NOTUS | News of the United States

Short-Term Excursion

Evan McMorris-Santoro, Emily Kennard — Tue, 10 Mar 2026 10:01:00 GMT

Tue, 10 Mar 2026 10:01:00 GMT https://www.notus.org/newsletters/short-term-excursion

Mark Schiefelbein/AP

Today’s notice: War’s end is in sight, Trump says, but maybe he’s the only one who can see it. MAHA debuts a new acronym. The complicated way White House ethics disclosures work. And: The hardest job in politics is trying to be excited about rising gas prices.

THE LATEST

Mission Accomplished? The president talked about Iran yesterday in Florida. A lot. But there’s one word he didn’t use once: war.

“I think you’ll see it’s going to be a short-term excursion,” Donald Trump told House Republicans gathered at his Doral golf club for their annual policy retreat.

Short-term, you say? Don’t get too excited. Trump told reporters at a press conference right after his address that “we’ve already won in many ways, but we haven’t won enough.” The war certainly isn’t ending in the next few days, he said.

The political story for the week, then, is how much Trump is asking of his political allies. In Doral, Trump didn’t back away from his demand that Republicans shelve their legislative agenda for the year until they get the SAVE America Act passed. That means either a protracted fight over the filibuster or just a blank calendar with few election-year wins on it.

But that’s not all: He’s also asking for support for an unpopular military conflict and for his sales pitch that rising gas prices are actually good, sometimes (more on that below).

Polls have found that Republicans need to get on offense, fast, to turn around what is looking like a tough midterm slog. In theory, events like the House retreat are places where that narrative change begins. But on Day 1, at least, the focus was not on things campaign operatives would suggest take center stage.

Open tabs: How ICE Plans to Put 8,500 Immigrants in This Warehouse (NYT); Live Nation reaches settlement with DOJ in antitrust fight (Politico); Trio of Habba successors are unlawfully leading NJ US attorney’s office, judge rules (The Hill); Leaked Private Texts Reveal Wild Fishback Campaign Drama (Bulwark)

From the MAHA Institute conference

RFK Jr.’s allies still want what they’ve always wanted: The secretary of health and human services was not present at a MAHA confab a block from the White House yesterday, but the doubt in mainstream science that helped propel him to his current role was. “All vaccines need to be removed from the market until they can be proven to be safe and effective,” Mark Gorton, president of the MAHA Institute, told the crowd.

They debuted a new acronym to help simplify the vaccine skeptic’s pitch, NOTUS’ Margaret Manto reports: “MEVI,” for “Massive Epidemic of Vaccine Injury.” Look for it in an influencer post near you soon.

From the White House

The murky world of ethics disclosures: Simply put, we don’t have a complete picture of the financial lives of several top White House officials, including Trump’s border czar, Tom Homan. And we may never have it. NOTUS’ Anna Kramer and Dave Levinthal dig into the complicated world of White House financial disclosure rules after Watergate.

From the Hill

How powerful is House grumbling? That’s the key question for a major housing bill working its way through Congress. The Senate is expected to vote on the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act this week, and is expected to pass it with a bipartisan majority. A Senate aide told NOTUS’ Raymond Fernández that they expect there to be enough momentum to push it through the conference process and onto final passage.

But not so fast, according to some upset House Republicans, who say too much has been changed from the version they passed last month. They intend to make a stink about it, Raymond reports.

THE BIG ONE

‘Did oil prices go up? Yes. Stevie Wonder could see that coming,” Republican Sen. John Kennedy quipped yesterday.

How do Republicans explain rising oil prices to constituents? If the war with Iran drags on, some aren’t sure. Sen. John Boozman told Emily that while people are “pretty smart” and could get up to speed on the geopolitical ramifications at play, they’re going to wonder when, or if, respite’s coming.

“The question that they have, and I think all of us will have as time goes by, is, how long is it gonna last?” Boozman said. “The administration’s saying it’s a temporary thing, and we just have to evaluate the damage … that’s gonna take a little bit of time.”

Will Americans put country over commute? “People understand that we saved a lot of lives by demolishing the military of Iran, and eventually the prices are going to go back down,” Sen. Rick Scott told reporters yesterday.

Analysts say the spike’s likely to stick around. Anna reports that analyst opinions are mixed about whether a release from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve would be enough to ease market panic, and besides that, there’s little the Trump administration can do without reopening the Strait of Hormuz.

“Every three miles, you see this billboard at the gas station that tells you what the price at the pump is,” oil analyst Matt Smith said during a briefing held by the market analytics firm Kpler yesterday. “That’s the worst thing ever for Trump.”

Not all are so-called “panicans.” Conservative energy and media strategist Gabriella Hoffman told Anna that oil prices will likely drop if the conflict in Iran eases up. That’s a big, and still unanswered, if.

NEW ON NOTUS

Trump Chicago vs. the flies: On Dec. 17, a city health inspector dinged the Trump International Hotel in Chicago for “small flies” throughout a rooftop restaurant’s bar and dish area, and for a couple other less-than-sanitary discoveries, NOTUS’ Taylor Giorno reports. A visit a week later found all but a cracked ice machine lid had been corrected. As Taylor writes, several Trump hotels and golf clubs have been hit over the past year with health code violations.

More: FBI Subpoenaed Arizona Records as Part of Widening 2020 Election Probe, by Torrie Herrington

NOT US

Trump Is Obsessed With These $145 Shoes—and Won’t Let Anyone Leave Without a Pair, by Alex Leary for The Wall Street Journal
After slashing federal jobs, Trump administration ramps up hiring, by Emily Davies and Meryl Kornfield for The Washington Post
Billionaires Are Swaying Elections in All Corners of America, by Mike Baker and Steven Rich for The New York Times

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Republicans Try to Craft Their Midterm Pitch Despite Conflicting Iran War Messages

Oriana González, Daniella Diaz, Em Luetkemeyer — Tue, 10 Mar 2026 09:42:00 GMT

President Donald Trump spoke Monday to House Republicans at their annual issues conference in Doral, Fla. Mark Schiefelbein/AP

DORAL, Fla. — President Donald Trump defended his decision to attack Iran at the annual House Republican retreat, contradicting his own timeline several times and dodging questions about when the efforts would end.

With voters indicating that inflation and the cost of living are their biggest issues ahead of the November midterms, Trump’s rhetoric appeared to distance the Republican Party from Americans’ concerns.

“I think you can say about the beginning, it's the beginning of building a new country,” Trump told reporters when asked about when the war, which he’d initially said would end in a matter of weeks, would wrap. “We could call it a tremendous success right now as we leave here, I could call it, or we could go further, and we're going to go further.”

The agenda for Republicans at their retreat in south Florida is focused on tax cuts and lowering prices for Americans. They are set to meet on Tuesday to discuss potentially plotting another budget bill before the end of the term. But now, congressional Republicans are left navigating how they can continue to push their economic and affordability messaging ahead of the midterms, which could potentially be overshadowed by the war in Iran.

Trump took questions from reporters for more than 20 minutes after presenting his vision of the next few months to Republicans, which included his push to pass the SAVE America Act, a bill that would require proof of citizenship for people registering to vote that’s already hit hurdles in the Senate. Steve Witkoff, Trump’s special envoy to the Middle East and longtime friend, stood behind the president as he repeatedly defended his decision to strike Iran and his administration's strategy for the war.

His remarks come amidst the growing war in Iran and record-breaking prices for crude oil, which Trump downplayed, claiming he “knew oil prices would go up” if the U.S. attacked Iran. Meanwhile, the battle for control of the House involves a fractured Republican conference facing a historic number of retirements.

Eleven days into the war, polling shows most Americans oppose it.

A new Marist poll found that 56% of U.S. adults opposed military action in Iran, with 86% of Democrats and 61% of independents saying they are against it. Most Republican voters — 84% — are, so far, supportive. Another recent NBC News poll found that 54% of Americans disapprove of Trump’s handling of Iran.

Last week, Rep. Mike Lawler, who is running for reelection in a swing district, admitted that opposition to the war could increase.

“I think it is really going to be dependent on the time frame here. If this is a short-term endeavor, which I believe it will be, then I think the American people will be fully in support of it,” Lawler told NOTUS.

House Republicans gathered at Trump National Doral Miami for their annual issues conference to discuss how they can handle both the war and pocketbook issues. Some seemed confident they can balance both.

“The concerns on the domestic front don’t replace or downplay the ones abroad, and the ones abroad don’t supersede or take the place of the ones here at home, and we’re tasked with managing all of that,” Rep. Tom Barrett, a vulnerable Republican in Michigan, told NOTUS. “I look forward to a robust discussion with my colleagues to kind of lay out our priorities.”

“Having a good open dialogue for that, I think, is going to be helpful and important to move this forward the best way we can,” Barrett continued.

Rep. Nick LaLota of New York said Republicans “are on the right track.” He added that, “The facts are on our side, and if our conference sticks to the facts, I think more often than not, our constituents will give us another two years.”

But LaLota acknowledged that the conflict in Iran is bleeding into the U.S. economy: “Yes, we’re seeing a spike in home heating, oil, gasoline, crude oil, other derivatives of oil. My sense is, in the coming days and weeks, that it will moderate back to where it was when we deal with security issues about the Strait of Hormuz, the Arabian Gulf, and having a free flow of energy coming out of the Middle East. My hope is that will stabilize.”

Back in the Capitol, Senate Majority Leader John Thune also emphasized that stability is needed in the region before oil prices can come back down, and while the price increases are “real,” they’re not as bad “relative to what could have happened” because the U.S. is moving away from dependence on Middle Eastern oil.

The “best outcome,” Thune said, “is a fairly speedy resolution to the operations that are underway” in Iran.

Democrats successfully hammered concerns about rising health care and grocery prices in 2025, winning gubernatorial races in Virginia and New Jersey by comfortable margins. As a result, congressional candidates from both parties are already stressing economic issues.

The Trump administration began air strikes on Iran in late February and killed its supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Trump launched the strikes because he had a “good feeling” that Iran posed an imminent threat to the U.S.

House and Senate Republicans, as well as some moderate Democrats in competitive districts, voted against requiring the president to come to Congress to authorize military action, giving the green light to the administration to continue hostilities. Several U.S. military members have died in the war since, and Trump again noted that casualties are expected.

It was a split screen for the president on Monday, as he declared “major strides” in the military campaign. He was spotted huddled for lunch with some senior staff, including Witkoff and his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, at a restaurant in his massive resort and golf course in Doral, Florida. On his way out, patrons applauded the president.

“We are doing very well in the war,” Trump told folks in the restaurant, “to put it mildly.”

The White House’s Financial Disclosures for Top Officials Are Incomplete

Anna Kramer, Dave Levinthal — Tue, 10 Mar 2026 09:23:00 GMT

Mark Schiefelbein/AP

The American public does not have a complete picture of senior Trump administration officials’ personal finances — and there’s no telling when they will.

Months after posting disclosures on the White House website, the Trump administration does not appear to have sent the financial information for some top White House officials to the Office of Government Ethics for a second and often more serious review. OGE said the office publicly posts disclosures from all officials 30 days after receiving them.

There are currently no disclosures for top officials like border czar Tom Homan and House of Representatives liaison Jeffrey Freeland available on OGE’s disclosure database.

NOTUS has identified at least five top officials whose disclosures are still missing from OGE’s database by comparing ethics laws with the salaries and positions of White House staffers.

There is no public list of senior White House officials required to face OGE review of their finances. But most White House senior staff who have salaries above $150,000 are likely required to have their disclosures assessed for accuracy and completeness by OGE, according to rules under the Ethics in Government Act of 1978.

Homan is a senior official with a salary well over that cap, making about $195,000 in 2025. His disclosure on the White House website has not been updated since May 2025, even though the OGE requires the White House ethics office to "promptly" forward completed financial disclosures for review.

OGE reviews regularly compel top officials to disclose financial ties that the White House previously has not. Without them, the American public is left to rely on the White House to publish and update staff financial disclosures, from stock sales to business entanglements — and that has not been happening consistently.

In early January, the White House transmitted the financial information for nine senior members of the administration to OGE, including for Trump’s deputy chief of staff, James Blair, and speechwriter Ross Worthington. Those submissions happened more than six months after the White House appeared to finish its own reviews.

The White House did post financial disclosures for senior officials, including Homan, in June. But a comparison of the disclosures on the White House’s website and those finalized by the OGE showed that the White House’s records are sometimes incomplete.

Take the case of Vince Haley, the director of Trump’s Domestic Policy Council.

Haley’s original disclosure, published by the White House in June, did not list that Haley’s previous business clients included a limited liability company owned by Kash Patel, director of the FBI, and an LLC owned by former acting Secretary of Defense Christopher Miller, who faced extensive criticism for his actions during the Jan. 6, 2021, storming of the U.S. Capitol.

That same disclosure also omitted Haley’s $245,675 salary for his work on the 2024 Trump campaign.

This information only became publicly available at the end of January when the OGE published an updated version of Haley’s financial information.

In a statement, the White House acknowledged that Trump officials’ initial disclosures may have been incomplete.

“Reports that have not yet been certified are usually because the filer is still gathering information or including things that were initially left off,” a White House official told NOTUS. “That process sometimes takes several weeks or months depending on how complicated the reports are. Vince, like all White House employees, was counseled on the need to comply with impartiality regulations regarding former clients.”

The White House told NOTUS that it updates its website with staffers’ financial information on an “intermittent” basis.

“We are only required to make reports available, upon written request, 30 days after they are submitted. However, as we did during the President’s first term, the Administration proactively posts them publicly on the WH website,” a White House official said. “While we try to do it when reports are 30-days post-submission, sometimes there are delays.”

“Nothing is being withheld,” the official said.

NOTUS found several missing documents.

Three of the nine disclosures shared with OGE in January of this year — for Jarrod Agen, the executive director of the National Energy Dominance Council, Stanley Woodward, who served as senior counselor to Trump until November, and Trent Morse, who served as deputy director of Trump’s personnel office until September — were not available on the White House’s website as of early February.

After NOTUS asked the White House about those missing disclosure forms, the disclosures for Agen and Morse were added to the website in mid-February.

Some documents that show senior staff buying or selling stocks are also only available through OGE’s database and not on the White House’s site.

Matthew McMullan, who serves as the Senate liaison for the White House, sold stock in nuclear reactor company Oklo in October 2025. He made a significant profit off the stock sale because Oklo’s share price skyrocketed nearly 400% in the months leading up to the sale, heavily influenced by Trump administration approvals and policy changes.

The disclosure of McMullan’s stock sale in October was not posted on the White House website until February, after NOTUS inquired about his transaction. The information about his sale only became available to the public on Jan. 30, when the OGE published a disclosure of the transaction.

“All White House employees are counseled to recuse themselves from participating in any official matters that may impact their financial holdings,” the White House official said. “Matthew has complied with all ethics guidance.”

There is a gap of several months between the sale and public disclosure for 14 trades made by White House Staff Secretary Will Scharf.

The White House did not publish the financial transactions made by Scharf between June and November 2025 until mid-February, after NOTUS inquired about the sales. The information only became available to the public in late January, when OGE published a notice of the transactions.

Scharf in June purchased stock in GE Vernova, Duke Energy, and Caterpillar — three companies that have outperformed the market in the past six months in part because of Trump administration actions favorable to their businesses.

“All individual equity positions that Will has owned since the start of this Administration are managed by independent investment advisors without any input or foreknowledge of trades on Will’s part,” said a White House official. “Will has complied with all WH ethics guidance — he was not required to divest from individual equity holdings because of the nature of his role.”

