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IN THIS EDITION

Why Trump and Congress are such an odd fit

Scalise says House Republicans want no new AI regulations

House leaders aren’t ad fodder anymore

Senior Democratic staffers raise big for Frontliners

The Vault: Scott presses Yellen for overdue Iran report

THE TOP

Why Trump and Congress are such an odd fit

Happy Friday morning.

There’s the Donald Trump that Republicans see on TV — a man who commands large audiences, inspires undying loyalty in his supporters and shatters political norms without thinking twice.

But then there’s the other Trump, who, in real life, causes problems for GOP lawmakers, forcing them to clean up or explain away every mistake or miscue — until Trump just says no, he meant what he said all along.

Thursday was, in many ways, a perfect example of what politics is like under Trump, and could be again if he wins on Nov. 5.

In a closed meeting at the Capitol Hill Club, Trump told House Republicans that Milwaukee was a “horrible city.” Milwaukee just happens to be where Republicans are holding the convention next month to formally nominate for president. We reported the news immediately.

Shortly after the Trump meeting ended, members of the House Republican Conference circled the wagons, denying that he made the remark.

But their explanations were all over the place.

Rep. Bryan Steil (R-Wis.), the chair of the House Administration Committee, declared Trump “did not say this.”

Rep. Derrick Van Orden (R-Wis.) said Trump was referring to the crime rate, not the city itself.

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported that Wisconsin GOP Reps. Scott Fitzgerald, Tom Tiffany and Glenn Grothman said that Trump’s comments were in reference to election integrity.

A spokesman for the GOP convention in Milwaukee claimed Trump was referring to a dispute over whether Pere Marquette Park can house protests during the July gathering. The Wisconsin Republican Party said Trump, in fact, was right to criticize Milwaukee.

By the end of the day, Steil was on television acknowledging that Trump did say it, but he was “talking about specific issues in the city,” not Milwaukee itself.

The DNC has a pair of billboards going up tomorrow in Milwaukee playing up Trump’s comment.

But it wasn’t just this instance Thursday that put Republicans in an awkward spot.

→

Trump told House and Senate Republicans that their abortion position cost them seats in 2022. The former president declared Republicans should adopt the position that the law should allow for abortion in the case of rape, incest and the life of the mother. That’s an issue that sharply divides Republicans.

→	Trump also said that he “loves tariffs” and even floated replacing the income tax with the revenue from tariffs.

Speaker Mike Johnson disagrees with some of these Trump positions.

Johnson told us in an interview that Trump made the tariff remark “with a smile.” Johnson added that Trump said, “I’m not suggesting this is the plan.”

But on abortion, Trump finds himself in direct opposition to Johnson’s position. Johnson doesn’t back exceptions for abortion:

Johnson said it would take a while to establish GOP consensus on the issue.

The Trump-Senate GOP thaw: Two hours later, a more subdued Trump met privately with Senate Republicans, who described a 180-degree shift from the confab with the House GOP. Senators who attended the meeting used the words “reserved,” “gracious” and “unifying” to describe the former president.

Trump went out of his way to praise Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, shook hands with the Kentucky Republican and chatted one-on-one. According to multiple attendees, Trump said McConnell wasn’t the reason Republicans lost winnable seats in 2022 — even though he previously said the exact opposite — and blamed abortion instead.

Uncharacteristically, Trump didn’t go on the attack against any of his longtime foes in the GOP, some of whom were in the room.

Republican senators said they were pleasantly surprised that Trump didn’t revert to his brash tone and instead listened quietly as they pleaded for his help to win in November. That’s notable, of course, because many McConnell and other GOP senators have openly blamed Trump for their misfortunes the last few cycles.

Senate Republicans are desperate to avoid the same outcome in 2024. And they believe they can’t win the Senate majority without embracing Trump. Full stop.

It’s why Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) asked Trump to help them hammer vulnerable Democratic Sens. Jon Tester (Mont.) and Sherrod Brown (Ohio), noting that Trump is polling better in those states than the GOP challengers to Tester and Brown.

Republicans told Trump that their fortunes are directly connected, which was a major theme throughout the meeting. Translation: It’s time to bury the hatchet and focus on winning, not personal jabs.

“[Trump] wants to do everything to help us elect a majority in the Senate, and [he] thought the map looks great,” Senate Minority Whip John Thune told us.

For the moment, there was peace. We’ll see how it holds.

— Jake Sherman, Andrew Desiderio and John Bresnahan

PUNCHBOWL NEWS TECH

Scalise says House Republicans want no new AI regulations

News: House Majority Leader Steve Scalise told us he doesn’t believe that Congress should pass any AI-related regulations, establishing a new party position on the most important issue in tech policy.

Scalise met with Republicans on the AI task force Thursday. A source in the meeting said House Republicans wouldn’t support legislation that sets up new agencies, establishes new licensing requirements, spends money on research and development or favors one technology over another.

Here’s Scalise in an exclusive interview after the meeting:

Of course, there’s a big split here. Sen. John Hickenlooper (D-Colo.) said at a Punchbowl News event Wednesday that Congress needs to move quickly to create new rules for the road for AI.

Scalise, who is effectively charged with developing policy for House Republicans, told us that he thinks the AI sector is thriving because “the government hasn’t figured out how to slow it down.”

So the takeaway here is that if you are looking for Congress to quickly adopt new legislation to regulate AI, you shouldn’t hold your breath as long as House Republicans are in the majority.

