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By Makayla Gray |
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With help from Eli Okun, Ali Bianco and Irie Sentner Good Saturday morning. It’s Makayla Gray, wrapping up my internship with Playbook and driving the day without training wheels. After this week, I’ll be a Playbook alum. It’s been a pleasure to help keep you informed. Stay in touch.
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DRIVING THE DAY |
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The D.C. mayor’s race is crowded. Seven Democratic candidates are dueling to succeed Muriel Bowser — a job that will mean sharing custody of the District with Donald Trump, and threading a needle between defending home rule without running afoul of the president’s popular initiatives touting safety and beautification. The shift in management is certain to spark a flurry of new fates for the capital, spanning public parks, national monuments and the Metropolitan Police Department. Council member Janeese Lewis George, one of two frontrunners in the race alongside Kenyan McDuffie, said restorations like the Meridian Hill Park fountain represent “the type of investment we want to see the federal government making in our city.” “My only issue is if this is one-time funding and not consistent funding,” Lewis George told Playbook, adding that the National Park Service, which aids beautification, has been notoriously underfunded, and many NPS employees were fired in the administration’s DOGE days. She wants to find a sustainable way to keep the projects rolling with help from the Interior Department. Rini Sampath is a federal contractor who’s never run for public office, and the first-ever South Asian to qualify for the D.C. mayoral ballot. She’s skeptical of Trump’s efforts to make D.C. beautiful again. “Trump is not necessarily the safest actor in all of this,” Sampath said. “He does so much of this haphazardly,” she added, pointing to other projects like the proposed 250-foot triumphal arch. “There’s no such thing as free lunch with a relationship with the president of the United States,” Sampath said. “While you want to immediately go toward praising his accomplishments, I just don't think it comes for free. I think there's always some kind of a caveat.”
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A message from Vapor Technology Association: The science is clear: Vaping saves lives, and youth vaping is at historic lows. Now Acting FDA Commissioner Diamantas must fix the broken system to save vaping: establish predictable scientific guidelines for PMTA review, enforce against illicit products that fail those standards, and protect adult Americans relying on flavored vapes to quit smoking. FDA policy must change to catch up to its own data. The window is open — act now. |
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The fountain at Meridian Hill Park, known to locals as Malcolm X Park, shut off in 2019, just four years into Bowser’s tenure. Vincent “VO” Orange, who’s spent nearly 15 years in D.C. politics, said “it felt like a gut punch” when the fountain was turned off. Orange, the former president of D.C.’s Chamber of Commerce and at-large council member, acknowledged the effort requires maintenance and funding to keep projects alive. But he’s “all in” for future endeavors. Police reform has also roiled the race — particularly in light of Trump’s push to crack down on crime. There’s general consensus an MPD shakeup is coming. Interim Chief Jeffery Carroll is likely on the way out no matter who wins the race. In a forum this month, zero of the six participating candidates raised their hand when asked if they would keep Carroll in the post. Three of the candidates told Playbook they’d remove Carroll, one was on the fence, and the other two said their lack of a raised hand was equivalent to declining comment. Gary Goodweather, a business executive who’s never run for public office and is third in polling, is one of the candidates in the removal camp. Why? “Primarily, controversy,” Goodweather told Playbook. “Drama.” Carroll is part of an ongoing lawsuit filed by several Black female MPD officers who claim he and other high-ranking officers contributed to a “toxic work environment” with continuous systemic disparate treatment and discriminatory actions toward them, according to the suit. The events occurred when Carroll was MPD assistant chief. MPD declined to comment. The MPD put 13 officers on administrative leave earlier this month following an internal investigation into how the department records crime stats — a concern that rose all the way to Congress and U.S. Attorney for D.C. Jeanine Pirro’s office. There are also questions about the MPD’s cooperation with federal immigration enforcement. McDuffie, a former at-large councilmember, said in a statement he’d “appoint a chief who restores accountability and transparency.” Ernest Johnson, CEO of the Frank Reeves Center nonprofit, told Playbook he wouldn’t announce his position publicly. But not everyone agrees. Hope Solomon, a small business owner who’s never run for public office, is the only candidate who plainly told Playbook they wouldn’t fire Carroll, who she said faces “a difficult task.” “It’s a balancing act with the federal law enforcement and then pressure from Congress about policing in D.C.,” Solomon said, adding she aims to boost officer recruitment and address staffing shortages that have stretched the department. That mirrors the task that whoever wins the June 16 primary will likely face come November — with two more years of the Trump presidency to go. “It’s a delicate dance that we are playing with the federal government,” she added.
