| | | | |  | | By Eli Okun and Eugene Daniels | | | |  Secretary Marcia Fudge has guided HUD through three years of pandemic turmoil in the housing market. | Manuel Balce Ceneta/AP Photo | |  | THE CATCH-UP | | WHAT THE FUDGE — HUD Secretary MARCIA FUDGE will leave her role March 22, retiring after a long career in public service and heading back home to Ohio, the administration announced today. “I do believe strongly that I have done just about everything I could do at HUD for this administration as we go into this crazy, silly season of an election,” Fudge told USA Today’s Deborah Barfield Berry. The former congresswoman and Congressional Black Caucus chair has guided the agency through three years of pandemic turmoil in the housing market, implementing big programs to help find housing for homeless people and keep Americans from losing their homes during a major economic shock. “[T]here are more housing units under construction right now than at any time in the last 50 years,” President JOE BIDEN said in a statement celebrating Fudge’s achievements. More from Jennifer Haberkorn and Katy O’Donnell Fudge’s departure leaves the White House with a notable vacancy during an election year when Senate Democrats won’t be thrilled to spend floor time on a big confirmation process. In the interim, Deputy Secretary ADRIANNE TODMAN will step into the top role. Fudge is only the second secretary and fifth Cabinet member to depart in an administration that has seen extraordinary levels of stability at the highest ranks. This is very much not what White House chief of staff JEFF ZIENTS recently told Eugene we could expect this year — though the White House has pushed back, saying that’s not what Zients was implying. “The White House knew about the secretary’s plans in advance,” a White House official told Playbook this afternoon when asked about the seeming discrepancy. “Jeff was answering a question about whether we have the team in place this year at the Cabinet and at the White House. Jeff believes we do and believes that we have extraordinary retention within the administration and people who are committed to the President and his agenda. That remains true. The Deputy Secretary of Housing and Urban Development will be the Acting Secretary following Secretary Fudge’s departure.” WHAT PIVOT? — This is probably the week that the general-election matchup between Biden and DONALD TRUMP becomes even more definite, as both are expected to cross the necessary delegate thresholds to clinch the nominations at the polls tomorrow, AP’s Steve Peoples reports. But from Trump, don’t expect the typical pivot to the center that most politicians execute after they win a primary: He’s doubling down, and pushing further, on everything MAGA. WaPo’s Ashley Parker, Marianne LeVine and Ross Godwin have a detailed anatomy of a recent Trump rally, where “[t]hemes of retribution and vengeance” and outright lies about election fraud remain constants. Hungarian PM VIKTOR ORBAN, an authoritarian who met with Trump on Friday, said late last night that Trump wouldn’t give a “penny” more to Ukraine, helping to end the war. And in an interview on CNBC’s “Squawk Box” today, Trump sounded off on a number of topics that could get him in hot water — or shore up his unique appeal to supporters:
- Trump once again said E. JEAN CARROLL’s allegation of sexual abuse — for which he has been found liable in court — is “false,” and that he’d ultimately win his appeal. That immediately triggered a threat of yet another defamation suit from Carroll’s lawyer, ROBBIE KAPLAN, who told NYT’s Benjamin Weiser, Maggie Haberman and Ben Protess that “we continue to monitor every statement that Donald Trump makes about our client.” Trump has already had to post a $92 million bond in one defamation case.
- Trump said that though he considers TikTok a national security threat, he opposes the bill that could ban it because it would boost Facebook, which is “an enemy of the people along with a lot of the media.”
- Asked about entitlements, where Trump has often been willing to buck GOP orthodoxy, the president offered a familiar mix of hedging word salad that avoided many details. But he did get specific enough with one line — “there is a lot you can do in terms of entitlements, in terms of cutting” — to give Biden room to pounce.
