Washington, DC

1. Lutnick in Epstein firestorm
2. Tariff standoff
3. Hawley blasts FDA
4. Netanyahu meets Trump
5. Pentagon to use ChatGPT
6. NSA nominee on China
7. Heinrich endorses in Texas

PDB: Grand jury refuses to indict lawmakers over “illegal orders” video

DHS shutdown deadline nears … US releases delayed January jobs report … Nine dead, 25 injured in Canada shooting

GOP uneasy over Lutnick’s Epstein ties

Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick faces a growing firestorm after acknowledging that he, alongside family, lunched with Jeffrey Epstein on his island in 2012, Semafor’s Shelby Talcott, Burgess Everett, and Eleanor Mueller report. Republican lawmakers have been unsettled by the revelations, and Trump administration allies are debating Lutnick’s fate — even as the White House stands firmly behind him. One Republican senator told Semafor that Lutnick’s job would be in serious jeopardy “if it were anybody but” President Donald Trump in charge. And one person close to the White House predicted that it might be what sends Lutnick “for the exits.” But Trump’s view is the one that counts, those on his team point out: “The only opinion that matters is the opinion in the Oval Office, and he does not care,” a Trump adviser said. “[He] didn’t even bring it up once today.”

House clears way for tariff votes

House Democrats can force votes on Trump’s tariffs as soon as today after three Republicans crossed party lines Tuesday to prevent GOP leaders from continuing a blockade. Republican Reps. Thomas Massie of Kentucky, Don Bacon of Nebraska and Kevin Kiley of California joined all Democrats to reject a rule that would have kept tariff-related resolutions off the floor until August, by which time the Supreme Court will have ruled. “I’m no fan of tariffs,” a House Republican who voted for the rule told Semafor, but since Trump would veto any House-passed resolutions, “I see it more as a political thing.” The lawmaker added: “My message to the administration is: Ultimately, you want to have a legacy here, which will require a vote… We included a lot of priorities on tax [in the GOP’s megabill]; let’s talk about [trade] priorities and then pivot toward codification.”

— Eleanor Mueller

Hawley fumes over abortion drug study

Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., is fuming after a meeting with FDA Commissioner Marty Makary over the agency’s safety study of an abortion medication did nothing to settle his complaints. The Missouri Republican told Semafor he was “really disappointed” and said it could take years for the FDA to complete its study of mifepristone, calling the situation “a dead end.” Hawley also said he’s “lost confidence” in Makary’s leadership: “I don’t think he’s serious about it.” Hawley has been after Makary on mifepristone for months; Makary committed to studying the abortion drug, whose safety profile has been extensively examined, after initially saying he would not take action on it, but the new study is reportedly being slow-walked. The administration says it’s “planning to complete the study as soon as possible while ensuring we are not cutting any corners from a scientific research standpoint.”

— Burgess Everett

Netanyahu meets Trump on Iran

Iran — and the prospect of fresh US strikes — will be top of mind at Trump’s meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House today. Netanyahu is highly skeptical that US-Iran talks can curtail Tehran’s nuclear program, and plans to bring up new Israeli intelligence into Iran’s progress on rebuilding its arsenal following US strikes on nuclear sites last June, CNN reported. The meeting is expected to precede further talks between US and Iranian representatives in Oman. While Trump has characterized the nuclear talks positively, he also threatened to send a second aircraft carrier to the region on Tuesday. “Either we will make a deal or we will have to do something very tough like last time,” Trump told Axios. Iran warned the US not to allow Israel to play a “destructive role” in the talks.

NSA pick says China pursuing AI weapons

China is “aggressively” looking to acquire advanced artificial intelligence chips in order to “accelerate its development of AI-enhanced weapons,” Trump’s nominee to lead the National Security Agency and US Cyber Command said in correspondence with Congress first shared with Semafor. Lt. Gen. Joshua Rudd weighed in on the issue in response to written questions from Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., who is among the lawmakers scrutinizing Trump’s export control policy and calling for tighter restrictions on the sale of AI chips to China. The Trump administration “has failed to take these risks seriously,” the Massachusetts Democrat said in a statement. Others argue that too-stringent export controls merely hand the market over to Chinese competitors. Semafor first reported Trump’s plans to allow the sale of Nvidia’s H200 chips to China, though Beijing has imposed limits on those purchases as it builds up its own industry.

— Morgan Chalfant

Inside OpenAI’s Pentagon decision

OpenAI said Monday it will provide the US military with access to ChatGPT, following months of deliberation over whether employees would accept the deployment, Semafor’s Reed Albergotti reports. The tricky part for OpenAI was that the Pentagon wanted to use its chatbot — offered by its Genai.mil program — for “all lawful uses,” meaning the company couldn’t impose restrictions on so-called acceptable implementation for moral or technical reasons. Competitor Anthropic, which wants more control over how its technology is used, has expressed concerns over how the military might use the models in situations where the tech could prove unreliable or endanger lives. The Pentagon rejected Anthropic’s requests for more control, according to people briefed on the matter, and the company’s Claude chatbot is still not available via Genai.mil. Google and xAI have agreed to the “all lawful use” clause.

Dems agonize over Texas Senate primary

New Mexico’s Martin Heinrich became the first Democratic senator to weigh in on the party’s Texas Senate primary, backing state Rep. James Talarico over Rep. Jasmine Crockett, D-Texas, Semafor’s Burgess Everett reports. Heinrich said he sees a specific circumstance that could make the seat winnable for Democrats — Talarico wins the Democratic primary, and Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, loses on the other side — and he doesn’t want to miss that chance. So far, Heinrich doesn’t have the cavalry behind him: Even Democrats like Sens. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., and Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., who have endorsed elsewhere are staying on the sidelines — for now, at least. “Part of the reason we’re not super engaged is feeling snakebit about Texas overall. It’s a quarter-billion dollars,” said one Democratic senator. Still, that senator acknowledged many Democrats are quietly rooting for Talarico, viewing his candidacy as far more viable than Crockett’s.

Blindspot: FCC and ICE

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: Sen. Bill Hagerty, R-Tenn., filed an FCC complaint against Verizon for sharing his phone data with the Justice Department in its investigation into President Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election.

What the Right isn’t reading: An Irish man held by ICE for months says he was detained despite having a valid work permit and no criminal history. 

Semafor is proud to announce its first slate of speakers for the 2026 Annual Convening of Semafor World Economy, taking place April 13-17 in Washington, DC. This global cohort of senior leaders from every major sector across the G20 are just some of the 400 top CEOs joining Semafor World Economy for five days of onstage conversations and in-depth interviews on growth, geopolitics, and technology. See the first lineup of speakers here.

Beltway Newsletters

Punchbowl News: “If these f**kers think that they’re going to intimidate us and threaten and bully me in the silence, and they’re going to go after political opponents and get us to back down, they have another thing coming,” Rep. Jason Crow, D-Colo., said of the Trump administration’s alleged intimidation tactics following his participation in the “illegal orders” video.

Playbook: A new nationwide survey by Democratic polling and research firm GBAO found 58% of respondents held negative views of ICE; the share rose to 64% among independent voters.

WaPo: Republicans are digging in on defending ICE, with most giving the agency’s leaders “a friendly environment and the space to reject accusations of overreach” during a House Homeland Security Committee hearing yesterday.

Axios: Violent crime plummeted across America’s largest cities last year, new data from the Major Cities Chiefs Association showed.

White House

• The National Governors Association is canceling a formal meeting with President Trump after the White House only invited Republican members to attend.

Congress

• President Trump endorsed a num