| | | | | |  | | By Anna Palmer, Jake Sherman, Eli Okun and Garrett Ross | Presented by |  | | | WEST WING EYEBROW RAISER … THE SWAMP CREEPS CLOSE TO THE PRESIDENT! … On two occasions over the last few days, CHRIS COX -- who runs House outreach for the White House legislative affairs office -- suggested to colleagues he was doing errands and collecting political intelligence for lobbyist friends on K Street. -- COX told colleagues in the White House that he was seeking information on the executive orders that President DONALD TRUMP was readying to issue so he could brief people downtown -- in other words, suggesting he wanted to give lobbyists a sneak peek. -- ON WEDNESDAY, COX emailed with fellow White House aides and officials on the National Security Council, seeking to push along an exemption for Gulfstream to deliver private jets overseas after he had a conversation with General Dynamics' lobbyist. A spokesman for General Dynamics declined to comment. AS THE TOP HOUSE LEG AFFAIRS OFFICIAL, COX'S job is primarily to help execute the administration's priorities on Capitol Hill. He worked in the legislative affairs shop during GEORGE W. BUSH'S administration. Prior to joining the White House in March, COX himself was a lobbyist. IT WAS NOTABLE TO MANY PEOPLE at all levels of the White House that he was openly collecting political intelligence for corporate special interests and lobbyists on K Street from deep inside the sanctum of the White House. W.H. SPOKESMAN JUDD DEERE said: "I'm not seeing anything nefarious here." COX did not reply to a request for comment. NEW … AP: "U.S. sanctions Chinese officials over repression of minorities," by Deb Riechmann: "The United States on Thursday imposed sanctions on three senior officials of the Chinese Communist Party for alleged human rights abuses targeting ethnic and religious minorities China has detained in the western part of the country. … "Pompeo said additional visa restrictions are being placed on other Chinese Communist Party officials believed to be responsible for, or complicit in, the unjust detention or abuse of Uighurs, ethnic Kazakhs and members of other minority groups." PUNT FORMATION … JOSH GERSTEIN and KYLE CHENEY: "Supreme Court splits on Trump tax cases, potentially shielding returns until after election": "The Supreme Court has delivered a split decision on subpoenas for President Donald Trump's tax returns and financial records, unanimously rejecting his broadest claims of 'absolute' immunity in a New York state criminal investigation, but ruling that lower courts did not do enough to scrutinize congressional subpoenas for similar records. "The pair of highly-anticipated decisions likely mean more delays and court proceedings on both subpoenas, increasing the odds that Trump makes it to the November election without releasing his tax and financial details to the prosecutors and Congressional committees demanding them. More significantly, the rulings could permanently curb Congress's formidable subpoena power against the [executive branch], which lawmakers have wielded as a cudgel for information for decades. All the justices said Congress has deployed an overbroad interpretation of its own power." POLITICO … N.Y. ruling … House ruling -- @realDonaldTrump reacts: "The Supreme Court sends case back to Lower Court, arguments to continue. This is all a political prosecution. I won the Mueller Witch Hunt, and others, and now I have to keep fighting in a politically corrupt New York. Not fair to this Presidency or Administration! … Courts in the past have given 'broad deference'. BUT NOT ME!" | | A message from the American Investment Council: The numbers are in → private equity invests in every state and every congressional district around the country. Last year alone, private equity invested $700 billion in 4,841 businesses around the country. Does your state rank in the top 20? Click here to read the report. | | | PHASE 4/5 UPDATE … TREASURY SECRETARY STEVEN MNUCHIN to KAYLA TAUSCHE on CNBC: "As soon as the Senate gets back, we're going to sit down on a bipartisan basis with the Republicans and the Democrats and it will be our priority to make sure between the 20th and the end of the month that we pass the next [coronavirus aid] legislation." -- BACK-OF-THE-NAPKIN MATH: 11 DAYS to put this bill together. It is expected to be more contentious than the last! -- SPEAKER NANCY PELOSI suggested that she didn't make much of the $1 trillion goal from Republicans, indicating it was a starting point. THE UNEMPLOYMENT PICTURE, via WSJ: "Initial unemployment claims edged down to 1.3 million in the latest week and workers receiving benefits eased slightly to 18.1 million, signs the labor market continues to heal. The number of new applications for jobless benefits fell by a seasonally adjusted 99,000 for the week ended July 4, the Labor Department reported Thursday." Good Thursday afternoon. Press secretary KAYLEIGH MCENANY will brief at 1:30 p.m. GOP CONVENTION WATCH -- Retiring Kansas Republican SEN. PAT ROBERTS told reporters this morning he won't attend the convention in Jacksonville, Fla., according to CNN's LAUREN FOX. BOUNTYGATE UPDATE -- "Dems press for more details on Russian bounties," by Kyle Cheney: "[Sen. Tammy Duckworth], an Iraq War combat veteran who has increasingly been seen as a contender to be Joe Biden's running mate, said the Pentagon provided two briefers at the July 1 session who she described as 'unprepared to respond to questions' about the bounty allegations, which were reportedly briefed to President Donald Trump in February. "In her letter Thursday to Defense Secretary Mark Esper, Duckworth is seeking details about whether the Pentagon is conducting an investigation of U.S. troop casualties to determine whether they're linked to the bounty scheme, whether defense officials are working with the intelligence community to match its information with U.S. casualties and to commit to disclosing the findings with 'Gold Star Family members, Congress and the American people.'" POLITICO … The letter MORE FROM SCOTUS … AP: "Justices rule swath of Oklahoma remains tribal reservation": "The Supreme Court ruled Thursday that a large chunk of eastern Oklahoma remains an American Indian reservation, a decision that state and federal officials have warned could throw Oklahoma into chaos. The court's 5-4 decision, written by Justice Neil Gorsuch, means that Oklahoma prosecutors lack the authority to pursue criminal cases against American Indian defendants in parts of Oklahoma that include most of Tulsa, the second-largest city. "The court's ruling casts doubt on hundreds of convictions won by local prosecutors. The case, argued by telephone in May because of the coronavirus pandemic, revolved around an appeal by an American Indian who claimed state courts had no authority to try him for a crime committed on reservation land that belongs to the Muscogee (Creek) Nation." AP | | | | BECOME A CHINA WATCHER: Need help navigating the diplomatic flare-ups between the Trump administration and the Chinese Communist Party? Get unique insight on this critical relationship that will shape the world for decades to come, and analysis on the power players driving the conversation. Become a China Watcher to see where the relationship between these world superpowers is heading before anyone else. SUBSCRIBE TODAY. | | | | | HUNT FOR A VACCINE -- "U.S. Weighs Early Vaccine Access for Minorities and Others at Risk," by NYT's Megan Twohey: "The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and an advisory committee of outside health experts in April began working on a ranking system for what may be an extended rollout in the United States. According to a preliminary plan, any approved vaccines would be offered to vital medical and national security officials first, and then to other essential workers and those considered at high risk — the elderly instead of children, people with underlying conditions instead of the relatively healthy. "Agency officials and the advisers are also considering what has become a contentious option: putting Black and Latino people, who have disproportionately fallen victim to Covid-19, ahead of others in the population. In private meetings and a recent public session, the issue has provoked calls for racial justice. But some medical experts are not convinced there is a scientific basis for such an option, foresee court challenges or worry that prioritizing minority groups would erode public trust in vaccines at a time when immunization is seen as crucial to ending the pandemic." NYT THE REOPENING -- "States that raced to reopen let businesses write their own rules, documents show," by WaPo's Isaac Stanley-Becker: "Five days after Georgia's stay-at-home order expired, setting gyms, restaurants, hair and nail salons and other businesses on a quick course to reopen, a lobbyist for the state's chamber of commerce emailed top aides to Brian Kemp, the Republican governor. "In the May 5 email, the lobbyist, David Raynor, asked the governor's aides, including his chief of staff and executive counsel, to prioritize