WELL, YESTERDAY didn’t go too badly. President Donald Trump went to the African-American History museum, where he disavowed racism and spoke out against a new wave of anti-Semitism. He didn’t tweet his thoughts until 6:23 p.m., when he said the “so-called angry crowds” at town halls around the country were “planned out by liberal activists.” There were no massive blowups to speak of. Sean Spicer seemed spry during his press briefing, too.
CAN THE STREAK CONTINUE TODAY? We’ll see. At some point this week, the president will release his revised travel ban, which will suck up much of the oxygen in town. But today, Trump gets his daily intelligence briefing, has a lunch, where he will speak about the federal budget and then has a meeting about his spending blueprint with staff. Remember: Trump says he’ll have a budget soon. Like, in a few weeks. At 4 p.m., he’ll hold a legislative affairs session, where he’ll discuss tax reform, a health care overhaul and his Supreme Court strategy. Seems easy, right? VP MIKE PENCE is in St. Louis, where he’ll visit an equipment and engine dealer to discuss the economy.
BULLETIN -- HOWARD DEAN, the former Vermont governor and DNC chairman, endorsed SOUTH BEND MAYOR PETE BUTTIGIEG for DNC chairman. He announced the endorsement on "Morning Joe."
**SUBSCRIBE to Playbook: http://politi.co/1M75UbX
NEW ON THE WASHINGTON POST HOMEPAGE -- “Democracy dies in darkness.” BOB WOODWARD also said the phrase on “Face the Nation” Feb. 19. http://cbsn.ws/2lEWSMj
THE NEW WHITE HOUSE -- NYT A1 -- “3 Generals Bound by Iraq Will Guide Trump on Security,” by Peter Baker and Eric Schmitt: “At one point or another, they each strode the sands of Iraq, fighting on the unforgiving battlefield of America’s costliest war since Vietnam. Now all three will sit around the table in the White House Situation Room, steering a new president through the treacherous crosscurrents of a stormy world.
“President Trump’s appointment of H. R. McMaster, an Army lieutenant general, as his new national security adviser creates a powerful troika of senior officers who served in Iraq, teaming him up with Defense Secretary Jim Mattis and John F. Kelly, the secretary of homeland security, both retired four-star Marine generals. This administration is the first to have all three security jobs filled by senior military veterans at the same time. The ascension of the three generals to political jobs at the National Security Council reflects the rise of a generation of military leaders that came of age during the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq that began after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. Each officer saw up close what a losing war looked like and took away lessons about how to avoid repeating fatal mistakes. Each got to where he is today in part by bucking the military hierarchy.” http://nyti.ms/2luf8G4
-- “Cabinet picks clash with White House over hiring,” by Josh Dawsey and Andrew Restuccia: “The White House’s deep involvement in hiring decisions across the government is frustrating some of President Donald Trump’s Cabinet secretaries, spurring early tussles between the president’s advisers and leaders of federal agencies. White House officials have sometimes rejected candidates who have previously criticized the president — even if they boast sterling credentials or have the endorsement of top Republicans. And they’ve often imposed their choices on agencies, according to more than a dozen people inside and close to the administration. Many Cabinet nominees joined the administration believing they’d have wide latitude to pick lieutenants, but they’re beginning to realize Trump’s powerful advisers are looking over their shoulders. The White House’s approach has already slowed hiring — and the dozens of vacancies at key agencies could make it more difficult to implement some of Trump’s policy proposals.” http://politi.co/2l6OG4I
