| | | By Adam Wren | Presented by the Coalition for Medicare Choices | With help from Eli Okun, Garrett Ross and Bethany Irvine Happy Saturday from Indiana, where I have a bit of FOMO about not being in Munich at the POLITICO Pub. I’ll try to remedy that today by having the Hoosier classic breaded pork tenderloin sandwich, which German immigrants brought to the Midwest in the early 1900s by taking the concept of wiener schnitzel, swapping out veal for pork and adding a bun. Drop me a line: awren@politico.com. FIRST IN PLAYBOOK: Far-right activist Jack Posobiec traveled to Ukraine with Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and was in the room when the secretary greeted Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy ahead of their private meeting, POLITICO’s Dasha Burns reports. The background: Earlier this week, WaPo reported that Posobiec was invited to travel with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, sparking alarm from some in the defense world. But the MAGA influencer says he instead opted to travel to Ukraine with Bessent, whose team reached out to Posobiec before the trip was made public. He was invited as media in his role as an influencer. (Mainstream journalists were also among the attendees, including Ed Lawrence from Fox Business.) A new era: Posobiec — whose record of far-right activism includes promoting conspiracy theories and associating with white nationalists — has long been a controversial figure, and would have been considered fringe during prior administrations. But now, he’s in position to bear witness to key moments on one of the world’s most consequential issues. The meeting: Posobiec tells POLITICO that Bessent and team went to Ukraine with the goal of getting Zelenskyy to sign an economic agreement. “It’s been referred to as the mineral deal, although there were other aspects to it besides just minerals,” Posobiec says, noting it also targeted resources like oil and gas. “The economic relationship was meant to be a strong signal both to the Ukrainian people and to Russian leadership that the U.S. would not be abandoning Ukraine.” The timing: The meeting happened right after Hegseth’s speech and right before President Donald Trump posted online that he’d spoken with Russian President Vladimir Putin. More details: “It was Bessent’s first trip since he was confirmed,” Posobiec says. “He repeated over and over that it was a big signal to Ukrainian leadership that [the] United States intends to continue a relationship with Ukraine even after any peace deal that’s done.” Ukraine’s reaction: “The big piece of it was there was no security guarantee, which became a big sticking point for the Ukrainians,” Posobiec says. “Zelenskyy repeated over and over the need for a security guarantee,” and indicated he’s looking for another arms deal as well as a security agreement. “It seemed Zelenskyy was not happy with what had been presented, and he also stated that he wanted to speak to the president.” How Trump world sees it: “The president wants to support the Ukrainian people, but billions of dollars have been spent, so the question is what do we do going forward?” a person familiar with the situation tells Playbook. “And that is Secretary Bessent’s expertise — understanding global economics and financial agreements. A big part of this is fairness for Americans and making sure the U.S. gets some reciprocal benefits.” A representative for Zelenskyy did not respond to POLITICO’s request for comment by publishing time. POLITICO EXCLUSIVES: Ukraine should get automatic NATO membership if Russia ever invades again, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) proposed at the POLITICO Pub at the Munich Security Conference this morning. “If you can’t get them into NATO right now, my idea with [former British PM] Boris Johnson is to be really clear: Tell Putin if you ever do this again, if there’s another incursion by Russia into Ukraine, that leads to automatic admission into NATO by Ukraine as a tripwire,” Graham told POLITICO’s Jonathan Martin. Music to Trump’s ears: NATO members must boost their defense spending by “considerably more than 3 percent” of GDP, NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte said today during his own interview at the POLITICO Pub. That comes as Trump demands allies commit 5 percent of GDP to defense, up from the 2 percent NATO members agreed upon more than a decade ago. Not music to Trump’s ears: “Despite U.S. insistence, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy refused to sign a draft agreement to hand over half of his country’s rare earth minerals to American companies in exchange for military support, according to two people familiar with the negotiations,” POLITICO’s Veronika Melkozerova and Joe Gould report. “‘The deal was not signed yet. Sides are discussing the details,’ said a Ukrainian official familiar with the negotiations who was granted anonymity to discuss ongoing talks. … The official added that the U.S. scheme ‘might not work’ as it could fall afoul of Ukrainian law.” Life in the minority party: Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.) let loose with a litany of thoughts during his own stint at the POLITICO Pub, ranging from the Democratic Party’s woes (our “brand is really bad,” he told Dasha) … to the dismantling of USAID (“great news for Russia or China”) … to the Department of Government Efficiency’s potential mishandling of classified information (“I have huge security concerns when you have 22-year-olds who may not even appreciate the value of the information you have being so careless”). It’s all part of life during Trump 2.0. “We’re not even a month into this administration,” he said. “In dog years, it feels like it’s been 20 years.” What else is happening at the POLITICO Pub in Munich? You can see the full schedule here and follow our livestream all day.
