How the WH views the DeSantis stunt

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Sep 16, 2022 View in browser   By Max Tani and Eugene Daniels Presented by 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  Earlier this week, Florida Gov. RON DESANTIS rounded up 50 Venezuelan migrants from Texas and transported them to Martha's Vineyard as a political statement about immigration. It was the latest in a series of moves by Republican governors, including GREG ABBOTT of Texas, to physically relocate migrants to blue enclaves. The White House has said the moves are inhumane. Biden criticized DeSantis for "playing politics with human beings, using them as props." And press secretary KARINE JEAN-PIERRE said the governors "treated [the migrants] like chattel in a cruel, premeditated political stunt." During an immigration meeting on Friday, White House and administration officials discussed potential responses, including "litigation options." Privately, White House officials have been annoyed by the story line, viewing it as a manufactured political wedge issue designed to try and elevate the Republicans governors pushing it. They are reluctant to do anything that might look like they are feeding the theatrics — disinterested, one official said, in further making the migrants look like political pawns — even as they take steps to help alleviate the needs of those who have been relocated. One person familiar with the White House's thinking said aides had been surprised when two busloads of children and asylum seekers had been left at the side of the road at the VP's residence on Thursday morning. The local NGO had been expecting a bus to arrive that night at Union Station and was waiting there. "The first reaction across the board was, 'Whoa, they have really escalated in their cruelties,'" said the person familiar. "The second reaction was, 'Oh no. This is a dangerous situation. How can we fix it?'" Former White House Deputy Cabinet Secretary CRISTÓBAL ALEX, whose portfolio included immigration issues, said he was outraged by the incident. And, he added, he suspected that it would rebound politically on the governors. "I think DeSantis and Abbott are overplaying their hands. They are using families, children as political pawns. It's shameful – and will backfire on them. They want a political fight on the border, and they are creating images that remind us of the disastrous anti-American immigration policies of the last administration," he said. "DeSantis in particular is pissing off Venezuelans – an important Florida constituency. He's taking people fleeing communism and a brutal dictatorship and putting them on planes and sending them to a random destination for photo ops. It's outrageous." But behind the White House's outrage, there is an implicit recognition that the issue does have the potential to cause political headaches. DeSantis showed no signs of reconsidering the move. In fact, there are signals that he is set to keep going with the migrant transportation. On Friday, White House aides largely deflected questions about whether the administration should have, or could have, done more to accommodate those migrants, specifically the ones who were dropped in front of the vice president's residence. "There's no time for angling," said the person familiar. "And it would be inappropriate. No time to make small talk and give more footage of migrants chatting with the vice president as political pawns." Alex has a more direct take when asked how he thought the White House should respond politically to DeSantis and Abbott. "They should call it out for what it is," he said, "political bullshit." MESSAGE US — Are you TARA MURRAY, the incoming special assistant to the president and deputy director of the Office of Public Engagement? We want to hear from you and we may publish your response tomorrow. Email us at westwingtips@politico.com. A message from Facebook: Facebook is taking action to keep its platform safe We spent $16 billion to enhance safety and security across our platforms over the past 6 years. That's enough to build 7 pro stadiums. And it's just one example of the work we're doing to create safer connections. Learn more about our work ahead.   POTUS PUZZLER This one is from reader ALEX PENLER. Which first lady was the first to have a White House office in the East Wing? (Answer at the bottom.) Cartoon of the Week Cartoon by Lisa Benson | Courtesy It's Friday and you know what that means, cartoon feature time! This one's by LISA BENSON. Our very own MATT WUERKER also publishes a selection of cartoons from all over the country. View the cartoon carousel here. The Oval GEARING UP: The midterms may be fast approaching, but Biden will be spending time taking care of diplomatic matters first, our JONATHAN LEMIRE reports. The president first will attend Monday's funeral of QUEEN ELIZABETH II in London. Then he speaks to the United Nations, urging the world to stay the course in Ukraine. Once he finishes his time in London and New York, he'll embark on a six-week campaigning session, and his aides say these upcoming trips will set the president up nicely for the messages he'll be pushing. More details from Lemire here.  