| | | |  | | By Jack Blanchard with Dasha Burns | | Presented by |  | | | With help from Eli Okun, Bethany Irvine, Ali Bianco and Rachel Umansky-Castro On today’s Playbook Podcast: Jack and Adam Wren discuss the latest prospects for peace in Ukraine, Donald Trump’s Thanksgiving dash to Mar-a-Lago … and the new arrival who’ll be spreading some much-needed joy in Washington next year.
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| Good Tuesday morning. This is Jack Blanchard. Get in touch. In today’s Playbook … — Why Dan Driscoll is having another bonkers day. — Trump jets to Mar-a-Lago with no Obamacare plan in sight. — Mark Kelly fights back over sedition claims.
|  | DRIVING THE DAY | | | 
Army Secretary Dan Driscoll has been dispatched to pitch President Donald Trump's Ukraine peace plan to Russian officials. | Karl DeBlaker/AP | BREAKING OVERNIGHT: High-ranking U.S. and Russian negotiators gathered in Abu Dhabi this morning to try to finalize a peace deal on Ukraine. President Donald Trump dispatched his new man-of-the-hour, Army Secretary Dan Driscoll, to present a revised set of peace proposals to the Russian team, POLITICO’s Paul McLeary and others reported in breaking news late last night. It’s yet another moment of high drama in what has been a rollercoaster week of geopolitics for the Trump administration. There will be plenty more to come in the hours ahead. The latest on the ground, per AP: “Russia launched a wave of attacks on Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, overnight, with at least six people killed in strikes that hit city buildings and energy infrastructure. A Ukrainian attack on southern Russia killed three people and damaged homes, authorities said.” Reminder: This latest version of the Trump peace plan was hammered out in Geneva on Sunday by U.S. and Ukrainian negotiating teams led by Secretary of State Marco Rubio and President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s powerful chief of staff Andriy Yermak. They whittled down the White House’s original 28-point proposal — heavily criticized for its Russia-friendly tilt — to a 19-point version following significant input from Kyiv. The FT revealed the most contentious aspects — including the future of contested Ukrainian territory, and Ukraine’s path to NATO membership — have been punted for future talks between Zelenskyy and Trump. Currently feeling a lot better: America’s NATO allies, who will hold a briefing call to discuss the latest developments at 10 a.m. Eastern. (It’s unlikely, though presumably not impossible, that Trump joins.) Zelenskyy said last night that peace is “doable” under the terms of this revised plan and that “many of the right elements have been taken into account.” Currently feeling a lot worse: Russia, where the Kremlin-aligned media is already highly skeptical. The BBC’s man in Moscow Steve Rosenberg reports that one Russian paper yesterday predicted that “the European-Ukrainian gang will ‘correct’ Trump’s plan so that it’s unacceptable for Russia.” Another warned: “I don’t think the Special Military Operation [the Vladimir Putin-approved language for Russia’s invasion] will end this year.” Hearing the same: The NYT reported last night that U.S. government officials are getting similar vibes. “Mr. Putin, some Trump administration officials predict, is likely to dismiss the new draft out of hand, which would lead to a long and drawn-out negotiation — just what Mr. Trump was trying to short-circuit” with his original approach. Let’s face it — we’ve been here before. And the prospect of Putin suddenly giving up his key strategic ambitions seems unlikely, given the amount of money and young men’s lives he’s already expended on this. So the most important question for the hours and days is likely to be — how will Trump respond to a Russian rejection, or a demand that key aspects of the original peace plan be restored? Will the U.S. president try to turn the screws on Zelenskyy once again? Watch this space: An emergency summit between Trump and Zelenskyy could still come at any time, though Trump is due to head to Mar-a-Lago for a Thanksgiving break later today. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt indicated yesterday the president’s Thanksgiving deadline for a deal has been replaced with a vague “as soon as possible.” So stay tuned. Main character energy: In the meantime, it all marks another extraordinary moment for Driscoll, the 38-year-old ex-investment banker and U.S. Army veteran who until a week ago had no diplomatic experience whatsoever. Indeed, as POLITICO’s Jack Detsch and colleagues reported in this essential profile last week, Driscoll was originally going to Kyiv last Tuesday to discuss buying Ukrainian drone technology. But as the White House’s peace plan came rapidly together, “Trump gave his enthusiastic blessing for Driscoll to take major new diplomatic responsibilities.” Then news of the plan leaked, and within hours Driscoll found himself negotiating directly with an irate Zelenskyy in Kyiv — an unheard-of diplomatic pivot for an Army secretary hitherto focused on military procurement. And it continued. By the weekend, Driscoll was in Geneva refining the peace plan alongside Rubio and its original authors, White House envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner. End of level boss: Today Driscoll lands the toughest assignment of them all — face-to-face peace talks with Kremlin top brass, with no high-level backup. It’s no reflection on Driscoll’s abilities to point out, again, that this is an extraordinary assignment. Hollywood script writers would be turned down for such a plot. Negotiating with top-level Russian officials is something for which top Western diplomats train for years. Driscoll has been involved in this process for a matter of days. And the stakes could hardly be higher, with tens of thousands of lives on the line as Europe’s biggest war since 1945 rumbles on. The hand of JD: Trump, of course, has no problem with parachuting people with little experience into key roles: Just ask Witkoff. (Or Pete Hegseth. Or Kash Patel.) But there’s more to it than that, notes POLITICO’s Paul McLeary, in a late-night memo to Playbook. “Driscoll is a close Yale law school friend of JD Vance,” he writes.” The two bonded over their status as military veterans, and Driscoll has emerged as someone Trump trusts. At a critical juncture in the peace talks over the weekend, it was Driscoll who patched in Vance via phone to speak with Zelenskyy, showing how closely the two men are working together.” It also showed how involved in this process Vance has become. ‘Have you even said thank you once?’: Driscoll’s position on the Ukraine war has not been reported; but Vance’s certainly has. You hardly need Playbook to remind you about the “threat-from-within” speech to shocked NATO leaders in February; nor the Oval Office performance during Zelenskyy’s first trip to see Trump. Yesterday Vance was on X lambasting Republicans who voiced opposition to the original White House peace plan. “The level of passion over this one issue when your own country has serious problems is bonkers,” Vance told GOP colleagues. “It disgusts me.” There’s always a 2028 angle: It’s fair to say that on this issue, Vance and Rubio — close friends and colleagues, as well as the two men Trump has named as his likely successors — do not see eye-to-eye. Playbook told you yesterday how Rubio has been the central figure in the dramatic change in U.S. approach over recent days. The WSJ’s entertaining tick-tock of the latest bout of negotiations confirms Rubio only learned full details of the original Witkoff peace plan on Monday of last week — little more than 24 hours before the whole thing leaked. Marco Solo: Rubio is the subject of several deeply reported pieces this morning, including this must-read piece by POLITICO’s Felicia Schwartz. “The head-spinning and chaotic past week of U.S. diplomacy has made plain two truths about Rubio’s role in the administration,” she writes. “First, foreign and congressional interlocutors regard him as a clean-up hand on the Russia-Ukraine file, coming in to restore order and realign Washington with its allies and partners, rather than Moscow. Second, Trump’s preference for jettisoning traditional policy coordination across Cabinet departments has bred a turbulent foreign policy with an array of senior principals operating in their own lanes.” Principle among them are Rubio and Vance. But here’s the brutal truth for Rubio: His determination to deliver a European peace deal that Europe is actually comfortable with is winning him plenty of plaudits among America’s closest allies. But it’s unlikely to win him many friends within the MAGA movement which will ultimately pick the Republicans’ 2028 nominee. By contrast, Vance — not to mention Driscoll, whose rising-star status puts him in a fascinating position for anyone projecting out a Vance 2028 run — will feel pretty comfortable with where he’s positioned today.
