By Mike Allen (@mikeallen; mallen@politico.com) and Daniel Lippman (@dlippman; dlippman@politico.com)
Good Monday morning. THE BENGHAZI MOVIE in theaters Thursday (“13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi,” from Paramount; directed by Michael Bay of “Transformers” series) takes a point of view SYMPATHETIC to critics of the administration and Secretary Clinton. That’s the clear impression left by an extensive preview in Sunday’s N.Y. Post by movie writer Reed Tucker, under the headline, “‘We were left behind’”:
“[A]t the Annex [a covert CIA base about a mile from the diplomatic compound], the security team was told to grab their gear and assemble. ... Before they could leave, however, the men were inexplicably told to ‘stand down’ by Bob, the station chief. He preferred to let a friendly Libyan militia respond. (A congressional inquiry later concluded there was no evidence a ‘stand down’ order was issued, but the ‘13 Hours’ men say it happened.) ...
“Despite repeated calls for air support, none ever came. ... The movie suggests that F-16s or gunships could have been scrambled from Europe, though a congressional committee determined none were available to make it in time. The men who were there disagree. [Operative and ex Marine Sergeant John “Tig” Tiegen, told the Post:] ‘One pilot said to us that [the government] was afraid of another “Black Hawk Down” scenario.’” http://nyp.st/1K8tMHL ... Trailer: “When everything went wrong, six men had the courage to do what was right.” http://bit.ly/22V1lbX
TOP TWEETS -- @SopanDeb of CBS News: “A Trump supporter just asked me at Reno event if I was taking pictures for ISIS. When I looked shocked, he said, ‘yeah, I’m talking to you.’ ... This isn’t first time this has happened. At last month’s rally in Vegas, man came up to me to say ‘Go back to Iraq!’ I’ve never been! ... The best part is that the man - an apparent Vietnam vet - started filming me with his cell - as if he really thought I was filming for ISIS.”
--HuffPost’s @igorbobic: “Trump’s backhand compliment against Cruz: ‘Honestly? Honestly? A lot of people don’t like him. I like him.’”
PIC DU JOUR -- Tim Miller, Jeb comms director (@Timodc): “Jeb hit the stage hot tonight.” http://bit.ly/1OlPZnq
MEDIAWATCH -- “ABC severs [Feb. 6] debate partnership with Union Leader,” by Hadas Gold: “The paper [which endorsed Christie] was set to have a co-branding relationship, ... though it was going to be a comparatively minor role, without any representative on stage asking questions on behalf of the newspaper. In a series of tweets on Sunday, Trump took credit for ABC’s move, saying he asked ... ABC to remove the paper from the debate. ... Union Leader publisher Joseph McQuaid said ABC was bowing to external forces.” http://politi.co/1TOVdfg
– “Chuck Todd: political junkie,” by Miami Herald’s Madeleine Marr: “After graduating from Miami Killian Senior High School, Todd ... went off to D.C. to attend George Washington University. While in college, Todd worked on the 1992 presidential campaign of Sen. Tom Harkin and later at ... The Hotline, and eventually at NBC News. ... ‘When I’m off, I do as much as I can not to pay attention to anything and pray the phone doesn’t ring,’ he says. ‘I’d rather watch reruns of “The Family Guy” to decompress.’” http://hrld.us/1OJJdeX
--“Morning Joe” will be live from Des Moines on Friday for a post-debate show. Donald Trump will sit down with Joe Scarborough, Mika Brzezinski and Willie Geist live onsite for his first interview after Thursday’s GOP debate in S.C. (Fox Business).
2016 PLAYERS: Marlon Bateman, Hugh Hewitt’s champion booker, is joining the Rubio campaign press team: “Jacob Browatzke will be taking over my position as associate producer for Hugh Hewitt.” Marlon, a Marine combat veteran of Iraq and Afghanistan, joins a week from today, after driving across the country. He and his wife, Emily, are expecting their first child. Possible roles for Marlon include booking the senator and surrogates for radio.
