| | | | |  | | By Ryan Lizza, Rachael Bade and Eugene Daniels | Presented by The National Association of REALTORS® | With help from Eli Okun, Garrett Ross and Bethany Irvine
| | | |  | DRIVING THE DAY | | | NEW JMART — “Why Won’t Biden Court the Anti-Trump GOP?” by Jonathan Martin: “The man who never misses a funeral seems to have lost his personal touch when it comes to Republicans he needs — badly — in the fall.” Among the prominent Republicans who have refused to commit to supporting DONALD TRUMP in the general election but haven’t heard from President JOE BIDEN: CHRIS CHRISTIE, GEORGE W. BUSH, MIKE PENCE, PAUL RYAN, SUSAN COLLINS, LARRY HOGAN, LISA MURKOWSKI. JMart calls it “political malpractice.”
|  Journalists, media companies and government officials in Washington and around the world are marking the day to bring attention to WSJ's Evan Gershkovich’s plight. | Dmitry Serebryakov, File/AP Photo | WE STAND WITH EVAN — It’s been one year since WSJ reporter EVAN GERSHKOVICH was arrested by FSB agents in Russia and charged with espionage. Journalists, media companies and government officials in Washington and around the world are marking the day to bring attention to Gershkovich’s plight. Putin’s hostage: If you haven’t been following the ins and outs closely, the short version is that Gershkovich is an American hostage seized by VLADIMIR PUTIN’s regime to gain leverage against the West. The U.S. government considers Evan “wrongfully detained,” a special status that requires the Biden administration to work for his release. That effort is run by ROGER CARSTENS, Biden’s special presidential envoy for hostage affairs. There’s one other American in Russia who has the same status as Gershkovich: PAUL WHELAN, who has been held since December 2018 and is now serving a 16-year prison sentence. Putin’s hitman: Ever since the U.S. exchanged the notorious arms trader VIKTOR BOUT for BRITTNEY GRINER, there do not seem to be any Russians in U.S. prisons whom Putin cares about. Instead, his focus has been on VADIM KRASIKOV, a Russian assassin and longtime Putin crony serving a life sentence for murder in Germany. The Navalny deal: The Germans were hesitant to make Krasikov part of any swap. But the Journal reported this week that Biden asked German Chancellor OLAF SCHOLZ during a Feb. 9 Oval Office meeting to consider a deal that included Gershkovich, Whelan, Krasikov and ALEXEI NAVALNY, who was popular in Germany and might have made the release of Krasikov more palatable to the German public. According to the Journal, the Kremlin soon learned of the idea “via a private intermediary.” A few days later, Navalny was dead. (When she learned the news, his wife YULIA NAVALNAYA was at the Munich Security Conference, where she was planning to discuss the potential swap with Western officials.) No signs of progress: Since then, there has been little public reporting on any new deals in the works to free Gershkovich. A Russian court recently extended his detention for three more months while he awaits trial. Today’s grim anniversary: The Journal is marking today with a stark front page dominated by white space and the headline, “HIS STORY SHOULD BE HERE.” The coverage today includes a letter from the Gerskovich family sharing their anguish and thanking his supporters: “It has felt like holding our breath. We have been living with a constant ache in our hearts thinking about Evan every moment of every day.”
|  | #IStandwithEvan: The Journal is also coordinating a “global social storm” today, which you can learn about here. There will be a major push this morning at 10:30 a.m. (You can find all of the Journal’s coverage here.) Behind the scenes: ALMAR LATOUR, the publisher of the Journal and the CEO of Dow Jones, has played a key role in the legal and diplomatic effort to free Gershkovich. He has worked with the Biden administration, foreign governments and through private channels to figure out what exactly Putin wants to secure the 32-year-old journalist’s freedom. Ryan spoke with Latour this week to hear the inside story of the Journal’s effort to free Evan. You can listen to the full conversation on this week’s episode of Playbook Deep Dive on Apple Podcasts or Spotify, and read an edited transcript. What follows are some key excerpts …
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| On measuring progress towards Evan’s release: “[T]he outcome is sort of binary: He's either free or he's not. And so if the question is, ‘Has enough been done?’ Well, we'll know that when he walks free. … We want everybody to do more until he's out. Until he's out, not enough has been done by anyone, and that goes for all of us.” On why Russia arrested Evan: “I would dismiss any sort of portrayal that this is anything other than seeking a trade. … There's very little that is truthful that comes out of the Kremlin these days. So even quasi-frank comments have to be seen in that transactional light.” On the FSB statement that announced Evan’s detention: “That was the first official word with context as to what this was and that contained this espionage lie immediately. And when you hear in a hostage situation that somebody has been taken, maybe at first your instinct is, ‘Let's address this in the quiet. Let's have the conversations that we need to have with the authorities in this case, maybe with an embassy or with the right team.’ But this got tossed out into the open right away. There was never really a chance to have that conversation, which is very different than some other cases. But here I think it shows the deliberate nature of what has happened.” On Russia’s recent extensions of Evan’s prison sentence: “I mainly look at these extensions as the language of the Kremlin and whether they have what they want or not. So this means that at least for the next few months, theoretically, they don't yet have what they want.” Happy Friday. Thanks for reading Playbook. Drop us a line: Rachael Bade, Eugene Daniels, Ryan Lizza.
