Washington, DC

1. Dems dial up tariff pressure
2. Shutdown standoff
3. Slater ouster scrutiny
4. Trump’s antitrust flirtation
5. Rubio’s message to Europe
6. Weak hopes for Iran talks

PDB: WBD-Paramount talks?

Jesse Jackson dies at 84 … Trump says Rubio in talks with Cuba … Hyatt Chairman Pritzker retires over Epstein ties

House Democrats eye more tariff votes

Democrats in the House plan to keep squeezing Republicans on trade by forcing more votes on President Donald Trump’s tariffs once lawmakers return to Capitol Hill next week. Rep. Greg Meeks, D-N.Y., told reporters last week to expect legislation that would knock down tariffs on Mexico, Brazil, and more. Voter pessimism on the economy has the White House rethinking its approach: The Financial Times scooped that Trump plans to roll back tariffs on steel and aluminum. And Washington is still waiting on the Supreme Court, which plans to issue opinions this Friday, Feb. 24, and Feb. 25. Those could include the justices’ long-awaited ruling on Trump’s universal tariffs, though that also may not land until later this year. Meanwhile, companies like Levi Strauss and McCormick are prepping to raise prices after holding the line for several months.

— Eleanor Mueller

Weak momentum for ending DHS shutdown

It took 43 days for enough pain to build to force Democrats to end last fall’s government shutdown. The ramifications of the current partial shutdown of the Department of Homeland Security will be subtler, which will ultimately mean less pressure on the minority party to relent. Democrats sent Republicans and the White House an immigration enforcement counteroffer late Monday night, though there’s still no strong momentum for a deal. While the entire dispute is over immigration enforcement, those operations can still continue unabated with funding from last year’s tax law. “If [Democrats] want to suffer the fallout from interruption with TSA and FEMA and those things, that seems like a bad choice, but it’s their choice,” said Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, adding that it’s “futility if they think that somehow continuing to resist funding of DHS is going to affect immigration enforcement.”

— Burgess Everett

Democrats scrutinize Slater ouster

A group of Senate Democrats are pressing the Trump administration for answers following the ouster of the Justice Department’s antitrust chief, Semafor’s Rohan Goswami scooped. Seven senators, led by Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., wrote to Attorney General Pam Bondi on Saturday seeking DOJ records related to the firing of Gail Slater. They also requested communications between the department’s brass and lobbyists for ticketing giant Live Nation, whose upcoming monopoly case the company had been trying to settle over Slater’s objection. Slater’s ouster last week makes clear that the White House’s business-friendly approach has won out over populists like Slater, Vice President JD Vance, and Steve Bannon, Semafor’s Liz Hoffman writes. Trump’s campaign-trail rhetoric railing against big tech and defense companies squelching out competition has been replaced in his administration by “a basic long-leash Republicanism,” Liz writes.

View / Trump’s antitrust flirtation ends

Trump’s flirtation with the antitrust crusaders was always, and only, about unfettered speech on the internet. The long-in-coming collapse last week of the DOJ’s antitrust division began on Inauguration Day, when the chiefs of Google, Meta, and Amazon flanked Trump. If that sounds simplistic, it’s because many analysts still don’t understand how foundational Republican complaints about censorship are to contemporary politics. For many on the right, including top administration officials like Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., Stephen Miller, Sebastian Gorka, and of course Trump himself, getting tossed off social platforms was a searing, formative political experience. And the social platforms won that power to censor through their sheer, unprecedented size. Antitrust action seemed like a genuinely obvious remedy — or, as it turned out, at least a useful thing to threaten.

Rubio tries to reassure Europe

The Trump administration is offering up an olive branch of sorts to European nations shaken by the US president’s policies over the past year. Secretary of State Marco Rubio used his speech in Munich over the weekend to champion the transatlantic alliance, saying the US and Europe “belong together” even as he made clear that America expects allies to get behind Trump’s foreign policy agenda. Rubio’s speech was more measured in tone than Vice President JD Vance’s remarks one year ago, but it still harkened back to Trump’s global visions; Rubio emphasized that the US is “prepared, if necessary, to do this alone.” The Munich gathering also set the stage for more talks between the US, Ukraine, and Russia beginning today in Switzerland; Rubio at one point wondered whether Russia truly wants to end the war.

— Shelby Talcott

Low expectations for Iran nuclear talks

The US and Iran are flexing their respective military muscles ahead of planned talks in Switzerland today. Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps began naval drills in the Strait of Hormuz on Monday, while the US moved more military assets closer to the Middle East, CNN reported. Iran’s drills, which came days after Trump ordered a second aircraft carrier to the region, were meant to demonstrate “that Tehran can disrupt the flow of energy and force the price of oil and gasoline” to spike in the US, one expert told The New York Times. Still, Tehran has signaled openness to compromise for sanctions relief. The US set low expectations for talks, which Trump said he will be “indirectly” involved in. “It’s going to be hard,” Rubio said, adding, “We’re dealing with radical Shia clerics who are making theological decisions, not geopolitical ones.”

Semafor will host its annual Trust in Media Summit in Washington, DC on Feb. 25, convening the industry’s most influential leaders for timely conversations on media credibility and the shifting dynamics of media power.

Semafor editors and reporters will be joined by leading voices in media, including: Brendan Carr, Chairman, FCC; Matt Murray, Executive Editor, Washington Post; Kristen Welker, Moderator, Meet the Press and Anchor, Meet the Press NOW; Mathias Döpfner, CEO, Axel Springer; Jacqui Heinrich, Senior White House Correspondent and Anchor of The Sunday Briefing on FOX News Channel; Maribel Pérez Wadsworth, President & CEO, Knight Foundation; Deborah Turness, Former CEO, BBC News; and Hamish McKenzie, Co-Founder & Chief Writing Officer, Substack. Request an invitation to join the conversation as it happens live.

Feb. 25, 2025 | Washington, DC | Request Invite

Blindspot: Taiwan and July 4

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: Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., wouldn’t directly answer when asked if US forces should defend Taiwan in the event of an attack from China.

What the Right isn’t reading: US embassies and consulates abroad are seeking donations from companies for events tied to America’s 250th birthday celebration this summer, The New York Times reported.

Beltway Newsletters

Playbook: President Trump will resume his affordability tour Thursday after a three-week pause, starting in former Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene’s district.

WaPo: The Democratic Governors Association has for months been loaning out staffers to states where the most prominent gubernatorial races are taking place this year, investing millions in the effort.

Axios: Corporate America should brace for a “tsunami of Congressional oversight” if Democrats win the House in the November midterms, according to bipartisan communications firm Vianovo. “It’s going to be so much worse than they expect,” one of the firm’s partners said.

Congress

• Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., is talking up California Gov. Gavin Newsom as a possible Democratic presidential contender in 2028. — Axios

Outside the Beltway

• President Trump golfed with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis this past weekend. — Fox
• French police raided additional locations, including Paris’ Arab World Institute, as part of an investigation into associates of Jeffrey Epstein.
• New Mexico lawmakers will launch a probe into Epstein’s ranch outside of Santa Fe.

Inside the Beltway

• President Trump said FEMA would help respond to the sewage spill in the Potomac River.
• Trump’s EPA refused to participate in a hearing on the spill Friday. — NOTUS
• Barack Obama moved to clarify his statement that aliens are “real.”

Campaigns

• President Trump said he supports “all three” candidates in the Republican Texas Senate primary and