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Presented by Blackstone: POLITICO's must-read briefing on what's driving the afternoon in Washington. | | | | |  | | By Garrett Ross | | | HEADS UP — Former President DONALD TRUMP is preparing to endorse in the Missouri GOP Senate primary today ahead of voting on Tuesday, he said in a post on Truth Social . He is very likely to back ERIC GREITENS, the scandal-plagued former governor, who has strong ties to DON JR. and KIMBERLY GUILFOYLE. In fact, here’s what Trump said just about a month ago: “Eric is tough and he’s smart. A little controversial, but I’ve endorsed controversial people before. So we’ll see what happens.” He also said he wouldn’t endorse Rep. VICKY HARTZLER, one of Greitens’ opponents who Trump said had reached out seeking his endorsement. ( h/t the Missouri Independent’s Jason Hancock ) According to three of the latest polls on the race, Missouri A.G. ERIC SCHMITT is leading the pack, with Greitens and Hartzler jockeying for second and third, per KRCG’s Elise Person . PELOSI TO TAIWAN — After weeks of will-she-won’t-she, Speaker NANCY PELOSI is set to visit Taiwan, “with meetings scheduled with government officials on the self-ruled island that China claims as its own,” report WSJ’s Joyu Wang in Taipei and Wenxin Fan in Hong Kong . More deets: “People whom Mrs. Pelosi is planning to meet with in Taiwan have been informed of her imminent arrival, this person said, though some details remain in flux. Some of Ms. Pelosi’s meetings have been scheduled for Tuesday evening, but most are set for Wednesday, the person said, adding that they include, but aren’t limited to, Taiwanese government officials.” A Taiwanese official told CNN that Pelosi is expected to stay overnight, and a U.S. official said “Defense Department officials are working around the clock on monitoring any Chinese movements in the region and securing a plan to keep her safe.” The view from Beijing: “We would like to tell the U.S. once again that China is standing by, and the Chinese People's Liberation Army will never sit idly by. China will take resolute responses and strong countermeasures to defend its sovereignty and territorial integrity,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman ZHAO LIJIAN said, per CNN. NYT’s Chris Buckley has the context on the dustup : Chinese President XI JINPING “has cast himself as the standard-bearer of a sacred cause — unifying Taiwan with China — and Beijing regards visits to the island by American officials as an affront to that claim,” he writes. “But Mr. Xi is also confronting a brittle economic and political moment, and careening into a crisis over Taiwan could damage him, even as he rallies nationalist support.”
|  Speaker Nancy Pelosi meets with Singapore PM Lee Hsien Loong on Monday. | Ministry of Communications and Information, Singapore via AP Photo | Today in Singapore, Pelosi met with PM LEE HSIEN LOONG, President HALIMAH YACOB and other Cabinet members, per the AP’s Eileen Ng and Zen Soo . The readout: “Lee welcomed a U.S. commitment to strong engagement with the region, and the two sides discussed ways to deepen U.S. economic engagement through initiatives such as the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework, the ministry said in a statement. Lee and Pelosi also discussed the war in Ukraine, tensions surrounding Taiwan and mainland China, and climate change, it said.” WHAT EVERYONE’S WAITING FOR — Sen. JOE MANCHIN (D-W.Va.) told reporters that he is planning to speak with Sen. KYRSTEN SINEMA (D-Ariz.) about the reconciliation bill later today. ( h/t CNN’s Manu Raju ) COVID IN CONGRESS — Sen. JOHN CORNYN (R-Texas) has Covid. He’s fully vaccinated and “doing fine,” he said in a tweet announcing his diagnosis . He continued: “While quarantining I’ll continue to fight CHUCK SCHUMER and Joe Manchin’s massive tax increase on working families remotely, consistent with CDC guidelines.” HAPPENING TODAY — CNN’s @oliverdarcy : “Psychiatrist for parents of Sandy Hook victim is testifying at the ALEX JONES trial. He says the parents have hired security for this trial. ‘They are very, very frightened,’ he tells the court. ‘Of who?’ plaintiffs' attorney asks. ‘Some follower of Jones trying to kill them.’” Good Monday afternoon.
| | A message from Blackstone: Blackstone's investment approach is focused on the future. We identify companies that are shaping a stronger economy and help them accelerate their growth. We can deliver for our investors by strengthening the communities in which we live and work. Learn more. | | | THE WHITE HOUSE WHAT HARRIS IS ANNOUNCING TODAY — During her visit to Miami today, VP KAMALA HARRIS is set to announce a new investment of $1 billion available to states to fight climate change, AP’s Matthew Daly writes . COVID CONFUSION CONTINUES — Before President JOE BIDEN emerged from his initial quarantine, he tested twice — once on Tuesday night and once on Wednesday morning, both negative. “To test at all meant Biden was going above and beyond the guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for exiting isolation,” WaPo’s Lena Sun and Joel Achenbach write . “The CDC has built that guidance around a timeline — a prescribed minimum number of days of isolation — rather than the direct, personalized evidence of virus shedding that rapid antigen tests provide. But the usefulness of these tests was highlighted anew Saturday when Biden, who had taken the antiviral during his illness, tested positive again and returned to isolation in the White House residence. “More than 2½ years into the pandemic , and with a highly contagious version of the virus circulating, the CDC guidelines for what to do when falling ill — and when to return to public life — continue to stoke as much confusion as clarity. That’s a reflection of the changing nature of the virus, the inherent unpredictability of an infection, and the demands and expectations of work and home life.” Biden is still testing positive, per the latest note from the White House physician today . AMERICA AND THE WORLD THE LATEST ON THE RUSSIA SWAP DEAL — In the proposed prisoner swap involving BRITTNEY GRINER and PAUL WHELAN , Russia initially requested the inclusion of a “former colonel from the country's domestic spy agency who was convicted of murder in Germany last year,” CNN’s Natasha Bertrand and Frederik Pleitgen report . “The request was seen as problematic for several reasons, the sources told CNN, among them that [VADIM KRASIKOV ] remains in German custody. … But underscoring how determined the Biden administration has been to get Griner and Whelan back to the U.S., U.S. officials did make quiet inquiries to the Germans about whether they might be willing to include Krasikov in the trade, a senior German government source told CNN.” — Meanwhile, the attorney who represents Russian arms dealer VIKTOR BOUT said he is “confident” that the proposed swap will get done. “I do have some information about the progress of how things are going ... But that information comes from the Russian side as opposed to the American side,” STEVE ZISSOU told CNN . “I'm confident this is going to get done.”
