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As the leaders of NATO’s allied countries converged in Lithuania today for the group’s annual meeting, the debate surrounding the admission of Ukraine as a member of the transatlantic alliance took center stage.

Secretary-General JENS STOLTENBERG announced from Vilnius today that the alliance cleared a path to allow Ukraine to join NATO “when allies agree and conditions are met,” and said the organization is working on simplifying the process.

“We reaffirmed that Ukraine will become a member of NATO and agreed to remove the requirement for a membership action plan,” Stoltenberg told reporters, “This will change Ukraine’s membership path from a two-step path to a one-step path.”

The view from Kyiv: Stoltenberg’s remarks came after Ukrainian President VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY tweeted an aggressive statement this morning, critiquing the uncertainty around the country’s push for NATO membership as “unprecedented” and “absurd,” and suggesting it provided “motivation [for Russia] to continue its terror.”

The view from Washington: National Security Council spox JOHN KIRBY told CNN earlier today that Ukrainian “NATO membership in the immediate future isn’t likely because that would put NATO at war with Russia.”

The context: The renewed tensions come just a day after Turkish President RECEP TAYYIP ERDOĞAN agreed to allow Sweden to join the NATO alliance. More from POLITICO

LET’S GET ETHICAL — Don’t expect the ongoing din of controversy surrounding ethics on the Supreme Court to fade away any time soon. In a sweeping new series of articles, AP’s Eric Tucker and Brian Slodysko draw on a vast trove of documents and emails from colleges and universities that have hosted justices over the past decade, revealing questionable decisions that span the ideological spectrum of the court. Among the highlights:

• Contact with monied interests: The documents reveal that “public colleges and universities have seen visits by justices as opportunities to generate donations -– regularly putting justices in the room with influential donors, including some whose industries have had interests before the court,” the pair write.
  
• Using staffers to push venues to buy books: Justice SONIA SOTOMAYOR’s aides reportedly pushed the sale of the justice’s various books to libraries and colleges where she spoke or attended events. Although the high court does not have a formal code of conduct banning use of court staff to boost promotional sales, such “conduct [is] prohibited for members of Congress and the executive branch, who are barred under ethics rules from using government resources, including staff, for personal financial gain.”
  
• All-inclusive trips: Justices have repeatedly accepted all-expense-paid trips to teach in popular locales, including Hawaii, Iceland and Italy — gigs that are “are light on classroom instruction, with ample time carved out for the justices’ leisure,” Slodysko reports. Read for details on the arrangements offered to Sotomayor, SAMUEL ALITO, BRETT KAVANAUGH, NEIL GORSUCH and ELENA KAGAN

Notable reaction: After hearing a description of the story on Sotomayor’s book sales, Sen. SHELDON WHITEHOUSE (D-R.I.), who’s leading the charge on legislation to reform ethics standards for SCOTUS, told Insider’s Bryan Metzger it’s “yet another sign of why the Supreme Court needs a major cleanup.”

HAPPENING TODAY — “A grand jury being seated Tuesday could decide whether Trump is charged over Georgia’s 2020 election,” by AP’s Kate Brumback

FROM CULTURE WAR TO COUTURE WORN — “From Ron DeSantis to Prada’s Runway, Fisherman Gear Catches On,” by WSJ’s Jacob Gallagher

Good Tuesday afternoon. Thanks for reading Playbook PM. Drop me a line at [email protected].

2024 WATCH

MICHIGAN SEEMS LIKE A DREAM TO HIM NOW — “Trump wins ‘clean sweep’ of endorsements from Michigan’s GOP congressional delegation,” by Fox News Brooke Singman: “Trump, who is currently leading the 2024 GOP presidential field, has received endorsements from Reps. JACK BERGMAN, BILL HUIZENGA, JOHN JAMES, LISA McCLAIN, JOHN MOOLENAAR and TIM WALBERG.”

CONGRESS

TEEING OFF — The Senate Homeland Security Subcommittee on Investigations held a hearing this morning on last month’s controversial merger between the PGA and Saudi-backed LIV Golf. At the start of the hearing, the subcommittee released a 276-page report detailing the timeline of the agreement, and suggested that its findings so far “illustrate the need for further inquiry” into Saudi Arabia’s influence in the U.S.

