| | | |  | | By Eli Okun | | Presented by |  | | | With help from Makayla Gray
|  | THE CATCH-UP | | BULLETIN: President Donald Trump announced that he and Indian PM Narendra Modi finalized a trade deal between the world’s largest democracies in a call this morning. The agreement will see the U.S. lower its tariffs from 50 percent to 18 percent, in exchange for India dropping tariffs and trade barriers to zero, “buying American” to the tune of $500 billion and ending its purchases of Russian oil, Trump said. Modi confirmed some of the broad strokes (but made no mention of the oil). More from POLITICO’s Doug Palmer and colleagues
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DNI Tulsi Gabbard reportedly put President Donald Trump on the phone with FBI agents in Atlanta. | Mark Schiefelbein/AP | HINDSIGHT IS 2020: Trump’s pressure campaign to find proof for his false claims of election fraud in 2020 — and to go after officials he believes unfairly targeted him thereafter — is shifting into a new gear. Weaponization watch: AG Pam Bondi’s “Weaponization Working Group” is convening today, the start of a new daily meeting cadence as the Justice Department pushes for “producing results in the next two months,” CNN’s Paula Reid and Casey Gannon report. The officials’ goal, coming after renewed demands from Trump in recent weeks, is to figure out “how to reenergize probes” into federal and local officials who investigated Trump’s actions. The working group was announced a year ago, but its efforts haven’t yet translated into any public results. Now Trump is pushing them for more. Meanwhile in Georgia: Fulton County intends to sue today over the FBI’s raid of its election office and seizure of 2020 voting records last week, a county commissioner announced today. Marvin Arrington Jr. alleged that the search warrant was improper in its scope and execution, and the county will seek to have the materials stay sealed in Georgia. The Justice Department action — with DNI Tulsi Gabbard on the scene — came as part of a federal investigation into the 2020 election, about which Trump has long spread false claims that he won and that there was widespread voter fraud. More from CBS More new details: NYT’s William Rashbaum and colleagues revealed that the day after the search, Gabbard met with some of the FBI agents. She got Trump himself on speaker phone for a short call in which he asked questions about their investigation but “gave no substantive direction.” And Gabbard’s presence in Atlanta was at Trump’s personal request. All of this — from Gabbard’s direct involvement on the ground to Trump’s intervention — is extraordinarily unusual for a sensitive law enforcement probe. “By speaking directly with the investigators, the president may have provided significant ammunition to any future defense should the investigation yield criminal charges,” per the NYT. White House spokesperson Davis Ingle told the NYT that Trump has total confidence in Gabbard and FBI Director Kash Patel as “the most talented team of patriots” working to “secure America’s elections.” Trump declared two weeks ago that “people will soon be prosecuted for what they did” in rigging the 2020 election, which was not rigged. Speaking of Gabbard: She’s the subject of an intriguing new story from WSJ’s Dustin Volz and Ryan Barber, who scooped that a whistleblower alleged misconduct by Gabbard in a highly classified complaint, the substance of which remains unclear. The handling of the complaint, which came from an intelligence official in May and is now reportedly locked in a safe, is a “cloak-and-dagger mystery reminiscent of a John le Carré novel,” the WSJ writes. It’s so highly classified that even the whistleblower’s lawyer hasn’t seen it — nor has Congress, whose wait for its contents is now unprecedented. The lawyer claims that Gabbard is stonewalling. But the DNI’s office says handling the complaint is highly complex, involving another agency, the White House and “grave” national security concerns, the WSJ reports. ODNI also calls it “baseless and politically motivated,” and the IG’s office says it concluded that some of the allegations against Gabbard were not credible. Good Monday afternoon. Thanks for reading Playbook PM. Drop me a line at eokun@politico.com.
| | | | A message from AHIP: 35 Million Seniors Could See Reduced Benefits and Higher Costs. Health plans welcome reforms to strengthen Medicare Advantage. However, a proposal for flat program funding at a time of sharply rising medical costs and high utilization of care will directly impact seniors' coverage. If finalized, this proposal could result in benefit reductions and higher costs for 35 million seniors and people with disabilities when they renew their Medicare Advantage coverage in October 2026. Learn more. | | | | | | 8 THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW | | 1. ON THE HILL: Even as the House prepares for difficult votes this week on a DHS funding stopgap, the near-term talks over immigration enforcement reforms will present an even tougher test for Congress. Some Senate Republicans are open to negotiating over Democratic demands. Others not so much: “Their proposals are insane, so I’m not optimistic,” Sen. Eric Schmitt (R-Mo.) tells Semafor’s Burgess Everett. “Are we going to pass a law around here that kneecaps ICE? No.” More continuing resolutions could be needed if the two parties can’t reach a deal quickly. Meanwhile, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer warned that the government shutdown will drag on if Republicans attach the SAVE Act to the funding deal. More on DHS: The brothers of the late Renee Good will testify tomorrow at a Democratic public forum on DHS’ use of force. Meanwhile, POLITICO’s Daniel Lippman and Maggie Miller report that former acting Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency leader Bridget Bean referred to the department as “a hot mess” in a November group chat; she says the agency needs more Senate-confirmed senior leaders. Breaking: “Judge says Trump administration must let lawmakers make unannounced visits to ICE detention facilities,” by POLITICO’s Kyle Cheney and Josh Gerstein On health care: Sen. Bernie Moreno (R-Ohio) told Semafor that bipartisan talks over reviving enhanced Affordable Care Act credits aren’t dead yet. 2. DANCE OF THE SUPERPOWERS: The Export-Import Bank today will vote on a $10 billion loan — by far its largest deal of all time — that will fund the majority of a new critical mineral stockpile, Bloomberg’s Jennifer Dlouhy and Joe Deaux scooped. Along with $1.67 billion in private funding, the seed money aims to build a repository of rare earths, critical minerals and other elements, a la the U.S. emergency oil stockpile, to reduce the country’s dependence on China. Project Vault will support manufacturers and other companies that need the materials — a distinction from the existing critical-minerals stockpile that supports national defense. Big automakers, Google and other top corporations are on board. And Trump will meet today with GM’s Mary Barra and mining magnate Robert Friedland, per Bloomberg. 3. PRIMARY COLORS: Departing Sen. Tina Smith (D-Minn.) endorsed Minnesota Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan as her replacement in Flanagan’s hard-fought Senate primary against Rep. Angie Craig (D-Minn.), POLITICO’s Lisa Kashinsky scooped. 4. SUPREME SECRETS: Chief Justice John Roberts implemented new formal nondisclosure agreements for Supreme Court clerks and employees beginning in late 2024, NYT’s Jodi Kantor scooped. Though discretion was long an established norm at the court, these contracts marked an increased effort to keep information inside the court’s walls; they “appeared to be more forceful” and “threaten legal action if an employee revealed confidential information.” The court didn’t respond to the NYT’s question about whether the NDAs extend to the justices.
