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By Anna Palmer, Jake Sherman and Daniel Lippman

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DRIVING THE DAY
BEHIND THE SCENES ... One of the favorite pastimes of Capitol Hill reporters is talking to members of Congress in the hallways of the Capitol. Most lawmakers walk around without staff, and many are happy to swap gossip on their way to meetings, and after votes.

JOHN BOEHNER and PAUL RYAN were always chatty -- until they became speaker, and then they became incredibly disciplined about not answering questions while on the move.

SENATE MAJORITY LEADER MITCH MCCONNELL regularly ignores reporters who follow his every move as if they don't exist. For the record: We like when lawmakers talk in the hallways.

BUT SPEAKER NANCY PELOSI is back in power, and still answers questions on her feet -- no matter how tough the topic. In fact, sometimes she stops outside of her office, and holds court -- albeit quickly -- on whatever reporters want to quiz her about.

THIS HAPPENED WEDNESDAY as Pelosi was on the way from the House floor to her Capitol office suite, and the speaker got a slew of questions about REP. ILHAN OMAR (D-MINN.) and her comments about Israel.

NBC'S GARRETT HAAKE asked PELOSI if she was worried that she'd have to put a resolution on the floor every time anyone said something offensive. "I don't think so, and I don't think this is just about comments by Congresswoman Omar, which I do not think were intentionally anti-Semitic."

ON PELOSI ... HEATHER CAYGLE, SARAH FERRIS and JOHN BRESNAHAN: "Omar uproar swamps Pelosi": "With the fallout over Rep. Ilhan Omar's controversial comments paralyzing House Democrats, Speaker Nancy Pelosi found herself on the floor Wednesday afternoon asking some of her closest allies what exactly she should do.

"For 20 minutes, Pelosi huddled with senior members of the Congressional Black Caucus - House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn of South Carolina and Reps. Sheila Jackson Lee of Texas, and Karen Bass and Barbara Lee of California - to try to determine what kind of resolution the CBC would back that rejected Omar's remarks about Israel without unfairly singling her out. It's a balance that Pelosi and her deputies initially failed to reach when a draft resolution began circulating Monday night.

"And it's a surprising scenario for the veteran Democratic leader, who has long prided herself on an intrinsic understanding of her caucus but who now finds herself struggling to clean up the latest political mess created by a high-profile member of the freshman class." POLITICO

ON THE FLIP SIDE -- MELANIE ZANONA: "GOP strategy on Omar: Let Dems struggle on their own": "House Republicans are sitting back and letting Democrats inflict damage on themselves as they struggle to respond to the growing firestorm over Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.).

"GOP leaders had been weighing whether to take their own action against Omar, who sparked an uproar for suggesting that pro-Israel activists and lawmakers hold 'allegiance to a foreign country.' The freshman firebrand has emerged as a top target on the right in recent months." POLITICO

THE BIG PICTURE -- NYT'S GLENN THRUSH and SHERYL GAY STOLBERG on A1: "Democrats Let Own Message Trip Them Up": "Representative Hakeem Jeffries, an unflappable Brooklynite tasked with keeping the fractious House Democratic caucus on message, wanted to spend Wednesday talking up the party's all-in-one voting rights and ethics reform bill making its way to a vote this week.

"Instead Mr. Jeffries, a top lieutenant of Speaker Nancy Pelosi's, stood uncomfortably in front of a specially printed 'For the People' placard, sideswiped by a single anti-Israel comment from a freshman representative from Minnesota, Ilhan Omar - and peppered by reporters' questions about how Ms. Pelosi planned to punish the newcomer without provoking a civil war.

"So it has gone for Ms. Pelosi and her leadership team, which is showing some rust after eight years in the minority. The first gun control bills in 25 years cleared the House last month with little notice, swallowed whole by the House Oversight and Reform Committee's hearing with President Trump's former lawyer and fixer, Michael D. Cohen." NYT ... A1 PDF

-- "Sanders, Harris condemn House rebuke of Omar," by Rebecca Morin

Good Thursday morning. HAPPENING THIS WEEKEND ... BLOOMBERG'S JENNIFER JACOBS (@JenniferJJacobs): "Scooplet: AEI is a holding its secretive Republican gathering at the luxury Sea Island resort in Georgia this week. Guest list is confidential, but I'm told VP Pence, Sec of State Mike Pompeo and Jared Kushner will be among the Trump admin leaders mingling with the VIP guests."

-- WHO ELSE IS EXPECTED TO BE THERE ... Here are the other VIPs expected to attend, per a list: Labor Secretary Alex Acosta, Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao, Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, UAE Ambassador Yousef Al Otaiba, Kentucky Gov. Matt Bevin, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), GOP Sens. Shelley Moore Capito (W.Va.), John Cornyn (Texas), Tom Cotton (Ark.), Ted Cruz (Texas), Mike Lee (Utah), Rob Portman (Ohio), Tim Scott (S.C.), Ben Sasse (Neb.), Martha McSally (Ariz.), Lindsey Graham (S.C.), Josh Hawley (Mo.), Cory Gardner (Colo.) and David Perdue (Ga.)...

