POLITICO Playbook: Republicans ripped Democrats for a pay raise while GOP leaders tried to negotiate for one Presented by Amazon

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy cautiously embraced giving lawmakers a bump in their compensation. Then the NRCC came out against it. | Aaron P. Bernstein/Getty Images

DRIVING THE DAY

THE HOUSE GOP CAMPAIGN COMMITTEE GETS CROSSWISE WITH MCCARTHY AND SCALISE … On Tuesday, House Majority Leader STENY HOYER hosted House Minority Leader KEVIN MCCARTHY, House Minority Whip STEVE SCALISE (R-La.) and Rep. CEDRIC RICHMOND (D-La.) for a private meeting to negotiate a deal to give members a pay raise.

IT’S TYPICALLY A THORNY topic, but both McCarthy and Scalise have cautiously embraced giving lawmakers a bump in their compensation. (The salary for House members has been at $174,000 since 2009 -- which also freezes staff salary.) McCarthy told NBC in May that he is open to it, because it’s been a decade since Congress got a cost-of-living adjustment and lawmakers are leaving the job over the pay. Scalise has said “it ought to be looked at” because Congress shouldn’t be a place where only wealthy people can afford to serve.

TUESDAY’S MEETING, went well, sources told us, and the two sides were moving toward a deal.

THEN, ONE DAY AFTER THE MEETING, THE NATIONAL REPUBLICAN CONGRESSIONAL COMMITTEE sent an email blasting Democrats for considering a pay raise -- staking out a position in direct conflict with GOP party leaders.

-- HERE’S WHAT THE NRCC’S EMAIL SAID: “After campaigning on a slogan of ‘for the people,’ the socialist Democrats have accomplished a whole lot of nothing 6 months into their majority. And as a reward for their incompetence, they want middle-class taxpayers to give them a $4,500 pay raise! Apparently making $174,000 a year, which is more than three times the average American’s salary, just isn’t enough for these socialist elitists. Between voting for the public to finance their campaigns, opposing middle-class tax cuts and pushing to give themselves raises, the socialist Democrats’ need to change their motto to ‘for the politicians.’”

YES, this is the NRCC blasting Democrats for embracing a position that MCCARTHY and SCALISE also hold. Needless to say, this did not sit well with many in the GOP leadership. People wondered why exactly the NRCC was taking a position contrary to top Republicans in the House.

THE NRCC’S CHRIS PACK said this in response: “With the exception of making anti-Semitism and socialism a cornerstone of their party’s platform and trying to fleece taxpayers to pay for their political campaigns, the socialist Democrats have accomplished precisely nothing since taking over the chamber. Perhaps they should actually do something – anything – to justify their paycheck. That’s the point of our release.”

THIS HAS LED TO A SERIOUS ROUND OF SNIPING … A SOURCE FAMILIAR WITH THE MEETING said this: “McCarthy and Hoyer each agreed in that meeting to take care of their own committees and make sure that if this went forward, neither side would attack each other. Less than 24 hours later, NRCC sent out that email slamming Democrats for doing it. So either McCarthy dropped the ball, or the NRCC dropped the ball.”

THE NRCC -- which is supported, in part, by lawmaker dues -- did not respond when asked whether it was aware of McCarthy’s agreement with Hoyer when it issued the release criticizing the pay raise.

Happy Friday. THE FIRST FAMILY -- “‘These boys were on a holiday’: Trump family members promote themselves, and businesses, on European trip,” by WaPo’s David Nakamura, Toluse Olorunnipa and Amanda Ferguson

WELL, THAT DIDN’T TAKE LONG … JOE BIDEN, under fire from his rivals in the Democratic primary, dropped his long-standing support of the Hyde Amendment, which bars federal funds from being used to pay for abortions. The politics of this little dance are not great for Biden, though as we pointed out Thursday, pretty much every member of Congress (including the 15 current and former members running for president) has voted in favor of the Hyde Amendment at some point.

-- BIDEN QUOTE, via NYT’s Katie Glueck in Atlanta: “If I believe health care is a right, as I do, I can no longer support an amendment that makes that right dependent on someone’s ZIP code.” A1 of the NYT

-- FLASHBACK, JUNE 5 -- Cedric Richmond, co-chair of the Biden campaign, on CNN: “He is a deeply religious man. … He is guided by his faith, his position on the Hyde Amendment has been consistent.”