| | | | A message from The National Association of REALTORS®: The National Association of REALTORS® is fighting for housing affordability and availability before Congress.
The lack of affordable housing supply is hurting the middle class and depriving first-generation and first-time homebuyers of the financial security that homeownership provides.
That’s why REALTORS® are focused on fixing the affordable housing crisis and bringing relief to the American people. See our bipartisan plan at flyin.realtor. | | | MORE NBC VS. RONNA FALLOUT — “RNC weighs limiting NBC’s access at this summer’s convention,” by Alex Isenstadt. As Alex points out, convention credentialing is handled by the congressional press galleries, not the RNC. There are other ways convention officials could harass NBC reporters in Milwaukee if they really wanted to, but we suspect the RONNA McDANIEL fiasco will be largely forgotten by July. THE MILE HEIST CLUB — Air Force One faces a surprising threat: rampant theft. Journalists and other status-obsessed Washingtonians who’ve been on the plane have been making off with “everything from engraved whiskey tumblers to wine glasses to pretty much anything with the Air Force One insignia on it,” our colleagues at West Wing Playbook report. True, it’s been this way for years. But recently, the problem has grown bad enough that White House Correspondents’ Association President KELLY O’DONNELL sent out “a terse reminder to colleagues that taking items off the plane was not allowed and reflected poorly on the press corps as a whole.” Writes WWPB: “The point of the crackdown, White House officials familiar with the matter said, was not to embarrass individual reporters but to send a message that the thefts needed to stop.”
| | | | A message from The National Association of REALTORS®:   Learn how you can support NAR’s efforts to expand homeownership at flyin.realtor. | | | | | WHAT'S HAPPENING TODAY | | On the Hill The Senate and the House are out. What we’re watching … He’s probably the House Democrat most vulnerable to a primary challenge this year, but Rep. JAMAAL BOWMAN (D-N.Y.) won the formal backing of Minority Leader HAKEEM JEFFRIES, Whip KATHERINE CLARK (D-Mass.) and Caucus Chair PETE AGUILAR (D-Calif.) yesterday. It’s an expected but still notable show of force as Bowman faces a tough challenge from Westchester County Executive GEORGE LATIMER and a spending blitz from AIPAC and Democratic Majority for Israel. The show of support for leadership, notably, comes as opinions inside the Democratic Party have moved Bowman’s way on the war in Gaza. More from NY1’s Kevin Frey At the White House Biden is in NYC raising more money before heading to Camp David. VP KAMALA HARRIS has nothing on her public schedule.
