Principals

1. US troops killed in Middle East
2. Border deal fight
3. Mayorkas impeachment articles
4. Nikki Haley goes there
5. US, China fentanyl talks
6. Santos’ Alfalfa cameo

PDB: White House tracks progress 90 days after launching AI order

House returns … Chinese property giant Evergrande ordered to liquidate … NYT: Trump faces financial threat from courtroom

— edited by Benjy Sarlin, Jordan Weissmann and Morgan Chalfant

Biden weighs response after strike kills US troops in Jordan

President Biden vowed that the U.S. would respond to the drone attack that killed three U.S. troops and injured over a dozen more near the Syrian border in Jordan. The administration is blaming Iran-backed militants for the strike, which marked the first time that U.S. service members were killed in the violence that has consumed the Middle East since the start of the Gaza war. Iran denied involvement. Biden, who made his comments after a moment of silence in South Carolina Sunday, faces a difficult decision about how to retaliate as he also seeks to avoid a wider war. Hawkish Republicans are already urging a forceful response: Sen. Roger Wicker, R-Miss., the Senate Armed Services Committee’s top GOP member, said the U.S. should strike “directly against Iranian targets and its leadership,” while Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C. called for Biden to “strike targets of significance inside Iran.” On Sunday, intelligence agencies were seeking to determine whether Iran was deliberately trying to escalate the conflict with the attack, Peter Baker wrote in the New York Times.

A border deal on the brink

Senate negotiators could finally — finally — unveil the text of their bipartisan border bill as early as this week. In the meantime, the political battle over the emerging deal is already in full swing. GOP frontrunner Donald Trump continued urging Republicans to reject any kind of compromise measure over the weekend. And on Friday, Speaker Mike Johnson declared the bill “dead on arrival” in the House if certain “rumors about the contents of the draft proposal are true.” Hours later, President Biden endorsed the package with a dose of surprisingly Trumpy rhetoric, vowing in a statement that he would use the legislation’s emergency authority to immediately “shut down the border” — much to the dismay of progressive immigration activists. (He repeated the promise for good measure during a speech on Saturday in South Carolina.) The White House is also responding to conservatives who’ve claimed it doesn’t need a new bill to bring order to quell the migrant crisis: In a new memo this morning, it digs up old quotes from Trump, Johnson, and House Majority Leader Steve Scalise pressing for legislation to deal with the border. The deal’s chief Republican negotiator, Sen. James Lankford, R-Okla., also spent the Sunday shows defending his work from conservative critics, accusing them of blowing “internet rumors” about its contents out of proportion.

— Morgan Chalfant

Republicans introduce impeachment articles against Mayorkas

House Republicans introduced articles of impeachment against Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas Sunday, accusing him of failing to maintain “operational control” at the southern border and misleading Congress about various issues. Expect quick action on them: A source familiar with the GOP’s planning told Semafor a vote could potentially come to the full House within the next two weeks. But first, the House Homeland Security Committee is set to mark up the articles on Tuesday (the resolution is expected to pass out of the panel on party lines). Democrats dismissed the impeachment drive Sunday: Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., the ranking member on the Homeland Security Panel, said the articles lacked evidence of “high crimes and misdemeanors,” while DHS dismissed them as “political games.” Still, Republicans who’ve so far largely rejected the idea of impeaching President Biden seem to be on board with impeaching Mayorkas, which has helped give the effort legs.

— Kadia Goba

Nikki Haley crosses the Rubicon

“I absolutely trust the jury.” With those five words defending the $83 million verdict against Trump in the E. Jean Carroll case on “Meet The Press,” Nikki Haley crossed the Rubicon into her most boundary-pushing attack on Trump yet. It’s not just the ultra-rare Republican acknowledgment of the defamation case that’s notable, Semafor’s Benjy Sarlin writes, but that Haley is starting to attack the core Trump argument for his candidacy: That he is the target of a vast conspiracy. While Haley has long derided the “chaos” around Trump, she’s typically been reluctant to outright say that Trump’s indictments and civil trials are the result of his own misbehavior and character failings. The odds of it working this late in the game are long, and Trump supporters are unlikely to forget her staying in the race through February while unloading her toughest attacks, including repeatedly questioning his mental fitness. “There is no point of return. Haley is politically finished for ‘24, ‘28, forever,” Trump senior advisor Jason Miller said on X. But she has a game plan and she’s sticking to it — and part of it involves baiting an increasingly irritated Trump into engaging with her directly.

