| | | | |  | | By Eli Okun | | | BREAKING — “Trump can be sued by police over Jan. 6 riot, Justice Department says,” by WaPo’s Rachel Weiner
|  Matt Schlapp said Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) “might just be the most powerful man in Washington, D.C.” | Jose Luis Magana/AP Photo | CPAC KICKS OFF — Amid growing chatter about various top Republicans skipping the ever-more-MAGA CPAC, DONALD TRUMP lashed out this morning at his rivals in the party: “The only reason certain ‘candidates’ won’t be going to CPAC is because the crowds have no interest in anything they have to say,” he posted on Truth Social. And as the Club for Growth hosts a counter-programming retreat in Palm Beach, Trump railed against the group: “Except when they worked with me, their track record is awful. They need new ‘Leadership.’” Trump will speak Saturday night, in a speech he described as a “monster.” But the conference got underway this morning with some high-profile speakers and discussions. Some of the most notable snippets so far: — MATT SCHLAPP introduced Rep. JIM JORDAN (R-Ohio) by saying, “There’s a lot of chatter in the media about who’s here and not here. I’m really proud to be standing alongside someone I think might just be the most powerful man in Washington, D.C.” — Rep. RALPH NORMAN (R-S.C.) called Joint Chiefs of Staff Chair Gen. MARK MILLEY “a traitor” and referred to VP KAMALA HARRIS as “the giggler.” — Rep. SCOTT PERRY (R-Pa.) dangled the possibility of shrinking office space for federal officials who don’t comply with House GOP oversight requests: “If they’re not interested in showing up … I’m in charge now on the Transportation Committee of federal leases. Huh. Huh. Isn’t that something? I wonder whose leases might be coming [up].” — STEVE BANNON got a chant started about taking down the Chinese Communist Party, as Meridith McGraw captures among various photos and videos from the scene. And MAGA Inc., a Trump-affiliated super PAC, has a photo booth in an Oval Office replica. YOU’VE GOT TIME — Sen. MARCO RUBIO (R-Fla.) today reintroduced his bill to make daylight saving time permanent, which snuck through the Senate in a surprise last year but died in the House. Rubio has a bipartisan group of 11 co-sponsors in the upper chamber, and Rep. VERN BUCHANAN (R-Fla.) is introducing a House version of the bill. Will it meet a different fate there with Republicans in charge this year? More from The Hill PSA: You’ve still got nine days of early-morning sunshine — clocks spring ahead at 2 a.m. on March 12. FIRST IN PLAYBOOK — A new letter led by the Washington Center for Equitable Growth urges congressional leaders to lift the debt ceiling “promptly and without conditions” to stave off catastrophic default. “A swift and severe economic downturn could follow, with unnecessary layoffs across the economy,” they write. “Higher borrowing costs for the federal government, and indeed for all Americans, could remain with us for a long time.” The letter, signed by more than 200 economists of varying ideological predilections, is most notable for some of the big names involved, including BEN BERNANKE, ROBERT REICH and JOSEPH STIGLITZ. Read it here Good Thursday afternoon. Thanks for reading Playbook PM. What’s the best and/or cringiest piece of CPAC swag you’ve spotted? Drop me a line at eokun@politico.com.
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Find out how Emergent perceives, prepares, and protects. | | | ALL POLITICS CATCH A RISING STAR — At House Democrats’ conference in Baltimore this week, Maryland Gov. WES MOORE is attracting lots of buzz and long selfie lines, NBC’s Scott Wong and Kate Santaliz report. Moore says he’s focused on the job he just started, and he’s backing President JOE BIDEN for 2024. But the party is chattering about Moore’s future potential. Rep. STENY HOYER (D-Md.): “I saw this young man — and I’ve been in politics for 120 years — I said, ‘This guy’s got it.’” YOWZA — A new Roanoke College poll finds Virginia Gov. GLENN YOUNGKIN crushing Biden 55% to 39% among registered voters in the state in a hypothetical 2024 matchup. Florida Gov. RON DeSANTIS leads Biden 48% to 43%. But Biden has a slight edge over Trump among Virginia voters, 47% to 46%. And among Virginia Republicans, Trump is the top pick for the nomination, leading DeSantis 39% to 28%. (Youngkin’s a distant third.) BOTTLING KOCH — Koch Industries today is expected to name DAVE ROBERTSON as its new co-CEO and JIM HANNAN as its new president as it prepares for the next generation beyond the Koch brothers, Semafor’s Liz Hoffman scooped. CONGRESS McCARTHY ON CHINA — Speaker KEVIN McCARTHY tells Fox News’ Brooke Singman that he wants to see this Congress pass bipartisan legislation on China, and that the Biden administration needs to project a stronger message to Beijing. McCarthy highlighted the flow of fentanyl from China as a top priority where he wants to see Biden get more aggressive with Chinese President XI JINPING. “I want to empower the president,” McCarthy said. “If we are united in the House, it gives the president a stronger hand. In essence, the House can try to give him a backbone.” THE END OF SHAME — “George Santos, MAGA It Girl,” by N.Y. Mag’s Shawn McCreesh: “Like ANNA DELVEY, he’s brazened his way through the public shame of his own behavior — even as more and more of it keeps surfacing — and is now enjoying the notoriety on the other side. The right has decided to embrace him as, if nothing else, the ultimate troll of the left … [S]ome in [Rep. GEORGE] SANTOS’s orbit tell me they fully expect him to run for reelection. He’s now having fun with it.” Plus plenty of scene-y details on VISH BURRA’s shitposting journey to becoming scandal’s right-hand man FRIENDLY FIRE — Sen. JOE MANCHIN (D-W.Va.) blasted Transportation Secretary PETE BUTTIGIEG over the East Palestine, Ohio, mess: “I have concerns,” he said, when CNN’s Manu Raju asked Manchin if he had confidence in the secretary. “I think that basically Pete is not getting high grades right now.”
