| | | | |  | | By Ryan Lizza, Eugene Daniels and Rachael Bade | | Presented by |  | | | With help from Eli Okun, Garrett Ross and Bethany Irvine
| | | |  | DRIVING THE DAY | | | TOP-ED — “The Supreme Court Should Rule Swiftly on Trump’s Immunity Claim,” by Liz Cheney: “It cannot be that a president of the United States can attempt to steal an election and seize power but our justice system is incapable of bringing him to trial before the next election four years later.” TOP-HED — “Papua New Guinea leader responds to Biden comment, saying nation undeserving of cannibalism label,” by Reuters’ Kirsty Needham
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This will be a packed week of Donald Trump legal news. | Pool photo by Curtis Means | SHOWTIME IN NYC — Opening arguments in the DONALD TRUMP hush money case are expected to begin this morning up on the 15th floor of the Criminal Courts Building in lower Manhattan. After the prosecution and defense lay out their initial statements, Manhattan DA ALVIN BRAGG’s team is set to call DAVID PECKER as the first witness, per the NYT. Pecker is a longtime Trump friend, the former chairman of American Media Inc., the National Enquirer’s parent company, and the architect of the alleged “catch and kill” approach to Trump’s accusers. A few things to watch for today … — SEX OR CORRUPTION? In opening arguments, watch to see how the prosecution tries, as Josh Gerstein writes today, to reframe the case from one about an embarrassing affair to a one about criminal “election interference.” The former is something the public — and jurors — might be quick to forgive or dismiss, while the latter can be seen as “a precursor to Trump’s bid to hang on to power by illegitimate means four years later.” Norm Eisen makes this smart point to Josh: “Trump’s lawyers and Bragg’s team are going to be having an argument about: Was this a serious case of campaign corruption and cover-up? Was this a scheme to interfere with an election? … Or is it a case about an affair, a few wrong words on the books and making a mountain out of a molehill?” — NEW DETAILS? Pecker is a fitting place to begin the unspinning the hush-money tale given his central role in the buying and suppressing of negative stories about Trump. In 2018, AMI struck a non-prosecution agreement with federal prosecutors admitting that the company had paid Playboy model KAREN McDOUGAL $150,000 to bury her story of an affair with Trump — a payment AMI conceded had violated campaign finance laws. Pecker was granted immunity in that investigation. Pecker has said little in public, so his testimony will be closely watched for any new information — especially about his private conversations with Trump when they are said to have first hatched the scheme in 2015. — SETTING THE TABLE? Sources close to the case say to watch also for how the prosecution uses Pecker and other witnesses to begin laying the foundation for their most critical task: rehabilitating the credibility of MICHAEL COHEN, who may be the most important witness in the case. The strategy here will be to use the earlier witnesses in the case to establish facts and develop a narrative from testimony and documentary evidence that pre-corroborate what Cohen will ultimately say. The main sources of this information will come from AMI (Pecker and National Enquirer editor DYLAN HOWARD), the Trump Organization (accounting staffer DEBORAH TARASOFF, controller JEFFREY McCONNEY and executive assistant RHONA GRAFF) and the Trump campaign and White House (top comms aide HOPE HICKS and Trump assistant MADELEINE WESTERHOUT). In this scenario, the scheme would be laid out in great detail first and then Cohen, batting clean-up, will provide a master narrative that matches the facts the jurors have already heard, thus bolstering his credibility. — COLD FEET? Finally, watch to see whether any jurors had a change of heart over the weekend and come to court today asking to be dismissed from the case. This is a scenario that came up the most since Friday in conversations we’ve had with potential witnesses in the case, reporters covering the trial and legal analysts. There’s lots of concern about the safety of the jurors and speculation about how the pressure of serving on this high-profile trial will affect them. What to watch tomorrow … On Tuesday, testimony will pause as Judge JUAN MERCHAN holds a hearing to decide whether Trump should be sanctioned for violating his gag order. The long list of alleged violations already before the judge did little to tame Trump world over the weekend. On Sunday, the campaign sent out a news release that included this statement: “The government’s case against President Trump relies entirely on testimony of some of the most disreputable and fame-thirsty characters on the planet.” (While this was a campaign statement and not from Trump’s mouth or his social media account, the language of the Merchan gag order prohibits “making or directing others to make” statements about witnesses in the case.) What else to watch for … It will be a packed week of Trump legal news. Today: In a separate Manhattan courthouse, there’s a hearing scheduled in Trump’s New York civil fraud case to litigate whether the $175 million bond he put up is legitimate or not. … Wednesday: In the classified documents case in Florida, the grand jury testimony of Trump aide WALT NAUTA, who was indicted for obstruction of justice, will be publicly released. … Thursday: And in the biggest event of the week, the Supreme Court will hear arguments on Trump’s claims of presidential immunity from prosecution. How and when that case is decided will determine whether Trump faces any federal criminal trials this year. Good Monday morning. Thanks for reading Playbook. Drop us a line: Rachael Bade, Eugene Daniels, Ryan Lizza.
