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Good Friday morning. THIS IS A HEADLINE MANY HOUSE REPUBLICANS LIKE: “Trump says Republican border tax could boost U.S. jobs.” President Donald Trump’s remark that the border-adjustment tax “could lead to a lot more jobs in the United States” perked up many an ear in the House GOP leadership, which has been pushing the proposal for some time and believes it’s the only way to get tax reform done. THIS LOOKS LIKE A SMART MOVE BY TRUMP and could show he understands the legislative game. Either he likes the plan -- which taxes imports instead of exports -- and is going to become the vocal supporter he needs to be to get it through. Or he’s showing its chief supporter Speaker Paul Ryan that he’s trying his way first, and if it fails, he at least gave it a shot. THE QUESTION REMAINS: Is it too little, too late? Retailers opposed to the package have focused squarely on Senate Republicans to serve as the backstop to blocking the plan. Many top Senate Republicans have already come out against the proposal. Check out the Reuters interview http://reut.rs/2lClvXW … And Sean Spicer speaking kindly about the proposal http://cs.pn/2lMttjk
TRUMP SPEAKS – HE SAYS HE WANTS A TWO-STATE SOLUTION -- “Trump wants to make sure U.S. nuclear arsenal at ‘top of the pack,’” by Reuters’ Steve Holland: “President Donald Trump said on Thursday he wants to ensure the U.S. nuclear arsenal is at the ‘top of the pack,’ saying the United States has fallen behind in its weapons capacity. In a Reuters interview, Trump also said China could solve the national security challenge posed by North Korea ‘very easily if they want to,’ ratcheting up pressure on Beijing to exert more influence to rein in Pyongyang's increasingly bellicose actions. Trump also expressed support for the European Union as a governing body, saying ‘I’m totally in favor of it,’ and for the first time as president expressed a preference for a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, but said he would be satisfied with whatever makes the two sides happy.” http://reut.rs/2mjUWa7
BUZZ -- TRUMP is not expected to spend the weekend in Palm Beach this week after heading to the “Southern White House” three weeks in a row. SPOTTED at Mar-a-Lago last night: Marvel Comics CEO and Trump friend Ike Perlmutter.
TRUMP’S FRONTS -- NYT: Large photo of Steve Bannon and Reince Priebus striding down the CPAC stage with smiles on their faces http://nyti.ms/2lCuJUa … WAPO: Another photo of Bannon and Priebus, and the headline “Bannon presses ‘deconstruction’” http://bit.ly/2kTBFPW … N.Y. POST: “Who was behind the Trump tape leak” http://nyp.st/2algwpl
THE PRESIDENT’S FRIDAY -- TRUMP is speaking at CPAC around 10 a.m. He’ll sign an executive order, and will meet with Ohio Gov. John Kasich. In the afternoon, Trump is meeting with President Pedro Pablo Kuczynski of Peru.
-- CPAC today: LOU DOBBS at 9:55 a.m., NIGEL FARAGE at 11:55 a.m., NRA’s WAYNE LAPIERRE at 12:55 p.m., JOHN BOLTON at 2:20 p.m.
MUST READ, NO. 1 -- “FBI refused White House request to knock down recent Trump-Russia stories,” by CNN’s Jim Sciutto, Evan Perez, Shimon Prokupecz, Manu Raju and Pamela Brown: “The FBI rejected a recent White House request to publicly knock down media reports about communications between Donald Trump's associates and Russians known to US intelligence during the 2016 presidential campaign, multiple US officials briefed on the matter tell CNN. But a White House official said late Thursday that the request was only made after the FBI indicated to the White House it did not believe the reporting to be accurate. White House officials had sought the help of the bureau and other agencies investigating the Russia matter to say that the reports were wrong and that there had been no contacts, the officials said. The reports of the contacts were first published by The New York Times and CNN on February 14.
