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ONLY IN PLAYBOOK -- A RELATIONSHIP WORTH WATCHING -- House Speaker Paul Ryan dined last night with Jared Kushner at the Capitol Hill Club, a private Republican haunt on Capitol Hill. No staff was present. Neither Kushner nor Ryan seem to fit in terribly well at the First Street hangout: It’s where many members of Congress go to throw more than a few back when Congress is in session. But Kushner and Ryan are building a relationship that could be key to the Hill, the White House and policymaking over the next few years. The pair have interacted before -- they have have been in larger meetings together in the Capitol. But as Washington turns its attention to tax reform, Kushner -- the 36-year-old real estate mogul -- and Ryan -- the 47-year-old House speaker -- could be important allies. People close to Ryan and the White House say the speaker shares an easy rapport with Steve Bannon. But we think Ryan is more naturally aligned with Kushner than Bannon, whose Breitbart tried to defeat him in a 2016 primary.
TRUMP HAS PEGGED RYAN as a tireless legislator, and has positioned Kushner as a dealmaker, even boasting that he could strike an accord to get peace in the Middle East. Together, they might make a potent pair: someone who understands legislating, and the favored son in law who has the president’s ear -- and trust. There are detractors in the Capitol, however -- Republicans who think that Kushner knows nothing about government and will trip up soon. It will be fascinating to watch.
MEANWHILE, PRESIDENT TRUMP is meeting at 11:15 a.m. at the White House with four critical figures on tax reform: House Ways and Means Chairman Kevin Brady (R-Texas) and top Ways and Means Democrat Richie Neal of Massachusetts, Senate Finance Chairman Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) and Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.). Pair this with the Kushner get-together, and you get the sense that tax reform may be gaining steam.
AT THE SAME TIME, K Street is starting to mobilize. Tax reform coalitions are popping up left and right to kill the border adjustment tax -- a key piece of House Republicans’ plan, which seeks to tax imports instead of exports. Trump has expressed openness to the plan. Lobbyists are focused on the Senate, where they believe there is more leverage, particularly among those representing large retailers.
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Good Thursday morning. Today is Groundhog Day. Jill Stein, the presidential candidate who forced a few fruitless recounts, filed a campaign finance report Wednesday that showed she spent $800,000 in legal retainer fees in the month after election day, and roughly $4.5 million on recount filing fees.
BUZZY AD -- Budweiser Canada has released an ad depicting “the story of our founder’s ambitious journey to America in pursuit of his dream: to brew the King of Beers.” The spot shows Adolphus Busch coming to America from Germany and experiencing anti-immigrant sentiments upon his arrival. It will certainly grab some eyes with immigration policy at the fore. http://bit.ly/2kWtK0B
FROM 1600 PENNSYLVANIA -- @realDonaldTrump at 6:13 a.m.: “If U.C. Berkeley does not allow free speech and practices violence on innocent people with a different point of view - NO FEDERAL FUNDS?”
-- WHAT TRUMP IS REFERRING TO: L.A. Times: “Violent protests force cancellation of speech by Breitbart’s Milo Yiannopoulos at UC Berkeley” http://lat.ms/2kvwiou
-- PLAYBOOK’S TAKE: We’d need a bit more time to dive into how much money California school system gets in federal funding, but we doubt -- quite seriously -- that Congress is going to get in the business of cutting off a school system with a quarter-million students. Trump might like to target individual institutions, businesses and people, but in D.C., it’s more complicated. Not to mention, there are 14 Republicans from California in the House. Ask them if they want to start messing around with their state school’s funding. And a reminder who runs the University of California: Janet Napolitano, who has a few connections of her own in D.C.
ON THE RESOLUTE DESK -- NYT -- 5 Trump-related stories: http://nyti.ms/2kWs07k … WaPo -- 3 Trump-related pieces: http://bit.ly/2kkOHCf … N.Y. Post: “BEYMACULATE CONCEPTION … Mother of God! Singer’s wife pregnant with twins.” http://nyp.st/2kkBlpz
-- TRUMP is going to Palm Beach tomorrow.
