| | | | |  | | By Eli Okun | | | | 
Steve Bannon's criminal conviction for failing to comply with a congressional subpoena could send a signal to other Trump world figures who have dragged their feet with the Jan. 6 panel. | Alex Brandon/AP Photo | |  | DRIVING THE DAY | | The jury in STEVE BANNON's criminal trial took less than three hours — including a lunch break — to declare him guilty on two counts of contempt of Congress on Friday. It was a landmark result for the Justice Department and the House Jan. 6 committee, whose investigation Bannon had refused to cooperate with. Each count could yield up to a year in prison at Bannon's Oct. 21 sentencing. Details from CBS Bannon's criminal conviction for failing to comply with a congressional subpoena could send a signal to other Trump world figures who have dragged their feet with the Jan. 6 panel. But, but, but: As Josh Gerstein notes in his rundown of the trial's top takeaways , "any actual jail time for Bannon in the case could be modest and may be years away. And the significant restraints the judge put on the defenses Bannon could offer at trial raise issues that could find traction at an appeals court or even the Supreme Court." Bannon's lawyers painted his prosecution as political, with arguments that drew prosecutorial objections and dismissals from the Trump-appointed judge. But even after the verdict came down — and despite sentencing looming in the fall — Bannon kept leaning hard into that tack. He went on TUCKER CARLSON's Fox News show Friday night to declare that "this is an ideological war" and warn the Jan. 6 committee, "Preserve your documents because there's going to be a real committee. And this is going to be backed by Republican grassroots voters and MAGA to say we want to get to the bottom of this for the good of the nation." THE SECRET SERVICE'S SECRETS — Another elusive target of the Jan. 6 committee's probe, the deleted texts from Secret Service agents' phones, got a bit more clarity Friday when CNN's Whitney Wild and Jeremy Herb scooped that the Secret Service had narrowed its inquiry down to 10 personnel. Those staffers' 10 phones had metadata indicating deleted texts from on or around Jan. 6. "But the Secret Service's internal investigation ground to a halt after a July 20 letter from the DHS inspector general informed the agency there was an ongoing criminal investigation, directing the Secret Service to stop its own probe." Secret Service director's statement Friday THE POLITICAL FALLOUT — A year and a half on, the events of Jan. 6 still hang in the political air all around us — even when they're pointedly and politely left unaddressed. That was the unusual state of play in Arizona on Friday, as former VP MIKE PENCE rallied for a gubernatorial candidate in a race that pits him against former President DONALD TRUMP — and spent his time praising the Trump administration, David Siders reports from Peoria. "[W]hat was laid bare more than anything in Arizona was just how lopsided that battle remains — and how hesitant the former vice president remains to break with his one-time patron in word even as he does so in deed." Coming the day after the Jan. 6 committee showed the tangible dangers to Pence during the Capitol insurrection, the former VP's silence on the matter stood out. "His life was threatened," one attendee whispered as she left. "His life was threatened by his boss!" Trump, of course, did not hold back in Arizona, blasting Democratic Sen. MARK KELLY and urging Republicans to turn out in big numbers on the back of false election fraud claims: "We need a landslide so big that the radical left cannot rig or steal even if they try." Details from the day, via the Arizona Republic A big step-back story after another banner Jan. 6 week: "Jan. 6 hearings traced an arc of 'carnage' wrought by Trump," by AP's Calvin Woodward and Eric Tucker Good Saturday morning. Thanks for reading Playbook. Drop me a line at eokun@politico.com , or reach out to the rest of the team: Rachael Bade , Eugene Daniels , Ryan Lizza .
| | | | A message from Amazon: For most of Della's life, her love of working on cars and machinery was just a hobby. At Amazon, she joined the Mechatronics and Robotics Apprenticeship Program and turned that hobby into a career.
