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Good Monday morning, and Happy Presidents’ Day.
THE WHITE HOUSE sent out this email this morning, with the subject line “President Donald J. Trump’s First Month: Achieving Results for the American People” http://politi.co/2ldTiIt
SENSE A PATTERN? – GRAYDON CARTER’s editor’s letters in Vanity Fair – March 2017: “Trump’s White House: The Gang That Couldn’t Shoot Straight” http://bit.ly/2lCKMUl ...Hollywood 2017: “Donald Trump: A Pillar of Ignorance and Certitude” http://bit.ly/2lCT4vy ...February 2017: “Welcome to Trumpistan” http://bit.ly/2m0qB3m ... Holiday 2016: “Graydon Carter on Trump’s ‘Only in America’ Election Win” http://bit.ly/2kZFtL7 ... April 2016: “‘Look Upon My Short Fingers, Ye Mighty, and Despair!’” http://bit.ly/2lmQN5c ... March 2016: “The Good, the Bad, and the Short-Fingered” http://bit.ly/2lmQQho ... November 2015: “Steel Traps and Short Fingers” http://bit.ly/2lCQFBd
TRUMP SPEAKS -- @realDonaldTrump at 9:15 a.m.: "Give the public a break - The FAKE NEWS media is trying to say that large scale immigration in Sweden is working out just beautifully. NOT!" ... at 9:33 a.m.: "HAPPY PRESIDENTS DAY - MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!"
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THIS WEEK should be a quiet-ish one in D.C., as both chambers of Congress are out of session. But expect protests at public events across the country. DEFENSE SECRETARY JIM MATTIS is in Baghdad today, per an early morning AP bulletin. He said the U.S. isn’t there “to seize anybody’s oil,” per WaPo’s Dan Lamothe in Baghdad. http://wapo.st/2ldJa2H
VP MIKE PENCE is in Brussels and will speak by phone later today with PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP, who is in Palm Beach, Florida.Trump gets back to D.C. this evening.
-- European Council President Donald Tusk (@eucopresident): “I asked @mike_pence if he shared my opinions on 3 key matters: international order, security & new US administration attitude towards EU. … In reply @mike_pence said ‘yes’ 3 times. Now Europeans and Americans must simply practise what they preach.”
MORE TUSK alongside Pence, per pooler Ashley Parker of WaPo: “Let me, first of all, thank you for this meeting. We all truly needed it. Too much has happened over the past month in your country, and in the E.U. Too many new and sometimes surprising opinions have been voiced over this time about our relations, and our common security, for us to pretend that everything is as it used to be. And thank you for being so open and frank with me.”
-- ASHLEY PARKER and MICHAEL BIRNBAUM: “Shadow president or mere shadow? In Europe, Pence seeks to reassure allies unnerved by Trump”: “Pence journeyed to Europe to soothe a continent that has watched, with alarm, as Trump called NATO ‘obsolete’ and rose to electoral victory on the promise of a more isolationist ‘America First’ set of populist policies. Even for the diplomats, bureaucrats and foreign leaders who found comfort in his words, Pence’s gentle message belied a more thorny question that hummed throughout the conference lobby: Will Pence emerge as a capable vice president, empowered by his willingness to delve into policy details where the president will not, or is he yet another grunt in Trump’s freewheeling army of disruption?” http://wapo.st/2lmCpK0
-- POLITICO EU’s MATTHEW KAMINSKI in Munich: “Awkward first date in Munich: Politesse but no spark as Europe’s security establishment met the new American political order”: “They came anxious. They listened closely and claimed to like a lot of what they heard. And they left just as anxious as they arrived. This weekend’s maiden encounter between Europe’s elite and the new American political order was well-scripted and polite. But the Munich Security Conference, the yearly gabfest for defense geeks, was more notable for the awkward moments, the lack of spark and the unaltered confusion about the new, dizzying realities. For the Americans and Europeans gathered in the Bavarian capital, it felt like the first date of an arranged coupling, not the natural renewal of a now 70-year-old vow that takes place every time a new president takes office in Washington.” http://politi.co/2kQGgNy
-- WAPO: “British lawmakers to debate Trump’s state visit,” by Karla Adams in London: “British lawmakers on Monday will debate whether to withdraw an invitation to President Trump for a state visit -- an offer extended with unprecedented speed. The debate, to be held in Parliament’s Westminster Hall, was triggered after a petition calling on the British government to cancel the state visit amassed more than 1.8 million signatures. A counter-petition urging the government to support the visit, signed by 300,000, will also be debated.” http://wapo.st/2m0v4Di
TRUMP’S FRONTS -- NYT http://bit.ly/2kQuS4z … N.Y. POST http://nyp.st/2lyZknD … PALM BEACH POST -- “Boynton Trump fan feels star treatment” http://bit.ly/2meCDSM
PETER BAKER, the ace NYT White House reporter who was yesterday’s pooler, noted in his final pool report that he had a “14-hour pool day without ever actually eyeing the subject of interest.” Yesterday we wrote in Playbook that Trump was playing golf, but in reality, he was at a golf course, and we had no idea what he was doing there because the White House didn’t tell us. Apologies. We won’t assume anymore.