NEW POLITICO/MORNING CONSULT POLL -- “Poll: Support for Obamacare is rising,” by Steven Shepard: “The 2010 healthcare law is becoming more popular, even as it heads toward the chopping block -- further complicating efforts by President Donald Trump and congressional Republicans to repeal and replace it. While both Trump and Republicans in both chambers of Congress campaigned on repealing the Affordable Care Act -- passed exclusively with Democratic votes and signed by then-President Barack Obama — a new POLITICO/Morning Consult poll shows voters are now split evenly on the law. Forty-five percent of registered voters approve of the law, the poll shows, and 45 percent disapprove. In early January, before Trump took office, a POLITICO/Morning Consult poll showed only 41 percent of voters approved of the health care law, compared with 52 percent who disapproved. And now there’s little consensus on what Congress and the Trump administration should do next. Only 12 percent want to keep the law in place, while 24 percent want to repeal it entirely. But there’s a sharp divide between the 27 percent who want to repeal parts of the law, but not all of it — and the 26 percent who want to expand the existing law.” http://politi.co/2kLs6SI
ON THE HOMEFRONT -- “GOP lessons from the latest round of brutal town halls,” by Kyle Cheney in Blackstone, Virginia: “An overflow crowd here was eager to take on Rep. Dave Brat, the conservative Republican who just weeks earlier needled liberal protesters in his district and groused about all the women ‘in my grill’ over GOP plans to repeal and replace Obamacare. But with a plain-spoken approach -- and a format that didn’t revolve around live-fire questions from the combative crowd -- Brat offered his colleagues a potential blueprint for defusing tense constituent town halls that have bedeviled his Republican colleagues as they’ve been swarmed by protesters.” http://politi.co/2kYrhS8 ... The Richmond Times Dispatch's coverage http://bit.ly/2lL2OUE
--@KilloughCNN: “Here’s a good example of the rowdiness/frustration at Rep. Dave Brat’s town hall tonight. He took over 30 Qs, got lots of pushback.” 75 second video http://bit.ly/2lEYiqt … Killough’s story http://cnn.it/2mlkrXA
IN CALIFORNIA -- "Many Republicans duck protesters, but Tom McClintock keeps asking for more," by POLITICO's David Siders in Mariposa, California. http://politi.co/2l7pmvh
-- NYT had Trip Gabriel in Fairview, Tennessee, Tom Kaplan in Iowa Falls and Garner, Iowa, Lizette Alvarez in Clermont, Florida, and Emmarie Huetteman from Denham Springs, Louisiana. Their headline: “At Town Halls, Doses of Fury and a Bottle of Tums.” They have video, too. http://nyti.ms/2m7bo0z
TRUMP’S REACTION -- @realDonaldTrump at 6:23 p.m.: “The so-called angry crowds in home districts of some Republicans are actually, in numerous cases, planned out by liberal activists. Sad!”
--Andrew Lawrence (@ndrew_lawrence): “Fox News runs segment at 6:15 about protestors organizing against Trump ... Trump tweets at 6:23” http://bit.ly/2mbc81y
-- NOTE: Yes, some of these protests might be more astroturf than grassroots. And there’s not a clear parallel to 2009. But in 2009, Democrats dismissed the protests too. Anger and discontent tends to spiral. So Republicans should be wary -- but even moreso, they should be prepared. We’ve seen some well-prepared lawmakers -- Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), Rep. Justin Amash (R-Mich.), Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) and others. The secret to getting through a town hall unscathed -- let the protesters and upset constituents talk. It’s much better than trying to cut them off in the middle of them laying out their public frustrations.
-- THE REALITY ON THE GROUND: It’s not just town halls -- constituents and out of state callers are bombarding many Republican congressional offices with thousands of calls. One GOP House office has increased its number of staffers and interns handling inbound calls from two to 10 people in the last month, the Republican member’s chief of staff told Playbook. He said it’s been “30 days of being bombarded” by “whatever is happening in the news cycle like Steve Bannon, Trump and tax returns, Trump did this, Trump did this.”
THE POLITICO/MORNING CONSULT POLL shows that 56% of people want their members of Congress to hold in-person town halls. 20% say tele town hall suffices.... 34% said Trump's long news conference last week was excellent or good, 29% said it was poor. ... 51% say members of Congress spend too little time meeting with constituents ...
