| | | | |  | | By Eli Okun | | | |  President Joe Biden on Friday told top intelligence/national security leaders: Plug the leaks. | Jon Cherry/Getty Images | |  | DRIVING THE DAY | | BIDEN TRIES TO PLUG RUSSIA LEAKS — The war in Ukraine has seen the U.S. share unprecedented levels of intelligence with Kyiv. And Western governments have stepped up preemptive public disclosures of intelligence to undermine Russian messaging. But this week, the White House has started to worry that the intel is getting too public. Following blockbuster stories that U.S. intelligence had helped lead Ukrainians to kill Russian generals (NYT) and sink the Moskva flagship in the Black Sea (NBC), President JOE BIDEN on Friday called CIA Director WILLIAM BURNS, DNI AVRIL HAINES and Defense Secretary LLOYD AUSTIN and told them: Plug the leaks. NBC's Carol Lee, Courtney Kube and Ken Dilanian report that Biden deemed the disclosures distracting and counterproductive. NYT's Tom Friedman, one of Biden's favorite columnists, got a similar readout — in much harsher terms. He reports that Biden said "in the strongest and most colorful language that this kind of loose talk is reckless and has got to stop immediately — before we end up in an unintended war with Russia. "The staggering takeaway from these leaks is that they suggest we are no longer in an indirect war with Russia but rather edging toward a direct war — and no one has prepared the American people or Congress for that." Our National Security Daily colleagues went deep on this issue Friday, reporting that the stories have not been a "coordinated leak" from the White House, but they have angered officials in the U.S. and Europe. The fear of giving Russian President VLADIMIR PUTIN ammunition to escalate is top of mind as the U.S. tries to navigate supporting Ukraine without widening the war. "Administration officials insist there are clear limits on the intelligence it shares with Ukraine, including a ban against providing precision targeting intelligence for senior Russian leaders by name," CNN's Katie Bo Lillis, Jeremy Herb and Zachary Cohen report. "Yet some current and former officials have suggested that the limits the Biden administration have drawn are arbitrary, in part because the end result is the same – Ukrainian strikes that kill senior Russian leaders." Good Saturday morning. Thanks for reading Playbook. Drop me a line here, or get in touch with the rest of the team: Rachael Bade, Eugene Daniels, Ryan Lizza.
| | | | A message from Amazon: Only 23% of working Americans have access to paid parental leave. They face an unfair choice: spend time with their families or continue to earn a paycheck. Amazon's paid leave policy allows parents to do both. | | | MORE UKRAINE DEVELOPMENTS … — Another $150 million: The U.S. announced a new weapons package for Ukraine on Friday, encompassing "artillery munitions, radar and other equipment," as Reuters' Idrees Ali, Patricia Zengerle and Mike Stone scooped. — Another $136 million: The Pentagon also announced it's purchasing "aerial drones, laser-guided rockets, binoculars" and more from American companies to send to Ukraine, per WaPo. — Zelenskyy's demands: Ukrainian President VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY said Friday that the pathway is still open for Ukraine and Russia to reach a peace deal, but the demands he outlined — including EU membership, a restoration of borders and accountability for Russian military leaders — would be tough for Russia to swallow. More from WaPo
| | | | A message from Amazon: Amazon provides up to 20 weeks of fully paid leave, allowing hourly employees time to bond with their families without missing a paycheck. | | | BIDEN'S SATURDAY — The president has nothing on his public schedule. VP KAMALA HARRIS' SATURDAY (all times Eastern): — 10 a.m.: The VP will deliver the commencement address at Tennessee State University. — 1:45 p.m.: Harris will leave Nashville to return to Washington.