“The direct communications between the White House and the FBI were unusual because of decade-old restrictions on such contacts. Such a request from the White House is a violation of procedures that limit communications with the FBI on pending investigations. Late Thursday night, White House press secretary Sean Spicer objected to CNN’s characterization of the White House request to the FBI. ‘We didn’t try to knock the story down. We asked them to tell the truth,’ Spicer said. The FBI declined to comment for this story.” http://cnn.it/2lMlL9f
MUST READ, NO. 2 -- RARE TRIPLE-BYLINED NEW YORKER BLOCKBUSTER – “Active Measures: What lay behind Russia’s interference in the 2016 election—and what lies ahead?” by David Remnick in New York, Evan Osnos in D.C., and Joshua Yaffa in Moscow (online headline: “Trump, Putin and the New Cold War”): “For many national-security officials, the e-mail hacks were part of a larger, and deeply troubling, picture: Putin’s desire to damage American confidence and to undermine the Western alliances— diplomatic, financial, and military—that have shaped the postwar world. ... The working theory among intelligence officials involved in the case is that the Russian approach—including hacking, propaganda, and contacts with Trump associates—was an improvisation rather than a long-standing plan. [An] official said, ‘After the election, there were a lot of Embassy communications”—to Moscow—‘saying, stunned, “What we do now?”’ http://bit.ly/2lCFaqP
--To accompany the story, BARRY BLITT is behind the week’s cover -- “In a riff on the magazine’s first cover, from 1925, by Rea Irvin, Blitt imagines a future in which The New Yorker’s dandy mascot has become Eustace Vladimirovich Tilley and the lepidopteran under scrutiny is none other than a stunned Donald Trump”: http://bit.ly/2mjOEam
JONATHAN MARTIN and ALEX BURNS on A1 of the NYT, “Weakened Democrats Bow to Voters, Opting for Total War on Trump”: “Reduced to their weakest state in a generation, Democratic Party leaders will gather in two cities this weekend to plot strategy and select a new national chairman with the daunting task of rebuilding the party’s depleted organization. But senior Democratic officials concede that the blueprint has already been chosen for them — by an incensed army of liberals demanding no less than total war against President Trump.
“Immediately after the November election, Democrats were divided over how to handle Mr. Trump, with one camp favoring all-out confrontation and another backing a seemingly less risky approach of coaxing him to the center with offers of compromise. Now, spurred by explosive protests and a torrent of angry phone calls and emails from constituents — and outraged themselves by Mr. Trump’s swift moves to enact a hard-line agenda — Democrats have all but cast aside any notion of conciliation with the White House. Instead, they are mimicking the Republican approach of the last eight years — the ‘party of no’ — and wagering that brash obstruction will pay similar dividends.” http://nyti.ms/2mjInvz
WALL STREET LOVES TRUMP -- “Trump’s ‘big fat bubble’ trouble in the stock market,” by Ben White and Mary Lee: “Seen from Wall Street, the Trump presidency is going perfectly. Travel ban troubles? Whatever. Russian revelations? Meh. Staffing woes? Who cares. Stocks continue to shrug it all off and rocket to new highs on the promise of big tax cuts, infrastructure spending and mass deregulation. But analysts now caution that Trumphoria in the stock market could soon crash into a harsh Washington reality. Before even getting to tax reform - where there is little agreement on the way forward - Republicans have to figure out how to repeal and replace Obamacare, win confirmation for a Supreme Court justice and deal with Democrats eager to slam the brakes on anything and everything President Donald Trump tries to do. The result could be that a frothy stock market Trump derided as a ‘big fat bubble’ before the election - but now takes credit for - suddenly plummets back to Earth.” http://politi.co/2lCBxkV
-- WE SAID IT YESTERDAY, but we’ll say it again for effect: Tax reform is likely a multi-year process. Any deal could die for a thousand reasons that have nothing to do with Donald Trump. But, the president hasn’t yet helped build the case for Republicans to line up behind him on it. And, he certainly isn’t making the case for Senate Democrats to break ranks to get behind a massive bipartisan tax deal.
