Good Saturday morning. Six days until President Donald Trump.
A NOTE TO TRUMP TOWER -- REP. JOHN LEWIS (D-GA.) told NBC’s Chuck Todd that he didn’t believe Donald Trump is a legitimate president. It’s the kind of criticism that we hadn’t heard from many high-level Democrats, so it’s significant. Earlier this month he said he wouldn’t attend the inaugural. Most Republicans would probably advise Trump to let this fight go. There are some people in Washington who command respect from both sides of the aisle. Lewis is one of those people. He’s a civil rights icon who has spent nights in jail fighting for equality. He has spent 30 years serving in the House. Republicans and Democrats flock to be associated with him. In other words, if you hit back at Lewis, you won’t get a ton of backup from Republicans -- at least the ones who matter. That doesn’t mean he is immune to criticism. It just means you won’t get a lot of support if you go there.
-- HERE’S HOW SOME REPUBLICANS HANDLED IT: Sen. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) in Trump Tower after meeting with Donald Trump: “I think it’s interesting that people that were so concerned before Mr. Trump won about whether the election results would be accepted no longer are nearly as interested in that. But John Lewis is a great man, he’s a friend of mine. He has to make his own decisions. The idea of constantly looking for ways to delegitimize the results of an election no matter how unhappy you are about it isn’t the best example we set. The best example we set is understanding that there’s a Democratic process that you go through, there is a unique process in our country where states still matter, and Mr. Trump won that election handily.” Sen. Ben Sasse (R-Neb.) on Twitter (@BenSasse): “To John Lewis, one of my heroes: Please come to the Inauguration. It isn’t about a man. It is a celebration of peaceful transfer of power.”
-- HOW DONALD TRUMP HANDLED IT: @realDonaldTrump at 7:50 a.m.: “Congressman John Lewis should spend more time on fixing and helping his district, which is in horrible shape and falling apart (not to......mention crime infested) rather than falsely complaining about the election results. All talk, talk, talk - no action or results. Sad!”
WELL … Say what you want about Lewis, but “all talk, talk, talk -- no action or results” isn’t the way most people would describe a guy who bled and was jailed in the struggle for civil rights. Also, his district isn’t really falling apart. He has represented the tony Buckhead section of Atlanta for years -- he now splits it with another lawmaker -- and he represents Emory University and some of the city’s most rapidly gentrifying neighborhoods.
FOR PEOTUS -- JOHN BRESNAHAN has a list of Democrats skipping the inauguration: Democratic Reps. Barbara Lee (Calif.), Lewis, Katherine Clark (Mass.), Lacy Clay (Mo.), Raul Grijalva (Ariz.), Luis Gutierrez (Ill.), Jose Serrano (N.Y.), Nydia Velazquez (N.Y.), Kurt Schrader (Ore.), Earl Blumenauer (Ore.) and Jared Huffman (Calif.).NOTE: Most of these people represent super-liberal urban areas like Chicago, the Bronx, the East Bay in California. Not much political pressure for these folks to show up to witness the transfer of power.
FWIW -- TRUMP will be in Washington at least part of the day Monday, which is Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, per a pool report.
