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By Irie Sentner |
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THE CATCH-UP |
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President Donald Trump speaks with reporters on Wednesday before boarding the new Air Force One. | AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson |
Donald Trump wants to be a Great Man. The president is speaking today in Medora, North Dakota, and will be the first official visitor to the Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library, a sprawling monument to a man whose stature in American history Trump hopes to reach — if not eclipse. “We had Washington at the 1st, we had [Roosevelt] at the 125th and we’ve got President Trump at the 250 — all three of them remarkable changemakers moving our country forward,” Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, who is joining Trump in the Badlands, said yesterday on Fox News. Trump is well on his way. Like the 26th president, he has in his second term overseen a significant expansion of executive power — including this week’s landmark Supreme Court decision granting him more control over the executive branch’s independent agencies. Trump has lauded Roosevelt’s construction of the Panama Canal (which he has floated retaking) and wielded his own “big stick” in world-changing foreign policy operations. Roosevelt coined the phrase “bully pulpit” — and Trump has given it an even more expansive definition. But while both presidents were nationalists who sought to project strength and masculinity, their personal and political philosophies diverged. Roosevelt was a fierce pro-regulation progressive; Trump is a conservative who has sought to slash regulation. Roosevelt is perhaps best known for his legacy of conservation; Trump and Burgum have moved to roll back protections for wildlife and public lands. Roosevelt was sensitive about corruption, real and perceived. “There can be no crime more serious than bribery,” he declared in his 1903 State of the Union Address. “Other offenses violate one law while corruption strikes at the foundation of all law.” Trump’s presidency has at times appeared to blur the lines. The president this morning traveled to North Dakota on the maiden flight of the new Air Force One, a $400 million jet gifted by the Qatari royal family whose ownership will transfer to Trump’s own presidential library foundation once he leaves office. “This will be the first flight of what I think is maybe the greatest commercial plane ever built,” Trump told reporters ahead of the journey. He called the jet “a gift from a country that's treated us very well.” Trump’s visit to North Dakota comes a day after financial disclosures revealed that he has made more than $2.2 billion in personal wealth since returning to the White House, driven by $1.4 billion from crypto ventures heavily funded by investments by foreign governments. “Neither the President nor his family has ever engaged — or will ever engage — in conflicts of interest,” White House spokesperson Anna Kelly said in a statement to Playbook. “President Trump proudly made the United States the crypto capital of the world.” First in Playbook: The disclosures also reveal that Trump purchased stock worth between $1 million and $5 million each across a suite of tech companies — Broadcom, Meta, Amazon, Apple, Microsoft and Nvidia — on July 23, 2025, the same day the White House rolled out its “AI Action Plan.” The plan was billed as a booster for U.S. companies trying to compete globally. Trump’s speech launching the effort was attended by Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang. “I don’t get involved in my personal — we have funds that run my money,” Trump told reporters today when asked about his financial disclosures. “All actions by President Trump and his administration are taken in the best interest of the American people – and any so-called ‘reporters’ pushing otherwise are recycling the same, tired, false narrative that Democrats and the legacy media have been pushing for a decade,” Kelly said. Good Wednesday afternoon. Thanks for reading Playbook PM. This is Irie Sentner. Drop me a line at isentner@politico.com.
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A message from Amazon: Nadine used free skills training to go from packing boxes in an Amazon fulfillment center to building satellites for Amazon Leo.
“Amazon paid for all of it and gave me a leg up. They gave me accommodations and my own computer for the first time ever,” she said.
More than 700,000 Amazon employees like Nadine have used free skills training to launch new careers.
Read her story. |
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6 THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW |
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1. FIRST IN PLAYBOOK — Dems’ Blanche strategy: Senate Judiciary Democrats will use a high-profile hearing later this month for Todd Blanche’s AG nomination to hammer him over the Justice Department’s handling of the files related to Jeffrey Epstein, DOJ’s investigation into former FBI Director James Comey and the controversial “Anti-Weaponization Fund,” POLITICO’s Jordain Carney reports. In a preview of where they plan to dig during Blanche’s July 15 appearance, Judiciary Democrats, led by Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), sent Blanche a letter today requesting answers by July 8 to dozens of their information requests related to those issues and others that they believe “reflect on your character and abilities as an attorney and public servant,” according to a copy first obtained by POLITICO. Since Blanche has already gone through the Senate confirmation process once, Democrats will use the hearing to focus on DOJ decisions made under his watch — some of which have sparked pushback from Republicans. Read the letter Speaking of hearings: The Senate Intelligence Committee is eyeing a July 15 confirmation hearing for DNI nominee Jay Clayton, per the Washington Examiner’s David Sivak and Christian Datoc. Trump hinted at the timeline this morning, telling reporters Clayton had a hearing in two weeks. He also said acting DNI Bill Pulte would be in the post for “a month or two months or something” and is empowered to “declassify almost everything.” More from POLITICO’s Gregory Svirnovskiy 2. WARSH DISHES: During a closely watched appearance with other central bank leaders in Portugal today, Fed Chair Kevin Warsh vowed to “stick firmly to the U.S. central bank’s 2% inflation target and ‘disappoint’ anyone who expects loose monetary policy despite President Donald Trump’s call for interest rate cuts,” Reuters’ Francesco Canepa and Howard Schneider report from Sintra, Portugal. “‘If people thought this central bank was going to be comfortable with an inflation objective above 2%, they would be disappointed,’ Warsh told a European Central Bank panel in Sintra, Portugal, emphasizing that — beyond restating the inflation objective — he’d give little indication about where he thinks monetary policy or the economy are headed.” 