The apprenticeship program is just one of many free career advancement programs Amazon offers as part of its commitment to provide education and skills training for 300,000 employees through 2025. | | | LATEST UKRAINE NEWS … Russia and Ukraine's grain export deal raised hopes Friday that despite the feverish war, critical foodstuff shipments from one of the world's breadbaskets could again start reaching populations in need. But officials from several countries voiced wariness to Eddy Wax and Meredith Lee , saying Russian President VLADIMIR PUTIN could restart the blockade for political ends at any time — and exports might be slow to resume. Just hours later, at least two Russian missiles struck the key Ukrainian port of Odesa, apparently breaching the terms of the deal, per WSJ's Matthew Luxmoore, Bojan Pancevski and Jared Malsin . The damaged infrastructure included a grain warehouse. "It's obvious that the agreement with Russia is not even worth the paper it was signed on," Ukraine's ambassador to Turkey responded. The U.S. on Friday announced its second military aid package of the month for Ukraine, a $270 million tranche that encompasses tens of thousands of rounds of ammunition and five High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems. More from The Washington Times Not backing down: Ukrainian President VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY told WSJ's Yaroslav Trofimov and Matthew Luxmoore in Kyiv that any cease-fire during which Russia retains the areas it's seized would simply embolden Moscow. Saturday morning read: The New Yorker's Luke Mogelson is out with a brutal dispatch from the Donbas , where "ordinary people trapped on the front lines have faced missile storms and starvation—and have no source of help except one another."
| | | | A message from Amazon:   Thanks to one of Amazon's many free career advancement programs, Della is now a trained equipment technician at Amazon facilities. | | | | | PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN'S SATURDAY — The president has nothing on his public schedule.
VP KAMALA HARRIS' SATURDAY — The VP has already left D.C. for Richmond, Va. Still to come:
— 10:05 a.m.: Harris will hold an abortion roundtable with Virginia state legislators at IBEW Local 666.
— 11:35 a.m.: Harris will leave Richmond to head back to D.C. | | | | | | 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
|  The Oak Fire rages outside of Yosemite National Park on Friday, suddenly becoming one of California's largest wildfires so far this year as it has charred roughly 4,500 acres. | Justin Sullivan/Getty Images | | | PLAYBOOK READS | | 9 THINGS THAT STUCK WITH US 1. THE STORY OF THE DAY … DAY TWO: The second installment of Jonathan Swan's Axios series on a second Trump term dives into the origins of Trump world's plan to use the obscure Schedule F to remake American bureaucracy. Domestic Policy Council staffer JAMES SHERK came up with the idea in 2019, which then dovetailed by 2020 with the single-minded drive by JOHNNY MCENTEE and ANDREW KLOSTER to root out all disloyal officials and replace them with ardent Trump believers. The big picture: It's not just Schedule F. In another Trump (or potentially other Republican) administration, "experts say there are already so many existing exemptions across the federal bureaucracy that a future president determined to pursue mass firings would have plenty to work with." 2. PRIMARY COLORS: WES MOORE was officially projected as the winner of the Maryland Democratic gubernatorial primary, setting up a clash with Trumpist GOP nominee DAN COX in November, per The Baltimore Sun's Sam Janesch . Moore, who triumphed over TOM PEREZ and PETER FRANCHOT, would be the state's first Black governor. Incumbent GOP Gov. LARRY HOGAN: "I think there's no race at all. I think Wes Moore is going to be the new governor." 3. (NOT) GETTING A BOOST: The Biden administration is now considering scrapping plans to expand second coronavirus booster shots this summer to most healthy people under 50, WaPo's Laurie McGinley, Dan Diamond and Lena Sun report . Instead, they're eyeing a sped-up timeline for reformulated booster shots to start getting in arms by early to mid-September. The other public health threat: U.S. officials are weighing a public health emergency declaration for monkeypox, they told reporters Friday, the same day that the first two U.S. cases in children were confirmed. More from CNBC 4. TRAJECTORY OF THE TIMES: "How a former leftie fell into the pro-Trump conspiracy rabbit hole," by Reuters' Linda So and Jason Szep in Pownal, Vt.: "Vermonter Harry Anzbock once supported Obama. He eventually came to embrace Trump's false rigged-voting claim – and threatened to kill election officials over it. Reuters traces one man's journey from counterculture youth to rightwing extremism and a dark family tragedy." 5. BATTLE FOR THE SENATE: Scarred by a wave of bad press and gaffes, HERSCHEL WALKER is trying to right the ship of his Georgia GOP Senate campaign by steering the focus back to Democrats, AP's Bill Barrow reports from Alto. "[I]t's an effort clearly aimed at changing the narrative around the matchup. The opening salvo was agriculture. Public safety and crime come next. The economy will follow. … Yet there were flashes of the tangents and falsehoods that have drawn negative attention already." — PETER THIEL is pumping another $1.5 million into the Arizona GOP Senate primary to support BLAKE MASTERS, Natalie Allison reports , as competitor JIM LAMON swamps the airwaves. 6. HUAWEI OR THE HIGHWAY: "FBI investigation determined Chinese-made Huawei equipment could disrupt US nuclear arsenal communications," by CNN's Katie Bo Lillis: "Among the most alarming things the FBI uncovered pertains to Chinese-made Huawei equipment atop cell towers near US military bases in the rural Midwest. … [T]he FBI determined the equipment was capable of capturing and disrupting highly restricted Defense Department communications, including those used by US Strategic Command, which oversees the country's nuclear weapons."
