The big names funding the House GOP Presented by Amazon

Driving the Day

FRONT PAGE OF THE SUN: “Trump praises May but DOESN’T backtrack over Brexit, terror and Boris … FAKE SCHMOOZE” http://bit.ly/2ukqqTk

SOME INTERESTING THINGS WE LEARNED FROM CAMPAIGN FINANCE DOCUMENTS THIS MORNING …

- PROTECT THE HOUSE, the House GOP-focused joint fundraising committee started by VP MIKE PENCE and HOUSE MAJORITY LEADER KEVIN MCCARTHY, got big checks from Bob McNair, the owner of the Houston Texans; Sheldon Adelson; and Ron Burkle, the supermarket magnate who was Bill Clinton’s buddy. They all gave $371,500. Paul Allen, the Microsoft co-founder, gave $100,000. Elon Musk, a friend of McCarthy’s, gave $38,900. Hank Paulson, the former Treasury secretary, gave $45,000. Stephen Schwarzman and his wife gave $32,400 each. Comcast/NBCUniversal’s PAC gave $58,500.

-- The biggest single contribution to KEVIN MCCARTHY’S victory fund was $100,000 from John Hess of the Hess Corporation.

FORMER REP. AARON SCHOCK (R-ILL.) goes to trial Jan. 28. https://politi.co/2LcX6Yr

NEW … ON THE BORDER -- “Trump administration expedites reunifications for 2551 migrant children,” by Dan Diamond: “The Trump administration said Friday night it would speed up the process to reunify thousands of migrant children that were separated from their parents at the border — nearly three weeks after a federal judge ordered officials to put families back together as soon as possible.

“In a court filing, the administration for the first time specified that HHS has custody of 2,551 migrant children age 5 to 17 who were separated from their parents. The health department earlier had estimated only that ‘under 3,000 children’ were separated from their parents as they reviewed the records of thousands of children in custody.

“In a concession to the court, the administration said it would truncate the process it used to reunify younger migrant children, which involved fingerprinting and DNA testing to confirm parentage and check for criminal history. HHS is facing a July 26 court-ordered deadline to reunite all of the children.” https://politi.co/2uoxm1s

NYT’S CARL HULSE … “ON WASHINGTON” COLUMN: “Should Democrats Have Saved Their Filibuster for the New Court Fight?”: “In the days leading up to the vote on Judge Neil M. Gorsuch’s confirmation to the Supreme Court in the spring of 2017, Senator Susan Collins approached Senator Michael Bennet on the Senate floor with an urgent plea.

“‘Please, don’t do it this time,’ Ms. Collins, the Republican from Maine, said to Mr. Bennet, her Democratic colleague from Colorado. ‘It’ was the Democratic inclination to mount a filibuster against Mr. Gorsuch, potentially forcing a showdown that would end with a move by Republicans to change Senate practices and eliminate supermajority filibusters against Supreme Court nominees. …

“Now, as the Senate faces another court vacancy — one that could tilt the court’s ideological balance and cement a conservative majority — the Democrats have few tools to fight the nomination. A different outcome last year could have had a huge effect on the more consequential battle now taking shape.

“Had Democrats retained the power to block President Trump’s choice of Judge Brett M. Kavanaugh, he might have been forced to find a more consensus candidate. With the Republicans’ Senate majority smaller than it was in 2017, Senator Mitch McConnell, Republican of Kentucky and the majority leader, might not have found it as easy now to corral the votes to overrule a filibuster. The entire political atmosphere around the nomination would be transformed.” https://nyti.ms/2JocOuD



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ABOUT THOSE INDICTMENTS … -- AP’S RAPHAEL SATTER in Paris: “Long-hidden hackers unmasked by U.S. special counsel”: “On the morning of March 19, 2016, Den Katenberg ran a little test with big stakes. The previous week, Katenberg’s hacking crew had been bombarding the Hillary Clinton campaign’s email accounts with fake Google warnings, trying to get her Brooklyn-based staff to panic, enter their passwords and open their digital lives to Russia’s intelligence services. But the going was tough.

