POLITICO Nightly: How the debate game is played

 

BY CHARLIE MAHTESIAN AND CALDER MCHUGH Donald Trump and Joe Biden participate in the final 2020 presidential debate at Belmont University on October 22, 2020 in Nashville. | Jim Bourg-Pool/Getty Images RULES OF ENGAGEMENT — There’s an ongoing discussion within the political-media industry complex over whether Donald Trump got rolled in his debate agreement with Joe Biden. In his eagerness to debate the president, the argument goes, Trump gave away the farm by agreeing to nearly all the terms that the Biden campaign proposed. There will only be two debates, one in June and one in September, rather than the three or more the Trump campaign wanted. There won’t be a live audience for Trump to feed off. The criteria laid out by the Biden campaign also managed to eliminate the prospect of a Fox News hosted presidential debate. The president’s reelect played “Mar-A-Lago like a fiddle ,” said Frank Fahrenkopf Jr., a former Republican National Committee chairman and co-chair of the Commission on Presidential Debates, the longstanding institution rendered obsolete by the agreement. It’s an arguable point, as long as some key logistical details remain up in the air. Trump might have been a little too quick to accept the terms of engagement, but until all the venues, dates, conditions, rules — and participants — are settled, it won’t be clear if either campaign can claim an advantage. Third-party candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s status, for example, remains unresolved. The two-date proposal agreed to by Biden and Trump appears to exclude him because he falls short of several of the thresholds required to qualify for the debate. But that’s not a done deal. And every last detail matters — particularly in a contest between two bitter rivals, both of whom are seeking to make a point about each other’s fitness for office. In a considerably less toxic campaign, for example, the 2012 debate memorandum of understanding between the Obama and Romney campaigns ran more than 20 pages, covering minutiae such as how the candidates would be addressed by the moderators, TV cut-away shots and scores of other staging and format questions. The gamesmanship between the campaigns — not to mention the networks — is ongoing. Consider Fox’s play to get in the debate game. Frozen out of the presidential election debates by the Biden campaign, Fox responded by proposing a vice presidential event at Virginia State University. In December, Virginia State had been selected by the CPD as one of the three debate venues, the first HBCU ever to host a presidential debate. They lost that historic distinction when Biden and Trump sidelined the commission and cut their own deal. Fox’s proposal sought to force the Biden campaign’s hand. It had already accepted an invitation from CBS News for Vice President Kamala Harris to debate Trump’s running mate; the Fox proposal now places them in the awkward position of possibly having to deny an HBCU an opportunity to host a presidential debate at the very moment Biden is attempting to step up his outreach to Black voters. All of this went down on the eve of Biden’s scheduled commencement address at Morehouse College, the famed HBCU in Atlanta. Quick to recognize an opportunity to drive a wedge between Biden and Black voters, Trump accepted the Fox proposal the same day. “On behalf of the future Vice President of the United States, who I have not yet chosen, we hereby accept the Fox Vice Presidential Debate, hopefully at Virginia State University, the first Historically Black College or University to host a Debate - Date to be determined. I urge Vice President Kamala Harris to agree to this,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. The Fox-VSU partnership hasn’t been formalized, according to a source familiar with the discussions. The source said Fox News is “in talks” with VSU, while a VSU spokesperson noted, “Virginia State University continues to work with the Commission on Presidential Debates and at this point have made no commitments, outside of the CPD, regarding a debate.” The vice presidential standoff has no clear off-ramp yet, with the Biden camp committed to CBS and Trump committed to Fox. And the Trump campaign doesn’t even have a vice presidential nominee yet. Welcome to POLITICO Nightly. Reach out with news, tips and ideas at nightly@politico.com . Or contact tonight’s authors at cmahtesian@politico.com and cmchugh@politico.com or on X (formerly known as Twitter) at @PoliticoCharlie and @calder_mchugh .   THE GOLD STANDARD OF POLICY REPORTING & INTELLIGENCE: POLITICO has more than 500 journalists delivering unrivaled reporting and illuminating the policy and regulatory landscape for those who need to know what’s next. Throughout the election and the legislative and regulatory pushes that will follow, POLITICO Pro is indispensable to those who need to make informed decisions fast. 