Playbook: Trump and DOJ in staredown

THE DISCHARGE PETITION to force a series of immigration votes on the House floor is 22 lawmakers short of 218 — a huge number of Democrats signed in the last few days. Speaker Paul Ryan is hoping that he can keep Republicans from signing onto the petition, instead opting for a tightly controlled series of Republican-leaning votes in June.

THE DISCHARGE PETITION would give the House a vote on the DREAM Act, a situation many Republicans would find to be politically risky. Ryan’s vote series would not include the DREAM Act, but rather component parts of immigration reform like border security and some DACA plan.

WHAT TO WATCH FOR: If Republicans sign on this week — the last week before a weeklong Memorial Day recess — Ryan’s plan could be foiled, which would be seen internally as another blow to the speaker. If the discharge petition reaches 218, Ryan would need those Republicans to essentially abandon the petition by voting to turn it off in order to proceed to his vote plan. The leadership feels like it’s stopped the rush to sign the petition by convincing lawmakers the controlled series of votes is a better option. We’ll see if that holds this week.

COULD RYAN BE PUSHED OUT? The Weekly Standard’s Haley Byrd wrote that there’s discussion of a plan to push Ryan out of the speakership early in order to coronate Kevin McCarthy. (https://tws.io/2wY0Wib) This is thought provoking, especially the element of the story that indicates President Donald Trump is aware of the plan, and believes “there is merit to” it.

— HERE IS WHY we are skeptical it will happen. Last week we saw Ohio Rep. Jim Jordan and the House Freedom Caucus tank a farm bill that the entire leadership was pushing. In order for McCarthy to win the speakership, he would need to get the vote of all but 17 House Republicans. Possible? Yeah, totally. Tough? Certainly. Does it seem like the Freedom Caucus is ready to tap McCarthy as speaker right now?

BIG MONEY ALERT . SENATE LEADERSHIP FUND got $250,000 from James Davis, the owner of New Balance . THE NRCC got $45,000 from Boeing’s PAC, and Ron Lauder gave $35,000. . SENATE MAJORITY PAC got $2 million from “Family Guy” creator Seth MacFarlane and $1 million from philanthropist Cindy Simon Skjodt. … THE DNC got $33,900 from former Obama economic adviser Jeff Zients.

SOMETHING TO WATCH — CHRISTOPHER CADELAGO: “Trump White House welcomes hundreds of local officials with an eye to 2020”: “President Donald Trump is amassing an army of political insiders for 2020 – all without leaving the White House. The Trump administration has hosted 14 ‘state days’ over the past few months, inviting county commissioners of both parties to come through for tours and meet senior administration officials, including Vice President Mike Pence.

“While the daylong events are formally billed as a way to establish a relationship between behemoth federal agencies and their local counterparts, they also are designed to engender new loyalty to a president some Republicans refused to support in 2016 as he begins to look ahead to his reelection campaign, according to two former aides.” https://politi.co/2Lk7WZN

Good Monday morning. TRUMP GETS COLD FEET . VIA NYT’S MARK LANDLER on A1: “Trump Grappling With Risks of Proceeding With North Korea Meeting”: “President Trump, increasingly concerned that his summit meeting in Singapore next month with North Korea’s leader could turn into a political embarrassment, has begun pressing his aides and allies about whether he should take the risk of proceeding with a historic meeting that he had leapt into accepting, according to administration and foreign officials.

“Mr. Trump was both surprised and angered by a statement issued on Wednesday by the North’s chief nuclear negotiator, who declared that the country would never trade away its nuclear weapons capability in exchange for economic aid, administration officials said. The statement, while a highly familiar tactic by the North, represented a jarring shift in tone after weeks of conciliatory gestures.

