| | | | |  | | By Garrett Ross | | | |  Mitch McConnell will leave his leadership post in the Senate this fall. | Francis Chung/POLITICO | |  | THE CATCH-UP | | | MITCH McCONNELL today is announcing that he will step down as the Senate GOP leader this fall — a post he has served in since 2007, marking the longest stint as a party leader in the chamber’s history. “McConnell, who turned 82 last week, announced his decision Wednesday in the well of the Senate, a place where he looked in awe from its back benches in 1985 when he arrived and where he grew increasingly comfortable in the front row seat afforded the party leaders,” writes AP’s Michael Tackett, who got the scoop and is writing a forthcoming biography about McConnell. “One of life’s most underappreciated talents is to know when it’s time to move on to life’s next chapter,” McConnell said in prepared remarks obtained by The Associated Press. “So I stand before you today ... to say that this will be my last term as Republican leader of the Senate.” The move by McConnell is another feather in the cap for DONALD TRUMP, whose relationship with the Kentuckian grew increasingly frosty over Trump’s tenure in the White House. Should Trump win another term this fall, he will likely return to Washington with a MAGA-friendly Congress that has been remade in his image, underscoring further his iron grip on the party. WHO’S NEXT AS LEADER?: As for who comes forward next to lead Senate Republicans, the immediate names that come to mind are the so-called “three Johns” who have positioned themselves for leadership promotions: South Dakota’s JOHN THUNE, Texas’ JOHN CORNYN and Wyoming’s JOHN BARRASSO. But there’s also a new crop of more MAGA-fied senators who might well make their own move. WHAT ABOUT HIS SEAT?: McConnell said he plans to serve out his Senate term, which ends in January 2027, our colleague Burgess Everett notes. But the decision to stay or go is likely to be affected by how his replacement would be selected. As recently as last fall, Kentucky Democratic Gov. ANDY BESHEAR declined to commit to selecting a Republican to fill a potential McConnell-shaped hole in the Bluegrass State’s Senate delegation, saying at the time that he would not speculate about a hypothetical vacancy. And then there’s this: Just last week, a “Kentucky Republican legislator filed a bill … that would strip the governor’s authority to appoint a replacement US senator should a vacancy in that office occur,” the Lexington Herald Leader’s Austin Horn reports. “House Bill 622 from House Majority Floor Leader STEVEN RUDY, R-Paducah, would repeal the current law dictating procedure around gubernatorial appointments to fill a vacancy in one of the state’s two U.S. Senate seats. Instead, the bill calls for those vacancies to be filled via special election.” Good Wednesday afternoon. Thanks for reading Playbook PM. Drop me a line at gross@politico.com.
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Learn more. | | | PRESIDENTS, THEY’RE JUST LIKE US — President JOE BIDEN took a previously unannounced trip to Walter Reed this morning around 9 a.m. for his annual physical. The White House plans to release a written summary of the exam results later today, which will be heavily scrutinized given the swirling questions and concerns over Biden’s age as he aims for reelection. More from Eli Stokols LOOK WHO’S BACK — MARIANNE WILLIAMSON is back. The long-shot presidential candidate said in a video posted on X that she is “unsuspending” her campaign to take on JOE BIDEN for the Democratic nomination, slamming the president over the economy in a meandering four-minute monologue. “This is serious. We need to say to the American people: ‘We see your pain.’ And we need to say to Donald Trump: ‘We see your BS.’” Watch the full video COMING ATTRACTIONS — CNN and POLITICO will co-host grill spots at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee and Democratic National Convention in Chicago this summer. The hubs will feature high-level and exclusive events, a full dining and entertainment experience and coverage of the convention with appearances from lawmakers, reporters, celebrities and politicos coming together over bites from a custom, curated menu specific to each city. Read more from the announcement
| | 8 THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW | | | 
Hunter Biden arrives at the O'Neill House Office Building for a closed-door deposition on Wednesday, Feb. 28. | Francis Chung/POLITICO | 1. HAPPENING NOW: HUNTER BIDEN is meeting with members and staff of the House Oversight and Judiciary committees for testimony behind closed doors as Republicans try to build a case for impeaching the president over his family members’ business dealings. “In his opening statement, Hunter Biden tried to directly puncture the central premise of the House GOP’s monthslong probe,” Jordain Carney reports. “He said that his focus during what is expected to be an hourslong interview will be driving home ‘one uncontestable fact that should end the false premise of this inquiry: I did not involve my father in my business.’” What Hunter said: “For more than a year, your Committees have hunted me in your partisan political pursuit of my dad. You have trafficked in innuendo, distortion, and sensationalism — all the while ignoring the clear and convincing evidence staring you in the face. You do not have evidence to support the baseless and MAGA-motivated conspiracies about my father because there isn’t any,” Hunter Biden said in his opening statement, according to a copy obtained by POLITICO. Related read: “Hunter Biden’s Chinese Business Partners Keep Quiet in Impeachment Effort,” by WSJ’s James Areddy and C. Ryan Barber 2. THE BIDEN BLITZ: First lady JILL BIDEN is leading a new effort for the Biden-Harris campaign to win over women voters, the White House announced this morning as the campaign operation ramps up with this fall’s general election inching closer. “The first lady was to kick things off on Friday, the start of Women’s History Month, with a weekend travel blitz through states that will be key to deciding November’s presidential election,” including Georgia, Arizona, Nevada and Wisconsin, AP’s Darlene Superville reports. 