Following the Money

Today’s notice: Trump says the Board of Peace will work with “everyone.” Where the money is going in Washington right now. Democrats and DHS funding — it’s dramatic. Plus! NOTUS talks to Keith Ellison.

The Latest

Trump’s “Board of Peace” is official as of this morning, when he signed the organization’s new charter at the World Economic Forum. It was first pitched last fall as part of his administration’s plan for rebuilding Gaza — though it has since morphed into what seems to be a wider forum for addressing conflicts worldwide.

Some 20 countries were in attendance for the charter signing, which primarily served as an opportunity for Trump to repeat his claim that he’d helped settle “eight wars.” He said that he hoped to resolve Russia’s war in Ukraine next and that “Iran wants to talk.” Notably, Trump said the new body would “work with everybody” even the United Nations, rejecting claims that the new body is meant to replace the U.N. (Trump’s speech naturally included mention of his 2024 election win and the “rigged” election of 2020).

The presentation also featured Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, who presented a slide at the ceremony showing a plan to “redevelop Gaza” with images of shiny skyscrapers. Kushner said there was no “plan B” if Hamas did not demilitarize and that rebuilding Gaza would bring it to “100% employment.”

“Sovereignty over small pockets”: That’s one of the proposals for Greenland being kicked around between American and European leaders, at least according to three senior officials who spoke with The New York Times yesterday. The idea is that the U.S. would gain control over the land on which its military bases stand — much like the U.K.’s installations on the island of Cyprus.

It’s unclear whether this plan is part of the “framework” Trump announced yesterday.

Open tabs: Immigration officers assert sweeping power to enter homes without judge’s warrant: memo (AP); Cuban Detainee in El Paso ICE Facility Died by Homicide, Autopsy Shows (NYT); Stocks stage dramatic rebound after Trump announces Greenland framework (Reuters); Judge Orders Redrawing of New York Congressional District (The City)

From K Street

The Swamp Report: Lobbying disclosures are out. What have we learned?

Venezuela: PBF Energy and Phillips 66 — companies with U.S. refining capacity able to handle the type of crude oil pumped out of Venezuelan wells — started lobbying the White House on issues related to that country’s oil industry shortly after Donald Trump was sworn in, NOTUS’ Anna Kramer reports. Chevron and a subsidiary of Shell, which have already operated in the country for years, stepped up their ongoing Venezuela-related lobbying, too.

Who didn’t lobby: Exxon Mobil, whose CEO has been bearish on the prospects for Venezuelan energy reserves, drawing Trump’s ire.

AI data centers: Edison Electric Institute, an investor-owned association of electric companies, spent more than $2 million on lobbying last quarter on “data center issues generally,” among some other stuff. Large tech firms also doled out the big bucks for lobbying on the topic last quarter, in part through a half-million-dollar spend by the Data Center Coalition, NOTUS’ Samuel Larreal, Shifra Dayak and Jade Lozada report.

The lobbyists with the juice: MAGA-allied firm Ballard Partners — where Susie Wiles and Pam Bondi used to work — made more than $87.6 million in 2025, NOTUS’ Taylor Giorno reports. That’s a 350% increase from what it made in 2024. Ballard emerged as the reigning lobby shop of last year, dethroning 2024’s biggest moneymaker, Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck.

Other firms with MAGA ties saw huge increases in revenue as well. “The positive disruption President Trump brought to Washington is permanent, and the future of the Republican public policy in Washington, D.C. will be built on the foundation of success created by President Trump,” said Carlos Trujillo, a Trump 1.0 appointee whose business grew by 1,400% last year.

From the Hill

To fund or not to fund? That is the question for congressional Democrats as they debate how to reform ICE — and they will vote against funding for DHS to achieve those goals.

So far, Republicans are bullish. Internal whip counts predict at least 10 Democrats will cross the aisle and support a GOP-led appropriations bill for the embattled agency, a source told NOTUS’ Em Luetkemeyer.