TRUMP’S DIPLOMACY -- THE MOST STUNNING STORY OF THE DAY -- WAPO’S GREG MILLER AND PHIL RUCKER: “No ‘G’day, mate’: On call with Australian prime minister, Trump badgers and brags”: “It should have been one of the most congenial calls for the new commander in chief — a conversation with the leader of Australia, one of America’s staunchest allies, at the end of a triumphant week. Instead, President Trump blasted Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull over a refugee agreement and boasted about the magnitude of his electoral college win, according to senior U.S. officials briefed on the Saturday exchange. Then, 25 minutes into what was expected to be an hour-long call, Trump abruptly ended it. At one point, Trump informed Turnbull that he had spoken with four other world leaders that day — including Russian President Vladimir Putin — and that ‘this was the worst call by far.’
“Trump’s behavior suggests that he is capable of subjecting world leaders, including close allies, to a version of the vitriol he frequently employs against political adversaries and news organizations in speeches and on Twitter. ‘This is the worst deal ever,’ Trump fumed as Turnbull attempted to confirm that the United States would honor its pledge to take in 1,250 refugees from an Australian detention center. Trump, who one day earlier had signed an executive order temporarily barring the admission of refugees, complained that he was ‘going to get killed’ politically and accused Australia of seeking to export the ‘next Boston bombers.’” http://wapo.st/2jG7DJT
--Jim Acosta (@Acosta): “Source familiar with Trump foreign leader calls says the POTUS convos are turning faces ‘white’ inside the WH.”
-- @realDonaldTrump at 10:55 p.m.: “Do you believe it? The Obama Administration agreed to take thousands of illegal immigrants from Australia. Why? I will study this dumb deal!" ... at 6:34 a.m. "Iran has been formally PUT ON NOTICE for firing a ballistic missile.Should have been thankful for the terrible deal the U.S. made with them! ... Iran was on its last legs and ready to collapse until the U.S. came along and gave it a life-line in the form of the Iran Deal: $150 billion"
-- AP’s Kristen Gelineau in Sydney: “Trump’s clash with Australia strains alliance: Australians, long accustomed to a chummy friendship with the U.S., were stunned by the drama. Not since the Vietnam War — when Australia's then-Prime Minister Gough Whitlam criticized a series of bombings authorized by then-President Richard Nixon — has there been such obvious friction between the leaders of the two nations. ‘You can’t help but think the signal this sends to world leaders: That you have to be very, very careful doing business with this administration, particularly with the president and the people around him,’ said Simon Jackman, CEO of the U.S. Studies Center in Sydney. ‘And that can’t help but put a chill on relations between allies.’” http://apne.ws/2jYX6u9
-- IT’S WORTH NOTING: Australia and the U.S. are very close. The Aussies fought alongside Americans in many wars, including Vietnam. The two countries share deep military and intelligence ties -- Australia is part of the “Five Eyes,” with the U.S., U.K., New Zealand and Canada.
NORTH AMERICAN RELATIONS -- “Trump to Mexico: Take care of ‘bad hombres’ or US might,” by AP’s Vivian Salama: “President Donald Trump warned in a phone call with his Mexican counterpart that he was ready to send U.S. troops to stop ‘bad hombres down there’ unless the Mexican military does more to control them, according to an excerpt of a transcript of the conversation obtained by The Associated Press. The excerpt of the call did not detail who exactly Trump considered ‘bad hombres,’ nor did it make clear the tone and context of the remark, made in a Friday morning phone call between the leaders. It also did not contain Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto's response. Mexico denies that Trump’s remarks were threatening.
“Still, the excerpt offers a rare and striking look at how the new president is conducting diplomacy behind closed doors. Trump's remarks suggest he is using the same tough and blunt talk with world leaders that he used to rally crowds on the campaign trail. Eduardo Sanchez, spokesman for Mexico’s presidential office, denied the tone of the conversation was hostile or humiliating, saying it was respectful. ‘It is absolutely false that the president of the United States threatened to send troops to Mexico,’ Sanchez said in an interview with Radio Formula on Wednesday night.” http://apne.ws/2kYX6uf
WHAT SILICON VALLEY IS READING -- “Draft of Executive Order Looks to Re-Examine Visa Programs,” by WSJ’s Laura Meckler and Laura Stevens: “The White House and lawmakers in Congress appear poised to take on another contentious slice of immigration policy: the visa programs favored by technology and other companies. A draft of an executive order under consideration directs the government to re-examine a range of visa programs to ensure they prioritize and protect ‘the jobs, wages and well-being of United States workers.’
