| | | |  | | By Jack Blanchard with Dasha Burns | | Presented by |  | | | With help from Eli Okun, Bethany Irvine and Ali Bianco On today’s Playbook Podcast, Jack and Dasha discuss the deadly floods in Texas, the new trade deadline and Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu’s latest visit to the White House.
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| Good Monday morning. This is Jack Blanchard.
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A new memo sheds light on how Joe Biden ended up on the debate stage against Donald Trump in June 2024. | Justin Sullivan/Getty Images | FIRST IN PLAYBOOK — Biden bombshell: Here’s one for the history books. This morning, Playbook readers can read the actual six-page memo that convinced President Joe Biden to push for an early debate with Donald Trump last June. And a quick trigger warning: Dems may prefer to read it through their fingers. With friends like these: In the ill-fated briefing document, dated April 15, 2024, Biden’s senior advisers told him not to wait for the autumn dates proposed by the Commission on Presidential Debates — the first of which, they noted, was scheduled after mail-in ballots would start going out — but instead to arrange a head-to-head with Trump within a matter of weeks. The memo was obtained by journalists Josh Dawsey, Tyler Pager and Isaac Arnsdorf, in the process of reporting their new book, “2024: How Trump Retook the White House and the Democrats Lost America,” which is out tomorrow. Read it and weep: “By holding the first debate in the spring, YOU will be able to reach the widest audience possible,” Biden’s top aides told him — and by the way, every reference to Biden is written in attention-grabbing all-caps and bold — “before we are deep in the summer months with the conventions, Olympics and family vacations taking precedence. In addition, the earlier YOU are able to debate the better, so that the American people can see YOU standing next to Trump and showing the strength of YOUR leadership, compared to Trump’s weakness and chaos.” Reality check: As readers may recall, it didn’t quite work out that way. More than 50 million Americans did indeed get the chance to see Biden stand next to Trump at the CNN debate on June 27. But the president melted down; his basic faculties failing him, his reelection hopes essentially torched inside 15 minutes. It was the most disastrous TV debate in history. Read the full memo here And there’s more: The book says support for an early debate was not unanimous among the president’s aides, and that some members of Biden world felt he should not go head-to-head with Trump at all. One unnamed donor called the White House in May, the book reports, “alarmed” by a recent appearance by the president at a Chicago fundraiser, and urged his team to “find an excuse” to get him out of the debates. This was rejected out of hand. And there’s still more: Dawsey told Playbook the leaked memo is one of multiple primary sources uncovered while researching the book, producing what its authors say will be the most comprehensive account of the 2024 campaign to date. “We have obtained internal memos, audio recordings, contemporaneous notes and other pieces of firsthand source material from both parties,” Dawsey said, via email. “We talked to both Trump and Biden. And we conducted more than 350 interviews.” Expect more scoops and insights in the days ahead. Final thought bubble: There’s been an awful lot written about a “cover-up” inside Biden’s White House over the president’s mental acuity. And as lots of excellent, scoopy reporting has shown, Biden’s closest aides were far from open about the extent of his decline. But … it does also seem an odd kind of “cover-up” to recommend the president get out on national TV as soon as possible for a 90-minute debate with his opponent, in front of millions of viewers. One to ponder, as further details emerge. In today’s Playbook … — Trump bats away DOGE questions as Texas death toll continues to rise. — Tariff letters to go out this afternoon as Trump shifts trade deadline again. — Netanyahu in town for White House talks amid hopes of Gaza peace deal.
