General
Border Patrol finds four bodies, including three children, in South Texas
Tim Stelloh, NBC News
Border Patrol agents found four bodies, including three children, near the Rio Grande River in South Texas on Sunday, Hidalgo County Sheriff Eddie Guerra said. Two of the children were infants and one was a toddler, Guerra said. A 20-year-old woman also was found, he said.
Lawmakers Skeptical of Asylum-Law Changes in Two Weeks
William Mauldin and Catherine Lucey, The Wall Street Journal
U.S. lawmakers on Sunday expressed doubts that they could advance legislation to toughen the asylum process for migrants in the next two weeks, as demanded by President Trump and Vice President Mike Pence after the administration delayed a planned weekend round of deportations. Democrats signaled they would rather focus on a comprehensive immigration overhaul or measures to fund the asylum process at the border.
North Korea’s Kim receives ‘excellent letter’ from Trump, state media says
Simon Denyer, The Washington Post
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has received an “excellent” letter from President Trump and is seriously considering what his American counterpart had to say, North Korean state media reported Sunday. Earlier this month, Trump announced he had received a “beautiful letter” from Kim, breaking the silence between the two men since a summit in Hanoi in February ended in failure.
GOP to launch new fundraising site as Dems crush the online money game
Alex Isenstadt, Politico
Republicans are set to launch a long-awaited, much-delayed online fundraising platform on Monday, a move aimed at closing Democrats’ massive small-donor money advantage ahead of the 2020 election. WinRed is being billed as the GOP’s answer to the Democratic Party’s ActBlue, which has already amassed over $174 million this year.
Ex-Trump adviser Flynn to appear in court with Mueller critic as his new lawyer
Sarah N. Lynch, Reuters
U.S. President Donald Trump’s convicted former national security adviser Michael Flynn will appear in court on Monday for the first time since hiring a new lawyer who criticized Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election. The lawyer, Sidney Powell, is a conservative commentator who frequently appears on Fox News and sells t-shirts that say “Creeps on a Mission” featuring images of Mueller, former FBI Director James Comey and other Justice Department officials.
White House & Administration
White House Is Pressing for Additional Options, Including in Cyberspace, to Deter Iranian Attacks
Julian E. Barnes et al., The New York Times
American intelligence and military officers are working on additional clandestine plans to counter Iranian aggression in the Persian Gulf, pushed by the White House to develop new options that could help deter Tehran without escalating tensions into a full-out conventional war, according to current and former officials. The goal is to develop operations similar to the cyberattacks conducted on Thursday and that echo the shadow war the United States has accused Tehran of carrying out with attacks on oil tankers in the Middle East, according to American officials briefed on the effort. Iran maintains that it was not responsible for the attacks on the tankers.
How Trump’s team staffed the U.S. government
Jonathan Swan, Axios
The documents are the product of a hasty, dysfunctional, thrown-together effort to put together a presidential administration. Chris Christie helmed a traditional transition effort during the campaign. Then, after Trump won, Steve Bannon fired him and tossed most of his work.
White House to assert ‘immunity’ claims over ex-McGahn aide
Andrew Desiderio, Politico
The White House is expected to move to block former top aide Annie Donaldson from answering the House Judiciary Committee’s written questions about her tenure as White House deputy counsel, according to sources familiar with the matter. Donaldson, who was a central witness in special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation, struck a deal with the committee that would allow her to submit written responses instead of showing up for her scheduled public testimony on Monday.
Agriculture Department buries studies showing dangers of climate change
Helena Bottemiller Evich, Politico
The Trump administration has refused to publicize dozens of government-funded studies that carry warnings about the effects of climate change, defying a longstanding practice of touting such findings by the Agriculture Department’s acclaimed in-house scientists. The studies range from a groundbreaking discovery that rice loses vitamins in a carbon-rich environment — a potentially serious health concern for the 600 million people world-wide whose diet consists mostly of rice — to a finding that climate change could exacerbate allergy seasons to a warning to farmers about the reduction in quality of grasses important for raising cattle.
Kushner conference was supposed to bring Israelis and Palestinians together. Neither side is likely to show up.
Anne Gearan et al., The Washington Post
A U.S.-backed investment conference to drum up business for Palestinians will have no Palestinian government representatives and Israeli officials appear unlikely to attend, leaving in doubt whether the session can raise significant money or political support for President Trump’s effort to strike a Middle East peace deal. The investment and development gathering that opens Tuesday in Manama, Bahrain, includes a roster of wealthy and powerful figures from international business and finance, many with connections to Trump’s aide and son-in-law, Jared Kushner, who organized the session.
