McCASKILL: I’VE ALREADY READ AKIN’S BOOK – DOJ won’t probe CIA-Hill spying spat -- Boehner lawsuit to focus on health law – STOCKMAN: ARREST LERNER – Duke Cunningham is a free man Presented by

By Scott Wong ( [email protected] or @scottwongDC)

McCASKILL: I’VE ALREADY READ TODD AKIN’S BOOK – Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.), who defeated Republican Todd Akin back in 2012, tells Huddle she’s already read her opponent’s forthcoming book in which he says he’s really not sorry for making offensive remarks about “legitimate rape” and pregnancy during the campaign.


“I’ve already read the book. I’ve read the whole thing. It took me an hour and 45 minutes,” McCaskill said during a Senate subway ride to the Hart Building. The book’s not out until Tuesday, but the senator said someone on her campaign obtained a PDF of it and passed it along to her. “I got a copy, and so I read the whole thing.”

What did she think of Akin taking back his apology? “He said he wasn’t sorry for a lot of things,” McCaskill said. “He doubled down on just about every extreme position he took in the campaign, from demonizing student loans to saying that women have magic uteruses, and it was stunning … quite frankly, that Mike Huckabee wrote the forward, who is talked about as a presidential candidate.

“I think I was most interested in the venom that [Akin] had for the Republican Party,” McCaskill continued. “He was very critical of everyone from Roy Blunt to John McCain, John Cornyn, Karl Rove, Reince Priebus -- they attacked him, and he feels that’s the reason he’s not a United States senator.”

The Missouri Democrat will be out later this year with her own book about the 2012 race. She’ll complete it within the month, she said. And Akin can expect to receive an early copy of her book when it’s published.

“He won’t have to buy a copy, just like I didn’t have to buy a copy of his,” she said.

GOP TO AKIN: SHUT UP – POLITICO’s Anna Palmer and Tarini Parti get the Republican reaction: “Todd Akin is back talking about rape in his new book and Republicans have a message for him: Shut up. The Missouri Republican’s memoir offers no apologies for his comments on ‘legitimate rape,’ his bruising loss to Sen. Claire McCaskill or the effect many Republicans say his remarks had on the 2012 field — when the Senate slipped through their fingers. Several operatives, consultants and politicians didn’t waste any time responding to attacks in the book, ‘Firing Back: Taking on the Party Bosses and Media Elite to Protect Our Faith and Freedom,’ set to be released July 15. A copy was provided to POLITICO early.

-- “‘Todd Akin is an embarrassment to the Republican Party and the sole reason Claire McCaskill is still part of Harry Reid’s majority,’ said Brian Walsh, who served as communications director for the National Republican Senatorial Committee during the 2012 cycle. … The GOP has vowed to prevent the stumbles on social issues that plagued Republican candidates on the trail last cycle. So it’s overwhelming reaction to Akin: his five minutes of fame need to be over. In his book, Akin serves up harsh words for Mitt Romney, Sen. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) and GOP operative Karl Rove for abandoning him following his now infamous line about rape and pregnancy, that ‘the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down.’” http://politi.co/1lZPNLr

-- Anna has more on the GOP’s summer sideshow here: http://politi.co/1kL4jqP

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DOJ WON’T PROBE CIA-HILL SPYING SPAT – McClatchy’s Ali Watkins has the story: “The Justice Department has decided not to pursue accusations that the CIA spied on the Senate Intelligence Committee and allegations that committee staff slipped classified documents from a secure agency facility, McClatchy has confirmed. … The news marks an apparent end to an extraordinary feud that spilled into the public forum in early March over the committee’s report on the agency’s post-9/11 enhanced interrogation program. The dispute included competing Justice Department referrals, with both the CIA and the Senate Intelligence Committee accusing the other side of criminal conduct throughout the course of the interrogation study.

-- “Intelligence Committee chair Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., took to the Senate floor in early March and accused the CIA of spying on the computers her committee staff used to create the study. The CIA accused Feinstein’s staff of slipping classified documents from secure agency facilities and transporting them back to Capitol Hill. The CIA Inspector General’s office referred the agency’s alleged computer monitoring to the Justice Department. The CIA filed a crimes report against several committee staffers, accusing them of removing classified information from a secure facility. And, in addition, Senate majority leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., ordered the senate’s Sergeant-at-Arms to conduct an independent investigation in to the alleged computer hacking. The fate of the congressional investigation is unknown.” http://bit.ly/1nbn9Y0

