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Good Thursday morning. It’s going to be cold in D.C. today. Highs are in the upper 20s for today and tomorrow. Woof.
BIG IF TRUE -- “U.S. Officials: Putin Personally Involved in U.S. Election Hack,” by NBC News’ William M. Arkin, Ken Dilanian and Cynthia McFadden: “Two senior officials with direct access to the information say new intelligence shows that Putin personally directed how hacked material from Democrats was leaked and otherwise used. The intelligence came from diplomatic sources and spies working for U.S. allies ... What began as a ‘vendetta’ against Hillary Clinton morphed into an effort to show corruption in American politics and to ‘split off key American allies by creating the image that [other countries] couldn’t depend on the U.S. to be a credible global leader anymore.’” http://nbcnews.to/2gDNaDX
--@maxboot: “Yup Russian intelligence agencies don’t disrupt US politics without a sign-off from the boss. Why is this surprising?”
BREAKING OVERNIGHT -- per AP’s Josh Lederman, 2:05 a.m. ET: “In an unexpected reversal, President Barack Obama declined to sign a renewal of sanctions against Iran but let it become law anyway, in an apparent bid to alleviate Tehran’s concerns that the U.S. is backsliding on the nuclear deal. Although the White House had said that Obama was expected to sign the 10-year-renewal, the midnight deadline came and went Thursday with no approval from the president. White House press secretary Josh Earnest said Obama had decided to let it become law without his signature.” http://apne.ws/2gDpSxV
IT’S SPREADING -- The front page of the Wall Street Journal referred to Trump Tower as “the Tower” http://bit.ly/2gO6t0E
WERE YOU INVITED? -- SPOTTED in a back room at Ocean Prime last night: Speaker Paul Ryan having dinner with CNN’s Jake Tapper, CBS’s Major Garrett, Fox News’ Bret Baier, CBS’s John Dickerson, ABC’s Martha Raddatz and other top journalists.
OVERHEARD ON CAPITOL HILL -- A choir singing “Hallelujah” as House Republicans on the tax-writing Ways and Means Committee discussed tax reform yesterday in the Library of Congress building. Members of the powerful committee are in town discussing their plans for 2017. Today they’ll talk health care. Committee insiders are particularly happy with incoming White House chief of staff Reince Priebus, who on Wednesday seemed to give a nod on Hugh Hewitt’s radio show to the House GOP “border adjustment” plan -- an alternative to steep tariffs.
HOT DOC -- Here is the conservative House Freedom Caucus’s dream list of regulatory rollbacks for President-elect Donald Trump’s first 100 days. http://politi.co/2hwMHYB
SHOCKING -- “Democrats open to replacing Obamacare,” by Burgess Everett and Jennifer Haberkorn: “Senate Democrats will never vote to repeal Obamacare. But once the deed is done, a surprising number of them say they’re open to helping Republicans replace it. ‘If it makes sense, I think there’ll be a lot of Democrats who would be for it,’ said Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.). As Republicans aim to make good on their years-long vow to quash Obamacare and replace it with their own health care vision, they’ll have to do something Democrats were never able to: Bring members of the opposing party on board …
“Interviews with more than a half-dozen Democratic senators spanning the party's ideological spectrum suggest the Republican strategy may not be far-fetched. As harshly partisan as the entire Obamacare experience has been, replacing it could draw bipartisan backing, as long as the changes are more adjustment than overhaul. ‘If they want to change things around the edges, fix some of the things we agree ought to be fixed and call it Trumpcare, that’s OK,’ said Sen. Angus King (I-Maine), who caucuses with the Democrats and is up for reelection in 2018. ‘Let’s get people covered.’” http://politi.co/2hIVIyx
HEADED FOR THE EXITS ON CONNECTICUT AVENUE -- Today is the last day for a number of long-time D.C. Wall Street Journalers who are taking buyouts. Gary Fields, Neil King, Sudeep Reddy (who is coming to POLITICO), Mary Lu Carnevale (an editor and mentor to many WSJ DC interns, including two of us!), Melanie Trottman, Anna Sussman and Autumn Brewington are all leaving today or in the next month. Other WSJers leaving include Laura Landro (after 35 years), Tracy Armstead, Jessica Yu, and Iris Phelps, the D.C. bureau’s office receptionist who organized all of their potlucks. Jon Hilsenrath, WSJ’s star Fed reporter, is taking Neil’s place and will be global economics editor as of early next year, and Becky Bowers is taking Sudeep’s place and will be deputy global economics editor as of tomorrow. The WSJ declined to comment on the number of buyouts employees have taken company-wide.