OGE, created in 1978 in the aftermath of the Watergate scandal, has little power to enforce ethics policies and no mechanism at its disposal — save for public admonishment — for punishing ethics scofflaws.

An OGE official confirmed that there are no strict deadlines for when the White House must get disclosures certified for newly appointed senior Trump officials.

OGE declined to comment on the specifics of any individual filer.

The OGE could eventually decline to certify some of the nine White House disclosures it received in early January. It could also decline to certify disclosures that are missing entirely, such as those for Homan and Freeland.

Should ethics officials decline to certify any of the staff disclosures, that information would be shared with the public, according to a person familiar with the matter.

Later this year, senior Trump administration officials — including Trump himself — will be required to file another financial disclosure covering their personal financial activity from last year.

For these annual disclosures, OGE has instituted more stringent requirements where it may “decline to certify” reports that aren’t finalized by mid-January.

"The agency is responsible for transmitting the report and such other information as OGE may request sufficiently in advance to provide OGE enough time to review and certify the report by that date," the Office of Government Ethics wrote in an April 2025 memorandum to the White House. "OGE may also decline to certify any 2025 annual report for other reasons, including the filer’s unresolved potentially conflicting holding or position, non-compliance with applicable ethics rules, or continued non-compliance with an ethics agreement."

The OGE’s policy of instituting a deadline was meant to combat an administration slow-walking the review of personal financial disclosures, according to two former OGE officials who served prior to Trump's second term and spoke to NOTUS on condition of anonymity because of concerns over retribution.

Two former OGE officials described this as a clever solution to an ongoing problem across presidential administrations, where incomplete personal financial disclosures designed to defend against conflicts of interest could languish for months — or more.

A "decline to certify" designation by the Office of Government Ethics would, if nothing else, serve as a sort of ethical scarlet letter.

‘Affected By Pests’: Trump’s Chicago Hotel Restaurants Failed Health Inspections

Taylor Giorno — Tue, 10 Mar 2026 09:03:00 GMT

President Donald Trump. Chris Tilley/AP

Just before Christmas, a city health inspector visited the Trump International Hotel in Chicago.

They didn’t approve of what they saw.

The health inspector found wastewater flooding the floor of the main kitchen when three of the prep sinks drained, according to Chicago Department of Public Health records. A dishwasher was also not properly sanitizing dishes and utensils.

Meanwhile, the inspector observed “small flies” throughout a rooftop restaurant’s bar and dish area, as well as a cracked lid on the ice machine and debris buildup inside the prep cooler and on the floor beneath sinks.

The health official issued several citations on Dec. 17, 2025, and “instructed” the manager to make improvements.

When the inspector returned the next week, on Dec. 23, both sites passed inspection. Only the cracked ice machine lid remained, which the inspector again instructed the manager to replace, according to health department data. Other sections of the hotel, including a banquet room and a lounge, received passing grades.
TrumpInspectionRecordChicago (757x414, AR: 1.83)Neither Trump Hotels nor The Trump Organization responded to requests for comment.

Several Trump hotels and golf clubs have been hit over the past year with health code violations.

At Trump’s golf club in Westchester County, New York, officials observed insects, rodents and other health violations including “dirty surfaces,” “poorly constructed” rooms “in disrepair,” and “inadequate” lighting and ventilation during a visit last November, according to state health data first reported by NOTUS.

And in May 2025, New Jersey health officials hit Trump’s golf course in Bedminster, New Jersey, with 18 health code violations. The golf course manager at the time decried the inspection as a “politically motivated attack.”

After Forbes first reported on the Bedminster inspection, health inspectors revisited the golf course and revised the grade from a 32 out of 100 to an 86.

Republicans Can't Agree on What to Do About Housing

Raymond Fernández — Tue, 10 Mar 2026 01:25:12 GMT

Francis Chung/POLITICO/AP

A package that could be the first housing legislation passed by Congress in more than a decade is facing a number of hurdles — namely, unhappy House Republicans.

The bill is poised to receive a vote in the Senate as soon as this week. But Republican lawmakers in the House are demanding that the Senate incorporate House-passed provisions directed at the deregulation of community banks and stricter language to limit the use of central bank digital currency.

"The way to pass a bill is not to disregard the House product in a bicameral process. We want our views taken into account," Rep. Andy Barr, a member of the Financial Services Committee and chair of the Subcommittee on Financial Institutions, told NOTUS.

Barr is one of the lawmakers who wants the final package to ease regulations on community banks to allow for more lending. Many Republicans see that as essential to passing legislation to address housing affordability and made a point of including an entire section of related provisions in their bill, which passed the House in February.

But the Senate left out provisions targeted at community bank deregulation in its legislation, known as the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act.

“There are members in the House whose provisions and views were not accounted for in the current iteration of the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act,” Rep. French Hill, who chairs the House Financial Services Committee and spearheaded the House’s bill, said in a statement first reported by Punchbowl News on Friday. “Further negotiations, including a possible conference, may be needed.”

Hill said that House Republicans want a final package to include a provision that would limit the Federal Reserve from issuing central bank digital currency. The Senate package’s provision only bans it temporarily.

More than two dozen House Republicans signed a letter asking for a permanent ban, which has long been a conservative priority, to be added to the Senate’s bill.

“The Senate must amend the bill to include these provisions before it comes to the House of Representatives. Otherwise, we will do everything we can to ensure the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act is dead on arrival,” the letter, signed by lawmakers including Reps. Mike Cloud, Warren Davidson and Chip Roy, said.

NOTUS previously reported that House lawmakers were eager to negotiate with the Senate to push the legislation through. The Senate’s bill, sponsored by Sens. Tim Scott and Elizabeth Warren, cleared a procedural hurdle in the Senate last week in a 90-8 vote and is poised for a vote on the chamber floor this week.

In response to Republican lawmakers’ requests, Sen. Ted Cruz filed an amendment to the housing package on Friday that would permanently ban the Federal Reserve from issuing central bank digital currency.

Asked on Monday if he believed there was momentum around his amendment, he told NOTUS: “I do.”

Senate Majority Leader John Thune told reporters on Capitol Hill Monday day that he hopes the current Senate package will be passed by the House after the Senate’s final vote.

“We modified the Senate bill in a way that the House Republicans had insisted, and hopefully that'll be enough to get their support,” Thune said.

A Senate aide also told NOTUS senators are confident in their ability to get the legislation through, pointing to the bipartisan support for it. The aide also cited the president’s support for the legislation, and argued that if House Republicans oppose it, they would be going up against one of the president’s priorities.

But the Senate bill could hit another roadblock put up by its most high-profile proponent: President Donald Trump.

Trump on Sunday said that signing the Save America Act, a bill whose provisions includes a requirement for a photo ID to vote, was his biggest priority.

“I, as President, will not sign other Bills until this is passed,” the president posted on Truth Social.

Senate Republicans are still eager to see the housing package passed and are downplaying the president’s post.

“The president, of course, never served on the Senate, and when he said that, I don't think he understood the impact that it would have on our other business,” Sen. John Kennedy said Monday regarding Trump’s post. “By now, he's probably been briefed, and I don't know if he still feels that.”

Senate Democrats Threaten to Gum Up the Works With Repeat Iran War Powers Votes

Hamed Ahmadi — Tue, 10 Mar 2026 00:54:39 GMT

Rod Lamkey/AP

A group of Democratic senators said Monday that they are prepared to use the procedural tools available to them to disrupt the Senate’s normal flow of work to force public debate about the war with Iran.

If Republican leadership refuses, Democrats say they will bring a series of war powers resolutions to the floor in the coming weeks.

“We're not going to let the Senate go on with business as usual.” Sen. Cory Booker told reporters.

“We are demanding that the Republican leadership of the Senate hold the adequate hearings and oversight, as well as to allow a debate that brings transparency to this onto the Senate floor.” Booker added.

Sens. Booker, Chris Murphy, Adam Schiff, Tammy Baldwin, Tim Kaine and Tammy Duckworth have filed a series of new war powers resolutions that would halt U.S. military operations in Iran unless Congress authorizes them.

The measures are unlikely to pass, the group of Democrats acknowledged, while Republicans control the chamber. By forcing new votes, they can burn floor time and put more pressure on Republicans to agree to hearing and a broader debate.

The resolutions were filed last week and could become eligible for floor action as soon as next week.

The push comes days after the Senate on Wednesday rejected a bipartisan war powers resolution from Sens. Kaine and Rand Paul that sought to limit President Donald Trump’s ability to expand the conflict. The measure failed 47-53. Paul was the only Republican to vote “yes,” while Sen. John Fetterman was the only Democrat to vote “no.”

Several Democrats say lawmakers have been asked to rely almost entirely on classified briefings and that the public still does not have clear answers about the war’s objectives or timeline.

“We’re tired of the classified briefings. We’re tired of hiding this from the public.” Kaine said.

“I’d like administration officials to be under oath when they answer questions about that and about what our aims are and how long this war is going to last,” Schiff added.

Baldwin, for her part, said that she was not “convinced” by the classified briefing about the rationale behind the war.

“Nothing was offered to show me that we were under attack, imminent attack, or that it was reasonable to believe that that might be something that we were at risk of,” she said.

The pressure campaign comes as the Trump administration keeps sending mixed signals about where the war is headed. Over the weekend, Trump pointed to a broader conflict, demanding Iran’s “unconditional surrender” and refusing to rule out ground troops, while Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth warned that more American casualties are likely. But by Monday, Trump was also suggesting that the war, which he called a “little excursion,” would end “very soon.”

“The big risk in the war has been over for three days,” Trump said during a press conference at his Florida golf club Monday. “We wiped them out in the first two days.”

Still, Trump suggested that the conflict was not over and that the U.S. would “go further” in the coming days.

The war has already come with a cost. Seven U.S. service members have been killed in Iranian attacks since the fighting began, according to U.S. officials, and more than a dozen others have been wounded. Civilian casualties have also risen.

Iranian retaliation has hit U.S. and allied sites across the region, while U.S. and Israeli strikes have continued against Iranian military targets. The fighting has also shaken energy markets, pushing oil prices higher and raising fears about shipping through the Persian Gulf and the Strait of Hormuz.

Trump Tries to Rebrand His War With Iran as a ‘Little Excursion’

Mark Alfred — Mon, 09 Mar 2026 23:49:18 GMT

Mark Schiefelbein/AP

President Donald Trump called the United States and Israel’s ongoing war with Iran a “tremendous success” that was “going to be finished pretty quickly,” in a marathon series of remarks to lawmakers and reporters on Monday.

He also downplayed the conflict by describing it as a “little excursion,” notably omitting the word “war” from his remarks despite having discussed it as such for more than a week.

“We took a little excursion because we felt we had to do that to get rid of some evil,” Trump told Republican lawmakers assembled at his Doral, Florida, golf club. “And I think you'll see it's going to be a short-term excursion.”

The president had not, up until this point, shied away from branding the conflict a war — breaking with many of his allies on Capitol Hill, who throughout the last week and a half have argued to reporters that America is not at war with Iran.

Trump declined to give a precise timeline for the conflict’s resolution, telling reporters that it would not end this week and that “we're ahead of our initial timeline by a lot.”

“We're achieving major strides toward completing our military objective, and some people could say they're pretty well complete,” Trump said.

“We've already won in many ways, but we haven't won enough,” he continued. “We go forward more determined than ever to achieve ultimate victory that will end this long-running danger, once and for all.”

The president and his allies have offered contradictory explanations for the war's genesis. On Monday, Trump said the Iranians were “100%” ready to attack the United States, Israel and “all of the Middle East,” adding that “if they had a nuclear weapon, they would have used it on Israel, and this was going to be a major attack.”

Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, however, said last week that U.S. forces “have only just begun to fight.”

Asked to reconcile the secretary’s comments with his estimation that the conflict would be over soon, Trump told reporters: “Well, I think you could say both. It's the beginning of building a new country.”

Trump said that, despite hitting thousands of major targets thus far, U.S. forces were leaving “some of the most important targets for later.”
https://x.com/Acyn/status/2031133758062211396?s=20“We are waiting to see what happens before we hit them,” he said. “We could take them all out in one day, but it's all resulting in a 90% decline in various things, but in particular, Iranian missile launchers, and 83% drop in drone launches.”

Eight U.S. service members have died since the war started.

“As I said before, when you have conflicts like this, you always have death,” Trump told reporters, adding that the parents of those killed had urged him to “please finish the job.”

The conflict would only reach a resolution, Trump said, “when basically, I can see that they will no longer have any capacity whatsoever for a very long period of time of developing weaponry that could be used against the United States, Israel or any of our allies.”

In his remarks, Trump made only a passing mention of spiking oil prices that have spooked both markets and members of Congress.

“I knew oil prices would go up if I did this, and they've gone up probably less than I thought they'd go up, but I don't think anybody thought we were going to be this quickly successful,” Trump said.

“I don't want to brag, but … no other president could do some of this shit I'm doing,” Trump told lawmakers. “No other president.”

‘Very Complete’

Kelly Poe — Mon, 09 Mar 2026 21:46:37 GMT

Mon, 09 Mar 2026 21:46:37 GMT https://www.notus.org/final-notus-newsletter/very-complete

President Donald Trump speaking at the Republican Members Issues Conference. (Mark Schiefelbein/AP)

Good afternoon. This is the Final NOTUS newsletter for March 9, 2026. You can get it in your inbox every day by signing up here — it's free!

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‘The war is very complete,’ President Donald Trump told CBS News reporter Weijia Jiang today.

This comes after Trump posted on Truth Social that parts of Iran were “Under serious consideration for complete destruction” and Sen. Lindsay Graham told Fox News over the weekend, “We’re going to blow the hell out of these people.” The Department of Defense’s X account posted this afternoon: “We have Only Just Begun to Fight.”

It’s not clear what’s changed, but Trump told Jiang the U.S. is “very far” ahead of his original four- to five-week timeline. Expect more on this right now: the president is speaking at a news conference.

‘The U.S. will take them if you won’t,’ Trump posted this morning on Truth Social about the members of the Iranian women’s national soccer team who were deemed “traitors” by state TV after they stood in silence during their country’s national anthem.

But by the afternoon, the five players had been “taken care of,” Trump said, writing that he had spoken to Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese.

Trump didn’t specify where they were going or whether they’d received asylum. Some would return to Iran out of fear for their families’ safety, Trump said.

The price of oil fell back below $100 a barrel in anticipation of the G7 nations releasing oil reserves. The finance ministers did not reach a decision this morning, but CNBC reports that they will meet again tomorrow.

About 20% of the world’s oil passes through the Strait of Hormuz, which has closed due to the war. Trump called rising gas prices a “small price to pay” for global safety, a remark that Democrats have jumped on as both parties jockey to own affordability.

The Hill

Rep. Kevin Kiley of California told reporters that he would still caucus with Republicans despite filing for reelection under “no party preference.”

The move thins Republicans’ numbers in the House. With Kiley as an independent, there are 217 Republicans and 214 Democrats.

Rep. Andy Ogles made several anti-Muslim comments on social media in recent days, which included calling for the deportation of U.S. citizens and saying that “Muslims don’t belong in American society.”

Democrats condemned Ogles’ comments, but he is part of an increasingly vocal group of House Republicans who have faced few public repercussions from party leaders over similar remarks.

The Courts

Anthropic filed suit against the Department of Defense and other agencies after the Trump administration directed the federal government to stop using the company’s artificial intelligence platform, Claude.

