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By Adam Wren |
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With help from Eli Okun, Ali Bianco, Irie Sentner and Makayla Gray On today’s Playbook Podcast: Adam and Dasha give a guided tour — and survival tips — for navigating WHCD weekend’s must-see moments, preview who’s coming, and peek behind the curtain at Donald Trump’s debut presidential performance.
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Happy Friday. It’s Adam Wren. My lineup of pre-WHCD parties tonight includes Crooked Media, YouTube’s event and the British ambassador’s residence. If you’re around, let’s sidebar. Where else should I be? Get in touch. SCOOP: White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt is scheduled to have her second child next week, a baby girl, Playbook’s Dasha Burns reports. Leavitt will be returning to the podium after her maternity leave, though it’s unclear exactly how many weeks she’ll take. No one will be filling in for Leavitt formally during her leave — but the comms shop is planning to have some familiar faces at the podium to brief the press including VP JD Vance, Cabinet officials or even Trump himself. In the meantime, the White House press shop will be managed by White House comms director Steven Cheung and Leavitt’s team: Pat Adams, Anna Kelly, Kush Desai, Abigail Jackson, Liz Huston, Taylor Rogers, Davis Ingle, Allison Schuster, Olivia Wales, Micah Stopperich, Ellie Acra, Georgia O’Neil and Kieghan Nangle. LISTEN BEFORE YOU PARTY: D.C. social queen Tammy Haddad is Dasha’s guest on “The Conversation” this week, where they talk all things White House Correspondents’ Dinner weekend with the dos, don’ts and all the stories you didn’t know you needed to hear. Listen and subscribe on Apple or Spotify The boldface name-drops: Barbara Streisand, John F. Kennedy, Bradley Cooper, Graydon Carter, Jason Isaacs, Shayne Coplan, Sheryl Crow, Karl Rove, Barack Obama, Donald Trump, Lally Weymouth, Rupert Murdoch, Kim Kardashian, Pamela Anderson, Joe Biden, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Richard Plepler, John Boehner, Nancy Pelosi, Tim Russert, the Jonas Brothers, Ann Curry, Stephanie Ruhle, JFK Jr., Carolyn Bessette, Captain Richard Phillips, Janet Napolitano, Sully Sullenberger, Richard Hudock and many more. In today’s Playbook … — Fear and loathing on WHCD weekend. — The race where Trump’s endorsement is falling flat. — How Erika Kirk helped bridge a recent split on the right.
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DRIVING THE DAY |
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PARTY FAVORS: This town has entered full celebration mode ahead of Saturday’s White House Correspondents Dinner — even if it's shot through with some self-loathing and handwringing. But what exactly it’s celebrating, as with everything in Trump’s Washington, is fractured and depends on who you ask. For reporters and backers of the press, it's the First Amendment. For some in MAGA and the administration, it’s the domination of the former. And for others it’s as simple and as base as feting their access to and coziness with the powerful. “It’s a holiday for which people are choosing their own reasons for the season,” says Kara Voght, who has chronicled this town’s vibes and is covering one last WHCD weekend for the Washington Post before departing for The Wall Street Journal as a features reporter covering politics, power and culture. Whatever the reason, Saturday’s event has become the toughest invite to get. And it may be a long night: Trump’s been working with comedians for his speech, which is likely to crack an hour. “I can assure you the president’s speech will be highly entertaining, and must-see TV,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told Dasha. “It’s the hardest ticket to get, let's be honest, in the last ... since Obama was president, right?” Haddad, the doyenne of WHCD weekend, tells Dasha in today’s edition of “The Conversation.” For a town that’s either returning to the dinner after some lean years or followed Trump to Washington and has the White House’s blessing to enter enemy territory — either as an act of conquest or curiosity — Playbook reached out to some swamp creatures for all the best tips about how to do the weekend like a pro and live to tell the tale. In some instances, Playbook has granted anonymity, because — well, all the usual reasons. “In order to candidly describe sensitive dynamics.” “Fear of retribution.” “To preserve a good reputation,” etc. Keep it moving “The dinner and its attendant festivities are a chance to present yourself as a human being to people you often are trying to email or get on the phone,” Voght says. "It's the right time to go up to someone, introduce yourself, say hello, get a phone number, pay a compliment if you have one to pay. And move on to the next. This