POLITICO Playbook: KJU says U.S. negotiating style doesn’t suit them, and where Trump is going to mark tax day Presented by Amazon

"U.S.-style dialogue of unilaterally pushing its demands doesn’t fit us, and we have no interest in it," North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said during a speech, according to state-run media. | Carl Court/Getty Images

NEWS … POLITICO ALERT: “House Ways and Means Chairman Richard Neal today gave IRS Commissioner Chuck Rettig a new deadline of April 23 to turn over six years' worth of President Donald Trump’s tax returns. Neal said Rettig has ‘an unambiguous legal obligation’ to hand them over.” The letter ... POLITICO's story

AP/PYONGYANG: “Kim open to another summit with Trump, with conditions”: “North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said he is open to a third summit with President Donald Trump, but set the year’s end as a deadline for Washington to offer mutually acceptable terms for an agreement to salvage the high-stakes nuclear diplomacy, the North’s state-run media said Saturday. …

“‘We of course place importance on resolving problems through dialogue and negotiations. But U.S.-style dialogue of unilaterally pushing its demands doesn’t fit us, and we have no interest in it,’ Kim said during the speech.

“According to the Korean Central News Agency, or KCNA, Kim blamed the collapse of his summit with Trump in February on what he described as unilateral demands by the United States, which he said raised questions over whether Washington has genuine willingness to improve relations. But Kim said his personal relationship with Trump remains good and that they could exchange letters at ‘any time.’” AP

THE TWO NEW YORK TABS … N.Y. POST: “YOU TAKE ‘EM … Trump threatens to bus illegal immigrants to NYC, other sanctuary cities” … N.Y. DAILY NEWS: “Give us your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free … WE’LL TAKE THEM”

NEXT UP … ROCHESTER (MINN.) POST BULLETIN: “President Trump to visit facility owned by Rochester man,” by Jeff Kiger in Burnsville: “A Rochester business owner will be hosting a high-profile visitor from Washington, D.C., at his Burnsville facility on Tax Day. President Donald Trump is scheduled to visit Nuss Truck and Equipment in Burnsville on Monday. The company is owned by Bob Nuss. Nuss and his company, which has eight Minnesota locations, are based in Rochester. …

“With a nod to the date that tax filings are due, the president is expected ‘to tout the success of the American economy under his pro-growth policies, including the implementation of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act,’ according to information released from the White House.” Post Bulletin

ROSENSTEIN ON THE MUELLER REPORT … BLOOMBERG’S JENNIFER JACOBS (@JenniferJJacobs): “Rod Rosenstein at private lunch [on Friday] at Metropolitan Club said don’t forget what Mueller probe was about: cyber crimes. When it comes out, lot of what we see will deal with *that*; it’ll clear up questions about Russian election interference, he said, people in room told me.”

THE PRESIDENT, at 8:21 a.m.: “Why should Radical Left Democrats in Congress have a right to retry and examine the $35,000,000 (two years in the making) No Collusion Mueller Report, when the crime committed was by Crooked Hillary, the DNC and Dirty Cops? Attorney General Barr will make the decision!”

-- BECAUSE Congress is a co-equal branch of government, and can decide whatever it wants with or without the president’s approval.

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Happy Saturday morning. Yes, D.C., it’s cloudy now, but it’s supposed to be decent today. GREATEST THING EVER: Tiger Woods is one stroke back at Augusta. He tees off at 2:05 p.m. today.

JAKE spoke with BOB COSTA about “The Hill to Die On” on Washington Week Extra. 10-minute conversation

CNN'S JAKE TAPPER’S SCOOP: “Trump told CBP head he’d pardon him if he were sent to jail for violating immigration law”: “President Donald Trump told Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Kevin McAleenan he would grant McAleenan a pardon if he were sent to jail for having border agents block asylum seekers from entering the US in defiance of U.S. law, senior administration officials tell CNN.

“Trump reportedly made the comment during a visit to the border at Calexico, California, a week ago. It was not clear if the comment was a joke. Two officials briefed on the exchange say the President told McAleenan, since named the acting secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, that he ‘would pardon him if he ever went to jail for denying U.S. entry to migrants,’ as one of the officials paraphrased.” CNN

-- TED HESSON, “Trump immigration shakeup lowers DHS morale”: “Morale at the Department of Homeland Security has long ranked lowest among federal agencies. President Donald Trump’s purge of top homeland security officials is making it worse. Workers, from entry-level staffers to managers, have begun sending around their resumes, desperate to exit a leaderless workplace where they expect soon be ordered to implement legally questionable policies pushed by the White House. Some are even willing to take pay cuts.” POLITICO

WHITE HOUSE NOTEBOOK (per NANCY COOK) …

-- TREASURY: Secretary Steven Mnuchin’s chief-of-staff Eli Miller left the department late last week, praising the agency’s “unique and special team” in his goodbye email to staff. For now, the chief-of-staff slot is going to remain vacant but two longtime Treasury staffers, John Baylor and Zac McEntee, will take over parts of Miller’s portfolio and are being promoted to deputy chiefs of staff. Both have worked with Mnuchin since the campaign.

