POLITICO Playbook PM: Meadows: Being W.H. chief of staff would be an 'honor' Presented by Amazon

Rep. Mark Meadows (R-N.C.) is among the leading candidates to replace White House chief of staff John Kelly. | Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

NEWS … NORTH CAROLINA REP. MARK MEADOWS sends along this comment about the reports that he is a candidate for White House chief of staff: “Serving as Chief of Staff would be an incredible honor. The President has a long list of qualified candidates and I know he'll make the best selection for his administration and for the country.”

SO, YES … MEADOWS is clearly interested.

NOW … THE CASE FOR MARK MEADOWS AS CHIEF OF STAFF … LET’S BE REAL … PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP doesn’t have any use for a traditional chief of staff. He doesn’t want to be told what to do. He isn’t particularly interested in Washington’s power structures. He doesn’t want someone minding his manners. He needs a chief of staff who shares those interests -- and Meadows might just be that person.

HERE IS WHY MEADOWS seems uniquely suited for the moment, as laid out by Hill and Trump insiders …

-- MEADOWS HAS TRUMP’S EAR. The North Carolina Republican has been one of the president’s top outside advisers for the last two years. They have a good rapport -- it’s one based off mutual interest, to be sure -- and he’s a known entity in the West Wing and on Capitol Hill. Not many other people have that.

-- INSIDER SAVVY … This may come as a bit of a surprise, but Meadows is the force in the Freedom Caucus that’s always pushing for deals. Jim Jordan, on the other hand, is the element pushing for ideological purity. If one assumes Trump is going to need to cut deals over the next two years, Meadows would be an interesting partner. Meadows also understands the politics of the Capitol and, when not having to balance the various wants and desires of his Freedom Caucus members, is seen by his colleagues as having sound strategic thinking.

-- HE UNDERSTANDS CONGRESS -- AND OVERSIGHT. Trump doesn’t really have the luxury to install a chief of staff with a steep learning curve -- that’s why someone like New York Yankee President Randy Levine doesn’t make a ton of sense. The president needs a known entity. Trump is going to be under fire from the Oversight and Government Reform Committee -- a panel Meadows is an active member of. He has a close relationship with Rep. Elijah Cummings, the top Democrat on the panel..

-- HE’S TV-SAVVY. The president appreciates when people publicly defend him, and Meadows has done that now for two years. Having a chief of staff who’s appearing on television regularly is a plus for a president that cares about such things.

MEADOWS definitely has flaws. He has made a few enemies in the Capitol, and there are those who don’t appreciate the Freedom Caucus’ tactics. But overall, it could be a strangely good fit.

BIG NEWS … JOHN BRESNAHAN and HEATHER CAYGLE: “Pelosi, rebels discussing term limits for party leaders”

SCOTUS WATCH -- ALICE MIRANDA OLLSTEIN: “Supreme Court turns away Planned Parenthood defunding case”: “The Supreme Court on Monday declined to hear a case that takes up whether states can block Planned Parenthood and other abortion providers from their Medicaid programs and would have served as the first major abortion test for the court’s new conservative majority.

“Justice Clarence Thomas joined by Justices Samuel Alito and Neil Gorsuch dissented from the decision not to take up Andersen v. Planned Parenthood of Kansas and Mid-Missouri … The cases, filed earlier this year, ask whether patients can sue states for excluding Planned Parenthood from state Medicaid funding.” POLITICO

THE INVESTIGATIONS … WAPO’S ROZ HELDERMAN and SPENCER HSU: “Alleged Russian agent Maria Butina poised to plead guilty in case involving Kremlin attempts to influence NRA”: “Attorneys for Butina and federal prosecutors jointly requested in court documents Monday that U.S. District Judge Tanya S. Chutkan set a time for Butina to withdraw her previous plea of ‘not guilty.’ They said they could be available for her to enter her plea as early as Tuesday.

“A plea is not final until it is entered in court and accepted by a judge. Monday’s filing did not indicate to what charge she will plead. Butina was accused of working to push the Kremlin’s agenda by forming bonds with [NRA] officials and other conservative leaders and making outreach to 2016 presidential candidates.” WaPo

-- JOSH GERSTEIN: “Manafort gets Wednesday court date to discuss lying allegations”: Judge Amy Berman “Jackson also lifted a Wednesday deadline that Manafort’s attorneys faced to rebut a submission from Mueller’s team last week detailing a variety of areas where prosecutors contend Manafort lied in the wake of his September agreement to plead guilty. … It was unclear what prompted Jackson to lift the deadline for the defense and instead schedule a hearing to discuss how to move forward in the case. There was no public indication in the court docket of a request to adjust the schedule.” POLITICO

