Senior national political correspondent for Bloomberg News (
@business
). Covered Biden + Trump White Houses. ❤️ economic news. Tips to ncook40
@bloomberg
.net
*Life news*: After six (!!) years on the White House beat, I'm moving to Bberg's politics team in Jan. as a senior national political correspondent to cover policy-meets-politics for D's + R's heading into 2024. Will still write about Biden + economy but will report on GOP, too.
I was struck today, sitting in the WH briefing room, that the first four rows of seats were ALL female reporters from TV, the wires and print. That's a cool moment.
Mass at the Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Uvalde — Seven of the families whose kids were killed belong to this parish, the Bidens are sitting in the first pew on the right.
NEW: A source close to Mulvaney tells me he is no longer interested in COS job, Mnuchin and Lighthizer sending out same signals.... list of potential replacements for Kelly shrinking by the hour.
President Biden and Dr. Biden made a surprise stop at the photo wall, two blocks from the Surfside building. It has photos, flowers and signs about the people who lived there.
It is funny to me that Stephanie Grisham's forthcoming memoir is called "I'll Take Your Questions Now..." when she never actually held a press briefing as the WH press secretary:
The Biden WH seems *particularly intent* on the press not asking any q's of POTUS 14 days out from the midterms, w/WH aides screaming in the faces of reporters who try to ask Biden q's following each event today.
Final stop in Warsaw: the VP met with American and Polish service members to thank them and talk about importance of NATO alliance. A handful tore their service patches off their uniforms and gave them to her.
One R close to the Kavanaugh confirmation process just told me this after the third allegation of sexual misconduct came out -->
“You can’t be a rapist and alcoholic at the age of 17 and then years later, become a highly accomplished person.”
NEW: As Biden weighs a student debt decision, Penn Wharton Budget Model has released its analysis of student loan forgiveness, estimating it will cost bet. $300-$980 billion, w/majority of relief going toward borrowers in top 60% of earners. More on the
@TheTerminal
.
DeSantis "has privately acknowledged to friends + allies that Trump holds so much sway over GOP voters that it leaves little room for alternative candidates. The timing may not have been right for DeSantis to run, according to allies."
NEW: Trump & his aides want to move ahead w/firing a few top officials like Esper and Wray and signing a slew of executive orders to make Trump look as presidential as possible, as his campaign disputes ballots and Biden kicks up his transition team.
This lede, WOW --
"Julesa Webb resumed an old habit: serving her children three meals a day. Corrine Young paid the water bill and stopped bathing at her neighbor’s apartment...."
NEW: White House will announce today Treasury and IRS have sent out more than 150 million stimulus checks so far from the Covid relief bill, same week as surpassing goal of 150 shots. Story on the terminal...
Trump just referred to House Intelligence Chairman
@RepAdamSchiff
as a "political hack who's trying to build a name for himself," per WH pooler, in a move that Trump said amounts to "presidential harassment.” Trump is speaking from a ceremony for the new head of the World Bank.
NEW: DeSantis HQ in Tallahassee is a gloomy place these days. Aides worry reset did not go far enough, say there is no coherent strategy or message. Aides (even among highest rungs of campaign) feel frustrated + disappointed.
NEW: Trump is making decisions surrounded by different WH factions + teams, all pursuing their own projects. On supply chain alone: 5 diff. groups tackling it -- not all coordinating.
Can his classic 'Team of Rivals' approach to governing work now?
A DeSantis event in Iowa, organized by the super PAC, is starting in about 10 minutes and the (small) room is still pretty empty — about 25-30 voters here.
Both last night at a fundraiser + then again this morning at the White House, President Biden referred to Ukraine as "Iraq" and said "my new best friend the prime minister of China" before correcting himself to say the Prime Minister of India.
Some *personal* news: After 5+ very busy years
@politico
, I’m leaving this month to join
@business
to cover the Biden White House with a special focus on economic policy. Anyone who knows me well understands this is the perfect next (geeky) job for me.
"Again, I'm not initiating any new law, any new aspect of the law. This is going back to what the situation was prior,” Biden says as he signs two actions on healthcare.
"Let's treat in person learning like an essential service that it is,"
@POTUS
says -- adding that he wants every teacher, child care worker and school staff member to get first shot of the vaccine by the end of March.
NEW (on the terminal!): Florida Governor Ron DeSantis is having internal discussions with aides on how/when to drop out, per two sources. It's expected to come before NH voting starts, and he is expected to endorse Trump.
