| | | |  | | By Megan Messerly | | Presented by |  | | | With help from Eli Okun, Ali Bianco, Irie Sentner and Makayla Gray On today’s Playbook Podcast: Adam and Megan discuss the geopolitical stakes of Russia’s oil provocation in the Caribbean.
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| Good Tuesday morning. White House reporter Megan Messerly here with you — eagerly awaiting peak cherry blossom bloom, which the National Park Service says it now expects this week. It’s been a long, rough and newsy winter. Get in touch. BACK ON THE ROAD: San Francisco, seafood and Gavin Newsom are center stage in the latest episode of “On the Road with Jonathan Martin,” the POLITICO video podcast series featuring conversations with the politicians shaping the political cycle. JMart broke shells with the California governor while discussing his new memoir, the City by the Bay, the stakes heading into midterm elections and 2028 — plus, how he could grow up in 1970s San Francisco and not smoke weed. “My party needs to be more ruthless about winning. ’Cause if we don’t win back the House of Representatives, we may not have a fair, free election in 2028 and I really believe that.” Watch the latest episode or listen and subscribe on Spotify and Apple … Read the Q&A In today’s Playbook … — How Russia is testing Trump’s new world order. — Momentum builds in DHS shutdown talks. — AIPAC haunts Democrats ahead of 2028.
|  | DRIVING THE DAY | | The Anatoly Kolodkin is steaming toward the Caribbean. The Russian oil tanker’s official destination, according to one of its public broadcasts: “Atlantis, USA.” More probably, it’s the Cuban port of Matanzas. Ferrying an estimated 730,000 barrels of crude oil across the Atlantic, the tanker is flying a Russian flag. A Russian warship escorted it through the English Channel, where it was tracked by the Royal Navy for 48 hours, only to turn back as soon as the tanker was clear. While the Kremlin declined to confirm reports of Russian oil heading to Cuba, it also has made little effort to conceal its hand. That’s because the tanker was never really about Cuba at all, people close to the White House, former ambassadors and Russia observers told Playbook. It’s a message, they said — a negotiating chit, a provocation designed to force a disproportionate American response while Washington is consumed elsewhere. “Russia loves to poke us in the eye,” Lawrence Gumbiner, who led the U.S. Embassy in Havana during Trump's first term, told Playbook. Russia, he said, isn’t “serious about coming to Cuba’s rescue.” “It’s not in their interest to pick a fight with Trump over something that is so, so clearly within the U.S. orbit as Trump has defined it,” Gumbiner said — a reference to Trump’s so-called “Donroe Doctrine” to assert U.S. dominance in the Western Hemisphere and diminish the influence of adversaries like Russia and China. The Kolodkin could arrive in Cuba in the next two or three days, according to Michelle Wiese Bockmann, a senior maritime intelligence analyst at Windward AI. Its ostensible goal: delivering much-needed oil to the communist island, which has been under a U.S. economic blockade for months as President Donald Trump threatens to take it over. There’s also a second vessel, the Hong Kong-flagged Sea Horse, believed to be carrying roughly 200,000 barrels of Russian diesel. It was headed toward Cuba in February before stopping short and drifting at sea for three weeks before recently resuming course, diverting toward Venezuela. The Treasury Department made clear last week the oil embargo on Cuba stands, even as it moved to ease sanctions on other countries purchasing Russian oil, an attempt to mitigate surging energy prices triggered by the war in Iran. The standoff comes as global oil markets are already rattled by the war in Iran, which has sent energy prices surging and forced the administration into the awkward position of temporarily easing Russian oil sanctions to stabilize supply, even as it tries to choke off Cuba. Former Trump officials told Playbook the U.S Navy and Coast Guard are likely to intercept the Kolodkin before it reaches port — but the White House isn’t yet tipping its hand. “Cuba is a failing nation whose rulers have had a major setback with the loss of support from Venezuela,” said a White House official, granted anonymity to speak candidly.
