• Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) announced he will seek the Democratic nomination for president again. In an interview, Hillary Clinton’s 2016 primary challenger acknowledged that he will encounter a “very different campaign” this go-around, and said 2020’s candidates should be judged “not by the color of their skin, not by their sexual orientation or their gender and not by their age,” but “based on their abilities, based on what they stand for.” (VPR News)

• Sixteen states filed suit against President Donald Trump’s effort to fund his proposed U.S.-Mexico border wall by invoking emergency powers, the third in a string of legal challenges. Led by California, the states alleged that Trump engaged in an “unlawful scheme” when he “used the pretext of a manufactured ‘crisis’” to declare an emergency. (Politico)

• Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein is expected to leave the Justice Department in mid-March, according to a Justice Department source. The exit of the man who oversees special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia probe could serve as another signal that Mueller’s work is coming to a close, though the Justice Department official disputed the idea. (CNN)

Air Force to push Congress for military housing tenant bill of rights
M.B. Pell and Deborah Nelson, Reuters

Aiming to grant military families far greater say to challenge hazardous housing, the U.S. Air Force told Reuters Monday it will push Congress to enact a tenant bill of rights allowing families the power to withhold rent or break leases to escape unsafe conditions. The proposed measure, outlined in an interview at the Pentagon by Secretary of the Air Force Heather Wilson and Chief of Staff David L. Goldfein, follows complaints from military families who say they are often powerless to challenge private industry landlords when they encounter dangerous mold, lead paint and vermin infestations.

Chinese and Iranian Hackers Renew Their Attacks on U.S. Companies
Nicole Perlroth, The New York Times

Businesses and government agencies in the United States have been targeted in aggressive attacks by Iranian and Chinese hackers who security experts believe have been energized by President Trump’s withdrawal from the Iran nuclear deal last year and his trade conflicts with China. Recent Iranian attacks on American banks, businesses and government agencies have been more extensive than previously reported.

Trump Considering Powell, Craft, Grenell, James for UN Job, Sources Say
Jennifer Jacobs, Bloomberg

President Donald Trump is considering four people to be his next UN ambassador: Goldman Sachs Group Inc. partner Dina Powell, the current ambassadors to Canada and Germany, Kelly Craft and Richard Grenell, and John James, a former Republican U.S. Senate candidate from Michigan, according to people familiar with the matter. The people asked not to be identified because Trump hasn’t made a decision.

Andrew McCabe’s Warning to Trump: Mueller Won’t Be Intimidated
Natasha Bertrand, The Atlantic

In the months before President Donald Trump fired FBI Director James Comey, FBI counterintelligence agents investigating Russian election interference were also collecting evidence suggesting that Trump could be compromised by Russian President Vladimir Putin. Andrew McCabe, the former FBI deputy director who oversaw the bureau’s Russia investigation, told me in an interview conducted late last week that concerns about Trump had been building “for some time”—and that he was convinced the FBI would have been justified in opening a case against the president.

Trump ramps up pressure on Venezuela’s Maduro in speech
Jeremy Diamond and Betsy Klein, CNN

President Donald Trump on Monday urged Venezuelan military officials to back the country’s self-declared interim president Juan Guaido and allow humanitarian aid to flow into Venezuela. Speaking in Miami as humanitarian aid remained stalled at the Venezuelan border, Trump decried President Nicolas Maduro as a “Cuban puppet” and warned officials who have helped keep him in power that “the eyes of the entire world are upon you.”

U.S. Weighs Opening Liaison Office in North Korea
Michael R. Gordon and Andrew Jeong, The Wall Street Journal

The U.S. is considering opening a liaison office in North Korea, in what would be another potential step toward normalizing relations while the two sides negotiate to curtail Pyongyang’s nuclear and missile forces, according to a Trump administration official. The proposal comes as President Trump prepares to meet later this month in Hanoi, Vietnam, with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

Trump to approve lean Space Force
Jacqueline Klimas, Politico

President Donald Trump will sign a directive on Tuesday to establish a new branch of the military dedicated to space but instead of being a fully independent department it will remain part of the Air Force to assuage concerns in Congress, a senior administration official told POLITICO. The presidential directive, formally called Space Policy Directive 4, will set the groundwork for a subsequent legislative proposal for Congress, which will have the final say over what has been a signature military objective since Trump announced his intentions nearly a year ago.

