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During an early 2020 congressional recess, in the heat of DONALD TRUMP’s bungled pandemic response, NANCY PELOSI listened from home as Vice President MIKE PENCE spoke on a coronavirus teleconference. The speaker did the laundry and tidied the bed as Pence spoke. Her husband, PAUL PELOSI, made food in the kitchen.

“What is the point of this call?” her daughter, filmmaker ALEXANDRAPELOSI, asked, following her mom around with a video camera. “They’re checking a box,” Pelosi responded as she continued her chores.

Pelosi then unmuted herself, sarcastically declared “this has been a useful exchange” and went on to grill Pence on how the administration was tracking how the virus was spreading before signing off with a cheery “Happy Easter!”

She put herself back on mute and turned to her daughter: “Am I a bitch?” she asked.

That’s just one of several memorable scenes captured in Alexandra’s new documentary “Pelosi in the House,” which airs at 9 p.m. tonight on HBO. We attended the premiere at the National Archives last night, and we were fascinated by some of the candid and personal moments in the nearly two-hour movie.

Alexandra told Vanity Fair’s Charlotte Klein that her mother knew little about the film before the two saw it together last night. “As somebody who beautifully crafted her own career, I’m sure it’s gonna be very difficult for her to watch how she looks to her own daughter,” she said. “What’s she gonna do, sue her daughter? She’s not gonna sue me.”

ABOUT THE FILM — First off, let’s be clear: While Alexandra Pelosi is a documentarian and the film is being presented by HBO as an account of “history in the making,” it is not a work of journalism. It’s a talented daughter’s flattering account of her mother’s life at the pinnacle of American politics, with all the narrative implications and ethical conflicts that implies.

And it’s fair to ask whether, say,MITCH McCONNELL or a prominent conservative would get the same prominent platform had his child cobbled home movies together into a laudatory documentary.

That said: The fly-on-the-wall footage captured in the doc is both completely captivating and historically significant.

“Pelosi in the House” documents the two major roles that history will remember the outgoing speaker for: Her iron grip on the Democratic caucus and her role as Trump’s greatest foil.

Yes, it documents all of her key clashes with Trump, from her meme-ready clap during his 2017 State of the Union address to her handling of the pandemic and two impeachments. Her disdain for the former president, unsurprisingly, drips through the screen: “He’s totally insane,” she says at one point.

But the film is most compelling when it shows personal scenes — like when her grandson gets upset at the swarms of protesters encircling Pelosi’s house demanding she impeach GEORGE W. BUSH for the Iraq war — and unseen moments at key junctures in political history.

It captures Pelosi personally whipping votes to pass the Affordable Care Act, poring over lists of members with a blue marker, summoning lawmaker after lawmaker to her office to twist arms, and telling Democrats who wanted a “pass” to oppose the legislation that they aren’t getting one.

The film reveals a private conversation Pelosi had in 2017 with the late Sen. JOHN McCAIN (R-Ariz.) just before he walked on the Senate floor and famously killed the Republican push to repeal the ACA — as well as a subsequent call with then-Speaker PAUL RYAN after the bill to undo her policy legacy had failed, wryly suggesting they work together on health care.

And during the 2020 campaign, Pelosi warned then-candidate JOE BIDEN not to follow the rest of the party in embracing unabashedly liberal policies. “Don’t go too far to the left,” she told him in a phone call. “We didn’t get here in the majority by going to the left — and I can say that as a left-wing San Francisco liberal. ... Let us win, okay?”

Many scenes show Pelosi juggling her political life with workaday family matters. While Pelosi phones Judiciary Chair JERRY NADLER to prod him about upcoming impeachment hearings, her husband is in the background dealing with a broken garage door. Moments before the House votes on the first impeachment, she is seen fretting about her granddaughter’s birthday card.

The documentary, of course, includes the footage of Pelosi on Jan. 6 first shared with the House select committee investigating the attack, and it runs through all the GOP’s attacks on the speaker over the years. It closes with a question from Alexandra: “How do you make peace with the fact that because of your work, people want to kill you?”

“Being speaker makes you a target — a target of misinformation, a target of mockery and sometimes a target of violence,” Pelosi said, before quoting a favorite passage: “When one day I meet my maker … he will say to me: ‘Show me your wounds.’ …I’m proud of my wounds.”

