By Eli Stokols, Lauren Egan and Lawrence Ukenye

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In the greenroom two weekends ago, just before a big network Sunday show was set to air, guests and producers making the usual small talk noted that no one on the show that day was representing the White House. There was no one to push back on behalf of President JOE BIDEN.

It fit what producers at this network and others described as a pattern: the Biden administration seeming increasingly uninterested in putting senior officials and Cabinet members on the flagship Sunday morning shows that — at least in years prior, and in official Washington’s collective psyche — help set the capital’s weekly agenda.

“The White House knows what we want to ask about right now, and it doesn’t align with the message that the administration is trying to drive,” said one network host who was granted anonymity to discuss a sensitive topic. “So instead, the White House says that people aren’t available or just takes too long to get back to you. Sometimes they offer up all of these surrogates, but most producers aren’t interested in that — they want the administration officials.”

Several network producers who spoke to West Wing Playbook speculated the White House was wary of being asked about HUNTER BIDEN’s legal troubles, a topic the president has refused to comment on. Others wondered why the administration wasn’t more eager to provide guests to tout Biden’s accomplishments, especially as he heads into a reelection year.

In reality, the White House continues to offer up its top officials as Sunday show guests. They’re just not always who the bookers and producers want.

For shows on Sunday, Aug. 13, the aforementioned date where greenroom chatter focused on this growing tension, the White House offered two guests to talk about the one-year anniversary of the Inflation Reduction Act. Both climate adviser ALI ZAIDI and climate implementation czar JOHN PODESTA were available to all five major Sunday shows. But all five had other ideas.

CBS, hoping to focus on Biden’s new executive order on China, asked for either Commerce Secretary GINA RAIMONDO or Treasury Secretary JANET YELLEN, according to people familiar with the discussions. Fox News, hoping to talk about foreign policy, asked for either Secretary of State ANTONY BLINKEN or national security adviser JAKE SULLIVAN. ABC asked for climate czar JOHN KERRY, who it hoped could discuss both the IRA anniversary and the China-related executive order. And NBC requested Raimondo, too, but when she wasn’t available, the White House offered press secretary KARINE JEAN-PIERRE instead. NBC said no.

In the end, two networks did book a White House guest: FEMA administrator DEANNE CRISWELL, who appeared on CBS and Fox to discuss the administration’s response to the Maui wildfires. Criswell appeared again from Hawaii this past weekend on three more Sunday shows. And U.S. ambassador to Japan RAHM EMANUEL was slated to appear on CBS to discuss Biden’s Camp David summit two days prior, but the network later pulled back on his appearance.

“We make sure that every week there is always an offer with the networks that they have the option to take or not,” said LUCAS ACOSTA, the White House director of broadcast media. “We do try and come up with a major through-line for the week, but if a request is outside of that, we'll still consider it. Sometimes we'll try to make it work, sometimes we'll decline it outright.”

Acosta spends a good chunk of his time working on Sunday show programming, starting on Wednesdays, when he checks in with network bookers. He then meets with senior members of the comms team to decide on the administration’s focus for the shows and which officials could best articulate it, according to people familiar with the process.

For Sunday shows on July 30 and Aug. 6, two days after July’s jobs numbers came out, the administration offered economic advisers JARED BERNSTEIN and LAEL BRAINARD. CBS, however, wanted Raimondo both weekends and was denied, the White House said. NBC wanted Transportation Secretary PETE BUTTIGIEG — also denied.

“There is often a disconnect between what’s being requested and what’s being offered,” one Sunday show producer told West Wing Playbook, noting that there tends to be more alignment when shows want to focus on foreign policy.

With Biden’s reelection campaign starting to take shape, producers have another option for booking surrogates, a national advisory board that can defend the president and his record more broadly.

Ultimately, every request for Cabinet officials goes through the White House, not the communications teams at their respective agencies. And the administration has made it clear it’s not going to green-light guest appearances by its more polished communicators just to satisfy producers looking for lively panel discussions on the news of the week.

As one person close to the process put it: “Sorry, but you can’t just have Pete every week.”

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Thanks to the White House Historical Association for this question!    

Which president liked to escape the sweltering summers of Washington, D.C. by traveling to Massachusetts?

(Answer at bottom.)

LATEST MIGRANT LAWSUIT: A court trial started Thursday over a Biden sponsorship policy that allows 30,000 people from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela to enter the country each month, CBS News’ CAMILO MONTOYA-GALVEZ reports. More than 200,000 migrants have arrived in the U.S. since the policy was created last October as a key tool in how the administration controls the pace of migrants entering the country. Texas and 20 other GOP-led states have asked U.S. District Judge DREW TIPTON to block the policy from being implemented nationwide.

MORE MIGRANT DRAMA: New York Gov. KATHY HOCHUL slammed the White House for not doing more to help support manage a surge of migrants coming to the state. She also renewed calls for the administration to expedite work permits and provide additional federal aid, our KATELYN CORDERO reports. “This crisis originated with the federal government, and it must be resolved with the federal government,” Hochul said in an address at the state capitol. Voters have grown increasingly critical of how Hochul and New York City Mayor ERIC ADAMS have handled the crisis, a potential political liability for Democrats. The administration recently provided New York with $130 million in aid, but city leaders also want migrants to be granted work permits.