is not a good time to pin someone down.” “You have to be prepared to encounter the admin official you don't think you'd encounter late at night.” Escape your typical orbit “My view is it's nice that you have these, you know, 500 friends that you party with every night, but this is a chance to learn from someone else,” Haddad told Playbook. “And go out to other things, unexpected things. I wanna go to the Grindr party, but I can't, so I'm waiting for reports back.” “Pace yourself, branch beyond your usual circle, and treat every quick conversation as a chance to build a real connection.” Take care of yourself “Don’t try to hit every party. Drink more water than alcohol. And don’t get caught looking foolish on C-SPAN (as it pans the room before/during/after the dinner) or, new on the scene this year, on TMZ. Prep with some Vitamin C today. In 2022, the dinner prompted a Covid outbreak but it seems as though, every year, our teams get sick after this dinner!” “My weekend tip is not to drink alcohol,” Oliver Darcy told Playbook at his Status party last night. “Stay in on Friday,” said a source familiar with getting old. Waiter! “Get your company to order extra wine for the table in advance.” Now that’s a real pro tip. Watch your six … “Assume you’re being watched. You don’t want to end up the topic of a reporters’ group chat on Sunday morning.” It’s nerd prom, not fashion week “A dapper colleague once told me that you should tie your bow tie slightly imperfectly because then people will know it's real instead of a clip on.” “Don’t wear insane heels, you’ll be dead by the end of the night.” Prepare to be in a dead zone “Consider a Starlink account beforehand if you need to communicate with anyone on the outside, because that ballroom is a dead zone for basic cell coverage.” See and … be seen. Maybe. “Go ahead, ask the celebrity for a selfie at an after party. They’re there because they want to be seen.” “The celebrities are more scared of you than you are of them.” “If you want to be in candid photos that actually wind up getting published, you’ll need to be in a conversation with a WHCA board member or Kaitlan Collins.”
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TRAIL MIX ENDORSEMENT STRUGGLES: The typical path of a GOP primary — voters fall in line with whomever Trump endorses — looks less clear in Upstate New York, POLITICO’s Nick Reisman and Bill Mahoney report today. Trump this week backed upstart businessman Anthony Constantino to succeed GOP Rep. Elise Stefanik, but the local Republican establishment is largely behind Assemblymember Robert Smullen, making this an unpredictable test of Trump’s power. Now everyone’s waiting to see if Stefanik will weigh in. Gerrymandering fallout: Trump’s Indiana revenge tour targeting GOP state legislators who refused to redistrict lacks consistent messaging, Adam reports from Franklin. The insurgent primary bids haven’t actually focused a ton on redistricting. Still, multiple incumbents are losing in their own private polling. Red-light redistrict: Meanwhile, the legal fight over Virginia’s Democratic gerrymander heads to the state Supreme Court on Monday. Though the judicial outcome is uncertain, White House officials already unleashed their private recriminations against complaining Virginia Republicans, POLITICO’s Alex Gangitano, Dasha Burns and Myah Ward report. DISPATCH FROM THE WILDERNESS: “The Democrats Are in the Woods. Can This Hoosier Point the Way Out?” by Adam for POLITICO Magazine: “If national Democrats hope to become a majority governing party again, they have to solve their problem in places like Indiana, a state that mattered to them not too long ago. And [Beau] Bayh is looking like an increasingly strong candidate who could show Democrats how to win an election in Trump country — in part, by building back trust with voters through managing typically non-partisan elected offices.” CASH DASH: Top super PACs’ massive ad reservation plans for the year are coming into focus. The Democratic-aligned House Majority PAC will unleash $272 million in TV and digital spots, WSJ’s Ken Thomas scooped, while the GOP-aligned Congressional Leadership Fund is teeing up more than $153 million, per Punchbowl’s Ally Mutnick. SELLING ANXIETY: The president’s yearslong, baseless campaign to claim widespread voter fraud has penetrated the American public’s perception, undermining confidence in elections, the latest Reuters/Ipsos poll shows. Forty-six percent of the country now thinks many non-citizens vote fraudulently in elections, which is not supported by evidence. SURVEY SAYS: The latest polling continues to show Democrats in the driver’s seat. The Cook Political Report finds Dems up 6 points in battleground districts, CNBC pegs the nationwide generic congressional ballot at D+4, and the NYT polling average has Trump’s disapproval at a second-term record high.