| | | |  | DRIVING THE DAY | | AMERICA MOURNS: The confirmed death toll in central Texas from last Friday’s flash flooding disaster has now hit 82 people, including 28 children. And those numbingly awful numbers are likely to climb higher — at least 40 more people are still missing, including 10 girls from Camp Mystic, the summertime kids’ retreat on the banks of the Guadalupe River where so much of the coverage has focused. The stark facts: For America, this is now one of the deadliest floods of the past century, per the NYT. This is also now one of the deadliest single events for U.S. children we have ever seen, per NYT national reporter Mike Baker. And the stark political reality: For Trump, the questions about the impact of his administration’s cuts to the National Weather Service, and indeed to disaster response agency FEMA, are not going away. In the past few minutes, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer published a letter to the Commerce Department’s acting IG Roderick Anderson, demanding an urgent investigation into whether Trump administration cuts to local National Weather Service stations contributed to the loss of life. Read it here Online: Endless viral posts are blaming DOGE and broader federal budget cuts for the failure to forewarn people who lost their lives. Online sleuths last night were sharing this April 2025 article from local media about the region’s NWS “warning coordination meteorologist,” who took one of those early retirement packages offered by the federal government. “The importance of experience in the WCM role cannot be understated,” the article bemoaned at the time. “Ensuring ample and timely warning to the Central Texas counties … is among the chief responsibilities.” On the defensive: Trump faced a barrage of reporters’ questions along these lines last night after a Sunday trip to his golf club in New Jersey. The president repeatedly denied his federal workforce cuts were to blame for the loss of life, describing the floods as “a thing that happened in seconds … Just a horrible thing.” At one point Trump appeared to toy briefly with blaming his predecessor, but then thought better of it. “I wouldn’t blame Biden for it either,” Trump said. “I would just say this is a 100-year catastrophe, and it’s just so horrible for all.” And let’s be clear: Just as my Playbook colleague Zack Stanton set out in yesterday’s newsletter, there’s still absolutely no evidence that Trump’s NWS cuts had any impact on what happened in Texas on Friday morning. As you’d expect, local and national reporters alike have been digging away at this angle incredibly hard — and so far, the picture that’s emerging is one of a National Weather Service that did its job as a catastrophic weather event unfolded.
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WeDeliverForAmerica.org. | | | | The facts can be found in this X thread from the Department for Homeland Security, which offers useful information once you’ve waded past the tedious trolling of mainstream media. As DHS says, the NWS issued a flood watch early on Thursday afternoon, followed by further updates and warnings in the subsequent hours — and then a full flood alert at 1 a.m. Friday morning, three hours before the catastrophic flash flood that swept away parts of Camp Mystic. So the problem, as PBS’ Ali Rogin and others have pointed out, appears to have been in what experts refer to as “the last mile.” In other words — getting those vital NWS warnings to the people that needed them, in a very short space of time, across a very rural area, in the dead of night. This absolute must-read piece by Jesus Jiménez and colleagues at the NYT digs into why that final part of the chain might have gone wrong. The picture that emerges is of local and state authorities who have long known they had a serious capability issue, but — for a variety of reasons — failed to act. Witness … Reports of public resistance to any big-ticket spending … FEMA’s rejection in 2017 of a $1 million grant request for a local flood warning system … The local official who said installing “sirens and such” would be “a little extravagant for Kerr County” … The $54 billion price tag of all the unaddressed flood works across Texas … which sounds unimaginable until you see state lawmakers slashing property taxes by $51 billion … and on it goes. To wit: This looks less like some DOGE-concocted crisis than a long-running, local issue, on a well-known flood plain, where headspinningly similar tragedies have happened in the past. And unless dramatic new details emerge in the hours ahead, you can expect the ardent pushback from Trump and his supporters to continue. But here’s the thing: By allowing these life-or-death government agencies to be cut to ribbons in such a wilfully reckless manner, Trump has now put his administration in the firing line with every natural disaster that comes America’s way. And given how fast the climate is changing, it’s pretty apparent that more such tragedies lie ahead. Diary note: Trump said last night he will likely visit Texas this Friday. “We wanted to leave a little time,” he said. “I would have done it today, but we’d just be in their way.”