BOEHNER LAWSUIT AGAINST OBAMA WILL FOCUS ON HEALTH LAW – Jonathan Weisman reports for the NYT: “Speaker John A. Boehner’s lawsuit against President Obama will focus on changes to the health care law that Mr. Boehner says should have been left to Congress, according to a statement issued Thursday by the speaker’s office. By narrowly focusing the legal action on the Affordable Care Act, Mr. Boehner will sidestep the more politically problematic issue involving Mr. Obama’s executive action offering work permits for some illegal immigrants who were brought to the United States as children. … Mr. Boehner said the lawsuit would specifically challenge the president’s decision to delay imposing penalties on employers who do not offer health insurance to employees in compliance with the Affordable Care Act.” http://nyti.ms/1jxiGUW

-- THE WHITE HOUSE RESPONSE: “It is disappointing that Speaker Boehner and Congressional Republicans have decided to waste time and taxpayer dollars on a political stunt. … Republican leaders in Congress are playing Washington politics rather than working with the President on behalf of hardworking Americans. As the President said today, he is doing his job – lawsuit or not – and it’s time Republicans in Congress did theirs.”

‘WE’RE GOING TO HAVE OUR HANDS FULL SHOULD WE GET THE MAJORITY’ – Sen. Rob Portman (R-Ohio) sits down with POLITICO’s Mike Allen to talk on the McConnell’s potential to be the Senate Majority Leader, a look ahead to the 2016 RNC convention in 2016 and his upcoming 100-mile bike ride across Ohio. http://politi.co/1nrkEDN

GOOD FRIDAY MORNING, JULY 11, 2014, and welcome to The Huddle, your play-by-play preview of all the action on Capitol Hill. Send tips, suggestions, comments, complaints and corrections to [email protected]. If you don’t already, please follow me on Twitter @scottwongDC.

TODAY IN CONGRESS – The Senate is out today. The House meets at 9 a.m. with first and last votes expected between 10:30 and 11 a.m. on a bill to amend the Internal Revenue Code to modify and make permanent bonus depreciation.

AROUND THE HILL -- Rep. Scott Peters, Peter DeFazio, Ann Kirkpatrick and Jared Huffman speak on a Wildfire Funding Discharge Petition at 9 a.m. at the House Triangle. The Congressional Hispanic Caucus speaks on the unaccompanied minors situation at 9:30 a.m. in Rayburn 2226. The House Foreign Affairs Committee meets with Israeli Ambassador Ron Dermer and Defense/Armed Forces Attache Yaacob Ayish at 9:45 a.m. in Rayburn 2200. Speaker John Boehner, Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi and other bipartisan members attend a ceremony to formally sign the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act to improve and streamline job training programs, at 11:30 a.m. in H-230.

TRANSITIONS – MAC CAMPBELL, former deputy staff director and general counsel for the Senate Finance Committee under then-Chairman Max Baucus, has landed a job at Lincoln Policy Group, the firm run by another former boss, ex-Sen. Blanche Lincoln (D-Ark.). “In Senator Blanche Lincoln, Senator Maria Cantwell, Ambassador Ron Kirk, and Senator Max Baucus I have had incredible bosses in government,” he emailed friends and colleagues. “I feel lucky to have worked for and learned from each of them. In fact, I enjoyed working with Senator Lincoln so much . . . I am going to do it again.” (h/t: Sean Neary)

-- HOUSE TRANSPORTATION CHAIRMAN BILL SHUSTER (R-PA.) announced a series of staff promotions in his Washington office . Jamie Boone , Shuster’s legislative director who’s been with the congressman for seven years, has been named his new deputy chief of staff. Sean Joyce, his communications director who also managed his 2014 campaign, will be his new legislative director. And Casey Contres, a former press aide for Rep. Tim Murphy, will serve as his press secretary. All three are central Pennsylvania natives.

HOUSE, SENATE LAWMAKERS RALLY AROUND HIGHWAY FUND PATCH THROUGH MAY – Laura Litvan and Richard Rubin report for Bloomberg: “Lawmakers in Congress are uniting behind a plan to replenish the U.S. fund for road and mass-transit projects through May 2015 as they delay a debate over raising taxes for long-term infrastructure financing. Separate bills approved by the House Ways and Means and Senate Finance committees yesterday would provide almost $11 billion to avoid a shortfall in the Highway Trust Fund next month that would slow construction. While the measures have some differences, both would be financed by higher customs fees and by letting companies delay contributions to employee pension plans. Republicans and Democrats expressed confidence they can agree on the short-term plan before Congress’s August break.” http://bloom.bg/1mhRJDS