| | | | A message from Amazon:   Della got her dream job because Amazon invests in employees' careers. "They're paying for the education, and they're paying while we're there," she said. | | | 7. DEMOCRACY WATCH: First it was New Mexico. Now three counties in Pennsylvania are refusing to certify their election results from the May primary, "the latest attempt by conservative-leaning counties to disrupt, delay or otherwise meddle with the process of statewide election certification," report NYT's Blake Hounshell and Nick Corasaniti . Though the Pennsylvania squabble is limited in scope, democracy advocates warn that this kind of challenge could engulf the American system in turmoil if it becomes more widespread in years to come. 8. ANTITRUST THE PROCESS: A newly aggressive FTC is considering revisiting or even trying to undo the 2018 merger of Northrop Grumman and Orbital ATK, report Josh Sisco and Lee Hudson . The agency has already determined that Northrop violated the terms of the agreement. "Such a move would send shockwaves through the defense sector, and mark a major milestone for President Joe Biden's antitrust agenda, sowing doubt about both proposed and existing mergers across the economy." 9. ANNALS OF DIPLOMACY: U.S. embassies in Africa are struggling with ongoing understaffing, which staffers say is damaging morale and hampering America's bid to compete with China and Russia on the continent, Foreign Policy's Robbie Gramer and Amy Mackinnon report . "The problem has caught the attention of top U.S. lawmakers, who have raised alarm bells about the long-term impact of understaffed embassies, while senior officials at the State Department say they are working to fill the gaps as quickly as they can." CLICKER — "The nation's cartoonists on the week in politics," edited by Matt Wuerker — 15 funnies
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Kuper - Cagle.com | GREAT WEEKEND READS, curated by Ryan Lizza: — "Two Cities Took Different Approaches to Pandemic Court Closures. They Got Different Results," by ProPublica's Alec MacGillis: "Did closing courts contribute to the resurgence in violent crime that began in 2020? What happened in Albuquerque and Wichita may provide clues." — "The Attorney General's Choice," by Ian Bassin and Erica Newland in The New York Review of Books: "Merrick Garland's job in weighing a Trump indictment is not to heal the nation." — "What Will Chris Smalls Do Next?" by Wes Enzinna in N.Y. Mag: "He did the impossible: Unionize an Amazon warehouse. Then the hard part began." — "Sex, Lies, and Audiotape: Eavesdropping on Trump's 'Team Crazy,'" by Los Angeles Magazine's Jason McGahan: "In an explosive hour-long phone call, attorney Lin Wood and former Overstock CEO Patrick Byrne dished on Mike Flynn, Kyle Rittenhouse and lusty 'Jezebel' Sidney Powell." — "That Voice You're Hearing? It Might Be Hers," by NYT's Katherine Rosman: "Julia Whelan is one of the most in-demand audiobook narrators working today. With her novel, 'Thank You for Listening,' she's telling a story of her own." — "A Roman-era 'superhighway' is disappearing. Italy has a plan to save it," by Nina Strochlic in National Geographic: "The Appian Way symbolized the Roman Empire's might. Now Italy is restoring the ancient road, hoping to create a pilgrimage route through history."
