Principals

1. Hill tax struggle
2. Trump nominee hearings
3. Trump meets Zuckerberg
4. Pardoned hacker
5. Washington media woes
6. California wildfires latest
7. House agenda
8. Trump’s Washington

PDB: New Biden administration AI controls

Biden to deliver foreign policy address … China trade surplus hits a record $1 trillion … NEW: Weekly Views section

GOP worlds away from tax agreement

One bill? Two bills? The debate over the tactics for executing Donald Trump’s agenda this winter is obscuring a bigger headache: Republicans are nowhere near consensus on taxes, which are the centerpiece of their agenda over the next two years. In interviews with Semafor’s Burgess Everett, GOP lawmakers estimated it would take months to craft a tax bill, which could easily slide close to the December deadline. That’s because there are so many unanswered questions, ranging from the state and local deduction to the debt ceiling to how to pay for it all — and how much even should be paid for. “The process of negotiating the details will take many months,” Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, told Semafor. “It will be a long, extended process.” One area of increasing agreement: making expiring individual and small-business cuts permanent — without paying for them.

Trump’s Cabinet picks begin hearings

Opposition to Trump’s intelligence pick, former Hawaii Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, is softening after she flipped her stance on the FISA Section 702 surveillance program and said Friday that she now supports it. While Gabbard’s confirmation hearing hasn’t yet been set, a slew of other Trump picks will head to Capitol Hill this week to begin their hearings. Pentagon nominee Pete Hegseth will be one to watch — he’s set to sit before the Senate Armed Services Committee on Tuesday. Meanwhile, homeland security secretary nominee Kristi Noem, attorney general nominee Pam Bondi, CIA pick John Ratcliffe, and state secretary nominee Marco Rubio will join other Trump Cabinet picks who are beginning their hearings on Wednesday. Trump’s team has grown more sure in recent weeks that all his choices will be confirmed: “We’re confident with everyone,” one person close to Trump recently told Semafor.

— Shelby Talcott

Zuckerberg’s Trump outreach

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg met with Trump at Mar-a-Lago on Friday, Semafor’s Shelby Talcott scooped, a sign of the social media giant stepping up its outreach to the incoming administration. Their meeting came days after Meta announced an end to its fact-checking program on Facebook and Instagram, a move that delighted conservatives but drew rebukes from liberals. President Joe Biden criticized the move as “shameful.” Also on Friday, the company ended its diversity, equity, and inclusion programs. Zuckerberg has told employees that the latest moves both position Meta for the new political landscape while also aligning with his own views of how the company should be run, according to The New York Times.

The secret life of a Trump-pardoned hacker

In early 2015, the Australian hacker Chris Wade got a visit from the fish doctor at his aquarium-filled Florida home. The patient was Gemmy the gem tang, a rare saltwater species known for its striking white dots and bright yellow tail, who had cost Wade $3,500. Wade was then nursing an uncomfortable secret: a 2005 criminal conviction and years of quiet, compelled collaboration with federal law enforcement. And the fish doctor’s visit was the beginning of a strange sequence of events that would end in Trump pardoning the legendary hacker, something he believes spared him from eventual deportation. “It saved my life, honestly,” he said. Wade said he is sharing his story publicly for the first time with Semafor to set the record straight after his criminal case was partially unsealed in October.

Tough times at Politico, Post

The turmoil continues at the big DC incumbent publishers. The Washington Post’s traffic — even by the standards of post-Facebook industrywide declines — has been cratering for four years, according to internal data shared with Semafor’s Max Tani. In recent weeks it’s been down to 2.5-3 million daily users, about a quarter of its peak in January 2021. On Friday, The Wall Street Journal reported that the Post’s revenue fell from $190 million in 2023 to $174 million last year. Meanwhile, more notable Politico staff plan on leaving the publication in the coming days, Tani reports: Natalie Allison for The Washington Post and Lauren Egan for the Bulwark. Politico is also moving ahead with plans to bring London Playbook author Jack Blanchard aboard to join Eugene Daniels and other unannounced staff at the lead of the daily Washington newsletter.

DC grapples with California damage

The death toll in Los Angeles’ wildfires rose to 24 as of Sunday. Strong winds of up to 75 mph expected through Wednesday make the fire threat in the area “very high,” LA County Sheriff Robert Luna told reporters. “I saw entire communities — churches, homes, and community centers — destroyed,” Rep. Sydney Kamlager-Dove, D-Calif., who toured the damage in Altadena and Pasadena, told Semafor. President Biden told reporters he’s coordinated with President-elect Donald Trump’s team about the federal response, and a White House official said some 24,000 people have registered for FEMA assistance. Trump’s team was also in talks with local officials about pinning down a possible time for him to visit the area, according to Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass. Rescue and recovery efforts will continue as Senate confirmations for Trump’s environment and energy cabinet nominees begin.

— Kadia Goba

House plows ahead with agenda

House Republicans plan to vote on a bill to restrict transgender women and girls’ participation in women’s sports, ticking off another Trump agenda priority. The vote comes days after a federal judge blocked Biden’s Title IX rule protecting transgender students’ rights. Also on the agenda: a bill targeting undocumented immigrants who commit sex offenses and domestic violence along with a proposal to address US-Taiwan double taxation. The House will continue reconciliation discussions broadly, as the Ways and Means Committee tees up a hearing with witnesses who will argue for making some of Trump’s tax cuts permanent. As for Democrats, expect their steering committee to finalize most committee assignments on Monday, as the Judiciary, Oversight, and Transportation & Infrastructure committees are scheduled to establish their rules for the 119th Congress.

