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Presented by With help from Eli Okun and Bethany Irvine Good Sunday morning. Happy Father's Day. This is Zack Stanton. Get in touch. YOUR SUNDAY LISTEN: Within President Donald Trump's orbit, Richard Grenell is a jack of all trades. He's a special presidential envoy (if you're unclear what exactly that entails, Grenell says his remit is 'whatever President Trump gives me, and that can change'), as well as head of the Kennedy Center, a former acting director of national intelligence and ex-ambassador to Germany. Add in his friendship with first lady Melania Trump, and you begin to get a sense of the unique role he occupies. On today's episode of 'The Conversation with Dasha Burns,' Grenell joins Dasha to talk about all of it and much more — his vision for the Kennedy Center, the divide he sees between what he calls 'normal gays' and other members of the LGBTQ+ community, what diplomacy means to him, why he's thinking about running for California governor and much more. Watch and listen to it now on YouTube Grenell on audience members booing Trump officials at the Kennedy Center: 'I'm all for having your First Amendment rights. I will go to the mat for making sure that you have your First Amendment rights. But do you want a world where 'Les Mis' is interrupted by boos because somebody just feels like that's their moment? I don't.' On 'Hamilton' canceling its Kennedy Center run: 'When we had … Lin-Manuel Miranda and the 'Hamilton' folks, his whole push to say, 'I can't be here' — 'Hamilton' cancels at the Kennedy Center. Why did he do that? He did that because he's intolerant. He doesn't want to perform for Republicans. … The intolerance from the arts community is one of the worst. … They talk about 'give everyone their voice,' 'be tolerant,' 'we wanna be diverse,' but you show up as a Republican, and you get booed. They're literally the most intolerant people.' On LGBTQ+ pride parades: 'I mean, you go to a pride parade, and it's embarrassing, to be honest. … It's real fringe, and it's too sexual. And I think that we have to start critiquing ourselves — and by the way, this is extremely popular with normal gays.' On Trump deploying the military to L.A.: 'I think Donald Trump saved Los Angeles, because it was clearly heading towards riots … So when Donald Trump decided to send in law enforcement and send in the National Guard and send in the military, there are a lot of Democrats in California who said 'Thank God.'' On talking with Russia about Ukraine: 'Russia is clearly the problem here, and we have to be able to get to them and have a nice conversation with them and say, 'What do you want?' I don't think that talking to Russia is [a] weakness, which a lot of people do.' Subscribe now on Apple Podcasts … Spotify … YouTube DRIVING THE DAY IN THE STREETS: A week that began with Trump ordering the Marines and National Guard troops to the streets of Los Angeles ended with massive protests against the president in the streets of cities across the country, with Army tanks rumbling down Constitution Avenue here in Washington, and with armed FBI agents sweeping a neighborhood in Brooklyn Park, Minnesota, on a search for the gunman who allegedly shot two Democratic state legislators in their homes, killing Minnesota House DFL leader Melissa Hortman and her husband. This morning, that manhunt continues. The Minnesota Star-Tribune's Jeff Day and colleagues report that the suspect, Vance Luther Boelter, 'carried a manifesto that listed 'prominent pro-choice individuals in Minnesota, including many Democratic lawmakers.'' The list reportedly included 11 lawmakers from neighboring Wisconsin, per the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel. On NBC's 'Meet the Press,' Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) said that law enforcement has 'also put an alert out in South Dakota,' and that they believe the suspect is 'in the Midwest.' A gut punch of a headline: 'Like School Shootings, Political Violence Is Becoming Almost Routine.' NYT's Lisa Lerer notes the statements of shock and condolences from House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (shot and nearly killed in 2017), former Rep. Gabby Giffords (shot and nearly killed in 2011), Rep. Nancy Pelosi (whose husband, Paul, was bludgeoned and nearly killed in 2022), Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro (whose house was set on fire earlier this year while he and his family slept inside), Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (whom a group of militia members plotted to abduct and possibly execute in 2020) and Trump himself (who survived two assassination attempts in 2024). 'In the past three months alone, a man set fire to the Pennsylvania governor's residence while Mr. Shapiro and his family were asleep inside; another man gunned down a pair of workers from the Israeli Embassy outside an event in Washington; protesters calling for the release of Israeli hostages in Boulder, Colo., were set on fire; and the Republican Party headquarters in New Mexico and a Tesla dealership near Albuquerque were firebombed,' Lerer writes. 'Slowly but surely, political violence has moved from the fringes to an inescapable reality. Violent threats and even assassinations, attempted or successful, have become part of the political landscape — a steady undercurrent of American life.' That threat of violence loomed over yesterday's 'No Kings' protests. After the shootings in Minnesota, Gov. Tim Walz urged would-be demonstrators not to attend any rallies 'until the suspect is apprehended.' In Texas, officials arrested a man who made a credible threat against lawmakers who were to attend the No Kings protest in Austin; per the American-Statesman, a spokesperson for the Texas Department of Public Safety 'said preliminary information suggested the man was politically 'far left-leaning' and sought to harm those with whom he disagreed politically.' But those worries did little to dampen turnout nationally, as 'millions of Americans across the country took part in the largest coordinated protests against the president since the start of his second administration,' as POLITICO's Gigi Ewing writes. Here in Washington, a demonstration gathered in Logan Circle and marched for several blocks. But mostly, the No Kings phenomenon skipped the nation's capital. 'Rather than give [Trump] the excuse to crack down on peaceful counterprotests in downtown D.C., or give him the narrative device to claim that we're protesting the military, we said, OK, you can have downtown D.C.,' Ezra Levin, co-founder and co-executive director of Indivisible, told POLITICO. Instead, the main event in D.C. was the massive parade to honor the U.S. Army's 250th birthday (which also happened to coincide with Trump's 79th). 'Planes roared over the heart of Washington on Saturday evening, tanks rolled along the National Mall, brass bands resounded and thousands of soldiers marched past cheering crowds, as the Army put on the largest show of military might in the capital in more than three decades,' as WaPo put it. 'Long lines formed in the heavy heat, as people waited to climb in the back of a Stryker armored vehicle, and kids clambered into front seats of attack helicopters, posing for parents snapping photos with their phones. Across the grass, combat medics demonstrated how they treat injuries in conflict zones. A face-painting stand was steps away from a display of 19th-century rifles. Red MAGA hats dotted the crowd.' Last night, as celebratory fireworks gleamed above the National Mall, people gathered to gawk on the block of 16th Street just north of Lafayette Square where, four years ago this month, the National Guard and U.S. Park Police used tear gas against nonviolent protesters so that the president could walk to St. John's Church and pose for a photo. That stretch of road, which bore the words 'Black Lives Matter' until earlier this year, was largely devoid of demonstrators, save for a few pressed up against the anti-scale fencing erected at Lafayette Square. Tourists stood in the street, marveling at the display in the sky. A newly married couple bolted out from the St. Regis to take wedding photos in the median before the show ended. An older couple, both wearing American flag t-shirts, got an early beat on any traffic, making the trek away from the Mall. The sidewalk in front of St. John's Church was empty, save for a homeless person in a sleeping bag. There were precious few signs of the plaza's recent history, even with the echoes to the current moment, with mass protests nationally, Trump deploying federal forces to American cities and the feeling again of a nation seemingly on the brink. (History, as they say, may not repeat, but often rhymes.) All of it felt strangely normal. Perhaps it is now. SUNDAY BEST … — Israeli Ambassador Yechiel Leiter on Israel's strikes against Iran, on 'Fox News Sunday': 'We are going to deal with the nuclear program as best we can. We still have a few surprises up our sleeve. I think we've proven that over the past couple of days. We're determined to get this done. At this point, what we've requested from our ally, our greatest ally, the United States, is defensive posture.' — Sen. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) on U.S. support for Israel, on NBC's 'Meet the Press': 'I support the administration's actions in helping Israel defend itself. In terms of whether the administration should go further and engage in direct hostilities against Iran, that's not something I support. Now, I have to caveat that by saying I have not been able to get recently an intelligence briefing on whether Iran is trying to break out to get a bomb. But I think the United States should be very loath to engage in another war after the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.' — Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) on what it would take for him to vote for the 'big, beautiful bill,' on NBC's 'Meet the Press': 'Separate out the debt ceiling and have a separate vote on it. And I won't be the deciding vote on this. This is what I tell my supporters. If I am the deciding vote, they'll negotiate. If I'm not, they won't. So far they've been sending their attack dogs after me, and that's not a great persuasion technique. I will negotiate if they come to me, but they have to be willing to negotiate on the debt ceiling.' — Senate Majority Leader John Thune pitching the 'big, beautiful bill,' on 'Fox News Sunday': 'We will see where we finally end up in the Senate, but it'll be a major reduction in spending. … You have to start somewhere. And that's what this bill does.' TOP-EDS: A roundup of the week's must-read opinion pieces. 9 THINGS FOR YOUR RADAR 1. GREAT EXPECTATIONS: Trump is traveling to the Canadian Rockies today for the G7 meeting there as the world's economic powerhouses stare down a potentially calamitous tariff deadline and a burgeoning crisis in the Middle East. But Trump is unlikely to leave the three-day summit with a breakthrough on either front, POLITICO's Adam Cancryn reports. 'Trump officials are struggling to lock down trade pacts that they predicted were imminent in the wake of a first deal with the U.K. nearly a month ago. Even early chatter of a deal with Japan by this week's conference appears unlikely, said two people close to the White House, granted anonymity to discuss internal deliberations. And now, with the U.S. occupied by turmoil in the Middle East, Trump aides and advisers are tempering expectations for what the G7 may ultimately produce.' To wit: 'In a sign of how difficult it could be to present a united front, the summit isn't expected to produce a single joint leaders' statement, or communiqué,' WSJ's Natalie Andrews and colleagues report. 'Instead, the leaders will likely agree to separate statements on topics that Canada has identified as priorities, such as fighting foreign interference in elections and transnational crime and securing supply chains for critical minerals.' 2. HOW IT HAPPENED: 'Inside Trump's Extraordinary Turnaround on Immigration Raids,' by NYT's Tyler Pager and colleagues: 'On Wednesday morning, President Trump took a call from Brooke Rollins, his secretary of agriculture, who relayed a growing sense of alarm from the heartland. Farmers and agriculture groups, she said, were increasingly uneasy about his immigration crackdown. … She wasn't the first person to try to get this message through to the president, nor was it the first time she had spoken to him about it. But the president was persuaded. … 'Inside the West Wing, top White House officials were caught off guard — and furious at Ms. Rollins. Many of Mr. Trump's top aides, particularly Stephen Miller, his deputy chief of staff, have urged a hard-line approach, targeting all immigrants without legal status to fulfill the president's promise of the biggest deportation campaign in American history. But the decision had been made.' Staggering statistic: 'U.S. could lose more immigrants than it gains for first time in 50 years,' by WaPo's Andrew Ackerman and Lauren Kaori Gurley 3. MIDDLE EAST LATEST: Facing some criticism from within the Republican Party over how the 'America First' agenda fits into the increasingly tenuous Middle East conflict unfolding, Trump defiantly told The Atlantic's Michael Scherer in a phone call yesterday: 'Well, considering that I'm the one that developed 'America First,' and considering that the term wasn't used until I came along, I think I'm the one that decides that.' (The term dates back several generations.) He continued: ''For those people who say they want peace — you can't have peace if Iran has a nuclear weapon. So for all of those wonderful people who don't want to do anything about Iran having a nuclear weapon — that's not peace.' … Over the course of our conversation, the president defended his efforts to bring an end to multiple conflicts despite growing violence in the Middle East. … He described the conflict in Gaza as coming to a close. 'Gaza is ready to fold — or just about ready to fold. We have gotten many of the hostages back,' Trump said. Not everyone in the MAGA universe shares the president's sunny outlook.' On the ground: 'The death toll grew Sunday as Israel and Iran exchanged missile attacks for a third consecutive day, with Israel warning that worse is to come,' per the AP. 'Israel targeted Iran's Defense Ministry headquarters in Tehran and sites it alleged were associated with Iran's nuclear program, while Iranian missiles evaded Israeli air defenses and slammed into buildings deep inside Israel. In Israel, at least 10 people were killed in Iranian strikes overnight and into Sunday … bringing the country's total death toll to 13. … There was no update to an Iranian death toll released the day before by Iran's U.N. ambassador, who said 78 people had been killed and more than 320 wounded.' 4. FIRST IN PLAYBOOK — Beg your pardon: To secure mercy from Trump, many prospective pardonees are taking a page out of the president's playbook, railing against the judicial system that has long drawn his ire in a bid to increase their chances of winning his favor, POLITICO's Giselle Ruhiyyih Ewing and Jerry Wu report. 'The bulk of the over 1,500 clemencies the president has issued in his second term have been granted to celebrities, politicians, Trump donors and loyalists — including those convicted in connection with the Jan. 6 Capitol riot — many of whom have used their platforms to make the case that the judicial system was manipulated against them for political reasons, just like the president himself.' 5. CALL LOG: Trump said in a Truth Social post yesterday afternoon that Russian President Vladimir Putin called him to 'very nicely wish me a Happy Birthday, but to more importantly, talk about Iran, a country he knows very well.' Trump said the two leaders spoke for roughly an hour but didn't spend much time discussing Russia's war in Ukraine, which 'will be for next week.' Putin is 'doing the planned prisoner swaps,' Trump indicated. 