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Presented by Emergent: POLITICO's must-read briefing on what's driving the afternoon in Washington. | | | | |  | | By Ryan Lizza, Eli Okun and Garrett Ross | Presented by Emergent | TV TONIGHT — ABC’s David Muir has an exclusive interview with Ukrainian President VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY that will air on multiple shows and streaming platforms. Advance clip BATTLEFIELD UPDATE — We just got off a zoom with a senior Defense Department official who provided an update about the Russian invasion. The headline is that Russian President VLADIMIR PUTIN’s offensive remains stuck, and he is now looking for outside help. Highlights … — All in. “Nearly 100%” of the pre-staged Russian forces are now inside Ukraine. — But paused. The “main advance is still stalled outside” Kyiv. The miles-long convoy that we’ve all seen from satellite images is mostly a “re-supply convoy” though there are some “combat elements.” — Airspace “still contested.” Russia remains unable to control the skies. “President Zelenskyy has the vast majority of his fixed wing aircraft available to him,” the official said. (And so does Putin.) This is before a decision has been made by Poland to send Russian-made planes that Ukrainians can fly and have been practically begging for. The U.S. has still “made no decision” on a deal to replace any planes Poland would transfer to Ukraine with American fighters, though the Biden administration is in negotiations on the issue. — More “long-range fire,” more civilian deaths. The inability of Russia to control the airspace has led Putin to increase the use of artillery, rockets and missiles. The Russians have launched 625 missiles during their invasion so far. That means more civilian deaths and more attacks on residential areas, both of which are “happening at a greater rate and greater scale.” — Shoring up NATO. The U.S. is sending an additional 500 military personnel to Eastern Europe. There are now 100,000 Americans permanently stationed or deployed there. — Syrians are coming. Putin is seeking to recruit soldiers from Syria. It’s “noteworthy” that Putin needs “foreign fighters to fight his war in Ukraine,” said the official. — Belarusians aren’t (yet). There are still no signs that Belarus is going “to join the fight,” and there are no Belarusian troops in Ukraine. — Weapons still flowing. Western supply routes for arms and other aid remain unobstructed. — Usual caveats apply. As always, the Pentagon warns that this isn’t a fair fight and the current Russian difficulties in the face of “stiff Ukraine resistance” and Russia’s “own internal challenges” might be temporary. Putin “has an awful lot of combat power available to him,” the official noted. “I don’t think we should underestimate that.” NEW FROM THE WHITE HOUSE — President JOE BIDEN held a 79-minute video teleconference this morning with French President EMMANUEL MACRON, German Chancellor OLAF SCHOLZ and British PM BORIS JOHNSON. RAMIFICATIONS IN D.C. — Anti-corruption advocates are seizing on what one tells Nahal Toosi is “a paradigm shift moment” to go after Russia’s elite launderers. But they have their eyes on more than just Russia, and “Biden and his aides have long been laying the groundwork for this moment,” Nahal reports. Still, advocates say enforcement will necessitate dedicating “money, staff and patience, not just applause.” Good Monday afternoon.
| | | | A message from Emergent: Emerging threats never stop and neither do we. Our protections help defend against things we hope will never happen – so we are prepared, in case they ever do. Learn how we’ve become a leader in protecting people against public health threats at www.emergentbiosolutions.com. | | | CONGRESS CLYBURN UPBEAT — House Majority Whip JIM CLYBURN (D-S.C.) sounded optimistic about Dems’ chances of resurrecting portions of their congressional agenda in an interview posted this morning with Matt Robison and Paul Hodes’ “Beyond Politics” podcast. — On bringing back pieces of Build Back Better: “I think we’re going to do something about drug prices. I think we’re going to do something about restoring the child tax credit. It may get means-tested, and I don’t have a problem with means-testing it. I think we are going to pass a significant portion of what we had in the so-called Build Back Better bill.” — On voting rights: “There is going to be, I think, a compromise coming on voting. It probably won’t be as much as I want, but I think you will see an electoral reform act going forward. And I’m hoping that language will be in there that will prevent the nullification of elections.” RIGHT ON CUE — Senate Majority Leader CHUCK SCHUMER kicked his chamber’s attempt at reviving the agenda into gear this morning with a letter outlining hearings on inflation and prescription drug costs, Marianne LeVine reports. Also in the works: bipartisan action on insulin and meat prices, the postal reform bill and averting a government shutdown (plus aid to Ukraine). COMING ATTRACTIONS — In the next few weeks, Congress intends to lay out a plan for reopening the Capitol in stages, per NBC’s Leigh Ann Caldwell. ALL POLITICS COTTON IN THE SPOTLIGHT — Sen. TOM COTTON (R-Ark.) has been mentioned as a potential 2024 rival for DONALD TRUMP, but tonight he’ll give a speech extolling the former president and saying the GOP does not need to choose between his ideology and RONALD REAGAN’s, WSJ’s John McCormick scoops. ENDORSEMENT WATCH — San Franciscan Speaker NANCY PELOSI officially backed Rep. KAREN BASS’ (D-Calif.) Los Angeles mayoral run.
