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It’s customary for the Biden White House to celebrate heritage months honoring different cultures and ethnicities with East Room receptions, Rose Garden speeches and a group photo with staffers from backgrounds being celebrated.

In February, hundreds of Black Biden staffers braved the cold to snap a picture on the steps of the Eisenhower Executive Office Building with Vice President KAMALA HARRIS for Black History Month. In May, staffers again gathered with the vice president to take a photo in honor of Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander Heritage Month.

So it caught some Jewish staffers by surprise a few weeks ago that the month of May was coming to a close and no photo had been scheduled to celebrate Jewish American Heritage Month. In a Signal group chat among those staffers, several expressed disappointment and confusion that they had not received a calendar invite for a time to take the photo, according to three Biden staffers who are in that chat and relayed its contents to West Wing Playbook.

The staffers told West Wing Playbook they didn’t understand why the White House would not have prioritized their photo given that top administration officials had repeatedly, publicly, expressed their sympathy and empathy for the challenges that Jews were currently facing, both abroad and on college campuses.

“Especially at such a difficult moment, these opportunities can be helpful for building community, for supporting each other, and for showing unity against rising antisemitism,” said one of the administration officials in the Signal chat. “This is the case regardless of one’s views of the conflict.”

A White House official acknowledged that no photo was taken with Jewish staffers but said that such events do not occur every year for every heritage month.

While Jewish staffers did not pose for a heritage month photo in May of 2021 or May of 2022, they did do so in May 2023. That photo was taken with second gentleman DOUG EMHOFF, the first Jewish spouse of a president or vice president. Jewish staffers told West Wing Playbook that the moment, which was shared on the White House’s social media accounts, sent a powerful message about their community. They said they were hoping to have the opportunity to do it again this year, given concerns about the rise in antisemitism and a desire to show White House solidarity with the Jewish community.

The frustration over the absence of a heritage month photo is a rare blemish on what aides say is an otherwise solid record from the White House when it comes to supporting Jewish staffers, events and causes.

As part of the president’s National Strategy to Combat Antisemitism, the White House encouraged all agencies to hold events in May celebrating Jewish Americans. That resulted in the most Jewish American Heritage Month events ever to be held by the Biden administration — ranging from a Rose Garden reception with Jewish lawmakers and leaders, President JOE BIDEN, Harris and Emhoff, to a Department of Agriculture event on kosher food access and a rare Blair House reception with Ambassador DEBORAH LIPSTADT, the Special Envoy for Monitoring and Combating Antisemitism.

White House spokesperson ROBYN PATTERSON said in a statement that Biden has “been aggressive in condemning the vicious surge of antisemitism we’ve witnessed since the October 7th attacks.”

“As the President said when he hosted Jewish American leaders — and administration appointees — in the Rose Garden last month: Jewish Americans belong. President Biden will continue to be outspoken in ‘celebrating the heritage and legacy of Jewish Americans, who continue to enrich every single part of our life,’” said Patterson.

Still, some Biden staffers felt like the White House was walking away from a meaningful opportunity to publicly demonstrate support for the Jewish community and Jewish staffers at a critical moment. A second administration official in the Signal chat said that not taking a Jewish American Heritage Month staff photo in 2024 was not the same as not offering it in 2022 or 2021, given the context of the Oct. 7 attack.

“It is surprising and disappointing that we didn’t get to take a photo,” the official told West Wing Playbook.

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POTUS PUZZLER

Which president served as a Navy lieutenant commander in the Pacific during World War II?

(Answer at bottom.)

The Oval

BEG YOUR PARDON: President Biden on Thursday ruled out the possibility of pardoning his son HUNTER BIDEN if he is found guilty of illegally possessing a gun. In an interview with ABC’s DAVID MUIR commemorating the 80th anniversary of D-Day in France, the president said he would accept the outcome of the trial, as the jury nears a verdict in Delaware.

A DAY OF REMEMBRANCE: Speaking before a crowd of aging World War II veterans in Normandy, President Biden warned against the spread of isolationism and promised that the U.S. would “not walk away from Ukraine,” Eli and MATT BERG report. He pointed to the beaches where U.S. forces began to turn the tide of the war as a “powerful illustration of how alliances make us stronger,” adding that it’s “a lesson that I pray Americans never forget.”

Prior to the ceremony, Biden met with over 40 of the D-Day veterans attending the event. “The greatest generation ever, man,” he remarked to a 102-year-old veteran. “You saved the world,” he said to another. The president was also caught on camera giving a fist pump after a pretty dramatic flyover.

