Politico

BUFFALO, N.Y. — Speaking for the second time in less than four hours on Tuesday about the racist shooting at a Buffalo grocery store that had left 10 dead, President Joe Biden pledged to hold those who had inspired the shooter accountable.

“We’re gonna fight like hell and we’re going to expose everybody,” he declared.

But despite describing the shooting as an act of domestic terrorism, the president declined to do any actual exposing on Tuesday. He did not name individuals who he believed were responsible for spreading “replacement theory” dogma that compelled the Buffalo shooter to act. Instead, he cast blame on institutions and nameless politicians who he said were cynically pushing the theory for profit and power.

Biden’s aides say that his reticence is deliberate, and that it underscores just how delicate he and his administration view the current tinderbox that is American politics. They have been reluctant to call out individuals by name precisely out of fear that it would distract from the “substance” of the problem and give more attention to the conspiracy, which holds that white Americans are being replaced by nonwhite immigrants orchestrated by a cabal of elites eager to see Democrats win office.

Senior aides have felt that pressure from fellow Republicans and, importantly, advertisers would be more effective in pushing individuals like Fox News host Tucker Carlson to distance themselves from replacement theory. As one senior aide put it, there was no desire to give Carlson a clip of a presidential attack that the host could “use in his A-block every night.”

“[We] totally understand the desire to call people out who have been pushing this disgusting rhetoric, but I also think it’s worth remembering that many of these demagogues would love nothing more than the oxygen and attention that comes from the president blasting them,” a person familiar with the White House’s thinking said. “And in turn, that attention and notoriety may help them further spread these lies.”

“Doesn’t mean you never call them out, but I think it means you need to be very judicious about doing so and cognizant that it may have unintended consequences,” the person added.

Biden’s decision to go to Buffalo on Tuesday came within hours of the reports of the mass shooting there, with the president asking his advisers to make a plan for him to go despite having a grueling flight to Asia slated later this week. According to three White House officials, Biden pressed them to make it happen, checking first with Gov. Kathy Hochul of New York about the feasibility of going to the site of the shooting not even 72 hours after it took place.

Biden and his senior advisers huddled over the weekend on how best to approach the larger moment, which stood as a major test for the president. He launched his 2020 campaign after being horrified by the scene and violence of white supremacists marching in Charlottesville, Va., and felt compelled to note the through line between that event and the massacre in Buffalo. Moreover, he is well aware that Black voters were the backbone of his 2020 run for office, first reviving his listless campaign during the South Carolina primary and then carrying him to the general election. Frustration has grown among many of them after the failure to push through federal voting rights and police reform legislation. Now, 10 of their brethren were slain by a gunman who live-streamed the shooting, a racial epithet written on his modified automatic weapon clearly visible as he fired.

Biden set the tone early, telling aides that his visit to Buffalo needed to be, first and foremost, about consoling those grieving loved ones but that he also wanted to denounce the racism underlining the tragedy. Some aides pushed to specifically name those national figures who had pushed “replacement theory,” including Carlson and the No. 3 House Republican, Rep. Elise Stefanik of New York. But the idea was dropped, in favor of broader admonishments.

“I call on all Americans to reject the lie. And I condemn those who spread the lie for power, political gain and for profit,” he declared in Buffalo earlier Tuesday. “We need to say as clearly and forcefully as we can that the ideology of white supremacy has no place in America.”

Biden’s approach has not been universally applauded, including by people who have been supportive of the White House. Rev. Al Sharpton told POLITICO that if the administration was too nervous to call out Carlson by name, Biden should at least go after his employer.

“He could call out the network where he doesn’t elevate the host,” Sharpton said of Fox News. “We clearly should be talking about how the networks are pushing this stuff and acting like they have no responsibility. So I would certainly support him calling individual names, but the least he could do is calling the networks out.”

Civil rights leaders say that while it was important for Biden to go to Buffalo, they want to see more. On Sunday, several of those leaders had a phone meeting with officials from the Justice Department who promised to take the shooting seriously but stopped short of promising an investigation.