“Even when Clinton staffers clicked the malicious links Katenberg crafted, two-factor authentication — a second, failsafe password test — still kept him out of their accounts. After a day of testing on March 18, he took a different tack, striking the Clinton’s campaign staff at their personal — and generally less secure — Gmail addresses.

“At 10:30 the next morning he carried out one last experiment, targeting himself at his own Gmail address to make sure his messages weren’t being blocked. An hour later he sent out a barrage of new malicious messages to more than 70 people, including one to Clinton campaign chair John Podesta. By the end of the day, he’d won access to one of the most important inboxes in American politics. On Friday, the U.S. special counsel said Katenberg was an alias used by Lt. Aleksey Lukashev, an email phishing specialist with Unit 26165 of Russia’s Main Intelligence Directorate, often abbreviated GRU.” http://bit.ly/2zNQQC7

-- FORMER U.S. AMBASSADOR TO RUSSIA MICHAEL MCFAUL (@McFaul): “I’m very impressed that Mueller was able to name the 12 GRU officers in the new indictment. Demonstrates the incredible capabilities of our intelligence community. Kremlin will take note.”

-- “Roger Stone’s messages suggest he is unnamed person in new Russia indictment,” by CNN’s MJ Lee, Marshall Cohen, Kara Scannell, Katelyn Polantz and Clare Foran: “Roger Stone appears to be the unnamed individual in a new Russia probe indictment made public Friday who is described as having communicated with Guccifer 2.0 in 2016. Stone, a longtime associate of President Donald Trump and political figure, agreed with the sentiment in a Friday night interview on CNN’s ‘Cuomo Prime Time.’ ‘I think I probably am the person referred to,’ Stone said Friday evening.

“Earlier Friday, Stone acknowledged to CNN that an exchange in the indictment matches messages he previously released, but initially maintained that he did not believe that he is the unnamed person in the indictment. Stone said the messages ‘don’t provide any evidence of collaboration or collusion.’” https://cnn.it/2JnXu15

-- WISHFUL THINKING? -- “Trump’s allies and lawyers see hope that Mueller’s work is wrapping up,” by Josh Gerstein and Darren Samuelsohn: “Rod Rosenstein on Friday whipped up a media frenzy by announcing special counsel Robert Mueller’s indictment of Russian military officials for allegedly hacking [DNC] computers and emails during the 2016 election — and then promptly handing off the case. …

“Trump’s personal lawyer and some of his allies see the reallocation of Mueller’s work as an indication that his probe is beginning to wind down and perhaps even as a signal to the White House and Congress that there’s no need to do anything rash to oust the special counsel. ‘I do see it as the end of the investigation,’ Rudy Giuliani, Trump’s lawyer, told POLITICO. ‘I don’t know what else there is to investigate.’” https://politi.co/2LhA0ww

-- JOSH MEYER: “Mueller indictment sheds new light on Russia's ‘nasty’ secret election hacking units”: “The Justice Department's Friday indictment of 12 Russian officials described them as midlevel functionaries staring at computer screens in windowless offices in the bowels of the vast Kremlin bureaucracy.

“But Friday’s indictment of the front-line Russian intelligence agents who U.S. officials believe hacked the 2016 Presidential election—some of world’s most capable cyberwarriors—operate, and how they did a lot more than steal and disseminate embarrassing emails from Democratic party officials. The operatives from two units within Russia’s GRU military intelligence agency helped tilt the election through an elaborate series of coordinated high-tech influence operations, and by using a global network of anonymous servers, bitcoin purchasers and other unwitting cutouts to cover the digital tracks, according to the indictment.