WHAT BANNON’S REALLY THINKING -- “Bannon vows a daily fight for ‘deconstruction of the administrative state’,” by WaPo’s Phil Rucker and Bob Costa: “The reclusive mastermind behind President Trump’s nationalist ideology and combative tactics made his public debut Thursday, delivering a fiery rebuke of the media and declaring that the new administration is in an unending battle for ‘deconstruction of the administrative state.’ Stephen K. Bannon, the White House chief strategist and intellectual force behind Trump’s agenda, used his first speaking appearance since Trump took office to vow that the president would honor all of the hard-line pledges of his campaign.
“Appearing at a gathering of conservative activists alongside Chief of Staff Reince Priebus, Bannon dismissed the idea that Trump might moderate his positions or seek consensus with political opponents. Rather, he said, the White House is digging in for a long period of conflict to transform Washington and upend the world order. ‘If you think they’re going to give you your country back without a fight, you are sadly mistaken,’ Bannon said in reference to the media and opposition forces. ‘Every day, it is going to be a fight.’ He continued, 'And that is what I’m proudest about Donald Trump. All the opportunities he had to waver off this, all the people who have come to him and said, ‘Oh, you’ve got to moderate’ — every day in the Oval Office, he tells Reince and I, ‘I committed this to the American people, I promised this when I ran, and I’m going to deliver on this.’” http://wapo.st/2meFAHh … Full video of Bannon/Priebus/Matt Schlapp http://bit.ly/2lMEMZ7
--BURIED NUGGET in Rucker/Costa story: “Writers for Breitbart, a main sponsor of CPAC, were treated as if they were ESPN anchors at a major sports event. Washington editor Matthew Boyle, who has scored several Trump interviews and counts Bannon as a mentor, was trailed by a photographer from a magazine that is profiling him.”
-- “Priebus and Bannon push back on the idea they are warring forces,” by Annie Karni and Louis Nelson: “For weeks, Bannon and Priebus have been mounting a charm offensive -- privately -- with reporters in an effort to counter seemingly endless palace intrigue stories about their rivalry inside the White House. Their talk at CPAC, the annual conservative gathering, was their first time taking their buddy comedy act public. … Press secretary Sean Spicer said that the idea of the duo appearing together was pitched to them by CPAC Chairman Matt Schlapp, who moderated the conversation. At the end, Schlapp suggested a group hug.” http://politi.co/2mezLJH
-- @KJAlvarado124: “Please tell me somebody else saw Priebus’ reaction to Bannon trying to touch him. #CPAC2017” http://bit.ly/2lyJlFM
ALL IN THE FAMILY -- “Kushner, Ivanka Trump Pushed to Remove Words Critical of Climate Deal From Executive Order,” by WSJ’s Amy Harder and Peter Nicholas: “At the request of President Donald Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, and his wife, Ivanka Trump, language critical of a global climate deal was struck from an executive order that Mr. Trump is planning to sign soon, according to multiple people familiar with the move. Mr. Trump is expected to sign within days at least two executive orders that will begin the process of trying to dismantle former President Barack Obama’s climate and environmental regulations. Mr. Kushner, a senior adviser to Mr. Trump, and Ms. Trump, the president’s eldest daughter, intervened to strike language about the climate deal from an earlier draft of the executive order, according to these people. The executive order, which targets Mr. Obama’s broad climate agenda, now includes no mention of the climate deal, which nearly 200 nations struck in Paris in 2015, in large part due to a strong push by the Mr. Obama’s administration.” http://on.wsj.com/2meOwfR
-- MARIN COGAN’S RETURN TO THE PAGES OF POLITICO with the Friday Cover: “How Do You Solve a Problem Like Ivanka?: She’s a fashion icon. She’s also the president’s daughter. How will magazines cover the new Ivanka Trump?" http://politi.co/2lMJwxU
