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Presented by The Coalition to Protect America's Regional Airports: POLITICO's must-read briefing on what's driving the afternoon in Washington. | | | | | |  | | By Eli Okun | | | |  Fred Ryan’s tenure has coincided with a tumultuous period in American politics and journalism. | Mark J. Terrill, File/AP Photo | BIG MEDIA MOVE — Publisher/CEO FRED RYAN will leave WaPo after nearly a decade in charge, he announced to Post staffers today. At the beginning of August, Ryan will depart the Post to take on a new role heading the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation’s nonpartisan Center on Public Civility. This marks a sea change for one of one of the country’s most important news outlets. Ryan will be replaced in the interim by PATTY STONESIFER, who’s been an Amazon board member and was previously chief executive of the Gates Foundation and Martha’s Table, WaPo owner JEFF BEZOS announced. Effective immediately, Stonesifer is taking the reins and will head the search for a permanent new publisher, WaPo’s Elahe Izadi and Will Sommer report. In his note to staff, Ryan touted the paper’s changes, expansion and awards in the Bezos era, during most of which Ryan has steered the Post. He said his departure is unrelated to the company’s financial fortunes. But it does have a substantive tie to his work in journalism by tapping into Ryan’s concern about civility in the public square and polarization’s threat to democracy. (He previously was also founding chief executive of POLITICO.) Ryan’s tenure has coincided with a tumultuous period in American politics and journalism. He oversaw WaPo’s significant growth in the DONALD TRUMP era, its high-profile coverage and clashes with multiple presidents, and the organization’s somewhat declining numbers in the post-Trump/post-pandemic period, which have included some recent layoffs. Bezos also wrote directly to Post staffers, an infrequent occurrence, touting Ryan’s work in supporting press freedom and wrongfully detained journalists. (The New Yorker’s Clare Malone reports that Bezos has been getting more directly involved with the paper of late.) Ryan is expected to give a toast at a book party he’s hosting for BEN TERRIS this evening in the One Franklin Square penthouse, we’re told. THE ROOT OF THE MATTER — President JOE BIDEN is getting a root canal today at the White House, physician KEVIN O’CONNOR announced in a letter. Biden reported having pain in the lower right side of his mouth yesterday and got X-rays along with an initial procedure then. With the pain continuing today (not unexpectedly), he went back in the chair again. (The incredible POLITICO headline on Myah Ward’s story: “The tooth is out there.”) Because Biden isn’t going under general anesthesia, there’s no need to invoke the 25th Amendment and have VP KAMALA HARRIS take over temporarily, the White House said. But Harris did step in for Biden to host College Athlete Day on the South Lawn this morning, where NCAA championship teams from this season gathered for a celebration. (Harris previously had nada on her public schedule for the day.) And Biden had to reschedule the rest of his day, moving a bilateral meeting with NATO Secretary-General JENS STOLTENBERG and a Chiefs of Mission reception to tomorrow. Good Monday afternoon. Thanks for reading Playbook PM. Drop me a line at eokun@politico.com.
| | | | A message from The Coalition to Protect America's Regional Airports: DCA is currently at capacity and at risk of being seriously overburdened should there be any changes to the slot and perimeter rules. Adding flights from DCA could create unnecessary gridlock, threaten jobs and local businesses, put direct and connecting flights for countless communities at risk, and increase congestion, delays, and noise. Changes to these rules are not in the interest of airline safety, promoting economic development, or increasing access to the Washington region. Learn more. | | | 2024 WATCH NEW LINE OF ATTACK — Florida Gov. RON DeSANTIS knocked Trump for his Supreme Court picks today on Hugh Hewitt’s show, indicating that Justices NEIL GORSUCH, BRETT KAVANAUGH and AMY CONEY BARRETT haven’t been conservative enough for his liking. “I respect the three appointees he did, but none of those three are at the same level of [Justice CLARENCE] THOMAS and Justice [SAMUEL] ALITO,” he said. “I think they are the gold standard.” FIRST LADY FILES — Now that the school year is over, first lady JILL BIDEN is ramping up her fundraising activities for her husband’s reelect, AP’s Darlene Superville reports. She has donor events in NYC, LA and the Bay Area over the next three days, along with a separate gun violence event with GABBY GIFFORDS in LA. She’s “widely viewed by the political establishment as one of her husband’s strongest assets. Democratic consultants and pollsters say people see her as someone they can relate to.” BURGUMENTUM — North Dakota Gov. DOUG BURGUM is getting some high-profile backing from a home-state senator. KEVIN CRAMER tells Burgess Everett for today’s Huddle that he supports Burgum’s presidential bid: “If he asks for a release or an ad or [to] use the word endorsement rather than ‘I’ll support him,’ I’ll do it.” Burgum, a self-funding billionaire, “is set to become the top-spending GOP presidential candidate in Iowa ($1.7 million) and New Hampshire ($1.3 million) over the next three weeks,” largely