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Presented by Instagram: The unofficial guide to official Washington. | | | | |  | | By Rachael Bade | | | With help from Eli Okun and Garrett Ross
|  | DRIVING THE DAY | | |  AG Merrick Garland announces Jack Smith as special counsel to oversee DOJ's investigations into Trump on Friday, Nov. 18. | Andrew Harnik/AP Photo | Attorney General MERRICK GARLAND’s decision to name a special counsel to helm DONALD TRUMP-related probes at the Justice Department roiled the political world on Friday. In an afternoon statement delivered before cameras at Main Justice, Garland argued the appointment of veteran DOJ hand JACK SMITH was necessary given that Trump and JOE BIDEN could be facing off for the presidency in 2024. “Such an appointment underscores the department’s commitment to both independence and accountability in particularly sensitive matters,” Garland said. Some good it did him. On cue, Republicans called foul — and rushed forward to defend an ex-president who had appeared to be losing his grip on the GOP following the party’s disappointing election performance. AT MAR-A-LAGO … After 10 days of midterm recriminations, the announcement put Trump back in his most comfortable posture: portraying himself as the victim of his corrupt enemies. During a fancy black-tie affair at his Florida resort, Trump told Fox News’ Brooke Singman that he won’t participate in the probe and blasted the DOJ for the “worst politicization” of the department ever. — “I have been proven innocent for six years on everything — from fake impeachments to [former special counsel ROBERT] MUELLER who found no collusion, and now I have to do it more?” Trump told them. “It is not acceptable. It is so unfair. It is so political.” ON CAPITOL HILL … Rep. MARJORIE TAYLOR GREENE (R-Ga.) tweeted that Republicans should “IMPEACH MERRICK GARLAND!” and insisted her party “refuse to appropriate any funding to Merrick Garland’s Special Counsel and defund any part of the DOJ acting on behalf of the Democrat party as a taxpayer funded campaign arm for the Democrat’s 2024 presidential nominee.” — The latter is particularly noteworthy: It sets up a new and explosive spending clash that could easily prompt a government shutdown in the next Congress. Why? MTG and likeminded Trump loyalists will press KEVIN McCARTHY (or whoever else manages to become speaker) to toe a hard line while Democrats will absolutely refuse to defund the investigations. Watch this space. IN LAS VEGAS … Even former Vice President MIKE PENCE blasted the special counsel appointment as “very troubling” during an appearance at the Republican Jewish Coalition’s annual meeting, according to another good-get interview by Fox’s Brooke Singman and Paul Steinhauser . — “No one is above the law, but I am not sure it’s against the law to take bad advice from your lawyers,” he said. Pence went on to suggest that the DOJ has been politicized by Democrats and and to knock the FBI for conducting a raid on Mar-a-Lago to fish out classified information Trump had taken to his post-presidency residence. (Note that Smith won't only be managing the documents probe, but Jan. 6-related matters as well.) THOUGHT BUBBLE — The GOP’s pearl-clutching claims that the federal probes of Trump are “politicized” constitute Washington hypocrisy at its finest. You’ll recall how the GOP cheered the department’s 2016 probe of HILLARY CLINTON’s email practices, including alleged mishandling of classified documents. And now they’re opposed to the DOJ investigating the same alleged misuse of secret information by Trump? What’s more, there’s been a mountain of far more shocking reporting about Trump seeking to weaponize the DOJ — allegedly trying to get the department to seize voting machines , go after his political adversaries , bury the investigation into his hush payments to women alleging affairs, and reduce his allies’ prison sentences , to name a few. Most Republicans, we’ll remind you, didn’t bat an eyelash at any of those. Last thought: If you really want to talk about politicizing DOJ, look no further than MTG’s demand that Congress defund the department’s investigations. Federal prosecutors are supposed to have a free hand to enforce the law, and having a bunch of politicians up for reelection every two years micromanaging their work could get messy fast.
