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Presented by Amazon: POLITICO's must-read briefing on what's driving the afternoon in Washington. | | | | | |  | | By Rachael Bade, Eli Okun and Garrett Ross | | | BREAKING — “Texas Democrats to flee state in effort to block GOP-backed voting restrictions,” by NBC’s Jane Timm: “The unusual move, akin to what Democrats did in 2003, would paralyze the chamber, stopping business until the lawmakers return to town or the session ends. “The majority of the members plan to fly to Washington, D.C., on two private jets chartered for the occasion and use the time there to rally support for federal voting legislation … Others will make their own way. The lawmakers risk arrest in taking flight.” DEMOCRATS TRY TO SHED ‘DEFUND THE POLICE’ — Around this time last year, the left’s “defund the police” movement was gaining steam in the wake of GEORGE FLOYD’S murder and a summer of racial tensions and protests. But this afternoon, President JOE BIDEN will once again make clear that’s not the direction he wants his party to go. At an event with A.G. MERRICK GARLAND, local leaders and police chiefs from around the nation, Biden will be talking about the administration’s move to tackle a recent uptick in violent crime amid the pandemic — in part with more funding for cops. The president is expected to encourage localities to use extra Covid-19 relief funding to bolster police departments. More from CNN’s Betsy Klein … Here’s a memo on that Front and center, next to Biden, will be ERIC ADAMS, the likely future New York City mayor, who has led the way carving out a moderate lane to address inner-city violence and reform policing. On the campaign trail during the primary, the former NYPD captain rejected the “defund the police” movement and took hits for standing by “stop and frisk” years ago. But he’s also been an advocate of police reform and will be talking with Biden about the need to crack down on handgun smuggling that results in thousands of deaths each year in brown and Black neighborhoods. This is the direction Democratic elders hope the party will move: away from slogans like “defund the police” that they see as politically harmful — and which nearly cost them the House majority in 2020 — and toward a more nuanced, measured approach that’s both pro-police and pro-police reform. That’s especially true right now, as the Democratic majority faces tough odds in the 2022 midterms. Republicans are already seizing on the 30% increase in homicide rates in more than 30 cities nationwide, trying to paint the administration as soft on crime and unable to protect families. Adams’ victory — a relative moderate in New York City politics, who ran on a tough-on-crime platform — has given Democratic leaders hope that their base now gets this. We’ll see if it sticks. ALSO AT THE WHITE HOUSE today: D.C. Mayor MURIEL BOWSER, San Jose Mayor SAM LICCARDO, C.J. DAVIS of the Memphis police, DAVID BROWN of the Chicago police, ROBERT TRACY of the Wilmington police, ANTHONY LIMA of the Newark police and AQEELA SHERRILLS of the Community-Based Public Safety Collective. | | A message from Amazon: Watch what happened when Amazon raised their starting wage to $15/hr in 2018. | | | LATEST ON JAN. 6 — Rep. BENNIE THOMPSON (D-Miss.), chair of the select committee investigating the insurrection, said this afternoon on CNN that the committee will meet with Garland “in the not-too-distant future … to kind of set the guideposts for the committee and its work.” Asked whether the committee would demand that House Minority Leader KEVIN MCCARTHY testify under oath, Thompson said: “Well, let me say that no person is above subpoena. We will do whatever is required. And I don’t want to get into specifics, but I can tell you that from our two meetings of the committees so far, there’s been no reluctance to go where the facts lead us.” He also didn’t rule out summoning DONALD TRUMP. — “DOJ reviewed reports of potential misconduct, complicity by officers responding to Capitol riot,” by Kyle Cheney: “The Justice Department has reviewed reports of alleged misconduct by police officers who responded to the Jan. 6 assault on the Capitol and is preparing to share them with defense attorneys in the sprawling case, prosecutors revealed in a Monday filing.” Good Monday afternoon. MAKING IT OFFICIAL — “In symbolic end to war, U.S. general to step down from command in Afghanistan,” by Reuters’ Phil Stewart in Kabul: “[AUSTIN] MILLER will become America’s last four-star general on the ground in Afghanistan in a ceremony in Kabul that will come ahead of a formal end to the military mission there on Aug. 31 … “While the ceremony may offer some sense of closure for U.S. veterans who served in Afghanistan, it’s unclear whether it will succeed in reassuring the Western-backed Afghan government … [T]he Pentagon has engineered a transition that will allow a series of generals to carry on with supporting the Afghan security forces, mostly from overseas.” PAGING MIAMI — Statement from the president this morning: “We stand with the Cuban people and their clarion call for freedom and relief from the tragic grip of the pandemic and from the decades of repression and economic suffering to which they have been