Playbook: Senate staffer out after sex tape scandal - POLITICO

Summary

This document discusses various news articles and events, including a sex tape scandal involving a Senate staffer, the impact of the impeachment inquiry on Capitol Hill, and other political developments. It also highlights a defamation case against Rudy Giuliani, the role of a billionaire-backed think tank in shaping AI policy, and the increase in homelessness in the U.S. Additionally, it mentions the State Department's struggle with blocked diplomatic nominees and provides updates on political figures and media moves.

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https://www.politico.com/newsletters/playbook/2023/12/16/senate-staffer-out-after-sex-tape-scandal-00132143

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Playbook: Senate staffer out after sex tape scandal

By RACHAEL BADE, RYAN LIZZA and EUGENE DANIELS

12/16/2023 12:06 PM EST

Presented by

With help from Eli Okun, Garrett Ross and Bethany Irvine

DRIVING THE DAY

WHAT EVERY D.C. GROUP CHAT IS TALKING ABOUT — We’ve had a lot of drama on Capitol Hill this fall. A House speaker ousted for the first time in history, followed by a brutal succession fight. A serial liar of a congressman expelled from his post — and now banking thousands of dollars a day doing Cameo videos.

And now there’s this: “Senate Staffer Caught Filming Gay Sex Tape In Senate Hearing Room (GRAPHIC),” by The Daily Caller’s Henry Rodgers.

First off, please know, when they say “GRAPHIC,” they mean it.

The video, which Rodgers reports was shared in a group chat with gay men in politics, shows two men having sex in what appears to be Hart 216, the cavernous room that has played host to Supreme Court nominees, the 9/11 Commission hearings and former FBI Director JAMES COMEY’s blockbuster 2017 testimony on DONALD TRUMP.

The, um, action takes place on the dais — right between where Sens. AMY KLOBUCHAR (D-Minn.) and CHRIS COONS (D-Del.) were sitting at a recent Senate Judiciary Committee markup, in case you were wondering.

The Daily Caller did not name the staffer, but conservative outlets identified the person responsible as AIDAN MAESE-CZEROPSKI, an aide to Sen. BEN CARDIN (D-Md.).

Cardin’s office, after not commenting yesterday on what it called a “personnel matter,” this morning tells Playbook in a statement that “Aidan Maese-Czeropski is no longer employed by the U.S. Senate.”

“We will have no further comment on this personnel matter,” the statement added.

Playbook also reached out to Capitol Police this morning to see if an investigation is underway and did not get a response. Senate leadership aides also declined to comment.

Our attempts to reach Maese-Czeropski this morning did not immediately succeed, but he posted the following to LinkedIn last night: “This has been a difficult time for me, as I have been attacked for who I love to pursue a political agenda. While some of my actions in the past have shown poor judgement, I love my job and would never disrespect my workplace. Any attempts to characterize my actions otherwise are fabricated and I will be exploring what legal options are available to me in these matters.”

Yeah, we’d definitely advise finding a lawyer.

Now on to more serious business …

BORDER TALKS UPDATE — Senate negotiators trying to strike a deal on U.S.-Mexico border policy emerged last night continuing to sing a positive tune. Here’s a sampling our colleague Burgess Everett graciously shared with Playbook after the meeting broke up:

— Sen. KYRSTEN SINEMA (I-Ariz.) said they’re making headway now that the White House is more involved. “We made really good progress today. We’re moving forward on big issues.”

— Sen. JAMES LANKFORD (R-Okla.) said “we’ve got a long way to go,” but added that the White House was actually putting proposals on paper, a good sign following GOP complaints that they hadn’t been.

— Sen. CHRIS MURPHY (D-Conn.) says his goal is to get the deal done before leaving for the holidays: “I’m not going back home … All I know is we’re trying to get a vote on this before we leave. That’s my only goal.”

Negotiators are back to work again this morning and possibly tomorrow, which shows just how much work they have to do if they want to wrap by Christmas.

Meanwhile, pressure continues to build on the administration to do something about the border. Yesterday, Arizona Gov. KATIE HOBBS (D) signed an executive order deploying the state’s National Guard to help deal with the surge in migrant crossings, the Arizona Republic reports. “I am taking action where the federal government won’t,” she said in a statement.

Good Saturday morning. Thanks for reading Playbook. Drop us a line: Rachael Bade, Eugene Daniels, Ryan Lizza.

WHAT THE WHITE HOUSE IS READING — From WSJ’s Annie Linskey: “President [JOE] BIDEN heads into the end of the year with deepening Democratic worries about his re-election, as his effort to aid allies in two wars hangs in the balance on Capitol Hill and an impeachment inquiry into him and his family moves forward. …

“Those with concerns include former President BARACK OBAMA, who ‘knows this is going to be a close race’ and ‘feels that Democrats very well could lose’ the 2024 election.”

