| | | | |  | | By Rachael Bade, Eugene Daniels and Ryan Lizza | | | |  | DRIVING THE DAY | | THE NARRATIVE CHANGES — For weeks, JOE BIDEN's presidency has been dragged down by a stalled agenda, spiraling inflation, lousy poll numbers and an angry base accusing him of not delivering on his promises. Wednesday delivered a much-needed jolt with the news that Supreme Court Justice STEPHEN BREYER will retire at the end of this term. It's a chance for the White House to pivot from the spate of bad news and rally depressed Democratic voters. Perhaps more importantly, it presents a chance for Biden to prove to Black voters — who rescued his 2020 campaign — that he can deliver for them. On the latter point, the timing couldn't be more opportune. The defeat of the voting rights bill last week was a final straw for many voters of color disenchanted with the lack of action on that issue as well as on police reform. A recent Quinnipiac poll showed Biden's approval among Black voters down to 57%, from 78% a year ago. Perhaps that's why the White House smartly wasted little time confirming that POTUS will follow through on his campaign promise to nominate the first Black woman to serve on the high court. We're told that right after the Breyer news dropped, civil rights leaders lit up the White House phone lines reminding the administration of the vow, and were promptly assured that press secretary JEN PSAKI would clarify that Biden intended to keep his word. A GIFT FOR CHUCK SCHUMER — The moment could also prove to be a unifier for Senate Dems after their internal feuding over Build Back Better and voting rights. While the confirmation of a SCOTUS nominee in a 50-50 Senate has never occurred before — and if all Republicans oppose the nominee, Democrats can't lose a single vote — party leaders are projecting confidence that Biden's pick will have smooth sailing. And there's reason to believe they're right. All 50 Democrats have been unified on Biden's judicial nominees so far. Even Sen. JOE MANCHIN (D-W.Va.) tends to defer to presidents on nominations, which is why he supported two of DONALD TRUMP's Supreme Court picks, NEIL GORSUCH and BRETT KAVANAUGH. Sen. KYRSTEN SINEMA (D-Ariz.) has also been a reliable vote in favor of Biden's nominees. HOW THIS WILL GO DOWN — Breyer is expected to officially announce his retirement today, though he's planning to serve out the remainder of this term, meaning the transition would happen sometime in early summer. However, the White House is expected to name his nominee quickly — in less than a month, according to WaPo's Seung Min Kim . Senate Majority Leader Schumer, meanwhile, is planning for a speedy, monthlong confirmation process that mirrors the GOP's playbook for AMY CONEY BARRETT. Trump tapped Barrett on Sept. 26, 2020; she was confirmed exactly one month later. COULD THE MOVE UPEND BIDEN'S LEGISLATIVE AGENDA? It's a distinct possibility. While party leaders hoped to revive BBB, multiple Hill aides have told us in recent days that it's going to be several weeks before talks heat up again — if they ever do. Now BBB 2.0 is going to have to contend with a high-profile confirmation process that's going to suck up all the oxygen in Washington. A Senate Democratic aide argued to us that the chamber can work on both BBB and a SCOTUS nominee at the same time, if it comes to that. If Biden nominates someone around Presidents' Day (Feb. 21), for example, she will have to go through weeks of hearings and meetings with senators before her nomination comes to the floor in late March or early April. Technically, the Senate needs just a few days for the actual confirmation vote, this person noted, leaving the chamber open to focus on other things in the meantime — at least in theory.
