‘Audit’ movement gains steam — even after Arizona

By Ryan Lizza, Tara Palmeri, Rachael Bade and Eugene Daniels

If you’re inclined to believe that facts matter, then the results of Arizona’s long-gestating review of the 2020 election results reaffirmed what was already known: JOE BIDEN won the election and DONALD TRUMP lost.

But in a political environment often divorced from factual reality, the so-called “audit” — we hesitate to use that word even in quotation marks — didn’t need to prove anything to be a success. Its findings were ultimately beside the point: The mere existence of the investigation validated the idea that the most outlandish claims about the election should be taken seriously.

Understood from that angle, it makes sense why “Friday’s flawed report from the Republicans investigating Arizona’s 2020 election isn’t changing minds or dampening enthusiasm among election conspiracy theorists,” as Zach Montellaro and Meridith McGraw report in a sweeping look at the trend. “Instead, the movement keeps gaining traction in the Republican Party.”

— Texas announced its own Arizona-style investigation of the 2020 results in four counties some eight hours after Trump issued a statement requesting one. More from the Texas Tribune

— Wisconsin’s review is well underway. There, “taxpayers are paying former Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice MICHAEL GABLEMAN $680,000 to review the state’s 2020 election using an office created by Assembly Speaker ROBIN VOS,” reports the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

— Pennsylvania “now stands to become ground zero in the movement to ‘audit’ the election,” reports the Philly Inquirer. Earlier this month, Republicans in the state Senate voted to subpoena state records of “all 9 million registered voters’ nonpublic personal information, including the last four digits of their Social Security numbers and driver’s license numbers,” to verify who cast ballots and whether they were properly registered.

— In Michigan, RNC election integrity director JOSH FINDLAY told the Mackinac Republican Leadership Conference on Friday that the GOP will drastically expand its poll watching and election litigation efforts in 2022, invest in better training for its poll-watchers, and file suit earlier and more aggressively. More from the Detroit Free Press

“Republican candidates up and down the ballot in state after state are adopting former President Donald Trump’s phony claims about fraud and stolen elections,” Zach and Meridith write. “And in Arizona, Republicans said … that the report made it necessary to consider more restrictive voting rules in future elections.”

All of which helps to explain why Trump hailed the Arizona audit results — which, to reiterate, showed him losing by a larger margin than the official tally — as a “big win for democracy and a big win for us.”

“Voters are demanding it,” Trump spokesperson LIZ HARRINGTON said. “It’s the number one issue of concern we hear.”

Good Saturday morning, and thanks for reading Playbook. Drop us a line: Rachael Bade, Eugene Daniels, Ryan Lizza, Tara Palmeri.

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WHAT’S THE RUSH? — Right now, the reconciliation package is jerking forward with all the grace of a car with two steering wheels, two accelerators and two brake pedals.

Hill Democrats disagree over its size, its scope, its component parts, over legislative strategy, over what will play well with voters, over whether Congress has done its due diligence. And with two days left before the House’s scheduled BIF vote, they even disagree over whether there’s a sense of urgency.

— Speaker NANCY PELOSI promised House moderates a vote on the bipartisan infrastructure package on Sept. 27. For legislative leverage, she wants a reconciliation vote ready to go around the same time — and that means she needs to have a sense of what a viable package looks like to Senate Dems.

— Cue Sen. JOE MANCHIN (D-W.Va.): “What’s the need? There is no timeline. I want to understand it,” he told our own Burgess Everett and Marianne LeVine.

“The idea of a bicameral deal on reconciliation ahead of Monday’s House vote on the bipartisan infrastructure bill seems unlikely at best,” write Burgess and Marianne. The good news for Dems? “Manchin seems relatively committed to getting something done instead of fighting to stop the reconciliation bill altogether.”

Meanwhile, on the other side of the Hill, Pelosi “has never been in a bind like this before,” Heather Caygle, Sarah Ferris and Nicholas Wu write.

Even a self-described “master legislator” has her limits, and the gauntlet she’s facing at this moment — an unruly caucus that can’t even agree on procedure, let alone policy; a looming government shutdown; a debt ceiling on the verge of being hit; Manchin and Sen. KYRSTEN SINEMA (D-Ariz.) acting as pace cars that set the speed at which the House can move — is not only an unparalleled test of her abilities, but one with make-or-break consequences for the Biden presidency.