| | | | 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. | | | | | PHOTO OF THE DAY
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First lady Jill Biden visits a Romanian classroom today where teachers are helping displaced Ukrainian students. | Susan Walsh, Pool/AP Photo | | | PLAYBOOK READS | | 9(ISH) THINGS THAT STUCK WITH US 1. ABORTION FALLOUT: In the wake of POLITICO's publication of the draft Supreme Court ruling overturning Roe v. Wade, Justice CLARENCE THOMAS warned Friday that "you cannot have a free society" without strong institutions, which shouldn't be "bullied" away from certain outcomes just because people don't like them. (Notes Abby Phillip: It's not exactly advice VIRGINIA THOMAS followed as she tried to overturn the 2020 election.) — How it's playing: A new Yahoo/YouGov poll should get the GOP's attention: It finds Democrats with a 5-point advantage on the generic congressional ballot, but that balloons to 13 points when voters choose between a "pro-choice Democrat" and a "pro-life Republican." By 51% to 31%, Americans don't want Roe overturned. But, but, but: While a new CNN/SSRS poll also finds broad opposition to completely overturning Roe (this time 66%), the ruling doesn't seem to have given Democrats any relative enthusiasm boost in people planning to vote this fall. — How they're spinning: Much like Republicans, Democrats are struggling with how to message this moment. They're trying to harness the base's anger and direct it toward Republicans. "But the Democrats' message also in a sense reflects how powerless they have been in Washington, even when they control the levers of power," WaPo's Seung Min Kim and Leigh Ann Caldwell report. 2. ALL POLITICS IS NATIONAL: Our in-house campaign forecaster Steve Shepard has updated his race ratings in the wake of this week's Ohio and Indiana primaries. Across the board, he writes that "the political environment is outweighing candidate strength" — so even where flawed Republicans landed a nomination, Democrats may still have an uphill battle. The Ohio Senate race remains likely Republican, he predicts. 3. SPLIT SCREEN IN THE RUST BELT: Biden and DONALD TRUMP both held events in the heartland Friday, trying to win over voters with very different strategies. — Trump rallied in Greensburg, Pa., for MEHMET OZ in the Senate primary — or perhaps more accurately, he rallied against DAVID MCCORMICK, whom Trump dinged for transparently trying to MAGA-fy his hedge funder record: "If anybody was within 200 miles of me, he hired them." Maybe Oz could have used a bit more touting: "voters who waited hours in the rain to see Mr. Trump weren't yet wooed by Mr. Oz," reports the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette's Gillian McGoldrick. Meanwhile, several GOP gubernatorial contenders showed up in Greensburg to try to inch nearer a Trump endorsement, Holly Otterbein reports. — Biden focused on his manufacturing agenda at a stop Friday in Hamilton, Ohio, where he tried to amp up pressure on Congress to finish the big China competitiveness/semiconductor legislation. More from The Cincinnati Enquirer 4. JUDICIARY SQUARE: Three notable lawsuits got tossed out or turned back Friday: — Georgians can't force GOP Rep. MARJORIE TAYLOR GREENE off the ballot. A judge said he was unpersuaded that Greene was an insurrectionist because of her Jan. 6 support, as a long-shot bid to disqualify her had argued. More from The Atlanta Journal-Constitution — Trump can't force Twitter to reinstate his account. A judge ruled that Trump's ban was legal and the platform was not being a state actor. More from The Verge — Advocates can't block Florida's new voting restrictions. A federal appeals court reinstated Republicans' new law — at least for now — after a federal judge had earlier deemed it unconstitutional More from the Tampa Bay Times 5. COVID'S PRESENT AND FUTURE: CBS President and CEO GEORGE CHEEKS has tested positive for the coronavirus, days after he sat unmasked next to Biden at the White House Correspondents' Association dinner. Our colleague Adam Cancryn reports that ANTHONY FAUCI was frustrated on a call this week about the dinner and too many people acting like Covid is over. "Fauci's critique stood out because it appeared to put him at odds with the more relaxed stance toward the dinner taken by