POLITICO Playbook: Trump’s worst week ever Presented by Amazon

President Donald Trump walks back to the Oval Office on Friday, Oct. 4. | Pablo Martinez Monsivais/AP Photo

DRIVING THE DAY

THIS IS QUICKLY SHAPING UP to be the worst week of President DONALD TRUMP’S presidency:

1) BILL TAYLOR, the acting ambassador to Ukraine, provided close to unassailable evidence that TRUMP was directly seeking a public proclamation of an investigation into the Bidens in exchange for not only a White House visit, but also security assistance. Seventy-five people were in the room -- roughly two-thirds lawmakers -- for a hearing that many lawmakers said was jaw-dropping.

-- ANDREW DESIDERIO and KYLE CHENEY: “The diplomat, William Taylor, painted a damaging portrait of events that directly tied Trump to a quid pro quo with Ukraine, according to his prepared remarks obtained by POLITICO and his responses to questions as described by sources in the room for the closed-door testimony.” POLITICO

-- NYT’S PETER BAKER: “Mr. Taylor’s vivid depiction illustrated the differences between the impeachment inquiry against Mr. Trump and the ones that consumed Presidents Richard M. Nixon and Bill Clinton. While the Watergate and Monica Lewinsky cover-ups involved the integrity of America’s democracy and system of justice, the Ukraine scandal also extends to matters of life and death, as well as geopolitics on a grand scale.” NYT … NYT’s “6 Key Revelations” … Taylor’s opening statement

-- WAPO’S DAN BALZ: “New testimony undercuts Trump’s claim of no quid pro quo on Ukraine. How will Washington respond?”: “It is no longer a question of whether this happened. It is now a question of how the president explains it and how lawmakers — especially Republicans — choose to respond to it. …

“Republican lawmakers face a new calculus as they digest the contents of the Taylor testimony. They will have great difficulty denying that the suspension of the aid was being linked to an investigation of a political rival of the president. Will they conclude that what the president did was legitimate? Will they attempt to point in other directions? Will they argue that what Trump did wasn’t right but isn’t impeachable? There’s less room for equivocation about what happened today than there was before.” WaPo

2) DITCHED … CBS’ NANCY CORDES asked Senate Majority Leader MITCH MCCONNELL on Tuesday if he told the president -- as TRUMP claimed -- that the Ukraine conversation was perfect. MCCONNELL: “We’ve had not any conversations on that subject.” So, was he lying? “You’ll have to ask him. I don’t recall any conversations with the president about that phone call.”

3) SEN. CHUCK GRASSLEY (R-IOWA) told reporters he’s “growing more alarmed that time will run out to get the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement passed through Congress this year. ‘I’m very worried for the first time, starting about now,’ the Iowa Republican said on a call with reporters.” Megan Cassella and Adam Behsudi for POLITICO Pro subscribers

4) AMBASSADOR JAMES JEFFREY -- Trump’s envoy to Syria and a former ambassador to Turkey and Iraq -- accused the Turks of a war crime and said no one consulted him about pulling troops out of Syria.

5) REPUBLICANS ABANDONED TRUMP over his invoking “lynching” in talking about the constitutional process of impeachment. WSJ editorial page

6) AN ANONYMOUS TRUMP AIDE has written a tell-all book about his time in the White House. It’s going to come out Nov. 19 -- less than one month from now.

-- BTW … A FEW THOUGHTS ON THIS BOOK: IF THIS PERSON alleges he or she witnessed illegal behavior and is declining to go to authorities, isn’t that quite problematic? … AND if this book was written by a current administration official, they’d probably have to file that they had an agreement for a book on their financial disclosure form.

POMPEO’S DILEMMA -- On Tuesday, the White House called the State Department diplomats who have testified in recent days “radical unelected bureaucrats.” Might this include Taylor, a fellow West Point graduate who fought in Vietnam and has served administrations of both parties? He was last appointed ambassador to Ukraine by George W. Bush.

POMPEO ASKED HIM to come out of retirement to replace Marie Yovanovitch, another State Department veteran who was ousted amid a campaign of rumors that have been discredited. At some point, does Pompeo stand up for his own diplomats? Or is he that unwilling to get crosswise with Trump?

A message from Amazon: Amazon is investing $18 billion in 2020 on tools, services, programs, and people to help small and medium-sized businesses reach more customers worldwide. Learn how we're empowering independent sellers to grow and thrive.

