POLITICO Playbook: What Iran’s president says about Trump’s White House

Presented by the Financial Services Forum

DRIVING THE DAY

BREAKING OVERNIGHT … AP: “Iran’s President Rouhani mocks President Trump, says the White House is ‘afflicted by mental retardation.’”

-- WAPO’S ERIN CUNNINGHAM in Dubai and RUTH EGLASH in Jerusalem: “Speaking in a televised address, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani called the restrictions targeting the supreme leader ‘outrageous and idiotic’ and said they showed ‘certain failure’ on the part of the Trump administration to isolate Iran.

“‘You sanction the foreign minister simultaneously with a request for talks?’ Rouhani said on state television, referring to remarks by U.S. officials suggesting plans to sanction Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif later this month.

“The ‘useless sanctioning’ of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and Zarif — who led Iran’s nuclear negotiations with world powers — ‘means the permanent closure of the doors of diplomacy,’ the spokesman for Iran’s Foreign Ministry, Abbas Mousavi, said on Twitter Tuesday. ‘Trump’s government is annihilating all of the established international mechanisms for maintaining world peace and security.’” WaPo

FIRST IN PLAYBOOK -- “Poll: Voters back Trump decision to nix Iran strike”

NEW … A COMING DECEMBER PILE-UP? … OVER THE LAST FEW DAYS, Republican and Democratic aides have come to the conclusion that a budget deal is almost definitely out of reach. Time has run too short. Meetings aren’t getting scheduled anymore. It’s all but over, for the moment.

WHAT YOU SHOULD EXPECT: September will turn into a rush to pass a short-term funding bill to avert a shutdown come Sept. 30. The options will probably include a stopgap that funds government at current levels to some point in 2020, or a short-term, three-month deal to allow for Congress to try to strike a larger budget accord that would hike spending beyond 2019 levels. More than $100 billion in cuts take hold in January 2020, and pretty much everyone in Washington wants to avoid that.

SO, IT’S TOTALLY POSSIBLE -- and even seems likely -- that Washington will be thrown into a holiday season crisis as the White House, which considers itself savvy dealmakers, and Congress try to get a large-scale budget deal to head off $100 billion in budget cuts. Because why shouldn’t Congress create a crisis over the holiday season?

SPEAKING OF CONGRESSIONAL DRAMA -- “Congress flails after Trump’s deportation ultimatum,” by Heather Caygle, Burgess Everett, and Sarah Ferris: “Lawmakers are stumbling in their efforts to address the border crisis before bolting for the holiday recess, dimming long-shot hopes that Congress can meet President Donald Trump’s two-week deadline to stave off his threatened mass deportations.

“House Democratic leaders spent Monday night fighting off a last-minute liberal rebellion to tank their $4.5 billion emergency spending package, with progressive lawmakers demanding changes to the bill that complicate the chamber’s plans to deliver money to the border before leaving town Thursday for a week-long recess.” POLITICO

A TIMES HEADLINE THE PRESIDENT WILL LIKE -- NYT: “Mexico’s Crackdown at Its Southern Border, Prompted by Trump, Scares Migrants From Crossing,” by Maya Averbuch and Kirk Semple in Guatemala: “Mexico’s mobilization of its security forces has been halting, and for most of the past two weeks it seemed to fall short of the dramatic show of force that the government had promised.

“Still, the deployment has already disrupted the usual flow of people and commerce passing over this historically porous border, and sown fear among migrants and their smugglers alike.” NYT

RESULTS … AP: “Government moves migrant kids after AP exposes bad treatment”: “The U.S. government has removed most of the children from a remote Border Patrol station in Texas following reports that more than 300 children were detained there, caring for each other with inadequate food, water and sanitation.

“Just 30 children remained at the station outside El Paso Monday, said Rep. Veronica Escobar after her office was briefed on the situation by an official with Customs and Border Protection.

“Most of the infants, toddlers and teens who were held at the Border Patrol station in Clint, Texas, would be moved to shelters and other facilities run by a separate federal agency by Tuesday, the Office of Refugee Resettlement said Monday.” AP

Good Tuesday morning.

