THE PRESIDENT ELECT SPEAKS -- @realDonaldTrump at 6:28 a.m.: “I am not trying to get ‘top level security clearance’ for my children. This was a typically false news story.”
BUT… -- Is he trying to get any security clearance for his children? What about in-laws?
--Andrea Mitchell (@mitchellreports) at 6:54 p.m. last night: “Trump team has asked for son in law Jared Kushner to have top secret clearance for Presidential Daily Brief no precedent for that”
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Good Wednesday morning. QUESTION OF THE DAY: What is Donald Trump going to do to regain the narrative?
CONSIDER THIS. It’s been eight days since Trump was elected president of the United States. His team is already purging the transition team of allies to New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, who himself was ousted as chairman. Mike Pence has taken over as chairman, and is doing another round of purging -- this time of lobbyists. (See Mike Bender, Damian Paletta and Jay Solomon, “Donald Trump’s Transition Team Reshaped: Vice President-elect Mike Pence drops lobbyists; former Intelligence panel head Mike Rogers ousted” http://on.wsj.com/2gggENq)
THIS IS A MASSIVE UNFORCED ERROR. Trump’s position on lobbyists was clear from the beginning: He didn’t like them. “Drain the swamp” was a Trump rallying cry for months on the campaign trail. But then he went on “60 Minutes” on Sunday, and basically conceded their inclusion in the transition effort was necessary. And now, Pence is essentially reversing the president-elect’s position. All in a matter of days.
THE LEAD HEADLINE in the New York Times: “Firings and Discord Put Trump Transition Team In a State of Disarray: World Allies Struggle to Contact Leader as Staff Improvises Protocols.” http://nyti.ms/2fELLOm Conservatives will brush this off, and call the New York Times liberal. But this is the headline -- and the story -- that will be seen around the globe. By the looks of things, the Trump transition is already off the rails. The NYT story, written by Julie Hirschfeld Davis, Mark Mazzetti and Maggie Haberman:
“Two officials who had been handling national security for the transition, former Representative Mike Rogers of Michigan and Matthew Freedman, a lobbyist who consults with corporations and foreign governments, were fired. Both were part of what officials described as a purge orchestrated by Jared Kushner, Mr. Trump’s son-in-law and close adviser. The dismissals followed the abrupt firing on Friday of Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey … As a federal prosecutor, Mr. Christie had sent Mr. Kushner’s father to jail.
“Prominent American allies were in the meantime scrambling to figure out how and when to contact Mr. Trump. At times, they have been patched through to him in his luxury office tower with little warning, according to a Western diplomat who spoke on the condition of anonymity to detail private conversations. President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi of Egypt was the first to reach Mr. Trump for such a call last Wednesday, followed by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel not long afterward. But that was about 24 hours before Prime Minister Theresa May of Britain got through -- a striking break from diplomatic practice given the close alliance between the United States and Britain. … Mr. Giuliani … added: ‘This is a hard thing to do. Transitions always have glitches. This is an enormously complex process.’” http://nyti.ms/2fELLOm
-- @realDonaldTrump: “Very organized process taking place as I decide on Cabinet and many other positions. I am the only one who knows who the finalists are!” ... 7:17 a.m.: "I have recieved and taken calls from many foreign leaders despite what the failing @nytimes said. Russia, U.K., China, Saudi Arabia, Japan," ... 7:25 a.m.: "Australia, New Zealand, and more. I am always available to them. @nytimes is just upset that they looked like fools in their coverage of me."