| | |  | DRIVING THE DAY | | | 
VP JD Vance’s approach to Europe and President Donald Trump’s call with Russian President Vladimir Putin about a Ukraine peace deal point to a new foreign policy consensus that wants to be born. | Matthias Schrader/AP Photo | CONTINENTAL DIVIDE: At the Munich Security Conference these past few days, the uncomfortable political alliances of Trump’s winning coalition were on full display. And there was some discord in the GOP’s big foreign policy tent. As a new kind of MAGA military realism continues to graft onto the Republican Party’s body of Reaganesque internationalism, there are signs the old organ is rejecting the new one — or vice versa, depending on one’s perspective. The new GOP’s larger lack of a foreign policy consensus is on full display.
- On Ukraine: Senate Armed Services Chair Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) earned a blast of coverage when he told our POLITICO colleague Jonathan Martin that Hegseth made a “rookie mistake” in calling a return to Ukraine’s pre-war borders “unrealistic.”
- On NATO: Graham proposed a conditional path for Ukraine’s NATO membership in conversation with JMart, a rejection of Trump’s contention that Ukraine joining NATO wasn’t “practical.”
Vance’s speech could be remembered as one of the most important speeches a sitting vice president ever delivered. Quick: Recall any speech former VP Mike Pence ever made while in office. How Team Vance sees it: One longtime Vance adviser told Playbook that Vance’s remarks could be understood less as a stick and more as a carrot, calling the continent back to values it shares with the U.S. Both his speech on artificial intelligence, during which he called for “optimism and not trepidation,” and his address yesterday were of a piece. Not a lecture: “He made an intellectual case in both of his speeches this week and extended an olive branch to Europe for them to stand with us on issues like AI and free speech,” said the adviser, granted anonymity to explain Vance’s speech. “This wasn’t a case of JD just lecturing Europe about how bad they are, it was him calling on them to return to the traditional values that they have long shared with us because right now they are out of step. His view is that Europe and America are both stronger when there’s a shared commitment to fundamental values like freedom of speech and national sovereignty.” Labor pains: Taken together, Vance’s approach to Europe — which seemed more aimed at his MAGA base back stateside — and Trump’s call with Putin about a Ukraine peace deal (a conversation that did not include Ukraine) point to a new foreign policy consensus that wants to be born. Europe’s wake-up call: “This is a new United States and it’s clear the old one Europe’s been used to for decades is gone,” one former senior U.S. diplomat told our POLITICO colleagues. “It could be this is the one wake-up call that actually wakes Europe up.” The GOP’s generation gap: But it’s worth taking stock of the ways the larger GOP is reacting to it — and a generational divide that points to Vance’s approach winning the day. Consider, for example, that Wicker is 73. Graham is 69. At 40, Vance’s approach to Europe — and more largely, the world — could be the foreign policy vision that has the most staying power. For Vance, none of this is new: He has said in the past that the U.S. should be less focused on Europe and more focused on East Asia. “That is going to be the future of American foreign policy for the next 40 years, and Europe has to wake up to that fact,” Vance said in Munich last year. Back then, Vance said, insisted his remarks were meant “in the spirit of friendship, not in the spirit of criticism,” because “I don’t think that we should abandon Europe.” Europe’s not so sure about that: “I really believe that the time has come that the armed forces of Europe must be created,” Zelenskyy said today in a speech at MSC. “Let’s be honest, now we can’t rule out that America might say ‘no’ to Europe on issues that might threaten it.” Up next: “French President Emmanuel Macron is convening European leaders for an emergency summit in Paris on Monday, according to Polish Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski,” reports POLITICO’s Hans von der Burchard. “‘President Trump has a method of operating which the Russians call razvedka boyem — reconnaissance through battle: You push and you see what happens, and then you change your position. … And we need to respond,’ the Polish minister said.”
