| | | | |  | | By Bethany Irvine | | Presented by |  | | | |  | THE CATCH-UP | | | SAD NEWS FROM N.J. — “Donald Payne, six-term congressman from New Jersey, dies at 65,” by the New Jersey Globe’s Joey Fox and David Wildstein: “Rep. DONALD PAYNE JR. (D-Newark) — an immensely likable, low-key but effective, progressive six-term congressman from New Jersey with a passion for social justice and constituent service — died today. He was 65. Payne suffered a heart attack on April 6 and had been unconscious and on a ventilator since then at Newark Beth Israel Medical Center.” BREAKING IN MICHIGAN — “Trump is a co-conspirator in Michigan’s 2020 false electors plot, state investigator says,” by the Detroit News’ Craig Mauger: “Michigan prosecutors consider former President DONALD TRUMP and some of his top aides co-conspirators in the plot to submit a certificate falsely claiming he won Michigan's 2020 election, an investigator for Attorney General DANA NESSEL’s office testified Wednesday in court. … Trump; MARK MEADOWS, who was Trump's chief of staff; and RUDY GIULIANI, who was his personal lawyer, are ‘unindicted co-conspirators’ in Michigan's false elector case.”
|  President Joe Biden formally signed the hotly debated $95.3 billion foreign aid package into law this morning. | AP | SIGNED, SEALED, DELIVERED — Today, after months of gridlock in Congress, President JOE BIDEN formally signed the hotly debated $95.3 billion foreign aid package into law. “For all the talk about how dysfunctional things are in Washington, when you look over the last three years, we see that time and again on the critical issues we’ve actually come together,” Biden said. He went on to praise congressional leaders for the bill: Despite their disagreements, “when it matters most, they stepped up and did the right thing. … Now we need to move fast, and we are.” Still, the question is how to get funding to Ukraine in a timely manner as Kyiv scrambles to shore up its defenses ahead of an expected Russian offensive, NBC News’ Daryna Mayer and Yuliya Talmazan report. “‘The key now is speed,’ Ukrainian president VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY said Wednesday. … Some civilians in Kyiv expressed similar concerns about when the aid would arrive and in what amounts, as well as lack of clarity among the Ukrainian public about how much the country will ultimately have to pay for the desperately needed help.” The reality is that while the “$61 billion can help triage Ukrainian forces … Kyiv will need much more for a fight that could last years,” AP’s Aamer Madhani and Seung Min Kim write. Related read: “The US secretly sent long-range ATACMS to Ukraine — and Kyiv used them,” by Alex Ward and Lara Seligman TIKTOK ON THE CLOCK — The aid package also includes a provision to force the divestiture of social media platform TikTok from its Chinese parent company. That measure could set up a free speech debate in federal courts, Reuters’ Mike Scarcella previews, as opponents of the de facto TikTok ban “could argue it infringes free speech by preventing users from expressing themselves and businesses from using the app to promote products.” And despite the president signing the bill into law, Biden's re-election campaign said they plan to continue using TikTok for at least the next year, NBC News’ Monica Alba scoops. TikTok CEO SHOU CHEW promised today to fight the ban in court. Good Wednesday afternoon. Thanks for reading Playbook PM. Drop me a line at birvine@politico.com.