legal protections for businesses if workers or customers were to contract the coronavirus. Kemp's lawyer, David Dove, replied within five minutes, beginning with an informal salutation, 'Hey man,' and strategizing about how to accomplish the group's aim. "The email correspondence, released through a public records request, shows how business networks and industry organizations helped write the rules of the pandemic response in some of the places that were the last to impose restrictions and the first to ease them. It also sheds light on the thinking of governors who have pledged not to reverse course on reopening, even as coronavirus cases spike in their states." WaPo HOW WE GOT HERE -- "Nation's Top Emergency-Preparedness Agency Focused on Warfare Threats Over Pandemic," by WSJ's Stephanie Armour, Alexandra Berzon and James Grimaldi: "Robert Kadlec handed out old business cards to staff when he started in 2017 as chief of the office for the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response. They were labeled, 'Kadlec's Rules of Military Medicine.' One rule: 'The next war is tomorrow.' It was — just not the one he'd planned for. "Under Dr. Kadlec — a decorated, retired U.S. Air Force colonel and veteran of two wars — a priority for the agency became preparing for an attack from North Korea on the Korean Peninsula. Code-named 'Able Papa,' the plan involved moving as many as 100,000 Americans out of a nuclear or biological zone in South Korea and repatriating them to the U.S. "But his agency, which operates within the Department of Health and Human Services, also was supposed to plan for other medical crises, such as a pandemic — an explicit mandate from Congress when it was created 15 years ago. ASPR nevertheless became so mission-driven on possible military threats that it was caught off guard when the coronavirus hit, according to current and former government officials familiar with the planning." WSJ NBC: "New audio of police interviews sheds light on police probe of fatal shooting of Breonna Taylor," by Laura Strickler, Lisa Riordan Seville and Andrew Blankstein in Louisville: "Previously unheard audio of interviews from the investigation of the fatal police shooting of Breonna Taylor reveals new details about the events leading to her death, as well as the sympathetic approach investigators took while scrutinizing one of their own. … "The timing of the recorded interviews by the Louisville Metro Police Department's Public Integrity Unit also raises questions about the approach police took to interviewing crucial eyewitnesses. Sgt. Mattingly's interview occurred nearly two weeks after Taylor's death with a lawyer present. Walker was interviewed just hours after the shooting." NBC | | | | KEEP UP WITH THE GLOBAL CHAOS: The world's tectonic political plates are shifting. 2020 may be the best opportunity in decades to rethink governing, but the window for change is opening just as faith in democracy seems to be declining. How will this dynamic play out on the world stage? Our Global Translations newsletter, presented by Bank of America, layers global news, trends and decisions with contextual analysis from the world's sharpest minds. For a unique perspective that you cannot find anywhere else, SUBSCRIBE TODAY. | | | | | AD WARS -- "Ex-Sanders aides launch pro-Biden ad targeting Latino voters," by Holly Otterbein: "The spot, shared with POLITICO, targets Latino voters and attacks President Donald Trump over his handling of the Covid-19 pandemic. It is part of a seven-figure buy that will appear on TV and digitally in Arizona, Michigan and North Carolina, in Spanish as well as English. ... The advertisement was the combined effort of Nuestro PAC, launched by ex-Sanders senior adviser Chuck Rocha, and America's Progressive Promise, which was founded by top Sanders aide Jeff Weaver." POLITICO ... The one-minute ad STATE OF THE GOP -- "Republican Senators in Arizona and Georgia Have a Problem: The Base," by NYT's Astead Herndon in Dillard, Ga.: "Many Republican candidates face a perplexing electoral landscape this year, given that Mr. Trump's conduct has endeared him to the party's most conservative groups, but has soured some suburban moderates and seniors who are vital parts of any swing state coalition. "These candidates are walking a tightrope, made more difficult by a voter base that doesn't just want to elect Republicans, but rather loyal foot soldiers who take on Mr. Trump's political and cultural enemies. ... With Mr. Trump on the ballot this year, it will be even harder for