US seeks more help from China in curbing fentanyl

The U.S. and China will hold discussions on curbing fentanyl Tuesday in Beijing, the first in-person meeting of a working group set up at the November summit between President Biden and Chinese leader Xi Jinping. “A big goal of this is continued pressure, continued dialogue,” a senior Biden official said. The U.S. has seen signs of Beijing taking action against Chinese companies that make precursor chemicals used in fentanyl, Biden officials said, but wants to see more progress on law enforcement actions and stopping illicit financial flows. The discussions come on the heels of White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan’s two-day meeting with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Thailand, during which Sullivan pressed China to use its influence with Iran to curb the Houthis’ Red Sea attacks. The U.S. and China have steadily been communicating more, which is part of the Biden administration’s strategy to better manage a tense relationship.

— Morgan Chalfant

George Santos makes a cameo at the Alfalfa club

George Santos made his debut appearance at the elite Alfalfa Club dinner on Saturday (well, kinda). Former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy received this year’s faux presidential nomination, and he brought a Cameo-style video of Santos to the black-tie gala as part of the gag, Semafor was told. In the brief clip, a tux-clad Santos joked that he was virtually dropping in from Davos where he’d been hanging with Prince Harry, Meghan Markle, and Oprah Winfrey. “They all send their love,” he added. One attendee who asked to remain anonymous described the reaction in the room as “Hard to explain. Funny but also ‘can you believe this shit?’” Also spotted: Apple CEO Tim Cook, Warren Buffett, JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon and Ford CEO Jim Farley. (Rhode Island House Speaker Joseph Shekarchi actually rubbed shoulders with Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries.) While the gala isn’t usually known as a serious forum for politics, ex-Defense Secretary James Mattis, the group’s outgoing president, and former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, its incoming president, encouraged continued support for Ukraine, with Rice performing the Ukrainian anthem on piano to drive home the message.

— Kadia Goba

Beltway Newsletters

Punchbowl News: House Speaker Mike Johnson faces a decision on whether to put the bipartisan tax package on the floor for a vote this week. New York Republicans have criticized the bill for not including changes to the state and local tax exemption, and House leadership doesn’t want to put the measure on the floor under a rule so it can be amended.

Playbook: Democrats are getting ready to go on offense on the border as some Republicans criticize the emerging border security deal. “There’s a real opportunity here, where Dems around the country can raise their hand and be like: ‘It turns out they were bluffing. They weren’t serious. It was a sound bite for them,’” said one Democratic campaign operative.

Axios: President Biden and his top officials are weighing a “significant military response” against Iran-backed militias following the deadly drone attack in Jordan over the weekend. “We don’t want war but those who are behind this attack need to feel our response,” a U.S. official said.

White House

• President Biden will host German Chancellor Olaf Scholz at the White House on Feb. 9.
• The White House is marking the 15th anniversary of the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act by taking steps to ensure equal pay of federal workers and contractors. According to an announcement this morning, the Office of Personnel Management will issue a final rule making sure federal agencies no longer factor in an employee’s current or past pay when determining their salary.
• White House deputy chief of staff Bruce Reed will hold a meeting of the White House AI Council today to track progress from Biden’s executive order on artificial intelligence 90 days after it was signed. Among the actions that have been taken, the Commerce Department has drafted a rule that would compel U.S. cloud companies to report when they are developing powerful AI tools for foreign clients.
• Vice President Harris continues her abortion rights tour today, taking part in a moderated conversation with actress Sophia Bush in San Jose, Calif.

Congress

• The House returns this evening. The Senate is out until Tuesday afternoon.
• The House Rules Committee is meeting this afternoon to consider a handful of immigration-related bills.
• A spokeswoman for Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said negotiations on the national security supplemental package — which includes the border security policy changes and Ukraine funding — continued over the weekend and that the goal is to have text ready this week.
• House Ways and Means Chairman Jason Smith, R-Mo. might face a challenge for his gavel from Rep. Vern Buchanan, R-Fla. — Axios
• Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi suggested without providing evidence that some pro-Palestinian protesters have connections to Russia and said the FBI should investigate them.

