GOOD FRIDAY MORNING from Jerusalem, where Jake is on the embassy. Secretary of State MIKE POMPEO met with Israeli PM BENJAMIN NETANYAHU at 9 a.m. here this morning -- a lovely sunny day in Israel. The assembly was at Netanyahu’s residence.
AFTERWARD, that they had a presser in Netanyahu’s courtyard -- and there was little or no news. Pic … But Netanyahu was requested for response to the cease-fire settlement, and he stated, “We hope things will end up for the perfect” (hat tip to CNN’s Jennifer Hansler, who asked the query of Netanyahu). Pompeo didn't take questions.
THERE HAVE BEEN MANY QUESTIONS about what happens to the Kurds within the cease-fire. Jake spoke to Ambassador JAMES JEFFREY, the U.S. particular envoy for Syria, on Thursday on the flight between Ankara and Tel Aviv, and here’s what he stated:
-- “There’s little question that the YPG needs that they might keep in these areas. It is our evaluation that they haven't any army means to carry onto these areas and subsequently we thought that a cease-fire can be a lot better for the eventual -- aside from saving lives, which is essential for President [Donald] Trump and Vice President [Mike] Pence -- we additionally thought it might be a lot better for making an attempt to get some sort of control over this chaotic state of affairs. The Turkish army has seized a substantial amount of territory in a really brief time period. We had little question that they would … continue seizing territory if we couldn’t get a cease-fire. That’s what we’re making an attempt to do.”
… OTHER HIGHLIGHTS:
-- JEFFREY ON SYRIA: “As you already know we now have a very convoluted state of affairs with Russian, Syrian Military, Turkish, American, SDF and a few Daesh [ISIS] parts all floating round in a very wild approach. And we’re most involved about getting our troops out of the best way, which is what DOD is doing at this point, however they've the small print of where their troops are and what they’re doing.”
-- THE NEGOTIATIONS BETWEEN PENCE and Turkish President RECEP TAYYIP ERDOĞAN did not embrace talks on whether Erdoğan would still go to the White Home in a number of weeks, although Trump stated in Texas that so far as he was involved, the go to was nonetheless on.
POMPEO flies right now to Brussels for meetings at NATO.
BRUTAL, by way of NYT’s David Sanger and Eric Schmitt: “The cease-fire settlement reached with Turkey by Vice President Mike Pence amounts to a near-total victory for Turkey’s president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who positive aspects territory, pays little in penalties and appears to have outmaneuvered President Trump.
“The most effective that can be stated for the settlement is that it might stop the killing within the Kurdish enclave in northern Syria. But the fee for Kurds, longtime American allies within the battle towards the Islamic State, is extreme: Even Pentagon officials have been mystified about where tens of hundreds of displaced Kurds would go, as they moved south from the Turkey-Syria border as required by the deal — if they comply with go in any respect.” NYT
IS THE CEASE-FIRE ALREADY BROKEN? … AP/CEYLANPINAR, TURKEY: “Preventing in Kurdish-held Syrian city despite cease-fire”: “Preventing continued Friday morning in a northeast Syrian border city on the middle of the battle between Turkey and Kurdish forces, despite a U.S.-brokered cease-fire that went into effect overnight.
“Shelling and gunfire might be heard in and around Ras al-Ayn as smoke billowed from places near the border with Turkey and the Turkish town of Ceylanpinar. The preventing died down by mid-morning whereas smoke continued to rise. Elsewhere alongside the border calm appeared to prevail, with no preventing heard alongside the border from Ras al-Ayn to Tal Abyad, a Syrian border town about 100 kilometers to the west.” AP
ABOUT LAST NIGHT … NANCY COOK in Dallas: “Trump holds Dallas rally as impeachment struggle messes together with his lead in Texas”: “Texas on Thursday night time provided President Donald Trump a much-needed break from the backlash over his Syria determination and the relentlessness of the Democrats’ impeachment inquiry. To an adoring crowd at his marketing campaign rally, he examined out new, aggressive messaging as he sought to forged Democrats as politically extreme, the Biden household as corrupt, and the media in cahoots with both of them as a part of a grand conspiracy.
“He justified the thought of eradicating American troops from Syria by saying he did not need to deplete the U.S. army anymore or continue to entangle the U.S. in what he referred to as ‘the infinite wars.’ It was good to let Turkey attack the Kurds, longtime U.S. allies in the battle towards ISIS, Trump stated, as a result of ‘typically you need to allow them to battle like two youngsters. You then pull them apart.’” POLITICO
-- “When Brand Trump Met Brand Vuitton: A new workshop in Texas introduced the president and the king of luxury collectively. Is that this good or dangerous for each their manufacturers?” by NYT’s Vanessa Friedman
-- MATTIS CLAPS BACK -- “‘I assume I’m the Meryl Streep of generals’: Mattis jokes about Trump calling him overrated,” by Matthew Choi: “President Donald Trump this week referred to as former Defense Secretary James Mattis an ‘overrated’ common. Now Mattis is proudly owning it. ‘I’m not just an overrated common. I am the best, the world’s most overrated,’ Mattis stated Thursday at the Al Smith Memorial Foundation Dinner in New York.
