| | | |  | | By Adam Wren | | Presented by |  | | | With help from Eli Okun, Bethany Irvine and Ali Bianco BREAKING: “Trump says he is authorizing military to use ‘Full Force’ in Portland,” by POLITICO’s Gregory Svirnovskiy FIRST IN PLAYBOOK: As Democrats such as House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries excoriated President Donald Trump yesterday for attending a golf event four days before a potential government shutdown, saying it was “outrageous,” Playbook has learned that a group of Senate Democrats are planning their own excursion that could collide with a shutdown. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) has circulated an invitation obtained by Playbook for a “Napa Retreat” for the DSCC on Oct. 13 and 14. Should the government shut down next week, the retreat could fall on what might be day 12 of a shutdown. The itinerary features accommodations at the Hotel Yountville, with a resort and spa that “extends a Tuscan-European vibe,” and a wine tour and dinner at the Staglin Family Vineyards amid its wine caves. The plans for the luxury trip come amid Trump administration threats of mass firings of federal workers. A Democrat briefed on the event tells us it also is slated to include Rep. Haley Stevens (D-Mich.), who is campaigning for her state’s open Senate seat as a gritty daughter of the Midwest. A Stevens invite establishes the closest link so far between Stevens and the DSCC’s preference for her in Michigan’s three-way primary among Stevens, state Sen. Mallory McMorrow and former public health official Abdul El-Sayed. The event is also said to feature a crypto roundtable on its sidelines, this person said. Spokespeople for Stevens and the DSCC did not dispute the details of this story, and both declined to comment. Asked whether the event would go on amid a shutdown, the DSCC spokesperson declined to answer. Good morning, and happy Saturday. This is Adam Wren. Tough loss for my Indiana Fever to the Las Vegas Aces last night in the WNBA playoffs. But I’m recovering by reading this fascinating piece on WNBA’s collision course with MAGA by Alex Keeney in POLITICO Magazine.
| | | |  | DRIVING THE DAY | | | 
The rapid removal of this Donald Trump-Jeffrey Epstein statue could be a metaphor of what might prove to be the fleeting political exposure of the broader Epstein saga. | Julia Demaree Nikhinson/AP | ACTUALLY, NEVERMIND — A 12-foot statue of Trump and Jeffrey Epstein, hand-in-hand, vanished from the National Mall this week after 24 hours, after the National Park Service and U.S. Park Police removed it for what they said was permit non-compliance. That episode could be a metaphor of what might prove to be the fleeting exposure of the broader Epstein saga and story of the summer as fall unfolds. Fallout from the Trump administration’s handling of the Epstein files is either fully contained or threatens to reignite ahead of a potential floor vote on releasing documents related to his case — depending on who you talk to. GOP Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky and Democratic Rep. Ro Khanna of California secured the 218 signatures required to end-run Speaker Mike Johnson this week, thanks to Adelita Grijalva’s victory in an Arizona special election for a House seat. And in recent weeks, GOP candidates who once called for the documents’ release have gone quiet. That’s in no small part because of the shocking death of Charlie Kirk, the 31-year-old founder of the youth-focused conservative organization Turning Point USA. “Epstein was the hottest issue on the right three months ago, but died off after [the WSJ] story about the birthday book and now after the assassination of Charlie Kirk, it is just a total dead issue,” said a Republican strategist who advises candidates up and down the ballot. “The only people still talking about it are Dems and members of the media trying to tweak Trump, who don’t seem to realize that the vast majority of our voters have moved on.” Or, as a Republican close to the White House put it to your Playbook author: “The flood of events on every major issue has been so overwhelming that Epstein appears to have taken its place in the queue — for that reason the fever has broken.” Still, the issue has left Republicans in somewhat awkward political territory. Take Vivek Ramaswamy, who is running for Ohio governor. This week, Ramaswamy, who once hailed himself as “the first and most vocal proponent of releasing ALL Epstein related documents” because, he said, the “people deserve to know the TRUTH,” caught some strays for not speaking about the matter as much on the campaign trail. The Ohio Democratic Party blasted reporters an email with a subject line that read: “Vivek Ramaswamy Runs from Reporters Amid Questions About His Stance on Release of Epstein Files.” A spokesperson for Ramaswamy took issue with that. “Vivek still wants maximal transparency, and he’s said so when asked in Ohio recently, too. But he’s running for Governor, not President,” Connie Luck told Playbook. “So he’s talking about state issues — more than federal issues he focused on during his presidential run.” (That didn’t stop him from calling on YouTube to “restore the accounts of conspiracy theorist Alex Jones and far-right political commentator Nick Fuentes,” as The Columbus Dispatch reported this week.)
