POLITICO Playbook: Merry Christmas!

MERRY CHRISTMAS! … SPOTTED: Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump having Christmas Day brunch on the Ritz in Paris. Pic

CATCHING UP WITH TRUMP, from USA In the present day’s MICHAEL COLLINS’ pool stories yesterday: THE PRESIDENT went to church at Household Church in West Palm Seashore -- he sometimes has attended Bethesda-By-the-Sea in Palm Seashore.

PALM BEACH POST: “Contained in the church, the Trumps have been handled to an eclectic trendy Christmas service featuring a brass orchestra, electrical guitars, a Baptist-style choir, a capella and floating synthetic snow flakes. It was a special environment than the Episcopalian service they often attend.”

FROM COLLINS’ POOL REPORT: “Requested if he prayed for Speaker Pelosi at church, POTUS stated: ‘We’re going to have a nice yr.’” …

-- WHAT DID TRUMP get Melania, one soldier asked the president on his teleconference with troops: “That’s a robust question …. I received her a phenomenal card. … Plenty of love. We love our family, and we love each other. We’ve had an ideal relationship, hopefully like you do together with your spouses. … I’m nonetheless engaged on a Christmas present. There’s a bit time left. Not a lot, but a bit time left.”

-- AFTER THE TELECONFERENCE the president complained about impeachment: “Now they arrive to the Senate, they need every thing. … Take a look at what they did. We weren’t entitled to witnesses. We weren’t entitled to legal professionals. They might leak the whole lot …. They might leak selectively. They handled us worse than anybody has been handled from a legal standpoint in the history of america.”

FOR THE RECORD: The president was afforded legal professionals during the open part of impeachment.

MORE FROM COLLINS’ POOL REPORT: “Will he pardon Roger Stone? ‘I haven’t considered it. ... he he received hit very exhausting as did Gen. Flynn and a whole lot of different individuals. And now they are discovering out it was all a hoax.’”

PHOTOS from the president’s Christmas Eve dinner, by way of the Palm Seashore Submit. (Including a photograph of Trump and Alan Dershowitz chatting at Mar-a-Lago) ... ALEX OVECHKIN was additionally at Mar-a-Lago, per the Daily Mail

THE WHITE HOUSE referred to as a journey photograph lid this morning at 8:51 a.m., per WSJ’s Alexa Course.

THE POPE’S Christmas message … AP/Vatican City: “ Pope Francis provided a Christmas message of hope Wednesday towards darkness that cloaks conflicts and relationships in giant elements of the world from the Center East to the Americas to Africa.

“The pope advised tens of hundreds of tourists, pilgrims and Romans gathered in St. Peter’s Square for the annual Christmas Day message that ‘the light of Christ is bigger’ than the darkness ‘in human hearts’ and ‘in financial, geopolitical and ecological conflicts.’ …

“The pope cited the Syrian individuals ‘who nonetheless see no finish to the hostilities which have lease their nation during the last decade’ in addition to Israel, where Jesus ‘was born because the savior of mankind and where so many individuals -- struggling but not discouraged -- nonetheless await a time of peace, safety and prosperity.’ …

“He noted that a lot of nations within the Americas ‘are experiencing a time of social and political upheaval,’ citing ‘the beloved Venezuelan individuals, lengthy tried by their political and social tensions.’

“The pope additionally noted migrants pressured by injustice ‘to to migrate in the hope of a secure life.’ As an alternative of discovering acceptance, Francis stated injustice continues along their journey, the place they typically face abuse, enslavement and torture in ‘inhumane detention camps’ and demise during dangerous sea and desert crossings. And as soon as migrants arrive in ‘locations the place they could have hoped for a dignified life’ ... they ‘as an alternative find themselves before partitions of indifference,’ he stated.” AP

Good Wednesday morning.

THE RESISTANCE or something? … NYT: “Cuomo Blocks Judges Picked by Trump From Officiating Weddings in N.Y.,” by Jesse McKinley in Albany: “Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo’s feud with President Trump has coated all manner of subjects, together with taxes, immigration coverage and whether or not America was ever ‘great.’