“And, according to the 14-page charging document, the Russians deeply infiltrated two key Democratic Party organizations and key aspects of Democrat Hillary Clinton’s campaign — watching their every move via real-time digital surveillance until just weeks before the election.” https://politi.co/2L9qX3L

-- WAPO’S JOSH ROGIN (@joshrogin): “American reporters who took stories from Guccifer 2.0 or DC Leaks have to wonder if they weren't used as a tool of a foreign military intelligence operation against our country.”

THREAT ASSESSMENT -- “‘Warning Lights Are Blinking Red,’ Top Intelligence Officer Says of Russian Attacks,” by NYT’s Julian E. Barnes: “The nation’s top intelligence officer said on Friday that the persistent danger of Russian cyberattacks today was akin to the warnings the United States had of stepped-up terror threats ahead of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. That note of alarm sounded by Dan Coats, the director of national intelligence, came on the same day that 12 Russian agents were indicted on charges of hacking the [DNC] and Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign.

“Mr. Coats said those indictments illustrated Moscow’s continuing strategy to undermine the United States’ democracy and erode its institutions. ‘The warning lights are blinking red again,’ Mr. Coats said as he cautioned of cyberthreats. ‘Today, the digital infrastructure that serves this country is literally under attack.’” https://nyti.ms/2KZRKRa

Good Saturday morning. PRESIDENT TRUMP is in Turnberry, Scotland. Sarah Sanders, Bill Shine, Stephen Miller, Dan Scavino and John Kelly are among the aides who accompanied the president, according to pooler Katie Rogers of the New York Times.

WHAT’S ON TRUMP’S MIND -- @realDonaldTrump at 5:43 a.m. Eastern: “I have arrived in Scotland and will be at Trump Turnberry for two days of meetings, calls and hopefully, some golf -- my primary form of exercise! The weather is beautiful, and this place is incredible! Tomorrow I go to Helsinki for a Monday meeting with Vladimir Putin.” …

… at 5:46 a.m.: “The Stock Market hit 25,000 yesterday. Jobs are at an all time record -- and that is before we fix some of the worst trade deals and conditions ever seen by any government. It is all happening!” … at 5:57 a.m.: “....Where is the DNC Server, and why didn’t the FBI take possession of it? Deep State?” ...

… at 6:08 a.m.: “The stories you heard about the 12 Russians yesterday took place during the Obama Administration, not the Trump Administration. Why didn’t they do something about it, especially when it was reported that President Obama was informed by the FBI in September, before the Election?”

-- TRUMP VS. CNN: at 7:24 a.m.: “So funny! I just checked out Fake News CNN, for the first time in a long time (they are dying in the ratings), to see if they covered my takedown yesterday of Jim Acosta (actually a nice guy). They didn’t! But they did say I already lost in my meeting with Putin. Fake News......” … at 7:34 a.m.: “....Remember, it was Little Jeff Z and his people, who are told exactly what to say, who said I could not win the election in that ‘there was no way to 270’ (over & over again) in the Electoral College. I got 306! They were sooooo wrong in their election coverage. Still hurting!”

TRUMP INC. -- “In Trump’s U.K. Visit, Some See ‘Infomercial’ for Money-Losing Golf Resort,” by NYT’s Katie Rogers: “Before arriving in Scotland — the birthplace of his mother, as well as that of Mr. Trump’s preferred pastime — the president managed repeatedly to plug Turnberry, one of two Scottish resorts that bear his name. The move has alarmed ethics experts, who say he is using his presidential platform to promote a resort that, according to financial filings, has been a burden on the family business.” https://nyti.ms/2NfoylP

-- HMM… “Trump lost millions at golf courses in Scotland. U.S. voters weren’t told that,” by McClatchy’s Anita Kumar: “President Donald Trump’s pair of golf resorts in Scotland have steadily lost money, with losses calculated at $23 million the last year his company reported figures to United Kingdom officials. U.S. voters may not know that. That’s because Trump told U.S. officials that Trump Turnberry earned $15 million and Trump International Golf Links in Aberdeen earned $3.8 million in what he describes as ‘golf-related revenue’ for roughly the same period of time.

