Harris hires a new head scribe

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

Send tips | Subscribe here| Email Alex

Vice President KAMALA HARRIS has a new chief speechwriter.

DAVE CAVELL, who most recently wrote speeches for climate envoy JOHN KERRY and worked as a speechwriter in the final year of the Obama White House, has joined Harris’ office, people familiar with the move told West Wing Playbook. The vice president and her team were attracted to his resume, including his past experience writing for Massachusetts Attorney General MAURA HEALEY and former Massachusetts Gov. DEVAL PATRICK. But another selling point Cavell brought with him is that he’s a lawyer like both Harris and her husband.

Cavell is the third chief speechwriter for the vice president, who has tried to hone her voice in a role historically difficult to navigate.

Some of Harris’ past speeches — like the one where she told migrants “do not come” while in Guatemala or her solar panel jokes at the Naval academy graduation ceremony — have been met with scorn. And clips of some of her recitations of political cliches have gone viral for the wrong reasons.

While Harris’ team has been more stable relative to the rocky first year, she has had particular trouble filling the chief speechwriter post since the first occupant, KATE CHILDS GRAHAM, announced her departure in February.

Harris’ second speechwriter, MEGHAN GROOB, left this summer after only a few months in the role. People familiar with the matter say that Groob never fully meshed with the vice president, in part because she worked outside the White House campus instead of in the vice president’s office. Asked why she worked off-campus, Harris’ office declined to comment. Groob did not respond to attempts to reach her.

The vice president’s office is meticulous in the hiring of her speechwriters. When Groob competed for the role against CHRISTOPHER HUNTLEY, a former speechwriter for Sen. ELIZABETH WARREN (D-Mass.), the two were asked to turn in mock speeches which senior officials read blind – meaning they didn’t know who wrote which speech.

Some staffers in the vice president’s office privately pulled for Huntley because they wanted to see a Black man write for the first Black woman vice president. They were disappointed he didn’t get the job over Groob, who had most recently written for BILL GATES.

“I didn’t see a speech Bill Gates ever gave that was particularly enthralling,” said one former staffer in the vice president’s office.

Another former Harris staffer said Groob’s speeches had been written in deep collaboration with people who brought the perspective of being a person of color. Others in the vice president’s orbit noted that Harris had people of color write speeches for her during her rise as a politician, but as vice president she didn’t have one as her chief speechwriter.

Despite not getting the chief gig, Huntley has helped with political writing for Harris through the Democratic National Committee, according to the vice president’s office.

“The vice president takes very seriously the team that works for her and we were pleased to have such great help from both Kate Childs Graham, Meghan Groob, Chris Huntley and now Dave Cavell,” communications director JAMAL SIMMONS told West Wing Playbook over the phone (extra credit for not just emailing a statement). “We look forward to her having many more interesting things to say.”

People close to Harris’ office say that the hiring of Cavell provides a good tell of the direction of the office after a turbulent first year. One person who had discussed hires with Harris’ office read it as them continuing to prioritize experienced, steady hands under chief of staff LORRAINE VOLES and Simmons.

But Cavell, with his lawyer chops, is also a sign that Harris is likely to continue to try to lean more into policy. Harris has often resisted the urgings of aides and allies to weave more of her own story and unknown aspects of her biography into speeches — as JOE BIDEN often does. Once they entered the White House, Harris again resisted such urgings in part to try to build trust with Biden world.

MESSAGE US — Are you MEGHAN GROOB? We want to hear from you! And we’ll keep you anonymous. Email us at [email protected].

POTUS PUZZLER

This one is from Allie. Which president dug up a spadeful of dirt in Little Falls, Md., on July 4th and why?

(Answer at the bottom.)

The Oval

DOG ON A BONE: The president’s dog, COMMANDER, was spotted barking at reporters today at the White House. Clearly, another White House canine that could use some sessions with CESAR MILLAN. And yet… Deputy press secretary ANDREW BATES tweeted photos of it with the caption: “Good boy!” Bad Andrew.

REMEMBER, REMEMBER THE 8TH OF ROE-VEMBER: The president vowed at a Democratic National Committee event Tuesday that the first bill he sends to Congress next year will codify Roe v. Wade — if Democrats still control Congress, our CHRISTOPHER CADELAGO and ALICE MIRANDA OLLSTEIN report. The remarks reflect the White House’s intent to continue elevating abortion rights as the midterm elections loom.

