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DRIVING THE DAY
PRESIDENT-ELECT JOE BIDEN and VP-elect KAMALA HARRIS sat down with CNN’s JAKE TAPPER (great first name, eh?) for their first joint interview Thursday. It was fascinating. BIDEN said a few things that gave us some really interesting insight into how he sees the presidency, the challenges he faces and how he will tackle them.
1) WE KIND OF KNEW THIS, but it came to light even more in the interview: It is abundantly clear that BIDEN thinks clear communication and logical and sane management are needed to combat the Covid-19 crisis. President DONALD TRUMP is one of the only leaders on Planet Earth who has denied the threat of the virus, and sent mixed messages about what Americans should do to combat it. And it shows. We’ve lost more than a quarter-million of our countrymen to this pandemic.
BIDEN is showing how he will handle the virus. BIDEN doesn’t want long shutdowns -- “you don’t have to close down the economy,” he told TAPPER -- but he is issuing crystal clear guidance for what he will do in the short and long term.
FOR EXAMPLE, BIDEN told TAPPER he will tell people they need to wear masks for 100 days. Clear, concise, digestible. He will back that up with a mandate that masks must be worn in federal buildings, on buses and on planes. He is acknowledging the obvious -- the disease sucks, and it’s dangerous -- and he is providing a digestible set of enforceable rules that he believes will effect change until the vaccine has taken hold.
2) BIDEN is beginning to give a hint about how he’ll pressure Senate Republicans for economic relief and money for the vaccine. The vaccine, he said, is “an incredibly expensive proposition,” and that money needs to come from Congress, which is, at least in part, controlled by the GOP at this point.
BIDEN spoke about needing school money -- another area of agreement for Republicans and Democrats: “It was estimated that we could open those schools for somewhere around $100 billion nationwide. That would be the cost for a year. We know how to do this.”
THERE’S ALSO AN INTERESTING OPPORTUNITY FOR BIDEN to try to reach around Senate Majority Leader MITCH MCCONNELL to people like Sens. SUSAN COLLINS (R-Maine), LISA MURKOWSKI (R-Alaska) and MITT ROMNEY (R-Utah) to create pressure -- and media attention -- for issues he wants to get done. Republican governors and mayors will need federal money, too. That’s part of his path to getting the Senate moving.
THE VACCINE ROLLOUT and an immediate economic injection is such a massive issue for BIDEN and the government. He has one shot -- ayo! -- to get it right, one shot to have the government distribute the vaccine and to convince Americans they should take it.
3) BIDEN also gave interesting insight into how he sees himself, and this moment in history: “This is a little bit not unlike what happened in 1932. There was a fundamental change, not only taking place here in the United States, but around the world. … We’re in the middle of the fourth industrial revolution, where there’s a real question of whether or not what -- all the changes in technology. Will there be middle class? What will people be doing? How do they -- and there’s genuine, genuine anxiety.
“That’s why you’re going to see me reaching out, continuing to reach out, not just to the communities that supported me. I’m going to reach out to those who didn’t support me, I mean for real, because I think a lot of people are just scared and think they’ve been left behind and forgotten. We’re not going to forget anybody in this effort.”
BIDEN here is comparing himself to FDR taking over in the middle of the Great Depression. Fascism had started to rise in Italy and in Germany.
4) BIDEN is also not caving to the pressure from the left to pluck progressive Democrats from the House and Senate for his Cabinet. “What I think people are saying is, a lot of people are saying, am I going to pick some very, very prominent and well-known progressive who sits in the House or the Senate right now?
“As close as everything is in terms of the House and the Senate, they are tough decisions to make, to pull somebody I’m going to badly need out of the Senate, and we not -- don’t reelect or have an appointment of somebody who is a Democrat. And so it is -- I think people are going to see not only at the Cabinet level, but the sub-Cabinet level, there is already people we’ve appointed, and we will appoint many more. But it is not -- again, I understand the push. I truly understand the push.”
IT’S ALSO STAGGERING to consider the parallels BIDEN has with his former boss, BARACK OBAMA. He has a big economic and financial challenge and a Republican Party that’s going to go through a big transformation.
