| | | | |  | | By Tara Palmeri | | | | | | |  | DRIVING THE DAY | | BREAKING OVERNIGHT IN UKRAINE — CNN's Matthew Chance and Jeremy Herb: "A call between U.S. President JOE BIDEN and Ukrainian President VOLODYMYR ZELENSKY on Thursday 'did not go well,' as the pair disagree on the 'risk level' of a Russian attack, a senior Ukrainian official told CNN. The White House, however, disputed the official's account, warning that anonymous sources were 'leaking falsehoods.' They did state that Biden warned Zelensky an imminent invasion is a 'distinct possibility.' "On the call, which the Ukrainian official described as 'long and frank,' Biden warned his Ukrainian counterpart that … an invasion was now virtually certain once the ground freezes later in February, according to the official. Zelensky, however, restated his position that the threat from Russia remains 'dangerous but ambiguous,' saying it's not certain that an attack will take place, the official added." CRACKING PUTIN'S CALCULUS — The world sits transfixed on Russia, waiting to see what President VLADIMIR PUTIN's next move will be regarding his pressure on Ukraine. Ryan talked with KURT VOLKER, former U.S. ambassador to NATO and former special envoy to Ukraine, about how NATO and Biden should confront the threat. Plus, journalist ULIANA PAVLOVA from Moscow's Red Square about the Russian sentiment. Listen and subscribe to Playbook Deep Dive
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| WHEN OZ WENT TO WASHINGTON — TV doc turned Senate hopeful MEHMET OZ met with Senate Minority Leader MITCH MCCONNELL at the NRSC headquarters earlier this month to lay out why he thinks he can win in the swing state of Pennsylvania. In normal times, such a meeting between a candidate and party bosses would be as pro forma as they come. But needless to say, these are not normal times in the GOP. Oz pitched himself to McConnell as the candidate with broad, cross-party appeal — from Black voters to conservative Democrats to DONALD TRUMP. The candidate shared polling data from last fall — before he announced his candidacy as a Republican — showing that his favorability among Black voters was a hair under 50%, while less than 10% had an unfavorable impression of him. (No doubt helpful in that regard: Oz was first introduced to the daytime television audience through OPRAH WINFREY.) The numbers he presented were similarly strong among conservative Democrats. Oz also talked up his long-standing relationship with Trump. "It was very friendly, similar to meetings with other candidates President Trump favors, like HERSCHEL WALKER and ADAM LAXALT," a person with knowledge of the Oz-McConnell meeting said. Oz was escorted around the building by his campaign aide and former NRSC Executive Director CHRIS HANSEN. He also met with NRSC Chair RICK SCOTT (R-Fla.). Some political insiders said Oz's Jan. 11 meeting with a Trump nemesis was a risky move for the candidate as he competes for the former president's coveted endorsement. For instance, former hedge funder DAVID MCCORMICK, who's married to former senior Trump aide DINA POWELL, has flexed his MAGA bona fides by hiring HOPE HICKS, STEPHEN MILLER and CLIFF SIMS, as well as consulting with other former Trump aides . ALSO IN PA — It's rare for a state-level politician to skip an opportunity to press the flesh with a visiting president from their own party. But that's what two prominent Democratic hopefuls are doing when Biden arrives in Pittsburgh today. "Lt. Gov. JOHN FETTERMAN, a leading Senate candidate, and state Attorney General JOSH SHAPIRO, the likely Democratic nominee in the race for governor, will be absent," AP's Steve Peoples and Marc Levy note . "Another top Senate candidate, Rep. CONOR LAMB, a longtime Biden supporter based in Pittsburgh, will attend. All three had been invited to participate in a photo line with the president." Happy Friday, and thanks for reading Playbook. Drop us a line: Rachael Bade, Eugene Daniels, Ryan Lizza, Tara Palmeri.
