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Good Monday morning. THE HEADLINE in the Boston Globe, celebrating the Patriots’ improbable win over the Atlanta Falcons: “WIN FOR THE AGES” with a triumphant Tom Brady hoisting the Lombardi Trophy: http://bit.ly/2kEnUDy
PLAYBOOK SCOOP -- NATALIE JONES, who The Washington Post said was Donald Trump’s “likely pick” for social secretary, has withdrawn her name from consideration for the post. Jones was acting chief of protocol at State in the Obama administration. The interest in Jones was seen by some as a sign that the Trump White House was looking for a foothold in D.C. society.
HAPPENING THIS WEEK -- THE SENATE is hitting the ground running with two major Cabinet votes: Betsy DeVos for secretary of education and Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) for attorney general. While Democrats and several outside groups have continued to keep the pressure up on DeVos, Republicans still believe they have the votes -- even if it means that Vice President Mike Pence needs to cast a final tie-breaking vote. A DeVos defeat would not only be a big loss for President Trump, it would be a major embarrassment for Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.). Once Republicans clear DeVos, look for them to quickly take up Sessions.
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WHERE THINGS STAND WITH THE BAN -- “Trump travel ban to remain on hold until at least Monday,” by WaPo’s Matt Zapotosky and Robert Barnes: “A federal appeals court on Sunday ruled that President Trump’s controversial immigration order will remain suspended for the time being, allowing those previously banned from coming to the United States at least another day to get here. The decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit preserves a lower judge’s order to temporarily halt the ban — and based on a schedule the court outlined, the stop will remain in place at least until sometime on Monday. The Justice Department said it would not elevate the dispute to the Supreme Court before that. … The next few days will be telling for the future of the president’s executive order. The appeals court asked those challenging the ban to file written arguments by 4 a.m. Eastern on Monday and asked Justice Department lawyers to reply by 6 p.m. Eastern. They could then schedule a hearing or rule whether the ban should remain on hold.” http://wapo.st/2kJkhf6
-- “Trump order’s critics urge appeals court not to allow resumption of travel ban: A wide array of the nation’s largest technology firms, including Apple, Ebay, Facebook, Google, Microsoft and Twitter, also weighed in against Trump’s order,” by Josh Gerstein: “Three states, nearly 100 technology companies and a variety of immigrant rights advocacy groups are pleading with a federal appeals court not to allow President Donald Trump to reinstate his executive order sharply limiting travel to the U.S. by citizens of seven majority-Muslim countries. The legal briefs piled up at the San Francisco-based 9th Circuit Court of Appeals late Sunday and in the wee hours of Monday morning as critics of Trump’s travel ban fought a federal government request to lift an order a federal district court judge in Seattle issued Friday temporarily blocking most of the key aspects of Trump's controversial immigration-limiting anti-terrorism directive.” http://politi.co/2lanrcX
--"Kerry, Panetta, ex-CIA officials tell court Trump order will ‘endanger troops in the field,’" by WaPo's Fred Barbash: http://wapo.st/2jT47AQ
-- @realDonaldTrump at 3:39 p.m.: “Just cannot believe a judge would put our country in such peril. If something happens blame him and court system. People pouring in. Bad!” … at 3:42 p.m.: “I have instructed Homeland Security to check people coming into our country VERY CAREFULLY. The courts are making the job very difficult!”
THE BIG READ -- INSIDE 1600 PENN -- GLENN THRUSH and MAGGIE HABERMAN in the NYT, “Trump and Staff Rethink Tactics After Stumbles”: “President Trump loves to set the day’s narrative at dawn, but the deeper story of his White House is best told at night. Aides confer in the dark because they cannot figure out how to operate the light switches in the cabinet room. Visitors conclude their meetings and then wander around, testing doorknobs until finding one that leads to an exit. … Mr. Priebus has told Mr. Trump and Mr. Bannon that the administration needs to rethink its policy and communications operation in the wake of embarrassing revelations that key details of the orders were withheld from agencies, White House staff and Republican congressional leaders like Speaker Paul D. Ryan.