NEW … SENATE MINORITY LEADER CHUCK SCHUMER will host Brett McGurk, the special envoy to defeat ISIS under Obama and Trump, at a special Democratic caucus meeting today at 1 p.m. Schumer made the ask earlier this week. The Trump administration has not hosted an all-Senate briefing.

AP/BAGHDAD: “Esper arrives in Baghdad to discuss U.S. troop deployments”: “Defense Secretary Mark Esper arrived in Baghdad Wednesday, as chaos swirled along the Turkey-Syria border and Iraqi leaders chafed over reports the U.S. may want to increase the number of troops based in Iraq at least temporarily.”

Good Wednesday morning. THE WASHINGTON NATIONALS beat the Houston Astros ace Gerrit Cole on Tuesday night in Texas 5-4. Cole hadn’t lost a game in five months. The Nats will throw Stephen Strasburg tonight against the Astros’ Justin Verlander. First pitch is 8:08 p.m.

TOP-ED: NEW GUN PLAN … SEN. JOHN CORNYN (R-Texas) in the EL PASO TIMES: “After El Paso and Odessa shootings: My plan to reduce mass violence”

THINGS ARE GREAT! … BURGESS EVERETT and HEATHER CAYGLE: “Pelosi and McConnell are on an impeachment collision course”: “The speaker and Senate majority leader have been trading grievances increasingly over the past several months. Pelosi is lashing McConnell for sitting on House-passed legislation addressing gun violence and ethics reforms; McConnell says Pelosi has done nothing to follow through on her claims that the House won’t come to a ‘standstill’ during impeachment.

“‘There’s certain things that we have to do. And I don’t have any doubt that we can work with each other,’ McConnell said in a brief interview. ‘Her problem at the moment is internal [in her caucus], not with us, but how to manage that whole process and how can we fit other things in it.’ Pelosi spokesman Drew Hammill shot back: ‘The majority leader knows as much about what goes on in the Democratic Caucus as he does about passing legislation: absolutely nothing.’” POLITICO

POLITICO Playbook newsletter Sign up today to receive the #1-rated newsletter in politics Email Sign Up By signing up you agree to receive email newsletters or alerts from POLITICO. You can unsubscribe at any time. This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

IMPEACHMENT CLIP PACKET ...

-- “White House, Battling Impeachment, Looks to Coordinate With Hill GOP,” by WSJ’s Mike Bender and Natalie Andrews: “President Trump has signed off on regular conference calls between senior White House aides and select Republican lawmakers to coordinate messaging and legal strategies on the House impeachment probe, one of the few proactive measures undertaken so far by West Wing officials who have been unwilling to cooperate in the investigation.

“The weekday calls started recently as a response to criticism from conservative allies that the White House was leaving them out of the loop, according to White House officials familiar with the calls. But from the White House perspective, there has been little to be looped into.” WSJ

-- TEA LEAVES … WSJ’S @RebeccaBallhaus: “Trump met with members of his legal team—Jay Sekulow and Marty and Jane Raskin—at the White House today [Tuesday] for a brief meeting on the state of play of the impeachment inquiry. Rudy Giuliani wasn’t there.”

-- WAPO: “Prosecutors flagged possible ties between Ukrainian gas tycoon and Giuliani associates,” by Matt Zapotosky, Roz Helderman, Tom Hamburger and Josh Dawsey: “In July, the tycoon [Dmytro Firtash] changed legal teams, replacing longtime Democratic lawyer Lanny Davis with the husband-and-wife team of Victoria Toensing and Joseph diGenova, who appear frequently on Fox News to defend Trump and have served as informal advisers to Trump’s legal team, including Giuliani.

“After taking on Firtash’s case, Toensing and diGenova secured a rare face-to-face meeting with Attorney General William P. Barr and other Justice Department officials to argue against the charges, three people familiar with the meeting said. Barr declined to intercede, the people said.” WaPo

-- “The Investigation Into Rudy Giuliani’s Associates Has Widened,” by BuzzFeed’s Michael Sallah, Jason Leopold and Emma Loop: “A federal grand jury investigating activities surrounding Rudy Giuliani’s back-channel campaign in Ukraine has demanded legal documents that include records of extravagant spending at Trump hotels and millions of dollars in financial transfers by Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman, two key operatives who carried out the plan, according to a source familiar with the demand.