TRANSFER OF POWER ALERT -- The Obama White House and incoming Trump administration had a “transition exercise yesterday.” “The exercise provided a high-level perspective on a series of challenges that the next administration may face and introduced the key authorities, policies, capabilities, and structures that are currently in place to respond to major domestic incidents.” List of participants http://politi.co/2jIXNHq
TRUMP TALKS -- “Trump Open to Shift on Russia Sanctions, ‘One China’ Policy: President-elect signals he would use any available leverage to realign U.S. relationship with its two biggest rivals,” by WSJ’s Peter Nicholas, Paul Beckett and Jerry Seib: “President-elect Donald Trump suggested he would be open to lifting sanctions on Russia and wasn’t committed to a longstanding agreement with China over Taiwan -- two signs that he would use any available leverage to realign the U.S.’s relationship with its two biggest global strategic rivals. In an hourlong interview, Mr. Trump said that, ‘at least for a period of time,’ he would keep intact sanctions against Russia imposed by the Obama administration in late December in response to Moscow’s alleged cyberattacks to influence November’s election. But he suggested he might do away with those penalties if Russia proved helpful in battling terrorists and reaching other goals important to the U.S. ‘If you get along and if Russia is really helping us, why would anybody have sanctions if somebody’s doing some really great things?’ he said. He also said he wouldn’t commit to America’s agreement with China that Taiwan wasn’t to be recognized diplomatically, a policy known as ‘One China,’ until he saw what he considered progress from Beijing in its currency and trade practices.” http://on.wsj.com/2jJ0Lfi
BATTLE FOR THE FUTURE OF THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY -- FIRST IN PLAYBOOK -- PETE BUTTIGIEG, the mayor of South Bend, Indiana, who is mounting a campaign for chairman of the Democratic National Committee, released a comprehensive platform, which is going to members of the DNC this morning. (The party is gathered in Phoenix for the “DNC Future Forum.”) Buttigieg is promising to visit all states and territories in his first year as chairman. Also, nodding to some of the uproar in 2016, he is vowing “fairness and neutrality.” He says he’ll create an “independent presidential primary debate commission,” because Democrats “can’t afford another debate over debates, or anything else that threatens confidence in the fairness and neutrality of the Presidential primary debate process.” The platform http://bit.ly/2jinCl7
-- Fox News analyst [Jehmu Greene] jumps into DNC chair race,” by Daniel Strauss: http://politi.co/2ir695E
SCOOP ... SESSIONS’ DEMOCRAT PROBLEM -- “Red-state Democrats turn against Sessions for AG,” by Seung Min Kim: “Red-state Senate Democrats, under political pressure to back Jeff Sessions for attorney general, are rebelling against his nomination to be the nation’s top law enforcement official by citing his opposition to a 2013 domestic violence law that overwhelmingly passed Congress four years ago. Sessions’ issues with the law, the Violence Against Women Act, may be an insurmountable hurdle for a trio of moderate Democratic senators – Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakota, Claire McCaskill of Missouri and Jon Tester of Montana – whom pro-Sessions forces have targeted so one of Donald Trump’s most high-profile Cabinet picks can head to the Justice Department with some bipartisan cover.” http://politi.co/2jjnMs9
DEPT. OF CONGRESSIONAL RELATIONS -- “How Cruz and Trump learned to like each other,” by Eliana Johnson: “Ted Cruz met with Donald Trump exactly one week after Election Day. As it turned out, Cruz’s tete-a-tete with the president-elect he had spurned from the stage of the Republican National Convention just months before wasn’t the most consequential meeting he would have that day. After his talk with Trump, the Texas senator and his chief of staff, David Polyansky, then sat down with his chief strategist, Stephen Bannon, who sounded him out about his interest in filling the Supreme Court vacancy created by the late Antonin Scalia. Cruz — widely considered one of the best Supreme Court litigators of his generation — swatted down the idea, according to four people to whom he has relayed the conversation.
