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Presented by Amazon: POLITICO's must-read briefing on what's driving the afternoon in Washington. | | | | |  | | By Ryan Lizza and Eli Okun | | | BIDEN ON BUCHA: PUTIN IS A ‘WAR CRIMINAL’ — President JOE BIDEN returned to the White House this morning and made his first comments about the atrocities in Bucha, Ukraine: “I have one comment to make before I start the day,” Biden told reporters after the Marine One arrival at Fort McNair in Washington. “You may remember I got criticized for calling [Russian President VLADIMIR] PUTIN a war criminal. Well, the truth of the matter — you saw what happened in Bucha. This warrants him — he is a war criminal. “But we have to gather the information, we have to continue to provide Ukraine with the weapons they need to continue the fight, and we have to get all the detail so this can be an actual — have a wartime trial. “This guy is brutal. And what’s happening in Bucha is outrageous, and everyone’s seen it.” When asked if the Bucha massacres amounted to genocide, as Ukrainian President VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY has alleged, Biden responded, “No, I think it is a war crime.” Though he’s called Putin a war criminal previously, this is the first time that Biden has tied specific atrocities in Ukraine to his description of Putin as a war criminal and mentioned a “trial.” His language is a little scattered on all of this, but if you’re Putin, you would take these comments to mean that the president of the United States wants the president of Russia on trial for war crimes. Biden ended the encounter with reporters with this exchange, where he again seems to be saying Putin should be put on trial, but he also doesn’t quite get out the sentiment clearly: REPORTER: Can you actually hold Putin accountable, though? You called him a war criminal.
BIDEN: He should be held accountable.
REPORTER: Can you actually hold him accountable without sanctions?
BIDEN: Well, no —
REPORTER: What else can you do?
BIDEN: No, no — go — go — the war crimes tri- — yes, I’m going to continue to add sanctions. Most news outlets are reporting the Biden comments without any ambiguity. This was USA Today’s headline: “‘This guy is brutal’: Biden calls for war crimes trial for Putin for atrocities in Ukraine” We will be eager to see how press secretary JEN PSAKI and national security adviser JAKE SULLIVAN handle questions about this at the 2:45 p.m. briefing today. MORE BUCHA FALLOUT — The U.S. said today it will seek to oust Russia from the U.N. Human Rights Council after reports of Russian forces’ atrocities in Bucha, Ukraine, and other towns. Suspension would require a two-thirds vote from the General Assembly. “[T]he images out of Bucha and devastation across Ukraine require us to now match our words with action,” U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. LINDA THOMAS-GREENFIELD said. LATEST ON THE GROUND … — Russia bombarded a residential area of Mykolaiv today, as Russia focused more narrowly on southern and eastern Ukraine. The mayor said one person died, per CNN. — The U.S. assesses that Russia has repositioned two-thirds of its forces near Kyiv, largely to Belarus, and will likely redeploy them to the Donbas, Pentagon press secretary JOHN KIRBY said today. MORE REACTION FROM THE WEST … — The U.S. seized a huge yacht on Mallorca owned by an oligarch close to Putin, the first instance of a new sanctions effort aimed at Russian elites, per the AP. — Lithuania expelled Russia’s ambassador. Germany kicked out 40 Russian diplomats. Good Monday afternoon. Some big news on the Playbook team: Our Eugene Daniels is also joining Morning Joe as a senior contributor and MSNBC political analyst.
