| | | | |  | | By Eli Stokols, 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. Send tips | Subscribe here | Email Eli | Email Lauren Typically, celebrities come to Washington to draw attention to a pet issue, experience White House Correspondents’ week, or attend a state dinner. But in recent weeks, they have been popping up in a less-expected location: the White House South Lawn, standing behind the rope line to watch President JOE BIDEN as he walks toward Marine One.
|  Former Spice Girl Geri Halliwell stands with Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.) to watch President Biden's departure on Marine One from the South Lawn on Wednesday. | AP/Alex Brandon | On Wednesday, as Biden left on a day trip to Wisconsin, there was former Spice Girl GERI HALLIWELL-HORNER, or “Ginger Spice,” in the White House driveway. Last week, Oscar-winning director KATHRYN BIGELOW was at the White House with ABC’s MARTHA RADDATZ and on hand for a Biden departure. So, too, was RALPH FIENNES, who was in town for a production of Macbeth (and who should have won Best Actor for “The English Patient”) wearing a double-breasted jacket and gawking at the president alongside White House senior adviser for political engagement JOHN MCCARTHY as Biden ambled across the close-cut grass.
|  Actor Ralph Fiennes takes a photo as President Joe Biden walks to board Marine One on the South Lawn of the White House on Thursday, May 2, 2024. | AP/Evan Vucci | “It’s becoming the hottest ticket,” one administration official joked, noting that staffers have, in turn, been coming outside to see Biden’s departures more, likely to glimpse the glamorous guests who are themselves glimpsing the president. So why is this happening? As is often the case, it’s work-related. Ginger Spice had been on campus for a VIP White House tour (Democratic Rep. ERIC SWALWELL of California submitted the request) as part of her efforts on behalf of the Barbara Bush Literacy Foundation. Such tours include an up-close look at the Oval Office, which requires them to typically occur on days when the president is off-campus. Often, they take place when the president is coming and going, which is why some of the people who are getting those more exclusive tours are there to watch Biden take off. It’s also why some administration officials who come in on weekends have seen other celebrities, including actress UZO ADUBA and actors BARRY KEOGHAN and CALLUM TURNER. WHCD headliner COLIN JOST also got a VIP tour while in town last month, coming through the West Wing with SCARLETT JOHANSSON, his wife, and other family members. “If you’re here on the weekend, you will catch a celeb,” the administration official said. Of course, famous people are constantly traipsing through the White House, whether it’s MATTHEW MCCONAUGHEY holding forth in the briefing room on the urgency of gun safety after the 2022 Uvalde school shooting, STEPH CURRY on Pebble Beach after a ceremony for the 2022 championship team or, just last week, MARK HAMILL addressing the press after a private Oval Office meeting with Biden. But the driveway sightings carry an element of surprise and excitement. On Wednesday, staffers, described by one official as “surprisingly giggly,” started texting one another about whether that was actually Ginger Spice. “The younger staffers were the most excited,” one official said. “Which was somewhat surprising.” MESSAGE US — Are you DAVID MANNERS-WEBER, White House associate counsel? We want to hear from you. And we’ll keep you anonymous! Email us at westwingtips@politico.com. Did someone forward this email to you? Subscribe here!
| | | | A message from the Electronic Payments Coalition: WORKING-CLASS AMERICANS DEPEND ON CREDIT CARD REWARDS: A new study finds credit card rewards like cashback empower low-income families to pay for the rising price of everyday essentials—like groceries and gas. So why are DC politicians partnering with corporate mega-stores to end those hard-earned rewards programs that Americans rely on? The Durbin-Marshall Credit Card Bill takes billions from American families, lining corporate pockets instead. Tell DC politicians to OPPOSE the Durbin-Marshall Credit Card Bill. | | | | | In 1893, why did GROVER CLEVELAND disappear for four days? (Answer at bottom.)