| | | | A message from TSMC: TSMC Arizona’s first fab is on track to begin production leveraging 4nm technology. The second fab will produce the world’s most advanced 2nm process technology in addition to the previously announced 3nm technology. Our newly announced third fab will produce chips using 2nm and/or more advanced processes, with production beginning by the end of the decade. The increased capacity will help our customers to unleash innovations in all different fields including mobile, AI and HPC. | | | WHCD WEEK IS HERE — The annual White House Correspondents’ Dinner is just five days away, and you’d be right to think that global unrest, a tense election year and media industry layoffs are casting a pall over this year’s festivities. But veteran White House speechwriter (and joke-writer) JEFF NUSSBAUM writes for POLITICO Magazine this morning that the affliction facing the WHCD and the other hail-fellow-well-met dinners on the Washington social calendar goes much deeper. “However silly these gatherings are, they have traditionally served a serious purpose,” he writes. “They’re a recognition that when people across the political spectrum are laughing together at our own absurdity and the absurdity of the world, at least we’re seeing the same world. That’s no longer the case” — and you can guess who he says is to blame. The festivities, however, go on all the same, and we’ve got all your WHCD week needs covered here at Playbook. We’ve just published our annual guide to the biggest and buzziest events of the week, and we’re also asking for your help: While the Playbook crew will be out and about plenty, we’d love it if you can help be our eyes and ears around town: If you spot something or someone noteworthy at a party this week, email us (anonymity guaranteed!) at playbook@politico.com or text us at 202-556-3307 (save us as Playbook in your contacts!). WHO’S RIDING ALL THOSE MOPEDS — “They fled Venezuela — and transformed D.C.’s food delivery scene,” by WaPo’s María Luisa Paúl and Marisa Iati: “Delivering food for companies like DoorDash and Uber has become a lifeline for many of D.C.’s Venezuelans, some of whom were among the more than 13,000 migrants Republican governors have bused to the city since 2022.” THE WEEK IN NON-TRUMP NEWS — Tuesday: President JOE BIDEN travels to Tampa, Florida, for campaign events. The Senate reconvenes to take up the foreign aid supplemental. Pennsylvania holds presidential and congressional primaries. … Thursday: Q1 economic growth data released. … Friday: March core PCE inflation figures released. … Saturday: Biden and VP KAMALA HARRIS attend the annual White House Correspondents’ Dinner.
| | | | A message from TSMC:   | | | | | WHAT'S HAPPENING TODAY | | On the Hill The Senate and the House are out. What we’re watching … Will anything complicate final passage of the $95 billion foreign-aid supplemental? Probably not, but before the bill can head to Biden’s desk for a signature, it will need to jump a few final hurdles in the Senate. Two procedural votes have been set for 1 p.m. Tuesday, and assuming 60 senators agree to close debate — a solid bet, considering 70 voted in favor of a similar bill in February — you can expect final passage no later than dinnertime Wednesday, and quite possibly well before, pending an amendment-vote deal. At the White House Biden will return to Washington from Wilmington, Delaware. Later, he will deliver remarks commemorating Earth Day at Prince William Forest Park in Triangle, Virginia. Harris will travel to La Crosse, Wisconsin in the afternoon to hold a discussion with nursing home care workers. Medicare and Medicaid Services Administrator CHIQUITA BROOKS-LaSURE will join the event. Later, the VP will deliver remarks at an organizing event focused on reproductive freedoms and will return to the White House in the evening.
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|  Second gentleman Doug Emhoff responded to the unrest at Columbia University with a remarkable statement of condemnation. | Mary Altaffer/AP | COLUMBIAN EXPOSITION — The campus unrest at Columbia University over the war in Gaza has fully exploded in the world of national politics, prompting a remarkable statement of condemnation yesterday from the White House and from second gentleman DOUG EMHOFF: “The antisemitism and hate toward Jews, including threats of violence, that we are witnessing is unconscionable,” Emhoff wrote. “Colleges and universities, along with their leadership, must do better. The statement from White House spokesperson ANDREW BATES condemned antisemitic statements aimed at Jewish students “in the strongest terms,” Kelly Garrity reports, and Biden separately made reference to the protests in a statement marking Passover: “Even in recent days, we’ve seen harassment and calls for violence against Jews,” he said. “This blatant Antisemitism is reprehensible and dangerous — and it has absolutely no place on college campuses, or anywhere in our country.” Early this morning, Columbia President MINOUCHE SHAFIK announced she was moving today’s classes online in a bid to “deescalate the rancor,” per Sarah Huddleston and Shea Vance of the Columbia Spectator, as congressional scrutiny of the situation in Morningside Heights heightened. Speaker MIKE JOHNSON called the situation “outrageous and un-American”; House Ed and Workforce Chair VIRGINIA FOXX (R-N.C.) scolded Shafik in a new letter; and three Jewish House Democrats — JOSH GOTTHEIMER (N.J.), DAN GOLDMAN (N.Y.) and JARED MOSKOWITZ (Fla.) — plan to visit Columbia’s campus today to meet with Jewish students, per the Forward’s Jacob Kornbluh. ON THE MONEY — “When it comes to government planes and political trips, who pays for a president’s campaign travel?” by AP’s Chris Megerian CONGRESS
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With the foreign aid package en route to the Senate, Mike Johnson is now left to sort out the ramifications for his future as speaker. | Francis Chung/POLITICO | FOREIGN AID FALLOUT — Ukrainian President VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY lauded the passage of the House’s $95 billion foreign aid package over the weekend amid fears of an upcoming Russian offensive. In comments on NBC’s “Meet the Press” yesterday, Zelenskyy said that he was grateful for the passage but warned that the Senate should “as fast as possible so that we get some tangible assistance for the soldiers on the front line as soon as possible, not in another six months, so that they would be able to move ahead,” WaPo’s Shane Harris, Patrick Marley and Mariana Alfaro report. The drama continues for Johnson … With the foreign aid package en route to the Senate, Johnson is now left to sort out the ramifications for his future as speaker. On yesterday’s Sunday shows, Rep. MARJORIE TAYLOR GREENE (R-Ga.) repeated her threats to trigger a vote to oust Johnson if he doesn’t resign first, stating on Fox News’ "Sunday Morning Futures” that he “needs to do the right thing to resign and allow us to move forward in a controlled process.” Meanwhile, House Appropriations Chair TOM COLE (R-Okla.) maintained that despite a growing ouster threat, Johnson is "much stronger than people seem to think," noting on CBS’ “Face the Nation” yesterday that “the reservoir of goodwill is enormous'' for the embattled speaker on Capitol Hill: “I think people admire him. They genuinely like him.” UNITY IS POWER — “Hakeem Jeffries emerges as Congress' shadow speaker,” by Axios’ Andrew Solender More top reads:
AMERICA AND THE WORLD
|  At least five rockets were fired from Iraq toward a military installation in northeastern Syria in an attack against U.S. forces in the region. | AP | MIDDLE EAST LATEST — In the first attack against U.S. forces in the region since early February, at least five rockets were fired from Iraq toward a military installation in northeastern Syria, per Reuters — signaling that a pause in hostilities from Iran-linked militia groups might be ending. A U.S. official “referred to it as a ‘failed rocket attack’ but it was not immediately clear if the rockets had failed to hit the base or been destroyed before they reached [it]. … Following that, the official said, an aircraft from the U.S.-led coalition in Iraq and Syria carried out a strike against the launcher.” Elsewhere in the region … “Iran’s supreme leader tacitly acknowledges Tehran hit little in its attack on Israel,” by AP’s Jon Gambrell: “‘Debates by the other party about how many missiles were fired, how many of them hit the target and how many didn’t, these are of secondary importance,’ [Ayatollah ALI] KHAMENEI said in remarks aired by state television.” Shakeup in the IDF … “Israeli military intelligence chief resigns over failure to prevent Oct. 7 attack,” by AP’s Tia Goldenberg: “Maj. Gen. AHARON HALIVA’s resignation sets the stage for what’s expected to be more fallout from Israel’s top security brass over Hamas’ attack.” Developing … “Three lightly hurt in Jerusalem car-ramming; 2 suspects captured,” Times of Israel More top reads:
- Commerce Secretary GINA RAIMONDO talked up her department’s efforts to crackdown on advanced microchip sales to foreign adversaries in a “60 Minutes” interview last night: “If you think about national security today in 2024, it's not just tanks and missiles; it's technology,” she said.
| | | | A message from TSMC:   | | | TRUMP CARDS ON YOUR MARK, GET SET — The race for key national security positions in a possible second Trump administration is heating up, Alex Ward and Daniel Lippman report this morning. Among those being mentioned as a potential national security adviser or secretary of State “are RICHARD GRENELL, a former ambassador to Germany whom Trump has called his ‘envoy’ to the world and is known for fiercely fighting with the media; Sen. BILL HAGERTY (R-Tenn.), a former ambassador to Japan who is comfortable in Trump world and traditional Republican circles; ELBRIDGE COLBY, the former senior Pentagon official pushing American officials to invest more in countering China; and ROBERT O’BRIEN, Trump’s fourth national security adviser.” The 30,000-foot view … “The prospective choices would all make China the centerpiece of a Trump foreign policy, just like it was in the first term, and consider ways to bend allies’ actions to America’s will.” SURVEY SAYS — “Some young people see Trump as an answer to their economic woes,” by Reuters’ Nathan Layne and Tim Reid 2024 WATCH EARTH DAY WITH RFK — In an interview with Scott Waldman, ROBERT F. KENNEDY JR. laid out the specifics of his climate policies he hopes “makes sense to skeptics and activists alike,” as some Democrats fear he’s poaching voters from Biden: “[Kennedy] is staking out some positions well to Biden’s left — such as calling for a permanent ban on natural gas exports. But he criticizes the size of Biden’s mammoth subsidies for green energy, has not committed to keeping the administration rules aimed at cutting greenhouse gas pollution from vehicles and power plants, and hired a communications director who criticized ‘hysteria’ around global warming,” Waldman writes. On Biden and the Inflation Reduction Act … “[Biden’s] played into the hands of the carbon industry by focusing on geoengineering and carbon capture, and that is to me a disastrous endpoint,” Kennedy said. “And it's disastrous from an environmental point of view, and it also is just a subsidy for big carbon.” On whether he could tip the election to Trump … “I don't think President Biden needs my help to lose to Donald Trump,” Kennedy said. “All the polls show him losing without me in the race.” WHAT HE’S NOT TALKING ABOUT — “RFK Jr. rarely mentions abortion — and sends mixed signals when he does,” by WaPo’s Meryl Kornfield: “Kennedy has avoided taking a concrete stance on the nation’s patchwork of abortion bans and U.S. House Republicans’ efforts to pass federal restrictions, calling abortion a ‘culture war issue’ used to divide people. He has said that ‘every abortion is a tragedy,’ but has few plans to take on the issue in the White House.” BEYOND THE BELTWAY MAN OF THE MOMENT — California Gov. GAVIN NEWSOM is planning to introduce legislation to offer Arizona abortion providers an expedited way to get licensed in California and accommodate a surge in Arizonians seeking to cross state lines for abortions, Rachel Bluth reports: “Newsom’s move comes in direct response to the Arizona Supreme Court’s recent decision to uphold an 1864 ban on abortion in that state, and he plans to present the bill as an emergency measure this week with the California Legislative Women’s Caucus.” SCARY STUFF — “Man breaks in to home of Mayor Karen Bass, is arrested,” by Hunter Lee of LA Daily News: “Bass and her family were home at the time of the break-in, but were unharmed. It was unclear if anything was taken; and if the break-in targeted Bass or was random.”
