The Playbook Podcast

The brutal and shocking video showing Tyre Nichols being beaten to death by Memphis police officers earlier this month prompted condemnation from all corners of Washington after it was released Friday.

Whether it will prompt action is another matter.

It has, for now, renewed behind-the-scenes conversations on Capitol Hill about the possibility of bipartisan policing legislation. Aides for key lawmakers on the issue, including Sens. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) and Tim Scott (R-S.C.), as well as White House staff, made calls through the weekend to set the stage for further talks. 

To be clear, any negotiations will not start from a hopeful place. The last round of negotiations between Booker and Scott collapsed in September 2021 in a flurry of behind-the-scenes finger-pointing that threw the whole framework of a potential deal into question.

Playbook editor Mike DeBonis joins the show to explain how policing reform efforts might look in Congress. 

Later this morning, RNC members here at a five-star resort on the Pacific Ocean will pile into a private conference room and elect the organization’s next chair after a weekslong, bitter campaign pitting incumbent Ronna McDaniel against top challenger Harmeet Dhillon.

While McDaniel remains the favorite, Dhillon’s team has been working overtime since they arrived, and there are unmistakable signs she’s made headway. Just days ago, she had fewer than 30 of the 168 RNC members publicly endorsing her compared to more than 100 who had backed McDaniel in an open letter after the midterms.

The race’s new fluidity comes as members wrangle with one big question in increasingly urgent tones: What does this race say about Donald Trump's hold on the GOP?

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With a catastrophic federal default potentially months away, Wall Street and the rest of America is reacting with a big yawn — and, honestly, can you blame them?

The high-stakes debt standoffs of Barack Obama's presidency each ended with last-second deals that avoided economic calamity and saved face for all the principals involved. Washington went on to lift the debt limit four more times with minimal drama.

So why are so many veterans of the first modern debt ceiling showdown freaking out? Across party lines and perspectives from both ends of Pennsylvania Avenue, those who lived through the 2011 showdown agree on one thing: This time feels different — and they are terrified that it will end with the country in financial ruin, as Eugene Daniels and Adam Cancryn report this morning. 

And Donald Trump can now return to Facebook and Instagram following a decision by Meta that will end the former president’s two-year suspension from the platforms. More from Rebecca Kern

The view from Meta: “The public should be able to hear what their politicians are saying — the good, the bad and the ugly — so that they can make informed choices at the ballot box,” Meta policy guru Nick Clegg said. Read Meta’s full blog announcement

Politco tech reporter Rebecca Kern joins the show with more details.

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On Tuesday, Kevin McCarthy officially booted Reps. Adam Schiff and Eric Swalwell from the House Intelligence Committee. In a letter that was short on details about the two California Democrats’  sins, the new House speaker referred to “integrity,” “honesty” and “credibility” as driving his decision.

It is no surprise that reporters immediately asked McCarthy how his expulsion of the two Democrats for alleged dishonesty squares with his hands-off approach to another well-known congressman: Rep. George Santos (R-N.Y.), who has lied about … well, pretty much everything … and was recently given assignments on two House committees.

Our colleague Jessica Piper reports this morning on some rather unusual disbursements included in Santos’ campaign finance reports.

“Santos’ congressional campaign reported dozens of transactions just cents below the threshold that would have triggered a requirement to preserve spending records — an unusual spending pattern that is now part of broader complaints about alleged financial improprieties."

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 Speaker Kevin McCarthy issued the new GOP roster for the House Rules Committee Monday, and he made good on his pledges to give his conference’s hard right a foothold on the powerful panel, naming Reps. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.), Ralph Norman (R-S.C.) and Chip Roy (R-Texas) to the powerful gatekeeping panel. Norman and Roy were among the cadre initially opposing McCarthy’s speaker bid, and Massie is — how to put it? — a real pain in leadership’s ass.

And our colleagues Ally Mutnick and Sarah Ferris have an exclusive report on the rift that is splitting the influential Blue Dog Coalition nearly in half following an internal dispute over whether to rebrand the moderate Democratic group. Seven of the 15 members, including Reps. Abigail Spanberger (D-Va.) and Mikie Sherill (D-N.J.), are on their way out, which will leave the group with only men as its members and the smallest roster in decades.

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The biggest moment yet in the 2024 election cycle happens later this week in Dana Point, Calif., where RNC members will choose their next leader — and incumbent Chair Ronna McDaniel faces an unexpected fight for a fourth two-year term.

