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By Eli Okun |
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THE CATCH-UP |
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At Camp David, President Donald Trump today touted his Board of Peace’s new plan for a path forward in Gaza. | Aaron Schwartz/AFP via Getty Images |
President Donald Trump sounds optimistic about ending one seemingly intractable Middle East war — but he’s threatening to expand another. At Camp David, which played host to Egyptian-Israeli peace negotiations 48 years ago and Israeli-Palestinian talks 26 years ago, Trump today touted his Board of Peace’s new plan for a path forward in Gaza. Speaking at a Cabinet meeting, the first one ever to be broadcast live from the retreat, Trump said the board itself would take possession of Hamas’ weapons if the group’s disarmament happens. That would seem to run counter to the details officials laid out last night when the new Gaza deal was announced — that Palestinian authorities would take control of many Hamas weapons, NYT’s Katie Rogers notes. The early wrinkle over disarmament is just one of myriad hurdles the Board of Peace’s deal will have to clear in the months ahead. If the agreement holds, it would amount to a massive breakthrough that could yield the permanent end of the Israel-Hamas war and a new future for Gaza. The board publicly released details of the agreement today: It envisions a phased, carefully verified process that will ultimately yield “an Israeli withdrawal, a Gaza governed free from Hamas control and rule by the gun, and the reconstruction of Gaza under Palestinian administration.” But the initial reactions today laid bare just how fraught the path ahead looks. Hamas said it will disarm its heavy weapons only if a Palestinian state is created, not a demand Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu’s government has been open to. Jerusalem’s silence today has been conspicuous. But one Israeli source told CNN’s Tal Shalev the government probably won’t come out against the agreement — and instead will wait for Hamas to violate it, while declining to pull out of Gaza ahead of October elections in Israel. Trump’s not blind to the difficulties: Implementation will have “ups and downs,” he said today. But he claimed the war with Iran helped lead to the deal: “If you go four months ago or five months ago,” he said, “a deal like that would have been impossible.”
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A message from Anthropic: Helping a Boston restaurant owner support his team
Running a restaurant means financial pressure and moving parts. At Shy Bird, owner Eli Feldman uses Claude to help solve problems from kitchen organization to manager coaching, so he can give more to the people who make the restaurant run. Learn more. |
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As for that war — the one currently roiling his presidency like the Gaza and Ukraine conflicts did Joe Biden’s — Trump sounded rather less in dealmaker mode. “I’m losing faith in them because they do lie,” he said of Iranian negotiators. He repeated his frequent pledges that “we’ll be hitting them very hard” to force Tehran to make concessions. And he said if Iran is left with even one drone, “that’s too many,” an apparent shift from his openness to Iran retaining some such weapons when they signed a memorandum of understanding last month. Iran, not backing down either, said it launched new drone attacks aimed at U.S. assets in Kuwait today. One top U.S. official said a return to diplomacy “does not appear imminent,” CNN’s Kevin Liptak and colleagues report, while others worry Iranian political negotiators don’t have much actual power in Tehran as the revolutionary guard takes more control. But in a sign of U.S. concerns about its own depleted stockpiles, Bloomberg’s Anthony Capaccio reveals that $18 billion of the Pentagon’s funding request to Congress is for interceptors, advanced missiles and other high-profile arms. Trump did find one limit to Iran saber-rattling at the Cabinet meeting, though. Asked about U.S. officials’ suspicion that Iran was likely behind a cyberattack in Minnesota, Trump broke with his government investigators — and fingered Democrats instead. “I think I blame it on Minnesota because they’re grossly incompetent,” he said, calling out Gov. Tim Walz specifically. Heads up: After the notorious Iran school strike, the Pentagon now is considering reversing about half the cuts it made to a program dedicated to preventing wartime civilian casualties, The Atlantic’s Missy Ryan and Nancy Youssef scooped. Happy Friday afternoon. Thanks for reading Playbook PM. Drop me a line at eokun@politico.com.
