| | | |  | | By Zack Stanton | Presented by American Advancement | With help from Eli Okun, Bethany Irvine and Ali Bianco Good morning. I’m Zack Stanton, here at the helm for another Sunday edition of Playbook. Get in touch. TODAY: A memorial service for Charlie Kirk in Glendale, Arizona, is expected to bring together more than 100,000 mourners. The ceremony will start at 2 p.m. EDT at State Farm Stadium (home of the NFL’s Arizona Cardinals), with overflow seating at a nearby arena, per the Arizona Republic. “So many supporters and high-profile guests are planning to attend Mr. Kirk’s memorial … that the Department of Homeland Security designated the service as a top-level security event, akin to the Super Bowl,” per NYT’s Jack Healy and Tyler Pager. Between 500-800 Secret Service officers “have been deployed to the Phoenix area to help secure the event,” WaPo’s Cat Zakrzewski and colleagues report. Speakers will include Erika Kirk, President Donald Trump, VP JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, White House chief of staff Susie Wiles, deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller, Tucker Carlson and Donald Trump Jr., among others. Their remarks will “not be subject to any sort of review beforehand,” CNN reports. In advance of the service, Erika Kirk sat down for a long interview with NYT’s Robert Draper that is well worth your time. She discusses her husband’s murder, talks about their bond and reveals that given “numerous death threats over the past year,” she had implored him to wear a bulletproof vest. “When he demurred, [a] friend suggested that Mr. Kirk speak behind bulletproof glass,” Draper writes. “‘Not yet,’ Mr. Kirk replied. He said he felt confident in his team, and that there would be additional security at the Utah event. But Ms. Kirk, like several of her husband’s subordinates, had occasionally heard him imply that his life could be cut short by violence. She found herself wondering if a part of him had already surrendered to such a prospect.”
|  | DRIVING THE DAY | | | 
President Donald Trump waves as he walks to board Marine One at George Washington's Mount Vernon estate in Mount Vernon, Virginia on Sept. 20, 2025. | Jose Luis Magana/AP |
THE BREACH: In a series of extraordinary social media posts last night, President Donald Trump publicly and directly pressured Attorney General Pam Bondi to prosecute several of his political opponents.
Addressing his post to “Pam,” the president bemoaned the lack of criminal charges against Sen. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), former FBI Director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James. “I have reviewed over 30 statements and posts saying that, essentially, ‘same old story as last time, all talk, no action. Nothing is being done,’” Trump wrote, in part. “We can’t delay any longer, it’s killing our reputation and credibility. They impeached me twice, and indicted me (5 times!), OVER NOTHING. JUSTICE MUST BE SERVED, NOW!!!” During a brief gaggle with reporters last night, Trump reiterated that “we have to act fast,” per POLITICO’s Kyle Cheney. “If they’re not guilty, that’s fine. If they are guilty, or if they should be judged, they should be judged. And we have to do it now.” But there is no sign that Trump is willing to accept the notion that any of those three are not guilty — or the lack of charges that would stem from such a finding by prosecutors. On Friday, Trump effectively forced Erik Siebert, the U.S. attorney from the Eastern District of Virginia, out of office because Siebert reportedly didn’t believe there was sufficient evidence to charge James with mortgage fraud. Yesterday, Trump called Siebert a “Woke RINO, who was never going to do his job. … He even lied to the media and said he quit, and that we had no case. No, I fired him, and there is a GREAT CASE, and many lawyers, and legal pundits, say so.” In advance of Siebert’s departure, Bondi and deputy AG Todd Blanche “lobbied hard to keep Mr. Siebert in place, arguing that he had been an efficient and cooperative partner on immigration and crime enforcement,” NYT’s Alan Feuer and colleagues report. “Mr. Trump responded to repeated entreaties by saying, ‘I don’t care,’ according to a person with knowledge of the matter. His position seemed to be that he had been warned several times during his first term about firing U.S. attorneys, given that it could have put him in jeopardy, and he ended up being investigated after leaving office anyhow, the person said.”