“Handing Cruz a lifetime appointment to the high court would have been a political masterstroke. It would have simultaneously eliminated Trump’s chief adversary within the Republican Party and elated conservatives. That may not happen, but the conversations Cruz had that day with Trump and several of his aides touched off a congenial and cooperative relationship between the onetime rivals. Though Cruz may have been one of Trump’s most vocal critics during the campaign, as Inauguration Day nears, he has become perhaps the president-elect’s most important — and most unexpected — ally in the Senate.” http://politi.co/2jPTn5O
EYEBROW-RAISER -- “Trump adviser had five calls with Russian envoy on day of sanctions: sources,” by Reuters’ Jonathan Landay and Arshad Mohammed: “Michael Flynn, President-elect Donald Trump’s choice for national security adviser, held five phone calls with Russia's ambassador to Washington on the day the United States retaliated for Moscow's interference in the U.S. presidential election ... The calls occurred between the time the Russian embassy was told about U.S. sanctions and the announcement by Russian President Vladimir Putin that he had decided against reprisals ... The calls raised fresh questions among some U.S. officials about contacts between Trump’s advisers and Russian officials.” http://reut.rs/2jaZDlo
--“Intelligence Committee will investigate possible Russia-Trump links: The Senate panel could use subpoenas to secure testimony from Obama officials and the Trump team,” by Elana Schor: “Senate Intelligence Chairman Richard Burr (R-N.C.) said late Friday that his committee will investigate possible contacts between Donald Trump’s campaign and Russia, reversing himself one day after telling reporters that the issue would be outside of his panel’s ongoing probe into Moscow’s election-disruption efforts.” http://politi.co/2jPMZeH
DATA DU JOUR -- “Trump’s Cabinet So Far Is More White and Male Than Any First Cabinet Since Reagan’s,” by NYT’s Jasmine C. Lee: “If Mr. Trump’s nominees are confirmed, women and nonwhites will hold five of 21 cabinet or cabinet-level positions. ... Those five members will also be in some of the lowest-ranking positions. None of them are in the so-called inner cabinet, the four positions in place since George Washington’s presidency: the attorney general and the secretaries of state, Treasury and defense (formerly called the secretary of war).” http://nyti.ms/2jaZuP5
OBAMA to LESTER HOLT -- “My spirit is unchanged”: http://nbcnews.to/2jjqQEA
JOSH KUSHNER PROFILE – “Brother of Jared Kushner Is Thrust Into the Spotlight,” by NYT’s Katie Benner: “While the brothers are known by friends and colleagues as ambitious workaholics with ties to power brokers on both coasts, in many ways their paths have diverged. Jared Kushner has emerged as an increasingly public figure since becoming the face of the family’s real estate firm, Kushner Companies, and buying the publisher Observer Media. ... But Joshua Kushner has maintained a lower profile. While he has dated the model Karlie Kloss for four years, he is rarely seen out with her. He does not party or drink. Unlike most venture capitalists, Mr. Kushner also does not blog, and he posts to Twitter infrequently. ... At Harvard, Mr. Kushner roomed with Alexander Blankfein, the son of the chief executive of Goldman Sachs, Lloyd Blankfein.” http://nyti.ms/2inMjNe
LEON PANETTA was interviewed by David Westin on Bloomberg Technology: “We have never had a situation where a president-elect tweets out questions about the integrity of this kind of intelligence information. That’s unheard of and very frankly I think it’s damaging to the credibility of that information, it’s damaging to the morale of the people who do that work in the intelligence agencies and I think it invites our enemies to take advantage of it. I hope that he can move away from that and try and deal with whatever concerns he has in the confines of the Oval Office.” http://bloom.bg/2jieEnO
INAUGURATION WEEK unofficially kicked off last night with a party honoring Sean Spicer at the American Trucking Association. SPOTTED: California Rep. Darrell Issa, Frank Coleman, Juleanna Glover, Kristen Fedewa, Sue Hensley, Rebecca Spicer, Vanessa Morrone, Mike Ambrosini, Kevin Cirilli, Katherine Faulders, Jeff Solsby, Major Garrett, Craig Gordon, David Jackson, Ron and Sara Bonjean, Craig Purser, Kate Bennett, Hunter Schwartz, Benny Johnson, Sam Feist, Jeff Mason, Will Kinzel, Dena Battle, Dana Harris, Emily Miller, Shannon Flaherty McGahn, Brian Walsh and Zeke Miller.
