| | | | | |  | | By Anna Palmer and Jake Sherman | Presented by Facebook | |  | DRIVING THE DAY | | "I THINK." IF ANYTHING stood out about President DONALD TRUMP'S 11:31 p.m. Twitter update, it was those two words. TRUMP isn't one for equivocation or understatement. So when he tweets from Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda that things are "Going well, I think!" it catches our attention. THE WHITE HOUSE released a memo from the president's physician updating TRUMP'S condition and saying he has started Remdesivir as part of his treatment. The note TRUMP, per the NYT and WaPo, has a fever, congestion and a cough. FRONTS: NYT (banner headline with three MAGGIE HABERMAN bylines!!): "PRESIDENT IN HOSPITAL AS HE BATTLES COVID" … WAPO: "Trump hospitalized with coronavirus" … WSJ: "Trump Hospitalized with Virus" THE CORONAVIRUS IS NOW PULSING through the capital: Three Senate Republicans -- MIKE LEE of Utah, RON JOHNSON of Wisconsin and THOM TILLIS of North Carolina -- all have tested positive. This reduces Senate Majority Leader MITCH MCCONNELL'S majority to 50-47 for the time being. -- GOP SENATORS sit at tables during their frequent lunches when they are in Washington, so there is a bunch of contact among lawmakers. How can the Senate return next week without universal testing? -- REP. RODNEY DAVIS of Illinois, the top Republican on the House Admin Committee, is again pushing Speaker NANCY PELOSI to institute testing for members of the House. A new letter from Davis to Pelosi ALSO POSITIVE: Trump campaign manager BILL STEPIEN … KELLYANNE CONWAY. THERE'S ONE MONTH UNTIL ELECTION DAY, and the president's campaign manager and RNC chair both have Covid. MARK MEADOWS, the president's chief of staff, said that he expected other positive tests among the White House staff. -- NYT'S ALEX BURNS with an A1 news analysis: "Trump's Illness Makes It Clear: This Election Was Always About the Virus" FURTHERMORE, keep an eye on MCCONNELL'S quest to confirm AMY CONEY BARRETT. TILLIS and LEE are on Judiciary. JOHNSON is not on the panel. NYT's Carl Hulse and Nick Fandos on the GOP's plans to push forward ON TILLIS AND LEE, via ANDREW DESIDERIO: "Both are critical members of the Judiciary panel and attended a ceremony for Barrett on Saturday at the White House. They also both met with Barrett this past week and attended committee meetings and party lunches later in the week where they may have infected other senators. "In his statement, Lee said he planned to quarantine for 10 days and expected to be able to provide support for Barrett in the committee. 'I have spoken with Leader McConnell and Chairman Graham, and assured them I will be back to work in time to join my Judiciary Committee colleagues in advancing the Supreme Court nomination,' Lee said. Tillis similarly said he plans to self-isolate for 10 days, but said he has no symptoms and feels well." ABOUT THE CAMPAIGN -- ALEX ISENSTADT: "Bill Stepien received his diagnosis Friday evening and was experiencing what one senior campaign official described as 'mild flu-like symptoms.' People familiar with the situation said the 42-year-old Stepien plans to quarantine until he recovers. "Deputy Campaign Manager Justin Clark is expected to oversee the Trump team's Arlington, Va. headquarters while Stepien works remotely, though advisers stressed that he would maintain control of the campaign." | | | | A message from Facebook: How Facebook is preparing for the US 2020 election
— Launched new Voting Information Center
— More than tripled our safety and security teams to 35,000 people
— Implemented 5-step political ad verification
— Expanded efforts to fight voting misinformation
Learn about these efforts and more | | | THE BIG PICTURE … WAPO: "Invincibility punctured by infection: How the coronavirus spread in Trump's White House," by Phil Rucker, Josh Dawsey, Ashley Parker and Bob Costa: "Attendees were so confident that the contagion would not invade their seemingly safe space at the White House that, according to Jenkins, after guests tested negative [at the Barrett ceremony], they were instructed they no longer needed to cover their faces. The no-mask mantra applied indoors as well. Cabinet members, senators, Barrett family members and others mixed unencumbered at tightly packed, indoor receptions in the White House's Diplomatic Room and Cabinet Room. "Five days later, that feeling of invincibility was cruelly punctured. On Thursday, counselor to the president Hicks, who reported feeling symptoms during a trip with the president to Minnesota on Wednesday, tested positive for the virus. Early Friday morning, Trump announced that he and the first lady also had tested positive and had begun isolating inside the White House residence." -- NYT: "Trump's Covid News Meets a Landscape Primed for Mistrust," by Sarah Lyall and Reid Epstein: "There is no evidence, of course, to support the view that Mr. Trump and his wife, Melania, are anything but ill. As updates on the president's condition came in, followed by the news that he would be hospitalized, the chatter turned