with broadcast ads, Inside Elections’ Jacob Rubashkin notes. GREAT SCOTT — Sen. TIM SCOTT (R-S.C.) is looking to bolster his home-state fortunes with a big list of 140 South Carolina endorsements from past and present elected officials today, AP’s Meg Kinnard reports from Spartanburg. Notable names include state Senate Majority Leader SHANE MASSEY, Columbia Mayor DANIEL RICKENMANN and former Rep. HENRY BROWN. HOW THE INDICTMENT IS PLAYING — “Trump Needs White Suburban Women. His Indictment Splits Them,” by WSJ’s Catherine Lucey and Annie Linskey: “Some of these women say the indictment will have little impact on whether they vote for him. They think the charges for mishandling classified documents lack merit, and they already knew Trump came with legal woes. Others say this validates their decision to move on from the former president after years of combative behavior.” MEDIAWATCH FOX ESCALATES — After TUCKER CARLSON started to launch his next act on Twitter, Fox News sent him a cease-and-desist letter (with “NOT FOR PUBLICATION” stamped at the top), Axios’ Mike Allen reports. Fox and Carlson are embroiled in a high-stakes contract dispute, as the fired far-right megastar tries to wriggle out of the contract that runs through next year. “Tucker will not be silenced by anyone,” Carlson lawyer HARMEET DHILLON says. OFF THE DEEP END — The Atlantic’s Elaina Plott Calabro has a big profile of LARA LOGAN, the once-respected “60 Minutes” war journalist who has veered so deep into far-right conspiracy theories that Newsmax won’t book her. Almost completely cut off from everyone in her former life, Logan is a true believer who spends her time now, say, speaking to a Moms for Liberty group in her current hometown of Fredericksburg, Texas. Plott Calabro traces Logan’s path through traumatic experiences and professional mistakes to a worldview significantly untethered from reality. “In recent years, many Americans have embraced conspiracy theories as a way to give order and meaning to the world’s chance cruelties,” she writes. “Lara Logan seems to have done the same, rewriting her story as a martyrdom epic in the war of narratives.”
| | | | 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. | | | | | JUDICIARY SQUARE SCOTUS WATCH — The Supreme Court today declined to take up a challenge to North Carolina’s decision to stop issuing Confederate flag license plates, AP’s Jessica Gresko reports. AMERICA AND THE WORLD BETTER SAFE THAN SORRY — With Afghanistan, Ukraine and Sudan fresh in their minds, U.S. officials are stepping up plans to evacuate Americans from Taiwan in the event of a Chinese invasion, The Messenger’s Lili Pike and Jim LaPorta scooped. The preparations have heated up in the past couple of months, as the U.S. wants to be ready even as it maintains publicly that Chinese war on Taiwan is not inevitable. But the island’s geography poses some particular challenges for evacuations. THE EXPORTS WE WON’T CONTROL — The U.S. will permit South Korean and Taiwanese chipmakers to keep manufacturing semiconductors in China without being penalized, WSJ’s Yuka Hayashi scooped. The decision to maintain those exemptions, which were scheduled to expire in October, could somewhat undercut America’s attempts to hamper the Chinese industry via export controls. But it “amounts to a recognition by U.S. authorities that efforts to isolate China from high-tech goods are more difficult than anticipated in a highly integrated global industry.” MORE POLITICS SURVEY SAYS — Opposition to transgender athletes competing on teams that align with their gender identity is growing, Gallup’s Jeffrey Jones writes based on a new poll. Sixty-nine percent of Americans now say athletes should play on teams that match their birth gender, up from 62% in 2021. That includes a plurality of Democrats (a significant shift from two years ago). On an existential level, opposition to trans people is growing too: Fifty-five percent of Americans now think it’s morally wrong to change one’s gender, compared to 51% in 2021. GETTING PERSONAL — Sen. JOE MANCHIN (D-W.Va.) and West Virginia Gov. JIM JUSTICE used to be friendly. Then Justice switched parties, removed Manchin’s wife GAYLE from a state government post and became a top GOP contender to take on Manchin in the Senate race, The Messenger’s Dan Merica, Matt Holt and Marty Kady write. “I would never have done that to his family,” unloads Manchin in an interview. And the animus between them — both personal and political — could become a significant factor in Manchin’s reelection decision and campaign. TRUMP CARDS MR. SMITH GOES TO WASHINGTON — Axios’ Cuneyt Dil has a look at JACK SMITH’s Washington — or at least as much of it as can be found out about the fairly private DOJ special counsel. (“Smith has evaded Playbook spotteds. Interviews? Forget it!”) Smith was seen at his pool in Bethesda the day after the historic Trump federal criminal indictment came down, where word is that “his freestyle is pretty smooth.” Smith is also an experienced triathlete and Ironman competitor. WHAT COMES NEXT — “Georgia is likely next ground zero for Trump’s battle with law enforcement,” by WaPo’s Amy Gardner in Columbus: “The hundreds of Republicans who gathered in this historic mill city, perched across the Chattahoochee River from Alabama, made clear they are standing firmly by the former president and Trump allies including [outgoing state party chair DAVID] SHAFER.”
