| | | | |  | | By Lauren Egan, Eli Stokols and Ben Johansen | Presented by ACLI, Finseca, IRI, NAFA and NAIFA | Welcome to POLITICO’s West Wing Playbook, your guide to the people and power centers in the Biden administration. Send tips | Subscribe here | Email Eli | Email Lauren Stepping foot on a college campus right now may be one of the more politically risky moves that President JOE BIDEN could take. Young voters, in case you’ve missed it, continue to rage against his approach to the Israel-Hamas conflict. But White House officials don’t seem to be fretting (at least not outwardly) his visit this Sunday to Morehouse College, the storied HBCU in Atlanta where the president is scheduled to deliver the 2024 commencement address. Although pro-Palestinian protests have popped off on college campuses across the country, the demonstrations at historically Black colleges and universities have been more muted in comparison. It’s a dynamic that has not gone unnoticed by the White House. Biden has traditionally delivered two graduation speeches each season — typically one at an HBCU and the other at a military academy. Those venues have been more formal and accommodating of the president. And, for that reason, Biden aides haven’t been overly concerned about this commencement season being a minefield. “Morehouse is unique,” director of the White House Office of Public Engagement STEVE BENJAMIN said during Thursday’s press briefing, calling HBCUs “solemn places.” “When you step on to those grounds, you’re always stepping into someplace special.” It’s not that there hasn’t been opposition on HBCU campuses to the war. Xavier University, a historically Black university in Louisiana, withdrew its commencement invitation to U.N. Ambassador LINDA THOMAS-GREENFIELD following student pushback. But for the most part, HBCU campuses have not seen the same sort of mass encampments and upheaval that took place at schools like Columbia University and the University of California, Los Angeles. “People have very strong feelings about what’s happening in Gaza and I’m sure there will be students who will express those feelings in some fashion,” said JAMAL SIMMONS, former communications director to Vice President KAMALA HARRIS and a Morehouse alum. “But I would be greatly surprised if you saw anything that approached what’s happened at some of these other campuses [this Sunday]. That’s just not the way that Morehouse College works.” That doesn’t mean that the White House isn’t preparing for the possibility of disruptions on Sunday, or the school itself. Morehouse College President DAVID A. THOMAS said on Thursday that he may shut down the commencement “on the spot” if there are disruptions when Biden speaks. With roughly 500 graduates plus their friends and family, the commencement speech will be one of the larger audiences that Biden has addressed in-person since the war started. And some form of protests were always a possibility, even absent the conflict. About a dozen students — including one carrying a sign that read: “Biden and Harris don’t care about Black people” — turned their backs to the president during his 2023 commencement speech at Howard University. The White House has taken steps in recent weeks to try to minimize the chances of protests overshadowing the commencement ceremony. During a recent trip to Atlanta, Harris stopped to ask the Morehouse student government president about how the campus was feeling about the president’s visit. Last week, Benjamin was dispatched to the campus to meet with students and faculty. He spent two hours with students discussing the administration’s Israel policy as well as its work on behalf of the Black community. And White House aides have also kept in close contact with Morehouse officials in the lead-up to Sunday. “[I] really wanted to lean in with these young leaders, to hear what they wanted to hear on their very special commencement day,” Benjamin said of his Morehouse visit. “The president’s goal to center these students and have a chance to discuss the real issues of the world that they might have to address as leaders going forward was important.” MESSAGE US — Are you SOFIA CARRATALA, policy adviser for the Domestic Policy Council? 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!
| | | | A message from ACLI, Finseca, IRI, NAFA and NAIFA: Annuities deliver financial certainty like traditional pensions of old. They are a legally enforceable promise made by an insurance company to provide guaranteed monthly income throughout retirement. The Department of Labor’s fiduciary-only rule will shut down access to options for middle-income savers. It’s out of step with bipartisan support in Congress to expand access to guaranteed lifetime income. Congress needs to stand up for retirement savers. Protect retirement for all. | | | | | Which president is the only to have a patent? (Answer at bottom.)