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Learn more at https://medicarechoices.org/ | | 9 THINGS THAT STUCK WITH US 1. CRISIS AT THE JUSTICE DEPARTMENT: The Trump administration’s effort to dismiss the federal corruption case against NYC Mayor Eric Adams has triggered massive chaos at DOJ over the rule of law. After multiple prominent conservative prosecutors resigned rather than carry out the directive, acting deputy AG Emil Bove finally signed the formal motion himself yesterday, along with prosecutors Edward Sullivan and Antoinette Bacon, per NYT’s Benjamin Weiser, William Rashbaum and Jonah Bromwich. Notably, Bove wrote that the dismissal was not about weakness in the case but specifically about clearing the way for Adams to work with Trump on immigration. That’s a different tune than AG Pam Bondi, who decried without evidence the “weaponization” of prosecutions. Adams has pleaded not guilty. The extraordinary sequence of events saw U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York Danielle Sassoon quit alongside several others, including lead prosecutor Hagan Scotten, who blasted DOJ and declared he’d never be “enough of a fool, or enough of a coward,” to comply. At the Justice Department, there is widespread outrage over the situation, POLITICO’s Josh Gerstein reports, including an allegation that Bove had threatened the entire Public Integrity Section with being fired if nobody stepped forward to carry out the Adams order. (NYT’s Adam Liptak dives into the conservative legal divide over whether prosecutors should obey unjust orders.) The two big questions now:
- Will federal judge Dale Ho allow the prosecutors to drop the case? Judges almost always do, but the Joe Biden appointee now faces a situation with little precedent, NYT’s Weiser and Bromwich write.
- And if the legal case ends, could New York Gov. Kathy Hochul remove Adams from office? Some Democrats are urging her to do so, but Hochul is treading carefully, NYT’s Nicholas Fandos and Benjamin Oreskes report.
Nevertheless: Adams’ administration is working on a lawsuit against the Trump administration over the revocation of FEMA funds for migrant housing, POLITICO’s Emily Ngo reports.
