Welcome to POLITICO’s West Wing Playbook, your guide to the people and power centers in the Biden administration. With help from Allie Bice. Send tips | Subscribe here | Email Alex | Email Max In his campaign against DONALD TRUMP, JOE BIDEN promised a return to normalcy for Washington. But the White House is still weighing whether the president will participate in one of Washington’s most high-profile (and, for some, highly-mocked) traditional social events — the annual White House Correspondents Dinner. A person familiar with the ongoing plans said the Biden team still hasn’t made up its mind about whether the president will attend — press secretary JEN PSAKI said as much last week during a press conference. White House aides, the person said, are weighing whether the event is worth the scheduling efforts, including the staff time and resources dedicated to preparing a speech and participating. They also have some concerns about the president’s risk of contracting Covid at the event, the person familiar told West Wing Playbook. The White House Correspondents Association is planning for both possibilities. Last week, WHCA president STEVEN PORTNOY told us that the organization had previous discussions with the White House about implementing strict safety protocols for anyone who may be in close contact with the president, which would be in place if Biden attends the dinner. All attendees will also be required to be vaccinated and tested before the event. Biden chose to skip another formal D.C. dinner, hosted by the exclusive journalism organization the Gridiron Club, earlier this month that ended up being a super-spreader — nearly 100 people tested positive for Covid after attending the event. He did, however, attend the Kennedy Center Honors last December, a similarly high-profile social event which was held just as the Omicron wave was kicking off. Instead of attending the WHCD, where the president traditionally gives a comedic speech, Biden could opt to travel to Minnesota for the memorial service of former Vice President WALTER MONDALE, which is set to take place the afternoon of May 1, though Biden has not indicated publicly that he’ll attend that event either (the president’s schedule tends to be fairly fluid further than a few days out). The lack of a concrete decision for one of the marquee weekends on Washington’s social calendar reflects the strange moment the White House finds itself in as D.C. confronts another possible uptick in Covid cases. While the Biden team has gone to great lengths to protect the president from the virus over the past two years, it has simultaneously attempted to project a nearly total return to normalcy, and argued that there’s little evidence that the latest Covid variant will drive a surge similar to the Delta or Omicron waves. While cases have increased slightly, they still sit far below their January 2022 peak. Regardless of whether Biden makes the dinner or there’s another Covid wave, it’s going to be a packed house on April 30. People involved in the planning told West Wing Playbook last week that the dinner was still on despite jitters from some in the press corps after the Gridiron outbreak. One source with knowledge of the event planning told West Wing Playbook that no news outlets have changed their table reservation plans for the WHCD. The only potential pullout so far has been from a more conservative news organization that has expressed frustration at the mandatory vaccine requirement the WHCA instituted in an email to members last week. If anything, the WHCA has continued to field requests for tickets. Multiple news organizations (including POLITICO) did not get their requested number of seats due to high demand for space. Some news outlets have, however, curtailed their plans for events surrounding the dinner amid the Covid spread. The Washington Post, which was hit hard by numerous Covid cases following the Gridiron dinner, announced on Tuesday it had canceled a party it was planning beforehand. A spokesperson said the paper still plans to host its journalists and high-profile guests at its table. The servers and staff on hand at the Washington Hilton hotel are also preparing for the big event despite Covid concerns. BENJY CANNON, a spokesperson for UNITE HERE Local 25, a union representing service workers in the Washington, D.C. area, told West Wing Playbook that “as of now we’re comfortable with the mitigation efforts in place in the hotel and know that most of the members there tend to be masked. They wear high quality ones if they need to.” As of now, “people are not overwhelmingly concerned about Covid in the hotel,” he said. “We just really hope the event organizers are also taking this seriously … if cases continue to rise we hope they take the health and safety of our members and the workers of the hotel really seriously.” TEXT US — Are you the guest of a news organization at this year’s White House Correspondents Dinner? We want to hear from you (we’ll keep you anonymous). Or if you think we missed something in today’s edition, let us know and we may include it tomorrow. Email us at westwingtips@politico.com or you can text/Signal/Wickr/WhatsApp Alex at 8183240098 or Max at 7143455427. WHAT YOU TEXTED: In response to yesterday’s newsletter about JAKE SULLIVAN’s nest of China hawks, one administration official said that NSC China director JULIAN GERWITZ shouldn’t be thrown in with all the other hawks. “Julian often holds down the other end of the debate,” the official said. “I wouldn’t say single handedly, there are others. But I for one appreciate that Julian has a nuanced approach.”
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