| | | | |  | | By Garrett Ross | | Presented by |  | | | |  | THE CATCH-UP | | | This morning was dominated by the post-debate question whether President JOE BIDEN is up to the task of taking on DONALD TRUMP, with lawmakers, pundits and other Democratic officials coming to terms with the incumbent’s dismal performance in Atlanta. In his first opportunity to quiet the murmurs, at a rally moments ago in Raleigh, North Carolina, Biden confronted the concerns swirling around him.
|  First lady Jill Biden and President Joe Biden arrive at a rally in Raleigh, North Carolina, on Friday, June 28. | Evan Vucci/AP Photo | “I know I’m not a young man, to state the obvious,” Biden said in a more vigorous tone than at the debate. “I don’t walk as easy as I used to. I don’t speak as smoothly as I used to. I don’t debate as well as I used to. But I know what I do know: I know how to tell the truth. I know right from wrong. And I know how to do this job. I know how to get things done. And I know, like millions of Americans know, when you get knocked down you get back up.” Those are not the words, needless to say, of a candidate who is contemplating an emergency evacuation from the race. But they didn’t do much to answer the key question: What the hell happened last night?
|  The Supreme Court handed down two major decisions this morning. | Alex Brandon/AP | Still, the most momentous news of the morning might have been made back in Washington, where the Supreme Court snuck in some major decisions in cases as the justices race to finish up their term. Although the court handed down rulings on some of the heavy-hitters left on the docket this morning, the justices once again held off on DONALD TRUMP’s immunity bid. Chief Justice JOHN ROBERTS said the court’s final day for rulings would be on Monday. Here’s what unfolded today … — Major Jan. 6 move: In an opinion that could have major implications for the current and future prosecution of Jan. 6 riot participants, the court narrowed the scope of a federal law used to bring charges of obstructing Congress, Kyle Cheney and Josh Gerstein write. The decision may force federal prosecutors to reconsider charges in dozens of pending cases and could even require judges to resentence some defendants already sent to prison. But the early read is that Trump, who has been charged with the same crime by special counsel JACK SMITH, might still be prosecutable under the court’s new standard. Notably, the 6-3 ruling split the justices along their usual ideological lines, with the two newest justices to join the bench continuing to be the most interesting to follow. Liberal Justice KETANJI BROWN JACKSON joined Roberts’ majority ruling, while conservative AMY CONEY BARRETT joined the dissent with the two other liberals. Read the ruling — Major blow to the administrative state: Another one of the far-reaching decisions came down today when the justices decided to torch “Chevron deference,” a once-obscure RONALD REAGAN-era legal doctrine, in a ruling “will remake one of the most fundamental aspects of power in Washington — and hobble presidents pursuing aggressive policies on anything from abortion to student debt relief,” our colleagues write in a stepback look at all of the policy areas that the ruling could impact. “Defanging the White House this way frees up judges to reach their own conclusions about what lawmakers meant, but it comes with a daunting consequence: From now on, Congress will be expected to sort out the intricacies of issues like housing finance, greenhouse gas emissions and artificial intelligence, at a time when it’s already struggling to legislate on big issues.” — Major win for govs and mayors: The conservative majority on the court also “handed Democratic leaders like California Gov. GAVIN NEWSOM a major win Friday by allowing them to remove tent encampments as homelessness has become a top concern of voters,” Dustin Gardiner writes. “The 6-3 decision reversed a lower court ruling that severely limited how local leaders can respond as tents pitched in parks, under freeways and across sidewalks became increasingly ubiquitous symbols of the crisis.” Happy Friday afternoon. Thanks for reading Playbook PM. Drop me a line at gross@politico.com.
| | | | A message from The American Petroleum Institute: Voters are demanding a clear vision for America’s energy future. Learn more in the American Petroleum Institute’s Five Point Policy Roadmap. | | | THE POST-DEBATE-MORTEM — Discussion of Biden’s age and mental acuity have exploded in the hours after the debate, returning once again to the forefront of the race. Amid calls from nearly every corner of the Democratic tent for Biden to remove himself from the race to allow for a fresh candidate to take over and continue the campaign, Biden and those closest to him do not seem sympathetic to the fervor. CNN’s Kayla Tausche reports that Biden is not only resisting calls to quit, but he’s also “committed to a second debate in September.” The money machines: The Biden campaign said it brought in $14 million yesterday and this morning, with the 11 p.m. to 12 a.m. hour after the debate accounting for the “single best hour of fundraising since the campaign’s launch in April 2023.” Trump’s camp, meanwhile, reported bringing in $8 million on debate day. Here’s a roundup of the most notable reactions … On the Hill:
- House Minority Leader HAKEEM JEFFRIES said he would “reserve comment about anything relative to where we are at this moment, other than to say I stand behind the ticket. I stand behind the Senate Democratic majority. And of course, we're going to do everything that we need to do as House Democrats to win”
- Rep. NANCY PELOSI (D-Calif.) is sticking with Biden as the nominee, though she conceded that his performance last night “wasn’t great.”
