Things Musk (and Trump) Did... Day 55 | Blog#42
First you gotta find the line then you got to draw the line. Can't Go For That. No Can Do.
News worth repeating
Macron to EU colleagues: Stop buying American, buy European
“Those who buy Patriot should be offered the new-generation Franco-Italian SAMP/T. Those who buy the F-35, should be offered the Rafale,” French president says.
PARIS — French President Emmanuel Macron wants to lead a charm offensive to convince EU countries to stop buying U.S. defense equipment and buy French and European instead.
Macron, who has been calling for years to direct defense spending toward EU products, said he wants to convince other European countries that are currently "buying American" to shift to local options.
"My intention is to go and convince European states that have become accustomed to buying American," he said on Saturday in an interview with several French media including Nice-Matin and Le Parisien.
"Those who buy Patriot should be offered the new-generation Franco-Italian SAMP/T. Those who buy the F-35, should be offered the Rafale. That's the way to increase the rate of production," he said.
Macron's comments come as European NATO members have become even more dependent on U.S. weapons than ever before.
This month, the Netherlands and Belgium confirmed they would still buy American-made F-35 fighter jets, while Portugal is wobbling about replacing its U.S.-made F-16 fighter jets with more modern F-35s because of "the recent position of the United States, in the context of NATO."
Continue reading at Politico Europe
Treasury Secretary says he’s ‘not worried about the markets’
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said on Sunday that he is “not worried about the markets” after a rough week for the stock market.
“I can tell you that corrections are healthy, they’re normal,” Bessent told NBC’s Kristen Welker on “Meet the Press.” “What’s not healthy is straight-up, that you get these euphoric markets. That’s how you get a financial crisis.”
“It would’ve been much healthier if someone had put the brakes on in ‘06, ‘07, we wouldn’t have had the problems in ‘08,” he added. “So, I’m not worried about the markets.”
Bessent’s comments came after a rough week for the stock market. On Monday, the stock market began the week with intense losses. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 890 points that day, dipping 2.1 percent.
Continue reading at The Hill
Top broadband official exits Commerce Department with sharp Musk warning
The technology offered by Starlink, Musk’s company, is inferior, wrote Evan Feinman, who had directed the $42.5 billion broadband program for the past three years
“Stranding all or part of rural America with worse internet so that we can make the world’s richest man even richer is yet another in a long line of betrayals by Washington,” Feinman said.
Key context: Feinman’s lengthy email, totaling more than 1,100 words and shared with POLITICO, is a sign of deep discomfort about the changes underway that will likely transform the Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment Program. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick recently pledged a vigorous review of BEAD, with an aim to rip out what he sees as extraneous requirements and remove any preference for particular broadband technologies like fiber.
Musk, who runs the Starlink satellite broadband service, stands to reap a greater share of these subsidies under the revised rules.
Musk and Starlink did not respond to requests for comment.
Continue reading at Politico
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Yesterday’s post
Today’s news
Top US CEO to Europe: We can unite on nuclear power
Europe may see atomic power as a path to energy independence, but the Westinghouse chief tells POLITICO it can help the continent.
PARIS — Donald Trump is temporary; nuclear energy is forever … or at least for 30 years.
That’s why Patrick Fragman, CEO of Westinghouse, the major American nuclear power company, believes Europe and the United States are still ideal partners to build a European Union atomic network — even as the new U.S. president sends people racing to their own corners.
Europe, he told POLITICO in an interview, must “realize that cooperation can make sense.”
It’s a tough sell. For Europe’s atomic energy supporters — including France, most vocally — nuclear power is inextricably linked to ending reliance on foreign energy sources. And that reasoning has gained momentum as much of the EU tries to ditch Russian fossil fuels.
“It’s good to talk about sovereignty; it can make sense,” Fragman said. “But cooperation also exists, and it’s not incompatible.”
Continue reading at Politico Europe
Ukraine open to Russia sanctions relaxation as part of peace deal
Hard-hitting economic measures can be used as leverage to secure justice from Moscow, Ukraine’s sanctions chief tells POLITICO.
Western sanctions on Russia could ultimately be dropped if it helps deliver security and justice for Ukraine, Kyiv’s top sanctions official told POLITICO, as United States President Donald Trump steps up bilateral negotiations with Moscow in a bid to end the war.
Vladyslav Vlasiuk, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s commissioner for sanctions policy, said in an interview that a return to countries doing business with Russia in one way or another is simply “a matter of time,” but had to take place under the right conditions.
Economic restrictions, embargoes and bans on importing Russian energy, he said, “have their own objectives, which might be pushing Russia to stop its aggression and to make them make a deal on lasting peace,” rather than simply being a "punishment of any kind."
Continue reading at Politico Europe
Bessent's market math
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent broke with orthodoxy Sunday when he said corrections in stocks were "healthy" and an antidote to "euphoric" market action.
The big picture: Over the long run, he's not necessarily wrong.
What they're saying: "I've been in the investment business for 35 years, and I can tell you that corrections are healthy. They're normal. What's not healthy is straight up, that you get these euphoric markets. That's how you get a financial crisis," Bessent told NBC's "Meet the Press" Sunday.
Zoom in: Corrections, or a 10% decline in the market from its recent peak, are pretty common.
They've happened dozens of times in the S&P 500 in recent decades, most recently starting last Thursday.
Between the lines: Since World War II, such corrections have only deteriorated into bear markets (a 20% decline) about a quarter of the time, Carson Investment Research's Ryan Detrick noted on X.
In other words, more often than not, the market bounces back.
By the numbers: In a correction, on average the market takes five months to fall from peak to bottom, and then four months to bounce back, per Clearnomics data shared by Covenant Wealth Advisors.
Continue reading at Axios
Trump says he'll speak with Putin Tuesday as he pushes ceasefire plan
President Trump said he plans to speak with Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin on Tuesday as part of the U.S. leader's push to reach a 30-day ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine.
Why it matters: While Ukraine agreed to Trump's ceasefire proposal, Putin refused to accept it unconditionally.
White House envoy Steve Witkoff met the Russian president for several hours on Thursday.
The latest: "I'll be speaking to President Putin on Tuesday," Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One en route to D.C. from Florida late Sunday.
"A lot of work's been done over the weekend. ... We want to see if we can bring that war to an end. Maybe we can, maybe we can't, but I think we have a very good chance."
When asked what sort of concessions he would be looking for, Trump replied "we will be talking about land, we will be talking about power plants" and he said they were already discussing "dividing up certain assets."
Driving the news: Witkoff on CNN earlier Sunday described his four-hour meeting with Putin as "positive" and the discussion was "solutions-based," as he said Trump will likely speak with Putin this week.
Continue reading at Axios
MAGA figures fuel idea of Derek Chauvin pardon
Prominent supporters of President Trump — led by podcaster Ben Shapiro — are fueling a major push to pardon Derek Chauvin, the white former Minnesota police officer convicted of killing George Floyd in 2020.
Video of Chauvin kneeling on Floyd's neck for several minutes while Floyd said he "can't breathe" went viral in 2020 and sparked Black Lives Matter protests against police misconduct and systemic racism across the country.
The big picture: A Trump pardon would only affect Chauvin's federal case — where he pleaded guilty — and not the state case.
The state conviction carries a longer sentence than the federal case, meaning he would still be in prison even if the president acts.
Shapiro has said he hopes that Chauvin would more easily be able to win early release at some point if Trump wipes away his federal conviction and the former officer is serving time only under the state verdict.
Continue reading at Axios
Trump's historic test of immigrants' speech rights
The Trump administration's moves to deport Columbia University protest leader Mahmoud Khalil have set up a historic court battle over whether the U.S. government can remove legal residents as national security risks for what they say.
Why it matters: If Trump's team is successful, legal analysts say, future administrations could deport legal immigrants for any political or religious speech the administration dislikes.
In a nation with a long history of immigration, the impact could be huge, and go well beyond President Trump's tenure.
Think of the possibilities: If Trump's push is successful, a Democrat-led administration that follows could, theoretically, cite national security concerns to remove green-card holders such as right-leaning Chinese immigrants or someone like the outspoken Elon Musk, who had a green card before he became a U.S. citizen in 2022.
Zoom in: Both sides of the Khalil case think it could wind up before the Supreme Court, where the Trump administration is eager to win approval for various deportation strategies.
Continue reading at Axios
Navy warship deployed on U.S.-Mexico border mission
Navy warship USS Gravely is on a mission to strengthen security at the U.S.-Mexico border, Pentagon officials said.
Why it matters: The deployment of the guided-missile destroyer that last year was involved in shooting down Iran-backed Houthi rebels' ship attacks in the Middle East to a region the U.S. Coast Guard ordinarily covers marks an escalation in the Trump administration's immigration crackdown efforts at the border.
Driving the news: The USS Gravely departed Virginia's Naval Weapons Station Yorktown Saturday for the Navy's U.S. Northern Command Area of Responsibility, per a statement from the combatant command.
This area encompasses the continental U.S., Alaska, Canada, Mexico and the surrounding water out to some 500 nautical miles.
USNORTHCOM was named "operational lead for the employment of U.S. military forces" to carry out President Trump's border executive orders and the ship "brings maritime capabilities" in response to these and a national emergency declaration, it notes.
The combatant command is filling "critical capabilities gaps in support" of the Department of Homeland Security and Customs and Border Protection, according to the statement, which does not elaborate further on this.
Zoom in: The USS Gravely is participating as part of the Defense Department's response to President Trump's executive order on the border to "protect the United States' territorial integrity, sovereignty, and security," per a statement from Gen. Gregory Guillot, Commander, U.S. Northern Command.
Continue reading at Axios
States try to limit private equity in health care
At least a half dozen states are racing to limit or put new checks on private equity-fueled mergers in health care, signaling mounting concern about the influence of corporate medicine.
Why it matters: While Congress and the Federal Trade Commission have increased scrutiny of the deals, especially involving hospitals, federal policymakers have been reluctant to bestow more government power over business transactions. States, meanwhile, are increasingly concerned about a growing number of providers being controlled by out-of-state for-profit companies.
"[W]e definitely see states really carrying a torch now," said Chris Noble, policy director at the Private Equity Stakeholder Project.
Driving the news: Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey in January signed a law expanding state oversight of health care transactions involving private equity firms, as well as real estate investment trusts (REITs) and management services organizations.
Last week, Maine lawmakers introduced a bill to create a moratorium on PE buying hospitals.
In Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro's budget request last month, he asked the legislature to move a measure to empower the state's attorney general to review health care transactions.
Other states with pending legislation include California, Connecticut, Indiana, Oregon and Texas. At least 13 states have introduced 26 bills dealing with private equity investment in health recently.
Continue reading at Axios
‘Full of despair’: Senate Dems look to regroup after losing shutdown fight
Democrats are openly questioning whether they lost their last point of leverage by ceding to Republicans in the latest skirmish over funding the government.
Senate Democrats are bracing for a painful post-mortem as they try to avoid a September rerun of their latest government funding defeat.
Chuck Schumer, the Senate minority leader, and nine of his members helped get a House GOP-authored government funding bill to the finish line, saying a vote to advance legislation they loathed was the least bad option. The alternative, they argued, was allowing a shutdown that could empower Trump and Elon Musk to accelerate their slashing of the federal bureaucracy.
This was the first time since the start of Trump’s second administration that the party had real leverage to fight the president, as Republicans needed Democratic votes to overcome a filibuster. Democrats could have refused to put up those votes to avert a shutdown, but Schumer folded instead. This gambit is now raising internal questions about how Democrats will handle the next shutdown deadline at the end of September — and how they can avoid the same result.
Schumer’s strategy exposed major fissures within the party, marking for many of his members a disappointing retreat. It’s also raised questions among some Democrats about whether it’s time for the New Yorker to step aside — though no senators have publicly embraced those calls.
