| | | |  | | By Jack Blanchard with Dasha Burns | | Presented by |  | | | With help from Eli Okun and Bethany Irvine
| | | Good Tuesday morning. This is Jack Blanchard. In today’s Playbook … — The Biden book is out — and Dems are feeling the heat. — Trump hits the Hill to put the squeeze on GOP holdouts. — Democratic congresswoman charged by Trump’s DOJ.
|  | DRIVING THE DAY | | | 
President Joe Biden in December 2024. | Susan Walsh/AP | ORIGIN STORY: The book that’s set D.C. ablaze for the past week is finally out this morning — but in truth, “Original Sin” drops into a firestorm of the Democratic Party’s own making. The accusations leveled at Joe Biden’s closest aides and family members by authors Alex Thompson and Jake Tapper have cemented in the minds of millions of Americans that which they believed long before that disastrous onstage meltdown last summer: that an 80-something Biden was no longer fit to be president and should never have stood for reelection. These are difficult conversations for Dems to be having in the light of the gut-wrenching cancer diagnosis revealed by Biden’s office on Sunday afternoon. But have them they must, whatever David Axelrod may say. Because this book makes it certain voters will be having these conversations in 2028, and perhaps beyond. The reviews are in: Writing for POLITICO this morning, James Kirchick says this and other Biden books “paint a devastating portrait of an ailing, geriatric leader surrounded by mendacious aides.” No serious journalistic outlet is pushing back on the book’s central claims. The New York Times calls “Original Sin” a “damning portrait of an enfeebled Biden protected by his inner circle.” The Washington Post’s review describes “an elderly, egotistical president shielded from reality by a slavish coterie of loyalists.” The WSJ calls it “a conspiracy in plain view.” After years in which the “cover-up” theory was pushed only by the right, the media concurs. This is now the prevailing narrative. The buzz: It’s hard to think of a book which has shifted the political dial to this extent in recent years — perhaps nothing since Michael Wolff’s “Fire and Fury,” the gossipy portrait of Donald Trump’s first year in power that had D.C. bookshops staying open past midnight, Harry Potter-style, when it came out in 2018. “Original Sin” is clearly going to sell a ton, and Thompson — who published a string of Biden age-related reporting last year — has already started picking up awards.
| | | | A message from the Alzheimer's Association: Congress Can Connect Americans to Alzheimer's Solutions: This is the most hopeful time in the history of Alzheimer's. Breakthrough research — made possible by bipartisan support in Congress — has led to the first FDA-approved treatments, earlier detection, improved diagnosis, and better support for caregivers. With over 7 million Americans living with this fatal disease, and their nearly 12 million caregivers, Congress must accelerate, not stop, progress. Congress, it's up to you. | | | | Those who were around Biden have nowhere to hide. Only a few weeks ago, your author recalls prominent Dems pushing back hard in private conversations about the phrase “cover-up” on the book’s cover. Now? Pure evasion. Turns out then-Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg only ever saw Biden on his good days. Same with national security adviser Jake Sullivan. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer refuses to engage at all. Will voters buy any of this? Into this storm drops Biden’s cancer diagnosis — awful news about a man who’s given decades of service for the American people. It didn’t take long for the questions about this illness — most importantly, when it was first diagnosed — to move from far-right social media to the mouths of the GOP’s chief protagonists yesterday. “I’m surprised the public wasn’t notified a long time ago,” Trump said. “It takes a long time to get to that situation.” Trump’s former White House doctor Rep. Ronny Jackson (R-Texas) — himself repeatedly accused of handing out overly rosy presidential health reports — told Fox News it was “a distinct possibility” Biden has been covertly receiving cancer treatment for years. Shutting it down: House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries won’t countenance such talk. He warned darkly yesterday of “Republicans peddling in conspiracy theories” — and it’s certainly true that too many people in the Trump-era GOP have been happy to flirt with baseless nonsense in the past. But is it really a surprise