Trump Admin Weighs Shielding Venezuelan Migrants from Deportation
Betsy Woodruff, The Daily Beast

Senior officials at the State Department have been seriously weighing whether to push to protect Venezuelans in the U.S. from deportation, according to internal communications The Daily Beast reviewed. People from several other countries, including Somalia and Yemen, currently have the same Temporary Protected Status status, which also grants migrants short-term work permits.

Shinzo Abe Won’t Say if He Nominated Trump for a Nobel Prize
Motoko Rich, The New York Times

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe of Japan moved to put the Nobel genie back in the bottle on Monday when he told the country’s Parliament that he would not comment on President Trump’s surprise announcement that Mr. Abe had nominated him for the Nobel Peace Prize. Mr. Trump’s announcement on Friday, in which he boasted that Mr. Abe had given him “the most beautiful copy of a letter that he sent to the people who give out a thing called the Nobel Prize,” caused a stir in the Japanese news media and in Parliament, where Mr. Abe was questioned about the alleged nomination.

Emails reveal coordination between Chao, McConnell offices
Tanya Snyder, Politico

A trove of more than 800 pages of emails sheds new light on the working relationship between Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, one of the most potent power couples in Washington — including their dealings with McConnell supporters from their home state of Kentucky. Chao has met at least 10 times with politicians and business leaders from the state in response to requests from McConnell’s office, according to documents provided to POLITICO by the watchdog group American Oversight.

Warren to Propose Universal Child Care Plan Funded by Wealth Tax
Sahil Kapur, Bloomberg

Democratic presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren is proposing a universal child care plan that would limit American families’ expenses to 7 percent of income regardless of how many children they have in care -paid for by a tax on the ultra-wealthy. The Massachusetts senator’s plan, to be unveiled Tuesday, would make child care free for families with incomes below 200 percent of the poverty level, or less than $51,500 for a family of four, according to a person familiar with the plan.

Graham Vows To Investigate ‘Administrative Coup’ In FBI, Justice Department
Sasha Ingber, NPR News

Sen. Lindsey Graham, the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, has vowed to launch an investigation into whether top officials at the Justice Department and the FBI had plotted an “administrative coup” to drive President Trump out of office. Kevin Bishop, a spokesperson for Graham, tells NPR that no date has been set yet for a hearing.

Steve King urges crowd to pray for Kevin McCarthy to restore committee assignments
Brett Hayworth, Sioux City Journal

In front of another friendly audience Monday, U.S. Rep. Steve King urged his supporters to pray for House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy to restore King’s committee assignments, saying the California Republican needs to “separate his ego from this issue and look at it objectively.” The Iowa 4th District congressman, long an opponent of illegal immigration, also offered strong backing for President Donald Trump’s declaration of a national emergency to finance a wall at the U.S.-Mexico border.

Obama Quietly Gives Advice to 2020 Democrats, but No Endorsement
Alexander Burns, The New York Times

A secret meeting of former President Barack Obama’s financial backers convened in Washington early this month: Organized by David Jacobson and John Phillips, Mr. Obama’s former ambassadors to Canada and Italy, the group interviewed an array of 2020 presidential candidates and debated whether to throw their wealth behind one or two of them. Mr. Obama had no role in the event, but it unfolded in his political shadow: As presidential hopefuls like Senators Kamala Harris, Cory Booker, Amy Klobuchar and Sherrod Brown auditioned before them, the donors wondered aloud whether Mr. Obama might signal a preference in the race, according to three people briefed on the meeting, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Why Is CNN Paying John Kasich to Seemingly Trial-Balloon a 2020 Run?
Maxwell Tani, The Daily Beast

CNN’s political news reporters have found themselves in a bizarre, murky position: One of their newest colleagues may very likely run for president. Before and since joining CNN a month ago as a paid on-air contributor, John Kasich has made no secret that he could run for president again.

Amy Klobuchar’s novel pitch for the Democratic nomination: Pragmatism
Jeff Zeleny, CNN

Sen. Amy Klobuchar seems willing to say one word that often goes unspoken by presidential candidates eager to win over voters: No. At a CNN town hall with voters here on Monday night, the Minnesota Democrat offered few sugar-coated promises on causes that have become popular among the party’s progressive base.

Elizabeth Warren’s Native American Ancestry Draws a Shrug From These Voters
Astead W. Herndon, The New York Times

Anna Stein, 44, doesn’t have a preferred presidential candidate yet for the 2020 Democratic nomination. But one thing is certain, she says: Elizabeth Warren’s handling of her Native American ancestry claims will not factor into her decision.

