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Presented by PhRMA: | | | | | |  | | By Alex Thompson and Theodoric Meyer | Presented by |  | | | With help from Allie Bice Welcome to POLITICO’s West Wing Playbook, your guide to the people and power centers in the Biden administration. Did someone forward this to you? Subscribe here! In an interview with DAVID AXELROD on an episode of his podcast released this morning, White House Press Secretary JEN PSAKI made an admission about how she and her team view the role of Twitter. It’s not a platform to disseminate news, she explained. It’s a vehicle for talking to reporters. "You're actually speaking to the media through Twitter,” Psaki said. “You're not trying to go around them. Because a lot of reporters are on Twitter." If the White House sees Twitter as a method of communicating with the fourth estate, then it’s worth knowing who among the fourth estate they are communicating with — and who's doing the communication. By West Wing Playbook’s count, there are 90 staffers in President JOE BIDEN’s White House (plus @POTUS, @FLOTUS, @VP and @SecondGentleman) who have new administration-branded Twitter accounts, most with “46” included in the handle. Twitter isn’t real life (as top Biden adviser MIKE DONILON, who isn’t on Twitter, has pointed out) and you shouldn’t read too much into who follows whom. Some of Biden’s closest aides don’t have accounts or never tweet. But the White House staffers who are on Twitter provide some insight into how this White House thinks, which reporters they read, and which of their colleagues they bother to follow. Think of it as a high school cafeteria but online and involving the most important office in the world. Here’s what we found: The White House loves the wires and cable news (except Fox) The reporters who are followed by the most White House staffers draw heavily from places like CNN, Bloomberg and the Associated Press. Bloomberg News’ JENNIFER EPSTEIN — whom White House chief of staff RON KLAIN frequently retweets — is followed by more Biden administration staffers (39) than any other reporter. Next after Epstein are CNN’s KAITLAN COLLINS (37), PBS’ YAMICHE ALCINDOR (36), AP’s ZEKE MILLER (34), and Bloomberg’s JENNIFER JACOBS (33). Just 10 White House staffers, in contrast, follow Fox News’ PETER DOOCY. His ranking among reporters whose Twitter accounts the White House is following is so low we stopped counting. We’ll just say unranked. But he does come in ahead of his Fox News colleague KRISTIN FISHER, who is followed by only two White House accounts. White House officials don’t follow many conservative outlets or reporters who work forwho work for them. Not even the Wall Street Journal makes the list of the top 15 news outlets they they follow. In order, the news outlets with the most White House staffers following them are: @nytimes, @cnn, @washingtonpost, @cnnpolitics and @cnnbrk. | 
POLITICO analysis of 94 official White House Twitter accounts | Graphic courtesy of Allan James Vestal, Taylor Thomas and Kamran Rahman | Symone clout Vice President KAMALA HARRIS’ chief spokesperson SYMONE SANDERS is popular. Outside of the president, vice president, and their spouses, she has more internal followers than anyone except Psaki and Klain. With 62 of the 94 accounts following her, she ranks higher on our Twitter clout scale than communications director KATE BEDINGFIELD, deputy chief of staff JEN O’MALLEY DILLON, every Cabinet member, and even @WHCOVIDResponse. The never-tweeters While Klain is one of the administration’s most prolific tweeters, many other top White House aides aren’t on Twitter. Counselor STEVE RICCHETTI and deputy chief of staff BRUCE REED have accounts but have never tweeted and don’t follow anyone. Council of Economic Advisers Chair CECILIA ROUSE got a verified Twitter account in November but doesn’t appear to have an official White House account and hasn’t tweeted since before Biden’s inauguration. (Can you blame her, though?) Other top White House staffers without official accounts include SHALANDA YOUNG, the deputy director of the Office of Management and Budget; TINA FLOURNOY, Harris’ chief of staff; YOHANNES ABRAHAM , who was a top transition official and is now the National Security Council’s chief of staff; White House counsel DANA REMUS; Cabinet secretary EVAN RYAN; and CATHY RUSSELL, who heads the White House personnel office. Beyer’s surprising Twitter influence House Speaker NANCY PELOSI (29 followers) is the most followed lawmaker among White House