STOCKMAN: ARREST LOIS LERNER – Our own Rachel Bade has the story: “Firebrand Rep. Steve Stockman filed a motion Thursday directing congressional police to arrest ex-IRS official Lois Lerner for contempt of Congress and take her to the D.C. jail for questioning. The Texas Republican filed a resolution that would instruct Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) to issue a warrant for Lerner’s arrest, commanding the Sergeant-at-Arms ‘to arrest and take into custody forthwith, wherever to be found, the body of Lois G. Lerner, and bring her to the bar of the House without delay to answer to the charge of contempt of its authority, breach of its privileges, and gross and wanton insult to the integrity of its proceedings.’” http://politi.co/1lZWjlu

GERMANY EXPELS TOP CIA OFFICIAL AFTER SPYING ALLEGATIONS – Anton Troianovski, Bertrand Benoit and Siobhan Gorman report for the WSJ: “Germany publicly told the top U.S. spy official here to leave, a rare and forceful act illustrating deep anger over revelations of American espionage that are disrupting one of Washington's chief alliances. The controversy has brought relations between the two countries to their lowest point since the run-up to the Iraq war, when then-German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder loudly opposed U.S. military intervention. … In the two cases that surfaced over the past week, an employee of the Federal Intelligence Service, known as the BND, and an official at the Defense Ministry are being investigated on suspicion of passing secrets to the U.S., people briefed on the matters say.” http://on.wsj.com/1opCMMV

DUKE CUNNINGHAM IS A FREE MAN – George E. Condon Jr. writes in National Journal: “A federal judge says it is time to forgive Randy ‘Duke’ Cunningham, the most corrupt member of Congress ever if measured by the amount of bribes he admitted accepting. U.S. District Judge Larry Alan Burns, in a ruling issued July 1 in San Diego, has granted Cunningham's request to have his postprison supervision ended early, writing a final legal chapter on the sordid tale of the flamboyant ace fighter pilot who went to Congress as a hero in 1991 and left in 2005 as a disgraced felon. The California Republican spent more than seven years in prison after pleading guilty in November 2005 to charges of tax evasion and conspiracy to commit bribery, mail fraud, and wire fraud. Cunningham … had used his positions on the House Appropriations and Intelligence committees to steer lucrative contracts to those who would help him finance an extravagant lifestyle featuring 19th-century French antiques, yachts, Persian rugs, hunting trips, a Rolls Royce, and a $2.55 million home in an exclusive community in San Diego County.” http://bit.ly/1jjksbZ

AYOTTE TO OFFICIATE SCOTT BROWN’S DAUGHTER’S WEDDING – John DiStaso writes for the NH Journal: “Former U.S. Sen. Scott Brown’s younger daughter, Arianna, is getting married on Sunday, and, in an interesting twist, the wedding will be officiated by a current U.S. Senator. No, it won’t be Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, even though the ceremony will be held in Shaheen’s neighborhood – at the Flag Hill Winery in Lee. Shaheen resides in neighboring Madbury. The wedding will be officiated by Sen. Kelly Ayotte … Ayotte formally endorsed Brown in his current U.S. Senate bid in May. A spokesman for Ayotte said she is a Justice of the Peace and it will be the first wedding she will have officiated.” http://bit.ly/1rchg1P

BELTWAY PROVIDES BACKDROP FOR EMMY-NOMINATED SHOWS – Sarah Smith for POLITICO: “At least six political series — from ‘House of Cards’ to ‘Scandal’ — were nominated Thursday morning for the 66th Primetime Emmy Awards, which will be hosted Aug. 25 on NBC. Like its ruthless lead character, ‘House of Cards’ led the pack with six nominations. Lead actors in the Netflix drama Kevin Spacey and Robin Wright claimed nominations for outstanding lead actor and actress, and the series was nominated for overall outstanding drama series. Wright will face off against fellow political leads Kerry Washington of ABC’s ‘Scandal’ and Claire Danes of Showtime’s ‘Homeland’ in the lead actress category.

-- “HBO’s ‘Veep,’ chronicling a screwball vice president played by Julia Louis-Dreyfus and her staff as she works to fulfill her political ambition, was recognized for its eclectic cast of characters. Dreyfus, as well as supporting actors Tony Hale and Anna Chlumsky, were nominated for awards. The HBO series was also nominated for an outstanding comedy series award. HBO’s ‘The Newsroom’ and FX’s ‘The Americans’ also earned nominations.” http://politi.co/1jv5gZN

THURSDAY’S TRIVIA WINNER – Ben Goodman was first to correctly answer that Joseph Cannon was the House speaker who demanded on a hot and muggy August day that the Member’s Dining room always have hot bean soup on the menu, even to this day. More here: http://1.usa.gov/1oMJOhL

TODAY’S TRIVIA – We may have used this question before but it’s a good one. Kyle Simon asks: This person worked as a House staffer before eventually unseating her boss in a primary election. She later was elected to the Senate. Who was she? The first person to send the correct answer to [email protected] gets a mention in the next Huddle.

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