POLITICO Playbook: A small crack in the GOP firewall Presented by Amazon

Yesterday’s developments mark a shift in how some Republicans are willing to discuss President Donald Trump publicly. | Win McNamee/Getty Images

DRIVING THE DAY

A SMALL CRACK IN THE GOP FIREWALL? -- A few outliers in the Republican Party -- Rep. Francis Rooney (R-Fla.), former Ohio governor John Kasich, who has contemplated launching a primary challenge -- have begun to publicly speak out against President Donald Trump. The vast majority, including GOP leaders in both the Senate and House, are sticking with the president. But yesterday’s developments mark a shift in how some Republicans are willing to discuss the president publicly.

-- “Growing number of Republicans struggle to defend Trump on G-7 choice, Ukraine and Syria,” by WaPo’s Rachael Bade, Mike DeBonis and Seung Min Kim: “A growing number of congressional Republicans expressed exasperation Friday over what they view as President Trump’s indefensible behavior, a sign that the president’s stranglehold on his party is starting to weaken as Congress hurtles toward a historic impeachment vote.

“In interviews with more than 20 GOP lawmakers and congressional aides in the past 48 hours, many said they were repulsed by Trump’s decision to host an international summit at his own resort and incensed by acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney’s admission — later withdrawn — that U.S. aid to Ukraine was withheld for political reasons. Others expressed anger over the president’s abandonment of Kurdish allies in Syria.” WaPo

-- “Shifting explanations from White House alarm some in GOP,” by AP’s Lisa Mascaro, Andrew Taylor and Mary Clare Jalonick: “[F]ormer Ohio Gov. John Kasich, who ran against Trump in the 2016 Republican primary, said he now supports impeaching the president. Mulvaney’s admission, he said, was the ‘final straw.’ ‘The last 24 hours has really forced me to review all of this,’ Kasich said on CNN.

“In Congress, at least one Republican, Rep. Francis Rooney of Florida, spoke out publicly, telling reporters that he and others were concerned by Mulvaney’s remarks. Rooney said he’s open to considering all sides in the impeachment inquiry. He also said Mulvaney’s comments cannot simply undone by a follow-up statement.” AP

-- @RepRooney: “I am in favor of finding out all of the factual information available in this process that is already underway. I did not endorse an impeachment inquiry.”

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THE LATEST ON TURKEY …

-- “Trump touts Turkey cease-fire, even as it appears shaky,” by AP’s Robert Burns and Zeke Miller: “President Donald Trump is pushing back at criticism that his Syria withdrawal is damaging U.S. credibility, betraying Kurdish allies and opening the door for a possible resurgence of the Islamic State. He touted a cease-fire agreement that seemed at risk as Turkey and Kurdish fighters differed over what it required and whether combat had halted.

“‘We’ve had tremendous success I think over the last couple of days,’ Trump declared Friday. He added that ‘we’ve taken control of the oil in the Middle East’ -- a claim that seemed disconnected from any known development there. He made the assertion twice Friday, but other U.S. officials were unable to explain what he meant.” AP

-- “Pence, Thrown Into Turkey Negotiations, Pleases Few With Erdogan Agreement,” by NYT’s Annie Karni: “Vice President Mike Pence’s most notable public appearances recently have been as a warm-up act for President Trump at his rallies. His big-ticket projects include low-visibility roles leading the National Space Council and the Commission on Election Integrity, and serving as something of a traveling Trump administration salesman, promoting the new North American trade deal across the country.

“So when Mr. Trump turned to him in the Oval Office after a phone call on Monday with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey and said he wanted Mr. Pence to depart immediately for Ankara to begin negotiations with Mr. Erdogan it was by far the most high-profile moment of his vice presidency.