| | | | A message from McDonald's: Extra Value Meals are back at McDonald's, which means Americans can save when you make it a meal. McDonald's is committed to providing quality food at a good value, so this month, fans can get even deeper discounts on two of the most popular Extra Value Meals, the $5 Sausage, Egg & Cheese McGriddles® Meal and $8 10 pc. Chicken McNuggets® Meal, for a limited time*. | | | | BILL OF HEALTH TRUMP CANS ACA PLAN: After he’s pardoned the annual Thanksgiving turkeys at noon, Trump heads off to Mar-a-Lago for the holiday this evening — without a formal announcement on his plan to address the Obamacare subsidies that expire in just over five weeks’ time. Backlash: Angry GOP lawmakers felt “blindsided” by reports of Trump’s proposal, POLITICO’s Jordain Carney and colleagues report, and in the end the president’s planned announcement was never scheduled. Some did say Trump’s plan — which included a two-year extension of subsidies and income caps — aligned with some conservative proposals, but ultimately Republicans remain as divided on health care as ever. “We’ve got different ideas in our conference,” House Majority Whip Tom Emmer told Fox Business Network. “I think you’re going to hear more from the White House.” More from POLITICO’s Inside Congress On the plus side: Rep. Tim Burchett (R-Tenn.) said Trump showed “some guts” to get lawmakers “to the table” and that the president’s proposal “starts the negotiating.” The framework also earned cautious applause from a handful of Democrats. “If the reports are true and the president is considering coming to the table in good faith, I believe we can find a path forward that can earn broad bipartisan support in Congress,” New Hampshire Sen. Jeanne Shaheen told reporters yesterday. … “I have significant concerns about some of the ideas reportedly in the president’s proposal, it nonetheless represents a starting point for serious negotiations,” fellow New Hampshire Sen. Maggie Hassan said, per Semafor’s Burgess Everett. And the West Wing signals optimism: Leavitt told reporters the president remains focused on “unveiling a health care proposal,” though she acknowledged it might not include a subsidy extension after all, per our POLITICO colleagues. Meanwhile, CNN’s Adam Cancryn and colleagues report that Trump’s advisers “said there’s little choice left but to give it another shot.” Eyes toward elections: “The president understands this,” an adviser to the White House told CNN. “If we can come up with something that actually gives people more choices and makes health care more affordable, that’ll be a powerful message headed into the midterms.” Tick tock.
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Start your morning with a $5 Sausage, Egg & Cheese McGriddles® meal – which comes with Hash Browns and a small coffee – for a limited time*. | | | | TRUMP’S REVENGE TOUR DEFENSE GOES ON OFFENSE: Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has ordered an unprecedented Pentagon investigation into Sen. Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.) for “serious allegations of misconduct” after the retired astronaut and Navy veteran joined five other Democratic lawmakers in a video message last week urging service members not to follow unlawful orders. Speaking on Rachel Maddow’s primetime MS NOW show last night, Kelly was defiant: “I’ve had a missile blow up next to my airplane. I’ve been nearly shot down multiple times. I’ve flown a rocket ship into space four times, built by the lowest bidder. And my wife, Gabby Giffords, meeting with her constituents, was shot in the head,” Kelly said. “We know what political violence is. And we know what causes it, too. The statement that Donald Trump made is inciteful.” As Adam notes on today’s Playbook Podcast, the furor may not do his 2028 prospects any harm. Sizzling Bacon: It’s not just Democrats who are unhappy. Rep. Don Bacon (R-Neb.) also lambasted the Pentagon’s investigation into Kelly. “Amateur hour once again at the Department of Dense,” Bacon wrote in a post on X. “I thought the video by six Dems was unnecessary and foolish. But the threats of sedition charges and courts martial in response are also