Principals

1. Parallel GOP fights
2. Moreno’s megabill ask
3. Trump-Musk feud simmers
4. US-China talks
5. National Guard in LA
6. DNC drama
7. Politico AI tool woes

PDB: Historic gender gap on abortion views

Trump travel ban takes effect … China’s exports to US see biggest drop since 2020 … S&P 500 futures ⬆️ 0.10%

Parallel fights test GOP unity

Even as Republicans scramble to coalesce behind their party’s tax-and-spending bill, leaders are set to pursue a second divisive fight: codifying DOGE’s federal government cuts by clawing back more than $9 billion in spending on public media and foreign aid. The House Rules Committee meets Tuesday afternoon to ready the White House’s legislation, which House Majority Leader Steve Scalise will introduce this week, for a floor vote as soon as Wednesday. But passage will require the support of almost every member — and moderates like Nebraska Rep. Don Bacon continue to raise concerns over cuts to programs like PEPFAR, which former President George W. Bush created to combat HIV and AIDS. “I’m still in the process of reviewing it,” Rep. Mike Lawler, R-N.Y., said as he departed the Capitol last week. “But obviously, I am concerned about cutting PEPFAR.”

— Eleanor Mueller

Moreno wants auto changes to Trump’s megabill

The Senate’s auto dealer-turned-senator wants to give President Donald Trump’s big bill a tune-up, Semafor’s Burgess Everett reports. Bernie Moreno doesn’t see the bill as a clunker, but the Ohio Republican is seeking a series of tweaks to the legislation that are focused on cars and trucks. It’s a fitting move for Moreno, who owned a group of auto dealerships before winning his Senate seat last year. Moreno told Semafor that he wants to narrow down the Trump-backed car loan interest deduction to apply only to brand-new cars assembled in the US, rather than the broader range of vehicles approved by the House. Trump indicated support for those changes at a meeting with Senate Finance Republicans on Wednesday, according to a person familiar with the conversation. Moreno also wants changes on truck excise taxes, EV and hybrid fees, and more.

Trump-Musk feud simmers down, for now

Trump and Elon Musk’s feud is (for now) simmering down from its peak last week, which saw tensions boil over in dramatic fashion. Musk, who spent days criticizing Trump’s “big, beautiful bill” before the former president hit back, deleted some of his more inflammatory tweets over the weekend, including one saying that Trump’s name is in files related to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. But that doesn’t mean a reconciliation: On Saturday, Trump warned that Musk “will face serious consequences” if he decides to fund Democratic candidates to run against Republicans who support the megabill, adding that he’s not interested in repairing the relationship. Meanwhile, Democrats see an opening with the tech billionaire: Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., told Semafor on Friday that he recently talked with one of Musk’s “senior confidants” about whether there’d be interest in helping the party during the midterms.

— Shelby Talcott

US, China set for trade talks

The US and China head into high-stakes negotiations over trade and tariffs in London today, a meeting that was hastily scheduled after Trump’s phone call with Chinese leader Xi Jinping last week. Top on the agenda will be export controls, with Beijing preparing to “push Washington to remove recent restrictions on the sale of jet engines and a variety of technology and other products to China,” The Wall Street Journal reported. The Chinese will be encouraged by the inclusion of Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick — who oversees the department administering export controls — in the talks. But for all the Trump administration optimism, it’s unclear how much progress the discussions will make after relations took a turn for the worse not long after last month’s meeting in Geneva. Beijing has signaled it plans to relax restrictions on rare earth exports. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index rose ahead of the talks.

Trump steps up fight with LA

Trump escalated a fight with California over the weekend, deploying 2,000 National Guard troops to Los Angeles in response to protests against Trump’s immigration crackdown. It’s the first time in 60 years that a president has activated a state’s National Guard troops without a request from the relevant governor, per The New York Times. Gov. Gavin Newsom raged against Trump’s decision, accusing him of attempting to “manufacture a crisis” and urging protesters to “stay peaceful.”

He also swore Sunday night to sue the administration on Monday, and dared immigration czar Tom Homan to make good on threats to arrest him. Trump has still not sent active-duty troops in, which would require him to invoke the Insurrection Act, though Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has suggested it’s on the table. As Sunday evening progressed, protesters shut down a major highway and some burned Waymo cars. “BRING IN THE TROOPS!!!” Trump wrote on Truth Social after midnight.

Leaked audio roils DNC vote on Hogg

The Democratic National Committee will vote this week on whether to hold new vice chair elections after a DNC call was leaked. On Sunday, Politico published a clip from a May 15 DNC discussion about vice chair David Hogg’s role in a PAC that might fund primary challengers, during which DNC chair Ken Martin said that the controversy surrounding Hogg “destroyed any chance I have to show the leadership that I need to.” DNC members will decide, by Wednesday, whether to hold a re-vote between Hogg, vice chair Malcolm Kenyatta, and the three women who lost the Feb. 1 election for the seats. “For weeks I’ve pointed out David’s causal relationship with the truth,” Kenyatta said in a statement, accusing Hogg of leaking the recording. On X, Hogg denied responsibility for the leak, but did not respond to further questions.

