Principals

1. Johnson’s foreign aid plan
2. Republicans adopt Trump abortion stance
3. Trump trial
4. Jan. 6 oral arguments
5. Biden tax returns
6. Israel weighs Iran response

PDB: Mayorkas on Capitol Hill as Senate prepares to receive impeachment articles

Biden in Pennsylvania … China’s economic growth surprises… Bloomberg: Biden echoes Trump on immigration

— edited by Benjy Sarlin, Jordan Weissmann and Morgan Chalfant

Johnson makes his play call

Mike Johnson has finally charted his course of action on Ukraine. The House speaker said Monday night that he plans to move separate bills on aid for Ukraine, Israel, and U.S. allies in Asia. He’ll top it off with a fourth package including loans for Ukraine, a measure to seize Russian assets for Kyiv, and the House-passed TikTok divestiture bill. Splitting the measures apart could ultimately make each easier to pass, given GOP fractures on Ukraine and a Democratic split over Israel. But Johnson acknowledged the House could still end up moving the bills to the Senate as one, underscoring the lingering uncertainty on a path forward.

It’s unclear whether all the bills can pass through regular order, or what Johnson’s “play call” — as he put it — will mean for his job. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, Johnson’s chief antagonist, called it a “scam” but said she hadn’t decided whether to move forward with her motion to oust the speaker. At least one conservative hardliner, Rep. Andy Biggs, signaled support for the plan, before later backtracking. “I don’t spend my time worrying about motions to vacate,” Johnson told reporters. “We’re having to govern here.” Notably, Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries left open the possibility that Democrats could help bring the bills to the floor by voting in favor of the final rule — though he emphasized they needed to see the legislation before making any decisions. “We’re not going to come to any conclusion on process until we understand the substance,” he said. Johnson predicted the bill text could be released today, which could mean votes on Friday evening if all goes to plan.

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Trump’s new abortion stance filters through the GOP

Donald Trump gave MAGA a permission slip to move left on abortion this month by disavowing a federal ban and criticizing certain state ones — and some in the movement are taking it. Semafor’s Shelby Talcott reports that anti-abortion activists are alarmed after Senate candidate Kari Lake reversed herself on Arizona’s newly revived 1864 abortion ban and recorded a video supporting (albeit vaguely) “more choices” for pregnant women. In Florida, Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla. heightened their anxiety by backing a return to a 15-week ban — instead of the 6-week ban signed by Gov. Ron DeSantis. “I’m fairly concerned and it’s definitely a gut check moment for people who have been pro-life for a very long time,” Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, told Semafor. Voters in both Arizona and Florida could potentially decide to guarantee abortion access via ballot initiatives, making any cracks in Republican support for existing restrictions especially consequential. Longer term, some fear the movement’s alliance with Trump could further undo their recent gains. “My gut is that the nation is moving toward two pro-choice parties,” said Dr. Russell Moore, editor of Christianity Today and a longtime Trump critic.

A sleepy start to the Trump trial

Trump’s Manhattan hush money trial kicked off on Monday with jury selection. The process yielded nine potential jurors after more than half of the initial 96-person pool (perhaps understandably) declared themselves unable to fairly evaluate the polarizing former president. The process could drag on before the trial gets to more explosive phases, Politico’s Kyle Cheney notes, with witness testimony unlikely before next month given the holiday schedule. In the meantime, the defendant seems less than engaged while legally forced to sit through the proceedings — The New York Times’ Maggie Haberman reported that “Mr. Trump appeared to nod off a few times, his mouth going slack and his head drooping onto his chest.” After initially failing to acknowledge one of his attorneys passing him notes in this state, he eventually “appeared to jolt awake and notice them.”

