POLITICO Playbook: Trump’s briefing balloons Presented by Amazon

There is mounting evidence that President Donald Trump enjoys releasing trial balloons, and doesn't mind when they float into the ether and explode out of sight. | Alex Brandon/AP Photo

DRIVING THE DAY

THE ROUTINE HAS BECOME QUITE ROUTINE. At around 5 p.m., the president takes to the podium at the White House. He says something … how can we be charitable … interesting, and around Washington and New York, email inboxes start buzzing.

“WAIT, HE SAID WHAT?” says every editor and television producer to a chain of reporters and correspondents. Depending on their fortitude, reporters invariably reply something like this: “Ugh, this will never happen, and let me explain why.” It’s typically a waste of energy, as breaking news alerts go out and red banners get splayed across TV’s lower thirds.

THERE IS MOUNTING EVIDENCE -- a pile of it, in fact -- that President DONALD TRUMP enjoys releasing trial balloons, and doesn’t mind when they float into the ether and explode out of sight. PUT MORE BLUNTLY, lots of times, his words are just words.

THE EVIDENCE:

-- THE PRESIDENT said he has “total” control over when, whether and how the country reopens. Just days later, he said he’d defer totally to governors.

-- THE PRESIDENT and his allies have not been shy about urging states to reopen. Pockets of America will open at different times, he’s said, and that is OK with him because it is up to local officials. But when Georgia’s BRIAN KEMP moved faster than any other governor, the president smacked him down from the White House briefing room.

-- THE PRESIDENT said last week he would use the Constitution’s power to unilaterally adjourn Congress because he was so frustrated with the pace of executive branch confirmations. He never brought it up again, and this week, his Capitol Hill allies began pressing the case that Congress should come back into session immediately.

AROUND TOWN IN THE ERA OF CORONA …

-- TONY FAUCI gave this ray of sunshine Wednesday: “We will have coronavirus in the fall. I am convinced of that.” The country will be better prepared, he did allow.

-- NYT’S MIKE SHEAR and MAGGIE HABERMAN: “Health Dept. Official Says Doubts on Hydroxychloroquine Led to His Ouster” … DAN DIAMOND: “One person familiar with the situation said [Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority Director Rick] Bright was frozen out of his email and learned about the reassignment only when his name was removed from the BARDA website this weekend. As of Tuesday, Bright had not accepted the reassignment to NIH, where he was tapped to work on efforts to deploy point-of-care Covid-19 testing. Gary Disbrow, Bright’s former deputy, is now BARDA’s acting leader.”

-- BIG PICTURE, via WaPo’s Ashley Parker, Josh Dawsey, Yasmeen Abutaleb and Lena Sun: “Under Trump, coronavirus scientists can speak — as long as they mostly toe the line”

-- THROWN UNDER THE BUS ONCE AGAIN … REUTERS reports that HHS Secretary ALEX AZAR has “tapped a trusted aide with minimal public health experience to lead the agency’s day-to-day response to COVID-19. The aide, Brian Harrison, had joined the department after running a dog-breeding business for six years. Five sources say some officials in the White House derisively called him ‘the dog breeder.’”

-- REPS. JAMIE RASKIN (D-Md.) and JIM JORDAN (R-Ohio) got into a shouting match at a Rules Committee hearing about oversight -- a dustup seemingly exacerbated by the fact that JORDAN wasn’t wearing a mask.

-- JOHN KERRY in a Playbook Interview Wednesday about whether he’d serve in a JOE BIDEN administration: “Well, I haven’t been asked. And I haven’t really stopped to think about it because we need to elect a president before those kinds of things are put on the table.”

-- THE HOUSE GOP LEADERSHIP is whipping against the creation of the Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis -- a committee Speaker NANCY PELOSI created.

NEXT UP … TEXAS TRIBUNE: “Gov. Greg Abbott promises far-reaching announcement on reopening Texas businesses, including restaurants, hair salons,” by Patrick Svitek: “Gov. Greg Abbott could make an announcement as soon as Friday about reopening a wide range of Texas businesses amid the coronavirus pandemic, including restaurants, hair salons and retail outlets.”

Good Thursday morning.

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MUST READ … BURGESS EVERETT: “Schumer’s Senate Democrats show sharper edge in coronavirus era”: “Chuck Schumer and his Senate Democrats have found a go-to play in this pandemic: an old-school blockade.

“Amid a coronavirus outbreak that’s crippling the economy, Schumer’s caucus is digging in for longer fights with Republicans and embracing tough tactics that previously made Senate Democrats queasy. But the voluble minority leader argues that his hard line is paying off — and that it hasn’t even been that difficult to keep his ideologically diverse party united. …

“[Mitch] McConnell said in a separate interview that the longer Democrats delayed the small-business portion, the more obvious it became that hospitals and testing would need to be included in the package. He icily rejected the notion that Schumer’s strategy resulted in the inclusion of anything that wouldn’t have eventually passed anyway.

