| | | | |  | | By Garrett Ross | | | | 
Liz Cheney is making a new move in her post-Congress career. | Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images | FIRST IN PLAYBOOK: LIZ CHENEY is joining The Center for Politics at the University of Virginia as a professor of practice, the university is planning to announce today. The appointment — which will see Cheney offer guest lectures in classes and public events as well as participate in research — is effective immediately and will run through the 2023 fall semester, with an option to renew for one or more additional years. “There are many threats facing our system of government and I hope my work with the Center for Politics and the broader community at the University of Virginia will contribute to finding lasting solutions that not only preserve but strengthen our democracy,” Cheney says in an announcement shared with Playbook. Cheney was defeated in her 2022 reelection bid by now-Rep. HARRIET HAGEMAN in a bitter primary contest that drew the attention of former President DONALD TRUMP, who sought retribution for Cheney after she voted to impeach him following the insurrection and her service as vice chair of the Jan. 6 committee. The Wyoming Republican is also helming a leadership PAC, called “The Great Task.”
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Adam Kinzinger is also rolling out a new post-Congress effort. | AP file photo/Amanda Andrade-Rhoades | Meanwhile, another former J6 committee member is unveiling his next move. Former Illinois GOP Rep. ADAM KINZINGER’s “political organization is launching a nationwide campaign urging voters to reject extreme candidates on both sides of the aisle ahead of the 2024 election,” our colleague Nicholas Wu reports. “The centerpiece of the campaign is a nearly six-minute-long short film titled ‘Break Free,’ inspired by Apple’s ‘1984’ Super Bowl ad about escaping the conformity of non-Apple computers. In the political ad’s twist, people are forced to wear blue- and red-tinted goggles showing them divisive images and broadcasts from a ‘Big Brother’-type character until they take them off and escape. A monologue from Kinzinger urges Americans to reject political extremes.” Watch the video “What we’re showing, by the video, is we’ve been programmed so much to believe that there’s only two choices to everything, that the other side is our enemy, that each event in the world should be seen through blue or red glasses,” Kinzinger told Nick in an interview. “And we’re saying there’s a completely different way.” Kinzinger did not seek reelection after Illinois’ congressional map was redrawn, leaving him with a slim path back into Congress. Like Cheney, Kinzinger voted to impeach Trump, and has been vocal in his broad attacks against the former president, Speaker KEVIN McCARTHY and the direction of the Republican Party. He called himself a “homeless Republican” in the interview — though he also said there’s a “good chance” he runs for office again in the future. (He told Axios’ Andrew Solender that it would be for “Anything but the House.”) GONE GUY — “Chief of a Democratic Super PAC Is Stepping Down,” by NYT’s Maggie Haberman: “The chairman and chief strategist for a major Democratic outside group is stepping down after eight years, a shift in leadership while plans for 2024 are taking shape for the constellation of entities expected to support Democrats up and down the ballot. GUY CECIL, who has led that Democratic group, the super PAC Priorities USA, since early 2015, will leave at the end of March, the group announced on Wednesday. It has been a key force in Democratic politics for over a decade, and during Mr. Cecil’s tenure, it became deeply involved in politics beyond presidential races. In the 2022 midterms, it spent heavily on digital ads.” NEW DETAILS — “‘Havana syndrome’ not caused by energy weapon or foreign adversary, intelligence review finds,” by WaPo’s Shane Harris and John Hudson: “The mysterious ailment known as ‘Havana syndrome’ did not result from the actions of a foreign adversary, according to an intelligence report that shatters a long-disputed theory that hundreds of U.S. personnel were targeted and sickened by a clandestine enemy wielding energy waves as a weapon. “The new intelligence assessment caps a years-long effort by the CIA and several other U.S. intelligence agencies to explain why career diplomats, intelligence officers and others serving in U.S. missions around the world experienced what they described as strange and painful acoustic sensations.” Good Wednesday afternoon. Thanks for reading Playbook PM. Do you think you could put together a tour of D.C. better than ChatGPT? Send me your itinerary: gross@politico.com.