West Virginia Democrat Joe Manchin said he does not support Biden's infrastructure bill as written. He does not support a 28% corporate tax rate and says that 25% is more appropriate, reports
@elwasson
.
Manchin was appearing on the WVMetroNews' program, "Talkline."
NEW: Several WH aides weighing whether they need to hire lawyers as impeachment starts to encroach on West Wing.
There's no legal defense fund in place yet, as there was w/Mueller.
Trump allies worry this will deter aides from defending POTUS.
"The videos again raised questions about the health of Mr. Trump, whose advisers have never fully explained his abrupt visit to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in November." via
@maggieNYT
NEW: Biden admin is considering extending pause on student loan repayment thru end of 2022, or until next July. Forgiving $10K in student debt also still on the table, but Biden has yet to make final decision.
NEW: One of the most organized parts of the White House these days is a surprising place — the West Wing office planning for a potential handoff to Biden:
Vice President Kamala Harris reaffirmed U.S. commitment to aiding NATO's eastern members at the start of a meeting with the Polish Prime Minister on Thursday, her first official meeting in her three-day trip.
“There is no question that we stand united,” Harris said.
BREAKING NEWS via
@meridithmcgraw
,
@nahaltoosi
: The State Dept. IG has been fired, the latest in a slew of watchdog firings by the Trump administration:
White House press secretary Karine Jeanne-Pierre on Nov. 18: "They have decided to make this wedding private. It is a family event. It is -- and we are going to respect Naomi and Peter's wishes."
For Vogue's special digital cover, Naomi Biden, the eldest granddaughter of President Biden and First Lady Dr. Jill Biden, opens up about planning a White House wedding, and the details—no matter how small—that made it a spectacular family affair.
President Biden meets w/Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards & local officials & offers help for Ida clean-up. Also uses it as chance to promote his Build Back Better agenda, saying it will help to rebuild structures to better withstand storms/wind/drastic weather.
Scooplet: The latest in the WH departure lounge? Stefan Passantino, the White House ethics czar in the counsel's office, who's leaving by the end of the summer:
GOP hopeful Vivek Ramaswamy gets a standing ovation during his speech at the Faith + Freedom Coalition, lots of applause and a much warmer reception than Pence.
White House is considering extending its pause on student loan repayment, set to begin again on Jan 1, confirming
@JStein_WaPo
's reporting.
There is no consensus on length of possible extension BUT Dems would love to see it happen before the Dec. 6 Georgia Senate runoff.
President Biden and Dr. Biden went for a walk on Rehoboth Beach this afternoon, along with 19 secret service agents and a large Coast Guard ship just offshore.
NEW: Trump staffers and allies have gotten fired by tweet, blamed for his shortcoming and screamed at in the Oval Office. Some have ended up subpoenaed, fined or even sentenced to prison. And now, they have been dragooned into a coronavirus outbreak:
NEW: President Trump seems liberated these days, w/ dwindling senior staff, no naysayers, & several major policy moves that only he can resolve. The WH is starting to resemble the Trump Org structure, leaving him with the presidency he's always wanted:
NEW: Trump WH is blocking Biden team from meeting w/OMB career officials to plan its first budget, a charge led by Russ Vought. Budget experts call this unprecedented & say it will delay Biden's proposal & potentially congressional appropriation bills:
NEWS: Senate Finance chair Ron Wyden will propose a 21% surtax on oil company profits considered excessive -- as Biden increasingly goes after oil companies like Exxon and WH aides consider a windfall tax, among other ideas, as a way to curb inflation.
Story
@TheTerminal
now.
NEWS: The Trump admin is planning to roll out of a lot more immigration moves this summer, ahead of the mid-terms, by using executive authority and under-the-radar rule-making. Miller + team of top agency officials been planning for months:
NEW: Trump's health officials uniformly horrified by idea of re-opening the economy. Top econ officials like Kudlow pushing for it, while Mnuchin & Kushner field calls from panicked CEOs.
Health ppl say testing is terrible & much abt virus we don't know:
President Biden taped an interview w/the "Smartless" podcast, done by actors Jason Bateman, Sean Hayes, and Will Arnett, while he was in LA, yet he has not sat down as president w/Bloomberg, Reuters, WaPo, NYTimes, Politico, etc.
BREAKING: The White House is planning to extend its pause on student loan repayment until June 30 or 60 days after a final disposition of the litigation, whichever is sooner, according to two ppl familiar with the plans. Announcement could come today- Story on
@TheTerminal
.
