‘He Had Something in Mind’

Today’s notice: The Department of War does wars. Senate Republicans say it’s too late for a war powers vote — with one exception. Disappointment at the NRSC. Hardball politics in Texas. Plus: A deep dive into the murky world of presidential library fundraising.

THE LATEST

Joke’s on you? Recall, if you will, last September, when Donald Trump announced his intention to bring back the Department of War.

The response was generally chuckles … and eyerolls. There were people who called the name change a “distraction.” Others said it was just an expensive vanity project, noting that the department still officially has the name it has always had, but with a requirement to buy a bunch of new branded swag. And still others said the new name was nothing serious, just Trump being Trump.

Turns out trying to find the irony was the wrong read. There is no end in sight to the war in Iran, the U.S. military is reportedly still menacing the regime in Venezuela, and this week a new military action in Ecuador was announced. The debate we’re having now over all this use of American military power did not kick off when the president stood in front of TV cameras and said he was ordering up a Department of War. Should it have?

“Clearly, he had something in mind,” Democratic Sen. Jacky Rosen told Emily in retrospect, “and he’s executing on that.”

Confusion over branding is now Trump’s challenge. It seems the public just did not expect this to be the remit of the Department of War. Emily has a deep look at the White House’s struggles to get U.S. public opinion polls on its side in the Iran conflict, and how different the challenge is from the start of just about any other American war effort in recent memory.

“You engage the public first, you build the case for it,” Republican Rep. Warren Davidson told NOTUS. “And so it is a little unprecedented the way that this was rolled out.”

The administration’s take: “Under President Trump’s leadership, the now aptly-named Department of War is refocused on readiness and lethality,” White House spox Anna Kelly told Jasmine. “Its title now reflects its status as the most powerful fighting force in the world — which the Iranian regime is learning firsthand.”

Open tabs: Sen. Steve Daines announces surprise retirement (Roll Call); U.S. Submarine Launches Its First Torpedo in Combat Since World War II (NYT); FEMA Approves Millions in Aid for NC After Tillis’ Rant Against Noem (NOTUS); Shipping Has Collapsed Through Vital Strait of Hormuz (Bloomberg)

From the Hill

The Forced Hand club: “Our reality is that we’ve got troops that are in a combat position, they need our support,” Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski told NOTUS shortly after voting with most of her caucus to block a war powers resolution on Iran that she had previously expressed interest in. “I don’t want today’s vote to be interpreted that I don’t think that Congress has a role. Not by a long shot.”

Trump made the move, and so now they have to go along with it. It was a popular explanation among Republicans, NOTUS’ Hamed Ahmadi reports.

These dudes feel differently. The one Republican who did not vote to block the war powers vote was Sen. Rand Paul. This once again put him in an unlikely partnership with Democratic Sen. Tim Kaine, who has been pushing for Congress to assert itself on military action for a while now. NOTUS’ Avani Kalra reports on Kaine and Paul’s quixotic friendship over this issue, which is once again back in the spotlight.

From the campaign trail

The C in NRSC stands for chaos? “They’re woefully unprepared for what is coming down the pike,” a Republican strategist said of the GOP’s Senate campaign arm. The operative was one of more than a dozen reached by NOTUS’ Alex Roarty and Reese Gorman who say the NRSC is, at this late date in the calendar, unserious about the midterm.

The blame falls largely on the top people in charge: Sen. Tim Scott and Executive Director Jennifer DeCasper, according to the critics Alex and Reese talked to. The committee offered up senior leaders from the recent past to defend the folks running the place now. “The NRSC is tuning out the distractions to safeguard our Senate majority,” former Executive Director Rob Collins said. The “GOP’s PTA moms should check their outrage.”

From Texas

Green New Victory Lap: The Invest In Tomorrow Coalition PAC, a pro-green energy spending group, told us yesterday it found a proof-of-concept for its plan to use relatively small amounts of money for campaigns aimed at making life difficult for a list of Freedom Caucus members the group sees as particularly anti-clean energy. The first target was Rep. Chip Roy, the second-place vote-getter in the Republican primary for Texas attorney general who is now in a runoff.

The innovation: Invest In Tomorrow placed paid ads on MAGA-friendly platforms like Rumble and Truth Social, highlighting Roy’s votes to certify the 2020 election and the times Trump has been mad at him. The group says they are among the first Democrat-supporting PACs to put paid spots on these platforms. One especially memorable ad featured a “teen girl” voiceover calling out Roy for voting no on some efforts to release the Epstein files.

The campaign was run by Tusk Strategies and cost around $650,000. The biggest single funder was Chris Larsen, co-founder of Ripple.

The results: Ad impressions suggest a runaway success at turning Trump supporters off Roy, a strategist involved told us. Roy had his problems with MAGA and the right wing coming into the primary already, but it appears his team noticed the PAC’s ads, too — he posted about the group’s spending in the final days before Tuesday’s primary.

THE BIG ONE

Unlocking presidential libraries’ back door for lobbyists. For the most part, it’s impossible to know who exactly gives the big bucks consistently needed to keep the nation’s presidential libraries up and running, because there are really no disclosure requirements around the millions these centers take in each year.

There’s one small exception, NOTUS’ Dave Levinthal reports. People and organizations that lobby the government and donate to libraries have to reveal their donations. Last year, around 20 individuals and groups fit this description, and in total donated more than $7 million to various libraries.

Health Care Services Corporation, one of the nation’s largest health insurers, donated $5 million to the group funding Barack Obama’s library project, slated to open this year. GE Aerospace gave $475k to the nonprofit running the Ronald Reagan library to support the Reagan National Defense Forum and a scholarship program.

Not everyone is disclosing. Dave caught Lockheed Martin and Liberty Mutual failing to disclose their library donations in his research. Both companies told him they’re correcting their forms.

Other major corporate donors to libraries last year include a number of companies with very active lobbying business in Washington: Google (George W. Bush library), Meta (Reagan), Viasat (Reagan), State Street Bank and Trust (John F. Kennedy), AT&T, Palantir. The list goes on.

Remember what these libraries are. They are often overseen by people with direct ties to power today, Dave writes. Trump’s upcoming complex planned for Florida has reportedly raised tens of millions of dollars already, but so far most of those donors remain undisclosed.

NEW ON NOTUS

Texas congressman admits to affair with a married staffer: “I made a mistake, and there was a lapse in judgment,” Rep. Tony Gonzales said in an interview with conservative radio host Joe Pagliarulo. “Since then, I’ve reconciled with my wife, Angel, I’ve asked God to forgive me, which he has, and my faith is as strong as ever.”

Gonzales had previously denied the affair, calling the allegations “blackmail.” The staffer, Regina Ann Santos-Aviles, died by self-immolation last year.

More: Johnson’s Latest Headache: Republicans Who Lost Their Primaries Skipping Votes, by Oriana González

NOT US

• Inside the Underground Safe Houses Sheltering Immigrants From ICE, by Miriam Jordan for The New York Times
  
• How Journalists Are Reporting From Iran With No Internet, by Mahmoud Aslan for WIRED
  
• Kurdish dissident groups say they are preparing to join the fight against Iran with US support, by Qassim Abdul-Zahra, Stella Martany and Rashid Yahya

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