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Explore our tools and set them up today. | | | MEET JACK SMITH — So who is this new special counsel? Per our colleagues Josh Gerstein and Kyle Cheney , the former chief of the Justice Department unit that investigates public corruption “has almost three decades of prosecutorial experience, as a lawyer for state and federal governments as well as two tours as an international war crimes prosecutor at the Hague.” Last night on Twitter, the former lead prosecutor from Mueller’s probe, ANDREW WEISSMANN, had this warning about the new special counsel: “I was described by STEVE BANNON (and, sigh, many others) as a pit bull. Jack Smith makes me look like a golden retriever puppy. So tenacious and fearless. And apolitical and ethical.” Yet the game plan on the right to define Smith as just another partisan already appears to be underway. Former GOP Senate aide MIKE DAVIS, who now helms the Article III Project, noted Friday that Smith oversaw the 2014 prosecution of former Virginia Gov. BOB McDONNELL, resulting in a conviction that was later overturned by the Supreme Court. “Now Smith is back,” he wrote, “to take out Trump.” RELATED READS: “Who Is Jack Smith, the New Special Counsel?” by NYT’s Alan Feuer and Charlie Savage … “Jack Smith Brings Broad Resume, Low Political Profile to High-Visibility Post,” by WSJ’s Aruna Viswanatha and Sadie Gurman … “What Makes a Special Counsel ‘Special’?” by NYT’s Charlie Savage … “The new Trump probe special counsel should move quickly,” WaPo Editorial Board MORE NEWS TRUMP WON’T LIKE — Former Trump AG BILL BARR had this to say on PBS last night about his onetime boss: “He failed. He didn’t do what the country hoped — that he would rise to the occasion and rise to the office, and he didn’t do that. He’s had his chance. He obviously doesn’t have the qualities necessary. He should stand aside.” Good Saturday morning. Thanks for reading Playbook, where some of us might have decorated our homes for Christmas last night. Don’t judge! Instead, send us your scoops and gossip: Rachael Bade , Eugene Daniels , Ryan Lizza .
| | | | A message from Instagram:   | | | WHITE HOUSE WEDDING BELLS — The president’s granddaughter, NAOMI, is getting married later this morning at the White House in a private ceremony on the South Lawn. While details of the event have been sparse, NYT’s Katie Rogers writes that the hush-hush wedding “will be the quintessential Biden affair: planned by the close-knit family and a handful of trusted aides, and treated like a state secret, despite a public backdrop.” More from Rogers: “The White House kept details of the event minimal, but a person familiar with the planning said that a luncheon for the family and wedding party would be held in the White House immediately after the South Lawn ceremony, scheduled for 11 a.m. A black-tie evening reception with dessert and dancing will follow. The White House plans to release photos of the event on Saturday afternoon. … “Wedding planning meetings were kept to a close group, including the first couple and HUNTER BIDEN; ANTHONY BERNAL, [first lady JILL BIDEN’s] senior adviser; and ELIZABETH ALEXANDER, her communications director. But it was the first couple whose names were listed on the wedding invitation.” Knowing Naomi: “Of the seven Biden grandchildren, Ms. Biden, 28, is a particularly influential presence in Mr. Biden’s life. It was she who called a family meeting to urge her grandfather to run for the presidency in 2019. And she will be involved in the family discussions when Mr. Biden, who turns 80 a day after the wedding, mulls a second run.”
| | BIDEN’S SATURDAY: The president has nothing on his public schedule.