TREASURY IS ALSO PLANNING TO MOVE its well-liked general counsel, Brent McIntosh, into David Malpass’s former role as the Under Secretary of the Treasury for International Affairs. (Malpass is now the president of the World Bank.) And Monica Crowley remains a top contender for the agency’s key communications slot, spotted at the building late last week.

-- JARED WORLD: As Jared Kushner develops an immigration plan, he’s leaning on an experienced policy team to help him. Soon to be joining the team: attorney George Fishman, according source close to DHS and a White House official. Fishman currently serves as the deputy general counsel at DHS and previously worked on the Hill for the House Judiciary Committee as well as its subcommittees on immigration policy and enforcement and border security.



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CNN’S KAITLAN COLLINS: “Former White House aide who mocked McCain as ‘dying anyway’ joining pro-Trump PAC”: “Kelly Sadler, the former White House aide who was let go after she mocked the late Sen. John McCain, is joining the pro-Trump super PAC America First Action to handle communications, CNN has learned. She is expected to start Monday. ... Erin Montgomery, the PAC’s current communications director, is stepping down.” CNN

-- A NUMBER OF TITLE CHANGES and promotions, from the White House. The list … FYI: Dan Scavino’s title has changed. He is now assistant to the president and senior adviser for digital strategy. He was previously assistant to the president and director of social media.

RECESS READING FOR SENATORS … CNN’S ANDREW KACZYNSKI and PAUL LEBLANC: “Trump’s Fed pick Stephen Moore is a self-described ‘radical’ who said he’s not a ‘big believer in democracy’”: “In speeches and radio interviews reviewed by CNN’s KFile, Moore advocated for eliminating the corporate and federal income taxes entirely, calling the 16th Amendment that created the income tax the ‘most evil’ law passed in the 20th century. Moore’s economic worldview envisions a slimmed down government and a rolled back social safety net.

“He has called for eliminating the Departments of Labor, Energy and Commerce, along with the IRS and the Consumer Finance Protection Bureau. He has questioned the need for both the Department of Housing and Urban Development and the Department of Education. He has said there’s no need for a federal minimum wage, called for privatizing the ‘Ponzi scheme’ of Social Security and said those on government assistance lost their dignity and meaning.” CNN

2020 WATCH -- “Cory Booker, a would-be bachelor president, says Americans are ‘open to lots of different types of families’ in the White House,” by WaPo’s Kevin Sullivan in Newark: “‘My romantic life is evolving, and I’m looking forward to one day having another title: husband and father. I believe both of those are going to happen. And if the American people will it, I’m going to be president of the United States as well.’ For weeks, Booker has been hinting that he has a ‘boo,’ a girlfriend, but on this March day he still hasn’t yet said her name publicly.

“But now, pressed a little bit, he acknowledges what Booker-watchers have long suspected: He’s dating actress Rosario Dawson, who turns 40 in May, a New Yorker who lives in Los Angeles. He says they met at a fundraiser for mutual friend Ben Jealous during Jealous’s unsuccessful 2018 run for governor of Maryland. They didn’t speak much then, but they met up again at a party hosted by another mutual friend, and they started dating just before Thanksgiving.” WaPo

-- MSNBC’S JOY REID will interview Booker at his home in Newark at 10 a.m.

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THE INVESTIGATIONS – BEN SCHRECKINGER: “Roger Stone wants to put Assange on the stand”: “Stone hopes to put WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange on the stand at his upcoming trial for alleged obstruction and witness intimidation, according to a person familiar with the thinking of Stone’s legal team. The prospect of obtaining Assange’s testimony has grown somewhat likelier with his Thursday arrest in London, which paves the way for his possible extradition to the United States. … [F]or the longtime Trump confidant, a connoisseur of political theater, putting the iconic, white-haired hacker on the stand would have the added benefit of producing a pure media spectacle.” POLITICO

-- KYLE CHENEY: “Stone cites Barr, Kavanaugh writings in last-ditch effort to dismiss Mueller indictment”

-- “As Ecuador Harbored Assange, It Was Subjected to Threats and Leaks,” by NYT’s Nicholas Casey and Jo Becker: “The secrets came directly from the phones of President Lenín Moreno of Ecuador: intimate pictures of him and his family on vacation, text messages from his wife, even a photograph of the president himself in a posh bedroom, eating a lobster in bed. The material, published last month on an anonymous website, was particularly embarrassing because Mr. Moreno was in a bruising national fight over his austerity measures.

