Woulda, coulda, shoulda?

By Alex Thompson

Welcome to POLITICO’s West Wing Playbook, your guide to the people and power centers in the Biden administration. With help from Allie Bice.  

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In early 2021 there was a chance to help the Senate bar DONALD TRUMP from running for president in 2024, but President JOE BIDEN and his team didn’t want to go for it. In fact, they fought against it.

Much was written at the time about the new president publicly distancing himself from the Senate impeachment trial of Trump for his actions on Jan. 6th and talking about the pandemic instead. A new book by RACHAEL BADE (a POLITICO colleague) and The Washington Post’s KAROUN DEMIRJIAN reports that wasn’t just a messaging tactic.

Rather, behind the scenes the new Biden administration resisted repeated appeals from impeachment managers like Rep. JAMIE RASKIN (D-Md.) for access to potential witnesses and documents.

Bade and Demirjian report that the White House rebuffed Raskin and his team’s requests to depose Trump’s Secret Service detail from Jan. 6 and the White House stewards working that day. Raskin’s team also asked the White House if they’d waive executive privilege for Trump in the face of subpoenas, but Biden’s advisers balked. The Pentagon and the Justice Department similarly pushed back against granting access to certain witnesses or documents, they report.

“The managers had received word that the servers who witnessed Trump’s behavior on January 6 might be willing to share what they knew. But the new Biden White House wanted nothing to do with the idea,” the authors write. “It would set a terrible precedent if they came after the Secret Service, incoming Biden aides told them, and the Biden administration would fight it.”

The pair note, however, there was a precedent to deposing Secret Service members: independent counsel KEN STARR successfully subpoenaed BILL CLINTON’s agents. The White House was also wary of any partisan votes during the trial that would require Vice President KAMALA HARRIS to break a tie. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer’s counsel, MARK PATTERSON , told the team that Harris wanted “nothing to do with the trial,” they write. “‘She will not like it, and we will not like it,’ he said, urging the managers to avoid anything that wasn’t supported on a bipartisan basis.”

Asked by West Wing Playbook why the White House rebuffed these requests, a current spokesperson said they’d circle back but didn’t. The White House also did not respond to Bade and Demirjian’s requests for comment before their book was published.

The revelations capture a key early decision point in the Biden White House that could have far-reaching consequences. Biden’s advisers decided they wanted the Senate to conduct the impeachment trial quickly, and they declined to aggressively fight for a conviction when Trump was at his most vulnerable. The president and his team were anxious to advance their fight against Covid, pass his legislative agenda and confirm the rest of his Cabinet. Plus, weighing in on impeachment would undermine Biden’s campaign pledge to move the country past Trump and focus on “unity,” the White House’s early buzzword.

“We made a conscious decision when the president came into office that we didn’t want to make his presidency a continued campaign and battle with Donald Trump,” JEN PSAKI, the former press secretary, said in “Year One,” the HBO documentary that debuted Wednesday . “President Biden wanted me to take the temperature down in the country.”

A Trump conviction would have allowed a simple Senate majority to prohibit Trump from running for president in 2024. But a conviction after a lengthy trial wasn’t guaranteed or even likely. Many Democrats and Republicans alike felt at the time that Trump was already too toxic to ever win another office after inciting the riot on the Capitol.

It didn’t work out that way. As Trump’s popularity among Republican voters has continued, GOP officeholders have followed suit and the former president is the frontrunner to be the party’s nominee in 2024.

“With the Jan. 6 committee probe, they’ve come back and done an outstanding job summoning Trump’s inner circle and fighting to enforce their subpoenas,” Bade told us. “But they lost the moment. The public has moved on and the panel’s work isn’t changing minds.”

P.S. Bade is both a colleague and a friend and we encourage you to buy the book here to see what you think! Let's give them the legendary West Wing Playbook bump!

MESSAGE US — Are you DANA REMUS, the former White House counsel for Biden? We want to hear from you! And we’ll keep you anonymous! Email us at westwingtips@politico.com .

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This one is from reader SARAH CARLSON. What president released an album in retirement that includes a duet of him and his favorite dog howling?

(Answer at the bottom.)

I CAN SEE YOU BUT YOU CAN’T SEE ME: Biden and Russian President VLADIMIR PUTIN are set to attend the G-20 summit next month, and U.S. officials are working to ensure the pair avoids making direct contact — even taking precautions to avert a hallway run-in or meeting during a group photo, our JONATHAN LEMIRE reports.

Although Biden expressed being open to meeting Putin to negotiate the freedom of American prisoners held in Russia, like WNBA star BRITTNEY GRINER, those discussions don’t appear to be in the works.

WHAT THE WHITE HOUSE WANTS YOU TO READ: Secretary of State ANTONY BLINKEN’s welcoming words during a naturalization ceremony in Philadelphia. According to AFP’s SHAUN TANDON, Blinken said : "Thank you for choosing us. Thank you for making that choice. On behalf of the American people, let me be one of the first lucky people to say — welcome home, my fellow Americans."