“Now, nevertheless, the governor has introduced their skirmish to an entire new battleground: marriage. In an end-of-year kibosh, Mr. Cuomo has vetoed a bill that might have permitted federal appeals and district courtroom judges from across the nation to preside over nuptials in New York, thus denying them inclusion on a lengthy record of those so empowered, together with the governor himself.

“And like the choice to tie the knot, the reasoning for Mr. Cuomo’s disapproval — signed on Friday — was distinctly personal. ‘I can't in good conscience help laws that might authorize such actions by federal judges who are appointed by this federal administration,’ he wrote. ‘President Trump does not embody who we're as New Yorkers.’”

DEPT. OF GREAT RELATIONSHIPS … WAPO’S JOBY WARRICK: “North Korea never halted efforts to build powerful new weapons, experts say”

THE NEW NORM IN THE GOLDEN STATE … “How energy shutoffs are changing California's way of life,” by Mackenzie Mays, Angela Hart and Colby Bermel in Sacramento: “At all ranges of government — from state officers to small-town mayors — California leaders are in uncharted territory, and scrambling to modify their plans and operations to the realities of normal disruption. For now, their solely reply to calamitous wildfires is shutting off energy to tens of millions of residents prematurely, which residents now lament as a man-made disaster. Mike McGuire, the state senator representing the Santa Rosa space devastated by fires in 2017, stated California is “the canary in the coal mine" as climate change threatens to upend life the world over.” POLITICO

2020 WATCH …

SHOT … THE INTERCEPT: “Mike Bloomberg Exploited Prison Labor To Make 2020 Presidential Campaign Phone Calls,” by John Washington: “Former New York City mayor and multibillionaire Democratic presidential candidate Mike Bloomberg used prison labor to make marketing campaign calls.

“Via a third-party vendor, the Mike Bloomberg 2020 marketing campaign contracted New Jersey-based name middle company ProCom, which runs calls facilities in New Jersey and Oklahoma. Two of the call centers in Oklahoma are operated out of state prisons. In at the least one of many two prisons, incarcerated individuals have been contracted to make calls on behalf of the Bloomberg marketing campaign.”

CHASER: “Bloomberg axes company using prisoners for campaign calls,” by AP’s Alexandra Jaffe: “ Democratic presidential contender Michael Bloomberg reduce ties with a contractor that used prisoners to make calls for his presidential marketing campaign, he stated in a press release Tuesday.”

THE ONE PERCENTERS (IN THE POLLS): “‘We’ve never seen spending like this’: Bloomberg, Steyer saturate airwaves,” by Maya King: “Collectively, Tom Steyer and Michael Bloomberg have poured almost $200 million into television and digital advertising alone, with the previous New York mayor spending an unprecedented $120 million in the roughly three weeks since he joined the presidential race. That’s more than double the combined advert spending of each single non-billionaire candidate in the Democratic area this complete yr.”

TRUMP’S CHRISTMAS -- Nothing on the schedule.

WHAT RIC GRENELL MIGHT BE READING -- REUTERS/LUSAKA and WASHINGTON: “U.S. recollects its ambassador to Zambia after gay rights row: sources”: “A spokesperson for the U.S. State Division stated Washington is ‘dismayed’ by the Zambian authorities’s statement that Ambassador Daniel Foote’s position ‘is not tenable.’ … Zambia’s high courtroom final month jailed the male homosexual couple for 15 years for partaking in sexual relations ‘towards the order of nature,’ a choice the U.S. ambassador stated was horrifying.

“President Edgar Lungu stated on Dec. 15 that Zambia, a major beneficiary of U.S. assist, had sent a protest letter to Washington over the remarks by Foote and was awaiting a response. A U.S. embassy supply who shouldn't be allowed to situation statements informed Reuters that Washington had determined to recall its ambassador as a result of it was troublesome for him to work in Zambia.” Reuters

VALLEY TALK -- “Uber Co-Founder Travis Kalanick Departs Board, Sells All His Shares,” by WSJ’s Eliot Brown

MEDIAWATCH -- “Journalist leaves Christian Submit amid its plans to assault Christianity As we speak,” by WaPo’s Sarah Pulliam Bailey: “[Napp] Nazworth, who sits on the editorial board as politics editor, stated the web site has sought to symbolize each sides and revealed each pro- and anti-Trump tales. ‘I never received the gist they have been gung-ho Trumpian varieties,’ Nazworth stated. Every little thing has escalated with the Christianity In the present day editorial.’