| | | | A message from American Advancement: Democrats have a three-part plan for 2026: take back Congress, stop Trump's momentum, and erase his agenda. If Republicans lose the majority, President Trump's historic achievements vanish. Extending premium tax credits helps working families afford health care—and it's how Republicans keep promises that earned their majority. Republicans must protect these credits to protect the majority and the MAGA agenda. The choice is clear: defend our families, defend our future and defend our majority. Learn more. | | | | Trump intends to nominate Lindsey Halligan as Siebert’s successor, he announced last night. Halligan has no prosecutorial experience, a background in insurance law and “joined Trump's legal team amid the probe by the Justice Department into Trump's handling of classified material after leaving office,” ABC News’ Katherine Faulders reports. “More recently, from her post in the White House, Halligan was tasked by Trump with an effort to root out what the administration calls radical ideology at the Smithsonian Institution museums.” Also in the hot seat: Administration officials have “ramped up pressure against Kelly O. Hayes, the U.S. attorney in Maryland,” Feuer and colleagues report. Hayes is leading inquiries into Schiff and former national security adviser John Bolton. The big picture: It is one of Trump’s “most overt attempts to date to override the customary restraints on the president’s involvement in law enforcement investigations after months of calling for criminal charges against those he perceives as political enemies,” as WaPo’s Jeremy Roebuck and colleagues write. “Imagine if Richard Nixon had just tweeted out the Watergate scandal rather than putting it on secret tapes,” Hillary Clinton tweeted this morning. “Never in our history, not even during Watergate, has a single news cycle so comprehensibly established the deep corruption and politicization of the Department of Justice,” said Gregg Nunziata, the conservative lawyer who heads the Society for the Rule of Law and is a former counsel to then-Sen. Marco Rubio. “White House interference in the work of U.S. attorneys was once considered such a taboo that former Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales, who served under President George W. Bush, resigned in scandal after the Justice Department fired nine U.S. attorneys in 2006 for what were perceived to be political reasons,” Feuer and colleagues write. Then, any such pressure campaign was done in private, and came from people in the president’s orbit, but not Bush himself. It is now happening in public, the president himself stepping directly into the breach. In a Q&A session at the Atlantic Festival earlier this week, former national security adviser H.R. McMaster was talking about the difference between Trump’s first term and second when he remarked that “I think he has been convinced, really, by some of the people around him, that his own staff was kind of the ‘deep state,’” McMaster said. Trump has spent the year bending ostensibly independent institutions to his will — major corporations, law firms, universities and so on. Why should he expect the justice system to be any different?
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| | | | SUNDAY BEST … — President Donald Trump on the TikTok deal, on Fox News: “They’re very well-known people. Larry Ellison is one of them, he’s involved, he’s a great guy. Michael Dell is involved. I hate to tell you this but a man named Lachlan is involved … Lachlan Murdoch, I believe … And Rubert [Murdoch] is probably going to be in the group.” — Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) on FCC Chair Brendan Carr’s threat of action against ABC and its affiliates over Jimmy Kimmel’s remarks, on NBC’s “Meet the Press”: “Absolutely inappropriate. Brendan Carr has got no business weighing in on this. … The FCC should have nothing to do with it. … Sinclair pulled out. They were disgusted by the comment. That's their right. … But the government's got no business in it. And the FCC was wrong to weigh in. And I'll fight any attempt by the government to get involved with speech.” — Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro on Kimmel being pulled off air and freedom of speech, on NBC’s “Meet the Press”: “Without question, they're trying to stifle dissent. The president in his own words, I think was aboard Air Force One a couple nights ago, made clear he wants to look at the licenses and the certifications for particular media outlets if all they're doing is attacking Trump. I mean, listen, the bedrock of our free society is the freedom of speech. … And that is something that protects all of us, all of us. And it is dangerous what this president is engaged in.” — Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer on the potential for a government shutdown and his request to meet with Trump, on CNN’s “State of the Union”: “I hope and pray that Trump will sit down with us and negotiate a bipartisan bill, that’s how it’s always been done in the past, that’s how shutdowns have been avoided. … We are hoping that he will negotiate with us, so far he hasn’t. … Our Democrats are firm, we need to get something done to relieve the distress the American people are in.” TOP-EDS: A roundup of the week’s must-read opinion pieces.