| | | | GET READY FOR GLOBAL TECH DAY: Join POLITICO Live as we launch our first Global Tech Day alongside London Tech Week on Thursday, June 15. Register now for continuing updates and to be a part of this momentous and program-packed day! From the blockchain, to AI, and autonomous vehicles, technology is changing how power is exercised around the world, so who will write the rules? REGISTER HERE. | | | | | CONGRESS SPORTS BLINK — Sen. RICHARD BLUMENTHAL (D-Conn.) is launching an investigation into the PGA Tour-LIV Golf merger, Anthony Adragna reports in Congress Minutes. BEYOND THE BELTWAY BORDER SONG — From the southern border, The New Yorker’s Dexter Filkins pens a detailed story of America’s broken immigration system, which has seen a massive influx of migrants under the Biden administration transform border towns and contribute to major regional and political divisions. “Ultimately, it is enabled by an underfunded and antiquated system that Congress — paralyzed by mutual animosity — has failed to address. But politicians on both sides are eager to blame each other.” POLICY CORNER BIG INVESTIGATION — “The Great Grift: How billions in COVID-19 relief aid was stolen or wasted,” by AP’s Richard Lardner, Jennifer McDermott and Aaron Kessler: It was “the greatest grift in U.S. history … An Associated Press analysis found that fraudsters potentially stole more than $280 billion in COVID-19 relief funding; another $123 billion was wasted or misspent. Combined, the loss represents 10% of the $4.2 trillion the U.S. government has so far disbursed in COVID relief aid. That number is certain to grow … Investigators and outside experts say the government, in seeking to quickly spend trillions in relief aid, conducted too little oversight during the pandemic’s early stages and instituted too few restrictions on applicants.” FED UP — “Jerome Powell’s Big Problem Just Got Even More Complicated,” by WSJ’s Nick Timiraos: “Federal Reserve Chair JEROME POWELL finds himself in a place no central banker wants to be: working to avert a credit crunch, which calls for looser monetary policy, while fighting high inflation, which demands the opposite. Strains in the banking industry … help explain why some central bank officials are leaning toward holding interest rates steady … Fed officials don’t think a crisis is imminent … But current and former central bankers say if stresses worsen, the Fed will face a more difficult trade off.” PLAYBOOKERS MEDIA MOVE — Rebecca Kaplan is now a Capitol Hill producer and off-air reporter at NBC. She previously was a campaign producer for CBS and is a National Journal alum. TRANSITIONS — Heritage Action’s executive director Jessica Anderson is taking a leave of absence to lead the Sentinel Action Fund, the Washington Examiner’s Salena Zito scoops. Ryan Walker will move up to be acting executive director at Heritage. … Andy Quinn is now managing director for political and policy at FP1 Strategies. He previously has been chief speechwriter, strategic comms director and senior adviser for Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell. … Chris Fisher and Justin Melvin have joined the congressional relations team at the American Bankers Association. Fisher most recently was policy director for Charlie Crist’s Florida gubernatorial campaign. Melvin previously was chief of staff for Rep. David Kustoff (R-Tenn.). … … Jalina Porter is now comms director and senior adviser for Rep. Joyce Beatty (D-Ohio). She previously was principal deputy spokesperson at the State Department. … Kyle Anderson is now a senior principal at Cozen O’Connor Public Strategies. He previously was an SVP at America250 and is a former executive director of the Congressional Black Caucus. … Chantel Febus is now a member and head of East Coast appeals at Dykema. She previously was a partner at Proskauer Rose and is a DOJ alum. Did someone forward this email to you? Sign up here. Send Playbookers tips to playbook@politico.com or text us at 202-556-3307. Playbook couldn’t happen without our editor Mike DeBonis, deputy editor Zack Stanton and producers Setota Hailemariam and Bethany Irvine.
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