SECRETARY OF STATE UPDATE -- “Giuliani took money from Qatar, Venezuela, Iranian exiles,” by Isaac Arnsdorf: “Rudy Giuliani’s paid consulting for foreign governments would present conflicts of interest as the nation’s top diplomat that would make the Clinton Foundation look trifling. Since leaving the New York mayor’s office, Giuliani has made millions as a lawyer and consultant, including for some clients at odds with U.S. foreign policy. When some of those ties surfaced amid Giuliani’s own presidential bid in 2007, they were considered to pose an unprecedented number of ethical quandaries for a potential commander in chief.” http://politi.co/2f3D01N
AND ON THE HILL … -- “A Trump administration thaw with Russia is ‘unacceptable,’ McCain says,” by WaPo’s Karen DeYoung: “‘With the U.S. presidential transition underway, Vladimir Putin has said in recent days that he wants to improve relations with the United States,” McCain (R-Ariz.) said in a statement released by his office. ‘We should place as much faith in such statements as any other made by a former KGB agent who has plunged his country into tyranny, murdered his political opponents, invaded his neighbors, threatened America’s allies and attempted to undermine America’s elections,’ he said.” http://wapo.st/2eZGYVX
TRUMP has spent the last year controlling the narrative. He’s lost it. Oh, and by the way, Trump is about to face a new normal. He spent the year worrying about crowd sizes and rallies. That delivered him the presidency. But now a single senator could stymie his plans. Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) said yesterday that he would do anything in his power to stop John Bolton from being secretary of state. All he has to do is place a hold on his nomination, and Trump has to grovel to his former rival. And this isn’t even coming from Democrats yet!
TOP TWEETS -- @ReutersZengerle: “Just called a Republican congressional office I deal with often and was told the press relations staff is no longer speaking to reporters.” ... @RosieGray: “scooplet: sources close to the ADL say over the last week they’ve taken in 50x the normal number of donations, more than 80% new donors.”
CHEAT SHEET -- “Trump’s vast web of conflicts: A user’s guide,” by Darren Samuelsohn: http://politi.co/2eZzHFF
SWAMP DRAINING UPDATE -- Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) is being considered for attorney general. He is, of course, a United States senator who went to Princeton and Harvard, was a Supreme Court clerk, an employee of George W. Bush’s presidential campaign, an employee in the Bush administration, all before serving as solicitor general of Texas. The scoop, from Bloomberg’s Jennifer Jacobs http://bloom.bg/2eZzaDP
STEVE BANNON is attending the Zionist Organization of America’s gala on Sunday evening in New York. Miriam and Sheldon Adelson are among the honorees at the Justice Louis D. Brandeis Award Dinner at the Grand Hyatt. RSVP http://bit.ly/2fwqTeg
READ THIS -- “This Is How Steve Bannon Sees The Entire World,” by BuzzFeed’s J. Lester Feder: “Donald Trump’s newly named chief strategist and senior counselor, Steve Bannon, laid out his global nationalist vision in unusually in-depth remarks delivered by Skype to a conference held inside the Vatican in the summer of 2014. Well before victories for Brexit and Trump seemed possible, Bannon declared there was a ‘global tea party movement’ and praised European far-right parties like Great Britain’s UKIP and France’s National Front. Bannon also suggested that a racist element in far-right parties ‘all gets kind of washed out,’ that the West was facing a ‘crisis of capitalism’ after losing its ‘Judeo-Christian foundation,’ and he blasted ‘crony capitalists’ in Washington for failing to prosecute bank executives over the financial crisis.” http://bzfd.it/2f3CpNB
-- "How Bannon flattered and coaxed Trump on policies key to the alt-right," by WaPo's David Fahrenthold and Frances Stead Sellers: http://wapo.st/2eZR8pu
Dem senators holding a "Fire Bannon" press conference pic.twitter.com/H5Ra6UwPVj
— Benjy Sarlin (@BenjySarlin) November 15, 2016
BREITBART ATTACKS -- “GOP lawmakers work behind closed doors to stop Donald Trump’s mandate,” by Breitbart’s Julia Hahn: “Republican Congressional leaders and members of the House Freedom Caucus are trying to distort Donald Trump’s ‘America First’ mandate on trade and immigration to comply with the globalist agenda demanded by the party’s major donors, according to GOP staffers who are familiar with the discussions that occur in the closed-door meetings.
“Top aides tell Breitbart News that certain members of the House Freedom Caucus are backing the Republican leadership’s agenda by supporting the re-election of House Speaker Paul Ryan, who has long championed globalist donor class policies, such as the uninhibited flow of cheap foreign goods and labor across international borders through expansionist immigration policies and unrestricted free trade. ‘At a certain point, we’re going to have to change our group’s name from the ‘House Freedom Caucus’ to the ‘Paul Ryan Caucus,’’ one senior aide to a member of the House Freedom Caucus told Breitbart.” http://bit.ly/2eF5NLt
WORTH NOTING -- Breitbart attacking Paul Ryan is nothing new. But the timing is curious. For the past several days, Breitbart’s former executive chairman and top Trump adviser Steve Bannon has been reaching out on Capitol Hill telling lawmakers and aides that he wants to work cooperatively. And now, this.
