Listen to Playbook in 90 Seconds http://bit.ly/2jr9uFW … Subscribe on iTunes http://apple.co/2eX6Eay … Visit the online home of Playbook http://politi.co/2f51Jnf
Good Monday morning. Happy Martin Luther King Jr. Day, and welcome to Inauguration Week. Four days until President Donald J. Trump. NBC News' Bradd Jaffy said on Twitter this morning that, as of 8 a.m. ET, there are fewer than 100 hours until Trump takes office. The president elect is expected to meet with Martin Luther King III in New York later today. Eric Trump, Stephen Miller and ABC's Deborah Roberts -- with a camera crew -- have all entered Trump Tower this morning, per pooler Maggie Haberman of the NYT.
A NEW STANDARD -- DONALD TRUMP gave a few interviews in the last couple days. But the most noteworthy for our community is what he said to our pal Bob Costa of the Washington Post. His declaration to Costa that the Republican plan to replace Obamacare will provide “insurance for everybody” is sending shockwaves through elected Republican officials in D.C. Republicans had judiciously stayed away from such promises, knowing that it would be nearly impossible to insure as many people as Obamacare did. The catchphrase has been “universal access” to health insurance. Sean Spicer, Trump’s incoming White House press secretary, walked some of this back closer to congressional GOP orthodoxy this morning, but Trump saying he wants to insure everyone shows just how difficult a position D.C. Republicans are in. Privately, Republicans are fretting about being seen as indifferent to uninsured Americans. Have no doubt: Trump’s comment will be used against the GOP if they fall short of “insurance for everybody.” And, in a slight surprise to the leadership on Capitol Hill, Trump says the plan is almost formulated!
-- “Trump vows ‘insurance for everybody’ in Obamacare replacement plan,” by Bob Costa and Amy Goldstein: “‘We’re going to have insurance for everybody,’ Trump said. ‘There was a philosophy in some circles that if you can’t pay for it, you don’t get it. That’s not going to happen with us.’ People covered under the law ‘can expect to have great health care. It will be in a much simplified form. Much less expensive and much better.’ … Trump warned Republicans that if the party splinters or slows his agenda, he is ready to use the power of the presidency — and Twitter — to usher his legislation to passage. ‘The Congress can’t get cold feet because the people will not let that happen,’ Trump said during the interview with The Post.” http://wapo.st/2jWehAl
-- LET’S BE CLEAR: If Trump released a health plan today, it’s still a while before it comes to the floor of the House and Senate. Any plan would have to go through committees in the House, which can take a while. We don’t expect anything to pass Congress for another month or two at the earliest. Trump World understands this privately.
TRUMP TALKS TO THE TIMES OF LONDON -- “Donald Trump: I’ll do a deal with Britain -- Exclusive first UK interview -- ‘We should be ready to trust Putin’ -- Europeans could face US travel curbs,” by Michael Gove and Oliver Wright: “He will agree a nuclear weapons reduction deal with President Putin of Russia in return for lifting US sanctions. He was highly critical of Russia’s intervention in Syria, however, describing it as ‘a very bad thing’ that had led to a ‘terrible humanitarian situation’. ... Orders will be signed next Monday to strengthen America’s borders, which could include travel restrictions on Europeans coming to the US as well as ‘extreme vetting’ for those entering America from parts of the world known for Islamist terrorism. … He believes that Angela Merkel made a ‘catastrophic mistake’ when she let more than 1 million migrants in to Germany, adding that the EU had become ‘a vehicle for Germany’. ... He will start off by trusting Mrs Merkel and Mr Putin, but that might not last long.” http://bit.ly/2itgjaG
AND HE CHATS WITH BILD… “Trump Slams NATO, Floats Russia Nuke Deal in European Interview,” by Bloomberg’s Rainer Buergin and Toluse Olorunnipa: “Repeating a criticism of NATO he made during his campaign, Trump said that while trans-Atlantic military alliance is important, it ‘has problems.’ ‘It’s obsolete, first because it was designed many, many years ago,’ Trump said in the Bild version of the interview. ‘Secondly, countries aren’t paying what they should’ and NATO ‘didn’t deal with terrorism.’” http://bloom.bg/2itx31x
JEFF MASON, the president of the White House Correspondents Association, met with incoming W.H. Press Secretary Sean Spicer for nearly two hours Sunday. WHAT THEY DISCUSSED, per Jeff: “Increasing participation in the White House briefings … That has sparked his team to consider moving daily briefings out of the White House’s James S. Brady Briefing Room to a larger facility on the White House complex. ... I made clear that the WHCA would view it as unacceptable if the incoming administration sought to move White House reporters out of the press work space behind the press briefing room. Access in the West Wing to senior administration officials, including the press secretary, is critical to transparency and to journalists’ ability to do their jobs.”
