NEW REPORT ON TRUMP SHOOTING — We reported in this morning’s Playbook that a preliminary report just released from the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee found widespread failure by the Secret Service to prevent the attempted assassination of Donald Trump in Butler, Pennsylvania. Now that we’ve had time to absorb the 134-page report, the main thing that stands out to us is the repeated breakdown in communications within the Secret Service leading up to gunman THOMAS MATTHEW CROOKS firing eight shots and nearly killing the former president. — Twenty-seven minutes before the shooting took place, Secret Service personnel were notified of a suspicious person with a rangefinder — that person being Crooks. But the lead advance agent for the USSS told investigators they were not informed of this “until after shots were fired.” — “Shortly before shots were fired, a USSS counter sniper saw local law enforcement running toward the AGR building [where Crooks was located] with their guns drawn, but he did not alert former President Trump’s protective detail to remove him from the stage,” the report reports. A countersniper told the committee that while seeing officers with their guns drawn “elevated” the threat level, the thought to notify someone to get Trump off the stage “did not cross [his] mind.” — Two minutes before shots were fired, a local enforcement officer alerted the USSS security team that there was an individual on the roof of the AGR building, while “[a]pproximately 22 seconds before Crooks fired, a local officer sent out a radio alert that the individual on the AGR roof was armed, but that was not relayed to key USSS personnel that the Committee spoke with.” — The report specifically points to how communications between Secret Service and local law enforcement officials before and during the rally were “siloed.” On the day of the shooting, USSS and local law enforcement were operating on separate radio channels, and thus unable to communicate in real time. Additionally, several USSS officials reported experiencing technical problems with their radios at the rally. What’s next: The committee has made preliminary recommendations calling for changes in the USSS, including ramping up resources and requiring the agency to define their roles for advance planning of any event. Meanwhile, a separate House task force is set to hold its first public hearing tomorrow. More from Jordain Carney Good Wednesday afternoon. Thanks for reading Playbook PM. Drop me a line at birvine@politico.com.
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1. LEAVING ON A JET PLANE — This evening, the House and Senate are expected to pass the short-term continuing resolution that would keep the government’s lights on through December. “Post-passage, lawmakers in both chambers will be headed to the airport and won’t be back in Washington until after the November election,” Katherine Tully-McManus notes in a preview. Some GOP members feel they’ll be heading back home somewhat empty handed, NOTUS’ Haley Byrd Wilt writes. Rep. CHIP ROY (R-Texas): “There’s a lot that we’ve left on the field that I think we could have accomplished had we been more aggressive.” Rep. BOB GOOD (R-Va.): “On every significant piece of legislation, we have surrendered to the White House and to the Democrat-controlled Senate. … [We] don’t have anything to show for having controlled the House for two years.” 2. SMART STORY: “How will Kamala Harris vote on California’s Prop. 36 to toughen some criminal penalties? She won’t say,” by LA Times’ Noah Bierman and Anabel Sosa: “As she runs for president, Harris has emphasized her credentials as the former top law enforcement official for the country’s largest state, presenting herself as ‘tough’ in advertisements and at the Democratic National Convention in August, going after smugglers and seeking justice for crime victims. “But her campaign declined to answer questions from The Times about how she will vote on Proposition 36, a prosecutor-led tough-on-crime ballot measure that splits her Democratic base but has broad support among California voters, according to polls. The measure would impose stiffer sentences and potentially longer jail and prison time for repeat fentanyl and theft offenses, reversing parts of a ballot measure voters approved a decade ago, when Harris was attorney general.” 3. MIDDLE EAST LATEST: The Atlantic’s Franklin Foer is out with a lengthy look behind the curtain at the White House’s year-long effort to bring peace to the Middle East. While the Biden administration has managed to prevent the expansion of the Israel-Gaza conflict into a full-blown war, “it has yet to find a way to release the hostages, bring the fighting to a halt, or put a broader peace process back on track. … That makes this history an anatomy of a failure — the story of an overextended superpower and its aging president, unable to exert themselves decisively in a moment of crisis.” Elsewhere in the region … Secretary of State ANTONY BLINKEN announced on NBC’s “Today Show” this morning that the U.S. is “intensely tracking” an ongoing threat by Iran against top U.S. officials. Blinken told NBC the threats are aimed at “a number of senior officials, including former government officials like (former President Donald Trump) and some people who are currently serving in the administration.” More per NBC 4. WHO RUN THE WORLD?: In an interview with NBC News’ Bridget Bowman, Rep. ELISE STEFANIK (R-N.Y.) says she’s making headway in recruiting more GOP women to run for the House. Stefanik, the highest ranking woman in the House GOP, has helped direct $2.5 million to GOP women candidates this election cycle. But to break the current record of 36 GOP women in the House, “Republican female incumbents and challengers would have to win at least 11 of the 16 House races with female nominees” that have been deemed competitive. “Even if Republicans fall short of a new record, Stefanik said, the party is ‘moving in the right direction.’”
