| | | |  | | By Eli Okun and Rachel Umansky-Castro | | Presented by |  | | | |  | THE CATCH-UP | | | 
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy wants to meet with President Donald Trump as soon as this week. | Press Service Of The President Of Ukraine via AP | TO RUSSIA, WITH LOVE: Ukraine has reportedly agreed in principle to a peace deal with the U.S., paving the way for what could be a breakthrough moment to end the yearslong war — or another breakdown that will lead Russia’s invasion of Ukraine to keep grinding on. State of play: Things are moving fast, but a final deal is not yet upon us, and some of the most difficult issues are yet to be resolved. Ukrainian officials have assented to the broad strokes of the new 19-point agreement ironed out by the Americans, a U.S. official told CBS’ Camilla Schick and colleagues. Ukrainian national security leader Rustem Umerov posted that the two countries reached a “common understanding on the core terms,” and both governments are projecting optimism that the remaining ground to cover looks doable. At the same time, Army Secretary Dan Driscoll was meeting today with Russian officials in the U.A.E., which could now be the most consequential sticking point. More from the WSJ What’s next with the Ukrainians: White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said there remain “a few delicate, but not insurmountable, details that must be sorted out” in talks among all three countries. And a U.S. visit by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy could come together quickly, Axios’ Barak Ravid and Dave Lawler report. His chief of staff Andriy Yermak said Zelenskyy wants to meet with President Donald Trump perhaps as soon as this week’s Thanksgiving holiday. “There are solid results, and much work still lies ahead,” Zelenskyy posted today. About those details: The question of Ukraine ceding territory to Russia remains the last big concern for Ukraine, Yermak said, and one that Zelenskyy needs to negotiate with Trump directly. The deal’s security guarantees, on the other hand, are “very solid,” Yermak said. But Bloomberg’s Daryna Krasnolutska and Alex Wickham report that the security guarantees, too, will need to be worked through at the presidential level. What a difference a week can make: “The level of optimism projected by both the U.S. and Ukraine is staggering,” Axios writes, “considering that just a few days ago, Trump was publicly pressing Zelensky to sign a deal the Ukrainian president said would cost Ukraine its dignity.” Not so fast: Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov warned today that the new plan still needs to reflect the core “spirit and letter” of what Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin decided in Alaska in August, per Reuters. Lavrov said they’d welcomed the previous 28-point plan, which was very favorable to Russia, but still needed to see the details of the new one. The art of the deal: What’s behind the U.S. approach that has oscillated between more Russia-friendly and more Ukraine-friendly proposals, with details frequently whipsawing? Trump himself simply wants a deal — any deal — that ends the war, and he has no red lines for how peace can be achieved, POLITICO’s Diana Nerozzi reports. That, of course, is a significant shift from both the Biden administration and many European allies, which have staunchly taken Ukraine’s side. The view from Europe: Ukraine’s allies had a call this morning, as European countries urged a plan that would not bar Ukraine from joining NATO and institute a ceasefire before talks of territorial concessions. European leaders have been working since last week to try to water down the pro-Russia planks of the original 28-point plan, while still having “embraced the plan publicly” to keep Trump happy, NYT’s Michael Shear reports from London. Good Tuesday afternoon. Thanks for reading Playbook PM. Drop us a line at eokun@politico.com and rumansky-castro@politico.com.