- “This Is It,” by John Ganz for Unpopular Front
- “Gatekeepers and National Traumas,” by WSJ’s Peggy Noonan
- “Endorsing Mamdani shows Democrats are ‘spineless,’” by Kenneth Baer for WaPo
- “Outrage Is the Business Model — And America Is the Customer,” by Chuck Todd for Beyond the Pod
- “Spencer Cox Wants to Pull Our Politics Back From the Brink,” by NYT’s Ezra Klein
- “$100,000 H-1B Visa Is a Gamble That Could Protect US Jobs,” by Bloomberg’s Patricia Lopez
- “Your Dislike of Charlie Kirk Is Not Interesting Right Now,” by Josh Barro for Very Serious
- “In Defense of Karen Attiah. Sort Of,” by Adam Rubenstein for the Free Press
- “Crony Capitalism Has Reached a New Low,” by NYT’s David French
| | | | Introducing Global Security: POLITICO’s weekly briefing on the policies, regulatory battles and industrial shifts shaping defense and security across continents. We connect what happens in Washington, Brussels and beyond to what gets funded, what gets built and who benefits. Subscribe now to access the free preview edition. | | | | | 9 THINGS FOR YOUR RADAR
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White House "border czar" Tom Homan talks to reporters outside the White House on Sept. 9, 2025 in Washington, DC. | Win McNamee/Getty Images | 1. KNOWING TOM HOMAN: New reporting from MSNBC’s Carol Leonnig and Ken Dilanian reveals that last year, the FBI opened an investigation into now-border czar Tom Homan, recording him in September 2024 accepting $50,000 in cash in exchange for helping steer government contracts. The FBI waited to see if he would deliver on his promises, but the case stalled in January and was ordered closed in recent weeks after FBI Director Kash Patel ordered a status update. The backstory: “The federal investigation was launched in western Texas in the summer of 2024 after a subject in a separate investigation claimed Homan was soliciting payments in exchange for awarding contracts should Trump win the presidential election,” Leonnig and Dilanian write. “Undercover FBI agents posing as contractors communicated and met several times last summer with a business colleague who introduced them to Homan, and with Homan himself, who indicated he would facilitate securing contracts for them in exchange for money once he was in office.” Quite the detail: “The cash payment, which was made inside a bag from the food chain Cava, grew out of a long-running counterintelligence investigation that had not been targeting Mr. Homan,” NYT’s Devlin Barrett and colleagues reported. “Justice Department officials ultimately decided that the evidence against Mr. Homan was insufficient to support charges of wire fraud, bribery or conspiracy.” 2. A MAJOR GEOPOLITICAL MOMENT: Today, the governments of Canada, Australia and the United Kingdom formally recognized the state of Palestine — a joint effort to pressure Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu to end Israel’s war in Gaza, while also marking a substantial split from the policy posture of the United States. Canadian PM Mark Carney said Canada would recognize Palestine — becoming the first G7 state to do so — and “offers our partnership” to bring peace to the region. A similar declaration came from Australian PM Anthony Albanese. And U.K. PM Keir Starmer released a video saying his nation wants “to revive the hope of peace for the Palestinians and Israelis, and a two-state solution.” Starmer stipulated that Hamas cannot have a future in a Palestinian state, and stressed the importance of the release of the remaining hostages in Hamas custody. The latest from the BBC Big read: “The World Sees Hope for a Two-State Solution. Israelis and Palestinians See None,” by WSJ’s Anat Peled and Marcus Walker On the ground in Gaza: The Israeli military continued its ground offensive into Gaza City yesterday, “dismantling underground shafts and booby-trapped structures in attacks that killed at least 60 Palestinians, according to Gazan health authorities,” Reuters’ May Angel reports. 3. TRUMP ON THE WORLD STAGE: World leaders are preparing for the gathering of the U.N. General Assembly in New York this week, with a conference on Palestinian statehood dominating tomorrow’s docket and Trump set to speak on Tuesday. But on the 80th anniversary of the organization, the U.N. is in “free fall,” NYT’s Farnaz Fassihi writes in an UNGA preview, as it has proved unable to solve some of the world’s greatest diplomatic crises. On Trump’s UNGA agenda: Trump will make the rounds with major world leaders, and told reporters he’ll personally meet with “probably 20.” Among them: Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan, who will talk defense and trade with Trump; Argentinian President Javier Milei, who’s trying to stop a market selloff and avoid a debt crisis; and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who’s set to address the assembly on Wednesday. 4. SHUTDOWN SHOWDOWN: Top Democratic congressional leaders Chuck Schumer and Hakeem Jeffries sent Trump a letter yesterday demanding a meeting with the president and blaming Republicans for a potential shutdown. “As a result, it is now your obligation to meet with us directly to reach an agreement to keep the government open and address the Republican healthcare crisis,” the pair wrote. (It’s nine days and counting until the funding stops.) “I’d love to meet with them, but I don’t think it’s going to have any impact,” Trump told reporters yesterday. “They want all this stuff, they haven’t changed, they haven’t learned from the biggest beating they’ve ever taken, just about.” More from POLITICO’s Jordain Carney
