Good Wednesday morning. I'm Jake Sherman and welcome to your Politico Playbook Audio Briefing, sponsored by Morgan Stanley.

And I'm Anna Palmer. Happy Valentine's Day. The New York Times is out with a story on President Trump's lawyer paying $130,000 out of his own pocket to Stormy Daniels.

Michael Cohn said the president didn't know about the payment,

and he said he was never reimbursed either. Scott Pruitt can't seem to get away from his

luck's travel problems. Emily Holden reports he has a blanket waiver for wait for it, first class travel.

The EPA administrator's spokesman said it was due to security concerns,

though he declined to say what agency determined Pruitt flying coach was a security risk.

CBS also has a detailed story on taxpayers picking up the tab for Pruitt to fly round-trip business

first class to Italy for meetings, costing at least $7,000.

The battle for Congress is raging. Burgess Everett reports that Senator Bob Corker is getting

closer to considering a re-election bid. First and Playbook this morning, the Senate Leadership Fund

is up with an attack ad. It's first in the midterm elections in a targeted race against

Joe Manchin. Illinois Senator

Tammy Duckworth talked about the midterms with Anna in her latest women rule podcast. Duckworth

would not commit to Democrats retaking the Senate. Isaac Dovere has the scoop on the surrogate

Democrats don't want Bill Clinton. He writes that as Democrats look to embrace the Me Too movement,

lawmakers and candidates are saying privately, don't come to my state. The AP has the story on Trump's sons

causing problems in New York State. The issue? A hunting preserve, they bought that has caused

problems with locals over noise issues from guns. And we are on day eight of Rob Portergate.

Eliana Johnson has more details on how Porter is blaming his ex-wife's black eye on an accident.

He told reporters that she fell after the two fought over a glass base.

The drama continues for John Kelly.

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