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Presented by PhRMA: Mar 15, 2019 View in browser
By Jake Sherman, Anna Palmer, Daniel Lippman, Eli Okun and Garrett Ross

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HOT TAKE ... ERIC CANTOR, who lost his seat five years ago and decamped to Wall Street, said he has heard AOC also stands for "absolutely out of control." "Squawk Box" clip

Happy Friday afternoon. GET OUTSIDE TODAY! It's 71 degrees in D.C. ... SPOTTED: Eric Bolling talking with VP Mike Pence at BLT at the Trump Hotel on Thursday evening. ... Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.) in coach on a flight from DCA to Miami.

AT THE PRESIDENT'S PENTAGON MEETING, per Washington Blade's Chris Johnson, who is today's pooler: VP Mike Pence, acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan, national security adviser John Bolton, Robert Blair (Mulvaney adviser), Pat Cipollone (W.H. counsel), John Eisenberg (NSC staffer), Marc Short (Pence COS), Lt. Gen. Keith Kellogg (Pence NSA) and Lisa Curtis (director for South and Central Asian Affairs).

THE LATEST ON NEW ZEALAND ... SARAH HUCKABEE SANDERS, via Johnson: "The United States strongly condemns the attack in Christchurch. Our thoughts and prayers are with the victims and their families. We stand in solidarity with the people of New Zealand and their government against this vicious act of hate."

-- REBECCA MORIN: "Blumenthal says Trump's rhetoric 'a factor' in New Zealand massacre": "'Words have consequences like saying we have an invasion on our border and talking about people as though they were different in some fatal way,' [Sen. Richard] Blumenthal said during an interview on CNN. 'I think that the public discourse from the president on down is a factor in some of these actions,' he added." POLITICO

-- REUTERS' JEFF MASON (@jeffmason1): ".\u2066@mercedesschlapp\u2069 says it is outrageous to connect \u2066@realDonaldTrump\u2069 with the #NewZealandMosqueShooting because he has repeatedly spoken against bigotry."

-- WAPO'S DREW HARWELL (@drewharwell): "The New Zealand massacre was livestreamed on Facebook, announced on 8chan, reposted on YouTube, commentated about on Reddit, and mirrored around the world before the tech companies could even react."

WHAT'S ON THE PRESIDENT'S MIND -- @realDonaldTrump at 7:41 a.m.: "My warmest sympathy and best wishes goes out to the people of New Zealand after the horrible massacre in the Mosques. 49 innocent people have so senselessly died, with so many more seriously injured. The U.S. stands by New Zealand for anything we can do. God bless all!"

... at 8:03 a.m.: "The 'Jexodus' movement encourages Jewish people to leave the Democrat Party. Total disrespect! Republicans are waiting with open arms. Remember Jerusalem (U.S. Embassy) and the horrible Iran Nuclear Deal! @OANN @foxandfriends"

BOEING UPDATE -- BLOOMBERG'S ALAN LEVIN: "Piece Found at Boeing 737 Crash Site Shows Jet Was Set to Dive": "A screw-like device found in the wreckage of the Boeing Co. 737 Max 8 that crashed Sunday in Ethiopia has provided investigators with an early clue into what happened, as work begins in France to decode the black boxes recovered from the scene.

"The so-called jackscrew, used to set the trim that raises and lowers the plane's nose, indicates the jet was configured to dive, based on a preliminary review, according to a person familiar with the investigation. The evidence helped persuade U.S. regulators to ground the model, said the person, who requested anonymity to discuss the inquiry." Bloomberg

2020 WATCH -- "Beto O'Rourke's secret membership in America's oldest hacking group," by Reuters' Joseph Menn in San Francisco, adapted from his forthcoming book, "Cult of the Dead Cow" ($22.32 on Amazon): "There is no indication that O'Rourke ever engaged in the edgiest sorts of hacking activity, such as breaking into computers or writing code that enabled others to do so. But his membership in the group could explain his approach to politics better than anything on his resume. ...

"'There's just this profound value in being able to be apart from the system and look at it critically and have fun while you're doing it,' O'Rourke said. 'I think of the Cult of the Dead Cow as a great example of that.' ...

"Arguably, there has been no better time to be an American politician rebelling against business as usual. Still, it's unclear whether the United States is ready for a presidential contender who, as a teenager, stole long-distance phone service for his dial-up modem, wrote a murder fantasy in which the narrator drives over children on the street, and mused about a society without money." Reuters

-- NATASHA KORECKI: "'Not one woman got that kind of coverage': Beto backlash begins": "Since announcing her 2020 run, Elizabeth Warren has dispensed three major policy proposals, held 30 campaign events and visited nearly a dozen states. Since announcing his 2020 run, Beto O'Rourke has made one visit to Iowa, where he vaguely outlined his positions, including from atop a cafe counter.