| | | | A message from The American Beverage Association: At America's beverage companies our plastic bottles are made to be remade. We're carefully designing them to be 100% recyclable, including the caps—so every bottle can become a new one. That means less plastic waste in our environment. Please help us get Every Bottle Back. EveryBottleBack.org | | | THE SHORTLIST — The looming vacancy has already set off a behind-the-scenes scramble among influential Black leaders. House Majority Whip JIM CLYBURN (D-S.C.) is pushing for J. MICHELLE CHILDS, a federal judge who's set to appear for a hearing next week for her nomination to serve on the D.C. Circuit. Others are backing U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit Judge KETANJI BROWN JACKSON, a former public defender who's personally met with Biden before and is currently considered the frontrunner. Also on the list is California Supreme Court Justice LEONDRA KRUGER, who clerked for Justice JOHN PAUL STEVENS and is considered more of a moderate. WaPo has a good writeup of the possible nominees. While Clyburn is weighing in for Childs, however, we're told the Congressional Black Caucus isn't likely to get behind a single choice, especially this early on in the process. Civil rights leaders also aren't expecting to rally around one potential pick — especially since one of their own, the NAACP Legal Defense Fund's SHERRILYN IFILL, might be considered. "We do not want to give a candidate. We want to make sure promises made, promises kept," Rev. AL SHARPTON told us Wednesday night. MORE SCOTUS HEADLINES — "Justice Breyer reportedly 'upset' by timing of retirement news," Fox News … "Inside Biden's calculated silence on Breyer's retirement," CNN … "Breyer's Retirement Gives Democrats a Dose of (Cautious) Optimism," NYT WHIMPER, NOT A BANG? — Meridith McGraw and Hailey Fuchs explain why you shouldn't "expect a scorched earth fight over Breyer's replacement": "The conservative movement has, for decades, prioritized Supreme Court fights over nearly all other forms of political battle. But a survey on Wednesday of some of the top officials and activists in that universe indicates that they aren't planning a vicious political fight over President Joe Biden's pick to replace retiring Justice [Stephen] Breyer. At least not yet." Another sign of that lack of appetite for a major fight from the right can be gleaned from this WSJ editorial. The toughest line in it is still fairly tame: "The President would be wise to pick a liberal in the mold of Justices Breyer or ELENA KAGAN, rather than SONIA SOTOMAYOR, who seems more interested in fiery dissents than persuading colleagues and shaping the law." Good Thursday morning, and thanks for reading Playbook. Drop us a line: Rachael Bade, Eugene Daniels, Ryan Lizza, Tara Palmeri. JOIN US — On Monday at noon, Commerce Secretary GINA RAIMONDO will join White House correspondent Laura Barrón-López for a virtual Women Rule interview on POLITICO Live. The interview will cover Raimondo's first year in the Biden administration, her role in pushing some key legislation, including Build Back Better and the U.S. Innovation and Competition Act, and her path to Washington from working in venture capital and serving as Rhode Island governor. RSVP here to watch live
| | | | A message from The American Beverage Association:   America's beverage companies are working together to reduce our industry's plastic footprint by investing in efforts to get our plastic bottles back. Our goal is for every bottle to become a new one, so they don't end up in our oceans, rivers and landfills. EveryBottleback.org | | | BIDEN'S THURSDAY: — 9:30 a.m.: The president will receive the President's Daily Brief. — 3:30 p.m.: Biden will receive his weekly economic briefing. VP KAMALA HARRIS' THURSDAY: The VP departed for Palmerola, Honduras, at 4:25 a.m. Still to come (all times Eastern): — Noon: Harris will attend the inauguration ceremony for Honduran President-elect XIOMARA CASTRO. — 3:05 p.m.: Harris will hold a bilateral meeting with Castro. — 6:20 p.m.: Harris will depart Palmerola to return to D.C. Psaki will brief at 12:30 p.m. THE SENATE and THE HOUSE are out.