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THE WAR AND THE MILITARY WAR REPORT: Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Joint Chiefs of Staff Chair Gen. Dan “Razin” Caine will have their latest Iran war briefing at 8 a.m. They’ll have a diplomatic victory to tout, after Trump announced a three-week extension of the Israel-Lebanon ceasefire. And at least one worst-case scenario is off the table after Trump said he wouldn’t use a nuclear weapon in the war. (“Stupid question,” he said.) But the U.S.-Iran truce remains temporary and uneasy. The U.S. military is preparing options for strikes around the Strait of Hormuz should the ceasefire collapse, CNN’s Zachary Cohen reports. Iran laid more mines in the strait just this week, Axios’ Barak Ravid and Marc Caputo report. And some U.S. officials say Trump’s sporadic Truth Social eruptions have undermined negotiations, Bloomberg’s Salma El Wardany and colleagues report. (The White House responds that he’s serious about a deal, not about Iranian leaders’ feelings.) “Don’t rush me,” Trump told Bloomberg’s Jeff Mason yesterday about ending the war. Beyond Iran: Some U.S. officials now believe that depleted stockpiles would hamper the U.S. from fully defending Taiwan if China invaded soon, WSJ’s Alex Ward and colleagues scooped. (NYT’s Eric Schmitt and Jonathan Swan have more details on the very high, very expensive burn rate from this war.) … The U.S. intends to invite Russian President Vladimir Putin to a G-20 summit, per WaPo’s Adam Taylor. It was a busy day for military news:
- DOJ arrested Gannon Ken Van Dyke, whom they accused of using inside knowledge about the operation against Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro to net $400,000 on Polymarket.
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BEST OF THE REST BILL OF HEALTH: As some MAGA figures worry about keeping frustrated MAHA voters in their coalition, Erika Kirk helped put together a White House sitdown between top advocates and Trump, POLITICO’s Cheyenne Haslett and colleagues scoop. … Trump touted yet another deal with a drug company — this time Regeneron Pharmaceuticals — to lower drug prices for Americans. That makes 17 for 17 among the administration’s Most Favored Nation targets. A TALE OF TWO IMMIGRANT CLASSES: Having transformed America’s refugee program to comprise almost entirely white South Africans, the administration is doubling down, weighing a plan to lift the cap for this group from 7,500 to 17,500, Reuters’ Ted Hesson scooped. Meanwhile, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick testified that just one person received the $1 million “gold card” visa — contrary to his rather more grandiose claims late last year, though Lutnick said hundreds more are in the works. On the Hill: Anti-abortion advocates fear Republicans’ targeted approach to fund immigration enforcement through reconciliation will end up restoring funds to Planned Parenthood, POLITICO’s Alice Miranda Ollstein and Robert King report. SPY GAMES: “Inside Jim Himes’ mission to save a key spy authority,” by POLITICO’s Mia McCarthy and Riley Rogerson: “If [Himes] succeeds in stitching together some fractured coalition to extend Section 702 with meaningful guardrails, he will have pulled off a feat of political compromise rarely seen these days. But if he is unable to help land a deal and must instead back a clean extension in the interest of protecting national security, he will undoubtedly take fresh heat from progressives, perhaps in the form of a credible primary challenger.”
