| | | |  | | By Eli Okun | | Presented by |  | | | |  | THE CATCH-UP | | BREAKING, PART I: The gerrymandering arms race keeps ramping up, as now Democrats in Virginia are eyeing a mid-decade redraw to snatch two or three congressional seats from Republicans in a counter to President Donald Trump’s unprecedented redistricting effort, NYT’s Reid Epstein reports. BREAKING, PART II: San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie announced that Trump is standing down on plans for a major federal deployment in the city, after they had a phone call late last night. Trump has now confirmed it. More from the S.F. Chronicle BREAKING, PART III: White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt just announced that Trump’s meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping will be next Thursday. BREAKING, PART IV: “Evidence appears to undercut claims against Letitia James, prosecutors found: Sources,” by ABC’s Katherine Faulders and colleagues: “Prosecutors who led the monthslong investigation into [New York AG Letitia] James’ conduct concluded that any financial benefit derived from her allegedly falsified mortgage would have amounted to approximately $800 in the year she purchased the home.”
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Wrapping up a trip to Israel, VP JD Vance had some harsh words for the Knesset’s hard-line preliminary vote to take over the West Bank. | Pool photo by Nathan Howard | MIDDLE EAST LATEST: Top U.S. officials worked today to hold together a fragile peace in Gaza, castigating an Israeli vote on annexing the West Bank and sketching out possible next steps in the region. On the ground: Wrapping up a trip to Israel, VP JD Vance had some harsh words for the Knesset’s hard-line preliminary vote to take over the Palestinian territory, which was generally considered a symbolic move with little chance of final passage, per POLITICO’s Gregory Svirnovskiy. “If it was a political stunt, it was a very stupid political stunt,” Vance said, “and I personally take some insult to it.” That made the VP one of several administration officials who have voiced some displeasure with Israeli moves — and Hamas actions — that could strain or push the limits of the ceasefire. Making it plain: Trump told Time’s Eric Cortellessa outright that if Israel annexed the West Bank, it “would lose all of its support from the United States.” The view from Jerusalem: Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu’s government clearly sensed the political danger, and Netanyahu emphasized that he opposed the Knesset vote. Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) talked with Israeli Ambassador Yechiel Leiter and said he’d been told that “this vote was not intended to be a slight to the U.S.” The bigger picture: As the U.S. efforts to turn the ceasefire into a lasting end to a war that has killed some 70,000 people, Vance expressed optimism that the discussions from his trip — along with those by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, special envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner — could usher Israel and Hamas toward the second phase. “I think we’re on a very good pathway,” he said. “The peace is actually holding.” Next steps: Vance said Hamas’ disarmament will be steered by a forthcoming international security force, which will handle one of the most delicate and difficult elements of the peace deal, NYT’s Liam Stack and Tyler Pager report. It’s “going to take some time,” Vance said, though it won’t involve any U.S. troops going into Gaza. He also envisioned Palestinians starting to move back into parts of southern Gaza not under Hamas control in the coming couple of months, with Rafah getting rebuilt over two to three years, per CNN’s Aileen Graef and Oren Liebermann. And Trump told Time that the White House has been discussing whether to call for the release of Palestinian leader Marwan Barghouti. Cover star: Trump’s big feature on the Time magazine cover amounts to a victory lap and tick-tock for one of his most significant deals yet in office. The president said he plans to go to Gaza soon. “Bibi, you can’t fight the world,” he recalls telling Netanyahu to get the peace deal done. “You can fight individual battles, but the world’s against you.” And Trump has ultimate faith in the endurance of the peace agreement — because he has ultimate faith in himself. “While I’m there, [the region is] going to only get better and stronger, and it’s going to be perfect,” he says. Good Thursday afternoon. Thanks for reading Playbook PM. Drop me a line at eokun@politico.com.
