congressional press corps. i spent six years covering congress. i will be our eyes and ears on the playbook. >> i'm the chief washington correspondent for politico. i will be chronicling the biden administration in playbook. >> i worked at the white house correspondents for politico and abc. i am excited to be back, where i helped launch the europe edition. >> if you see me moving around, i'm trying to make sure my afro fits in the frame. thank you all for joining on this livestream after a to mow to his transfer of power. shaking american democracy, joe biden is set to take the oath of office to become the 46th u.s. president at noon tomorrow. >> playbook is hosting a very special guest, a man who almost single-handedly is responsible for his election night victory, house majority whip james clyburn, the highest-ranking lawmaker in congress, and leading chair of the biden inaugural committee. >> they will be back to dig into analysis later. but what will be atypical in week in washington. as a personal point of privilege, and it is really on-topic, i want to share this picture of with cliburn and a very important person in my life. i'm not sure what year, but that is my grandmother. our family friend, and that is mr. clyburn. she and my grandfather were very active in politics. so there will be many more pictures to come down the road. thank you for joining us. i'm not sure if you remember taking that picture, but it made a huge impact. >> i do remember that picture. it was one of my first fish fries. i remember it because i ran across one of those -- several of those pictures a month or so ago. i remember it very well. >> i know my family is watching and are very excited to hear that. thank you for joining us on the live playbook kickoff conversation. if you are watching, you can follow the conversation on twitter and ask a question by tweeting at politico live. >> let's get going. mr. clyburn, tomorrow, joe biden takes office to become the 46 president. the two of you talk almost daily and have been friends for years, if not, decades. did you speak to get -- today and this weekend, and what is on his mind as he returns to the white house as president? >> thank you very much for having me. but i have not talked to him since last friday night. in those frequent talks have been less frequent these days. i am really trying to -- i want him to be as centered on what we are faced with in this country. if he wants my opinion, he has my phone number. but i have not bothered him as of late. >> what was his state of mind when you spoke to him? tense, nervous, excited? >> it is interesting, he was a little upbeat. we were sharing a zoom with other members of the inaugural committee, the big committee. about 160 people joined us during the evening. but the small talk between the three of us took place. it was general stuff. no kind of policy. just reminiscing, my wife and jill got to be good friends. >> my understanding is your bonding with joe biden goes beyond politics, it started as the personal level. he sort of took solis -- solace in visiting your home state, where he met you. can you tell us about the first meeting with biden and what you remember? >> my very first meeting with joe biden took place in the home of don sallow. we were the young democrats together. it was right after biden had been reelected to the senate. everyone was talking about him as a future presidential candidate. he came to south carolina to visit don, who he knew you, -- who he knew, and he invited us to his home. so i met him in don's home. don passed away about two weeks ago. but that started the relationship. he eventually became chair of the democratic national committee, a job another south carolinian will be taking on thursday. jamie harrison. so that relationship just kind of grew. when i came to congress, it became more personal. we started doing various television programs together, like this one. we used to regularly do the charlie rose show. we talked about the similarities in our states. south carolina was the original case that led to the board of education case. of course, part of that lawsuit was also in delaware. so that was the foundation on which we built our relationship. two states steve in segregation. immigration, how it helped shape both of our lives. >> there have been pivotal moments that lead here for joe biden. i want you to weigh in on his behalf in south carolina. joe lived there. i know many were waiting to hear from you. i even did a story with my other grandmother before the primary. at the time, joe biden had been doing poorly. i want to know how you decided to step into the primary and say something. >> you started out with a picture. the fish fry that i have become famous for, i was doing that before i came to congress. i have been congress 28 years. but i was doing that fish fry before congress. i really did it to give all of our workers around the state to do the friday night before the state democratic convention. it was just to show appreciation for people, turn out the votes, so that fish fry i had took place at a time my wife was losing her battle with diabetes. and she could not attend. we had twentysomething odd candidates running for candidate at the fish fry. there were 7500 people, according to the estimates of the police department. i got home, i spoke to my wife and told her about the success of the fish fry. and she said if you really want to have success, you'd better nominate joe biden. she was the first one to tell me joe biden was out there. and i will catalog that, take a serious, because she spent time studying candidates, and she never missed