-- D.C. BUREAU CHIEF JERRY SEIB tells Playbook: “We bid them a very fond farewell at our holiday party Saturday night [at Edgemoor Club in Bethesda], and I offered my own very personal notes of thanks to all of them. I am happy to say on the record that they are, all of them, not just colleagues but friends, and they will be missed.”
-- NEIL KING told us he’s joining Fusion GPS, which does “ deep research for multinationals, law firms and investors.” The firm’s two co-founders are both WSJ alums, Glenn Simpson and Peter Fritsch. His WSJ farewell post on Facebook http://bit.ly/2hwGTyg … Neil dug up old pix of him covering Baghdad in 2003 including a pic showing him enjoying a pre-lunch hookah http://bit.ly/2hzkhdO
HAPPENING THIS MORNING -- We’ll sit down with Attorney General Loretta Lynch for a Playbook Breakfast. We hope to see many of you there, but if you can’t make it, C-SPAN2 is graciously carrying it live. And if you’d like to livestream it through our site, you can do that too. Livestream starts at 8:25 a.m. http://politi.co/2hzhvVZ
FILLING UP VERY FAST -- YOU’RE NOT GOING TO WANT TO MISS Playbook Cocktails with Sean Spicer tomorrow. D.C. is slowing down this week, so join us for an early drink to toast the holidays -- and Jake’s birthday, which is also tomorrow! Doors open at 4 p.m., and the program begins at 4:30 p.m. Sean is in the middle of all decisions being made in Trump Tower, and has been mentioned as a leading candidate to be Trump’s press secretary. We’ll talk to him about what to expect from the next president, and what we should watch out for in 2017. RSVP http://bit.ly/2hq2f0C
HAPPENING TODAY -- President-elect Donald Trump and Vice President-elect Mike Pence are going to Hershey, Pennsylvania, today for a rally at the Giant Center. Trump is also attending a fundraising event, per an invitation sent out by the transition team.
THE RESISTANCE -- NYT A1, “To Combat Trump, Democrats Ready a G.O.P. Tactic: Lawsuits,” by Vivian Yee: “As Democrats steel themselves for the day next month when the White House door will slam on their backs, some of the country’s more liberal state attorneys general have vowed to use their power to check and balance Mr. Trump’s Washington. If the Trump administration withdraws from environmental, antitrust or financial regulations, the attorneys general say they will plug regulatory holes that may gape wide open, deploying state laws like New York’s Martin Act, which allows the state attorney general to pursue wide-ranging investigations on Wall Street. They have pledged to defend undocumented immigrants, and to combat hate crimes that many believe were unleashed by Mr. Trump’s polarizing campaign. And if Mr. Trump’s policies veer toward the unconstitutional, several of the 10 current and incoming Democratic attorneys general interviewed recently said they would apply a remedy favored by Mr. Trump himself: a lawsuit.” http://nyti.ms/2gDOEOF
-- “Center for American Progress focuses on anti-Trump efforts,” by Gabriel Debenedetti: “Looking to build itself into a nerve center for the anti-Donald Trump resistance, the liberal Center for American Progress think tank is relaunching its advocacy-focused arm Thursday and bringing on a longtime senior aide to Sen. Harry Reid to help lead the charge. Adam Jentleson, Reid’s deputy chief of staff, will work to steer the new war room at the Center for American Progress Action Fund, a 501(c)(4) nonprofit, which its leaders hope will provide Democrats with a centralized resource to oppose the president-elect’s moves — starting with his Cabinet nominations.
“The reorientation comes at a difficult inflection point not only for Democrats, but for the constellation of left-leaning organizations that pepper the Washington landscape and that fully expected to be advising Hillary Clinton’s White House transition team at this point. CAP’s move, landing Thursday to mark the 225th anniversary of the signing of the Bill of Rights, is one of the most significant in a series of pushes into a world where Democrats are once again the opposition.” http://politi.co/2hwQsNF
IN TRUMP TOWER -- “Trump, tech industry try to mend fences: Leaders of tech giants like Apple, Facebook and Amazon meet with the president-elect who disparaged their industry,” by Tony Romm in New York, Alex Byers and Nancy Scola. http://politi.co/2gEapOl
--@lizzadwoskin: “The net worth in the room of tech CEOS about to meet w/Trump is more than $136B. And that’s not counting Trump. Pretty astounding.”
