| | | | |  | | By Garrett Ross | | | |  Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) will seek reelection next year — extending her 36-year House career. | Francis Chung/E&E News/POLITICO via AP Images | NANCY PELOSI is coming back to Congress. The San Francisco stalwart will seek reelection in 2024, she told volunteers today, per our colleagues Dustin Gardiner, Jeremy White, Jonathan Martin and Nicholas Wu — ending breathless speculation that had hung over the former House speaker ever since she stepped down from her leadership role last year. The decision will extend Pelosi’s 36-year House career, as she is all-but-certain to be reelected in her deep-blue district, it also freezes a panoply of would-be California successors (and successors to those successors) in a longstanding holding pattern. The return of the 83-year-old trailblazer should come as less of a surprise now than it might have just a couple of days ago — before our colleague Jonathan Martin offered new insight into Pelosi’s mindset. Not only is Pelosi’s adopted hometown facing serious economic and social headwinds, it’s also facing a sudden erosion of veteran leadership in Washington — a subject that was top of mind for the former speaker as she spent the day tooling around town with JMart. “Well let’s just go back about six years and we had Dianne, we had Barbara, we had Jackie Speier, now Jackie is gone, so we’ll see,” Pelosi said in the interview, “laying out the rationale for another run by invoking the three, veteran Bay-area lawmakers who’ve retired or are retiring: DIANNE FEINSTEIN, former Senator BARBARA BOXER, who stepped down in 2017, and former Representative JACKIE SPEIER, who left Congress at the start of this year.” Read the full story: “Inside Nancy Pelosi’s Fight For San Francisco” WOWZA — A special grand jury in Georgia recommended criminal indictments against Sen. LINDSEY GRAHAM (R-S.C.) and a slew of other DONALD TRUMP associates for their roles in the former president’s efforts to alter the 2020 election results in the state, according to a bombshell report released today. The report is part of Fulton County DA FANI WILLIS’ investigation into Trump — which recently resulted in the indictments of 19 co-defendants including Trump on racketeering charges — and shows that the yearlong investigation led a majority of the panel to recommend Willis cast a much wider net. Read the full report Others on the list of recommended targets:
- Former Georgia Sens. DAVID PERDUE and KELLY LOEFFLER
- Trump adviser BORIS EPSHTEYN
- Former national security adviser MICHAEL FLYNN
- Attorney CLETA MITCHELL
“The special grand jury, a quirk of Georgia law, had no power to issue indictments but was required to make recommendations to Willis, who then pursued charges through a traditional grand jury,” our colleagues Kyle Cheney and Josh Gerstein write. “Trump and the other 18 defendants who were indicted on Aug. 14 were all on the list identified by the special grand jury. The newly released report indicates there was some dissent among the 23 special grand jurors and three alternates assigned to hear evidence related to the election probe.” Playbook thought bubble: When it comes to the three senators, there is a reasonable conclusion that Willis skipped pursuing indictments due to the considerable legal complications they might have presented. Willis’ team is already facing attempts to remove her case to federal court, the first of many pre-trial matters, and litigating the scope of the Speech and Debate Clause in addition might not have been too appealing. BIDEN ABROAD — President JOE BIDEN is in New Delhi for G-20 meetings. Earlier today, he met with Indian PM NARENDRA MODI for a bilateral meeting. The coverage roundup:
Good Friday afternoon. Thanks for reading Playbook PM. Drop me a line: gross@politico.com.
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Learn how Amazon supports independent sellers. | | | 2024 WATCH ROE V. RON — RON DeSANTIS has “privately complained” about JEFF ROE’s involvement with Never Back Down, the super PAC that is backing the Florida governor’s presidential run, WaPo’s Hannah Knowles reports, noting that one DeSantis donor heard the comments directly from the candidate. “DeSantis has also voiced anger over a pre-debate strategy memo from Never Back Down, which was publicly posted last month on the website of Roe’s firm, Axiom, these people said. One of them, the donor, said the governor was ‘apoplectic.’” It’s latest sign of strife inside the DeSantis orbit — though campaign comms director ANDREW ROMEO said the reporting is “totally false” and that the campaign is “thrilled” with Never Back Down. HALEY’S GAMBIT — As NIKKI HALEY tries to push past DeSantis and establish herself as the de facto second-place runner in the GOP presidential field, she claims to be seeing momentum. “In an interview, Haley said the ‘phone hasn’t stopped ringing’ since the Aug. 23 debate with donors wanting to contribute or host fundraisers,” WSJ’s John McCormick writes from Claremont, N.H. “Her campaign says it raised more than $1 million in the 72 hours after the debate, including more online donations in the first 24 hours than in any other single day. Two-thirds of online contributors since the debate have been first-time donors.” NEWSOM NEWS — California Gov. GAVIN NEWSOM is squashing the speculation that he might mount a last-minute bid to usurp Biden for the 2024 Democratic nomination. “We need to move past this notion that he’s not going to run,” Newsom told NBC’s Chuck Todd in an interview for “Meet the Press” that will air this Sunday. “I think there’s been so much wallowing in the last few months, and handwringing in this respect. But we’re