'He feels, as do I, this war in Israel-Iran should end, to which I explained, his war should also end.' 6. JUSTICE LEAGUE: 'How Amy Coney Barrett Is Confounding the Right and the Left,' by NYT's Jodi Kantor: 'Her influence — measured by how often she is on the winning side — is rising. … Overall, her assumption of the seat once held by Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg has moved the court's outcomes dramatically to the right and locked in conservative victories on gun rights, affirmative action and the power of federal agencies. But in Trump-related disputes, she is the member of the supermajority who has sided with him the least. That position is making her the focus of animus, hope and debate. In interviews, some liberals who considered the court lost when she was appointed have used phrases like, 'It's all on Amy.'' 7. COME FLY WITH ME: 'Trump's FAA pick has claimed 'commercial' pilot license he doesn't have,' by POLITICO's Oriana Pawlyk: 'Bryan Bedford's biography at Republic Airways, the regional airline where he has been CEO since 1999, said until Thursday that he 'holds commercial, multi-engine and instrument ratings.' (By Friday, after POLITICO's inquiries, the word 'commercial' had been removed.) The FAA registry that houses data on pilot's licenses does not list any such commercial credentials for Bedford. … Questions about Bedford's credentials do not appear to threaten his prospects for heading the FAA … 'Bryan never misrepresented his credential; it was an administrative error that was immediately corrected,' DOT said in a statement.' 8. PERPLEXING PLAN: After Trump's surprise announcement last month to take Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac public, GOP lawmakers and the mortgage industry are raising questions about the administration's plans to maintain government control over much of the nation's housing finance system, defying expectations that it would back off, POLITICO's Katy O'Donnell reports. 'The insistence on preserving significant sway over the two mortgage giants, which were seized by the Bush administration during the financial crisis and placed in conservatorship, is setting up a potential rift with Republicans — and possibly even some administration aides who have long worked to reduce the government's footprint in the housing market.' 9. EMPIRE STATE OF MIND: Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) railed against the political 'gerontocracy' in an appearance to boost Zohran Mamdani in the NYC mayoral race and thump Andrew Cuomo, the frontrunner in the contest, POLITICO's Jeff Coltin reports. AOC also used the rally as a chance to carry forward a message that she has been trumpeting alongside Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) at their 'Fighting Oligarchy' rallies across the nation: 'In a world and a nation that is crying to end the gerontocracy of our leadership, that wants to see a new day, that wants to see a new generation ascend, it is unconscionable to send Andrew Cuomo to Gracie Mansion,' she said. TALK OF THE TOWN Donald Trump disclosed over $600 million in income and $1.6 billion in assets in a new financial disclosure, per WaPo. 'Both Trump and Vice President JD Vance … reported holding cryptocurrency, with Trump owning at least $1 million in ethereum and Vance holding at least $250,000 in bitcoin.' BUZZ OF THE HAMPTONS: The wedding of Alex Soros and Huma Abedin in the Hamptons on Saturday brought out a host of Democratic establishment stalwarts. Among the guest list: Hillary and Bill Clinton, Kamala Harris and Doug Emhoff, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), Nicky Hilton Rothschild, Anna Wintour, Susie Tompkins Buell and plenty more. NYT's Teddy Schleifer and Jacob Reber have more TEE TIME: The Congressional Country Club hosted its 2025 Presidents' Cup this weekend, with Geoff Tracy and George Ballman coming away as the champions. The full results WELCOME TO THE WORLD — John Pence, general counsel of Frontline Strategies and a Trump campaign alum, and Giovanna Coia, a Trump White House alum, welcomed Ford James Pence on Tuesday. He joins big siblings Jack and … Another pic — Emilia Varrone, ophthalmology resident at VCU Health, and Andrew Hutson, senior media buyer at GMMB, on Thursday welcomed Liv (Livvy) Marie Hutson, who joins older brother Alfred Hutson. HAPPY BIRTHDAY: Reps. Adam Smith (D-Wash.) (6-0), Rick Larsen (D-Wash.) (6-0) and Kevin Mullin (D-Calif.) … CNN's Dana Bash, Bianna Golodryga … Karl de Vries … Jana Plat … AP's Evan Vucci … Clifford Levy … MSNBC's Will Rabbe … Alyssa Farah Griffin … PBS NewsHour's Ali Rogin ... Sophie Vaughan … Marie Harf … POLITICO's Brian Faler, and Katherine Tully-McManus … Joseph Brazauskas … Richard Edelman … Team Lewis' Reagan Lawn … Susan Toffler … Wells Griffith … Jeff Green of J.A. Green & Co. … former NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine (5-0) … former Rep. Todd Tiahrt (R-Kan.) … former House Majority Whip Tony Coelho (D-Calif.) … former Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell … Akoya's Corinne Gorda … Dan Schwerin … Eva Bandola Berg Did someone forward this email to you? Sign up here. Send Playbookers tips to playbook@ or text us on Signal here. Playbook couldn't happen without our editor Zack Stanton, deputy Garrett Ross and Playbook Podcast producer Callan Tansill-Suddath.
Politico
08-06-2025
- Politics
- Politico
Trump's Rubicon moment
Presented by With help from Eli Okun and Bethany Irvine Good Sunday morning. Zack Stanton here. Get in touch. YOUR SUNDAY LISTEN: Rahm Emanuel has had just about every job in politics: senior adviser to the president, U.S. representative, DCCC chair, White House chief of staff, U.S. ambassador and Chicago mayor, among others. Could 'presidential candidate' be next on the list? On today's episode of 'The Conversation with Dasha Burns,' Emanuel joins Dasha to diagnose the Democratic Party's ills and offer a remedy to them — which happens to sound an awful lot like a 2028 message. Watch and listen to it now on YouTube His message: 'We're going to make the American dream affordable and accessible. We [the Democratic Party] haven't talked about that. We've talked about every other issue that's tangential to the core crux [of voters' concerns].' Where Dems are united: 'There's a fundamental agreement on the critique that the system is rigged and it's rigged against middle-class, working-class families. … There's more cohesion and coherence in the Democrats than there were 10, 20, 30 years ago.' Where Dems are divided: 'The biggest thing we're missing is that we don't have a consensus or agreement on the road forward. Put [President Donald] Trump aside: We spend a lot of energy appropriately fighting him, but it has prevented us over the years from figuring out how to fight for America.' Where Dems have failed: 'We were not only … out of bounds on cultural issues, we made it look like [they] were central.' On David Hogg's call to primary older Dem incumbents: 'If you have a young face with ideas that don't work, that's not going to solve the problem. You have to have both. … We don't have $20 million to waste on Democratic primaries. Give me that $20 million in a targeted race and you'll pick up a seat and you will stop Donald Trump dead in his tracks.' (More on Hogg below.) And though he demurred about a presidential bid, when pressed about whether his work for Barack Obama would still resonate on the campaign trail, he had this to say: 'I'm not sure that President Obama is unpopular in South Carolina. We'll see, we'll test that, maybe.' Subscribe now on Apple Podcasts … Spotify … YouTube DRIVING THE DAY SLOUCHING TOWARDS WASHINGTON: Welcome to a week that begins with 2,000 members of the California National Guard on the streets of Los Angeles and is scheduled to end with Army tanks parading down the streets of Washington (if you've missed the videos of them arriving by train, they're quite something). Even by the standards of the past decade — we're just a few days short of the 10th anniversary of Trump descending the escalator at Trump Tower to declare his presidential candidacy — it is a jarring moment in American life. The escalation: Over the past two days, protesters have dramatically confronted ICE agents during raids of businesses in Southern California, resulting in 'several violent clashes,' including near a Home Depot in Paramount, as the L.A. Times reports. On Friday, demonstrators marched around a federal detention center in downtown LA — an action White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller called an 'insurrection against the laws and sovereignty of the United States' in a tweet yesterday morning. Then came last night … 8:09 p.m., California Gov. Gavin Newsom: 'The federal government is sowing chaos so they can have an excuse to escalate. That is not the way any civilized country behaves.' 8:13 p.m., Newsom: 'The federal government is moving to take over the California National Guard and deploy 2,000 soldiers. That move is purposefully inflammatory and will only escalate tensions. LA authorities are able to access law enforcement assistance at a moment's notice. We are in close coordination with the city and county, and there is currently no unmet need. … This is the wrong mission and will erode public trust.' 