General
Supreme Court weighs Trump’s push to add citizenship question to census
David G. Savage, Los Angeles Times
President Trump’s lawyers will urge the Supreme Court on Tuesday to overturn three lower courts and to clear the way for census takers to ask all American households next year whether their residents are U.S. citizens. Debates over the census are usually reserved for demographers and statisticians, but the dispute over the citizenship question is one of high politics.
The Supreme Court Will Decide Whether Employers Can Discriminate Against LGBT Employees
Ema O’Connor, BuzzFeed News
The Supreme Court announced Monday that it will decide whether it’s illegal under federal law for employers to discriminate against gay and transgender workers. The case centers around Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which bans discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, national origin, or sex.
Giuliani Puts Off Formal Rebuttal to Mueller as He Defends Trump
Shannon Pettypiece, Bloomberg
Donald Trump’s legal team has decided to shelve a plan to issue a formal rebuttal to Robert Mueller’s report, said Rudy Giuliani, even as the president unleashes his own attempts on Twitter to discredit the special counsel and his findings. The president’s lawyers will focus instead on knocking down specific accounts in Mueller’s report as they surface in news media, Giuliani, Trump’s personal attorney, said Monday in an interview.
How China is replacing America as Asia’s military titan
David Lague and Benjamin Kang, Reuters
In 1938, in the midst of a long campaign to bring China under Communist Party rule, revolutionary leader Mao Zedong wrote: “Whoever has an army has power.” Xi Jinping, Mao’s latest successor, has taken that dictum to heart.
White House & Administration
Trump’s aides ignoring impeachment chatter
Gabby Orr and Katie Galioto, Politico
Impeachment talk is racing around Washington. Democrats pressed the issue on a caucus conference call Monday. Some White House hopefuls are urging Congress to take action.
US threatens to veto UN resolution on rape as weapon of war, officials say
Julian Borger, The Guardian
The US is threatening to veto a United Nations resolution on combatting the use of rape as a weapon of war because of its language on reproductive and sexual health, according to a senior UN official and European diplomats. The German mission hopes the resolution will be adopted at a special UN security council session on Tuesday on sexual violence in conflict.
Donald Trump to pay first state visit to Britain in June
Demetri Sevastopulo and Jim Pickard, Financial Times
Donald Trump will pay his first state visit to Britain in June, nearly one year after he sparked controversy during his last trip to the UK by saying Prime Minister Theresa May’s Brexit plan would “probably kill” a trade deal with the US. British government figures confirmed the US president would make a state visit, one month after he heads to Japan for a state visit that will see him become the first world leader to meet the new Japanese emperor.
‘That’s robbery’: Concerns mount over Jared Kushner’s role in GOP money machine
Tom LoBianco, Yahoo News
Jared Kushner got the GOP’s small-dollar money machine finally moving, but in a twist befitting of the insular world of Republican campaign consultants, Trump’s influential son-in-law is also now being cited as a stumbling block for the critical effort. WINRED is the proposed small-dollar “payment processor” that the Republican National Committee and the campaign of President Trump hope to spread across the universe of Republican campaigns to generate enough money to keep up with the Democrats’ wildly successful small-dollar fundraising machine, ActBlue.
Trump’s Iran Policy Is Not Changing the Regime’s Behavior
Glen Carey and Ladane Nasseri, Bloomberg
The U.S. struck yet another blow against Iran on April 22 when the White House announced it would end all sanctions exemptions for countries that import Iranian crude oil. “We’re going to zero,” Secretary of State Michael Pompeo said during a press conference on the policy change. Any nation that continues to buy oil from Iran, he said, will face its own sanctions.
Senate
Senate GOP says it’s time to move from Mueller
Manu Raju and Jeremy Herb, CNN
Senate Republicans say it’s time to move on from special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation. While House Democrats are ramping up their investigations of President Donald Trump and asking that Mueller testify, Senate Republicans say they don’t see the need to follow up on the Mueller report or bring him before their committees.
How Mitch McConnell Became King of the Internet Trolls
Sam Brodey and Will Sommer, The Daily Beast
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) kicked off his 2020 reelection bid last Wednesday with a dose of high-octane trolling. In addition to touting his record “defending conservatism” and “delivering for the commonwealth,” his fresh new website included a 404 error page featuring perhaps his signature achievement: a photo of Merrick Garland, the Obama Supreme Court nominee whom McConnell blocked.
