| | | | |  | | By Eli Okun | | Presented by |  | | | |  | THE CATCH-UP | | | TRUMP DENIED AGAIN — The highest court in New York today rejected President-elect DONALD TRUMP’s request to stop his criminal sentencing tomorrow, per Reuters’ Andrew Chung and John Kruzel. All eyes are now on the Supreme Court, which will be Trump’s last opportunity for an emergency intervention. Otherwise, he’ll be sentenced at 9:30 a.m. on his 34-count hush money conviction.
|  The late former President Jimmy Carter was eulogized at a state funeral today in Washington. | Haiyun Jiang/The New York Times via AP Photo, Pool | SAYING GOODBYE — “Character, character, character,” President JOE BIDEN said today in summing up former President JIMMY CARTER’s legacy on the national and international stage. That was the theme of the day at the state funeral for America’s 39th president, whose century of living and contributions to the world stretched far beyond his often politically bumpy single term as president. Speaker after speaker at the Washington National Cathedral today hailed Carter’s faith-based humanitarianism, striving toward peace and honesty in public life. “He showed us what it means to be a practitioner of good works, and a good and faithful servant of God and the people,” Biden said. More from Myah Ward on the Biden-Carter parallels Befitting his long public life, Carter earned tributes from luminaries of the 20th century — and even some from beyond the grave. “I have never ceased to be surprised” by Carter, said 92-year-old Rev. ANDREW YOUNG, a leading figure of the Civil Rights Movement. “I haven’t ceased to be enlightened, I never ceased to be inspired by the little deeds of love and mercy that he shared with us every day of his life.” Former President GERALD FORD and former VP WALTER MONDALE had also written eulogies before they died, which were read aloud. JASON CARTER hailed his grandfather’s success in nearly wiping out the Guinea worm: “Essentially, he eradicated a disease with love and respect,” he said. “As governor of Georgia a half-century ago, he preached an end to racial discrimination and mass incarceration,” he said. And though most speakers didn’t focus on Carter’s specific actions in the White House, former domestic policy adviser STUART EIZENSTAT argued that Carter deserved to be remembered too for policy triumphs on civil rights, FEMA, environmental protection and more. Next, after all the formality of his state funeral, Carter’s body will return home to the modest Plains, Georgia, hometown from which he rose to power. Though the service was a rare occasion for Republicans and Democrats to come together, and for soaring rhetoric to triumph over partisan squabbling, the internet nonetheless parsed the body language of every interaction between former and future presidents in the pews. See for yourself: BARACK OBAMA and Trump … Obama and GEORGE W. BUSH … KAREN PENCE and Trump … MIKE PENCE and Trump … first lady JILL BIDEN and VP KAMALA HARRIS. CALIFORNIA NIGHTMARE — Los Angeles is seeing weaker winds today as firefighters work to make progress against wildfires ringing the city, but further terror looms as conditions are expected to worsen again tonight and in the coming days. Local officials significantly ramped up their estimate of the damage, saying today that thousands of homes were lost or damaged in Pacific Palisades alone, the L.A. Times’ Terry Castleman, Rong-Gong Lin II, Hannah Fry and Grace Toohey report. That would make it one of the five most destructive fires ever to afflict California. Mandatory evacuation orders remain in place for well north of 100,000 people. HHS Secretary-designate ROBERT F. KENNEDY JR. told reporters that his house in LA is “so far still standing.” Though the infernos’ death toll remains at five, LA County Sheriff ROBERT LUNA said it will probably go higher. The worst blazes are still not contained, and some parts of the city “look like a bomb was dropped in them,” he said. Analysts now estimate these fires will be “the costliest in U.S. history,” WSJ’s Jean Eaglesham reports, with losses already reaching $50 billion, more than two-fifths of them insured. Good Thursday afternoon. Thanks for reading Playbook PM. Drop me a line at eokun@politico.com.
| | | | A message from Meta: Open source AI is available to all, not just the few.
Meta’s open source AI, Llama, is free to use – enabling startups like Zauron Labs to collaborate with universities to build an AI tool that’s like a spellchecker for radiologists.
Now, radiologists have more ways to reduce the 4% error rate in the 3 billion imaging exams done each year – potentially improving outcomes for millions of patients.
