| | | |  | | By Irie Sentner and Makayla Gray | | Presented by |  | | | |  | THE CATCH-UP | | | 
Joe Kent appears before a Senate Committee on Intelligence hearing on April 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Rod Lamkey, Jr., File) | AP | In 1966, George Ball, who served as former President Lyndon B. Johnson’s undersecretary of State, stepped down from his post following a year of internal dissent against the Vietnam War — a conflict that President Donald Trump has said he “was never a fan of.” In 2003, Richard Clarke, who served as former President George W. Bush’s counterterrorism czar, left the White House amid disillusionment with the administration’s decision to invade Iraq — a war that Trump relentlessly criticized as he built his political profile. Today, Joe Kent, the National Counterterrorism Center director, publicly issued his resignation over the U.S. and Israel’s war with Iran. “I cannot in good conscience support the ongoing war,” Kent said in his letter, which he posted on X. “Iran posed no imminent threat to our nation, and it is clear that we started this war due to pressure from Israel and its powerful American lobby.” Hours later, Trump told reporters: “When I read his statement, I realized that it’s a good thing that he’s out.” But that sentiment didn’t extend to some Republicans on the Hill. “I don’t think anybody questions Joe Kent’s commitment to the U.S., to our national defense. Nobody questions his patriotism,” Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), who joined Democrats in supporting a failed resolution to rein in Trump’s war powers, told reporters today. “And I think voices like his that caution against being overly involved in the wars of the Middle East were good voices to have. I think he was ‘America First’ from the very beginning, and still is, and so we’ll miss his presence.” Trump also refuted Kent’s claim that Iran posed no imminent threat. But the major criticism of the White House from both the left and the right has been the often contradictory explanations for authorizing the strike now, less than a year after Trump said “Operation Midnight Hammer” had “obliterated” Iran’s nuclear facilities. “Everything that I have seen and heard confirms [Kent’s] reason for resigning, because there was no imminent threat to justify this war of choice,” Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) told Playbook’s Ali Bianco today. Blumenthal, a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, attended a private briefing on the operation last week but said he left that confab with “more questions than answers.” Kent’s exit is just a single public defection out of the administration over the war. But it also represents the biggest crack from within the administration yet as pressure builds among Trump’s MAGA coalition between supporters of the president’s hawkish posture in the Middle East, and those who say they supported him because he promised restraint from entangling the U.S. in foreign conflicts. And it comes as Trump finds himself increasingly isolated not just in Washington, but on the world stage. Trump over the weekend called on several American allies to send warships to the Strait of Hormuz to help dislodge a buildup of thousands of ships contributing to spiking prices of everything from oil to fertilizer. But in the days since, Trump’s received a cold reception from many of those allies, who’ve had to navigate a turbulent year of Trumpian fickleness and reckon with the potential of a new global order. French President Emmanuel Macron today said his country “will never take part in operations to open or liberate the Strait of Hormuz in the current context.” (“He'll be out of office very soon,” Trump told reporters in response.) Canadian Foreign Minister Anita Anand told Bloomberg News today that the country “was not consulted prior to the offensive operation” and “has no intention of participating in” it. And British PM Keir Starmer has said the U.K. would not be “drawn into the wider war.” So Trump issued something of a backtrack — punctuated with a fresh slamming of the NATO alliance. “The United States has been informed by most of our NATO ‘Allies’ that they don’t want to get involved with our Military Operation against the Terrorist Regime of Iran,” he admitted this morning on Truth Social. “[W]e no longer ‘need,’ or desire, the NATO Countries’ assistance — WE NEVER DID! Likewise, Japan, Australia, or South Korea,” the president added. “In fact, speaking as President of the United States of America, by far the Most Powerful Country Anywhere in the World, WE DO NOT NEED THE HELP OF ANYONE!” Good Tuesday afternoon and happy St. Patrick’s Day. Thanks for reading Playbook PM. This is Irie Sentner and Makayla Gray, and both of us are 100 percent wearing green. Drop us a line at isentner@politico.com and mgray@politico.com.
