Good Saturday morning. It’s a cold, wet mess out there. Cozy up by the fire, pour yourself a mug of hot cocoa and take the advice of the Capital Weather Gang: “It’s worth putting off plans if possible.” http://wapo.st/2gVKNl7
-- @realDonaldTrump at 7:30 a.m.: “China steals United States Navy research drone in international waters - rips it out of water and takes it to China in unpresidented act.” Note: The word he’s looking for is unprecedented. He later corrected the tweet.
**SUBSCRIBE to Playbook: http://politi.co/1M75UbX
SOUTH CAROLINA REP. MICK MULVANEY is Donald Trump’s choice to be Office of Management and Budget director. Mulvaney is a founding member of the House Freedom Caucus, and an affable budget hawk. He’s almost certain to get confirmed by the Senate. His northern South Carolina district -- formerly represented by Democratic Budget Chairman John Spratt -- is solidly red. He beat Fran Person, a former aide to Vice President Joe Biden, by 20 points this year. Mulvaney is a smart pick for Trump. He’s an operator who knows the players on Capitol Hill, and the substance of budgeting. It will be interesting to see how Mulvaney reacts if Trump wants to dump a quarter-billion dollars in government money into infrastructure. Hint: We don’t think Mulvaney would be in favor of that. Also: it's important to remember that Mulvaney was a leading player in the debt ceiling fights, pushing Congress to deeply cut spending..
DONALD TRUMP holds a 2 p.m. rally today in Mobile, Alabama. This will be his last public event before he heads to Palm Beach to spend the holidays at his Mar-a-lago residence.
WHITE FORD BRONCO performed at the POLITICO holiday party last night at the Howard Theater. Pic of the scene http://bit.ly/2hSD5rO
WILD! -- “Intelligence experts accuse Cambridge forum of Kremlin links: Sir Richard Dearlove, former head of MI6, resigns from Cambridge Intelligence Seminar,” by Sam Jones, the FT’s “Defence and Security Editor”: A group of intelligence experts, including a former head of MI6, has cut ties with fellow academics at Cambridge university, in a varsity spy scare harking back to the heyday of Soviet espionage at the heart of the British establishment. Sir Richard Dearlove, the ex-chief of the Secret Intelligence Service and former master of Pembroke college, Stefan Halper, a senior foreign policy adviser at the White House to presidents Nixon, Ford and Reagan, and Peter Martland, a leading espionage historian, have resigned as conveners of the Cambridge Intelligence Seminar — an academic forum for former practitioners and current researchers of western spycraft — because of concerns over what they fear could be a Kremlin-backed operation to compromise the group.
“Mr Halper said he had stepped down due to ‘unacceptable Russian influence on the group’. The seminar, established by Christopher Andrew, the official historian of MI5 and former chairman of the history faculty at the university, is one of the most respected networks in its field. Recent attendees at its discussions, held every Friday at Corpus Christi college, have included Mike Flynn, president-elect Donald Trump’s choice as US national security adviser, and Sir Simon Fraser, the recently retired permanent undersecretary at the Foreign Office.” http://on.ft.com/2hFJfLC
DEPT. OF YA CAN’T MAKE IT UP – NYT A13, “McConnell Eyed Ryan Zinke for a Senate Seat. Donald Trump Had Other Ideas,” by Jonathan Martin and Alex Burns: Senate Majority Leader Mitch “McConnell learned early this week that Mr. Trump had grown interested in [Montana Rep. Ryan]. Zinke to be secretary of the interior. Mr. McConnell quickly contacted both Vice President-elect Mike Pence and Reince Priebus, the incoming White House chief of staff, in an effort to head off the appointment, according to multiple Republican officials familiar with the calls. Mr. Trump was not moved. He was so taken with Mr. Zinke during their meeting on Monday at Trump Tower that he offered him the position. Mr. Trump’s son Donald Jr. quashed a competing candidate, Representative Cathy McMorris Rodgers of Washington State, because of her support for selling off public land, a senior Republican official said. ...