| | ANYTHING YOU CAN DO … President Biden traveled to Racine, Wisconsin, on Wednesday to announce a $3.3 billion investment by Microsoft to build a new artificial intelligence data center, our JONATHAN LEMIRE and ADAM CANCRYN report. During his remarks, Biden took aim at DONALD TRUMP, casting him as someone who was all talk and no delivery during his administration. The location of the new center is the same site as the failed $10 billion Foxconn factory Trump once called the “eighth wonder of the world.” “He promised a $10 billion investment by Foxconn. He came with your senator, Ron Johnson, with a golden shovel and didn’t build a damn thing,” Biden said. “They dug a hole with those golden shovels and then they fell into it.” PHONE-AND-PEN TIME: The Biden administration will propose changes to the asylum system on Thursday, our DANIELLA DIAZ, MYAH WARD and NICHOLAS WU report. The changes will address which migrants can be found ineligible to apply for and receive asylum. Under the current structure, eligibility is determined based on a number of factors determined during the interview stage. But the administration is now planning to propose applying those factors in the initial screening phase. The change would allow the U.S. to expedite the expulsion of migrants whom officials see as ineligible to stay in the country due to national security or public safety risks, among other reasons. The downsides, advocates warn, is it could screen out deserving applicants who may not be able to effectively plead their case or obtain strong counsel. WHAT THE WHITE HOUSE WANTS YOU TO READ: Besides the coverage of Biden’s Wisconsin trip (especially this Fox and Friends segment with the Doocys), this piece by NBC’s VAUGHN HILLYARD and JAKE TRAYLOR, which chronicles Trump’s day out of the courtroom on Wednesday, spent … strategically… selling his NFT trading cards at Mar-a-Lago. His schedule didn’t include any public campaign events. Campaign director of rapid response AMMAR MOUSSA shared the story on X. WHAT THE WHITE HOUSE DOESN’T WANT YOU TO READ: This piece by our STEVEN SHEPARD, who reports on a new POLITICO-Morning Consult poll, which found that most voters don’t know very much about President Biden’s first-term domestic spending initiatives. Voters even give Donald Trump almost as much credit as Biden for advancing infrastructure legislation, which the former president famously failed to do. Majorities of poll respondents said they haven’t seen, read or heard anything or much about three of Biden’s four major spending laws — with the Inflation Reduction Act most known. But still, only 17 percent said they’ve heard “a lot” about the IRA, and 35 percent said they’d heard “some” about 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. | | | | | | | | COMING TO A STATION NEAR YOU: The Biden campaign is dropping another multi-million dollar ad blitz in May, our ELENA SCHNEIDER and BRAKKTON BOOKER report. The campaign announced Wednesday that it will be spending an additional $14 million in ad spending during the month in hopes of taking advantage of a time during the campaign when Donald Trump is largely stuck off the trail. The Biden team will also hire more staff — bringing the total up to 500 — and open its 200th office by the end of the month.
| | | | BUT WHO GETS OLIVIA'S OFFICE? Two longtime White House press aides are being promoted following the departure of press secretary KARINE JEAN-PIERRE’s top deputy OLIVIA DALTON, Bloomberg’s JUSTIN SINK reports. Deputy press secretaries ANDREW BATES and EMILIE SIMONS will both be named senior spokespersons for the White House under the new arrangement, and they will gaggle with press aboard Air Force One when Jean-Pierre is unavailable. JEREMY EDWARDS, a FEMA spokesperson who had been detailed to the White House, is also expected to take an expanded role handling economic and budget issues after MICHAEL KIKUKAWA joined the National Economic Council. MORE PERSONNEL MOVES: REBECCA CHALIF is now chief of staff at USAID after serving as the agency's head of public affairs for the last three years, our DANIEL LIPPMAN has learned. She has also previously worked for Vice President KAMALA HARRIS and HILLARY CLINTON. JESSICA JENNINGS takes over for her as USAID's chief communications officer. Jennings is currently the agency's spokesperson and is a Democratic National Convention and British Embassy alum.
| | | | A message from the Electronic Payments Coalition:   | | | | | FEELING THE PRESSURE: In closed-door talks, Israeli officials have expressed “deep frustration” at both the Biden administration's delay in weapons shipment to Israel, and U.S. confirmations to the media of the once-private halt, our ALEXANDER WARD reports. It’s indicative of the magnitude to which U.S.-Israeli relations have become strained in recent days. A senior administration official said the U.S. found it “a bit rich” that Israel is upset about the leaks when it was Israeli officials who first confirmed it to Axios over the weekend. IT’S TRUE: Defense Secretary LLOYD AUSTIN confirmed Wednesday that the U.S. has paused a shipment of bombs to Israel due to concerns over the humanitarian impact of an Israeli invasion into Rafah, our CONNOR O’BRIEN reports. Testifying on Capitol Hill today, Austin told senators that the Biden administration’s commitment to Israel remains “ironclad” despite the holdup.
| | R.F.K. Jr. Says Doctors Found a Dead Worm in His Brain (NYT’s Susanne Craig) Can you afford to take care of your children and parents? Biden revives efforts to lower costs (AP’s Chris Megerian and Moriah Balingit) Biden Looks to Thwart Surge of Chinese Imports (NYT’s Jim Tankersley)
| | | | A message from the Electronic Payments Coalition: NEW STUDY DEBUNKS MYTH CREDIT CARDS REWARDS ARE ONLY FOR THE RICH: Politicians in DC are teaming up with corporate mega-stores to push a false narrative only the rich benefit from credit card rewards. New research disproves this, showing rewards have a significantly larger financial benefit for low- and middle-income Americans. These rewards, especially cashback, help working class families pay for everyday essentials--equivalent to a 17 cent per gallon gas price reduction. Yet, politicians are trying to pass a new law that would end rewards programs that Americans rely on, favoring corporations over people. The card mandates included in the Durbin-Marshall Credit Card Bill would weaken security measures, disrupt rewards, and burden households already grappling with rising costs. With food and rent prices soaring, stripping cashback rewards from hardworking American families would be devastating. Learn more here. | | | | | | That summer, Cleveland disappeared for four days to have a secret surgery on a yacht. Shortly after he took office for a second term, Cleveland noticed a little bump on the roof of his mouth, which turned out to be cancer, according to author MATTHEW ALGEO. So Cleveland decided to have the tumor secretly removed. The plan was to announce that the president was taking a friend’s yacht, the Oneida, on a four-day fishing trip from New York to Cape Cod. Luckily, the surgeons were able to remove the tumor in 90 minutes through his mouth, avoiding any damage to Cleveland’s trademark mustache. 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 Sam Stein and Mike DeBonis.
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