Principals

1. Trump backs Hegseth
2. Markets leery of Fed upheaval
3. Harvard sues Trump
4. Dems visit El Salvador
5. No more ‘abolish ICE’

PDB: Vought’s influence

Tesla reports Q1 earnings ... Pope Francis’ funeral to be held Saturday … Dow futures ⬆️ 0.84%

Can Hegseth survive?

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth looks safe for now, even as the knives come out for the Pentagon chief within the Trump administration as he faces a deluge of critical reporting. But there’s also a little less confidence this time about how long he can hold on, Semafor’s Shelby Talcott and Burgess Everett report. That’s because some of Hegseth’s closest allies aren’t at the Defense Department anymore — and eventually, the president may tire of defending him. Publicly, though, there’s no hints of a rift: Trump, press secretary Karoline Leavitt, and Hegseth himself all took turns dismissing recent reports of a second sensitive Signal chat by the defense secretary as well as chaos within his department. But Democrats smell blood, and they’re staying on the attack. And a lot of Republicans are pretty quiet at the moment, as the Trump administration sorts through the political fallout.

Investors balk at Trump’s Powell attacks

The stock market sank further Monday after Trump mounted yet another offensive against Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell. The central banker is “a major loser” for not lowering interest rates, the president wrote on social media. Evercore ISI’s Krishna Guha subsequently warned on CNBC that any attempt to fire Powell would likely spark “a severe reaction in markets.” Meanwhile, the dollar plunged to a three-year low amid the US trade war. The upheaval comes as the Supreme Court weighs whether to overturn a decades-old ruling that prevents the president from firing certain members of independent agencies — like the Fed — without cause. Trump’s latest comments represent “the latest front in Trump’s continued campaign of delegitimization against the Fed,” University of Pennsylvania professor Peter Conti-Brown told Semafor. “Even if the Court insists the Fed is different, a decision that will give the president untrammeled authority over independent agencies will become too tempting to let lie.”

— Eleanor Mueller

Harvard sues the Trump administration

Harvard struck back in universities’ ongoing clash with the Trump administration over cuts to federal funding. In a federal suit filed Monday, Harvard sought to stop a $2.2 billion funding freeze and charged that the administration violated the law by using grant money as leverage to force it to make major changes to its policies and practices. In a message to university affiliates, the Harvard Crimson reported, school president Alan Garber described the battle in terms that encompass other threatened funding cuts (Columbia and Northwestern universities, among others, have faced federal freezes). “We stand for the truth that colleges and universities across the country can embrace and honor their legal obligations and best fulfill their essential role in society without improper government intrusion,” Garber wrote.

— Elana Schor

House Democrats head to El Salvador

Four House Democrats traveled to El Salvador on Monday to check on a pair of detainees, including a Maryland man who’d been wrongly deported. “We’re here to put the pressure on the US government, which has the responsibility, according to the Supreme Court, to release him,” Rep. Yassamin Ansari, D-Ariz., told Semafor, referring to the Maryland man, Kilmar Ábrego García. Ansari, accompanied by Reps. Robert Garcia, D-Calif., Maxwell Frost, D-Fla., and Maxine Dexter, D-Ore. wrote to Secretary of State Marco Rubio demanding Ábrego’s return to the US, plus proof-of-life updates from him and from Andry José Hernández Romero, a gay Venezuelan asylum seeker who’d also been deported there from the US and is thought to be imprisoned. The House Democrats self-funded their El Salvador trips or paid with campaign funds, after Sen. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., became the first to head south last week.

— Kadia Goba

Dems fight for Ábrego — and defend ICE

Democrats are trying not to repeat history on immigration. Despite high-profile stories of mistaken apprehensions and deportations, no one is calling to dismantle Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Texas Rep. Greg Casar, who endorsed the “Abolish ICE” campaign, now says it was too vulnerable to Republican attacks; the party, he said after a town hall in the Austin suburbs, should be “talking about our issues in a way that the broadest number of people can agree with.” There were “Abolish ICE” signs at some of the anti-Trump protests in more than 80 cities on Saturday, and center-right writers like Bill Kristol now say the anti-ICE movement deserves an apology. But progressives who had warned that ICE was a “rogue agency” now want to craft a new immigration position without sounding like they oppose all enforcement, an accusation lobbed at them in Republican ads.

— David Weigel

The World Economy Summit 2025 is bringing together the decision-makers who are shaping the future of global economic policy. The three-day summit, taking place from April 23–25, 2025 in Washington, DC, will focus on ways leaders across business, finance, tech, and beyond are navigating the complexities of tariffs, shifting trade dynamics, and evolving policy landscapes.

