POLITICO Playbook: A monumental week for Trump Presented by Amazon

Public impeachment proceedings for the president begin Wednesday and continue Friday. | Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

DRIVING THE DAY

WE ARE BEGINNING what is a pivotal week for DONALD TRUMP and his presidency. Most notably: the public impeachment proceedings, which begin Wednesday and continue Friday. On Tuesday, we expect the release of a second transcript of a phone call between the president and Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelenskiy. Also: The president of Turkey -- a country some in the Trump administration said was responsible for war crimes -- will come to the White House and appear alongside the president for a news conference. Talks resume this week to avoid a government shutdown in 10 DAYS. And if the administration is to complete the USMCA, progress needs to be made in short order.

HOW REPUBLICANS ARE RESPONDING -- “Republicans plot counterattack for impeachment hearings,” by Melanie Zanona: “The transcripts released last week from closed-door interviews with impeachment witnesses also provide a window into how the GOP plans to approach the high-stakes hearings. Republicans will try to paint the Democratically led process as politically motivated and minimize Trump's role in the quest to persuade Ukraine to investigate his political rivals. And they will also try to keep the heat off Trump by attacking the Bidens and pushing other conspiracy theories about the elections.” POLITICO

THE FULL FLIP? … “Giuliani Associate Says He Gave Demand for Biden Inquiry to Ukrainians,” by NYT’s Ben Protess, Andrew Kramer, Michael Rothfeld and William Rashbaum: “Not long before the Ukrainian president was inaugurated in May, an associate of Rudolph W. Giuliani’s journeyed to Kiev to deliver a warning to the country’s new leadership, a lawyer for the associate said.

“The associate, Lev Parnas, told a representative of the incoming government that it had to announce an investigation into Mr. Trump’s political rival, Joseph R. Biden Jr., and his son, or else Vice President Mike Pence would not attend the swearing-in of the new president, and the United States would freeze aid, the lawyer said.

“The claim by Mr. Parnas, who is preparing to share his account with impeachment investigators, challenges the narrative of events from Mr. Trump and Ukrainian officials that is at the core of the congressional inquiry. It also directly links Mr. Giuliani, the president’s personal lawyer, to threats of repercussions made to the Ukrainians, something he has strenuously denied.

“But Mr. Parnas’s account, while potentially significant, is being contradicted on several fronts. None of the people involved dispute that the meeting occurred, but Mr. Parnas stands alone in saying the intention was to present an ultimatum to the Ukrainian leadership.” NYT

Good Monday morning. Happy Veterans Day. Former Defense Secretary JIM MATTIS is featured in an online video out this week for the Call of Duty Endowment about hiring veterans. The video

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NYT’S PETER BAKER: “Nikki Haley Describes Rebuffing Internal Scheme Against Trump”: “Nikki R. Haley, the former ambassador to the United Nations, says in a new book that she resisted entreaties by other top aides to President Trump to undermine his policies, revealing more about the fractious world of loyalty and betrayal around the president.

“Ms. Haley writes in her new memoir that John F. Kelly, then the White House chief of staff, and Rex W. Tillerson, then the secretary of state, tried to recruit her to join them in circumventing policy decisions by the president that they viewed as dangerous and reckless, an outreach she said she rebuffed.” NYT … CBS’ Norah O’Donnell’s interview with Haley

IMPEACHMENT CLIP PACKET …

-- WAPO: “Mulvaney’s move to join impeachment testimony lawsuit rankles Bolton allies,” by Tom Hamburger, Carol Leonnig and Josh Dawsey: “People close to [John] Bolton and [Charles] Kupperman said the two were flabbergasted by Mulvaney’s surprise request to join the lawsuit because they and others on the national security team considered Mulvaney a critical player in the effort to get the Ukrainian government to pursue investigations into Trump’s political opponents.

“Their objection is twofold: Bolton views Mulvaney as a key participant in the pressure campaign, a situation that the then-national security adviser referred to derisively as ‘a drug deal,’ according to congressional testimony by his aides. The two men were barely on speaking terms when Bolton left his post in September, according to White House officials.

