POLITICO Playbook: What the Pentagon knew about that drone attack - POLITICO - Politico

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DRIVING THE DAY

SCOOP: EX-MEMBERS TELL BIDEN “FINISH THE JOB” — In a letter obtained by Playbook this morning, 21 former House Democrats who lost their seats in 2010 amid GOP attacks over their support for the Affordable Care Act are asking President JOE BIDEN to use reconciliation to shore up the legislation that ended their careers. In the missive, the members remind Democratic leaders how hard the GOP worked to repeal the ACA — and warn them that “the radicalized and Trump-ified Republican Party of today would almost certainly allow the new subsidies and Medicaid policies... to expire” if they retake the majority.

— Why it’s important: The letter comes as the White House, Speaker NANCY PELOSI and Senate Majority Leader CHUCK SCHUMER are working feverishly through the weekend to iron out disagreements over the reconciliation package. As we reported a few days ago, chief among those disagreements is a big decision on health care: whether to make the ACA’s enhanced subsidies permanent (which is what Pelosi wants), or to instead put that limited pot of cash into a Medicare expansion (which is what Biden, Schumer and BERNIE SANDERS want). The letter

HAPPENING TODAY — Backers of former President DONALD TRUMP will gather near the Capitol to demonstrate in support of defendants charged in connection with the deadly riots on Jan. 6.

— DHS officials warn about the potential for violence, which could erupt with “little-to-no warning,” per an internal assessment obtained by the NYT.

— There will be National Guard troops nearby ready to deploy if that happens. WaPo reports on the strange bureaucratic infighting in the run-up, including the chief of the Capitol Policy withdrawing a request for National Guard support “at the urging of a top Senate security official who said he had not followed protocol.”

— Related reading: “Republican leaders remain silent as Trump casts perpetrators of Jan. 6 attack as political prisoners,” by WaPo’s Mike DeBonis and Marianna Sotomayor.

WHEN DID THE PENTAGON KNOW? — An Aug. 29 U.S. drone strike in Kabul killed 10 civilians, including seven children, the Pentagon revealed on Friday, confirming a report last week by the NYT.

— The Pentagon had previously defended the action as a “righteous strike” against an ISIS-K bomber whose car was loaded with explosives ahead of a planned suicide attack.

— In reality, the driver of the car, ZAMARAI AHMADI, was not carrying explosives, but instead “hauling water cans for his family,” reports the WaPo. After he stopped near a building suspected to be an ISIS-K safehouse and ran errands, he was followed by an armed Reaper drone as he returned home.

“The father of four had a tradition with his kids, his family later said: Ahmadi would hop out of the car and let his children finish parking. Several piled into the car, his brother said, and they reversed into the courtyard under the shade of a nearby tree.

“A few minutes after Ahmadi’s arrival, the commander fired a single Hellfire missile at the vehicle, destroying the sedan in an explosion and strewing bodies through the wreckage and courtyard. The drone operator did not see any children when the missile launched, but it was already in flight when three children could be seen just as the missile struck, officials said.”

— Gen. FRANK MCKENZIE, head of U.S. Central Command, “declined to comment as to whether anyone will be disciplined over the strike, noting that the investigation is ongoing,” reports Lara Seligman.

Good Saturday morning, and thanks for reading Playbook, where we’re gearing up for the congressional week-from-hell that’s starting Monday by considering a long run. Or maybe we’ll just eat ice cream instead. Drop us a line: Rachael Bade, Eugene Daniels, Ryan Lizza, Tara Palmeri.

RECONCILABLE DIFFERENCES? — Friday afternoon was anything but sleepy: there were several significant developments on the Biden agenda front — all spelling bad news for Democrats. Escalating tensions are spilling over — House vs. Senate, progressives vs. moderates — and Pelosi has a three-seat margin while facing down a Sept. 27 deadline to make peace within her caucus.

Let’s recap:

1) JAYAPAL ISSUES A THREAT: On Friday, House progressives dramatically escalated their threat to block the bipartisan infrastructure bill, which is scheduled for a vote on Sept. 27, unless it’s paired with the $3.5 trillion reconciliation bill.

— Rep. PRAMILA JAYAPAL (D-Wash.) says that more than half of the 96-member Congressional Progressive Caucus, which she chairs, has “privately indicated they’re willing to block the bipartisan Senate bill,” report Sarah Ferris, Burgess Everett and Heather Caygle.