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A message from Anthropic:  
Helping a Boston restaurant owner support his team
Running a restaurant comes with pressure. At Shy Bird, Claude helps Eli Feldman do more for his team. Learn more. |
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7 THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW |
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1. CARTE BLANCHE: Trump isn’t done fuming at Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) — or, apparently, trying to get Todd Blanche confirmed as AG. This morning on Truth Social, he accused Cornyn of not caring about the “Anti-Weaponization Fund” until Trump endorsed Texas AG Ken Paxton over Cornyn. And Trump made clear he’s still passionate about seeking restitution for people he claims were victims of government weaponization. More from POLITICO’s Gregory Svirnovskiy Trump’s post didn’t sit well with Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.). The president’s ongoing defense of the fund “is exactly why we are attempting to formally end it,” Tillis wrote on X. “It’s a shame [Blanche’s] confirmation has hit a snag only because an incompetent personal advisor to the President refuses to amend the bogus settlement.” At Camp David today, Trump said the fund is “dead — but I wish it weren’t.” 2. DEMOCRACY WATCH: “Trump admin tries to rebuild election security infrastructure it gutted as midterms near,” by CNN’s Tierney Sneed and colleagues: “A year after forcing out many of its most experienced election-security specialists, [the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency] is now reassigning remaining staff into new roles. … [It] says it will use a security mechanism it employed during the World Cup to protect the midterm elections. It also promises a public plan in 30 days [from July 17] … But election officials and non-partisan experts warn it’s too deep into the election cycle for any major changes to their security protocols.” 3. RACE FOR THE HOUSE: House Majority Leader Steve Scalise is kicking off his recess campaigning in Nebraska’s 2nd District — as Republicans start to really bring in the cavalry for crucial swing seats, POLITICO’s Meredith Lee Hill scoops. He’ll campaign with Brinker Harding in the days to come. Scalise is then expected to hit Iowa’s 1st and 3rd, Wisconsin’s 3rd, North Carolina’s 1st, Ohio’s 9th, New York’s 3rd and more through August. Raising Arizona: Democrats feared the bitter primary in Arizona’s swing 1st District could damage whoever emerged. Amish Shah, who scored the nomination despite lacking DCCC support, apparently agrees: “We are now digging ourselves out of a hole,” he warned on a private supporters call this week, per the Arizona Republic’s Laura Gersony. Shah also said he’ll have to pull back on his much-touted strategy of personal door-knocking, which some national Democrats thought was an inefficient use of time.
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Rahm Emanuel makes his 2028 pitch over pizza In the latest episode of On the Road with Jonathan Martin, Rahm Emanuel sits down at a Chicago pizzeria to talk about his political future, why Democrats need to win back the center and what he sees as a turning point for American politics.
Watch now. |
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4. UNDER THE RADAR: Semafor’s Dave Weigel dives into a less-reported angle of the left wing’s rise in Midwest Democratic primaries: data centers. Progressives like Francesca Hong, Abdul El-Sayed and Will Lawrence got out ahead of other Democrats in capitalizing on voter anger over the AI infrastructure, calling for moratoria and outmaneuvering the more cautious center-left. 5. RULES FOR THEE: “The US is asking countries to step up forced labor enforcement. Its own is weakening,” by POLITICO’s Ari Hawkins and Oliver Ward: “Trump’s latest wave of tariffs are based on allegations that other countries aren’t doing enough to combat forced labor. At the same time, his administration has quietly pulled back enforcement of a U.S. ban on goods made with Chinese forced labor as it tries to maintain a trade truce with Beijing. … After POLITICO published this report for subscribers, the Department of Homeland Security issued an update adding more than 40 new Chinese companies to the blacklist.” 6. THE INFORMATION ECOSYSTEM: In the MAGA media world, a number of prominent right-wing and pro-Trump influencers have seen their views drop significantly from 2024/2025 heights, NYT’s Stuart Thompson reports. Across podcasting, YouTube and social media, voices like Benny Johnson, Dan Bongino and Megyn Kelly have faced diminishing reach. Others, like Candace Owens, have sometimes broken with Trump or broadened their focus to various realms of the conspiratorial far right. 7. WHAT THE EEOC IS UP TO: “An unwritten federal policy is blocking workers’ discrimination claims,” by WaPo’s Meryl Kornfield: “Judges have been told to hold off on making moves in ongoing class-action cases where federal workers are alleging discrimination … Federal employment lawyers told The Washington Post that they have seen no engagement from administrative judges in their class-action cases in litigation since the end of last year. The agency is moving toward announcing a revision of its civil rights enforcement process.”
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TALK OF THE TOWN |
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FOR YOUR RADAR — Critics are up in arms about potential new rules green-lit by the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation, which would circumscribe preservationists’ feedback about threats to historic sites from new industrial development, NYT’s Julia Jacobs reports. Proponents say the alterations could help expedite economic projects like oil and gas drilling; the new regulations would also ease the path for Trump’s efforts to redesign Washington. Meanwhile, preservationists are also worried about the plan to turn the Eisenhower Executive Office Building from gray to white — and going to court to try to stop it, per NBC’s Andrea Mitchell and Alexandra Bacallao. ALL IN THE FAMILY — Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick had a good excuse for missing today’s Cabinet meeting: He was at his daughter’s medical school white coat ceremony. OUT AND ABOUT — At a cryptocurrency summer policy reception at PubKey last night, SEC Chair Paul Atkins honored Commissioner Hester Peirce, who’s departing the agency later this year, and attendees talked about the potential for the Senate to pass the Clarity Act soon. SPOTTED: Patrick Witt, Alex Thorn, Thomas Pacchia, Tyler Williams, Natalia Li, Ji Kim and Marty Bent. MEDIA MOVE — Adam O’Neal is departing WaPo, where he took over as opinion editor last year to lead the section in its newly libertarian orientation, the Guardian’s Jeremy Barr scooped. TRANSITIONS — Josh Rultenberg is leaving his role as comms director for Rep. Emilia Sykes (D-Ohio). He’ll be releasing a new book with Rory Riley Topping, “Draw the Line in Ohio” ($24.95), about the effort to end partisan gerrymandering. … Daniel Jasper is launching Alternate Civics, a civic strategy and implementation firm. He most recently has worked at Project Drawdown. BONUS BIRTHDAY: POLITICO’s Isabelle Kravis 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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