Welcome to POLITICO’s West Wing Playbook, your guide to the people and power centers in the Biden administration. With help from Allie Bice.  

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Does President JOE BIDEN have any advice for JON FETTERMAN as he recovers from a stroke?

The White House can’t answer that.

Will Biden travel to more battleground states?

Can’t answer that either.

How did he feel when Sen. RAPHAEL WARNOCK declined to say whether he would support Biden in 2024?

Again… can’t answer.

For months, White House press secretary KARINE JEAN-PIERRE has declined reporters’ briefing room questions on a wide range of subjects by offering the same explanation: The Hatch Act, she says, bars her from commenting.

It’s a notable fidelity to the federal law passed in 1939, which prohibits executive branch employees from engaging in political activities while on the job, and which was routinely ignored and even ridiculed by the Trump administration. But, increasingly, members of the media are privately grumbling that Jean-Pierre is applying an overly broad definition of Hatch Act restrictions to the topics they’re asking.

On Tuesday, Jean-Pierre cited the Hatch Act when she declined to answer questions from AP’s ZEKE MILLER about whether Biden would return campaign donations from disgraced FTX founder SAM BANKMAN-FRIED. When Miller rephrased the question to ask about Biden’s personal opinion on the issue, Jean-Pierre responded: “I am covered by the Hatch Act, which I’m happy to say over and over again, because we believe in the rule of law here.”

Earlier this month, Twitter CEO ELON MUSK revealed internal company deliberations in the lead up to the 2020 election about how to handle an article related to HUNTER BIDEN’s leaked laptop files. When asked, Jean-Pierre said the Hatch Act prevented her from answering whether then-candidate Biden’s team had been in contact with Twitter about its decision to block users from sharing the news story.

Reporters say Jean-Pierre is turning the Hatch Act into an escape hatch. They note she can be quick to shut down their questions — yet talk freely from the podium about Democrats’ stronger than expected midterms or use political language like “mega MAGA Republicans.”

“I think reporters get the feeling that it’s a way to avoid having to answer some delicate questions,” one White House journalist told West Wing Playbook. “You can almost feel the entire briefing room rolling their eyes when they hear the Hatch Act drop.”

“It’s pretty obvious it’s become her latest verbal crutch when she’s trying to avoid a question that’s even remotely campaign-related,” another White House reporter said. “She’s extremely cautious about stuff but this has become a tactic to avoid even the simplest questions.”

Several other White House reporters echoed that assessment. But some said they also understood why the Biden White House was so cautious about the law, after the Trump administration's constant Hatch Act violations and broad indifference to institutional norms.

“This White House believes in the Rule of Law and we’ll continue to provide information to members of the media while working within the bounds of federal statutes,” said ROBYN PATTERSON, a White House spokesperson. “If reporters have an issue with the Hatch Act, they have every right to petition their members of Congress to push for changes to the law.”

Ethics experts, meanwhile, say Jean-Pierre’s caution is understandable, especially when considering that her predecessor, JEN PSAKI, was hit with a Hatch Act violation last year for saying in a briefing the White House was “going to do everything we can to help former Gov. [TERRY] MCAULIFFE” ahead of the Virginia gubernatorial election.

“It does not surprise me at all that her successor wants to stay as far from that line as she can, because it’s a bad look for the Biden administration and you don’t want to be the second person in a position to break the same rule,” said JORDAN LIBOWITZ, a spokesperson for Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, the organization that filed the ethics complaint against Psaki. “I know that the press corps would prefer answers to whatever they asked, but I think public officials also have in mind that we’re also watching and we’ll file things if they do cross the line.”

Still, some reporters and ethics experts say there are ways for Jean-Pierre to engage with journalists without becoming overtly political — noting CREW and other watchdog groups usually file complaints with the Office of Special Counsel only when there is a clear Hatch Act violation.

“Many things can be on or approaching the line,” said DELANEY MARSCO, the legal counsel for ethics at the Campaign Legal Center. “Typically we would want officials to err on the side of caution, but not so much that they are intentionally misusing the Hatch Act as a cover to not answer legitimate questions.”

MESSAGE US — Are you White House research associate AREEB AKBARI?  We want to hear from you! And we’ll keep you anonymous. Email us at [email protected]

A tough two-parter from reader TED COX, keeping with our theme about presidents on American currency:

Which discontinued denomination featured President JAMES MADISON, and in what classic novel was the bill referred to as "a portrait of Madison?"

(Answer at the bottom.)

WORD OF ADVICE: WALTER SHAUB, former director of the Office of Government Ethics from 2013 to 2017, said that if reporters want a better shot at getting Jean-Pierre to answer those briefing room questions without referring to the Hatch Act: Avoid the words “campaign” and “candidate.”

“But if a question doesn’t directly require her to endorse or criticize a candidate or party, you could also push back by saying, ‘This question doesn’t require you to show support or opposition to a candidate or party, so how can the Hatch Act be implicated?’” he advised.

WHOOPSIE: The president’s motorcade left the U.S.-Africa Summit without the White House press pool, the group of reporters who typically follow the president day-to-day, according to National Journal’s GEORGE CONDON, Thursday’s print pooler. A statement from the White House blamed the Hatch Act “a radio miscommunication upon departure.”

