The Playbook Podcast

The news of the FBI search on Mar-a-Lago, the most aggressive law enforcement action ever taken against a former American president, broke last night in the most understated way imaginable. Peter Schorsch of FlordiaPolitics.com just tweeted it out: “Scoop — The Federal Bureau of Investigation @FBI today executed a search warrant at Mar-a-Lago, two sources confirm to @Fla_Pol.” (Not even an all cap...

We know readers love tick-tocks, those now-it-can-be-told accounts of what really went on that appear soon after a bill is safely passed. This morning, there are several good ones about how the Inflation Reduction Act made it through the Senate. Today's Playbook, written edition, chopped them up, rearranged them, added our own reporting, and, in what we hope is a recurring feature, present Playboo...

New Jobs Report — The July unemployment report drops at 8:30 a.m. The economy added 372,000 jobs in June, and economists are predicting a gain of 250,000 jobs for July. Yesterday, the White House called the anticipated drop an expected “transition” from “record-high-breaking jobs numbers” to “stable and steady growth.”   Sinema on Board — Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.) and Majority Leader Chuck Sch...

As the Senate moves onto the Inflation Reduction Act, bipartisanship is not in the cards. The two biggest obstacles remaining before Majority Leader Chuck Schumer can celebrate the best end of summer Labor Day party of his life are Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.) and Senate Parliamentarian Elizabeth McDonough. The latest reporting suggests that Sinema is eyeing three changes: — Burgess Everett and M...

What a night. Millions of voters took to the polls yesterday, and the takeaways are many: the blocked political return of a scandal-plagued former governor, mixed results (once again) for former President Donald Trump, and primary defeats for two incumbent members of Congress seeking reelection. But the most surprising vote — and possibly most wide-reaching — wasn’t a race between two candidates;...

Speaker Nancy Pelosi is scheduled to land in Taiwan today for a visit that the entire U.S. national security leadership advised her not to take.  Three developments overnight: — Asia stocks tanked: “Stocks across Asia dropped on Tuesday morning, as investors prepared for a potential economic fallout” from Pelosi’s trip, per the FT. — Chinese planes buzz median line: “China is ratcheting up militar...

This week, the bill that launched a whole lot of Joe Manchin Sunday show hits will be front and center as Democrats get ready to defend the “Inflation Reduction Act of 2022” (aka the reconciliation bill) as it is parsed by the Senate parliamentarian and gets teed up for a floor vote. But there are still a couple of important hurdles left to clear. And last week, Senate Republicans blocked the pass...

 It’s Day 2 of the Manchin-Schumer deal that vastly expanded Biden’s shrunken legislative ambitions, boosted the morale of Democrats in difficult races and infuriated Congressional Republicans.  The White House is ending a week they had long been dreading because of the string of bad economic data they (correctly) anticipated, on a surprisingly high note. Listen to Playbook Deep Dive: Legalizing t...

Last summer, Sen. Joe Manchin and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer signed a one-page agreement outlining the West Virginia Democrat’s red lines for a reconciliation bill. The date on that agreement? July 28, 2021. Today is July 28, 2022. One year later to the day, we’ve finally reached the moment many thought would never come: A Manchin-approved reconciliation bill — one he and Schumer brokere...

When Donald Trump arrived in Washington five-plus years ago and delivered his inaugural address, he spoke of “American carnage” and used dark language (“rusted-out factories scattered like tombstones,” “disrepair and decay,” etc.) in previewing his first term as president. But that vision was positively sunny compared to the dark-as-Vantablack outlook he shared Tuesday at the America First Agenda...

All eyes will be on a pair of speeches today in Washington, one by the former president and one by the former vice president.  Mike Pence, whose scheduled speech yesterday at Heritage was scrapped due to travel issues, speaks at 9 a.m. at Young America's Foundation's National Conservative Student Conference. Stream it via YouTube Donald Trump speaks at 3:00 p.m. at the America First Agenda Summit....

If there’s one thing the White House, economists and basically everyone who thinks about money can agree on, it’s that this is going to be a big week for economic news.  — On Tuesday, we get new consumer confidence numbers, a measure which has fallen for two consecutive months. Last month’s report showed the Consumer Confidence Index at its lowest level since February 2021 and the Expectations Ind...

A year and a half later, and we are still learning new things about January 6 — and almost all of the revelations strengthen the case that the January 6 committee has been building about Donald Trump's (perhaps criminal) culpability that day. Merrick Garland  has a lot to think about after last night. Five moments will be etched in our minds from last night’s gripping primetime presentation... Lis...