| | | | POLITICO Governors Summit Join POLITICO's annual Governors Summit, held alongside the National Governors Association’s Winter Meeting, for a series of forward-looking conversations with governors from across the country about how state leaders are setting the agenda for America’s next chapter. Hear from Gov. Wes Moore (D), Gov. Kevin Stitt (R), and more. Register Now. | | | | | 5. THE MOST TRANSPARENT ADMINISTRATION IN HISTORY: “Federal Data Is Disappearing,” by NOTUS’ Shifra Dayak and Anna Kramer: “Researchers estimate that well over 3,000 data sets have been removed from public access. The current reality is that the federal government is no longer a reliable source of widespread data collection. … NOTUS verified dozens of instances of lapsed federal data to capture the range of information that is no longer being collected, has been paused or is now not available to the public.” The missing data ranges widely, from drug trends in emergency rooms to federal law enforcement misconduct to household food security. And then there’s the delayed data: The Bureau of Labor Statistics said today that the January jobs report will be delayed due to the shutdown, per Bloomberg. 6. MIDDLE EAST LATEST: As Trump saber-rattles against Iran, the government in Tehran is considering what it would take for them to restart nuclear talks with the U.S., Reuters’ Parisa Hafezi reports. It’s possible that special envoy Steve Witkoff could meet with Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi this week in Turkey — tentatively set for Friday, Axios’ Barak Ravid scooped. … Israeli officials told Reuters that Witkoff is also due to visit Israel and meet with PM Benjamin Netanyahu tomorrow. 7. THE BRAVE NEW WORLD: “Trump’s AI push exposes a divide in the MAGA movement,” by CNN’s Steve Contorno: “A monthslong power struggle over the future of artificial intelligence spilled into Vice President JD Vance’s office in November … [Trump legal adviser Mike] Davis, known for his combative style, accused [White House AI czar David] Sacks of trying to run over Congress and impose artificial intelligence on the country without sufficient safeguards … Sacks countered that he was simply carrying out Trump’s desire to unleash an AI boom … Vance ultimately encouraged Sacks to work with Davis. A few weeks later, Trump signed an executive order, shaped in part by both men.” 8. TOP TALKER: Former staffers of Rep. Nancy Mace (R-S.C.) are expressing growing concern over what Jake Lahut describes in N.Y. Mag as her “erratic behavior” in a buzzy new piece that Mace sought to trash in advance. “She’s not okay,” one former staffer says. “There’s nothing here I can point to and say, ‘Oh, this is normal.’” Following her speech on the House floor last February, when she accused four men of sexual assault, “Mace has continued to shed much of her staff, torched her relationship with President Donald Trump, and torpedoed her bid to become governor of her home state of South Carolina,” Lahut writes. Ahead of the story’s publication, Mace took to X: “When you stand for something, you make enemies. I’ve never let that stop me from doing my job - and I’m not starting now.”
| | | | A message from AHIP:  
| | | | | | TALK OF THE TOWN | | UP IN THE AIR — Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman will take a test ride in Florida today, as they tour the Kennedy Space Center and Hegseth stops by Blue Origin, per CBS’ Jennifer Jacobs. Jeff Bezos was on hand to greet Hegseth at Blue Origin. PLAYBOOK ARTS SECTION — The upcoming closure of and changes to the Kennedy Center will not include tearing down the building, per ABC’s Hannah Demissie. TRANSITIONS — Jamie Fly is joining Freedom House as its new CEO. He most recently worked at Palantir, and is a former president and CEO of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. … Allegra Carson is now deputy chief of staff for Rep. Gregory Meeks (D-N.Y.). She previously worked for Rep. Kweisi Mfume (D-Md.). … … Greg Allum is joining the American Federation for Children as head of growth, focusing on the expansion of the AFC Scholarship Fund. He most recently worked at Stand Together and is a Sony alum. … Brian Wommack is now VP for comms at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. He most recently led Opal Myth Consulting and is a Ketchum alum. 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.
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