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Good Wednesday morning. This is Jack Blanchard. I’M NOT SAYING IT’S COLD … but people were playing ice hockey on the streets of New Orleans last night. Yes, really. You gotta see the vid. NOW WARM UP WITH THIS: Playbook’s new weekly breakfast series kicks off today, taking a closer look at the biggest policy issues shaping the Trump 2.0 era. Our first event this morning focuses on tax policy, with Hill Republicans still at war over the scope of the tax and spending changes they want crowbarred into the coming reconciliation bill. Essential viewing: Join Rep. Mike Lawler (R-N.Y.), Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), and Sen. Michael Bennet (D-Colo.) for sit-down interviews with POLITICO reporters and editors on the tax battles that lie ahead in the 119th Congress. It’s not too late to RSVP for this or future Playbook breakfasts … And there’ll be a live stream here from 9 a.m. | |||
President-elect Donald Trump takes the stage before he speaks at the FOX Nation Patriot Awards on Dec. 5, 2024, in Greenvale, New York. | Heather Khalifa/AP | |||
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FOX AND FRIEND: President Donald Trump will tonight host the first Oval Office interview of his second term, as he sits down with — who else? — Fox News’ Sean Hannity. The interview will be pre-recorded later today and airs at 9 p.m. ET, with millions tuning in to see the latest episode of Trump 2.0 in primetime. An appearance on one of Trump’s favorite TV shows may not prove the toughest grilling of his political career, but the president’s current mood — buoyant, bordering on jolly at times — means he may just give us a decent preview of what he has planned for the days and weeks ahead. First (very obvious) point: Trump 2.0 is accessible. He did phone interviews with TV journos over the weekend. He did freewheeling press conferences on both Monday and Tuesday — taking questions from all comers — and now follows up with a full sit-down interview on his third day in office. Joe Biden and Kamala Harris might like to take note. Second (less obvious) point: Trump’s supporters (and most of Washington!) might be hanging on the president’s every word, but the rest of America seems a little less engaged. While Fox News itself posted impressive numbers for Monday’s inauguration — with more than twice the viewers of any other channel — overall TV figures for Trump 2.0 were actually way down on previous years. Nobody tell the president! “A peak of 34.4 million people tuned in live to watch Mr. Trump’s lunchtime swearing-in on the major TV networks, according to statistics from Nielsen,” the NYT reports. “The peak TV audience was down from the nearly 40 million viewers who watched former President Joseph R. Biden Jr.’s speech in 2021, and the 38.3 million who watched Mr. Trump’s first inaugural speech in 2017.” Somebody call Sean Spicer. Helpfully for the White House … the NYT also notes that many more people watch things on social media these days, so in a way, this is kind of on trend. Top of Hannity’s question pile tonight: Did Trump just kill DEI (Diversity, Equity and Inclusion) programs for good? Hundreds of federal workers will be placed on paid leave today following a fresh White House edict attacking DEI, Kristin Brown of CBS News scooped last night. All federal employees in DEI roles will be placed on paid leave by 5 p.m. Wednesday as offices and programs are permanently shut down, according to a memo from the Office of Personnel Management. Across a federal workforce of 2.4 million people, that may be quite a lot of lay-offs .... MAGA world is in dreamland. Not top of Hannity’s question pile tonight: Did Trump just open the door to militias having a role in public life? “We’ll have to see,” the president shrugged casually at his Roosevelt Room press conference yesterday evening, when asked if there was a place for the leaders of the Proud Boys and the Oath Keepers in the political conversation. “I thought the sentences for them were ridiculous and excessive,” he went on. “At least [in] the cases we looked at, these were people that actually love our country.” Proud as punch: Right on cue, Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio was interviewed by Alex Jones on Infowars last night, hours after his release from jail. (Tarrio received a pardon Monday after being sentenced to 22 years for seditious conspiracy.) “We went through hell — and I’m gonna tell you, it was worth it,” he told Jones. “Because what we stood for … was what we’ve been fighting for, and what we saw yesterday on the inauguration stage. We need people like [Attorney General nominee] Pam Bondi, [FBI Director nominee] Kash Patel and the rest of Trump’s cabinet to right all these wrongs … The people who did this, they need to feel the heat. They need to be put behind bars.” Listen here. Yikes: This sort of talk makes plenty of Hill Republicans nervous, as was evidenced yesterday by the sight of senator after senator (looking at you, John Thune) squirming through interviews in which they either blamed Biden for opening the floodgates or just insisted the nation needs to “look to the future.” It’s a line they’ll struggle to hold if Trump decides to pursue his own past grievances with the full power of the presidency. Speaking of which: The NYT has taken a closer look at the executive order titled “Ending the Weaponization of the Federal Government,” one of the 40-something signed by Trump in Monday’s post-inauguration blitz. Michael Schmidt and Mark Mazzetti conclude that the order — paired with another, stripping security clearance from a number of former intelligence officials — suggests Trump is planning “payback, dressed up in the language of victimhood.” Charles Kupperman, who served as Trump’s deputy national security adviser during his first term, tells the paper: “It looks like the beginning of a retribution campaign.” Also worth monitoring: The Associated Press revealed Trump’s Justice Department has already reassigned key senior officials as part of a leadership shakeup ahead of Bondi’s expected confirmation next week. “Though it is common for a new administration to appoint its own political hires at the top of the Justice Department, it is not standard for career lawyers to be reassigned,” AP’s Eric Tucker notes. “They serve the department across administrations and typically retain their positions even when control of the department changes hands.” FURTHER READING I: Kyle Cheney filed last night on the corrosive damage done to public trust by both Biden and Trump’s astonishing clemency sprees. “I think the expectation now is that a departing president in the last hour of serving in office pardons every family member, hanger-on, et cetera, for whatever they did,” John Barrett, a St. John’s University constitutional law scholar, tells him. “This kind of green-lights going for it as a crook.” FURTHER READING II: Trump’s blanket pardons for January 6 rioters may prove unpopular with the American people, with long-term political fallout that’s hard to avoid, Ankush Khardori writes in a new column for POLITICO Mag. “You can safely expect a fair amount of recidivism among those who were convicted — particularly the defendants convicted of violent conduct,” Ankush warns. “Trump and the Republicans who back this effort will not be able to hide from those developments, if they come to pass.” And yet still the pardons come: As previewed in yesterday’s Playbook, Trump last night pardoned Ross Ulbright, the Silk Road founder and libertarian cause célèbre. In a Truth Social post, Trump called the pardon “full and unconditional,” and suggested Ulbright’s prosecution — for running a site with rampant dealing of illicit drugs and soliciting at least six murder-for-hires in connection with the platform — had been an example of the “weaponization of [the] government.” | |||
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MEANWHILE ON THE HILL GRAB THE MIKE: Speaker Mike Johnson will hold a press conference today with questions still swirling about how a barely-united GOP plans to get its business through Congress. Johnson spent three hours yesterday locked in talks with Trump and Senate Majority Leader Thune, and promised reporters he’ll have more to say on the outcome this morning. As usual, the GOP House conference meets at 9 a.m. for private talks, with Johnson facing the media at 10 a.m. “The Bulldozer”: While you’re waiting for that, dive into an essential new “Corridors” column from Capitol Bureau Chief Rachael Bade, which lifts the lid on the thorny relations between Trump and the Hill GOP. She notes how Trump has repeatedly bulldozed through the wishes of Hill Republicans since returning to power on Monday — from the unsettling Jan. 6 pardons to the overturning of Congress’s hard-won TikTok ban. With friends like these: “The past two days underscore how Trump and his team view Capitol Hill, informed by his previous four years in office, and the four subsequent years he spent climbing back,” Rachael writes. “Republicans will eventually fall in line with whatever he wants, they believe — so why hold back?” Now read the quotes: “The sooner these guys recognize that it's the president that kept their House majority and their Senate majority, and the sooner they realize it's the president that has the will of the people — not them — the sooner they will be able to live a productive life,” one Trump insider tells Rachael. “At the end of the day, he’s the one with the mandate, and they know it,” says