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By Jack Blanchard with Dasha Burns |
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With help from Eli Okun, Ali Bianco and Irie Sentner Good Monday morning, this is Jack Blanchard, back in the Playbook driver’s seat and still marveling at last night’s UFC extravaganza at the White House. Consider what we just witnessed: The jaw-dropping made-for-TV spectacle. The military swagger. The Obama taunting. The liberal hand-wringing. The tech billionaires in the front row. The violence. The conflicts of interest. The sheer expense. The actual fights. And President Donald Trump — on his 80th birthday — putting himself at the very heart of the action. And every American’s take on last night’s event will chime precisely with their prior view of the president. In today’s Playbook … — Trump has his Iran deal. What happens next? — JMart mulls the growing noise around Sen. Jon Ossoff and 2028. — The Boldfaces: Lindsey Graham, Emmanuel Macron, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Jay Clayton, Burt Jones, David Plouffe, Adrian Boafo, Charlie Javice, JB Pritzker and more.
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DRIVING THE DAY |
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SHOW ME THE MONEY: Markets are surging and oil prices plummeting after Trump finally announced a peace deal — of sorts — with Iran. Trump is headed to the G7 leaders’ summit in France this morning with a spring in his step after green-lighting an agreement he says will reopen the Strait of Hormuz and bring the war he helped start to an end. But but but: The caveats are almost as wide as the strait itself. Most importantly, nobody has seen the details yet. We know big claims have been made before, then flickered out. Experts warn things won’t return to normal for months. And the deal won’t even be signed until Friday. Three things to watch: 1. The market reaction: The early signs are positive for Trump, with Asian and futures markets up overnight and crude oil prices starting to drop. The president promised for months an end to the war would see the U.S. economy take off and gas prices return to previous levels. Let’s see how the next few hours and days pan out. 2. The spin wars: Deals like this don’t remain opaque for long — and both Trump and his critics will be desperate to set the narrative. Can Trump spin it as materially better than the deal Barack Obama signed in 2015? Can he convince angry voters it was worth the pain? 3. The GOP reaction: Senators return to D.C. today, and they’ll want more details as reporters chase their reactions. This deeply skeptical X post from Sen. Lindsey Graham — which sought to pin the whole deal on VP JD Vance — may be a sign of things to come. Also hoping for details: The array of world leaders awaiting Trump’s arrival at the G7 summit in Évian-les-Bains later today. Trump’s day begins with a bilateral summit with the host, French President Emmanuel Macron, ahead of a working dinner later with G7 leaders.
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News from the lake: POLITICO’s Myah Ward, who’s on the ground in Evian, tells Playbook an “air of uncertainty” hung over summit preparations as Europe awaited news on the strait. “Trump is poised to face a swirl of questions from allies about the status of the deal and his day-after plan,” Myah writes in. “Administration officials told reporters this weekend that as soon as it’s signed, the U.S. will shift its focus to demining the strait — a complex operation that will likely require significant time and resources.” One thing Myah’s watching: How aggressively Trump presses G7 allies to help shoulder that effort. “As the straits open, we're going to be very involved in demining, and to the extent that G7 countries can participate in that, that’s also going to be a helpful thing to get things back to normal as quickly as possible,” a senior administration official told reporters this weekend. And remember: Trump’s relations with G7 leaders have probably never been this bad. His relationship with Macron has always been tempestuous, and hit new lows after Trump mocked the French president over an apparent spat with his wife. Once-warm friendships with a trio of Europeans — British PM Keir Starmer, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and Italian PM Giorgia Meloni — have all but disintegrated over their respective criticisms of the war. And Trump's relationship with Canadian PM Mark Carney remains hot and cold. So it’s probably a good thing Japanese PM Sanae Takaichi will be in France today, given she and Trump remain on the warmest of terms. As POLITICO’s Megan Messerly reported over the weekend, many of the Europeans simply hope to get through this summit unscathed. Trump has plenty of form for summit blowups, and don’t forget he just abruptly decided to leave last year’s G7 in Canada after a single day. Hoping for some face time: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who will meet with G7 leaders including Trump tomorrow. There’s still no confirmation from the White House whether a one-to-one bilat with Trump is in the cards. In the meantime, Russia just bombed what’s perhaps Ukraine’s most important religious site. Anger on the streets: Myah was in Geneva yesterday, where thousands gathered for an anti-G7 march ahead of the summit. “The city felt practically locked down,” she tells Playbook, “with storefronts boarded up and thousands of police officers deployed across the streets. While the march was initially peaceful, protesters later clashed with police, set a Tesla on fire, and smashed windows, including at a United Nations agency. Police responded with tear gas.” FURTHER READING: How to watch the G7 summit like a pro, by POLITICO’s Giorgio Leali On today’s Playbook Podcast: Jack and Megan Messerly consider the significance of Trump’s Iran announcement — and what lies in store for him in France.
