| | | | | |  | | By Tara Palmeri | | | | | | |  | DRIVING THE DAY | | ANOTHER CRISIS FOR BIDEN? — WaPo's Arelis Hernández and Nick Miroff report overnight that some 10,000 Haitian migrants have crossed the Rio Grande and congregated under a border bridge in South Texas. The influx, they write, presents "the Biden administration with a new border emergency at a time when illegal crossings have reached a 20-year high and Department of Homeland Security officials are straining to accommodate and resettle more than 60,000 Afghan evacuees." Administration officials are using the controversial Title 42 law to rapidly return or "expel" migrants. But they're hemmed in by recent court rulings — including a significant one Thursday — as well as Mexico's refusal to take back Haitians. WHERE'S JILL BIDEN ON FREE COMMUNITY COLLEGE? — President JOE BIDEN announced in April that his community college professor wife would lead the administration's efforts on new education initiatives, including her longtime mission to make two years of community college tuition-free. But with Congress wrestling over what will or won't make it into their multitrillion-dollar reconciliation package, Hill aides say they're surprised they haven't heard from the first lady or her office. Progressives and free college advocates say they need her help now to fight for the $111 billion plan, especially since Sen. JOE MANCHIN (D-W.Va.) has floated slimming it down with means testing and grade requirements — if it makes the cut at all. At a Senate Appropriations hearing in June, Manchin declared, "I disagree on free." JILL BIDEN, who teaches at Northern Virginia Community College, has been fairly muted on the issue outside of Congress, too. She visited the Des Moines Area Community College on Wednesday to promote the Build Back Better plan, but before that the last event she attended to promote free community college was back in May. Her office said that she will travel to community colleges in the coming weeks, including a trip to Michigan next week with Education Secretary MIGUEL CARDONA. "The best use of the First Lady's time is to make the public case for community college, which is what she's been doing for the last 12 years," her spokesperson MICHAEL LAROSA said in a statement. "In fact, her work raising awareness about America's best kept secret is a big reason why free community college is in the Build Back Better legislative package today." The White House's plan has already been pared back in Congress: House Democrats would end the program after five years. Some have interpreted Jill Biden's light-touch approach as a sign the White House might be willing to forgo free community college in the final bill — and doesn't want to send the first lady out on a limb. "This is a big package. I can understand as the West Wing is navigating the situation why they are being careful about how they use her," said ANITA MCBRIDE, who served as chief of staff to LAURA BUSH. "I think it's difficult to really enlist right now until there's some confidence [that it will pass]." Past first ladies have gotten involved in the legislative arena to varying degrees. HILLARY CLINTON famously spearheaded the Clinton health care plan. Laura Bush briefed lawmakers on education reform for the No Child Left Behind bill. MICHELLE OBAMA was deeply involved in the legislative process for her initiative to make school foods healthier. MELANIA TRUMP was not a heavy presence on the Hill, but IVANKA TRUMP lobbied members for child care tax credits and paid leave for federal workers. Others who know Jill say it's just not her style to get her hands dirty with politicking. "She's very soft spoken, she's not a headline seeker," a leadership aide said. Happy Friday. Thanks for reading Playbook. Drop us a line: Rachael Bade, Eugene Daniels, Ryan Lizza, Tara Palmeri. | | A message from Google: Google is committing $10 billion to advance cybersecurity. Widespread cyberattacks continue to threaten the private information of people, organizations, and governments around the world. That's why Google is investing $10 billion to expand zero-trust programs, help secure the software supply chain, and enhance open-source security. Learn more. | | | D.C. PARTY SCENE GETS MORE EXCLUSIVE: We wrote back in August that former President BARACK OBAMA's 60th birthday bash put a serious damper on the return of D.C. parties. But they haven't gone away: They've just become more intimate and more A-list. For instance, U.K. Ambassador (and super-host) KAREN PIERCE threw a small soiree at her residence Tuesday to fete former U.K. Ambassador Sir PETER WESTMACOTT and his wife SUSIE, who were in town visiting. Attendees included: Sens. CHRIS COONS (D-Del.), AMY KLOBUCHAR (D-Minn.) and ROY BLUNT (R-Mo.), AMY and STEVE RICCHETTI, EVE and DAVID IGNATIUS, STEVE CLEMONS, DAVID SANGER, SAM FEIST, ADRIENNE ARSHT, DOUGLAS and HEIDI REDIKER, MARY JORDAN, CHARLES MATHIAS and MICHAEL BESCHLOSS. Others have canceled events, however. JULEANNA GLOVER was planning to throw a book party for GAYLE TZEMACH LEMMON on Saturday but postponed it until the softcover release in February. PELOSI VS. EVERYBODY — As Democrats' massive reconciliation bill makes its way through the machine, one item is getting all the attention: health care. It's a fight that basically boils down to Speaker NANCY PELOSI versus … everyone else — with the legacies of Pelosi, BERNIE SANDERS and Biden at stake. Rachael and POLITICO's Alice Miranda Ollstein take us to Capitol Hill, where the knives are coming out over policies lawmakers have agreed on for years — or thought they did — with plenty on the line: $3.5 trillion, the future of the Affordable Care Act and dueling visions for the Democratic Party. Listen and subscribe to Playbook Deep Dive | 
| | | | | A message from Google:   Cyberattacks are endangering people and governments around the world. Learn how Google's $10 billion investment will advance cybersecurity. | | | BIDEN'S FRIDAY: — 8:30 a.m.: The president will reconvene the Major Economies Forum on Energy and Climate, focusing on climate change. — 10 a.m.: Biden will receive the President's Daily Brief. — 12:20 p.m.: Biden will depart for Rehoboth Beach, Del. (traveling through Dover), where he'll arrive at 1:25 p.m. The White House Covid-19 response team and public health officials will brief at 11:45 a.m. THE SENATE and THE HOUSE are out. | | | | STEP INSIDE THE WEST WING: What's really happening in West Wing offices? Find out who's up, who's down, and who really has the president's ear in our West Wing Playbook newsletter, the insider's guide to the Biden White House and Cabinet. For buzzy nuggets and details that you won't find anywhere else, subscribe today. | | | | | | | PLAYBOOK READS | | | 
PHOTO OF THE DAY: A firefighter works as smoke billows from a fire in downtown D.C. at a building under construction to be the future Metro headquarters on Thursday, Sept. 16. | Drew Angerer/Getty Images | POLITICS ROUNDUP 2022 WATCH — NYT's Jonathan Martin broke a stunning but perhaps not surprising story last night: Rep. ANTHONY GONZALEZ (R-Ohio), one of 10 House Republicans who voted to impeach DONALD TRUMP, is bowing out of what he said would have been a "brutal" reelection primary fight against former Trump aide MAX MILLER. Citing in part threats of violence against his family, Gonzalez told Jmart that "he could not bear the prospect of winning if it meant returning to a Trump-dominated House Republican caucus" and called Trump "a cancer for the country." A bit of perspective: "Mr. Gonzalez, who turns 37 on Saturday, was the sort of Republican recruit the party once prized. A Cuban American who starred as an Ohio State wide receiver, he was selected in the first round of the N.F.L. draft and then earned an M.B.A. at Stanford after his football career was cut short by injuries. He claimed his Northeast Ohio seat in his first bid for political office." His full statement — @maggieNYT: "This is how Trump wins, in small increments." — Flashback, July 28: "'He's a Great Guy': Trump's Favored Aide Has Troubled Past," by Michael Kruse in POLITICO Magazine — Trump is endorsing candidates in party primary elections all the way down the ballot, a level of involvement that is virtually unheard of for former presidents, all but ensuring a chaotic GOP primary season that's likely to drain resources, bloody eventual nominees and put safe incumbents at risk, Marc Caputo writes. ABORTION AND COVID DOMINATE VA DEBATE — The hottest topics in Washington played out in the Virginia governor's race with Democrat TERRY MCAULIFFE and Republican GLENN YOUNGKIN painting the other as "extreme" on the issues of abortion and Covid, the AP's Sarah Rankin and Steve Helber write. At the end, McAuliffe threw in a jab that Youngkin is a "Trump wannabe." THE RACE FOR NEW YORK GOVERNOR — New York A.G. TISH JAMES, who investigated ANDREW CUOMO before he resigned, is eyeing a run for his former job, CNBC's Brian Schwartz reports. DEMOCRACY WATCH — CNN's Daniel Dale has a step back on Trump's efforts to install 2020 election deniers in key state positions overseeing the 2024 election. "[E]xperts and many Democrats fear that attempts to subvert the will of the voters stand a much greater chance of success," he writes. CONGRESS SHUTDOWN SHOWDOWN — Biden, Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader CHUCK SCHUMER held a call Thursday afternoon to game out