| | | | | |  | | By Anna Palmer, Jake Sherman, Eli Okun and Garrett Ross | Presented by |  | | | AN AUGUST SURPRISE … ANDREW DESIDERIO, KYLE CHENEY and MARTIN MATISHAK: "Manafort worked with Russian intel officer who may have been involved in DNC hack, Senate panel says": "Donald Trump's 2016 presidential campaign chairman Paul Manafort worked closely with a Russian intelligence officer who may have been involved in the hack and release of Democratic emails during the election, the Senate Intelligence Committee concluded in a bipartisan report released Tuesday. "It's the furthest U.S. officials have gone in describing Konstantin Kilimnik, a longtime Manafort associate, as an agent of the Russian government. The disclosure was part of the committee's fifth and final installment of its report on the Kremlin's interference in the 2016 presidential election." POLITICO ... The report NEW … INSIDE THE DEM CAUCUS… A TRIO OF HOUSE DEMOCRATS has written a note to Speaker NANCY PELOSI and House Majority Leader STENY HOYER pushing her to schedule an unemployment insurance vote on Saturday, when the chamber will back for the USPS vote. THE LETTER was penned by Reps. SCOTT PETERS of California, DON BEYER of Virginia and DEREK KILMER of Washington state. We're told Rep. PRAMILA JAYAPAL (D-Wash.) will be signing on -- giving it big-time progressive credibility. The legislation they are pushing ties enhanced UI to the Covid emergency and unemployment rate. -- THE LETTER: "[W]e ask, as members return to Washington to address the crisis at the USPS, that the House consider legislation like the Worker Relief and Security Act … We owe it to people waiting to get back to work across the country not only to extend unemployment benefits to help them pay their bills, but to tie these benefits to economic conditions so workers are not held hostage by another cliff like this one. "The Worker Relief and Security Act would automatically continue, expand, and adjust enhanced unemployment insurance programs based on public health and economic triggers through the duration of the crisis without the need for further congressional action. Specifically, the bill would extend the $600 weekly federal pandemic unemployment compensation (FPUC) for the duration of the national COVID-19 health emergency, and then continue and adjust the weekly federal unemployment compensation amount and number of available unemployment benefit weeks dependent on the state total unemployment rate." MARIANNE LEVINE and DANIEL LIPPMAN: "Postmaster general to testify before Senate committee on Friday": "Postmaster General Louis DeJoy will testify Friday before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, according to Senate aides. "I wanted to give the [postmaster general] an opportunity to tell his side of the story before he appeared before a hostile House committee,' said Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), the chairman of the Senate Homeland and Governmental Affairs Committee. ... The hearing, titled 'Examining Finances and Operations of the United States Postal Service During COVID-19 and Upcoming Elections,' will take place at 9 a.m. Friday by video conference, according to a notice." POLITICO -- READ BETWEEN THE LINES: House Dems had DeJoy Monday -- now he's in the GOP Senate first. -- CNBC: "GOP and Trump ties run deep on the U.S. Postal Service's board of governors," by Brian Schwartz: "According to a CNBC review of public documents and disclosures, five members of the six-person board, including Chairman Robert Duncan, are linked to GOP and Trump circles through various campaign, legal and financial connections." ON THE 100TH ANNIVERSARY OF SUFFRAGE … "Trump pardons Susan B. Anthony for crime of voting as a woman," by Max Cohen: "President Donald Trump on Tuesday signed a pardon for women's suffrage icon Susan B. Anthony, who was arrested in 1872 for casting a ballot when women could not vote. "Trump announced the pardon at a White House event commemorating the 100th anniversary of the ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment. 'She was never pardoned,' Trump said, turning to speak directly to female leaders gathered behind him. 'What took so long?'" POLITICO Good Tuesday afternoon. JOIN US at 1:30 P.M. when we interview Speaker NANCY PELOSI in a special Playbook convention edition. Watch | | A message from the American Investment Council: Whether your child is learning from home or returning to the classroom, private equity-backed companies are helping to create a safer and more accessible educational experience this fall. Back to school will look different this year, but we're in this together. | | | NEW YORK GOV. ANDREW CUOMO has a new book out on Oct. 13 -- "American Crisis: Leadership Lessons from the Covid-19 Pandemic" … The cover … THIS DEAL was done by BOB BARNETT of Williams and Connolly. ALSO IN NEW YORK … ALLY MUTNICK (@allymutnick): New internal Dem poll finds a 5-point race in #NY01 where @RepLeeZeldin (R) leads @ngoroff (D) 47%-42% Trump won this Long Island seat by 12 points in 2016. BIDEN now leads Trump 46%-42% Poll by Global Strategy Group poll for Goroff campaign (Aug. 3-5, 400 LVs, +\-4.9%)" WOW ... WAPO:"The government spent tens of millions on a treatment for chemical weapons exposure. The company that makes it