“As the President just warned in his State of the Union address, Republican officials plan to cut Medicare and Social Security,” White House spokesperson ANDREW BATES said in a statement. Though the White House doesn’t comment specifically on the election, don’t be surprised if that line was instantly clipped and saved for campaign ads. Related reads: “The CDC could shrink under a second Trump administration,” by Chelsea Cirruzzo … “Former advisers sound the alarm that Trump praises despots in private and on the campaign trail,” by CNN’s Jim Sciutto Split screen with Biden: Hours after Trump’s interview, the president today rolled out his fiscal year 2025 budget request, which of course is largely symbolic but telling as an assertion of priorities. The official document sent to Congress is inflected with campaign-style attacks on Trump, Jennifer Scholtes and Caitlin Emma report, emphasizing economic strength and blasting GOP tax cuts. The big numbers in Biden’s budget are more than $1.6 trillion in base discretionary funding and $3 trillion in deficit reduction over 10 years. Biden asked for $4.7 billion in emergency border spending when migrant numbers surge, NBC’s Julia Ainsley reports. Good Monday afternoon. Thanks for reading Playbook PM. Drop me a line at eokun@politico.com.
| | | | A message from Invest in Our Land: Protecting $20 billion of conservation funding in the Farm Bill is an investment into the livelihoods of our nation’s farmers. These funds help strengthen family businesses, lower costs, and increase profits, but most importantly, they protect the future of American farms. Congress: Save conservation funding, and keep farms viable for future generations.
Protect Conservation Funding. | | | | | 9 THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW | | |  FreedomWorks was the latest group to come out against a bill that could lead to banning TikTok. | Dan Kitwood/Getty Images | 1. TIKTOK ON THE CLOCK: The bill that could lead to a TikTok ban is slated to come up for a House floor vote Wednesday, per Bloomberg Government’s Maeve Sheehy. But the app is marshaling some last-minute support: The conservative group FreedomWorks came out against the bill as setting a “dangerous precedent.” 2. GOLDEN BOY: At his latest arraignment today, Sen. BOB MENENDEZ (D-N.J.) pleaded not guilty to the new obstruction of justice charges filed against him in a sprawling corruption case. So did his wife and other co-defendants. He also told reporters that he hadn’t ruled out a reelection bid. More from Reuters 3. CLOCK’S TICKING: PETER NAVARRO has been ordered to start serving his contempt of Congress sentence March 19, giving him barely a week to earn a reprieve from an appellate court, Kyle Cheney reports. The four-month sentence at a Miami prison would make Navarro the first senior Trump administration figure to actually be put behind bars on charges related to 2020 election subversion — he’d refused to give materials to the House Jan. 6 committee. A top trade adviser to Trump, Navarro claimed executive privilege in that subpoena fight but lost, just like STEVE BANNON did. Bannon, however, has been allowed to remain free pending appeal. 4. MEDICARE MELEE: “How Big Pharma is fighting Biden’s program to lower seniors’ drug costs,” by WaPo’s Tony Romm in Trenton, New Jersey: “In a flurry of lawsuits, these drugmakers have blasted the government initiative as unconstitutional, defended their pricing practices and warned that regulation could undermine future cures — even as millions of older Americans say they are struggling to afford essential treatments. The legal wrangling appears primed to reach the Supreme Court, which could carry lasting implications for the government’s ability to regulate health-care prices broadly.” 5. HOT ON THE LEFT: AIPAC has long been a powerful player in Democratic politics, but as progressive backlash to Israel grows, a new “Reject AIPAC” coalition launched today to fend off its primary-election money, ABC’s Ben Siegel scooped. Close to two dozen groups — Jewish, Arab, Muslim and otherwise — are part of the seven-figure effort to defend “Squad” members targeted by AIPAC, along with mobilizing support for an Israel-Hamas cease-fire and putting conditions on military aid to Israel. Prominent groups like Justice Democrats and the Sunrise Movement are also involved. But AIPAC remains in the good graces of most top politicians in Washington: Speaker MIKE JOHNSON, House Minority Leader HAKEEM JEFFRIES, Senate Majority Leader CHUCK SCHUMER and Senate Minority Leader MITCH McCONNELL will all address its summit this week, per Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod. At the polls, the next big test for the related “uncommitted” protest-vote campaign against Biden comes tomorrow in Washington state, AP’s Joey Cappelletti reports, as the Michigan effort spreads around the country.