“Mr. Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, a close adviser, unsettled Washington Republicans again on Friday when he said at an event in New York that Mr. Trump was closer on some issues to Senator Chuck Schumer of New York, the incoming Democratic leader, than to Mr. McConnell.” http://nyti.ms/2huHNea
EYEBROW RAISER -- Via POLITICO’s Eliana Johnson: “Lawmakers are overall the reason we have the problems that we have, because they think that they’re the smartest people in the world and they sit in D.C. and talk to themselves, and if you don’t sit on the cocktail circuit there you don’t know anything about anything,” said a senior transition aide. “I think they’re intimidated by a guy like [State Dept. pick Rex Tillerson] — they don’t know him and he doesn’t owe them anything.” http://politi.co/2hEPak5
WITH FRIENDS LIKE THESE… -- “Obama: Trump’s victory threatens America’s core,” by Isaac Dovere: “Republicans should realize they have a problem, President Barack Obama said over and over on Friday, when they’re agreeing with the Kremlin so much. That they don’t shows him just how broken American politics has become, and how vulnerable the country has become after Republicans spent years demonizing him and fellow Democrats and gumming up the government. It’s not only a vulnerability to foreign powers, according to Obama. There’s now a real risk of America abandoning the ideals and values that have bound the country together for 240 years. Everyone should be scared about what that means and where it leads, he said.” http://politi.co/2hbRqvE
-- NYT A12, “Clinton Says ‘Personal Beef’ by Putin Led to Hacking Attacks,” by Amy Chozick: “Hillary Clinton said on Thursday that the hacking attacks carried out by Russia against her campaign and the [DNC] were intended ‘to undermine our democracy’ and were ordered by Vladimir V. Putin ‘because he has a personal beef against me.’ Speaking to a group of donors in Manhattan, Mrs. Clinton said that Mr. Putin, the Russian president, had never forgiven her for the accusation she made in 2011, when she was secretary of state, that parliamentary elections his country held that year were rigged.
“‘Putin publicly blamed me for the outpouring of outrage by his own people, and that is the direct line between what he said back then and what he did in this election,’ Mrs. Clinton said. It is the first time Mrs. Clinton has publicly addressed the impact of the hacks since the intelligence community concluded that they were specifically aimed at harming her campaign. ‘Make no mistake, as the press is finally catching up to the facts, which we desperately tried to present to them during the last months of the campaign,’ Mrs. Clinton told the group, which collectively poured roughly $1 billion into her effort.” http://nyti.ms/2hFVSUx
-- “Putin’s Revenge,” by Michael Crowley for POLITICO Magazine: “Humiliated by the 1990s, Russia’s strongman is determined to win Cold War 2.0. He may be succeeding.” http://politi.co/2hFqd7W
TRUMP INC. -- “Trump lays out limits of business involvement,” by Darren Samuelsohn and Josh Dawsey: “Donald Trump will not accept briefings on his business while serving as president, and he’s open to limits on his ability to talk business with his two adult sons slated to run the company, according to a Trump spokeswoman. But as details emerge on Trump’s plan to separate his private interests from the public, key questions remain unanswered: Trump also wants a way to return to his business when his White House days are over, and he doesn’t want anyone outside the family owning the rights to the Trump name while he’s away, Trump’s friends, business associates and transition staff tell POLITICO.