| | | | We’re spilling the tea (and drinking tons of it in our newsroom) in U.K. politics with our latest newsletter, London Playbook PM. Get to know all the movers and shakers in Westminster and never miss a beat of British politics with a free subscription. Don’t miss out, we’ve got some exciting moves coming. Sign up today. | | | | | AMERICA AND THE WORLD FACE TO FACE — For the first time since Russia invaded Ukraine, Secretary of State ANTONY BLINKEN and Russian Foreign Minister SERGEY LAVROV met in person today at a G-20 confab in India, per Kelly Hooper. It was just a 10-minute, unscheduled conversation, but the U.S. said Blinken focused on New Start, PAUL WHELAN and a reassurance that U.S. support for Ukraine wouldn’t fade. He “didn’t get the impression from the Russian foreign minister that Moscow’s behavior would change in any way.” IRAN LATEST — “U.S., Europe Split on Response to Iran’s Near-Weapons-Grade Nuclear Enrichment,” by WSJ’s Laurence Norman: “Britain, France and Germany wanted to formally censure Iran at an IAEA board of governors meeting next week by passing a resolution calling out Iran’s nuclear activities … However, U.S. officials are arguing against a rebuke although a final decision hasn’t yet been taken. Washington wants to see what the agency concludes about the production of the material.” BORDER SONG — Illegal immigration across the U.S.-Canada border is surging into our northern neighbor, and the Quebec and Ontario communities on the front lines aren’t happy, NYT’s Norimitsu Onishi reports. “Using the kind of anti-migrant language rarely heard in Canada, opposition politicians are calling on the government to deploy the police.” And it’s putting some pressure on the relationship between Biden and PM JUSTIN TRUDEAU. DANCE OF THE SUPERPOWERS — “China Trumps U.S. in Key Technology Research, Report Says,” by WSJ’s James Areddy: “The report, published Thursday by the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, puts Chinese researchers ahead of Americans in 37 of 44 technologies examined.” HOW DOBBS IS SEEN OVERSEAS — Nearly 200 human rights groups, nonprofits and civil society organizations worldwide are calling on the U.N. to step in to protect abortion rights in the U.S., WaPo’s Adela Suliman reports. The letter THE ECONOMY THE UNEMPLOYMENT PICTURE — New jobless claims ticked down last week to 190,000, signaling that the labor market is still looking pretty tight in the U.S. More from Bloomberg INFLATION NATION — “Fed Might Be Winning Inflation Fight, Depending on Index Used,” by WSJ’s Gwynn Guilford: “Two measures of U.S. inflation are now telling a similar story. But those measures are likely to diverge this year, with one signaling the Federal Reserve’s work is nearly done and the other suggesting the opposite.” MEDIAWATCH ANNALS OF INFLUENCE — “Newsmax taps ex-congressman Jack Kingston to help in its brawl with DirecTV,” by Caitlin Oprysko: “The conservative news channel, which disappeared from DirecTV’s airwaves in January amid a dispute over fees paid to carriers, has enlisted former Rep. JACK KINGSTON (R-Ga.) and longtime GOP aide TOMMY ANDREWS of Squire Patton Boggs to escalate its fight in Washington.” BEYOND THE BELTWAY IMMIGRATION FILES — “Fleeing for Your Life? There’s An App for That,” by Texas Monthly’s Jack Herrera: “The Biden administration has replaced key elements of our 50-year-old asylum system with ‘CBP One,’ a smartphone application. It looks like the future—but potentially a dystopian one.” THE NEW ABORTION LANDSCAPE — If a federal judge makes the unprecedented move to strike down the FDA’s 2000 approval of the abortion pill mifepristone, the effects could be felt far and wide across states that haven’t restricted the procedure. NYT’s Allison McCann and Amy Schoenfeld Walker have some helpful graphics showing where such a ruling would have the most significant impact: One Maine provider says “this could be bigger than Dobbs.”