Happy Friday.
UPDATE: IT LOOKS quite likely that a Covid relief bill will come together. It will be small and targeted, including PPP, unemployment, restaurant assistance (deductions) and a bit more. We’ll keep you posted as we continue to report this out. BUT … What will Dems get here?
THE PRESIDENT continues to say he will veto the National Defense Authorization Act because it does not change the law that governs social media and other tech companies. He targeted Sen. JIM INHOFE (R-Okla.) -- the chair of the Armed Services Committee -- in two tweets Thursday night.
-- YOU SHOULD KNOW that TRUMP is dug in here, if that’s not obvious.
TRUMP has nothing on his schedule today. VP MIKE PENCE is going to Georgia to talk about the vaccine in Atlanta and to rally in Savannah. He’ll return to D.C. tonight. BIDEN will receive the PDB and will speak about the final jobs report of 2020, which is out this morning. He and HARRIS will speak to the National Association of Counties Board of Directors.
SCARY … WAPO, via JOEL ACHENBACH and JOSE DEL REAL: “A new national ensemble forecast — an aggregation of 37 models sent to the CDC — projected that 9,500 to 19,500 people would die of covid-19, the disease caused by the virus, in the week encompassing Christmas. [Christopher] Murray’s institute, meanwhile, has been putting the final touches on a new forecast that he said would show an increase from its Nov. 19 projection of 470,000 deaths by March 1.”
CALIFORNIA IN CRISIS … L.A. TIMES: “Newsom orders new limits on California businesses and activities as COVID-19 soars,” by John Myers and Rong-Gong Lin II: “Californians will soon be asked to comply with strict limits on community outings, travel and in-person shopping under a statewide order issued Thursday by Gov. Gavin Newsom, a set of new and far-reaching restrictions tied to regional strains on critical care services as COVID-19 cases continue to rise.
“The rules, which take effect Saturday, are designed to last for at least 21 days once local critical care facilities approach capacity. But with so many hospitals in the state experiencing a rapid surge of patients with the disease, the ‘regional stay-at-home’ order described by Newsom is likely to limit activities across California throughout the holiday season and possibly into the new year.”
WSJ: “Covid Shrinks the Labor Market, Pushing Out Women and Baby Boomers,” by Gwynn Guilford and Sarah Chaney Cambon: “The U.S. labor force is 2.2% smaller than in February, a loss of 3.7 million workers. The labor-force participation rate, or the share of Americans 16 years and over working or seeking work, was 61.7% in October, down from 63.4% in February. Though up from April’s trough, that is near its lowest since the 1970s, when far fewer women were in the workforce.”
AND THERE IT IS … NYT, A1: “Trump Associates Said to Have Been Scrutinized in Suspected Pardon Scheme,” by Mike Schmidt, Ken Vogel, Katie Benner and Adam Goldman: “The Justice Department investigated as recently as this summer the roles of a top fund-raiser for President Trump and a lawyer for his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, in a suspected scheme to offer a bribe in exchange for clemency for a tax crimes convict, according to two people familiar with the inquiry.
“A federal judge in Washington unsealed heavily redacted court documents on Tuesday that disclosed the existence of the investigation into possible unregistered lobbying and bribery. The people said it concerned efforts by the lawyer for Mr. Kushner, Abbe Lowell, and the fund-raiser, Elliott Broidy, who pleaded guilty in October to a charge related to a different scheme to lobby the Trump administration.
“A billionaire real estate developer from the San Francisco area, Sanford Diller, enlisted their help in securing clemency for a Berkeley psychologist, Hugh L. Baras, who had received a 30-month prison sentence on a conviction of tax evasion and improperly claiming Social Security benefits, according to the filing and the people familiar with the case. Under the suspected scheme, Mr. Diller would make ‘a substantial political contribution’ to an unspecified recipient in exchange for the pardon. He died in February 2018, and there is no evidence that the effort continued after his death. …
“No bribe was paid, said Reid H. Weingarten, a friend of and lawyer for Mr. Lowell who confirmed his client had represented Mr. Baras in his unsuccessful efforts to avoid incarceration. Mr. Baras went to prison in June 2017 and was released in August 2019.”