SECRETARY OF STATE REX TILLERSON and HOMELAND SECURITY SECRETARY JOHN KELLY go to Mexico City today. FROM STATE: The pair will meet with “President of Mexico Enrique Pena Nieto and the Mexican ministers of Interior, Foreign Relations, Finance, National Defense, and Navy. The group will discuss border security, law enforcement cooperation, and trade, among other issues.”
-- FIVE THINGS TO WATCH via the LA Times’ Mexico City correspondent Kate Linthicum: “The economy … The reaction in Mexico … Immigration … Does Tillerson soothe nerves? … How does Mexico fight back?” http://lat.ms/2kLec34
TRAVEL BAN FALLOUT -- “Hospitals pressured to reject foreign students because of Trump policy,” by the Boston Globe’s Michael Levenson: “Hospitals are under intense pressure to reject qualified international medical students applying for residencies in the United States because of fears that President Trump’s immigration policies may bar the students from entering the country, educators and hospital administrators say. As many as 1,000 medical school graduates may be unfairly penalized because of their country of origin, medical school officials say. Massachusetts could be hit particularly hard because the state is home to some of the world’s leading teaching hospitals as well as smaller community hospitals that typically depend on a large pool of foreign medical talent.
“The concern over Trump’s policies -- particularly his restriction on travel from seven majority Muslim countries -- has added an unusual amount of anxiety to the upcoming ‘Match Day,’’ when medical students learn which hospital has accepted them to a residency program. ‘We don’t know how programs are going to react, and it’s part of why everybody is very stressed and very on edge right now,’ said Kelly Thibert, president of the American Medical Student Association.” http://bit.ly/2l76BYK
THE TYPE OF HEADLINES THAT SPOOK REPUBLICANS -- ARIZONA REPUBLIC: “CRACKDOWN LOOMS” http://bit.ly/2ml0obY … USA TODAY: “U.S. COULD DEPORT MILLIONS OF PEOPLE” http://bit.ly/2m7e1zi
-- THE BUZZ: Republicans are really worried that the government could begin deporting people for low-level crimes, which could begin to look like mass deportation whether the White House wants to call it that or not.
THE CONCERN ON THE RIGHT -- “Yiannopoulos flap casts pall over CPAC,” by Eliana Johnson: “The episode encapsulated the debate that’s roiled the Republican Party over the past year, as Donald Trump and his army of nationalist-populist followers eviscerated a field of more traditional Republicans. The controversy is casting a pall over CPAC’s kickoff on Thursday, throwing the identity crisis that wracked the conservative movement during the presidential campaign into stark relief once again.” http://politi.co/2lnyoXw
--"Why Is Facebook Helping Fund CPAC?" by The Daily Beast's Betsy Woodruff: "Facebook’s contribution is worth more than $120,000, according to our sources. Half of that is cash, and the other half is in-kind support for CPAC’s operations." http://thebea.st/2kZdKtf
BETO O’ROURKE PROFILE – “Beto O’Rourke is a Mexico-loving liberal in Texas. Can he really beat Ted Cruz?” by WaPo’s Ben Terris in El Paso: “Beto O’Rourke has long believed that the closer you get to the Mexican border, the less you fear it. So on a recent afternoon, the Democratic congressman who may challenge Ted Cruz for his U.S. Senate seat walked into Juarez for lunch. The mere name of this Mexican city conjures images of bloodthirsty cartels or seedy red-light districts — the kind of place, some have argued, against which the United States should seal itself with a big, beautiful wall. O’Rourke is strongly opposed to that plan. Among other things, it would make it harder to visit the bar he took his wife to on their first date. ... Democrats might look at O’Rourke -- a small-business owner with hipster credentials, a Gen Xer who speaks fluent Spanish and looks more like a Kennedy than the Kennedys do -- and see a candidate of thrilling national potential.” http://wapo.st/2kL0lKp
THE JUICE …
-- DEPT. OF LOST AND FOUND: Sometimes, the wheels of justice turn slowly. Really slowly. Ted Stevens, the late former Alaska Republican senator, was convicted in 2008 on federal corruption charges and lost his reelection bid that November, only to see his conviction vacated the following year when Justice Department prosecutors admitted withholding information from Stevens’ defense team. In April 2009, a federal judge ordered DOJ to hold onto all the evidence that it had from “Polar Pen,” the codename for its probe into Alaska lawmakers. Stevens died in a plane crash in Aug. 2010.