3. TRAIL MIX: Democratic candidates appear to be competitive in six Senate races this year, but they’re not leading in enough of them for the four seats they must win to flip the chamber if the general election were held today, according to recent NYT/Siena polling in Alaska, Iowa, Maine, North Carolina, Ohio and Texas. While Graham Platner has a slight lead in Maine and Roy Cooper has a bigger one in North Carolina, James Talarico and Ken Paxton are tied in Texas, and Republicans have 2-3 point leads in Alaska, Iowa and Ohio. The gubernatorial races in Iowa and Ohio — both traditionally reliable GOP states with open races — are both extremely tight, the poll also found. Democrat Rob Sand leads Republican Zach Lahn in Iowa 48-47 percent, and the Ohio race is in a dead heat with Republican Vivek Ramaswamy and Democrat Amy Acton each notching 47 percent of likely voters. 4. THE LOST TAPES? Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy’s reality TV-like family road trip YouTube series was supposed to premiere in June — but today is July 1, and no episodes have dropped, POLITICO’s Sam Ogozalek and Chris Marquette report. What gives? “We’re putting the finishing touches on the production and look forward to sharing it with the American people soon,” Transportation Department spokesperson Nate Sizemore said in a statement, but did not provide a release date. “We appreciate Politico’s excitement counting down the days until the episodes drop,” he added. 5. SLOWING AI RACE: “Trump’s AI flip-flopping could be a gift to China,” by POLITICO’s Dana Nickel: “Some security experts worry that the White House’s efforts to restrict the U.S. tools from wider access — and dithering between promises of light-touch intervention and more invasive regulatory action — may have given China a window of opportunity in the race to develop AI tools that could be used as cyber weapons.” 6. TOUGH TRADE: “U.S. won’t renew USMCA, opening door for negotiations with Canada and Mexico,” by CNBC’s Kevin Breuninger: “The widely anticipated decision on the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement, known as USMCA, was revealed Wednesday, the deadline for the three North American trade partners to determine whether they would renew their agreement for another 16-year term. The decision means the USMCA will stay in effect for another decade, provided no member tries to withdraw from it. But it also triggers yearly reviews that could result in the renegotiation of major parts of the treaty.”
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TALK OF THE TOWN |
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RUN OF SHOW — Guest entry to the Great American State Fair on July Fourth will open at 1 p.m., and opening programming begins at 5 p.m. President Donald Trump is scheduled to speak at 9:45 p.m. The fireworks display is set for 10:30 p.m. See the full schedule Meanwhile, in the states — “DOGE Cut Off Small Town America’s 250th Birthday Money,” by NOTUS’ Anna Kramer: “Trump wanted a splashy, ambitious and unparalleled semiquincentennial. Local libraries and historical associations across the country were instead forced to abandon planning for ambitious history and civics initiatives when his administration axed federal funding for state and local humanities projects last year.” ‘SET YOURSELF FREE’ — Former West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin, a Democrat-turned-independent, is urging Pennsylvania Sen. John Fetterman to do the same, he told the Washington Examiner’s Hailey Bullis. “My observation, and recommendation from observation, would be, John, trust me, set yourself free and become an independent,” Manchin said in an interview. TRUMP’S BIG FOCUS — Trump has increasingly focused on his construction and beautification projects — discussing them more frequently than topics like health care and wages, and about as often as he has talked about inflation and prices, according to a WaPo analysis of his social media posts and public remarks by Clara Ence Morse and colleagues. He invoked those projects on four out of every five days in June, up from once every three days in January and an eighth of days last June. MEDIAWATCH — “Paula Reid Expected to Move to MS NOW After Leaving CNN,” by Variety’s Brian Steinberg: “Legal-affairs journalist Paula Reid is expected to take up new duties at MS NOW, according to a person familiar with the matter, leaving behind a top job at CNN in part due to the uncertainty of its future as its parent company, Warner Bros. Discovery, is acquired by Paramount Skydance.” OUT AND ABOUT — E.U. Ambassador Jovita Neliupšienė, Kathy “Coach” Kemper and R. David Edelman hosted a dinner last night at the E.U. residence on “Making AI Usable: Competitive AI Innovation on Both Sides of the Atlantic,” where Jennifer Rudy received the Institute for Education Visionary Leadership Award. Guests dined on radicchio, arugula and peach halloumi salad; halibut with red wine reduction, capers and brown butter sauce; and lemon tart with crème fraîche from chef Davide G. Martins. SPOTTED: Estonian Ambassador Kristjan Prikk, DOE Under Secretary Dario Gil, EU Delegation counselor Johannes Bahrke, Ruth Berry, John Paul Farmer, Camille Stewart Gloster, Alison Grigonis, Shaun Modi, Zane Mountcastle, Mike Nayler, Jennifer Rudy and Edmund Towers. — Morgan Ortagus and Antoun Sehnaoui hosted a book launch party at The Mark Hotel in NYC for Hussain Abdul-Hussain, who recently published “The Arab Case for Israel” ($18.99). SPOTTED: Wilson Shirley, Hagar Chemali, Dana Gibber, Emily Compagno, Hena Doba, Mosheh Oinounou, Chris Good, Yael Lavie, Pamela Falk and Haley Cohen. Former Trump TRANSITION — Greg Smith is now a partner in Taft’s project development and finance group in Washington. He arrives from Morrison Foerster. WELCOME TO THE WORLD — Parker Maillet, assistant protocol officer at the United States Senate Sergeant at Arms, and Pat Maillet, government relations counsel at Legal Services Corporation, welcomed Annalise Logan Maillet yesterday. 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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SPONSORED CONTENT Nadine launched a new career with help from Amazon Career Choice
Nadine started working nights in an Amazon fulfillment center. She used Amazon Career Choice to earn her satellite technician certificate. Now she is helping launch satellites with Amazon Leo. Read her story. Sponsored by Amazon  
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