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|  | THE CATCH-UP | | BIG DAY AT POLITICO: POLITICO is announcing a slate of exciting new hires and promotions today from D.C. to California: Giuseppe Macri is joining the Playbook team as editor … Tessa Berenson Rogers is the new editor of POLITICO Magazine … Jonathan Lai is taking on a new role as editorial director of politics and polling … Chris Sommerfeldt is joining POLITICO to co-author New York Playbook along with Jason Beeferman … and Daniel Miller is coming to POLITICO out in California to cover the influence of Hollywood, media, sports and tech on politics. Read the full announcement
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The mess for Speaker Mike Johnson was evident as the day began. | Francis Chung/POLITICO | DRAMA ON THE HILL: It’s a day of dueling dramas in the House as GOP leadership had to use extra elbow grease to muscle forward the four remaining government spending bills — and that’s just for the procedural vote. While the GOP’s intraparty fissures were on full display on the floor, Republicans mounted a more united front in the Judiciary Committee as they teed off on former special counsel Jack Smith, whose testimony is ongoing. The mess for Speaker Mike Johnson was evident as the day began. The House Rules Committee recessed last night as GOP hardliners and farm-state Republicans mounted separate oppositions to the funding bills, leading to early-morning deals for each group, POLITICO’s Jennifer Schotles and Meredith Lee Hill report. But once the funding bills hit the floor, GOP holdouts had to be won over by leadership in real time, POLITICO’s Katherine Tully-McManus writes. Johnson had to first rally Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.) to flip her vote, then get Freedom Caucus hardliner Reps. Andy Ogles (R-Tenn.) and Zach Nunn (R-Iowa) on board. The rule passed by a razor-thin 214-213 vote after nearly an hour, with some GOP absences exacerbating the narrow majority. The spending bills are now set up for votes on passage this afternoon — which would move forward across-the-board agency funding in a victory for appropriators. But if this morning’s episode on the House floor is any indication, the journey getting there could produce more headaches for Johnson. Mr. Smith in Washington: House Judiciary Chair Jim Jordan tore into Smith this morning as his testimony kicked off, looking to paint him as the epitome of Democrats’ campaign to weaponize law enforcement against President Donald Trump, POLITICO’s Hailey Fuchs writes from inside the hearing. “We should never forget what took place, what they did to the guy ‘We the People’ elected president twice,” Jordan said in his opening remarks. Ranking member Jaime Raskin (D-Md.) kicked off the Democratic message on Smith’s work, saying: “You had the audacity to do your job.” In the audience of the hearing are several police officers who were present during the Jan. 6, 2021 riot at the Capitol, who told Hailey they were there to hear Smith’s testimony. “Whatever [Republicans] want to do, it’s not going to wash away what was done to us and to the Capitol,” Aquilino Gonell said. Also watching is Trump, who wrote in a post on Truth Social that Smith is being “DECIMATED” and added that hopefully AG Pam Bondi is “looking at what he’s done.” And Smith’s testimony, where many senators have some personal grudges after having their phone records tapped, is also coming at something of an ironic moment as the House has jammed senators’ efforts to get legal payouts from the records seizure during Smith’s investigation. Jennifer reports that the House unanimously passed a provision overturning the Senate’s vote from last year on the payout. The drama today is hardly over as we head toward final votes this afternoon on the spending packages. The measures to fund the Pentagon and departments of HHS, Labor, HUD, Transportation and Education will be voted on separately from the Homeland Security bill. It’s DHS funding that will prove to be the toughest battle as nearly every Democrat is preparing to oppose it as tensions swirl over the enhanced ICE enforcement actions across the country. Top Democratic leadership pushed hard against the funding bill in conversations with their caucus yesterday. The vote is expected to be tight, and there’s also the possibility of at least one GOP “no” vote, per Meredith. But the DHS bill has to pass for the funding package to be sent over to the Senate for consideration ahead of the Jan. 30 shutdown deadline. As if all this isn’t enough: Democrats led by Rep. Jim McGovern (D-Mass.) will also trigger a vote on a war powers resolution on Venezuela this afternoon — expect this to be a close vote too, Meredith notes. After today, once the spending bills pass it’s out of Johnson and the House’s hands as the House has canceled its votes tomorrow, no doubt as members look to leave town before this weekend’s winter storm. Good Thursday afternoon. Thanks for reading Playbook PM. Are you a Hill staffer with thoughts on the drama? Send ‘em my way at abianco@politico.com.
