Venezuelan Power Play
Rival visits will remind official Washington that competing factions are vying to fill the power vacuum in Venezuela now that Nicolás Maduro is no longer in control.
María Corina Machado, the popular opposition figure, is to meet with President Donald Trump at the White House this afternoon.
Trump is opting to work with acting President Delcy Rodríguez, Maduro’s longtime vice president, saying Machado wasn’t ready to lead even though she won more than 90% of the vote in an opposition primary in 2023.
A poll carried out by AtlasIntel for Bloomberg News found the majority of Venezuelans surveyed— 51.6% said they want Machado to lead their country.
Rodríguez had the support of 14%.
Trump said he and Rodriguez had a “great conversation” yesterday. “We discussed a lot of things, and I think we’re getting along very well with Venezuela,” he said.
Ben Bartenstein and Eric Martin reported that an envoy on behalf of the acting president also is due in Washington today to meet with senior US officials.
There may be some observers who will watch the White House meeting only to see whether Machado is carrying some bling — her Nobel Peace Prize.
After Machado drew attention for saying in a Fox News interview that the people of Venezuela would like to thank Trump and give him the award, the Norwegian Nobel Institute issued a statement saying the prize can’t be revoked, shared or transferred.
See Also: Trump Prevails in Halting Venezuela War Powers Measure in Senate
No Experience? No Problem
Even though lawyer Darin Smith lacks a criminal or federal litigation background, the Senate Judiciary Committee is on track to advance his nomination for a four-year term as US attorney for the District of Wyoming, Celine Castronuovo reports.
Smith, a former state senator, has focused on estate planning and business law and he’s never “served as trial counsel in cases taken to verdict, judgment, or final decision before a court of record or an administrative law judge,” according to his answers to the Judiciary Committee’s standard questionnaire.
His home-state senators, both Republicans, have endorsed him as “fully qualified.”
“He is politically aligned with, and will be loyal to, President Trump,” said Bruce Green, director of Fordham School of Law’s Louis Stein Center for Law and Ethics and a former federal prosecutor. “From the president’s perspective, that seems to be the only necessary qualification, and that’s good enough for Republicans in the Senate who will vote to confirm him.” Read More
Eye on Tariffs
A new tariff is coming and others are newly on hold.
First, the ones in abeyance. Trump said he’s holding off on new tariffs targeting imports of critical minerals, and instead will seek to negotiate agreements to “ensure the United States has adequate critical mineral supplies and to mitigate the supply chain vulnerabilities as quickly as possible.”
Depending on the outcome of those talks, Trump said, he could “consider alternative remedies in the future, including minimum import prices for specific types of critical minerals.”
Joe Deaux and Jennifer A. Dlouhy report that the decision to hold off is a signal that the administration prefers to avoid destabilizing a trade truce Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping agreed to last fall.
On a separate track, the administration is imposing a 25% levy on certain advanced semiconductors.
Josh Wingrove reports that the order Trump signed yesterday is a key step in an agreement allowing Nvidia Corp. to ship Taiwan-made H200 artificial intelligence processors to China. Read More
See Also: Fed’s Beige Book Shows Economy Picking Up
Big Numbers
Two big military numbers to know this morning. First, half a billion: Pentagon spending last year rose 9.3% to a record $521 billion, BGOV analysts Maika Ito and Paul Murphyreport in an exclusive analysis of contracting outflows.
The data shows growth in older weapons platforms like the F-35 jet fighter and Columbia-class nuclear submarines. Missile defense also was part of that growth. Read More
The other number to know is smaller, but consider the context. The Congressional Budget Office has concluded that Trump’s “Department of War” rebranding could end up costing taxpayers more than $125 million. Read More
Score These for the Ds
Democrats got what they wanted on redistricting from a court and a legislature, though it’s too soon to know how either will end up.
A federal court said California can use its new congressional map during this year’s midterm election, giving the party a key win and a pathway to neutralize anticipated Republican gains in the House due to new districts in Texas.
The California ruling is likely to be appealed to the Supreme Court, which recently cleared the way for Texas to use its Republican-drawn maps during the midterm elections, Madlin Mekelburg reports.
If the justices reject the California map, the GOP would have a significant advantage going into the election.
And in Virginia, a congressional district overhaul has taken another step forward, Greg Giroux reports. The goal there is to amend the state constitution to temporarily permit the legislature to redraw Virginia’s map and get it all done in time to affect this year’s contests. Read More
Before we get to November, there are will be a few elections for open House seats, including the one vacated earlier this month by Georgia Republican Marjorie Taylor Greene. That March 10 special election ballot could look like a CVS receipt, after 22 candidates qualified for the ballot, Giroux reports. Read More
Legislating Can Be Hard
The ability of a handful of House moderates with labor union ties to block a pair of bills dealing with tipped workers and after-hours job training signals trouble for passing a major party-line bill this year on the scale of last year’s signature tax and spending pakage, Jonathan Tamari reports in this morning’s Congress Tracker. A third business-friendly bill on this week’s agenda was also shelved without a vote.
On the Senate side, meanwhile, the Banking Committee postponed a long-awaited markup of a crypto market-structure bill after Coinbase pulled its suport. Chair Tim Scott (R-S.C.) said bipartisan negotiations continue. Read More
Our exclusive tool tracks every case challenging President Donald Trump’s executive orders and actions. Judges appointed by every president since Ronald Reagan are handling the tsunami of lawsuits. Read More
- Plus, access additional resources on executive orders and other presidential documents at Bloomberg Law’s enhanced In Focus. View Here
Before You Go
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Key Democrats Object to HHS Dropping Child Vaccination Metric
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DOJ Open to Settlement Talks in Chicago National Guard Lawsuit
The Trump administration is open to settling a lawsuit challenging National Guard deployment to the Chicago area, a Department of Justice attorney said in court Wednesday.
Republicans Push for Abortion Pill Study as States Ask for Bans
Senate Republicans pushed for clarity Wednesday from the Trump administration over a long-awaited safety study of abortion medication while states urged further restrictions to help keep pills out of their states.
Insurers, Mechanics Fight Big Auto in Lobbying Push Over Repairs
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Trump Agencies Seek White Men for Hard-to-Prove Job Bias Cases
Federal civil rights agency leaders shifting enforcement to protect White men from alleged workplace bias are set to hit hurdles finding plaintiffs and proving discrimination in court.
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