| | | | |  | | By Ryan Lizza, Rachael Bade and Eugene Daniels | | | With help from Eli Okun, Garrett Ross and Bethany Irvine
| | | |  | DRIVING THE DAY | | | COMING TODAY? — “Verdict in Donald Trump’s civil fraud trial expected Friday, capping busy week of court action,” by AP’s Michael Sisak TALK OF THIS TOWN — Michael Schaffer’s latest: “The Futile Ugliness of Protesting at Public Officials’ Homes: Yelling at ANTONY BLINKEN’s kids does not help Gazan children.” QUESTION OF THE DAY — “What are we doing here if we’re not building an economy that people like?” That, from one prominent progressive policy advocate, captures the head-scratching zeitgeist among economic thinkers on the left as they puzzle over the reality that today’s economy — “a policy success more than a decade in the making” — hasn’t translated into political popularity. Victoria Guida explores the dynamic this morning in her debut “Capital Letter” column, which we can already tell is going to be appointment reading. “Their logic: Workers would have more leverage to demand higher wages, as employers competed for employees. With higher incomes, people would be able to spend more, which would fuel the economy by creating demand for goods and services. It could also yield higher productivity, as companies invested in technology to better meet demand. … Win-win-win.” It hasn’t quite worked out that way. And the debate over why may well determine the future of economic policymaking on the left. Read more
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Rep. James Himes (D-Conn.) left, takes us behind the scenes of a very strange week for the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence. | Mariam Zuhaib/AP Photo | THE PLAYBOOK INTERVIEW: JIM HIMES — On Tuesday night, Rep. MIKE TURNER (R-Ohio), the chairman of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence (HPSCI), showed Rep. JIM HIMES (D-Conn.), the ranking Democrat on HPSCI, a short statement that he wanted to release. Meeting behind closed doors, the committee had just voted to allow all House members access to a secret report that Turner found especially alarming. Now Turner wanted the public to know about it. His proposed statement described “a serious national security threat,” and called on President JOE BIDEN to “declassify all information relating to this threat.” Himes read Turner’s statement and told him that releasing it was a bad idea. “In the meeting I objected to communicating this,” Himes told Playbook. Turner held back that night, but on Wednesday morning, he hit send. And then, of course, all hell broke loose. The cryptic threat was quickly identified by reporters citing anonymous sources as a Russian anti-satellite weapon — a fact the White House confirmed publicly on Thursday. All of this was taking place as HPSCI dealt with a separate legislative crisis. The foreign intelligence-gathering program known as Section 702 expires in April. According to Assistant Attorney General MATTHEW OLSEN, renewing the program is “perhaps the single most consequential national security decision that this Congress will make.” A bipartisan group of House lawmakers has proposed reforms to Section 702 that Turner, Himes and Biden’s top national security officials all say will cripple the program. On Wednesday, these two intelligence committee stories — the new threat from Russia and Section 702 reauthorization — collided in spectacular fashion: - In the morning, Turner released his statement.
- In the afternoon, Biden officials, including JAKE SULLIVAN, the president’s national security adviser, met with Himes and dozens of House Democrats in HPSCI’s secure offices in the basement of the Capitol. “Just as the entire capital has decided that the aliens are landing with nuclear weapons, and we all need to sell our belongings and move to Montana, AVRIL HAINES and the national security adviser are going into HPSCI,” Himes recounted. But they weren’t there to discuss Russia (that briefing was scheduled for Thursday); they were there to argue against the proposed changes to Section 702.
- Then, while they were all meeting without access to their cell phones, Speaker MIKE JOHNSON pulled the plug on his plan to bring the 702 legislation to the floor this week.
