McCarthy struggles to manage Trump

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

After KEVIN MCCARTHY visited DONALD TRUMP at Mar-a-Lago in late January, the House minority leader released a picture of the two men smiling side by side. The image — accompanied by a statement announcing Trump had “committed” to helping the GOP flip the lower chamber — suggested all was well between the House GOP and the ex-president.

It wasn’t.

Sources tell Playbook that McCarthy has been trying to persuade Trump not to seek revenge against 10 Republicans who voted to impeach the former president — members who could be critical to McCarthy’s bid to retake the House and become speaker.

Not only has Trump refused to commit, he has publicly repeated his vow to primary those incumbents.

That’s not all. Trump and his new campaign team are also cracking down on the use of the president’s name for fundraising — a huge draw attracting small-dollar donors. Three sources told us that Trump, who made his fortune licensing his name, has felt burned and “abused” by the GOP bandying about his name to haul in money.

His team has conveyed that any Republican or GOP committee seeking to use it needs explicit approval, according to five sources familiar with the situation. One Trump adviser said they’ve been sending out cease-and-desists to faux PACs using Trump’s name to fundraise, among other demands to knock it off.

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In his CPAC speech last weekend, Trump reinforced the point by directing all fundraising to his own campaign entities. He told attendees “there’s only one way” to donate to Trump Republicans: through his own Save America PAC.

That move came around the same time that McCarthy’s own reelection campaign took down a website called Trumps-Majority.com, a landing page for donations that appeared to go live around the time McCarthy met with Trump in Florida. McCarthy’s office said the website, which was used in 2020, went up by mistake. The McCarthy and Trump camps denied that its removal had anything to do with Trump’s concern about how his name is being used.

Still, the situation highlights an awkward two-step between the House GOP (particularly McCarthy) and Trump. They need the ex-president to raise gobs of money from and turn out the base. But any cash collected off the Trump name would also be used to protect some of the 10 Republicans who voted to impeach him — members like California Rep. DAVID VALADAO, a McCarthy ally who’s in a difficult reelection.

Setting aside Trump’s appetite for revenge against those members, even some House Republicans aren’t even comfortable with McCarthy & Co.’s Trump entreaties. At a private meeting in February, Rep. TOM RICE (R-S.C.), one of the pro-impeachment Republicans, said the conference shouldn’t be using the ex-president at all in its effort to retake the House, according to people in the room.

Caught in the middle is McCarthy, who is notorious for trying to please everybody. McCarthy has made no secret of his belief that the House GOP needs Trump in 2022. But placating a president who doesn’t hear nuance when it comes to his detractors is not going to be easy for “My Kevin.”

SPOTTED: CATALINA LAUF, a pro-Trump Republican primarying Rep. ADAM KINZINGER (R-Ill.) in 2022, at Mar-a-Lago on Thursday evening, in the latest sign that Trump is serious about primarying his House GOP antagonists.

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WATCH: This week on Playbook Playback, TARA has settled into her new Florida pad and is back to co-host with EUGENE, offering their thoughts on Rep. MARJORIE TAYLOR GREENE’S (R-Ga.) take on voter suppression, New York Gov. ANDREW CUOMO’S first public statement amid a growing sexual harassment scandal and President JOE BIDEN’S reaction to states lifting Covid-19 restrictions. There is also a brief cameo by Tara’s dog Pancetta.

BIDEN’S FRIDAY — The president and VP KAMALA HARRIS will receive the President’s Daily Brief at 9:50 a.m. and have lunch together at 12:15 p.m. At 2:15 p.m., they will receive an economic briefing with Treasury Secretary JANET YELLEN. At 3:15 p.m., Biden will participate in a roundtable on the Covid relief bill. Biden and Harris will then receive a Covid-19 briefing at 5:30 p.m.

— The White House Covid-19 response team and public health officials will brief at 11 a.m. Press secretary JEN PSAKI will brief at 12:30 p.m.

