A REMINDER: THERE ARE 16 LEGISLATIVE DAYS scheduled before the end of the year. There are 11 days left before government funding runs dry.
PRETTY PLEASE! … REUTERS/SEOUL: “United States 'very actively' asking North Korea to return to talks: South Korea”: “The United States is ‘very actively’ trying to persuade North Korea to come back to negotiations, South Korea’s national security adviser said on Sunday, as a year-end North Korean deadline for U.
S. flexibility approaches.“South Korea was taking North Korea’s deadline ‘very seriously’, the adviser, Chung Eui-yong, told reporters, at a time when efforts to improve inter-Korean relations have stalled.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in April gave the United States a year-end deadline to show more flexibility in their denuclearisation talks, and North Korean officials have warned the United States not to ignore that date.” Reuters
SNEAK PEEK … THE PRESIDENT’S WEEK: Monday: THE PRESIDENT will speak at the Veteran’s Day parade in New York. Tuesday: TRUMP will speak at the Economic Club of New York, and will raise money in New York. Wednesday: TURKISH PRESIDENT Recep Tayyip Erdoğan will visit the White House. The pair will hold a news conference. Thursday: THE PRESIDENT will meet with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, and will hold a political rally in Bossier City, La.
-- THE TRUMP-ERDOGAN news conference is on the same day as the first impeachment hearing. Wednesday will be busy!
NYT’S PETER BAKER in Tuscaloosa, Ala., and MAGGIE HABERMAN: “In Seeking to Join Suit Over Subpoena Power, Mulvaney Goes Up Against the President”: “Even in a White House of never-befores, this may be one of the more head-spinning: The president’s chief of staff is trying to join a lawsuit against the president.
“Mick Mulvaney works only about 50 steps from the Oval Office as he runs the White House staff but rather than simply obey President Trump’s order to not cooperate with House impeachment investigators, he sent his lawyers to court late Friday night asking a judge whether he should or not.
“To obtain such a ruling, the lawyers asked to join a lawsuit already filed by a former White House official — a lawsuit that names ‘the Honorable Donald J. Trump’ as a defendant along with congressional leaders. The lawyers tried to finesse that by saying in the body of their motion that the defendants they really wanted to sue were the congressional leaders, but their own motion still listed Mr. Trump at the top as a defendant because that is the suit they sought to join.” NYT
WAPO: “Republicans attempt to move impeachment inquiry away from Trump,” by Rachael Bade, Karoun Demirjian and Colby Itkowitz: “House Republicans on Saturday pressed ahead with their efforts to move the impeachment inquiry away from President Trump, calling on Democrats to add witnesses to the probe including former vice president Joe Biden’s son and the whistleblower whose initial complaint kicked off the investigation.
“The GOP demands were met with immediate skepticism from House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam B. Schiff (D-Calif.), who warned against ‘sham investigations’ of the Bidens and other issues in a clear signal that many of the witnesses were unlikely to be called.” WaPo
MESSAGING ADVICE from REP. JIM HIMES (D-CONN.) on NBC’S “MEET THE PRESS”: “Well I have two problems with quid pro quo. Number one, when you're trying to persuade the American people of something that is really pretty simple, which is that the President acted criminally and extorted in the way a mob boss would extort somebody, a vulnerable foreign country, it's probably best not to use Latin words to explain it.”
… AND FROM SEN. RAND PAUL (R-KY.), also on MTP: “I think we've gotten lost in this whole idea of quid pro quo. And I think Senator Kennedy kind of hit the nail on the head. It's that, if you're not allowed to give aid to people who are corrupt, there's always contingencies on aid. Even, even President Obama withheld aid. You know, he was supposed to give lethal aid. Congress said, ‘Give them $300 million in lethal aid.’ And he sent them blankets. So presidents, since the beginning of time, have resisted Congress.
“And there's been this sort of back-and-forth jockeying over what is sent. But also, presidents have withheld aid before for corruption. So the thing is I think it's a mistake to say, ‘Oh, he withheld aid, until he got what he wanted.’ Well, if it's corruption, and he believes there to be corruption, he has every right to withhold aid. So I think it's a big mistake for anybody to argue quid pro quo, he didn't have quid pro quo. And I know that's what the administration's arguing. I wouldn't make that argument. I would make the argument that every politician in Washington, other than me, virtually, is trying to manipulate Ukraine to their purposes. Menendez tried it. Murphy tried it. Biden tried it. Trump's tried it. They're all doing it.”
NYT, A1: “How the State Dept.’s Dissenters Incited a Revolt, Then a Rallying Cry”
AP: “Former Trump Adviser John Bolton Has a Book Deal”: “The hawkish Bolton departed in September because of numerous foreign policy disagreements with President Donald Trump. He reached a deal over the past few weeks with Simon & Schuster, according to three publishing officials with knowledge of negotiations. The officials were not authorized to discuss the deal publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.