“The documents requested by a subpoena that was issued in Florida last week could shed light on whether other people, including foreign nationals, were trying to influence the top levels of government and impact the 2020 presidential campaign.” BuzzFeed

SCOOP ... REUTERS’ @jeffmason1: “@realDonaldTrump’s G7 and G20 ‘sherpa’ and trade adviser in China-US trade talks Kelly Ann Shaw is stepping down from her post on Friday, officials tell me. She was one of the most senior women in the president’s economic team and is going to the private sector.” Full story

A message from Amazon: Helping small businesses. Learn how Amazon is helping small businesses grow.

2020 WATCH …

-- JAIME HARRISON, who is running against Sen. LINDSEY GRAHAM (R-S.C.), has raised more than $100,000 off the senator’s defense of Trump’s “lynching” comment, his campaign said. It sent out a fundraising solicitation, but some of the cash came in organically, it said.

-- SCOOP: NATASHA KORECKI: “Dick’s Sporting Goods CEO quietly tests presidential bid”: “Ed Stack, the CEO of Dick’s Sporting Goods and a longtime Republican donor, is testing the waters for a possible third-party presidential bid that could scramble the dynamics of the 2020 general election. Various messages were presented to a focus group in southern Wisconsin this week centering on the billionaire businessman, along with possible three-way match-ups against Donald Trump and Joe Biden or Elizabeth Warren. …

“The prospect of a well-funded, third-party candidate could have a significant impact in a race where Trump is expected to be unable to win a majority of the vote. In 2016, Trump won just 46% against Hillary Clinton and has consistently hovered below 50% in national polls. A source familiar with Stack’s thinking said, ‘Mr. Stack enjoys running Dick's Sporting Goods and has no plans to run for any elected office.’” POLITICO

-- HAPPENING TODAY: Wisconsin poll alert: The well-regarded Marquette Law School Poll is out today at 1:15 p.m. Eastern time, with results released at a live event that will be streamed here and tweeted at @Mulaw. The Marquette poll is a reputable barometer of the Midwestern state that is viewed by both parties as a key 2020 battleground.

Poll director Charles Franklin tells us this survey covers questions on impeachment, Trump’s handling of foreign policy decisions, the 2020 Democratic primary and head-to-head matchups between Trump and four Democrats. In the most recent Marquette poll, Joe Biden led the primary field and bested Trump by nine points. (hat tip: Natasha Korecki)

TRUMP’S WEDNESDAY -- The president will leave the White House at 1:20 p.m. en route to Pittsburgh. He will arrive at the David L. Lawrence Convention Center at 3:10 p.m. Trump will speak at the 9th Annual Shale Insight Conference at 3:40 p.m. and then return to Washington, D.C.

PLAYBOOK READS

PHOTO DU JOUR: A demonstrator holds a Chilean flag toward an armored police vehicle during an anti-government march in Santiago, Chile, on Tuesday, Oct. 22. | Esteban Felix/AP Photo

THE NEW WORLD ORDER … WAPO/ISTANBUL: “Russia and Turkey reach deal to push Kurdish forces out of zone in northern Syria,” by Kareem Fahim, Karen DeYoung and Missy Ryan: “Russia and Turkey agreed Tuesday on a plan to push Syrian Kurdish fighters from a wide swath of territory just south of Turkey’s border, cementing Russian President Vladimir Putin’s preeminent role in Syria as U.S. troops depart and America’s influence wanes.

“The agreement, reached after an hours-long meeting between Putin and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in the Black Sea resort town of Sochi, will leave Turkey and Russia in control of territory formerly held by Kurdish forces once allied with the United States.

“More important, though, the deal bolstered Russia’s preferred endgame in Syria’s civil war by allowing its ally, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, to regain control over more of his country’s territory. Russia is also prodding states in the region to recognize, either explicitly or tacitly, the Syrian government’s authority, analysts said.” WaPo

ANOTHER WILD TRUMP AMBASSADOR STORY -- “In Hungary, a Freewheeling Trump Ambassador Undermines U.S. Diplomats,” by NYT’s Matt Apuzzo and Benjamin Novak: “Since becoming ambassador in June 2018, Mr. [David B.] Cornstein has assiduously courted Mr. Orban, giving the Hungarian leader unexpected influence in the Trump administration. Mr. Cornstein used his decades-long friendship with President Trump to help broker a coveted Oval Office meeting for Mr. Orban last May — a meeting now under scrutiny by impeachment investigators in Washington.