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5. DANCE OF THE SUPERPOWERS: “China-Linked Hackers Breach U.S. Internet Providers in New ‘Salt Typhoon’ Cyberattack,” by WSJ’s Sarah Krouse, Robert McMillan and Dustin Volz: “In Salt Typhoon, the actors linked to China burrowed into America’s broadband networks. In this type of intrusion, bad actors aim to establish a foothold within the infrastructure of cable and broadband providers that would allow them to access data stored by telecommunications companies or launch a damaging cyberattack … Top Biden administration officials have issued public warnings over the past year that China’s actions could threaten American lives and are intended to cause societal panic.” 6. THE YOUNG AND THE RESTLESS: A new CNN poll conducted by SSRS shows Harris leading Trump 52 percent to 40 percent among likely voters under age 35, while two-thirds of that cohort say they are “dissatisfied” with the influence they have in politics, CNN’s Ariel Edwards-Levy writes. “And the vast majority of young voters, 88%, say that America’s political system needs, at the least, major reforms, though only about one-third say it requires a complete overhaul … Most still express optimism for the future of the US: 58% say that America’s best days are ahead, compared with 42% who say the country’s best days are in the past.” 7. CLIMATE CORNER: “Kamala Harris Turns Biden's $493 Billion Climate Legacy Into a Footnote,” by Bloomberg’s Jennifer Dlouhy and Ari Natter: “Harris’ reluctance to make green initiatives a central platform underscores how fighting climate change still fails to resonate with many US voters, even when those efforts stimulate the economy and create thousands of jobs.
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IN MEMORIAM — “Peter Jay, high-profile British ambassador to Washington, dies at 87,” by WaPo’s Emily Langer: “He had risen by age 30 to be an economics editor and writer at the Times of London … Mr. Jay came to even greater prominence with his appointment as ambassador to the United States in 1977, shortly after President Jimmy Carter took office.” OUT AND ABOUT — SPOTTED last night at U.S. News & World Report’s 90th Anniversary Celebration at Fiola last, unveiling new senior editorial staff: Sens. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) and James Risch (R-Idaho), Reps. Gabe Amo (D-R.I.), Steve Cohen (D-Tenn.), Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) and Harriet Hageman (R-Wyo.), FCC Chair Jessica Rosenworcel, Heather Podesta, Amanda Finney, Eric Gertler, Bill Holiber, Olivier Knox, Dafna Linzer, Indira Lakshmanan, Leigh Ann Caldwell, Neal Katyal, Rick Wade, Heather Foster, Jake Tapper, Adam Bramwell, Allen Jamerson and Lester Davis. — K&L Gates hosted a November Elections Outlook event in its New York office to coincide with NYC Climate Week yesterday evening, featuring a bipartisan roundtable discussion exploring the implications of the post-conventions elections landscape on key policies. SPOTTED: Mary Burke Baker, Ryan Carney, Daniel Crowley, Scott Gelbman, Nathan Howe, Matthew Leggett, Ryan Alcorn, Antonio Canamas, Serena Checchinato, Sapna Dowla, Mary Anne Hitt and Suzanne Mattei. — SPOTTED at the Americans for Prosperity 20th Anniversary Gala last night at the Watergate Hotel: Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.), Sens. John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) and Mike Braun (R-Indiana), Reps. Laurel Lee (R-Fla.), Byron Donalds (R-Fla.), Andy Ogles (R-Tenn.), Ralph Norman (R-S.C.), Eric Burlison (R-Mo.), Richard McCormick (R-Ga.), Zach Nunn (R-Iowa), Brad Wenstrup (R-Ohio), Beth Van Dyne (R-Texas), John Duarte (R-Calif.), Cat Cammack (R-Fla.) and Pete Sessions (R-Texas). — SPOTTED at the National Head Start Association’s “Head Start on the Hill” rally at the Capitol Hilton: Reps. Sara Jacobs (D-Calif.), Juan Ciscomani (R-Ariz.), Dan Kildee (D-Mich.), Seth Magaziner (D-R.I.), Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) and Mike Lawler (R-N.Y.), Yasmina Vinci, Tommy Sheridan, Bob Bissen and Kathleen Havey. — SPOTTED last night at Sixth & I for COURIER's "Vibes to Votes" event: Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), Faiz Shakir, Emily Amick, Brad Bauman, Kyle Tharp, Shaniqua McClendon, Simon Rosenberg, Tom Bonier, Maria Cardona and Tiffany Muller. FIRST IN PLAYBOOK — Kosta Kalpos will be head of global government affairs and public policy at Okta. He most recently was director of North America government affairs at Splunk. WHITE HOUSE ARRIVAL LOUNGE — Tonantzin Carmona is now special assistant to the president for economic policy. She most recently was senior adviser in the Inflation Reduction Act Program Office at Treasury. WHITE HOUSE DEPARTURE LOUNGE — Rachel Shaffer has returned to the EPA as an epidemiologist. She previously was senior adviser for chemical safety at the Council on Environmental Quality. WEEKEND WEDDING — Emma Rechenberg, co-host of Newsmax’s “National Report,” and Nick Fitzgerald, a sales specialist and data integration manager at Preqin, got married Saturday at the Old Cathedral Basilica of St. Louis, followed by cocktails, dinner and dancing at the Hyatt Regency hotel. Classic St. Louis delicacies of toasted ravioli, Salt + Smoke BBQ and gooey butter cake were served. Pic … Another pic — Julie Orsini, director of public affairs at APCO Worldwide, and Harrison Farmer, attorney at Jones Day, got married on Saturday at Glenstone Gardens in Middleburg, Virginia. The couple met at Et Voila in the Palisades. Pic … Another pic 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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