| | | | 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 . | | | | | ALL POLITICS THE PANDEMIC EFFECT — NYT’s Sheera Frenkel has a fascinating read up on how the coronavirus pandemic has reshaped the Democratic and Republican parties as parents have staked out increasingly disparate positions on things like masking and vaccines. The emerging segment of voters consists largely of “parents who joined the anti-vaccine and anti-mask cause during the pandemic, narrowing their political beliefs to a single-minded obsession over those issues.” “Nearly half of Americans oppose masking and a similar share is against vaccine mandates for schoolchildren, polls show. But what is obscured in those numbers is the intensity with which some parents have embraced these views. While they once described themselves as Republicans or Democrats, they now identify as independents who plan to vote based solely on vaccine policies. “Their transformation injects an unpredictable element into November’s midterm elections. Fueled by a sense of righteousness after Covid vaccine and mask mandates ended, many of these parents have become increasingly dogmatic, convinced that unless they act, new mandates will be passed after the midterms.” JAN. 6 AND ITS AFTERMATH FOR YOUR RADAR — “The first U.S. Capitol riot defendant convicted at trial faces sentencing Monday with prosecutors asking a judge for a 15-year-prison term, by far the longest sentence sought to date in a case related to the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on Congress,” WaPo’s Spencer Hsu and Tom Jackman report . “The request for GUY REFFITT , a recruiter for the extremist Three Percenters movement who led a mob at the Capitol, is roughly one-third longer than the nine to 11 years recommended under advisory federal guidelines. Prosecutors say the stiff punishment is warranted, following up for the first time on threats to request an enhanced terrorism sentencing penalty for defendants who reject plea deals.”
| | | | INTRODUCING POWER SWITCH: The energy landscape is profoundly transforming. Power Switch is a daily newsletter that unlocks the most important stories driving the energy sector and the political forces shaping critical decisions about your energy future, from production to storage, distribution to consumption. Don’t miss out on Power Switch, your guide to the politics of energy transformation in America and around the world. SUBSCRIBE TODAY . | | | | | WAR IN UKRAINE — “Breaking through the monthslong Russian blockade of Ukraine’s Black Sea ports, a ship loaded with corn became the first to sail out since the invasion Monday, raising hopes that desperately needed grain will soon reach destinations in the Middle East and Africa and ease a global food crisis,” NYT’s Michael Schwirtz, Matina Stevis-Gridneff and Matthew Mpoke Bigg report . — “Using Nuclear Reactors for Cover, Russians Lob Rockets at Ukrainians,” by NYT’s Andrew Kramer BEYOND THE BELTWAY CLASSROOM CRISIS — “As fewer kids enroll, big cities face a small schools crisis,” by Chalkbeat’s Mila Koumpilova and Matt Barnum and AP’s Collin Binkley MUSIC NO MORE — Atlanta’s Music Midtown festival, set to take place in September, has now been canceled due to Georgia’s gun laws, reports Rolling Stone’s Jon Blistein . “Since 2011, Music Midtown has taken place at Piedmont Park in Atlanta, and parks are among the various public spaces in Georgia where guns are allowed to be carried. The festival, as a temporary user of the park, does not have the standing to supersede that law and enforce its own ban.” PLAYBOOKERS MEDIA MOVES — Nick Kristof is returning to the NYT as a columnist following his failed Oregon gubernatorial bid. He will start in the fall after finishing a new book. The announcement … Sandra Smester is joining Telemundo as the first-ever executive VP of programming and content development. She previously was executive VP and chief content officer at TV Azteca. TRANSITIONS — Alex Rosenwald, Mark Melton and Morgan DeWitt are joining the Hudson Institute. Rosenwald will be director of media relations and previously was VP of marketing and community at Ricochet. Melton will be managing editor and previously was managing editor at Providence magazine. DeWitt will be manager of public programming and special projects and previously was associate comms director in the State Party Strategies department at the RNC. … … Charlotte Law is now comms director for Rep. Ben Cline (R-Va.). She previously was social media and comms coordinator for Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.). … Robert Flock is now VP in the office of strategic engagement at the American Bankers Association. He recently received his MBA from Columbia Business School and was previously director of advocacy for congressional relations at the Credit Union National Association. … Sarah Arbes is joining AstraZeneca as head of federal affairs and policy. She most recently was VP of federal affairs, alliance development and policy at bluebird bio and is a Trump and Bush administration alum. ENGAGED — Vicente Garcia, senior director of engagement and external affairs at the Atlantic Council, and Chord Bezerra , lead designer at CareFirst, got engaged on Friday at Crispus Attucks Park, where their relationship “blossomed” during the pandemic. The two met at American Ice Company in October 2019. Pic … Another pic
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