SPEAKING OF INAUGURATION -- “Democrats plot their D.C. departures for Trump inauguration,” by Daniel Lippman: “Many prominent Democrats and Republicans who opposed Donald Trump are fleeing Washington for the inauguration, heading far from the capital to plot anti-Trump strategy or simply avoid the pain of witnessing inauguration celebrations … [DNC interim chair] Donna Brazile ... is spending Martin Luther King Jr. Day with students of St. Anselm College in Manchester, New Hampshire, before jetting off to Paris for a conference. … Robert Raben ... is heading to the Sundance film festival in Park City, Utah. ... Doug Thornell is heading to his favorite city of New Orleans to celebrate the 40th birthday party of some close friends. ... Adrienne Elrod, the Clinton campaign’s former director of strategic communications ... said some of her campaign friends are going to places like Europe or the beach to avoid seeing Trump get inaugurated.” With cameos by Neera Tanden, Stephanie Cutter, Hilary Rosen, Ron Klain, Jack Quinn, Katie Packer, Tony Fratto: http://politi.co/2jihUzQ
GREAT READ -- ANNIE KARNI on “The Man Who Became Donald Trump”: “The code name for the operation was ‘Royal Water,’ English for the Latin-named ‘Aqua Regia’ acid, which is powerful enough to dissolve gold. That was how the small group of Hillary Clinton aides clued in to the top-secret identity of the man who played Donald Trump in debate preparations referred to him and his small team. And for Philippe Reines—the colorful and famously combative longtime Clinton confidant who stepped into the role of Trump opposite his old boss in tense and testing mock sessions—it was the name of the project that drove him deep into Trump’s mind for three of the most bizarre months of his life.” http://politi.co/2irghv7
THE INAUGURATION – “Donald Trump Declines to Issue Inaugural License Plates. Sad!” by WSJ’s Reid J. Epstein: “On Jan. 20, Mr. Trump will become America’s first president since Herbert Hoover to decline to produce special license plates for the vehicles in his inauguration parade, a change that has unnerved collectors who have spent decades trying to acquire a complete set. The 45th president is instead expected to travel from the Capitol to the White House in an armored Cadillac limousine with the same District of Columbia plates in use now.” With a Ryan Williams cameo http://on.wsj.com/2inP1lY
OBAMACARE WATCH -- “Republicans move to spend billions on Obamacare — before they kill it,” by Jen Haberkorn: “On their way to killing Obamacare, Republicans are leaning toward funding up to $9 billion in health care subsidies this year to keep the program afloat -- even though they sued the Obama administration to stop those exact payments. The move is the most significant sign yet that the GOP is serious about propping up Obamacare temporarily to provide a smooth transition to a yet-to-be disclosed Republican replacement. The irony is deep: Republicans have never voluntarily funded an Obamacare program. This particular subsidy, which covers out-of-pocket health care costs for low-income participants, has been a GOP target since 2014 when House Republicans went to court to argue the White House funded it unconstitutionally. Republicans were exultant last May when the D.C. District Court ruled in their favor, even though the payments were allowed to continue pending an appeal.” http://politi.co/2ivYJkQ
FIRST LOOK -- “Ramping up efforts to mobilize opposition to Donald Trump’s nominees, NextGen Climate today launched a new ad campaign that highlights EPA administrator nominee Scott Pruitt’s extremely close ties to the oil industry and history of attacking clean air laws as attorney general of Oklahoma. The ad [is called] ‘Polluter Protection Agency.’” The ad https://youtu.be/TEwVVW46zzk
--The Progressive Change Campaign Committee on Friday rolled out 30 Wisconsin Democratic political leaders who endorse Rep. Keith Ellison for DNC Chair. Audio of announcement http://bit.ly/2jIznxR
ROBERT DRAPER on the cover of tomorrow’s N.Y. Times Travel section, “Where I Live: Washington, D.C.: Finding refuge from Washington’s quotidian intrigues -- and how to get close to the political spectacle”: “The wealthy New Yorker, who earned a grand total of 4.1 percent of the District of Columbia electorate’s vote, has proclaimed that he will ‘drain the swamp.’ Washington has heard this pledge before: by House minority leader Nancy Pelosi in 2006, by President Ronald Reagan in 1982, and in the early 19th century by developers whose failed efforts to literally empty out the marshes of the new capital city would compel Lincoln and other presidents to spend their summers and autumns in the less boggy climes of the Soldiers’ Home. Suffice it to say that draining at no time eventuated. ... Indeed, by early accounts, Washington is poised to become even swampier under the new regime. ‘I’m already picking up tons of new clients,’ a lobbyist friend recently told me, his eyes alight at the prospect of unprecedented deal-cutting.” http://nyti.ms/2jiiD3Q
