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

sponsored by BP. And I'm Jake Sherman. It's been a busy week to say the least. And we've got

a breakdown of where things actually stand just a few days after Donald Trump's joint speech to Congress.

Here's a reality check. Top White House aides insist that they can complete tax reform and sign it into law by August.

But they continue to be at open war over a central component of the tax reform package,

the House Republican idea to tax imports instead of exports. So far there's no bill, and most insiders

target early 2018 as the earliest completion date for a major tax reform package.

There are still hundreds of executive branch positions left unfilled, leaving the government

with bare-bone staff at best. And there is continued disagreement over the Paris Climate Agreement.

The New York Times has a front page story this morning that Steve Bannon wants

to withdraw while Ivanka Trump and Secretary of State Rex Tillerson would prefer not to.

And while Trump called for Republicans and Democrats to put partisan politics aside to do the

country's business, he still hasn't learned the art of politicking. Trump went to visit the USS

Gerald R. Ford, but he didn't invite

the Democratic lawmaker who represents the area to fly down on Air Force One. On Capitol Hill, just a half

dozen years after Republicans railed against Democrats for doing their work behind closed doors on

Obamacare, that's exactly what Republicans are doing when it comes to their own health care

bill, forcing members to read it in a secure zone. The big news this week, Attorney General Jeff

Sessions has recused himself from all investigations relating to anything to do with the Trump

campaign. This decision came just hours after Trump's White House press

secretary said there's no reason for him to recuse himself. In the juice, we've got Amy Dudley,

longtime communications director to Senator Tim Kane, joining the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative in

...