THE FIGHT OVER PRESIDENT TRUMP’S immigration insurance policies is rising in depth, with feelings working sizzling on each side of the aisle.

Homeland Safety Secretary Kristi Noem accused three Democratic lawmakers of committing “felonies” throughout a scuffle with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers at a detention facility in New Jersey final week. Newark Mayor Ras Baraka (D) was arrested for trespassing throughout the encounter.

“It was a political stunt that put the security of our regulation enforcement officers, our brokers, our employees and our detainees in danger,” Noem mentioned Wednesday at a listening to in regards to the Division of Homeland Safety (DHS) price range.

“There are correct protocols and there are procedures that should be abided by,” she added. “These congressional members and employees go to our amenities the entire time, and these members may comply with the insurance policies which were in place.”

The New Jersey Democrats — Reps. Bonnie Watson Coleman, Robert Menendez and LaMonica McIver — say they have been there on official enterprise and demand the ICE brokers instigated the bodily contact.

“As an alternative of launching an investigation into the incident, your Division lied to the press in regards to the state of affairs and threatened to arrest Members of Congress for doing their jobs,” mentioned Rep. Bennie Thompson (Miss.), the highest Democrat on the Home Homeland Safety Committee.

DHS says it is reviewing video of the encounter and that the lawmakers may nonetheless be arrested.

Democrats, together with Home Minority Chief Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), have warned that arresting the lawmakers could be an untenable escalation.

Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) mentioned Home Republicans are weighing what actions to take.

“We’re having conversations — we had them this morning within the Home Republican convention assembly this morning — about acceptable motion that we have to take right here to deal with that inappropriate habits, the wildly inappropriate habits,” Johnson mentioned.

Rep. Earl “Buddy” Carter (R-Ga.) launched a decision in search of to take away the three New Jersey Democrats from their committee posts.

It was a chaotic day on Capitol Hill, with nerves frayed after two Home committees labored all evening to mark up the GOP’s Trump agenda invoice. A few lawmakers have been noticed dozing of their seats throughout the markups within the early hours of the morning.

• Capitol Police on Wednesday eliminated protesters who disrupted the beginning of a Senate listening to with Well being and Human Providers Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., which adopted arrests on Tuesday of activists protesting cuts to Medicaid.

• At one level, a number of Republican members of the Home Agriculture Committee have been noticed working by way of the tunnel connecting the Capitol to Home to defeat a Democratic movement to finish a markup.

• A federal grand jury indicted Wisconsin judge Hannah Dugan over allegations she helped an immigrant dwelling within the nation illegally to flee from immigration officers who have been seeking to arrest him.

• In California, Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) proposed to stop enrolling low-income immigrants within the nation illegally within the state-funded well being care program starting subsequent 12 months, citing price range points. He additionally mentioned California would want to start charging these already in this system.

💡Views:

• The Hill: The Supreme Court docket can settle nationwide injunctions.

• Newsweek: Democrats should present they’ll do change, too.

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• The Nation: Careerism poisons the Democratic Get together.

• The Liberal Patriot: An anti-monopoly abundance motion.

Learn extra:

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• Finances airline begins deportation flights.

• Democrats bank on Musk as midterm election legal responsibility.

• Democrats give cold shoulder to risk of third Abrams bid in Georgia.

• A brutal and record-early heat wave is baking Texas this week, bringing triple-digit temperatures typical of July to the center of Might.

• California’s prime insurance coverage regulator dominated that State Farm can raise premiums by 17 p.c for all of its house insurance coverage clients as Los Angeles seems to be to rebuild after the devastating wildfires.

© AP Photograph/Alex Brandon

President Trump signed an financial and protection partnership with Qatar on the second leg of his journey to the Center East, though the controversy over his acceptance of a luxurious jet threatens to drown out his funding achievements.

The White House says the settlement with Qatar is price $1.2 trillion, underscored by an settlement by Qatar Airways to buy 160 Boeing airplanes. The deal additionally consists of new Qatari investments in U.S. tech and protection, together with the acquisition of billions price of U.S. navy tools.

“We’ve favored one another and labored with one another,” Trump mentioned. “And now we will work within the highest capability.”

Boeing CEO Kelly Ortberg was available for the signing, together with Qatari emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani and Qatar Airways CEO Badr Mohammed Al Meer.

However a unique controversy involving Boeing dominated headlines within the U.S., with Trump agreeing to just accept a $400 million luxurious jet from Qatar to function Air Pressure One for the rest off his time period earlier than being decommissioned and donated to his presidential library.

Trump says the jet is required as a result of Boeing has fallen years behind in its effort to ship a brand new presidential plane, and the present one is 40 years previous.

Republicans are alarmed by the potential of espionage and different nationwide safety points surrounding the reward, in addition to the ethics of accepting a present from a rustic with a document of human rights abuses.

“I belief Qatar like I belief a relaxation cease toilet,” Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) mentioned on Fox Information. “In the event that they wish to be pleasant, I wish to be pleasant again. However with these guys, you realize, belief in God however tie up your camel.”

Democrats are leaning into the controversy, casting the reward as a bribe and believing allegations of corruption will keep on with Trump.

“It’s gross, it’s reckless, it’s corrupt, and the outrage and the condemnation, particularly on the Republican facet, needs to be common,” Sen. Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii) mentioned on the Senate flooring. “There isn’t a excuse or justification for this. It’s improper, and that’s the finish of the story.”

Senate Minority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ailing.) pressed Lawyer Basic Pam Bondi on Wednesday over her choice to deem the jet as a “legally permissible” reward, citing Bondi’s previous work as a lobbyist for Qatar.