| | | | SUBSCRIBE TO GLOBAL PLAYBOOK: Don’t miss out on POLITICO’s Global Playbook, the newsletter taking you inside pivotal discussions at the most influential gatherings in the world, including WEF in Davos, Milken Global in Beverly Hills, to UNGA in NYC and many more. Suzanne Lynch delivers the world's elite and influential moments directly to you. Stay in the global loop. SUBSCRIBE NOW. | | | | | 2024 WATCH
|  President Joe Biden and former presidents Barack Obama and Bill Clinton participate in a fundraising event at Radio City Music Hall on Thursday, March 28. | Alex Brandon/AP Photo | CASH DASH — Biden’s splashy fundraiser with former Presidents BARACK OBAMA and BILL CLINTON at Radio City Music Hall last night did indeed raise the more than $25 million that organizers expected, per the White House pool. (The event followed their joint appearance on the “SmartLess” podcast.) LIZZO sang, MINDY KALING emceed, STEPHEN COLBERT moderated, and other top Democrats spoke. Protesters interrupted the event to demonstrate about Gaza and Russia. More from Elena Schneider and Jeff Coltin As Biden rakes in big money, a Trump campaign adviser warned reporters yesterday that “we’re never gonna be able to raise dollar for dollar with Biden,” per Reuters’ Tim Reid and Nathan Layne — though they tried to spin the grassroots contrast. Despite Biden’s record-breaking sum, Trump is aiming to outdo him next week with a $33 million fundraiser, the FT scooped. The April 6 Mar-a-Lago confab will run guests $250,000 a head or $814,600 to be called a “chairman”; it’s set to feature such extravagantly wealthy people as JOHN PAULSON, STEVE WYNN and ROBERT BIGELOW. And there are signs that important Republican fundraisers who’ve held out on Trump are, of course, returning to the fold: NIKKI HALEY backer ERIC LEVINE announced that he’ll vote for Trump, despite vowing never to do so after Jan. 6, per Puck’s Teddy Schleifer. Elsewhere in the money game, ROBERT F. KENNEDY JR.’s super PAC picked up $2.1 million at an event after he announced NICOLE SHANAHAN as his running mate, Brittany Gibson reports. ($1 million of that came from PAC co-founder MARK GORTON.) CONGRESS DON’T EXPECT AN RSVP — House Oversight Chair JAMES COMER (R-Ky.) asked Biden to testify next month in Republicans’ struggling impeachment inquiry. More from CBS AFTER MITCH — The contest between Sens. JOHN CORNYN (R-Texas) and JOHN THUNE (R-S.D.) to become the next Senate GOP leader marks a return to what used to be more common in the chamber: competitive leadership contests, NYT’s Carl Hulse reports. Meanwhile, the Senate’s restive far right — which bemoans MITCH McCONNELL — is working to figure out whom they’ll support and hoping that any successor brings a different leadership style, The Daily Caller’s Henry Rodgers reports. Meanwhile, Sen. TOM COTTON’s (R-Ark.) early move to jump into the race for the No. 3 spot could hurt Sen. JONI ERNST’s (R-Iowa) chances, Axios’ Stef Kight and Stephen Neukam report. I WANT YOU TO STAY — Speaker MIKE JOHNSON tried to persuade Rep. MIKE GALLAGHER (R-Wis.) to delay his departure from Congress a bit longer, Scripps’ Nathaniel Reed reports, but Gallagher doesn’t sound interested, per Anthony Adragna. MORE POLITICS
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A federal court determined yesterday that it’s now too late to change Rep. Nancy Mace's (R-S.C.) congressional district boundaries. | Francis Chung/POLITICO | RED-LIGHT REDISTRICT — Rep. NANCY MACE’s (R-S.C.) congressional district boundaries will remain favorable to the GOP for this year’s election, The State’s Joseph Bustos reports, as a federal court determined yesterday that it’s now too late to change them while the Supreme Court still hasn’t ruled on their legality. That’s despite the lower court previously finding that Republicans had gerrymandered the district unconstitutionally to discriminate based on race — a ruling that will likely find little purchase with the conservative supermajority on the high court. South Carolina is just the latest of several states in the past few years — including Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana and Ohio — where lower courts have found Republican gerrymanders to be unconstitutional or illegal, but allowed them to be used for congressional elections anyway, WaPo’s Patrick Marley reports. That’s because litigation increasingly drags out challenges to these maps beyond the point when they can be changed. The big picture for 2024 is that the House’s mid-cycle redistricting in several states is now just about set: Overall, Republicans likely netted one seat from the various changes, Zach Montellaro reports. The biggest factor benefiting the GOP is that North Carolina Republicans were willing to push through an aggressive gerrymander and flip multiple seats, while New York Democrats were not. The latter amounted to “a shocking turn of events” in the Empire State. More top reads:
- The Arizona Senate race: Despite Republican KARI LAKE’s efforts to moderate her image, her sharp MAGA-warrior actions increasingly have prominent Republicans in the state worried that she’ll lose in November, NBC’s Vaughn Hillyard and Alex Tabet report. Meanwhile, Democratic Rep. RUBEN GALLEGO comes under the microscope in a profile from Mother Jones’ Abby Vesoulis, who looks at how he’s grappled with mental health struggles and anger issues through his political career.