TRUMP’S CABINET -- “Trump’s words send Cabinet on perpetual clean-up mission,” by Nahal Toosi: “With each passing day, Donald Trump’s Cabinet looks more like a clean-up crew. The president’s undiplomatic comments are repeatedly forcing his foreign policy and national security appointees into the awkward position of telling an anxious world that, basically, their boss didn’t really mean what he said. The latest example came Thursday, as Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly and Secretary of State Rex Tillerson visited Mexico, a frequent target of Trump’s ire. Trump declared in the morning that the U.S. deportation program he wants to ramp up is ‘a military operation.’ Later in the day, Kelly insisted to Mexican officials that it was no such thing. ‘No — repeat — no use of military force in immigration operations. None,’ the secretary said in a public statement. White House press secretary Sean Spicer dismissed questions about Trump’s use of the term ‘military,’ saying the president was using the word as an adjective to describe how efficiently his immigration-related orders are being implemented.” http://politi.co/2lCtKnb
THE. BEST. EVER. -- “Adelson: Trump likely to be ‘best president for Israel ever,’” by CNN’s Teddy Schleifer: “The laudatory comments, described by multiple attendees of the private event, came as Dick Cheney, the powerful Vice President in George W. Bush’s administration, sat among the audience munching on salmon and brisket. Adelson did not say that Trump was guaranteed to be better than the 43rd president, only that he was poised to do so based on his early moves. Despite sharing the stage with Republican National Committee finance chair Steve Wynn, little of the conversation centered on politics, attendees said. Most of the conversation between the two casino titans revolved around their business principles and how the pair built Las Vegas.” http://cnn.it/2lyJo4t
HEADLINE OF THE DAY -- “Boehner: Republicans won’t repeal and replace Obamacare: ‘They’re basically going to fix the flaws and put a more conservative box around it,’ Boehner said. http://politi.co/2kTEf8s
ABOUT THAT BOEHNER COMMENT … When the former House speaker told an Orlando health care conference that a repeal and replace of Obamacare in GOP D.C. is “not going to happen,” longtime Boehner watchers like us laughed. Why? This is vintage John A. Boehner. Behind the scenes, when the cameras were away and Boehner was dishing with his fellow Republicans, the Ohio Republican would take a drag of his cigarette, a sip of his Merlot and tell the truth about what could and could not happen in D.C. Now he’s freed from the political considerations that bogged him down as speaker, and saying publicly what most everyone is saying privately: Obamacare repeal is a bear.
BUT, BUT, BUT … To the extent this has any impact in the real world, it could help Speaker Paul Ryan. Ryan is going to have a tough enough time dealing with Obamacare that he could use a foil. Boehner -- who is seen as a hardly Republican-enough squish to many conservatives -- is the perfect detractor for Ryan.
THE JUICE …
-- CALIFORNIA ATTORNEY GENERAL XAVIER BECERRA will keynote the DNC’s gathering in Atlanta. Becerra is expected to focus on how Democrats “passed Medicare, Social Security, civil rights and put a man on the moon,” according to a spokesman. He will also emphasize that the Democratic Party “knows how to pass real health security, protect hardworking immigrants and keep our families safe by preventing gun violence, protecting our environment.”
A SOURCE CLOSE to DNC chair candidate Pete Buttigieg tells Playbook Becerra is scheduled to meet privately with the South Bend mayor before Saturday’s DNC chair vote.
-- SPOTTED: OHIO GOV. JOHN KASICH, rocking a Kasich jacket and on a flip phone, in business class from London to Washington Thursday. His aides were in economy. The State of Ohio’s plane is coming to D.C., presumably to pick him up after he meets with the president. http://bit.ly/2lCyclV
-- HEATHER HIGGINBOTTOM and MACON PHILLIPS -- two top Obama White House officials -- are heading to CARE, the massive humanitarian aid agency headed by Michelle Nunn. Higginbottom, who was deputy secretary of State for management and resources, will be chief operating officer. Phillips -- who founded the White House office of digital strategy before revamping the International Information Program -- will be chief digital officer.
-- MARTY OBST and KATHLEEN ROONEY joined the Maverick PAC board: Obst, a partner at MO Strategies, started the 2016 cycle as campaign manager for then Gov. Mike Pence. He ran VP operations on the Trump-Pence campaign and was deputy CEO of the Inaugural Committee. Kathleen Rooney, daughter of Rep. Francis Rooney (R-Fla.), is VP of Rooney Holdings, a privately-held investment company.