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

SPOTTED at the premiere: The Pelosi family, executive producers Nancy Abraham and Lisa Heller, Warner Brothers Discovery’s David Leavy and Alexa Verveer, Reps. Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.), Doris Matsui (D-Calif.), Jim McGovern (D-Mass.), Sara Jacobs (D-Calif.), Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), Lois Frankel (D-Fla.), Ann McLane Kuster (D-N.H.), Cheri Bustos (D-Ill.), Frederica Wilson (D-Fla.), Judy Chu (D-Calif.), Jackie Speier (D-Calif.), Anna Eshoo (D-Calif.), Earl Blumenauer (D-Ore.), Kaiali’i Kahele (D-Hawaii), Steve Cohen (D-Tenn.), Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.), Jim Himes (D-Conn.), Mondaire Jones (D-N.Y.) and Suzanne Bonamici (D-Ore.), former Rep. Joe Crowley (D-N.Y.), former Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe, David Rubenstein, Tammy Haddad,Jane Harman, Ukraine Ambassador Oksana Markarova, Terri McCullough, Howard Wolfson, Jonathan Martin, Jonathan Karl, Robert Costa, Carl Hulse,Hilary Rosen and Heather Podesta.

SBF BEHIND BARS — Today’s House Financial Services Committee hearing on the collapse of the FTX cryptocurrency exchange will go on as scheduled without its star witness: Former CEO SAM BANKMAN-FRIED, who was arrested in the Bahamas on Monday at the behest of U.S. prosecutors who have secured indictments on a range of fraud charges.

Panel chair MAXINE WATERS said in a statement Monday night she still wants to hear from Bankman-Fried, saying “the American public deserves to hear directly … about the actions that’ve harmed over one million people, and wiped out the hard-earned life savings of so many.” Current FTX CEO JOHN RAY III, a cleanup expert known for his work at Enron after its 2002 collapse, will testify as planned.

“The public has been waiting eagerly to get these answers under oath before Congress, and the timing of this arrest denies the public this opportunity,” Waters added. “While I am disappointed that we will not be able to hear from Mr. Bankman-Fried tomorrow, we remain committed to getting to the bottom of what happened.” More from NYT

OMNIBUS LATEST — House Appropriations Chair ROSA DeLAURO (D-Conn.) is the biggest remaining obstacle to a huge government spending compromise that congressional leaders are circling, Caitlin Emma, Sarah Ferris and Burgess Everett report. Time is running short, but DeLauro said she’s “optimistic we can get to yes.” The Senate appropriations leaders have closed the $26 billion gap between Democrats’ and Republicans’ proposals, but “they’ve so far been unable to win DeLauro’s buy-in.”

— Meanwhile, Congress has to pass a stopgap funding bill before Friday to avoid a shutdown and buy more time to negotiate the full-year deal. Senate Majority Leader CHUCK SCHUMER indicated that he expects Congress to take up a weeklong extension in the coming days. More from the WSJ

PHOTO OF THE DAY

ALL POLITICS

GOP UNFRINGED? — House Republicans are already discussing how to address their candidate quality issue two years from now, after nearly failing to retake the chamber, Ally Mutnick reports this morning. Among the names being mentioned: TIFFANY SMILEY in Washington, JOE O’DEA in Colorado, BILL G. SCHUETTE in Michigan, DERRICK ANDERSON in Virginia and departing Reps. JAIME HERRERA BEUTLER (Wash.) and PETER MEIJER (Mich.). But some losing nominees may be eager to run again: BO HINES has already filed in North Carolina.

INDEPENDENT SINEMA — Sen. KYRSTEN SINEMA’s decision to leave the Democratic Party places the DSCC in a possible nightmare bind for the 2024 race in Arizona, Burgess Everett and Marianne LeVine report. The party isn’t quite sure whether to back her in a potential three-way race. “Democrats are not eager to intervene at the moment, but at some point they may have to make a call about whether to support Sinema, back whoever wins a primary or sit out the race altogether.”

MANCHIN IN THE MIDDLE — Reporters pressed Sen. JOE MANCHIN (D-W.Va.) Monday on whether he has plans to follow Sinema’s lead and leave the Dems: “I’ll look at all of these things. I’ve always looked [at] all these things, but I have no intention of doing anything right now,” he said, per The Hill. “Whether I do something later, I can’t tell you what the future’s going to bring.” As for potential GOP challengers Gov. JIM JUSTICE and Rep. ALEX MOONEY, Manchin told CNN’s Manu Raju, “Justice is a much better candidate, and he would be doing it for the right reasons. I think Mooney is doing it strictly for his political ambition.”

EARLY-BIRD SPECIAL — Virginia Gov. GLENN YOUNGKIN on Monday set for the special election to replace the late Rep. DONALD McEACHIN (D-Va.) for Feb. 21 — but the real deciding moment in the heavily Democratic district is Dec. 20, when party leaders will hold a “firehouse primary” to choose a nominee. Yes, that is one week away.