Learn more about how others are building with open source AI. | | | | | 8 THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW | | |  President Joe Biden is sending his last batch of military aid to Ukraine. | Pete Marovich/Getty Images | 1. ONE LAST TIME: The U.S. is sending another $500 million in military aid to Ukraine, the final batch of assistance from the Biden administration — and with future money far from guaranteed under Trump, per CNN’s Alex Marquardt. The latest tranche will tap out all the money Congress has appropriated for Ukraine. The package will include missiles, munitions and more, as Defense Secretary LLOYD AUSTIN is expected to elucidate today in Germany. More Russia sanctions are also likely coming soon as Biden officials try to put Kyiv in the best position possible before they exit, though Biden had to scrap a meeting with President VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY because he canceled his Europe trip to oversee California recovery efforts. 2. IMMIGRATION FILES: STEPHEN MILLER told Senate Republicans yesterday that the incoming Trump administration wants to roll out 100 executive orders, particularly focused on restricting immigration, Axios’ Stef Kight scooped. Top items include the reinstatement of Title 42 to block many asylum-seekers under public health authority; tapping 287(g) to allow local law enforcement to work more with ICE; and building migrant detention facilities and the border wall. And as Biden exits having overseen a historic level of immigration to the U.S., his own acting ICE director has some harsh comments for Biden’s handling of the border. P.J. LECHLEITNER tells NBC’s Julia Ainsley and Laura Strickler that he and others think Biden “absolutely” should have imposed restrictions on immigration earlier in his presidency. He “also said he wishes that the Biden administration had been more transparent with the American public about immigration issues and that it had given his agency the freedom to be more vocal and public about its work and concerns, in part because more communication could have reduced misinformation.” 3. CLIMATE FILES: “U.S. Efforts to Cut Emissions Stalled in 2024 as Power Demand Surged,” by NYT’s Brad Plumer: “[G]reenhouse gas emissions dropp[ed] just a fraction, 0.2 percent, compared to the year before, according to estimates published Thursday by the Rhodium Group … Despite continued rapid growth in solar and wind power, emissions levels stayed relatively flat last year because demand for electricity surged nationwide, which led to a spike in the amount of natural gas burned by power plants. … [T]he United States is even further off-track from hitting President Biden’s goal of slashing greenhouse gases 50 percent below 2005 levels by 2030.” 4. SILICON VALLEY GETS ON BOARD: Trump’s inauguration fund is getting more big money from Big Tech. Google has donated $1 million, Steven Overly reports. And so has Microsoft, the Washington Examiner’s Gabe Kaminsky scooped. Both companies donated far less to Trump’s 2017 inauguration and Biden’s 2021. This year, top Silicon Valley executives have been working hard to curry favor with ascendant Republicans. 5. IN THE DOGEHOUSE: “Musk, Ramaswamy put spotlight on proliferation of U.S. regulations,” by WaPo’s Jeff Stein: “[T]he private sector will have to spend roughly $1.8 trillion to implement federal rules approved under President Joe Biden, according to an analysis of agency projections by the American Action Forum … But experts say slashing federal regulations could be easier said than done. Even the most financially onerous regulations typically aim to achieve noble goals — protecting the environment, say, or empowering consumers — and their costs are weighed against those benefits. … Many conservatives nonetheless argue that the regulatory increase is not just unproductive but illegal.” 6. THE BRAVE NEW WORLD: “Biden Administration Spurs New Battle With Rules Governing A.I.’s Global Spread,” by NYT’s Ana Swanson and Tripp Mickle: “The Biden administration, in its final weeks in office, is rushing to issue new regulations to try to ensure that the United States and its close allies have control over how artificial intelligence develops … The regulations, which could be issued as early as Friday, would dictate where American-made chips that are critical for A.I. could be shipped. Those rules would then help determine where the data centers that create A.I. would be built … The Biden administration’s plan has prompted swift pushback from American tech companies.” 7. MIDDLE EAST LATEST: Palestinian sources tell Reuters’ Nidal Al-Mughrabi that American and other mediators have brought Israel and Hamas closer to a cease-fire deal but haven’t landed one yet. One official said “this was the most serious attempt so far,” though of course the warring sides haven’t been able to reach an agreement for more than a year. The Gaza health ministry said Israel had killed 76 more people in just the past day. 8. WHAT WENT WRONG IN SUDAN: “U.S. Declares Genocide in Sudan. Critics Say Biden Acted Too Late,” by WSJ’s Michael Phillips and Nicholas Bariyo: “[The Rapid Support Forces’] critics say Secretary of State ANTONY BLINKEN and the Biden administration, which this week imposed stiff financial sanctions on [RSF leader MOHAMED HAMDAN] DAGALO, an associate and seven RSF-linked companies, were too slow to act to stave off what the U.S. says now is the world’s biggest humanitarian catastrophe. … For more than a year, the Biden administration resisted pressure, including from Capitol Hill, to declare RSF responsible for genocide. … TOM PERRIELLO said the genocide designation required a careful review of the facts and the law.”