“‘I’m honored to be thought-about that by Donald Trump, as a result of he additionally referred to as Meryl Streep an overrated actress,’ Mattis continued to laughter from the viewers. ‘So I guess I’m the Meryl Streep of generals. And admittedly, that sounds pretty good to me.’” POLITICO
-- THE ZINGER YOU MISSED: “I earned my spurs on the battlefield; Donald Trump earned his spurs in a letter from a doctor.” Video
NEW … DCCC CHAIRWOMAN CHERI BUSTOS despatched messaging steerage and some polling to Democrats on Thursday. In contrast to Republicans, they assume that impeachment breaks even in battleground districts.
-- The top-line messaging point: “When discussing Trump’s actions, maintain the language easy, direct and values-based: President Trump abused his energy and put himself above the regulation when he requested the Ukrainian President to intrude in the U.S. election.” The whole email from Bustos
-- “Democrats construct a financial fortress around their Home majority,” by Ally Mutnick: “Democrats are building a financial bulwark around their Home majority that’s going to be robust for Republicans to breach in 2020. Thirty-three of the 44 most weak House Democrats have stashed a powerful $1 million or more within the financial institution nicely earlier than the election yr even begins. And their fundraising pace is just not slowing down as they gear up to defend the chamber.
“Federal Election Commission stories filed this week illustrate Democrats’ formidable advantage: The 44 Democrats in probably the most aggressive seats banked a collective $59 million to date. Almost 30 raised $500,000 or more in the third quarter, according to a POLITICO evaluation of the fundraising filings. And all however six of the so-called ‘frontliners’ have at the least half one million more banked than their challengers, if they have any challenger at all.” POLITICO
MULVANEY FALLOUT …
-- “Mulvaney Says, Then Denies, That Trump Held Again Ukraine Assist as Quid Professional Quo,” by NYT’s Mike Shear and Katie Rogers: “Mick Mulvaney, the appearing White House chief of employees, threw the Trump administration’s defense towards impeachment into disarray on Thursday when he stated that the White House withheld almost $400 million in army assist to Ukraine to further President Trump’s political interests.
“Mr. Mulvaney informed journalists in a televised White House briefing that the aid was withheld partially until Ukraine investigated an unsubstantiated concept that Ukraine, not Russia, was liable for hacking Democratic Social gathering emails in 2016 — a concept that might present that Mr. Trump was elected with out Russian assist.
“The declaration by Mr. Mulvaney, which he took again later within the day, undercut Mr. Trump’s repeated denials of a quid professional quo that linked American army assist for Ukraine to an investigation that would assist Mr. Trump politically. The feedback despatched Washington into turmoil as Democrats and some Republicans stated they have been deeply damaging to Mr. Trump.” NYT
-- “‘Get over it’: Mulvaney’s twin admissions put Trump at the middle of emoluments and Ukraine controversies,” by WaPo’s Toluse Olorunnipa: “First came the prolonged infomercial touting President Trump’s personal golf resort in Florida as ‘far and away the most effective’ website within the nation to host next yr’s Group of Seven summit of world leaders. Then, an admission: Trump did, in truth, withhold assist to Ukraine because he needed the federal government there to research Democrats.
“For 39 minutes Thursday, White House appearing chief of employees Mick Mulvaney turned the press briefing room into a kind of confession chamber, brazenly admitting to several acts that would deepen the legal predicament for the president. Trump is dealing with an impeachment inquiry into whether or not he has abused his office for private and political achieve.
“Mulvaney’s retort to those expenses got here in a three-word mantra that now types the central theme of the White Home impeachment response: ‘Recover from it.’” WaPo
IMPEACHMENT CLIP PACKET …
-- “Gordon Sondland says Giuliani pushed Ukraine probes at Trump’s course,” by Andrew Desiderio and Kyle Cheney: “Gordon Sondland, the U.S. ambassador to the European Union, bolstered Democrats’ impeachment inquiry Thursday as he broke sharply from President Donald Trump in testimony earlier than Home investigators.
“Throughout his almost nine-hour testimony, Sondland stated he reluctantly indulged what he described as the president’s efforts to run Ukraine coverage by means of his private lawyer Rudy Giuliani. He indicated that he opposed Trump’s orders to succeed in out to Giuliani, who was pushing the Ukrainian authorities to examine Trump’s political rivals.