... GOP REPS. Dan Crenshaw (Texas), Elise Stefanik (N.Y.), Fred Upton (Mich.) and Will Hurd (Texas), Democratic Reps. Josh Gottheimer (N.J.), Jimmy Panetta (Calif.), Tom Suozzi (N.Y.) and Jim Himes (Conn.), Colombian VP Marta Lucia, Kevin Hassett and former VP Dick Cheney.

JUST POSTED ... NYT'S JONATHAN MARTIN and ALEX BURNS: "Biden's 2020 Plan is Almost Complete. Democrats Are Impatient": "The pieces for a Joseph R. Biden Jr. presidential campaign are falling into place: His nucleus of advisers has begun offering campaign positions to seasoned Democratic strategists. They are eyeing a headquarters in Delaware or nearby Philadelphia and a launch date in the beginning of April. Mr. Biden's family is on board - his wife, Jill, enthusiastically so.

"Mr. Biden has also been privately reaching out to a range of influential Democrats, including party donors, members of Congress and allies in the early primary states, to gauge their support. A pillar of organized labor, the International Association of Fire Fighters, is prepared to support him in the Democratic primary.

"And in recent weeks, Mr. Biden's strategist, Steve Ricchetti, has called a handful of would-be candidates and their aides to signal that the former vice president is likely to enter the race and of late has been telling Democrats that he's 95 percent committed to running, according to officials directly familiar with the discussions.

"Yet while Mr. Biden is plainly further along in preparing for a White House bid than he was four years ago ... there is still one crucial element that's outstanding: full and final consent from the former vice president himself." NYT

DEBATE WATCH -- REBECCA MORIN: "DNC says it doesn't trust Fox News to host a primary debate"

JAMES ARKIN and BURGESS EVERETT: "Perdue stands firm with Trump in battleground Georgia": "Some Republicans facing tough 2020 elections are weighing a break with President Donald Trump on foreign policy or his border wall-driven national emergency declaration. David Perdue is going the other way.

"'Republicans have made a mistake in the past by running away from this president. I don't see any need to do that,' Perdue, the first-term Georgia senator, said in an interview. 'I support this agenda. I don't support everything he says or how he says it, but this agenda is working.'

"It's a confident early stance from a Republican facing one of the toughest reelection races in the country next year - especially if he faces Stacey Abrams, the Democrat who lost the 2018 gubernatorial race by 1.4 percentage points. Democrats argue Georgia has shifted rapidly into battleground territory since Perdue romped to victory in 2014 over Michelle Nunn, the daughter of a legendary senator. And Perdue's reelection is critical for Republicans to hold their Senate majority in 2020." POLITICO

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FIRST IN PLAYBOOK: DAN CONSTON, the president of the Congressional Leadership Fund -- the House GOP leadership-linked super PAC -- is sending a memo to donors this morning saying that the party is entering the election cycle "with a clear path back to the majority."

-- "Democrats occupy 13 congressional seats that President Trump won by more than 6 points, many of which he won by 10-plus. If we win in these districts, Republicans need to beat just 5 of the remaining 42 vulnerable House Democrats to win back the Majority. The overall offensive battleground is 55-seats deep." Read the memo

-- NBC'S HEIDI PRZYBYLA: "DCCC kicks off 2020 effort to protect its House majority"

THE TRUMP SLUMP ... WAPO'S DAVID NAKAMURA, SEUNG MIN KIM and JOSH DAWSEY: "'Not my fault': Trump struggles to defend his record amid setbacks on immigration, trade, North Korea": "Late last week, Trump flew home empty-handed from a summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in Hanoi - and, within days, new satellite images appeared to show that the North was secretly rebuilding a rocket-launching site.

"On Tuesday, the Department of Homeland Security announced that unauthorized border crossings have spiked to the highest pace in 12 years - despite Trump's hard-line rhetoric and new policies aimed at deterring migrants. And on Wednesday, the Commerce Department said that the nation's trade deficit is at a record high - in part due to punitive tariffs Trump imposed on allies and adversaries." WaPo

-- BEN WHITE and KATY O'DONNELL in New York: "Real estate launched Trump. It also could hurt him in 2020": "The luxury real estate market in Manhattan is sagging. The GOP tax law is hitting real estate markets across the nation. And signs of stress across the broader housing market suggest the industry - which made Donald Trump rich, helped thrust him into the White House and remains a constant obsession for him - could also be one that slows his economy and dents his chances at a second term." POLITICO

SMART STORY from ANDREW DESIDERIO and JOHN BRESNAHAN: "'It gets real personal, real fast': Dems fear targeting Trump kids could backfire": "House Democrats have already gone to war with President Donald Trump. But there's one target they're skittish of hitting too hard: his children.

