News : Matt Gaetz matters little to Liz Cheney

Tuesday, April 6, 2021

Matt Gaetz matters little to Liz Cheney

Apr 06, 2021

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By Tara Palmeri, Ryan Lizza and Eugene Daniels

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DRIVING THE DAY

When news broke of the feds' investigation into whether Rep. MATT GAETZ (R-Fla.) violated federal sex trafficking law and had sex with a 17-year-old, so did the memes of Rep. LIZ CHENEY'S (R-Wyo.) inner victory dance. Who doesn't love a little schadenfreude?

But one fewer thorn in Cheney's side in Washington doesn't necessarily change her political fortunes in Wyoming.

"Does she catch a little bit of a wind? Yes. Matt Gaetz isn't kicking her in the head every day," said one ally of former President DONALD TRUMP, who's itching to take out Cheney in the next election. But "I hope she's not celebrating a victory. She's going to still run out of runway because of the people in Wyoming, not because of Matt Gaetz."

Even if Gaetz doesn't take a second trip to Wyoming, A-list Trump surrogates like DONALD TRUMP JR. and Sen. RAND PAUL (R-Ky.) are still planning to head there to support a challenger ahead of the August 2022 primary.

Indeed, Cheney's biggest problem was never Matt Gaetz. It's Donald Trump.

That said, Trump himself at least temporarily has lost one of his highest-profile defenders in Gaetz, who carried the mantle for the Trump wing of the Republican Party on Fox News, Twitter and in the halls of Congress. Rep. JIM JORDAN of Ohio might be the only other GOP congressman to get as much exposure on Fox, but Gaetz's flair for trolling is hard to match.

Gaetz declared in the Washington Examiner on Monday that he won't resign. He's adopted the Trump strategy of portraying himself as a victim … of the D.C. swamp. That includes, in his telling, "the FBI, the Biden Justice Department; the Cheney political dynasty; even the Justice Department under Trump." Gaetz does have one big thing going for him: Our Gary Fineout reports that his district is likely to stand behind him.

Yet Trump, in return, has been noticeably silent about Gaetz amid the barrage of negative coverage.

MORE ON GAETZ-GATE — "Matt Gaetz Defended Me When My Nudes Were Shared Without My Consent. Now He's Accused of Doing Just That," by former Rep. Katie Hill in Vanity Fair: "Matt and I forged an unlikely friendship in Congress, and he was one of the few colleagues who spoke out after a malicious nude-photo leak upended my life. But if recent reports are true, he engaged in the very practice he defended me from—and should resign immediately."

— "Gaetz's Accused Extorter Confirms, Denies $25 Million Shakedown," Daily Beast: "Dubious consultant Bob Kent admits he sought cash for questionable 'rescue' mission in Iran." Watch Kent's interview with Chris Cuomo on Monday night

— "Trumpworld has no lifelines it wants to throw Matt Gaetz," by Gabby Orr, Meridith McGraw and Sam Stein: "In the days since news broke that the Department of Justice was looking into whether Gaetz had violated sex trafficking laws — an allegation he denies — no Trump aide or family member has tweeted about the Florida congressman. Nor have almost any of the most prominent Trump surrogates or Trump-allied conservatives and media personalities. … Operatives inside Trump World say the silence is owed to a variety of factors. Among them is the fact that Gaetz has always been regarded as a grenade whose pin had already been pulled."

Good Tuesday morning. Got a news tip? A document to share? Drop us a line: Rachael Bade, Eugene Daniels, Ryan Lizza, Tara Palmeri.

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BIG NEWS FOR THE BIDEN AGENDA — The Senate parliamentarian's ruling that the annual budget resolution can be revised to include new reconciliation instructions — think of it as a buy one, get one free to pass sweeping legislation by a simple majority — could have major implications for President JOE BIDEN'S first-year agenda.

A few takeaways from the decision made public Monday:

— Democrats will have the option to deploy at least one additional reconciliation bill this year. As you know by now, these bills can't be filibustered but they are guided by a set of restrictions, most notably the Byrd Rule, which prohibits non-budgetary policies from being included.

