| | | | | |  | | By Rachael Bade, Tara Palmeri, Eugene Daniels and Ryan Lizza | Presented by |  | | | | | | |  | DRIVING THE DAY | | When Republican TOM KEAN became head of the 9/11 Commission, he got a call from TIM RUSSERT asking him to come on "Meet the Press." Kean said he'd only appear if his Democratic counterpart on the commission, LEE HAMILTON, were invited too. Russert balked, so Kean — believing the only way for the commission to work was for it to look and act completely bipartisan — told him to "find someone else." Russert called him back five minutes later and relented. And the commission, which was split evenly between Republicans and Democrats, went on to become one of the most praised instances of bipartisan oversight in modern history. Twenty years later, Speaker NANCY PELOSI is calling for a "9/11-style" commission to investigate Jan. 6. But instead of equal representation, Pelosi's initial recommendation is for the panel to be made up of seven Democratic-appointed members and four Republican-appointed ones. That would be a mistake, the leaders of the original commission, Kean and Hamilton, told Playbook. Republican voters will never accept the findings if there's even a whiff of the investigation being driven by Democrats. "That does not sound to me like a good start; it sounds like a partisan beginning," Hamilton told us. Kean echoed that, warning that "unless you have equal representation … the report won't have as much confidence from the American people. It won't be as reliable." Pelosi's office has said her proposal was only a "discussion draft." And a Democrat familiar with negotiations over the commission said it's the GOP that's playing politics with it, dragging out the process and refusing to commit to a defined purpose for the panel. House Minority Leader KEVIN MCCARTHY — backed by Senate Minority Leader MITCH MCCONNELL — wants Republicans and Democrats to have the same number of picks as well as equal subpoena authority. (Both sides on the 9/11 Commission had subpoena power, though they chose to operate by majority vote.) The disagreement doesn't bode well for the Jan. 6 commission. The idea behind it is to insulate the probe from politics as much as possible in hopes of painting an authoritative and final picture of what happened that day. A definitive account is critical to counter conspiracy theories some Republican voters have latched onto suggesting the riot was caused by DONALD TRUMP'S critics. It's reasonable to ask whether a bipartisan commission is even possible in this day and age. Kean, for one, said he's "very concerned" that "both parties will tend to lean toward people who are partisan" to serve on the panel. But he hopes the parties will resist that impulse. | | A message from Google: Google helps Black-owned businesses get found online. In the past year, U.S. searches for "black owned businesses" have increased 600%. To make it easier for these businesses to be found by customers, owners can add the new Black-owned business attribute to their Business Profile on Google. Learn more. | | | RELATED: "What we know — and still don't — as Congress starts its Jan. 6 investigation," by Andrew Desiderio and Kyle Cheney: "Congress is taking its first steps toward a potentially massive investigation into the failures that contributed to the Capitol insurrection on Jan. 6. But its initial foray only underscored how little lawmakers — and the public — know about what truly transpired that day." — Coming today: McConnell, who's blasted Trump while declining to convict him, will speak about the Jan. 6 commission when he opens the Senate. BORDERLINE — When Democrats introduced their new comprehensive immigration bill last week, moderate and border-state members of the party raised concerns about the issue costing them both a shot at meaningful reform and control of Congress. "We don't want the far left to hijack the agenda," one strategist warned. "The breaking point is definitely at what point we give aid to the undocumented, whether we're creating a magnet for an influx of people … and whether we start talking about 'Abolish ICE.'" Enter AOC. On Tuesday night, Rep. ALEXANDRIA OCASIO-CORTEZ (D-N.Y.) weighed in with the type of Twitter thread that makes moderates cringe, writing about her opposition to an immigration system "built on a carceral framework." Her solution: "bold reimagination" of the system, including the ideas that "DHS shouldn't exist … ICE gotta go" and that the U.S. needs to "create climate refugee status & more." That sound you hear is conservative Republicans, keen to do nothing on the issue while painting Democrats as open-borders radicals, silently telling her to keep up the pressure. (h/t Marc Caputo) | | | | A message from Google:   Grow with Google has partnered with the U.S. Black Chambers to provide free digital training for