OFA 2.0? -- “Trump team talks of setting up political arm,” by Shane Goldmacher: “Donald Trump’s top advisers are discussing a plan to launch a new political organization outside the White House and the Republican Party to harness the energy that powered his populist candidacy, according to people familiar with talks. While the planning for such a group is still in its infancy, the idea is to create a structure akin to what President Barack Obama did after he won in 2008, when members of his campaign team launched Organizing for America. For Trump, the concept is to tap into the grassroots enthusiasm that led to his unlikely victory, and to keep his supporters engaged for upcoming legislative battles in Congress. The exact form of the entity, whether it would be a super PAC or a nonprofit like OFA was, remains undecided.” http://politi.co/2ggi89z
INAUGURATION WATCH -- Magnum Entertainment Group is hosting a two-day concert series at the Howard Theater Jan. 19 and 20. They are soliciting top sponsors, ranging from $10,000 to $100,000. http://politi.co/2fYds5B
HOLLYWOODLAND – “Jeffrey Katzenberg Pens Open Letter to Hollywood After Trump Victory” in The Hollywood Reporter: “It’s now been a week since this heart-wrenching, devastating event. However, this morning the sun still rose, the world still turned, the flag still waved. ... He was gracious in victory, he was respectful at the White House. ... This gives us some reason to believe that President Trump may be more reasonable than Candidate Trump. Maybe he is now prepared to forsake reality TV for reality.” http://bit.ly/2fVlnyJ
OBAMA’S GOODBYE TOUR -- “Obama warns against ‘a crude sort of nationalism’ taking root in the U.S.,” by WaPo’s Juliet Eilperin and Greg Jaffe: “‘We are going to have to guard against a rise in a crude sort of nationalism, or ethnic identity or tribalism that is built around an us and a them, and I will never apologize for saying that the future of humanity and the future of the world is going to be defined by what we have in common, as opposed to those things that separate us and ultimately lead us into conflict,’ Obama said. ‘Take Europe ... We know what happens when Europeans start dividing themselves up and emphasizing their differences and seeing a competition between various countries in a zero-sum way. The 20th century was a bloodbath.’” http://wapo.st/2eZvkKC
DAVID IGNATIUS, “Why Mike Rogers’s departure from the Trump team is alarming”: “According to GOP insiders, the most likely picks for CIA director include Nunes and former Rep. Pete Hoekstra (Mich.), who served on the House intelligence panel; former Defense Intelligence Agency chief Lt. Gen. Mike Flynn is being considered as well, though there are doubts he could be confirmed. A wild card mentioned by one source is former Defense Department official Frank Gaffney. All four are known as combative personalities who disdain the bipartisan approach that Rogers represented. A sign of Rogers’s wide range of friends and contacts was a dinner party he gave Monday night at his Virginia home for some producers and cast members of the television drama ‘Homeland.’ It was attended by CIA Director John Brennan, National Security Agency Director Adm. Michael Rogers, and several prominent members of Congress from both sides of the aisle. Rogers didn’t mention to his guests that he had been informed several days before of his removal from the transition.” http://wapo.st/2fVhyK5
DEPT. OF YA CAN’T MAKE IT UP -- “Trump ditches the press,” by Bianca Padró Ocasio: “Donald Trump ditched reporters on Tuesday night and went to a restaurant with his family, according to pool reports. The president-elect ducked out of Trump Tower without the group of reporters who have been following his transition meetings since he was elected last week. He was spotted at the 21 Club on West 52nd Street in New York, where the block was shut down and only a small group of reporters was allowed to stand outside the restaurant. Trump’s spokesperson Hope Hicks confirmed he was at the former Prohibition-era speakeasy, but said she ‘wasn’t aware of this movement’ and she would never do anything to ‘leave the press in the dark.’ Later reports said reporters who did not have a New York City press pass were no longer allowed to stand on the street outside the restaurant. Hicks assured the press that once a so-called protective pool has been set up for Trump, reporters will have ‘all of the access that they have ever had under any president.’” http://politi.co/2fY3K3a
POOL REPORT DU JOUR -- Jenna Johnson at 8:29 p.m. last night: “DEVELOPING: We are chasing down the possibility that Donald Trump left Trump Tower without the press pool tonight and went to a steakhouse. Will update as soon as I have something reportable.”