“On Thursday and Friday, Mr. Trump peppered aides with questions about the wisdom of proceeding, and on Saturday night he called President Moon Jae-in of South Korea to ask why the North’s public statement seemed to contradict the private assurances that Mr. Moon had conveyed after he met Kim Jong-un, the 35-year-old dictator of the North, at the Demilitarized Zone in late April.” https://nyti.ms/2rZanYS

WAPO’S MATT ZAPOTOSKY, BOB COSTA and DAVID NAKAMURA: “Justice Department calls for inquiry after Trump demands probe into whether FBI ‘infiltrated or surveilled’ his campaign”: “Under pressure from President Trump, the Justice Department on Sunday asked its inspector general to assess whether political motivation tainted the FBI investigation into ties between Russia and Trump’s campaign – a remarkable step officials hoped might avert a larger clash between the president and federal law enforcement officials.

“Trump, who spent much of Sunday railing against the year-old special counsel probe, tweeted in the afternoon that ‘I hereby demand, and will do so officially tomorrow, that the Department of Justice look into whether or not the FBI/DOJ infiltrated or surveilled the Trump Campaign for Political Purposes – and if any such demands or requests were made by people within the Obama Administration!’

“Hours later, the Justice Department responded by saying it had asked its inspector general to expand an ongoing review of the applications to monitor a former Trump campaign adviser “to include determining whether there was any impropriety or political motivation in how the FBI conducted its counterintelligence investigation of persons suspected of involvement with the Russian agents who interfered in the 2016 presidential election.” https://wapo.st/2rVGhWS

— THE OBVIOUS QUESTION here is will the IG probe be enough for Trump, or will he want something more?

RUDY’S LATEST PREDICTION — “Mueller Plans to Wrap Up Obstruction Inquiry Into Trump by Sept. 1, Giuliani Says,” by NYT’s Mike Schmidt and Maggie Haberman: “The special counsel plans to finish by Sept. 1 the investigation into whether President Trump obstructed the Russia inquiry, according to the president’s lawyer Rudolph W. Giuliani, who said on Sunday that waiting any longer would risk improperly influencing voters in the midterm elections in November.

“The office of the special counsel, Robert S. Mueller III, shared its timeline about two weeks ago amid negotiations over whether Mr. Trump will be questioned by investigators, Mr. Giuliani said, adding that Mr. Mueller’s office said the date was contingent on Mr. Trump’s agreeing to be interviewed. A spokesman for the special counsel’s office declined to comment.

“Mr. Giuliani’s comments were an apparent attempt to publicly pressure Mr. Mueller amid their interview negotiations. … Mr. Giuliani said that an interview would be a distraction for the president and that the amount of preparation required meant that the president could not sit for questioning until after the scheduled summit meeting between Mr. Trump and the North Korean leader, Kim Jong-un, on June 12 in Singapore. Based on that schedule, Mr. Giuliani said, the president could be questioned around Independence Day.” https://nyti.ms/2KH8ec8

— RUDY is trying to set up a political construct in which it would seem blatantly political if Mueller’s probe goes on longer than Sept. 1.

THE LATEST ON TRADE — “Treasury, USTR Send Mixed Messages Over Tariffs on Chinese Imports,” by WSJ’s Josh Zumbrun: “Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer made conflicting statements on Sunday over whether the Trump administration plans to move forward with tariffs on Chinese merchandise entering the U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said Sunday morning that the Trump administration would ‘put the trade war on hold,’ and delay tariffs on Chinese imports to the U.S., while the two countries hammer out details of a deal to reduce the yawning U.S. merchandise trade deficit with China.

“And yet, hours later, U.S. trade representative Robert Lighthizer released a statement that seemed to contradict Mr. Mnuchin. Washington may still resort to tariffs, as well as other tools including investment restrictions and export regulations, unless China makes ‘real structural change’ to its economy, Mr. Lighthizer said.” https://on.wsj.com/2rYLxZ7

2018 WATCH — “Out of Prison, Back to Congress? Michael Grimm Is Trying on Staten Island,” by NYT’s Matt Flegenheimer: “Across the country, Republican candidates are racing to out-Trump each other in congressional primaries, concluding that their surest path to electoral success is to emulate a president who can often appear immune to political gravity. On Staten Island – a patch of Trump Nation tacked onto a very blue city in the president’s very blue home state – the imitation requires little strain: Mr. Grimm, brash and swaggering since his first election to Congress in 2010, has been perfecting the routine for years.

