| | | |  | | By Eli Okun | | Presented by |  | | | |  | THE CATCH-UP | | | 
President Donald Trump has scored success after success with congressional Republicans lately. | Samuel Corum/Getty Images | THE NEW GOP: President Donald Trump’s agenda keeps steamrolling through Capitol Hill, as skeptical Republicans repeatedly set aside their qualms and join with MAGA loyalists to hand the White House one success after another. Judge for yourself: As expected, the Senate Judiciary Committee advanced Emil Bove’s nomination as a federal judge, per POLITICO’s Hailey Fuchs. The controversial Trump enforcer at the Justice Department is the subject of a whistleblower complaint alleging he suggested defying court orders — which Bove denies — and a steady stream of detractors who have questioned his temperament and ethics. But Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) sharply defended his “yes” vote, maintaining that Bove hasn’t condoned Jan. 6. Democrats were so outraged that they walked out of the vote — including Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.), who shouted that Chair Chuck Grassley’s (R-Iowa) process was violating the rules. Headed to the Senate floor: Bove now advances to a full vote in the Senate, as does Jeanine Pirro to be U.S. attorney for D.C. Notably, in her written questionnaire, Pirro declined to acknowledge that Trump lost the 2020 election and said she was “not aware” that he had pardoned people convicted of violent assaults on police on Jan. 6. Funding fight: Meanwhile, Republicans’ decision to green-light a package of White House spending rescissions could reverberate on the Hill for quite some time. Both Democrats and OMB Director Russ Vought said it could threaten the traditionally bipartisan government appropriations process — with Dems furious, but Vought calling it a valuable change. Rescissions roundup: Speaker Mike Johnson said the House may vote on the Senate’s revised rescissions package tomorrow as the deadline looms, per Punchbowl’s Jake Sherman. And Vought is charging full steam ahead: He said the White House will likely send another rescissions request to Congress soon, per POLITICO’s Katherine Tully-McManus. And he explicitly refused to reassure Democrats that the White House will abide by congressional agreements on spending levels: “The appropriations process has to be less bipartisan,” Vought said. He called for a paradigm shift to treat Congress’ power of the purse as setting a limit, not a floor, on spending. The upshot: A long-broken government funding process could now get “shattered,” NOTUS’ Ursula Perano reports. The partisan rescissions could make Senate Democrats less willing to strike an appropriations deal that the White House may just ignore — raising the risk of a government shutdown. Standing up: Not all Hill Republicans are comfortable with Vought’s view. House Appropriations Chair Tom Cole (R-Okla.) has a new plaque citing language in the Constitution giving Congress control of appropriations, per POLITICO’s E&E News’ Andres Picon. Senate Majority Leader John Thune said Vought’s comment “runs contrary to what the math tells us around here,” since the Senate still needs 60 votes, per Semafor’s Burgess Everett. And Tillis told Everett that if the White House’s implementation of the rescissions — which senators voted for despite lacking details of the cuts — runs counter to members’ wishes, “that’ll change my posture going forward … They better get it right, or they’ll destroy credibility here.” But but but: The White House has seen that on the vast majority of Trump’s priorities, Congress will fold and cede power to the executive. That’s true even of the rabble-rousing House Freedom Caucus, which is developing a reputation on the Hill for caving to Trump, CNN’s Annie Grayer and Kristen Holmes report. (They argue that the process helps them extract concessions and shift legislation to the right.) Good Thursday afternoon. Thanks for reading Playbook PM. Drop me a line at eokun@politico.com.
| | | | A message from The Vapor Technology Association: The U.S. vaping industry and tens of thousands of small businesses are at risk. A Biden-era task force and rogue FDA and CBP bureaucrats are blocking all flavored vapes from entering the U.S. These bureaucrats are undermining President Trump's promises to protect our children from illicit vapes and save flavored vaping.
President Trump: Tell the FDA and CBP to stop banning vapes – vaping voters and small businesses are counting on you.