“But after a frenzied rush to obtain visas and a push by the Secret Service to organize in 48 hours a foreign visit that would normally take weeks to plan, the 35-hour door-to-door trip was yet another illustration of the perils of being Mr. Trump’s vice president. By the time he returned to Washington early Friday morning, the cease-fire agreement he negotiated had been roundly denounced, even by Republicans, as a capitulation to Mr. Erdogan.” NYT

-- MITCH MCCONELL OP-ED: “Mitch McConnell: Withdrawing from Syria is a grave mistake”

WHAT’S NEXT: “Pentagon sees few options for preventing new ISIS safe haven in Syria,” by Wesley Morgan: “The United States’ abrupt withdrawal from northeastern Syria is forcing the Pentagon to accept a dangerous reality — the rebirth of an Islamic State sanctuary that could allow terrorists to launch attacks on the West.

“The U.S. military won’t be able do much more than monitor and try to contain ISIS activity in parts of Syria without special operations forces on the ground, according to current and former military officials. And although the Defense Department is considering backup options including a drone campaign and occasional commando raids, the pullout of the troops who had been living in the country alongside Syrian Kurdish forces will make it difficult to track the group or find targets to attack.” POLITICO

Good Saturday morning.

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DANIEL LIPPMAN: “Trump veterans see a presidency veering off the rails”

ABOUT THOSE CLINTON EMAILS -- “State Dept. Inquiry Into Clinton Emails Finds No Deliberate Mishandling of Classified Information,” by Catie Edmondson: “A yearslong State Department investigation into former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s private email server found that while the use of the system for official business increased the risk of compromising classified information, there was no systemic or deliberate mishandling of classified information.

“The inquiry, started more than three years ago, found that 38 current or former State Department officials were “culpable” of violating security procedures in a review of about 33,000 individual emails sent to or from the server that Ms. Clinton turned over to investigators.

“The nine-page unclassified report, completed last month and shared with Congress this week, appears to bookend a controversy that dogged Ms. Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign against Donald J. Trump. Ms. Clinton blamed the F.B.I.’s handling of the inquiry for crippling her campaign after James B. Comey, then the bureau’s director, reopened his investigation into the server days before the general election after initially declining to bring charges.” NYT

IMPEACHMENT CLIP PACKET …

-- “Rick Perry won’t comply with subpoena in impeachment probe,” by Anthony Adragna and Ben Lefebvre: “Energy Secretary Rick Perry is refusing to comply with a congressional subpoena seeking a host of records related to his actions in Ukraine at the heart of Congress’ ongoing impeachment inquiry.

“Perry becomes the latest official in President Donald Trump’s administration to refuse to turn over documents, heightening the stakes for the Energy chief who announced his intention to resign from the administration earlier this week.

“In a letter to the committees Friday, a senior DOE official reiterated the White House's objection to the impeachment probe as illegitimate because the House has not formally voted on a resolution to open an inquiry.” POLITICO

-- “Giuliani pushed Trump administration to grant a visa to a Ukrainian official promising dirt on Democrats,” by CNN’s Manu Raju, Michael Warren, Kylie Atwood, Lauren Fox and Jeremy Herb: “Career diplomat George Kent told congressional investigators in his closed-door testimony this week that Rudy Giuliani asked the State Department and the White House to grant a visa to the former Ukrainian official who Joe Biden had pushed to have removed when he was vice president, according to four people familiar with Kent's testimony.

“Kent, the deputy assistant secretary of state for European and Eurasian affairs, testified that around January 2019 Giuliani requested a visa for former Ukrainian prosecutor-general Viktor Shokin to travel to the United States. Shokin had been pushed out of his position as Ukraine's top prosecutor in 2016 after pressure from Western leaders, including Biden, over concerns that he was not pursuing corruption cases.” CNN

-- “As Inquiry Widens, McConnell Is Said to See Impeachment Trial as Inevitable,” by NYT’s Carl Hulse

-- “Impeachment takeaways: Damning testimony and a surprise confession,” by Natasha Bertrand, Nancy Cook, Josh Gerstein, Darren Samuelsohn, and Melanie Zanona