GET SMART FAST -- “Takeaways from a week of raucous town halls,” by Kyle Cheney: “The angst is real … The surest applause line: Break with the GOP … Moscow on their minds … Growing fear of a viral moment.” http://politi.co/2lCnNq1
-- “No evidence town hall protesters are being paid,” by Elana Schor: http://politi.co/2lgxIRh
WHAT SENATE REPUBLICANS ARE SMILING ABOUT -- RBG ON GORSUCH -- AP’s Sam Hananel: “At her university appearance [at GWU], Ginsburg had some kind words about Judge Neil Gorsuch, Trump’s nominee to fill the vacancy on the Supreme Court. Ginsburg said she got to know Gorsuch during a trip to England a few years ago to meet with judges there. ‘I’ve worked with him and I think he’s very easy to get along with,’ she said. ‘He writes very well.’” http://detne.ws/2lR87C6
K-FILE – “Trump Israel ambassador pick bragged of removing two-state solution from GOP platform at November event,” by CNN’s Andrew Kaczynski: “In the speech delivered in his hometown of Woodmere, NY, video of which was reviewed by CNN’s KFile, [David] Friedman boasted of removing references of the two-state solution and occupation of the West Bank from the Republican Party platform, called the Jewish group J-Street ‘a dangerous organization,’ and said the Anti-Defamation League had ‘lost all credibility.’ He said it would be ‘ludicrous’ to pressure Israel to make peace to create ‘another Arab dysfunctional state.’ Friedman also falsely asserted that Hillary Clinton aide Huma Abedin has ties to the Muslim Brotherhood, a far-right conspiracy theory that has been debunked by several fact-checking organizations.” http://cnn.it/2mjyWvU
FOR YOUR RADAR -- “Kim Jong Nam Killed With U.N.-Banned VX Nerve Agent, Malaysia Says,” by WSJ’s Ben Otto and Yantoultra Ngui in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia: “The chemical substance used to kill Kim Jong Nam last week was an extremely toxic United Nations-banned nerve agent called VX, police here said, significantly raising the political stakes in a case that has already frayed diplomatic ties between Malaysia and North Korea. Experts believe North Korea possesses several thousand metric tons of chemical weapons and nerve agents—including VX—that are banned by the U.N. and considered weapons of mass destruction.” http://on.wsj.com/2lgn90D
K STREET WATCH -- “INFLUENCE GAME: GM bill is self-driving and self-interested,” by AP’s Joan Lowy: “With states seizing the initiative on shaping the future of self-driving cars, General Motors is trying to persuade lawmakers across the country to approve rules that would benefit the automaker while potentially keeping its competitors off the road. The carmaker denies trying to freeze out other brands, but legislators in four states say GM lobbyists asked them to sponsor bills that the company’s competitors contend would do just that. The bills set a blueprint for the introduction of fully self-driving cars that are part of on-demand, ride-sharing fleets, but they must be owned by an automaker. Competitors working on self-driving technology like Uber and Alphabet's Waymo fear the measures could shut out their companies because they don't manufacture cars.” http://apne.ws/2lQSHO0
DO AS I SAY, NOT AS I DO -- “Zuckerberg group that fought Trump gave to transition,” by Tony Romm and Theo Meyer: “At the height of the 2016 presidential campaign, the immigration reform group FWD.us took aim at then-GOP candidate Donald Trump and blasted him for pursuing policies that might lead to ‘mass deportations.’ But months later the nonprofit founded by Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg wrote a $5,000 check to Trump’s presidential transition — the latest indication that it’s still business as usual for the tech industry in Washington despite the revulsion many Silicon Valley engineers and executives feel toward Trump. Hoping to curry early favor and help shape the incoming administration, FWD.us joined a handful of tech and telecom companies like AT&T, Microsoft and Qualcomm in funding Trump’s months-long transition operation, which raked in roughly $6.5 million through Feb. 15, according to a transition disclosure report filed last weekend and obtained by POLITICO on Thursday.” http://politi.co/2lyFHf8
