Playbook PM: Biden catches Covid: Here's what you should know

From: POLITICO Playbook - Thursday Jul 21,2022 05:08 pm
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Playbook PM

By Eugene Daniels and Garrett Ross

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After years of dodging Covid, even as it bounced around his senior staff and vice president, President JOE BIDEN tested positive for Covid-19 this morning. His last negative test was on Tuesday.

A tweet from President Joe Biden is pictured. In it, he writes:

— From the White House physician: In a memo, Dr. KEVIN O’CONNOR noted that Biden started experiencing symptoms on Wednesday evening, including a runny nose “and fatigue, with an occasional dry cough.” “The president is fully vaccinated and twice-boosted, so I anticipate that he will respond favorably, as most maximally protected patients do,” he wrote. Read the full letter

The White House announcement: Biden has begun taking Paxlovid, according to a statement issued by press secretary KARINE JEAN-PIERRE this morning. “Consistent with White House protocol for positive Covid cases, which goes above and beyond CDC guidance, he will continue to work in isolation until he tests negative. Once he tests negative, he will return to in-person work. Out of an abundance of transparency, the White House will provide a daily update on the President’s status as he continues to carry out the full duties of the office while in isolation.” Read the full statement

Who’s testing negative:

  • First lady JILL BIDEN tested negative this morning and is considered a close contact. Her spokesperson MICHAEL LAROSA says “she is following CDC guidance when it comes to masking and distancing, and keeping her schedule in Michigan and Georgia today.”
  • VP KAMALA HARRIS tested negative this morning and last saw Biden in person on Tuesday, according to her press secretary KIRSTEN ALLEN. Allen added that Harris “will remain masked following the advice of the WH medical team” during her trip to North Carolina today.

Where Biden was supposed to be instead: Biden was originally scheduled to travel to Pennsylvania today to talk about crime and attend a DNC fundraiser. The White House announced that all of Biden’s travel will be halted for at least the next five days. White House Covid coordinator ASHISH JHA will join Jean-Pierre at today’s briefing.

SOME INFORMAL CONTRACT TRACING — While it’s unclear where or when he caught the virus, Biden has been out and about without a mask quite a bit this week.

— On Wednesday: Biden traveled to Massachusetts on Air Force One with Sens. ELIZABETH WARREN and ED MARKEY, Reps. JAKE AUCHINCLOSS and BILL KEATING, climate adviser GINA MCCARTHY, BRUCE REED, ANNIE TOMASINI, VINAY REDDY, STEPHEN GOEPFERT, CURTIS REID, TRAVIS DREDD and Jean-Pierre. On the ground, Biden interacted with climate envoy JOHN KERRY, Massachusetts A.G. MAURA HEALEY and nine other state and local officials ( see the full list ). During a brief stop in Rhode Island, he also greeted Gov. DAN MCKEE, Sen. SHELDON WHITEHOUSE and Warwick, R.I., Mayor FRANK PICOZZI.

President Joe Biden arrives to speak about climate change and clean energy at Brayton Power Station, Wednesday, July 20, 2022, in Somerset, Mass. From left, Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass., Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., Special Presidential Envoy for Climate John Kerry and Biden.

Markey, Warren and Kerry walk with Biden in Somerset, Mass., on Wednesday. | Evan Vucci/AP Photo

President Joe Biden shakes hands with Rhode Island Gov. Dan McKee as he arrives at T.F. Green International Airport, Wednesday, July 20, 2022, in Warwick, R.I. Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., left, and Mayor of Warwick, R.I., Frank Picozzi look on. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

McKee, Whitehouse and Picozzi greet Biden in Warwick, R.I., on Wednesday. | Evan Vucci/AP Photo

President Joe Biden speaks to members of the media after exiting Air Force One, Wednesday, July 20, 2022, at Andrews Air Force Base, Md. Biden is returning from a trip to Somerset, Mass., where he spoke about climate change. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

Biden speaks with reporters at Andrews Air Force Base on Wednesday. | Evan Vucci/AP Photo

— On Tuesday: Biden and the first lady met with Ukrainian first lady OLENA ZELENSKA at the White House. Biden also received the President’s Daily Brief alongside Harris.

President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden greet Olena Zelenska, spouse of Ukrainian's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at the White House in Washington, Tuesday, July 19, 2022.

Zelenska greets the Bidens at the White House on Tuesday. | Andrew Harnik/AP Photo

— On Monday: Biden had nothing on his public schedule.