TARIFF UPDATE -- “Mexico aims to avoid tariffs with potential deal limiting migrants going north, allowing U.S. to deport Central American asylum seekers,” by WaPo’s Nick Miroff, David Lynch and Kevin Sieff: “U.S. and Mexican officials are discussing the outlines of a deal that would dramatically increase Mexico’s immigration enforcement efforts and give the United States far more latitude to deport Central Americans seeking asylum, according to a U.S. official and a Mexican official who cautioned that the accord is not final and that President Trump might not accept it.” WaPo

-- THE WSJ’S MORE PESSIMISTIC READING: “The Trump administration has made significant progress in its border-security negotiations with Mexico, a senior White House official said, but the U.S. remained on track to impose tariffs on the country’s imports next week.” WSJ

-- IF THE UNITED STATES is going to levy the 5% tariff on Mexico come Monday, it has to issue a public statement today, sources tell us. President DONALD TRUMP is slated to return from Ireland this afternoon, and will land at Andrews around 4:25 p.m.

-- WAPO’S HEATHER LONG: “Trump probably has the upper hand in trade war — until September”: “[A]ccording to the National Retail Federation, August and September are the key months when U.S. retailers import goods for the holiday shopping period. If Trump’s tariffs remain in place then, it will be nearly impossible not to pass some — if not all — costs on to consumers for holiday season 2019.” WaPo

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DEPT. OF IF THINGS GO SIDEWAYS … WSJ’S NICK TIMIRAOS: “Fed Begins Debate on Whether to Cut Rate as Soon as June: Trade tensions darken economic outlook, raising possibility of interest-rate cut in weeks or months ahead”: “A month ago, Fed Chairman Jerome Powell played down speculation of a rate cut this summer. Now officials at the central bank face a darker economic outlook and heightened trade tensions, making a rate cut possible—if not at their meeting on June 18-19, then in July or later.

“The officials need to decide what would trigger such action, how much more information they want before making a decision and how to signal their intentions and plans. They are to begin their customary premeeting quiet period at the end of this week.

“Traders in futures markets have signaled about a 20% chance of a rate cut at the June 18-19 meeting, and a 70% chance of at least one cut by the meeting after that, on July 30-31, according to CME Group. Unlike in May, Fed officials haven’t expressly pushed back against the market pricing in rate cuts in recent days.” WSJ

FOR YOUR RADAR -- “U.S. commander says Mideast buildup prompted Iran ‘step back,’” by AP’s Robert Burns in Baghdad: “Iran has chosen to ‘step back and recalculate’ after making preparations for an apparent attack against U.S. forces in the Persian Gulf region, but it is too early to conclude the threat is gone, the top commander of American forces in the Mideast said Thursday.

“In an interview with three reporters accompanying him to the Gulf, Gen. Frank McKenzie said he remains concerned by Iran’s potential for aggression, and he would not rule out requesting additional U.S. forces to bolster defenses against Iranian missiles or other weapons. ‘I don’t actually believe the threat has diminished,’ McKenzie said. ‘I believe the threat is very real.’” AP

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THE INVESTIGATIONS … ANDREW DESIDERIO -- “DOJ, Commerce reject Dem subpoenas for census docs”: “The Justice and Commerce departments on Thursday rejected House Democratic demands for more documents about the addition of a citizenship question to the 2020 census, likely leading to contempt citations for Attorney General William Barr and Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross.

“In a letter to Oversight and Reform Committee Chairman Elijah Cummings (D-Md.), Assistant Attorney General Stephen Boyd said the documents the panel subpoenaed are protected by attorney-client privilege and therefore cannot be disclosed.” POLITICO

-- CUMMINGS RESPONDS, via a statement off embargo this morning: “We gave Attorney General Barr and Secretary Ross every opportunity to produce the documents the Committee needs for our investigation, but rather than cooperate, they have decided that they would rather be held in contempt of Congress. They produced none of the documents we asked for, they made no counter-offers regarding these documents, and they seem determined to continue the Trump Administration’s cover-up.

“The letters last night were case studies in double-speak. They claim that fighting witness interviews for months under threat of subpoena is evidence of a ‘good faith accommodations process,’ they suggest that Secretary Ross’ refusal to meet demonstrates that the Department ‘is eager to continue its cooperation with the Committee,’ and they argue that withholding every single one of the key unredacted documents we subpoenaed somehow proves that ‘there is no information to hide.’”