“‘You should be familiar with that. There’s never been a deal that Schumer didn’t win,’ McConnell said. ‘All I can say -- I’m saying it with a smile on my face -- is there hasn’t been a deal that he didn’t dominate. According to him.’”

JOHN HARRIS … “ALTITUDE” COLUMN: “Stop Looking on the Bright Side: We’ll Be Screwed By the Pandemic for Years to Come”

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OIL REBOUNDING, AND GUESS WHY … FT: “As European trading began on Thursday, Brent continued its recovery with the international oil marker adding 9 per cent to $22.20. A day earlier the international benchmark fell below $20 for the first time since 1999. West Texas Intermediate rose 11.5 per cent to $15.36 a barrel. Analysts said the gains were due in part to U.S. president Donald Trump ordering American warships to attack any Iranian vessels that posed a threat. Mr Trump said in a tweet on Wednesday that he had ‘instructed the United States Navy to shoot down and destroy any and all Iranian gunboats if they harass our ships at sea.’”

THE NEXT BIG FIGHT … ZACH WARMBRODT: “Celebrity chefs, insurers lobby Trump in fight over massive claims payouts”: “President Donald Trump is at the center of a fierce lobbying fight between insurers and businesses that are clashing over hundreds of billions of dollars in claims triggered by the Covid-19 outbreak.

“Trump has proven to be a wild card in the dispute over business interruption insurance policies, which are designed to protect companies financially when there are major disruptions. The president, who oversaw his own hospitality empire before being elected, has shown sympathy to restaurants and other businesses pushing for payouts, while also saying he understands why insurers are contesting claims for a pandemic they say they never pledged to cover.

“Celebrity chefs such as Wolfgang Puck and Thomas Keller have launched their own advocacy group to pressure insurers to pay and have made their case on Fox News, trying to spread the word on one of Trump's preferred outlets. The battle has ramped up as the president has recruited the chefs and a top insurance executive to advise him on a sprawling panel focused on reopening the economy.

“‘I understand the sympathy that he extended on the subject to those who are suffering,’ said Evan Greenberg, CEO of the insurer Chubb and a member of Trump’s council. ‘The fact is you've got to go back to first principles and the facts.’ The battle has big implications not only for the finances of the insurance industry and its aggrieved customers but also for how Washington resolves what are bound to be countless other legal tangles that the pandemic is creating as it rocks the country.”

WSJ ED BOARD: “Bail Out the States?: Any more federal aid should come with very strict conditions”: “President Trump has signaled he’s open to a state bailout because, well, he’s open to anything these days. But Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell caused a stir Wednesday when he said states should consider bankruptcy rather than get a bailout. He cited the Chapter 9 workouts of cities like Detroit.

“But some doubt that state bankruptcy is constitutional under the Contracts Clause, and any Chapter 9 filing would be challenged in court. Mr. McConnell’s larger point is that states shouldn’t get more no-strings cash. Private companies that borrow from the Fed and Treasury have to meet stiff conditions, including limits on compensation, and the same should apply to state governments.

“Bailout conditions should include cuts in nonessential spending, immediate and permanent reductions in public pension benefits, and other reforms to put states on a path to fiscal recovery. Lawmakers will protest, but they are the ones asking Americans for help. If states want more money, they need to show it won’t merely go to sustain unaccountable, one-party political machines.

NYT’S PETER BAKER: “The Cold Calculations America’s Leaders Will Have to Make Before Reopening”: “How many deaths are acceptable to reopen the country before the coronavirus is completely eradicated? ‘One is too many,’ President Trump insists, a politically safe formulation that any leader would instinctively articulate.

“But that is not the reality of Mr. Trump’s reopen-soon approach. Nor for that matter will it be the bottom line for even those governors who want to go slower. Until there is a vaccine or a cure for the coronavirus, the macabre truth is that any plan to begin restoring public life invariably means trading away some lives. The question is how far will leaders go to keep it to a minimum. …

“The question divides not only the nation but even families. Rahm Emanuel, the former mayor of Chicago and White House chief of staff, and his brother, Dr. Ezekiel J. Emanuel, a prominent medical ethicist and vice provost of global initiatives at the University of Pennsylvania, have engaged in a running quarrel about how soon society should reopen. Rahm Emanuel considers it untenable to keep most of the country closed until the virus is completely under control, while Ezekiel Emanuel maintains that the pandemic is too much of a threat to rush back to life as usual.”

THE PRESIDENT’S THURSDAY -- TRUMP has no public events. The coronavirus taskforce will hold a briefing at 5 p.m.

PLAYBOOK READS

PHOTO DU JOUR: A backhoe buries coffins in a common pit at the Nossa Senhora Aparecida cemetery in Manaus, Amazonas state, Brazil, on Wednesday, April 22. | Emerson Cardoso/AP Photo

MOVE OVER, GOLDMAN SACHS -- “How a family-owned Nebraska bank became a leader on coronavirus loans,” by WaPo’s Jeanne Whalen and Renae Merle: “Union Bank & Trust is nowhere near the top of the banking leagues. Last year the family-owned institution, with 900 employees, was the nation’s 202nd largest bank by assets, according to the Federal Reserve. Yet 72 hours into the emergency lending program, it ranked second in the nation for number of loans approved, according to the Small Business Administration.”

