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The power players, latest policy developments, and intriguing whispers percolating inside the West Wing.

Mar 02, 2023 View in browser   By Lauren Egan and Eli Stokols 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 Eli | Email Lauren When German Chancellor OLAF SCHOLZ arrives at the White House on Friday to meet with President JOE BIDEN, it will be against the backdrop of the ongoing war in Ukraine, China’s rising economic and military heft, and the race to accelerate green technology. Needless to say, White House reporters have a lot of questions for the pair. But they likely won’t get an opportunity to ask them. The White House does not plan to hold a press conference with Biden and Scholz. And while there isn’t a joint presser — often called a “two-by-two” — during every head of state visit, it’s unusual not to offer one when a G-7 leader or another important ally comes to Washington. The absence is particularly notable during such a critical moment for the U.S.-German relationship. And it has frustrated members of the press corps who worry that it's becoming the norm for the president, who is more press shy than his recent predecessors. When Biden hosted Prime Minister KISHIDA FUMIO of Japan in January, there was no joint press conference offered that day, although there was plenty of time left to do so (Biden left the White House at 3:15 p.m. to go to his Wilmington, Del., home for the weekend). A few days later when Prime Minister MARK RUTTE of the Netherlands visited during a flurry of negotiations over the White House’s plans to cut off China from the chip supply chain, there was no two-by-two. And when President LUIZ INÁCIO LULA DA SILVA of Brazil visited in February, fresh off an insurrection in his own country that mirrored the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol, there was, again, no press conference. It forced the Brazilian leader, seemingly eager to engage with reporters, to go it alone on the West Wing driveway in the dark of night to take questions. “It was stunning to see a foreign head of state having a press conference in such a chaotic setting inside the White House gates,” said a White House correspondent. “A disappointment for foreign journalists, and perhaps for some global leaders who would like to make the most of the visit. Press access shouldn't be taken lightly, especially in such a consequential time for the world order.” Biden is on pace to hold far fewer joint press conferences than his predecessors. He’s held 10 since taking office, according to data from the American Presidency Project at the University of California, Santa Barbara. By the time they left office, Presidents DONALD TRUMP had held 44 joint pressers, BARACK OBAMA held 95, GEORGE W. BUSH was at 157 and BILL CLINTON held 131. Behind the scenes and publicly, the White House Correspondents’ Association has pushed for a two-by-two with Scholz. During Monday’s briefing, NBC’s KELLY O’DONNELL, WHCA vice president, advocated directly for it. “It’s been more than a year since White House journalists have been able to ask [Scholz] questions, and he’s obviously a very important ally to the United States,” she told press secretary KARINE JEAN-PIERRE. When Bloomberg’s JORDAN FABIAN asked during the same briefing whether the White House decided against holding a two-by-two “due to any lingering tensions over providing tanks to Ukraine,” Jean-Pierre said, “Sometimes we have those types of press conferences, and sometimes we don’t. It doesn’t occur at every time. But certainly it’s not that.” NPR’s TAMARA KEITH, WHCA president, brought up the issue again to National Security Council spokesperson JOHN KIRBY during Thursday’s briefing. He defended the decision: “It's a tight visit, working-level visit and it just wasn't part of the schedule for either leader.” Some members of the foreign press corps have suggested that the White House might not be totally at fault for this week’s absence of a joint presser. They note that Scholz has had a rocky relationship with reporters and has tried to limit his exposure to the press, especially as his government is late in delivering its highly-anticipated national security strategy plan. Scholz did not invite German reporters to travel with him to Washington (a standard practice). And it wasn’t until the German press corps pressured its embassy in Washington to make Scholz available that the chancellor agreed to a background briefing on Friday morning ahead of his meeting with Biden, according to multiple reporters familiar with the negotiations. Still, other reporters said the White House should make clear that taking questions from the press is an expectation when visiting Washington, regardless of a foreign leader’s appetite for engaging with reporters. “The White House should make that the conditions,” said another correspondent. MESSAGE US — Are you OLAF SCHOLZ? We want to hear from you. And we’ll keep you anonymous! Email us at westwingtips@politico.com. Did someone forward this email to you? Subscribe here!    LISTEN TO POLITICO'S ENERGY PODCAST: Check out our daily five-minute brief on the latest energy and environmental politics and policy news. Don't miss out on the must-know stories, candid insights, and analysis from POLITICO's energy team. Listen today.     