— Not everyone believes this threat. We’ve talked to several centrist Democrats this week who scoffed at the notion that progressives would actually tank a Biden win at a time the White House desperately needs one. These types argue that it’s one thing to tell Jayapal you agree with her stance that one bill should not pass without the other, but a totally different situation when Biden and Pelosi are whipping you and you have to take a public vote.

— FWIW, Democratic leaders seem to be taking this threat seriously. Sarah, Burgess and Heather spoke with a senior Dem aide who says “there is serious concern among Leadership that there aren’t the votes to pass the infrastructure bill unless reconciliation moves at the same time, which can’t happen unless the Senate moves more expeditiously on pre-conferencing [the reconciliation package].”

2) MODERATES GAVE AN IMPLICIT THREAT OF THEIR OWN: On cue, the nine members of the House “Mod Squad” released a statement on Friday evening reminding Democratic leadership of two promises Pelosi made in order to garner their support on the budget: 1) a Sept. 27 vote on the BIF, and 2) her vow to “only bring a bill to the House floor that can garner the necessary 51 votes for passage in the Senate” (read: a reconciliation package substantially smaller than $3.5 trillion).

— Consider this a warning shot. If senior Democrats try to delay the BIF vote, these members are going to go berserk. They’re laying down a marker to tell leadership not to back off, even amid the Jayapal threat. They think this thing will pass.

3) MORE DEM PROBLEMS: As if this drama wasn’t enough, the path to a smaller reconciliation package grew even more complicated on Friday. The CBO released scores for the reconciliation bills passed by three House committees — and two of them are larger than the target amount allotted.

— Oversight Committee: Target amount: $7.5 billion. Actual score: $14.1 billion.

— Homeland Security Committee: Target amount: $500 million. Actual score: $848 million.

— Veterans Affairs: Target amount: $18 billion. Actual score: $17.6 billion.

— TL;DR: The news comes as Dem leaders were looking to move in the opposite direction to meet their moderates’ concerns about the size of the package. This is really going well!

8 THINGS WE READ THAT STUCK WITH US

— France is recalling its ambassador to the United States for the first time since 1778, the NYT scooped, a sign of its fury over the U.S. agreement to provide nuclear submarines to Australia, which cancelled a $66 billion contract for French-built submersibles.

— “More than 40,000 women dropped out of the labor force between July and August, even as Americans flocked back to work,” reports Megan Cassella, thwarting expectations that school reopenings would be an inflection point for women who had to leave work to take care of their kids during the pandemic.

— Virginia’s gubernatorial election appears to be a dead heat. Democrat TERRY MCAULIFFE leads GOP nominee GLENN YOUNGKIN by just three points, 50% to 47%, in a new WaPo-Schar School poll of likely voters. (Also interesting: 51% of Virginia voters disapprove of Biden’s performance as president. He won the state last year with 54%.)

— North Carolina’s voter ID law was struck down on Friday when a three-judge panel ruled that GOP lawmakers intended to make it harder for Black residents to vote, reports the News & Observer.

— “I’ve been covering the Hill for a long, long time, and the Hill right now to an unacceptably large extent is a real cesspool.” That’s the verdict of ANDREW TAYLOR, a doyen of the Capitol Hill press corps, in a new piece by WaPo’s Margaret Sullivan.

— Because of Texas’ abortion ban, “the anti-abortion movement is divided against itself,” Sarah Isgur writes for POLITICO Magazine.

— A California wildfire is within striking distance of the world’s largest tree, a 2,300-year-old giant Sequoia named General Sherman, reports the L.A. Times. (Can’t help but note the historical irony of a tree named after Gen. Sherman being threatened by fire.)

— An FDA panel on Friday voted in favor of a booster of the Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine for people 65 and older and for individuals at high risk for severe disease, Lauren Gardner reports. “The vote came after the independent committee unexpectedly voted 16-2 against advising the agency to approve boosters for anyone 16 and older after hours of debate.”

BIDEN AND VP KAMALA HARRIS’ SATURDAY — The president and vice president have nothing on their public schedules.

PLAYBOOK READS

CONGRESS

JAN. 6 COMMITTEE LATEST — The House committee investigating the events of Jan. 6 announced Friday it had recruited JOHN WOOD, a former U.S. attorney and Bush administration official, to serve as legal counsel. More from The Hill’s Rebecca Beitsch.

POLITICS ROUNDUP

ARIZONA AUDIT GETS A RELEASE DATE — The long-gestating audit of the 2020 election in Maricopa County will finally be made public in an state Senate hearing scheduled for Sept. 24 at 1 p.m., reports the Arizona Republic.