subjected by Cuba’s authoritarian regime.” ANNALS OF INFLUENCE — “‘Nowhere to be found’: The internet industry’s D.C. powerhouse recedes,” by Emily Birnbaum: “Silicon Valley’s longtime voice in D.C. is in disarray. The Internet Association has been shedding staff, losing influence on Capitol Hill and shrinking to near-obscurity in media coverage of tech policy debates in Washington … “The declining prominence of IA, a nine-year-old group that used to call itself ‘the unified voice of the internet economy,’ comes as a larger fragmentation is splitting the tech industry’s lobbying efforts into factions … [N]ine of the people who spoke to POLITICO attributed its woes to staff unhappiness with CEO DANE SNOWDEN, who took over in February. … [T]he group has continued to lose personnel, with a fifth of its 24-person staff resigning since the beginning of June.” NOMINEE DRAMA — “Yellen Pick for Top Overseas Job Withdrawn in Staffing Struggle,” by Bloomberg’s Saleha Mohsin: “[T]he White House’s personnel office told economist HEIDI CREBO-REDIKER that she will not be nominated … Crebo-Rediker, a former investment banker, was not given a reason … She is a former Obama-era appointee who worked for then-Secretary of State HILLARY CLINTON and was slated to be nominated as undersecretary of international affairs at the Treasury Department.” — @SalehaMohsin: “Progressive wing of the Democratic party has some influence on Biden’s nominees.” | | | | THE ROAD TO TOKYO 2020 – A TUESDAY CONVERSATION WITH FIRST VICE PRESIDENT OF THE IOC ANITA DEFRANTZ: The Tokyo Olympics kick off July 23, 15 months after being postponed. One problem … Japan's capital city is in a Covid state of emergency and has prohibited fans from attending. With financial pressure to push forward and potential punishment for any athletes involved in protests or demonstrations during the sporting event, these Olympics Games will be unlike any other. Join Global Translations author Ryan Heath for a POLITICO Live conversation with Anita DeFrantz, First Vice President, International Olympic Committee, on what's at stake in the Tokyo Olympics, as a global health crisis, sports and politics all come to a head. REGISTER HERE. | | | | | OBAMA-ERA REVELATION — “E.P.A. Approved Toxic Chemicals for Fracking a Decade Ago, New Files Show,” by NYT’s Hiroko Tabuchi BIG QUESTION FOR THE FALL — “When School Is Voluntary,” by NYT’s David Leonhardt: “Covid-19 is undermining the idea of universal schooling. … Recent polls suggest that as many as one quarter of parents plan to keep their children home. The families who choose to do so will span every demographic group, but they are likely to be disproportionately lower-income, Black and Latino. … The problem with remote school is that children learn vastly less than they do in person.” FACT-CHECKING A CLAIM ABOUT BOEBERT — “Progressive pundits falsely claim Rep. Lauren Boebert got a Paycheck Protection Program loan,” by CNN’s Daniel Dale DO AS I SAY … “Dem Star Nina Turner Blows Pledge Not to Take Lobbyist Money,” by The Daily Beast’s Roger Sollenberger: “[T]he Turner campaign reported a March 31 donation of $1,000 from the director of Amare Public Affairs, a firm Turner founded last September as an offshoot of D.C.-based lobbying shop Mercury Public Affairs. And on Jan. 19, three days after her tweet, Turner accepted $250 from a partner at Mercury, per FEC filings. … “While Turner’s links to Mercury have been a matter of public record, they haven’t been widely reported … And Turner … may have good reasons to keep a low-profile connection. Mercury has gained a great deal of public notoriety over the last few years. The firm had extensive revolving door ties to Trump administration officials, and made millions as a foreign agent for entities associated with geopolitical adversaries such as China, Libya, Russia, and Turkish President RECEP TAYYIP ERDOĞAN’S regime.” WHISPERER-IN-CHIEF — “Listen up: Biden speaks volumes in a whisper to make a point,” by AP’s Darlene Superville: “The White House and communications experts say Biden’s whispering is just this veteran politician’s old-school way of trying to make a connection while emphasizing a point. … The White House defended Biden, saying conservatives who criticize the way he speaks, including his stuttering, do so because they don’t have a better agenda to offer voters.” DIGGING INTO THE WEISSELBERG CASE — “In Trump Organization Prosecution, the Top Charge Carries the Most Uncertainty,” by WSJ’s Jacob Gershman: “The charge—a single count of second-degree grand larceny—stands out in the July 1 indictment … magnifying the pressure on him to cooperate with authorities in a broader fraud probe into Mr. Trump and his business affairs. … “Lawyers who have watched the probe closely say New York prosecutors have built a compelling case against [ALLEN] WEISSELBERG and the company’s accounting practices. But they say the charges—in particular the larceny count—still offer possible, albeit technical and narrow, avenues of defense.” — REALITY CHECK: “The Problem With Prosecutor Punditry,” by Ankush Khardori in N.Y. Mag: “The existence of an investigation — irrespective of how many breaking-news segments it generates — does not mean a prosecution will (or even