FOGGY BOTTOM READ -- NYT A21, “G.O.P. Resistance Builds to John Bolton as State Dept. Deputy,” by Jeremy W. Peters and Maggie Haberman: “Mr. Trump is weighing whether to choose John R. Bolton, a combative and strident advocate for an expansive American foreign policy who was closely aligned with Vice President Dick Cheney in the Bush administration. Mr. Bolton’s nomination as deputy secretary of state would be subject to a vote in the Senate, and it is not clear whether he would survive his confirmation hearing. Senator Bob Corker, Republican of Tennessee, chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, has said privately that he has misgivings ... And Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky, another Republican on the committee, has promised to block the nomination. ... Another impediment is that Mr. Tillerson has expressed misgivings about having Mr. Bolton as his deputy ... But Mr. Bolton remains under consideration for the job. ... Another name that has been mentioned as a possible deputy to Mr. Tillerson ... is Elliott Abrams, a former Bush adviser.” http://nyti.ms/2hnSQ92
FIRST IN PLAYBOOK -- THE RIGHT WAY INITIATIVE is launching a six-figure advocacy campaign in five states aimed at supporting Trump’s agenda. The cable TV ads, direct mail and digital advertising targets Democratic Sen. Claire McCaskill of Missouri, Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia, Sen. Joe Donnelly of Indiana, Sen. Bob Casey of Pennsylvania and Jon Tester of Montana to support Trump’s economic platform and confirm the appointments to his economic team. IT’S IMPORTANT TO NOTE: This is likely just the first outside group to target Senate Democrats on economic issues. In 2018, Democrats are defending 10 seats in states Trump won. The Donnelly ad http://bit.ly/2gDO2IP … Donnelly mailer http://politi.co/2hJ1e44
CLICKER – The Obama family holiday card http://bit.ly/2hwteay ... http://politi.co/2gDOUx5
IN RUSSIA -- "Trump's Men In Moscow: Trump Disciples Suddenly Showing Up In Russia," by NPR's Lucian Kim: "Donald Trump hasn't been inaugurated yet, but members of his campaign entourage are already riding the president-elect's coattails all the way to Moscow. On Monday, Jack Kingston, a former Trump surrogate [and former Georgia Republican congressman], briefed American businesspeople in Russia on what they might expect from the incoming administration." http://n.pr/2gEgYjR
--@JackKingston: “Fearing he couldn’t compete w/ Bernie’s giveaways Santa moved to Moscow. Told me he’s now otw back home. #maga #RNC”. Pic http://bit.ly/2hRgQhL
WASHINGTON INC. -- “The oil and gas industry is quickly amassing power in Trump’s Washington,” by WaPo’s Juliet Eilperin, Steven Mufson and Phil Rucker: “After eight years of being banished and sometimes vilified by the Obama administration, the fossil fuel industry is enjoying a remarkable resurgence as its executives and lobbyists shape President-elect Donald Trump’s policy agenda and staff his administration … ‘It feels like the grizzly bear in “The Revenant” has been suddenly pulled off our chest,’ said Luke Popovich, a spokesman for the National Mining Association. The energy sector is no stranger to political influence. The oil industry once claimed a president as its own: George H.W. Bush, who co-founded and ran Zapata Oil before becoming the nation’s 41st commander in chief. But the industry’s breathtaking power grab during the first month of Trump’s transition is palpably different — and has alarmed environmentalists, who fear the new administration will undo what they see as a decade of progress in combating climate change.” http://wapo.st/2hQUBsv
WORTH THE CLICK -- “Trump’s $6 Billion-Cabinet: Mostly Men, Mostly White and Not Much Government Experience” – Bloomberg: http://bloom.bg/2hQJmQz
HACK ATTACK -- NYT A1, “Yahoo Says 1 Billion User Accounts Were Hacked,” by Vindu Goel and Nicole Perlroth in San Francisco: “Yahoo, already reeling from its September disclosure that 500 million user accounts had been hacked in 2014, disclosed Wednesday that a different attack in 2013 compromised more than 1 billion accounts. The two attacks are the largest known security breaches of one company’s computer network. The newly disclosed 2013 attack involved sensitive user information, including names, telephone numbers, dates of birth, encrypted passwords and unencrypted security questions that could be used to reset a password. Yahoo said it is forcing all of the affected users to change their passwords and it is invalidating unencrypted security questions — steps that it declined to take in September. It is unclear how many Yahoo users were affected by both attacks. The internet company has more than 1 billion active users, but it is not clear how many inactive accounts were hacked.” http://nyti.ms/2gMvWcw
