| | | | |  | | By Jack Blanchard | | Presented by |  | | | With help from Eli Okun, Garrett Ross and Bethany Irvine
| | | Good Wednesday morning. (How is it only Wednesday?) This is Jack Blanchard. Please do send hot tips / idle thoughts / generous feedback to jblanchard@politico.com … I’m genuinely trying to reply to them all. FIRST — PARISH NEWS: POLITICO today unveils its new-look White House team, the star reporters who will be covering every twist and turn in Trump world over the next four years. Say hello and welcome to editor Noah Bierman and his deputy Jennifer Haberkorn… Bureau Chief Dasha Burns … ace new hire Sophia Cai … Adam Cancryn … Playbook legend Eugene Daniels … Megan Messerly … Irie Sentner … Eli Stokols … Myah Ward … and producer and contributor Ben Johansen. And joining them next month will be another top new hire, Jake Traylor, who arrives from NBC News. Full announcement here, via POLITICO senior managing editor Anita Kumar. Good luck to all.
|  | DRIVING THE DAY | | | 
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. heads to meetings with senators Dec. 16, 2024. | Angelina Katsanis/POLITICO | HAPPY RFK DAY: One of Donald Trump’s most controversial cabinet picks faces the music today as we kick off two days of showstopper confirmation hearings on Capitol Hill. The president’s nominee for secretary of Health and Human Services, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., is before the Senate Finance Committee at 10 a.m., and you can expect wall-to-wall coverage on TV networks. You hardly need me to tell you that RFK Jr.’s long-held and highly contentious anti-vax comments, plus his outspoken views on big pharma and the food industry, make him a highly unusual pick for HHS — as do a litany of personal matters. And yet for all the noise, the expectation in D.C. is that he’s very much headed for government. Wait — personal matters? The dead bear thing. The chemtrails tweet. The falconry. The wrongful accusation he once decapitated a whale. The fact he was running for president as a Democrat in 2023. And that’s before you get into allegations about his private life. Yesterday, his cousin Caroline — a former U.S. ambassador to Australia and Japan — described him as a “predator” who “has gone on to misrepresent, lie, and cheat his way through life.” No doubt Kennedy would deny all that … but no, this is not your standard HHS pick. Diary note: Today’s hearing is the first of two back-to-back sessions for RFK Jr. Tomorrow, he’s before the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions, or HELP, for a second grilling — which also has the potential to be interesting, given its focus (although it’s Finance which gets the crucial vote). But tomorrow’s news cycle will be dominated by the first hearings for controversy magnets Tulsi Gabbard, as director of national intelligence, and Kash Patel, as director of the FBI — meaning today’s the day to focus on RFK. Kennedy must-read: Daniel Payne lays out the world-turned-upside down nature of this hearing in his big RFK Jr. walkup piece this morning. “Before President Donald Trump named the scion of Democratic royalty to lead the government’s health agencies, Republicans would have seen Kennedy’s views on vaccines, abortion, environmental regulation and food production as disqualifying,” he writes. “Not anymore. On Wednesday, look for many GOP senators on the Finance Committee to lob softballs Kennedy’s way.” The R to watch: Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.) is seen as perhaps the most wobbly Republican on today’s committee. Notably, Cassidy is a doctor with decades of experience in the field of vaccines, and also someone prepared to stand up for what he believes in — having voted to impeach Trump over the Jan. 6 riot in 2021. Cassidy also chairs the HELP committee, so will get two bites at RFK Jr. this week. He was lukewarm at best after the two men met earlier this month, telling reporters that some of the nominee’s comments on vaccines were “just not true.” First in Playbook — The RFK Jr. fan club: A new MAHA-friendly campaign group launches this morning to support Kennedy’s nomination and advocate for his policy agenda once he’s in office. The “Patient First Coalition” has six-figure funding in its initial stage and is planning a four-week campaign to help push RFK Jr. over the line. The group — led by Ohio GOP operative Shannon