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| | | | 5. TIKTOK ON THE CLOCK: The deal to change ownership of TikTok in the U.S. will give Americans six of seven board seats and majority control over the social media platform, per POLITICO’s Ben Johansen. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said on Fox News yesterday that “this deal means that TikTok will be majority-owned by Americans in the United States,” adding that the algorithm will also be controlled by Americans — though keeping mum on the details. Tech company Oracle — run by Trump ally Larry Ellison — will control the app’s security, Leavitt said. “All of the details have already been agreed upon … Now we just need this deal to be signed.” 6. ONE, TWO, THREE STRIKES: Trump issued a stark warning to Venezuela on Truth Social yesterday, writing that the nation “immediately accept all of the prisoners, and people from mental institutions, which includes the Worst in the World Insane Asylums, that Venezuelan ‘Leadership’ has forced into the United States of America,” or the “price you pay will be incalculable.” The message came a day after Trump announced the U.S. military executed another airstrike on a boat in the Caribbean that the administration said was “conducting narcotrafficking.” Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has denied claims of narcotrafficking coming from his nation, and offered to meet for direct talks with envoy Richard Grenell after the first strike, per Reuters. But Trump’s growing pressure on Venezuela is part of a bigger campaign as hardliners in the administration look to turn up the heat on Maduro, who is still ruling the country after an election last summer delivered a clear victory for his opposition, NYT’s Eric Schmitt writes. Asked this morning whether he would negotiate with Maduro, Trump demurred: “I don’t want to say, but we’ll see what happens with Venezuela.” 7. IMMIGRATION FILES: Following Friday’s announcement of a new $100,000 fee for H-1B visa holders, mass panic rippled across the U.S. as companies and immigration lawyers — amid a lack of clarity on who would be affected by the new fees — warned visa holders on travel to immediately return to the U.S. before the new rule takes effect. In the chaos, the White House clarified that the new fee will only apply to new visa applicants, writing on X that “The Proclamation does not impact the ability of any current visa holder to travel to/from the U.S.,” POLITICO’s Myah Ward and Gigi Ewing report. On the immigrant crackdown: DHS sent letters to California, New York and Illinois stating that refusing to cooperate with ICE could result in federal legal action, CBS’ Nicole Sganga and Joe Walsh scooped. … Meanwhile, California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed five bills pushing back on the crackdown: privileging immigrants’ health care information, notifying families of federal presence at local schools, banning ICE officers from wearing masks and requiring they wear badges or identification, POLITICO’s Lindsey Holden writes. The bigger picture: “Trump’s new detention policy targets millions of immigrants. Judges keep saying it’s illegal,” by POLITICO’s Kyle Cheney and Myah Ward 8. PENTAGON PAPERS: The Pentagon’s decision to prevent reporters from accessing military or defense information has sparked condemnation across the aisle and backlash from media organizations that argue the move hampers press freedom, WaPo’s Scott Nover writes. The new guidance requires reporters to sign a note saying they won’t report information, even unclassified documents, without Pentagon approval — or risk losing access altogether. “This policy reeks of prior restraint — the most egregious violation of press freedom under the First Amendment — and is a dangerous step toward government censorship,” the Society of Professional Journalists said in a statement, per NBC’s Marlene Lenthang. Notable backlash: “This is so dumb that I have a hard time believing it is true,” Rep. Don Bacon (R-Neb.) wrote on X. “We don’t want a bunch of Pravda newspapers only touting the Government’s official position. A free press makes our country better. This sounds like more amateur hour.” Mixed signals: Asked this morning whether the Pentagon should be in charge of deciding what reporters report on, Trump said: “No, I don’t think so. Nothing stops reporters.” 9. DATA BLACKOUT: The Trump administration is canceling the annual government report that collects data measuring food insecurity across the U.S., WSJ’s Dan Frosch and colleagues scooped. The data has been a popular tool for lawmakers to make funding decisions. But USDA employees were notified in meetings this week that the 2024 report would be the last. … In a similar move this week, staff with the EPA’s Office of Water were told to stop work on their research, WaPo’s Amudalat Ajasa and Hannah Natanson report.