| | | | INTRODUCING POWER SWITCH: The energy landscape is profoundly transforming. Power Switch is a daily newsletter that unlocks the most important stories driving the energy sector and the political forces shaping critical decisions about your energy future, from production to storage, distribution to consumption. Don't miss out on Power Switch, your guide to the politics of energy transformation in America and around the world. SUBSCRIBE TODAY . | | | | | | | PLAYBOOKERS | | Mick Mulvaney has no regrets about having his birthday party at Mission. The attractive mystery man sitting behind Matthew Pottinger and Sarah Matthews at the Jan. 6 committee hearing is actually Matthews' boyfriend, Ryan and Anthony Adragna revealed . Larry Summers says Congress should raise taxes to tackle inflation (though not to fund new spending). Ketanji Brown Jackson will weigh in on affirmative action after all as the Supreme Court decided not to consolidate its Harvard and UNC cases. SPOTTED: Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) signing books at Explore Booksellers in Aspen, Colo., on Friday afternoon. … Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.), Mark Esper, Eric Schmidt, MI6 chief Richard Moore and Kay Bailey Hutchison chatting on the Doerr-Hosier terrace Friday on the final day of the Aspen Security Forum. OVERHEARD: Fiona Hill getting upgraded to first class for her United flight from Aspen to Denver. TRANSITION — Monica Skoko Rodríguez is now director of medical standards at Planned Parenthood Federation of America. She most recently was executive director of Miami-Dade County's Commission for Women. ENGAGED — Maggie Thomas, chief of staff for the White House Office of Domestic Climate Policy and Franz Hochstrasser, CEO of Raise Green, got engaged at the White House Fourth of July party. WELCOME TO THE WORLD — Laura Schlapp, VP at CRC Advisors and a Mike Pence, DOD and Air Force alum, and Bryan Wells, who works at Stanton Park Group and is a Pat Roberts alum, welcomed Elizabeth Jane "EJ" Schlapp Wells on June 30. Pic HAPPY BIRTHDAY: Sen. Raphael Warnock (D-Ga.) … DOT's Aaron Moore … Eric Werwa … Fritz Brogan of the Mission Group … Melissa Braid … Connor McAllister of Sen. Steve Daines' (R-Mont.) office … Dean Aguillen of Ogilvy Government Relations … David Brock … Matt Jeanneret of the American Road and Transportation Builders Association … Mary Crane of Targeted Victory … Will Mesinger of Meraki Communications Group and MikeWorldWide … POLITICO's Lisa Kashinsky and Erin Banco … Judy Lichtman … Finsbury Glover Hering's Craig James and Josh Gross ... Edelman's Courtney Gray Haupt … Tracie Pough … former Justice Anthony Kennedy … former Rep. John Hall (D-N.Y.) … State's Kenya James … Stephanie Grisham … House Judiciary's Gabriel Barnett … Carolyn Vadino … Jane Rayburn of EMC Research … Monica Lewinsky … MSNBC PR's Liza Pluto THE SHOWS ( Full Sunday show listings here ): CBS "Face the Nation": Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) … Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo … Ashish Jha … Ukrainian Ambassador Oksana Markarova … Miami Mayor Francis Suarez. CNN "State of the Union": Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) … Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan … Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg. Panel: Lis Smith, Amanda Carpenter, Bakari Sellers and Scott Jennings. ABC "This Week": Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.) … Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan … Al Gore … Ashish Jha. Panel: Chris Christie, Donna Brazile, Rachel Scott and Catherine Lucey. NBC "Meet the Press": Al Gore … Rep. Elaine Luria (D-Va.) … Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen. Panel: Yamiche Alcindor, Stephen Hayes, María Teresa Kumar and Jake Sherman. FOX "Fox News Sunday," guest-anchored by Bret Baier: Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) … Ashish Jha. Panel: Newt Gingrich, Jacqui Heinrich, Katie Pavlich and Juan Williams. MSNBC "The Sunday Show": Rep. Sharice Davids (D-Kan.) … Gloria Avent-Kindred … Toluse Olorunnipa … Christina Greer … Rachel Vindman … Rep. Joe Neguse (D-Colo.). CNN "Inside Politics": Panel: Kasie Hunt, Hans Nichols, Marianna Sotomayor and Jeremy Diamond … Leana Wen. 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, digital editor Garrett Ross and producers Setota Hailemariam and Bethany Irvine.
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