Playbook: How Trump ambushed DeSantis in D.C.

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With help from Eli Okun and Garrett Ross

DRIVING THE DAY

POPPING THIS MORNING — We’ve gotten our hands on a “confidential discussion draft” of a debt ceiling proposal being circulated by the Problem Solvers Caucus — a Plan B to avert a default if President JOE BIDEN and congressional Republicans fail to come to an agreement.

The bipartisan group of 64 House centrists is proposing to suspend the debt ceiling through the end of the year and, in the meantime, set up an “independent fiscal Commission” to come up with a plan to confront the $31 trillion national debt. The commission’s policy recommendations would be due to Congress after the 2024 presidential election and would get a mandatory vote no later than February 2025. Read the draft proposal

While extremely light on details, the centrists are hoping the discussion draft will spark just that — discussions between the two sides. What it’s more likely to do, however, is spark PTSD among those who remember Congress’s prior, failed attempts to outsource fiscal reforms to other bodies.

DONALD TRUMPS RON — It was supposed to be RON DeSANTIS’ big day on Capitol Hill. Yet DONALD TRUMP managed to overshadow him from almost 1,000 miles away.

In the 24 hours leading up to the Florida governor’s much-anticipated meeting with GOP lawmakers, two members from his own state — Reps. JOHN RUTHERFORD and GREG STEUBE — endorsed Trump. A third Floridian — Rep. BRIAN MAST, who was once considered close with DeSantis — told CNN’s Mel Zanona that he’ll soon follow suit.

And a few hours later, in a stone-cold act of political brutality, Rep. LANCE GOODEN (R-Texas) walked out of the DeSantis meeting and declared his support for Trump.

“It’s a killer!” said one positively giddy Trump confidant, who was on the phone with Playbook when news of Gooden’s surprise endorsement broke.

To be fair, DeSantis notched a couple small victories yesterday: Freshman Rep. LAUREL LEE, his former secretary of state, endorsed him, and his Capitol Hill event — where he spoke about his state’s policy agenda, decried the “radical” Biden administration, and offered to help expand the House majority, without once mentioning Trump — drew at least three dozen lawmakers.

But at the end of the day, Trump had picked up more endorsements from Florida than DeSantis could muster with his boots on the ground in Washington.

Not only did lawmakers leave the DeSantis event without delivering their backing, our colleagues Sarah Ferris, Ally Mutnick and Burgess Everett report, but several “tried to downplay their attendance, saying they went because the governor was a former colleague and they wanted to say hello.”

INSIDE THE AMBUSH: We made some calls to Trump world last night to figure out just how much of this was coordinated. Gooden’s dramatic gesture, we’re told, came as a surprise to the former president’s brain trust. But much of the rest was quickly and carefully orchestrated over the past few days.

It began over the weekend, when Trump traveled to Nashville for the RNC donor retreat and attended a meeting arranged by Sen. BILL HAGERTY (R-Tenn.) with most of the state’s GOP congressional delegation. Trump and his team were pleasantly surprised to learn the delegation was ready and eager to endorse him — and they did.

That got Trump’s people thinking: While he’d already received the endorsements of several prominent Florida Republicans, Trump’s team wondered if others in the delegation might follow suit — just as DeSantis traveled to Capitol Hill.

So on Sunday night, Trump officials sent emails to Sunshine State members asking if they would be willing to play ball. “Heck yes, I’d love to endorse him,” one lawmaker replied. (Beyond Mast, Rutherford and Steube, other members are expected to back Trump in the coming days, we’re told.)

“The amazing part of it is how easy it was,” one person close to Trump said, noting his team was shocked, for example, that Florida Rep. BYRON DONALDS — who had introduced DeSantis and his family at the governor’s Election Night victory party — was all-in when they called him up recently.

THE STEPBACK: It’s a troubling sign for DeSantis if he can’t convince more Republican lawmakers, who know better than most how Trump can be a general-election liability. It certainly doesn’t bode well for his appeal to the common GOP voter, who probably isn’t as concerned about electability, the core of DeSantis’ pitch.

But the snub from GOP lawmakers in his home state is particularly striking, and it’s playing into the narrative that DeSantis is too aloof and inattentive to the interpersonal niceties of big-league politics.

