 Beltway NewslettersPunchbowl News: The House Budget Committee won’t mark up a budget resolution this week to kick off the reconciliation process. There’s a chance now that the Senate could move before the House, but that would “be a real stunner.” Playbook: “It’s the richest person in the world taking away from the poorest people in the world,” one USAID official said of President Trump’s efforts to shrink the agency. “People will die from this — like thousands, if not hundreds of thousands.” WaPo: Republican lawmakers in the states are working to pass restrictive immigration laws in concert with Trump’s policies. Axios: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s visit today is a chance for him to reset relations with Trump that at times grew icy. “A lot of time has passed and their relations have improved,” one US source said. “But Trump still does not like Bibi, does not trust Bibi, and has more sympathy for the Palestinians than one might think.” White House- President Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will hold a joint press conference after their talks today. The two are set to discuss the path forward for the ceasefire in Gaza, with Netanyahu looking for guidance from Trump on the second phase of the deal. “I have no guarantees that the peace is going to hold,” Trump told reporters Monday, sounding less than optimistic.
- Trump administration officials are discussing an executive order to effectively shut down the Education Department. — WSJ
- Trump hosted the Florida Panthers at the White House to celebrate their 2024 Stanley Cup win.
Leah Millis/ReutersTransitions- President Trump is expected to announce former New York Rep. Marc Molinaro as his pick for the next federal transit administrator today, a source familiar with the planning tells Semafor’s Kadia Goba.
Congress- Sens. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., and Josh Hawley, R-Mo., urged the Commerce Department to tighten export controls on semiconductors to China in the wake of the DeepSeek artificial intelligence breakthrough. — WaPo
- Sen. Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii, vowed to place a hold on President Trump’s State Department nominees until he reverses efforts to gut USAID.
Economy- Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent became the acting head of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.
- The Indian government has made a “rapid series of concessions to the White House” in order to avert a trade war with the US. — Bloomberg
Courts- A federal judge signaled she would likely extend a pause on the White House’s federal funding freeze in order to weigh a lawsuit against it, despite the Office of Management and Budget rescinding the directive.
- The Proud Boys can no longer legally use (or sell official merch using) their trademarked name, following a judgment in a case over vandalization of a Black church.
National SecurityForeign Policy- President Trump said he’s pursuing a deal that would see Ukraine offer access to rare earths resources in exchange for US military assistance in its war against Russia.
- Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen expressed support for the US boosting its military presence in Greenland.
Technology- Anthropic released a new artificial intelligence model whose safeguards it said were nearly impossible to bypass — and it remains unbroken despite 3,000 hours of public efforts to “jailbreak” it, including a $15,000 bounty for doing so.
Media Elizabeth Frantz/Reuters- Rupert Murdoch and Oracle’s Larry Ellison were on hand in the Oval Office when President Trump signed the executive order to establish a sovereign wealth fund.
- Trump won another round in his Okeechobee County, Fla. lawsuit against the Pulitzer Board, part of an effort to relitigate coverage of Russia and the 2016 election. A judge ruled that the board can’t limit discovery in part because “‘the Pulitzer Prize Board’ is not a legally cognizable entity that can be recognized by this Court.”
- Joe Biden signed with CAA.
Principals TeamEdited 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 |