Naturally, some observers couldn’t help but wonder whether the two issues were related. Did Turner hype this new Russian threat, which reportedly was detected with the help of intelligence gathered under Section 702, as a way to break the impasse over the bill? To help answer that question — and everything else you might want to know about Russian space weapons, Section 702 reforms and to take us behind the scenes of a very strange week for a committee that is not used to this much attention — Ryan sat down with Himes in his office in Rayburn on Thursday. You can listen to the full conversation on Playbook Deep Dive via Apple Podcasts or Spotify. What follows are some key excerpts. On the freakout spurred by Turner’s statement: “I think people legitimately thought, ‘Oh my God, we're a day from the apocalypse.’ … The language in the Dear Colleague [letter], which I think used the adjective ‘destabilizing’ — you know, ‘destabilizing’ doesn't have a time indicator on it. Is this destabilizing 10 years from now? Maybe. Is it destabilizing today? No. … Basic Human Psychology 101: Fewer facts and more mystery is more scary; more facts and less mystery is less scary. So of course what happened was going to happen.” On whether Turner was motivated by a desire to force action on Section 702 or the supplemental: “This is a question for him to answer. But I will speculate, because I know the chairman pretty well. … It's just not very logical. I know that there's a theory running around that he did this to make it more urgent to pass 702. It just doesn't make a lot of sense to me. … Or Ukraine aid? That would be a pretty indirect way of doing that. … I really don't think it was three-dimensional chess. … Mike Turner has forgotten more about certain topics — around nuclear strategy and everything else — than I will ever know. Again, I would have handled this differently. But he is a very serious professional when it comes to U.S. national security. So that's another reason why I don't think he was playing games.” On Russia potentially meddling with Starlink: “I understand the [Russian] military thinking: ‘Starlink is being used to some effect by the Ukrainians. Let's think about taking out these satellites.’ … That would be pretty massively escalatory, because it's not Ukrainian stuff up there. And, you know, if all of a sudden Russia opens the door to taking out other people's stuff, what do you think the Chinese think about that? … The Russians today are not in a position to do a lot of escalation. They've just suffered massive, massive losses. The tide has sort of turned such that they've held the line in Ukraine, but they're in a very bad way — and this is, of course, why it is so important that we get Ukraine aid done, because them being in a bad way is not a permanent condition. … “If I were VLADIMIR PUTIN, I would every day be asking myself the question: Does my action harden the resolve of the West or make those countries who are helpful — like China — or those countries who are annoyingly neutral — like India — rethink their position?” On how the House should proceed: “If the House uses regular order, we can't tie our shoes. We can't get out of bed in the morning. So we have two mechanisms to get things done: Passing things under suspension of the rules — which, by the way, Mr. Speaker, by definition means these things are going to be bipartisan, two-thirds of the Congress … or we just end up eating whatever the Senate sends us until the speaker figures out how to handle his raucous caucus.” On how House members approach these issues: “I mean, I would like to believe that all 435 members are statesmanlike in their approach to this thing. Turns out that's not true.” Related read: “Why Russia won’t have its anti-satellite weapon in space anytime soon,” by Erin Banco and Joe Gould Happy Friday. Thanks for reading Playbook. Drop us a line: Rachael Bade, Eugene Daniels, Ryan Lizza.
| | | | A message from American Fuel & Petrochemical Manufacturers: EPA is set to finalize a regulation designed to end the sale of new gas and diesel cars regardless of what drivers want, need, and can afford. Polling shows that Americans think the Biden EPA is moving too far, too fast. President Biden: Stop the EPA’s car ban. Vehicle policies can’t just work for some of us. They should work for all of us. | | | A NAME YOU SHOULD KNOW — “Kevin Morris, Hunter Biden’s $6.5 Million Patron, Draws Fire From All Sides,” by NYT’s Ken Vogel, Luke Broadwater and Michael Schmidt: “The Hollywood lawyer’s support of the president’s son is under scrutiny from House Republicans while his aggressive tactics are rankling the White House.” THE NEW GOP — “Trump world considers having the former president deliver the official GOP State of the Union response,” by NBC’s Kristen Welker, Jonathan Allen, Carol Lee and Matt Dixon: “Two of the sources said that [DONALD] TRUMP himself has discussed it, but both said he is leaning against the high-profile gig. The decision on who will deliver the response rests with Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., and Senate Minority Leader MITCH McCONNELL, R-Ky.” CATCH UP — “In fiery testimony, Willis defends herself against accusations of misconduct,” by AJC’s David Wickert and Tamar Hallerman: “In combative and impromptu testimony in Fulton County Superior Court that seemed to surprise even members of her own team, [DA FANI] WILLIS said she and special prosecutor NATHAN WADE became romantically involved months after she hired him to oversee the prosecution. She said she paid her own way — often in cash — when they traveled together and did nothing improper as the relationship continued and she prepared for one of the most important criminal prosecutions in the country.” The hearing continues today: “Willis is expected to take the stand again on Friday under cross-examination from members of her own team. The DA’s team said it expects to call three or four other witnesses, including Willis’ father.”