Sen. RICHARD BLUMENTHAL (D-Conn.) pushed PGA execs RON PRICE and JIMMY DUNNE to decline the LIV deal, stating they “still have the choice to stand up against sportswashing” by Saudi Arabia. “There is something that stinks about this path that you’re on right now because it’s a surrender,” Blumenthal said. More from NBC

ORIGIN STORIES — The House Select Subcommittee on the Covid-19 Pandemic held a hearing today to examine testimony from virologists who refuted the idea that Covid-19 was the consequence of a lab breach in China in a 2020 report, WaPo’s Dan Diamond reports.

In his opening testimony, KRISTIAN ANDERSEN, a scientist and report co-author, pushed back against Republican claims that the report was a “coverup” by former NIH officials ANTHONY FAUCI and FRANCIS COLLINS, calling the accusations “absurd and false,” and noting the conclusions in the report were “based on scientific data and analyses by a team of international scientists with extensive track records in studying virus emergence and evolution.”

ALL POLITICS

SWEET HOME ALABAMA — Rep. JIM JORDAN (R-Ohio) is threatening to gut funding for a new FBI headquarters unless the agency relocates its home base from Washington to Huntsville, Ala., WSJ’s Sadie Gurman and Siobhan Hughes scoop: “The Huntsville proposal, which Jordan plans to attach to coming appropriations bills, is unlikely to become law but marks Republicans’ latest effort to force changes to the Federal Bureau of Investigation.”

POLITICAL LANDSCAPE — “Democrats Are Disappearing in Rural America. One Group Is Trying to Fix That $500 at a Time,” by The Messenger’s Dan Merica

POLICY CORNER

ALL ABOARD? — NYT’s Peter Eavis, Mark Walker and Niraj Choksh are up with a look at how the freight rail industry has wielded its power in Washington to keep Congress and regulators from penalizing companies that block railroad crossings. “The blockages can turn school drop-offs into nightmares, starve local businesses of customers and prevent emergency services from reaching those in distress,” the trio write. And yet: “No federal laws or rules penalize railways for blocking crossings, and congressional proposals to address the issue have failed to overcome opposition from the rail industry.”

BEYOND THE BELTWAY

DISPATCH FROM DES MOINES — “Iowa Republicans Aim to Sharply Limit Abortion in Special Session,” by NYT’s Mitch Smith

NEWS FROM SALT LAKE CITY — Utah’s supreme court will decide if cases on partisan gerrymandering fall within their purview, as the justices determine if the state’s courts can hear a lawsuit contesting the Beehive State’s new House map, NYT’s Michael Wines reports.

AMERICAN AND THE WORLD

DANCE OF THE SUPERPOWERS — North Korea has escalated its threats against U.S. forces in the Korean peninsula, issuing three statements since yesterday promising retaliation for what it terms “provocative aerial espionage” by American drones and planes, NYT’s Choe Sang-Hun reports from Seoul. “Both the Pentagon and the South Korean military dismissed the North Korean statements as baseless accusations. But officials and analysts in the region fear that the North’s escalating rhetoric might lead to military provocations.”

PLAYBOOKERS

TRANSITIONS — Rachel Bisi Lawlor is now senior counsel for the legal division of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. She most recently was senior manager for public policy at Amazon. … Timothy Curry is now EVP of global affairs at Stryk Global Diplomacy. He is the former deputy director of counterterrorism policy at DHS. … Hooff Cooksey is joining Look Ahead Strategies as SVP. He previously was principal at HC Strategies and is an NRSC alum. …

… Marc Chaaban is now press secretary for the House Budget Democrats. He was most recently staff assistant and press assistant for Rep. Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.). … Steven Shparber is now a member of the energy & sustainability practice at Mintz. He previously was a partner at Clark Hill PLC. … Katherine Truitt is now D.C. office manager for Rep. Brandon Williams (R-N.Y.). She is a former senior caseworker/constituent services representative for former Rep. Madison Cawthorn (R-N.C.).

WEDDING — Emily Goldberg, U.S. newsletter editor at the FT and a POLITICO alum, and Jake Malowitz, comms manager at Forum Brands, got married July 1 in Woodstock, Vt. They met in high school. Pic

WELCOME TO THE WORLD — Colin Hart, SVP and international affairs lead for the U.S. at FleishmanHillard, and Rebecca Hart, teacher at Brooklyn Arbor Elementary School and 2023 NYC Department of Education Big Apple Award recipient, welcomed Davis Matthew Hart on Saturday.

Send Playbookers tips to [email protected] or text us at 202-556-3307. Playbook couldn’t happen without our editor Mike DeBonis, deputy editor Zack Stanton and producers Setota Hailemariam and Bethany Irvine.

CORRECTION: An earlier version of this newsletter misgendered Kristian Andersen.