"Guess who's getting the star treatment." POLITICO

-- BUZZFEED'S TARINI PARTI: "Trump's 2020 Team Is Already Doing Something His White House Has Struggled With For Years: Hiring": "Veteran political operatives and top hill staffers - the type of experienced Republicans who have shown little interest in working for the Trump White House - have already joined the 2020 campaign and many more are expected to in the coming months. ...

"With election day still 20 months away, the campaign has raised more than $100 million and has a several dozen staffers split between offices in Washington, D.C. and New York City - a stark contrast to the 2016 campaign, which one month before the election still employed only about 130 staffers." BuzzFeed

A message from PhRMA:

There are wrong and right prescriptions for changing Medicare. Seniors need Washington to focus on the right ones. Cutting costs for everyone except seniors and limiting access to lifesaving medicines are the wrong prescription for Medicare. Making changes that help seniors pay less out-of-pocket are the right prescription for Medicare.

AT DOJ -- L.A. TIMES' DEL QUENTIN WILBER: "Atty. Gen. William Barr tries to restore confidence in Justice Department"

GROWING PAINS -- SARAH FERRIS and HEATHER CAYGLE: "House Dems mount campaign to stem defections on GOP 'gotcha' votes": "Through one-on-one appeals, in closed-door meetings and with even a little arm twisting, top Democrats are privately trying to contain defectors within their ranks who want to take the sting out of a procedural tool that has been weaponized by Republicans.

"But if that diplomacy campaign fails, some rank-and-file Democrats want to see drastic changes - including possibly even eliminating the procedure altogether. Doing so would be an embarrassment for Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and her top deputies, who would come under fresh attacks from GOP leaders for re-writing the rules after they successfully lured dozens of Democrats to buck their own party on what leadership describes as 'gotcha' votes." POLITICO

THE LATEST ON NORTH KOREA -- AP: "Bolton disputes NK claim he created mistrust at Kim summit"

-- KATIE GALIOTO: "Pompeo says he has 'every expectation' North Korea talks will continue": "'With respect to what was said last night about Chairman Kim potentially considering ending the moratorium, I can say only this: In Hanoi, on multiple occasions, he spoke directly to the president and made a commitment that he would not resume nuclear testing, nor would he resume missile testing,' Pompeo said to reporters. 'That's Chairman Kim's word. We have every expectation he will live up to that commitment.' ...

"Pompeo said Friday he does not think the allegations will hamper his ability to aid future negotiations." POLITICO

WAPO'S MICHAEL KRANISH, ROZ HELDERMAN, MARY JORDAN and TOM HAMBURGER: "Inside the opulent Trump inaugural dinner designed as a glittery overture to foreign diplomats": "Dubbed the Chairman's Global Dinner, it was the brainchild of billionaire Thomas J. Barrack Jr., Trump's close friend and his inaugural committee chairman, who conceived of the night as a glittery overture to a diplomatic corps anxious about the change in Washington.

"Paid for by donors to the inaugural committee, the event put Barrack's style of global networking on display and gave foreign guests an unparalleled chance to mingle with the incoming vice president, other members of the new administration and lawmakers. The dinner serves as an extravagant symbol of Trump's inaugural festivities, which involved record fundraising, lavish spending and a large concentration of foreign guests. Now, state, federal and congressional investigators are scrutinizing those issues as part of five inquiries of activities related to the inaugural committee." WaPo

THE INVESTIGATIONS ... DARREN SAMUELSOHN: "Mueller: Gates still cooperating in 'several ongoing investigations'": "The one-page joint status report to the U.S. District Court in Washington doesn't offer any additional information about the extent of Gates' help in the probes except to request another 60-day delay before checking back in with the federal judge who ultimately will sentence Gates." POLITICO

-- JOSH GERSTEIN: "Flynn partner's defense says he wouldn't have been prosecuted without tie to Flynn"

-- THE ATLANTIC'S NATASHA BERTRAND: "Mueller Might Not Be Done With Manafort Yet": "Court documents and pre-sentence hearings that dealt with the breach of Manafort's plea deal suggest that prosecutors might have more ammunition to go after the 69-year-old on matters that go directly to the question of a conspiracy with Russia, rather than the financial crimes and violations of foreign-agent laws that he's been charged with to date. ...