Sen. Lindsey Graham Bewilders Ivanka Trump’s Women’s Conference With Terrorism Rant
Erin Banco, The Daily Beast
While on a trip to Cote d’Ivoire last week to help Ivanka Trump promote women’s access to capital in Africa, Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) warned of religious wars with “radical ideology” that would be “hell on earth for women” if they are not “destroyed.” “It’s the enemy of mankind, not just the United States,” Graham said, of the theoretical invaders, according to a recording provided to The Daily Beast.
House
House Democratic leaders say no immediate plans to open impeachment proceedings against Trump
Rachael Bade et al., The Washington Post
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi told lawmakers Monday that there are no plans to immediately open impeachment proceedings against President Trump, rejecting calls from several Democrats to initiate steps to try to oust the president. In a rare Monday night conference call, the California Democrat stressed that the near-term strategy in the wake of special counsel Robert S. Mueller III’s report is to focus on investigating the president and seeing where the inquiries lead.
Congress deadline looms for release of Trump tax returns
David Morgan, Reuters
The U.S. Treasury and Internal Revenue Service faced a final deadline on Tuesday for handing over President Donald Trump’s tax returns to Democrats in Congress, in a showdown that could mire the administration and lawmakers in a lengthy legal fight. Representative Richard Neal, Democratic chairman of the House of Representatives Ways and Means Committee, requested six years of Trump’s individual and business returns on April 3 and has set a final deadline of 5 p.m. EDT (2100 GMT) on Tuesday, informing IRS Commissioner Charles Rettig in a letter that failure to comply would be viewed as a denial.
2020
Impeachment, felons voting divides Democrats at CNN forums
Steve Peoples and Hunter Woodall, The Associated Press
California Sen. Kamala Harris joined the call for President Donald Trump’s impeachment as five leading Democratic presidential contenders clashed in a series of prime-time town hall meetings that exposed deep divisions in a party desperate to end the Trump presidency. Harris’ unexpected support for impeachment follows Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren’s push for Congress to begin the process to remove the Republican president following the release of special counsel Robert Mueller’s redacted report — a plan all but certain to fail without significant Republican support.
Elizabeth Warren’s Higher Education Plan: Cancel Student Debt and Eliminate Tuition
Astead W. Herndon, The New York Times
Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, who has structured her presidential campaign around a steady unveiling of disruptive policy ideas, on Monday proposed her biggest one yet: a $1.25 trillion plan to reshape higher education by canceling most student loan debt and eliminating tuition at every public college. Ms. Warren’s sweeping plan has several planks. She would pay for it with revenue generated by her proposed increase in taxes for America’s most wealthy families and corporations, which the campaign estimates to be $2.75 trillion over 10 years.
Joe Biden campaign launch back in flux, potentially delayed
Jonathan Tamari and Chris Brennan, The Philadelphia Inquirer
Joe Biden’s plans are in flux again. If the former vice president does launch his presidential campaign this week, it won’t involve a trip to Charlottesville, Va., and plans for potential public events in Pennsylvania are also uncertain, according to sources familiar with his plans.
No one knows what Joe Biden thinks about health care
Sarah Kliff, Vox
Trying to figure out what Joe Biden thinks about health care is not an easy task. Most other prominent Democrats, including those vying for the nomination, are out stumping for single-payer.
Rivals are scrambling to dig up dirt on Pete Buttigieg
Josh Lederman, NBC News
Caught off guard by his sudden surge, Pete Buttigieg’s rivals are scrambling to find vulnerabilities and lines of attack that can be used against him, five officials with opposing Democratic primary campaigns and Republican political groups tell NBC News. The situation is different than with Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren and Joe Biden, Democrats who have long been on the national scene and were widely expected to run for president.
States
After Democrats Surged In 2018, Republican-Run States Eye New Curbs On Voting
Ashley Lopez et al., NPR News
After high turnout in last year’s midterm elections propelled Democrats to a new House majority and big gains in the states, several Republican-controlled state legislatures are attempting to change voting-related rules in ways that might reduce future voter turnout. In Texas, state lawmakers are considering adding criminal penalties for people who improperly fill out voter registration forms.
