GLOBAL FINANCIAL MARKETS are down. … AS OF JUST AFTER 1 P.M., the Dow was down 1,045 points, or 3.6%.
— DETAILS FROM THE FT: “Global markets tumbled sharply as a surge of new coronavirus cases outside China shook investor hopes that the outbreak had been contained.
“Europe bore the brunt of the sell-off as fears over the impact of the virus on the global economy spread, with UK stocks having their worst day for five years and Italy’s MIB index dropping 5.6 per cent, its largest fall since 2016. …
“‘This is no longer solely an Asia issue,’ said Robert Carnell, chief Asia-Pacific economist at ING. In Europe, the continent-wide Stoxx 600 fell 4.2 per cent, while the UK’s FTSE 100 dropped 3.7 per cent. Airlines and tour operators were hit hard, with shares in easyJet falling 16 per cent and Ryanair sliding 13 per cent. This followed heavy falls in Asia where Seoul’s Kospi index fell 3.9 per cent, its worst day since late 2018.
“Investors rushed to buy haven assets, sending the yield on the benchmark 10-year US Treasury note, which moves inversely to prices, down by 9.5 basis points to 1.377 per cent. In US equities, the sell-off was led by microprocessor groups such as Advanced Micro Devices that face supply chain disruption related to the outbreak, and travel companies including American Airlines and Norwegian Cruise Line.”
BREAKING … HARVEY WEINSTEIN FOUND GUILTY … AP/NEW YORK: “Harvey Weinstein found guilty in landmark #MeToo moment”: “Harvey Weinstein was convicted Monday at his sexual assault trial, sealing his dizzying fall from powerful Hollywood studio boss to archvillain of the #MeToo movement. He was convicted on charges stemming from a 2006 sexual assault and a 2013 rape. The jury found Weinstein not guilty on the most serious charge, predatory sexual assault, that could have resulted in a life sentence. The most damaging conviction, for the sexual assault of production assistant Mimi Haleyi, would carry a maximum sentence of 25 years. …
“The verdict followed weeks of often harrowing and excruciatingly graphic testimony from a string of accusers who told of rapes, forced oral sex, groping, masturbation, lewd propositions and that’s-Hollywood excuses from Weinstein about how the casting couch works.” AP
ATTN. WHITE HOUSE … SEN. TIM SCOTT (R-S.C.) to GAYLE KING on “CBS THIS MORNING”: KING: “Do you think that Bernie Sanders is the biggest threat to President [Donald] Trump right now?” SCOTT: “I do think so. I would say that the biggest threat to President Trump is President Trump. …
“Well, if he’s on his game, as he was at the State of the Union, I don’t think there’s a candidate in the country that can beat him. If there is a second choice other than himself it would be Bernie Sanders. Bernie Sanders brings that outside game in a similar fashion that President Trump did in 2016. Think about the similarities. The 2016 Republican leadership, Republican wisdom said that there’s no way in the world out of the 17 candidates Donald Trump will be the president.”
INCOMING! … ABC’S LINSEY DAVIS is airing a jailhouse interview at 7 and 9 p.m. with MYON BURRELL, whose imprisonment by then-prosecutor AMY KLOBUCHAR was the subject of an AP investigation this month.
Good Monday afternoon. SPOTTED: retired Marine Gen. Jim Jones on a JetBlue flight from Palm Beach to DCA this morning.
SOME MORE … ONE READER emailed in Rep. HAKEEM JEFFRIES (D-N.Y.) as a BERNIE VP suggestion.
OUR BAD: TRUMP is speaking at CPAC on Saturday, not Friday, as we said this morning.