WHAT KEVIN McCARTHY IS READING— “McCarthy protégé deemed ineligible for Congress bid,” by Melanie Mason and Jeremy White: California legislator VINCE FONG “had already qualified to run for Assembly, and state law bars a candidate from withdrawing after last Friday’s filing deadline. He decided to forge ahead [with a congressional run, regardless, filing his candidacy with Kern County election officials, and McCarthy swiftly endorsed him.”

WHAT DEL RAY RESIDENTS ARE READING — “Caps, Wizards complex in Virginia could get largest arena subsidy ever,” by WaPo’s Jonathan O’Connell, Teo Armus, Laura Vozzella and Sam Fortier: “The net cost to taxpayers would ultimately reach an estimated $1.35 billion, according to the study. That includes $1.15 billion directly for the project — more than any comparable facility on record, according to J.C. BRADBURY, a Kennesaw State economics professor who studies sports facilities and reviewed the study for The Post.”

WHAT'S HAPPENING TODAY

At the White House

Biden has nothing on his public schedule.

VP KAMALA HARRIS and second gentleman DOUG EMHOFF will travel to Atlanta to attend the Cricket Celebration Bowl, where Harris will be interviewed by ESPN, before returning to Washington.

On the trail

Trump will head to New Hampshire today for his first event there in more than a month as he seeks to stop NIKKI HALEY’s momentum, CNN’s Aaron Pellish previews.

PLAYBOOK READS

9 THINGS THAT STUCK WITH US

1. JUDGMENT DAY: A federal jury in D.C. yesterday ordered RUDY GIULIANI to pay a whopping $148 million in damages for defaming Georgia poll workers RUBY FREEMAN and SHAYE MOSS as he spread falsehoods about the 2020 election, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution’s David Wickert reports. It’s just the latest of a wave of legal punishments for people who tried to undermine the election, though Giuliani has continued to maintain that he believes the allegations were true. (They weren’t.) He also pledged to appeal, citing “the absurdity of the number” — which his well-documented financial struggles of late might make it difficult to become reality. But Freeman and Moss said they felt vindicated.

2. HOW THE DOOMERS GOT A WIN: “Billionaire-backed think tank played key role in Biden’s AI order,” by Brendan Bordelon: “The provisions advanced by [the RAND Corporation] in the October executive order included a sweeping set of reporting requirements placed on the most powerful AI systems, ostensibly designed to lessen the technology’s catastrophic risks. Those requirements hew closely to the policy priorities pursued by Open Philanthropy, a group that pumped over $15 million into RAND … Open Philanthropy is a major funder of causes associated with ‘effective altruism’ … Effective altruists now focus much of their attention on AI and are increasingly pushing Washington to address the technology’s apocalyptic potential.”

3. THE HONEYMOON ENDS: “GOP pushes Speaker Johnson to start picking sides in its endless battles,” by Olivia Beavers and Jordain Carney: “Conservatives aren’t close to entertaining an effort to oust [Speaker MIKE] JOHNSON, given that McCarthy’s departure will soon shrink their majority to just two seats. But GOP hard-liners are clearly displeased with his attempts to stay above the fray, and they’re poised to make real trouble for him if he doesn’t start making hard calls. Of course, even if he does start choosing sides, he risks blowback of a different kind.”

4. NOT READY FOR AI: At the state level, most of the country is lagging in protecting political campaigns from a surge of deepfakes and artificial intelligence-generated trickery, NBC’s Adam Edelman reports. Few states have even tried to navigate the thicket of complex issues raised by regulation, even as experts warn about the potential for disinformation to spread rapidly. Only Michigan, Minnesota and Washington state passed legislation on the matter this year — which experts say is all the more important because the federal government hasn’t taken action.

5. NOMINATION WOES: The State Department is stepping up its agitation about 43 diplomatic nominees whom Republicans have blocked in the Senate, from would-be Deputy Secretary of State KURT CAMPBELL on down, NYT’s Edward Wong and Michael Crowley report. If they don’t get through by the holidays, they’ll have to be renominated next year. The Biden administration warns that the holdup damages American national security and foreign policy. But Republican senators who have placed the holds — especially J.D. VANCE (Ohio) and RAND PAUL (Ky.) — either have ideological concerns about the nominees or are seeking separate policy concessions in exchange.

6. THE 14TH AMENDMENT QUESTION: “Attorneys spar over whether Trump can appear on Maine’s presidential primary ballot,” by the Portland Press Herald’s Rachel Ohm in Augusta: “The eight-hour hearing was held at the State House and presided over by [Secretary of State SHENNA] BELLOWS, who plans to rule on the validity of the challenges by Dec. 22. It focused largely on whether Bellows has the authority to decide whether Trump may appear on the ballot – or if that decision lies with federal authorities or courts – and the history of Section 3.”

