| | | | |  | | By Ryan Lizza, Rachael Bade and Eugene Daniels | | Presented by |  | | | With help from Eli Okun, Garrett Ross and Bethany Irvine
| | | |  | DRIVING THE DAY | | | OFF THE SIDELINES — “Former Congresswoman Liz Cheney said she will vote for Kamala Harris at Duke event,” by The Chronicle’s Michael Austin, Zoe Kolenovsky and Ava Littman
|  Donald Trump spent much of an interview with Sean Hannity last night trashing ABC News. | AP | TRUMP GOES AFTER ABC — We are five days out from the ABC News presidential debate and DONALD TRUMP spent much of an interview with Sean Hannity last night trashing the network. “ABC is the worst network in terms of fairness,” Trump said. He started his riff by mentioning an ABC poll that was allegedly way off before an election (which one, he didn’t say). In Trump’s telling, it wasn’t just a bad poll, it was a poll designed by ABC to depress turnout. How did he know? He “called the biggest, the best pollster,” and that pollster told him that a 17-point deficit is so daunting that it keeps voters from showing up and that must have been the network’s intent. This is by now all pretty familiar for Trump. Before any political contest — whether an interview, an election, a debate — he trashes the rules as rigged against him. It’s his way of ensuring victory no matter what. If he wins, it was a heroic victory against a system stacked against him. But if he loses, he didn’t really lose because he never had a chance. In politics, we first watched him do this during the 2016 Iowa caucuses, which he called a “fraud” that TED CRUZ “illegally stole.” His case against ABC got more baroque as Hannity patiently allowed Trump to unspool more invective against the network and its talent. “They are the most dishonest network, the meanest, the nastiest, but that was what I was presented with,” he said, adding that he only agreed to the ABC debate “because they wouldn't do any other network.” In fact, the reason he was on Fox last night was because Wednesday was the date of the proposed Fox News-hosted debate between Trump and KAMALA HARRIS. He went after George Stephanopoulos, who is not moderating the event. He’s “a nasty guy,” Trump said. (Would even Stephanopoulos’s worst enemy argue he’s “nasty”?) He called his interview with JOE BIDEN — Trump can’t quit him — “the softest interview I've ever seen.” Curiously, Trump did not mention the actual ABC debate moderators, David Muir and Linsey Davis. Apparently alluding to DANA WALDEN, Trump alleged that Harris’s “best friend is the head of the network” and that DOUG EMHOFF’s “best friend [MATT WALDEN] is married to the head of the network.” Deadline adds some context to the charge: “It is true, the vice president and former Fox exec Walden have been friends for 30 years. It is also true that over the years, Walden has donated to the Democrat’s campaigns. In fact, as recently as April 2022 Walden hosted a fundraiser for the Veep in her Brentwood home.” ABC has previously pointed out that Walden has no editorial input over the debate, which is run by ABC News management. Trump also went after DONNA BRAZILE (a “real beauty”) and finished things out by simply declaring that Harris and ABC were already in cahoots. “I've already heard,” Trump said without citing his secret source, “they're going to get the questions in advance.” That was not mentioned in the rules announced yesterday. But Trump did triumph in the great mic standoff of 2024: He will be silenced when Harris is speaking and vice versa. The Harris campaign did a bit of expectations setting itself about the issue, saying in a letter that she will be “fundamentally disadvantaged by this format, which will serve to shield Donald Trump from direct exchanges with the Vice President.” But they went along with the rules, because “Donald Trump is a risk to skip the debate altogether, as he has threatened to do previously, if we do not accede to his preferred format.” The Tuesday debate will have no opening statements and the candidates will not be allowed to have contact with staff during the two commercial breaks of the 90-minute event at the Constitution Center in Philadelphia. The Harris campaign said there would be a pool present inside the hall. CNN took some criticism for not allowing a pool inside the studio for its June debate. More on the rules from Eli Stokols Good Thursday morning. 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. | | | ICYMI — “DOJ alleges Russia funded US media company linked to right-wing social media stars,” by CNN’s Zachary Cohen, Donie O'Sullivan, Evan Perez and Sean Lyngaas: “The indictment unsealed in New York’s Southern District accused two employees of RT, the Kremlin’s media arm, of funneling nearly $10 million to … Tenet Media, which is a platform for independent content creators. … Among the commentators listed on Tenet Media’s website are right-wing personalities BENNY JOHNSON and TIM POOL. … In separate statements released Wednesday, Johnson and Pool said they were victims of the alleged scheme and said they maintained editorial control of the content they had created.” The bigger picture … “The legal actions … underscored previous warnings this year by the Biden administration that foreign adversaries are looking to interfere in the upcoming vote,” Josh Gerstein, Betsy Woodruff Swan and Maggie Miller write. “The new details about the Russian efforts are likely to increase concerns about continuing interference by foreign governments as the U.S. presidential campaign enters its final stretch. … “FBI Director CHRISTOPHER WRAY said he hopes the countermeasures against the Russian propaganda drive will deter other U.S. adversaries, such as China and Iran, from meddling in the election. ‘Knock it off,’ Wray said.” GEORGIA SHOOTING UPDATES — The Georgia Bureau of Investigation identified the four people killed in the shooting at Apalachee High School, including two 14-year-old students. The shooter was also identified by GBI agents and found to be a 14-year-old student who will be charged with murder and tried as an adult, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution’s Thad Moore reports. The FBI also said the shooter was previously investigated for threats, per the AJC’s Alexis Stevens. IMMIGRATION FILES — The White House is “considering actions that would make President Biden’s tough but temporary asylum restrictions almost impossible to lift,” NYT’s Hamed Aleaziz reports. “The move would essentially turn what had been a short-term fix into a central feature of the asylum system in America. And it would be yet another sign that the country is moving away from the traditional American practice of allowing anyone who steps foot on U.S. soil the opportunity to seek protection.”