| | | | A message from Venture Global: Who says Americans don't build big things anymore? Through innovation, Venture Global is delivering American energy at a fraction of the cost, in a fraction of the time. That's Venture Global. That's Unstoppable Energy. ventureglobal.com | | | | Russia’s test of U.S. commitment in the Western Hemisphere comes as Washington already battles the Kremlin’s influence on two other fronts: over intelligence sharing with Iran, and the ongoing war in Ukraine. My colleagues reported over the weekend that Moscow proposed a quid pro quo to Trump’s favored envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner — stop sharing intelligence with Ukraine, and Russia would stop sharing coordinates of U.S. military assets in the Middle East with Iran. The U.S. rejected the proposal. While the attempt to provide oil to Cuba may be half-hearted in the face of significant U.S. maritime opposition, Russia watchers say the signal it sends is not. “Even though the Trump administration has prioritized Latin America, the Russians are signaling that they're not willing to fully give that up until — or, I should say — unless the United States makes significant concessions for Ukraine and gives up Russia’s backyard,” said Andrea Kendall-Taylor, a longtime senior U.S. intelligence official, now senior fellow and director of the Transatlantic Security Program at the Center for a New American Security. Her sharpest assessment, though, lands closer to home: “Putin is demonstrating that he can ruthlessly prioritize his foreign policy and national security. I'm not sure we can say the same thing for prioritization on the U.S. side.” Not everyone reads it that way. Alex Gray, who served as National Security Council chief of staff during the first Trump administration, sees the tanker as the desperate move of a weakening state — and expects the administration to treat it as such. “He likes to push as far as he can until someone calls his bluff,” Gray said of Putin. “At the cost of one oil tanker, they can try and create a disproportionate impact on our focus and resources.” WAR REPORT: Some White House officials are considering Iranian parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf as a possible negotiating partner or even future head of government with whom they might be able to work, Playbook’s Dasha Burns and colleagues revealed. The administration is working through multiple possible options of Iranian figures to talk with (though it doesn’t see Reza Pahlavi as a future leader), amid Trump’s new push toward negotiations rather than military escalation. One official told POLITICO that Trump wants a Delcy Rodríguez-style deal on oil rather than attacking Kharg Island. But there are plenty of skeptics about Ghalibaf’s willingness or the U.S.’ broader ability to iron out a Venezuela-esque endgame here. “They’re not about to roll over and give Trump their oil,” said one person close to Trump’s national security team. Deal or no deal? Amid conflicting U.S. and Iranian reports about how real talks are between the countries, CBS’ Claire Day and Joe Walsh scooped that Iran received and is reviewing an initial message that the U.S. sent indirectly. Despite Trump’s comments, five sources told CNN’s Kevin Liptak and colleagues they’re not aware of any direct negotiations yet — but with Trump’s sudden turn toward talks, Pakistan, Turkey, Egypt and Oman are all trying to mediate. In the meantime, they fight on: The U.S. is considering possibly sending airborne Army troops to the Middle East, NYT’s Greg Jaffe and Eric Schmitt report. It also plans to keep attacking Iran this week, per Semafor’s Shelby Talcott, while Saudi Arabia and the UAE are stepping toward getting more involved in the fight, WSJ’s Summer Said and Jared Malsin report. New strikes rained down late overnight and early this morning on Israel, Lebanon, Kuwait, Iraq and Saudi Arabia.
