Washington confronts the Tyre Nichols tragedy

By Eugene Daniels, Rachael Bade and Ryan Lizza

With help from Eli Okun and Garrett Ross

People worship during Sunday services at the Mount Olive Cathedral CME Church, as the death of Tyre Nichols, who died after being beaten by Memphis police officers, was brought up during services, in Memphis, Tenn., Sunday, Jan. 29, 2023. | Gerald Herbert/AP Photo

THE WEEK — Tuesday: JOE BIDEN visits NYC to promote the Amtrak Gateway Program … Wednesday: Biden meets KEVIN McCARTHY at the White House; House Judiciary border hearing … Thursday: National Prayer Breakfast … Friday: January unemployment numbers released; Biden and KAMALA HARRIS appear at DNC Winter Convention in Philadelphia

SCHUMER: ‘WE’LL WIN’ DEBT FIGHT — An underappreciated consequence of the Republican House takeover is that Senate Majority Leader CHUCK SCHUMER is now unquestionably the most powerful Democrat in Congress. No longer sharing the spotlight with NANCY PELOSI, Schumer is now navigating how to approach a divided Congress — and his relationship with House Speaker KEVIN McCARTHY — and he sat down with Burgess Everett and Olivia Beavers to share his thoughts.

Their take: Schumer spent four years as a chief DONALD TRUMP antagonist, then pivoted under JOE BIDEN to become a dealmaker — or at least a deal-facilitator, allowing bipartisan Senate gangs to hash out legislation.

“Today, Schumer is somewhere in between,” they write, “haranguing the House GOP while keeping the door open for the bipartisan work his deal-seeking senators crave. And he’s preparing for a long face-off with McCarthy as Washington charts this year’s mid-year debt ceiling deadline like an approaching meteor.”

Schumer said he’ll brook “no hostage-taking, no brinkmanship” from the GOP on the debt ceiling, even as he acknowledged some “very extreme people” are positioned to wield power in the House. “The plan is to get our Republican colleagues in the House to understand they’re flirting with disaster and hurting the American people. And to let the American people understand that as well,” he said. “And I think we’ll win.”

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THE PROGNOSIS FOR POLICE REFORM — The brutal and shocking video showing TYRE NICHOLS being beaten to death by Memphis police officers earlier this month prompted condemnation from all corners of Washington after it was released Friday.

Whether it will prompt action is another matter.

It has, for now, renewed behind-the-scenes conversations on Capitol Hill about the possibility of bipartisan policing legislation. Aides for key lawmakers on the issue, including Sens. CORY BOOKER (D-N.J.) and TIM SCOTT (R-S.C.), as well as White House staff, made calls through the weekend to set the stage for further talks.

“What are principles that folks can get behind?” one senior Democratic Hill aide said, summarizing the key question last night. “People want to explore what are options that we could conceivably see come to the Congress.”

To be clear, any negotiations will not start from a hopeful place. The last round of negotiations between Booker and Scott collapsed in September 2021 in a flurry of behind-the-scenes finger-pointing that threw the whole framework of a potential deal into question.

Booker is expected to re-introduce a version of the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act as soon as this week, and negotiations will start in earnest from there, we’re told.

The sticking points that existed a year-and-a-half ago haven’t disappeared — such as how to handle “qualified immunity,” the legal doctrine that protects police officers or the government employers from lawsuits, and whether conditioning federal policing grants on reforms constitutes “defunding the police,” as Scott has suggested.

Moreover, Republicans now control the House, and reform legislation is nowhere near their priority list. House Judiciary Committee chair JIM JORDAN (R-Ohio) made clear on NBC’s "Meet the Press" yesterday he did not think federal action was necessary. “I don’t know that there’s any law that can stop that evil that we saw,” he said, though he did add “there’s things we can do.”

Yet, in our calls last night, aides on both ends of Pennsylvania Avenue sounded a hopeful note. They believe there’s an opportunity to seize on the public outcry, and there were hints of bipartisanship — such as Sen. LINDSEY GRAHAM (R-S.C.) re-floating a potential compromise on qualified immunity Sunday.