NOMINATION WATCH -- “Sessions’ hard lines could yield confirmation fight,” by Jeremy herb and Connor O’Brien: “The last time Jeff Sessions faced a Senate confirmation hearing, Judiciary Committee members in both parties blocked his nomination to be a federal judge after hearing accusations that he had called the NAACP ‘un-American’ and addressed a black lawyer as ‘boy.’ Thirty years later, Sessions is a senior member of the same panel and established himself as one of the chamber’s most conservative members, staking out hard-line opposition to illegal immigration, opposing trade deals and advocating deep spending cuts that at times have chafed fellow Republicans.
“It’s an approach that has won the Alabama Republican favor with President-elect Donald Trump, who sources say is considering him for either Defense secretary or attorney general as a reward of his early support during the presidential primary. Yet if past accusations of racial insensitivity and his unyielding views on immigration come back to haunt Sessions, his confirmation may not be the slam-dunk the Senate often affords to members selected for Cabinet positions. Instead, Trump's critics would have an opening to oppose one of the president-elect’s most important personnel decisions, adding to the ongoing furor over Trump’s selection of alt-right Breitbart News chief Steve Bannon as a top White House adviser.” http://politi.co/2eZBt9J
ELIOT COHEN in WaPo, “I told conservatives to work for Trump. One talk with his team changed my mind”: “My friend was seething with anger directed at those of us who had opposed Donald Trump — even those who stood ready to help steer good people to an administration that understandably wanted nothing to do with the likes of me, someone who had been out front in opposing Trump since the beginning. This was a tipping point. The tenor of the Trump team, from everything I see, read and hear, is such that, for a garden-variety Republican policy specialist, service in the early phase of the administration would carry a high risk of compromising one’s integrity and reputation.” http://wapo.st/2fwrmNs
TRUMP INC. -- “Trump’s name to be removed from New York buildings to appeal to renters,” by The Guardian’s Adam Gabbatt: “The name ‘Trump’ has been displayed prominently on 140, 160 and 180 Trump Place, in Manhattan’s Upper West Side, for more than a decade. Trump developed the apartment buildings in the 1990s. ... Equity Residential, which owns the building, told the Guardian that the Trump signage would be removed – and the actual street names changed – because it would make the apartments more appealing to renters.” http://bit.ly/2fVd9qF
RACHAEL BADE on Ryan, Trump and the House Freedom Caucus: “How Donald Trump might have saved Paul Ryan’s job”: http://politi.co/2fwxw0k
DEMS IN DISARRAY -- “Black And Latino Democrats: It’s Time For New Leadership: After a humiliating defeat up and down the ticket, Democracy in Color is launching a playbook it says Democrats can not ignore if they want to win again,” by BuzzFeed’s Darren Sands and Adrian Carrasquillo: http://bzfd.it/2eZA1Ed
-- “House Democrats delay leadership elections in blow to Pelosi,” by Heather Caygle and John Bresnahan: “Fresh off an Election Day embarrassment, and facing an uprising from her rank-and-file members, Pelosi grudgingly agreed to postpone leadership elections scheduled for Thursday. Democrats will now vote for their leaders on Wednesday, Nov. 30. The delay is designed to give Democrats time to figure out why they failed to make bigger gains against a Republican ticket led by Donald Trump. Instead of picking up the 10 to 20 seats they had once hoped — or even the majority they secretly dreamed about — Democrats have netted only a half-dozen seats so far, with some races still to be called.” http://politi.co/2eEV1Fg