ANITA KUMAR and ANDREW DESIDERIO: “Trump mulls preemptive pardons for up to 20 allies, even as Republicans balk”
WAPO’S ASHLEY PARKER: “Farah resigns as White House communications director in tacit nod to Trump’s loss”: “White House communications director Alyssa Farah resigned from her post Thursday after 3½ years in the Trump administration.
“Farah, 31, began her White House tenure as press secretary under Vice President Pence before joining the Defense Department as press secretary last September, and she returned to the White House as communications director in April. She is the first person to serve in these three roles in one administration, and the youngest Pentagon press secretary.”
DID JARED ACTUALLY OVERHAUL GOVERNMENT? … FEDSCOOP: “IT Centers of Excellence program is signed into law,” by Dave Nyczepir
BURGESS EVERETT: “Lamar stands firm in his last days in the Senate”
NEW … REPUBLICANS raised $804 MILLION on WinRed in the first two months of the fourth quarter. In October, Republicans raised $430 million, and in November, GOPers raised $374 million.
-- TRUMP has raised $207.5 million since losing the 2020 election. NYT
WAPO: “Trump roils Georgia GOP as party waits to see if presidential visit helps — or hurts — in crucial Senate runoffs,” by Josh Dawsey, Amy Gardner and Cleve Wootson: “President Trump’s planned trip to Georgia on Saturday to campaign for two Senate candidates in tight runoff races has some anxious Republicans concerned that he could do more harm than good by repeating false claims about the voting system, attacking GOP officials and further inflaming a simmering civil war within the state party. …
“In a White House meeting about keeping the Senate, attended by Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), Sen. Todd C. Young (R-Ind.) and other aides, a discussion about the state took a turn when Trump brought up House candidate Marjorie Taylor Greene’s support of the baseless QAnon conspiracy theory, according to people familiar with the discussion.
“‘Q-an-uhn,’ he said, mispronouncing the name of the group, telling those present that it is made up of people who ‘basically believe in good government.’ The room was silent again before Mark Meadows, the White House chief of staff, leaned forward to say he had never heard it described that way. Trump had similarly praised QAnon, which the FBI has identified as a potential domestic terrorist threat, during an August news conference.”
WSJ ED BOARD: “Trump and the Georgia Runoffs: The President will get the blame if the GOP loses the Senate”: “The most important story in politics for the next month isn’t the foregone outcome of the presidential race. It’s the two Georgia runoff races on Jan. 5 that will determine who controls the Senate and the direction of U.S. policy for the next two years. If Republicans lose those seats, President Trump will be the main reason, and the main casualty will be his legacy. …
“Mr. Trump is already sounding like he wants to run again in 2024, and his stolen-election claims sound like an opening bid for campaign donations. At least for now he can say, with justification, that he helped the GOP gain seats in the House and avoid a rout in the Senate. But that narrative changes for the worse if the GOP loses in Georgia after Mr. Trump divided his own party to serve his personal political interest. He needs a GOP Senate nearly as much as Mr. McConnell does.”
TV TONIGHT -- PBS’ “Washington Week” with Bob Costa: Joe Scarborough, Ayesha Rascoe and Annie Linskey.
SUNDAY SO FAR …
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“Face the Nation”: Chris Krebs … James Linder … Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot … Scott Gottlieb.
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“Full Court Press with Greta Van Susteren”: Anthony Fauci … Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) … Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.).
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“America This Week with Eric Bolling”: Deborah Birx … Rudy Giuliani … K.T. McFarland … Brock Pierce … Daniel Lippman.
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“Fox News Sunday”: Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.) … John Brennan. Panel: Josh Holmes, Catherine Lucey and Mo Elleithee. Power Player: Yo-Yo Ma.
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“This Week”: Panel: Jonathan Karl, Mary Bruce, Jaime Harrison and Sarah Isgur.
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“Meet the Press”: Panel: Kimberly Atkins, Steve Kornacki, Jeff Mason and Danielle Pletka.