“‘We have been also disenchanted by the president’s path that we contain Mr. Giuliani,’ Sondland informed congressional investigators, in response to his opening statement, which was obtained by POLITICO. In his closed-door testimony, Sondland stated he contacted Giuliani anyway at Trump’s course after a Might 23 assembly on the White Home, and that Giuliani drew a direct hyperlink between scheduling a White Home visit for Ukraine’s newly elected president and demands that Ukraine prioritize investigations concentrating on Trump’s political opponents, including former Vice President Joe Biden.
“‘Mr. Giuliani emphasized that the president needed a public statement from President [Volodymyr] Zelensky committing Ukraine to look into anti-corruption issues,’ Sondland stated. ‘Mr. Giuliani particularly talked about the 2016 election (including the DNC server) and Burisma as two anti-corruption investigatory subjects of importance for the president,’ he added.” POLITICO
-- “Subsequent query for Rick Perry: Will he testify?” by Ben Lefebvre, Anthony Adragna and Zack Colman: “Power Division Secretary Rick Perry’s departure from the Trump administration does not resolve probably the most urgent query about his position within the Ukraine scandal — whether he will cooperate with House Democrats’ impeachment probe.
“Perry, who advised President Donald Trump on Thursday he intends to resign, faces a Friday deadline to comply with a House subpoena for details about outreach to Ukraine, which came as the president’s emissaries have been pushing Kiev to launch a corruption investigation into former Vice President Joe Biden and his son Hunter. Home investigators additionally look like edging towards issuing a subpoena for Perry to testify — one thing he could possibly be freer to do once he’s not in the administration.” POLITICO
ABOUT THE G-7: “Trump has awarded next yr’s G-7 summit of world leaders to his Miami-area resort, the White Home stated,” by WaPo’s Toluse Olorunnipa, David Fahrenthold and Jonathan O’Connell: “President Trump has awarded the 2020 Group of Seven summit of world leaders to his personal firm, scheduling the summit for June at his Trump National Doral Miami golf resort in Florida, the White Home introduced Thursday.
“That call is with out precedent in trendy American history: The president used his public office to direct an enormous contract to himself.” WaPo
-- FAHRENTHOLD ON DORAL: “We *don’t* know if @realdonaldtrump is making a profit or dropping $ general. To me, the greater Q is: is Trump using his power to pressure individuals to pay him money? As we speak, the reply was an enormous sure.”
2020 WATCH … “Biden’s African American firewall displaying cracks,” by Laura Barrón-López and Alex Thompson: “Joe Biden’s advisers have repeatedly downplayed the necessity for him to win in predominantly white Iowa and New Hampshire — while boasting of his power in Southern states where black voters typically dominate. And the polls, thus far, again up their principle that that is his path to the nomination.
“But when Biden’s firewall ever cracks — and there are some signs it’s softening in current surveys — it can probably begin with young black ladies, in line with interviews with a dozen African American female organizers, lawmakers and activists who are closely involved in the Democratic main election or intently tracking the temper of black voters.” POLITICO
SUNDAY SO FAR …
THE PRESIDENT’S FRIDAY -- The president has no public occasions scheduled.
BURGESS EVERETT: “Mitt Romney isn't plotting a Never Trump coup”: “[F]or all the speculation that Mitt Romney is plotting towards Trump as the impeachment menace spikes, the Utah GOP senator says there’s no Never Trump coup within the works.
“‘I don’t consider I’m main a wing of the get together. Because there’s no wing that’s very giant that's aligned with me,’ Romney stated in an interview this week after a two-week recess.
“‘Since I’ve been back, I've not spoken with a single senator concerning the impeachment course of or concerning the implications of the process that’s happening or how I might vote,’ he added.”
THE INTERCEPT’S MATTHEW COLE: “Trump sent Attorney General Barr to Rome in search of a Deep State plot. Italian intelligence says there’s nothing there”: “The Italian government has determined that its intelligence providers had no connection to a Maltese professor who informed a Trump campaign adviser in 2016 that the Russian government had hundreds of stolen emails that would injury Hillary Clinton’s candidacy, in response to two senior Italian intelligence sources with information of the matter.
“In a collection of meetings in Rome over the previous two weeks, high-level Italian intelligence officials have repeatedly informed cupboard members and a parliamentary oversight committee that the intelligence providers didn't have a relationship with Joseph Mifsud, a mysterious ex-diplomat who was a professor at a Rome university in 2016, the two sources advised The Intercept.”