"[H]e 'intentionally made multiple false statements' to the FBI, the special counsel's office, and the grand jury 'concerning matters that were material to the investigation: his interactions and communications' with the suspected Russian intelligence officer Konstantin Kilimnik, D.C. District Court Judge Amy Berman Jackson ruled last month. As such, questions remain about Manafort's interactions with Russians during the campaign - questions that go to the main focus of the Mueller investigation into a potential election conspiracy." The Atlantic

THE STEP BACK -- NPR'S CARRIE JOHNSON: "As End Nears To Mueller Era, D.C. Lawyers Fear Lasting Politicization Of Justice"

THE NEW GOP -- NYT'S ASTEAD HERNDON in Old Forge, Pa.: "How Trump's Brand of Grievance Politics Roiled a Pennsylvania Campaign": "The Republican Party and its candidates, particularly in state and local campaigns, are increasingly being reshaped in President Trump's image ... [T]he most common reflection of Mr. Trump's brand of grievance politics - and the reason [Pennsylvania Legislature candidate Frank] Scavo's loss was treated as an existential threat in that Old Forge banquet hall - was the pervasive belief that the country is being undermined by undeserving outsiders and the Democrats who represent them.

"In conversations with Mr. Scavo and his all-white supporters, this was not a race-blind anxiety, but a conscious fear around what they see as the replacement of traditional, white American culture. The message was constantly amplified by ominous reporting and commentary from conservative, pro-Trump media outlets." NYT

BEYOND THE BELTWAY -- "School climate strikes draw thousands to the streets in cities across the globe," by WaPo's Griff Witte, Luisa Beck, Brady Dennis and Sarah Kaplan with a Berlin dateline

K STREET FILES -- "Trump-connected lobby firms cash in with foreign governments," by Theo Meyer: "Ballard Partners and two other lobbying firms led by Trump campaign veterans have lobbied for nine foreign governments and four foreign political parties since Trump's inauguration, according to a POLITICO analysis of Justice Department disclosures. ...

"Ballard and the others aren't the first presidential campaign veterans to lobby for foreign governments. ... But the number of countries that have turned to lobbyists with Trump campaign connections is striking. Some of the countries are American allies, while others have stained human rights records, such as Zimbabwe, Turkey and the Democratic Republic of Congo." POLITICO

VALLEY TALK -- WAPO'S TONY ROMM: "Facebook, Google and other big tech giants are about to face a 'reckoning,' state attorneys general warn"

THE TRUMP ADMINISTRATION -- NYT'S ALEXANDRA STEVENSON: "S.E.C. Accuses Volkswagen of Fraud in Diesel Scandal": "The [SEC] said late Thursday that it was suing Volkswagen and Martin Winterkorn, its former chief executive, in a case related to a decade-long scheme undertaken by one of the world's biggest carmakers to fudge its diesel emissions testing." NYT

-- WSJ'S SARAH KROUSE: "FCC Tackles 911 Dilemma: What Floor Are You Calling From?"

ON THE WORLD STAGE -- "Trump administration's new Arctic defense strategy expected to zero in on concerns about China," by WaPo's Dan Lamothe: "It isn't clear if the strategy will address why sea ice is melting, or simply focus on what U.S. officials should do to protect the region. ... China's recent behavior in the Arctic has triggered some alarms in the Pentagon. Last year, it declared itself a 'near-Arctic nation,' an effort to inject Beijing into Arctic discussions and defend its desire for a 'Polar Silk Road,' in which Chinese goods would be delivered by sea from Asia to Europe." WaPo

AFTERNOON READ -- POLITICO MAGAZINE'S MICHAEL KRUSE: "What Jesse Taught Bernie About Running for President: The significance of Sanders' endorsement of Jackson in 1988 is not that he supported a black candidate but what it taught him about the power of working inside the Democratic Party." POLITICO Magazine

COMING ATTRACTIONS -- Ben White will once again be writing a special edition of Morning Money at the Milken Institute Global Conference from April 28 to May 2. Sign up now

THE PLAYBOOK POOL IS BACK: March Madness starts next week, which means it's time for the third annual Playbook Pool bracket challenge. Track who's up and who's down throughout the tournament and compete against friends, top Playbookers, political insiders and VIPs to win great prizes. Fill in your bracket starting on Selection Sunday (March 17) after the teams are chosen. Click HERE to get in the game!

TV TONIGHT -- Bob Costa sits down with Jake, WaPo's Bob Woodward, CBS' Margaret Brennan and NPR's Susan Davis at 8 p.m. on PBS' "Washington Week."

MEDIAWATCH -- WAPO: "Washington Post Opinions launches new longform journalism initiative"

TRANSITION -- Sacha Haworth will be political director at American Bridge 21st Century. She previously was with House Majority PAC.

A message from PhRMA:


There are wrong and right prescriptions for changing Medicare. Seniors need Washington to focus on the right ones. Learn more

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