| | | | A message from McDonald's: McDonald's is committed to providing quality food at a good value. Extra Value Meals are back, which means Americans can save when you make it a meal. 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. *Prices & participation may vary. Prices may be higher in Hawaii, Alaska and California and for delivery. | | | | | | 9 THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW | | 1. THE GERRYMANDERING WARS: Utah’s Republican leaders aren’t done fighting a new court-ordered map that would flip a congressional seat to Democrats. They announced today that they’ll appeal the ruling, per The Salt Lake Tribune’s Robert Gehrke and colleagues. The legislature will also convene a special session next month to try “to put a constitutional amendment on the 2026 ballot in an effort to ensure lawmakers have the ability to draw political boundaries.” This all arises from Utah voters’ 2018 passage of a ballot measure to ban partisan gerrymandering, after which Republicans took steps to retain their control over mapmaking. 2. BUBBLE BURST: Despite Trump’s potential plan to propose an extension of enhanced Affordable Care Act subsidies with reforms, Speaker Mike Johnson has told the White House that House Republicans largely don’t support keeping the credits going, WSJ’s Olivia Beavers and Natalie Andrews scooped. With the future of the White House proposal uncertain — and with a December deadline looming — more Hill Republicans are making it clear that a subsidy extension has little support from their party, especially if the money goes to plans that separately cover abortion. 3. ALSO NOTABLE FROM JOHNSON: The speaker waded into the GOP’s fight over fringe antisemitic views, telling The Hill’s Emily Brooks that Tucker Carlson had made a “big mistake” in giving a platform to Holocaust denier Nick Fuentes on his podcast last month. “It’s a responsibility. He has a lot of listeners,” Johnson said of Carlson — and he’d told Carlson as much. “We have to speak with moral clarity.” 4. FED UP: “Hassett Emerges as Frontrunner in Trump Fed Chair Audition,” by Bloomberg’s Saleha Mohsin and colleagues: “White House National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett is seen by advisers and allies of President Donald Trump as the frontrunner … With Hassett, Trump would have a close ally whom the president knows well and trusts installed at the independent central bank … Hassett is seen as someone who would bring the president’s approach to interest-rate cutting.” Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said he was conducting the final interviews for Jerome Powell’s replacement today, per Bloomberg. 5. THE OPPORTUNITY COST OF MASS DEPORTATIONS: “Drug Arrests and Gun Seizures Fell as Homeland Security Pursued Immigration,” by NYT’s Hamed Aleaziz and colleagues: “The number of people arrested by homeland security special agents for civil immigration offenses went from roughly 5,000 to a record of more than 94,500, the data shows [for the last fiscal year, via Homeland Security Investigations]. … Narcotics arrests fell by roughly 11 percent. Agents opened 15 percent fewer new investigations into narcotics crimes. The number of weapons seized fell dramatically, declining from nearly 41,400 to fewer than 11,200.” The White House and DHS said this was “cherry-picking” a “false narrative.” At the other end: NYT’s Luis Ferré-Sadurní and colleagues have a big read on the new family separations as deported Venezuelan parents leave their children behind in the U.S. — with loved ones, with neighbors or sometimes on their own. Venezuela says there are 150 such kids, a dozen of whom the Times corroborated; DHS says ICE doesn’t separate families. Many of the parents want their children returned to them.
| | | | Cyber criminals defraud millions of Americans each year, but law enforcement and regulators face major hurdles bringing the problem to heel. At POLITICO's Policy Outlook: Combating Financial Cybercrime, Reps. Jim Himes (D-Conn.) and David Schweikert (R-Ariz.) as well as FBI Special Agent Jordan Jenkins, Global Anti-Scam Alliance’s Nils Mueller and AARP’s Amy Nofziger discussed what can be done to protect consumers. Watch the conversations here. | | | | | 6. THANKSGIVING BY THE NUMBERS: As holiday travel kicks into high gear, gas prices are near their Thanksgiving lowest level since the pandemic-disruption year of 2020, ABC’s Max Zahn reports. On the flip side, flight bookings are down more than 4 percent, fueled by a slowdown during the chaos of the government shutdown, per Reuters’ Doyinsola Oladipo. More stats to watch: As shutdown-delayed economic reports start to arrive, September retail sales growth came in at 0.2 percent, a slowdown that missed economists’ expectations, per Reuters. And wholesale inflation ticked up to 0.3 percent on a month-to-month basis, per CNN. The Conference Board’s measure of consumer confidence also saw a sharp decline, hitting its lowest level since the tariff turmoil of April. Stock markets were overall mixed on the flurry of economic reports and news. 7. ANNALS OF DIPLOMACY: Trump called Japanese PM Sanae Takaichi, she said, on the heels of his chat