Throwing the Thesaurus at ICE

Today’s notice: While we weren’t looking, Democrats have come to an agreement about how to talk about ICE. Two 2026 messaging exclusives. The latest on Iran. A state official on life during the DHS shutdown. Plus: We’ve got documents about the D.C. sewagepocalypse.

THE LATEST

Democratic primary map and ICE. “Everything changed” after federal agents shot and killed Alex Pretti in Minneapolis, Daniel Biss, the mayor of Evanston, Illinois, and one of the many Democrats running for federal office this year told NOTUS.

Primary voters want to hear one thing now: how Democrats will fight this administration. Alex Roarty and Christa Dutton talked to candidates, strategists, activists, pollsters, and operatives. Primaries many expected to revolve around economic policy arguments are now races to see who can convince primary voters they will Do Something about Donald Trump.

How that sounds on the ground: Incumbents and their challengers often sound the same on immigration now, even in blue districts where progressives can push the party even harder than in purple places.

“She says ‘dismantle ICE,’ and the opponent says ‘abolish ICE,’” a spox for Rep. Valerie Foushee said, describing the primary in her D+23 North Carolina district.

How that sounds in D.C.: “Abolish” panic shows no sign of dissipating among those who foresee trouble when the primaries are over and the general election begins. “There’s no reason that we need to introduce this confusing bumper sticker to this situation right now when we do have unanimity in what we’re calling for in terms of reforms and overhauling,” Lanae Erickson of Third Way said.

How’s this for a bumper sticker? “ICE needs to be reformed in a dramatic, bold, meaningful and transformational manner,” Hakeem Jeffries told reporters yesterday, throwing the whole darn thesaurus at them.

Open Tabs White House directing DHS to hunt for voter fraud by naturalized citizens: Sources (MS NOW); Palantir partnership is at heart of Anthropic, Pentagon rift (Semafor); U.S. Arms Sale to Taiwan in Limbo Amid Pressure Campaign From China (WSJ); DOT wants to block transit money to states that aid migrants (Politico)

From the campaign trail

Two exclusives that show the economy is still getting plenty of play. The DCCC has compiled a playlist of 2024 ads featuring Republicans standing at grocery stores, or in cars at the drive-thru, looking straight in the camera and promising to bring prices down.

They’re not promising shot-for-shot remakes of the spots against their GOP targets, but they do intend to remind voters that this happened — and that prices on groceries and restaurants (and other things) remain stubbornly high.

“We have them dead to rights, with their own words and their own ads,” reads a committee memo outlining the plan shared with us last night.

How about ICE politics and economic messaging in a single ad? A six-figure buy hitting vulnerable Republicans in Pennsylvania, Ohio and Wisconsin by Democratic-leaning groups Care in Action and MomsRising Together going up today is dinging the incumbents for supporting immigration enforcement spending “as Medicaid cuts and premium increases continue to burden families,” according to an early look shared with us.

Meet the new MAGA megadonors. Big-money backers who have little or no history of federal political contributions are pumping big money into Trump’s main super PAC, MAGA, Inc., NOTUS’ Taylor Giorno reports. A few big names:

1. Konstantin Sokolov, a private equity investor, was a small donor in past years. He gave a combined $11 million in 2025.
3. OpenAI president Greg Brockman’s largest disclosed donation before last year was $2,700 to Hillary Clinton in 2016. In 2025, Brockman and his wife donated $25 million.
5. Another former Hillary donor now dropping big bucks on MAGA is venture capitalist Asha Jadeja, who cut a $5 million check.
7. U.S. ambassador to Hungary nominee Ben Landa, a nursing home operator in New York, donated $5 million last August.

From the Hill

Move along, nothing to see here. Spending talks around DHS funding don’t seem to be making much progress. The White House and Democrats each accused the other of being, as Karoline Leavitt put it, “unserious.”

Two people really trying to find a deal: Reps. Tom Cole, Republican chair of the House Appropriations Committee, and Rosa DeLauro, the ranking Democrat. NOTUS’ Em Luetkemeyer reports on what brought this political odd couple together in trust: When they first met, they both ordered their bacon burnt.

From the White House

“There’s many reasons and arguments that one could make for a strike against Iran,” Leavitt told reporters yesterday when asked about the president’s thinking. But, she said, he’s still open to diplomacy for now — though she would not give a timeframe for how long that diplomatic olive branch will hang.

The president is openly musing about strikes. Trump has already approved a significant military buildup in the region, with a second strike carrier on the way. And he contradicted his own administration on Wednesday when he urged British Prime Minister Keir Starmer to scrap plans for a long-term lease arrangement involving the island of Diego Garcia, despite the State Department giving the OK the day before.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio is expected to go to Israel next week, a State Department official told Jasmine, to talk about Iran. It’s unlikely strikes would happen while Rubio is in the region.

From the Potomac

Something smells. Trump has repeatedly blamed Maryland for a rupture in the Potomac Interceptor sewer line — but the pipes are actually under federal purview, NOTUS’ Anna Kramer and Violet Jira report. Documents they reviewed show federal officials have been warning about deterioration for years, and have been working to mitigate it since at least 2022.

Pretty please? D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser did what Trump demanded last night and formally asked for help, declaring a public emergency and requesting federal assistance with the cleanup.

From the states

How the DHS shutdown feels in South Carolina. The state is still dealing with recovery from Hurricane Helene, and is counting on FEMA funds to help. “At this time, we are not experiencing any disruptions,” Tiffanie Barrett, chief of public information at the state’s Emergency Management Division, told NOTUS’ Torrence Banks yesterday. She said her department is still in close coordination with federal partners, and “is actively monitoring the situation” vis a vis funding and the shutdown.

A weird thing about this shutdown is that it affects a department that touches the lives of many Americans regularly. But it has yet to make a big splash. That could change quickly in the coming days after FEMA reportedly halted employees’ travel to disaster sites.

NEW ON NOTUS

‘Severely delinquent’: That’s how Andrew Garbarino, chair of the House Committee on Homeland Security, described FEMA after revealing that the agency owes New York health systems more than $1 billion for COVID-19 expenses dating back to 2020. He told Torrence he believes it is an issue that affects “all 50 states.”

More: Democrats Cheer as the Trump Administration Finally Disperses Gateway Tunnel Funds, by Raymond Fernández

NOT US

• Mass departures from DOJ are boon for law firms, legal groups and political campaigns, by Scott MacFarlane for CBS
  
• How Legal Immigration Became a Deportation Trap, by Jonathan Blitzer for The New Yorker
  
• Hegseth’s Firing Campaign Reaches Down Into the Ranks, by Nancy A. Youssef and Missy Ryan for The Atlantic

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