SEN. MITT ROMNEY (R-Utah) was the keynote speaker at the Alfalfa dinner. One among his prime strains: Everybody’s frightened about synthetic intelligence and robots taking up the world. That’s not true or I might be president now.
-- ROMNEY’S GUEST on the dinner was Ben Stiller.
SPOTTED at the Cafe Milano Alfafa Dinner after-party hosted by Yousef Al-Otaiba, Robert Johnson, Catherine Reynolds, Jim Jones, John Rogers, Robert Allbritton, Deborah Lehr, Franco Nuschese and Bret Baier: Bob Woodward chatting with Protection Secretary Mark Esper and John Kerry, Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross and Hilary Geary Ross, HHS Secretary Alex Azar, Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao, HUD Secretary Ben Carson, Robert O’Brien, Kellyanne Conway, Sens. Mark Warner (D-Va.), Rob Portman (R-Ohio) and Chris Coons (D-Del.), Rep. Mark Meadows (R-N.C.) and Debbie Meadows, Joe Lieberman ...
... Colin Powell, David and Kellie Urban, Norah O'Donnell, Mark Wallace, Ja’Ron Smith, Mark Ein, Glen Johnson, Tom Nides, David Petraeus, Dina Powell McCormick and David McCormick, Mike Allen, Jonathan Karl, Hilary Rosen, Cal Ripkin Jr., Ulrich Brechbuhl and Terry McAuliffe.
SPOTTED at Jeff Bezos’ Kalorama home last night time for an Alfalfa Dinner after-party: Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump, Elaine Chao, Kellyanne Conway, Jim Mattis, Invoice Gates, Lauren Sanchez, Jamie Dimon, David Rubenstein, David Solomon, John Rogers, Norah O'Donnell, Jared Cohen, Jonathan Karl, Dina Powell McCormick and David McCormick, Fred Ryan, John Waldron, Steve and Jean Case, Robert Allbritton, Barbie Allbritton, Paul and Janna Ryan, Josh Bolten, Jay Carney and Claire Shipman, Geoff Morrell and Chris Nassetta.
BREATHE, EVERYONE. No stakeouts, no overbearing safety measures and no gaggles. For a day, we’re impeachment-less -- principally.
HOW IT PLAYED … PETER BAKER on NYT A1: “President Trump’s authorized protection group mounted an aggressive offense on Saturday as it opened its aspect within the Senate impeachment trial by attacking his Democratic accusers as partisan witch-hunters making an attempt to take away him from office as a result of they might not beat him at the ballot field.” …
… WAPO, by Elise Viebeck, Mike DeBonis and Rachael Bade: “Legal professionals for President Trump argued Saturday that he had legitimate causes for withholding army assist from Ukraine and that Home prosecutors ignored details which might be more favorable to his case, giving a brief preview of the aggressive protection they are anticipated to mount this coming week in the Senate impeachment trial.
“In a two-hour presentation that reserved their most provocative assaults for Monday, members of Trump’s legal workforce echoed the president’s justifications for his actions toward Ukraine and sought to plant doubts about both the prosecutors’ case and its lead advocate, Rep. Adam B. Schiff (D-Calif.).”
… KYLE CHENEY and DARREN SAMUELSOHN: “President Donald Trump's legal professionals laced into the Home's impeachment case Saturday, opening their protection with pointed — and at occasions private — efforts to seed doubt in GOP senators’ minds about Democrats’ push to take away Trump from workplace.
“Over the course of a swift, two-hour session, Trump's prime lawyer Pat Cipollone and his deputy Michael Purpura repeatedly sought to poke holes in the evidence that Trump pressured Ukraine to research his Democratic rivals.” POLITICO
MCCONNELL LOOKING TO GET THIS FINISHED … by way of Burgess and Bres: “The Republican strategy — which continues to be fluid — might imply senators have restricted time between key procedural votes and the ultimate vote on whether to convict the president of abuse of power and obstruction of Congress. And with the chances growing towards further witnesses being referred to as, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) will face important selections on how briskly he can convey the proceedings to an end. …
“[Sen. John] Barrasso advised that an acquittal vote might happen as soon as Friday — if senators don’t comply with subpoena further witnesses or documentary proof. Underneath the organizing decision that controls the proceedings, Democrats might supply further motions if the Senate votes down deposing further witnesses -- including former national security adviser John Bolton -- however Republicans might then transfer to close down debate and call for an up-or-down vote on acquittal.” POLITICO
... AND TRUMP IS LOOKING FOR MANCHIN TO GIVE HIM A BIPARTISAN ACQUITTAL, by way of WaPo’s Josh Dawsey
BURGESS EVERETT: “Sen. Hawley readies subpoena votes for Bidens, Schiff”: “If the Senate decides to think about new impeachment trial witnesses and documents next week, Sen. Josh Hawley plans to attempt to drive votes on everyone from Adam Schiff to Joe Biden.
