Playbook PM: Disaster for Ukraine in the Oval Office

Politico

28-02-2025

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THE CATCH-UP
FROM THE OVAL: The meeting between President Donald Trump, VP JD Vance and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy quickly devolved into acrimony and chaos today, as the American leaders accused Kyiv of being insufficiently thankful for U.S. help.
In an extraordinary exchange the likes of which are not often seen publicly in the Oval Office, Vance called Zelenskyy 'disrespectful' and Trump upbraided him for doing a poor job on the battlefield and at the negotiating table. 'You've done enough talking. You're not winning this,' Trump told him at one point. 'You gotta be thankful. You don't have the cards.' The latest details from POLITICO's Eli Stokols
Trump castigated Zelenskyy for not reaching a cease-fire even as Ukraine suffers setbacks in the war. 'You're gambling with World War III,' he warned. Trump emphasized that he wasn't aligned with either Russia or Ukraine, just the U.S.
As Ukrainian Ambassador Oksana Markarova put her head in her hands, the shouting match exposed the extreme political and existential peril for Ukraine as it faces an aggressive Russia and a recalcitrant U.S. Trump dismissed calls for the U.S. to act as a security backstop for Ukraine, indicating that he wanted any such guarantee to follow a natural resources agreement.
Earlier in the meeting, Zelenskyy had tried to appeal to Trump. He showed him pictures, saying Russia was not abiding by the rules of war, and even said Trump's path would be better than Joe Biden's.
But by the end, it was disaster for Ukraine. The press conference was canceled, Zelenskyy left the White House, and the deal was reportedly not signed. 'It's amazing what comes out through emotion, and I have determined that President Zelenskyy is not ready for Peace if America is involved, because he feels our involvement gives him a big advantage in negotiations,' Trump said in a statement afterward. 'I don't want advantage, I want PEACE. He disrespected the United States of America in its cherished Oval Office. He can come back when he is ready for Peace.'
More Ukraine reading: Even if the U.S. and Ukraine sign the resources deal, it may not be so easy for the countries to get access to rare earth minerals and the resulting funds, CNN's Nick Paton Walsh, Victoria Butenko and Daria Markina-Tarasova report from Irshansk. 'Much of what does exist will be difficult to exploit, particularly at a time of war,' as mines struggle to extract much amid the conflict.
More Russia reading: Moscow hopes that it will be able to build back espionage presence in the West as a result of enhanced diplomatic ties and reopened embassies/consulates in the U.S., American officials tell CNN's Natasha Bertrand and Zachary Cohen. … Meanwhile, Israel has urged the U.S. to support keeping Russian bases in Syria, Reuters' Maya Gebeily and Humeyra Pamuk scooped. Jerusalem wants Syria to remain 'weak and decentralised,' with an ongoing Russian presence counterbalancing Turkish influence.
INFLATION NATION: The latest economic data presented something of a mixed bag for the country. The personal consumption expenditures price index, which the Fed prefers to measure inflation, rose 2.5 percent annually in January — moving in the right direction from December's 2.6 percent, and better than some other recent measures that had shown inflation ticking up. It's still half a point higher than the central bank wants. 'Still, Friday's report offers respite on the inflation front,' Bloomberg's Augusta Saraiva writes.
What economists didn't expect is that consumer spending actually fell in January, by 0.2 percent or an inflation-adjusted 0.5 percent. That could be just an anomaly, reflective of cold snaps that kept people indoors last month. But it may also give the Fed pause about the economy's health as it navigates the path forward on interest rates. A worsened consumer outlook, along with potential disruptions from tariffs, even led one Fed branch today to predict that the economy will shrink this quarter, though it's an outlier, AP's Christopher Rugaber and Anne D'Innocenzio report.
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8 THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW
1. WATCH YOUR LANGUAGE: For the first time ever, English will be declared the country's national language in a forthcoming executive order from Trump, WSJ's Meridith McGraw scooped. Concretely, he will also do away with a mandate that has existed for the past couple of decades ordering federal agencies and other groups to provide materials in other languages to people who don't speak English, though they'll still be allowed to do so.
2. IN THE DOGE HOUSE: The first Elon Musk-inspired email from OPM demanding five bullet points of accountability from federal workers ran into resistance from agency heads, but the Trump administration is now planning another approach to make it more concrete, WaPo's Emily Davies, Carol Leonnig and Hannah Natanson scooped. Coming tomorrow, government employees will get another such email asking what they did this week. And it's expected to become a weekly requirement, ultimately through Microsoft forms. Crucially, the answers will go to HR departments at each agency — with more direct authority to demand them — rather than right to OPM.