8:25 p.m., Trump: 'If Governor Gavin Newscum, of California, and Mayor Karen Bass, of Los Angeles, can't do their jobs, which everyone knows they can't, then the Federal Government will step in and solve the problem, RIOTS & LOOTERS, the way it should be solved!!!' 9:17 p.m., White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt: 'In recent days, violent mobs have attacked ICE Officers and Federal Law Enforcement Agents carrying out basic deportation operations in Los Angeles, California. These operations are essential to halting and reversing the invasion of illegal criminals into the United States. In the wake of this violence, California's feckless Democrat leaders have completely abdicated their responsibility to protect their citizens. That is why President Trump has signed a Presidential Memorandum deploying 2,000 National Guardsmen to address the lawlessness that has been allowed to fester. … The Commander-in-Chief will ensure the laws of the United States are executed fully and completely.' Let's pause here for a moment. What Trump is doing is incredibly rare: 'It is the first time since 1965 that a president has activated a state's National Guard force without a request from that state's governor,' NYT's Shawn Hubler and Laurel Rosenhall report, citing Elizabeth Goitein of the Brennan Center. 'The last time was when President Lyndon B. Johnson sent troops to Alabama to protect civil rights demonstrators in 1965, she said.' Also worth flagging: The National Guard 'has nearly non-existent law enforcement training or doctrine despite it always being talked about as a domestic force,' as Steve Beynon notes. What's the basis of the legal authority here? The Times notes that 'the directive signed by Mr. Trump cites '10 U.S.C. 12406,' referring to a specific provision within Title 10 of the U.S. Code on Armed Services. Part of that provision allows the federal deployment of National Guard forces if 'there is a rebellion or danger of a rebellion against the authority of the Government of the United States.'' Naturally, then, language from the administration aims to underscore the threat of rebellion, danger or invasion. Back to the timeline … 9:33 p.m., VP JD Vance: 'One of the main technical issues in the immigration judicial battles is whether [Joe] Biden's border crisis counted as an 'invasion.' So now we have foreign nationals with no legal right to be in the country waving foreign flags and assaulting law enforcement. If only we had a good word for that…' 10:06 p.m., Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth: 'The violent mob assaults on ICE and Federal Law Enforcement are designed to prevent the removal of Criminal Illegal Aliens from our soil; a dangerous invasion facilitated by criminal cartels (aka Foreign Terrorist Organizations) and a huge NATIONAL SECURITY RISK. … if violence continues, active duty Marines at Camp Pendleton will also be mobilized — they are on high alert.' 10:18 p.m., Miller: 'We will take back America.' 10:36 p.m., Newsom: '[T]hey want a spectacle. Don't give them one.' 12:14 a.m., Newsom: 'The Secretary of Defense is now threatening to deploy active-duty Marines on American soil against its own citizens. This is deranged behavior.' 2:41 a.m., Trump: 'Great job by the National Guard in Los Angeles after two days of violence, clashes and unrest. … These Radical Left protests, by instigators and often paid troublemakers, will NOT BE TOLERATED. Also, from now on, MASKS WILL NOT BE ALLOWED to be worn at protests. What do these people have to hide, and why??? Again, thank you to the National Guard for a job well done!' 3:22 a.m., Bass: 'I want to thank LAPD and local law enforcement for their work tonight. … Just to be clear, the National Guard has not been deployed in the City of Los Angeles.' More protests are scheduled for LA later this afternoon. And regardless of how those demonstrations play out, this storm isn't likely to dissipate any time soon. 'We have been told to get ready for 30 days of enforcement, 30 days of ICE enforcement,' Rep. Nanette Diaz Barragán (D-Calif.) said this morning on CNN's 'State of the Union.' 'So, 2,000 troops to be there for that enforcement, it's a concern. I mean, it's going to escalate the situation.' In the meantime, there are any number of ways to read the administration's response so far. With sympathy: 'Active-duty Marines are not going to be put into local law enforcement,' Sen. James Lankford (R-Okla.) said this morning on NBC's 'Meet the Press.' 'They would be in support roles on it, as we have at the border.' (Of Trump's deployment of the National Guard, Lankford suggested the president is 'trying to de-escalate all the tensions that are there.') With wariness: 'Important to remember that Trump isn't trying to heal or keep the peace. He is looking to inflame and divide,' Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) tweeted this morning. 'His movement doesn't believe in democracy or protest - and if they get a chance to end the rule of law they will take it. None of this is on the level.' As vindication: This morning, Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) posted a screenshot of his famous 'Send In the Troops' NYT op-ed published amid a wave of at times violent demonstrations after the murder of George Floyd by police in Minnesota in 2020. In that piece, he called on Trump to invoke the Insurrection Act to deploy the military domestically. With contempt: 'Don't kid yourself they know they are absolutely getting cooked politically w their terrible bill and rising prices, and they want to create a violent spectacle to feed their content machine,' Sen. Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii) posted late last night. 'It's time for the mainstream media to describe this authoritarian madness accurately.' SUNDAY BEST … — Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-Okla.) on the millions of Americans projected to lose health insurance from the reconciliation bill's Medicaid cuts, on 'State of the Union': 'What we're doing is getting rid of the waste and fraud. … All we're doing is removing the people that are frauding the American taxpayers out of health care. … You can't point to anyone that's losing coverage that deserves and qualifies for the care.' — Rep. Mike Lawler (R-N.Y.) on whether he'd vote for the reconciliation bill if the Senate pares back the state and local tax deduction, on CNN's 'Inside Politics Sunday': 'I've been very clear with leadership all this past week that if the Senate changes the SALT deduction in any way, I will be a no. And I'm not going to buckle on that. And I know in speaking to my other colleagues, they will be a no as well.' — Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) on whether the SALT increase will survive the Senate, on 'Fox News Sunday': 'No, and it shouldn't survive. We should not be subsidizing blue-state governors' wasteful spending. … If that's in there, then Florida will be paying for the state government of New York, and that's wrong.' TOP-EDS: A roundup of the week's must-read opinion pieces. 9 THINGS FOR YOUR RADAR 1. MUSK READS: The online war of words between Trump and Elon Musk has quieted after aides on both sides held a call Friday to establish some sort of detente, POLITICO's Dasha Burns and Julia Marsh scooped. On Theo Von's podcast yesterday, Vance said he hoped Musk 'kind of comes back into the fold' despite making the 'huge mistake' of going after Trump. The president himself last week encouraged Vance to be diplomatic toward Musk, WaPo's Natalie Allison reports. Top talker: New details went viral about a physical altercation between Musk and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, reported by WaPo's Cat Zakrzewski and colleagues. 