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Jan 29, 2024

By Lauren Egan, Myah Ward and Ben Johansen

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

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It’s hard for President JOE BIDEN to do anything in public lately without being met by protests over his handling of the Israel-Hamas war.

What started off as small groups of protesters holding “Free Palestine” posters along the president’s motorcade route has evolved over the past few weeks into more pointed public confrontation.

Biden’s big campaign speech last Tuesday on abortion access was interrupted at least 14 times by people chanting “genocide Joe” and “cease-fire now or no vote.” The next day, cease-fire demonstrators shouted over Biden at a United Auto Workers event. At the South Carolina Democratic Party’s “First-in-the-Nation” celebration dinner on Saturday, protesters again interrupted Biden’s speech (two people called for a cease-fire while a third urged Biden to declare a climate emergency).

These types of interruptions have become so routine that White House aides now expect the president to be confronted every time he speaks.

They make plans for it. Staff try to limit who gets invited to certain events. And there are advance tricks — like building a buffer around the stage to keep attendees farther away from the president — to make it more challenging for protesters to derail a speech.

But, at the end of the day, there’s a consensus among aides that the disrupters will find a way into the president’s events.

“There are too many ways to get into these events and you just can’t prevent it from happening,” said one Biden staffer.

If anything, staffers said there’s an internal understanding that the best (perhaps only) response is to keep their cool. Some Democrats close to the White House told West Wing Playbook that the video circulating on social media of a pro-Palestine protester being dragged across the floor after interrupting the president’s UAW speech did not come across well and warned that being too aggressive in these settings could backfire.

The White House, for its part, has stressed that everyone has a First Amendment right to protest, and there’s a sensitivity among some Biden aides about coming across as dismissive of the issues protesters are raising. Not only are many of them Democratic voters, but Biden’s own staff (in the administration and campaign) have protested his approach to the war, too — albeit with anonymously signed letters.

“The president respects people’s right to speak out peacefully,” press secretary KARINE JEAN-PIERRE told reporters last week.

Biden aides have also pointed out it’s not uncommon to see protests pop up at presidential speeches during a campaign year. Most of Biden’s predecessors have had to navigate similar situations. Among certain quarters, there is a belief that the protests present Biden with an opportunity to remain cordial and respectful, drawing a contrast with how former President DONALD TRUMP responds to disruptions at his public speeches.

Still, it can be frustrating for aides when a carefully written speech is overshadowed. Part of the frustration is also directed at the media. Biden aides feel too much attention is given to pro-Palestine protesters who, they believe, ultimately do not reflect where the party stands on the issue.

In last week’s New Hampshire primary, 1,497 voters wrote in “ceasefire”— a last ditch effort by progressives in the state to send a message to Biden over his Israel policy. Biden received 77,061 write-ins.

And yet, it persists. On Monday, protesters calling for a cease-fire interrupted Vice President KAMALA HARRIS during a moderated discussion on abortion access as part of her “Fight for Reproductive Freedoms” tour.

“We all want this conflict to end as soon as possible,” Harris said over the protesters’ shouts.

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A message from Center Forward:

America’s capital markets benefit our whole economy – with investments, innovation, economic growth and job creation. They enable everything from stable prices to strong pensions and clean energy. But the Federal Reserve is considering Basel III Endgame, which will weaken capital markets and undermine American competitiveness. Why would we hurt our economy at a time like this? See why companies and groups across America are speaking out against the proposal.

POTUS PUZZLER

Who is the only president to write a biography of another president?

(Answer at bottom.)

The Oval

FOUR MONTHS APART: Here was Secretary of State ANTONY BLINKEN today at a news conference after meeting with NATO Secretary-General JENS STOLTENBERG:

"This is an incredibly volatile time in the Middle East. I would argue that we’ve not seen a situation as dangerous as the one we’re facing now across the region since at least 1973 and arguably even before that.”

And here was JAKE SULLIVAN, President Biden’s national security adviser, in late September, about a week before Oct. 7:

“Although the Middle East remains beset with perennial challenges, the region is quieter than it has been for decades.”

Geopolitics, it’s both rough and unpredictable, especially in the Middle East.

BUILDUP: Part of what Blinken was responding to was the drone attack that killed three U.S. service members in Jordan over the weekend. The president met with his national security team today, including Sullivan and Defense Secretary LLOYD AUSTIN to discuss a potential response.

At Monday’s press briefing, national security spokesperson JOHN KIRBY said the U.S. does not seek a war with Iran, but “will absolutely do what is required to protect ourselves to continue that mission and to respond appropriately to these attacks.”

On Sunday, Biden issued a warning to the Iran-based militant group who perpetrated the attack: “We shall respond.” The deaths mark the first loss of U.S. troops since the Israel-Hamas war began, our PAUL MCLEARY and LARA SELIGMAN report.

WHAT THE WHITE HOUSE WANTS YOU TO READ: This piece by CNN’s RAMISHAH MARUF, who assures readers: Joe Biden is not coming for your gas stoves. Despite the outrage from the right, the Energy Department announced new efficiency standards for ovens and stoves, which, as Maruf writes, will not change much. The vast majority of stoves already meet the energy standards, with the main goal of the new standards aimed toward electric stoves.