-- CNN’S MANU RAJU and JEREMY HERB: “Inside Jerry Nadler’s private push to open up impeachment inquiry”

CLICKER -- “The evolution of Nancy Pelosi’s impeachment talk,” by Kyle Cheney and Lily Stephens

2020 WATCH -- KNOWING MAYA HARRIS, via Chris Cadelago: “Since launching her White House bid, no figure in Kamala Harris’ orbit has loomed so large. A regular presence on the trail, Maya [Harris] has been involved in virtually every facet of the race, from soliciting donors and recruiting the most diverse staff of any Democratic hopeful, to helping draft policy and talking up early state politicos.

“A no-nonsense boss who became a single mom at 17 and earned a law degree from Stanford before embarking on a long career in progressive activism, she’s emerged as a primary attraction in her own right. Aside from standing in for Kamala at fundraisers, Maya can be seen at campaign stops posing for pictures with selfie seekers who recognize her from social media and her time as an MSNBC talking head — a gig she landed after advising Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign.

“Maya is often the first point of contact for her sister in early states, where officials and operatives said she frequently touches base to gauge the lay of the land. In South Carolina, Marguerite Willis said she was eager to meet Maya because she speaks with authority for the candidate. Willis’ own sister was the No. 2 in her campaign for governor last year.” POLITICO

-- “Koch network unveils 2020 strategy,” by Maggie Severns: “The Koch network is shaking up how it tries to influence Washington heading into the 2020 election cycle, starting with plans to help lawmakers from both parties who help build coalitions and pass legislation on issues that the Koch brothers care about.” POLITICO

-- “Democratic Candidates Woo Silicon Valley for Donations, Then Bash It,” by NYT’s Shane Goldmacher and Stephanie Saul

PLAYBOOK READS

PHOTO DU JOUR: The Trumps and the Macrons attend a ceremony in honor of the 75th anniversary of D-Day in Normandy, France, on Thursday. | Ian Langsdon/POOL via AP Photo

CLASSIC BEN SCHRECKINGER CAPER -- “How a renegade Chinese billionaire became a center of D.C. intrigue”: “A billionaire at the center of U.S.-China tensions is waging a mysterious legal battle against two D.C. conservatives over a private espionage deal gone bad. The fight touches on a pair of think tanks, a senator’s widow and the capital’s tight-knit group of China hardliners, adding a new chapter to an international saga that has divided the Trump administration and the president’s external allies.”

DARREN SAMUELSOHN and KYLE CHENEY: “FBI agent: Russian official tried to arrange Trump-Putin call for day after inauguration”: “A top Russian official tried to set up a video teleconference between President Donald Trump and President Vladimir Putin of Russia on the day after Trump’s inauguration, according to a senior FBI agent’s interview notes released on Thursday.

“Peter Strzok, at the time a lead FBI agent investigating Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election, heard about the attempt to connect Trump and Putin while he and another bureau agent interviewed the president’s first national security adviser, Michael Flynn, at the White House just days into the new administration.” POLITICO

WHAT DEMOCRATS ARE READING -- RON BROWNSTEIN in THE ATLANTIC: “Democrats Learned the Wrong Lesson From Clinton’s Impeachment” … WALTER SHAPIRO in TNR: “1998 Was a Seinfeld Election—Not an Impeachment Referendum”

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HMM … THE DAILY BEAST’S LACHLAN MARKAY: “One of the most influential lobbying firms in Donald Trump’s Washington, D.C. cut a five-figure check late last year to a Ukrainian-born businessman who has assisted the president’s team in efforts to dig up dirt on leading Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden.

“The firm, Ballard Partners, wrote a check for $22,500 in September to Lev Parnas, an executive at the firm Global Energy Producers. Parnas and his partner at the company, Igor Fruman, have teamed up with Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani to solicit damaging information in Ukraine about Biden and his son Hunter. Giuliani confirmed that he’s worked with both men in an interview … last week.” The Daily Beast

ICYMI -- Playbook producer alum Zach Montellaro gets his star turn in the NYT Magazine. Finally!