Senate
Bipartisan senators want Big Tech to put a price on your data
Kim Hart, Axios
Senators Mark Warner (D-Va.) and Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) will introduce legislation on Monday to require Facebook, Google, Amazon and other major platforms to disclose the value of their users’ data, as first reported Sunday evening on “Axios on HBO.” Why it matters: Our personal data is arguably our most valuable asset in the digital age, but internet users don’t have any way of knowing how much their data is actually worth.
House
House Democrats Warn Kellyanne Conway of Possible Subpoena
William Mauldin and Natalie Andrews, The Wall Street Journal
A House committee is warning senior presidential adviser Kellyanne Conway that it may subpoena her testimony if she fails to attend a hearing this week over alleged ethics violations. The House Oversight Committee said Sunday that its chairman, Rep. Elijah Cummings (D., Md.), will hold a vote to authorize a subpoena if she doesn’t testify at a planned hearing on Wednesday.
Lawmakers to decide on Mueller testimony this week, Schiff says
Martin Matishak, Politico
House Intelligence Chairman Adam Schiff said lawmakers intend to reach a decision this week about whether to subpoena special counsel Robert Mueller to testify. “We have been in private discussions with the special counsel’s office,” Schiff said Sunday during an interview with CNN’s “State of the Union.
Dozens of documents indicate Ilhan Omar lived with Ahmed Hirsi while claiming to be married to Ahmed Elmi
Tiana Lowe and John Gage, The Washington Examiner
Dozens of official documents suggest that Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., was living with her current husband, Ahmed Abdisalan Hirsi, throughout her entire legal marriage to Ahmed Nur Said Elmi, contradicting the story she tells to explain her multiple marriages. Omar tells her marital history in the following way: 2002: Omar married Hirsi in a faith ceremony, but never legally married.
2020
Pete Buttigieg confronts leadership test in impassioned South Bend townhall
Dan Merica and Donald Judd, CNN
Presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg faced the raw and unvarnished emotion of his community at a town hall in South Bend, Indiana, on Sunday as the mayor attempted to soothe the pain caused by the recent killing of a black man by a police officer. The shooting of Eric Jack Logan, who police alleged was breaking into cars and wielding a knife when he was shot by officer Ryan O’Neill last Sunday, has roiled the Indiana community, putting the spotlight on years of racial tension between the South Bend Police Department and the city’s African American residents.
Biden: Congress should immediately make ‘Dreamers’ citizens
Bill Barrow, The Associated Press
Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden, unveiling his immigration policy outline ahead of the first 2020 debates , is calling for Congress to grant citizenship immediately to more than 800,000 U.S. residents who were brought to the country illegally as children. The former vice president and Democratic polling leader unveiled some of his immigration priorities on Monday in a newspaper op-ed that blisters President Donald Trump for an “assault on the dignity” of the Latino community through policies and rhetoric designed to “scare voters” in 2020.
Former Pennsylvania Democratic Rep. Joe Sestak declares run for president in surprise announcement
Donald Judd, CNN
In an already-crowded primary field, former Pennsylvania Rep. Joe Sestak became the latest Democratic candidate to wade into the race for the presidency, announcing his candidacy in a video posted to his website Sunday morning. Sestak, who mounted unsuccessful bids for US Senate in 2010 and 2016 touted his “commitment to service,” citing his career in the US Navy, where he rose to the rank of 3-star Admiral.
Biden, in Interview with Sharpton, Tries to Defuse Criticism of Remarks on Segregationists
Jonathan Martin and Katie Glueck, The New York Times
Joseph R. Biden Jr. on Saturday sought to tamp down anger over his praise for the bygone civility of a Senate that included notorious segregationists, stopping just short of an apology while asserting that his reference to never being called “boy” by one of the senators was not racial in nature. Appearing on the Rev. Al Sharpton’s MSNBC program after addressing the South Carolina Democratic convention, Mr. Biden said he grasped why some may have taken offense to his reference but “to the extent that anybody thought that I meant something different, that is not what I intended.”
Democrats’ Grand Plan to Contain Iran? Just Beat Trump
Edward-Isaac Dovere, The Atlantic
Friday started with the lights on early in National Security Adviser John Bolton’s office in the West Wing, with President Donald Trump already starting to change his story about how close he came to ordering a military strike on Iran. Here, Friday ended with 21 Democratic presidential candidates posing together onstage in matching T-shirts, waving at a crowd nibbling on fried fish.
The Ivory Tower team of wonks behind Warren’s policy agenda
Alex Thompson and Theodoric Meyer, Politico
Behind Elizabeth Warren’s trust-busting, Wall Street-bashing, tax-the-wealthy platform is a brain trust that extends well beyond the Beltway thinkers who often rubber stamp campaign proposals. Instead, the former Harvard professor and her tight team of policy advisers have waded deeper into the world of academia than is usual in presidential campaigns, according to interviews with more than a dozen people her campaign has consulted and a review of the scholarship underlying her plans.