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| | | | HOMELAND HUSTLE MR. SECRETARY: Markwayne Mullin is about to step into the role of DHS secretary — Trump will swear him in at 1:30 p.m. — and the most immediate question is how much of a functioning department he’ll have to oversee. The Senate confirmed Mullin 54-45 last night, with two Democrats voting yes and one Republican (Rand Paul) voting no, per POLITICO’s Eric Bazail-Eimil. Washington’s impasse over immigration enforcement reforms and DHS funding, on which the White House was waiting to make progress until Mullin’s confirmation, looks like it might finally be moving toward a breakthrough … with one big, Trump-sized question mark hanging over the talks. Progress and pushback: A White House-Senate GOP meeting last night seemed to produce momentum. Sen. Katie Britt (R-Ala.) told reporters they had a solution, per POLITICO’s Jordain Carney and colleagues, while a slightly more circumspect Senate Majority Leader John Thune said it was “positive” and “productive.” The senators pitched Trump on a bill to fund all of the agency except some of ICE (which could be done through reconciliation), the idea Trump rejected over the weekend. That would be a turnaround from the comments Trump was making as late as yesterday afternoon in Memphis, where he called for DHS funding to be linked to the SAVE America Act: “I’m suggesting strongly to the Republican Party, don’t make any deal on anything,” he said. It’s unclear whether senators can strike an agreement before they’re scheduled to be out of Washington next week. Thune also told Jordain in an interview last night that the brewing DHS deal has lent new momentum to Republicans’ reconciliation schemes. That party-line package would wrap in immigration enforcement funding, plus some key portions of the SAVE Act. The backdrop: ICE agents arrived in U.S. airports amid TSA shortages — just 100 to 150 officers so far across 14 airports, per NYT’s Jacey Fortin and colleagues, though border czar Tom Homan said the number will rise. House Rules at 4 p.m. will take up a bill to fund DHS. IN THE COURTS: The Supreme Court will hear oral arguments today in its latest immigration-related case, this one on whether the U.S. can reject asylum-seekers at ports of entry on the border, per SCOTUSblog’s Amy Howe. Meanwhile, the administration’s immigration crackdown — which is still very much ongoing — suffered a setback in federal court yesterday after a judge for now blocked a new DHS policy seeking to put some legal refugees in detention if they haven’t gotten green cards yet, per NOTUS. THE ADS THAT COST MORE THAN ‘TENET’: “Noem spent $20,000 on horse rentals, $3,800 on hair and makeup for Mount Rushmore ads: Dems,” by the N.Y. Post’s Victor Nava
| | | | POLITICO's Economy Summit Join POLITICO’s Economy Summit on March 25 for discussions with government and industry leaders about the policy decisions that will determine tomorrow’s market risks and opportunities. Hear from Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.), Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick (R-Pa.), Rep. Tom Suozzi (D-N.Y.), Gary Cohn, and more. RSVP to attend in person or virtually. | | | | | TRAIL MIX THE WINDS OF CHANGE: AIPAC is quickly becoming a bogeyman and flashpoint in the early days of Democrats’ 2028 presidential race, POLITICO’s Lisa Kashinsky and Shia Kapos report. Some Jewish and other Democrats who previously were tied to AIPAC have now taken steps to distance themselves and reject its money, as Israel lurches to the right during PM Benjamin Netanyahu’s tenure and Gaza war. But not everyone: Kamala Harris, Pete Buttigieg and others didn’t respond for comment. FIRST IN PLAYBOOK — Endorsement watch: The New Democrat Coalition Action Fund is wading into five contested House Democratic primaries, backing Shannon Bird in Colorado, Denise Powell in Nebraska, Cait Conley in New York, and Shannon Taylor and Elaine Luria in different Virginia districts. This batch of endorsements from the center-left group all come in races that will be competitive in November, where the New Dems say they want to elevate electable candidates. SCOOP: Hasan Piker, the left-wing political streamer with millions of followers, will rally with Michigan Democratic Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed at Michigan State University and the University of Michigan on April 7 alongside Rep. Summer Lee (D-Pa.). It’s the first large-scale appearance on the stump Piker will make in the midterms, he told Playbook’s Adam Wren in an interview last night. It also speaks to his growing influence in Democratic politics. “He’s a great communicator,” Piker told Playbook of El-Sayed. He added that he “wanted to go to Michigan and offer my help,” and that El-Sayed “spent a good deal of time advocating for Medicare for All, and I think that’s a huge issue on the domestic front.” CASH DASH: Another month down, another round of FEC reports that show the RNC swamping the DNC in fundraising. Republicans pulled in $18.5 million to the Democrats’ $10.3 million in February, and the RNC ended the month with $109 million compared to the DNC’s $15.9 million. The Democrats’ bank account is lower than their amount of debt. More from CNN KNOWING JOCELYN BENSON: “She followed a civil rights hero to Alabama. It shaped her path to power,” by The 19th’s Grace Panetta in Montgomery: “Jocelyn Benson, a 19-year-old inspired by [Viola] Liuzzo’s story, made the same journey in 1997. Right out of college, she worked as a volunteer researcher and undercover investigator at the Southern Poverty Law Center … [S]he’s now the Democratic front-runner for the open [Michigan] governor’s race.”
