| | | |  | | By Garrett Ross | | Presented by |  | | | |  | THE CATCH-UP | | THE NEW POLITICAL CURRENCY: Kyle Tharp explores a very 2025 question in his latest Chaotic Era post: What’s become of Kamala Harris’ @KamalaHQ TikTok account, which boasts more than 5 million followers on a highly engaged platform? “Instead of rebranding or transferring ownership of the account to a PAC or anti-Trump group, I’m told they are in a holding pattern, reserving the account for potential use in Harris’ next political campaign – either for Governor of California in 2026 or another presidential bid in 2028.”
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President Donald Trump is pushing ahead with a sprawling deregulation blitz across the federal government. | Pool via AP | NEW DOGE, NEW TRICKS: Emboldened by a set of Supreme Court decisions that it believes will stand up under scrutiny, the White House is charging ahead with plans to “launch a sweeping new phase in their quest to dismantle much of the federal government: deregulation on a mass scale,” NYT’s Coral Davenport reports. While President Donald Trump’s deregulation agenda is no secret, how he’s doing it is notable. The White House is shirking the typical process of repealing regulations that often takes years and “marshaled a strategy for a dramatic do-over designed to kill regulations swiftly and permanently,” which is being driven by Elon Musk’s DOGE operation and overseen by OMB Director Russ Vought. “At Mr. Trump’s direction, agency officials are compiling the regulations they have tagged for the ash heap, racing to meet a deadline next week after which the White House will build its master list to guide what the president called the ‘deconstruction of the overbearing and burdensome administrative state.’” A taste of the overhaul: At HHS, “Trump administration officials want to reverse a regulation that has required nursing homes to have more medical staff on duty. At the Mine Safety and Health Administration, powerful lobbying groups have asked the administration to eliminate a rule to protect miners from inhaling the dust of crystalline silica, a mineral that is used in concrete, smartphones and cat litter but that can be lethal in the lungs.” Data deployment: Elsewhere, the administration is “using personal data normally protected from dissemination to find undocumented immigrants where they work, study and live, often with the goal of removing them from their housing and the workforce,” WaPo’s Rachel Siegel, Hannah Natanson and Laura Meckler report. “The result is an unprecedented effort to use government data to support the administration’s immigration policies. That includes information people have reported about themselves for years while paying taxes or applying for housing — believing that information would not be used against them for immigration purposes. Legal experts say the data sharing is a breach of privacy rules that help ensure trust in government programs and services.” Internal pushback against DOGE: The effort by Musk’s DOGE team to skirt a court order “barring their access to sensitive data and internal systems at the Social Security Administration” has prompted “career staff to repeatedly resist their efforts,” WaPo’s Hannah Natanson and Lisa Rein report. “The battle inside the agency led the Justice Department to intervene to deny DOGE access to the data, even as the Trump administration installed and promoted DOGE-friendly leaders to dramatically cut back services at Social Security. “It involved staff, from rank-and-file employees to senior leaders, including acting commissioner Leland Dudek, who was appointed to his position after displaying public loyalty to DOGE. And it eventually helped lead to the physical removal last week of a top career executive, who had been warned he would be fired if he kept refusing to let DOGE into Social Security’s systems.” Meanwhile, at DOD: Facing pressure from DOGE, “nearly all the staff of the Defense Digital Service — the Pentagon’s fast-track tech development arm — are resigning over the coming month,” moves that will effectively shutter the decade-old program, POLITICO’s Mohar Chatterjee scoops. “Either we die quickly or we die slowly,” director Jennifer Hay told Mohar. WHAT TO WATCH OUT WEST TONIGHT: “How Barbara Lee wins — or loses — the race for Oakland mayor,” by POLITICO’s Jeremy White: “A race once seen as a coronation of former Rep. Barbara Lee has morphed, instead, into a truly competitive clash between Lee and former Councilmember Loren Taylor as the voter dissatisfaction that produced two November recalls remains rampant. … The campaigns have each framed the vote as a fundamental choice: Lee’s is a message of unity and revival, while Taylor’s is about fixing a broken city by defying the establishment — and rejecting career politicians like Lee.” LIVE AND LET DEI: “With his legacy under fresh attacks, MLB celebrates Jackie Robinson,” by WaPo’s Michael Lee: “MLB responded to Trump’s executive orders by removing all references to ‘diversity’ from the careers page on its website. A spokesperson said the move was made to ensure MLB’s hiring programs comply with federal law but emphasized that it does not reflect a change in values. In other words, MLB insists its commitment to ensuring all kinds of candidates receive opportunities is unchanged, but it will not risk a lawsuit — or put its many Republican donor owners under White House scrutiny — to do it.” Good Tuesday afternoon. Thanks for reading Playbook PM. Drop me a line at gross@politico.com.