“There’s some good things that have to do with the Coast Guard, with TSA, with FEMA and so forth. But, no. They rejected where we want to go on reining in ICE,” Rep. Rosa DeLauro, the ranking member of the House Appropriations Committee, said of her Republican colleagues.

Others suggest a rosier view: The bill secures “important, although still insufficient, new constraints on DHS. The bill rejects all Republican poison-pill riders and significantly reduces Secretary [Kristi] Noem’s ability to move around funding as she sees fit under a CR,” Sen. Patty Murray, DeLauro’s counterpart in the Senate, said.

The Big One

Abolitionism? “Everyone in America knows that we’re opposed to Trump on immigration, but they don’t know what we stand for, and for such an important issue our party needs to have a position,” Rep. Seth Moulton, a Democrat running for Senate in Massachusetts, told NOTUS’ Daniella Diaz.

The internal war over words is back: As support for ICE slides in public polls, Democrats feel comfortable running against Trump’s immigration policies again. The question, as always, is how.

Illinois Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton attacked the frontrunner in the state’s Democratic U.S. Senate primary, Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi, because he “doesn’t actually want to abolish ICE,” as Stratton posted.

Krishnamoorthi’s position: “Not a single dollar more for Kristi Noem, ICE, and her rogue agents.”

A third approach: Rep. Robin Kelly, also running in that race, is trying to impeach Noem, and is gathering Democratic support for that cause.

Democratic operatives we spoke to in recent days basically rolled their eyes at this fight over the word “abolish.” Their take? ICE under Trump is outrageous, which has created a big tent opportunity where there wasn’t one before.

What to watch for: Public infighting after the DHS funding vote would not bode well for the operatives’ vision of 2026.

NOTUS Interview

Keith Ellison vs. ‘absolute immunity.’ The attorney general of Minnesota told NOTUS’ Jose Pagliery he’s committed to holding federal law-enforcement officers to account when they violate laws, despite the Trump administration claiming they are protected from repercussions.

“If the federal official is doing their regular job in a normal way, then they can enjoy immunity,” Ellison told Jose. “But they’re not going to enjoy that immunity if they do stuff outside the scope of their employment.”

What do the next steps look like? Pressed if he would issue guidelines giving local law enforcement a legal framework to intervene against illegal ICE actions, Ellison hinted at how complicated his job has become lately.

“I know what you’re asking me. What I’m saying to you is, we are all going through something that no one has ever seen before. And we’re doing the best we can to adjust to it,” he told NOTUS.

“At this point, I’m not willing to write an advisory that people can simply ball up and throw in the garbage. But what I am doing is having a series of conversations.”

New On NOTUS

Now for the Maine event: “How is it you have time to talk to Fox News but you can’t explain to members of Congress exactly what’s going on?” a frustrated Rep. Chellie Pingree told NOTUS’ Torrie Herrington, decrying the administration’s lack of communication about a nascent immigration enforcement surge in her home state of Maine.

Pingree said she is worried that ICE’s “Operation Catch of the Day,” launched Tuesday, could turn into a repeat of the agency’s disruptive actions in Minneapolis.

More: Republicans’ Top Senate Recruit in Minnesota Says There Is Room for Her ‘Pro-Choice’ Politics, by Alex Roarty and Reese Gorman

Not Us

• They ransacked the U.S. Capitol and want the government to pay them back, by Beth Reinhard, Ellie Silverman and Aaron Schaffer for The Washington Post
• Trump Picks a Jet-Setting Pal of Elon Musk to Go Get Greenland, by Theodore Schleifer for The New York Times
• Trump Exhaustion Syndrome, by Ashley Parker for The Atlantic
• New Hampshire Lawmakers Are Tired of Getting Paid Like It’s 1889, by Scott Calvert for The Wall Street Journal

Thank you for reading! If you liked this edition of the NOTUS newsletter, please forward it to a friend. If this newsletter was shared with you, please subscribe — it’s free! Have a tip? Email us at tips@notus.org. And as always, we’d love to hear your thoughts at newsletters@notus.org.