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Find out how Emergent perceives, prepares, and protects. | | | ALL POLITICS X MARKS THE FRAUGHT — “Some Republicans Want to Ban ‘Latinx.’ These Latino Democrats Agree,” by NYT’s Sarah Maslin Nir: “When Democrats in Connecticut introduced legislation to ban the word ‘Latinx’ from government documents, they found themselves with unlikely allies: Republicans including Gov. SARAH HUCKABEE SANDERS of Arkansas, who barred ‘Latinx’ from state documents as her first official act. “Their reasons differ: Conservatives argue that the word, coined about 20 years ago as an inclusive, gender-neutral term to describe people of Latino descent, is a trope of liberal ‘wokeism.’ But the bill making its way through Hartford was introduced by several Democratic members of the Black and Puerto Rican caucus. They argue, among other things, that the Americanized word disfigures the Spanish language and in doing so, is an act of cultural appropriation.” WINDY CITY WIND-DOWN — “How Paul Vallas Went From Electoral Also-Ran to Chicago Front-Runner,” by NYT’s Mitch Smith: “[PAUL] VALLAS’s reversal of political fortune since his defeat four years ago reflects a much different electoral mood in Chicago and the appeal of tough-on-crime policies for urban voters. Though his personal style and story are different, Mr. Vallas’s platform has similarities to the message Mayor ERIC ADAMS of New York City used to win election in 2021.” WHITE HOUSE FLOTUS FILES — “Jill Biden went to Africa, and all anyone wants to talk about is 2024,” by WaPo’s Jada Yuan in Lositeti, Kenya: “In many ways, this five-day trip to Africa was emblematic of [JILL] BIDEN’s tenure as first lady. She had gone to enormous effort to promote women’s empowerment and democracy in Namibia and highlight food insecurity in Kenya. And then Friday afternoon, the entire news cycle around her Africa trip — at least the American news cycle — became subsumed when she all but confirmed during an interview with Darlene Superville of the Associated Press that her husband would run again in 2024, setting off a blaze of headlines.” SALUTING SU — “Biden says Labor nominee Julie Su represents American dream,” by AP’s Seung Min Kim and Josh Boak
| | | | 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. | | | | | CONGRESS TARGETING TIKTOK — “GOP rams through TikTok ban bill over Dem objections,” by Brendan Bordelon: “Republicans on the House Foreign Affairs Committee forced through a bill that could effectively ban TikTok from all mobile devices in the U.S. despite united opposition from Democrats — a rare breakdown of congressional bipartisanship on the alleged threat posed by Chinese tech. … The committee ultimately advanced [Chair MICHAEL] McCAUL’s DATA Act, H.R. 1153, on Wednesday morning by a vote of 24 to 16, with all Democrats voting no. The legislation would grant the president new authorities to ban foreign-owned applications, and would require the imposition of sanctions on companies with ties to TikTok or other Chinese-owned apps.” INVESTIGATION INVENTORY — “Drug-Prices Investigation Focused on Middlemen Opens in Congress,” by WSJ’s Liz Essley Whyte: “House Republicans have launched an investigation into the companies that manage drug benefits, dialing up the scrutiny of the middlemen who play an important role in how much medicines cost. The House Oversight and Accountability Committee said Wednesday that it has sent letters to CVS Health Corp.’s CVS Caremark, Cigna Group’s Express Scripts and UnitedHealth Group Inc.’s OptumRx — the largest pharmacy-benefit managers — seeking documents about the drug-price rebates they negotiate and fees they charge.” LETTER OF RECOMMENDATION — “Schumer, Jeffries demand Fox News stop ‘grave propaganda’ about 2020 election,” by WaPo’s Amy Wang: “In a letter to the network’s executives Wednesday, Senate Majority Leader CHARLES E. SCHUMER (D-N.Y.) and House Minority Leader HAKEEM JEFFRIES (D-N.Y.) cited testimony from [Fox Corp. Chair RUPERT] MURDOCH that was made public this week as part of Dominion Voting Systems’ $1.6 billion defamation lawsuit against the network.” HMM — “Ticketmaster presents: Bernie Sanders the anti-capitalist capitalist at $273 a ticket,” by Raw Story’s Matt Laslo: Sen. BERNIE SANDERS’ (I-Vt.) “event ticket prices, which are subject to Ticketmaster’s ‘dynamic pricing,’ have soared, and stung, many of his own followers (those who aren’t millionaires like him), especially through service fees. Ticketmaster’s service fees alone have, in some cases, exceeded the price of two hardcover copies of Sanders’ book, currently selling at $17.80 each on Amazon.” TRUMP CARDS HOW IT HAPPENED — “Showdown before the raid: FBI agents and