Black-owned businesses nationwide. Learn more. | | | BIDEN'S WEDNESDAY — President JOE BIDEN will receive the President's Daily Brief at 9:50 a.m. At 2 p.m., Biden and VP KAMALA HARRIS will meet with members of the House and Senate from both parties to talk supply chains in the Oval Office. At 4:15 p.m., Biden will sign an executive order on the economy, with Harris attending. Harris will swear in LINDA THOMAS-GREENFIELD as U.S. ambassador to the U.N. at 12:35 p.m. and TOM VILSACK as Agriculture secretary at 6:15 p.m. — The White House Covid-19 response team and public health officials will brief at 11 a.m. Press secretary JEN PSAKI will brief at 12:30 p.m. along with Deputy NEC Director SAMEERA FAZILI and Senior Director for International Economics and Competitiveness PETER HARRELL. THE HOUSE returns at noon for legislative business. Votes begin at 1:15 p.m. THE SENATE meets at noon to consider JENNIFER GRANHOLM to be Energy secretary. At 4 p.m., the Senate will vote to invoke cloture on Granholm's nomination. | | | | NEW - "THE RECAST" NEWSLETTER: Power dynamics are changing. "Influence" is changing. More people are demanding a seat at the table, insisting that all politics is personal and not all policy is equitable. "The Recast" is our new twice-weekly newsletter that breaks down how race and identity are recasting politics, policy and power in America. And POLITICO is recasting how we report on this crucial intersection, bringing you fresh insights, scoops, dispatches from across the country and new voices that challenge "business as usual." Don't miss out on this important new newsletter, SUBSCRIBE NOW. Thank you to our sponsor, Intel. | | | | | | | PLAYBOOK READS | | | 
PHOTO OF THE DAY: Members of Congress observe a moment of silence during a candlelight ceremony for the more than 500,000 U.S. Covid-19 deaths on the steps of the Capitol on Tuesday, Feb. 23. | Al Drago/Getty Images | THE WHITE HOUSE OBAMA ALUM HELPS BIDEN STAFF UP — "Biden turns to Obama administration veteran to lead key federal personnel agency," WaPo: "President Biden has tapped Kiran Arjandas Ahuja, a civil rights lawyer, activist and Obama-era veteran, to lead the Office of Personnel Management, a department the Trump administration tried to kill but is now expected to take on a high-profile role … "Ahuja, 49, served as the personnel agency's chief of staff from 2015 to 2017 … Before that, she led the Initiative on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders in the Obama White House. … Ahuja returned to federal personnel matters during the Biden transition as head of the team reviewing OPM and other agencies that deal with the federal workforce, taking a leave from her role as chief executive of Philanthropy Northwest." CONGRESS THE GOP'S BIG GAMBLE — "'Bad politics for them': GOP sneers at Dem Covid bill," by Melanie Zanona and Burgess Everett: "Republicans are making a risky but calculated bet: that voters won't punish them for opposing a popular $1.9 trillion coronavirus bill. … Republicans are now gambling that there will be more backlash over schools staying closed, the Covid bill's massive price tag and a partisan process. … "If there's any risk of political blowback for lining up against Covid aid that polls well with the public, most Republicans aren't seeing it. … [M]any Republicans are rallying against the Biden agenda, hoping to shift away from uncomfortable questions about the party's identity in the post-Trump world. Now they are marketing the relief bill as a pork-laden offering to progressives who helped push Biden into office. And very few Republicans say they have any qualms about opposing it." DEJA VU — ROB PORTMAN in WAPO: "Biden promised bipartisanship. That rhetoric hasn't been matched by action": "The Biden administration's partisan approach repeats the same mistake that Barack Obama made early in his presidency. It sets the wrong tone for the beginning of a new administration and risks undermining other bipartisan efforts going forward." POLITICS CORNER FIRST IN PLAYBOOK — The Texas storm is already becoming a presence in the special election to fill the seat of the late GOP Rep. RON WRIGHT, who died of Covid-19. Educator SHAWN LASSITER, a Democrat, launched an ad today called "Instinct" that highlights her breath in a cold house — and makes reference to Cancungate. Wright won by 8 points in November, and his wife SUSAN is a possible frontrunner — but the district (Texas' 6th) voted for Trump by just 3 points so it could be competitive. Gov. GREG ABBOTT on Tuesday set the jungle primary for May 1, with a runoff to follow. There are contenders from both parties already in the ring. — MEANWHILE, CRUZ CONTROL: "Now Ted Cruz may be buying his own books through a mystery company," Salon: "One day before the Georgia Senate runoff elections — and two days before the Capitol