She’s moving forward, eager to “project enough momentum on the social spending package so progressives won’t revolt and potentially derail the entire effort.”

— Today, the House Budget Committee will cobble together the various components of the reconciliation package into one bill. Even so, “the markup is largely symbolic; it won’t settle enormous issues such as the price tag or key policy disputes,” as Heather, Sarah and Nicholas report. “Any major changes Democrats want to make will come later.”

GIULIANI TO FOX: LAY OFF MY SON — RUDY GIULIANI, speaking on STEVE BANNON’s podcast Friday, confirmed Playbook’s report that he has been banned from Fox News, calling it “outrageous.” But Giuliani seemed more outraged over the fact that his son ANDREW, who is running for governor of New York, has been frozen out, too.

"There’s no reason to include Andrew,” Giuliani said of Fox News’ ban, before contrasting the network’s treatment of his son to its treatment of the first family. “They do a pretty good separation between HUNTER BIDEN and Joe Biden.”

9 THINGS WE READ THAT STUCK WITH US:

— Schools without mask requirements were 3.5 times more likely to experience a Covid-19 outbreak than schools with them, according to new CDC data reported on by WaPo.

— Andrew Sullivan’s wide-angle look on the new BOB WOODWARD-ROBERT COSTA book, ROBERT KAGAN’s much-discussed essay and the historical echoes of Trumpism.

— Sex-positive feminism is falling out of fashion with a new generation of young women, writes NYT’s Michelle Goldberg.

— Good news: The holidays could look a lot like pre-Covid times, according to a consortium of researchers advising the CDC, reports NPR. (When have pandemic experts ever been wrong?)

— Even after ANGELA MERKEL’s 16-year run as chancellor, it still isn’t easy to be a woman in German politics, as Emily Schultheis writes for POLITICO Magazine on the eve of the country’s elections.

— Democrats are feeling the pressure in Virginia’s close gubernatorial race, AP reports.

— After a list of cellphone numbers for backers of the secretive, conservative Council for National Policy leaked, Insider’s Kimberly Leonard, Eliza Relman and Hannah Beckler called up members to get a read on 2024. The takeaway: Not everybody is all in on Trump.

— Wildfires in the West are intensifying later in the night than they used to, and climate change may be the culprit, per WaPo.

— New York Gov. KATHY HOCHUL has reportedly begun a purge of Cuomo-era officials from the state government, per the N.Y. Post.

BIDEN’S SATURDAY — The president has nothing on his public schedule.

INTRODUCING CONGRESS MINUTES: Need to follow the action on Capitol Hill blow-by-blow? Check out Minutes, POLITICO’s new platform that delivers the latest exclusives, twists and much more in real time. Get it on your desktop or download the POLITICO mobile app for iOS or Android. GET A FIRST LOOK AT CONGRESS MINUTES HERE.

PHOTO OF THE DAY: The Dixie Fire is getting close to being fully contained, but it’s burned almost 1 million acres, including this swath of Greenville, Calif. | Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

THE WHITE HOUSE

BOOSTER ACCESSIBILITY — The president on Friday “urged people who are not yet eligible for coronavirus booster shots to be patient, while suggesting eligibility could expand rapidly,” NYT’s Dan Levin, Apoorva Mandavilli and Benjamin Mueller report.

NOT INTERFERING — WaPo’s Amy Wang, Tom Hamburger and Jacqueline Alemany report that “Biden does not plan to invoke executive privilege to block information Congress is seeking about former president Donald Trump or his aides regarding the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol … a move that could provide answers to some of the remaining questions surrounding the insurrection.”

FAMILY TIES — Indian PM NARENDRA MODI confirmed to Biden on Friday that he had family ties to India, something that first came to light when Biden was VP, AP’s Aamer Madhani reports. Modi “told the president that he had ‘hunted’ for documents that would shed light on the president’s Mumbai connection, and brought his findings with him.”

CONGRESS

ISLANDS IN THE NORD STREAM — The Senate muscled past roadblocks from Sen. TED CRUZ (R-Texas) late Thursday night to push forward several State Department nominations, with final votes coming as soon as next week, Roll Call’s Rachel Oswald reports. The nominees weren’t controversial, but Cruz had put holds on many of them in protest of the Biden administration’s leniency on the Nord Stream 2 pipeline.