| | | | A message from Amazon: Amazon pays employees' college tuition and fees in advance, rather than offering reimbursement. Tuition cost is the most common barrier for those who want to continue their education, and Amazon's fully funded tuition benefit means employees don't need to worry about paying upfront. | | | CONGRESS COVID DEAL INCOMING — WITH NO GLOBAL $$: WaPo’s Dan Diamond and Rachel Roubein scooped that Senate negotiators have landed a $10 billion agreement on domestic Covid funding to be announced today. But they couldn’t reach accord on paying for the global piece, which has been dropped entirely. (The initial package contained $5 billion for the international response, while Sen. MITT ROMNEY (R-Utah) floated shrinking it down to $1 billion.) That could make it a harder sell for House Democrats, who have argued that failing to vaccinate the rest of the world puts us all at greater risk from new variants. — Related reading: Megan Messerly reported this morning that state officials are desperate to get the new funding from Congress, as the delays have made it hard to transition to a long-term pandemic strategy. SCOTUS WATCH — We already know how the Senate Judiciary Committee will vote on the Supreme Court nomination of KETANJI BROWN JACKSON. And the talking points from both Democrats and Republicans at today’s committee meeting were pretty familiar too. Marianne LeVine breaks down the “one more hiccup” Jackson has to pass There have been a few notable bits of news so far today, though: — In a sign of how thoroughly the Supreme Court confirmation process has devolved into outright partisanship, a still-angry Sen. LINDSEY GRAHAM (R-S.C.) said Jackson would not have gotten a hearing if Republicans controlled the chamber. Biden would have had to name a more moderate pick, Graham said. “We’re supposed to be like trained seals over here clapping when you appoint a liberal. That’s not going to work.” Institutional decay: As our colleague Sam Stein notes, “We are moving quickly towards a situation where if the Senate is in control of the opposite party of the president there will simply never be a SCOTUS confirmation. We may be there already.” — Hurry up and wait: Sen. ALEX PADILLA (D-Calif.), a Judiciary Committee member whose vote Democrats need, was delayed in returning to D.C. today because his plane had to turn around due to a passenger’s medical emergency, per Marianne. That forced the committee to recess until he arrives. ANYTHING YOU WANT — Restarting sales of new oil and gas leases? Speeding up natural gas exports? If that’s the cost of landing a big reconciliation bill compromise with Sen. JOE MANCHIN (D-W.Va.) that achieves other long-term climate goals, progressives are willing to make a deal, Josh Siegel reports. “If [Manchin] wants some increase for short-term production for the broader package of $500 billion on renewables, I am open to that,” Rep. RO KHANNA (D-Calif.) says. LOCK, STOCK AND BARREL — Today marks 10 years since the STOCK Act was signed into law, and Insider’s Kimberly Leonard and Bryan Metzger have an interesting look at how it’s held up, particularly in light of Insider’s months of investigations into members of Congress who break the law. The instance of Obama-era bipartisanship was meant to reduce conflicts of interest and strengthen financial ethics rules for lawmakers. Now, the law’s creators say they think it met its promise but that Congress needs to take further action, especially as the question of banning stock trading by lawmakers swirls on the Hill.
| | | | 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. | | | | | ALL POLITICS BIG IN BIDEN WORLD — Former top Biden strategists and outside groups are launching a new advertising firm, Blue Sky Strategies, which counts PATRICK BONSIGNORE and JON FROMOWITZ among its founders, Steven Shepard reports. ISHANEE PARIKH is a co-partner, and AMY ROMANOW is a principal. Its initial clients include Building Back Together, Future Forward and Guarding Against Pandemics. “Bonsignore said Blue Sky Strategies will not just focus on one form of communication, instead integrating their clients’ television and digital ad presentations, whether they are political campaigns, outside groups or corporate entities.” HOT ON THE RIGHT — Three Republican attorneys general — in Arizona, Louisiana and Missouri — today announced they’ve sued the Biden administration to stop the lifting of the Title 42 public health order restricting immigration due to the pandemic, Fox News’ Adam Shaw scooped. Read the complaint, which clocks in at exactly 42 pages KNOWING KEVIN RINKE — The Detroit Free Press’ Paul Egan has an interesting profile of the Michigan GOP gubernatorial candidate, who narrowly averted death in a plane crash that killed his older brother and ultimately pushed him into a business leadership position. “Rinke said he ‘had a chip on my shoulder because people doubted me.’ He still carries it today as he seeks the Republican nomination to take on Democratic Gov. GRETCHEN WHITMER in November.” Politically, Rinke is very conservative and largely aligns with Trumpist policy positions, but is not as hard-right as some of the contenders. SPOTTED: DONALD TRUMP JR. was a surprise guest at a J.D. VANCE fundraiser in Palm Beach, per Axios’ Jonathan Swan. ENDORSEMENT WATCH — Sen. TED CRUZ (R-Texas) threw his weight behindJOSH MANDEL in the bitter Ohio GOP Senate primary. THE BIDEN ADMINISTRATION DEPARTURE LOUNGE — MICHAEL FUCHS, deputy chief of staff to VP KAMALA HARRIS, is heading for the exits, Reuters’ Nandita Bose scooped. He’ll remain in the office for about another month. Meanwhile, Harris is bringing on a new chief speechwriter, MEGHAN GROOB, an Obama alum most recently at Gates Ventures. — National Cancer Institute Director NORMAN “NED” SHARPLESS is leaving his post at the end of the month, “the latest in a string of departures and job changes by senior health and science officials,” WaPo’s Laurie McGinley reports. He cited family reasons. Sharpless also briefly served as acting FDA commissioner. KEEP ON TRUCKIN’ — Biden’s event with Transportation Secretary PETE BUTTIGIEG this afternoon will include big trucks arriving at the White House, CNN’s Nikki Carvajal and Paul LeBlanc report. The administration will look to highlight the policy changes it’s already made to try to improve trucking jobs and expand the workforce, including a beefed-up registered apprenticeship program. TAXING WORK — In Ogden, Utah, WaPo’s Lisa Rein goes inside the overburdened IRS’ struggles to find its footing after a major 2020 backlog. On top of its existing challenges — “the pandemic decimated its workforce atop years of budget cuts and attrition, new stimulus measures added to the workload, and the agency remained crippled by the way it does business” — the agency is now grappling with a new one: The tight labor market is making it hard to find enough workers.
| | | | A message from Amazon:   | | | TRUMP CARDS TALKER — Historian Julian Zelizer writes in The Atlantic about an unusual Zoom call last summer in which DONALD TRUMP tried to influence a group of historians to rate his presidency more highly. “But if anything, our conversation with the former president underscored common criticisms: that he construed the presidency as a forum to prove his dealmaking prowess; that he sought flattery and believed too much of his own spin; that he dismissed substantive criticism as misinformed, politically motivated, ethically compromised, or otherwise cynical.” TO TELL THE TRUTH — JOSH ADAMS and BILLY BOOZER, tech entrepreneurs who were key executives at Trump’s Truth Social app, have quit amid the app’s difficult rollout since launching in February, Reuters’ Helen Coster and Julia Love scooped. The men’s departure “could imperil the company’s progress as it tries to prove it can compete with mainstream platforms such as Twitter,” they report. “Their resignations came before their key roles in the closely watched company were even publicly known outside of Truth Social’s secretive culture.” — Chief legal officer LORI HEYER-BEDNAR has left too, Meridith McGraw and Emily Birnbaum add. MISCELLANY BUSINESS BURST — ELON MUSK is now Twitter’s largest shareholder as the surprise news broke today that he now has a 9.2% stake in the social media behemoth, per Bloomberg. Musk has criticized Twitter recently for not protecting free speech enough. SPORTS BLINK — TOM BRADY has joined Consello, DECLAN KELLY’s new PR firm based in New York. More from the FT
| | | | 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. | | | | | PLAYBOOKERS TRANSITIONS — Jennifer Dunn has been appointed EVP and head of U.S. corporate affairs at Hill+Knowlton Strategies, leading the firm’s D.C. operations. She most recently was SVP for corporate comms and public affairs at Wells Fargo. … Scott Sudduth and Bill Bates have launched a new government affairs firm, Washington Navigators. Sudduth most recently was associate vice chancellor for federal programs at Texas A&M, and Bates most recently was EVP of the Council on Competitiveness. … … Gina Gombar is now VP of government affairs and associate general counsel at the Institute for Portfolio Alternatives. She previously was VP and associate general counsel at LPL Financial. … Stephen Ruscus is now a partner at BakerHostetler. He previously was at Morgan, Lewis & Bockius. … Matthew VanderGoot is now a partner in Lowenstein Sandler’s tech group. He previously was at DLA Piper. WEDDING — Rachel Snyder, senior policy adviser for health care to House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, and Jordan Good, contracts manager for the Department of the Navy, got married March 20 at The Belvedere. They originally met on an app in August 2019 and then discovered a mutual friend connection before getting together for a first date in Baltimore. Pics and wedding story, via Naomi Cataldo BONUS BIRTHDAYS: White House’s Michael Leach … former Rep. Darlene Hooley (D-Ore.)
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