-- TRUMP appeared at a fundraiser for the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute Saturday night and the White House didn’t tell reporters. WaPo’s Phil Bump: “An Instagram video captured Trump’s entrance. ‘We did not plan this,’ an announcer says as the president works his way through the crowd. At the Melbourne event, Trump appeared in a suit without a tie; for the gala, he dressed up a bit. Deputy press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders told the media about Trump’s appearance at the event during a brief press availability Sunday. More than 800 people attended the event, reporters were told, with Trump talking to ‘quite a few’ of them. One reporter asked if Mar-a-Lago guests had special access to the president, prompting Sanders to reply that ‘the president is extremely accessible to most of America’ and is the ‘most accessible president that [she’s] ever seen.’” http://wapo.st/2kZJxLz … The Instagram video http://bit.ly/2kZKGmp
HOT ON TWITTER -- NYT A1, “Trump Associates Push Backdoor Ukraine Plan – Peace Effort Seems to Reflect a Russian Tilt and Undercuts Kiev’s Leadership,” by Megan Twohey and Scott Shane (online headline: “A Back-Channel Plan for Ukraine and Russia, Courtesy of Trump Associates”): “A week before Michael T. Flynn resigned as national security adviser, a sealed proposal was hand-delivered to his office, outlining a way for President Trump to lift sanctions against Russia. Mr. Flynn is gone, having been caught lying about his own discussion of sanctions with the Russian ambassador. But the proposal, a peace plan for Ukraine and Russia, remains, along with those pushing it: Michael D. Cohen, the president’s personal lawyer, who delivered the document; Felix H. Sater, a business associate who helped Mr. Trump scout deals in Russia; and a Ukrainian lawmaker trying to rise in a political opposition movement shaped in part by Mr. Trump’s former campaign manager Paul Manafort.
“At a time when Mr. Trump’s ties to Russia, and the people connected to him, are under heightened scrutiny — with investigations by American intelligence agencies, the F.B.I. and Congress — some of his associates remain willing and eager to wade into Russia-related efforts behind the scenes. … The amateur diplomats say their goal is simply to help settle a grueling, three-year conflict that has cost 10,000 lives. ‘Who doesn’t want to help bring about peace?’ Mr. Cohen asked.” http://nyti.ms/2m0q3e4
FOR JOE SCARBOROUGH -- HMM -- “Stephen Miller called Brooklyn U.S. Attorney at home and told him how to defend travel ban in court,” by Harry Siegel in the N.Y. Daily News: “In the chaotic hours after President Trump signed on a Friday afternoon the sloppily written executive order meant to fulfill his Muslim ban campaign promise, Stephen Miller called the home of Robert Capers to dictate to the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District how he should defend that order at a Saturday emergency federal court hearing. That’s according to a federal law enforcement official with knowledge of the call, which happened as Department of Justice attorneys cancelled plans, found babysitters and rushed back to their Brooklyn office to try and find out what exactly it was they were defending and who was being affected by it.” http://nydn.us/2lyIllm
-- “Lewandowski: Trump’s staff has ‘not prepared’ him”: “‘The staff has probably not prepared him as well as they could have or should have,’ Corey Lewandowski said in an interview for David Axelrod’s ‘The Ax Files’ podcast published Monday. Lewandowski cited the rollout of Trump’s immigration order, which was eventually halted by an appeals court, as an example. During the hourlong interview, Lewandowski also criticized Trump’s senior staffers for their collective lack of government experience. Lewandowski, who was fired from Trump’s campaign in June and now has a political consulting firm, has reportedly stayed close to Trump. He continued to praise Trump’s vision during ‘The Ax Files’ interview, saying ‘you have a president who wants to move very quickly, who has a grand vision of what he wants to accomplish and is leaving the details to the staff to implement.’” http://politi.co/2m3YOf5 … The podcast episode http://cnn.it/2mev7r1
DNC RACE WATCH -- FIRST IN PLAYBOOK -- NH Dem Chair Ray Buckley is emailing PCCC members today explaining why he is dropping out of the race and endorsing Keith Ellison. “As I’ve talked to the DNC membership, it’s clear that nobody has all the votes they need yet. It’s also clear Keith [Ellison] has widespread and growing support.”