-- @maggieNYT: “The WH briefing room issue is a classic Trump maneuver - float an extreme and bargain back from there.”
--@CBSThisMorning: “‘Will the press still be allowed to have offices in the West Wing?’ -- @NorahODonnell ‘Yeah.’ -- @seanspicer” http://bit.ly/2iyi5md
DATA DU JOUR -- Per Twitter: Saturday “was @RepJohnLewis’ biggest day of follower growth on Twitter ever - 60k new followers. His second biggest was last June when he led the sit-in for gun control. In the last 48hrs alone, there have been 1.5M Tweets mentioning the congressman. Those Tweets peaked on Saturday morning at 3,000 tweets sent in one minute. #GoodTrouble has been one of the most popular hashtags among those Tweets.”
-- "World’s 8 Richest Have as Much Wealth as Bottom Half of Global Population," by NYT's Gerry Mulany: "The report, based on Forbes’s annual list of billionaires, was prepared for release with this week’s gathering of world leaders and business elites at Davos, Switzerland. It follows up on a similar study conducted a year ago that found that the world’s richest 62 people had as much wealth as the bottom half of the population. Oxfam said it revised the findings based on new data gathered by Credit Suisse." The eight: Bill Gates, Amancio Ortega Gaona (founder of Inditex, which owns Zara), Warren Buffett, Carlos Slim, Jeff Bezos, Mark Zuckerberg, Larry Ellison and Mike Bloomberg. http://nyti.ms/2j0nVgV
FUTURE OF THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY -- “Democrats sweat Clinton vs. Sanders rift,” by Gabe Debenedetti: “The Hillary Clinton vs. Bernie Sanders rift is bubbling up in gubernatorial primaries. It’s pulsing through the race for [DNC] chairman, and shaping state party leadership contests from Hawaii to Maine. Long after the Democratic presidential nomination was settled, the bruising 2016 primary fight continues to divide the party, hindering Democrats’ ability to unite and prompting national party leaders to tiptoe around the issue in the hopes of avoiding an outbreak of Sanders-Clinton proxy wars.” http://politi.co/2jnUY2f
-- Former DNC Chairs Don Fowler, Terry McAuliffe and Ed Rendell have all thrown their support behind Adam Parkhomenko (of “Ready for Hillary” fame) for vice chair. http://bit.ly/2jg8odT
FIRST IN PLAYBOOK -- Khizr Khan, the Muslim Gold Star father who helped rally Democrats against Trump at the Democratic National Convention, is joining People for the American Way and PFAW Foundation’s board. http://bit.ly/2jnTJ37
-- LAUREN FRENCH, a former POLITICO and Signal Group alumna, will join House Democratic Caucus Chairman Joe Crowley’s team as communications director and spokesperson. Crowley’s longtime communications director, Courtney Gidner, recently assumed a new senior role as director for strategic communications for the caucus.
WHAT KALORAMA IS READING – “There goes the neighborhood: Obamas, Ivanka Trump, Jeff Bezos moving in,” by WaPo’s Paul Schwartzman on A1: “A majestic mix of mansions, townhouses, apartment buildings and embassies northwest of Dupont Circle, Kalorama is like any other neighborhood, residents insist — albeit one that requires a minimum of several million dollars to buy into. Or if you have $20,000 a month available for rent, that’ll work, too. The neighborhood includes next to no places to buy a cup of coffee, not to mention eggs or a quart of milk, though the bare essentials can be acquired at the 7-Eleven on Wyoming Avenue NW, a bit less than a mile from the Obamas’ place. ... Before Obama, Woodrow Wilson was the only president to move to Kalorama immediately after leaving the White House. At varying points, William Howard Taft, Warren G. Harding, Franklin D. Roosevelt and Herbert Hoover also resided in the neighborhood.” http://wapo.st/2jWaGSz