“The draft doesn’t single out any industry, but many tech firms are clearly rattled by potential changes to the H-1B visa program for high-skilled employees. Industry leaders argue that foreign workers are needed and have long lobbied for an increase from the 85,000 such visas available each year. The draft order, ‘if signed, risks serious consequences for US-based tech companies’ ability to hire elite global talent,’ Blake Irving, chief executive of GoDaddy Inc., said in a LinkedIn post Wednesday. ‘To be clear, the entire US economy is at stake with this draft order and tech leaders need to speak out on its dangers.’” http://on.wsj.com/2kvmPO2
-- THE MEASURE comes as several tech CEOs have blasted Trump for his immigration ban — Apple is considering weighing legal action against the order. Hard to see Trump striking a conciliatory tone with the industry after they’ve gone after him so publicly.
BEHIND THE SCENES -- NYT A1, “Questions Cloud U.S. Raid on Qaeda Branch in Yemen,” by Eric Schmitt and David Sanger: “Just five days after taking office, over dinner with his newly installed secretary of defense and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, President Trump was presented with the first of what will be many life-or-death decisions: whether to approve a commando raid that risked the lives of American Special Operations forces and foreign civilians alike. President Barack Obama’s national security aides had reviewed the plans for a risky attack on a small, heavily guarded brick home of a senior Qaeda collaborator in a mountainous village in a remote part of central Yemen. But Mr. Obama did not act because the Pentagon wanted to launch the attack on a moonless night and the next one would come after his term had ended.
“With two of his closest advisers, Jared Kushner and Stephen K. Bannon, joining the dinner at the White House along with Defense Secretary Jim Mattis and Gen. Joseph F. Dunford Jr., Mr. Trump approved sending in the Navy’s SEAL Team 6, hoping the raid early last Sunday would scoop up cellphones and laptop computers that could yield valuable clues about one of the world’s most dangerous terrorist groups. Vice President Mike Pence and Michael T. Flynn, the national security adviser, also attended the dinner. As it turned out, almost everything that could go wrong did. And on Wednesday, Mr. Trump flew to Dover Air Force Base in Delaware to be present as the body of the American commando killed in the raid was returned home, the first military death on the new commander in chief’s watch.” http://nyti.ms/2jYZ3XF
THE RESISTANCE -- “Federal workers turn to encryption to thwart Trump,” by Andrew Restuccia, Marianne LeVine, and Halley Toosi: “Federal employees worried that President Donald Trump will gut their agencies are creating new email addresses, signing up for encrypted messaging apps and looking for other, protected ways to push back against the new administration’s agenda. Whether inside the Environmental Protection Agency, within the Foreign Service, on the edges of the Labor Department or beyond, employees are using new technology as well as more old-fashioned approaches — such as private face-to-face meetings — to organize letters, talk strategy, or contact media outlets and other groups to express their dissent. The goal is to get their message across while not violating any rules covering workplace communications, which can be monitored by the government and could potentially get them fired. At the EPA, a small group of career employees — numbering less than a dozen so far — are using an encrypted messaging app to discuss what to do if Trump’s political appointees undermine their agency’s mission to protect public health and the environment, flout the law, or delete valuable scientific data that the agency has been collecting for years, sources told POLITICO.” http://politi.co/2kZdmeS
IT’S GONNA BE A SQUEAKER -- “DeVos nomination stands at 50-50,” by Burgess Everett and Kim Hefling: “Betsy DeVos has no votes to spare heading into a looming confirmation vote next week. Republican Sens. Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski said Wednesday they will vote against Education Department nominee. That could very well mean a 50-50 standoff on the Senate floor — and Vice President Mike Pence being called in to put DeVos over the top. Republicans have a 52-48 majority, and no Democrats are expected to support the prospective education chief. Senior leadership aides are confident DeVos will prevail in a likely floor vote Monday. After Collins and Murkowski announced their opposition Wednesday, a wave of undecided GOP senators broke DeVos’ way.” http://politi.co/2kWcSqC
-- SEVERAL SENATE GOP SOURCES tell us that they’ve had record-high call volume expressing opposition to DeVos’s nomination.
