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The Donald Trump investigation encompasses inquiries into potential crimes including obstruction of justice, the removal of records and violating the Espionage Act, the warrant revealed. | Evan Vucci, File/AP Photo | |  | DRIVING THE DAY | | WARRANT(ED?) — After a week of speculation, we finally got to see the details of the search warrant that preceded the FBI’s descent on Mar-a-Lago and an accompanying receipt — and the contents are explosive. The DONALD TRUMP investigation encompasses inquiries into potential crimes including obstruction of justice, the removal of records and violating the Espionage Act, the warrant revealed. (It’s worth noting that the Espionage Act, despite its name, comprises much more than actual spying — including refusing to return classified documents.) “TS/SCI” documents, stamped with one of the highest levels of classification, were among the materials law enforcement seized from Mar-a-Lago. Though many of the items taken were labeled with nonspecific descriptors, others on the list included “Executive grant of clemency re: ROGER JASON STONE, JR.” and “Info re: President of France.” Read the unsealed docs here Our colleagues Betsy Woodruff Swan, Kyle Cheney and Nick Wu write that “the details in the warrant underscore the gravity of the probe — an unprecedented investigation of a former president for mishandling some of the nation’s most sensitive secrets.” Convictions for violations of these laws can result in fines or jail time. Trump allies responded Friday by saying that he had declassified all the documents the FBI seized while he was still at the White House. “Number one, it was all declassified,” Trump declared on Truth Social. Reality check: It’s murky. “Mr. Trump has offered no details, but if he is saying he made a blanket, oral invocation that all the files he took to Mar-a-Lago were unclassified, without making any formal, written record, that would be difficult to prove or disprove,” NYT’s Charlie Savage writes. “Even if there is no evidence that Mr. Trump followed normal procedures for declassifying certain types of information, his lawyers could argue that he was not constitutionally bound to obey such rules. “But in any case, such a claim would not settle the matter.” That’s because the laws around taking government records don’t take national security into account, and the laws around taking national security information don’t necessarily correspond to whether the information is classified. Newsweek’s William M. Arkin reports that the files the FBI sought touched on “intelligence ‘sources and methods’ … documents with the potential to reveal U.S. intelligence sources, including human sources on the American government payroll.” More Mar-a-Lago fallout … — The National Archives batted down Trump world’s whataboutism that pushed evidence-free claims about BARACK OBAMA’s presidential records, per WaPo. — The magistrate judge in Florida who signed off on the search, BRUCE REINHART, has been subject to an onslaught of antisemitic attacks online, Matt Dixon reports from Tallahassee. — Allies of President JOE BIDEN are saying A.G. MERRICK GARLAND has met the moment, as they see his cautious, methodical approach — the subject of much liberal consternation — paying off, NBC’s Mike Memoli reports . They also view DOJ’s actions (and the White House’s ignorance of them) as validation of the Biden approach that sought to depoliticize law enforcement. — Republicans aren’t all on the same page in reacting to the latest bombshell news: Some are continuing to defend Trump vigorously, while others push for transparency and caution. “I’m impressed Democrats finally got us to say, ‘Defund the FBI,’” Rep. DAN CRENSHAW (R-Texas) told Axios’ Andrew Solender. “That makes you look unserious, when you start talking like that.” Good Saturday morning. Thanks for reading Playbook. Today I’m thinking about one of my favorite SALMAN RUSHDIE sentences: “To understand just one life, you have to swallow the world.” Reach out with your top Rushdie lines at eokun@politico.com , or contact the rest of the team: Rachael Bade, Eugene Daniels, Ryan Lizza.