Something we heard over and over, from voices on both sides of the aisle, was that there could be an opening for Republicans to engage in a conversation about policing without having to have a larger conversation about race in America, given that the five officers arrested and charged in Nichols’ death were also Black.

Be on the lookout for a pressure campaign to heat up over the next couple of weeks. The chair of the Congressional Black Caucus, Rep. STEVEN HORSFORD (D-Nev.), has invited Nichols’ parents to next week’s State of the Union address. Their presence, one Hill aide pointed out to us, “means the president will all but have to speak to this issue.”

The CBC has asked to meet with Biden to discuss police reform, and lawmakers involved are looking for the president to bring the issue back to prominence, including by leaning on Harris, who sponsored the original police reform bill with Booker.

Nichols’ family, the CBC and many others are going to want to hear more from POTUS than he offered last week, as the brutality of the 29-year-old’s death became clear. Biden told reporters last week that he would call on Congress to pass the George Floyd Act (which he’s done his entire presidency) before adding, “I can only do so much in an executive order at a federal level.”

A White House aide told us last night: “President Biden fought to pass this legislation last Congress, and when they didn’t get it done, he took executive action. … As the President continues to seek action, where are Republicans in Congress?”

Related reads: “Black Memphis police spark dialogue on systemic racism in the U.S.,” WaPo … “Scorpion Unit Emerged as Memphis Pursued Get-Tough Strategy,” NYT … “Tyre Nichols Footage Could Be Key to Prosecution, but Video Evidence Presents Challenges in Court,” WSJ … “Tyre Nichols case revives calls for change in police culture,” AP

Good Monday morning. Thanks for reading Playbook. Drop us a line: Rachael Bade, Eugene Daniels, Ryan Lizza.

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PHOTO OF THE DAY

Israelis stand still to observe a moment of silence for victims of a shooting attack Friday in Jerusalem in which seven Israelis were killed by a Palestinian gunman, in Tel Aviv, Israel, Saturday, Jan. 28, 2023. | AP Photo/Tsafrir Abayov

ALL POLITICS

CLIP AND SAVE — Matt Dixon this morning runs down the inner circle of Florida Gov. RON DeSANTIS and the people who will help him decide whether to challenge Trump in 2024. Click through for details on CASEY DeSANTIS (the most important adviser), GENERRA PECK, RYAN TYSON, TARYN FENSKE and others.

IDENTITY CRISIS — The races for GOP chair in many battleground states amount to referenda on the future of the Republican Party, WSJ’s Aaron Zitner and Eliza Collins write. This weekend, Arizona Republicans tapped JEFF DeWIT, who was supported by Trump and tried to appeal to more establishment figures too — but doesn’t seem to augur a major turn away from the apparatus’ focus on election fraud falsehoods. MATT DePERNO, a top election denier, is seen as the leading contender in Michigan. The Wisconsin GOP, which has been less divided, picked BRIAN SCHIMMING unanimously in December.

ABORTION AD WARS — The Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee is creating a new nonprofit State Democracy Action Fund — and its inaugural move is going up with an abortion-focused ad in Virginia, Zach Montellaro scoops this morning. Ahead of this fall’s legislative elections, the group is spending about $150,000 to warn Hampton Roads voters that Virginia Republicans could pass new abortion restrictions.

THE WHITE HOUSE

KNOWING BOB BAUER AND ANITA DUNN — The D.C. power couple are both critical members of Biden’s inner circle amid his handling of the classified documents situation, NBC’s Natasha Korecki and Jonathan Allen write in a new double profile. Their strategy not to make the imbroglio public for a couple of months showed “the tension between the areas in which Bauer and Dunn, respectively, are Biden’s most trusted advisers: law and public relations.” Together and individually in their careers, the two of them “have created a vast network of allies, amassed tens of millions of dollars, served in prestigious roles and influenced the political fortunes and decision-making of many of the Democratic Party’s most prominent figures.”