"In public and private, Democrats see potential pitfalls in dragging Trump's adult children into their political squabbles with the president. So even as they ramp up their investigations into Trump, senior Democrats are reluctant to scrutinize Trump's adult children too much as part of their sprawling probes into Trump's administration, campaign and business empire.

"Democrats, in fact, would prefer to let federal prosecutors handle the family while they take on the president themselves. Yet Trump's family members - including Donald Jr., Eric, Ivanka and son-in-law Jared Kushner - are so deeply involved in his business and presidency that it likely would be impossible to take a completely hands-off approach.

"'Getting to family members I think is dangerous,' said Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-Va.), a senior member of the House Oversight and Reform Committee. 'Only because it gets real personal, real fast. And it risks backfiring. 'Maybe at some point we have to call them in,' Connolly added, 'but I'd rather let prosecutors look at that.'" POLITICO

-- ANDREW DESIDERIO: "Sources: Michael Cohen gives House Intel docs showing previous testimony was edited"

DISPATCH FROM NANCY COOK ... ANOTHER MULVANEY AIDE JOINS THE WHITE HOUSE ... Meghan Burris, the former deputy communications director at the Office of Management and Budget and former press secretary to Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.), has joined the White House communications shop as special assistant to the president and director of media affairs.

Her move to the White House is yet another instance of acting chief of staff Mick Mulvaney staffing up the West Wing with his own aides and allies. So far, he's brought over roughly a half-dozen aides, including the new director of the Domestic Policy Council, a new principal deputy chief of staff and two new senior advisers.

2020 WATCH -- "Crime lab scandal rocked Kamala Harris's term as San Francisco district attorney," by WaPo's Michael Kranish

-- ELENA SCHNEIDER: "Dem long shots crash 2020 debate stage": "The [DNC] wanted orderly, open primary debates this time around, free from accusations of bias and the general chaos of 2016. But voters may be surprised at just how open the debates get. ...

"Andrew Yang and Marianne Williamson, a pair of little-known 2020 contenders, both say they are on track to meet the grassroots donation threshold set by the DNC to get into the first debate in June. They'd join Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson, both African-American ministers and civil rights activists, as the only non-elected officials to make the first Democratic presidential debate in the past 40 years." POLITICO

-- BUZZFEED'S RUBY CRAMER: "Bernie Sanders' Campaign Says He Will Keep His Pledge To Not Go Negative In Ads For 2020": "The senator's campaign says he will not "engage in personal attack ads," but left open the possibility of ads showing policy contrasts." BuzzFeed

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TRUMP'S THURSDAY -- The president is meeting with Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin at 11 a.m. in the Oval Office. He is having lunch with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo at 12:30 p.m. in the private dining room. Trump and first lady Melania Trump will meet with Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babi\u0161 and his wife at 1:55 p.m. in the Oval Office. At 2:15 p.m., Trump and Babi\u0161 will participate in an expanded bilateral meeting in the Cabinet Room.

Trump will meet with acting Secretary of Defense Patrick Shanahan at 4 p.m. in the Oval Office. The president will participate in a photo op with the 2019 Senate Youth Program at 5 p.m. in the East Room.
PLAYBOOK READS


PHOTO DU JOUR: A young girl prays in front of a cross at a makeshift memorial for the victims of a tornado in Beauregard, Ala., on Wednesday. | David Goldman/AP Photo

WAPO'S FELICIA SONMEZ: "Sen. Martha McSally, a former fighter pilot, says she was raped while serving in the military": "McSally revealed Wednesday that she was raped by a superior officer while serving in the Air Force, telling a Senate Armed Services subcommittee that she shares 'the disgust of the failures of the military system and many commanders who failed in their responsibilities.' McSally (R-Ariz.), the country's first female fighter pilot to fly in combat, made the revelation during a hearing on preventing sexual assault in the military.

"'Like you, I am also a military sexual assault survivor,' McSally said, addressing several witnesses set to testify at the hearing about their own assaults while serving in the military. 'But unlike so many brave survivors, I didn't report being sexually assaulted. Like so many women and men, I didn't trust the system at the time.' McSally told the panel that she blamed herself, was 'ashamed and confused,' and felt powerless about what happened to her." WaPo

FOR YOUR RADAR -- "Ahead of court ruling, Census Bureau seeks citizenship data," by AP's Garance Burke and Frank Bajak: "As the U.S. Supreme Court weighs whether the Trump administration can ask people if they are citizens on the 2020 Census, the Census Bureau is quietly seeking comprehensive information about the legal status of millions of immigrants.

