Principals

1. U.S.-Israel rupture
2. Progressives demand Ukraine standalone
3. Trump gets a break
4. Abortion pill before SCOTUS
5. MAGA’s Europe trip
6. RFK’s VP

PDB: Democrats’ House targets in California

Biden heads to Raleigh … Baltimore’s Key Bridge hit by ship, collapses … Politico: Harris a ‘half step further’ than Biden on Israel criticism

— edited by Benjy Sarlin, Jordan Weissmann and Morgan Chalfant

Israel scraps U.S. meetings following U.N. ceasefire vote

Relations between the U.S. and Israel are growing increasingly brittle over the war in Gaza. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu scrapped plans to send a delegation to the U.S. to talk about disagreements over the planned Rafah offensive, after the U.S. declined to veto a U.N. Security Council resolution that called for an “immediate” ceasefire in Gaza. The move represents “a retreat from the consistent American position since the beginning of the war,” Netanyahu said. White House national security spokesman John Kirby told reporters that Israel’s response was “disappointing,”’ and insisted that its decision at the U.N. did not signal a shift in U.S. policy. Others didn’t see it that way. Progressive Rep. Ro Khanna called it a “significant change” in the administration’s Gaza policy, as President Biden withstands increasing pressure from members of his own party over the humanitarian situation. “Grassroots activism is making the difference,” Khanna wrote on X.

Bowman: It’s time to separate Ukraine and Israel aid

While tensions between Bibi and the White House flare, Capitol Hill progressives are making the case for breaking up Israel and Ukraine aid, Semafor’s Kadia Goba reports. In a new video set to be released this week, Rep. Jamaal Bowman says he’s opposed to the Senate’s $95 billion foreign aid bill, which combines support for the two countries, due to Israel’s conduct in Gaza. “We cannot stand by and allow children to be bombed, to die of starvation, or to see their entire families wiped out,” he says, according to a partial transcript shared with Semafor. “That is why I cannot support the Senate’s aid bill, and why we need a standalone vote on Ukraine funding.” Bowman isn’t alone. In recent weeks a progressive limelights including Reps. Pramila Jayapal, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, and Summer Lee have suggested they would not join a discharge petition to force a vote on the Senate bill, which is currently stalled in the House, over their concerns about Israel. “I keep saying to the administration, give us a standalone on Ukraine,” Rep. Delia Ramirez, Ill., told Semafor last week. Democrats have generally resisted the idea of separating the aid packages, which Republican Speaker Mike Johnson has floated repeatedly. But there is now clearly a left-right coalition that favors it.

Trump’s (mostly) lucky day

Donald Trump had a good day in court, relatively speaking. A New York appeals court ruled that Trump can post a smaller, $175 million bond in his civil fraud case while he appeals the larger $464 million judgment, handing him a lifeline after his lawyers said it would be impossible for him to secure a bond for the full amount. Trump vowed to post the bond “very quickly.” The news came the same day that New York Attorney General Letitia James could have started a prolonged process of seizing his assets to cover the judgment. Meanwhile, Trump is now slated to join Bloomberg’s list of the world’s 500 wealthiest people, as his net worth rises to $6.5 billion in light of his SPAC deal to take Truth Social public (the company starts trading Tuesday). But it’s not all good news for the former president, who now faces a looming April 15 start date for his criminal trial in New York despite an effort to delay it.

It’s another high stakes abortion case at the Supreme Court

The Supreme Court will hear oral arguments today in an intensely watched case that could limit access to the abortion pill Mifepristone. A group of anti-abortion doctors is challenging the Food and Drug Administration’s moves in recent years to make the medication more widely available, including rules allowing it to be prescribed by telehealth providers and delivered through the mail. The consequences could be profound, especially in states where abortion is banned post Roe: Prescription drugs are now used to perform 63% of abortions, according to a recent study by the Guttmacher Institute, and an estimated 16% of abortions were facilitated by telehealth. The case has also caught the attention of the wider pharmaceutical industry, where executives worry it could upend the entire FDA approval process. If the court decides the plaintiffs have standing to sue, it “will invite a flood of meritless challenges” to the government’s drug safety decisions, a group of pharma executives and companies argued in an amicus brief.