'Musk then rammed his shoulder into Bessent's rib cage 'like a rugby player,' [Steve] Bannon said, and Bessent hit him back.' The fallout continues: The Department of Government Efficiency is trying to figure out what's next after Musk's departure — rank-and-file staffers in the office fear their jobs could become just as jeopardized as the rest of the federal government they've slashed, WSJ's Scott Patterson and Ken Thomas report. Increasingly, some Cabinet members are wresting back control of their agencies, a diminishment of DOGE that was underway even before the Musk blow-up, WaPo's Faiz Siddiqui and colleagues report. And NASA and the Defense Department started to move last week to seek alternative options to SpaceX amid the drama, WaPo's Christian Davenport scooped. But but but: DOGE's intense cost-cutting — and its effects throughout the world — is here to stay. OMB Director Russ Vought is taking up the mantle of dismantling swathes of the federal government, with potentially much greater staying power than Musk, POLITICO's Sophia Cai and Megan Messerly report. Vought knows how to break the bureaucracy, and he's 'pushing change through institutional channels, backroom conversations, and contingency planning.' The impact: Some effects of the federal spending cuts are just beginning to be felt. In Ohio, food banks are increasingly struggling to serve people in need, Reuters' P.J. Huffstutter reports from Columbus. State and local emergency managers are bracing to handle natural disasters with diminished help from FEMA, WaPo's Scott Dance and Brady Dennis report. And art experts fear for the future of a federal collection of 26,000 works after the General Services Administration staff that oversees it was shaved to less than a third of its previous size, NYT's Lydia DePillis and colleagues report. 2. ABOUT LAST NIGHT: Gina Ortiz Jones was elected the new mayor of San Antonio, a victory for the left in a technically nonpartisan race that became infused with national politics, the San Antonio Express-News' Molly Smith reports. Ortiz Jones took 54 percent of the vote, keeping the fairly blue city in Democratic hands. 3. TAKING EFFECT TOMORROW: 'Trump's ban stalls lifesaving treatment for Haitian children who need to travel for surgery,' by NBC's Claretta Bellamy: 'Leaders of an aid organization that has sent more than 100 Haitian children with serious cardiac conditions to the U.S. for heart surgery said President Donald Trump's ban on travelers from 19 countries will stall or cancel lifesaving procedures for at least a dozen children or young adults. … No such mention [of travel ban exemptions] was made for cases of medical necessity.' 4. WHOA: On a private DNC Zoom call last month, an emotional Chair Ken Martin said the feud with David Hogg had undermined him and made him question the job, POLITICO's Holly Otterbein scooped. 'The other night I said to myself for the first time, I don't know if I wanna do this anymore,' Martin said on the call. 'You essentially destroyed any chance I have to show the leadership that I need to,' he told Hogg. Martin responded to Holly now that 'I'm not going anywhere.' 5. DEMS' NOVEMBER TESTS: Can Democrats claw back ground in this fall's two closely watched gubernatorial races? In Virginia, nominee Abigail Spanberger has mounted a push to cut into Republican margins in rural areas and small towns, AP's Olivia Diaz reports from Culpeper. Her approach: 'We have to show how we govern.' Meanwhile, New Jersey's Democratic contenders are trying to win back Latino voters who swung hard to the right last year, AP's Adriana Gomez Licon and Mike Catalini report from Newark. Focusing on immigration is out, and playing up pocketbook issues is their emphasis now. 6. 2026 WATCH: 'Paxton presents an opportunity in Texas — if Democrats can take advantage of it,' by POLITICO's Nick Wu and Liz Crampton: 'Texas Republicans' messy Senate primary is giving Democrats hope that they could finally have an opening to wedge into higher office in the red state — for real this time. But a potential pileup of candidates as the party sees renewed interest in the race could spoil their chances … A [Ken Paxton GOP primary] victory could divide Republicans and potentially even sway some to support a Democrat. Nearly two dozen Texas Democratic members of Congress, party leaders and strategists described a sense of opportunity, but were divided on the type of candidate to run.' 7. SCHOOL DAZE: 'Trump has universities in the bind the right has long wanted,' by POLITICO's Juan Perez Jr.: 'Even as Ivy League schools, research institutions, and college trade associations try to resist Trump's attacks in court, campus leaders are starting to accept they face only difficult choices: negotiate with the government, mount a painful legal and political fight — or simply try to stay out of sight. Groundbreaking scientific research, financial aid for lower-income students and soft power as an economic engine once shielded schools' access to federal funds. Trump has now transformed those financial lifelines into leverage.' 8. RECONCILABLE DIFFERENCES: Would Republicans' reconciliation megabill unleash massive economic growth and prosperity in America? It's the chief selling point for party leaders, who have dismissed forecasts that the bill would hugely increase the deficit. But nonpartisan experts anticipate smaller benefits — some short-term growth that wouldn't amount to an economic boom paying for itself, WSJ's Richard Rubin reports. 'Broadly, economists across the political spectrum discount elected officials' predictions.' 9. KNOWING THOMAS CROOKS: 'The Quiet Unraveling of the Man Who Almost Killed Trump,' by NYT's Steve Eder and Tawnell Hobbs: '[H]e went through a gradual and largely hidden transformation, from a meek engineering student critical of political polarization to a focused killer who tried to build bombs. For months he operated in secret, using aliases and encrypted networks, all while showing hints of a mental illness that may have caused his mind to unravel to an extent not previously reported. … Mr. Crooks followed his dark path with seemingly little notice from those closest to him.' TALK OF THE TOWN Jon Bramnick finds time, even while campaigning for New Jersey governor, for about one or two stand-up comedy gigs a month. PLAYBOOK METRO SECTION — 'WorldPride parade marches through D.C.,' by WaPo's Dana Munro and colleagues: 'Organizers acknowledged that WorldPride this year has not been the massive celebration they originally hoped for — one that was expected to attract up to 3 million people … The parade was [now] expected to attract up to 700,000 attendees, almost double the number in a typical year.' OUT AND ABOUT — Friends of the National World War II Memorial hosted a commemoration of the 81st anniversary of D-Day at the National World War II Memorial's Circle of Remembrance on Friday. SPOTTED: Navy Secretary John Phelan, Jane Droppa, Kevin Griess, Alex Kershaw, Frank Cohn, Anthony Grant, Harry Miller, Dave Yoho, Andy Hoare, Maite Morren, Kristjan Monaghan, Natalie Pozer, Thibaud Thomas, Simon Gunneweg, Alan Parker, Connie Stien and Dai Bevan. TRANSITIONS — Jason McMahon will join Valinor Enterprises to build out its federal strategy and government relations efforts. He previously was a professional staff member on the Senate Appropriations Committee. … Rob Simms and Ben Miller have launched Motive Media, a strategy and creative firm. They both previously were at Convergence Media, and Simms is a former NRSC executive director. … Martina McLennan is now director of policy comms for economic and health policy at the Bipartisan Policy Center. She previously was comms director for Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.). HAPPY BIRTHDAY: Rep. Ken Calvert (R-Calif.) … Cory Fritz of FTI Consulting … Matt Whitlock … Justin Peligri … former Rep. Gabby Giffords (D-Ariz.) … Paola Molina … Jonathan Collegio … Kelsey Bolar (Harkness) … Roger Hickey of Campaign for America's Future … Erin Gorman Van Alsten … Paul Winfree … Strategic Partners & Media's Russ Schriefer … WaPo's Sarah Hashemi … Jennifer Dunn of Hill+Knowlton Strategies … Lindsey Wagner-Oveson of Sen. Peter Welch's (D-Vt.) office … The Bulwark's Hannah Yoest … Joshua Matz of Kaplan Hecker & Fink … NBCUniversal's Amanda Kontor … Margaret Reynolds of Rep. Jared Golden's (D-Maine) office … Julianna Margulies … Preston Bell of the House Ways & Means GOP (36) … Kris Coratti Kelly … Alex Daugherty … Becca Winch of No Labels … Lale Morrison Did someone forward this email to you? Sign up here. Send Playbookers tips to playbook@ or text us on Signal here. Playbook couldn't happen without our editor Zack Stanton, deputy Garrett Ross and Playbook Podcast producer Callan Tansill-Suddath. Correction: Yesterday's Playbook misspelled Sen. Lindsey Graham's (R-S.C.) name.