--Hugh tells us: “Jacob Browatzke takes his chair in the CA studio and Danielle Howe adds more duties from VA. Duane Patterson remains senior producer, Adam Ramsey Technical Director, Ben Bryggman the man who does it all. Duane and Adam have been with show since 7/10/00 launch. Marlon was there three plus years. ... [Marlon] is the best young man.”
** A message from the National Retail Federation: NRF SVP of Government Relations David French writes, “When President Obama delivers his State of the Union address this week, it’s a safe bet he will talk once again about the need to create jobs and grow the economy. Retailers agree that jobs and the economy are among the nation’s top priorities. What we disagree on is the approach.” Read more: http://bit.ly/1mLxKk1 **
DAILY TRUMP – “Trump’s Campaign Is Damaging His Brand: New data obtained by Politico Magazine shows that among the high-income consumers Trump’s business relies on, his reputation is plummeting,” by Will Johnson, managing director of BAV Consulting, part of the Young & Rubicam Group; and Michael D’Antonio, author of “Never Enough: Donald Trump and the Pursuit of Success”: “In 2006 and 2010, high-income consumers ranked the Trump brand in the 97th and 95th percentiles (out of all brands studied) for the trait ‘glamorous.’ Measured again in December 2015, Trump had fallen to the 67th percentile.” http://politi.co/1OdsPSq
--Tampa Bay Times cover, “PolitiFact: Trump flubs foreign policy facts -- He says the five Guantanamo detainees traded for U.S. Sgt. Bergdahl are back on the battlefield,” by Lauren Carroll and Louis Jacobson: “[A]dministration officials told us the detainees haven’t left Qatar. ... Trump [also] said it was time for South Korea to pick up more of the costs of having U.S. military forces ... Trump’s statement rates Mostly False.” http://bit.ly/1OWYaw2
YOU'RE INVITED! Playbookers are invited to join the NFL Network and POLITICO on THURSDAY (6 p.m. at the Newseum) for a screening of NFL Films’ “America's Game and the Iran Hostage Crisis.” The screening will be followed by a panel conversation discussing the film and current events, with director and executive producer Tate Donovan; Alex Paen, American reporter in Iran during the hostage crisis; and Rocky Sickmann, U.S. Marine held hostage in Iran during the crisis. RSVP: http://bit.ly/1ZQv5UM
WHAT IOWA IS READING – Des Moines Register above fold, “Rubio to dominate TVs in sprint to caucuses: He has about 7,000 television ads scheduled Jan. 1 through Feb. 1,” by Brianne Pfannenstiel and Jeffrey Kummer: “[P]urchases on Rubio’s behalf make up more than half of the $9.4 million in total spending for ads that are scheduled to air across the state during the final month of the caucus campaign. Rubio’s campaign and a supportive super PAC have together spent about $5.1 million on those ads. ...