| | | | A message from The American Beverage Association: At America's beverage companies our plastic bottles are made to be remade. We're carefully designing them to be 100% recyclable, including the caps—so every bottle can become a new one. That means less plastic waste in our environment. Please help us get Every Bottle Back. EveryBottleBack.org | | | KID ROCK TO RUN FOR REAL? — Rock is being recruited by some MAGA members of Congress to run for Tennessee's 5th Congressional District, where he owns a sprawling estate in Nashville. This push comes fresh off the release of his latest single "We the People" — which bashes ANTHONY FAUCI and Biden with lyrics like "Let's Go Brandon" — and a phone call with Trump on Wednesday. In 2018, Rock was accused (but ultimately cleared) of violating campaign law when he promoted "Kid Rock for U.S. Senate" without ever filing to run for office with the FEC . Rock joked to a source who's recruiting him that he's open to considering a House run because his faux campaign for Senate was so successful in selling concert tickets. Rock would be naturally positioned for a Trump endorsement — mainly because he's famous — but the former president just endorsed former State Department spokesperson MORGAN ORTAGUS for the same seat this week. Another wrinkle to all this: Alex Isenstadt reports that the MAGA wing of the party is outraged over Trump's decision to endorse Ortagus over Trump die-hard ROBBY STARBUCK. WEEKEND WEATHER REPORT — "Nor'easter, 'bomb cyclone' to deliver heavy snow, wind to East Coast," by WaPo's Capital Weather Gang. As of now, it looks like the D.C. region will avoid the worst of it.
| | | | A message from The American Beverage Association:   America's beverage companies are working together to reduce our industry's plastic footprint by investing in efforts to get our plastic bottles back. Our goal is for every bottle to become a new one, so they don't end up in our oceans, rivers and landfills. EveryBottleback.org | | | BIDEN'S FRIDAY: — 10:15 a.m.: The president will receive the President's Daily Brief. — 11:10 a.m.: Biden will depart the White House en route to West Mifflin, Pa., where he is scheduled to arrive at 12:20 p.m. — 1:25 p.m.: Biden will visit Carnegie Mellon University at Mill 19. — 2 p.m.: Biden will deliver remarks on the supply chain and infrastructure. — 3:05 p.m.: Biden will depart West Mifflin to return to the White House, where he is scheduled to arrive at 4:20 p.m. Principal deputy press secretary KARINE JEAN-PIERRE will gaggle aboard Air Force One en route to West Mifflin. THE SENATE and THE HOUSE are out.
| | | | JOIN TODAY TO HEAR FROM GOVERNORS ACROSS AMERICA : As we head into the third year of the pandemic, state governors are taking varying approaches to public health measures including vaccine and mask mandates. "The Fifty: America's Governors" is a series of live conversations featuring various governors on the unique challenges they face as they take the lead and command the national spotlight in historic ways. Learn what is working and what is not from the governors on the front lines, REGISTER HERE. | | | | | PHOTO OF THE DAY
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VP Kamala Harris walks through the Honduran presidential palace with new President Xiomara Castro in Tegucigalpa on Thursday. | Erin Schaff/The New York Times via AP, Pool | | | PLAYBOOK READS | | THE WHITE HOUSE SCOTUS SCARES — Democrats are urging Biden to move quickly on his pick to replace Justice STEPHEN BREYER — lest nature intervene to upend the entire process, Christopher Cadelago, Laura Barrón-López and Marianne LeVine report. "While Biden has said he intends to make his choice by the end of February, his history of missing major deadlines is causing concern. And some Democrats concede they're already worried that a single illness, death or retirement could throw it all into chaos. … "The call to move fast is not merely driven by the realities of the slimmest possible Senate majority. There is also a sense of political urgency in Biden's orbit as his standing has been on a downward trajectory since last fall." The story adds a few new names to the mix of potential high court nominees, citing a source familiar with White House deliberations: WILHELMINA WRIGHT, a district court judge and former Minnesota Supreme Court justice, and MELISSA MURRAY, a New York University law professor. BIDEN'S CONUNDRUM — The economy last year grew at its fastest clip since RONALD REAGAN was up for reelection, according to numbers posted Thursday. Yet voters are "downright pessimistic about economic conditions and their own financial prospects," NYT's Jeanna Smialek and Ben Casselman report in a big-picture look at Biden's big dilemma going into the midterms. "Faltering consumer confidence in the economy — and in Mr. Biden's handling of it — could be a liability as Democrats battle to keep control of both the House and Senate. "Mr. Biden and his top advisers are trying to turn attention toward the positives: emphasizing how rapidly the economy has recovered and that wages are rising, and hailing efforts to fix snarled supply chains and rebuild domestic manufacturing." CONGRESS TO BBB OR NOT TO BBB? — Congressional Progressive Caucus Chair PRAMILA JAYAPAL (D-Wash.) made news Thursday by calling on Biden and Democrats to pass the party's social spending and climate package by March 1. How better to position Biden for his first State of the Union address, she reasoned, while also noting that Sen. JOE MANCHIN (D-W.Va.) outlined to her directly the parts of BBB he supported. But Jayapal's call to action looks like wishful thinking at this point. For one, Manchin hasn't resumed negotiations, a process that would likely take weeks. Also, as Anthony Adragna, Nicholas Wu and Sarah Ferris noted in Congress Minutes, Speaker NANCY PELOSI earlier this month dismissed talk of a new BBB deadline. And White House press secretary JEN PSAKI swatted aside a question about the March 1 idea at her briefing Thursday. Another complication: Senate Democrats are about to become very busy working to confirm a Supreme Court justice. WHAT'S REAL AND WHAT'S FAKE — NYT's Carl Hulse dives into the bipartisan talks to reform the Electoral Count Act — and suspicions among Democrats that Republicans will yank the rug out if they get close: "As a rump group of senators in both parties has recently ramped up discussions aimed at reaching a compromise on voting legislation, leading Democrats who saw their far broader voting rights package stall in the Senate last week have been wary. "They worry that the emerging legislation could be a distraction from the pressing issue their bill was meant to address — Republican voter-suppression efforts at the state level — and amount to little more than cover for Republicans who want to appear interested in protecting election integrity despite uniformly opposing Democrats' voting rights bill." GOP MONEY FOR MANCHIN — CNBC's Brian Schwartz: " KEN LANGONE, a billionaire investor and Republican donor, contributed to Sen. Joe Manchin's political action committee days after the lawmaker said he would not support Biden's $1.75 trillion social and climate spending package. Langone and his wife each contributed $5,000 to Manchin's Country Roads leadership PAC in donations dated New Year's Eve. That total is the most an individual can contribute to such a PAC in a given year."
| | | | A message from The American Beverage Association:   Our plastic bottles are made to be remade. Help us get Every Bottle Back. EveryBottleBack.org | | | ALL POLITICS HERE TO STAY — Former North Carolina Rep. MARK WALKER said Thursday night he intends to stay in the state's Senate race, "despite an endorsement offered in early December by former President Donald Trump if Walker leaves the Senate race and runs for House," The News & Observer's Danielle Battaglia reports . The move offered by Trump "would ensure he doesn't split Rep. TED BUDD's votes in the Republican primary and give the win to former Gov. PAT MCCRORY." CASH DASH — In advance of the midterms, GEORGE SOROS is pumping a whopping $125 million into his Democracy PAC, money that will go to pro-democracy candidates/groups (largely but not exclusively Democrats) in 2022 and beyond, scoops Elena Schneider. His son ALEXANDER SOROS will be president of the super PAC. Among the groups that have already gotten big sums from Democracy PAC: Senate Majority PAC, House Majority PAC, the Democratic Association of Secretaries of State, BlackPAC and Vote Rev. POLICY CORNER SUICIDE HOTLINE'S DATA PRACTICES SPARK ETHICAL DEBATES — Crisis Text Line is one of the world's most prominent mental health support lines, a tech-driven nonprofit that uses big data and artificial intelligence to help people cope with traumas such as self-harm, emotional abuse and thoughts of suicide. But the data the charity collects from its online text conversations with people in their darkest moments doesn't end there, Alexandra Levine reports in an impressive watchdog story today: The organization's for-profit spinoff, a company called Loris.ai, uses a sliced and repackaged version of that information to create and market customer service software. In turn, Loris has pledged to share some of its revenue with Crisis Text Line. (The nonprofit also holds an ownership stake in the company, and the two entities shared the same CEO for at least a year and a half.) The arrangement, which a Crisis Text Line official defended as ethical and "fully compliant with the law," highlights new dimensions of the tech privacy debates roiling Washington, Alex writes. TV TONIGHT — PBS' "Washington Week": Nancy Cordes, Eugene Daniels, Ariane de Vogue and Vivian Salama. SUNDAY SO FAR … CBS "Face the Nation": Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) … House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn (D-S.C.). ABC "This Week": Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine). Panel: Chris Christie, Donna Brazile, Donna Shalala and Will Hurd. FOX "Fox News Sunday": Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.). Panel: Doug Heye, Jacqui Heinrich and Harold Ford Jr. MSNBC "The Sunday Show": Rep. Ami Bera (D-Calif.) … Nina Turner … Gloria Avent-Kindred … Karol Mason … Chasten Buttigieg … Ruth Marcus. CNN "Inside Politics": Leana Wen. Panel: Zolan Kanno-Youngs, Hans Nichols, Jackie Kucinich and Manu Raju. Gray TV "Full Court Press": Leon Panetta … John Kirby. NBC "Meet the Press": Panel: Eugene Daniels, Stephen Hayes, Carol Lee and Claire McCaskill.