The Small Donor Model That Helped Ocasio-Cortez Win Is Aiding Another Progressive
J. David Goodman, The New York Times
Last month, Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez threw her weight behind a like-minded Democrat, endorsing Tiffany Cabán in Tuesday’s primary for district attorney in Queens. Ms. Ocasio-Cortez not only gave her endorsement, she also implored her legions of online followers to give Ms. Cabán money — and just like that, small cash contributions poured in from around the country.
States
Fairfax ‘thinking very seriously’ about run for governor, says scandal has raised his public profile
Mel Leonor, Richmond Times-Dispatch
Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax said Thursday that he is “very hopeful about the future” and “thinking very seriously” about a gubernatorial run in 2021. Fairfax, who faces sexual assault allegations by two women, said the scandal has raised his public profile for good.
Oregon Capitol Closed After Threats From Militia Groups
Ian Lovett, The Wall Street Journal
Law-enforcement officials closed the state Capitol on Saturday, following threats from militia groups that were made while a partisan showdown has halted all activity in the Oregon Senate. “The State Police Superintendent just informed the Senate president of a credible threat from militia groups coming to the Capitol tomorrow,” read a text sent out to senators on Friday that was shared with The Wall Street Journal.
Michigan GOP headquarters tagged with anti-ICE graffiti
Beth LeBlanc, The Detroit News
The Michigan Republican Party headquarters was tagged with anti-ICE graffiti this weekend as reports of planned illegal immigration raids in major U.S. cities circulated across the country. Party officials discovered the graffiti, which said “F— ICE,” on the front of the Lansing facility Saturday evening and reported it to police, said Tony Zammit, communications director for the Michigan Republican Party.
Georgia’s abortion ban forces political reckoning among TV and film workers
Jeffrey Fleishman, Los Angeles Times
Zombies lurk beyond the train tracks. They have been here for years, working under lights, swatting mosquitoes, bringing eerie charm to streets of gothic homes and magnolia.
Advocacy
Medical groups warn climate change is a ‘health emergency’
Elana Schor, The Associated Press
As Democratic presidential hopefuls prepare for their first 2020 primary debate this week, 74 medical and public health groups aligned on Monday to push for a series of consensus commitments to combat climate change, bluntly defined by the organizations as “a health emergency.” The new climate change agenda released by the groups, including the American Medical Association and the American Heart Association, comes amid early jostling among Democratic candidates over whose environmental platform is more progressive.
Senior Facebook executive says it would favor regulation
The Associated Press
A senior Facebook executive says the social media site is in favor of regulation to address some of the dark problems of the internet. Nick Clegg, the former leader of the U.K. Liberal Democrat party who now heads global affairs for Facebook, says it is not “for private companies” to decide how to balance free speech versus public harm.
A Message from the American College of Emergency Physicians:
Patients to Insurers: Take Responsibility and Pay For Surprise Medical Bills
Patients shouldn’t be punished financially for seeking health care when they need it. Too many patients are receiving surprise bills for costs they thought would be covered by their insurance. As Congress considers a fix to surprise medical bills, legislators should consider Americans’ overwhelming belief that insurance companies should take responsibility and pay for surprise medical bills.
Opinions, Editorials and Perspectives
How Trump Can Avoid War With Iran
Susan Rice, The New York Times
If President Trump is to be believed, the United States just came within 10 minutes of launching war against Iran. Make no mistake, these would not have been pinprick strikes that Iran simply swallowed.
Hawley’s Bad Idea to Protect Speech
Chris Cox, The Wall Street Journal
Sen. Josh Hawley (R., Mo.) has a plan to stop Google, Facebook and Twitter from engaging in viewpoint discrimination. He proposes legislation under which the tech giants would have to prove to the federal government every two years, by “clear and convincing evidence,” that they do not promote some political views while suppressing others.
Blowhard on the Brink
Maureen Dowd, The New York Times
As shocking as it is to write this sentence, it must be said: Donald Trump did something right. He finally noticed the abyss once he was right on top of it, calling off a retaliatory strike on Iran after belatedly learning, he said, that 150 people could die.
Research Reports and Polling
Fox News Poll: Tariffs hurt economy, Trump has gone too far on immigration
Dana Blanton, Fox News
Fifty-seven percent of voters feel optimistic about the economy. That’s down from 66 percent who felt that way when President Trump was inaugurated in early 2017, and from 63 percent who were optimistic in February.
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