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“She will not escape accountability and remains legally obligated to appear before our Committee under oath. She must answer for her mishandling of the Epstein files and the special treatment she has given Ghislaine Maxwell… If they think we are moving on because they were fired, they are gravely mistaken.”
— Rep. Robert Garcia (D-CA), quoted by Politico, on Attorney General Pam Bondi’s firing.
President Trump named Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, his one time personal attorney, as interim Attorney General replacing Pam Bondi, the Washington Examiner reports.
Blanche posted on social media thanking Trump “for the trust and the opportunity to serve.”
Politico: “President Trump’s primetime address on Iran did little to relieve rising alarm from plugged-in Republicans in key states across the country who see the war as pushing costs higher and their midterm chances ever-lower.”
“Trump declared Wednesday night that the U.S. offensive in Iran is ‘nearing completion’ but warned that military operations would intensify over the ‘next two to three weeks.’ He attempted to clarify his goals for the war — to destroy Iran’s nuclear capabilities — and insisted it was never about regime change. And he shrugged off the spike in oil and gas prices as a ‘short-term increase.’”
“To a number of GOP strategists and local party leaders involved in key congressional and gubernatorial races, the message was too little, too late and too jumbled.”
Said one GOP strategist: “What the hell did he just say?”
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Francis Fukuyama: “It’s a conceit of foreign policy intellectuals to try to infer from statements and events a consistent doctrine underlying an administration’s activities. It should be clear by now that there is no such thing as a Trump doctrine. The administration itself tried to articulate such a doctrine last November when it went through the ritual of producing a National Security Strategy for the second Trump term.”
“It’s clear today that that strategy document bears no relationship to actual administration foreign policy.”
NOTUS: “Senate Majority Leader John Thune said that he gave a reality check to the White House and House Republicans about their continued push to change Senate rules, and warned about the fallout for the majority party if the war in Iran doesn’t end in the near term.”
Bloomberg: “Maine Governor Janet Mills now supports increasing taxes on the state’s richest residents, reversing her past opposition after lagging in recent polls for a key Democratic Senate primary.”
New York Times: “A Colorado appeals court on Thursday overturned the prison sentence of Tina Peters, the most prominent election denier still behind bars for crimes stemming from the 2020 election.”
“But the court did not immediately free Ms. Peters from prison or overturn her underlying conviction.”
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky sounded new warnings about Russia’s intelligence sharing with Iran, NewsNation reports.
Said Zelensky: “We have confirmation that from my intelligence that Russia shared and shares the intelligence with, they share all this, a lot of satellite images of different objects on the territory of Middle East countries.”
He added: “By the way, it’s about Emirates, it’s about Saudi Arabia, it’s about Qatar, it’s about Jordan. On some points, on some objects, we shared it with the Jordanists and we said it to American side. They did it twice.”
“Any president that contemplates attempting to withdraw from NATO is not only fulfilling Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping’s greatest dreams but would be undermining America’s own national security interests.”
— Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC), quoted by The Guardian.
New York Times: “A coalition of legal groups on Thursday filed a lawsuit against the Department of Homeland Security, saying the agency had allowed federal immigration agents to routinely enter homes to carry out searches and arrests in violation of the Fourth Amendment.”
Dan Pfeiffer: “One month into the war, Trump finally gave a nationally televised address — but instead of offering clarity or rallying the country to the cause, he delivered an overlong, low-energy, rambling speech that served no strategic purpose.”
“Not that anyone should be surprised, but at the moment of greatest need for the country and greatest peril for his presidency, Trump failed to deliver.”
“He waved the white flag on his war and his presidency. It’s possible we will look back on last night as the moment we knew Trump’s presidency was functionally over. He’s still in office and can still do great damage, but the momentum is gone. All but his most committed supporters have tuned him out. It’s all over but the shouting.”
Politico confirmed earlier stories that Attorney General Pam Bondi will be removed from her job “imminently.”
CNN: “The chief justice can be cagey during arguments. In high-profile cases, he often sends mixed signals and keeps his options open.”
“But during the momentous session, Roberts made plain his skepticism for the Trump position that would upend more than a century of constitutional history and tradition. The chief justice cast doubt on the Trump administration’s alternative view of the reach of the 14th Amendment’s birthright citizenship guarantee.”
The Atlantic: “Public anger is rising rapidly. The president’s approval ratings—which were already anemic—have sunk to new lows, and Republicans are facing the prospect of an electoral wipeout in this fall’s midterm elections. The GOP’s hold on the House majority has appeared precarious for months, but now its more comfortable advantage in the Senate may be in jeopardy too.”
“Even TMZ is channeling the national discontent: The website known for trailing celebrities has begun hounding members of Congress, encouraging its readers to send in photos and video of lawmakers fleeing Washington, D.C., and living it up while the public servants responsible for protecting the homeland go unpaid.”
“Back in their districts, members of Congress—particularly swing-seat Republicans—seem to be in hiding. Hardly any are holding town halls or other well-publicized events that could put them face-to-face with frustrated voters.”
Tom Nichols: “Americans have been waiting for their president and commander in chief to address the nation and explain why the country is at war. For weeks, Donald Trump has offered only snippets and sound bites about his decision to lead the United States into another conflict in the Middle East; his prime-time address this evening was, one assumes, aimed at informing and reassuring the American public.”
“Maybe he’d have been better off not trying. Trump’s critics (including me) have castigated him for refusing to go on television and provide a comprehensive explanation of the war to the American people. But given his performance this evening, perhaps he had the right instinct.”
“His address did not come across as a wartime speech but instead was a disjointed series of complaints, brags, and exaggerations (along with a few outright lies) delivered by a man who looked and sounded tired. After his 19 minutes on the air—brisk by Trump’s standards—Americans could be forgiven for being even more concerned now than they were only a few days ago.”
CNN: “President Donald Trump plans to impose new tariffs on pharmaceutical companies that have not struck deals to sell their drugs directly to consumers as part of his ‘Most Favored Nation’ pricing initiative.”
“Those medications would be hit with a 100% tariff, according to the draft order, while providing some pathways for drugmakers to reduce or avoid those levies if they negotiate a deal with the administration or move their production to the US.”
New York Times: “The Senate moved early Thursday to try again to reopen the Department of Homeland Security, but House Republicans declined to clear the Senate plan for President Trump, prolonging the record agency shutdown even after G.O.P. leaders had agreed on a way to end it swiftly.”
“Meeting in a brief ceremonial session, the House opted not to take up spending legislation that the Senate had sent over about 90 minutes earlier, leaving a quick resolution to the stalemate out of reach for now. It was unclear when the House, which is in a two-week recess, might consider the bill or if it would have to wait until lawmakers are scheduled to return in mid-April.”
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.
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