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2020 WATCH …

-- “Sanders set for ‘vigorous’ campaign return after heart scare,” by AP’s Steve Peoples: “Bernie Sanders isn’t going anywhere. Less than three weeks after suffering a heart attack, the Democratic presidential contender is beginning what he’s calling a “vigorous” return to campaigning with a rally expected to draw thousands of supporters to New York City on Saturday afternoon. One of them will be Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Sanders’ latest high-profile endorsement, who will share the stage with Sanders this weekend and give his stagnant White House bid an instant dose of energy.

“The event marks a coming-out party of sorts for the 78-year-old Vermont senator. He had emergency heart surgery this month but insists that he’s more committed than ever to his 2020 White House bid. With the first voting contests less than four months away, he has some work to do.” AP

-- “With $10-million haul, Trump outraises Democratic challengers in California,” by L.A. Times’ Maloy Moore

TRUMP’S SATURDAY -- The president has no public events scheduled.



PLAYBOOK READS

PHOTO DU JOUR: President Donald Trump, Vice President Mike Pence, and Ivanka Trump speak with Jessica Meir and Christina Koch as they conduct the first all-female spacewalk on Friday. | Evan Vucci/AP Photo

BREXIT LATEST … UK MPs force Boris Johnson to seek a Brexit extension: MPs to Johnson: ‘Ask for an extension, then we’ll consider your Brexit deal.’” by POLITICO Europe’s Eleni Courea in London: “U.K. MPs refused to vote on the Brexit deal Saturday — and instead forced the prime minister to seek a three-month extension first.

“The House of Commons voted by 322 to 306 to support an amendment to the Brexit deal saying it ‘has considered the matter but withholds approval unless and until implementing legislation is passed.’

“The move is designed to compel Prime Minister Boris Johnson to seek a three-month extension to the Brexit deadline from Brussels. He would not have had to do so if his deal had passed Saturday, even though further legislation would be required to pull the U.K. out of the EU.” POLITICO EU

DAILY RUDY -- “Giuliani Mixes His Business With Role as Trump’s Lawyer,” by NYT’s Ken Vogel, Michael S. Schmidt and Katie Benner: “It is an extraordinary time in Washington, but it is more or less business as usual for Rudolph W. Giuliani. He is a central figure in the impeachment inquiry. He is under scrutiny by federal prosecutors. But throughout the building controversy, Mr. Giuliani has continued to represent clients, broker deals and take on consulting contracts in Washington and around the world in ways that leave him subject to criticism that he is using his role as President Trump’s personal lawyer to open doors to the government and influence policy despite the questions about his own conduct.

“A few weeks ago, Mr. Giuliani secured a meeting, along with some other defense lawyers, with the head of the Justice Department’s criminal division and attorneys in the fraud section. They were there to discuss a foreign bribery case for a client that Mr. Giuliani described as ‘very, very sensitive.’

“Mr. Giuliani declined to divulge any details about the meeting, except to say it had nothing to do with legal issues facing him or Mr. Trump. Days after the meeting, it was revealed that Mr. Giuliani was under investigation himself for possible violations of foreign lobbying laws by federal prosecutors in Manhattan.” NYT

BEYOND THE BELTWAY -- “New Jersey’s liberal governor takes on Democrats Christie embraced,” by Ryan Hutchins in Trenton: “Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, a Republican, used to berate hecklers on the boardwalk, faced off with furious union members at town hall meetings and hurled insults at Democratic enemies, using his tough-guy persona to became a global sensation before leaving office with a record-low approval.

“His successor, Phil Murphy, a Democrat who has established little national profile since taking office last year, likes to avoid confrontation and portrays himself as a happy warrior who can get along with anyone, believing he can reason his way to success by getting the public on his side.