The Richmond Times-Dispatch’s Michael Martzruns down the field: State Del. LAMONT BAGBY quickly jumped into the race, and State Sen. JENNIFER McCLELLAN will announce her candidacy today, as could controversial, anti-abortion state Sen. JOE MORRISSEY; a victory for either could upend Democrats’ slim majority in Richmond. Other potential candidates include businessman/activist TAVORISE MARKS and former state Del. JOSEPH PRESTON.

MIDTERMS FOREVER — As expected, a recount confirmed that Rep. LAUREN BOEBERT (R-Colo.) narrowly won reelection last month, per the Denver Post. The result confirms a 222R-212D split in the new Congress, pending the outcome of the VA-04 special.

THE WHITE HOUSE

THE AFRICA SUMMIT — At the U.S.-Africa Leaders’ Summit kicking off today, Biden has a tough diplomatic task with dozens of African leaders: make them believe the U.S. will compete with China as a diplomatic and financial support on the continent, Phelim Kine reports. “Biden’s negligible one-to-one diplomatic outreach with African leaders hasn’t encouraged a sense that things are changing,” he writes. “That puts pressure on Biden to deliver on his pledge in July that the summit will offer ‘new economic engagement.’”

— Biden will announce a trip to several sub-Saharan African countries next year, Axios’ Dave Lawler and Hans Nichols report.

— A notable inclusion at the summit: Equatorial Guinean President TEODORO OBIANG NGUEMA MBASOGO. He may be the longest-tenured dictator in the world, but Obiang is a prime target for the U.S. as officials try to persuade him not to let China build a naval base in his country, Foreign Policy’s Robbie Gramer, Amy Mackinnon, and Jack Detsch report.

CONGRESS

KEEP HOLDING ON — Sen. DIANNE FEINSTEIN (D-Calif.) told the L.A. Times’ Nolan McCaskill once again that she’ll finish out her complete term, despite questions about her mental fitness. As for running for reelection, she said she’ll likely decide by the spring.

JUST POSTED — “Senators want answers in wake of AP’s prison investigations,” by Michael R. Sisak and Michael Balsamo: Senate Judiciary Chair DICK DURBIN (D-Ill.) “said he plans to question the director of the federal Bureau of Prisons this week about an Associated Press investigation that found the agency has repeatedly promoted and continues to stand by a high-ranking official who beat Black inmates in the 1990s.”

TRUMP CARDS

WHAT JACK SMITH IS UP TO — The special counsel overseeing DOJ’s Trump investigations has subpoenaed Georgia Secretary of State BRAD RAFFENSPERGER and Clark County, Nev., officials, WaPo’s Amy Gardner reports. The grand jury subpoenas mirror others sent to officials in key swing states, indicating that federal investigators may be looking closely at the efforts to overturn the 2020 election. The Georgia subpoena

— Smith has also subpoenaed New Mexico Secretary of State MAGGIE TOULOUSE OLIVER, ABC’s Lucien Bruggeman and Laura Romero report.

CANNON FODDER — “Judge officially ends Trump lawsuit over Mar-a-Lago search,” Roll Call

JAN. 6 AND ITS AFTERMATH

DEMOCRACY SIREN — Talking Points Memo’s Hunter Walker and colleagues obtained the text messages members of Congress and others sent to MARK MEADOWS in late 2020 and early 2021, which show some of the country’s most powerful figures actively scheming to overturn democracy and keep Trump in power. The texts, which Meadows gave to the House Jan. 6 committee, “offer new insights into how the assault on the election was rooted in deranged internet paranoia and undemocratic ideology. They show Meadows and other high-level Trump allies reveling in wild conspiracy theories, violent rhetoric, and crackpot legal strategies for refusing to certify Joe Biden’s victory.”

Plus lots more on Rep. ANDY BIGGS’ (R-Ariz.) texts about overturning the election in Arizona and Rep. SCOTT PERRY’s (R-Pa.) texts about doing so in Pennsylvania.