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We're American companies, making American products, with American workers, in America's hometowns. We're proud of what we do and how we do it. WeDeliverForAmerica.org. | | | | TRADING PLACES DID SOMEONE SAY ‘TACO’? Around a dozen of America’s trading partners will be issued with formal updates on their U.S. tariff levels today as Trump’s three-month “Liberation Day” pause nears its end. Trump said official letters will start going out to countries from noon today dictating the new level of tariff to be charged on exports to America. “It could be 12, maybe 15 [letters],” the president told reporters, “and we’ve made deals also, so we’re going to have a combination of letters and some deals have been made.” But wait a minute: That long-feared (lol) July 9 deadline has been moved again, to the surprise of absolutely nobody. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said there could be about 100 letters to countries warning them to make progress or face Trump’s “Liberation Day” tariff levels on … Aug. 1, per POLITICO’s Ari Hawkins. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick confirmed the new Aug. 1 deadline while gaggling alongside Trump last night. In fact: National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett said even that new date may be flexible, with Bessent indicating such haziness helps give Trump more leverage. To that end, Bessent said the August date is actually “not a new deadline.” Yet only a few days ago, Trump suggested he preferred the simplicity of dictating tariffs to negotiating trade deals at all. As usual, it’s all as clear as mud. ‘90 deals in 90 days’ update: Despite all the big talk in April and May, the U.S. has so far struck trade agreements with only the U.K. and Vietnam — and regarding the latter, details are painfully thin. He also struck a separate agreement with China to lower some tariffs. Talks have also advanced with Cambodia, India and the EU, and Trump and Bessent said they expect to announce several more noteworthy deals in the coming days, per Reuters. Across the pond: The Americans and Europeans are racing to reach the parameters of a limited deal, though Brussels wishes Trump had never begun the entire situation, WaPo’s David Lynch reports. “We think this is economic madness on the part of the Trump administration,” one top European Commission official says. A new threat: In a Truth Social post at 10:24 p.m. last night, Trump announced he’ll slap an additional 10 percent tariff on “[a]ny Country aligning themselves with the Anti-American policies of BRICS.” It wasn’t immediately clear to which policies he was referencing, but Trump has previously warned the bloc (which constitutes Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, plus assorted hangers-on) against jettisoning the U.S. dollar. A BRICS summit is currently underway in Brazil, so perhaps there was some coverage last night that set him off.
| | | | 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. | | | | | MIDDLE EAST LATEST BIBI COMES TO TOWN: Trump will welcome Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu to the White House at 6:30 p.m. for a dinner — a high-stakes moment as the U.S. pushes Israel to end the war in Gaza, where the reported death toll is now at nearly 60,000. (Israeli airstrikes killed another 38 Palestinians on Sunday, hospital officials said, per the AP.) It’s Netanyahu’s third visit to the White House inside six months. No other leader has been invited more than once. The conversation over dinner: Trump is eager to get Netanyahu on the same page for pausing — and then ending — the conflict, as well as the difficult task of sketching out a post-war future for who will govern Gaza, Axios’ Barak Ravid reports. Trump said on Friday he was “very optimistic” of a deal this week, though seemed to dial that down last night by saying only that he hoped for a deal to free the remaining Israeli hostages held in Gaza. The deal at hand: The newest draft of the ceasefire proposal — discussed between the various sides in Qatar yesterday — includes a 60-day pause in the war, hostage releases by Hamas and much-increased levels of aid distributed to the Palestinians by the U.N. and others. It doesn’t include a complete termination of the war, as Hamas has demanded, but says negotiations would take place during the two-month ceasefire. The draft also says Trump would guarantee that Israel will stick to the agreement — “an attempt to reassure Hamas that Israel would not unilaterally resume fighting as it did in March,” the AP writes. That’s not all: Trump said yesterday that he and Netanyahu will also discuss U.S. efforts to strike a permanent deal with Iran, following last month’s bombing raids on its nuclear facilities.