“But it is Murphy — an Obama-era ambassador, former Democratic National Committee finance chair and now chair-elect of the Democratic Governors Association — who has caused the most problems for Democrats in New Jersey, where he has infuriated some of the party’s most influential members. It’s a dispute that could end Murphy’s political career, or cause a seismic shift in how things get done in Trenton.” POLITICO

CLICKER – “The nation’s cartoonists on the week in politics,” edited by Matt Wuerker -- 15 keepers

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GREAT WEEKEND READS, curated by Daniel Lippman (@dlippman):

-- “Why Don’t Rich People Just Stop Working?” by Alex Williams in the NYT: “Are the wealthy addicted to money, competition, or just feeling important? Yes.” NYT

-- “Portrait of an Inessential Government Worker,” by Michael Lewis in Bloomberg: “Glory isn’t part of the deal when you go to work for the federal government.” Bloomberg

-- “One Night at Mount Sinai,” by Lisa Miller in The Cut: “Aja Newman went to the emergency room for shoulder pain. Her doctor was a superstar. What’s the worst that could happen?” The Cut

-- “Fire!” by Olivia Rutigliano in Lapham’s Quarterly: “On 5th December 1876 the Brooklyn Theatre went up in flames. One of the gaslights above the stage set the drop-curtain on fire. Although the actors saw the blaze, they continued the performance. Someone opened the stage doors to allow an exit. A draft blew in and flames billowed. Screaming people struggled to exit, falling over the balcony, sliding down the stairs, piling on top of one another. At least 278 perished.” Lapham’s Quarterly (h/t TheBrowser.com)

-- “Breaking the Family Silence on Alcoholism” – Longreads.com: “Alicia Lutes contemplates her family’s history of addiction, her mother’s failing liver, and the effect it’s all had on her generation.” Longreads

-- “The Untold Story of the 2018 Olympics Cyberattack, the Most Deceptive Hack in History,” by Andy Greenberg in Wired: “How digital detectives unraveled the mystery of Olympic Destroyer—and why the next big attack will be even harder to crack.” Wired (h/t Longform.org)

-- “‘You Are To Stand Down’: Ronan Farrow’s Producer on How NBC Killed Its Weinstein Story” – Vanity Fair: “Rich McHugh recounts how top NBC brass, including news chairman Andrew Lack and news president Noah Oppenheim, bowed to Harvey Weinstein to quash the truth.” VF

-- “Why older people should be allowed to change their legal age,” by Joona Räsänen in Aeon Magazine – per TheBrowser.com’s description: “If you feel twenty years younger than your age, and you want to be treated as a younger person, should you be allowed to change your legal age to express the age of your inner self? It is hard to see why not, all other things being equal, although it is also possible to imagine some ‘unsettling’ outcomes — parents who want to be younger than their children, for example.” Aeon

-- “When Medical Debt Collectors Decide Who Gets Arrested,” by Lizzie Presser in ProPublica: “Welcome to Coffeyville, Kansas, where the judge has no law degree, debt collectors get a cut of the bail, and Americans are watching their lives — and liberty — disappear in the pursuit of medical debt collection.” ProPublica

-- “The Ugly History of Beautiful Things: Orchids,” by Katy Kelleher in Longreads – per TheBrowser.com’s description: “The passion for orchids in Victorian England was born of botany, snobbery, and jingoism. Any gardener could grow a rose bush, but to grow an orchid you needed a greenhouse; the Duke of Devonshire built the first and best in 1830. ... They got plenty of both. When eight orchid hunters went to the Philippines in 1901, one was eaten by a tiger, a second was burned alive, and five vanished. The survivor returned with 7,000 orchids.” Longreads

-- “A Photographer at the Ends of the Earth,” by Dana Goodyear in The New Yorker: “Thomas Joshua Cooper risks his life to document the world’s remotest places.” New Yorker

PLAYBOOKERS

Send tips to Eli Okun and Garrett Ross at [email protected].