“You have people who really do get it. The question is what do they do? How far do they go? What tools do they have in the Department of Justice to educate people that it’s not an isolated incident,” Melanie Campbell, the president of the National Coalition on Black Civic Participation, who was on the call, told POLITICO.

For Biden’s defenders, however, his day in Buffalo showed the strengths he brings to the office. Standing just steps from the supermarket where 10 were killed, the president made the sign of the cross as first lady Jill Biden placed a white bouquet at a makeshift memorial, the base of a tree now covered in candles, signs and flowers. He spent well more than an hour privately meeting with survivors and families of the dead, listening to their stories of loss and sharing his own.

And then he delivered a mournful tribute to those lost — at one point choking up when describing one of the victims gunned down while buying a birthday cake for his 3-year-old son — and delivered a forceful denunciation of the racist theories that fueled the violence.

But even as Biden sought to turn a harsh spotlight on the threats that he believes the country faces, he also conceded the limitations of what he could do to prevent them.

“Look, I’m not naive,” he told the crowd. “I know tragedy will come again. It cannot be forever overcome.”

Later, speaking to reporters on the tarmac before boarding Air Force One for the flight back to Washington, a frustrated president could only solemnly acknowledge that the chances were remote that any meaningful moves would soon occur to change a country awash in guns.

“It’s going to be very difficult,” he said quietly, barely audible over the roar of the plane’s warming engines. “But I’m not going to give up trying.”

After the deadly mass shooting left 10 dead in Buffalo this weekend, the White House is significantly stepping up its push for the Senate to confirm Joe Biden’s top gun regulator.

Administration officials had already been highlighting the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives’ central role in fighting hate crimes, domestic terrorism and gun violence ahead the shooting in Buffalo, in which an 18-year-old racist targeted a Black neighborhood grocery store. But with Biden set to visit the city on Tuesday, they’re trying to refocus attention on Steve Dettelbach’s nomination to head the agency by spotlighting his record overseeing prosecutions in cases involving racially-motivated violence.

“It’s our hope that the Senate swiftly confirms Steve Dettelbach to lead ATF — particularly given his track record of prosecuting hate crimes — so Dettelbach can help the Bureau redouble their work fighting domestic terrorism and gun crime,” Mike Gwin, a White House spokesperson, said on Monday.

The ATF has not had a permanent director since 2015. And Biden’s first pick for the post, David Chipman, was withdrawn in September amid opposition from moderate Democrats. Hoping to secure the 50 votes needed for Dettelbach, the gun-control group Everytown for Gun Safety began circulating a memo on Monday to Senate offices that focuses specifically on his history of fighting violent extremism both from his time as U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Ohio and as chair of the Attorney General’s Civil Rights Advisory Subcommittee.

Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), meanwhile, told POLITICO he expects the Senate Judiciary Committee to hold its first hearing on Dettelbach’s nomination before the Senate leaves for recess at the end of next week.

The shooting in Buffalo was just one of several this past weekend. They came amid a flurry of activity by Biden honoring the sacrifices of law enforcement personnel and touting the administration’s efforts to expand funding to fight rising violent crime. While fulsome rebukes to Dettelbach may still materialize, the nomination has so far been marked by a notable, if surprising, lack of coordinated opposition. The National Shooting Sports Foundation, the firearm industry trade association that played a major role in torpedoing Chipman’s nomination, has so far not engaged nearly as aggressively on Dettelbach’s. But the group indicated that it was preparing to weigh in around his first hearing.

Dettelbach has been crisscrossing the country, often taking long trips from his home base in Cleveland, to meet with law enforcement and other interest groups, racking up a slew of endorsements that officials are deploying to neutralize any attacks on his record. Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), one of his home state senators, said the attacks in Buffalo and California made clear, “law enforcement officials understand the importance of confirming someone with a proven track record of fighting domestic extremism to lead the ATF.”

Among Dettelbach’s endorsers are the Federal Law Enforcement Officers Association, which represents many rank-and-file ATF agents; Major County Sheriffs of America; seven members of the team who convicted Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols in the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing case; and International Association of Chiefs of Police, where he was spotted attending a police week reception last week in Washington.