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PHOTO OF THE DAY: VP Kamala Harris leaves the Capitol on Thursday after casting a tie-breaking vote in the Senate. | Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images

POLITICS ROUNDUP

TRUMP’S HEIR APPARENT? — We got ahold of a new nationwide Republican survey from Trump’s former campaign pollster TONY FABRIZIO on the way-too-early 2024 GOP primary. It shows MIKE PENCE and Florida Gov. RON DESANTIS are essentially tied for (a distant) second place. If Trump runs in a crowded primary, he would get 51%, followed by Pence at 9% and DeSantis at 7%. (Neither man would dare run against Trump.) Of the 51% of voters who back Trump, DeSantis and Pence are tied for second choice, with 22% each. Texas Sen. TED CRUZ is in third at 19%.

Without Trump on the ballot, Pence is at 19%, DeSantis 17% and Cruz 13%. The other big names are in Matt Dixon’s exclusive. Not-so-humblebrag: POLITICO first told you DeSantis was a ‘tier one’ ’24 GOPer more than two weeks ago, well before his CPAC breakout.

2022 WATCH — Add yet another name to the long list of potential candidates eyeing Pennsylvania’s open Senate seat in 2022: JOHN GIORDANO, a lawyer who worked on Trump’s campaign, is considering running, according to two people familiar with his thinking. He was part of Trump’s delegation to the U.N. General Assembly in 2019, served on Trump’s transition team and has been a generous Trump Victory donor . He also comes from a prominent Philadelphia-area family — his dad, Frank, was previously president of the Union League and is now CEO of the Philly Pops orchestra. “There’s absolutely interest in him in Trumpworld right now,” a former Trump aide told us. (h/t Holly Otterbein)

MORE ON CUOMO’S TROUBLES — “Cuomo Aides Rewrote Nursing Home Report to Hide Higher Death Toll,” NYT … “‘The governor’s trying to sleep with me’: Cuomo accuser recalls alleged harassment,” CBS … “New Yorkers say that Cuomo shouldn’t resign, but that he shouldn’t run for re-election either,” NYT … “John Catsimatidis considering run for New York governor amid Cuomo scandal,” Page Six

WHAT TO DO — “GOP grapples with extremist episodes among its own,” by Melanie Zanona and Olivia Beavers: “Some fear that if the conference — which just ushered in a historically diverse freshman class — doesn’t stomp out those political brush fires now, there’s a risk they will spread and engulf the party. Democrats are already trying to make QAnon, the far-reaching conspiracy theory labeled as a domestic terrorism threat by the FBI, the face of the GOP ahead of the midterms.”

THE WHITE HOUSE

BLINDERS ON DR. SEUSS — “Biden World on the raging culture wars: What culture wars?” by Chris Cadelago and Meridith McGraw: “Over the past few weeks, Republicans have simmered over the ‘cancelation’ of seemingly innocent family favorites, including the venerated Mr. Potato Head toy and Dr. Seuss books. Glenn Beck has likened it to facism. Fox News has covered it obsessively. In recent days, conservative legislators have made speeches at confabs and in the halls of Congress, warning about what they describe as out of control PC culture.

“And yet, even as it becomes all consuming on the right, White House advisers and Biden aides insist they’re unbothered by the culture-wars-du-jour. Unbothered, they say. They respond with a snore. (Okay, we’re done).” (Stick around for the Seussian kicker.)

CONGRESS

LONG WEEKEND AHEAD — “Biden’s Covid aid bill advances in Senate,” by Burgess Everett, Marianne LeVine and Caitlin Emma: “Senate Democrats muscled through the votes to begin consideration of President Joe Biden’s $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief bill on Thursday afternoon, putting the party on course to clinch a new stimulus law well before its official March 14 deadline.

“But Republicans are setting up a grueling debate that appears likely to carry the partisan battle into the weekend. Early Thursday afternoon, Democrats rallied their 50 senators to kick off debate on their own version of the stimulus bill, a key test vote that demonstrated that Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer has the support to prevail in the end, whenever it may be.”