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| | | | BEST OF THE REST IF AT FIRST YOU DON’T SUCCEED: Though the Pentagon reinstated NYT reporters under a federal court order, it announced new restrictions to push forward its crackdown on the mainstream press, WaPo’s Scott Nover reports. Now reporters will be confined to a separate annex. The Times said it’ll challenge this limit, too, in court. SPY GAMES: “Gabbard plans to shift coveted, CIA-backed high-tech fund to her office,” by POLITICO’s John Sakellariadis and colleagues: “The Office of the Director of National Intelligence is finalizing a plan to become the primary federal steward of a CIA-backed venture capital firm that funds high-tech gadgets and software for U.S. spies … But there are those in the intel community and Congress who oppose the idea, setting up a bureaucratic tussle that would test [DNI Tulsi] Gabbard’s standing inside the Trump administration and with Congress.” IN THE DOGE HOUSE: “Musk Must Face Suit Alleging Power Overreach as Trump Adviser,” by Bloomberg’s Zoe Tillman: “A federal judge in Washington will allow a lawsuit to go forward that accuses billionaire Elon Musk of unconstitutionally exercising executive power during his time in the Trump administration last year as a presidential adviser. … [Tanya] Chutkan did agree to dismiss claims that broadly accused the DOGE office of illegally orchestrating firings and terminating grants and contracts.” NEW THINK TANK LANDSCAPE: “Staff revolts, secret meetings: Inside the tense fight between Mike Pence and the Heritage Foundation,” by CNN’s Isaac Dovere: “[Mike] Pence and Heritage used to love each other. They worked together for decades and had staff in common. But after months of [Advancing American Freedom] executives swiping donors and poaching dozens of staff, they’re locked in a bitter, potentially litigious and sometimes petty battle that’s included one man on the verge of retirement being escorted from his office by a security guard.” CLIMATE FILES: The Interior Department announced it’ll plunk down almost $1 billion of taxpayer money to jettison offshore wind farm plans and instead invest the dollars in fossil fuels, NYT’s Maxine Joselow and Brad Plumer report. New York Gov. Kathy Hochul slammed the unusual arrangement as a “pay-not-to-play scheme,” while Secretary Doug Burgum said it would shift resources to more effective energy sources. BACK AT THE POLITICO PUB AT CERAWEEK: Day Two is here and the lineup is stacked. Today at the POLITICO Pub at CERAWeek by S&P Global, Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin and American Petroleum Institute President and CEO Mike Sommers sit down with POLITICO journalists for on-the-record conversations. Plus, National Grid Group CEO Zoë Yujnovich joins for a conversation with POLITICO CCO Cally Baute. Programming kicks off at Tom’s Watch Bar starting at 3:30 p.m. Central time. All programming will be livestreamed here. Badged CERAWeek attendees,register to join here. JOIN US TOMORROW: POLITICO’s Economy Summit kicks off at 8:30 a.m. tomorrow, featuring news-driven conversations with White House adviser Peter Navarro, Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.), Reps. Brian Fitzpatrick (R-Pa.), Tom Suozzi (D-N.Y.) and Mike Flood (R-Neb.), IBM’s Gary Cohn and more. There’s still time to snag your seat.Register now to attend in person or watch online
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➡️ Learn More about POLITICO Pro | | | | | | | TALK OF THE TOWN | | FLOTUS FILES — Melania Trump kicks off her “Fostering the Future Together” summit at the State Department today, bringing together representatives from 45 countries to focus on using education and technology to help the world’s children. They’ll be at the White House tomorrow. TALKER — “Kalshi to preemptively block athletes and politicians from trading on their markets,” by Axios’ Nathan Bomey: “Both examples of insider trading were already against Kalshi rules — but this move installs a mechanism that will prevent people in those positions from placing trades in the first place.” Responded Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.): “This is absolutely not enough.” THE SEMIQUINCENTENNIAL — The Smithsonian’s branding for its 250th-birthday celebrations all year will be “Our Shared Future,” per the Washington Examiner. Events and exhibitions looking both forward and backward will include a “bison-themed