the White House and Covid-19 Response Coordinator ASHISH JHA, who attended the dinner and was also present on the Thursday call." — Meanwhile, the administration is sounding a warning about what awaits us this fall and winter if Congress doesn't pass the new round of pandemic response funding languishing on the Hill. Officials said Friday that without the money for vaccines and testing, they forecast 100 million Americans getting infected — not quite as big as last winter's Omicron wave, but pretty bad. More from The Hill 6. THE WHOLE IX YARDS: Title IX is about to surge back to the fore of the political conversation: Education Secretary MIGUEL CARDONA is readying a rule as soon as this month to undo the Trump administration's changes to schools' handling of sexual misconduct, Bianca Quilantan reports . And it could be a two-fer of controversy: The Department is also expected to codify protections for gender identity under Title IX for the first time. 7. DAILY MADISON: New reporting from WRAL's Bryan Anderson shows that Rep. MADISON CAWTHORN (R-N.C.) gave his second cousin, STEPHEN SMITH, over $141,000 from his campaign and House office. That doesn't appear to violate the law or a ban on House members hiring close family members, which extends only to first cousins. But the payments "raise questions from political observers about the perception of family self-dealing." 8. THE NEW GOP: NYT's Reid Epstein has the dateline of the day: From Wahoo, Neb., he reports on the fraught GOP gubernatorial primary, where the controversial CHARLES HERBSTER "is about to find out if a Trump endorsement alone is enough to win a major Republican primary." In Tuesday's very close three-way race, Herbster is acting like Trump, talking like Trump and hanging his entire campaign on Trump's backing, pushing some other candidates to the cultural right. He's in a dead heat with JIM PILLEN, a conservative supported by the Ricketts family, and BRETT LINDSTROM, who's angling for the moderate suburbanite vote. 9. KIDS IN DANGER: Two things to keep on your radar: — The CDC said it's seen 109 hepatitis cases among young kids, including five deaths, in a perplexing outbreak experts are still trying to figure out. More from Insider — Helena Bottemiller Evich has the latest heartbreaking twist in the infant formula recall story she's been dominating for months: After the Michigan plant in question shut down, "[t]here's now a dangerous shortage of specialized formulas that are the only thing keeping many children and adults alive."
| | | | A message from Amazon:   Amazon's parental leave policy allows parents to be there for the little things. | | | CLICKER — "The nation's cartoonists on the week in politics," edited by Matt Wuerker — 16 keepers GREAT WEEKEND READS, curated by Ryan Lizza: — "Paper, Cut," upon the last regular print edition of Washington City Paper: "City Paper alumni look back on 41 years of print issues and memories." — "In the Court of the Liver King," by Madeleine Aggeler in GQ: "From the medieval trappings of his Texas mansion to his raw organ-meat diet, the TikTok star and supplement magnate promotes living like a caveman in all aspects of life." — "Did Jesse James Bury Confederate Gold? These Treasure Hunters Think So," by WaPo Magazine's David Montgomery: "What does a search involving possible missing Confederate bounty, the myth of Jesse James, the FBI and a mysterious map reveal about the American psyche?" — "Despite Everything, Anna Wintour Will Survive," by N.Y. Mag's Shawn McCreesh: "Have you ever seen the devil cry in church? I have." — "America's Blue-Red Divide Is About to Get Starker," by The Atlantic's Ronald Brownstein: "As abortion rights are rolled back in certain states, the gap between the country's two dominant political coalitions will widen." — "Elon Musk's Fixer Is Quietly Tending the World's Biggest Fortune," by Bloomberg's Sophie Alexander and Liana Baker: "Jared Birchall is the right-hand man who does everything from lining up Twitter deal financing to digging up dirt on adversaries." — "The Tucker Carlson origin story," by Aaron Short for Insider: "Tucker Carlson is remembered as a provocateur and gleeful contrarian by those who knew him in his early days. His bohemian artist mother abandoned her young family and cut Tucker and his brother out of her will."
