Politico

The White House on Saturday responded to Donald Trump calling for the suspension of the Constitution to overturn the 2020 election, saying in a statement, “You cannot only love America when you win.”

“The Constitution brings the American people together – regardless of party – and elected leaders swear to uphold it,” White House spokesperson Andrew Bates said. “Attacking the Constitution and all it stands for is anathema to the soul of our nation, and should be universally condemned.”

Earlier, in a post on his Truth Social network, the former president had called for the “termination” of constitutional laws, while citing conspiracy theories about the presidential election he lost.

“A Massive Fraud of this type and magnitude allows for the termination of all rules, regulations, and articles, even those found in the Constitution,” Trump wrote. “Our great ‘Founders’ did not want, and would not condone, False & Fraudulent Elections!”

Trump’s post came hours after Twitter’s new owner Elon Musk revealed sensitive deliberations at the social media company around Hunter Biden’s personal computer files in the fall of 2020.

The internal company discussions offered insight on the internal confusion at Twitter as it responded to the New York Post’s reporting on then-presidential candidate Joe Biden’s son in the closing weeks of the last presidential campaign.

POLITICO has not independently verified the communications, which were given to Substack writer Matt Taibbi and posted Friday night. Musk late Friday suggested that another batch of revelations would land Saturday. As of this writing, another batch has not been released.

Musk on Saturday afternoon defended his release of the files, though admitted there may be a “legal risk” in the action.

“We’re just going to put all the information out there try to get a clean slate,” Musk said in a Twitter Spaces live chat. Any legal risk is “less of a concern than just clearing the air and making sure that people know what really happened,” Musk said.

On the promised release of another batch of files, Musk said he was “somewhat leaving this up to Matt Taibbi and Bari Weiss.” He indicated it would focus on events after the election, including “government influence” on the platform.

Candidly, he admitted he’d “read hardly any” of the files.”

Asked whether any DNC or Biden campaign requests to take down content related to Hunter Biden would be released, Musk replied, “The intent is to release all the files.”

In response to Trump’s call to suspend Constitutional laws, the DNC said in a statement: “Donald Trump lost by 7 million votes in 2020 and his calls to undermine our democracy cost his party key races in 2022. The continued silence by Republican leaders, including his potential primary competitors, shows a MAGA party that is beholden to Trumpism, his divisive rhetoric, and his extreme positions.”

Trump, who has declared his candidacy for the GOP presidential nomination in 2024, preceded his Truth Social post with several posts focused on Big Tech’s role in policing misinformation in the runup to the 2020 election.

He followed up with a post later Saturday saying, “UNPRECEDENTED FRAUD REQUIRES UNPRECEDENTED CURE!”

Christopher Cadelago contributed to this report.

Jamal Simmons, communications director for Vice President Kamala Harris, is leaving his role after about a year in the post. He is expected to depart next month.

“Working for Vice President Harris has been an honor and a privilege,” Simmons said in a statement to POLITICO. “I’m so thankful for the confidence she put in me and I will miss this fantastic team more than anything.”

A longtime communications aide in Democratic circles, Simmons plans to move to New York with his family. Lorraine Voles, Harris’ chief of staff, told staff Friday of his coming departure, noting Simmons had “agreed to come on board for a year.”

In her email, Voles said she knew Simmons “could help me steady the ship,” and credited him for growing the “V.P’s digital presence and building relationships with national, regional and constituency media.”

“Jamal has been a great partner in the vice president’s office and he is a talented member of our White House communications team,” Anita Dunn, senior adviser to President Joe Biden, said in a statement. “He has been a vital driver in communicating the work of the vice president and our shared White House agenda during a very critical year, culminating in history-defying results.”

Simmons joined Harris’ office in January. During his tenure as comms director, he helped stabilize the vice president’s team and pushed it to adopt a more offensive posture after a first year beset by missteps and with scrutiny, neither the White House nor Harris’ office were prepared for.

Simmons was among the most vocal aides encouraging Harris to conduct more interviews. He also advocated that she hit the road to introduce herself to the country. The strategy involved the VP traveling to spots that typically were bypassed by the White House and meeting with smaller groups to build out a network of key constituency groups during the midterms.

Peers described him as a stabilizing force.

“The first year is exciting and there’s so much incoming. And you’re just trying to survive every day in many ways,” former White House press secretary Jen Psaki said in an interview. “As it gets into the second year, you have the ability to take a bigger picture approach and really think about how you want your boss, the president or the vice president to be out there.”

Simmons’ departure opens up a major hole in the VP’s staff at a moment when she and the president are potentially gearing up for a reelection campaign. In her email, Voles told staff she was “working with the communications team to determine next organizational steps.”

But aides and advisers in Harris world also say they feel more confident in her position now than early on in the Biden administration. They cite the travel she did in her second year and her role as the administration’s leading voice in the fight to defend abortion access.

Current and former aides also credit Simmon for helping improve the office environment, with one former aide saying he was able to “steady the ship by really having her leaning in.”