should) follow. Nor does it mean the walls are inexorably closing in on any given person at any point, no matter how despicable or deserving of justice he may be.” Featuring George Conway, Neal Katyal, Harry Litman, Susan Hennessey and more | | | | SUBSCRIBE TO WOMEN RULE : The Women Rule newsletter explores how women, in Washington and beyond, shape the world, and how the news — from the pandemic to the latest laws coming out of statehouses — impacts women. With expert policy analysis, incisive interviews and revelatory recommendations on what to read and whom to watch, this is a must-read for executives, professionals and rising leaders to understand how what happens today affects the future for women and girls. Subscribe to the Women Rule newsletter today. | | | | | ELITE STRIKE FORCE — “Lawyers seek distance from pro-Trump election suit,” by Josh Gerstein: “The legal reckoning for attorneys who pushed former President Donald Trump’s spurious claims of election fraud advanced Monday as a federal court in Detroit held a hearing on whether to impose sanctions over a suit filed last year seeking to de-certify Joe Biden’s victory in Michigan. “Two of the most prominent attorneys in the pro-Trump camp — Dallas-based SIDNEY POWELL and Atlanta-based L. LIN WOOD — are among the lawyers who brought the unsuccessful suit and whose conduct is under scrutiny by U.S. District Court Judge LINDA PARKER. … As the hearing opened Monday via videoconference, several lawyers sought to minimize their roles in the litigation.” BOOK CLUB — “Inside the Conservative Book Publishing World,” by Slate’s Laura Miller, interviewing Broadside Books’ Eric Nelson: “‘The overall culture has changed to be pro-censorship, with the belief that by limiting our ability to discuss some ideas, it will make those ideas disappear or lose value among the public—which is delusional, and that has been proven over and over.’ “‘Also, there are more truly awful people that have carved out a big audience for themselves than before. These people are famous enough now to have a platform, and so their books look worth doing, financially, but 10 years ago these people would have been taking out ads in the back of the Weekly World News to get people to order their pamphlets on various snake oils.’” IN MEMORIAM — “Edwin Edwards, Louisiana populist who served 4 terms as governor and 8 years in prison, dies at 93,” by The Advocate’s Tyler Bridges: “Former Gov. Edwin W. Edwards, who embodied Louisiana’s populist era in the late 20th century — championing the poor and ushering Black people and women into state government but also facing repeated accusations of corruption before finally being sent to prison for taking bribes — died just before 7 a.m. Monday at his home in Gonzales. … “A Democrat, Edwards dominated the state’s politics for 25 years and even enjoyed a brief and spectacular turn in the national spotlight during the 1991 governor’s race when he faced off against former Ku Klux Klan grand wizard DAVID DUKE … With his bayou charm, razor-sharp mind and quick wit, Edwards personified the state’s ‘Let the Good Times Roll’ motto, proudly proclaimed himself as the first Cajun governor in the 20th century.” — Edwards’ famous line about Duke: “The only thing we have in common is that we both have been wizards beneath the sheets.” SPOTTED: Anthony Fauci power-walking the C&O Canal on Saturday morning, wearing a Nationals shirt and with security in tow. A BIG HIRE — Jamil Anderlini will be the next editor-in-chief of POLITICO Europe. He currently is Asia editor of the Financial Times. Stephen Brown had been editor-in-chief until his sudden death in March. Read the write-up on the appointment here TRUMP ALUMNI — Katie Hazlett is now director of federal government affairs at Commonwealth Strategic Partners. She most recently was principal deputy assistant secretary at the Department of Energy’s Office of Congressional and Intergovernmental Affairs, and is a Rodney Frelinghuysen alum. TRANSITIONS — Tim Bergreen is now a partner in Hogan Lovells’ government relations and public affairs practice. He previously was staff director for the House Intelligence Committee and chief of staff to Chair Adam Schiff (D-Calif.). … Alexis Torres is starting as press secretary for Rep. Joaquin Castro (D-Texas). She previously was district press secretary in Laredo for Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-Texas). … … Alexander Reid is now a partner at BakerHostetler, where he’s a member of the tax practice group and national team leader for the tax-exempt organizations and charitable giving team. He previously was a partner at Morgan, Lewis & Bockius. … Mat Young is joining (ISC)² as VP of global advocacy. He previously was VP of state regulatory and legislative affairs for the American Institute of CPAs. | | | | A message from Amazon:   Amazon employees have seen the difference $15/hr can make. | | | | | | | Follow us on Twitter | | | | Subscribe to the POLITICO Playbook family Playbook | Playbook PM | California Playbook | Florida Playbook | Illinois Playbook | Massachusetts Playbook | New Jersey Playbook | New York Playbook | Brussels Playbook | London Playbook View all our politics and policy newsletters | | Follow us | | | | |  |