“Those are among the issues delaying Trump’s grand plan to protect his administration from conflicts of interest — even as his critics continue to pound him for failing to produce the ethics setup he’d promised would by now be a done deal. Trump’s legal team has been working on a public-private ethics firewall since the President-elect’s upset election victory, but discussions with people surrounding that process paint a picture of a man struggling to cut all ties with the business empire that made him rich and famous.” http://politi.co/2gM7jYp
FIRST AMENDMENT WATCH -- “Kushner: We struck deal with Sinclair for better coverage,” by Josh Dawsey and Hadas Gold: “Donald Trump’s campaign struck a deal with Sinclair Broadcast Group during the campaign to try and secure straighter media coverage, his son-in-law Jared Kushner told business executives Friday in Manhattan. Kushner said the agreement with Sinclair, which owns television stations across the country in many swing states and often packages news for their affiliates to run, gave them more access to Trump and the campaign, according to six people who heard his remarks. In exchange, Sinclair would broadcast their Trump interviews across the country without commentary, Kushner said. Kushner highlighted that Sinclair, in states like Ohio, reaches a much wider audience -- around 250,000 listeners -- than networks like CNN, which reach somewhere around 30,000.” http://politi.co/2hJB79I
LIPTON and HABERMAN GET RESULTS – “Bids for Coffee With Ivanka Trump Are Shut Down as Questions Swirl,” by NYT’s Eric Lipton: “An auction offering a 45-minute private meeting with Ivanka Trump in exchange for a charitable donation was abruptly canceled Friday after questions were raised about the process by ethics experts, who said it appeared to offer bidders special access to the next first family.” http://nyti.ms/2hFL0s7
CARLOS LOZADA on the cover of tomorrow’s WaPo Outlook section, “The self-referential presidency of Barack Obama: Throughout his time in the White House, Obama has turned to his personal story as a default reference and all-purpose governing tool”: “This was a presidency preoccupied with Obama’s exceptionalism as much as with America’s. ... In his 2006 manifesto, ‘The Audacity of Hope,’ Obama called himself ‘a prisoner of my own biography,’ yet throughout his presidency, biography would also empower him. Whether in foreign policy, race relations, electoral politics, or even in the meaning of the hope and change he promised, Obama has turned to his life and symbolism as a default reference and all-purpose governing tool. The personalized presidency can be inspiring. It can also feel arrogant. And it can bypass some of the very norms and institutions Obama rhapsodizes about so frequently — a dangerous proposition as the country braces for an unpredictable, unmoored successor.” http://wapo.st/2hJtekD
K-FILE – “Trump national security pick Monica Crowley repeatedly pushed conspiracy theory about Clinton aide,” by CNN’s Andrew Kaczynski: “Crowley, Donald Trump's pick to be senior director of strategic communications for the National Security Council, repeatedly pushed an unfounded conspiracy theory that claimed Hillary Clinton’s aide Huma Abedin has ties to Islamic extremists.” http://cnn.it/2hbTHXD
POWER GRAB -- “Gov. McCrory begins to sign bills that limit power of Gov.-elect Cooper, Democrats,” by the Raleigh News and Observer’s Craig Jarvis: “State legislators wrapped up their work Friday on a pair of proposals that would deprive the incoming governor of a substantial part of his authority to make appointments and reduce Democrats’ power over election regulation. Gov. Pat McCrory signed into law the bill dealing with elections a short time later. ... At least 39 protesters were arrested Friday at the Legislative Building as a group of hundreds chanted slogans blasting a ‘power grab’ by Republican lawmakers. ... Those arrested, who accuse the GOP majority of using Hurricane Matthew victims as pawns in a ploy to seize power from Democratic Gov.-elect Roy Cooper, included civic leaders, university staff and faculty, and clergy.” http://bit.ly/2gVILkJ