| | | | A message from American Fuel & Petrochemical Manufacturers:   | | | | | WHAT'S HAPPENING TODAY | | On the Hill The House and the Senate are out. 3 things to watch … - The House may be out, but the vote-counting never stops. Minority Leader HAKEEM JEFFRIES and his leadership team are talking with rank-and-file members to gauge whether they have enough support to use a discharge petition to force a vote on the Senate-passed national security bill. But some progressive lawmakers may oppose the maneuver if the resulting legislation provides unconditioned aid to Israel, as our colleagues Nicholas Wu, Connor O’Brien and Joe Gould report. Count Rep. ILHAN OMAR (D-Minn.) among those not on board: She estimates that enough progressives would abandon the petition that “it wouldn’t work.”
- Circle the date. Special counsel ROBERT HUR will testify before the House Judiciary Committee on March 12. Hur’s investigation into Biden’s mishandling of classified documents resulted in a scathing report that indelibly described the president as a “sympathetic, well-meaning elderly man with a poor memory,” but ultimately concluded that criminal charges were unwarranted. Chairman JIM JORDAN (R-Ohio) has additionally requested that AG MERRICK GARLAND provide the committee with the transcript of Hur’s interview with the president.
- The delicate dance of the superpowers continues today in Germany, where Secretary of State Antony Blinken will meet with Chinese Foreign Minister WANG YI on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference. Savvy viewers expect the pair to set up a future phone call between Biden and XI JINPING, and otherwise aim to tone down the rancor that has defined the U.S.-China relationship as of late. For more from Munich, read Global Playbook
At the White House Biden will depart the White House in the afternoon en route to East Palestine, Ohio, where he will receive a briefing on the response and recovery efforts from last year’s Norfolk Southern train derailment and deliver remarks. Later, the president will travel to Rehoboth Beach, Delaware. Press secretary KARINE JEAN-PIERRE will gaggle aboard Air Force One en route to East Palestine. VP KAMALA HARRIS will deliver remarks at the Munich Security Conference in the morning. Later, Harris will separately meet with Israeli President ISAAC HERZOG, Iraq PM MOHAMMED SHIA AL-SUDANI, Slovenian PM ROBERT GOLOB and members of Congress.
| | | | YOUR VIP PASS TO THE MUNICH SECURITY CONFERENCE: Dive into the heart of global security with POLITICO's Global Playbook at the 2024 Munich Security Conference. Gain exclusive insights and in-depth analysis as author Suzanne Lynch navigates the crucial discussions, key players and emerging trends that will shape the international security landscape. Subscribe now to Global Playbook and stay informed. | | | | | | | PLAYBOOK READS | | AMERICA AND THE WORLD
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U.S. officials are putting more emphasis on boosting the military's presence in space amid growing concern of other major powers. | Mark Schiefelbein/AP Photo | DON’T LOOK UP — After news broke of the national security threat emanating from Russia on Wednesday, the U.S. launched a missile-tracking system into space, “part of a vast new effort to bolster the military’s growing presence in space,” NYT’s Eric Lipton reports. And while the timing of the two incidents was coincidental, the succession of events “underscored how concerns about advances in Russian and Chinese capabilities in space have led the United States to embrace innovative ways of protecting vital communications, surveillance and GPS systems on the battlefield of the future.” “Officials in Washington have increasingly realized in recent years that one of the first moves the United States would likely face in any major war with China or Russia would be an attempt to disable United States telecommunications, geolocation and surveillance systems in space.” More top reads:
MORE POLITICS SO MUCH FOR THAT — GOP Rep. MATT ROSENDALE is dropping his Montana Senate bid less than a week after he officially launched it, our colleagues Ally Mutnick, Olivia Beavers and Burgess Everett report. “Rosendale had publicly explored a campaign for months. The shocking reversal from the conservative congressman is a boon to national Republicans,” including Trump, who are backing veteran and businessman TIM SHEEHY and are eager to avoid a damaging primary ahead of a general election battle to unseat Democratic Sen. JON TESTER. Poll position: In the first commissioned polling for the Montana Senate race, Tester holds an identical 49% to 40% lead over both Sheehy and Rosendale. More from KULR-8/NonStop Local Billings EMPIRE STATE OF MIND — A bipartisan redistricting commission in New York yesterday officially approved a new set of lines for the state’s 26-member congressional delegation, “making only minor tweaks that would aid a few swing districts as control of the House is at stake,” Bill Mahoney reports from Albany. “They make modest changes to lines drawn by a court in 2022 in the middle of two years of legal feuding. The lines would provide a boost to Democrats’ odds in a Republican-held Central New York seat. Incumbents would get modest boosts in two other swing districts upstate — one held by a Democrat, Rep. PAT RYAN, and one held by a Republican, Rep. MARC MOLINARO.” THE WHITE HOUSE