MEGATRENDS – “Global report sees rise in inequality in U.S.,” by David Cohen: “Economic inequality is increasing across the globe, including in the United States, according to a report by the World Economic Forum. The Inclusive Growth and Development Report 2017, released early Monday in Europe in anticipation of this week’s meeting of the World Economic Forum, also said median per capita income fell by 2.4 percent among people in the world’s richest nations and that growth in those nations slowed to a crawl. ... According to the report, the United States ranked 29th out of 30 in net income inequality, 29th in wealth inequality and 28th in poverty rate. The U.S. did, however, rank No. 4 in median income.” http://politi.co/2iZYf40 ... Release http://politi.co/2jPT0UX ... The report http://politi.co/2itnfEI
SUBSCRIBE to Davos Playbook! POLITICO Europe’s Florian Elder and Ryan Heath give you the scoop from the global forum. http://politi.co/2j0iYol ... Sign up http://politi.co/2iy4WcL
FUN N.Y. POST cover, “Woodward vs. Bernstein: Watergate journos clash over Trump dossier” http://nyp.st/2iCRQOP
TRUMP’S CABINET -- BETSY DEVOS PROFILE – “How Betsy DeVos Used God and Amway to Take Over Michigan Politics: With her nomination as education secretary, a powerful political clan will bring its overtly Christian agenda to Washington,” by Zack Stanton (a Michigan State grad) in Politico Magazine: “[T]he DeVos family, with Dick and Betsy at the helm, has emerged as a political force without comparison in Michigan. Their politics are profoundly Christian and conservative—‘God, America, Free Enterprise,’ to borrow the subtitle of family patriarch Richard DeVos’ 1975 book, ‘Believe!’—and their vast resources (the family’s cumulative net worth is estimated at well over $5 billion) assure that they can steamroll their way to victory on issues ranging from education reform to workers’ rights.” http://politi.co/2jAZzeA ... $9.99 on Amazon http://amzn.to/2itHty6
WASHINGTON, INC. – NYT A12, “Corporations Open the Cash Spigot for Trump’s Inauguration,” by Nick Fandos: “In exchange [for donations], Mr. Trump’s most prolific donors will gain access to what amounts to a parallel inauguration week, carefully planned and largely out of public sight, during which they can mingle with members of the incoming administration over intimate meals and witness Mr. Trump’s ascension from the front rows. ... The festivities will begin Tuesday evening with a black-tie ‘Chairman’s Global Dinner’ for Mr. Trump’s cabinet picks, congressional leaders, foreign diplomats and a few top donors. On Wednesday, events include a lunchtime reception hosted by Reince Priebus, the incoming White House chief of staff, and a dinner honoring Vice President-elect Mike Pence ... Thursday will feature another ‘leadership luncheon,’ a public concert at the Lincoln Memorial featuring artists like Toby Keith and 3 Doors Down, and a candlelight dinner with Mr. Trump and his family for about 1,500 in the great hall of Union Station.” http://nyti.ms/2ixHlss
OBAMA ON ‘60 MINUTES’ -- “Obama warns Trump must improve relations with intel community,” by Sarah Wheaton: “While Obama and his staff have generally refused to disclose many details of Obama’s private discussions with Trump during the transition, Obama did make one piece of advice public. ‘The one thing I’ve said to him directly, and I would advise my Republican friends in Congress and supporters around the country, is just make sure that, as we go forward, certain norms, certain institutional traditions, don’t get eroded, because there’s a reason they’re in place.’” http://politi.co/2j06gWS … The full interview http://cbsn.ws/2jgh6cm
-- @realdonaldtrump yesterday starting at 7:16 p.m.: “.@FoxNews ‘Outgoing CIA Chief, John Brennan, blasts Pres-Elect Trump on Russia threat. Does not fully understand.’ Oh really, couldn’t do… much worse - just look at Syria (red line), Crimea, Ukraine and the build-up of Russian nukes. Not good! Was this the leaker of Fake News?”
