| | | | |  | | By Rachael Bade, Ryan Lizza and Eugene Daniels | | Presented by |  | | | With help from Eli Okun, Garrett Ross and Bethany Irvine
| | | |  | DRIVING THE DAY | | | ASK NOT — “Robert F. Kennedy Jr. abandons plan to seek votes in uncompetitive states,” by WaPo’s Michael Scherer and Meryl Kornfield: “ROBERT F. KENNEDY JR., the independent presidential candidate who recently endorsed DONALD TRUMP, called on his supporters Thursday to vote for the Republican nominee no matter where they live, reversing instructions he gave two weeks ago when he encouraged voters to still vote for Kennedy if they lived in uncompetitive states.” EXISTING IN THE CONTEXT — It was a tweet that was, as they say in the business, almost too good to check: In a since-deleted post, the AP wrote that “JD VANCE says school shootings are a ‘fact of life,’ calls for better security,” along with a link to an article. Pried out of context, the words sound both callous and fatalistic — a verbal shrug that from the instant we saw it, immediately struck us as destined to appear in Democratic ads. But Vance’s full sentence lands a tad differently: “I don’t like this. I don’t like to admit this. I don’t like that this is a fact of life,” he said, speaking about the mass school shooting this week in Georgia. “But if you are a psycho and you want to make headlines, you’ve realized that our schools are soft targets and we have got to bolster security at our schools.” No matter — the tweet had already gone viral, and the quotation came under a bombardment of criticism from KAMALA HARRIS’ campaign. The online right was incensed, and used the occasion to air a stream of invective about the press generally and the AP specifically. (Worth noting here: This isn’t the first time that Vance has had reason to complain about the wire service.) The AP pulled the original tweet and replaced it: “JD Vance says he laments that school shootings are a ‘fact of life’ and says the U.S. needs to harden security to prevent more carnage like the shooting this week that left four dead in Georgia,” adding in a subsequent message that “This post replaces an earlier post that was deleted to add context to the partial quote from Vance.” GOODBYE TO ALL THAT — Just over a year ago, with Donald Trump’s and HUNTER BIDEN’s legal woes mounting, we wrote in Playbook about how courtroom coverage would dominate the 2024 campaign. So much for that. Despite the predictions of the political class (us included) that high-profile political trials would take center stage and suck up the limelight amid the race for the White House, just consider the news that broke yesterday — and that’s set to happen later today.
|  Hunter Biden shocked the political world yesterday when he pled guilty to federal tax charges. | Eric Thayer/AP Photo | — YESTERDAY IN CALIFORNIA, President JOE BIDEN’s son Hunter shockingly pleaded guilty to tax charges that many expected him to fight until the bitter end. Not only did the move short-circuit a possible trial involving the president’s son, but Republicans who’ve been obsessed with Hunter responded with a collective shrug — if they responded at all. Why? Because Hunter is now, essentially, old news. Now that the elder Biden is no longer atop the ticket, Hill Republicans, Trump himself and others with big GOP megaphones have turned their attention toward VP Harris.
|  U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan laid out a new schedule yesterday for Donald Trump's election subversion case. | Pool photo by Seth Wenig | — HERE IN WASHINGTON, the judge overseeing Trump’s election subversion case all but guaranteed that any trial on the issue isn’t going to start until next year — at the earliest. U.S. District Judge TANYA CHUTKAN laid out a new schedule yesterday as she weighs whether to throw out the indictment following the Supreme Court’s ruling that Trump has immunity for actions he took as president. Special counsel JACK SMITH’s team now has until Sept. 26 to file an “opening briefing” about why the case should still stand, while the defense gets until Oct. 17 to reply. Smith will get to respond to the defense in his own second filing, due Oct. 29 — just one week before the election. “The revised schedule also underscores the impossibility of a trial taking place until well into 2025,” as our colleagues Kyle Cheney and Josh Gerstein write. “Chutkan and lawyers for both sides agreed that her ruling on immunity issues would result in an appeal that would again likely freeze the case for months. Chutkan said at a hearing earlier Thursday that trying to set a trial date under those circumstances would be “an exercise in futility.” — TODAY IN NEW YORK, we could see something similar in the hush money case against Trump. Justice JUAN MERCHAN is slated to rule whether to delay sentencing for the former president, who was convicted on 34 counts stemming from business fraud related to paying off porn star STORMY DANIELS during the 2016 campaign. The former president, who faces up to four years behind bars and is currently slated to be sentenced on Sept. 18, has asked to delay his sentencing until after the election. And given that Manhattan DA ALVIN BRAGG said last month