— Kadia Goba

Trump’s Washington: Jamieson Greer

Jamieson Greer is no household name, but he’s poised to play a starring role in Donald Trump’s trade agenda. Greer, nominated by Trump to serve as US trade representative, was China hawk Bob Lighthizer’s chief of staff during the first Trump administration and was closely involved in implementing China tariffs, Trump’s “phase one” trade deal with Beijing, and the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement. Greer’s appointment is a “testament to the fact that USTR was effective under Lighthizer” in Trump’s first term and signals “a continuation of the type of trade policy that we saw in that time,” one former Capitol Hill aide who interacted with Greer told us. Currently a partner at law firm King & Spalding, Greer has advocated for “strategically decoupling” from China, including by revoking permanent normal trade relations with Beijing and considering a CHIPS-style competition law for other industries.

— Morgan Chalfant

Debatable: Should the US make a play for Greenland?

Welcome to a new daily section in Principals that seeks to broaden our readers’ understanding of how their ideological opposites think and to explore the substance behind polarizing issues. You’re already familiar with our popular Blindspots feature, which highlights stories that are only talked about by half of Washington. Today we launch Debatable, a reported look at the debate surrounding a news-making question. And next Monday we will launch (Un)common Bonds, highlighting surprising alliances that cross traditional lines. Feedback, questions, suggestions for future editions? Contact us through the links below!

Donald Trump has openly talked about acquiring Greenland, which occupies a strategically important position in the Arctic, houses a US military base, and supplies critical minerals. Critics warn of destabilizing the US alliance with Denmark for a plan that is both unnecessary and costly. The US is already “having its cake and eating it too” with Greenland “because it gets all of its interests, while at the same time it doesn’t have to pay the bill,” argues Jon Rahbek-Clemmensen of the Royal Danish Defence College. Meanwhile, Trump allies make the national security case for countering China and Russia, whether it’s full acquisition of Greenland or a free association pact. “[If] you look traditionally, Greenland was seen as the outer extreme of the hemisphere. And if a foreign adversary were able to get a foothold in Greenland, it would threaten the United States,” argues former Trump NSC official Alex Gray.

Beltway Newsletters

Punchbowl News: House Speaker Mike Johnson has yet to name the chairs of the House Intelligence and Rules Committees. While he’s likely to keep Rep. Mike Turner, R-Ohio, atop the intelligence panel, Johnson faces a difficult choice between Rep. Virginia Foxx, R-N.C., and Rep. Michelle Fischbach, R-Minn., for the rules panel.

Playbook: Politico confirmed that Jack Blanchard is headed to DC to take the helm of Playbook, as Semafor first reported.

WaPo: Democrats are launching a new political action committee and nonprofit focused on advocating for transgender rights, called the Christopher Street Project.

Axios: Donald Trump faces a decision on how to go about implementing his tariff agenda — by using the slower route he took in his first term or moving more quickly by declaring a national economic emergency.

White House

• President Biden spoke with the families of three Americans held by the Taliban in Afghanistan — Ryan Corbett, George Glezmann, and Mahmoud Habibi — on Sunday, amid reports they could be freed in a prisoner swap.
• Biden awarded Pope Francis the Presidential Medal of Freedom with distinction, the same medal former President Barack Obama once gave him.

Congress

• New York Republicans left a Mar-a-Lago meeting with Donald Trump on Saturday with instructions to find a way to increase the state and local tax deduction. — Politico
• Rep. Warren Davidson, R-Ohio, said Californian leaders would have to change forest management policies before Republicans would approve more relief funds.

Transition

• Vice President-elect JD Vance is rooting for the Buckeyes.
• Vance told Fox News Sunday that people who committed violence on Jan. 6, 2021, shouldn’t be pardoned, though there’s some “grey area.”

Outside the Beltway

• Former Trump campaign aide Paul Manafort is looking to advise far-right figures in Latin America and Europe. — NYT

Polls

• The median approval of US leadership among NATO members sunk to 35% in the final year of President Biden’s term, representing the lowest level of his presidency, according to new data from Gallup. That number is still higher than it was during Donald Trump’s first term, however.

Economy

• A steady increase in US government bond yields is fueling worries about risks for the global economy.

Courts

• Special Counsel Jack Smith resigned on Saturday, as had been expected.
• Italy has freed Mohammad Abedini, an Iranian businessman wanted by the US government.

Foreign Policy

• Outgoing US ambassador to Japan Rahm Emanuel will begin a lecture tour of the US Army, Navy, and Air Force academies after he steps down from his position this Tuesday.
• Donald Trump plans to urge Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to lower his country’s conscription age to 18. — FT

Technology

• The Commerce Department this morning announced a new national security regulation to expand its artificial intelligence chip controls and impose new restrictions on the model weights of closed AI models. The controls include exceptions for over a dozen US allied countries. Ned Finkle, the vice president of government affairs for AI chip giant Nvidia, slammed the rule in a blog post, describing it as an overreach that “threatens to derail innovation and economic growth worldwide” and suggesting the Trump administration revoke it.

Media

• The Washington Post’s editorial board gave the thumbs-up to all of Donald Trump’s Cabinet nominees except Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Pete Hegseth, Tulsi Gabbard, and Russell Vought.
• Melania Trump told Fox News that a documentary about her daily life began production in November.

Principals Team

Edited by Morgan Chalfant, deputy Washington editor

With help from Elana Schor, senior Washington editor

Contact our reporters:

Burgess Everett, Kadia Goba, Shelby Talcott, David Weigel

Nick LaLota is a Republican congressman from New York who was among members that met with Donald Trump over the weekend.