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Presented by Blue Cross Blue Shield Association: POLITICO's must-read briefing on what's driving the afternoon in Washington. | | | | | |  | | By Rachael Bade and Garrett Ross | | | BREAKING — A federal judge today set a July 18 date for STEVE BANNON’s trial for contempt of Congress, Kyle Cheney reports. The date essentially splits the difference between the Justice Department’s request for April 15 and Bannon’s ask for Oct. 22. — What this means for the Jan. 6 committee: This is a significant step backward. Allies of former President DONALD TRUMP have shown — once again — that they can effectively use the courts to evade accountability and slow down investigations. — What this means for Democrats: They had hoped the panel would wrap up its work this spring, leaving the party plenty of time before the midterms to pivot its focus to kitchen-table issues that resonate with voters. This new trial date could make that difficult. Now, the party has a choice not unlike what it faced in the first and second Trump impeachments: do they fight for evidence to the bitter end, or do they wind down their probe without talking to these critical people? — What this means for other would-be witnesses: For those who were willing to cooperate, this doesn’t change much. But for those who hoped to stonewall the committee, this is welcome news: It suggests that the process will be drawn out while the committee is pulled between its desire to to wrap up its work well before a possible GOP House takeover, and its mandate to complete a thorough investigation. Speaking of which … MEADOWS PULLS BACK — Last week, we and many others predicted that MARK MEADOWS’ offer to “cooperate” with the Jan. 6 select committee would fall through, putting the panel back at Square One in deciding whether to take the former Trump White House chief of staff to court. That prediction proved right. The deal is off, and “Meadows and his attorney GEORGE TERWILLIGER notified the committee Tuesday morning, after the senior Trump administration official could not come to terms with lawmakers on an arrangement to work with them,” as Fox News’ Ronn Blitzer and Andrew Murray were the first to report. A few thoughts about this: 1) Terwilliger’s letter to the panel was crafted with an eye toward court proceedings. He writes that Meadows tried to work with the panel “in good faith” — including by handing over thousands of documents — but that the panel itself was out of bounds in suggesting they’d push Meadows to divulge what he and Trump view as privileged information. “We have made efforts over many weeks to reach an accommodation with the committee,” Terwilliger told Fox News. Why is he saying that? To prevail in court, Terwilliger needs to show that Meadows attempted to make reasonable accommodations for the panel, and that what they’re asking is unreasonable. We’ll see what a federal judge has to say about that — especially as many legal observers think an ex-president’s assertion of “privilege” is B.S. if the current administration waives it. 2) The ball is back in the Jan. 6 committee’s court. The panel once again is facing a choice: Do they hold Meadows in contempt, or move on in their probe without hearing from him? Expect every single member of the committee to squawk about Meadows’ decision. Their most recent argument is that he waived any claim of privilege by discussing Jan. 6 in his tell-all book, which comes out today. If this was privileged information, the argument goes, how is he able to cash in on some of it and talk about some interactions with Trump that day, while refusing to tell investigators about others ? It’s a fair question. But that doesn’t change the reality that the committee will need to go to court if they want to force Meadows’ testimony. 