| | | | YOUR GUIDE TO EMPIRE STATE POLITICS: From the newsroom that doesn’t sleep, POLITICO's New York Playbook is the ultimate guide for power players navigating the intricate landscape of Empire State politics. Stay ahead of the curve with the latest and most important stories from Albany, New York City and around the state, with in-depth, original reporting to stay ahead of policy trends and political developments. Subscribe now to keep up with the daily hustle and bustle of NY politics. | | | | | | | PLAYBOOKERS | | IN MEMORIAM — “Terry Anderson, AP reporter abducted in Lebanon and held captive for years, has died at 76,” by AP’s John Rogers: “In 1985 he became one of several Westerners abducted by members of the Shiite Muslim group Hezbollah during a time of war that had plunged Lebanon into chaos. … What followed was nearly seven years of brutality during which he was beaten, chained to a wall, threatened with death, often had guns held to his head and was kept in solitary confinement for long periods of time.” TRANSITION — Jennifer Rust is now a principal at Rich Feuer Anderson. She previously was SVP and counsel at Porterfield, Fettig & Sears and is a Financial Services Committee and Maxine Waters alum. WELCOME TO THE WORLD — Natasha Dabrowski, comms director and senior adviser for Sen. Tom Carper (D-Del.) and the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, and Josh Fendrick, manager of U.S. policy at Coinbase, welcomed Lillian (Lily) Rachel Fendrick on April 17th at 8:58am. Lily’s middle name is in honor of her maternal great grandfather. Pic … Another pic HAPPY BIRTHDAY: DOE’s Allie Peck … NYT’s Helene Cooper and Elisabeth Goodridge … CNN’s Arlette Saenz … Don Graham … Alondra Nelson … POLITICO’s Elana Schor, Rob Hotakainen, Dana Nickel and Lauren DeCarlo … Axios’ Eugene Scott … WaPo’s Sari Horwitz … Joe Pounder of Bullpen Strategy Group … Education Department’s James Kvaal … Matt Korade … Christopher Jennison ... Sarah Hunt of the Joseph Rainey Center for Public Policy … Patrick Rucker … Wade Henderson … Ted Ellis of the Center for Industrial Progress … Stars and Stripes’ Bob Reid … Allegra Kirkland … Anastasia Dellaccio ... SKDK’s Josh Dorner … former Reps. Jody Hice (R-Ga.) and Jim Langevin (D-R.I.) (6-0) ... Dahlia Lithwick ... NewsNation’s Rob Yarin … Andrea LaRue ... Chung Seto … Julie Whiston … Yasmina Vinci of the National Head Start Association … MSNBC’s Natalie Munio … Mark Braden … Glenn Simpson ... Brian Forde … Gaurav Agrawal 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 Playbook Daily Briefing producer Callan Tansill-Suddath.
| | | | A message from TSMC: On April 8th, the U.S. Department of Commerce and TSMC Arizona announced up to US$6.6 billion in direct funding under the CHIPS and Science Act, to meet strong customer demand leveraging the most advanced semiconductor process technology in America.
As the company makes progress in completing its first fab and continues construction of its second fab, it has now also announced plans for a third fab, bringing TSMC’s total capital expenditure for the Arizona site to more than US$65 billion. This makes it the largest FDI in a greenfield project in U.S. history. Now with a third fab, TSMC Arizona will create approximately 6,000 jobs – and more than 20,000 accumulated unique construction jobs, as well as tens of thousands of indirect supplier jobs.
TSMC’s over 500 customers include some of the world’s best known technology companies. As their foundry partner, TSMC helps them unleash their innovations by supporting capacity for leading-edge technology. | | | | | | | 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 political and policy newsletters | | Follow us | | | | |
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