“And Democrats are watching the contest especially closely, convinced that a Grimm nomination could put the seat in play in the fall and bolster their effort to flip the House. … But Mr. Donovan is facing a man who seemed to intuit the merits of Mr. Trump’s defiant approach long before the 2016 election, taking its tenets to their logical extreme. The president refused to release his tax returns; Mr. Grimm is following suit despite having served seven months in a federal prison for tax fraud.” https://nyti.ms/2Ixb5HP

AND ON THE DEMOCRATIC SIDE OF THINGS — DEMS LOOKING TO MINORITIES AND WOMEN AS THE FUTURE .

— MAGGIE SEVERNS and ELENA SCHNEIDER: “Can the black candidate win?”: “A network of Democratic donors and operatives are organizing an ambitious effort to elect African-American candidates for governor and Congress in 2018 – politicians who have often been overlooked by the party’s predominantly white leadership in past years.

“They see the 2018 elections as a crucial opportunity to elect a wave of black candidates, especially to governorships, where only two African-Americans have been elected in U.S. history but a half-dozen prominent hopefuls are running this year. Many organizers also see running strong black candidates as a key way to inspire higher African-American voter turnout that will boost the whole Democratic Party in November.” https://politi.co/2s0Gnfd

— DAVID SIDERS: “‘Women are leading the resistance’ into 2020”: “The prospect of a record number of female candidates on the November ballot – and running for president in 2020 – has Democratic leaders leaning into increasingly explicit, gender-based appeals and focusing renewed attention on education, health care, sexual harassment and other issues perceived as critical to women.

“The party itself is casting women as a focal point of the pre-presidential campaign, ahead of a presidential primary season in which women are expected to prove critical – as volunteers, donors and most important, as a bulk of voters.” https://politi.co/2IVGdQQ

WHAT DEMS SHOULD BE READING — “Bernie’s army in disarray,” by Isaac Dovere: https://politi.co/2IPUq1R

PRUITT FILES — “EPA’s Pruitt, praised for effectiveness, hits bumps in his rollback campaign,” by WaPo’s Juliet Eilperin and Brady Dennis: “[M]ore than half-dozen major moves … [have been] snagged by procedural and legal problems. The delays threaten to tarnish Pruitt’s image as an effective warrior in President Trump’s battle against federal regulations, a reputation that has so far saved the EPA administrator his job amid an array of investigations into ethical and management lapses. Earlier this month, the White House Office of Management and Budget sent back a proposal to ease emissions restrictions for refurbished heavy-duty trucks and ordered the agency to analyze the proposal’s economic impact.

“That move followed a separate OMB request in April that the EPA offer ‘some analysis’ to show that it would actually yield environmental benefits. The EPA’s own science advisers have called for a review of the ‘adequacy’ of research used not only to justify revoking the truck rule but to reverse fuel-efficiency standards for cars. And over the past year, courts have halted or reversed multiple Pruitt initiatives, in one case forcing the EPA to restore limits on methane leaks from oil and gas operations after a federal appeals panel concluded that their suspension was illegal.” https://wapo.st/2rVAOzk

ISAAC DOVERE talks with JIMMY CARTER in the latest “Off Message” podcast. The two talk about everything from why Carter thinks opening the American embassy in Jerusalem was “a mistake” to what he sees as the lack of moral leadership in the White House and whether President Donald Trump should get the Nobel Peace Prize.

“I believe the only solution that would be good for Israel is a two-state solution with living side by side with the Palestinians, who’ll have to accept the right of the Israeli people to live in peace, as well,” said Carter, who negotiated the Camp David accords between Israel and Egypt and has since often spoken out critically of the Israeli government and in favor of the Palestinians.” Subscribe to get the podcast Tuesday as soon as it posts: https://apple.co/2e2dLvm

THE JUICE .

— BRENDAN DUNN is joining Akin Gump as a partner in the firm’s public law and policy practice. The veteran Senate staffer with stints on Senate Judiciary and Finance, Dunn joined Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s office on the eve of the 2012 fiscal cliff. While there, Dunn handled tax, banking, trade and pensions, and most recently helped lead Senate GOP’s tax reform effort.