WEST COAST WATCH -- “California’s bullet train is hurtling toward a multibillion-dollar overrun, a confidential federal report warns,” by LA Times’ Ralph Vartabedian: “California’s bullet train could cost taxpayers 50% more than estimated — as much as $3.6 billion more. And that’s just for the first 118 miles through the Central Valley, which was supposed to be the easiest part of the route between Los Angeles and San Francisco. A confidential Federal Railroad Administration risk analysis, obtained by The Times, projects that building bridges, viaducts, trenches and track from Merced to Shafter, just north of Bakersfield, could cost $9.5 billion to $10 billion, compared with the original budget of $6.4 billion.” http://lat.ms/2jPKHMD
HILL FIGHT OF THE WEEK -- “Capitol officials rule Ferguson painting will be removed,” by Kyle Cheney: “The architect of the U.S. Capitol has determined that a controversial painting hung by a Missouri congressman [Rep. Lacy Clay] violates standards adopted by House officials and will be removed on Tuesday. The decision is likely to inflame a tense dynamic that has pitted members of the Congressional Black Caucus against GOP lawmakers, who have been clamoring to remove the painting by a high school student from the district that includes Ferguson, which highlighted the racial tension that erupted between police and citizens after the death of Michael Brown.” http://politi.co/2jPThLx
-- @brespolitico: “The controversy over this painting is quite possibly the dumbest issue ever. Seriously, can’t believe adults have bothered with this”
VALLEY TALK – NICK BILTON in Vanity Fair, “Will Mark Zuckerberg Be Our Next President?”: “Increasingly, a number of influential people in Silicon Valley seem to think that Mark Zuckerberg will likely run for president of the United States one day. And some people, including myself, believe that he could indeed win. ‘He wants to be emperor’ is a phrase that has become common among people who have known him over the years.” http://bit.ly/2jjepZm
MEDIAWATCH -- “Fox News’ Martha MacCallum Rises to ‘First 100 Days’ Challenge in Primetime,” by Variety’s Cynthia Littleton: “MacCallum ... wants it to be a vehicle for holding Trump and his administration accountable for the promises he made to voters during the bruising campaign against Democratic rival Hillary Clinton. Fox News, like other news organizations, is under pressure to show that it will demonstrate its journalistic independence in covering Trump and his new administration as it seeks to up-end the status quo.” http://bit.ly/2iT6CPb
-- “CNN poaches Hunter Schwarz and Kate Bennett from Independent Journal Review,” by Kelsey Sutton: “[T]hey will launch a new newsletter and work as reporters for CNN Politics’ White House team.” http://politi.co/2jrt3vf
-- TV TOMORROW – For the 9 p.m. ET show on Sunday, “President Obama sat for two lengthy interviews with the History Channel, and producers interviewed dozens of current and former staff, Hill leaders, opponents and journalists for this 2-hour special on the President’s legacy. John Legend provides the narration for the documentary. In addition to the president, Valerie Jarrett, COS Denis McDonough, former AG Eric Holder, VP Biden, SecState Kerry, Ben Rhodes, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, former House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, LA Times’ Christi Parsons, The Atlantic's Jeffrey Goldberg, former DPC Director Melody Barnes, Obama confidants Marty Nesbitt and Michael Strautmanis and many more open up. ‘The 44th President In His Own Words’ was executive produced by former Obama aides Joshua and Michelle DuBois along with Texas Crew Productions and Russ McCarroll for History. They’ve also created a new 9-part oral history on the Obama Years from the interviews.” http://bit.ly/2ji8rby
VIDEO DU JOUR -- “President Obama delivered his final weekly address thanking the American people for making him a better President and a better man.” 4-min. Video http://bit.ly/2jJ0A3g
CLICKERS -- “The nation’s cartoonists on the week in politics,”edited by Matt Wuerker -- 10 keepers http://politi.co/2jsE3sq
--DELAWARE GOV. JACK MARKELL’s farewell video http://bit.ly/2irp1kN