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Learn more about our work ahead. | | | IT’S OFFICIAL — The House passed Democrats’ big reconciliation bill Friday on a 220-207 party-line vote, sending it to Biden’s desk. It was a rare display of unanimity, with even maverick Rep. JARED GOLDEN (D-Maine) calling it “yet another common sense win for the American people” in a Medium post announcing his support (which also took a swipe at “the poorly-targeted and fiscally irresponsible agenda put forward by the Biden Administration”). The landmark legislation constitutes the largest climate investment ever along with several other major planks of the Democratic agenda — though not nearly as many as they hoped last year. More from Roll Call Reconciliation reads for the morning after: — Sen. KYRSTEN SINEMA (D-Ariz.) raked in $983,000 in campaign donations over the past year from the wealthy investors and private equity industry that she saved from serious tax increases, AP’s Brian Slodysko reports today. The contributions “make Sinema one of the industry’s top beneficiaries in Congress” and “more than doubled what the industry donated to her during all of her preceding years in Congress combined.” Sinema’s office said she made the decision based on “what’s best for Arizona.” — The bill’s IRS investments will move the government closer to creating a free system for filing taxes online, per AP’s Fatima Hussein , though it’s still probably years away from becoming a reality. — Speaking of years away, the bill’s climate and energy provisions may take some time to affect regular Americans’ lives, reports Axios’ Andrew Freedman : “If you’re in the market for an electric vehicle or a new water heater, you’ll see this bill’s effects quickly. But if you don’t own a home and aren’t going car shopping anytime soon, it may take longer for you to notice its footprint.” — We enjoyed this detail from the day Senate Majority Leader CHUCK SCHUMER and Sen. JOE MANCHIN (D-W.Va.) met in a Capitol basement room to revive the larger reconciliation bill, via a new tick-tock from NBC’s Scott Wong, Ali Vitali, Sahil Kapur, Frank Thorp V and Mike Memoli : “The conference room had no windows but featured a mural of the U.S. Capitol. Schumer had never been in the room before. ‘What a beautiful office. Is it mine?’ Schumer said. In fact, it was one of the many rooms and spaces in the building that the majority leader controlled.” — The big picture: Between the reconciliation bill and the CHIPS and Science Act, we’re seeing a sea change in how policymakers approach the role of government in the economy, WSJ’s Jon Hilsenrath reports. “ADAM SMITH’s invisible hand … has been replaced by a muscular arm, in which Washington uses tax credits, tax rebates, loans, loan guarantees, regulations, tariffs, spending programs and other tools to nudge a market-driven economy that has proven far more turbulent and uneven than many people expected it to become a quarter-century ago.”
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|  Rep. Brad Finstad (R-Minn.) is sworn in as the newest member of Congress on Friday after winning a special election this week. | Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images | | | PLAYBOOK READS | | 9 THINGS THAT STUCK WITH US 1. MORE ON THE FBI ATTACK: New details emerged Friday about RICKY SHIFFER, the man who authorities said had tried to breach an FBI office in Cincinnati before being killed. Shiffer was a Trump devotee and Navy veteran who’d had top-secret clearance, per NBC’s Melissa Chan, Elliot Lewis, Ryan Reilly and Corky Siemaszko. In recent months, Shiffer had been on law enforcement’s radar thanks to potential extremist ties/behavior, WaPo’s Alex Horton, Annie Gowen, Derek Hawkins and James Bikales add . Social media accounts apparently tied to Shiffer (though not yet confirmed as such) document growing despondency and belief in conspiracy theories. “I do not expect to save America,” one post read. “I do expect to die trying.” 2. FROM 30,000 FEET: NYT’s Alan Feuer has a broad look this morning at the surge of political violence in American life, with similar shares of liberals and conservatives believe that violence against the government is justifiable. Still, particularly in the wake of Jan. 6, “scholars who study political violence point to a common thread: the heightened use of bellicose, dehumanizing and apocalyptic language, particularly by prominent figures in right-wing politics and media.” 3. DEMOCRACY WATCH: Wisconsin state Assembly Speaker ROBIN VOS fired MICHAEL GABLEMAN, the former state Supreme Court justice whose review of the 2020 election failed to turn up much of anything, per AP’s Scott Bauer. Aligning with Trump, Gableman had turned on Vos in the primary the speaker won this week. “He did a good job last year, kind of got off the rails this year and now we're going to end the investigation,” Vos told WISN 12’s Matt Smith. 4. BACK ON THE TRAIL: Pennsylvania Lt. Gov. JOHN FETTERMAN returned to his Senate campaign with a rally in Erie, where he discussed his stroke and thanked his wife for saving his life. “Fetterman, who speaks without a script, showed some signs of the lingering effects of his stroke,” reports the Erie Times-News’ Matthew Rink . “At times his speech was slightly halted and his cadence uneven, but mostly it was fluid and lifting.” Color from the scene: “Fetterman, wearing his trademark black Carhartt hoodie, assailed [MEHMET] OZ at the rally as a wealthy carpetbagger,” Holly Otterbein reports . “He also sought to play up his Pennsylvania roots, with his staff handing out yellow, Fetterman-branded towels inspired by the Pittsburgh Steelers’ ‘Terrible Towel.’” 5. ABORTION IN THE STATES: Idaho’s near-total abortion ban will go into effect in two weeks after the state Supreme Court on Friday allowed the laws to proceed amid pending litigation. More from the Idaho Statesman … And Louisiana’s near-total abortion ban will remain in effect after the state Supreme Court turned away an appeal seeking to block it. More from The Advocate 6. JHA RULE: N.Y. Mag’s James Walsh talked to the White House’s ASHISH JHA about the new technologies he’s dreaming of to fight the coronavirus pandemic. Jha thinks a universal coronavirus vaccine isn’t out of the question for 2023, and he says learning coalition-building skills has been one of the most key parts of his role. Fun detail: “He’s wearing a blue suit with a purple tie and, at the beginning of our conversation, he apologizes in advance for eating during our interview. (He takes just a single bite from a pickle during our 35 minutes together.)”