that he didn’t object to the request, some legal brains expect Merchan to grant the delay. (Worth noting: Bragg has objected to the Trump team’s demand to stay sentencing until the would-be president tries to move the entire case to federal court, a process that could take a while.) BUT, BUT, BUT: To be sure, we could still see some scattered courtroom drama as the election nears. — Trump will (voluntarily) be in a Manhattan courthouse today for oral arguments as his team tries to appeal the $5 million verdict that found him civilly liable for sexually abusing E. JEAN CARROLL in an incident in the 1990s. (He’s also hosting a press conference at Trump Tower at noon.) — It’s possible that Merchan could surprise everyone and not delay the sentencing — in which case, we could see Trump in a fresh courtroom frenzy in just a few days. — Chutkan’s new schedule opens the possibility that we could see a bit of an “October surprise” where the election subversion case is concerned, as Kyle and Josh write. Smith’s late-September filing is expected to include evidence he’d present in a would-be trial on this matter, meaning the briefs could be “jammed with new and explosive evidence,” they note. There’s a question, however, about whether those details will see the light of day, given that Chutkan could order redactions to the most sensitive bits. Even if she doesn’t, these court developments pale compared to what most of Washington was expecting a year ago. Happy Friday. Thanks for reading Playbook. Drop us a line: Rachael Bade, Eugene Daniels, Ryan Lizza.
| | | | A message from Better Medicare Alliance: TRACKING THE SENIOR VOTE — Protecting Medicare tops the list in this election, according to a new bipartisan poll. Today, that means Medicare Advantage.
Medicare Advantage represents over half of the Medicare program, serving more than 33 million seniors. Seniors choose Medicare Advantage for affordable health care with better outcomes.
That’s why a supermajority of older voters agrees: Washington must keep health care affordable for seniors by standing up for Medicare Advantage. Read the results. | | | THE NUMBER IS IN — “Harris nearly triples Trump’s fundraising in August,” by Elena Schneider: “Kamala Harris raked in $361 million last month, widening her cash advantage over Donald Trump with what the vice president’s campaign described as the best grassroots fundraising month in presidential history.” THE FRIDAY READ — “This Doctor Had To Leave Her State To Learn How To Perform Abortions,” by Alice Miranda Ollstein in Wilmington, Delaware: “Abortion has been heavily restricted in many states post-Roe — and abortion training has all but disappeared, too. Inside one doctor’s journey to obtain that education at any cost.” THE PLAYBOOK INTERVIEW: MIKE MADRID — Everyone knows the Latino vote will be decisive in this presidential election year. But so much of the conventional wisdom about Latino voters and how to win them over is wrong. That’s according to Mike Madrid, a third-generation Mexican-American and one of the country’s leading political strategists when it comes to Latino voters. He was a senior operative for the California Republican Party who rubbed shoulders with the likes of GEORGE W. BUSH and his generation of GOP officials, got jaded by Trump and co-founded the Lincoln Project.
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| In his new book, “The Latino Century” ($28.99), Madrid lays out a breadcrumb trail for both Republicans and Democrats to win this decisive block of voters, whom he believes are very much up for grabs this year. Spoiler alert: Madrid says both parties are doing something right — and something wrong. Oh, and according to him, the biggest problem with courting Latinos might be that politicians think of them strictly as an ethnic group in the first place. Listen to the conversation on Apple Podcasts or Spotify
| | | | A message from Better Medicare Alliance:   Seniors can’t afford policies that make their health care more expensive. They are counting on Washington to protect Medicare Advantage. Learn more. | | | | | WHAT'S HAPPENING TODAY | | On the Hill The Senate and the House are out. What we’re watching … Alaska Democrats are in the uncomfortable position of suing to remove a Democrat from their state’s at-large House ballot. That’s because ERIC HAFNER’s presence could divert votes from incumbent Democrat MARY PELTOLA in the four-candidate ranked-choice contest in November. Hafner originally finished in sixth place with just 467 votes, but two GOP candidates who finished behind Republican NICK BEGICH dropped out. The Alaska Beacon reports that the Alaska Dems might have a pretty good case: Turns out Hafner doesn’t live in Alaska and can’t move there until 2036 — because he’s currently serving a 20-year federal prison term in New York. At the White House Biden will receive the President’s Daily Brief in the morning. In the afternoon, Biden will travel to Detroit, where he will deliver remarks on the administration’s economic agenda. The president will travel to Wilmington, Delaware, in the evening. Harris will be in Pittsburgh, where she will receive briefings and conduct internal meetings with staff.