3) While we expected this to happen eventually, Meadows’ reversal was quicker than we’d imagined. We thought perhaps he would sit down with the panel but stop cooperating once their questions moved into uncomfortable territory. We have to ask: How much of today’s announcement is driven by the fact that Trump is reportedly getting annoyed with Meadows’ revelations in his book, and displeasure at Meadows’ “cooperation” with the panel? This isn’t the last you’ll hear about all this: Meadows will be a guest on “Hannity” tonight, according to Fox News. Good Tuesday afternoon. | | A message from Blue Cross Blue Shield Association: Ending the maternal health crisis in the United States requires action from all of us. That’s why Blue Cross and Blue Shield companies support the Momnibus package. Congress: Passing the Momnibus will help save lives and fight maternal health inequities across the country. | | | TODAY’S TOP READ — POLITICO Magazine today is launching “The Next Great Migration,” a wide-spanning series that will explore why Black Americans are leaving major cities in numbers reminiscent of the Great Migration of the 20th century and how this shift will reshape political power for decades. — Here’s Brakkton Booker setting the table and the stakes: “For decades, American cities — especially in the north — have stood as the key centers of Black political power, not to mention Black entrepreneurship, homeownership and economic clout. “But the 2020 census crystallized a picture of a new landscape, with African Americans departing major cities, some for warmer locales, others for smaller cities, others to the ever-expanding suburbs where there is generally less crime and better schools. And as they move, political power changes with them. “How stark is the change? According to census data compiled by POLITICO, nine of the 10 American cities with the largest Black populations saw steep declines among African Americans over the two previous decades. “This includes cities long considered ‘Black Meccas,’ places where African Americans profoundly shaped American politics, policy and culture: Chicago, New York and Washington. Other places like Philadelphia and New Orleans are also seeing Black population dips. This marks a reversal of sorts of the original Great Migration, in which cities in the Northeast and Midwest attracted Black Americans fleeing the rural Jim Crow South, starting roughly a century ago.” | 
Ming Li/POLITICO | The series will run through 2022, tapping into key cities across the country using data, analysis and on-the-ground reporting. The first installment is live today. — Shia Kapos, Juan Perez Jr., Renuka Rayasam and Ming Li dive into the Windy City: “The impact on Chicago has been stark, not only in the feeling and identities of neighborhoods like Englewood, but in the power politics of the nation’s third-largest city. Latino residents are beginning to replace Black residents, forcing a realignment in Chicago’s political scene — and a return of the bare-knuckle tribal fights that made Chicago’s City Hall legendary.” THE WHITE HOUSE THE PUTIN CALL — President JOE BIDEN and Russian President VLADIMIR PUTIN wrapped up their video call at 12:08 p.m., per the White House, ending the chat at just over two hours. CBS’ Ed O’Keefe shares a 24-second clip of the two leaders greeting each other, via Russian state TV … White House photo from the Situation Room POSTGAME REPORT — The White House also said that Biden will talk today with French President EMMANUEL MACRON, German Chancellor ANGELA MERKEL, Italian PM MARIO DRAGHI and U.K. PM BORIS JOHNSON. And national security adviser JAKE SULLIVAN will now join press secretary JEN PSAKI’s 2 p.m. briefing. THE UKRAINE BACKUP PLAN — The Biden administration is “exploring options for a potential evacuation of U.S. citizens from Ukraine if Russia were to invade the country and create a dire security situation,” sources tell CNN’s Natasha Bertrand, Katie Bo Lillis, Jim Sciutto and Kylie Atwood . “The contingency planning is being led by the Pentagon, the sources said, and comes as the administration briefs Congress on how the U.S. is preparing. In a ‘gloomy’ briefing to senators by senior State Department official VICTORIA NULAND on Monday night, Nuland outlined the tough sanctions package being prepared by the administration in response to a potential Russian attack, but acknowledged that the U.S.' options to deter an invasion are fairly limited, a person familiar with the briefing said.” | | | | 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. | | | | | CONGRESS DEAL OR NO DEAL? — Senate Minority Leader MITCH MCCONNELL has begun pitching skeptical Republicans on opening up an easier path for Democrats to raise the debt ceiling, Burgess Everett and Heather Caygle report. — And the plan seems to be working, per