President Joe Biden travels to Wilkes-Barre, Pa., this afternoon to talk about crime, and the White House is announcing a new “Safer America Plan” that details how Biden would spend a previous congressional request for $37 billion to “support law enforcement and crime prevention.”  And the eighth public hearing of the Jan. 6 committee, though likely not the last, begins tonight at 8 p.m. Eastern....

About Last Night — “Trump wins proxy war with Hogan in Maryland primary — boosted by Democrats,” by Zach Montellaro In the Republican primary: Dan Cox, a state delegate “who has full-throatedly embraced [Donald] Trump's repeated falsehoods about fraud in the 2020 election, scored the former president a win in his fight with [Gov. Larry] Hogan,” defeating the Hogan-endorsed Kelly Schulz in the gube...

The week's top three storylines to watch: 1. The Jan. 6 committee’s primetime (possible) finale: The panel will hold its eighth hearing Thursday night, using an 8 p.m. slot to explore what Trump did during the 187 minutes before he told his supporters rioting at the Capitol to go home. Will this actually be the committee’s final hearing?  2. Reconciliation in the Senate: On Thursday, the Senate pa...

Late Thursday night, Sen. Joe Manchin effectively killed any chance of major climate-related provisions making their way into Democrats’ reconciliation package. The West Virginian told party leaders that “he would not support an economic package that contains new spending on climate change or includes new tax increases targeting wealthy Americans or corporations,” WaPo’s Tony Romm and Jeff Stein w...

Inflation hit a 41-year high on Tuesday, as the consumer price index accelerated to 9.1% in June. More from WSJ That, in turn, affects what might be Biden’s last, best shot at a deal on reconciliation. Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) said the new numbers make him “more cautious than I’ve ever been” in reconciliation talks, he told reporters. “Everything needs to be scrubbed, anything that can be inflat...

Clip of the day — CNN’s coverage of Tuesday’s Jan. 6 committee hearing gave way to one of the more surreal exchanges we’ve seen on cable news, as Jake Tapper and former national security adviser John Bolton discussed some Jan. 6 participants’ attempts to overthrow the government: Tapper: “One doesn’t have to be brilliant to attempt a coup.” Bolton: “I disagree with that. As somebody who has helped...

Today at 1 p.m. Eastern, the House Jan. 6 committee “plans to make its most complex case yet,” write Nicholas Wu and Kyle Cheney: “that Donald Trump's words and actions influenced extremists and brought them to the steps of the Capitol.” Central to that case is Trump’s tweet on Dec. 19, 2020: “Big protest in D.C. on January 6th. Be there, will be wild!”  Rep. Stephanie Murphy's (D-Fla.) described...

Breaking — Kyle Cheney: “Former President Donald Trump’s attorney Justin Clark interviewed with federal investigators two weeks ago, the Justice Department revealed in a court filing early Monday morning, a significant development that could reverberate in multiple investigations facing Trump’s inner circle.” Siren for House Dems — “House GOP marches into deeper blue terrain as Dem prospects fade,...

Last year, the White House convened a bipartisan commission of legal experts and academics to study the Supreme Court and make recommendations on whether (and how) to reform it. The resulting recommendations were fairly moderate in scope, focusing on matters of transparency and ethics. And in the eyes of some progressives agitating for major changes to the judiciary, one big recommendation was not...

First in Playbook — Playbook has obtained a trailer for Alex Holder's “Unprecedented,” the British filmmaker’s upcoming Discovery+ docuseries about the Trump family. The two-minute-plus trailer, which you can watch here, was included among the hours of footage that Holder turned over to the House Jan. 6 committee under subpoena. (Holder gave testimony to the committee behind closed doors on June 2...

If you want to get a full sense of why so many Democrats seem to be frustrated with President Joe Biden at the moment, here’s one piece you need to read: “Is Biden a Man Out of Time?” by The Atlantic’s Ronald Brownstein. Whether the specific issue is abortion rights, court reform, voting rights, the filibuster, or the DOJ’s investigation into Donald Trump's attempts to overturn the 2020 election,...

It’s hard to imagine how Tuesday’s surprise hearing of the House Jan. 6 committee could’ve been more damning for President Donald Trump. With vivid stories told in measured tones, Cassidy Hutchinson, a former special assistant to the president and aide to chief of staff Mark Meadows, “stitched together every element of the panel’s case against Donald Trump,” our Kyle Cheney and Nicholas Wu write....