gearing up for the campaign. We’re looking forward to it.” Read more from Kierra Frazier … Watch the clip JUDICIARY SQUARE INSIDE STORY — “How the Supreme Court’s conservatives rebuffed Alabama,” by CNN’s Joan Biskupic: “The justices emerged from their first closed-door conference meeting on the case in October 2022 without a solid majority for either side, CNN has learned. Ordinarily, this meeting, held without any law clerks or other staff present, results in a clear understanding among the nine justices of which party will prevail in a case. In the Alabama dispute, sources said, it was far from certain which side would win. “What happened next defied predictions from inside and outside the court. A series of negotiations, most notably between Chief Justice JOHN ROBERTS and fellow conservative Justice BRETT KAVANAUGH, transformed what many thought would be a ruling undercutting the Voting Rights Act into a forceful affirmation of the law.” DEPT. OF NO SURPRISE — “Justice Alito rejects Senate Democrats’ call to step aside from an upcoming Supreme Court case,” by AP’s Mark Sherman
| | | | Sponsored Survey WE WANT TO HEAR FROM YOU: Share what you think in a short, 1 minute survey about one of our advertisers | | | CONGRESS TICKING AWAY — “Our Best Weapon Against Food Insecurity Is in Danger,” by The New Republic’s Grace Segers: Recipients of Women, Infants, and Children benefits “may soon see significant cuts, or even lose these all-important benefits, if Congress does not take quick action to approve additional funding for the program” before the end of the fiscal year. AMERICA AND THE WORLD COULDA BEEN WORSE — “World’s Climate Report Card Says We’re Trying, but Urgently Need Improvement,” by NYT’s Brad Plumer: “Many of the worst-case climate change scenarios that were much feared in the early 2010s look far less likely today, the report said. The authors partly credit the 2015 Paris Agreement, under which, for the first time, almost every country agreed to submit a voluntary plan to curb in its own planet-warming emissions. Since then, the rise in global greenhouse gases has notably slowed. Yet those efforts still aren’t enough to avoid calamity, according to the report.” FOR YOUR RADAR — “U.S. troop presence in Niger could drop by half as Pentagon repositions forces,” by Lara Seligman: “DOD recently began repositioning a number of forces away from the airport at Niamey to a second, smaller base at Agadez, some 500 miles away, Pentagon spokesperson SABRINA SINGH told reporters on Thursday.” DANCE OF THE SUPERPOWERS — “China’s military seeks to exploit U.S. troops, veterans, general warns,” by WaPo’s Dan Lamothe: “China’s military is conducting a sophisticated exploitation campaign designed to ‘fill gaps’ in its capabilities by targeting current and former U.S. service members and harvesting specialized knowledge they’ve gained, a top general warned in a message obtained by The Washington Post. “The document was distributed to Air Force personnel on Friday. It marks the Pentagon’s most direct attempt yet to call out and counter what U.S. officials characterized as an aggressive ploy by Beijing to leverage international firms that hire Americans to teach advanced military skills and tactics.” Related read: “Apple Becomes the Biggest U.S.-China Pawn Yet,” by WSJ’s Dan Gallagher: “Still the world’s largest public company by market value, Apple has seen that value take a notable hit this week on increasing signs that its business in China might be coming under threat.”
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Amazon is committed to seeing small businesses thrive, which is why we provide services and support to help them grow. “Amazon has created a wonderful environment for small businesses, giving us the tools we need to succeed,” said Adrienne, owner of Blue Henry. Learn how. Sponsored by Amazon   | | | BEYOND THE BELTWAY THE LATEST IN MAUI — “Grim Reality in Maui: Hundreds Still on Missing List a Month After Inferno,” by NYT’s Tim Arango and Lisa Schell: “Nearly all of Lahaina has now been searched by teams of rescuers, cadaver dogs and anthropologists trained to detect fragments of human remains, yet the official death toll has stood at 115 people for more than two weeks.” PLAYBOOKERS FIRST IN PLAYBOOK — Robert Weissman, Public Citizen president, and Joan Claybrook, Public Citizen president emeritus, will release a new book, “The Corporate Sabotage of America’s Future And What We Can Do About It,” on Sept. 21. OUT AND ABOUT — SPOTTED at a party at Nelson Cunningham’s Georgetown house on Thursday night to celebrate C.W. Goodyear’s new book, “President Garfield: From Radical to Unifier” ($20.95): Mack McLarty, John Negroponte, Charles Borden, Neil Eggleston, Sahar Hafeez, Margaret Hawthorne, Amy Weiss, Cliff Sloan, Ken Weinstein and Amy Kauffman, Jonathan Winer and Doug Rediker. — Friends of the National Museum of the American Latino briefed artists and advocates yesterday on the state of the National Museum of the American Latino and the legislation that Congress must pass in order to build the museum, and had them meet with Sens. Ben Ray Luján (D-N.M.), Catherine Cortez-Masto (D-Nev.) and Majority Leader Chuck Schumer. SPOTTED: Ismael Cruz Córdova, Tonatiuh Elizarraraz, Sasha Calle, Belissa Escobedo, Constance Marie, Linda Yvette Chávez, Michael Cimino, Ruben Garcia and Carlos Éric López. 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 editor Mike DeBonis, deputy editor Zack Stanton and producers Setota Hailemariam and Bethany Irvine. | | | | 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 | Ottawa Playbook | Brussels Playbook | London Playbook View all our politics and policy newsletters | | Follow us | | | | |