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We deliver $324 billion for the U.S. economy and support 4.2 million jobs nationwide. WeDeliverForAmerica.org. | | | | BEST OF THE REST TODAY IN COURT: One of the federal lawsuits over the Trump administration’s evisceration of USAID will go before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, where three judges will hear oral arguments at 9:30 a.m. (Related: Read The Atlantic’s Peter Wehner on many evangelical leaders remaining silent about Trump’s destruction of PEPFAR, which has saved 26 million lives.) … And in “the first significant trial of Trump 2.0,” a federal judge will hear a broad legal challenge to Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s efforts to deport pro-Palestinian foreign students/academics, POLITICO’s Josh Gerstein and Kyle Cheney preview. The two-week trial begins at 9 a.m. in Boston. SCHOOL DAZE: A deal could be in the offing between Columbia University and the Trump administration to make campus changes and get back some federal funding, WSJ’s Douglas Belkin and Brian Schwartz scooped. It may include some sort of monitor instead of a consent decree, per Columbia board discussions yesterday. FIRST IN PLAYBOOK — The Biden factor: As Rep. Haley Stevens and state Sen. Mallory McMorrow jockey for position in the Michigan Democratic primary to succeed retiring Sen. Gary Peters, Playbook has obtained a new poll from Dem firm Normington Potts testing out both candidates’ vulnerabilities in head-to-head matchups against former Rep. Mike Rogers, the GOP frontrunner. In a memo for Yes Michigan, pollster Jill Normington writes that both McMorrow and Stevens are “strong general election candidates,” but that Stevens has a unique vulnerability in the general election: her congressional voting record supporting Biden — which was “the most damaging argument against any candidate” in the poll. Read the memo 2028 WATCH: Though he’s retiring from the House, Rep. Don Bacon (R-Neb.) says he’s open to running for governor or president, NBC’s Scott Wong and Frank Thorp V report. MEGABILL FALLOUT: The coming deep health care cuts in Republicans’ signature new law are already making waves in North Carolina, where an effort to reopen a rural hospital is now jeopardized, NYT’s Eduardo Medina reports from Williamston. Those who have benefited from Medicaid expansion now worry the law will lead to its unwinding. Around the country, hospitals, health insurers and millions of people forecast to lose their coverage are bracing for impact, WSJ’s Dominique Mosbergen and colleagues report. And massive cuts to food aid will arrive even as the percentage of Americans who don’t have enough to eat has already been rising, Axios’ Emily Peck reports. Inside the tax provisions: Some service workers who get tips could benefit significantly from the law’s new elimination of certain taxes on tips, WSJ’s Josie Reich and Richard Rubin report. But others will find that the fine print limits the provision’s effect. And for service workers whose earnings are too low to pay federal income tax — more than one-third — the break won’t help at all. TIKTOK ON THE CLOCK: “TikTok Building New Version of App Ahead of Expected U.S. Sale,” by The Information’s Sylvia Varnham O’Regan and Juro Osawa REALITY CHECK: The Justice Department and FBI have for the first time under Trump officially contradicted widespread far-right conspiracy theories about Jeffrey Epstein’s death, Axios’ Alex Isenstadt scooped. Among their conclusions: “no evidence that convicted sex offender and disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein blackmailed powerful figures, kept a ‘client list’ or was murdered.” They put out prison video from the night he killed himself. And no one else will be charged. It’s quite the reversal from Kash Patel’s and Dan Bongino’s spreading of conspiracy theories before they started leading the FBI. Notably, the memo also says Epstein hurt more than a thousand victims.
| | | | 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 | | SPORTS BLINK — “Washington Nationals fire Dave Martinez, Mike Rizzo,” by ESPN’s Jesse Rogers: “Rizzo, 64, and Martinez, 60, won a World Series with the Nationals in 2019, but the team has floundered in recent years. … Mike DeBartolo, the club’s senior vice president and assistant general manager, was named interim GM on Sunday night.” FIRST IN PLAYBOOK — FanDuel is adding Shailagh Murray as SVP of public affairs and Jonathan Nabavi as VP of federal affairs. Murray previously was EVP of public affairs at Columbia University and is an Obama White House alum. Nabavi previously was VP of public policy and government affairs at the NFL and is a Hill veteran. MEDIA MOVES — Allison Gordon is returning to CNN as an investigative reporter/producer in the D.C. bureau. She most recently finished a Fulbright year in Berlin. … James Desio is joining WaPo as editor on their letters and community team. He previously was director of media relations at the American Enterprise Institute. TRANSITION — Olivia Davis is now press secretary at the Democratic Governors Association. She most recently was comms director for ModSquad, and is a Tom Carper and Catherine Cortez Masto alum. ENGAGED — Juan Ayala, director of comms at Citizens for Responsible Energy Solutions and a Rob Portman alum, and Sharon Popke, a registered nurse at Inova Fairfax, got engaged Saturday at Ramulose Ridge Vineyards. Pic HAPPY BIRTHDAY: Rep. Judy Chu (D-Calif.) … Mike Rigas … former Rep. Matt Rosendale (R-Mont.) … Matt Hill of Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker’s office … Marti Adams Baker … Bloomberg’s Nia-Malika Henderson … Eleanor Clift … Rachel Rosen … Rachael Leman of Leman Kennedy … Amanda Maddox … Ed Kaleta of UnitedHealth Group … Matt Gobush of the Afghanistan War Commission … Stuart Varney of Fox Business Network … Luther Lowe … Truman Reed of Rep. Monica De La Cruz’s (R-Texas) office … Andy Manatos … Ana Kasparian … former House Majority Leader Dick Armey … CNN’s Sophie Tatum … Lx Fangonilo of Deep Root Analytics … Patricia Bryan (7-0) … Miranda Dabney … Michael Hudome … Sara Schreiber … Amanda Crumley … Jason Raymond … Bry’Shawna Walker of Rep. Shomari Figures’ (D-Ala.) office … Patrick Dillon 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, deputy editor Garrett Ross and Playbook Podcast producer Callan Tansill-Suddath.
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