The cuts: More mass firings are expected to keep rolling out across the Pentagon and other agencies. Roughly 200 Social Security Administration contractors, along with 200 employees, are being fired, Bloomberg's Gregory Korte reports. Booz Allen Hamilton and similar firms stand at significant risk of losing tons of government contract business, WSJ's Chip Cutter reports. And in Oklahoma City, WaPo's Danielle Paquette reports on both the local toll of federal firings and the frightful Timothy McVeigh memories evoked by the rhetorical 'dehumanization' of the federal workforce.
How we got here: NYT's Jonathan Swan, Teddy Schleifer, Maggie Haberman, Ryan Mac, Kate Conger, Nicholas Nehamas and Madeleine Ngo go deep on how the world's wealthiest person came to take over the federal government. Two years ago, Musk began floating the idea of radically cutting the bureaucracy by getting access to its computer systems. Doing that and seizing the U.S. Digital Service and OPM gave Musk an official foothold to remake the government — which Democrats never expected — in plans forged more specifically after the election with advice from Russell Vought, Stephen Miller and Amy Gleason.
'The team is now moving faster than many of the legal efforts to stop it, making drastic changes that could be hard to unwind even if they are ultimately constrained by the courts,' they write. 'Mr. Musk's associates have pushed out workers, ignored civil service protections, torn up contracts and effectively shuttered an entire agency established by Congress.'
3. TRADE WARS: China pushed back today on Trump's announcement of additional tariffs on its goods, with a spokesperson warning that it would take 'all necessary measures to defend its legitimate rights and interests,' per Bloomberg. Another spokesperson accused the U.S. of using fentanyl concerns as 'blackmail,' imperiling ongoing drug coordination efforts between the countries, per Reuters.
The step back: Trump loves tariffs and sees them as a tool to achieve several aims at once, from getting leverage in immigration negotiations to bolstering domestic manufacturing to creating revenue. But experts tell NYT's Ana Swanson, Andrew Duehren and Colby Smith that his various levies on different countries could conflict with each other in getting to those goals.
4. HOW IT HAPPENED: 'Secret U.S. Drone Program Helped Capture Mexican Cartel Bosses,' by WSJ's Steve Fisher and Vera Bergengruen: 'The U.S. has secretly flown unarmed drones from Mexican airfields to spy on drug cartels, leading to the arrests of kingpin Joaquín 'El Chapo' Guzmán, one of his sons and other drug lords … The flights, operated by the Department of Homeland Security and the Central Intelligence Agency at the Mexican military's request, have also provided vital information for large drug seizures.'
5. ROOMIES: 'Speaker Mike Johnson Is Living in a D.C. House That Is the Center of a Pastor's Secretive Influence Campaign,' by ProPublica's Joshua Kaplan, Justin Elliott and Alex Mierjeski: 'In 2021, Steve Berger, an evangelical pastor who has attacked the separation of church and state as 'a delusional lie' and called multinational institutions 'demonic,' set off on an ambitious project. His stated goal: minister to members of Congress so that what 'they learn is then translated into policy.' … Speaker Mike Johnson has been staying at the home since around the beginning of this year.' But Johnson's office said the speaker is paying fair market value for the rent and has never talked about policy with Berger.
6. PRIMARY COLORS: Black Detroit Democrats have been defeated by Rep. Shri Thanedar (D-Mich.) for two cycles in a row, but they're working to coordinate better and try to oust him next year, POLITICO's Ally Mutnick and Nick Wu report. State Rep. Donavan McKinney is weighing a campaign, encouraged by labor leaders and talking to the Congressional Black Caucus. Former state House Speaker Joe Tate and former state Sen. Adam Hollier didn't rule out bids either. But Thanedar, a wealthy self-funder, has triumphed over divided opposition before.
7. RAZIN D'ETRE: 'MAGA hat drama could taint Trump's top military adviser pick,' by POLITICO's Paul McLeary and Joe Gould: '[T]he story Trump tells about retired Lt. Gen. Dan 'Razin' Caine donning a politically affiliated ball cap when they met in Iraq in 2018 could violate military rules, muddy his confirmation process and taint his credibility. … [A] military official who has served with him and has knowledge of the encounter denied it.'
8. TIKTOK ON THE CLOCK: As TikTok seeks to stay alive in the U.S. when a 75-day extension expires in April, it's going on offense to try to reassure D.C. Republicans of its security. The latest independent security review from HaystackID, which is contracted/paid by TikTok, determined that there's been no 'indication of internal or external malicious activity' and 'no sharing of protected U.S. user data with China.' TikTok has been hoping it'll be able to reach an agreement to avoid a forced sale from ByteDance, as required by law, by convincing the Trump administration and lawmakers that American users' data is protected. (China hawks on the Hill haven't been convinced so far.) The announcement
TALK OF THE TOWN
Donald Trump said he doesn't think the NFL should ban the 'tush-push.' And he had dinner with Jeff Bezos the same day that Bezos shifted the WaPo opinion section to be libertarian. That change has cost the paper another 75,000 digital subscribers this week, per NPR.
