DEPT. OF INTRIGUE -- THE MEETING OF THE WEEK -- Donald Trump’s senior adviser STEVE BANNON and ardent Hillary Clinton supporter MARK CUBAN were spotted together Tuesday at a table at the King Cole Bar at the St. Regis in New York. Cuban was once a Trump fan, but cooled on him because he had a “complete and utter lack of preparation, knowledge, and common sense,” he said at the time. Cuban endorsed Clinton, and stumped for her on the trail. Our tipster said Bannon was taking notes in an orange notebook as Cuban spoke. Neither Cuban nor Bannon replied to a request for comment. But luckily, our tipster sent a photo. Pic of Bannon and Cuban chatting http://bit.ly/2gf6k3b
Happy Thanksgiving getaway day.
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INSIGHT INTO TRUMP’S THINKING -- This is a fascinating interaction between the NYT’s Tom Friedman and Donald Trump yesterday during their meeting in the Times’ office. FRIEDMAN: “I came here thinking you’d be awed and overwhelmed by this job, but I feel like you are getting very comfortable with it.” TRUMP: “I feel comfortable. I feel comfortable. I am awed by the job, as anybody would be, but I honestly, Tom, I feel so comfortable and you know it would be, to me, a great achievement if I could come back here in a year or two years and say — and have a lot of the folks here say, ‘You’ve done a great job.’ And I don’t mean just a conservative job, ’cause I’m not talking conservative. I mean just, we’ve done a good job.”
DONALD TRUMP is on the brink of making some extremely unconventional hires for his cabinet, tapping two people with very little applicable experience for top slots.
S.C. GOV. NIKKI HALEY FOR AMBASSADOR TO THE U.N. -- POST AND COURIER’S ANDY SHAIN: “The planned nomination to the cabinet-level post ... is likely to raise questions about Haley’s qualifications for a major foreign policy role since she has little diplomatic experience as state lawmaker and governor. The 44-year-old’s chief foreign work centers on negotiating with international companies seeking economic development deals in the state and leading seven overseas trade missions as governor. Her husband, Michael, was deployed for nearly a year in Afghanistan with the S.C. National Guard in 2013. Recent UN ambassadors typically have experience in presidential administrations, usually with the State Department or National Security Council. The post would be Haley’s first in the federal government.” http://bit.ly/2gghOHh
DR. BEN CARSON TO BE SECRETARY OF HOUSING AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT -- NYT’S MARK LANDLER: “[H]is last job was as director of pediatric neurosurgery at Johns Hopkins University, and he has little background in housing. In the Fox interview, Mr. Carson cited his childhood in Detroit and his experience treating inner-city patients as qualifications for the job. ‘I grew up in the inner city,’ he said, ‘and have spent a lot of time there and have dealt with a lot of patients from that area and recognize that we cannot have a strong nation if we have weak inner cities, and we have to get beyond the promises and start really doing something.’” http://nyti.ms/2gjwoM8
-- FLASHBACK – Oct. 31, 2015, “Carson’s positions on poverty create tension with rags-to-riches life story,” by WaPo’s Jim Tankersley: http://wapo.st/2glegBn
-- THE UPSIDE: Neither are white men, like everyone else he has selected so far. Haley is a favorite of the establishment, which could give Trump some breathing room.