SWAMP READ — “Democratic Rep. Tom Malinowski, a champion for transparency, failed to disclose dozens of stock transactions worth at least $671,000 in apparent violation of federal law,” Insider: “Malinowski’s stock trades in 2020 included more than two-dozen purchases and sales during the first several weeks of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a five-page spreadsheet Malinowski’s office provided Insider on Wednesday after a reporter asked about his stock activity. The spreadsheet contains stock trade information that does not appear publicly on the US House’s website, as required by law.

“Malinowski’s stock trade frequency peaked in March 2020, as the COVID-19 pandemic gripped the United States and caused the stock market to plummet. One stock sale in March 2020 involved the shares of a medical diagnostic company that manufactures COVID-19 tests, the spreadsheet indicates. Taken together, Malinowski made at least $671,000 and as much as $2.76 million worth of trades during 2020, according to the spreadsheet.”

INSIDE MURKOWSKI’S HAALAND VOTE — “‘I … really struggled through this one’: A Republican senator chose history over oil and gas,” WaPo: “Murkowski was the only Republican on the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee to approve Haaland (D-N.M.) in the narrow 11-to-9 vote. Haaland’s nomination now moves to the full Senate, where the entire Democratic caucus and two Republicans, Murkowski and Susan Collins (Maine), are expected to back her, cementing her confirmation.

“The committee vote could easily have been a tie that would have complicated Haaland’s nomination. Her opposition to new leases for drilling oil and gas on federal land made her a target for Republicans on the committee.”

FIRST IN PLAYBOOK — Congressional Progressive Caucus leader PRAMILA JAYAPAL (D-Wash.) and Rep. DEBBIE DINGELL (D-Mich.) will reintroduce their Medicare for All bill on March 17 alongside single-payer advocates. That’s exactly one year after the first cases of coronavirus were confirmed in all 50 states and D.C. The bill’s release, timed to that milestone, is an attempt to link the cause of universal care with the devastation wrought by the pandemic. Progressives argue that now more than ever, Democrats should be going bold with the proposals.

The bill won’t pass the Senate or probably even see a vote in the House. Speaker NANCY PELOSI held back from bringing it to the floor last Congress due to opposition from centrists in swing districts. Jayapal, however, has said she is focused on building support gradually.

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JAN. 6 AND ITS AFTERMATH

LATEST INVESTIGATION — “Federal investigators are examining communications between U.S. lawmakers and Capitol rioters,” CNN: “The data gathered so far includes indications of contact with lawmakers in the days around January 6, as well as communications between alleged rioters discussing their associations with members of Congress …

“The existence of such communications doesn’t necessarily indicate wrongdoing by lawmakers and investigators aren’t yet targeting members of Congress in the investigation … Should investigators find probable cause that lawmakers or their staffs possibly aided the insurrectionists, they could seek warrants to obtain the content of the communications. There’s no indication they’ve taken such a step at this point.”

— “Trump appointee arrested in connection with Capitol riot,” by Josh Gerstein: “The FBI on Thursday arrested Federico Klein, a former State Department aide, on charges related to the storming of the Capitol on Jan. 6, marking the first known instance of an appointee of President Donald Trump facing criminal prosecution in connection with the attempt to block Congress from certifying President Joe Biden’s victory.

“Klein, 42, was taken into custody in Virginia, said Samantha Shero, a spokesperson for the FBI’s Washington Field Office. Details on the charges against him were not immediately available.”

PANDEMIC

TRACKER: The U.S. reported 1,743 Covid-19 deaths and 65,500 new coronavirus cases Thursday.

AMERICA’S COVID VACCINE SUPPLY PROBLEM is just about solved after Biden’s announcement this week that every adult who wants a shot will be able to get one by the end of May.

That leaves two big tasks for the administration. One is access, i.e. ensuring all adults can get to places administering the shots, like pharmacies and mobile vaccine units. The other is vaccine hesitancy, the reluctance among a proportion of the population to get the shot. You mostly hear about Black people being vaccine-hesitant, but they aren’t the only community that’s going to need to be convinced. Some health experts say putting the onus on groups of people who are wary of getting the vaccine is scapegoating; it’s the job of the government and health care community to convince people these vaccines are safe.