New governors chart ambitious paths in first 100 days
Reid Wilson, The Hill
About 100 days into their new jobs, governors who took office earlier this year have sprinted out of the gate, signaling ambitious agendas that will compete to set the course of the national political debate for years to come. The 19 new governors who first won office in November have collectively signed about 2,000 bills into law, issued dozens of executive orders and set out policy priorities on everything from teacher pay raises to environmental reforms and infrastructure packages.
Fairfax reaps $50,000 donation and looks ahead to two fundraisers
Laura Vozzella, The Washington Post
On the day Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax filed a campaign finance report showing he hadn’t raised a cent since two women publicly accused him of sexual assault, the embattled Democrat got a quick infusion of $50,000 from a friend. The hefty donation from Andrew Rosen, dated April 15 and made public Monday through the nonpartisan Virginia Public Access Project, came as the state’s three top Democrats — Fairfax, Gov. Ralph Northam and Attorney General Mark R. Herring — try to move past separate scandals that erupted in early February.
Advocacy
Facebook Hires Top State Department Lawyer and Bill Gates’s Former PR Chief
Jeff Horwitz, The Wall Street Journal
Facebook Inc. FB is bringing on a new top lawyer and a communications boss to handle the mounting regulatory and public-relations issues facing the social-media giant. The company named Jennifer Newstead as its general counsel on Monday, putting a longtime Washington attorney in charge of its legal affairs at a time when it is increasingly engaged with regulators around the world about how best to police social media.
K Street boom extends under Trump, House Dems
Alex Gangitano, The Hill
K Street kicked off the first quarter of 2019 with firms seeing modest increases in revenue, showing the so-called Trump effect going strong. Firms have been busy with Trump pushing ahead on his trade agenda among other issues and with House Democrats passing a slew of bills and ramping up oversight after retaking the chamber.
K Street gets behind Mayor Pete Buttigieg
Kate Ackley, Roll Call
A collection of prominent K Street insiders has jumped behind the Pete Buttigieg campaign, helping the South Bend, Indiana, mayor’s bid in the Democratic 2020 presidential contest with fundraising and strategy. It’s striking that longtime federal lobbyists, policy strategists and message makers are gravitating to the D.C. outsider’s campaign given the long list of sitting lawmakers who are also running. K Street denizens, though they often bring with them the baggage of working on behalf of corporate interests, offer campaigns a network of donors and fundraising expertise as well as policy chops and sway on Capitol Hill.
Opinions, Editorials and Perspectives
F-15EX Needed to Compete With Russia and China
Mike Hostage, Morning Consult
To compete and win against near-peer competitors such as Russia and China, the United States Air Force needs both fourth- and fifth-generation fighters. That simple reality has generated a contentious debate this year, with Air Force leaders defending the need to buy new F-15EX aircraft to maintain a diverse mix of capabilities across the fighter fleet.
Congress must ensure that Trump is working for the American people — not foreign interests
Adam Schiff, The Washington Post
Special counsel Robert S. Mueller III’s report chronicles a “sweeping and systematic” Russian effort to interfere in the 2016 election in favor of Donald Trump. It details a damning web of contacts between Russian actors and a Trump campaign that welcomed and sought to capitalize on the interference, as well as an out-of-control president determined to obstruct the investigation.
There’s a Bigger Prize Than Impeachment
Joe Lockhart, The New York Times
In the fall of 1998, Erskine Bowles, the White House chief of staff, traveled to Capitol Hill to meet with the speaker of the House. Mr. Bowles enjoyed a better relationship with Speaker Newt Gingrich than anyone in the Clinton White House, partly based on a shared Southern heritage and commitment to fiscal conservatism.
The 2020 Election Is Going to Make 2016 Look Like a Student Council Election
Matt Lewis, The Daily Beast
It’s time we face facts about 2020. It will be so dirty, brimming with disinformation, and packed with hackers that it’ll make 2016 look like a student council election.
Research Reports and Polling
The Mueller Report Really Didn’t Change Much At All: Poll
Ariel Edwards-Levy, HuffPost
The Mueller report has bolstered President Donald Trump’s critics in their conviction that the president committed wrongdoing, but has otherwise done little to jostle deeply polarized public opinion, a new HuffPost/YouGov poll suggests. The survey was conducted immediately following the release last Thursday of special counsel Robert Mueller’s redacted report on the Trump campaign’s relationship with Russia.
|