| | A message from the Coalition for Medicare Choices:  | | 2. THE PURGE: Trump’s mass layoffs of federal workers are here — with the potential to transform many agencies and soon affect ordinary Americans. For Trump and Elon Musk’s DOGE, it’s a necessarily radical approach to finally effect real change in reining in the government. But the civil service is stunned and angry at the slash-and-burn. The big picture: More than 14,000 employees were axed, on top of the roughly 75,000 who’ve opted for the “buyout” offer, per WaPo’s Hannah Natanson, Emily Davies, Lisa Rein and Rachel Siegel. So far, the firings mostly hit probationary (new) staffers at the Interior, Energy, Veterans Affairs, Agriculture and HHS departments, the Office of Personnel Management and the General Services Administration. One source tells POLITICO’s Liz Crampton, Marcia Brown, Danny Nguyen, Ben Lefebvre, Catherine Morehouse and Eric Bazail-Eimil that up to 200,000 probationary employees could be cut ultimately, and some career and comms staffers were given pink slips too. National Archives: Top leaders are being pushed out in a significant disruption at the agency Trump has long blamed for his classified documents case, CNN’s Jamie Gangel reports. “The exodus of senior staff is seen as a huge loss for the agency, which is considered nonpartisan.” Health: HHS fired roughly 2,000 workers, plus another nearly 1,400 at the CDC. On top of civil servants who took the “buyout,” that means about one-tenth of staff gone at the outbreak-prevention agency. Public health officials fear that “the first line of defense in an infectious disease outbreak” will be slashed, NYT’s Sheryl Gay Stolberg reports. But the administration emphasized that the cuts here were much more careful and targeted than at other agencies, POLITICO’s Megan Messerly and Adam Cancryn reports. Interior: 2,300 people were let go, including roughly 780 to 1,000 at the National Park Service, which could cause cancellations and closures at national parks as soon as this week. But the Park Service is reviving about 5,000 job offers to seasonal employees that were yanked last month, per WaPo’s Maxine Joselow. 800 could be ousted at the Bureau of Land Management. Energy: Between 1,000 and 2,000 employees were axed, including 325 at the National Nuclear Safety Administration employees. But by yesterday, some of those firings were already being rescinded for crucial specialists who help maintain the country’s nuclear weapons, Bloomberg’s Ari Natter reports. In fact, some sources told CNN’s Rene Marsh and Ella Nilsen that Trump officials “did not seem to know this agency oversees America’s nuclear weapons.” The Energy Department disputed the number of firings, saying it was only a few dozen at NNSA. Up next: Thousands are expected to be cut next week at the IRS, NYT’s Andrew Duehren and Alan Rappeport scooped. And HUD is bracing for thousands of layoffs — as much as half of the workforce — as DOGE zeroes in on the housing agency, POLITICO’s Mohar Chatterjee, Sophia Cai and Sam Sutton report. Plus: 388 people got the boot at the EPA, per Bloomberg’s Ari Natter. … 3,400 positions will be cut at the Forest Service, potentially limiting wildfire prevention. … 1,000 people were cut at the VA, per the AP. But but but: The CFPB was temporarily blocked from most layoffs, a federal judge ordered yesterday, per POLITICO’s Michael Stratford. Judge Amy Berman Jackson also prevented the administration from destroying the consumer protection agency’s data and barred acting head Russell Vought from defunding it. And at USAID, just seven employees opted in to the “buyouts,” POLITICO’s Daniel Lippman and Carmen Paun scooped for Pros. The fallout: The overall deficit impact of the workforce cuts will be minimal. But if public services start to take a hit across the country, the Trump administration could face a political backlash. Though the D.C. area will be especially affected by layoffs, the jobs are spread across many congressional districts of all persuasions, WSJ’s John McCormick and Max Rust show. The backlash: A number of congressional Republicans have already started to protest specific concerns, from Rep. Mike Simpson (Idaho) on the Park Service to Sen. Jerry Moran (Kan.) on USAID to Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (W.Va.) on scientific research funding, POLITICO’s Ben Leonard and Hailey Fuchs report. And Sen. Lisa Murkowski (Alaska) posted a sharp criticism on X last night, saying she shares Trump’s goal of cutting waste but that the indiscriminate cuts are “bringing confusion, anxiety, and now trauma to our civil servants.” The administration’s response to her staff’s concerns “has been evasive and inadequate,” she added. The backlash to the backlash: The Trump administration has reacted to furor over funding cuts with essentially an eye roll, saying Trump campaigned on this and they don’t care about the upheaval, WaPo’s Natalie Allison and Dan Diamond report. One White House official dismisses the excessive focus on “the one starving kid in Sudan that isn’t going to have a USAID bottle.”