“At the time, some White House officials tried to stop the meeting, citing Mr. Orban’s anti-democratic record in Hungary and his growing closeness to Russia. The meeting went ahead, and Mr. Orban is said to have used it to fuel the president’s suspicions about Ukraine.

“As yet, Mr. Cornstein’s role in that meeting does not appear to be part of the impeachment inquiry. But his freewheeling diplomacy and courtship of Mr. Orban have alarmed career civil servants and contributed to broader criticism, even among Republicans, that some members of the president’s foreign policy team are dangerously unprepared for the job.” NYT

DON’T DO CRIMES, KIDS -- “Major Donor to Trump, Clinton to Plead Guilty in Campaign-Finance Case,” by WSJ’s Byron Tau: “A major donor to both Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton made millions of dollars of illegal campaign contributions, some from foreign sources, to help cultivate influential U.S. politicians, according to charging documents filed Tuesday by federal prosecutors in California.

“California businessman Imaad Zuberi, 49 years old, capitalized on his access to U.S. politicians to drum up business from foreign governments and foreign individuals, whom he later defrauded as part of a scheme to enrich himself, prosecutors say.

“Mr. Zuberi will plead guilty to making illegal campaign contributions, tax evasion and falsifying lobbying records to conceal his work for foreign governments, according to charging documents filed in federal court in Los Angeles on Tuesday. He faces a maximum of 15 years in prison, though first-time offenders rarely receive the maximum sentence.” WSJ

A message from Amazon: Amazon helps sellers grow. See how .

ACROSS THE POND -- “Brexit limbo strikes again,” by POLITICO Europe's Emilio Casalicchio and David Herszenhorn: “The U.K. prime minister was afforded 20 minutes of joy Tuesday when his Brexit deal was backed by a majority of MPs in the House of Commons — a feat never achieved by Theresa May.

“But victory was quickly followed by defeat on a second vote, which considered the proposed three-day timetable for the Commons to debate the legislation required to write the deal into law. That defeat, inflicted by MPs who wanted more time, stops the passage of the bill in its tracks.

“For the first time in more than three years since the U.K. voted to leave the European Union, a majority of British MPs accepted an exit plan, a boost for [Boris] Johnson who had faced some skepticism in Brussels that he had the support of the House of Commons. However, he will now miss his self-imposed deadline of delivering Brexit by October 31 and must rely on EU leaders to grant a delay.” POLITICO Europe

BOOK CLUB -- “‘The White House is not to be trusted right now’: How Jim Mattis, ‘iced out’ and blindsided by Trump, finally concluded the president was weakening the nation,” by Bryan Bender: “The book is the first account from inside the highest reaches of the Pentagon of how Trump has remade the American national security apparatus, reporting that Mattis respected the president for having highly tuned political skills but came to believe his policies were undermining the nation. And it reveals that even a Cabinet member like Mattis, a four-star general with ample experience in wartime, found himself unable to make a difference in shaping major decisions.” POLITICO

-- Former acting Solicitor General Neal Katyal is writing a book about impeachment, per Vanity Fair.

HAPPENING TODAY -- “Facebook’s Zuckerberg to Face Congressional Grilling,” by WSJ’s Jeff Horwitz and Deepa Seetharaman: “Mr. Zuckerberg is set to appear before the House Financial Services Committee Wednesday, the sole witness in a hearing focused on Facebook’s libra cryptocurrency plans, which have lost key financial industry partners and been criticized by regulators since it was announced in June. Lawmakers also are expected to cover concerns about potential discrimination in how the company handles housing and credit-related advertising.” WSJ … Zuckerberg’s prepared remarks

MEDIAWATCH -- Marisa Schultz of the New York Post will be president of the Regional Reporters Association, and Sarah Wire of the L.A. Times will be VP. Tamar Hallerman of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution is moving to Atlanta.

PLAYBOOKERS

Send tips to Eli Okun and Garrett Ross at [email protected].

SPOTTED at a reception Tuesday afternoon hosted by the Committee for Stronger Rural Communities, the super PAC supporting the reelection of Rep. Collin Peterson (D-Minn.): Randy Russell, Dwight Fettig, Tessa Gould, Chuck Conner, Liz Sears Smith, John Lapp and Donna Victoria.

