| | | | |  | | By Eli Okun | | Presented by |  | | | |  | THE CATCH-UP | | | HARRIS GOES THERE — VP KAMALA HARRIS told Wisconsin Public Radio’s Kate Archer Kent that she backs doing away with the Senate filibuster to codify Roe v. Wade and protect abortion rights. It’s notable that Harris is emphasizing her support for a limited carve-out to the Senate’s 60-vote threshold, which could be a top priority if Democrats have a governing trifecta next year. Harris has done similarly before, including after the Dobbs decision and during her last campaign, when she supported carve-outs for reproductive rights, voting rights and the Green New Deal — making this one pre-2020 view she’s not running away from.
|  President Joe Biden emphasized the values and missions that have been central to his foreign policy. | Manuel Balce Ceneta/AP Photo | ONE LAST TIME — With four months left in his presidency, JOE BIDEN’s major address to the U.N. General Assembly today served as both a valedictory and a plan of action as his administration scrambles to try to tame fires raging abroad in his limited time remaining in office. “There is so much more I want to get done,” Biden said in a wistful reflection on his decision to stand down from his reelection bid, Jonathan Lemire reports from NYC. But he framed the choice as the right one to make for his country, and urged other world leaders to take note: “Some things are more important than staying in power.” Biden emphasized the values and missions that have been central to his foreign policy, particularly the importance of building international alliances/institutions and fighting against the rising tide of authoritarianism around the world. “I truly believe we’re in another inflection point of world history,” Biden said. He hit on climate change and artificial intelligence; defended his withdrawal of the U.S. from Afghanistan; and made clear implicitly that he believes internationalism, rather than DONALD TRUMP’s more isolationist worldview, is the better path for the U.S. (Biden also announced that he’s sending 1 million doses of mpox vaccines to Africa, as Reuters’ Trevor Hunnicutt and Julie Steenhuysen scooped earlier.) But the conflicts that have dominated so much of Biden’s attention — in Ukraine, Israel/Gaza and now Israel/Lebanon — hung as a heavy backdrop to the speech. Biden declared that the world must stand with Kyiv against Russian President VLADIMIR PUTIN’s aggression and “cannot grow weary,” earning an ovation. He called for a cease-fire deal now in the Israel-Hamas war and extolled a two-state solution. And he urged Israel and Hezbollah not to escalate to another “full-scale war,” saying that “diplomatic solution is still possible. It’s the only path.” Despite his comments, peace seems elusive just about everywhere Biden might look. As Ukraine still struggles to repel Moscow, Biden will have some big decisions to make this week when President VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY pitches him on loosening restrictions on strikes, WaPo’s Isabelle Khurshudyan, Siobhán O’Grady, Michael Birnbaum and Ellen Francis report. In the Middle East, the U.S. is trying desperately to convince Israel not to keep escalating with Lebanon, after the recent attacks have dealt a serious blow to Hezbollah, CNN’s Natasha Bertrand, Oren Liebermann and Jennifer Hansler report. U.S. officials are especially worried about Iran stepping in. But after almost a year now of shrugging off American entreaties, Israeli PM BENJAMIN NETANYAHU is largely immune to U.S. criticism so long as Biden doesn’t cut off arms sales, FT’s Andrew England and Felicia Schwartz report. Says one former Western official, “If he could be the source of the October surprise that gives Trump an opportunity to come back, then he’d be very happy to do that.” Related read: “Israel Deliberately Blocked Humanitarian Aid to Gaza, Two Government Bodies Concluded. Antony Blinken Rejected Them,” by ProPublica’s Brett Murphy SURVEY SAYS — Harris +1 nationwide, per CNN/SSRS. … Harris +2 in Michigan, per USA Today/Suffolk. … Harris +1 in North Carolina, per Elon. … Harris +1 in Nevada, per Noble Predictive Insights. … Polling of six key California congressional races that our California Playbook colleagues scooped has fairly good news for Democrats: Though all six are very close, GOP Reps. MIKE GARCIA, MICHELLE STEEL, DAVID VALADAO and JOHN DUARTE trail their Democratic challengers, while GOP Rep. KEN CALVERT is tied with his. But Republican SCOTT BAUGH leads in the race to flip retiring Democratic Rep. KATIE PORTER’s seat. Good Tuesday afternoon. Thanks for reading Playbook PM. Drop me a line at eokun@politico.com. STARMER UND DRANG — How might the U.S.-U.K. “special relationship” look during a second Trump administration? If this week is any indication, things could start on a rocky patch. In a speech at a Labour conference meeting yesterday, ANGELA EAGLE, the U.K.’s new minister for illegal immigration, blamed Trump for fanning “vitriol” and emboldening British racists via his immigration rhetoric. Naturally, our colleague Emilio Casalicchio reached out to the Trump camp for a response. Here’s what spox STEVEN CHEUNG said: "Nobody knows who this random person is or cares what comes out of her mouth.” Full writeup here
| | | | A message from Instagram: Introducing Instagram Teen Accounts with automatic protections for teens.