3. HOGAN’S HERO?: LARRY HOGAN for many years had declined efforts to draft him to run for Senate, instead opting to stay on as Maryland governor and eventually retire from that post. “But when he received an emailed letter from a lifelong Maryland resident on Jan. 8 making less an appeal to partisanship than a call to public service, Mr. Hogan responded within an hour — with an invitation via an aide for a private meeting in Annapolis. The letter’s author, DARIN THACKER, was no ordinary constituent. He’s the chief of staff to the chairman of the Senate G.O.P.’s campaign arm,” NYT’s Shane Goldmacher reports. “Once Mr. Hogan had cracked open what had seemed a shut door, Mr. Thacker quickly informed his boss of his personal outreach, setting in motion a frantic three-week sprint of private meetings and polling.” 4. DANCE OF THE SUPERPOWERS: “Biden Acts to Stop Sales of Sensitive Personal Data to China and Russia,” by NYT’s David McCabe: “Biden will issue an executive order Wednesday seeking to restrict the sale of sensitive American data to China, Russia and four more countries, a first-of-its-kind attempt to keep personally identifying information from being obtained for blackmail, scams or other harm. “The president will ask the Justice Department to write rules restricting the sale of information about Americans’ locations, health and genetics to China, Russia, Iran, North Korea, Cuba and Venezuela, as well as any entities linked to those countries. The restrictions would also cover financial information, biometric data and other types of information that could identify individuals and sensitive information related to the government.”
| | | | SUBSCRIBE TO GLOBAL PLAYBOOK: Don’t miss out on POLITICO’s Global Playbook, the newsletter taking you inside pivotal discussions at the most influential gatherings in the world, including WEF in Davos, Milken Global in Beverly Hills, to UNGA in NYC and many more. Suzanne Lynch delivers the world's elite and influential moments directly to you. Stay in the global loop. SUBSCRIBE NOW. | | | | | 5. GRAVES DIGGER: ProPublica’s Marilyn Thompson tells the tale of PAUL GRAVES’ work in Washington state, where the GOP operative worked with national Republicans to execute a plan to undermine the very work that Graves had done drawing congressional maps on account of the Voting Rights Act. The gambit was just “one part of a yearslong national legal assault on laws and policies intended to prevent discrimination,” Thompson writes, noting that “the activists are not done. By taking aim at the remaining pillar of the VRA, Section 2, they could substantially reshape U.S. elections. Despite a recent setback at the Supreme Court in an Alabama case, a sprawling, multipronged effort to get the high court to change course continues, supported by key national Republican figures.” 6. ABORTION BY THE NUMBERS: A new report conducted for the Society of Family Planning finds that abortions in the U.S. are occurring now at roughly the same rate as before the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, AP’s Geoff Mulvihill writes. The numbers show that “between 81,150 and 88,620 abortions took place each month from July through September of last year, the most recent period for which survey results are available. Those numbers are just slightly lower than the monthly average of about 86,800 from April through June 2022, before Roe and just after was overturned. But abortion data is seasonal, and the same survey found more abortions across the U.S. in the spring months of 2023 than it did in the period the year before leading up to the court’s decision.” 7. A NAME TO KNOW: “The Fed Contrarian Who Saw the Soft Landing Coming,” by WSJ’s Nick Timiraos: “Federal Reserve governor CHRISTOPHER WALLER laid out a novel economic framework two years ago showing how the central bank could bring inflation back to its 2% target without the usual jump in unemployment, stirring furious pushback from economic heavyweights. Two years later, with inflation edging closer to 2% and unemployment still near a half-century low, Waller is looking prescient.” 8. THE MEDIA’S MESS: “How the Media Industry Keeps Losing the Future,” by NYT’s David Streitfeld: “The advice columns, movie reviews, recipes, stock data, weather report and just about everything else in newspapers moved easily online — except the news itself. Local and regional coverage had a hard time establishing itself as a paying proposition. Now there are signs that the whole concept of ‘news’ is fading. Asked where they get their local news, nearly as many respondents to a Gallup poll said social media as mentioned newspapers and magazines. A recent attempt to give people free subscriptions to their local papers in Pennsylvania as part of an academic study drew almost no takers.”