WHO’S AT DEFAULT — Biden’s refusal to budge ahead of a debt ceiling showdown is shaped by his experience in 2011, when he and President BARACK OBAMA emerged from a brutal fight with congressional Republicans vowing to never do so again, NBC’s Sahil Kapur reports. “They agreed that going forward, ‘Nobody can use the threat of default or not increasing the debt limit as a negotiating tool,’ said a former Obama official involved in the fiscal discussions.”

CONGRESS

GO TO THE MATT — Rep. MATT GAETZ (R-Fla.) has never been more powerful after nearly tanking McCarthy’s speakership bid, and now everybody on the Hill wonders what he’ll do with his newfound stature, NYT’s Robert Draper reports. “For now, Mr. Gaetz seeks to project a victor’s air of comity. ‘I am not some “Lord of the Flies” nihilist,’ he said in a recent interview. His chief aim, he asserted, is to bring egalitarianism to a legislative process dominated by lobbyists and powerful committee chairmen.”

On the debt limit and aid to Ukraine, Gaetz won’t divulge many details of his strategy or plans yet. But Draper also notes that Gaetz is a more complex figure than just a far-right bomb-thrower: He’s forged some unusual alliances and taken unexpected positions. And friends say that “three terms of political seasoning on Capitol Hill, in addition to his 2021 marriage to GINGER LUCKEY … have matured the congressman’s approach to politics and the way he conducts his personal life.”

I SAY A LITTLE PRAYER — When the National Prayer Breakfast takes place Thursday, it’ll look a little different than in years past, AP’s Gary Fields reports. Congress decided to take over the breakfast this year and split it from the International Foundation, the private group that previously hosted the event, over various concerns. Now the National Prayer Breakfast Foundation, led by MARK PRYOR, will host the breakfast and aim to return the event to its more intimate, less political roots.

RUBBER MEETS ROAD — Until now, House Republicans haven’t really had to detail which spending cuts they’d propose in exchange for a debt ceiling increase. But the conference is committed to writing a budget plan for the next year, which — while largely symbolic — will force House Budget Chair JODEY ARRINGTON (R-Texas) to make some tough calls,Caitlin Emma reports this morning.

NIGHT OF THE HUNTER — The House Oversight Committee will hear from three former leaders at Twitter about the platform’s handling of the HUNTER BIDEN laptop story at a Feb. 8 hearing, Fox News’ Anders Hagstrom and Chad Pergram report. They haven’t been named yet.

TURNING DOWN THE TEMPERATURE — With DEVIN NUNES and Rep. ADAM SCHIFF (D-Calif.) no longer on the House Intelligence Committee, panel members are voicing some tentative optimism that the knock-down-drag-out partisan fights of recent years will simmer down a bit, The Hill’s Mike Lillis and Rebecca Beitsch report, and “return the panel to its historic image as a largely collaborative body.”

THE TALENTED MR. SANTOS — “New York Republicans want George Santos gone. They know just the person to help,” by Joe Anuta in New York: Nassau County Prosecutor ANNE DONNELLY last month “pledged in strikingly strong terms to train her expertise on newly elected Rep. GEORGE SANTOS (R-N.Y.).”

— Related read: “Inside George Santos’s District Office: Nothing to See Here,” by NYT’s Dana Rubinstein

STOCK AND TRADE — Rep. LOIS FRANKEL (D-Fla.) has bought nearly $200,000 in shares of oil and gas companies since March 2020 despite her policy focus on fighting climate change, the Washington Examiner’s Gabe Kaminsky reports. Frankel says an independent money manager makes those moves on her behalf.

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JUDICIARY SQUARE

THE APPEALS COURT TO WATCH — Trump had a major impact on the federal judiciary beyond the Supreme Court, as exemplified by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit, WaPo’s Ann Marimow reports from New Orleans. Six new conservative judges like JAMES HO, some of them potential SCOTUS contenders, have made the court “the forefront of resistance to the Biden administration’s assertions of legal authority and to the regulatory power of federal agencies.”

