| | | | |  | | By Eli Stokols, Lauren Egan and Ben Johansen | 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 When the Supreme Court on Friday overturned a ban on bump stocks, which allow semiautomatic rifles to fire at nearly the speed of a machine gun, President JOE BIDEN’s campaign team had a statement ready to go blaming one man. Even though the ban struck down was enacted by President DONALD TRUMP’s administration in 2017 after a deadly mass shooting in Las Vegas, the Biden campaign pointed to the 6-3 decision as direct result of the three justices Trump appointed to the Court. “Trump did this,” read the headline on the campaign’s statement. As the release was blasted out, the campaign was in the process of finalizing a new battleground ad that will highlight Trump’s inaction on gun violence, a campaign official said. It capped a week that, for Biden’s team in Wilmington, was all about at putting Trump, who turned 78 on Friday, on the defensive — mocking his light campaign schedule and his age, ambushing the presumptive nominee on his return to Washington, seizing on his gaffes and attempting to drive news coverage on their terms. “Trump faded from people’s lived experience over the course of the past three years,” one Biden official, who was granted anonymity to discuss the campaign’s strategy, told West Wing Playbook. “Even earlier this year, when he stepped back into the limelight, it was about his own criminal defense and the personal stakes for Donald Trump — not the stakes for the country. We consistently want to make sure that the conversation is about what the stakes are going to be for the American people.” With only five months left in the presidential rematch and less than two weeks before the first Biden-Trump debate, the president’s campaign team is furiously working to focus attention on the presumptive GOP nominee, to sharpen the contrasts they see as critical to their success ahead of the June 27 showdown in a CNN studio. On Tuesday and Wednesday, the Biden campaign needled Trump for having nothing on his schedule. When the former president returned to the Capitol for the first time since the Jan. 6 insurrection Thursday, Biden aides looked to flood the airwaves with surrogates to remind Americans about that violent effort by the former president’s supporters to prevent the ratification of his loss. The riot was also the focus of a new campaign ad highlighting Trump’s promise to pardon convicted participants and accusing him of “inciting them to do it again.” The campaign also released a testimonial video from a woman affected by Texas’ rollback of reproductive rights, and when the Supreme Court issued a ruling preserving access to the abortion pill known as mifepristone, it held a press call emphasizing that the case was brought by Trump allies intent on further restricting women’s reproductive rights and made possible by the Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe v. Wade. Trump, during a meeting on Capitol Hill, reportedly addressed the matter himself, acknowledging that Republicans have been hurt politically by the backlash to the Dobbs decision and other restrictive efforts that have occurred since. That occurred at almost the same time as Senate Republicans blocked a Democratic effort to protect IVF. When news leaked that Trump had disparaged Milwaukee, which will host this year’s Republican National Convention later this summer, Biden aides boosted the post from Punchbowl’s JAKE SHERMAN and, before long, blasted out a social media post from the president’s own account trolling Trump: “I love Milwaukee,” the post read alongside a photo of Biden with members of the Milwaukee Bucks at the White House. By Friday afternoon, the campaign was selling pro-Milwaukee T-shirts. Ahead of Trump’s appearance before the Business Roundtable on Thursday afternoon, the Biden campaign launched a new ad targeting Latinos about Trump having been bad for business. Trump’s appearance before the group of 200 CEOs garnered little coverage — until campaign aides boosted a clip of CNBC’s ANDREW ROSS SORKIN describing Trump as rambling and unfocused during his Q&A with LARRY KUDLOW. On Friday, the Biden campaign also distributed a collection of press clips on Trump’s remarks that focused on his comments during the private session about wanting to further cut the corporate tax rate. “Trump has and always will govern on the side of his ultra-wealthy buddies, slashing corporate income taxes while screwing over the middle class,” the Biden campaign wrote. It was the third element of what the Biden campaign saw as a daily trifecta: Trump underlining three of his top liabilities: his overturning of Roe, his encouragement of political violence and his promotion of an economic agenda focused on helping the rich. Trump, Biden campaign communications director MICHAEL TYLER wrote in a Thursday night memo recapping the day, went to Washington “in an effort to rebrand himself as a totally normal presidential candidate with broad general election appeal." “But by the end of the day,” he added, “Trump came away looking even more unhinged and out of touch with the voters he’ll need to reach 270 electoral votes.” MESSAGE US — Are you KAI MCGUIRE, associate director of advance? 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!
| | | | 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.