crazy. Let’s show some common sense and restraint.” OFF THE DOCKET: The White House is pushing back hard after a federal judge tossed out the criminal cases against both former FBI Director James Comey and New York AG Letitia James, ruling that Trump’s handpicked prosecutor, Lindsey Halligan, had been unlawfully installed. What comes next: Leavitt told reporters that the decision from U.S. District Judge Cameron Currie — a Bill Clinton appointee — was merely a “technical ruling” by a “partisan” judge, and that the White House intends to appeal. But there are a number of questions looming over any further action, POLITICO’s Kyle Cheney and Josh Gerstein write. Chief among them is whether a new case against Comey can even be brought, given the statute of limitations has now expired. And then there’s this humdinger: Was this actually the cleanest outcome for DOJ? “Currie’s ruling Monday disqualifying Halligan based on how she came into the role was arguably the least painful way for the Justice Department to lose the Comey and James cases,” Kyle and Josh write. “That’s because it leaves unresolved a number of actions by the Trump administration and prosecutors that could’ve stung even more.” TRAIL MIX WITH FRIENDS LIKE THESE: Trump’s astonishingly cozy confab with NYC Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani in the Oval Office last week poses a nightmare scenario for Elise Stefanik. “The New York Republican is mounting an uphill gubernatorial bid in a deep blue state, building her campaign on the argument that Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul is the nation’s worst chief executive — and tying Hochul to the 34-year-old democratic socialist who will soon lead New York City,” POLITICO’s Nick Reisman reports. But Trump blew that message up in one chummy media scrum. “The surreal lovefest underscored the limitations and hazards for a Trump ally like Stefanik as she runs to lead a state where Democrats have a massive enrollment advantage, the president is unpopular and a GOP candidate has not won statewide office in a generation,” Nick writes. STAYING OUT OF IT: Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) said yesterday that she’ll stay on the sidelines in the race to replace her once she retires at the beginning of next year, “avoiding a potential clash between her own preferred candidate and a candidate aligned with President Donald Trump,” POLITICO’s Aaron Pellish writes. More on the way? Former Speaker Kevin McCarthy told Fox News’ Jesse Watters that MTG isn’t the only one on retirement watch. “She’s almost like the canary in the coal mine. And this is something inside Congress, they’d better wake up, because they are going to get a lot of people retiring, and they’ve got to focus,” McCarthy said. “I think keeping members out of Congress — you only get two years to be in the majority, and if the Democrats get you not to work everyday for two months, that’s losing two months of the majority.” ALABAMA SHAKES: Former Sen. Doug Jones is launching a gubernatorial bid — setting up a potential rematch against Republican Tommy Tuberville, who beat Jones in the 2020 Senate election, POLITICO’s Jacob Wendler reports. Jones is facing off in the Democratic primary against Chad “Chig” Martin, who owns a hemp business, and pastor Will Boyd, who has unsuccessfully sought office in Alabama several times. FLORIDA MAN: James Fishback officially kicked off his Florida gubernatorial campaign on Monday, jumping into an already heated primary against Rep. Byron Donalds. Semafor’s David Weigel and Liz Hoffman break down his campaign approach: “He’ll stick to a few topics, like stopping ‘the H-1B scam’ and abolishing property taxes on Floridian homesteads, and ruthlessly attack Donalds as a pretender to the DeSantis legacy. ‘Big Tech Byron’ would be a new nickname; Fishback had already hit him with ‘H-1Byron’ and ‘DEI Donalds.’”. FROM RAGS TO REPS: Former “ShamWow” infomercial pitchman Offer Vince Shlomi has launched a GOP congressional bid against longtime incumbent Rep. John Carter (R-Texas), NBC’s Ben Kamisar reports. Shlomi told Fox News that he wants to “destroy wokeism” in Congress and wants to “make America happy.”
