Axios

Read the full letter the college and university presidents from across the country sent to Trump today here.

If left in place the order threatens both American higher education and the defining principles of our country… The order specifically prevents talented, law-abiding students and scholars from the affected regions from reaching our campuses.

Signers include the presidents of Penn, Princeton, Columbia, Duke, Johns Hopkins, NYU, Harvard, Georgetown, and Yale.

The Jerusalem Post reported today that senior Trump administration officials have confirmed that President Trump is committed to a two-state solution for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict — a shift from his prior harsh rhetoric on the topic.

No to settlements: "We urge all parties from taking unilateral actions that could undermine our ability to make progress, including settlement announcements," Trump officials told the paper. This comes after Israel authorized 5,500 new settlement units in the West Bank during Trump's first two weeks in office.

Still up in the air: Trump had previously pledged to move the U.S. embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, which would be a major stumbling block for the peace process.

Update: After the story broke, the White House put out a clarifying statement:

"While we don't believe the existence of settlements is an impediment to peace, the construction of new settlements or the expansion of existing settlements beyond their current borders may not be helpful in achieving that goal ... The Trump administration has not taken an official position on settlement activity and looks forward to continuing discussions, including with Prime Minister Netanyahu when he visits with President Trump later this month."

Speaking in Los Angeles at the Upfront Summit, Crooked Media co-founder and former Obama speechwriter Jon Favreau came down on elected Republicans for their lack of action against Donald Trump's administration:

"You have a Republican party right now, and particularly Republicans in Congress, who are more afraid of a primary challenge from some Trump supporter and losing Trump votes than they are of what Trump might do to the country. So you see very few Republicans speaking out, or if they do you get these nilly-mouthed statements.

A lot of them, you know, like Paul Ryan, they personally don't agree with a lot of what Donald Trump's doing, but man, they want their tax cuts so they're gonna stay along for the ride."

Jon Lovett, Favreau's co-founder, also had some strong words about Ryan, calling him "a sleazy enabler of this horror show."

During her weekly press conference, House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi called out Trump's chief strategist, Steve Bannon.

She didn't name him by name, per AP, but her description only matches Bannon:

What's making America less safe is to have a white supremacist named to the National Security Council as a permanent member, while the chairman of the Joint Chiefs and the director of national intelligence are told, 'don't call us, we'll call you.'

Trump has been under fire recently for making Bannon a regular member of the NSC's Principals committee, which gives him full access to all council meetings.

Axios caught up with Nancy Pelosi on Capitol Hill today. The House Minority Leader told us she wasn't worried about political backlash if Democrats obstruct Trump's Supreme Court.

In our caucus, yes, our members want to see the same standard that they applied to President Obama [with Merrick Garland] applied to the President.

Why this matters: We reported yesterday that Senate Democrats, led by Chuck Schumer, aren't afraid of the political fallout from forcing Republicans to use the so-called "nuclear option" to confirm Judge Neil Gorsuch. The House members are in closer touch with the Democratic base, which is energized and calling for total opposition to Trump.

As Pelosi's message makes clear: When it comes to the Supreme Court, Democrats see political value in forcing a fight (even though they know it's one they'll ultimately lose.)

President Trump doesn't view life through the lens that most people do. In ways small and sweeping, he sees himself as The Producer, conducting The Trump show, on and off stage.

At a White House meeting today with congressional leaders that included Sen. Orrin Hatch, Sen. Ron Wyden, and Rep. Kevin Brady, President Trump — with VP Pence at his side — discussed free trade changes:

And maybe we do it and maybe we do a new NAFTA and we add an extra 'F' in NAFTA for 'free and fair trade' because it's very unfair.

Ali Akbar Velayati, a senior advisor to Iran's Supreme Leader, told Iran's semi-official Fars News Agency that Trump's rhetoric about putting Iran on notice was "baseless ranting" and that Iran would "vigorously" continue missile tests, per CNN.

Per an AFP report, Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Bahram Ghasemi told the state news agency IRNA:

This is not the first time that an inexperienced person has threatened Iran... the American government will understand that threatening Iran is useless.

This all comes after Iran conducted a missile test this weekend and Michael Flynn and the Trump Administration put Iran "on notice" yesterday. Our earlier story on Iranian aggression here.

India-based IT services companies are heading to Washington to lobby against new restrictions on a temporary work-visa program that they use heavily to recruit talent, Bloomberg reports.

Industry group Nasscom represents India's largest tech companies — including Tata Consultancy, Wipro and Infosys — whose stocks have taken a beating this week ahead of a Trump executive order expected to start the process of reprioritizing the visa lottery system in favor of the highest-paying jobs.

Why it matters: These India-based tech companies are among the largest users of the H-1B visa program. New visa restrictions would make it more expensive for these firms to hire workers, who are often used to staff corporate IT departments for U.S. companies. Or, they could be pulled to the back of the line in the visa application pool, also making it difficult to find talent. Several bills have been introduced in Congress aiming to reform the program.

What they're saying: "We want to help the officials and lawmakers understand the gains for the U.S. economy and the benefits to Americans because of businesses using Indian IT services," said Nasscom president R Chandrashekhar.

Reuters has a new report on the raid in Yemen this weekend that resulted in the death of Navy SEAL William "Ryan" Owens. It includes some shocking claims from anonymous U.S. military officials:

• Trump approved the raid without proper intelligence, ground support, or contingency plans.
• The intelligence lapses caused the SEAL team to drop into a reinforced compound with a larger group of Al Qaeda soldiers than expected.
• The "brutal firefight" that killed Owens also resulted in the deaths of 15 women and children, including an 8-year old girl.