-- “DNC charter requires chairman be full time,” by The Hill’s Jonathan Easley: “The [DNC’s] charter states that the chairman must be a full-time employee, a revelation that is raising questions about the candidacy of Rep. Keith Ellison of Minnesota. There appears to be wiggle room in the charter, because it does not specifically prohibit a lawmaker from serving as DNC chairman. And the most recent chairman, Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz of Florida – split her duties between the DNC and Congress.” http://bit.ly/2eEVs2d
FIRESALE – Check out the remaining stock in Hillary’s campaign store http://hrc.io/2fRefVj
CLICKERS – “Why I Voted for Trump”: “Last week, The Post invited readers to share why they voted for Donald Trump. We’ve received more than 1200 responses.” http://wapo.st/2fwqcll
--@AP_Interactive from Scott Mayerowitz: “So who voted last week? A county-by-county analysis of voters’ income, education and job prospects”: http://apne.ws/2eFaKUH
MEDIAWATCH -- “Tucker Carlson’s Fox News show debuts to phenomenal ratings, beats both CNN and MSNBC combined,” by Business Insider’s Oliver Darcy: “Approximately 3.7 million viewers watched the inaugural episode of ‘Tucker Carlson Tonight’ on Monday … making it the network’s most watched telecast of the year in the time slot. In the key 25-to-54 age demo, Carlson raked in 750,000 viewers, more than his competition on CNN and MSNBC combined.” http://read.bi/2gg8bbV
--“[Megyn] Kelly: Trump attacks made press ‘fair game,’” by CNN’s Jill Disis and Chloe Melas: “Her comments were aired on the Dr. Phil show Tuesday hours after Kelly told ‘Good Morning America’ that Trump ‘came after me like a dog with a bone for nine months.’ ... ‘For Trump to come after me the way he did, was unprecedented in modern American politics,’ Kelly told Dr. Phil. ‘And I hope that this isn’t a situation where now the dam has been broken and now it’s fair game, and others feel free to do it. I fear it is,’ she said. Kelly added, ‘The way he targeted me was meant to send a message to other journalists out there: You come after me, I’ll come after you. And I think that can lead to a change in coverage. That can endanger the way these reporters report the news.’” http://cnnmon.ie/2ggh7Pv
JOE WEISENTHAL has been promoted to executive editor for news at Bloomberg’s digital media unit. http://bit.ly/2eCl9AD (h/t Morning Media)
COMING ATTRACTIONS -- VICE will debut a new documentary special, VICE Special Report: A House Divided Dec. 9. President Obama sat down with VICE’s Shane Smith. He also interviewed Joe Biden, Harry Reid, John Boehner, Lindsey Graham, Eric Cantor, Rep. Raul Labrador, Rahm Emanuel, Valerie Jarrett, Nancy Pelosi, Frank Luntz. http://bit.ly/2gfZVbZ ... Pic of Shane and Obama http://politi.co/2gg6mfl
YIKES -- “Secret Backdoor in Some U.S. Phones Sent Data to China, Analysts Say,” by NYT’s Matt Apuzzo and Mike Schmidt: “For about $50, you can get a smartphone with a high-definition display, fast data service and, according to security contractors, a secret feature: a backdoor that sends all your text messages to China every 72 hours. ... The American authorities say it is not clear whether this represents secretive data mining for advertising purposes or a Chinese government effort to collect intelligence.” http://nyti.ms/2fWGpki
WHAT PETER HAMBY AND ROB SALITERMAN ARE READING -- “Snapchat Files Confidentially for IPO,” by Bloomberg’s Alex Barinka and Sarah Frier: “The company is targeting a valuation of about $20 billion to $25 billion in a listing that could come as early as March ... No final decision has been made on the size or timing of the IPO.” http://bloom.bg/2fEJId9
SPOTTED: Rep. Steve Stivers treating his staff to ice cream in Longworth cafeteria in the aftermath of his NRCC chair victory. ... Rep. Peter King (with multiple congressional colleagues identifiable by their lapel pins) at Navy Yard’s Agua 301 for Taco Tuesday.
