THESE DAYS ARE DIZZYING, so you’d be forgiven for not being able to keep track of all the developments in our body politic. Yes, there are some good things going on — JARED KUSHNER, who we’ve ribbed for some time, has even won over TOM FRIEDMAN with his Middle East dealmaking tactics. But there are also some sordid and oh-so-Washington developments worth reviewing. In a bygone era, any one of these incidents would spark days of coverage. Now, each is but a blip.
— WITH A PANDEMIC coursing through America, Congress is home for the month, and won’t return until mid-September. With an election 81 DAYS away, congressional leaders left town without coming to a deal with the White House on a stimulus relief bill that could help ease the pain of struggling Americans. It seems exceedingly unlikely a deal will come together before Sept. 30 — if at all.
— THE PRESIDENT suggested he thought Sen. KAMALA HARRIS (D-Calif.) might be ineligible to be VP — reprising a racist conspiracy theory he used against BARACK OBAMA. HARRIS was born in Oakland, Calif. Some of his advisers cringed. It seemed desperate. L.A. Times: “Baseless birther attack on Kamala Harris shows how Trump is struggling to define her”
— THE PRESIDENT used these terms to describe women Thursday: He said Rep. ALEXANDRIA OCASIO-CORTEZ (D-N.Y.) “yaps”; he called HARRIS a “madwoman”; and he assailed MSNBC host MIKA BRZEZINSKI as the “ditzy airhead wife” of Joe Scarborough. More from Quint Forgey on Trump’s attacks
— THE PRESIDENT will break with all norms and accept the Republican Party’s nomination on the White House lawn, he told the N.Y. Post. Oh — and he also said he’ll try to win New York, which he lost by 22 points in 2016. THE COVER of the N.Y. POST is a photo of DONALD TRUMP in front of a portrait of ABE LINCOLN with this: “‘NEW YORK IS IN PLAY’” … Dems would love TRUMP to spend money there.
— MARJORIE TAYLOR GREENE — a QAnon supporter who is likely to come to Congress in November with full support from House Majority Leader KEVIN MCCARTHY and the GOP leadership — suggested in a recently found video that MS-13 were hitmen for OBAMA and killed SETH RICH, a DNC employee who was murdered in 2016 in what police have said was a random armed robbery attempt. She was also a 9/11 truther, although she walked that back Thursday.
— MICHAEL COHEN, the president’s former attorney who was recently in prison, published excerpts from his book “Disloyal.” NYT’S ANNIE KARNI: “‘I bore witness to the real man, in strip clubs, shady business meetings, and in the unguarded moments when he revealed who he really was: a cheat, a liar, a fraud, a bully, a racist, a predator, a con man,’ Mr. Cohen writes, claiming he has gained from those experiences a singular understanding of the president. …
“‘I STIFFED contractors on his behalf, ripped off his business partners, lied to his wife Melania to hide his sexual infidelities, and bullied and screamed at anyone who threatened Trump’s path to power,’ he writes.”
WE DON’T PRETEND TO KNOW what any of this means. But it doesn’t speak well of the state of American politics in 2020.
HEADS UP … DEVELOPMENTS TODAY … A.G. BILL BARR said this on SEAN HANNITY’S show Thursday night about the JOHN DURHAM-led investigation into the origins of the Crossfire Hurricane investigation: “I have said there are going to be developments, significant developments, before the election. But we’re not doing this on the election schedule. We’re aware of the election. We’re not going to do anything inappropriate before the election.
“But we’re not being dictated to by this schedule. What’s dictating the timing of this are developments in the case. And there will be developments. Tomorrow, there will be a development in the case. You know, it’s not an earth-shattering development, but it is an indication that things are moving along at the proper pace, as dictated by the facts in this investigation.”
WHAT THE BIDEN CAMPAIGN IS READING … KYLE CHENEY: “Besieged on all sides, Ron Johnson says his probe ‘would certainly’ help Trump win reelection”: “Sen. Ron Johnson this week said his probe of Obama-era intelligence agencies would help President Donald Trump win reelection, igniting fury from Democrats who say it was an explicit admission he’s using his committee to damage Joe Biden’s candidacy for president.
