'We let them have it'

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

Feb 08, 2024 View in browser   By Adam Cancryn, Lauren Egan, Myah Ward and Ben Johansen Welcome to POLITICO’s West Wing Playbook, your guide to the people and power centers in the Biden administration. With help from producer Raymond Rapada. Send tips | Subscribe here | Email Eli | Email Lauren One week ago, President JOE BIDEN made a celebratory trip to Michigan, where auto union workers greeted him with a standing ovation and gleeful chants of “Joe!” On Thursday, a contingent of Biden’s senior aides returned to the battleground state to face a very different reception. The delegation met with members of Michigan’s Arab American and Muslim community, amid growing backlash over the administration’s support for Israel in its war in Gaza. The president’s handling of the conflict has infuriated the community, which voted overwhelmingly for Biden in 2020 but now blames him for enabling the killing of over 25,000 Palestinian civilians. And in a series of private sessions, Democratic officials and other Arab American leaders made sure his aides knew it. “We let them have it,” one meeting participant, granted anonymity to describe the discussion, told West Wing Playbook. Biden officials billed the meetings as listening sessions that marked the start of a running conversation between the federal government and Arab Americans in the state, according to several participants. Principal Deputy National Security Adviser JON FINER and USAID chief SAMANTHA POWER were among several senior aides leading the mix of individual and group conversations with elected officials and community leaders. Biden officials acknowledged they’d made rhetorical mistakes that undermined trust, including failing to acknowledge the scale of Palestinian deaths early on, the meeting participant said. They also emphasized their focus on a deal that could temporarily halt the fighting, and detailed the administration’s efforts to balance support for Israel’s offensive against Hamas with humanitarian concerns in Gaza. But they offered no apology for the way Biden has managed the conflict. And they could not promise the only thing that Arab American leaders said will make a difference to the community: A permanent cease-fire. “What they explained wasn’t enough for us,” said the meeting participant. “They did indicate there was a plan for a cease-fire, but a temporary one. And we told them that will not be acceptable.” The White House has rejected the prospect of a blanket cease-fire for months. But the Michigan meetings, which were set up in recent weeks, signaled that the administration realizes its stance has cost it significant support within an Arab American population that could swing Michigan — and with it, the election. Activists in the state this week launched a campaign to spurn Biden by voting “uncommitted” in Michigan’s Feb. 27 primary. More than 30 state and local officials have already joined the effort. “It’s a disaster, and it’s a disaster made by Biden and [Israeli Prime Minister BENJAMIN] NETANYAHU,” said OSAMA SIBLANI, publisher of The Arab American News and a prominent figure in the community, of the situation in Gaza. “They are partners in crime.” That Thursday’s meetings happened at all represented a small step forward. Two weeks ago, several leaders rejected meetings with Biden campaign manager JULIE CHÁVEZ RODRÍGUEZ, over the perception that Biden was concerned only with securing their votes rather than hearing their concerns. The decision this time to send officials with influence over White House policy convinced some of those holdouts to show up. Biden allies are still hoping that the White House’s relationship with Arab American voters is salvageable. Some Democrats also believe much of the community will end up backing Biden again, if only because of the prospect that likely GOP nominee DONALD TRUMP would do even less to restrain Israel. But some Arab American leaders in Michigan reject that reasoning, arguing they shouldn't be expected to fall in line. “Our community’s pain must be acknowledged,” said ASSAD TURFE, the deputy county executive of Wayne County. “We made it clear that any future engagement with the administration is conditional upon real action.” MESSAGE US — Are you ONE OF THE ARAB AMERICAN LEADERS WHO MET WITH WHITE HOUSE STAFF TODAY? 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!    SUBSCRIBE TO CALIFORNIA CLIMATE: Climate change isn’t just about the weather. It's also about how we do business and create new policies, especially in California. So we have something cool for you: A brand-new California Climate newsletter. It's not just climate or science chat, it's your daily cheat sheet to understanding how the legislative landscape around climate change is shaking up industries across the Golden State. Subscribe now to California Climate to keep up with the changes.     