calling the race. don sallow used to smell the time, i would tell him what i thought, he would then ask what emily thinks. that got to be the thing. so the weekend before the south carolina debate, the we can before the primary, i went home from here after having a meeting with my kitchen cabinet, and they were telling me the campaign was going bad, just lost two races, and thought we were going to lose a third. nevada caucus the following saturday. they said we have to endorse, or we don't have a chance. i told them i will. they said tomorrow or the next day. i said let me do it my way. i went home thursday night, and i had a message. it informed me of a funeral that would be the next day from my long-time accountant. i decided i had to go to that funeral. the next morning, i stopped at the funeral. i went down to the isle of the church, paid my respects, and as i turned away from the coffin, my eyes met the eyes of an elderly lady sitting at the far end of the front pew. she beckoned me over to her. i walked over and she said "i need to ask you a question. you leaned down and whispered in my ear. who are you voting for in this primary?" i leaned down, and i said i'm going to vote for joe biden. she snapped her head back and looked at me and said "i needed to hear that, and this community needs to hear from you. and that is what it has given me, people wanted to hear from you. and after the funeral, i talked to a few people, and several asked who they should vote for. it is a big race, they couldn't make up their minds. that is when i decided i was going to not just endorse, but i was going to do it in a big way. then i laid out the plan to endorse, do the robo calls, radio ads, and see what that would yield. the rest is history. >> exactly. without it, we may not be having this conversation. it would look a lot different. on january 6, when a mob of insurrectionists stormed the u.s. capitol, it was not the first time you as a civil rights leader faced a group like that. you know what it felt like. did it change or crystallize the way you view this country and the work that needs to be done over the next two years, at the very least? >> not really. as you mentioned, i have been faced with that sort of thing before. was never teargas or anything. i met my wife in jail, as you probably know. it was march 15, 1960. we will never forget that day. i think three or four of us went to jail. my wife brought a hamburger to the jail. i did not know her at the time. i did not know at the time she had been stalking me for a while. i think a found out about that -- i found out about that at our 10th wedding anniversary. she came to the jail to bring something for us to eat. when i reached for the hamburger, she took it back, broke it and half, gave me one half, she ate the other half. i was so grateful for it, having not eaten all day. i married her 18 months later. on the way back from jail that night, we talked about the challenges we had, whether or not we were doing the right thing challenging the system we were challenging. i was not too sure about that. this was march 15. october 15. same year i met john royce and martin luther king jr.. and it was that night sitting with martin luther king jr. from around 10:00 in the evening to around 4:00 the next morning. that is when i had that transformation. and i knew then i was doing the right thing, it was not going to be easy, but i was going to stick with it. so when the sixth of january, i felt what we were experiencing was another chapter in trying to get it right for this country. i feel joe biden was the best candidate, felt he would make the best president, and i still feel that. i never felt fear on the sixth of january. my security team got me off of the floor. through the fastest way i did not know existed in the building. i never felt scared at all. not the kind of fear i felt on march 15, 1960. that was a scary predicament. >> i wanted to ask you as majority whip, to spin it forward for the next couple of weeks, falling on you to ensure biden has the votes to pass an agenda, but democrats have a very slim majority, smaller than you have had. are you at all revamping your strategy at all to ensure democrats stay together, or keeping joe biden on speed dial? anything in particular you will be doing? >> all of the above, and i'm sure things i have not thought of yet. i spent time this morning with my staff, as well as our regional whips. we have 24 of them. and my senior deputy whips. and we talked about those. cedric richmond resigned. down to 221. we will lose others. they will be going to the cabinet. and you have to have 218 for anything to pass. you see how tight it will be. that means i've got to manage it well. i started managing something when i was 25 years old. i became the director at 25, executive director at 28. assistant to the governor at 30. commissioner at the state level at 34. i have been managing something all my life. so i can manage this. all i need to know from the speaker is what the substance will be, when it comes to the floor, and i will have the management in place to get it done. >> we have been told by some longtime associates that you have this saying, if we are five steps apart, i will take three of them. what do you think are some of the steps president-elect biden should take to bring this country together with this divisive time? >> i think the new president will have to make every effort he possibly can to be bipartisan . he has a long record of doing that. during the obama years when he was vice president, obama had -- in order to get other things through the senate. and he did it well. so he