EMHOFF SPEAKS: Second gentleman DOUG EMHOFF on Friday called Abbott's latest move to send buses of migrants to his and Vice President KAMALA HARRIS's residence "shameful." "These are human beings, these are people," Emhoff said. "They needed to be treated with dignity and kindness and respect and they weren't," CNN's KATE SULLIVAN reports. THE BUREAUCRATS FIRST IN WEST WING PLAYBOOK: EMILY LOEB has left the Department of Justice, where she was associate deputy attorney general, DANIEL LIPPMAN reports. At a recent gathering in the DOJ courtyard, Attorney General MERRICK GARLAND described Loeb as "an integral part of our day one leadership team" and said DOJ would "deeply miss her judgment and experienced counsel on some of the most complex legal matters facing the department." Deputy Attorney General LISA MONACO also told the group she was grateful for Loeb's "service and deep dedication to the principles and traditions of the Department. I have relied on Emily's wise counsel from day one and she will be missed." — TARA MURRAY is now a special assistant to the president and deputy director of the Office of Public Engagement, Lippman has learned. She most recently was a White House fellow in cabinet affairs. — KAITLYN HOBBS DEMERS has returned to Covington as an associate and part of their congressional investigations practice, Lippman has also learned. She most recently was special assistant to the president and chief of staff of the Office of Legislative Affairs at the White House.   HAPPENING 9/29 - POLITICO'S AI & TECH SUMMIT : Technology is constantly evolving and so are the politics and policies shaping and regulating it. Join POLITICO for the 2022 AI & Tech summit to get an insider look at the pressing policy and political issues shaping tech, and how Washington interacts with the tech sector. The summit will bring together lawmakers, federal regulators, tech executives, tech policy experts and consumer advocates to dig into the intersection of tech, politics, regulation and innovation, and identify opportunities, risks and challenges ahead. REGISTER FOR THE SUMMIT HERE.     Agenda Setting APPLYING PRESSURE: White House Chief of Staff RON KLAIN privately called Rep. PRAMILA JAYAPAL (D-Wa.) asking her to support Sen. JOE MANCHIN's permitting reform proposal which aims to expedite energy projects. About 80 House progressives are opposing the effort though, and their continued opposition could halt movement of the latest funding bill and cause a government shutdown, Axios's HANS NICHOLS and SOPHIA CAI report. But so far, it appears many progressives aren't backing down. Jayapal said on a weekly Zoom call with progressives Thursday: "We don't like it. We didn't agree to it." CRACKING DOWN ON CRYPTO: The Biden administration released a framework Friday to better regulate cryptocurrency . The Treasury Department gave permission to both the Securities and Exchange Commission and Commodity Futures Trading Commission to "aggressively pursue" investigations and enforcement actions against crypto scams, frauds and other illegal activity, our SAM SUTTON reports. The move comes after Treasury Secretary JANET YELLEN said in a briefing Thursday that the department "[recommends] that agencies continue to vigorously pursue their enforcement efforts focused on the crypto assets sector." ICYMI: Our BEN WHITE and ELEANOR MUELLER recap how senior administration officials brokered a tentative, last-minute union deal to avert a railroad strike — and how the deal almost didn't happen.   A message from Facebook:   What We're Reading First on CNN: House Democrats push Biden to unleash even more emergency oil (CNN's Matt Egan) Janet Yellen Likes Rocks. Foreign Diplomats Keep Giving Her Stamps. (WSJ's Andrew Duehren) U.S. in Talks With Suriname to Take Afghans Stranded in Kosovo (WSJ's Jessica Donati) What We're Watching Biden on CBS's "60 Minutes" with SCOTT PELLEY this Sunday (Watch a snippet from the interview here.)   Join POLITICO Live on Tuesday, Sept. 20 to dive into how federal regulators, members of Congress, and the White House are seeking to write the rules on digital currencies, including stablecoins. The panel will also cover the tax implications of crypto, which could be an impediment to broader adoption and the geopolitical factors that the U.S. is considering as it begins to draw regulatory frameworks for crypto. REGISTER HERE.     The Oppo Book As White House national climate adviser GINA MCCARTHY leaves her post, we feel it's only right to give her one final oppo! McCarthy never gets more than a few hours of sleep, and she's proud of that. She told FastCompany in a December 2020 interview that she usually wakes up around 6 or 6:30 a.m and "almost never [goes] to bed before midnight," she says. "I often stay up till 2 or 2:30. I've never needed a lot of sleep." Ehem, ARIANNA HUFFINGTON, care to offer your thoughts? POTUS PUZZLER ANSWER ROSALYNN CARTER was the first first lady to have an office in the East Wing. According to the Miller Center, Carter also officially established the "Office of the First Lady," and the four departments in it: projects and community liaison, press and research, schedule and advance, and social and personal. A CALL OUT — Thanks to Alex for this question. Do you think you have a harder one? Send us your best one about the presidents with a citation and we may feature it. Edited by Eun Kyung Kim and Sam Stein. A message from Facebook: Over 40 million people use Facebook Privacy Checkup each month That's nearly 60 times the population of Washington, D.C. And that's just one example of the tools and technologies we're building to keep our communities safe. Facebook is taking action to keep its platform safe. Learn more about our work ahead.     Follow us on Twitter Alex Thompson @AlexThomp Maxwell Tani @maxwelltani Allie Bice @alliebice   Follow us

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