The order came as a result of the company’s refusal to allow the Pentagon unfettered use of its program, Anthropic said in court filings. The company’s policy has restrictions on using tools for lethal autonomous warfare and mass surveillance of Americans.

Live From The GOP Retreat

https://x.com/reesejgorman/status/2031101732210577429

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Trump Will Feel the Iran Oil Price Shock, Industry Analysts Say

Anna Kramer — Mon, 09 Mar 2026 21:20:30 GMT

Energy Secretary Chris Wright and President Donald Trump Jacquelyn Martin/AP

Less than two weeks ago, President Donald Trump bragged about low gas prices in his State of the Union address. On Sunday, Trump called expensive gas “a very small price to pay,” as the U.S. wages war in Iran without an obvious end in sight.

Gas prices are currently up 56 cents a gallon on average since Trump’s address. The average price of a gallon could reach $4 by the end of the week if the market continues to panic.

The global oil shock is expected to worsen every day that the Strait of Hormuz — a vital passageway for 20% of the world’s oil — remains closed to most tankers.

Industry experts are increasingly concerned that the Trump administration did not adequately plan for the oil price shocks that are now rippling through the global economy, and they predict the White House will face serious political consequences because of it.

“His economic strategy is lower energy prices for inflation and for manufacturing, and in general to cater to the American people. All of those strategies are counter to this campaign,” Michelle Brouhard, the head of policy and geopolitical risk at Kpler, said on a Monday briefing call with the company’s clients. “We are going to have higher prices for inflation, higher energy prices for manufacturing. This is very very expensive for the American public.”

There’s very little that the Trump administration can do to control gasoline prices without reopening the Strait of Hormuz for oil tanker traffic, analysts warn.

While the Strategic Petroleum Reserve exists precisely for situations like this — providing a backup supply of oil in case of market shocks — analyst opinions are mixed about whether a release would be enough to ease market panic.

Rose Kelanic, the director of the Middle East program at Defense Priorities, said she was optimistic that a coordinated release of SPRs around the world, led by the U.S. and including all of the G7 countries, could be effective at temporarily easing panic.

The analysts on the Kpler call Monday morning were less hopeful, repeatedly pointing out that even with global SPR releases, supply will remain constrained until the Strait of Hormuz reopens for tanker traffic.

On Monday, the G7 countries decided to hold off on releasing any oil from the world’s SPRs for now. It’s not clear why that decision was made. The group may believe that an SPR release would be more effective if the situation becomes more dire.

“It also could be that, politically, it would look bad, because it suggests that there's going to be a longer war, and they don't want to admit it's a longer war,” Kelanic said.

The political problem is becoming increasingly apparent.

The Trump administration has attempted to ease concerns by arguing that the price spike is just a market problem. Energy Secretary Chris Wright called it a “fear premium,” and said it didn’t have to do anything with supply. Republicans have largely echoed the message that it won’t be a long-term problem.

"President Trump has been clear that these are short-term disruptions and that Americans will see oil and gas prices drop rapidly again once the necessary objectives of Operation Epic Fury have been achieved and the regime’s capabilities are neutralized," White House spokesperson Taylor Rogers told NOTUS in a statement.

Gabriella Hoffman, a conservative energy and media strategist said she thinks prices will quickly taper off as the conflict in Iran eases — and that she’s encouraged that prices still have not reached the levels they hit during the beginning of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022, when they rose above $4 a gallon. Though she said she was “concerned that average gasoline prices are well above where they should be.”

Democrats say they have a much more straightforward message.

“Closing the Strait of Hormuz is a pretty one-to-one ratio between Trump’s policies and your bill filling up your tank. It doesn’t take a lot for people to make that connection,” said Democratic strategist Jared Leopold. “And even if gas prices stabilize, the chaos that was caused here builds on an overall narrative that Trump doesn’t give a damn about affordability and is just going to do whatever the hell he wants.”

Hoffman doesn’t think Democrats will benefit from focusing on gas prices.

“Oftentimes, a lot of people on the left, especially those who do policy, on the opposite side, they're using this as an opportunity to push 100% transition to renewables, which has not worked,” she said.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer called on Trump to release crude from the reserves on Sunday.

The U.S. economy relies more heavily on oil than other major powers like Russia and China, analysts said. As a result, U.S. consumers feel oil price spikes more quickly and seriously than consumers elsewhere.

“That’s the worst thing ever for Trump. The U.S. is so unique in that everybody drives, and every three miles you see this billboard at the gas station that tells you what the price at the pump is,” said oil analyst Matt Smith during the Kpler briefing on Monday.

While prices continue to rise, there’s one American industry reaping unexpected benefits from skyrocketing oil prices: oil and gas companies.

“These prices right now, for them it’s an absolute dream,” Smith said.

Democrats say that only reinforces their message.

“This builds on a sense that somebody else is getting rich under Trump’s economy at the same time that people are struggling to get by,” Leopold said. “This may be a dream for oil companies, but it’s a nightmare for American consumers.”

FBI Subpoenaed Arizona Records as Part of Widening 2020 Election Probe

Torrie Herrington — Mon, 09 Mar 2026 21:06:03 GMT

Maricopa County ballots cast in the 2020 general election are examined and recounted by contractors working for Florida-based company Cyber Ninjas at Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Phoenix. (AP Photo/Matt York, Pool)

The Trump administration issued a grand jury subpoena for election records from Arizona’s largest county last week, part of an accelerating effort to prove President Donald Trump’s long-debunked assertions that the 2020 presidential race was rigged against him.

Arizona state Senate President Warren Petersen confirmed that the chamber, which carried out a partisan audit of the state’s results in Maricopa County shortly after the 2020 election was called for Joe Biden, received the audit and had turned over its records to the FBI.

“Late last week I received and complied with a federal grand jury subpoena for records relating to the Arizona State Senate’s 2020 audit of Maricopa County. The FBI has the records,” Warren posted on X. “Any other report is fake news.”

In a post on Truth Social Monday, Trump responded to a news report about the subpoena, writing: “Great!!!”

This development comes after the FBI raided a Fulton County, Georgia, government building last month to seize election records. In 2020, Trump requested a separate recount in Georgia, where Biden’s victory was also upheld.

Much like Georgia, Arizona has been a central part of Republican claims of fraud in the 2020 election.

However, in 2021, a GOP-backed audit found Biden did win Maricopa County — by 360 votes more than the initial count.

The recent investigations into these counties’ voting data come at a time when Trump has also suggested the Republican Party should nationalize elections.

“The Republicans should say, ‘We want to take over,’” Trump said on a podcast last month. “We should take over the voting, the voting in at least many — 15 places. The Republicans ought to nationalize the voting.”

It remains unclear how Trump would accomplish a federal takeover of election duties. The Constitution explicitly says states are in charge of election administration.

Rep. Kevin Kiley Announces He’s Leaving the GOP, Effective Immediately

Torrie Herrington — Mon, 09 Mar 2026 20:05:33 GMT

Bill Clark/AP

Rep. Kevin Kiley of California announced on Monday that he is dropping his affiliation with the Republican Party, effective immediately, though he plans to continue caucusing with the GOP.

With the decision, he is set to become the only independent member of the U.S. House of Representatives.

Kiley last week filed for reelection under “no party preference,” a decision he said Monday was spurred by Republicans’ decision to launch a redistricting war in a number of states in an attempt to maintain control over Congress.

“It is no secret I’ve been frustrated, at times disgusted, by the hyper-partisanship in Congress. In the last year it’s led to the longest government shutdown in U.S. history, a massive increase in healthcare costs, and of course, a pointless redistricting war,” Kiley said in an X post on Friday. “The epidemic of gerrymandering has spread from Texas to California to states all across the country. Both parties are complicit.”

Kiley held a press call on Monday where he further explained his decision.

“In trying to think about what I could do to try to make the situation better, I reached a decision that, since gerrymandering seeks to elevate partisanship above everything else in our politics and governance, seeks to make it the sum and substance of our politics, that the best way to counter gerrymandering and its insidious impacts on democracy is simply to take partisanship out of the equation,” Kiley said on the call.

Gerrymandering has affected Kiley personally, forcing him to choose between two different districts after the passage of Proposition 50 in California.

“Today, I’m asking the clerk of the U.S. House of Representatives to have that reflected in the official roster and all associated courts and designations officially associated with the House of Representatives, so I will be the sole independent member of the House of Representatives,” he said.

Kiley said he is only caucusing with Republicans for administrative purposes to maintain his committee seats.

“This idea that you have to be administratively caucusing with one party or the other to get committee assignments — that is not the way it should work. And so that's something that I'm going to try to change,” he said.

Kiley said he did not talk to anyone in Republican leadership before making this decision.

“I think that the appropriate posture as an independent is to say, I'm going to do whatever serves my constituents,” he said.

Kiley’s decision to step away from the Republican Party adds to the setbacks the party is facing with its thin House majority — after Kiley’s defection, there are now 217 Republicans and 214 Democrats in the lower chamber. With full attendance, Republicans can only lose two votes when passing legislation with a simple majority, which has been an ongoing challenge for Speaker Mike Johnson.

Despite the dwindling majority, Johnson has continued to project confidence when it comes to passing legislation.

“We’ve been demonstrating for the entirety of this Congress what can be done with a small majority,” Johnson said previously. “It’s the same challenges every day around here. I got to build consensus, and we don’t have many votes to spare. On some days, we have no votes to spare. So we get everybody to ‘yes’, that’s what we do.”

RFK Jr.'s MAHA Allies Call to Eliminate All Childhood Vaccine Recommendations

Margaret Manto — Mon, 09 Mar 2026 19:59:39 GMT

Javier Gallegos/AP

Leaders of the MAHA Institute, the Robert F. Kennedy Jr.-allied think tank pushing Make America Health Again movement policies, stated their position on vaccines unequivocally on Monday: “The childhood vaccination schedule needs to be eliminated,” the policy group’s president, Mark Gorton, said.

“All vaccines need to be removed from the market until they can be proven to be safe and effective,” Gorton told an audience of supporters gathered in the Willard Hotel’s Crystal Room for a panel discussion on the “Massive Epidemic of Vaccine Injury.”

Kennedy was not physically present at the MAHA Institute event, but his name and likeness were everywhere: on stickers affixed to the back of a laptop, on a white-and-green sweatshirt emblazoned with the MAHA slogan and in the remarks from speakers like Del Bigtree, Kennedy’s former communications manager.

“Vaccines are causing autism,” Bigtree said to the room, speaking alongside slides arguing against the measles vaccine, claiming an infection reduces the risk of cancer — a claim experts say is not backed by science. The measles vaccine is safe and effective; measles killed 400 to 500 Americans a year before the vaccine was introduced in 1963, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Nearly 1,300 cases of measles have been reported so far in 2026. While autism rates have risen in recent decades due to a mix of factors, including environmental exposures and improvements in diagnostic criteria, scientific studies have not found any link between vaccinations and autism.

The event, just a block from the White House, comes at an interesting time for the MAHA movement in Washington. It is clear that the institute, and the movement it is part of, have the administration’s ear; attendees of past events have included senior HHS adviser Calley Means and Food and Drug Administration official Sara Brenner.

But MAHA hasn’t been very happy with the Trump administration’s lack of action in recent months on issues it cares deeply about, like reducing pesticide use. And the Trump administration is reportedly wary that its vaccine policies are hurting them politically: A memo written by President Donald Trump’s main pollster called vaccine skepticism “politically risky” and said there could be “electoral downsides” for politicians who support eliminating vaccine recommendations.

Gorton’s recommendation would be a huge escalation in efforts to curtail access to vaccines. The CDC rolled back the childhood vaccine schedule in January, but left all vaccines currently approved available through “shared clinical decision making” with a medical provider.

The threat of a voter backlash to that decision and to other cuts to the vaccine schedule made by a CDC committee last fall has seemingly rattled the Trump administration. Several high-ranking officials with histories of criticizing vaccines at the CDC and the FDA have left federal service in recent weeks, including Jim O’Neill, who served as acting CDC director and signed off on the January changes to the childhood vaccine schedule, and Vinay Prasad, the FDA official who reportedly blocked an mRNA vaccine from being reviewed by the agency.

The MAHA Institute, on the other hand, showed no concern over the potential political pitfalls of pushing its anti-vaccine agenda.

Gorton displayed slides with titles like “The Polio Fraud” and “The flu shot has given 1,900,000 Americans Alzheimer’s,” and, simply, “VACCINES ARE THE GREATEST SCAM IN MEDICAL HISTORY.”

At another moment, Gorton claimed that HHS had commissioned more than 100 studies into vaccine injuries. When asked by NOTUS where he got that number, he said Kennedy had previously stated his desire to further study vaccines.

“I don't know much more than they're commissioning a bunch of studies,” Gorton told NOTUS.

HHS did not immediately respond to a request for comment on whether it was conducting new studies on vaccine injuries.

At times, the event seemed like a PR launch for the slogan “Massive Epidemic of Vaccine Injury,” which speakers shortened to MEVI.

“We talk about the epidemic of chronic disease, but the vagueness of that term allows people to see right through the problem without seeing it,” Gorton explained. But “massive epidemic of vaccine injury” is a “mouthful.”

“Hence, MEVI,” Gorton said.

Republican Lawmaker Says Muslim Immigrants ‘Must Be Banned’

Torrie Herrington — Mon, 09 Mar 2026 19:22:25 GMT

"Muslims don't belong in American society," Rep. Andy Ogles wrote on X. Mark Humphrey/AP

Rep. Andy Ogles posted a string of anti-Muslim comments on social media in recent days, including calling for the deportation of U.S. citizens and saying that Muslim immigrants “must be banned.”

“Muslims don't belong in American society. Pluralism is a lie,” Ogles, a Republican representing Tennessee, posted on Monday.

Ogles is part of an increasingly vocal group of House Republicans who have made Islamophobic comments — often with little public blowback from within their party. Speaker Mike Johnson’s office did not respond to a request for comment on Monday about Ogles’ statements.

Ogles’ latest comments came after a counterprotester threw an improvised explosive device into a crowd of far-right protesters near the residence of New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani. Two men were charged with attempting to support ISIS.

Mamdani condemned both the protest and the act of violence in response to it. Ogles shared Mamdani’s comments and suggested that the Department of Justice should deport the mayor, one of the most prominent Muslims in U.S. politics and a naturalized U.S. citizen.

But Ogles’ anti-Muslim comments predate the weekend. He has said he will introduce a bill to halt entry from several predominantly Muslim countries. President Donald Trump called for a ban on Muslims entering the U.S. in 2015, during his first presidential campaign, and as president instituted travel bans that include certain majority-Muslim countries.

“The burqas and hijabs have no place in this country. Let’s make America look like America again,” Ogles said in a post on Friday.

Democrats on Monday condemned Ogles’ comments.

“This disgusting shit doesn’t belong in American society. And Republicans who support it don’t belong in Congress,” House Minority Whip Katherine Clark posted.

Rep. Jimmy Gomez said, “Every Republican must condemn Andy’s bigotry. He doesn’t deserve to hold public office.”

Rep. Robin Kelly tied Ogles to Rep. Randy Fine, who posted repeatedly last month that he would rather live among dogs than Muslims.

“The open Islamophobia coming from some in the Republican Party is disgraceful, dangerous and un-American,” Kelly wrote. “Randy Fine and Andy Ogles are spreading hate and should be censured.”

Ogles’ office did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the criticism he is facing.

