Ben Johansen

Washington, D.C., United States

News Assistant at POLITICO

reporter + co-authoring west wing playbook @politico | reach me: [email protected] | alum @americanu

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Articles

Vought to Senate: Your move

3 days ago | politico.com | Sophia Cai |Ben Johansen |Irie Sentner

Welcome to POLITICO’s West Wing Playbook: Remaking Government, your guide to Donald Trump’s unprecedented overhaul of the federal government — the key decisions, the critical characters and the power dynamics that are upending Washington and beyond. | Subscribe | | | RUSS VOUGHT, a key architect of Project 2025 and a leader of the Trump administration’s efforts to drastically shrink the federal government, heads to the Hill tomorrow with one goal: Put senators on the spot.
Washington’s summer scramble

4 days ago | politico.com | Irie Sentner |Ben Johansen |Sophia Cai

Welcome to POLITICO’s West Wing Playbook: Remaking Government, your guide to Donald Trump’s unprecedented overhaul of the federal government — the key decisions, the critical characters and the power dynamics that are upending Washington and beyond. | Subscribe | | | President DONALD TRUMP’s efforts to remake Washington and the world could come to a head over the next two weeks as his biggest domestic priority and most consequential military action come to make-or-break moments.
MAGA largely falls in line on Trump’s Iran strikes

6 days ago | politico.com | Joe Gould |Connor O'Brien |Ben Johansen |Gregory Svirnovskiy

“Iran gave President Trump no choice,” Charlie Kirk, a conservative activist and critic of GOP war hawks, said on X. “For a decade he has been adamant that Iran will never get a nuclear weapon. Iran decided to forego diplomacy in pursuit of a bomb. This is a surgical strike, operated perfectly. President Trump acted with prudence and decisiveness.” Former Florida Rep.
VOA’s final reckoning

1 week ago | politico.com | Ben Johansen |Sophia Cai |Irie Sentner

Welcome to POLITICO’s West Wing Playbook: Remaking Government, your guide to Donald Trump’s unprecedented overhaul of the federal government — the key decisions, the critical characters and the power dynamics that are upending Washington and beyond. | Subscribe | | | The Trump administration today sent out termination notices to hundreds of employees at Voice of America.
Majority of staff axed at Voice of America

1 week ago | politico.com | Ben Johansen

Some affected employees worked for the Persian- language service and were called back to work just last week in light of the Middle East conflict. Trump adviser Kari Lake speaks at CPAC on Feb. 21, 2025 in Oxon Hill, Maryland. | Kayla Bartkowski/Getty Images The Trump administration on Friday sent out termination notices to hundreds of employees at Voice of America.
Steve Bannon has some thoughts

1 week ago | politico.com | Holly Otterbein |Sophia Cai |Ben Johansen |Irie Sentner

Welcome to POLITICO’s West Wing Playbook: Remaking Government, your guide to Donald Trump’s unprecedented overhaul of the federal government — the key decisions, the critical characters and the power dynamics that are upending Washington and beyond. | Subscribe | | | | PROGRAMMING NOTE: We’ll be off this Thursday but will be back in your inboxes on Friday, June 20. President DONALD TRUMP’s administration is moving toward attacking Iran’s nuclear facilities, according to a Trump official.
Another DOGE flip-flop

1 week ago | politico.com | Hassan Kanu |Irie Sentner |Ben Johansen |Sophia Cai

Welcome to POLITICO’s West Wing Playbook: Remaking Government, your guide to Donald Trump’s unprecedented overhaul of the federal government — the key decisions, the critical characters and the power dynamics that are upending Washington and beyond.
Vance: Trump may ‘take further action’ to stop Iran

1 week ago | politico.com | Ben Johansen

The vice president urged the America First crowd to trust the president. Vice President Vance warned Tuesday that President Trump could take "further action" to stop Iran in its nuclear weapon development. | Francis Chung/POLITICO Vice President JD Vance on Tuesday warned that President Donald Trump may “take further action” to stop Iran from developing a nuclear weapon, and urged people who don’t support such action to trust the president.
Layoffs and library closures: DOGE cuts hit states

1 week ago | politico.com | Sophia Cai |Irie Sentner |Ben Johansen

Welcome to POLITICO’s West Wing Playbook: Remaking Government, your guide to Donald Trump’s unprecedented overhaul of the federal government — the key decisions, the critical characters and the power dynamics that are upending Washington and beyond. | Subscribe | | | The Trump administration’s budget-slashing campaign is beginning to hit state governments in full force, as legislatures finalize their spending plans for the next year and confront a harsh reality: less federal help, more layoffs.
Klobuchar dined with Minnesota lawmaker just hours before she was killed

1 week ago | yahoo.com | Ben Johansen

On Friday night, Sen. Amy Klobuchar was having dinner in her home state at an event with Melissa Hortman, the former speaker of the Minnesota House of Representatives who served as a lawmaker for almost 20 years. Hours later, she was mourning the loss of a friend whom the Democratic senator had known for decades. Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz called Klobuchar at 5 a.m. Saturday to deliver the gut-wrenching news, Klobuchar told POLITICO in an interview.