“We should do a retrospective,” said Sen. Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.). Asked whether his party lost some of its clout by acquiescing to the GOP’s funding bill, Gallego said: “That was my concern.”
Continue reading at Politico
TikTok tries to sway DC with ad blitz
The app is making a case for its value — and survival. But who’s the audience?
The embattled app TikTok, in the face of a looming survival deadline, has launched an old-school campaign to sway Washington, blanketing Metro stations with ads to remind policymakers of its importance to the economy, and circulating new research that argues it’s not a security threat to the U.S.
“TikTok took us from $10 to $25,000 in a week!” says one ad that has played at Union Station and the Capitol South stop, with a joyful photo of Arizona cafe owner Ruben Trujillo. Another shows a Georgia auto repair shop owner saying “80% of my business is from TikTok.”
The campaign comes as the White House is seriously entertaining a pitch by Oracle to keep the company alive in an acquisition deal.
Continue reading at Politico
‘Italian vendetta’: SEC targeted by triumphant crypto industry
The industry’s pushback reflects the hostile reality facing federal agencies and workers today — one that Trump has openly welcomed.
The cryptocurrency industry endured a legal onslaught from the Securities and Exchange Commission — and won.
Now, some of its biggest names are firing back at the Wall Street regulator.
In the wake of President Donald Trump’s election with the aid of hefty contributions from crypto, industry executives and backers have begun testing their new political power by pushing for accountability from the SEC — and in some cases payback — as the regulatory landscape shifts in their favor.
Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong and Ripple’s top lawyer, Stuart Alderoty, are calling on the industry to shun law firms that hire SEC employees who were involved in the crackdown, chilling the job market for staff exiting the agency.
Continue reading at Politico
Meet Ed Martin, Trump’s ‘ball of fire’ top prosecutor in DC
Ed Martin is not a typical pick for a U.S. attorney.
President Trump’s choice to lead the federal office in D.C. has never been a prosecutor – making him the first person without that background to lead the office in over 50 years.
Already in the role on an interim basis, he’s sparked attention with his fiery X presence and a tenure that has already resulted in clashes with lawmakers and his own staff.
“He’s always just been a ball of fire. I’ve always known him to be tireless, hugely enthusiastic…and he’s a cause oriented guy. He’s mission driven,” said Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.), who knows Martin through Missouri political circles.
“He’s never been an establishment guy – ever. He’s always been a disrupter, wherever he is.”
In just a few short weeks on the job, Martin has brought a fair amount of upheaval.
Continue reading at The Hill
Texans grapple with rising toxic pollution as oil, gas production booms
This story was produced in partnership with the Pulitzer Center. It is part three in a four-part series. Read part one here and part two here.
ODESSA, Texas — For retired pastor Columbus Cooper, life can be divided into two periods: the time when he could still drink water out of his tap, and the time after.
When Cooper and his wife bought their home in West Odessa in the heart of the Permian Basin, the U.S.’s most productive oil field, they knew they were surrounded by tank batteries holding spent fuel or fracking fluid and injection wells injecting that waste fluid back into the earth.
But as lifelong Odessans, they weren’t worried — until their water started tasting funny and the stench crept in. Until, six years ago, two people died in a pumphouse down the street. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) later confirmed what many already suspected: The very infrastructure that had fueled the region’s economic boom was exposing the people who lived there to dangerous toxins.
Without access to city water, West Odessa residents — like rural Texans across oil country — largely depend on water from wells drilled into the aquifer below.
Continue reading at The Hill
Trump, Musk defy predictions of ugly fallout
More than 50 days into the second Trump administration, the highly scrutinized relationship between President Trump and Elon Musk is showing no signs of a real strain.
Trump gave a gaudy show of support for Musk and his company this week by bringing Tesla vehicles to the White House and announcing he was purchasing one for the complex. The president used the exhibition to praise Musk as a “patriot” and to tout Tesla’s products, a display that drew outcry from critics.
Musk and his young son, X, have been a near-constant presence on the White House campus, and the billionaire traveled with the president aboard Air Force One last weekend.
Continue reading at The Hill
Morning Report — Democrats target Trump but battle each other
In today’s issue:
Democrats search for a reboot
Venezuelans deported despite court order
Trump, Putin to speak about Ukraine
Dems reckon with Senate 2026 map
Looming budget and tax battles in Congress threaten Democratic lawmakers, who are in open, internal revolt, even as weakened party leaders say they can thwart President Trump and Republicans.
Some in the party, unable to agree on an offensive strategy against Trump and his GOP supporters, believe they can triumph if the president stumbles while striving to expand executive power — or fails to deliver on his economic promises.
The latest norm-defying drama Saturday occurred when Trump deported Venezuelan nationals under rarely used wartime powers intended to resist a foreign invasion. A federal judge ordered an immediate hold on the deportations and demanded the return of planes already headed to Central America. The administration defied the court order.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) told The New York Times that he worries about how Trump will impact democracy for years to come, let alone the next election.
Asked if he believed the president would heed court rulings, Schumer said in the interview, “I think that even at the highest level, if you get the Supreme Court upholding the law, it will matter. What if Trump keeps going? That’s the question everybody’s asking. And I worry about this a lot. I wake up sometimes at 2, 3 in the morning thinking about this.”
Continue reading The Hill’s Morning Report
Canada’s Carney will meet European allies as tensions with the Trump administration persist
PARIS (AP) — New Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney arrived in Paris Monday to meet with French President Emmanuel Macron, seeking support from one of Canada’s oldest allies as U.S. President Donald Trump continues to attack Canada’s sovereignty and economy.
This is Carney’s first official foreign trip since he was sworn in on March 14. He will next land in London where he will sit down with U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer and King Charles III, the head of state in Canada.
Why Paris and London?
Carney has deliberately chosen the two European capital cities that shaped Canada’s early existence. During his swearing-in ceremony, he noted the country was built on the bedrock of three peoples, French, English and Indigenous, and said Canada is fundamentally different from America and will “never, ever, in any way shape or form, be part of the United States.”
Continue reading at the Associated Press
Macron says French-British blueprint doesn’t foresee deploying a ‘mass’ of soldiers in Ukraine
French President Emmanuel Macron has fleshed out some possible missions that could be undertaken by a military support force for Ukraine that Paris and London are working to put together with other nations, in a so-called “coalition of the willing” that could deploy after any ceasefire with Russia.
Speaking to French media ahead of an online summit that the U.K. hosted on Saturday, Macron said the French-British blueprint doesn’t aim to deploy a “mass” of soldiers in Ukraine and instead envisages stationing troop contingents in key locations.
Macron’s office said Sunday that it couldn’t provide a recording of the French leader’s exchange with reporters from regional French newspapers on Friday night.
But according to La Dépêche du Midi and Le Parisien, the French president spoke of participating nations each deploying several thousand troops to “key points” in Ukraine. Their missions could include providing training and supporting Ukrainian defenses, to demonstrate long-term support for Kyiv, the reports quoted Macron as saying.
Continue reading at the Associated Press
DOGE’s Cuts at the USDA Could Cause US Grocery Prices to Rise and Invasive Species to Spread
Thousands of US Department of Agriculture employees, including food inspectors and disease-sniffing dog trainers, remain out of work, leaving food to rot in ports and pests to proliferate.
Before he was abruptly fired last month, Derek Copeland worked as a trainer at the US Department of Agriculture’s National Dog Detection Training Center, preparing beagles and Labrador retrievers to sniff out plants and animals that are invasive or vectors for zoonotic diseases, like swine flu. Copeland estimates the NDDTC lost about a fifth of its trainers and a number of other support staff when 6,000 employees were let go at the USDA in February as part of a government-wide purge orchestrated by the Trump administration and Elon Musk’s so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).
Before he received his termination notice, he says, Copeland had just spent several months training the only dog stationed in Florida capable of detecting the Giant African land snail, an invasive mollusk that poses a significant threat to Florida agriculture. “We have dogs for spotted and lantern flies, Asian longhorn beetles,” he says, referring to two other non-native species. “I don’t think the American people realize how much crap that people bring into the United States.”
Dog trainers are just one example of the kind of highly specialized USDA staff that have been removed from their stations in recent weeks. Teams devoted to inspecting plant and food imports have been hit especially hard by the recent cuts, including the Plant Protection and Quarantine program, which has lost hundreds of staffers alone.
Continue reading at Wired
Playbook
Playbook: The ‘law and order’ presidency
SEE YOU IN COURT: Donald Trump’s White House is gearing up for the most significant legal showdowns of his second term thus far after dramatically escalating the deportation of foreign nationals this past weekend. In a Massachusetts courtroom this morning, Judge Leo Sorokin will demand answers after Customs and Border officials deported Rasha Alawieh, a 34-year-old Rhode Island-based doctor and reportedly a valid U.S. visa holder, back to Lebanon despite a court order blocking them from doing so. In D.C., an even bigger showdown is brewing after the White House chose to ignore a federal judge’s order that two planeloads of Venezuelan migrants being deported to a brutal El Salvador prison be turned around and flown back to the U.S. The Trump administration vehemently insists it’s not defying the courts — but all that chatter about a “constitutional crisis” is now reaching fever pitch.
First, to Boston … where at a 10 a.m. hearing this morning, Judge Sorokin will quiz government lawyers on the deportation last Friday of Alawieh, a kidney specialist with Brown Medicine. Alawieh flew into Logan Airport on Thursday after visiting family in her native Lebanon. She was detained despite holding a valid H1-B visa, her lawyers say, and on Friday, Judge Sorokin issued a temporary order demanding the courts be given 48 hours’ notice of any deportation attempt. But instead, that night, she was sent back to Lebanon via Paris. The Providence Journal has all the details.
Not happy: Judge Sorokin has ordered the government to explain itself in writing ahead of this morning’s hearing, where he will seek to ascertain both the grounds for Alawieh’s deportation and the reason why his order was not followed. Alawieh’s lawyers say the CBP “willfully” disobeyed the court order and have provided “a detailed and specific timeline in an under-oath affidavit” to support the accusation, Sorokin said, describing these as “serious allegations.”
Right of reply: The CBP issued a statement last night which failed to comment on the specifics of the case, but noted that “arriving aliens bear the burden of establishing admissibility to the United States” and insisted CBP officers “adhere to strict protocols to identify and stop threats.” We should learn a lot more in the next few hours.
Meanwhile in D.C.: Chief Judge of the District Circuit James Boasberg is mulling his next move after the White House chose to disregard his order on Saturday that two planeloads of Venezuelan migrants being deported to El Salvador be turned around midair. The Trump administration claims the men are members of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua and a threat to national security. Their deportation was Trump’s first big move after he became the first U.S. president outside of wartime ever to evoke the 1798 Alien Enemies Act — an emergency set of powers last used, notoriously, by FDR during World War Two for the internment of Japanese-Americans. POLITICO’s Josh Gerstein and Myah Ward have more.
Boom: This story — already huge — went nuclear yesterday when Axios’ Marc Caputo reported the White House actively chose to disregard the court order, concluding that because the flights had left U.S. airspace by the time it was issued, Boasberg had no jurisdiction. That argument is hotly contested by other legal experts, and it’s pretty clear this one is headed for the Supreme Court. In the meantime, it seems likely either Boasberg or the deported men’s lawyers will demand further explanation for the government’s actions in court, possibly as soon as today. A short court filing from the White House legal team asserted only that “some gang members … had already been removed from United States territory” before the order was issued.
But but but: The nation’s finest legal and journalistic brains, including POLITICO’s own Josh Gerstein, have already spent the past 36 hours reviewing flight trackers and court records, trying to piece together exactly what happened.
Continue reading the Politico Playbook newsletter
Encyclopedia Britannica: This Day in History: March 17
Featured Event
1992
Vote to end apartheid
On this day in 1992, nearly 69 percent of white South African voters backed F.W. de Klerk's reforms—which included the repeal of racially discriminatory laws—and effectively endorsed the dismantling of apartheid.
Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
Inside Congress
Dems’ challenging regrouping effort
IN TODAY’S EDITION:
Dems agonize over future spending strategy
Johnson mulls Washington budget bill
Lawmakers’ TikTok meeting
Democrats are working to avoid another political failure like last week’s government funding flop.
After multiple attempts to play hardball, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer ultimately caved on Thursday and said he would help Republicans pass a bill to avert a shutdown, arguing that outcome would have only empowered President Donald Trump and Elon Musk to further dismantle the federal bureaucracy.
But the situation exposed deep ideological chasms within the party, our colleague Jordain Carney reports. It’s prompted some Senate Democratic soul searching as lawmakers look to make sure things go differently come September — the next government funding deadline.
“We were just talking about that,” Democratic Sen. Mark Kelly told Lisa Kashinsky, when she asked how the party will pursue the next funding fight. “We’ve got to come up with a plan.”
Some Democrats are already fearful that Friday’s vote has created a playbook for Republicans to jam major pieces of legislation through Congress without relying on bipartisan negotiations — with a high-stakes debate over the debt ceiling looming in the coming months.
Schumer acknowledged to reporters on Friday the episode could come back to haunt them this fall, but he’s banking on Trump’s policies growing less popular, in turn fracturing GOP members and giving Democrats more leverage to make policy demands. Schumer, facing intraparty criticism for helping pass the House GOP funding bill in the Senate, also brushed aside questions about whether he should step aside as Senate Democratic leader in a New York Times interview over the weekend. Democratic Sen. Chris Murphy said on NBC’s “Meet the Press” that he still supports Schumer as the minority leader.
Schumer also said in the NYT interview that he and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries haven’t talked since the Senate vote. Jeffries — who replied “next question” when asked in a press conference last week whether he had confidence in Schumer’s leadership — said similarly in an interview with MSNBC’s “The Weekend,” though he added that he planned to speak with his Senate counterpart later Sunday. Jeffries said that while they may have disagreed on the “approach” to the Republican spending bill, they agree on the “overwhelming majority of issues.”
Continue reading Politico’s Inside Congress newsletter
How Trump's mass firing strategy could backfire
Even those who have long argued that it should be easier to fire federal workers are wary of the way the White House is going about job cuts.
Why it matters: The administration's fire first, ask questions later approach is embroiled in a legal battle that likely winds up at the Supreme Court.
Where it stands: The White House has moved at lightning speed to cut the size of the federal workforce, plowing through longstanding protections meant to insulate civil servants from politics.
The administration has ignored union contracts, reduction-in-force procedures, and certain guidelines around quasi-independent officials, arguing the president has the right to fire workers.
It's also simply gutted agencies, driving out many more workers, including this past weekend.
It's possible that many of those worker protections are "much more fragile than people thought," says John Logan, a professor of labor studies at San Francisco State University.
State of play: Just last week, two federal judges reversed some of these moves, ordering the reinstatement of thousands of federal workers.
The White House blasted their decisions, and appeals are looming.
Continue reading at Axios
Trump Halted an Agent Orange Cleanup. That Puts Hundreds of Thousands at Risk for Poisoning.
by Anna Maria Barry-Jester and Brett Murphy, ProPublica, and Le Van for ProPublica
In mid-February, Trump administration leaders received a desperate warning from their diplomats posted in Vietnam, one of the most important American partners in Asia.
Workers were in the middle of cleaning up the site of an enormous chemical spill, the Bien Hoa air base, when Secretary of State Marco Rubio abruptly halted all foreign aid funding. The shutdown left exposed open pits of soil contaminated with dioxin, the deadly byproduct of Agent Orange, which the American military sprayed across large swaths of the country during the Vietnam War. After Rubio’s orders to stop work, the cleanup crews were forced to abandon the site, and, for weeks, all that was covering the contaminated dirt were tarps, which at one point blew off in the wind.
And even more pressing, the officials warned in a Feb. 14 letter obtained by ProPublica, Vietnam is on the verge of its rainy season, when torrential downpours are common. With enough rain, they said, soil contaminated with dioxin could flood into nearby communities, poisoning their food supplies.
Hundreds of thousands of people live around the Bien Hoa air base, and some of their homes abut the site’s perimeter fence, just yards from the contaminated areas. And less than 1,500 feet away is a major river that flows into Ho Chi Minh City, population 9 million.
“Simply put,” the officials added, “we are quickly heading toward an environmental and life-threatening catastrophe.”
They received no response from Washington, according to three people familiar with the situation.
Continue reading at ProPublica
Forever 21 is going out of business in the United States
New York / London (CNN) — Forever 21 isn’t even cool enough to exist anymore.
The retailer’s US operating company filed for bankruptcy Sunday — for the second time in six years — in a court in Delaware, citing fierce competition from foreign fast fashion retailers. It marks the end of an era for a clothing brand that introduced many teens to fast fashion.
The company said in a statement that its stores and website in the United States will remain open and continue serving customers for now, but it is implementing an “orderly wind-down” of its business in the country. It added that it would conduct liquidation sales at its stores and that it was seeking a buyer for some or all of its assets.
Continue reading at CNN.com
Note from Rima: Many other store filings this year, so far. See: The Penny Hoarder: These Retail Store Closures are Coming in 2025
Trump: Biden Jan. 6 panel pardons, others ‘void’ because Autopen used
President Trump in a social media post said he believes former President Biden’s last-minute pardons are “void” because he signed them with an autopen.
“The ‘pardons’ that Sleepy Joe Biden gave to the Unselect Committee of Political Thugs, and many others, are hereby declared VOID, VACANT, AND OF NO FURTHER FORCE OR EFFECT, because of the fact that they were done by Autopen,” Trump said early Monday on Truth Social.
Just before the inauguration in January, Biden pardoned several of Trump’s political enemies preemptively, including the lawmakers who sat on the House panel that investigated rioting at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, Biden’s family, Anthony Fauci and Gen. Mark Milley.
There was much discussion about whether Biden would use the executive action to protect people that could be prosecuted by the incoming Trump administration.
Trump argued Monday in his post that Biden did not sign the papers and “did not know anything about them!”
Continue reading at The Hill
Italy's release of a warlord puts Meloni's entanglements with Libya under scrutiny
"Il caso Al-Masri" raises serious
questions over Rome's dealings with Libya.
When Osama Al-Masri Njeem was arrested in January, he looked like just one more tourist on a European city break.
The 45-year-old had just returned from a Juventus football game in Turin when Italian authorities swept into his Holiday Inn and seized him in response to an arrest warrant from the International Criminal Court on charges of murder, rape and torture.
According to the ICC, Al-Masri was no moneyed Mediterranean holidaymaker but the longtime enforcer of one of Libya’s deadliest prisons. When news of his arrest made it back home, locals saw it as a rare shot to hold accountable one of the many powerful men who had plunged their country into misery.
But that hope turned out to be fleeting: Within 48 hours, Italy mysteriously released him — a move that is turning into a major accountability test for the relationship between Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and the war-shattered North African nation.
Continue reading at Politico Europe
Trump doubles down on reciprocal tariffs: ‘April 2 is a liberating day’
“April 2 is a liberating day for our country,” Trump said to reporters on Air Force One on Sunday evening. “We’re getting back to some of the wealth that very, very foolish presidents gave away because they had no clue what they were doing.”
Despite concern over the economy and financial markets both in the U.S. and abroad, Trump maintained that more tariff hikes were coming.
He was asked if there was any inclination to ease up on tariffs amid anxiety in the markets, to which he replied “no.”
“It’s a liberation day for our country because we’re going to be getting back a lot of the wealth that we so foolishly gave up to other countries, including friend and foe,” he said.
Continue reading at The Hill
House Republicans targeting 26 Democrats on initial midterm list
The list includes California Reps. Josh Harder (D), Adam Gray (D), George Whitesides (D), Derek Tran (D) and Dave Min (D) and Florida Reps. Darren Soto (D) and Jared Moskowitz (D).
It also includes Indiana Rep. Frank Mrvan (D), Maine Rep. Jared Golden (D), Michigan Rep. Kristen McDonald Rivet (D), North Carolina Rep. Don Davis (D), New Hampshire Rep. Chris Pappas (D), New Jersey Rep. Nellie Pou (D), New Mexico Rep. Dave Vasquez (D) and Nevada Reps. Dina Titus (D) Susie Lee (D) and Steven Horseford (D).
The final names on the list are New York Reps. Tom Suozzi (D), Laura Gillen (D) and Josh Riley (D), Ohio Reps. Marcy Kaptur (D) and Emilia Sykes (D), Texas Reps. Henry Cuellar (D) and Vicente Gonzalez (D), Virginia Rep. Eugene Vindman (D) and Washington Rep. Marie Glusenkamp Perez (D).
Continue reading at The Hill
Trump to attend Kennedy Center board meeting after takeover
President Trump will visit the Kennedy Center on Monday for a tour and to attend a board meeting weeks after overhauling the cultural institution’s leadership and installing himself as its chairman.
Trump is slated to visit the Kennedy Center at 3 p.m. EDT, according to the White House.
Continue reading at The Hill
Hurricane Hunters at risk of not meeting mission, GAO finds
NOAA and the Air Force are struggling to meet growing demand for their specialized Hurricane Hunter fleets, a new federal report finds.
Why it matters: The Government Accountability Office study floats ways that the agencies can maintain the accuracy of extreme weather forecasts.
On the personnel side, NOAA worsened its situation when it laid off workers in its Office of Marine and Aviation Operations as part of probationary employee cuts on Feb. 27.
Zoom in: The GAO found that the two agencies — which fly separate missions into hurricanes and perform flights aimed at improving forecasts of atmospheric rivers — are facing increasing demands for their services but don't coordinate well with each other.
They also have been unable to fly a number of missions in recent years due to maintenance issues and personnel shortages.
These challenges haven't been clearly communicated to Congress, the report found, making budget shortfalls more likely.
Both the Pentagon and NOAA accepted most of the GAO's conclusions and pledged to take actions to improve information sharing.
Yes, but: The NOAA layoffs of more than a dozen personnel included members of Hurricane Hunter flight crews and mechanics, threatening its ability to meet basic mission requirements for the 2025 hurricane season.
Continue reading at Axios
Retail sales came in weaker than expected, another bad sign for the US economy
Spending at US retailers last month was much weaker than expected, in a troubling sign that the American shopper could be starting to tap out.
Retail sales rose 0.2% in February from the prior month, the Commerce Department said Monday, up from January’s downwardly revised 1.2% decline. That was much lower than the 0.7% increase economists projected in a FactSet poll. The figures are adjusted for seasonal swings but not inflation.
Continue reading at CNN
Retail sales rebound slightly in February
Spending among American consumers rose 0.2% in February, rebounding from a sharp pullback the previous month, the Commerce Department said on Monday.
Why it matters: Overall spending recovered less than expected from a slow start to 2025. But the details of the report are more encouraging, offering some relief about the health of the economy.
Details: Economists expected retail sales would rise 0.5% in February.
The headline figure was dragged down by a pullback in spending at gasoline stations, which fell 1% in February, likely as a result of lower gas prices. The data is not adjusted for inflation.
There was a slump in retail sales for autos and car parts, down 0.4%.
Yes, but: Excluding gasoline and auto sales, overall retail spending rose a healthy 0.5%.
Among the categories with the largest spending increases: e-commerce sites (+2.4%), health and personal care stores (+1.7%) and grocery stores (+0.4%).
The other side: Aside from gas stations, consumers spent less at department stores (-1.7%), dining establishments (-1.5%), and clothing stores (-0.6%).
Continue reading at Axios
Rightwing State and Local Govs Seek to Follow in Elon’s Footsteps and DOGE Themselves
Conservative lawmakers have DOGE fever.
Elon Musk is attempting to destroy the federal government by crippling the agencies that deliver public services, keep Americans’ air and water clean, tell us what the upcoming weather looks like, and protect us from predatory corporations. Conservative governments across the country are so impressed with this effort that they, too, want to destroy themselves and screw over their constituents.