| | | | A message from TSMC: TSMC Arizona’s first fab is on track to begin production leveraging 4nm technology. The second fab will produce the world’s most advanced 2nm process technology in addition to the previously announced 3nm technology. Our newly announced third fab will produce chips using 2nm and/or more advanced processes, with production beginning by the end of the decade. The increased capacity will help our customers to unleash innovations in all different fields including mobile, AI and HPC. | | | AFTERNOON READ — “The Other Half of ‘MAGA America’s Favorite Couple,’” by Adam Wren: “Between hosting Right Side Broadcasting Network and dating MARJORIE TAYLOR GREENE, BRIAN GLENN is the next big MAGA media star.” NOTABLE QUOTABLE — WaPo’s George Will writes: “Tuesday’s Senate ratification of Ukrainian aid proves that DWIGHT EISENHOWER’s baton of Republican internationalism was passed, via RONALD REAGAN, to MITCH McCONNELL. They are the three most important Republicans of the past 100 years.” JOHNSON’S WAR AT HOME — While Biden’s lengthy fight with Republicans about aid to Ukraine may be over for the moment, House Speaker MIKE JOHNSON’s battle to keep his gavel within own conference continues, though he appears to be on sturdier ground than many observers expected — and he’s strenuously trying to avoid anything that might alter that. Don’t expect any major changes to the Rules Committee. This morning, Johnson said he would not remove three hard-right panel members who have attempted to block several GOP bills from votes — including the recently passed foreign aid package, Anthony Adragna reports. “If I start kicking people off committees right now, it's likely that I cause more problems than it solves,” Johnson said during an interview on the The Hugh Hewitt Show. “[T]here are actions and then there are reactions and reverberations from the actions,” given the House GOP’s current one-vote margin. Johnson also defended his support of the foreign aid package. “History is going to judge this well,” he said. “It was the right thing to do.” A number of House Democrats seem to agree. Several Democrats are already on board to save Johnson from the motion to vacate should it come to a vote. Among them is Rep. MARIE GLUESENKAMP PEREZ, a Washington Democrat who represents one of the nation’s most competitive seats. Speaking with The Atlantic’s Russell Berman, she contrasts Johnson favorably with his predecessor. “I don’t think my constituents wanted to see me save KEVIN McCARTHY. I think they saw a lot of hair gel,” Gluesenkamp Perez said. “I think they see Mike Johnson as different. I think they want me to save him. They’re tired of chaos, regardless of party.”
| | | 6 THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW | | | | 
The Supreme Court seemed divided along ideological lines during arguments over Idaho's near-total abortion ban. | Amanda Andrade-Rhoades/AP | 1. ABORTION ON THE DOCKET: The Supreme Court took up a key case today in the national abortion debate, as justices heard arguments on whether Idaho’s near-total ban on abortion conflicts with a decades-old federal law protecting patients in medical emergencies. In the chambers: For the most part, the justices seemed divided along ideological lines during the somewhat spirited arguments, with ELENA KAGAN summing up the more liberal view against the ban. “It can't be the right standard of care to force someone onto a helicopter,” Kagan said, referencing reports of women in medical emergencies needing to be medevaced to other states for abortion care. More from NYT The state of play: “To prevail, the Biden administration will need the votes of two members of the court’s conservative bloc, and with Justice BRETT KAVANAUGH signaling sympathies towards Idaho, the case will likely come down to the votes of Chief Justice JOHN ROBERTS and AMY CONEY BARRETT,” CNN’s Tierney Sneed writes. “The two justices had tough questions for both sides of the case. The court’s far-right wing, perhaps in [an] attempt to bring those swing justices to their side, framed the case as a federal overreach into state power.” Tomorrow’s big case: “Trump’s ‘Crazy’ Argument for Immunity Heads to the High Court,” by Ankush Khardori for POLITICO Mag 2. CAMPUS UNREST CONTINUES: Students taking part in the pro-Palestinian protests at Columbia University have begun to clear of out of their encampments on school grounds today, as the school struggles to contain the growing unrest on it’s Upper Manhattan campus, WSJ’s Alyssa Lukpat reports. Still, tensions remain high as “protesters gathered Wednesday morning at the corner of Broadway and 116th, their chants audible as commuters exited the subway station,” and “daily life on campus has largely come to a halt.” Today, Speaker Johnson became the highest-ranking lawmaker to call for Columbia University President MINOUCHE SHAFIK to resign, labeling her a “very weak and inept leader.” During an interview on the The Hugh Hewitt Show, Johnson also echoed calls from his fellow Republicans to defund universities related to the fallout to the war in Gaza: “We need to revoke federal funding to these universities if they cannot keep control,” Johnson said. He is set to visit Columbia’s campus later this afternoon. More from Anthony Adragna 3. PULLOUT FALLOUT: New evidence related to the 2021 ISIS-K suicide bombing at a Kabul airport during the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan casts fresh doubt on the Pentagon’s findings on the incident, CNN’s Nick Paton Walsh and Mick Krever scooped this morning. “For two years, the US military has insisted that the loss of life was caused by a single explosion,” the pair report. “But video captured by a Marine’s GoPro camera that has not been seen publicly in full before shows there was far more gunfire than the Pentagon has ever admitted.” The new evidence “raises serious questions for the Pentagon, which has continued to dismiss mounting evidence that civilians were shot dead,” Walsh and Krever write. “A spokesman said the Pentagon would need to see any ‘new, previously unseen, video out there’ before assessing it.”