insurrection — a leadership PAC attached to Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, paid hundreds of thousands of dollars to a mystery company that had previously bought copies of Cruz's book, according to recent filings with the Federal Election Commission… "Over the course of 2020, the Cruz-affiliated Jobs, Freedom, and Security PAC paid $1.2 million — nearly 80% of its operating budget — to a company called Reagan Investments LLC for 'sponsorship advertising.' The only other committee to register any disbursements to that company was Trump Make America Great Again, for a fundraising promotion for Cruz's books in December, according to The New York Times. However, the Trump group clearly marked the payment for 'collateral: books'; campaign finance experts told Salon that the PAC's payment classifications — all of them for 'sponsorship advertising' — were unusual and opaque." 2022 WATCH — "There are no Black women in the Senate. Will Rep. Terri Sewell run for a seat?" The 19th: "Alabama Rep. Terri Sewell said she expects to make a decision 'very soon' about whether she will run for the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by Republican Richard Shelby in 2022. "Sewell is the first Black woman elected to Congress from Alabama and the only Democrat in the state's House delegation. Among the considerations factoring into her decision are her commitment to her district, which includes Selma, and issues including voting rights and the need for more Black women to be represented at the highest levels of power." 2024 WATCH — "Romney Says Trump Would Win 2024 GOP Nomination If He Runs," Bloomberg: "The Utah senator, the only Republican who voted to convict Trump in both of his impeachment trials, said he expects the former president will continue to play a big role in the Republican Party even though he was voted out of office. "'He has by far the largest voice and a big impact in my party,' Romney said at a New York Times DealBook virtual event on Tuesday. 'I don't know if he's planning to run in 2024 or not, but if he does, I'm pretty sure he would win the nomination.'" | | | | A message from Google:   Google's Digital Coaches help Black and Latino business owners get the most from digital tools. Learn more. | | | THE BIDEN CABINET — "How the White House botched the Neera nomination," by Natasha Korecki and Burgess Everett: "At the time her nomination was announced, Democrats didn't even control the Senate and Tanden's history of sharp-elbowed politics and highly personal Twitter attacks had made her enemies on the left and right. But Biden and his team, headed by White House chief of staff Ron Klain, felt strongly that they could sway Republicans to back her. When Democrats won the runoffs in Georgia, their gamble looked more prescient. "Today, the White House can't even get all Democrats on board. And Mitch McConnell is urging the GOP to band together to take Tanden down." THE SACRIFICIAL LAMB? "'Around here the opposition is always looking for the person that they can put a fight up about. And she would be the obvious one to cull from the herd,' said one Senate Democrat, referring to the wall of GOP opposition Tanden faced from the beginning." WATCH: Tanden pays for belittling Bernie | 
| 'SWEET SYMMETRY' — "A Commerce nominee's formerly enslaved ancestors ran a taxi service where the department is now headquartered," by WaPo's Courtland Milloy: "In 1821, Lynch and Polly Wormley started a horse-and-buggy taxi service in the District. They'd come from Albemarle, Va., after being freed from enslavement by their plantation owners. Their business included a stable, with living quarters attached, located on muddy flatlands now occupied by the Commerce Department. The business thrived in the growing nation's capital. "Being close to the White House, the clientele included the nation's political elite, military leaders and foreign dignitaries. The Wormley children, who also worked in the livery, would develop friendships that helped to foster even more business success. Today, the Wormley horse-and-buggy business is long gone. But the family saga continues with a sweet symmetry: President Biden has nominated Don Graves Jr., who is Lynch and Polly Wormley's four-time great-grandson, to be deputy secretary of commerce." AT DOD — "Pentagon wades into political minefield in hunt for extremists," by Bryan Bender: "By the first week of April, all members of the military must take part in a highly unusual order from Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, in which unit leaders will conduct a day-long 'stand down' to discuss the threat of extremism and gather feedback from troops on the extent that racism and other hateful ideologies or anti-government sentiment have taken root in recent years. "The Pentagon has not yet disclosed all the training materials it is providing commanders, but that hasn't stopped lawmakers and right-wing commentators from accusing the Defense Department of initiating a witch hunt on behalf of the Biden administration to purge political opponents. While there is no evidence to support a politicization of this effort, there are concerns among the top brass and senior retired officers that it could backfire if the Pentagon doesn't clearly define exactly what 'extremism' means." PANDEMIC TRACKER: The U.S. reported 2,196 Covid-19 deaths and 68,000 new coronavirus cases Tuesday. WATCH: White House: States to receive 14.5 million vaccines doses | 