FOR YOUR RADAR -- “Cartel gunmen terrorize Mexican metropolis, free El Chapo’s son,” by Reuters’ Dave Graham and Lizbeth Diaz in Mexico City: “Heavily armed fighters surrounded security forces in a Mexican city on Thursday and made them free one among drug lord Joaquin ‘El Chapo’ Guzman’s sons, after his capture triggered gunbattles and a jail break that despatched civilians scurrying for canopy. … The reaction to Guzman’s capture was on a scale not often seen during Mexico’s lengthy drug struggle, even after his extra famous father’s arrests.” Reuters
TALKER -- “Our Republic Is Under Attack From the President,” by William McRaven, former head of the U.S. Particular Operations Command, in the NYT
BREXIT EXPLAINED: A rundown of the key parts of the cope with analysis of who moved and what might happen subsequent, from POLITICO Europe.
-- “3 concessions by the EU that led to a Brexit deal,” by David Herszenhorn, Jacopo Barigazzi and Hans von der Burchard
THE DAILY BEAST’S WILL SOMMER: “When Rudy Giuliani logs into Twitter, he’s introduced with a world the place the current California power outages have been staged by army operatives rooting out cannibal-pedophiles deep of their underground bunkers.
“It’s a place the place President Donald Trump only betrayed the Kurds because they have been operating black websites for a worldwide deep-state cabal; where former Trump Russia adviser Fiona Hill ran an anti-Trump spy ring out of the White House; where former Hillary Clinton marketing campaign chair John Podesta eats youngsters; and where the pope is about to grab world power, and perhaps already has.
“It's the worst that the right-wing internet fever swamp has to supply, and it's all right there, waiting for Giuliani to eat.” Daily Beast
VALLEY TALK -- “The meaning behind Mark Zuckerberg’s aggressive plea for ‘free expression,’” by Nancy Scola and Cristiano Lima: “Fb CEO Mark Zuckerberg decried the risks of censorship. He invoked civil rights icons Martin Luther King Jr. and Frederick Douglass, and hailed the contributions of protesters stretching from World Struggle I to Black Lives Matter. And he delivered a pointed attack on critics who ‘not belief their fellow residents’ to type out information from falsehoods online.
“The social media mogul’s 37-minute speech Thursday, delivered in a stained-glass corridor at Georgetown College, was Fb’s most assertive effort up to now to repeal the wave of assaults it’s dealing with from across the political spectrum. Zuckerberg additionally tried to do one thing he has up to now struggled to perform — assert that his company is making society better by giving individuals a free platform for all types of content, from their weddings to their acrimonious political beliefs.” The speech
-- VIDEO: Zuckerberg to Fox Information host Dana Perino on whether or not there’s bias towards conservatives in Silicon Valley.
MEDIAWATCH -- “NBCUniversal Won’t Conduct New Matt Lauer Investigation,” by The Hollywood Reporter’s Jeremy Barr
-- WAPO’S ERIK WEMPLE: “‘It’s great that he resigned’: Trump faithful tee off on former Fox Newser Shepard Smith”
-- Ted Hesson is joining Reuters as an immigration reporter. He most just lately coated immigration for POLITICO.
Ship tricks to Eli Okun and Garrett Ross at politicoplaybook@politico.com.
SPOTTED: Actor Sam Waterston walking via Statuary Hall on Thursday. Pic… Sen. Pat Leahy (D-Vt.) posing with the Batmobile outdoors the Movement Picture Affiliation on Thursday afternoon. Pic
SPOTTED at the 2019 Fourth Property Award Gala Dinner on Thursday night time at the Nationwide Press Club: honoree Amanda Bennett, Don Graham, Sen. John Barrasso (R-Wyo.), Greta Van Susteren and John Coale, Ruth Marcus, David Ensor, Sam Feist and Francesca Chambers.
OBAMA ALUMNI -- “Google appoints former Obama health official Karen DeSalvo to new chief health officer role,” by CNBC’s Jennifer Elias (h/t Dan Diamond)
TRANSITIONS -- “House Judiciary Simply Added an Impeachment Scholar as Trump Inquiry Ramps Up,” by The National Regulation Journal’s Jacqueline Thomsen: “Kaplan Hecker & Fink of counsel Joshua Matz is the newest lawyer to be added to the committee’s authorized staff. Matz, who has been involved in several high-profile lawsuits towards the Trump administration, is an professional on impeachment, providing legal experience and firepower to the committee because it prepares for its position in impeachment proceedings.” Law.com … His book on impeachment, with Harvard’s Larry Tribe: “To End a Presidency”
-- Kim Lipsky is joining Crestview Technique as director of U.S. government relations. She most lately was employees director for the Senate Commerce Committee. … Andrew Brenner is now VP of selling and communications at the Partnership for a Healthier America. He previously was director of worldwide communications at 100 Resilient Cities.
BIRTHDAY OF THE DAY: Annie LeHardy, special assistant to the president and principal..
Src: POLITICO Playbook: Netanyahu on Syria cease-fire: ‘We hope things will turn out for the best’
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