"Under a proposed plan, the Department of Homeland Security would provide the Census Bureau with a broad swath of personal data about noncitizens, including their immigration status, The Associated Press has learned. A pending agreement between the agencies has been in the works since at least January, the same month a federal judge in New York blocked the administration from adding the citizenship question to the 10-year survey." AP

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HMM -- "Source: Leaked Documents Show the U.S. Government Tracking Journalists and Immigration Advocates Through a Secret Database," by NBC 7 San Diego's Tom Jones, Mari Payton and Bill Feather: "Documents obtained by NBC 7 Investigates show the U.S. government created a secret database of activists, journalists, and social media influencers tied to the migrant caravan and in some cases, placed alerts on their passports. At the end of 2018, roughly 5,000 immigrants from Central America made their way north through Mexico to the United States southern border. The story made international headlines.

"As the migrant caravan reached the San Ysidro Port of Entry in south San Diego County, so did journalists, attorneys, and advocates who were there to work and witness the events unfolding. But in the months that followed, journalists who covered the caravan, as well as those who offered assistance to caravan members, said they felt they had become targets of intense inspections and scrutiny by border officials." NBC San Diego

VALLEY TALK -- "Facebook Plans New Emphasis on Private Communications," by WSJ's Jeff Horwitz: "Facebook Inc., which became the world's biggest social network by encouraging people to share photos and messages publicly, said it is now betting on the opposite: that the future of social media lies in private messaging and small-group chats. ...

"In an interview, Mr. Zuckerberg couched the shift as a response to user demand, saying people increasingly prefer to communicate in small groups or one-to-one in the style of its WhatsApp messaging platform, rather than blasting their thoughts to a public audience, as most users do on its Instagram and the company's flagship Facebook platform." WSJ ... Zuckerberg's post
PLAYBOOKERS
SPOTTED: Chief Justice John Roberts at noon Mass at St Joseph's on Capitol Hill. ... HUD Secretary Ben Carson having lunch with "Fixer Upper" star Chip Gaines in Waco, Texas, before announcing a grant that is aimed to protect people from hazards in the home.

BIRTHDAY OF THE DAY: David Bohigian, CEO and president of OPIC. How he got his start in his career: "I got to Washington in 1995 when I took my last semester of law school to work for Speaker Gingrich during the Contract with America. After that, I went into venture capital before anyone knew what that was. I've been involved in building businesses, investment and policy ever since." Playbook Plus Q&A

BIRTHDAYS: James Gleeson, comms director at SpaceX (hat tip: Juleanna Glover) ... Kristan King Nevins is 4-0 ... Willard Scott is 85 ... Jason Altmire is 51 ... Michael Eisner is 77 ... Guy Benson is 34 (h/t Marie Harf) ... WaPo food critic Tom Sietsema ... Anne Farris Rosen, journalist and adjunct professor at Philip Merrill College of Journalism at University of Maryland ... Josh Holly ... Kirk Adams (h/ts Jon Haber) ... Katie McCormick Lelyveld ... Rep. Juan Vargas (D-Calif.) is 58 ... Elizabeth Williams ... Tori Hatada ... Breanna Deutsch, communications manager for the Institute for Constitutional Government at Heritage ... John Goodrum ... Adam Kaiser ... POLITICO's Cindy Andrade ...
Rachel Zuckerman (h/ts Richard Hudock and Farrin Jay) ... Siobhan Dingwall, NYC first lady Chirlane McCray's new press secretary (h/t Dylan Hewitt) ... Mary Tydings Smith (h/t Tammy Haddad) ... Mike Watson of DOE (h/t Cami Connor) ...

... Carol Danko, assistant director of public affairs at ICE (h/ts Lenwood Brooks and Nick Owens) ... Mary Stanley (h/t Sarah Feinberg) ... Mike Watson of the Department of Energy (h/t Cami Connor) ... Noreen Nielsen of Climate Nexus ... David Baltimore is 81 ... Katherine Lewis (h/t Josh Goldberg) ... U.S. News' Alan Neuhauser ... Nate Evans ... Edelman's Eliza VanZoeren ... Matt Handverger is 3-0 (h/t Leti Davalos) ... former Rep. Brian Baird (D-Wash.) is 63 ... Chase Untermeyer, former U.S. ambassador to Qatar, is 73 ... Matt Glassman ... Nicole Lapin ... Tanya Hayre ... Kate Michael ... Sally Barth ... Stephen Saunders ... Mark Schuermann ... Medium's Matt Higginson ... Anthony Bellotti
is 41 ... Myron Belkind ... Michael Tobman ... WNYC's Jennifer Hsu ... Hallie Williams ... Jolene Plautz ... Becky Carroll (h/t Teresa Vilmain)

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