Learn more. | | | | | | 9 THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW | | 1. INCOMING: “Trump Admin to Cut Off Federal Funding to Hospitals That Provide Gender-Transition Services to Minors,” by National Review’s Audrey Fahlberg: “The Department of Health and Human Services will soon begin the rule-making process to prohibit the federal government from directly funding sex-trait modifications for minors through Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program.” More from HHS: As Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. plans to overhaul the Vaccine Injury Compensation Program, the impact on childhood immunizations “could be catastrophic,” ProPublica’s Patricia Callahan reports. That’s because significant changes could lead drugmakers to flee the market if they’re newly vulnerable to big lawsuits from people who experience rare side effects, as happened in the 1980s. 2. JEFFREY EPSTEIN FALLOUT: Maurene Comey, the Epstein prosecutor who was just fired from the Manhattan U.S. attorney’s office, warned her colleagues in a blazing message to hold firm against impropriety by the country’s legal leadership, POLITICO’s Erica Orden and Kyle Cheney scooped. “If a career prosecutor can be fired without reason, fear may seep into the decisions of those who remain. Do not let that happen,” she wrote. “Fear is the tool of a tyrant, wielded to suppress independent thought.” How it’s playing: “Trump faces backlash as 69% believe Epstein details concealed, Reuters/Ipsos poll finds,” by Jason Lange: “Close to two-thirds of Republicans think the administration is hiding details on Epstein’s business … Just 17% of Americans approve of Trump’s handling of the case, a weaker rating than the president received on any other issue.” 3. DEMOCRACY WATCH: The State Department is making a big pivot away from publicly evaluating whether foreign elections are fair and free, a tool the U.S. has long used to try to promote democracy abroad, WSJ’s Alex Ward and Robbie Gramer scooped. Secretary of State Marco Rubio indicated that the Trump administration now sees such comments as an infringement that oversteps other countries’ national sovereignty — and that the U.S. will stop commenting on the legitimacy of elections except if there’s “a clear and compelling U.S. foreign policy interest to do so.” More from Rubio: “State Department layoffs affect key Trump priorities like intelligence, energy and China,” by AP’s Farnoush Amiri and Matthew Lee: “The move has stunned America’s diplomatic workforce, not only as their careers abruptly end but as they wonder who — if anyone — will fill in on what they call critical work to keep the U.S. safe and competitive on the world stage.” 4. SCHOOL DAZE: The White House’s May Mailman is meeting today with Columbia University leaders to try to hammer out a deal that would end the federal government’s targeting of the university, The Washington Free Beacon’s Eliana Johnson scooped. Though the situation could change, the agreement may include Columbia paying a $200 million penalty and agreeing to release information about its admissions and hiring practices. In exchange, the school would have most of its federal grants revived and the civil rights probe ended. But if it goes through, “the current deal is a far cry from a set of more burdensome demands the administration itself made in early April,” which has raised some conservative hackles.
| | | | 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. | | | | | 5. FED UP: Former Fed Governor Kevin Warsh, who’s seen as a potential replacement for Fed Chair Jerome Powell, today emphasized that the role should remain independent from the president but also called for major changes at the central bank. On CNBC’s “Squawk Box,” Warsh blasted the Fed’s leaders and said “regime change” is necessary, calling for lower interest rates and new coordination with the Treasury Department. As chatter grew louder about Trump potentially firing Powell — which he said yesterday is “unlikely” — some, though, not all Republican senators warned the president against going there, AP’s Stephen Groves reports. Careful what you wish for: If Trump did fire Powell in a bid to lower short-term interest rates, the resulting economic shock could actually push long-term rates higher, NYT’s Ben Casselman reports. Meanwhile, POLITICO’s Megan Messerly and colleagues have reporting on what preceded Trump’s apparent about-face on firing Powell: Multiple outside lawyers told him that it might not hold up in court. 6. 2026 WATCH: Ralph Alvarado has launched a Republican congressional bid to replace Rep. Andy Barr (R-Ky.), the Louisville Courier Journal’s Lucas Aulbach reports. The former state senator was Matt Bevin’s running mate in 2019. … Rep. Jared Golden (D-Maine) put out an internal poll that shows him leading Republican challenger Paul LePage by 1 point, NOTUS’ Alex Roarty reports. 7. IN THE WILDERNESS: A new CNN poll captures a conundrum for Democrats: Their voters have scarcely ever been so upset with the party’s leaders, but they also feel very motivated to vote, per Jennifer Agiesta. Seventy-two percent of Democrats and Dem-leaning voters express extreme motivation for the midterms, compared to just half of Republicans and GOP leaners. There’s disillusionment all around: Twenty-eight percent of Americans view the Democratic Party favorably (an all-time low going back to 1992), but Republicans sit at just 33 percent (lowest since the Capitol insurrection). The new Dems: From DNC social media to members of Congress going on podcasts, Democrats are increasingly trying to strike an edgier, less filtered and more crude tone/image, WaPo’s Hannah Knowles and Lydia Sidhom report. They want to grab attention and stop feeling so focus-group cautious to voters. Or as Sen. Elissa Slotkin (D-Mich.) tells NYT’s Katie Glueck, “Alpha energy is synonymous with being bold.” The messy Dems: Overnight, Arizona Democrats ousted state party chair Robert Branscomb II, per POLITICO’s Andrew Howard. He’d been the subject of controversy for months as the state’s elected Democrats all broke with him and created a separate coordinated campaign. 8. AILING AMERICA: “1.4M of the nation’s poorest renters risk losing their homes with Trump’s proposed HUD time limit,” by AP’s Sally Ho and Charlotte Kramon in Woodinville, Washington: “[T]he move to restrict such key subsidies would mark a significant retreat from the scope of HUD’s work. Millions of tenants moved in with the promise of subsidized housing for as long as they were poor enough to remain qualified, so time limits would be a seismic shift that could destabilize the most vulnerable households … New research from New York University … found that if families were cut off after two years, 1.4 million households could lose their vouchers and public housing subsidies — largely working families with children.” 9. UKRAINE LATEST: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy told the N.Y. Post’s Caitlin Doornbos and Ronny Reyes that he and Trump are considering a “mega-deal” for the two countries to purchase military equipment from each other. The U.S. would get Ukrainian drones, and Ukraine would buy American weapons. If it comes together, it’s “a breakthrough deal that would see the US and Ukraine prop up each other’s aerial technology — with Kyiv offering to share everything it’s learned about modern warfare in the three-year conflict with Russia.”