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Some foreign governments believe their best chance for negotiating a trade deal lies in Donald Trump retaking the White House. | Rebecca Noble/Getty Images | THE TRUMP EFFECT — As Election Day grows nearer, some foreign governments are reaching an uncomfortable conclusion: their best chance for negotiating a trade deal — however arduous it may be — lies in Trump retaking the White House, Ari Hawkins and Gavin Bade report. “While Trump derailed decades of free trade orthodoxy with tariffs and other hostile economic actions, his team often used those moves as leverage to strike deals with foreign governments — reforming NAFTA into the new U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement, reshaping pacts with Japan and South Korea, and even striking a short-lived deal with China.” Biden swore off pursuing conventional free trade deals out of fear of electoral backlash and a belief from his team — particularly his trade chief — that lowering tariffs won’t help the U.S. economy. And Harris is expected to largely maintain that approach, instead focusing on broader economic initiatives that help raise environmental and labor standards. “That has foreign governments preparing for two very different relationships with the U.S. government — four more years of relative quiet on the trade front, or a whirlwind of disruption, duties and dealmaking. Some nations seem to prefer the latter, according to interviews with more than a dozen foreign officials whose work focuses on trade and economic policy.” More top reads:
- Secretary of State ANTONY BLINKEN made a visit to Haiti yesterday, where he said the U.S. is “committed to supporting Haiti’s interim leaders as they attempt to restore stability here and hold elections,” per WaPo’s Michael Birnbaum and Widlore Mérancourt.
- The U.S. and nine allied nations formally accused the Russian government of masterminding cyberattacks in 2020 on Ukrainian critical infrastructure, among many other targets, Maggie Miller reports. Meanwhile, YouTube took down right-wing U.S. politics channels linked to the Russian government, WaPo’s Gerrit De Vynck writes.
TRUMP CARDS ARLINGTON AFTER-ACTION — Two of the Trump staffers who were involved in the confrontation with an Arlington National Cemetery official during Trump’s controversial visit last week were deputy campaign manager JUSTIN CAPORALE and MICHEL PICARD of the advance team, NPR’s Stephen Fowler, Quil Lawrence and Tom Bowman report. BEYOND THE BELTWAY GEORGIA SHOOTING LATEST — “Father of Apalachee High School shooting suspect arrested, GBI says,” by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution’s Caroline Silva
| | | | A message from Better Medicare Alliance:   Medicare Advantage is affordable health care for seniors, and they want Washington to protect it. | | | 2024 WATCH WHAT TRUMP SAID — Trump tossed out a handful of positions in a series of appearances yesterday, adding depth to his economic proposals in an appeal to the big-wigs on Wall Street. In an appearance at the Economic Club of New York, Trump said he would rescind any “unspent” funds under the Inflation Reduction Act should he be elected in November, Kelsey Tamborrino reports. He also doubled down on plans to slash rules on companies, cut taxes on those that keep production in the U.S. and impose punishing tariffs on businesses that move jobs or manufacturing overseas, Sam Sutton and Meridith McGraw note. In his economic remarks, he “pledged to tackle government inefficiency with a new ELON MUSK-inspired commission and to launch a sovereign wealth fund with money collected from tariffs to pay for everything from infrastructure projects and child-care costs to paying down the national debt — moves that might ease concerns about the fiscal impact of his agenda.” Speaking to the Republican Jewish Coalition, Trump baselessly claimed that if Harris wins, “Israel is gone,” and that any Jewish Democrats who support Biden still should “have your head examined,” per Mia McCarthy. More top reads:
- As the Teamsters continue to hold out on their endorsement for the presidential race, Harris has set a Sept. 16 meeting with union President SEAN O’BRIEN and its membership, Lawrence Ukenye reports.