READER IN CHIEF -- “Obama’s Secret to Surviving the White House Years: Books”: NYT’s book critic Michiko Kakutani interviews the outgoing POTUS on his reading habits: “The writings of Lincoln, the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., Gandhi and Nelson Mandela, Mr. Obama found, were ‘particularly helpful’ when ‘what you wanted was a sense of solidarity,’ adding ‘during very difficult moments, this job can be very isolating.’ ... He had lunch last week with five novelists he admires — Dave Eggers, Mr. Whitehead, Zadie Smith, Mr. Díaz and Barbara Kingsolver. He not only talked with them about the political and media landscape, but also talked shop, asking how their book tours were going and remarking that he likes to write first drafts, long hand, on yellow legal pads.” http://nyti.ms/2j03kcD
FOR YOUR RADAR -- “Arrest warrant sought for head of Samsung Electronics in South Korean political scandal,” by LA Times’ Matt Stiles in Seoul: “South Korean prosecutors on Monday sought a warrant for the arrest of the Samsung Group’s de facto leader — one of the nation’s wealthiest and most-powerful executives — in a bribery case related to last month’s impeachment of the country’s president. Investigators allege that Lee Jae-yong, vice chairman of Samsung Electronics Co., improperly directed company funds to a confidant of the impeached president, Park Geun-hye — perhaps in an effort to solidify his dynastic control over the tech giant, which is South Korea’s largest company.” http://lat.ms/2jBeUvP
WHAT DEMOCRATS ARE SHARING – “This Local News Segment Shows The Obamacare Danger Ahead For Republicans” – HuffPost: “Congressman Mike Coffman, a Republican who represents [a] swing district [in Colorado], planned a small event at a library to meet with constituents. He expected just a handful of people, but 150 individuals showed up. Most of them ... were present to plead with him not to go forward with an Obamacare repeal without a suitable replacement in place.” http://huff.to/2ixIFM3
GOTHAM WATCH -- NYT A1, “Yellow Cab, Long a Fixture of City Life, Is for Many a Thing of the Past,” by Winnie Hu: “[Y]ellow cabs — which now number just 13,587 — have lost significant ground to a growing fleet of black cars summoned by ride-hailing apps ... Today, more than 60,000 black cars are for hire in the city. More than 46,000 are connected with Uber, though they may also work for other services too. And the competition is fierce.” http://nyti.ms/2it3w8m
MEDIAWATCH -- BEN SMITH interviewed by BRIAN STELTER for CNN’s “Reliable Sources” about that Trump dossier: http://bit.ly/2iCOUBE
BUZZFEED LAUNCHES ‘TRUMP WORLD’ – It is “an ambitious effort to map all the connections in the vast network of the Trump administration’s many business and other connections. ... We spent two months combing through public records, news reports, and other sources to compile a list of more than 1,500 people and organizations connected to President-elect Trump, his cabinet, and top advisors.” http://bzfd.it/2iZH9DH
JACK SHAFER on how “Trump Is Making Journalism Great Again”: “Donald Trump and his forthcoming presidency may be the greatest gift to Washington journalism since the invention of the expense account. His unorthodox approach to politics and governance has vaporized the standard, useful, yet boring script for reporting on a new administration’s doings.” http://politi.co/2ituP2b
TRUMP’S AMERICA – per Yahoo: In the weeks leading up to the inauguration, national correspondent Holly Bailey visited towns and cities across the country, speaking to voters who had supported Trump in the election. “It was a two-week, nearly 5,000-mile winding odyssey deep into the heart of Trump’s America, starting in the Rust Belt town of Erie, Pa., and ending in Bakersfield, Calif., one of the last Republican areas in a state that has gone deeply blue.” https://yhoo.it/2jmsrKs
COVERING THE COVERAGE – “Bloomberg’s special Inauguration coverage begins [tonight] at 9 p.m. ET with the first of four one-hour ‘With All Due Respect’ specials hosted by Mark Halperin and John Heilemann that will explore different elements of the new administration’s priorities. ... On Inauguration Day, Halperin and Heilemann will anchor live coverage of the day’s events from 11 a.m.-1 p.m. ET available on Bloomberg TV, Bloomberg.Com and live-streamed on the Bloomberg Politics YouTube page, and will host an encore episode of ‘With All Due Respect’ LIVE at 5 p.m. ET on Bloomberg TV.”
FUTURE OF MEDIA -- “Michael Lynton Exiting Sony to Serve as Snapchat Chairman,” by the Hollywood Reporter’s Kim Masters: “Michael Lynton is stepping down from his position as CEO of Sony Entertainment, the film, television and music conglomerate, to serve full-time as chairman of the board of social media power Snapchat. The move, announced Friday in an email by Lynton to Sony staff, will happen in six months. It is unclear who will replace him. Sony Pictures chief Tom Rothman remains in place, according to Sony. Lynton, 57, had been at Sony for 13 years, initially brought in when Amy Pascal was head of the film studio. He has been steadily promoted as the studio achieved success with the Spider-Man and James Bond franchises, TV hits such as Breaking Bad and The Blacklist and music moves such as purchasing Michael Jackson's half of the Sony/ATV catalog.” http://bit.ly/2ixW2fd
DESSERT -- The teaser trailer for “The Wizard of Lies,” the new HBO movie about Bernie Madoff, is out. It stars Robert DeNiro and Michelle Pfeiffer. http://bit.ly/2jPNamf
SPOTTED: Hillary Clinton taking in the last day of the Broadway show “Humans” Sunday afternoon. She received two standing ovations — one when she sat down and another when she left the theater … Sean Spicer at Sunday evening Mass at St. Peter’s on Capitol Hill.