another. Just in — Rachael texts over an added thought bubble: “The GOP may be privately unhappy, but guess what — they don't want to get crosswise with the big guy,” she says. “They are already falling into line, mostly keeping their frustrations to themselves.” And sure enough … We were treated to a surreal display of forced unity last night, as Johnson and dozens of fellow House Republicans lined up on — where else? — “Hannity” to show Trump just how well they all get along. Seated in rows like schoolchildren in the cavernous Rayburn Room inside the Capitol, a line of nodding GOP lawmakers looked on as Johnson and the rest of the Republican House leadership told Fox News viewers — well, one in particular — that they really are committed to getting this done. Message for the Audience of One: “We’re energized!” Johnson beamed, after Hannity demanded the GOP come together to enact Trump’s plans. “There’s a sea change in Washington. We’re all united on this agenda.” House Majority Whip Tom Emmer agreed: “We’re gonna get the job done!” he chimed in. “Failure is not an option!” It all felt a teeny bit … North Korea. Amid the noise, some actual news: More seriously, Johnson also confirmed that federal aid to fire-ravaged Los Angeles will indeed come with Republican-sized strings attached. “We’re talking about conditions to this disaster aid,” the speaker said. “There’s a tradition of doing this,” he insisted, citing the aid packages which followed Hurricanes Katrina and Sandy. Pressed by Hannity on whether the aid could shape state-level policies on issues such as immigration, Johnson replied: “What we’re talking about here is restoring common sense — even in the state of California.” Watch the full clip. Earlier in the evening … Trump had more or less confirmed the approach, suggesting the California disaster has changed the picture in terms of securing votes in Congress. “I think we have a good situation now,” the president beamed at his late afternoon press conference. “It’s been in some ways made simpler by Los Angeles, because they’re going to need a lot of money — and generally speaking I think you’ll find a lot of Democrats are going to be asking for help. So I think that maybe makes it more one-sided.” This one has the potential to properly kick off. ICYMI: Last night’s press conference saw a beaming Trump line up with tech world bosses for a major announcement on AI. Companies including OpenAI and Softbank plan to invest up to $500 billion (!) over the next four years on building AI infrastructure in the U.S. The WSJ has a decent write-up. | |||
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IMMIGRATION FILES | |||
The Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights holds a community vigil a day after President Donald Trump has been inaugurated, outside the Immanuel Presbyterian Church in Los Angeles, Jan. 21, 2025. | Damian Dovarganes/AP | |||
SEE YOU IN COURT: We’re only on day three of Trump’s presidency, and one of the legal fights that will define his second term is already taking shape. A total of 22 states have now sued in an effort to stop Trump’s ban on birthright citizenship, AP’s Mike Catalini reports. And the myriad lawsuits have one central argument in common: that Trump’s executive order attempting to ban the practice is a clear violation of the 14th Amendment — a charge that the White House is quick to dismiss as the raving of “Radical Leftists.” NYT’s Mirian Jordan reports on fears among undocumented women their newborn children could now face deportation. The ball’s in your court: One of the cases challenging Trump’s order has already been assigned to Washington state-based federal judge John Coughenour, a Reagan appointee who has served since 1981. Last night, he scheduled a hearing for 10 a.m. Thursday to consider the request made by four state AGs — likely to be the first court hearing on Trump’s attempted birthright ban, per ABC News’ Aaron Katersky and Peter Charalambous. Meanwhile, at DOJ… the Trump administration fired the top four officials in the Executive Office of Immigration Review, which oversees the overburdened U.S. immigration court system, reports NBC’s Julia Ainsley. All four were civil servants, not political appointees. Give no quarter: Acting Homeland Security Secretary Benjamine Huffman announced that federal immigration authorities will now be permitted to carry out enforcement actions in churches and schools, a reversal of longtime ICE policy preventing agents from making arrests in “sensitive locations,” CNN’s Priscilla Alvarez reports. And now to the border: The next big legal battle could be over the use of federal troops on the U.S.