“Trump ... appears to have masked some of his company’s problems in Scotland on his personal financial disclosure required of U.S. government officials, according to several experts who reviewed the document.” http://bit.ly/2usNtd

PALM BEACH POST: “County seeks $5.6M reimbursement for Trump’s Mar-a-Lago security bill,” by George Bennett: https://bit.ly/2uv7K2k

SATURDAY READ … SHE’S BACK … WAPO’S ROBIN GIVHAN: “Nothing else Melania Trump wears will ever matter again”: “Once again, Melania Trump has stepped onto the international stage in the traditional role of first lady: an emissary of the American people, a symbol of our collective humanity — and a fashion mannequin of soft diplomacy. The stakes, as always, are high. But her credibility as a moderating force, a gracious presence swathed in silk and lace, has been significantly undermined by her own hand. All it took was a $39 olive-drab jacket. …

“Can there be fashion diplomacy after detonating the nuclear option? After the crude fashion equivalent of throwing up the middle finger? … The message was clear, after all. Recoil. Agree. Shrug. She does not care. About what, precisely? About opinions. About expectations. About anything. ‘I Really Don’t Care. Do U?’

“Mrs. Trump has made it plain. Her publicly expressed lack of concern wasn’t focused on some specific aspect of her role — perhaps one with which the public could even empathize or at least understand. Her disaffection was writ large as she walked across the tarmac in clear view of photographers. She didn’t aim her disdain with the precision of a sniper. She sprayed everything within range with scorn. ...

“For her public appearances in Belgium and England, she filled her wardrobe with designers and brands that speak to the moment in ways that are both respectful and thoughtful. Without saying a word, she has offered a visual tale of international cooperation and collaboration. The question is not whether she is engaging in diplomatic outreach. Of course she is. That is what first ladies do. It is their silent strength. But if Mrs. Trump doesn’t really care, why should anyone else?” https://wapo.st/2NOoKcJ

NEXT UP … “House conservatives prep push to impeach Rosenstein,” by Rachael Bade and Kyle Cheney: “House conservatives are preparing a new push to oust Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, according to three conservative Capitol Hill sources — putting the finishing touches on an impeachment filing even as Rosenstein announced the indictment of 12 Russian intelligence officers for interfering in the 2016 election.

“House Freedom Caucus Chairman Mark Meadows, in fact, had the impeachment document on the floor of the House at the very moment that Rosenstein spoke to reporters and TV cameras Friday. Conservative GOP lawmakers have been plotting to remove Rosenstein for weeks, accusing him of slow-walking their probe of FBI agents they’ve accused of bias against President Donald Trump.” https://politi.co/2zDxe3j

CLEANING HOUSE -- DAN DIAMOND emailed us: Two Trump appointees out at HHS after inflammatory posts — Tim Clark, the agency’s White House liaison, and communications staffer Gavin Smith were pushed out after a POLITICO report. POLITICO detailed how Trump campaign veterans at HHS — hired and protected by Clark, who was Trump’s California chairman — had shared conspiracy theories like Pizzagate and engaged in other behavior that was embarrassing for the agency. Smith, for instance, publicly mocked elected officials and at least 22 reporters and news outlets … despite working in the comms shop. HHS says both men resigned.

WHY THE W.H. LIAISON IS IMPORTANT: Clark was a key gatekeeper for the agency’s policies and staffing. With him gone, HHS Secretary Alex Azar will have an easier time putting his team in place.

