POLITICO Playbook PM: … And now for the twist

NO TIE VOTE ON WITNESSES! -- E&E NEWS’ @geofkoss: “MURKOWSKI tells me she’s a NO on witnesses.”

-- ALASKA GOP SEN. LISA MURKOWSKI: “Given the partisan nature of this impeachment from the very beginning and throughout, I have come to the conclusion that there will probably be no truthful trial in the Senate. I don’t consider the continuation of this course of will change something. It's sad for me to admit that, as an institution, the Congress has failed.” The full statement

OK SO, WE’RE GOING TO TRY TO MAKE SENSE of one thing that even we don’t really absolutely understand ourselves at this point.

AS OF THIS MORNING, individuals on each side of Pennsylvania Avenue began whispering that the trial was more likely to prolong to next week. Why? We obtained no good solutions. The vary of explanations included: The White House needed it to, they didn’t need to be acquitted in the present day, they usually needed to be acquitted after the State of the Union.

YEAH, THIS MAKES completely no sense to us, either.

THE WITNESS VOTE continues to be on monitor for in the present day. However how the trial ends -- and when -- is by no means clear. MONDAY is the Iowa Caucus and TUESDAY is the State of the Union -- the largest audience President DONALD TRUMP could have before November.

WE’D CAUTION YOU THIS: Timing is subject to vary. Senate Majority Chief MITCH MCCONNELL and Senate Minority Chief CHUCK SCHUMER have to figure out the right way to end the trial.

MCCONNELL announced a recess around three p.m.

READ JOHN BRESNAHAN and BURGESS EVERETT for extra on this.

NADLER HEADING BACK TO NEW YORK … @RepJerryNadler: “I am sorry to not be capable of keep in Washington for the conclusion of the Senate impeachment trial but I have to be residence with my wife at this time. We've many choices to make as a household. I've every faith in my colleagues and hope the Senate will do what is proper.”

THE NEWEST BOMBSHELL … NYT’S MAGGIE HABERMAN and MIKE SCHMIDT: “Trump Informed Bolton to Help His Ukraine Strain Marketing campaign, E-book Says”: “More than two months earlier than he asked Ukraine’s president to research his political opponents, President Trump directed John R. Bolton, then his national security adviser, to help together with his strain campaign to extract damaging info on Democrats from Ukrainian officers, in accordance with an unpublished manuscript by Mr. Bolton.

“Mr. Trump gave the instruction, Mr. Bolton wrote, throughout an Oval Office conversation in early Might that included the appearing White House chief of employees, Mick Mulvaney, the president’s personal lawyer Rudolph W. Giuliani and the White House counsel, Pat A. Cipollone, who is now leading the president’s impeachment protection.

“Mr. Trump advised Mr. Bolton to call Volodymyr Zelensky, who had lately gained election as president of Ukraine, to make sure Mr. Zelensky would meet with Mr. Giuliani, who was planning a trip to Ukraine to debate the investigations that the president sought, in Mr. Bolton’s account. Mr. Bolton by no means made the call, he wrote.” NYT

WHAT THEY SAID THIS MORNING …

-- SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM (R-S.C.): “I don’t assume 10 individuals in America want this to go to subsequent week.”

-- SCHUMER on how he sees the endgame enjoying out: “I’m going to speak with my caucus. I do consider this: I consider that the American individuals should hear what each senator thinks and why they’re voting the best way they’re voting, and we'll do what we will to be sure that happens but I’m not going to get into any particulars. I have to discuss it with my caucus.”

WATCH FOR THIS … IF TRUMP IS ACQUITTED, will someone file a censure motion instantly?

Pleased Friday afternoon.

DEVELOPING … “2 in custody after police-involved capturing near Mar-a-Lago, officials say,” by ABC 25 WPBF News: “In accordance with officers, the Florida Highway Patrol was in pursuit of a black SUV. It was heading in the direction of two safety checkpoints at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Seashore.

“The SUV tried to breach each safety checkpoints while heading in the direction of the primary entrance, officials stated. The car then fled the scene while being pursued by FHP and the Palm Seashore Sheriff's Office. Officers went on to say that the car has been situated and two people are in custody.” WPBF

-- THE PRESIDENT is scheduled to go to Mar-a-Lago tonight.

DAVID ROGERS SPEAKS … “Republican judges do Trump’s bidding on border wall”: “President Donald Trump’s border wall is churning up a second constitutional disaster all by itself on the sidelines. The wall just isn't the difficulty. As an alternative, it's the excessive steps taken to undercut Congress’ constitutional energy over spending and the response to date by the judicial branch, which has run for canopy in a fashion that strains credibility. … [W]ith a troubling consistency, the outcomes match whatever political social gathering selected the decide making the choice.” POLITICO

POMPEO ABROAD -- “Pompeo pledges ongoing help for Ukraine in Kyiv visit,” by AP’s Matthew Lee in Kyiv: “[Secretary of State Mike] Pompeo met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy on Friday and rejected allegations that very important army help and a White Home go to have been or continue to be conditioned on a probe into the family of former Vice President Joe Biden, a political rival to Trump. ‘It’s just simply not the case. We'll find the suitable time, we'll find the appropriate alternative’ for the visit, Pompeo stated.” AP

3 DAYS TO IOWA … JOHN DELANEY DROPS OUT, via Quint Forgey

-- DEEP DIVE from NATASHA KORECKI in Des Moines: “Did Warren Get Her Ad Campaign Improper in Iowa?”: “[A]mong campaign staffers and media strategists, the caucuses may even serve as a referendum for an important query at midnight arts of marketing campaign messaging: What’s the simplest method to reach voters in 2020? Ought to campaigns go heavy on digital spending, or do it the old style approach, on TV?

