President Joe Biden condemned the anti-Israel protests embroiling college campuses this week, sparking backlash among those who oppose the Gaza war and raising new questions about his standing with younger voters. But, so far, campaign aides say they do not see it ballooning into more of a problem for the reelection bid. Those doing the protesting, they believe, are a subset of a subset of the electorate, one that’s drawn a disproportionate amount of media coverage compared to its actual political clout. “What is happening in Gaza is not the top issue for [young voters]. It's not going to be f ..read more

Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra’s plans to leave the Biden administration and run for California governor are more advanced than previously known — with hiring discussions and spending further developed than he’s letting on. Not only has Becerra had conversations over the past weeks about making the move, he or emissaries have approached political firms about standing up a gubernatorial campaign to succeed Gov. Gavin Newsom in 2026, two people briefed on those discussions told POLITICO. Becerra, a former longtime member of Congress from Los Angeles and California attorney ge ..read more

President Joe Biden on Monday gave his first public remarks on anti-Israel protests roiling college campuses. But in condemning the actions of demonstrators who he deemed “antisemitic,” Biden also chastised those who didn’t empathize with the suffering of those in Gaza. “I condemn the antisemitic protests,” the president told reporters en route back from a speech he had delivered to commemorate Earth Day. “That’s why I have set up a program to deal with that. I also condemn those who don’t understand what’s going on with the Palestinians.” Asked a second question about whether Columbia Univers ..read more

The Biden administration hopes that staying quiet about Israel’s retaliation against Iran will allow the dangerous moment to pass without escalating into all-out war. The instruction from within Washington has been to keep mum about Israel’s Friday strikes on Isfahan, three U.S. officials and an Israeli official said, who further noted Israel had yet to comment on the response and that Iran has downplayed the incident. If the chest-beating ends, they hope, so too might the latest Middle Eastern crisis. “No one wants to escalate things,” said the Israeli official, who like others was granted an ..read more

President Joe Biden’s campaign and Democratic allies, anxiously eyeing third-party threats, are mounting an aggressive effort to neutralize Robert F. Kennedy Jr. The Democratic National Committee has built out a first-of-its-kind unit, hiring staffers specifically dedicated to disabling Kennedy and other third-party candidates. They’ve filed Federal Elections Commission complaints against Kennedy and his allies, while accusing him of being funded by Republican mega donors. Democratic outside groups are also working to dig up dirt on Kennedy and his newly named running mate, Nicole Shanahan, a ..read more

The Biden campaign has a straightforward strategy for navigating former President Donald Trump’s time in the courthouse. They’re gonna stay the hell out of the way. President Joe Biden made a rare quip at Trump’s expense during a speech Wednesday in Pennsylvania, but aides and advisers have gone to great lengths to say virtually nothing about the trial in New York, deflecting repeated requests to weigh in on his 34 felony counts. They didn’t even take the bait when the former president appeared to doze off on the opening day of proceedings into the legality of hush money payments he made to a ..read more

The head of the agency that oversees the federal government’s workforce plans to step down in the coming weeks, she said in an interview with POLITICO. Office of Personnel Management Director Kiran Ahuja said she plans to depart in early May to deal with an ongoing health concern and following a recent death in the family. “I was, from the day of being nominated, very intent on wanting to serve the president well through this term, and that was a commitment that I had made,” Ahuja said. “But I think at times, as they say, life intervenes.” She added that she is not leaving for a position outsi ..read more

The White House announced on Monday it would oppose a bill to fund Israel security if it did not include the president’s requests for aid to Taiwan and Ukraine. National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby threw cold water on House Speaker Mike Johnson’s plan to introduce a stand-alone bill funding Israel following the attacks from Iran over the weekend, saying it would not get President Joe Biden’s backing. “We would oppose a stand-alone bill that would just work on Israel,” said Kirby. The comments provide a clear signal to congressional Democrats that they should vote against the measu ..read more

President Joe Biden deliberately kept a low public profile following Iran's attacks against Israel over the weekend, hoping that his absence from the spotlight would help deescalate the situation. White House aides on Sunday discussed the idea of Biden delivering a national address after Israel, in conjunction with U.S. forces, shot down the vast majority of the 300 drone and missile launches from Iran forces seeking to avenge the killing of senior paramilitary leaders. But while scheduling was fluid, there were no immediate plans for Biden to address an American audience on the conflict in th ..read more

The Biden administration’s main message for Israel following Iran’s aerial assault comes down to this: Stop and think. U.S. officials expect Israel to respond in some fashion to Saturday’s strikes, but in both public and private ways they are taking steps they hope will convince Israel to choose a limited response as opposed to an all-out armed counter-attack. The latter, they fear, will plunge the region into a major war. President Joe Biden in particular wants to avoid any battle that could drag in U.S. troops, and he’s made that clear to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. “We’re adv ..read more