Playbook PM: Remembrances pour in for WaPo’s Fred Hiatt

From: POLITICO Playbook - Monday Dec 06,2021 06:41 pm
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Playbook PM

By Ryan Lizza and Garrett Ross

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IN MEMORIAM — FRED HIATT, a onetime foreign correspondent who in 2000 became The Washington Post’s editorial page editor and greatly expanded the global reach of the newspaper’s opinion writers in the era of 9/11, the election of BARACK OBAMA and the destabilizing presidency of DONALD TRUMP, died Dec. 6 at a hospital in New York City. He was 66. …

“Mr. Hiatt was one of Washington’s most authoritative and influential opinion-makers. For two decades, he either wrote or edited nearly every unsigned editorial published by The Post — more than 1,000 a year — and edited the opinion columns published on the paper’s op-ed page and website. He also wrote a column and was a three-time finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in editorial writing.” The full obituary, via WaPo’s Matt Schudel

A few remembrances pouring in on social media from the many journalists he mentored and influenced:

Dana Milbank: “We at @PostOpinions and @washingtonpost are reeling. Fred Hiatt, our beloved friend, mentor, conscience and leader, is gone. There never has lived a more decent man.”

Karen Attiah: “I'm shaking in shock as I type this...Fred Hiatt hired me in 2014 when I had little experience as a journalist. Since then, he mentored and guided me and so many others during my time at @PostOpinions. He was brilliant, and above all, kind. This is utterly devastating.”

Catherine Rampell: “Fred Hiatt was a prince of a man. A champion of human rights, a kind friend and beloved mentor, a man who deployed his wit and brilliance to nudge all those around him toward a better, more humane, more democratic world. I’m devastated by his loss.”

Max Boot: “I am saddened and devastated by this awful news. [Fred Hiatt] was one of the finest people I've ever known--and one of the most stalwart champions of freedom. He was a true mensch who inspired all of his colleagues. May his memory be a blessing.”

Jane Mayer: “Heartbreaking to lose Fred Hiatt today. He was a lifelong friend, colleague, and leading journalist of my generation. As the editorial page editor at the Washington Post he championed human rights, democracy and decency. He will be very deeply missed by all who knew him.”

Jonathan Capehart: “With one out-of-the-blue phone call in 2007, Fred Hiatt changed my life. He was kind, exacting, caring and brilliant. Losing Fred is beyond devastating.”

ABOUT THAT DEADLINE — In a letter to his Senate colleagues today, Majority Leader CHUCK SCHUMER reiterated his optimistic timeline for Senate Democrats to finish the Build Back Better bill.

Schumer said that “our goal in the Senate is to pass the legislation before Christmas and get it to the president’s desk.” The letter

But Christmas Eve is 18 days away and there are good reasons to believe that Dems will blow that deadline:

1) Four of the 12 Senate committees drafting the bill still haven’t submitted final text to the Parliamentarian, which needs to consider whether any provisions violate the Byrd rule; to the Congressional Budget Office, which needs to score the legislation; and to Senate Republicans, who will be sure to scrub it for political landmines.

2) This week the Senate will be tied up with Biden nominations and the continuing negotiations over the NDAA, which Schumer said was close to “a final conference agreement.” But Schumer also noted that neither of those priorities will be simple: “Due to the time it may take to process those items in the Senate without cooperation, Senators should prepare for potential weekend votes.”

3) The death of BOB DOLE, who will lay in state at the U.S. Capitol Rotunda this week, could also cause some legislative delay.

4) The debt ceiling needs to be addressed by Dec. 15.

5) Even if BBB passes the Senate before Christmas, it will still have to return to the House for a vote, assuming, as everyone involved does, that the Senate doesn’t pass the House version without any changes.