FOR THOSE KEEPING TRACK: The HHS secretary, the CDC director, the chief spokesperson, the assistant secretary for administration and the White House liaison have all been fired or pushed out of HHS in the past 10 months because of POLITICO reporting. Dan’s original story https://politi.co/2lHekyJ ... The latest story https://politi.co/2mgeldl

LATE NIGHT BEST -- Last night CBS’ “The Late Show” with Stephen Colbert debuted its first field segment for the midterms and highlighted Democrat Max Rose, who’s running against Dan Donovan on Staten Island. 7-min. video http://bit.ly/2NQ2jUl

Playbook Reads

PHOTO DU JOUR: Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein speaks during a news conference at the Justice Department, on July 13 in Washington. | Evan Vucci/AP Photo

THE AFTERMATH -- FIRST PERSON: “How to keep going after a mass shooter kills your husband,” by Andrea Chamblee in WaPo: “The text messages that begin arriving on June 28 end my ordinary life. ‘Where does your husband work?’ ‘What’s happening in Annapolis?’ ‘Have you seen the news?’ My husband, John McNamara, is a reporter for the Capital Gazette. I am at my office, a government agency just outside Washington. I Google. Then I close my laptop and run toward the parking lot. I pass one of the new TVs mounted on the walls, where a CNN news crawl says SHOOTING AT ANNAPOLIS CAPITAL. I sit down, perhaps on the floor. I look for John’s bright blue shirt in the footage of evacuees. I call his office phone. I call his cellphone. There is no answer.” https://wapo.st/2NQVLVQ

NSC DEPARTURE LOUNGE – “Another top NSC official ousted under Bolton,” by Nahal Toosi: “A top National Security Council official who skirmished with White House aide Stephen Miller and other immigration hardliners was forced out this week, the latest staffing change at the NSC since President Donald Trump named John Bolton his national security adviser in March. Jennifer Arangio, a senior director in the NSC division that deals with international organizations, was let go Thursday, according to a former White House official and a former NSC staffer.

“The former NSC staffer said Arangio was escorted off the premises and told her services were no longer needed. Arangio’s exit comes days after two senior officials left the NSC’s Middle East section. One, Joel Rayburn, is expected to join the State Department in a top position dealing with Middle East issues ... It's not clear where the other, Michael Bell, will land.” https://politi.co/2LlfYRC

2018 WATCH -- “Beto O’Rourke’s risky gamble on health care,” by Renuka Rayasam in Hillsboro, Texas: “Rep. Beto O’Rourke is taking a page from the Ted Cruz campaign playbook — he’s running for the Senate on health care. Six years ago, Cruz won a tough Republican primary fight and coasted to a November victory by vilifying Obamacare, relentlessly vowing to repeal the federal health law if he were elected.

“Now O'Rourke (D-Texas) is hoping for just the opposite effect — that fears over losing health care will bring voters out in large numbers in the state with the highest uninsured rate in the country. It’s an uphill path — no Democrat has won a Senate seat from Texas in three decades. Asked at a recent town hall what would energize Texans who don't normally vote, O'Rourke had a simple answer: health care. …

“Yet while the health care message may resonate with Democrats nationally, polls in Texas tell a different story. Health care may not be enough to tip the balance in favor of Democrats in this deeply conservative state. Only 7 percent of registered voters polled in June — and 11 percent of Democrats — listed health care as the top issue facing Texas, behind immigration, border security and political corruption, and tied with education, according to the Texas Politics Project of the University of Texas.” https://politi.co/2NeFusw

-- LAUREN DEZENSKI: “Deval Patrick steps into Texas House race”: “Former Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick will return to the campaign trail this weekend, stumping in Texas in one of the most competitive House races in the country. The former two-term Democrat — and 2020 presidential prospect — will campaign Sunday with Democrat Colin Allred, a former NFL football player challenging GOP Rep. Pete Sessions in Texas’ 32nd Congressional District.” https://politi.co/2L9EJUc



CLICKER – “The nation’s cartoonists on the week in politics,” edited by Matt Wuerker – 12 funnies https://politi.co/2uomT69

GREAT WEEKEND READS, curated by Daniel Lippman, filing from Great Barrington, Massachusetts:

-- “The endless reign of Rupert Murdoch,” by Richard Cooke in The Monthly: “Murdoch is a legacy unto himself, at least in the sense of something left over from a previous era, but still in active existence. Within the Murdoch companies, plans for his succession are made on the assumptions of something like immortality … Events that might have been career or life defining to anyone else are half-remembered in Murdoch’s, miniaturised by the scale of his events.” http://bit.ly/2uwzN1q (h/t Longform.org)

-- “Can truth survive this president? An honest investigation,” by WaPo’s Carlos Lozada: “Truth is not dead, but it is degraded, and its cheapening political value predates current management. There is a pattern and logic behind the dishonesty of Trump and his surrogates; however, it’s less multidimensional chess than the simple subordination of reality to political and personal ambition. And ironically, at a time when the president’s supporters mock liberal sensitivities, Trump’s untruth sells best precisely when feelings and instincts overpower facts, when America becomes a safe space for fabrication.” https://wapo.st/2KX2Fe2

-- “Hell for Elon Musk Is a Midsize Sedan: Will the Model 3 make Tesla a real car company?” by Tom Randall, Josh Eidelson, Dana Hull, and John Lippert on the cover of Bloomberg Businessweek: “New employees develop what’s known as the ‘Tesla stare.’ ‘They come in vibrant, energized,’ says Mikey Catura, a Tesla production associate. ‘And then a couple weeks go by, and you’ll see them walking out of the building just staring out into space like zombies.’ Four current employees say the pressure they felt to avoid delays forced them to walk through raw sewage when it spilled onto the floor.” https://bloom.bg/2uk1US4

-- “The Death of a Once Great City,” by Kevin Baker in July’s issue of Harper’s: “The fall of New York and the urban crisis of affluence.” http://bit.ly/2umMnkx

-- “The Nutella Billionaires: Inside The Ferrero Family’s Secret Empire,” by Noah Kirsch in Forbes – per TheBrowser.com’s description: “One-third of the world’s hazelnuts go straight into Ferrero Rocher praline chocolates, produced by the Ferrero family, who made their first fortune by devising a post-war treacle-based chocolate substitute called Giandujot for sale to impoverished Italians. To win German customers they converted former Nazi missile plants into production lines for cherry liqueurs. In the 1960s they rebranded Giandujot as ‘Nutella’, added more cocoa, and conquered the world. A thousand tons of Nutella are sold ever day.” http://bit.ly/2KS2AbH

-- “Inhuman Resources,” by David Dayen in HuffPost Highline – per Longreads.com’s description: “David Dayen tells the story of Mike Picarella, an HSBC banker who witnessed a coworker being repeatedly sexually harassed and had his life ruined after he reported it to HR. The account shows how power imbalances within the banking industry prevent whistleblowers from coming forward and why there have been so few #metoo stories that have come out of Wall Street despite its notorious frat boy culture.” http://bit.ly/2mfz2Gj

-- “Bernie Persists,” by the Weekly Standard’s Alice Lloyd: “Two Sanders scions have recently risen to prominence in New England progressive politics: Sanders’s stepdaughter, Carina Driscoll ... lost her own bid for city hall this year. But Driscoll did win an endorsement from Our Revolution. Sanders’s son Levi, a candidate for Congress in New Hampshire, did not get Our Revolution’s backing, nor his father’s. … A paternal endorsement would compromise Bernie’s longstanding disdain for ‘dynasty politics.’” https://tws.io/2JrxAKc

-- “Sex Beer, and Coding: Inside Facebook’s Wild Early Days,” by Adam Fisher in Wired: “There was this big race going on and Friendster had really taken off, and it really seemed like Friendster had invented this new thing called social networking, and they were the winner, the clear winner. And it’s not entirely clear what happened, but the site just started getting slower and slower and at some point it just stopped working.” http://bit.ly/2NfQHZI

-- “‘I Was Devastated’: Tim Berners-Lee, The Man Who Created the World Wide Web, Has Some Regrets,” by Katrina Booker in Vanity Fair’s August issue: “Berners-Lee has seen his creation debased by everything from fake news to mass surveillance. But he’s got a plan to fix it.” http://bit.ly/2umLGrr