INAUGURATION WATCH -- “David Foster organizing Trump’s inauguration performances,” by Page Six’s Oli Coleman: “David Foster is playing a pivotal role in organizing Donald Trump’s inauguration … Insiders say that, even though the super producer supported Hillary Clinton in the election — and was spotted hobnobbing with her at the Polo Bar on Wednesday night during a date with [Christie] Brinkley — he is a longtime friend of Trump and has been wrangling talent to perform at the January event. Finding big names willing to take the stage in Washington, DC, before Trump is sworn in as president has been famously challenging. Showbiz blog The Wrap reported that it’s been so difficult to sign up A-listers, organizers were offering bookers cash and even ambassadorships in return for providing big names. But we’re told that Foster has swooped in to save the day — and both the names attached to Inauguration Day have close ties with the producer.” http://pge.sx/2hbQjMx
REP. STEVE ISRAEL in the NYT, “The Humiliations of Life After Congress”: “I recently attended a panel discussion for those of us facing ‘life after Congress.’ It was like a euthanasia pre-brief, although there were glimmers of ego-gratification. We learned we could still park near the Capitol (but not in the garages); give tours of the House Floor (but only if the speaker approved our request) and bypass Capitol metal detectors (so long as we had our congressional lapel pins and proper forms of identification). We even have two seats each to President-elect Donald J. Trump’s inauguration. Folding seats. On the lawn. Down below. (Anyone want mine?)” http://nyti.ms/2hJyyov
FOR YOUR RADAR -- “Philippines’ Duterte to U.S.: ‘Bye-bye America,’” from the AP in Manila: “President Rodrigo Duterte threatened Saturday to terminate a pact that allows U.S. troops to visit the Philippines, saying ‘bye-bye America’ as he reacted with rage to what he thought was a U.S. decision to scrap a major aid package over human rights concerns. … ‘But you know, America, you might also be put to notice. Prepare to leave the Philippines, prepare for the eventual repeal or the abrogation of the Visiting Forces Agreement,’ he said, referring to a 1998 accord that governs American forces visiting the Philippines for joint combat exercises. ‘You know, tit for tat ... if you can do this, so (can) we. It ain’t a one-way traffic,’ Duterte said, adding tauntingly, ‘Bye-bye America. … While calling Americans ‘sons of b____’ and ‘hypocrites,’ Duterte praised China as having ‘the kindest soul of all’ for offering what he said was significant financial assistance. ‘So, what do I need America for?’ he asked.” http://politi.co/2huQzsH
MEDIAWATCH -- “[Sean] Spicer: Trump won’t ban media outlets from White House,” by Madeline Conway: “The communications director of the [RNC] reiterated on Friday that President-elect Donald Trump will not ban individual news outlets from his White House, as his campaign did from his rallies. ‘There’s a big difference between a campaign where it is a private venue using private funds and a government entity,’ Sean Spicer said Friday at a cocktails event hosted by POLITICO Playbook. ‘We have a respect for the press when it comes to the government, that that is something that you can’t ban an entity from.’” http://politi.co/2hZIwB9
POLITICO promotions and hires – CARRIE BUDOFF BROWN and MARTY KADY email the staff: “Andrew Restuccia, a veteran of our Pro Energy team, has taken on the title of Senior Policy Reporter. ... On Pro Defense, Greg Hellman will join next week as a reporter. He covered environment, health, and safety for Bloomberg BNA and Inside Washington Publishers before joining the U.S. Government Accountability Office where he investigated counter-terrorism programs and conducted oversight of the secret Pentagon program to train Syrian rebels. ... Sarah Ferris will join the Budget and Appropriations Brief on Jan. 31.
“Sarah comes to us from The Hill, where she has been leading appropriations coverage and serving as a senior health care reporter. ... [On] the Pro Energy team, Ben Lefebvre,who is currently based in Tokyo, will be starting in early February. While in Japan, he developed coverage of the burgeoning LNG business for the news service ICIS, cracking into the tight-lipped industry that’s changing the global energy trade. Before that, he spent four years at the Wall Street Journal in Houston.”