POLICY CORNER

DOCU-DRAMA — DOJ’s CARLOS URIARTE told Senate Intelligence and Judiciary leaders this weekend that the department may not be able to provide the private information they seek on the Biden and Trump classified document investigations, given their sensitivity, CBS’ Margaret Brennan, Richard Escobedo and Melissa Quinn scooped. But DOJ and the DNI are working to figure out what info they can share, he said, and hope to brief lawmakers soon.

AD ASTRA — “Inside the secretive process to select the first astronauts for NASA’s next moon mission,” by CNN’s Kristin Fisher: “Sometime this spring, NASA will make one of the biggest announcements in its history when it names the initial four-person crew for its flagship Artemis program to return astronauts to the moon for the first time in 50 years. … At the top of everyone’s list for the first Artemis crew is REID WISEMAN, a 47-year-old decorated naval aviator and test pilot who … stepped down as chief of the astronaut office in November.”

JUST POSTED — “Smaller Rate Increase by Federal Reserve Likely as Inflation Cools,” by NYT’s Jeanna Smialek

“Mint the coin? Buy back bonds? 7 ‘gimmicks’ for dodging the debt limit,” WaPo

“Breakup of Google’s Ad Business Would Reshape $500 Billion Sector,” WSJ

WAR IN UKRAINE

THE LATEST REQUEST — Ukrainian President VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY said yesterday that Kyiv’s Western allies need to send new weapons, and get them to the battlefield more quickly, to counter a barrage of Russian attacks, per Reuters. Zelenskyy’s requests this weekend included the ATACMS surface-to-surface missile, which the U.S. makes but has thus far refused to send.

AMERICA AND THE WORLD

GET SOME TYLENOL FOR BLINKEN — Secretary of State ANTONY BLINKEN heads to Israel and the West Bank today just as the region’s simmering tensions have exploded into a burst of even worse violence than usual, AP’s Matthew Lee reports from Jerusalem. “U.S. officials say the main theme of Blinken’s conversations with [Israeli PM BENJAMIN] NETANYAHU and Palestinian leader MAHMOUD ABBAS will be ‘de-escalation.’” But that’ll be a tall task, as the far-right Israeli government goes even further with its latest responses to the recent violence and the Palestinians limit critical security cooperation measures with Israel.

FOR YOUR RADAR — “Israel Strikes Iran Amid International Push to Contain Tehran,” by WSJ’s Dion Nissenbaum, Benoit Faucon and Gordon Lubold: “Israel carried out a drone strike targeting a defense compound in Iran, as the U.S. and Israel look for new ways to contain Tehran’s nuclear and military ambitions, according to U.S. officials and people familiar with the operation.”

THE SPECIAL RELATIONSHIP — “U.S. general warns British Army no longer top-level fighting force, defence sources reveal,” by Sky News’ Deborah Haynes

CHIP OFF THE BLOCK — Restrictions on Chinese semiconductor chips are a hot topic of late, but the U.S. has maintained export restrictions on the chips to a Chinese state-run nuclear weapons lab for a quarter-century. And just since 2020, that ban has been violated at least a dozen times, WSJ’s Liza Lin and Dan Strumpf scoop from Singapore.

DANCE OF THE SUPERPOWERS — “How America Would Be Screwed If China Invades Taiwan,” by Sascha Brodsky in The Daily Beast: “A recent analysis found that the U.S. would likely lose a vast number of ships in a war with China over Taiwan, thanks to a narrowing technological advantage.”

ANNALS OF DIPLOMACY — “‘The best-kept secret in the State Department.’ How sports help U.S. diplomats,” by the LAT’s Kevin Baxter

BEYOND THE BELTWAY

MANUFACTURING RENAISSANCE? — The massive infusion of federal funding into creating semiconductor chips via the CHIPS and Science Act has sparked a rush of state legislatures trying to lure production, NBC’s Shannon Pettypiece reports. But some obstacles remain, including a limited workforce with the talent necessary for some jobs — and the relatively high costs of paying them compared to workers in other countries.