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5 THINGS THAT STUCK WITH US 1. AUTOPSY FALLOUT CONTINUES: Democrats are worried DNC Chair Ken Martin’s decision to release — then disavow — an autopsy into the 2024 presidential campaign has dug the party even deeper into an already cavernous hole, POLITICO’s Lisa Kashinsky reports. Now longtime party activists are reaching out to donors and elected officials to pressure Martin into stepping down and brainstorming potential replacements. Can’t catch a break: “DNC autopsy author was previously part of another Democratic humiliation,” by POLITICO’s Nick Reisman: “Paul Rivera previously served as a key adviser to [New York] state Senate Democratic leader John Sampson, a Brooklyn lawmaker who led an infamously dysfunctional majority for part of 2009 and into 2010 — and was later convicted of federal fraud charges.” 2. IRAN LATEST: Pakistani army chief Asim Munir, a key interlocutor between the White House and the Iranian regime, continued his talks in Tehran with Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi this morning. Munir met separately with Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian and Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf. Araghchi also held separate talks with the foreign ministers of Oman, Turkey, Qatar and Iraq, as well as U.N. Secretary General António Guterres. Those talks come as Trump continues to signal a deal may be close, telling a crowd in New York last night that the war would be over “soon” and “oil prices are going to tumble as soon as I finish up with Iran.” More from Bloomberg 3. YUUUUGE GIFT: The Japanese conglomerate SoftBank Group, one of the largest AI investors in the world, donated $50 million to the Trump presidential library and foundation, POLITICO’s Daniel Lippman scoops. It’s one of the largest known gifts to the fund and comes as companies continue to curry favor with the Trump administration. 4. PIPE DREAM: Lawmakers from both parties and Trump administration officials are pushing for bipartisan permitting reform — but the prospect, while popular, still lacks a clear path to enactment, POLITICO’s Josh Siegel reports. Despite the common ground in both parties around encouraging more energy production and accelerating projects, permitting also touches on separate thorny issues for congressional Republicans, Democrats and this White House. 5. ANTITRUST AGs: As the White House eases off antitrust enforcement, states are rushing to seize the power for themselves, POLITICO’s Joseph J. Schatz reports. State attorneys general of both parties are increasingly focusing on the economy and flexing their antitrust muscles more aggressively — setting up clashes both with the federal government and each other. CLICKER — “The nation’s cartoonists on the week in politics,” edited by Matt Wuerker — 15 funnies
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Kevin Necessary / kevinnecessary.substack.com |
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GREAT WEEKEND READS: — “Elise Stefanik Is Leaving Congress. She Still Sounds Like a Candidate,” by Ben Jacobs for POLITICO Mag: “Once hailed as a rising GOP moderate, [New York Rep. Elise] Stefanik exits Congress as one of Donald Trump’s fiercest allies — and signals she may not be finished with electoral politics.” — “Short Naps, Long Hours: How Autism Clinics Squeeze Medicaid Dollars Out of Preschoolers,” by NYT’s Sarah Kliff and Margot Sanger-Katz, with visuals by Erin Schaff and Asmaa Elkeurti: “The industry has grown rapidly, straining state budgets. A focus on finances has led to overbilling, fraud and even harm.” — “'We'll never know if he could have been saved.' The gaps in Trump's rural health fund,” by NPR’s Sarah Jane Tribble and Amanda Seitz: “The healthcare gaps in Martin County illustrate the finite reach of a $50 billion rural health fund that Republicans crafted to strengthen support for President Trump's signature tax and spending measure … Though the cash has not been doled out, Republican candidates in competitive midterm elections … are casting the fund as a lifeline that will shore up critical rural health services across America.”