people are questioning what they’ve been told on this, given the conspiracy of silence laid bare in “Original Sin?” The NYT reports that even Dems who worked on Biden’s 2024 campaign are privately asking questions about who knew what about the cancer diagnosis, and when. And so up steps VP JD Vance, who said yesterday that America needs “to be honest about whether [Biden] was capable of doing the job.” He added: “In some ways, I blame him less than I blame the people around him.” Listening to Vance, you could already imagine another debate stage — perhaps even another CNN debate stage — in 2028, with the VP accusing his Democratic opponent of colluding in a colossal lie, covering up the infirmity of the most-powerful person on the planet and then endorsing Biden to run again. It will be a powerful message — and that Democratic opponent is going to need far better answers than anything we’ve heard so far. Will anyone have the courage to take this head-on? While we’re relitigating 2024 … Gloomy Dems should also take the time to read the newly released Catalist report breaking down the 2024 election, which draws on highly detailed voter data to explain why Kamala Harris lost. (The Cook Political Report’s Amy Walter got the scoop.) The gist: Harris seriously struggled with younger, more-diverse and less-engaged voters shifting significantly to the right — a change from Democrats’ typically stronger showing with infrequent or new voters. “The Obama coalition turned into the Trump coalition,” Walter writes. One takeaway for the GOP: “Other Republican candidates have not been able to replicate Trump’s ability to reach the less frequent voters in his coalition. Future candidates may not be able to do so either, but these voters are still more visible to Republican campaigns than they were before 2016.” Read the full report here
| | | | A message from the Alzheimer's Association: False claims are spreading — including the dangerous myth that the NIH has focused Alzheimer's research only on one target called beta Amyloid. Publicly verifiable facts prove this is untrue. Let's move past the confusion, and continue strong bipartisan support for life-saving research. | | | | MEANWHILE ON THE HILL RECONCILABLE DIFFERENCES: Trump makes a rare trip to the Capitol this morning to join the House GOP Conference meeting at 9 a.m., in what may prove a pivotal moment for the Republican Party’s massive tax-and-spend legislation. Moderates and House GOP leaders hope Trump will pressure hard-liners to abandon their calls for more sweeping Medicaid cuts, POLITICO’s Meredith Lee Hill and colleagues report. Trump hasn’t taken to whipping individual votes as yet, but you can well imagine the gist from the self-proclaimed dealmaker-in-chief: Get it done. (Catch the latest state of play from our Inside Congress colleagues.) The schedule: Remember, Speaker Mike Johnson is trying to keep things on track for the bill to go to the House Rules Committee at 1 a.m. tonight (er, tomorrow) and a floor vote to follow either later on Wednesday or Thursday. But but but: The hard right is holding firm and may yet stand up to Trump, CNN’s Manu Raju and colleagues report. House Freedom Caucus Chair Andy Harris (R-Md.) said negotiations should continue and push the bill past Memorial Day. “They’re trying to run it in through the jet fumes, and I just don’t agree with that,” warned Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas). Even so, some hard-liners (Roy perhaps excepted) signaled that they’ll let it proceed through Rules and set up the real test for the floor vote, per Meredith. The devil in the details: Members who want a higher state and local tax (SALT) deduction said a meeting with Johnson last night was “productive,” but didn’t reach a deal, per Meredith. … Stricter Medicaid work requirements and ending clean-energy tax credits remain two big outstanding questions. But Johnson told reporters that a conservative plan to foist more Medicaid payments onto states is now off the table. What’s fueling the hard-liners: Moody’s downgrade of the U.S. credit rating has only hardened holdouts’ concerns about voting for a bill that will make the deficit worse, POLITICO’s Benjamin Guggenheim and colleagues report. And the Congressional Budget Office will not have a final cost estimate by the time Johnson wants to vote, Meredith and Jennifer Scholtes report. (Attacking the independence of the nonpartisan CBO — which, as The Hill’s Mychael Schnell reported, is advised in a “Newt draft” of GOP talking points — may not cut it.)