| | | | A message from Solana Policy Institute: The next generation of U.S. financial infrastructure is open-source and blockchain-based—built by developers creating transparent systems that empower consumer choice. As Congress crafts digital asset legislation, we must preserve historical protections for open-source developers. The future of American financial innovation depends on protecting those building it today. Learn more. | | | | In a heated intra-GOP primary brawl in a state like Texas, where Sen. John Cornyn voted against releasing the Epstein files, his opponent state AG Ken Paxton has largely been silent on the matter, even if it animated his own base — talking about Epstein right now isn’t exactly the fastest way to land a Trump endorsement. Cornyn and Paxton both declined to comment. And in Georgia, Republican Senate candidates there are taking somewhat divergent tacks. Rep. Buddy Carter earlier this month said, “I trust the president on this, and I trust his judgment on this. I don’t think it’s something we need to be concentrating on other things right now.” Rep. Mike Collins, meanwhile, was caught on a hot mic saying Trump is in the Epstein files and “we need to release them.” Collins, a spokesperson said, “has supported President Trump 100 percent on this and every issue — and he trusts the most transparent leader and administration in American history to handle the case.” The Republican strategist who advises candidates told Playbook: “The moment the mainstream media and Democrat politicians glommed onto the issue (after years of relative silence) to try to damage Trump, our base began to lose interest. They are now 100x more focused on stopping the growing epidemic of leftwing violence. That is what is driving them today.” It’s possible that a floor vote could add fresh fire to the scandal, but Kirk’s death and efforts to tweak Trump over Epstein have all but made the Epstein files issue disappear among Republican elected officials — though not quite as fast as the statue on the Mall.
| | | | A message from Solana Policy Institute:  
| | | | 9 THINGS THAT STUCK WITH US 1. FLIRTING WITH A CONSTITUTIONAL CRISIS: “Trump Fired a U.S. Attorney Who Insisted on Following a Court Order,” by NYT’s Heather Knight and Hamed Aleaziz: “Documents reviewed by The New York Times show that the July 15 firing of [acting U.S. Attorney Michele] Beckwith occurred less than six hours after she told [Gregory] Bovino, the Border Patrol chief in charge of the Southern California raids, that a court order prevented him from arresting people without probable cause in a vast expanse that stretches from the Oregon border to Bakersfield. … Two days later, Mr. Bovino and his agents went to Sacramento and raided a Home Depot parking lot.” 2. WEAPONIZATION WATCH: Trump said yesterday that his government’s criminal indictment of James Comey is “about justice … not revenge.” But his comments and actions indicated otherwise, as he intimated more indictments of his political enemies would follow and continued to erase the Justice Department’s longstanding independence, NYT’s Tyler Pager reports. Other Trump opponents said they now feared Trump’s lawfare, POLITICO’s Gregory Svirnovskiy reports. One to watch: The Justice Department is now seeking travel records related to Fulton County, Georgia, DA Fani Willis, who led criminal charges against Trump for trying to overturn the 2020 election, NYT’s Richard Fausset and Danny Hakim report. But it isn’t yet clear what the federal investigation entails or if it’s focused specifically on Willis. Taking aim at the left: Meanwhile, as the Justice Department reportedly seeks to go after George Soros’ Open Society Foundations, a defiant Alex Soros said privately that the organization had committed no wrongdoing and would stop its human rights philanthropy “over my dead body,” NYT’s Ken Vogel and colleagues report. But other groups on the left are increasingly worried about being politically targeted by law enforcement. Stephen Miller has “talked with FBI Director Kash Patel to discuss how the bureau can go after left-wing groups later this year,” WSJ’s Sadie Gurman and colleagues report. More from Patel: “FBI fires agents seen kneeling in iconic photo during George Floyd protests five years ago,” by CNN’s Evan Perez The Comey backstory: Trump last week explicitly told the Justice Department he wanted more and faster prosecutions of people who’d investigated him, despite top officials’ concerns about the strength of the evidence against Comey, per the Journal. The Comey charges concluded a chaotic week in which U.S. Attorney Erik Siebert was ousted — though that was actually more about Siebert’s reluctance to go after New York AG Letitia James than Comey, CNN’s Jeremy Herb and colleagues report. The bigger picture: Trump-loyalist interim U.S. attorneys are targeting his enemies across the country without going through the Senate, where their inexperience or politicization — or Democratic obstruction — would prevent confirmation, POLITICO’s Erica Orden and Hailey Fuchs report. The Comey case: Trump may have a tough time securing a conviction here, as experts tell POLITICO’s Josh Gerstein and Kyle Cheney the case is “exceptionally weak.” Potential problems in court include “the overt political pressure by Trump to bring the indictment, [interim U.S. Attorney Lindsey] Halligan’s own inexperience, peculiarities in the indictment itself and even a five-year-old technology issue.” But AP’s Eric Tucker and Alanna Durkin Richer report that convincing a jury “increasingly seems to be almost beside the point. … [O]fficials have signaled that making life uncomfortable for targets of the retribution — including through reputational harm, legal fees and lingering uncertainty — is a desired goal in its own right.”