Communications director BEN LABOLT and deputy communications director HERBIE ZISKEND shared the piece on X.

WHAT THE WHITE HOUSE DOESN’T WANT YOU TO READ: This piece by WSJ’s ANDREW DUEHREN and KIM MACKRAEL, who report that despite initial enthusiasm from European officials that a Biden administration would reverse many Trump-era trade policies, officials say they have yet to see a significant shift. The duo note that instead of reversing Trump's protectionist policies, the president has advanced many of them, keeping trade barriers in place and leaving European companies out of subsidies aimed at increasing U.S. manufacturing.

SUBSCRIBE TO CALIFORNIA CLIMATE: Climate change isn’t just about the weather. It's also about how we do business and create new policies, especially in California. So we have something cool for you: A brand-new California Climate newsletter. It's not just climate or science chat, it's your daily cheat sheet to understanding how the legislative landscape around climate change is shaking up industries across the Golden State. Subscribe now to California Climate to keep up with the changes.

CAMPAIGN HQ

GRANITE STATE MOVES: The Biden campaign is beefing up general election operations in New Hampshire, tapping AARON JACOBS as the state’s campaign manager and LIZ PURDY as senior adviser, Union Leader’s KEVIN LANDRIGAN reports. Jacobs worked on Biden's New Hampshire primary write-in campaign and previously served as the campaign director for Sen. MAGGIE HASSAN’s (D-N.H.) reelection. Purdy is a veteran Democratic strategist who has worked in New Hampshire politics for over two decades.

MAKING INROADS: Biden campaign manager JULIE CHÁVEZ RODRÍGUEZ met with Rep. RASHIDA TLAIB (D-Mich.) last week in an effort to patch up relations with key Democratic groups, our NICHOLAS WU and ADAM CANCRYN report. Tlaib, the only Palestinian member of Congress, has been one of the administration’s most outspoken critics of their handling of the Israel-Hamas war.

THE BUREAUCRATS

PERSONNEL MOVES: SARAH BIANCHI, deputy trade representative for Asia and Africa, is joining Evercore ISI this week as a senior managing director and chief strategist of international political affairs and public policy, Bloomberg’s NANCY COOK reports. She will also be joining the Center on Global Energy Policy at Columbia University, where she will serve as a distinguished visiting fellow.

— SAM MICHEL, assistant U.S. trade representative for public affairs, has been detailed to the White House to be acting deputy press secretary while EMILIE SIMONS goes on maternity leave, press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre announced at Monday’s press briefing.

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Agenda Setting

KEEPING AI IN CHECK: Three months after Biden’s sweeping executive order on artificial intelligence regulation, the White House AI Council met on Monday to review progress and announce new measures aimed at managing the risks of AI. Among other actions, the administration will begin requiring developers to report their safety test results to the Department of Commerce, the White House announced in a statement.

Nine departments — including Defense, Transportation, Treasury and Health and Human Services — submitted risk assessments to the Department of Homeland Security, “which will be the basis for continued federal action, and ensure that the United States is ahead of the curve in integrating AI safely into vital aspects of society.”

CLOSING THE GAP: On the 15th anniversary of the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, the Biden administration on Monday announced new actions to help close pay disparities for federal employees and employees of federal contractors. The Office of Personnel Management is finalizing a policy that would bar more than 80 federal offices from considering a candidate’s current or past salary in new contract negotiations for federal employment.

In a statement, the president said the “commonsense policies” will help ensure millions of workers are paid fairly and close gender and racial pay gaps.

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What We're Reading

Doug Emhoff’s fight against antisemitism meets a fraught new moment (WaPo’s Marisa Iati)

Biden’s new economic messaging strategy: attack Trump’s tax legacy (POLITICO’s Adam Cancryn)

Voting Is Bewildering This Primary Season. That Worries Experts (NYT’s Maggie Astor)

POTUS PUZZLER ANSWER

HERBERT HOOVER. After his White House years, Hoover wrote, “The Ordeal of Woodrow Wilson,” in 1958. What would seem unimaginable today, Hoover was a Republican while Wilson was a Democrat.

If he’s got a second, we’d love to see our former president give this a try.

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

Edited by Eun Kyung Kim and Sam Stein.

A message from Center Forward:

The Federal Reserve’s Basel III Endgame will undermine the U.S. economy – and American competitiveness. That’s why so many companies, organizations and people are speaking out in rare agreement against the proposal and its harmful impact on capital markets and the U.S. economy – Republicans and Democrats, corporations and nonprofits, manufacturers and consumers, and even groups from California and Alabama.

Organizations from across industries are urging the Fed to reconsider the rule, saying it would have “significant adverse consequences” and is “bad for consumers and bad for economic stability.” Even lawmakers from both sides of the aisle agree that the Fed should “carefully consider the proposal’s consequences on capital markets.”

America has spoken. Will the Fed listen?

Protect our Capital Markets. Protect our Economy.