“Two of the officials said the deal was worth about $2 million. Bolton was represented by the Javelin literary agency, whose clients include former FBI Director James Comey and the anonymous Trump administration official whose book, ‘A Warning,’ comes out Nov. 19.” AP
Good Sunday morning.
SUNDAY BEST …
JAKE TAPPER spoke to SEN. AMY KLOBUCHAR (D-Minn.) on CNN’S “STATE OF THE UNION”: KLOBUCHAR on BLOOMBERG: “I don't think [voters] say, oh, we need someone richer. I don't think that, Jake. I think you have to earn votes and not buy them. … I don’t think you just waltz in and say instead of well, ‘I’m good enough to be president,’ your argument is, the other people aren’t good enough. That is not how we’ve been conducting these debates.
CHUCK TODD spoke to SEN. SHERROD BROWN (D-OHIO) on NBC’S “MEET THE PRESS”: TODD: “What do you make of this feeling in the Democratic party right now about nervousness in this field?”
BROWN: “Well, it’s genetic that Democrats wring their hands about presidential campaigns, I mean we, we always do. I, I think it’s a good field. I think we’re going to beat Trump. I think when people, when voters make the contrast with President Trump’s promises, especially his promises to workers in Lordstown, Ohio and all over the industrial Midwest, and contrast that with Trump’s betrayal of workers on minimum wage, and over time, and his court appointees and the National Labor Relations Board and all the way he’s, he betrays workers in the middle west and he betrays our allies in the Middle East. And I think that’s, that’s the contrast voters are going to make with whomever, with whomever our nominee is and we win in 2020 as a result. So I don’t, I don’t, I don’t have this hand wringing anguish that a number of my, a number of others might have.”
CHRIS WALLACE spoke to REP. SEAN PATRICK MALONEY (D-N.Y.) on “FOX NEWS SUNDAY”: MALONEY said the new Trump-Zelensky transcript is not “relevant to this investigation” Twitter
A BIT OF DISSENTION … MARTHA RADDATZ spoke to REP. MAC THORNBERRY (R-TEXAS.) on ABC’s “This Week”: RADDATZ: RADDATZ: “Congressman, you're again talking about process. The process. I asked you about substance. How do you fend against the substance?
THORNBERRY: “Well, as you know -- maybe you know, Martha -- I believe it's inappropriate for a president to ask a foreign leader to investigate a political rival. Now that leads to a question if there's a political rival with a family member who is involved in questionable activity, what do you do? Just let them alone. But set that aside. I believe it was inappropriate. I do not believe it was impeachable.
“And process -- you know, you all always want to say substance, not process. There's a reason we let murderers and robbers and rapists go free when their due process rights have been violated. We believe the integrity of the system, the integrity of the constitution, the integrity of the processes under our legal system, is more important than the outcome of one particular case. So, I don't think you can sweep process under the rug, because it is part of an impeachment decision, which has a constitutional requirement: bribery, treason, high crimes and misdemeanors, but also a political element about whether it's good for the country to pursue it under these circumstances.”
2020 …
NYT, A1 … SYDNEY EMBER and JONATHAN MARTIN: “‘I’d Consider Anybody’: Democrats Like Their 2020 Candidates, and Yet …” (print headline: “Bloomberg Nudges Into a Field Chock Full of Not-So-Sure Bets”): “Mr. Bloomberg has jolted the Democratic primary, drawing fire from the leading liberals in the field who said he was trying to buy the presidency while posing a direct threat to the centrist candidacy of Mr. Biden. But he has also exposed the jitters among establishment-aligned Democrats who fear that the leftward turn of the party is endangering their chances of building a winning coalition.
“For weeks, senior Democratic officials and donors have been musing about whether a new candidate could be lured in the race, a striking illustration of nervousness just three months before the Iowa caucuses. Some talked up Mr. Bloomberg and Hillary Clinton, but others wondered if Senator Sherrod Brown of Ohio might make a late entry to unite a party splintered along ideological lines.
“And while some party leaders have muted their concerns in an effort to be neutral, that restraint has started to give way to open expressions of alarm. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has been repeating the same mantra — ‘Remember November’ — in private about focusing on winning the general election, and has told Democratic allies she was uneasy about a nominee running on Medicare for all.” NYT
ELENA SCHNEIDER: “Inside the 2020 campaign with the potential First Gentlemen”
DES MOINES REGISTER on the AOC-BERNIE appearance in Iowa
THE PRESIDENT’S SUNDAY … THE PRESIDENT is in New York, and he has no public events.