Ogles and Fine are both members of the Sharia Free America Caucus, formed by Reps. Keith Self and Chip Roy in December to oppose the “dangers of Sharia.”

Some other members of the caucus also posted Monday about the New York arrests.

“Islamic terrorism will turn American communities into Third World war zones,” Rep. Brandon Gill wrote on Sunday.

Gill and Ogles both shared a post from the far-right activist Laura Loomer on Saturday claiming that a flight had to divert its path after “an Arabic looking Muslim passenger onboard the plane threatened to blow the plane up with a bomb!”

NBC News reported that the incident was a misunderstanding; the passenger had set a timer on his phone so that he could pray for Ramadan.

“We don’t have to live like this,” Gill posted in response to the X post from Loomer. “Mass Islamic migration is a choice, and it will turn America into a third world country.”

Anthropic Sues Over the Pentagon’s Effort to ‘Punish’ It for AI Restrictions

Shifra Dayak — Mon, 09 Mar 2026 15:59:51 GMT

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth instructed the Pentagon to designate Anthropic as a “supply chain risk.” Rebecca Blackwell/AP

Anthropic filed a lawsuit against the Department of Defense and other agencies on Monday arguing that the Trump administration’s directive for the federal government to stop using the company’s artificial intelligence was unlawful.

The administration ordered all federal agencies to stop using the company’s AI platform, Claude, over Anthropic’s refusal to allow the Pentagon unfettered use of its program. Anthropic’s policy includes restrictions on using the tools for lethal autonomous warfare and mass surveillance of Americans, according to the company’s court filings.

Defense Department Secretary Pete Hegseth deemed Anthropic as a “supply chain risk,” which the Pentagon formalized last week.

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The company argued in its lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, that being dropped by the administration is “harming Anthropic irreparably” and has led to “unrecoverable revenue losses.” The administration’s directive for the federal government to stop using Anthropic’s software was meant to “punish” the company for sticking to its principles on safe AI use, Anthropic argued in court filings.

“The federal government retaliated against a leading frontier AI developer for adhering to its protected viewpoint on a subject of great public significance—AI safety and the limitations of its own AI models—in violation of the Constitution and laws of the United States,” the company's court filings said.

The U.S. military reportedly used Anthropic’s AI to plan strikes on Iran last month, even after top Trump administration officials ordered the federal government to stop using the company’s software.

Anthropic said in its lawsuit that the “supply chain risk” designation is unprecedented and has never been applied to other domestic companies. The company said it has caused confusion within government agencies and the company’s outside partners — including cloud providers and investors — about how they are allowed to use the company’s software.

“Until the Department raised this threat, no government official had ever raised a concern with Anthropic about potential supply chain vulnerabilities,” Anthropic said in court documents, adding that a letter that Anthropic received from the federal government about the supply-chain risk designation “did not explain what risk Anthropic’s services supposedly pose to national security.”

The Department of Defense did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Federal Judge Stops DOJ From Automatically Dismissing Immigration Appeals

Jackie Llanos — Mon, 09 Mar 2026 15:50:17 GMT

A federal agent waits outside immigration courtrooms in NYC's Federal Plaza. Yuki Iwamura/AP

The Department of Justice’s plan to automatically dismiss immigration cases on appeal is unlawful, a federal judge ruled late Sunday.

The order came a day before a new rule was set to take effect that would have resulted in the dismissal of most cases without the appellate board considering the merits.

Under an interim final rule published in early February, appeals would be automatically dismissed if the majority of the Board of Immigration Appeals judges, who are DOJ employees, didn’t accept the cases within 10 days. The rule also shortened the time immigrants had to file most appeals from 30 days to 10 and allowed dismissal decisions before transcripts of the proceedings became available. The Justice Department framed the change as a way to deal with the backlog in immigration courts.

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U.S. District Judge Randolph Moss ruled that the changes were unenforceable because the Executive Office for Immigration Review within the DOJ published the rule without allowing time to consider public comments before its effective date.

“Against this backdrop, one can only conclude that the overwhelming majority of BIA appeals will receive no meaningful consideration,” Moss wrote in the 73-page opinion in response to a suit brought by nonprofit groups that provide legal aid to immigrants.

The Trump administration has targeted the immigration court system for overhauls, saying it moves too slowly to close cases and order removals. Immigration courts across the country have a backlog of 3.3 million cases, according to a data research organization at Syracuse University.

Over the past year, the number of immigration judges has shrunk by about a quarter because of mass firings and resignations, leading to the DOJ deploying military lawyers to act as temporary judges, according to NPR.

Pro bono immigrant legal aid groups Amica Center for Immigrant Rights, Brooklyn Defender Services, Florence Immigrant & Refugee Rights Project, HIAS and National Immigrant Justice Center filed the lawsuit on Feb. 26. Democracy Forward, the American Immigration Council and National Immigrant Justice Center are representing the nonprofits.

“At a time when the due process rights of immigrants are under attack, this ruling prevents the BIA from reaching the point of near self-destruction,” Emilie Raber, senior attorney at the Amica Center for Immigrant Rights, said in a statement. “We hope that this decision is the first step of many steps in ensuring that immigration courts reach decisions based on the law rather than on pre-determined outcomes.”

The EOIR declined to comment on the ruling.

House Defense Committee Leaders Don’t Know How AI Is Being Used on Iran

Samuel Larreal — Mon, 09 Mar 2026 14:11:49 GMT

Armed Services Committee Chair Mike Rogers said Congress lacks some details on how the Pentagon is using AI. Alex Brandon/AP

Top House Armed Services lawmakers say they don’t have a clear picture of how the U.S. military is using AI in the ongoing war with Iran.

The U.S. military used Anthropic’s AI software to plan thousands of bombings in Iran late last month despite top Pentagon officials announcing a ban on the company, The Wall Street Journal reported. Anthropic’s software was reportedly paired with the military’s Palantir-developed tool, Maven Smart System, to leverage massive amounts of classified data to orchestrate attacks with the help of AI.

It’s the first time an AI model like Anthropic’s has been used by the U.S. for major war operations, but the specifics are unknown to the public — and to many lawmakers who oversee the military.

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Rep. Adam Smith, the top Democrat on the Armed Services Committee, said he does not think Congress has enough visibility into how the military is using AI for these strikes.

“I think it's something that we should pay more attention to and learn more about how they're using AI in the battlefield,” Smith told NOTUS. “It's something we need a lot more information on for sure.”

He said that “without question” he would “push and work on” obtaining classified briefings with senior officials about the use of AI on the battlefield.

Armed Services Committee Chair Mike Rogers told NOTUS Congress does not have a detailed enough view into how the Pentagon is using AI to know whether there is always a person involved in approving strikes.

“I don't have that kind of fidelity into it,” Rogers said. “My plate is full already. I’m not looking for detail like that.”

In the aftermath of the initial strikes, U.S. officials told Reuters it is likely the U.S. military played a role in a drone strike of an Iranian girls' school that killed over 170 civilians, most of them students, in southern Iran, according to local authorities. The human rights group Human Rights Activists News Agency hassaid that civilian targets like hospitals and parks have been hit since the U.S. and Israeli attacks began.

The Pentagon did not respond to requests for comment about the use of AI in these strikes.

Anthropic’s contracting dispute with the Pentagon has brought increased scrutiny into the use of AI on the battlefield. Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei refused to give the Pentagon unfettered access to the company’s AI tools over concerns of domestic mass surveillance and fully automated attacks.

The Pentagon has said it is not looking to eliminate human oversight over attacks, but would not let Anthropic impose conditions on the department. Anthropic was officially declared a supply-chain risk in retaliation on Thursday.

Lawmakers including Sen. Mark Kelly have started asking defense officials for transparency into how the military is using AI on the battlefield.

“Companies like Anthropic and others in the AI industry have published their own safety frameworks of how advanced AI systems should be deployed,” Kelly said in a hearing with senior defense officials on Thursday. “But Congress has not yet set any kind of clear statutory framework for how AI can be used in lethal military operations.”

“Before we rapidly scale up production and field more of these systems that have AI incorporated into their capability, we need a clear answer on this,” he added.

Some lawmakers are supportive of AI integration into defense. Republican Rep. Rob Wittman, a member of the Armed Services Committee, told NOTUS he is confident that there is a human in the loop during military strikes.

“There’s programs, like Maven and others, that use AI to help gather information in helping the decision-making process. There's never a situation where a human's not in the loop to make a decision about the deployment of a weapon,” Wittman said.

He described AI as “an enabler for folks in the battle space,” adding: “It’ll never replace a human being.”

Rules-Based Order

Evan McMorris-Santoro, Jasmine Wright — Mon, 09 Mar 2026 10:01:00 GMT

Mon, 09 Mar 2026 10:01:00 GMT https://www.notus.org/newsletters/rules-based-order

Mark Schiefelbein/AP

Today’s notice: The tension over “rules of engagement” rhetoric. The truth about how fragile the D.C. water supply is. California Democrats in the aftermath of Prop. 50. And: Trump branding meets America’s 250th.

THE LATEST

What are the rules of this war? “We're going to blow the hell out of these people,” Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham told Fox News yesterday. He’s one of the most ardent supporters of the current war, and a man who has publicly dreamed about American combat operations against the Iranian regime for a long time. How different in tactical terms are these operations from the ones he might have seen from past administrations?

Very different, this administration strongly hints. Commander in chief Donald Trump suggested in a post over the weekend he was considering clearing American forces to attack “areas and groups of people that were not considered for targeting up until this moment in time.” That followed a week of Pete Hegseth repeatedly signaling the rules of engagement for U.S. forces had been loosened (he’s been a longtime critic of the U.S. rules governing warfare).

The White House referred questions about what, exactly, American forces are allowed to do now that they weren’t allowed to do before to the Pentagon. The Defense Department did not respond to our requests.

“Hegseth has always had a problem with the rules of engagement and he’s not alone, by the way,” a source familiar with Pentagon operations told us. There was frustration up and down the ranks at the rules of combat during the war on terror, which “really put people in a bad position,” the source said. “The other side is not adhering to norms. So how do you handle an enemy that is not adhering to norms?”

But the way these terms are being thrown around frustrates some who served in those wars. One combat veteran from Afghanistan and Iraq now involved in political communications said the gloves are off is a confusing message. Rules of engagement are theater-specific, sometimes battle-specific, and highly classified. They are about how to achieve mission goals as effectively as possible, not about changing the laws of warfare that govern American forces in any combat operation.

Politicizing ROEs the way this administration has could send a message the military does not want to send, the vet said — to civilians and servicemembers alike. “An accidental strike that strikes civilians, that’s demoralizing. That is not something that the members of the military want,” the vet said. “Equally as demoralizing as someone who feels like their hands are tied behind [their] back. So there isn’t, like, a clear win here.”

This tension is playing out in a public way. Even as they boast about looser ROEs, the administration has distanced itself from any strikes outside the bounds of what Americans expect from their military. Trump said an early strike on an Iranian school was caused by an Iranian weapon, despite investigations from multiple outlets that point to a coalition weapon being responsible.

Standing behind Trump on Air Force One, Hegseth hedged, saying: “We’re certainly investigating” — though he added: “The only side that targets civilians is Iran.”

What comes next. Iran announced Mojtaba Khamenei, son of the Ayatollah killed by coalition strikes in the opening days of the war, has taken over as the nation’s top leader. So, for the time being at least, Trump’s demands for unconditional surrender and regime change remain a long way off. The seriousness of that for Americans was again made clear after the Pentagon announced yesterday that a seventh U.S. service member had died in combat.

Open tabs: Trump Says He Won’t Sign Any Legislation Until the SAVE America Act Is Passed (NOTUS); Judge voids Kari Lake’s mass layoffs at Voice of America (MS NOW); Trump moves to undo tax rule that Biden said would bring in $100 billion (NYT); FBI launches terrorism investigation after IED ignited outside of Mamdani's residence (CBS)

From the District

Be more afraid of the poop. It takes just 24 hours for the D.C. region to exhaust its backup water supply, NOTUS’ Anna Kramer writes of the worst-case scenario for a sewage crisis in the area. The nation’s capital once again avoided that scenario when the Potomac Interceptor burst, and right now, contamination levels are improving. But the fragility of the D.C.-area water system is a problem that there’s very little political will to solve.

“You’re looking at contingency measures for all of the hundreds of agencies throughout D.C. and NOVA, as well as the Pentagon and the White House” should the next crisis be harder to solve, a spox for the Baltimore District of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers told Anna.

From the Hill

It’s SPR fight time. It’s becoming increasingly likely that the national average for gasoline could hit $4 a gallon this week, according to many analysts. As Anna notes, that kind of price spike is a political nightmare for the party in power — and an opportunity for the one out of power.

Blaming “Donald Trump’s reckless war of choice,” Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer demanded that the president “release oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve IMMEDIATELY to bring relief to Americans at the pump.”

The truth about all this. In texts with Anna last night, Kpler oil analyst Homayoun Falakshahi likened a combination of global SPR releases and a partial reopening of the Strait of Hormuz to a “lollipop” that the markets need in order to keep prices in check. Unlocking the SPR alone won’t do it.

“We figured oil prices will go up,” Trump said on AF1, “which they will. They’ll also come down, they’ll come down very fast.” When asked about the SPR, Trump replied that he was thinking about filling it up, not draining it.

From the campaign trail

One man’s California redistricting mess. Prop. 50 was a huge win for national Democrats, creating a new congressional district map in the state that they hope will offset Republican redistricting elsewhere. But it’s not easy for California Democrats who have seen their political ecosystem scrambled.

NOTUS’ Oriana González explores the awkwardness through the story of Ammar Campa-Najjar, a perennial (losing) candidate with a history as an ideological chameleon. He sees the new lines around Republican Rep. Darrell Issa’s district as his last chance to get into Congress.

But other Democrats see a bad side effect of Prop. 50 in Campa-Najjar’s excitement. Rep. Dave Min endorsed his bid cycle under the old lines, but pulled it after redistricting passed. “I was like, ‘I’ll need to take a beat to figure out, you know, which candidates are going to run, who’s serious, and all that. I’m still evaluating,’” Min said he told Campa-Najjar.

From your favorite podcast app

In this week’s On NOTUS, Sen. Chris Murphy speaks with Reese Gorman about why he thinks Democrats need to block all legislation in the Senate until there’s a vote on war authorization with Iran. He also discusses how his party can talk about affordability in the context of the war and what he thinks a 2028 nominee for president needs to bring to the table. “Democrats should not just pretend like this is normal,” Murphy told Reese. “We shouldn’t let Republicans debate other legislation until they bring a war authorization to the United States Senate.”

NOTUS PERSPECTIVES

What will Iran look like in one year?Eight guesses from foreign policy experts.

Featuring Ivo Daalder, former U.S. ambassador to NATO; Jamie Fly of Freedom House; Kevan Harris of UCLA; Suzanne Maloney of the Brookings Institution; Linda Robinson of the Council on Foreign Relations; Kori Schake of the American Enterprise Institute; Mona Yacoubian of the Center for Strategic and International Studies; and Uzra Zeya of Human Rights First.

NEW ON NOTUS

Trump branding meets America’s 250th: The president’s family business filed several previously unreported trademark applications last week in connection with America’s 250th anniversary celebration, all featuring Trump’s name as a centerpiece of the festivities.

The planned uses for the images include bumper stickers, tote bags, drinkware, clothing items and golf balls, among other merchandise, NOTUS’ Amelia Benavides-Colón and Dave Levinthal report.