-Mexico border, the WSJ scooped last night, citing Pentagon officials preparing options under the order of Trump’s new White House. BEST OF THE REST KASH FOR QUESTIONS: Trump’s controversial pick for FBI chief, Kash Patel, will appear before the Senate Judiciary Committee for what should be a blockbuster hearing on Jan. 29. The committee is due to vote on Pam Bondi’s nomination for attorney general the same day. The top Democrat on the committee, Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), said he met with Patel yesterday but will not be backing him for the job. “Kash Patel has neither the experience, the judgment, nor the temperament to serve as head of the Federal Bureau of Investigation,” Durbin said. But but but: It’s worth noting that despite fresh accusations yesterday against defense pick Pete Hegseth, and ongoing GOP rumblings about national intelligence pick Tulsi Gabbard, there are precious few people around Washington who really believe that any of these nominations are going to be blocked. Today’s viewing: Russell Vought, Trump’s pick for the Office of Management and Budget, has his second Senate committee hearing today at 10 a.m. NEW BLOOD: “Freshman wishlist: Sen. John Curtis plans on ‘being myself,’" by Axios’ Stef Kight: “[Curtis] is new to the Senate — but is already seen as a decisive swing vote for Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) to keep an eye on. … Asked if leadership should not just count on his vote, Curtis laughed and said, ‘I think I made that evident in my first two weeks here.’” IN THE DOGE HOUSE: Vivek Ramaswamy’s early exit from Trump's so-called Department of Government Efficiency panel has raised a slew of questions about its future. Though Ramaswamy’s departure seemed to be spurred by his bid to run for Ohio governor, WaPo’s Faiz Siddiqui, Elizabeth Dwoskin and Jeff Stein report that his exit was prompted by “[d]eep philosophical differences [with co-chair Elon Musk] over how the panel should operate.” Meanwhile, as Washington buzzes about DOGE’s seeming sputtering, House Democrats have named members to serve on Oversight’s DOGE subcommittee, “signaling the minority party is ready to play ball on a Republican-led effort,” Daniella Diaz and Hailey Fuchs report. How long is that in DOGE years?: How long will Musk last at Trump’s side before their relationship sours? Give it one year, Anthony Scaramucci tells POLITICO’s “Power Play” podcast. (One year is roughly 33 Scaramuccis long, in case you were wondering.) Listen here BEYOND THE BELTWAY MIDDLE EAST LATEST: Violence flared up in the West Bank yesterday, even as the Israel-Hamas cease-fire deal remains in effect, WaPo’s Claire Parker, Heidi Levine, Miriam Berger and Abbie Cheeseman report from Jerusalem. The IDF launched what PM Benjamin Netanyahu described as an “extensive and significant” military operation in a militant-occupied refugee camp in Jenin, reportedly killing 10 people and injuring three dozen in a series of raids. “Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad, both of which are supported by Iran, vowed to fight back.” TRICKS OF THE TRADE: Though the USMCA trade deal isn’t up for statutory review until 2026, Trump hopes to renegotiate it sooner, WSJ’s Brian Schwartz, Gavin Bade and Vipal Monga report. Leading the talks for Trump: Howard Lutnick, his pick for Commerce secretary, and Jamieson Greer, his nominee to be U.S. trade representative. Playbook thought bubble: How much of Trump’s proposed 25% tariffs on Canadian and Mexican imports is simply an opening gambit designed to force them to the USMCA negotiating table and agree to the terms Trump wants? 10 days in Ottawa: With Trump promising to start levying the 25% tariffs on Feb. 1 (just 10 days from now), outgoing Canadian PM Justin Trudeau yesterday reiterated his vow to retaliate — “perhaps matching with dollar-for-dollar Canadian tariffs,” per WSJ’s Paul Vieira. 10 days in Mexico City: Meanwhile, in remarks yesterday, Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum took a different path from Trudeau, refraining from dangling her own retaliatory tariffs ahead of Trump’s Feb. 1 threat, writes Reuters’ David Alire Garcia. Instead, Sheinbaum said she will respond "step by step." 10 days in Beijing: Yesterday, Trump said that starting on Feb. 1, he will impose 10% tariffs on Chinese imports, as NYT’s Alan Rappeport writes. MISTAKE BY THE LAKES: Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson is running for governor — at least, according to posts she made on X last night and quickly deleted, though not before Bridge Michigan’s Jordyn Hermani could grab a screenshot. The Democrat’s official rollout is scheduled for this morning, sources tell Playbook, with an announcement video and tour of interviews planned across the state. | |||