SUPREME COURT WATCH -- “The Democrats who will decide Gorsuch’s fate,” by Seung Min Kim and Burgess Everett: “Red-state Democrats … Dianne Feinstein of California … Deferential Democrats: Sens. Bill Nelson of Florida and Tom Carper of Delaware … Perennial swing votes: Sens. Chris Coons of Delaware and independent Angus King of Maine.” http://politi.co/2ktAnK7
-- “Mitch McConnell: Democrats, ditch the apocalyptic rhetoric on Judge Gorsuch,” in WaPo: “Recent actions by Senate Democrats, however, do not inspire confidence. Hear that sound? It’s the far left hitting rewind on the Supreme Court attack eight-track they’ve been playing for more than 40 years. When Gerald Ford nominated John Paul Stevens, they attacked Stevens as anti-woman. When Ronald Reagan chose Anthony M. Kennedy, they said Kennedy was unqualified. When George H.W. Bush put forward David Souter, they declared Souter a threat to minorities. The attacks seem ridiculous today, but they’re an important reminder that no matter who a Republican president nominates, the far left will say the same things. If you think you’ve heard moldy oldies like ‘Extreme!,’ ‘Scary Quotes!’ and ‘Anti-[Fill in the blank]!’ before — well, you have, and you’re about to hear a lot more of the left’s apocalyptic rhetoric, on repeat and remastered in full digital surround.” http://wapo.st/2kvhwht
THE JUICE …
BUZZ -- A PERSON YOU SHOULD KNOW: Shannon Flaherty McGahn is leaving the top job at the House Financial Services Committee for a senior gig at Treasury, several sources tell us and Tara Palmeri. McGahn, who is married to White House counsel Don McGahn, has worked for several GOP lawmakers over the years working in the press shop of the House Republican Conference before jumping to the financial service panel.
--THE (ALMOST) FULL GINSBURG: VICE PRESIDENT MIKE PENCE is taping four Sunday shows this weekend, per an aide. He’s doing ABC’s “This Week,” “Fox News Sunday,” CBS’ “Face the Nation” and NBC’s “Meet the Press.”
-- NEW DIGS: PENCE’S new House side office will be on the first floor, unlike Dick Cheney’s VP hideaway, which was just steps off the House floor.
CORRECTION -- We misstated the status of several senators’ positions on Supreme Court nominees. And we’ve corrected it. We make mistakes sometimes, and we apologize. http://politi.co/2jGhWO0
COVER DU JOUR -- Time: “The Great Manipulator: Steve Bannon, Chief White House Strategist”: This week’s TIME cover story, written by editor-at-large David Von Drehle, reports on the influence of Steve Bannon and possibly “the second most powerful man in the world.” See the cover: http://bit.ly/2kidG9h ... Read the story: http://ti.me/2ktrAbg
FOR YOUR RADAR -- “Senators set to huddle on Russia hacking probe,” by Austin Wright and Martin Matishak: “Key senators are planning to meet in the coming days to discuss the progress of their investigations into Russia’s meddling in November’s presidential election — inquiries that will delve into the explosive question of whether there were contacts between Moscow and the Trump campaign. The Senate Intelligence Committee is conducting the highest-profile investigation, but at least two other Senate panels, Armed Services and Foreign Relations, are also looking into the issue. The Republican chairmen of the three committees and their Democratic counterparts had been planning to huddle this week, but might postpone to next week because Senate Intelligence Chairman Richard Burr (R-N.C.) had a scheduling conflict, according to multiple sources involved in planning the meeting.” http://politi.co/2kZ4E0j
KNOWING GORSUCH -- “At Harvard Law, Gorsuch stood out on a campus full of liberals,” by Boston Globe’s Michael Levenson: “When neighbors complained that students in a Harvard Law School social club who lived in a gracious off-campus Victorian were parking illegally, spreading trash on the street, and throwing loud and late parties, Neil M. Gorsuch intervened. He and other members of the Lincoln’s Inn Society devised a ‘management plan’ to curb the rowdy behavior, while arguing the whole kerfuffle was overblown. ‘There are only six to eight parties a year,’ Gorsuch assured the student newspaper, the Harvard Law Record, in November 1990. ‘The Inn is more of a place to hang out.’ Twenty-six years later, classmates still describe Gorsuch, who was nominated by President Trump to the Supreme Court on Tuesday, as more congenial than confrontational, even as he stood out as a committed conservative on a campus full of ardent liberals. ...