JUDICIARY SQUARE

THE POWER OF THE ‘SPOTTED’ SECTION — “Kavanaugh’s Holiday Party Appearance Renews Supreme Court Ethics Questions,” Bloomberg

SCOTUS WATCH — The Supreme Court declined to block a new California ban on flavored tobacco set to take effect next week. More from the L.A. Times

— The high court agreed to hear a Biden administration appeal of a ruling that blocked the student debt relief plan, the second such case on the policy. More from Reuters

FOR YOUR RADAR — “Nonprofit founder says she was fired for being conservative Republican,” by WaPo’s Justin Wm. Moyer

POLICY CORNER

FED UP — As the Fed prepares to raise interest rates again Wednesday, central bank officials are starting to fracture over how intense the rate raises should continue to be, WSJ’s Nick Timiraos reports. “Some expect inflation to cool steadily next year and want to stop raising rates soon. Others worry inflation won’t ease enough next year, a scenario that calls for raising rates higher or holding them at that level for longer, boosting the chance of a sharp downturn.”

WHAT MANCHIN IS READING — “Federal Deficit Widened to a Record $249 Billion Last Month,” WSJ

ANTITRUST THE PROCESS — FTC Chair LINA KHAN is pursuing such an aggressive antitrust agenda that she now “wants to win unprecedented powers to review and potentially block any future deals by two of tech’s most acquisitive companies,” Microsoft and Meta, Josh Sisco reports from San Jose, Calif. If Khan’s FTC succeeds in legal cases, it “would be a radically new regulatory process compared to how they’ve done business in the past.”

TALKER — “Biden’s Nuclear Waste Guru Out of a Job After Alleged Luggage Theft,” The Daily Beast

AMERICA AND THE WORLD

WHEN THE CHIPS ARE DOWN — China announced a new WTO complaint against recent U.S. restrictions on Beijing’s semiconductor exports, per the WSJ.

MORE FROM WAPO’S FENTANYL INVESTIGATION — “They call him the Eagle: How the U.S. lost a key ally in Mexico as fentanyl took off,” by Mary Beth Sheridan and Nick Miroff in Mexico City

GITMO LATEST — “Military Plans New $435 Million Health Facility at Guantánamo Bay,” by NYT’s Carol Rosenberg. The planned hospital “would provide care for hundreds of prison guards but appears to lack facilities specifically for aging war prisoners.”

BEYOND THE BELTWAY

BORDER SONG — As many as 1,000 migrants crossed the border into El Paso, Texas, on Sunday night — part of a deluge of Central and South Americans that is overwhelming facilities and communities along the border, NYT’s Simon Romero, J. David Goodman and Eileen Sullivan report. And that could just be a glimpse at what’s to come when the Title 42 policy ends next week.

— As of Saturday, the Border Patrol’s El Paso sector had a whopping 4,500 migrants in custody, the Washington Examiner’s Anna Giaritelli adds.

— California Gov. GAVIN NEWSOM visited the border Monday, blasting national Republicans for blocking comprehensive immigration reform, the L.A. Times’ Taryn Luna and Hamed Aleaziz report from Imperial County.

THE FUTURE OF FUSION — Does this week’s reported fusion breakthrough herald the scientific path to our clean energy future? Translating the development into energy for the world will yet take decades and hundreds of billion dollars, and there are “many obstacles to be resolved,” Ben Lefebvre and Catherine Morehouse report. “But scientists are embracing the historic milestone nonetheless.”

MEDIAWATCH

STATE OF THE UNIONS — Amid the NYT’s tense union bargaining, staffers think a vote to authorize a strike could loom in the near future, The Daily Beast’s Corbin Bolies and Lachlan Cartwright report. And deputy managing editor CLIFF LEVY may soon move to become deputy publisher of The Athletic and Wirecutter, taking him out of the newsroom after his role in difficult negotiations.

MUSK READS

THE GUARDRAILS ARE GONE — With many of its members on the verge of resigning, Twitter suddenly disbanded its Trust and Safety Council on Monday, shortly before a meeting with company execs. It’s “the latest sign that ELON MUSK is unraveling years of work and institutions created to make the social network safer and more civil,” WaPo’s Cat Zakrzewski, Joseph Menn and Naomi Nix report.

Monica De La Cruz broke her ankle at the gym.

Rudy Giuliani will likely have to pay his ex-wife $14,000 for country club fees.

Don Young got a volcanic peak named after him.

SPOTTED: Meta’s Nick Clegg and David Bradley having dinner Monday night at Blue Duck Tavern.

OUT AND ABOUT — The Israeli Embassy hosted a Hanukkah party Monday night at which Ambassador Michael Herzog and Sen. Jacky Rosen (D-Nev.) spoke to the crowd and attendees feasted on latkes, sufganiyot and other holiday foods. SPOTTED: Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), Reps. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.) and Kathy Manning (D-N.C.), Rep.-elect Glenn Ivey (D-Md.), Aaron Keyak, Yehuda Neuberger, Tyler Pager, Isaac Stanley-Becker, Shelley Greenspan, Steve Rabinowitz, Joel Rubin, Sophia Narrett, Cecilia Narrett, Ben Smith, Steve Clemons, Jordan Fabian, Daniel Bleiberg, Zeke Miller, Halie Soifer, Elad Strohmayer and Malcolm Hoenlein.