“Cruz plays light in TV ads: The ad-heavy Rubio strategy directly contrasts with the tactics of ... Cruz. As of Dec. 31, Cruz’s campaign had spent about $3,400 on just 33 TV ads that are set to air during the final month ... A supportive super PAC, Keep the Promise, announced a $1 million TV and radio ad buy.” Scroll to bottom of the article for a table showing the number of spots and amount spent for each candidate and super PAC, both GOP and Dem http://dmreg.co/1PRRCvL
DATA DU JOUR – Gallup.com, “Democratic, Republican Identification Near Historical Lows,” by Jeff Jones: “42% identify as independents, 29% as Democrats, 26% as Republicans.” http://bit.ly/1RFGfsC
RYAN TRIES TO RE-BRAND GOP -- “Ryan dreams of a kinder, more substantive GOP,” by Jake Sherman in Columbia, S.C.: “Ryan talked about the ills of the criminal-justice system. He ... vowed that Republicans ... could ‘make breakthroughs’ in the war on poverty. This is what Ryan wants his Republican Party to look like. But it bears little resemblance to the one on display in the presidential primary ... So as Ryan tries to reassert the party’s substantive side with a series of policy rollouts in the coming months — a conservative replacement to Obamacare, tax reform, a criminal justice bill — he’s also looking to give the House GOP its own identity ... insulation from the mess ... on the national stage.” http://politi.co/1Pn73td
WASHINGTON, INC. -- “NADA Completes Rebranding Effort, Launches New Logo as Part of Refocus on Advocacy Efforts”: “The National Automobile Dealers Association (NADA) ... refreshed its corporate logo to both deliver a modern look and serve as the anchor for a cohesive aesthetic across all of NADA’s communications platform[s].” http://bit.ly/1OlRkup
SUNDAY BEST – White House Chief of Staff Denis McDonough on Jake Tapper’s “The Lead”: “As it relates to Sen. Sanders, we’ve seen some movement on this since the [president’s NYT guns] op-ed appeared on Thursday. We think that’s good. If that continues, that’s the goal of this, is making sure that we have gun laws that are responsive to the wishes of the American people, not responsive to the big NRA bosses here in Washington.” http://cnn.it/1UIsgBQ
--TED CRUZ to Tapper: “No, I don’t intend to send jackboots to knock on your door and every door in America. That’s not how we enforce the law for any crime.” http://cnn.it/1PRD13s
FIRST LADY -- NYT A14, “A Beat and a Bike: The First Lady’s Candlelit Habit,” by Julie Hirschfeld Davis “White House Letter”: “[O]ver the past two years, as the TriBeCa-based fitness chain has expanded its footprint in the nation’s capital, the first lady has made stealthy trips to at least three SoulCycle studios in downtown Washington — one in the West End near Georgetown, another on 14th Street and yet another in Mount Vernon Square. Mrs. Obama arranges for private sessions, held outside normal class hours and away from security risks and photo opportunities, with friends, aides and sometimes her daughters. ... [T]he walls are emblazoned with slogans like ‘inhale intention and exhale expectation.’” http://nyti.ms/1OWQ9r2
FIRST LOOKS -- “Women U.S. Senators Tour Iowa for Hillary Clinton”: On Fri. and Sat., “Senators Tammy Baldwin, Mazie Hirono, Amy Klobuchar, and Claire McCaskill will campaign on behalf of Hillary Clinton in Iowa. [They] will join supporters and volunteers across Eastern Iowa to discuss what’s at stake for Iowa women and families in this election. The Senators will discuss Hillary Clinton’s commitment to moving America forward by guaranteeing women’s right to make their own healthcare choices.”
--RNC RESEARCH, “Can Voters of Color Trust Clinton?”: “On a series of issues related to immigration, from deportations to a border fence to taxpayer benefits, Hillary Clinton has flip-flopped.” http://bit.ly/1N2wAWP
SEAN AND EL CHAPO – NYT A1, “How a Magazine Handled A Controversial Exclusive” (one of a pair of A1 articles under “The Interview: The Actress and the Ethics”), by Ravi Somaiya: “Steve Coll, the dean of the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism, said he was concerned by the editorial approval offered to Mr. Guzmán [Rolling Stone said he asked for no changes]. But [Coll said] ‘scoring an exclusive interview with a wanted criminal is legitimate journalism no matter who the reporter is.’ ... Work on the [10,000-word] article was completed about two weeks ago, [founder Jann] Wenner said ... Rolling Stone’s production cycle [caused] an excruciating wait for the next issue, during which time Mr. Guzmán was captured.