| | | | POLITICO Policy Outlook: Powering 6G The next generation of mobile communications technology — commonly known as 6G — promises to unlock a bold new digital future. On Wednesday, March 18, POLITICO will convene decision makers from government and industry for incisive conversations that explore what’s next for the 6G rollout — and what stands in the way. Register now to join us. | | | | | | | 7 THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW | | 1. BONDI SUBPOENAED: Rep. James Comer (R-Ky.) subpoenaed AG Pam Bondi today as the Republican-led House Oversight Committee investigates “the possible mismanagement of the federal government’s investigation of” Jeffrey Epstein and his associates — compelling the country’s top law enforcement official to testify before the panel about the chaotic rollout she oversaw of documents related to the late convicted sex offender. Five Republicans earlier this month joined Democrats on the panel to call for Bondi to testify. More from POLITICO’s Jacob Wendler 2. NEW(ISH) DEAL: Senate Democrats today sent the White House their most recent proposal for immigration enforcement changes for DHS, the latest step as the agency shutdown enters its fifth week. But today’s update doesn’t appear to move the needle, POLITICO’s Jordain Carney and Myah Ward report. The White House is “currently reviewing” the offer, a White House official told our colleagues. But Senate Majority Leader John Thune told reporters today that the offer “didn’t change much from where we were.” 3: TOP SECRET: “House members to get classified briefing on expiring spy law,” by POLITICO’s Meredith Lee Hill and Mia McCarthy: “Speaker Mike Johnson is pushing to hold a vote on an 18-month reauthorization of the surveillance authorities known as Section 702 next week, ahead of the April 20 expiration, but he’s facing down a potential rebellion from GOP hard-liners rebellion who want changes made to the spy law and to attach an unrelated elections bill. … The briefing is set for 3:30 p.m. Wednesday. The 18-month extension is likely to come direct to the floor next week without action first in the House Intelligence Committee.” 4. QUIET ON SET: FCC Chair Brendan Carr’s push to restore the “equal-time” rule for political candidates’ TV appearances has sparked fears that the effort — which comes just as the midterm season heats up — could snowball into removing candidate interviews altogether from broadcast talk shows, POLITICO’s John Hendel reports. “Democrats said they expect their candidates to take the immediate brunt if the FCC’s pressure causes TV programs to avoid interviews that could cause trouble. Some Republicans, meanwhile, worry that a future Democratic-led FCC will turn the same rules against one of the GOP’s longtime media bastions: conservative talk radio.”
| | | | A message from BlackRock: As infrastructure investment grows, so does the need for skilled trades. From modernizing critical systems to building for the future, skilled workers are powering the next generation of American infrastructure. Meet Pete and Elijah, a father and son carrying on the craft of American welding. Watch here. | | | | 5. SUBWAY SHOWDOWN: New York’s public transit authority is suing the Trump administration for withholding nearly $60 million in funds promised for a $7 billion subway expansion, NYT’s Stefanos Chen reports.“The suit claims that the U.S. government had agreed to provide but has improperly refused to disburse more than $58 million for the project. The M.T.A. warned the Trump administration last month that its failure to pay for its share of the project could cause ‘a domino effect’ of delays and inflated costs.” 6. TRAIL MIX: “House GOP campaign arm launches ‘MAGA Majority’ program to boost Trump-aligned candidates,” by Fox News’ Paul Steinhauser: “The [NRCC] on Tuesday unveiled its initial list of GOP contenders in the MAGA Majority, which identifies candidates running in key battleground districts across the country.” The list includes nine candidates: Mike LiPetri in NY-03, Peter Oberacker in NY-19, Tano Tijerina in TX-28, Eric Flores in TX-34, Kevin Lincoln in CA-13, Paul LePage in ME-02, Jay Feely in AZ-01, Laurie Buckhout in NC-01 and Joe Mitchell in IA-02. Affordability agenda: A child and elderly care advocacy group plans to spend $50 million to back Democrats in congressional races, partly linking caregiving to Democrats’ affordability push, AP’s Moriah Balingit reports. The campaign plans to back Democrats in Senate races across North Carolina, Georgia, Michigan, Maine and Ohio and House races in Iowa and Pennsylvania. 7. PRICE OF ENTRY: “Millionaires Are Overrepresented in the U.S. Senate — By a Lot,” by NOTUS’ Taylor Giorno: “At least 73 of the 100 sitting U.S. senators have a median net worth of more than a million dollars, according to a NOTUS analysis of lawmakers’ most recent financial disclosures. … The median net worth in the Senate is nearly $4.4 million — more than 70 times the Census-reported median U.S. household net worth, which similarly excludes equity in primary residences. … The vast wealth gap between senators and their constituents raises questions around what informs Senate policymaking — and what kind of finances Americans need to have in order to successfully run for the Senate in the first place.”