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Get the premier news and policy intelligence service, SUBSCRIBE TO POLITICO PRO TODAY .     TRUMP ON TRIAL AT REST — Prosecutors in Donald Trump’s Manhattan criminal trial rested their case against the former president today, bringing an end to more than four weeks of testimony from witnesses they’ve called in their attempt to convince the jury that he orchestrated a scheme to cover up a payment to a porn star. The conclusion of the case from the Manhattan district attorney’s office moves the trial one step closer to determining whether Trump will become a convicted felon as he runs for president as the presumptive Republican nominee. Though Trump is indicted in three other criminal cases, the chances that any of those will go to trial before the November election have dwindled in recent weeks. It’s not clear how long the presentation of Trump’s defense will last, but the judge presiding over the case, Justice Juan Merchan, said he expects closing arguments to take place next Tuesday, after Memorial Day weekend. Then the jury will begin deliberating. DEFENSIVE POSTURE — The defense called Robert Costello, an ally of Rudy Giuliani who tried to persuade Cohen to stay loyal to Trump in 2018 after the FBI raided Cohen’s properties. Last week, Costello appeared before a GOP-led House subcommittee and accused Cohen of repeatedly lying on the witness stand during the hush money trial. On the stand, Costello contradicted Michael Cohen’s sworn testimony regarding Trump’s knowledge of the Stormy Daniels hush money payment, saying Cohen told him numerous times that “Trump knew nothing about those payments.” COURTROOM CLEARED — Justice Juan Merchan ordered the courtroom cleared after he admonished Costello about “proper decorum” in his courtroom. The judge at first cleared the jury from the room and warned Costello not to give side-eye or roll his eyes at him if he didn’t agree with his ruling. “You don’t say geez,” the judge said. The judge then requested the jury be brought back in, but then snapped: “Are you staring me down right now?” He then said: “clear the courtroom.” Journalists in the gallery were then told to leave the room. Before kicking reporters out of the courtroom, Merchan admonished Costello: “When there’s a witness on the stand, if you don’t like my ruling you don’t say ‘geez.’ And then you don’t say ‘strike it’ You don’t give me side eye and you don’t roll your eyes.” COSTELLO CROSS — Prosecutor Susan Hoffinger kicked off the cross-examination of Costello by asking about how and why his firm reached out to Cohen in April 2018 . He resisted some questions by saying twice that an email she referred to “speaks for itself.” “You were hoping Mr. Cohen would hire you?” she asked. “I wasn’t hoping anything,” Costello said. “I didn’t know him from a hole in the wall.” He later accused Hoffinger of trying to “push me” into certain answers. “I didn’t want him as a client,” Costello insisted. The prosecution will pick back up their cross-examination of Costello on Tuesday. STICKY FINGERS — Under aggressive questioning by Trump attorney Todd Blanche, Michael Cohen admitted that he stole from the Trump Organization. Cohen sought a reimbursement from the company for $50,000 to pay a tech vendor, Red Finch, that attempted to skew online polls in Trump’s favor in 2016. But Cohen gave the owner of the firm only about $20,000 . “You stole it from the Trump Organization?” Blanche asked about the $30,000 difference. “Yes, sir,” Cohen responded calmly. The total theft actually amounted to $60,000, because all the sums were doubled to cover taxes Cohen might owe. WHAT'D I MISS? — Senate Banking Chair Brown calls on Biden to replace embattled FDIC head: Senate Banking Chair Sherrod Brown today called on President Joe Biden to replace FDIC Chair Martin Gruenberg , after damning reports of a toxic workplace culture at the bank regulator where Gruenberg has served for nearly two decades. Brown said in a statement that there must be “fundamental change” at the FDIC, which insures more than $10 trillion in bank deposits and oversees thousands of financial institutions, in a move that is likely to turn the tide against the agency head with other Democrats as well. MAGA REPUBLICANS DEFENDING WAR CRIMES  & GENOCIDE! — Republican lawmakers blast ICC over Netanyahu warrant: Republicans are vowing retribution after the International Criminal Court said it would seek an arrest warrant for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over his handling of the ongoing conflict in Gaza. ICC chief prosecutor Karim Khan filed applications for warrants against Netanyahu, as well as Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, the commander of Hamas’ military wing, Mohammed Diab Ibrahim Al-Masri, and Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant. Republicans on key foreign policy panels blasted the decision and warned that they would make good on threats from earlier