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Presented by The American Petroleum Institute (API): POLITICO's must-read briefing on what's driving the afternoon in Washington. | | | | |  | | By Garrett Ross | | | |  Donald Trump's team is requesting that Facebook allow the former president back on the platform. | Alex Brandon/AP Photo | THE COMEBACK CONTINUES — Former President DONALD TRUMP is formally petitioning Facebook to allow him back on the platform following his account's shuttering in response to the Jan. 6 Capitol attack. “We believe that the ban on President Trump’s account on Facebook has dramatically distorted and inhibited the public discourse,” the Trump campaign wrote in a letter to Meta, per NBC’s Marc Caputo and Jonathan Allen. “Trump’s campaign didn’t threaten a lawsuit, as some sources close to Trump thought he would. It instead talked about the importance of free speech and petitioned Meta for a ‘meeting to discuss President Trump’s prompt reinstatement to the platform.’” — By the way: In a string of posts on Truth Social this morning, Trump stated that he collected “hundreds” of “inexpensive folders with various words printed on them” (words like “Classified” or “Confidential,” he says) from his time at the White House because they were “cool” keepsakes, but claimed that the folders did not contain any documents (he alleges without evidence that officers planted documents in the folders after searching his Mar-a-Lago compound). SMART READ — “Biden-McConnell: personally mismatched, professionally bound,” by AP’s Seung Min Kim: “Both [President JOE] BIDEN and [Senate Minority Leader MITCH] McCONNELL see political imperatives in strategically cooperating. McConnell, who fell short of regaining the Senate majority last November, will have a far more advantageous political map in the 2024 election cycle and wants to demonstrate that Republicans can govern responsibly. Meanwhile, central to Biden’s case for reelection is promoting his policy accomplishments and selling a record of competent governing — punctured somewhat by recent discoveries of classified records at his former office and Delaware home.” THE VIEW FROM 1600 PENN — “White House strategy to manage documents fallout takes shape,” by CNN’s Phil Mattingly and Jeremy Diamond: “The White House strategy to manage the special counsel investigation into President Joe Biden’s handling of classified documents has taken shape. Pledge full cooperation. Attack House Republicans. Don’t engage on the details of an ongoing matter. “Most of all, maintain the meticulously planned strategic road map on which Biden planned to act this month long before all but a small handful of White House officials were even aware the handling of classified documents was a problem for anyone other than his predecessor.” ADAMS ASKS FOR HELP — NYC Mayor ERIC ADAMS joined our colleague Sally Goldenberg for a chat this morning as part of POLITICO’s “The Fifty: America's Mayors” series to discuss a range of topics du jour. Chief among the conversation topics was a discussion about immigration, which has become a central issue for Adams, as migrants continue to come into New York. Adams told Sally that he wants Congress to come up with long-term immigration reform, but in the immediate future he is requesting federal support for cities to handle migrant influxes. “The White House must ensure the immediate needs, that cities that are impacted receive the support they deserve,” Adams said. More from Julia Marsh
- On solutions for migrants in NYC: “There is no more room. It’s not that we’re getting to that point. We’re at that point.” Watch the clip
- On Dems’ struggles with working class and Hispanic voters: “We're not speaking to the people, we’re speaking at them.” Watch the full interview
Good Wednesday afternoon. What type of “cool” keepsakes have you snagged from your former workplaces? Hit me up: gross@politico.com.