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THE DOWNLOAD |
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SPY GAMES: The Senate returns today, with intelligence concerns still top of mind after FISA Section 702 expired Friday. Confirming Jay Clayton as DNI could help unstick the congressional stalemate, and he’s due for his initial committee hearing Wednesday. Senate Intelligence ranking member Mark Warner (D-Va.) told CBS’ Margaret Brennan he’d like to get Clayton confirmed as soon as this week, with FISA reauthorization to follow.
- But but but: Trump threw another possible wrench in the proceedings, griping in a birthday Truth Social post that he opposes FISA unless it’s combined with the SAVE America Act (which is not going to happen).
PRIMARY COLORS: As Washington revs back into gear, look ahead to Election Day tomorrow for some of the week’s biggest political action. Oklahoma and D.C. voters will head to the polls for primaries, along with high-profile runoffs in Georgia and Alabama. The Georgia races were lit up by some last-minute endorsements: Trump for Rep. Mike Collins for Senate, and then Gov. Brian Kemp for Lt. Gov. Burt Jones to succeed him. Separately, Georgia legislators this week have to try and sort out a headache that’s left the state without a legal system for tabulating votes in elections beyond July 1, AP’s Kate Brumback reports. DACA DELAYS: Today marks the 14-year anniversary of the DACA program, and a group of pro-immigration business and community leaders is pushing for permanent protections for the program, POLITICO’s Samuel Benson writes in. The coalition is urging Congress to expedite DACA renewals and cease deportations of DACA holders. “Failing to protect DACA holders risks severely damaging the President’s standing with Hispanic voters this November,” said Rebecca Shi, CEO of the American Immigration Business Coalition.
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Watch Gavin Newsom on On the Road with Jonathan Martin Gov. Gavin Newsom joins Jonathan Martin in San Francisco for a candid conversation on the experiences that shaped his political career, his approach to Trump and what he sees at stake for Democrats in 2026.
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THE FRONT PAGE |
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2028 WATCH: Could Georgia’s pair of Democratic senators point the way forward for the party in 2028? POLITICO’s Jonathan Martin today wagers that one of them will be on the ticket. David Plouffe says many Dems are increasingly high on Jon Ossoff because they love viral clips from his periodic reelection campaign speeches, while Raphael Warnock is about to step up his national presence with a book tour and national midterm campaign stops. WHAT SILICON VALLEY WON’T LIKE: The public in 11 of 15 countries surveyed by Public First, including U.S. allies, sees China taking the lead over the U.S. on AI, POLITICO’s Owen Dahlkamp reports. Only the U.S., Vietnam, India and Japan perceive American dominance in this realm of competition. Meanwhile, American poll respondents are growing more negative about AI — especially young people — with a plurality saying it will make society worse. FIRST IN PLAYBOOK: A trio of Democrats running for retiring Rep. Steny Hoyer’s seat in Maryland are putting him, Gov. Wes Moore and Sen. Angela Alsobrooks on notice over the more than $7.8 million that super PACs linked to AIPAC and the crypto industry are spending to boost Hoyer-backed state Del. Adrian Boafo in next week’s primary, POLITICO’s Lisa Kashinsky scoops. The candidates — Rushern Baker, Quincy Bareebe and Harry Dunn — are pressuring Boafo’s big-name backers to “publicly … call on Adrian Boafo to reject” the outside cash. Boafo previously said “big money has no place in politics.”