-- “Buttigieg picks up 9 mayors’ endorsements in DNC race,” by CNN’s Eric Bradner: http://cnn.it/2lCD9gF
-- NEW YORKER: “WILL KEITH ELLISON MOVE THE DEMOCRATS LEFT?: By running for the D.N.C. chair, the Minnesota congressman hopes to lead a populist opposition against Trump,” by Vinson Cunningham: http://bit.ly/2kZGd37
PALM BEACH UPDATE -- “Mar-a-Lago Neighbors Discover Costs of Trump’s Visits,” by NYT’s Jane Smith and Frances Robles: “For some of the businesses and government agencies that surround President Trump’s ‘Winter White House,’ the effects of his frequent weekend getaways to Mar-a-Lago can best be told in numbers. $200,000 in lost fuel sales at a large local airport in a single four-day visit this month. 75 no-shows at a new restaurant in just one night. $60,000 a day to pay overtime to sheriff’s deputies who guard the many closed roads, a tab that is about $1.5 million over all since the election. 250 private flights grounded every day.” http://nyti.ms/2m0uQvZ
THE JUICE …
-- ARI MELBER invited STEPHEN MILLER on his MSNBC show, attempting to take him up on his offer to appear on any show at any time. http://bit.ly/2kE2g3k The White House said he was unavailable. Joe Scarborough weighed in. http://bit.ly/2kE4cZm
-- PLAYBOOK POSTCARD FROM VAIL: A T-shirt on sale in Vail: “Make Vail Great Again -- Build a Wall -- Make Aspen Pay For It” http://bit.ly/2meE5Vj ... Yesterday’s cover of Vail Daily has a Vail ski gondola (with an American flag) and the name “Chair Force One” http://bit.ly/2lmCkpM ... View of the Colorado Rockies from the slopes http://bit.ly/2meL1Sn
-- FIRST LOOK: The White House Historical Association has unveiled the design of this year’s Official White House Christmas Ornament. This one honors the FDR presidency and “features a zinc cast design inspired by the eagle cartouche that adorned the speaker’s stand at Roosevelt’s first inauguration.” http://politi.co/2kQn3f5 ... The ornament http://bit.ly/2mep9qk
WHAT SILICON VALLEY IS READING -- SUSAN J. FOWLER: “Reflecting On One Very, Very Strange Year At Uber” http://bit.ly/2kZHEyA … Uber is investigating http://bloom.bg/2kE35ce
HILLWATCH -- “Maine’s Susan Collins unafraid to oppose President Trump,” by the Boston Globe’s Tyler Pager. http://bit.ly/2lyN06M
-- SUSAN GLASSER’S “THE GLOBAL POLITICO”: “Will Republicans Break With Trump Over Russia?” -- interview with Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.): http://politi.co/2kQsf2z
BEYOND THE BELTWAY -- NYT A1, “Oil Recovers But Not Its Jobs: Automation Reduces Need for Blue-Collar Workers,” by Clifford Krauss in Midland, Tex.: “Oil and gas workers have traditionally had some of the highest-paying blue-collar jobs — just the type that President Trump has vowed to preserve and bring back. But the West Texas oil fields, where activity is gearing back up as prices rebound, illustrate how difficult it will be to meet that goal. As in other industries, automation is creating a new demand for high-tech workers — sometimes hundreds of miles away in a control center — but their numbers don’t offset the ranks of field hands no longer required to sling chains and lift iron.
“So while there is a general sense of relief in the oil patch that a recovery is gaining momentum, discussions at company meetings and family kitchen tables are rife with aching worries, especially among those who are middle-aged with no more than a high school education. Roughly 163,000 oil jobs were lost nationally from the 2014 peak, or about 30 percent of the total, while oil prices plummeted, at one point by as much as 70 percent. The job losses just in Texas, the most productive oil-producing state, totaled 98,000.” http://nyti.ms/2ldSlA3
PAGING ALL DEMOCRATS -- “Barack Obama’s presidential library may need $1.5 billion,” by Page Six’s Richard Johnson: “The Barack Obama Presidential Center in Chicago could require a $1.5 billion endowment, its architects say, three times what was raised for the George W. Bush Presidential Center in Dallas. Husband-and-wife architectural team Tod Williams and Billie Tsien noted that it will be difficult to raise such a huge sum because Obama scrupulously declined to do much fund-raising while he was still in office.