| | | | A message from The Vapor Technology Association: Nearly 500,000 Americans die annually from smoking cigarettes. 67% of Trump voters say government should promote vapes to help Americans quit smoking – and all Americans need President Trump to save flavored vaping now.
VTA stands with President Trump in cracking down on the bad actors who sell vapes targeting youth. However, a Biden-era FDA task force is out of control – wasting CBP resources on vapes, rather than human traffickers – banning vapes from the market. The vape blockade is a de facto ban on flavored vapor products nationwide, which is already shutting down small businesses.
It's time to protect this multibillion-dollar American industry and stand up for American adults' freedom to vape.
President Trump, stop the bureaucrats from undermining your promise to save flavored vaping. Don't let Biden's task force fulfill his plan to destroy legitimate businesses and hurt American consumers. American vapers are counting on you.
Learn more. | | | | | | TALK OF THE TOWN | | IN MEMORIAM — “Henry Raymont, First to Report Bay of Pigs Invasion, Dies at 98,” by NYT’s Clyde Haberman: “On assignment for U.P.I. in Cuba, he learned of the U.S.- backed effort to overthrow Fidel Castro and was imprisoned. He later worked for The New York Times.” PLAYBOOK METRO SECTION — You’re not imagining it: WaPo’s Capital Weather Gang says this has been D.C.’s second-most humid summer on record going back to 1945. SPORTS BLINK — Lawmakers beat the Bad News Babes, 5-3, in last night’s Congressional Women’s Softball Game at Audi Field. The annual game, which raises funds and awareness for the fight against breast cancer, ended in the fifth inning due to severe thunderstorms. Still, lawmakers managed to break a two-year losing streak over the press corps team. Ahead of the first pitch, Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) posthumously inducted former Rep. Mia Love (R-Utah) into the Congressional Women’s Softball Hall of Fame. Love’s daughter, Abigale, and son, Peyton, threw out the game’s first pitch in her honor. At the event’s after-party, Rep. Kathy Castor (D-Fla.) and Tax Notes’ Katie Lobosco were named MVPs of their respective teams, while members and press danced together and enjoyed drinks, hot dogs and chicken tenders. SPOTTED: Rep. Frank Pallone (D-N.J.) dancing to “15 Minutes” by Sabrina Carpenter, and Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries cheering on lawmakers. OUT AND ABOUT — Prism, Kristi Rogers and Steve Clemons’ nonprofit focused on supply chains for critical minerals and rare earths, hosted a reception at Ned’s Club D.C. yesterday. SPOTTED: Rep. Gary Palmer (R-Ala.), Uzbekistani Ambassador Furkat Sidikov, Zhecho Stankov, Georgette Mosbacher, Geoffrey Pyatt and Glenn Nye. — SPOTTED at a party last night for Josh Dawsey, Tyler Pager and Isaac Arnsdorf’s new book, “2024: How Trump Retook the White House and the Democrats Lost America,” at the Cheney Agency in NYC: Lis Smith, Ben Smith, Joe Lhota, Mara Gay, Kathryn Wylde, Karen Hinton and Howard Glaser, Maria Comella, Stu Loeser, Katie Kingsbury, Ben Mullin, Clare Malone, Sarah Ellison, Gareth Rhodes, Josh Vlasto, Astead Herndon, Alex Levy, Nate Evans, James Adams, Katie Glueck, Jon Lemire and Carrie Melago, Lachlan Cartwright, Rosalind Helderman, Mike Vilensky, Sara Germano, David Halbfinger, Ruby Cramer, Katie Robertson, Julie Bloom and Jonathan Rosen MEDIA MOVE — Asma Khalid is joining the BBC to host a new daily news podcast, “The Global Story,” with Tristan Redman, per Variety’s Todd Spangler. She previously has been a White House correspondent for NPR. TRANSITIONS — Jaclyn Kellon is now a director on the global policy team at the Semiconductor Industry Association. She most recently was a foreign affairs officer in the Office of Critical Technology Protection at the State Department. … Chris Chamberlain is joining Morrison Foerster as a partner in its national security group. He most recently was a senior adviser at the Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industry and Security. BONUS BIRTHDAYS: Japanese Ambassador Shigeo Yamada … WhatsApp’s Jonathan Lee 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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