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| Axios Sneak Peek |
| By Hans Nichols and Zachary Basu · Feb 14, 2023 |
| Welcome back to Sneak. Smart Brevity™ count: 993 words ... 3.5 minutes. 🚨 Situational awareness: Federal prosecutors investigating former President Trump's handling of classified documents are seeking to compel testimony from one of his lawyers under a "crime-fraud exception" to attorney-client privilege, the N.Y. Times reports. |
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| 1 big thing: West Wing power vacuum |
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| Brian Deese. Photo: Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images |
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| When White House officials gather tomorrow night in the Indian Treaty Room for Brian Deese's farewell party, they'll be saying more than just goodbye to a colleague: - They'll be watching a power center head for the exits, Axios' Hans Nichols reports.
Why it matters: Deese's departure as director of the National Economic Council will leave an enormous hole for Fed Vice Chair Lael Brainard to fill inside the West Wing, according to current and former administration officials. - Deese was instrumental in delivering Sen. Joe Manchin's (D-W.Va.) vote for Biden's $740 billion climate and health care bill, salvaging the parts of the Build Back Better agenda that he helped draft during the campaign.
- More recently, Deese ensured that a once-niche idea to ban "junk fees" — hidden costs on everyday things consumers buy — made it into Biden's State of the Union address.
The big picture: Deese's impending exit comes a few weeks after Chief of Staff Ron Klain, who brought years of legal, political and congressional experience to the job, also left the White House. - When reports of Deese's pending departure emerged last fall, many officials simply didn't believe that Deese, who helped turn off the lights in Obama's White House, would walk away from a job that gave him free rein to craft the country's economic policies — or that Biden would let him depart.
- The Yale Law grad and former BlackRock executive held enormous sway across the administration and Congress, playing a lead role in formulating — and executing — communications and legislative strategy.
Between the lines: Brainard will bring a different skillset to the NEC job. - With a doctorate in economics from Harvard, she'll be able to provide snap analysis on global macro trends, help Biden's inner circle understand inconsistent data and work seamlessly with the Treasury Department, where she traveled the world as undersecretary for international affairs.
- Brainard doesn't have as much recent experience cajoling Congress, where high-stakes negotiations with Republicans over spending and the debt ceiling will dominate most of the year.
The intrigue: Biden also elevated one of Deese's deputies, Bharat Ramamurti, as his adviser for "strategic economic communications" — indicating that the former economic adviser to Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) will assume some of Deese's role as a White House salesman on television. Share this story. |
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| 2. 🐘 Haley's huge challenge |
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| Photo: Mark Wilson/Getty Images |
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| What exactly is Nikki Haley's constituency? That's the key question dogging the first day of her presidential campaign, and one she'll need to answer to have a chance of climbing above single digits in the polls. - Pro-Trump? Haley is the first and only Republican challenging the former president so far, defying her own pledge not to. Her initial condemnation of Trump's role in Jan. 6 and refusal to embrace his claims of election fraud could alienate a large chunk of the GOP base.
- Anti-Trump? Haley worked for Trump as U.N. ambassador and has defended both his legacy and friendship. Her waffling on the GOP front-runner — whom she did not mention in her launch video — has made her the target of criticism on both sides.
- Foreign policy? Haley has leaned heavily on her U.N. experience and hawkishness in the run-up to her campaign launch, but Gallup polling has consistently shown that just 1% of Americans view foreign policy as the most important problem today.
- New generation of leadership? This was the centerpiece of Haley's launch video, and her background as the 51-year-old daughter of Indian immigrants gives her a compelling case. But competition from Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.) — another young, pro-unity optimist from South Carolina — could splinter her support.
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| 3. 🗣️ Dems praise retiring "legend" |
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| Photo: Mark Reinstein/Corbis via Getty Images |
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| Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) told reporters that Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) received "one of the longest" standing ovations he's ever seen when she announced she would not seek re-election in today's caucus meeting. - "She's a legend," Schumer said of the longest-serving woman senator in U.S. history, whose retirement blows open the doors to the highly competitive primary to succeed her in 2024.
A sampling of Feinstein's legacy: More from the L.A. Times. |
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| A message from Axios |
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| Axios Daily Essentials keeps you up to speed on the topics shaping our lives in politics, tech, business, media, science and the world. Delivered every morning, afternoon and evening. Subscribe for free |
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| 4. 🔎 Pence's dual-immunity bet |
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| Photo: Stephen M. Dowell/Orlando Sentinel/Tribune News Service via Getty Images |
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| Former Vice President Mike Pence is preparing to invoke an unprecedented legal argument to challenge special counsel Jack Smith's subpoena for testimony about Trump's efforts to overturn the 2020 election: - In his role as president of the Senate overseeing the counting of electoral votes on Jan. 6, Pence will argue he was operating as a member of the legislative branch — and is thus exempt from legal scrutiny by the Constitution's "speech or debate" clause.
Why it matters: Pence argued last year that the House Jan. 6 committee had "no right" to his testimony under separation of powers, citing concerns about executive privilege. Now, he's preparing to resist the Justice Department with a novel claim of legislative privilege. Between the lines: Legal experts tell Politico that the "constitutionally murky" argument would force the courts to weigh in, potentially prolonging Pence's testimony — if the subpoena is upheld — by months. |
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| 5. 🏛️ 100-judge milestone |
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| Photo: Drew Angerer/Getty Images |
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| The Senate today confirmed Biden's 100th federal judge — a major milestone in Democrats' push to balance a judiciary reshaped by the 234 nominees the chamber confirmed during Trump's time in office. What they're saying: "It's extraordinary," Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) told NBC News. "Schumer and Durbin have done this to great effect. They have made the conveyor belt on judges move, and of course, I lament that." |
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| A message from Axios |
| Subscribe to Axios Daily Essentials |
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| Axios Daily Essentials keeps you up to speed on the topics shaping our lives in politics, tech, business, media, science and the world. Delivered every morning, afternoon and evening. Subscribe for free |
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| 📬 Thanks for reading tonight. This newsletter was edited by Zachary Basu and copy edited by Kathie Bozanich. |
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