-- “Stolen Yahoo Data Includes Government Employee Information,” by Bloomberg’s Jordan Robertson: “More than 150,000 U.S. government and military employees are among the victims of Yahoo! Inc.’s newly disclosed data breach, and their names, passwords, telephone numbers, security questions, birth dates, and backup e-mail addresses are now in the hands of cybercriminals. It’s a leak that could allow foreign intelligence services to identify employees and hack their personal and work accounts, posing a threat to national security. These employees had given their official government accounts to Yahoo in case they were ever locked out of their e-mail.” http://bloom.bg/2hnYybe
-- BURIED LEDE: The Yahoo press release about the hacking was titled “Important Security Information for Yahoo Users” http://bit.ly/2gMcPPW
CLEANUP ON AISLE FIVE -- “Trump transition says request for names of climate scientists was ‘not authorized,’” by WaPo’s Chris Mooney and Juliet Eilperin: “‘The questionnaire was not authorized or part of our standard protocol,’ Trump’s transition team said in a statement to The Washington Post. ‘The person who sent it has been properly counseled.’ The disavowal marked one of the earliest apparent instances of the Trump transition team changing course and seeming to acknowledge a mistake, although even that is unclear.” http://wapo.st/2gNWdpc
WHAT BRAD AND DALLAS WOODHOUSE ARE READING – NYT A14, “North Carolina G.O.P. Moves to Curb Power of New Democratic Governor,” by Trip Gabriel in Raleigh: “Republicans in the North Carolina legislature on Wednesday took the highly unusual step of moving to strip power from the incoming Democratic governor after a bitter election that extended years of fierce ideological battles in the state. After calling a surprise special session, Republican lawmakers who control the General Assembly introduced measures to end the governor’s control over election boards, to require State Senate approval of the new governor’s cabinet members and to strip his power to appoint University of North Carolina trustees. Republicans also proposed to substantially cut the number of state employees who serve at the governor’s pleasure, giving Civil Service protections to hundreds of managers in state agencies who have executed the priorities of Gov. Pat McCrory, a Republican.” http://nyti.ms/2hHtP9L
RNC WATCH -- “RNC announces McDaniel as Trump’s pick to head RNC,” by Alex Isenstadt: “Michigan GOP Chairwoman Ronna Romney McDaniel is President-elect Donald Trump's choice to succeed incoming chief of staff Reince Priebus as chair of the Republican National Committee, he announced on Wednesday … Trump also announced that Republican strategist Bob Paduchik, who led his campaign in Ohio, was his choice to serve as RNC co-chair.” http://politi.co/2hz1ik3
WHAT ELIZABETH WARREN IS PROBABLY NOT READING -- “The eternal mystique of Goldman Sachs,” by WaPo’s Dan Zak: “Goldman Sachs. The name feels like the bob of a yacht in Biarritz and tastes like the marbling of a Wagyu steak. It sounds like money being moved, invested, tripled, then moved again to avoid taxes and bubbles and crashes. Its headquarters on Lower Manhattan’s West Street smells like wealth, from the handsomely kitted-out coffee station on the 11th floor down to the $5 million, 1,800-square-foot painting commissioned for its lobby. ... The Goldman mystique has been honed over 147 years, since the day a German immigrant named Marcus Goldman left the tailoring business to trade debts, via slips of paper he stacked under his silk top hat. Goldman’s first office was a block from Wall Street, in a basement, by a coal chute.” http://wapo.st/2hwtlD5
-- “It’s official: Marijuana is legal in Massachusetts,” by the Boston Globe’s Joshua Miller: “The Governor’s Council, a Colonial-era body that vets judges and accepts election tabulations, on Wednesday formally certified the results of a ballot question that allows marijuana for recreational use. The initiative passed last month with 1.8 million people voting for the measure, despite the opposition of top politicians, the Catholic Church, doctors and business groups, and an array of other civic leaders. About 1.5 million people voted against it.” http://bit.ly/2hzbnxa
DEPT OF YA CAN’T MAKE IT UP -- “Rep. Duncan Hunter repays campaign with loan brokered by long-ago murderer,” by San Diego Union-Tribune’s Morgan Cook: “Rep. Duncan D. Hunter, R-Alpine, turned to a long-time acquaintance of his father and congressional predecessor, Duncan L. Hunter, to arrange the loan he used to repay his campaign for nearly $49,000 in questionable expenditures. The broker has had a decades-long career after shooting to death a business partner who was having an affair with his wife in the 1970s. Hunter was unaware of that history, and the broker said it was irrelevant to the transaction.” http://bit.ly/2hzqu9A