| | | | DON'T MISS DIGITAL FUTURE DAILY - OUR TECHNOLOGY NEWSLETTER, RE-IMAGINED: Technology is always evolving, and our new tech-obsessed newsletter is too! Digital Future Daily unlocks the most important stories determining the future of technology, from Washington to Silicon Valley and innovation power centers around the world. Readers get an in-depth look at how the next wave of tech will reshape civic and political life, including activism, fundraising, lobbying and legislating. Go inside the minds of the biggest tech players, policymakers and regulators to learn how their decisions affect our lives. Don't miss out, subscribe today. | | | | | | | PLAYBOOKERS | | Nancy Pelosi will receive an honorary doctorate from (and deliver commencement remarks at) Brown, along with Zeynep Tufekci, Shaggy and others. Michelle Obama announced that an exhibit at the Obama Presidential Center will be named for her mom, Marian Robinson. Jen Psaki and Peter Doocy, for old times' sake. OUT AND ABOUT — The Middle East Policy Council hosted a 40th anniversary reception Thursday night at the Mayflower, where they honored their first 40 under 40 cohort. SPOTTED:Bassima Alghussein, Bonnie Jenkins, Jim Moran, Omani Ambassador Moosa Hamdan Al Tai, Nawaf Alenezi, Jasmine Zaki, Mohammed Maraqa and Mohammed Al-Fityan. NEW NOMINEES — The White House announced several new nominees, including Donald Cravins Jr. as undersecretary of Commerce for minority business development, David Pekoske for another term as head of the TSA, Hugo Rodriguez Jr. as ambassador to Nicaragua, and Rosie Hidalgo as director of DOJ's Office on Violence Against Women. WHITE HOUSE DEPARTURE LOUNGE — Henry Rodriguez has left the White House, where he was assistant director for strategic health and cancer science for the Office of Science and Technology Policy. He has returned to the National Cancer Institute, where he is founding director of the Office of Cancer Clinical Proteomics Research. TRANSITIONS — Matt Schuck is now senior major gifts officer at the American Cornerstone Institute. He most recently was comms director for Rep. Jason Smith (R-Mo.) and the House Budget GOP, and is a Trump HUD alum. … Amilcar Guzmán is joining the J.B. and M.K. Pritzker Family Foundation in Chicago as a program officer. He currently is director for evaluation and outcomes at the League of Women Voters. WELCOME TO THE WORLD — Casey Enders, founder of independent management consulting firm Resolve Inc. and a Carly Fiorina alum, and Stuart Skeates, an engagement manager at McKinsey, welcomed Max Henry Skeates on April 27. Pic HAPPY BIRTHDAY: Reps. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.), Ted Deutch (D-Fla.) and Blaine Luetkemeyer (R-Mo.) … Fox's Brian Kilmeade … Angela Morabito of Thirteen Strategy Group … NBC's Mark Murray … Keith Stern of Speaker Nancy Pelosi's office … Caitlin Carroll of Sen. Richard Burr's (R-N.C.) office … Bruce Haynes of Sard Verbinnen … John Scofield of S-3 Group … Colm O'Comartun of 50 State … Nichole Francis Reynolds … Nickie Currie of Amgen … RNC's Christian Schaeffer … Jim Steinberg … Andrea Purse … 4C Communication Strategies' Chris Kennedy … Blake Roberts ... Brad Wolters … former Utah Gov. Gary Herbert … former Rep. Candice Miller (R-Mich.) … Noelle Garnier … CNBC's Amanda Macias … Rob Saliterman (4-0) THE SHOWS ( Full Sunday show listings here): CBS "Face the Nation": Speaker Nancy Pelosi … Ukrainian Ambassador Oksana Markarova … Rep. Nancy Mace (R-S.C.) … Jim Taiclet … Eric Holder. FOX "Fox News Sunday," guest-anchored by Bret Baier: Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) … Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.). Panel: Doug Heye, Juan Williams, Susan Page and Josh Kraushaar. CNN "State of the Union": Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves … Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) … U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Linda Thomas-Greenfield. Panel: Jonah Goldberg, Hilary Rosen, Carrie Severino and Bakari Sellers. ABC "This Week": Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) … Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson ... Mini Timmaraju … Marjorie Dannenfelser ... Ashish Jha. Panel: Rachel Scott, Yvette Simpson, Sarah Isgur and Alex Burns. MSNBC "The Sunday Show": Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.) … Rep. Karen Bass (D-Calif.) … Roberta Kaplan … Cecile Richards … Marianne Williamson … Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.). NBC "Meet the Press": Michigan A.G. Dana Nessel. Legal panel: Neal Katyal, Dahlia Lithwick and Jennifer Mascott. Panel: Kimberly Atkins Stohr, Sara Fagen, Josh Gerstein and Ali Vitali. CNN "Inside Politics": Panel: Amy Walter, Tamara Keith, Manu Raju, Michael Warren and Joan Biskupic. Panel: Jill Dougherty and Robin Wright. PBS "PBS News Weekend": Panel: Kimberly Atkins Stohr and Leigh Ann Caldwell. Did someone forward this email to you? Sign up here. Send Playbookers tips to playbook@politico.com or text us at 202-556-3307. Playbook couldn't happen without our editor Mike Zapler, deputy editor Zack Stanton and producers Bethany Irvine, Eli Okun and Garrett Ross.
| | | | A message from Amazon: In America, many parents are faced with an unfair choice: focus on new parenthood or continue to earn a paycheck. More than 75% of working Americans lack access to paid parental leave and face this challenge on a daily basis.
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