knows how to do that. but i have said to him publicly to make every effort to reach across the aisle, but do not allow recalcitrance on the part of republicans or anybody else to size or undercut, or in any way, take you off your agenda. his platform is a platform that has been accepted by the american people. he got 7 million more votes than trump did. and he has the mandate to get it right. he cannot allow people who supported his opponent to take him off of his agenda. my idea is if they don't work with him, use your executive authority. it has started with the executive office. that's what they meant the patient -- emancipation proclamation was. it was a blinken's executive order. and harry truman's executive order. congressman joyce. and we still have an integrated armed services now about to be the secretary of defense so you can't let them take you off of your agenda. stick with your agenda, work with them if they want to work with you. if they don't, use your executive authority. >> i'm interested if you think in the senate, they should get rid of the filibuster to make sure what you're talking about, that the agenda get pasts, are you in support of that? >> i am in support of that. the filibuster was put in place to protect recalcitrance. that's what it was put there for. the filibuster was always used to keep civil rights stuff from passing. the filibuster was against the civil rights act. strong filibuster came against the 1967 civil rights act, which was nothing but a resolution. he did not want that to pass. it was to extract opposition to segregation. so these remnants, we need to get rid of a lot of these things we have been holding onto. the electoral college is giving small states of outside voice in the election. the election may have been close, but joe biden got 7 million more votes than trump did. so i don't know what in the world trump is talking about. >> i would love to hear a debate between you and joe biden on the filibuster. that is all the time we have today. thank you for joining us. it was great having you one ahead of the inauguration. >> thank you very much for having me. and i told you what i think. >> i'm sure. the entire playbook team will be back in a moment to dig into inauguration week, the latest developments in the biden administration, and news of the day. first, we want to show you this. [laughter] >> i feel like i'm shrek with these. [laughter] ♪ >> what is the weirdest thing that has ever happened to you while reporting? >> i can't say that. [laughter] >> i once slept in -- restroom on the house floor. >> what did you see in their? >> not a lot. >> what is the one thing you will miss about trump? >> his tweets gave us a direct line into his brain in a way we have never had with any politician and will not have again. i don't think so. >> tell us something the public probably doesn't know about you. >> i don't eat fruit. i've never eaten a strawberry. not even a banana. >> as a journalist, what scares you the most? >> getting something wrong. >> what will be different from this team? >> the great thing about this new team is we have distinct lanes. not just focused on one thing. and it will be fun. >> it will be awesome. the unofficial guide to official washington. >> we are back as we continue our playbook kickoff conversation on the eve of inauguration day. we are bringing back tara and ryan into this conversation. and ryan is not in camo. [laughter] >> on a serious note, what struck you about the clyburn interview? >> when talking about the filibuster, i found it interesting. we know a lot of house members are taught to hate the senate from day one, because filibuster is ridiculous. but he ran in opposition to it in terms of racial justice and its history as a tool of the anti-civil rights democrats. that is a pretty powerful argument. if that becomes the core argument against the filibuster going forward, it will make it harder for some of the democrats in the senate who we call institutionalists who are weary of getting rid of it. and he is the kind of person who could persuade joe biden, i think he will take -- he will try and pass legislation with 60 votes. eventually, he will grow weary and will be pressured. >> we are already hearing from progressives on the left who want to see schumer move right away in the coming days to a filibuster. we heard clyburn say this, someone very close to biden. we have seen him weigh in before in various things, nominations or other policy ideas, and biden listens. it will be interesting to see if clyburn can convince other democrats in the senate to make this move. it would be a huge deal, especially with bidens agenda. he has to work with democrats and republicans if he wants to get anything done. >> what are you all looking for this week? congressman clyburn set up this monumental newsweek were we have inauguration, first-aid agenda, biden going to the hill, and the impeachment trial of the last president. an enormous amount of news and a lot going on. what is everyone looking for? >> tomorrow, joe biden will come out with a ton of executive orders. he likes to say day one. and how different will tomorrow feel like than today? how many of these executive orders have a legal precedent to them? how many will change? will he lead by executive orders like president trump and in some ways a less permanent effect on the country? like we were saying about clyburn, he will be useful to president biden as a consensus builder. that has been one thing he could do. been able to convince progressives to come along and unite as a party. democrats and republicans have the same problem, their parties are