PSAKI’S TAKE: Former press secretary JEN PSAKI tweeted that “I don’t read this as @potus realizing he should have come out earlier, the absolute outrage about Dobbs was at a peak all summer. He is trying to re-insert women’s rights back into debate on campaign trail given energy around it has waned because of concerns about the economy.”

GRABBING THE MIC: Biden will be a guest on a “Smartless” podcast episode scheduled for release later this month. He sat down with podcast hosts (and actors) JASON BATEMAN, SEAN HAYES, and WILL ARNETT while out West last week. The move underscores the president’s consistent dodging of more traditional news media which much of his team has resented going back to the 2020 presidential primary, when the national media often underrated Biden’s strength and his chances to win the nomination.

The White House communications shop and the president himself believe much of the same blind spots remain in how the national press covers the presidency today. Indeed, NBC News’ MIKE MEMOLI reports the president and some of his advisers have started to think the news media doesn’t “get” him.

Communications director KATE BEDINGFIELD had a blistering quote along those lines: “There has been a fundamental disbelief, particularly among the D.C., east coast press corps, in Biden’s vision, in his strategy, in his tactics, in his ability to do the things that he said he would do.”

WHAT THE WHITE HOUSE WANTS YOU TO READ: Anything about how gas prices are dropping. White House chief of staff RON KLAIN tweeted information from AAA as well as, of course, @GasBuddyGuy’ s take:

WHAT THE WHITE HOUSE DOESN’T WANT YOU TO READ: Stories in the Washington Post and the New York Post about a 72-year-old U.S. citizen that Saudi Arabia has sentenced to 16 years in jail, along with a 16-year travel ban.

WaPo columnist JOSH ROGIN reports that IBRAHIM ALMADI “is not a dissident or an activist; he is simply a project manager from Florida who decided to practice his right to free speech inside the United States. But last November, when he traveled to Riyadh to visit family, he was detained regarding 14 tweets posted on his account over the previous seven years.”

Almadi’s son is now going on the record. He told Rogin that the State Department urged him against speaking publicly but that he now believes the Biden administration was negligent. As he told the New York Post’s STEVE NELSON: “[My father] got sold for oil, but they didn’t receive the oil. So there is no father, no oil. There’s nothing — there is only shame, that is what the White House has got now.”

ICYMI: First lady JILL BIDEN spoke with Newsmax’s NANCY BRINKER in an interview that aired Monday night. She touched on topics like losing BEAU and the Biden administration’s Cancer Moonshot initiatives.

THE BUREAUCRATS

FIRST IN WEST WING PLAYBOOK: ELIZABETH JURINKA is leaving the White House where she has served as special assistant to the president and Senate legislative affairs liaison, DANIEL LIPPMAN has learned. She played a key role in helping to shepherd the Inflation Reduction Act to passage. Her last day is Friday. Before the White House, she worked for Sen. RON WYDEN (D-Ore.) for a decade, including eight years as his health chief on the Senate Finance Committee.

— ISABELLA ULLOA has left the Department of Homeland Security, where she was deputy chief of staff and focused primarily on cybersecurity, counterterrorism, critical infrastructure protection and the Secret Service, Lippman has also learned. She’s doing some travel as she explores her next step. U.S. Coast Guard Lt. Commander KATHLEEN “KAY” FALLON is now acting deputy chief of staff. She most recently was military aide to Homeland Security Secretary ALEJANDRO MAYORKAS.

— JACK MILLER has joined the Office of Personnel Management as deputy director for communications. He was most recently communications director at Invest in America and is a USAID and Hub Project alum.

Agenda Setting

KEEP IT FLOWING: The White House plans to announce a release of oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve in an effort to help bring fuel prices down, our BEN LEFEBVRE reports. The administration is set to release 10 million to 15 million barrels from the reserve as part of an existing plan, announced in March, to release 180 million barrels of crude oil into the market throughout the year.

What We're Reading

Biden’s Blessing (Puck’s Theodore Schleifer and Tara Palmeri)

Biden Administration Pares Back Covid Fight as Funding Push Falls Short (WSJ’s Stephanie Armour)

Biden admin officials considering trying to discourage American companies from expanding business ties with Saudi Arabia (NBC News Carol E. Lee and Courtney Kube)

POTUS PUZZLER ANSWER

According to the National Park Service, JOHN QUINCY ADAMS dug a spadeful of dirt near Little Falls, Md., to begin the construction of the Chesapeake & Ohio Canal on July 4, 1828.

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.