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5 THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW |
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1. WHITHER THE FREEDOM CAUCUS: The House GOP’s hard-right caucus is losing many of its most prominent members after this term, so it’ll be time for a new generation of leadership (perhaps in the minority next year), POLITICO’s Mia McCarthy reports. Among the emerging names to watch: Reps. Eric Burlison (Mo.), Andrew Clyde (Ga.), Brandon Gill (Texas), Clay Higgins (La.) and Andy Ogles (Tenn.). 2. BRAVE NEW WORLD: The latest dispute between Anthropic and the Trump administration, which left the company’s most powerful AI models dark, led to Anthropic rushing top staffers to D.C. to try to resolve the problem, Axios’ Maria Curi reports. Meanwhile beyond the Beltway, some states are increasingly moving toward regulating AI — though their ambitions have scaled down somewhat, AP’s Marc Levy reports. 3. PARDON ME: As speculation swirls about another round of Trump pardons, fraudster entrepreneur Charlie Javice is among those angling to be included, WSJ’s Alexander Saeedy and AnnaMaria Andriotis scooped. She was convicted for making up a huge customer base when she sold her company, Frank, to JPMorgan Chase; Javice claims unfair prosecution. 4. BOOK CLUB: The latest White House fear is that Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan got audio recordings from inside the Situation Room for their new book, “Regime Change,” Axios’ Jim VandeHei and Mike Allen report. In the first big excerpt, Haberman and Swan included verbatim quotes from Situation Room meetings that U.S. officials haven’t disputed. Tapes would be a significant security breach. But the pair declined to comment, and reporters have other ways of confirming and reconstructing quotes. 5. FLOODING THE ZONE: Almost all of Trump’s big D.C. construction/renovation projects have been hit with legal challenges — but in many cases, the judicial system has moved too slow to keep up with changes being implemented, WSJ’s Lydia Wheeler reports. The White House ballroom, the Lincoln Memorial reflecting pool, the triumphal arch … many are quickly becoming “fait[s] accompli[s],” as one judge put it.
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TALK OF THE TOWN |
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FIRST IN PLAYBOOK — Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker is hosting a fundraiser at his Chicago residence while Obama alumni and donors are in town for the opening of the Obama Presidential Center, Playbook’s Adam Wren scoops. Ahead of a potential 2028 presidential bid, the individualized dinner invite includes an RSVP to an email address linked to Pritzker’s ThinkBigAmerica.com. A spokesperson for Pritzker didn’t respond to a request for comment. Speaking of the center: MS NOW is going all in on coverage of the Obama Presidential Center opening Thursday, including a special called “Hope Comes Home” that’ll air Friday at 9 p.m. Barack and Michelle Obama sat for interviews for the program, hosted by Michele Norris. FIRST IN PLAYBOOK — The Washington Post’s curated opinion section on Friday removed two op-eds the paper recently republished by a writer who years ago expressed racist and antisemitic views for an online white-supremacist publication, POLITICO’s Daniel Lippman reports. The section on Thursday republished an American Conservative article titled “Mike Pence’s ‘progressive GOP’ delusion” by Scott Greer, who severed ties with the Daily Caller in 2018 after his writings under a pseudonym in Radix Journal were exposed by The Atlantic. After Playbook asked the Post on Friday about the op-ed, the publication removed it along with a separate piece by Greer about Spencer Pratt the paper reposted in May. A Post spokesperson pointed to the section’s