| | | | |  | | By Eli Okun | | Presented by |  | | | |  | THE CATCH-UP | | | PULLING RANK — One generational fight within House Democrats over committee ranking member spots next Congress just evaporated, as another heats up. Rep. RAÚL GRIJALVA (D-Ariz.) said he won’t seek to remain the top Democrat on House Natural Resources, as Nick Wu and Daniella Diaz scooped, potentially paving the way for challenger Rep. JARED HUFFMAN (D-Calif.) to claim the spot. Grijalva has missed a lot of time in Congress this year while fighting cancer, and he acknowledged his health as one of the reasons “to pass the torch.” Meanwhile, NYT’s Annie Karni reports that Rep. JAMIE RASKIN (D-Md.) has decided to make a go at unseating Rep. JERRY NADLER (D-N.Y.) on Judiciary: Raskin has started to call members about it. Next up, House Dems will form their steering and policy committee, which will hold secret votes to make recommendations to the whole caucus about ranking members.
|  President Joe Biden's administration and family defended his pardon decision, but other Democrats had criticism. | Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images | PARDON ME — President JOE BIDEN’s administration today defended his decision to go back on his word and issue a sweeping pardon for his son HUNTER, even as the move attracted growing opprobrium from Republicans and some Democrats alike. Press secretary KARINE JEAN-PIERRE told reporters that the prosecutions of Hunter Biden had become politicized, and that protecting his son from a weaponized Trump administration was paramount for the president: She said this wouldn’t have happened if DONALD TRUMP hadn’t won the election, though she later backtracked somewhat. Jean-Pierre emphasized that Biden still believes in the integrity of the Justice Department and the broader justice system, while feeling that Hunter was unfairly targeted, per Lauren Egan. First lady JILL BIDEN told CNN’s Betsy Klein that “of course” she supports the pardon. But to some members of Congress and outside commentators, Biden’s decision undermined his messages that democracy was on the line this year and that no one is above the rule of law.
- “Trust in our justice system has been almost irreparably damaged by the Bidens and their use and abuse of it,” Speaker MIKE JOHNSON posted on X.
- Sen. TOM COTTON (R-Ark.) said on Fox News that the pardon could backfire as Hunter Biden could now be forced to testify to Congress.
Even some Democrats and Trump critics were displeased, while acknowledging the personal pain of Biden seeing his only living son get convicted.
- Rep. GREG LANDSMAN (D-Ohio) called the pardon “a setback” for those who want “people to believe in public service again.”
- Sen. MICHAEL BENNET (D-Colo.) didn’t mince words: “President Biden’s decision put personal interest ahead of duty and further erodes Americans’ faith that the justice system is fair and equal for all,” he wrote.
But Rep. ERIC SWALWELL (D-Calif.) said any Trump supporters can spare him the rule-of-law concerns. Top-ed: “Joe Biden’s Parting Insult,” by Alex Burns: “Biden is exiting a presidency that he insisted was about saving democracy by delivering an ostentatious vote of no confidence in the institutions that his successor most obviously intends to attack.” Good Monday afternoon. Thanks for reading Playbook PM. Drop me a line at eokun@politico.com.