FOR YOUR RADAR -- “Mitt Romney Leads Donald Trump’s Picks for Secretary of State: President-elect leans toward the former governor but advisers’ tug of war delays decision,” by WSJ’s Mike Bender and Damian Paletta: “President-elect Donald Trump is leaning toward asking former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney to be his secretary of state, according to people familiar with the deliberations. The next U.S. president is also likely to name retired Marine Gen. James Mattis to serve as secretary of defense in his administration … Delaying Mr. Trump’s decision about secretary of state is an internal tug of war between supporters of Mr. Romney, and those urging the selection of former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani. A third group is pressing the president-elect to keep searching for candidates. …
“But another faction is still pushing for Mr. Giuliani, who was one of Mr. Trump’s earliest supporters and has openly campaigned for the job. Mr. Giuliani, after leaving the mayor’s office, created a security consulting firm that has contracts with some foreign governments, including Qatar and Colombia. Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, speaking to reporters after meeting with Mr. Trump on Monday, said ‘there are huge advantages to Rudy Giuliani frankly, I think that, if you want someone who is going to go out and be a very tough negotiator for America and represent American interest in the way that Trump campaigned, I think that probably Rudy is a better pick and has the right temperament.’” http://on.wsj.com/2fqmbhC
ANNIE KARNI SCOOP -- “Democrat Harold Ford Jr. emerging as potential Trump pick”: “Former Democratic Rep. Harold Ford, Jr. is emerging as a possible contender for transportation secretary, or another Cabinet post, in Donald Trump’s budding administration. The telegenic Ford -- who served five terms in Congress representing Tennessee and is the son of a long-serving Democratic congressman from Memphis -- has worked as a managing director at Morgan Stanley since 2011, and is a regular news analyst on MSNBC. Ford endorsed Hillary Clinton in the 2016 race, and he and his wife, Emily, contributed to Clinton's campaign. But Ford is also close with Trump’s children, Don Jr., Ivanka, and son-in-law Jared Kushner, an associate said. ...
“Reached on his cellphone, Ford dodged questions about his future in a Trump administration. ‘I’m on vacation with my family,’ he said when asked whether he has had any conversations about a Cabinet position such as transportation secretary. ‘I’d appreciate you calling me in the office on Monday.’” http://politi.co/2gAsuRU
THE BACKSTORY -- “Inside Trump’s freewheeling vetting operation,” by Nancy Cook and Andrew Restuccia: “Donald Trump’s process for picking top political appointees is ‘pretty simple,’ says Rep. Devin Nunes, a senior member of the president-elect’s transition team. When Trump’s aides were scouting for names for a CIA chief, Nunes suggested his colleague, Kansas Republican Rep. Mike Pompeo. Those aides got back to Nunes after the election and asked whether he still thought Pompeo was the right guy. Roughly five days later -- after an interview in Trump Tower -- the president-elect nominated Pompeo to the powerful post. Nunes added that he isn’t aware of any lengthy questionnaire that Pompeo filled out, as is standard with major nominees. ‘They asked me who would be the person for the agency, and I said without a doubt that Pompeo would be a great pick,’ Nunes, chairman of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, told POLITICO.” http://politi.co/2f5UmNc
THE BIG INTERVIEW -- “Trump, in Interview, Moderates Views but Defies Conventions,” by NYT’s Michael Shear, Julie Davis and Maggie Haberman: “President-elect Donald J. Trump on Tuesday tempered some of his most extreme campaign promises, dropping his vow to jail Hillary Clinton, expressing doubt about the value of torturing terrorism suspects and pledging to have an open mind about climate change. But in a wide-ranging hourlong interview with reporters and editors at The New York Times — which was scheduled, canceled and then reinstated after a dispute over the ground rules — Mr. Trump was unapologetic about flouting some of the traditional ethical and political conventions that have long shaped the American presidency.
“He said he had no legal obligation to establish boundaries between his business empire and his White House, conceding that the Trump brand ‘is certainly a hotter brand than it was before.’ Still, he said he would try to figure out a way to insulate himself from his businesses, which would be run by his children. He defended Stephen K. Bannon, his chief strategist, against charges of racism, calling him a ‘decent guy.’ And he mocked Republicans who had failed to support him in his unorthodox presidential campaign.” http://nyti.ms/2fqAbbq … Full transcript of the interview at the Times’ office http://nyti.ms/2g2OReU
-- “Donald Trump Drops Threat of New Hillary Clinton Investigation,” by Julie Davis and Mike Shear: http://nyti.ms/2gjHilf
WHAT THE OPIONATORS THOUGHT -- TOM FRIEDMAN: “At Lunch, Donald Trump Gives Critics Hope” http://nyti.ms/2g2BDPk … FRANK BRUNI: “Donald Trump’s Demand for Love” http://nyti.ms/2gKelT5 … ROSS DOUTHAT: “The Trump Revelations” http://nyti.ms/2glfKvj … NYT EDITORIAL: “Questioning Donald Trump” http://nyti.ms/2gABg24
-- IN THE ROOM WHERE IT HAPPENED, per Michael Grynbaum: Trump, NYT CEO Mark Thompson, NYT Publisher Arthur Sulzberger Jr., Deputy Publisher AG Sulzberger, Vice Chairman Michael Golden, Executive Editor Dean Baquet, Managing Editor Joseph Kahn, Deputy Managing Editor Matt Purdy, Senior Editor for Politics Carolyn Ryan, Washington Bureau Chief Elizabeth Bumiller, Mike Shear, Julie Hirschfeld Davis, Michael Barbaro, Maggie Haberman, Michael Grynbaum, Ross Douthat, Frank Bruni, Maureen Dowd, Gail Collins, Thomas Friedman, James Bennet, James Dao and Terri Tang. From Trump world: Stephen Miller, Hope Hicks, Kellyanne Conway, Reince Priebus.