won't say whether it works," by Jon Swaine: "In June 2017, a director of regulatory affairs at the government contractor Emergent BioSolutions told colleagues that she objected to claims the company was making in a brochure for one of its newer products: a drug injector for victims of exposure to nerve agents. ... "Three months later, the Trump administration awarded Emergent a $20 million no-bid contract to supply those very injectors to the State Department. The firm later received a second contract, worth up to $100 million, to supply the agency with more of the injectors — sold under the name Trobigard — and related treatments. "A Post examination found that after a number of production problems, Emergent last year quietly began to recall tens of thousands of Trobigard units from foreign buyers and removed Trobigard from the official product line on its website and in its securities filings. The examination shows that Emergent secured contracts to supply an unproven medical treatment at a time when the mission of protecting U.S. diplomats against chemical attacks had taken on fresh urgency, in an effort the government code-named Project Mandrake." WaPo FROM BUST TO BOOM -- "The U.S. forced major manufacturers to build ventilators. Now they're piling up unused in a strategic reserve," by WaPo's Faiz Siddiqui in San Francisco: "During the first weeks of the covid-19 crisis in March, health officials panicked over an anticipated shortage of ventilators, breathing machines that were essential to help keep patients alive. But during the months it took for companies to develop their supply chains, test prototypes and train workers to build them, the approach to treating covid-19 changed. "Now, unexpectedly, the vast majority of ventilators are going unused. The Department of Health and Human Services said it had handed out 15,057 ventilators by Friday, and there were 95,713 ventilators in the federal stockpile. Of those, 94,352 came from contracts signed since the beginning of the pandemic." WaPo BEYOND THE BELTWAY -- "AP survey: States uncommitted to Trump's unemployment boost," by AP's Geoff Mulvihill: "President Donald Trump's plan to offer a stripped-down boost in unemployment benefits to millions of Americans amid the coronavirus outbreak has found little traction among the states, which would have to pay a quarter of the cost to deliver the maximum benefit. "An Associated Press survey finds that as of Monday, 18 states have said they will take the federal grants allowing them to increase unemployment checks by $300 or $400 a week. The AP tally shows that 30 states have said they're still evaluating the offer or have not said whether they plan to accept the president's slimmed-down benefits. Two have said no." AP -- "'We're going to get it done': Governors mobilize to fill Trump's testing gap," by Adam Cancryn: "Two weeks ago, while struggling to reopen schools and drive down infection rates without a national effort to improve and coordinate access to testing, [Maryland GOP Gov. Larry] Hogan pulled together six state leaders to take a drastic step: Try to build one on their own. ... "Now, the group is nearing an agreement to purchase 5 million rapid coronavirus tests, in a first-of-its-kind deal designed to slash testing turnaround times and fortify their states ahead of a potentially vicious Covid-19 resurgence in the fall. ... The coalition — made up of five Democrat-led states and five helmed by GOP governors — now plans to secure 500,000 tests per state from a pair of U.S. manufacturers as soon as this week, with the possibility of expanding later in the fall to include additional states that have already sought to join." | | | | PRE-GAME THE PRIME-TIME DNC LINEUP WITH POLITICO'S HIT "FOUR SQUARE" SHOW : This isn't quite how we predicted the convention would look back in January, but here we are. Time to make the most of it! Join Four Square host Eugene Daniels and top political journalists Tim Alberta, Laura Barrón-López, and Ryan Lizza throughout convention week for a breakdown of the day's biggest political developments and the buzz surrounding the convention. REGISTER HERE. | | | | | DNC DIGEST -- "For Bill Clinton, a Chance to Address a Party That Has Left Him Behind," by NYT's Adam Nagourney and Peter Baker: "[A]s Democrats hold their virtual nominating convention this week, Mr. Clinton, the 42nd president of the United States, is almost an afterthought. He will speak for less than five minutes on Tuesday, well before the 10 p.m. prime-time hour, in an address that he prerecorded from his home in Chappaqua, N.Y. "This will be the first Democratic convention in 36 years where Mr. Clinton will be little more than a bystander. Other than legacy-burnishing, there is almost nothing explicitly at stake for him politically. He is not running for president, thinking of running for president or promoting a spouse or protégé running for president." NYT -- JOHN HARRIS: "The Bill Clinton Comeback is Coming Soon": "If you think of presidential reputations as like stocks on Wall Street, now might be a good time to add some Bill Clinton to your portfolio. He is currently trading well below reasonable projections of his long-term value. "For all the pockmarks on his record -- in a #MeToo era some critics regard his sexual