| | | | A message from The American Petroleum Institute (API): The solution is right here in America. We just need to seize it. And Americans want us to. By wide margins, voters say our country is safer and more prosperous when we develop our own energy. Presidents from both parties, stretching back more than 50 years, were firmly on the side of energy and fuel production here at home. API has a plan in three parts to Make, Move, and Improve American energy. | | | CONGRESS THE TALENTED MR. SANTOS — “George Santos Shows Early Signs of Tilting to the Hard Right,” by NYT’s Michael Gold: “On his first day in Congress, Representative George Santos of New York spent most of his time alone, isolated from his new colleagues. But by week’s end, he had found his place: alongside members of the hard-right House Freedom Caucus, including Representatives MATT GAETZ of Florida and MARJORIE TAYLOR GREENE of Georgia. … “Mr. Santos’s actions in the House chamber so far this year, his willingness to appear on [STEVE] BANNON’s podcast and the few public hires he has made to his congressional staff all suggest that his stance in Congress, should he remain for his full two-year term, will be further to the right than the one he adopted on the campaign trail.” — And Santos goes under the microscope of NYT fashion critic Vanessa Friedman: “He went deep into the costume department of the popular culture hive mind and built his cover story layer by layer, garment by garment. He may wear suits sometimes, but it is the sweaters, in their various permutations, that have been the telling detail, along with the horn-rimmed glasses — visual shorthand, in pretty much every medium, for intellectual.” …READY FOR IT? — The Senate Judiciary Committee has set a date for an opening inquiry into the Ticketmaster debacle that resulted in thousands of TAYLOR SWIFT fans being shut out of acquiring tickets to the global pop star’s upcoming Eras Tour. The panel will hold the hearing — its first of the year — on Tuesday. “At next week’s hearing, we will examine how consolidation in the live entertainment and ticketing industries harms customers and artists alike. Without competition to incentivize better services and fair prices, we all suffer the consequences,” Sen. AMY KLOBUCHAR (D-Minn.) said in a statement. More from Anthony Adragna for Congress Minutes ALL POLITICS 2024 WATCH — North Carolina AG JOSH STEIN is jumping into the Democratic field to succeed Gov. ROY COOPER in the Tarheel State. The Assembly’s Kevin Maurer has the download on the early frontrunner: “Stein, 56, has been the presumptive Democratic successor for term-limited Roy Cooper for months, if not years. But his path to office is still rocky. He has strong support from party leadership, but doesn’t yet command passion from the base; his likely Republican opponent will dominate headlines and test Stein’s campaign toughness; and his long record as attorney general will provide fodder for campaign ads on both sides.” DeSANTIS DOWNLOAD — “DeSantis inauguration sponsored by companies he loves to bash,” by WaPo’s Isaac Arnsdorf: “Two major fundraisers are lobbyists for Disney, the entertainment giant that [Florida Gov. RON] DeSANTIS moved to punish for speaking out against his bill restricting classroom discussions of sexuality. Another inauguration co-chair lobbies for BlackRock, the investment powerhouse that DeSantis’s administration divested of state funds in retaliation for the firm’s social impact standards. Additional listed sponsors included CVS Health and Walgreens, chain pharmacies that DeSantis criticized at a recent news conference on drug prices.” DROPPING THE GLOVES — “Ron DeSantis Squares Off With New ‘Woke’ Foe: The NHL?” by The Daily Beast’s Jake Lahut: “In the latest battle of the culture wars, the NHL — where gloves-off fighting still brings just a five-minute penalty, where the player base is 93 percent white, and until the hiring of MIKE GRIER by the San Jose Sharks earlier this month there had yet to be a Black general manager in the history of the sport — has somehow become the new epitome of woke culture gone awry. “Over the weekend, the DeSantis administration got the NHL to fold on a local hiring event aimed at diversifying the league’s workforce ahead of its annual All-Star Game. … How DeSantis ended up dropping the gloves with America’s fourth most popular sport ahead of an event ostensibly designed to draw tourists to the state and Floridians into the NHL’s front office jobs is the result of a wash, rinse and repeat approach to corporate efforts to brand themselves as inclusive.”