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President Biden welcomes Pope Francis during the 50th G7 summit at Borgo Egnazia on June 14, 2024 in Fasano, Italy. | Getty Images/Christopher Furlong | | | | ‘ONE HAND TIED AROUND THE BACK’: European allies are pressing the Biden administration to further loosen restrictions on Ukraine’s use of U.S. weapons inside Russia, arguing that it constrains Kyiv’s ability to fully defend itself, our LARA SELIGMAN reports from Brussels. Publicly, U.S. officials have said they’re not changing their stance. But they acknowledge that at multiple points in the conflict, Washington has been reluctant to give Ukraine something it wants, only to give in at the last minute. “You can find a number of areas where we were reluctant to do something and then we did it,” said one senior Defense Department official. “So never say never.” SERENADING OLAF: It was German Chancellor OLAF SCHOLZ’s birthday on Friday, so per Biden family tradition, the president led the group of G7 leaders in singing “Happy Birthday” to the German leader. “Did you sing Happy Birthday to him?,” Biden asked the leaders. “Yes,” in a helicopter at midnight, said one leader, as well as Canadian Prime Minister JUSTIN TRUDEAU. But that wasn’t enough for Joe. “It's a tradition in the Biden family: You gotta sing happy birthday on a birthday.” How unique. A HEAVY DAY: Vice President KAMALA HARRIS is expected to host an event at the White House next week focused on the Israel-Hamas war, in part to shine light on conflict-related sexual violence, CNN’s PRISCILLA ALVAREZ reports. Harris will deliver remarks Monday on that subject followed by a panel discussion of survivors and experts from around the world. The event will also feature a partial screening of the documentary film “Screams Before Silence,” on Hamas’ sexual violence on Oct. 7, including remarks from SHERYL SANDBERG, who led the film. WHAT THE WHITE HOUSE WANTS YOU TO READ: This piece by TNR’s TALIA JANE about how conservative media, led by the NY Post, continued to circulate a doctored video of Biden supposedly wandering off during Thursday’s skydiving demonstration at the G7. The paper put Biden on its Friday cover to highlight his “confused wanderings” at the G7 — even after its post on X got hit with a community note that undercut its claim. “Biden didn’t wander off,” the note said, explaining that he had turned to speak to one of the skydivers behind him. The Post’s video of Biden, the note continued, was “digitally altered to remove the skydiver.” Jane’s story, which lays it all out, was shared by deputy press secretary ANDREW BATES and deputy communications director HERBIE ZISKEND. WHAT THE WHITE HOUSE DOESN’T WANT YOU TO READ: This piece by Bloomberg’s JARRELL DILLARD, who reports that U.S. consumer sentiment unexpectedly fell to a seven-month low in early June. The sentiment index dropped to 65.6 in June from 69.1, according to a preliminary reading from the University of Michigan. The median estimate from a Bloomberg survey of economists was for it to rise to 72. A gauge of consumers’ current assessments of their personal finances also dropped 12 points to 79, the lowest since October.
| | | PLATITUDES ABOUT PATRIOTISM: The Biden campaign is out with a new ad on Flag Day, titled “Our Flag,” a one-minute spot that highlights the country’s shared history with the American flag. “I don’t pledge allegiance to red states of America or blue states of America. I pledge allegiance to the United States of America,” Biden says in the ad. (Notably, in a graphic showing the country laid out in red and blue states, the battlegrounds of Pennsylvania, Georgia, North Carolina, Michigan, Wisconsin, Arizona and Nevada are all blue.)
| | ANYONE SURPRISED? The Justice Department will not prosecute Attorney General MERRICK GARLAND for contempt of Congress because his refusal to turn over audio of President Biden’s interview in his classified documents case “did not constitute a crime,” the DOJ said Friday. In a letter to House Speaker MIKE JOHNSON, a DOJ official cited the department’s longstanding policy not to prosecute executive branch officials who withheld information subject to executive privilege, our JORDAIN CARNEY reports. CLEANING UP THE MESS: The Education Department tapped College Board President JEREMY SINGER to serve in a new role overseeing the rollout of next year’s Free Application for Federal Student Aid, Inside Higher Ed’s KATHERINE KNOTT reports. It comes as several higher education groups have become increasingly concerned that the agency won’t launch a new FAFSA by the deadline of Oct. 1 after this year’s application faced a number of delays and technical glitches.
| | WITH CHINA, IT’S … COMPLICATED: President Biden and other G7 leaders gathered in Italy this week agree that China poses major threats to their economies. But behind the group’s “tough on China” messaging, the countries are still split on how far to go in challenging the superpower, our ADAM CANCRYN and DOUG PALMER report. The differences could disrupt their ability to fend off Beijing, some officials worry. On Friday, the allies discussed more forcefully combatting China’s overcapacity, senior officials in Italy said, and are committing billions more dollars towards their own investments in emerging economies, something China has been doing on a large scale for years. The U.S. during the summit also expanded a set of sanctions aimed in part at China, which it has accused of supplying Russia in its war against Ukraine. SLAP ‘EM DOWN: The Biden administration announced sanctions Friday on an extremist Israeli group that for months has been attacking and impeding convoys of humanitarian aid from getting into Gaza, WaPo’s MICHAEL BIRNBAUM reports. The measures against Tsav 9, a group with ties to Israeli military reservists, aim to punish the organization for blocking roads between Jordan and Gaza and its attacks on trucks carrying aid to civilians in Gaza. The action will freeze the group’s assets under U.S. jurisdiction under the authority of an executive order on West Bank violence that Biden issued in February. Individual members of the group were not hit with sanctions, but U.S. officials have said that they could be facing them in the future. MAKING A HABIT: Recently manufactured Boeing and Airbus jets have components made from titanium sold using fake documentation supposedly verifying the material’s authenticity, NYT’s MARK WALKER reports. The falsified documents are being investigated by Spirit AeroSystems, which supplies fuselages for Boeing and wings for Airbus, as well as the Federal Aviation Administration. Spirit is aiming to determine where the titanium came from, whether it meets proper standards despite its false documentation, and whether the parts are structurally sound enough to hold up through the projected life spans of the jets.
| | | | A Hollywood Heavyweight Is Biden’s Secret Weapon Against Trump (NYT’s Peter Baker) Pete Buttigieg’s Paternity Leave Was Complicated. Here’s What He Learned (GQ’s Chris Cohen) Europeanize NATO to save it (Rachel Rizzo and Michael Benhamou for Defense One) Don’t Tell the French — But They’re Americans Now (POLITICO’s Matthew Kaminski)
| | | President DWIGHT D. EISENHOWER was the first president to bring a Broadway musical to the White House, in an after-dinner program for Chief Justice EARL WARREN in 1958, according to the White House Historical Association. Thanks to the White House Historical Association for this question! 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 Mike DeBonis
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