“Nazworth, who has been important of Trump and instructed leaders who supported him have ‘traded their moral authority,’ stated he doesn’t know what he'll do subsequent.” WaPo

-- Laura Blasey can be a multiplatform editor on the L.A. Occasions’ newsletters workforce, based mostly in D.C. She most lately was a reporter and audio briefing host at Newsday. Announcement

-- Elizabeth Schulze is becoming a member of CNBC’s D.C. bureau as a multimedia reporter. She beforehand was at CNBC International in London. Talking Biz News

-- Dan Freedman is leaving Hearst Newspapers. He was a regional correspondent in Washington for New York and Connecticut newspapers. He plans to stay in D.C.

Send tricks to Eli Okun and Garrett Ross at politicoplaybook@politico.com.

TRANSITIONS -- Ari Schaffer is now press secretary for Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger. He previously was particular adviser for comms at the Commerce Division and is a Trump White Home alum. … Varun Anand is now at Newfront Insurance coverage in San Francisco, where he’s constructing out their worker advantages enterprise. He previously was at Candid in New York Metropolis, main their enlargement, and is a Hillary Clinton and Google alum.

ENGAGED -- Kelsey Wessels, senior manager for packages and partnerships at POLITICO, and Charlie Raffensberger, assistant undertaking supervisor at the Whiting-Turner Contracting Co., received engaged after her return from the PBS NewsHour/POLITICO debate in Los Angeles final week. They met via associates in D.C. Pic

WELCOME TO THE WORLD -- Amy Lightbourn, communications advisor for the NYC Division of Schooling and an Edelman alum, and James Lightbourn, director of capital providers at OSM Maritime Group and a CIT alum, lately welcomed Landon Lightbourn. Pic ... Another pic

BIRTHWEEK (was Tuesday): Samir Kapadia, COO of the Vogel Group

BIRTHDAYS: Irene Sherman … Karl Rove is 69 … Tim Miller, founding father of Mild Fuse Communications and contributor to The Bulwark, is 38 … Canadian PM Justin Trudeau is 48 … Brian Rabbitt, COS for A.G. Invoice Barr, is 37 (h/t sister Caroline Tabler) … Lewis Lukens … Hilary Krieger, information editor for NBC’s THINK opinion section … former CEA Chair Christina Romer, now at Berkeley, is 61 … Bill Bailey, VP of government relations at Walt Disney Co., is 52 … Michelle Altman … Stephanie Mathews O’Keefe, CEO of the Worldwide Ladies’s Forum … Sophia Lalani, protection and overseas coverage adviser to Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) (h/ts Jon Haber) … Scott Paul, president of the Alliance for American Manufacturing … New York Assemblyman and DNC Vice Chair Michael Blake … Rachael Slobodien, COS at the CEA … Natalie Pahz … Chris Beam … Steven Luckett …

… Amanda Munger, president of the AM Group … Lisa Dallos, CEO of Excessive 10 Media … Visa’s Grace Maumbe … Miranda Margowsky, principal at Precision Methods … Wintta Woldemariam, coverage director for House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn (D-S.C.) (h/t Paul Brathwaite) … Peter Kauffmann … Jonathan Block … Elisabeth Rent … Madhu Chugh (h/ts Teresa Vilmain) … Zachary Hastings Hooper is 46 … Mauritian PM Pravind Jugnauth is 58 … Anne Wall, associate at the Duberstein Group … Sarah Levin … Scott Cottington … Robert Jameson … NYT’s Michael Roston is 42 … Rebecca Pilar Buckwalter-Poza … Christopher Connell … Dan LeDuc is 59 … Kristen Shatynski … Murphie Koonce … James Fitzella … Christina Cornell … Dominic Gabello … Garrett Bess, director of presidency relations at Heritage Motion (h/t Noah Weinrich)

Article initially revealed on POLITICO Magazine

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