| | | | 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 … We’re four days out from Congress’ return to Washington, and we have a pretty good idea of how the three-week dash to fund the government is going to go. Next week, Speaker MIKE JOHNSON will try to move a six-month stopgap that also includes legislation requiring proof of citizenship to register to vote. The Senate will then send back a shorter continuing resolution, running into December, without any add-ons. What happens then? As Olivia Beavers and Jordain Carney reported yesterday, some swing-district Republicans blanched at the possibility of a pre-election shutdown on a GOP conference call. We’re told Johnson has assured some concerned members that a shutdown is not on the menu — suggesting that what we are seeing is purely a messaging and negotiating play. At the White House Biden will receive the President’s Daily Brief in the morning. In the afternoon, Biden will travel to Westby, Wisconsin, to deliver remarks on his economic agenda before returning to the White House in the evening. Press secretary KARINE JEAN-PIERRE will gaggle aboard Air Force One en route to Wisconsin. Harris will travel to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, to begin debate prep. On the trail Vance will be in Phoenix, Arizona, where he will deliver remarks. Walz will be in Erie, Pennsylvania, for a slate of campaign events and will deliver remarks at a rally in the evening.
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Anti-abortion activists want Donald Trump to staff his administration with staunch abortion opponents if he wins in November. | Alex Brandon/AP | PINNING DOWN TRUMP ON ABORTION — Trump’s vow to vote no on Florida’s upcoming abortion-rights amendment came as a win for anti-abortion activists, who mounted a public and private pressure campaign to secure his commitment. Now, those anti-abortion activists have their sights on a bigger target: extracting a promise from Trump to staff his administration with staunch abortion opponents if he wins in November, Alice Miranda Ollstein and Meridith McGraw report. Since the lobbying blitz to bring Trump around on the ballot measure was a success, “many activists took it as a sign they retain some pull with the leader of the Republican party. But anti-abortion leaders, worried it may not be enough to reignite the enthusiasm that has waned amid a string of disappointments, are calling on Trump to name one of their own to a prominent position.” Among the wishlist for activists would be a list of judges he’d nominate or anti-abortion-rights advocates for top jobs. But the Trump campaign so far has not released any such commitments or responses to the entreaties. More top reads:
- Harris rolled out the latest peg in her economic agenda yesterday, calling for a smaller capital gains tax increase on the rich — a proposal that represents a major break from Biden, Brian Faler writes. The details: “Harris said she would hike the top total rate on people making more than $1 million to 33 percent, including a special 5 percent surcharge, well below the nearly 45 percent levy Biden has pitched.”
- The suite of tax cut proposals that Trump is running on “could collectively cost as much as $10.5 trillion over a decade, a massive sum that would exceed the combined budgets of every domestic federal agency,” Bloomberg’s Erik Wasson and Enda Curran report. “Even if Congress were to eliminate every dollar of non-defense discretionary spending — projected to be $9.8 trillion over the next 10 years — it still wouldn’t offset the estimated expense of the wide-ranging tax cuts Trump and Vance have floated in recent weeks.”
- Cash dash: The Trump campaign reported raising $130 million in August — a whopping number that is still unlikely to close the money gap with Harris, Jessica Piper reports. The campaign said it had nearly $300 million cash on hand at the end of the month, down from $327 million the prior month.
- Harris’ stop in New Hampshire yesterday marked the latest sign of how Trump’s map is constricting. Even as the Trump campaign insists he can win here, some of Trump’s most ardent supporters in this blue-leaning swing state are openly saying that his campaign should focus its efforts elsewhere, Lisa Kashinsky writes from North Hampton, New Hampshire.
