Presented by

LATEST JON KARL STUNNER — In an audio recording for Karl’s new book, “Betrayal,” former President DONALD TRUMP defended the Jan. 6 rioters who wanted to kill his VP MIKE PENCE. Part of the exchange:

— Karl: “They were saying ‘hang Mike Pence.’”

— Trump: “Because it’s common sense, Jon. It’s common sense that you’re supposed to protect. How can you — if you know a vote is fraudulent, right? — how can you pass on a fraudulent vote to Congress? How can you do that?” Listen here

MEANWHILE … Former White House chief of staff MARK MEADOWS was a no-show for his deposition today before the Jan. 6 select committee. That could place him at risk of being held in criminal contempt of Congress: Chair BENNIE THOMPSON (D-Miss.) said in a letter Thursday that the House might refer Meadows to the Justice Department for criminal charges if he didn’t appear today. More from the Guardian

CHAPPELLE FUNDRAISER BACK ON — Hours after Playbook reported this morning that the Duke Ellington School of the Arts in Georgetown quietly canceled a Nov. 23 fundraiser featuring DAVE CHAPPELLE amid fears of a student revolt over anti-trans comments in his Netflix special “The Closer,” the school sent out an email to its patrons stating that they have decided to delay the event until April 22.

While acknowledging that Chappelle has helped to raise millions of dollars for the school, the school struck out against “cancel culture” and said they plan to use the controversy as a “teachable moment.”

“We recognize that not everyone will accept or welcome a particular artist’s point of view, product or craft, but reject the notion that a ‘cancel culture’ is a healthy or constructive means to teach our students how society should balance creative freedom with protecting the right and dignity of all of its members,” the school said in a statement.

In the meantime, they are holding listening sessions with the students and expanding their social studies curriculum to include “content related to political activism, civic engagement, arts activism, and the intersections of race, gender, and sexuality.”

CARLA SIMS, a spokesperson for Chappelle, explained the reason for the delay, saying “We’ve been working on a way to make sure the students understand what’s in the special.”

MANCHIN’S NEW ROADBLOCK — After a lengthy delay, President JOE BIDEN is tapping ROBERT CALIFF as FDA commissioner, which would return him to the post he held in the Obama administration, per Adam Cancryn, David Lim, Alex Thompson and Sarah Owermohle. They write that his selection was “driven in large part by his preexisting knowledge of the agency's inner workings and bipartisan appeal.” If confirmed by the Senate, Califf would immediately step into a leading role in the administration’s pandemic response, as well as oversight of drug approvals and tobacco and pharmaceutical policy.

— BUT, BUT, BUT: Sen. JOE MANCHIN (D-W.Va.), who had concerns about Califf in 2016, is already officially opposing his nomination today. “Dr. Califf’s nomination makes no sense as the opioid epidemic continues to wreak havoc on families across this country with no end in sight,” he said in a statement.

— And he might not be the only one: Sen. MAGGIE HASSAN (D-N.H.), another vulnerable Democrat from a state pummeled by the opioid crisis, also put out a skeptical statement. Hassan said she’s been “deeply troubled by some of the FDA’s past decisions … and the FDA has yet to make clear what it is doing to learn from its actions.”

MANCHIN’S OLD ROADBLOCK — CNN’s Manu Raju has a detailed look at how Democrats are trying to win over the West Virginian on the Build Back Better bill. The party is largely leaving it up to Biden while acknowledging that Manchin can likely slash the bill however he wants. Among the revelations: Manchin told Congressional Progressive Caucus Chair PRAMILA JAYAPAL (D-Wash.) “that she doesn’t have leverage over him,” and he still opposes paid leave. But Democrats feel good that Sen. KYRSTEN SINEMA (D-Ariz.) is on board now.

Happy Friday afternoon.

TRIVIA TIME — Biden and Chinese President XI JINPING are preparing to talk Monday night, the White House confirmed today. The famous “ping-pong diplomacy” that preceded RICHARD NIXON’s 1972 visit to China began at the 1971 World Table Tennis Championships in what country? Email us the answer at [email protected], and we’ll announce the winner in Monday’s Playbook PM.

