The Archive

IN THIS EDITION

Our Amazon scoop

PBN x White House

The 18-month Senate Dem leadership race

Jeffries’ new media strategy

THE TOP

Our Amazon scoop

Welcome to The Readback, our weekend digest featuring the best of Punchbowl News this week – a quick roundup of all our scoops, analysis and Capitol Hill insight you won’t find anywhere else. We’ve also included a few of our favorite outside reads from the week.

We made some news this week.

Well, we break news every day. Our scoops and exclusive stories are what makes us the leading outlet covering Capitol Hill and why you read us.

But our Amazon scoop on Tuesday really blew up.

Ben Brody and I expected our story to make an impact. We were writing about how this e-commerce giant that millions of Americans use every day would change how they display prices.

Showing how much of a product’s price is derived from tariffs could have impacted customers behavior and generated more anxiety around President Donald Trump’s tariffs.

We thought the story would gain some traction in the business news world and could even move the markets a tiny bit.

We did not, however, expect our story to provoke a call between the president of the United States and one of the world’s richest people.

In addition to the call, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt’s attacks on the reported plan made our AM item the story of the day. There were over 660 stories written following our item, according to Axios. Even my relatives in Brazil reached out as the story was picked up there.

And I’d like to note, only Premium Tech subscribers were able to read the full item. So subscribe if you haven’t yet!

I think the story took such an outsized impact because it’s so emblematic of this White House and the moment we’re in.

The world has been fretting about Trump’s tariffs. So any tariff story, particularly one dealing with a huge company like Amazon, can lead the day.

But it was also a display of how this White House is prepared to deal with businesses it perceives to cross them. The Trump administration showed they’re ready to go on offense and force companies to bend.

Jeff Bezos “solved the problem,” Trump said after the call with Amazon’s founder.

Amazon confirmed in a statement after the call that it was considering the tariff pricing. But the company said it would have been only for its ultra low-cost product category on Amazon.com. Regardless, Amazon said the plan wouldn’t go into effect.

Democrats and even some conservatives saw that ‘conclusion’ as Bezos giving in to Trump.

The episode feeds the larger narrative that business leaders, congressional Republicans and corporate law firms tend to bend when confronted by the president.

What I’m watching: I have finally started watching “Mad Men.” It was one of the classic early 2000s shows I still hadn’t seen. The hype is true, it’s great. It’s sometimes tough to watch because they capture the brutality of the early 1960s American society very well. But the acting, writing and the costumes make it a great show.

– Diego Areas Munhoz

We’re proud to announce two upcoming media partnerships!

Join us on May 7, 2025 for America’s Ball for the Mall, the annual fundraising gala hosted by the Trust for the National Mall. We’ll join leaders from across the country under the stars in the lead-up to America’s 250th anniversary. Tickets are available now!

On May 8, 2025 we’ll join the Atlantic Council’s Distinguished Leadership Awards as the council celebrates honorees including Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenković, retired General John “Jay” Raymond, Victor Pinchuk and Judy Collins.

Sign up to watch the broadcast on Thursday, May 22.

PBN x White House

On the 99th day of the Trump administration, I got a call from Jake Sherman. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent was going to be at the White House press briefing on Tuesday, and I would be there too.

This was a surprise. The White House is not much of a focus for Punchbowl News. But the Trump administration has forced itself into the center of the political and financial universe with a global trade war.

So, yeah. I told Jake I’d make time for the White House.

In the day that followed, I thought about questions. I’d get the first one of the briefing – part of the White House’s “new media” spotlight program, and the sort of opportunity that doesn’t happen all that often.

My interests and beat are very different from most folks in the White House press corps. At first, I wanted to capitalize on that.

I thought about the president’s growing ties to the crypto sector. Bessent has made clear he’d be taking a more direct role in the crafting of financial regulation from the Treasury Department. I wanted to ask whether he had any thoughts on navigating crypto regulation with a boss who owns his own meme coin.

On the congressional side, I thought about trying to get the administration’s position on the record for the rescission of the Inflation Reduction Act’s clean energy tax credits. Hill Republicans were at loggerheads over whether to rescind some, all or none.

But it was John Bresnahan and Laura Weiss who leveled with me in the small gallery Punchbowl News uses as a home base inside the Capitol. Tariffs, tariffs, tariffs. There was no sense in avoiding the biggest story in the world, they said.