“Mr. Priebus has also created a 10-point checklist for the release of any new initiatives that includes signoff from the communications department and the White House staff secretary, Robert Porter, according to several aides familiar with the process. Mr. Priebus bristles at the perception that he occupies a diminished perch in the West Wing pecking order compared with previous chiefs. But for the moment, Mr. Bannon remains the president’s dominant adviser, despite Mr. Trump’s anger that he was not fully briefed on details of the executive order he signed giving his chief strategist a seat on the National Security Council, a greater source of frustration to the president than the fallout from the travel ban.” http://nyti.ms/2jSCGXF
WHAT TRUMP IS READING -- NYT -- all 3 stories above the fold relate to Trump -- http://nyti.ms/2kinhyz … WaPo -- headline Trump won’t like: “Trump order is in legal limbo” http://bit.ly/2kioIgj … N.Y. Post -- “CHEAT YOUR HEART OUT! Brady’s Deflategate revenge in Super Bowl shocker” http://nyp.st/2kJxVPy
SUSAN GLASSER sits down with JAMES BAKER for the debut of her column and podcast “The Global Politico”: “Does Trump Actually Want to Succeed?”: “Democrats and Republicans agree on one thing: James A. Baker III was the gold standard when it came to running a White House. And so far he’s not overly impressed when it comes to the troubled kickoff of the Trump administration. In his first extensive comments on America’s controversial new president, the former chief of staff, campaign manager, diplomat and all-around GOP wise man offered a serious and substantive critique of the early days of President Trump’s takeover. His advice: Stop blowing up the U.S. relationship with Mexico, don’t expect them to pay for the wall, don’t act as ‘Israel’s lawyer,’ don’t be an isolationist, support NATO and do a much better job of working with the other power centers of Washington -- Congress and the Cabinet -- before unveiling disruptive new policies like the temporary refugee ban.
“‘The rollout here was deficient, we have to acknowledge that,’ he says. When we met in his Houston office last week for the launch of The Global Politico, our new weekly podcast on international affairs in the Trump era, Baker held forth for nearly an hour about how things are supposed to work in a West Wing that’s got its game on, the ways in which the brash billionaire in the White House is—and is not—like his old boss Ronald Reagan, and his disappointment in Barack Obama for leaving ‘the world in much worse shape than it was eight years ago.’ He also weighed in on Russia sanctions, taking a firm line that they should remain in place to remind the Russian President Vladimir Putin that ‘rolling the tanks’ into neighboring countries like Ukraine will not be tolerated, worried that Trump will trade those sanctions away for ‘nothing’ and argued that Israel is risking its future by building more settlements. ‘We have allies that are just scared to death,’ he notes, as a result of Trump’s early rhetoric and unpredictable foreign policy.” http://politi.co/2leOXC9 … Full transcript http://politi.co/2ki5bfW … Subscribe on iTunes http://apple.co/2ki98RY
TEAM OF RIVALS? -- “Trump sizes up a critic for high-level State Department job,” by Michael Crowley: “President Donald Trump is close to tapping a longtime critic as the No. 2 official at the State Department, a move that would reassure foreign policy elites worried about a lack of diplomatic expertise at high levels in Trump’s administration. Trump will meet on Tuesday with Elliott Abrams, a former National Security Council and State Department official in the Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush administrations. Abrams is a neoconservative foreign policy insider with deep ties to an establishment that reviles Trump. He also regularly questioned during the presidential campaign whether the real estate mogul was qualified to be commander in chief. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, who favors Abrams for the job, will also attend the meeting. Abrams’s appointment has been on hold for weeks as White House officials, led by chief strategist Steve Bannon, reviewed his past criticism of Trump to determine whether he could be trusted.” http://politi.co/2jSMktB
GORSUCH WATCH -- “Gorsuch to barnstorm the Senate this week,” by Seung Min Kim: “Supreme Court nominee Neil Gorsuch is ramping up his Senate charm offensive this week, scheduling meetings with a slew of red-state Senate Democrats and Democratic leaders who’ll be a major influence in determining whether he gets confirmed later this year. Gorsuch has more than a dozen meetings starting Monday, including with a pair of key Democrats to watch: Montana Sen. Jon Tester, a moderate who is up for reelection next fall, and California Sen. Dianne Feinstein, the top Democrat on the Judiciary Committee who will lead the Democratic charge during the high-stakes confirmation hearings.