Politico AI tool gets tripped up, union says

Politico rolled out an AI tool last year to its high-paying “Pro” subscribers, promising them the ability to generate policy reports compiled from its journalism. But the tool has at times generated garbled text and has invented information in response to queries, Semafor’s Max Tani scoops. The newsroom’s union is arguing the tool violates contract language that requires AI to have “human oversight.” Last week, frustrated staffers printed out and shared instances where the tool made mistakes. A staffer queried the AI about what the fictional “Basket Weavers Guild” and the “League of Left-handed Plumbers” were ostensibly lobbying Congress about. (Per the AI tool, the basket weavers are very worried about data privacy.) Politico told Semafor that the tool is a “work in progress.” Axel Springer, Politico’s parent company, has been aggressively adopting AI technology at Politico and its other brands, like Business Insider.

Uncommon bonds: ‘Right to repair’ in the military

The Defense Department spends hundreds of billions of dollars annually on government contracts for weapons, gear, and other systems. But intellectual property constraints often prevent the Pentagon from repairing its equipment, forcing it to rely on the original contractors to make the repairs. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., long a champion of the “right to repair” in the US military, has found a partner in freshman Sen. Tim Sheehy, R-Mont., as she looks to shepherd through not-yet-introduced legislation to address what she sees as an expensive yet solvable problem. Their goal, Warren told Semafor, is to get legislation into the base text for the next National Defense Authorization Act. The duo have a powerful ally in Army Secretary Dan Driscoll, who is overseeing a new Army initiative that seeks to advance acquisition reform and address intellectual property constraints.

The global workforce is at an inflection point. New tech continues to impact how we work, and managers are struggling as organizations undergo major changes.

Join Judy Gilbert, Chief People Officer at ŌURA; Maureen Conway, Executive Director of the Economic Opportunities Program at The Aspen Institute; Mark Rayfield, President & CEO of Saint-Gobain North America; and additional leading voices to discuss the state of workplace productivity, resilience, and well-being, examining how leaders and policymakers are responding to rapidly shifting expectations around work.

Semafor will host newsmaking conversations in partnership with Gallup’s 2025 State of the Global Workplace report to explore new data on how employees and managers are navigating ongoing uncertainty in the global labor market.

June 12, 2025 | Washington, DC | RSVP

Beltway Newsletters

Playbook: President Trump’s clash with California is “simply a fight he has been waiting for,” and as a bonus it shifts focus from the headlines about his feud with Elon Musk.

Axios: Silicon Valley leaders are quietly hoping Musk’s fall from grace means they no longer have to worry about a key competitor having a direct line to Trump.

WaPo: Mike Duggan, the former Detroit mayor who left the Democratic Party, is hoping to shake up Michigan’s gubernatorial race next year. “My goal is 20 percent from the Democratic side, 20 percent from the Republican side, and win with 40 percent of the vote,” he said.

White House

• Elon Musk’s infamous “five accomplishments” DOGE email blast contributed to President Trump’s souring on him. — WaPo
• Politico profiles the history of the presidential autopen, as Trump casts aspersions on his predecessor’s use of it.

Congress

• Sen. Cory Booker said he wouldn’t take any campaign donations from Elon Musk, if the mogul decides to offer campaign cash to Democrats, though he would be “supportive” of Musk working against the GOP megabill.

Inside the Beltway

• Crowds descended on Washington, DC, to celebrate WorldPride.

Outside the Beltway

• Eight states have introduced or passed legislation to ban planes from emitting “chemtrails” to poison Americans or control the weather. (There is no credible evidence that this is happening.)
• Aaron Reitz, a senior Department of Justice official, is expected to leave the Trump administration and run for attorney general in Texas, Shelby Talcott scoops.

Polling

• The US gender gap on support for abortion rights stands at 20% — a historic high — according to new figures from Gallup. While 61% of women say they identify as “pro-choice,” only 41% of men say the same. That’s higher than the 13-point gap reported by Gallup in 2022, after news of the forthcoming Dobbs decision broke.

Courts

• Kilmar Ábrego García, the Maryland man mistakenly deported to Venezuela, was returned to the US. He appeared in court on Friday to face federal charges of allegedly trafficking undocumented migrants.

National Security

• The Pentagon inspector general’s probe into Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s use of Signal is focusing on whether what he discussed in those chats was classified and whether any messages were deleted. — WSJ
• DOGE staffers ignored warnings from other Trump personnel that Elon Musk’s installation of Starlink internet service at the White House posed a cybersecurity risk. — WaPo

Foreign Policy

• Colombian opposition party candidate Miguel Uribe Turbay was shot in the head during an address at a park and remains in critical condition.
• Israeli military forces detained a boat full of pro-Palestinian human rights activists on their way to deliver aid supplies, climate advocate Greta Thunberg among them.
• French automaker Renault looks to make drones for Ukraine. — France Info

Media

• ABC News suspended anchor Terry Moran over a social media post criticizing Stephen Miller as a “world-class hater.”
• At least one journalist from the UK and one from Australia were hit by rounds from non-lethal weapons in Los Angeles.

Big Read

• Pentagon leaders and other military officers used “UFOs” as a cover for real military operations, The Wall Street Journal reported, helping to spread a “paranoid mythology” about extraterrestrial life that many Americans, including military officers, now believe.

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, Eleanor Mueller, Shelby Talcott, David Weigel

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is a Democratic congresswoman from New York who is among a group boycotting popular Washington, DC, restaurants because of labor disputes.