More: Republican Senator Says Stephen Miller Should Be Next to Go

NOT US

Americans Are Now a Target in Trump’s Immigration Crackdown, by Brenna T. Smith, Hannah Critchfield, Brian Whitton, Belle Cushing, Emma Scott, and design by Annie Ng for The Wall Street Journal
5 lessons from Vinay Prasad’s turbulent tenure at the FDA, by Matthew Herper for STAT
Sources: Trump’s inner circle scrambled to execute Iran war plans despite initial misgivings, by Adam Cancryn for CNN

WEEK AHEAD

Today: The president is set to address the House Republican retreat at Trump National Doral Golf Club in Florida. The retreat will continue for three days.

JD Vance is set to address the IAFF Legislative Conference in D.C. He’s just one of several potential 2028 contenders making a speech to the firefighters, including Democrats like Gov. Josh Shapiro and Sen. Amy Klobuchar. Other Republicans on the agenda include Sens. Susan Collins and Deb Fischer and Rep. Rob Bresnahan.

A weeklong House recess begins.

Tuesday: Primary Election Day in Mississippi.

Hearing examining birthright citizenship is set for the Constitution subcommittee of the Senate Judiciary Committee.

This week: White House reportedly will announce its list of "onerous" state-level AI regulations.

Sen. Chris Murphy Says Democrats Need to Block Legislation Until There’s an Iran War Authorization Vote

Nora Toscano — Mon, 09 Mar 2026 10:00:00 GMT

Sen. Chris Murphy (Tom Williams/AP)

Sen. Chris Murphy says Democratic senators should block or delay all legislation until a war authorization for President Donald Trump’s military intervention in Iran gets a vote in the Senate.

“Democrats should not just pretend like this is normal,” Murphy told NOTUS’ Reese Gorman on the latest episode of the On NOTUS podcast. “We shouldn’t let Republicans debate other legislation until they bring a war authorization to the United States Senate.”

The House and Senate both voted against a resolution last week that would have limited Trump’s war powers in Iran. Murphy, who voted in favor of the resolution, said Congress must go further, calling on both the president and Senate Majority Leader John Thune to bring a declaration of war vote to Congress.

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Until they do, Murphy argued, Democrats should protest by refusing to debate other bills.

“Right now we’re debating a housing bill,” Murphy said. “It’s a pretty benign housing bill. I mean, really, we’re going to debate and amend a bill on housing while there are potentially dozens of American dead bodies coming back from an unauthorized war overseas? This is an emergency. We should act like it’s an emergency.”

The Connecticut senator has risen to national attention in recent years as a member of the Foreign Relations Committee and an outspoken voice on international affairs. He criticized Trump for Israel in international actions that he says do not benefit the United States.

“We have no treaty obligation to support Israel in every single one of their military endeavors, and their actions in Gaza have not been in the U.S. interest, their actions in Iran have not been in our interest,” Murphy said. “And we need to be ready to say to them — and Trump has not been ready to say to them — ‘listen, you’re going too far in this, we will not join you.’”

Murphy has been floated as a potential presidential contender in 2028. Without saying he would or wouldn’t run, Murphy said Democrats need a messenger who can focus on a “spiritual rebirth” in the United States.

“Something’s rotten at the core of this nation right now,” Murphy said. “There’s a selfishness. There’s a lack of concern for our neighbors. There’s a normalization of corruption and graft that’s happening. So I think the conversation as we get closer to 2028 has to be not only about defeating MAGA, restoring and repairing from the damage that's been done, but how do we build a kinder country?”

Chris Murphy on What Democrats Need to Do to Counter Trump on Iran

‘My Last Chance’: Perennial Candidate Ammar Campa-Najjar Believes He Can Finally Win an Election

Oriana González — Mon, 09 Mar 2026 09:15:00 GMT

Democratic congressional candidate Ammar Campa-Najjar. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull, File)

Ammar Campa-Najjar has lost every single election he’s run in.

Many California Democrats who’ve backed Campa-Najjar in the past don’t want to see him run again. In 2018 and 2020, he easily won the California Democratic Party’s official endorsement, but this year, he did not. And yet, Campa-Najjar thinks 2026 is his best shot at winning.

Campa-Najjar first ran for Congress in 2018 against Rep. Duncan Hunter, who had been indicted for misusing campaign funds, losing by 3.4 percentage points. He lost in 2020 to Rep. Darrell Issa by 8 percentage points. He lost the Chula Vista mayoral race to John McCann in 2022 by 4.2 percentage points.

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With California’s newly redrawn congressional map, Issa’s district became more Democratic, inspiring Campa-Najjar to run against him again. Last week, Issa announced he would retire from Congress, endorsing Republican Jim Desmond on his way out. In response, Campa-Najjar said in a press release, “While I’m glad Darrell Issa will no longer represent CA-48, we cannot exchange one MAGA rubber stamp for another this November.”

“This country's going in a different direction, and so I felt very compelled by the moment,” Campa-Najjar told NOTUS last month. “If I'm going to try to prove what I believe about this country, this is my last chance to try to stand in the breach and do something about it.”

Not everyone is as enthusiastic about his run. Campa-Najjar has several endorsements from members of Congress, including his girlfriend, Rep. Sara Jacobs, and he’s the top fundraiser in the race. But state and local Democrats are not lining up behind him in quite the same way.

In late February, thousands of members of the California Democratic Party gathered in San Francisco for the state party’s annual convention. Their main purpose: to organize ahead of the midterms after voters in the state overwhelmingly passed Proposition 50, solidifying Democrats’ advantage in congressional races, and to endorse Democratic candidates. In 2018 and 2020, Campa-Najjar easily landed the party’s endorsement.

This year, the California Democratic Party did not endorse anyone in the primary, which will take place in June. Of the 33 delegates who voted in California’s new 48th district, only about 18% voted to endorse Campa-Najjar, compared to 55% for San Diego City Councilwoman Marni Von Wilpert, just shy of the 60% threshold needed to obtain the full party’s backing.

The results were not surprising. Campa-Najjar has faced accusations of opportunism and changing his positions based on political headwinds. In mid-January, he attended the party’s pre-endorsement conference with the hopes of convincing local Democrats to support him. But ahead of that meeting, five California Democrats sent a letter to state delegates urging them not to support Campa-Najjar.

“With Prop 50 now law, Democrats finally have a chance to win California’s 48th Congressional District and take back the House from Trump. But that depends on nominating a credible, electable candidate Democrats can unify behind. Ammar Campa-Najjar is not that candidate,” the Democrats wrote in the letter, which was obtained by NOTUS.

“Ammar’s repeated defeats have compounded a troubling pattern: a lack of clear principles Democrats can unite behind and a tendency to tell different groups whatever they want to hear,” the letter continued. “These positions will define Ammar again in 2026 – undermining his credibility with all voters, let alone Democrats.”

The letter’s authors pointed to his past positions on guns. Campa-Najjar said in 2020 that he was opposed to banning assault rifles: “I don’t believe in banning so-called ‘assault weapons.’ First of all, that’s a term that was coined by liberals who know nothing about guns.”

“I don’t believe that we should have an assault weapons ban. I just don’t think it would work and it would just give criminals an advantage over the rest of us law-abiding people,” he added. “That’s where I break ranks with my own party.”

At a candidate forum this past September, which NOTUS obtained audio of, Campa-Najjar said, “I firmly believe” in California’s current assault weapons ban.

“On a military base, I can’t bring a personal firearm on a military base, so why can we be allowed to take military firearms into civilian hands?,” he said. “We shouldn’t be able to do that. The military has stricter gun rules than our country does.”

The Democrats who signed the letter also took issue with past comments he made to Defend East County, a far-right group in Southern California that has since disbanded. There, he said that Amy Coney Barrett, at the time a nominee to the Supreme Court, “was very qualified” and that he would “probably” have voted to confirm her had he been in the Senate. Barrett’s confirmation as a justice ultimately gave the court the conservative supermajority that overturned Roe v. Wade.

At the pre-endorsement conference, Campa-Najjar said that “as your next congressman if I’m honored to be that person … It looks like introducing an amendment to codify Roe v. Wade to protect a woman’s freedom and right to choose.”

But the damage was done. At the conference, he obtained the support of only 14.29% of the 77 delegates who voted. Von Wilpert won a whopping 68.83%.

Campa-Najjar downplayed those results. In a lengthy interview with NOTUS in early February, the Democratic candidate called the state party’s endorsement “a nice to have, but not a need to have.”

“This is not going to get won by the party's brand blessing,” he told NOTUS. “The party's brand, with all due respect, is not what's going to get us to the promised land in any of these districts. It's still a party that's trying to figure us out.”

He touted the growing number of endorsements he’s received from members of Congress. So far, he’s gained the support of 20 House Democrats, including Jacobs, and two congressional PACs, the campaign arms of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus and the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus. One Democratic strategist involved in California races, but not in the CA-48 primary, told NOTUS it was unusual to see that many endorsements.

“I'm just surprised so many politicians are taking sides in that race … That’s an interesting element,” said the strategist, who was granted anonymity to speak freely.

“The members of Congress who know what it takes, they want me to be here and be their colleague,” Campa-Najjar told NOTUS. The delegates in the pre-endorsement conference, he said, are “a group of activists, 80 of them” that do not “speak on behalf of 800,000” people.

He says now that he regrets what he sees as a hard pivot to the right in 2020, after running as a more traditional Democrat in 2018.

“That outreach, in that moment, became an overreaching,” he said.

“I went too far,” Campa-Najjar continued. “What I realized is that if you stoop to their level, they don't respect you, and you lose your own respect.”

***

After losing the mayoral race, Campa-Najjar said he was “done with politics.”

“I was done. I was done and not, like, depressed. I’m like, ‘Maybe I could help Sara, give her advice. I have a lot of friends who are members, I don’t have to be the one getting the shrapnel,’” he continued.

He joined the U.S. Navy in August 2023 through its direct commission program — he got in the third time he applied — and trained in the Philippines in 2024, which he called “the thing I’m most proud of.” He was set to start a master’s program in conflict resolution at Georgetown University this past fall, but then California state officials began efforts to redraw the state’s congressional districts.

In early August, Campa-Najjar attended an event held by the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee in Torrey Pines as a guest of Jacobs'. (The DCCC has not taken a position in his primary.) There, Campa-Najjar recalled, Rep. Mike Levin urged him to run for Congress in 2026.

“He’s like, ‘You need to run again,’” Campa-Najjar said. He then talked to Rep. Scott Peters, who, he said, also encouraged him to run, “and even Sara was like, ‘If you're going to do it, you need to announce now.’” Campa-Najjar insisted he was “super, super not planning” to run again, explaining that he had become a Navy officer and was planning to start his graduate studies at Georgetown last fall: “If there’s any indication I was not planning this shit at all, it’s all of this.”

“In what world is this district that I ran in, almost won, now suddenly become a winnable district?,” he continued, saying he could have never foreseen California’s mid-decade redistricting.

Levin, who has endorsed Campa-Najjar, told NOTUS that he had as good a shot as ever to win.

“I did tell him that I thought he had worked really hard in his first couple of congressional races, and he had outperformed the top of the ticket in both of those races.” (In 2020, Campa-Najjar got 46% of the vote in California’s 50th district, compared to the 45% received by President Joe Biden.)

“So long as he outperforms again, he'll win,” Levin added.

Just a few weeks later, Campa-Najjar announced his run for California’s new 48th Congressional District, which was set to become bluer if Proposition 50 passed in the November elections.

A press release announcing his candidacy touted his “strong early support” from House Democrats, including Reps. Veronica Escobar, Derek Tran, Steven Horsford and Dave Min.

However, after voters overwhelmingly approved Prop 50, Min quietly withdrew his endorsement.

Campa-Najjar “jumped right before Prop 50, and I told him, ‘I’m happy to endorse you for this district, but if it changes and Prop 50 goes through, then I’m going to have to pull out.’ He knew that going in,” Min told NOTUS. He said that he has “friends” in the race, naming Von Wilpert and the businessman Brandon Riker, “so at this point, I’m staying out.” California has non-partisan, or jungle primaries, meaning the top two vote getters are on the ballot in November. Between Issa getting out of the race and redistricting, it’s possible two Democrats could face off against each other in the fall.

“When redistricting looked like it might happen, I was like, I’ll need to take a beat to figure out, you know, which candidates are going to run, who’s serious, and all that. I’m still evaluating,” Min added. Campa-Najjar’s campaign said in a statement that Min’s un-endorsement was “not a surprise and there are no hard feelings.”

Several House Democrats, including some who endorsed Campa-Najjar, told NOTUS that Jacobs has not explicitly urged her colleagues to endorse her boyfriend. However, some said that when a colleague’s loved one is running for office, it puts members in a tough spot — and that’s happening with Campa-Najjar.

One House Democrat, who was granted anonymity to speak candidly, compared the situation to Rep. Pramila Jayapal’s sister, Susheela Jayapal, running for Congress in 2024: “It’s just awkward as fuck.”

“Let’s say you want to endorse someone else on the race. Okay, well, now you also have to think about your colleague, right?,” another House Democrat said.

Lauren McIlvaine, a spokesperson for Jacobs, told NOTUS in a statement, “This is a unique but not unprecedented situation and Rep. Jacobs has gone out of her way to make her colleagues feel comfortable. She hasn’t asked her colleagues for endorsements; in fact, she explicitly told them not to endorse because of her, so there's no ambiguity, pressure, or sense of obligation.”

“Some of the congresswoman’s close friends have endorsed others in the race, which hasn’t affected their personal or professional relationships at all. Last year, she told her colleagues at the weekly California Democratic Congressional Delegation lunch that she should not be a factor in their CA-48 endorsement calculations. She’s had similar conversations with other Members one-on-one,” McIlvaine added.

After NOTUS asked Jacobs’ team for comment, other congressional offices reached out to offer statements. Rep. Mike Thompson, who has not endorsed anyone in the CA-48 race, said in a statement that Jacobs “never pressured me nor do I know of any other colleagues being pressured on endorsement decisions. She even went so far as to stand up at one of our meetings to urge us clearly and in no uncertain terms to make our decisions without any consideration of her at all.”

But Jacobs and her family have significantly boosted Campa-Najjar’s candidacy.

According to campaign finance records, the Jacobs family has donated at least $66,500 to his campaign as of September 2025, making up about 8% of Campa-Najjar’s total reported contributions — though Campa-Najjar’s campaign said that since December, contributions have reached $1 million. The Jacobs family has donated more to this campaign than they have in the past: : They donated over $30,000 to his 2018 campaign and over $40,000 to his 2020 run, according to a NOTUS analysis of campaign finance records. (The 2018 and 2020 cycle donations were dated before Campa-Najjar and Jacobs’ relationship was first publicly reported.)

McIlvaine said Jacobs “and her family have long been generous to Democrats across the country, particularly those running in San Diego. Her family has a similar giving history with the other San Diego Democrats.”

Campa-Najjar leads his Democratic primary opponents in endorsements from federal lawmakers. Seven House Democrats and one congressional PAC — the campaign arm of the Congressional Equality Caucus — have officially endorsed Von Wilpert; and one House Democrat, Rep. Ro Khanna, and one senator, Sen. Peter Welch, are backing Riker.

Von Wilpert, who has emerged as Campa-Najjar’s top Democratic opponent, currently has over a dozen current local and state elected officials and 10 formers endorsing her in the race. By comparison, Campa-Najjar has two local elected officials backing him.