Jan. 6 prosecutions head to the Supreme Court

Dozens of convictions related to the Jan. 6 Capitol attack will be at stake at the Supreme Court today. The justices are set to hear oral arguments in U.S. vs. Fischer, a case where they are being asked to decide whether prosecutors overreached when they charged violent pro-Trump protestors under a section of Sarbanes-Oxley, the 2002 statute passed in the wake of the Enron scandal, that makes it a felony to “corruptly” obstruct an official proceeding. Defense lawyers claim the law was narrowly meant to bar individuals from tampering with evidence, while the Justice Department claims it has much broader scope. Over 100 rioters have been convicted under the statute, many of whom could seek new sentences or trials if the high court rules in their favor, CBS reports. Such a decision would also knock out some — though not all — of the charges Donald Trump is facing in his own federal Jan. 6 case. The justices will also be considering the former president’s claim that he should enjoy presidential immunity from prosecution over the riot next week.

The Bidens made $620K in 2023

President Biden released his tax returns, showing that he and first lady Jill Biden took in nearly $620,000 last year (a slight increase over 2022) and paid $146,629 in federal income taxes — amounting to a 23.7% effective rate. (They also ponied up $30,908 in state income tax in Delaware). Biden “believes that all occupants of the Oval Office should be open and honest with the American people, and that the longstanding tradition of annually releasing presidential tax returns should continue unbroken,” the White House said in a not-so-subtle swipe at former President Trump, who never voluntarily released his own. Vice President Harris and her husband, second gentleman Doug Emhoff, made about $450,000 last year and paid $88,570 in federal income taxes, as well as almost $27,000 in taxes in California and Washington, D.C. combined.

The quandaries of Israel’s response

Israel’s promise of a response over Iran’s weekend barrage of missiles and drones points to twin quandaries that could define the future course of the Middle East conflict, analysts said. Israel is grappling with calibrating its strategy to “demonstrate its willingness to use force … without creating precisely the crisis it seeks to avert,” The Washington Post’s David Ignatius said. Washington, meanwhile, is trying to balance objectives — providing “ironclad” support for Israel while trying to prevent a wider regional war — which are increasingly at odds with one another, according to Gideon Rachman in the Financial Times. Israel’s war cabinet is weighing both military and diplomatic options for a response and is factoring in U.S. warnings that its course of action should “not be over the top,” an Israeli official told FT. Options could include an attack on Iran’s nuclear program, targeted strikes on Iranian commanders, or even cyberattacks, according to Foreign Policy.

— Tom Chivers and Morgan Chalfant

Beltway Newsletters

Punchbowl News: Speaker Mike Johnson’s plan to move separate foreign aid packages is “one gigantic gamble.” Johnson, who spoke to President Biden on Monday, will need Democrats to help pass the rule and the bills on the House floor. He told his conference he would allow amendment votes, further complicating the situation.

Playbook: Biden shared doubts with Johnson yesterday and said he preferred the House to take up the Senate-passed national security supplemental. “If I do the same thing as the Senate bill, I know we can’t process it,” Johnson replied, according to a person familiar with the exchange. “This is the only way forward.”

The Early 202: A draft of Johnson’s plan resembles the Senate-passed package but it’s unclear whether it also includes humanitarian aid for Gaza.

Axios: The Commerce Department is bringing on a former researcher at OpenAI to help run its AI Safety Institute.

White House

• President Biden is beginning a three-day swing through Pennsylvania with a stop in Scranton — his hometown — for campaign events.
• Vice President Harris told Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy that Ukraine should avoid striking Russian oil refineries when the two met privately on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference in February. — WaPo

Congress

• The House took one final vote on the bill to extend Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, sending it to the Senate.
• The House Homeland Security Committee is holding a budget hearing with Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, the same day the House is planning to transmit articles of impeachment against him to the Senate.
• The House select committee on China will hear from former Attorney General Bill Barr this morning at a hearing focused on China’s role in the fentanyl crisis.
• Tom Cole, known for his “cross-aisle dealmaking,” is about to face a big test as he assumes the helm of the House Appropriations Committee. “He’s gonna have to deal with the Chock full o’Nuts caucus and their crazy demands, wanting to gut every program in this country that helps anybody,” said Rep. Jim McGovern, who was Cole’s Democratic counterpart on the House Rules Committee. — Politico
• Arkansas Sen. Tom Cotton encouraged motorists impeded by “pro-Hamas mobs blocking traffic” to “take matters into your own hands to get them out of the way.” Protesters earlier Monday blocked traffic on San Francisco’s Golden Gate Bridge and access to Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport, among other locations around the country.