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Learn more. | | | | | | 8 THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW | | 1. DOWN AND OUT IN DAVOS: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy excoriated European leaders in his Davos speech for not standing up to Russian President Vladimir Putin as Ukraine faces its most brutal attacks yet in the dead of winter. Referencing his appearance at last year’s Davos summit, “nothing has changed” in terms of Europe’s ability to defend itself, Zelenskyy said, per Bloomberg. “We should not accept that Europe is just a salad of small and middle powers, seasoned with enemies of Europe.” Zelenskyy signaled the papers for a peace deal on the war in Ukraine, now approaching its fourth anniversary, are “nearly ready,” per AP. Zelenskyy’s blunt assessment came not long after his meeting with Trump this morning, which he described as “productive and substantive.” He announced that two days of trilateral meetings between Ukraine, Russia and the U.S. will kick off in the Emirates starting tomorrow, just after U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff and Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner meet with Putin in Moscow today, per NYT. “We are at the end now,” Witkoff told reporters on the sidelines of Davos this morning, expressing optimism on the talks. “I think we’ve got it down to one issue, and we have discussed iterations of that issue, and that means it’s solvable.” Also in Davos today: Elon Musk made his return to the forum after years of being Davos’ “most high-profile hater,” Bloomberg’s Amy Thomson writes, participating in an afternoon session led by BlackRock’s Larry Fink. 2. GREENLAND LATEST: The deal that pushed Trump to back down on his Greenland tariffs will involve stationing of U.S. missiles, enhanced mining rights and a bolstered NATO presence, and it also hinges on Trump not making good on his tariffs threat, Bloomberg’s Arne Delfs and colleagues scoop. But European leaders meeting in Brussels today are now facing an even tougher, big picture question about how to respond to a U.S. administration that is increasingly willing to risk its alliance with NATO, WSJ’s Laurence Norman and Kim Mackrael write. Danish PM Mette Frederiksen said “we cannot negotiate on our sovereignty,” per AP. 3. VANCE ON THE ROAD: VP JD Vance is taking a lap around the Midwest today. He stopped in his native Ohio early this morning to make an affordability-focused pitch to voters. Speaking in Toledo, flanked by SBA Administrator Kelly Loeffler after touring a Midwest Terminals facility, Vance leaned into his Ohio roots and told the group, “Yes, there is an affordability crisis — one created by Joe Biden’s policies … You don’t turn the Titanic around overnight. It takes time to fix what was broken.” Up next: Vance is in Minnesota, where his focus is shifting to the ICE operations in Minneapolis and the fraud controversy in the state. The VP told reporters that “certainly, one of my goals is to calm the tensions,” per the White House pool. He said he’ll be showing his support to ICE officers in Minneapolis, while also declaring that voters who disagree should reflect it in the ballot box and not “assaulting” law enforcement via protests. “It’s cowardly bullshit,” Vance said. He’s meeting with community leaders now and will deliver remarks soon this afternoon. On the ground in Minneapolis: Bondi announced that federal officers arrested Nekima Levy Armstrong and Chauntyll Louisa Allen, who allegedly coordinated the protest at Cities Church in St. Paul this weekend that drew widespread backlash from the administration. … At least four children have been detained from their schools in the ICE sweeps, per Reuters. 4. POLL POSITION: The latest NYT/Siena University poll shows Trump’s approval rating down to 40 percent, three points lower than the last survey. And it doesn’t get much better on the issues: “A majority of voters disapprove of how Mr. Trump has handled top issues including the economy, immigration, the war between Russia and Ukraine and his actions in Venezuela. And significantly, a majority of Americans, 51 percent, said that Mr. Trump’s policies had made life less affordable for them,” NYT’s Shane Goldmacher and colleagues write.” The Trump reaction: The president excoriated the poll results and said on Truth Social he’ll be adding it to his lawsuit against the Times.
| | | | New from POLITICO Introducing POLITICO Forecast: Tomorrow’s conversations about global power, tonight. Forecast brings forward-looking insight from POLITICO’s global newsroom, including coverage tied to major international gatherings like Davos, to help you understand where politics, policy and power are headed.