exhibition” at the Natural History museum, a film festival and, for a few months this summer, the reopenings of the Smithsonian Castle and the Smithsonian Arts and Industries Building. BOOK CLUB — PBS NewsHour co-anchor Geoff Bennett is out today with his debut book, “Black Out Loud: The Revolutionary History of Black Comedy from Vaudeville to ’90s Sitcoms” ($26.40). The book dives into the impact of Black comedy throughout American culture; an excerpt yesterday in The Atlantic zeroes in on the legacy of “In Living Color.” IN MEMORIAM — Retired Coast Guard Vice Adm. D. Brian Peterman died last week at 75. “His final assignment was Commander of the U.S. Coast Guard Atlantic Area and U.S. Defense Force East … At the White House, he served on the National Security Council staff and following the September 11 attacks, as Special Assistant to the President for Borders and Transportation Security on the Homeland Security Council.” Read his full obituary OUT AND ABOUT — SPOTTED at Cafe Milano last night for a dinner honoring Serbian first lady Tamara Vučić, who was in town for the Fostering the Future Together summit: Damir and Amra Fazlic, Monaco Ambassador Maguy Maccario Doyle, Matt Mowers and Cassie Spodak, Betsy Klein, Charles McLaughlin, John Arundel, Doug Lute, Morris Reid, Cecelia Prewett and Kelsie Wendelberger. — The American Conservation Coalition Action held a “Make America Beautiful Again” reception at the Capitol Hill Club last night to kick off its congressional fly-in. SPOTTED: Rep. Glenn “G.T.” Thompson (R-Pa.), Kellis Moss, Chris Barnard, Stephen Perkins, Taylor Tougaw, Sam Kessler, Andrew Mills and Tony Kreindler. WHITE HOUSE DEPARTURE LOUNGE — Wesam Hassanein is joining the GOP lobbying firm Continental Strategy. He previously was a special adviser for the Middle East for VP JD Vance and is a State Department alum. More from POLITICO Influence MEDIA MOVES — The NYT is adding Amy Gardner as deputy politics editor for news and Sean Sullivan as weekend politics editor. Both previously worked at WaPo. TRANSITIONS — Sam Michel is joining SKDK’s D.C. public affairs team as an SVP and chief of staff. He is a USTR and Biden White House alum. … Jenna Golden has joined Snap’s D.C. office, leading its government and political advertising sales team. She previously ran Golden Strategies and is a Twitter alum. … Sarah Burgess is now VP of healthcare at Surgo Health. She previously worked at the Gates Foundation. WEEKEND WEDDING — Avery Walker, PAC manager for Oncor Electric Delivery, and Chet Beene, financial adviser at Beene Wealth Management Group, got married Saturday at First United Methodist in Fort Worth, Texas. They had their first date at AT&T Stadium for a Dallas Cowboys vs. Philadelphia Eagles game. Pic, via John Cain Photography … Another pic … SPOTTED: Mary Kate and Keegan Zimprich, Rachel Walker, Rey Anthony, Vijay Yadlapati and Helen Devlin. WELCOME TO THE WORLD — Liz Morrison Housley, co-executive director of No Labels and a Library of Congress alum, and Michael Housely, an EVP and chief accounting officer at Forbright Bank, welcomed Charlotte “Lottie” Cutter Housley on March 17. Pic HAPPY BIRTHDAY: Indiana Gov. Mike Braun … Su-Lin Nichols … Mark Spengler … Matt Gorman of Targeted Victory … Ted Chiodo … CNN’s Donie O’Sullivan … Eugene Kang … Chandler Goule … Rod O’Connor … Evan Feinberg of Praxis … Robert Hoffman … NBC’s Dareh Gregorian … Molly Wilkinson of Onebrief … Sarah Gilmore of the Retail Industry Leaders Association … Vu Ritchie … former Reps. Steve Stivers (R-Ohio) and Ann Kirkpatrick (D-Ariz.) … Aharon Friedman … Hannah Sherman … Staci Maiers … Bloomberg’s Aaron Rutkoff … Jeanette Manfra … Josh Cohen … Bob Crowe … Erin Murphy of Redpoint Advisors … Elise Sidamon-Eristoff … NewsNation’s Bree Tracey … POLITICO’s Rachel Sieracke 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 Giuseppe Macri and deputy editor Garrett Ross.
| | | | A message from Venture Global: Who says Americans don't build big things anymore? Through innovation, Venture Global is delivering American energy at a fraction of the cost, in a fraction of the time. That's Venture Global. That's Unstoppable Energy. ventureglobal.com | | | | | | | | Follow us on X | | | | Subscribe to the POLITICO Playbook family Playbook | Playbook PM | California Playbook | Florida Playbook | Illinois 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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