“And they believe Mulvaney’s goal is to avoid testifying by joining a suit involving officials whose attorney has argued they may be limited in what they can share with Congress because of their role advising the president on national security matters.” WaPo

-- DEEP DIVE … NYT’S GLENN THRUSH and KEN VOGEL: “What Joe Biden Actually Did in Ukraine”: “A look at what the former vice president actually did in Ukraine (he visited six times and spent hours on the phone with the country’s leaders) tells a different story, according to interviews with more than two dozen people knowledgeable about the situation. It casts light on one of Mr. Biden’s central arguments for himself in the primary: his eight years of diplomacy as Mr. Obama’s No. 2.

“Mr. Biden dived into Ukraine in hopes of burnishing his statesman credentials at a time when he seemed to be winding down his political career, as his elder son, Beau, was dying and his younger one, Hunter, was struggling with addiction and financial problems. It turned out to be an unforgiving landscape — threatened by Russia, plundered by oligarchs, plagued by indecisive leaders and overrun by outsiders hoping to make a quick buck off the chaos.” NYT

ANITA KUMAR: “Republicans used to ignore Trump’s resorts. Now they’re spending millions”: “In total, nearly 200 campaigns and political groups — virtually all conservative — have spent more than $8 million at President Donald Trump’s resorts and other businesses since his election in 2016, according to a yet-to-be-released report from the liberal-leaning consumer rights group Public Citizen obtained by POLITICO. That wasn’t the case before the real estate mogul and reality TV star got into politics.

“Between 2012 and 2014, campaigns and political groups spent a combined $69,000 at Trump businesses, according to the report. But since June 2015, when Trump announced he was running for the White House, political spending at the president’s properties has topped $19 million. Some of the initial surge was related to the Trump campaign’s using a Trump company plane during the 2016 election, but much of the uptick comes from conservative candidates and groups.” POLITICO

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2020 WATCH …

-- BEN WHITE and DANIEL STRAUSS: “‘The new candidate of the young elite’: Buttigieg battles Biden and Bloomberg for the center lane”: “Pete Buttigieg was quickly locking down a solid lane in the Democratic primary: a young, vibrant, gay, midwestern, war veteran mayor with progressive ideas and plenty of money — but both feet planted in fiscal prudence.

“Young Wall Street and tech-entrepreneur types were starting to fall in love — with his poll numbers and fundraising totals underscoring the Buttigieg boomlet. He was the ‘Parks and Recreation’ candidate in the Democratic field and an alternative to seventy-somethings Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders who are both looking to lock down the hyper-online progressive, anti-Wall Street crowd as well as blue collar workers across the Midwest. …

“But then a funny thing happened last week: Another 70-something candidate beloved on Wall Street — billionaire mogul Michael Bloomberg — made an unexpected splash by suggesting he may still enter the race.

“Bloomberg will not steal Buttigieg’s momentum with younger, wealthier Democratic voters and donors, people close to the South Bend mayor say. But the former NYC mayor does give Big Finance, Big Tech and other more corporate-friendly Democrats another progressive prospect as an alternative to Biden, Sanders and Warren.” POLITICO

-- NATASHA KORECKI and MARC CAPUTO: “Why Biden is crushing it nationally — but slipping in Iowa and N.H.”: “Joe Biden is the clear frontrunner in the 2020 Democratic race for president.

“Or he’s faltering, slipping into fourth place as he loses ground to Elizabeth Warren, Bernie Sanders and an ascendant Pete Buttigieg.

“Those alternate realities are playing out in real time — reflected in Biden’s solid standing atop national polls versus his middling performance in Iowa and New Hampshire surveys on the other. The disparity is at once a source of frustration to Biden’s team and one of hope to rivals holding out for an utter collapse by the former vice president in the two earliest nominating states.

“The explanations for the discrepancy run the gamut. The white Iowa and New Hampshire electorates play against Biden’s strength among ideological moderates and African Americans, some defenders argue. Skeptics say it shows that the voters watching him most closely are underwhelmed. There's the fact that Biden pulled back on early state ad spending — both on TV and digitally — while competitors ramped up. Finally, the Trump factor: The president's reelection campaign has been running anti-Biden ads on TV in Iowa and more broadly over social media platforms like Facebook and YouTube.”