| | | | JOIN FRIDAY TO HEAR FROM GOVERNORS ACROSS AMERICA : As we head into the third year of the pandemic, state governors are taking varying approaches to public health measures including vaccine and mask mandates. "The Fifty: America's Governors" is a series of live conversations featuring various governors on the unique challenges they face as they take the lead and command the national spotlight in historic ways. Learn what is working and what is not from the governors on the front lines, REGISTER HERE. | | | | | PHOTO OF THE DAY
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President Joe Biden meets with private-sector CEOs at the White House on Wednesday. | Andrew Harnik/AP Photo | | | PLAYBOOK READS | | AMERICA AND THE WORLD PUT IN WRITING — The U.S. has delivered a written response to Russia's recent demands, WSJ's William Mauldin and Michael Gordon report: "The U.S. proposals, delivered to the Russian Foreign Ministry Wednesday, could lead to discussions on ways to avoid confrontations in the Black Sea and missile-related inspections on each side, according to U.S. officials and people briefed by the Biden administration. "They expand on a recent diplomatic approach by the U.S. and its allies but don't meet Russia's core demands, chief among them that the North Atlantic Treaty Organization deny Ukraine entry into the alliance and cut military ties with the country and other parts of the former Soviet Union." WILL HE OR WON'T HE? — POLITICO Europe's Matthew Karnitschnig talks to experts who "warn of heavy casualties, thousands of refugees, a fractured country — and an unstable Continent," yet nobody really knows what Russian President VLADIMIR PUTIN will actually do: "Depending on whom you ask, Putin is about to plunge Europe into its most serious military conflict since World War II or is staging an elaborate bluff to show the West that he's as dangerous as ever." GOP SPLIT ON UKRAINE — NYT's Jonathan Weisman has a smart look at the GOP politics of Russia and Ukraine: While some Republicans have encouraged "Biden to get tougher on Russia, through immediate sanctions on Russian energy exports and more lethal aid to Ukraine's military … [the] message has been undermined by the party's far right, which has questioned why the U.S. would side with Ukraine at all, and has obliquely suggested with no evidence that the president is bolstering his son HUNTER BIDEN's business interests. … Driven by a steady diet of pro-Russian or anti-interventionist rhetoric from the Fox News host TUCKER CARLSON, the Republican right has become increasingly vocal in undercutting not only U.S. foreign policy but also the positions of the party's leaders." — In a separate NYT interview with Leah Askarinam and Blake Hounshell, Carlson defended his pro-Kremlin commentary, declaring: "Of course I'm not an agent of Russia." WILL PUTIN BLINK FOR BLINKEN? — Nahal Toosi takes a look at the Biden administration's flood-the-zone approach to Russia-Ukraine diplomacy, as they try to marshal support for Ukraine not just from the usual European allies but around the globe. The U.S. foreign policy team is seen as more internally united on this front than they have been on past Russia decisions, but so far "the diplomatic offensive doesn't seem to be changing Vladimir Putin's calculations," she writes. And it hasn't always been easy to convince other countries with their own complicated sets of incentives to jump on board.
| | | | A message from The American Beverage Association:   Our plastic bottles are made to be remade. Help us get Every Bottle Back. EveryBottleBack.org | | | THE WHITE HOUSE COMMUNICATION IS KEY — In his latest column, John Harris writes about Biden's "stupid son of a bitch" moment — and how that kind of trash talk could give his presidency a much-needed lift. "Whether PETER DOOCY is a jerk does not count as one of those great national questions FDR was talking about when he talked about the clarifying power of the presidency," he writes. "The air between the reporter and the president, of course, is not the most important air that needs clearing from Biden's perspective. "It is the gap between the grand hopes Democrats had for his presidency a year ago and the present reality of a stalled agenda, a divided party, a rancid political culture and the haunting sense that he may not be quite up the task of turning all this around in time for 2022 and 2024 elections. As it happens, Biden's lapse of presidential decorum hints at a path toward restoring presidential vitality." CONGRESS ON SECOND THOUGHT — Schumer "is quietly stoking bipartisan talks about updating the Electoral Count Act," Burgess Everett reports this morning, after the majority leader dismissed ECA reform as wholly inadequate. (That, of course, was before the collapse of voting rights legislation last week.) Schumer "hasn't committed to backing the work" of the bipartisan gang of senators working on the issue. Instead, he's waiting to see what the group "comes up with before gaming out whether legislation could win 60 votes on the Senate floor." PRIMARYING SINEMA — "Democratic Party financiers are plotting to fund a 2024 primary challenge against Sen. Kyrsten Sinema as she fights key pieces of their party's agenda," CNBC's Brian Schwartz reports . The group includes some who contributed to her Senate campaign back in 2018. And, Schwartz writes, "certain financiers who want to unseat Sinema signed a recent letter to her in which they suggested her campaign should return their donations if the senator imperils voting rights legislation." BEYOND THE BELTWAY GUN OWNERSHIP REGULATIONS INCOMING? — San Jose, Calif., may become the first city in the country to require gun owners to purchase liability insurance and pay a $25 annual fee. City council members voted in favor of measures that would enforce those standards Tuesday night, and they await one final approval next month. If enacted, it would go into effect in August. More from NBC's Chantal Da Silva and the San Jose Mercury News MEDIAWATCH EX-REPORTER TO NY POST: I WAS 'MENTALLY TRAUMATIZED' — CNN's Oliver Darcy scooped Wednesday night that "former New York Post staffers are voicing support for MICHELLE GOTTHELF, the tabloid's former digital editor-in-chief who filed a harassment lawsuit against the company last week." More: "In a private Facebook group, multiple people shared messages of solidarity with Gotthelf after the lawsuit was made public, according to screen grabs that I obtained. 'Good for Michelle Gotthelf for standing up against the abusive environment that has been allowed and encouraged for years at the NY Post,' one ex-staffer wrote. 'I left the NY Post mentally traumatized.'"