WALL STREET WATCH -- “Cantor resurfaces, generates buzz about potential comeback,” by WaPo’s Jenna Portnoy: “‘No,’ was Cantor’s one-word answer to whether he is preparing a run for the Senate. But he left the door open for a potential comeback one day. ‘I don’t intend to,’ he added in a phone interview from a business trip to Copenhagen. ‘I’ve learned in life never say never. But I’m not running for the 2018 Senate seat.’” http://wapo.st/2h3FQCD
HAPPENING TODAY -- POLITICO is hosting a “What Works” event to explore key lessons from a year of in-depth What Works investigation with featured speakers: Antoine van Agtmael, Co-Author of “The Smartest Places on Earth: Why Rustbelts are the Emerging Hotspots of Global Innovation”; John Austin, Director, Michigan Economic Center; Cincinnati Mayor John Cranley; Ross Gittell, Chancellor, Community College System of New Hampshire; Former U.S. Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood; Dayton Mayor Nan Whaley. At 8 a.m. at District Architecture Center -- RSVP http://politi.co/2gZ8eFL ... Livestream http://politi.co/2gDJ1Qn
MEDIAWATCH -- “Reince Priebus signals changes ahead for White House press corps,” by Hadas Gold: “Incoming White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus suggested that major changes are coming to the White House press corps. Speaking to radio host Hugh Hewitt, Priebus said ‘many things have to change’ in the White House’s relationship and daily traditions with the media, including the daily briefing with the White House Press Secretary and the seating chart. ‘I think that it’s important that we look at all of those traditions that are great, but quite frankly, as you know, don’t really make news and they’re just sort of mundane, boring episodes,’ Priebus said.” http://politi.co/2gBhnDA
--@juliehdavis: “Still have my Baltimore Sun name plate from my chair in the Bush 43 briefing room. Contra @Reince assigned press seats not created by Obama”
--The New York Times is launching a page this morning that tells readers how they can confidentially send them news tips. The feature will be on the homepage and promoted in future investigations as well. “Do you have the next big story? Want to share it with The New York Times? We offer several ways to get in touch with and provide materials to our journalists. No communication system is completely secure, but these tools can help protect your anonymity.” www.nytimes.com/tips
--“Fox News taps NBC News veteran to lead human resources,” by Alex Weprin: “Fox News has named Kevin Lord its executive VP of human resources, as it continues to rework its executive ranks following the abrupt departure of Roger Ailes earlier this year. ... Lord previously served as the chief human resources executive at TEGNA (formerly Gannett) and before that led human resources at NBC News, as well as at a number of business units at General Electric.” http://politi.co/2hIGeui
-- The Nation’s special issue on Barack Obama is going live this morning – “How Will History Judge Barack Obama?” by Chris Hayes http://bit.ly/2gDSXJv ... “I Miss Our Sane, Calm, Empathetic, Funny, President Already,” by Katha Pollitt http://bit.ly/2hIHD3M … The cover http://politi.co/2hwNTes
HILL PLAYERS -- “Ryan and Trump’s agenda will be spearheaded by speaker’s new top aide,” by WaPo’s Paul Kane: “Jonathan Burks began his career as a congressional staffer in a windowless office buried inside the Rayburn House Office Building. Eighteen years later, he’s risen to become one of the most powerful staffers on Capitol Hill, taking over as a historic chief of staff to House Speaker Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis.) at a critical moment in Washington as President-elect Donald Trump vows to change the way the nation’s capital does business.” http://wapo.st/2hohoi7
SPOTTED: Paul Ryan on yesterday’s 8 a.m. flight from ORD to DCA ... James Carville last night at the restaurant of the Loews Regency in Manhattan. Vice President-elect Mike Pence was dining in the same restaurant. ... Jennifer Palmieri, John Podesta and other Clinton folks at Lost & Found last night. “Everyone seemed in good spirits,” our tipster said ... Wolf Blitzer at Joe’s Stone Crab … At Café Milano on Tuesday to remember philanthropist and financier Joe Robert on the fifth anniversary of his death: Franco Nuschese, UAE Ambassador Yousef Al Otaiba, Raul Fernandez, Sen. Mark Warner, Louis Moreno ... At another table was VF digital editor Michael Hogan, Amb. Pete and Parita Selfridge, Marc Adelman
SUNDAY SO FAR -- NBC’s “Meet the Press”: Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.). Chuck Todd was in the Mountain State yesterday, talking with voters about their expectations for the Trump administration and visiting the Hobet Mine.