| | FIRST IN WEST WING PLAYBOOK: In the 24 hours after President Biden released a video challenging Trump to debate, the Biden campaign raised $2 million — more than double its daily fundraising average of about $900,000 per day — and sold over 1,000 of its “Free on Wednesday” T-shirts. “Joe Biden has beaten Donald Trump in both debates Trump showed for, and when President Biden wins both debates and then the election in November, Trump will be free seven days a week,” said campaign spokesperson CHARLES LUTVAK. HUSH, HUSH: President Biden asserted executive privilege Thursday over the audio of his interviews with special counsel ROBERT HUR dealing with his handling of classified documents. The president — despite repeatedly insisting Hur mischaracterized the interview — will refuse a House subpoena to hand over the recordings, our JOSH GERSTEIN and JORDAIN CARNEY report. The White House counsel’s office notified House GOP investigators hours before the House Judiciary Committee voted to advance contempt proceedings against Attorney General MERRICK GARLAND for refusing to turn over the recordings. SUCKS FOR NBC: The Biden campaign accepted an invitation from CBS News for Vice President Kamala Harris to debate DONALD TRUMP’s running mate — whoever that ends up being, our EUGENE DANIELS reports. There are currently two dates on the table: July 23 and August 13. A campaign official said the guidelines will be the same as those for the presidential debates, and they “look forward to the Trump campaign accepting one of these dates so that the full debate calendar for this campaign can be set.” If you’re keeping tabs: CNN and ABC get the presidential debates. CBS may get the VP one. And West Wing Playbook will moderate whatever is left. WHAT THE WHITE HOUSE WANTS YOU TO READ: Any coverage of the record-breaking day for the Dow Jones Industrial Average, which jumped above 40,000 for the first time ever Thursday morning. The index, which is composed of the 30 largest U.S. companies, is a strong indicator of how the U.S. market is doing overall. Other major U.S. stock indexes, including the S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100, also hit record-highs today. The Biden campaign called the news “another example of how President Biden is strengthening our economy and helping to secure the retirement of millions of Americans across the country.” “Donald Trump promised the stock market would crash if Joe Biden was elected. Instead, Joe Biden has broken economic records across the board,” campaign communications director MICHAEL TYLER said in a statement. WHAT THE WHITE HOUSE DOESN’T WANT YOU TO READ: This post on X from former chair of the Council of Economic Advisers JASON FURMAN. He shares data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics finding that there has been a slowdown in average hourly earnings growth in recent months. Growth was strong for most of 2023, but has been negative for three months in a row.
| | | | THE GOLD STANDARD OF POLICY REPORTING & INTELLIGENCE: POLITICO has more than 500 journalists delivering unrivaled reporting and illuminating the policy and regulatory landscape for those who need to know what’s next. Throughout the election and the legislative and regulatory pushes that will follow, POLITICO Pro is indispensable to those who need to make informed decisions fast. The Pro platform dives deeper into critical and quickly evolving sectors and industries—finance, defense, technology, healthcare, energy—equipping policymakers and those who shape legislation and regulation with essential news and intelligence from the world’s best politics and policy journalists.
Our newsroom is deeper, more experienced, and better sourced than any other—with teams embedded in the world’s most active legislative and regulatory power centers. From Brussels to Washington, New York to London, Sacramento to Paris, we bring subscribers inside the conversations that determine policy outcomes and the future of industries, providing insight that cannot be found anywhere else. Get the premier news and policy intelligence service, SUBSCRIBE TO POLITICO PRO TODAY. | | | | | | | | | FIRST IN WEST WING PLAYBOOK: KRISTIN LYNCH is leaving the White House where she is currently chief speechwriter to the first lady, our DANIEL LIPPMAN has learned. She is an alum of the Treasury Department and Sen. CORY BOOKER (D-N.J.). ONE MORE AMBASSADOR: The Senate on Wednesday confirmed COURTNEY O’DONNELL to be the United States Permanent Representative to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), with the rank of ambassador. O’Donnell currently serves on the president's commission on White House fellowships and worked as second gentleman DOUG EMHOFF’s chief of staff during the 2020 presidential campaign.
