| | | | |  | | By Garrett Ross | | Presented by |  | | | |  | THE CATCH-UP | | | TOP-ED — World Central Kitchen founder JOSÉ ANDRÉS writes for NYT Opinion: “Israel is better than the way this war is being waged. It is better than blocking food and medicine to civilians. It is better than killing aid workers who had coordinated their movements with the Israel Defense Forces. The Israeli government needs to open more land routes for food and medicine today. It needs to stop killing civilians and aid workers today. It needs to start the long journey to peace today.” Andrés also shared a video of LALZAWMI “ZOMI” FRANKCOM, one of the workers killed, with a heartbreaking message attached in a post on X: “I’m sorry my friend…I wish I never met you….I wish I never founded @WCKitchen ..you would be alive somewhere today, smiling and making somebody somewhere feel like they were the most beloved person in the world.”
|  President Joe Biden was privately enraged by the deadly strike against aid workers but won't go much further than a public statement upbraiding Israel over it. | Jamie Kelter Davis for POLITICO | WATCH THIS SPACE — “‘Angry’ Biden not changing Israel policy after deadly strike on aid workers,” by Alex Ward: “President JOE BIDEN was privately enraged by the deadly strike and in a public statement upbraided Israel for it, calling for ‘accountability’ to those responsible and demanding more humanitarian assistance be allowed into Gaza. But two senior administration officials said that is as far as he and the White House will go for now. “‘That’s all we have planned,’ said one of the officials, who like others was granted anonymity to speak candidly about administration planning or internal reactions.” DEVELOPING — From Axios’ Barak Ravid: “Israeli war cabinet member minister BENNY GANTZ calls for holding early elections in September” CASHING UP — DONALD TRUMP and the RNC brought in $65.6 million in March and ended the month with $93.1 million in cash on hand, our colleague Alex Isenstadt scoops. “Trump’s allies hope the amount will ease concerns about his fundraising and the cash deficit he is facing against President Joe Biden. The figure — which covers a number of fundraising vehicles that will all have to disclose their activities to the Federal Election Commission later this month — outpaces the $62 million that Trump raised in March 2020, when he was running for reelection.” Though Biden’s outfit has yet to disclose a March fundraising total, officials have said the NYC mega-fundraiser with BARACK OBAMA and BILL CLINTON alone raked in $25 million — meaning it’s all but certain that Biden will continue to outpace Trump in fundraising figures once the president’s officials numbers are released. In February, Biden and the DNC raised $53 million, Biden’s campaign said, ending the month with $155 million on hand. STAFFING UP — The Biden campaign is bolstering its polling operation, adding a quartet of pollsters who were involved in efforts around Democrats’ stronger-than-expected 2022 midterms, reflecting “a continued shift to broaden Biden’s polling operation beyond the team that worked on his first successful campaign against Trump,” Elena Schneider reports. The names to know:
- GEOFF GARIN, who has led research for major progressive advocacy groups and unions;
- JEFREY POLLOCK, who has worked for Illinois Gov. J.B. PRITZKER and Nevada Sen. JACKY ROSEN;
- MOLLY MURPHY, who served as the lead polling adviser to the Democratic Congressional Campaign in 2022 and advised North Carolina Democratic Gov. ROY COOPER;
- BRENDA LEE, who specializes in Black voters and also advised the DCCC’s independent expenditure unit in recent cycles.
As for the current roster, CELINDA LAKE, MATT BARRETO, SILAS LEE and DAVID BINDER will all continue in their respective roles. Notably, JOHN ANZALONE, who with Lake was Biden’s lead pollster in 2020, will not be involved in the day-to-day operations and instead will serve as a senior adviser. BOOKMARK THIS ONE — Here’s a helpful link to keep track of some under-the-radar elections this year: “Your State-by-State Guide to the 2024 Supreme Court Elections,” by Bolts’ Daniel Nichanian: “Voters this year are deciding the fate of 82 seats across 33 states’ high courts. Cases involving abortion, democracy, and other critical issues hang in the balance.” Good Wednesday afternoon. Thanks for reading Playbook PM. Drop me a line at gross@politico.com.