Howard Schultz: “I will not be a spoiler”
Mike Allen, Axios

Howard Schultz tries to turn electability back on Democrats in a letter to supporters today, pledging that he is committed to making sure an independent run for president would do “nothing to re-elect Donald Trump”: What he’s saying: “As I’m sure you’ve seen,” Schultz writes, “there have been some skeptical and even downright angry comments from party activists and inside-the-Beltway pundits in the press and on social media. Others have expressed genuine fears  that an independent candidate could help re-elect President Trump.”

New details of ‘unlawful ballot scheme’ emerge at 9th Congressional District hearing
Brian Murphy and Jim Morrill, The News & Observer

The stepdaughter of a Bladen County political operative detailed how she said his ballot harvesting operation worked on the first day of the state board’s hearing Monday into voting irregularities in the unresolved 2018 election in North Carolina’s 9th Congressional District. Lisa Britt, whose mother was married to Leslie McCrae Dowless in the early 1990s, testified that Dowless paid workers to collect absentee ballot request forms and mail-in absentee ballots and drop them off at his office and his home.

West Virginia teachers to strike Tuesday: ‘We are left with no other choice’
Kristin Lam, USA Today

West Virginia teachers’ unions announced they will go on strike Tuesday, almost one year after a statewide walkout and in response to a bill they say is retaliatory. Union leaders at a news conference late Monday cited frustration with Republican leaders’ deliberations over proposed education legislation.

Kim Reynolds won’t appeal ruling striking down ‘fetal heartbeat’ law
Stephen Gruber-Miller and Barbara Rodriguez, Des Moines Register

Gov. Kim Reynolds said Monday that she will not appeal a ruling that struck down a state law that banned most abortions after a fetal heartbeat is detected. Her decision not to appeal means the law will never take effect, handing a major victory to supporters of legal abortion.

Director of ‘dark money’ group fighting T-Mobile merger with Sprint is a telecom lobbyist
Anna Massoglia and Karl Evers-Hillstrom, OpenSecrets

As regulators examine T-Mobile’s proposed $26.5 billion acquisition of telecom giant Sprint, a mysterious “dark money” nonprofit with links to industry competitors is attempting to label the merger as a national security threat. Protect America’s Wireless (PAW) was launched in October 2018 and immediately got to work attacking the merger, raising concerns that both companies have a history of using equipment from Chinese telecom companies ZTE and Huawei.

Thanks to Trump, Refugees Fleeing Authoritarian States Are No Longer Welcome
Donald J. Boudreaux and Jeffrey Mason, Morning Consult

The United States has a long and proud tradition of refugee resettlement, especially for individuals fleeing authoritarian governments and failing states. In a 1981 speech on immigration, President Ronald Reagan remarked that “We shall continue America’s tradition as a land that welcomes peoples from other countries. We shall also, with other countries, continue to share in the responsibility of welcoming and resettling those who flee oppression.”

Millennial socialism
The Economist

After the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, the 20th century’s ideological contest seemed over. Capitalism had won and socialism became a byword for economic failure and political oppression.

How Mitch McConnell Enables Trump
Adam Jentleson, The New York Times

Among the casualties of President Trump’s declaration of a national emergency to build his border wall is the reputation of the majority leader Mitch McConnell as a Senate institutionalist. The evidence of the last few days has confirmed, if there were still any doubt, that he is no such thing.

I’m willing to testify in public. Justin Fairfax should, too.
Meredith Watson, The Washington Post

When I came forward to report that Virginia Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax raped me when we were both Duke University students in 2000, I did so to support another victim of sexual assault and to remove that man from a position of national prominence. Despite the professed belief of numerous elected officials in Virginia and elsewhere that Vanessa Tyson, who says that Fairfax sexually assaulted her in 2004, and I have brought forward credible allegations, the Virginia General Assembly has not taken the simple and responsible step of arranging the thorough public hearing that we have sought.

Poll: 6-In-10 Disapprove Of Trump’s Declaration Of A National Emergency
Domenico Montanaro, NPR News

More than 6-in-10 Americans disapprove of President Trump’s decision to declare a national emergency so he can build barriers along the U.S border with Mexico, a new NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist poll finds. Nearly 6-in-10 also don’t believe there is an emergency at the southern border and that the president is misusing his presidential authority.