Lanny Davis long ago established himself as the go-to operative in Washington when you’re in the middle of a PR crisis.  He was famously the public face defending Bill Clinton during the Monica Lewinsky scandal in 1998. But today, 25 years later, he’s on the other side of a presidential sex scandal representing Michael Cohen, Trump’s longtime lawyer and self-described “fixer,” who went to jail for a number of offenses, including his role in paying Stormy Daniels $130,000 in exchange for her not telling the media her account of an alleged affair with Donald Trump.  Cohen is now a central witness in the Manhattan DA’s case against Trump, one that could send the former president to jail. It’s a case that has died and been resurrected so many times that prosecutors have nicknamed it the “zombie” case. And a major obstacle that prosecutors face is whether or not jurors will believe that Cohen, who lied for Trump for over a decade, is telling the truth.  On this episode of Deep Dive, host and Playbook co-author Ryan Lizza catches up with Davis at his office in Washington, D.C., to hear the story of how the Trump “zombie” case came back from the dead and why he insists jurors should believe his client. Ryan Lizza is a Playbook co-author for POLITICO. Lanny Davis is the lawyer and spokesperson for former Trump fixer Michael Cohen. Afra Abdullah is an associate producer for POLITICO audio. Kara Tabor is a producer for POLITICO audio. Alex Keeney is a senior producer for POLITICO audio. Jenny Ament is the executive producer for POLITICO audio.

On Thursday, the Senate began to re-evaluate one of the most controversial episodes in American history: the Iraq war.  After a generation of use and abuse, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer is calling a vote to repeal the Iraq AUMF, or authorization for the use of military force, which has been a key underpinning for America’s so-called “forever wars” in the Middle East. But Stephen Hadley, the man who was the architect of many of the national security policies that the Iraq AUMF enabled, has something to say before Congress votes. Hadley was President George W. Bush’s national security advisor from 2005 to 2009 and was Dick Cheney’s guy at the negotiating table with Russia during the George H.W. Bush administration. Now, he has just published a book called Hand-Off: The Foreign Policy George W. Bush Passed to Barack Obama that chronicles 20 years of war and politics in America.  On this week’s episode of Playbook Deep Dive, Playbook co-author Ryan Lizza speaks with the former Bush adviser about what we stand to lose if Congress is sloppy about repealing the Iraq war AUMF, what Bush got right and wrong on China, how Joe Biden’s foreign policy echoes Bush’s Freedom Agenda, and how President Biden can learn from Bush’s successes and failures dealing with Vladimir Putin. Ryan Lizza is a Playbook co-author for POLITICO. Stephen Hadley is the former National Security Advisor for President George W. Bush. Afra Abdullah is an associate producer for POLITICO audio. Kara Tabor is a producer for POLITICO audio. Alex Keeney is a senior producer for POLITICO audio. Jenny Ament is the executive producer for POLITICO audio.

Last November, when the artificial intelligence platform ChatGPT launched, an old science fiction question suddenly became very real: How long until the machines are smarter than the humans?  It marked the beginning of a new era in technology – one that has enormous implications for the economy and the nation’s politics. On the Hill, members of Congress suddenly needed answers about the coming disruption. The expert they turned to for those was a video game developer from Southern California, Rep. Jay Obernolte (R-Calif.). Obernolte is, according to his peers, the guy you need to know on AI. He has a masters in the field and owns a very successful video game company. On this episode of Playbook Deep Dive, he tells Playbook’s Ryan Lizza the truth about this powerful new technology and what it means to Washington, D.C.; from AI’s regulatory forecast to what – if anything – Congress can do to soften a potential white collar job apocalypse that its widespread adoption might bring. Ryan Lizza is a Playbook co-author for POLITICO. Rep. Jay Obernolte is the congressman for California's 23rd district. Afra Abdullah is an associate producer for POLITICO audio. Kara Tabor is a producer for POLITICO audio. Alex Keeney is a senior producer for POLITICO audio. Jenny Ament is the executive producer for POLITICO audio.

The war in Ukraine is just over one year old. There is widespread talk of a major spring offensive from both sides. War in Europe, once unthinkable, is now the new normal. But for one nation on Russia’s northern border, this feels like deja vu. Like Ukraine, Finland knows what it’s like to share a long border with Russia. The Finns have had Vladimir Putin as a neighbor, and they’ve been performing the same delicate dance of decoupling under his very watchful eye. Before his posting to Washington, Mikko Hautala was Finland’s ambassador to Russia, where he met Vladimir Putin more times than he can count. Hautala occupied his post in Moscow during the critical years following Putin’s first invasion of Ukraine.  Since the war began, he’s become well known as the person to talk to to understand Putin, Russia and the conflict in Ukraine.  On this episode of Playbook Deep Dive, host Ryan Lizza talks with Hautala about what Americans don’t understand about the Russian leader, the implications of the growing alliance between China and Russia, Finland’s accession to NATO, and why he believes the West needs to massively ramp up its industrial capability if it wants Ukraine to survive. Ryan Lizza is a Playbook co-author for POLITICO. Mikko Hautala is Finland's ambassador to the U.S. Afra Abdullah is an associate producer for POLITICO audio. Kara Tabor is a producer for POLITICO audio. Alex Keeney is a senior producer for POLITICO audio. Brook Hayes is a senior editor for POLITICO audio. Jenny Ament is the executive producer for POLITICO audio.

Until last month, Anthony Coley was Director of Public Affairs at the Justice Department and a Senior Adviser to Attorney General Merrick Garland.  Coley was in the middle of some of the most extraordinary episodes at DOJ over the last two years:  The appointment of two special counsels investigating one current and one former president. Responding to the drama around the investigation of the president’s son.  Taking incoming from right-wing pundits saying Garland was protecting President Biden and left-wing pundits saying the attorney general was protecting former president Trump.  And occasionally grappling with perhaps the most difficult dilemma that any government official faces: what do you do when you disagree with the boss? In his first interview since leaving Merrick Garland’s side, Coley joins Playbook Deep Dive host Ryan Lizza from his home on Capitol Hill to discuss how the Justice Department separates law from politics, why two special counsels might just take the pressure off Garland, and much, much more. Ryan Lizza is a Playbook co-author for POLITICO. Anthony Coley is the former director of public affairs at the Department of Justice Afra Abdullah is an associate producer for POLITICO audio. Kara Tabor is a producer for POLITICO audio. Alex Keeney is a senior producer for POLITICO audio. Brook Hayes is a senior editor for POLITICO audio. Jenny Ament is the executive producer for POLITICO audio.