VP KAMALA HARRIS’ SATURDAY: Earlier today, the vice president participated in the APEC Leaders Retreat, met with staff and families at the U.S. Embassy in Thailand and U.S. Consulate General Chiang Mai, held a bilateral meeting with Thailand PM PRAYUT CHAN-O-CHA and visited Wat Ratchabophit. | | | | | | POLITICO APP USERS: UPGRADE YOUR APP BY DECEMBER 19! We recently upgraded the POLITICO app with a fresh look and improved features for easier access to POLITICO's scoops and groundbreaking reporting. Starting December 19, users will no longer have access to the previous version of the app. Update your app today to stay on top of essential political news, insights, and analysis from the best journalists in the business. UPDATE iOS APP – UPDATE ANDROID APP . | | | | | PHOTO OF THE DAY
|  VP Kamala Harris and Thailand PM Prayuth Chan-ocha hold a Chalom, a bamboo basket symbolizing the "handing over of the baton", as the U.S. is the next summit host during the closing of the APEC summit in Bangkok, Thailand, on Saturday, Nov. 19. | Haiyun Jiang/The New York Times via AP, Pool | | | PLAYBOOK READS | | 8 THINGS THAT STUCK WITH US 1. RUNOFF REPORT: “Judge allows Saturday voting before U.S. Senate runoff in Georgia,” by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution’s Mark Niesse: “A judge ruled that Georgia law allows Saturday voting before the runoff for the U.S. Senate, finding that polling places can open even though they follow state holidays on Thanksgiving and the day afterward that years ago honored ROBERT E. LEE’s birthday. Fulton County Superior Court Judge THOMAS COX decided Friday that state law permits counties to offer voting Nov. 26, finding in favor of Democratic U.S. Sen. RAPHAEL WARNOCK’s campaign.” 2. ELECTION AUTOPSY: “Ticket-splitting fell to a historic low — and still helped tip the Senate to Dems,” by Lisa Kashinsky and Jessica Piper: “The results are enough to make it look like this year’s midterms represented a return to the old days of de-polarized statewide politics, when large numbers of voters would support one party’s candidate for Senate and the other party for governor. But it was actually the opposite. A POLITICO analysis of the results shows that ticket-splitting in those races declined to the lowest point of any midterm since at least 1990.”
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| 3. BIDEN AT 80: “President Biden Is Turning 80. Experts Say Age Is More Than a Number,” by NYT’s Sheryl Gay Stolberg: “The New York Times spoke to 10 experts in aging to paint a picture of what the next six years might look like for a person of the president’s age. These experts have not examined or treated Mr. Biden, though they have looked at publicly available information, including a medical report issued by the White House last year, a day before his 79th birthday. “Mr. Biden, these experts agreed, has a lot going in his favor: He is highly educated, has plenty of social interaction, a stimulating job that requires a lot of thinking, is married and has a strong family network — all factors that, studies show, are protective against dementia and conducive to healthy aging.” 4. THE TWITTER MELTDOWN: “I Was the Head of Trust and Safety at Twitter. This Is What Could Become of It,” by Yoel Roth for NYT Opinion: “Even as [ELON MUSK] criticizes the capriciousness of platform policies, he perpetuates the same lack of legitimacy through his impulsive changes and tweet-length pronouncements about Twitter’s rules. In appointing himself ‘chief twit,’ Mr. Musk has made clear that at the end of the day, he’ll be the one calling the shots. It was for this reason that I chose to leave the company: A Twitter whose policies are defined by edict has little need for a trust and safety function dedicated to its principled development.” — The latest: “Twitter Staff Wipeout Under Musk Spurs Fear Site Will Decay,” by Bloomberg’s Davey Alba, Jack Gillum, and Margi Murphy: “Multiple teams that were critical for keeping the service up and running are completely gone, or borrowing engineers from other groups, according to people familiar with the matter. That includes infrastructure teams to keep the main feed operational and maintain tweet databases. … “That doesn’t mean that Twitter will shut down completely and unexpectedly. More likely, remaining employees will be unable to fix issues in the code and the site will start to lose some functionality, or be vulnerable to a major hack, technologists said.” — Musk also posted a poll on his Twitter account on Friday that simply read : “Reinstate former President Trump” with poll options for “Yes” and “No.” As of 10:45 a.m. this morning, with eight hours left for voting, the poll had 11,422,248 votes, with 52.3% voting yes and 47.7% voting no. — Related reads: “What Employees Does Twitter Need, Anyway?” by NYT’s Cecilia Kang … “Twitter’s Mass Resignations Test Elon Musk’s Management Playbook,” by WSJ’s Alexa Corse and Tim Higgins … “Musk summons engineers to Twitter HQ as millions await platform’s collapse,” by WaPo’s Joseph Menn and Cat Zakrzewski 5. 