With help from John Hendel, Steven Overly, Margaret Harding McGill and Ashley Gold

DEPARTING TWITTER EMPLOYEE PULLS PLUG ON TRUMP ACCOUNT — Twitter on Thursday revealed that an employee deactivated President Donald Trump’s account, which was down for 11 minutes. “Through our investigation we have learned that this was done by a Twitter customer support employee who did this on the employee’s last day,” the company tweeted. Twitter said it is conducting an internal review and is “taking steps” to prevent this from happening again. The incident seemed to suggest that a number of Twitter employees have the access to deactivate accounts — even high-profile ones. Read more.

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THE TAX BILL AND TECH — Two pillars of the newly unveiled House GOP tax legislation could mean good news for a number of tech giants. For one, the bill would slash the corporate tax rate to 20 percent, a significant dip from the existing 35 percent rate and a change behemoths in the industry have long pushed for, even though few companies currently pay the full rate. The legislation also offers a one-time 12 percent tax rate for repatriated overseas earnings that are liquid, meaning that companies like Apple, Amazon and Facebook that store profits abroad could bring those stashed earnings back home without having to deal with as steep a tax payment (the current rate for repatriated earnings is as high as 35 percent). It’s not all sunshine and rainbows for tech, though. The plan also includes a 10 percent minimum tax on companies' foreign earnings, up from the little to no taxes they may currently pay on money that’s squirreled away overseas. The provision is designed to curb the appeal of moving profits abroad to avoid paying taxes, Pro Trade’s Megan Cassella reports.

— As Steven reported earlier, tech pumped major dollars and firepower into lobbying on tax reform: “Tech companies tapped 546 tax lobbyists in the first half of 2017, more than during any of the previous six years, according to data from the Center for Responsive Politics.”

— TechNet, a trade group that includes Amazon, Facebook and Apple, lauded the legislation. “We are encouraged to see a commitment in this bill to significantly lower the corporate tax rate, make it easier for global businesses to bring back overseas earnings to invest here at home, promote startups, preserve the R&D tax credit and restore the investment tax credit,” President and CEO Linda Moore said in a statement.

BROADCOM PROMISES IN QUESTION — Broadcom CEO Hock Tan stood beside President Donald Trump in the Oval Office on Thursday to tout that the semiconductor company’s shift of its headquarters from Singapore to the U.S. will come with investments of $3 billion per year in research and development spending and $6 billion per year on manufacturing. Trump echoed those figures in a tweet hours later. But here’s the fine print: Those investments aren’t new. The company later confirmed to POLITICO that those investments include the firm’s existing U.S. investments, plus those of an American company it is angling to acquire. Broadcom announced plans to acquire Brocade Communications last November, but the deal is under review at the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States. That body questions whether foreign entities buying an American corporation poses a national security concern — scrutiny that would be squelched with Broadcom’s planned move to the U.S.

FCC REAUTH MARKUP BEFORE THANKSGIVING? — Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) told John on Thursday that the full House Energy and Commerce Committee markup of the FCC Reauthorization Act may come before Thanksgiving break: “I think you’ll see it in the next couple weeks.” E&C lawmakers unanimously advanced the FCC reauthorization bill from the panel’s telecom subcommittee last month, with some outstanding questions on whether it could provide more money for broadcasters that have to move spectrum channels after a recent FCC auction. Earlier this week, E&C Chairman Greg Walden told John he has talked with FCC Chairman Ajit Pai on outstanding issues and said policymakers are still trying to figure out exactly how much money broadcasters may need. He expects more money will be necessary but is not sure how much or how provisions should be drafted. “We’re still working out some details,” Walden said then.

LAWMAKERS TO TECH: IT’S JUST THE BEGINNING — Ashley caught up with a few senators following this week’s Russian social media meddling hearing-palooza to figure out what’s next for lawmakers and tech companies as they grapple with what happened on their platforms during the 2016 presidential election:

Sen. James Lankford (R-Okla.): The Senate Intelligence Committee hearing “was just another step in our long process. We’ll keep moving,” he said, adding that he’s asked Facebook, Google and Twitter for better data. “They have an obligation, because a lot of Americans believe they’re interacting with another American and they’re not.”

Sen. Angus King (I-Maine): “The first next step is that the tech companies need to come back to us with what they can do within their rules and within the First Amendment to protect us. I want to hear what they can do technically.”

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.): “I think probably we need a commission of experts to tell us how to deal with social media, get some group of people like we did after 9/11 to figure out how to deal with the gaps in our laws.” (More on that, here.)

Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.): “I think we need to look carefully at it,” she said, mentioning she wants to look at Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, which deals with liability protection. She’s planning on taking a look at the Honest Ads Act (S. 1989 (115) as well. Speaking of the bill, two of its sponsors, Sens. Mark Warner (D-Va.) and Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), trolled Facebook in order to show how easy it is to purchase ads without any need for verification of their identities, Axios reports.

Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.): “First and foremost, we should move ahead with the [Honest Ads Act] and with additional fact-finding.”

GOOD FRIDAY MORNING and welcome to Morning Tech, where we thought the Mean Girls musical was pretty fetch. Send your tech and telecom tips to [email protected] and @liszhou. Catch the rest of the team’s contact info after Quick Downloads.