Burns (we once profiled him), policy and comms vet Matt Mackowiak, lobbyist Jim Frogue and health policy campaigner Jeff Kanter — will be live-tweeting through today’s hearing, and is then planning a targeted pressure campaign aimed at undecided GOP senators. It hopes to expand into a larger pro-MAHA advocacy group in the months ahead. More RFK fans: The NYT’s Ruth Graham has a lovely piece on the “crunchy” conservative parents in rural America who homeschool their kids and see Kennedy as a standard-bearer for their counter-cultural lives. These moms and dads are “part of a growing crowd who question … ‘Big Ag’ and ‘Big Pharma’ — leanings coded as progressive not long ago,” she writes. “In that sense, Mr. Kennedy has been speaking her language for years. He has criticized ultraprocessed foods, warned about the dangers of specific food additives and questioned the safety of fluoride in the water supply.” But his emails! Equally, there’s an awful lot of negative coverage in this morning’s press — much of it originating from people who have actually spent time with RFK Jr. His niece Kerry Kennedy Meltzer gave Stat’s Rick Berke and Sarah Owermohle their private emails from the past few years, in which RFK Jr. repeatedly floats false claims and conspiracy theories about many different vaccines. And there’s (loads) more: Esquire magazine has a first-person piece from Ryan D'Agostino relating hours of one-on-one conversations with RFK Jr., headlined: “Did Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Really Tell Me I Gave My Son Cancer?” … The NYT interviews the (Democratic) governor of Hawaii, Josh Green, who blames Kennedy’s anti-vax campaigns for a deadly outbreak of measles in Samoa. … NBC talks with autism advocates who fear Kennedy “could undermine years of progress in unlinking autism and vaccines, while potentially diverting precious research dollars to a theory already discredited by hundreds of studies worldwide.” … And there’s the aforementioned WaPo hit by RFK Jr.’s first cousin, Caroline Kennedy, which lays out her feelings in no uncertain terms.
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Learn more about how others are building with open source AI. | | | ALSO HAPPENING IN NOM WORLD: We’ve got attorney general nominee Pam Bondi’s Senate Judiciary vote at 9 a.m. — she’s expected to sail through. … Then we have Commerce secretary nominee Howard Lutnick up for his first hearing before Senate Commerce at 10 a.m. … A cloture vote on Trump’s EPA pick Lee Zeldin at 1 p.m. followed by a confirmation vote at 3:30 p.m. … And SBA pick Kelly Loeffler (who’ll donate her salary to charity, per Fox News) before the Senate Small Business panel at 2:30 p.m. COMING ATTRACTIONS: This all comes ahead of the real showpiece moment of the week, when Gabbard takes center stage tomorrow. With Gabbard only a single Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) flip away from losing the all-important Senate Intelligence Committee vote, Semafor’s Burgess Everett reports that Republicans are already considering “creative” ways to get Trump’s DNI pick onto the Senate floor without the committee’s backing. (It’s been done before, of course: Trump’s 2017 pick for OMB director, Mick Mulvaney, was confirmed without the backing of the relevant committee.) Kash flow: Popcorn is also being readied for Thursday’s Senate hearing for Patel, another nominee highly prone to controversy. Nearly two dozen former GOP officials have written a letter urging his rejection, saying he’d “endanger the FBI’s integrity” as the Bureau’s director, The Hill’s Rebecca Beitsch reports. The Washington Examiner’s Naomi Lim, Ashley Oliver and Samantha-Jo Roth revealed that Patel received a reckless driving charge in 2020, which was reduced, and had previously been arrested for underage public intoxication in 2001. NOW READ THIS: Rachael Bade and Dasha Burns have the inside scoop on how Trump world and Senate Majority Leader John Thune forced Pete Hegseth through as Defense secretary, successfully pressuring would-be swing voter Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) to reverse after he told them he’d vote no. Cajoling from within, threats from without and Thune’s refusal to pull the vote slowly ground Tillis down over 24 hours, they report. Plus, plenty more details on how the White House took a scorched-earth approach to keeping senators in line.