“‘The more that we expose of the corruption of the transition process between Obama and Trump, the more we expose of the corruption within those agencies, I would think it would certainly help Donald Trump win reelection and certainly be pretty good, I would say, evidence about not voting for Vice President Biden,’ Johnson said in a little-noticed Tuesday interview with Minneapolis-based radio hosts Jon Justice and Drew Lee.
“Democrats compared the remark to comments made in 2015 by House GOP Leader Kevin McCarthy, who boasted that the Republican-led Benghazi investigation was successful because it had helped tank Hillary Clinton’s poll numbers. Facing sharp criticism, McCarthy later walked back those comments.”
Good Friday morning.
NEW POLL … NPR/PBS NEWSHOUR/MARIST: “Democrat Joe Biden’s lead has expanded to double-digits against President Trump in the presidential election, an NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist poll finds. Biden now leads Trump 53% to 42%, up from an 8-point advantage at the end of June.
“It comes as 71% of Americans now see the coronavirus as a real threat, up significantly over the last several months, as more than 167,000 Americans have died and more than 5 million have become infected with the virus.
“And yet, more than a third of Americans (35%) say they won’t get vaccinated when a vaccine comes available; 60% say they will. There are huge splits by education and party on this. Those with college degrees are 19 points more likely to get vaccinated than those without (72% to 53%), and Democrats are 23 points more likely than Republicans (71% to 48%).” The poll
FRONTS: NYT, with two-column headline: “ISRAELIS AND U.A.E. AGREE TO FULL TIES IN LANDMARK DEAL” … ISRAEL HAYOM, the SHELDON ADELSON-owned paper, went with the headline: “Emirates first” — indicating they believe other Arab nations will join the UAE … WSJ
NEW: SPEAKER NANCY PELOSI will join us TUESDAY at 1:30 P.M. for a virtual interview as part of our Playbook convention coverage. Register to watch
— ALSO: Check out our new “PLUG IN WITH PLAYBOOK” morning show we’re debuting MONDAY at 9 A.M. during both the DNC and RNC conventions, with guests like DNC Chair TOM PEREZ, Dem Convention CEO JOE SOLMONESE, Sen. TIM KAINE (D-Va.), SYMONE SANDERS and NRSC Executive Director KEVIN MCLAUGHLIN. More guests to be announced. The schedule
WILD STORY … WAPO’S CAROL LEONNIG and NICK MIROFF: “Secret Service sought tactical aircraft to protect White House amid Floyd demonstrations”: “The Secret Service sought to bolster its protection of the White House with surveillance aircraft and a Blackhawk helicopter carrying a ‘fast rope’ commando team after crowds protesting the police killing of George Floyd knocked down temporary barricades and one man got onto the complex grounds in late May, according to newly obtained government correspondence.
“That breach — combined with the throngs of protesters that converged outside the White House the night of May 29 — prompted agents to rush President Trump to a reinforced bunker and spurred a deeper concern about the White House’s vulnerability.
“In a letter a week later, the Secret Service asked U.S. Customs and Border Protection to provide aircraft that could be used in a rapid-response helicopter operation, the records show. Customs and Border Protection ultimately provided the agency with live information from a surveillance plane, but the Secret Service determined that the helicopter was not necessary, according to administration officials familiar with the plans, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe internal discussions.”
WHAT JARED AND AVI HAVE BEEN WAITING FOR … NYT’S TOM FRIEDMAN: “A Geopolitical Earthquake Just Hit the Mideast”: “For once, I am going to agree with President Trump in his use of his favorite adjective: ‘huge.’
“The agreement brokered by the Trump administration for the United Arab Emirates to establish full normalization of relations with Israel, in return for the Jewish state forgoing, for now, any annexation of the West Bank, was exactly what Trump said it was in his tweet: a ‘HUGE breakthrough.’
“It is not Anwar el-Sadat going to Jerusalem — nothing could match that first big opening between Arabs and Israelis. It is not Yasir Arafat shaking Yitzhak Rabin’s hand on the White House lawn — nothing could match that first moment of public reconciliation between Israelis and Palestinians.
“But it is close. Just go down the scorecard, and you see how this deal affects every major party in the region — with those in the pro-American, pro-moderate Islam, pro-ending-the-conflict-with-Israel-once-and-for-all camp benefiting the most and those in the radical pro-Iran, anti-American, pro-Islamist permanent-struggle-with-Israel camp all becoming more isolated and left behind. It’s a geopolitical earthquake.”
