Biden steps up his detainee efforts

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May 18, 2022 View in browser   By Max Tani and Alex Thompson Presented by Chamber of Progress Welcome to POLITICO's West Wing Playbook, your guide to the people and power centers in the Biden administration. With help from Allie Bice.  Send tips | Subscribe here | Email Alex | Email Max The Biden administration is upping its efforts to free Americans and American permanent residents being detained abroad, even if it means angering an ostensible ally. An administration official confirmed to West Wing Playbook that earlier this month, the State Department informed the family of PAUL RUSESABAGINA, the subject of the Oscar-nominated film "Hotel Rwanda," that it had reclassified the activist as wrongfully detained by Rwanda. The classification formally places the case in the hands of the U.S. Special Presidential Envoy for Hostage Affairs ROGER CARSTENS. On a larger level, it is a not-so-subtle hint from the U.S. government that it's displeased with how Rwandan authorities have handled the case. Rusesabagina became an internationally known figure after he was credited with saving over a thousand people during the Rwandan genocide of 1994. But he increasingly found himself at odds with Rwandan President PAUL KAGAME. He had been living in Texas but was kidnapped while traveling abroad in 2020 and returned to Rwanda. Rusesabagina was sentenced to several decades in prison on terrorism-related charges stemming from his ties to the Rwandan Movement for Democratic Change, whose armed wing, the National Liberation Forces, has claimed responsibility for multiple deadly attacks in the country. But human rights groups have said that the charges against him appear trumped up, and the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention has decried the detention as "discriminatory." The Biden administration's movement on Rusesabagina's case comes as it has increasingly stepped up efforts to free a host of individuals detained overseas by autocratic governments. Last month, Biden announced that his administration had completed a prisoner swap with Russian for former U.S. Marine TREVOR REED, who had been detained in Moscow on assault charges. (Biden had previously met with Reed's family at the White House). In addition, after the mother of abducted journalist AUSTIN TICE made an emotional appearance at the White House Correspondents' Dinner to raise awareness for her son's years-long detention in Syria, Biden met with the journalist's family. And although her family has been largely mum on the case, WNBA superstar BRITTNEY GRINER's detention on drug charges in Russia has gotten increasing public recognition from the administration. Earlier this month, the U.S. reclassified her as wrongfully detained, and an administration official confirmed this week that Secretary of State ANTONY BLINKEN met with Griner's wife in recent days. The administration official noted that Blinken met with a number of families of detained Americans abroad immediately after Biden took office. The official told West Wing Playbook that one reason the U.S. was just now announcing a string of recent high-profile actions on wrongfully detained individuals was that it took months for them to navigate the complicated cases. "Some of our efforts are just coming to the fore," the official said. The Rusesabagina case has been on the Biden administration's radar for months. West Wing Playbook previously reported that his daughters had several meetings with top foreign policy officials in the Biden administration, including Blinken and National Security Adviser JAKE SULLIVAN. Rusesabagina's daughter ANAISE KANIMBA praised the Biden administration's reclassification of her father's case, but told West Wing Playbook she hoped the U.S. government did more to ensure her father's timely release. "This news is an important milestone in our fight to free my father, because it ensures that the U.S. government will treat the efforts to secure my father's release as a top priority and dedicate the resources necessary to bring him home," she said. TEXT US — ARE YOU ROGER CARSTENS? We want to hear from you. And we'll keep you anonymous. Or if you think we missed something in today's edition, let us know and we may include it tomorrow.  Email us at westwingtips@politico.com.   A message from Chamber of Progress: New polling shows that American voters do not see regulating tech companies as a priority. Their top concerns are strengthening the national economy (38%), followed by controlling inflation (37%). By contrast, only 5% of respondents prioritized regulating tech companies. Learn more about the survey results here.   POTUS PUZZLER This question is courtesy of reader ARYEH SHUDOFSKY: Which future president used poker winnings to fund his first political campaign? (Answer at the bottom.) The Oval SCOOP, BUILDING BACK TOGETHER EXPANSION: The pro-Biden outside group that has spent more than $30 million promoting the Biden agenda over the airwaves has a bunch of new hires. "This is the biggest round of growth since BBT was founded last year," said spokesperson SHARON YANG. The hires include: ADAM ZUCKERMAN, chief communications program officer BLAKE GOODMAN, national press secretary EILEEN GARCIA, coalitions communications manager KOREY SALTER, Black engagement director SOL ORTEGA, Latino engagement deputy director NEEHARIKA SIMHA, content producer  OLIVIA EGGERS, deputy press secretary  JORDAN WEIR, development manager COVID… STILL HAPPENING: Biden's daughter, ASHLEY BIDEN, tested positive for Covid-19 and will no longer be traveling with first lady JILL BIDEN to Latin America this week as planned. The first lady and president have not had an in-person meeting with Ashley in "about a week," press secretary KARINE JEAN-PIERRE said Wednesday. Meanwhile, Health and Human Services Secretary XAVIER BECERRA also tested positive while in Berlin, ahead of the G7 health summit, our SARAH OWERMOHLE reports. FIRST IN WEST WING PLAYBOOK: Two aides to White House chief of staff RON KLAIN are leaving the White House, DANIEL LIPPMAN has learned. NIYAT MULUGHETA, an adviser to Klain who managed his briefing book and also helped on infrastructure, and MADELINE STRASSER, a Klain adviser who managed his schedule and worked on events and outreach, are heading to grad school, three people familiar with the matter told Lippman. "Niyat and Madeline are two of the most talented junior aides I've ever worked with — they really make the trains run here and I'm very grateful for their help before going to grad school," Klain told West Wing Playbook. AND, A FUN FACT! Mulugheta was admitted to Stanford business school but gave up her spot to join the White House. She had to re-apply for this fall.   