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TALK OF THE TOWN |
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THE ROCKETS’ RED GLARE: “Record-breaking 860,000 fireworks planned for Trump’s July Fourth show,” by WaPo’s Joe Heim: “The display, featuring 50 times the typical number of fireworks that light up D.C.’s sky, will last about 40 minutes, double the usual time.” OUT AND ABOUT — The newly launched US-Asia Fair Market Alliance and its executive director, Matt Mowers, hosted a roundtable dinner focused on predictable and fair trading and investment markets in Asia, moderated by Widehall’s Steve Clemons, yesterday at Annabelle. SPOTTED: Brian Wheaton, Bruce Andrews, Danielle Fumagelli, Andrew Hale, David Wilezol, Stephen Yates, Yancy Molnar, Stephen Vaughn, Charles Lichfield, Stephen Parente, Hera Abbasi, Ed Brzytwa, Joe Grogan, Destiny Stone, Daniel Combs, Alicia Diaz, Eunjoong Kim, Karen Kerrigan, George Landrith, Adam Savit, Will Stevens, Sarah Kemp, Miles Yu, Elsa Hoffacker, Scott Jacobs and Andrew Oros. MEDIA MOVE — Alexei Koseff is joining WaPo’s Congress team to focus on accountability and enterprise stories off the Hill. He comes from the Washington bureau of the San Francisco Chronicle and previously worked at CalMatters and the Sacramento Bee. HAPPY BIRTHDAY: Rep. Dina Titus (D-Nev.) … former AG Bill Barr … William Minor of DLA Piper … Dana Priest … Washington Examiner’s Anna Giaritelli … Daisy Martinez … ABC’s Mary Bruce … Shekar Narasimhan … Nate McDermott … NBC’s Danielle Dellorto … Megan McKinley … BBC’s Adam Levy … Melanie Fonder Kaye … PhRMA’s Sarah Sutton Ryan … Reuel Marc Gerecht … Rachel MacKnight … Jerry Goldfeder … Tom Heinemann … Nicholas Uehlecke … Jorge Martínez … former Interior Secretary Donald Hodel … Mel Lukens THE SHOWS (Full Sunday show listings here): CBS “Face the Nation”: Kevin Hassett … Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) … Dr. Deborah Birx. Panel: Rep. Mike Lawler (R-N.Y.) and Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-N.J.) … Medal of Honor recipients William Swenson and Matthew Williams. NBC “Meet the Press”: Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) … Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) … Reshma Saujani. Panel: Jeh Johnson, Andrea Mitchell, Marc Short and Amy Walter. FOX “Fox News Sunday”: Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) … Rep. Byron Donalds (R-Fla.) … Päivi Räsänen and Kristen Waggener … Dr. Stephen Meyer. Panel: Leslie Marshall, Hans Nichols, Reince Priebus and Philip Wegmann. CNN “State of the Union”: Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) … Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) … Lee Zeldin. Panel: Scott Jennings, Kristin Soltis Anderson, former Rep. Joe Cunningham and Xochitl Hinojosa. ABC “This Week”: Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick (R-Pa.) … Rep. Tom Suozzi (D-N.Y.) … Harry Dunn and Daniel Hodges. Panel: Donna Brazile, Sarah Isgur, Ramesh Ponnuru and Dana Milbank. Fox News “Sunday Morning Futures”: Kevin Hassett … Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) … Rep. Rick Crawford (R-Ark.) … Rep. Ashley Hinson (R-Iowa) … Cameron Khansarinia. 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.
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A message from Vapor Technology Association: Youth vaping is at its lowest level in over twelve years — a direct result of common-sense restrictions that the vapor industry championed. The FDA's own data tells a clear story. Yet policy has failed to keep pace with science.
With new leadership now in place, Acting Commissioner Diamantas has a narrow and consequential window to deliver real reform built on three pillars: transparent, evidence-based scientific standards for PMTA review so e-cigarette manufacturers know exactly what is required; consistent enforcement against bad actors failing those standards— the actual source of the problem; and surgical enforcement criteria that target predatory design and youth-facing marketing, not the compliant products millions of American smokers depend on.
Protecting youth and preserving adult consumer access are not competing goals. A real and well-designed regulatory framework achieves both. The science is clear. The leadership is in place. It's time to fix the system and save vaping. |
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