WHAT THE WHITE HOUSE DOESN’T WANT YOU TO READ: This story by NYT’s ZOLAN KANNO-YOUNGS and MIRIAM JORDAN about the struggles of refugees stuck in limbo as they wait years in the U.S. system . These lines are especially tough: “KRISH O’MARA VIGNARAJAH, the chief executive of Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service, said she understands that the Biden administration is working with an overburdened system inherited from the Trump years.

“But, she said, her patience is wearing thin. ‘We’re at a point in the administration that while we recognize how the Trump administration decimated the infrastructure, it can’t be an excuse for too much longer. Because lives depend on the administration stepping up.’”

THE HUNTER INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX: Fox Nation is out with a “mock trial ” featuring the president’s son, titled “The Trial of Hunter Biden.”

Attorney DOUG BURNS plays the role of the prosecutor and lawyer RANDY ZELIN represents the defense. Three episodes are on the streaming service with more, including a verdict from the jury, yet to come. This is on top of Fox’s nine-part (yes, nine episodes) docuseries called, “Who is Hunter Biden?” You’d think he was the president.

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MARKET WATCH: As the U.K. grapples with its own economic crisis, NYT’s JEANNA SMIALEK, JIM TANKERSLEY and JOE RENNISON report that Federal Reserve and White House officials have been doing their own research on whether such a meltdown could happen here. The answer is typical economist hedging: on the one hand it could, on the other hand it might not.

The trio also report that Biden himself “has pressed his team to estimate the likelihood that the United States could experience another 2008-style shock on Wall Street.”

CYBER STRATEGY OTW: Top White House officials are gearing up to review the administration’s National Cyber Strategy ahead of its public release , our ERIC GELLER reports for Pros. The Office of the National Cyber Director, led by CHRIS INGLIS, plans to submit the draft this week to the National Security Council’s Deputies Committee, marking the next step in the process. The news comes following the release of the administration’s National Security Strategy.

MORE TO COME? The White House announced its move to release 15 million barrels of oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve in December, and the president’s senior adviser for energy, AMOS HOCHSTEIN, told CNN Wednesday that “if necessary” more could come.

“The Russians have clearly stated that we can’t be sure what they’re going to do next and we have some measures that are coming into place in Europe over the next several months,” Hochstein said. “So the president’s going to keep a careful eye and announcing today — that whatever we’re doing today — could continue and see additional SPR releases, if necessary.”

Some Democrats wondered if Hochstein’s standing in the White House would falter after Saudi Arabia and OPEC+’s recent decision to decrease oil production. Interestingly, Hochstein was standing behind the president Wednesday at the podium during the announcement. And chief of staff RON KLAIN gave him “special kudos” on Twitter Wednesday morning as well for a recent agreement between Israel and Lebanon. (WaPo’s MAX BOOT wrote a piece praising the agreement ).

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Opinion: The Real Reason Trump and Hunter Biden Might Not Get Indicted (Ankush Khardori for POLITICO Magazine)

After raising hope, Biden still lacks climate migration plan (AP’s Julie Watson)

As Covid Hit, Washington Officials Traded Stocks With Exquisite Timing (WSJ’s Rebecca Ballhaus, Joe Palazzolo, Brody Mullins, Chad Day and John West)

Three takeaways from Biden’s abortion speech (Wake Up To Politics’ Gabe Fleisher)

LISTEN TO POLITICO'S ENERGY PODCAST: Check out our daily five-minute brief on the latest energy and environmental politics and policy news. Don't miss out on the must-know stories, candid insights, and analysis from POLITICO's energy team. Listen today .

We’ve previously noted AMANDA SLOAT’s light movie recommendation for those who find themselves with a little downtime at home.

But the National Security Council’s senior director for Europe also provided a book recommendation during the early pandemic days. She suggests “The Righteous Mind: Why Good People Are Divided by Politics and Religion,” by JONATHAN HAIDT, a book on human morality.

Sloat explained her choice in a Brookings Institution blog post in 2020. The book “shows how moral judgments arise from gut feelings rather than reason. [Haidt] explains why liberals, conservatives, and libertarians have different intuitions about right and wrong, as well as how each group has some valid concerns. These differing views are likely to shape how both parties discuss policy responses to COVID-19.”

Only $10.89 on Amazon right now if you want to give it a whirl.

LYNDON B. JOHNSON recorded a spoken word album titled, “Dogs Have Always Been My Friends.” One track features the president and his dog, YUKI, in a duet with Yuki howling.

“We’ve had many dogs during these years, and now we have Yuki,” he says in the recording. “And I think they save the best for the last. He is the friendliest and the smartest and the most constant in his attention in all the dogs that I’ve known.”

The duo’s vocals can be heard at the 4 minute mark here .

A CALL OUT — Do you think you have a harder trivia question? Send us your best one about the presidents with a citation and we may feature it.

Edited by Eun Kyung Kim and Sam Stein.

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