Outside the Beltway

• New York leaders have struck a deal on the state’s budget that will include a major housing package sought by Gov. Kathy Hochul.
• Book publishers lined up behind a lawsuit against Iowa’s ban on books that describe sexual acts from classrooms and libraries. — WSJ

Economy

• Economic advisers who could serve in a second Donald Trump administration, including former U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer, are discussing ways to devalue the U.S. dollar as a way to juice U.S. exports. — Politico
• Elon Musk’s Tesla laid off 10% of its workforce worldwide.

Courts

• Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas was mysteriously absent from oral arguments on Monday. Chief Justice John Roberts said his compatriot would still participate in the ruling via briefs and transcripts.
• The Supreme Court allowed an Idaho ban on gender-affirming care for minors to go into effect while it faces a challenge, narrowing a lower court’s temporary hold to just the two plaintiffs in the case.
• Meanwhile, the justices seemed likely to limit the reach of an anti-corruption law during “a lively argument studded with hypothetical questions about gifts as varied as cookies, Starbucks gift cards, meals at the Cheesecake Factory and 10-figure donations to hospitals.” — NYT
• The Justice Department is preparing an antitrust suit against Live Nation. — WSJ

On the Trail

• The latest FEC filings show George Santos raised zero dollars — as in, $0.00 — for his run against Rep. Nick LaLota, R-N.Y. Santos told The Daily Beast he was deliberately not raising money until he qualified on the ballot to show the run’s not a “grift.”
• Politico takes a look at Project 2025’s plans for U.S. energy. “To sum it up, what it’s trying to do on climate and energy is basically take the government totally away from any sort of regulation and to use the tools of the government to actually help fossil fuel companies increase their output,” says reporter Scott Waldman.

National Security

• The FBI is investigating the circumstances surrounding the collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore, which will focus in part on whether the crew of the ship that brought it down “left the port knowing the vessel had serious system problems.” — WaPo
• The Pentagon conducted another review of the events leading up to the Kabul airport attack amid the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan, affirming findings from an earlier inquiry. — NYT

Foreign Policy

Germany wants China to put pressure on Russia to take part in peace talks with Ukraine.

Technology

Microsoft is investing $1.5 billion in G24, an artificial intelligence firm backed by the United Arab Emirates.

Media

Trump Media shares lost more than 18% in value Monday after the parent company of Truth Social disclosed plans to issue and sell millions more shares.

Big Read

NBC’s Alex Seitz-Wald tells the tragic tale of how two centrist groups formed by Clinton veterans — Third Way and No Labels — ended up in a bitter fight this cycle over the latter’s failed bid to recruit a third party ticket.

Blindspot

Stories that are being largely ignored by either left-leaning or right-leaning outlets, according to data from our partners at Ground News.

What the Left isn’t reading: Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky. criticized House Speaker Mike Johnson for voting against an amendment to the FISA legislation that would have added a warrant requirement for searches of American data incidentally swept up under the surveillance program.

What the Right isn’t reading: Donald Trump can’t attend Supreme Court arguments on presidential immunity scheduled for next week, the judge overseeing his New York trial ruled.

Principals Team

Editors: Benjy Sarlin, Jordan Weissmann, Morgan Chalfant

Editor-at-Large: Steve Clemons

Reporters: Kadia Goba, Joseph Zeballos-Roig, Shelby Talcott, David Weigel

Nick Langworthy is a Republican congressman from New York.

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