Just ask Steube, who told Playbook in a brief interview last night that DeSantis has never once reached out to him during his five years in Congress nor replied to his multiple attempts to connect. He recalled a recent news conference dealing with damage from Hurricane Ian where the governor’s aides initially invited him to stand alongside DeSantis, only to tell him that he wouldn’t be part of the event when he showed up.

Trump, on the other hand, was the first person Steube remembers calling him in the ICU to wish him well after he was injured in a January tree-trimming accident. “To this day I have not heard from Gov. DeSantis,” he said.

Things suddenly changed last week, Steube said, as Trump started rolling out his Florida congressional backers. ”For the first time ever, I hear from DeSantis’s political person,” he said, referring to aide RYAN TYSON, who reportedly contacted other Florida Republicans about their endorsements.

For Steube, the outreach was too little, too late. And he continues to have sharp words for DeSantis, criticizing him for his robust political travel schedule amid a busy legislative session and just months after winning a new four-year term.

“Floridians want him focused on Florida,” he said, “which is the job they elected him to do.”

Good Wednesday morning. Thanks for reading Playbook. Drop us a line: Rachael Bade, Eugene Daniels, Ryan Lizza.

FIRST IN PLAYBOOK — Former VP MIKE PENCE will once again take aim at his former boss during a speech at the Nixon National Energy Conference today, though he (still) won’t call out Trump by name. Pence, according to an excerpt, will call Chinese President XI JINPING “evil” — a term we’re told the devout Christian rarely uses — while noting that “some people,” ahem, have called him a “brilliant man.” Read the excerpt

BACK IN THE HOT SEAT — Homeland Security Secretary ALEJANDRO MAYORKAS is before the House Homeland Security Committee today — a day after the NYT scooped that panel chair MARK GREEN (R-Tenn.) told donors this month he would pursue an impeachment of Mayorkas. “On April 19, next week, get the popcorn,” Green reportedly said.

Unsurprisingly, Mayorkas will ignore the impeachment threats in his opening statement, which Playbook obtained last night, and instead focus on his department’s budget, asking for more “flexibility to address challenges that often change, sector to sector, month to month.” Read his full testimony

The questioning, meanwhile, isn’t likely to stay confined to dollars and cents. While Republicans are expected to pounce on the continuing flood of migrants pressing against the southern border, Mayorkas is ready to shame Congress for not passing meaningful immigration reform, we’re told.

“Instead of pointing fingers and pursuing a baseless impeachment, Congress should work with the Department and pass legislation to fix our broken immigration system, which has not been updated in over 40 years,” a DHS spokesperson said last night.

PHOTO OF THE DAY

PLAYBOOK READS

MEDIAWATCH

FOX IN THE DOGHOUSE — At the last minute, Fox News and Dominion Voting Systems settled their massive defamation case yesterday, with the network agreeing to pay Dominion a whopping $788 million after it broadcast false claims in the wake of the 2020 election. The settlement staved off what would have been a landmark media defamation trial, but the case was nonetheless “both a financial blow to Fox and a source of embarrassment, thanks largely to a spectacular discovery process,” writes Matt Taylor from Wilmington, Del.

“The truth matters. Lies have consequences,” Dominion’s attorney said in celebration. The company will reap a financial windfall — close to half of the $1.6 billion for which it sued, and one of the biggest defamation settlements in U.S. history.

But, but, but: Fox News didn’t apologize, won’t have to broadcast further retractions and walked away from the case without really admitting wrongdoing. “We acknowledge the Court’s rulings finding certain claims about Dominion to be false,” was the furthest Fox went in a statement. “Fox News Lost the Lawsuit but Won the War,” concluded The Atlantic’s David Graham. Still, other lawsuits against Fox — including from Smartmatic — loom.

How it happened: “The parties engaged a mediator from dispute-resolution provider JAMS, JERRY ROSCOE, who was on vacation in Romania and worked over the course of a day to bring about a deal Tuesday afternoon,” WSJ’s Erin Mulvaney, Joe Flint and Isabella Simonetti report.