“But Bob Kroll … described Gorsuch as less irascible and more low-key -- more like that other famous member of the class of 1991. ‘He had such a thoughtful manner, and he would weigh the issues in a way I found so insightful and so impressive,’ Kroll said. ‘I kind of felt that way about Barack Obama, too.’” http://bit.ly/2k2EcF2
-- CLICKER: Bloomberg’s graphics team brings you a depiction of how Gorsuch has lined up with the other Supreme Court justices on seven rulings, and the one time he didn’t: http://bloom.bg/2jzUkzl
-- NYT’s JEREMY PETERS: “Conservative Groups Unify to Push Neil Gorsuch’s Confirmation” http://nyti.ms/2ktHWk3
-- JEFFREY ROSEN in The Atlantic, “A Jeffersonian for the Supreme Court”: “[H]is record suggests a willingness to transform the law and to enforce constitutional limitations on the excesses of Congress and the president. … Gorsuch’s appointment gives conservatives reason to celebrate, and liberals reason to fear, that Trump couldn’t have made a more effective choice. There’s no doubt, however, that the principled Gorsuch would be willing to rule against Trump or a Republican Congress if he felt they exceeded their constitutional bounds.” http://theatln.tc/2kWujaw
-- Gorsuch’s classmates at Georgetown Prep have written a letter endorsing his nomination. You’ll notice that one of the names is Brian Cashman, GM of the Yankees. http://politi.co/2jGgE5H
PICKING UP THE PIECES -- The Nation has published its editorial endorsement of Keith Ellison for DNC Chair. “The Democratic Party hasn’t faced this serious a crisis of confidence and direction since the 1920s. … The right response to this crisis is a retooling of the [DNC] to align it more closely with movements for social and economic justice. ... Ellison is certainly conscientious and courageous. But he is also a disciple of the late Senator Paul Wellstone, whose disciplined approach to politics proved that principled progressives could win transformational victories.” http://bit.ly/2kvi0o0
-- JOE BIDEN endorsed former Labor Secretary Tom Perez for DNC chair on Wednesday.
SWING STATE WATCH -- “Comstock a no-show at weekend town halls,” by Rachael Bade and Anna Palmer: “Rep. Barbara Comstock stood up constituents over the weekend who attended two townhalls with questions about an Obamacare repeal and the Trump Administration’s travel ban. The centrist Virginia Republican invited people in her districts to ‘mobile office hours’ on Saturday at two grocery stores in Lorton and Oakton, Virginia. The invitation specifically said she’d be there to answer questions about ‘issues important to you.’
“But Comstock never showed up, angering dozens of constituents who wanted clarity on the GOP’s plan to replace Obamacare. Others wanted to question her about Trump’s immigration executive order. Dulles International Airport, after all, sits on the edge of Comstock’s district. … The blowback from constituents for her failure to show up at the events demonstrates the precarious position Comstock currently finds herself in: she’s a centrist Republican in a purple district, filled with just as many Democrats as Republicans. She's sure to be targeted by Democrats in 2018 -- just as she was last election cycle when she won by six points.” http://bit.ly/2kWkVDN
AND IT BEGINS … -- “Dear Congress: Reform regulatory process, spur sustainable infrastructure investments” http://bit.ly/2kZ4upm
HAPPENING TONIGHT -- Chris Matthews is hosting a town hall live from American University with Kellyanne Conway and Khizr Khan at 7 p.m. on MSNBC.