-- “Morning TV wars heat up as NBC and CBS gain on ABC’s ‘GMA’,” by L.A. Times’ Stephen Battaglio: “‘Good Morning America’ is still the most popular show overall in the 2016-17 TV season, averaging 4.65 to million viewers compared with 4.53 million for ‘Today.’ But NBC has topped ‘GMA’ twice in overall viewers in the last five weeks and has led among the 25-to-54 age group most important to TV news advertisers for more than a year. ‘GMA’ is off 8% in the demographic this fall while NBC has remained flat. Last season, ‘GMA’ was down 19%. Walt Disney Co.-owned ABC is also looking over its shoulder at ‘CBS This Morning.’ The trio of Gayle King, Charlie Rose and Norah O’Donnell is up 6% this season to 3.68 million viewers. Among viewers ages 25 to 54, CBS is up 12% and less than 400,000 viewers behind ‘GMA’ in the category — the network’s best competitive showing in the morning in more than 20 years.” http://lat.ms/2hFYv8s
-- WaPo: “Now you can fact-check Trump’s tweets — in the tweets themselves”http://wapo.st/2hG0c66
-- “We Were There: Reports From Our Far-Flung Correspondents in 2016” – NYT: “The New York Times put journalists on the ground in more than 150 countries over the last year, covering nearly every corner of the world. Here are some of the most gripping tales from our foreign correspondents, photographers and editors in 2016.”http://nyti.ms/2gVZPqI
WAPO’s 2017 White House team -- Scott Wilson and Steven Ginsberg email the staff: “Dan Eggen will lead the team after guiding our Trump campaign coverage with stunning success for much of the year. ... The deputy White House editor will be Dave Clarke ... Philip Rucker, who anchored our coverage throughout the election, will take a leading role in this mission as our new White House Bureau Chief. ... Jenna Johnson, who was our lead Trump correspondent during the election, will bring her keen reporting and writing talent to the White House. ... David Nakamura will remain on the White House beat ...
“Ashley Parker, who covered Trump’s candidacy for The New York Times, will join our White House team in the new year. ... Abby Phillip will join the White House team after her sharp reporting and analysis of the Clinton campaign. ... John Wagner will join the White House team after chronicling the campaigns of Martin O’Malley, Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton. ... The team will be joined by Ylan Mui of the financial staff, who will cover economic policy from the White House and Treasury.” http://wapo.st/2hFNpR9
CLICKER – “The nation’s cartoonists on the week in politics,” edited by Matt Wuerker -- 12 keepers http://politi.co/2hbIyWG
GREAT WEEKEND READS, curated by Daniel Lippman:
--“Bad Shrimp: How antibiotic-tainted seafood gets smuggled out of China and onto your table,” by Jason Gale, Lydia Mulvany, and Monte Reel on the cover of Bloomberg Businessweek: “Federal agencies trying to protect public health face multiple adversaries: microbes rapidly evolving to defeat antibiotics and shadowy seafood companies that quickly adapt to health regulations to circumvent them, moving dirty seafood around the world in much the same way criminal organizations launder dirty money.” http://bloom.bg/2gLQblL ... The cover http://bit.ly/2gMgfxc
--“Daniel Ellsberg, Edward Snowden, and the Modern Whistle-Blower,” by Malcolm Gladwell in The New Yorker: “From their backgrounds to their motivations, the two men have some striking differences.” http://bit.ly/2h5G3Fz
--“How to Sleep,” by James Hamblin in the Jan/Feb issue of The Atlantic: “Should you drink more coffee? Should you take melatonin? Can you train yourself to need less sleep? A physician’s guide to sleep in a stressful age.” http://theatln.tc/2hLfRns
--“Donald Trump and the Overinflated Presidency,” by Jeffrey Rosen on the cover of WSJ’s Review section: “The president-elect will inherit an executive branch whose power has ballooned far beyond its constitutional bounds.” http://on.wsj.com/2hZQ3jm
--“What Was James Comey Thinking?” by Tim Weiner in Esquire: “FBI director James Comey has long been renowned for his integrity and independence. So why did he upend the 2016 election? An exclusive report from inside the FBI.” http://bit.ly/2gQbENv (h/t Longform.org)
--“Behind the Scenes With the World’s Top Feather Detective,” by Chris Sweeney in Audubon Magazine: “As the country’s only criminal forensic ornithologist, Pepper Trail has pieced together the demise of countless birds—and saved many others.” http://bit.ly/2hTjEew