| AMERICA AND THE WORLD BIDEN'S BONJOUR — "'Merci, mon ami.' Biden, Trudeau renew bilateral bond post-Trump," by Lauren Gardner: "The president and the prime minister would like everyone to know that Canada and the U.S. are best friends again — though neither mentioned why the relationship had frayed. … So after four years of trade wars, name-calling and international gossiping, President Joe Biden and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau weren't going to let a global pandemic get in the way of a public display of mutual affection, even if it had to happen over video link." GETTING IN TOUCH — "Biden will call Saudi king ahead of damning report," Axios: "President Biden plans to call Saudi Arabia's King Salman on Wednesday, ahead of the public release of a potentially damning intelligence report about the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, a source briefed on the call told Axios. … "The call, if it happens as scheduled, will be Biden's first conversation as president with the Saudi king. While they are likely to discuss a range of issues, the conversation will be colored by the imminent release of the explosive report expected to involve one of the monarch's sons." TRUMP CARDS IT'S ALL GOOD — "Pence speaks highly of Trump in meeting and plans to launch a political group," CNN: "Former Vice President Mike Pence told a group of conservative lawmakers on Tuesday that he maintains a close personal friendship with former President Donald Trump, while noting that he plans to launch a political organization that will defend their administration's record over the past four years. … Rep. Jim Banks, an Indiana Republican who chairs the conservative Republican Study Committee, told CNN that a group of members met at Pence's transition office in the Washington area on Tuesday afternoon, talking about the way forward for their party while also touting the accomplishments of the past." MEDIAWATCH INFORMATION WARS — "Inside the new $65 million push from progressives to compete with conservative media," Recode: "The organization, whose formation hasn't previously been reported, is called the Project for Good Information (PGI). It's being created by Tara McGowan, a Democratic strategist who has spent the last few years at her current organization, Acronym, trying to encourage her party to counter far-right media with liberal content. … "This time, however, McGowan is attempting to strip away the partisan ties that have dogged her previous journalism plays, including Courier Newsroom, which her new organization will back. The idea, according to people familiar with the new structure, is to continue creating a media ecosystem without the linkages between those outlets and a political organization like Acronym, Courier's current backer. A lingering challenge, though, will be how to position the outlets as nonpartisan given McGowan's background." ON THE RISE — "Black News Channel Looks to Shake Up Cable-TV News Landscape," WSJ: "Black News Channel has expanded its reach more than 20-fold in about seven months, part of its new chief executive's ambitious plan to shake up the cable-TV news landscape and provide an alternative that looks through the lens of Black Americans. "Since he took over the channel last July , Chief Executive Princell Hair has struck distribution deals with Comcast Corp.'s Xfinity, AT&T Inc.'s DirecTV, Dish Network Corp. and others, boosting its potential audience to more than 52 million households from roughly 2.5 million." DON'T CANCEL FOX NEWS? — Matt Taibbi comes to the defense of a cable network he "can't stand" — Fox News — in a provocative Substack piece . He accuses a consortium of liberal politicians, mainstream media and Big Tech of using their collective muscle to silence the network, an alarming affront to the First Amendment. "The so-called media reporters at major organizations like CNN and the New York Times have mostly either been silent or have played cheerleading roles during the most eyebrow-raising recent developments: the decision by Facebook and Twitter to block access to a pre-election New York Post story about Hunter Biden, the stunning exercise in monopoly influence by Amazon and Apple in swallowing up the 