Principals

1. Trump’s new battles
2. Agenda standoff
3. Davos eyes Trump
4. $500B AI project
5. Democracy polling
6. Rubio holds Quad talks

PDB: New Hegseth allegations

DHS expands ICE deportation powers … Scholz, Macron meet … WSJ: CEOs set up war rooms, trackers to pour through flurry of Trump EOs

Trump quickly picks fights with Republicans

The dizzying pace of President Trump’s first days is resulting in a lot of GOP celebrations — but also plenty of tension with congressional Republicans, Semafor’s Burgess Everett reports. From pardoning Jan. 6 participants to delaying TikTok’s divestiture to threatening potentially painful tariffs, Trump has gone right back to picking myriad fights with his own party. The Republican responses have been mixed: Some are pushing back against the pardons, while others say they have nothing to do with Congress. Some lawmakers disagree with Trump’s handling of TikTok, while others are giving him space. And on tariffs, a 25 percent levy on Mexican and Canadian goods could lead to a trade war — and prompt even more complaints from his own party. “Tariffs generally result in retaliatory tariffs against US products, and it’s most likely to be agriculture,” said Kansas GOP Sen. Jerry Moran.

House claims momentum on agenda, but …

Senior Congressional Republicans met with Trump on Tuesday — and there’s still no strategy. House Majority Leader Steve Scalise said there was agreement on that “one big, beautiful bill” Trump wants to use to cut taxes and fund border security. Not so fast: Senate Majority Leader John Thune says Republicans all want the same outcome but didn’t say they’d agreed on tactics: “There are lots of great theories.” Yes, there’s still a standoff. “We want results. And we had a productive meeting with the president,” Senate Republican Whip John Barrasso told Semafor. “We’re going to continue to talk about the best way to move forward with the president’s agenda.” Maybe it’s a secret plan? Speaker Mike Johnson said there’s an emerging agreement between the chambers and “I’m not gonna tell all of you all the details of it yet, because that’s not how this works.”

— Burgess Everett and Kadia Goba

Leaders at Davos keep an eye on Washington

Trump’s return to power is eclipsing Davos, where some foreign leaders are trying to look on the bright side. “We’ve learned that he goes out maximalist and then he starts negotiating. This wasn’t really known to us last time. This is now factored in,” Norway’s foreign minister told The Wall Street Journal on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum. Still, global leaders are nervous about his rejection of multilateral institutions and unpredictability. European Commission Ursula von der Leyen insisted that Europe would “stay the course” on climate change following Trump’s withdrawal from the Paris climate accord, while his tariff threats seemed to provoke comments from China’s vice premier, Ding Xuexiang, who cautioned that “protectionism leads to nowhere.” And business elites and politicos are largely avoiding any direct criticism of Trump, Semafor’s reporters on the ground noted.

Tech execs, Trump launch $500B AI venture

Flanked by the CEOs of OpenAI, SoftBank and Oracle, Trump on Tuesday announced a half-trillion private-sector investment in Stargate, an AI infrastructure project meant to head off high-tech competition from China. The first step will be building out a data center in Texas, already under construction. The initiative shares its name with Microsoft and OpenAI’s $100 billion effort to build an AI supercomputer; Microsoft is also a “technology partner” on the new Trump-backed project, along with chip companies Arm and Nvidia. “We wouldn’t be able to do this without you,” OpenAI’s Sam Altman told Trump. However, it’s unclear how much of the announcement amounts to new commitments; Bloomberg reported that the announcement was drawn from the $100 billion SoftBank already committed to spending on data centers before Trump’s inauguration.

Republicans grow more satisfied with democracy

Slightly more US adults reported being satisfied with the nation’s democracy last year, driven by an increase in satisfaction among Republicans likely reacting to Trump’s electoral victory, according to new Gallup polling. The 34% of Americans who said in December they are satisfied with the way US democracy is working is a far cry from the record 61% in 1984, but up from 17% a year earlier. Thirty-five percent of Democrats reported being satisfied, on par with the previous year. Currently, both parties as well as independents express similar amounts of satisfaction in democracy, which is unusual — typically, backers of the current president’s party report being more satisfied.

Rubio talks with Indo-Pacific allies

On his first full day as secretary of state, Marco Rubio convened a foreign minister’s meeting of the Quad, a China-focused group consisting of the US, India, Australia, and Japan. Officials discussed security in the South China Sea and North Korea’s growing nuclear capabilities, and they agreed that India will organize a summit of the Quad leaders that is expected to be held later this year. “This is a very good example that we can continue this kind of minilateral or multilateral cooperation under the second Trump administration,” a Japanese spokesperson told reporters. Japan’s foreign minister also met with National Security Advisor Mike Waltz, as Tokyo aims to set up a February meeting between Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba and Trump.