Good Monday afternoon. WSJ’S KATE DAVIDSON and ANDREW ACKERMAN: “Trump Expected to Nominate Fannie, Freddie Critic to Oversee Mortgage-Finance Giants”: “The Trump administration is expected to soon announce that it plans to nominate Mark Calabria to become the director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, the regulator for the two companies.” WSJ

THE DOW JONES INDUSTRIAL AVERAGE was down more than 180 points and 0.70% as of 1 p.m. WSJ: “Stocks Drop in U.S., Europe as Brexit Vote Delayed”

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WHAT’S ON THE PRESIDENT’S MIND -- @realDonaldTrump at 6:46 a.m.: “‘Democrats can’t find a Smocking [sic] Gun tying the Trump campaign to Russia after James Comey’s testimony. No Smocking Gun...No Collusion.’ @FoxNews That’s because there was NO COLLUSION. So now the Dems go to a simple private transaction, wrongly call it a campaign contribution,...”

… at 7 a.m.: “....which it was not (but even if it was, it is only a CIVIL CASE, like Obama’s -- but it was done correctly by a lawyer and there would not even be a fine. Lawyer’s liability if he made a mistake, not me). Cohen just trying to get his sentence reduced. WITCH HUNT!”

YIKES … MARC CAPUTO: “Campaign finance fraud accusations haunt Spano, congressional office”: Ross “Spano, an attorney and outgoing state legislator with past financial troubles, recently admitted in a letter to the Federal Election Commission that he might have committed a campaign finance ‘violation’ in failing for two months to disclose $180,000 he accepted from two friends. … [I]f the FEC deems the ‘loans’ to be campaign contributions, they would exceed legal donation limits of $2,700 per cycle, per contributor. And experts say it could constitute a criminal violation …

“Two of Spano’s opponents, former Republican state Rep. Neil Combee and Democrat Kristen Carlson, have called on the FBI to investigate because, they say, he willfully and knowingly broke campaign finance law by acting as a straw donor for his own campaign. A bipartisan chorus of critics also say the House Ethics and Elections Committee needs to examine the case once Spano is seated.” POLITICO

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THE LATEST IN NORTH CAROLINA … CAITLIN OPRYSKO: “North Carolina Democrat preparing for special election in contested Congressional race”: “‘We’re gearing up right now in case we do have a special election. This is in the hands of the North Carolina state Board of Elections that’s launched an investigation,’ Dan McCready said in an interview on MSNBC’s ‘Morning Joe.’

“Last week, the North Carolina board of elections voted unanimously against certifying the results of November’s midterm election in the 9th Congressional District, which showed McCready losing by around 900 votes to his Republican opponent, Mark Harris.” POLITICO … The “Morning Joe” interview

ON THE WORLD STAGE -- “Trump admin looks to counter China, Russia’s growing power in Africa with new strategy,” by NBC’s Dan De Luce and Courtney Kube: “The Trump administration plans to unveil a new strategy for Africa this week … The strategy will call for bolstering U.S. ties with countries deemed potentially vulnerable to overtures from China and Russia, as well as seeking to fend off attempts by North Korea and Iran to make inroads through economic investments or arms sales …

“The plan … will signal a shift by the administration — already underway — that emphasizes America’s rivalry with China and Russia as a top priority rather than an exclusive focus on fighting terrorist threats … The planned Africa strategy does not call for devoting more funding for U.S. diplomacy, intelligence gathering or aid, but instead argues for using existing resources more effectively.” NBC

-- “Theresa May delays Brexit vote over risk of ‘significant’ defeat,” by POLITICO Europe’s Annabelle Dickson and Lili Bayer in London: “The U.K. prime minister said a meaningful vote among MPs on her Brexit deal that had been scheduled for Tuesday will be deferred so that she can seek ‘further assurances’ from EU leaders.

“In a statement to the House of Commons she acknowledged the ‘widespread and deep concern’ over the controversial Irish backstop, which is designed to avoid a hard border, admitting her deal would be rejected by a ‘significant margin’ if the vote was held.” POLITICO Europe

2020 WATCH … WAPO’S MICHAEL SCHERER: “Town hall? 120 people. Live-streamed chicken dinner? 257,000 views on Facebook”: “About 120 people showed up for Rep. Beto O’Rourke’s recent town hall, his first since losing his U.S. Senate race. The Texas Democrat then went home to live-stream himself cooking a chicken dinner with his wife, daughter and their pet snake Monty. That 45-minute broadcast attracted 257,000 views on Facebook — along with more than 12,400 comments.