| | | | A message from Facebook:   | | | 7. BORDER SONG: “Arizona won’t wait for feds, starts filling border wall gaps,” AP: “Arizona began moving in shipping containers to close a 1,000-foot gap in the border wall near the southern Arizona farming community of Yuma on Friday, with officials saying they were acting to stop migrants after repeated, unfulfilled promises from the Biden administration to block off the area. The move by Arizona comes without explicit permission on federal land.” 8. IT’S ELECTION DAY SOMEWHERE: Today, the state to watch is Hawaii, where Democratic primaries are the main event. Lt. Gov. JOSH GREEN is seen as the frontrunner in the gubernatorial contest, while state Rep. PATRICK BRANCO and former state Sen. JILL TOKUDA lead an open race for a congressional seat. Preview from the Honolulu Star-Advertiser 9. ROY MOORE BACK IN THE SPOTLIGHT: An Alabama jury awarded the former Senate nominee an $8.2 million victory in his defamation lawsuit against the Senate Majority PAC, per AP’s Kim Chandler in Montgomery. “Senate Majority PAC funded a group called Highway 31 that ran a $4 million advertising blitz against Moore” in the 2017 campaign. “The lawsuit centered on one TV commercial that recounted accusations against Moore. Moore’s attorneys argued the ad, through the juxtaposition of statements, falsely claimed he solicited sex from young girls at a shopping mall.” The PAC says they expect to win on appeal. CLICKER — “The nation’s cartoonists on the week in politics,” edited by Matt Wuerker — 16 keepers
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Varvel - Creators | GREAT WEEKEND READS, curated by Ryan Lizza: — “The Bland Ambition of Kevin McCarthy,” by The New Republic’s Grace Segers and Daniel Strauss: “The Bakersfield Republican has everything it takes to rise to the top in today’s GOP: zero interest in policy, relentless thirst for power, and slavish loyalty to Trump. If this man becomes speaker of the House—look out, America.” — “He spent twenty years in prison for murder. But is the victim even dead?” by Matthew Bremner in The Economist’s 1843 Magazine: “The story of Manuel Ramírez and his fight for justice in Mexico.” — “Looking for Clarence Thomas,” by Esquire’s Mitchell Jackson: “He grew up speaking a language of the enslaved on the shores of Pin Point, Georgia. He would become the most powerful Black man in America, using the astonishing power vested in a Supreme Court justice to hold back his own people. Now he sits atop an activist right-wing court poised to undo the progressivism of the past century. What happened?” — “A Convenience-Store Magnate, Teen Drinking and a Fatal Boat Crash: The Legal Case Shaking South Carolina,” by WSJ’s Valerie Bauerlein in Hampton, S.C.: “The sensational killing of two members of the Murdaugh family has become intertwined with a lawsuit aimed at the state’s liability laws.” — “Paranoia and Pastels at Bama Rush,” by NYT’s Madison Malone Kircher in Tuscaloosa, Ala.: “Fears about TikTok and rumors of a secret documentary swirl around sorority rush week at the University of Alabama.” — “What Is Elon Musk?” by N.Y. Mag’s Lane Brown: “And how is it possible that he could emerge from his Twitter debacle more culturally dominant than ever?” — “How the Bass Pro Shops Pyramid Became a Memphis Icon,” by Boyce Upholt for Outside magazine: “In 2015, billionaire entrepreneur Johnny Morris opened a hunting-and-fishing store that doubles as a theme park, with multiple bars and restaurants, a luxury lodge, and an entire swampland forest decorated with taxidermy—all shoved inside a replica Egyptian monument. We sent one writer on a 24-hour mission to explore this exotic modern wilderness.” — “The Afghanistan Deal that Never Happened,” by Lara Seligman: “A Q&A with General Frank McKenzie, one year after his negotiations with the Taliban and the chaotic American withdrawal.” — From the archives: “The Espionage Statutes and Publication of Defense Information,” by Harold Edgar and Benno Schmidt Jr. in the Columbia Law Review, May 1973.