VALLEY TALK -- “Election Rules Are an Obstacle to Cybersecurity of Presidential Campaigns,” by NYT’s Nicole Perlroth and Matthew Rosenberg: “Federal laws prohibit corporations from offering free or discounted cybersecurity services to federal candidates. The same law also blocks political parties from offering candidates cybersecurity assistance because it is considered an ‘in-kind donation.’

“The issue took on added urgency this week after lawyers for the Federal Election Commission advised the commission to block a request by a Silicon Valley company, Area 1 Security, which sought to provide services to 2020 presidential candidates at a discount.”

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MEDIAWATCH -- JEFF GOLDBERG, the editor-in-chief of The Atlantic, received sharp criticism from media Twitter-land on Thursday because of a quote in an interview he gave to Laura Hazard Owen of Nieman Lab in which he said: “It’s really, really hard to write a 10,000-word cover story. There are not a lot of journalists in America who can do it. The journalists in America who do it are almost exclusively white males.”

The Washington Post’s Monica Hesse tweeted: “What’s interesting to me is how patently false this is, even within his own newsroom. Many of the strongest feature writers at The Atlantic are women: Caitlin Flanagan, Amanda Mull, Elaina Plott, Taylor Lorenz. Did he forget they exist? Why?” HuffPost’s Jessica Schulberg tweeted: “Aside from being patently untrue it blows my mind that the editor-in-chief of the Atlantic still doesn't know better than to say this out loud!!!”

Asked for his version of the events, Goldberg told us: “I remember telling Laura Owen that, ‘The journalists who have been allowed to write cover stories [in the magazine industry] have been almost exclusively white males.’ This was obviously the intent of my quote, and I know -- because Laura told me this -- that she understands this to be the intent. If you read my quotes in context, you’ll see that this is clearly the intent.

“I was hoping that Nieman would issue a clarification on this point but I also recognize that Laura’s piece reflects accurately the many changes we’re implementing at The Atlantic to bring women to leadership, and to the cover of the print magazine as well.” He pointed out that when he became editor-in-chief, 17% of The Atlantic’s newsroom leadership was female but now it’s 63%.

He also told us: “[O]bviously I failed to phrase it in a way that makes people understand what I was saying or make some people understand what I was saying.” Asked if he had any regrets about what he said, “I regret obviously the way it’s been interpreted. I regret if I’ve hurt anybody, obviously, but my obvious intention was to signal that we’re trying harder than ever and we will continue to try very, very hard.” He said that the criticism online has been “a typical Twitter reaction. I think people assume the very worst. They don’t read the story. They take comments out of context.”

-- L.A. TIMES’ SRIDHAR PAPPU: “The women of MSNBC are reshaping the television landscape”

-- “Herb Sandler, Banker Who Financed ProPublica, Dies at 87,” by NYT’s Neil Genzlinger: “Mr. Sandler and his wife, who died in 2012, made their fortune by building a small bank in Oakland, Calif., into Golden West Financial, a multibillion-dollar lender. They had long supported progressive causes when, in 2007, their Sandler Foundation provided almost all of ProPublica’s initial funding. …

“ProPublica, which is based in New York and now employs about 75 journalists, is being widely watched in the news business as a possible model for journalism in the future. In a tribute to Mr. Sandler posted on its website, ProPublica said that he had a simple explanation for why he supported such work: ‘I hate it when the bad guys win.’” NYT

-- Sandler was also a major funder of the liberal Center for American Progress. CAP’s note on his passing … American Banker on his complicated legacy

-- Yasmeen Abutaleb will be a national health policy reporter at WaPo. She most recently was a health care reporter at Reuters.

PLAYBOOKERS

SUNDAY SO FAR ...

CBS “Face the Nation”: Sen. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) … Montana Gov. Steve Bullock … Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.)

CNN “State of the Union”: Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.). Panel: Scott Jennings, Jen Psaki, Bill Kristol and Aisha Moodie-Mills (guest host: Dana Bash)

CNN “Inside Politics”: Jonathan Martin, Julie Pace, Manu Raju and Annie Linskey

FOX “Fox News Sunday”: Rep. David Cicilline (D-R.I.). Panel: Jason Riley, Anne Gearan, Josh Holmes and Neera Tanden (guest host: Bret Baier)

ABC “This Week”: Beto O’Rourke

SPOTTED: Caitlyn Jenner leaving Bourbon Steak on Thursday to go into the courtyard at the Four Seasons. … Michelle Obama leaving the 4:30 p.m. SoulCycle class Thursday in West End. … Steve Bannon having dinner with Chinese billionaire Guo Wengui and others at the Trump Hotel.