“We are seeing the Democratic momentum coming in for me and the people who know this district best, know the candidates are supporting me,” Von Wilpert told NOTUS. “We are building momentum, and there's a reason: I've won competitive elections and I've governed.”

Andi McNew, Campa-Najjar’s campaign manager, said in a statement, “Ammar has earned the support of 11+ California House Democrats, unions, VoteVets, CHC BOLD PAC and others on the merits of this campaign and his demonstrated ability to win this district. We're proud of that coalition and focused on growing it.”

For Campa-Najjar, this race is a way to return to who he was as a young, first-time candidate eight years ago.

“I feel aligned with myself … and now I’m kind of bringing it back.” He said that his campaign team includes a lot of 2018 campaign crew, which he called “successful.” His first race, after all, was the one he got closest to winning.

“I want to have a campaign that you’d be proud of, and I think if we replicate that, we’ll win this race,” he said. “To me, it’s like doing the best I can to meet this moment.”

Last month, before announcing he was not seeking reelection, Issa said that he enjoyed watching from the sidelines as the race continued to take shape.

“It’s fun to watch,” Issa told NOTUS, “including one of the candidates that ran as almost a Republican in 2020 now going back to his roots of being an extreme left-winger.”

Campa-Najjar, Issa said, has the benefit that he does not have a voting record. “My record is what I've done and what I've championed and the bills that I've authored. When you don't, I guess you can move back and forth and try not to be pinned down.”

“Ammar is an interesting character,” Issa added.

The National Security Crisis No One in D.C. Is Talking About

Anna Kramer — Mon, 09 Mar 2026 09:10:00 GMT

Hundreds of millions of gallons of sewage flowed into the Potomac River when a pipe ruptured on Jan. 19. (mpi34/MediaPunch/IPX via AP Images)

The worst-case scenario would begin with a boil water warning.

By the next morning, faucets and toilets in the nation’s capital would spew brown water — even at the Capitol, the White House and the Pentagon.

Schools and businesses would have to close, and Congress would go out of session indefinitely. Life in the contamination zone would come to a standstill.

It takes just 24 hours for the region to exhaust its backup water supply. It takes just one month without drinking water for the region to lose $6 billion worth of economic growth.

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Washington has narrowly avoided this scenario three times in the last six years — most recently in January, when a sewage pipe collapsed and millions of gallons of wastewater spilled into the Potomac River.

For weeks, the city and surrounding states have been dealing with a challenging environmental disaster. Had the Potomac Interceptor sewer line burst several miles up the river, it had the potential to devolve into a full-blown national security crisis.

“There is no direct pumping to the White House versus Mrs. Smith in the Seventh Ward,” said Cynthia Mitchell, the spokesperson for the Baltimore district of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. “You’re looking at contingency measures for all of the hundreds of agencies throughout D.C. and NOVA, as well as the Pentagon and the White House.”

Contamination levels in the Potomac river are improving. But even as this crisis fades from public memory, the region’s drinking water remains at extraordinary risk.

The Potomac River feeds the Washington Aqueduct. Run by the Corps, the aqueduct is the only source of drinking water for the region. It remains vulnerable not only to future sewage spills from the old and corroding Potomac Interceptor, but also to chemical spills from freight trains, severe algal blooms and sabotage.

Currently, there is no backup plan if D.C.’s water becomes seriously contaminated. And the political will to secure one has yet to materialize.

***

Potomac River sewage spill AP - 26048030006094 (3600x2420, AR: 1.49)In late 2019, two freight cars fell off the tracks and into the Potomac River near Harpers Ferry, West Virginia.

The freight line frequently carries oil and chemicals. These freight cars, luckily, were empty.

“If they were filled with a harmful chemical, or oil or something like that, it would be a different story altogether,” said Michael Nardolilli, the executive director of the Interstate Commission on the Potomac River Basin, an advisory organization created by Congress to oversee pollution and water-use issues that affect multiple states and the District of Columbia.

“Oil, of course, is a major concern, because it really would foul up the machinery if it got in,” he added.

Less than four years later, on July 3, 2024, a dense bloom of algae mushroomed across the Potomac and clogged one of the water-treatment facilities in the Washington Aqueduct, forcing the available drinking water supply to drop precipitously.

Because the Washington Aqueduct was originally designed to pump water for fire suppression, the Army must shove water through the system, even if its water becomes undrinkable.

“We found ourselves getting very close to: Do we need to flip that switch and make that call? And keep pushing water, because now you're looking at the Fourth of July, which is coincidentally the biggest fire-suppression need day of the year, right? And we cannot fail that mission,” Mitchell said. The Corps came within just a couple of hours of making that decision.

These two near catastrophes passed with little public awareness about what had been avoided. And with no sense of crisis, there was no new reckoning about the need for a plan.

And then came January 2025. The Potomac Interceptor pipe collapsed, spilling hundreds of millions of gallons of sewage into the river. It was yet another close call.

“This is unprecedented,” Nardolilli said of the clean up efforts after the Potomac Interceptor break. “We really don't know what the impact would be on drinking water if the same scenario happened above the intakes.”

***

Washington does not have a backup for drinking water. It doesn’t even have a plan for a backup.

What it does have is a study.

Next year, the Army Corps of Engineers is expected to finish its evaluation of possible back up sources of drinking water for the District of Columbia and surrounding Virginia cities. The study was funded in December 2022, when Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton finally persuaded Congress to pony up the $3 million needed to evaluate the problem.

So far, the study has not yet produced any answers about serious alternatives and has already run into significant problems.

Congress has rules restricting the cost and length of time that an Army Corps of Engineers study can run. In this case, those limitations have stymied the group’s ability to study serious alternatives for a legitimate backup supply.

“We have kind of conflicting paradigms here. So Congress was very frustrated with the Corps of Engineers for many years, because we're taking too long to do studies,” said Trevor Cyan, the chief of the Civil Works Project Management Office for the Corps’ Baltimore district. “So we're trying very hard to lean into building infrastructure, not paperwork, so we're trying to deliver an early, actionable project that can help with the problem as soon as possible.”

The early project they’ve landed on is an expansion of the existing backup reservoir, which can currently provide 24 to 48 hours of supply. The expansion, if it is ever funded by Congress, would allow for an additional 12 hours of water supply.

While those 12 hours would be helpful in an emergency, the Corps acknowledged that would not be enough during a security crisis.

“We've got to come up with a measure that would work for all of us. It’s not only health and security for local communities, but now you're talking national security, because this is the seat of government,” Mitchell said.

Members of Congress need to work with Virginia, Maryland and D.C. leadership to agree on a project and help to fund it.

But Congress has little interest in addressing this problem.

“You have a real problem with the federal government's reputation in the rest of the country,” Nardolilli said. “So what is it to a congressman from Nebraska, if there's no water in D.C.? They're more concerned about their neck of the woods and trying to get the Army Corps of Engineers to focus on flooding in their area or water supply in their area.”

The Washington Aqueduct is not owned by the states, so why would states want to pay to fix it?

“A lot of nonfederal partners have not wanted to come to the table because they felt the perception was they would just improve the aqueduct, which is not theirs. It’s been a tricky nuance for us,” Cyan said.

Trump FEMA Ap-17216549270103 (4008x2672, AR: 1.50)

***

A crisis with the aqueduct is not the only Washington water disaster that’s just one terrible 24 hours away.

The largest advanced wastewater treatment plant in the world sits near the end of the Potomac River. The plant rests at one of the lowest points on the river, so that sewage can flow downhill to be treated without needing to be pumped.

That makes it vulnerable to flooding.

A severe flood would likely render the region’s largest treatment facility out of operation for weeks or even months.

Hundreds of millions of gallons of raw sewage that usually flow into the treatment plant every day would instead spill into the Potomac River near Alexandria, Virginia. It would drift through Northern Virginia, stinking up and clogging the river coastline, and eventually leak out into the Chesapeake Bay. The environmental cleanup task would be unfathomable.

“Imagine every pipe from every community that's now served entering into the local river system,” said Rachael Jonassen, the director of the Climate Change and Greenhouse Gas Management Program at George Washington University. “That's what we're talking about. Untreated waste being sent out into the environment, with just huge implications in terms of the public health, but also an ecological tragedy of massive proportions.”

Unlike with Washington's drinking water, there's a plan to mitigate a potential disaster.

D.C. Water has had some construction underway for years, building the flood walls that could dramatically improve protection for the plant.

But now the project has paused — because of political problems.

In April 2025, the Federal Emergency Management Agency canceled the Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities program, which was partially funding the construction of the flood wall. Trump administration officials at the time called the program “wasteful” and pledged to cancel all of its awards.

A federal judge has since ordered the administration to restore the program, but the Department of Homeland Security under Secretary Kristi Noem has done nothing to restore any of the hundreds of grants awaiting funding.

That includes the remaining funding for the Blue Plains floodwall: Just $23.4 million from FEMA.

“The floodwall includes four segments totaling 4,125 feet. Only one segment has been completed,” said Sherri Lewis, a spokesperson for D.C. Water. “The project remains in the design phase, and construction has not begun while D.C. Water explores its options due to the funding uncertainty. The construction of the remaining segments remains a priority.”

When asked about the grant, FEMA responded with information about the smaller first phase of the project, not the $23 million DC Water still needs to complete the flood wall.

“The agency remains committed to supporting State, Local, Tribal, and Territorial partners and ensuring communities receive the resources they need to enhance safety and preparedness. FEMA will continue to follow all legal requirements and court directives as we work to deliver funding and support for disaster resilience. FEMA is complying with all applicable court orders and administering the program consistent with statutory requirements, judicial direction, and available appropriations,” a FEMA spokesperson said.

D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser’s office directed questions about the grant to D.C. Water.

“We doubt there’s anything we could do to get that funding back until we have a new administration that revives BRIC,” a spokesperson for Holmes Norton said.

Republican Senator Says Stephen Miller Should Be Next to Go

Amelia Benavides-Colón — Sun, 08 Mar 2026 20:02:27 GMT

Alex Brandon/AP

Republican Sen. Thom Tillis on Sunday said the next Trump administration official on the chopping block should be deputy White House chief of staff Stephen Miller.

“Not only does Stephen really want to just paint a picture. He’s not worried about substance. He’s more worried about form,” Tillis said on CNN’s “State of the Union.”

“I also think that he has an outsized influence over the operations of the Cabinet,” Tillis continued. “And I believe we have got qualified Cabinet members there that sometimes are doing less than what they want to because of his direction and his outsized influence.”

The North Carolina senator, who is retiring at the end of his current term, went on to say that Miller was “out of his depth” and has been “repeatedly responsible for embarrassments” affecting the administration.

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Tillis had previously criticized Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, including in a scathing response to Noem’s testimony before the Senate’s Judiciary Committee just hours before she was fired from her role last week.

Tillis told CNN’s Jake Tapper on Sunday he was happy with Trump’s decision to replace Noem with Oklahoma Sen. Markwayne Mullin.

“I’m glad the president made the decision,” Tillis said. “Secretary Noem may have been effective as the governor in South Dakota, but it’s very clear that her experience didn’t scale to something the size and scope of Homeland Security.”

Miller, who also serves as Trump’s homeland security adviser, has been a longtime staple in the president’s inner circle and has assumed a prominent role in formulating and implementing Trump’s political agenda — particularly immigration enforcement.

Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham defended Miller last month, after he said the administration needed a “more aggressive” immigration approach.

“People can disagree with Stephen on rhetoric and they can disagree with him on policy, but the question is, ‘Is Stephen Miller in jeopardy in Trump World?’ Absolutely not,” Graham said.

Trump Org Files Trademarks to Put the President’s Name Front and Center at America’s 250th

Amelia Benavides-Colón, Dave Levinthal — Sun, 08 Mar 2026 18:56:19 GMT

Doug Mills/AP

The Trump Organization filed several previously unreported trademark applications last week in connection with America’s 250th anniversary celebration, all featuring the president’s name as a centerpiece of the highly-anticipated festivities.

The trademarks were filed with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office by DTTM Operations LLC, which manages several other trademarks used by Trump and his businesses, over the last several days.

In one filing submitted on Friday, a “Trump 250” image was trademarked to be used on a variety of merchandise — including bumper stickers, tote bags, drinkware, clothing items and golf balls. A wordmark application was also submitted for the name “Trump 250” on Friday.

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The same merchandise items were also listed as potential uses for a number of variations of an image that features Trump’s name along with “a design of five aircrafts followed by converging contrails.” A trademark application for that image was also submitted Friday.

Neither the Trump Organization’s trademark lawyer nor the White House responded to requests for comment on Sunday.
Trump 250 trademark (366x224, AR: 1.63)In December, Trump announced a series of events in honor of the country’s 250th birthday. One of the main events will be the “Patriot Games,” inviting high school students from each state to Washington, D.C., to participate in a series of athletic competitions. The schedule also includes a parade and “National Prayer Event” on Memorial Day, a fair on the National Mall and first-of-its kind UFC event on the White House grounds.

In a separate trademark filing on Tuesday, the Kennedy Center’s Board of Trustees filed for a new logo reading “The Trump Kennedy Center” below an outline of the building. In addition to souvenirs and other merchandise, the name was trademarked for promotional materials for collegiate theater and educational programs.

A “word mark,” a text-based logo, was also filed for “The Trump Kennedy Center” to be used on a variety of souvenirs, including earbuds, binoculars, electric fans, wallets, luggage tags, Christmas tree ornaments and clothing items.

Trump is no stranger to trademarking his surname. Before ever running for office he was known for plastering his name across everything from hotels to vodka.

Since starting his second term, Trump has extended his love for eponymous branding to the federal government. Trump’s name and likeness can be found adorned on national park passes, the Trump Gold Card and hanging on giant banners outside federal office buildings.
Trump Kennedy Center trademark application (384x134, AR: 2.87)On top of the new signage outside the Kennedy Center, which sparked an ongoing federal lawsuit, the president's name was also added to the U.S. Institute of Peace in December. And the U.S. Mint has announced it has plans for a controversial $1 coin bearing Trump’s face to commemorate the anniversary year.

Earlier this year, DTTM Operations also filed for three variations of Trump’s name to be used on a hypothetical future airport: President Donald J. Trump International Airport, Donald J. Trump International Airport and DJT.

Some states have followed Trump’s lead and introduced legislation to rename local highways after the president and other conservative leaders like Charlie Kirk.

Speaking at the unveiling of a four-mile stretch of road in Florida renamed after the president, Trump said Americans will be “filled with pride” upon seeing his name. The road named “Donald J. Trump Boulevard” connects the airport to Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate.
Trump 250 trademark application 2 (296x430, AR: 0.69)“When people see that the beautiful sign is all lit up nice at night and it says ‘Donald J. Trump Boulevard,’ they’ll be filled with pride. Just pride,” Trump said. “Not in me. Pride in our country.”

Trump Says He Won’t Sign Any Legislation Until the SAVE America Act Is Passed

Amelia Benavides-Colón — Sun, 08 Mar 2026 15:20:51 GMT

Melina Mara/AP

President Donald Trump on Sunday said he wouldn’t sign any legislation until the SAVE America Act, which would require voters to present a photo ID and provide proof of citizenship in order to cast their ballot in federal elections, is passed.

“I, as President, will not sign other Bills until this is passed, AND NOT THE WATERED DOWN VERSION – GO FOR THE GOLD: MUST SHOW VOTER I.D. & PROOF OF CITIZENSHIP: NO MAIL-IN BALLOTS EXCEPT FOR MILITARY – ILLNESS, DISABILITY,” Trump posted to Truth Social. “DO NOT FAIL!!!”