GREAT PIECE … WAPO’S ROBIN GIVHAN: “Roger Stone has turned his court appearances into a fashion show”
AP/TEHRAN: “Iran’s president: New oil field found with over 50B barrels”: “Iran has discovered a new oil field in the country’s south with over 50 billion barrels of crude, its president said Sunday, a find that could boost the country’s proven reserves by a third as it struggles to sell energy abroad over U.S. sanctions. …
“‘I am telling the White House that in the days when you sanctioned the sale of Iranian oil and pressured our nation, the country’s dear workers and engineers were able to discover 53 billion barrels of oil in a big field,’ Rouhani said.” AP
LAT: “‘Go back to California’: Wave of newcomers fuels backlash in Boise,” by Maria L. La Ganga in Boise, Idaho: “This city sure knows how to roll up the welcome mat — that is, if you happen to move here from California.
“Just consider last week’s mayoral election. It was the most competitive race in recent memory, a referendum on growth in the rapidly expanding capital of Idaho. And candidate Wayne Richey ran on a very simple platform: Stop the California invasion. His basic plan to fulfill that campaign promise? ‘Trash the place.’
“Richey figured that would be the best way to keep deep-pocketed Golden Staters from moving to his leafy hometown. He blames them for pushing home prices and rents up so high that Boiseans can’t afford to live here on the meager wages most Idaho jobs pay.
“At a candidate forum in late October, he had a terse answer for the question: ‘If you were king or queen for the day, what one thing would you do to improve Boise?’ ‘A $26-billion wall,’ he said, laughing, drawing out each word for maximum emphasis. As in build one. Around Idaho.” LAT
BONUS GREAT HOLIDAY WEEKEND READS, curated by Daniel Lippman (@dlippman):
-- “Child Abusers Run Rampant as Tech Companies Look the Other Way,” by NYT’s Michael H. Keller and Gabriel J.X. Dance: “Though platforms bar child sexual abuse imagery on the web, criminals are exploiting gaps. Victims are caught in a living nightmare, confronting images again and again.” NYT
-- “Blood Gold in the Brazilian Rain Forest,” by The New Yorker’s Jon Lee Anderson: “Indigenous people and illegal miners are engaged in a fight that may help decide the future of the planet.” New Yorker
-- “Trump’s rap sheet,” by WaPo’s Chris Richards: “Three decades of rappers name-dropping the president, and what it all means.” WaPo
-- “The ugly, gory, bloody secret life of NHL dentists,” by David Fleming in ESPN -- per TheBrowser.com’s description: “A profile of hockey dentists, the ‘gnarliest and most peculiar fraternity in sports’. Tooth enamel is the ‘hardest biological substance on earth’, but it is no match for hockey pucks.” ESPN
-- “America’s Largest Health Insurer Is Giving Apartments to Homeless People,” by John Tozzi in Bloomberg Businessweek: “There are more than half a million homeless in the U.S., about a third of them unsheltered — that is, living on streets, under bridges, or in abandoned properties. When they need medical care or simply a bed and a meal, many go to the emergency room. That’s where America has drawn the line: We’ll pay for a hospital bed but not for a home, even when the home would be cheaper.” Bloomberg
-- “My Year of Concussions,” by The New Yorker’s Nick Paumgarten: “The thud was thicker than I’d expected. It felt as if my head had been slammed in a car door.” New Yorker
-- “In China, every day is Kristallnacht,” by WaPo’s Fred Hiatt: “In a cultural genocide with few parallels since World War II, thousands of Muslim religious sites have been destroyed. At least 1 million Muslims have been confined to camps, where aging imams are shackled and young men are forced to renounce their faith. Muslims not locked away are forced to eat during the fasting month of Ramadan, forced to drink and smoke in violation of their faith, barred from praying or studying the Koran or making the pilgrimage to Mecca.” WaPo
-- “Andrew Yang Is Not Full of S***,” by Wired’s Nicholas Thompson: “The so-called Silicon Valley candidate has a habit of ripping the tech industry, but his message is catching on, he’s flush with cash, and he’s positioned to survive deep into the primaries.” Wired
-- “She Was Allegedly Raped And Couldn’t Bear Going To Trial. So She Met Her Attacker In Person To Work Things Out,” by BuzzFeed’s Lauren Strapagiel: “Marlee Liss now wants other survivors to know that the traditional justice system isn’t their only option.” BuzzFeed
-- “The Rise (and Stall) of the Boba Generation,” by Jenny G. Zhang in Eater: “How bubble tea became far more than just a drink to young Asian Americans.” Eater (h/t Longreads.com)
-- “The Big Bitcoin Heist,” by Mark Seal in December’s Vanity Fair: “With its cheap geothermal energy and low crime rate, Iceland has become the world’s leading miner of digital currency. Then the crypto-crooks showed up.” VF
Send tips to Eli Okun and Garrett Ross at politicoplaybook@politico.com.