Now, more than six years after Stevens’ death, the Justice Dept. is finally ready to return some of the 631 items in the case, including letters between Stevens and Bill Allen, an oil-industry executive and Stevens’ pal who turned into the star government witness against him. There’s also material from Ben Stevens – the senator’s son – and Rep. Don Young (R-Alaska). Both men were caught up in the criminal probe but never indicted. There is some less interesting evidence, like manuals for the boiler and generator in Stevens’ house, which FBI agents seized during a July 2007 raid. The FBI seized $9,500 in $100 bills, as well. (h/t John Bresnahan)
-- FIRST IN PLAYBOOK: Jeff Butler is the new chief of staff in Chief Deputy Whip Patrick McHenry’s (R-N.C.) personal office. Butler has climbed the ladder on McHenry’s team, starting as an intern in 2010.
-- WE HEAR… Speaker Paul Ryan was in Dallas and Houston Tuesday before flying late at night to McAllen, Texas, ahead of his visit to the border wall.
-- PENNY PRITZKER is joining the board of trustees of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.
-- JOE SCARBOROUGH on CBS’s “Late Show with Stephen Colbert.” Video http://bit.ly/2kKYp4A … http://bit.ly/2kYyOAh
IMMIGRATION WATCH -- “Trump administration issues new immigration enforcement policies, says goal is not ‘mass deportations’,” by WaPo’s David Nakamura: “The Trump administration on Tuesday sought to allay growing fears among immigrant communities over wide-ranging new directives to ramp up enforcement against illegal immigrants, insisting the measures are not intended to produce ‘mass deportations.’ Federal officials cautioned that many of the changes detailed in a pair of memos from Homeland Security Secretary John F. Kelly will take time to implement because of costs and logistical challenges and that border patrol agents and immigration officers will use their expanded powers with care and discretion. Yet the official public rollout of Kelly’s directives, first disclosed in media reports over the weekend, was met with outrage from immigrant rights advocates over concerns the new policies will result in widespread abuses as authorities attempt to fulfill President Trump’s goals of tightening border control.” http://wapo.st/2lugykh
MORE ON MCMASTER -- “The Insurgent in the White House: In picking H.R. McMaster as his national security adviser, President Trump hired a maverick military intellectual who won’t put up with any nonsense,” by James Kitfield in Politico Magazine: http://politi.co/2l7cLID
--“McMaster’s takeaways: Don’t lie, don’t blame the media, don’t rely on an inner circle,” by Bryan Bender: http://politi.co/2m70yri
BUSINESS BURST -- “Fed Minutes Could Offer Hints on Timing of Rate Rises,” by WSJ’s David Harrison: “The Federal Reserve left interest rates unchanged at its Jan. 31-Feb. 1 meeting, issuing a statement that skirted any signals about the timing of future rate increases, the central bank’s plans for its portfolio of assets or its take on the Trump administration’s fiscal policies. Minutes from that meeting, set for release at 2 p.m. EST Wednesday, could offer details of any internal discussions of these issues and others.” http://on.wsj.com/2lujixL
FOR YOUR RADAR -- “Police: Suspects in N. Korean death coated hands with poison,” by AP’s Eileen Ng in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia: “The two women suspected of fatally poisoning a scion of North Korea’s ruling family were trained to coat their hands with toxic chemicals then wipe them on his face, police in Malaysia said Wednesday, announcing they were seeking a North Korean diplomat in connection with the attack.” http://apne.ws/2mbjZfA