Burgess: “Looks like Senate Republicans hopping on board with McConnell’s plan to allow Dems to raise debt ceiling. [Sens. SHELLEY MOORE] CAPITO, [ROY] BLUNT, [JOHN] THUNE, [ROGER] WICKER all warm on it (will need 10 Republicans to set the process up).” HOT DOC — Our colleague Connor O’Brien scooped the final text of the National Defense Authorization Act. — The takeaway: The bill includes “significant overhauls to the military justice system and green lights more funding for efforts to deter Russia and China.” — The topline numbers: “The bill authorizes a total of $768 billion for national defense programs. That includes $740 billion for the Pentagon, as lawmakers locked in a $25 billion increase to President Joe Biden's first defense budget request.” HEADS UP — Virginia Gov.-elect GLENN YOUNGKIN is having lunch with Senate Republicans at the NRSC today, per Marianne LeVine and Burgess Everett. SIGNED, SEALED, DELIVERED — Rep. JAMES COMER (R-Ky.) is standing firm behind Postmaster General LOUIS DEJOY, warning Dems that any attempt to oust DeJoy “could peel his support away from a postal overhaul bill that’s a high priority for Democrats as soon as their party-line social spending bill clears Congress,” Olivia Beavers, Hailey Fuchs and Nicholas Wu report. “He's come out and basically implied that he's gonna get rid of Louis DeJoy,” Comer said of Biden in an interview. “That creates a problem now with Republicans on this bill ... this is another thing that Joe Biden's gonna screw up.” KNOWING PETER MEIJER — The Atlantic’s Tim Alberta writes about Michigan Rep. PETER MEIJER, who voted to impeach Trump and certify the 2020 election for Biden — two moves that in many ways put him at odds with much of the Republican Party. The story is full of new details about the Jan. 6 Capitol attack and the fallout for Meijer and others. Two anecdotes that stuck out to us: — “Meijer remembers straining to hear NANCY PELOSI giving a speech through a thick mask. He remembers raiding a refrigerator in the office of KEVIN BRADY, the ranking Republican on the [Ways and Means] committee, and drinking a beer to pass the time. And he remembers walking into a small side room and encountering two House Republican colleagues. ‘They were discussing the Twenty-Fifth Amendment — talking about phone calls they made to the White House, encouraging officials to invoke the Twenty-Fifth Amendment,’ Meijer says. ‘Neither of them voted for impeachment a week later.’” — “On the House floor, moments before the vote, Meijer approached a member who appeared on the verge of a breakdown. He asked his new colleague if he was okay. The member responded that he was not; that no matter his belief in the legitimacy of the election, he could no longer vote to certify the results, because he feared for his family’s safety. ‘Remember, this wasn’t a hypothetical. You were casting that vote after seeing with your own two eyes what some of these people are capable of,’ Meijer says. ‘If they’re willing to come after you inside the U.S. Capitol, what will they do when you’re at home with your kids?’” TRUMP CARDS ALMOST A KAVA-NO — According to Meadows’ new book, Trump apparently almost withdrew BRETT KAVANAUGH’s nomination to the Supreme Court in the midst of his confirmation hearings. Why? “It wasn’t because of accusations that Kavanaugh had sexually assaulted CHRISTINE BLASEY FORD while in high school, but because he’d professed that he ‘liked beer’ during his hearings and was, in Trump’s estimation, being too apologetic,” Meridith McGraw writes. “Meadows writes that Trump, a teetotaler who was ‘extremely put off’ by Kavanaugh’s professed affection for suds, proposed the idea of dropping Kavanaugh during a flight on Air Force One while Meadows was still a sitting congressman.” | | | | STEP INSIDE THE WEST WING: What's really happening in West Wing offices? Find out who's up, who's down, and who really has the president’s ear in our West Wing Playbook newsletter, the insider's guide to the Biden White House and Cabinet. For buzzy nuggets and details that you won't find anywhere else, subscribe today. | | | | | BEYOND THE BELTWAY ABORTION ON THE DOCKET — A new POLITICO/Morning Consult poll shows that most voters want the Supreme Court to leave Roe v. Wade in place, but the issue isn't a key motivator heading into the