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 Last Friday, on an American Airlines flight from Baltimore to Dallas, a man carrying $40 billion in taxpayer money sat alongside unsuspecting passengers. In an indistinct brown leather briefcase stowed underneath the seat in front of him, the Biden administration aide was carrying a bill Congress had just passed that would send tens of billions of dollars in military and economic aid to Ukraine to fight back against Russia. His ultimate destination was South Korea, where he would deliver the bill to the Grand Hyatt Seoul for President JOE BIDEN to sign. There were perils on the journey. At one point, a flight attendant spilled milk all over the official, who then worried about any spillage getting into the briefcase (even though the bill was wrapped in plastic). The White House worked with the embassy to avoid potential delays at customs given the unique cargo. And of course, the aide had to connect in Dallas. Ultimately, the aide, who the White House requested that we not name, arrived Saturday at the Hyatt. Upon entering a conference room full of Biden aides, he received an ovation. The strange pilgrimage — conveyed to West Wing Playbook by three officials familiar with the events — reflects the urgency among Biden and his team to send support to Ukraine. It also reveals how the actual machinations of getting a bill to become a law require highly specific steps (like having an actual signature) that can sometimes be complicated by the messiness of regular life. The saga of the Ukraine bill’s empty signature line began late last week as the president’s aides realized that the legislation would arrive at the White House just after Biden’s departure for South Korea. White House officials on Air Force One and in the West Wing began brainstorming over email on what to do. The National Security Council’s principal deputy executive secretary DILPREET SIDHU led the process and collaborated with people across the administration, including the office of legislative affairs and the staff secretary office. Some suggested flying the bill with Secretary of State ANTONY BLINKEN, who would be joining Biden in Tokyo. Others suggested giving the bill to senior officials like the NSC’s Indo-Pacific coordinator KURT CAMPBELL, who also would join the president in Tokyo. But Biden officials did not want any unnecessary delays. As a result, Sidhu began looking for aides who already were planning to travel to South Korea and had a visa. Most of those officials had already left. But one young aide — we will call him The Courier — was still around, chosen as a replacement for a colleague who had been set to travel on Air Force One but tested positive for Covid-19 the day before. Some suggested a classified lock bag to ensure the bill’s safety. But Sidhu argued that the less conspicuous, the better. The Courier used a normie brown briefcase borrowed from a colleague. EDGARD KAGAN , the NSC’s senior director for East Asia, called the Japanese Embassy from Air Force One to help shake loose The Courier’s passport, where it was still being processed for the Tokyo leg of Biden’s trip. Once he landed, an official from the U.S. Embassy in South Korea met him and they traveled in an embassy car. Despite the spilled milk crisis, the bill ultimately made it to the Grand Hyatt, where Biden promptly signed it. NSC officials had discussed a press event for the bill signing but ditched the idea after they realized it would be in the middle of the night back in the United States. Once Biden signed the bill, it became law and the money began flowing. The original copy, however, is coming back Tuesday on Air Force One. TEXT US — Did you sit next to the mysterious courier on a plane ride to Dallas? We want to hear from you. And 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. WHAT YOU TEXTED US: Someone who worked for JOHN KIRBY for two years and has maintained a friendship since the 2000s with him wrote us about yesterday's top: "This group of communicators should be thankful John is coming over. He is hands down the best national security and foreign policy spokesman of the last decade and a half. Someone should really ask if this is about egos and a pretty simple question: 'Are you still getting paid every two weeks?' If they are, they should swallow that ego and realize the incredible talent that will make that entire team better."
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