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Presented by the Vapor

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Technology Association. Hey,

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good morning. I am Playbook co-author Rachel

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Bade. It's Thursday, February 9th. Happy Leap

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Day. Here's what's buzzing in

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Washington. President Joe Biden

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and likely GOP nominee Donald Trump

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are traveling today to the U.S.-Mexico

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border. This is just the latest

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chapter in the intense spin campaign

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about who's to blame for this

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migrant crisis. For Trump,

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this trip to Eagle Pass isn't exactly

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surprising. He's done this before. But

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for Biden, this visit to the border represents

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a more aggressive stance by the White House

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on this issue. The

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president is obviously trying to shift the

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blame from Democrats who are often fingered

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by voters for this crisis. Two

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Republicans who at Trump's behest just

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a few months ago, killed the

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bipartisan Senate deal to try

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to address the border matter. This also

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obviously comes as Biden is considering executive

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action on the border, so we'll be

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watching that closely. In other

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news, you got a feel for Jack Smith.

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Donald Trump's federal trial for trying to

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overturn the 2020 election looks like it's

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going to be on hold for several

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more months. Why? The

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Supreme Court last night announced that it

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would take up in rule on the

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former president's argument that he is immune

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from prosecution for any actions taken while

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president. Those oral arguments aren't

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set to start until April 22nd. So

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what does this mean? I'll just read you the

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lead from my colleagues, Kyle Cheney and Josh

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Gerstein's story. They write, quote, as

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voters cast ballots this fall to decide

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whether Donald Trump should win another presidential

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election, a federal jury may be weighing

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whether he attempted to steal the last

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one. Yes, Trump will likely

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be on trial on election day. And

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getting back to Jack Smith, the special

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counsel wanted to start this trial on

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March 4th, just a few days from

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now. It's been stalled since December and

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now it's going to be stalled even

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longer. On Capitol Hill, it

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was a bit of a doozy of a

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news day yesterday. The immediate risk of a

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Friday night shutdown appears to be gone now.

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Top congressional leaders struck a deal yesterday to

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pass fiscal 2024 spending

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bills in two six-bill tranches,

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one by March 8th, the

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rest by March 22nd. That

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means passing yet another CR. An

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attentive plan is for the House to vote

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on one this afternoon and then leave town,

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while the Senate is expected to clear the

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bill by Friday's deadline. But besides

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the spending news and other headlines

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about Senate Republicans blocking a bill

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to protect IVF nationwide, Mitch

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McConnell actually stole the spotlight on the Hill

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yesterday by announcing he's going to step down

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as leader by the end of the year.

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We weren't exactly surprised by this. We wrote

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in playbook a few weeks ago that his

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critics have become extremely vocal lately, saying he's

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got to go. His allies

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privately have been worried that his

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sharp political acumen has dulled. And

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as for the top of playbook today

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on this issue, we look at how

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Donald Trump's allies in the Senate are

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eyeing a new MAGA-style takeover of the

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upper chamber. For months,

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Senate Republicans have sort of operated

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under this assumption that McConnell's successor

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would actually be one of his

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allies, one of what they call on

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Capitol Hill the three Johns, either minority

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whip John Foon, former whip

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John Cornyn, or conference chair John

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Barasso. But Trump allies are

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actually itching for a dark horse candidate

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to sort of shake things up. They're

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complaining privately that any one of these

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three Johns would be more of the same,

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just McConnell 2.0. And

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some of those folks are already discussing how a

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group of about a dozen McConnell critics might

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actually try to band together and use their

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numbers as well as public pressure to install

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a leader who's more to their liking. We

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should be clear here that this doesn't mean

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these Senate hardliners are not open to any

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of the three Johns. In fact, several of

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them said they were if the

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price was right. would probably mean a

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big change for these three

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McConnell allies in terms of what

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they prioritize in terms of policy

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and also their relationships with Donald Trump,

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especially John Thune, who hasn't exactly been

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close with the former president. But

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this all amounts to a very turbulent next eight

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or nine months. McConnell's

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announcement basically serves as the starting

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gun for a contentious, long

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leadership election that means jockeying and still

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a lot of horse trading behind the

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scenes. I mean, every move by a

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would-be successor of McConnell will be scrutinized

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not only by their own colleagues, but

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by the conservative base that wants a

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reboot of the party. I have to

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say for myself, this dynamic really reminds me

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of the time former Speaker Paul

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Ryan decided to announce his retirement a

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full eight months before leaving Congress. The

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move put heir apparent Kevin McCarthy in

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a bit of a bind with conservatives

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holding demands over his head and basically

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dissecting his every move for more than

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half a year. McCarthy would later complain

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that Ryan basically screwed him. We also

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can't forget about the former president here.

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Trump once prodded Senator Rick Scott,

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a McConnell critic, to run against

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McConnell. Now that wasn't successful, but people

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do think Trump is going to weigh

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in eventually here or at least be

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in touch with his Hill allies to

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try to sort of manipulate his desired

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outcome. We have to say though

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that senators do pride themselves

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on selecting their own leaders regardless

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of public pressure. Whereas

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in the House when you vote for

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Speaker, that vote is public and people

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can see how each Republican votes, the

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election for Senate leader is actually secret

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ballots. So some senators might actually

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be able to get around this by just not saying who

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they're going to vote for. It's going to

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be an interesting few months. And

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for the rest of your schedule today, the House will meet at 10. And

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Secretary Lloyd Austin will testify before

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the Armed Services Committee at 10

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a.m., obviously about the secrecy

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around his hospitalization just a few months

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ago. From Rachel Baid, thanks for

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listening. Time

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to take back control of your public health

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agenda.