7. AILING AMERICA: The level of homeless people in the U.S. leapt 12% this year to the highest number ever recorded, new HUD data out yesterday revealed, per WSJ’s Jon Kamp and Shannon Najmabadi. Among the reasons: Pandemic-era federal aid programs tapered off, housing stock remained expensive and too scarce, and the opioid crisis kept destabilizing many lives. The increase was broad across many categories and places, but in particular 55% of the jump came among Hispanic people — in part a reflection of the surge of migrants to many big cities.

8. WHO KNEW WHAT WHEN: “Lawsuit claims CPAC knew of past allegations of sexual misconduct by Matt Schlapp,” by WaPo’s Beth Reinhard and Isaac Arnsdorf: “In one alleged incident, during a fundraising trip to South Florida in early 2022, [MATT] SCHLAPP was accused of stripping to his underwear and rubbing against another person without his consent, according to the filing. In 2017, at a CPAC after-party, Schlapp attempted to kiss an employee against his wishes, the lawsuit claims.

“In both cases, according to the suit, the alleged victims reported the unwanted advances to staffers at CPAC’s parent organization, the American Conservative Union, but no action was taken … MARK CORALLO, a spokesman for Schlapp, on Friday disputed the claims.”

9. MOMS FOR LIBERTY STRUGGLING: “Florida Sex Scandal Shakes Moms for Liberty, as Group’s Influence Wanes,” by NYT’s Lisa Lerer and Patricia Mazzei: “Candidates endorsed by the group lost a series of key school board races in 2023. The losses have prompted questions about the future of education issues as an animating force in Republican politics. … The two other founders of Moms for Liberty, TINA DESCOVICH and TIFFANY JUSTICE, have distanced themselves from [BRIDGET] ZIEGLER.”

CLICKER — “The nation’s cartoonists on the week in politics,” edited by Matt Wuerker — 15 funnies

GREAT WEEKEND READS, curated by Ryan Lizza:

— “The Many Myths of the Boston Tea Party,” by Smithsonian Magazine’s Meilan Solly: “Contrary to popular belief, the 1773 protest opposed a tax break, not a tax hike. And it didn’t immediately unify the colonies against the British.”

— “Heirs of Power,” by Lawrence Delevingne and Tom Lasseter in New Gascony, Arkansas: “The forebears of three members of Congress regained – and passed forward – wealth and power their families lost when slavery was abolished. Their success shows how the Southern elite exploited Black Americans in new ways.”

— “Funhouse Mirror,” by Christopher L. Brown in the London Review of Books

— “Smithsonian targeted D.C.’s vulnerable to build brain collection,” by WaPo’s Nicole Dungca and Claire Healy

— “The Most Consequential Act of Sabotage in Modern Times,” by The Atlantic’s Mark Bowden: “The destruction of the Nord Stream pipeline curtailed Europe’s reliance on Russian gas. But who was responsible?”

— “How Police Have Undermined the Promise of Body Cameras,” by Eric Umansky in ProPublica and the NYT Magazine: “Hundreds of millions in taxpayer dollars have been spent on what was sold as a revolution in transparency and accountability. Instead, police departments routinely refuse to release footage — even when officers kill.”

— “Ghosts on the Glacier,” by NYT’s John Branch: “[O]ne of mountaineering’s most enduring mysteries has been given air and light.”

— “One Swedish zoo, seven escaped chimpanzees,” by Imogen West-Knights in the Guardian: “When the great apes at Furuvik Zoo broke free from their enclosure last winter, the keepers faced a terrible choice. This is the story of the most dramatic 72 hours of their lives.”

— “Jimmy Carter,” by Peter Osnos in Air Mail: “The former president and his wife, Rosalynn, had a perfect marriage — then it almost collapsed when they collaborated on a book.”

PLAYBOOKERS

Craig Riedel has Republicans scrambling in Ohio.

Alex Jones proposed a $55 million bankruptcy plan to pay the Sandy Hook families.

Conan O’Brien stopped by the White House briefing room.

OUT AND ABOUT — ABI Associates hosted its holiday party Wednesday evening at Bar Spero. SPOTTED: Sens. John Hickenlooper (D-Colo.) and Mark Warner (D-Va.), Reps. Josh Gottheimer (D-N.J.), Don Beyer (D-Va.) and Jonathan Jackson (D-Ill.), Nora Connors and Ankit Desai, Kate Balcerzak, Joe Crowley, Helen Milby, Ryan Berni, Kim Kauffman, Mary Pat Bonner, Terry McAuliffe, Amy Andryszak, Maya MacGuineas, Jen Palmieri, Elizabeth Falcone, Reema Dodin, David Montes, Missy Owens, Erik Smith, Bradley Beychok and Cassie Greer, Chris Korge, Greg Schultz, Leah Israel, Meghan Meehan-Draper, Anna Palmer and Patrick Mellody, and Shripal Shah.