Politico
06-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Politico
The Trump-Musk divorce gets ugly
Presented by With help from Eli Okun and Bethany Irvine On this morning's podcast, I talk with Zack Stanton about the explosive details in the Trump-Musk blow-up, digging into all the behind-the-scenes attitudes and views in Trump world and beyond. Happy Friday. This is Adam Wren. How about those Indiana Pacers, who mounted a 15-point, fourth-quarter comeback over the heavily favored Oklahoma City Thunder last night in Game 1 of the NBA Finals? Get in touch. 2028 WATCH: This week's episode of 'The Conversation with Dasha Burns' doesn't drop until Sunday morning (subscribe to the podcast), but we have an early glimpse from her interview with former Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel. Even as some younger voters and more progressive segments of the party are looking for alternative voices, Emanuel vows not to 'run away' from his background by distancing himself from former Presidents Bill Clinton and Barack Obama. He believes his connections to both men are an asset as he maps out his own future and that of the Democratic Party. Watch the preview clip … More from POLITICO's Gregory Svirnovskiy In today's Playbook … — Trump aides have a call with Musk today to attempt to deescalate the conflict … — … but not everyone in MAGA circles wants a truce. — The pain points to watch today on the GOP megabill. DRIVING THE DAY TRUMP'S THIRD DIVORCE: Donald Trump rose to national prominence on the crosscurrents of divorces in which messy details catapulted him onto the front pages of New York's tabloids. Now, Trump is in the throes of another kind of divorce — this time, to Elon Musk — and it's potentially his biggest and costliest one yet. Today … White House aides will hold a call with Musk in an attempt to 'broker a peace' between the two sides, Playbook's Dasha Burns reports. The potential for an uneasy truce comes after Trump and Musk spent the better part of Thursday volleying threats and accusations — more on that in a moment — prompting aides for both men to try to temper their public criticisms of one another. But not everyone wants a detente. In our running conversations last night with senior administration officials and Republicans with close ties to Trump, the White House was absolutely dumping on Musk, even as press secretary Karoline Leavitt took to Sean Hannity's show to talk about dialing down tensions. The view from Trump world: 'The president is worried Elon is not well … and is just kind of freaking out,' a person close to the White House told Dasha. 'But he's still Trump, so he'll punch at whoever punches him if think he needs it.' … 'Everyone knew this was gonna end badly,' a senior administration official said of the Musk-Trump relationship. 'We're dealing with someone who is unstable … we saw it coming. We have one president — one person got elected.' The view from the MAGA right: 'The president treated him almost like a son,' Steve Bannon, Musk's longtime antagonist in the larger Trump orbit, told Playbook yesterday as part of a long, 'I told you so' victory lap. 'He invited his family to Christmas dinner. He let him sleep over. He let him walk in and out of meetings. The president went to the max informality to welcome this guy.' Bannon added: 'You're going to tell me we should allow some fucking punk to sit there and say he should be impeached and [VP] JD [Vance] should step in? Fuck you, dude. We're going to go to fucking war, and I'm going to rip your fucking face off.' Where Bannon wants to go: 'Peter Navarro — and I've recommended, and I hope he's drafting executive orders even as we speak — should implement the Defense Production Act to seize both SpaceX and Starlink and put them under government management until that time that all investigations into Musk are complete,' Bannon told Playbook. He has called for investigations into Musk's immigration status, security clearance, drug use and supposed involvement with the Chinese Communist Party, among other allegations. X marks the fraught: If any of that sounds like a surprising escalation to you, then you might've missed Musk's tirade on X yesterday, which is still reverberating across official Washington. By now, you've seen Musk's posts — there were more than 40 of them throughout the day and into the evening — including ones in which he accused Trump of appearing in the Jeffrey Epstein files (pegging that as the reason for their non-release), said 'Trump would have lost the election' without him, predicted Trump's tariffs 'will cause a recession,' and so on. … And you've seen, too, Trump's response, threatening on Truth Social to 'terminate Elon's Governmental Subsidies and Contracts.' Here's what you haven't heard … MEET THE MILLERS: Inside the White House, frustration at Katie Miller is widespread. Miller, the wife of White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller and former DOGE spokesperson, is now working for Musk directly, Playbook has learned. But apparently, the arrangement isn't altogether new. 'What drove people here crazy was Katie Miller, and the fact that she was on Elon's payroll the whole time she was an [special government employee] here,' one administration official tells Playbook. 'And, like … who was she looking out for?' (Miller did not return Playbook's text messages when asked for comment.) FIRST IN PLAYBOOK — THE SHRUG: Inside the GOP, Musk's implicit threat to not fund Republicans is being met by shrugs, with allegiance to Trump far greater than affinity toward Musk, as POLITICO's Andrew Howard and your author write this morning. Yes, there are cases where his scorched-earth strategy could force divided loyalties — as with the fact that two of Trump's top campaign strategists, Chris LaCivita and Tony Fabrizio, had already signed up to work with Musk's Building America's Future PAC. But Republicans we spoke with said they hadn't expected to have Musk's money in next year's cycle, and complained that America PAC — the tech billionaire's super PAC — didn't spend its money effectively in House races last year. 'I was never under the assumption that Elon would help fund our budget, precisely because he's so temperamental, erratic, and unpredictable,' a senior Republican official involved in GOP races told Dasha. 'Elon couldn't buy a Wisconsin Supreme Court seat,' said another person close to the White House. 'You really think that people are gonna be afraid of this money?' THE WORRY: Top Republicans seem less worried about the potential campaign implications than the policy implications of the Musk-Trump divorce — especially as it relates to the Republican megabill winding its way through the Capitol, which Trump desperately wants to sign into law, and Musk vehemently opposes. Yesterday, Musk's hail of fire was aimed in part at Speaker Mike Johnson and Senate Majority Leader John Thune. And that matters because of the moment we're in. 'You don't want the world's richest guy with the biggest megaphone shitting on the bill in crunchtime,' one senior Hill leader told Playbook. Put simply: 'Elon doesn't need to persuade most Republicans. Just a few,' the Hill leader told Playbook. 'And if he spends [the] next few weeks shitting on the bill, that will move the numbers.' (More on the reconciliation bill shortly.) HOW TRUMP IS THINKING ABOUT IT ALL: Late last night, Dasha spoke briefly on the phone with the president for an exclusive interview. 'Oh it's OK,' Trump said when asked about the very public split with Musk. 'It's going very well, never done better.' Breaking up like this isn't an entirely unfamiliar experience for the president. 'Taking advantage of bad breakups and any resultant 'bad' publicity — he's been here before. He has a proven track record,' POLITICO's resident Trumpologist Michael Kruse writes into Playbook. But it's unclear whether Trump can consciously uncouple from Musk without incurring deep and lasting collateral damage. 'The person on the other side of that equation has never been the richest man in the world who also owns one of the most important social media platforms in the world,' Michael tells us. 'That's different.' ON THE HILL RECONCILABLE DIFFERENCES: Musk's attacks on the reconciliation megabill have been a headache for Johnson, who has scrambled to parry the billionaire's criticisms this week. But there's no guarantee that they'll be more than that: As POLITICO's Meredith Lee Hill reports, Hill Republicans are more loyal to Trump. 