Last week McConnell wished Dunn godspeed on the Senate floor: “If you’ve ever had the pleasure of witnessing Brendan in action, you’ll understand why he’s a sought after commodity – whether you need deep expertise on tax policy or the perfect movie quote for any occasion.”

HRC WATCH .

— “Hillary Clinton ribs Trump with Russian fur hat at Yale’s Class Day” — AP/New Haven: “Hillary Clinton returned to Yale University on Sunday, warning the graduating class of the ‘tumultuous times’ that await them and using the school’s tradition of over-the-top headwear to rib President Trump with her own unusual hat: a Russian fur cap. ‘If you can’t beat them, join them,’ Clinton said as the audience laughed.” http://bit.ly/2KGAzPD . Video of her speech http://bit.ly/2IX972Z

— “Hillary Clinton to receive prestigious Harvard medal” – AP/Cambridge: “The former First Lady, U.S. Senator, Secretary of State and Democratic candidate for president will be awarded Friday in Cambridge with the Radcliffe Medal, which the university says honors individuals whose life and work have had a ‘transformative impact on society.'” https://yhoo.it/2IZJ4IJ

TRUMP’S MONDAY — The president will head to the CIA this morning and participate in the swearing-in ceremony of incoming CIA Director Gina Haspel. In the afternoon, Trump will participate in a signing ceremony of a joint resolution that repeals CFPB financing guidelines for auto loans. He will also host NASCAR Cup Series champion Martin Truex Jr. and his team at the White House. In the evening, the president is having dinner with governors to discuss border security and safe communities.

— FOX NEWS’ MARTHA MACCALLUM is interviewing VP MIKE PENCE. It will air at 7 p.m. on "The Story with Martha MacCallum."

JEFFREY TOOBIN in the New Yorker, “The Impeachment War: Can a grassroots movement throw Trump out of office, or will it backfire?” (online headline: “Will the Fervor for Impeachment Start a Democratic Civil War?: A push to remove Donald Trump from office may lead to disaster in the midterms”): “According to a Quinnipiac University poll taken in April, fifty-two percent of American voters oppose impeachment. Another poll from around the same time reported that forty-seven per cent would definitely vote against a candidate who wanted to remove Trump from office.

“(In a sign of how divided the country is, forty-two per cent would definitely vote for a candidate who made such a promise.) Still, a powerful grassroots movement has formed in support of impeachment, a political cousin of sorts to the recent pushes for women’s rights and gun control. According to Quinnipiac, seventy-one percent of Democrats already favor impeachment.” http://bit.ly/2rWGWrj

DEEP DIVE — “Behind the Wall: As the U.S. abandons diplomacy, an Ambassador resigns in protest,” by Jon Lee Anderson in the New Yorker (online headline: “The Diplomat Who Quit the Trump Administration: For John Feeley, the Ambassador to Panama, moral failings at home seemed to compound tactical failings abroad”): “Jorge Guajardo, the former Mexican Ambassador [to China], told me that the loss of prestige was already evident. ‘In Latin America, the relationship with the U.S. has gone from aspirational to transactional,’ he said. ‘In countries like Mexico, we used to say, when there was a case of corruption, ‘If this happened in the U.S.A. …’

“But we don’t say that anymore. There used to be a kind of deference to the U.S. Not anymore. If something doesn’t benefit Mexico, we’ll walk away.’ In the past, he said, Latin-American countries looking for business partners might select a U.S. company over one from another country, because America represented higher ethical standards. Since Trump’s election, he said, things had changed. ‘There’s this idea that the States is just like the rest of us. That’s the saddest thing to me.'” http://bit.ly/2LfVni8

