Quick, call the lawyers

From: POLITICO West Wing Playbook - Tuesday Apr 25,2023 10:10 pm

Apr 25, 2023

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After four whirlwind days in Ireland, President JOE BIDEN took questions from reporters beneath the wing of Air Force One on the tarmac at Ireland West Airport Knock and said he was excited to head home — specifically, to his place in Rehoboth Beach where he would spend the rest of the weekend.

Biden told the reporters he was going there because Secret Service agents were installing bulletproof windows at his primary Delaware residence in Wilmington. But there was another reason: he would be meeting top aides and a film crew in Rehoboth, as the Washington Post was first to report, to record parts of the video he released Tuesday officially launching his reelection campaign.

In the days that followed, suspense continued to build about Biden’s decision and the timing of his announcement. But there shouldn’t have been — because once Biden’s team hired the film crew, he was boxed in, required by federal law to announce his candidacy within 15 days, even though some of his aides didn’t realize that at the time.

According to two people familiar with events, some aides involved with the run-up to Tuesday’s launch sought legal guidance after the video segments were recorded and were reminded about what’s known as “the 15-day trigger,” the requirement that campaigns file paperwork within 15 days of spending $5,000 on campaign-related expenditures.

“I assume that the campaign spent more than $5,000 to produce [the announcement video],” said ERIN CHLOPAK, the senior director for campaign finance at the Campaign Legal Center. “Under federal regulations, once a candidate spends that, they are required to file their official statement of candidacy within 15 days.”

As late as last week, the people said, legal guidance was still being sought as to whether an announcement was required within that timeframe as a result of the video. According to people familiar with the deliberations, the legal requirement to file paperwork triggered by making the launch video was ultimately not part of the calculation to make the reelection bid official. The decision to flip the switch had already been made. Hence, hiring the video crew.

"There was no ambiguity among the senior team about what happens once you enter the 15-day window,” one Democratic strategist close to the process said, disputing that those involved in deciding to go ahead with the video production had failed to realize the implications.

Still, up until this week’s launch, there was robust debate among Democratic operatives close to top Biden aides about whether it made sense to announce in April. Biden himself, known for taking his time with weighty decisions, has long seemed inclined to seek a second term. But he hesitated about the timing of when. Some people close to the campaign speculated that those pushing for an earlier launch were trying to box him into announcing in April. One thing they had in their favor was Biden’s sense of nostalgia and superstition. Tuesday’s announcement came on the four-year anniversary of his last campaign launch.

But the announcement still left little time for sorting out more of the campaign structure, from lining up surrogates to launching a robust email program. Nor did the launch come with the usual pomp and circumstance that usually accompanies making the first step in a bid for the White House. Biden spoke before a gathering of union workers and did not mention the election run he’d just embarked on. There was only a spattering of fundraising solicitations sent around — a level that, one Democratic digital operative suggested, would have been more robust had the president’s digital team had a bit more prep time. There was no rally (though, BARACK OBAMA similarly held off on doing a campaign event until weeks after making his 2012 bid known via a video).

The just-launched campaign declined a request for comment. Still, as the campaign gets going, top aides may want to keep the lawyers on speed dial.

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POTUS PUZZLER

Which president nominated HARVEY WASHINGTON WILEY to be the first commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration, which at the time was known as the Bureau of Chemistry?

(Answer at the bottom.)

The Oval

BACK TO BUSINESS: Hours after officially announcing his reelection campaign, Biden spoke at the North America’s Building Trades Unions Conference in Washington, D.C. The speech was billed as an official White House event and aside from Biden’s calls to “finish the job” and chants from union members of “four more years,” there was no explicit mention of his campaign. Biden instead leaned into the Inflation Reduction Act and spoke about the thousands of infrastructure projects his administration has helped launch around the country. Our MYAH WARD has more.

IN THE BACKGROUND: The oldest president in American history seeking another four years is, under all objective definitions of the term, major news. But as Eli notes in this piece that just published, Biden’s launch didn’t dominate the airwaves Tuesday amid a swirl of other news, including, conveniently, President DONALD TRUMP being a defendant in a rape trial. The president’s team is fine with it, eager to keep the focus on “MAGA Republicans” in an effort to frame the 2024 race as a choice.

APPARENTLY SOMEONE NEEDS TO BE LOOPED IN: During Tuesday’s briefing, press secretary KARINE JEAN-PIERRE was asked when she learned that Biden was announcing his campaign for reelection. She claimed she found out when the video went live at 6 a.m., “like all of you.” Given that most news outlets published full stories at 6 a.m., it was obvious many reporters knew about the plans ahead of time and had agreed to an embargoed release.

Later in the briefing, when asked by our CHRIS CADELAGO if Biden planned to serve eight years, Jean-Pierre again demurred, ever wary of violating the Hatch Act. “That's something for him to decide,” she said. Shortly after the briefing ended, she suddenly seemed to recall her boss had just made his intentions official. “As you know, we take following the law seriously. So I wanted to be sure that I didn't go into 2024 more than is appropriate under the law,” she tweeted. “But I can confirm that if re-elected, @POTUS would serve all 8 years.”