'I don't think [Musk's] killing the bill,' one House member says. 'I'm more worried he's killing our sales pitch.' (Read more on the scramble from our Inside Congress colleagues.) But that doesn't mean Thune has an easy path to pass the bill in the Senate, between competing concerns from fiscal hawks, moderates and blue-state House members. So in addition to Musk's X account, these are the latest pain points to watch today: SALT: Trump indicated to senators that he'd be OK with a lower state and local tax deduction, WaPo's Jeff Stein and colleagues scooped. That would give the Senate a fiscal boost — but could be anathema to the SALT advocates from high-tax states in the House. Business tax cuts: Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) said Trump was also open to keeping business tax break extensions temporary, POLITICO's Brian Faler reports. That would lower the price tag, but top Hill Republicans are insistent on making them permanent. In fact, Sen. Steve Daines (R-Mont.) told The Daily Caller News Foundation's Adam Pack and Andi Shae Napier that this a red line — he'd vote no without permanence. More movement: The Senate Commerce Committee released its portion of the bill text, POLITICO's John Hendel and Anthony Adragna report. It changes the House's 10-year outright ban on states regulating AI to instead block federal broadband funding for states that pass AI laws, and it includes a compromise on spectrum auctions. … Meanwhile, Sen. Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.) is trying to get cryptocurrency tax changes included, Semafor's Eleanor Mueller and Burgess Everett report. Solar companies are lobbying to save a crucial subsidy for home panels, per Reuters, while even oil companies are trying to save clean hydrogen tax credits, per the FT. Digging into the details: Republicans' effort to pass the bill — and sell it to Americans — won't be helped by a series of tough analyses dissecting the impact of its spending and cutting. Roughly 4 million people kicked off Obamacare, per the CBO … $3 trillion more to the national debt, including $550 billion in additional interest payments, per the CBO … 22 million children partially or fully excluded from the Child Tax Credit expansion because their families don't earn enough, per a new Columbia study … And Senate Dems argued that changes to the Earned Income Tax Credit will add more red tape for low-income families, per Axios' Emily Peck. IN THE DOGE HOUSE AFTER ELON: Musk may be gone, but the revolution he oversaw in the federal government is very much alive. And there are major decisions for Congress, courts and the administration about how much to maintain in the days and weeks to come. With early analyses estimating that abrupt foreign aid cuts have already led to many deaths abroad — potentially tens or hundreds of thousands, though the administration denies there are any — $12 million of HIV-prevention and contraception supplies could be destroyed amid USAID hang-ups, WaPo's Meg Kelly and colleagues revealed. On the Hill: The deadline is July 18 for Congress to act on the White House's rescissions request to ax money for foreign aid, NPR and PBS, the Senate parliamentarian advised, per POLITICO's Jennifer Scholtes. Here, too, lifesaving HIV prevention work (PEPFAR in this case) will be a key fight. Corps workout: Efforts to gut AmeriCorps and Job Corps are hitting obstacles. A federal judge barred the dismantling of AmeriCorps in roughly half the country, saving the program for now and ordering the reinstatement of grants in 24 Democratic-led states and D.C. that sued, POLITICO's Ben Johansen and Sophia Cai report. … House Dems grilled Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer about her effort to shutter Job Corps centers, per AP's Cathy Bussewitz, while alumni and faculty worried about vulnerable young people who depend on the program, NBC's Megan Lebowitz reports. Lasting impact: Even after the U.S. Institute of Peace won against DOGE in court, it's been hard for the think tank to put back together what DOGE broke — 'a cautionary tale' for other agencies, AP's Gary Fields reports. At NASA, scientists are freaking out about a Trump budget proposal to change a storied climate lab, CNN's Andrew Freedman reports. But some Senate Republicans want to shield other NASA programs eyed for reductions by Trump, WSJ's Micah Maidenberg scooped. BEST OF THE REST JOBS DAY: Will a recent streak of economic data surpassing economists' forecasts continue today with the May jobs report? The number to watch at 8:30 a.m. is 125,000, the median prediction in Bloomberg's survey. That would constitute a softening from April. At the same time, economists are starting to worry about whether DOGE cuts will make other government stats less precise, CNN's Alicia Wallace reports: The Bureau of Labor Statistics is now collecting inflation information from three fewer cities. IMMIGRATION FILES: Stephen Miller's rebukes may be paying off, as the number of ICE arrests has leapt to 2,000 a day earlier this week and now topped 100,000 since Trump took office, CBS' Camilo Montoya-Galvez scooped. But the legal fights continue: A novel lawsuit from immigrant rights groups argues that the fundamental U.S.-El Salvador deal for the latter country to take in deportees without due process was illegal, per NYT's Alan Feuer. And the first immigrant to be tried for crossing into Trump's new military zone at the border was acquitted, The Texas Tribune's Uriel García reports. TRAVEL BAN FALLOUT: Trump's new travel ban was crafted to stand up better in court than his initial first-term version did, POLITICO's Myah Ward and Hassan Ali Kanu report, and so far the reaction has been much quieter than in 2017, when the ban stunned America and unleashed major protests. That's also partially due to the public growing much more anti-immigrant in recent years. Indeed, Senate Dems tell NOTUS' Torrence Banks they consider it a messaging distraction from their current focus on the reconciliation bill. SCHOOL DAZE: Harvard is fighting back against Trump's effort to bar its foreign students, asking a federal judge to stop this 'unlawful evasion' of her previous order, per The Crimson's Samuel Church and colleagues. Separately, UC Berkeley faculty filed a first-of-its-kind suit over the administration's research funding cuts, NBC's Tyler Kingkade scooped. WAR IN UKRAINE: Senate Republicans are moving closer to passing an intense Russia sanctions package. But with Trump sounding increasingly unwilling to ramp up pressure on Russian President Vladimir Putin, this could be a crucial test for the pro-Ukraine faction of the Senate GOP: 'Is there anything on which they will force Trump's hand?' POLITICO's Jonathan Martin writes this morning. 'Probably not, but Putin may be the only person who can force the issue.' Some senators think passing the bill in their chamber, even if Trump doesn't sign it into law, bolsters his leverage against Putin. JAMES COMER'S NEXT MOVE: The House Oversight chair subpoenaed Kevin O'Connor, who was the White House doctor for Joe Biden, for a deposition this month, per CNN. It's the latest escalation in the Kentucky Republican's investigation of Biden's acuity. Comer said O'Connor had refused to come voluntarily. FIRST IN PLAYBOOK — Deep in the heart: Texas State Rep. James Talarico, the Democratic seminarian and frequently viral millennial pastor in training, is being urged to consider a U.S. Senate run, according to two people who have spoken with him in recent days. Talarico is not expected to make an immediate decision anytime soon. Former Rep. Colin Allred (D-Texas), who lost to Sen. Ted Cruz by almost 9 points last year, is also said to be looking at a run against Sen. John Cornyn. Talarico has sought the counsel of operatives such as Lis Smith and Andrew Mamo, two former Pete Buttigieg advisers. — Meanwhile, in Indiana: Add another Republican to the shadow 2028 mix: Gov. Mike Braun, the wealthy former U.S. senator in his first term, has privately discussed the idea of mounting his own presidential campaign, according to three Republicans familiar with his thinking. The governor has maintained