GREAT WEEKEND READS, curated by Daniel Lippman:
--“Lunch with the FT: Roger Stone”: “What’s it like to be Donald Trump’s streetfighter? On a hectic summer’s day in Manhattan, over ‘the best devilled eggs in the world’, Edward Luce finds out.” http://bit.ly/2iQX7zQ
--“The Lost Footage of Marilyn Monroe,” by Helene Stapinskijian in the NYT: “That film image of Ms. Monroe’s skirt rising high in a gust of air? It’s a reshoot of a discarded and more risqué scene seldom seen until now.” http://nyti.ms/2ilHKDj
--“Killing Animals at the Zoo,” by Ian Parker in The New Yorker: “At Danish zoos, surplus animals are euthanized—and dissected before the public.” http://bit.ly/2ioYSmY
--“How ‘Sherlock of the library’ cracked the case of Shakespeare’s identity,” by Robert McCrum in The Guardian: Wolfe “delivers the coup de grace to the wild-eyed army of conspiracy theorists who contest the authenticity, even the existence, of the playwright known to contemporaries as Master Will Shakespeare”. http://bit.ly/2jgUsTf (h/t TheBrowser.com)
--“Considering the Novel in the Age of Obama,” by Christian Lorentzen in Vulture: per ALDaily.com’s description: “What literary categories define the Obama age? Christian Lorentzen unpacks autofiction, the new meritocracy novel, the retro novel, and the trauma novel.” http://bit.ly/2jNycRL
--“The Mysterious Disappearance of Keith Davis,” by Sarah Tory in Hakai Magazine: “The unsettling disappearance of a fisheries observer sparks questions about safety on the high seas and the fate of the fish stocks observers attempt to monitor.” http://bit.ly/2iQX5YT
--“She loved him, and he died in the Holocaust. Now her son is bringing his music back to life,” by Malcolm Gay in Boston Globe: “A tale of young love drove a son on an eye-opening journey. And in the process, a musical legacy that was all but lost has been found, and a life revealed.” http://bit.ly/2jNokHI (h/t Longreads.com)
--“Syria and the Left,” by Yusef Khalil and Yasser Munif in Jacobin Magazine: “Behind the humanitarian disaster of the Syrian civil war is a political crisis the Left urgently needs to understand.” http://bit.ly/2itrONI
--“Murder on Union Hill Road,” by Kathleen Hale in Hazlitt Magazine: “In April 2016, eight family members were slain in their homes in Ohio. Nine months later, the killer or killers are still on the loose, and the town has all but forgotten the crimes.” http://bit.ly/2jFEyPf (h/t Longform.org)
--“The Mysterious Death of a Muslim Marine Recruit,” by Alex French in Esquire: “Raheel Siddiqui was a young Muslim who dreamed of becoming a Marine. At twenty, he started basic training at Parris Island, where barking drill sergeants transform callow recruits into elite killing machines. Less than two weeks after he arrived, Siddiqui suffered a mysterious and fatal fall. The Marine Corps says he committed suicide, but some think more sinister forces led to his death.” http://bit.ly/2ilxydX
--“A.J. Daulerio Is Ready to Tell His (Whole) Gawker Story,” by Maximillian Potter in Esquire: “Not all that long ago, as the editor in chief of Gawker.com, Daulerio was among the most influential and feared figures in media. Now the forty-two-year-old is unemployed, his bank has frozen his life savings of $1,500, and a $1,200-per-month one-bedroom is all he can afford.” http://bit.ly/2ilFnQV
--“The Crimes of SEAL Team 6,” by Matthew Cole in The Intercept: “[H]idden behind the heroic narratives is a darker, more troubling story of ‘revenge ops,’ unjustified killings, mutilations, and other atrocities — a pattern of criminal violence that emerged soon after the Afghan war began and was tolerated and covered up by the command’s leadership.” http://bit.ly/2jh01kD
--“The Tumultuous Life and Lonely Death of Marion Barry’s Only Son,” by Harry Jaffe in Washingtonian: “He had access to the highest heights of Washington society. It wasn’t enough.” http://bit.ly/2j94R1f
--“Living in Andy Cohen’s America,” by Taffy Brodesser-Akner in tomorrow’s N.Y. Times Magazine: “No one understands our new era of reality-TV populism better than the man who turned ‘The Real Housewives’ into an empire.” http://nyti.ms/2iQPpG1
PRESIDENT’S (FINAL) WEEK AHEAD -- “On Monday, the President will welcome the Chicago Cubs to the White House to honor the team and their 2016 World Series victory. Later in the afternoon, the President will participate in a service project for Martin Luther King Jr. Day. On Tuesday, the President will attend meetings at the White House. On Wednesday, the President will hold his final press conference. On Thursday, the President will attend meetings at the White House.