midterm elections, Alice Miranda Ollstein reports. “42 percent of respondents to the poll said they would vote for a candidate who doesn't align with their views on abortion, compared to 32 percent who said that the candidate’s stance will determine their vote. Another 26 percent were unsure or had no opinion on the matter. … 45 percent said Roe should not be overturned, compared to 24 percent who said it should be.” — Meanwhile, if the Supreme Court does in fact wipe out Roe, “some fear that it could undermine other precedent-setting cases, including civil rights and LGBTQ protections,” AP’s Lindsay Whitehurst writes. THE ECONOMY SAVINGS DRYING UP — Thanks to cash infusions from the government, many Americans were able to build up “excess savings” to help them through the pandemic. But now, for many working- and middle-class Americans, those funds are starting to dwindle — and “could be exhausted as soon as early next year,” NYT’s Talmon Joseph Smith writes. WAGES BEEFING UP — Companies throughout the U.S. are “setting aside an average 3.9% of total payroll for wage increases next year, the most since 2008,” WSJ’s David Harrison reports. POLICY CORNER GOING BACK TO CALI — Top Biden administration officials — including Homeland Security Secretary ALEJANDRO MAYORKAS, Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency Director JEN EASTERLY, National Cyber Director CHRIS INGLIS — ventured out to Silicon Valley on Monday to meet with tech and cybersecurity companies in an effort to beef up the country’s protection against hackers, Eric Geller scoops. AMERICA AND THE WORLD FOR YOUR RADAR — “France detained on Tuesday a Saudi man accused of playing a role in the killing of JAMAL KHASHOGGI, a Saudi journalist who was dismembered and killed in Istanbul three years ago, a French police source said,” WaPo’s Rick Noack and Sarah Dadouch report in Paris. “The detention marks the first international arrest for the grisly murder that made Saudi Arabia a global pariah for years.” ON THE EDGE OF DEMOCRACY — As Biden prepares to host his virtual summit for democracy this week, China is left on the outside looking in — but its leaders still want a seat at the table, despite the fact that “China is one of the least democratic countries in the world, sitting near the bottom of lists ranking political and personal freedoms,” NYT’s Keith Bradsher and Steven Lee Myers write in Beijing . “Even so, the government is banking on its message finding an audience in some countries disillusioned by liberal democracy or by American-led criticism — whether in Latin America, Africa or Asia, including in China itself.” MEDIAWATCH POLL POSITION — For the 2022 midterms, the Wall Street Journal is taking a new approach to its polling, Axios’ Sara Fischer reports. The Journal is abandoning its three-decade polling partnership with NBC News. It’s “launching a new polling operation without media partners,” and contracting the work to two firms — one led by JOHN ANZALONE, the lead pollster for Biden's 2020 campaign, and one led by TONY FABRIZIO, the lead pollster for former Trump's 2016 and 2020 efforts. PLAYBOOKERS SPOTTED: Henry Kissinger, 98, breakfasting at the Hay-Adams. Kissinger indulged guests with selfies, including Sade Baderinwa, anchor of WABC-TV's Eyewitness News in New York, who is in town to interview first lady Jill Biden. MEDIA MOVES — Yamiche Alcindor is joining NBC as a Washington correspondent. She currently is a White House correspondent for PBS NewsHour. More from Variety … James Rosen is joining Newsmax as chief White House correspondent. He previously was a correspondent for Sinclair. TRANSITIONS — Jason Farkas is joining the Brunswick Group as a partner. He previously was VP and general manager of CNN Business. … Greta Pisarczyk is now finance director for Kevin Rinke’s Michigan gubernatorial campaign. She previously was finance director for GOPAC. … Stephanie Leavitt is now managing director of comms at Morning Consult. She previously was VP of global comms at Moody’s Investors Service. | | | | A message from Blue Cross Blue Shield Association:   Let’s end the maternal health crisis. | | | | | | | 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 | Ottawa Playbook | Brussels Playbook | London Playbook View all our politics and policy newsletters | | Follow us | | | | |  |