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Discover other stories. | | | | | 5 THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW | | |  Special counsel Jack Smith's team filed a remarkable request for Judge Aileen Cannon to move forward with the classified documents case against Donald Trump. | Alex Wong/Getty Images | 1. CANNON FODDER: In a filing late last night, prosecutors on special counsel JACK SMITH’s team signaled “an open display of frustration” with the judge overseeing the classified documents case against Trump, saying “that a ‘fundamentally flawed’ order she had issued was causing delays and asked her to quickly resolve a critical dispute about one of Mr. Trump’s defenses — leaving them time to appeal if needed,” NYT’s Alan Feuer reports. “The unusual and risky move by the prosecutors, contained in a 24-page filing, signaled their mounting impatience with the judge, AILEEN M. CANNON, who has allowed the case to become bogged down in a logjam of unresolved issues and curious procedural requests. It was the most directly prosecutors have confronted Judge Cannon’s legal reasoning and unhurried pace, which have called into question whether a trial will take place before the election in November even though both sides say they could be ready for one by summer. In the filing, Smith’s team “all but begged Judge Cannon to move the case along and make a binding decision about one of Mr. Trump’s most brazen claims: that he cannot be prosecuted for having taken home a trove of national security documents after leaving office because he transformed them into his own personal property under a law known as the Presidential Records Act. The prosecutors derided that assertion as one ‘not based on any facts,’ adding that it was a ‘justification that was concocted more than a year after’ Mr. Trump left the White House.” Read the full filing 2. CHECK YASS: GOP megadonor JEFF YASS, who has recently emerged as a major player in Trump’s circle, once donated to a super PAC that is trying to topple progressive incumbent Rep. SUMMER LEE in Pittsburgh, Madison Fernandez reports. Moderate PAC, an outside group that aims to support centrist Democrats, has been boosting a primary challenge to Lee, a member of “The Squad.” “Lee and her supporters are quick to point out that Yass, a Pennsylvania businessperson, donated $1 million to the PAC in 2022, when it spent in support of Democratic Reps. JARED GOLDEN of Maine and DON DAVIS of North Carolina.” Adding to the intrigue: “Yass has actually given more to the group in recent weeks, Moderate PAC’s president, TY STRONG, told POLITICO — the first time that donation is being disclosed publicly.”
| | | | 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. | | | | | 3. DANCE OF THE SUPERPOWERS: As Treasury Secretary JANET YELLEN travels to China this week, her “optimism” about the global superpower “has given way to a sense of alarm,” as she is “expected to tell her Chinese counterparts to stop relying on exports to prop up their underperforming economy and instead boost their own consumer market,” WSJ’s Andrew Duehren writes. “We don’t want to be overly dependent and they want to dominate the market,” Yellen told WSJ. “We’re not going to let that happen.” “The warning from Yellen is a sign that the Biden administration is moving toward raising Trump-era tariffs on some Chinese products, including electric vehicles. Such a move could reignite tensions between the world’s two largest economies, which have tried to stabilize relations in recent months. The message will also mark an evolution for Yellen — and the end of a bygone era in U.S. economic thinking about China.” Related read: “U.S. states are cutting off Chinese citizens and companies from land ownership,” by Phelim Kine: “More than two thirds of states — primarily controlled by Republicans — have enacted or are considering laws limiting or barring foreign ownership of land. … [T]here’s little evidence of a credible threat considering Chinese interests currently own a miniscule amount of U.S. territory.”
| | | | A message from Meta:   | | | 4. CASH DASH: DAVE McCORMICK, the Pennsylvania GOP Senate candidate aiming to unseat Democratic Sen. BOB CASEY, raked in $6.2 million in the first quarter of 2024 fundraising, Fox News’ Paul Steinhauser scoops. The haul nearly matches the $6.4 million that McCormick brought in during the fourth quarter last year, and includes $1 million contributed by the candidate himself. While Casey has yet to release his fundraising figures for the Q1 of this year, his fourth quarter cash pile came in at $3.6 million. 5. WHAT UNITES US: Despite a political landscape that appears more divided than ever ahead of another contentious general election, a new AP-NORC poll finds more accord than expected: “About 9 in 10 U.S. adults say the right to vote, the right to equal protection under the law and the right to privacy are extremely important or very important to the United States’ identity as a nation. The survey also found that 84% feel the same way about the freedom of religion,” AP’s Gary Fields and Amelia Thomson Deveaux write. “The results, which included perspectives on a number of different freedoms and rights, have only small variances between Republicans and Democrats except on the right to bear arms, which Republicans are more likely to see as core to the nation’s identity.”
| | | | 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. | | | | | | | PLAYBOOKERS | | OUT AND ABOUT — SPOTTED at the Center for Democracy & Technology’s Spring Fling event yesterday evening: Alan Davidson, Carly Kind, Travis LeBlanc, Deirdre Mulligan, Rebecca Slaughter, Ashkan Soltani, Julie Brill, Alexandra Givens, Katherine Maher, Chan Park, Gary Shapiro, Ruby Zefo, Ami Fields-Meyer, Lisa Hone, J. Trevor Hughes, Cam Kerry, Dewey Murdick and Christopher Soghoian. — The Future of Privacy Forum held its 15th Anniversary Spring Social yesterday evening on the rooftop of the Riggs Hotel. SPOTTED: Jules Polonetsky, Anne Flanagan, Amie Stepanovich, Gabriela Zanfir-Fortuna, Jeremy Epstein, Deirdre Mulligan, Rebecca Slaughter, Alexander White, Wojciech Wiewiórowski, Denise Wong, Gilad Semama and Stephen Balkam. TRANSITION — Mary Vought is joining The Heritage Foundation as VP of comms. She is the founder of Vought Strategies and is a Ron Johnson and House Republican Conference alum. WELCOME TO THE WORLD — Erin Dunne Cavataro, corporate comms manager at Vanguard and a LEVICK, Cogent Strategies and Washington Examiner alum, and Ben Cavataro, a law professor at Villanova University and Covington and Burling alum, on March 25 welcomed Charles Isaiah Cavataro. Pic … Another pic 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. Correction: Yesterday’s Playbook PM misidentified the organization Chioma Chukwu will be leading as executive director. It is American Oversight.
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