The Adams response: ALEX SPIRO, an attorney for Adams, criticized federal prosecutors for how they handled the rollout of the charges but did not directly address them this morning. “We have known for some time that they would try to find a way to bring a case against Mayor Adams. Yesterday — more improper leaks. Today — they emailed us a summons — and created the spectacle of a bogus raid,” Spiro said. “Federal judges call them out all the time for spinning in front of the cameras and tainting jurors. But they keep doing it because they can’t help themselves, the spotlight is just too exciting. We will see them in court.” THE AUDIENCE OF ONE — Jordain Carney and Olivia Beavers are up with a must-read, behind-the-scenes look at the delicate dance Speaker MIKE JOHNSON navigated to wrangle his raucous caucus to deliver a final stopgap spending plan, trying to balance the competing wings of his party but ultimately catering to one man: DONALD TRUMP. “The Louisiana conservative worked to assuage Trump throughout the spending battle, initially embracing a plan with a conservative voting bill attached to it, despite it having no chance at clearing Congress. Johnson met with Trump in person multiple times over the past month, including once just hours after a second assassination attempt against Trump in Florida. “And leadership allies continuously checked in with the former president — a sustained outreach effort that started well before the speaker ultimately shifted gears and put forward a bipartisan proposal to avert a shutdown. While some in the party privately knocked Johnson’s initial doomed bill as an embarrassing charade, other Republicans viewed it as a necessary political dance to keep Trump satisfied.” FOR YOUR RADAR — “Newsmax Defamation Case Over 2020 Election Is Set to Begin,” by NYT’s Katie Robertson ON THE RADAR — “Hurricane Helene set to rip across north Florida overnight,” by Kimberly Leonard in Miami Good Thursday afternoon. Thanks for reading Playbook PM. Drop me a line at gross@politico.com.
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1. JUST VANCE: Sen. JD VANCE (R-Ohio) gets the glossy mag treatment from Time, with a piece by Eric Cortellessa examining the “reinvention” of Trump’s running mate as the vanguard of the “New Right.” Vance’s position in the Republican Party is precisely why he was selected to join Trump’s ticket, with many of his policy positions aiming “to resolve a long-standing issue for Republicans, whose need to win over heartland voters on cultural issues is in tension with an economic agenda that has benefited the wealthy over the working class.” “But for Vance’s ideas to carry the day, he has to survive the role,” Time writes, noting that Trump “sees politics through the prism of power and loyalty, not ideology” — as evidenced in the well-documented chasm between Trump and his former VP MIKE PENCE. “During the final stretch of the campaign, Vance’s ideas and political instincts alike will be tested as he attempts to play the dual role of Trump’s pit bull and lapdog.” Knowing BEVERLY AIKINS: NYT’s Shawn McCreesh spent some time with Vance’s mother, who has been thrust “unexpectedly, into the world of national politics” by the nature of her son’s ascension to the top of the Republican Party. “She is dimly aware that her son has become the figure of much outrage of late, but, for the sake of her own sanity and sobriety, she says she remains purposefully oblivious to many of the controversies swirling around him.” 2. ECONOMIC OUTLOOK: Revised data released by the Commerce Department today paints a much rosier picture of the post-pandemic economic rebound, NYT’s Ben Casselman reports. “The new estimates show that G.D.P., adjusted for inflation, grew faster in 2021, 2022 and early 2023 than initially believed. The revisions are relatively small in most quarters, but they suggest that the rebound from the pandemic — already among the fastest recoveries on record — was stronger and more consistent than earlier data showed. “Perhaps most notably, the government now says G.D.P. grew slightly in the second quarter of 2022, rather than contracting as previously believed. As a result, government statistics no longer show the U.S. economy as experiencing two consecutive quarters of declining G.D.P. in early 2022 — a common definition of a recession, though not the one used in the United States.” 3. LETTER FROM OMAHA: Now that the GOP-fueled dream of turning Nebraska’s Electoral College allocation into a winner-take-all format is on ice, the Trump campaign is all but ceding the 2nd Congressional District and its singular electoral vote to Democrats, who are campaigning hard to lock up the slice of the Cornhusker State that could deliver the presidency, WaPo’s Paul Kane reports on the ground. “The Harris-Walz campaign is spending $6 million in ads in Omaha, according to AdImpact, an independent firm surveying political spending. But Biden had already spent about $4 million before he handed the reins to Harris, and liberal allies spent $5 million more. All told, it’s about $15 million for the Democratic presidential ticket and less than $200,000 for the GOP nominee.”