--“What’s Wrong With Infidelity?” by Emily Bobrow in the Dec./Jan. issue of 1843 Magazine: “Americans are increasingly intolerant of adultery, but Esther Perel believes they should take a more European attitude. Emily Bobrow met the country’s most celebrated – and controversial – relationship guru.” http://bit.ly/2hz3RF6 (h/t ALDaily.com)
--“Future tension,” by Anthony Sudbery in Aeon Magazine: “Facts about the past and present are either true or false. Can knowledge of the future offer the same degree of certainty?” http://bit.ly/2hLppyT
--“The Gulf Art War,” by Negar Azimi in The New Yorker: “New museums in the Emirates raise the issue of workers’ rights.” http://bit.ly/2hJwLzF
--“In China, Searching for Mysterious Gaps in the Family Tree,” by Veronique Greenwood in Longreads: “China’s revolution made it difficult for Chinese abroad to stay in contact with their families. Now many in the diaspora are searching for their roots.” http://bit.ly/2hAPNbB
--“Chongqing’s Number One Noodle Obsessive,” by Josh Freedman in Roads and Kingdoms: “Li Jieping ... is the self-proclaimed Number One Expert on Chongqing noodles. Nobody challenges him for the title.” http://bit.ly/2gQbOEV
--“‘I Feel Like a Fraud’: Confessions of a Broken-Down Domestic Violence Lawyer,”by Cheyna Roth in Vice: “I graduated from law school ready to make a difference for abused women. I failed.” http://bit.ly/2gQbYMi
--“If Not Darwin, Who?” by Philip Ball in Nautilus Magazine: “An alternative history of the great ideas of science.” http://bit.ly/2hTopEM
--“Wonder and Worry, as a Syrian Child Transforms,” by NYT’s Catrin Einhorn and Jodi Kantor: “Canada welcomes Syrian refugees like no other country. But for one 10-year-old’s parents, is she leaving too much behind?” http://nyti.ms/2hJRumJ
--“The Long View,” by Raffi Khatchadourian in The New Yorker: “Edward Burtynsky’s quest to photograph a changing planet.” http://bit.ly/2hpDLUx
SPOTTED: Donald Trump Jr. and Ben Carson at DCA waiting at the gate for a flight to Ft. Lauderdale on their way to Palm Beach … Tim Kaine at LaGuardia Friday morning waiting for a delayed flight to Richmond.
PRESIDENT’S WEEKS AHEAD – “The President will be in Honolulu, Hawaii through Monday, January 2, 2017. The President will receive the Presidential Daily Briefing every day. On Tuesday, December 27, the President will meet with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in Honolulu, Hawaii. The meeting will be an opportunity for the two leaders to review our joint efforts over the past four years to strengthen the U.S.-Japan alliance, including our close cooperation on a number of security, economic, and global challenges. The President will also accompany Prime Minister Abe to the USS Arizona Memorial at Pearl Harbor to honor those killed. The two leaders’ visit will showcase the power of reconciliation that has turned former adversaries into the closest of allies, united by common interests and shared values.”
WELCOME TO THE WORLD – Alex Spence, Politico’s Kiwi media and politics correspondent, and his wife Michelle Liddicut, a neurophysiotherapist from Melbourne, Australia, have welcomed Sophie Violet Spence, who arrived at 7:34 p.m. on Dec. 13, 2016. She was born in London’s St Thomas’s Hospital, weighing 6 pounds, 3 ounces and is a trans-Tasman co-production. “Fittingly for a baby Politico, she spent her first hours in a birthing suite looking out across the river into London's Houses of Parliament.”
ENGAGED -- BJ Barretta, senior producer at Upworthy, and Erica Moody, associate editor for Washington Life Magazine, got engaged at the MGM National Harbor on Thursday night following a Boyz II Men concert. Pool report from Sally Rey Parkinson: “They are avid followers of the band and went to a concert on one of their first dates. Even the managers at the MGM got into the spirit, surprising the couple with a gift certificate after the proposal. [They met when] she swiped right and showed up to the date to realize they had several friends in common. It’s been love ever since!” Pics http://bit.ly/2gVQVJQ … http://bit.ly/2hSzQRn
PENNY PRITZKER on Zillow Group CEO Spencer Rascoff’s podcast series, “Office Hours” in which she “talks about her experience transitioning from the private sector to the public sector, the biggest lessons she learned from her time in government and the one thing she wishes she had known before taking office.” http://bit.ly/2hSeiEq
OUT AND ABOUT – On Thursday night, friends toasted the long-time digital director of Bipartisan Policy Center Mike Stubel and his wife Lauren Stubel at Penn6 downtown as they say goodbye to DC and make their way over to Seattle. Stubel was with BPC for 6 years.