OUT AND ABOUT -- The American Gaming Association (AGA) hosted the 2017 “Face Off” reception for the 9th Annual Congressional Hockey Challenge, an annual charity hockey game pitting lawmakers vs. lobbyists that has raised nearly $1 million since 2009 for hockey-related charities. The game will take place in early March 2017. SPOTTED: Congressional Hockey Caucus members Reps. Pat Meehan (R-Pa.) and Tom Emmer (R-Minn.), Geoff Freeman, Brian Cohen, Ken Martin, Nick Lewis, Annie Policastro, Max Fenkell, Andrew Mills, Lesley Elliott, Mike Wertheimer, Jack Way, Jeff Burton, Andy Emerson, Jon Jukuri, Edith Bartley, Sean Burns, Kathleen Black, Betty Dean.
FIRST IN PLAYBOOK – Alums of Google, the White House, 1776 and Hamilton Place Strategies are launching LEGEND, a new digital communication company in D.C. LEGEND founders include: Ex-Googler Matthew Lockwood of the Economic Innovation Group (EIG), ex-Obama White House Art Director Michael Aleo, Patrick Sims of Hamilton Place Strategies, and Andrew Dolan of 1776. http://bit.ly/lgndus
REP. STEVE ISRAEL is the guest programmer for Turner Classic Movies this month. “For his programming picks Israel chooses three political films and one comedy. He believes that Michael Ritchie’s The Candidate (1972) ‘provides the most authentic view of campaigning I’ve ever seen in a movie.’ Frank Capra’s Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939) is ‘a political cult classic,’ while Franklin J. Schaffner’s The Best Man (1964) presents ‘the classic moral quandary’ in the choice between standing by principles and winning elections. H.C. Potter’s Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House (1948) is Israel's ‘safe movie, my retreat ... so simple and beautiful.’” http://bit.ly/2fUuj8U
BIRTHDAY OF THE DAY: journalist Jay Newton-Small -- read her Playbook Plus Q&A: http://politi.co/2eZG5wC
BIRTHDAYS: Elizabeth Drew is 81 ... Republican Jewish Coalition boss Matt Brooks, a huge Philly sports fan, celebrating by getting a private lesson from chef Patrick O’Connell of the Little Inn at Washington (h/t Fred Brown) ... Hannah Hankins, comms director for the W.H. Domestic Policy Council ... Meg Campbell, a Jill Biden alum now associate with the privacy and data security litigation group at Perkins Coie ... Lisa Camooso Miller, partner at Reset Public Affairs (h/t Sean Spicer) … USA Today reporter Fredreka Schouten, the pride of St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands ... Jillian Rogers ... Michael Levi, special assistant to the President for energy and economic policy at the National Economic Council and a CFR alum ... Carly Coakley of Blue Engine Message & Media is 26 (h/t boyfriend Scot Davies) ... Jim Boyle, partner at Boyle Public Affairs (h/t Megan Behm) ... Kevin Herzik, director of grants and outreach for Leader Reid’s office (h/t Eddie Scarry) ... Michelle Nunn, CEO of CARE USA (h/t Jon Haber) …
… Adrienne Schweer, SVP of Forbes-Tate Partners and an Ash Carter alum ... Caroline Emch, foreign affairs officer at State and a Hotchkiss alum (h/t Fentress Boyse) ... Samir Paul ... Ashley Dejean, weekend editor at Fusion ... Heritage’s Ken McIntyre, a senior editor at The Daily Signal ... Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.) is 36 … Michael Smith, special assistant to the President and senior director of cabinet affairs for My Brother’s Keeper … James Joyner, security studies prof at USMC Command & Staff College and a nonresident senior fellow at the Atlantic Council ... Ron Blackwell ... Patrick Ryan is 62 ... Jennifer Eileen Giglio ... Paul C. Barton ... DiAnne Owen Graham ... John Daly is 61 ... Raul Damas, VP of corporate affairs and comms at Purdue Pharma and a Pfizer alum ... Christopher Kilian Peace is 4-0 ... Rachel Cothran ... Melody Johnson … Robbi Dickens … Mike Reynard ... Melissa Winter ... Marty Ryan … Seth Obed ... Paul C. Barton of Tax Analysts ... AARP alum David Pepper ... Zerlina Maxwell … Libby Gerds ... Jason Perkey, spending his day beating Tate in a round of golf (h/ts Teresa Vilmain) … Maggie Gyllenhaal is 39 (h/t AP)