| | | | Don’t just keep up with policy shifts — set the pace. POLITICO Pro’s Policy Intelligence Assistant combines unmatched reporting with advanced AI to deliver sharper insights, faster answers, and two powerful report builders that turn intelligence into impact. Try it free for 30 days. | | | | | | | TALK OF THE TOWN | | Ben Carson will be honored with a presidential medal of freedom. A VERY WEIRD SPOTTED: An alligator mysteriously appeared in the Potomac this week, and the Wharf’s marina dockmaster had to send a warning to residents, WaPo’s Juan Benn Jr. reports. How it got there is still unclear. PLAYBOOK METRO SECTION: “The Bougie Fallout of ICE’s Crackdown in DC,” by POLITICO’s Michael Schaffer: “However catastrophic the impact on targeted capital-area immigrants has been, the highest-profile local economic impact of the blitz so far has been on restaurants, food delivery services, home-improvement contractors, even moving companies — precisely the industries that cater to the capital’s elites. That’s a consumer base unlikely to garner much political sympathy in the broader country. … The effect is indeed dramatic — most of all on immigrants who have seen their lives upended … But the impact on consumers is starting to be felt, too.” OUT AND ABOUT — The DMV Music Alliance Festival took over Dupont Underground on Saturday night with rock bands Suspicious Package, Running Late, and Durty Neil. SPOTTED: Kiki and Tim Burger, Josh Meyer, Christina Sevilla, Bryan Greene, Bob Hagemann, Glenn Thrush, Sheena and Rodell Mollineau, Steve Rochlin, Mark Paustenbach, Dan Ronayne, Tom Williams, Nihal Krishan, Raquel Krahenbuhl, Tim Noviello, David Grinspoon, Mary Kathryn and Michael Steel, Christine Delargy, Elizabeth Hagedorn, Romina Kazandjian, David Nather, Ana Harvey, David Johnson, Michael McAuliff, Tad Farrington, Wyn Hornbuckle and James Barbour. WEEKEND WEDDING — Emily Benn, a councillor of the City of London and granddaughter of the late Labour MP Tony Benn, and Jim Doyle, a group captain in the Royal Air Force, got married at St. Margaret’s Church at Westminster Abbey on Saturday. Pics, via Daily Mail …. SPOTTED: Speaker of the House of Commons Lindsay Hoyle, Karen Pierce and Charles Roxburgh, Acting Amb. James Roscoe, Lt. Col. Jonathan Thompson, Kristin Scott Thomas and John Micklethwait, Senay Bulbul, Helen and Joe Milby, Cherie Blair, Tammy Haddad, Ryan Williams, Kaitlan Collins, Jessica Dean and Alex Katz, John McCarthy and Liz Johnson. HAPPY BIRTHDAY: Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.) … David Trone … Samantha Power … Dean Baquet … CNN’s Brianna Keilar … Maggie Dougherty … POLITICO’s Liz Cramer and Capeley Zimet … Reuters’ Alexandra Alper … Karey Van Hall … Anna Greenberg of Greenberg Quinlan Rosner … Georgette Kerr of Plurus Strategies … Erin Graefe Dorton of Prime Policy Group … WSJ’s Toula Vlahou … Mike Walsh of DLA Piper … Meta’s Brian Roehrkasse … Rodney Whitlock … Sophie Ulin of Sen. Michael Bennet’s office … Melanie Steele … former CIA Director James Woolsey … Cass Sunstein … NBC News PR’s Dom Donahue 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 Garrett Ross and Playbook Podcast producer Callan Tansill-Suddath.
| | | | A message from American Advancement: Democrats have a three-part plan for 2026: take back Congress, stop Trump's momentum, and erase his agenda. If Republicans lose the majority, President Trump's historic achievements vanish. Extending premium tax credits helps working families afford health care—and it's how Republicans keep promises that earned their majority. Republicans must protect these credits to protect the majority and the MAGA agenda. The choice is clear: defend our families, defend our future and defend our majority. 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 | | | |
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