Vivek’s Roman holiday

Why was Vivek Ramaswamy flooding X with content from Rome over the weekend? It wasn’t just a vacation: He spoke at an event there hosted by the newly formed EU-US Forum, a nonprofit led by former Trump officials that bills itself as “vigilant watchdogs exposing the radical policies coming out of the EU.” Ramaswamy, who appeared Saturday at a rally for the right-wing populist ID Party, later attended the EU-US Forum event alongside conservative media stars like LibsofTikTok founder Chaya Raichik, radio host Dana Loesch, and influencer Ashley St. Clair. The gathering also included a number of European leaders, and focused heavily on illegal immigration and free speech (the event coincided with a $250,000 paid media campaign across Rome targeting those topics). Ramaswamy’s message to the Europeans? Embrace nationalism. “Advancing your nation’s interests isn’t in tension with making the world a better place, it’s how you actually do it,” he said in a text message after the event. “The word ‘nationalism’ has negative historical connotations, but it doesn’t have to be that way.”

— Shelby Talcott

RFK Jr. to announce vice president pick

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. will announce his running mate at a morning rally in Oakland, after explaining in interviews last week that the candidate has “ties to the area.” That factoid shrunk speculation about his choice to a handful of people who’ve lived in the Bay Area — tech lawyer Nicole Shanahan, New York Jets quarterback Aaron Rodgers, and former “Dirty Jobs” host Mike Rowe. Kennedy previously told Semafor that he sought a vice president who had “courage in their convictions,” and did not necessarily agree with him on everything. Democrats, worried that some of Kennedy’s remaining support is coming from potential Biden voters, argued that the candidate was desperate. After the New York Times published speculation about Rodgers, CNN ran a damaging story about the football player’s alleged conspiracy theories about the Sandy Hook shooting. “It’s clear he’s not looking for someone who can take over in a crisis,” said DNC spokesman Matt Corridoni. “He’s looking for someone who can infuse his campaign with badly needed cash and the celebrity appeal he seems to desperately crave.” Shanahan, a frequent donor to Democratic and progressive causes, gave $4 million to the pro-Kennedy super PAC American Values, to fund a 30-second Super Bowl ad.

— David Weigel

Beltway Newsletters

Punchbowl News: Speaker Mike Johnson’s plan for Ukraine aid remains mysterious even to his close colleagues, but “senior House Republican sources” say the lower chamber will need to pass a package that is similar enough to the Senate foreign aid package so that it can easily pass and doesn’t cause a “back-and-forth between the two chambers.”

Axios: NBC’s decision to hire former RNC chairwoman Ronna McDaniel is triggering broader scrutiny of cable news’ “politics-to-pundit pipeline.” Since 2000, 16 of 31 White House press secretaries and communications directors have migrated to paid contributor, commentator, or new host roles

Playbook: Who’s not talking about McDaniel amid the controversy? Top NBCUniversal news executives.

White House

President Biden is traveling to Raleigh, N.C. today where he will talk about his proposals to lower healthcare costs and accuse Republicans of trying to slash funding for the Affordable Care Act.

Vice President Harris is traveling with Biden and the two will also participate in a campaign event in Raleigh.

Biden met with Guatemalan President Bernardo Arévalo yesterday to discuss migration and other issues.

Congress

Speaker Mike Johnson named Rep. John Moolenaar, R-Mich. to replace outgoing Rep. Mike Gallagher, R-Wis. as the chair of the House select committee on China.

Congress approved $300 million in funding for Ukraine through the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative as part of the massive government funding bill passed last week but “the money is already gone.” — Politico

Climate

The Energy Department is dedicating $6 billion to slashing emissions in the industrial sector.

Courts

Billionaires John Paulson and Harold Hamm were working behind the scenes to try to come up with the money for Donald Trump’s bond for his civil fraud judgment before the appeals court ruling on Monday. — Reuters

Federal agents raided homes belonging to the hip-hop star Sean Combs in sex trafficking investigation. — AP

Travel

Boeing CEO Dave Calhoun is stepping down by the end of the year as the company weathers a crisis over its 737 Max planes.