SPOTTED: President Donald Trump, Melania Trump, Reps. Bradley Byrne (R-Ala.), Ralph Abraham (R-La.), Mike Johnson (R-La.), Gary Palmer (R-Ala.) and Garret Graves (R-La.) at the Alabama-LSU game on Saturday. Pic … Another pic
SPOTTED at a private dinner hosted by Tammy Haddad on Saturday night at Cafe Milano with Lesli Linka Glatter and Meredith Stiehm, two former “Homeland” producers who are now turning the book “The Banker’s Wife” into an Amazon series: Carol Leonnig, Eric Schultz, Chris Ullman, Betsy Fischer Martin, Jeremy and Robyn Bash, Olivia Nuzzi, Tom and Corinne Hoare.
WEEKEND WEDDINGS -- Daniel Huey, partner at Something Else Strategies, and Hannah Bruce, principal at Molly Allen and Associates, got married at the Decatur House. … SPOTTED: Ieva Augstums, Kevin McLaughlin, Betsy Ankeny, Heath Thompson, Todd Harris and Kevin Golden.
-- Patricia O’Brien to Hodding Carter, via NYT’s Vincent M. Mallozzi: “The bride, 83, was a reporter in the Washington bureau of Knight Ridder and a reporter for The Chicago Sun-Times before retiring. ... The groom, 84 ... was the spokesman and the assistant secretary of state for public affairs in the Carter administration from 1977 to 1980. ... At various times during his career, he served as a reporter, anchor, political commentator and panelist for ABC, BBC, CBC, CNN, NBC and PBS.” With a pic: NYT
-- “Zara Kessler, Mark Filenbaum,” via NYT: “Mrs. Filenbaum, 29, is an editor in New York for Bloomberg News, where she focuses on digital strategy. She graduated summa cum laude from Yale. ... Mr. Filenbaum, 33, is a principal in New York for Centerview Partners, an investment banking and advisory firm. He graduated cum laude from Boston College.” With a pic: NYT
WELCOME TO THE WORLD -- Samantha Smith, who works at FedEx government affairs and is a Chris Christie and Google alum, and Bubba Atkinson, a media strategist/consultant and an Axios and IJR alum, recently welcomed Lucy Connor Atkinson. Pic
BIRTHDAYS: Rep. Bill Johnson (R-Ohio) is 65 … CBS’ Howard L. Rosenberg and Alan He … Benjamin Pauker, managing editor of news at Vox (h/t Ben Chang) ... Misty Marshall ... NPR congressional reporter Sue Davis (h/t Tim Burger) … Jim Kuhnhenn, co-founder of WaVe Communications ... Cary Justice … Mary Jordan, WaPo national correspondent ... former Sen. Saxby Chambliss (R-Ga.) is 76 … former Rep. Brad Ashford (D-Neb.) is 7-0 ... former Rep. Silvestre Reyes (D-Texas) is 75 ... Michael Hacker … Pierce Stanley … CNN’s Kylie Gudzak ... Amanda Ashley Keating, SVP at the Glover Park Group … Geoff Brewer, editorial director at Gallup … POLITICO’s Jeff Daker and Bryarly Richards … Elizabeth Greener, director of communications at American Forest Foundation … Andy Blomme of NeighborWorks America … Ruth Igielnik
… LaRonda Peterson … Ellen Bredenkoetter … Aaron Brown is 71 … Jeremy Stoppelman is 42 … Raphael Sonenshein is 7-0 … Brian Romick … ABC’s Josh Margolin is 49 … Andrea Dukakis … Marla Romash (h/ts Teresa Vilmain) … Gabriela Ayala … Zach Lowe … energy consultant Howard Marks is 75 (h/t wife Sandy) … Jane Cherry … Andy Diaz … Jean Weinberg of Bloomberg Philanthropies … Tim Garraty … Jessica (Cole) Buchanan … POLITICO’s Bryarly Richards and Jeffrey Daker … Elliot Ayres … Julie Weber … Jared T. Miller … Robyn Patterson … Allison Kelly … Elias Alcantara … Elizabeth Brotherton-Bunch … Nate Treffeisen … Christina Brown … Elizabeth (Ladt) Sullivan … Ben Engwer … Kristin Stiles … Andrew Mims … Jeremy Nordquist, COS for Rep. Tom O’Halleran (D-Ariz.) … Blake Deeley … Miranda Lilla … Zachary Enos … Tom Cosgrove … the United States Marine Corps is 244
Article originally published on POLITICO Magazine