transgressions as beyond defense or redemption -- it is worth remembering some of the reasons why Clinton in 1992 ended a slump that saw Democrats losing five of the previous six presidential elections, and why in 1996 he became the first Democrat since FDR elected to two full terms. "The specific 'New Democrat' rhetoric and policies, including welfare reform and fiscal discipline, that infused Clinton's presidential campaigns and administration were reflections of the 1990s -- aimed at political problems that were confronting Democrats, and public policy problems confronting the country, as defined by large blocs of voters in both parties. These are a primary source of disdain toward Clinton from an ascendant left. It's true that some of Clinton's remedies from those years are hardly relevant to new political imperatives and new policy problems in 2020." LOOKING AHEAD ... ALEX ISENSTADT: "Trump's convention marks 2024 starting gun": "Nikki Haley has long been suspected of angling for a future White House run. So it wasn't surprising when the former UN ambassador reached out to President Donald Trump recently to ask to speak during next week's Republican National Convention. "The president agreed — and in recent weeks, he has remarked privately about the throng of potential 2024 aspirants who've made requests for coveted speaking slots. Trump's reelection is up in the air, but Republicans with national aspirations are already maneuvering to be the GOP's standard bearer in four years — an under-the-radar campaign that will burst into the open at the convention." POLITICO | | | | BECOME A CHINA WATCHER: The fate of U.S.-China communication is hanging in the balance. Now that the White House has issued an ambiguous future ban on "transactions" involving WeChat, what's next? The decisions made in Washington and Beijing will shape our future for decades to come. Join the conversation and gain expert insight from informed and influential voices in government, business, law, tech, and academia. China Watcher is as much of a platform as it is a newsletter. Subscribe today. | | | | | WHO'S GUARDING THE ELECTIONS -- "'We better get worried if Bill gets silenced,'" by Natasha Bertrand: "it has fallen to little-known career intelligence official William Evanina, director of the National Counterintelligence and Security Center and an FBI veteran, to take the lead on briefing — or deciding who briefs — 'those affected by potential malicious influence,' including the presidential candidates, political organizations, Congress, and, through press releases, the public. ... "In interviews, nearly a dozen current and former national security officials who have worked with Evanina characterized the counterintelligence chief either as a 'survivor' overly focused on keeping his political masters at bay or a 'total professional' who is aggressive but deliberate in his assessments." POLITICO OPIOID FILES -- "States Seek $26.4 Billion From Drug Companies in Opioid Litigation," by WSJ's Sara Randazzo: "States are asking for around $26.4 billion from major pharmaceutical industry players to help pay for damage wrought by the opioid crisis, people familiar with the matter said, the latest demand in yearslong litigation seeking to hold companies accountable for widespread drug addiction. "The current talks involve McKesson Corp., AmerisourceBergen Corp. and Cardinal Health Inc., which collectively distribute the majority of pharmaceutical drugs in the country, as well as Johnson & Johnson, which makes some opioid painkillers, the people said. More than 3,000 states, local governments and Native American tribes have sued companies up and down the pharmaceutical supply chain, blaming them for contributing to an influx of opioids into their communities." WSJ PLAYBOOK METRO SECTION -- "National Zoo awaits birth of pandemic panda cub," by AP's Ashraf Khalil: "Zookeepers at Washington's National Zoo are on furry black-and-white baby watch after concluding that venerable giant panda matriarch Mei Xiang is pregnant and could give birth this week. … Viewership on the zoo's panda-cam has increased 800%." MEDIAWATCH -- Chris Irvine will be a news editor at the Washington Examiner. He previously was a senior news editor at Fox News. IN MEMORIAM -- "Anne Ferguson-Rohrer, Washington Post editor and 'traffic cop' of news flow, dies at 58," by WaPo's Adam Bernstein: "Ms. Ferguson-Rohrer, a longtime copy desk chief who served most recently as night news director, overseeing late-breaking news coverage, died Aug. 18 at her home in Arlington, Va. She was 58. The cause was complications from pancreatic cancer, said Carrie Camillo, a friend and Post colleague who called her the 'traffic cop' of nighttime news." | | | | A message from the American Investment Council:   Private equity-backed companies are providing digital textbooks and software to support remote learning and partnering with individual schools to help them safely reopen. Learn more. | | | | | | | Follow us on Twitter | | | | Subscribe to the POLITICO Playbook family Playbook | Playbook PM | California Playbook | Florida Playbook | Illinois Playbook | Massachusetts Playbook | New Jersey Playbook | New York Playbook | Brussels Playbook | London Playbook View all our politics and policy newsletters | | Follow us | | | | |
