| | | |  | | By Eli Okun | | Presented by |  | | | |  | THE CATCH-UP | | | 
National security adviser Mike Waltz's time may be up imminently. | Alex Brandon/AP | MIKE DROP: President Donald Trump intends to oust national security adviser Mike Waltz in the first major shakeup of his second-term White House, POLITICO’s Dasha Burns, Jake Traylor, Felicia Schwartz and Robbie Gramer report. Though it isn’t final — and Trump can always change his mind — the push to boot Waltz has gained recent momentum after he lost the support of other top officials. Waltz’s deputy, Alex Wong, would also be shown the door. It’s a tough end to a short tenure in the administration for Waltz, who gave up his seat in Congress to take on the role. Feels like 2017: On a national security team “plagued by chaos” lately, Waltz and Wong were under pressure over both mistakes and ideological differences. West Wing officials blamed him for adding The Atlantic’s Jeffrey Goldberg to a group chat that morphed into Signalgate, while far-right activist Laura Loomer targeted both national security leaders as insufficiently loyal. “Loomered,” she texted Dasha in triumph. Other aides were skeptical of his more hawkish views, a traditional GOP background out of step with a newer MAGA foreign policy, NYT’s Maggie Haberman, David Sanger and Jonathan Swan report. “Waltz’s style was seen as imperious and abrasive,” Semafor’s Shelby Talcott, Burgess Everett and Morgan Chalfant add. How to lose friends and influence: Waltz had lost sway in the administration. “Chief of staff Susie Wiles was so frustrated with Waltz that she has been barely speaking to him,” our colleagues report. (Recall Rachael Bade and Dasha’s story from late March that some top officials wanted to wait to fire him immediately after Signalgate to avoid giving opponents a victory — but that they’d do it after some weeks.) Who’s next? If Waltz goes, Steve Witkoff, Stephen Miller, Sebastian Gorka, Richard Grenell, Christopher Landau and even Marco Rubio are among the names that have been floated as a replacement. But Witkoff, Trump’s everywhere-all-the-time special envoy, has said he doesn’t want the job and likely won’t get it, CNN’s Kaitlan Collins, Alayna Treene, Kevin Liptak, Jeff Zeleny, Kristen Holmes, Zachary Cohen and Alex Marquardt report. 2WAY’s Mark Halperin, who first reported on Waltz’s and Wong’s ousters, said more national security departures may follow, and that Landau is not being considered to succeed Waltz. The response: On the Hill, where Waltz enjoyed stronger support, some Republicans said they were sorry to see him go. Democrats quickly declared that Trump was axing the wrong man — and that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth should take the fall for Signalgate. European officials, meanwhile, are waiting anxiously to see who would replace Waltz, per Semafor. BIG RULING: A Trump-appointed federal judge in Texas barred the Trump administration from deporting Venezuelans without due process under the Alien Enemies Act, POLITICO’s Kyle Cheney reports. Judge Fernando Rodriguez said its usage in this context was illegal, because the Tren de Aragua gang’s presence in the U.S. doesn’t constitute an invasion by Venezuela. This is the first such ruling to reach that conclusion. RECONCILABLE DIFFERENCES: A flurry of meetings continued today as Republicans on the Hill and in the administration tried to grind out progress on their hulking domestic policy bill. House Majority Whip Tom Emmer (R-Minn.) led a breakfast meeting for committee chairs to give downloads to the rank and file, POLITICO’s Benjamin Guggenheim and Meredith Lee Hill report. And Trump was due to meet today at the White House with Speaker Mike Johnson, House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, House Energy & Commerce Chair Brett Guthrie (R-Ky.) and House Ways & Means Chair Jason Smith (R-Mo.), per Punchbowl’s Jake Sherman. The price isn’t right: Johnson told POLITICO’s Ben Leonard that he’s “not a big fan” of the White House’s proposal for a “most favored nation” policy to try to bring drug prices down. The pharmaceutical industry has sharply opposed including the policy in the reconciliation legislation, even as Trump officials have eyed it as an alternative cost-savings strategy instead of Medicaid cuts. Guthrie told reporters this morning he’s “absolutely open” to the idea. Up next: House Appropriations Chair Tom Cole (R-Okla.) slammed OMB Director Russ Vought for canceling a meeting today with House GOP appropriations cardinals, POLITICO’s Jennifer Scholtes reports. Cole said the president can’t dictate Congress’ actions and that lawmakers need to get the White House’s budget request. The White House maintained that the meeting had just been moved later in the day, but Cole said many lawmakers would be flying home by then. Keep up with all the Hill latest with the Inside Congress live blog Good Thursday afternoon. Thanks for reading Playbook PM. Drop me a line at eokun@politico.com.
| | | | A message from Planned Parenthood Federation of America: 1 in 4 people have visited a Planned Parenthood health center for expert, affordable care, including birth control, wellness visits, cancer screenings and more.