Business Insider reports that a handful of state and local governments are copying Musk’s “slash-and-burn playbook” and looking to cull “wasteful” government programs. The initiatives are taking place in at least 18 states, counties, and towns, BI claims. The outlet reports:
The push is happening through executive orders and legislative action as governors, state lawmakers, and business executives promise to root out what they view as waste and fraud within state governments. And they’ve adopted quirky names, including the GOAT committee in Wisconsin and FLOGE in Florida. One state even has a BullDOGEr on the case.
The self-immolating impulse on display here would be funny if it weren’t so pathetic. Misguided and uninformed Americans seem to believe that key services—like education, water, roads, and weather reports—will be less expensive if they are privatized. Unfortunately, they are completely and totally wrong. Instead, cutting public funding usually just means that your life is about to get much harder.
Continue reading at Gizmodo
Canada’s Carney starts first trip abroad with implicit digs at Trump
The new prime minister dubbed Canada “the most European of non-European countries” while speaking alongside French President Emmanuel Macron.
PARIS — New Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney began his first trip overseas since taking office by saying his country needed to work with "reliable allies," a clear shot at U.S. President Donald Trump.
"It's more important than ever that Canada reinforces its ties with our reliable allies like France," Carney said while appearing alongside French President Emmanuel Macron in Paris at the Elysée Palace. "We know that economic collaboration, not confrontation, is the way to build strong economies."
Carney appeared to emphasize the word "reliable," looking directly at Macron as he said the word in French. The former Canadian and English central banker's grasp of French, an official language in Canada, has been a point of debate in domestic political circles. While he speaks French well, he is not natively bilingual.
Continue reading at Politico Europe
NIH Removes Fauci Mural; Trump Deports Doctor; FDA Crackdown on Poppers?
— Health news and commentary gathered by MedPage Today staff
A mural of former NIAID Director Anthony Fauci, MD, that hung in the halls of the NIH has been removedopens in a new tab or window, leaving an empty patch of wall.
Continue reading at MedPageToday
Schumer postpones book tour amid backlash over funding vote
Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer (N.Y.) has postponed his book tour scheduled this week in Baltimore, New York, Washington, D.C., and Philadelphia amid an intense backlash from fellow Democrats over his controversial vote to advance a House Republican-drafted funding package that cuts deeply into non-defense programs.
A spokesperson for Schumer’s book tour said that it would be rescheduled due to “security concerns.”
Schumer was scheduled to barnstorm East Coast cities this week to promote his new book, “Antisemitism in America: A Warning.”
He was slated to speak at Central Library on Cathedral Street in Baltimore Monday evening, at the Temple Emanu-El Streicker Center in New York City on Tuesday, at a Politics and Prose event at the Sixth & I synagogue in D.C. on Wednesday and at the Weitzman National Museum of American Jewish History in Philadelphia on Thursday.
Continue reading at The Hill
ACLU challenges White House claim it did not defy court order on Venezuelan migrants
A federal judge in Washington, D.C., on Saturday barred the Trump administration from carrying out deportations under the Alien Enemies Act.
President Trump over the weekend signed an order invoking the war powers to swiftly deport anyone suspected of membership in the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua. The process does not allow for a hearing, sparking fears it will lead to widespread deportations of Venezuelans without connection to the gang.
But while the order from U.S. District Judge James Boasberg temporarily blocked it from taking effect, the Trump administration was accused of not following the judge’s order to turn around any planes carrying Venezuelans targeted under the order.
The ACLU said the order “unambiguously” directed the government to turn around its planes, and it asks the government be forced to prove compliance.
Continue reading at The Hill
Brown University doctor deported despite judge’s order
An assistant professor from Brown University’s medical school with a valid visa was deported from the U.S. despite a judge’s order that she was not to be removed.
U.S. District Judge Leo Sorokin, an appointee of former President Obama, was set to hold a hearing Monday after Rasha Alawieh was deported to Lebanon but canceled it shortly before it began. The deportation came after Sorokin said Alawieh, a kidney transplant specialist, was to stay in the country.
Alawieh was detained Thursday after returning to the U.S. following travel abroad. Sorokin on Friday ordered the government to provide 48 hours notice before deporting her, but she was then put on a flight out of the country.
Her attorneys argue the federal government “willfully” disobeyed the court order.
“These allegations are supported by a detailed and specific timeline in an under oath affidavit filed by an attorney. The government shall respond to these serious allegations with a legal and factual response setting forth its version of events,” the judge said.
Continue reading at The Hill
News Alert: Hearing for Brown University doctor deported to Lebanon canceled after attorneys withdraw
A federal judge abruptly canceled a court hearing Monday morning for a Brown University assistant professor and doctor who was deported over the weekend from Boston to Lebanon after the judge had ordered immigration officials to give him notice first.
Dr. Rasha Alawieh, 34, was detained Thursday at Boston Logan International Airport upon her return from a visit to Lebanon, according to a federal complaint filed Friday by her cousin, Yara Chehab. A Lebanese citizen who was living in Rhode Island, she had been approved for an H-1B visa last year to work in the Division of Nephrology at Brown University’s medical school – after studying at three US universities since 2018 – the federal complaint states.
US District Judge Leo Sorokin said he was delaying Monday’s hearing at the request of Chehab’s attorney after other lawyers representing her withdrew from the case “as a result of further diligence.” Plaintiff’s attorney Stephanie Marzouk declined Monday to comment to CNN.
Continue reading at CNN.com
Hochul: No intentions to ‘allow’ ICE to ‘just take people off the streets’ in NY
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) said she has no intentions to “allow” Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to “just take people off the streets.”
Hochul joined MSNBC’s Al Sharpton on Sunday, where she discussed her recent conversation with President Trump over ways they can work together on issues like congestion pricing, transportation and immigration.
“I reached out to the president again because there is so much I need to deliver for New York and New York City in particular,” she said. “I need to get Penn Station done and make sure we have money for the Second Avenue subway, which is so important.”
Continue reading at The Hill
Trump praises Jeff Bezos’s moves with Washington Post
President Trump is offering rare praise of a media executive, Jeff Bezos, the billionaire founder of Amazon and owner of The Washington Post, alluding to a slew of changes he has made to the newspaper in recent months.
“I find it to be that the media hasn’t changed that much,” Trump said during an interview with television journalist Sharyl Attkisson. “I think a guy like Bezos is — I’ve gotten to know him, and I think he’s trying to do a real job. Jeff Bezos is trying to do a real job with The Washington Post.”
Trump said he’s noticed a change in the way Bezos operated the Post during his first term.
“That wasn’t happening before,” the president said.
Continue reading at The Hill
Note from Rima: Sharyl Atkisson is a former CBS News employee, discredited for passing conspiracy theories as news.
Ocasio-Cortez leads poll of Democrats on which leader ‘best reflects’ party’s ‘core values’
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) narrowly leads in a poll of Democrats on which political leader “best reflects” the “core values” of the party.
In a CNN survey released Sunday, Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents are asked to name one person, when “thinking about Democratic leaders today,” who “best reflects the core values of the Democratic Party.”
The open-ended question yielded a range of responses: 10 percent point to Ocasio-Cortez, 9 percent say former Vice President Kamala Harris, 8 percent say Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), and 6 percent say House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.).
Former President Obama and Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-Texas) each are named by 4 percent of Democrats and Democratic-leaning independent respondents, while Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D), former Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Sen. Elissa Slotkin (D-Mich.) are named by 2 percent of respondents.
Continue reading at The Hill
Deported Brown University professor had ‘sympathetic photos’ of Hezbollah leaders on her phone, DOJ says
The government’s explanation for Rasha Alawieh’s deportation came before a judge postponed a hearing on whether it defied a judge’s order that she not be deported without advance notice to the court.
BOSTON — Federal authorities say they deported a Lebanese doctor holding an American visa last week after finding “sympathetic photos and videos” of prominent Hezbollah figures in the deleted items folder of her cell phone.
Rasha Alawieh, a physician specializing in kidney transplants and professor at Brown University, also told Customs and Border Protection agents that while visiting Lebanon last month she attended the funeral of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah and supported him “from a religious perspective” but not a political one.
“CBP questioned Dr. Alawieh and determined that her true intentions in the United States could not be determined,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Sady wrote in a filing to the court.
The claims in court filings submitted Monday by Justice Department lawyers are the first public explanation of why Alawieh, 34, was deported Friday despite holding a U.S. visa typically issued to foreigners with special skills for a job that an employer claims difficulty finding American candidates to fill.
Continue reading at Politico
Trump trade war casts dark cloud over North America economy, forecast says
Why it matters: The OECD sees a stagflationary economic scenario for the U.S. and its North American allies, with significant GDP downgrades across the continent and new price pressures as a result of tariffs and policy uncertainty.
What they're saying: "The overall picture is one of generalized [growth] downgrades partly because of trade uncertainty and economic policy uncertainty, but also the imposition of tariffs," Álvaro Pereira, the OECD's chief economist, told reporters on Monday.
State of play: The organization has a gloomier outlook for the world's major economies than at the end of 2024.
That includes the U.S., the world's engine of growth, which economists had regularly upgraded — until now.
By the numbers: U.S. GDP growth will slow from "its very strong recent pace" of 2.8% in 2024 to 2.2% this year, and 1.6% in 2026, the OECD says.
That is a downgrade, versus the December forecast, of 0.2 percentage point this year and a whopping 0.5 percentage point for 2026.
Continue reading at Axios
Exclusive: Teachers increasingly worried about childhood hunger, survey finds
Teachers across the country are growing increasingly worried about childhood hunger, with three-quarters reporting students come to school hungry, a nationally representative survey of U.S. teachers found.
The big picture: Proposed cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, a federal food assistance program serving more than 41 million Americans, could exacerbate an already dire issue, experts say.
Around 40% of SNAP benefits go to children, per USDA data.
What they're saying: "SNAP is one of the most effective tools we have as a nation to address childhood hunger," Sarah Steely, director of No Kid Hungry Virginia, told Axios.
"It provides families with that extra help to put food on the table so that kids can have access to consistent nutrition all year round, especially filling the void during school breaks."
Zoom in: Nearly 8 in 10 (78%) of teachers said they were concerned about food insecurity in the communities where they teach, per a survey of 1,000 K-12 public school teachers.
Continue reading at Axios
SEC makes solicitation easier for VC and private equity
The SEC has issued new general solicitation guidance that makes the process much less onerous for private equity and venture capital.
The big picture: We may not see Times Square billboards advertising new funds, but it's at least theoretically possible.
Firms also would be able to discuss fundraising efforts with reporters.
Catch up quick: The Obama administration had tried to open the floodgates to general solicitation in 2012, via the JOBS Act, but it never really caught on.
A major impediment was how fund managers were required to verify that their investors were accredited. The SEC provided several examples, but didn't say if the list was inclusive or exclusive — so the process became layered (i.e., lengthy and expensive) out of an abundance of legal caution.
Continue reading at Axios
Trump to meet controversial Irish fighter Conor McGregor for St. Patrick’s Day
The former mixed martial arts champ — recently found civilly liable in Ireland for raping a Dublin woman — brings his anti-immigration message to the White House.
DUBLIN — Conor McGregor, the mixed martial arts fighter recently found civilly liable for rape back in his native Ireland, is a St. Patrick’s Day guest of honor at the White House.
U.S. President Donald Trump’s press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, appeared Monday alongside McGregor at the podium in the White House briefing room and confirmed that the Dublin fighter is meeting Trump and other unidentified administration officials.
“We couldn’t think of a better guest to have with us on St. Patrick’s Day. We’re both wearing our green,” Leavitt said, gesturing to McGregor, who was actually wearing an all-gray pin-striped suit and matching vest.
McGregor — who is a divisive figure in his native Ireland but has a huge following among conservative white American men — says he wants to run for Ireland’s presidency later this year on an anti-immigration platform.