2024 WATCH: “Trump 2024 rivals court his donors at big Las Vegas meeting,” by AP’s Steve Peoples in Las Vegas: “It was a remarkable display of defiance for a party defined almost wholly by its allegiance to Trump for the past six years. … ‘Maybe there’s a little blood in the water and the sharks are circling,’ Maryland Gov. LARRY HOGAN, a Republican presidential prospect himself and frequent Trump critic said in an interview. … Ahead of his Friday night address, MIKE POMPEO , the former Secretary of State under Trump, mocked one of his former boss’ slogans: ‘We were told we’d get tired of winning. But I’m tired of losing.’” 6. COP TO IT: “U.S. eyes shifts on climate payments, in possible breakthrough at summit,” by Karl Mathiesen and Zack Colman in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt: “The struggle to reach a new global agreement on climate change took a significant turn as the United States showed openness to making payments to nations suffering irreversible damage from the planet’s warming, negotiators at the U.N. summit here told POLITICO. “The U.S. helped draft a proposal that calls for supplying such payments to developing countries, U.K. and European officials said late Friday night as text of a potential agreement circulated to reporters in this town on the Red Sea. Negotiations in the nearly two-week-long summit are continuing Saturday, a day after the original deadline.” — Related read: “Despair, lack of progress at climate talks, yet hope blooms,” by AP’s Seth Borenstein 7. SCOTUS WATCH: “Former Anti-Abortion Leader Alleges Another Supreme Court Breach,” by NYT’s Jodi Kantor and Jo Becker: “As the Supreme Court investigates the extraordinary leak this spring of a draft opinion of the decision overturning Roe v. Wade, a former anti-abortion leader has come forward claiming that another breach occurred in a 2014 landmark case involving contraception and religious rights. “In a letter to Chief Justice JOHN G. ROBERTS JR. and in interviews with The New York Times, the Rev. ROB SCHENCK said he was told the outcome of the 2014 case weeks before it was announced. He used that information to prepare a public relations push, records show, and he said that at the last minute he tipped off the president of Hobby Lobby, the craft store chain owned by Christian evangelicals that was the winning party in the case.” 8. PREPARING FOR BATTLE: “House GOP vs. the Pentagon: Get ready for the ‘woke’ wars,” by Connor O’Brien: “The Republicans’ complaints on these issues aren’t new. Nor is their focus on the culture wars. For two years, conservatives have had Twitter-ready exchanges with Pentagon leaders during hearings that were called for some other reason, usually the budget. … All of that changes on Jan. 3, when those same Republicans gain the power to call their own hearings on topics of their choosing, push through legislation and put their concerns front and center.”
| | | | A message from Instagram:   | | | CLICKER — “The nation’s cartoonists on the week in politics,” edited by Matt Wuerker -- 16 funnies
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| GREAT WEEKEND READS, curated by Ryan Lizza: — “Candidates Matter: 2022 Midterm Elections: Outcomes & Implications,” powerpoint by Bruce Mehlman of Mehlman Castagnetti Rosen & Thomas — “China’s ‘Dangerous Storm’ Coming: The Eight Big Challenges Facing China and the People Chosen to Deal with Them,” by Ray Dalio on LinkedIn — “What Joe Biden Knows About America,” by The Atlantic’s Franklin Foer: “He intuited that voters would rise above their economic self-interest to prevent election deniers from seizing power.” — “10 Days in Hell: Our Russian Hostage Nightmare,” by Reuben Johnson for Rolling Stone: “Desperate to escape Ukraine, we were captured, questioned, and held in a bunker. Then our teenage son tried to save us.” — “Over the Horizon,” by Caitlin Chandler for Harper’s Magazine: “The next frontier in the war on terror.” — “Bed Habits,” by Vulture’s Rachel Handler: “One insomniac’s descent into the world of sleep research to understand what screens before bed are doing to our brains.” — “The unbearable lightness of BuzzFeed,” by The Verge’s Mia Sato: “BuzzFeed built a digital media empire in part by aggregating viral content from social media. A decade later, what’s next?” — “The Crushing Loneliness of the Girl Boss,” by Tablet Mag’s Katherine Dee: “COVID lockdowns have sparked a backlash against the fashionable brand of feminism that promotes placing career and individual satisfaction above family life.” Primary source: FTX’s Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing From the archives: “Elon Musk’s Space Dream Almost Killed Tesla,” by Ashlee Vance for Bloomberg in May 2015: “SpaceX started with a plan to send mice to Mars. It got crazier from there.”