“Tuesday will bring meetings with Republican Sens. Ben Sasse of Nebraska, Tom Cotton of Arkansas and Mike Crapo of Idaho, according to an official familiar with Gorsuch’s schedule. On Wednesday, he will hold private sit-downs with Sens. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz), Heidi Heitkamp (D-N.D.), John Thune (R-S.D.), Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) and Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.). Sasse, Crapo, Flake and Blumenthal are members of the Judiciary Committee. And on Thursday, Gorsuch will meet with four Senate Republicans: Susan Collins of Maine, Steve Daines of Montana, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Judiciary member Thom Tillis of North Carolina. A meeting with Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), who declined an initial meeting request last week, is also in the works.” http://politi.co/2lalL38
-- SCOOP: “Few Recall Gorsuch’s Volunteer Work at Harvard,” by WSJ’s Beth Reinhard and Jess Bravin: “When President Donald Trump introduced his Supreme Court pick on live television last week, he said Neil Gorsuch had ‘demonstrated a commitment to helping the less fortunate’ by working in the Harvard Prison Legal Assistance Project and the Harvard Defenders. His affiliation with these volunteer programs -- which offer law school students real-life legal experience representing prison inmates and the poor-- helped give Mr. Gorsuch’s deeply conservative résumé a personal touch, and the groups were highlighted in news reports about his nomination. But roughly three dozen students who participated in the two programs while Mr. Gorsuch was at Harvard Law School from 1988 to 1991 said they have no recollection of his involvement.” http://on.wsj.com/2kJc2jl
TRUMP’S HILL WHISPERER -- “Donald Trump’s guy on Capitol Hill,” by Rachael Bade: “While the rest of the Republican establishment was in full-fledged panic that Donald Trump was marching to the nomination, Kevin McCarthy made a different calculation altogether. The ‘intensity’ of support for Trump and his appeal to new voters could help the GOP win, the House majority leader mused in the heat of the presidential primary in March. ‘Trump’s message ... if you look at different pockets, he brings Democrats over,’ McCarthy said at a policy forum in Sacramento, Calif. Those encouraging words — and continued loyalty, as the affable 52-year-old Californian stuck by Trump when other Republicans bailed in the final weeks of the campaign — has produced one of the most unsung alliances in Washington these days. McCarthy speaks with Trump several times a week by phone. And Trump dotes on McCarthy, too, even referring to the No. 2 House Republican as ‘my Kevin.’” http://politi.co/2levzW3
THE JUICE …
-- FIRST IN PLAYBOOK: SUSAN RICE has signed with CAA, the Hollywood talent agency.
-- BUZZ: ASHLEY HICKEY MARQUIS is returning to the White House as chief of staff to Gary Cohn, director of the National Economic Council. Marquis was a vice president for strategic communications at the Glover Park Group and previously served as an Oval Office aide to President George W. Bush.
-- MORE NEW MAR-A-LAGO MEMBERS: Daniel Bouaziz and Sophia Baratashvili, Howie and Kathy Carr, Gil Cohen and Paul Gervais, Jean Doyen De Montaillou and Michael Kovner, Robert and Susan Falk, Diane Lokey Farb, Carol Glazer and John Colamarino, Andrew Greenbaum, Myrna Haft, Gerald and Isabelle Herz, Thomas and Deanne Hutchison, Simon and Tiffany Isaacs, Paula Leed and Richard Aron, Arthur and Arlene Levine, Steven Michael, Mica Mosbacher, Anand and Mina Patel, Thomas Peterffy, Lawrence Rolnick and Kimberly Sorrentino, John and Cindy Sites, Carolyn Sakolsky and Frederick Rustmann, Marc and Cathy Solomon and Robert and Jennifer Zelman.
FRANK BRUNI AND JENNIFER STEINHAUER’S NEW BOOK -- “A MEATLOAF IN EVERY OVEN” -- NYT Op-Ed columnist Frank Bruni and congressional reporter Jennifer Steinhauer have a book out tomorrow celebrating the quintessential American dish, the meatloaf. The book has recipes from everyone from Mario Batali to Bobby Flay to our own executive editor, Paul Volpe, who, we find out, puts V8 in his loaf. Buy the book to find Speaker Paul Ryan’s deer-based meat loaf -- Steinhauer and Bruni write that the “only topic that animates House Speaker Paul Ryan more than the earned income tax credit and its potential adjustments in the context of tax reform is the killing of deer.” Ryan, a deer hunter, grinds his own meat, they write. House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi’s (D-Calif.) contributes an Italian-style bison loaf, which she “designed in collaboration with (Pelosi’s) six-year-old granddaughter Bella.” Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer’s (D-N.Y.) beef, pork, veal and chicken loaf is appropriately dubbed the omnibus loaf. $19.83 on Amazon http://amzn.to/2la5Rpl … An excerpt http://bit.ly/2kJ7yZY … Feb. 12 reading at Politics and Prose http://bit.ly/2ki1V4s … Publishers Weekly review http://bit.ly/2jTAPwR