Continue reading at Politico Europe
UN agency warns of ‘unprecedented’ bird flu threat as H5N1 virus jumps to mammals
Food and Agriculture Organization warns of “serious impacts” on food production, rural jobs, local economies and prices to consumers.
The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) is raising the alarm over a rapidly escalating bird flu crisis as the highly pathogenic H5N1 virus spreads from poultry to mammals, fueling concerns over food security and a potential human spillover.
The virus, first identified in 1996 in China, has forced mass culls worldwide, with Europe losing 47.7 million farmed birds in the 2021-22 epidemic and the U.S. culling at least 166 million since the latest outbreak began. The fallout has sent egg prices soaring in the U.S.
FAO Deputy Director-General Godfrey Magwenzi on Monday described the situation as unprecedented, leading to “serious impacts” on food production, rural jobs, local economies and prices for consumers.
The virus isn’t stopping at poultry barns. H5N1 has also surfaced in wild and domestic mammals, including zoo animals, pets and dairy cattle.
Continue reading at Politico Europe
What to know about autopen, which Trump claims nullifies Biden pardons
Catch up quick: Biden issued historic preemptive pardons to members of the House Jan. 6 select committee, which investigated Trump's role in the attack on the Capitol.
Trump has repeatedly threatened committee members with investigation or jail.
Trump said in a late-night Truth Social post that Biden's pardons are "hereby declared VOID, VACANT, AND OF NO FURTHER FORCE OR EFFECT" and that the "necessary Pardoning Documents were not explained to, or approved by, Biden."
The committee members should "fully understand that they are subject to investigation at the highest level," Trump wrote.
He claimed without evidence that the members of the committee, which include former Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.), were "probably responsible for the Documents that were signed on their behalf" without Biden's knowledge.
What is an autopen?
An autopen is a device used to make automatic or remote signatures, and has been used by celebrities and other public figures for decades — notable examples include Jon Bon Jovi and Bob Dylan.
Former President Obama faced scrutiny in 2011 for authorizing an aide to use an autopen on his behalf to extend the Patriot Act, a first for a president.
Are autopen signatures valid?
A 2005 memorandum opinion from Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel during President George W. Bush's administration said that the president may sign a bill by directing a subordinate to "affix the President's signature to it."
Continue reading at Axios
The economy is a tiring baseball pitcher
It's the sixth inning of a baseball game. The pitcher, by the measures that matter most — how many hits and runs he's allowed — is having a good night. But the manager sees something subtle and pulls him out of the game anyway.
The big picture: This is, more or less, the state of the U.S. economy at the onset of spring. All is well with headline measures like GDP growth and the unemployment rate. It's the peripheral indicators that hint at trouble ahead.
Much as a baseball manager can't just look to the scoreboard to tell whether their pitcher is gassed, the signs of concern in the economy right now are found in secondary indicators.
They could be ignored in isolation but are more worrying when so many of them flash the same warnings, as we noted over the weekend.
State of play: A baseball manager might pull a pitcher whose fastball velocity slips by even 2 or 3 miles per hour, or who is suddenly allowing batters to foul off lots more pitches, or whose arm mechanics look a bit off.
Similarly, the early warning signs of an economic downturn often turn up in places that are, on their own, not terribly definitive.
Continue reading at Axios
Trump threatens Iran with "dire consequences" if Houthi attacks continue
President Trump said on Monday that the U.S. will consider any further attacks by the Houthis in Yemen as emanating from Iran and threatened the Iranian government with "dire consequences."
Why it matters: Trump ordered strikes across Yemen on Saturday, which killed more than 50 people, according to Houthi affiliated media. White House national security adviser Mike Waltz claimed on Sunday the strikes "hit multiple Houthi leaders and took them out."
State of play: The U.S. conducted numerous additional strikes on Sunday and on Monday against Houthi targets across Yemen. Sources briefed on the strikes said they hit the houses of Houthi leaders and commanders, a missile production sites and weapons depots.
The Houthis said on Sunday they conducted two drone and missile attack on the USS Truman strike group in the Red Sea, which plays a central role in the U.S. military campaign.
The Pentagon confirmed the attacks but said they were defeated and caused no damages.
What they're saying: "Every shot fired by the Houthis will be looked upon, from this point forward, as being a shot fired from the weapons and leadership of IRAN, and IRAN will be held responsible, and suffer the consequences, and those consequences will be dire!" Trump wrote on his Truth Social account.
Continue reading at Axios
Trump's border czar: "I don't care what the judges think"
President Trump's border czar Tom Homan on Monday doubled down on the decision to defy a court order that barred the deportation of alleged Venezuelan gang members.
Why it matters: The White House's decision to disregard a federal judge's order has set up a legal battle that could make its way to the Supreme Court and define the limits of Trump's deportation powers.
Driving the news: Homan claimed in a Fox News interview Monday that the two deportation flights to El Salvador did not need to be turned around because they were already above international waters when the order came through.
"We are going to make this country safe again ... I'm proud to be a part of this administration. We are not stopping. I don't care what the judges think. I don't care what the Left thinks. We're coming," he added.
Asked what was coming next in the administration's deportation efforts, Homan said: "Another flight. Another flight every day."
Catch up quick: By going through with the flights, the White House effectively ignored U.S. District Judge James Boasberg's Saturday order barring the deportation of about 250 Venezuelans under the Alien Enemies Act of 1789.
Continue reading at Axios
Jeffries: Schumer and I agree on ‘overwhelming majority of issues’
“Chuck and I agree on the overwhelming majority of issues moving forward, including our effort to oppose the largest potential Medicaid cut in American history. And we’re all going to have to come together,” he said in an interview on MSNBC.
Jeffries said he hasn’t spoken to Schumer since the Senate Democrat angered much of his party by supporting a GOP-written stopgap funding measure to keep the government open, even though a majority of the Democratic Party opposed it.
Jeffries noted he was in Houston to participate in memorials for the late Rep. Sylvester Turner (D-Texas), but added, “I do expect to have a conversation with him at some point later on today,” as he defended their divergent votes on the bill.
Continue reading at The Hill
Almost half think Trump sympathizes with Russia in Ukraine war: Survey
Nearly half of American voters think President Trump favors Russia over Ukraine, according to a new poll taken as his administration tries to broker a deal between the countries to end their war.
Just 8 percent of respondents in the NBC News poll said they think Trump is on Ukraine’s side in the war, which started three years ago with Russia’s invasion of its neighbor, even as 61 percent said they personally back Ukraine in the conflict.
Two percent of respondents said they are more sympathetic to Russia, and 35 percent said they favor neither side.
About a third of respondents said they think Trump is neutral in the conflict — a position the president has stressed.
Continue reading at The Hill
Harvard expanding free tuition in diversity push
Harvard University announced Monday it will expand free tuition to more students, a move adopted by other schools since the Supreme Court ruled affirmative action could no longer be used in college admissions.
Harvard said students from families making less than $200,000 per year will not be charged for tuition, expanding on a previous decision to make the school completely free, covering tuition, housing and other costs, for those coming from families making less than $100,000 per year.
“Harvard has long sought to open our doors to the most talented students, no matter their financial circumstances,” said Faculty of Arts and Sciences Dean Hoekstra.
“This investment in financial aid aims to make a Harvard College education possible for every admitted student, so they can pursue their academic passions and positively impact our future,” he added.
Continue reading at The Hill
18 percent rate economy as ‘excellent’ or ‘good’: Poll
Eighteen percent of Americans give a positive rating to the current state of the economy, according to a survey released Sunday.
In the NBC News poll, 1 percent of respondents say they would rate the current state of the economy as “excellent,” and 17 percent say they would rate the economy as “good.”
Meanwhile, 43 percent say the current state of the economy is “poor,” and 39 percent say it’s “only fair.”
The numbers fall short of the responses given in polls taken at around the same time of former President Biden’s term in office and of President Trump’s first term.
In April 2021, a few months into the Biden administration, approximately a third of responses rated the economy as positive — including 4 percent who said it was “excellent” and 30 percent said it was “good.”
Continue reading at The Hill
HUD, Interior announce plan to use federal land for affordable housing
Department of Housing and Urban Development Secretary Scott Turner and Department of the Interior Secretary Doug Burgum announced on Monday plans to identify federal lands where affordable housing could be built.
Turner and Burgum will launch the Joint Task Force on Federal Land for Housing to find underutilized lands for residential development and to streamline the process to transfer the lands for housing use.
In an op-ed in The Wall Street Journal, they promoted the plans as a way to increase the housing supply and lower costs for Americans.
Continue reading at The Hill
White House says it will eliminate national monuments — then scrubs the announcement
The White House said Friday night that it would eliminate protections from millions of acres declared by former President Biden as national monuments — but later scrubbed that language from its fact sheet.
In a fact sheet on an executive order issued late Friday, the Trump administration said it was “terminating proclamations declaring nearly a million acres constitute new national monuments that lock up vast amounts of land from economic development and energy production.”
Continue reading at The Hill
Senate Democrats call for USDA funding for local food banks, schools to be restored
In a letter Monday, Democratic Sens. Adam Schiff (Calif.), Ben Ray Luján (N.M.), Amy Klobuchar (Minn.) and Jeanne Shaheen (N.H.) led a group of 31 Democrats in calling on Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins to reverse the cancellation of the Local Food Purchase Assistance Cooperative Agreement Program (LFPA) and the Local Food for Schools Cooperative Agreement Program (LFS).
In their letter, they wrote that these “successful” programs “allow states, territories, and Tribes to purchase local foods from nearby farmers and ranchers to be used for emergency food providers, schools, and child care centers.”
“At a time when food insecurity remains high, providing affordable, fresh food to food banks and families while supporting American farmers is critical,” they wrote.
Continue reading at The Hill
Trump blocks rule to implement methane fee for oil and gas companies
President Trump on Friday signed a resolution to block the implementation of a fee on oil and gas companies’ excess methane emissions.
The resolution blocked the Environmental Protection Agency’s 2024 rule that implemented the fee program, which was established in the Democrats’ 2022 climate, tax and health care bill.
Technically, the fee is still in the law, since the 2022 legislation has not been overturned. It was not immediately clear what the impacts will be of overturning the 2024 rule implementing the law.
But the methane fee program — which also provides funds to help companies install emissions-reducing technology — is likely to be overturned as part of a larger package that Republicans are hoping to pass in the months ahead.
Republicans celebrated Trump’s move — and vowed to overturn the program legislatively.
Continue reading at The Hill
Climate, energy agencies hire back probationary employees
The Energy Department, along with EPA and NOAA, hired back many probationary employees who had been laid off in a round of cuts last month.
Why it matters: The step taken Monday is being done to comply with recent court rulings that held the workers' firings were illegally carried out.
These employees aren't being put back to work, but placed on paid administrative leave while court cases play out.
Zoom in: The cuts were made at the behest of the Office of Personnel Management, where billionaire Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), has set up shop.
At the Energy Department, some probationary employees received a letter on Monday informing them that they would be brought back and put on paid administrative leave beginning with the date they were let go.
A notification to EPA employees affects 419 people at the agency, EPA said in a statement.
At NOAA, the nation's top weather and climate science agency, some employees who were fired on Feb. 27 were also told they were being brought back on paid administrative leave, back-dated to their date of termination.
Continue reading at Axios
Scoop: Schumer aide departing after nearly two decades
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) is losing a longtime senior staffer, Axios has learned.
Why it matters: Schumer's legislative director Meghan Taira has been with the Democratic leader for nearly two decades, marking a major departure from his Capitol operation.
Taira is expected to leave Schumer's office next month, we are told. The move has been in the works for a number of months.
The Schumer operation is bringing on Dylan Laslovich, former chief of staff to former Sen. Jon Tester (D-Mont.), to serve as legislative director.
The big picture: The long-planned high-level staff shakeup comes as Schumer is facing backlash after partnering with Republicans to break a filibuster of a government funding bill last week.