prosecutors argued over Trump,” by WaPo’s Carol Leonnig, Devlin Barrett, Perry Stein and Aaron Davis: “Months of disputes between Justice Department prosecutors and FBI agents over how best to try to recover classified documents from Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago Club and residence led to a tense showdown near the end of July last year, according to four people familiar with the discussions. Prosecutors argued that new evidence suggested Trump was knowingly concealing secret documents at his Palm Beach, Fla., home and urged the FBI to conduct a surprise raid at the property. “But two senior FBI officials who would be in charge of leading the search resisted the plan as too combative and proposed instead to seek Trump’s permission to search his property, according to the four people, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe a sensitive investigation. Prosecutors ultimately prevailed in that dispute, one of several previously unreported clashes in a tense tug of war between two arms of the Justice Department over how aggressively to pursue a criminal investigation of a former president.” JAN. 6 AND ITS AFTERMATH AT THE PROUD BOYS TRIAL — “‘Make it a spectacle’: Proud Boys leader Tarrio key to Jan. 6, U.S. says,” by WaPo’s Spencer Hsu and Rachel Weiner
| | | | 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 IMMIGRATION FILES — “Immigration Judges Are Moving Fast, but Case Backlog Keeps Growing,” by WSJ’s Alicia Caldwell: “The number of pending cases has topped 2 million, according to government data compiled by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse at Syracuse University, known as TRAC. At the center of the process are about 600 immigration-court judges who must decide issues including whether to grant asylum requests and whether to deport other immigrants caught living in the U.S. without permission.” SHOCKING STATS — “Trucks Hauling U.S. Mail Frequently Violate Safety Rules. Crashes Killed 79 People Since 2020,” by WSJ’s Christopher Weaver: “Postal contractors have been involved in at least 68 fatal crashes that killed 79 people in the past three years, according to police crash and inspection records. Nearly 50 long-haul trucking contractors that moved mail for the Postal Service had safety records so poor that another arm of the federal government, the Transportation Department, put them on probation, DOT data shows.” WAR IN UKRAINE ON THE GROUND — “In an Epic Battle of Tanks, Russia Was Routed, Repeating Earlier Mistakes,” by NYT’s Andrew Kramer in Kurakhove, Ukraine: “A three-week battle on a plain near the coal-mining town of Vuhledar in southern Ukraine produced what Ukrainian officials say was the biggest tank battle of the war so far, and a stinging setback for the Russians.” THE VIEW FROM RUSSIA — “Putin’s War Rhetoric Rallies Russian Border Towns, but Nerves Fray,” by WSJ’s Evan Gershkovich in Pskov, Russia AMERICA AND THE WORLD FOR YOUR RADAR — “India Moves Closer to Approving Purchase of Armed Drones From the U.S.,” by WSJ’s Rajesh Roy CHINA WATCH — “China’s Xi Jinping Welcomes Belarus President, Key Putin Ally,” by WSJ’s Austin Ramzy in Hong Kong and Ann Simmons in London VIDEO INVESTIGATION — “How an Israeli Raid on a Safe House Ended With Civilians Killed,” by NYT’s Haley Willis, Christiaan Triebert, Hiba Yazbek and Patrick Kingsley PLAYBOOKERS TRANSITIONS — Former USTR Mark Froman is now president at the Council on Foreign Relations, WSJ’s William Mauldin scoops. He most recently was vice chairman and president for strategic growth at Mastercard Inc. … Ganesh Sitaraman will lead the newly launched Vanderbilt Policy Accelerator for Political Economy and Regulation at Vanderbilt University. Sitaraman is currently the New York alumni chancellor’s chair at Vanderbilt Law School and is an Elizabeth Warren alum. … Quinnlan Huckeba is now head copywriter at Politicoin. She previously was a campaign copywriter at HSP Direct and is an RNC alum. … … Theo Merkel is now director of Paragon Health Institute’s Private Health Reform Initiative and senior research fellow. He previously was legislative director for Sen. Pat Toomey (R-Pa.). … National Public Affairs has added Ashton Brown as digital director, Quinn Gasaway as deputy digital director, Pat Wronkiewicz as senior account director, Estelle Woloszyn as director of digital operations, Andrew Bourgeois as a web developer and Kaylan Frisch as a graphic designer. … Kirsten Wing is now director of federal government affairs at the Healthcare Distribution Alliance. She previously was legislative director for former Rep. David McKinley (R-W.Va.) 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.
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