--WaPo’s PHIL RUCKER and MARC FISHER: “Welcome to Washington’s new normal: One Trump drama after another” http://wapo.st/2fEEYU5
REAL WORLD – “Barack Obama Warns Donald Trump on North Korea Threat,” by WSJ’s Jerry Seib, Jay Solomon and Carol E. Lee: “The Obama administration considers North Korea to be the top national security priority for the incoming administration, a view it has conveyed to President-elect Donald Trump’s transition team ... President Barack Obama, in a policy of ‘strategic patience,’ refused to engage his administration in high-level negotiations with North Korea, waiting for leader Kim Jong Un to show he was committed to abandoning his nuclear arsenal. Current and former administration officials now worry that the pace of North Korea’s nuclear weapons development, particularly its steady march toward the ability to mount a weapon on a ballistic missile, demands a more aggressive strategy. ... North Korea is estimated to have grown its nuclear arsenal to between 20 and 40 bombs in recent years.” http://on.wsj.com/2gf68kx
HOT DOC -- Seems like Michael Jordan got the rare clearance to land his private jet at DCA yesterday to receive the Presidential Medal of Freedom. http://bit.ly/2foaODZ … Watch him accept the award http://bit.ly/2foeIfR
CLICKER -- “15 Trump Flip-Flops in 15 Days: The president-elect has made changing his mind a way of life. Why would his young presidency be any different?” by Ruairi Arrieta-Kenna: http://politi.co/2fQJq5i
DAVID BROOKS WATCH -- “Fellow Trump Critics, Maybe Try a Little Listening”: “It seems like the first thing to do is really learn what this election is teaching us. Second, this seems like a moment for some low-passion wonkery. It’s stupid to react to every Trump tweet outrage with your own predictable howls. It’s silly to treat politics and governance purely on cultural grounds, as a high school popularity contest, where my sort of people denigrates your sort of people.
“We’ve arrived at the moment of actual governing. We’ve arrived at the moment when Trump has to turn his vague notions into concrete proposals. Trump promised to rip up the Iran deal, but he seems to be realizing there are six other signatories and we’ve lost leverage with the Iranians because we already gave them back their money. Trump promises to repeal Obamacare, but how do you do that when it has already been woven into the fabric of every health care system in America?” http://nyti.ms/2gK9ZLJ
HMM -- “Experts Urge Clinton Campaign to Challenge Election Results in 3 Swing States,” by NY Mag’s Gabe Sherman: “Hillary Clinton is being urged by a group of prominent computer scientists and election lawyers to call for a recount in three swing states won by Donald Trump, New York has learned. The group, which includes voting-rights attorney John Bonifaz and J. Alex Halderman, the director of the University of Michigan Center for Computer Security and Society, believes they’ve found persuasive evidence that results in Wisconsin, Michigan, and Pennsylvania may have been manipulated or hacked. ... Last Thursday, the activists held a conference call with Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta and campaign general counsel Marc Elias to make their case, according to a source briefed on the call. The academics presented findings showing that in Wisconsin, Clinton received 7 percent fewer votes in counties that relied on electronic-voting machines compared with counties that used optical scanners and paper ballots.” http://nym.ag/2fqtvtE
-- @natesilver538: “Maybe a more complicated analysis would reveal something, but usually bad news when a finding can’t survive a basic sanity check like this. … Good chance there’ll be a whole cottage industry of ‘STATISTICS PROFESSOR PROVES ELECTION RIGGED’ posts at HuffPost, etc., though.”