Featuring on-the-record conversations with Doug Burgum, US Interior Secretary; Sean Duffy, US Transportation Secretary; Jörg Kukies, Federal Minister of Finance, Germany; Éric Lombard, Minister of Economy and Finance, France; Rachel Reeves, Chancellor of the Exchequer, United Kingdom; Chris Wright, US Energy Secretary, and more, the summit will facilitate in-depth discussions on how countries are adapting to these challenges and building resilience in a rapidly changing world.

April 23-25 | Washington, DC | Learn More

Blindspot: Ukraine and student loans

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 Trump administration’s stated opposition to Ukraine’s joining NATO has given Russian leaders “satisfaction,” though Moscow has yet to comment specifically on a hoped-for peace deal this week.

What the Right isn’t reading: The Education Department will begin collection next month on student loans that are in default, including garnishing some debtors’ wages.

Beltway Newsletters

Playbook: The new, conservative faces in the White House briefing room aren’t getting along too well with the mainstream reporters. “In some ways, the revulsion to the new media people being there [stems from the] fact that we’re like a mirror,” the War Room’s Natalie Winters said. “A reflection of the fact that they’re dying.”

WaPo: DOGE has gained access to a sensitive Justice Department database that holds information such as “names, addresses, interactions with law enforcement and immigration court testimonies” of legal and undocumented immigrants.

Axios: Americans are less concerned about countering mis- and disinformation these days.

White House

• White House aides and conservative think tanks have been proposing ways of incentivizing Americans to have more children, such as by offering cash payments to new mothers. — NYT
• Many federal workers have refused to comply with Elon Musk’s demands that they produce a weekly email with five things they’d done in the prior week, or are treating the requirement as a joke, sending replies in foreign languages. — WaPo

Congress

• Sharon Soderstrom, a Capitol Hill vet for several GOP leaders and longtime chief of staff for Mitch McConnell, is joining the Brunswick Group as a senior adviser based in DC.
• Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky is speaking with Bucknell University students today. He told Semafor recently he’s going to be doing more and more events outside DC.
• The longshot millionaire’s tax hike President Trump has signaled some interest in would generate around $400 billion, offsetting some of Republicans’ other proposals, like Trump’s promises to cut taxes on tips. — Bloomberg
• Rep. Byron Donalds, R-Fla., was bombarded with questions and shouting at a town hall on Monday. — CNN

Outside the Beltway

• Nadine Menendez, the wife of disgraced New Jersey Sen. Bob Menendez, was convicted of taking bribes in exchange for political influence.
• Former Fox News host Steve Hilton announced a run for California governor.

Economy

• Some crypto firms plan to apply for bank charters or licenses. — WSJ

Education

• The presidents of more than 100 universities signed a letter protesting the Trump administration’s crackdown on schools like Harvard and Columbia.

Health

• The National Institutes of Health is aggregating data on Americans with autism to help fuel Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s promised studies on autism’s causes.

Courts

• The Federal Trade Commission sued Uber for allegedly deceptively charging people who sign up for its subscription service.
• The Supreme Court seemed likely to uphold an Affordable Care Act requirement that health insurers cover many preventative care services at no cost to patients. In a twist, the Trump administration seemed to be defending the provision in order to preserve the authority Robert F. Kennedy Jr. would have over the body that decides what services should be covered.

National Security

• Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem’s purse was stolen in DC, along with her passport and $3,000 in cash.

Foreign Policy

• India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Vice President JD Vance said they made progress in trade talks during the latter’s visit to India.
• The Carnegie Endowment for Peace’s nuclear conference abruptly canceled a scheduled appearance by Iran’s foreign minister after he requested a shorter Q&A period.
• Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said foreign “propaganda” would be banned after US anti-migrant ads ran on national TV.

Big Read

• A profile of Office of Management and Budget Director Russell Vought in Bloomberg suggests he could be preparing to take over for Elon Musk when the billionaire tires of government: “Where Musk has shown a zeal for smash and grab, Vought has the institutional knowledge — and perhaps the patience — to make the DOGE cuts stick.”

Principals Team

Edited by Morgan Chalfant, deputy Washington editor

With help from Elana Schor, senior Washington editor

And Graph Massara, copy editor

Contact our reporters:

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

President Donald Trump salutes as he attends the White House Easter Egg Roll.

Kenyan President William Ruto heads to China tomorrow, the first African leader to be hosted by Beijing since US President Donald Trump’s administration unveiled its unprecedented global tariffs.

Ruto is expected to try to position Kenya in a volatile and shifting geopolitical landscape, alongside more focused discussions on loans and infrastructure financing, Semafor’s Preeti Jha wrote.