— The Atlantic Council hosted a welcome dinner for the U.S.-Africa Leaders Summit on Monday evening. SPOTTED: Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.), Reps. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.), Gwen Moore (D-Wis.), Barbara Lee (D-Calif.), Sheila Jackson Lee (D-Texas), Sara Jacobs (D-Calif.) and Gregory Meeks (D-N.Y.), USTR Katherine Tai, Senegalese President Macky Sall, Tanzanian President Samia Suluhu Hassan, Republic of the Congo President Denis Sassou-Nguesso, Liberian President George Weah, Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, British Ambassador Karen Pierce, Ivorian Ambassador Ibrahima Touré, Somali Ambassador Ali Sharif Ahmed, Republic of the Congo Ambassador Serge Mombouli, Senegalese Ambassador Mansour Kane and Tanzanian Ambassador Elsie Sia Kanza.

— Democracy Forward held a five-year anniversary party Monday night. SPOTTED: Marc Elias, Skye Perryman, Mindy Myers, Matthew Miller, Olivia Julianna, Joe Gaeta, Charisma Troiano, Dylan Stafford, Morgan Finkelstein, Tayhlor Coleman, Alex Hornbrook, Andrew Feldman, Emma Thomas, Travis Annatoyn, Corey Ciorciari, Rakim Brooks, Jess O’Connell and Megan Uzzell.

FIRST IN PLAYBOOK — Tiger Hill Partners has added Ladan Ahmadi as VP for government relations and public affairs and Christine Rex as senior director for public affairs. Ahmadi previously was deputy director of economic comms and health policy at Third Way and is a Gregory Meeks alum. Rex previously was comms director for the Institute for Political Innovation and is a Cynthia Lummis alum.

WHITE HOUSE DEPARTURE LOUNGE — Josh Dickson is joining United Way Worldwide as VP of public policy. He previously was senior adviser for public engagement at the White House.

TRANSITIONS — Craig Kwiecinski is joining Rep.-elect Hillary Scholten’s (D-Mich.) office as chief of staff. He previously was chief of staff for Rep. Conor Lamb (D-Pa.). … Steven Bradbury is joining the Heritage Foundation as a distinguished fellow, advancing the 2025 Presidential Transition Project. He previously was general counsel for the Department of Transportation in the Trump administration, and briefly was acting Transportation secretary. …

… Ryan Dierker will be legislative director for Rep.-elect Chuck Edwards (R-N.C.). He previously was legislative assistant for Sen. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) and is a Mark Amodei and Brad Wenstrup alum. … Phil Kiko is now a principal at Williams and Jensen. He most recently was president and CEO of KikoStrategies Inc. and is a House CAO alum.

ENGAGED — Jon Garcia, White House coordinating producer for ABC News, on Thursday proposed during a visit to Brown Bluff, Antarctica, to Margaret Talev, managing editor for politics at Axios, who in January will become founding director of the D.C.-based Democracy, Journalism and Citizenship Institute at Syracuse University. They met on Air Force One covering the Obama administration. Instapics

HAPPY BIRTHDAY: Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack … Reps. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) (6-0), Anna Eshoo (D-Calif.) (8-0) and Donald Norcross (D-N.J.) … White House’s Jing Qu … Mo Elleithee of Georgetown University’s Institute of Politics and Public Service ... Smash Strategies’ Stephenie Foster … Todd S. Purdum … Jeffrey Schneider of The Lead PR … Trish Regan … America Rising’s Allan Blutstein … Brian Baenig … former Fed Chair Ben Bernanke … NBC’s Haley Talbot … Michael D. Smith of AmeriCorps … Kyle Hauptman of the National Credit Union Association … Lizzie Gregory … William Todd … Joe Rozek … Consumer Healthcare Products Association’s David Spangler … Precision’s Matt Creeden … Peter Ogburn … Martin Whitmer … Ruth Wedgwood … Alec Zender of Rep. Jack Bergman’s (R-Mich.) office … Viviana Hurtado … Florida Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried … Alexandra Seymour … Staci McDermott of the McCain Institute … Gillum Ferguson … Google’s Riva Sciuto … Tara Rigler … Eugene Kinlow of D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser’s office

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