Last week the White House pushed Congress to add multiple transgender policy provisions to the bill that would ban gender conversion surgeries for minorities and transgender participation on sports teams. On Sunday, Trump again demanded that the SAVE America Act include those provisions.

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The president has long pushed for greater voter identification requirements, citing ballots in Georgia he claims were improperly counted during the 2020 presidential election. Earlier this year, Trump’s Justice Department raided Georgia’s local election office and seized thousands of voter records.

The SAVE America Act,, which would require states to enforce a series of standardized voter identification requirements and limit the use of mail-in ballots, passed the House last month but has stalled in the Senate.

Election officials have reported the SAVE Act legislation could pose barriers to voter registration for college students, senior citizens, women who changed their names after getting married, Americans living abroad and those who were adopted. Voters already must be U.S. citizens to vote and the majority of states already require photo identification. Those that don’t cross-reference a voter’s personal information against existing records, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.

The bill has little to no Democratic support — and will not gain any as a result of Trump’s threat, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer wrote in a statement Sunday.

“The SAVE Act is Jim Crow 2.0. It would disenfranchise tens of millions of people,” Schumer said. “If Trump is saying he won’t sign any bills until the SAVE Act is passed, then so be it: there will be total gridlock in the Senate.”

In a Sunday interview on Fox News, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said “there should be no pushback to any of the commonsense proposals in the SAVE America Act” — including the proposed anti-trans measures Trump is seeking to add.

The president in recent weeks has pushed Senate Majority Leader John Thune to use a talking filibuster to pass the bill, which would force Democrats to speak continuously on the Senate floor in order to delay a vote on the bill. Once Democrats cede the floor, Republicans could circumvent the 60-vote threshold and pass the legislation with 51 votes.

“Great Job by hard working Scott Pressler on Fox & Friends talking about using the Filibuster, or Talking Filibuster, in order to pass THE SAVE AMERICA ACT, an 88% issue with ALL VOTERS,” Trump said in Sunday’s Truth Social post.

“It must be done immediately. It supersedes everything else,” Trump continued. “MUST GO TO THE FRONT OF THE LINE.”

UNCONDITIONALLY SURRENDER to the Weekend

Kate Nocera, Matt Berman — Fri, 06 Mar 2026 22:26:01 GMT

Fri, 06 Mar 2026 22:26:01 GMT https://www.notus.org/final-notus-newsletter/unconditionally-surrender-to-the-weekend

Alex Brandon/AP

Good afternoon. This is the Final NOTUS newsletter for March 6, 2026. You can get it in your inbox every day by signing up here — it's free!

Mea culpa: Yesterday’s Final NOTUS accidentally left out a word in the news about Rep. Tony Gonzales — leadership did not ask him to resign.

The Latest

The goalposts for Iran keep moving. Is it defending the U.S. or is it regime change? Will the Iranian people get to pick their next leader or will Donald Trump be involved? The messaging since Trump launched the war last weekend has been all over the place.

“There will be no deal with Iran except UNCONDITIONAL SURRENDER! After that, and the selection of a GREAT & ACCEPTABLE Leader(s), we, and many of our wonderful and very brave allies and partners, will work tirelessly to bring Iran back from the brink of destruction, making it economically bigger, better, and stronger than ever before,” the president posted on Truth Social this morning.

If you’re looking for a clear timeline on the shifting talking points, NOTUS’ Violet Jira has you covered.

The cost of oil and gas is surging. The international oil benchmark, Brent crude, hit $92 a barrel and the average price of gas hit $3.32 per gallon.

The new BLS jobs report came in rocky. The U.S. economy lost 92,000 jobs last month.

Big part of the issue: the health care industry. After a large gain in January, the sector lost jobs in February, its first decline in more than four years, The Wall Street Journal reports.

The Hill

Oklahoma! Oil tycoon Harold Hamm asked Gov. Kevin Stitt for the temporary job filling in for Sen. Markwayne Mullin once he moves over to DHS, NOTUS reports today.

Rep. Kevin Hern, a likely candidate for Mullin’s Senate seat, appears to have failed to correctly disclose millions in stock and security trades over the last year, NOTUS’ Adora Brown reports. Hern’s office told NOTUS that “the filings aren’t late.”

The Administration

The Justice Department is weighing charges against Cuban leaders. The New York Times reports that the U.S. attorney in South Florida has ordered an investigation into the country’s leaders. Trump said yesterday that it was a “matter of time” before the U.S. pressured or ousted current Cuban leadership.

Farewell to Jesse. Barack Obama praised Jesse Jackson at a public memorial service today, saying Jackson “paved the road for so many others to follow.”

Bill Clinton, Joe Biden and Kamala Harris all also attended the tribute in Chicago.

Goodbye

https://x.com/lara_korte/status/2029989104805462252

Thank you for reading! Today’s newsletter was produced by Andrew Burton. If you liked it, please forward it to a friend. If someone shared it with you, please subscribe — it’s free! Got a tip or comments to share? Email us at finalnotus@notus.com.]]>

Republican Rep. Kevin Hern Appears to Have Tardy Stock Disclosures. His Office Disputes He’s Late.

Adora Brown — Fri, 06 Mar 2026 21:13:52 GMT

Rep. Kevin Hern. Francis Chung/POLITICO/AP

Rep. Kevin Hern, a Republican from Oklahoma, appears to have failed to properly disclose millions of dollars worth of stock and corporate-security trades during the past year, which would be a violation of a federal transparency law, according to a NOTUS analysis of congressional financial records.

Since early 2025, Hern appears to have been late disclosing at least $4.2 million, and at the most, $17.6 million, in stock and corporate-security trades, according to his financial trade disclosure reports and the use of the House Ethics Committee’s online calculator for determining when a lawmaker, by law, must publicly disclose a personal financial trade.

Hern appears to have ultimately disclosed his personal stock and corporate-security trades as required by federal law. But he was anywhere from two to 12 days late across 10 trades based on when he disclosed becoming aware of trades made on his behalf. He meanwhile disclosed other trades on time, per federal rules.

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In a statement to NOTUS, Hern’s office said, “The filings aren’t late.”

Numerous federal lawmakers have violated the Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge (STOCK) Act’s disclosure provisions in recent months, including Sens. Markwayne Mullin and Katie Britt and Reps. Linda Sánchez of California, Julia Letlow of Louisiana, Jim Jordan of Ohio, Lisa McClain of Michigan, Pat Ryan of New York, Sheri Biggs of South Carolina, Donald Norcross of New Jersey, Rich McCormick of Georgia, Ritchie Torres of New York, Troy Nehls of Texas, Dan Meuser of Pennsylvania, Jonathan Jackson of Illinois, George Whitesides of California, Val Hoyle of Oregon, Austin Scott of Georgia, Shri Thanedar of Michigan and Debbie Wasserman Schultz and Scott Franklin of Florida.

President Donald Trump also violated the STOCK Act’s disclosure provisions, too, this year, and paid an unspecified fine, according to the nonprofit newsroom Sludge.

Meanwhile, on Thursday, Trump nominated Mullin to replace Kristi Noem as secretary of homeland security, which prompted Hern to confirm his interest in Mullin’s Senate seat.

“Oh, absolutely,” Hern told NOTUS on Thursday when asked if he was considering a run for the Senate.

There are two related disclosure deadlines for federal lawmakers who personally trade stocks.

The STOCK Act first states that members of Congress must disclose stock, bond, corporate-security, cryptocurrency and certain other financial transactions worth more than $1,000 within 30 days of being notified of the transaction — either because the lawmaker personally made the trade or because someone else, such as a lawmaker’s spouse or financial adviser, alerted them to a trade being made on their behalf.

Secondly, lawmakers are ultimately responsible for disclosing their trades no more than 45 days after a transaction, regardless of when they became aware of their trades.

A report “must be filed by the earlier of these two dates: (a) 30 days from being made aware of the transaction or (b) 45 days from the transaction. In other words, periodic transaction reporting is subject to two different deadlines depending on when or if you receive notification,” the House Ethics Committee states in a guidance memorandum to House members.

In one instance, Hern disclosed purchasing $250,001 to $500,000 worth of corporate securities in the Royal Bank of Canada on Jan. 7, and affirmed in a signed congressional disclosure that he was notified of the purchase on Jan. 8. But he did not file that disclosure until Feb. 18, more than a week after the STOCK Act’s 30-day requirement for making such a disclosure.

Similarly, Hern disclosed selling a Citigroup corporate security worth anywhere from $500,001 to $1 million on Dec. 3, 2024. He affirmed to Congress that he was notified of the trade on Dec. 4, 2024. He then made his disclosure on Jan. 15, 2025 — days after Congress’ 30-day disclosure requirement for such a situation.

Whether federal lawmakers personally make trades or not, lawmakers are also themselves responsible for filing these reports on time, according to House Ethics guidance.

“You are personally responsible for incomplete and inaccurate information contained in your [financial reports], regardless of who assisted in preparation,” according to the House Ethics Committee.

“Congressman Hern files his [disclosure reports] no later than 30 days after receiving notification from his financial advisor, and in compliance with the 45-day transaction activity requirement,” a spokesperson for Hern’s office told NOTUS in a statement. “It is well documented that Congressman Hern has no involvement in the purchasing or selling of stocks, nor in the preparation of reports for the Public Transaction Report (PTR) system.”

Hern’s office did not respond to a request for comment on what documentation exists that shows the congressman has no involvement in his own stock trades.

Tom Rust, the staff director and chief counsel of the House Ethics Committee, declined to comment on Hern’s stock disclosures.

Congress passed the STOCK Act, in an effort to stop insider trading and defend against financial conflicts of interest, particularly because of the information members are privy to in Congress.

Hern serves on the House Ways and Means Subcommittee on Health, a jurisdiction that includes “health care, health delivery systems, or health research.”

Hern himself owns a handful of health-care and medical-technology stocks, including Johnson & Johnson, UnitedHealth, Masimo Corporation and Boston Scientific.

“It's a conflict of interest that, if they were in a different branch of government, would require their recusal from weighing in on matters that have a direct impact on those interests,” Donald Sherman, the president and CEO of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, told NOTUS.

At present, it’s not illegal for members of Congress to trade individual stocks, including those of companies in industries for which their committees have oversight responsibilities.

But Congress is actively considering legislation that would bar members and their immediate family members from trading stock at all.

One of these bills, the House Speaker Mike Johnson-backed Stop Insider Trading Act, received the president’s endorsement at this year’s State of the Union address.

The bill would bar members and their families from buying individual stocks from publicly traded companies and would require at least a seven-day notice before stocks are sold.

Critics of the Stop Insider Trading Act, including many Democrats, argue it doesn’t go far enough.

An alternative, bipartisan bill, the Restore Trust in Congress Act, would prevent members and their families from buying or selling individual stocks, force them to divest current stock holdings and enforce steeper fines for breaking the law. Yet another bill, the Democrat-backed Restore Trust in Government Act, would extend restrictions beyond Congress to the executive branch.

“When you see a member of Congress who owns stock that is under the jurisdiction of their committee, know that the public is going to question that the decisions that they make on that committee are intended to protect their own stock portfolio or the interest of their constituents,” Kedric Payne, the vice president and senior director for ethics at the Campaign Legal Center, told NOTUS.

“The Democratic version is designed not to pass by covering Trump and the presidency,” said Craig Holman, a government-affairs lobbyist for Public Citizen. “Johnson's bill is just in name only and is a pathetic effort to appear to capture a problem when it entirely sidesteps the problem.”

This is not the first time that Hern has found himself crosswise with the STOCK Act in his seven years in Congress.

In 2021, Hern failed to properly disclose as much as $2.7 million worth of stock trades, according to Business Insider.

Trump Keeps Moving the Goalposts on His War With Iran

Violet Jira — Fri, 06 Mar 2026 18:10:27 GMT

President Donald Trump, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth have offered different reasons for the U.S. taking military action in the Middle East. Evan Vucci/AP

Is the United States’ goal in Iran regime change or not? Seven days into the military operation, President Donald Trump and top administration officials haven’t provided consistent answers.

The administration has insisted that the goal was not regime change, and that it would not engage in “feckless nation building.” But Trump signaled on Friday that the U.S. would be involved in charting Iran’s future after the war’s conclusion.

“There will be no deal with Iran except UNCONDITIONAL SURRENDER! After that, and the selection of a GREAT & ACCEPTABLE Leader(s), we, and many of our wonderful and very brave allies and partners, will work tirelessly to bring Iran back from the brink of destruction, making it economically bigger, better, and stronger than ever before,” Trump’s post read.

On Thursday, Trump said he would have to be personally involved in the selection of Iran’s next leader following reports that Iran’s deceased Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s son, Mojtaba Khamenei, would be the next leader.

“Khamenei’s son is a lightweight,” Trump said in a phone call with Axios. “I have to be involved in the appointment, like with Delcy [Rodríguez] in Venezuela.”

This suggests a significant level of involvement in steering Iran’s future during and after the war, though the Trump administration has also said from the beginning the goal of the operation was not regime change.

The administration, which did not seek congressional approval for war, is under pressure to provide a clear justification and end goal for its military operation in Iran. NOTUS reviewed the statements from the president and his top officials after the start of the bombing and found the administration has contradicted itself and repeatedly shifted its reasoning for the war.

“President Trump and the administration have clearly outlined their goals with regard to Operation Epic Fury: destroy Iran’s ballistic missiles and production capacity, demolish their navy, end their ability to arm proxies, and prevent them from ever obtaining a nuclear weapon," a White House official told NOTUS. "The President has long called attention to the egregious human rights issues in Iran, and he naturally wants the Iranian people to have a chance at better lives.”

Here is the timeline of what this administration has said:

Trump officials and the president initially claimed “imminent threats” of Iran attacking the United States as the reasoning for the war.

FEB. 28: “Our objective is to defend the American people by eliminating imminent threats from the Iranian regime, a vicious group of very hard and terrible people.” — Trump, in a statement about combat operations in Iran

But when briefing congressional leaders on Capitol Hill, Trump administration officials said they had no intelligence suggesting a preemptive strike from Iran on U.S. assets in the region was imminent, according to the AP.

By the second and third day of the war, the administration had shifted its stated focus from preemptively attacking due to immediate threats, to center on preventing Iran from attaining long-range missiles and nuclear weapons.

At that time, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth also said the goal was not regime change.

MARCH 1: “An Iranian regime armed with long-range missiles and nuclear weapons would be a dire threat to every American.” — Trump, Operation Epic Fury Update

MARCH 2: “This is not a so-called regime-change war, but the regime sure did change. … This is not Iraq, this is not endless. Our generation knows better, and so does this president.” — Hegseth, briefing reporters

MARCH 2: “Iran's stubborn and self-evident nuclear pursuits, their targeting of global shipping lanes and their swelling arsenal of ballistic missiles and killer drones were no longer — are no longer tolerable risks. … Iran had a conventional gun to our head as they tried to lie their way to a nuclear bomb.” — Hegseth, briefing reporters

One day later, the explanation shifted again with Secretary of State Marco Rubio claiming Israel’s plans for military intervention were behind the United States’ action.

MARCH 3: “We knew that there was going to be an Israeli action. We knew that that would precipitate an attack against American forces, and we knew that if we didn’t preemptively go after them before they launched those attacks, we would suffer higher casualties and perhaps even higher those killed, and then we would all be here answering questions about why we knew that and didn’t act.” — Rubio, briefing reporters

By Wednesday, administration officials were oscillating between explanations: the imminent threat of attack, destroying Iran’s nuclear capabilities, destroying Iran’s military. Hegseth injected yet another reasoning: revenge.