Starting in September, Instagram is launching Teen Accounts with built-in protections limiting who can contact teens and the content they can see. Plus, only parents can approve safety setting changes for teens under 16.
This means parents can have more peace of mind when it comes to protecting their teens.
Learn more. | | | | | 7 THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW | | |  A hack of Donald Trump's campaign was still active as recently as last week. | Bill Pugliano/Getty Images | 1. HACK ATTACK: The alleged Iranian hack of the Trump campaign may not be over yet. Popular Information’s Judd Legum scooped that email communications from as recent as last week were still being obtained by somebody calling themselves “Robert” — likely the same person or group who leaked materials to several news outlets this summer. “Robert” sent Legum huge internal dossiers from the Trump campaign on Sens. JD VANCE (R-Ohio) and MARCO RUBIO (R-Fla.) and North Dakota Gov. DOUG BURGUM (the top three VP contenders). Like POLITICO, WaPo and the NYT, Legum is choosing not to publish the materials, which he concluded “do not provide the public with any fundamental new insight about Trump or his campaign. So, on balance, the relevant factors argue against publication.” 2. HILL LATEST: At a House GOP meeting this morning, Speaker MIKE JOHNSON tried to sell his conference on the merits of a three-month continuing resolution to keep the government open, per Olivia Beavers. He also said that Trump agreed Republicans would shoulder the blame for a shutdown, NOTUS’ Reese Gorman reports. But conservatives weren’t sold by Johnson’s pitch, Olivia and Jordain Carney report. Johnson told Punchbowl’s Melania Zanona that the end result would not be a big omnibus spending bill around the holidays, though he left the possibility of minibus bills on the table. Both parties have been told that due to an approaching hurricane near Florida, lawmakers may be sent home Wednesday night, per Punchbowl’s Max Cohen. Meanwhile, in the Foreign Affairs Committee, Chair MICHAEL McCAUL (R-Texas) said he was unconvinced by Secretary of State ANTONY BLINKEN’s explanation for not appearing to testify about the Afghanistan pullout, Anthony Adragna reports. House Republicans are now getting closer to holding Blinken in contempt of Congress, as we previewed this morning. 3. OCTOBER SURPRISE WATCH: “Three Trump appeals court judges will consider a case that could limit mail-in voting,” by CNN’s Tierney Sneed: “The Republican National Committee and others allege that Mississippi is violating federal statute by counting mail ballots that arrive within five days after Election Day as long as they’re properly postmarked – a practice that resembles laws in roughly 20 other states and jurisdictions, including states that may be pivotal in determining who controls the White House and Congress. … [T]his case is being heard Tuesday by a far-right panel of judges on the 5th US Circuit Court of Appeals – and could end up on the Supreme Court’s docket before November’s election.”