| | | | A message from Tobacco-Free Kids Action Fund: E-cigarettes have gone from bad to worse. They are hooking kids with fun flavors, more nicotine than ever and even built-in video games. Some vapes have as much nicotine as 20 packs of cigarettes. Almost all are illegal. To protect kids, the FDA and other federal agencies must act now to remove illegal products from the market and stop them from being imported into the U.S. Learn more. | | | | | 9 THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW | | |  Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer urged his successor, John Thune, not to abandon advise-and-consent. | Francis Chung/POLITICO | 1. SCHUMER MAKES MOVES: Senate Majority Leader CHUCK SCHUMER is expected to tap Sen. AMY KLOBUCHAR (D-Minn.) over Sen. CORY BOOKER (D-N.J.) as No. 3 in Senate Dem leadership — but create a new No. 4 role for Booker, Axios’ Stephen Neukam reports. Schumer also urged incoming Senate Majority Leader JOHN THUNE to make sure the Senate fully vets Trump’s nominees. Notably, he said Senate Dems “commit to working in a bipartisan fashion to process each nominee by reviewing standard FBI background-investigation materials,” as Trump’s team has weighed not doing FBI background checks or trying to bypass the Senate with recess appointments. The letter 2. DEPT. OF TRUMP-PROOFING: Sens. ELIZABETH WARREN (D-Mass.) and RICHARD BLUMENTHAL (D-Conn.) have asked Biden and Defense Secretary LLOYD AUSTIN to issue a policy directive restricting the federal government from deploying troops domestically, NBC’s Courtney Kube scooped. Such a move could be reversed by Trump, but the senators say taking the first step now could make it politically costlier for the Trump administration to use the military against protesters. At the Justice Department, meanwhile, AG MERRICK GARLAND and other senior leaders are urging career staffers not to head for the exits, saying their institutional knowledge will be crucial under Trump, WaPo’s Perry Stein and Yvonne Wingett Sanchez report. Their encouragement comes as Trump has vowed to dismantle the federal bureaucracy’s purported “deep state.” The Post reports that there’s no DOJ “mass exodus” yet, but more civil servants are looking at potential private-sector gigs than usual. At the Energy Department, officials are rushing to get huge swaths of climate investments out the door. The latest announcement came today: a nearly $7 billion loan to Stellantis and Samsung to help build electric vehicle battery plants in Kokomo, Indiana, NYT’s Jack Ewing reports. At the CFPB, officials are discussing which rules they should try to finalize before Republicans take over and potentially enact sweeping rollbacks, NBC’s J.J. McCorvey reports. Some staffers think the Biden administration’s work could be harder to unravel than it looks. But new rules now could be repealed via the Congressional Review Act, which would stymie future officials from pursuing them. And there’s also a huge, last-minute undertaking to send Ukraine lots more military aid. But the scramble “is generating concerns internally about its potential to erode U.S. stockpiles and sap resources from other flash points,” WaPo’s Michael Birnbaum, Missy Ryan and Siobhán O’Grady report. 3. TALE AS OLD AS TIME: “Trump press secretary pick removed post praising Pence on January 6, then ran for Congress as an election denier,” by CNN’s Andrew Kaczynski: “In another post praising the actions of a Capitol Hill police officer who lured rioters away from lawmakers, [KAROLINE] LEAVITT wrote simply, ‘A hero.’ … Leavitt then ran unsuccessfully for a New Hampshire congressional seat in 2022, positioning herself as a staunch election denier. … In a statement, the Trump transition team did not address her deleted tweets and instead reverted to making false claims about election fraud in 2020.”
| | | | REGISTER NOW: As the 118th Congress ends, major decisions loom, including healthcare appropriations. Key focus: site neutrality. Can aligning hospital and clinic costs cut federal spending, reflect physician costs, and lower patient expenses? Join policymakers and providers to discuss. | | | | | 4. DANCE OF THE SUPERPOWERS: The U.S.-China deal last week to free three Americans detained in China also quietly brought three Uyghurs to freedom in the U.S., NYT’s Edward Wong reveals. One of them, AYSHEM MAMUT, is the mother of Uyghur advocate and former U.S. official NURY TURKEL, who has worked with U.S. leaders for years to get China to let her go. And the Commerce Department today made official new curbs on AI and semiconductor chip tools for China, per Bloomberg’s Mackenzie Hawkins. Though the controls expand American efforts to constrain crucial technological advancement in China, they also stop short of earlier proposals. 