“On Friday morning, the President and First Lady will welcome President-elect Trump and Melania Trump to the White House for tea. The President and First lady will then attend the Inauguration of President-elect Trump at the U.S. Capitol. They will then proceed to Joint Base Andrews via helicopter where the President will deliver remarks to a group of staff gathered there to bid farewell, before departing JBA on their last flight aboard the presidential aircraft.”
SPOTTED: Callista and Newt Gingrich for a late night cocktail at the St. Regis’ King Cole Bar in NYC ... Chris Matthews leaving Le Diplomate on 14th Street Friday night. ... Susan Rice at Mission last night celebrating several of her former aides leaving admin. … Sen. Cory Booker on this morning’s 9 a.m. New York-bound Acela (He’s a quiet car kind of guy).
SPOTTED at a book party hosted by Robert Draper and Kirsten Powers for “Reclaiming Hope: Lessons Learned in the Obama White House About the Future of Faith in America,” by Robert Wear: Jon Ward, Eugene Scott, Julia Ioffe, Isaac Dovere, David Brooks, Anne Snyder, Stephanie Summers, Michael Cromartie, Andrew Sullivan, Kathy Wills Wright, Julie Rodgers, Amanda Hite, Ryan Nobles, Rev. Diana Butler Bass, Tommy Hinson and Laura Waters Hinson, Elizabeth Dias, Melinda Henneberger, John Cotton Richmond, David Patterson, Webster Younce and Melissa Wear. $19.21 on Amazon http://amzn.to/2iTaY8F
OBAMA ADMINISTRATION DEPARTURE LOUNGE – Jon Romano emails friends and colleagues: “[Friday was] my last day at the U.S. Department of Transportation. ... Starting next week, I will be joining Rhode Island Governor Gina Raimondo as [s]enior [adviser]. And Jenn will be working with the Swearer Center for Public Service at Brown University to launch a new semester in DC program that will inspire, educate, and train the next generation of leaders.”
TRANSITIONS – Friday was Rachael Dean’s last day in Sen. McCain’s office and Julie Tarallo is assuming the role of communications director. ... John Martin has been promoted from senior advisor to legislative director for Sen. Tom Cotton. ... Trevor Foughty next week is starting a new job as the director of government relations and communications for Indiana University; he served as campaign manager for Sen. Todd Young (R-Ind.).
BIRTHWEEK (was Wednesday): The Washington Institute’s Gina Vailes
BIRTHDAYS: Susan Glasser (hat tip: Theo) ... Maureen Dowd ... Shepard Smith is 52 ... CBS stalwart Bill Plante … LCV President Gene Karpinski is 65 … Eric Alterman is 57 … Doug Michelman ... Erin Haber celebrating at The Wizarding World of Harry Potter (h/t Alix, Bonnie) ... Toby Harnden of The Sunday Times of London and a Telegraph alum, who studied modern history at Oxford, is 51 ... Brennan Moss … Rep. Michael McCaul (R-Tex.) is 55 ... Frank Raines, former chairman and CEO of Fannie Mae, is 68 … Jack Torry, DC bureau chief for Columbus Dispatch … Michael Block, a White House and CFPB alum … NPR alum Andrea Seabrook, DC bureau chief of Marketplace and founder of DecodeDC … Margaret Chadbourn ... WaPo’s Molly Gannon … Politico alum Marcella Bombardieri, now senior policy analyst at CAP ... David Vyorst … Alexandra Shapiro, a DNC, McAuliffe and DCCC alum ... Mary Kusler, senior director for NEA’s Center for Advocacy (h/t Sean Johnson) ... Ian Chung of T. Rowe Price ... Nina Totenberg, award-winning legal affairs correspondent for NPR since 1975, focusing primarily on the Supreme Court, is 73 ... Michael L. Tuchin, AIPAC board member, founding member and co-managing partner of LA-based law firm Klee, Tuchin, Bogdanoff & Stern LLP, is 52 (h/ts Jewish Insider) ...
