Principals

1. New front against universities
2. Ábrego García fight
3. Dems weigh El Salvador trips
4. Meloni meets Trump
5. Powell’s tariff warning
6. Sanders backs Michigan pol
7. Religion’s declining power

PDB: More Pentagon suspensions

NYT: Trump waved off Israeli strike on Iran… Nikkei Index ⬆️ 1.35% … Nasdaq futures ⬆️ 0.98%

Universities’ investments in Trump’s crosshairs

President Donald Trump’s pressure campaign against US universities is entering a new phase. White House officials plan to examine what the endowments of major universities, like Harvard and Princeton, choose to invest in, Semafor’s Liz Hoffman reports — scrutinizing them for ties to China and to policies, like support for green energy and ESG, that the White House disfavors. Congress is also examining ways to tax endowment profits, as the IRS looks into stripping some universities of their nonprofit status, over what the White House describes as these schools’ antisemitic and radical campus culture. Elite universities’ endowments can be huge (Harvard’s is $53 billion), but their reliance on billions in federal funding and a tax-exempt status makes them vulnerable, Liz writes: “University endowments may end up being as much of a liability as the DEI programs and Middle Eastern Studies departments they help fund.”

Trump immigration battles heat up

The mother of Rachel Morin, a woman who was raped and murdered by a fugitive from El Salvador, gave emotional remarks during a surprise White House briefing on Wednesday. Press secretary Karoline Leavitt also brought up the separate case of Kilmar Ábrego García, a migrant mistakenly sent to a Salvadoran prison. The Justice Department on Wednesday confirmed it will appeal a federal judge’s order to return him to the US, as another judge ruled that there’s “probable cause” to hold Trump officials in contempt for violating his order on the Alien Enemies Act last month. DHS also released a court filing showing Ábrego’s wife sought a restraining order against him in 2021. There’s no signs deportations to the El Salvador prison will slow down: The country’s president plans to double the size of the detention center, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem revealed.

— Shelby Talcott

Inside Dems’ efforts to save mistakenly deported man

Democrats scrambling to keep the spotlight on Kilmar Ábrego García are running into some challenges. Some House Democrats are weighing self-funding a trip to El Salvador, doubtful that Republicans will approve an official delegation — meaning they’d have to use personal or campaign funds and wouldn’t have access to the same level of security. It’s the latest development in the political tangle over Ábrego, a Maryland resident. Sen. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., traveled to El Salvador on Wednesday but said he wasn’t allowed to see Ábrego in prison. Meanwhile, Democrats are still debating how to frame the deportation issue politically, one aide said, and “whether it’s better to broaden the aperture and focus on the overall abuse and defiance of court orders [or] zoom in on one specific case.”

— Kadia Goba

Can Meloni save Europe on trade?

Giorgia Meloni may be Europe’s best shot at unwinding Trump’s trade war. The Italian prime minister, who has developed a relationship with Trump fueled by their ideological similarities, is headed to the White House today to talk tariffs. The EU, already facing 10% blanket tariffs and steel and aluminum levies, is looking to avoid steeper duties come July. Meloni has her work cut out for her — she’ll pitch Trump on ending most industrial tariffs between the US and the EU, per Bloomberg. While some Europeans were initially nervous about Meloni’s affinity for Trump, many now see her as their best hope. “Having Trump’s ear is an asset for the entire European Union,” an Italian official told Politico. Yesterday, Trump joined trade talks with Japan, and claimed “big progress” had been made.

Tariffs will fuel inflation, Fed warns

Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell delivered a message that Trump won’t like during remarks at the Economic Club of Chicago: Powell warned the administration’s tariffs will fuel inflation and slow growth, while he also signaled the central bank isn’t in any hurry to take action to address the situation. The policies will move the Fed away from its goals of price stability and a strong job market “probably for the balance of this year,” he said. Stocks slid following his remarks, and on news of export controls and tariffs hitting the chip industry. Elsewhere, the World Trade Organization conceded that the global trade outlook has “deteriorated sharply” following the tariffs, and Canada’s central bank chief blamed Trump for causing “unprecedented” economic shocks. The European Central Bank is expected to cut rates today. There are fresh signs of worry among Americans, too: Retail sales spiked in March as US consumers raced to beat the tariffs.

Sanders endorses ally for Michigan Senate

Activist and physician Abdul El-Sayed entered Michigan’s open Senate race on Thursday with an endorsement from Sen. Bernie Sanders. “We need candidates who will stand up to Trump’s authoritarianism and protect our democratic way of life,” Sanders told Semafor’s David Weigel, making El-Sayed, who ran for governor in 2018, one of the first candidates he’s supported since calling for more progressives to run for office this year. The 40-year-old, who would be the Senate’s first Muslim member, told Semafor that he’d fight the “absolute chaos” of the administration with a positive agenda; in a campaign launch video, he said he’d fight Trump with “more than paper paddles and broken promises.” State Sen. Mallory McMorrow is also running for the seat, with more Democrats expected to enter; Republicans are trying to rally early behind ex-Rep. Mike Rogers, who narrowly lost to Sen. Elissa Slotkin last year.