from skepticism that the president was sick to doubts that the White House was being forthright about his condition. "Across social media, in interviews, in conversations, the questions poured in all day from people who have heard so many contradictory things over the last four years — a warp-speed whiplash of conflicting realities — that they no longer know what is true." -- LAT: "Historic photos of President Trump being transported to Walter Reed for coronavirus treatment" NEW MORNING CONSULT/POLITICO POLL: "A Morning Consult/POLITICO flash poll conducted on Friday found 68 percent of respondents said the president should address the public directly about his positive Covid-19 diagnosis. But given his track record, a president who's rarely at a loss for words is short of one crucial quality in a moment of national anxiety: Credibility." THERE IS NO DOUBT THAT CONGRESS seems to be inching toward a Covid relief deal. Here are some details we've sussed out over the last few hours: -- PELOSI and Treasury Secretary STEVEN MNUCHIN are expected to work through this weekend. Everyone understands that one of the main issues is funding for state and local governments. The last offers traded were Dems offering $436 billion, and Republicans countering at $250 billion. ON THURSDAY, PELOSI and MNUCHIN held a private phone call with Fed Chair JAY POWELL to discuss state and local funding, and municipal lending. This call has not yet been reported, and underscored the lengths to which the two principals are going to try to get a deal. -- REPUBLICAN SOURCES ARE ALREADY WORRIED THAT MNUCHIN will relent on using ITIN -- a tax ID number -- instead of Social Security numbers to deliver checks to Americans. This is a hot-button issue because Republicans say it allows undocumented immigrants to get checks. This would be a non-starter in the Senate. But sources directly involved in the talks say this hasn't been discussed at any level -- either staff or principal. BUT this is a good insight into how concerned the GOP is about a potential deal. BATTLE FOR THE SENATE … RALEIGH NEWS & OBSERVER: "U.S. Senate candidate Cal Cunningham admits to sexual texting with California strategist," by Brian Murphy: "North Carolina Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Cal Cunningham, a married father of two, sent text messages of a sexual nature to a woman who is not his wife, his campaign confirmed Friday night. The text messages between Cunningham and Arlene Guzman Todd, a public relations strategist from California, were first reported Thursday night by NationalFile.com. "The report included pictures of the text messages, in which Cunningham and Guzman, who is also married according to the report, talked about kissing each other and more. 'Would make my day to roll over and kiss you about now,' said one text message from Cunningham. In one text from Guzman, she says: 'I have flexibility this month — done with school, training, big RFPs, etc. So the only thing I want on my to do list is you.' The Cunningham campaign confirmed the authenticity of the text messages. "Cunningham, who has been leading in polling in his pivotal U.S. Senate race against Republican incumbent Thom Tillis, said Friday night that he is not dropping out of the race. 'I have hurt my family, disappointed my friends, and am deeply sorry. The first step in repairing those relationships is taking complete responsibility, which I do. I ask that my family's privacy be respected in this personal matter,' Cunningham said in a statement sent to The News & Observer." VACCINE LATEST -- WSJ: "White House Takes Issue With FDA's Plans for Authorizing a Covid-19 Vaccine," by Thomas Burton: "Senior White House officials have raised objections to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's proposed standards for deciding whether a Covid-19 vaccine should be given widely and don't appear likely to sign off on the agency's guidelines, people familiar with the matter said. "In talks with the FDA in recent days, White House officials expressed a number of concerns about the draft guidelines, including a proposal that would require researchers to monitor study subjects for side effects for two months after getting a shot, the people said. "The disagreement could put the administration on a collision course with the FDA over whether and when to authorize use of a Covid-19 vaccine, once the late-stage trials that are testing the shots start providing data—perhaps in as little as a few weeks—on how the injections are performing." WSJ -- "Warp Speed's focus on vaccines may have shortchanged antibody treatments," by Zachary Brennan | | | |   | | | UP NEXT -- "Debate commission accedes to Biden campaign's 'health and safety' objections for VP debate," by Natasha Korecki and Alex Isenstadt: "The Commission on Presidential Debates has agreed to seat Kamala Harris and Mike Pence 12 feet apart at the vice presidential debate next week, after the Biden campaign raised health and safety objections to the original spacing between the two candidates because of Covid concerns. "As