Meet the Surrogates

May 29, 2024

By Lauren Egan, Eli Stokols and Ben Johansen

Welcome to POLITICO’s West Wing Playbook, your guide to the people and power centers in the Biden administration.

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When JOE BIDEN’s campaign announced it would hold a last-minute press conference outside the New York City courtroom where former President DONALD TRUMP’s criminal trial is being held, it caught many by surprise.

And it wasn’t just because the campaign was now seemingly involving itself in a criminal trial that it had long avoided as a matter of policy. But because it was engaged in the type of headline-grabbing politics that it so frequently has decried.

For years, the Biden team has argued that it does not need to chase the same news cycles that the Washington press corps obsesses over. Biden has frequently offered up his own media criticism, slamming the press for confusing “noise with substance.” Aides have tried to present Biden as not just unbothered by whatever the latest Trump news may be but also above it.

Tuesday was different. The campaign dispatched ROBERT DE NIRO and former U.S. Capitol Police officers HARRY DUNN and MICHAEL FANONE to the courthouse. And while they studiously tried to make the press conference about threats to democracy and not the trial, it was a subtle effort to both draw attention to the latter and a transparent attempt to take advantage of it. They admitted as much.

When asked by a reporter why the campaign held an event at Trump’s trial, MICHAEL TYLER, Biden campaign communications director, responded: “Because you all are here.”

“You’ve been incessantly covering this, day in and day out,” he added.

Tyler was correct in his assessment about the outsized coverage the trial has demanded (it’s historic to see a former president on the cusp of a potential conviction). And the campaign has long been open about its frustration with the media’s programming priorities. But embedded in the remarks was an admission: that the Biden team doesn’t see the trial as inherently damaging to Trump and that the president himself has been unable to break through the blather, despite having the bully pulpit at his disposal.

And if that wasn’t apparent, it soon became so when aides told our JONATHAN LEMIRE that the “guerrilla-style” news conference was the start of a new tactic in which they would hold more surprise events.

When “Morning Joe” co-host MIKA BRZEZINSKI argued on Wednesday that the decision to speak outside the court “doesn’t feel right,” Tyler pushed back. But in doing so, he made clear that the days of publicly saying the campaign is untethered from the daily news cycle are over; and that, in its place, will be a more concerted effort to reorient it.

“This campaign isn’t speaking about the substance of this trial in any way, shape or form,” he said. “When you have one thing like this trial that is taking up a lot of oxygen, you have to be creative. You have to use every tool at your disposal to break through that clutter to communicate your message.”

If this is, indeed, the new campaign posture, the question that follows is: What role will Biden himself play in it?

For now, the campaign seems content to keep the president in traditional settings like today’s stop in Philadelphia, and make the case that the press should do more to cover it.

“The President just spoke to approx 1,000 mostly black voters in Philly about the massive stakes in this election,” campaign spokesman TJ DUCKLO posted on X. “@MSNBC @CNN & others did not show it. Instead, more coverage about a trial that impacts one person: Trump.”

As for the overt headline-grabbing gambits, they’re turning to others, including De Niro.

But utilizing A-list actors and influencers to serve as political surrogates carries its own risk. The New York Times reported that the actor went off script at the end of the news conference, declaring that Trump was guilty and should go to jail.

“The fact is whether he’s acquitted, whether it’s hung jury, whatever it is, he is guilty, and we all know it,” De Niro said, according to The Times. “I’ve never seen a guy get out of so many things, and we all know this. Everybody in the world knows this.”

When asked if he thought Trump should be in jail, De Niro replied: “I sure do. Absolutely.”

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POTUS PUZZLER

Which four languages did JAMES GARFIELD speak?

(Answer at bottom.)

The Oval

FEELING THE HEAT: Israeli Prime Minister BENJAMIN NETANYAHU blasted the White House for rejecting a GOP-led effort to sanction the International Criminal Court after its chief prosecutor filed arrest warrants for Netanyahu and War Cabinet member YOAV GALLANT. Netanyahu said he was “surprised and disappointed” in an interview with Sirius XM’s “The Morgan Ortagus Show,” set to air Sunday but obtained by our ALEXANDER WARD.