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THE WEEKEND AHEAD FRIDAY PROGRAMS … POLITICO “The Conversation”: Tammy Haddad. C-SPAN “Ceasefire”: Reps. Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) and Mark Amodei (R-Nev.) … John Feehery and Arshi Siddiqui. PBS “Washington Week”: Annie Linskey, Seung Min Kim, Tyler Pager and Yvonne Wingett Sanchez. SUNDAY SO FAR … MS NOW “The Weekend: Primetime”: Rep. James Walkinshaw (D-Va.) … Rep. Adam Smith (D-Wash.) … Rep. Maggie Goodlander (D-N.H.) … Rep. Brendan Boyle (D-Pa.) … retired Lt. Gen. Mark Hertling … Steve Hilton. NBC “Meet the Press”: Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.). Panel: Leigh Ann Caldwell, Lanhee Chen, Adrienne Elrod and Melanie Zanona. Fox News “Sunday Morning Futures”: Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) … Carter Page. CBS “Face the Nation”: British Ambassador Christian Turner … Mike Wirth. CNN “State of the Union”: Panel: Scott Jennings, David Urban, Xochitl Hinojosa and Kate Bedingfield. NewsNation “The Hill Sunday”: Panel: Charles Lane, Kate Andrews and Kellie Meyer.
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POLITICO Pro Policy challenges are evolving — and the stakes keep rising. POLITICO Pro delivers authoritative reporting, expert analysis, and powerful tools to help professionals understand and anticipate the business of government, in Washington and beyond. Learn More about POLITICO Pro. |
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TALK OF THE TOWN |
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IN MEMORIAM: “David Jackson, longtime White House correspondent for USA TODAY, dies,” by USA Today’s Michael Collins: “He was 66. … [At the Dallas Morning News and USA Today,] Jackson eventually moved from the Supreme Court to the White House, where he covered every president from Bill Clinton to Donald Trump.” AND THE AWARD GOES TO: The Peabody Awards announced this year’s winners, which include “Jimmy Kimmel Live!,” “In the Dark’s” examination of the Haditha massacre, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution’s social video series about ICE raids, PBS NewsHour’s “Immigration Crackdown” series and much more. All the winners PLAYBOOK METRO SECTION: “Court Revives D.C.’s Ban on High-Capacity Gun Magazines, for Now,” by NYT’s Chris Cameron: “A majority of the court’s judges approved a request by the city of Washington to rehear the case ‘en banc’ … after a three-judge panel had struck down the ban as unconstitutional in March. Washington’s request received support from the Trump-appointed U.S. attorney in the city, creating a rare if awkward alliance in a gun case.” STAYING HOME: Former DHS Secretary Kristi Noem hasn’t moved out of her military base housing in D.C., WSJ’s Marianne LeVine and colleagues report. But Coast Guard Commandant Adm. Kevin Lunday intends to move into the place. THE RENOVATIONS MARCH ON: The Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool is Trump’s next target for a local facelift. He told reporters he wants a new, “American-flag blue” layer at the pool’s bottom, which he said will take roughly a week at the expense of $1.5 million. OUT AND ABOUT — SPOTTED at the 17th annual America Votes State Summit and the Cecile Richards Progressive Leader Awards Ceremony this week: Daria Dawson, Greg Speed, Maryland Gov. Wes Moore, Sen. Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.), Eric Holder, Nevada Secretary of State Cisco Aguilar, Pete Maysmith, Randi Weingarten, Kelley Robinson, Mike Smith, JB Poersch, Maurice Mitchell, Meghan Draper, Yasmin Radjy, Amanda Trump, Heather Williams, Sarah Michelsen, Hector Sanchez, Quentin James and Arianna Jones. — Story Partners and Washingtonian hosted the 13th annual Washington Women in Journalism awards last night. The honorees were PBS’ Judy Woodruff (Hall of Fame Achievement Award), Fox News’ Shannon Bream (Outstanding Journalist in Broadcast Television), The Atlantic’s Missy Ryan (Outstanding Journalist in