PA SENATE RACE GETS PERSONAL — A super PAC is launching an ad targeting Pennsylvania Senate candidate SEAN PARNELL, highlighting when Parnell’s wife sought protective orders against him, Scott Bland reports. The PAC supports JEFF BARTOS, who is running against Parnell in the GOP primary.

The ad, Scott writes, “is slated to run on TV on Saturday night during the Penn State University football game against Auburn University. The TV expense and a sizable digital campaign will add up to a six-figure buy, according to the super PAC.”

POLICY CORNER

BACK TO THE DISTRICT — The headquarters of the Bureau of Land Management is heading back to Washington, D.C., after the Trump administration relocated the agency to Colorado, according to Colorado Public Radio’s Bente Birkeland.

THE PANDEMIC

— A recent study by the CDC found that the Moderna vaccine is the most effective, when compared to the other vaccines, Erin Banco reports.

— NYT has a deep dive of how schools across the country reopened amidst the coronavirus pandemic.

BEYOND THE BELTWAY

NEW CRSIS AT THE BORDER — AP’s Eric Gay and Elliot Spagat report that “the Biden administration plans the widescale expulsion of Haitian migrants from a small Texas border city by putting them on on flights to Haiti starting Sunday … representing a swift and dramatic response to thousands who suddenly crossed the border from Mexico and gathered under and around a bridge. Details are yet to be finalized but will likely involve five to eight flights a day.”

— NYT explains how the new crisis at the southern border unfolded.

JAN. 6 AND ITS AFTERMATH

WHERE ARE THE INSURRECTIONISTS NOW — WaPo’s Spencer S. Hsu, Tom Jackman, Ellie Silverman and Rachel Weiner break down where the Jan. 6th insurrectionists stand today: “Of the roughly 600 people charged in the Jan. 6 Capitol attack, 78 remain jailed pending trial, with a majority of those still detained accused of assaulting police officers or some of the worst violence seen that day.

“Defendants are being jailed pending trial at lower rates than federal defendants nationwide charged with similar offenses, however. And nearly half face misdemeanors that typically carry little or no prison time for first offenders. No one charged with a misdemeanor remains jailed.

CLICKER — “The nation’s cartoonists on the week in politics,” edited by Matt Wuerker — 17 funnies

GREAT WEEKEND READS, curated by Ryan Lizza:

— “Revolt of the Delivery Workers,” by Josh Dzieza for N.Y. Mag’s Curbed: “Exploited by apps. Attacked by thieves. Unprotected by cops. 65,000 strong, with only themselves to count on.”

— “Who Shot Walker Daugherty?” by Texas Monthly’s Wes Ferguson: “A shoot-out at a Big Bend ranch captured the nation’s attention: first as an alleged ambush by undocumented migrants, then as a fear-mongering hoax. The real story is much more mysterious.”

— “Beyond Britney: Abuse, Exploitation, and Death Inside America’s Guardianship Industry,” by BuzzFeed’s Heidi Blake and Katie Baker: “For people under guardianship, the system can be dehumanizing, dangerous, and even deadly. For the professionals — who can control hundreds of people at a time — it can be very profitable.”

— “The Expanded Child Tax Credit Was a Godsend to Struggling Families. Will Democrats Save It?” by The New Republic’s Grace Segers: “The phenomenally effective and wildly popular program could be the centerpiece of the party’s midterm argument—if only it could agree to keep it.”

— “Breaking Right: The Wall Street Journal’s Stubborn Conservatism,” by Adam Piore for Columbia Journalism Review: “At a moment when just about every other news outlet, it seems, is questioning its conventions and seeking to start a new chapter, the Journal has dug in its heels. … But if the Journal stubbornly refuses to change, in the long term, its influence may fade alongside its geriatric readership.”

— “Does ‘Conservatism’ Actually Mean Anything Anymore?” by Zack Stanton in POLITICO Magazine: “George Will on the hijacking of conservatism, how politics became obsessed with things that politics cannot fix, and why he didn’t hear about the Tulsa massacre until 2020.”

From the archives: “Norm Macdonald, Still in Search of the Perfect Joke,” by Dan Brooks for NYT Magazine, Aug. 30, 2018: “He has won a cult following by playing the wise fool, but his comedic ambitions are much greater than that. If he could only hold down a job.”