“But rather than mount a defense, the president played the victim: He blamed WikiLeaks, whose founder, Julian Assange, had spent the last seven years holed up in the country’s London embassy. WikiLeaks’ actions were ‘despicable,’ said the country’s vice president on television, vowing to take action. The group denied leaking the information, but on Thursday Ecuador made good on its threat — opening the door to British police officers who carted away Mr. Assange.” NYT



PLAYBOOK READS

PHOTO DU JOUR: People watch a TV news program featuring footage of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un at the Seoul Railway Station in Seoul, South Korea, on Saturday. Kim said he is open to a third summit with President Donald Trump, according to the state-run media. | Lee Jin-man/AP Photo

SEXUAL HARASSMENT FILES – “Company led by Trump nominee was rife with harassment, including groping and kissing, report says,” by WaPo’s Michael Brice-Saddler: “A federal workplace investigation found rampant sexual harassment and retaliation at AccuWeather, a federal contractor, including groping, touching and kissing of subordinates without consent. AccuWeather’s chief executive at the time of the allegations and investigation, Barry Myers, was tapped by President Trump to lead the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

“The detailed results of the investigation, not previously reported, were compiled last year by the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs and obtained by The Washington Post. It determined that AccuWeather, under Myers, fostered a culture ripe for sexual harassment, turned a blind eye to allegations of egregious conduct and retaliated against those who complained. According to the report, the investigation was prompted by a complaint filed Sept. 6, 2016, alleging a ‘hostile work environment and termination based on sexual orientation and sex.’ Many other complaints from AccuWeather employees followed.” WaPo



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VALLEY TALK -- @ceciliakang: “NEW: Facebook Board losing two very respected directors: Reed Hastings of Netflix and Erskine Bowles of Obama/Clinton administrations. We know they were not happy at all with last few years of decisions.”

MEDIAWATCH – “‘I Didn’t Really Deck Him’: New York Post Gossip King Richard Johnson Drops a Dime on Himself -- He’s Retiring,” by Vanity Fair’s Joe Pompeo: “The chronicler of canoodlings, bloviations, and pepperpots, enemy of Alec Baldwin and the Daily Snooze, occasional pugilist, and fast friend of anyone who wanted to get famous in Manhattan spent four decades in the gossip business.” VF

-- Ben Tracy is joining CBS News’ White House team. He previously was based in Beijing for the network. He joins Weijia Jiang, who is back next week from maternity leave, and Paula Reid, who has been formally named a White House correspondent for CBS.

CLICKER – “The nation’s cartoonists on the week in politics,” edited by Matt Wuerker – 13 keepers

GREAT WEEKEND READS, curated by Daniel Lippman:

-- “The Deadbeat Billionaire: The Inside Story Of How West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice Ducks Taxes And Slow-Pays His Bills,” by Forbes’ Christopher Helman: “Since 2016 courts have ordered Justice and his companies to pay more than $10 million to more than a dozen suppliers, workers and government entities. Over the same time, his companies also piled up $13 million-plus in tax liens. He claims to have paid off many of these.” Forbes

-- “What I’ve Learned From Collecting Stories of People Whose Loved Ones Were Transformed by Fox News,” by Luke O’Neil in NY Mag: “If I had to pinpoint the most common reaction to all the thousands of replies to the story, I’d say it was one of exasperation — and desperation. I didn’t realize so many other people were dealing with this, many said. ‘Does anyone know an online support group for people going through this to share tips on deprogramming and/or surviving these relationships?’ one asked.” NY Mag

-- “The lost civilization of California wine,” by Esther Mobley in the San Francisco Chronicle: “A California cult unwittingly created one of the country’s great wineries — and then lost it. The haunting story of a vineyard’s rise, collapse and refusal to die.” SF Chronicle

-- “The Heavy Metal Grifter,” by Christian McPhate in Rolling Stone: “Gabe Reed was a failed rock star who reinvented himself as a concert promoter. Now he’s in prison for defrauding fans and rock’s elite out of $1.7 million.” Rolling Stone

-- “The American Worth Ethic,” by Bryce Covert in Longreads: “Like so many of our lofty ideals, the ‘American Work Ethic’ is actually two different standards — one for the wealthy and one for the poor — with two different interpretations of what work looks like.” Longreads

-- “The banana is dying. The race is on to reinvent it before it’s too late,” by Wired UK’s Matt Reynolds: “The world’s most popular fruit is facing extinction, and scientists are racing to use gene-editing to save it. To succeed, they’ll need to overcome an even bigger problem: opposition to GMO crops.” Wired

-- “How Big Business Is Hedging Against the Apocalypse,” by Jesse Barron in the NYT Magazine: “Investors are finally paying attention to climate change — though not in the way you might hope.” NYT

-- “Climate Change Could Destroy His Home in Peru. So He Sued an Energy Company in Germany,” by Brooke Jarvis in the NYT Magazine: “Local communities are taking the world’s largest polluters to court. And they’re using the legal strategy that got tobacco companies to pay up.” NYT

-- “Sandy Fawkes: The Reporter and the Serial Killer,” by Sarah Weinman in Crime Reads – per TheBrowser.com’s description: “Gripping tale of British journalist Sandy Fawkes, who went to Atlanta hoping to interview Spiro Agnew, met a ‘classically handsome’ man in her hotel bar, had a week-long affair with him, and found out 11 days later that he had killed 18 people in the preceding three months. She wrote up her story for the Atlanta Constitution, then turned it into a book, ‘Killing Time,’ in which she tried to be hard-bitten but ended up sounding naive; she said her lover was ‘as much a victim as any of the 18 people he killed.’” Crime Reads

-- “‘I Was Built for the Battle’: Chris Cuomo Is Fighting for His Life on CNN,” by the Hollywood Reporter’s Jeremy Barr: “The anchor has parlayed a combative style and a ‘both sides’ approach into the top-rated broadcast on the third-place network. He’s still not satisfied.” THR

-- “Could a woman walk around the world today?” by Camille Bromley in NatGeo – per TheBrowser.com’s description: “Five years ago National Geographic commissioned Paul Salopek to walk around the world and report on his travels. He is now half-way through that trek. Did it have to be a man? Could a woman walk around the world with the same facility? Physically, yes. Culturally, there would be more variables.” NatGeo

-- “Stephen Curry Has a Popcorn Problem,” by NYT’s Marc Stein: “As the N.B.A. playoffs begin, the Golden State Warriors superstar guard tells all about his favorite snack and how it fuels his sharpshooting.” NYT

-- “The Death of an Adjunct,” by The Atlantic’s Adam Harris: “Thea Hunter was a promising, brilliant scholar. And then she got trapped in academia’s permanent underclass.” The Atlantic (h/t Longform.org)



PLAYBOOKERS

SPOTTED: The Daschles enjoying a pre-security dinner at Legal Sea Foods outside the middle concourse at DCA Friday evening

SPOTTED at a book party on Friday night hosted by Adrienne Arsht celebrating “First: Sandra Day O’Connor,” by Evan Thomas ( $18.87 on Amazon ): Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Sonia Sotomayor, Nina Totenberg, Chris Wallace, Lloyd Hand, Capricia Marshall, Patrick Steel and Lee Satterfield, Mari Carmen Aponte, Tom Nides, Kurt Volker, Mary Jordan and Kevin Sullivan, Sharon Rockefeller, Osceola Freear, Bob Barnett and Rita Braver, Barbie Allbritton, Strobe Talbott, Katherine Bradley, Deborah Lehr, Sally Bedell Smith and Steven Smith, Rick Karp and Maria Pica Karp, David Ignatius and Howard Fineman.

BIRTHWEEK (was Thursday): CNN’s Amanda Golden turned 26 (hat tip: Nihal Krishan)

BIRTHDAYS: Celinda Lake ... Taylor Gross, co-founder and partner at the Herald Group … POLITICO’s Jack Smith ... Sen. Bob Casey Jr. (D-Pa.) is 59 ... former Sen. Ben Nighthorse Campbell (R-Colo.) is 86 ... CNN’s Nathaniel Meyersohn is 26 ... Sujata Mitra, SVP of media strategies in Edelman’s D.C. office ... Will Davis, head of the OECD Washington Center ... Maggie Feldman-Piltch (h/ts Ben Chang) ... Doug Coutts (h/t Tim Griffin) … Geoff Embler of Second Mill ... Nick Schaper, CEO of Engage, is 41 ... Sally Larson (h/t Team Collins) … Justin Snow, director of exec comms at Human Rights Campaign ... C-SPAN’s Jeremy Art is 36 ... Brian Bartlett, partner at Rational 360 ... Jonah Cunningham ... Brad Carroll of Ford … David Stone ... John Barsa ... Kate Meissner, VP of business development at Axios, who recently welcomed baby Jack -- pic … Amy Goodman is 62 ... Benjamin Baker of the Open Society Foundations (h/t Jonathan Kaplan) ...

... Kevin Warsh is 49 … Rachel McCleery, gov’t and public policy communications manager at Ford (h/t Jon Haber) ... CPI political reporter Lateshia Beachum (h/t Dave Levinthal) ... Rep. Jim Costa (D-Calif.) is 67 ... Rep. Susan Davis (D-Calif.) is 75 ... Rep. Ted Yoho (R-Fla.) is 64 ... Madeleine Levey Lambert, brand, marketing, and comms at EY ... Rebecca Pearcey ... Mia Motley of SKDKnickerbocker (h/t Kelley McCormick) ... Steve Ayscue ... Morgan Hitzig ... Alex Lam ... Chelsea Cole-Kelly (h/t Trey Herr) ... Dean Hingson ... Sarah Corley ... Hannah Shtein ... Emily Loeb ... Deena Tauster ... Ayanna Alexander ... Christina Cattarini ... Dick Dadey … Pesach Osina ... John Gallagher, partner at Mercury … Jessica Erickson … Jessica Goldstein (h/ts Teresa Vilmain) ... Stephen Bates ... Janet Ritz ... Ryan Cross ... David All … Max Weinberg is 68 ... Garry Kasparov is 56 ... actress Allison Williams is 31 (h/ts AP)

THE SHOWS, by @MattMackowiak, filing from Austin:



NBC “Meet the Press”: Kellyanne Conway ... Washington Gov. Jay Inslee. Panel: David Brooks, Kasie Hunt, Danielle Pletka and Eugene Robinson

CNN “State of the Union”: Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-N.Y.) ... Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) ... Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.). Panel: Andrew Gillum, Scott Jennings, Jen Psaki and Linda Chavez

Fox “Fox News Sunday”: Sarah Sanders ... Sen. Ben Cardin (D-Md.). Panel: Anna Palmer, Rich Lowry, Kristen Soltis Anderson and Neera Tanden … “Power Player of the Week”: Kathleen Kennedy Townsend

ABC “This Week”: Sarah Sanders ... Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.) ... Julian Assange attorney Jennifer Robinson. Panel: Jonathan Karl, Chris Christie, Rahm Emanuel, Stefanie Brown James and Alice Stewart

CBS “Face the Nation”: Kellyanne Conway ... Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) … Senate Minority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) … Brad Parscale

CNN “Inside Politics”: Panel: Eliana Johnson, Toluse Olorunnipa, Karoun Demirjian and Jeff Zeleny

CNN “Fareed Zakaria GPS ”: Hillary Clinton

Fox News “Sunday Morning Futures”: Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) … Rep. Doug Collins (R-Ga.) … Rep. Matt Cartwright (D-Pa.) … Rep. Mark Meadows (R-S.C.)

Fox News “MediaBuzz”: Emily Jashinsky … Kristina Partsinevelos … Clarence Page … Mara Liasson … Kat Timpf … Ramin Setoodeh … Charlie Gasparino

CNN “Reliable Sources”: Ryan Grim and Bradley Moss … Waleed Shahid and Sarah Ellison … Olivia Nuzzi and Karen Finney … Craig Forman

Univision “Al Punto”: Mexican president Andrés Manuel López Obrador … John Ackerman and Pedro Ferriz de Con … Rep. Debbie Mucarsel-Powell (D-Fla.) … Mexican comedian Chumel … Pablo Monzalvo

C-SPAN “The Communicators”: Daphne Keller and E.U. Minister-Counselor for Digital Economy Policy Peter Fatelnig … “Newsmakers”: Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.), questioned by Bob Cusack and Burgess Everett … “Q&A”: Susan Page

MSNBC “Kasie DC”: Chelsea Handler … Rep. Tim Ryan (D-Ohio) … Robby Mook … Michael Steel … Bob Costa … Shawna Thomas … Sam Stein … Kimberly Atkins … Betsy Woodruff … Jake Sherman and Anna Palmer

Washington Times “Mack on Politics” weekly politics podcast with Matt Mackowiak (download on iTunes, Google Play, Spotify or Stitcher or listen at MackOnPoliticsPodcast.com ): Josh Holmes

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