SPOTTED at a party Tuesday night celebrating the Senate confirmation of Adam Boehler as the first CEO of the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation, hosted by Michael Milken, Dina Powell McCormick, John Doerr and Josh Bolten at the Hay-Adams Hotel: HHS Secretary Alex Azar, national security adviser Robert O’Brien, Sens. Chris Coons (D-Del.) and Robert Menendez (D-N.J.), David Malpass, USAID Administrator Mark Green …

… David Bohigian, Michael Allen, Fred Kempe, UAE Ambassador Yousef Al Otaiba, Jordanian Ambassador Dina Kawar, Morgan Ortagus, Steve and Jean Case, Abbe Lowell, Mark Isakowitz, Joe Grogan, Eli Miller, Tony Sayegh, David and Kellie Urban, Julie Radford, Andrew Bremberg, Matt Mowers, Patrick Steel, Dr. Elena Allbritton, Kerry Healey, Garrett Marquis and Avi Berkowitz.

FOGGY BOTTOM ARRIVAL LOUNGE -- Heather Fischer is now a special adviser at the State Department. She previously worked on human trafficking issues at the McCain Institute.

WELCOME TO THE WORLD -- Joshua Meservey, senior policy analyst for Africa and the Middle East at the Heritage Foundation, and Lulu Meservey, COO at TrailRunner International and adviser at McLarty Associates, welcomed Douglas Cheng Meservey. He joins big sister May. Pic … Another pic

BIRTHDAY OF THE DAY: Anne Filipic, chief program officer at the Obama Foundation. How she celebrated: “We celebrated this past weekend with two main events: a pumpkin party at my son’s preschool ... and a lip-sync battle with some close friends. There were many memorable moments, including my husband, Carlos Monje, acting out all the major scenes of ‘Titanic’ while lip-syncing ‘My Heart Will Go On’ by Celine Dion.” Playbook Q&A

BIRTHDAYS: Martin Luther King III is 62 … Rep. Fred Keller (R-Pa.) is 54 … former Sen. Mel Martinez (R-Fla.) is 73 … Amazon’s Linda Thomas … Lauren Morello … Karen Hobert Flynn, president of Common Cause … Nicole Streeter, general counsel for the D.C. Council … Carole Brand (h/ts Jon Haber) … Jason Neal … Malia Rulon Herman … Brian Ross … The Hill’s Ellen Mitchell … POLITICO’s Jackie Heinz … Richard Robinson … James Kotecki … Rachel Shabad of FogLamp Content Studio … R Street’s Caroline Kitchens is 3-0 … Ani Chkhikvadze … USAID’s Sally Rey Parkinson is 35 … Kinsey Casey … Meghan Mitchum of WeWork … Sandy Maisel, political scientist at Colby College, is 74 … Corey Wilson, VP and head of comms at Condé Nast … Vikrum Aiyer, VP of global public policy at Postmates (h/ts Tim and Kiki Burger) …

… Simon Rosenberg, founder of New Democrat Network, is 56 … Carmela Isabella (h/ts Teresa Vilmain) … Benjamin Haddad … Allison Preiss, VP of communications at the Center for American Progress ... Arielle Tait ... Mediaite’s Caleb Ecarma ... Emma Racila … NYT’s John Koblin … Thumbtack’s Kellyn Blossom … Jennifer Paolino Romano ... Glover Park Group’s Peter Benton-Sullivan ... Conrad Lucas ... Pat Cleary … The National Law Journal’s Ryan Barber ... Darcy Spencer ... Leif Noren, chairman of CRC Public Relations … Ken Kurson … Jacob Alperin-Sheriff ... Jessica Hoy … Sheena Tahilramani, principal at SVN PR … Moe Vela ... POLITICO Europe’s Saim Saeed … Jesus Martinez ... Halli Casser-Jayne … Annika Lichtenbaum ... UNHCR’s Matthew Reynolds … Bobby Burchfield … Hayden Haynes, COS for Rep. Mike Johnson (R-La.)

A message from Amazon: Amazon helps independent sellers grow and thrive in our store. Read the story behind the growth of independent sellers—mostly small- and medium-sized businesses—in the Amazon store.

Follow us on Twitter Anna Palmer @apalmerdc



Jake Sherman @JakeSherman