VP-elect Harris and her husband just visited a community service org, Martha’s Table, in Anacostia in honor of MLK Day, they bagged groceries with high school students and answered a few q’s.
NEW: Trump team will officially take over RNC tomorrow at a Texas meeting, RNC staffers bracing for big layoffs, not all members believe the party won't end up paying legal bills, James Blair from Trump team will also split time bet RNC/campaign:
JUST IN: Rear Adm. Kevin Sweeney, USN (Ret.), has stepped down as chief of staff to the secretary of Defense.
"After two years in the Pentagon, I've decided the time is right to return to the private sector." -
@HansNichols
NEW: Democrats are worried about running against DeSantis in 2024, given his age (44 vs. Biden's 80) + his experience running a big, diverse state. They know the playbook of how to win against Trump but are trying to figure out how to thwart Fla. governor:
NEW: With few to none GOP votes for Covid bill, Biden WH has been trying to build support outside of D.C. w/governors, mayors, tribal leaders and voters in key political states. Leaning on grassroots support will be a "fixture" of this WH w/
@justinsink
:
Joint Base Andrews is still on lock down but all of the Cabinet members who traveled with VP today got off base safely. Waiting on official statements about what is going on there.
I have no information other than this, but I am told JBA is on lockdown right now due to reports of an active shooter. Another reporter and I are in a shuttle van that is being held due to situation.
The VP had already left base on Marine 2.
Switching venues for POTUS may not help if policy not fixed, critics say.
“When there is some intractable problem, everyone decides it is a communications problem, but 99 percent of the time, it is not,” said Joe Lockhart. “The problem is they have not taken testing seriously."
NEW: Hope Hicks initially helped Trump focus on the pandemic and not just delegate the response to the VP or Azar.
Now that WH briefings have gone bust, she must help WH find a new message/venue for him to explain the corona response w/
@meridithmcgraw
:
Also NEW: WH is trying to project a sense of normalcy and urge economy to reopen as a greater share of West Wing aides work from home. WH trying to schedule meetings over teleconference. EEOB hallways empty. WH mess only open at the take-out window:
NEW: “It’s like an episode of ‘Maury,’” one former Trump aide observed to POLITICO as the spectacle unfolded. “The only thing that’s missing is a paternity test.”
Me +
@ccadelago
on the last 12 hours in the WH:
Fighting voter fraud has been a Republican rallying cry for years. But the GOP now finds one of its own candidates at the center of the biggest alleged election fraud in recent memory. via
@ec_schneider
:
Purdue Pharma, maker of OxyContin, filed for bankruptcy Sunday night. Now focus shifts to "new wrangling over how potential proceeds will be divvied up by communities reeling under the burden of addiction and overdose deaths." via
@PostRowland
:
"Mr. Trump is the first to turn the garden into a well-manicured mosh pit. Rather than telling his guests to watch their manners, the president scored the slugfest like a referee."
Here is
@MarkLandler
, dropping the mic as he exits the White House beat:
“He talks up his properties every chance he gets with anyone — with staff, with members of Congress, with the press, with the public, with foreign leaders, with anyone,” said a former White House official. “That’s what he has done." via
@anitakumar01
:
Good summary of Jay Powell's speech here by
@NickTimiraos
.
Monetary policy can only do so much amid the uncertainty surrounding the WH's trade policy, Powell says, in his highly anticipated speech.
NEW: Hope Hicks initially helped Trump focus on the pandemic and not just delegate the response to the VP or Azar.
Now that WH briefings have gone bust, she must help WH find a new message/venue for him to explain the corona response w/
@meridithmcgraw
:
Biden’s team members “have pretty successfully re-positioned the idea of unity to mean a super-majority of the country supports what they are doing -- the test is not whether you can get Kevin McCarthy to vote for it,” said John Podesta:
Workplaces + bosses do not seem to realize this fact.
Until schools + daycares + camps open 5 days a week for the full hours, parents cannot return to the offices for 40 hours a week.
The economy is recovering, but mothers of young children still aren't returning to the workforce.
Why not? Because so many schools are daycare centers still aren't really open. They're open only some hours, some days or some weeks. 🧵
President Biden spent last few hours with the families of Surfside residents. After giving brief remarks, he went from table-to-table to speak individually with the relatives -- as did Dr. Biden. Biden stayed until everyone had a chance to speak w/him, per WH official.