TRANSITIONS – David All, a former speechwriter for the late Sen. George Voinovich and comm director for former Rep. Jack Kingston, is launching a new communication agency, OneNineNinety, based in Columbus, Ohio. http://OneNineNinety.com
WEEKEND WEDDING – “Derika Jaffe, Philip Rosenthal” – Times: “The bride, 32, will be taking her husband’s name. She works in Manhattan, overseeing business-renewal operations at Salesforce.com, a San Francisco-based software management services company. She graduated from the University at Buffalo. ... The groom, 50, is the co-founder and president of Fastcase, an online legal research company in Washington. He was the 2016 Republican candidate in New York’s 10th Congressional District, which includes the West Side of Manhattan and much of Brooklyn.” With pic http://nyti.ms/2iZMt9P
WELCOME TO THE WORLD -- Natalie Buchanan, director of member services for Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, and Sean Joyce, COS for Rep. Patrick McHenry (R-N.C.), have welcomed Genevieve Covington Joyce. “We are totally in love with our little angel ... Baby is healthy, mom is recovering just great, and and is a real life superwoman.” Instapic “from when her new favorite Uncle Kevin [McCarthy] came to visit last weekend”! http://bit.ly/2iCUjZl
BIRTHDAY OF THE DAY: Frank Maisano, of Bracewell, a GWU professor, big hockey fan and the pride of Center Line, Mich., celebrating in Pottstown, PA, umpiring an indoor field hockey tournament with his daughter Hannah – read his Playbook Plus Q&A: http://politi.co/2jgcpiN
BIRTHWEEK (was yesterday): Hawaii Gov. David Ige turned 6-0 ... the great Robin Goldman, formerly of the Debate Commission now back at Haddad Media (h/t Tammy, who was on time)
BIRTHDAYS: Scott Goodstein, founder and CEO of Revolution Messaging ... Reagan Brown ... Clay Dumas, chief of staff at the WH Office of Digital Strategy ... Maria Hatzikonstantinou, VP at CRC Public Relations and huge Giants fan … Dan Hill, president of Hill Impact ... Cassie Menn, partner/GM/SVP of the Houston office for FleishmanHillard and a DC ex-pat ... Andrew Mountain, a Bush 43 WH alum ... Kelly Allen, a Peter Welch alum now a senior consultant at Booz Allen Hamilton ... Greg Polk, senior director of global gov’t affairs at TE Connectivity, is 41 ... Rep. Diane Black (R-Tenn.) is 66 ... Maureen McGrath, deputy director of No Labels (h/t Dennis Craig) ... OMB alum Sally Ericsson, now a resource conservation and climate consultant ... Doug Haynes, LC for Rep. Norcross and the pride of Cleveland, OH, is 31 (h/t Malcolm Richards) ... Vincent Frillici, principal at Frillici Strategies, celebrating with Chris (h/t Jon Haber) ... Bruce Collins, C-SPAN corporate VP and general counsel ... Rob Goodman, a former Hoyer speechwriter now a Ph.D. candidate in Political Theory at Columbia, is 33 ... Luke Knittig, LMI’s VP of corp. comms and former NATO spokesman ...
… Matthew Herrick, SVP at Story Partners and a USDA alum, is 4-0 -- read his Q&A with Modern Farmer magazine http://bit.ly/2itzv8k ... Anne Fauvre, now with Apple and an Albright Stonebridge alum … Sirin “Teddy” Bulakul, MBA candidate at MIT’s Sloan School of Management ... Stephen Szypulski, associate for financial crime compliance at Goldman Sachs who formerly worked in NJ politics (h/t Anjani Nadadur) ... Alicia Preston, the pride of N.H ... Yun Kim ... Jerry Gray, Politico’s director of IT operations ... Paolo Liebl von Schirach ... Jackie Huelbig ... Chita Rivera … Linda Semans ... Tim Robillard … Elaine Baxter … Craig Underwood ... Eric Dick ... Sam Pritchard (h/ts Teresa Vilmain) … Dana Mishoe Black ... Debbie Berger Fox ... Mitch Dworkin is 5-0 ... author-editor Norman Podhoretz is 87 ... talk show host Dr. Laura Schlessinger is 7-0 ... Kate Moss is 43 ... NFL QB Joe Flacco is 32 (h/ts AP)