-- Dave Wasserman (@Redistrict): “Michigan: 2,803 new Clinton votes, 719 Trump. Trump’s lead falls to 9,528 (0.2%).” http://bit.ly/2gjL65J
-- OUR TAKE: Dream on. Clinton won’t do this. It’s over. Donald Trump will be the president.
WAPO EDITORIAL BOARD -- “Trump is right not to go after Hillary Clinton. But it’s not his decision to make”: “But even in his welcome rethinking, it was not clear that Mr. Trump understands the principle of justice insulated from political control. His statement contained only a glimmer of recognition that, as president, it should not be for him to decide whether criminal prosecutions are undertaken. The law enforcement system and the U.S. attorneys who investigate and prosecute federal crimes are supposed to be independent, free from interference by the White House or anyone else. The president’s role is to appoint an attorney general and set broad political priorities.” http://wapo.st/2g2xHOB
WELL, THAT’S THAT -- “Biden nixes the idea of DNC chair run,” by Isaac Dovere: “So much for the latest draft Joe Biden effort — the vice president won't be a candidate for chair of the Democratic National Committee. Biden spokeswoman Kate Bedingfield ended the growing speculation late Tuesday afternoon. ‘The vice president is not interested in being DNC chair,’ Bedingfield said, ‘but he intends to remain deeply involved in helping shape the direction of the Democratic Party moving forward.’” http://politi.co/2fnehSW
-- NYT A1, “Democrats’ Leadership Fight Pits West Wing Against Left Wing,” by Jonathan Martin and Maggie Haberman: “Mr. Obama’s advisers, some of whom discussed the party leadership race at a White House meeting last week, have talked about whether Labor Secretary Thomas E. Perez and former Gov. Jennifer Granholm of Michigan would be willing to run for the post. Mr. Perez met with Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. last week and had lunch Tuesday in the White House Mess with Valerie Jarrett, Mr. Obama’s senior adviser, while also visiting with David Simas, Mr. Obama’s political director. …
“But along with his inability to do the job full time and his links to [Sen. Bernie] Sanders, [Rep. Keith] Ellison’s past criticism of Mr. Obama and praise for Louis Farrakhan, the Nation of Islam leader, worry some Democrats looking for a figure to lead the opposition to Mr. Trump. Mr. Ellison, a Muslim, defended Mr. Farrakhan in the 1990s, saying he was ‘not an anti-Semite,’ and has positioned himself on the left flank of congressional Democrats on Israel….Aides to Mr. Ellison were going to make him available for a telephone interview, but then declined when informed that he would be asked about his past comments on Mr. Farrakhan. They emailed a list of his links to the Jewish community and a statement that said, ‘Democrats need an organizer who will energize the grass-roots across this country to build the party from the bottom up.’” http://nyti.ms/2f5VGzG
TRUMP INC. -- “Trump Foundation acknowledges violating ‘self-dealing’ ban,” by Isaac Arnsdorf and Ken Vogel: “Donald Trump’s foundation has acknowledged violating a prohibition against using charitable funds to benefit the leaders of the organization or their family members, a practice known as ‘self-dealing.’ In the charity’s latest report to the IRS, posted online late Monday, the Donald J. Trump Foundation indicates that it transferred income or assets to someone it wasn’t allowed to, such as Trump or a person or an organization close to him, in 2015 and previous years.” http://politi.co/2fQDw4i
JARED KUSHNER PROFILE – “This Guy Got Trump Elected,” by Steven Bertoni on the cover of the Dec. 20 Forbes (online headline: “How Jared Kushner Won Trump The White House”): “Jared Kushner’s ascent from Ivanka Trump’s little-known husband to Donald Trump’s campaign savior happened gradually. In the early days of the scrappy campaign, it was all hands on deck, with Kushner helping research policy positions on tax and trade. But as the campaign gained steam, other players began using him as a trusted conduit to an erratic candidate. ‘I helped facilitate a lot of relationships that wouldn’t have happened otherwise,’ Kushner says, adding that people felt safe speaking with him, without risk of leaks. ...