WATCH THIS SPACE … JOSH GERSTEIN: “Judge orders transfer or release for some inmates at virus-wracked Ohio federal prison”

NYT’S JULIAN BARNES: “U.S. May Share Less Intelligence With Countries That Criminalize Homosexuality”: “The Trump administration is considering cutting back on sharing intelligence with partner countries that criminalize homosexuality as part of a push by the acting director of national intelligence, Richard Grenell, to prod those nations to change their laws.

“The intelligence community should be pushing American values with the countries it works with, Mr. Grenell said in an interview this week. ‘We can’t just simply make the moral argument and expect others to respond in kind because telling others that it’s the right thing to do doesn’t always work.’ he said. But, he added, ‘to fight for decriminalization is to fight for basic human rights.’”

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BUSINESS BURST -- “Bezos Takes Back the Wheel at Amazon,” by NYT’s Karen Weise in Seattle: “After years of working almost exclusively on long-term projects and pushing day-to-day management to his deputies, Mr. Bezos, 56, has turned back to the here-and-now problems facing Amazon, the company said, as the giant retailer grapples with a surge of demand, labor unrest and supply chain challenges brought on by the coronavirus.

“He is holding daily calls to help make decisions about inventory and testing, as well as how and when -- down to the minute -- Amazon responds to public criticism. He has talked to government officials. And in April, for the first time in years, he made a publicized visit to one of Amazon’s warehouses.”

MEDIAWATCH -- “Fox Cuts Pay to Cope With Health Crisis Its Own Hosts Downplayed,” by Bloomberg’s Christopher Palmeri: “Chief Executive Officer Lachlan Murdoch, Rupert’s eldest son, and three other corporate officers will have their salaries eliminated through September, the company said on Wednesday, saying it was navigating ‘an unprecedented health crisis.’ Other executives at Fox, including Fox News CEO Suzanne Scott, will have their pay cut in half. About 700 employees in all will see some salary reductions.”

-- “Coronavirus reignites feud between publishers and platforms,” by Mark Scott

PLAYBOOKERS

Send tips to Eli Okun and Garrett Ross at [email protected].

BIRTHDAY OF THE DAY: Clarine Nardi Riddle, counsel at Kasowitz Benson Torres and co-founder of No Labels. A fun fact about her: “When I was the Clinton High School newspaper editor in Clinton, Ind., I participated in a summer statewide conference for high school newspaper editors. Well, the conference had many educational sessions about journalism and more, but it also had a talent contest. Many of the students played instruments or sang a favorite song, and I won ‘second place’ for singing my own rendition of Petula Clark’s ‘Downtown.’ That was so much fun.” Playbook Q&A

BIRTHDAYS: Rep. Fred Upton (R-Mich.) is 67 … Aaron Huertas … DOE’s Zachery Michael is 31 (h/t Chris Lamontagne) … Neil Strauss of the Republican Jewish Coalition … Jeff Wiener, managing partner at Milne, Wiener & Shofe Global Strategies, is 47 … Gus Portela … Tim Lim, founder and president of Lim Consulting … POLITICO’s Cory Bennett, Blendi Qatipi and Phil Vavelidis … Hadar Susskind is 47 … Gary Hymel is 87 (h/t Jeff Trammell) … Pili Tobar, deputy director at America’s Voice … Gideon Bender … Doug Brake, director of broadband and spectrum policy at the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation (h/t Sintia Radu) … Kindred Motes, senior officer at Wallace Global Fund, is 3-0 … Bonyen Lee-Gilmore, director of state media campaigns for Planned Parenthood (h/t Andrew Taverrite) … John Oliver is 43 … Kal Penn is 43 (h/t Ben Chang) … Michael Moore is 66 …

… Bill Browder is 56 … Alexis Kleinman, editor at NYT’s T Brand Studio ... Gideon Lett, principal and head of the Bay Area office of Monument Advocacy (h/t Tim Burger) … Kegan Beran of FlexPoint Media (h/t Steve Johnston) … New York state Sen. Michael Gianaris is 5-0 … Iowa state Rep. Joe Mitchell … Therese Burch … Ted Trippi … Dave Falkenstein ... Sarah Nielsen ... Alex Johnson ... Darien Flowers ... Chevron’s Jennifer Smith … Amy Wainwright ... Aerin Lauder is 5-0 ... MSNBC’s Alex Lupica ... Alex Swieca is 28 ... Michael Celler ... Paula Dwyer, senior editor at Bloomberg News ... WNYC’s Beth Fertig ... Josh Kriegman ... Andrew Brent ... Justin White ... Mitchell Whiteman … Alexis Hurley (h/t David Andelman) … Tanya Melich … Richard Bender … Martha Laning ... Tom Russell (h/ts Teresa Vilmain) … Vice News’ Jesse Seidman … Zachary Todd

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