how to avert a government shutdown and handle the looming debt cliff, Caitlin Emma, Jennifer Scholtes and Heather Caygle report. One big decision: whether to include a debt limit increase in legislation to keep the government open. "A bill that addresses both fiscal threats would likely pass the House, but its odds are highly questionable in the Senate, where all but four GOP lawmakers have promised to vote against raising the debt limit," they write. Democrats are loath to raise the debt ceiling via reconciliation, which would avoid the need for Republican votes but let the GOP off the hook. Though it wouldn't solve the problem, Democratic leaders could opt to turn the screws on "GOP lawmakers to either fall in line or go on record against billions of dollars in disaster aid, preventing a government shutdown and avoiding debt default." TRUMP ECONOMIC TEAM VS. BBB — A group of Trump advisers including former NEC Director LARRY KUDLOW, former SBA leader LINDA MCMAHON and former budget director RUSSELL VOUGHT is dropping a $10 million campaign in opposition to Biden's latest economic package, WaPo's Jeff Stein reports. | | A message from Google: Google will train 100,000 Americans on topics like data privacy and security. Robust cybersecurity depends on having the people to implement it, which means we need more and better computer security education and training. Over the next three years, Google is pledging to help 100,000 Americans earn Google Career Certificates in fields like IT Support and Data Analytics to learn in-demand skills including data privacy and security. Learn more. | | | AMERICA AND THE WORLD FRENCH CONNECTION — The U.S. acknowledged it only gave France a moment's notice before announcing its submarine technology agreement with Australia and the U.K. — a pact that France called "a knife in the back." NYT's Michael Shear and Roger Cohen have more. — A Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson said Thursday the move has only "intensified" a regional arms race, Phelim Kine reports . The statement "reflects the Chinese government's recognition that the U.S. has been able to rally allies in the Indo-Pacific to counter Beijing's increasingly aggressive moves in the region," Phelim writes. TRUMP CARDS DURHAM INDICTMENT DROPS — Special counsel JOHN DURHAM on Thursday charged lawyer MICHAEL SUSSMANN, alleging he "'lied about the capacity in which he was providing … allegations to the FBI' of potential cyber links between a Russian bank and a company owned by Trump," WaPo's Devlin Barrett and Spencer Hsu report . A key graf: "Legal experts promptly cast doubt on the case's broader significance, saying the alleged transgression seemed relatively minor given the length of time Durham's team has been at work. 'If this is all Durham's got, it has a feel of trying to justify his existence for the last two years,' said RANDALL ELIASON, a former federal prosecutor who specialized in corruption cases." TV TONIGHT — PBS' "Washington Week": Jonathan Martin, Sabrina Siddiqui, Kelsey Snell and Zolan Kanno-Youngs. TV SATURDAY — Ayman Mohyeldin's new MSNBC show, "Ayman," will debut Saturday at 8 p.m. on MSNBC. SUNDAY SO FAR … | CBS | "Face the Nation": Scott Gottlieb … Scott Kirby … Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.). | MSNBC | "The Sunday Show": Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) … Adewale "Wally" Adeyemo … Morgan Harper … Carol Leonnig … Michael Bender. | Gray TV | "Full Court Press": Austan Goolsbee … Ilir Sela. | FOX | "Fox News Sunday": New national polling. Panel: Marc Short, Julie Pace and Mo Elleithee. Power Player: Jay Glazer. | CNN | "Inside Politics": Panel: Margaret Talev, Jonathan Martin, Sabrina Siddiqui, Rachael Bade and Ashish Jha. | ABC | "This Week": Panel: Jonathan Karl, Rachel Scott, Evan Osnos and Vivian Salama. | NBC | "Meet the Press": Panel: María Teresa Kumar, Rich Lowry and Anna Palmer. | |
| | | | SUBSCRIBE TO "THE RECAST" TODAY: Power is shifting in Washington and in communities across the country. More people are demanding a seat at the table, insisting that politics is personal and not all policy is equitable. The Recast is a twice-weekly newsletter that explores the changing power dynamics in Washington and breaks down how race and identity are recasting politics and policy in America. Get fresh insights, scoops and dispatches on this crucial intersection from across the country and hear critical new voices that challenge business as usual. Don't miss out, SUBSCRIBE . Thank you to our sponsor, Intel. | | | | | | | PLAYBOOKERS | | Mike Lindell is desperate to get back on Fox. Elon Musk took his Bay Area mansion, listed for $37.5 million, off the market . He's been unloading