Morning Briefing: Trump Courts a Dem, Starbucks Founder, Campaigns Clash

Donald Trump said on Thursday night that he has picked retired Marine Gen. James N. Mattis to lead the Defense Department — although the formal nomination won't come until next week, according to the Trump team. But it's a Friday meeting for another potential Trump appointment that has Democrats running scared: North Dakota Democratic Sen. Heidi Heitkamp will meet with the president-elect at Trump Tower to discuss a position in his Cabinet.

Should she accept an offer, it would deliver Democrats a dual blow. It would immediately give Senate Democrats — who are already in the minority 52-48 — one less member. And her departure would almost certainly mean a Republican would take her seat in an overwhelmingly red state that voted for Trump over Clinton 64 percent to 28 percent.

Heitkamp has tried to downplay the meeting but noted that she has "common interest" with Trump.

“The president-elect asked me to come for a meeting. I don’t even know if it’s about a job,” Heitkamp told reporters Thursday. “And we’re looking forward to having a very productive discussion.

“So we think that there is certainly common interest in doing things in energy, common interest in doing things in agriculture,” she said. “Rural America is a high priority, I would think, for the new administration so I'm anxious to talk about new ideas to revitalize and create economic opportunities in rural America.”

In a statement about the meeting, Heitkamp insisted she would work with both sides of the aisle, saying in a statement, "Whatever job I do, I hope to work with the President-elect and all of my colleagues in Congress on both sides of the aisle to best support my state."

Top Stories

Heidi Heitkamp's Donald Trump Meeting Sets Off Alarm Bells for Democrats: "President-elect Donald Trump is set to meet Friday with North Dakota Sen. Heidi Heitkamp, a red-state Democrat, which could put Senate Democrats at a further disadvantage if she were to join the Trump administration." (CNN)

Trump Picks Retired Marine Gen. James Mattis for Secretary of Defense: "President-elect Donald Trump said Thursday he has chosen retired Marine Gen. James N. Mattis, who has said that responding to 'political Islam' is the major security issue facing the United States, to be secretary of defense. 'We are going to appoint Mad Dog Mattis as our secretary of defense,' Trump told a rally in Cincinnati, the first stop on a post-election 'thank-you tour.'" (The Washington Post)

Howard Schultz Steps Down As Starbucks CEO: "Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz will step down in April to focus on developing more of the coffee chain's high-end Starbucks Reserve stores. Kevin Johnson, the president and COO of the company, will take Schultz's place by April 3, 2017." (Patch)

Anderson Cooper Rejected Andy Cohen Because Cohen Quickly Broke a ‘Cardinal Rule': "Andy and I were first set up on a blind date, which never happened because we had a phone call and after two minutes I said, 'I'm not dating this guy,' Cooper divulged on Watch What Happens Live last night." (Vulture)

Shouting Match Erupts Between Clinton and Trump Aides: "The raw, lingering emotion of the 2016 presidential campaign erupted into a shouting match here Thursday as top strategists of Hillary Clinton’s campaign accused their Republican counterparts of fueling and legitimizing racism to elect Donald Trump. The extraordinary exchange came at a postmortem session sponsored by Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government, where top operatives from both campaigns sat across a conference table from each other." (The Washington Post)

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Today's Numbers

• Anthony Weiner has been fined $65,000 for using campaign cash from his 2013 mayoral run for personal expenses.
• A GOP-led House is scheduled to vote today on a $611 billion defense bill that would prohibit closing the prison at Guantanamo Bay and give U.S. troops their largest pay raise in six years.
• The widow of legendary journalist Hunter S. Thompson is working on cloning the writer's personal 12-15-year-old marijuana stash so it can be sold on the mass market.
• Mastercard says more than $118 billion in sales were lost in 2014 because of false claims of fraudulent charges.
• SpaceX could bring back the Falcon 9 rocket to flight on Dec. 16.

Quote of the Day

Arizona Sen. John McCain on President-elect Donald Trump:

"I have not been commenting on Mr. Trump and I will continue not to comment on Mr. Trump."

Allen McDuffee is a politics and policy reporter, investigative journalist, blogger and podcast host. He has written for The Atlantic, Wired and The Washington Post. Follow him on Twitter: @AllenMcDuffee

Photo credit: Gage Skidmore via Flickr Commons