--“Fox News Sunday”: Panel: Karl Rove, Neera Tanden, Michael Needham, Juan Williams.
NEW GEORGETOWN FELLOWS -- The Georgetown Institute of Politics and Public Service at the McCourt School of Public Policy has four new fellows for the spring semester: Marlon Marshall, former director of state campaigns and political engagement, Hillary for America; Grover Norquist, President, Americans for Tax Reform; Anna Palmer, Senior Washington correspondent and co-author of Playbook, POLITICO; Jen Psaki, director of communications and senior advisor to the president; and Tony Sayegh, Fox News Contributor; EVP, Jamestown Associates — Trump/Pence 2016 Media Consultants. http://bit.ly/2hGOkDJ
HOLIDAY PARTY CIRCUIT -- SPOTTED last night at the holiday party hosted by the Ambassador of France, Gérard Araud, at his residence: David Petraeus, Maureen Dowd, Carol Lee, Chris Wallace, Laura Ingraham, Andrea Mitchell, Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.), Tracy Bernstein, Francesca Craig, Ben and Ashley Chang, Peter Selfridge and Parita Shah, Alex Wolff, Tony Blinken, Sergey Kislyak, Elise Labott, Indira Lakshmanan, Stephanie Green, Nick Schmit, Lyndon Boozer, Adrienne Arsht, Vint Cerf, Michael Beschloss, Margaret Carlson, Andrew and Leslie Cockburn, Nelson Cunningham, Michigan Rep. Debbie Dingell, Paula Dobriansky, Timothy Lowery and Michael Zingali, Eric Fanning, David Frum, Robert Kimmitt, Tamera Luzzatto, Maureen Scalia, Maria Trabocchi. Pics from the party http://bit.ly/2hwHiRB ... http://bit.ly/2hwMF2Z
SPOTTED at Campaign Solutions’ annual Holiday party at the Hamilton last night: Becki Donatelli, Mike Alm, Whitney Clark, Maggie Paulin, Christian Curto, Garrett Marquis and Ashley Hickey Marquis, James Barnes, and Kenny Cunningham.
SPOTTED at DOJ’s holiday party last night: Jamie Gorelick, Michael Horowitz, Emily Pierce, Ian Gershengorn, Melanie Newman, Neil Eggleston, Matt Miller, Adora Jenkins, of course Merrick Garland, Massimo Calabresi, Paula Reid, Evan Perez, Nina Totenberg, Dan Klaidman, Mike Isikoff, Josh Gerstein, Peter Kadzik, Eric Tucker, Julia Edwards, California Rep. Adam Schiff, Sally Yates.
--Last night the Beer Institute hosted its holiday party at Hill Country Barbecue where guests enjoyed brisket, ribs, a live band and of course great beer. SPOTTED: Jim McGreevy, Clea Benson, Lorraine Woellert, Dick Keil, Doug Bailey, Paul Morse, Tim Scully, Caitlin Oakley.
-- The Senate Press Secretaries Association held its annual holiday party in conjunction with the National Confectioners Association last night at Acqua Al 2. SPOTTED: Amy Harder, Burgess Everett, Igor Bobic, Josh Green, Richard Rubin, Niels Lesniewski, Seung Min Kim, Chris Gindlesperger, Liz Clark, Megan Whittemore, JP Freire, Stephanie Penn, Alex Gangitano, Ryan Taylor, Julia Krieger, Katie Niederee, Matt Haller, Andrew Kovalcin, Ben Jenkins, Brian Kaveney
-- WH PRESS BASEMENT PARTY: Josh Earnest made a late-afternoon appearance to mingle with the press corps. Greg Clugston’s annual presidential politics poem http://politi.co/2gE0yb7 SPOTTED: Mark Smith, Julie Mason, Jared Rizzi, Alexis Simendinger, George Condon, Ellen Ratner, Justin Duckham, Jon Decker, Justin Sink, Jordan Fabian, Cheryl Bolen, Anita Kumar, Lesley Clark, Bob Costantini.
