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Presented by Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids: POLITICO's must-read briefing on what's driving the afternoon in Washington. | | | | |  | | By Garrett Ross | | | | 
Media gather outside the gates of Balmoral in Scotland on Thursday, Sept. 8. | Andrew Milligan/PA via AP | BULLETIN — “QUEEN ELIZABETH II is under medical supervision over concerns for her health, Buckingham Palace announced,” our colleagues in London Emilio Casalicchio and Sebastian Whale report. Statement from Buckingham Palace: “Following further evaluation this morning, The Queen’s doctors are concerned for Her Majesty’s health and have recommended she remain under medical supervision.” — ITV News’ Chris Ship: “All the Queen’s four children are now with her at Balmoral Castle. Along with her grandson, [PRINCE WILLIAM,] the Duke of Cambridge.” — The BBC has a robust page of live updates tracking all of the latest developments. — CNN’s @NatashaBertrand: NSC spox JOHN KIRBY “says POTUS was briefed this a.m. on the Queen's health and says his and the First Lady's thoughts are with her and her family. He expressed this in the videoconference he's having right now with UK PM LIZ TRUSS and European/NATO leaders, Kirby says.” — From the archives: “‘London Bridge is down’: the secret plan for the days after the Queen’s death,” by The Guardian’s Sam Knight in 2017. The story notes: “The most elaborate plans are for what happens if she passes away at Balmoral, where she spends three months of the year. This will trigger an initial wave of Scottish ritual.” — Stunning fact, via FT’s @SebastianEPayne : “the Queen's first prime minister, Sir WINSTON CHURCHILL, was born 101 years before her current PM Liz Truss.”
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Secretary of State Antony Blinken holds a landmine sniffer dog, Patron, during his visit to a children's hospital in Kyiv on Thursday, Sept. 8. | AP | BLINKEN YOU’LL MISS IT — Secretary of State ANTONY BLINKEN made an unannounced visit to Ukraine today — his second trip to the war-torn country — stopping into Kyiv to meet with top officials including Ukrainian President VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY and Foreign Minister DMYTRO KULEBA. Blinken also visited a children’s hospital in the city, per CNN’s Jennifer Hansler. BANNON SURRENDERS — STEVE BANNON officially turned himself over to New York state prosecutors this morning. “Bannon, 68, reported to the Manhattan District attorney’s office a little after 9 a.m. The office confirmed his pending indictment. He faces criminal charges for his role in a group that raised $25 million to build a wall along the border with Mexico but allegedly pocketed some $1 million in donations,” Julian Shen-Berro writes. … Video, via Insider’s Laura Italiano
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Steve Bannon arrives to the Manhattan district attorney's office on Thursday, Sept. 8. | AP | — Law and Crime’s Adam Klasfeld notes: “The indictment, reported on Wednesday and unsealed for the first time on Thursday, contains similar allegations to the federal case that Bannon dodged through Trump’s pardon — with key differences. … Spanning 22 pages, the indictment’s charges include money laundering, conspiracy and scheme to defraud. The 501(c)4 nonprofit is charged under its corporate name WeBuildTheWall, Inc.”
| | | | A message from Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids: FDA: End the delays. Protect kids. Eliminate flavored e-cigarettes.
The FDA has missed deadline after deadline to protect our kids from nicotine-loaded flavored e-cigarettes, defying Congress and the courts and leaving these addictive products on the market.
All while tobacco companies continue to target and hook more kids.
FDA: End the delays. Protect kids today by eliminating flavored e-cigarettes. | | | GRAND JURY EYES TRUMP PAC — The federal grand jury investigating DONALD TRUMP’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election has expanded its probe and is “seeking information about Trump's leadership PAC, Save America,” ABC’s Katherine Faulders and John Santucci report . “The interest in the fundraising arm came to light as part of grand jury subpoenas seeking documents, records and testimony from potential witnesses, the sources said. The subpoenas, sent to several individuals in recent weeks, are specifically seeking to understand the timeline of Save America's formation, the organization's fundraising activities, and how money is both received and spent by the Trump-aligned PAC.” NYT’s Alan Feuer, Maggie Haberman and Adam Goldman add : “Among the roughly half-dozen current and former Trump aides in the White House and the 2020 presidential campaign who are said to have received subpoenas this week were BEAU HARRISON, an aide to Mr. Trump in the White House and in his post-presidency, and WILLIAM S. RUSSELL, who similarly worked in the West Wing and now for Mr. Trump’s personal office, according to several people familiar with the events.” WHAT TRUMP TRIED — A new book due out by GEOFFREY BERMAN , who served as U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York but was fired by Trump, has some explosive new details about Trump’s attempt to influence the levers of justice. “The book paints a picture of Justice Department officials motivated by partisan concerns in pursuing investigations or blocking them; in weighing how forthright to be in court filings; and in shopping investigations to other prosecutors’ offices when the Southern District declined to act,” writes NYT’s Benjamin Weiser, who obtained a copy of the book, “Holding the Line,” ( $30 ) before its release next week. FLOTUS FILES — First lady JILL BIDEN announced today that VANESSA VALDIVIA will be her new press secretary, coming to the East Wing after serving as comms director for Sen. ALEX PADILLA (D-Calif.), per NBC’s Mike Memoli. CABINET MEMBERS, THEY’RE JUST LIKE US — Treasury Secretary JANET YELLEN was spotted flying in coach class on her way to Michigan for a big policy speech today.