“The reporting and editing of the article were closely held, in part, to avoid the authorities. ... Wenner said that Mr. Guzmán seemed to have become careless with those he contacted while on the run, and would most likely have been tracked whether or not Mr. Penn wrote an article. ... [T]he meeting between Mr. Guzmán and Mr. Penn had been monitored by the authorities, according to a Mexican official ... Guzmán, [Wenner] said, did not speak English and seemed to have little interest in editing Mr. Penn’s work.” http://nyti.ms/1OJVxvE
--SHARP LEAD: More of these, please! AP publishing reporter Hillel Italie, “Rolling Stone faces criticism over ‘El Chapo’ interview: “It was a big scoop, and one Rolling Stone may well regret. ... Penn’s long and often rambling essay [was] widely mocked on social media ... It ... raised questions of ethics and judgment, namely whether Penn should have met secretly with one of the world's most-wanted fugitives, whether the actor crossed the line by giving Guzman approval over the article before it was published, and whether Penn trivialized El Chapo’s murderous past by asking him such questions as ‘Do you have any dreams?’ and ‘If you could change the world, would you?’” http://apne.ws/22V08kN
--NYT Quotation of the Day -- JASON FINE, managing editor of Rolling Stone, on the article by the actor after interviewing the drug lord Joaquín Guzmán Loera in secret: “It’s a piece by Sean Penn. Sean Penn has a particular style and point of view and I’m happy with it.”
CLICKER -- This week’s New Yorker cover, titled “New Toys,” illustrated by Anita Kunz, shows a chubby-faced baby Kim Jong-Un in a sandbox playing with his toys: little missiles, tiny tanks, a couple soldiers, and a plane http://bit.ly/1OWJLjt
TOP-ED – MIKE BARNICLE in The Daily Beast, “Requiem for a Union Boss in His America”: “Mike Mullane [was a] firefighter and union leader who died early last week at 68 leaving a legion of people grateful for his unyielding commitment to a cause that seems distant in today’s culture of self absorption and self promotion.” http://thebea.st/1OWJkFR
VALLEY TALK – NYT Business Day front, “Brain Drain Shows Level Of Faith Lost Inside Yahoo,” by Vindu Goel: “[M]orale has sunk so low that some employees refer to [Marissa] Mayer ... as ‘Evita.’” http://nyti.ms/1OdjpWV
REMEMBERING DAVID BOWIE – The Hollywood Reporter’s Mike Barnes, Shirley Halperin, and Billboard: “Bowie has died after a battle with cancer ... [at age] 69. ... The influential singer-songwriter and producer excelled at glam rock, art rock, soul, hard rock, dance pop, punk and electronica during his eclectic 40-plus-year career. He just released his 25th album, Blackstar, Jan. 8, which was his birthday. Bowie’s artistic breakthrough came with 1972’s The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars, an album that fostered the notion of rock star as space alien.” http://bit.ly/1OX234h
HAPPENING TODAY – “Sidewire will host the latest edition of its Livewire series [at 1 p.m.] with three former White House speechwriters to preview the State of the Union[:] ... Jon Favreau (President Obama), Mary Kate Cary (President George H.W. Bush), and Jeff Shesol (President Clinton).” http://bit.ly/1nd62gG
DEADLINE NEXT WEEK – Entries for the $5,000 Toner Prize for Excellence in Political Reporting for 2015 are due next Mon., Jan. 18. The award honors the late Robin Toner, national political correspondent for The New York Times, and is sponsored by S. I. Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University. Entry form http://bit.ly/1VYwhTU
ISSA ALUMNI -- “From ‘This Town’ to Music City,” by Roll Call’s Warren Rojas: “[F]ormer House Republican aide Kurt Bardella [is] courting what he perceives to be a terribly underserved constituency: fellow country music fans ... [with] his entertainment-centric tip sheet, The Morning Hangover.” http://bit.ly/1ScFjgX ... Morning Hangover http://bit.ly/1mPoL26
TRANSITIONS – “Stephanie Valencia and Chanelle Hardy are both joining Google's DC office as Managers of Strategic Outreach and Partnerships, focusing on the company’s policy partnerships with consumer groups, advocacy organizations, think tanks, and civil rights groups. Valencia was most recently Deputy Chief of Staff to Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzker and previously Deputy Director in the White House Office of Public Liaison. Hardy was most recently Chief of Staff to FCC Commissioner Mignon Clyburn, and previously served as Executive Director of the National Urban League and chief of staff to former Rep. Artur Davis.”
