The Playbook Podcast

The Democratic Senate primary in Texas lit up on the first day of early voting after state Rep. James Talarico's interview on Stephen Colbert's show was pulled at the last minute. The late-night host said the decision was made after pressure was put on by CBS. The result was an explosion of attention for Talarico, as he remains locked in an intense race against Rep. Jasmine Crockett. Playbook's Ja...

Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, President Donald Trump’s top peace negotiating team, is in Switzerland today focused on Iran and Ukraine. The two will first speak with Iranian officials as the Trump administration continues to build up a military presence in the region, and the duo is prepared to move on to speak with Russian and Ukrainian officials to seek an end to the war in Ukraine. Back stat...

Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.) sat down with POLITICO's Dasha Burns on "The Conversation" for a wide-ranging discussion covering his stance on immigration and ICE, voter ID, Israel and where he sees himself within the Democratic Party.

The Munich Security Conference kicks off on Friday — and it has turned into the marquee venue for Democrats with eyes toward 2028 to burnish their foreign policy bona fides. At least half a dozen Democrats who are tabbed as potential presidential contenders are descending on the conference that has become known as the Davos for the defense world. The rush to Munich follows last year’s gathering, w...

The House voted to block President Donald Trump’s tariffs on Canada, with six Republicans joining Democrats in the symbolic rebuke. While the future is unclear in the Senate, it amounts to a sharp political slap on Trump’s wrists as Democrats line up more votes against Trump’s tariffs with the midterms approaching and a consequential Supreme Court decision still looming. Meanwhile, Trump offered a...

AG Pam Bondi is due on the Hill today as a series of storylines swirls around her Justice Department. When she sits before the House Judiciary Committee, she is certain to face questions about DOJ's attempts to investigate and prosecute President Donald Trump's perceived enemies, plus her department's handling of the Epstein files. Playbook's Jack Blanchard and White House Bureau Chief Dasha Burns...

The leaders of ICE and CBP, two of the agencies leading President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown, will sit for testimony before the House Homeland Security Committee on Tuesday. The venue will provide a platform for Democrats to grill the leaders. But Republicans may be left toeing the line between pressing for accountability and defending the administration’s immigration agenda. Playbook’s...

Ghislaine Maxwell is due before Congress today — but don't expect to learn much new. Maxwell, the longtime co-conspirator of the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, will sit for a deposition before the House Oversight Committee, where she is expected to plead her Fifth Amendment rights. Still, the appearance is sure to put the Epstein saga back in the spotlight as lawmakers also begin to...

Venezuelan politician and opposition leader Maria Corina Machado says that Venezuela could have a new democratic election in less than a year. The Nobel Peace Prize winner joins POLITICO’s Dasha Burns for “The Conversation” in a compelling interview that occurred exactly one month after the US captured Venezuelan’s authoritarian leader Nicolas Maduro. Machado opens up about her hopes for the natio...

The Winter Olympics are set to get underway this weekend — amid the backdrop of President Donald Trump’s first year of his second term. Though he won’t be attending the event himself, Trump’s repeated forays into foreign policy have amplified tensions between the U.S. and some of the countries whom American athletes will be competing against. VP JD Vance is on the ground leading the U.S. delegatio...

Congress is facing a serious crunch to reach a deal on funding the Department of Homeland Security for the remainder of the fiscal year. Democratic demands over reforms that they want to see implemented within ICE are being met with resistance from many Republicans — leaving little space for compromise. If a deal isn’t struck by Feb. 13, the government will see another shutdown. Playbook’s Jack Bl...

Kevin Warsh, who President Donald Trump announced last week as his pick to become the next Federal Reserve chair, has an extensive background that has earned the respect of the financial world. He worked at Morgan Stanley, was a member of the Bush White House and is a Fed alum. He has spoken forcefully about the importance of the Fed’s independence. But Trump has said that he wants loyalty. Playbo...