THE HILL interviewed President DONALD TRUMP: “EXCLUSIVE: Trump vehemently denies E. Jean Carroll allegation, says ‘she’s not my type’” … “EXCLUSIVE — Trump: I would fill Supreme Court vacancy before 2020 election”

BURGESS EVERETT and ELIANA JOHNSON: “Pompeo’s dilemma: Stick with Trump or bet on his own future”: “Mike Pompeo is the GOP’s best shot at keeping a must-win Senate seat in Republican hands. But he’s also the most stable national security voice in an administration that’s constantly on the verge of cracking up — setting up a high-stakes dilemma for the secretary of State and his party.

“Pompeo said in February that he had ‘ruled out’ a Senate run in 2020 but several of his confidants say that is simply not the case and that he is quietly evaluating the next steps in his political career.

“Over the coming months, the former GOP congressman will have to decide whether to stay as one of President Donald Trump’s most trusted advisers — something many Trump allies say is his patriotic duty amid myriad international crises — or seek a Senate seat in Kansas that could lay the groundwork for a presidential run of his own. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is pushing hard for Pompeo to choose the latter.” POLITICO

MORE WEST WING DRAMA -- “Trump tiring of Mulvaney,” by Nancy Cook: “President Donald Trump’s honeymoon period with Mick Mulvaney is coming to an end. In recent weeks, Trump has been snapping at his acting chief of staff with some frequency, and expressing greater frustration with him than usual, according to four current and former senior administration officials.

“Trump has long said that he prefers the flexibility offered by temporary titles, but Mulvaney’s ongoing ‘acting’ status underscores the uphill battle he faces as Trump’s third chief of staff in less than two-and-a-half years. While Mulvaney is not in danger of losing his job any time soon, officials stressed, Trump’s treatment of him still signals to aides the slow deterioration of their relationship has begun.” POLITICO

COULD’VE SEEN THIS ONE COMING -- “House’s pay raise in doubt as GOP wavers,” by Sarah Ferris and John Bresnahan: “The bipartisan attempt to raise salaries for members of the House of Representatives is in doubt as GOP leaders are finding little support for what would be a difficult political vote, according to Republican sources.

“House Democratic leaders have been preparing to move ahead with the move this week, but only if they received GOP support. ‘This ought to be done in an overwhelmingly bipartisan fashion,’ House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer told POLITICO on Monday night about the prospects of the proposal. ‘We’re working on it.’” POLITICO

ANDREW DESIDERIO: “Commerce Dept. ordered ex-official not to answer House panel questions”: “A former senior Commerce Department official refused to answer more than 100 questions during an interview with the House Oversight and Reform Committee that centered on the Trump administration’s controversial decision to add a citizenship question to the 2020 census, according to a transcript released Tuesday.

“Commerce Department lawyers instructed James Uthmeier, who served as senior adviser and counsel to Secretary Wilbur Ross, not to answer the committee’s questions about his contacts with the White House and his conversations with Ross.

“Uthmeier was also directed not to discuss the contents of a memo he wrote to a senior Justice Department official, John Gore, that purportedly outlines legal arguments surrounding the addition of a citizenship question to the census. On several occasions, Uthmeier was also blocked from disclosing details about his own conversations with Gore.” POLITICO

HOW JARED’S PEACE PUSH IS PLAYING AMONG PALESTINIANS … Reuters/Gaza and Ramallah: “Palestinians burned portraits of President Donald Trump as they protested in both the Gaza Strip and the Israeli-occupied West Bank on Monday against U.S.-led plans for a conference on their economy in Bahrain. …

“‘Down with Bahrain, down with Trump, down with the Manama conference,’ chanted crowds in Gaza, which is ruled by the armed Islamist group Hamas. Some burned large paintings of Trump marked with the words: ‘Deal of the devil.’” Reuters

2020 WATCH -- KNOWING ELIZABETH WARREN -- “How Elizabeth Warren Learned to Fight,” by NYT’s Sabrina Tavernise in Oklahoma City

-- NEW: “AP-NORC Poll: Democrats most excited by experience in office,” by AP’s Nicholas Riccardi and Hannah Fingerhut: “Democratic registered voters are yearning for experience in elected office. A whopping 73% cited that as a quality that would make them more excited about supporting a presidential candidate.” AP

-- MARC CAPUTO: “Biden tries on a new nickname: Teflon Joe”

-- ELENA SCHNEIDER and DANIEL STRAUSS: “‘If you don’t get this right, nothing else may matter’: Pete Buttigieg’s response to a police shooting and race relations in South Bend is set to reshape his upstart presidential campaign.”