| | | | SUBSCRIBE TO NATIONAL SECURITY DAILY : Keep up with the latest critical developments from Ukraine and across Europe in our daily newsletter, National Security Daily. The Russian invasion of Ukraine could disrupt the established world order and result in a refugee crisis, increased cyberattacks, rising energy costs and additional disruption to global supply chains. Go inside the top national security and foreign-policymaking shops for insight on the global threats faced by the U.S. and its allies and what actions world leaders are taking to address them. Subscribe today. | | | | | TRUMP CARDS THE CONSPIRACY NEXUS — The ALEX JONES reckoning is here, as the conspiracy theorist faces a Jan. 6 committee inquiry and several defamation lawsuits. But his trajectory from being considered so extreme that RT stayed away from him in 2011 to helping get Trump elected “is a reflection of how conspiracy theories in the United States have metastasized and corroded public discourse in the digital age,” writes NYT’s Elizabeth Williamson . The piece is an excerpt from her new book, “Sandy Hook: An American Tragedy and the Battle for Truth” ($28), out Tuesday. The book “traces a misinformation throughline from Sandy Hook to Pizzagate to QAnon, to Charlottesville, coronavirus and the Capitol insurrection on Jan. 6, 2021,” Williamson told us. “Where once it was Russian disinformation disrupting our democratic processes, today a swath of ‘Stop the Steal’ Republicans have created a model autocracies abroad are already imitating.” LOWERING THE BARR — Former A.G. BILL BARR is on a book publicity tour bashing Trump over his post-2020 election actions. But he said on the “Today” show this morning that he’d still vote for the Republican nominee in 2024 no matter who it is, because he views Democrats as a greater threat. — The support is not mutual. Trump wrote NBC’s LESTER HOLT a three-page letter rehashing his election fraud conspiracy theories and trashing Barr, Axios’ Mike Allen reports. “I would imagine that if the book is anything like him, it will be long, slow, and very boring,” Trump wrote. The letter POLICY CORNER CLIMATE FILES — The Biden administration today announced new climate change-focused transportation actions, proposing to limit emissions for new big trucks and buses and to create more green transit, per McClatchy’s Gillian Brassil and Francesca Chambers. VP KAMALA HARRIS announced the new steps, which are being driven by the EPA and amount to billions of dollars in funding, some of it from the bipartisan infrastructure law and American Rescue Plan. THE PANDEMIC WHAT’S NEXT, PART I — Former Biden pandemic advisers and outside experts have issued a list of more than 250 detailed recommendations (more than a third of the way to the 613 commandments!) for how the administration should handle the next phase of its pandemic strategy, WaPo’s Dan Diamond reports. Many of them go further than the White House’s recent “road map” for getting back to normal, warning that we’re not yet at endemicity and getting much more specific about ventilation, long Covid research and more. The group includes big names like KIZZMEKIA CORBETT. Their road map WHAT’S NEXT, PART II — Many global health leaders are moving on to future pandemic preparedness plans, Erin Banco reports from Munich for POLITICO Magazine. The big idea: “Focus should go to shoring up billions of dollars in funding so that governments and global-health organizations can engage in massive efforts to prepare for the next pandemic.” But emerging from the emergency is a controversial move at a time when many people in poorer nations still haven’t even gotten vaccines.
| | | | HAPPENING TUESDAY, INTERNATIONAL WOMEN'S DAY, AN IMPORTANT CONVERSATION ON THE WOMEN IN AFGHANISTAN: Join Women Rule editor Elizabeth Ralph for a panel discussion on the future for Afghan women. Guests include Hawa Haidari, a member of the Female Tactical Platoon; Cindy McCain, U.S. ambassador to the United Nations Agencies for Food and Agriculture; Roya Rahmani, Afghanistan's first female ambassador to the U.S.; and Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.). Learn how female Afghan veterans are planning their futures, what the women still in Afghanistan face, and what the U.S. can do to help. REGISTER HERE. | | | | | BEYOND THE BELTWAY THE GREAT SELF-SORTING — In Sandpoint, Idaho, AP’s Nicholas Geranios looks at the trend of conservatives moving away from liberal areas for states with more space and better ideological alignment. There are even real estate firms, like Flee the City and Conservative Move, specifically geared toward this clientele. “But the influx of people to places like Idaho has made it harder for some long-time residents.” PLAYBOOKERS FIRST IN PLAYBOOK — Tiffany Angulo is joining Targeted Victory as a VP in the firm’s new crypto practice. She has nearly a decade of Capitol Hill and policy experience, including helping to establish the bipartisan Congressional Blockchain Caucus. MEDIA MOVES — POLITICO is adding Kim Bryson as editorial director for production and copy editing and promoting the production team’s Aubree Eliza Weaver to work on the pro premium tier. Bryson most recently has been operations director for Chemical and Engineering News. … NYT Book Review editor Pamela Paul is moving to the opinion desk to become a columnist. Announcement TRANSITIONS — David Boling is now director for Japan and Asian trade at Eurasia Group. He previously spent seven years as deputy assistant USTR for Japan. … Nandu Machiraju has joined Baker McKenzie’s antitrust and competition practice as counsel. He previously spent seven years at the FTC, most recently in the litigation group of the Bureau of Competition. … Madison Handy will be a congressional relations officer at the U.S. Institute of Peace. She previously was government relations associate at the U.S. Global Leadership Coalition. … … Michael Decker is now digital manager for Rep. Donald Norcross (D-N.J.). He previously was digital press fellow for Rep. Joe Neguse (D-Colo.). … Lauren Williams is joining Capital One’s media relations and public affairs team. She currently is media relations strategy manager at the Credit Union National Association. … Danielle Quercia is now director of scheduling for Sen. Mike Rounds (R-S.D.). She most recently was director of scheduling for Sen. Pat Toomey (R-Pa.). BONUS BIRTHDAY: Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar
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