-- “Le Pen Wins Over the Women Voters Who Feel Left Behind in France,” by Bloomberg’s Helene Fouquet: “French women are starting to picture their next president as a divorced mother of three. The anti-euro, anti-immigrant candidate Marine Le Pen has been playing up her gender as she seeks to convert a likely first-round victory into an overall majority in the run-off on May 7 -- and it’s paying off. The 48-year-old National Front leader has already rallied some 2 million additional female voters to her cause since her last run for president in 2012 and she’s betting more will follow.” http://bloom.bg/2mbajBA
DAVID IGNATIUS in WaPo, “The Trump bubble bursts in Moscow’s markets”: “The numbers tell the story: From Nov. 7, the day before the election, to Jan. 27, the MICEX index of leading Russian stocks rose 26 percent. The index for Russian financial stocks increased 19 percent over that same period. But this upward momentum suddenly reversed: As of Tuesday, the MICEX index had fallen 10.4 percent from its January peak, and the financial measure had dropped 6.5 percent. What happened on Jan. 27? After weeks of negative stories about possible links between members of Trump’s campaign and Russia, the new president told a news conference it was ‘very early to be talking about’ removing sanctions.” http://wapo.st/2kYuYas
HOT TAKE -- FRANK BRUNI in the NYT, “Milo Is the Mini-Donald”: “If you halved Donald Trump’s age, changed his sexual orientation, gave him a British accent and fussed with his hair only a little, you’d end up with a creature much like Milo Yiannopoulos. He could be Trump’s lost gay child. In fact, Yiannopoulos, 33, has a habit of referring to Trump, 70, as ‘Daddy.’ Trump the father and Yiannopoulos the son are both provocateurs who realize that in this day and age especially, the currency of celebrity isn’t demeaned by the outrageousness and offensiveness through which a person achieves it. Both are con men, wrapping themselves in higher causes, though their primary agendas are the advancement of themselves.” http://nyti.ms/2m6RPpc
FINALLY -- “Trump denounces anti-Semitism after Jewish community centers receive 68 bomb threats in six weeks,” by LA Times’ Jaweed Kaleem and Alene Tchekmedyian: “The phone rang Monday morning at the Levite Jewish Community Center outside Birmingham, Ala., and a receptionist answered it. There was a bomb in the building, the caller said, before hanging up. It was the second bomb threat in five weeks against the center, which is located in the town of Mountain Brook and includes an athletic complex and day-care center. ‘Unfortunately, we’re now well-rehearsed at this,’ said Betzy Lynch, the center’s director. Though most of its 3,000 weekly visitors are not Jewish, she had no doubt that the motive of the calls was anti-Semitism.” http://lat.ms/2ln5syY
CLICKER -- “33 questions about Donald Trump and Russia: There’s an awful lot of loose ends here,” by Vox’s Matthew Yglesias: http://bit.ly/2kL0pK3
SPORTS BLINK -- “Nascar, Once a Cultural Icon, Hits the Skids,” by WSJ’s Tripp Mickle and Valerie Bauerlein: “Nascar threw a bash at Kansas Speedway in October to thank Sprint Corp. for being stock-car racing’s top sponsor for 13 years. More than 800 Sprint employees received hot dogs, burgers and seats to a nail-biting race. One thing was missing: a new sponsor. Despite knowing for two years that Sprint was leaving, Nascar didn’t announce a replacement until December, when it said energy-drink maker Monster Beverage Corp. had won naming rights to the top-tier racing circuit. Monster paid about $20 million, below Nascar’s asking price of $35 million and nowhere close to the original goal of $100 million, according to television and racing-industry executives familiar with the new contract.” http://on.wsj.com/2l6WaEv
MEDIAWATCH -- “Fox News hires Dr. Ezekiel Emanuel,” by POLITICO Media’s Peter Sterne: “Emanuel -- brother of Democratic Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel and Hollywood super agent Ari Emanuel -- currently serves as chair of the University of Pennsylvania’s department of medical ethics and health care policy, and is vice provost for global initiatives at the university. During the Obama administration, he served as a special adviser on health policy and helped craft the Affordable Care Act. Emanuel is the second prominent Democrat to join Fox as a contributor this year. Last month, the channel announced it had hired former State Department spokesperson Marie Harf as a contributor.” http://politi.co/2l5i637