splintered. they need these consensus builders to bring them together if there will be any impact. >> what about you? >> i think the first thing i am thinking about is the inauguration. that is a point where joe biden has been promising he will be able to bring the country together. he says he will bring a sense of normalcy, some boring this to the oval office we have not seen in the last four years. and i think it will be difficult to heal the fissures that have always existed in the country and have been exasperated, not just 20, but the last decade, and how he framed it will be important in how we think about what will happen and how the american people think about the exact same thing. i think it will be most fascinating in telling how the next four years were go. i'm excited to hear what he has to say on it. >> the call to unity we will hear from him, juxtaposing it with what is happening right now behind the scenes, or you have senate republican and democratic leaders negotiating on a future impeachment trial about to take place. we are hearing privately that democrats want it done with, want to turn the page on trump, dig into the biden administration. but the house voted a few days ago to impeach trump. we are hearing pelosi could be transmitting the articles of impeachment to the senate. at the same time biden is trying to get a hold of cabinet nominees. it is eager to start moving on things like the covid package he just proposed. somebody said yesterday they are like massive freight trains moving at 100 miles per hour. you have biden over the top of this calling for unity at a time where we will see a potentially ugly impeachment trial. rudy giuliani defending the president. but they are not yet able to move on from this chapter when they have this impeachment trial, which could last several days, if not, weeks. >> and we still have not heard from the president-elect, not since the day after the insurrection on january 6. it will be interesting to hear the exact words he uses and if we fall into more chaos. >> that is such a good point. during the general election, it was an unusual campaign. trump dominated everything, many more news cycles. i wonder what it will be like with trump. the media are less interested in him, social media platforms have been taken away. is joe biden actually going to fill that vacuum, that giant hole in our twitter feeds and tv? >> do you think we need it? joe biden kind of promised he was not going to do that. he was not applying to tweet, not to fill any twitter-sized hole in all of our hearts and notifications. i think part of what you are getting at is how the gop handles trump, that will be one of the more fascinating things. if they are able to -- before january 6, it seems very clear the president -- he was going to be the leader of the party, he was going to be calling a lot of the shots. that was really unclear. you talked about tweeting, going on cable news. republicans have turned their backs on him, trying to get away from him. and i don't think they will be able to do that. all of this is how president trump handles it, you probably know, you have covered it. >> we got at this a little bit in playbook today. right now, the story is undoubtedly how they deal with trump and the divisions. the house changing, mccarthy. and mcconnell taking this pretty hard-core anti-trump position. he said today he had new comments talking about the president inciting the riot on january 6 and filling supporters minds with lies. mcconnell keeps edging towards resistance. >> i wouldn't go that far. >> his team was in favor of the house impeachment. but one thing that is incredibly unifying for republicans is unified we saw in 1993 when bill clinton became president, division in the republican party disappeared pretty fast. at the end of the bush era, we had a similar conversation about these divisions within the republican party and they all evaporated as soon as obama was president and republicans took over congress within two years. rachael, as our hill expert, do you see that kind of -- edging that way or do you think the trump/mcconnell split, is that going to last a little longer this time? rachael: i think we have to watch the trials, number one what happens there. democrats need 17 republicans to vote with them to convict trump and to try to bar him from running for office ever again. it is a high threshold. ryan: which a lot of them, if you took a secret poll, want. they don't want him to run again. rachael: the trump base is still there. even without the president on twitter, the outgoing president on twitter, even with him sort of disappearing at mar-a-lago in florida, that base is still there. this populist sentiment, they are going to be looking for more. i think mcconnell might want trump in the rearview mirror, but again, you are seeing people over in the house chamber, republican two are much closer to trump, for instance, kevin mccarthy, and the freedom caucus, the conservatives who are still in some ways loyal to him. so, i don't think this is the last of trump by any means. we will have to see which side of the party wins out, but the tug-of-war israel and it will continue -- is real and it will continue for the coming months, if not the coming years. tara: definitely, the impeachment has exacerbated those lines and divisions. i want to thank you guys for coming along with us on our playbook live conversation. it is our first day. thank you for joining us. let's do it again. if you are not a subscriber yet , please subscribe at politico.com/playbook. you can follow upco

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