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| | | TRUMP VS. WASHINGTON SHOULD I STAY OR SHOULD I GO? Thousands of federal workers will be pondering their future this morning after days of brutal White House attacks on the Washington bureaucracy culminated in a mass email offering them the chance to quit with eight months’ pay. Axios’ Marc Caputo and Emily Peck got the big scoop that all 2 million federal workers are being offered pay-offs if they choose not to return to the office. The story was leading many of the major news sites last night, and has clear echoes of Elon Musk’s notorious “fork in the road” clear-out of Twitter staff after he bought the company in 2022. Musk himself appeared to acknowledge the link last night. ... Has Washington ever seen anything like this? Silicon Valley certainly has: “We are all shaking our heads in disbelief at how familiar this all feels,” Yao Yue, a former principal engineer at Twitter, tells Wired. “Except, the federal government and its employees have specific laws in terms of spending, hiring, and firing.” Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) was on the floor of the Senate last night making a similar point (h/t CBS’s Alan He). “The president has no authority to make that offer,” Kaine warned federal staff. “If you accept that offer and resign, he’ll stiff you.” IMPORTANT: All eyes on the OPM: In a separate, genuinely must-read story, Wired’s Vittoria Elliott has been digging into the claims on Reddit earlier this week that Musk’s hand is weighing particularly heavily in the normally obscure and non-partisan Office of Personnel Management (OPM) — essentially, the HR department for the entire federal government. Her reporting suggests multiple Musk allies and other high-level political appointees are suddenly getting involved in OPM, including execs from Musk’s other companies and some very youthful software engineers (one, “a senior adviser to the director, is a 21-year-old whose online résumé touts his work for Palantir,” while another “graduated from high school in 2024” and had a summer gig at Neuralink). This has the potential to be a very big deal indeed, given OPM oversees — and monitors — America’s entire bureaucracy, and given Team Trump’s stated desire to ax vast numbers of workers and force out those deemed disloyal. All in all … It’s been a bruising few days for people working in the federal government — which may indeed be part of the Trump team strategy. ProPublica has published video excerpts of several old speeches by incoming White House budget boss (and Project 2025 author) Russ Vought, in which he appears to suggest targeting officials’ morale can actually be a highly effective tactic. “We want the bureaucrats to be traumatically affected,” he says in one clip. “When they wake up in the morning, we want them to not want to go to work because they are increasingly viewed as the villains.” And so the purge continues: Trump fired two Democrats on the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and National Labor Relations Board Chair Gwynne Wilcox, upending both agencies and breaking with precedent to seize GOP control, WaPo’s Julian Mark, Lauren Kaori Gurley and Lisa Rein report. It’s “a dramatic break from Supreme Court precedent dating to 1935,” they report, “which holds that the president cannot remove members of independent agencies such as the EEOC except in cases of neglect of duty, malfeasance or inefficiency.” It follows Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) raising concerns about Friday’s mass IG firings, per Hailey Fuchs. Speaking of purges: Retired Gen. Mark Milley’s security detail and clearance have now been revoked, in the latest instance of Trump stripping literal protections from his political enemies, Fox News’ Lucas Tomlinson scooped last night. The former Joint Chiefs of Staff chair will also have a second portrait removed from the walls of the Pentagon — and will now be investigated by a Trump-appointed official over whether he should be stripped of one of his military stars. Milley has long been demonized by the Republican right for his tacit efforts to reign in Trump 1.0, and received a preemptive pardon from outgoing President Joe Biden earlier this month. It shouldn’t need repeating, but this is a truly extraordinary state of affairs. MR. FREEZE SHOCK: SIGNS OF LIFE! Trump’s temporary freeze on federal grants payments may have been, well, temporarily frozen by a D.C. judge — but it’s still galvanized the previously sluggish Democrat opposition into action. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries will chair an emergency meeting of his entire caucus at 1 p.m. today where he will set out a “three-pronged strategy” to fight back. He’s promising to lay out an appropriations strategy, a litigation strategy and a communications strategy for House Dems, with the leadership believing this to be the first big Trump 2.0 move with the potential to instantly affect millions of voters in a negative way. Speaking of the Dems: NYT’s Luke Broadwater explores how the Steve Bannon-approved strategy to “flood the zone” with mass policy announcements has left Dems struggling to respond. Relax — it was all a hoax! FWIW, the White House put out a statement last night describing yesterday’s wall-to-wall reporting of Trump’s planned funding freeze as a “hoax,” and insisting again — as the original two-page memo did — that “individual payments” to Americans would not be affected. But that followed a truly chaotic day which required multiple clarifications from the White House (never a good sign) about what may or may not be within the scope of the freeze, amid reports of disruption to Medicaid and other programs. (The White House insists no Medicaid payments were actually affected.) Even the Army was plunged into temporary chaos, Jack Detsch and Joe Gould reported. See you in court: As you’re doubtless aware, a federal judge finally called a halt to it all shortly before Trump’s 5 p.m. deadline, temporarily blocking the president's order pending a court case next week. The legal showdown is scheduled for Monday, and should be a bit of a moment. The campaigners fighting the case must show the judge that Trump’s order will cause harm if the temporary ban is lifted, legal ace Kyle Cheney calls up Playbook to say. It seems certain that this is headed to the Supreme Court. The legal step-back: This is a president running roughshod over typical governmental norms and — in some cases — laws, while encountering minimal resistance from congressional Republicans along the way, Kyle writes in his big piece on yesterday’s drama. But Trump’s bet that nobody can or will stand in his way (“the ‘try and stop me’ presidency”) will run up against repeated court challenges. The big question looming, Kyle suggests: “How would a president who is deploying maximal executive power respond if a court — perhaps the Supreme Court — tells him no?” Gulp. Congress diminished: Indeed, the funding freeze story is just the latest example of Trump trampling over Congress as a separate but equal branch of government, Jordain Carney and Meredith Lee Hill note, with top Republicans rolling over and letting it happen. This was “a frontal assault on the legislative branch’s core constitutional power to raise and spend federal funds,” they write, and yet the Hill GOP largely backed Trump by insisting either that this was all “normal” or that he has a genuine mandate to effect change. Tellingly, Meredith reports that Hill Republicans who did start voicing concerns yesterday swiftly got calls from Trump officials, and STFU. IMMIGRATION FILES TRUMP’S FIRST LAW: The new president will today sign the Laken Riley Act into law, requiring the detention of undocumented migrants accused of theft or violent crimes. Expect an on-camera signing ceremony with celebrating GOP figures later this afternoon — though whether the Dems who also backed the bill turn up for the photo op remain to be seen. Siren: DHS Secretary Kristi Noem last night yanked the extended Temporary Protected Status for Venezuelans, potentially leaving more than 600,000 people who are legally in the U.S. vulnerable to deportation as soon as April or September (depending on when they received the status), NYT’s Hamed Aleaziz scooped. Under Biden, they’d had protection and work permits until 2026. ICE cold: As Trump expands the range of people who’ll be quickly deported, the centerpiece of his illegal immigration strategy — high-profile mass deportations — is coming into view. Chicago was targeted first on Sunday, followed yesterday by NYC, where Noem made a show of force, per the NYT — and found some receptive Democratic leaders. All eyes on Denver: NBC’s Julia Ainsley scooped that the administration will target three cities each week for major raids, and this week’s third is Aurora, Colorado, starting tomorrow. In addition to the coming raids, Buckley Space Force Base will be used to process and temporarily hold detainees, CBS Colorado’s Anna Alejo reports. But the military won’t be involved in the ICE actions there. Meanwhile, the Trump administration is eyeing possible cuts to the Transportation Security Administration, Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency or Coast Guard to redistribute funds to ICE for deportations, NBC’s Julia Ainsley scooped. Fury abroad: Colombian officials said that of more than 200 people deported yesterday, none had committed crimes, WaPo’s Samantha Schmidt and Maria Sacchetti report from Bogotá. Instead, there were more than a dozen kids and two pregnant women. The migrants themselves said U.S. officials had mistreated them: “despotic, humiliating,” one told WSJ’s Juan Forero. And from Rio de Janeiro, NYT’s Jack Nicas has the story of a brutal deportation flight to Brazil with handcuffs, shackles and broken A/C — the one that originally prompted the U.S/Colombia showdown this weekend. NOW WATCH THIS: Join POLITICO today for our latest “First 100 Days” policy breakfast, as key figures from across the aisle discuss immigration and its impact on the economy and national security. Join Sen. Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.), with Rachael Bade, and America First Policy Institute's Chad Wolf, with Myah Ward, at the Columbus Club in Union Station. You can register here to attend in person or watch online. Doors open at 8 a.m. and the program starts at 8:30. And if you can’t make it down this week, sign up for next week’s session on the politics of trade.