candidates to paper over the differences, and the uneasy relationship between the party's most right-wing voters and the statewide Republicans like Ms. Loeffler and Ms. McSally who rely on their votes is bursting into the open." NYT FOR YOUR RADAR -- "First Federal Execution Since 2003 Is Set for Monday," by WSJ's Sadie Gurman: "The first planned federal execution in 17 years is that of a convicted killer whose victims' relatives have told President Trump that putting him to death would only compound their grief and have asked a federal judge to halt it. "The Trump administration's yearslong push to reactivate the federal death chamber in Terre Haute, Ind., has come with other costs, too: litigation over the legality of the lethal-injection protocol Attorney General William Barr selected, as well as coronavirus-related health risks to witnesses and prison staff that have led several states to postpone their own executions." WSJ MEDIAWATCH -- "Hedge Funds Duel in Bankruptcy Court Over McClatchy Newspapers," by NYT's Marc Tracy: "Chatham Asset Management, a New Jersey hedge fund, seemed to have an advantage going into the planned court-supervised sale of the newspaper company, which was scheduled to start on Wednesday, only to end up postponed. ... "Enter Alden Global Capital, a New York hedge fund that has become a major force in the newspaper business. In a surprise move on Wednesday, Alden filed an emergency motion in a U.S. Bankruptcy Court asking Judge Michael E. Wiles to stop Chatham from attempting to buy McClatchy through a credit bid, a transaction that would allow it to put the company debt it had assumed toward the purchase price." NYT -- "Joy Reid Takes Nightly Anchor Slot at MSNBC," by NYT's Michael Grynbaum: "Ms. Reid, 51, who has hosted the MSNBC weekend talk show 'AM Joy' since 2016, will move to the 7 p.m. hour on July 20. Her show, 'The ReidOut,' succeeds 'Hardball' and its host, Chris Matthews, who was forced to resign in March after a series of on-air gaffes and accusations of sexist behavior in the workplace. "Ms. Reid's promotion is a significant programming move by Cesar Conde, the new chairman of NBC's news networks. Black women, including Gayle King of CBS and Robin Roberts of ABC, hold leading roles in morning and daytime television, but none currently host a nightly evening show on a major network." NYT -- "U.S. Broadcasting Agency Will Not Extend Visas For Its Foreign Journalists," by NPR's David Folkenflik and Mark Katkov TIKTOK TICK TOCK -- "The pandemic multiplied TikTok's audience, and its critics in Washington," by Alexandra Levine: "The fears around data gathering, censorship and child safety have ballooned during the Covid-19 crisis, picking up fresh support from both parties, both chambers of Congress and directly from Trump — a government backlash that is hitting TikTok from all sides and increasing the likelihood that its U.S. presence will be reined in. ... "The lawmakers' expanded efforts have begun to gain traction, even appearing in an early version of the House's $1.5 trillion infrastructure bill in an amendment to ban TikTok on some government devices. That's not for a lack of TikTok trying for influence. The company has met with nearly 50 congressional offices since April, according to its vice president and head of U.S. public policy Michael Beckerman. He said the discussions have been a 'helpful way to directly hear their concerns and address common myths about our company.'" POLITICO STAFFING UP … WAPO'S SEAN SULLIVAN: "Presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden has hired a trio of communications aides who will work to boost outreach to people of color and add more diversity to his team — two areas where his campaign has drawn criticism from allies. Pili Tobar has joined the campaign as communications director for coalitions; Ramzey Smith is serving as African-American media director; and Jennifer Molina is Latino media director." WaPo WELCOME TO THE WORLD -- Bishop Garrison, director of national security outreach at Humans Right First and co-founder of the Joseph Rainey Center for Public Policy, and Cannon-Marie Green, practice lead for state direct tax at Bloomberg Industry Group, welcomed Harriet Eleanor Green Garrison on Wednesday. Pic | | | | A message from the American Investment Council:   This is big → private equity invested in 4,841 American companies last year alone. See where your community ranks. | | | | | | | 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 politics and policy newsletters | | Follow us | | | | |