POLICY CORNER

ROUGH MORNING OF ECONOMIC NEWS …

1. THE ‘GREAT RESIGNATION’ GETS GREATER — 4.4 million Americans — a full 3% of workers — quit their jobs in September, the highest monthly total ever, per new BLS data. The record data point suggests that troubles in the labor market aren’t close to resolving anytime soon, with leisure and hospitality among the hardest-hit sectors. More from WaPo

2. CONSUMER SENTIMENT COLLAPSES — In a surprise to economists, U.S. consumer confidence early this month plunged to a 10-year low on the back of rising inflation fears, per Bloomberg’s Jordan Yadoo. “Surging costs for food, gas, and housing are eroding consumers’ purchasing power despite stronger wage growth. About half of all families anticipate declines in inflation-adjusted incomes next year.”

(IR)RECONCILABLE DIFFERENCES — WSJ’s Ben Chapman and Lee Hawkins explore what universal pre-K would actually look like if Democrats manage to pass their major Build Back Better bill. The program’s instantiation would create some major shifts: twice the number of pre-K seats, thousands of new teachers and classrooms, some new buildings, and essentially an additional “two grade levels to the U.S. public education system.” Advocates say it would improve educational outcomes and help out working parents, while critics call it a “one size fits all” approach from the top down.

THE WHITE HOUSE

HARRIS IN PARIS — VP KAMALA HARRIS said as she wrapped up her France trip today that she didn’t discuss the nuclear submarine diplomatic kerfuffle with French President EMMANUEL MACRON, per CNN.

POLITICS ROUNDUP

RED-LIGHT REDISTRICT — Virginia Republicans got an ominous sign from the state Supreme Court today when it rejected all three of the party’s nominees for the drawing of districting maps, directing the GOP to submit three new names by Monday.

THE TERRIS TREATMENT — WaPo’s Ben Terris hangs out with retiring House Democrats for the paper’s Style section, clocking just how bad things are likely to get for the party as it stares down deep internal divisions and a bad midterm climate. Notable tidbits: There’s scuttlebutt that Speaker NANCY PELOSI might not run for reelection (which her office neither confirms nor denies). Rep. JOHN YARMUTH (D-Ky.) recounts seeing Reps. JOHN GARAMENDI (D-Calif.) and MARK POCAN (D-Wis.) almost come to blows. Rep. CHERI BUSTOS (D-Ill.) says the number of Dems who’ve told her they wish they were retiring is in the double digits. Plus: lots of drinking with Yarmuth.

CLIMATE FILES — The effects of climate change might be strong, but in the U.S., political partisanship is stronger. Despite a clear and growing mountain of evidence, 67% of Americans say global warming is a serious problem for the country in a new WaPo-ABC poll — a number mostly unchanged from seven years ago. Underneath the hood, the percentage of Black Democrats worried about climate change has jumped, while the share of Republicans who said they’re concerned dropped by 10 points.

NOT GONE YET — For N.Y. Mag, Hunter Walker explores ANDREW CUOMO’s post-downfall life, as the former New York governor mostly continues “consuming television news and phoning both allies and journalists.” A political comeback attempt isn’t in his immediate future, but people close to him “said he is keeping his options open.” And he’s still fighting vociferously against what he deems unfair allegations and the opponents who took him down.

STRANGE BEDFELLOWS — @EricTrump: “Kudos to @ericadamsfornyc! It’s about time we had a leader who intends to put a stop to the rampant crime in New York City.”

INFRASTRUCTURE YEAR

HOW THE VOTE HAPPENED — For The State, Francesca Chambers and Joseph Bustos recount House Majority Whip JIM CLYBURN’s (D-S.C.) role shepherding BIF to a House vote last week. At crunch time, Clyburn gave Biden the names of four or five wavering lawmakers he needed to call, they report, which helped push the whip count over the finish line.

HOW THE VOTE IS PLAYING — Back home in Rep. ALEXANDRIA OCASIO-CORTEZ’s (D-N.Y.) district, her vote against the bipartisan infrastructure bill has met with a variety of reactions, with some constituents applauding her and others frustrated over local infrastructure that needs fixing, report NYT’s Katie Glueck and Nicholas Fandos.