The White House on Tuesday said it would reject the bill, a reversal from Secretary of State ANTONY BLINKEN’s promise to lawmakers last week that the administration would work with Congress to potentially impose sanctions.

LEAVING THE DOOR CRACKED: Two senior Biden administration officials signaled Wednesday that the White House could allow Ukraine to use American-donated weapons to strike directly inside Russia, our MATT BERG, Ward and NAHAL TOOSI report. European allies, lawmakers and Ukrainian officials have put pressure on the administration to lift its restrictions — especially as Russia continues to make advances on the battlefield.

During a visit to Moldova, Secretary of State Blinken said a “hallmark” of the administration’s policy since the invasion has been “to adapt as the conditions have changed, as the battlefield has changed, as what Russia does has changed.” Shortly after, National Security Council spokesperson JOHN KIRBY emphasized there is no policy change, but that “support to Ukraine has evolved appropriately.”

WHEN YOU’VE LOST SYMONE … The administration insisted Tuesday that the IDF’s deadly weekend strike on Rafah did not cross Biden’s “red line” that would cause it to reconsider its support for Israel. Predictably, that did not sit well with many on the left. Including, we noticed, SYMONE SANDERS, Vice President KAMALA HARRIS’ former communications director who is now an MSNBC weekend host. “The statements from some administration officials about not being able to verify what’s happening in Gaza are absurd,” she wrote on X. “We can all see the pictures. It’s horrific.”

Any other Biden administration alums care to share some thoughts?

WHAT THE WHITE HOUSE WANTS YOU TO READ: This piece by our ALICE MIRANDA OLLSTEIN and MEGAN MESSERLY who write that even as Donald Trump says he won’t outright ban birth control, he may have plans to make it much harder to get. As president, Trump instituted several policies that made it more difficult for particularly the working class and the poor to obtain contraception. Now, conservative allies want to reimpose those policies and go further if he wins in November. Their “Project 2025” blueprint includes proposals that would remove requirements for insurance companies to cover male condoms and emergency contraception and instead require them to cover natural family planning methods.

Campaign spokesperson JAMES SINGER shared the piece on X.

WHAT THE WHITE HOUSE DOESN’T WANT YOU TO READ: This piece by WaPo’s JOHN HUDSON and MICHAEL BIRNBAUM who report that a veteran State Department official resigned Tuesday over a disagreement with a recently published U.S. government report finding that Israel was not impeding humanitarian assistance to Gaza. STACY GILBERT, who served in the State’s Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration, said in an email to staff that the State Department was wrong to conclude Israel has not been blocking aid — a sentiment shared by a majority of aid and humanitarian organizations.

CAMPAIGN HQ

NOT MUCH BROTHERLY LOVE HERE: As mentioned above, Biden was in Philadelphia today for a campaign event targeting a predominantly Black audience. And he tore into Trump like a drunk Eagles fan happening upon a guy in a Santa suit.

“What would’ve happened if Black Americans had stormed the Capitol? I don’t think he’d be talking about pardons,” Biden said. “This is the same guy who wanted to tear gas you as you peacefully protested George Floyd’s murder. It’s the same guy who still calls the ‘Central Park Five’ guilty, even though they were exonerated. He’s that landlord who denies housing applications because of the color of your skin. He’s that guy who won’t say Black lives matter and invokes neo-Nazi, Third Reich terms.”

“We all remember, Trump is the same guy who unleashed the birtherism lie against Barack,” he continued.

Our MYAH WARD noted that “it wasn’t the first time the president has leveled such attacks against Trump, but Wednesday’s speech marked the most forceful rhetoric he’s used.”

GEN Z BLUES: A survey by Blueprint of voters aged 18-30 sheds new light on why Biden is struggling so much with America’s youngest voting cohort. A whopping 65 percent of respondents agreed with the statement that “America is in decline,” and 66 percent agreed that “nearly all” politicians are corrupt and profit off their power. Fifty-one percent said they were happier before the pandemic; just 45 percent believe their lives will be better than their parents; and 48 percent agreed with the statement: “It doesn’t matter who wins elections, nothing changes.”