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Twitter screenshot | Good Thursday afternoon.
| | | | A WOMEN RULE CONVERSATION ON LEADING FROM THE GROUND UP: Join POLITICO’s Women Rule on Sept. 15 for conversations focused on creating and leading sustainable, healthy and inclusive communities. The program will feature a Member Exchange panel followed by a keynote discussion exploring the most pressing issues facing women in their communities and women in leadership roles who are best positioned to solve these problems. REGISTER HERE. | | | | | GRIPPING READ — Rep. PRAMILA JAYAPAL (D-Wash.) speaks to WaPo’s Ruby Cramer about the night when an armed man showed up outside of her Seattle-area home. “On paper, at least, the whole thing was over in 47 minutes. But the anatomy of political violence is more tangled than the events of a single case,” writes Cramer. “Threats against members of Congress have risen year after year, according to data from the Capitol Police: 9,625 in 2021, up from 3,939 in 2017. Officers logged nearly 2,000 cases in the first three months of this year alone. Among the statistics, there are thousands of stories like Jayapal’s, each one unraveling with its own special complexity in the lives and homes of elected officials. “‘We sign up for a lot of things,’ Jayapal said, sitting in her backyard. ‘It should not be that you get this kind of abuse and racism and sexism directed at you. But you have to accept it if you want to do this job.’ “Talking about that night now, five weeks later, in the house where Jayapal and [husband STEVE] WILLIAMSON have lived for almost six years, those 47 minutes take on new life. They have shown Jayapal just how many gaps exist in congressional security. The system is like a ‘black box,’ she said, and she is lobbying House Speaker NANCY PELOSI (D-Calif.) to fix it. They have changed the way she goes about her work as a public official, physically and psychologically — the routes she drives, the tracking device she keeps on her phone, the alarm it sounds when she unwittingly comes within 1,000 feet of the man with the Dodge.” THE WHITE HOUSE WHITE HOUSE WIND DOWN — Despite no signs that the Covid pandemic will be gone soon, some officials in the White House are contending with the new reality, recognizing that “their days on the front lines of the Covid fight may be numbered,” Adam Cancryn reports. “Even as it braces for a perilous winter, the Biden administration is planning a restructuring of its approach to major elements of the coronavirus response — a gradual shift that some administration officials now speculate could begin the phaseout of the White House Covid team as soon as the middle of next year.” ALL POLITICS DOMINO EFFECT — “Why North Carolina in 2022 Could Cost Biden Dearly in 2024,” by The New Republic’s Daniel Strauss: Democratic Gov. ROY COOPER “is not on the ballot this year — he won reelection in 2020 and is term-limited. But his and his party’s agenda is on the ballot, and in a major way: Republicans could regain a supermajority in the state legislature, which would enable them to pass extremist legislation, notably on voting rights, and then override vetoes from the governor’s mansion. And they’re dangerously close to making that a reality.” The 2024 lens: “Joe Biden lost the state and its 15 electoral votes in 2020 by less than a full percentage point. That’s continued a pattern of the state going for the Republican nominee for president by a minuscule number of votes in the last three elections. No president has won the state by more than a few percentage points since 2004.” THE MESS IN MICHIGAN — “A special prosecutor in Michigan has been appointed to investigate whether the Republican candidate for attorney general and others should be criminally charged for their attempts to gain access to voting machines after the 2020 election,” AP’s Joey Cappelletti and Sara Burnett report. THE ECONOMY THE UNEMPLOYMENT PICTURE — “Applications for U.S. unemployment insurance fell for a fourth straight week to the lowest since May, suggesting demand for workers remains healthy despite an uncertain economic outlook,” Bloomberg’s Molly Smith reports. FED UP — “Fed Chair Powell vows to raise rates to fight inflation ‘until the job is done,’” CNBC