SCOTUS WATCH — “Supreme Court to Consider Religious Rights Case Involving Same-Sex Couples,” by WSJ’s Brent Kendall and Jess Bravin: “The Supreme Court said it would consider the city of Philadelphia’s decision to exclude a Catholic organization from its foster-care program because the group indicated it wouldn’t work with same-sex couples as foster parents, a case with major constitutional implications for church and state. …
“The appeal asks the Supreme Court to reconsider one of its bedrock modern precedents that says constitutional protections for the free exercise of religion don’t relieve people from complying with general laws that aren’t aimed at the promotion or restriction of religion.” WSJ
WHAT LEADERS GIVE TRUMP, via Bloomberg’s Josh Wingrove: “Trump’s Gifts From Other Nations Include a Vuitton Golf Bag and Portrait of Trump”: “The State Department on Monday published a list of gifts that foreign governments gave to Trump and other U.S. officials in 2018. The report offers a snapshot of how Trump’s peers curry his favor and a sometimes amusing account of how the U.S. government responds.
“France’s Emmanuel Macron gave Trump a Louis Vuitton golf bag and some photographs valued together at $8,275. The mayor of Davos, Switzerland, gave him a hickory golf putter ($450). The portrait from Vietnam was valued at $3,100. Trump and First Lady Melania Trump transferred everything they received to the National Archives, in keeping with U.S. law. The government treats some gifts less kindly. The Secret Service destroyed a clock that the Crown Prince of Bahrain gave to Vice President Mike Pence, possibly out of concern it might be a secret surveillance device.” Bloomberg
WHAT THE NRCC IS READING … Hotline’s @kirk_bado: “Let the speculators speculate, but #MN07 Rep. @collinpeterson hasn’t renewed his campaign domain…” The website image
STEPHEN MILLER’S LONG REACH — “As Trump Barricades the Border, Legal Immigration Is Beginning to Plunge,” by NYT’s Zolan Kanno-Youngs: “Legal immigration has fallen more than 11 percent and a steeper drop is looming.
“While Mr. Trump highlights the construction of a border wall to stress his war on illegal immigration, it is through policy changes, not physical barriers, that his administration has been able to seal the United States. Two more measures were to take effect by Monday, an expansion of his travel ban and strict wealth tests on green card applicants. … [T]he public charge rule may prove the most consequential change yet.” NYT
WELCOME TO THE NEXT 8 MONTHS? … MATT DIXON in Tallahassee: “Sanders speaks and Florida Democrats rush to distance themselves”
DEMS SCRAMBLING TO STOP SANDERS … MIKE BLOOMBERG is out with a new ad hitting Sanders on guns. (He tweeted it with the hashtag “#NotMeNRA.”) The ad … More from Caitlin Oprysko
— MORE CONTEXT: JONATHAN MARTIN (@jmartNYT): “The news here is that it’s a social media buy – not the artillery the estab types were hoping for from Team Mike today. Or yesterday.”
HOW SANDERS GOT HERE — “Sanders’ 2016 movement now has political machine to push it,” by AP’s Will Weissert: “By the fall of 2018, when Democrats were promoting a slate of centrist candidates to topple Republicans in Congress, Bernie Sanders was seeing a very different picture. The Vermont senator and avowed democratic socialist was convinced his most fervent supporters were as energized as ever, ready to rally around the political insurgency flag he planted in 2016. He could keep stoking the deep frustration and mistrust of the political system and attract backers who had felt too disillusioned to bother voting in the past …
“Sanders, 78, the oldest candidate in the race, also saw his unwavering commitment to universal health care, combating climate change, canceling student debt, and tuition-free college continuing to excite young people, including Latinos who came to call him ‘Tio’ (uncle) Bernie. And, most importantly, he was sure he’d have the money, enough consistent financial backing built on mostly small donations made online from around the country, to finish what he started in 2016.” AP
BATTLEGROUND WATCH — “The Republican Party’s Biggest State Investment So Far in 2020 Will Surprise You,” by The Daily Beast’s Sam Stein and Lachlan Markay: “From Jan. 1, 2019, through Jan. 31, 2020, the Republican National Committee has transferred $594,875 to the Arizona State Republican Party. That is the biggest transfer of money to any state that has not had congressional elections during that time period. And it significantly outpaces other states that are considered the main battlegrounds in the 2020 cycle.” Daily Beast
— TO WIT … @MediumBuying: “Donald J. Trump for President, Inc. is placing new ad spending in AZ. Start date is tomorrow, 2/25. … This spending is for 90-second TV spots.
