New: Psaki wrote in her new book Biden didn’t check his watch during ceremony for the Abbey Gate soldiers

It was “misinformation,” she wrote, contradicting news photos & the Gold Star families

Psaki initially didnt comment but says it will be corrected
axios.com/2024/05/13/psa…
Psaki’s full statement to Axios this AM:

“the detail in a few lines of the book about the exact number of times he looked at his watch will be removed in future reprints and the ebook.”

New: Trump allies plot anti-racism protections — for white people

Trump's close allies want to dramatically change the government's interpretation of Civil Rights-era laws to focus on "anti-white racism" rather than discrimination against ppl of color.
axios.com/2024/04/01/tru… Trump's DoJ would push to eliminate or upend programs in government and corporate America that are designed to counter racism that has favored whites (DEI, etc.).

The Trump campaign's Steven Cheung told Axios: "Joe Biden has continued to push unlawful civil rights abuses ... As President Trump has said, all staff, offices, and initiatives connected to Biden's un-American policy will be immediately terminated."

New: Biden and Dems (mostly) have ditched “Bidenomics” while congressional Republicans are using it more than ever.
Biden said it for the first time in over two months yesterday & has been saying it less & less for months
W/ @HansNichols @StefWKight
axios.com/2024/03/27/bid…
"Bidenomics" mentions by congressional Dems dropped during the fall and now have nearly disappeared.

R’s can't stop saying it: They've used "Bidenomics" nearly 500 times this month in their public statements, per data from Quorum.

New: my write-up of the Biden transcript.
Biden repeatedly asked for help remembering important dates w/ lawyers stepping in
"When did I announce for President [in 2019]?,"
"If it was 2013 — when did I stop being vice president?"
"In 2009, am I still vice president?"
"Trump gets elected in November of 2017?"
axios.com/2024/03/12/bid… Twice on the same day, Biden struggled to find the words for "fax machine."

"You see where there's a printer and there's a–what do they call it, the machine that–?" he asked until WH counsel Ed Siskel offered up "fax machine" in both instances.

New: Biden's team is bracing for the report from special counsel Hur on his handling of classified documents

Biden aides don't expect criminal charges, but they believe Hur's report will include embarrassing details — possibly with photos
axios.com/2024/02/04/bid… Hur, a former U.S. attorney nominated by Trump in 2017 and a former clerk for conservative Chief Justice William Rehnquist, is required to write a report about the investigation and Merrick Garland has committed to releasing as much as he can publicly.

New: Inside the WH podium battle
KJP and Kirby's relationship is fraught
Tensions over who gets how much podium time
Kirby has expressed frustration that KJP insists on picking the reporters while he's briefing
Relations b/t KHP & Dalton also bumpy
more
axios.com/2024/01/05/whi… Kirby has told people he'd like to be press sec one day.
KJP has told people she plans to stay in the job through the election and beyond if Biden wants her — and that he has asked her not to leave
A WH official said Kirby never volunteers that he would like to be press sec.

A generic, unnamed Democrat fares 13 points better than Biden against Trump in swing states, per new NYT poll.
Kamala Harris does better than Biden too.
My quick write up of the poll
axios.com/2023/11/05/tru…
Kevin Munoz, a spokesperson for Biden's re-election, told Axios that "predictions more than a year out tend to look a little different a year later. Don't take our word for it: Gallup predicted an eight point loss for President Obama only for him to win handedly a year later."

.@ivanas26 and I on Hunter’s latest lawsuit, this one against Giuliani for what his lawyers say is violating the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act.
The latest instance of the more aggressive approach under Abbe Lowell.
axios.com/2023/09/26/hun… The lawsuit accuses Giuliani and attorney Robert Costello of allegedly "hacking into, tampering with, manipulating, copying, disseminating, and generally obsessing over data that they were given that was taken or stolen from Plaintiff's devices or storage platforms, including what Defendants claim to have obtained from Plaintiff's alleged 'laptop' computer."

Scoop: Longtime Trump pollster Tony Fabrizio sent a memo to donors/allies today w/ his internal Iowa/NH numbers.
Haley "has surged," he wrote
DeSantis "has flatlined"
Trump steady
axios.com/2023/08/29/tru…
Fabrizio: "The much hoped for DeSantis 'bounce' was really a 'dead cat bounce' in that it doesn’t exist. Why? Because these voters didn’t see a DeSantis debate win – far from it. With Haley’s surge, DeSantis finds himself with another challenger for a distant 2nd place besides Ramaswamy – Nikki Haley."

New: Several top GOP donors are panicked about their current choices and holding back 2024 money with the long-shot dream of luring in an alternative w/ Youngkin and Kemp getting secret overtures
w/@BarakRavid breaking news his first weeks here
axios.com/2023/08/19/gop… Youngkin said any decision would come after what he hopes will be big GOP wins in November's legislative races in Virginia.
The problem: he’d miss filing deadlines for states.
Nevada: October 16th
South Carolina: October 31st
And many other states are early November.