Young Americans shift away from religion

Americans are becoming less and less religious, a new Gallup analysis shows. While US adults’ religious affiliations have remained relatively consistent over the last five years, the rising share of younger adults who say they don’t have any religion is driving a more gradual shift away from religious identity. More than one-third of Gen Z respondents said they don’t identify with a particular religion, the second-largest group behind those who identify as Christian. By contrast, 31% of Millennials, 13% of Baby Boomers, and just 9% of the Silent Generation said they do not identify with a religion. Overall, 22% of US adults said they don’t identify with a religion, compared to only 8% in 2000. It’s not only because younger generations account for a growing slice of the population; each generation has seen a slight increase over time, according to Gallup.

Jan Jambon, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finances and Pensions, Belgium; Kate Johnson, President and CEO, Lumen Technologies; Ynon Kreiz, Chairman and CEO, Mattel; Antonio Neri, President and CEO, Hewlett Packard Enterprise; John Santora, CEO, WeWork; Kathy Warden, Chair, CEO, and President, Northrop Grumman, and more will join the Fostering Global Innovation session at the 2025 World Economy Summit. This session will explore the incentives and barriers facing both the public and private sectors in generating new ideas, methods, and products while examining the broader implications for economic growth, job creation, and financial opportunity.

April 24, 2025 | Washington, DC | Learn More

Blindspots: Border crossings and budget cuts

Stories that are being largely ignored by either left-leaning or right-leaning outlets, curated with help from our partners at Ground News.

What the Left isn’t reading: The Trump administration said that illegal border crossings dropped to a record low in March.

What the Right isn’t reading: A draft budget obtained by the Washington Post shows the Trump administration is hoping to cut the Health and Human Services Department’s budget by a third and restructure many of its sub-agencies.

Beltway Newsletters

Punchbowl News: The House Energy and Commerce Committee is looking to schedule a markup of its part of the GOP reconciliation package on May 7.

Playbook: For all the talk about Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick being in trouble, his close relationship with President Trump looks likely to protect him. Lutnick is the only Cabinet official to have joined Trump for all of his trips to Mar-a-Lago since taking office, and Trump often shares ice cream sundaes with him on Friday nights.

WaPo: Democrats hope to turn immigration — an issue voters favor Trump on — into a liability for the president. “The critical element of messaging here is due process,” Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., said. “We don’t have a rule of law in America or anywhere else without due process.”

Axios: Global hedge fund managers increasingly believe a hard landing is the most likely outcome for the global economy, with 49% saying so in a new survey.

White House

• President Trump brought in a cabinetmaker who’s worked with him at Mar-a-Lago to add extra gold to his Oval Office decor. — WSJ
• A proposed federal rule would soften what counts as “harm” to a protected animal or plant species under the Endangered Species Act.

Congress

• Sen. David McCormick, R-Pa., doubts Republicans would hike taxes on millionaires.
• Republicans are quietly hoping the Supreme Court will rule against President Trump’s authority to impose his sweeping tariffs. — The Hill

Campaigns

• Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., is considering a gubernatorial run against New York Gov. Kathy Hochul next year. — NBC

Business

• Discount brands Temu and Shein plan to raise prices in response to tariffs.
• TSMC’s quarterly profits exceeded expectations.
• Fewer than half of the EVs registered in California are now Teslas, a nearly 10% drop from a year ago.

Economy

• President Trump fired the two Democrats on the three-member National Credit Union Administration, an independent board regulating credit cards.
• The Consumer Financial Protection Board will halve its inspections of financial services companies (though will still function, despite Trump’s calls to dismantle it), per a memo.

Courts

• California became the first state to sue President Trump over his tariffs.
• The UK Supreme Court ruled that only people assigned female at birth count as women under the country’s gender equality law.
• Unions are offering pro-bono services to federal workers whose jobs were threatened or done away with by DOGE.

Education

• Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem is demanding Harvard turn over records on international students’ “illegal and violent activities,” or else lose access to DHS’ foreign student visa program. — NY Post

Health

• HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. dismissed a CDC report that attributed an increase in autism rates among US children to improved detection, instead baselessly characterizing the condition as “preventable” and claiming it is caused by “environmental exposure.”

National Security

• Another senior aide to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Darin Selnick, was suspended during a leak inquiry, as well as a third aide who serves as chief of staff to Deputy Defense Secretary Stephen Feinberg.
• Secretary of State Marco Rubio closed an office focused on countering global misinformation.

Foreign Policy

• Trump had prevented Elon Musk from joining a Pentagon briefing on China. — Axios

Technology

• Nvidia was “blindsided” by China chip curbs imposed by the Trump administration expected to cost the company billions. The company’s CEO, Jensen Huang, is in Beijing today for talks. — FT

Principals Team

Edited by Morgan Chalfant, deputy Washington editor

With help from Elana Schor, senior Washington editor

And Graph Massara, copy editor

Contact our reporters:

Burgess Everett, Kadia Goba, Eleanor Mueller, Shelby Talcott, David Weigel

Mariangela Zappia is Italy’s ambassador to the US.