| | | | Did you know Playbook goes beyond the newsletter—with powerhouse new co-hosts at the mic? Tune in to The Playbook Podcast every weekday for exclusive intel and sharp analysis on Trump’s Washington, straight from Jack Blanchard and Dasha Burns. Start listening now. | | | | | JUDICIARY SQUARE THE NEXT BIG FLASHPOINT: Trump’s acting U.S. Attorney for New Jersey Alina Habba last night charged Rep. LaMonica McIver (D-N.J.) with assault, following the Democratic lawmakers’ chaotic confrontation with authorities at a Newark ICE facility earlier this month. Though Habba simultaneously dropped the charge against Mayor Ras Baraka, the Justice Department’s escalation in its case against McIver presents “an extraordinary stress-test for the separation of powers,” POLITICO’s Madison Fernandez and colleagues report. Accountability or weaponization? Democrats, including McIver herself, instantly decried the charges as political. Jeffries warned last week that arresting members of Congress over the incident would cross a “red line.” Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) called Habba’s move a “baseless” and “brazen attack” on the Constitution. Just as quickly, conservatives sprung into action to applaud the DOJ. “NOT ABOVE THE LAW,” screamed a Fox News banner, echoing the central thrust of the messaging from DHS Secretary Kristi Noem and other Republicans. The NRCC said Dems were “making political theater out of obstructing law enforcement.” Let’s go to the tape: Determining the legitimacy of the charges against McIver will depend on the evidence. So far, “[t]he federal government’s narrative has also been contradicted by video footage and by witnesses who were at the scene,” NYT’s Luis Ferré-Sadurní notes. McIver said that day that she’d been the one assaulted by an officer, POLITICO’s Ry Rivard reported at the time. Both camps have claimed vindication from some video footage. Fox News reports that McIver is facing multiple felony charges, which could carry jail time, and that unreleased body-cam footage is coming. The incident sets up a potentially dramatic clash at a House Judiciary subpanel hearing on “threats to ICE Operations” today, POLITICO’s Hailey Fuchs notes. MORE FROM DOJ: It all follows a busy afternoon for the Justice Department, which also chose to settle the wrongful-death suit brought by the family of Jan. 6 Capitol stormer Ashli Babbitt, WaPo’s Spencer Hsu reports. Her family is due to get nearly $5 million. … DOJ also opened a probe into race-based discrimination by Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson, after he touted how many Black people he’d hired, per the Chicago Tribune. … And powerful DOJ official Emil Bove is a leading contender for a nomination to a lifetime circuit court judgeship, NYT’s Glenn Thrush and Charlie Savage report. BIG IMMIGRATION RULINGS: There was consequential news too from the Supreme Court, which undid a lower-court block on DHS ending Temporary Protected Status for 350,000 Venezuelans, per CBS. Those people could all become vulnerable to deportation as the underlying legal challenge proceeds. … An appeals court ruled that the Trump administration has to “facilitate” the return of another man wrongly deported to El Salvador, “Cristian,” per CNN. IN THE DOGE HOUSE: A federal judge blocked the Department of Government Efficiency’s attempted takeover of the U.S. Institute of Peace, saying the Trump administration acted illegally in seizing control, per Wired. In one of the starkest court losses yet for DOGE, the judge ordered the reinstatement of the institute’s board members and the reversal of its assets’ seizure. DOGE data tracker: POLITICO just launched a new Pro tool to track the latest actions by DOGE. A look at April and May alone reveals over 5,000 new contract, grant or lease cancellations. Pros can search new cuts, additions and modifications by government agency, contractor or congressional district. Subscribe to POLITICO Pro here, or request a demo of POLITICO’s news service, directories and other products.
| | | | A message from the Alzheimer's Association:  
The Alzheimer's Association is working with bipartisan lawmakers to make meaningful policy changes. More work remains. | | | | BEST OF THE REST HAPPENING TODAY: Beyond reconciliation, it’ll be a busy day on the Hill as several Cabinet members descend for budget hearings. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin and Noem will all be there. And Billy Long will have his confirmation hearing for IRS commissioner at 10 a.m. JET FUMES: The U.S. was the first party to broach the subject of obtaining a jet from Qatar to use as Air Force One, CNN’s Alex Marquardt and colleagues report. Special envoy Steve Witkoff helped arrange the early conversations, they report. Both countries’ legal teams are still hammering out details of the “gift.” NYT’s Eric Lipton and colleagues have a deep dive into the backstory of the jet, which grew out of longstanding frustration with Air Force One. But Schumer is already eyeing ways to block the gift in the Senate, Axios’ Stephen Neukam scooped. POLITICO’s Joe Gould and Connor O'Brien have more on how Congress could crush the effort. MIDDLE EAST LATEST: Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu said he’d allow “minimal” aid into Gaza because “mass starvation” was a “red line” for the U.S., WaPo’s Shira Rubin and colleagues report from Tel Aviv. Canada, France and the U.K. blasted Israel’s move as indefensibly insufficient amid Palestinians’ humanitarian catastrophe. TRAIL MIX: Some Virginia Republicans are growing more worried about Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears’ lackluster early gubernatorial campaign, in an environment that could already be challenging for the party this year, POLITICO’s Brakkton Booker and colleagues report. … Rep. Lauren Underwood (D-Ill.), who’d led some early Illinois Senate polling, announced she’ll stay put in the House after all. More from the Chicago Sun-Times … Democratic Colorado state Rep. Shannon Bird is challenging GOP Rep. Gabe Evans. IMMIGRATION FILES: The first self-deportation flight brought several dozen people back to Honduras and Colombia yesterday in exchange for $1,000 each, Axios’ Marc Caputo and Brittany Gibson scooped … Meanwhile, OMB and the State Department plan to use a $3 billion fund to get more countries to accept deportees, per Semafor’s Shelby Talcott and Morgan Chalfant.
