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

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JEFF ZIENTS is trying to build a reputation for himself in the White House as an accessible chief of staff who puts a premium on developing relationships with the people he manages.

He’s hosted Friday happy hours on his office patio. He makes bagel Wednesday a thing. And as West Wing Playbook wrote earlier this year, he holds town halls regularly for White House staffers for people across departments to get face time with senior-level leaders and to ask questions.

But those opportunities have largely been for the staffers who work on the White House campus. That can leave the hundreds of other JOE BIDEN political appointees who fill out federal agencies feeling second fiddle to their peers stationed in the White House. So Zients has set out to make sure they feel just as valued, and just as much a part of the team as people at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave.

In recent weeks, he has made the rounds to federal agencies, hosting scaled-down versions of his White House town halls. He’s visited the Department of Housing and Urban Development and the Environmental Protection Agency. On Thursday, he called on the CHIPS office at the Department of Commerce, where staff are working to implement the CHIPS and Science Act’s nearly $53 billion investment in U.S. semiconductor manufacturing.

This particular visit came together after Commerce Secretary GINA RAIMONDO reached out to Zients, said MIKE SCHMIDT, director of the CHIPS Program office. Raimondo had just attended a recent briefing with the CHIPS team and invited Zients to meet the 140-person operation they’ve built since last year.

“It was very clear as it came together that it was a huge priority for him to make it happen. We weren’t given dates like three months away, which is kind of what I expected when the White House chief of staff agrees to do something with you,” Schmidt said. “They were like, ‘Oh, you know, how about the week after next?’”

A couple weeks after the invitation was made, Zients left the White House grounds on foot to make the less than half-mile trek to Commerce. The venue of his chat, the Commerce library, was described as Zients-esque, with a similar set-up to his office at the White House — no desk, but a large table for people to sit around and gather. There weren’t enough seats for the group of more than 100 staff, so others stood close behind.

Zients, who was joined by Raimondo and Schmidt, gave brief remarks at the top about his own experience in government, including his move from private to public sector under the Obama administration. He talked about team building, and the culture he likes to create in the workplace, while also taking the opportunity to discuss his views of the impact of the CHIPS program.

He didn’t bring bagels (sad). But he did bring an “approachable” demeanor, Schmidt said.

Zients hung around for an hour while staff asked questions on everything from how he sees the role of CHIPS in the president’s agenda to career advice for those new to government.

He had a few things to say on that one: Keep a low ego and get work done.

“Day to day, we are in the grind of the work,” Schmidt said. “And so to get to zoom out and spend some time with the White House chief of staff and recognize from a big picture perspective — the importance of what we’re doing — it’s totally invaluable for us.”

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Thanks to the White House Historical Association for this question!

Who was the first sitting president to attend the Kentucky Derby?

(Answer at bottom.)

We know that you have been dying to see photo evidence of the mysterious meditation room. So, thanks to White House staffers who answered our pleas for pics, we got ’em.

NIGHTMARE FUEL: Biden’s campaign and many of the president’s allies are taking seriously the threat of a third-party candidate playing spoiler for Democrats in 2024, our ELENA SCHNEIDER and JONATHAN LEMIRE report. The party is concerned about CORNEL WEST’s independent bid over fears he could appeal to Black voters, a group Biden desperately needs to turn out for Democrats to compete in swing states. His allies are less concerned about ROBERT F. KENNEDY JR. because polls have found he could siphon votes away from former President DONALD TRUMP, but the campaign would prefer those votes go to Biden instead.

MAN, THAT JOBS MARKET! The U.S. economy defied expectations in September by gaining 336,000 jobs, a figure that suggests companies remain eager to hire despite soaring interest rates. The unemployment rate remained flat at 3.8 percent, providing Biden and the White House press shop an opportunity to promote the president’s “Bidenomics” agenda as successful, even if polls find that Americans aren’t sold on the president’s economic record.

The numbers were hailed across the board as unequivocally good. Which may explain why the White House was none too pleased by select media coverage of them. National Economic Council senior communications JESSE LEE and communications director BEN LABOLT took aim at a CNN headline that suggested the job gains will “cost” Americans. Lee posted that “the fact that this is the CNN homepage right now, and this is just typical coverage of the Biden economy” is why many are still pessimistic about the post-pandemic economy.

MY HANDS WERE TIED: Biden told reporters again on Friday that he wasn’t able to prevent congressional funding from being used to construct a border wall. “I was told that I had no choice,” he said after delivering remarks about the September jobs report. The move to waive dozens of federal laws to build the wall shocked many of the president’s allies and was followed by news that the U.S. would resume deportation flights to Venezuela, cementing what had been a tough day for the administration on immigration.

WHAT THE WHITE HOUSE WANTS YOU TO READ: This piece by NBC News’ KATHERINE DOYLE about Rep. MATT GAETZ (R-Fla.) dismissing House Republicans’ impeachment inquiry into Biden as an unserious “forever war” during an online fundraiser. “I don’t believe that we are endeavoring upon a legitimate impeachment of Joe Biden,” Gaetz told former Trump adviser and now podcaster STEVE BANNON.

The article was popular within the White House press shop and earned reposts on X from oversight and investigations spokesperson IAN SAMS, deputy communications director HERBIE ZISKEND and deputy press secretary ANDREW BATES. As our readers may know, the White House and the campaign love to spotlight Republicans criticizing themselves so don’t be surprised if you see another Biden ad featuring the Gaetz quote.

WHAT THE WHITE HOUSE DOESN’T WANT YOU TO LISTEN TO: This podcast episode featuring The Atlantic’s HANNA ROSIN and ELAINA PLOTT CALABRO and author FRANKLIN FOER about why Biden’s policies aren’t resonating with voters, who remain deeply skeptical of his performance. Plott Calabro argues that despite Biden scoring some political wins, the nation’s psyche remains damaged by the pandemic and that Americans don’t want to see politicians taking a “victory lap” if their messaging doesn’t reflect their day-to-day experience.

ANOTHER BRICK IN THE WALL: DHS Secretary ALEJANDRO MAYORKAS on Thursday rejected the notion that the administration had changed its border wall policy. He said his comments in a Federal Register notice about the “acute and immediate need” for a wall was taken out of context.

“From day one, this Administration has made clear that a border wall is not the answer,” he said in a statement. “That remains our position and our position has never wavered.”

MONEY FOR A CHARGE: The Treasury Department released guidance Friday detailing how car dealers can provide customers access to federal electric vehicle tax credits as part of the Biden administration’s push to boost EV sales, our JAMES BIKALES reports.

The rules would allow dealers to register with the IRS to be eligible to offer the tax credits — which are as high as $7,500 for new vehicles — and require buyers to be within the income limit to qualify. The administration hopes the incentives will help the country reach Biden’s goal of EVs being half of all new car sales by 2030.

Bidens’ Dog Commander Joins a Long List of Naughty White House Pets (WSJ’s Ginger Adams Otis)

Inflation is transforming Wall Street’s thinking about Biden’s economy (POLITICO’s Victoria Guida)

For Biden and Trump, Age Really Is Just a Number (WSJ’s Josh Zumbrun)

UAW holds off on widening strike citing ‘significant progress’ in talks (POLITICO’s Nick Niedzwiadek)

On May 3, 1969, President RICHARD NIXON was the first sitting president to attend the Kentucky Derby, according to the White House Historical Association.

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

Edited by Eun Kyung Kim and Sam Stein.