| | | | DOWNLOAD THE POLITICO MOBILE APP: Stay up to speed with the newly updated POLITICO mobile app, featuring timely political news, insights and analysis from the best journalists in the business. The sleek and navigable design offers a convenient way to access POLITICO's scoops and groundbreaking reporting. Don’t miss out on the app you can rely on for the news you need, reimagined. DOWNLOAD FOR iOS– DOWNLOAD FOR ANDROID. | | | | | POLICY CORNER COMING SOON — “Communities await first U.S. limits on ‘forever chemicals,’” by AP’s Michael Phillis and Brittany Peterson: “The Environmental Protection Agency is expected to propose restrictions on harmful [PFAS chemicals] in drinking water after finding they are dangerous in amounts so small as to be undetectable. But experts say removing them will cost billions, a burden that will fall hardest on small communities with few resources.” PLAYBOOKERS WHAT GARRETT IS READING — “Merrick Garland Is a Huge Taylor Swift Fan,” by WSJ’s Sadie Gurman: “‘My favorite song is “Shake It Off,”’ he said in an interview.” Plus: Bill Barr on the bagpipes and Jeff Sessions on “The Pirates of Penzance” DEPT. OF SLOGANEERING — As Edith Childs retires, the local South Carolina official who coined “Fired up! Ready to go!” reunited virtually with Barack Obama, as AP’s Meg Kinnard reports from Columbia. Watch the video OUT AND ABOUT — SPOTTED at Norwegian Ambassador Anniken Krutnes’ residence last night for the embassy’s Arctic Cool event: Finnish Ambassador Mikko Hautala, Estonian Ambassador Kristjan Prikk, Dutch Ambassador André Haspels, Sens. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) and Jim Risch (R-Idaho), Erna Solberg, Ine Eriksen Søreide, Rheanne Wirkkala, Geoffrey Pyatt, Christina Sevilla and Artur Orkisz. — SPOTTED at a reception Tuesday night celebrating the expansion and renovation of the Home Depot’s government relations office: Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (I-Ariz.), Reps. Mike Collins (R-Ga.), Austin Scott (R-Ga.), Drew Ferguson (R-Ga.), Rick Allen (R-Ga.) and Deborah Ross (D-N.C.), Missouri AG Andrew Bailey, Teresa Roseborough, Norman Jemal, Bob Milkovich, Paul Tetreault, Mary Ann Gomez Orta and Catherine Townsend. — SPOTTED last night at a cowboy reception at Reata in Fort Worth, Texas: Reps. Kay Granger (R-Texas), Dan Newhouse (R-Wash.), Austin Scott (R-Ga.), Doug LaMalfa (R-Calif.), Jim Baird (R-Ind.), Cliff Bentz (R-Ore.), John Duarte (R-Calif.), Michelle Fischbach (R-Minn.), Paul Gosar (R-Ariz.), Mariannette Miller-Meeks (R-Iowa), David Rouzer (R-N.C.) and David Valadao (R-Calif.), and Fort Worth Mayor Mattie Parker. — The Peace Corps honored returning volunteers and public servants at the 2023 Franklin H. Williams award ceremony last night at the Planet Word Museum. Awardees included Charlayne Hunter Gault, Nicole Banister, Lavar Thomas, Judith Oki, Terrell Starr and Rob Watson Jr. Pic TRANSITIONS — Jerron Hawkins is now a policy adviser at DOJ’s Office of Community Relations Services. He previously was a strategic consultant for My Brother’s Keeper Alliance within the Obama Foundation. … Jeffrey Davis is now a partner with White & Case’s tax practice. He previously was a partner at Mayer Brown. … Andrew Becht is joining the Export-Import Bank as director of scheduling. He previously was scheduling director for Rep. Charlie Crist (D-Fla.). … … Allison Binney is now a partner at Pace Companies. She previously was a partner at Akin Gump. … Amanda Brown Lierman is now senior director for policy and engagement for North America at GoFundMe. She most recently was executive director of Supermajority. … Physicians for Human Rights has added Saman Zia-Zarifi as executive director and Gareth Crawford as COO. Zia-Zarifi previously was secretary-general of the International Commission of Jurists. Crawford previously was president and CEO of the Carey Institute for Global Good. 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 producers Setota Hailemariam and Bethany Irvine. Correction: Yesterday’s Playbook PM misstated Mike Froman’s name.
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