PLAYBOOKERS

SPOTTED by Ryan at a dinner party Friday night hosted by Dina Kawar, the Jordanian ambassador to the U.S., for Susie Westmacott and former UK ambassador Peter Westmacott, who visited Washington this week: Sens. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) and Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) and Katherine Van Hollen, Susan Blumenthal, Kevin Chafee, Alexandra Villard de Borchgrave, Doug Heye, Rima Al-Sabah, Olivia Nuzzi.

MEDIA MOVE — Janae Bowens is joining Sinclair’s new evening edition of “The National Desk” as an on-air investigative producer. She most recently was senior White House producer at BNC, and is a Tim Scott and Mark Walker alum.

TRANSITIONS — John Wood will be senior investigative counsel for the Jan. 6 select committee and of counsel to the vice chair. He most recently was at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and is a Bush administration alum. … Amanda Fuchs Miller is now legislative director for Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.). She most recently was president of Seventh Street Strategies. … Devan Cayea is now senior adviser/director of strategic planning for New York Gov. Kathy Hochul. He most recently was scheduling director for Sen. Alex Padilla (D-Calif.).

WEDDINGS — Valeria Dueñas and John Garfinkel, via NYT: “Ms. Dueñas [is] a lawyer in the general counsel’s office at the U.S. Department of Commerce … Mr. Garfinkel [is] a senior director at Pointe Advisory … The pair married Aug. 28 — about a year after their postponed date in 2020 — at Washington National Cathedral.”

— Varun Anand and Hannah Smith, via NYT: “Ms. Smith, who is the head of privacy and security policy for the social media platform Clubhouse [and an Obama 2012 alum] … Mr. Anand, the director of operations and strategy for the tech-enabled insurance brokerage Newfront [and a Hillary 2016 alum] … The couple wed Aug. 28, 2021 in Sundance, Utah. … They rented a private home to host what Mr. Anand described as ‘an upscale house party’ for their 60 guests.”

WELCOME TO THE WORLD — Eric Schmitz, coalitions coordinator for House Republican Whip Steve Scalise (R-La.), and Janene Schmitz welcomed Benedict “Bennie” Joseph Schmitz on Labor Day. He joins big sisters Gianna and Philomena. Pic

HAPPY BIRTHDAY: Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.) … Reps. Anthony Gonzalez (R-Ohio) and Steve Watkins (R-Kan.) … former HUD Secretary Ben Carson (7-0) … Bakari Sellers … WaPo’s Griff Witte, Darryl Fears and Desmond Butler … Scott MacFarlane … Jeff Sadosky of Forbes Tate Partners … Katrina Bishop … Chris Lucas of BNYMellon … Nicole Duran … Christina Hartman … Joan Walsh of Peacock and The Nation … Tina Stoll of Campaign Finance Consultants … Jackie Calmes of the L.A. Times … Luis Navarro … Safiya Ghori-Ahmad of McLarty Associates … Jess Morales Rocketto … Rachel Irwin of Building Back Together … Dayna Cade … Daniel Burnett of the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education … Erin Buechel Wieczorek of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency … Adam Keiper … Angela Flood of Cove Strategies … Monica Pampell … former Rep. John Tierney (D-Mass.), now of the Council for a Livable World … Edelman’s Andrew Church … Carrie Hebert of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce … State’s Carly Lindgren … Trevor Houser of Rhodium Group … Steven Pinker ... Sara Haines … POLITICO’s Ian Bent … Kristen Crowell

THE SHOWS (Full Sunday show listings here):

“State of the Union”: Anthony Fauci … Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves … House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn (D-S.C.).
“Face the Nation”: NIH Director Francis Collins … Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) … Scott Kirby … Scott Gottlieb.
“Fox News Sunday”: Rep. John Yarmuth (D-Ky.) … NIH Director Francis Collins. Panel: Marc Short, Julie Pace and Mo Elleithee. Power Player: Jay Glazer.
“Meet the Press”: Anthony Fauci … Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.). Panel: María Teresa Kumar, Rich Lowry, Jeff Mason and Anna Palmer.
“The Sunday Show”: Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) … Adewale “Wally” Adeyemo … Morgan Harper … Carol Leonnig … Michael Bender.
“This Week”: Anthony Fauci … retired Adm. Mike Mullen. FBI/USA Gymnastics panel: Pierre Thomas and Christine Brennan. Panel: Jonathan Karl, Rachel Scott, Vivian Salama and Evan Osnos.
“Full Court Press”: Austan Goolsbee … Ilir Sela.
“Inside Politics”: Panel: Margaret Talev, Jonathan Martin, Sabrina Siddiqui, Rachael Bade and Ashish Jha.

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