Subject: Playbook PM: Virginia A.G. admits to partying in blackface in the 1980s, as crisis balloons
From: "Anna Palmer Jake Sherman Daniel Lippman" <[email-masked]>
To: <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 06 Feb 2019 11:56:02 -0600
List-Id: <1376319.xt.local>

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 By Anna Palmer, Jake Sherman, Daniel Lippman, Eli Okun and Garrett Ross 
         
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VIRGINIA DEMOCRATS IN CRISIS ... NYT'S JONATHAN MARTIN (@jmartNYT) in Richmond: "NEWS: AG Mark Herring had a private meeting this morning with the legislative black caucus, Del. Lamont Bagby confirms. Asked if Herring discussed a photo of his own, Bagby said 'He'll talk about it.' Before he could say more, the House min ldr pulled him into a private room." JMart's story

-- AP at 11:36 a.m.: "Richmond, Va. (AP) -- Virginia's Democratic attorney general says he wore blackface at a college party in 1980, deepening state scandal."

-- MARK HERRING says he attended a party with friends dressed as rappers they listened to at the time, including Kurtis Blow. The statement

KASIE HUNT (@kasie): "NBC News has learned that Virginia Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax used profane language in a private meeting Monday night, while referring to his accuser, Dr. Vanessa Tyson. Two sources tells us Fairfax said of Tyson: 'F--- that b----.' - @GeoffRBennett & @jonallendc"

WAPO'S MARK BERMAN (@markberman) "So, to recap: Va's governor admitted he wore blackface. The lt gov is facing a sexual assault allegation. The AG says he too wore blackface. The House Speaker is next in line. He has that job because an election was tied and a name picked out of a bowl." 

-- CAITLIN OPRYSKO: "DNC chairman: Fairfax accuser deserves 'due process'" 

JOHN DINGELL, 92, the longest serving member of Congress in American history, has "entered a new phase," according to his wife, Rep. Debbie Dingell (D-Mich.), who is in Michigan with him. 

-- THE DETROIT NEWS reports Dingell is in hospice. Detroit News

HEATHER CAYGLE on what SPEAKER NANCY PELOSI said this morning (@heatherscope): ".@SpeakerPelosi said she spoke to Vice President Mike Pence during the SOTU last night, said she hoped the WH would take the "hands off" approach she's taking and let the committee work its will ... 

"The Speaker said she still thinks the committee can reach a deal by this Friday (which folks say is needed to get it through Congress next week) if they're left alone.

"... 'Left to their own devices, if they have a bipartisan agreement, I will support it,' Pelosi said. ... On SOTU, @SpeakerPelosi told reporters that her viral clap (see the great Doug Mills photo) was 'sincere' not sarcastic. Separately, she told members in caucus this AM she had to grind her teeth to get through immigration portion of Trump's speech, according to sources"

HOUSE MAJORITY LEADER STENY HOYER said the deadline for the House-Senate border security conference committee is FRIDAY.

-- NBC'S ALEX MOE (@alexnbcnews): "'Do I have confidence in that? No I don't,' House Majority @LeaderHoyer says when asked if congressional leaders have confidence President Trump would support DHS conference committee agreement."
       
A message from U.S. Chamber of Commerce:
 
A new HHS proposal would import foreign drug pricing policies that block access to life-saving drugs, inhibit R&D necessary to discover new drugs, and threaten our nation's free-market health care system. Tell HHS: Protect America's free market healthcare system!
         
THE VP'S TAKE ... CBS' JEFF GLOR interviewed VP MIKE PENCE this morning. GLOR: "Do you think the shutdown was a mistake?" PENCE: "I never think it's a mistake to stand up for what you believe in."

-- PENCE SAID the White House agreed to reopen the government because they were told Democrats "were willing to fund a barrier at our southern border. ... We've taken them at their word."

-- DAILY MAIL'S FRANCESCA CHAMBERS (@fran_chambers): "Pence: 'We don't object to oversight, that's the proper role of committees in Congress. But when it takes on a partisan tint, when it, when it it seems more intent on becoming a forum for invective against the president and the administration, the American people expect better.'"

AT THE BORDER ... NBC'S COURTNEY KUBE and CAROL LEE: "Pentagon moving 250 active-duty troops to Eagle Pass, Texas, because of migrant caravan": "The move reflects President Trump's mention of a 'human wall,' but comes amid increasing frustration among Pentagon leaders with the continued border requests from Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen.

"Under the new directive, the troops will be moved from Arizona to Texas and - in a sign of the Pentagon's frustrations - will not represent an increase in the overall number of U.S. troops assigned to the border mission." NBC 

-- NYT'S JOSE DEL REAL in El Centro, Calif.: "President Trump Spoke, and These Border Residents Shrugged": "Residents of El Centro and several other towns along the California-Mexico border have watched with curiosity and apprehension in recent years as the president has escalated his calls for a wall along the southwest frontier. Mr. Trump repeated his warnings about such perils again Tuesday. ...

"Though the region is heavily Democratic in numbers, there has been plenty of common ground between Democrats and Republicans on border security here in the past. Many people in the region, including Mexican immigrants, say they understand the desire for strong border security. But in conversations Tuesday, even those who agreed with some of the president's positions were quick to point out that his statements about immigrants, and Mexicans in particular, made them disinclined to support him." NYT 

-- NBC'S HEIDI PRZYBYLA and JULIA AINSLEY: "House Oversight Committee chairman wants answers on legal immigration backlog" 

Good Wednesday afternoon. OVERHEARD: Rep. David Cicilline (D-R.I.) to Rep. Jason Crow (D-Colo.) last night before the State of the Union: "Is [Colorado Gov. John] Hickenlooper gonna jump in?" Crow: "I think so. He's acting like it."

THE INVESTIGATIONS -- ANDREW DESIDERIO: "Michael Cohen's testimony before House intel panel delayed": "'In the interests of the investigation, Michael Cohen's testimony has been postponed until February 28th,' Schiff, the chairman of the committee, said in a brief statement.

"Cohen was slated to testify Friday behind closed doors. He has admitted to lying to the House and Senate intelligence committees as part of their investigations into Russian interference in the 2016 election." POLITICO 

-- MORE FROM ANDREW: "House Intel votes to send witness transcripts to Mueller for possible perjury charges": "It's the first act of the intelligence panel under the leadership of Chairman Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), who has vowed to revive the committee's investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election. Mueller has already prosecuted some Trump associates for lying to Congress.

"The panel's Democrats have long suggested that Donald Trump Jr. and other witnesses might have lied to the committee as part of its investigation, and they've publicly encouraged Mueller to examine whether perjury charges are warranted against him or others." POLITICO 

-- CNN'S SHIMON PROKUPECZ (@ShimonPro): "Prosecutor from Mueller's team, Scott Meisler, who's part of the ongoing subpoena fight related to the Special Counsel's investigation, has gone back to DOJ. Meisler's job shift adds to mounting indications that Mueller's unit is winding down."

-- MATTHEW CHOI: "Schumer: Trump is 'scared' of Congressional oversight" 

AFTERNOON READ -- AUSTIN CARR on the cover of BLOOMBERG BUSINESSWEEK: "Inside Wisconsin's Disastrous $4.5 Billion Deal With Foxconn": "'[O]ne of the great deals ever,' Trump said. In exchange for more than $4.5 billion in government incentives, Foxconn had agreed to build a high-tech manufacturing hub on 3,000 acres of farmland south of Milwaukee and create as many as 13,000 good-paying jobs ... 

"Shortly after Trump's visit, things got worse. ... Interviews with 49 people familiar with Foxconn's Wisconsin project, including more than a dozen current and former employees close to its efforts there, show how hollow the boosters' assurances have been all along. ... The only consistency, many of these people say, lay in how obvious it was that Wisconsin struck a weak deal." Bloomberg Businessweek ... The cover

AT 1600 PENN ... AXIOS' ALEXI MCCAMMOND (@alexi): "Day after #SOTU, over 50% of President Trump's day is 'Executive Time' (5hr 35 min) with 1 hr dedicated to meetings (with CoS + policy time) and 2.5 hrs of events"

-- NBC'S ELYSE PERLMUTTER-GUMBINER, KEN DILANIAN and COURTNEY KUBE: "On Trump's calendar, just 17 intelligence briefings in 85 days": "It's the latest indication that Trump does not consistently rely on the information and analysis provided to him by the $80 billion a year U.S. intelligence-gathering apparatus. A series of recently published presidential schedules show that he has been in just 17 intelligence briefings over the last 85 days. 

"That's about the same frequency as two of his predecessors, Barack Obama and Bill Clinton, according to a former CIA briefer who has written a book on the subject. But unlike those former presidents, Trump does not regularly read the written intelligence briefing sent over each day to the White House, U.S. officials tell NBC News, and in private he frequently questions the integrity and judgment of the intelligence officials who are giving him secret information." NBC 

SCOTUS WATCH -- "Ruth Bader Ginsburg was seen in public Monday. Conspiracy theorists still insist she's dead," by WaPo's Eli Rosenberg and Abby Ohlheiser: "Robert Barnes has been a reporter and editor at The Washington Post for more than 30 years. For the past 12, he has covered the Supreme Court.

"This week he experienced something he says was a first in his career: a storm of commentators, many anonymous, swarming his social media accounts and email inbox to tell him that something he saw with his own eyes and reported in The Post did not actually happen: Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, alive and well, attending a performance about her life at a museum in Washington - her first public appearance since she underwent cancer surgery in December. A falsehood has been spreading in dark corners of the Internet that Ginsburg is dead - and in the hours after Barnes published his report, conspiracy theorists pelted him with their doubt-mongering." WaPo 

TRADE WARS -- "Mnuchin says U.S. team will hold trade talks in China next week" -- Reuters: "U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said on Wednesday that he and other U.S. officials will travel to Beijing next week for trade talks, aiming to clinch a deal to avert a March 2 increase in U.S. tariffs on Chinese goods.

"Mnuchin said in an interview with CNBC that the talks he and U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer led in Washington last week with Chinese Vice Premier Liu He were 'very productive.' 'Ambassador Lighthizer and myself and a large team are on our way to Beijing next week. We are committed to continue these talks,' Mnuchin said." Reuters 

ON THE KOREAN PENINSULA -- WAPO'S SIMON DENYER and MIN JOO KIM in Tokyo: "South Korea hails new Trump-Kim summit, hopes for 'specific' progress this time": "The North Koreans have been asking for a declaration formally ending the 1950-53 Korean War, an appeal which has won support from the South Korean government and appears to be something to which Trump is prepared to agree. ... 

"But a declaration to end the war would have to be signed by the leaders of the main protagonists - both Koreas, China and the United States - and experts say time is very short to coordinate such a step by the end of this month." WaPo 

TRANSITIONS -- Jason Altmire is now a senior adviser at Avalere Health. He is a former Democratic congressman from Pennsylvania. ... Fritz Vaughan is now deputy assistant secretary for legislative affairs at Treasury. He was previously senior counsel for the House Financial Services Committee and is a George W. Bush White House alum.
           
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A new HHS proposal would import alarming drug pricing policies from foreign governments and threaten our nation's free-market health care system. Learn more.
                        
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