DON'T MISS CONGRESS MINUTES: Need to follow the action on Capitol Hill blow-by-blow? Check out Minutes, POLITICO's new platform that delivers the latest exclusives, twists and much more in real time. Get it on your desktop or download the POLITICO mobile app for iOS or Android. CHECK OUT CONGRESS MINUTES HERE.     THE BUREAUCRATS MORE OF A WINE PERSON: The International Brotherhood of Teamsters hit Treasury Secretary JANET YELLEN in a letter obtained by West Wing Playbook about union workers in the beer industry, following the release of a February department report about competition in beer, wine and spirit market. "Given the Treasury report's length and detail, we were disappointed to see no acknowledgement or description of the beer industry's strong connection to union workers," wrote GREG NOWAK , director and secretary-treasurer for the Teamsters' Brewery and Soft Drink Workers Conference, in a letter to Yellen. "The Treasury report contains recommendations that attempt to redistribute market share to nonunion business owners." The Treasury Department did not comment. Read the full letter here. THAT WAS QUICK: Less than a month after its launch, the Department of Homeland Security's first-ever Disinformation Governance Board is being put on pause, WaPo's TAYLOR LORENZ reports. Lorenz reports the board's executive director, NINA JANKOWICZ, drafted her resignation letter Tuesday. Agenda Setting BIDEN AND TRUMP CALLED OUT: The special inspector general for Afghanistan reconstruction in a new report called out both President JOE BIDEN and his predecessor DONALD TRUMP for moves leading to the withdrawal of U.S. military and contractor support from Afghanistan, significantly debilitating the Afghan military, our LARA SELIGMAN reports. "We built that army to run on contractor support. Without it, it can't function. Game over," one former U.S. commander in Afghanistan told the IG's office. "When the contractors pulled out, it was like we pulled all the sticks out of the Jenga pile and expected it to stay up."   A message from Chamber of Progress:   What We're Reading Yellen Confirms Russia Debt-Payment License Extension Unlikely (Bloomberg's Christopher Condon) US, banks unveil plan to ease food crisis from Russia's war (AP's Fatima Hussein) Where's Joe He received the President's Daily Brief this morning. The president and first lady headed to Joint Base Andrews in the afternoon, where Biden was briefed on interagency efforts to prepare for hurricane season. The pair arrived back at the White House around 3 p.m. Where's Kamala She traveled from Washington to New London, Conn., where she delivered remarks at the U.S. Coast Guard Academy Commencement Ceremony. She touched down back in Washington in the afternoon.   INTRODUCING DIGITAL FUTURE DAILY - OUR TECHNOLOGY NEWSLETTER, RE-IMAGINED:  Technology is always evolving, and our new tech-obsessed newsletter is too! Digital Future Daily unlocks the most important stories determining the future of technology, from Washington to Silicon Valley and innovation power centers around the world. Readers get an in-depth look at how the next wave of tech will reshape civic and political life, including activism, fundraising, lobbying and legislating. Go inside the minds of the biggest tech players, policymakers and regulators to learn how their decisions affect our lives. Don't miss out, subscribe today.     The Oppo Book For Ron Klain, the White House isn't always fun. "To work in the White House is to wake up every day, and pick up the newspaper or turn on the TV, and see people saying you're a moron. Live on national television. Live on the front pages of every newspaper. Every day," he said on a "Partners" podcast episode that came out today with White House deputy chiefs of staff JEN O'MALLEY DILLON and BRUCE REED.  The whole podcast is worth a listen, especially since Reed and O'Malley Dillon rarely give interviews. POTUS PUZZLER ANSWER RICHARD NIXON. When Nixon was in the Navy, he played poker and took home thousands of dollars from his wins that he put toward his run for Congress in 1946, according to History.com. A CALL OUT — Think you have a more difficult trivia question? Send us your best question on the presidents with a citation and we may feature it. Edited by Eun Kyung Kim and Sam Stein   A message from Chamber of Progress: New polling shows voters' top tech policy concerns are cybersecurity and data privacy. Only 7% of respondents prioritized antitrust action and only 1% prioritized changes to app store rules. In fact, the majority (58%) believe the pending tech antitrust legislation would cause more harm than help to consumers. Between June 2021 and March this year, 79,000 voters signed petitions urging policymakers to oppose legislation that would disrupt the use of tech products and services, endanger their privacy, and prevent online platforms from addressing hate speech and misinformation. During recent hearings on the pending legislation (S.2992) in the Senate, Democratic policymakers voiced similar concerns about the bill, including its harms to consumers, national security, and privacy. A round up of these concerns is available here.     Follow us on Twitter Alex Thompson @AlexThomp Maxwell Tani @maxwelltani Allie Bice @alliebice   Follow us

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