Pollsters also asked the youths to do a word association test about ROBERT F. KENNEDY JR., whose third party presidential bid has the potential to tip the election. The most selected words overall were “old” (30%), “free thinker” (26%), “independent” (26%), “out of touch” (21%), and “moderate” (17%).

THE BUREAUCRATS

FIRST IN WEST WING PLAYBOOK: SOPHIE FRIEDMAN joined the White House on Monday as deputy director of presidential production, our DANIEL LIPPMAN has learned. She previously managed special projects and board relations for Bloomberg Philanthropies and is an alum of HILLARY CLINTON’s 2016 presidential campaign and MIKE BLOOMBERG’s 2020 presidential campaign.

— JIM SECRETO has started as deputy chief of staff at the Commerce Department, Lippman also learned. He most recently was a counselor at the Treasury Department and is a Biden White House alum.

SCANDINAVIAN BOUND: President Biden tapped MARK ANGELSON, the vice chairman of Rutgers University Board of Governors as the U.S. ambassador to Norway, the Jersey Globe’s DAVID WILDSTEIN reports. Angelson has served as deputy mayor of Chicago, was a member of the president’s intelligence advisory board and is currently the vice chair of the Biden Foundation.

Agenda Setting

MIGHT NOT HELP WITH THE YOUTH STRUGGLES: In 2022, TikTok offered the federal government an expansive deal in an effort to save itself, WaPo’s DREW HARWELL reports. The social media app, owned by Chinese company ByteDance, said it would let the government pick its U.S. operation’s board of directors, give the government veto power over each new hire and pay an American company that contracts with the Defense Department to monitor its source code.

The Biden administration declined, forfeiting potential influence over one of the most popular apps in favor of a harsher option: forcing ByteDance to sell to an American company or risk being banned from the U.S. In a statement, a Biden administration official said the proposal, known as Project Texas, would not be sufficient to address “serious national security risks” by it being Chinese-owned.

That move will now become a central point in the upcoming dispute in court as ByteDance challenges the sale-or-ban law. The government will likely have to explain why Project Texas wasn’t a reasonable solution for its national security goals.

SHE’S THE AUTHORITY: In one of the most blunt assessments from a member of the Biden administration on the Israeli operation in Rafah, USAID head SAMANTHA POWER, author of the famed book “A Problem from Hell,” said that Israel’s military campaign is having “catastrophic consequences,” our Matt Berg reports. “Despite currently more limited military operations around Rafah and the Egypt/Gaza border, the catastrophic consequences that we have long warned about are becoming a reality,” Power said Wednesday.

IN CASE IT'S NOT CLEAR: The number two at the State Department is stepping up diplomatic efforts to convince Europe about the scale of China’s role in assisting Russia in its war against Ukraine, our STUART LAU reports for Pro subscribers. KURT CAMPBELL, deputy secretary of state, this week hand-delivered that warning to NATO European diplomats with “as much detail and specifics as possible.”

“It is fair to say that China’s general goal has been not only to support Russia … but to downplay that publicly and try to maintain normal diplomatic and commercial ties with Europe,” Campbell told reporters in Brussels on Wednesday.

What We're Reading

RFK Jr.’s Philosophy of Contradictions (The Atlantic’s John Hendrickson)

‘The Girls On The Bus’ Canceled By Max After One Season (Deadline’s Nellie Andreeva)

Giant pandas are returning to D.C.’s National Zoo. Meet Bao Li and Qing Bao (WaPo’s Michael E. Ruane and Olivia Diaz)

POTUS PUZZLER ANSWER

Garfield spoke and taught both Latin and Greek. Our 20th president was also ambidextrous, said to have been able to write a sentence in Latin with one hand while simultaneously writing the same sentence in Greek with the other. Garfield also became the first president to campaign in two languages — English and German — after speaking to a crowd of Germans in their native tongue.

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 Rishika Dugyala.

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