“Buttigieg and Warren carried out virtually a managed experiment in these two approaches through the remaining months of 2019. Perhaps surprisingly, it was the millennial candidate who went retro. Warren’s marketing campaign leaned heavily on a modern, digital-first technique early within the campaign, believing that the conventional, broad-brush medium of television wouldn’t be effective until later in the contest. Buttigieg invested early, persistently and heavily in television.” POLITICO

-- NOW WARREN’S ON TV! -- “Warren debuts new ads in late ‘electability’ push,” by Alex Thompson: “The advertisements argue that the Massachusetts senator is the candidate greatest outfitted to unite the Democratic Celebration subsequent fall and seek to deal with the worry among voters that a lady can’t win due to entrenched sexism. The advertisements forged Warren as a unity candidate.”

-- RYAN LIZZA dispatch from Des Moines: “The unexpected joy at a Trump rally in Iowa”

BLOOMBERG STAKING IT ALL ON CALIFORNIA? … SACBEE: “Michael Bloomberg to visit Sacramento, Fresno on Monday: ’Our Iowa is California,’” by Bryan Anderson: “Bloomberg has adopted an unorthodox strategy for the 2020 main, skipping the four earliest voting states within the nation, spending greater than $250 million on political advertisements and going all-in on California — probably the most delegate-rich state in the nation.”

BEYOND THE PRIMARY … MARC CAPUTO and CHRIS CADELAGO: “Democrats launch large battleground plan led by Obama common”: “Dubbed Organizing Collectively 2020, the trouble was assembled by one among Barack Obama’s battleground gurus, Paul Tewes, and is hiring lots of of staffers in Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Florida, North Carolina and Arizona. The celebration’s largest union supporters and prime progressive teams, as properly as several governors, are powering the initiative …

“The organizing effort, which specialists estimate might value between $20 million to $60 million, would end after the nomination, at which point the nominee's campaign would take up the value of employees and subject workplaces.” POLITICO

WAR REPORT -- “Taliban’s Continued Attacks Show Limits of U.S. Strategy in Afghanistan,” by NYT’s Thomas Gibbons-Neff: “The Taliban and other teams carried out a report variety of assaults in Afghanistan over the past a number of months of 2019, in line with an inspector basic report released Friday. The improve in violence occurred during a interval through which President Trump tweeted that the USA was ‘hitting our Enemy more durable than at any time in the final ten years!’

“The number of attacks, detailed in the quarterly report from the Special Inspector Basic for Afghanistan Reconstruction, a authorities watchdog shaped in 2008, highlights once extra the disparity between speaking factors on suppressing the Taliban and the truth on the ground: Despite a concerted bombing campaign and American and Afghan offensive floor operations, Taliban fighters are nonetheless capable of assault at ranges just like those a decade in the past.” NYT

IMMIGRATION FILES -- “Fewer Asylum Seekers Have Legal professionals Underneath Trump Administration Coverage,” by WSJ’s Alejandro Lazo in Ciudad Juárez, Mexico: “Individuals in search of asylum within the U.S. are less more likely to have legal illustration beneath a Trump administration coverage that sends them to await courtroom hearings in Mexican border cities, just lately launched research exhibits.

“Among immigrants issued preliminary immigration-court notices between January and November of last yr, about four% of individuals underneath Stay in Mexico had attorneys, in contrast with 32% of these in immigration courtroom who stay within the U.S., in line with the Transactional Data Access Clearinghouse at Syracuse College, a research organization that tracks such knowledge.” WSJ

OOPS … ARTHUR ALLEN: “How the feds missed their probability at a coronavirus vaccine”: “[T]wo scientists from the Texas Youngsters’s Hospital Middle for Vaccine Improvement had developed the vaccine towards one other coronavirus, SARS -- but that epidemic ended earlier than their vaccine was prepared. And as soon as the disaster was over, most of their funding dried up. …

“That was an enormous missed alternative. They and other scientists say SARS should have been seen as a coronavirus warning shot, not an remoted outbreak, and it ought to have triggered federal investments like the billions sunk into flu vaccines a decade or so earlier. They want the federal government to act rapidly now to declare a public well being emergency, get a vaccine developed, have it accepted by the FDA and ready to sluggish the Wuhan virus’ march throughout China and globe. Based mostly on past expertise, although, the probabilities of all that falling into place fast sufficient to turn the tide aren’t great.” POLITICO

E-RING READING -- “Hundreds Face Furloughs as U.S.-South Korean Talks Hit Deadlock,” by WSJ’s Andrew Jeong in Seoul: “President Trump’s demands that South Korea foot more of the invoice to host American troops have created one other value concern: the lack of a deal means the U.S. will quickly run out of money to pay 9,000 local staff.