2024 WATCH

THE MEGADONOR PRIMARY — “The Larry Ellison Election,” by Puck’s Teddy Schleifer: “As 2024 beckons, Oracle founder LARRY ELLISON appears poised to be the single most influential donor in the Republican primary — and maybe, depending on your politics, the single most annoying one, too. … [H]is unwavering support for South Carolina Senator TIM SCOTT … may position him as the longshot sugar daddy au courant.”

MORE POLITICS

PRIMARY COLORS — The Republican contest to take on Democratic Kentucky Gov. ANDY BESHEAR is getting nastier, as former U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. KELLY CRAFT tries to take down AG DANIEL CAMERON, Zach Montellaro reports this morning. Cameron has been the frontrunner, but Craft, a GOP megadonor, is hitting him with a barrage of ads on coal, crime, establishment connections and even a tenuous ALVIN BRAGG link.

BATTLE FOR THE SENATE — “GOP drops $1M on Manchin as Justice preps run,” by Burgess Everett and Holly Otterbein: “Republican group One Nation, which is aligned with Senate Minority Leader MITCH McCONNELL, is unloading more than $1 million on a campaign hitting [Sen. JOE] MANCHIN for supporting Democrats’ marquee party-line bill last year, according to details shared with POLITICO. Simultaneously, a strategist close to GOP Gov. JIM JUSTICE said that the governor has made up his mind and will likely launch his Senate campaign before the end of the month. Those two events will quickly animate the West Virginia race.”

SURVEY SAYS — “Poll: Voters trust GOP to handle immigration more than Dems,” by Myah Ward

THE WHITE HOUSE

THE PRESIDENT’S WEALTH — “President Biden earned $580,000 in 2022, paid 24% in federal income taxes, returns show,” by USA Today’s Joey Garrison and Michael Collins: “The bulk of their earnings came from Biden’s $400,000 salary as president, while JILL BIDEN earned $82,355 from Northern Virginia Community College … The Bidens donated $20,180 to charities and churches.” (That’s 3% of their income.) View the presidential return

Plus: “Vice President Kamala Harris and her husband DOUGLAS EMHOFF paid $93,570 in federal income tax on a federal adjusted gross income of $456,918, their return shows. That’s an effective tax rate of 20.5%.” View the vice presidential return

CONGRESS

THE DIFI DILEMMA — With Sen. DIANNE FEINSTEIN (D-Calif.) out for months due to illness and Dems unable to get judicial nominees through the panel, her colleagues are grappling with what to do. Calls for her resignation aren’t likely to get too loud too soon — but Senate Democrats also know that they can’t wait forever, Burgess Everett, Jennifer Haberkorn and Katherine Tully-McManus report. Right now, many Dems are leaving it up to Feinstein and just hoping she’s able to get back quickly.

But for Democrats, it’s not just about confirming judges: As congressional Democrats seek to investigate Justice CLARENCE THOMAS in the wake of recent reporting about his undisclosed ties to a GOP megadonor, Feinstein’s absence leaves them without the votes to subpoena Thomas for a potential hearing, NBC’s Sahil Kapur and Liz Brown-Kaiser report.

But Republicans are refuting the idea that there are any serious ethical qualms with Thomas. And McConnell said yesterday that he had “total confidence” that the Supreme Court could handle the matter on its own.

CASH DASH — “Gaetz, Boebert and Biggs raised big bucks off their opposition to McCarthy,” by Jessica Piper

NO SURPRISE — “House fails to override Biden’s veto of resolution to overturn EPA water rule,” by CNN’s Clare Foran, Kristin Wilson and Haley Talbot

JUDICIARY SQUARE

SCOTUS WATCH — “Supreme Court conservatives seem divided in major religion case,” by NPR’s Nina Totenberg: “At the end of the day, it was unclear whether a majority of the court was more worried about imposing a burden on businesses and other employees or whether the court’s conservatives would once again come down on the side of religious interests.”

LOOK WHO’S BACK — “Jeff Sessions, testifying at trial of hip hop artist, details high-level deportation discussions,” by Josh Gerstein: “Former Attorney General JEFF SESSIONS told a federal jury Tuesday about high-level meetings in which officials discussed the potential deportation of GUO WENGUI.”