But lawmakers who oppose reproductive health are targeting Planned Parenthood. They want to take away the health care millions of patients rely on — especially those with low incomes.
Planned Parenthood won't stop fighting for the care people need and deserve.
We need you in this fight. Visit http://ImForPP.org to learn more. | | | | | | 9 THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW | | 1. FIRST IN PLAYBOOK: An internal poll from Sen. Bill Cassidy’s (R-La.) reelection campaign shows the incumbent with an early lead over GOP primary challengers. In the Ragnar Research survey, Cassidy has 45 percent support to 18 percent for state Treasurer John Fleming, who’s trying to challenge Cassidy from a pro-Trump lane. The details Survey says: Another notable new poll has tough results for both Democrats and Trump in Georgia. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution finds that just 35 percent of the state’s voters see the Democratic Party favorably, its lowest mark in nine years. And Trump’s approval rating has dropped to 43 percent. 2. FOR YOUR RADAR: A harrowing investigation from the Colorado Sun’s Jesse Paul uncovers serious staff concerns about working with former Rep. Yadira Caraveo (D-Colo.) as she grappled with mental illness last year. Then-aides witnessed two incidents in which Caraveo “appeared to attempt suicide,” and some “said they felt mistreated and taken advantage of,” warning others who might want to work for her. Caraveo, who’s now running again, has been public about her struggles with depression and hospitalization. Though she declined an interview with the Sun, Caraveo said in a statement that “I was in a dark place when I was suffering from depression and I know the disease led me to treat my friends, family and my staff in ways that I regret … [But] suffering from depression does not disqualify anyone from doing hard things or working to make their communities better.” 3. THE DISAPPEARED: Dozens of Bhutanese refugees who were in the U.S. legally have been deported, leaving them stateless and shuttled between different countries, advocates tell NYT’s Kurt Streeter in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. Family members don’t know where some of them are. The deportees had criminal records; the U.S. government has provided little information. Meanwhile in El Salvador, Venezuelans deported from the U.S. without due process have attracted little attention — because it’s so common, NYT’s Annie Correal reports from San Salvador. Nayib Bukele’s popular government since 2022 has jailed 80,000 in a gang crackdown, including thousands of reportedly innocent people who are without due process or communication. More immigration news: Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) isn’t done forcing tough votes for Republicans. He’s introducing a privileged resolution that would demand the Trump administration provide answers about returning wrongly deported immigrants, AP’s Mary Clare Jalonick reports. And Bloomberg’s Leon Yin, Elena Mejía, Rachel Adams-Heard and Polly Mosendz break down how the Trump administration is significantly scaling up its flights to move detainees between different centers around the country. The travel costs taxpayers, but watchdog groups say ICE is trying to shuttle people to regions that deport people at high rates. 4. THE NEW GOP: “Coming Soon for CEOs, a MAGA-Infused Business Association,” by WSJ’s Dana Mattioli: “A new group out of Washington, D.C., aims to offer an alternative to longstanding executive networks like the Business Roundtable, but with a MAGA makeover. American Growth Partnership … will offer monthly briefings and off-the-record roundtable discussions between its members and Trump appointees, aides and policymakers.” Membership tiers range from $50,000 to $100,000. The founders are Garrett Ventry, Richard Walters, Jim McCray, Josh Helton, Jason Thielman and Tim Edson.
| | | | 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. | | | | | 5. WHAT ROBERT F. KENNEDY JR. IS UP TO: The HHS secretary is pumping $500 million into a vaccine project to try to create “universal vaccines” from inactivated whole viruses, a change to an older method away from the newer Covid-19 vaccines, WSJ’s Nidhi Subbaraman and Liz Essley Whyte scooped. The scale of the investment shocked some HHS officials as the department makes sweeping cuts across health agencies. More from HHS: The department put out a new “best practices” report on transgender youth health care that calls for trans kids to be primarily treated with therapy, not gender-affirming medical care, AP’s Geoff Mulvihill, Carla Johnson and Amanda Seitz report. The report marks a major shift from recommendations by the World Professional Association for Transgender Health and the American Medical Association. NIH Director Jay Bhattacharya said kids must be protected from “unproven and irreversible medical interventions.” Some LGBTQ+ advocates warned that the administration was injecting politics into science; Trump has broadly staked out policies “aimed at denying the existence of transgender people.” 6. MAY 20 DEADLINE LOOMING: “Trump’s top DC prosecutor nominee facing some GOP headwinds,” by CNN’s Evan Perez and Annie Grayer: “Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee met behind closed doors this week to discuss concerns about Ed Martin’s nomination and whether senators should take the extraordinary step of holding a hearing on it. … [Sen. Thom] Tillis said he believed Republicans came to a consensus in the private meeting to not support one … [Sen. John Curtis] said he has concerns about Martin’s qualifications.” 