Today’s notice: Lessons from the president’s Middle East trip. A big beautiful Sunday night. More on congressional stock trading. Democrats watching reconciliation very closely. Biden’s diagnosis.
What Are U.S. Allies Now?
Over the weekend, a tough new ad from the Democratic Majority for Israel played in the D.C. area condemning Donald Trump for trying to accept a Boeing 747 from Qatar, a country the Democratic group’s 15-second spot said “gave Hamas billions for terrorism.”
“They’re paying off Trump,” the spot says. “What are they getting in return?”
Not a huge ad buy, as these things go, but it may be the first paid attempt by Democrats to turn Trump’s Middle East trip into a political liability among the pro-Israel Americans the president has championed.
That question at the end of the spot was about Qatar specifically, but it’s one the foreign policy establishment was asking broadly as they watched Trump meet with the new leader of Syria and negotiate with Hamas for the release of an American-born Israeli hostage, while America’s putative strongest ally in the region was reportedly cut out of the conversation. These Democrats may think it’s a problem, but what did we objectively learn last week?
NOTUS’ Jasmine Wright and Violet Jira have a look at the trip through the Trump admin’s eyes and the new understanding of diplomacy it previewed for the rest of Trump 2.0. The Middle East is seen as the new epicenter for Trump’s vision of the job of statesman in chief.
“That’s where negotiations are happening. That’s where economic developments are happening,” one Republican who attended the dinner for Trump in Qatar last week told the pair from NOTUS’ White House team.
Our Haley Byrd Wilt, meanwhile, reports that this shift toward or at least tolerating regimes once seen as intolerable is changing the way many Republicans talk about the region. Saudi leader Mohammed bin Salman drew a unanimous resolution of condemnation from the Senate after Trump praised him in 2018. This time? “It’s the art of the deal,” Sen. Mike Rounds told Haley.
—Evan McMorris-Santoro | Read about the trip. | Read about the new rhetoric around Saudi Arabia.
Joe Biden, in Full
The ongoing existential debate among Democrats about Joe Biden’s presidency — scheduled to enter even greater heights with the release of a highly anticipated book this week by Jake Tapper and Alex Thompson — was brought down to a tragic human scale Sunday.
Biden was diagnosed with “aggressive” prostate cancer, per his office.
After 50 years in public life, Biden’s full legacy can’t just be refracted through the summer of 2024. And that was before Americans had to consider the champion of the Cancer Moonshot wrestling with among the worst the disease can throw at a person.
The questions raised around Biden’s decision to run a second time, and around the Democratic establishment’s near-universal support for that choice in public, remain worth asking. But Democrats are now forced to have this necessary — and necessarily painful — conversation amidst just awful news for a family whose life and devotion to public service they justifiably revere.
—Evan McMorris-Santoro | Read more on Biden’s health.
Not Us
We know NOTUS reporters can’t cover it all. Here’s some other great hits by… not us.
- Silicon Valley’s New Hold on Washington, by Shane Shifflett, Caitlin Ostroff and James Benedict for The Wall Street Journal
- The Biden question hanging over the 2028 field, by Adam Wren and Holly Otterbein for Politico
- The Trump Memecoin Dinner Winners Are Getting Rid of Their Coins, by Joel Khalili and Paige Oamek for Wired
Sunday Night Presents
House conservatives on the Budget Committee gave Republican leadership some relief Sunday night: They set aside their objections with the reconciliation bill and voted “present” to let the bill advance over unified Democratic opposition.
The change of heart came after a weekend of negotiations and potential changes to the “big, beautiful bill” that could win over conservatives while alienating moderates. The conservatives’ amiability could also be short lived: The House Freedom Caucus posted after the vote that the bill “does not yet meet the moment,” with talks ongoing. Nothing easy!
The next step is the Rules Committee, with the possibility of a full floor vote later this week (Thursday?) still alive.
Read the story from NOTUS’ Hill team.
Making Money, Making Laws Report: Julie Johnson
Freshman Dem Rep. Julie Johnson of Texas is the latest prolific stock trader to get a close look from reporter Dave Levinthal.
Johnson “sold between $218,000 and $2.22 million worth of personal stock during the first week of April as the market crashed in response to Trump’s tariff announcement,” Dave writes for NOTUS. As has been common in his other stories on congressional trading, her trades included shares in companies under the jurisdiction of committees she serves on. Johnson’s office did not respond to Dave’s multiple requests for comment.
Unlike some other prolific traders who records show have made money on their tariff week trades, Dave reports that it’s “unclear whether Johnson’s numerous stock trades proved lucrative.” We won’t know until at least late May when the disclosure window opens.
Dems in Array…ish?
Democrats are still getting it together after 2024. Two stories of what they see as bright spots in that process:
- Hakeem Jeffries took a lot of flack in recent months from other Democrats both publicly and privately. NOTUS’ Tinashe Chingarande reports that more and more Dems are liking what they see from the House minority leader recently. He’s beefed up his communications team and “visibly toughened his opposition to Trump,” Tinashe writes. A progressive in Congress told Tinashe that Jefferies “is trending in the right direction,” though “there’s a lot of room for improvement.”
- The party’s continuing struggle to land on a unified message may be getting a reprieve from the GOP reconciliation bill. NOTUS’ Shifra Dayak reports that Dems are combing through proposed safety-net cuts and feeding them right into 2026 messaging.
Read about Jeffries’ changing rep. | Read about Dem messaging plans.
Week Ahead
- Trump is scheduled to sign the Take It Down Act today. The law would criminalize nonconsensual sexual imagery on the internet.
- President Cyril Ramaphosa of South Africa is scheduled to meet with Trump on Wednesday. Over the past months, Trump has repeatedly accused South African officials of persecuting their white nationals.
- Interior Secretary Doug Burgum is scheduled to appear in front of the House Appropriations Committee on Tuesday morning.
- On Wednesday, the FCC’s chair, Brendan Carr, is scheduled to appear in front of the Appropriations Committee.
- So is Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
- On Wednesday, the Senate Committee on Homeland Security, chaired by Sen. Rand Paul, will hold a hearing on how health officials “downplayed” adverse effects of the COVID-19 vaccines.
Front Page
- DOGE Is Now Targeting GAO, and the Congressional Agency Is Fighting Back: “We are not subject to DOGE or executive orders,” GAO staff were told in an internal email.
- Republicans Have Really Moved On From Condemning the Saudi Crown Prince: The Senate unanimously agreed to a resolution in 2018 condemning Mohammed bin Salman for the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi. Now, members don’t think much of it.
- These Tribes Want a Key Piece of Oklahoma Land Returned. Could the Trump Administration Help?: The Cheyenne and Arapaho tribes’ governor spoke with Interior Secretary Doug Burgum in early May about the land transfer of nearly 10,000 acres.
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