- Trump’s continual “shifting rhetoric over the last two weeks has been particularly fraught” for anti-abortion advocates who want to support his run and the see-sawing is “leaving some of his staunchest white evangelical backers fearful that some of their voters may stay home in November,” Megan Messerly and Adam Wren write.
- How it’s playing: Despite agreement from both sides of the presidential race on opposing the sale of U.S. Steel to Japan’s Nippon Steel, the prospect of a collapsing deal is “shattering party loyalty in parts of western Pennsylvania where some steelworkers feel they’re being used as political talking points,” NBC’s Gabe Gutierrez writes.
MORE POLITICS
|  Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump have been teasing plans to unveil a crypto startup called World Liberty Financial. | Evan Vucci/AP Photo | FAMILY MATTERS — DONALD TRUMP JR. and ERIC TRUMP are aiming to turn their father’s growing relationship with crypto into the new family business. But so far, “the project’s troubled rollout has succeeded in creating only one thing: a potential political liability for the former president,” Jasper Goodman writes. The duo has been teasing plans to unveil a crypto startup called World Liberty Financial for weeks. But the launch has been marred in recent days by a series of apparent scams that have redirected fans to fake pages and compromised the social media accounts of other Trump relatives. More top reads:
TV TONIGHT — PBS’ “Washington Week”: Leigh Ann Caldwell, Saleha Mohsin and Vivian Salama. SUNDAY SO FAR … ABC “This Week”: Liz Cheney … Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders. Politics panel: Donna Brazile and Chris Christie. Panel: Martha Raddatz, Mary Bruce and Rachel Scott. CBS “Face the Nation”: Nikki Haley … North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper … Rep. Michael McCaul (R-Texas). FOX “Fox News Sunday”: Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) … Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) … Jim Messina … Brett O’Donnell. Panel: Guy Benson, Mary Katharine Ham, Susan Page and Juan Williams. NBC “Meet the Press”: Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) … North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum. Panel: Yamiche Alcindor, Ashley Etienne, Sara Fagen and Lauren Mayk. CNN “State of the Union”: Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.) … Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) … Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg. Panel: Bryan Lanza, Bakari Sellers, Alyssa Farah Griffin and Doug Thornell. MSNBC “The Weekend”: Billy Porter … Cedric Richmond. NewsNation “The Hill Sunday”: RNC co-chair Lara Trump … Mike Rogers. Panel: George Will, Molly Ball and Domenico Montanaro.
| | | | DON’T MISS OUR AI & TECH SUMMIT: Join POLITICO’s AI & Tech Summit for exclusive interviews and conversations with senior tech leaders, lawmakers, officials and stakeholders about where the rising energy around global competition — and the sense of potential around AI and restoring American tech knowhow — is driving tech policy and investment. REGISTER HERE. | | | | | | | PLAYBOOKERS | | Prince Harry and Matt Damon will headline the Clinton Global Initiative annual meeting. JD Vance said he doesn’t think John McCain would support Kamala Harris if he were alive. Matt Gaetz is still reveling in his feud with Kevin McCarthy. Melania Trump is promoting her new memoir. Byron Donalds is the latest member of Congress to run afoul of the STOCK Act. SPOTTED: Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen ordering at a Whataburger in Austin, Texas, near the airport last night. Pic OUT AND ABOUT — The Harris Victory Fund hosted “A Dance Party for Kamala” at Animal in Brooklyn on Wednesday night. SPOTTED: Brian Derrick, Jesse Tyler Ferguson and Justin Mikita, Benj Pasek, Todd Hawkins, Laurence Milstein, Alex Haskell, Michael Hoffman, Thomas Isen, Christopher Jerrolds, Teddy Goff, Busy Philipps, Zachary Quinto and Matt Rogers. — SPOTTED at a screening last night of “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice,” hosted by Warner Bros. Discovery and the Motion Picture Association at MPA headquarters: Charlie Rivkin, Neil Fried, Mariana Adame, Joshua Schenk, Michael Hough, Jacob Olson, Liana Guerra, Louise O’Rourke, Eduardo Lerma, Susan Wheeler, Charles