McDaniel is still the favorite, but the race has turned contentious: Attorney Harmeet Dhillon, who backed Donald Trump's attempt to throw out the 2020 election results and represented him before the House’s Jan. 6 panel, is challenging McDaniel, blaming her for the GOP’s abysmal midterm performance. (MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell is also running, but few RNC members take him seriously.

Plus, Congress is back in session this week, with debt ceiling negotiations taking center stage. And, Jeff Zients will take over for Chief of Staff Ron Klain. Playbook editor Mike DeBonis and co-author Rachael Bade discuss what to watch in the day ahead.

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President Joe Biden was sworn in two years ago today. To mark the occasion, White House Comms Director Kate Bedingfield is sending congressional Dems and other allies this “Cheat Sheet” of the president’s accomplishments to tout. 

It’s worth a read to understand the emerging Biden reelection message — note the heavy emphasis on a manufacturing renaissance — which these talking points contend “is in contrast to MAGA Republicans in Congress who are creating chaos and proposing an extreme and divisive agenda.”

Meanwhile, AP’s Aamer Madhani tells the story of Biden’s first two years “by the numbers,” which he reports “is a mixed bag”:

“It includes a long-sought $1 trillion bill to shore up the nation’s bridges, roads and other infrastructure, but also the unwelcome milestone of historic inflation. There’s been a huge number of COVID-19 vaccinations, but nearly 680,000 people have died of the disease. Biden has visited three dozen states and spent all or part of nearly 200 days in his home state of Delaware.”

We wouldn’t be us if we didn’t flag this entry on the AP’s list: “21: Biden held fewer solo or joint news conferences than his three most recent predecessors at the same point in their presidencies.”

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Just days after House Democrats announced impeachment proceedings against Donald Trump in 2019, House GOP leader Kevin McCarthy faced an unwanted pressure campaign from the president’s closest allies.

McCarthy refused — centrists, he believed, would have more credibility when they called foul on the Democrats’ impeachment process. Trump allies, meanwhile, would be dismissed by persuadable voters as knee-jerk partisans playing to an audience of one.

That strategy has now flown the coop. McCarthy this week rewarded Trump’s most bombastic allies — including some of the members who initially opposed him as speaker — with seats on the high-profile House Oversight Committee, ground zero for the GOP’s investigations of President Joe Biden. 

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NBC’s Scott Wong and Kyle Stewart did the work on putting together a comprehensive list of where all of the antagonizers who slowed McCarthy’s ascension to the speakership ended up after committee assignments were settled Tuesday. A few of the notables:

And Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is getting prodded to jump into the 2024 presidential primary field from an unexpected — and distant — camp: Michigan Republicans. “Last month, Bryan , the Republican floor leader in the Michigan state House, flew to Florida and hand-delivered DeSantis a letter encouraging him to run for president,” our colleague Alex Isenstadt reports this morning. “The letter — which was signed by 18 Republican members of the state House, one quarter of the party’s caucus — called DeSantis ‘uniquely and exceptionally qualified to provide the leadership and competence that is, unfortunately, missing’” in the White House.

“While the letter doesn’t explicitly endorse DeSantis over [Donald Trump], it illustrates simmering discontent with the former president among Republicans, following a series of elections that saw the party get bludgeoned at the ballot box,” Alex writes.

Plus, Playbook editor Mike DeBonis and deputy Zack Stanton look at how senate primaries are starting to take shape ahead of the 2024 cycle, including in the pivotal battleground state Michigan.

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Raghu Manavalan is the host and senior editor of POLITICO's Playbook Daily Briefing.
Jenny Ament is the executive producer of POLITICO Audio.

Today, ambitious Indiana Republican Rep. Jim Banks launches his bid to replace retiring GOP Sen. Mike Braun. (Watch his announcement video here.) The 42-year-old former chair of the Republican Study Committee is widely seen as the favorite in the race, which has already attracted interest from fellow Rep. Victoria Spartz. But he could face a challenging primary if former Hoosier State Gov. Mitch Daniels jumps in. 

And, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen sent a letter to Speaker Kevin McCarthy and other congressional leaders last Friday urging Congress to act “promptly” to raise the debt ceiling and avoid defaulting. Yellen writes that the debt is projected to reach its “statutory limit” this Thursday, though she says it is “unlikely that cash and extraordinary measures will be exhausted before early June.”

Playbook editor Mike DeBonis and deputy Zack Stanton discuss the upcoming fight over debt ceiling and the state of Indiana's GOP senate primary. 

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Raghu Manavalan is the host and senior editor of POLITICO's Playbook Daily Briefing.
Jenny Ament is the executive producer of POLITICO Audio.