“Kushner’s role expanded as the Trump ticket gained traction–so did his enthusiasm. Kushner went all-in with Trump last November after seeing his father-in-law pack a raucous arena in Springfield, Illinois, on a Monday night. ‘People really saw hope in his message,’ he says. ‘They wanted the things that wouldn’t have been obvious to a lot of people I would meet in the New York media world, the Upper East Side or at Robin Hood [Foundation] dinners.’ And so this Harvard-educated child of privilege put on a bright-red Make American Great Again hat and rolled up his sleeves.” http://bit.ly/2gjFSae … The cover http://bit.ly/2gKfWIx
KATY TUR’S NEW PROJECT -- “Book Publishers Scramble to Make Sense of Trump’s Rise to Victory,” by NYT’s Alexandra Alter: “In the summer of 2015, Katy Tur, a London-based foreign correspondent for NBC News, got a surprising offer from the network’s head of news coverage. Would she like to cover Donald J. Trump’s presidential campaign? He assured her that it would be a brief assignment — six weeks at the most. It was one of many assumptions about Mr. Trump’s candidacy that proved to be wildly off-base. Ms. Tur was on the campaign trail for 18 months, living out of a suitcase and subsisting on hard-boiled eggs, packets of peanut butter and fistfuls of Cheez-Its. She became a frequent target of Mr. Trump on Twitter and during his rallies, where he accused her of dishonesty and called her a ‘third-rate reporter,’ and she received death threats from his supporters. On election night, expecting to cover his defeat, she instead reported on his victory speech. Ms. Tur will recount those experiences in a book, ‘Unbelievable,’ which will also explore Mr. Trump’s unexpected rise through the Republican ranks and his ascension to the presidency. Ms. Tur’s memoir, which will be published by Dey Street Books next year.” http://nyti.ms/2fqnopk Tur will be on "Late Night with Seth Meyers" tonight.
INAUGURATION UPDATE -- “Met Gala mastermind tapped to plan inauguration events,” by N.Y. Post Page Six’s Emily Smith: “Melania Trump will surely have the last laugh about designers who won’t work with her — Met Gala mastermind Stephanie Winston Wolkoff is being brought in to help plan the presidential inauguration events. Wolkoff, an ex-Vogue staffer who planned the glamorous gala for years and went on to orchestrate New York Fashion Week’s Lincoln Center expansion, is known in fashion circles as ‘General Winston’ -- a name bestowed by her mentor, Anna Wintour. Winston, who, according to sources, ‘has all the designers on speed dial’ and is also a longtime friend of Melania, was spotted at Trump Tower this week, along with Tom Barrack, who is chairman of President-elect Donald Trump’s inaugural committee.” http://pge.sx/2g2wwPj
-- @stephensackuer of BBC HardTalk: “Interesting nugget from [Wall St. financier and Trump ally] @Scaramucci on #Trump inauguration; says @eltonofficial IS going to perform – ‘shows our commitment to gay rights’”
HOT IN THE VALLEY – “Facebook Said to Create Censorship Tool to Get Back Into China,” by NYT’s Mike Isaac in San Francisco: “The social network has quietly developed software to suppress posts from appearing in people’s news feeds in specific geographic areas, according to three current and former Facebook employees ... The feature was created to help Facebook get into China, a market where the social network has been blocked, these people said. Mr. Zuckerberg has supported and defended the effort.” http://nyti.ms/2gf7QCl
ONLY IN PLAYBOOK – How Stephen Colbert and John Oliver responded to an audience question “How f**ked are we?” at the Montclair Film Festival -- 3-min. video http://bit.ly/2glaacw
MEDIAWATCH -- “Jay Newton-Small Wins Dirksen Congressional Reporting Award”: “Newton-Small’s reporting on the women in the U.S. Senate and their ability to work around the Capitol’s gridlock was published in ELLE Magazine. Newton-Small is also a contributor to Time magazine. ... Newton-Small will receive the award at NPF’s annual journalism awards dinner on Thursday, Feb. 16, at the Marriott Marquis hotel in Washington, D.C., along with other award winners. ... The NPF judges also gave an honorable mention to Politico [Jake Sherman, Anna Palmer and John Bresnahan], for a series of stories written under deadline pressure that reported, with prescience, on the John Boehner-Paul Ryan shakeup that rocked the U.S. House of Representatives.” http://bit.ly/2gArXiR … Jay’s winning story http://bit.ly/2gf8DTM … Stories that won an honorable mention for POLITICO http://politi.co/2f5YlJM ... http://politi.co/2gKfMRn ... http://politi.co/2fqCRFS
-- @MiriamElder: “‘We will hold the administration’s feet to the fire,’ [CNN chief] Jeff Zucker tells @pressfreedom dinner. Laughs in part of the crowd.”