HOW THE IMPLEMENTATION WILL PLAY — Fixing bridges in disrepair seems like the biggest no-brainer as a political and governance win. But Bloomberg’s Alan Levin reports that it’s not so simple: “Local objections based on politics, racial justice, environmentalism and impacts on residents can torpedo projects intended to upgrade even the most congested U.S. bridges.” That’s partially because priority No. 1 for the nation’s bridges is not repairing structures but instead building more capacity to relieve severe congestion — and the questions of whether and where to build can be thorny.

AMERICA AND THE WORLD

WHEN I CALLED YOU LAST NIGHT FROM GLASGOW — As COP26 races to a conclusion, countries are still battling over the draft text of an agreement to emerge from the climate change conference. As of now, the latest negotiations “signaled that it would be difficult for negotiators to reach the sort of sweeping agreement that activists and scientists had urged,” per the NYT’s Somini Sengupta, Lisa Friedman and Brad Plumer.

FROM RUSSIA, WITH LOVE? — At the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation leaders’ meeting this morning, Biden’s offer to host in two years was blocked by one country — possibly Russia, one former official surmised to Doug Palmer. The decision requires consensus, although New Zealand PM JACINDA ARDERN, this year’s host, said she thought it would get resolved quickly.

PULLOUT FALLOUT — Qatar and the U.S. are signing a deal today for Qatar to act as the official U.S. diplomatic representative in Afghanistan, scooped Reuters’ Humeyra Pamuk, who calls it “an important signal of potential direct engagement between Washington and Kabul in the future.” The agreement will take effect at the end of the year. Qatar will also keep housing as many as 8,000 Afghan evacuees who are applying for special immigrant visas in the U.S.

— Secretary of State ANTONY BLINKEN said this morning that as of Wednesday, all Americans in Afghanistan who wanted to leave have been given the opportunity to do so.

FOR YOUR RADAR — American journalist DANNY FENSTER has been sentenced to 11 years in prison in Myanmar for his work. Human rights advocates call the charges trumped-up, even as he faces additional counts that could keep him in prison for life. More from CNN

BEYOND THE BELTWAY

AFTERNOON READ — Oklahoma’s laissez-faire regulatory approach to its new medical marijuana program has helped the market boom and become a big part of the state’s economy, with almost 10% of the state enrolled and more than 9,000 grow operations. But reporting from Love County, Paul Demko writes that legalization hasn’t driven out illegality and violence — instead, “the state’s free-wheeling medical marijuana program has proven to be a magnet for bad actors from across the country.” That has stoked worries about human trafficking and foreign “ghost owners,” as well as a fierce debate about law enforcement crackdowns.

HISTORY LESSON — The Louisiana state Board of Pardon today officially recommended a pardon for HOMER PLESSY, 129 years after his arrest in a white-only New Orleans train car, which led to the Supreme Court’s infamous “separate but equal” ruling in Plessy v. Ferguson. More from NOLA.com

THE PANDEMIC

MANDATES MAKING AN IMPACT — Across the anti-vaxxer internet, many conspiracy theorists have now been forced to get vaccinated against Covid-19 thanks to mandates, reports NBC’s Ben Collins. So the new trend is recommending methods to remove the vaccine from one’s body, like cupping and detox baths. (These, of course, do not work.) “The newfound virality of ‘vaccine detoxes’ is also a strategy by anti-vaccine influencers and groups to steel themselves for a reality in which 70 percent of Americans have been fully vaccinated against the coronavirus — even though their dire warnings of mass death and infertility never came to fruition,” he writes.

MEDIAWATCH

KNOWING CHRIS WALLACE — FT’s Matthew Garrahan talks to the veteran Fox News anchor in Bistro Bis, where Wallace says bluntly, “I don’t think this administration and this president have their act together.” He also talks about the lowering of journalistic standards, the country’s political polarization, his new book (“Countdown bin Laden”) and his longtime friendship with ATTALLAH SHABAZZ, MALCOLM X’s daughter (they sign notes to each other as “Your Sister” and “Your Brother”).

PLAYBOOKERS

Tammy Duckworth marked the 17th anniversary of her “Alive Day” in Iraq.

Don Young is craving moose.

Former Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake has emerged as a spokesperson for Travis Scott amid the fallout from his deadly concert in Houston.