| | | |  | | By Bethany Irvine | | Presented by |  | | | |  | THE CATCH-UP | | | 
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth repeated his suggestion that these disclosures can be traced to Pentagon insiders who disagree with Donald Trump’s agenda. | AP | FOR PETE’S SAKE: Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth took to Fox News this morning to fight back against allegations that he shared classified “war plans” in Signal group chats that included his wife and brother, telling host Brian Kilmeade that the information was instead “informal, unclassified coordinations for media coordination and other things.” But that doesn’t jibe with new reporting from NBC’s Courtney Kube and Gordon Lubold, who write that at least some of the details Hegseth shared in the Signal chats were provided by Army Gen. Michael Erik Kurilla, and “included details about when U.S. fighters would take off and when they would hit their targets — details that could, if they fell into the wrong hands, put the pilots of those fighters in grave danger.” On the leaks: Hegseth again repeated his suggestion that these disclosures can be traced to Pentagon insiders who disagree with Trump’s agenda, and vowed that evidence from leak investigations will be handed over to the Justice Department, “and those people will be prosecuted if necessary.” More from POLITICO’s Giselle Ruhiyyih Ewing Thought bubble: “Thing about Hegseth is, every accuser/bad allegation comes from fellow conservatives,” WaPo’s Paul Kane points out. “The conservative veterans nonprofit alleging financial wrongs. Christian conservative woman who says he raped her. Fox News colleagues & drinking. Now his closest DOD allies. Is it a pattern?” On Fox News, Hegseth said that Joe Kasper, his chief of staff at the Pentagon, is "staying with us — going to be in a slightly different role, but he’s not going anywhere, certainly not fired.” That comes after his allies yesterday pushed back on the notion that Kasper was being punted to another role in the Pentagon. In an awkward moment, Kilmeade began Hegseth’s interview by mistakenly calling him the "former secretary.” DEVELOPING: “Supreme Court seems likely to let religious families opt out of LGBTQ storybooks,” by WaPo’s Ann Marimow: “During more than two-and-a-half hours of argument on Tuesday, several justices read aloud from the text of the disputed storybooks, some of which referred to drag queens and same-sex marriage. Conservative justices repeatedly pressed the lawyer for the Maryland school system on why it could not easily accommodate the religious parents and allow their children to opt out of objectionable curriculum.” Good Tuesday afternoon. Thanks for reading Playbook PM. Drop me a line at birvine@politico.com. AFTERNOON READ — “‘Boomerang in a Very Bad Way’: How Trump’s Antisemitism Push Could Backfire,” by Irie Sentner for POLITICO Mag YOUR LUNCHTIME WATCH — POLITICO’s White House bureau chief Dasha Burns joins Playbook author Jack Blanchard to discuss the grim economic outlook (more on that below) and the latest in the Hegseth furor for the Playbook Daily Briefing video podcast. Watch the full conversation on YouTube
| | | | A message from The National Association of REALTORS®: A new survey shows Americans overwhelmingly back real estate provisions in the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. A massive 91% support preserving homeowner tax incentives like the mortgage interest deduction. 83% back the 20% tax break for small businesses and independent contractors, and 61% favor raising SALT limits. Real estate fuels 18% of U.S. GDP, with each home sale creating two jobs. Support for homeownership is a win for the economy and the middle class. Learn more. | | | | | | 6 THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW | | 1. ON THE MONEY: The International Monetary Fund unveiled its first World Economic Outlook since Trump returned to power and his tariff push has upended the global economy. As expected, it’s not a sunny read. The IMF predicted a “significant slowdown” of the global economy this year, with growth slowing to an annualized rate “of 2.8 percent, half a percentage point lower than projected in January,” WaPo’s David Lynch reports. For 2026, it’s projecting economic growth to rebound to an annualized 3 percent, but that too is down from the earlier prediction of 3.3 percent, per WSJ’s Paul Hannon. The big picture: “We’re entering a new era as the global economic system that has operated for the last 80 years is being reset,” said IMF economic counselor Pierre-Olivier Gourinchas. 2. CHANGE OF STATE: After weeks of speculation that Trump wanted to overhaul the State Department, internal documents confirm that the White House plans to close 132 of its 734 offices, “including those launched to further human rights, counter extremism, and prevent war crimes,” The Free Press’ Gabe Kaminsky and Madeleine Rowley scooped. Under secretaries are further “being instructed within 30 days to present plans to reduce their U.S. personnel in individual departments by 15%.” Department heads were reportedly briefed on the plans early this morning while notification letters were sent to Congress. What next? Though the move is certainly going to face pushback from the Hill, a senior State official noted that the “programs that the State Department is cutting are among those that do not require approval from Congress.” More from POLITICO’s Eric Bazail-Eimil 3. IMMIGRATION FILES: For weeks, Kilmar Abrego García’s wrongful deportation to a Salvadoran mega-prison has put him centerstage in America’s political discourse. Now, Abrego Garcia’s wife, Jennifer Vasquez Sura, has been moved to a safehouse due to the onslaught of political attention, WaPo’s María Luisa Paúl reports. Vasquez Sura said she began fearing for the safety of her three children “after verbal attacks on her husband by President Donald Trump himself, as well as taunts on social media by administration officials and Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele.” Meanwhile, as Democrats champion Abrego Garcia’s case, they are side-stepping more complex legal arguments against his deportation and instead “emphasizing due process and the rule of law,” POLITICO’s Elena Schneider, Nicholas Wu and Myah Ward report.
| | | | POLITICO IS BACK AT THE 2025 MILKEN GLOBAL CONFERENCE:
From May 4–7, California Playbook will deliver exclusive, on-the-ground coverage from the 28th Annual Milken Institute Global Conference. Get behind-the-scenes buzz, standout moments, and insights from leaders in AI, finance, health, philanthropy, geopolitics, and more. Subscribe now for your front-row seat to the conversations shaping our world. | | | | | 4. SAY YES TO MICHIGAN: Now that Rep. Haley Stevens (D-Mich.) has launched a Senate bid, the jockeying to succeed her in Michigan’s blue 11th House district has begun in earnest. Already voicing their interest, via Detroit News’ Melissa Nann Burke: state Sen. Jeremy Moss, former Rep. Andy Levin (who Stevens defeated in a post-redistricting House primary in 2022) and Oakland County Commission Board Chair Dave Woodward (who was instrumental in turning the county into a Democratic juggernaut). 5. SCHOOL DAZE: The presidents of more than 150 U.S. colleges and universities have signed a letter condemning “government overreach” in response to the Trump administration’s recent moves to seize control of academic institutions, NBC News’ Matt Lavietes reports. Led by the American Association of Colleges and Universities, the college leaders say they “are open to constructive reform and do not oppose legitimate government oversight," but “oppose undue government intrusion in the lives of those who learn, live, and work on our campuses." The timing: The letter comes a day after Harvard University filed suit against the federal government, alleging it unlawfully froze billions in university funds in retaliation for Israel-Gaza protests on campus that the administration alleges were antisemitic in nature and infringed on the Title IX rights of Jewish students. 6. CLINICS LEFT IN LIMBO: “Clinics around the country that provide contraception and other reproductive health services to low-income patients are running out of funds as they await word from the Trump administration on tens of millions of dollars in grants frozen last month,” POLITICO’s Alice Miranda Ollstein reports. Left with few options, some providers are considering legal action while others scramble to “backfill the missing federal dollars. And some, having exhausted their emergency funds, are shutting their doors.”
| | | | Cut through policy complexity and turn intelligence into action with POLITICO’s Policy Intelligence Assistant—a new suite of tools designed to save you time and demonstrate your impact more easily than ever—available only to Pro subscribers. Save hours, uncover critical insights instantly, and stay ahead of the next big shift. Power your strategy today—learn more. | | | | | | | TALK OF THE TOWN | | SPOTTED: George Simion, the hard-right Romanian opposition leader, chatting Friday night with some senior Trump DHS officials, including Sohan Dasgupta, at a hotel in D.C. OUT AND ABOUT — SPOTTED at the third annual YouTube Kids Hoppy Hour in the Hotel Washington lobby last night, with storytime, crafts with Kylee Makes It and yoga with Yogapalooza with Bari Koral: Reps. Mike Carey (R-Ohio) and Nick Langworthy (R-N.Y.) James Roscoe, Senay Bulbul, Ruth Ward, Ashley Callen, Stephanie Penn, Nick Hawatmeh, Kristin Sapperstein, Darin Miller, Carolyn King, Jamie Susskind, Emily Benavides, Anna Palmer, Alexandra Veitch, Josh Blumenfeld, Olivia Igbokwe, Jessica Moore, Dustee Jenkins, Kristin Cecchi, Liz Johnson, Fritz and Brooke Brogan, and Emilie Simons. TRANSITIONS — Sharon Soderstrom is now a senior adviser at Brunswick Group. She previously was chief of staff to Senate GOP Leader Mitch McConnell and is a Hill veteran. … Ryan Ghandour is now a congressional relations specialist at HUD. He previously was a legislative correspondent for Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo). … Rachel Canter is now director of education for the Progressive Policy Institute’s Reinventing America’s Schools Project. She previously was founder and executive director of Mississippi First. … … Maura Calsyn has joined Hogan Lovells as partner in its health practice. She most recently was acting assistant secretary for aging at HHS’ Administration for Community Living. … Economic Innovation Group has added Nathan Goldschlag as director of research, Kenan Fikri as senior fellow and Jess Remington as a research analyst. … Courtney Cooperman is now senior manager of community engagement at the Nonprofit Housing Association of Northern California. She previously was a project manager at the National Low Income Housing Coalition. 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 deputy editor Zack Stanton and Playbook Daily Briefing producer Callan Tansill-Suddath.
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