this month to punish the international tribunal, of which neither the United States nor Israel are members, if it went after Israeli officials. — Biden’s top military adviser chides Israel for losing ground to Hamas: The Pentagon’s top general offered a rare critique of Israel’s war strategy today, warning Israeli troops’ failure to hold ground they had taken from Hamas in northern Gaza could have long-term effects. “Not only do you have to actually go in and clear out whatever adversary you are up against, you have to go in, hold the territory and then you’ve got to stabilize it,” said Gen. C.Q. Brown, chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, drawing on his years in the Middle East. Brown, who rarely chides Israeli forces, stressed that the Israeli tactic of pushing Hamas fighters out of one area and then leaving makes achieving lasting stability more difficult. NIGHTLY ROAD TO 2024 SPENDING BLITZ — The Human Rights Campaign, the largest LGBTQ rights group in the United States, is launching a $15 million commitment to help Democratic President Joe Biden defeat Republican Donald Trump in the 2024 election. The spending blitz, shared first with NBC News, will cover the six key battleground states of Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, Georgia, Arizona and Nevada. The group says it will include paid ads, staff hires, field campaigns and events in those states, which are poised to decide who wins the presidency and Congress. AROUND THE WORLD Rescue teams are seen near the site of the crash of the helicopter carrying Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi in northwestern Iran on May 19, 2024. | Azin Haghighi, Moj News Agency via AP DEATH IN IRAN — Iran’s hardline President Ebrahim Raisi — once seen as a potential successor to 85-year-old Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei — died after his helicopter crashed into trees in a mountainous northwestern region of the Islamic Republic on Sunday. The Iranian branch of the Red Crescent humanitarian network said today its search and rescue teams had reached the crash site and “found no signs of the helicopter’s occupants being alive.” The discovery of the burned-out wreckage of Raisi’s helicopter among blackened trees — with seemingly only the tail surviving the crash — followed hours of searches in the fog-bound mountain valleys of Dizmar forest near the border with Azerbaijan. Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian was also on board and is presumed dead, along with the head of the presidential guard Mehdi Mousavi, East Azerbaijan Governor Malek Rahmati, Representative of the Iranian Supreme Leader in East Azerbaijan Mohammad Ali Ale-Hashem and the helicopter’s pilot, co-pilot and crew. Raisi, 63, was a conservative cleric and former judiciary chief who was responsible for decades of vicious crackdowns against his own people’s aspirations for greater personal freedoms and democracy, arresting, torturing and executing tens of thousands of the Islamist regime’s opponents. Educated in the seminary city of Qom and dubbed “the butcher,” he was alleged to have been involved in the execution of thousands of political prisoners in the late 1980s, according to Iran’s opposition. As judiciary chief, he was also directly responsible for the wave of arrests and executions that followed massive anti-regime protests in 2019-2020.   LISTEN TO POLITICO'S ENERGY PODCAST:  Check out our daily five-minute brief on the latest energy and environmental politics and policy news. Don't miss out on the must-know stories, candid insights, and analysis from POLITICO's energy team. Listen today .     NIGHTLY NUMBER $1,000 The amount that billionaire philanthropist Rob Hale gave each graduating student at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth , under the condition that they keep $500 and give $500 away. RADAR SWEEP CAPTURE, BABY, CAPTURE — Kern County, California, has been struggling with the transition away from fossil fuels. The town of Taft was once a booming oil producer, bringing jobs and money to the region. But the cash has dried up, and many residents of Taft who once worked on oil-related jobs have been forced to take lower paying jobs elsewhere or go on unemployment. But now, they’re trying a bold new strategy — working together with the oil company California Resources Corporation in order to try to build out a carbon capture industry , creating new manufacturing jobs and becoming one of the leaders in producing renewable energy. For Grist, Jake Bittle reports on the shift, its advocates and its critics. PARTING IMAGE On this date in 1970: Participants carry American flags in a rally supporting President Richard Nixon's Vietnam War policy in downtown Manhattan. | AP Did someone forward this email to you?  Sign up here .   Follow us on Twitter Charlie Mahtesian @PoliticoCharlie Calder McHugh @calder_mchugh   FOLLOW US

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