staffers, followed by Senate Majority Leader CHUCK SCHUMER (23 followers). The next three all hail from the party’s progressive wing: Rep. ALEXANDRIA OCASIO-CORTEZ (D-N.Y.) and Sens. ELIZABETH WARREN (D-Mass.) and BERNIE SANDERS (I-Vt.). Just seven White House staffers follow Senate Minority Leader MITCH McCONNELL — the same number who follow Rep. DON BEYER (D-Va.), a lower-profile lawmaker, but a fairly active Twitter presence. Pod Save America? Thirty-three White House staffers follow President BARACK OBAMA. And other Obama administration alumni who haven’t returned to government are popular, too: former White House communications director JEN PALMIERI (17), MICHELLE OBAMA (15 followers), former deputy White House press secretary turned post-presidential Obama spokesman turned Twitter sourpuss ERIC SCHULTZ (14 followers), Axelrod (10 followers) and all four “Pod Save America” bros. NAOMI BIDEN, the most prominent of the first grandchildren (at least on Twitter), is followed by 10 White House staffers, narrowly edging out vice presidential niece (and, we hope, devoted West Wing Playbook reader) MEENA HARRIS with eight. Meena, however, got the crucial @WHCOS follow from Ron Klain while Naomi did not. Not every Obama veteran remains is considered a must-follow, though: former White House chief of staff RAHM EMANUEL’s handle isn’t followed by any of the 94 accounts we analyzed. | 
POLITICO analysis of 94 official White House Twitter accounts | Graphic courtesy of Allan James Vestal, Taylor Thomas and Kamran Rahman | GET US TO THE TOP: Follow @AlexThomp and @theodoricmeyer now for our mostly bad, but sometimes good, tweets. Alex is currently tied for 18th among reporters with 26 White House officials following him. Theo has … fewer. We’re coming for you @JenEps and @KaitlanCollins. Do not follow @SamStein under any circumstances (only 21 White House accounts follow Sam right now). SNEAK PREVIEW: Speaking of Doocy, CHRIS CADELAGO has a big Mag profile on “The Dooce” coming out tomorrow morning, per POLITICO officials familiar with the matter. PSA — We’re going to be experimenting with some new items and sections. Tell us what you like and what you hate. Do you work in the Biden administration? Are you in touch with the White House? Are you JOHN TIEN? We want to hear from you — and we’ll keep you anonymous: transitiontips@politico.com. Or if you want to stay really anonymous send us a tip through SecureDrop, Signal, Telegram, or Whatsapp here . You can also reach Alex and Theo individually. | | | | A message from PhRMA: Americans don’t need another barrier to their medicines. We have to lower what patients pay for their medicines. We also have to make sure they are getting the medicines they need. H.R.3 forces a choice between one or the other, but there’s a way to do both. Get the facts at phrma.org/betterway. | | | | | | With the Partnership for Public Service Biden is high up on the list of longest-serving senators, but who is the longest- serving senator in U.S. history? (Answer is at the bottom.) | | | WHAT JOE IS READING? Biden’s longtime chief of staff and the head of his presidential transition, former Sen. TED KAUFMAN, just co-wrote a new book that the president may want to take a look at as 2024 approaches. “Remember, you may be living well into your eighties, and your time and your relationships are your most precious assets. And don’t forget to have fun!,” Kaufman writes with his friend BRUCE HILAND in their book: “Retiring?: Your Next Chapter Is about Much More Than Money.” (It’s really more of a novella at just 123 pages.) The book is sitting comfortably at 100 percent five-star ratings on Amazon, but one particularly glowing review — from fellow longtime Biden confidante and top transition aide MARK GITENSTEIN — caught our attention. “If you're trying to figure out what to do with the rest of your life a few hours here will be a very good investment,” Gitenstein raved. | | | SPEAKING OF RETIREMENT — Kaufman isn’t the only Biden aide who somehow carved out time to work on a retirement guide. BEN HARRIS , Biden’s chief economist during the Obama administration and now his nominee to be assistant secretary for economic policy at the Treasury Department, worked on a book entitled “Retiring Well,” according to his newly released personal financial disclosure. “The book is already written, but a publisher has not yet been identified,” according to the disclosure. The Brookings Institution paid Harris $48,000 for his work on the book. The financial disclosure for Biden’s nominee