“The Missouri Republican is getting ready to file subpoena requests for witnesses and documents that Democrats and Republicans alike won't need to vote on. Hawley's strategy harmonizes with plans from GOP Sens. Ted Cruz of Texas and Rand Paul of Kentucky to pressure votes to hear from Hunter Biden, the previous vice chairman's son who was on the board of Ukrainian power firm Burisma.”
-- “Democrats see Trump lawyers boosting their own case for witnesses,” by Burgess Everett, James Arkin and John Bresnahan
P.Okay. SPEAKS! “Democrats hear echoes of Benghazi probe of Clinton in GOP calls to investigate Biden”
THE PRESIDENT at 8:20 a.m.: “Shifty Adam Schiff is a CORRUPT POLITICIAN, and doubtless a really sick man. He has not paid the worth, yet, for what he has carried out to our Nation!”
-- SEN. JAMES LANKFORD (R-OKLA.) to JAKE TAPPER on CNN’S “STATE OF THE UNION” … “I just don’t assume it’s a dying menace. I don’t assume he’s encouraging a demise menace.” TAPPER: “People who find themselves supporters of the president have heard his rhetoric and then truly tried to bomb and kill politicians and the media -- I imply that’s occurred.” LANKFORD: “We’ve also had people go as much as a baseball recreation …”
TAPPER: “Yeah, horrible.” LANKFORD: “And shoot Republicans and stroll up and say ‘Is that this the place the Republicans are? I’m going to go hearth at them.’ So to give you the chance to say the president’s making an attempt to have the ability to spur this on and be capable of say Democrats have been making an attempt to spur on the killing of …” TAPPER: “I assume I don’t perceive why you’re offended at what Adam Schiff stated … LANKFORD: “As a result of I assume it’s political … I feel what the president is saying is he’s going to be held to a worth and I’m offended only as a result of Adam Schiff believes that the only purpose that we act the best way we do is the president’s going to place our head on the pike.”
CHUCK TODD spoke to REP. ADAM SCHIFF (D-CALIF.) on NBC’S “MEET THE PRESS”: TODD: “Do you're taking that as a menace?” SCHIFF: “I feel it's meant to be. However look -- it will be very troublesome for these senators to face up to this president. It truly is -- there’s no query about it. And I need to acknowledge that. And I don’t need to acknowledge it in a means that's offensive to them. But I do need to converse candidly about it.”
LANKFORD advised GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS on ABC’s “THIS WEEK” that RUDY GIULIANI was doing oppo research on behalf of TRUMP: LANKFORD: “Now, should you go back again to the telephone name and the transcript that occurs in the telephone name, the whole difficulty about Hunter Biden and Rudy Giuliani doesn’t originate with the president. President Zelensky truly brings that as much as President Trump, saying hey I’m working with. It’s fairly clear Rudy Giuliani is touring around the world making an attempt to collect opposition research on behalf of the campaign. The identical factor the Hillary Clinton campaign did once they employed a British citizen to have the ability to go work with the Russians to be capable of go gather info on President Trump. So this concept of you'll be able to’t do opposition analysis for a campaign to outdoors of the USA just isn't true --”
CHRIS WALLACE spoke to Trump’s lawyer ALAN DERSHOWITZ on “FOX NEWS SUNDAY”: DERSHOWITZ: “Much of what was introduced by the Democrats weren't impeachable offenses. They have been campaign advertisements designed to attempt to show that you simply should vote for a unique candidate. That’s superb. Let’s put it as much as the voters. Let’s not destroy our heritage of our Structure by expanding the standards for impeachment past that what the framers accepted.”
DISINFORMATION ALERT: The White House held a name yesterday, the place a supply on the president’s legal workforce stated: “We have been pleased to have a chance to begin presenting the President’s protection as we speak. Clearly we had not had any alternative in the Home proceedings to try this.” THE WHITE HOUSE was, certainly, afforded opportunities to take part in the House course of, but they, curiously, declined.
HOW IT’S PLAYING … Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: “Defense: Dems seek to overturn vote” … Los Angeles Occasions: “Trump team blasts House case” … San Diego Union-Tribune: “TRUMP TEAM ACCUSES DEMOCRATS OF ELECTION INTERFERENCE” … Tampa Bay Occasions: “DEFENSE: NO EVIDENCE”
Good Sunday morning.
SNEAK PEEK … THE PRESIDENT’S WEEK: Monday: THE PRESIDENT will host BENJAMIN NETANYAHU. They may meet, and then TRUMP will meet with Benny Gantz. The president is additionally scheduled to have lunch with VP MIKE PENCE. Tuesday: NETANYAHU will return to the White House -- and TRUMP will deliver remarks with him. THE PRESIDENT will go to Wildwood, N.J., for a political rally within the night.