— On Sunday: Biden returned from his Middle East trip.

On Twitter, which always reacts to breaking news with level-headed sobriety, “President Harris” was trending on Twitter about 20 minutes after the White House announced Biden’s test result, our colleague Lara Korte noted .

FWIW, former press secretary and incoming MSNBC host JEN PSAKI made her first appearance on the network earlier today to discuss Biden’s diagnosis. “What they need to do over the next couple of days is show him working and show him still active and serving as president and I'm certain they’ll likely do that,” she said.

HMM — HuffPost’s @igorbobic : “relatedly, one might think Senate Dems would start masking again if they want to have all 50 votes available to pass a health care bill anytime soon.”

SINCE YOU WERE WONDERING — “How does Biden’s case of Covid-19 compare to Trump’s?” by Daniel Payne: “Here are four reasons Biden’s case isn’t like Trump’s.”

Good Thursday afternoon.

 

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CONGRESS

PELOSI TALKS TAIWAN — Asked about the reports that she is planning to travel to Taiwan, Speaker NANCY PELOSI said she never discusses her travel plans due to security concerns, but offered that “it’s important for us to show support for Taiwan.”

Responding to Biden’s comment on Wednesday that the military advised against the trip, Pelosi said she hadn’t heard the remarks herself, but that she thought “what the president was saying was that maybe the military was afraid our plane would get shot down, or something like that, by the Chinese.”

HOUSE PASSES CONTRACEPTION PROTECTION — The House voted 228-195 to pass a bill that would “ensure a federal right to contraception,” our colleagues Anthony Adragna and Jordain Carney report for Congress Minutes . All House Democrats supported the measure.

The eight Republican “yes” votes: NANCY MACE (S.C.), FRED UPTON (Mich.), JOHN KATKO (N.Y.), BRIAN FITZPATRICK (Pa.), ADAM KINZINGER (Ill.), MARÍA SALAZAR (Fla.), LIZ CHENEY (Wyo.) and ANTHONY GONZALEZ (Ohio).

You don’t see this on the House floor every day: “Mace arrived at the vote with a sign added to the back of her jacket that read, ‘My state is banning exceptions. Protect contraception.’”

A tweet by Rep. Nancy Mace (R-S.C.) is pictured. In it, she writes:

What’s next: “The legislation faces uphill odds in the Senate, where 10 Republican votes would be needed to overcome a filibuster and Majority Leader CHUCK SCHUMER has not promised to take up the legislation.”

THE WHITE HOUSE

NEW JOHN HARRIS COLUMN — “Why Trump Wins More Loyalty Than Biden”

JAN. 6 AND ITS AFTERMATH

AT THE BANNON TRIAL — Lawyers for STEVE BANNON this morning said they “will not call any witnesses in his defense, arguing that prosecutors had failed to show their client was guilty of contempt of Congress for his alleged refusal to provide testimony or documents to the Jan. 6 committee,” WaPo’s Devlin Barrett and Spencer Hsu report .

THE SECRET SERVICE SAGA — The DHS inspector general has “directed the Secret Service to stop its internal investigations into what happened to text messages related to January 6 that may have been deleted,” CNN’s Whitney Wild and Jeremy Herb reports . “The inspector general wrote that the Secret Service should stop investigating the matter because it could interfere with the inspector general's own investigation into what happened to the agency's text messages.”

 

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THE ECONOMY

JOBLESS CLAIMS JUMP BACK UP — Unemployment claims rose to “the highest level in more than eight months in what may be a sign that the labor market is weakening,” AP’s Matt Ott reports .

The details: “Applications for jobless aid for the week ending July 16 rose by 7,000 to 251,000, up from the previous week’s 244,000, the Labor Department reported Thursday. That’s the most since Nov. 13, 2021 when 265,000 Americans applied for benefits. … The four-week average for claims, which smooths out some of the week-to-week volatility, rose by 4,500 from the previous week, to 240,500.”

SOMETHING TO WATCH — “Heat Wave Sends Natural-Gas Prices Soaring,” by WSJ’s Ryan Dezember: “Natural-gas futures have jumped 48% this month — including 10% on Wednesday — to $8.007 per million British thermal units.”

WHAT THEY’RE READING ON WALL STREET — “Wall Street’s most talked about recession indicator is sounding its loudest alarm in two decades, intensifying concerns among investors that the U.S. economy is heading toward a slowdown,” NYT’s Joe Rennison writes . “That indicator is called the yield curve, and it’s a way of showing how interest rates on various U.S. government bonds compare, notably three-month bills, and two-year and 10-year Treasury notes. … An inversion has preceded every U.S. recession for the past half century, so it’s seen as a harbinger of economic doom. And it’s happening now.”

