The toughest days

Feb 02, 2024

By Myah Ward, Lauren Egan and Ben Johansen

Presented by

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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President JOE BIDEN stood witness today with grieving families during the dignified transfer of the remains of the three U.S. troops killed in Jordan.

They were the first troop deaths in the Middle East since the war between Israel and Hamas began. The latest foreign policy crisis in the region has engulfed the White House. And on Friday, the president ended another challenging week in mourning. Hours later, the U.S. began retaliatory airstrikes in Iraq and Syria.

At Delaware’s Dover Air Force Base, one by one, the bodies of Sgt. WILLIAM RIVERS, 46, Sgt. KENNEDY SANDERS, 24, and Sgt. BREONNA MOFFETT, 23, were removed from a military aircraft that brought them home, closer to their final resting places. The American flag-covered caskets were carried by silent honor guards to military vehicles. Biden and the first lady held their hands over their hearts as each case was carried past.

Sending troops into harm’s way is one of the most challenging decisions a president can make. So when a soldier doesn’t make it home alive, the loss weighs heavily.

“He feels it in a visceral way,” National Security Council spokesperson JOHN KIRBY told West Wing Playbook.

Biden worked closely with military families as vice president and has repeatedly discussed his late son BEAU’s service in Iraq. He again mentioned Beau in a phone call Tuesday with the Sanders family, telling the mother and father that he understands the gravity of their immense grief.

“I wish I didn’t have to make this call,” Biden said. “I know there’s nothing anybody can say or do to ease the pain. I’ve been there.”

For a president who’s been branded the consoler-in-chief, Biden views connecting with Americans who have suffered loss as both a personal duty and a responsibility as a leader, said his former chief of staff RON KLAIN.

A video of Biden’s call with the Sanders family offered a window into how he handles these conversations. He connected with them over his own loss and told the mother and father to hold their family and friends close.

“God, she had such a — the picture I’m looking at — she had such a beautiful smile,” Biden said.

He also gauged how the family felt about his attendance at Friday’s dignified transfer, something he did with the other families in separate phone calls. All three families welcomed his presence, a White House official said.

The president last stood in mourning at Dover Air Force Base in August 2021, after 13 American troops were killed in a Kabul suicide bombing amid the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan. He held private meetings with families before the transfer.

One father, MARK SCHMITZ, who lost his son, JARED, in Kabul debated whether he wanted to meet with the president, who he blamed for his son’s death, according to a Washington Post article. He ultimately did, and showed Biden a photo of Jared, telling him to never forget the 13 soldiers’ names and to learn their stories. The president at one point pulled out a card he carried in his pocket, where he kept the total numbers of troops killed in Iraq and Afghanistan. A “plus 13” was written at the bottom.

After that dignified transfer, a sister of one of the dead soldiers yelled at Biden across the tarmac, “I hope you burn in hell. That was my brother.”

“Of all the moments in August, this was the one that caused the president to second-guess himself,” FRANKLIN FOER wrote in “The Last Politician.” The pain was evident on Biden’s face.

Biden returned to the Situation Room later that day, as his officials, including Gen. MARK MILLEY, then Joint Chiefs chair, discussed the state of the evacuation, Foer wrote. When it was time for the president to leave for afternoon mass, he told the group he would pray for them.

On Tuesday, he offered his prayers to the Sanders family before he hung up the phone. But he had a request for them, too.

“Keep me in your prayers,” Biden said.

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POTUS PUZZLER

What role did PAULINE WAYNE play during the administration of President WILLIAM TAFT?

(Answer at bottom.)

Photo of the Week

President Biden shakes hands with Speaker of the House Mike Johnson (R-LA) during the annual National Prayer Breakfast at the U.S. Capitol on Thursday.

President Biden shakes hands with Speaker of the House Mike Johnson (R-LA) during the annual National Prayer Breakfast at the U.S. Capitol on Thursday. | Getty Images/Anna Moneymaker

The Oval

THE STRIKES COMMENCE: The U.S. began a series of retaliatory strikes Friday in Iraq and Syria against Iranian militants blamed for the deaths of three U.S. soldiers killed in Jordan this week, our LARA SELIGMAN and JONATHAN LEMIRE report. The U.S. military said it struck more than 85 targets connected to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ Quds Force and “affiliated militia groups.”

Seligman and Lemire write that “by striking the Quds Force, Biden is ratcheting up the intensity of America’s response to missile and drone attacks by militants in the region, which so far has been limited to aerial assaults on proxy forces in Iraq, Syria and Yemen — not on members within Iran’s military.”

In a statement, Biden said the U.S. “does not seek conflict in the Middle East or anywhere else in the world. But let all those who might seek to do us harm know this: If you harm an American, we will respond.”

BIDEN’S BUZZIN: The latest Labor Department jobs report has the Biden team on cloud nine. U.S. employers added a whopping 353,000 jobs in January, far outpacing many economists’ predictions. The unemployment rate also held steady at 3.7 percent, marking 24 straight months that unemployment has been below 4 percent, the longest stretch since the 1960s. “It’s great news for working families that wages, wealth, and jobs are higher now than before the pandemic, and I won’t stop fighting to lower costs and build an economy from the middle out and bottom up,” the president said in a statement.

Everyone took to X today for a victory lap. Seriously, the entire newsletter could be filled noting the White House and campaign officials who shared this.

WHAT THE WHITE HOUSE WANTS YOU TO READ: This op-ed by WaPo’s DANA MILBANK, who notes that Speaker MIKE JOHNSON and House Republicans characterize the southern border situation as a “crisis” and “invasion,” yet want to kill the bipartisan border security deal emerging in the Senate because it could help Biden and Democrats’ election prospects. Milbank argues that instead of trying to find a deal on immigration, Republicans are focusing on impeaching Homeland Security ALEJANDRO MAYORKAS on “charges so flimsy they do not identify a crime of any kind.”