TUCKER CARLSON PROFILE – MCKAY COPPINS in The Atlantic, “The Bow-Tied Bard of Populism”: On Washington D.C. and his neighbors: “‘I’m so pathetically eager for people to love D.C.,’ he admits. ‘It’s so sad. It’s like I work for the chamber of commerce or something.’ If this boosterism seems out of character for a primetime populist like Carlson, he doesn’t seem to mind the dissonance. He speaks glowingly of his Northwest Washington neighborhood, a tony enclave of liberal affluence where, he tells me, he is surrounded by diplomats, lawyers, world bankers, and well-paid media types. They are reliably ‘wonderful’; unfailingly ‘nice’; ‘some of my favorite people in the world.’ If you’ve watched Carlson on TV lately, you know they are also wrong about virtually everything.” http://theatln.tc/2lgox3f
WEST COAST WATCH -- “Can the Calif. Republican Party bounce back in 2018? Here’s the chairman’s game plan,” by LA Times’ Phil Willon and Christine Mai-Duc: http://lat.ms/2lCa0Qv
-- FLASHBACK to 2012: “GOP's California dreams dashed,” by Jake Sherman in Sacramento. http://politi.co/2kTLRYq
HOT VIDEO -- BENNY JOHNSON offered Brexit leader Nigel Farage an Irish Car Bomb yesterday at CPAC. “He drank half of it in one gulp. I drank the other half.” 42-second video http://bit.ly/2kTqOp6
MEDIAWATCH -- COMING ATTRACTIONS -- THE PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS -- TWITTER and the PBS NEWSHOUR will live stream Trump’s address to a joint session next Tuesday. Their joint Inauguration Day live stream was the most viewed live stream ever on Twitter.
-- GABRIELLE BLUESTONE, the pride of the Upper East Side and GW, is starting at Vice as an editor next month. Gabby most recently worked at Gawker.
SPOTTED -- Wayne Gretsky at Fiola Mare … Ed Henry at MGM National Harbor … Judge Neil Gorsuch eating dinner at 1789 last night. He took photos with wait staff and other diners ... Justice Stephen Breyer at Rasika in Penn Quarter ... Valerie Jarrett sitting across the aisle (literally and figuratively) from Bush/Cantor alum Rory Cooper and Bush/Romney alum Brian Bartlett on the 11 a.m. Acela from D.C. to New York ... Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.) wearing a red Wisconsin jacket at DFW ... UAE Ambassador Yousef al-Otaiba at one table and Inter-American Development Bank President Luis Alberto Moreno at another at the Four Seasons for breakfast ... Chris Matthews in first class on yesterday’s 12 p.m. American Airlines shuttle from LGA to DCA
WELCOME TO THE WORLD – Natalie Munoz, SVP at SKDKnickerbocker, and Rene Munoz, a longtime Hill staffer and Obama administration appointee, have welcomed Michael Joseph Munoz, born Feb. 14. Baby Mikey was welcomed to the world by dad Rene and big brother Lucas. Pic http://bit.ly/2mrX2nv
--Erin Vieira, associate director for regional sales at digital ad firm Undertone, and Paulo Vieira, a plant nematologist, welcomed a baby boy on Wednesday named Raffaele Matticola Vieira. Pic http://bit.ly/2mjLIuF
TRANSITIONS -- Steven D’Amico has started D’Amico Strategy http://bit.ly/2lglQPj … Sen. David Perdue’s (R-Ga.) aides PJ Waldrop and Megan Whittemore have both been promoted to deputy chief of staff. They will also continue in their current roles as legislative director and communications director while assuming more day-to-day responsibilities. … Rebecca Schieber just started at the Locust Street Group, focusing on grassroots and advocacy. She’s Carly Fiorina’s former body woman (AP story on her: http://apne.ws/2lMkLBR) and most recently regional field director for the Toomey campaign. ... The global poverty fighting organization CARE announced that Beth Solomon has been named managing director, external affairs and development, and will be based in its Washington office. http://bit.ly/2l6wVl5 ... Maggie Dougherty starts on Monday as policy adviser for U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Nikki Haley in the D.C. office. She previously was senior congressional advisor for the British Embassy and is a Rubio alum.