Colombian President Gustavo Petro is visiting the White House today for a critical meeting with President Donald Trump. Though the two have been publicly at odds with one another in recent weeks, the Oval Office meeting offers a chance for the two leaders to reset — or to see another breakdown. But the trend of Trump welcoming world leaders into the White House appears to be dying down. Playbook’s...

The House is returning today to pick up the pieces of a funding fight that plunged the government into another shutdown. Speaker Mike Johnson is faced with the prospect of getting Republicans in line with a razor-thin majority, while Democrats hash out the reforms that they want to see ICE undertake in the wake of the Trump administration’s unprecedented mass deportation agenda and immigration cra...

Senator Thom Tillis calls for the resignation of Kristi Noem and Stephen Miller in a forthright interview with Dasha Burns for “The Conversation.” The North Carolina Republican made his comments after the shootings of two citizens by ICE agents in Minneapolis earlier this year. In a wide-ranging discussion, Tillis talked about tariffs, his hopes for President Trump and his worries for the future o...

President Donald Trump said he will make his pick to take over as the next chair of the Federal Reserve on Friday. The announcement will end months of speculation and intrigue over who Trump wants to lead the central bank — an institution that he has attempted to exert unprecedented pressure on since he returned to office. The shortlist was narrowed down to four names under consideration — but Tru...

The deadline to fund the government for the remainder of the fiscal year is looming at the end of the week — and there’s an open question whether Congress is barreling toward yet another shutdown. Republicans and Democrats have been haggling this week over funding for DHS following the fatal shooting in Minnesota last weekend amid the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown. The first critica...

Republicans and Democrats are searching for the right message on immigration as the fallout from the most recent fatal shooting in Minneapolis continues reverberating across America. Republicans are trying to toe the line between President Donald Trump’s unprecedented immigration crackdown, while Democrats are debating whether to shut the government down amid the furor. Playbook’s Jack Blanchard a...

As the furor over this weekend’s deadly shooting in Minnesota continues to unfold, President Donald Trump appears to be shifting his approach. Trump is sidelining some administration officials and bringing in border czar Tom Homan to provide something of a steadier hand as the White House tries to contain the fallout. Playbook’s Jack Blanchard and White House Bureau Chief Dasha Burns discuss what...

After another fatal shooting in Minnesota over the weekend, the Trump administration and Minnesota officials are in dispute over the facts. Border Patrol agents shot and killed 37-year-old Alex Pretti on Saturday during an encounter between observers and federal agents. The latest shooting comes less than a month after an ICE officer shot and killed Renee Good. Playbook’s Jack Blanchard and White...

Sen. Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.) is making big money moves. In an effort to help flip control of Congress in the midterms, Kelly has used the extra attention that President Donald Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s campaign against him to dramatically ramp up his giving and fundraising for competitive candidates, party committees and state parties. But more than anything, Kelly's rising national...

President Donald Trump is still in Davos, where his Board of Peace is the issue that is driving the conversation at the World Economic Forum. The entity that Trump has proposed to oversee the peace process in Gaza is cause for consternation among many of the countries who received invites to join. But it is that very list of invitees — which includes the likes of China and Russia — that is rufflin...

President Donald Trump is arriving in Davos today as the subject of nearly every conversation. Trump’s push to bring Greenland under U.S. control has dominated the discussion at the World Economic Forum, even as the president prepares to deliver a speech before those gathered in Switzerland on Wednesday. While the world will be parsing every word in his address, the real tea leaves to read may com...

Today marks one year since President Donald Trump returned to office. In his first year back in the White House, Trump has wielded the power of the presidency in unprecedented ways. But despite many of the achievements that the White House points to from 2025, there are a number of fronts with uncertain horizons in 2026. Trump has spent the first part of the year focused on various foreign affairs...

President Donald Trump’s signature tariffs are still roiling Michigan, one of the most closely watched midterm states in 2026. Almost nowhere on the map are there more battleground congressional seats, not to mention a Senate seat on a knife’s edge and a three-way governor’s race featuring a wildcard independent candidate polling in the double digits. And that’s before you dig into any number of d...