ABORTION PILL LATEST — “Abortion Foes Urge Supreme Court to Curb Pill on Eve of Deadline,” by Bloomberg’s Greg Stohr

JAN. 6 AND ITS AFTERMATH

MOVEMENT OUT OF FULTON COUNTY — Trump’s criminal indictment in Manhattan has sucked up a lot of oxygen lately, but the Fulton County, Ga., probe is proceeding too, and a filing from DA FANI WILLIS yesterday provided the latest details. Notably, some of the fake Trump electors in Georgia seem to be turning on each other, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution’s Tamar Hallerman and Bill Rankin report.

THE JAN. 6 TRIALS — “‘Cheese-eating rat’: Defense lawyers seethe after DOJ pushes witness to identify more Jan. 6 perpetrators,” by Kyle Cheney

POLICY CORNER

MEGALEAK FALLOUT — The Defense Department rolled out new policy steps yesterday in response to the major leak of U.S. intelligence, detailing its internal review and clamping down temporarily on who can access classified information, NYT’s John Ismay and Eric Schmitt report. The Pentagon also, for now, shut down the intelligence wing of the Massachusetts Air National Guard where alleged leaker JACK TEIXEIRA was stationed.

But the tightening of protocols also has some officials worried that the U.S. could go too far in the other direction, WSJ’s Gordon Lubold, Vivian Salama and Nancy Youssef caution. They don’t want classified info restricted from those who should legitimately be accessing it.

Meanwhile, the steady pace of military revelations from the leaked documents themselves continued yesterday: WaPo’s Alex Horton reported that Russia has gotten further than was publicly known in its development of a tool to sabotage the Starlink communication system in Ukraine. And WaPo’s Christian Shepherd, Vic Chiang, Pei-Lin Wu and Ellen Nakashima reported that China has made strides toward a supersonic spy drone that it could soon deploy at high altitudes.

Related read: “Judge to decide whether leak suspect should remain jailed,” by AP’s Alanna Durkin Richer and Eric Tucker

TAKE A SHOT — “Biden administration developing plan to get Covid vaccines to the uninsured,” by Adam Cancryn … “Single Dose of Omicron-Targeting Vaccines to Become Main Covid-19 Shot in U.S.,” by WSJ’s Liz Essley Whyte and Stephanie Armour

AMERICA AND THE WORLD

FOR YOUR RADAR — @SpeakerMcCarthy: “My first trip abroad as Speaker will be a return to Israel to commemorate their 75th year of statehood.”

JOE KENNEDY III’S TRICKY PATH — “In Northern Ireland, Glamorous U.S. Envoy Meets Less Than Glamorous Job,” by NYT’s Mark Landler in Belfast

BEYOND THE BELTWAY

WHERE THE GOP IS ROLLING — State legislative supermajorities are becoming more common, especially with Republicans in charge, giving the GOP more power to override Democratic governors in several states, Liz Crampton reports this morning. And the dynamic has been particularly impactful on culture-war issues, from restrictions on transgender people in Kansas and Kentucky to loosening gun control in North Carolina.

EMPIRE STATE WIN FOR PROGRESSIVES — “Rowan Wilson Is Confirmed as New York’s Chief Judge,” by NYT’s Luis Ferré-Sadurní in Albany

FLASHPOINT IN KANSAS CITY — “Kansas City man charged in Ralph Yarl shooting surrenders, booked into Clay County jail,” by The Kansas City Star’s Bill Lukitsch and Robert Cronkleton … “Ringing the wrong doorbell while being Black,” by Brakkton Booker in The Recast newsletter

PLAYBOOKERS

A cardboard cutout of Elon Musk was toppled by the wind at a press conference.

The Longworth Dunkin is now serving breakfast tacos.

Todd Young has inherited the Senate candy desk — and he’s stocking it with offerings from his home state.

Asked for comment on Donald Trump’s indictment, Mitch McConnell told reporters, “I may have hit my head, but I didn’t hit it that hard.”

SPOTTED: Tudor Dixon in the Capitol Rotunda yesterday chaperoning her daughter’s school field trip and later catching up with Rep. Bill Huizenga (R-Mich.).

