General
Mueller team cites ‘press of other work’ in seeking delay until April 1 over request to open Manafort records
Spencer S. Hsu and Matt Zapotosky, The Washington Post
Prosecutors with special counsel Robert S. Mueller III’s team on Tuesday cited the “press of other work” in asking a judge to give them until April 1 to respond to the court about a request from The Washington Post to unseal records in Paul Manafort’s criminal case. In a two-page filing, Deputy Solicitor General Michael R. Dreeben and prosecutor Adam C. Jed wrote, “Counsel responsible for preparing the response face the press of other work and require additional time to consult within the government.”
The Justice Department And Trump’s Lawyers Argue No One Should Be Able To Sue Him For Profiting From His Hotel
Zoe Tillman, BuzzFeed News
President Donald Trump’s personal lawyers and attorneys from the Justice Department argued Tuesday that no one should be able to sue Trump for profiting from his businesses while he’s in office — and for the first time in more than a year, things went well for the president in the case. The US Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit heard arguments in a lawsuit brought by Maryland and the District of Columbia accusing Trump of violating the foreign and domestic emoluments clauses of the US Constitution by refusing to give up his interest in the Trump International Hotel in Washington.
“Everyone Thinks They’re Going to Sell”: Hellfire at Fox as Hannity Mulls Leaving and Lachlan Goes Full Donna Brazile on Trump
Gabriel Sherman, Vanity Fair
Donald Trump’s alliance with Fox News has been one of the few constants throughout his shambolic presidency. But in recent days, that bond has shown signs of fraying.
White House & Administration
Top U.S. trade officials head to China next week for new trade talks
David Lawder and Roberta Rampton, Reuters
U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin plan to travel to China next week for another round of trade talks with Chinese Vice Premier Liu He, a Trump administration official said on Tuesday. The resumption in face-to-face talks, the first since President Donald Trump delayed a March 1 deadline to raise tariffs on $200 billion worth of Chinese imports, marks an acceleration of the negotiations aimed at ending an eight-month trade war between the world’s two largest economies.
‘A total loser!’: Trump lashes out at George Conway, who has been questioning his mental health
Josh Dawsey and John Wagner, The Washington Post
President Trump on Tuesday ratcheted up a remarkable public spat with the husband of one of his top advisers, attacking Kellyanne Conway’s husband as “a total loser” on Twitter in response to the lawyer’s persistent questions about his mental health and competence. “A total loser!” Trump wrote in the tweet targeting Conway’s husband, a prominent conservative attorney.
Supreme Court rules for Trump on detaining immigrants
Ted Hesson, Politico
The Supreme Court on Tuesday ruled that the federal government can detain immigrants indefinitely for past crimes, even if they have been previously released. In a 5-4 decision that fell along ideological lines, the high court reversed lower court rulings that found immigrants could only be subject to mandatory detention without a bond hearing if they were detained promptly upon their release from custody.
Kushner’s Peace Plan ‘includes Land Swaps With Saudi Arabia,’ Book Claims
Amy Spiro, The Jerusalem Post
White House senior adviser Jared Kushner’s Middle East peace plan at one point included Jordan giving land to the Palestinian territories and in return getting land from Saudi Arabia, according to a new book on the Kushner family. The book, Kushner, Inc.: Greed. Ambition. Corruption. The Extraordinary Story of Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump, was written by Vicky Ward and released by St. Martin’s Press on Tuesday.
Mysterious Buyer Pumps $2.9 Million Into President Trump’s Coffers
Dan Alexander, Forbes
President Trump sold a $2.9 million New York City condo to a mysterious buyer March 8, in a previously unreported deal laid out in public documents. Officially, the buyer was an entity named Koctagon LLC. Limited liability companies, or LLCs, are often used to shield the identities of people purchasing real estate.
Senate
Meet the Democrat who plans to unite the party after 2020 turns ugly
Marianne Levine and Burgess Everett, Politico
Brian Schatz is no household name. But he’s already positioning himself as an influential figure in the 2020 presidential race — someone who can unite the party around a shared agenda even if the primary inevitably turns ugly.
Top Gillibrand aide to leave amid questions over sexual harassment investigation
Alex Thompson, Politico
Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand’s longtime deputy chief of staff, Anne Bradley, is leaving her Senate office next month, according to a person familiar with her plans. Bradley has been with Gillibrand since 2007 and had been planning to retire later this year.
House
House Homeland Security chair calls on Facebook, YouTube, Twitter and Microsoft to explain the spread of mosque shooting video
Laurie Feiner, CNBC
The House Homeland Security Committee chairman called on tech leaders Tuesday to explain how a violent video of Friday’s New Zealand mosque shooting spread on their platforms. Rep. Bennie Thompson, a Democrat from Mississippi, wrote to the CEOs of Facebook, Twitter, Microsoft and Google’s YouTube to request a briefing in front of the committee on March 27.
Exclusive: Nancy Pelosi pushes back on Democratic critics of her impeachment stance
Eliza Collins, USA Today
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi dismissed fellow Democrats who say she has set the bar too high for impeachment of President Donald Trump. In an exclusive interview with USA TODAY, Pelosi said some House progressives have “wanted to impeach the president since the day he got elected.
Asked Whether White Societies Are Superior, Steve King Demurs
Catie Edmondson, The New York Times
It was the kind of question that a politician should have been able to handle with ease, but Representative Steve King is not any politician. “Do you think a white society is superior to a nonwhite society?” Mary Lavelle, 63, asked, testing his reputation for white supremacist sympathies.
2020
World leaders urging Biden to run
Daniel Lippmann, Politico
When Joe Biden attended the annual Munich Security Conference last month, the wonky foreign policy confab promised an escape from the nonstop speculation back home about the former vice president’s political plans. Instead, Biden’s 2020 intentions were the talk of the conference.
Bernie Sanders Just Hired His Twitter Attack Dog
Edward-Isaa Dovere, The Atlantic
Shortly before he gave speeches launching his 2020 campaign earlier this month, Bernie Sanders emailed his supporters, urging them to “do our very best to engage respectfully with our Democratic opponents—talking about the issues we are fighting for, not about personalities or past grievances. I want to be clear that I condemn bullying and harassment of any kind and in any space.” What he didn’t include was that one of the people already advising him and helping him write those launch speeches is one of his most famously aggressive supporters online.
Money, power and data: Inside Trump’s re-election machine
Jeremy Diamond et al., CNN
There are no moldy pipes or electrical wires hanging from the ceiling in the new headquarters for President Donald Trump’s 2020 campaign. The walls aren’t lined with an eclectic assortment of Trump swag and fan mail. There is no “wall of shame” exhibiting pictures of vanquished rivals.
Candidates reach for the magic ticket to Democratic debates: 65,000 donors
Michael Scherer, The Washington Post
The latest turn in the Democratic presidential race looks a bit like an infomercial for a food dehydrator or Ginsu knives. Former congressman John Delaney stands in front of a whiteboard in an online video, pitching voters on a new way to double their money. “It’s really simple, and it’s actually a pretty good deal,” the Maryland Democrat says.
Dem super PAC launches first 2020 ads in $100 million campaign
David Wright, CNN
A leading Democratic super PAC launched its first digital ad campaign of the 2020 election cycle Tuesday after pledging to spend $100 million on early efforts in key battleground states. The group, Priorities USA, announced a six-figure digital ad buy airing in four key battleground states that are targeted in the early spending initiative: Florida, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.
DCCC raises record sum in February
Laura Barrón-López, Politico
The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee raised a record $11.6 million last month, more than the House Democrats’ campaign arm has ever raised in any February — even in an election year. Of the $11.6 million, $4.6 million came from the DCCC’s grassroots network online, via phone or from mail, the committee said in a news release first provided to POLITICO.
States
Gov. Hogan to Amazon: ‘We are still here, and we are still interested’
Rachel Chason, The Washington Post
Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan (R) said Tuesday that he pitched Maryland as a possible alternative to New York for Amazon’s second headquarters in a recent conversation with leaders at the company and is not giving up on luring the retail giant to the state. Amazon officials have said they do not intend to reopen a search for a second headquarters but will continue with plans to put at least 25,000 jobs at a new campus in Arlington, Va.
Gillum to launch Florida voter-registration campaign to trip up Trump
Gary Fineout, Politico
Andrew Gillum has launched a Florida voter registration group dedicated to defeating President Donald Trump’s re-election chances in the nation’s largest swing state. The former Tallahassee mayor and Democratic nominee for governor is expected to formally announce the effort today at a speech in Miami Gardens.
Advocacy
How Executives Vote With Their Wallets
Andrew Ross Sorkin, The New York Times
The Business Roundtable, the top lobbying organization for industry in Washington, is often characterized as a nonpartisan or bipartisan organization. It represents more than 200 large companies — from oil giants to tech sweethearts — with more than $7 trillion of revenue and more than 15 million workers of all political stripes.
‘I Don’t Want My Client to Be Blindsided’: Executives and Their Lawyers Brace for Rep. Katie Porter’s Questions
C. Ryan Barber, The National Law Review
The California Democrat’s distinctive questions are tripping up executives. White-collar and congressional lawyers have taken notice—and here’s what they have to say about it.
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Opinions, Editorials and Perspectives
The Case for Investigating Facebook
David N. Cicilline, The New York Times
A year ago, the world learned that Facebook allowed a political consulting company called Cambridge Analytica to exploit the personal information of up to 87 million users, to obtain data that would help the company’s clients “fight a culture war” in America. Since then, a torrent of reports has revealed that the Cambridge Analytica scandal was part of a much broader pattern of misconduct by Facebook.
The White House hasn’t turned over a single piece of paper to my committee
Elijah Cummings, The New York Times
In November, the American people voted overwhelmingly to put Democrats in charge of the House of Representatives to start serving as a truly independent check and balance on the executive branch. Since then, President Trump and his allies have complained of “Presidential Harassment,” decrying Democrats for having the audacity to request documents and witnesses to fulfill our constitutional responsibilities.
Why America Needs a Stronger Defense Industry
Peter Navarro, The New York Times
On Wednesday, President Trump will visit Lima, Ohio, to tour the Joint Systems Manufacturing Center, one of America’s premier defense facilities and the last tank factory in the Western Hemisphere. The story of the day may be about how the Trump administration saved the Lima plant from a near-death experience under President Barack Obama.
Research Reports and Polling
Mass Incarceration: The Whole Pie 2019
Wendy Sawyer and Peter Wagner, Prison Policy Initiative
Can it really be true that most people in jail are being held before trial? And how much of mass incarceration is a result of the war on drugs? These questions are harder to answer than you might think, because our country’s systems of confinement are so fragmented.
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