TOP-ED -- JOHN YOO in the NYT, “Executive Power Run Amok”: “As an official in the Justice Department, I followed in Hamilton’s footsteps, advising that President George W. Bush could take vigorous, perhaps extreme, measures to protect the nation after the Sept. 11 attacks ... But even I have grave concerns about Mr. Trump’s uses of presidential power. During the campaign, Mr. Trump gave little sign that he understood the constitutional roles of the three branches, as when he promised to appoint justices to the Supreme Court who would investigate Hillary Clinton. (Judge Neil M. Gorsuch will not see this as part of his job description.) In his Inaugural Address, Mr. Trump did not acknowledge that his highest responsibility, as demanded by his oath of office, is to ‘preserve, protect and defend the Constitution.’ Instead, he declared his duty to represent the wishes of the people and end ‘American carnage,’ seemingly without any constitutional restraint.” http://nyti.ms/2kEAxOT
-- JOE SCARBOROUGH in WaPo, “Trump’s reckless shot at a federal judge”: “[W]hen a president uses social media to question the legitimacy of a federal judge following an inconvenient (and temporary) outcome, that is simply unacceptable. ... President Barack Obama leveled a shameful attack on the Supreme Court during a State of the Union address, but he never questioned the court’s authority to rule the way it did. Working the ref is one thing. Suggesting the ref’s calls should be ignored is quite another.” http://wapo.st/2jSEUX6
GET SMART FAST -- “Trump’s Plan to Fight ISIS With Putin Isn’t Just Futile. It’s Dangerous,” by Molly K. McKew in Politico Magazine: “The truth is that it is both pointless and dangerous for America to fight ISIS alongside Russia. Pointless because the Russians are not there to fight ISIS -- their real goals in the region have nothing to do with eliminating the terror group, but with empowering Assad and other anti-American allies. Dangerous because the United States and Russia share neither common goals nor common tactics. Our forces are not interoperable, and neither is the way we fight wars. Russians operate differently from Americans at every level of conflict — tactically, operationally, and strategically. There is no established trust between our nations or our forces, and the place to build that trust is not during a major operation where our goals are fundamentally misaligned.” http://politi.co/2kcPdBC
OFF MESSAGE SEASON 2: Chief Washington Correspondent Isaac Dovere picks up where we left off, getting to know the stories behind the power players and what’s really driving politics in Washington. In this week’s episode, over beers at Bullfeathers, Congressmen Marc Veasey and Brendan Boyle share their concerns that they’ve lost touch with working-class America and how the emergence of the Blue Collar Caucus will aim to win them back. Subscribe on iTunes http://apple.co/2kJqk3D
ON AIR -- “Watch the End of the Super Bowl Lumber Commercial too Controversial to Air: A surprisingly emotional lumber ad gets a patriotic ending,” by Vanity Fair’s Joanna Robinson: “When 84 Lumber set about making an ad for the Super Bowl, the company didn’t expect that their full commercial wouldn’t make it to air. But Fox forced the Pennsylvania-owned company to cut the ending of the spot, which follows a mother and daughter on a vague ‘journey north.’ The ending was then supposed to be available on 84 Lumber’s website, which, shortly after the first part of the commercial aired on Fox, crashed as curious Super Bowl viewers rushed to find out what happened next.” http://bit.ly/2jTkE2Y … Watch the ad http://bit.ly/2kcFmMa … Best Super Bowl ads http://bzfd.it/2jTwLNg
MEDIAWATCH -- JOHN BERMAN and POPPY HARLOW launch their new show this morning, “CNN Newsroom with John Berman and Poppy Harlow,” airing 9 a.m. to 11 a.m.
-- BUSINESS INSIDER: “We asked 11 media outlets how their coverage has changed since Trump’s election — here’s what they said” http://read.bi/2leIKGi
SPOTTED at the Super Bowl: Kevin McCarthy, Craig Minassian, Joe Lockhart, Mike Feldman, Richard Keil, Erik Smith ... Former British Prime Minister David Cameron in San Antonio at the Little Rhein Steakhouse, “the best in all of Texas,” per our tipster -- pic http://bit.ly/2kJbSs8 ... Judge Gorsuch traveling in economy on United from DEN to DCA yesterday morning
SPOTTED at Tammy Haddad’s D.C. Super Bowl party: Greta van Susteren and John Coale, Juleanna Glover, Megan Murphy, Hilary Rosen, Ryan Williams, Matt Dornic, Jeremy and Robyn Bash, Carol Melton, Kevin Cirilli, Nick Massella.
