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

Send tips | Subscribe here | Email Eli | Email Lauren

When TOM PEREZ returned to the White House earlier this summer, he did not anticipate spending so much of his time focused on the state of New York and its response to a surge of migrants. But his job — director of the Office of Intergovernmental Affairs — is largely about solving problems, wherever they crop up.

Senior administration officials have come to think of Perez as something of a “utility infielder,” an experienced hand who can play a different role every day. He can be advising the team monitoring the United Auto Workers strike, helping agencies implement policy or offering input on political strategy, all while constantly working his two cell phones.

A former Labor secretary in the Obama administration and chair of the DNC, Perez has been convening meetings twice a week with New York city and state officials while coordinating responses to the migrant influx from several government agencies, he said in an interview last Friday. The previous day, he’d traveled to New York to meet with Mayor ERIC ADAMS and Gov. KATHY HOCHUL, both of whom have been critical of the White House’s approach to the crisis.

“Kathy Hochul and I have each other on speed dial, and I appreciate that — she’s working her tail off,” said Perez, who also met last week with philanthropists, business leaders, service providers and immigration lawyers, securing commitments from the private sector to hire migrants as soon as they become legally eligible to work. “This job involves collaboration at scale: collaboration within the West Wing of the White House, collaboration with our agency partners, collaboration with state and local elected officials, with faith leaders, business leaders.”

Hochul, who’s known the “Buffalo native” Perez for decades, returned the praise.

“Our frequent conversations and his engagement with my staff — in person and remotely — has made a huge difference and we have more to do,” she told West Wing Playbook.

Perez’s role inside the White House was, at the start, tricky to define. He had run and lost a campaign to become governor of Maryland and, more than anything else, seemed to need a new place within the Democratic infrastructure. He was given a portfolio that included the role of “senior adviser.” While less narrowly defined, it allowed Perez to deploy his experience in several areas, in addition to directing the OIA and engaging with elected officials in all 50 states.

“If people are looking for linear job descriptions, this is probably not that kind of job,” he said.

On Monday, Perez traveled to Ohio for an event focused on workforce development. Earlier this month, he flew to Los Angeles to meet with Mayor KAREN BASS about homelessness. He toured Skid Row, as well as the Port of Los Angeles to discuss new investments from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.

In the days and weeks following the Maui wildfires, he spoke several times a day with Hawaii Gov. JOSH GREEN. “He’s far and away the most responsive person I’ve ever worked with in the federal government,” said Green, who credited Perez’s engagement for getting almost immediate approval of Hawaii’s request for a federal disaster declaration. “He understands what we’ve gone through.”

Ensconced in his second floor corner office directly above the Oval, Perez has taken on a broad portfolio that extends beyond crisis response. He is working with HHS officials to ensure Medicaid recipients aren’t automatically bumped from the rolls for failing to return renewal documentation. He has engaged with local leaders across the country about extreme heat. He hosted a White House Childcare Convening in July, and he is trying to make sure states and cities, as well as businesses, are taking advantage of opportunities from the Inflation Reduction Act.

And in recent days he has been advising GENE SPERLING and others about the ongoing UAW strike. Sperling was designated as the administration’s lead on the negotiations before Perez returned to the White House. Perez, while praising Sperling as “remarkably well qualified” for the assignment, acknowledged he’s been “providing help and counsel behind the scenes,” noting that he’d met with Sperling last Friday morning just hours after the UAW began its strike.

“This is an all hands on deck moment, and I do have some relationships in the labor movement that are helpful,” Perez said.

“When I can pick up the phone and call someone with whom I’ve been working with for 10-15 years … having those relationships at a state, federal and local level, knowing how agencies work, it just gives me a leg up in being able to play a meaningful role on a wide range of issues.”

MESSAGE US — Are you LUKAS MCGOWAN, senior adviser to the Office of Intergovernmental Affairs? We want to hear from you. And we’ll keep you anonymous! Email us at [email protected].

Did someone forward this email to you? Subscribe here!

Which presidents enjoyed fishing so much, they wrote books about it?

(Answer at bottom.)

A BUSY DAY: Biden met Wednesday with Israeli Prime Minister BENJAMIN NETANYAHU for a high-stakes discussion on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly, our MYAH WARD and JONATHAN LEMIRE report. Despite the meeting’s importance, things got off to a rocky start, with Biden arriving late. “It is the first event of the day and yet we are, remarkably, already quite behind schedule. No explanation has been provided for the delay,” Jonathan wrote in a White House pool report.

The president later met with Brazilian President LUIZ INÁCIO LULA DA SILVA to announce a partnership to strengthen workers’ rights. He telegraphed support for striking UAW workers without mentioning the union by name. “Let me be clear: Whether it’s the auto workers or any other union worker, record corporation profits should mean record contracts for union workers,” Biden said.

The president also had time to throw some shade at the press. “Surprised they haven’t asked me about the auto strike. They usually ask about things that have nothing to do with what we’re talking about,” Biden told Bibi.

Everyone’s a critic.

The president finished up his day with two fundraisers. After touting his economic record during the first, Biden reflected on his decision to run for president. “He told the story about the events of Charlottesville in 2017 as the reason for his campaign. A few minutes later, he told the story again, nearly word for word,” Jonathan wrote in the pool report.