of Friday evening, however, the commission would not accede to the Biden campaign's request that Harris and Pence stand during the debate. Instead, the two will be seated, which was the preference of the Trump campaign, a source familiar with the discussions told POLITICO." TRUMP'S SATURDAY -- The president has nothing on his public schedule. ON THE TRAIL -- JOE BIDEN will join a virtual Amalgamated Transit Union town hall at 4:30 p.m. | | | | JOIN TUESDAY - A PLAYBOOK INTERVIEW WITH REP. JAMES CLYBURN & ERIC HOLDER : The way that Americans are voting in this year's presidential election is changing. What ballot access problems are Black and minority voters facing? Join Playbook authors Jake Sherman and Anna Palmer on Tuesday, Oct. 6, at 9 a.m. ET for an interview with House Majority Whip James Clyburn and former Attorney General Eric Holder on mail-in voting, the Black Lives Matter movement, and what Democratic priorities should be in the next Congress. REGISTER HERE. | | | | | | | PLAYBOOK READS | | | 
PHOTO DU JOUR: The election is already underway in Chicago, where residents take to the polls on the first day of early voting Friday. | Scott Olson/Getty Images | CLICKER -- "The nation's cartoonists on the week in politics," edited by Matt Wuerker -- 11 keepers LATEST ON THE CENSUS … "Census Bureau says count will continue through end of October," by Zach Montellaro: "The Census Bureau said Friday that its count will continue through Oct. 31, yielding after a back-and-forth battle with a federal judge in California. Late last month, U.S. District Judge Lucy Koh ruled that the decennial count must continue, ordering that the schedule the Census Bureau's attempt to wrap up enumeration was inoperative due to the coronavirus pandemic, and counting should extend until the end of October. "Despite Koh's ruling, the Bureau issued a brief statement on Monday saying that Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross ordered the 'target date' to 'conclude 2020 Census self-response and field data collection operations' was Oct. 5. Koh rejected the Bureau's decision to cut the count off on Oct. 5, writing that the Bureau was disobeying her original order. She said the Census Bureau was 'chaotic, dilatory, and incomplete' in following her original injunction, and issued a clarified injunction, directing the Bureau that it must continue its count through Oct. 31, and publicize its efforts to do so, including texting employees on Friday to inform them. "On Friday evening, a release from the Bureau said that it had messaged employees to say the count will go on. 'As a result of court orders, the October 5, 2020 target date is not operative, and data collection operations will continue through October 31, 2020,' the message read. 'Employees should continue to work diligently and enumerate as many people as possible. Contact your supervisor with any questions.'" POLITICO THE TRUMP ADMINISTRATION -- "Trump plans to name conservative activist Tom Fitton to court oversight agency," by Matthew Choi: "President Donald Trump intends to appoint the conservative activist Tom Fitton to a D.C. court oversight body with the power to remove judges in the district's judiciary.The White House announced Trump's intention to name Fitton to the D.C. Commission on Judicial Disabilities and Tenure on Friday afternoon. "Fitton is the head of the conservative group Judicial Watch and has advocated the investigation of former Obama administration officials, including Hillary Clinton. He was also a fierce critic of special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into the 2016 election." POLITICO MEDIAWATCH -- Peacock on Monday is launching two new shows hosted by Mehdi Hasan and Zerlina Maxwell. They'll air on a new news commentary channel called The Choice. Announcement | | | | A message from Facebook: Facebook tripled safety and security teams to 35,000 people
Facebook has made major investments in new teams and technology to help secure its platforms and provide transparency during the US 2020 election.
Learn more about our progress | | | GREAT WEEKEND READS, curated by Margy Slattery and the staff of POLITICO Magazine: -- "This Overlooked Variable Is the Key to the Pandemic," by Zeynep Tufekci in The Atlantic: "Why haven't our usual analytic tools—case studies, multi-country comparisons—given us better answers? … There may not be an explanation beyond that the worst-hit regions, at least initially, simply had a few unlucky early super-spreading events." Atlantic -- "Elderly and Homeless: America's Next Housing Crisis," by Fernanda Santos in the NYT Magazine: "Over the next decade, the number of elderly homeless Americans is projected to triple — and that was before Covid-19 hit. In Phoenix, the crisis has already arrived." NYT Magazine -- "Fed Up in Flyover Country," by Anna Gronewold in POLITICO Magazine: "Donald Trump has alienated many of his former supporters in the heartland. It's not his policies. It's him." POLITICO Magazine -- "The Fall of Troy," by Benjamin Wallace in New York magazine: "Hearst hired a belligerent