PLAYBOOK READS
CORONAVIRUS RAGING … AP: “Nurses wanted: Swamped hospitals scramble for pandemic help,” by Grant Schulte in Omaha, Neb., and Amy Forliti in Minneapolis: “U.S. hospitals slammed with COVID-19 patients are trying to lure nurses and doctors out of retirement, recruiting students and new graduates who have yet to earn their licenses and offering eye-popping salaries in a desperate bid to ease staffing shortages. …
“Across the U.S., hospitals are converting cafeterias, waiting rooms, even a parking garage to patient treatment areas. Some states are opening field hospitals. But that does nothing to ease the staffing shortage, especially in rural areas where officials say many people aren’t taking basic precautions against the virus.” AP
VALLEY TALK -- WSJ: “Trump Administration Claims Facebook Improperly Reserved Jobs for H-1B Workers,” by Michelle Hackman, Sadie Gurman and Deepa Seetharaman: “The Trump administration has sued Facebook Inc., accusing the social-media company of illegally reserving high-paying jobs for immigrant workers it was sponsoring for permanent residence, rather than searching adequately for available U.S. workers who could fill the positions.”
OBSTRUCTION AT JUSTICE -- “Trump aide banned from Justice after trying to get case info,” by AP’s Michael Balsamo and Zeke Miller: “The official serving as President Donald Trump’s eyes and ears at the Justice Department has been banned from the building after trying to pressure staffers to give up sensitive information about election fraud and other matters she could relay to the White House, three people familiar with the matter tell The Associated Press.
“Heidi Stirrup, an ally of top Trump adviser Stephen Miller, was quietly installed at the Justice Department as a White House liaison a few months ago. She was told within the last two weeks to vacate the building after top Justice officials learned of her efforts to collect insider information about ongoing cases and the department’s work on election fraud, the people said. Stirrup is accused of approaching staffers in the department demanding they give her information about investigations, including election fraud matters, the people said.” AP
-- TRUMP on Thursday announced he would nominate STIRRUP to be a member of the U.S. Air Force Academy’s Board of Visitors.
CABINET JOCKEYING -- “Teacher’s union boss courts GOP, key Hispanic groups in bid for Biden’s education secretary pick,” by Alex Thompson and Michael Stratford: “Lily Eskelsen García is expected to score the backing of more than 40 Hispanic groups finalizing a letter endorsing her for the position this week. She has also strategized in recent weeks with Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.), the retiring chair of the Senate committee that oversees education and himself a former Education secretary. …
“Eskelsen García, who until this summer was president of the 3 million-member National Education Association, has also had conversations with members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus to build support for her nomination … She would be the first Latina education secretary if selected and currently serves as secretary of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute.” POLITICO
ANECDOTE DU JOUR -- “Young Republicans Stage Secret Gala, Ignoring Virus Concerns,” by NYT’s Dana Rubinstein: “The event’s other headline speaker was James O’Keefe, the conservative activist who runs the New York-based Project Veritas. He also declined to confirm his attendance. At first, Project Veritas’s communications director, Neil McCabe, said that Mr. O’Keefe was unavailable for comment and that ‘his schedule is private.’
“Afterward, Mr. O’Keefe called and offered a New York Times reporter the opportunity to spy on The Times for Project Veritas. ‘We’d love to give you one of our hidden cameras, and maybe you could speak with Mr. Baquet,’ he said, referring to Dean Baquet, the paper’s executive editor. (The reporter declined.)” NYT
MEDIAWATCH -- Nicholas Thompson will be CEO of The Atlantic, beginning in February. He currently is editor-in-chief of Wired.
IN MEMORIAM -- “Betsy Wade, First Woman to Edit News at The Times, Dies at 91,” by NYT’s Robert McFadden: “In a 45-year Times career, Ms. Wade also became the first woman to lead the Newspaper Guild of New York, the largest local in the national journalism union … She was revered among peers for her role in the 1974 class-action suit against The Times, one of the industry’s earliest fights over women’s rights to equal treatment in hiring, promotion, pay and workplace protections under federal antidiscrimination laws.”
PLAYBOOKERS
Send tips to Eli Okun and Garrett Ross at [email protected].