| | | | CONGRESS OVERDRIVE: Since day one, POLITICO has been laser-focused on Capitol Hill, serving up the juiciest Congress coverage. Now, we’re upping our game to ensure you’re up to speed and in the know on every tasty morsel and newsy nugget from inside the Capitol Dome, around the clock. Wake up, read Playbook AM, get up to speed at midday with our Playbook PM halftime report, and fuel your nightly conversations with Inside Congress in the evening. Plus, never miss a beat with buzzy, real-time updates throughout the day via our Inside Congress Live feature. Learn more and subscribe here. | | | | | | | PLAYBOOKERS | | Mehdi Hasan is launching his own digital media venture after leaving MSNBC. Tyler Boebert, Lauren Boebert’s son, is facing a slew of charges in Colorado. OUT AND ABOUT — SPOTTED at a party for Abigail Shrier’s new book, “Bad Therapy: Why the Kids Aren’t Growing Up” ($30), on the Upper West Side last night: Bari Weiss and Nellie Bowles, Jesse Singal, Alex Berenson, Adam Rubenstein, Porter Berry, Amy Chua, Jon Levine, Lenore Skenazy, Oliver Wiseman, Karol Markowicz, Ricki Schlott, John Podhoretz, Eli Lake and Bria Sanford. — SPOTTED at a fundraiser that raised over $230,000 for the DSCC hosted by lobbyists from Kountoupes Denham Carr & Reid yesterday: DSCC Chair Gary Peters (D-Mich.), DSCC Vice Chair Tina Smith (D-Minn.), Sens. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), Laphonza Butler (D-Calif.), Ed Markey (D-Mass.) and John Hickenlooper (D-Colo.), Rep. Lisa Blunt Rochester (D-Del), Laura McPherson, Beth Mitchell, Al Thompson, Marty McGuinness, Virginia Zigras, Seth Radus and Janelle McClure. — SPOTTED at a State of the Union pre-party yesterday evening hosted by the Progressive Change Institute with partners American Economic Liberties Project, Demand Progress, and Public Citizen at the Eaton Hotel, where Gene Sperling, Julie Brinn Siegel and Tim Wu delivered toasts to Bharat Ramamurti for his work at the National Economic Council: CFPB Director Rohit Chopra, Michael Negron, Ben Beachy, Sophie Sahaf, Merici Vinton, Evan Turnage, Elizabeth Kelly, Reema Dodin, Elizabeth Guzman, Katrina Shankland, Tal Kopan, Kara Voght, Marcia Brown, Joseph Zeballos-Roig, Adam Green, Nidhi Hegde, Lisa Gilbert, Maria Langholz, David Hogg, Estonian Ambassador Kristjan Prikk, Lucy Xu, Jack Agnew, Lucia Bonova and Deniz Houston. BONUS BIRTHDAY: Marcus Childress 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 DeBonis, deputy editor Zack Stanton and Playbook Daily Briefing producer Callan Tansill-Suddath.
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