WHAT THE WHITE HOUSE WANTS YOU TO READ: This NYT opinion piece from former Secretary of State HILLARY CLINTON arguing that Republicans are jeopardizing U.S. global credibility by refusing to raise the debt ceiling unless Biden agrees to deep spending cuts.

“With Russia’s brutal invasion of Ukraine in its second year, tensions with China continuing to rise and global threats looming, from future pandemics to climate change, the world is looking to the United States for strong, steady leadership,” Clinton writes. “Congressional brinkmanship on the debt ceiling sends the opposite message to our allies and our adversaries: that America is divided, distracted and can’t be counted on.” Deputy communications director HERBIE ZISKEND shared the piece on Twitter.

WHAT THE WHITE HOUSE DOESN’T WANT YOU TO READ: This piece from CNN’s ANDREW KACZYNSKI and OLIVIA ALAFRIZ about how in 1972, when Biden was 29 and running for Senate, he won the race in part by going after his 63-year-old Republican opponent for his age.

“Biden used his opponent’s age against him in a way that was so explicit, one local reporter dubbed his approach, ‘Dear old dad,’” they report. “Biden was running to become one of the youngest people ever elected to the United States Senate. Now, the president is already the oldest person ever to serve in the office of the presidency, and, if reelected, would leave office at the age of 86. That would best the next oldest president by more than 9 years if he served a full second term.”

THE GUY REALLY LOVES HIS ICE CREAM: When chef EDWARD LEE was invited to help with South Korean President YOON SUK YEOL’s state dinner Wednesday at the White House, the first thing he was told was to include ice cream on the menu, USA Today’s MAUREEN GROPPE reports. Biden is known to love a vanilla chocolate chip ice cream cone. But tomorrow’s dish will be slightly more elevated. Groppe writes that in “honor of Yoon, the caramel sauce drizzled over the bananas and lemon bar ice cream for the deconstructed ‘banana split’ is flavored with doenjang, the Korean fermented soybean paste.”

THE BUREAUCRATS

ROLL ON, YOU BEARS: JULIE CHAVEZ RODRIGUEZ, senior adviser and director of the Office of Intergovernmental Affairs, is leaving the White House to run Biden’s reelection campaign. The AP’s DARLENE SUPERVILLE reports that despite being the granddaughter of the legendary Latino labor leader CESAR CHAVEZ, Rodriguez brings very little ego to her work.

“White House staffers are often of a type, hard-charging strivers who crave their own sliver of the limelight or even trade on a famous name. Rodriguez has been a clear exception,” Superville writes, adding that those “who have worked with Rodriguez describe a dedicated worker who, while shaped by a famous progenitor, doesn’t put her family front and center.”

MORE HIRES: Our MATT BERG has a rundown of who else is joining the reelection, which includes Biden White House alum KEVIN MUÑOZ.

FAUCI’S TAKE: NYT Magazine’s DAVID WALLACE-WELLS spent several hours this month interviewing ANTHONY FAUCI about the Covid pandemic. The interviews touch on a wide range of topics — from what the U.S. could have done better, to the ongoing debate about the origins of the disease. Asked whether he felt the Biden administration’s vaccine mandates ended up doing more harm than good, Fauci said, “I think, almost paradoxically, you had people who were on the fence about getting vaccinated thinking, why are they forcing me to do this? And that sometimes-beautiful independent streak in our country becomes counterproductive.”

“The thing that astounded me is that when there were surges of infections in certain regions and the hospitals were being overwhelmed, people were still saying it’s fake news. I mean, people whose loved ones were in the hospital were denying that it was Covid,” he added. “I wish I had an answer, but some very strange psychodynamics were going on in our country.”

Agenda Setting

PREPARE FOR LONG HOLD TIMES: As the Biden administration prepares to restart federal student loan bills for the first time in three years, the Education Department faces a funding shortfall that has forced it to cut customer service to borrowers. Our MICHAEL STRATFORD reports that the “funding woes threaten to exacerbate the political pain of what was always going to be a tricky endeavor for Biden: Sending millions of Americans student loan bills for the first time since their payments were suspended at the start of the pandemic in March 2020.”

What We're Reading

Law firm head bought Gorsuch-owned property (POLITICO'S Heidi Przybyla)

‘A Large Portion of This Base Is Going to Be Underwater’: U.S. Military Hub Adapts to Climate (WSJ’s Eric Niiler and Scott Calvert)

A Case for Climate Optimism, and Pragmatism, from John Podesta (New Yorker’s Bill McKibben)

POTUS PUZZLER ANSWER

THEODORE ROOSEVELT nominated Wiley to lead the department in 1907, after the 1906 Pure Food and Drugs Act was passed, according to the FDA's site.

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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