“Negotiations between Washington and Seoul are at an deadlock over shared army costs for the 28,500 U.S. army personnel stationed in South Korea. The previous association expired Dec. 31. This week, the U.S. army advised its South Korean staff they confronted a furlough beginning April 1, citing inadequate funds to pay their salaries.” WSJ

THE CURRENT SOTU PLAN -- “Trump staff plans a non-impeachment State of the Union,” by Gabby Orr: “On Tuesday night time, President Donald Trump will relaunch his 2020 campaign. Probably away from imminent threats to his presidency, the president plans to use his annual State of the Union speech as a recent begin for his re-election bid … Regardless of dealing with a captive viewers that features Democrats who have spent the previous few months making an attempt to remove Trump from office, the president is resolved to not even point out impeachment.” POLITICO

MEDIAWATCH -- WAPO’S ERIK WEMPLE: “The Atlantic made Rahm Emanuel a contributing editor. Then, out of the blue, he wasn’t”: “What occurred? A strongly worded letter happened, that’s what. A gaggle of black staffers at the Atlantic sent objections to Editor in Chief Jeffrey Goldberg and other Atlantic leaders. … Those distinctive circumstances relate to Emanuel’s dealing with of the murder of black 17-year-old Laquan McDonald by white Chicago police officer Jason Van Dyke … The letter from Atlantic staffers took difficulty with Emanuel’s mea culpa.” WaPo

-- “The Dispatch Needs to Be the Anti-Breitbart,” by The Atlantic’s McKay Coppins: “Last yr, [Jonah Goldberg] left his perch at National Evaluate and joined a handful of outstanding conservative writers to launch The Dispatch, a brand new media venture with a mission that’s as simple as it is radical: producing critical, factually grounded journalism for a conservative audience.

“In interviews, editors advised me they goal to fill a rising void on the appropriate’s media panorama, which they described as oversaturated with scorching takes and starved of reporting, obsessed with lib-ownership and tired of information. … As an alternative of chasing low cost clicks, the corporate is courting paid subscribers with a portfolio of e mail newsletters, podcasts, and a soon-to-be-paywalled web site.” Atlantic

-- Longtime New Yorker deputy editor Pamela Maffei McCarthy is stepping down in Might after 27 years at the journal. She’ll be succeeded by Deirdre Foley-Mendelssohn.

TV TONIGHT -- Bob Costa sits down with Jake, WaPo’s Karoun Demirjian, NYT’s Carl Hulse, USA As we speak’s Susan Web page and NPR’s Ayesha Rascoe at 8 p.m. on PBS’ “Washington Week.”

IN MEMORIAM -- ATLANTA JOURNAL-CONSTITUTION: “Anne Cox Chambers, philanthropist, diplomat and Chairman of Atlanta Newspapers, has died. She was 100.” AJC

SPOTTED on the Library of Congress on Thursday night time, when the LBJ Foundation awarded the LBJ Liberty & Justice for All Award to Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg: James Taylor (who performed “Sweet Baby James” in her honor), Constance Wu, Holland Taylor, Nina Totenberg, Bill Moyers, Sunny Hostin, Lynda Johnson Robb and Chuck Robb, Luci Baines Johnson, Catherine Robb, Lynn Novick, Larry Temple, Mark Updegrove, Ben Barnes, Tom Johnson, Ron Kirk, Tom Daschle, Lloyd Hand and Cappy McGarr.

TRANSITIONS -- Ryan Jackson is joining the National Mining Association to go government relations. He presently is COS at the EPA. More for Pros … Former Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant and his former COS Joey Songy are becoming a member of a brand new consulting agency, which can now be referred to as Bryant Songy Snell International Partners. Clarion Ledger …

… Kari Mavian, Chris Prendergast and Hicks Winters have lately joined Dow’s federal lobbying workforce. Mavian most just lately handled regulatory affairs for SI Group. Prendergast most just lately served as a counsel for Sen. Tom Carper (D-Del.). Winters most just lately handled state and federal authorities affairs for LafargeHolcim. … Tyler Threadgill shall be VP of federal authorities affairs at LKQ Corp. He beforehand was COS to Rep. David Kustoff (R-Tenn.).

WELCOME TO THE WORLD -- Ted Newton, president at Gravity Strategic Communications, and Megan Sowards Newton, associate at Jones Day, on Monday welcomed Catherine (Cate) Victoria Newton, who got here in at 7 lbs, 9 ouncesand 19.5 inches. Pic

-- Jared Rizzi, reporter and host of the “On the Desk” podcast, and Katie Devine, director of enterprise case improvement at World Wildlife Fund, on Thursday welcomed Rowan Rizzi-Devine, who came in at 9 lbs, 5 oz. Pic

Src: POLITICO Playbook PM: … And now for the twist
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