… Ben Koltun, senior analyst at Hamilton Place Strategies ... Christina Daigneault, founder and CEO at Orchard Strategies ... NPR senior editor Jen Liberto ... William Harrison Johnson, director of political and public affairs at Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries … Teddy Eynon, partner at Fox Rothschild ... former N.C. Gov. Bev Perdue is 7-0 ... Duncan Currie … Andy Gussert … Megan Milligan … Ruby Macklem … Mary Jane Cobb (h/ts Teresa Vilmain) … Ellen Wulfhorst, chief correspondent of the Americas at the Thomson Reuters Foundation … Colin Milligan ... Jack Herzog, son of John and Laura … John Ellsworth, Gold Star Father and chairman of Military Families United ... Regina Schofield, a Bush 43 DOJ alum now director of corporate engagement and education outreach at Battelle ... Google alum Jeffrey Webb, now an MBA student at Berkeley Haas ... Patty Link … Charlotte Hudek … Laura Pena … Marc Schloss … David Green … Faye Dunaway is 76 ... movie writer-director Steven Soderbergh is 54 ... LL Cool J is 49 (h/ts AP)
THE SHOWS, by @MattMackowiak, filing from Austin:
--NBC’s “Meet the Press”: Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) … incoming W.H. C.O.S. Reince Priebus … Georgia Rep. John Lewis (taped). Panel: Helene Cooper, Jeffrey Goldberg, Rich Lowry and Danielle Pletka.
--ABC’s “This Week”: Reince Priebus … Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) … Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah). Ethics panel: CREW chair and Norman Eisen and CREW vice chair Richard Painter. Political panel: Cornell Belcher, Sara Fagen, Jonathan Karl, Bill Kristol and Katrina vanden Heuvel.
--“Fox News Sunday”: VP-elect Mike Pence … John Brennan. Panel: Jerry Seib, Lisa Boothe, Jane Harman and Bob Woodward … “Power Player of the Week” with Presidential Inauguration Committee chairman Tom Barrack.
--CBS’s “Face the Nation”: Mike Pence … Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) … Newt Gingrich … David Ignatius. Panel: Ben Domenech, Ruth Marcus, John Heilemann and Ed O’Keefe.
--Fox News’ “Sunday Morning Futures” (10 a.m.): Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) … John Ashcroft … Rudy Giuliani … Jason Chaffetz. Panel: Ed Rollins, Mary Kissel and Hank Sheinkopf.
--Fox News’ “MediaBuzz” (SUN 11 a.m.): Sean Spicer … Erin McPike … Kelly Riddell … Juan Williams … Trish Regan … Sharyl Atkisson … Martha MacCallum.
--CNN’s “Inside Politics” with John King (SUN 8 a.m.): Panel: Julie Pace, Mary Katharine Ham and Lisa Lerer.
--CNN’s “State of the Union” (9 a.m.): Denis McDonough … Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.). Panel: Nina Turner, Rick Santorum, Marc Morial and Sarah Isgur Flores.
--CNN’s “Reliable Sources”: (SUN 11 a.m. ET): Ben Smith. Panel: Jeffrey Goldberg, Margaret Sullivan and Mollie Hemingway … David Zurawik.
--Univision’s “Al Punto” (SUN 10 a.m. ET / 10 a.m. PT): Panel: Jose Fuentes and Alfonso Aguilar … Puerto Rico Resident Commissioner Jenniffer González … Kevin de Léon … Dick Durbin … Zoe Saldana … Martin Scorsese.
---C-SPAN: “The Communicators” (SAT 6:30 p.m. ET): Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) and Suzan Delbene, questioned by Politico’s Ashley Gold … “Newsmakers” (SUN 10 a.m. ET): Rep. Steny Hoyer (D-Md.), questioned by The Washington Post’s Kelsey Snell and AP’s Erica Werner … “Q&A” (SUN 8 p.m. and 11 p.m. ET): Committee for a Responsible Budget president Maya MacGuineas
--Washington Times’ “Mack on Politics” weekly politics podcast with Matt Mackowiak (download on iTunes or listen at MackOnPolitics.com): Garry Kasparov … John Schindler.