7. IN THE DOGE HOUSE: Elon Musk sat down with reporters to reflect on 100 days of the Department of Government Efficiency upending the federal government, celebrating its purported cost savings even as he acknowledged they fell way short of his goals. Musk said he was proud of DOGE’s work but sounded less confident about getting to $1 trillion. He didn’t answer specifically about who will lead the office after him, per NYT’s Jonathan Swan. (“Is Budda needed for Buddhism?” he said.) It will be up to Congress and the Cabinet to really implement many massive cuts. Musk also dangled the prospect of DOGE scrutinizing the Fed, and fondly reflected on staying in the Lincoln Bedroom and getting ice cream late at night. 8. KNOWING RICKY BURIA: “Aide’s rise under Hegseth scrutinized in White House, Pentagon,” by WaPo’s Missy Ryan and Dan Lamothe: “Biden-era officials say they were flabbergasted when Ricky Buria, a respected officer who worked closely with Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, abruptly set aside a promising future in uniform to assume a political position as a senior adviser to Hegseth … White House officials and other Republicans voice concern about Buria … because of his association with Austin … [He’s] an MV-22 pilot who served in Iraq and Afghanistan.” 9. CAPITULATION CORNER: Microsoft has dropped Simpson Thacher & Bartlett in a major case and gone with Jenner & Block instead, NYT’s Noam Scheiber reports. The former struck a deal with Trump, while the latter fought his retaliation in court. It’s not clear why Microsoft made the change, but it indicates that as law firms fear losing work if Trump targets them, “a firm that chose to fight the Trump administration could still attract an important client.”
| | | | A message from Planned Parenthood Federation of America:  
| | | | | | TALK OF THE TOWN | | Joe and Jill Biden next week will give their first post-White House interview to “The View.” JD Vance said meeting Pope Francis just before he died was a “sign from God.” IN MEMORIAM — “Bob Filner, former mayor and lawmaker accused of harassment, dies at 82, leaving complicated legacy,” by The San Diego Union-Tribune’s Jeff McDonald: “The 10-term congressman became a rare Democrat elected mayor of San Diego in 2012. He left office months later under a cloud of sexual harassment allegations. … He rose through the ranks [in Congress] and eventually served as chair of the House Veterans Affairs Committee. … He helped establish the Congressional Progressive Caucus and was a major supporter of labor unions and U.S. veterans.” OUT AND ABOUT — SPOTTED at the Hill and Valley Forum programming and dinner yesterday in D.C.: Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, SBA Administrator Kelly Loeffler, Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, Sens. Chris Coons (D-Del.), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), Todd Young (R-Ind.), Joni Ernst (R-Iowa), Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.) and John Fetterman (D-Pa.), Reps. Byron Donalds (R-Fla.), Young Kim (R-Calif.), Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.) and María Elvira Salazar (R-Fla.), Steve Mnuchin, Jensen Huang, Vinod Khosla, Josh Kushner, Alex Karp, Shyam Sankar, Kevin Weil, Brad Lightcap, Brian Schimpf, Josh Wolfe, Ravi Mhatre and Shaun Maguire. TRANSITIONS — Former USTR Robert Lighthizer is now a senior adviser to Citigroup, advising about Trump’s trade wars, WSJ’s Alexander Saeedy scooped. … Erica Dahl is now VP of government affairs at Techtronic Industries - TTI. She previously was VP of policy for Scale Microgrids. … Raffi Freedman-Gurspan will be associate director for the federal funding and infrastructure office at Massachusetts’ Executive Office for Administration & Finance. She most recently was deputy director of public engagement at the Transportation Department, and was the first openly transgender White House staffer under Barack Obama. … … Arik Wolk is now comms director for Rep. Haley Stevens (D-Mich.). He previously worked on Sen. Tammy Baldwin’s (D-Wis.) reelect for the Wisconsin Dems. … Geneva Fuentes is now comms director for the Arizona Education Association. She previously was comms director for Rep. Joaquin Castro (D-Texas), and is a Steven Horsford and Ben Ray Luján campaign alum. … Austin Cook is now a director at Breakwater Strategy. He most recently was comms director on Elissa Slotkin’s Michigan Senate campaign, and is a Glover Park Group and Amy Klobuchar alum. WELCOME TO THE WORLD — Kate Schulman, senior comms manager at the U.N. Foundation’s Universal Access Project, and Sam Schulman, manager for government and public sector at Deloitte, on Monday welcomed Violet Isabelle Schulman, who came in at 8 lbs, 11 oz and 20 inches and joins big siblings Archie and Sylvie. BONUS BIRTHDAY: Christina Temple of the RNC (31) 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 our editor Zack Stanton and Playbook Daily Briefing producer Callan Tansill-Suddath. Correction: Yesterday’s Playbook PM misstated Sarah Palin’s title. She is a former governor of Alaska.
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