Principals

1. Schumer vs. Bibi
2. Congress’ TikTok push slows
3. Johnson talks Ukraine
4. Trump’s pivotal moment in Georgia
5. Tax bill in trouble
6. Judge-shopping blowup

PDB: TikTok CEO hits the Hill

Biden hosts Ireland’s Varadkar … Fani Willis ruling expected today … WSJ: Hamas calls for confrontation with Israel at Al Aqsa mosque

— edited by Benjy Sarlin, Jordan Weissmann and Morgan Chalfant

The fallout from Chuck Schumer’s Israel speech

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer’s speech excoriating Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s right-wing government as an “obstacle to peace” and calling for new elections sent shockwaves through the political system. Republicans and some Democrats pushed back on Schumer’s comment, with Senate GOP leader Mitch McConnell saying it was “grotesque” to meddle in another democracy’s politics. In Israel, Netanyahu’s top rivals publicly objected to the outside intervention. But the majority leader’s decades of pro-Israel credentials also made his arguments difficult to dismiss as anything but a dire warning from a gravely concerned ally. “I can’t begin to imagine the level of pissedoffness that brought Schumer to calling on Bibi to go,” The Jewish Telegraph Agency’s Ron Kampeas observed on X.

It all felt like a no-going-back moment for Democrats, who are divided on many aspects of the war, but near-universally loathe the Netanyahu-led government fighting it. There were shades of John Murtha, the late, hawkish congressman whose pivot against the Iraq War in 2005 became a turning point for Democratic opposition. Years later, Molly Ball’s biography of Nancy Pelosi revealed that she had concocted a plan with Murtha to keep her distance from his remarks, giving it the appearance of a lonely Mr. Smith-style crusade by a two-time Purple Heart recipient. This time, the White House is also giving Schumer space, with national security spokesman John Kirby telling reporters they “fully respect his right to make those remarks” without endorsing his call for elections. He did note, however, that they had seen the text ahead of time. 

— Benjy Sarlin

The Senate isn’t in a hurry on TikTok

You’ve still got plenty of time to record another dance video. All signs suggest that the Senate is going to take a while to grapple with the new TikTok legislation that just flew through the House, which would force the app’s Chinese parent company, ByteDance, to sell it or face a ban. “I don’t feel like the House bill is coming before the Senate anytime soon,” Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn. told Semafor. On the GOP side, Sens. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and Todd Young, R-Ind., both said they favor a committee markup for the bill, which would open it to amendments. Even some of the legislation’s firmer backers are open to tweaking it: “I would vote for it in its current form, but I would also argue that there’s more work to do,” said Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C. One item on the checklist: Tillis said he plans to speak with Donald Trump and his advisers to hear out their concerns about the legislation, after the former president came out against it.

— Joseph Zeballos-Roig

Don’t hold your breath for a Ukraine deal this month

You know who else isn’t in a rush? House Speaker Mike Johnson, at least when it comes to Ukraine and Israel aid. On Thursday, he told Politico that while assistance for both countries was “very much a priority,” it would have to come up as a “standalone bill.” In other words, he won’t be attaching it to the next government legislation due later this month — which means a foreign aid deal realistically can’t get done until some time in April, at the earliest. It’s also still unclear what the bill (or bills) might look like. Johnson told Politico he was still thinking about splitting up the Israel and Ukraine components, an idea Democrats have resisted in the past (though progressives might welcome it now, as they’ve soured on sending money to Israel). Meanwhile, the Hill reports that Johnson told a group of senators he would send them a package, but it wouldn’t look much like the one they passed last month. Instead, he “floated the idea of making it a loan or lend-lease program,” along the lines of what Donald Trump has proposed.

A judge will likely decide whether to disqualify Fani Willis today

It’s make or break time for Fani Willis: Fulton County Superior Court Judge John McAfee is promising to rule today on whether to remove the district attorney from the racketeering and election interference case against Donald Trump in Georgia. The former president’s attorneys have accused Willis of having a disqualifying conflict of interest in the case, thanks to her romantic relationship with Nathan Wade, the special prosecutor she hired to help oversee it. Trump had mixed legal luck overall on Thursday. In Florida, District Court Judge Aileen Cannon rejected one of his motions to dismiss the federal case over his handling of classified documents, which had argued the Espionage Act was unconstitutionally vague. But in Manhattan, District Attorney Alvin Bragg offered to postpone his impending hush money trial by 30 days so lawyers could review a new trove of documents from federal investigators. As the New York Times notes, all four of the criminal cases against Trump now appear to be facing delays.

Tax bill talks reach stalemate

Congress’s big tax bill just might be sinking. “I don’t think our members are in a place where there would be a significant enough vote,” Senate GOP Whip John Thune, R-S.D. told Punchbowl when asked about the measure’s chance of passing. “So there would have to be some real significant changes, which I’m guessing Democrats would be unwilling to make.” Negotiations don’t sound like they’re going well, either: Senate Finance Chair Ron Wyden, D-Ore. and ranking member Mike Crapo, R-Idaho rejected each others’ revision offers this week, a Wyden aide confirmed to Semafor. Crapo first offered Child Tax Credit changes that Democrats believed would sink the bill. Then, Wyden proposed swapping out the controversial proposed “lookback” provision for the child credit and replacing it with another anti-poverty measure. Crapo nixed that.