JASON FURMAN, a top economist in the Obama White House, made a good point to our colleague Laura Barrón-López regarding why other priorities keep leapfrogging in front of the reconciliation bill:

“BBB does have a problem that the debt limit doesn't have, and that appropriations didn't have, which is it doesn't actually have a forcing event. … [U]nfortunately, with Congress, things that don't have to happen often don't happen.”

Also notable, via Laura: the White House is not yet imposing a deadline for BBB and many Democrats don’t want Biden to impose one.

Sen. TIM KAINE (D-Va.) said a deadline could backfire in negotiations with Sens. JOE MANCHIN (D-W.Va.) and KYRSTEN SINEMA (D-Ariz.): “I don't know that announcing a public deadline would really get [the White House] anything and it might cause some people to get their hackles up.”

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Good Monday afternoon.

CAPITOL COOKIE CRISIS, via Roll Call’s Chris Cioffi (@ReporterCioffi ): “Sources: The Gingerbread replica of the Capitol, created and set to be delivered today to its exhibition location was stymied by a logistical challenge — width. The Capitol, on its cart, was too wide to fit through the one of the doors between Longworth and the Capitol.” Video, via @billclarkphotos The full journey

THE WHITE HOUSE

PUTIN PREVIEW — Ahead of his Tuesday call with Russian President VLADIMIR PUTIN, Biden is reportedly considering a fresh round of sanctions — which one administration official called a “pretty damn aggressive package” — aimed at deterring him from invading Ukraine. “They include new actions against members of Putin’s inner circle and on Russian energy producers, and one potential ‘nuclear option’ -- disconnecting Russia from the SWIFT international payment system used by banks around the world,” CNN’s Kevin Liptak and Natasha Bertrand report . “The officials said final decisions hadn't been made on whether and when to apply the new sanctions, and said the Biden administration is currently in talks with European partners — many of whom have closer economic relationships to Russia — in the hopes of coordinating action.”

Meanwhile, Putin is coming into Tuesday’s call with one overarching demand, per WaPo’s Isabelle Khurshudyan in Moscow: “The Kremlin has said it wants written guarantees from the Americans and its allies in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization that the military alliance will not expand east — both in terms of membership and Western forces.”

 

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CONGRESS

MEAN TWEETS, CONGRESS EDITION — Republicans are increasingly using Biden nominees’ Twitter accounts against them in an effort to muck up the confirmation process and derail the administration’s tech and telecom agenda, John Hendel reports. Texas Sen. TED CRUZ “and other Republicans say their big concern is the temperaments of nominees who would serve at two powerful independent agencies, the Federal Communications Commission and the Federal Trade Commission. Hence their outcry about tweets in which FCC nominee GIGI SOHN called Fox News ‘dangerous to our democracy’ while FTC pick ALVARO BEDOYA labeled Immigration and Customs Enforcement an ‘out-of-control domestic surveillance agency.’”

TRUMP CARDS

BEHIND THE SCENES — Trump chose SIDNEY POWELL to help lead his efforts to overturn the 2020 election results. The lawyer’s nonprofit, Defending the Republic, raised a lot of money from donors who were sympathetic to her work. But inside the organization, it was a different story, WaPo’s Emma Brown, Rosalind Helderman, Isaac Stanley-Becker and Josh Dawsey report . “On April 9, many members of the staff and board resigned, documents show. Among those who departed after just days on the job was Chief Financial Officer ROBERT WEAVER, who in a memo at the time wrote that he had “no way of knowing the true financial position” of Defending the Republic because some of its bank accounts were off limits even to him.

“Records reviewed by The Washington Post show that Defending the Republic raised more than $14 million, a sum that reveals the reach and resonance of one of the most visible efforts to fundraise using baseless claims about the 2020 election. Previously unreported records also detail acrimony between Powell and her top lieutenants over how the money — now a focus of inquiries by federal prosecutors and Congress — was being handled. The split has left Powell, who once had Trump’s ear, isolated from other key figures in the election-denier movement. Even so, as head of Defending the Republic, she controlled $9 million as recently as this summer, according to an audited financial statement from the group.”