“We share an appreciation for how important it is for the press pool to travel with the President and this remains a priority for our entire team,” the statement added. “We sincerely apologize for the confusion and inconvenience.”

JILL ‘ALL IN’ ON 2024: First lady JILL BIDEN is taking her husband’s reelection bid more seriously, despite being on the fence about it just a few months ago, CNN’s KATE BENNETT reports. One person tells Bennett that the first lady is now “all in.”

BIDEN’S REELECTION STRATEGY: Biden allies are moving forward with a reelection strategy focused on beating former President DONALD TRUMP, even if Trump doesn’t end up being the Republican party’s candidate. NBC News’ PETER NICHOLAS and MIKE MEMOLI report that Biden’s campaign approach will aim to convince voters “the choice is the same and that any Republican successor would have to embrace enough of his policies to be a virtual clone of Trump himself.”

WHAT THE WHITE HOUSE WANTS YOU TO READ: This WaPo opinion column by JENNIFER RUBIN about how inflation cooling is bad news for Republicans messaging: “Should the economy continue to improve, the GOP would have few ideas left for its agenda. It could go back to advocating tax cuts for rich people, but that would be inflationary. It could attack Biden’s legislative achievements, such as limits on prescription drug prices, but those are popular. It could advocate for more drilling permits, but oil companies are not making use of the public leases already available to them.” White House assistant press secretary Robyn Patterson shared the op-ed.  

WHAT THE WHITE HOUSE DOESN’T WANT YOU TO READ: That U.S. intelligence agencies remain unprepared to tackle the next pandemic, according to WSJ’s WARREN P. STROBEL and MICHAEL R. GORDON: “Three years after Covid-19 began, U.S. intelligence agencies still haven’t made changes needed to provide better warnings of global health crises and support U.S. leaders when the next pandemic hits, a House Intelligence Committee report released on Thursday concludes.”

The report, based on reviews of classified reports, criticizes both the intelligence response and Trump’s response to the pandemic as it spread from China throughout the globe in early 2020.

CHAMPAGNE? ON A SCHOOL NIGHT? MAIS OUI!: We saw a whole bunch of administration officials sipping champagne and munching on roquefort at the French Embassy on Wednesday night until way late.

SPOTTED at Ambassador PHILIPPE ETIENNE’s residence for the Améthyste party (or what one attendee referred to as “STEVE CLEMONS’ bar mitzvah”): senior adviser MIKE DONILON with his wife, TRISH, OMB director SHALANDA YOUNG, trade representative KATHERINE TAI, infrastructure czar MITCH LANDRIEU and director of digital media ROB FLAHERTY with deputy political director CARLA FRANK. There also were several representatives from the press shop: EMILIE SIMONS, REMI YAMAMOTO, KATE BERNER, SALONI SHARMA, MEGHA BHATTACHARYA, ALLYSON BAYLESS and OPAL VADHAN (plus postgrads AMANDA FINNEY and VEDANT PATEL).

MAMA SAID COOK IT OUT: In an Instagram video jointly posted by Vice President KAMALA HARRIS and rapper LL COOL J, she tells him on Christmas Day she makes her mother’s chile relleno recipe. Second gentleman DOUG EMHOFF, standing next to them, adds that on New Year’s Day, Harris makes fried catfish, greens and black eyed peas.

“Oh, I can seriously cook,” Harris tells the rapper, to which Emhoff adds: “And I can seriously eat!”

PERSONNEL MOVES: Associate communications director MATT HILL is leaving the White House to lead the communications effort for the newly established office overseeing implementation of the $50 billion CHIPS and Science Act, CNN’s JEREMY DIAMOND scooped (DANIEL LIPPMAN had the day off, apparently).

Meanwhile, the National Security Council’s former senior director for climate and energy, MELANIE NAKAGAWA, is now the chief sustainability officer at Microsoft, the company announced Thursday. She left the White House in August.

CALLING ON CONGRESS: Biden is asking Congress to move forward with a proposal from Sen. JOE MANCHIN (D-W.Va.) that would streamline energy permitting rules as an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act. The president said Thursday the amendment would combat high inflation and help tackle climate change. Our JOSH SIEGEL has more details for Pro subscribers.

THREATS FROM RUSSIA: U.S. delivering defense missiles to Ukraine would be “another provocative move by the U.S.” that could result in a response from Russia, a Russian official said Thursday. The move “would mean even broader involvement of military personnel in the hostilities and could entail possible consequences,” Russian Foriegn Ministry spokesperson MARIA ZAKHAROVA said. AP’s JAMEY KEATEN has the full story.

Ned Price leans into his Jewish values (Jewish Insider’s Gabby Deutch)

The Biden administration is at war with itself over China (Semafor’s Liz Hoffman, Louise Matsakis and Morgan Chalfant)

Why voters don’t want Biden or Trump but might get them anyway in 2024 (CNN’s Stephen Collinson)

President JAMES MADISON was featured on the $5,000 bill.

The RAYMOND CHANDLER novel, "The Long Goodbye,” dubs the bill “a portrait of Madison,” when it's included in a letter between the book’s central characters, PHILIP MARLOWE and TERRY LENNOX.

A CALL OUT — Do you think you have a harder trivia question? Send us your best one about the presidents with a citation and we may feature it.

Edited by Eun Kyung Kim and Sam Stein.