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➡️ Get on the Invite List | | | | | | | TALK OF THE TOWN | | STRICTLY BALLROOM — “Trump appointees aren’t legally qualified to vote on ballroom, critics say,” by WaPo’s Jonathan Edwards and Dan Diamond: “The federal law governing the National Capital Planning Commission requires that commissioners have ‘experience in city or regional planning.’ … Trump’s three appointees to the commission — White House staff secretary Will Scharf, White House deputy chief of staff James Blair and [OMB] associate director Stuart Levenbach — lack that required expertise, according to watchdog groups, several former members of the commission and congressional Democrats.” Scharf and Levenbach defended their credentials to WaPo. Blair didn’t respond to request for comment. MOVE OVER, MANHATTAN — The congestion pricing debate that rankled New York City politics for years could be coming to D.C. after Mayor Muriel Bowser this week unexpectedly publicly released a 2021 report exploring models to reduce traffic in the district, WAMU 88.5’s Alex Koma reports. Although Bowser has been openly hostile to the idea of congestion pricing, both leading Democratic candidates to replace her — Ward 4 Councilmember Janeese Lewis George and former Councilmember Kenyan McDuffie — appear more open to it. COMING TO A STADIUM NEAR YOU — The latest 3D model of the Washington Commanders’ new stadium shows the scale of surface parking available around the site, per the 51st News’ Martin Austermuhle. MEDIAWATCH — Axios laid off 11 employees today, eliminating roles on the national and local teams, including on the news, visuals and social desks, according to an internal memo obtained by NYT’s Ben Mullin. But in the second bullet point of the note (which was written in Axios’ signature Smart Brevity style), publisher Nicholas Johnston emphasized that the news organization is “continuing to hire and grow.” MEDIA MOVE — Ben Wieder is joining the L.A. Times’ D.C. bureau. He was previously an investigative reporter and editor at the Miami Herald. FIRST IN PLAYBOOK — Former DOJ official Jeffrey Clark is joining The Oversight Project as VP for litigation. Clark most recently served in the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs at OMB. The Oversight Project was formed by the Heritage Foundation in 2022 and became its own entity in 2025. “The Oversight Project is just getting started, but hopefully the message is out that we mean business and are here to stay,” Oversight Project president Mike Howell said in a statement. OUT AND ABOUT — The Congressional Football Game for Charity’s hosted its VIP reception last night at Disney’s D.C. offices. SPOTTED: Reps. Juan Ciscomani (R-Ariz.), Adam Gray (D-Calif.), Dave Min (D-Calif.) and Jimmy Panetta (D-Calif.), Bob Dold, Jack Kingston, Colette Honorable, Jim Davis, Lyndon Boozer, George Sifakis, Ken Edmonds, Susan Fox, Robert Chiappetta, Susan Haney, Bret Manley, Jessica Moore, Randy Ross, Gerry Harrington, Bayly Hassell, John Booty, Ken Harvey, Ravin Caldwell, Gary Clark, Brad Edwards, Darnerien McCants, Donté Stallworth, Courtney Van Buren and Clarence Vaughn. — The U.S.-Ireland Partnership and Stripe hosted a St. Patrick’s Day celebration was last night at Riggs Rooftop. SPOTTED: Taoiseach Micheál Martin, Irish Ambassador Geraldine Byrne Nason, U.S. Ambassador to Ireland Ed Walsh, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, Reps. Gabe Amo (D-R.I.), Rich McCormick (R-Ga.) and Beth Van Duyne (R-Texas), Sen. Dave McCormick (R-Pa.) and Dina Powell McCormick, Patrick Collison, Ben English, Eileen O’Mara, Reilly O’Connor, Eric Silva, Amy Roberti, Conor Galvin and Lucinda Creighton. TRANSITIONS — Alexandra Chopin has joined Eversheds Sutherland’s litigation practice group. She previously worked at Winston & Strawn. … Taylor Stanley is now comms director for Rep. Russell Fry (R-S.C.). She previously worked for Rep. Tracey Mann (R-Kan.) and is a James Lankford and Robert Aderholt alum. 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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