Axios

On Saturday Trump told a rally he had cut the price of the new Air Force One Boeing 747s by $1 billion.

Today: "To my knowledge I have not been told that we have that information," Air Force spokesman Colonel Pat Ryder told reporters, per Bloomberg.

The original price of two 747s was supposed to be around $4 billion, but the Air Force still is working to adjust its "Acquisition Program Baseline," which helps determine how much the program costs. The program will likely receive contracts June 30.

Trump similarly claimed he cut $600 million off about 90 planes in negotiations with Lockheed Martin for F-35s. The CEO confirmed there had been about a 60% price drop — but it wasn't necessarily due to Trump's pressuring.

The AP reports that Attorney General Jeff Sessions has rescinded the Obama administration's guidance directing DOJ to phase out its use of private prisons.

Why it matters: There's been a great deal of speculation that President Trump might use private prisons as a major part of his plan to detain significantly greater numbers of illegal immigrants. And don't forget that the industry sunk a ton of money into his campaign.

They're already seeing returns:

Reuters has a new interview with President Trump from the Oval Office. He covered a broad range of foreign policy issues, often at odds with decades of entrenched policy. The highlights…

• Nuclear arsenal: Trump wants to take the United States to the "top of the pack" and said that it was "never going to fall behind on nuclear power."
• A globalist? The self-proclaimed "Mr. Brexit" stated that he's "totally in favor" of the European Union, calling it "wonderful."
• Russia: Trump said he'd talk to Putin personally "if and when [they] meet" about the reported deployment of a new Russian cruise missile in violation of an arms control treaty with the United States. He is not in favor of another "one-sided" START treaty.
• North Korea: He called North Korea "a dangerous situation" but believes that China can "end it very quickly." He also floated the idea of a missile defense system for Japan and South Korea as an option in the region.

Two dozen CEOs converged on the White House this morning, to engage in a series of working groups aimed at increasing the number of American manufacturing jobs. Unfortunately, the media was ushered out just before the CEOs shared their recommendations with President Trump.

But Axios has spoken with Keith Leimbach, CEO of LiveOps, who participated in a working group titled "The Workforce of the Future." Here's what they shared with POTUS:

On a day where most media attention is focused on CPAC, Secretary Kelly and Secretary Tillerson's trip to Mexico, and Kellyanne Conway's return to the spotlight; Spicer gave an under-the-radar especially newsy press briefing. The 5 hot issues are below the jump:

Steve Bannon participated in a conversation with Reince Priebus at CPAC today and revealed both his priorities for the Trump administration and his larger worldview. His three main "verticals" for the administration:

• National security
• Economic nationalism
• Deconstruction of the administrative state

The center core of what we believe — that we're a nation with a culture and a reason for being — I think that's what unites us and is gonna unite this movement going forward.

Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly vowed that there will be "no mass deportations" and no use of U.S. military in immigration enforcement, per AP. His comments come during his trip to Mexico with Secretary of State Rex Tillerson.

The puzzler: During his meeting with CEOs in the manufacturing industry earlier today, President Trump referred to his administration's removal of unauthorized immigrants as "a military operation" to get "really bad dudes out of this country."

The Mexican Foreign Minister, Luis Videgaray, said on Wednesday that Mexico would not accept Trump's mass deportations of illegal immigrants because it's not in the "interests of Mexico," according to USAToday.

"I want to make clear, in the most emphatic way, that the government of Mexico and the Mexican people do not have to accept measures that, in a unilateral way, one government wants to impose on another."

The disconnect: Spicer said yesterday U.S.-Mexico relations are "phenomenal."

Why the fuss: Trump's plan would force Mexico to accept undocumented immigrants that entered the U.S. through Mexico, even if they are not from Mexico originally.

On our radar: Per the WSJ, Videgaray said yesterday this would be the main topic of his conversations with Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly, who are in Mexico City this week. Tillerson and Kelly will meet with Mexican President Pena Nieto tonight.

Politico has the weird story of an alleged blackmail attempt on Paul Manafort by Serhiy Leshchenko, the man who later provided documents to the New York Times that seemed to show Manafort's receipt of $12.7 million from pro-Russian Ukrainian political parties.

A portion of the note: "I think you and Mr Trump will work out a way to solve this problem of yours. Otherwise official investigation that will be reinforced by the facts that are in my posession will reach also the Federal Government. [sic]"

The weird: The note was texted to Manafort's daughter and released in a hack of her phone by a collective that one former cybersecurity analyst called "randos." Manafort himself confirmed that the hack was legit.

This week, Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump have grabbed some attention for their increased influence in DC:

• Jared came up with the idea for today's working sessions with CEOs and cabinet secretaries, as Axios' Jonathan Swan reported last night. Those ideas will make their way to Trump later today.
• President Trump will hold a meeting about human trafficking today as well, which Ivanka pushed for and helped orchestrate. A source told Axios' Mike Allen: "Ivanka recommended the meeting to the president and he immediately agreed, given what a horrible issue it is in the U.S. and internationally."
• The couple joined President Trump earlier this week on his visit to the African-American museum.
• After news of several attacks on synagogues, Ivanka, who converted to Orthodox Judaism before marrying Jared, tweeted that "America is a nation built on the principle of religious tolerance. We must protect our houses of worship & religious centers."