Trump is loving this new line about a 'major middle class tax cut' ahead of November elections -- even tho no one I have spoken to in WH, Hill, or among tax geeks knows what he is talking about...
“It’s just an unbelievable swing. He basically tripled Clinton’s numbers with white evangelicals,” said Michael Wear, a former faith adviser in the Obama administration. Read
@GabbyOrr_
on how Trump's loss of religious voters hurt him:
Behind-the-scenes Hicks has played a big role in the coronavirus response: Sitting in on task force meetings, overseeing Trump's schedule, and bringing CEOs to WH.
She's the rare aide who can give Trump candid advice in a crisis:
The Mueller report describes in great detail a chaotic WH where aides routinely disregard wishes of POTUS. It's a theme familiar from headlines and tell-all books. But now narrative is starker b/c it's backed up by on-the-record interviews from top aides:
President Biden called the hostage situation in Texas “an act of terror” and said he was still learning details on suspect’s motive and intent as he visited a non-profit in Philly to commemorate MLK Day.
"Atlas’s ascendancy was apparent during a recent Oval Office meeting. After Trump left the room, Atlas startled other aides by walking behind the Resolute Desk and occupying the president’s personal space to keep the meeting going..."
"The idea that we have so many people dying every single day from gun violence in America is a blemish on our character as a nation,” said Biden just now in the Rose Garden.
NEW: Biden White House is cool to the idea of Sen. Warren's wealth tax BUT she has stacked the admin w/former staffers and stays in close touch with Biden's top aides, giving her tons of influence over econ policy:
SCOOP: WH aides eyeing an an evaluation of the CDC to chart its missteps on coronavirus. Also thinking of putting more political appointees at agency and shrinking its mission, as Trump ppl look for a Covid-19 scapegoat w/
@adamcancryn
:
Vice President Harris just stopped by a meeting of climate leaders to reassure them the administration is devoted to making progress on climate change within the BBB bill —
As Biden makes personnel picks, things I am struck by after 4 yrs. of covering Trump:
* Names are predictable. No Rex Tillerson-like surprise.
* Announcements are coming before noon. (Trump usually does not get to the Oval until 11:30 a.m. and breaks news in afternoon/p.m.)
The bottom line is: There is no clear frontrunner to become the next White House COS -- and no one really seems to want the job, having seen the end result for Reince Priebus and Gen. John Kelly.
"One lesson of Biden’s winning presidential campaign, they say, is that there’s little incentive to engage with Trump, and that his penchant for spectacle is wearing thin with the American people." Read
@justinsink
on Biden camp's plan to ignore Trump:
NEW: Inside Biden WH's plan to sell infrastructure plan - focus on GOP voters & build public support instead of worrying too much about GOP lawmakers, send Cabinet members to the Hill & on TV. It's a rerun of playbook they used to pass Covid relief bill:
SCOOP: The White House is preparing to release the whistleblower complaint + IG report to Congress by the end of the week, per a senior administration official. POTUS has signed off on it -- for now:
NEW: Behind the scenes, Dr. Scott Atlas (WH's new adviser) has clashed w/Fauci on mandates over masks. He opposed a plan of Dr. Birx's to ramp up home testing like saliva tests.
In doing so, he's become Trump's fav new doc & quickly part of inner circle:
At least three WH aides resigned today including White House social secretary Rickie Niceta, top FLOTUS aide Stephanie Grisham and Sarah Matthews, a deputy in the press office.
Many more resignations potentially to come, as aides and R’s try to distance themselves from today.
Conservative groups, GOP congressional offices & WH have been very worried in last 48 hours about the optics of these protests -- and have urged conservative activists to also go to the Hill, or sit Senate galley to counteract liberals' chants of "no," "shame," per my reporting
NEW: One of Biden's top econ advisers from campaign (and his chief economist as VP) Ben Harris is slated to join Treasury as a senior adviser to Yellen w/
@SalehaMohsin
.
Looks like Treasury will be the power center of econ activity in Biden admin:
“There’s substantial disappointment, even disbelief, that this is going to be the choice,” says Amy Walter, editor of nonpartisan Cook Political Report. “Swing voters would rather eat a bowl of glass than have to choose between Trump and Biden again.”
NEW tonight: The make-up of Trump's new economic council changed a bunch of times today. Folks inside WH are not sure who is leading it, who is on it or its mission.
BUT it will act as an internal counterweight to the current health-focused task force: