POLITICO Playbook PM: Trump’s man in Israel indicted on bribery and fraud charges

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks during an extended faction meeting of the right-wing bloc members at the Knesset, in Jerusalem, on Wednesday, Nov. 20. | Oded Balilty/AP Photo

BREAKING IN ISRAEL -- “Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu Indicted on Bribery, Fraud, Breach of Trust Charges,” by WSJ’s Felicia Schwartz in Tel Aviv: “Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was indicted on bribery charges Thursday, imperiling the country’s longest-serving leader as he looks set to fight for his personal and political future in a third election contest.

“Israel’s Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit said Mr. Netanyahu will be charged with bribery, fraud and breach of trust in connection to three corruption probes known as Cases 1000, 2000 and 4000. Mr. Netanyahu allegedly traded official favors for flattering news coverage as well as gifts worth hundreds of thousands of dollars, including pink champagne, cigars and jewelry. The bribery charge, a key element of Case 4000, is the most serious and, if convicted, Mr. Netanyahu could face up to 10 years in prison. The lesser charges could result in three to five years in jail.” WSJ


-- @jaketapper: “I’m sure this will alarm all of those who profess to be concerned about corruption abroad.”

NYT JERUSALEM BUREAU CHIEF DAVID HALBFINGER: “There were already signs of unrest in Mr. Netanyahu’s right-wing Likud party, as a popular younger lawmaker, Gideon Saar, called Thursday for a primary contest for prime minister, and said he would be a contender.

“Even if Mr. Netanyahu fends off intraparty challengers, and assembles a viable coalition in Parliament, Mr. Plesner said that the Israeli president, Reuven Rivlin, might balk at assigning him the task of forming a government while he awaits trial. In addition, critics are expected to petition the Supreme Court to rule that Mr. Netanyahu must step down.” NYT

TODAY’S IMPEACHMENT HEARING, with DAVID HOLMES and FIONA HILL, served so far to mostly confirm much of the testimony of other witnesses and provide additional color for situations we are familiar with. DEMOCRATS see this hearing as tying a bow on the last few weeks of testimony -- to provide details and context for their probe so far. The POLITICO mainbar … House Intel Chairman Adam Schiff’s opening statement … Hill’s opening statement … Holmes’ opening statement

A FEW HIGHLIGHTS WORTH POINTING OUT …

-- UNDER QUESTIONING FROM DEMOCRATS, HILL said that GORDON SONDLAND said he had an agreement with MICK MULVANEY that VOLODYMYR ZELENSKY would get a White House meeting in exchange for investigations into Burisma. She spoke to NSC lawyer John Eisenberg about this.

-- HILL ALSO SAID the rancor in the U.S. was “exactly what the Russian government was looking for.”

-- HILL on the DONALD TRUMP/ZELENSKY call: “I found this particular call, subject matter and the way it was conducted surprising.”

-- HILL on RUDY GIULIANI: “He was clearly pushing forward issues and ideas that would … probably come back to haunt us. And, in fact, I think that’s where we are today.”

-- HOLMES on the aid freeze: “[M]y clear impression was that the security assistance hold was likely intended by the president either as an expression of dissatisfaction that the Ukrainians had not yet agreed to the Burisma/Biden investigation or as an effort to increase the pressure on them to do so.”

THE HEARING RECESSED for a previously planned vote series in the 11 a.m. hour, and resumed around 1 p.m. for REPUBLICANS’ questioning.

THE REPUBLICANS’ QUESTIONS … DEVIN NUNES spent much of his opening asking HILL and HOLMES if they knew Nellie and Bruce Ohr, and Alexandra Chalupa. They didn’t.

-- GOP COUNSEL STEVE CASTOR asked HILL if she was confident Ukraine policy was heading in the right direction as she was leaving her job. “I was not,” she said. “I was concerned about two things in particular: One was the removal of our ambassador.” The other, she said, was that there was a “different channel” of diplomacy.

THE PRESIDENT TWEETS … at 9:27 a.m.: “I have been watching people making phone calls my entire life. My hearing is, and has been, great. Never have I been watching a person making a call, which was not on speakerphone, and been able to hear or understand a conversation. I’ve even tried, but to no avail. Try it live!”

-- NOTE: Sondland did not contest Holmes’ account of the call, aside from saying he did not recall specifically mentioning Biden.

JIM JORDAN PROFILE … WAPO’S BEN TERRIS and RACHAEL BADE: “Jim Jordan used to torment GOP leadership. Now he’s leading them in defending Trump.”

SIREN, SIREN, SIREN … PELOSI: USMCA INTO 2020? … Asked if the USMCA could still be passed before the end of the year, Speaker NANCY PELOSI cast some doubt on that prospect. “I’m not even sure if we came to an agreement today that it would be enough time to finish.” Full news conference

Good Thursday afternoon. POLITICO and PBS are hosting the next debate, on Dec. 19 in Los Angeles. Want to submit a question? GREAT! Do it here.

-- FYI: CNN is airing the debate, too.

HEADS UP -- “Inspector general report on FBI’s Trump-Russia probe due out in December,” by Marianne LeVine and Darren Samuelsohn: “Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham said Michael Horowitz, the Justice Department’s watchdog, will release the report on Dec. 9 and testify before his committee on Dec. 11. …

“President Donald Trump’s allies are eager to see the report, which will examine whether the FBI violated surveillance laws or policies by obtaining a Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act warrant to look into Carter Page, a Trump campaign adviser. The IG report could also be useful to Michael Flynn, the former Trump national security adviser who pleaded guilty in Robert Mueller’s Russia probe in December 2017 but has since hired a combative new attorney who is trying to get the original case tossed out by a federal judge because of what she’s called ‘egregious government misconduct.’” POLITICO

TRUMP THE INTERVENER -- “Trump rebukes Navy leaders and insists sailor will remain a SEAL,” by Wesley Morgan: “President Donald Trump rebuked Navy leaders on Thursday for taking steps that could strip a Navy SEAL acquitted of war crimes and three of his superiors of the trident badges that mark them as members of the elite commando force.

“‘The Navy will NOT be taking away Warfighter and Navy Seal Eddie Gallagher’s Trident Pin,’ Trump tweeted, referring to the sailor who he restored to the rank of chief petty officer last week despite military misgivings. ‘This case was handled very badly from the beginning. Get back to business!’ Gallagher in July was cleared of charges that he stabbed a wounded prisoner to death but found guilty of posing with the prisoner's corpse.” POLITICO

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TRADE WARS -- “China Invited U.S. Trade Negotiators for More Talks,” by WSJ’s Lingling Wei and Eva Dou in Beijing: “China’s chief trade negotiator has invited his American counterparts for a new round of face-to-face talks, according to people briefed on the matter, as both sides are struggling to strike a limited deal to help de-escalate tensions between the world’s two largest economies.

“During a phone call late last week, Liu He, President Xi Jinping’s point person on trade negotiations with Washington, extended the invitation to U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin to hold the meeting in Beijing, the people said. U.S. negotiators have indicated they would be willing to meet in person, according to the people, but that they would be reluctant to trek across the Pacific unless China makes it clear that it would make commitments on intellectual-property protection, forced technology transfers and agricultural purchases.” WSJ

PACIFIC TENSIONS RISING -- “The U.S.’s Quest for Military Unity on China Comes Up Short in Asia,” by WSJ’s Nancy Youssef in Bangkok and Andrew Jeong in Seoul: “Defense Secretary Mark Esper received a chilly reception this week when he appealed to allies in Asia for a unified response to Chinese aggression, a new sign of potential trouble for the Trump administration’s policy in the region.

“Mr. Esper opened meetings in Bangkok alongside his Thai, Japanese and South Korean counterparts with a stern warning about recent Chinese actions. ‘Beijing is increasingly resorting to coercion and intimidation to advance its strategic objectives at the expense of other nations,’ Mr. Esper told allies. None of the defense ministers responded to Mr. Esper in kind during their remarks, signaling potential second thoughts about the U.S. prescription.” WSJ

-- FYI: The Pentagon is flatly denying a Korean newspaper report that Esper said the U.S. was planning to pull out some 4,000 troops from South Korea.

TRUMP INC. -- NATASHA BERTRAND: “Secret Service spent more than $250K at Trump properties”: “The documents outline Secret Service credit card expenditures for Trump properties and businesses between January 27 and June 9, 2017, and were obtained via a Freedom of Information Act request via the nonprofit watchdog group Property of the People. The expenditures -- amounting to $254,020.94 in total -- raise new questions about the extent to which Trump is personally profiting from the federal government, which is prohibited by the Constitution’s Domestic Emoluments Clause.” POLITICO

IMMIGRATION FILES -- “A Top US Immigration Official Threatened To Fire Employees For Leaking Information To The Media,” by BuzzFeed’s Hamed Aleaziz

ICYMI -- “Judge halts all scheduled federal executions,” by Josh Gerstein: “A judge has blocked the scheduled executions of four federal death row inmates, effectively freezing the Trump administration’s effort to resume imposing the death penalty in a federal system that saw its last execution more than a decade and a half ago.

“The order issued Wednesday night by U.S. District Court Judge Tanya Chutkan halts four executions that U.S. officials planned to carry out starting next month. The only other execution that officials had put on the calendar, also for December, was blocked last month by the 9th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals.” POLITICO … The order

VALLEY TALK -- “Facebook Weighs Steps to Curb Super-Targeted Political Ads,” by WSJ’s Emily Glazer: “The company in recent weeks has weighed increasing the minimum number of people who are targeted in political ads from 100 to a few thousand, the people said.

“Facebook has sought feedback on potential changes with large Republican and Democratic political ad buyers—about that possible change and other ideas—in efforts to limit how misinformation is spread, since ads with false or misleading information are often targeted toward specific audiences, one of the people said.” WSJ

2020 WATCH -- DEEP DIVE … THE ATLANTIC’S JOHN HENDRICKSON: “Are Joe Biden’s Debate Stumbles Simply the Result of a Stutter?”: “Maybe you’ve heard Biden talk about his boyhood stutter. A non-stutterer might not notice when he appears to get caught on words as an adult, because he usually maneuvers out of those moments quickly and expertly. But on other occasions … Biden’s lingering stutter is hard to miss. He stutters—­if slightly—on several sounds as we sit across from each other in his office.

“Before addressing the debate specifically, I mention what I’ve just heard. ‘I want to ask you, as, you know, a … stutterer to, uh, to a … stutterer. When you were … talking a couple minutes ago, it, it seemed to … my ear, my eye … did you have … trouble on s? Or on … m?’ Biden looks down. He pivots to the distant past, telling me that the letter s was hard when he was a kid. ‘But, you know, I haven’t stuttered in so long that it’s hhhhard for me to remember the specific—’ He pauses. ‘What I do remember is the feeling.’” Atlantic

THE POLICY PRIMARY -- “Biden’s wariness on marijuana puts another target on his back,” by Mona Zhang: “Biden has taken a timid stance compared with the rest of the Democratic field, proposing to move marijuana to a less restrictive category, while most other top candidates have detailed proposals for legalizing marijuana — or have supported such legislation in Congress.

“His reluctance to embrace legalization — coupled with recent comments that it poses a risk as a ‘gateway drug’ — has opened Biden to further criticism about his past tough-on-crime policies and the perception that he’s old and out of touch. And Biden’s position seems to sharply conflict with the Democratic base: Nearly 8 in 10 Democrats and Democrat-leaning independents support legalization, according to new polling by the Pew Research Center.” POLITICO

EPSTEIN UPDATE -- “Victims’ lawyer: Prince Andrew must talk to U.S. prosecutors,” by AP’s Gregory Katz and Jill Lawless in London: “Lawyers for the victims of sex offender Jeffrey Epstein say Prince Andrew should speak to U.S. investigators immediately, after the senior British royal withdrew from public duties over what he called his ‘ill-judged association’ with the convicted pedophile.

“U.S. attorney Gloria Allred said Andrew should contact American authorities ‘without conditions and without delay.’ Andrew announced Wednesday that he was pulling out of public duties ‘for the foreseeable future’ amid a firestorm of criticism over his friendship with Epstein. In a statement, he said he was ‘willing to help any appropriate law enforcement agency with their investigations, if required.’ … It is not clear if U.S. authorities are investigating Andrew for any possible wrongdoing.” AP

MEDIAWATCH -- Alexandra Jaffe is now a national political reporter in the AP’s D.C. bureau. She previously was an Iowa-based political reporter for the AP.

TRANSITIONS -- Mark Dion is joining Blueprint Communications as a partner. The former COS to now-Sen. Pat Toomey (R-Pa.) when he was in the House, Dion most recently was at Revolution Agency, which he co-founded in 2006. … Mira Ricardel is now a principal at the Chertoff Group. She previously was an assistant to the president and deputy national security adviser in the White House.

BONUS BIRTHDAY: Tina Stow of UnitedHealth Group

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