to be assistant secretary of Defense for Indo-Pacific security affairs also came out today. ELY RATNER is one of at least seven Biden administration officials and nominees who worked for WestExec Advisors, the consulting firm co-founded by Secretary of State ANTONY BLINKEN. But Ratner doesn’t seem to have done much consulting as a WestExec senior adviser, a part-time role. “Billable hours were for background white papers without identified clients and most income was passive retainer,” according to his disclosure. WestExec has paid him only $11,450 since Jan. 1, 2020 — a pittance compared to the roughly $412,000 he pulled in as executive vice president of the Center for a New American Security. ICYMI: The White House won’t say if it won’t say if it requires its staff to be vaxxed, NATASHA KORECKI and ANITA KUMAR report. | | | White House privately signals supports for subsidies to keep nuclear facilities from closing (Reuters’ Timothy Gardner & Garrett Renshaw) That Vanity Fair piece on the State Department we teased earlier this week just dropped (Adam Ciralsky in Vanity Fair) | | | ANTONY BLINKEN: 'We are not disengaging from Afghanistan' (MSNBC’s Andrea Mitchell) | | | He traveled to Lake Charles, La., to deliver remarks about the American Jobs Plan, and then headed to New Orleans to tour the Carrollton Water Plant. Deputy Chief of Staff BRUCE REED, senior adviser CEDRIC RICHMOND, principal deputy press secretary KARINE JEAN-PIERRE, adviser ANNE NEUBERGER and assistants to the president ANNIE TOMASINI, VINAY REDDY, RYAN MONTOYA and STEPHEN GOEPFERT accompanied the president. | | | |   | | | | | | She hosted Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights President and CEO WADE HENDERSON, RISE Inc. CEO MAX LUBIN, UnidosUS President and CEO JANET MURGUÍA and Asian Americans Advancing Justice President and Executive Director JOHN YANG for a discussion about voting rights. NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund SHERRILYN IFILL and Native American Rights Fund Executive Director JOHN ECHOHAWK attended virtually. | | | We previously reported that climate envoy JOHN KERRY was a big fan of the Doors and listened to them a lot during the Vietnam war, though he said “the drug part” of their lyrics didn’t interest him. But after the war, Kerry smoked marijuana here and there, according to Tour of Duty, DOUGLAS BRINKLEY’s book on Kerry. Brinkley writes that “occasionally during his travels around America in 1971, usually with either Julia or a fellow veteran, Kerry had smoked marijuana. … He never smoked pot while at Yale or in the Navy. But during his stint as a leader of VVAW, he occasionally indulged.” “‘Yeah, I smoked pot when I came home from Vietnam,’ Kerry noted in a 2003 interview. ‘I didn’t mind getting high. I certainly enjoyed it. But I didn’t like the out-of-control component. I like being alert. So I tried it a few times, but I didn’t touch it after 1972.’” Good thing the Biden White House is lenient with past marijuana use... HELP US OUT — It's been interesting digging through memoirs and college newspaper clips about Biden administration officials. But we want your help too. Do you have a story — that’s potentially embarrassing but not too mean or serious — that we should use for an "Oppo Book" item? Email us transitiontips@politico.com. | | | ROBERT BYRD (D-W.Va.) is the longest serving senator in history — working in the Senate for a grand total of 51 years, 5 months and 26 days — from Jan. 3, 1959 to June 28, 2010. We want your tips, but we also want your feedback as we transition to West Wing Playbook. What should be covering in this newsletter that we’re not? What are we getting wrong? Please let us know. Edited by Emily Cadei | | | | A message from PhRMA: Americans don’t need yet another barrier to their medicines. Especially now. Now is the time for us to rethink how we get the medicines we need. But there are right ways and wrong ways. While it may sound good on paper, H.R.3 would threaten patients’ access to treatments, put nearly a million American jobs at risk and jeopardize current and future medical innovation – all while failing to address the broader challenges facing America’s health care system.
We have to lower what patients pay for their medicines. We also have to make sure patients are getting the medicines they need. There’s a way to do both, but H.R.3 isn’t it. Get the facts at phrma.org/betterway. | | | | | | | Follow us on Twitter | | | | Follow us | | | | |  |
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