➡️ Subscribe Now | | | | | 5. THE ECONOMY, STUPID: GDP is up to 4.4 percent from a predicted 4.3 percent, WSJ’s Matt Grossman reports. The figures mark an acceleration “from 3.8% in the three months prior, and from a slight economic contraction that began 2025,” WSJ notes. Though data accumulation is still delayed from last year’s government shutdown, joblessness hasn't spiked significantly, Grossman writes. “The number of people who made fresh filings for unemployment benefits rose to 200,000 in the week through Jan. 17, up from 199,000 a week earlier, the Labor Department said Thursday.” On the money: “Anxiety about costs and affordability is particularly high among Asian Americans, Pacific Islanders and Native Hawaiians, even at a moment when economic stress is widespread,” a new AP poll shows. 6. VEXING VENEZUELA: The U.S. will not offer any security guarantees to oil companies that they’re pushing to make multibillion-dollar investments in Venezuela’s energy sector, Energy Secretary Chris Wright told Bloomberg this morning. “Oil and gas companies operate all around the world in all different settings, they’re well versed in those challenges,” Wright said. But security concerns have been the top issue in the reticence of the U.S. oil giants. Venezuela’s oil trade is also increasingly under Trump’s thumb — the president is controlling the release of the funds made from Venezuela, Semafor’s Shelby Talcott scoops. Oil oversight: Questions abound about how the money will be tracked and the lack of a timeline for when Venezuela might regain control over its resources, POLITICO’s Megan Messerly and colleagues report in a must-read. “Iraq’s reconstruction effort had a United Nations mandate, a special inspector general and international monitors overseeing its oil fund — and it still lost track of $8.7 billion,” they write. “Venezuela’s oil fund has Secretary of State Marco Rubio and a Qatari bank account.” Behind the scenes: “Venezuela’s Delcy Rodríguez assured US of cooperation before Maduro’s capture,” by The Guardian’s Aram Roston: “Delcy Rodríguez and her powerful brother pledged to cooperate with the Trump administration once the strongman was gone.” 7. GOING TO CALIFORNIA: There’s two big problems looming over California — the potential AI bust and an aggressive wealth tax proposal that could send the state’s billionaires packing — and the timing could not be worse for Gov. Gavin Newsom, POLITICO’s Tyler Katzenberger and Eric He write this morning. “Together, they represent a major political liability for the high-profile Democrat, who is laboring to position California as a model worth replicating on a national stage,” they write. 8. TICK TOCK: “China, US sign off on TikTok US spinoff,” by Semafor’s Liz Hoffman and Reed Albergotti: “The US and China have signed off on a deal to sell TikTok’s US business to a consortium of mostly US investors led by Oracle and Silver Lake, capping off a yearslong battle between the social media app and the two superpowers. … The new structure leaves ByteDance with just under 20% of the US business, with 15% stakes going to Oracle, Silver Lake and MGX, a state-owned investment firm in the UAE focused on AI.”
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| | | | | | TALK OF THE TOWN | | TOP TALKER — Vanity Fair has landed another exclusive interview inside Trump’s direct orbit. This time, Aidan McLaughlin profiles Alexis Wilkins, the 27-year-old girlfriend of FBI Director Kash Patel, for an in-depth look at life as the first lady of the FBI. “She was a relatively unknown country singer and political commentator when she first tumbled into the spotlight by virtue of her relationship with Patel.” Over lunch at The Occidental, Wilkins told VF that it hasn’t been smooth sailing, but she is riding the wave. “‘I don’t have a lot of skeletons in my closet,’ she says. ‘I’m not someone who hopes that something doesn’t come out.’ This might explain her disposition at lunch; relaxed, a little bemused by the intensity of the scrutiny she receives.” JET SET — Coming soon to America’s 250th birthday celebrations: a Qatari jet? WSJ’s Marcus Weisgerber and colleagues report that the plane Qatar donated to become the new Air Force One is “on track to be delivered to President Trump this summer,” and though the exact arrival dates is TBD, “it is possible the plane, painted in the red, white and dark-blue scheme favored by the president, could be part of the July festivities celebrating the country’s 250th birthday.” PLAYBOOK METRO SECTION — “White House fences off park as Trump begins new building project,” by WaPo’s Dan Diamond and Olivia George: “Trump’s quest to remake the nation’s capital has found its next target: Lafayette Square, the public park directly north of the White House, ahead of the nation’s 250th anniversary celebration. Workers on Tuesday erected fences around the seven-acre park … A White House official said the work at Lafayette Square will initially focus on repairing the park’s fountains, then expand to include the park’s sprinklers, sodding, benches and curbs. The work is expected to stretch through May.” MEDIA MOVE — Joe Ruffolo has been named the new CEO of 2WAY. He most recently oversaw The Hill and NewsNation Digital at Nexstar Media Group. TRANSITIONS — Declaration Media Group is adding Rebecca Drago, Lindsey Green and Aaron Jacobs as SVPs. Drago most recently worked for Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.). Green is a Harris campaign alum. Jacobs previously worked for the Harris campaign in New Hampshire and is a Maggie Hassan alum. … Autumn Lankford Higgins is now director of government affairs at the American Farm Bureau Federation. She previously worked for the Association of Equipment Manufacturers. … Cassandra Brzezinski is now senior director at Mindset. She previously worked for Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) and is a Carolyn Maloney alum. … Veronica Onyema has joined Perkins Coie’s litigation and antitrust practice as partner. She previously worked in the DOJ’s antitrust division. WEEKEND WEDDING — Erica Arbetter, a government affairs and public policy manager for YouTube, and Brian Janovitz, a partner at DLA Piper and a White House and USTR alum, got married Saturday at the Ritz-Carlton on Amelia Island, Florida. Pic, via Ronald Flores Photography … Another pic … SPOTTED: Alex Isenstadt, Sara Cook, Christina Norton and Matt Brasseaux, Molly and Thomas Vaseliou, Hastie and Amir Afkhami, Courtney Norris and Domenico Montanaro, William McLaughlin, Mayur Kapur and Annelise Nielsen, Ory Rinat and Sarah Josephs, Nick Pearson and Lauren O’Brien, Alex Stone and Matt Cummings, Annie and Justin Lange, Blake Brown and Patrick Cole, Chris Gray, Courtney Alexander and Jessica McBroom. 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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