— If the annual budget resolution can be revised once, it can be revised again. So as our Caitlin Emma points out, the party in power could "theoretically use the tool as often as they want." The pressure on Biden to attract Republican votes is now diminished.

— The expansion of reconciliation will have Democrats getting creative to push all sorts of stuff through the process (and Republicans, too, when they next have unified control of Congress and the White House). There's already talk of doing a stand-alone Dreamers bill via reconciliation. A cottage industry of experts on the Congressional Budget and Impoundment Control Act of 1974 is already developing in Washington.

— This will increase the power of ELIZABETH MACDONOUGH, the Senate parliamentarian, who was under fire from the left for nixing the minimum wage hike from the American Rescue Plan.

— It could alleviate pressure to reform or kill the filibuster. The more that Senate Majority Leader CHUCK SCHUMER can push through the Senate with 50 votes (plus VP KAMALA HARRIS ) via reconciliation, the less pressure he will be under to nuke the legislative filibuster. That's why some anti-filibuster activists have been lukewarm about Schumer's now-successful ploy to expand how much can be accomplished with reconciliation.

— Finally: why didn't Senate Minority Leader MITCH MCCONNELL ever think of this?

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BIDEN'S TUESDAY — The president will receive the President's Daily Brief at 10:30 a.m. He'll visit a vaccination site at Virginia Theological Seminary at 1:45 p.m. Back at the White House, he'll deliver remarks about the vaccination effort at 3:45 p.m.

— Harris will leave Los Angeles at 7 a.m. Pacific time for Chicago, where she'll tour a vaccination site for union members at 1:10 p.m. Central time. At 4 p.m. Eastern time, she'll leave Chicago for Washington.

— Press secretary JEN PSAKI will brief at noon.

THE SENATE will meet at 2 p.m. in a pro forma session. THE HOUSE is not in session.

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PLAYBOOK READS

The Bidens are pictured with an Easter bunny. | AP Photo

PHOTO OF THE DAY: President Joe Biden appears with first lady Jill Biden and the Easter Bunny on the Blue Room balcony at the White House on Monday, April 5. | Evan Vucci/AP Photo

THE EASTER BUNNY — Pooler Brian Bennett of Time magazine passed along this important message from the White House on Monday: "There are two bunny costumes. Sean Spicer wore a different suit than the bunny who visited the Brady Press Briefing Room today. There are indeed longer lashes on the bunny who visited the Briefing Room today."

POLITICS CORNER

THE NEW CULTURE WARS — "Republicans want to make 'woke' corporations pay — literally," by Gabby Orr and Meridith McGraw: "In recent days, GOP leaders have encouraged boycotts against a group of companies that have condemned or pulled business from states that have passed more restrictive voting laws. The appetite for punitive measures hasn't ended there. Republicans are also encouraging state and federal officials to utilize the tax code as a means of hitting back at, what they deem to be, 'woke capitalism.'

"And they're targeting some of the most iconic American brands — from Delta and Coca Cola to Major League Baseball — in the process. … The increasingly aggressive pushback against politically outspoken companies is the latest, and perhaps purest, illustration of a party at a philosophical crossroads."

SPORTS BLINK — "2021 MLB All-Star Game will be played at Denver's Coors Field after event pulled out of Atlanta," USA Today

PUMPING THE BRAKES — "Governor vetoes transgender bill, calls measure a 'product of the cultural war,'" Arkansas Democrat-Gazette: "Gov. Asa Hutchinson announced Monday afternoon he vetoed a bill that would ban gender-affirming care for transgender youth. Hutchinson, a Republican, said he believed House Bill 1570 interfered with the relationship between doctors and patients." (Hutchinson is termed out next year.)

2022 WATCH — "Eric Bolling won't run for Congress," by Alex Isenstadt: "Conservative TV host Eric Bolling has ruled out waging a primary challenge to GOP Rep. Nancy Mace in South Carolina. … The freshman congresswoman is part of a group of House Republicans who Trump allies have accused of being disloyal to the former president."