-- WaPo’s Margaret Sullivan: “What TV journalists did wrong — and the New York Times did right — in meeting with Trump” http://wapo.st/2g2JuN4
SPOTTED -- Georgia Sen. David Perdue yesterday on the Delta Shuttle to New York.
BIRTHDAY OF THE DAY: Geoff Morrell, SVP of US comms and external affairs for BP America – read his Playbook Plus Q&A: http://politi.co/2fqJJmT
BIRTHDAYS: Carolyn Ryan, NYT’s senior editor for politics (h/t Hilary Rosen) ... Sen. Chuck Schumer is 66 … Rep. Debbie Dingell (D-Mich.) is 63 ... Robin Roberts (“Good Morning America”) is 56 … former Sen. Mary Landrieu is 61 … Rep. Bobby Rush (D-Ill.) is 7-0 ... former Labor Secretary William Brock is 86 … Amy Schatz, USTelecom’s VP of media affairs and a Politico and WSJ alum ... Politico’s Emily Zoda and Joey Francilus ... Geoff Mackler is 41 ... Dan Snyder ... BBC’s Suzanne Kianpour ... Consumer Bankers Association president and CEO Richard Hunt … former Wisconsin governor Jim Doyle is 71 … Diane Begala ... Joe Shanahan (h/ts Teresa Vilmain) … Andrea Lavin Solow, board member of the United States Holocaust Memorial Council and the Yitzhak Rabin Center (h/t Jewish Insider) ... Matt Farrauto, back in Washington after three years in the maelstrom of New Jersey politics and now the director of comms for the Peace Corps, is 44 (h/t Nate Rawlings) … Rick Gorka ... Mary Rutherford Jennings ... Adam Belmar ... Matt Dennis is 36 ... Kyunghan Kim ... Laura Chavez ... Bill Riggs, strategic comms guru at Freedom Partners … Yashar Hedayat ... HuffPost overnight editor Jade Walker, an NYT, AP and Yahoo alum … Julia Gill Woodward, COS to Rep. Gwen Graham (D-Fla.) ... Will Glasscock ... Austin Shafran, SVP for strategic affairs at Metropolitan Public Strategies ...
… Bill Brock – former member of the House and senator from Tennessee (beat Al Gore Sr.), RNC chair, USTR and Labor Secretary under President Reagan, is 86 … Colby Nelson, native Cincinnatian, digital comms manager at the American Psychiatric Association and a Diana DeGette alum … John Marshall … Josh Levitt … Meghan Womack ... Chelsea Bollinger ... Jeremy Slevin ... Sheara Braun, producer for MSNBC’s “All In” and a CNN alum … Laura Chavez ... Jenna Gibson, producer for CBS News’ “This Morning” in DC and the pride of the Clemson Tigers ... Emily Jansen, manager of strategic comms. and philanthropy at Samsung Electronics America ... Brittany Griffin, account manager at Google in DC ... Bush 43 alum Melissa Pardue ... James Griffin ... Mari Eder ... Marylee Schneider Sauder ... Chris Carter ... Chris Dovi is 45 … Susan Anspach is 73 … Liz Victorin … Miley Cyrus is 24 (h/t AP)