Presented by BP.

Hey, good morning. I'm Playbook editor Mike DeBonis. It's Tuesday, September 24th. Here's what's driving the day.

As President Joe Biden addresses the UN General Assembly this morning, more about that in a moment,

his Secretary of State was expected back in Washington,

appearing before the House Foreign Affairs Committee to answer questions about the U.S.'s

2021 withdrawal from Afghanistan. The Playbook reports this morning that Secretary Anthony Blinken

will not, in fact, appear for his subpoenaed testimony, and the panel is instead expected to begin

contempt proceedings against Blankin for the no-show. It's the latest in a long line of sparring

between the Biden administration and the Republican House. They've already impeached one

cabinet member, Alejandro Mayorkas, and held another Merrick Garland in contempt.

Speaking of House Republicans, they've got another ethical headache on their hands,

and like George Santos, this one's also from Long Island.

The New York Times scooped yesterday that Representative Anthony de Esposito

hired two women with close personal ties to work in his district office,

one, the daughter of his longtime fiancé,

the other, a woman he was having an affair with. The hires appear to violate the spirit of the

House's anti-nepotism rules and could be in breach of guidelines prohibiting sexual relationships

between members and subordinates. Di Esposito briefly denied wrongdoing, but otherwise did not answer reporters' questions at

the Capitol last night.

The allegations could not come at a worse time or place for Republicans.

Di Esposito is considered one of the most vulnerable Republicans in the House, whose district

voted overwhelmingly for Joe Biden four years ago, and he's facing a tough challenge this year from Democrat Laura Gillen.

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