider

ENGAGED -- Jennifer Pett, manager of public affairs and comms for the Independent Petroleum Association of America and a Sen. Lamar Smith (R-Texas) alum, got engaged to Jackson Marsteller, senior financial analyst for Stanley Martin Homes. Pic

WELCOME TO THE WORLD -- Eamon Javers, Washington correspondent at CNBC and a POLITICO alum, and Maureen Javers, a former consultant to Morning Stanley, on Thursday welcomed Norah Mary Javers, who joins Declan, Evelyn and Hugh. Pic 

-- Megan Clarke, VP of booking at Fox News, and Jeff Clarke, VP at JPMorgan, welcomed Luke James. Pic ... Another pic

WEEKEND WEDDINGS -- Jill Bader, director of strategic partnerships at Fred Davis's Strategic Perception and an alum of Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) and Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, on Saturday night married Dave Thompson, a program manager at Anixter, at a wedding in Nashville. Pool report: "Jill and Dave met at the Nashville annual steeplechase when Dave's friends ran out of beer and crashed Jill's father's hospitality tent." Pic

-- Dan Pollock, founder of Cannibal Creative, a creative design and technology firm, married Danielle Geanacopoulos, associate director at the Rockefeller Foundation, in a wedding at the Cosmos Club. The couple met working for Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.). Pics ... Another pic
           
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