— BEHIND THE SCENES … WSJ: “Israel-U.A.E. Pact Sealed After Months of Furtive Talks Among Envoys Trusted by Their Leaders,” by Mike Bender in D.C. and Dion Nissenbaum in Beirut
RYAN LIZZA: “An Insider’s Guide to What the Biden-Harris Relationship Will Look Like”
ON DOUG EMHOFF: “The 9 Things We Know About Kamala Harris’s Husband,” by Vogue’s Stuart Emmrich
VEEPSTAKES DEEP DIVE … NYT, A1: “How Biden Chose Harris: A Search That Forged New Stars, Friends and Rivalries,” by Alex Burns, Jonathan Martin and Katie Glueck: “It was early in Joseph R. Biden Jr.’s vice-presidential search when he asked his advisers a sensitive question about Senator Kamala Harris. He kept hearing so much private criticism of her from other California Democrats, he wanted to know: Is she simply unpopular in her home state?
“Advisers assured Mr. Biden that was not the case: Ms. Harris had her share of Democratic rivals and detractors in the factional world of California politics, but among regular voters her standing was solid.
“Mr. Biden’s query, and the quiet attacks that prompted it, helped begin a delicate audition for Ms. Harris that has never before been revealed in depth. She faced daunting obstacles, including an array of strong competitors, unease about her within the Biden family and bitter feuds from California and the 2020 primary season that exploded anew.” NYT
WAPO: “With early momentum, Harris to focus on connecting with minorities, activists, women in swing states,” by Matt Viser: “Within the first 24 hours after Sen. Kamala D. Harris was named Joe Biden’s running mate, top Democrats were reaching out to syndicated Black radio hosts, eager to line up appearances for Harris on their popular shows. …
“And in coming weeks, the Biden campaign plans to deploy the U.S. senator from California to swing states — often virtually, but at times in person — to connect with Black voters, young activists and suburban women, groups whose support for Biden is solid but far from guaranteed. Joint television interviews are in the works over the next few weeks.
THE POST OFFICE’S MANUFACTURED CRISIS …
— PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER: “USPS says Pennsylvania mail ballots may not be delivered on time, and state warns of ‘overwhelming’ risk to voters,” by Jonathan Lai and Ellie Rushing: “The U.S. Postal Service has warned Pennsylvania that some mail ballots might not be delivered on time because the state’s deadlines are too tight for its ‘delivery standards,’ prompting election officials to ask the state Supreme Court to extend the deadlines to avoid disenfranchising voters.
“The warning came in a July 29 letter from Thomas J. Marshall, general counsel and executive vice president of the Postal Service, to Pennsylvania Secretary of State Kathy Boockvar, whose department oversees elections. That letter was made public late Thursday in a filing her Department of State submitted to the Supreme Court, asking it to order that mail ballots be counted as long as they are received up to three days after the Nov. 3 election date.”
— VICE: “The Post Office Is Deactivating Mail Sorting Machines Ahead of the Election,” by Aaron Gordon
— WAPO’S AMY GARDNER, JOSH DAWSEY and PAUL KANE: “[Louis] DeJoy, a longtime GOP fundraiser, is in frequent contact with top Republican Party officials and met with the president in the Oval Office last week in advance of a tense meeting that DeJoy had with Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.), according to people with knowledge of recent events who spoke on the condition of anonymity to speak candidly.”
— MEANWHILE: “President Trump requests mail-in ballot for upcoming Florida primary, despite rhetoric,” by Hannah Morse of the Palm Beach Post
DOWN BALLOT — “With just weeks to go, wrench thrown in Neal-Morse congressional race,” by the Boston Globe’s Laura Krantz
TRUMP’S FRIDAY — The president will leave the White House at 2 p.m. en route to Bedminster, N.J. He will arrive at 3:50 p.m. Trump will speak to the City of New York Police Benevolent Association at 5 p.m.
TV TONIGHT … PBS’ “Washington Week” with Bob Costa: Yamiche Alcindor, Mary Jordan, Jonathan Martin and Ayesha Rascoe.
SUNDAY SO FAR …
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CBS
“Face the Nation”: Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot … Dmitri Alperovitch … Scott Gottlieb.