|  The White House got a heads up about the contents of the the special counsel report before it's release. | Susan Walsh/AP Photo | TO THE LETTER — The day before DOJ special counsel ROBERT HUR released his bruising report on Biden’s handling of classified documents, the White House got a heads up about the contents of the report, which prompted swift pushback from officials, “strenuously objecting to the report’s comments on the president’s memory,” Betsy Woodruff Swan reports. White House counsel ED SISKEL wrote a letter to AG MERRICK GARLAND claiming that Hur “openly, obviously, and blatantly” violated DOJ’s own policies. “The president’s lawyers reviewed a draft before its public release on Feb. 8, and they objected. On Feb. 7, the president’s personal lawyer BOB BAUER joined Siskel on the letter sent directly to Garland. They didn’t ask Garland to take any action, but they put their concerns on the record.” It wasn’t the first time the White House had given feedback on the special counsel. “Months earlier, shortly after Hur had interviewed Biden, another White House lawyer urged the special counsel to make his final report ‘economical,’ arguing that a succinct, straightforward approach devoid of commentary would adhere to Justice Department principles.” The fallout: “On the whole, the letters obtained by POLITICO reveal the extent of the chasm between the Justice Department and the White House over Hur’s report. Biden has told aides that he is frustrated with Garland. He campaigned on restoring the Justice Department’s independence and on restoring its norms. His own White House is now accusing the department of violating those norms.” More top reads:
- Big blow: Special counsel DAVID WEISS charged former FBI informant ALEXANDER SMIRNOV “with lying about President Joe Biden and his son HUNTER BIDEN’s involvement in business dealings with Ukrainian energy company Burisma Holdings, undercutting a major aspect of Republicans’ impeachment inquiry into the president,” CNN’s Hannah Rabinowitz, Evan Perez and Marshall Cohen report.
- The Biden administration yesterday unveiled a “significant expansion of its plans to cancel student debt” as Biden looks to keep the issue at the top of young voters’ minds entering the general election, Michael Stratford reports.
| | | | A message from American Fuel & Petrochemical Manufacturers:   | | | CONGRESS
|  Leaders Mitch McConnell and Chuck Schumer have come together to help steer Ukraine assistance through the Senate. | Francis Chung/POLITICO | FRAGILE FRIENDS — McConnell and Schumer have come together to help steer Ukraine assistance past a Trump-juiced wall of conservative opposition — but no one should expect the harmony to continue when the next high court seat opens or when Trump-era tax cuts expire next year. Add in the fact that the two are still battling fiercely for the Senate majority next year, and the rosy picture zooms out to reveal a largely temporary phenomenon, our colleague Burgess Everett writes this morning. “And yet, the two longtime rivals’ willingness to put their past acrimony aside amounted to a remarkable sign that, while the House devolves into ever-harsher partisanship, the Senate’s two leaders see themselves as something of a beacon of stability in a tumultuous Washington.” How it happened: “In separate interviews this week, Schumer and McConnell gave each other careful praise. McConnell said that ‘on this particular issue, which is unusual, we’re generally in agreement.’ Schumer barely deviated from that sentiment: ‘Certainly we disagree on a lot of things, but we agreed on the importance of Ukraine.’ “Behind the scenes, though, the process revealed how closely they coordinated on an effort that appeared near-collapse every few days. Sometimes they chatted in conspicuous one-on-one office meetings, other times in just a few quiet words on the Senate floor.” POLICY CORNER IGNOMINIOUS IMMIGRATION — Democrats disapprove of the U.S. government’s handling of migrant crossings at the southern border more now than at any other recorded point during the Biden presidency, according to a new report from the Pew Research Center, our colleague Kierra Frazier writes. TV TONIGHT — PBS’ “Washington Week”: Laura Barrón-López, Carl Hulse, Perry Stein and Nancy Youssef. SUNDAY SO FAR … ABC “This Week”: Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro … Charlamagne Tha God. Panel: Donna Brazile, Selina Wang, Ramesh Ponnuru and Jonathan Martin. CBS “Face the Nation”: Rep. Jim Clyburn (R-S.C.) … Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) … Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.) … Amie Parnes … Doug Brinkley. FOX “Fox News Sunday”: Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.) … New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu. Panel: Josh Kraushaar, Katie Pavlich, Daniel Lippman and Richard Fowler. NBC “Meet the Press”: Rep. Mike Turner (R-Ohio) … Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.). Panel: Cornell Belcher, Sara Fagen and Mara Liasson. CNN “State of the Union”: Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.). Panel: Tiffany Smiley, Kate Bedingfield, Scott Jennings and Bakari Sellers. MSNBC “The Sunday Show”: Howard Dean … B. Michael.