SPOTTED: Mick Mulvaney at DCA waiting for a flight to Raleigh on Friday. Pic … Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa) at DCA on Friday. Pic … Seb Gorka at Wiseguy Pizza in Rosslyn on Friday. … John Podesta, Tom Daschle and Ned Price deplaning together at the San Francisco airport from a flight from Taipei, Taiwan, on Friday.

SPOTTED at a party for Bret Baier’s new book, “Three Days at the Brink” ($20.29 on Amazon) at Cafe Milano on Friday co-hosted by Amy Baier, Amb. Yousef Al Otaiba and Abeer Al Otaiba, Franco Nuschese, Raul and Jean Marie Fernandez, David Tafuri and Anastasia Vakula, Tammy Haddad: Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross and Hillary Ross, Sen. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) and Abby Blunt, Norah O’Donnell and Geoff Tracy, Jonathan Karl, Mike Allen, Phil Rucker, Chris Isham and Jennifer Magurie …

… Rick Klein, Brian Stelter, Shannon Bream, Barbie, Robert and Elena Allbritton, Patrick Steel, Capricia Marshall, Dan Meyers, Kevin Latek, Juleanna and Becca Glover, Donald Graham and Amanda Bennett, Ryan Williams, John McCarthy, Anita McBride, Brian Hook, Azerbaijani Amb. Elin and Lala Suleymanov, Carol Melton, Greta Van Susteren and John Coale, Mark Ein, Michael Crowley, Tom McMillen, Marie Harf and Nick Hahn.

WEDDING -- Julie Mason, host of Press Pool on SiriusXM radio, and Alper Tunga Yakupoglu got married last week at the National Building Museum. The couple told no one and self-married, describing it as “possibly the best wedding ever.”

BIRTHDAY OF THE DAY: Steve Doocy, co-host of “Fox and Friends.” How he got his start in journalism: “I was a paperboy delivering the Kansas City Star. I hated the Sunday edition, it weighed about 3 pounds and I had 52 homes on my route. 3 x 52 = TOO MUCH FOR A KID TO CARRY! My dad fixed me up with a wagon that I hitched to my bike and it was loaded up like the Grinch Who Stole Christmas’ sleigh as I went up and down the streets of south Salina, Kan., in the middle of the night throwing bulky papers into bushes.” Playbook Q&A

BIRTHDAYS: Grover Norquist, president of Americans for Tax Reform, is 63 ... NYT’s Carl Hulse … Rep. Kurt Schrader (D-Ore.) is 68 ... Marvin Nicholson … Holly Fine, documentarian and former “60 Minutes” producer … Megan Powers ... American Airlines’ Maggie Steenland … Katie Rayford, director of media relations at Slate, is 29 ... Winston Lord, co-founder and chief evangelist of Venga … Amy Carter ... Dale Brown, founding president and CEO of the Financial Services Institute, is 57 … POLITICO’s Kyle Cheney and Emily Helpern … WaPo’s Anthony Faiola … POLITICO Europe’s Sarah Wheaton ... Amy Walter ... Becca Herries ... Edelman’s Jeremy Gosbee … Amy Hemingway … Steven Greenhouse (hat tip: Jon Haber) … Brett Pinto ... Nicole Pavia ... Marsha Mercer ... Kevin Keane of the American Beverage Association … Kathryn Fanlund, comms manager for Legal Services Corporation ... Samantha Schwab …

… former RNC Chairman Michael Steele is 61 … Bank of America Chairman and CEO Brian Moynihan … JC Sherman … Lauren Crawford Shaver, partner at Forbes Tate Partners ... Julia Schechter, director at SKDKnickerbocker ... Jay Footlik is 54 … Kelley Anne Carney ... Tajha Chappellet-Lanier … Ray Day, chief comms officer at IBM … Rex Smith … WNYC’s Andrea Bernstein … Gareth Danker is 41 … Hailey Crust … Sean Smith, EVP at Porter Novelli … Sam Heitner … Elie Litvin … Camille Solberg … Austin Hansen … Shelby Coffey … Brandon Webb … Richard Fife … Johnnetta Cole … Dana Brown Ritter … former Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat is 6-0 … Yoram Ettinger … Philip Minardi … Eileen Zimmerman … Michael Paul Carey … former Rep. Patrick Murphy (D-Pa.) is 46 … Robin Smith … Katie Belanger … Monica Vernon (h/ts Teresa Vilmain)