SPOTTED at the toast: BPC President Jason Grumet, Ashley Berrang, Rosemarie Calabro Tully, BPC comms team members past and present: Arianny Arias, Abbey Brandon, Carolyn Cooper, Joann Donnellan, Rachael Gresson, Calvin Harris, Blake Johnson, Emilee Kim, Jordan LaPier, Alyssa Loy, Ashley Swearingen, Toby Zakaria, Jon Yuan, Lindsay Boroush, Candace Wint, Kevin Clang.
-- SPOTTED at NBWA’s Craig Purser’s holiday party last night: Sean and Rebecca Spicer, Hazen Marshall, Brian Wild, Stuart Roy, Carl Forti, Autumn Vandehei, Scott Whittaker, Mike Summers, Les Brorsen, Matt Shay.
BOB SHRUM named director of USC’s Institute of Politics: “Shrum, Carmen H. and Louis Warschaw Chair in Practical Politics and professor of the practice of political science at USC Dornsife, has been appointed director of the Jesse M. Unruh Institute of Politics ... effective Jan. 9, 2017. Shrum succeeds Dan Schnur, assistant professor of the practice of political science.” http://bit.ly/2hFCtmv
BIRTHWEEK (was yesterday): Judith Giuliani
BIRTHDAYS: Chris Matthews is 71 … Pope Francis is 8-0 … Eli Pariser, co-founder of Upworthy and founder of MoveOn … Dooly noted: Sarah Doolin, director of comms at the Partnership for a New American Economy, a CFR alum … Randall Gerard, principal of the Podesta Group ... Bush 43 alum Carol Thompson O’Connell ... Elaine Povich ... Scott Sadler, strategic comms advisor at the National Counterterrorism Center ... Rep. Steve Knight (R-Calif.) is 5-0 ... Rep. Rick Nolan (D-Minn.) is 73 (h/t Samantha Bisogno) ... Rep.-elect Brian Fitzpatrick (R-Penn.) is 43 ... Noah Rothman, assistant online editor at Commentary, is 35 ... longtime digital guru Cyrus Krohn, executive producer at Literally Media in Seattle … Erin Taylor ... Jessica Stone, CCTV Washington correspondent ... Carlson Teboh ... Valeria Ojeda-Avitia, director at AU’s Kennedy Political Union ...
… Daniel Ensign, Clinton, DNC, & O’Malley alum, is 26 -- and as is tradition, he will be feted by friends during “Ensignpalooza” in DC ... journalist and CNN alum Kelli Arena, now executive director of the Global Center for Journalism and Democracy and a “democracy defender,” per her Twitter ... Aryeh Bourkoff, founder and CEO of LionTree LLC, an independent investment bank located in NYC, is 44 (h/t Jewish Insider) ... Kevin Wardally … Sheppie and Mike Abramowitz, mom and son ... Judy Weiss, pride of Oak Park and Oakhurst, Calif. (h/ts Dan) ... Ray Rubio is 53 ... Jeff Cleary ... Doug Landry ... Taylor Foy ... Bob Witeck ... Chelsea Manning is 29 … Debra Patterson ... Wisconsin former Chief Justice Shirley Abrahamson is 83 ... Clare Gannon ... Bailey Childers ... Kellin Lovegren ... Sherrie Sabbath ... Katie Pakenham (h/ts Teresa Vilmain) ... Eugene Levy is 70 (h/t AP)
THE SHOWS, by @MattMackowiak, filing from Bandon Dunes Resort in Bandon, Oregon:
--NBC’s “Meet the Press”: John Podesta … Robert Gates … Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.) … Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.). Panel: Yamiche Alcindor, Jeff Greenfield, Katty Kay and Rick Santelli
--“Fox News Sunday”: Incoming White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus … Virginia Democratic Rep. Don Beyer ... Electoral College member Clay Pell (D). Panel: Karl Rove, Michael Needham, Juan Williams and Neera Tanden … “Power Player of the Week” segment with MGM Resorts chairman and CEO James Murren
--CBS’s “Face the Nation”: Henry Kissinger … Tom Donilon … Kellyanne Conway … National security and foreign policy panel: Margaret Brennan, David Ignatius and CBS News’ Jeff Pegues … Ta-Nehisi Coates … Graeme Wood … political panel: Ron Brownstein and Susan Page
--ABC’s “This Week”: Guests to be announced.