“I can’t remember the last time I saw a nominee doing the rounds on the receptions — if ever,” the person who saw him said.

If Dettelbach is able to secure 50 votes in the Senate, it would represent a significant victory for Biden. The president has been stymied in his efforts to get Congress to expand background checks, renew a ban on assault weapons and high-capacity magazines, and approve billions in new funding he proposed to address violent crime. And some of the more aggressive gun-control advocates expressed dismay on Monday that the White House — and Democratic Senate leaders — did not push hard for a reconsideration of new laws in the wake of the Buffalo shooting.

“On issues they think are important — like abortion — they hold a vote to show voters they are fulfilling the promises they made. On this one [background checks and stronger gun laws], they didn’t,” said Igor Volsky, executive director of the advocacy group Guns Down America. “You have a key thing that underscores the need for reform and Biden and [Senate Majority leader Chuck] Schumer failed to lay out a vision to prevent this from happening again.”

In the Everytown memo, the gun-control group laid out Dettelbach’s own history of taking on domestic extremism, including overseeing the prosecution of a man who set fire to the First Azusa Apostolic Faith Church of God in Conneaut, Ohio — the area’s only predominantly Black church.

In another case highlighted in the memo Dettelbach helped lead the prosecution of a Toledo man with a prior homicide conviction who was described as “a one-man army of racial and religious hate.” The alleged neo-Nazi, Richard Schmidt, illegally possessed of 18 firearms, body armor and more than 40,000 rounds of ammo — and he was believed to be targeting Jewish and Black community leaders in Detroit, according to the organization.

“He was always someone who would listen to the agents and prosecute cases when appropriate. If there was a case that he didn’t think merited prosecution, he would say that as well, which was something that I respected,” Bob Browning, a former ATF special agent in charge in Ohio who worked on cases with Biden’s ATF nominee, said in an interview.

“He also is very familiar with the Department of Justice — he’s intimately familiar with interacting with Senate members and he can take the agency where it needs to go.”

Laura Barrón-López and Marianne LeVine contributed to this report.

CORRECTION: An earlier version of this report misspelled Sherrod Brown’s name.

WASHINGTON — The Biden administration announced Monday that it will expand flights to Cuba and lift Donald Trump-era restrictions on remittances that immigrants can send to people on the island.

The State Department said in a statement that it will remove the current $1,000-per-quarter limit on family remittances and will allow non-family remittances, which will support independent Cuban entrepreneurs. The U.S. will also allow scheduled and charter flights to locations beyond Havana, according to the State Department.

“With these actions, we aim to support Cubans’ aspirations for freedom and for greater economic opportunities so that they can lead successful lives at home,” the State Department added.

“We continue to call on the Cuban government to immediately release political prisoners, to respect the Cuban people’s fundamental freedoms and to allow the Cuban people to determine their own futures.”

The policy changes come after a review that began soon after a series of widespread protests on the island last July.

President Joe Biden will travel to Buffalo on Tuesday to meet with the victims of a racially motivated mass shooting.

The White House announced Sunday that the president would visit with the injured and the families of some those killed in Saturday’s shooting.

Ten people were killed by a white gunman who posted a racist online manifesto before opening fire in a supermarket in a predominantly Black neighborhood. “I have 10 dead neighbors in this community. And it hurts,” said New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, a Buffalo native, on Sunday on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”

A painful and foreboding reality is setting in for the White House as it enters a potentially dangerous stretch of the Covid fight: It may soon need to run its sprawling pandemic response on a shoestring budget.

Just two months after the administration unveiled a nearly 100-page roadmap out of the crisis, doubts are growing about Congress’ willingness to fund the nation’s fight. It has forced Biden officials to debate deep cuts to their Covid operation and game out ways to keep the federal effort afloat on a month-by-month basis.

Among the sacrifices being weighed are limiting access to its next generation of vaccines to only the highest-risk Americans — a rationing that would have been unthinkable just a year ago, when the White House touted the development and widespread availability of vaccines as the clearest way out of the pandemic.