WEDNESDAY: THE PRESIDENT could have a signing ceremony for the USMCA. Thursday: THE PRESIDENT will journey to Warren, Mich., for a USMCA-related occasion, after which he’ll fly to Des Moines for a political rally. Friday: THE PRESIDENT will converse at a human trafficking summit on the White Home.
AP GOT THE WHOLE TRUMP DINNER RECORDING: “Trump offered the friends with an update forward of his first meeting with North Korean chief Kim Jong Un, revealing that he’d settled on a date and site. One of many individuals in attendance sought to pitch a unique location: Songdo, South Korea, which is 70% owned by Gale International and contains a Nicklaus-designed golf course. ‘You already know that Kim Jong Un is a superb golfer,’ Trump is heard telling the visitors, who roar with laughter.”
THE NYT has asked 2020 candidates a collection of questions -- should TRUMP be investigated after he leaves office? Movie star crush? -- and everyone participated apart from Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders. The questions and answers, captained by Alex Burns
DES MOINES REGISTER GOES FOR WARREN … A DIG AT THE TIMES?: “The outstanding caliber of Democratic candidates makes it troublesome to decide on only one.
“However finally Iowa caucusgoers want to try this. Who would make the most effective president at this level in the nation’s historical past? At a time when the economic deck has turn into so stacked towards working People that the hole between rich and poor is the highest in more than 50 years? At a time when a era of conflict has harassed army households and sapped the treasury? The Des Moines Register editorial board endorses Elizabeth Warren within the 2020 Iowa Democratic caucuses as the perfect leader for these occasions.” DMR front page
ONTO NEW HAMPSHIRE … CNN HAS BERNIE IN THE LEAD: “Bernie Sanders leads the race for the Democratic nomination in New Hampshire, in line with a new CNN Poll carried out by the University of New Hampshire.
“General, 25% of doubtless Democratic main voters again the Vermont senator, with former Vice President Joe Biden (16%), former South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg (15%) and Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren (12%) battling for second place. Behind these 4, Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar (6%), Hawaii Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (5%) and businessman Andrew Yang (5%) make up a third tier of candidates.” CNN
-- NBC has Sanders in the lead with 22%, PETE BUTTIGIEG with 17% and JOE BIDEN with 15%.
FRONT PAGE of the San Jose Mercury Information: “Costly loans, suits at Steyer bank”
ESCAPE HATCH! … NYT: “Gantz to Meet Trump on Peace Plan, but Alone, Not With Netanyahu,” by David Halbfinger in Ramat Gan, Israel: “Benny Gantz, the former Israeli army chief making a third try and unseat Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, stated Saturday that he would visit President Trump on his personal in Washington on Monday to debate a White House proposal for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
“Calling himself ‘the president’s full and dedicated companion,’ Mr. Gantz pointedly stated, in English, that he would be meeting with Mr. Trump ‘as the chief of the most important get together in Israel,’ the centrist Blue and White faction. Mr. Gantz also gave measured reward to Mr. Trump’s proposal, about which he stated he had already been advised a superb deal by administration officers. …
“[I]t additionally means Mr. Gantz will have the ability to fly again to Israel in time to supervise a key proceeding Tuesday relating to Mr. Netanyahu’s try and acquire parliamentary immunity from prosecution on critical corruption expenses. Lawmakers are anticipated to reject the request, with Mr. Netanyahu’s celebration, Likud, vowing to boycott Tuesday’s debate in protest, but if Mr. Gantz have been in Washington, that probably would have been delayed.”
THE TRUMP CABINET …
-- MORE on Secretary of State MIKE POMPEO’s back and forth with NPR reporter Mary Louise Kelly, via WaPo’s Karen DeYoung
-- “‘I stand with Greta’: Mnuchin’s wife posts — then deletes — support for climate activist,” by Evan Semones: “Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin’s spouse on Saturday appeared to publicly break together with her husband over help for Greta Thunberg's local weather change activism. ‘I stand with Greta on this situation. (I don’t have a level in economics either),’ actress Louise Linton wrote in a now-deleted Instagram submit after Mnuchin chided the 17-year-old’s name for governments to finish their help of fossil fuels at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, saying she should attend school and research economics.”
L.A. TIMES: “California’s first case of latest coronavirus pressure is confirmed in Orange County,” by Alex Wigglesworth and Rong-Gong Lin II: “California has recorded its first confirmed case of the new strain of coronavirus, arriving in Orange County by a traveler who visited from the epicenter of the outbreak in Wuhan, China.
“The Orange County Well being Care Company confirmed late Saturday night time that the contaminated individual’s virus was the identical strain as the one which has unfold to greater than 2,000 individuals in 14 nations and territories and triggered 56 deaths because it was discovered late final month in central China.
