Axios

President Trump announced Tuesday that he will let the Deferred Enforced Departure status for Liberians expire on March 31st as is scheduled and will not extend legal protection for them to remain in the U.S. Recipients of the special legal status who have been in the U.S. since 2002 will have a year before forced to leave the U.S.

The backstory: The special legal status was first implemented in 1999 shortly after Liberia's civil war, and has been extended every year by Clinton, Bush and Obama. The White House's statement says that Liberia "has made significant progress in restoring stability and democratic governance" and has also made progress in preventing Ebola outbreaks. The Department of Homeland Security has recently announced the end of Temporary Protective Status for those from El Salvador, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Sudan.

Rep. Elijah Cummings, Ranking Member of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, and Rep. Jerrold Nadler, Ranking Member of the House Committee on the Judiciary, have requested information from Cambridge Analytica, citing a Washington Post report suggesting that foreign nationals may have worked on the 2016 election, which would be in violation of U.S. election law.

The details: In their letter, the Congressmen cite the Post's reporting that "Cambridge Analytica assigned dozens of non-U.S. citizens to provide campaign strategy and messaging advice to Republican candidates in 2014." They write that this would violate a FEC regulation which says foreign nationals are prohibited from being involved in "the decision-making process of...election-related activities."

The "sanctuary city" West Palm Beach told city employees today that they "may share" any information with federal law enforcement, including ICE, as part of a settlement of its litigation with the Department of Justice. DOJ has told the city that they are now in compliance with federal law.

The back story: In January, Attorney General Jeff Sessions sent letters to 23 jurisdictions, including West Palm Beach, requesting proof that they were cooperating with federal law enforcement. Sessions threatened subpoenas, and West Palm Beach sued the DOJ in response.

At a Q&A session Monday night, Senate candidate Mitt Romney defended his conservatism saying he's tougher on some issues — like immigration — than the president, reports the Utah Daily Herald:

"I’m a deficit hawk. That makes me more conservative than a lot of Republicans and a lot of Democrats. I’m also more of a hawk on immigration than even the president. My view [as a presidential candidate in 2012] was these DACA kids shouldn’t all be allowed to stay in the country legally."

Background: A campaign spokesperson told Axios that, given how the circumstances on DACA have since changed, Romney now believes the commitment President Obama made to DACA recipients should be honored. "Therefore, he agrees with President Trump's proposal to allow DACA recipients to legally stay in the country, but [he] does not support a special pathway to citizenship," the spokesman emailed.

California is suing the Trump administration over the Commerce Department's decision to add a question regarding citizenship to the 2020 Census, reports The Washington Post. The suit claims that the question was unconstitutional because the Constitution requires an "actual Enumeration" of every person living in the United States — and California Attorney General Xavier Becerra said the question will prevent that from occurring by suppressing non-citizen responses.

Why it matters: If non-citizens choose not to respond to the census as a result of the question, that could affect the apportionment of seats in the House of Representatives — and because immigrant-heavy states tend to lean blue, it would likely mean the loss of Democratic seats.

Lawyers for Elliott Broidy, a GOP fundraiser linked to President Trump, filed a lawsuit on Monday against Qatar, alleging that the Qatari government has been hacking into his emails and working with Washington lobbyists to smear his reputation, reports the New York Times. Broidy has been at the center of recent media reports regarding attempts by Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates to push the White House toward a more openly anti-Qatari stance.

Why it matters: "The lawsuit is one of the first high-profile attempts to hold a foreign government accountable in American courts for cyberespionage," writes NYT's David Kirkpatrick. "It comes at a time when hacking is becoming an increasingly common tool among a growing number of states seeking to punish enemies or achieve political goals."

There is a lot of anger toward Trump in areas around Democratic cities, per WashPost: "If Republicans want to hold onto the House, they will have to compete in communities that had little to do with the working-class regions that sent Trump to the White House in 2016: affluent, white-collar suburbs of Democratic cities."

Why it matters: "Many of the most competitive House seats this year are in the tony bedroom communities of Los Angeles, Chicago, Denver, Houston, Philadelphia, New York and Washington."

The U.S. Department of Commerce announced Monday that in the 2020 census they will again ask for respondents‘ citizenship status, as requested by the Department of Justice in December.

The big picture: This is the first time a citizenship question has been included in the decennial census since 1950, per NPR. But the Texas Tribune points out that some are worried that the question could jeopardize an accurate census count, because immigrants will be afraid to be counted in the census.

Prominent attorneys Tom Buchanan and Dan Webb told The Daily Beast on Monday that they both rejected an offer to join President Trump's legal team responding to special counsel Robert Mueller's ongoing Russia probe, citing business conflicts.

Why it matters: This signals the president's uphill battle to secure top notched legal talent to represent him. He pushed back on Sunday amid reports that he's struggling to find attorneys from reputable firms with experience, tweeting that many lawyers are eager to work for him. Trump's personal lawyer John Dowd resigned as the head of the president's legal team last week — just days after saying Muller should shut down the probe.

The Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) division of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement used data obtained by court order from Facebook to track down a suspected child predator in New York, internal documents obtained by the Intercept revealed.

Why it matters: The initial report, which Axios initially covered in this space, insinuated that ICE habitually used Facebook data to track down immigrants. But the HSI part of ICE also investigates "illegal movement of contraband across the U.S. border" and "the distribution and production of child exploitation material that typically crosses multiple state/country boundaries," according to an ICE spokesperson.

U.S. Army veteran Miguel Perez, who was convicted on drug charges after he delivered cocaine to an undercover officer, was deported to Mexico, CNN reports. Perez served two tours in Afghanistan, and has said that his experiences there led him to alcoholism and drug addiction.