— Jake Sherman

House leaders aren’t ad fodder anymore

For the first time in more than a decade, the leaders of both parties in the House are no longer fodder for partisan attack ads.

Gone are the days of omnipresent “Fire Pelosi” ads or the blasts on former Speaker Kevin McCarthy. Instead, ad makers are essentially ignoring Speaker Mike Johnson and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries altogether.

An AdImpact analysis of campaign ads this cycle found that not a single dollar has been spent on negative ads tying Democrats to Jeffries. Just $45,000 has been spent on attack ads linking Republicans to Johnson.

These figures stand in stark contrast to how Republicans treated former Speaker Nancy Pelosi throughout her career in Democratic leadership. The first female speaker drew the ire of Republicans nationwide and served as a symbol of Democratic liberalism. During the 2022 cycle alone, more than $41 million of negative ads mentioning Pelosi were run in House campaigns across the country, according to AdImpact.

Democrats have tried to paint Johnson as “MAGA Mike,” tying him to former President Donald Trump. And the House Republican campaign arm has sent out releases tying vulnerable Democrats to Jeffries.

But members we spoke to told us that amid the 2024 presidential cycle, the new congressional leaders just don’t pack the same punch as their party’s standard bearers. Instead of hitting Johnson — who’s only been speaker for seven months — Democrats are turning their attention to Trump. And rather than going after Jeffries, Republicans are hitting President Joe Biden.

“We know that the party leader on the Republican side is Donald Trump. There is nobody else,” DCCC Chair Suzan DelBene told us. “They all just look to him for feedback on anything they do.”

On the GOP side, Jeffries is an unknown quantity nationwide — largely because he’s never served as speaker before.

“There are different battle cries today,” said Rep. Pete Sessions (R-Texas), a former NRCC chair who used Fire Pelosi to win back the majority in 2010. “And that battle cry is really against everything that is embodied with the Biden administration and the Democrats. It’s easy to pin the tail on the donkey.”

While Pelosi’s role as top campaign antagonist is unparalleled, Democrats also dedicated $607,000 in ads tying GOP vulnerable members to McCarthy in 2022.

The only House ad mentioning Jeffries so far this cycle that AdImpact flagged was a spot from Rep. David Trone (D-Md.) touting Jeffries’ endorsement. Despite spending $566,000 on that ad, Trone failed to win the Senate primary.

Another factor at play: Johnson and Jeffries are relatively boring compared to Trump and Biden. Neither leader animates the other side’s base in the way the presidential candidates do.

— Max Cohen

THE MONEY GAME

Senior Democratic staffers raise big for Frontliners

Two senior House Democratic staffers brought in a ton of money for their most vulnerable members at a fundraiser Thursday night.

Tiffany Guarascio, Democratic staff director on the House Energy and Commerce Committee, and Brandon Casey, Democratic staff director for House Ways and Means, co-hosted the DCCC fundraiser at District Winery.

All told, the duo brought in nearly $1 million, according to attendees, which will go directly to Democrats’ 31 Frontliners.

It’s pretty rare for two staffers to pull off this kind of big-dollar fundraiser. But Casey and Guarascio are both longtime Hill aides who will be critical to running the House if Democrats take back the majority.

Their bosses — Ways and Means Ranking Member Richie Neal (D-Mass.) and Energy and Commerce Ranking Member Frank Pallone (D-N.J.) — are also big fundraisers for the party.

Frontline Democrats present last night included Reps. Greg Landsman (Ohio), Don Davis (N.C.), Hillary Scholten (Mich.), Steven Horsford (Nev.), Gabe Vasquez (N.M.), Dina Titus (Nev.), Val Hoyle (Ore.) and Pat Ryan (N.Y.).

Frontline Reps. Angie Craig (Minn.), Tom Suozzi (N.Y.), Mary Peltola (Alaska), Sharice Davids (Kan.), Chris Deluzio (Pa.), Vicente Gonzalez (Texas), Kim Schrier (Wash.) and Eric Sorensen (Ill.) also attended.

— Heather Caygle

The Vault: Scott presses Yellen for overdue Iran report

First in The Vault: Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.) dinged Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen in a new letter for failing to produce a report expected to detail Iranian assets affected by U.S. sanctions.

The report, originally due May 24, was mandated as part of the national security supplemental package cleared by the Senate in late April.

Here’s a key excerpt from Scott:

Elsewhere in the letter, Scott’s impatience is palpable. “It is my understanding that a fulsome report has been drafted,” the Senate Banking Committee’s top Republican wrote. “However, staff level conversations have not resulted in even an estimate of when this report can be expected.”

The Treasury Department declined to comment on the letter and report.

Read the full letter here.

— Brendan Pedersen

THE CAMPAIGN

News: In the competitive Michigan Senate race, Rep. Elissa Slotkin (D-Mich.) is turning to a tried-and-tested strategy that has won her reelection in battleground races – touting her career in national security.

Slotkin’s campaign is launching its second ad of the cycle today with a spot that tells the story of why Slotkin joined the CIA.

“My call to service came on 9/11,” Slotkin says in the ad. “It was my second day of grad school in New York City and before the smoke cleared, I knew my career would be in national security.”

Slotkin is the heavy favorite to advance in the Democratic primary and face the GOP frontrunner, former Rep. Mike Rogers (R-Mich.), in the general.

— Max Cohen

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