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FOX
“Fox News Sunday”: Panel: Jason Riley, Kristen Soltis Anderson and Mo Elleithee. Power Player: Democratic convention highlights.
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ABC
“This Week”: Jason Miller. Panel: Chris Christie, Rahm Emanuel, Sara Fagen and Yvette Simpson.
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NBC
“Meet the Press”: Panel: Charles Benson, Kasie Hunt, Jeh Johnson and Carol Lee.
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Gray TV
“Full Court Press with Greta Van Susteren”: House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn (D-S.C.) … Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-Texas).
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Sinclair
“America This Week with Eric Bolling”: President Donald Trump … Michael Solan … Jose Aristimuño … Hogan Gidley … Madeleine Westerhout.
ALEX THOMPSON in POLITICO MAGAZINE: “‘The President Was Not Encouraging’: What Obama Really Thought About Biden”
RIC GRENELL: “We are happy to announce that the leaders of Kosovo and Serbia will meet at the White House for a negotiation on September 2.”
FUN READ — “The boys and girls on the Zoom,” by Eli Okun and John Harris: “It is an odd turn of events in the media business. Four years ago, after most journalists were caught surprised by Donald Trump’s victory, there was an almost universal critique about how the profession needed to do better next time. Reporters needed to get off Twitter, get off cable and get off their asses. Entire tomes were written on the subject.
“Start filling up notebooks, the argument went, with quotes from aldermen and barbers, from mayors and cab drivers, and families at the food court. That is how journalists liberate themselves from conventional wisdom and the distorting effects of their cultural bubbles and learn what’s really happening in the country.
“Instead, due to the coronavirus pandemic, journalists are spending more time on their asses than ever—phone in one hand, and television remote in the other. The presidential campaign has gone remote in multiple senses of the word—the most dramatic shift in the rhythms and day-to-day logistics of newsgathering that political journalism has seen in decades. In 1973, writer Timothy Crouse coined a term with a classic media book, The Boys on the Bus. Over the years, the craft lost its historic chauvinism and women boarded the bus. This year—and perhaps into the future—the bus is canceled. A latter-day Crouse might write The Boys and Girls on Zoom.” POLITICO
WSJ: “Beirut Explosion Likely Sparked by Maintenance at Warehouse, According to U.S. Assessment,” by Jared Malsin, Benoit Faucon and Nazih Osseiran in Beirut: “Maintenance work likely led to the explosion of a large cache of ammonium nitrate that devastated a large part of the Lebanese capital last week, a U.S. government assessment concluded, according to a person familiar with the matter.
“The assessment adds to the emerging picture of what caused the Aug. 4 blast that killed more than 160 people, with at least 60 others still missing. The explosion has stoked public outrage toward Lebanon’s government, with many protesters demanding justice after the explosive material was stored for years in the port adjacent to the heart of Beirut, and calling for their country’s leaders to be held accountable for years of poor governance and corruption.
“After days of protests that forced Prime Minister Hassan Diab’s cabinet to resign earlier this week, Lebanon’s parliament in its first session since the explosion approved Thursday a state of emergency that grants sweeping powers to the military.”
SECSTATE CONFIRMATION FIGHT PREVIEW? — “Ambassadors sign letter defending Susan Rice’s record in Africa”
LITTLE ROCKET MAN — “North Korea lifts lockdown in city, rejects flood, virus aid,” by AP’s Kim Tong-Hyung in Seoul, South Korea: “North Korean leader Kim Jong Un lifted a lockdown in a major city near the border with South Korea where thousands had been quarantined for weeks over coronavirus worries, state media said Friday.
“But Kim, during a key ruling party meeting on Thursday, also insisted the North will keep its borders shut and rejected any outside help as the country carries out an aggressive anti-virus campaign and rebuilds thousands of houses, roads and bridges damaged by heavy rain and floods in recent weeks.” AP
HMM … MATTHEW KARNITSCHNIG on “Mike Pompeo’s summer feel-good tour of Europe”: “One sign that the trip is not all about business for Pompeo is the presence of his wife, Susan. … Before ending their trip in Warsaw on Saturday, the pair will enjoy a rare treat: a summertime Vienna nearly free of tourists. In addition to a visit to the Hapsburgs’ former imperial palace, a chat with the president and a meeting with Austria’s boy-wonder chancellor, Sebastian Kurz, Pompeo is expected to ride around the city center in one of Vienna’s iconic trams.