-- SOUTH FLORIDA SUN-SENTINEL: “Presidential candidates flood into South Florida, beginning in the Everglades”

THE JUICE …

-- LAST WEEK, we reported that Texas Rep. KENNY MARCHANT drew a Democratic opponent in KIM OLSON, a former candidate for ag commissioner who launched with a buzzy video highlighting her lengthy military career. Now, Marchant has a new opponent in CANDACE VALENZUELA.

HER LAUNCH VIDEO -- which you’re seeing here first -- plays up her upbringing and has this attention-grabbing line: “Our congressman has been a politician since before I was homeless, sleeping in a kiddie pool outside a gas station.” The district has elected Marchant, but has been trending toward becoming a majority not-white district, which could make this one of Texas’ most competitive seats. First, Democrats will have to get through a primary. Valenzuela’s video was produced by AL Media, which did work for Stacey Abrams. The launch video

NOT-SO-FUN FACT: Since Robert Gates stepped down in July 2011, the Pentagon will have had seven secretaries of defense in one capacity or another in roughly as many years: Leon Panetta, Chuck Hagel, Ash Carter, James Mattis, Pat Shanahan, Mark Esper and likely now Navy Secretary Richard Spencer while Esper goes through the confirmation process.

TRUMP’S TUESDAY -- The president will host a conference call with veterans for a MISSION Act update at 11:45 a.m. in the Oval Office. He will sign an affordable housing executive order in the Oval Office at 1:45 p.m. Trump will present the Medal of Honor at 3:25 p.m. in the East Room. He will leave the White House en route to the Trump International Hotel at 6:20 p.m., where he will participate in a roundtable with supporters followed by a joint fundraising committee reception. He will return to the White House at 8:10 p.m.

PLAYBOOK READS

THE LATEST IN VENEZUELA -- “Maduro’s ex-spy chief lands in U.S. armed with allegations against Venezuelan government,” by WaPo’s Anthony Faiola in Bogota, Colombia

SCOOP -- BLOOMBERG’S JENNIFER JACOBS: “Trump Muses Privately About Ending Postwar Japan Defense Pact”: “President Donald Trump has recently mused to confidants about withdrawing from a longstanding defense treaty with Japan, according to three people familiar with the matter, in his latest complaint about what he sees as unfair U.S. security pacts.

“Trump regards the accord as too one-sided because it promises U.S. aid if Japan is ever attacked, but doesn’t oblige Japan’s military to come to America’s defense, the people said. The treaty, signed more than 60 years ago, forms the foundation of the alliance between the countries that emerged from World War II.” Bloomberg

THE INVESTIGATIONS -- “Judge releases court details that show speed, scope of Mueller investigation” by CNN’s Katelyn Polantz: “At the request of CNN, a federal judge in Washington on Monday released about 230 pages of data from the court showing new details about the scope and speed of Robert Mueller’s investigation.

“The pages largely show limited new details about Mueller’s work, such as the redacted case names and dates for his 499 search warrants and 200 communications data requests. Mueller began getting permission for searches in early July 2017, not even two months following his appointment as special counsel, the documents show.

“His office did the bulk of its searches throughout 2018, conducting only a few searches this year, when the investigation was wrapping up.

“Ultimately, Mueller was asking the court for access to thousands of devices and records in a grand jury investigation, according to the documents released by DC District Court Chief Judge Beryl Howell. The documents now may act as a rough road map of how Mueller conducted his investigation.” CNN

WAPO: “White House moves to bar counselor Kellyanne Conway from testifying to Congress about alleged violations of Hatch Act”

VALLEY TALK -- “Trump Admin Considered Facebook VP For Cabinet Role,” by Taylor Hatmaker in The Daily Beast: “Among the revelations in Monday’s Axios dump of Trump transition team vetting documents: Facebook’s global policy head and top Republican Joel Kaplan was considered for a Cabinet position. ... The Trump transition team looked at Kaplan to lead the Office of Management and Budget, a former Facebook employee told The Daily Beast. It’s not clear how seriously Kaplan was considered for the job.” The Daily Beast

MEDIAWATCH -- ALEXI MCCAMMOND of Axios has been named emerging journalist of the year by the National Association of Black Journalists.

-- Ben Jacobs is joining Jewish Insider as a senior political reporter and will cover 2020. He most recently covered politics for The Guardian.