Why it matters: Perez's deportation follows Trump and Sessions' push to deport undocumented criminal offenders. His family, supporters and Sen. Tammy Duckworth had argued that his service should earn him the right to stay in the U.S. legally and to receive mental health and substance abuse treatment.

A new Brennan Center for Justice report projects the predicted Democratic takeover of the House of Representatives is nearly out of reach, blaming Republican gerrymandering. “Even a strong blue wave would crash against a wall of gerrymandered maps," the report says.

Our thought bubble: Democrats say that drawing districts is something Republicans do very well, but calling that advantage insurmountable is a bit hyperbolic.

Stormy Daniels has filed a defamation lawsuit against President Donald Trump's personal attorney Michael Cohen for suggesting she lied about an affair with Trump more than a decade ago. The suit, filed by Daniels' lawyer Michael Avenatti in California on Monday, also demands a jury trial.

Timing: This comes a day after Daniels' 60 Minutes interview, where she detailed her alleged affair and the $130,000 payment she received from Cohen to keep quiet. The White House had repeatedly denied the accusations.

Sunday's "60 Minutes" interview in which Stormy Daniels detailed an alleged affair with President Trump drew 22.1 million viewers, CBS reports.

Behind the numbers:

• This was the show's biggest audience since November 2008.
• 60 minutes delivered a 5.3 rating in adults 25-54 and a 4.0 rating in adults 18-49.
• The show is on track to finish no. 1 in program viewership this week for the first time since March 2017.

Go deeper: Highlights and notes from the Stormy Daniels interview.

White House Deputy Press Secretary Raj Shah told reporters during Monday's White House press briefing that President Trump "strongly, clearly, and consistently has denied" adult film actress Stormy Daniels' claims of a 2006 affair and subsequent intimidation to keep her quiet. He also would not address whether Trump had seen Daniels' interview with Anderson Cooper on CBS' "60 Minutes" last night, saying, "There are clips of it playing all over in the morning news shows."

Passing the buck: Shah also refused to comment on the $130,000 payment made to Daniels by Trump's personal lawyer, Michael Cohen: "False charges are settled out of court all the time. You have to ask Michael Cohen about the specifics."

On Sunday morning, Trump tweeted: "Many lawyers and top law firms want to represent me in the Russia case...don’t believe the Fake News narrative that it is hard to find a lawyer who wants to take this on. Fame & fortune will NEVER be turned down by a lawyer, though some are conflicted."

Reality check: Trump's legal team is down to two core lawyers, including his personal lawyer Jay Sekulow, who works from outside of the White House with a team of helpers, and Ty Cobb, who works from inside the White House and represents the institution as well as the president. Top Washington lawyers, including Ted Olson and Emmet Flood, have reportedly declined to join Trump's legal team.

Trump's red line on Russia is Vladimir Putin. The president is loath to criticize him by name or call him out in one-on-one conversations. But he has taken some tough steps against Russia that his predecessor didn't. An example: sending lethal arms to Ukraine. 

Why this matters: It's part of the Trump paradox. He still believes the U.S. and Russia have plenty of shared interests and wants to mend the relationship. He also thinks the only way to do this is by building a warm personal relationship with Putin, according t0 people who have discussed the issue privately with Trump. But this dual-track strategy — be nice personally and tough administratively — becomes more fantastical every time Trump authorizes a harsh action against the Kremlin. 

Just this morning, President Trump touted recent economic successes under his administration: "The economy is looking really good. It has been many years that we have seen these kind of numbers. The underlying strength of companies has perhaps never been better."

Yes, but: Economists are ringing alarm bells that a recession may soon follow. Mark Zandi, Moody's Analytics' chief economist, told Bloomberg that 2020 is a "real inflection point." In the short-term, some economic forecasters believe the American economy will experience historically low unemployment and rising wages, but those developments could bring rising interest rates and decreased government spending in the years to come — eventually sparking an economic contraction.

"The head of the United Nations food agency warned [today] that the relocation of Islamic State group members from the Middle East to Africa could trigger a massive new European migrant crisis," AP reports: "David Beasley, executive director of the World Food Program, said many of the militants who fled Syria amid the collapse of the Islamic State group's self-described caliphate had ended up in the greater Sahel region, a belt of semi-arid land spanning east-west across Africa."

Why it matters: "He said he has warned European leaders that they could face a far larger migrant crisis from the Sahel than the Syrian conflict generated if they do not help provide the region with food and stability."

"This past week has certainly seemed like one major story per hour.  But before we get carried away, let’s remember one of the gold standards for a time when monumental stories occurred almost simultaneously. Within three days in late January 1973, Richard Nixon was sworn in for a second term, Lyndon Johnson died, the Supreme Court handed down Roe v. Wade and the U.S. agreed to a Vietnam peace accord. With no hindsight, it’s impossible for us to know yet what was the most important thing that happened this past week in March 2018. But with 20/20 hindsight, historians of the future will be able to show us what it may have been — and, if history is any guide, this may turn out to be something that we are not yet even aware of today."

Rep. Ryan Costello (R-Pa.) told MSNBC’S Kasie Hunt on Sunday evening that he will not seek reelection this year as he's facing an uphill battle in a newly-redrawn district in the suburbs of Philadelphia.

The backdrop: Costello had filed to run in the GOP primary for the state's 6th congressional district in May. But his district was transformed by the recent redrawing of the state's congressional districts after the state Supreme Court ruled that the prior GOP-crafted map was unconstitutional. The new map is expected to make elections more competitive and put several Republican-held seats in play for Democrats this year. For example, Costello's district went from +1 Clinton in 2016 to +9 on the new map.