| | Join POLITICO on February 19, for the Playbook First 100 Days: Health Care Breakfast Briefing where we will gather key leaders in health care and Washington to discuss the looming issues that will shape health care policy in 2025. RVSP to attend. | | | 3. WATCHING THE WATCHMEN: A federal judge yesterday tore into the esteemed attorney for IGs fired last month by Trump, accusing them of making strained, ill-considered demands that she reinstate them on an emergency basis — even though they waited nearly three weeks to go to court in the first place, Josh Gerstein and Kyle Cheney write in. About time: U.S. District Judge Ana Reyes suggested the request — and what she said was an inaccurate comparison to another lawsuit brought by a fired executive branch official — could warrant sanctions. She said it was “totally unacceptable” that the IGs took so long to seek relief then forced a mad rush to the courthouse for emergency action. “They were fired by Mr. Trump on Jan. 24, 2025. If I look at my calendar, I will find that the day is Feb. 14, 2025. … It took you 21 days to file” for a restraining order, Reyes said to attorney Seth Waxman. The threat: During the 12-minute Zoom hearing, Reyes — a Biden appointee — repeatedly threatened that if Waxman continued to seek emergency relief, she’d begin the process to impose sanctions for filing a frivolous pleading with the court. Not the same: While Waxman argued in a court filing that the IGs’ case was “extremely similar” to one where special counsel Hampton Dellinger won temporary restoration to his position after being fired by Trump, Reyes said the cases are “incredibly dissimilar,” citing a slew of differences. “The fact that you all compared this case on the facts to the Dellinger case is beyond comprehension to me,” Reyes said. When Reyes gave the Justice Department lawyers involved a chance to speak, they — perhaps wisely — declined. What’s next: The judge ultimately ordered the government to respond by Friday, which still puts the case on an expedited timetable. Waxman, who was the U.S. government’s top lawyer at the Supreme Court from 1996 to 2001, declined to comment to POLITICO on the episode. 4. MORE FROM THE COURTS: A federal judge paused Trump’s effort to bar federal funding for people 18 and under to get gender transition-related medical care, per The Seattle Times’ Elise Takahama. … Another federal judge decided for now not to bar DOGE from accessing HHS, Labor Department and CFPB data, though he expressed major privacy concerns as the case proceeds, per NYT’s Chris Cameron. … Musk’s government position is the target of two new lawsuits alleging that his massive power is unconstitutional, POLITICO’s Kyle Cheney reports. 5. TRADE WARS: “Trump Says New Tariffs on Autos Coming Around April 2,” by Bloomberg’s Jennifer Dlouhy: “The auto threat offers to put some of the biggest brands in Japan, Germany and South Korea in Trump’s crosshairs. … Trump on Friday did not provide any details on the scope or rate of the potential auto levies. It is also unclear the impact they would have on vehicles built under a free trade agreement between the US, Canada and Mexico.” 6. CLIMATE FILES: “Trump Maneuvers to Outflank California Over Ban on Gasoline Cars,” by Bloomberg’s Jennifer Dlouhy: “Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin said Friday he would formally subject the EPA’s approval of those California rules to congressional scrutiny, opening the door for lawmakers’ expedited repeal of the authorizations. … At issue are EPA decisions under former President Joe Biden to authorize three California car pollution regulations — including measures governing cars and heavy-duty engines.” 7. THE LATEST EXECUTIVE ORDER: Trump yesterday barred federal funding to schools and educational agencies that require Covid-19 vaccination, as Breitbart’s Nick Gilbertson scooped. HHS and the Education Department are tasked with ending such mandates. But the order may be largely symbolic, as few schools have such requirements now and many states have already banned them. 8. IMMIGRATION FILES: “Trump Administration Toughens Rules for Release of Migrant Children,” by NYT’s Zolan Kanno-Youngs and Hamed Aleaziz: The change “could make it more difficult for minors who cross the border alone to be released from federal custody and united with family members in the United States. The policy is similar to one imposed during the first Trump administration, which sought to tighten the vetting process for those living with migrant children.” 9. IN THE DARK: “Urgent CDC Data and Analyses on Influenza and Bird Flu Go Missing as Outbreaks Escalate,” by KFF Health News’ Amy Maxmen: “CDC analyses that would inform people about these situations are delayed, and the CDC has cut off communication with doctors, researchers, and the World Health Organization … A critical analysis of the seasonal flu selected for distribution through the CDC’s Health Alert Network has stalled … A chart from that analysis, reviewed by KFF Health News, suggests that flu may be at a record high.”
