“House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) could get caught in the undertow of the very blue wave he hopes to ride into power this November as a growing number of Democratic candidates tell Axios they can’t commit to backing his leadership.”
“It’s a stark reversal from Jeffries’ virtually untouchable standing in the Democratic Party just a few years ago — and a sign that his path to the speakership may be rockier than previously thought.”
“Despite more than two weeks of relentless airstrikes, U.S. intelligence assessments say, Iran’s regime likely will remain in place for now, weakened but more hard-line, with the powerful Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps security forces exerting greater control,” the Washington Post reports.
“President Trump is pressuring allies to help reopen the Strait of Hormuz and relieve pressure on the global economy. So far, most of them aren’t biting,” the Wall Street Journal reports.
“Germany has rejected taking part, while Japan and Australia have indicated they are unlikely to send vessels to help. Britain and France said they are assessing possible action but haven’t committed to doing anything before fighting halts. All are close U.S. allies.”
CNN: Trump criticizes allies who rebuffed his calls to help secure Strait of Hormuz.
President Trump says Cuba is on the brink of collapse and the U.S. may be “taking” the island nation, Politico reports.
Said Trump: “I think Cuba sees the end. All my life I’ve been hearing about the United States and Cuba. When will the United States do it? I do believe I’ll be the honor of — having the honor of taking Cuba.”
“President Trump said he had sought to postpone a planned summit with Chinese leader Xi Jinping, saying he wanted to be in the U.S. as the war continues. Trump had been expected to travel to Beijing March 31 to April 2,” the Wall Street Journal reports.
“A judge ruled this week that a top Georgia Republican Party official, who has promoted former President Donald Trump’s claims of widespread voter fraud affecting the outcome of the 2020 presidential election, has repeatedly voted illegally,” NBC News reports.
“Brian Pritchard, first vice chairman of the Georgia Republican Party and a conservative talk show host, was fined $5,000 for voting illegally and registering to vote while serving a sentence for a felony conviction. Pritchard was also ordered not to commit further violations, to face public reprimand for his conduct and to pay the State Election Board’s investigative costs.”
Punchbowl News: “The speaker inched ever closer to saying that he’ll try to put a large-scale Iran war funding bill in a reconciliation package. Johnson detailed the outlines for a path to approve tens or hundreds of billions of dollars to fund the Pentagon and the U.S. war in the Middle East on a party-line vote.”
“Johnson’s comments reflect the reality that reconciliation may be the only viable path for Republicans to pass an Iran war package, given staunch Democratic opposition.”
“In a severe blow to the Trump administration’s health agenda, a federal judge in Massachusetts on Monday blocked the government from implementing a series of decisions on vaccines made over the last year by Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.,” the New York Times reports.
“The ruling also reversed, at least for the time being, all decisions made by the panelists that Mr. Kennedy appointed to the Advisory Committee for Immunization Practices, which makes recommendations on which vaccines Americans should take. The court decision will prevent the committee from meeting later this week, as it was scheduled to do.”
“Military officials have included options in regular war planning for President Donald Trump to end the conflict in Iran should he decide to do so,” NBC News reports.
“As the conflict widens in the Middle East and the Iranian regime maintains its chokehold on the critical Strait of Hormuz, the stated terms and timeline for ending the war remain in flux. Aides and allies seek to pull Trump in different directions: Those in favor of an exit strategy are concerned about global economic instability since the war began, while other aides focus on the opportunity to erode the regime’s influence in the region.”
“The timeline for the duration of the war ‘could change every day.’”
“I knew the Strait would be a weapon. I predicted it a long time ago. I predicted all of this stuff. I predicted Osama bin Laden would knock out the World Trade Center. I wrote it in a book.”
— President Trump, speaking to reporters.
President Trump spoke to reporters about the Iran war:
TRUMP: I’ve spoken to a certain president, who I like actually, a past president, he said, “I wish I did it.” But they didn’t do it. I’m doing it.
REPORTER: Which president?
TRUMP: I can’t tell you that. It would be very bad for his career even though he’s got no career left.
After spending the weekend demanding that key allies help open the Strait of Hormuz, President Trump told reporters today that the U.S. doesn’t need the assistance.
Said Trump: “I don’t do a hard sell on them because my attitude is we don’t need anybody. We’re the strongest nation in the world. We have the strongest military by far in the world. We don’t need them.”
Several U.S. allies — including Germany, Spain and Italy — rebuffed Donald Trump’s call on Monday to send warships to escort shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, drawing criticism from the U.S. president, who accused Western partners of ingratitude after decades of support, Reuters reports.
Said Trump: “Some are very enthusiastic about it, and some aren’t. Some are countries that we’ve helped for many, many years. We’ve protected them from horrible outside sources, and they weren’t that enthusiastic. And the level of enthusiasm matters to me.”
Semafor: “The effect of the outside spending on this spring’s primaries, which in some districts involve the first open-seat contests in decades, is huge.”
“Super PAC spending has dwarfed the fundraising for individual candidates in most of Tuesday’s competitive races, as crypto- and AI-backed PACs go big for candidates who’ve signaled that they won’t over-regulate.”
As Sam Bankman-Fried, the convicted former crypto mogul, tries to convince Trump to grant him a pardon, some of the biggest crypto supporters in Congress are warning the president to steer clear of his efforts, Politico reports.
Said Sen. Bernie Moreno (R-OH): “The guy’s a piece of shit. The guy shouldn’t be pardoned. The guy should go to jail for a long, long time.”
“The family of Rev. Jesse Jackson is withdrawing an eyebrow-raising posthumous announcement of an endorsement of Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton for U.S. Senate, saying on Monday that his primary choices were not finalized before his death last month,” the Chicago Sun Times reports.
“For weeks on Capitol Hill, there had been quiet murmurs about the health of an ailing veteran House Republican, Rep. Neal Dunn (R-FL), and whether he would be able to serve out the duration of his term because of what was rumored to be a grave diagnosis,” the New York Times reports.
“On Monday, at a news conference called to discuss the Kennedy Center, President Trump aired the quiet part out loud, claiming credit for having saved Mr. Dunn’s life in an unusual and at times uncomfortable exchange that publicly laid out the congressman’s formerly private prognosis in new detail.”
Said Trump: “Number one, it was bad because I liked him. Number two, it was bad because I needed his vote. I did it for him first and the vote second. But it was a close second.”
Politico: Trump says Neal Dunn would’ve been “dead by June” absent surgery.
Taegan Goddard is the founder of Political Wire, one of the earliest and most influential political web sites. He also runs Political Job Hunt, Electoral Vote Map and the Political Dictionary.
Goddard spent more than a decade as managing director and chief operating officer of a prominent investment firm in New York City. Previously, he was a policy adviser to a U.S. Senator and Governor.
Goddard is also co-author of You Won - Now What? (Scribner, 1998), a political management book hailed by prominent journalists and politicians from both parties. In addition, Goddard's essays on politics and public policy have appeared in dozens of newspapers across the country.
Goddard earned degrees from Vassar College and Harvard University. He lives in New York with his wife and three sons.
Goddard is the owner of Goddard Media LLC.
