![](https://img.semafor.com/3a8b8334d5449a2d371e9173bd15ea7385a48c45-1065x498.png?w=1140&h=533&q=95&auto=format) Beltway NewslettersPlaybook: Several factors will affect the final stretch of Donald Trump’s Manhattan trial: Could he face further punishment for violating the judge’s gag order? What will the jury instructions look like? What happens if there’s a partially hung jury? Could Trump go to jail if he’s convicted? WaPo: Housing is emerging as a key issue on the campaign trail due to high rental costs and mortgage rates. Axios: AI executives warn that their technology advancements are at risk due to “old-fashion shortages” of power, chips, and talent. White House- President Biden has no public events today. Vice President Harris will swear in Courtney O’Donnell as the new US ambassador to UNESCO.
- Biden phoned Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt, Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders, and Texas Gov. Greg Abbott on Monday to pledge federal support following deadly tornadoes across the three states.
Congress- A bipartisan congressional delegation traveled to Taiwan and met with its new president, Lai Ching-te, less than a week after his inauguration. House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Michael McCaul said the US is “moving forward” on delayed weapons shipments to the island, which was the focus of Chinese military drills last week.
- Lawmakers are struggling to find a path forward to regulate non-consensual AI porn. — Politico
Outside the Beltway- Ohio’s Republican Secretary of State Frank LaRose lambasted the Democratic Party for scheduling its convention after Ohio’s statutory deadline for candidates to get on the presidential ballot. “For now, the law requires me to uphold a deadline the Democratic Party appears willing to miss. If as a result the Democratic candidates for US president and vice president aren’t on the statewide ballot, that’s the party’s choice, not mine,” he wrote in The Wall Street Journal.
- California’s marquee law to add more housing to neighborhoods previously zoned only for single-family homes so far hasn’t led to much new building. — WSJ
Business- Argentine President Javier Milei is making his fourth trip to the US in five months this week for meetings with top tech executives like Apple’s Tim Cook, OpenAI’s Sam Altman, and Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg.
Courts- Donald Trump’s attorneys forcefully pushed back against a request by special counsel Jack Smith for a gag order in Trump’s classified documents case that would limit what he says about law enforcement who searched his Mar-a-Lago property, casting it as an “unconstitutional censorship application” that “unjustly targets President Trump’s campaign speech while he is the leading candidate for the presidency.”
- Manhattan prosecutors never called former Trump Organization CFO Allen Weisselberg to testify in Trump’s Manhattan trial because they view him as an “unreliable narrator.” — NYT
On the Trail- Texas will hold its primary runoffs today, as Gov. Greg Abbott and Attorney General Ken Paxton try to knock off lawmakers who opposed them on key votes and remake the state’s Republican party in a more MAGA-friendly image. All eyes are on House Speaker Dade Phelan, who’s trying to survive a primary challenge after leading an impeachment effort against Paxton.
- Bill and Hillary Clinton will headline a fundraiser for President Biden in Virginia next month hosted by former Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe. — Axios
- Democrats want to see more empathy from Biden on inflation and the economy. — WSJ
- Three police officers who worked at the US Capitol on Jan. 6 will campaign for Biden in battleground states. — CNN
- Donald Trump told a group of donors in New York earlier this month that he would expel any foreign students demonstrating against the Gaza war and that he supports Israel’s right to continue its “war on terror.” — WaPo
- Trump endorsed Hung Cao in the crowded Virginia Senate GOP primary.
- The New York Times profiled Richard Grenell, who is pitching himself as a secretary of state in a second Trump administration.
National SecurityLast week, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin underwent a “minimally invasive follow-up non-surgical procedure” to resolve a “bladder issue” that arose from cancer surgery last year, the Pentagon said. He briefly transferred his duties to Deputy Secretary Kathleen Hicks. Foreign Policy- A North Korean rocket launched Monday to deploy the country’s second spy satellite exploded shortly after liftoff, according to state media.
- The US plans to lift a ban on selling offensive weapons to Saudi Arabia, possibly in the coming weeks. — FT
- Nikki Haley visited Israel.
- Egypt and Israel are investigating a “shooting incident” that left an Egyptian soldier dead near the border with Rafah.
- China, Japan, and South Korea held their first three-way summit since 2019.
Climate- The Biden administration is looking to carbon offsets to address global warming, releasing a 12-page policy statement today that takes “the controversial step of recommending that companies be able to use carbon credits to offset a portion of their so-called Scope 3 emissions, those generated by their suppliers and customers.” — Bloomberg
- Donald Trump might not be able to stop the electric vehicle boom. — NYT
TechnologyMedia- Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen wants the EU to set an age limit of 15 years old to use social media, in a push to better protect young users from harmful content and screen addiction.
- Vivek Ramaswamy, who disclosed a 8% stake in BuzzFeed last week, wrote to the company calling for job cuts and more conservative voices. — Bloomberg
Big ReadWitnesses to Israel’s airstrike on an encampment in Rafah on Sunday that killed 45 civilians said parents were burned alive while their children screamed for help, the Washington Post reported. Doctors told of struggling to treat gruesome shrapnel injuries with dwindling surgical supplies. Doctors Without Borders Gaza emergency coordinator Samuel Johann said its emergency trauma center treated 180 patients with severe burns, shrapnel wounds, missing body parts, and other injuries. International Medical Corps plastic surgeon Ahmed al-Mokhallalati said he and other colleagues conducted 12 hours-long surgeries. He told of a 6-year-old girl he operated on with shrapnel wounds from her abdomen to thigh, but she later died. He said they ran out of medical gloves, gowns, and other basic supplies. “We are running out of everything, literally.” The IDF said the strike killed two militants. BlindspotStories 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: President Biden visited his daughter-in-law, Hallie Biden, days before she is expected to testify in Hunter Biden’s gun trial. What the Right isn’t reading: A Biden campaign official met virtually with Nikki Haley supporters on a pre-scheduled call that took place shortly after she expressed support for Donald Trump last week. Principals TeamEditors: Benjy Sarlin, Jordan Weissmann, Morgan Chalfant Editor-at-Large: Steve Clemons Reporters: Kadia Goba, Joseph Zeballos-Roig, Shelby Talcott, David Weigel |