| | | | Join us for a POLITICO Policy Outlook: Cybersecurity: incisive conversations on how the U.S. and its allies can counteract looming security risks without hampering the pace of technological innovation. Don't miss Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.), Kemba Walden, former acting National Cyber Director and more. Register Now. | | | | | 3. THE CRACKDOWN ON SPEECH: Sinclair and Nexstar have relented on Jimmy Kimmel, broadcasting his show again across dozens of ABC affiliates last night, per NBC. They’d held out longer than Disney’s own suspension of Kimmel for his comments about Kirk’s killing. But the Kimmel brouhaha has demonstrated the power of FCC Chair Brandon Carr, who has used threats rather than official regulatory actions to bend media outlets to his will, POLITICO’s John Hendel reports. “His chairmanship has instead been an exercise in sidestepping formal lanes to enact conservative policy priorities.” Heads up: Trump declared yesterday that Microsoft should fire Lisa Monaco as its president of global affairs, per Bloomberg. Going after the former deputy AG is the latest instance of Trump trying to apply public pressure to retaliate against his opponents in the private sector too. 4. SCOTUS GREEN-LIGHTS POCKET RESCISSIONS: The Supreme Court’s conservatives again handed Trump a temporary victory and historic expansion of presidential power, saying the administration can refuse to spend $4 billion in foreign aid appropriated by Congress, per Josh and Kyle. The latest shadow-docket win for Trump allows the White House to continue seizing the power of the purse from Congress — and could further upend shutdown negotiations — though the justices didn’t opine directly on the constitutionally fraught question of impoundment. Practically, Trump’s challengers warned that the ruling would have a “grave humanitarian impact,” per NBC, on the world’s most desperate people, including withheld money for food security. More at the Supreme Court: The White House went back to the high court last night to request that the justices allow Trump to end birthright citizenship, per Bloomberg. This case will ask the justices to decide explicitly whether his executive order is constitutional, transforming the consensus understanding of the 14th Amendment, after the Supreme Court sidestepped that underlying question in litigation earlier this year. 5. ABOUT THAT HEGSETH MEETING: “New details emerge on Hegseth’s unusual mass gathering of top brass,” by WaPo’s Tara Copp and colleagues: “Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth ordered hundreds of generals to travel from around the world to hear him make a short speech on military standards and the ‘warrior ethos’ … Some Pentagon officials questioned the wisdom of launching a relatively large gathering on short notice to hear Hegseth speak for a matter of minutes, and bristled at the idea that long-serving military leaders … needed instruction on how to fight.” 6. UKRAINE LATEST: Meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Tuesday, Trump expressed openness to Zelenskyy’s request that the U.S. give Ukraine more long-range weapons and allow Kyiv to use them inside Russia, WSJ’s Alex Ward and Robbie Gramer scooped. But Trump didn’t affirmatively commit to doing so; the U.S. has previously barred Ukraine from escalating in that manner. 7. FOR YOUR RADAR: “U.S. preparing options for military strikes on drug targets inside Venezuela, sources say,” by NBC’s Courtney Kube and colleagues: “Strikes inside Venezuela could happen in the next several weeks, but the president has not approved anything yet … The plans being discussed primarily focus on drone strikes against drug trafficking groups’ members and leadership, as well as targeting drug labs.”