| | | | 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. | | | | | | | PLAYBOOKERS | | Asim Ghafoor, an American who’d been locked up in the UAE for a month, was released today. George W. Bush is teaching a MasterClass. Tony Romm has spent too much time at the Capitol. Jim McGovern tweaked Republicans with a “Seinfeld” reference. Joe Biden called Sauli Niinistö and Magdalena Andersson to celebrate the U.S. officially backing Finland and Sweden to join NATO. Gannett laid off dozens of journalists across at least 10 newspapers. IN MEMORIAM — “Joy Billington Doty, veteran Washington Star reporter, dies at 91,” by WaPo’s Patricia Sullivan: “She covered first ladies, society news, Embassy Row functions and visiting dignitaries until the newspaper closed in 1981.” MEDIA MOVE — Jeffrey Toobin is leaving CNN, where his 20-year career took him to chief legal analyst. His next book will publish in 2023 on the Oklahoma City bombing, he tweeted. HAPPY BIRTHDAY: Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen … White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre … CFTC Commissioner Caroline Pham … Sarah Huckabee Sanders … IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva … Tim Johnson … Jamestown Associates’ Larry Weitzner … Jeremy Bash of Beacon Global Strategies … Grace Davis of Alliance Defending Freedom … State Department’s Bridget Roddy … Isabel Aldunate of OMB … Adam Sharon … GrayRobinson’s Chris McCannell … Jim Spiegelman of the Aspen Institute … Addy Baird … Cate Hurley of Rep. Adam Schiff’s (D-Calif.) office… Douglas Rivlin … Josh Romney … Molly Henneberg … Scott Dziengelski of King & Spalding … Alec Davis ... Gabriel Laizer ... AP’s Kelly Daschle ... Bloomberg’s Joanna Ossinger ... Gonzo Gallegos … Owen Jappen of the American Chemistry Council … Kelly Rzendzian … former Surgeon General Joycelyn Elders … BlackRock’s Allison Lessne … former Reps. Tom Marino (R-Pa.), Lincoln Díaz-Balart (R-Fla.) and Pete Visclosky (D-Ind.) … Ben Pack … L.A. Times’ Margot Roosevelt THE SHOWS (Full Sunday show listings here): ABC “This Week”: White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre … Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan. Panel: Dan Abrams and Elizabeth Neumann. Panel: Sarah Isgur, Donna Brazile, Alex Burns and Dana Milbank. CNN “State of the Union”: Rep. Mike Turner (R-Ohio) … Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm … Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson. Panel: Rep. Jamaal Bowman (D-N.Y.), S.E. Cupp, Hilary Rosen and Scott Jennings. MSNBC “The Sunday Show”: White House comms director Kate Bedingfield … Rep. Gregory Meeks (D-N.Y.) … Doug Jones … Rep. Madeleine Dean (D-Pa.) … Dana Milbank … John Bresnahan. CBS “Face the Nation”: Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) … Rep. Michael McCaul (R-Texas) … Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick (R-Pa.) … Alberto Carvalho. NBC “Meet the Press”: Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) … Sen. Mike Rounds (R-S.D.). Panel: Chuck Rosenberg and Andrew Weissmann. Reporting from Ken Dilanian. Panel: Michael Beschloss, Matthew Continetti, Eugene Robinson, Betsy Woodruff Swan and Amy Walter. FOX “Fox News Sunday,” guest-anchored by Gillian Turner: Retired Gen. Jack Keane … Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah). Panel: Jason Riley, Susan Page, Jonathan Turley and Marie Harf. CNN “Inside Politics”: Panel: Leigh Ann Caldwell, Laura Barrón-López, Mario Parker, Edward-Isaac Dovere and Katelyn Polantz. Did someone forward this email to you? Sign up here. Send Playbookers tips to playbook@politico.com or text us at 202-556-3307. Playbook couldn’t happen without our editor Mike DeBonis, deputy editor Zack Stanton, digital editor Garrett Ross and producers Setota Hailemariam and Bethany Irvine.
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