-- “Who’s Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf Scientist?” by Christopher Solomon in the N.Y. Times Magazine: “Rob Wielgus was one of America’s pre-eminent experts on large carnivores. Then he ran afoul of the enemies of the wolf.” https://nyti.ms/2Ne3Wdr

-- “Ice Poseidon’s Lucrative, Stressful Life as a Live Streamer,” by Adrian Chen in The New Yorker: “When your job is to constantly share your life, even your worst moments are an opportunity to please your audience.” http://bit.ly/2L5uYqb

-- “A Journey Down Austria’s Path to the Right,” by Ullrich Fichtner in Der Spiegel: “Austria’s societal debate is obsessed with migrants and all the trouble people have with them. And it’s not just about refugees, but also foreigners of all stripes, including Germans, Slovenes and Hungarians. Somehow, there are always too many of them, allegedly taking up all the public housing, filling up the universities and snapping up all the tickets to the Vienna State Opera.” http://bit.ly/2KYaoJb



Playbookers

CONGRATS – ZEKE MILLER, TAMARA KEITH, ANITA KUMAR and FRANCESCA CHAMBERS were elected to the board of the WH Correspondents Association.

TRANSITION -- OBAMA ALUMNI: JEN FRIEDMAN is now SVP in global public affairs at Blackstone, where she joined Christine Anderson’s team. She previously was senior director of corporate reputation at GE and was deputy WH press secretary for President Obama.

SPOTTED: Rep. Elizabeth Esty (D-Conn.) sitting in coach yesterday afternoon on an American Airlines flight from DC to Hartford. Bloomberg Media CEO Justin Smith was in the first row of first class.

BIRTHDAY OF THE DAY: Matthew Shay, National Retail Federation president and CEO. A trend he thinks deserves more attention: “New GDPR rules from the European Union present significant challenges for U.S. businesses with EU customers. And now we are beginning to see states like California move toward implementing their own similar flawed proposals with sweeping restrictions that will make it harder for retailers to give customized experiences and offerings to their most loyal shoppers. The future of data is an important debate, but we need reasonable, thoughtful solutions.” Read his Playbook Plus Q&A: https://politi.co/2mjni5C

BIRTHDAYS: New Mexico Gov. Susana Martinez, a former RGA chair, is 59 ... former Rep. Patrick Kennedy (D-R.I.) is 51 ... Martha Coakley is 65 ... Brent Bozell, Media Research Center president ... Gail Ross ... lobbyist James Capalino is 68 ... Politico’s Eliana Johnson and Mary Lee ... James Davis, president of In Pursuit Of, a “mission driven” for profit PR and marketing firm for the Koch Network (h/ts Mark Holden and Rebecca Coffman) ... Politico’s Daniel Strauss is 31. He’s celebrating by finally seeing “Hamilton” tonight (h/t Claire Tonneson) ... Teneo Strategy VP Brian Gregory is 28 ... Ammon Simon ... Mike Panetta, Beekeeper Group partner and former D.C. Shadow Representative, is 47 ... Julie Wood ... ABC News’ Devin Dwyer (h/t Jonathan Karl) ... “Hardball” producer Nkechi Nneji (h/ts Annie Linskey, Ken Vogel and Evelyn Farkas) … France turns 229 years old on its Bastille Day (h/t BCIU) ... Politico chief Europe correspondent Matthew Karnitschnig ...