OUT AND ABOUT IN NYC -- Philanthropist Adrienne Arsht celebrated her 75th birthday at the Plaza Hotel in New York Saturday night. SPOTTED: Justice Sonia Sotomayor, David Koch, Carlos Gutierrez, Michael Chertoff, Zeke Emanuel, Peter Neffenger, Jon and Mary Kaye Huntsman and daughter Mary Anne, C. Boyden Gray (a birthday boy today), Julianna Margulies and husband Keith Lieberthal, Fred Kempe, Pam Meyer, Capricia and Rob Marshall, Michael LaRosa, Bob Barnett, Katty Kay, Jesse Rodriguez, Robert Pullen, Luke Frazier, Ret. Admiral James Stavridis, Paige Ennis.
TRANSITIONS -- Subhan Cheema, most recently deputy director of speechwriting to former Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia Burwell, is joining Glover Park Group as a director on their health and wellness team. … Pete Ogden has been named the United Nations Foundation’s new vice president for energy, climate and the environment. He most recently was senior fellow for international energy and climate policy at the Center for American Progress and senior advisor and fellow at the Energy Policy Institute at UChicago. http://politi.co/2khYc6J ... Strategies 360 is bringing on Austin Hicks as manager of corporate affairs in the firm’s Seattle office. Hicks previously served as deputy press secretary for the Democratic Governors Association during the 2015 and 2016 cycles, and as an aide to Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) before that.
WELCOME TO THE WORLD -- Shane Goldmacher, POLITICO’s chief White House correspondent, and wife Sophie Kim Goldmacher, director of programming at Georgetown’s Institute of Politics and Public Service, welcomed son Nathan Parker Goldmacher on Sunday morning. Nathan checked in at 7 pounds, 6 ounces, and 20.5 inches. “Both mom and son are doing terrific.” Pic http://bit.ly/2kigh4T
BIRTHDAY OF THE DAY: Tom Brokaw, who’s celebrating by “racing back and forth across international time lines, trying to stall the advancement to age 77” – read his Playbook Plus Q&A: http://politi.co/2kEw2nI
BIRTHDAYS: ABC’s Amy Robach is 44 ... Jerry Seib, the pride of Hays, Kansas, is 61 ... Ronald Reagan was born 106 years ago in Tampico, Ill. ... The Daily Beast’s Lloyd Grove, the pride of L.A. ... Fernando Suarez, CBS News transportation producer, is 38 … Aoife McCarthy ... WJLA alum Rebecca Cooper, founder and CEO of Capital Insights ... WaPo White House reporter Jenna Johnson (h/t Jim Johnson) ... CNN alum David Brown, now executive producer for WNET’s “MetroFocus,” is 5-0 ... Annie Burns, partner at GMMB (h/t Jon Haber) ... Eric Weiner, NPR alum and author of “The Geography of Genius” ... Doug Campbell ... C. Boyden Gray … Chris Slevin, legislative director for Sen. Cory Booker ... Dan Wessel, Hillary’s press secretary for Virginia, and his twin brother, Evan Wessel of the National Conference of Democratic Mayors and a DOL alum (h/ts Michael) ... Rep. Bonnie Coleman (D-NJ) is 72 ... Rep. Brendan Boyle (D-Penn.) is 4-0 ... former Rep. Vern Ehlers (R-Mich.) is 83 ...
... New Yorker alum Alexa Cassanos, now at Facebook ... EnergyWire reporter Mike Soraghan … Jessica Mulligan of the Glover Park Group ... Ray Conger, GPG alum now an MBA candidate at NYU Stern ... Justin Pope, AP alum now chief of staff at Longwood University, is 42 ... Scott Atran is 65 ... Ken Lisaius, Bush alum now SVP of comms. at Biotechnology Industry Organization ... Rob Johnson ... Helaine S. Klasky, new chair of public affairs and crisis management at Burson-Marsteller and a Treasury and GE alum (h/t Ben Chang) ... Mark J. McGarry is 59 ... Mike Schmuhl, Grassroots VP at 270 Strategies and former chief of staff to his hometown mayor, Mayor Pete Buttigieg of South Bend, Ind. ... Brit Grant ... Dick Seifman, international development adviser, alum of USAID, World Bank and UN ... Peter Stolz is 35 ... Malcolm Glenn, Harvard and Google alum and Denver native, now strategic partnerships manager at Uber ... Ricky Feller ... John Flannery ... Doug Campbell (h/ts Teresa Vilmain) ... Peter Lutrario ... Allison Plummer of Rep. Austin Scott’s office ... Jeff Anderson of Rep. Ron Kind’s office ... Clay Helton, scheduler for Sen. Todd Young ... Tommy Brown of Sen. Sherrod Brown’s office ... Patrick Urbanus of Rep. Swalwell’s office (h/ts Legistorm) ... Rip Torn is 86 ... Axl Rose is 55 (h/ts AP)