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FIRST IN PLAYBOOK — NRCC Chair Richard Hudson has named the committee’s senior staff for the 2026 election cycle. Hudson has named Micah Yousefi as executive director, Jack Pandol as deputy executive director, Theresa (Winegar) Vaccaro as political director, Gina Miles as finance director, Jillian Davidson as research director, Will Kiley as comms director, Ryan Dollar as general counsel and Michael Murphy as CFO and COO. — Steve Chartan is joining the Heritage Foundation as VP of government relations. He most recently has been a principal at AxAdvocacy, and is a former Ted Cruz chief of staff and founding executive director of the House Freedom Caucus. — Tyler Lewis is now deputy director of federal relations for Maryland Gov. Wes Moore. He most recently was a legislative assistant in the Office of Legislative Affairs in the Biden White House. Donald Trump has implemented a “One Flag Policy” — that is, the U.S. flag only, no flags celebrating LGBTQ+ pride or Black Lives Matter — at American outposts. Barron Trump is launching his own luxury real estate company with two young business partners. OUT AND ABOUT — SPOTTED at an agriculture ball pre-reception hosted by Monument Advocacy’s food and agriculture practice at their rooftop conference center Monday: Rep. Nikki Budzinski (D-Ill.), Chelsee Woodey, Courtney Hogan, Gaurav Parikh, Liz Richardson, Andrew Harris, Nancy Thompson, Alyssa Houtby, Ed Elfmann, Lou Pieh, Sara Wyant, Lydia Johnson, Helena Bottemiller Evich, Marcia Brown, Grace Yarrow, Andrew Rothe, Andrew Fisher, Corey Weber, Trenton Hoekstra, Chance Hunley, Grace Rickman, Jane Scarborough, Tyler Dunn and Madelyn Derks. — SPOTTED at the Semafor Media Party, held at Semafor Haus at the Grand Hotel Belvédère in Davos last night: Gary Cohn, Charles Forelle, Justin Smith, Ben Smith, Liz Hoffman, Andrew Edgecliffe-Johnson, Reed Albergotti, Yinka Adegoke, Jamie Heller, Patrick Kennedy, David Gelles, Kathleen Kingsbury, Emma Graham, Dan Murphy, Jan Bayer, Katie Drummond, Kenneth Cukier, Faisal Abbas, Melanie Amann, Justin Blake, Kristy Graham, Jo Sheldon, Lananh Nguyen, Brian Lott, Brendan Vaughan, David Merritt, Emma O’Brien, Ashok Sinha, Jared DiPalma, Elizabeth Dwoskin, Liz Centoni, Julie Hunt, Sabastian Niles, Andrea Calise, Dara Pavlich, Shaila Manyam and Ramiro Prudencio. — SPOTTED at a meet and greet reception hosted by Defend The Vote Action Fund welcoming Reps. Laura Gillen (D-N.Y.) and Sarah Elfreth (D-Md.) to town: Rep. Joe Morelle (D-N.Y.), Brian Lemek, Sandra Fluke, Anne MacMillan, Joe Britton, Sakira Cook, Jasmine Zamani, Scott Fay, Kathryn Crenshaw, Kenny Roberts, Jody Murphy, Ja-Lon Perkins, Adam Bozzi, Chad Gosselink and Cartney Renn McCracken. WHITE HOUSE ARRIVAL LOUNGE — Taylor Van Kirk is now press secretary for VP JD Vance. She previously was VP at MAD Global Strategy. MEDIA MOVES — Darren Samuelsohn is now the White House and Congress editor for USA Today. He is the author of “love, journalism” and is a Messenger, Insider and POLITICO alum. … Keely Diven is now a social media director for WaPo. She previously was a senior social media specialist at ESPN. TRANSITIONS — Elizabeth Economy is now a principal at WestExec Advisors. She currently is the Hargrove senior fellow at Stanford University’s Hoover Institution, and is a scholar/author focused on China and a Biden Commerce alum. … Doug Anderson is joining the One Campaign as senior director of U.S. government relations. He previously was general counsel for the House Foreign Affairs Committee, where he worked for 29 years. … Jordan Davis is now VP of comms and programming at the Congressional Management Foundation. He most recently was senior director at Purple Strategies, and is a Hill GOP and NRCC alum. … … Patrick Barham Quesada will be press secretary for Sen. Bernie Sanders’ (I-Vt.). He previously was press secretary and director of Hispanic media for Sen. Michael Bennet (D-Colo.). … TaNisha Cameron is now deputy comms director for Abigail Spanberger’s Virginia gubernatorial campaign. She previously was senior comms adviser for the Pennsylvania Democratic Party, and is a Gretchen Whitmer alum. … Democracy Forward is adding Rob Shriver as managing director of Civil Service Strong and Kyleigh Russ as director of Good Government Initiatives and senior adviser for policy and program. Shriver was previously acting director of OPM. Russ was previously senior adviser to the director at OPM. WELCOME TO THE WORLD — Jim Billimoria, product public policy-global LIVE lead at TikTok and a Trump SBA alum, and Danielle Ruckert, VP for healthcare at Raffetto Herman Strategic Communications, welcomed Charlotte Lily Billimoria on Jan. 15. She joins big sister Sloane. Pic ... Another pic HAPPY BIRTHDAY: Reps. Rick Crawford (R-Ark.) and Josh Riley (D-N.Y.) … Chris Lowe … Kendra Barkoff Lamy of SKDK … Reuters’ J |