In this week’s Nerdcast, Eugene digs into the issue with Virginia physician Ebony Hilton and POLITICO health care reporter Adam Cancryn. Listen here

VACCINATIONS UP — “The United States is now averaging 2 million vaccine doses administered per day,” NYT: “The average number of vaccine doses being administered across the United States per day topped two million for the first time on Wednesday, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. A month ago, the average was about 1.3 million.”

AMERICA AND THE WORLD

POWER UP — “Biden backs new war powers vote in Congress, White House says,” by Bryan Bender and Andrew Desiderio: “President Joe Biden intends to work with Congress to repeal the war authorizations that have underpinned U.S. military operations across the globe for the past two decades and negotiate a new one that ends the open-ended nature of America’s foreign wars, the White House said Friday.

“In a statement to POLITICO, press secretary Jen Psaki said the president wants to ‘ensure that the authorizations for the use of military force currently on the books are replaced with a narrow and specific framework that will ensure we can protect Americans from terrorist threats while ending the forever wars.’”

FOREIGN POLICY STRATEGY — “For Biden, Deliberation and Caution, Maybe Overcaution, on the World Stage,” by NYT’s David Sanger: “The Biden foreign policy that emerges from these early weeks is one of restraint, caution and fast-paced deliberation. Decisions come more quickly than they did in the Obama administration, when Mr. Biden, as vice president, complained about the endless meetings.

“Early evidence suggests that his judgments come with a harder edge than they did when he was one of many voices in the Situation Room, as indicated by Mr. Biden’s decision to cut off the American weapons that allowed the Saudis to prosecute the war in Yemen. It was President Barack Obama who first turned on that weapons spigot.”

A STRONGER STANCE — “U.S. demands Myanmar release detained journalists, protesters,” AP: “The Biden administration stepped up its condemnation of the coup in Myanmar on Thursday, demanding that military authorities stop their brutal crackdown on pro-democracy protesters and release demonstrators and journalists who have been detained.

“The White House called the situation, including the arrest of an Associated Press journalist, ‘troubling’ and of ‘great concern.’ The State Department said it’s working with other countries to send a unified message to the military that its actions are unacceptable and will be met with consequences.”

MEDIAWATCH

BIDEN’S FAVORITE FOX REPORTER — “Fox News’ scrappy White House correspondent grills Biden, who plays along,” L.A. Times: “Whenever President Biden leaves a stage or lectern after an appearance in front of the media, the last voice viewers hear usually belongs to Fox News White House correspondent Peter Doocy. In a post-Trump age when reporters are no longer dealing with a tsunami of misinformation or general hostility toward their trade, Doocy has emerged as an old-school, combative correspondent, peppering White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki — and occasionally Biden — with queries on how the president’s policies differ from promises made on the campaign trail.

“President Biden has taken notice, and not in the hostile way journalists experienced when covering Donald Trump, who was more accessible but often contentious when dealing with the White House press corp. ‘I know he always asks me tough questions, and he always has an edge to them, but I like him anyway,’ Biden said before calling on Doocy at a recent briefing.”

THE NEW FAMILY BUSINESS — NYT’S AZI PAYBARAH (@Azi): “Andrew Giuliani says he is joining Newsmax as a political correspondent. He’s discussing it now on Giuliani’s radio show. ‘They advertise on this station,’ Rudy Giuliani notes.”

FRIDAY LISTEN — Former President BARACK OBAMA and BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN are out with the latest episode of their “Renegades” podcast. 3-minute clip

TV TONIGHT — PBS’ “Washington Week,” guest-hosted by Amy Walter: Sahil Kapur, Jonathan Martin and Amna Nawaz.