| | | | A message from McDonald's:  
The return of Extra Value Meals ensures Americans can find everyday affordable pricing at McDonald's. | | | | BEST OF THE REST FIRST RULE OF FIGHT CLUB: A group of senators on the left, dubbed “The Fight Club” have banded together to challenge Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer’s midterm election strategy, arguing Schumer and DSCC Chair Kristen Gillibrand have “favored candidates aligned with the establishment,” NYT’s Lisa Lerer reports. The group, which includes Maryland’s Chris Van Hollen, Minnesota’s Tina Smith, Connecticut’s Chris Murphy, Vermont’s Bernie Sanders and Massachusetts’ Elizabeth Warren, argue “that the party must embrace candidates willing to challenge entrenched corporate interests, fiercely oppose the Trump administration and defy their own party’s orthodoxy.” It is “highly unusual for a group of sitting senators to collectively wade into contested races and back candidates who are not the preferred choice of the official party apparatus,” marking just how frustrated Democrats have become with their own party’s campaign strategy. Still, NYT reports that “much of the senators’ effort remains in the exploratory stage. IMMIGRATION FILES: The Trump administration is planning a massive “review of all refugees admitted to the U.S. during the Biden administration,” AP’s Rebecca Santana and Elliot Spagat scoop, “in the latest blow against a program that has for decades welcomed people fleeing war and persecution into the country.” The memo called for a “re-interview of all refugees admitted from January 20, 2021, to February 20, 2025.” EPSTEIN LATEST: AG Pam Bondi formally requested a Manhattan federal court yesterday to release sealed materials related to the grand jury investigations of the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, per NYT’s Benjamin Weiser. Bondi said the department interprets the newly signed Epstein Files Transparency Act “as requiring it to publish the grand jury and discovery materials,” adding it signals Congress intends to “override some of the underlying bases for grand jury secrecy.” Related read: “Former DOJ official whose remarks about Epstein files were recorded sues over firing,” by POLITICO’s Josh Gerstein
| | | | | TALK OF THE TOWN | | Karoline Leavitt told the Daily Mail she has “PTSD about making plans” due to her job as press secretary, so instead she just doesn’t. WEEKEND WEDDING — Gabe Gutierrez and Adrienne Cohen, via People: “The NBC News senior White House correspondent tied the knot with Adrienne Cohen at The St. Regis in Washington, D.C., on Saturday, Nov. 22, surrounded by 145 loved ones. The guest list included several of the groom's NBC News colleagues, among them Andrea Mitchell, Peter Alexander and Tom Llamas. The couple tells PEOPLE they chose the iconic hotel venue because it has a picturesque courtyard and is just down the block from the White House, where Gutierrez spends his days reporting on the Trump administration.” OUT AND ABOUT — Italian Ambassador Marco Peronaci hosted a welcome dinner for Ukrainian Ambassador Olga Stefanishyna at his residence Villa Firenze last night. SPOTTED: Special envoy Keith Kellogg, Irish Ambassador Geraldine Nason, Belgian Ambassador Frédéric Bernard, Portuguese Ambassador Francisco Duarte Lopes, Slovenian Ambassador Iztok Mirošič, Serbian Ambassador Dragan Šutanovac, Apolistic Nuncio to the U.S. Christophe Pierre, Slovak Ambassador Andrej Droba, Estonian Ambassador Kristjan Prikk, Kurt Volker, Nick Schifrin and Camilla Schick and Barak Ravid. MEDIA MOVE — Jack Fitzpatrick will be a reporter with MS NOW’s Capitol Hill team. He previously has been a Congress reporter at BGOV. TRANSITION — Kevin Boland is now a senior director with Invariant’s national security practice. He previously worked at JPMorganChase and is a Saab and Lockheed Martin alum. HAPPY BIRTHDAY: Rep. Jimmy Gomez (D-Calif.) … CNN’s Abby Phillip … Keith Sonderling … Fox News’ Liz Elkind … Doug Troutman … Reuters’ Sarah Lynch … Jenna Bush Hager … Barbara Pierce Bush … Mark Bloomfield of the American Council for Capital Formation … Robert Steurer … Kevin Knoth of Rep. Morgan Luttrell’s (R-Texas) office … Bill Dauster … Far Post Media’s David Almacy … Lee Dunn … Business Insider’s Brent Griffiths … The Guardian’s Kira Lerner … Shilpa Phadke … former Maryland Gov. Bob Ehrlich … Jason Rae … former New Hampshire Gov. John Lynch … Colin Crowell … Isabella Victorio of Narrative Strategies … Alexandra Reeve Givens … Social Driver’s Anthony Shop … Tony Inhorn 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.
| | | | A message from McDonald's: McDonald's will always be a place where Americans can get affordable food at a good value. In celebration of the return of Extra Value Meals to menus nationwide, eight of the most popular Extra Value Meals will save customers 15 percent when compared to purchasing an entree, fries and a drink individually. With options across breakfast, lunch and dinner, there's an Extra Value Meal for every craving. *Prices & participation may vary. Prices may be higher in Hawaii, Alaska and California and for delivery. | | | | | | | | 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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