— Reporters in the White House press basement hosted their holiday party yesterday in the crowded hallway downstairs from the briefing room. The potluck lunch featured remarks from Martha Kumar and Kelly O’Donnell, and Greg Clugston presented his 25th annual “Twas the Night Before Christmas” poem recapping the year’s news (read it here). SPOTTED: Olivia Dalton, Steve Holland, George Condon, Jeff Mason, Linda Kenyon, Jared Halpern, Patsy Widakuswara, Brian Bennett, Weijia Jiang, Jordan Fabian and Steven Nelson.

— SPOTTED last night at Amirah Sequeira and Nihal Krishan’s holiday party at Sequeira’s condo in Silver Spring: Christina Sevilla and Steve Rochlin, Adam Green, Shadi Hamid, Alyssa Berg and Andrew O’Neill, Evan Brown, Afton Cissell, Chris Lydon, Victoria Houed, Usha Sahay and Zolan Kanno-Youngs.

MEDIA MOVES — Liz Sly is the latest reporter to announce she’s leaving WaPo, where she most recently has been a correspondent-at-large covering global affairs. … NPR announced some new additions and reshuffled roles in its Washington bureau: Kelsey Snell as congressional editor, Stephen Fowler as a reporter (previously at Georgia Public Broadcasting) and Lexie Schapitl as a producer and editor on the congressional and politics teams.

TRANSITION — Will Hampson has left his role as senior comms aide to Rep. Nancy Mace (R-S.C.), per Natalie Allison, just the latest of many staffers to leave her office.

ENGAGED — Neeve Nikoo, a product manager at Google, proposed to Kirsi Goldynia, an editor for CNN’s opinion team, on Dec. 2 in the West Village, outside the restaurant where they had their first date. They met on Hinge in 2021. Pic by Eugene Krasnaok … Another pic

WEEKEND WEDDING — Suraj Patel and Emily Bina, via NYT: He ran “for Congress in Manhattan’s 12th Congressional District race … Ms. Bina is a freelance media producer, mainly developing documentaries. … The two were married on Dec. 9 on [their East Village] rooftop … Multiday wedding events will also take place in Jaipur, India, at the end of December.”

HAPPY BIRTHDAY: CNN’s Phil Mattingly, Liz Turrell and Jason Seher … Lesley Stahl … Emilie Simons … Jake Sherman … Melissa Kiedrowicz Ellison … former Rep. Norm Dicks (D-Wash.) … Adam Bromberg … Peter Orszag … Bloomberg’s Rebecca Rainey … Allison Herwitt of Sen. Chris Murphy’s (D-Conn.) office … Jenni LeCompte of FGS Global … DOJ’s Matt Klapper … Jody Murphy … Caroline Champion of FlexPoint Media … Kezia McKeague of McLarty Associates … Carol Browner … Heather King … Sony’s Christina Mulvihill … Chris Frech … WaPo’s Liz Goodwin … Amy Siskind … Susan Estrich … former Rhode Island Gov. Don Carcieri … Jano Cabrera … Susan Liss … former Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn … Scotty Greenwood of Manulife… Alexandra Davis of Rep. August Pfluger’s (R-Texas) office

THE SHOWS (Full Sunday show listings here):

ABC “This Week”: Nikki Haley … New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu … Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.). Panel: Donna Brazile, Reince Priebus, Averi Harper and Heidi Przybyla.

CNN “State of the Union”: Chris Christie … Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.). Panel: David Urban, Karen Finney, Ashley Allison and Doug Heye.

CBS “Face the Nation”: Sen. Chris Coons (D-Del.) … Chris Christie … Rep. Tony Gonzales (R-Texas) … Ukrainian Ambassador Oksana Markarova … Austan Goolsbee.

NBC “Meet the Press”: Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) … Rep. Debbie Dingell (D-Mich.). Panel: Geoff Bennett, Matt Gorman, Courtney Kube and Jen Psaki.

MSNBC “Inside with Jen Psaki”: Rep. Colin Allred (D-Texas) … Ronen Neutra and Orna Neutra … Adi Alexander and Yael Alexander … Liz Hirsh Naftali.

FOX “Fox News Sunday”: Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) … Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.). Legal panel: Jonathan Turley, Tom Dupree and Elizabeth Wydra. Panel: Francesca Chambers, Charlie Hurt, Marc Short and Elizabeth Wydra.

Send Playbookers tips to playbook@politico.com or text us at 202-556-3307. Playbook couldn’t happen without our editor Mike DeBonis, deputy editor Zack Stanton, producer Andrew Howard and Playbook Daily Briefing producer Callan Tansill-Suddath.