Today’s notice: The Trump admin vs. universities, again. The surprising things MAHA is involved in. “Florida Democrat” is becoming passé. Plus: Life for the Capitol Police, now.
Harvard’s Going to Need a New Fight Song
On Tuesday morning, Marco Rubio’s State Department issued an order pausing all student visa applications, a move seen by many as part of Donald Trump’s ongoing war with Harvard. The school launched a lawsuit last week challenging an administration order preventing it from admitting foreign students, and a judge temporarily blocked the move while that suit moves forward.
“Under no circumstances will we abandon our international students,” Harvard President Alan Garber told The Harvard Crimson on Tuesday.
But how big an issue are Harvard’s political allies making this? By the end of the work day Tuesday, Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer had tweeted at RFK Jr. about new vaccine rules and several times about the reconciliation bill. But there were no posts about the blanket delay of international student visas. Same story for Schumer’s House counterpart, Hakeem Jeffries. Same for the account of House Democratic Whip Katherine Clark, whose district includes Harvard.
Some of this could be because it’s not exactly clear what the new State ruling means. At the department’s press briefing Tuesday, spokesperson Tammy Bruce was asked about the policy change a couple times, but declined to provide specifics on what new vetting protocols would be required for foreign students. Nor did she say definitively that a student whose application was paused would have it cleared by the start of classes in the fall. Bruce’s message was, this is just a common sense policy — nothing to see here.
“It seems to be such a controversial thing that is going on,” she said with sarcasm in her voice. “But it shouldn’t be, and every nation should and does take seriously who’s coming in.”
The White House directed a NOTUS inquiry to the State Department, which did not immediately respond.
—Evan McMorris Santoro
RFK Jr. Wades Into Another Conspiracy Theory. This Time ICE Is Involved.
Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s recent claims that HHS under the Biden administration became a “collaborator in child trafficking and for sex and for slavery,” resurfacing a long-running conspiracy theory, is upending the Office of Refugee Resettlement’s work.
Current and former HHS employees told NOTUS that Kennedy’s statements have resulted in drastic changes at ORR. The most significant? That ICE now has access to the office’s data on the locations of unaccompanied minors who immigrated to the U.S. — and is using that information to go after the minors and their sponsors, many of whom are undocumented themselves.
“They’re not helping kids. They’re going after sponsors to try to find more people to put on their deportation list,” said a former HHS official with direct knowledge of the changes taking place at ORR, who requested anonymity to speak freely about the department.
Claims like Kennedy’s have a storied history: like the “Satanic panic” of the 80s, when fears stemming from a backlash over women in the workplace resulted in day care workers being accused of using children to perform Satanic rituals. “If you really fucking hate someone, that’s what you say, right?” one conspiracy theory researcher told me.
—Margaret Manto | Read more.
Not Us
We know NOTUS reporters can’t cover it all. Here’s some other great hits by… not us.
- Obama world loses its shine in a changing, hurting Democratic Party, by Natasha Korecki, Jonathan Allen and Allan Smith for NBC News
- GOP declares war on GAO, by Jennifer Scholtes, Jordain Carney and Katherine Tully-McManus for Politico
- The Billion-Dollar Business Behind Trump’s Immigration Crackdown, by Elizabeth Findell, Jack Gillum, Jemal R. Brinson and Juanje Gómez for The Wall Street Journal
- ICE Taps into Nationwide AI-Enabled Camera Network, Data Shows, by Jason Koebler and Joseph Cox for 404 Media
- Harmeet Dhillon’s Civil-Rights Revolution Comes With Tea and Roses, by Sadie Gurman for The Wall Street Journal
NOTUS Exclusive: Anti-‘Big, Beautiful Bill’ Ads
A super PAC closely aligned with House Democratic leadership will begin running digital ads today titled “Big, Ugly Bill” in 26 battleground congressional districts nationwide. The ads focus on the bill’s cuts to Medicaid and target vulnerable Republicans like Reps. Rob Bresnahan, Chuck Edwards and David Valadao among others.
Read Reese Gorman’s report about who else is on the ad’s hit list.
Coach Is Running
Sen. Tommy Tuberville launched his campaign for Alabama governor on Tuesday — a race he’s likely to win, freeing up a spot in the Senate and likely setting off a scramble in Alabama politics. Why does he have such a good shot? “Everyone in the state knows who he is. He could raise money. He’s got a very high name ID and he’s been very strong on conservative issues,” Terry Lathan, former Alabama Republican Party chair, told NOTUS.
Read Torrence Banks on what Alabamans had to say about Tuberville’s chances.
Dropping the Dem Label
A former Democratic official in Florida has dropped the “D” and will be running for governor as an independent — another sign of the diminished party brand.
“Our constituents are craving practical leaders, not political hacks,” said Jason Pizzo, the former state Senate minority leader, after he left the party. Pizzo has low name ID, but a hefty warchest and the backing of… No Labels’ Nancy Jacobson, who said she was “eager to introduce Jason to people I know and would personally encourage them to donate to and vote for him.”
Read NOTUS’ Claire Heddles on this new trend.
Capitol Police vs. Protestors
Capitol Police have responded to disruptions at several recent Senate hearings by actually picking up and carrying protestors out of the hearing rooms — a move that has raised the eyebrows of at least one former USCP officer.
The former officer told NOTUS that during the more than 15 years they had served, it “never got to the point where I almost had to physically pick people up” at a congressional hearing. A spokesperson for the USCP said there hasn’t been a policy change, although the agency formed a rapid response team more than a year ago to “swiftly react to anything on campus, including unlawful demonstrations.”
Read more from NOTUS’ Haley Byrd Wilt and Emily Kennard.
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