Kellyanne Conway kicked off CPAC in an interview with Fox News contributor Mercedes Schlapp. The theme? Being female.

Her advice for women: 1) "Know who you are, put your priorities in order, and don't worry about what the critics say." 2) "Don't undercut your value. When in doubt, say, "I'll have what he's having, and indeed you'll get it." 3) "The job for first female President of the United States is still open, so go for it!"

Her stance on feminism: "We didn't need words like feminism in my home — we were just taught to be strong, hard-working women," said Conway. "This generation, particularly the younger people, don't like labels. So I don't know about the word feminist... I wouldn't really call myself a feminist. It seems to be very anti-male. And it certainly is very pro-abortion."

On women's marches: "Turns out that a lot of women just have a problem with women in power."

Her take on Trump's influence on conservatism: "By tomorrow this will be TPAC when he's here," Conway joked, as the crowd cheered.

The NYT reports that Trump's new national security advisor, Lt. Gen. H.R. McMaster, is planning another restructuring of the White House's foreign policy team. The changes being discussed…

1. The director of national intelligence and chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff would rejoin the principals committee of the National Security Council. They were only left out because the Trump team copied a Bush-era organizational chart — not realizing that President Obama had made both positions full members of the committee.
2. Steve Bannon may be removed from the principals committee. The White House has downplayed the significance of his inclusion, but the criticism surrounding that elevation caught President Trump off guard.
3. The Homeland Security Council would reform under the National Security Council, as it had during the Obama administration. It had been split off under Trump to remove power from McMaster's predecessor, Michael Flynn.

The Trump administration's announcement of a deportation surge has put many big companies on edge.

"You already have a shortage of documented individuals. So if you have fewer and fewer undocumented, at the end of the day it's going to have an impact on projects," Bill Wilhelm, president of R.D. Olson Construction in Irvine, Calif. told the WSJ. Labor economist Donald Grimes also noted that the crackdown will likely lead to "massive labor shortages."

The other elephant in the room: More than 90% of the 65,000 undocumented immigrants removed last year from the U.S. interior were convicted criminals, per the latest WSJ editorial, and about 2,000 were affiliated with gangs. This suggests that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is already targeting and removing as many bad guys as it can locate. But Kelly's plan, outlined his Dept. of Homeland Security memos, is so sweeping that it will likely also capture law-abiding immigrants who fill the tough, low-paying jobs that U.S. citizens often avoid.

President Trump this afternoon will hold a listening session on domestic and international human trafficking, including women and girls who are sexually exploited for profit. We're told that the sudden West Wing attention to the issue was driven by Ivanka Trump, a huge West Wing force despite her decision not to take an official title at first.

• How the meeting came about: Ivanka Trump and Dina Powell, White House senior counselor for economic initiatives, had a few meetings with some of the groups attending today's 2:30 p.m. session in the Roosevelt Room. "Ivanka recommended the meeting to the president and he immediately agreed, given what a horrible issue it is in the U.S. and internationally," a source said.
• Outside groups coming: National Center for Missing and Exploited Children; International Justice Mission; Thorn: Tech Innovation to Fight Child Sexual Exploitation, co-founded by Ashton Kutcher (who'll be represented by someone else).
• Who's coming from the administration: The meeting is likely to include Vice President Pence, who has had a longtime focus on the issue; representatives of the Justice Department; plus policy guru Stephen Miller, Dina Powell and Hope Hicks, director of strategic communications.

Why it matters: White House support for legislation on the issue could emerge from the meeting; West Wing aides are already talking about how to work with three senators — Rob Portman of Ohio, Marco Rubio of Florida and Bob Corker of Tennessee.

Editor's note: This article was updated to reflect that Sen. Rubio was not in attendance at today's meeting.

The Capitol Hill calendar is way overstuffed — a Supreme Court nomination, plus Obamacare repeal legislation; tax reform; and budget, spending and debt-ceiling fights, including a possible showdown over a government shutdown.

So Republican sources tell us that a backup plan is emerging for one of Trump's top priorities:

• The plan: Push off until next year any consideration of the massive infrastructure plan Trump wants to push for roads, airports and other big projects, giving Republican lawmakers more breathing room amid a crowd of issues that'll require massive effort, time and political capital.
• The politics: Republican strategists say that Democrats, who'll be reluctant to give Trump a win, will be in a jam as midterm elections close in: They'll be under huge pressure to support big projects that'll bring money and improvements to their districts. And blue-collar unions, including construction and building trades, can be expected to favor of the package, driving a wedge into the Democratic base.
• What this shows: Trump officials, who originally wanted to flood the Capitol zone with their massive asks, are learning the rhythms of Washington — playing what White House counselor Kellyanne Conway last night called on Fox News "long ball, long haul."