| | | | Policy moves fast—stay ahead with POLITICO’s Policy Intelligence Assistant. Effortlessly search POLITICO's archive of 1M+ news articles, analysis documents, and legislative text. Track legislation, showcase your impact, and generate custom reports in seconds. Designed for POLITICO Pro subscribers, this tool helps you make faster, smarter decisions. Start exploring now. | | | | | | | TALK OF THE TOWN | | Kamala Harris continues her political reemergence, headlining a DNC fundraiser next month. Cory Booker joined Republicans to confirm Charles Kushner as ambassador to France despite his felony convictions — a vote that could haunt him come 2028. Eric Trump is heading to Vietnam for talks Thursday about a potential new Trump Tower in Ho Chi Minh City. (Vietnam, of course, is trying to get out from under his father’s tariffs.) Robert F. Kennedy Jr. got some natural-dye pushback from the CEO behind Dum Dums and Sweethearts, who said no one wants beet-flavored lollipops. Mohsen Mahdawi graduated from Columbia, celebrating with cheers from his classmates but saying the ceremony was bittersweet after his immigration detention. Jason Kao, a Bloomberg graphics reporter, was among those arrested at a pro-Palestinian protest at Columbia; the outlet says he’s not employed there anymore. PLAYBOOK METRO SECTION — The newly Trumpian Kennedy Center unveiled its 2025-2026 season: “Hamilton” and the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater are out, and some non-union touring productions will feature. But there will also still be plenty of top ballets and prominent shows — “The Outsiders,” “Back to the Future,” “Moulin Rouge!” “Spamalot,” “Chicago” and “Mrs. Doubtfire,” some of which get more playful with gender than one might have expected. However … that news was blotted out by leader Richard Grenell’s announcement that he would refer the Kennedy Center’s “criminal” budget deficits and deferred maintenance to federal prosecutors. The NYT has a somewhat puzzled write-up. — Following in the footsteps of its country, the Smithsonian Institution also had its credit rating downgraded by Moody’s, per Bloomberg. FIRST IN PLAYBOOK — Paul Wolfson is joining Democracy Forward as senior legal adviser. He most recently was deputy associate AG at the Justice Department, and is an alum of WilmerHale, where he was a top Supreme Court advocate. WHITE HOUSE ARRIVAL LOUNGE — Abigail Jackson is now deputy press secretary at the White House. She previously was deputy comms director at the RNC, and is a Josh Hawley alum. MEDIA MOVES — Mike Richards has been named the next president and chief content officer of The Daily Wire, which he joined in December, per Bloomberg’s Ashley Carman. He is a former executive producer and host of “Jeopardy!” … Misha Komadovsky is now a U.S. correspondent at Deutsche Welle. He previously was a White House correspondent at Voice of America. … … Naomi Zeveloff will join POLITICO as standards and ethics editor in North America. She most recently was an editor at the Committee to Protect Journalists. … Emma Kinery is now reporting on finance and fintech policy for State Affairs. She previously was a reporter at American Banker. TRANSITIONS — Brent Bozell will step down from his position as president and founder of the Media Research Center, to be replaced by his son David Bozell. … Jacqueline Thomas is now director of external comms at USDA. She most recently was a director at Rational 360, and is a Trump White House alum. … The DCCC is staffing up with six regional press secretaries for the cycle: Lindsay Reilly, Katie Smith, Riya Vashi, Anna Elsasser, Madison Andrus and Eli Cousin. … … Allen Klump is now a governmental affairs adviser at Maynard Nexsen. He previously was VP for governmental affairs for the South Carolina Manufacturing Alliance, and is a Jeff Duncan alum. … Brian Szmytke is joining Apollo Communications as VP for political strategy and operations. He previously was director of political marketing at i360. … Manisha Sunil is joining New Heights Communications as a director. She previously was director