Continue reading at Axios
Why Trump is singling out South Africa and accusing it of being anti-white and anti-American
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio posted on X that Ambassador Ebrahim Rasool was “no longer welcome in our great country” and said he was “a race-baiting politician” who hates America and U.S. President Donald Trump.
Rubio’s post didn’t explain what was behind the decision but linked to a story by the conservative Breitbart news site. The story reported on a talk Rasool gave Friday on a webinar where he said the Make America Great Again movement could be seen as being a response to “a supremacist instinct.”
[…]
White farmers in South Africa
A white minority group in South Africa has been a central focus for Trump.
Trump falsely accused the South African government of a rights violation against white Afrikaner farmers by seizing their land through a new expropriation law. No land has been seized and the South African government has pushed back, saying U.S. criticism is driven by misinformation.
Continue reading at the Associated Press
Southern California Hindu temple desecrated with anti-India and anti-Hindu graffiti calls for peace
CHINO HILLS, Calif. (AP) — The recent desecration of an iconic Hindu temple in Southern California with anti-Hindu and anti-Indian government graffiti has heightened concerns among South Asian groups following a slew of such incidents over the past year.
Devotees who arrived early morning on March 8 at the BAPS Shri Swaminarayan Mandir in Chino Hills were shocked to find the words “Hindustan Murdabad,” which means “death to” or “down with” Hindus and India, scrawled on a pink stone sign bearing the temple’s name, said Mehul Patel, a volunteer with the organization.
Expletive-laden graffiti targeting India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi was written on one of the outer brick walls and abutting sidewalk, he said. San Bernardino Sheriff’s officials have said they are investigating the incident as a hate crime and have not identified any suspects yet.
Patel said the incident “invoked a sense of fear” among community members. The impact was felt as far away as India, where most major media outlets reported the incident, and India’s External Affairs ministry condemned the vandalism.
Continue reading at the Associated Press
Immigration buoyed population in large counties, agricultural Midwest
New census estimates show impact of asylum-seekers, other new immigrants.
Immigration was the biggest factor in population growth for many booming Sun Belt counties as well as for the agricultural Midwest, according to a Stateline analysis of new U.S. Census Bureau county estimates.
The analysis shows the significant impact immigration had between mid-2020 and mid-2024 in fast-growing states such as Arizona, Florida and Texas, as well as how it boosted growth or minimized population loss across the country.
The surge of newcomers to the United States was the primary driver in population changes for 38% of counties nationwide and for most counties in states across a large swath of the Midwest: Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Nebraska and North Dakota. Immigration also was the largest growth factor in most counties in Louisiana and Massachusetts.
In Iowa, immigration more than doubled population growth in the two counties that surround the state capital of Des Moines and Iowa City. Local advocates are planning to bolster services for new arrivals.
The census estimates, to be released Thursday, March 13, are the first at the county level to use a new method that tries to count asylum-seekers and other immigrants based on government data on green cards, visas, international students, refugee admissions and border releases.
Continue reading at Stateline (Pew Research affiliate)
Governors to laid-off federal workers: We’ll hire you
States with thousands of vacancies are recruiting and sweeping aside red tape.
Among the thousands of federal workers who’ve been forced out or taken buyouts in the past month, surely some would be perfect fits for the many vacancies in Pennsylvania’s state government.
That, at least, is the thinking of Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro, who recently directed his state to not only offer aid to laid-off constituents, but also to repost some job openings.
He’s catching up to governors in other states — from Hawaii to Maryland — who see opportunity, even as they’re scrambling to help panicked residents. The Trump administration and Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency task force have been culling federal workers across agencies while also threatening anyone who doesn’t list in an email how they’re making good use of their time.
The number of announced terminations tracked by global data company Statista exceeded 16,000 as of Feb. 25. That’s in addition to the 75,000 federal employees who accepted buyouts offered by the administration in its earliest days. And President Donald Trump has directed Cabinet agencies to continue mass layoffs.
States are looking to hire those workers, though officials face challenges, such as offering lower salaries and having slower hiring processes.
In Maryland alone, Democratic Gov. Wes Moore estimates about 10,000 of his constituents could lose work in the shake-up. There are more than 5,000 openings in state government.
Pennsylvania has some 5,600 critical openings, from accountants to registered nurses, now described on a newly created website tailored to federal employees.
“This is an act of self-interest for the people of Pennsylvania, because I believe the commonwealth can benefit from the experience and expertise of these federal workers who have been forced out of their jobs,” Shapiro said.
Continue reading at Stateline (Pew Research affiliate)
Appeals court denies Trump’s bid to immediately reverse fired federal workers’ reinstatement
The new ruling, which does not address the legality of the firings, refuses the administration’s request for an administrative stay that would temporarily freeze the ruling until the next stage of the appeal.
“Given that the district court found that the employees were wrongfully terminated and ordered an immediate return to the status quo ante, an administrative stay of the district court’s order would not preserve the status quo,” the court wrote in its ruling. “It would do just the opposite — it would disrupt the status quo and turn it on its head.”
U.S. Circuit Judge Bridget Bade, a Trump appointee, dissented from her two Democratic-appointed colleagues. Bade warned of a “potential whiplash effect” where the employees rehired under the judge’s order could be fired again.
Continue reading at The Hill
GOP lawmaker pushes to impeach judge over order to halt deportations
Republican Rep. Brandon Gill (Texas) said he would be pushing to impeach the federal judge who ordered the Trump administration to halt deportations of Venezuelan gang members over the weekend.
“I’ll be filing Articles of Impeachment against activist judge James Boasberg this week,” Gill said in a post on social platform X.
On Saturday, President Trump invoked the Alien Enemies Act of 1798. It’s just the third time the wartime act has been used and the first time since World War II. The order was intended to target members of the Tren de Aragua gang, who Trump said could be arrested, restrained and removed from the country.
U.S. District Judge James Boasberg had earlier ordered a temporary block on the deportation of five of the group’s members, which prompted Trump to issue the proclamation.
Continue reading at The Hill
Exclusive: Navajo Code Talkers disappear from military websites after Trump DEI order
Articles about the renowned Native American Code Talkers have disappeared from some military websites, with several broken URLs now labeled "DEI."
Why it matters: From 1942 to 1945, the Navajo Code Talkers were instrumental in every major Marine Corps operation in the Pacific Theater of World War II.
They were critical to securing America's victory at Iwo Jima.
Driving the news: Axios identified at least 10 articles mentioning the Code Talkers that had disappeared from the U.S. Army and Department of Defense websites as of Monday.
How it works: The Defense department's URLs were amended with the letters DEI, suggesting they were removed following President Trump's executive order ending federal diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives.
The Internet Archive shows the deleted Army pages were live as recently as November, with many visible until February or March. None are shown with error messages until Trump took office.
Continue reading at Axios
DC drops Proud Boys lawsuit
The Washington, D.C., attorney general’s office has dropped its lawsuit against the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers over the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.
In a court filing, the attorney general’s office said the city was unlikely to be able to find enough money to justify continuing the case against the conservative groups.
The case was being dismissed with prejudice, which means the claims against the defendants cannot be brought again.
It was originally brought by D.C. Attorney General Karl Racine (D) in 2021.
The complaint was against the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers and named several individuals over their roles in the Capitol riot, which forced the evacuation of Congress as it sought to certify the 2020 election results.
Racine argued the people involved broke both local D.C. and federal laws, including a statute that stemmed from the 1871 Ku Klux Klan Act, which focused on violent conspiracies.
Continue reading at The Hill
Jan. 6 investigators hit back at Trump over pardon threat: ‘Do it. Or shut up’
The members of the Jan. 6 investigative committee are hitting back at President Trump for his threat to nullify the presidential pardons surrounding their work.
The investigators not only contend that Trump lacks the authority to revoke the preemptive pardons, which were issued in January by former President Biden, but also maintain that their probe was open, thorough and unassailable in its conclusion that Trump was the driving force behind the violent rampage at the U.S. Capitol four years ago.
“Despite their threats to Congresswoman Cheney and the chairman of our committee, Bennie Thompson, no one has committed any kind of infraction in the conduct of the Jan. 6 proceedings, nor in the preparation of our report, and no one has laid a glove on a single factual statement in our report,” Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.), who sat on the Jan. 6 panel, told The Hill in an interview. “We are proud of our work documenting the insurrectionary violence and they haven’t contradicted any of our findings.”
“Everything else is political noise,” he added. “The members of the Jan. 6 committee stand by our work.”
Continue reading at The Hill
Stephen Miller: Court has ‘no authority’ in deportation of alleged Venezuelan gang members
“The judge issued his unlawful order without receiving any information on this terrorist organization and the diplomacy that has been conducted,” Miller said. “Let alone the fact that he’s trying to issue the movement of aircraft that is operating outside of the United States.
“It is without doubt the most unlawful order a judge has issued in our lifetimes,” Miller continued. “A district court judge has no authority to direct the national security operations of the executive branch. The president has operated the absolute apex of his constitutional authority.”
Miller said Trump will use a “full suite” of authorities in the coming days to continue to remove Tren de Aragua members.
Continue reading at The Hill
Trump to release 80,000 pages of JFK files on Tuesday
“While we’re here, I thought it would be appropriate — we are, tomorrow, announcing and giving all of the Kennedy files. So, people have been waiting for decades for this, and I’ve instructed my people … lots of different people, [Director of National Intelligence] Tulsi Gabbard, that they must be released tomorrow,” the president told reporters while touring the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C.
“You got a lot of reading. I don’t believe we’re going to redact anything. I said, ‘just don’t redact, you can’t redact,’” the president said, adding it will be about 80,000 pages that he described as “interesting.”
Continue reading at The Hill
Trump ‘disappointed,’ vows to ‘fix’ Kennedy Center after first tour
“It’s in tremendous disrepair, as is a lot of the rest of our country, most of it because of bad management,” Trump told reporters Monday after he toured the Kennedy Center and met for the first time as chair of its board.
Trump, a former New York real estate developer, said he took issue with some of the structural components of the space, claiming the center “spent a fortune” on underground rooms “that nobody’s going to use.”
While it’s unclear what areas Trump was referring to, the Kennedy Center underwent an award-winning $250 million expansion project in 2019.
Continue reading at The Hill
Georgetown announces reduced tuition, career services for fired federal workers
“Over the past few weeks, the lives of thousands of public servants have been disrupted with reductions in staff at federal agencies,” interim Georgetown President Robert M. Groves said in a message announcing the new initiative Monday. “Our university response: we expand opportunities for education.”
Georgetown unveiled a new web repository of available resources, including ways that verified federal workers who’ve lost their jobs can get 10 percent discounts on most master’s degree programs and reduced prices for some professional certificates. The university also is waving application fees and extending deadlines to apply for master’s programs this fall.
Continue reading at The Hill
Mississippi reports first outbreak of highly pathogenic bird flu strain in US since 2017
In a statement released on March 12, the Mississippi Board of Animal Health (MBAH) stated that poultry from a commercial broiler breeder chicken flock in Noxubee County had tested positive for highly pathogenic avian influenza.
“The State Veterinarian has quarantined the affected premises, and birds on the property have been depopulated to prevent the spread of the disease. Birds from the flock have not entered the food system,” the MBAH stated.
Greg Flynn, spokesperson for the Mississippi State Department of Health, confirmed to The Hill that his department was aware of the outbreak and that no human cases have been reported.
Continue reading at The Hill
Fired workers return to federal agencies — but are put on paid leave
As a result of recent court orders, federal employees are returning to their jobs — but are being put on paid leave.
A spokesperson for the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) told The Hill that as a result of a court restraining order, it was rescinding the terminations of 419 employees.
The spokesperson said that these employees are “mostly in an administrative leave status.”
The Hill also obtained a notice that the Commerce Department sent to a staffer it had fired. The notice said that the employee will be reinstated, but that for the time being the employee will be placed in “paid, non-duty status.”