OBAMA ALUMNI -- TEDDY GOFF, co-founder and partner at Precision Strategies, was selected as a part of the American Association of Political Consultants (AAPC)’s 40 Under 40 yesterday. Other Playbookers on the list include: Gary Coby, Vince Harris, Nick Everhart, Seth Colton, Emily Cornell, Scott Zumwalt, Kelly Ward and Karl Frisch. http://bit.ly/2meDeYZ
SUNDAY SO FAR -- ABC’s “This Week”: House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.). Panel: Alex Castellanos, Stephanie Cutter, Amy Holmes, Robert Reich, and David Remnick.
--“Fox News Sunday”: Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker ... Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe ... Power Player: Dan Scavino, White House director of social media. Panel: Steve Hilton, Julie Pace, Lisa Boothe, Juan Williams
--CBS’ “Face the Nation”: Ben Domenech, Ezra Klein, Lanhee Chen & Molly Ball
--CNN’s “State of the Union”: Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.). Panel: Former Gov. Jennifer Granholm, former Sen. Rick Santorum, Rep. Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.), Rep. Mark Sanford (R-S.C.)
--CNN’s “Inside Politics,” hosted by John King: Abby Phillip, Jeff Zeleny, Margaret Talev, Reid Wilson
BIRTHDAY OF THE DAY: Kevin Lewis (@klewis44), spokesperson for former President Obama, celebrating by going to NYC tonight to see Hamilton and having dinner with family and friends in Brooklyn over the weekend – read his Playbook Plus Q&A: http://politi.co/2lCEIJ9
BIRTHDAYS: Mark Salter, the pride of Davenport, Iowa ... Paula Zahn is 61 ... former Sen. Joe Lieberman, now No Labels co-chair, is 75 (h/t Dennis Craig) ... NYT’s Sabrina Tavernise ... Blake Waggoner, managing partner of HomeState Media, is 31 ... Nilda Pedrosa ... Juliet K. Choi, former COS at USCIS ... Secretary of the Senate Julie Adams (paw tip: Maggie) ... Joshua Gardner, VP for MSL Washington ... Emily Feldman, who works at education nonprofit AMIDEAST, is 24 (h/t Brendan Holman) ... former Mass. Gov. Jane Swift is 52 -- she was acting governor at the age of 36 and lt. governor at 34 (h/t Ed Cash) ... Hemant Taneja, managing director at General Catalyst ... Karen Olick, managing director at SKDKnickerbocker and Boxer alum (h/ts Jon Haber) ... former Sen. Zell Miller is 85 ... Kevin Dando, PBS’ senior director of social media strategy and digital comms ... Kate Kelly of Interior fame ... Politico’s Connor O’Brien ... Paula Stannard ... Politico Europe’s Tom McTague ... Will Gattenby, co-founder and CEO at William & Lauren Custom Clothiers ...
... Jacqueline Alemany, White House reporter for CBS News ... Chris Chocola, former Club for Growth President, is 55 ... Lindsay Hamilton, COS and VP at Center for American Progress (hubby tip: Phil Elwood) ... Jacqueline Hackett ... Allison Branca, assistant to the VP of comms. at Brookings … Reagan McGrath ... Emily West … former Commerce deputy secretary Bruce Andrews is 49 … “Fix Jr.” Cillizza … Abram Olmstead, digital director at the National Automobile Dealers Association and a Chamber alum, is 32 … Jacqueline Hackett, drug-abuse prevention advocate and deputy director for policy at ONDCP ... Peter Lovett ... Nina Hutchison, soon to be proud H.S. graduate from Green Bay ... Fred Martin ... Sam Teller ... Sam Novey (h/ts Teresa Vilmain) ... Abdul Wahid Sanjar ... Andrew Giacini, LA for Rep. Jason Lewis ... Rudy Mendoza of Rep. Nunes’ office ... Kavontae Smalls, comms director for Rep. Matt Gaetz ... Jennifer Griffith of Senate Rules (h/ts Legistorm)