| | | | GO INSIDE THE MILKEN INSTITUTE FUTURE OF HEALTH SUMMIT: POLITICO is featuring a special edition of our “Future Pulse” newsletter at the 2022 Milken Institute Future of Health Summit from Dec. 6 to 8. The newsletter takes readers inside one of the most influential gatherings of health industry leaders and innovators solving the biggest global health issues to ensure a healthier, more resilient future for all. SUBSCRIBE TODAY TO RECEIVE EXCLUSIVE COVERAGE . | | | | | | | PLAYBOOKERS | | Nancy Pelosi’s food habits are coming under intense scrutiny . Lisa Murkowski took a ranked-choice voting victory lap . Benjamin Hall gave an update on his recovery since coming under attack in Russia as he accepted a “Courage” award from the Fox Nation Patriot Awards. Hakeem Jeffries’ brother, Hasan Kwame Jeffries, said he’s still mom’s favorite . PLAYBOOK REAL ESTATE SECTION — “Peek Inside the DC Townhouse Linked to Disgraced FTX Founder’s Doomed Lobbying Efforts,” by Realtor.com’s Erik Gunther SPOTTED at the Shakespeare Theatre Company on Friday night at a performance of “Much Ado About Nothing,” which also had a reception before the play honoring the importance of a free press inspired by Simon Godwin’s interpretation of the play and setting it in a modern day cable newsroom, the “Shakespeare News Network”: Diane Foley, Rachel Martin and Luke Hartig, Jane Mayer and Bill Hamilton, Melissa Moss and Jonathan Silver, Ali Rubin, Emily Lenzner, Vivek Jain, Courtney and Mike Dorning, Jacqueline Alemany and Jake Levine, Kate Meissner, Mike Martin, Nihal Krishan, Rachel Levitan and Emilie Simons. HAPPY BIRTHDAY: Jack Dorsey … Annie Tomasini of the White House … WaPo’s Matt Viser and Dana Hedgpeth … Time’s Sam Jacobs and Vera Bergengruen … Emerson Sprick … Matt Lloyd of Sen. Rob Portman’s (R-Ohio) office … Meghan Burris of NAFCU … Mike Deutsch … Robert Marcus of the House Foreign Affairs Dems … Neil Bjorkman … Brad Bauman of Fireside Campaigns … Barb Leach … Katie Peake of J.A. Green & Co. … Michael Reynold … Foreign Policy’s Andrew Sollinger … Ricky Wilson … Louis Susman … Cait Graf ... Nicole Isaac … NBC’s Lauren McCulloch ... Dena Iverson … former Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) … Ann Curry … former Wisconsin Gov. Tommy Thompson … Ted Turner … former Reps. Lamar Smith (R-Texas), Jo Bonner (R-Ala.) and Gary Ackerman (D-N.Y.) … former Alaska Gov. Sean Parnell … Laura Bridge of the Halifax International Security Forum THE SHOWS ( Full Sunday show listings here ): ABC “This Week”: Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) … Paul Ryan. Panel: Mary Bruce, Heidi Heitkamp, Ramesh Ponnuru and Rachael Bade. CBS “Face the Nation”: Former VP Mike Pence … Rod Rosenstein … Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.) … Rep. and L.A. Mayor-elect Karen Bass (D-Calif.) … Kara Swisher … Scott Galloway … Rikki Kleiman … David Laufman. FOX “Fox News Sunday”: Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) … Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.) … Brit Hume. Panel: Guy Benson, Josh Kraushaar, Jeff Mason and Marie Harf. CNN “State of the Union”: Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) … Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.). Panel: Sarah Matthews, Karen Finney, Brad Todd and Stephanie Cutter. CNN “Inside Politics”: Panel: Nia-Malika Henderson, Jonathan Swan, Margaret Talev and Jonah Goldberg. NBC “Meet the Press”: Former VP Mike Pence. Panel: Peter Baker, Brendan Buck, Kimberly Atkins Stohr and Anna Palmer. MSNBC “The Sunday Show”: Olivia Troye … Miles Taylor … Joan Walsh … House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn (D-S.C.) … Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.)… House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer … Rep. and L.A. Mayor-elect Karen Bass (D-Calif.). 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 and producers Setota Hailemariam and Bethany Irvine.
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