Why it matters: A leak like this is highly unusual in the military community — and especially shocking when it comes just 12 days into a new presidency. It raises questions about Trump's standing among his military leaders, as these officials have now thrown their commander-in-chief under the bus.

Winter earnings season has revealed how many American executives have Trump on the brain. The Wall Street Journal reports that "of the 242 companies in the S&P 500 index that held conference calls or other investor events in January, half mentioned Mr. Trump directly or indirectly."

Why it matters: Donald Trump's big plans for tax, trade and infrastructure affect nearly every American business model. Trump's penchant for calling out, and cutting deals, with individual companies has gotten Corporate America's attention, too.

Irony alert: After the Republican Party spent years criticizing crony capitalism, a Republican President has made good relations with the White House a business must.

Sean Spicer became the first White House Press Secretary yesterday to field questions via Skype from remote reporters. Journalists in Rhode Island, Ohio and Kentucky got questions. Another went to the Oregon-based conservative talk host Lars Larsen.

The Skypers went local: Questions for Spicer included coal for Kentucky; whether Providence, R.I. is a sanctuary city; and economic revitalization in Cleveland, Ohio.

And some were softballs: Jeff Jobe, a publisher in South Central Kentucky, opened his question by praising Trump for "aggressively acting" on his election promises. Overall, however, they shifted the conversation out of Washington and into the states.

Why this matters: This move is a double whammy for Trump: It throws shade at "the swamp" and wins the President populist cred. The White House communications shop is still contemplating the frequency of the Skype sessions and how many questions will be allowed each time. But they're here to stay and we bet they're just the start of some pretty disruptive changes in White House communications.

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe plans to propose a widespread economic cooperation package to create hundreds of thousands of jobs in the U.S. when he meets with Trump next week, per AP.

Details: A $150 billion investment in U.S. infrastructure, funded by Japan's government and other private sources, over 10 years. The focus points, per Japanese media, would be high-speed trains, liquefied natural gas facilities in Asia to help expand exports of U.S. natural gas, and expanding nuclear energy-related sales. If implemented, the plan is expected to generate $450 billion in new business.

What does Japan get out of it? Abe says that Japanese companies, like Toyota, have been making big investments in the U.S. for years and reaping the rewards of those profits. "If the United States grows, without a doubt that benefits Japan."

Why this matters: Japan has looked to Abe on how to deal with Trump's decision to pull out of the Trans-Pacific Partnership. This proposal is Abe's way of replacing concerns over trade issues with a business opportunity for both sides.

Big tech companies team up: Alphabet, Apple, Facebook, Uber, Stripe, and CPG and manufacturing companies have banded together to write a letter to Donald Trump, according to Recode. The letter stresses that the executive order's blanket "suspension" (note the avoidance of the word "ban") is "not the right approach" to strengthening national security. The letter also argues in favor of supporting the DACA program.

Twitter employees are donating $1.59 million to the ACLU: In response to Donald Trump's immigration executive order, Twitter employees have pooled $530,000 in ACLU donations, according to BuzzFeed. Twitter Executive Chair Omid Kordestani and CEO Jack Dorsey matched the donations, for a total of $1.59 million.

It's no secret that Twitter's service is Trump's favorite way to bypass traditional media and freely speak to the public, often causing controversies with tweets. Many have called on Twitter to shut down his account, something the company thus far has not signaled it will do.

Last night the president tweeted a pair of things:

1. "Iran is rapidly taking over more and more of Iraq even after the U.S. has squandered three trillion dollars there. Obvious long ago!"
2. "Do you believe it? The Obama Administration agreed to take thousands of illegal immigrants from Australia. Why? I will study this dumb deal!"

The Iran tweet: This one's tougher to nail down, although the White House told Iran yesterday that it was officially "on notice" after ballistic missile tests.

The Australia tweet: This basically confirms a wild story WaPo published story last night saying that Trump hung up on Australian PM Malcom Turnbull after telling him it was the "worst call by far" of his conversations with foreign leaders. The Obama administration previously made a deal to take 1,250 refugees held by Australia. Trump doesn't seem like he's a fan.

Buried in a New York Times story that's headlined around the president taking a hair growth drug is this little passage:

Dr. Bornstein ... was Mr. Trump's personal physician since 1980. He said that he had had no contact with Mr. Trump since he became president, and that no one from Mr. Trump's White House staff had asked for copies of the medical records that he has kept for the last 36 years, or called to discuss them.

The rest of the story is worth the click, but that nugget really stood out. Trump is 70 years old.

1. After four phone calls with other world leaders, Trump told Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull that "this was the worst call by far," ending the call about 35 minutes early, according to the Washington Post.
2. Trump threatened to use military force with Mexico if President Peña Nieto didn't get rid of the "bad hombres" in his country, and said he wasn't afraid to send in troops, per AP. The White House and Mexico have denied it.
3. The administration is revamping a policy designed to fight extremism, per Reuters. Instead of attacking many dangerous ideologies, it will now focus exclusively on radical Islam.
4. Earlier today the Trump Administration put Iran on notice for a ballistic missile test it conducted this weekend, in alleged violation of a U.N. Security Council resolution. Mike Flynn made a special appearance at the WH press briefing.
5. And yesterday, reporters surfaced audio of Steve Bannon saying last year that war with China is likely to happen: "We're going to war in the South China Sea in five to 10 years, aren't we?"
6. New U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley said Trump will usher in a new era, and that they're "taking names."

The AP got a copy of the conversation Trump and Pena Nieto had over the phone last Friday. The quote making news:

You have a bunch of bad hombres down there…You aren't doing enough to stop them. I think your military is scared. Our military isn't, so I just might send them down to take care of it.

A similar report appeared in a Mexican newspaper Tuesday, but Mexico's foreign relations department said it was "based on absolute falsehoods." The White House has denied the AP's report.