SPOTTED at the American Business Immigration Coalition’s bipartisan immigration summit, “Reigniting the Economic Engine: Immigration Solutions for 2021,” on Thursday, featuring remarks from Alejandro Mayorkas, Biden’s pick for DHS secretary: Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, Sens. Susan Collins (R-Maine), John Cornyn (R-Texas), Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), Chris Coons (D-Del.) and Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), and Reps. Mario Diaz-Balart (R-Fla.) and Will Hurd (R-Texas).
TRANSITIONS -- Dee Duncan will be president and executive director of the Republican State Leadership Committee. He previously was RSLC’s director of caucuses. … Stacey Hughes will be EVP at the American Hospital Association. She previously was president of the Nickles Group. Greg D’Angelo is joining the Nickles Group as a VP. He previously was associate director for health programs at OMB. … Alex Bolton will be COS for Rep.-elect Nicole Malliotakis (R-N.Y.). He previously was field finance director at the NRCC. …
… Jazmin Vargas is now press secretary for Sen. Tom Carper (D-Del.). She previously was press secretary at BOLD PAC, the campaign arm of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus. … Jake Hochberg is now legislative director for Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-Ill.). He previously was senior legislative assistant for Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-Texas), and is a Nydia Velázquez alum. … Seth Klaiman will be COS for Rhode Island General Treasurer Seth Magaziner. He previously was COS for Rep. Jim Langevin (D-R.I.).
WELCOME TO THE WORLD -- Jerry Leverich, senior counsel for the House Energy and Commerce Dems, and Annie Leverich, press officer for USAID’s Bureau of Humanitarian Assistance, welcomed Lily Carolina Leverich on Wednesday. Pic … Another pic
BIRTHDAY OF THE DAY: Suzanne Malveaux, CNN national correspondent. What she’s watching for in the Biden presidency: “I’m very curious as to what it would look or feel like covering the Biden administration. Trump White House aside, will the new administration feel frenetic like Bill Clinton’s, somewhat tense like George W. Bush’s, or disciplined like Barack Obama’s?” Playbook Q&A
BIRTHDAYS: Jackie Kucinich, Washington bureau chief of The Daily Beast and a CNN political analyst … Rep. Francis Rooney (R-Fla.) is 67 … Rep. Grace Napolitano (D-Calif.) is 84 … Rep. Kevin Hern (R-Okla.) is 59 … Rep.-elect Nancy Mace (R-S.C.) is 43 … Al Hunt, columnist and co-host of the “2020 Politics War Room” podcast, is 78 … NPR’s Danielle Kurtzleben … “PBS NewsHour” senior coordinating producer Anne Davenport … Koch Industries’ Nick Gass … Craig Brownstein … Rachael Lighty of Amazon … Peter Freeman … CNBC’s Whitney Ksiazek … Colin Rogero, partner at 76 Words … Claire Lucas … McDermott Will & Emery’s Sarah Schanz (h/t husband Jeremy Iloulian) … Kevin O’Neill, chair of the legislative group at Arnold & Porter, is 51 … POLITICO’s Ximena Bustillo … Sarah Baron, senior campaigns director at Climate Power 2020 … Brian Svoboda … Yesenia Chavez … Ben Keller …
… Jennie Westbrook Courts, VP at the Information Technology Industry Council … Mike Stratton … Lis Buck … Sean Gagen … Bill Murat … Nate Beecher … Bob Mulholland (h/ts Teresa Vilmain) … Tyquana Henderson-Rivers … Ashley (Nerz) Levey of LinkedIn comms … Cesi Covey … former Transportation Secretary Mary Peters is 72 … Meghan Patenaude Bauer is 3-0 … Andrew Shult, digital director at the American Investment Council, is 33 … Meg Badame, comms specialist at the VA ... Sarah Paulos … Jennifer Taub … Campbell Marshall … Marina McCarthy (h/t Jeff Solnet) … Richard Hohlt ... Jon Fleischman … Bain’s Matthew Bevens ... Shelbi Warner … Louisa Keeler ... Kate Folmar, deputy secretary for external affairs at the California Health and Human Services Agency … Joe Britton ... Leigh Strope ... WaPo’s Jennifer Hurley ... Nancy Rose Senich … Leslie Rhode ... Steen Hambric
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