--DANA MILBANK in WaPo, “These are the American people Trump calls enemies of the American people”: “Thomas Gibbons-Neff, a fourth-generation military man, deployed twice to Afghanistan. The second time, as a 22-year-old Marine corporal in 2010, he led an eight-man infantry team into combat. Two of his men were wounded by enemy sniper fire, and one of his best buddies later died in combat. ... [A]llow me to introduce you to the backgrounds of some of my colleagues who Trump would have you believe are enemies of the American people. I would argue that they are the American people. Yes, they went to college, they live in the Washington area, and they earn good wages; that earns them the ‘elite’ epithet. But they hail from all corners of this country, from farms and small towns, the children of immigrants and factory workers, preachers and teachers.” With cameos from Lori Montgomery, Jose DelReal, Dan Balz, Jenna Johnson, Bob Barnes, David Finkel, Mary Jordan, Stephanie McCrummen, and Dan Eggen http://wapo.st/2m75Lj1
LACHLAN MARKAY to Daily Beast -- Hadas Gold: “The Daily Beast is hiring Lachlan Markay as its newest White House reporter, the site will announce on Wednesday. Markay joins from The Washington Free Beacon, where he’s worked since 2013 and built a name for himself as a conservative journalist focusing on money and politics. Markay will represent the publication in the White House briefing room ‘and keep close watch on Trump’s intermingling of business and political interests,’ the site said in a statement.” http://politi.co/2lncgwl
--NBC News Digital has announced several new hires to its editorial team, including Gregg Birnbaum as politics editor, Ali Vitali as White House digital correspondent and Andrew Springer as director of social strategy.
--“Breitbart’s European offensive: all talk, no action: The provocative website promised to conquer the Continent — but has yet to roll out sites in France or Germany ahead of elections,” by POLITICO Europe’s Nick Vinocur and Andrew Hanna: “In Europe, Breitbart wanted to fuel French far-right leader Marine Le Pen’s run for the presidency and undermine the reelection campaign of German Chancellor Angela Merkel, whom Breitbart’s London editor has mocked as a ‘lunatic’ on his Facebook page. With just two months to go until the French election, the likelihood of a launch before polling day looks very slim. Breitbart also shows no sign of being close to establishing a German edition.” http://politi.co/2lujGMW
UPDATE: The New York Daily News has appended an update to a story we included in Playbook two days ago with the headline, “Stephen Miller called Brooklyn U.S. Attorney at home and told him how to defend travel ban in court”. White House Deputy Press Secretary Lindsay Walters told us yesterday: “Stephen Miller did not speak with Robert Capers. Both individuals have made it clear that they have never spoken to one another.” She told the same to the Daily News, two days after the story was published. http://nydn.us/2luhZPF
TV TONIGHT -- MSNBC has a 2 hour special tonight “Trump: The First Month” with Brian Williams, Rachel Maddow and Chris Matthews and many guests from 10 p.m. to 12 midnight.
SPOTTED -- The White House’s Boris Epshteyn left trivia at Tortilla Coast on P Street early. He made a trip back down the sidewalk to show some trivia participants sitting in the window a “#MAGA” sign he scrawled on a notepad. Two of the teams were named “1/20/2021” and “See You In Court.” … Bret Baier (and family) yesterday on a Frontier flight from Denver to DCA ... Grover Norquist walking on the street at 15 and K streets ... Howard Dean walking down I street near 15th Street.
