| | | | |  | | By Bethany Irvine | | Presented by |  | | | |  | THE CATCH-UP | | | 
House Democrats announced today that they’ll unite to table Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene's (R-Ga.) motion to oust House Speaker Mike Johnson. | Francis Chung/POLITICO | BREAKING — AP: “US drug control agency is moving to reclassify marijuana as a less dangerous drug in a historic shift, AP sources say.” DEMS SCRAMBLE MTV MATH — House Democrats announced today that they’ll unite to table Rep. MARJORIE TAYLOR GREENE’s (R-Ga.) motion to oust MIKE JOHNSON as speaker of the House — effectively killing off her effort as a procedural matter, even as it breathes new life into it as a political one. During today’s Dem caucus meeting, Minority Leader HAKEEM JEFFRIES “gauged where rank-and-file members stood” on the matter and “told his caucus members to vote their own conscience,” Nick Wu reports. “We will vote to table Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene’s Motion to Vacate the Chair. If she invokes the motion, it will not succeed,” Jeffries, Whip KATHERINE CLARK and Caucus Chair PETE AGUILAR said in a joint statement. The announcement went on to nod at Johnson’s decision to bring the foreign aid package to the floor for a vote, despite staunch opposition on his right: “the time has come to turn the page on this chapter of Pro-Putin Republican obstruction.” A note on timing: We couldn’t help but notice that the Dems played this for maximum mischief by announcing it while the GOP conference was meeting. One big question now: What makes Johnson weaker: Going forward with motion to vacate or not? Greene appears to have made the calculation that Johnson is worse off if she plows forward with a destined-to-fail vote in which he’s forced to rely on Democratic support to hold on to his position. “I’m a big believer in recorded votes because putting Congress on record allows every American to see the truth and provides transparency to our votes,” Greene posted on X today. “What slimy back room deal did Johnson make for the Democrats’ support? … If the Democrats want to elect him Speaker (and some Republicans want to support the Democrats’ chosen Speaker), I’ll give them the chance to do it.” (Still, Rep. KAT CAMMACK (R-Fla.) summed up the attitude of many House Republicans when she declared that the effort to remove Johnson is “dead.”) Two more things worth flagging:
- Greene has yet to announce when she’ll force the vote, but some House GOP members told Olivia Beavers they are bracing for her to introduce the motion at the end of this afternoon’s votes. The ensuing conversations have inspired chaos on the House floor, as MTG huddled with both Majority Leader STEVE SCALISE and Rep. MATT GAETZ (R-Fla.) ahead of votes, and at least one member signaled “no” on the floor after discussions with Greene and Rep. THOMAS MASSIE (R-Ky.). More from Olivia and Jordain Carney
- By going ahead with the vote, Greene is crossing DONALD TRUMP, who recently publicly sided with Johnson against the effort. But with Trump in court today, we’re betting that his mind is elsewhere at the moment. Speaking of …
TRUMP FOUND IN CONTEMPT — As Trump’s hush money criminal case enters week three in a Manhattan courtroom today, Judge JUAN MERCHAN held the former president in contempt for violating a gag order that bars him from attacking prosecutors, witnesses and jurors. In an eight-page ruling, Merchan said that Trump repeatedly violated the order by “making social media posts about known witnesses pertaining to their participation in this criminal proceeding and by making public statements about jurors in this criminal proceeding.” More from Ben Feuerherd and Erica Orden What happens now?
- Trump will be fined $9,000 total — $1,000 per violation, with nine instances.
- By 2:15 p.m. today, Trump must take down all of his Truth Social and campaign website posts that violate the gag order.
- If the violations continue, Merchan threatens to “impose an incarceratory punishment.”
For his part, key witness and former Trump attorney MICHAEL COHEN issued a statement calling the fine “irrelevant,” but adding that “Merchan’s decision elucidates that this behavior will not be tolerated and that no one is above the law.” Good Tuesday afternoon. Thanks for reading Playbook PM. Drop me a line at birvine@politico.com.
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- At the White House: “President Biden respects the right to free expression, but protests must be peaceful and lawful. Forcibly taking over buildings is not peaceful — it is wrong,” Deputy Press Secretary ANDREW BATES told reporters this morning. He specifically condemned the unfurling of banners reading “Intifada” at an occupied building at Columbia’s campus: “[H]ate speech and hate symbols have no place in America.”
- On Capitol Hill: Education Secretary MIGUEL CARDONA noted during a Senate Appropriations hearing today that there’s a current investigation into whether Title VI laws protecting students from discrimination were violated at Columbia. If they were, federal funds could be cut from the school.