JUDICIARY SQUARE
|  Hunter Biden's trial today will revisit his past struggles with drug abuse. | Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images | TRIAL BALLOON — Today marks the opening of the second HUNTER BIDEN trial, marking the culmination of a six-year federal investigation into the president’s son who is facing allegations of criminal tax evasion, Betsy Woodruff Swan writes in a curtain-raiser on the trial. During the trial, kicking off in Los Angeles — where jury selection is scheduled to start — prosecutors plan to tell a story about greed, decadence and entitlement. Biden’s lawyers, meanwhile, will argue it’s actually a tale of addiction and redemption. “The political stakes of the trial, expected to last about two weeks, have lessened now that Joe Biden is no longer running for reelection. But evidence in the case is expected to highlight his son’s foreign business dealings — an issue that became a centerpiece of Republican attacks on the Biden family. The trial also will revisit Biden’s past struggles with drug abuse. Some of the details of his drug addiction emerged during the gun trial three months ago, and reliving them has been a source of pain to the president and the rest of the Biden family. In the courtroom, Biden’s defense lawyers may face an uphill battle. More top reads:
- A federal judge shaved 15 months off of a Jan. 6 defendant’s sentence in a ruling yesterday, a direct result of the Supreme Court’s recent ruling limiting the scope of an obstruction charge used to prosecute hundreds of rioters, Samantha Latson writes.
| | | | A message from Better Medicare Alliance:   Medicare Advantage is affordable health care for seniors, and they want Washington to protect it. | | | AMERICA AND THE WORLD
|  The families of the remaining American hostages being held by Hamas are pushing the White House to cut a deal. | Miriam Alster/Pool Photo via AP | MIDDLE EAST LATEST — The families of the remaining American hostages being held by Hamas “have pressed the White House to seriously consider cutting a unilateral deal with the terrorist organization to secure their loved ones’ release, and the option is currently under discussion within the Biden administration,” NBC’s Monica Alba, Courtney Kube and Carol Lee report. “In a meeting Sunday with national security adviser JAKE SULLIVAN after Hamas killed six hostages, including American HERSH GOLDBERG-POLIN, the relatives of U.S. citizens still in captivity urged the administration to evaluate options that do not include Israel, the sources said. Administration officials told the families that they would explore ‘every option,’ but a deal with Hamas that includes Israel is still the best approach, people familiar with the conversation said.” Meanwhile, the death of Goldberg-Polin has “added new urgency to the White House’s attempt to halt the fighting in Gaza with an updated final proposal designed to get Israel and Hamas to reach a cease-fire agreement. But administration officials acknowledge this proposal might not be the last,” WSJ’s Alexander Ward reports. Related reads: “With Hopes Frayed in Gaza Cease-Fire Talks, Mediators Plan a New Push,” NYT … “Netanyahu’s conflicting messages confuse cease-fire talks, officials say,” by WaPo’s Claire Parker, Loveday Morris and John Hudson More top reads:
- The White House is preparing to block an attempt by Japan’s Nippon Steel to buy up U.S. Steel, citing national security and “likely sinking a merger that became entangled in election-year politics in the United States,” NYT’s Andrew Duehren, Alan Rappeport and Lauren Hirsch report. Meanwhile: The U.S. Steel CEO said the company “would close steel mills and likely move its headquarters out of Pittsburgh” if the sale to Nippon collapses, WSJ’s Bob Tita reports.
- A U.S. Navy sailor has been detained in Venezuela since last week after traveling to the country unauthorized on personal business, the Pentagon said yesterday, per AP’s Tara Copp.