WEEKEND WEDDINGS -- Missy Gibbons, director of HSP Digital and Jordan Lieberman, president of CampaignGrid, got married on Saturday at the Casa Marina
in Key West, surrounded by about 100 (bipartisan) friends and family. They’ve known each other for several years but it took Jordan until 2014 to work up the courage to ask her out. They had readings from the Book of Corinthians and the Book of Springsteen. Pics http://bit.ly/1PRD8vP ... http://bit.ly/1JEEfzH
WELCOME TO THE WORLD -- Kevin Lewis, press secretary and senior adviser for public affairs at DOJ, and his wife, Heather Cromwell, have welcomed Ellington Cromwell Lewis, who was born on Sunday, January 3rd at 4:30 p.m., weighing 7 lbs, 2 oz. Mom and baby are at home and well. Kevin calls Heather “a warrior” and says he is blessed beyond measure with the birth of his son. In announcing Ellington’s birth, Kevin on Sunday evening texted a colleague a link to “The Lion King - The Circle Of Life”. http://bit.ly/1P1ZB6n Pics http://bit.ly/1PRCMFu ... http://bit.ly/1VYuONr
BIRTHWEEK (was yesterday): Robby Goldsberry, Cove D.C.’s director of operations ... Aaron Buchner, research director at Organizing for Action
BIRTHDAYS: Travis Shank (hat tip: Nora) ... Mark Halperin … Ben Finkenbinder, one of the original OFA press staffers, now in his second year at 270 Strategies and a huge USA Soccer fan (h/ts Heather Purcell and Lynda Tran) ... Walter R. Mears, Boy on the Bus and legendary AP newsman … Steven Law, president and chief executive officer of American Crossroads … Joe Lai of Sen. Roger Wicker’s office … Virginia Reynolds Hatmaker … OMB’s Ashley Nathanson … Randy Borntrager, political director of People For the American Way and a Mary Jo Kilroy survivor ... Jon Kott, comms. director for Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) ... Ron Phillips ... Gerald Rafshoon (h/t Margaret Carlson) … Anne Cronin (h/t Joanne Kenen) ... Mike Reamy (h/t wife Lynda Tran) ... John Dao (h/t cousin Lynda) ... Jim Hightower … John Sonsolla ... UNH’s Dante Scala … Catherine Andrews ... investigative reporter Kevin Mooney ...
... CR Wooters, principal at Mehlman Castagnetti and a Van Hollen alum … Grant Card … Lisa Langer … John Emerson, U.S. Ambassador to Germany (h/ts Teresa Vilmain) … John Milne … Brooke Anderson … producer Grant Tinker is 91 ... the former prime minister of Canada, Jean Chretien, is 82 ... Naomi Judd is 70 ... World Golf Hall of Famer Ben Crenshaw is 64 ... Phyllis Logan (“Downton Abbey”) is 60 ... Dawn Lyn (“My Three Sons”) is 53 ... contemporary Christian musician Jim Bryson (MercyMe) is 48 ... Mary J. Blige is 45 ... Jason Wahler (“Laguna Beach”; “The Hills”) is 29 ... pop Cody Simpson is 19 (h/ts AP)
** A message from the National Retail Federation: Retailers care about jobs because the industry is the nation’s largest private-sector employer and the leading creator of jobs. One in four American jobs – 42 million positions – are supported by retail. One third of Americans found their first jobs in retail and nearly two-thirds have worked in retail at some point in their lives, according to NRF research. As of December, retail employment in 2015 had increased by nearly 175,000 jobs over 2014.
Retail jobs are good jobs. Studies show that retail jobs pay wages competitive with similar positions in other industries, that most retail workers are happy in their jobs and that hiring managers throughout the economyvalue retail experience highly when evaluating job applicants. Unlike other industries that might be concentrated in a few specific locations, retail employees live and work in every city and town from Maine to Hawaii, and retailers are vital members of each community they serve. Learn more at nrf.com/SOTU. **
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