with Chinese President Xi Jinping and amid a Chinese-Japanese spat over Taiwan, AP’s Mari Yamaguchi reports from Tokyo. Takaichi didn’t say much about what she and Trump discussed, beyond the U.S. relationships with both Japan and China. Meanwhile, Bessent said on CNBC today that Trump and Xi could meet as many as four times next year: one state visit each, plus a G20 meeting in the U.S. and an APEC meeting in China. “If there are four meetings during the year, I think that that gives the relationship great stability,” Bessent said. 8. TRAIL MIX: The DCCC is angling to capitalize on Democrats’ performance in this year’s off-year elections ahead of 2026, announcing today that it will spend eight figures to lure more voters of color and rural voters for the midterm elections, POLITICO’s Samuel Benson reports. The program will focus on battleground districts and comprise staffing up, ad campaigns and voter mobilization efforts in swing seats. Race for the House: The incredibly crowded primary to replace New Jersey Gov.-elect Mikie Sherrill in the House got another prominent name today as Analilia Mejia announced she’s running, the New Jersey Globe’s Joey Fox reports. The 14th Democrat in the race, Mejia is running as a staunch progressive, endorsed by her former boss, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.). Also making it official: Rep. Wesley Hunt (R-Texas) is filing today to join the Senate race against Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) and state AG Ken Paxton, NBC’s Bridget Bowman and Garrett Haake report. More contested primaries: In the Big Apple, NYC Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani’s victory has empowered Democratic congressional challengers to condemn the war in Gaza more sharply and run without a pro-Israel stance, NYT’s Benjamin Oreskes reports. “You can now run for even higher office, as mayor of New York City, and say these things head-on,” says Councilmember Alexa Avilés, who may run against Rep. Dan Goldman (D-N.Y.). 9. MIDDLE EAST LATEST: The Trump administration is planning to build housing compounds for as many as 20,000 to 25,000 Palestinians in Israeli-controlled areas of Gaza, NYT’s David Halbfinger and colleagues report. The compounds are intended to be more permanent than tent villages, but there are some concerns, like “whether Palestinians would be able to leave the compounds and if Israeli vetting could mean that many Gazans are blacklisted from moving to them. … It’s also unknown whether Gazans would be able or willing to move to them anyway.” As of now, it is also unclear how the project would be funded.
| | | | A message from McDonald's:  
The return of Extra Value Meals ensures Americans can find everyday affordable pricing at McDonald's. | | | | | | TALK OF THE TOWN | | Mike Huckabee is still being paid for his advertisements for a sleep pill. “Ambassadors need to sleep, too,” the U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem says. “Oh, for fuck’s sake,” Walter Shaub says. Brett Ratner’s “Rush Hour 4” will go forward at Paramount after Donald Trump pressured Larry Ellison to release it. Waddle and Gobble are this year’s turkeys spared from holiday death by Trump’s pardon. They hail from North Carolina and had a luxury suite at the Willard last night. Trump said he wanted to call them Chuck and Nancy — but that he wouldn’t have pardoned Schumer or Pelosi. PLAYBOOK TYPOGRAPHY SECTION — “What’s going on with Trump’s gold ‘Oval Office’ sign?” by WaPo’s Maura Judkis: “[A]fter a little while, the words disappeared. Will they return? Be made permanent? The White House didn’t have any updates. However, a spokesman did confirm … [that] the president selected the swoopy font himself: ‘He is personally and very involved in these beautification projects.’” FIRST IN PLAYBOOK — Jocelyn Quinn is now digital coordinator for the House Homeland Security Committee. She is a Propagate Content alum. TRANSITIONS — Erez Reuveni will be a senior counsel at Democracy Forward, NYT’s Devlin Barrett reports. He previously was a Justice Department lawyer who was fired after blowing the whistle on senior leadership in the Alien Enemies Act court case. … Ziad Ojakli will be head of public policy for the Americas at TikTok, Axios’ Sara Fischer scooped. He previously worked at Boeing. … … Windle Jarvis is now executive director at Miles for Military. He previously worked at Spirit of America. … Chris Galione will be chief revenue officer at Community Catalyst. He previously founded and led Association Strategy Partners. ENGAGED — Garrett Wade, manager of rapid response at the White House, recently proposed to Allison Schuster, a press wrangler for the White House, at the Trump Winery. They met at a post-arraignment rally at Trump Bedminster. Pic … Another pic WELCOME TO THE WORLD — Ted McCann, co-founder of CM Strategic and a Paul Ryan alum, and Rachel Wagley, chief of staff to House GOP Conference Vice Chair Blake Moore (R-Utah), welcomed Dorothy “Dotty” Blythe, their fifth child, on Saturday. BONUS BIRTHDAY: Jewish Insider’s Melissa Weiss 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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