But as the government’s cash reserves dwindle, officials are increasingly concluding that these types of difficult choices will soon have to be made. And they are quietly preparing to shift responsibility for other key parts of the pandemic response to the private sector as early as 2023.

“There’s a great deal of concern that we’re going to be caught shorthanded,” said one person familiar with the discussions. “On the face of it, it’s absurd.”

The contingency planning is aimed at preserving the bare-minimum tools needed to protect against the virus this year, federal officials and others familiar with the discussions said. But many of those decisions still hinge on Congress authorizing $10 billion in new Covid spending, a prospect that remains uncertain in the face of GOP opposition.

Senate Republicans have stalled the funding request for weeks over demands they first get an unrelated vote on President Joe Biden’s decision to end Covid-era border restrictions. Despite Biden administration warnings the U.S. could record 100 million more infections through the fall and winter, some GOP lawmakers are also separately skeptical that there’s an urgent need for more money, accusing the administration of failing to account for the hundreds of billions of dollars it has already spent.

Should the Senate manage to break its impasse, people familiar with the planning said that the funding would still only be enough to keep the government’s core Covid activities running. Nearly half that amount would immediately go toward paying the administration’s debt to drug company Pfizer, which has yet to be fully compensated for supplying 20 million doses of its antiviral treatment earlier this year.

The roughly $5 billion remaining would likely be split among investments to bolster supplies of tests, treatments and vaccines. Under a best-case scenario, the administration might make those stockpiles last through the end of the year. Even then, the White House’s ability to react to a dangerous new variant would be severely limited, and funding to aid the global response would be nonexistent.

But at worst, the people said, the richest country in the world could find itself out of money to combat a Covid resurgence on its own soil.

“All that needs to happen is to have a variant emerge that’s highly infectious and causes more morbidity and mortality and we’re back to ground zero,” said Georges Benjamin, executive director of the American Public Health Association, which represents public health workers. “We have not finished the job.”

The stubborn difficulty in providing new funding for the emergency response has cast a pall over the administration, where officials view Biden’s ability to keep Covid under control as essential to the success of his presidency.

The White House in recent months sought credit for effectively ending the crisis, touting its vaccination campaign and widespread distribution of tests and therapeutics as key to allowing most Americans to safely resume their everyday lives. Yet the administration has struggled simultaneously to make the case for pouring continued resources to fight the pandemic — with officials surprised by the level of Republican resistance and unwilling to hold up other legislative initiatives to use them as vehicles for getting Covid funding passed.

The White House’s initial $22.5 billion request was cut to $15.6 billion in March, but that allocation fell apart after House Democrats objected to paying for it by clawing back Covid funds from individual states. Republicans further whittled the deal down to $10 billion and demanded a separate immigration vote. Biden and fellow Democrats sought to put the funding in a larger Ukraine aid package. But they decided this week to decouple the two and no clear strategy remains for breaking the stalemate.

Without the money to keep its Covid operations running, Biden allies say they now fear a resurgence of the virus in the summer or fall could wipe out the gains the president has staked his health record on — and plunge the country back into crisis just ahead of the midterms.

“Inaction in Congress is already forcing difficult and unnecessary compromises that have dire consequences for the American people,” a White House spokesperson said, adding that failing to authorize additional funding would force “even more difficult tradeoffs.”

Biden officials have stressed to lawmakers that securing funding now is critical to the administration’s preparedness later this year, particularly when it comes to purchasing new vaccines meant to better target Omicron variants. The government can’t commit to purchasing them until it has the money, sparking concerns that competing countries will get first access to the limited supply or that the U.S. will only be able to afford enough shots for the highest-risk populations.

More immediately, the administration is holding off investing in the manufacturing of potential new Covid treatments, people familiar with the matter said.

Biden officials originally planned to aid the development of a pair of antiviral pills that could expand the government’s arsenal of treatments that cut the risk of severe illness in infected patients. Instead, that money has now been withheld in case it’s needed for more urgent priorities.