Print) and CNN’s Priscilla Alvarez (Star to Watch). Outside the event, some other journalists — Washingtonian employees — protested for fair pay amid a very protracted contract dispute with the magazine’s leaders (pic). SPOTTED at the awards: Gloria Story Dittus, Cathy Merrill, Reps. Nicole Malliotakis (R-N.Y.) and Debbie Dingell (D-Mich.), Joe Crowley, Matt Shay, David Chavern, Kevin Keane, Jane Adams, Erin Streeter, Paul Nagle, Mollie O’Dell, Robby Zirkelbach, Kip Eideberg, Fred Humphries, Jeanne Wolak, Heather Wingate, Anna Palmer, Martha Scott Poindexter, Rhonda Bentz, Mark Ein, Heather Podesta, Wolf Blitzer, Andrea Mitchell, Alayna Treene, Martha Raddatz, Lynn Sweet, Jacqui Heinrich, Julia Ioffe, Sharon Eliza Nichols and Michael Fraser. — Guests arrived via red carpet at the YouTube/Meridian International Center/C-SPAN reception, which highlighted America’s 250th anniversary celebration. Freedom 250 CEO Keith Krach told Playbook's Makayla Gray that he has worked closely with Interior Secretary Doug Burgum to facilitate this year’s festivities. “Book early! Because there’s going to be a lot of people,” he said on the red carpet. The night ended with a fire marshall ushering people out of the party. SPOTTED: David and Catherine Bohigian, Fred Hochberg, Sam Feist, Lyor Cohen, Stuart Holliday, Armenian Ambassador Narek Mkrtchyan, Lebanese Ambassador Nada Hamadeh, Malian Ambassador Sékou Berthe, Namibian Ambassador Wilbard Hellao, Rep. Nanette Barragán (D-Calif.), Stephanie and Matthew Patrick, Johnny Harris, Dave Barbuto, Jack Cocchiarella, Keith Edwards, Russell Ellis, Barnette Holston, Mabel Kabani, Donald Louis Gee, Adam Mockler, Alex Pearlman, Marie Royce, Jason and Joy Reid, Jim Acosta and Liz Landers, Don Lemon and Lee Satterfield and Patrick Steel. — Haley Lickstein and Argent yesterday evening hosted a celebration of women in media in Georgetown. SPOTTED: Deja Foxx, Suzanne Lambert, Selina Wang, Elizabeth Booker Houston, Suzanne Kianpour, Becky Van Dercook, Chloe Autio, Claire Joan Uhar, Avra Siegel, Zuraya Tapia, Eryn Hurley and Remi Lederman. TRANSITIONS — Xochitl Hinojosa and Josh Schwerin are launching 22 Characters, a legal, strategic and crisis comms consulting firm whose focus will include clients navigating Justice Department investigations and congressional hearings. Hinojosa worked at DOJ in the Biden administration and is a CNN political contributor. Schwerin is a Priorities USA, Hillary Clinton and DCCC alum. … The National Association of Manufacturers has added Matthew Fontenot as director of government relations and Sam Lopez as senior manager of PAC and political operations. Fontenot previously worked for Speaker Mike Johnson. Lopez previously worked for the New York State Trial Lawyers Association. … … Pierre Gentin is leaving his role as general counsel for the Commerce Department, Semafor’s Liz Hoffman scooped. He’s heading back to the private sector in New York. … Democrats for Education Reform has named Nicole Pollock its next president. The organization is also adding Ravi Gupta as a research fellow, Melanee Farrah as director of national programs, Matthew Braun as senior manager of innovation and choice and Jon Stacey as graphic design and digital comms manager. HAPPY BIRTHDAY: Rep. Mark Harris (R-N.C.) … Mike Gwin … NOTUS’ Al Weaver … Abigail Tracy … Andrew Kirtzman … Erin DeLullo … Zack Roday … Clark Packard … Ruth Guerra ... Terron Sims II … Hillary Lassiter … POLITICO’s Griffin Taylor, Miranda Wilson, Daniella Cheslow and Ellie Borst … Megan Sowards Newton … Conner Prochaska ... Kathy Duda … Stuart Chapman of Thorn Run Partners ... Megan Nashban Kenney … Robb Walton of BGR Group … Jameson Cunningham ... Megan Hannigan … GCI Health’s Luis Betanzo ... National Endowment for the Humanities’ Gabriella Kahn … former Reps. Jack Kingston (R-Ga.) and Mike Garcia (R-Calif.) … Aubrey Lopez … Halee Dobbins 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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