WHAT THE WHITE HOUSE WANTS YOU TO WATCH: This clip Biden posted on X, previously known as Twitter, of NIKKI HALEY criticizing DONALD TRUMP and other GOP presidential hopefuls for growing the country’s budget deficit on the former president’s watch. Biden also took aim at Republicans in a video attacking their stances on abortion, climate change and potential cuts to Social Security. The clips were part of the Biden campaign’s counterprogramming, which also included a “Dark Brandon” ad on Fox News’ website and a national TV ad that aired just before the debate began.

WHAT THE BIDEN CAMPAIGN WANTS YOU TO HEAR: Their surrogates delivering their post-debate talking points, which our HOLLY OTTERBEIN obtained. “The only winner … was Joe Biden,” according to the first talking point. Describing the eight GOP presidential hopefuls on the debate stage as MAGA candidates staking out “extreme” positions, Biden world asked surrogates to note how they “spent two hours shouting over each other on: cutting Social Security and Medicare … who has the best plan to ban abortion nationwide … [and] whether to side with Putin or Ukraine.”

The talking points went out “immediately following the RNC's extreme and alienating debate,” a campaign official said.

WHAT THE WHITE HOUSE DOESN’T WANT YOU TO READ: This piece by the Wall Street Journal’s YUKA HAYASHI and YANG JIE about how labor challenges at an Arizona chip factory signals issues related to Biden’s semiconductor bill. Although Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. has invested $40 billion in building plants in Phoenix, the company plans to bring in temporary foreign workers because it says there aren’t enough skilled workers in the state. The company has requested 500 visas, drawing ire from unions arguing the firm has shown a “lack of respect” for American workers. The White House has emphasized universities and companies are expanding programs to train semiconductor workers, but the shortage likely represents a hurdle in the administration’s effort to showcase how the law benefits American workers.

PERSONNEL MOVES: MITCHELL SCOTT ROSENBERG has been promoted to be special adviser to the second gentleman. He will continue as DOUG EMHOFF’s personal aide.

— RACHEL CHIU, chief of staff in the White House Office of Political Strategy and Outreach, has been promoted to be a special assistant to the president.

— GRETCHEN SIERRA-ZORITA has been promoted to be director for Puerto Rico and territories in the Office of Intergovernmental Affairs at the White House.

— ROSIE HIDALGO is now director of the Office on Violence Against Women at the Department of Justice. She most recently was senior adviser on gender-based violence at the White House and a special assistant to the president.

— AMAR BHARDWAJ is now a policy adviser on the infrastructure implementation team at the White House. He most recently was an industrial emissions fellow at the White House Climate Policy Office and Council on Environmental Quality.

— ABBEY PITZER has been promoted to be senior designer at the White House.

BACK TO SCHOOL SEASON MEANS....: Ninety Democratic lawmakers penned a letter to Biden on Wednesday night, urging him to do more to ease student debt, NBC News’ LIZ BROWN-KAISER reports. It comes just as the president's pledge to cancel $10,000 of federal student loans reaches its one-year anniversary.

“We urge you to continually find ways to use your authority to bring down student debt, address the rising cost of college, and make postsecondary education affordable for all students who choose that path,” Biden was urged in a letter led by Sen. ELIZABETH WARREN (D-Mass.) and Rep. AYANNA PRESSLEY (D-Mass.), and also signed by Senate Majority Leader CHUCK SCHUMER.

The push comes after Biden urged borrowers on Tuesday to apply for the administration’s SAVE Plan, an income-driven repayment option that aims to limit monthly payments.

GONNA NEED MORE THAN A MIGHTY WIND: The Department of Energy released three reports on Thursday detailing the growth of wind energy due to the Inflation Reduction Act’s tax credits. Last year, the U.S. added $12 billion in wind energy investment and the industry accounted for 22 percent of domestic electric power capacity.

Despite the growth, wind energy still faces supply chain constraints and high inflation, posing challenges to Biden’s goal of adding 30 gigawatts of offshore wind by the end of the decade. Our KELSEY TAMBORRINO has the details for Pro subscribers.

How Jackson Hole Became an Economic Obsession (NYT’s Jeanna Smialek)

Biden is vacationing at a Lake Tahoe home. For locals, he’s another tourist tearing them apart (LA Times' Benjamin Oreskes)

White House Cabinet affairs chief of staff SANAM RASTEGAR is a lifelong dancer and a member of the Westport Academy of Dance. "Apart from just being incredibly fun, dancing has always been the medium through which I can escape into a world without any stress or external pressures, and release my emotions through the movements and music," Rastegar wrote in a profile on the academy's website.

President WILLIAM HOWARD TAFT and his family would travel to rental homes, Stetson Hall and Parramatta, both located in Beverly, Mass. Taft also had a sleeping porch installed on the roof of the White House to catch cooler winds in the city, 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.

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