Principals

1. New DOGE order
2. Powell testimony
3. House budget plans
4. CFPB exits
5. Trump defense hires
6. War fears
7. Trump’s energy risk

PDB: Kremlin says US to release jailed Russian

US to release inflation data … Netanyahu threatens to end ceasefire … NYT: Sotomayor says presidents are not monarchs

Trump directive expands DOGE’s power

Elon Musk, appearing alongside his young son and President Trump in the Oval Office on Tuesday, defended the Department of Government Efficiency’s work — and shrugged off critics who argue he’s part of a “hostile takeover of government.” Musk cited the “mandate” that Trump has often invoked since winning office, responding to a question from Semafor by saying he’s working “closely with agency heads” and taking his direction from the president. It was the first time Musk has taken questions from the press since starting his position as head of DOGE, and his striking appearance in the Oval coincided with Trump signing an executive order directing agencies to work with Musk’s department to cut staff and limit hiring. The goal of the executive order, Semafor first reported, is to “significantly” reduce the size of the federal government.

— Shelby Talcott

Powell on the Hill, Round 2

House Republicans plan to ask Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell about plans to reduce the central bank’s balance sheet, bring down inflation, review its monetary policy strategy, and revise proposed changes to capital requirements, according to a memo circulated internally among GOP members of the House Financial Services Committee. As with Powell’s Senate testimony Tuesday, there will be plenty of attention paid to how Republicans walk the tightrope between Trump’s continued calls for more control over the central bank and their own prior defenses of its independence. Rep. Frank Lucas, R-Okla., told Semafor he plans to focus on “how Treasury funds their operations,” but he wondered if others would float the possibility of new leadership. “There’s some occasional criticisms that Chairman Powell has moved around on subjects. We’ll see tomorrow if he wants to come back to the boat,” Lucas said.

— Eleanor Mueller

House tees up budget markup — without text

The House noticed a budget markup for Thursday, setting up dueling hearings between the two chambers this week. House Republicans haven’t released the text yet, but Budget Chair Jodey Arrington, R-Texas, floated an updated framework of the proposal Tuesday morning, which included potential cuts of up to $2 trillion. They’re also capping the renewal of Trump’s tax cuts at $4.5 trillion, according to The Hill. Both moves highlight the House’s effort to catch up to the Senate, after Republicans in the upper chamber introduced their own border-first budget proposal last Friday (House Speaker Mike Johnson called it “a nonstarter”). Johnson and Senate Majority Leader John Thune met Tuesday to discuss reconciliation, ahead of the Senate Budget Committee markup later today. Stay tuned: The House is expected to release its budget draft sometime today.

— Kadia Goba

Senior staff leave CFPB

Senior officials at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau resigned after the Trump administration effectively shut down all major operations at the agency, Semafor’s Rachel Witkowski and Eleanor Mueller report. Lorelei Salas, CFPB’s head of supervision, and Eric Halperin, its head of enforcement, were placed on administrative leave Tuesday by Office of Management and Budget General Counsel Mark Paoletta, according to a CFPB spokesperson through the OMB. (Both Salas and Halperin emailed their own resignation notices to CFPB staff.) The turmoil at CFPB is also spurring confusion in the banking sector, and bank lobbyists have been quiet this week as they wrestle with how to apply rules enforced by a kneecapped agency. While the White House can defang but not legally disband the agency, Congress has the authority to restructure or dissolve it — something Republicans aren’t ruling out.

Trump family tug-of-war over foreign policy

A fierce behind-the-scenes argument over Trump’s foreign policy is coming to a head in the nomination of Elbridge Colby as a top policy hand at the Pentagon, Semafor’s Ben Smith reports. Colby, an ally to JD Vance and Donald Trump Jr., is the most visible leader of the faction of the Republican Party that has argued against foreign intervention. But as he has gained prominence in conservative foreign policy circles, he’s also earned criticism — most notably from the overlapping circles of hawks and Israel allies. In a previously unreported letter, the CEO of the Conference of Presidents of Major Jewish Organizations wrote to the Senate Armed Services Committee expressing “serious concerns” about Colby’s nomination. Still, his rise is one sign that the role Jared Kushner once played in influencing Trump’s foreign policy has shifted to the president’s eldest son.

More expect China-Taiwan war within decade

Fears of global war are rising among the world’s security experts. As US competition with China heats up and friction between Russia and NATO builds, 40% of experts polled for the Atlantic Council’s Global Foresight 2025 Survey predict there will be or will have been another world war involving a multifront conflict among great powers in the next decade. Anxiety is particularly high around China-Taiwan tensions: 65% said they somewhat or strongly agree that China will attempt to retake Taiwan by force within the next decade, compared to 50% who said so in the survey released in 2024. A plurality — 45% — also signaled they believe Russia and NATO will likely engage in direct military conflict by 2035, up from 29% a year before.

— Morgan Chalfant

Unpredictability could spook energy investors

Trump’s unpredictable approach to policymaking undermines his goal of energy “dominance,” according to a former official who managed Joe Biden’s biggest energy bank. Jigar Shah, a former solar executive who headed the Energy Department’s Loan Programs Office, said it wouldn’t be unusual for his successor, John Sneed, to veto many of the pending applications for the office’s $400 billion war chest for cutting-edge energy projects considered too risky by Wall Street. But Sneed has also threatened to claw back funds that had already been approved under Biden. Shah thinks that effort won’t ultimately succeed — but that the uncertainty might still have a chilling effect on companies interested in investing in clean energy. “They’re playing with not just fire, but like red hot magma,” he told Semafor.

FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr will take the stage at Semafor’s Trust in News Summit, hosted at the Gallup Great Hall in Washington, DC, on February 27 — set to be the premier media event of the year. This exclusive gathering will bring together the most influential voices in journalism to tackle one of the industry’s most urgent challenges: rebuilding public trust.

With insights from Gallup’s leading trust in news data, the powerhouse lineup includes Fox News’ Bret Baier, NBCUniversal News Group’s Cesar Conde, Mehdi Hasan, The New York Times’ Joe Kahn, Megyn Kelly, NPR’s Katherine Maher, and CNN’s Mark Thompson, alongside Semafor editors and reporters. This is an invitation-only gathering in Washington that will be livestreamed.

Feb. 27, 2025 | Washington DC | Register for livestream

Blindspot: Subscriptions and law

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 Department of Veterans Affairs said it would cancel its subscriptions to Politico (so did the EPA).

What the Right isn’t reading: The American Bar Association warned that President Trump’s actions against federal agencies threaten the rule of law.

Beltway Newsletters

Punchbowl News: The budget resolution the House Budget Committee is expected to release today will call for $4.5 trillion in tax cuts and $1.5 trillion in spending cuts.

Playbook: The rulings pausing President Trump’s efforts to dismantle and reshape the federal government could remain in place for months as the challenges move through the courts — meaning the judiciary is about to come under intense pressure from the right.

WaPo: Confirmation hearings for Trump labor secretary nominee Lori Chavez-DeRemer, who supports the PRO Act, will pose a test to Republican senators’ willingness to adapt to Trump’s campaign embrace of unions.

Axios: Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said the Pentagon will welcome DOGE to scrutinize defense spending. “There is waste, redundancies, and headcounts at headquarters that need to be addressed. There’s just no doubt,” he said.

White House

• Russia released Marc Fogel, a US teacher who had been imprisoned in the country for more than three years on drug charges. Trump welcomed him to the White House during an event late last night, but wouldn’t say what Russia received in return for his exchange. The Kremlin said a Russian jailed in the US would be released “in the coming days.”
• The inspector general of USAID was fired one day after his office released a report detailing the negative consequences of Trump’s effort to gut the agency.

Congress

• The Senate delayed a vote on Tulsi Gabbard’s nomination to be President Trump’s director of national intelligence until later this morning at 11am; she is expected to be confirmed in a party-line vote.
• Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., accused FBI director nominee Kash Patel of “personally directing the ongoing purge” of bureau agents and asked for an inspector general inquiry into the matter.

Campaign

• The Cook Political Report unveiled its ratings for 2026 Senate races, finding Republicans at an advantage even though they are defending more seats than Democrats overall.

Outside the Beltway

• Former Biden Interior Secretary Deb Haaland is running for governor of New Mexico.
• California’s insurer of last resort will charge insurance companies $1 billion to pay for fire damage claims — costs that will be passed on to homeowners.

Education

• DOGE terminated some $900 million in contracts at the Education Department. — Chalkbeat

Business

• Ford CEO Jim Farley is meeting with members of Congress later today to raise alarm about the impact of President Trump’s proposed 25% tariffs on Canada and Mexico that he delayed earlier this month. — Bloomberg

Economy

• Costco and Trader Joe’s have imposed egg purchase limits for customers amid bird flu-driven shortages.

Courts

• Steve Bannon pleaded guilty to defrauding donors through a nonprofit that purported to be raising funds to build a wall at the US southern border. He avoided any jailtime.

National Security

• Kremlin propagandists plan to launch a campaign to resurrect Cold War-era fears in the US about “nuclear winter,” a contested theory that predicts a nuclear conflict would produce catastrophic global cooling and famine, the Estonian Foreign Intelligence service’s annual report said. Russia hopes to recruit American scientists to spread the warning, with the goal of reducing support for aid to Ukraine, Semafor’s Mathias Hammer reports.
• German children walked out on a visit from Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, in protest of the Pentagon’s DEI rollbacks. — WaPo

Foreign Policy

• Jordan’s King Abdullah pledged to take in sick Palestinian children from Gaza during his meeting with Trump, who pulled back on his threat to use aid as a cudgel to get Jordan and Egypt to take in Palestinians en masse.
• President Trump is dispatching Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent to Ukraine.

Technology

• The US and UK declined to sign onto the final communiqué at an artificial intelligence summit in France.
• Apple’s Maps app now refers to the “Gulf of America,” in line with competitor Google Maps.

Media

• Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., chides Elon Musk for “chasing Chinese dollars” in a forthcoming book. — Guardian
• The White House barred the Associated Press from accessing a pooled event in the Oval Office because it won’t refer to the Gulf of Mexico as the “Gulf of America,” in line with President Trump’s executive order, according to the news outlet. The White House Correspondents’ Association called the move “unacceptable.”

Principals Team

Edited by Morgan Chalfant, deputy Washington editor

With help from Elana Schor, senior Washington editor

Contact our reporters:

Burgess Everett, Kadia Goba, Eleanor Mueller, Shelby Talcott, David Weigel

Zellnor Myrie is a Democratic state senator from New York who is running for mayor of New York City.