New: “Dark Brandon” merch is powering the Biden campaign’s webstore

54% of the store's total revenue is coming from Dark Brandon-themed products, per campaign

The "Dark T-Shirt" & "Dark Roast Mug" are the best-sellers of the 43 items for sale

https://t.co/OndDbsmO9Zaxios.com/2023/08/04/dar…


The Biden team has 8 Dark Brandon-themed products in the store, including a crop top, stickers, and white and navy baseball caps.

Those products alone have accounted for 44% of all store orders and driven nearly 76% of all clicks onto the website, per the campaign.

The crop top

Scoop: This staffer didn't just retweet the video.
He secretly made the video w/ the Sonnenrad, per a person familiar.

It was then shared through @desantiscams where the staffer retweeted it. The video was later deleted it but here it is.
My story
https://t.co/DJdy71DzwD https://t.co/Tutp4lM4Onaxios.com/2023/07/25/des…

https://twitter.com/aterkel/status/1683956598849544192

The video ends with an image of DeSantis in the center of Florida's state seal — which then morphs into a rotating Sonnenrad, an ancient symbol appropriated by the Nazis and still used by some white supremacists.

New polls on @FoxNewsSunday just now. DeSantis behind Haley in SC. Scott within 5 of DeSantis in Iowa. Trump 30 or more points ahead in both.

Iowa
Trump: 46
DeSantis: 16
Scott: 11

South Carolina:
Trump: 48
Haley: 14
DeSantis: 13
Scott: 10 https://t.co/0M1R3n7dnJtwitter.com/i/web/status/1…
SC poll
Trump ahead by 32 points and close to 50.
Nikki Haley also ahead of Tim Scott in their home state.

NEW: Behind closed doors, Biden has such a temper that some aides try to avoid meeting him alone.
POTUS go-to’s:

•"God dammit, how the f**k don't you know this?!”
•"Don't f**king bullsh*t me!"
•"Get the f**k out of here!"

My look at Biden’s fury

axios.com/2023/07/10/bid… Sr. and lower-level aides alike can be in Biden's line of fire.

"No one is safe," said 1 admin official

Some still talk about how angry Biden got at Jeff Zients during COVID testing shortage

Zients spokesperson: "I'm not going to speak to what internal convos may or may not… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…

BREAKING: Hunter Biden is being charged w/ a gun felony and two tax misdemeanors.
He is pleading guilty to the tax offenses and entering into a pre-trial diversion agreement on illegally possessing a gun while addicted to a controlled substance.
axios.com/2023/06/20/hun… twitter.com/i/web/status/1… Hunter’s attorney Chris Clark said he believes this the be the end of the federal investigation into the president’s son.
“it is my understanding that the five-year investigation into Hunter is resolved.”

New: “God save the Queen, man”
“Lots of luck in your senior year”
“Lying dog-faced pony soldier”
My look at Biden’s odd aphorisms which many of his current and former aides aren’t quite sure what they mean
axios.com/2023/06/18/bid… When Biden said “God save the queen, man” on Friday, the WH principal deputy press secretary didn't know what her boss meant, just telling reporters that he “was commenting to someone in the crowd.”
We asked the WH again what he meant. No response.
BUT Biden said this before…

Scoop: The White House will continue to use the term "MAGA" a week after the WH Office of Special Counsel declared it a violation of the Hatch Act.
Deputy Press Sec Andrew Bates pens a new memo hitting R's on "MAGA windfall" and "MAGA tax welfare"
axios.com/2023/06/14/hat… Last week the OSC said in guidance to agencies that "MAGA remains the campaign slogan of a current candidate for partisan political office, and therefore, its use constitutes political activity"
osc.gov/Documents/Hatc…

Fox News ends its 8pm hour w/ the chyron: “wannabe dictator speaks at the White House after having his political rival arrested”

Chyron went away when Hannity took over at 9. twitter.com/i/web/status/1… This video

Pence to WSJ ed board: “these are very serious allegations. And I can’t defend what is alleged. But the President is entitled to his day in court, he’s entitled to bring a defense, and I want to reserve judgment until he has the opportunity to respond.” wsj.com/articles/mike-… Pence cont.: “frankly, having two members of our immediate family serving in the armed forces of the United States, I will never diminish the importance of protecting our nation’s secrets.”
Haley made a similar pt. w/ her husband being deployed to Africa soon

DeSantis elbows Trump on SCOTUS picks, telling @hughhewitt: “I respect the three appointees he did, but none of those three are at the same level of Justices Thomas and Justice Alito”

hughhewitt.com/florida-govern… twitter.com/i/web/status/1… The audio via @therecount

NEW: DeSantis’ team doesn’t want NBC or CNN to co-host a debate
Trump is wary of Fox and Murdoch’s perceived turn to DeSantis
CNN, NBC salivating to host a GOP debate this fall but deadlock is creating uncertainty over them even happening w/ @sarafischer
axios.com/2023/06/02/202… Trump's campaign believes his opponents need the primary debates more than he does because they're behind him in polls.
And if Trump doesn’t show up, what does DeSantis do? (Neither have committed to the first debate in August). And if they don’t show up, what do the others do?