MARCH 4: “I think the president … had a good feeling that the Iranian regime was going to strike United States assets and our personnel in the region, and the president was facing with a choice: Does the United States of America use our military and our capabilities to strike first to take out this threat that has been threatening our country and our people for 47 years, or is he going to, as commander in chief, sit back and watch as the rogue Iranian regime attacks our people in the region?” — White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt, briefing reporters

MARCH 4: “The mission is laser focused: obliterate Iran's missiles and drones and facilities that produce them, annihilate its navy and critical security infrastructure and sever their pathway to nuclear weapons. Iran will never assess a nuclear bomb, not on our watch, not ever.” — Hegseth, briefing reporters

MARCH 4: “Yesterday, the leader of the unit who attempted to assassinate President Trump has been hunted down and killed. Iran tried to kill President Trump, and President Trump got the last laugh.” — Hegseth, briefing reporters

MARCH 5: “I WAS THE HUNTED, AND NOW I’M THE HUNTER,” The White House wrote in a post accompanying the clip of Hegseth announcing the leader’s killing.

Trump has been teasing military action in Iran since as early as January, when he said U.S. forces may be required in the region to address the killing of protestors. The implication then was that the U.S. was interested in bringing about regime change.

When the U.S. actually struck, the administration spent days giving different justifications for the war. But now the president appears back to speaking about regime change, and his willingness to stay involved in the region for a longer period appears to be growing as well.

A Judge Is Again Ordering FEMA to Restore a Key Disaster-Prevention Program

Anna Kramer — Fri, 06 Mar 2026 17:14:22 GMT

Federal Emergency Management Agency headquarters in Washington on Thursday, March 6, 2025. (Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call via AP Images) Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call via AP

The Federal Emergency Management Agency has been flouting a court order to restore a key disaster-prevention program, U.S. District Judge Richard G. Stearns said on Friday.

In early December, Stearns ordered FEMA to restore a natural-disaster resilience program that the agency, then under the leadership of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, tried to eliminate seven months prior.

But despite pressure from states across the country that are growing increasingly desperate to access federal funds for disaster-prevention projects, FEMA has not done so. No state has seen any funding from the Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities, or BRIC, programs since FEMA tried to cancel the program in April, calling it “wasteful.”

Despite the fact that Congress created the program and mandated that the agency hold annual competitive funding rounds, FEMA has not done so since Trump took office.

On Friday, Stearns filed an “order to enforce” his own December ruling in the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts. In the order, Stearns made clear that he believes FEMA has failed to comply with his ruling in part due to staffing shortages.

Stearns acknowledged that it would be more difficult for FEMA to make changes now that Noem has been removed from her post by President Donald Trump. But despite the transition, the judge is not allowing FEMA any leeway in following his orders, and he said that it should still be possible for FEMA to begin restoring the program even in the interim period.

He has given FEMA just two weeks to address existing problems with the frozen BRIC grants, and three weeks to issue a long-overdue funding opportunity for the 2024 fiscal year.

The administration argued in a filing earlier this week that it was “reviewing” the program and no longer intended to terminate it.

Republicans Want to Protect the AI Industry as the Pentagon Cracks Down on Anthropic

Samuel Larreal — Fri, 06 Mar 2026 16:48:03 GMT

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth directed the Pentagon to designate Anthropic as a supply-chain risk. Kevin Wolf/AP

The Trump administration's plan to shut Anthropic out of the government could disrupt not just the AI giant's bottom line, but the U.S. AI sector as a whole.

And while congressional Republicans are staying out of President Donald Trump's feud with Anthropic, a fault line is forming as some say they don't want America's competitiveness in AI to suffer.

The Pentagon officially notified Anthropic it has been designated a supply-chain risk on Thursday, after a weeks-long standoff over the company’s refusal to give the Pentagon unfettered access to its AI models. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s decision could force defense contractors, which include most of Big Tech, to cut some defense-related contracts with Anthropic.

This designation has traditionally been reserved for foreign companies suspected of espionage. Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei said the company would challenge the designation in the courts in a statement on Thursday. Amodei added that the Pentagon committed to resorting to the “least restrictive” measures necessary to protect the supply chain, and he expects Anthropic to be able to maintain its nondefense-related work with its business partners.

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The designation is the largest regulation ever imposed on any American AI company. It could also undermine one of the longstanding guiding principles for Republican AI policy in Congress: The U.S. is in an existential race against China to dominate the global AI market, and any regulation that impedes its development is dangerous.

“As our adversaries continue to rapidly adopt the use of artificial intelligence, we cannot afford to fall behind,” Republican Rep. Rob Wittman, a member of the Armed Services Committee, wrote in a statement to NOTUS. “We have to continue to develop and lead in this space to strengthen our national security, protect servicemembers, and maintain a competitive edge.”

Like other Republicans who spoke to NOTUS for this story, Wittman did not directly weigh in on Hegseth’s position.

Rep. Brian Mast, chair of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, said he would like the American government to use every tool possible in the race against China.

“We have amazing American companies and engineers, from Nvidia to Anthropic, and all the other companies have been doing this for a long time. I want all of them in our toolbox and not to lose any capability. I don't think there's an advantage for us [in the race against China],” Rep. Mast told NOTUS.

The Information Technology Industry Council, an industry group representing technology giants like Google, Nvidia and Amazon, pushed back on Wednesday against the Pentagon’s plan to blacklist an American company over a contracting dispute.

“We are concerned by recent reports regarding the Department of War’s consideration of imposing a supply chain risk designation in response ‌to a procurement dispute,” the Information Technology Industry Council wrote in the letterreported by multiple outlets.

“Contract disputes should be resolved through continued negotiation between the parties,” the group added. “Emergency authorities such as supply chain risk designations exist for genuine emergencies and are typically reserved for entities that have been designated as foreign adversaries.”

The Computer & Communications Industry Association, an industry group representing major technology companies like Meta, Uber and Cloudflare, asked the Pentagon to “refine” its approach to this dispute.

“The recent designation of a major domestic AI firm as a ‘supply chain risk’ has sent a ripple of uncertainty through the broader industry. We are concerned that designating any one American company as a supply chain risk will inevitably lead to unintended consequences that could very well undermine the Administration’s broader goals to ensure American leadership,” The Computer & Communications Industry Association wrote in aletter on Wednesday.

Republican senators, who have traditionally been major proponents of light-touch regulation for AI industries, have refrained from weighing in on the Pentagon’s designation, directly claiming they are still waiting to learn more about the dispute.

“AI is here to stay and it is not going away. We have to be on top of it and we're gonna do everything we can to continue to develop the industry here within the United States,” Sen Mike Rounds, a member of the Armed Services Committee and a supporter of efforts to block states from regulating AI, told NOTUS. “I have not had a full briefing yet, I’ve been kind of tied up with other briefings lately. So until I get that briefing, I won't make comments specifically on that issue.”

Oil Tycoon and GOP Donor Harold Hamm Asked Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt for Senate Appointment

Reese Gorman, Em Luetkemeyer — Fri, 06 Mar 2026 15:18:20 GMT

Harold Hamm, founder and chairman of Continental Resources, speaks during a meeting with President Donald Trump and oil executives in the East Room. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

Oil and gas magnate Harold Hamm, one of the wealthiest people in America and a major Republican donor, called Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt on Thursday night, asking for the appointment to Oklahoma’s newly open Senate seat.

Additionally, Hamm called the White House to express interest in the job as well, according to two sources.

The governor is mulling multiple options, but according to three sources familiar with the matter, Hamm called Stitt to express his interest in the seat.

Hamm, the founder and chairman of Continental Resources, has been a longtime Stitt supporter and was considered President Donald Trump’s top energy whisperer during his first term. He also recently donated to Trump’s $300 million White House ballroom project.

A spokesperson for Stitt did not respond to a request for comment. A senior aide to Hamm and a Continental Resources spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Trump announced Thursday he wants to replace Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem with Oklahoma Sen. Markwayne Mullin.

According to Oklahoma law, whoever is appointed to the position would have to sign an affidavit saying they wouldn’t run for a full term. Then, in the next general election, Oklahoma voters will choose a new senator. Many Republicans have been floated to take Mullin’s position in the interim, including his longtime adviser Donelle Harder, Oklahoma businessman Dustin Hilliary, former Oklahoma Attorney General John O’Connor, Lieutenant Governor Matt Pinnell and former Trump administration official Alex Gray.

Reps. Kevin Hern and Stephanie Bice have already said they’re considering Senate bids, with Hern set to announce something next week.

This story has been updated with information that Hamm called the White House.

Paying for It

Evan McMorris-Santoro, Jasmine Wright, Emily Kennard — Fri, 06 Mar 2026 11:01:00 GMT

Fri, 06 Mar 2026 11:01:00 GMT https://www.notus.org/newsletters/paying-for-it

J. Scott Applewhite/AP

Today’s notice: Post-Noem politics. Moderates in the House back an unpopular war, and their opponents pounce. Why you can’t have nice things, like daytime. Facts vs. feelings at the National Park Service. Plus: A sleepy Wisconsin Supreme Court election.

THE LATEST

Money questions: Democrats now have two chances to exert Congress’ power of the purse. But what happens next?

The partial government shutdown seems destined to go on even after the announcement that Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem will be reassigned. “The problems at ICE transcend any one individual,” Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer said. NOTUS’ Hill team reports that the party seems more or less unified around this take.

Pressure is mounting to end it. Airline and travel groups held events on the Hill yesterday to warn lawmakers that no deal on DHS funding could lead to major travel snags, NOTUS’ Em Luetkemeyer reports. They were largely met with shrugs from dug-in members on both sides.

Bottom line: If Donald Trump thinks moving Noem out will smooth the path to a DHS funding deal, he’ll be disappointed.

It’s also possible Trump may ask Congress for money for the war with Iran. Democrats can prevent the cash from flowing if they stand together. But on this one, unity is not as clear. “We’re gonna have to wait and see,” said Sen. Dick Durbin, the No. 2 Senate Democrat.

“I don’t need to decide until they send something to us,” said Sen. Tim Kaine, who helped lead the failed effort to pass constraints on Trump’s war powers on Iran. Like a few Democrats, he said he’d need to see what the ask was before making a call.

Two quotes that illustrate the potential divides among Democrats: Sen. Chris Coons also said he’d need a lot of questions answered before he’d approve supplemental war funding, “but I want to make sure our warfighters have resources they need.”

“N-O,” Sen. Bernie Sanders spelled out to Emily when asked if he’d consider voting for a war funding bill. Sens. Brian Schatz and Cory Booker publicly said more verbose versions of the same thing.

Bottom line: Early indications suggest it will be easier for the White House to convince Democrats to fund its war than to fully open DHS back up.

Open tabs: Analysis Suggests School Was Hit Amid U.S. Strikes on Iranian Naval Base (NYT); US and Venezuela agree to reestablish diplomatic relations (AP); Pentagon Formally Labels Anthropic Supply-Chain Risk, Escalating Conflict (WSJ); DOJ publishes missing Epstein files involving uncorroborated claim about Trump (CNBC)

From the Campaigns

Gonzales drops out: Rep. Tony Gonzales announced late last night that he will no longer run for re-election just hours after House Republican Leadership called on him to withdraw following his admission that he had an affair with a staffer. He did not resign, leaving Republicans’ slim majority intact.

He confirmed the affair this week shortly after the Texas primary where he failed to get enough votes to fend off a runoff with challenger Brandon Herrera.

From the Hill

Republicans’ war unity holds together: Moderate House Republicans helped kill a war powers resolution yesterday. They had to weigh two strong political forces during a midterm year: their war-weary constituents and the risk of breaking with Trump. Their arguments were largely that they’ll get involved later — if the war drags on.

“We are going to be staying on top of it, making sure this doesn’t expand into a larger conflict,” Rep. Ryan Mackenzie told NOTUS’ Hamed Ahmadi and Riley Rogerson. He admitted that his constituents were concerned about “another forever war.”

Top Democrats see a cost-of-living messaging opportunity. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries was already sharpening that rhetoric yesterday, telling reporters that while Republicans are happy to green-light a costly war, “they can’t find a dime to make it more affordable for the American people to go see a doctor when they need one.”

Democratic moderates aren’t safe, either. Those who sided with Republicans are also facing primary threats from progressives, Axios reported Wednesday.

From K Street

An expensive fight over daylight continues: Lobbyists for farmers and insurers have advocated permanent daylight saving time, NOTUS’ Taylor Giorno reports, while lobbyists for airlines and broadcasters (it would hurt AM radio stations, they say) have pushed to keep the clocks as they are.

The status quo has won again. Sens. Rick Scott, a Republican from Florida, and Patty Murray, a Democrat from Washington state, say their bill to eliminate clock changes like the one coming up this weekend is not going anywhere this Congress. But hope springs eternal — 16 states have considered legislation this year that would make DST permanent if the federal government allows it, and 19 states have already passed similar laws over the past seven years.

From the National Park Service

The de-wokening conundrum: What if something is true, but also some people don’t like it? For National Park Service staff charged with carrying out the Trump administration’s anti-woke agenda, the answer is the fact has got to go. NOTUS’ Shifra Dayak reports that an NPS database leaked this week showed that items staff flagged for review as “partisan” or “disparaging” were rarely wrong, but conveyed potentially uncomfortable information about climate change, slavery, the Civil Rights Movement and the mistreatment of Native Americans.

On signage commemorating the 1965 Selma to Montgomery march: “While these statements are historically accurate and supported by firsthand accounts, they may be perceived as disparaging by individuals who are less familiar with the history of the Civil Rights Movement,” one leaked file reads.

Interior Department response: “We are aware that internal working documents were edited before being inappropriately and illegally released to the media in ways that misrepresented the status of this effort. Employees who altered internal records and leaked in an effort the hurt the Trump administration will be held accountable.”

NEW ON NOTUS

All quiet on the Midwestern front: Just a year after a record-setting Wisconsin Supreme Court race attracted the attention of Elon Musk and plenty of other deep-pocketed backers from outside the Badger State, another race for a seat on the panel has largely skated under the radar of national megadonors, NOTUS’ Jade Lozada reports.

This vacuum has allowed the liberal candidate, Wisconsin Court of Appeals Judge Chris Taylor, to pull ahead in contributions, raising more than $3.8 million, compared to the $438,000 that conservative appellate judge Maria Lazar has raised.

More: GOP Congressman Calls Top Pentagon Official’s Testimony ‘Gross’ and ‘Disingenuous,’ by Torrie Herrington

NOTUS PERSPECTIVES

What changes in the day-to-day work of Congress would meaningfully improve governance?

A NOTUS forum featuring Ben Olinsky of the Center for American Progress, Gil Ruiz of the Federation of American Scientists, Ganesh Sitaraman of Vanderbilt Law School and Chris Wingate of The Heritage Foundation.

NOT US

How the Decision to Start a War Became the President’s, by Charlie Savage for The New York Times
‘Nazi heaven’: Inside Miami campus Republicans’ racist group chat, by Claire Heddles for the Miami Herald
Inside War-a-Lago, Trump’s Palm Beach Members Club-Turned-Gilded Situation Room, by Aidan McLaughlin for Vanity Fair
Rahm Emanuel Floods Democrats With Criticism and Ideas. Will His Party Listen? By John McCormick for The Wall Street Journal

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