SPORTS BLINK — Chris Cillizza is out with a new book, “Power Players: Sports, Politics and the American Presidency” ($30), about the sports presidents played and spectated — with interesting tidbits like Donald Trump’s stint as “an extremely aggressive player” on the squash team at Fordham University.

BOOK CLUB — Miles Taylor is writing a new book, “Blowback: A Warning to Save Democracy from the Next Trump” ($30), which will publish July 18 from Simon & Schuster.

OUT AND ABOUT — The Patriotic Millionaires marked Tax Day last night with a reception (“Taxations & Libations”) at Eaton Workshop wrapping up their annual spring meeting. SPOTTED: Reps. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), Jamaal Bowman (D-N.Y.), Greg Casar (D-Texas), Christopher Deluzio (D-Pa.), Dan Goldman (D-N.Y.), Jimmy Gomez (D-Calif.), Greg Landsman (D-Ohio), Summer Lee (D-Pa.), Teresa Leger Fernández (D-N.M.) and Melanie Stansbury (D-N.M.), Mignon Clyburn, Ami Aronson, Tracy Bernstein, Michelle Ringuette, Steve Rochlin, Tom Quinn, Diane Blagman, Kevin McDonald, Jay Newton-Small, Camelia Mazard, Morris Pearl, Stephen Prince and Chuck Collins.

— Delta Air Lines hosted a reception on the rooftop of its new D.C. office yesterday evening. SPOTTED: Ed Bastian, Elaine Chao, Peter Carter, Heather Wingate, Lisa Hanna, Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, Sens. Mike Lee (R-Utah), Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.), John Thune (R-S.D.), Jim Risch (R-Idaho), and Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), Reps. Lucy McBath (D-Ga.), Sam Graves (R-Mo.), John Larson (D-Conn.), Jim Clyburn (D-S.C.), Hank Johnson (D-Ga.), Burgess Owens (R-Utah), Kevin Hern (R-Okla.), and Lisa McClain (R-Mich.).

MEDIA MOVES — Adam Levy is now executive producer and news editor at BBC News in Washington. He most recently was a supervising producer and showrunner at CNN. … James Franey is now senior U.S. political reporter for DailyMail.com. He most recently was Europe correspondent at the Daily Mail.

FIRST IN PLAYBOOK — Angel Colón-Rivera is starting as the new executive director of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus. He previously was chief of congressional affairs for the Census Bureau at Commerce, and is a Bob Menendez alum.

— Jesse Hunt is launching Monadnock Strategies, a strategic comms and political consulting firm focused on political campaigns and corporate clients. He previously was comms director for the Republican Governors Association and the NRSC.

— Elijah Williamson is joining the office of Maryland Gov. Wes Moore as creative director. He previously was creative director for The Collective PAC.

— Donna Shalala, the former HHS secretary and Florida House Democrat, is joining the board of directors for Chapter, a Medicare navigation platform.

TRANSITIONS — Jessica Graham is joining Strategic Elements and Kdence as SVP. She previously has been principal at JGAdvocacy. … Kelle Strickland will be president and CEO at the Congressional Institute, succeeding Mark Strand. She currently is staff director and counsel for the House Ethics GOP. … Matt Sparks is leaving Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s office, where he’s been deputy chief of staff, per Punchbowl.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY: NBC’s Sheinelle Jones ... Mark Rusthoven ... CNN’s Emily Kuhn … POLITICO’s Kareem Payne and Grecia Rayme … Bloomberg’s Felix Gillette ... Sarah Flaim ... Jonathan Battaglia ... Ally Schmeiser … MPA’s Kathy Grant … Louie Agnello … Katie Delzell of Beacon Consulting … Woolf Strategy’s Courtney Sieloff … Tory Brown … Pluribus News’ Sophie Quinton … Ron Kaufman … Laura Lee Burkett … Bob Evans of Del. Stacey Plaskett’s (D-U.S. Virgin Islands) office … Vic Beck of Northrop Grumman … Claire Murray … AARP’s Mary Liz Burns … Dustin Brandenburg ... Lizzy Demaree … Orde Kittrie … Alleigh Marré of Free to Learn … Prime Transatlantic’s John Schmitz … Ryan Nabil … Jeff Fraser (35) … Peter Tarnoff

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