- Rep. JIM CLYBURN (D-S.C.) said last night was “strike one” against Biden, but urged Democrats to “stay the course.”
- Sen. JOHN FETTERMAN (D-Pa.) came to Biden’s defense: “No one knows more than me that a rough debate is not the sum total of the person and their record.”
On the airwaves:
- When you’ve lost Mika and Joe: “Morning Joe” hosts JOE SCARBOROUGH and MIKA BRZEZINSKI didn’t pull any punches for the president. “He can run the White House, he can run the country effectively,” Scarborough said. “But can he run for president in 2024?”
- When you’ve lost the Obama bros: The Pod Save America crew delivered a brutal assessment of Biden’s performance: “It was a f---ing disaster. I think it was like maybe the worst debate I've ever seen in my entire life,” JON FAVREAU said. “It was so f---ing awful, because Joe Biden just in every single way failed at that debate.” He continued the thought in a post on X, saying it “would be absurd if Democrats didn't at least have a serious discussion” about whether Biden should be the nominee.
Inside the family:
- First lady JILL BIDEN gave her husband a full-throated endorsement in Raleigh: “There is no one I’d rather have sitting in the Oval Office right now than my husband. What you saw on the debate stage last night was … a man with integrity and character.”
The nerd digest: Nate Silver delivers a simple call for Biden: Drop out. “Maybe Biden could survive by playing prevent defense — although the White House has been trying that and it hasn’t been working — if he were leading. But instead he’s behind. And once the polling fully accounts for the effects of the debate within a few weeks, he’s likely to be as far behind as he’s ever been, with less time left than he’s ever had. “How is the man you saw on stage tonight supposed to turn things around? Or even a 30 percent better version of the man you saw tonight? Sure, it’s possible. But is that really the bet you want to make if you’re a Democrat who thinks Trump is an existential threat to democracy and everything else?” The counternarrative: The Cook Political Report’s Amy Walter — while noting that the debate “only served to remind voters of Biden’s weaknesses” — gives another way to view the meltdown that could hearten some Democrats: “While Dem elites were stunned by Biden’s poor performance, voters have already priced this in. In other words, many establishment types were hoping for a different Biden to show up on Thursday. Most voters didn’t come in with that expectation.” The online armies: While much of the chatter on X was doom-and-gloom focused on Biden, the mood was a bit different on the other social media platforms, FWIW’s Kyle Tharp and Lucy Ritzmann write. “According to Crowdtangle, most of the top 10 most-liked posts on Instagram about the debate were either pretty neutral or emphasized how bad it was for both campaigns. … And on TikTok, there was also a universal vibe that both candidates, not just Biden, were less than ideal for the moment.” How it’s playing among Biden’s contemporaries: Our colleague Irie Senter watched the debate from a nursing home in Chevy Chase, Maryland, where the reaction was grim for the president. Life comes at you fast: Less than 24 hours after issuing an official endorsement for Biden, former GOP Rep. ADAM KINZINGER reposted a clip from “Morning Joe” criticizing the president and wondering if he should step aside.
| | | 7 THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW | | | | 
House Republicans cleared three more spending bills this morning, while Rep. Tom Cole (R-Okla.) noted that they aren't "final products." | Francis Chung/POLITICO | 1. APPROPS OF NOTHING: The House this morning cleared three more spending bills on near-party-line votes, sending the Defense, Homeland Security and State-Foreign Operations bills to the Senate, whose appropriators have a wholly different set of priorities — including markedly different spending levels. The bills’ passage is understood to be a prelude to future bipartisan, bicameral negotiations, Jennifer Scholtes reports, with House Appropriations Chair TOM COLE (R-Okla.) laying it out plain: “I mean, these aren't the final products. These are negotiating positions.” Still, passing four of the 12 annual spending bills before the July 4 holiday is no small feat for the fractious House Republican majority, though much tougher bills await. 2. INFLATION NATION: Here’s some good news that Biden can tout today: Inflation is cooling again. The Fed’s preferred gauge, the Personal Consumption Expenditures index, “climbed 2.6 percent in May from a year earlier, matching what economists had forecast and down from 2.7 percent previously,” NYT’s Jeanna Smialek reports. The road ahead: “Policymakers have suggested that they still think they could make one or two rate cuts before the end of the year, and investors now think that the first reduction could come in September. But whether that happens hinges on what happens with economic data — both for prices and for the labor market.” 3. ABORTION FALLOUT: “6-week abortion ban can take effect, Iowa Supreme Court rules, ending injunction,” by the Des Moines Register’s William Morris: “A bitterly divided Iowa Supreme Court ruled 4-3 Friday to remove an injunction blocking enforcement of Iowa's ‘fetal heartbeat’ abortion law, and to remove legal barriers for future abortion restrictions. The decision is the latest in a string of legal disputes over the status of abortion in Iowa. … The law bans most abortions after fetal activity can be detected — about six weeks, with exceptions for incest or to save the life of the mother.” 4. WHAT’S GOING ON AT WAPO: In a new report on WaPo CEO WILL LEWIS’ involvement with a phone hacking scandal in the U.K., former British PM GORDON BROWN “for the first time called on police specifically to investigate Lewis’s conduct and that of his former boss, longtime Murdoch executive REBEKAH BROOKS” for their part in the scandal, WaPo’s Aaron Davis, Greg Miller, Sarah Ellison and Isaac Stanley-Becker report. “‘Rebekah Brooks and William Lewis were involved in the destruction of millions of emails vital to the criminal investigation into phone hacking,’ said the former Labour leader, who served as prime minister from 2007 to 2010. Murdoch executives ‘who claimed they were doing the cleanup may have instead been engaged in a coverup.’” Lewis has denied any wrongdoing and is not currently the subject of any legal action.