“The Obama Center is due to be so expensive because it will require the construction of both a presidential library and a museum about the lives of Barack and Michelle Obama. And federal requirements now stipulate that former presidents must have larger endowments to pay for annual operating costs at the libraries. ‘It won’t be easy,’ Williams said. ‘It’s not just about preserving the past. It’s about the future.’ The actual buildings were slated to cost $200 million. ‘But I told them it will cost $300 million,’ Williams said. Williams and Tsien spoke about the project with architectural critic Paul Goldberger on Wednesday, at the annual benefit for East Hampton’s LongHouse Reserve.” http://pge.sx/2lCIR2m
INTRIGUE -- NYT A9, “A Long-Running Scandal and a Senate Pick Stir Corruption Questions in Alabama,” by Alan Blinder in Montgomery, Ala.: “When Luther Strange ran for attorney general in this scandal-weary state in 2010, he appeared in an advertisement that spoke darkly of the Alabama capital’s ‘corruption, grand jury investigations, insider deals, abusing the public trust.’ Mr. Strange won that year’s general election easily, and then another one in 2014. But since ascending to the United States Senate this month, he has found his popularity threatened and his fellow Republicans troubled, largely because he accepted the appointment of Gov. Robert J. Bentley, a subject of an active investigation that the new senator spent months overseeing. A startling number of people in and around the State House openly suspect, but lack evidence to prove, that part of Mr. Bentley’s reason for appointing Mr. Strange to the Senate was to try to undermine the inquiry.” http://nyti.ms/2m3To3U
HOLLYWOODLAND -- “Paramount CEO Brad Grey to Exit After 12 Years,” by the Hollywood Reporter’s Borys Kit: “The studio chief is finalizing his exit with executives at parent Viacom, which has put pressure on Grey after a string of low-performing years. Specifically at issue was Viacom’s desire to install a greenlight committee to make decisions on which movies to make. Such a move would have violated the terms of Grey’s employment contract, which gives him sole greenlight authority. Viacom CEO Bob Bakish will travel to Los Angeles and address Paramount employees early [this] week. As Viacom searches for a new Paramount leader, Grey’s top executives will report to Bakish, according to sources. Paramount and Viacom declined to comment.” http://bit.ly/2kQevot
MEDIAWATCH – “Long Island University Announces 68th Annual George Polk Awards in Journalism” – among the winners: NYT’s Nicholas Casey, Meridith Kohut, Rebecca R. Ruiz and Daniel Berehulak; WaPo’s David Fahrenthold, Lenny Bernstein, Scott Higham and David Fallis; ProPublica’s Alec MacGillis; NPR’s Joseph Shapiro and Houston Chronicle’s Brian M. Rosenthal: http://prn.to/2kZPnfX
-- "Video shared ahead of CPAC shows Milo Yiannopoulos appearing to speak fondly of relationships between men and 'young boys,'" by NY Daily News' Nicole Hensley: "The right-wing provocateur recalled his own sexual abuse as a teen and did not appear to outright condemn similar relationships between children and men on a 2016 episode of 'The Drunken Peasants' podcast. He flippantly said young boys 'discover who they are' through such relationships, later implying that those relationships can be sexual in nature, and can 'give them security and safety and provide them with love and a reliable rock where they can't speak to their parents.'" http://nydn.us/2meDymm
SPOTTED: Sen. Michael Bennet (D-Colo.) yesterday at the Hotel Saratoga in Havana … Jeremy and Robyn Bash at Tavern on the Square at The Arrabelle in Vail on Sunday night ... David Frum running the Exorcist Stairs multiple times Sunday afternoon -- Frum emailed us the backstory when we asked him: “It’s one of my favorite workouts 18 flights, I do it every other weekend ... NO I AM NOT FLEEING DEMONIC POSSESSION!!!” ... Talk show Host Roland Martin and New York Lieutenant Governor Kathy Hochul deplaning on an AA flight arriving in Albany from DCA. The LG traveled alone and was met by her security detail at the gate.