TRANSITIONS -- RICHARD KEIL to Hill+Knowlton Strategies as executive vice president: “Keil most recently served in various roles in the public and government affairs department at the Irving, Texas, headquarters of the ExxonMobil Corporation ... Before joining ExxonMobil, Keil served as a senior communications advisor at Purple Strategies” and spent 20 years at the AP and Bloomberg. http://politi.co/2gMlmCj
-- “Story Partners today announced that Matt Herrick has joined the firm as senior vice president. ... Matt led communications for the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the U.S. Agency for International Development and served across two Presidential administrations.” http://politi.co/2hIGN7w ... Finsbury has hired Jeremy Pelofsky who joins as SVP. He was previously in Ketchum’s corporate and public affairs practice and before that was a veteran journalist at Reuters and Bloomberg. Eric Wachter is also joining as a VP. He previously was at King & Spalding and the associate director of the Anti-Defamation League’s Washington, D.C. regional office. ... West coast consulting firm RALLY has hired Shayna Englin, who previously served as managing director of North America for Change.org.
BIRTHDAY OF THE DAY: Donna Brazile, interim chair of the DNC, celebrating with a few close friends and her Pomeranian, Chip -- one goal for her next year is “Organic gardening and tending to my home garden” -- read her Playbook Plus Q&A: http://politi.co/2hwMDIh
BIRTHDAYS: Meridith Webster … Signal Group’s Lauren French, a Politico alum and the pride of Jupiter, Fla. ... Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.) is 62 … Jeff Le, assistant cabinet secretary in the California governor’s office (h/t Keith Martin) … Matt Paul, former Iowa State Director for Hillary for America ... Fox News’ Griff Jenkins is 46 (h/t Taylor S. Gross) ... Bobby Moran, Politico’s V.P. and general manager ... Politico’s Anna Jager ... Erin Dwyer, senior director of stakeholder engagement at the Center for Audit Quality ... Bill Knapp, managing director at SKDKnickerbocker (h/ts Jon Haber) ... Alison Omens ... Patrick Oakford ... Spike Mendelsohn of Good Stuff, We the Pizza and Béarnaise, is 36 (h/t Cory Combs) ... Emmanuel Chan, White House staff assistant, who celebrated with cookies and McNuggets (h/ts Sophia Kim, J.Lee and J.Phan) ... Ret. Gen. John R. Allen is 63 (h/t Liz Hagan) ... Opportunity Lives’ Israel “Izzy” Ortega (h/t Matt Mackowiak) ... Deborah Koenigsberger ... Steve Duno ...
… Tony Kreindler, senior director of gov’t relations at Environmental Defense Fund, is 47 ... Tyler Maland Black ... Theana Yatron Kastens ... Diane Kepley ... Tara Corrigan, VP and director of the London office at The Messina Group, formerly of the White House and OFA and a recent Duke MBA Grad (h/t Ty Matsdorf) ... Erin Dwyer ... Emily Pierce, SVP at Vrge and a Roll Call and DOJ alum ... Rita Lenane, an attorney at Wigdor LLP, a plaintiff side employment firm ... Sarah Sullivan ... Abby Matousek ... Jimmy LaSalvia is 46 ... David Adler, CEO of BizBash ... Julie Winkelman, account executive at TMP Worldwide ... Mark Siedlecki ... Schuyler Softy, senior associate at PwC ... Mark Patterson, partner and firmwide co-chair of the Public and Strategic Affairs Group at Perkins Coie and a Treasury alum ... Andy Polesovsky is 31 ... Treasury alum Jan Eberly, professor of finance at Kellogg School of Management ... Pawlenty alum Brian Haley, now partner at CBTX Capital, is 35 … Jim Dornan … New Hampshire maven Karen Hick ... Tim Dickson ... Heather Booth ... Carson Pfingston ... Maggie Brickerman ... Laura Nevitt ... Tanya Bjork ... Tzinia Chellet Balkin ... Karen Hicks (h/ts Teresa Vilmain)