| | | | A message from Meta:   | | | | | PLAYBOOKERS | | Tim Walz backed Ken Martin for DNC chair. Byron Donalds is bringing on Tony Fabrizio. Tulsi Gabbard has sparked concerns from a Syrian nonprofit leader who’s met with her. Lina Khan is imploring Andrew Ferguson to “stay aggressive.” Giorgia Meloni wants to come to Donald Trump’s inauguration. Brooke Rollins’ confirmation hearing has been delayed. IN MEMORIAM — This morning at Holy Trinity in Georgetown, a funeral mass paid tribute to David Rivkin, a former Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush official and prolific conservative legal commentator, Josh Gerstein writes in. Former Ambassador Paula Dobriansky and Paul Gigot, WSJ editorial board editor-in-chief, eulogized Rivkin, with Gigot noting that Rivkin wrote 243 pieces for the paper. The funeral mass was conducted by Rev. Paul Scalia, son of the late Justice Antonin Scalia. Rivkin, who died Dec. 27 at age 68, was saluted by President-elect Donald Trump in a social media post as a “superstar attorney” and “great lawyer, scholar, and defender of mine.” OUT AND ABOUT — SPOTTED at Congressional Black Caucus Chair Yvette Clarke’s (D-N.Y.) swearing-in celebration Tuesday evening at the International Spy Museum: House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries and Reps. Jim Clyburn (D-S.C.), Pete Aguilar (D-Calif.), Sydney Kamlager-Dove (D-Calif.), LaMonica McIver (D-N.J.), Paul Tonko (D-N.Y.), Robin Kelly (D-Ill.), Lauren Underwood (D-Ill.), Delia Ramirez (D-Ill.), Steven Horsford (D-Nev.), Teresa Leger Fernández (D-N.M.), Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.), Summer Lee (D-Pa.), Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.), Gregory Meeks (D-N.Y.), Herb Conaway (D-N.J.), Morgan McGarvey (D-Ky.), Janelle Bynum (D-Ore.), Shomari Figures (D-Ala.) and Tim Kennedy (D-N.Y.). — Alabama Power and Protective Life co-hosted a reception honoring the Alabama congressional delegation. SPOTTED: Reps. Shomari Figures (D-Ala.), Robert Aderholt (R-Ala.), Dale Strong (R-Ala.) and Gary Palmer (R-Ala.), Jeff Rabren, Houston Smith, Haley Wilson and Clay Ryan. — SPOTTED at EMILY’s List’s new member reception last night at the Eaton Hotel: Reps. Sarah McBride (D-Del.), Janelle Bynum (D-Ore.), Kelly Morrison (D-Minn.), Maxine Dexter (D-Ore.), Lateefah Simon (D-Calif.), Yassamin Ansari (D-Ariz.) Andrea Salinas (D-Ore.), Lois Frankel (D-Fla.), Kim Schrier (D-Wash.) and Emilia Sykes (D-Ohio). TRANSITIONS — Liz O’Bagy is joining TechNet as a director of federal policy and AI policy lead. She previously was senior foreign policy adviser to Sen. Chris Coons (D-Del.). … Naomi Zeigler is now economic policy adviser for Sen. Angus King (I-Maine). She most recently was director of intergovernmental affairs at the Commerce Department, and is an OMB and Tom Carper alum. … Amanda Farnan is now comms director for Rep. Eugene Vindman (D-Va.). She previously was digital director for Sen. Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.). … … Laura Epstein will be staff director for the Joint Economic Committee Democrats under ranking member Maggie Hassan (D-N.H.). She previously was comms director for Hassan. … Justin Lumadue is joining the Bockorny Group as a principal. He previously was VP of government affairs at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. … Jessica Merritt is now legislative director for Rep. George Latimer (D-N.Y.). She previously was legislative director for Rep. Mike Quigley (D-Ill.). 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 deputy editor Zack Stanton and Playbook Daily Briefing producer Callan Tansill-Suddath. | | | | 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 politics and policy newsletters | | Follow us | | | | |
No comments:
Post a Comment