— Joseph Zeballos-Roig

McConnell attacks new rules against ‘judge-shopping’

Mitch McConnell is not pleased about the upcoming rules against “judge-shopping.” Earlier this week, the Judicial Conference of the United States announced a new policy aimed at stopping the practice where plaintiffs file politically charged lawsuits in courthouses where they know the case will land in front of a friendly judge. It’s a tactic the right has embraced eagerly in recent years: Anti-abortion groups brought their case challenging mifepristone’s FDA approval before a single-judge courthouse in Amarillo, Texas, for instance. But the new system would assign judges via lottery whenever a case seeks a national or statewide injunction. The Senate minority leader blasted out a letter to district courts around the country arguing they could legally ignore the new rules (he was joined by Sens. John Cornyn, R-Texas and Thom Tillis, R-N.C.). “Didn’t Chief Justice Roberts say ‘there are not Obama judges or Trump judges?’” McConnell said in a floor speech. “What exactly is the problem that demands such a drastic solution?”

Beltway Newsletters

Punchbowl News: House Speaker Mike Johnson is telling members he may create four government funding deadlines next year instead of two.

Playbook: Among the interesting details in a lengthy profile of Sen. J.D. Vance, R-Ohio out this morning: He called tech billionaire Peter Thiel, who helped fund his Senate campaign, for advice on the Israel-Hamas conflict.

The Early 202: After lackluster turnout at the House GOP retreat, Majority Whip Tom Emmer, R-Minn. defended the party’s governing record: “We’ve got so many things to show for the last year-plus,” he said. “But people all want to focus on a car accident, right? It’s always the car accident that draws attention.”

Axios: The White House sent a letter to House Speaker Mike Johnson this morning arguing the GOP’s struggling impeachment inquiry into President Biden is “over.” “It is obviously time to move on, Mr. Speaker,” White House counsel Edward Siskel wrote.

White House

• President Biden is hosting Irish Taoiseach Leo Varadkar for a bilateral meeting this morning, followed by a St. Patrick’s Day celebration at the White House on Sunday.
• Biden said he and first lady Jill Biden were “heartbroken by the recent loss of Nex Benedict,” a nonbinary teen in Oklahoma whose death last month was officially ruled a suicide shortly after a fight in a bathroom with students Benedict said had bulled them.

Congress

• Democrats are often critical of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government, but some objected to Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer taking the additional step of calling for Israeli elections. Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa. told reporters he would “follow or support any leader in Israel that believes that we have to go after Hamas” and objected to “intervening” in Israeli elections. “I don’t want to tell them how to run their democracy,” Senate Foreign Relations Chair Ben Cardin told Semafor, even as he added he long had “problems” with Netanyahu’s coalition.
• TikTok CEO Shou Chew visited the Hill Thursday to begin lobbying senators over the fate of his company. “He didn’t change my views,” Fetterman, who backs the bill, told Semafor.
• Sen. Peter Welch, D-Vt., co-hosted a Gaza humanitarian aid briefing this week for senators along with José Andrés, the famed Spanish chef organizing food shipments to Palestinians. Welch told Semafor that 13 Democratic senators attended. “There’s a lot of senators who have different views on what’s going on in Israel and Gaza,” Welch said. “But my hope is that all of us can be in favor of maximum delivery of food to starving Palestinians.”
• Lawmakers are considering a full-year continuing resolution for the Department of Homeland Security after failing to reach a budget deal for the agency.

Outside the Beltway

The adult video site Pornhub blocked access to users in Texas in response to an age-verification law. It’s been a recurring episode as similar state laws pop up around the country.

Economy

• Former Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin is talking to investors about buying TikTok if it ever becomes an option.
• But Chinese authorities have signaled to the company’s executives that they’d prefer the app be banned in the U.S. rather than sold. — WSJ

Polls

Donald Trump leads President Biden 48-45 among Michigan registered voters in a new Quinnipiac poll, and 41-36 in a five-way race, with Robert F. Kennedy Jr. grabbing 10%.

On the Trail

• Bernie Moreno, the Trump-backed Ohio Senate candidate, was linked to a 2008 Adult Friend Finder account seeking male hookups. A lawyer for Moreno said it was set up using his email as a “juvenile prank” by a former intern, who provided a statement saying as much. — AP
• Sen. Robert Menendez, D-N.J. is weighing an independent run for reelection that could allow him to raise campaign funds for legal bills. — NBC News
• Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va. is so far not weighing an independent run for reelection, despite Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer trying to sell him on the idea. — CNN
• Potential Robert F. Kennedy Jr. running mate Aaron Rodgers said the 2012 Sandy Hook massacre was “an absolute tragedy” after CNN reported that he once embraced conspiracy theories about the school shooting. The latest language used by Rodgers, who famously said he was “immunized” before revealing he was unvaccinated, notably did not close the door on some of those conspiracies.
• Gabby Giffords’ gun safety group slammed Kennedy as an “embarrassment” for considering Rodgers. As NBC’s Alex Seitz-Wald noted, the statement fits with a broader trend: Democrats taking third-party threats more seriously this cycle.
• Rep. Richard Hudson, R-N.C., the head of the House GOP’s campaign committee, said members in battleground districts should “embrace” Donald Trump. “ I mean, he’s wildly popular everywhere right now,” he said. — Politico

Foreign Policy

Japan’s ban on same-sex marriage is unconstitutional, a high court ruled.

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: Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis plans to send law enforcement and National Guard members to southern Florida in anticipation of a possible wave of refugees from Haiti.

What the Right isn’t reading: Kansas’ Republican-led legislature looks ready to ban gender-affirming care for minors over an expected veto from the state’s Democratic governor, Laura Kelly.

Principals Team

Editors: Benjy Sarlin, Jordan Weissmann, Morgan Chalfant

Editor-at-Large: Steve Clemons

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

Lisa McClain is a Republican congresswoman from Michigan.

• Trump used the CIA for a secret anti-China influencing campaign.
• How Hollywood failed to buy into the ad industry, again.
• Chinese nationalists say that a ban on TikTok would hurt American free speech.