INFRASTRUCTURE YEAR

THE LATEST WRINKLE — "2 Dem senators balk at Biden's new spending plan," by Burgess Everett: "Joe Manchin wants his party's leaders and President Joe Biden to make significant changes to their sweeping new tax-and-spend legislation — and he's got other Democratic senators with him. … A few hours later at the Capitol, Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.) said Monday that he needs to have more input into the White House's plan than he's received so far: 'I expect to have that input before there's any package I could support.'"

DELVING INTO THE DETAILS — "Senate Dems release international tax framework as lawmakers start to tweak Biden's plan," by Brian Faler: "The framework released by Finance Committee Chair Ron Wyden (Ore.) and fellow tax writers Sherrod Brown (Ohio) and Mark Warner (Va.) generally agrees with what the administration proposed last week when it called for a host of tax hikes on corporations, though it differs on several points and includes additional details." The framework

SALES JOB — "Eating our lunch: Biden points to China in development push," AP: "It's a national security pitch for a domestic spending program: that the $2 trillion proposal for investments in U.S. transport and energy, manufacturing, internet and other sectors will make the United States more competitive in the face of Chinese President Xi Jinping's massive infrastructure-building campaign.

"The argument is that competition today with China is more about economic and technological gains than arms — and its outcome will impact the United States' financial growth and influence, its ability to defend U.S. security alliances and interests abroad, and the daily lives of Americans. … That pitch hasn't won over Republicans."

FACT CHECK — "Biden administration officials falsely describe infrastructure jobs estimate," CNN: "Both [Brian] Deese and [Pete] Buttigieg falsely described what Moody's said; a White House official conceded to CNN that Deese had misspoken and a Department of Transportation official conceded that Buttigieg had misspoken. It's not true that Moody's estimated that the infrastructure proposal will 'create' 19 million jobs.

"Rather, Moody's estimated that the economy will add about 19 million jobs between the fourth quarter of 2020 and the fourth quarter of 2030 if the infrastructure proposal gets passed — or add about 16.3 million jobs over the same period if the infrastructure proposal does not get passed. Therefore, the infrastructure proposal itself adds about 2.7 million jobs to the Moody's estimate, not all 19 million.

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THE WHITE HOUSE

HARRIS VISITING ONE HOME … "Harris touts infrastructure plan — and Newsom — on first official California visit as VP," L.A. Times: "The [Oakland] trip included a tour with the governor of the kind of water-treatment facility that could benefit from the proposed infrastructure plan President Biden unveiled last week. … 'Water is a nonpartisan issue,' she said [in an interview]. 'These are issues that really should be treated, frankly, not as bipartisan but nonpartisan.' …

"Harris, in her public remarks, made sure to praise the beleaguered Newsom, calling him 'a champion about what we need to do around our environment.' She expanded on that support in the interview."

… AND SELLING ANOTHER: "Vice President Kamala Harris Lists in Washington, D.C.," WSJ: "Ms. Harris's former home in Washington, D.C. — a condo at the Westlight complex in the West End — is up for sale, according to the local multiple listings service and property records. The property, which came on the market Monday for $1.995 million, will be the second property Ms. Harris has sold since taking office. … Ms. Harris paid about $1.775 million for the Washington, D.C., apartment in 2017, records show. …

"The roughly 1,700-square-foot apartment has two bedrooms, two bathrooms and a den, according to the listing. The unit has natural oak hardwood floors, a spa-inspired bathroom with teak shower floors and a kitchen with a custom island and Italian cabinetry. The building has an expansive rooftop grilling terrace, a private club room, a 25-meter heated rooftop pool and fitness center."

Harris has been wheeling and dealing in real estate lately: "Her San Francisco apartment, located in the California city's SOMA neighborhood, sold in March for $860,000, far more than the $489,000 she paid for it in 2004, records show."

PANDEMIC

FIRST IN PLAYBOOK: Today, Civic Nation is launching a new PR and education campaign to ensure communities of color get access to vaccines. The program dubbed "Made to Save" will dole out grants to community organizations in more than 30 states to increase access and information, bat down misinformation and overcome any vaccine hesitancy. Civic Nation's board chair, former Obama senior adviser VALERIE JARRETT, said the initiative will trade information with the Biden administration to help pinpoint where access to vaccines is lacking. The group is launching with $10 million in its coffers.