| | | | A message from Solana Policy Institute:  
| | | | 8. MIKE LINDELL RETURNS: The MyPillow CEO is moving toward a Republican bid for governor of Minnesota, he told The Minnesota Star Tribune’s Ryan Faircloth. “We’re about 99 percent there,” Lindell said, having reestablished residency in the state and polled a run against Democratic Gov. Tim Walz. At the same time, a federal judge ruled yesterday that Lindell had defamed Smartmatic with false claims about election fraud and voting machines, per AP’s Steve Karnowski. But the judge has not ruled yet on whether Lindell intentionally lied — the standard of “actual malice” still needs to be proven for Smartmatic to get damages. (Separately, Rudy Giuliani settled Dominion Voting Systems’ massive defamation lawsuit against him for similar falsehoods, per WaPo’s Brianna Tucker and Andrew Jeong.) 9. TOP TALKER: “Des Moines Public Schools Superintendent Ian Roberts arrested by ICE,” by the Des Moines Register’s Samantha Hernandez and William Morris: “Tricia McLaughlin, a spokeswoman for the Department of Homeland Security, confirmed [Ian] Roberts’ Friday, Sept. 26, arrest and detention and said a court had issued a ‘final order of removal’ in May 2024 for the deportation of the Guyana native and longtime U.S. resident.” More immigration news: AG Pam Bondi announced that the Justice Department will start sending agents to ICE facilities to protect immigration enforcement officers from attacks. And she said counterterrorism task forces will investigate violence against ICE officers. CLICKER — “The nation’s cartoonists on the week in politics,” edited by Matt Wuerker — 17 funnies
| 
Dave Whamond- cagle.com | GREAT WEEKEND READS: — “America’s Zombie Democracy,” by The Atlantic’s George Packer: “Its trappings remain, but authoritarianism and AI are hollowing out our humanity.” — “Why Corporate America Is Caving to Trump,” by NYT’s Noam Scheiber: “When broadcasters like CBS and ABC surrendered to the president, it looked as if they lacked backbone. The explanation runs much deeper.” — “I Thought I Knew Silicon Valley. I Was Wrong,” by Wired’s Steven Levy: “Tech got what it wanted by electing Trump. A year later, it looks more like a suicide pact.” — “To Get People Off the Street, He Pays for a One-Way Ticket Home,” by NYT’s Eli Saslow: “For years, John Alle complained to Los Angeles officials about homelessness. Now, fed up, he’s trying to make a dent in the problem on his own.” — “The Daring Caper of a Faithful Tibetan Who Outfoxed China,” by WSJ’s Niharika Mandhana and Josh Chin: “He escaped from police and crossed thousands of miles of wilderness on a decadelong odyssey toward freedom.” — “One refugee’s painful journey. Fleeing the U.S. and splitting up her family amid the Trump-era raids,” by the L.A. Times’ Melissa Gomez
| | | | Introducing Global Security: POLITICO’s weekly briefing on the policies and industrial shifts driving transatlantic defense. We track how decisions in Washington, Brussels and beyond ripple across borders — shaping the future of security and industry. Sign up today for the free preview version. | | | | | | | TALK OF THE TOWN | | Donald Trump said he was ordering the declassification and release of government documents related to Amelia Earhart’s disappearance. PLAYBOOK METRO SECTION — “On Pennsylvania Ave., Michael Milken’s Curious Temple to the American Dream,” by NYT’s Rob Copeland: “Across the street from the White House, a paean has opened to the ultimate 1980s throwback: the celebration of capitalism. Behold! The Milken Center for Advancing the American Dream, a gleaming, privately funded museum partly curated and controlled by Michael R. Milken, the once-jailed bond financier pardoned by President Trump. It focuses the story of the nation around bankers, lenders and Mr. Milken himself.” BOOK CLUB — WSJ economics reporter Rachel Wolfe is writing “Never Land: No house. No spouse. No kids. Adulthood is up in the air … and the weather here is just fine” for Penguin Random House’s Thesis imprint. The book will build on her reporting about how a mixture of choice and constraint is prompting American 20- and 30-somethings to rethink traditional milestones of success. OUT AND ABOUT — SPOTTED at the Global Progress Action Summit yesterday in London, co-hosted by the Center for American Progress Action Fund, Labour Together and the Institute for Public Policy Research: Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker, Pete Buttigieg, British PM Keir Starmer, Canadian PM Mark Carney, Australian PM Anthony Albanese, Icelandic PM Kristrún Frostadóttir, Spanish PM Pedro Sánchez, David Lammy, Magdalena Andersson, Jacinda Ardern, Stefan Löfven, Neera Tanden, John Podesta, Patrick Gaspard, Matthew Upton, Harry Quilter-Pinner