PLAYBOOKERS

SPOTTED: Speaker Nancy Pelosi on the 1 p.m. American Airlines LGA to DCA shuttle -- pic

SPOTTED AT ASPEN: John Micklethwait eating lunch on Monday in the Paepcke Tent. George Will and Walter Isaacson were seen in line at lunch ... Bob Rubin at the Hefner Lounge at Aspen Meadows Resort.

FIRST IN PLAYBOOK -- Paulette Aniskoff is joining Bully Pulpit Interactive as a partner. Aniskoff, founder of Citizen 44, has served as an adviser to former President Barack Obama on his 2018 midterm strategy and his post-White House engagement with political and progressive organizations. She was deputy assistant to the president and director of the Office of Public Engagement.

TRANSITION -- per The Daily Beast’s Asawin Suebsaeng: “Jason Miller, a former top campaign aide and close adviser to Donald Trump, has left his job as a managing director at Teneo, a prominent consulting firm, days after launching a profanity-laced tirade directed at a top House Democrat.” The Daily Beast

FOGGY BOTTOM ARRIVAL LOUNGE -- James Hewitt has started at State as senior adviser in the bureau of global public affairs. He was press secretary at EPA for 2 years.

ENGAGED -- Dustin Carmack, COS for Rep. John Ratcliffe (R-Texas) and a Ron DeSantis alum, proposed to Hannah Keller, a former staffer for Rep. Martha Roby (R-Ala.), at the National Arboretum on Saturday. Pic

WEEKEND WEDDING -- Sabrina Siddiqui, White House correspondent at The Guardian and a political analyst at CNN, married Ali Jafri, senior research analyst at National Security Innovations, this past weekend in NOVA. Wolf Blitzer’s wedding Instapic

BIRTHDAY OF THE DAY: Laurent Crenshaw, senior director of government affairs at cannabis delivery company Eaze. A trend he thinks deserves more attention: “I think that we’re at the very early stages of seeing a big debate around intellectual property rights in the augmented and mixed reality technology space. When Pokemon Go came out three years ago, it introduced many people to augmented reality, while at the same time upsetting a number of landowners who suddenly found their properties flooded with countless strangers. … [L]awmakers are going to have to set boundaries and standards for what companies can and can’t do without the permission of the individuals that own the physical space being used.” Playbook Plus Q&A

BIRTHDAYS: Justice Sonia Sotomayor is 65 … Kamran Daravi, adviser at State (h/t Matt Mowers) ... James Meredith is 86 ... Jeremy Bearer-Friend … Carlos Muñiz (h/ts Natalie Boyse and Amber McCloskey) ... CGCN Group’s Patrick O’Connor is 43 ... N.Y. Post’s Reuven Fenton ... CNN’s Betsy Klein ... Dan Meyers, senior director of public affairs and head of advocacy at APCO Worldwide (h/ts Tammy Haddad and Kelley McCormick) ... John Randall, VP of digital at CRAFT … Kathleen Shannon … Jackie Bradford, president and GM of NBC4 in DC ... Dan Spinelli of Mother Jones (h/t Nihal Krishan) ... POLITICO’s Hank Hoffman ... Danielle Doheny (hubby tip: Tom) ... Corbett Daly ... John Heilprin … Patrick Temple-West, who is soon joining the FT ... Josh Lahey, founding partner at Lot Sixteen …Tita Thompson Freeman ... former Rep. Carolyn Kilpatrick (D-Mich.) is 74 ...

… former Rep. Leonard Lance (R-N.J.) is 67 ... POLITICO Europe’s Emma Anderson … Johannes Behrends ... Matt Felling, comms director for Sen. Angus King (I-Maine) (h/t Jonathan Kott) … Trice Jacobson of the Charles Koch Institute (h/t sister Laura Whitefield) … Ambassador Melanne Verveer ... Taylor Haulsee is 3-0. He celebrated with friends at the Braves-Nats game on Saturday (h/t wife Katie Delzell) ... Michael Napolitano ... Scott Zumwalt, senior director at Bully Pulpit Interactive, is 35 … Alan McQuinn (h/t the ITIF team) ... JR Thornton ... Zach Fannin ... Ted Pease is 64 ... Eric Litmer ... Alberto Cardenas ... Abbie Sorrendino, LD for Rep. Joe Morelle (D-N.Y.) … Gretchen Yelmini … Bryan Bernys ... James Crown is 66 ... John Alexander Nicholson ... Mike Gehrke … Jon Carson … Jason Stephany … Martha Vukelich-Austin … Mora Segal.