Got an event for MT’s tech calendar? Email us the details at [email protected].

HARRIS, FEINSTEIN BEAT DRUM ON EMERGENCY ALERTS — California Sens. Kamala Harris and Feinstein still have questions for Pai about the FCC’s wireless emergency alert system, following the agency’s latest move on the issue. The lawmakers previously wrote to Pai about concerns they had about the inability to effectively geo-target such alerts, in the aftermath of the Northern California wildfires and reports that some residents hadn’t received the warning messages. “We are pleased to see the FCC Chairman commit to address this issue, but the Chairman has not answered our basic questions nor specified a timeline for action,” they said in a statement. “We will closely monitor FCC proceedings to make sure these improvements are made to the WEA system.”

TECHIES GIVE BIG TO OBAMA FOUNDATION — The Obama Foundation holds its inaugural summit this week, offering some Democrats the chance to escape reality for a bit, POLITICO’s Edward Isaac-Dovere reports. Techies are among those that have bolstered the donor base for the Obama Foundation, according to a list disclosed on the organization’s website. Among those that have made big ticket contributions: Ann and John Doerr, The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, former U.S. Chief Technology Officer Todd Park, Penny Pritzker and Bryan Traubert, Microsoft Corporation, Michelle Yee and Reid Hoffman, and former Twitter CEO Evan Williams and Sara Morishige.

FIRSTNET ADDS TWO MORE — Pennsylvania and South Carolina are the latest states to opt in to the state plan for the public safety broadband network, bringing the grand total of states and territories that have opted in to 30.

OFF TO ASIA — Qualcomm CEO Steven Mollenkopf is among the U.S. business executives who will accompany Trump on his upcoming voyage to Asia. Trump will spend more than a week meeting with leaders in Japan, South Korea, China, Vietnam and the Philippines. It was unclear whether Mollenkopf will join him for all or part of the trip. A company spokeswoman declined to comment. Qualcomm has extensive business dealings in Asia, but the company is currently enmeshed in trade disputes with regulators in South Korea and Taiwan.

SOPA AUTHOR BOWS OUT — Rep. Lamar Smith (R-Tex.), the chief author of SOPA, has announced that he will not seek reelection to the House. The Stop Online Piracy Act ignited a massive tech outcry when it was introduced in 2011 because it would mean severe repercussions for any website that displayed pirated content. “The bill would have also given rights holders the power to get court orders barring ad services and credit card companies from doing business with infringing websites, and it required Domain Name Server providers to blacklist sites that hosted infringing content,” Ars Technica reports.

LEARNING TO FLY, BUT I AIN’T GOT WINGS — Virtual reality companies took over the FCC’s commission room Thursday to show how the technology can be used for everything from getting over a fear of flying to learning CPR. The CTIA Wireless Foundation put on the mobile virtual reality expo, with CTIA head Meredith Attwell Baker noting that while 4G networks give a peek at what’s possible, next-generation 5G services (nudge, nudge) are expected to foster the full potential of mobile virtual reality.

SILICON VALLEY MUST-READS

— Another Qualcomm-Apple clash: “Qualcomm has sued Apple, alleging that it violated a software license contract to benefit rival chipmaker Intel for making broadband modems, the latest salvo in the longstanding dispute between Qualcomm and Apple,” Reuters reports.

— Eric Schmidt champions NAFTA: “The U.S. economy is ‘critically dependent’ on supply chains with Canada, said the chairman of Alphabet Inc. as Justin Trudeau warned of the downside of a Nafta collapse,” Bloomberg reports.

— DOT announces drone pilot program details: The program would enable private sector players to develop and test different drone options, including delivery programs, UAS Magazine reports.

MEANWHILE, IN EUROPE — “EU Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager said she’s not opposed to U.S. monopolies in Europe and doesn’t see the breaking up of large businesses as a solution to anti-competitive behavior,” Bloomberg reports. “Speaking at the Wired Live event in London on Thursday, she also expressed concern that Ireland’s collection of the record 13 billion euros ($15.2 billion) of back taxes from Apple Inc. was taking too long.”

TRANSITIONS — Brian Dietz has been promoted to senior vice president for strategic communications at NCTA – The Internet & Television Association, and Rob Stoddard moves to senior vice president for industry & association affairs at the organization. … “Podesta Group lobbyist Paul Brathwaite is leaving the troubled firm to set up his own shop,” Steven reports.

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Waymo teams up with AutoNation: “Waymo, one of the leading forces in self-driving technology, is enlisting the largest auto retailer in the United States, AutoNation, to maintain and repair the growing number of driverless vehicles Waymo is testing around the country,” The New York Times reports.

On again, off again: “T-Mobile and Sprint are working to salvage their potential blockbuster merger,” The Wall Street Journal reports.

Tips, comments, suggestions? Send them along via email to our team: Eric Engleman ([email protected], @ericengleman), Angela Greiling Keane ([email protected], @agreilingkeane), Nancy Scola ([email protected], @nancyscola), Margaret Harding McGill ([email protected], @margarethmcgill), Ashley Gold ([email protected], @ashleyrgold), Steven Overly ([email protected], @stevenoverly), John Hendel ([email protected], @JohnHendel) and Li Zhou ([email protected], @liszhou)