| | | | 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. | | | | | | | PLAYBOOKERS | | The Bidens have welcomed a new cat, Willow, to the White House. She's a 2-year-old, gray and white short-haired tabby cat originally from Western Pennsylvania, who met Jill Biden when she jumped on stage and interrupted her remarks during a 2020 campaign stop. She wasted no time making herself right at home. Michael Avenatti, now representing himself at his criminal trial, cross-examined Stormy Daniels . Cori Bush's parked car was hit by gunfire in the St. Louis area (not while she was in it). Joe Biden is set to appear on an NBC special Monday night, "Celebrating Betty White: America's Golden Girl." NBC's Kevin Tibbles is signing off after a 42-year career — he got a tribute Thursday on "NBC Nightly News." MEDIA MOVE — Veteran Capitol Hill reporter Heather Caygle, who joined POLITICO in 2014 as a transportation reporter and became co-congressional bureau chief, is joining Punchbowl News. We wish her the best. SPOTTED at a surprise celebration for new Congressional Black Caucus Executive Director Vincent Evans on Thursday night, which included a cake in the shape of the Capitol: Cristóbal Alex, Symone Sanders, Michael Collins, John McCarthy, Kamau Marshall, Katie Petrelius, Jotaka Eaddy, Karen Andre, Sharon Weber, Laura Jimenez, Tasha Cole, Michael Reed, Erin Wilson, Trey Baker, Sabrina Singh, Greg Schultz, Allie Panther and a virtual video from Michelle Kwan. Pic SPOTTED at the Washington Mardi Gras hosted by Louisiana Alive! on Thursday night, which included live music and an oyster bar: John Breaux, Ben Barnes, Wayne Smith, Cedric Richmond, Yebbie Watkins, Hope Goins, Lyndon Boozer, Toby Short, Stephanie Leger, Joe Harris, Warren Tryon, Oliver Kellman, Karen Flecknet,Shashrina Thomas and Tola Thompson. TRANSITIONS — Kauthar Rahman is joining the Meridian Institute as COO. She previously was COO at the Juvenile Law Center. … Ryan Croft will be a deputy director in CBP's Office of Congressional Affairs. He most recently was a senior policy adviser for Rep. Glenn Grothman (R-Wis.). … … Sarah Hodgkins is joining the American Gastroenterological Association as director of government affairs. She previously was a senior legislative assistant for Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart (R-Fla.). … Tom Nelson will retire as president and CEO of Share Our Strength at the end of June, after a decade with the organization. There will be a national search for his successor. … Amy Dudley is now head of comms at food startup Shef. She most recently was VP of comms at the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, and is a Joe Biden alum. HAPPY BIRTHDAY: Justice Amy Coney Barrett (5-0) … Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.) … Reps. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.), Antonio Delgado (D-N.Y.) and Linda Sánchez (D-Calif.) … Fed Vice Chair nominee Lael Brainard … incoming U.S. Ambassador to China Nick Burns … Christy Gibson … POLITICO's Peter King … Helen Kalla … former Reps. Lou Barletta (R-Pa.), Tom Downey (D-N.Y.) and Brian Bilbray (R-Calif.) … Lynnette Johnson Williams of BHJM Communications … Achim Bergmann … Leslie Jones of American Forests … Matt DoBias … Frank Purcell … Robert Satloff of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy … Skip Rutherford … Ted Greener of the Association of American Railroads … Reginald Darby … Microsoft's Matt Gelman … John Milewski … Missy Lieberman of the Pew Charitable Trusts … Sam Greene … CNN's Jay McMichael … Stephanie Adams … USA Today's Courtney Subramanian … Blaine Volpe of the Millennial Action Project (28) … Terry McNaughton … Grant Campbell … Bloomberg's Justin Fox … Danny Rickert (6-0) Did someone forward this email to you? Sign up here. Send Playbookers tips to playbook@politico.com. Playbook couldn't happen without our editor Mike Zapler, deputy editor Zack Stanton and producers Allie Bice, Eli Okun and Garrett Ross.
| | | | A message from The American Beverage Association: America's leading beverage companies - The Coca-Cola Company, Keurig Dr Pepper and PepsiCo - are working together to reduce our industry's plastic footprint through our Every Bottle Back initiative. We're investing in efforts to get our bottles back so we can remake them into new bottles and use less new plastic.
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· Designing 100% recyclable plastic bottles and caps – we're making our bottles from PET that's strong, lightweight and easy to recycle.
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· Raising awareness – we're adding on-pack reminders to encourage consumers to recycle our plastic bottles and caps.
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