OUT AND ABOUT – The Renwick Gallery was the site of a swanky party last night in honor of Richard Haass’ latest book, “A World in Disarray: American Foreign Policy and the Crisis of the Old Order.” The co-hosts were David Rubenstein, Alice Rogoff, Afsaneh Beschloss, Martin Indyk, Gahl Burt, HP Goldfield, Kristin Mannion, Walter and Cathy Isaacson, and Sally Quinn. $16.96 on Amazon http://amzn.to/2jrt69G
SPOTTED: Joe Biden (who gave brief remarks -- pic http://bit.ly/2kLnqwv), Brent Scowcroft, Ash and Stephanie Carter, Pete Williams, Andrea Mitchell and Alan Greenspan, Tony and Evan Blinken, Wolf Blitzer, Jake Tapper, Evan Osnos and Sarabeth Berman, Becca Glover, Mike Allen, Jim VandeHei, Chris Isham, John Dickerson, Margaret Carlson, Judy Woodruff, Bob Barnett and Rita Braver, Peter Baker and Susan Glasser, EJ Dionne, Melissa Miller, Howard Fineman and Amy Nathan, David Skorton, Eli Yokley, David Ignatius, Steve Inskeep, and the ambassadors of Brazil, China, Italy, Ireland, and Kuwait.
-- SPOTTED at Politics and Prose last night for an event for Tom Rosenstiel’s new novel “Shining City” -- ($17.70 on Amazon http://amzn.to/2lKYxkd): Mike McCurry, Stephanie Schriock, Jim Risen, Jon Haber, David Lauter, Mizell Stewart, Dante Chinni, JJ Yore, Mike Bromwich, Sam Fulwood, John Gomperts, Rima Sirota, Ricki Seidman, Drew Littman, Bonnie Levin, Maggie Gage, Carolyn Lerner, Mimi Mager.
-- Longtime friends of former Jeff Sessions communications aide and Lifezette editor Garrett Murch gathered last night at his favorite watering hole, Union Pub, to bid farewell as he and his girlfriend, former DeBlasio aide Andrea Zuniga, quit D.C. for Maine’s great outdoors. SPOTTED: Chris Bedford and Katie Frates, Matt Wolking, Derek Hunter, Matt Boyle, Steve Guest, Todd Thurman, Kaitlan Collins, Lauren Ehrsam, Betsy Woodruff, The Daily Caller’s David Hookstead and Christian Datoc, who got a little rowdy this past weekend.
TRANSITIONS -- FIRST IN PLAYBOOK: Political strategist Jim Mulhall is joining 2K Strategies as a partner after a 16-year run with SKDKnickerbocker. Mulhall, who has run media campaigns for Reps. Sean Patrick Maloney in New York, Bill Foster in Illinois and Patrick Murphy in Pennsylvania, will continue to consult on Mark Herring’s bid for reelection as attorney general of Virginia. He joins Keith Kincaid, another veteran of SKDK, at 2K Strategies.
-- Secretary of State Rex Tillerson has tapped R.C. HAMMOND, formerly VP at The Herald Group, to serve as senior adviser for public affairs. Hammond, along with Matt Well, a co-founder and partner at The Herald Group, managed the Trump transition Team’s cabinet nominee war room. He was the spokesman for Newt Gingrich’s 2012 presidential run.
--Jake Lewis, previously with Ward Circle Strategies, has joined Rep. Brad Sherman’s office as his first deputy comms director specializing in digital strategy. … The Economic Security Project hired Taylor Jo Isenberg from the Roosevelt Institute as managing director and former SEIU president Andy Stern as senior fellow. … Andrew H. Scott (@CommissionerKY): “Huge congrats to @DLoesch on being named @NRA spokesperson; honestly, I cannot think of a more articulate advocate for our gun rights! #2A”
-- Senate Press Secretaries Association newly-elected executive board members: Julia Krieger, President (Heitkamp), Ashley Berrang (Capito), Ashton Davies (Alexander), Rebecca Steele (Wyden), Rob Sumner (Crapo), Katie Waldman (Daines), Bryan Watt (Cantwell), Megan Whittemore (Perdue).
OBAMA ALUMNI – Frances Holuba, an Obama NSC WH alum, is returning to global engagement work to advise President Obama’s 100,000 Strong in the Americas Innovation Fund and USA Study Abroad Partnerships at Partners of the Americas after a year serving as director of social enterprise at POLITICO. She is also founder of boutique consulting firm Chief Social Architects.
WELCOME TO THE WORLD -- TOBY CHAUDHURI, former VP at PBS and adviser to Obama and Clinton White House initiatives, and RUBY ROY, senior manager at the Advisory Board Company, welcomed Koby Roy Chaudhury to the world at Sibley Memorial Hospital at 10:28 p.m. Tuesday night. Mother and son are doing well -- Koby weighed in at 7 pounds, 4 ounces and 20 inches. Pic http://bit.ly/2lL1cdp
BIRTHDAY OF THE DAY: Hugh Hewitt is 61 – asked how he’s celebrating, he said: “the fetching Mrs. Hewitt, my bride of 35 years, is always my date on my birthday” – read his Playbook Plus Q&A: http://politi.co/2kYLDua
BIRTHDAYS: Peter Siegal, a lawyer at Robbins Russell (et al.) on K Street and loyal Playbooker, is 31 ... Rodney Hood of JPMorgan Chase (h/t Peter Cherukuri) … Uncle Peter “Pedro” Hanna ... David Axelrod, the pride of Stuyvesant Town–Peter Cooper Village in lower Manhattan, is 62 ... Obama alum Alyssa Mastromonaco, president of global comms strategy and talent at A+E Networks ... former Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist is 65 ... Alex Slater, managing director of comms and public affairs agency the Clyde Group, is 39 ... Bob Bauer, former W.H. counsel, now a partner at Perkins Coie ... Politico’s Heidi Sommer and Desiree Luckey ... Politico alum Chris Behm ... Kristen Soltis Anderson, co-founder and partner at Echelon Insights ... Lindsey Rosenthal, alum of Everytown for Gun Safety ... Tim Newell, VP of financial products at SolarCity ... Martha Boudreau, chief comms and marketing Officer at AARP (h/ts Jon Haber) ... Chris Crawford, program associate at Democracy Fund ... Dan Gilgoff, NatGeo’s executive editor for digital and a CNN and US News alum, is 37 ... Ellis Brachman, Obey alum now chief comms. officer at the Library of Congress, is 39 … Alan Katz, associate at Alcalde & Fay … Randy Levine, president of New York Yankees baseball since 2000 and executive producer for YES Network, is 62 (h/t Jewish Insider) ... former Rep. John Bryant (D-Tex.), now practicing law and living in Dallas, is 7-0 (h/t Randy White) ...
... Sen. Ben Sasse (R-Neb.) is 45 ... Shawn Martin, SVP of advocacy, practice advancement and policy for American Academy of Family Physicians Ed Brookover, Ben Carson’s campaign manager and a Greener & Hook alum … Bush 43 alum Viet Dinh, now founding partner of Bancroft PLLC, is 49 ... Daniel Holway, MSNBC booking producer … Liz Glover ... Jim Mills ... CNN congressional producer Laurie Ure … Aaron Flint … Elizabeth Oblinger, manager of gov’t affairs at Cox Enterprises and a Portman alum ... Kimberly Marteau Emerson ... Marissa Lang ... AP’s Michael Biesecker and Dorothy Abernathy ... Hanna Bondarewska ... Richard Brothers ... Wendy Gordon ... Jim Vilmain ... Angelique Pirozzi ... Melissa Watson (h/ts Teresa Vilmain) ... Corey Brown Thornblad ... Trish Stocking ... Lauren Orndorff, LA for Rep. Roger Marshall ... Yvesner Zamar, leg counsel for Rep. Conyers ... Ned Michalek of Rep. Engel’s office ... Ellen Gosnell, scheduler for House Republican Whip ... Nick Crocker of HRC ... Dave LesStrang and David Pomerantz of House Approps ... Margaret Anne Moore of Senate Republican Comms Center (h/ts Legistorm) … movie director Jonathan Demme is 73 ... World Golf Hall of Famer Vijay Singh is 54 ... Drew Barrymore is 42 (h/ts AP)