White House spokesperson IAN SAMS and deputy press secretary ANDREW BATES shared the piece on X.

WHAT THE WHITE HOUSE DOESN’T WANT YOU TO READ: This piece by WaPo’s ABHA BHATTARAI and JEFF STEIN about how grocery prices remain painfully high despite falling inflation.

“Stubbornly high grocery prices represent a critical drain on the finances of tens of millions of people and remain, along with housing, perhaps the most persistent economic challenge for the Biden administration as it tries to convince Americans the economy is back on solid footing,” the pair write. “But there is no immediate fix for policymakers. Grocery prices remain elevated due to a mixture of labor shortages tied to the pandemic, ongoing supply chain disruptions, droughts, avian flu and other factors far beyond the administration’s control.”

CALIFORNIA DREAMIN’: President Biden and first lady JILL BIDEN will travel Saturday to Los Angeles, where they will meet with Black entertainment leaders in town for the Grammys, Deadline’s TED JOHNSON reports. During the visit, they will discuss the stakes of the election, as well as how the industry leaders can use their platforms to mobilize voters. During the ceremony Sunday, the Biden campaign will run an abortion rights ad that will air in battleground states.

On Sunday, the president will head to Las Vegas for a campaign event.

GET THOSE TAILCOATS READY: Biden will attend the annual Gridiron dinner on March 16, WaPo’s DAN BALZ, Gridiron president, announced in an email to members on Friday. It will be the first time Biden has attended the white-tie gathering — a mix of political and press elite — since taking office. As vice president, Biden spoke at the dinner in 2009 and 2016.

CAMPAIGN HQ

WELCOME TO WILMINGTON: LAURA O’SULLIVAN, PETE BUTTIGIEG’s former mayoral chief of staff and a member of his campaign team, will join the Biden campaign as deputy director of surrogate operations and the national advisory board, our ADAM WREN has learned.

“We are excited to have Laura aboard,” said CARLA FRANK, director of surrogate operations and the national advisory board. “She brings wonderful experience and will be a major asset in executing a robust and effective surrogate operation to reelect Joe Biden and Kamala Harris.”

STOCKING UP: The Biden campaign has made another set of key battleground state hires, this time in Arizona. SEAN MCENERNEY, a senior adviser to the Arizona Democratic Party, will serve as the state campaign manager, Arizona Republic’s LAURA GERSONY reports. JEN COX, who served as Sen. MARK KELLY’s chief of staff and campaign manager, will also join the Biden campaign as a senior adviser.

— ROY HERRERA, an elections attorney who recently represented the state Democratic Party and candidates including Biden and Kelly, will join the campaign as state counsel.

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.

THE BUREAUCRATS

MEANWHILE, AT SPIES-ARE-US HQ: Air Force Gen. TIMOTHY D. HAUGH on Friday assumed control of the National Security Agency and the Cyber Command, NYT’s JULIAN E. BARNES reports. Haugh will take over for Army Gen. PAUL M. NAKASONE and lead the agency and military as another round of foreign adversaries try to interfere in U.S. elections.

AVOIDING THE GRILL: President Biden is using a basic job title change to skirt over what could have been a grueling Senate confirmation battle for JOHN PODESTA, his new international climate adviser, E&E News’ EMMA DUMAIN reports.

Podesta is taking over for U.S. climate envoy JOHN KERRY, but with a different title: senior adviser to the president for international climate policy. This move will allow Podesta to sidestep Senate confirmation.

MEA CULPA: In yesterday’s edition, we used the incorrect pronouns when referring to TYLA EVANS, a press assistant in the Treasury Department. We apologize to her for the error.

Agenda Setting

SLAPPING SANCTIONS: The Biden administration on Friday announced sanctions on six officials in the cybersecurity wing of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, The Hill’s LAURA KELLY reports. The U.S. says the officials were found to be responsible for a series of cyber attacks targeting critical infrastructure in America and other countries.

State Department spokesperson MATTHEW MILLER said the IRGC’s cyber wing hacked into controllers used in water and other critical infrastructure facilities.

PHIL? PHIL! PHIL CONNORS? PHIL CONNORS! I THOUGHT THAT WAS YOU! On Friday, world renowned groundhog PUNXSUTAWNEY PHIL did not see his shadow, calling for an early spring, the Associated Press reports from Punxsutawney, Pa.

DAN MCGINLEY, the Groundhog Club vice president, read from a scroll chosen by Phil at the ceremony: “Glad tidings on this Groundhog Day and early spring is on the way.”

�� Then put your little hand in mine. There ain't no hill or mountain we can't climb. ��

A message from Center Forward:

What We're Reading

30 Things Joe Biden Did as President You Might Have Missed (POLITICO Magazine)

Black voters are asked to ‘show up and show out’ for Biden in South Carolina (USA Today’s Deborah Barfield Berry and Francesca Chambers)

Pentagon to MAGA World: You need to calm down over Taylor Swift (POLITICO’s Lara Seligman)

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.

POTUS PUZZLER ANSWER

Wayne, otherwise known as the “Queen of Capital Cows,” was a Holstein who became one of Taft family’s pets at the White House. A 1910 New York Times story recounts Pauline’s ascent to the White House: “She was met at the Union Station by a delegation of White House employees and escorted to the stables in the rear of the Executive Mansion. Later in the day Pauline was turned out to grass on the rear lawns of the White House.”

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.

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