| | | | 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 | | Chuck Grassley is a big fan of Caitlin Clark. Mitt Romney ruled out running as Joe Manchin’s VP. Donald Trump’s Truth Social is nearing a listing on Wall Street. AND THE AWARD GOES TO — The National Press Foundation honored the best in journalism last night at the organization’s annual awards dinner at the Ritz-Carlton. Honorees included Jen Sorensen, NYT’s Hannah Dreier, NBC’s Al Roker, WaPo’s Tara Bahrampour, the Connecticut Mirror’s Dave Alrimari and Jenna Carlesso, WSJ’s Evan Gershkovich, the Miami Herald's Monica Richardson and Dorothy Butler Gilliam. Guests enjoyed themed drinks like the “News girl” and “Politi-croni” at a pre-dinner reception. SPOTTED: Anne Godlasky, Terence Samuel, Kevin Goldberg, Nancy Youssef, Deborah Roberts, Bill Walsh, Knight Kiplinger, Jason Zarazoga, Sydney Clark, Donna Leinwand Leger, Hope Kahn, Brandon Benavides, Kim Bryson, Benjamin Oreskes, Amos Snead, Caitlin Oprysko, Kaitlyn Olvera, Gloria Gonzalez, Andrew Howard, Daniel Lippman, Delece Smith-Barrow, Anita Kumar, Sudeep Reddy, Patty Michalski and Adam Behsudi. Pic HAPPY BIRTHDAY: Sen. Jon Ossoff (D-Ga.) … Reps. Ken Buck (R-Colo.), David Rouzer (R-N.C.), Neal Dunn (R-Fla.) and Kat Cammack (R-Fla.) … Robert Allbritton … Kevin Robillard … Cate Hansberry … Jennifer Steinhauer … Susan Levine … Mike Warren … Sarah Bianchi … Joe Concha … Cameron Joseph … Nigel Cory of the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation … Paul Blake … Jim Conzelman … Walmart’s Bruce Harris … Strader Payton … Susan Platt … Sonya Bernhardt … Kent Talbert … Michelle Tuffin ... Ben Kobren … former Rep. Bradley Byrne (R-Ala.) … Meredith Fineman ... Ty Trippet … Newsday’s Matt Chayes … Ed O’Keefe of the Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum … Jay Carson … Roll Call’s Chris Marquette … Tyler Wright … Carl Icahn 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. Correction: Wednesday’s Playbook incorrectly reported that there is a current vacancy on the House Ways and Means Committee.
| | | | A message from American Fuel & Petrochemical Manufacturers: EPA is set to finalize a regulation designed to end the sale of new gas and diesel cars. This proposal would force automakers to phase out internal combustion engine vehicles – the most widely available, accessible, and affordable cars driven by the majority of Americans. The Biden EPA is rushing to do this before we are ready, and regardless of what American drivers want, need, and can afford.
Even worse, phasing out gas and diesel-powered vehicles for electric vehicles jeopardizes our hard-won American energy security, which is built on American-made and American-grown fuels. Instead, we will be reliant on China, the dominant player in the electric vehicle supply chain now and for the foreseeable future.
President Biden: It’s not too late to act. Stop the EPA’s misguided car ban. We need vehicle policies that work for all Americans, our economy, and our energy security. | | | | | | | Follow us on Twitter | | | | Subscribe to the POLITICO Playbook family Playbook | Playbook PM | California Playbook | Florida Playbook | Illinois Playbook | Massachusetts Playbook | New Jersey Playbook | New York Playbook | Ottawa Playbook | Brussels Playbook | London Playbook View all our political and policy newsletters | | Follow us | | | | |
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