MOVING IN SOLIDARITY — Democratic Massachusetts Sens. ED MARKEY and ELIZABETH WARREN didn’t participate in the Globe Summit 2021 hosted by The Boston Globe this week, despite being slated to — an effort to show support for the newspaper’s union, which has been “in a yearslong dispute over a new labor contract,” NYT’s Marc Tracy reports.

TV SUNDAY — Rep. LIZ CHENEY (R-Wyo.) will be on “60 Minutes” this weekend, interviewed by LESLEY STAHL.

BEYOND THE BELTWAY

THE NEXT ABORTION FRONT — BuzzFeed’s Zoe Tillman and Kadia Goba dive into what’s happening with state-level efforts to ban abortions, outside of the scope of SCOTUS: “A fight over Georgia’s six-week ban shows what state-level anti-abortion efforts could look like depending on whatever the Supreme Court does next.”

AT THE SOUTHERN BORDER — The Biden administration said Friday “it has finished clearing out the chaotic border camp in Del Rio, Texas, where images of U.S. agents on horseback pursuing migrants subjected the president to withering criticism this week,” WaPo’s Felicia Sonmez and Nick Miroff report.

AMERICA AND THE WORLD

PULLOUT FALLOUT — “The task of accommodating 10,000 Afghan refugees, including approximately 2,000 pregnant women, is putting facilities at Ramstein airbase in Germany under tremendous strain as nighttime temperatures drop toward freezing and what was meant to be a 10-day temporary stay is stretching into weeks, with one US source familiar with the situation describing it as becoming ‘dire,’” CNN’s Oren Liebermann and Ellie Kaufman report.

HARPING ON FRANCE’S INSECURITIES — AP’s Matthew Lee and Angela Charltonhe report that the “AUKUS agreement scuttled a multibillion-dollar submarine deal that France had with Australia, but, more alarmingly for the French, pointedly ignored them, reinforcing a sense of insecurity that has haunted Paris since the end of World War II. France has long bristled at what it sees as Anglo-Saxon arrogance on the global stage and has not been shy about rallying resistance to perceptions of British- and German-speaking dominance in matters ranging from commerce to conflict.”

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JAN. 6 AND ITS AFTERMATH

KNOWING THE INSURRECTIONISTS — Among the Proud Boys who stormed the Capitol was an FBI informant who texted his handler updates in real time, NYT’s Alan Feuer and Adam Goldman report. Potentially complicating feds’ conspiracy charges against the Proud Boys, they write, “[i]n the informant’s version of events, the Proud Boys, famous for their street fights, were largely following a pro-Trump mob consumed by a herd mentality rather than carrying out any type of preplanned attack.” It also reveals greater law enforcement visibility into the insurrection than was previously known.

TRUMP CARDS

THE INVESTIGATIONS — “A New York judge has ordered the Trump Organization to submit a report next week to the New York Attorney General in an effort to resolve a long-running dispute over subpoenas for records, according to an unsealed order,” CNN’s Kara Scannell reports.

CLICKER — “The nation’s cartoonists on the week in politics,” edited by Matt Wuerker — 17 funnies

GREAT WEEKEND READS, curated by Ryan Lizza:

— “American Gentry,” by Patrick Wyman in The Atlantic: “The jet-setting cosmopolitans of popular imagination exist, but they are far outnumbered by a less exalted and less discussed elite group, one that sits at the pinnacle of America’s local hierarchies.”

— “Can Democrats Win Back the White Working Class?” by Alan Abramowitz for Sabato’s Crystal Ball: “Appealing to the economic interests of white non-college voters may not be enough for Democrats to win back their support.”

— “The Cultural Left Puts a Ceiling on Democratic Support,” by Ruy Teixeira on his Substack, The Liberal Patriot: “Democrats Don’t Like to Admit It, But It’s Still True.”

— “To Be a Field of Poppies,” by Lisa Wells in Harper’s: “The elegant science of turning cadavers into compost.”

— “The Energy Future Needs Cleaner Batteries,” by Drake Bennett for Bloomberg Green: “To deal with climate change and power the cars of tomorrow, we’ll have to solve the cobalt problem.”