| | | | A message from Instagram:   | | | 4. THE STAKES FOR NOVEMBER: In his Georgia speech today, Trump is expected to get more detailed about his plans to attract foreign companies to the U.S. by granting them access to federal lands, AP’s Adriana Gomez Licon reports from Savannah. “The former president wants to personally recruit foreign companies and to send members of [his] administration to do the same.” But the actual mechanics for him to do so remain pretty murky, especially because “[t]he Bureau of Land Management has restrictions on foreign entities looking to lease lands.” 5. DEMOCRACY WATCH: “Latest strategy in fighting election skepticism: Radical transparency,” by WaPo’s Yvonne Wingett Sanchez in Florence, Arizona: “Pinal County officials quickly built a $32 million election headquarters that more than quadrupled the previous space and has walls of windows so that more observers can more easily watch the vote-counting process. They added more cameras inside and out to create a trove of surveillance footage. Election workers now strap GPS devices onto the cages that transport equipment and ballots to and from polling sites, creating a record of every movement.” 6. DIPPING INTO CHIPS: “US Finalizes First Binding Chips Award With Polar Semiconductor,” by Bloomberg’s Mackenzie Hawkins: “[It’s] a $123 million grant to Polar Semiconductor that officials say could double the company’s US manufacturing capacity within two years. … Tuesday’s announcement marks a ‘new phase’ for the Chips Act, said Commerce Secretary GINA RAIMONDO.” 7. VOTER FRAUD FILES: For Spanish speakers, a shocking new investigation from the Centro de Periodismo Investigativo’s Wilma Maldonado and Omaya Sosa Pascual finds serious issues with Puerto Rico’s voter rolls. There were thousands of people still actively “voting” in the territory who have died or are listed as more than 100 years old — including some with birthdates in the 1800s, in an apparently long-running scheme.
| | | | Sponsored Survey WE WANT TO HEAR FROM YOU: Please take a 1-minute survey about one of our advertising partners. | | | | | PLAYBOOKERS | | Kamala Harris was endorsed by more than 400 economists and former policymakers. Dan Osborn has a striking new ad. Mark Robinson’s screen name could be a toy train reference. Brett Favre announced in Congress that he’s been diagnosed with Parkinson’s. AND THE AWARD GOES TO — The National Association of Hispanic Journalists’ D.C. chapter is honoring Fin Gómez, political director at CBS, with its inaugural Most Valuable Periodista award. The award will be presented at the organization’s annual Noche De Periodistas fundraiser on Oct. 4 at the Unconventional Diner. FUN READ — “How 4 Latino staffers created the Texas Embassy on H Street — and a Capitol legacy,” by The Hill’s Rafael Bernal, writing about Jorge Aguilar, Carlos Sanchez, Carlos Paz and Juan Sanchez OUT AND ABOUT — SPOTTED at a party last night for Kim Wehle’s new book, “Pardon Power: How the Pardon System Works & Why” ($22.95), hosted by Maya MacGuineas, Megan Rupp, Russ Weiner, Laura Slover and Mel Oncu at Rupp’s home: Michael Isikoff, Susan Toffler, Neil Grace, Svante Myrick, Cathy Merrill, Evelyn Farkas, Fernando Laguarda, Laurie-Anne Sayles, Jessica Schneider, A.B. Stoddard and Abby Livingston. — With Honor Action organized a flag display on the National Mall this morning to highlight the fact that 26 percent of U.S. service members have been food insecure at some point in recent years. SPOTTED: Reps. Jack Bergman (R-Mich.), Chrissy Houlahan (D-Pa.), Seth Moulton (D-Mass.), Mariannette Miller-Meeks (R-Iowa), Nick LaLota (R-N.Y.), Jimmy Panetta (D-Calif.) and Don Davis (D-N.C.). MEDIA MOVE — Michelle Perry is moving to NBC News’ D.C. bureau as senior director for justice and national security. She previously was the longtime executive producer of MSNBC’s “Andrea Mitchell Reports.” TRANSITIONS — The American Gaming Association has added Dara Cohen as senior director of strategic comms and media relations and Carly Johnson as director of research. Cohen previously led regional and policy comms in D.C. for MGM Resorts. Johnson previously was at District Communications Group, where she led mixed methods research for DHS’ Center for Prevention Programs and Partnerships. … Adejare (Jay) Atanda is joining the Meselson Center at RAND U.S. as biosecurity senior policy researcher. He previously worked at DHS. … Hannah Klein is now a strategist at the consulting firm Link. She previously was senior comms manager at Pew Research Center. 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. | | | | Follow us on Twitter | | | | Subscribe to the POLITICO Playbook family Playbook | Playbook PM | California Playbook | Florida Playbook | Illinois Playbook | Massachusetts Playbook | New Jersey Playbook | New York Playbook | Ottawa Playbook | Brussels Playbook | London Playbook View all our politics and policy newsletters | | Follow us | | | | |