“One of the things that he put in place was really like a flood the zone play, which is, a vacuum attracts anything,” that former staffer added. “He really pushed to get her much more out there. So a lot more TV, more creative on the social front. More digital first interviews.”

President Joe Biden’s top supply chain adviser is leaving the White House, departing from the post as the country’s product distribution snags show signs of easing.

Sameera Fazili, deputy director of the National Economic Council and a deputy assistant to the president, is exiting on Friday, according to two people familiar with the matter. She led the White House’s work on trying to fix the supply chain problems that have fueled inflation and also on passing the CHIPS and Science Act.

She was also a key player in developing an industrial policy for the administration.

Last year, Fazili drew attention for her efforts as the leader of the White House’s Supply Chain Disruptions Task Forceto improve the flow of goods during the holiday season.

“Sameera has been an indispensable partner in navigating historic global supply chain challenges and charting an historic industrial strategy for our country,” National Economic Council Director Brian Deese said in a statement to POLITICO. “In no small part because of Sameera’s tireless efforts, our supply chains have not only recovered, but our country now has a coherent strategy to build supply chain resilience for the future.”

Before joining the White House, she worked for more than seven years at the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta. In the Obama administration, she worked as a senior adviser on international affairs and as a senior policy analyst at the Treasury Department, and also served a stint at the NEC. Fazili, a Buffalo native, graduated from Harvard and Yale Law School.

A White House spokesperson said her industrial policy portfolio is being taken over by two NEC staffers: Ronnie Chatterji, who is currently the White House lead on the implementation of the CHIPS Act and is moving into the role of acting deputy director of NEC, and Deputy NEC Director Celeste Drake, who leads labor policy for the White House.

President Joe Biden and his French counterpart, President Emmanuel Macron, presented a united front at the White House on Thursday morning despite recently frayed ties between the longtime allies amid disputes over economic and national security issues.

“Stalwart friends in times of triumph and of trial, France and the United States will meet the future just as we always have, confident in our shared capacity, sustained by the strength of our shared values and undaunted by any challenge that lies ahead,” Biden said during a welcoming ceremony at the White House for Macron and his wife.

Macron’s arrival marks the first state visit of Biden’s administration, coming at a time when the United States and France — one of its oldest allies — face simmering tensions over issues plaguing the world, including Russia’s war in Ukraine and trade policies.

Macron during the pair’s bilateral meeting later Thursday is expected to press Biden on the economic impacts of the now 10-month-long war in Ukraine — which has not only battered the global economy but also fueled an energy crisis in Europe. The French president and a number of other European leaders have recently shown some resistance to an expansion of the war and its inevitable economic toll on the continent.

Macron has also openly accused the U.S. of using protectionist policies, with trade issues expected to be a main topic of his and Biden’s bilateral meeting. The French president has specifically bristled against tax incentives for clean energy included in the Inflation Reduction Act — a move that European leaders fear could cause sectors of their own economies to shift operations to the United States.

But during the ceremony on Thursday morning, both Biden and Macron largely expressed dedication to a united partnership between the two countries and to working together to solve global issues such as world hunger and climate change.

“It is our shared destiny to respond to those challenges together, true to our history … determined to generate hope,” Macron said. “Long live the friendship between the United States and France.”

Following the pomp-filled welcome ceremony, Biden and Macron entered the White House for their bilateral meeting in the Oval Office. The two will host a press conference later in the morning, and the Bidens will host the Macrons for a state dinner Thursday evening.

NANTUCKET, Mass. — Musician Jon Batiste is on tap to perform at President Joe Biden’s first White House state dinner on Thursday that will highlight long-standing ties between the United States and France and honor President Emmanuel Macron.

“An artist who transcends generations, Jon Batiste’s music inspires and brings people together,” said Vanessa Valdivia, a spokesperson for first lady Jill Biden, whose office is overseeing dinner preparations.

“We’re thrilled to have him perform at the White House for the first state dinner of the Biden-Harris administration,” Valdivia said.

The black-tie dinner for Macron will be part of what is shaping up to be a busy social season at the White House. The Bidens’ granddaughter Naomi was married on the South Lawn earlier this month. And first lady Jill Biden was set on Monday to unveil the White House decorations that will be viewed by thousands of holiday visitors over the next month.

Batiste will be adding White House entertainer to an already long list of roles, including recording artist, bandleader, musical director, film composer, museum creative director and scion of New Orleans musical royalty.

He won five Grammy Awards this year, including for album of the year for “We Are.” During the awards show in April, Batiste ended his dance-filled performance of “Freedom” by jumping up on Billie Eilish’s table.

Batiste, 36, most recently was bandleader and musical director of “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert,” leaving the broadcast after a seven-year run.

The White House on Wednesday condemned the two bombings overnight in Jerusalem that killed a Canadian teenager and left at least 18 injured.

“We condemn unequivocally the acts of terror overnight in Jerusalem,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said in a statement. “The United States has offered all appropriate assistance to the Government of Israel as it investigates the attack and works to [bring] the perpetrators to justice.”

Police have said the two blasts — one near a bus stop and the other in a settlement in the north of the city — were suspected to be attacks by Palestinians.