“Exactly why Pompeo, who is spending two nights in Vienna, is devoting so much attention to neutral Austria is something of a mystery. No secretary of state has spent so much time on a bilateral visit to the Alpine nation, which doesn’t belong to NATO and is officially neutral, in living memory.
“Asked last week what Pompeo hoped to achieve there, Philip Reeker, the acting assistant secretary of state for Europe, struggled to offer specifics: ‘I think we’ll have an opportunity to look broadly at the shared common values and perspectives that we have with Austria.’”
Send tips to Eli Okun and Garrett Ross at [email protected].
SPOTTED at a Zoom gathering for George W. Bush DHS alums Thursday night: Tom Ridge, Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson, Jim Loy, Duncan Campbell, Susan Neely, Ed Cash, Steve Cooper, James McCament, Alison Williams, Pam Turner, Jim Williams, Pat Hughes, Parney Albright, Gary Shiffman, Dave Epperson, Brian Cairns, Tim Stout, Ken Hill, Chris Furlow and Ted Gangsei.
MOVING ON UP … Joy Lee will be Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s press secretary. She joined Pelosi’s press shop in 2015 and most recently was deputy press secretary.
TRANSITIONS — Jonathan Burks is joining Walmart as VP of global public policy. He most recently was at the Brunswick Group, and is the former chief of staff to former Speaker Paul Ryan. The staff letter … Anton Becker is now assistant VP at Story Partners. He most recently was senior specialist of policy comms at SHRM, and is a Frank Pallone and Tammy Duckworth alum.
BIRTHDAY OF THE DAY: Denise Feriozzi, principal at Civitas Public Affairs. A trend that doesn’t get enough attention: “I’ve been watching closely how local leaders — whether it’s mayors, city councilors or school board members — have really been stepping up in this moment. They are making incredibly important decisions on public health and safety, deciding when and how to reopen schools and reforming policing. In politics and especially in Washington, we don’t value these offices enough and yet they can affect people’s day-to-day lives the most.” Playbook Q&A
BIRTHDAYS: Rep. Mark Pocan (D-Wis.) is 56 … Kate Carr (h/ts Teresa Vilmain) … NYT’s Adam Goldman … Boris Epshteyn, strategic adviser for coalitions on the Trump campaign and a former special assistant to the president, is 38 (h/t Steven Cheung) … Tim Carney of the Washington Examiner and AEI … Paige Willey of the White House … Erik Sperling … POLITICO’s Peter Canellos and Colby Bermel … Bill Couch … Lori Montgomery, WaPo deputy national editor … Lynne Cheney is 79 … Dan Sena, owner/partner at Sena Kozar Strategies … David Ellis … Elliott Hulse of the World Bank … Jessica Pavel … Ian Rayder, deputy Colorado secretary of state … Katrin Bennhold, Berlin bureau chief for the NYT (h/t Ben Chang) … Gary Endicott … former Rep. Tom Campbell (R-Calif.) is 68 … former Rep. Robin Hayes (R-N.C.) is 75 … Bloomberg’s Tiffany Stecker … Jen Myers of the University of Virginia …
… Rob Flaherty, digital director for Joe Biden’s campaign … Shoaib Qureshi … Sean Miles, principal at the Mayfair Group, is 53 … Martin J. Sweet is 5-0 … Matt J. Lauer, global head of comms and strategy at Mercuria Energy Trading and EVP at MSLGroup … David Samson is 81 … Melissa Johnson … John Meza, VP of comms and government affairs at the Borderplex Alliance, is 34 … Liz Sternby … Paige Decker, director of members services and coalitions for the House Ways and Means GOP … Darren Goode is 46 … POLITICO Europe’s Maïa De La Baume … Tori Sachs is 32 … Edelman’s Jere Sullivan … Gray Kinsella … Josh Goldberg … Jeff Krehely … Spike Whitney … Mark Mitchell … Jane Hautanen … Eric Wohlschlegel … Nicole Stickel … Matt Nappe … Alia Awadallah … Michigan state Rep. Jon Hoadley, who’s running for Congress … Jon Selib is 45 … Josh Freed … Catherine Coleman Flowers