MACRON, PLEASE REPORT TO DETENTION: For nearly an hour, thousands attending the ceremony at the Normandy American Cemetery stood and applauded as the approximately 170 D-Day veterans slowly walked or were rolled onto the stage. But then they just sat there and waited. And waited. And yes, many of them are 100 years old or older.

Some commenters on X savaged Biden for being late. But Biden had been at the cemetery for two hours at that point. It was French President EMMANUEL MACRON who was running 40 minutes behind. The giveaways: the audible noise of Macron’s helicopter landing well after the ceremony’s scheduled start time... and the icy look first lady BRIGITTE MACRON shot her husband after they took the stage.

CHANNELLING THE GIPPER: When Biden delivers another D-Day speech Friday at Pointe du Hoc, he’ll be following in the footsteps of former President RONALD REAGAN, Eli also reports from Normandy. Forty years ago, Reagan immortalized “the boys of Pointe du Hoc” in a speech that laid claim to a new patriotism infused with World War II nostalgia, delivered a brushback to the Soviets and helped put himself on a glide path to reelection. It’s a speech Biden aides have studied. And, frankly, for good reason: There are some uncanny parallels to the present, with a president facing questions about his age and a world unsettled by threats from autocrats.

THAT’S A LOT OF MILES: After flying to France overnight to join the president at Thursday’s ceremonies in Normandy, first lady JILL BIDEN said au revoir and boarded a plane back to Delaware for Hunter Biden’s trial. And then she will fly back to Paris in time for the state dinner Saturday night. Carbon offsets, anyone?

AN OVERSOLD SITUATION? ON AF1? When the 13-person traveling press pool showed up for Biden’s flight from Paris to Caen Thursday morning, none of the journalists were on the flight manifest. There was momentary confusion until press wrangler SONJA THRASHER helped muscle the pool onto (the smaller) Air Force One. When reporters finally boarded, there were cartons of food stacked up on a row of seats in the press cabin, an indication that flight attendants weren’t expecting any press on the plane. Even though there is always a press pool flying with the president! Glad those issues in the advance office have been cleaned up.

WHAT THE WHITE HOUSE WANTS YOU TO READ: Some people knock doors for Biden’s reelection campaign. Some make calls. Some even open up their homes for the campaign to host lavish fundraisers with Hollywood A-listers. But 91-year-old DOROTHY STEWART’s dedication takes the cake. For her birthday this past weekend, Stewart celebrated by skydiving in Irmo, South Carolina … in honor of President Biden. “She jumped for President Joe Biden,” the Post and Courier’s JOSH ARCHOTE writes. “‘Who they say is too old,” Stewart said. ‘I’m jumping in honor of him jumping into his next term.’”

Campaign spokesman KEVIN MUNOZ shared the story on X.

WHAT THE WHITE HOUSE DOESN’T WANT YOU TO READ: This piece by WaPo’s TYLER PAGER and ASHLEY PARKER about how actor GEORGE CLOONEY called STEVE RICCHETTI, counselor to the president, last month to complain about Biden’s criticism of the International Criminal Court’s action against Israeli leaders. Clooney’s wife, AMAL CLOONEY, worked on the case. The actor was frustrated with the administration’s initial openness to imposing sanctions on the ICC, in part because of how it could have impacted her.

The call came just weeks before Clooney was scheduled to headline a ritzy Los Angeles fundraiser for Biden’s reelection campaign, and some officials worried that he would withdraw from the event altogether. That fundraiser is slated for June 15.

CAMPAIGN HQ

GIMME, GIMME, GIMME THE BALL: The Biden campaign is airing a new ad titled “Flag” during Game One of the NBA Finals Thursday night. The one-minute spot, which the campaign says “underscores all that is at stake this November,” includes a shot of the Jan. 6 Capitol rioters and a voiceover explaining that America's values are “under attack by an extreme movement that seeks to overturn elections, ban books and eliminate a women’s right to choose.” The ad goes on to say that “Joe Biden has made defending our basic freedoms the cause of his presidency.”

The campaign said in a statement that the 2023 NBA Finals reached high numbers of viewers in battleground markets like Milwaukee, Atlanta, Las Vegas and Philadelphia — and they'll likely tune in, once again, tonight.

MAKING A PLAY: The Biden campaign is hiring former Rep. ADAM KINZINGER’s chief of staff AUSTIN WEATHERFORD as the leader of Republican outreach, CNN’s EDWARD-ISAAC DOVERE reports. The campaign is also digging into focus groups and polling to identify how best to reach the roughly 20 percent of Republican primary voters who kept turning out for NIKKI HALEY, long after she suspended her campaign.

Senior Biden adviser ANITA DUNN has already met with potential anti-DONALD TRUMP allies, including former assistant to Trump’s chief of staff CASSIDY HUTCHINSON. Several campaign aides held a Zoom call last week with two dozen Republican former members of Congress.