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SUBSCRIBE TODAY. | | | | | POLICY CORNER TALES FROM THE CRYPTO — The Treasury Department is warning officials at the White House that the burgeoning cryptocurrency industry “could pose significant financial risks that outweigh their benefits unless the government rolls out major new regulations,” WaPo’s Jeff Stein and Tory Newmyer report. “Through four separate reports this month, Treasury is expected to make clear that the Biden administration’s top economic officials believe crypto needs strong oversight, as lawmakers weigh new rules for the digital assets.” CONGRESS THE NEW GOP — Regardless of whether Democrats hold onto their slim margin in the House, “the House Republican conference appears destined for a more conservative, fractious future,” NYT’s Jonathan Weisman writes , “thanks to the candidates chosen by voters in the most solidly G.O.P. districts.” The shift amounts to a tricky proposition for House GOP Leader KEVIN McCARTHY to manage. But on the flip side, “a Republican-led stream of impeachments, as some lawmakers have promised for the attorney general, the homeland security secretary, the education secretary and the president, could serve as an endless string of distractions for the executive branch.” HMM — AP’s Brian Slodysko has a look into Rep. KATIE PORTER’s (D-Calif.) living accommodations on the campus of the University of California Irvine, which she purchased for a bargain price through a program when she worked at the school. “But the ties go deeper, with at least one law school administrator, who was also a donor to her campaign, helping secure extensions of her tenure while she remained in Congress, according to university emails obtained by The Associated Press. … “Porter’s housing situation does not violate U.S. House ethics rules. But it cuts against the profile she has sought to cultivate in Washington as an ardent critic of a political system that allows ‘the wealthy and well-connected’ to ‘live in one reality while the rest of us live in another,’ as she wrote in an online fundraising solicitation in 2020.” For the record: “In an interview, Porter declined to say whether her housing arrangement was appropriate. But she said she ‘followed the applicable (University of California) policies, as well as all applicable state and federal law.’” AMERICA AND THE WORLD FOR YOUR RADAR — “Shock Waves Hit the Global Economy, Posing Grave Risk to Europe,” NYT: “The threat to Europe’s industrial might and living standards is particularly acute as policymakers race to decouple the continent from Russia’s power sources.” — “Europe mulls drastic moves to control prices as Russia energy war heats up,” WaPo CLIMATE FILES — “Climate Change Could Worsen Supply Chain Turmoil,” NYT: “A drought that has crippled economic activity in southwestern China hints at the kind of disruption that climate change could wreak on global supply chains.” — “Rising seas could swallow millions of U.S. acres within decades,” WaPo IN THE MIDDLE EAST — “With Government Paralyzed and Militias Fighting, Iraq’s Instability Deepens,” NYT THE PANDEMIC THE LONG COVID EQUATION — “A Key to Long Covid Is Virus Lingering in the Body, Scientists Say,” WSJ BEYOND THE BELTWAY CLASS WARFARE — “When Teens Find Misinformation, These Teachers Are Ready,” NYT: “Media literacy efforts are intensifying, targeting students as they approach voting age. But some educators struggle ‘to push through that apathy.’” PLAYBOOKERS IN MEMORIAM — “CNN anchor Bernard Shaw dead at 82,” by CNN’s Veronica Stracqualursi: “Shaw was CNN's first chief anchor and was with the network when it launched on June 1, 1980. He retired from CNN after more than 20 years on February 28, 2001. During his storied career, Shaw reported on some of the biggest stories of that time — including the student revolt in Tiananmen Square in May 1989, the First Gulf war live from Baghdad in 1991, and the 2000 presidential election.” — “Arthur Cotton Moore, defining architect of Washington, dies at 87,” by WaPo’s Emily Langer: “A sixth-generation Washingtonian, Mr. Moore established his firm, Arthur Cotton Moore/Associates, in 1965 and over the next half-century became one of the preeminent architects in the capital, overseeing more than $1 billion in office buildings alone. … In the 1980s and 1990s, Mr. Moore served as a consulting architect on an $81.5 million renovation of the Thomas Jefferson Building, the centerpiece of the Library of Congress, which reopened after the work in 1997.” TRANSITIONS — Natalye Paquin will be COO at the Rockefeller Foundation. She previously was president and CEO at Points of Light. … Cody Hiland is now senior adviser to Sarah Huckabee Sanders’ Arkansas gubernatorial campaign. He previously was U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Arkansas in the Trump administration. WELCOME TO THE WORLD — Amber Kirby Talley , principal for business development with Amazon and a Jason Chaffetz alum, and Kip Talley, an SBA and Matt Gaetz alum, welcomed Andrew David Talley on Wednesday afternoon. He came in at 8 lbs, 15 oz and 21 inches long. He joins big siblings Charlotte and James.
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