of comms at Groundwork Collaborative. ENGAGED — Michelle Hackman, an immigration policy reporter at the WSJ, and Daniel Asher, a senior counsel at the Treasury Department, got engaged Saturday over brunch at Primrose, where they went on an early date. He insisted on ordering dessert, but when it came out it was the ring. He then surprised her with a party with friends and family at Right Proper Brewing Company. The couple met on Hinge. Pic WEDDINGS — Kelsey Tamborrino, an energy reporter at POLITICO, and Sam Janesch, a politics and state government reporter at The Baltimore Sun, got married May 10 at Glasbern in Fogelsville, Pennsylvania. They met when they were both editors for the student newspaper at Penn State. — Brian Harrell, VP and chief security officer at Avangrid Energy and a Trump DHS alum, and Kate DiEmidio, VP of public policy and government affairs for Dragos, got married Saturday at the Hay-Adams’ Top of the Hay. Pic … Another pic … SPOTTED: Mark Weatherford, Adam Lee, Adam Stahl and Rob Lee. — Lauren LaBruna, a producer at “The Megyn Kelly Show,” and Riley Smith, regional CFO for North America at Ligentia, got married Saturday at St. Francis of Assisi in La Quinta, California, with a reception at the Ritz-Carlton in Rancho Mirage. They met at the University of Southern California, where Riley was tennis captain and Lauren was a USC Song Girl.Instagram reel WELCOME TO THE WORLD — Katie Bond, executive director of federal affairs for Boehringer Ingelheim, and Chris Bond, SVP of comms for AHIP, welcomed Elizabeth Agnes Bond early Saturday morning. She came in at 6 lbs, 2.6 oz and 19 inches, and joins big brother Charlie. Pic … Another pic HAPPY BIRTHDAY: Sen. Mike Crapo (R-Idaho) … Rep. Nellie Pou (D-N.J.) … Cindy McCain … Jon Meacham … former Delaware Gov. John Carney … Wally Adeyemo … Marie Royce … former Reps. Mark Walker (R-N.C.), Nick Rahall (D-W.Va.) and Harold Ford Sr. (D-Tenn.) (8-0) … POLITICO’s Eric Busch, Casey Arbaugh, Helena Tewolde, Grace Wisbey and Julia Marsh … George Condon … Ethan Rosenzweig … Stacy Day … WaPo’s Amber Phillips … Rebecca Morin … Ryan Kuresman … ABC’s Dan Abrams … Walter Isaacson … APCO’s Margery Kraus … Michael Oren (7-0) … Chad Day … Rebecca Eichmann … Cassie Smedile Docksey of Coign … Lauren Wolman of the Anti-Defamation League … Amazon’s PJ Hoffman … former New York Gov. David Paterson … Brian Darling … Time’s Phil Elliott … Michael Law ... Tom McGeveran … Christina Bellantoni … Craig Melvin Did someone forward this email to you? Sign up here. Send Playbookers tips to playbook@politico.com or text us on Signal here. Playbook couldn’t happen without editor Zack Stanton, deputy editor Garrett Ross and Playbook Podcast producer Callan Tansill-Suddath.
| | | | A message from the Alzheimer's Association: Congress Can Connect Americans to Alzheimer's Research, an Investment in America's Fiscal Health
As the most expensive disease in the nation, untreated Alzheimer's is a major driver of rising federal and state spending, adding to America's long-term debt.
The bipartisan path forward is clear: Sustained NIH investment in Alzheimer's and dementia research. This commitment accelerates innovation, leading to effective treatments, early detection and prevention strategies, and reduced long-term costs for families, Medicare and Medicaid.
Supporting NIH research is not just compassionate policy; it is a smart fiscal strategy with strong bipartisan backing in Congress and overwhelming support among the American public.
Together, let's create a future free from Alzheimer's and all other dementia.
Congress: Invest in research today, ensure a healthier and more fiscally sustainable tomorrow. | | | | | | | | Follow us on X | | | | Subscribe to the POLITICO Playbook family Playbook | Playbook PM | California Playbook | Florida Playbook | Illinois Playbook | Massachusetts Playbook | New Jersey Playbook | New York Playbook | Canada Playbook | Brussels Playbook | London Playbook View all our political and policy newsletters | | Follow us | | | |
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