launch announcement, which noted it’s independent from Post journalism, and declined further comment. Greer told POLITICO “the opinions that got me ‘cancelled’ in 2018 are now mainstream conservatism,” though he told The Atlantic that his views had changed since he stopped writing for Radix Journal. Greer posted on Friday the Post “succumbed to the WOKE MOB.” HEADS UP — Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) was hospitalized yesterday, his team announced without providing more details. More from the Louisville Courier Journal VEEP FILES — SPOTTED: Vance and second lady Usha Vance having dinner on their anniversary at Imperfecto yesterday. Survey says: Ahead of Vance’s new book about his faith journey, “Communion” ($35), out tomorrow, new polling from Democratic-aligned Navigator Research shows Pope Leo is much more popular among Catholics. Vance has a -12 net favorability rating with this group, versus +57 for Leo, in data shared first with Playbook. The details FIRST IN PLAYBOOK — David O’Brien is now assistant secretary for public affairs at the Labor Department. He most recently worked at Treasury. TRANSITIONS — Ryan Murphy is now director of member services for the House Energy and Commerce Committee. He most recently worked for the House Small Business Committee. … Lily Cohen is now comms director for Rep. Tom Suozzi (D-N.Y.). She previously worked at Third Way and is a Harris campaign alum. … Daniel Nasaw is now a senior adviser at Ridgely Walsh. He previously worked at Altana and is a WSJ and BBC alum. … Andrés Celis-Madrid is now a project assistant at the Atlantic Council’s Adrienne Arsht Latin America Center. ENGAGED — Ali Vitali, anchor of “Way Too Early with Ali Vitali” and MS NOW senior congressional reporter, and Brian Gilman, senior manager at Totem Consulting, got engaged this weekend in Watch Hill, Rhode Island. Pic, via Tiarra Bankowski WEEKEND WEDDING — Christian Martinez, national Hispanic press secretary and Western regional press secretary at the NRCC, and Madi Biedermann, chief of staff at the Department of Education, got married Friday in front of the Bell Tower in Richmond’s Capitol Square. Nicole Ogburn officiated. They were next to the Virginia Governor’s Mansion and the Patrick Henry Building, where the couple met working for Gov. Glenn Youngkin. Pic, via Lori Massengill … Another pic, via Adrienne Scott … SPOTTED: Jillian Davidson, Christina Van Horn, Swati Singh, Juan O’Leary, Mike Marinella, Ben Petersen, Zach Bannon, Maureen O’Toole, Reilly Richardson, Sara Lipe, Bella Vived, Becca Glover, Rob Damschen, Aimee Guidera, Amber Salter, Austin Stevens, Cale Clingenpeel, Adam Donoho, Paige Willey, Savannah Newhouse, Julie Hartman, Ellen Keast, Chase Forrester, Victoria LaCivita, Taylor Black, Aly Buckner, Paige Terryberry and Blair Gremillion. HAPPY BIRTHDAY: Reps. Adam Smith (D-Wash.), Rick Larsen (D-Wash.) and Kevin Mullin (D-Calif.) … CNN’s Dana Bash and Bianna Golodryga … Karl de Vries … Jana Plat … Reuters’ Evan Vucci … Clifford Levy … MS NOW’s Will Rabbe … Alyssa Farah Griffin … PBS NewsHour’s Ali Rogin ... Sophie Vaughan … Marie Harf … POLITICO’s Brian Faler and Katherine Tully-McManus … Joseph Brazauskas … Team Lewis’ Reagan Lawn … Susan Toffler … Jeff Green of J.A. Green & Co. … former NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine … Richard Edelman … former Rep. Todd Tiahrt (R-Kan.) … Wells Griffith … former House Majority Whip Tony Coelho (D-Calif.) … Eva Bandola Berg … former Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell … Akoya’s Corinne Gorda … Dan Schwerin Did someone forward this email to you? Sign up here. Send Playbookers tips to playbook@politico.com or text us on Signal here. Playbook couldn’t happen without our editor Giuseppe Macri and deputy editor Garrett Ross.
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