“Presidential aspirants take heed: The 2020 campaign, which is poised to kick into high gear next year with dozens of potential candidates, will take place in a media landscape that has shifted in just the past two years and been radically transformed since the 2008 primary, which began before the release of the first iPhone.” WaPo

-- AP’S ELANA SCHOR: “Presidential hopefuls pushed to go big on climate change”: “Hundreds of young demonstrators are planning to turn out Monday on Capitol Hill to push Democrats on a package of ambitious environmental goals — including a nationwide transition to 100 percent power from renewable sources within as little as 10 years — that’s collectively dubbed the Green New Deal. Already embraced by Rep.-elect Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., an increasingly influential figure on the left, the Green New Deal is designed to nudge prospective Democratic presidential candidates to stake out aggressive positions on climate change.” AP

-- THE ATLANTIC’S ELAINE GODFREY: “John Delaney Is Playing the Long Game: The Maryland Democrat and 2020 presidential candidate has visited all 99 of Iowa’s counties—well before many better-known Democrats have even decided whether to run.” The Atlantic

-- NEW YORK MAG’S GABE DEBENEDETTI: “29 Minutes With Sherrod Brown: Is looking this rumpled a path to the presidency?”

THE TRUMP ADMINISTRATION -- NPR’S CHRIS ARNOLD and CORY TURNER: “Ed Department To Erase Debts Of Teachers, Fix Troubled Grant Program”: “The move comes after an almost year-long NPR investigation that brought pressure on the department. In May, the Education Department launched a top-to-bottom review of the program. … The Department of Education now says it will give teachers who lost their grants because of paperwork problems a second chance to prove they were meeting the program's teaching requirements.” NPR

VALLEY TALK -- WSJ’S DOUGLAS MACMILLAN and JOHN MCKINNON: “Google CEO Faces Hot Seat in Washington”: “[Sundar] Pichai will be thrust into the political spotlight when he testifies at his first Congressional hearing on Tuesday. Members of the U.S. House Judiciary Committee are expected to grill the executive on a range of topics, including Google’s handling of user data and its development of a search engine that would comply with China’s strict internet censors. …

“Mr. Pichai has been working to build stronger alliances with GOP lawmakers and conservative-leaning groups, according to internal company discussions. In a companywide conference call with employees earlier this year, a top Google public policy executive said that Mr. Pichai has pushed the Washington office to make more friends on the right and occasionally pitched in on the effort, like when he traveled to Tennessee in February to attend a groundbreaking of a new data center with GOP Sen. Bob Corker.” WSJ

IF YOU READ ONE THING -- THE INTERCEPT’S DAVID DAYAN: “The Remarkable Tale Of The Corporate Lobbyist Sworn In As A Temporary U.S. Senator”: “Few have paid much attention to [Arizona Sen. Jon] Kyl, who is wrapping up one of the strangest and — to his critics — one of the most corrupt tenures in the modern history of the Senate.

“Kyl was a registered lobbyist at a powerhouse D.C. law firm, who lived and worked in Washington for five and a half years before taking a four-month gig as a senator. His only floor speeches have involved matters at least glancingly tied to his lobbying. His entire term of office seems like a calculated attempt to refresh his contacts and gain clout from the inside, only to spin back out to influence the institution.” The Intercept

KNOWING STEPHANIE GRISHAM -- “Meet Melania Trump’s enforcer. It’s not her husband,” by WaPo’s Sarah Ellison: “Few in Trump’s White House have a history with him that dates as far back as Stephanie Grisham. For nearly two years, she served as communications director for first lady Melania Trump. A few weeks ago, she received a promotion to deputy chief of staff for communications and has become one of the more powerful figures in the ever-evolving Trump White House.” WaPo

AFTERNOON READ -- CHARLES DUHIGG in THE ATLANTIC: “The Real Roots of American Rage: The untold story of how anger became the dominant emotion in our politics and personal lives—and what we can do about it.” The Atlantic

MEDIAWATCH -- Julie Moos will be executive director of the National Press Club Journalism Institute. She previously was managing editor of news at McClatchy.

SPOTTED: Peter Orszag and Bruce Springsteen on Broadway. Pic

TRANSITIONS … Sarah Rubinfield will be director of government affairs at the First Five Years Fund. She previously was chief of staff for Rep. Raul Ruiz (D-Calif.). … Stephanie Copeland will be CEO of the Governance Project. She previously was executive director of the Colorado Office of Economic Development and International Trade. Former Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter will be a senior adviser at the Governance Project.

ENGAGED -- Jonathan Bronitsky, director of strategy at Javelin, on Saturday proposed to Paige Esterkin, a real estate attorney, on the front portico of James Madison’s Montpelier. Pic ... The ring

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