MEDIAWATCH — “NYU Abu Dhabi blocks journalists from filming John Kerry,” by AP’s Jon Gambrell in Abu Dhabi: “Former U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry on Sunday warned that ‘true civil discourse’ is under threat around the world while speaking to graduates at NYU Abu Dhabi, an event that the school blocked journalists from filming. … NYU Abu Dhabi invited reporters to cover Kerry’s speech, then just before the ceremony said journalists from The Associated Press and others could not film his full remarks. They said the school would offer video that it would editorially control after the event.” http://bit.ly/2KE2HDi

SPOTTED: Mike Braun, the Republican nominee for the Indiana Senate seat held by Joe Donnelly, flying in coach from Indianapolis to DCA Sunday . Donna Brazile on a 12 p.m. Acela from New York to Washington … Anderson Cooper on the 11 a.m. British Airways flight from Heathrow to Dulles …

. Kiefer Sutherland with Betty Who and conductor Luke Frazier at the American Pops performance of “Let’s Misbehave: Cole Porter After Dark” on Saturday night at Arena Stage – pic http://bit.ly/2k9Zzno

WEEKEND WEDDING — Naveen Parmar, a House Financial Services and Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) alum now at Nationwide, married Bindi Patel, who works at Booz Allen Hamilton, on Saturday at the Gaylord National Harbor. In a traditional Indian ceremony, the groom rode in on a white horse surrounded by friends and family. SPOTTED: Baylor University Head Football Coach Matt Rhule, Dean Pappas, Ben Brewster, Steve English, Jonathan Ganter, Priya Dayananda, Chris Ganter, Catherine and Jon Nabavi, Sarah Shive, Justin Pelletier and Melissa Jung.

BIRTHDAY OF THE DAY: Mosheh Oinounou, executive producer of the “CBS Evening News with Jeff Glor”. A book he’s recently read: “Lawrence Wright’s ‘Thirteen Days in September: The Dramatic Story of the Struggle for Peace.’ It is an incredible tic-tock of the Carter-Begin-Sadat summit. Wright interviews surviving members of the three teams, takes you inside the high-stakes drama of the talks and the personalities and relationships between the key players. As we cover the fallout of the Iran deal and upcoming North Korea talks, it is a great reminder that international diplomatic success or failure comes down to a handful of individuals — their idiosyncrasies, fears and courage.” Read his Playbook Plus Q&A: https://politi.co/2s0GVlh

BIRTHDAYS: AEI President Arthur Brooks… Gillian Reagan … Mike Viqueira is 58 … Reilly Balderston . AP’s Deb Riechmann . Michael Gartland, speechwriter for the NYC Council … Rebecca Leber, Mother Jones reporter … Tom Allon, City and State CEO, is 56 … Fred Frommer, head of the sports business practice at Dewey Square . Joshua Henne of White Horse Strategies … Beth Dozoretz … Steven Newmark … Bill Black … Abigail P. Gage … Jeffrey Kluger, editor at large at TIME (hat tip: Jon Haber) … Doug Randall … Krista Ritacco … Politico’s Grace Barnes … IMF’s Ross Rattanasena … Lacey Rose, communications director for Rich Cordray … former Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.) is 67 … former Rep. Tom Feeney (R-Fla.) is 6-0 (h/t Chuck Nadd, who was Feeney nominated to West Point) … former Sen. George LeMieux (R-Fla.) is 49 … Katharine Cooksey, the U.S. Chamber’s manager of media and external communications (h/t Blair Latoff Holmes) …

… Anna Smith Lacey, executive director of the Hungary Initiatives Foundation … Jeffrey Toobin is 58 … Edelman’s Amy Larkin Long … Rachel Bayens, partner at Government Strategies … CNBC’s Steve Liesman is 55 … Darin McKeever is 44 … Baupost Group’s Seth Klarman is 61 … Maria Devarakonda … Rebecca Shaw … Hampton Cokeley … Brandon Pollak (h/t Peter Cherukuri) … Erika Paola Gutierrez … Jessica Lahey … Mary Ann Gomez Orta, president and CEO of the Congressional Hispanic Leadership Institute … Ken Herman . Lani Miller … Emily Bucci … Jennifer Treat … Susan Hansen … Kathryn Carlson … Robert Opacki (h/ts Teresa Vilmain)

The original story can be found here.