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| | | BEST OF THE REST TV TONIGHT: VP JD Vance is sitting down with Sean Hannity for an interview that will air tonight at 9 p.m. on Fox News. FED UP: The central bank is expected to hold interest rates steady when Fed Chair Jerome Powell makes his announcement at 2:30 p.m. today. As Victoria Guida writes, the news will be a reminder of just how difficult it will be for Trump to make good on his promise of lower costs — perhaps the No. 1 reason he was elected — as egg prices have soared and the Fed has to maintain “elevated borrowing costs to keep a lid on inflation.” LAST NIGHT’S BIG EO: Trump sought to crack down on gender transition-related medical care for transgender people 18 and under, ordering an end to federal funding for institutions that provide it and to health insurance coverage of it for military family members, per the WSJ. HHS is tasked with reviewing Medicare, Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act to end coverage for some of that care within three months. Meanwhile, Trump’s transgender military ban was challenged in court yesterday by advocacy groups, Reuters’ Idrees Ali and Phil Stewart report. AND HERE’S THE NEXT ONE: Trump plans to sign an executive order on school choice today, CBS’ Kathryn Watson scooped. That will include bolstering school choice programs for federal grants and eyeing a plan for military families to use it. And the Education Department is launching a Title IX probe of Denver Public Schools over whether it discriminated in turning a girls’ bathroom into an all-gender bathroom, The Denver Post’s Jessica Seaman reports. ABOUT LAST NIGHT: Jimmy Patronis and Randy Fine are likely headed to Congress after they triumphed in GOP special congressional primaries yesterday in conservative Florida districts. Both had closely aligned themselves with Trump; Fine went so far as to declare last night that “this victory isn’t mine — it is Donald Trump’s.” More from the AP SCARY STUFF: Ryan English, who was arrested with knives and Molotov cocktails at the Capitol on Monday, told authorities he’d intended to kill Speaker Mike Johnson, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and burn down the Heritage Foundation, per court records. More from Roll Call OUR SURVEY SAYS: In the past week, Trump’s disapproval rating has jumped from 39 percent to 46 percent, the latest Reuters/Ipsos poll finds. His approval rating changed less, ticking down to 45 percent. Especially fascinating are the policy questions: “Downsizing the federal government” is the most popular of Trump’s moves, while ending required transparency for feds’ gifts/investments is the least. Renaming the Gulf of Mexico is also super unpopular, even more than Jan. 6 pardons or ending birthright citizenship. WHAT PAT RYAN IS READING: “Some Trump voters are skeptical of his opening moves to embrace fellow billionaires,” by AP’s Jonathan Cooper, Bill Barrow and Amelia Thomson-DeVeaux in Mesa, Arizona LOVE IT OR LEAVITT: White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt’s first press briefing yesterday featured some notable changes. Axios and Breitbart got the first questions, as opposed to the typical AP, and Leavitt said there will be more room for non-traditional outlets and “new media,” per WaPo’s Jeremy Barr. Leavitt made some news: She announced that last month’s drone sightings in New Jersey were authorized, “not the enemy,” per CNN. She also took multiple shots at the Biden administration and the mainstream media. The takes: CNN’s Brian Stelter writes that Trump press briefings are always for an audience of one, and “Leavitt seems instantly well-suited to the task,” copying his rhetorical style. Fox News’ “The Five” gushed over Leavitt having shaken up the role. BEYOND THE BELTWAY MIDDLE EAST LATEST: Trump regional envoy Steven Witkoff will meet with Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu today, per NYT’s Adam Rasgon, as the cease-fire with Hamas has mostly held so far. And Netanyahu’s government said he’ll visit the White House to meet with Trump on Tuesday, though the White House hasn’t announced a final date yet, per Foreign Policy’s John Haltiwanger. And the Pentagon got 90 Patriot missiles from Israel to send to Ukraine, Axios’ Barak Ravid scooped. Fetterman on an island: Senate Republicans failed to convince Democrats to sign onto their bill sanctioning the International Criminal Court for accusing Israel (and Hamas) of crimes against humanity. It was blocked, at least in its current form, on a 54-45 procedural vote yesterday, per Axios. Of the Democrats, only Pennsylvania’s Sen. John Fetterman voted yes. WITH FRIENDS LIKE THESE: Trump’s trade and expansionist threats against allies like Canada and Panama will be top of mind as Secretary of State Marco Rubio meets today in Washington with his Canadian counterpart, Melanie Joly. She’s trying to stave off tariffs Trump has said he’ll impose starting this weekend. Chrystia Freeland, who’s trying to become Canada’s next PM, knows the way to Trump’s heart: She tells Bloomberg’s Brian Platt and David Gura that Trump is smart, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent is “an incredibly sophisticated global economic thinker” and that tariffs on Canada are really about sending a signal to China. But she also warns that Canada will go tit for tat. A man, a plan, a canal: Trump revived his threats against Panama City last night, writing on Truth Social re China ties that “PANAMA IS NOT GOING TO GET AWAY WITH THIS!” In diplomatic meetings with the U.S. yesterday, Panamanian officials tried to play nice by offering cooperation on immigration, drugs and greater U.S. investments, WSJ’s Kejal Vyas, Santiago Pérez and Vera Bergengruen report. Secretary Rubio heads to Panama Saturday. Sorry, Don Jr.: A whopping 85% of Greenlanders don’t want to leave Denmark and join the U.S., a new poll finds.
| | TALK OF THE TOWN | | Donald Trump’s memecoin can now be used as payment for Trump-branded watches and fragrances. Anna Paulina Luna (R-Fl.) introduced a bill to add Trump to Mount Rushmore. Because of course she did. Bob Menendez gets sentenced today on federal corruption charges. PLAYBOOK METRO SECTION — The Smithsonian said yesterday it’ll shutter its diversity office, freeze hiring and mandate a full-time return to office, per WaPo. OUT AND ABOUT — SPOTTED at BGR Group’s annual January NRSC event, which raised more than $1 million: Senate Majority Leader John Thune, Sens. Tim Scott (R-S.C.), John Boozman (R-Ark.), Mike Crapo (R-Idaho), Steve Daines (R-Mont.), Joni Ernst (R-Iowa), Jon Husted (R-Ohio), Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-Miss.), Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.), Roger Marshall (R-Kan.), Ashley Moody (R-Fla.), Bernie Moreno (R-Ohio), Pete Ricketts (R-Neb.), Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska), Thom Tillis (R-N.C.), Mike Rounds (R-S.D.) and Roger Wicker (R-Miss.), Justin Rzepka, Haley Barbour, Dustin Marquis, Alex Rogers, Josh Lynch, Ian Musselman, Gina Woodworth, Brooke Donilon, Husein Cumber, Peter Courtney, Shannon Hines, Kevin Keane, Kasey O’Connor, Missy Foxman, Kristina Weger, Scott Levy and Laura Whitton. — Turkish Ambassador Sedat Önal hosted a reception at his residence last night in honor of former U.S. Ambassador to Turkey Jeff Flake and Cheryl Flake. SPOTTED: Sen. Chris Coons (D-Del.), John Bass and David Marriott. — Y Combinator, the Foundation for American Innovation and New America Industrial Alliance hosted a party at Butterworth’s yesterday morning to watch a simulcast from the Mojave of Boom Aerospace’s supersonic jet breaking the sound barrier, the first independently developed civil one to do so. SPOTTED: Brian Bell, Claire Larkin, Eli Dourado, Marshall Macheledt, Rob Pegoraro, Sophia Brown, Wesley Hodges, Zach Graves, Luther Lowe and Collin Anderson. FIRST IN PLAYBOOK — Lauren Zelt is joining Protecting American Consumers Together as its executive director. The new national advocacy and educational group is focused on fighting what it calls lawsuit abuse, beginning with a campaign against the personal injury lawsuit system. Zelt previously ran her own public affairs firm and is a Hill and campaign GOP alum. — Jeff Marootian is now president and CEO at UL Standards & Engagement. He previously was acting assistant secretary of the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy at DOE and is a Biden White House alum. STAFFING UP — Former Rep. Marc Molinaro (R-N.Y.) is set to be tapped as head of the Federal Transit Administration, Gothamist’s Jimmy Vielkind reports. MEDIA MOVES — Daniella Diaz is joining NOTUS as political reporter covering House Republican leadership and immigration policy. She most recently has been a congressional reporter at POLITICO. … Katrice Hardy will be chief executive of The Marshall Project, per NYT’s Katie Robertson. She currently is executive editor and VP of The Dallas Morning News. … Jim Acosta is heading to Substack after leaving CNN. TRANSITIONS — Nicole Bibbins Sedaca will be the Kelley and David Pfiel fellow at the George W. Bush Institute. She previously was EVP of Freedom House. … Carlos Vivaldi is now senior manager for program partnerships at the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute. He previously was special adviser for racial equity at the Treasury Department, and is an Adriano Espaillat alum. … Nate Evans is joining Risa Heller Communications as an SVP. He previously was senior comms adviser to VP Kamala Harris and is a Linda Thomas-Greenfield and Amy Klobuchar alum. … … Lora Snyder and Lindsay Gressard have launched Snyder Gressard Strategy, a legislative strategy and defense consulting firm. They previously were staff director and comms director for the House Natural Resources Dems, respectively. … Nature is Nonpartisan is announcing a new executive team, bringing on Ben Cassidy as chief policy officer, Meg Haywood Sullivan as chief marketing officer, Amelia Joy as director of comms, Alec Sears as director of digital media and Chris LaCivita Jr. as senior adviser. … Meredith Fossett is now director of state affairs at the Vinyl Institute. She previously was a government relations manager at DeVry University. WELCOME TO THE WORLD — Megan Burke, principal at The Petrizzo Group, and Michael Burke, founding partner at Gravel Road Partner, welcomed Annabel Mae Burke yesterday. Pic HAPPY BIRTHDAY: Reps. Jake Auchincloss (D-Mass.) and Lateefah Simon (D-Calif.) … former Speaker Paul Ryan … Robyn Bash … Bloomberg’s Lauren Dezenski and Eric Roston … Jocelyn Frye … Kristy Schantz … Steve Hagenbuch … House Energy & Commerce’s Gavin Proffitt … Seth Appleton … Amazon’s Mary Kate McCarthy … Kristine Grow of Arnold Ventures … POLITICO’s Annie Connell-Bryan … Laura Rosenberger … former Rep. Lee Terry (R-Neb.) … Gaby Hurt of Sen. John Barrasso’s (R-Wyo.) office … Emily Tara Weberman … Maureen “Mo” Elinzano of Rep. Doris Matsui’s (D-Calif.) office … John Newton of Terrain … Tom Collamore … Brian Donahue of CRAFT | Media/Digital … Geoff Smith of Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt’s D.C. office … Alex Morse … Sam Conchuratt … Kim Ghattas … WaPo’s Jonathan Fischer and Jesús Rodríguez … Aaron Guiterman … Michael Duga … Alexis Torres of Rep. Lloyd Doggett’s (D-Texas) office … Ellen Ehrnrooth of Raymond James … Suzanne Leous of the American Society of Hematology … Nathan Janda of Feldman Strategies … Newsmax’s Anna Laudiero … Isaac Lipner (6) 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.
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