Good Monday morning and happy President's Day. I'm Anna Palmer and welcome to your Politico Playbook audio briefing, sponsored by Pharma.

It's been a pretty quiet holiday weekend, but President Donald Trump has kept busy tweeting all weekend long.

The Washington Post reports that he has been venting to friends about the Russia investigation and asking Mar-a-Lago members about whether he should champion

gun control measures. The AP is reporting that part of the reason for his grousing has been because

White House aides advised him against golfing so soon after the tragic school shooting in Florida.

The New York Times has a big read look at Michael Cohen, Trump's longtime lawyer and fixer,

and how he was involved in stifling potentially damaging stories about alleged sexual misconduct

by Trump. And the LA Times has a story on Rick Gates flipping. He is now pleading guilty

and has agreed to testify against Paul Manafort.

While the Boston Globe has an interesting story about state election officials across the country returning to paper ballots, the thought, there's large fears of hacking attacks aimed at undermining American democracy.

And in case you were wondering where the president stands on Oprah Winfrey, he tweeted late

last night about her 60 Minutes appearance, calling her very insecure and that she asked biased

and slanted questions.

And let's talk Russia.

Susan Glasser has a big interview with Ash Carter, where he discussed ordering the Pentagon to respond to Russia

seizing Crimea in 2015. His ask, he wanted the Pentagon to produce its first Russia war plan

since the end of the Cold War. And Darren Samuelson is reporting that conservatives are urging

Trump to grant pardons in the Russia probe, an attempt to limit

the investigation's impact.

CBS's Margaret Brennan spoke with Secretary of State Rex Tillerson last night for 60 minutes.

Highlights included Tillerson talking about how North Korea, being within striking distance

of the U.S. mainland, has made him nervous, but it also

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