Outside the Beltway

A life-size, bronze statue of Jackie Robinson was stolen from a park in Wichita, Kan.

Economy

Cluck! Chicken prices are falling in the U.S. — Bloomberg

Transportation

The Alaska Airlines Boeing jet that had part of its fuselage blown off mid-air appears to have been missing bolts that secure the plug door at the time of the incident. — WSJ

Courts

E. Jean Carroll vowed to “do something good” with the more than $83 million a jury ordered Donald Trump to pay her in damages at the conclusion of his defamation trial on Friday. Trump said he would appeal the decision, which could delay Carroll receiving the money.

Polls

Only 31% of Americans say they would be willing to vote for a presidential candidate who is over the age of 80, while only 29% said they would vote for someone who is charged with a felony crime, according to data from Gallup. Even fewer — 23% — answered they would vote for someone convicted of a felony crime by a jury.

On the Trail

• President Biden spent the weekend campaigning in South Carolina, trying to shore up his support with Black voters. Both he and longshot challenger Rep. Dean Phillips, D-Minn. appeared at the South Carolina Democratic Party’s First in the Nation dinner on Saturday. Unfortunately for Phillips, he wasn’t able to keep the audience’s attention during his speech.
• Biden’s campaign is drafting wish lists of potential surrogates and dream endorsements as part of its general election plan, including Taylor Swift. — NYT
• The Teamsters union is holding a “roundtable discussion” with Donald Trump in Washington this Wednesday, a planned meeting that has “rankled some of the union’s leaders and members.” — Washington Post
• The Koch-backed group AFP Action isn’t abandoning Nikki Haley, but acknowledged she faces an “uphill” battle. — Axios
• Trump has privately floated potentially imposing a flat 60% tariff on goods imported from China if he were elected president again. — Washington Post
• Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va. is still toying with the idea of running for president, thinking a Biden health scare or a Trump conviction could provide an opening. — CNN
• Phillips got into a feud with New York Times Pitchbot, a parody account that generates fake headlines.

National Security

Michael Chertoff, former Homeland Security Secretary under George W. Bush, argues in The Wall Street Journal that Republicans shouldn’t impeach Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas. “Political and policy disagreements aren’t impeachable offenses,” he writes.

Foreign Policy

• Negotiators are getting closer to an agreement that would see Israel suspend its military operations in Gaza in exchange for Hamas releasing all remaining hostages. Israel called the talks “constructive” but said “significant gaps” remain.
• Despite Israel’s efforts to destroy Hamas’ underground tunnels in Gaza, some 80% of the tunnel network remains intact. — WSJ
• The U.S. said it would review its sanctions policy on Venezuela after a Caracas court banned the main opposition candidate from running in this year’s presidential elections.
• North Korea test-launched cruise missiles.

Media

X blocked searches for Taylor Swift after fake explicit images of the singer spread on the platform. The White House weighed in on the controversy, calling it alarming.

Blindspot

Stories that are being largely ignored by either left-leaning or right-leaning outlets, according to data from our partners at Ground News.

What the Left isn’t reading: Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C. faces a primary challenge from her former chief of staff.

What the Right isn’t reading: Outgoing National Rifle Association chief Wayne LaPierre testified that the organization paid for his travel on private jets and for family trips.

Principals Team

Editors: Benjy Sarlin, Jordan Weissmann, Morgan Chalfant

Editor-at-Large: Steve Clemons

Reporters: Kadia Goba, Joseph Zeballos-Roig, Shelby Talcott, David Weigel

In an exclusive interview with Semafor on Feb. 5, Rep. Krishnamoorthi will explore the House Select Committee on China’s achievements and answer questions about key priorities such as addressing forced labor, protecting U.S. intellectual property, and examining the future of TikTok in the United States. Sign up here.

Richard Hudson is a Republican congressman from North Carolina and the chair of the National Republican Congressional Committee. He used smokeless tobacco for four decades.

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