| | | | A message from The Pharmaceutical Reform Alliance: In September alone, drugmakers poured nearly $200 million into direct-to-consumer (DTC) ads - a 14% surge since this summer - even as the Trump administration condemned #BigPharma's "misleading" marketing practices. With the majority of voters calling for stricter limits on Big Pharma's ads, it's clear that people AND policymakers have had enough. The bottom line? Americans want affordable prescriptions, not more pharmaceutical commercials. Read more. | | | | | | 8 THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW | | 1. HEADS UP: “Trump Pardons Convicted Binance Founder,” by WSJ’s Rebecca Ballhaus and colleagues: “Trump has pardoned Changpeng Zhao, the convicted founder of the crypto exchange Binance … following months of efforts by Zhao to boost the Trump family’s own crypto company. … Trump recently indicated to advisers that he was sympathetic to arguments of political persecution related to Zhao and others … A pardon will likely pave the way for Binance, the world’s largest crypto exchange, to return to the U.S. after the company pleaded guilty in 2023 to violating U.S. anti-money-laundering requirements and was barred from operating in the country.” More tales from the crypto: Cryptocurrency power players, along with tech titans and oil and tobacco companies, are among the big contributors paying for Trump’s splashy new White House ballroom, POLITICO’s Diana Nerozzi and Jacob Wendler report. The donors include Coinbase, Ripple, Tether, Amazon, Apple, Google and Meta. But the crypto industry has more work to do in the Senate, where a landmark regulatory bill has stalled and CEOs worry it’ll get pushed into 2026, POLITICO’s Jasper Goodman and colleagues report. 2. SANCTIONS FALLOUT: How meaningful will Trump’s new sanctions on leading Russian oil companies be? His most aggressive move yet to pressure Russian President Vladimir Putin to stop the invasion of Ukraine was greeted, officially at least, with outrage and a shrug in Moscow today, NYT’s Anton Troianovski and Ivan Nechepurenko report. The Foreign Ministry said Russia now has an “immunity” to sanctions and warned that Trump will be no more successful than Joe Biden in punishing Russia this way. And some analysts say Trump’s move is unlikely to sway Putin, who is prepared to endure huge costs — and knows Trump could flip-flop. But but but: The new U.S. and EU penalties are nonetheless a major hit to the Russian economy. If they’re enforced strongly — and Russia can’t get around them — they could have a significant budgetary impact, WSJ’s Georgi Kantchev and Laurence Norman report. Russia’s war economy may be weakened, not least because the sanctions came as a surprise, WaPo’s Robyn Dixon and colleagues report. All eyes on Asia: Russia projected optimism that they’ll find workarounds to the sanctions, but Indian buyers “indicated on Thursday that they’ll all but stop buying,” Bloomberg reports. And Chinese state oil companies are pausing purchases of Russian oil due to the shutdown, at least for the short term, Reuters’ Chen Aizhu and colleagues scooped. Another impact: Oil prices worldwide leapt on the sanctions news, per Bloomberg. Speaking of Russian workarounds: Russia has secretly managed to obtain crucial high-tech systems from Western companies, including in the U.S., to protect the country’s nuclear submarines that conduct surveillance in the Arctic, as WaPo’s Greg Miller details. 3. HAPPENING THIS AFTERNOON: “Trump to host roundtable on efforts to thwart cartels, human trafficking operations,” by Fox News’ Emma Colton: “The roundtable will be joined by Deputy Chief of Staff and Homeland Security Advisor Stephen Miller, [DHS Secretary Kristi] Noem, [AG Pam] Bondi, Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, Secretary of War Pete Hegseth, FBI Director Kash Patel and Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard … [T]he task forces nationwide became fully operational at the end of August and have yielded thousands of arrests, and the removal of dangerous drugs and illegal firearms.” 4. SURVEY SAYS: A striking new University of New Hampshire poll finds Graham Platner leading Maine Gov. Janet Mills by 34 points, 58 percent to 24 percent, in the Senate Democratic primary. (It was conducted Oct. 16-21, while Platner was facing questions about offensive old Reddit posts but largely before a scandal about a tattoo with Nazi imagery.) In the 2nd District, Democratic Rep. Jared Golden could be in trouble: Voters have a slightly more favorable opinion of primary challenger Matthew Dunlap, while Golden trails Republican Paul LePage for the general by 5 points. And a GOP-backed referendum on imposing voter ID and major limits on mail voting looks too close to call: 49 percent opposed to 48 percent supporting. The latest in Virginia: A Suffolk University survey sees Democrat Abigail Spanberger still comfortably leading Republican Winsome Earle-Sears for governor, 52 percent to 43 percent, per USA Today’s Kathryn Palmer. But Republicans are doing better down ballot: AG Jason Miyares leads scandal-plagued Jay Jones 46 percent to 42 percent, while John Reid and Ghazala Hashmi are tied for lieutenant governor at 44 percent. A WaPo-Schar School survey has better numbers for Dems: Spanberger up by 12, Hashmi by 7 and the AG race tied. In the closing days, Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro will head to Hampton Roads to campaign with Spanberger, CBS’ Hunter Woodall scooped. Big endorsement: In a last-ditch effort to stop Zohran Mamdani, NYC Mayor Eric Adams told NYT’s Debra Kamin and Emma Fitzsimmons that he’ll back Andrew Cuomo today and campaign with him. More campaign-trail news: In the wake of North Carolina Republicans’ more severe congressional gerrymander of the state, GOP Rep. Greg Murphy announced this morning on WTIB-FM that he’ll run in his current 3rd District, giving up coastal areas that will now be in the 1st. … The DNC is using new technologies, some of them AI tools, to bolster organizing, outreach and events in next month’s races, with an eye toward broader use in 2026, Axios’ Maria Curi scooped.