— Mathias Hammer

Blindspot: Repatriation and cellphones

Stories that are being largely ignored by either left-leaning or right-leaning outlets, curated with help from our partners at Ground News.

What the Left isn’t reading: The Indian government is prepared to work with the Trump administration to take back 18,000 of its citizens that are believed to be residing illegally in the US, Bloomberg reported.

What the Right isn’t reading: New York Gov. Kathy Hochul officially proposed a ban on cellphones in schools.

Beltway Newsletters

Punchbowl News: House Democratic chiefs of staff got into an “intense discussion” on Tuesday about whether the party’s leaders are delivering a sufficiently strong message in response to President Trump’s immigration crackdown.

Playbook: President Trump could come to regret his Jan. 6 pardons if the public sours on them.

WaPo: Gerry Connolly, D-Va., the top Democrat on the House Oversight Committee, is calling for an investigation into the “grave conflicts of interest” around Trump.

White House

• During a sermon at Washington’s National Cathedral, an Episcopal bishop asked President Trump to his face to “have mercy” on undocumented people and LGBTQ+ children.
• Trump offered some critical words about Russian President Vladimir Putin and warned additional sanctions on Russia are likely if Putin does not come to the table to negotiate.
• Trump pardoned Ross Ulbricht, founder of the online drug marketplace Silk Road.
• Trump ordered all federal employees in DEI roles to be placed on paid leave.

Congress

• The Senate Finance Committee advanced Scott Bessent’s nomination to lead the Treasury Department in a bipartisan vote, paving the way for the full Senate to consider his appointment in the coming days.
• The former sister-in-law of Pete Hegseth submitted an affidavit to lawmakers saying he threatened his second wife and caused her to fear for her safety (his second wife Samantha denied any physical abuse). — NBC

Outside the Beltway

• President Trump will travel to Asheville and Los Angeles on Friday, the sites of hurricane and fire damage, respectively. — Bloomberg
• Minnesota Democratic chair Ken Martin said he has backing from 200 Democrats to lead the DNC, suggesting he is closing in on victory in that race for national party chair.

Business

• Walgreens stock tumbled after the Justice Department accused the company of unlawfully dispensing opioids.

Economy

• President Trump is threatening tariffs on Canada and Mexico in order to push the countries to renegotiate the USMCA early. — WSJ
• Trump said he favored imposing a blanket 10% tariff on goods imported from China, indicating that early hopes of a US-China rapprochement may be misplaced.

Courts

• Democratic state attorneys general sued over President Trump’s order to end birthright citizenship.
• The Supreme Court ruled in favor of a female Oklahoma death row inmate who accused prosecutors of sex-shaming, paving the way for her to pursue her claim. The high court also declined to intervene in former Rep. Steve King’s meme fight.

National Security

• Former Trump national security adviser John Bolton said that President Trump terminated his Secret Service protection, despite ongoing threats from Iran.
• The Trump administration ousted US Coast Guard Commandant Adm. Linda Fagan, the first female leader of a branch of the armed forces.

Foreign Policy

• Panama submitted a letter to the United Nations formally protesting President Trump’s comments about reclaiming the Panama Canal. — NYT
• Israel’s military chief of staff, Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi, resigned, citing the failure to protect the country from the Oct. 7 Hamas attack.

Technology

• Trump said he’d be OK with either Tesla’s Elon Musk or Oracle’s Larry Ellison buying TikTok.
• At the urging of SpaceX, Musk’s aerospace company, Trump will end a White House space council. — Reuters

Media

• Philip Rucker is joining CNN as senior vice president of editorial strategy and news after leaving The Washington Post. — Axios
• Fox News’ Sean Hannity booked President Trump’s first post-inauguration interview, to air Wednesday. — Axios

Principals Team

Edited by Morgan Chalfant, deputy Washington editor

With help from Elana Schor, senior Washington editor

Contact our reporters:

Burgess Everett, Kadia Goba, Shelby Talcott, David Weigel

Tate Reeves is a Republican and the governor of Mississippi.

East Africa is likely to see increased interest from mining companies, many of which are smarting from disputes with military governments around the Sahel, Semafor’s Alexis Akwagyiram reported.

Several companies have launched arbitration launched arbitration cases against authorities in Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger in recent weeks. East African countries, meanwhile, “have plenty to offer Western miners in the coming years, notably the relative absence of strongarm tactics,” Akwagyiram wrote.