his earthly real estate as he focuses on colonizing Mars. Jennifer Rubin is not a fan. Meena Harris started tennis lessons. Sergey Lavrov likes to travel diplomatically with mistress in tow, according to Alexei Navalny's team. SPOTTED: Tom Friedman having dinner with his wife, Ann, at Silver Spring's Parkway Deli. SPOTTED at a "Masked & Vaxxed" concert featuring Old Crow Medicine Show, hosted by Impact Arts + Film Fund at Pearl Street Warehouse, in support of Music Health Alliance: Steve Clemons, Adrienne Elrod, Kimball Stroud, David White, Gordon Hensley, Blair Watters, Joe Ellis, Bruce Harris, Ryan Grim, Ilyse Hogue, Bruce Kieloch, Melissa Maxfield, Adam Parkhomenko, Erik Huey and Christina Sevilla. SNEAK PEAK — "Fiasco" — a documentary series adapted from host and executive producer Leon Neyfakh's podcast — is debuting on EPIX on Sunday at 10 p.m. The first episode explores how "Jimmy Carter's failure to free American hostages sets the stage for Reagan's own hostage crisis," amidst the backdrop of the 1979 Iranian Revolution. Watch an exclusive clip from the debut episode here FIRST IN PLAYBOOK — Brittany Baker has joined Accenture as a consultant. She previously served in the Trump West Wing as deputy chief of staff at the National Economic Council for Larry Kudlow. MEDIA MOVES — Julio Vaqueiro is taking over Telemundo's top evening newscast, "Noticias Telemundo," as previous anchor Jose Diaz-Balart goes to MSNBC. More from the L.A. Times … Farnoush Amiri is joining the AP's Congress team as a reporter. She previously covered the statehouse in Columbus, Ohio. STAFFING UP — The White House announced several new nominations: Nickolas Guertin as director of operational test and evaluation at DOD, John Sherman as CIO at DOD, Margo Schlanger as assistant Agriculture secretary for civil rights, Krista Boyd as IG at the Office of Personnel Management and Robert Otto Valdez as assistant HHS secretary for planning and evaluation. TRANSITIONS — Ben Sheidler, TJ Tatum, Ross Giesinger and Chris Carpenter are joining Cornerstone Government Affairs as principals. Sheider previously was VP of external comms for Equifax. Tatum previously was a principal at Sard Verbinnen and is a Steve Scalise alum. Giesinger previously was policy adviser to the speaker of the Texas House of Representatives. Carpenter previously was a partner at Garrett McNatt Hennessey & Carpenter 360. … … Brian Lemek is now founder and executive director of a new PAC, Defend the Vote. He previously was a founding member and executive director of Brady PAC. … Max Virkus is now senior economic policy adviser to Sen. Raphael Warnock (D-Ga.). He previously was legislative director for Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-N.J.), and is a Joyce Beatty alum. … Zachary Holman is now deputy press secretary for Sen. Angus King (I-Maine). He most recently was director of comms for the Maryland Democratic Party. WEDDING — Heather Foster, VP for marketplaces at the Association for Community Affiliated Plans and a Diana DeGette alum, and Adam Ezring, deputy executive director of the Collaborative for Student Success and an Ed & Labor alum, got married Aug. 19 in a 13th-century Medici villa and wine estate in Tuscany, Italy, after three pandemic-related postponements. The celebration included wine tasting, a pizza party and scheduled trips to local Italian pharmacies for Covid testing. Pic … Another pic WELCOME TO THE WORLD — Katrina Bishop, public affairs manager at AEM, and AJ Bishop, a senior associate at Targeted Approach, welcomed Charlotte Lucia on Monday. She came in at 7 lbs, 14 oz and 20.25 inches, and joins puppy Maggie. Pic HAPPY BIRTHDAY: Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) … Steve Scully of the Bipartisan Policy Center … David Litt … Richard Wolffe of The Guardian … Bill Briggs … Anna Taylor … Marin Cogan … POLITICO's Emily Birnbaum and Crystal Thomas … WaPo's Rachel Roubein … DOJ's Anthony Coley … Kimberley Fritts of Cogent Strategies … Matthew Boyse of the State Department … Natalie Edelstein of Sen. Tammy Baldwin's (D-Wis.) office … NBC's Henry Gomez … David Wade … Scott Nulty of Sen. Jerry Moran's (R-Kan.) office … Cole Lyle … Brian Patrick of Rep. Bill Huizenga's (R-Mich.) office … Don Baer of Burson Cohn & Wolfe … Invariant's Morgan Gress Johnson … Steve Kerrigan … Courtney Laydon ... Monica Patel ... T.J. Helmstetter ... Doug Johnson … Claire Magee Ferguson … Adam Abrams … Sandra Abrevaya … Carol Kresse … Courtney O'Donnell … former Justice David Souter … Elise Zappia … retired Marine Gen. Anthony Zinni … Sergio Rodriguera … former Rep. Gene Taylor (D-Miss.) … J.T. Foley of Las Vegas Sands Corp. 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