5 DAYS TO SOUTH CAROLINA … “Tom Steyer Stirs More Debate Over Payments in South Carolina,” by NYT’s Stephanie Saul: “[A]s he tries to forge connections with the black community, some of Mr. Steyer’s transactions have drawn increased scrutiny, and prompted suggestions that he is trying to wield influence through his spending.
“That spending, recently filed campaign finance documents show, includes commercial rent payments to a company owned by Jennifer Clyburn Reed, a daughter of James E. Clyburn … Since October, the Steyer campaign has paid more than $40,000 to the company, 49 Magnolia Blossom L.L.C., for rental of its state headquarters office in Columbia.” NYT
THE POLICY PRIMARY — “How Sanders would provide free child care and early education for all,” by Juan Perez Jr.: “Sen. Bernie Sanders on Monday outlined a pitch to replace the country’s onerous child care and early childhood education system with a federally funded and universal program …
“Sanders and his campaign say the plan offers up free, full-day child care for every child from infancy, plus pre-K to every child in the country, starting at age 3. Much like his ‘Medicare for All’ pledge, Sanders’ idea features an eyebrow-raising price tag: $1.5 trillion spent during the next decade. How to pay for it? Tax the rich.” POLITICO … The plan
HOT ON THE LEFT — “Texas House Race Tests Democratic Voters’ Appetite for Liberal Insurgents,” by WSJ’s Natalie Andrews in Laredo: “[Rep. Henry Cueller] has no plans to debate with [Jessica Cisneros] before the primary on Super Tuesday, when Texas Democrats will also choose a presidential nominee. The vote March 3 is the first significant challenge to a House incumbent in the 2020 cycle and highlights the broader challenges the Democratic Party is facing, as progressive groups have sought to evict lawmakers deemed too out of step with the Democratic base.
“The race in some ways mirrors the split in the presidential primary, with some candidates demanding aggressive liberal policies and others taking a centrist approach. … The eight-term House Democrat is outspending his challenger and has an overall cash advantage heading into the final days of the campaign.” WSJ
HOW IMPEACHMENT IS PLAYING — “Impeachment fades for Slotkin as Democrats try to pivot away,” by AP’s Laurie Kellman in East Lansing, Mich.: “A man held up a hostile poster a few rows behind Michigan Rep. Elissa Slotkin as she spoke. On other side of the room, allies hoisted a Slotkin-friendly banner. But what was perhaps most striking at Slotkin’s first town hall since President Donald Trump’s impeachment was a newfound sense of civility.
“Inside East Lansing High School’s auditorium Friday there were no boos. No rowdy interruptions. No pauses in the program to let the tension pass, even in this swing House district at the center of a 2020 presidential battleground state.
“It was a sharp contrast from the five raucous public gatherings during the House impeachment proceedings last fall. The tenor suggested that Republican attacks on Democrats for backing impeachment may fall flat in some places. And it offered a snapshot of how effectively Democrats are making that turn from the doomed process to their agenda and the November elections.” AP
MEDIAWATCH — Eva Dou will be a China correspondent for WaPo, based in Beijing and focused on business and technology. She previously was a reporter for the WSJ in Beijing and Taipei. Announcement
TRANSITIONS — Andrea Thompson has been named a distinguished fellow at the Royal United Services Institute for Defence and Security Studies in London. She previously was undersecretary of State for arms control and international security. … John Galer is now assistant VP for national security space at the Aerospace Industries Association. He previously was legislative liaison at U.S. Strategic Command and is a former active-duty Air Force space operations officer.
ENGAGED — Kitty Kelsey, political coordinator at the NRSC, and Ryan Cawthon, business intelligence analyst at the RNC, got engaged this weekend in Old Town. They met on Marsha Blackburn’s Senate campaign. Pic … Another pic
BONUS BIRTHDAY: Kash Patel