Within the administration, the funding stalemate has also prompted fresh deliberations over the long-term viability of the Covid response. While the White House has publicly maintained it needs at least $22.5 billion from Congress overall this year, there is internal acknowledgment that getting anything beyond the initial $10 billion investment is a long shot.

“They’ve never suggested that $10 billion would last very long,” said Sen. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.), who met last week with White House Covid coordinator Ashish Jha on the issue. “But $10 billion may be the most that there’s any appetite for right now.”

On a private call with health experts last Thursday, Jha said some lawmakers have floated winding down the federal subsidies that guarantee free Covid vaccines and treatments to all Americans instead, suggesting private insurers take over the process.

The White House doesn’t view that as an immediate option, Jha said, according to three people on the call, due to how complex and disruptive it would be for Americans and the health system. But other administration officials in recent weeks have weighed the prospect of transitioning responsibility for vaccines and some treatments to the traditional insurance market as early as next year, two people familiar with the matter said, spurred by the realization that the government may soon have no other choice.

The shift would be complicated and fraught and take months to engineer, the people said, and no decisions have been made. There is also widespread recognition that such a move could represent a setback for the White House’s much-touted pledge to ensure an equitable response, by making it harder for low-income and uninsured people to access and afford vaccines and treatments.

“It’s really concerning that, two-plus years into a global pandemic, we’re still needing to have these arguments on how best to protect people,” said Chrissie Juliano, executive director of the Big Cities Health Coalition, which represents metropolitan health departments. “The people who will be impacted the most are the most vulnerable.”

Hoping to break the impasse, Jha and other top officials, including senior Biden adviser Steve Ricchetti, have met with lawmakers on both sides of the aisle to walk through the looming consequences of not passing additional Covid funding. Among outside allies, there is greater discussion of enlisting governors and prominent health coalitions to call for action on the funds.

Yet with little ability left to force Senate Republicans’ hand, there’s growing fear that perhaps the only way to keep the Covid response alive will be for Covid itself to swamp the nation in infections once again.

“We need to decide as a country how we want to deal with the fact that Covid’s going to be with us for a long time,” said Bob Kocher, who served on the Obama administration’s National Economic Council. “The path we are perhaps unintentionally choosing leads to a more disruptive, longer and more economically painful Covid experience for America.”

Marianne LeVine contributed to this report.

Joe Biden midterm mode has officially been activated.

The president traveled the country on Wednesday, sharpening his lines of attack against the Republican Party as primary season kicks into full gear. Throughout the day, he laid into the GOP and baited former President Donald Trump, even testing a new nickname for his predecessor: the great MAGA king.

“Look at my predecessor, the great MAGA king — the deficit increased every single year he was president,” Biden said in Chicago at the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers International convention, contrasting the deficit reductions during his tenure with Trump’s term.

With a little over six months to go until the November midterms — what is often a referendum on the president’s performance — Biden is moving into full-fledged campaign mode. The noticeable change in tone comes as economic concerns hover over Democrats’ prospects and the White House tests out a new strategy — painting a clear picture of the differences between Democrats and Trump and his followers.

With his MAGA king nickname, Biden was just getting started. At a DNC fundraiser later Wednesday, the president called his 2020 victory against Trump a “low bar,” and dug into his favorite phrase of late, “MAGA Republicans,” twice calling these politicians “petty,” “mean-spirited” and “extreme.”

“They are cowered by Trump,” Biden said, telling the audience that Democrats have to make their case in 2022. “The fact of the matter is, they run the show — the MAGA Republicans. … It really is beyond the pale.”

The president, speaking to roughly 40 guests, said the GOP has a “radical agenda” and said it isn’t “your father’s Republican Party.”

“It’s one thing to take on Disney World,” he said, referring to Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ battle with Walt Disney Co. over his “Don’t Say Gay” legislation. “They’re going to storm Cinderella’s castle before this is over.”

While Biden said that the disclosure of the Supreme Court’s draft opinion that would overturn Roe v. Wade could spark enthusiasm in Democratic voters, he didn’t shy away from acknowledging the rough road ahead for his party.

“Inflation is going to scare the hell out of everybody,” the president said.