SPORTS BLINK -- WHAT DAN CONSTON IS READING -- “Before Matt Ryan’s Ascent, a Quiet Grounding in the Quaker Way,” by NYT’s Bill Pennington in Philadelphia. http://nyti.ms/2kZ9E55
-- DO YOURSELF A FAVOR, and read this Mark Leibovich piece on Tom Brady, the Patriots and Donald Trump. Every word. “The Uncomfortable Love Affair Between Donald Trump and the New England Patriots” http://nyti.ms/2jZ1ZmZ
COMING ATTRACTIONS -- “Kerry plans to write a memoir,” by Isaac Dovere: John Kerry "is still on his post-administration break, but he’s hired well-known Washington lawyer and book contract-negotiator Bob Barnett to start talking to publishers about a memoir” that would be published in 2018. http://politi.co/2k34xmu
MEDIAWATCH -- Dax Tejera, Jorge Ramos’s executive producer at Fusion, is leaving the news organization after four years (and the first-hired producer there) to move to Washington and help oversee ABC’s coverage of the Trump administration.
-- NYT NOW IN THE QUIZ GAME: Reporter Tatiana Schlossberg created a climate/environmental policy quiz that explores “what’s at stake in many of [Trump’s] complicated policy decisions. ... Each choice you make will reveal a little cloud, either white or gray, depending on whether the decision is relatively good for the environment and the climate, or not as good. But keep in mind, the climate will keep changing whatever policies the new administration adopts.” http://nyti.ms/2kZBEW1
-- NPR and WNYC built a searchable tool for folks to track where their members of Congress stand and what they’ve said – on social media, in statements and in interviews – about Trump’s refugee & immigration ban: http://n.pr/2jzHH7l
SPOTTED: Guy Cecil and Jeff Weaver having chai teas yesterday at Peet’s Coffee 11th & E ... Robby Mook in a navy blue suit walking alone yesterday in Lafayette Park … Jim Messina in the lobby of the new WeWork White House on 15th Street ... Ambassador John Bolton and the Rev. Jesse Jackson meeting on Tuesday at the Loews Regency on Park Ave. in New York ... Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) at Matchbox on Barracks Row having dinner with friends.
PIC DU JOUR -- Caroline Vanvick (@Cvanvick): “Gov. Sonny Perdue is rockin' these bad boys today for his nomination mtgs on Capitol Hill. #GeorgiaPride #RiseUp #gapol” http://bit.ly/2kWhkpr
SUNDAY SO FAR (in addition to Pence on 4 shows) -- NBC’s “Meet the Press”: House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.).
-- Fox News Sunday, live from the Super Bowl in Houston: Patriots’ owner Robert Kraft ... Panel: Terry Bradshaw, Howie Long, Michael Strahan, Jimmy Johnson
OUT AND ABOUT IN NYC -- Mike Bloomberg hosted a party last night for Brad Stone, Bloomberg executive editor of global technology and best-selling author, for his new book “The Upstarts: How Uber, Airbnb, and the Killer Companies of the New Silicon Valley Are Changing the World.” Excerpt http://bloom.bg/2kkv79b ... $20.55 on Amazon http://amzn.to/2kV4o6r SPOTTED: John Micklethwait, Kevin Sheekey, Reto Gregori, Matthew Bishop, Joanna Coles, Tammy Haddad, David Kirkpatrick, Sheelah Kolhatkar, Stu Loeser, Steven Rattner, Kevin Roose, Andrew Ross Sorkin, Diana Taylor, Mark Whitaker, Justin Smith, Meredith Carden, Marty Schenker, Matt Winkler, Kristen Powers, Ashley Bahnken, Ty Trippet.
JARROD AGEN moves to the White House to be deputy assistant to the President and director of communications to Vice President Pence: “Agen has over 15 years of unique experience in federal and state government, media relations, international affairs and conservative politics throughout several states. ... Last January, Agen was promoted from Communications Director to Chief of Staff for Governor Rick Snyder of Michigan, taking the Chief of Staff role one day before the state declared an emergency in the Flint water crisis.”
TRANSITIONS -- Amy Harris, who most recently worked for National Association of Home Builders, where she oversaw federal campaign and fundraising activities as a PAC fundraising manager for NAHB’s bipartisan political arm, BUILD-PAC, has started a Republican fundraising firm, Red Strategies LLC. ... Brendon DelToro has transitioned from his role as VP political sales and strategy at iHeartMedia to become deputy political director at the NRCC. ... Lauren Fine, deputy press secretary to Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa), will join the office of House Majority Whip Steve Scalise as press secretary on Monday. Fine previously served on the presidential campaign of Gov. Scott Walker, and as a booker and production assistant for Fox News. ...