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➡️ Subscribe to West Wing Playbook | | | | | 5. IMMIGRATION LONG READ: “One family fled Afghanistan. Then U.S. deportations scattered them across the world,” by AP’s Megan Janetsky: “[T]he expulsion carried an added sting because the Hussainis believed they would find safe harbor in the U.S. Instead, Amir watched his sisters being torn away from him by American border agents under the harsh fluorescent lights of a detention facility. It was the last time he saw them. Half a year later, the family has been dispersed to different countries … One sister is trying to navigate life in the far reaches of South America. The second is marooned in Central America. Amir is back in Afghanistan, plagued by fear in the very country the family fled.” 6. SHUTDOWN SHOWDOWN: With no end in sight, Republicans are pushing forward to try to find new ways to limit the government shutdown’s pain — and squeeze Democrats on difficult votes. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) today introduced legislation to pay air traffic controllers and baggage screeners, per POLITICO’s Sam Ogozalek. Democratic senators have just voted down Republicans’ bill to get furloughed federal workers paid, and have a doomed measure of their own coming. Speaker Mike Johnson said he doesn’t plan to bring back the House to vote on the air traffic controller measure, POLITICO’s Chris Marquette and Meredith Lee Hill report. 7. STATE CAPITALISM: “Trump Administration in Talks to Take Equity Stakes in Quantum-Computing Firms,” by WSJ’s Amrith Ramkumar: “Companies including IonQ, Rigetti Computing and D-Wave Quantum are discussing the government becoming a shareholder as part of agreements to get funding earmarked for promising technology companies.” 8. PLAYBOOK METRO SECTION: As the National Guard’s deployment in D.C. stretches on, some residents are coming around to welcome at least parts of their work, AP’s Gary Fields reports. Some troops are taking on trash and graffiti in beautification efforts; others are planning to get involved with a school reading program.
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| | | | | | TALK OF THE TOWN | | Urban Meyer was seen going into John Thune’s office today. Ryan Chen has become famous in China for his impression of Donald Trump. Angie Katsanevas is a star of a new International Franchise Association ad campaign. TRAGIC NEWS: Illinois Republican gubernatorial candidate Darren Bailey lost his son, daughter-in-law and two grandchildren in a helicopter crash. CLICKER: “Can you pass the new U.S. citizenship test?” by WaPo’s Daniel Wu OUT AND ABOUT — Puck’s Jon Kelly hosted a power breakfast this morning at the Riggs with Leigh Ann Caldwell interviewing Sen. Mike Rounds (R-S.D.) about the ways that A.I. is changing policy and politics. SPOTTED: J.P. Freire, Victoria Garrastacho, Juliet Farkas, Tom Manatos, Andrew Coté, Abby Livingston, Kristin Sharp, Rhett Buttle, Jackie Rooney, Colin Moneymaker, Kristin Smith, Dawit Kahsai, Katelyn Bledsoe, Tina Anthony, Michael Tubman, Troy Perry and Lauren Gillis. — The University of Georgia’s Johnny Isakson Symposium on Political Civility had its first-ever D.C. event yesterday, when Clyde McGrady moderated a conversation with Sens. Chris Coons (D-Del.) and Thom Tillis (R-N.C.). SPOTTED: Sens. Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.) and Jon Ossoff (D-Ga.), Reps. Rich McCormick (R-Ga.) and Austin Scott (R-Ga.), Chris Crawford, Georgia AG Chris Carr and Joan Kirchner Carr, Heath Garrett, Dave Heil, Brett and Jordan Layson, Tommy Nguyen, Jared Downs, Amanda Maddox, Ryan Evans, Kate Hunter, Sheridan Watson, Logan Purvis, Jay Sulzmann, Jordan Dawson, Maureen Rhodes, Will Dent, Cory Gattie, Allie White, Tuck Shumack, Monica Heil, Brad Williamson, Dianne Isakson, Julie Isakson, John Isakson and Kevin Isakson. FIRST IN PLAYBOOK — Sarah Haight is now VP of program planning and growth at Lutheran Services in America, a network of health and human services providers. She most recently worked at Ascend at the Aspen Institute. MEDIA MOVES — Sunlight Research Center is merging into MuckRock, with Brandi Swicegood becoming chief editorial and programs officer and OpenSecrets alum Anna Massoglia becoming editor, Nieman Lab’s Sarah Scire reports. TRANSITION — Mary Christina Riley was sworn in as assistant secretary of legislation and congressional affairs at the Education Department of Education. She previously worked for the House Education and the Workforce Committee and Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-N.C.). 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 deputy editor Garrett Ross and Playbook Podcast producer Callan Tansill-Suddath.
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