ALL POLITICS

CALENDAR CONUNDRUM — As Democrats sort out their new presidential nominating calendar, HuffPost’s Kevin Robillard writes that the DNC committee is “running into a very stubborn and very white sticking point: What to do about New Hampshire.” Officials in the state, “led by Sen. JEANNE SHAHEEN, have argued that downgrading the Granite State’s primary status would hurt them politically.” The reality: “A survey conducted by Data for Progress, a progressive polling organization, challenges Shaheen’s assertion. The poll of 903 likely voters in the state, conducted in late June and early July, found nearly two-thirds of the electorate either wouldn’t blame anyone or wouldn’t know who to blame if the state lost its status. An additional 21% would blame the Democratic and Republican National Committees.”

CASH DASH — “McMorrow announces $1M fundraising haul across four funds,” by the Detroit News’ Beth LeBlanc

 

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WAR IN UKRAINE

“Ukraine Faces Shortfall in Weapons as It Gears Up for First Major Counteroffensive,” by WSJ’s Vivian Salama: “Western weapons have helped Ukraine claw back territory in the south, but Kyiv will need greater range and numbers of arms to succeed. ‘We’ve lost so many tanks.’”

PLAYBOOKERS

OUT AND ABOUT — The Beer Institute hosted its Beer Champion Awards reception Wednesday night at Art and Soul, honoring Sens. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.), Tom Cotton (R-Ark.), John Hoeven (R-N.D.) and Bob Menendez (D-N.J.) and Reps. Sanford Bishop (D-Ga.), Ken Buck (R-Colo.), Rodney Davis (R-Ill.) and Al Lawson (D-Fla.). SPOTTED: Reps. Mike Carey (R-Ohio), Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) and Doug Lamborn (R-Colo.), Susan Haney, Mary Jane Saunders, Danelle Kosmal, Bill Young, Alex Davidson, Annie Starke Lange, Jeff Guittard, Dan Keniry, Will Kinzel, Jim Ryan and David Morgenstern.

Rep. Raúl Grijalva (D-Ariz.) hosted a party at the American Legion on Capitol Hill on Tuesday evening. SPOTTED: Reps. Lloyd Doggett (D-Texas), Steven Horsford (D-Nev.), Jimmy Gomez (D-Calif.), Darren Soto (D-Fla.), Jimmy Panetta (D-Calif.), Melanie Stansbury (D-N.M.), Jesús García (D-Ill.), Debbie Dingell (D-Mich.), Grace Napolitano (D-Calif.), Alan Lowenthal (D-Calif.), Katherine Clark (D-Mass.), Sen. Ben Ray Luján (D-N.M.), Mike Honda, William Lacy Clay and Greg Casar.

SPOTTED at Mick Mulvaney’s birthday party on Wednesday at Mission in DuPont: Emma Doyle, Jeff Freeland, Michael Williams, Johnny Slemrod, AJ Sugarman, Natalie McIntyre, Dan Hanlon and Jacob Wood. Pic

MEDIA MOVES — Following Pete Williams’ retirement from NBC at the end of the month, Ken Dilanian will be elevated to justice and intelligence correspondent, Kelly O’Donnell will temporarily lead Supreme Court coverage and Julia Ainsley will be elevated to homeland security correspondent.

TRANSITIONS — Kara Hauck is now corporate comms manager at Lowe's Companies, Inc. She most recently was associate director for executive affairs at March of Dimes. … Michael Williams and Meg Baglien are joining Forbes Tate Partners. Williams will be senior VP and previously was legislative director for Rep. Lucy McBath (D-Ga.). Baglien will be VP of public affairs and previously was at Optimist Inc.

WEDDING — Camille Stewart, global head of product security strategy at Google and a Marcia Fudge and Obama DHS alum, and Jassum Gloster, strategist at HP, recently got married in a ceremony in Costa Rica. They met at mutual friends’ wedding in Kenya and got engaged on the Amalfi Coast in Italy. Pic

WELCOME TO THE WORLD — Amy Lightbourn, a comms consultant for the NYC Department of Education, and James Lightbourn, SVP for corporate finance at Arctic Securities, on July 5 welcomed Linnea Amy Lightbourn, who joins big brother Landon. Pics by Melissa Wilson ... Another pic

 

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