— “The Future of Nature Therapy Is Psychedelic,” by Outside magazine’s David Kushner: “Oregon voters have opened the door to treating mental illness with substances like ketamine and psilocybin. In a peek at the future, our seeker attends a backwoods retreat where patients get help from a powerful combination of drugs and the outdoors.”

— “What Prison, Death, and Relapse Taught Me About the Power of Dressing Well,” GQ: “Nico Walker spent nine years in custody for robbing banks. When he got out, he started living with intention—and wearing beautiful suits.”

— From the archives: “The Quiet German,” by The New Yorker’s George Packer, Nov. 24, 2014: “The astonishing rise of Angela Merkel, the most powerful woman in the world.”

BECOME A GLOBAL INSIDER: The world is more connected than ever. It has never been more essential to identify, unpack and analyze important news, trends and decisions shaping our future — and we’ve got you covered! Every Monday, Wednesday and Friday, Global Insider author Ryan Heath navigates the global news maze and connects you to power players and events changing our world. Don’t miss out on this influential global community. Subscribe now.

Jeb Bush locked his keys in his car in Biddeford, Maine, and had to borrow the store phone at a CVS to call for help.

Debbie Dingell isn’t backing down after her confrontation with Marjorie Taylor Greene.

The 1972 Nixon campaign headquarters has been resurrected at 1701 Pennsylvania Ave. NW for the filming of HBO’s forthcoming “White House Plumbers.”

SPOTTED: Rep. Frank Pallone (D-N.J.) at the Biden Welcome Center in Newark, Del.

MEDIA MOVE — Leigh Munsil will be the next editor-in-chief of the San Antonio Report. She currently is an editor at CNN Politics and is a POLITICO alum. Announcement

TRANSITIONS — The AFL-CIO is announcing several changes to its executive staff: Chris Neff has moved up to chief of staff, Julie Greene Collier is returning as deputy chief of staff, Isaac Gobern will be assistant to the president, and John Paul Smith will be executive assistant to the secretary-treasurer.

WEDDINGS — Leslie Arffa and Samir Doshi, via NYT : “Ms. Arffa, 29, who recently completed a clerkship with Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. on the Supreme Court, will start as a litigation associate in the fall at the Washington office of Sullivan & Cromwell. Mr. Doshi, 30 … serves as a Bristow Fellow at the office of the solicitor general in the U.S. Justice Department in Washington. … They were married Sept. 4 at the Beach Plum Inn in Chilmark, Mass.”

— Matthew Sipe and Ryan Watzel, via NYT: “Mr. Sipe, 31, is an assistant professor of law at the University of Baltimore School of Law. … Mr. Watzel, 34, is an attorney adviser in the Office of Legal Counsel at the Justice Department … The two were married Sept. 4 at the American Institute of Architects in Washington.”

HAPPY BIRTHDAY: Reps. Mario Díaz-Balart (R-Fla.) (6-0), Doris Matsui (D-Calif.), Gregory Meeks (D-N.Y.) and Marilyn Strickland (D-Wash.) … Chamber of Commerce’s Jack Howard … former Defense Secretary Robert Gates … Barbara Walters (92) ... NPR’s Tamara Keith ... HuffPost’s Ryan Reilly … April Greener of Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s office … Tim Hogan … Gary Carpentier … POLITICO’s Bob King and Lesley Clark … Bloomberg’s John Lauinger … George Hornedo … NRCC’s Sloane Carlough … Shivonne Foster Jones … Jeff Roe of Axiom Strategies … Kiley Smith … Chrissy Harbin … Washington Examiner’s Madeline Fry Schultz … Missy Owens of Coca-Cola … Kirsten West of Rep. Lauren Underwood’s (D-Ill.) office … Mallory Ward ... Carmiel Arbit ... Dave Peluso … The Messina Group’s Jack Davis … Arnold & Porter’s Mickayla Stogsdill … Dori Rutherford … Josh Tyrangiel … Rita Norton of AmerisourceBergen … Lila Shapiro … Emily Threadgill … Brian Beutler … Ed Newberry of Squire Patton Boggs … John Elias … Vivyan Tran … Marco De León ... former Rep. Jerry Costello (D-Ill.) … Dena Kozanas … New York Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie … Salesforce’s Marc Benioff

THE SHOWS (Full Sunday show listings here):

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