--Fox News’ “Sunday Morning Futures” (10 a.m. ET / 9 a.m. CT): Jason Miller … Sen. John Thune (R-SD) … Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick … Sean Spicer. Panel: Ed Rollins, Stephen Sigmund and Tony Sayegh
--Fox News’ “MediaBuzz” (SUN 11 a.m. ET / 10 a.m. CT): Corey Lewandowski … Erin McPike … Mollie Hemingway … Julie Roginsky … Steve Hayes
--CNN’s “Inside Politics” with John King (SUN 8 a.m. ET): Panel: Julie Pace, Dan Balz, Sara Murray and Jonathan Martin
--CNN’s “State of the Union” (9 a.m. ET / 12 p.m. ET): Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) … Attorney General Loretta Lynch. Panel: Van Jones, Alice Stewart, Mike Rogers and Michigan Democratic Rep. Debbie Dingell
--CNN’s “Reliable Sources”: (SUN 11 a.m. ET): Panel: Politifact editor Angie Drobnic Holan, Jane Hall and Jeffrey Toobin … Josh Earnest and Jeff Mason … Rick Stengel … BBC News’ Kim Ghattas and Ukrainian journalist Savik Shuster
--Univision’s “Al Punto” (SUN 10 a.m. ET / 1 p.m. PT): Florida GOP Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen … DREAMers Gaby Pacheco and Elizabeth Vilchis … author and journalist Ismael Cala (“La Vida es Una Piñata”) … White House Drug Czar Michael Botticelli … author and People en Español editor-in-chief Armando Lucas Correa (“The German Girl”)
---C-SPAN: “The Communicators” (SAT 6:30 p.m. ET): FCC Commissioner Michael O’Rielly (R) and FCC Commissioner David Kaut (D) … “Newsmakers” (SUN 10 a.m. ET): Kevin Brady (from Houston), questioned by WSJ’s Richard Rubin and Politico’s Rachael Bade … “Q&A” (SUN 8 p.m. and 11 p.m. ET): Journalist Robert Strauss (“Worst. President. Ever. James Buchanan, the POTUS Rating Game, and the Legacy of the Least of the Lesser Presidents”)
MATT MACKOWIAK is launching “Mack on Politics,” a Washington Times podcast (MackOnPolitics.com). “In the inaugural episode of ‘Mack on Politics,’ host Matt Mackowiak interviews longtime GOP consultant, NBC News political analyst, and former Jeb Bush Super PAC mastermind Mike Murphy. They discussed how Trump improbably punched through the so-called ‘Blue wall’ of Wisconsin, Michigan, and Pennsylvania, how Hillary wasted her national convention, if he had any regrets about strategic decisions made for Jeb’s Super PAC and whether he has any hope for Trump. Then Mackowiak talked to Erick Erickson, former editor-in-chief of RedState.com, radio host for WSB in Atlanta, Fox News contributor, author, and founder of TheResurgent.com about how Trump won, whether the GOP primary was winnable for anyone else, and what Erickson thinks is the state of the conservative movement in the Age of Trump. They also discussed religious liberty and his own foray into conservative talk radio and migration away from Red State to create his own successful conservative site.” http://bit.ly/2huueLU