The employee will remain on paid leave until the court case is resolved or until the department decides otherwise, according to the notice viewed by The Hill. Employees are subject to being fired again depending on the ultimate outcome of the case.
Continue reading at The Hill
Trump removes gun violence public health advisory
The advisory was issued by a Biden-nominated surgeon general last year.
The Department of Health and Human Services recently removed a former surgeon general’s warning declaring gun violence a public health crisis to comply with the president’s executive order to protect Second Amendment rights, according to a White House official.
Giffords, the gun violence prevention group founded by former Rep. Gabby Giffords, announced on Monday that former Surgeon General Vivek Murthy’s advisory recognizing gun violence as a public health crisis was wiped from the Department of Health and Human Services’ website. Murthy — who was nominated by former President Joe Biden — issued the advisory in June of last year, citing the increasing number of firearm-related injuries and deaths in the U.S.
When asked about the advisory being taken down from the Health and Human Services Department’s website, a department spokesperson told POLITICO that “HHS and the Office of the Surgeon General are complying with President Trump’s Executive Order on Protecting Second Amendment Rights.”
“Illegal violence of any sort is a crime issue, and as he again made clear during his recent speech at the Department of Justice, President Trump is committed to Making America Safe Again by empowering law enforcement to uphold law and order,” a White House official said in a statement to POLITICO about the change.
Continue reading at Politico
White House says it will not return the Statue of Liberty to France
A French politician said the U.S. no longer deserved the legendary monument.
The Trump administration will not entertain a French politician’s request to return the Statue of Liberty to France.
“Absolutely not. My advice to that unnamed low-level French politician would be to remind them that it’s only because of the United States of America that the French are not speaking German right now,” said White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt in a press briefing Monday, likely referencing an American-French allyship during World War II that snuffed out Nazi Germany. “They should be grateful.”
Continue reading at Politico
Trump, already on a collision course with the courts, hits the gas
Trump and his allies’ attacks on a judge weighing the validity of the president’s deportation orders escalated an already tense power struggle between the co-equal branches of government.
Donald Trump is trying to show the world what he wants it to see: a president wielding unlimited and uncheckable power.
Trump’s challenge to the authority of Congress and the courts has increased in velocity and intensity in recent days. It reached a crescendo this weekend, when Trump invoked wartime powers to summarily deport Venezuelan nationals he deems to be terrorists, and his White House amplified a foreign strongman’s mockery of the judge who tried to pause the deportations.
That skirmish was only the latest in an increasingly ominous confrontation between Trump’s White House and the other two constitutional branches. In short, the most significant test of America’s system of checks and balances in Trump’s second term has arrived. And the outcome is less certain than ever.
Continue reading at Politico
BYD charging breakthrough is another sign of China's EV lead
China continues to raise the bar on electric vehicles, with BYD unveiling a new EV platform that can be recharged about as fast as it takes refuel a gasoline car.
Why it matters: Making EV charging as painless as visiting a gas station is one less hurdle for consumers, and could help spur widespread EV adoption.
It's also a further sign of the growing dominance of BYD, which sells both electric vehicles and hybrids, while onetime EV leader Tesla's fortunes wane, both in China and the rest of the world.
Driving the news: BYD's new battery and charging system can provide nearly 300 miles of driving range in 5 minutes, chairman and founder Wang Chuanfu said Monday, Bloomberg reported.
The 1,000-Volt Super e-Platform will underpin BYD's next-generation vehicles, starting with the Han L sedan and Tang L SUV.
BYD also said it would build more than 4,000 ultra-fast chargers across China to match the new EV platform.
Between the lines: The charging breakthrough, while promising, is light on specifics.
Continue reading at Axios
Trump nominates Republic Airways CEO as FAA administrator
President Trump announced Monday that he was nominating Republic Airways CEO Bryan Bedford to be the next administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration.
Why it matters: The announcement coincides with a surge of scrutiny over air travel safety, following a tragic midair collision over Washington, D.C., in January killed 67 people.
The big picture: Bedford "brings over three decades of experience in Aviation and Executive Leadership to this critical position," Trump wrote in a Truth Social post.
Trump added that Bedford would work with Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy to "strongly reform the Agency, safeguard our exports, and ensure the safety of nearly one billion annual passenger movements."
Zoom out: Bedford will take over the role from FAA acting administrator Chris Rocheleau, who was appointed to the role following the deadly collision.
Continue reading at Axios
Why IRS upheaval has not slowed tax season
The Internal Revenue Service has been in a state of turmoil ever since members of the Department of Government Efficiency embedded in the agency during tax filing season — aka the IRS’ busiest time of the year.
But so far at least, the upheaval has not tripped up tax filing and refund issuance, tax professionals told CNN. But it has delayed other critical issues for taxpayers and may end up hurting US coffers.
In the past seven weeks key top executives have left the IRS, including Commissioner Danny Werfel and the acting commissioner who replaced him. Roughly 6,700 probationary employees were fired in February (although they may soon get their jobs back as a result of a federal judge’s preliminary injunction Thursday). Close to 5,000 more employees accepted the so-called deferred resignation offer from the Trump administration, and about 6,800 more employees may be laid off in May, according to a draft plan for a reduction in force.
On top of personnel turnover, agency alums had worried that tax filing season, which officially runs from January 27 through April 15, could be disrupted by DOGE’s efforts to get unprecedented access to IRS data systems.
But based on CNN’s discussions with certified public accountants and enrolled agents, it appears that the electronic filing process has been running well so far.
Tax professionals said they’ve been able to get through to the IRS with questions, submit clients’ returns electronically, and obtain those clients’ refunds in a timely manner.
To date, “It seems to be business as usual,” said Mark Koziel, CEO of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants.
Continue reading at CNN.com
Judge lashes out at Trump admin over deportation flights
It was a remarkable hearing in which a Justice Department attorney repeatedly declined to provide details about the flights that landed in El Salvador Saturday evening, saying he was “not authorized” to do so, a rare instance of an attorney rebuffing a judge’s questions.
U.S. District Court Judge James Boasberg called the hearing after a Monday morning filing from the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) arguing the government may have violated a court order halting the flights — apparently refusing to turn them around after the judge barred them.
At Monday’s hearing, Deputy Associate Attorney General Abhishek Kambli contended the judge’s oral command wasn’t binding because the judge didn’t include the instruction about airborne flights in his written order.
“I memorialize it in shorthand, but you’re telling me that very clear point, that you could disregard it, because it wasn’t in the written order?” pressed Boasberg, an appointee of former President Obama.
“Wouldn’t it have been a better course to return the planes around the United States as opposed to going forward and saying, ‘we don’t care, we’ll do what we want,’” Boasberg asked later in the hearing.
“Your Honor, that’s not the approach that we’ve taken in this argument,” Kambli responded.
Continue reading at The Hill
Leaked memo: DOGE plots to cut Social Security phone support
The latest: Axios obtained a draft of the memo, signed by acting deputy Social Security commissioner for operations Doris Diaz on March 13, and written on behalf of the agency's operations department.
Its existence was first reported by Popular.Info, which published screenshots of a subsequent version, sent to acting commissioner Leland Dudek a little later that day.
Context: The memo was sent one day after the agency denied, in a press release, a report it was scrapping its toll-free phone line.
The agency, at the time, said the change would only preclude people from changing their bank account information by phone.
But the new memo — issued one day later — proposes changes that will further limit what people can do by phone. Under the proposal, phone service would still be available to people who call the agency and don't need to verify their identity, like someone making a general inquiry.
The draft of the memo viewed by Axios says the proposed limitations will be "significant" for those living in rural areas in particular.
Zoom in: The memo's focus is on identity verification. Currently, if you are unable to verify your identity using their online system, you can complete the process by phone.
The March 13 memo proposes ending that option, and recommends the agency address "fraud risk" by requiring applicants, who can't use online verification, to do it in-person at local field offices.
It was crafted at the request of DOGE staff, says a former Social Security Administration official, who left the agency because of this memo.
The identity verification changes would mean that people who previously could apply for, or update, benefits over the phone would have to travel to a local field office to do so. That presents many hurdles.
Continue reading at Axios
Do Adults Need a Measles Booster?
— While most Americans are protected, some groups could benefit from another shot
The good news, experts said, is that most Americans don't need a booster -- especially those who received two doses of the measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccine, which is 97% effective against measles.
Even for those who received just one dose of the MMR vaccine -- those vaccinated between 1968 and 1989 -- the vaccine is still 93% effective against measles.
And people born before 1957 probably have ample protection, as they are assumed to have natural immunity due to widespread measles exposure, experts said.
"For adults, there are currently no recommendations to get another measles shot," David DiJohn, MD, a pediatric infectious diseases physician at the University of Nevada Las Vegas, told MedPage Today.
There are some groups, however, who may be at risk and who may benefit from a dose of the current MMR vaccine. Chiefly, this group includes people born after 1957 and vaccinated before 1968.
A single-dose inactivated measles vaccine used from 1963 to 1967 was later found to not be as effective or long-lasting as the currently used live-attenuated vaccine, experts said.
"Anyone who received an inactivated vaccine between 1963 and 1967 is recommended to receive a dose of the current MMR vaccine," said Andrew Handel, MD, a pediatric infectious disease physician at Stony Brook Medicine in New York.
Continue reading at MedPageToday
Trump says Hunter Biden will no longer get Secret Service protection
“Please be advised that, effective immediately, Hunter Biden will no longer receive Secret Service protection. Likewise, Ashley Biden who has 13 agents will be taken off the list,” Trump posted on Truth Social.
Trump was asked earlier in the day about Hunter Biden’s Secret Service detail during a trip to South Africa. Trump indicated he would move to cut off the protection.
Monday’s announcement makes the Biden children the latest Trump critics or opponents to lose their Secret Service detail, which is typically granted to individuals facing verified threats to their safety.
Continue reading at The Hill
US Institute of Peace says DOGE has broken into its building
The DOGE workers gained access to the building after several unsuccessful attempts Monday.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Employees of Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency have entered the U.S. Institute of Peace despite protests from the nonprofit that it is not part of the executive branch and is instead an independent agency.
The organization’s CEO, George Moose, said, “DOGE has broken into our building.” Police cars were outside the Washington building Monday evening.
The DOGE workers gained access to the building after several unsuccessful attempts Monday and after having been turned away on Friday, a senior U.S. Institute of Peace official said. The official spoke on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the matter.
It was not immediately clear what the DOGE staffers were doing or looking for in the nonprofit’s building, which is across the street from the State Department in the Foggy Bottom neighborhood.
Continue reading at Politico
POLITICO Nightly
The long and relentless arc of Chuck Schumer
BITTER MEDICINE — There’s talk of a primary challenge. There are demands for him to step down as party leader. He’s been forced to postpone a book tour that was scheduled for this week.
All of the anger and inchoate rage that has been swelling up in the Democratic Party since losing the White House suddenly seems channeled toward Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer after his vote to advance the GOP funding bill and avoid a federal government shutdown.
At 74, Schumer is now viewed by his critics as emblematic of a feckless party led by geriatrics unwilling or unable to put up a proper fight against Donald Trump.
But before the small donor donations flood into the coffers of the first progressive challenger to file against him, and before state and local parties begin passing resolutions condemning Schumer, it’s worth considering whether that energy is best directed elsewhere. Because the arc of Schumer’s political career is long, and it bends toward victory, no matter the era.
Few national Democrats have so consistently had a fix on the national mood when it comes to the radioactive issues that have so often cost the party at the ballot box — such as crime and immigration. Fewer still can claim Schumer’s history of delivering bitter medicine when the party most needs it.
His bona fides on the most basic building block of politics — winning — hardly need repeating. Schumer’s won every election he’s ever run in, nearly 20 in total, across a span of a half-century. He’s knocked off incumbents, survived redistricting battles and battled through contentious primaries. He now ranks among the biggest vote-getters in American history, though it’s more a function of his durability — from statehouse to U.S. House to five Senate terms in one of America’s most populous states — than his inherent popularity.