| | | | STEP INSIDE THE WEST WING: What's really happening in West Wing offices? Find out who's up, who's down, and who really has the president’s ear in our West Wing Playbook newsletter, the insider's guide to the Biden White House and Cabinet. For buzzy nuggets and details that you won't find anywhere else, subscribe today. | | | | | BEYOND THE BELTWAY HOW FAR WILL THEY GO — “Statehouse Democrats Embrace an Unfamiliar Reality: Full Power,” by NYT’s Mitch Smith in Lansing, Mich.: “Democrats will have a so-called trifecta — control of the governorship and both legislative chambers — in 17 states, according to data from the National Conference of State Legislatures and Ballotpedia. That is still fewer than the 22 states where Republicans have full control, but it is a major comeback from a lost decade for state-level Democrats, who were bludgeoned in the 2010 and 2014 midterms and, as recently as 2017, had sole control at only six capitols. … “What remains untested, though, is whether Democrats can or will wield their newfound authority with the same unflinching force that Republicans exerted over the last decade, when they cemented control of once-competitive states like Arkansas, Indiana and Ohio and turned even swing states like Michigan and Wisconsin into laboratories of conservative policy.” AMERICA AND THE WORLD YELLEN AND MEETIN’ — Treasury Secretary JANET YELLEN met with Chinese Vice Premier LIU HE in Zurich today, where the two “pledged an effort to manage differences and ‘prevent competition from becoming anything ever near conflict’ as the two nations try to thaw relations,” AP’s Fatima Hussein reports. “A U.S. Treasury readout of their meeting says the two agreed that the U.S. and China would cooperate more on issues around financing for battling climate change and would work to support ‘developing countries in their clean energy transitions.’ The readout also indicates that Yellen plans to travel to China and welcomes her counterparts to the U.S. in the near future.” WOWZA — “Little-Known Surveillance Program Captures Money Transfers Between U.S. and More Than 20 Countries,” by WSJ’s Dustin Volz and Byron Tau: “The database, housed at a little-known nonprofit called the Transaction Record Analysis Center, or TRAC, was set up by the Arizona state attorney general’s office in 2014 as part of a settlement reached with Western Union to combat cross-border trafficking of drugs and people from Mexico. “It has since expanded to allow officials of more than 600 law-enforcement entities — from federal agencies such as the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Drug Enforcement Administration, and Immigration and Customs Enforcement to small-town police departments in nearly every state — to monitor the flow of funds through money services between the U.S. and countries around the world.” FOR YOUR RADAR — “Israel’s High Court blocks Arye Deri from serving as minister,” by the Jerusalem Post’s Michael Starr THE ECONOMY INFLATION NATION — “Wholesale prices fell 0.5% in December, much more than expected,” by CNBC’s Jeff Cox: “The producer price index, which measures final demand prices across hundreds of categories, declined 0.5% for the month, the Labor Department reported Wednesday. Economists surveyed by Dow Jones had been looking for a 0.1% decline. The decline was the biggest on a monthly basis since April 2020.”
| | | | POLITICO’s exclusive interview with Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi will take place on Thursday, January 19 at 1:30 PM EST – live from the Davos mountaintop. Register today to join us online. | | | | | POLICY CORNER ABORTION FALLOUT — “U.S. divided over Roe’s repeal as abortion foes gird for march,” by AP’s David Crary: “Anti-abortion activists will have multiple reasons to celebrate — and some reasons for unease — when they gather Friday in Washington for the annual March for Life. The march, which includes a rally drawing abortion opponents from across the nation, has been held annually since January 1974 — a year after the U.S. Supreme Court’s Roe v. Wade decision established a nationwide right to abortion. This year’s gathering — 50 years after that decision — will be the first since the high court struck down Roe in a momentous ruling last June.” MEDIAWATCH CRYPTO CALLBACK — Semafor, the upstart media organization with global ambitions, is planning to buy out the nearly $10 million investment it received from fallen crypto king SAM BANKMAN-FRIED, NYT’s Benjamin Mullin and David Yaffe-Bellany report. “We are planning to repurchase Sam Bankman-Fried’s interest in Semafor and to place the money into a separate account until the relevant legal authorities provide guidance as to where the money should be returned,” Semafor co-founder and CEO JUSTIN SMITH told the Times. MUSK READS HAPPENING TODAY — “Elon Musk Trial Over Tesla Tweets Heads for Opening Statements,” by WSJ’s Rebecca Elliott and Meghan Bobrowsky PLAYBOOKERS MEDIA MOVE — Kate Bennett is now a senior adviser with Invariant. She previously was a White House correspondent for CNN. TRANSITIONS — Anna Brightwell is now digital director for Senate Minority Whip John Thune (R-La.). She most recently was digital director for Rep. Mike Johnson (R-La.) and is a House Agriculture Committee alum. … Maryam Janani-Flores is now chief of staff at the Commerce Department’s Economic Development Administration. She previously was policy director for the Washington Center for Equitable Growth. … Brandon White is now external relations associate at UNHCR where he’ll focus on engagement with Congress and the national security community. He most recently was a senior analyst for operations with Endeavors and is a Paul Cook alum. … … Hillary Maxwell Beightel and Kyle Jones are joining Strategic Elements. Beightel will be senior comms director and previously was director of public affairs at Dell Technologies. Jones will be senior comms associate and previously was a manager at Plus Communications and FP1 Strategies. … Tim Nagy is now a partner at Mayer Brown. He previously was counsel for Sidley Austin.
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