On the Trail

Donald Trump urged Israel to “finish up” its war in Gaza during an interview with the Israeli newspaper Israel Hayom.

First lady Jill Biden encountered protesters demonstrating over the Gaza war during her recent campaign swing through southern California. — LAT

A Republican fundraising group warned its state-level candidates to “steer clear of making the election a singular referendum on President Biden,” because his unpopularity doesn’t always rub off on down-ballot Democrats. — Axios

A trust belonging to the family of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. earned money from an oil and gas rights leasing company, Arctic Royalty Limited Partnership. — Politico

The Democrats’ House Majority PAC is investing $35 million to flip House seats in California, according to a memo shared with Semafor. Their messaging will target GOP Reps. David Valadao, Mike Garcia, and Michelle Steel for co-sponsoring the Life At Conception Act; Reps. Young Kim and John Duarte, who also represent districts President Biden won; and Ken Calvert, whose seat became a “toss-up” after redistricting last cycle.

Montana GOP Senate candidate Tim Sheehy has told supporters he wants to dump the Department of Homeland Security. — Axios

Polls

President Biden has improved his standing in six swing states, including pulling slightly ahead of Donald Trump in Wisconsin and tying him in Michigan and Pennsylvania, according to a new Bloomberg/Morning Consult poll. The numbers suggest Biden is in his strongest position in months.

Just Outside the Beltway

Baltimore’s Francis Scott Key Bridge collapsed early Tuesday morning after a cargo ship hit it. Emergency response teams are looking for as many as 20 people in the water. — WaPo

National Security

The U.S. and U.K. accused China of a broad cyberespionage campaign, imposing sanctions on Chinese state-linked hackers in response. The U.S. also indicted a group of hackers on criminal charges.

Foreign Policy

Even as Israel canceled high-level meetings supposed to happen this week, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant met with senior U.S. officials including White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan and Secretary of State Antony Blinken. “There is no moral basis for stopping the war until we return home all of the hostages,” he said from the White House. “If we do not achieve a decisive and absolute victory in Gaza, a bigger war in the North will come closer.”

Russian President Vladimir Putin acknowledged that “radical Islamists” carried out last week’s Moscow terror attack, but still suggested the strike was ordered by Ukraine. — NYT

Brazil’s former president, Jair Bolsonaro, hid out at the Hungarian embassy in Brazil for two days after prosecutors seized his passport during a criminal investigation into his efforts to overturn the 2022 presidential election. — NYT

Big Read

Mexico has emerged as a key player in the debate on immigration at the southern U.S. border, with the possibility of swaying the outcome of the presidential race between President Biden and Donald Trump in November, according to the New York Times. The Biden administration has worked to preserve the cooperation of Mexican President Andres Manual Lopez Obrador, and it has publicly called the diplomacy successful. However, privately, some senior Biden officials are now seeing Lopez Obrador as unpredictable and not doing enough to control Mexico’s southern border used by smugglers to bring millions of migrants north to the U.S., unnamed American and Mexican officials were quoted as saying. While president, Trump threatened Mexico with tariffs to force action on immigrants. Biden has focused on avoiding conflict with Lopez Obrador to help ensure his cooperation. Lopez Obrador has pushed the White House to provide aid to Latin American countries to address the issues that are causing migrants to head north.  

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: Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is said to be toying with the idea of running on a Libertarian Party presidential ticket.

What the Right isn’t reading: Medication abortion has become more common in a post-Dobbs world, according to new research published in the medical journal JAMA.

Principals Team

Editors: Benjy Sarlin, Jordan Weissmann, Morgan Chalfant

Editor-at-Large: Steve Clemons

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

Registration has opened for Semafor’s 2024 World Economy Summit: Hear from the chief executives of Accenture, Bank of America, Intel, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, as well as senior officials from the White House Council of Economic Advisors, the White House National Economic Council, and the European Commission.

Barbara Lee is a Democratic congresswoman from California.

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