… Jose Andres is 5-0 (h/t Jorge Guajardo) ... Caroline Kelly ... Jordan Sekulow is 36 ... Elizabeth Bennett ... Corey Solow ... Claire Grisolano ... former Rep. Tom Latham (R-Iowa) is 7-0 ... Kip Talley ... Julie Wood ... Sarah Ruane … Edelman’s Elysia Sivak ... Warren Fried ... Zeina Awad ... Alison Kenworthy, associate producer at ABC’s “Good Morning America” ... Richard Seline ... Kiernan Majerus-Collins ... Axios’ Caitlin Owens ... WSJ Africa correspondent Matina Stevis-Gridneff ... Nate Bermel, who last year was named a Rhodes Scholar ... Edda Collins Coleman ... Mike Casey ... Dan Horowitz, LinkedIn’s director of advocacy and campaigns (h/t Jon Haber) ... Alex Lebow ... Heather Colburn ... Jeffrey de Hart ... Claire Grisolano ... Brody Dickson ... Pam Dearden ... Brett Froyen ... Ben Johnson.

THE SHOWS, by @MattMackowiak, filing from Honolulu, Hawaii:

-- NBC’s “Meet the Press”: Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.). Panel: Hugh Hewitt, Joshua Johnson, Elise Jordan and Amy Walter

-- CNN’s “State of the Union”: Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.) ... Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) … Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) … David Remnick … Masha Gessen … Nicholas Burns … Julia Ioffe. Panel: Susan Glasser, David Gergen, John Kirby and Philip Mudd

-- ABC’s “This Week”: National Security Adviser John Bolton … Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.). Panel: Chris Christie, Donna Brazile, Elisabeth Bumiller and Steve Inskeep

-- CBS’s “Face the Nation”: Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) … Rep Trey Gowdy (R-S.C.) … Rep. Joe Crowley (D-N.Y.) … Victoria Nuland. Panel: Rachael Bade, Ben Domenech, David Nakamura and Jerry Seib

-- “Fox News Sunday”: Alexander Dynkin … Douglas Lute … William Burns … Jonathan Swan and Michael Gordon. Panel: Karl Rove, Newt Gingrich, Susan Page and Charles Lane

-- CNN’s “Reliable Sources”: Panel: Carl Bernstein, Sam Vinograd and Jonathan Chait … Tony Schwartz … Michelle Goldberg … Cenk Uygur … Oliver Darcy

-- Fox News’ “Sunday Morning Futures”: Rep. Devin Nunes (R-Calif.) … Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) … Rep. John Ratcliffe (R-Texas) … Rep. Kevin Brady (R-Texas). Panel: Mary Kissell and Charles Hurt

-- Fox News’ “MediaBuzz”: Mollie Hemingway … Gillian Turner … Juan Williams … David Bossie … Steve Hilton … Carley Shimkus

-- CNN’s “Fareed Zakaria GPS”: Panel: Anne Applebaum, Bernard Henri-Lévy, Tanit Koch and John Micklethwait … Philip Alston

-- Univision’s “Al Punto”: Sen. Bob Menendez (D-N.J.) … Rep. Raul Grijalva (D-Ariz.) … Jesus Esquivel … Juan Sebastian Chamorro … Ivan Zamorano … Juan Rivera

-- C-SPAN: “The Communicators”: App Association president Morgan Reed, questioned by Politico’s Steven Overly … “Newsmakers”: Alliance for Justice president Nan Aaron, questioned by The Wall Street Journal’s Siobhan Hughes and AP’s Mark Sherman … “Q&A”: 27th Amendment advocate Gregory Watson

-- MSNBC’s “Kasie DC”: Rep. Ryan Costello (R-Pa.) … Rep Karen Bass (D-Calif.) … Rep. Marc Veasey (D-Texas) … Andrea Mitchell … Bill Browder … Richard Stengel … Brian Klaas … Evelyn Farkas … Jeremy Bash … Betsy Woodruff … Natasha Bertrand … Tim Alberta … Anita Kumar … Rick Tyler

-- Washington Times’ “Mack on Politics” weekly politics podcast with Matt Mackowiak (download on iTunes, Google Play, or Stitcher or listen at MackOnPolitics.com): Former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales.

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Follow us on Twitter Anna Palmer @apalmerdc



Jake Sherman @JakeSherman