POTUS PUZZLER This one’s from Allie. Who was the first president to attend a World Series baseball game? (Answer at the bottom.) The Oval PUTTING THE VETO PEN BACK IN THE QUIVER: Biden told Senate Democrats on Thursday he would not veto a Republican-backed measure aimed at repealing changes to the D.C. criminal code, our BURGESS EVERETT and MARIANNE LEVINE report. The news comes as the chamber is set to vote on the House-passed measure next week. MARK YOUR CALENDARS: Biden will host European Commission President URSULA VON DER LEYEN at the White House on March 10, the White House announced Thursday. The pair is expected to discuss the U.S. and EU’s support for Ukraine, tackling challenges posed by China and what they’re doing to combat the climate crisis, according to a statement from the White House. But will they hold a press conference??? WHAT THE WHITE HOUSE WANTS YOU TO READ: This NYT op-ed piece by former DNC chairwoman DONNA BRAZILE, with the headline: “The Excellence of Kamala Harris is Hiding in Plain Sight.” It’s the most robust defense yet of Harris’ two years, a response to a spate of critical coverage suggesting she’s not yet proven herself as Biden’s heir apparent. That criticism, Brazile argues, is “unrelated to her performance as vice president and fails to account for the role she plays in the White House.” White House deputy communications director HERBIE ZISKEND, a former Harris staffer, tweeted out the piece. Additionally, RON KLAIN is still retweeting @GasBuddy. But he has yet to respond to this question. WHAT THE WHITE HOUSE DOESN’T WANT YOU TO READ: This piece by FiveThirtyEight’s NATHANIEL RAKICH summing up recent polling about how Democrats aren’t exactly thrilled about a Biden reelection: “Polling suggests that Democrats aren’t thrilled with the idea of Biden as their nominee again. Only 31 percent of Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents said they want the party to renominate Biden, while 58 percent said they’d prefer someone else, according to an ABC News/Washington Post poll from Jan. 27-Feb. 1. That lack of enthusiasm is unusual. According to historical CNN polling, majorities of Democrats wanted to renominate Bill Clinton in 1996 and Barack Obama in 2012, and a majority of Republicans wanted to renominate Trump in 2020.” THE BUREAUCRATS SOOO… HOW’VE YA BEEN?: Secretary of State ANTONY BLINKEN and Russian Foreign Minister SERGEY LAVROV had a roughly 10-minute conversation Thursday during a meeting of G-20 leaders in New Delhi, the first time the two have met face-to-face since the Russian invasion of Ukraine, our KELLY HOPPER reports. SWIFTIE NATION RISE UP: So, apparently, Attorney General MERRICK GARLAND is a fan of pop superstar TAYLOR SWIFT (gotta be honest, we didn’t see that one coming). His favorite song? “Shake It Off,” he admitted in an interview with WSJ’s SADIE GURMAN. Garland’s fandom even has some noticing potential T-Swift references he makes on the job. Garland’s chief speechwriter, MARISSA BROGGER, said that since they “established our mutual regard for Taylor, references to her work have come up in a few conversations, sometimes hiding in plain sight. Recently, I dropped something off for the attorney general to review and he said he would do so swiftly. It took me a second to realize it, but given the attorney general’s tendency to be precise in his word choice, I don’t think it was an accident.” EMBASSY ROW ARRIVAL LOUNGE: The new French ambassador to the U.S., LAURENT BILLI, landed in Washington on Thursday afternoon and has assumed his post. He’s fresh off a four-year stint as ambassador to China. Filling the Ranks BIG DAY FOR THE EARTH TEAM: The Council on Environmental Quality announced several promotions and new hires as part of its growing environmental justice unit. COREY SOLOW has been promoted to senior adviser to the chair to help integrate EJ principles across all program areas. CHRISTINA BOWMAN has been promoted to deputy director for environmental justice. AMANDA PATEL has joined as a special assistant for environmental justice. RYAN HATHAWAY will be the director of the White House environmental justice interagency council. Dr. MARCUS HENDRICKS will serve as senior adviser for climate and community resilience. And NICK THORPE will join in the coming weeks as a policy adviser. PERSONNEL MOVES: ZEPHRANIE BUETOW is now assistant secretary for legislative affairs at the Department of Homeland Security, DANIEL LIPPMAN has learned. She most recently was special assistant to the president and Senate legislative affairs liaison at the White House, where she worked on the passage of the CHIPS and Science Act and the Bipartisan Infrastructure Act. She has also worked for Sen. GARY PETERS (D-Mich.) and former Sen. MARY LANDRIEU (D-La.). Agenda Setting NEW CYBER STRATEGY JUST DROPPED: The White House unveiled its plan to “pursue a policy of more aggressive regulation to secure critical systems like banks, electric utilities and hospitals against cyberattacks” in a new national cyber strategy Thursday, our MAGGIE MILLER and JOHN SAKELLARIADIS report. The strategy indicates a buckling down in the administration’s approach, as it becomes increasingly worried about cyberattacks on U.S. soil from Russia and China.   DOWNLOAD THE POLITICO MOBILE APP: Stay up to speed with the newly updated POLITICO mobile app, featuring timely political news, insights and analysis from the best journalists in the business. The sleek and navigable design offers a convenient way to access POLITICO's scoops and groundbreaking reporting. Don’t miss out on the app you can rely on for the news you need, reimagined. DOWNLOAD FOR iOS– DOWNLOAD FOR ANDROID.     What We're Reading When Russia Invaded Ukraine, Germany Promised to Rearm. One Year Later, It Is Having Second Thoughts. (WSJ’s Bojan Pancevski) U.S., Europe Split on Response to Iran’s Near-Weapons-Grade Nuclear Enrichment (WSJ’s Laurence Norman) Finally, Democrats appear ready to wage war on Fox News (WaPo’s Greg Sargent) POTUS PUZZLER ANSWER In 1915, WOODROW WILSON attended Game 2 of the World Series between the Boston Red Sox and the Philadelphia Phillies, becoming the first president ever to do so. A CALL OUT — Do you think you have a harder trivia question? Send us your best one about the presidents with a citation and we may feature it. Edited by Eun Kyung Kim and Sam Stein.   Follow us on Twitter Eli Stokols @EliStokols Lauren Egan @Lauren_V_Egan Allie Bice @alliebice   Follow us

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