-- “AOC brings star power to Iowa for Sanders,” by Holly Otterbein in Council Bluffs, Iowa

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TRUMP’S MONDAY -- The president and first lady Melania Trump will leave Trump Tower at 10:05 a.m. en route to Madison Square Park, where they will participate in a wreath-laying ceremony and deliver remarks at the New York City Veterans Day parade. Afterward, they will return to Trump Tower.

PLAYBOOK READS

PHOTO DU JOUR: Bolivian protesters celebrate in La Paz on Sunday after President Evo Morales announced he would step down amid major demonstrations. | Juan Karita/AP Photo

SCOTUS WATCH -- “Is the Supreme Court’s Fate in Elena Kagan’s Hands?” by The New Yorker’s Margaret Talbot: “She’s not a liberal icon like Ruth Bader Ginsburg, but, through her powers of persuasion, she’s the key Justice holding back the Court’s rightward shift.” New Yorker

AXIOS’ JONATHAN SWAN: “Trump aides fear John Bolton's secret notes”: “People around the president say they are worried about what notes Trump's former national security adviser has kept and when he might divulge them. … [T]he former national security adviser was the most prolific note-taker at the top level of the White House and probably has more details than any impeachment inquiry witness, so far, about President Trump's machinations on Ukraine.” Axios

HONG KONG LATEST -- “Hong Kong police shoot protester, man set on fire,” by AP’s Alice Fung: “A Hong Kong anti-government protester was shot by police Monday in a dramatic scene caught on video as demonstrators blocked train lines and roads in a day of spiraling violence fueled by demands for democratic reforms.

“Elsewhere, a man was set on fire following an apparent dispute over national identity in the semi-autonomous Chinese territory, which has been wracked by five months of protests. The man was in critical condition in a city hospital.

“The violence is likely to further inflame passions in Hong Kong after a student who fell during an earlier protest succumbed to his injuries Friday and police arrested six pro-democracy lawmakers over the weekend.” AP

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A COUP IN BOLIVIA? -- “Bolivian President Resigns After Re-Election Marred by Fraud Allegations,” by WSJ’s Juan Forero and Ryan Dube: “Embattled Bolivian President Evo Morales fled the capital La Paz and resigned after the head of the armed forces, Gen. Williams Kaliman, suggested that he leave power in the wake of an Oct. 20 presidential vote that electoral monitors said was marred by fraud.

“Sunday’s resignation by the 60-year-old leader, who as a union leader helped lead protests that toppled other presidents, came as the armed forces had declared itself neutral after three weeks of increasingly chaotic demonstrations across several cities. In a televised address, Mr. Morales was defiant, saying he was the victim of a coup and that he would continue to fight what he called an oligarchy that he said had Bolivia in its grip.” WSJ

-- NYT’S CLIFFORD KRAUSS in La Paz and DANIEL VICTOR in Hong Kong: “A power vacuum following the resignation of President Evo Morales on Sunday left the streets here in chaos, with the police refusing to engage for hours as people set fires, looted stores and got into violent scuffles. The whereabouts of Mr. Morales, who was forced from office Sunday, were unknown, though late Sunday night he tweeted that the police were seeking to arrest him ‘illegally’ and that ‘violent groups’ had assaulted his home.” NYT

-- MIKE POMPEO (@SecPompeo): “Fully support the findings of the @OAS_official report recommending new elections in #Bolivia to ensure a truly democratic process representative of the people’s will. The credibility of the electoral system must be restored.”

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DATA DU JOUR -- “When Trump arrived in the White House in 2017, there were 241 Republicans at the other end of Pennsylvania Avenue in the House of Representatives. Today, 100 of them have gone or have announced that they are leaving. That's 41 percent of that original 241 in the 115th House.” NBC

VALLEY TALK -- “WeWork Was Wrestling With SEC Over Key Financial Metric Just Before It Scrapped IPO,” by WSJ’s Jean Eaglesham and Eliot Brown: “Just weeks before WeWork expected its stock to begin trading publicly, the startup was still wrangling with the Securities and Exchange Commission over a controversial key financial metric and a litany of other concerns about its planned multibillion-dollar IPO.

“On Sept. 11—after the initial public offering prospectus had been public for nearly a month, and after the SEC had already made dozens of demands about the document—the regulator sent the shared-workspace company a list of 13 still-unresolved concerns, according to previously unpublished correspondence reviewed by The Wall Street Journal.