| | | | A message from The National Association of REALTORS®:   America needs more affordable and more available housing. REALTORS® have a bipartisan plan at flyin.realtor. | | | BEYOND THE BELTWAY BALTIMORE LATEST — The Biden administration signed off on a preliminary $60 million emergency funding response to the deadly Francis Scott Key Bridge collapse, The Baltimore Sun’s Sam Janesch reports. But there are already signals that getting more funding through Congress won’t be a cinch: Some Republicans sounded reluctant yesterday, and even some Democrats talked about tapping insurance or the shipping company first, Anthony Adragna reports. Hogan told Fox News’ Paul Steinhauser that he’d urge the GOP to support more federal funding. Meanwhile, Trump’s general silence on the bridge’s collapse is growing conspicuous, Adam Wren notes. AMERICA AND THE WORLD MIDDLE EAST LATEST — The Pentagon is in early stages of discussions about funding — though not contributing troops to — a post-war peacekeeping force in Gaza, Alex Ward, Lara Seligman and Joseph Gedeon report. That’s likely months away, of course. In the meantime, Egypt is asking the U.S. to help out with funding and security assistance at its border with Gaza amid ongoing negotiations in the region, Erin Banco scooped. Joint Chiefs Chair Gen. C.Q. BROWN told reporters yesterday that the U.S. still hasn’t gotten many details from Israel on its planned assault of Rafah, about which they hope to learn more when Israeli officials visit Washington, per Bloomberg’s Anthony Capaccio. THE VIEW FROM TAIPEI — “Taiwan’s Top Diplomat Says U.S. Aid to Ukraine Is Critical for Deterring China,” by NYT’s Edward Wong
|  Only 7 electric vehicle charging stations have been placed using the money from the White House's massive infrastructure bill. | Patrick T. Fallon/AFP via Getty Images | POLICY CORNER BOOGIE WOOGIE WOOGIE — One-quarter of Biden’s timeline has elapsed to get the U.S. to 500,000 electric vehicle charging stations by 2030. And so far there are a grand total of seven using the infrastructure law’s funding, WaPo’s Shannon Osaka reports. That “painfully slow” pace has advocates worried about the nation’s progress on its pressing climate goals. From Portland, Oregon, David Ferris has a fascinating piece about the rise of Formula E, the electric vehicle racing competition that could “be a liberal answer to NASCAR” — but has received a “somewhat baffling” lack of attention from the Biden administration. TOO HOT TO HANDLE — “Biden Title IX rules on trans athletes set for election-year delay,” by WaPo’s Laura Meckler: “The Biden administration is preparing to finalize sweeping rules in coming weeks governing how sex discrimination is addressed in schools, including new protections for transgender students. But officials plan to put off a companion regulation outlining the rights of trans athletes.” More top reads:
- The chips challenge: “Biden needs a win from Intel. Can the company deliver?” by Christine Mui: An $8.5 billion investment “ties Biden’s legacy to a tech giant with significant problems of its own — one in the middle of an attempted recovery after falling behind in a crucial global competition.”
JUDICIARY SQUARE QUESTIONS FOR KRIS MAYES — “Pro-Trump fake electors in Arizona have pleaded the Fifth before grand jury,” by Betsy Woodruff Swan: “Requiring the targets of the probe to invoke their rights in front of grand jurors is an unusual tactic that raises a risk of bias, legal experts say.” BACK TO COURT IN ATLANTA — “Trump lawyer: Ex-president cannot be charged for false statements,” by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution’s Bill Rankin and Tamar Hallerman ONCE AGAIN — “Trump attacks daughter of judge overseeing hush money case,” by Alex Isenstadt TV TONIGHT — PBS’ “Washington Week”: Adam Harris, Nia-Malika Henderson, Mark Leibovich and Jeff Mason. SUNDAY SO FAR … CBS “Face the Nation”: Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott … Rep. Mike Turner (R-Ohio) … Cindy McCain … Wilton Cardinal Gregory … Bishop Mariann E. Budde. ABC “This Week”: Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) … retired Gen. Frank McKenzie. Panel: Donna Brazile, Reince Priebus, Rick Klein and Asma Khalid. FOX “Fox News Sunday”: Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) … Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) … Karen Kingsbury. Legal panel: Jonathan Turley and Tom Dupree. Panel: Julia Manchester, Howard Kurtz, Philippe Reines and Marc Thiessen. NBC “Meet the Press”: Rep. Jim Clyburn (D-S.C.) … Rep. Don Bacon (R-Neb.) … Savannah Guthrie. Panel: Jeh Johnson, Ramesh Ponnuru and Katie Rogers.