PLAYBOOK REAL ESTATE SECTION — 'JD Vance's House in Del Ray Is for Sale,' by Washingtonian's Andrew Beaujon: 'The five-bedroom farmhouse … includes four bedrooms in the main unit, off-street parking, and a snazzy ADU out back. … [H]is house can be yours for $1.7 million.'
OUT AND ABOUT — SPOTTED at Rep. Darren Soto's (D-Fla.) birthday last night at Royal Sands Social Club: Sheyla Asencios, José Javier Rodríguez, Sonia Ferré, Susie Feliz, William Ramos, Miguel Estien, Ines Hernandez, Andres Chong-Qui Torres, Leopoldo Martinez Nucete, Alex Howard and Joel Flores.
— The Roosevelt Institute's 'Reimagine America' Conference kicked off yesterday at Le Méridien, gathering the progressive economic policy community. SPOTTED: Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), Anna Eleanor Roosevelt, Lina Khan, Elizabeth Wilkins, Felicia Wong, Jennifer Abruzzo, Katherine Tai, Ben Beachy, Rohit Chopra, Joelle Gamble, Angela Hanks, Alex Jacquez, Lindsay Owens, Elizabeth Pancotti, Anna Canfield Roth, Mike Konczal, Julie Margetta Morgan, Alvaro Bedoya, Sharon Block, Chiraag Bains and Kathryn Anne Edwards.
— Widehall's Steve Clemons hosted a 'pop-up event' at Compass Coffee Chinatown as part of the White House-designated Career & Technical Education Month, featuring Newsmax CEO Chris Ruddy, American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten, Rep. April McClain Delaney (D-Md.), Micron Technology's Bo Machayo and others. Guests enjoyed espresso martinis, lattes and snacks. SPOTTED: Mignon Clyburn, Diego Sanchez, Alejandro Roark, Melodie Brown Thomas, Elizabeth Baker Keffer, Daniel Swartz, Natalie Fertig, Nick Niedzwiadek, Joseph Zeballos-Roig, Beth Antunez, Rowan Bishop, Peter Cherukuri, Matt Corridoni, Papia Debroy, Yasmeen Long and Anastasia Dellaccio.
— SPOTTED at Semafor's 'Innovating to Restore Trust in News: A National Summit' at Gallup's Great Hall yesterday: FCC Chair Brendan Carr, Mark Thompson, Emma Tucker, Megyn Kelly, Bret Baier, Justin Smith, Ben Smith, Max Tani, Cesar Conde, Mehdi Hasan, Joe Kahn, Katherine Maher, Michael Calderone, Will Sommer, Lachlan Cartwright, Peter Kafka, Ted Johnson, Jeremy Barr, David Folkenflik, Michael Grynbaum, Katie Robertson, Ben Mullin, Jodie Ginsberg, Molly Jong-Fast, Nate Friedman, Alyson Shontell, Kris Jones, David Corn, Sara Just, McKay Coppins, Sam Jacobs, Sam Feist, Mark Halperin, Jim Clifton, Jim Brady, Erik Wemple and Paul Needham.
FIRST IN PLAYBOOK — Ben Williamson has been named assistant director for public affairs at the FBI. He most recently was chief of staff for Rep. Michael Cloud (R-Texas), and is a Trump White House alum.
TRANSITIONS — Richard Walters is joining FGS Global as a partner. He previously was an adviser to the RNC chair and the Trump 2024 campaign. … Matthew Axelrod is now a partner at Gibson Dunn and co-chair of its new sanctions and export enforcement practice group. He most recently was assistant secretary for export enforcement at the Commerce Department's Bureau of Industry and Security. …
… Nellie Liang will return to Brookings as a senior fellow in the Hutchins Center on Fiscal and Monetary Policy. She previously was Treasury undersecretary for domestic finance. … Gordon Speed has been elevated to managing director of the NRA Institute for Legislative Action's federal affairs office, leading its federal lobbying efforts. He previously was deputy managing director. … Adriana Rivera will be director of government affairs and defense at the Association for Uncrewed Vehicle Systems International. She currently is military legislative assistant for Sen. Michael Bennet (D-Colo.).
WELCOME TO THE WORLD — Ethan Porter, an associate professor of media and public affairs and political science at GW, and Ronit Zemel, director of culture and comms at HIAS, on Tuesday welcomed Saul Zemel Porter, who came in at 8 lbs, 7 oz. Pic … Another pic
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