Subject: POLITICO Playbook: Hillary says she won’t run, Stew leaving the Senate and Tim Alberta releases his book cover
From: "Anna Palmer Jake Sherman Daniel Lippman" <[email-masked]>
To: <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 05 Mar 2019 05:07:21 -0600
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              DRIVING THE DAY      
SHE SPEAKS ... "'I'm not running': Hillary Clinton rules out 2020 bid for first time on camera in exclusive interview with News 12"

-- SPOTTED: Hillary Clinton and Lin-Manuel Miranda talking at the Lincoln Center Gala on Monday night. Pic of Clinton and Miranda chatting

NEW THIS MORNING ... SEN. JEFF MERKLEY (D-ORE.) is not running for president. Four-minute video

TIM ALBERTA'S NEW BOOK: "AMERICAN CARNAGE: On the Front Lines of the Republican Civil War and the Rise of President Trump" ... Our POLITICO Magazine colleague TIM ALBERTA -- who penned some of the most seminal pieces about the modern-day GOP -- understands the arc of the Republican Party as well as anyone, which is why we are super excited for his book, which will be published by HarperCollins on July 23.

ALBERTA sends us this about his book: "I met with the guys at Javelin, Keith Urbahn and Matt Latimer, several times in 2016 to discuss a book chronicling the transformation of the modern GOP-placing Trump's hijacking of the party in the context of cultural upheaval, institutional failure, economic disruption, and the social media-fueled alienation central to American politics. When Trump won, I decided the timing wasn't right; the new president's grip on the GOP was tenuous at best, and whether he would durably reshape the Republican brand was very much an open question.

"BY THE SPRING OF 2018, I felt that question had been answered. Setting out to capture the rise of Trump in the widest-possible lens, I conducted more than 300 interviews to craft a deeply reported narrative of the 10-year civil war inside the Republican Party, from the twilight of George W. Bush's presidency through the beginning of Trump's campaign for reelection. What I discovered-the incredible untold stories of treachery and tribalism, disloyalty and demagoguery inside the GOP-explain not only Trump's takeover of the party but his lasting imprint on its identity." Check out the book cover and pre-order for $26.09

NYT A1 ... SHERYL GAY STOLBERG and EMILY COCHRANE: "Trump's Grip Seen Waning In the Senate" (online headline: "Trump's Grip Shows Signs of Slipping as Senate Prepares to Block Wall Emergency")

-- BEHIND THE SCENES ... BURGESS EVERETT and NANCY COOK: "Trump makes low energy push to halt GOP border revolt": "President Donald Trump is taking a surprisingly low-key approach to a bipartisan rebuke on his border wall and the first likely veto of his presidency. At least for now, Trump is doing little to try and dissuade the approximately dozen Republican senators who are considering voting to block his national emergency declaration on the southern border, according to Republican senators and aides.

"Despite previous warnings that GOP lawmakers could put themselves in 'great jeopardy' by defying him, wavering senators said Trump is not directly lobbying them to stick with him. And White House officials are making only modest efforts to turn things around on Capitol Hill, taking a hands-off approach to an imminent rebuke on the Senate floor this month." POLITICO

THE VOTE AGAINST Trump's emergency declaration is now practically a free vote. It's going down, so if you're a Republican and want space from the president, this is an easy way to do it.

BORDER TALES -- "AP Newsbreak: Border agents using firearms less," by Colleen Long

Good Tuesday morning. SPOTTED: Donald Trump Jr., Kimberly Guilfoyle and Wayne Berman dining at Harry Cipriani in New York.

GOOD QUESTION -- "'Where are the women's teams?': Trump ignores women's champions in White House sports ceremonies," by WaPo's David Nakamura: "Not a single women's championship team has made a solo visit to the White House under Trump, although several women's teams participated in an event in 2017 during which Trump celebrated numerous men's and women's college champions in nonrevenue sports." WaPo
       
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NEW -- DON STEWART, who was for more than a dozen years a top communications adviser to SENATE MAJORITY LEADER MITCH MCCONNELL (R-KY.), is leaving the Hill after 22 years -- all spent in the Senate. Stew, as he was known on the Hill, spent 13 years with McConnell, including his entire run as leader. 

HE ALSO WORKED for Georgia Sen. Paul Coverdell and Texas Sens. Phil Gramm and John Cornyn. Stew was also a bouncer, and he was in the Army -- two jobs that might actually prepare you to work on the Hill. His last day is next Friday. 

JOHN BOLTON'S POWER .... WAPO'S KAREN DEYOUNG, GREG JAFFE, JOHN HUDSON and JOSH DAWSEY: "John Bolton puts his singular stamp on Trump's National Security Council": "As national security adviser to President Trump, John Bolton has been the chief translator of Trump's unorthodox foreign policy views to the vast U.S. bureaucracy.

"To his critics, Bolton is the hawkish whisperer in Trump's ear, nudging a president unschooled in world affairs toward Bolton's preferred strategies. To his supporters, he's an adviser who knows his place, offering counsel but careful never to force the president's hand.

"An assessment of Bolton's time in office, as he approaches his first anniversary in the job, reveals both the breadth of his influence and, in a few notable instances - such as policy toward North Korea - its limits." WaPo

ON REP. ILHAN OMAR ... SARAH FERRIS, HEATHER CAYGLE and JOHN BRESNAHAN: "House Dems will take floor action to confront Omar's latest Israel comments": "Speaker Nancy Pelosi and top Democrats will take floor action Wednesday in response to controversial remarks by Rep. Ilhan Omar about Israel, the second such rebuke of the freshman Democrat from party leaders in recent weeks.

"Pelosi and other senior Democrats have drafted a resolution to address the controversy, which ballooned over the weekend following a public clash between Omar and senior Jewish lawmakers. The resolution, which began circulating to members Monday night, comes after a backlash from top Democrats who accused Omar of anti-Semitism for referring to pro-Israel advocates' 'allegiance to a foreign country.'

"The draft measure is four pages that largely details the history and recent rise of anti-Semitism in the U.S. but does not specifically name Omar, which had been an internal dispute among Democrats. Instead, it condemns the 'myth of dual loyalty,' using the same language as top Democrats, like House Appropriations Chairwoman Nita Lowey, who have condemned Omar in recent days.

"If the House moves ahead with the vote on Wednesday as planned, it would be an unprecedented public rebuke of Omar, who was sworn into office just over 60 days ago. Omar's office declined to comment about the Democratic resolution on Monday. House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) and other senior Republicans are considering offering a censure motion against Omar, according to GOP sources. Republicans may also formally demand that Democrats strip Omar of her seat on the Foreign Affairs Committee, a move that Pelosi and other senior Democrats won't take at this point." POLITICO ... The resolution

-- THE PRESIDENT at 11:33 p.m.: "Representative Ilhan Omar is again under fire for her terrible comments concerning Israel. Jewish groups have just sent a petition to Speaker Pelosi asking her to remove Omar from Foreign Relations Committee. A dark day for Israel!"

DRAMA IN FLORIDA ... MARC CAPUTO and GARY FINEOUT: "Top Trump allies go to war in Florida": "After simmering behind the scenes for months, the conflict came to a boil when [Sen. Rick] Scott accused Gaetz of witness intimidation for threatening Michael Cohen, Trump's former lawyer-turned-congressional-informant, via Twitter ... Once a semi-secret rivalry, the relationship changed in January after [Rep. Matt] Gaetz helped lead the transition team for Scott's successor, Gov. Ron DeSantis, and publicly criticized Scott for being disrespectful of the new GOP leader in Tallahassee ...

"Gaetz's father, Don Gaetz, was a president of the Florida Senate who clashed with Scott. Two years later, in 2016, Don Gaetz was passed over to become president of the University of West Florida after Scott lobbied the selection committee in favor of another applicant. 'I know he pays off his grudges,' Don Gaetz told POLITICO ... 

"Matt Gaetz, however, had just lodged his own blow against Scott last month when he privately lobbied the Trump administration to block Scott's former Florida emergency management director who had been under discussion for a [FEMA] job." POLITICO

-- CRAZY ANECDOTE: "While aboard the plane, Gaetz said, Scott was 'fumbling through his asks' of the president after opening a large notebook titled 'Issues to Discuss with the President on Air Force One' that was filled with maps and engineering drawings of Lake Okeechobee and materials concerning other water-related issues important to Florida.

"'The president listens politely for about 30 seconds and then just looks at the governor, looks at me, looks back at the governor and then says, 'Isn't Matt Gaetz great on television?' Gaetz recalled. Scott closed the notebook."

MAIN JUSTICE UPDATE ... JOSH GERSTEIN: "Barr won't recuse himself from Mueller oversight": Attorney General William Barr will not recuse himself from overseeing special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into the Trump campaign, a Justice Department spokeswoman said Monday. ...

"Justice Department spokeswoman Kerri Kupec said Monday that Barr had decided to assume the role overseeing Mueller's inquiry and that the department's ethics team concurred. 'Following General Barr's confirmation, senior career ethics officials advised that General Barr should not recuse himself from the Special Counsel's investigation,' Kupec said. 'Consistent with that advice, General Barr has decided not to recuse.'" POLITICO

2020 WATCH ... BACKUP FOR INSLEE: Act Now On Climate, a pro-Jay Inslee PAC, is spending $1 million on a TV ad that will run for two weeks on Iowa broadcast and starting Wednesday on national cable. The ad

THE INVESTIGATIONS ... WSJ'S REBECCA BALLHAUS, JOE PALAZZOLO and MICHAEL ROTHFELD: "Lawyer for Cohen Approached Trump Attorneys About Pardon": "An attorney for Michael Cohen, Donald Trump's former personal lawyer, raised the possibility of a pardon with attorneys for the president and his company after federal agents raided Mr. Cohen's properties in April, according to people familiar with the discussions. 

"Conversations among those parties are now being probed by congressional investigators, according to document requests issued Monday by the House Judiciary Committee to dozens of Trump associates, including one of the president's current lawyers and Mr. Cohen. Mr. Cohen's attorney at the time, Stephen Ryan, discussed the possibility of a pardon with lawyers for Mr. Trump in the weeks after the Federal Bureau of Investigation raided Mr. Cohen's home, office and hotel room, the people said." WSJ

-- DARREN SAMUELSOHN: "Mueller tells judge of new Roger Stone post on Instagram": "Roger Stone is under fire for possible violations of his court-imposed gag order after a weekend social media post suggested he'd been 'framed' in special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation and ahead of the imminent re-release of a book he co-wrote that explores the 'myth of Russian collusion.' ...

"In a filing with Jackson on Monday, Mueller's office pointed to public reporting that Stone on Sunday had posted an image to his Instagram account with the words 'who framed Roger Stone.' The special counsel's office took no other position on the post, which was made on the same social media platform as a controversial image that landed Stone in trouble last month because it featured Jackson with what appeared to be a gun's crosshairs above her head. Stone deleted that image and replaced it with one without the crosshairs. He then later deleted that second Instagram post." POLITICO

TRUMP'S TUESDAY -- The president will sign an executive order at 1:45 p.m. in the Roosevelt Room on a "National Roadmap to Empower Veterans and End Veteran Suicide."
           
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                          PLAYBOOK READS         

PHOTO DU JOUR: A family photo is recovered while sifting through the debris of a home destroyed by a tornado in Beauregard, Ala., on Monday. | David Goldman/AP Photo
   
NEXT UP -- "Trump scraps trade privilege for India; Delhi plays down impact," by Reuters' Eric Beech in Washington and Neha Dasgupta in New Delhi: "President Donald Trump looked set to open a new front in his trade wars on Monday with a plan to end preferential trade treatment for India that allows duty-free entry for up to $5.6 billion worth of its exports to the United States. 

"India played down the impact, saying it was keeping retaliatory tariffs out of its talks with the United States, but the opposition could seize on the issue to embarrass Prime Minister Narendra Modi ahead of general elections this year. Trump, who has vowed to cut U.S. trade deficits, has repeatedly called out India for its high tariffs, and U.S. trade officials said scrapping the concessions would take at least 60 days after notifications to Congress and the Indian government." Reuters
       
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WHAT FORT MEADE IS READING -- "Disputed N.S.A. Phone Program Is Shut Down, Aide Says," by NYT's Charlie Savage: "The National Security Agency has quietly shut down a system that analyzes logs of Americans' domestic calls and texts, according to a senior Republican congressional aide, halting a program that has touched off disputes about privacy and the rule of law since the Sept. 11 attacks. 

"The agency has not used the system in months, and the Trump administration might not ask Congress to renew its legal authority, which is set to expire at the end of the year, according to the aide, Luke Murry, the House minority leader's national security adviser.

"In a raw assertion of executive power, President George W. Bush's administration started the program as part of its intense pursuit for Qaeda conspirators in the weeks after the 2001 terrorist attacks, and a court later secretly blessed it. The intelligence contractor Edward J. Snowden disclosed the program's existence in 2013, jolting the public and contributing to growing awareness of how both governments and private companies harvest and exploit personal data." NYT

VALLEY TALK -- "Big Tech, Once a CPAC Sponsor, Is Now Its Boogeyman," by NYT's Michael Grynbaum in Oxon Hill, Md.: "A year ago, attendees at the Conservative Political Action Conference, the annual jamboree of the political right, were greeted by Big Tech with open arms and open bars. Google sponsored a lavish hospitality suite, courting conservatives with an outdoor fireplace, hors d'oeuvres and flowing cocktails. Bright young representatives from Facebook hosted a 'help desk,' handing out cookies frosted with emoji icons and offering free demonstrations of its virtual reality product, Oculus.

"That was then. At last week's gathering here in a suburb of Washington, Silicon Valley's only obvious presence was on the lips of exercised right-wing critics who whipped up the crowd by denouncing the American tech industry as an authoritarian hegemony intent on censoring their cause. 'Facebook, Google and Twitter are pushing a left-wing social agenda while marshaling their marketing power to shut conservative voices out of the marketplace,' said Senator Josh Hawley, a Missouri Republican, during a featured session with the ominous title 'Blocked: This Panel Has Been Removed for Conservative Content.'" NYT
                 PLAYBOOKERS      
SPOTTED: Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson sitting in the bar area Monday at the Hilton Midtown in New York.

TRANSITIONS -- Bill Ghent is joining Lugar Hellmann Group. The former chief of staff to Sen. Tom Carper (D-Del.) is the first Democrat to join the firm. ... Jack Pandol is joining the Senate Leadership Fund as communications director. He most recently was an NRCC regional press secretary. (hat tip: James Arkin) 

BIRTHWEEK (was yesterday): Leslie Gelb turned 82 ... (was Sunday): Mike Yelovich, digital director of the American Conservation Coalition

BIRTHDAY OF THE DAY: April Mellody, chief comms officer for Group Nine Media. What she's been reading recently: "I recently read an old article from 2015 by Philip Bennett and Moises Naim in the Columbia Journalism Review that takes a close look at some of the tactics used by regimes around the globe to undermine independent press and free thought on the internet, and I was struck by how relevant the piece remains. The article dissects some of the 'stealthy strategies' employed by autocratic governments to 'manipulate the media,' including propping up shell news outlets. Although this was written five years ago, it speaks to things that are happening right before our eyes today." Playbook
 Plus Q&A

BIRTHDAYS: Ellie Schafer (h/t Hilary Rosen) ... Chad Pergram, who covers Congress for Fox News ... Mike Kruger, president and CEO of the Colorado Solar Energy Industries Association and an Obama Commerce alum, is 43 ... Elliot Gault ... GOP admaker Fred Davis, CEO of Strategic Perception ... Stephen Goepfert ... Diana Fakhouri of Cond&eacute; Nast ... Erick Mullen, managing director at Mercury (h/t Jon Haber) ... MJ Lee, CNN political correspondent ... Nish Gnanadoss ... Christian Elliot is 43 ... Roy Gutman is 75 ... John O'Brien, senior adviser to the Secretary for drug pricing reform ... John Twomey, senior adviser in HHS' leg affairs office (h/ts Caitlin Oakley and Judy Stecker) ...
 Jyoti Jasrasaria ... Angolan President Jo&atilde;o Louren&ccedil;o is 65 ... Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić is 49 ...

... Alan Miller, president/CEO and founder of the News Literacy Project ... Matt Dorf, resident and founder of West End Strategy Team (h/t Sam Kupferman) ... Phil Hardy ... Deloitte's Carley Berlin ... Brian Kresge ... Jordan Fabian, WH correspondent at The Hill ... Jay Patel ... Lauren Kidwell, managing partner at 270 Strategies ... Clint Hackney (h/t Randy White) ... Aaron Freedman ... Sharon Block ... Danny Schwarz, strategic comms director for the House Judiciary Committee (h/t wife Jamie Geller) ... John Schachter ... Molly Reilly ... Deanna Carlson Stacy ... Ron Boehmer ... Win Ellington ... Drake Henle ... Alyssa Dougherty ... Sarah Little ... Andrew Leiferman ... Kolby Keo ... Brian
 Bolduc ... Jon Loritz (h/t Teresa Vilmain)
               
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