'free speech' platform Parler, the banning of Socialist Worker Party accounts in England and the U.S., and the shutdown of livestream capability by alternative media outlets (and the removal of celebrated footage shot from the Capitol riot by people like Status Coup videographer Jon Farina), a story that amazingly only got major play at … Fox News. "All of these stories share the same theme: small, unelected groups of private executives making sweeping decisions about speech, cheered on by Democratic Party politicians. If it proceeds to its logical conclusion, it poses a much more serious problem for society than even Fox News at its worst." | | | | TUNE IN TO GLOBAL TRANSLATIONS: Our Global Translations podcast, presented by Citi, examines the long-term costs of the short-term thinking that drives many political and business decisions. The world has long been beset by big problems that defy political boundaries, and these issues have exploded over the past year amid a global pandemic. This podcast helps to identify and understand the impediments to smart policymaking. Subscribe and start listening today. | | | | | | | PLAYBOOKERS | | SHADES OF 'THE AMERICANS' — "FX Adapting New York Times Writer's Book 'This Is How They Tell Me the World Ends,'" The Hollywood Reporter: "The network is adapting cybersecurity reporter Nicole Perlroth's newly released nonfiction book 'This Is How They Tell Me the World Ends: The Cyberweapons Arms Race,' which chronicles the history of cyberwarfare and how the U.S. became vulnerable to attack. The project is being described as a far-reaching drama series that grapples with the full scope of what the internet has become — a complex matrix within which all of humanity is inextricably interlinked." FOR PETE'S SAKE — "Pete Buttigieg Doc 'Mayor Pete' Lands at Amazon Studios," The Hollywood Reporter TRANSITIONS — Susan Fox is moving up to become SVP of government relations at Disney — succeeding Richard Bates, who died in December. She's been with Disney for 20 years. … Gabrielle Gould has been named the first executive director of the Democratic Women's Caucus. She most recently was staff director of the House Foreign Affairs Europe subcommittee. … Casey Black is returning to her home state to be press secretary for Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee. She previously was a spokesperson for former Sen. David Perdue (R-Ga.), and is a Bob Corker and David Kustoff alum. … … The National Urban League announced several new hires, including Joi Chaney as executive director of the Washington bureau and SVP for policy and advocacy, Danielle Cooper Daughtry as general counsel and SVP for legal affairs, Leslie Andrews, Leigh Morgan Thorpe, Alexander Rias and Nonny Onyekweli. … Christina Noel is now director of public relations at LA creative agency Wondros. She most recently was press secretary at the VA, and is a Lamar Alexander and Marco Rubio alum. HAPPY BIRTHDAY: Kelly Knight Craft … Jacqueline Alemany … DHS COS Karen Olick … Interior's Kate Kelly … Sabrina Tavernise … Cliff May … Mark Salter … Facebook's Kevin Lewis … Paula Zahn (65) … Juliet K. Choi … Secretary of the Senate Julie Adams … Josh Gardner … former acting Massachusetts Gov. Jane Swift … POLITICO's Connor O'Brien, Andy Blatchford and Evan Sanderson … McLaurine (Klingler) Pinover … Liza Rebold … former Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) … Christina Cameron … former Rep. Chris Chocola (R-Ind.) … Blake Waggoner (35) … Rebecca Bernbach Graves … Lindsay Hamilton … Yuval Noah Harari (45) … Edelman's Henry Krause … JPMorgan Chase's Allison Branca and Karen Persichilli Keogh … Howard Bragman (65) … Bruce Andrews … Abram Olmstead … Kash Patel … Annie Aleman … Melissa Connolly … Michael Lawson … Wilson Center's Charles Edel … Aidan Lizza Got a document to share? A birthday coming up? Know who'll be on the Jan. 6 commission? Drop us a line at playbook@politico.com or individually: Rachael Bade, Eugene Daniels, Ryan Lizza, Tara Palmeri. Playbook couldn't happen without our editor Mike Zapler and producers Allie Bice, Eli Okun and Garrett Ross. | | A message from Google: Google's Digital Coaches program helps over 58,000 small businesses. Grow with Google Digital Coaches provide online workshops and hands-on guidance to help local Black and Latino small businesses gain skills to reach new customers and thrive online. The program just expanded to 20 markets across the country. Learn more. | | | | | | | Follow us on Twitter | | | | Subscribe to the POLITICO Playbook family Playbook | Playbook PM | California Playbook | Florida Playbook | Illinois Playbook | Massachusetts Playbook | New Jersey Playbook | New York Playbook | Brussels Playbook | London Playbook View all our political and policy newsletters | | Follow us | | | | |
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