5. MIDDLE EAST LATEST: “US, UAE discussed lifting Assad sanctions in exchange for break with Iran, sources say,” by Reuters’ Maya Gebeily, Parisa Hafezi and Alexander Cornwell: “The conversations intensified in recent months … driven by the possible expiry on Dec. 20 of sweeping U.S. sanctions on Syria and by Israel’s campaign against Tehran’s regional network … The discussions took place before anti-[BASHAR] ASSAD rebels swept into Aleppo … [T]he new rebel advance is a signal of precisely the sort of weakness in Assad’s alliance with Iran that the Emirati and U.S. initiative aims to exploit. But if Assad embraces Iranian help for a counter-offensive, that could also complicate efforts to drive a wedge between them.” 6. THE DOCTORS ARE IN: When MEHMET OZ’s nomination as CMS administrator comes up, questions about conflicts of interest could loom large: He’s touted Ozempic in Novo Nordisk-sponsored segments on his show, for instance, and promoted other drugs online, WaPo’s Desmond Butler, Lauren Weber and Caitlin Gilbert report. Ethics experts say they have concerns, but the Trump transition maintains that everyone will comply with ethical requirements. ROBERT F. KENNEDY JR.’s journey from environmental lawyer to anti-vaccine activist traces a longtime anti-establishment crusader’s arc, WSJ’s Kristina Peterson, Liz Essley and Natalie Andrews write. Despite public health experts’ concerns about the infectious disease credentials/ideas of Kennedy and other top Trump picks, many Make America Healthy Again voters are excited about new blood shaking up a costly and calcified health care system that too often fails patients, NYT’s Jack Healy, Isabelle Taft and Kate Selig report. 7. SIGN OF THE TIMES: “Will an upstate New Yorker’s pro-Trump sign pave the road to Congress?” by Nick Reisman in Albany: “The man behind the [100-foot] sign, ANTHONY CONSTANTINO, wants [Rep. ELISE] STEFANIK’s House seat and has been meeting GOP leaders with the power to select a nominee to replace her. … Constantino, who has a flair for self-promotion on conservative podcasts and cable TV, fits into the mold of a new wave of candidates who’ve emerged in the Trump era.” 8. THE DREAM NEVER DIES: All it took for a majority of Trump supporters to stop believing election fraud lies was for Trump to win. But the election denial movement is still alive, with some local and national Republicans advocating major changes to voting before 2026, Reuters’ Peter Eisler, Ned Parker, Nathan Layne and Joseph Tanfani report. Election skeptics in Arizona and Georgia may push for sweeping new restrictions, though they could run into gubernatorial vetoes. And in Congress, a bill to mandate showing proof of citizenship when voting — despite a lack of evidence of widespread non-citizen voting — could find new life. 9. HANDLING HOUSING: “Trump may renew a housing fight that could rattle mortgage rates,” by CNN’s Samantha Delouya: “Amid a housing market marked by stubbornly high mortgage rates, a long-standing supply shortage and soaring home prices, some economists warn that privatizing [Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac], worth a combined $146 billion as of the third quarter of this year, would be overly complicated and could make it more expensive for many Americans to borrow money to purchase a home.”
| | | | Want to know what's really happening with Congress's make-or-break spending fights? Get daily insider analysis of Hill negotiations, funding deadlines, and breaking developments—free in your inbox with Inside Congress. Subscribe now. | | | | | | | PLAYBOOKERS | | Omer Neutra, an American thought to be held hostage by Hamas, was revealed to have been killed on Oct. 7. Justin Sun is making an eye-popping crypto play. Michael Hopkins was arrested for entering the Capitol complex with ammunition, which he said he’d forgotten about. IN MEMORIAM — Fred Smith, founder and longtime president of the Competitive Enterprise Institute, died Nov. 23 at 83. He was director of the institute’s Center for Advancing Capitalism after stepping down from the top role at the end of 2012. “Regulatory economics became as much a calling card as his enthusiasm for finding, assimilating, and sharing ideas,” reads his full obituary. MEDIA MOVE — Marc Caputo will be a senior politics reporter at Axios. He currently is a politics reporter at The Bulwark, and is an NBC and POLITICO alum. TRANSITIONS — Victoria Nuland is now a senior adviser in Covington’s public policy practice and global problem solving group. She most recently was undersecretary of State for political affairs, and is a longtime State Department and White House alum. … Jeremy Paner is now a partner in Hughes Hubbard’s sanctions, export controls and anti-money laundering practice. He most recently was a principal at Squire Patton Boggs, and is a Treasury Office of Foreign Assets Control alum. 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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