| | A message from the Coalition for Medicare Choices:  | | CLICKER — “The nation’s cartoonists on the week in politics,” edited by Matt Wuerker — 16 funnies
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Nick Anderson - Tribune Content Agency | GREAT WEEKEND READS: — “The Path to American Authoritarianism,” by Steven Levitsky and Lucan Way in Foreign Affairs: “What Comes After Democratic Breakdown.” — “How Progressives Froze the American Dream,” by The Atlantic’s Yoni Appelbaum: “The U.S. was once the world’s most geographically mobile society. Now we’re stuck in place — and that’s a very big problem.” — “The Legal Star Who Ran Out of Luck,” by N.Y. Mag’s Matt Stieb: “How the most influential Supreme Court lawyer of his generation gambled it all away.” — “The Education — and Anointment — of Barron Trump,” by Vanity Fair’s Dan Adler: “The towering New York University freshman has become a Manhattan curiosity and a national symbol while hardly uttering a public word.” — “Growing Up Murdoch,” by The Atlantic’s McKay Coppins: “James Murdoch on mind games, sibling rivalry, and the war for the family media empire.” — “In one of the Marines’ most iconic jobs, a stunning pattern of suicide,” by WaPo’s Kelsey Baker and Drew Lawrence in Beaufort, South Carolina: “Marine Corps drill instructors are a national symbol of discipline. But for some, their imposing persona belies a dark reality.” — “What a $2 Million Per Dose Gene Therapy Reveals About Drug Pricing,” by ProPublica’s Robin Fields: “While taxpayers and small charities funded [Zolgensma’s] early development, executives, venture-capital backers and a pharma giant have reaped the profits.” — “Seeking God, or Peter Thiel, in Silicon Valley,” by NYT’s Emma Goldberg: “When tech luminaries talk about their Christian faith, people listen.” — “Alex Karp Wants Silicon Valley to Fight for America,” by WSJ’s Erich Schwartzel in Ketchum, Idaho: “The Palantir CEO thinks that tech companies have lost their way, focusing on diversions for consumers rather than on defending the nation that ‘made their rise possible.’” — “‘It’s All Gone’: Devastation, Survival, and Hope From the California Fires” by Rolling Stone’s Stephen Rodrick: “They built their lives in Los Angeles, then watched them go up in smoke.”
| | With a new administration in place, how will governors work with the federal government and continue to lead the way on issues like AI, health care, economic development, education, energy and climate? Hear from Gov. Jared Polis, Gov. Brian Kemp and more at POLITICO's Governors Summit on February 20. RSVP today. | | | |  | TALK OF THE TOWN | | Elon Musk has another new baby with conservative influencer Ashley St. Clair, she revealed. Sean Spicer’s dismissal from a Naval Academy advisory board under Joe Biden and the legal battle that followed paved the way for Donald Trump to take control of the Kennedy Center. Angus King stumbled across a pep rally in support of him in Brunswick, Maine. Pic PLAYBOOK DESIGN SECTION — “Seeking a Mar-a-Lago Vibe, Trump Considers Paving Over Grass in Rose Garden,” by NYT’s Jonathan Swan and Maggie Haberman: “The president has been discussing plans to rip up the grass in one of the White House’s most iconic locations and put in a hard surface to serve as a patio.” OUT AND ABOUT — SPOTTED at the Axel Springer Freedom Party at the Munich Security Conference: Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, U.S. Envoy for Special Missions Richard Grenell, CDU leader Friedrich Merz, NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte, Gideon Sa’ar, Robert Habeck, Goli Sheikholeslami, Jens Stoltenberg, Bavarian Premier Markus Söder, Yulia Navalnaya, Sanna Marin and Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko. — SPOTTED at the POLITICO Pub yesterday at MSC: Mathias Döpfner, Kellyanne Conway, David Petraeus, Goli Sheikholeslami, Alexander De Croo, Frank McCourt, Tomicah Tillemann, Ron Prosor, Matthias Berninger, EU Ambassador Jovita Neliupšienė, Markus Rauramo, Leonhard Birnbaum, Ivan Doherty and Kajsa Ollongren. — SPOTTED at WaPo’s “Post Next 50” dinner at the Henri on Thursday night, celebrating the list and its honorees: Matt Murray, Krissah Thompson, Samantha Henig, Evan Bretos, Johanna Mayer-Jones, Frances Stead Sellers, Mike Carney, NASA Administrator-designate Jared Isaacman, Jeff Jenkins, Kizzmekia Corbett-Helaire, Pati Jinich, Grégoire Courtine, Jocelyne Bloch, Kara Calvert, Vinod Balachandran, Natasha Sarin and Julian Gewirtz. TRANSITIONS — Zach Fulton is joining the House Financial Services Committee as press secretary. He previously was deputy press secretary for Sen. Roger Wicker (R-Miss.), and is a French Hill alum. … Tom Gjelten will be Georgetown University’s inaugural Sakka family religion and international journalism fellow this semester. He most recently was religion and belief correspondent at NPR. … Betsy Holahan is now chief of staff to the Senate sergeant at arms. She previously was president of Great Point Strategies. HAPPY BIRTHDAY: Anne Neuberger … Jason Thielman … Chad Maisel … former Rep. Kathleen Rice (D-N.Y.) (6-0) … retired Adm. Jim Stavridis (7-0) … Jonathan Salant … Francisco Bencosme … Sourav Bhowmick … Carrie Sheffield … Talking Points Memo’s Josh Marshall … Bobby Panzenbeck … Fox Business’ David Asman … Republican Jewish Coalition’s Alex Siegel … Clare Flannery … Kerry Feehery … S-3 Group’s Sarah Dolan Schneider … National Association of Realtors’ Sydney Gallego … George Bamford … Sean McCluskie … POLITICO’s Jonathan Miller, Lawrence Ukenye and Sienna Brown … Allie Davis … Sherman Patrick … Dan O’Brien of Fidelity Investments … Linda Kramer Jenning … Linda Roth … Micah Murphy … Art Spiegelman THE SHOWS (Full Sunday show listings here): NBC “Meet the Press”: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy … Darrell Hammond. Panel: Matt Gorman, Sahil Kapur, Amna Nawaz and Jen Psaki. ABC “This Week”: House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries … Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-Okla.). Panel: Donna Brazile, Reince Priebus, Sarah Isgur and Faiz Shakir. CNN “State of the Union”: border czar Tom Homan … Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.). Panel: Rep. Laura Gillen (D-N.Y.), Rep. Riley Moore (R-W.Va.), Jamal Simmons and Kristen Soltis Anderson. FOX “Fox News Sunday”: national security adviser Mike Waltz … Senate Majority Whip John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) … Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.). Panel: Olivia Beavers, Mollie Hemingway, Juan Williams and Josh Wingrove. CBS “Face the Nation”: Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.) … Rep. Dan Crenshaw (R-Texas) … Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) … National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett. MSNBC “The Weekend”: Deb Haaland … Marc Elias … Rep. Joe Neguse (D-Colo.) … Sen. Jack Reed (D-R.I.). NewsNation “The Hill Sunday”: Rep. Ryan Zinke (R-Mont.) … Rep. Jake Auchincloss (D-Mass.) … Richard Brookhiser. Panel: Margaret Talev, Sarah McCammon and Kellie Meyer. 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 deputy editor Zack Stanton and Playbook Daily Briefing producer Callan Tansill-Suddath.
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