“[T]listed below are critical questions on whether or not you need to have recused your self from this matter,” Durbin wrote to Bondi.

Democrats flew a airplane carrying a banner that reads “Qatar-a-lago” over Trump’s Florida property on Wednesday.

Trump defended the reward in late evening social media posts and in questions from the press.

“The Boeing 747 is being given to america Air Pressure/Division of Protection, NOT TO ME!” Trump posted on TruthSocial. “Why ought to our navy, and subsequently our taxpayers, be compelled to pay a whole bunch of hundreds of thousands of {Dollars} once they can get it for FREE … Solely a FOOL wouldn’t settle for this reward on behalf of our Nation.”

Trump travels to the United Arab Emirates for the ultimate leg of his journey Thursday.

Earlier this week, Trump signed a $600 billion funding cope with Saudi Arabia. The president additionally met with the new Syrian leader Ahmed al-Sharaa after saying the U.S. would drop sanctions on the nation following the autumn of the Assad regime.

The president dismissed criticism that he’s slighting Israel by not touring there on his tour of the Center East.

“That is good for Israel, having a relationship like I’ve with these international locations — Center Japanese international locations, primarily all of them,” Trump mentioned.

MEANWHILE…

The proposed peace talks between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky might not occur as deliberate in Turkey on Thursday.

Zelensky says he’ll only attend if Putin attends, however the Russian chief has not dedicated.

Trump mentioned he’d contemplate attending if it could assist Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who’s at present slated to attend.

“I don’t know if [Putin’s] displaying up,” Trump mentioned. “I do know he would really like me to be there. And that’s a risk…I’ve been fascinated about that. Now tomorrow, we’re all booked out, you perceive that…Now that doesn’t imply I wouldn’t do it to save lots of plenty of lives and are available again.”

💡Views:

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• The American Spectator: Trump has a novel affinity for the Arab world.

• Vox: The tariffs are right here. Inflation isn’t. What provides?

• The Guardian: Trump’s weird tariff scheme received’t revive American jobs.

Learn extra:

• Trump accepting Qatar plane raises moral, safety considerations.

• 5 takeaways from Trump’s day in Saudi Arabia.

• Winners and losers in Trump’s pause on China tariffs.

• Trump approval rating ticks up tin new ballot as financial considerations ease.

• US-China commerce pact brings relief to tech sector.

© Greg Nash

Home Republican efforts to cross President Trump’s agenda invoice by Memorial Day are in peril, because the GOP continues to face intra-party disagreements over Medicaid cuts and taxes.

The Home Methods and Means Committee advanced the tax portion of the invoice on a party-line vote after a 17-hour mark-up dragged into the early hours of the morning, sending it the Home Finances Committee, which should cobble it collectively into “one huge, stunning invoice.”

However conservatives in the caucus say the invoice doesn’t sufficiently reduce spending or do sufficient to beef-up work necessities for Medicaid. They’re threatening to sink the invoice until modifications are made that might doubtlessly scare off average Republicans.

“For my part they don’t go far sufficient,” mentioned Rep. Eric Burleson (R-Mo.), a member of the Home Freedom Caucus who doesn’t help the package deal.

“On the finish of the day, now we have a $2 trillion deficit and the truth that we’re — we’re shuffling the chairs on the highest of the Titanic right here,” he added. “So we’ve received to do extra.”

The nonpartisan Congressional Finances Workplace mentioned the GOP Medicaid plan would go away 7.6 million folks uninsured, opening Republicans as much as political assaults from Democrats forward of subsequent 12 months’s midterm elections.

In the meantime, Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) met with Republicans from blue states that say they received’t vote for the invoice until it comprises a better deduction cap on state and native taxes (SALT).

Johnson left the assembly optimistic and saying he anticipated to have a deal in place with the SALT Republicans on Wednesday, but nothing has been announced.

If Home Republicans are capable of unite and cross the reconciliation invoice, it could go to the Senate, the place Republicans are already saying it’s a nonstarter, with the identical divisions over spending cuts and Medicaid.

“We have to return to an inexpensive pre-pandemic-level spending,” Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) advised NewsNation’s Blake Burman. “At a minimal, we should not be growing the deficit, and I do not see any situation that they are discussing proper now the place we do not really enhance the deficit over 10 years with this huge, stunning invoice.”

Johnson mentioned he hopes Senate Republicans don’t fully overhaul the invoice, pushing the higher chamber for “probably the most minimal modifications” doable so as to preserve his fractured caucus completely happy.

“I perceive the Senate has its function to play and its job to do, however now we have 170 extra personalities and opinions to take care of right here, and the product that we ship over I feel can be an excellent one, and I hope they take advantage of minimal modifications doable,” he mentioned.

Democrats have their own divisions, with get together leaders poised to shoot down an effort by Rep. Shri Thanedar (D-Mich.) to question Trump.

“This isn’t the suitable strategy we needs to be taking,” mentioned Rep. Pete Aguilar (Calif.), the chair of the Democratic Caucus. “We’ll be a part of the members of the management workforce in voting to desk that movement.”

Home Democrats pressed Thanedar to drop the trouble, but he’s dug in.

Democrats are feeling overwhelmed down throughout Trump’s second time period, with a brand new Associated Press-NORC poll discovering that solely about one-third of Democrats are optimistic in regards to the get together’s future.

💡Views:

• Spiked: Trump has scrambled the previous class allegiances.

• Washington Examiner: GOP should maintain the road on Medicaid spending.

• The Hill: The executive state wants a reset.

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• Johnson supports ban on stock trading for members of Congress.

• GOP senators raise red flags over Home’s Trump legislative package deal.

• Buttigieg holds city corridor in Iowa amid speculation of presidential ambitions.

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