Cogar, Gail Slater, Tim Kurth, Peter-Anthony Pappas, Elaine Godfrey, Kara Voght, Dawn Kopecki, Francesca Chambers, Rebecca Morin, Tony P., Roy Schwartz and Tara Murray. THE LINEUP IS SET — The Radio Television Correspondents Association of Capitol have locked in the lineup for the inaugural Congressional Karaoke competition at their dinner next week. Performing for Team Congress: Reps. Sydney Kamlager-Dove (D-Calif.), Lisa McClain (R-Mich.) and Sara Jacobs (D-Calif.). The press team will consist of: NBC’s Sahil Kapur, Scripps News’ Joe St. George and a duet from Fox News Radio’s Ryan Schmelz and Spectrum’s Harri Leigh. The dinner is next Thursday at the Anthem and is sold out. MEDIA MOVES — Jane Coaston is joining Crooked Media as the lead host of the daily news podcast, “What A Day.” She is also a CNN contributor. … Neal Rothschild has rejoined Axios as the senior director of editorial strategy and operations. He was previously senior director of audience development at Semafor. FIRST IN PLAYBOOK — Sen.-designate George Helmy (D-N.J.) is announcing a slate of senior staff hires: Danny Smith will be chief of staff, David McCallum will be senior adviser, Robert Kelly will be deputy chief of staff, Tyler Jones will be press secretary and senior comms adviser, Rajiv Venkataramanan will be chief counsel and legislative director, Rudy Rodas will be state director, Leila Collins will be senior policy adviser and Michael Gray will be senior outreach adviser. TRANSITIONS — Spencer Love is joining the House Task Force on the Attempted Assassination of Donald J. Trump as Democratic comms director. He previously was a press officer at USAID. … Joel Valdez is joining Rep. Lauren Boebert’s (R-Colo.) office as senior adviser. He previously was comms director for Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.). … A new political consulting firm for Democratic campaigns, MapleBridge Strategies, has launched, led by founding partner Morgan Rosenberg, managing partner Brandon Russell and chief of staff/partner Christine Newman. WEEKEND WEDDING — Naomi Perry, account supervisor for brand strategy at GMMB, and Jake Graber-Lipperman, strategy and analytics manager at Capital One, got married Sunday at Pippin Hill Farm and Vineyards in North Garden, Virginia, with a Taylor Swift-meets-“Bridgerton”-inspired garden celebration. “Romeo oh Romeo” … the couple met in 10th grade English class in their hometown of West Hartford, Conn. They currently live in Georgetown with their beloved pup, Kale. Pic … Another pic WELCOME TO THE WORLD — Avery Jaffe, director of policy comms at Chime, and Rose-Marie Crystal, a New York City public school teacher, welcomed Camille Crystal Jaffe on Aug. 24, one day before dad’s birthday. Pic … Another pic — Zach Gillan, president at S-3 Group, and Cherie Gillan, an alum of Fox News, David Perdue and Cathy McMorris Rodgers, on Aug. 26 welcomed Daisy Lynn Gillan, who joins big sisters Alice and Chloe. Pic … Another pic BIRTHWEEK (was Wednesday): Bernard Coleman III HAPPY BIRTHDAY: Reps. Bill Keating (D-Mass.), Buddy Carter (R-Ga.), Danny Davis (D-Ill.), Sylvia Garcia (D-Texas) and Mariannette Miller-Meeks (R-Iowa) … former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie … Carly Fiorina (7-0) … Brittany Bramell Punaro … Ryan Mahoney … Lizzie Ulmer … Peter Barnes … Dan Ronayne … Jana Barresi of Lowe’s … Bloomberg’s Jason Schechter … POLITICO’s Krystal Campos, Jack Larsen and Kari Oakes … NYT’s Paul Volpe … Meredith McPhillips … Liz Shrum … CNN’s Tala Alrajjal … Fox News’ Gillian Turner … Clyde Prestowitz of the Economic Strategy Institute … Brian Abrams … WaPo’s Brianna Tucker … NPR’s Claire Harbage … former Colorado Gov. Bill Ritter … Jessica Goldstein … former Reps. Sander Levin (D-Mich.) (93), John Kline (R-Minn.) and Kendrick Meek (D-Fla.) ... Kevin Rieg ... Scott McCrary … Douglass Daniel … John Hagner … Howard Zucker … Elizabeth Vargas … Rokk Solutions’ Eva Miller … Kathy Grannis Allen … Joshua Baca … Brookings’ Nicol Turner Lee … Sinclair’s Steve Chaggaris 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.
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Medicare Advantage is the affordable health care choice for more than 33 million seniors, including more low-income Americans and minorities than Fee-For-Service Medicare.
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