MIDDLE EAST LATEST …
| | 5 THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW | | | 
Former President Donald Trump speaks on the phone as he watches play in the final round of LIV Golf Miami, at Trump National Doral Golf Club, on April 7, 2024, in Doral, Florida. | Rebecca Blackwell/AP | 1. TRUMP’S BIG INTERVIEW: Today, Time Magazine released two wide-ranging interviews with former President Trump during which reporter Eric Cortellessa pressed him on his second-term vision should he win in November. In brief: “To carry out a deportation operation designed to remove more than 11 million people from the country, Trump told me, he would be willing to build migrant detention camps and deploy the U.S. military, both at the border and inland. He would let red states monitor women’s pregnancies and prosecute those who violate abortion bans. He would, at his personal discretion, withhold funds appropriated by Congress, according to top advisers. He would be willing to fire a U.S. Attorney who doesn’t carry out his order to prosecute someone, breaking with a tradition of independent law enforcement that dates from America’s founding. He is weighing pardons for every one of his supporters accused of attacking the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, more than 800 of whom have pleaded guilty or been convicted by a jury. He might not come to the aid of an attacked ally in Europe or Asia if he felt that country wasn’t paying enough for its own defense. He would gut the U.S. civil service, deploy the National Guard to American cities as he sees fit, close the White House pandemic-preparedness office, and staff his Administration with acolytes who back his false assertion that the 2020 election was stolen.” Be on the lookout for this: In the first of the two interviews, which took place on April 12, Trump was asked whether women should have access to the abortion pill mifepristone. “I have an opinion on that, but I'm not going to explain,” Trump said. “I'm not gonna say it yet. But I have pretty strong views on that. … I will be making a statement on that over the next 14 days.” That timeframe has elapsed.But in the second interview, on April 27, Trump said the announcement would come “over the next week or two.” Full transcripts 2. SHOW ME THE MONEY: Amid the drama within his own conference, Speaker Johnson is trying to ramp up his fundraising machine, WaPo’s Maeve Reston, Michael Scherer and Clara Ence Morse report. In a previously unreported call last Wednesday, Johnson reassured top GOP donors that the recent foreign aid package votes show that “we can make tough choices” and “put together coalitions to win votes." Still, Johnson has quite a way to go to match the fundraising prowess of his predecessor, former Rep. KEVIN McCARTHY (R-Calif.): “When McCarthy was ousted as speaker last year, his allies warned that Democrats would reap the benefits from the loss of his political machine. Recent reports filed with the Federal Election Commission show signs that some of those prophecies may be coming true.” 3. TREND LINES VS. HEADLINES: With the number of illegal crossings at the Mexico border slowing by 40% since last December — and holding steady — U.S. officials attribute the drop to a crackdown on migrants by the Mexican government, WaPo’s Nick Miroff reports from San Diego. “Using military patrols and highway checkpoints, Mexican authorities have been intercepting roughly 8,000 U.S.-bound migrants per day … U.S. border officials say the next several weeks will be a key test, because May has often been a peak month for illegal entries.”
| | | | THE GOLD STANDARD OF POLICY REPORTING & INTELLIGENCE: POLITICO has more than 500 journalists delivering unrivaled reporting and illuminating the policy and regulatory landscape for those who need to know what’s next. Throughout the election and the legislative and regulatory pushes that will follow, POLITICO Pro is indispensable to those who need to make informed decisions fast. The Pro platform dives deeper into critical and quickly evolving sectors and industries—finance, defense, technology, healthcare, energy—equipping policymakers and those who shape legislation and regulation with essential news and intelligence from the world’s best politics and policy journalists.
Our newsroom is deeper, more experienced, and better sourced than any other—with teams embedded in the world’s most active legislative and regulatory power centers. From Brussels to Washington, New York to London, Sacramento to Paris, we bring subscribers inside the conversations that determine policy outcomes and the future of industries, providing insight that cannot be found anywhere else. Get the premier news and policy intelligence service, SUBSCRIBE TO POLITICO PRO TODAY. | | | | | 4. SURVEY SAYS: The latest Emerson College/The Hill polls show Trump with a lead in the seven main swing states in November — even as Democrats secure the five Senate races in those states. Trump has a slim edge over Biden in Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, The Hill’s Julia Mueller reports. 5. POINT, COUNTERPOINT: “RFK Jr.’s fans revel in the publicity he’s getting from Trump’s attacks,” Lisa Kashinsky and Kelly Garrity: “In a Monmouth University poll released on Monday, just about half of voters were aware of some of his most controversial claims about Covid-19 and vaccines — and his performance in the poll barely moved after respondents learned about them. … But the survey was also the latest of several showing what Democrats and, now, the former president, are coming to fear — that [ROBERT F.] KENNEDY could siphon votes from both major-party candidates in November.”
| | PLAYBOOKERS | | TRANSITIONS — Alain Xiong-Calmes will be northeast political and coalitions director for the Biden presidential campaign. He currently is director of state and local public policy at Chamber of Progress. … Elizabeth Gerke is now SVP and chief of staff at DDC Public Affairs. She previously was SVP of corporate affairs and head of operations at BCW Global. 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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