OUT AND ABOUT … At a summer Tex-Mex barbecue at the Republic of Texas on H Street, Carlos Sanchez, Jorge Aguilar, Carlos Paz Jr. and Juan Sanchez hosted a networking gathering for Latinx staffers about professional development and to celebrate the passage of the Dream and Promise Act.

SPOTTED: Bianca Ortiz, Angela Ramirez, Alma Acosta, Aileen Cardona, Adrian Saenz, Nancy Juarez, Claudia Urrabazo, Jose Borjon, Stefy Rodriguez, Claudia Salinas, Roberto Fierro, Melvin Felix, among others.

-- SPOTTED at a “summer evening of opera” at the Japanese ambassador’s residence hosted by Ambassador Shinsuke and Yoko Sugiyama: soprano Anna Christy, countertenor Anthony Roth Costanzo and pianist Bryan Wagorn, Justice Samuel Alito and Martha Ann Alito, HHS Secretary Alex Azar and Jennifer Azar, New Zealand Ambassador Rosemary Bank, Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao, Kathy Kemper, U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer, FCC Chairman Ajit Pai and Janine Van Lancker, Sen. Richard Shelby (R-Ala.) and Annette Shelby, Tom and Linda Daschle and Michael Sonnenreich.

-- SPOTTED at a going-away party Thursday night for State Department press office director Robert Greenan, who was given a rare meritorious service award by Deputy Secretary John Sullivan, and deputy spokesman Robert Palladino, celebrating their next postings in Vietnam and China at the Watergate rooftop: Matt Lee, Elise Labott, Morgan Ortagus, Rich Edson, Lesley Wroughton, Heather Nauert, Courtney McBride, Adrienne Ross, Katie Martin, Jen Ehlinger and Taryn Frideres.

BIRTHDAY OF THE DAY: Wendy Sherman, senior counselor at Albright Stonebridge Group. How she got her start in her career: “Got started as a social worker as director of child welfare for the state of Maryland and kept changing my caseload, first to politics, working on the Hill and managing campaigns, and then to the world when asked to become assistant secretary for legislative affairs at the State Department under Warren Christopher in Clinton’s first term.” Playbook Plus Q&A

BIRTHDAYS: VP Mike Pence is 6-0 ... John Bash, U.S. attorney for the Western District of Texas ... Drew Teitelbaum of the White House ... Keith Maley, director of PR at the Trust for Public Land ... conservative columnist Myra Adams ... Rep. Ben Ray Luján (D-N.M.) is 47 ... Rep. Alex Mooney (R-W.Va.) is 48 ... Rep. Susan Wild (D-Pa.) is 62 … Lizzie Fine ... Tina Dupuy ... Micheál Keane ... Christina Animashaun ... Emily Greenhouse, managing editor at The New Yorker (hat tip: Jon Haber) ... Lars Anderson, founding partner at BlueDot Strategies ... Tracy Schmidt ... William Kaplan ... Matt Borges ... former Coast Guard Adm. Brian Peterman (h/ts Ed Cash) ... Elizabeth Thorp … WSJ’s Catherine Lucey (h/t colleague Julie Bykowicz) ...

… Stephanie Reichin, SVP at SKDKnickerbocker ... Alden Hartopo (h/t Akhil Bery) … Alexander Mooney, associate at Gibson, Dunn ... Colyer Woolston ... Ryan Lynch … Chris Ortman, SVP at MPAA ... Lester Crown is 94 ... Jerry White ... Sema Emiroglu ... Franklyn Palau ... Sulome Anderson ... Ryan Tarinelli ... Nathasha Lim ... Haley Dorgan ... Isaac Luria ... David Kim … Laura Pereyra ... CNN’s Javier De Diego ... Robert Gruber ... Andy Alexander ... Bradley Warren ... Vija Udenans ... Chilli Amar ... Bea González ... Kevin Peraino is 43 ... Josh Jones … Jessie D’Angelo … Katie Boyce ... Eric Tabor ... Eric Blackwell (h/ts Teresa Vilmain)

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