a national profile on Fox News and just finished his first legislative session. A spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment. THE WEEKEND AHEAD TV TONIGHT — PBS' 'Washington Week': special edition about Trump and the Middle East with Thomas Friedman. SUNDAY SO FAR … POLITICO 'The Conversation with Dasha Burns': Rahm Emanuel. Fox News 'Sunday Morning Futures': Interior Secretary Doug Burgum … Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) … Rep. Jason Smith (R-Mo.) … Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.). CNN 'State of the Union': Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) … Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.). Panel: Bakari Sellers, Xochitl Hinojosa, Kristen Soltis Anderson and Rep. Nicole Malliotakis (R-N.Y.). MSNBC 'The Weekend: Primetime': Rep. Brendan Boyle (D-Pa.) … New York Assemblymember Zohran Mamdani. NBC 'Meet the Press': Sen. James Lankford (R-Okla.) … Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) … Olivia Munn. Panel: Leigh Ann Caldwell, Sara Fagen, Symone Sanders Townsend and Melanie Zanona. CBS 'Face the Nation': Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) … Janti Soeripto. NewsNation 'The Hill Sunday,' guest-anchored by Blake Burman: Rep. Sarah Elfreth (D-Md.) … Neil Bradley. Panel: Kellie Meyer, Tyler Pager, Jason Willick and John Tamny. TALK OF THE TOWN Kamala Harris stopped by a Compton high school graduation, sitting on stage but not giving a speech. Donald Trump's New Jersey golf club got written up for health violations, earning one of the worst ratings in its county before fixes. The manager, naturally, called the inspection political. Gavin Newsom and Jon Voight met yesterday to talk about bringing Hollywood productions back to California, POLITICO's Melanie Mason scooped. YOU'LL CLICK FASTER THAN AN ELON POST — 'The Plastic Surgery Procedure Booming Among Washington Men,' by POLITICO Magazine's Joanna Weiss: 'The surgeons and dermatologists who treat the D.C. power class will never share their patients' secrets; some doctors strategically time surgeries during congressional recess, and many go out of their way to make sure their clients aren't even seen entering the office, using a spy-movie-like web of hidden entries and secret back doors. But they will also tell you that, among the political power set, jaws are currently hot.' THERE GOES THE GAYBORHOOD — Dupont Circle Park will end up closed for WorldPride this weekend, per NBC Washington's Mark Segraves. The National Park Service and Park Police made the call, despite an outcry from locals about the storied spot's closure during the festivities. PLAYBOOK METRO SECTION — For Trump's military parade on his June 14 birthday, Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport will pause more than 100 flights in the evening, WaPo's Lori Aratani and colleagues report. Beyond disruptions to travelers, some GOP senators aren't thrilled with the cost to taxpayers, POLITICO's Lisa Kashinsky and colleagues report. 'I would have recommended against the parade,' said Armed Services Chair Roger Wicker (Miss.). 'If it costs money, I won't go,' said Ron Johnson (Wis.). FIRST IN PLAYBOOK — Drew Hinshaw and Joe Parkinson are coming out with a new book, 'Swap: A Secret History of the New Cold War,' about the spy war and hostage-release negotiations between the U.S. and Russia. The WSJ reporters and Pulitzer finalists will delve into 'the Kremlin's decade-long game of human poker' and how the releases of Evan Gershkovich, Paul Whelan, Brittney Griner and almost Alexei Navalny happened. It publishes Aug. 19 from HarperCollins. The cover OUT AND ABOUT — SPOTTED at Indian Ambassador Vinay Kwatra's residence last night for a dinner to honor a delegation of Indian parliamentarians: Seb Gorka, Ricky Gill, Wolf Blitzer, Reps. Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-Ill.), Ryan Zinke (R-Mont.), Randy Fine (R-Fla.), Tom Suozzi (D-N.Y.), Greg Murphy (R-N.C.), Jared Moskowitz (D-Fla.) and Rich McCormick (R-Ga.), Lindsey Ford, Gina Raimondo, Rishi Iyengar and Eric Bazail-Eimil. — SPOTTED at a Q Street reception last night for WorldPride, recognizing members of the Congressional Equality Caucus: Reps. Pete Aguilar (D-Calif.), Joe Neguse (D-Colo.), Mark Takano (D-Calif.), Sharice Davids (D-Kan.), Julie Johnson (D-Texas), Sarah McBride (D-Del.), Chris Pappas (D-N.H.), Emily Randall (D-Wash.), Eric Sorensen (D-Ill.), Richard Neal (D-Mass.), Brendan Boyle (D-Pa.) and Jasmine Crockett (D-Texas), Riley Kilburg, Stu Malec, Yesenia Henninger, Jenny Kane, Suzanne Beall, Rob Curis, Brendan Neal, David Reid, Steve Elmendorf, John Michael González, Andy Flick, Diego Zambrano, Rhett Buttle, Katie Vlietstra Wonnenberg, Andrew Wright, John Lee, Bo Morris, Joe Hack, Jacob Long, Aaron Schmidt, Mitchell Rivard and Jordan Dashow. — SPOTTED at the Marine Engineers' Beneficial Association's 150th-anniversary celebration at Union Station last night: Reps. Rob Bresnahan (R-Pa.), Don Bacon (R-Neb.), Mike Ezell (R-Miss.), Brian Fitzpatrick (R-Pa.), Nicole Malliotakis (R-N.Y.), Salud Carbajal (D-Calif.) and Nick LaLota (R-N.Y.), Liz Shuler, Fred Redmond, Adam Vokac, Roland Rexha, Dennis Daggett, Dave Heindel, Don Josberger, William Barrere, Tom Ferguson and Shari Semelsberger. — SPOTTED at a plaque unveiling for British Ambassador Peter Mandelson at Butterworth's last night: Matt Boyle, Raheem Kassam, Roma Daravi, Alex Butterworth, Tom Rogan, Bradley Jaye, Matt McDonald, Kara Voght, Natalie Allison, Freddie Hayward, Ed Roman, Senay Bulbul, Katy Balls, Antonia Hitchens, Sarakshi Rai, CJ Pearson, Laura Nasim and Natalie Winters. — SPOTTED at the Entertainment Software Association's Capitol Hill video game showcase and evening reception: Sen. Lisa Blunt Rochester (D-Del.), Reps. Darren Soto (D-Fla.) and Suzan DelBene (D-Wash.), Elizabeth Verrill, Jenni Katzman, Matt Skelton, Cinnamon Rogers, Stanley Pierre-Louis and Stan McCoy. — SPOTTED at a reception hosted by YouTube last night to celebrate the newly launched Congressional Creators Caucus with co-lead Rep. Beth Van Duyne (R-Texas) at the CTA Innovation House: Game Theorists, Mark Rober, Dr. Tracey Marks, NothingButTech, Isaac Rochell, Brian McLogan, Milad Mirg, Anthony O'Neal, Pokimane, Fitness Marshall, Javoris Hollingsworth, Kati Morton and Gohar Khan. TRANSITIONS — Gavin Proffitt is now a health policy adviser for Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.). He previously was a health policy adviser for the House Energy and Commerce Committee. … Julianne Heberlein is now a speechwriter and press adviser for Sen. Deb Fischer (R-Neb.). She previously was comms director for Rep. Rob Wittman (R-Va.) and is a Larry Hogan alum. … Shelly O'Neill Stoneman has launched StonePoint Strategies, a strategic consulting firm. She previously was SVP of government affairs at Lockheed Martin. … … Chelsea Blink is now legislative director for Rep. Lauren Underwood (D-Ill.). She previously was director of farm animal legislation at the ASPCA. … Reedy Newton is now director of operations for Rep. Russell Fry (R-S.C.). She previously was scheduler for Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.) and is an NRSC alum. HAPPY BIRTHDAY: Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth … Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) ... Reps. Madeleine Dean (D-Pa.) and Eugene Vindman (D-Va.) (5-0) … Alexander Vindman (5-0) … ABC's Katherine Faulders … Bloomberg's Justin Sink … CNN's Kevin Liptak and Ariel Edwards-Levy … CBS' Weijia Jiang and Natalie Morales … WaPo's Christopher Rowland … Fabiana Corsi Mendez of Rep. Eugene Vindman's (D-Va.) office … Sarah Frostenson … Allison Hageman … Ward Baker … Michael Goldfarb … Margaret White of No Labels ... Max Docksey … former Reps. Eric Cantor (R-Va.), David Bonior (D-Mich.) (8-0) and Allen Boyd (D-Fla.) (8-0) … Regina LaBelle ... POLITICO's Kam Rahman and Gabby Miller ... CQ's Caroline Simon Coudriet … Allie Freedman … Felicia Sonmez … Sarah Gadsden … Keith Perine … Jeanette Nuñez … Tiffany Rose … Julia Masterman of Angerholzer Broz Consulting Did someone forward this email to you? Sign up here. Send Playbookers tips to playbook@ or text us on Signal here. Playbook couldn't happen without our editor Zack Stanton, deputy editor Garrett Ross and Playbook Podcast producer Callan Tansill-Suddath.