White House Domestic Policy Council Director Susan Rice has tested positive for Covid-19 — the latest case amid a string of top U.S. officials who have contracted the virus.

“This morning I tested positive for COVID-19. I’m feeling fine and grateful to be vaccinated and double boosted,” Rice tweeted on Monday afternoon.

Rice said in the tweet she last saw President Joe Biden in person on Wednesday while masked, and “and under CDC guidance he is not considered a close contact.”

Rice’s diagnosis comes just two weeks after Vice President Kamala Harris tested positive for Covid and five days after Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced he had contracted the virus.

Biden has so far apparently avoided Covid and was also not considered a close contact of Harris or Blinken by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention standards.

First lady Jill Biden on Sunday met with Ukrainian refugees in Slovakia, offering solace and promising that the United States would continue to support them.

Slovakia, though it only shares a slender border with Ukraine, has seen an influx of refugees since Russia launched its massive attack on Ukraine in February.

According to pool reports, Biden spoke through an interpreter to some of those she met at the bus station in the Slovakian city of Kosice, asking them to share their experiences.

“They come to our land. They kill us, but they say we protect you,” a woman identified as Viktoriia Kutocha told Biden.

“It’s so hard to understand,” Biden replied.

Kutocha said she found it impossible to explain what was going on to her children.

“It’s senseless,” Biden said. Her 7-year-old daughter then hugged the first lady.

The first lady, who had previously visited Romania on her four-day visit to Eastern Europe, also traveled to Vysne Nemecke along the Ukraine-Slovakia border.

Biden, who was greeted by Slovakian Prime Minister Eduard Heger, also conferred with non-governmental organizations attempting to provide assistance to the refugees and took part in a prayer service in a tent.

The first lady’s trip to the region came one week after House Speaker Nancy Pelosi led a congressional delegation to Kyiv.

President Joe Biden announced on Thursday that White House press secretary Jen Psaki is leaving the administration on May 13, to be replaced by her deputy, Karine Jean-Pierre.

“Karine not only brings the experience, talent and integrity needed for this difficult job, but she will continue to lead the way in communicating about the work of the Biden-Harris Administration on behalf of the American people. Jill and I have known and respected Karine a long time and she will be a strong voice speaking for me and this Administration,” the statement read.

“Jen Psaki has set the standard for returning decency, respect and decorum to the White House Briefing Room. I want to say thank you to Jen for raising the bar, communicating directly and truthfully to the American people, and keeping her sense of humor while doing so. I thank Jen her service to the country, and wish her the very best as she moves forward.”

Jean-Pierre represents a historic choice for the role, the first black press secretary and openly gay one in the history of the position. She has been viewed for months as Psaki’s likely successor, having served as the press secretary’s number two for the first year of the administration.

But she has tough shoes to fill. Psaki has widely been seen by members of the White House press corps as a cool-headed spokesperson with a knack for explaining complicated policy issues. She entered the job intent on restoring White House credibility with the press corps, following years of hostile battles with the media under the Trump administration. She also brought back daily White House press briefings that had all but disappeared in the second half of the former administration.

Psaki’s departure from the White House has been expected for months. In May 2021, she signaled her plans on the CNN podcast “The Axe Files,” during an interview with former Obama administration official David Axelrod.

“I think it’s going to be time for somebody else to have this job, in a year from now or about a year from now,” she said at the time.

Psaki was convinced by members of the president’s team to stay on amid a series of overlapping crises, including the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the spread of the Omicron variant of Covid-19.

But some of her attention seemed to wane, and faced questions about her decision to engage in negotiations with MSNBC while still occupying a White House job, which Psaki defended by saying she was engaged with the White House counsel’s office to ensure that she did not break any ethical rules.

Psaki’s departure is the latest departure from the White House communications office to head for broadcast or cable networks. Symone Sanders, who served as press secretary for Vice President Kamala Harris, is launching her own new show on MSNBC this weekend. Fox News served the previous administration as both a farm team for the press office and a landing place for former officials. Kayley McEnany is a host on Fox News’ daily roundtable show The Five.