MORE POLITICS BIG IN THE BIG CITY — Gov. KATHY HOCHUL this year has careened from one political crisis to the next — and her mounting problems are stirring talk among her fellow Democrats of a potential primary, Nick Reisman reports from Albany. “Even before the sweeping indictment alleged an agent of the Chinese Communist Party infiltrated state government, Hochul’s political baggage was multiplying. Her vulnerabilities include basement-level approval and favorability ratings that have not budged much this year, despite her championing a range of popular measures to address crime and cost of living.” Related read: “After NY governor says China’s consul general was removed, State Department says ‘there was no expulsion action,’” by CNN’s Gloria Pazmino, Mark Morales and Celina Tebor … “The Secrets of an Unassuming N.Y. Official Accused of Working for China,” by NYT’s Hurubie Meko, Benjamin Oreskes and Nicholas Fandos DEEP IN THE HEART — “Texas Attorney General Sues to Stop Voter Registration Push in San Antonio,” by NYT’s J. David Goodman and Edgar Sandoval CONGRESS TO THE WALZ — The House Education and Workforce Committee yesterday sent out subpoenas to Tim Walz, the Minnesota Department of Education and the U.S. Department of Agriculture “for how they responded to what federal prosecutors have called the largest pandemic fraud schemes in the country,” as House Republicans try to put the clamps on the Minnesota governor now that he’s a VP candidate, NBC’s Kyle Stewart reports. The subpoenas demand the recipients “turn over documents concerning oversight of the nonprofit Feeding Our Future, which is alleged to have misused millions of dollars intended to feed children during the pandemic.” TRUMP CARDS THE TRUTH ABOUT TRUTH SOCIAL — Trump’s expected windfall from his Trump Media venture is looking more like a fail at the moment. Shares of the social media company have “fallen so much that his onetime $6 billion stake is now worth about $2 billion,” NYT’s Matthew Goldstein reports. “The stock price of Trump Media & Technology Group, closed Wednesday at $16.98, and is down more than 74 percent from the high-water mark it hit after Trump Media’s merger in March with a publicly traded shell company.”
| | | | 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 | | Max Miller and Emily Moreno Miller’s divorce proceedings are getting ugly fast. Dale Carpenter Sr.’s resurfaced footage of John F. Kennedy’s motorcade is going to auction. Barron Trump is officially attending NYU. Darlene Walz wants to stay out of the tiff between Tim and Jeff Walz. Donald Trump Jr. thinks the Walz family drama isn’t getting the treatment it warrants. IN MEMORIAM — “Civil rights activist Sybil Morial, wife of New Orleans’ first Black mayor, dead at 91,” by AP’s Rebecca Santana: “Sybil Haydel Morial, a civil rights activist, widow of New Orleans’ first Black mayor, Ernest ‘Dutch’ Morial, and mother to former Mayor, Marc Morial, has died at age 91. Her family announced her death Wednesday in a statement issued by the National Urban League, which Marc Morial serves as president and CEO.” OUT AND ABOUT — SPOTTED at the Metropolitan Club yesterday evening celebrating the release of Trump White House alum John Ullyot’s new book, “The Biden-Harris Betrayal: Weak and Woke on the World Stage” ($24.95): Jeff Mason, Tracy Sabol, John Gizzi, Monica Luisi, Mark Vandroff, Josh Cartin, Andrew Peek, Nels Nordquist, Peter Metzger, Richard Chalkey, Casin Spero and Mike Chamberlain. MEDIA MOVE — Elise Labott will be the Edward R. Murrow Press Fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations. She is currently an adjunct professor at American University’s School of International Service and writes “Cosmopolitics” on Substack. FIRST IN PLAYBOOK — Alexandra Caffrey is joining the Harris-Walz campaign as deputy director of message events. She previously was press secretary for Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg. TRANSITIONS — Jamie Lawrence is now director of government affairs and public policy at Adobe. She most recently was deputy assistant secretary for the private sector at DHS. … Mark Seidman is joining Weil, Gotshal & Manges as a partner in the antitrust practice. He previously was head of the FTC’s Mergers IV Division. … Candice Drummond has joined State Voices as chief development officer. She previously oversaw fundraising at the New Georgia Project. … … Liz Cassin and Stephanie Kruger are joining LSG. Cassin will be a director in Washington, D.C. and previously was at Issue One. Kruger will be a senior director and previously was at Griffin Communications Group. … Laura Howard Kilfoyle is now development principal at the Foundation to Combat Antisemitism. She most recently was VP of development at Sentinel Strategic Advisors. HAPPY BIRTHDAY: Reps. Ann McLane Kuster (D-N.H.) and Tom Kean Jr. (R-N.J.) … theGrio’s April Ryan … BigBear.ai’s Kevin McAleenan … DGA’s Noam Lee … Atlantic Council’s Fred Kempe … Jessica Mejía … Bloomberg’s Ted Mann … Rob Lehman … NYT’s Clay Risen … Matthew Allen … Anne Marie Hoffman of the Harbour Group … Jeremy Furchtgott … CBS’ Kris Van Cleave … Dale Neugebauer of DNstrategic … Abby McIntyre … Fox News’ Amy Fenton … POLITICO’s Janaki Chadha … Aaron Lorenzo … Brian Wolff of the Edison Electric Institute … Natalie Cofield … David Yarkin of Procurated … Justin Schwab of CGCN Law … Ann Marlow … Rachel Janfaza … former Sen. John Danforth (R-Mo.) … Girls Who Code’s Tarika Barrett … Stephanie Green … Axiom Strategies’ Shawnda Turner … Chris Gray 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. Correction: Yesterday’s Playbook misspelled Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s name.
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