| | | | |  | | 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 At last year’s Group of Seven summit in Hiroshima, Japan, some senior administration officials who’d been in the room for high-level meetings couldn’t stop marveling at how well President JOE BIDEN was getting along with Italian Prime Minister GIORGIA MELONI. When she rose to power in 2022 as the leader of the Brothers of Italy, a party that has its roots in postwar neofascism, White House aides were bereft about the resignation of former Prime Minister MARIO DRAGHI, a technocrat whom Biden had worked well with. And they harbored deep uncertainty about how this unknown replacement from Italy’s far right would govern and engage with G7 allies. But that anxiety is long gone. When the president arrived on Thursday at the Borgo Egnazia resort for this year’s summit, he and Meloni — suddenly the strongest leader among a group facing domestic crises and dim election prospects — greeted one another warmly. After a kiss on both cheeks, Biden grasped her by the hand, then switched hands for a more formal shake as they turned toward the assembled photographers. Finally, as he was directed off the riser to sign a guest book, Biden offered the summit host a playful salute. “They have a very good relationship,” said one White House official who was granted anonymity to describe the Biden-Meloni relationship to West Wing Playbook. “The White House has been pleasantly surprised by how she has been such a strong transatlanticist since becoming prime minister. She has been an excellent partner on a range of issues.” No one would suggest Meloni and Biden are ideologically aligned. While she has governed from the center-right, her domestic agenda is more similar to the Republican Party’s in the U.S., centered on cutting income taxes and welfare benefits — to say nothing of her stances on curtailing migration, opposing same-sex marriage and limiting the rights of same-sex parents. But none of that is of much concern to the White House. The official pointed to several of Meloni’s actions as evidence of her broader alignment with the U.S. and other G7 allies: Italy’s withdrawal from China’s Belt and Road Initiative, her support for Biden’s Indo-Pacific strategy aimed at mitigating the risk from China and, above all, her unwavering support for Ukraine even as other far-right leaders across Europe have at times opposed or impeded Western aid. “We’ve found her to be very pragmatic with her approach to foreign policy, and she’s been constructive in Brussels and NATO, as well,” the official said. “One of the hallmarks of our foreign policy is to recognize that the world is interconnected, that what happens in Europe affects the Indo-Pacific and vice versa. Meloni understands that and has been right there with [Biden] pushing for a stronger American and European role in the Indo-Pacific.” Other White House aides have taken note of how Meloni has attacked the root causes of problems like migration, worked behind the scenes to help resolve sticking points among allies with at times conflicting views and communicated clearly about her views and intentions. “There are some allies we sometimes get surprised by with comments in the press,” the official said. “That’s never been an issue with Meloni.” (Hear that, PRESIDENT MACRON?) The roots of the surprisingly warm Biden-Meloni relationship, in fact, stem from an instance of effective direct communication between the two leaders. In February 2023, both were planning to visit Ukraine to mark the first anniversary of the war there. Biden’s trip, which was shrouded in secrecy until he had arrived safely in Kyiv, occurred one day before Meloni’s own trip there. Meloni aides, upon seeing that Biden had visited, reached out to the White House to set up a meeting or call. The prime minister, Biden aides were told, was seeking out his impressions of what he’d just seen and looking to coordinate their approach around the one-year mark of the war. When aides weren’t able to arrange for them to meet at the train station once the president was back in Poland, Biden called Meloni on the phone. During that call, an impressed Biden invited Meloni to come to the White House. That meeting, which took place last July, sent a strong signal that the White House viewed Meloni as a traditional and reliable ally. And, aides say, she has proven as much: Officials were especially impressed with her work earlier this year to craft a compromise that got Hungary’s right-wing leader VIKTOR ORBÁN to finally sign off on a $54 billion aid package for Ukraine, according to two people familiar with internal conversations. Meloni’s skilled diplomacy behind the scenes, aides said, is also evident in her approach to migration. Rather than demagoguing the issue, Meloni has shown a seriousness about attacking “push factors” that have driven African migrants across the Mediterranean and into southern Europe. She has worked within the EU and beyond to overhaul the approach toward burden sharing and to build support for an International Monetary Fund loan package for Tunisia, which she asked Biden to back during a call last year. And he did. “She’s been interested in solving real challenges,” one official said. “That’s impressed people.” MESSAGE US — Are you KATIE SCHLICK, special assistant to the national climate adviser? 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!