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4. MIDDLE EAST LATEST: On the heels of a new cease-fire proposal submitted by the U.S. and its allies, Israeli PM BENJAMIN NETANYAHU “appeared to downplay hopes of an imminent truce with Hezbollah,” AP’s Bassem Mroue and Melanie Lidman report, with Netanyahu’s office saying “there had been no directive to ease up on fighting on the northern border with Lebanon” and that the PM had not responded to the cease-fire proposal. “Soon after the statement was issued, Hezbollah TV station Al-Manar reported an Israeli airstrike in a suburb of Beirut. … Two people were killed and 15 wounded in the strike, the Lebanese Health Ministry said.” 5. THE IRRESISTIBLE THIRD RAIL: It is well-documented across a range of election results that abortion isn’t a slam-dunk issue for Republicans to focus on. But that isn’t stopping candidates this cycle from broaching the subject. “Like a toothache they keep probing with their tongue, they just can’t seem to help it,” NYT’s Jonathan Weisman writes. “Republicans keep bringing it up, and in terms that their opponents have argued are disrespectful, if not contemptuous, of women.” Just this week, headlines tied Trump, Ohio Senate candidate BERNIE MORENO and North Carolina gubernatorial hopeful MARK ROBINSON to the issue in less-than-flattering terms. 6. PROFILE OF AN ELECTORATE: “The Rust Belt manufacturing collapse devastated their communities. Two men explain who they’re supporting for president,” by CNN’s Phil Mattingly, Andrew Seger and Jeremy Moorhead: Saginaw, Michigan, and Erie County, Pennsylvania “share a familiar economic backdrop, animated by their collapse as great hubs in American manufacturing when globalization sucked the life out of industrial powerhouses in this part of the country. It’s the throughline between the story as told by two families – the Colemans and the Kerners – with generational ties to these communities now fully ensconced in the political Klieg lights. … “But their personal journeys are as distinct as the communities within which they were raised. They diverge on their choice of presidential candidate this November. Their explanations as to why – and their observations of where others in their communities stand on things just weeks before Election Day – offer a candid glance at the opportunities and potential pitfalls facing Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris.” 7. KEEPING UP WITH THE JONES: “Meet Barbara Jones, the ex-judge now policing Trump’s business moves,” by WaPo’s Jonathan O'Connell: “The February civil court ruling that Trump was liable for business fraud has largely receded from headlines as the presidential race enters its final stage. But he faces continued scrutiny from [BARBARA] JONES, a seasoned former judge whom the court has granted X-ray vision into the finances of Trump’s business for the next three years, through the November election and possibly into a second Trump term. … [S]he is the first court-appointed monitor to be tasked with keeping tabs on the finances of a former president, in this case one who has a history of lashing out on social media at those who challenge him.”