INFORMATION IS THE KEY: The Biden campaign is overhauling its approach to fighting misinformation online as part of its 2024 race, our REBECCA KERN reports. The campaign plans to rely less on social media companies to police misinformation and instead ramp up its own resources, recruiting hundreds of staffers and volunteers to monitor platforms, buy advertising to fight bogus claims, and push its own countermessages out through grassroots allies.

“The campaign is going to have to be more aggressive pushing back on misinformation from a communications perspective and filling some of the gaps these companies are leaving behind,” deputy campaign manager ROB FLAHERTY told Kern.

LET HIM FLAIL: The White House has no plans to interfere with government spending negotiations on the Hill and is content in allowing Speaker KEVIN MCCARTHY and House Republicans stumble toward an agreement, our JENNFER HABERKORN and ADAM CANCRYN report. While Biden and his aides hope McCarthy chooses to stick to the deal both sides agreed on during debt ceiling negotiations in May, they remain confident politics will play out in their favor.

Frankly, even Republicans believe they’re about to be jammed.

“I honestly don’t know what to say to my fellow Republicans other than you’re going to eat a shit sandwich and you probably deserve to eat it,” Rep. CHIP ROY (R-Texas) said today.

NEW POST, OLD PROBLEM: Biden is creating a first-ever federal office for gun violence prevention, Myah reports. The new office will report to staff secretary STEFANIE FELDMAN, who oversees the gun policy portfolio at the White House. Biden is expected to formally announce the new office Friday at a Rose Garden event.

WHAT THE WHITE HOUSE WANTS YOU TO READ: This piece by 538’s NATHANIEL RAKICH about how Democrats keep outperforming in special elections — which could be a good sign for the party in 2024. Rakich points to the most recent example on Tuesday night, when Democrats flipped a New Hampshire state House seat by double digits. “Democrats have been posting special-election overperformances of that magnitude all year long, in all kinds of districts,” he writes.

The piece was shared widely on X by Biden staffers and advisers. Communications director BEN LABOLT called it an “underreported — but important — trend.”

WHAT THE WHITE HOUSE DOESN’T WANT YOU TO READ: This op-ed by STEPHEN MIRAN for the Wall Street Journal arguing that “Bidenomics” is making American industry less competitive. “Mr. Biden’s economic vision can last only as long as the taxpayer keeps paying for it and is unlikely to result in a sustainable increase in manufacturing capacity or jobs in America,” Miran writes.

SOMEONE TAKE AWAY RAHM’S PHONE: White House aides have asked U.S. Ambassador to Japan RAHM EMANUEL to stop posting social media messages that taunt Chinese President XI JINPING, NBC’s CAROL E. LEE, COURTNEY KUBE and PETER NICHOLAS report.

The trio write that over the past few weeks, Emanuel “has criticized Xi directly and sarcastically speculated about the Chinese leader’s treatment of his top aides, using the hashtag “#MysteryInBeijingBuilding.” Officials at the National Security Council told Emanuel’s staff that the ambassador’s comments “risk undermining the administration’s efforts to mend deeply strained relations with China, including with a possible meeting this fall between Biden and Xi.”

Such an extremely unexpected story about someone known for being so staid in general.

THAT’S NOT WHAT FRIENDS ARE FOR: Biden’s efforts to court Indian Prime Minister NARENDRA MODI — who the White House views as an important counterweight to China’s influence in the Indo-Pacific — just got complicated after Canadian Prime Minister JUSTIN TRUDEAU’s shocking allegations that agents from India were behind the killing of a Canadian Sikh leader. The WaPo’s YASMEEN ABUTALEB, ELLEN NAKASHIMA and GERRY SHIH write that the “White House’s approach since the allegations were made public Monday has been to walk a tightrope: Offering support for Canada’s investigation and urging India to cooperate, while avoiding any repudiation of India or Modi.”

NSC spokesperson ADRIENNE WATSON, who shared the piece on X, wrote that “reports that we rebuffed Canada in any way on this are flatly false. We are coordinating and consulting with Canada closely on this issue.”

JUST GET ON WITH IT ALREADY: NASA says that an asteroid it has been tracking for nearly 25 years could hit our planet in the future. THANK G… Oh wait. “There is a 1 in 2,700 chance the Bennu asteroid could hit Earth by 2182,” ABC News writes.

BIDEN’S CLIMATE FIGHTING FORCE: Biden on Wednesday announced an initiative that will train more than 20,000 young people in skills necessary in combating climate change, WaPo’s MAXINE JOSELOW reports. The White House launched the American Climate Corps, similar to a proposal in an earlier version of the Inflation Reduction Act, in a new website that allows people to register and learn more about how they can join the workforce program.

The anti-vaccine movement is on the rise. The White House is at a loss over what to do about it. (POLITICO’s Adam Cancryn)

Unions Fight in the States to Make Biden’s Climate Agenda Work for Workers (NYT’s Jim Tankersley)

Trump Is the Reason Women Can’t Get Abortions (The Atlantic’s Adam Serwer)

Many presidents enjoyed fishing but GROVER CLEVELAND and HERBERT HOOVER wrote books about the sport. Cleveland authored “Fishing and Shooting Sketches” (1906) and Hoover penned “Fishing for Fun—and to Wash Your Soul” (1963). Both extolled the virtues and healthful benefits of fishing.

Thanks to the White House Historical Association for this question!

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.