“The back-and-forth shows that WeWork was scrambling to clean up big problems as its IPO was crumbling. The timing was indicative of the chaotic management that gave investors pause and ultimately led the company to pull the offering and Chief Executive Adam Neumann to step down under pressure.” WSJ

PLAYBOOKERS

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SPOTTED: Roger Stone at the lobby bar of the Trump Hotel on Saturday night. Pic … Anthony Scaramucci at the Madison Square Garden Hulu Theater for a Bill Maher stand-up comedy event on Saturday night. Scaramucci appeared backstage after the show. …

… Rep. Kevin Brady (R-Texas) sitting in the cafe car of the 99 Northeast Regional Amtrak train from NYC to D.C. on Sunday. … Wolf Blitzer walking into Barneys on Madison Avenue on Sunday afternoon for the giant close-out sale. … Sterling K. Brown at the United baggage claim carousel at Dulles on Sunday.

WEEKEND WEDDINGS -- Rachel Soclof, health legislative assistant for Sen. Richard Burr (R-N.C.), and Stuart Portman, health policy adviser on the Senate Finance Committee for Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), got married Sunday at the Mellon Auditorium. They met while working together in the Senate. … SPOTTED: Kimberly Brandt, Jennifer Kuskowski, Kellie McConnell and Angela Wiles.

-- Liz Pedraja, FEC compliance manager for the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, and Zamir Ahmed, VP of media relations at the National Association of Broadcasters, got married Saturday in a small ceremony officiated by the DCCC's Hannah Osborne.

-- Mike Sistak, director of grassroots program development at the American Farm Bureau and a Mitt Romney and John McCain alum, and Madalyn Hemminghaus, constituent engagement specialist at the American Association of Medical Colleges, got married Sunday in Chandler, Ariz. … SPOTTED: Pete Seat, Jeremy Art and Tim Bee. Pic … Another pic

WELCOME TO THE WORLD -- Michael Sewell, director of federal government affairs at Duke Energy, and Bridget Sewell, assistant VP of political engagement at the American Property Casualty Insurance Association, welcomed Thomas Driggs Sewell on Saturday. Pic

BIRTHWEEK (was Sunday): Matt Lough turned 5-0 (h/t Tim Burger)

BIRTHDAY OF THE DAY: Former Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.), founder of PAC for a Change, is 79. What she’s reading currently: “I am finishing up a book by Jill Lepore called ‘These Truths: A History of the United States.’ This book shows us some uncomfortable facts of our history, especially as it deals with matters of race. Growing up I never learned that unvarnished truth in school.” Playbook Q&A

BIRTHDAYS: Norm Eisen, senior fellow at Brookings and consulting counsel to House Judiciary … Alec MacGillis is 45 … Facebook’s Tucker Bounds is 41 (h/ts Tim Burger, Blain Rethmeier and Andrea Saul) … Sean Joyce … POLITICO’s Matt Kaminski and John Hendel … Edgar Estrada … Matt Ortega … Salesforce’s Lauren Thorbjornsen … Taylor Holgate … former Rep. Tim Huelskamp (R-Kan.) is 51 … former Rep. Pete Stark (D-Calif.) is 88 … Lyft’s Jake Swanton … Joel Foster … Meredith Dyer … Andrew Barnhill (h/t Akilah Ensley) … David Leiter, president of Plurus Strategies (h/ts Sarah Litke and Jon Haber) …

… Rebecca Sharer, account executive at Fenton … Daniel Huey, partner at Something Else Strategies … Michael Boisjolie … Melissa Stark … McKinsey’s Greg Romano … Pew’s Ruth Igielnik … POLITICO Europe’s Elisabeth Binard and Cristina Gonzalez … Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega … Juan Carlos Monje … Sarah Esty … Mandi Wimmer … Craig Pittman … Eric Ezzy Rappaport … Jon Hartley is 3-0 … Gretchen Michael … Nathan Imperiale … Jessica Jennings … Linda Rozett … Ryan Tronovitch … Grant Lebens … Eric Oginsky … Susanna Cagle … Emily Pollock … Frank Wilkinson … Christian Flynn (h/ts Teresa Vilmain)

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