SUNDAY SHOWS, Matt Mackowiak, from Austin:

-- NBC’s “Meet the Press”: Rep. Justin Amash (I-MI) … Pete Buttigieg ... Brett McGurk. Panel: Dan Balz, Joshua Johnson, Danielle Pletka and Betsy Woodruff Swan.

-- ABC’s “This Week”: Secretary of State Mike Pompeo … Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.). Panel: Chris Christie, Rahm Emanuel, Sarah Fagen and Heidi Heitkamp.

-- CBS’s “Face the Nation”: Rep. Jim Himes (D-Conn.) … Rep. Will Hurd (R-Texas) … Gen. Raymond Thomas (Ret.) ... William Burns … Michael Morrell. Panel: Susan Davis, Paula Reid, Jamal Simmons and Michael Steel.

-- “Fox News Sunday”: White House acting chief of staff Mick Mulvaney … Pete Buttigieg. Panel: Jason Chaffetz, Jane Harman, Kimberley Strassel and Juan Williams … “Power Player of the Week” segment with Dr. Robert Ballard.

-- Fox News’ “Sunday Morning Futures”: Re-air of interview with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo … Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) … House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) … Rep. Devin Nunes (R-Calif.) … Rep. Michael McCaul (R-Texas).

-- Fox News’ “MediaBuzz”: Ben Domenech … Ray Suarez … Sharyl Attkisson … Buck Sexton … Mara Liasson … Kat Timpf … Dana Perino.

-- CNN’s “Inside Politics” Panel: Michael Shear, Laura Barrón-López, Karoun Demirjian and Kaitlan Collins.

-- CNN’s “State of the Union”: Gen. David Petraeus … Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) … Pete Buttigieg. Panel: Rep. Joe Neguse (D-Colo.), Sean Duffy, Jen Psaki and Amanda Carpenter.

-- CNN’s “Fareed Zakaria GPS”: Ash Carter … Stephen Hadley and Meghan O’Sullivan.

-- CNN’s “Reliable Sources”: Panel: Krystal Ball, Elaina Plott, Olivia Nuzzi and Matt Lewis … Ronan Farrow … Panel: Daniel Dale, Katie Rogers and Erik Wemple.

-- Univision’s “Al Punto”: Report on the release of El Chapo’s son … Alejandro Hope … Pedro Ferriz de Con … Hanna and Jerry Olivas … Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.) … José Valencia … Pablo Ramirez.

-- C-SPAN: “The Communicators”: Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson (D-Texas), questioned by The Washington Post’s Cat Zakrzewski … “Newsmakers”: Republicans for the Rule of Law executive director Sarah Longwell, questioned by CQ Roll Call’s Simone Pathe and National Journal’s Josh Kraushaar … “Q&A”: American University’s Alan Kraut.

-- MSNBC’s “Kasie DC”: Rep. Max Rose (D-N.Y.) … Rep. Anthony Brown (D-M.D.) … Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-D.C.) … Yamiche Alcindor … Jonathan Lemire … Philip Bump … Maria Hinojosa … David Fahrenthold … Rick Stengel … Evelyn Farkas … John Podhoretz … Susan Del Percio.

-- Washington Times’ “Mack on Politics” weekly politics podcast with Matt Mackowiak (download on iTunes, Google Play, Spotify or Stitcher or listen at MackOnPoliticsPodcast.com : Former U.S. Ambassador to Syria Robert Ford.

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