Good Monday morning. I'm Anna Palmer and welcome to your Politico Playbook Audio Briefing,

sponsored by Morgan Stanley. And I'm Jake Sherman. Peter Baker of the New York Times relays James

Baker's advice for Chiefs of Staff on John Kelly's first day in the office. You can focus on the

chief or you could focus on the of staff. Those who have focused on the of staff have done

pretty well. We've also got an

interesting spotted from this weekend's Politicon in Los Angeles. Congressman Brad Sherman,

the author of articles to impeach Donald Trump, was seen chatting with two allies, Roger Stone and

Robert Dobby, in the Green Room in Pasadena. The big news of the day is that Russia is expelling

more than 700 diplomats in

response to U.S. sanctions. The New York Times, as David Sanger reports, that Vladimir Putin's

bet on the Trump presidency has backfired and that the relationship between Moscow and Washington

is unraveling. This comes as the Washington Post is reporting that tensions are spiraling upward

between the U.S. and North Korea. The Post reports

that the U.S. flew two supersonic B-1 bombers over the Korean Peninsula as part of a joint

exercise with Japan and South Korea. And the U.S. also conducted a missile defense test over the

Pacific Ocean. The Washington Post, Ashley Parker, is in Estonia with Vice President Mike Pence

and reports

that Pence had a message from the president. He said, quote, Russia's destabilizing activities,

its support for rogue regimes, its activities in Ukraine are unacceptable. Pence said that the

Russia sanctions bill that Trump will sign could actually improve relations between the two countries.

He said, quote,

we continue to believe that if Russia will change its behavior, our relationship can change for the good and improve for the interests in both of our countries and the interests of peace and stability

...