| | | | YOUR GUIDE TO EMPIRE STATE POLITICS: From the newsroom that doesn’t sleep, POLITICO's New York Playbook is the ultimate guide for power players navigating the intricate landscape of Empire State politics. Stay ahead of the curve with the latest and most important stories from Albany, New York City and around the state, with in-depth, original reporting to stay ahead of policy trends and political developments. Subscribe now to keep up with the daily hustle and bustle of NY politics. | | | | | | | PLAYBOOKERS | | Lara Trump dropped a new single. Tony Bobulinski sued Jessica Tarlov for defamation. Anna Paulina Luna claimed she was behind Ken Buck’s Freedom Caucus ouster. Brian Pritchard, vice chair of the Georgia GOP, was found to have voted illegally. Tom Emmer found his way back into Trump’s good graces. Bernie Sanders wants to meet with the CEO of Novo Nordisk about the price of Ozempic. IN MEMORIAM — “Esther Coopersmith, Washington diplomat and doyenne, dies at 94,” by WaPo’s Emily Langer: “She nurtured generations of Democratic politicians — among them a young Joe Biden — and conducted statecraft at the dinner table.” HONORING EVAN — WSJ’s Emma Tucker and Dow Jones’ Almar Latour hosted a 24-hour read-a-thon for Evan Gershkovich at their headquarters in New York. SPOTTED providing live or pre-recorded readings during the daylong event: Rebecca Blumenstein, Kaitlan Collins, Jeff Goldberg, Bill Hemmer, Lester Holt, Jodi Kantor, Ron Lieber, Andrea Mitchell, David Muir, Dana Perino, Abby Phillip, David Rohde, Bret Baier, Geoff Bennett, Sally Buzbee, Laura Coates, Jodie Ginsberg, Jennifer Griffin, Bill McCarren, Amna Nawaz, Norah O’Donnell, Martha Raddatz, Jake Tapper, Anton Troianovski and Emily Wilkins. FIRST IN PLAYBOOK — Frank Rose is leaving the Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration, where he was principal deputy administrator, Daniel Lippman reports. Among other nuclear-related issues, he helped shape the administration’s Nuclear Posture Review in 2022. TRANSITIONS — Doug Geho is expected to start soon as an attorney adviser to new FTC Commissioner Melissa Holyoak, Josh Sisco reports — putting one of Chair Lina Khan’s top antagonists in direct contact with the career staffers he’s excoriated as chief antitrust counsel for the House Judiciary Committee. … Brittany Albaugh will be deputy voter protection director for the Biden campaign. She previously has been chief of staff of the undersecretary of the Air Force. HAPPY BIRTHDAY: Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.) (6-0) … Reps. Ted Lieu (D-Calif.) and Jasmine Crockett (D-Texas) … Peter Velz … CNN’s Melanie Zanona … Emily Cain … Lara Logan … AP’s Steve Peoples … Paul Farhi … Nathen Huang … POLITICO’s Catherine Morehouse, Julie Kennedy, Kyle Betacchini and Justin Davis … The Messina Group’s Nick Buis and Kate Thomas … Scoop News Group’s Matthew Bracken … Emily Jashinsky … DSCC’s David Bergstein … Carina Armenta of Rep. Julia Brownley’s (D-Calif.) office … Marissa Padilla of Global Strategy Group … Liz Jaff … Hillary Beard of Rep. Terri Sewell’s (D-Ala.) office … Wyn Hornbuckle … Dan Weiner of the Brennan Center for Justice … Robert Gibbs … Rockefeller Foundation’s Eric Pelofsky … ICF Next’s Nancy Murphy … Jay Kenworthy of Sen. Todd Young’s (R-Ind.) office … former Sen. Larry Pressler (R-S.D.) … Pasquines’ William-Jose Velez Gonzalez … Peter Cherukuri … Maria Martirosyan Issakhanian of Rep. Ilhan Omar’s (D-Minn.) office … Janay Kingsberry … Mehdi Alhassani of Palantir Technologies Did someone forward this email to you? Sign up here. Send Playbookers tips to playbook@politico.com or text us at 202-556-3307. Playbook couldn’t happen without our editor Mike DeBonis, deputy editor Zack Stanton and Playbook Daily Briefing producer Callan Tansill-Suddath.
| | | | A message from The National Association of REALTORS®: The National Association of REALTORS® is fighting for housing affordability and availability before Congress.
The lack of affordable housing supply is hurting the middle class and depriving first-generation and first-time homebuyers of the financial security that homeownership provides.
REALTORS® play a pivotal role in the real estate transaction serving as a trusted advisor in one of the most important financial decisions of homebuyer’s lives.
The National Association of REALTORS® is focused on fixing the affordable housing crisis to make the dream of homeownership a reality for all.
America needs more affordable and more available housing. REALTORS® have a bipartisan plan at flyin.realtor. | | | | | | | Follow us on Twitter | | | | Subscribe to the POLITICO Playbook family Playbook | Playbook PM | California Playbook | Florida Playbook | Illinois Playbook | Massachusetts Playbook | New Jersey Playbook | New York Playbook | Ottawa Playbook | Brussels Playbook | London Playbook View all our political and policy newsletters | | Follow us | | | | |