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| | EUROPEAN BEDWETTERS: European diplomats and world leaders are starting to worry that President Biden’s reluctance to more fully break with Israeli Prime Minister BENJAMIN NETANYAHU and the domestic backlash he’s faced as a result, could cost him the November election, our ADAM CANCRYN and NAHAL TOOSI report. They fear that the president’s approach could usher in DONALD TRUMP and rupture the diplomatic harmony Biden hoped to achieve. “The level of concern is something between panic and terror,” said JEREMY SHAPIRO, a former BARACK OBAMA State Department official in touch with European diplomats. “The alliance is too important for these countries right now.” AND ON UKRAINE … On Thursday, the group of G7 leaders agreed to a complex plan — spearheaded by President Biden — that would convert $50 billion of seized Russian assets into long-term funding for Ukraine in its fight with Russia, our MICHAEL STRATFORD reports. G7 leaders will begin dispersing the money this calendar year. A senior Biden administration official said the U.S. is willing to provide a loan of up to the full amount, but some of the money would come from other countries. “The idea here is to share risk,” the official said. President Biden and Ukrainian President VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY also agreed to a 10-year security agreement that would commit the U.S. to supplying Kyiv with military assistance. But, as our ALEXANDER WARD and Cancryn write, this deal is only between the current U.S. and Ukrainian administrations — meaning Donald Trump could terminate the agreement if elected. A REMINDER FOR THE GUY RUNNING ON DEMOCRACY: Biden, for the second time in as many press conferences, complained on Thursday about the two reporters he called on asking him multiple questions, grousing that he wished reporters “would play by the rules” and ducking a question about Gaza that he said was off-topic. NBC’s KELLY O’DONNELL, the president of the White House Correspondents Association, responded with a rare statement noting that “there are no preconditions” or rules for press conferences. “Any leader may prefer that reporters only ask one question or ask only about a topic that is of most interest to the president or another world leader, but a free press functions independently,” O’Donnell said. THE ‘WHITE LOTUS’ OF G7S: Borgo Egnazia, like your typical G7 location, is an extravagant and remote luxury hotel. It’s where, in 2012, JUSTIN TIMBERLAKE and JESSICA BIEL got married. The Telegraph describes it as “part hotel, part stage set with a village square surrounded by a maze of passageways and arches, all dripping with bougainvillea, interspersed with citrus trees and prickly pears.” No wonder the press pool spotted the president’s physician, Dr. KEVIN O’CONNOR, sauntering past after a dip in the actual pool wearing a plush robe and holding a Diet Coke, two poolers confirmed to West Wing Playbook. But the style award goes to Meloni herself, who not only picked the location but rocked a dusty pink suit with wide-leg trousers and rolled up to a skydiving demo on a pristine golf course in a tiny Fiat. Friend of the newsletter and fashionista KATE BENNETT wrote in that the prime minister “is embracing being a female leader and a woman with an interest and taste for fashion.” The outfit, Bennett said, was “perfect” for the setting and should serve as an example to other female elected leaders. “It’s way, way past time women in power stepped out with confidence beyond navy blue.”
|  Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni arrives to watch with other leaders a skydiving demo during the G7 world leaders summit at Borgo Egnazia, Italy on Thursday. | AP/Luca Bruno | BIDEN’S NEXT IMMIGRATION MOVE: Biden could unveil new protections for some undocumented immigrants as soon as next week, four people familiar with the timeline told our MYAH WARD, NICHOLAS WU and DANIELLA DIAZ. Administration officials are still working to finalize details of a policy that will shield some undocumented spouses of U.S. citizens from deportation and allow them to work legally while they pursue a path to citizenship. The president could unveil his move at the White House’s planned DACA anniversary event next week — though an official warned that no final decisions have been made about any new policies or the timeline for an announcement. ZIENTS IN HIS COMFORT ZONE: With Biden abroad, it fell to chief of staff JEFF ZIENTS to make the administration’s case to the Business Roundtable, a group of about 200 CEOs who claim to represent a quarter of the country’s jobs and GDP. According to a person familiar with the meeting, Comcast CEO BRIAN ROBERTS interviewed Zients on stage for roughly 30 minutes. Zients, an entrepreneur himself — bagels, did y’all hear? — said stability and predictability are vital to American capitalism. Zients also name-checked some CEOs who’ve worked with the administration on policy: Apple CEO TIM COOK and BRIAN BECHTEL, the CEO of Bechtel, the largest construction firm in the country. Zients’ appearance came ahead of an appearance by Trump, who was interviewed by his former economic adviser LARRY KUDLOW. WHAT THE WHITE HOUSE WANTS YOU TO READ: Thursday marked Trump’s first visit to Washington since the Capitol riot on Jan 6. 2021. During a meeting with Republican House and Senate leaders, he dropped plenty of lines that the Biden camp would love voters to hear. Like his opinion on the location of this year’s Republican National Convention: “Milwaukee, where we are having our convention, is a horrible city,” Trump said, per Punchbowl’s JAKE SHERMAN (though others in the room denied he was quite so blunt). Senior deputy press secretary ANDREW BATES, deputy campaign manager ROB FLAHERTY and campaign director of rapid response AMMAR MOUSSA were quick to share that on X. Oh, and then Biden’s campaign account posted a photo of him welcoming the Milwaukee Bucks at the White House in 2021 with the caption: “I love Milwaukee.” WHAT THE WHITE HOUSE DOESN’T WANT YOU TO READ: This piece by WaPo’s TAYLOR LORENZ, who reports that many online TikTok creators who branded themselves as a part of the “TikTok for Biden” movement in 2020 are now turning against him. They’ve changed the name of their coalition to “Gen-Z for Change” and have yet to endorse the president’s reelection bid. “Biden is out of step with young people on a number of key issues,” said the coalition’s founder, AIDAN KOHN-MURPHY, who called “the frustrations of young progressive leaders a barometer of widespread dissatisfaction among Gen Z voters.”