| | BLAZING AHEAD: The Justice Department on Thursday issued a notice of proposed rulemaking that would reclassify marijuana to a less restrictive category — from a Schedule I to Schedule III drug on the Controlled Substances Act, our NATALIE FERTIG and ADAM CANCRYN report. It’s the next step in the rescheduling process begun by President Biden in October 2022 that is set to be one of the most seismic shifts in federal drug policy in recent history. Once posted in the federal registry, the proposed rule to reclassify will undergo a 60-day public comment period. MORE POT AND LESS COAL: The Biden administration on Thursday announced it will end coal leasing on federal lands in the Powder River Basin, which produces nearly half of all coal in the United States and covers more than 13 million acres across Montana and Wyoming, WaPo’s MAXINE JOSELOW reports. The Bureau of Land Management determined that future coal leasing in the area would have dire climate and public health impacts. Coal mines can continue to operate on the lands they have already leased. AND ANOTHER HIT FOR CHINA: The U.S. will block imports from over two dozen Chinese textile companies over alleged ties to forced labor, WSJ’s RICHARD VANDERFORD reports. The Biden administration on Thursday added 26 companies to what is known as the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act Entity List — a list of businesses the U.S. alleges are involved in exploiting forced labor from China’s Xinjiang region, home to the Uyghur people. “We will not allow goods produced in whole or in part through forced labor to enter the United States,” Homeland Security Secretary ALEJANDRO MAYORKAS said. “We’re shining a light on it.” NO LONGER WITHOUT PIER: On Thursday, the U.S. military finished installing a floating pier off the Gaza strip, which will allow for badly needed humanitarian aid to flow into the area, AP’s LOLITA C. BALDOR and TARA COPP reports. Trucks are expected to begin moving the aid ashore in the coming days, with the United Nations coordinating its distribution throughout Gaza, according to the military’s Central Command.
| | | | A message from ACLI, Finseca, IRI, NAFA and NAIFA:   | | | | | Trump-Biden Tie Would Be a Political Nightmare — But Maybe a Boon to Democracy (POLITICO’s Joshua Zeitz) Seeking Access to Congo’s Metals, White House Aims to Ease Sanctions (NYT’s Eric Lipton) Russia Launched Research Spacecraft for Antisatellite Nuclear Weapon Two Years Ago, U.S. Officials Say (WSJ's Warren P. Strobel, Dustin Volz, Michael R. Gordon and Micah Maidenberg)
| | EVAN ROMERO, chief of staff in the office of digital strategy, was an elite volleyball player back in his days at Stanford. He only started playing the sport during his sophomore year of high school, but by his senior year on Stanford’s men’s volleyball team, Romero had already become the school’s career leader in total kills (an attack that lands and scores a point for the attacking team, for those who were a tad concerned). He had 1,781. During his senior year, Romero led his team to an NCAA chip, knocking off Penn State in the final. “When you get comfortable with the game … you learn you don’t have to hit as hard as you can every time,” Romero said in a 2010 interview. “You have to hit some smart shots.” Stanford profiled Romero in 2008, and we wanted to share some of his interview responses. 1. If I could invite three people to dinner in history, they would be ... BENJAMIN FRANKLIN, JESUS, and HOMER SIMPSON 2. If I had to cook all of my meals, I'd probably survive on ... Cinnamon Toast Crunch and Cool Ranch Doritos 3. Something people would be surprised to know about me ... I played pick-up basketball with STEVE NASH Evan, on the CTC and Doritos, we’d love to know if those still stand up as your go to’s, 16 years later.
| | | | A message from ACLI, Finseca, IRI, NAFA and NAIFA: Annuities close retirement security gaps for workers.
They help people navigate anxieties about savings lasting throughout retirement amid economic uncertainty and market volatility.
Congress recognized the real challenges people are facing and the importance of annuities in addressing them. Bipartisan legislation in 2019 and 2022 made guaranteed lifetime income more accessible to savers.
The Department of Labor’s fiduciary-only rule undermines this good work by limiting access to options for a protected retirement. Congress needs to act to protect options for retirement savers. Protect retirement for all. | | | | | Before he became the 16th president, ABRAHAM LINCOLN invented a flotation system for lifting riverboats stuck on sandbars, according to Smithsonian Magazine. Although his device was never manufactured, Lincoln's patent was granted in May 1849, for a device described as “Buoying Vessels Over Shoals.” The dude was constantly lifting people up. Gotta love him. Thanks to Jean Cornell for this question! 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 Sam Stein and Rishika Dugyala.
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