“The affected person is in good condition and is in isolation at a hospital, Orange County health officials stated. Health authorities are following up with anybody who has had shut contact with the patient, but in addition noted that folks with casual contact — comparable to visiting the same grocery store or movie show — “are at minimal danger of creating infection.” LAT
TRUMP’S SUNDAY: Nothing on the schedule.
BONUS GREAT WEEKEND READS, curated by Daniel Lippman (@dlippman):
-- “It Might Be the Largest Tax Heist Ever. And Europe Needs Justice,” by NYT’s David Segal: “Stock traders are accused of siphoning $60 billion from state coffers, in a scheme that one referred to as ‘the devil’s machine.’ Germany is the first country to try to get its a refund.” NYT
-- “The Secret History of Facial Recognition,” by Shaun Raviv in Wired: “Sixty years in the past, a sharecropper’s son invented a know-how to determine faces. Then the report of his position all but vanished. Who was Woody Bledsoe, and who was he working for?” Wired
-- “Trumpworld has transformed the nation’s regional speak radio hosts into a loyal army,” by WaPo’s Sarah Ellison: “Salem began out as a small fundamentalist Christian operation run out of Southern California and has expanded aggressively in current years, notably in swing states. It helps nationally syndicated hosts similar to Dennis Prager, Hugh Hewitt, and Joe Walsh along with a number of regional personalities largely unknown outdoors their areas. In response to Salem, it now serves more than 2,000 radio stations across the country.” WaPo
-- “N. Okay. Jemisin’s Dream Worlds,” by the New Yorker’s Raffi Khatchadourian: “The sci-fi author’s creative, intricate novels have defied convention and bought tens of millions of copies.” New Yorker
-- “My Instagram,” by Dayna Tortorici in n+1 magazine: “Genres of Instagram I came to acknowledge after this door opened have been: archival images, astrology meme, travel images, cooking/baking, health/train, political meme, movie star stan, road style, make-up/drag, time-lapse images, structure/design, tactile or ‘satisfying,’ cross-platform meme (e.g., screenshots from Twitter), female influencer, historical, inspirational, animal rescue, literary, house decor, viral dance, gymnastic/acrobatic, ceramic, houseplant care, illustration, and softcore pornography.” n+1 (h/t Longform.org)
-- “The Bizarre and Superb Reign of Nike's Superhero Swoosh,” by David Wolman in The Day by day Beast: “The boy who idolized the San Diego Hen would grow up to turn into a sports mascot himself. Then he received a call from Nike and an opportunity to develop into a genuine superhero.” Daily Beast
-- “Norway Is One of the World’s Happiest Nations. Is Friluftsliv the Secret?” by Lisa Abend in the Sept./Oct. challenge of Afar magazine: “Fjordside farms, foraged delicacies, and the Mountain Code: Norwegians declare to have a singular relationship with nature. Perhaps it’s one thing in their nature.” Afar
-- “Rediscovering the Misplaced Energy of Studying Aloud,” by Meghan Cox Gurdon in LitHub -- per ALDaily.com’s description: “Reading silently was once thought-about outlandish. Studying aloud is among the oldest and grandest traditions of humankind.” LitHub
-- “Turning into a Man,” by P. Carl in the NYT Magazine: “What I discovered about masculinity from my father, my father-in-law and my own transition.” NYT
-- “The Philosophy of Anger,” by Agnes Callard in Boston Assessment: “Everyone assumes that we will retain the ethical aspect of anger while distancing ourselves from paradigmatically irrational phenomena akin to grudges and vengeance. However what if this is not the case? What if we people do morality by means of vengeful grudges? Individuals draw grudge-bearing and vengeful conclusions from premises involving genuinely moral details about injustice and wrongdoing. We shouldn't be too fast to pathologize this inference.” Boston Review (h/t TheBrowser.com)
-- “Meet the Boy Scouts of the Border Patrol,” by Morley Musick in The Nation: “The Border Patrol Explorers program provides training and mentorship—with a aspect of Trumpian ideology.” The Nation (h/t Longreads.com)
Send tricks to Eli Okun and Garrett Ross at politicoplaybook@politico.com.
SPOTTED: John Kerry at the Apple Store in Georgetown on Saturday afternoon. Pic
SPOTTED at a party celebrating Vox editor at giant Ezra Klein’s new guide “Why We’re Polarized,” ($18.99 on Amazon) hosted by Vox Media chairman and CEO Jim Bankoff and Kara Swisher at Bankoff’s D.C. house on Saturday night time: Susan Rice, Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), Judy Woodruff, Neera Tanden, Mark Leibovich, Bob Costa, John Harwood, Brian Beutler, Wesley Lowery, E.J. Dionne, Margaret Carlson, David Frum, Nicholas Johnston, Molly Ball, Cameron Barr, Marcus..
Src: POLITICO Playbook: Inside Alfalfa
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