| | | | THE GOLD STANDARD OF POLICY REPORTING & INTELLIGENCE: POLITICO has more than 500 journalists delivering unrivaled reporting and illuminating the policy and regulatory landscape for those who need to know what’s next. Throughout the election and the legislative and regulatory pushes that will follow, POLITICO Pro is indispensable to those who need to make informed decisions fast. The Pro platform dives deeper into critical and quickly evolving sectors and industries—finance, defense, technology, healthcare, energy—equipping policymakers and those who shape legislation and regulation with essential news and intelligence from the world’s best politics and policy journalists.
Our newsroom is deeper, more experienced, and better sourced than any other—with teams embedded in the world’s most active legislative and regulatory power centers. From Brussels to Washington, New York to London, Sacramento to Paris, we bring subscribers inside the conversations that determine policy outcomes and the future of industries, providing insight that cannot be found anywhere else. Get the premier news and policy intelligence service, SUBSCRIBE TO POLITICO PRO TODAY. | | | | | 4. CLIMATE FILES: “Populist buzzsaw puts Democrats on the defensive on climate,” by Jordan Wolman, Marie French and Zi-Ann Lum: “In New York, Washington, Pennsylvania and California — and even Canada — concerns about the costs of curbing greenhouse gas emissions are fueling voter revolts and prompting some liberals to scale back or reframe their own climate ambitions.” 5. BRACE YOURSELVES: “Trump 2.0: How US allies are preparing for a second term,” by Reuters’ Alexander Ratz, Diego Oré and Gram Slattery: As the world braces for a potential “Trump 2.0,” countries including Germany, Japan, Australia and Mexico “want to avoid the cold slap that Trump's ‘America First’’ policies dealt them last time around.” Notably, South Korea is making a more “low-key approach” by employing K Street lobbyists; “Washington's lobbyist district is buzzing with South Koreans keen to understand Trump's views on trade and investment, including what would happen to Biden's Inflation Reduction Act.” 6. MEDIA WATCH: “NPR Chief Defends Coverage, Accuses Critics of ‘Bad Faith Distortion’ of Her Views,” by WSJ’s Alexandra Bruell: “In an essay earlier this month on the news site the Free Press, NPR editor URI BERLINER said the public radio network had lost its way by letting liberal bias skew its coverage. … ‘We have robust conversations across the organization, including in response to the article,’ [NPR CEO KATHERINE MAHER] said. ‘Clear and well-reasoned pieces [from reviewers] found that our journalism is really solid.’”
| | | | POLITICO IS BACK AT THE 2024 MILKEN INSTITUTE GLOBAL CONFERENCE: POLITICO will again be your eyes and ears at the 27th Annual Milken Institute Global Conference in Los Angeles from May 5-8 with exclusive, daily, reporting in our Global Playbook newsletter. Suzanne Lynch will be on the ground covering the biggest moments, behind-the-scenes buzz and on-stage insights from global leaders in health, finance, tech, philanthropy and beyond. Get a front-row seat to where the most interesting minds and top global leaders confront the world’s most pressing and complex challenges — subscribe today. | | | | | | | PLAYBOOKERS | | Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump are teaming up to play a major role on their dad’s transition team. Elizabeth Warren has another crypto-friendly GOP challenger. WHITE HOUSE DEPARTURE LOUNGE — Michael Boyce is now director of the DHS AI Corps. He previously was a senior policy analyst focused on FedRAMP and AI policy at OMB. TRANSITION — Joerg Wuttke will be a partner at Dentons Global Advisors-Albright Stonebridge Group. He previously was chief representative of BASF in China. WEDDING — Elisabeth Brisley, director of government relations for Encompass Health and Lewis Plush, VP of federal government relations for card policy for JP Morgan Chase and a Vern Buchanan alum, got married recently at Antrim 1844 in Maryland with their dog Betty as the flower girl. The couple met 7 years ago through a mutual friend at a happy hour on Capitol Hill. 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 newsletter included an incorrect figure for the amount of Ukraine aid included in the new foreign aid package. It is $61 billion.
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