THE UNION VOTE: The BlueGreen Alliance, a coalition that represents unions and clean energy organizations, endorsed President Biden’s reelection campaign on Thursday, calling him the most “pro-union” and “pro-climate” president that American workers have ever had, our LAWRENCE UKENYE writes in. The group, which endorsed Biden in 2020, touted the clean energy provisions in the Inflation Reduction Act and the president's labor policies.

THE BUREAUCRATS

A NEW INTERIOR AT INTERIOR: TYLER CHERRY, director of communications at the Department of the Interior, left the department on Thursday. MELISSA SCHWARTZ, senior counselor to the secretary and chief of staff to the deputy secretary, will take over his role in addition to her current job. SALLY TUCKER, who has been serving as senior adviser for infrastructure communications, will join Schwartz as deputy communications director.

Agenda Setting

NOT GETTING ANY BETTER: Even in France, Biden is being shadowed by the war happening in Gaza. On Thursday, news broke that Israeli forces had hit a United Nations school complex in central Gaza, killing dozens of people. The IDF said the attack targeted Hamas operatives. Palestinian officials said it killed civilians.

That story is likely to weigh heavily on the administration, which is trying to thread the needle on a peace proposal and compel the Israelis to limit civilian death counts.

“There are ways to be more precise in terms of achieving one's objectives,” Defense Secretary LLOYD AUSTIN told NBC Nightly News today.

But that’s also not the only front where things are going sideways.

The Biden administration is also cautioning Israel against waging a “limited war” in Lebanon, Axios’ BARAK RAVID reports. The exchange of fire between Israel and Hezbollah has been ongoing since the Oct. 7 attacks — and now, U.S. and Israeli forces say there’s a growing concern that the situation in Lebanon is reaching a turning point. The administration told Israeli officials that a ground invasion of Lebanon, even if it is only in areas close to the border, could push Iran to get involved.

A HEAVY MONTH: The White House Office of Gun Violence Prevention is convening health care executives, leaders, practitioners and service providers to discuss how the health care sector is taking action to prevent gun violence. The meeting comes as Gun Violence Prevention Month begins this week.

On Thursday, OGVP hosted nearly 80 executives and leaders representing health systems and hospitals from across the country to highlight recent commitments to utilize a public health approach to preventing gun violence.

On Friday, which is also Wear Orange Day in honor of the victims and survivors of gun violence, OGVP will convene 80 medical professionals to discuss the trauma and long-term impacts they have witnessed first hand due to gun violence.

LINA’S ON IT: The Federal Trade Commission is opening an investigation into whether Microsoft’s $650 million deal with Inflection AI was made to avoid a government antitrust review of the transaction, WSJ’s DAVE MICHAELS and TOM DOTAN report. In March, Microsoft hired Inflection’s co-founder and almost all of its employees, agreeing to pay the startup $650 million as part of a licensing fee to resell its technology.

The FTC is seeking information about how and why they negotiated their partnership — part of Chair LINA KHAN’s larger crackdown on the most powerful tech companies acquiring or controlling the most promising AI applications.

What We're Reading

Remembering my Grandpops today: General J. Lawton Collins — Lightning Joe. (Elena Schneider)

D-Day at 80 (NYT’s Roger Cohen)

Biden tries to build victory old-school style, one brick-and-mortar campaign office at a time (Boston Globe’s Jim Puzzanghera)

The Oppo Book

During his years as the mayor of Chicago, RAHM EMANUEL, current ambassador to Japan, participated in many triathlons. His biggest motivator when it comes to training for the exhausting race? ADELE and her hit “Rolling in the Deep.”

“We do what my security and I call ‘the blowup,’” Emanuel said. “The windows and sunroof go open, we crank it up, and we sing along with Adele.”

In 2011, it was reported that Rahm finished 9th place in his age group (M50-54) in the Chicago Triathlon. However, the Wall Street Journal poked holes in that result.

“Emanuel doesn’t really rank among the top triathletes in his Chicago Triathlon age group,” the 2013 story reads. “The key distinction is that Emanuel competes in the sprint-distance race” — which the Journal describes as shorter and less competitive. “The shorter distance tends to be for beginners,” said triathlete CLIFFORD MASSIE.

“Emanuel declined to comment” for its story, the Journal went on to say.

POTUS PUZZLER ANSWER

During World War II, President RICHARD NIXON served as a Navy lieutenant commander in the Pacific, according to the White House Historical Association. To learn more about military history and the White House, check out White House History Quarterly 73: “Military Roles and the White House.” 

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 Sam Stein and Rishika Dugyala.