| | | | STEP INSIDE THE WEST WING: What's really happening in West Wing offices? Find out who's up, who's down, and who really has the president's ear in our West Wing Playbook newsletter, the insider's guide to the Biden White House and Cabinet. For buzzy nuggets and details that you won't find anywhere else, subscribe today. | | | | | | | PLAYBOOKERS | | Sarah Palin, who tested positive for the coronavirus Monday, delaying her defamation trial against the NYT, was spotted dining out at a restaurant in Manhattan on Wednesday night. Stephanie Ruhle will replace Brian Williams in MSNBC's 11 p.m. hour, per Axios' Sara Fischer. Dan Bongino was permanently banned from YouTube. Peter Thiel hosted a fundraiser Wednesday night for Harriet Hageman, who's challenging Liz Cheney in Wyoming's Republican primary. Matt Gaetz got another round of bad news in the long-running sex trafficking investigation pending against him. SNEAK PEEK — Showtime's "The Circus" is returning for its seventh season at 8 p.m. on March 6. The 16-episode season will air over two parts, with the first eight episodes airing on Sundays through April 24. Exclusive trailer FIRST IN PLAYBOOK — Nora Kohli will be comms director for Rep. Kathleen Rice (D-N.Y.). She most recently was a press assistant for Rep. Don Beyer (D-Va.), and is a John Delaney alum. NEW NOMINEES — The White House announced Biden will nominate Michael Adler as ambassador to South Sudan and John Godfrey as ambassador to Sudan. COMMERCE DEPARTMENT ARRIVAL LOUNGE — Nell Abernathy has returned to the Commerce Department to be acting director of the office of policy and strategic planning. She most recently was senior policy adviser at the National Economic Council. TRANSITION — Ray Zaccaro is joining the Klein/Johnson Group as a principal. He most recently was senior adviser and comms director for Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), and is a Frank Pallone alum. WELCOME TO THE WORLD — Andrew Gibbons, VP at Leading Authorities (Speakers Bureau), and Julie Gibbons, a family nurse practitioner, welcomed Graham Louis Gibbons on Tuesday. He joins big sisters Caroline (5) and Emmie (3). Pic — Zach Hunter, managing director at Narrative Strategies, and Mallory Hunter, senior director of operations for WinRed, welcomed Charles "Charlie" Hunter on Tuesday (the same birthday as his mom). Pic … Another pic — Charlie Harris, director of U.S. membership mobilization at the ONE Campaign, and Rachel Harris, a veterinarian at Brook-Falls Animal Hospital in Milwaukee, welcomed Violet Josephine Harris on Tuesday. She came in at 8 lbs, 12 oz and 19.5 inches. Pics HAPPY BIRTHDAY: Chief Justice John Roberts is 67… Meredith Kelly of Declaration Media … C-SPAN's Howard Mortman … Chelsea Patterson Sobolik … Jessica Fink of Groundswell Communications … Kitty Bartels Di Martino … Circle's Jared Favole … Erin Lindsay of Precision Strategies … Emily Skor of Growth Energy … CFR's Kayla Ermanni … Jamal Ware … Nomiki Konst … White House's Matt Lee-Ashley and Will Rusche … Connie Partoyan of Targeted Victory … Ben Owens of Rep. Ann Kirkpatrick's (D-Ariz.) office … Heather Nauert of the Hudson Institute … Lisa Kaplan of the Alethea Group … Akin Gump's Josh Teitelbaum … Morry Cater … Scott Backer … Rick Ridder … Kendall Bianchi … WaPo's Holly Bailey … former Reps. Marilyn Musgrave (R-Colo.), Zack Space (D-Ohio), John Mica (R-Fla.) and Dick Ottinger (D-N.Y.) (93) Did someone forward this email to you? Sign up here. Send Playbookers tips to playbook@politico.com. Playbook couldn't happen without our editor Mike Zapler, deputy editor Zack Stanton and producers Allie Bice, Eli Okun and Garrett Ross.
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