On the morning of the briefing, I asked Bessent three questions about tariffs – whether the president was more interested in tariff revenue or trade deals, the role that tariffs ought to play in U.S. fiscal policy and why manufacturers are so bummed out.

I thought it went fine. Bessent had an interesting remark or two. The rest was pretty predictable.

Then, another reporter in the room asked about our blockbuster Amazon scoop, published that day and just beginning to take off online. White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt jolted the room after she declared that Amazon was flirting with a “hostile and political act.” The rest is history.

What I’m reading: For my birthday — which most of you missed, by the way! — a buddy bought me a copy of Brandon Sanderson’s “The Way of Kings.” It’s long, it’s gritty, it’s high fantasy, it’s delicious. I’m going to enjoy taking my time through it.

– Brendan Pedersen

The 18-month Senate Dem leadership race

Last February, Sen. Mitch McConnell’s (R-Ky.) announcement that he wouldn’t be seeking another term as Senate GOP leader kicked off a nine-month slog of a succession race.

The Senate Democratic whip race prompted by Sen. Dick Durbin’s (D-Ill.) decision to retire will last twice as long. But it’s unclear whether there will be an actual contest as Sen. Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii) racks up endorsements and no one emerges to challenge him.

Schatz has been laying the groundwork for this moment for years now. So he was always going to be a top contender for the job. Democrats expected the race to be a contested one regardless. But Schatz appears to be running away with it as none of his fellow Democrats seem to want to challenge him.

By our count, Schatz has nearly a dozen public endorsements. We’ve spoken with other Democrats who are inclined to back Schatz but want to wait and see if anyone else jumps into the race.

The line we hear most often from Democratic senators, though, is this: Schatz is already basically performing the duties of the whip. He’s Durbin’s chief deputy, hangs out on the floor during votes and plays an active role in every single whip effort. So the promotion just makes sense.

The extra layer here, though, is the fact that whoever replaces Durbin as whip has an automatic leg up in the race to succeed Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer. If Schumer decides not to run for reelection, that moment could come as soon as 2028.

As we did for the Senate GOP leadership battle last year, we’ll be covering every development of the Democratic whip race, to the extent it’s actually a contest.

Stay tuned for more on Schatz and his leadership ambitions in our Monday AM edition.

What I’m reading: You saw the viral moment of a 12-year-old superfan imitating Phillies pitcher Jose Alvarado. But you gotta read Alex Coffey’s backstory in the Philadelphia Inquirer.

— Andrew Desiderio

Jeffries’ new media strategy

Something has changed with House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries. He seems to be everywhere these days and coming out from under the shadow of the louder progressive voices who are taking on President Donald Trump.

This week, Jeffries participated in an over 12-hour sit-in on the Capitol steps on Sunday along with Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) and other House Democrats. In addition, Jeffries made an off-campus speech to a crowded theater near Capitol Hill to mark Trump’s first 100 days in office.

The Democratic leader has also beefed up his direct-to-camera videos, while increasing his rhetoric against Trump. And he now has two news conferences a week instead of one.

Jeffries’ new media strategy is a stark contrast to the typically measured leader we’ve long covered.

In a video he posted earlier this month, Jeffries referred to Trump’s Cabinet officials as “dumb effing individuals.” He also hit back at Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) on X after Cruz criticized Democrats for going to El Salvador to advocate for the release of wrongfully detained Salvadoran immigrant, Kilmar Abrego Garcia.

Jeffries’ new strategy comes at a peculiar time. We’ve reported on progressives’ pushback against the leader for not doing enough to tackle Trump and the GOP trifecta.

We usually see liberal stars in the Democratic Party like Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) and Jasmine Crockett (D-Texas) outshine Jeffries on social media, where the party’s younger base thrives.

But Jeffries’ allies suggest his increased visibility was leading up to Trump’s first 100 days, which the leader called “a disaster.”

During his speech to supporters this week, Jeffries also acknowledged the shift in his attitude towards Republicans. If you recall, Jeffries was “Mr. Bipartisan” at the start of the Congress, hoping to work with his GOP counterparts after a crushing election last November.

But the Democratic leader said Republicans rejected that plea and that Democrats can not stand for what they’re doing now.

“Donald Trump is doubling down, and instead of being a check and balance on this president’s abuse of power, Republicans in Congress are nothing more than a rubber stamp for his extreme agenda,” Jeffries said.

We will keep monitoring Jeffries 2.0.

What I’m watching: I started watching “Black Mirror” from the start on Netflix. It’s hard to believe I never got into this show before.

– Mica Soellner