POTUS PUZZLER Which president wrote a memo to staff asking them not to feed his overweight dog? (Answer at bottom.) The Oval WOOOOF: The special counsel investigating President Biden over his handling of classified documents found that no criminal charges were warranted, our BETSY WOODRUFF SWAN reports. But the president did not come out unscatched. In his report, special counsel ROBERT HUR went out of his way to say that Biden came off to investigators as a “well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory.” Hur writes that Biden did not seem to remember the exact years when he was vice president, or “even within several years,” when his son BEAU BIDEN died. More than one Democrat hit us up to call this a cheap shot, though Hur included these details by way of laying out his reasoning for determining that a jury would ultimately side with Biden — convinced he was too forgetful. In a letter to Hur, Biden’s lawyers wrote that the report included “highly prejudicial language to describe a commonplace occurrence among witnesses: a lack of recall of years-old events." On the bright side for Biden, the report did highlight that the president fully cooperated with the federal probe and drew a stark contrast to the ways in which Donald Trump handled his own investigations by directing people to “destroy evidence and then to lie about it.” WHAT THE WHITE HOUSE WANTS YOU TO READ: This piece in the New Republic by STUART STEVENS, who argues that Biden has been a “historically great president,” and that Democrats should rally behind him. “If a Republican president had a record remotely equaling the Biden record, the only debate among Republicans would be if he should be called one of the greatest presidents or simply the greatest,” he writes. Communications director BEN LABOLT (who was the Obama 2012 campaign press secretary battling the Romney 2012 campaign that Stevens led) shared the piece on X. WHAT THE WHITE HOUSE DOESN’T WANT YOU TO READ: Well, for one, Robert Hur’s description of Biden’s mental faculties. And, relatedly, this piece by CNN’s MICHAEL WILLIAMS, who reports on two recent Biden gaffes which reassert questions around Biden’s age and fitness for office. In the past few days, the president twice mistakenly referred to dead European leaders FRANÇOIS MITTERRAND and HELMET KOHL, when talking about French president EMMANUEL MACRON and former German chancellor ANGELA MERKEL. CAMPAIGN HQ CALLING ALL DEMS: Senior Biden campaign officials met with a group of House Democrats on Thursday to coordinate the campaign’s post-Super Tuesday strategy, AP’s SEUNG MIN KIM reports. The aides discussed their general election strategy, how to “activate and engage” supporters and what role the lawmakers can play in that effort. Among those attending were campaign manager Julie Chávez Rodríguez, principal deputy campaign manager QUENTIN FULKS and campaign co-chairman MITCH LANDRIEU. THE BUREAUCRATS PERSONNEL MOVES: Director of oval office operations ANNIE TOMASINI has officially been tapped to take over for deputy chief of staff JEN O’MALLEY DILLON, who is moving to the campaign. — JEREMY BERNTON is now chief of staff for the Special Representative for Ukraine's Economic Recovery at the State Department, our DANIEL LIPPMAN has learned. He most recently was White House liaison at State. — BENJAMIN MERKEL is now special assistant to the president and Senate liaison. He most recently was legislative director for Sen. PATTY MURRAY (D-Wash.). — KEVIN TREJOS is now a legislative assistant at the White House. He most recently was special assistant to the White House liaison at the EPA. Agenda Setting TEAMING UP: The White House announced on Thursday that it will partner with all major American sports leagues and its players’ unions to “boost physical activity and increase nutrition programming across the country,” it said in a statement. Fourteen leagues, including the NFL, NBA, MLB, NHL and WNBA have signed agreements with the president’s Council on Sports, Fitness and Nutrition to expand access to physical activity and education around healthy lifestyles. NONE OF THAT MALARKEY: The Federal Communications Commission on Thursday outlawed robocalls that contain voices made by artificial intelligence, AP’s ALI SWENSON reports. The regulation allows the FCC to fine companies who are found to have used AI-generated voices in their calls. The move comes as authorities in New Hampshire are investigating AI-generated calls mimicking President Biden that discouraged people from voting in last month’s primary. What We're Reading How the Rockefellers and Billionaire Donors Pressured Biden on LNG Exports (WSJ’s Benoît Morenne and Andrew Restuccia) House Dems want Harris on the campaign trail (Punchbowl’s Mica Soellner) Democrats sound alarm, take action against Biden’s third-party threats (WaPo’s Michael Scherer) POTUS PUZZLER ANSWER In 1992, President GEORGE H.W. BUSH wrote a memo instructing White House staff to not feed his dog RANGER, who Bush felt was getting a tad overweight. “WE AGREE NOT TO FEED RANGER. WE WILL NOT GIVE HIM BISCUITS. WE WILL NOT GIVE HIM FOOD OF ANY KIND,” the memo read. Ranger, you didn't deserve that. You deserved every biscuit. A CALL OUT! Do you think you have a harder trivia question? Send us your best one about the presidents, with a citation or sourcing, and we may feature it! Edited by Eun Kyung Kim and Sam Stein.   YOUR GUIDE TO EMPIRE STATE POLITICS: From the newsroom that doesn’t sleep, POLITICO's New York Playbook is the ultimate guide for power players navigating the intricate landscape of Empire State politics. Stay ahead of the curve with the latest and most important stories from Albany, New York City and around the state, with in-depth, original reporting to stay ahead of policy trends and political developments. Subscribe now to keep up with the daily hustle and bustle of NY politics.        Follow us on Twitter Lauren Egan @Lauren_V_Egan Myah Ward @MyahWard Ben Johansen @BenJohansen3   Follow us

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