| | | | 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. | | | | | 5. STUCK IN THE SENATE: Senate Majority Leader CHUCK SCHUMER is facing “mounting pressure from Jewish leaders and Democratic colleagues who have privately voiced frustrations with the continued delay” on the Antisemitism Awareness Act, Jewish Insider’s Matthew Kassel and Marc Rod report. The legislation has been sidelined after an effort to pass the bill last month failed. “In a brief interview with Jewish Insider on Thursday afternoon, Schumer, who has rarely addressed the matter publicly, stressed that he is now ‘looking at every single option to try and get strong, bipartisan legislation passed,’ but he did not share a timeline for approving the bill.” 6. MUCK READ: “It was a $6.6B deal for 9 years. Then the feds reneged. Did politics play a role?” by WaPo’s Dan Diamond: “On the surface, 1-800-MEDICARE is a government success story: a free, popular service helping tens of millions of older Americans understand their health insurance and options for care. The call line boasts a 95 percent satisfaction rate, according to federal officials. “But behind the scenes, the multibillion-dollar job of running the Medicare call line and similar services for the Affordable Care Act — one of the richest service contracts offered by the federal government — has sparked a bitter battle between a powerful labor union, a prominent federal contractor and politicians who are now accusing the White House of delivering an election-year favor for its union allies.” 7. WHAT ABOUT BOB? “Wife’s Ex-Boyfriend and Fear of Poverty at Center of Menendez’s Defense,” by NYT’s Tracey Tully and Benjamin Weiser: “After seven weeks of trial in Federal District Court in Manhattan, prosecutors plan to rest their case on Friday, paving the way for the defense to begin offering evidence intended to poke holes in the government’s case. [Sen. BOB] MENENDEZ, 70, and [NADINE] MENENDEZ, 57, are charged with taking hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes in exchange for the senator’s efforts to steer aid to Egypt, prop up an ally’s business monopoly and disrupt criminal investigations on behalf of friends.”
| | | | SUBSCRIBE TO GLOBAL PLAYBOOK: Don’t miss out on POLITICO’s Global Playbook, our newsletter taking you inside pivotal discussions at the most influential gatherings in the world. Suzanne Lynch delivers the world's elite and influential moments directly to you. Stay in the global loop. SUBSCRIBE NOW. | | | | | | | PLAYBOOKERS | | OUT AND ABOUT — House Assistant Minority Leader Joe Neguse last night hosted a members-only dinner at Officina to raise funds for the DCCC, which brought in $2.5 million. SPOTTED: House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, House Caucus Chair Pete Aguilar, DCCC Chair Suzan DelBene, and Reps. Brendan Boyle (D-Pa.), Bobby Scott (D-Va.), Gregory Meeks (D-N.Y.), Jim McGovern (D-Mass.) and Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.). — The Eaton Hotel last night hosted the D.C. premiere of “An Unsettling Force,” a film about the story of a bold new social movement to end poverty in the United States, featuring William J. Barber II. Following the screening, Ryan Grim moderated a panel discussion with director Dara Kell and Liz Theoharis. SPOTTED: Mignon Clyburn, Julia Cohen, Ibonee Perry, Kate Damon, Michael Dorsey, Naomi Fecher-Davis, Archie Black, Ralph Gaines, Chantale Leader, Bob Hambrecht, Jimmie Williams, Alvin O’Neal Jackson, Kimball Stroud, Angie Whitehurst and Nancy Bagley. 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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