“Arrests in Atlanta ‘Cop City’ protests raise concerns over domestic terrorism charges,” NBC

“California Has More Than 100 Gun Laws. Why Don’t They Stop More Mass Shootings?” NYT

“Trustees picked by DeSantis may change progressive college,” AP

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Aftab Pureval got an earful from Travis Kelce.

Josh Hawley and J.D. Vance wagered on the Chiefs-Bengals game. (Claire McCaskill mocked Hawley’s barbecue choice.)

Robert Garcia wants answers about the DC Universe from James Gunn.

OUT AND ABOUT — SPOTTED at James Kimmey’s birthday celebration (the 35th annual James-A-Palooza) at the Clevelander Hotel on Saturday in Miami Beach: Charlie Spies, Matthew Hoekstra, Will Scharf, Brielle Appelbaum, Mehgan Perez-Acosta, Naysa Woomer, Katie Reynolds, Daniel Fisher, Ericka Morris, Amanda Smith, Lauren Devoll, Chad Banghart, Joel Krautter and Will Gardner.

WHITE HOUSE ARRIVAL LOUNGE — Maryam Zaringhalam is now assistant director for public access and research policy for the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy. She most recently was NLM data science and open science officer at NIH.

TRANSITIONS — Courtney Knight is now a policy adviser for the Senate Agriculture Committee. She most recently was a policy adviser at Pioneer Public Affairs, and is a Senate Majority PAC alum. … Claire Steven is joining Rep. Adam Schiff’s (D-Calif.) Senate campaign as California finance director. She previously was deputy campaign manager and finance director for Rep. Sharice Davids’ (D-Kan.) reelect. …

… Thomas Boodry is now legislative director for Rep. Michael Waltz (R-Fla.). He most recently was legislative director for Rep. Tony Gonzales (R-Texas), and is a Marco Rubio alum. … Jacob Dowd is now assistant director of federal relations for Washington State University. He previously was advocacy and government affairs specialist for the International Foundation for Electoral Systems.

ENGAGED — Andrew Desiderio, senior congressional reporter for Punchbowl and a POLITICO alum, proposed to Julia Schroeder, an intellectual property attorney at Dunner Law PLLC, in Georgetown on Saturday as their corgi Pippa was by their side. The couple met while attending GW.Pic … Another pic

WELCOME TO THE WORLD — Sara Bonjean, president at Rose Strategies, and Ron Bonjean, co-founder and partner at ROKK Solutions, on Saturday welcomed Ronald Dean Bonjean III, who will be known as Bright. Pic… Another pic

HAPPY BIRTHDAY: Rep. Mike Johnson (R-La.) … CFPB Director Rohit Chopra … former Reps. Lee Zeldin (R-N.Y.) and Frank Wolf (R-Va.) … former VP Dick Cheney … American Petroleum Institute’s Mike Sommers … CBS News Radio’s Steven Portnoy … POLITICO’s Bob Hillman and John Sakellariadis … NBC’s Natasha Korecki and Sarah Mimms … former Del. Michael San Nicolas (D-Guam) … MSNBC’s Chris Jansing … Nels Olson of Korn Ferry … Lisa Desjardins of PBS NewsHour … Jeff Naft of House Majority Leader Steve Scalise’s office … Todd Sloves of Rep. Donald Norcross’ (D-N.J.) office … Nick Erickson of the RNC … CNN’s Maeve Reston … Len Bickwit of Miller & Chevalier … Josh Kram of the U.S. Chamber … Nathan Leamer … Hastie Afkhami of S-3 Public Affairs, who celebrated this weekend with 16 friends in Napa … Alexis Serfaty … Marcela Sanchez of the World Bank … Peter Lauria … Alfred C. Liggins III … Drew Bond … Ashley Therien of Rep. Pat Ryan’s (D-N.Y.) office

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