And it hasn’t all been a blue-state cakewalk. It’s easy to forget that when Schumer first won his Senate seat in 1998, the GOP still had a pulse in New York. Republican George Pataki was in the first of three terms as governor; Schumer had to navigate a fierce primary, then knock off GOP Sen. Al D’Amato to claim his seat. His win marked the first time in 50 years that New York had two Democratic senators.
Schumer’s done his work in perhaps the most unforgiving arena in politics. He’s coexisted with two junior senators who have run for president (not to mention Daniel Patrick Moynihan). He shared a media market with Michael Bloomberg and Rudy Giuliani in their prime. Two New York governors have been taken down in spectacular fashion since Schumer first joined the Senate and at least a half-dozen New York congressmen have resigned in disgrace or been expelled. Through it all, Schumer has been a constant.
Continue reading at Politico Nightly
Trump stacks military academy boards with MAGA loyalists, including Michael Flynn and Charlie Kirk
The president’s appointments include Michael Flynn, Charlie Kirk and Steve Bannon’s daughter.
The appointments came after Trump last month purged the boards of visitors at the Naval, Army, Air Force and Coast Guard academies as part of his wider push to radically overhaul the military, which he has previously decried as too “woke.”
In a post on his social media platform Truth Social Monday, Trump said he had appointed former national security adviser Michael Flynn to the United States Military Academy’s board of visitors, along with Rep. Wesley Hunt (R-Texas); Maureen Bannon, a West Point alum and daughter of MAGA firebrand Steve Bannon; Medal of Honor recipient David Bellavia; and retired major general Dan Walrath.
Continue reading at Politico
Judge gives DOJ Tuesday deadline in Venezuelan deportations case
A federal judge gave the Justice Department a Tuesday deadline to provide additional information on the Trump administration's defiance of a court order halting deportation of alleged Venezuelan gang members, according to a court docket.
The big picture: The Trump administration's decision to disregard the judge's order sets up a high stakes battle between the power of the executive and judicial branches.
Driving the news: The Department of Justice on Monday asked to cancel a hearing in the case scheduled for later that afternoon, stating it would not be providing any more information about the flights, but U.S. District Judge James Boasberg denied the request.
Attorneys for the DOJ argued during the hearing that no deportation flights took off from the U.S. after Boasberg's Saturday order, per the New York Times.
They also argued his order issued verbally from the bench was not definitive, as opposed to the written one issued less than an hour later.
ACLU lawyers reiterated their request that the government issue sworn declarations about details on the flights.
Where it stands: Boasberg said he did not plan to issue a ruling Monday and laid out questions he wanted answered by the government by noon Tuesday, according to the NYT.
Continue reading at Axios
Thune's Q1 report card after Senate's longest work stretch in 15 years
Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) kicked off his new year of leadership by keeping the Senate working for 10 weeks in a row, with votes on four Fridays. That's a modern rarity.
Why it matters: The Senate is finally on recess after the longest stretch of weeks in session in more than 15 years. Senators, staff and reporters were ready for the break.
By the numbers: Senate Republicans and their 53-seat majority handed President Trump:
32 confirmed nominees, including 21 Cabinet members.
Eight bills passed with Democratic support —including major immigration and fentanyl bills. The Laken Riley Act has been signed into law.
Continue reading at Axios
Postal Service chief hands DOGE a cost-cutting wishlist
The United States Postal Service is asking DOGE for help in cutting costs and reforming the agency, according to a letter Postmaster General Louis DeJoy sent to Congress Monday.
Why it matters: DeJoy said he plans to cut 10,000 workers and billions of dollars from the budget.
DeJoy, who announced in February his intent to step down from the office at an undisclosed date, signed an agreement with Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency last week.
The big picture: DeJoy said in the letter that legislation has stopped USPS from making progress under his Delivering for America plan.
"The fact is that DOGE is the only other game in town that seems oriented toward helping us to achieve our efficiency and cost goals that are reflected in the DFA Plan," he wrote.
Between the lines: President Trump has said that he wants some kind of Commerce Department "merger" to ensure the agency "doesn't lose massive amounts of money."
Continue reading at Axios
Schumer’s damage-control efforts fall flat with liberal base
The Senate minority leader and his aides have been talking privately with liberal groups.
Chuck Schumer is in damage-control mode. It isn’t going great.
The Senate minority leader and his aides in recent days have been talking privately with liberal groups in an apparent effort to ease tensions after sparking a civil war in the Democratic Party over a stopgap funding bill, according to five people familiar with the conversations. They were granted anonymity to describe them in a frank manner, and some of the discussions were confirmed by Schumer himself on Monday to POLITICO.
The outreach by Schumer and his team included officials at Indivisible. The pro-Democratic organization called for him to step down from his leadership position on Saturday over what it saw as his unwillingness to resist President Donald Trump. Schumer enraged Democrats across the party on Friday by voting for a GOP bill to prevent a government shutdown.
Schumer spoke with Indivisible co-founder Ezra Levin, the people said, and he and his staff have been in communication with the group’s local leaders in New York, as well.
Continue reading at Politico
FDA staff return to crowded offices, broken equipment and missing chairs
WASHINGTON (AP) — Thousands of employees returned to the Food and Drug Administration’s headquarters Monday to find overflowing parking lots, long security lines and makeshift office spaces without chairs and other basic supplies.
The FDA is the latest agency scrambling to meet the Trump administration’s return-to-office mandate, part of a flurry of actions — including firings and buyouts — intended to radically shrink the federal workforce. Monday was the first day that all rank-and-file FDA staffers were required to report to offices, including the agency’s 130-acre campus just outside Washington.
The Associated Press spoke with more than a half-dozen FDA staffers who described long lines to park and clear security, followed by hours of hunting for space and supplies in offices that were not designed to accommodate the agency’s full workforce. The staffers spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak with the media.
Continue reading at the Associated Press
Judge says Fani Willis violated open records law, orders her to pay $54K in attorneys’ fees
ATLANTA (AP) — A judge has ordered Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis to pay more than $54,000 in attorneys’ fees and to turn over documents after finding that her office violated Georgia’s Open Records Act.
Attorney Ashleigh Merchant represents former Trump campaign staffer Michael Roman, one of the 18 people indicted in August 2023 along with President Donald Trump on allegations that they illegally tried to overturn Trump’s 2020 election loss in Georgia. Merchant sued in January 2024, alleging that the district attorney’s office had failed to turn over public records she had requested.
Fulton County Superior Court Judge Rachel Krause found that the failures to comply with the records law “were intentional, not done in good faith, and were substantially groundless and vexatious.” Because Willis and her office “lacked substantial justification” for not complying, Merchant is entitled to attorneys’ fees and litigation expenses totaling just over $54,000, Krause found.
Continue reading at the Associated Press
Netanyahu’s push to fire Israel’s domestic security chief sparks an uproar
TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s has fired or forced out a string of top officials since the deadly Hamas attack on Israel in 2023 that triggered the war in Gaza. The country’s domestic security chief is the newest target.
Netanyahu says he is motivated by a crisis of confidence and a need to get rid of officials who failed to prevent the Oct. 7, 2023, disaster.
But Netanyahu’s many critics say the dismissals are part of a broader campaign aimed at undermining independent government institutions. They say he is doing that to boost his reputation and maintain power while on trial for alleged corruption and facing public pressure to accept his own responsibility for policy failures in the lead-up to Oct. 7.
The announcement by Netanyahu on Sunday that he would seek to fire the director of the Shin Bet, Ronen Bar, came as the security service investigates ties between Netanyahu advisers and the Gulf state of Qatar.
Continue reading at the Associated Press
Texas midwife charged with illegally performing abortions
A Texas midwife was arrested and charged with illegally performing abortions, the state's attorney general announced Monday.
The big picture: The case is believed to be one of the first in which a health care provider was charged with violating a state abortion ban since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade.
Driving the news: Maria Margarita Rojas, 48, is accused of illegally operating a network of clinics in the Houston area, according to a statement from Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton's (R) office.
"These facilities unlawfully employed unlicensed individuals who falsely presented themselves as licensed medical professionals to provide medical treatment," the attorney general's office said.
Rojas, also known as "Dr. Maria," was charged with the illegal performance of an abortion, which is a second-degree felony in the state. She was also charged with practicing medicine without a license.
Continue reading at Axios
The judge who tried to stop the deportation planes is not happy with the Trump administration
Judge James Boasberg is demanding answers about the three planes that rushed Venezuelan nationals from the U.S. to El Salvador over the weekend.
A federal judge sharply questioned the Trump administration Monday about its decision to rush three planes carrying Venezuelan nationals out of U.S. airspace under President Donald Trump’s unprecedented invocation of wartime deportation powers against a criminal gang.
James Boasberg, the chief judge of the federal district court in Washington, was clearly galled by the government’s actions and legal arguments in the case, particularly its assertion that an order he issued Saturday to turn around any planes carrying such deportees had no force once they were outside U.S. territorial waters.
Only minutes before the hearing Monday, the Justice Department took the unusual step of asking a federal appeals court to remove Boasberg from the case altogether. The appeals court did not immediately act on that request.
At the heart of the issue is Trump’s invocation of the Alien Enemies Act, a 1798 statute intended to bolster the president’s ability to deport foreign nationals from countries with which the United States is at war. Trump issued a proclamation labeling Tren de Aragua, a Venezuelan criminal organization, as sufficiently linked to the Venezuelan government to trigger those wartime powers.
Continue reading at Politico
Words of advice for Trump ahead of high-stakes call with Putin
Some former U.S. officials would like the president to cancel it altogether.
President Donald Trump sees his Tuesday call with Russian President Vladimir Putin as a chance to bring an end to the war in Ukraine. But it also carries risks — both for the U.S. and its allies.
And so, some who know the region well have some advice for the president ahead of the highest-profile diplomatic discussions of his administration.
Former U.S. officials and diplomats say Trump should listen to Putin, but not make any commitments. Some recommend that he avoid expanding the conversation to broader questions about the entire security architecture in Europe.
And some think Trump — who has a long track record of sympathizing with Putin — should just scrap the call altogether.
The administration is setting high expectations for the call and the coming weeks. White House spokesperson Karoline Leavitt said Monday that Russia and the U.S. were at the “10th yard line for peace” and confirmed that Trump and Putin will discuss dividing land and other assets as part of a potential deal to end the war.
Continue reading at Politico
Newsom’s office seeks another $2.8B to plug Medicaid gap
The request comes on top of a $3.44 billion loan proposed last week, with costs for undocumented residents running higher than expected.
SACRAMENTO, California — Gov. Gavin Newsom’s administration is asking for an extra $2.8 billion immediately for the state’s Medicaid program, Medi-Cal, on top of a recently proposed $3.44 billion loan.
New budget figures laid out to state lawmakers on Monday showed the state will need to allocate additional funds from the general fund to fully cover Medi-Cal bills through the end of the year, after the loan proposed by the administration last week.
The figures also show that the biggest contributor to this year’s Medi-Cal hole is the insurance of undocumented immigrants, which is costing $2.7 billion more than the state had planned.
The new budget figures come as California navigates what has become a larger politically-charged debate over insuring undocumented immigrants — part of Newsom’s pledge to bring the state closer to universal health care coverage, regardless of immigration status. The state is trying to balance that promise with increased scrutiny of its immigration policies from the Trump administration in Washington.
“We took these steps because it’s important to maintain our commitment to our providers and plans to make timely payments for the remainder of the current year to ensure Californians and those on Medi-Cal get the services,” Michelle Baass, the director of the Department of Health Care Services, told state lawmakers in an Assembly budget subcommittee hearing Monday.
Continue reading at Politico
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Musical interlude
Daryl Hall gets better as he ages. Lyrics for these times; two amazing renditions.