| | A FRIENDLY REMINDER: With Trump on the Hill today, the Biden campaign released a new campaign ad to remind voters of the role his rival played in the Jan. 6 insurrection. “On Jan. 6, Donald Trump lit a fire in this country,” the narrator says in the 30-second spot. “Now, he’s pouring gasoline, pledging to pardon the extremists who tried to overthrow our government.”
| | | | OFFICIALLY OFFICIAL: The White House formally nominated CHRISTY GOLDSMITH ROMERO to head the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., our Michael Stratford also reports. If confirmed by the Senate, Goldsmith Romero would replace longtime FDIC Chair MARTIN GRUENBERG, who said he would resign after an investigation found extensive allegations of sexual harassment and bullying in the agency. But Democrats could find it tough to advance her nomination given the dwindling number of weeks until the chamber goes home for August recess. FIRST IN WEST WING PLAYBOOK: NEIL MACBRIDE is leaving as the general counsel of the Treasury Department at the end of the month, he told colleagues in a departure email on Thursday, our DANIEL LIPPMAN has learned. ADDAR LEVI, principal deputy general counsel, will take over as acting general counsel. MORE PERSONNEL MOVES: ABRAHAM DENMARK has stepped down as senior adviser for Defense Secretary LLOYD AUSTIN, Denmark announced on X this morning. He had been serving in the role since August 2022.
| | FIRST IN WEST WING PLAYBOOK: Over 60 national care organizations sent a letter to Biden this week, urging the president to take action for undocumented care workers and family caregivers, our Myah Ward writes in. They’re asking the administration to expand access to the cancellation of removal program for people who have lived in the U.S. for over 10 years and have citizen or resident relatives who would “suffer” if they were deported. A migrant can obtain a green card if specific requirements are met and an immigration judge approves cancellation of removal. The letter is part of a major push this week, 12 years after DACA, to pressure the Biden administration to offer new affirmative relief. ABORTION BOMBSHELL, DODGED: The Supreme Court on Thursday rejected a bid to restrict the abortion pill mifepristone, rebuffing anti-abortion groups’ attempts to roll back policies that made the drug widely accessible, our ALICE MIRANDA OLLSTEIN and JOSH GERSTEIN report. In a unanimous ruling, the court said that the groups do not have the legal standing to challenge the Food and Drug Administration’s decisions in 2016 and 2021 to relax various regulatory requirements around the drug. The ruling, for now, leaves in place federal regulations that allow patients to get abortion pills through the mail or online.
| | | | WSJ Reporter Evan Gershkovich, Falsely Accused of Espionage, Is Indicted in Russia (WSJ’s Ann M. Simmons) A New Way to Make Russia’s Assets Pay for Ukraine’s Defense and Rebuilding (Janet Yellen for the NYT) Campaigns Can Now See What You Watch on TV. It’s Changing Everything. (NOTUS’ Maggie Severns)
| | | NEIL DIAMOND’s “Sweet Caroline” has been immortalized in frat basements, Fenway Park and karaoke bars around the country since its 1969 release by forcing anyone and everyone to drop what they’re doing and belt out, “Good times never seemed so good!” But here’s a little known fact: Diamond’s inspiration for the song came from Ambassador to Australia CAROLINE KENNEDY, the daughter of JOHN F. KENNEDY. Diamond was a “young, broke” singer when he saw a picture of the president’s daughter in a magazine. “It was a picture of a little girl dressed to the nines in her riding gear, next to her pony,” Diamond told the Associated Press in 2007. “It was such an innocent, wonderful picture, I immediately felt there was a song in there.”
| | President FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT became president during the Great Depression and helped the American people regain faith in themselves. During his first inaugural address he stated that “the only thing we have to fear is fear itself,”according to the White House Historical Association. To look back at how different presidents led the country, listen to The White House 1600 Sessions podcast “Presidential Leadership Lessons.” 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 and Rishika Dugyala.
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