| | | | A message from PhRMA: Chances are your insurer and PBM are owned by the same big health care company. They also own big chain pharmacies – and are even buying doctors' offices. When middlemen own it all, you lose. It's time to protect patients and rein in the middlemen. See how. | | | | | | 7 THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW | | 1. TRADE WAR REPORT: VP JD Vance in an interview with UnHerd, a British news site, “predicted that President Trump would make a trade deal with Britain, a country ‘he really loves,’ a comforting sign for a British government that was stung to be placed under a 10 percent tariff by Mr. Trump,” per the NYT. “Mr. Vance said the White House was working closely with Prime Minister Keir Starmer of Britain and his government. ‘I think there’s a good chance that, yes, we’ll come to a great agreement that’s in the best interest of both countries,’ he said.” Meanwhile, India sees an upside: “Trump’s Trade War With China Could Be Good for India. But Is It Ready?” by NYT’s Alex Travelli and Hari Kumar: “For the past 10 years [PM Narendra] Modi has pursued a goal he named ‘Make in India.’ … Yet the role of manufacturing in India over a decade has shrunk, relative to services and agriculture, from 15 percent of the economy to less than 13.” How it’s playing stateside: “Trump Gave Automakers a Tariff Break. It’s Causing More Confusion,” by WSJ’s Ryan Felton: “When President Trump enacted the 25% tariff on all vehicle imports, he gave automakers some relief: They would be allowed to pay a lower tariff based on the percentage of U.S.-produced parts and materials used in a foreign-built vehicle. The White House, however, has yet to provide many details on what exactly constitutes ‘U.S. content’ or how it might be determined, for now leaving it up to the companies to figure it out on their own. Meanwhile, they have been left to pay the full tariff.” The cost to the dollar: “Investors dodge U.S. dollar and Treasurys, scared by Trump’s trade war,” by WaPo’s David Lynch: “The weaker dollar — now near a three-year low against the euro — is bad news for Americans traveling abroad and could also aggravate inflation by making foreign goods more expensive. U.S. exporters, however, should gain.” 2. DUBIOUS EVIDENCE: “Government's case against Mahmoud Khalil is shaky and reliant on tabloid accounts, review of evidence shows,” by NBC’s Chloe Atkins: “NBC News reviewed more than 100 pages of documents submitted by the federal government in its effort to deport [former Columbia University student] Mahmoud Khalil, as well as evidence filed by Khalil’s legal team, including his permanent residency application, several articles about his activism, and contracts and letters detailing internship and work experience. In some instances, the government appears to be relying on unverified tabloid articles about Khalil. In others, the government’s claims about him are clearly erroneous because timelines don’t match.” 3. THE CLIMATE CLAWBACK: “Trump’s EPA wages war over $20B in ‘gold bars,’’ by POLITICO’s E&E News’ Jean Chemnick: “A federal judge has given herself until Tuesday to rule on whether EPA can continue freezing the $20 billion in federal dollars … while the courts sort out whether the administration can cancel the grants entirely. That money has been sitting for months in accounts at Citibank, where EPA’s Biden-era leaders had placed it for the use of eight affordable housing and community-lending nonprofits. If they remain cut off from the cash, at least two of the groups have said they will go under.”