TRANSITIONS -- Public affairs and ad firm GPS Impact has hired Brandon Davis as a principal and will also be managing director for Washington. He was most recently the chief of staff at the DNC and also spent almost a decade in top leadership positions at the Service Employees International Union. http://politi.co/2kE8Q9U
WELCOME TO THE WORLD -- Eve Lieberman, chief of staff for Rep. Jared Polis (D-Colo.), and her husband Ian Rayder, who now works in government affairs at Cisco lobbyist and is a longtime Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz-world figure, welcomed Benjamin Sidney Rayder to the world on Saturday night weighing in at 6 pounds 15 ounces. Pic http://bit.ly/2kZhZpO
WEEKEND WEDDINGS – “Martha Norrick, Dominic Williams” – N.Y. Times: “Ms. Norrick, 31 ... was until November a director of analytics for Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign. She graduated from Barnard College. ... Mr. Williams, 34, is the chief of staff to Anthony Shorris, the first deputy mayor, in Manhattan. He graduated from Princeton. ... The couple, who both worked for candidates for the State Assembly in Manhattan in 2006 (Ms. Norrick as the campaign manager for Linda B. Rosenthal on the West Side, and Mr. Williams as the policy director for Brian P. Kavanagh on the East Side), met at a Manhattan bar after both candidates won.” With pic http://nyti.ms/2lmChKM ... Wedding pics http://bit.ly/2m0tt0j ... http://bit.ly/2kZql0C
SPOTTED: James Kvaal and Stephanie Potter, Jacob Leibenluft, Christen Linke Young and Brad Lipton, KP Trueblood, Shane Hable, Nell Thomas, Max Weselcouch, Joel Payne, NYC Mayor Bill De Blasio (who officiated) and Chirlane McCray, NYS Assemblyman Brian Kavanaugh, NYC budget director Dean Fuleihan, First Deputy Mayor Anthony Shorris, Phil Walzak, Ben Furnas and Sarah Laskow, Jeff Thamkittikasem, Antonio Rodriguez, Dan Casey
--Center for American Progress alum Eryn Sepp, now with the Washington Center for Equitable Growth, and Secret Service agent Stewart Busch, married Sunday night at the Vandiver Inn in Havre De Grace, Maryland. The couple met at the White House. SPOTTED: John and Mary Podesta; ASAE’s Mary-Kate Cunningham and husband Matt Ogren of APCO Worldwide; QGA’s Chris Brown; Potomac School administrator Alexis Ellis; former Receptionist of the United States Sara Feuerstein. Pic http://bit.ly/2m0roRZ
BIRTHDAY OF THE DAY: Mark Knoller – who notes that he’s “waiting for his press office to resume practice of rapid posting of transcripts of presidential remarks and WH briefings” – read his Playbook Plus Q&A: http://politi.co/2m0oigW
BIRTHDAYS: Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is 75 ... NYT photographer Doug Mills ... Michael Clemente (Packers tip: daughter Noelle) ... Trevor Noah (“The Daily Show”) is 33 ... Chris “The Fix” Cillizza, the pride of Marlborough, Conn., is 41 ... WSJ’s Bob Davis (h/ts Jon Haber) ... Mother Jones Washington bureau chief David Corn … Politico’s David Cohen and Andrew Hanna … Tyler “T-Rob” Robinson ... Alli Adams’s dad, Hank Baumann and her brother, Andrew Baumann ... RALLY director Manny Rivera (h/t Sam Garrett-Pate) ... Haley Morris, public affairs at Microsoft and alum of Martin O’Malley, DCCC, and Gary Peters (h/t Anthony DeAngelo) ... Politico Europe’s Carmen Paun ... Dan Gross, president of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, who is trying to cut gun deaths in half by 2025 … Stu Spencer, a founding genius of modern campaign management ... Vox’s Dylan Matthews, the pride of Hanover, N.H., is 27 ... Rebecca Samuels, senior producer for CNN’s “Erin Burnett OutFront” and a Meet the Press alum …
... Katie Frates, editor and producer at The Daily Caller News Foundation, is 25 (h/t Chris Bedford) ... Amy Spitalnick, press secretary for NY AG Eric Schneiderman and a J Street alum ... Tamara Fucile, UConn Husky for life, ex CAP and OMB (h/ts Dan and Danielle) ... Jen Finn, the pride of Dublin ... Keosha Johnson, VP and content director at 270 Strategies ... Peter Strauss … DoubleSpeak Media team of Automattic’s Peter Slutsky and Change.org’s Matthew Slutsky ... Tim Farley, host of “Morning Briefing” on POTUS on SIRIUS XM Radio ... Greg D’Angelo, analyst for Medicare and Medicaid on the Senate Budget Cmte. ... Scott Tyre ... Kate Henningsen ... Natalie Spiess ... Charlie Whitehouse ... Tommy Kurz-Cosgrove ... Zoe Barrett ... Camila Balkin (h/ts Teresa Vilmain) ... Tyler John ... Burke Olsen of the Deseret News ... Katherine Logan ... Gloria Vanderbilt is 93 ... Sidney Poitier is 9-0 ... Racing Hall of Famer Roger Penske is 8-0 ... former British Prime Minister Gordon Brown is 66 ... Patty Hearst is 63 ... Charles Barkley is 54 ... Cindy Crawford is 51 ... Rihanna is 29 (h/ts AP)