... Joshua Karp is the new communications director for Senate campaigns at American Bridge. Most recently he served as communications director for former Rep. Patrick Murphy’s U.S. Senate campaign. ... Phil Munson has joined American Bridge as research director for Senate campaigns. He previously worked at the DSCC, most recently as research director for the committee's independent expenditure campaign, and served as Sen. Jeanne Shaheen’s (D-N.H,) research director in 2014.
OBAMA ALUMNI -- Melissa Rogers, who served as a special assistant to President Obama and ran the White House Office of Faith-based and Neighborhood Partnerships from 2013-2017, is serving as a nonresident senior scholar at Brookings and will teach a course at Yale Divinity School later this spring.
WELCOME TO THE WORLD – Hope Glassberg, VP of strategic initiatives at HRHCare and an HHS alum, and Roger Caplan, a software architect at the New York Times, have welcomed Elias Leo Caplan - born at almost 2 a.m. on Monday at 6 lbs, 7 oz. “He’s curious, alert, and hungry and we are all doing really well.” Pics http://bit.ly/2ktpHLD ... http://bit.ly/2kZm4K8
BIRTHDAY OF THE DAY: Nika Nour, director of federal gov’t affairs at the Entertainment Software Association and an Internet Association alum – she’s celebrating on a work trip in L.A. with colleagues and member companies -- read her Playbook Plus Q&A: http://politi.co/2kZghUU
BIRTHDAYS: NBC News’ Carrie Dann ... Michael Luo, investigations editor at The New Yorker and NYT alum ... Teddy “Touchdown” Downey (hat tip: Rob Saliterman) … Andy Hemming is 31 (h/ts Drew Florio and Tucker Bounds) ... The Atlantic’s McKay Coppins, a BuzzFeed alum … Paul Bedard, who writes the D.C. Examiner’s Washington Secrets column and is the pride of Sudbury, Mass. (h/ts Juleanna Glover and Ron Bonjean) ... Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) is 65 ... Ben Oreskes ... TV executive Barry Diller is 75 ... gossip columnist Liz Smith is 94 ... Dan Knight, managing associate at CLS Strategies and alum of America Rising and NRCC ... Reid Wilson, national correspondent at The Hill and a Morning Consult and WashPost alum ... Aaron Keyak, managing director and co-founder of Bluelight Strategies and an NJDC alum ... Politico alum Anita Ford ... Emily Howell, marketing fellow at RapidSOS and a Politico alum … Rep. Jack Bergman (R-Mich.) is 7-0 ... Kristina Baum, comms director for House Science ... Adrienne Lee Benson, current SDNY clerk and future DC Circuit clerk (hubby tip: Nate Cushman) ... Mark Tercek, CEO of The Nature Conservancy, is 6-0 (h/t daughter Margo) ... Howard Rubenstein, who Rudy Giuliani called “the dean of damage control,” is 85 (h/t Katy Feinberg) ...
... Bobby Whithorne, director of strategic comms at GoFundMe and alum of Porter Novelli, NextGen Climate and Obama WH … Jen Duck ... Grace Embler ... Sean Evins, politics and gov’t team EMEA lead at Facebook and a Twitter alum, is 31 ... Ellen Malcolm, founder and board chair of EMILY’s List (h/t Jon Haber) ... ABC News alum Ben Lacy … WWE’s Nicky Sampogna ... Haley Ast, staff assistant for the U.S. Chamber Foundation Center for Education and Workforce ... Fred McClure ... Traci Kraus, director of gov’t relations at Cummins and a Russ Feingold alum ... Jonathan Mudd, global director of media relations at Mars and an alum of Rosetta Stone, The Motley Fool and Gap ... Cody Johnson, contracts advisor at Saudi Aramco, and an Ensign alum ... Ellen Malcolm … Sally Albright ... Ella Vought, daughter of Mary and Russ Vought ... Ahmir Rashid, a management and strategy consultant, alum of No Labels, McKinsey and Hillary ’08 ... Sabrina Phillips ... David Pakman is 33 … former French President Valery Giscard d’Estaing is 91 ... Christie Brinkley is 63 ... Zosia Mamet is 29 (h/ts AP)