leader to disrupt its magazine business. Then fired him mid-disruption. Now it's left with — what, exactly?" New York -- "Were They Lost Students or Inept Spies for China?" by Eric Fish in Foreign Policy: "Two roommates traveling in Florida found themselves caught in the teeth of espionage fears." FP -- "Marilynne Robinson's Essential American Stories," by Casey Cep in The New Yorker: "The author of 'Housekeeping,' 'Gilead,' and, now, 'Jack' looks to history not just for the origins of America's ailments but for their remedy, too." New Yorker -- "An Interview With Competitive Gardener Medwyn Williams, King of the Vegetable Realm," by Giri Nathan in Defector: "The first time you see him pull a yard-long parsnip out of the soil, or bundle several spotless and titanic leeks, you understand that the 78-year-old Welshman has mastered a skill humans have been at for millennia." Defector | | | | HAPPENING WEDNESDAY - A WOMEN RULE ROUNDTABLE ON THE VP DEBATE : In the wake of a contentious and highly criticized first debate, the attention turns to Vice President Mike Pence and Senator Kamala Harris who are set to square off on Oct. 7. Join Women Rule editorial director Anna Palmer for a virtual roundtable discussion with Maya Harris, Christine Pelosi and Jennifer Palmieri on how Sen. Kamala Harris has prepared for the big night and whether the VP debate will revert to political norms. REGISTER HERE. | | | | | | | PLAYBOOKERS | | Send tips to Eli Okun and Garrett Ross at politicoplaybook@politico.com. TRANSITION -- "Cliff Sims, who wrote tell-all White House memoir, joins spy office," by Daniel Lippman WEDDING -- Sean Mirski and Courtney Stone, via NYT: "Mr. Mirski … is a litigation associate for appellate and national security law cases at Arnold & Porter … Ms. Stone … is now a second-year law student at Georgetown. The couple married Sept. 25 at the Supreme Court Building in Washington, with Justice Alito officiating." BIRTHDAYS: Rep. Karen Bass (D-Calif.) is 67 … Rev. Al Sharpton is 66 … Asawin "Swin" Suebsaeng, White House reporter at The Daily Beast … Cristóbal Alex, senior adviser for Joe Biden's campaign … AP's Darlene Superville and Verena Dobnik … POLITICO's Eric Wolff and Emma Kinnucan … Logan Dobson, managing director at Targeted Victory ... J. Toscano, partner at 76 Words … Jonathan Lamy, founder of JLLCommunications … Pam Gilbert, partner at Cuneo Gilbert & LaDuca (h/ts Jon Haber) … Katie Whelan, senior public policy adviser at Dewey Square Group … Joel Haubrich … Shirley Ellis … Denise Gaumer Hutchison (h/ts Teresa Vilmain) … former Sen. Jeff Bingaman (D-N.M.) is 77 … Sally Painter, co-founder and COO of Blue Star Strategies … Joshua Chaffee … Business Insider's Kimberly Leonard … Betsey Apple … Beth Jones … Sean Gibbons … … CNN's Maegan Vazquez … former Rep. Allyson Schwartz (D-Pa.) is 72 … former Rep. Dave Obey (D-Wis.) is 82 … former Rep. Sean Duffy (R-Wis.) is 49 … former Rep. Charlie Melançon (D-La.) is 73 … Sarah Feinberg, founder of Feinberg Strategies … Bradley Tusk, founder and CEO of Tusk Holdings … Nicholas Mellen, director of business development at F9 Teams (h/t Supriya Mazumdar) … Edie Emery … Liam Paul, digital fellow for Rep. Ben Ray Luján's (D-N.M.) Senate campaign (h/t Geneva Kropper) … Laura Brown … Tim Albrecht, manager of strategic initiatives at Apple … Chelsea Radler … Maury Nolen ... Eric Reller ... Deloitte's Eden Joyner White ... Kevin Kelley … Mark Hamrick ... former Alabama Gov. Bob Riley is 76 ... Peter Stegner … Jennifer Bland ... Nancy Gabriner ... Scott Richardson … Ben Adler ... Josh Kinney is 32 ... Darrell Brock Jr. ... Mariam Ehrari … Michael Medved THE SHOWS (Full Sunday show listings here): | NBC | "Meet the Press": Nahid Bhadelia … Peter Hart … Nicole McCleskey. Panel: Peggy Noonan, Jeh Johnson, Jennifer Palmieri and Rich Lowry. | ABC | "This Week": Panel: Chris Christie, Rahm Emanuel, Donna Brazile and Alice Stewart. | CBS | "Face the Nation": Speaker Nancy Pelosi … Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer … Scott Gottlieb … Adam Schecter … John Dickerson. | FOX | "Fox News Sunday": Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) … Tom Inglesby. Panel: Steve Hayes, Gillian Turner and Charles Lane. Power Player: Alan Alda. | CNN | "State of the Union": Symone Sanders … Rick Gates. | Sinclair | "America This Week with Eric Bolling": Megyn Kelly … Peter Navarro … House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy … Carrie Severino … Corey Lewandowski … David Bossie. | Gray TV | "Full Court Press with Greta Van Susteren": Tom Frieden … Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) … Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.). | | | | | | Follow us on Twitter | | | | Subscribe to the POLITICO Playbook family Playbook | Playbook PM | California Playbook | Florida Playbook | Illinois Playbook | Massachusetts Playbook | New Jersey Playbook | New York Playbook | Brussels Playbook | London Playbook View all our political and policy newsletters | | Follow us | | | | |
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