| | | | On the ground in Albany. Get critical policy news and analysis inside New York State. Track how power brokers are driving change across legislation and budget and impacting lobbying efforts. Learn more. | | | | | 6. WARNING SIGN FOR BIDEN: “Biden struggles to engage Black voters in Georgia after winning there in 2020,” by Reuters’ Kat Stafford and Jayla Whitfield-Anderson in Atlanta: “Nearly a dozen voters, rights advocates and civil rights leaders interviewed by Reuters said Biden’s campaign has a messaging disconnect on the ground in Black communities across the nation … They say some voters feel enough hasn’t been done for them, while others are unaware of Biden’s actions that directly benefited Black Americans.” 7. FORGET ABOUT THE MOTION TO VACATE — Yes, the band of hard-right rebels in the House GOP Conference are livid with Johnson for cutting deals on government spending. But talk of ousting him KEVIN McCARTHY-style isn’t going anywhere at the moment, NBC’s Sahil Kapur reports: “The shift in mindset indicates that reality is setting in … they’re slowly recognizing that many of their Republican colleagues don’t support the aggressive spending cuts they want. And they’re beginning to doubt that any speaker can change that.” Many of the conservative members also have trouble blaming Johnson specifically for a role that’s near-impossible for anyone. 8. AFTER THE ADMINISTRATION: “John Kerry’s Next Move,” by Time’s Justin Worland in Paris: “[JOHN] KERRY has racked up a long list of accomplishments in his three years as climate envoy … Less noticed has been his attention to the private sector. Transitioning the world’s energy systems from fossil fuels to clean energy will require an annual global investment measured in the trillions. Kerry is convinced that private money is the only way to make it happen. … [H]e envisions playing a key role connecting private capital with the countries, regions, and projects that need it most.” 9. SCOTT McAFEE IN THE SPOTLIGHT: “For This Rookie Judge, a Pivotal Decision Looms in the Georgia Trump Case,” by NYT’s Danny Hakim and Richard Fausset: “Barely on the court for a year, the even-keeled Judge McAfee hews to textualism … Last week, the Trump case became central to Judge McAfee’s own future on the bench when a Democratic challenger emerged in his re-election campaign and immediately criticized his handling of the [FANI WILLIS] disqualification matter.” McAfee said he’d already made his decision in the case before the challenger even announced.
| | | | 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 | | Mark Robinson said in 2018 that Obamacare was a “concentrated effort to enslave everybody.” Sherrod Brown’s support for the Kroger-Albertsons merger is raising union eyebrows. Henry Cuellar is increasingly House Democrats’ “border whisperer.” John Curtis is growing the Conservative Climate Caucus. WHITE HOUSE DEPARTURE LOUNGE — Joe Scheidler is now an adviser to the Partnership for Global Infrastructure and Investment at the State Department. He most recently was a special adviser to the White House Office of the National Cyber Director, and is a USAID alum. WHITE HOUSE ARRIVAL LOUNGE — Kevin Lewis is now senior adviser focusing on comms for the VP, temporarily filling in for Stephanie Young on maternity leave. He most recently did executive comms at Meta, and is an Obama post-presidential office and White House alum. TRANSITIONS — Nachama Soloveichik is returning to ColdSpark as a partner. She previously was comms director for Nikki Haley’s presidential campaign. … Eric Jones is now deputy comms director for Sen. Michael Bennet (D-Colo.). He previously was press secretary and digital director for Rep. Josh Harder (D-Calif.). … Randi Hutchinson has rejoined Greenberg Traurig as of counsel in its federal government, law and policy practice. She most recently was chief of staff at the Department of Agriculture’s Rural Utilities Service, and is a Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration alum. WEEKEND WEDDING — Victoria Houed, director of Al policy and strategy at the Commerce Department, and James Woolf, a master sergeant in the Air Force, got married Saturday at the Willard, with a big party the day before. They met two years ago at a Christmas dinner party at Clyde’s, where they bonded over their love for music. Pic 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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