and Sally Morgan. TRANSITIONS — Pat Lightner is now director of operations for Rep. James Walkinshaw (D-Va.). He most recently worked on Walkinshaw’s campaign. … Tony Onorato is now SVP and general counsel of the Export-Import Bank. He most recently worked at Pierson Ferdinand. WEDDING — “White House Correspondent Rachel Scott and Elliott Smith Married Overlooking the Ocean in Santa Barbara,” by Vogue’s Alexandra Mason: “Rachel Scott and Elliott Smith met at a brewery … the Emmy-winning White House correspondent [for ABC] and the Yale University administrator … [T]he couple married on Saturday, September 6, at the Bella Vista Estate near Santa Barbara, California.” WELCOME TO THE WORLD — Sapna Maheshwari, a business reporter at the NYT, and Devjoy Sengupta, a managing director at Goldman Sachs, on Sept. 13 welcomed Jaya Shivani Sengupta, who came in at 8 lbs, 3 oz. Pic … Another pic HAPPY BIRTHDAY: Reps. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.), Andrew Garbarino (R-N.Y.), Adriano Espaillat (D-N.Y.) and Ed Case (D-Hawaii) … Juleanna Glover … NYT’s Tony Romm … Abby Curran Horrell … WSJ’s Meridith McGraw … Geoff Burgan … Energy Department’s Charles Moran … CBS’ Ellee Watson … Anne-Marie Slaughter of New America … BGR Public Relations’ Jeff Birnbaum … Zach Barnett … POLITICO’s Steven Overly, Anne Mulkern, Nick Tedesco, Molly Fruits, Mandara Regan and Riya Misra … League of Conservation Voters’ Sara Chieffo … Madison Group’s Marcus Sebastian Mason … Dan Raviv … Brendan Dunn of Phronesis DC … American Cleaning Institute’s Kristin DiNicolantonio … René Carbone Bardorf … CNN’s Matthew Vann … former Rep. Peter Kostmayer (D-Pa.) … Caitlyn Schneeweiss … Axios’ Cuneyt Dil … Alexa (Wertman) Brown … Curtis LeGeyt of the National Association of Broadcasters … Josh Mandel … Michael Pierce … LPAC’s Allie Owen … T. Dean Reed THE SHOWS (Full Sunday show listings here): POLITICO “The Conversation”: Texas state Rep. James Talarico. FOX “Fox News Sunday,” guest-anchored by Martha MacCallum: VP JD Vance … Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian. Panel: Charles Gasparino, Andy McCarthy and Jessica Tarlov. NBC “Meet the Press”: Senate Majority Leader John Thune … Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer … Andrew Cuomo. Panel: Jeh Johnson, Peggy Noonan and David Remnick. Fox News “Sunday Morning Futures”: AG Pam Bondi ... Speaker Mike Johnson … Devin Nunes … Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.) … Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.). CNN “State of the Union”: Speaker Mike Johnson … Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) ... Andrew McCabe. Panel: Kate Bedingfield, Scott Jennings, Bakari Sellers and Kristen Soltis Anderson. ABC “This Week”: House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries … House Majority Leader Steve Scalise. Legal panel: Dan Abrams, Chris Christie and Reince Priebus. Panel: Donna Brazile, Sarah Isgur, Astead Herndon and Steve Inskeep. Fox News “The Sunday Briefing”: Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu … Senate Majority Whip John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) … FDA Administrator Marty Makary … special envoy Keith Kellogg … Monica Paige. CBS “Face the Nation”: Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) … Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) … Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) … Rep. Mike Turner (R-Ohio) … Ty Cobb. MSNBC “The Weekend: Primetime”: Sen. Andy Kim (D-N.J.) … Rep. Brendan Boyle (D-Pa.) … Colin Allred. NewsNation “The Hill Sunday”: Rep. Tom Cole (R-Okla.) … Rep. Emilia Sykes (D-Ohio) … John Yoo. Panel: George Will, Tamara Keith, Andrew Desiderio and Elana Schor. 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.
| | | | A message from Solana Policy Institute: The next generation of U.S. financial infrastructure is open-source and blockchain-based—built by software developers creating transparent systems that empower consumer choice. As Congress crafts digital asset legislation, we must preserve historical protections for open-source software developers.
America's welcoming approach to software development enabled our leadership in groundbreaking technologies. But regulatory uncertainty is driving talent overseas. Our share of all global open-source developers dropped by more than 50 percent from 2015-2025, weakening our competitive edge. To maintain our status as the "crypto capital of the world," Congress must protect the builders and service providers who build and power it.
The future of American financial innovation depends on protecting those building it today. Learn more. | | | | | | | | 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 | | | |
No comments:
Post a Comment