With David Beavers and Daniel Lippman

‘APOSTATE REPUBLICAN’ STARTS A NEW COMMUNICATIONS SHOP: Sarah Longwell, a prominent Republican critic of President Donald Trump and longtime Washington operative, has started a new communications firm, Longwell Partners. The firm “will lead campaigns and projects that require engaging stakeholders and building coalitions that transcend party or tribal lines,” she said in a statement. The firm will also handle video, advertising and strategic communications work. Carson Putnam, Barry Rubin, Chris Herbert and Ben Parker round out the staff.

— Longwell is far from the only Republican in town who’s publicly criticized Trump, but she’s been more open about it than most. She described herself as an “apostate Republican” in a piece in The Atlantic in October in which she urged Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) to rally other Republican senators to remove Trump from office if the House votes to impeach him. And she serves as executive director of Defending Democracy Together, a nonprofit she started with Bill Kristol to resist Trumpism within the Republican Party.

— In an interview, Longwell said two of her firm’s first clients will be Defending Democracy Together and Republic Affairs, a nonprofit that publishes The Bulwark, a conservative publication that’s critical of Trump, and for which Longwell is the chief strategist. She expects her firm to work on immigration and civic education issues as well. “I’m going to work with clients, and I believe there are a lot of them, that believe in the same values I believe in,” she said.

Good afternoon, and welcome to PI. Tips: [email protected]. Twitter: @theodoricmeyer.

NOTABLE DEPARTURES: Three senior staffers in Edelman’s Washington office, Peter Segall, Jeff Surrell and Erica Noble, have left the mammoth public relations firm in recent months, POLITICO’s Daniel Lippman reports. Segall was a managing director, and Surrell and Noble were executive vice presidents. Segall is now a senior public affairs and strategic communications counselor at JPStrategies LLC, according to his LinkedIn profile. Surrell has started his own firm, Shot Point Strategies. “I’ll be concentrating on public affairs and reputation management work for companies, associations, colleges & universities, etc.,” he wrote in an email to PI. And Noble is now associate director for global company communications at Procter & Gamble.

IF YOU MISSED IT ON TUESDAY: “An influential political power broker who was a witness named in the Mueller report was among eight people charged with conspiring to conceal the source of excessive contributions to groups supporting Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign, the Justice Department announced on Tuesday,” The New York Times’ Daniel Victor reports.

— “Prosecutors say George Nader, a Lebanese-American businessman who was a cooperating witness in Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election, conspired with Ahmad ‘Andy’ Khawaja, the owner of an online payments company, to conceal more than $3.5 million in donations to the groups. The donations let Mr. Khawaja gain access to Mrs. Clinton during the campaign, and he also visited with President Trump in the Oval Office, according to an investigation by The Associated Press last year.”

WHY BIG PHARMA IS WORKING WITH UNIONS TO DEFEAT DRUG-PRICING BILL: “House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s bill to lower drug prices has the backing of many of the nation’s biggest labor groups, including the United Auto Workers, the A.F.L.-C.I.O., and unions representing teachers and other government workers,” The New York Times’ Katie Thomas reports. “But a wave of Facebook ads that ran this fall appeared to suggest otherwise. The ads, featuring a dejected-looking man in a hard hat, warned that the bill ‘threatens thousands of good-paying jobs and restricts access to lifesaving medication.’”

— “The ads were paid for by a little-known group, the Pharmaceutical Industry Labor-Management Association, that is trying to defeat drug-pricing proposals around the country, from statehouses in Nevada, Maryland and Oregon to Congress. … The group, a coalition that includes major drugmakers like Pfizer and Johnson & Johnson as well as large construction-industry unions whose members help build pharmaceutical plants and research labs, has been buying print advertisements in local newspapers, mailing fliers to voters in vulnerable Democratic districts, and hiring former labor officials and well-known union lobbyists to deliver their message.”

Jobs Report

— The National Governors Association has hired Susie Perez Quinn as director of government affairs and Eric Wohlschlegel as director of communications. Perez Quinn previously was chief of staff to former Sen. Bill Nelson (D-Fla.); Wohlschlegel was acting vice president of media and external communications at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. Both will report to Bill McBride, who took over as executive director in August.

— Anheuser-Busch has hired Sydney Fincher as manager of federal government affairs. She previously was a professional staff member for Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.), focusing on immigration, border security and Justice Department grant programs.

— The Consumer Healthcare Products Association has hired Beth Allgaier as senior vice president of business development and industry relations, effective Jan. 6. She previously was director of corporate relations at the Melanoma Research Foundation.

— Mario Brossard has joined Global Strategy Group’s politics and insights team as vice president in Washington. He previously ran his own consulting practice.

— Stratacomm has hired six: Darius Booker as assistant account executive, Megan Corson as senior art director, Kara Frank as account director, Meredith Frank as project manager, Nilayam “Nil” Patel as graphic designer and Jenny Rios as vice president.

— Peter Albrecht has joined A|L Media as senior vice president in Washington, Playbook reports. He previously was a vice president at DSPolitical.

SPOTTED: At Charlie Palmer on Tuesday around noon, according to a PI tipster: former House Speaker Paul Ryan meeting with Jason Church, a former aide to Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) who’s running in a special election for the seat vacated by former Rep. Sean Duffy (R-Wis.).

— At the American Council of Life Insurers’ holiday party on the roof of 101 Constitution Ave., according to a PI tipster: Sens. John Thune (R-S.D.), Ben Sasse (R-Neb.), Susan Collins (R-Maine) and Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.); Reps. Andy Barr (R-Ky.), Bryan Steil (R-Wis.), Tim Walberg (R-Mich.), Ben McAdams (D-Utah), Glenn Grothman (R-Wis.) and Al Lawson (D-Fla.); Susan Neely of the American Council of Life Insurers; Mike Consedine of the National Association of Insurance Commissioners; Marc Cadin of the Association for Advanced Life Underwriting; Gloria Dittus of Story Partners; Heather Podesta of Invariant; and Sara Fagen of Deep Root Analytics.

— At the National Retail Federation’s holiday reception Tuesday night, according to a PI tipster: Rep. Kevin Hern (R-Okla.), Virginia Foxx (R-N.C.), Steve Chabot (R-Ohio), Troy Balderson (R-Ohio), Carol Miller (R-W.Va.) and Tom Emmer (R-Minn.); Sara Armstrong of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce; Walmart’s Jana Barresi, Tres Bailey and Adam Hemphill; Lou Hayden of Lowe’s; Bill Miller of the American Gaming Association; Scott Melville of the Consumer Healthcare Products Association; Dirk van Dongen of the National Association of Wholesalers; Mike Shutley of Dunkin’ Brands; and the National Retail Federation’s Matthew Shay.

New Joint Fundraisers

None

New PACs

Triangle Anesthesia PAC (PAC)

New Lobbying REGISTRATIONS

Forethought Advisors, LLC: Affirm, Inc.
Invariant LLC: Solugen, Inc.
Invariant LLC: Volans-i
Neale Creek, LLC: The Glover Park Group on behalf of Flour [sic] Corporation
Neale Creek, LLC: The Glover Park Group on behalf of Population Institute

New Lobbying Terminations

Pickard Djinis and Pisarri LLP: Institutional Shareholder Services Inc.
The Keelen Group, LLC: American Institute of Architects
The Keelen Group, LLC: Viaduct International
Townsend Public Affairs: City of Huron
Townsend Public Affairs: City of Riverbank

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