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Melania Trump gave a rare TV interview to Fox News’ Ainsley Earhardt. Rudy Giuliani has been disbarred in D.C. Vivek Ramaswamy is “on the cusp of — something,” according to a new Bloomberg profile. Rashida Tlaib wants Antony Blinken to resign. Hoda Kotb announced today that she’s leaving “Today.” OUT AND ABOUT — Tom Kahn hosted a fundraiser at his home for House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries and the DCCC last night. SPOTTED: Reps. Kathy Manning (D-N.C.), Henry Cuellar (D-Texas), Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.) and Brendan Boyle (D-Pa.), Henry Waxman, Jane Harman, Jim Slattery, Steve Rabinowitz, Tamara Wittes, George Vradenburg, Mark Bergman, Barbara Goldman Goldberg, Mark Goodman, Jonathan Slade, Danny Weiss, John Shapiro, Michelle Manatt, Mark Zuckerman, Betty Cotton and Allen Kronstadt. — SPOTTED at Taffer’s Tavern for a bipartisan Ag Briefing hosted by BGR and Cuisine Solutions: Fitz Elder, Daniel Feingold, Felipe Hasselmann, Keaghan Ames, Emma Vaughn, Syd Terry, Justin Rzepka, Andy Lewin, Jennifer Lukawski, Steve Pfrang, Joel Bailey, Nathan Anoick, Kyle Varner, John Torres, Matthew Gill and Eric DeRoos. — The League of Minority Voters hosted its quarterly “Bipartisan Happy Hour Initiative” yesterday evening at Bobby Vans Grill, where Reps. Hank Johnson Jr. (D-Ga.) and Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-Ill.) were honored for their efforts in Congress to highlight the mission of LMV. SPOTTED: Andres Ramirez, Promise King, Anthony Mitchell, Tasha Moses and Arthur Sidney. — Perkins Coie last night hosted a crowd of lobbyists and other government relations professionals at the Hotel Washington for the launch of the updated lobbying handbook, the guide for congressional lobbyists written and published by Perkins Coie and the American Bar Association. SPOTTED: Rebecca Gordon, Brian Svoboda, Barak Cohen, Thomas Susman, Maryll Toufanian, Richard Fiesta, Timothy Lynch, Rebecca Mears, Monica Cloud, Andrew Wills, Joanne Cosiol, Dan Adcock, Amanda Kane Rapp, Clare McCown, Joe Sandler and Hannah Bingham. — The March On Festival celebrated its Annual Awards Gala at Dock 5 yesterday evening, honoring Rep. Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) with the John Robert Lewis Lifetime Legacy Award and Reginald Dwayne Betts and Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor with March On Awards for their contributions to social justice and civil rights. The awards were presented by Rep. Debbie Dingell (D-Mich.), Hoke S. Glover III and Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.), and the ceremony was moderated by Jonathan Capehart. SPOTTED: Reps. Shri Thanedar (D-Mich.) and Jonathan Jackson (D-Ill.), Robert Raben, Larry Duncan, Melissa Maxfield, Vickee Jordan Adams, Joyce Brayboy, Reginald Brown, Tiffeny Sanchez, Kendra Brown, Michael Collins, Christopher Randle, Anthony Coley, Nick Schmit, Tara Hogan Charles, Ivan Zapien, Kia Floyd, Sally Susman, Brandon Webb, Mignon Clyburn, Blair Watters, Barry Macon, Isisara Bey, Joanne Irby, Phillip Wallace, Erica Lowe and Yebbie Watkins. — Citizens for Responsible Energy Solutions awarded its annual Clean Energy Champion Awards last night, where Sens. Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.) and Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) and Reps. Buddy Carter (R-Ga.) and Tim Walberg (R-Mich.) were honored. SPOTTED: Rep. Dan Newhouse (R-Wash.) and Don Bacon (R-Neb.), Heather Reams and John Szoka. — SPOTTED at the NALEO 2024 Edward R. Roybal Legacy Celebration at La Vie on the Wharf on Tuesday night, where Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.) was honored with the Award for Outstanding Public Service: Sens. Ben Ray Luján (D-N.M.) and Alex Padilla (D-Calif.), Reps. Sylvia Garcia (D-Texas) and Greg Lopez (R-Colo.), Ana Luisa Fajer, FCC Commissioner Anna Gomez, SEC Commissioner Jaime Lizarraga, Sara Bronin, Jorge Zamanillo, Melody Gonzales, Mary Beth Sewald, Mary Ann Gomez Orta and Arturo Vargas. TRANSITIONS — Erik Raven is joining Beacon Global Strategies as managing director. He previously was undersecretary of the Navy. … Cheyenne Range is now deputy chief of staff for Rep. Frederica Wilson (D-Fla.). She previously was deputy director of government relations of Bread for the World. … Peter Skinner and Andrew Smith are joining Boies Schiller Flexner as partners. Skinner previously was a partner at Morrison Foerster. Smith previously was senior counsel at Holland & Knight. 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. Corrections: Yesterday’s Playbook PM misspelled the names of Reps. Kat Cammack (R-Fla.) and Beth Van Duyne (R-Texas).
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