"The president and vice president have the biggest megaphones in the country, but they also need organizations that are on the ground that are going organization by organization, person by person, because it is a personal individual choice," Jarrett, who has already spoken with top Biden administration officials, including ANITA DUNN, told Playbook. "I'm so worried that for far too long communities of color have been overlooked. And so prioritizing their having the ability to make informed decisions based on scientific evidence and ensuring that they have access to a vaccine that will be broadly available shortly are our top priorities."

STAFFING UP — "Gayle Smith, who helped lead the U.S. response to Ebola, will run Biden's vaccine diplomacy," NYT: "An ardent advocate of protecting some of the world's poorest countries from Covid-19 has been selected to lead the Biden administration's vaccine diplomacy in an effort to corral wealthier nations into distributing immunizations more evenly around the globe."

JAN. 6 AND ITS AFTERMATH

NOT GREAT — "Half of Republicans believe false accounts of deadly U.S. Capitol riot-Reuters/Ipsos poll," Reuters: "Three months after a mob of Trump supporters stormed the Capitol to try to overturn his November election loss, about half of Republicans believe the siege was largely a non-violent protest or was the handiwork of left-wing activists 'trying to make Trump look bad,' a new Reuters/Ipsos poll has found.

"Six in 10 Republicans also believe the false claim put out by Trump that November's presidential election 'was stolen' from him due to widespread voter fraud, and the same proportion of Republicans think he should run again in 2024."

MEDIAWATCH

SEEKING A SAVIOR — "The battle for Tribune: Inside the campaign to find new owners for a legendary group of newspapers," WaPo: "Last year, as a group of Baltimore Sun reporters embarked on long-shot endeavor to find a new owner that could save their paper from a hedge-fund takeover, a former Maryland politician gave them a piece of advice. Treat this like a political campaign.

"The worried reporters would need to recruit community allies. Hire a public relations firm to sway public opinion. And most crucially: figure out how to find rich people who might be convinced to finance a rescue plan. … It's the culmination of years of despair from journalists and civic-minded organizers who have watched their local paper shrink under corporate consolidation and broader economic forces, only to be threatened by what to them seems like a death blow."

AN ALARMING READ ON DISINFORMATION — "In a Pennsylvania town, a Facebook group fills the local news void," NBC: "The News Alerts of Beaver County isn't home base for a gun-wielding militia, and it isn't a QAnon fever swamp. In fact, the group's focus on timely and relevant information for a small real-world community is probably the kind that Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg envisioned when he pivoted his company toward communities in 2017.

"And yet, the kind of misinformation that's traded in The News Alerts of Beaver County and thousands of other groups just like it poses a unique danger. It's subtler and in some ways more insidious, because it's more likely to be trusted. The misinformation — shared in good faith by neighbors, sandwiched between legitimate local happenings and overseen by a community member with no training but good intentions — is still capable of tearing a community apart."

'PAY FOR PLAY' STORY ON DESANTIS LOOKS FLAWED — "'60 Minutes' faces backlash from Democrats and Publix for critical story on Florida's vaccine rollout," CNN: "As part of a larger story about Florida's vaccine rollout, the renowned newsmagazine program spotlighted a recent $100,000 donation that Publix made to DeSantis' re-election bid. The story, by correspondent Sharyn Alfonsi, suggested there was a possible link between the donation and the state's partnership with Publix stores for vaccine distribution — a serious issue of foul play, if true.

"But, beyond spotlighting the public finance records, '60 Minutes' never offered any substantive evidence to support the significant assertion and link the donation with the partnership. After the report aired, the Democratic director of the Florida Division of Emergency Management and Democratic county mayor of Palm Beach County both publicly responded, saying that partnering with Publix was not suggested by anyone from DeSantis' office."

STEP INSIDE THE WEST WING: It actually is infrastructure week ... and it will be for a while. What is the administration's plan to get its top legislative priority through Congress? Add Transition Playbook to your daily reads for details you won't find anywhere else about the state of play of the administration's top priorities and biggest challenges. Track the people, policies and power centers of the Biden administration. Subscribe today.