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| | | | | 4. RETRIBUTION TOUR ROLLS ON: Amid the onslaught of crackdowns that Trump has rolled out since taking office — from immigration to Big Law to universities and more — the Democratic Party’s “core political institutions” like ActBlue and Indivisible “are preparing for the possibility that the federal government may soon launch criminal investigations against them,” AP’s Steve Peoples reports. “Other Democratic allies are planning for Trump-backed legal crackdowns as well. Wary of antagonizing the president, most prefer to stay anonymous for now.” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt did little to assuage their concerns, telling the AP: “If you have broken the law and engaged in the weaponization of justice, then you should be worried. It’s that simple.” 5. YOU CAN’T HAND DOWN THE TRUTH: Erez Reuveni, a career DOJ lawyer, is known for his candor in the courtroom under both Republican and Democratic presidencies — a reality that has now cost him his job. After nearly 15 years at DOJ, the department fired him following his involvement in the case of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, who was sent to a Salvadoran prison in error, WSJ’s Sadie Gurman reports. When Reuveni acknowledged to the judge hearing the case that he didn’t understand why the error had occurred, the judge thanked him for his honesty. “Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche told Reuveni the next day he was suspended for failing to follow orders and hurting the government’s position.” 6. DANCE OF THE SUPERPOWERS: “China Accuses U.S. Spy Agency of Winter Games Cyberattacks,” by WSJ’s Brian Spegele: “Chinese police issued wanted notices for three people they said engaged in cyberattacks against China on behalf of the U.S. National Security Agency, a rare step by Beijing as hostilities between the superpowers escalate. The accusations that the NSA targeted the Asian Winter Games held in the northeastern Chinese city of Harbin in February are part of efforts by Beijing to present China as a victim of U.S. aggression alongside the Trump administration’s hefty tariffs against the country.” 7. FOR YOUR RADAR: “Another US aircraft carrier in Mideast waters ahead of second round of Iran-US nuclear talks,” by AP’s Jon Gambrell: “A second U.S. aircraft carrier is operating in Mideast waters ahead of the next round of talks between Iran and the United States over Tehran’s rapidly advancing nuclear program, satellite photos analyzed Tuesday by The Associated Press showed. The operation of the USS Carl Vinson and its strike group in the Arabian Sea comes as suspected U.S. airstrikes pounded parts of Yemen controlled by the Iranian-backed Houthi rebels overnight into Tuesday.”
| | | | 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 | | NEWS FROM THE HOME TEAM: Christopher Cadelago is taking over as POLITICO’s new editorial director for California. And Joel Rubin is joining POLITICO as the first-ever California senior policy editor. He previously was deputy business editor at the LA Times. Read the announcement FIRST IN PLAYBOOK — WHITE HOUSE ARRIVAL LOUNGE: Jamie Gillespie is now a special assistant to the president handling the House Judiciary and Oversight committees. He is a former House leadership staffer. TRANSITIONS — Former Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen returned to the Brookings Institution today as a distinguished fellow. … Kacey Shriner is now alumni and young professionals program director at the American Conservation Coalition. She previously was leadership development director at America's Future. … Eric Greig is now a partner for Cooley’s global life sciences and healthcare regulatory practice. He previously was a partner in Latham & Watkins’ healthcare and life sciences group. … Zach Beecher has joined Scout Ventures as a D.C.-based partner leading its investment team focused on dual-use technologies. He previously was a partner and head of growth at America’s Frontier Fund. WELCOME TO THE WORLD — Adrienne Watson, a comms consultant and former Biden NSC spokesperson, and Will Jennings, senior product marketing manager at Nvidia, on April 6 welcomed Claire Lynn Jennings. Pic … Another pic 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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