Tensions in Jerusalem have intensified over the past year, with a ramp-up in deadly attacks targeting Israelis as well as Israeli military raids killing Palestinian militants and civilians in the occupied West Bank. But Wednesday’s incident marks the first return to bomb attacks against Israeli citizens in years.

Outgoing Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid said Wednesday the attackers would not get away with the bombings.

“They can run, they can hide — it won’t help them,” he said in a statement. “We will punish them to the fullest extent of the law.”

The White House, which has previously called for a two-state solution to the long running Israel-Palestine conflict, on Wednesday reiterated its support of Israel and its commitment to the U.S.-Israeli relationship.

“The United States stands with the Government and people of Israel,” Jean-Pierre said. “As President Biden emphasized during his visit to Israel in July, our commitment to Israel’s security is ironclad and unbreakable.”

President Joe Biden’s granddaughter Naomi Biden and Peter Neal were married Saturday in just the 19th wedding in the history of the White House, exchanging vows on the lawn in unseasonably cold temperatures in front of scores of family and friends.

It’s the first White House wedding with a president’s granddaughter as the bride, and the first one ever on the South Lawn.

Naomi Biden and Neal exchanged “I do’s” during a nippy late-morning ceremony — temperatures were in the low 40s — in front of guests seated in white folding chairs. The South Portico of the White House, facing the lawn and the Washington Monument in the distance, was decorated with wreaths and garland bearing white flowers. There was no tent. Guests began arriving hours before the ceremony, with some women opting for open-toed shoes despite the chill.

The public is seeing none of the festivities, unlike some past White House weddings. Naomi Biden and Neal decided to keep journalists out, although the ceremony was outdoors on the grounds of what the president and first lady call the “people’s house.”

Naomi Biden, 28, is a lawyer in Washington. Her parents are Hunter Biden, the son of the president and first lady Jill Biden, and Kathleen Buhle, Hunter’s first wife.

Neal, 25, of Jackson Hole, Wyoming, recently graduated from the University of Pennsylvania law school. He works at Georgetown University Law Center in Washington. His parents are Drs. Mary C. and William “Bill” C. Neal of Jackson Hole.

The couple, who have been living at the White House, was set up by a mutual friend about four years ago in New York City and have been together ever since, the White House said. Neal proposed in September 2021 near his childhood home in Jackson Hole with a ring that repurposed the band of his grandmother’s engagement ring, according to the White House.

After the 20-somethings officially became husband and wife, their families and the wedding party got out of the cold and headed back inside the White House for lunch, which is to be followed in the evening by a dessert-and-dancing reception, according to a person familiar with the planning who was not authorized to publicly discuss the wedding schedule.

Few other details were released before the ceremony.

To accommodate public interest, the president and first lady planned to issue a statement and release photos after the first of their six grandchildren tied the knot, the White House said.

President Biden and the first lady were among those who attended the wedding rehearsal dinner Friday at the Renwick Gallery steps from the White House. Neal’s parents hosted.

The Biden family will pay for all wedding activities, White House officials have said.

“The wedding of Naomi Biden and Peter is a private one,” Karine Jean-Pierre, the president’s chief spokesperson, said Friday. “It’s a family event and Naomi and Peter have asked that their wedding be closed to the media and we are respecting their wishes.”

There have been 18 documented weddings in the 200-plus-year history of the White House. Nine involved a president’s daughter, most recently Richard Nixon’s daughter Tricia in 1971 and Lyndon Johnson’s daughter Lynda in 1967.

But nieces, a grandniece, a son and first ladies’ siblings have also gotten married there. One president, Grover Cleveland, tied the knot at the White House, too, while in office.

Some of the weddings were open to coverage by the news media, while others weren’t at all.

Journalists were allowed into Tricia Nixon’s wedding to Ed Cox, the first wedding held in the Rose Garden. Her wedding planner — a three-ring black binder in the offices of the White House Historical Association — includes extensive notes on the media plan.

But the May 1994 wedding of a brother of then-first lady Hillary Clinton and the daughter of then-U.S. Sen. Barbara Boxer — the first since Tricia Nixon’s marriage — was closed to the press. Clinton’s spokesperson commented afterward and the White House released a photo.

It was the same for the October 2013 wedding of Pete Souza, President Barack Obama’s official photographer, and his longtime partner, Patti Lease. The White House announced the wedding in a statement following the small, private wedding in the Rose Garden.

The White House Correspondents Association, which advocates for press access to the White House and the president, said it was “deeply disappointed” that the White House declined its request for press coverage of Naomi Biden’s wedding.

“White House weddings have been covered by the press throughout history and the first family’s wish for privacy must be balanced against the public’s interest in an event occurring at the People’s House with the president as a participant,” the WHCA board said in a statement.

Stewart McLaurin, president of the White House Historical Association, said it’s important to remember that first families are families first and foremost.

“Their privacy should be respected, their wishes should be respected,” he said.

The wedding is just one half of a big weekend for the Biden family. The president’s 80th birthday is Sunday and family members in town will celebrate him at a brunch hosted by the first lady.