PLAYBOOKERS

FISHNETS-GATE — "Jill Biden Wearing Fishnets Somehow Became About Melania Trump," Daily Beast: "Jill Biden wore something. That's usually not cause for alarm. The First Lady tends to dress stylishly, but covertly, and notoriously keeps the attention off of her clothes.

"But on April 1, while stepping off of an airplane at Andrews Air Force Base and heading home for the night, she happened to be wearing fishnets. And a leather skirt. And pixie boots. Cue the inflated outrage from conservative voices."

IN MEMORIAM — "Sharon Cohen, much-honored AP national writer, dead at 68," AP: "From her base in Chicago, she unreeled an array of stories about the triumphs and tragedies of people both ordinary and extraordinary. … Every story got the Sharon Cohen treatment: determined reporting, zealous fact-checking, direct and evocative writing. She knew no other way."

BOOK CLUB — Phillip Stutts is releasing his new book, "The Undefeated Marketing System: How to Grow Your Business and Build Your Audience Using the Secret Formula that Elects Presidents" from Lioncrest Publishing on April 20. $15.99 on Amazon

MEDIAWATCH — "Anthony Scaramucci Joins CNBC as Contributor," TheWrap

FIRST IN PLAYBOOK — Former Bush and Trump administration officials Mike Duffey and Brian McCormack have launched Equinox Global Solutions LLC, a firm to advise clients on business-to-government marketplace strategies and business development as well as navigating executive branch relations, funding and procurement. Duffey and McCormack served in leadership positions at the Pentagon and Energy Department and oversaw several portfolios at OMB.

STAFFING UP — Shadawn Reddick-Smith is now director of strategic comms at DHS. She previously was comms director for the House Judiciary Committee.

TRANSITIONS — Alberto Morales is now a VP at polling firm GQR. He most recently was senior political director at Latino Decisions and is a DNC alum. … Scott Nemeth is joining the McCain Institute, where he'll lead global leadership initiatives. He most recently led global parliamentary programs at the International Repulican Institute, and is a Dan Coats, David Valadao and RNC alum. … Jason Gold has been named an EVP at Resolute Public Affairs. He most recently was a managing director at the Progressive Policy Institute, and is an S&P Global alum. …

… Ice Miller is adding George Hornedo to its public affairs group. He previously was a consultant for the Obama Foundation and worked on the Pete Buttigieg campaign and the Biden-Harris coordinated campaign in Texas. Ice Miller is also forming a strategic alliance with John Pence's Pence Strategy Group. … Kelley Billy is joining Young America's Foundation as assistant to its president, Scott Walker. She previously was executive assistant for Rep. David Rouzer (R-N.C.).

HAPPY BIRTHDAY: Rep. Joe Courtney (D-Conn.) (68) … Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz (57) … Anthony Bernal, senior adviser to the first lady … MPAA's Charles Rivkin (59) … NYT's Glenn Thrush … Ann Castagnetti … Cindy Terrell … WSJ's Keach Hagey … Scott Reed … Ron Brownstein (63) … Joyce Meyer … POLITICO's Tucker Doherty and Ale Waase … former Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) (65) … Lisa Ellman … Richard Coolidge … Emma Thomson, comms director for Rep. John Joyce (R-Pa.) … Olivia Perez-Cubas … CNN's Sunlen Serfaty … Chris Haxo … Seth Lucia …

… Matt Flynn … Juliana Darrow … The New Republic's Ryan Kearney … Tim Briseno … Mary Fisher … Drew Baney … Andy Oare … Business Roundtable's Rayna Farrell … Aaron Short … Asaf Shariv … Megan Bartley … Bobby Leddy, press secretary for Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer … John Lechner … Melissa Kelly … HuffPost's Richard Kim … Kevin O'Hanlon … Boeing's Alex Tripiano … Jerah Smith … Lucy Westcott … Mike Johnson … Caroline Fawcett … Phil Paule … Jill Schroeder Vieth … Melissa Schwartz … Todd Beeton … Gabrielle Birkner … Todd Klukow … Ann Ravel … Yuval Levin

Send Playbookers tips to playbook@politico.com. Playbook couldn't happen without our editor Mike Zapler and producers Allie Bice, Eli Okun and Garrett Ross.

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