SUNDAY SO FAR …

FIND OUT THE LATEST WHISPERS FROM THE WEST WING : What's happening inside the West Wing, and what are the real conversations taking place behind-the-scenes in the halls of power? Who really has the ear of the president? What's going to happen across the executive branch next, and why? Transition Playbook chronicles the people, policies and emerging power centers of the Biden administration. Don't miss out. Subscribe today.

FIRST IN PLAYBOOK — Karen Wayland is joining Husch Blackwell Strategies as a special adviser for energy and environment. She currently is interim CEO of GridWise Alliance, and is an Obama DOE alum.

TRANSITIONS — Former Defense Secretary Mark Esper is joining the McCain Institute as the inaugural McCain Distinguished Fellow. … Mike Walsh is now a partner in Foley and Lardner’s government enforcement, defense and investigations department. He previously was chief of staff and acting general counsel at the Department of Commerce. … Caitlyn Stephenson will be chief of staff for Sen. Gary Peters (D-Mich.). She previously was deputy chief of staff. …

… Denise Horn will be a managing principal for comms at Precision Strategies. She most recently was senior director of inclusion marketing and comms at WarnerMedia, and is a Turner and Hillary for America alum. … Laura Keehner Rigas is now senior reputation strategist for public affairs and value access at Syneos Health. She most recently was principal deputy director of the office of intergovernmental and external affairs at HHS, and is an Interior alum.

ENGAGED — “Colorado Gov. Jared Polis and his longtime partner, Marlon Reis, are engaged,” The Colorado Sun: “First Gentleman Marlon Reis was feeling crummy the day it happened. His condition was deteriorating after battling a coronavirus infection for more than a week. His oxygen saturation levels had dropped to a concerning level. A doctor told him it was time to go to the hospital. …

“Polis was urging Reis to hurry up, but reassuring him that he’d be OK. … The chaos came to an abrupt stop when Polis got down on one knee and asked Reis, his partner of 17 years, to marry him. ‘It was the absolute perfect time,’ Reis said. ‘I said to him, “I couldn’t breathe before. Now I really can’t breathe.”’”

— May Davis, a Trump W.H. alum who is now deputy solicitor general for the state of Ohio, got engaged to David Mailman, a former professional baseball player who now does corporate development for Travel Centers of America and is a Goldman Sachs alum. They met after fellow W.H. alum Liz Horning introduced them, and May hosted a dinner party for which David flew in from Cleveland to meet her. Pic … Another pic

— Sery Kim, an attorney, Republican candidate for the special election in Texas' 6th Congressional District and a Trump SBA alum, and Michael Cybulski, a U.S. Marine Corps major, recently got engaged. The two met on Hinge in August 2019, one week after Michael moved to D.C. Pic

WELCOME TO THE WORLD — Mitchell Hailstone, comms director for the Republican Study Committee, and Betsy Hailstone, a reading specialist for Arlington County Public Schools, welcomed James Patrick Hailstone on Thursday. Pic

HAPPY BIRTHDAY: Stephen Goepfert … Rep. Greg Murphy (R-N.C.) … Chad Pergram … Ken Lerer … MJ Lee … Matthew Albence, principal of GrindStone Strategic Consulting … Fred Davis … Alan Miller … Jordan Fabian … Ellie Schafer … Mike Kruger … Diana Al Ayoubi-Monett … Mercury’s Erick Mullen … John Twomey … Catherine Giuliani … John O’Brien … Roy Gutman … Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić … Angolan President João Lourenço … Ilana Maier … Deloitte’s Carley Berlin … Brian Kresge … Lauren Kidwell of 270 Strategies … Danny Schwarz … April Mellody … Deanna Carlson Stacy … Nathaniel Rich … Matt Dorf … Kyle Stewart … Amir Avin … Colton Malkerson … Daniel Kahneman … Monica Forero

Got a document to share? A birthday coming up? Another Mar-a-Lago sighting? Drop us a line at playbook@politico.com or individually: Rachael Bade, Eugene Daniels, Ryan Lizza, Tara Palmeri.

Playbook couldn’t happen without our editor Mike Zapler and producers Allie Bice, Eli Okun and Garrett Ross.

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