SPAC ATTACK — The special purpose acquisition company behind Trump’s social media play is now the subject of a federal investigation, Katy O’Donnell reports.

HEADS UP — A federal judge denied a gambit by former Trump officials SEAN SPICER and RUSS VOUGHT to return to the board of the U.S. Naval Academy after Biden removed them, Bloomberg’s Erik Larson reports. “U.S. District Judge DABNEY FRIEDRICH in Washington denied the motion by Spicer and Vought for a preliminary injunction that would have forced Biden to return them to the board while the lawsuit proceeds. The former Trump administration officials sued in September after they were terminated.”

 

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POLICY CORNER

IMMIGRATION FILES — The Trump administration’s family separation policy has become a headache for the federal government as it tries to figure out what it owes the families. Then in October, it got more difficult. “News reports citing anonymous officials revealed that the Biden administration was negotiating settlements that could provide up to $450,000 per person for the migrant parents and children,” NYT’s Jeremy Peters and Miriam Jordan write . “There is still no agreement, and negotiations are expected to continue into next year, those involved in the talks said. It is also unclear how many people could be eligible for such a payment if a settlement is reached. Fewer than 1,000 of the 5,500 families affected have filed a tort claim, according to lawyers for the migrants.”

FED UP — High inflation and sinking unemployment numbers are causing JEROME POWELL to shake things up at the Fed. “Just four weeks ago, the Federal Reserve set in motion carefully telegraphed plans to gradually wind down a bond-buying stimulus program by June. Officials are making plans to accelerate the process at their policy meeting next week, ending it by March instead,” WSJ’s Nick Timiraos writes. “The abrupt shift opens the door to the Fed raising interest rates next spring rather than later in the year to curb inflation, marking a significant policy pivot by Chairman Jerome Powell shortly after President Biden offered him a second four-year term leading the central bank.”

ALL POLITICS

POLITICAL PARTY FOUL — Amid the discussion about the erosion of Latino support for Dems, a new poll by a Dem firm specializing in Latino outreach finds that the party’s usage of the term “LatinX” is actually counterproductive and offends a large chunk of voters, Marc Caputo and Sabrina Rodríguez report. “At a time when Republicans appear to be making inroads among Latino voters, the survey results raise questions about how effectively the party is communicating with them, according to pollster FERNAND AMANDI and other Democrats and Latino vote experts.” The poll

TRUMPED UP — A Trump-linked group in Wisconsin is working on a new ballot measure that would change how elections are run in the state — and go over the head of the Democratic governor, AP’s Scott Bauer And Nicholas Riccardi write in Madison. “The backing for a possible route around Gov. TONY EVERS was revealed during a private meeting on elections hosted by the American Legislative Exchange Council, which advocates conservative policies to state lawmakers in voting and other areas. Trump’s former White House spokesman HOGAN GIDLEY told attendees that his new organization, the Center for Election Integrity, was working with elected officials and business leaders in Wisconsin ‘to figure out the best path’ around Evers, who has said he will block GOP-backed election measures.”

AMERICA AND THE WORLD

KEEPING ENEMIES CLOSER — The Biden administration is likely going to have to rely on two of its biggest rivals — Russia and China — to become allies in order to bring Iran back to the 2015 nuclear deal, WSJ’s Laurence Norman and Brian Spegele write.

PLAYBOOKERS

MEDIA MOVE — Neil Irwin is joining Axios as chief economics correspondent. He currently is a senior economics correspondent at the NYT.

TRANSITION — Phil Hancock is now director of government relations for Norfolk Southern. He previously was a legislative assistant for Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.).

WELCOME TO THE WORLD — Heather Browning, managing director of philanthropy at the Competitive Enterprise Institute, and Eric Wallace, a naval aviator, welcomed Zoey Monroe Wallace on Thursday. She came in at 7 lbs, 9.3 ounces and 20.5 inches long. Pic Another pic

 

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