As Venezuela’s two presidents vie for the loyalty of the armed forces, the country's fate may seem to lie solely in the hands of the generals. But politicians are still writing the storyline, and if Nicolás Maduro and Juan Guaidó end up in a stalemate, the international community could open a new round of geopolitical jostling over how to resolve the crisis.
A preliminary deal would see South Korea pay the U.S. almost $1 billion toward the cost of stationing U.S. military personnel in the country, up from about $800 million under a previous five-year agreement, CNN reports, citing two State Department officials.
76% of registered voters in the U.S. think the wealthiest Americans should pay more in taxes — and 61% approve of Sen. Elizabeth Warren's (D-Mass.) "wealth tax," a more radical proposal — according to a Politico/Morning Consult poll released Monday.
Why it matters: The numbers reflect mounting fear and frustration in the electorate about economic inequality in the U.S., which could influence candidates' positions in a crowded 2020 Democratic primary. Even Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's (D-N.Y.) push for a 70% marginal rate on income earned over $10 million — one of the most controversial ideas from the left — saw support from 45% in the poll, compared to 32% who opposed the idea.
On Sunday, Nayib Bukele, the 37-year-old former mayor of San Salvador, won a first-round victory in El Salvador's presidential election, handily vanquishing candidates from the country's two major parties. Bukele, who was expelled from the left-wing FMLN party in 2017 following an internal dispute and ran as the candidate of the center-right GANA party, made history as the first third-party candidate to win the presidency since the end of El Salvador's civil war in 1992.
The decision of 11 governments in Latin America, the U.S., the Organization of American States (OAS), and Canada last month to recognize Juan Guaidó as Venezuela's legitimate president was many years in the making. The international community has long looked to act on Venezuela, but the incremental measures of President Hugo Chávez and later Nicolás Maduro to roll back the country’s democracy and freedoms failed to provide one specific moment — like a traditional military coup — that could trigger collective action.
Embattled Virginia Gov. Democratic Ralph Northam remains in office despite a wave of lawmakers, former politicians and special interest groups that have called for his resignation this past weekend — both in Virginia and across the country.
One big quote: "We now know what Ralph Northam did when he thought no one was watching. The person in that photo can’t be trusted to lead. Governor Northam must resign immediately," said Rep. Karen Bass (D-Calif.), chair of the Congressional Black Caucus.
It pays to be on the president's bad side. At least it has for public companies over the past two years, a pair of indexes created by Ritholtz Wealth Management CIO Barry Ritholtz and featured in Bloomberg show.
Driving the news: President Trump has broken with past presidential precedent and heaped both praise and disparagement on a collection of U.S. companies since taking office. Ritholtz tracked the stock performance of companies relative to their relationship with the president.
The massive leak of President Trump's private schedules, which dropped yesterday in the weekly Axios Sneak Peek newsletter, set off internal finger-pointing and speculation more fevered than any since the New York Times' anonymous op-ed.
The big picture: White House insiders said the leak sowed chaos. Cliff Sims, the former White House official who wrote the dishy "Team of Vipers," told me: "There are leaks, and then there are leaks. If most are involuntary manslaughter, this was premeditated murder. People inside are genuinely scared."
The Pentagon announced Sunday that it's sending 3,750 additional troops to the U.S.-Mexico border to support efforts to improve security at ports of entry and deploy mobile surveillance units, AP reports.
Details: This puts the total number of active-duty troops already stationed on the border to 4,350. CNN, citing defense officials, reported last week that the administration would send more than 3,000 troops. Meanwhile, the Department of Homeland Security said the agency is tracking three migrant caravans currently in route to the U.S., one of which it claims has more than 12,000 people.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrested rapper 21 Savage on Sunday, saying he’s a U.K. national who entered the U.S. in July 2005 and has overstayed his visa, which expired a year later, reports the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Details: An ICE spokesperson told the Journal-Constitution that the rapper, whose album "I Am > I Was" spent two weeks at the top of the Billboard charts last month, was taken into custody in a "targeted operation" in Atlanta, which he had claimed as his hometown. 21 Savage performed in the Atlanta area as recently as Thursday as part of pre-Super Bowl festivities.
President Trump picked the New England Patriots to win Sunday's Super Bowl over the Los Angeles Rams in an interview with CBS' "Face the Nation," saying the team has a "very special owner [Robert Kraft] and coach [Bill Belichick] and certainly ... the greatest quarterback [Tom Brady] of all time."
Details: The president has long been a supporter of the Patriots and is friends with Kraft, Belichick and Brady. The Patriots were the first championship team to visit Trump at the White House when the team won the Super Bowl in 2017. Last year, Trump abruptly disinvited Super Bowl champion Philadelphia Eagles for their ceremonial White House visit after many team members said they would not attend.
Kevin Warsh had prepared deeply for his interview with President Trump. It was the fall of 2017, and Trump had narrowed his search for the next chairman of the Federal Reserve down to four candidates. Warsh was one of them.
What happened: The former Federal Reserve governor arrived at the White House with a set of sharp points to make to Trump about monetary policy, according to a friend of his. But that's not quite how the conversation went. "You're a really handsome guy, aren't you?" Trump said, per the friend. "How old are you?"
President Trump’s time management — or lack thereof — is without recent historical precedent. To put our new reporting on his schedules in context, we spoke with former top aides to presidents Barack Obama, George W. Bush and Bill Clinton.
The big picture: The difference between Trump and his recent predecessors is eye-popping.
Trump’s fancy-free scheduling approach is no mistake. In "The Art of the Deal," he explained that he thought too much planning curbed his creativity and impeded his thinking. That philosophy is alive and well in the White House, according to more than half a dozen current and former officials.
Between the lines: Trump believes to his core, one former senior White House official told Axios, that he's better off not preparing for some meetings. He thinks preparation hinders his ability to read the room and act with spontaneity, this former aide said.
A White House source has leaked nearly every day of President Trump's private schedule for the past three months.
Why it matters: This unusually voluminous leak gives us unprecedented visibility into how this president spends his days. The schedules, which cover nearly every working day since the midterms, show that Trump has spent around 60% of his scheduled time over the past 3 months in unstructured "Executive Time."
A White House source has leaked President Trump's private schedules for nearly every working day since the midterms, showing that Trump has spent around 60% of the last three months in "Executive Time."
Details: We've published every page of the leaked schedules below. To protect our source, we retyped the schedules in the same format that staff receive them.
America is back. Donald Trump's White House is pushing his international agenda aggressively, with the rest of the world allowing the Trump administration to take the lead.
The state of play: This is not diplomacy. Treasury is front and center, with other departments, including Defense and Justice, playing an important role. State is certainly involved, but this is a full court press.
In early 2016, with Donald Trump lending tens of millions of dollars to his presidential campaign, he sought a loan from Deutsche Bank, one of the few banks still willing to lend him money — and got turned down, the NY Times' David Enrich, Jesse Drucker and Ben Protess scoop.
Be smart: We're going to start to see more and more leaks — especially of the follow-the-money sort — from the 17 known investigations of Trump and Russia. Investigators and prosecutors will be sharing material that they may not be able to use in their cases, but that could be very useful to Democrats for congressional probes and even impeachment efforts.
President Trump told CBS' "Face the Nation" in an interview taped ahead of Sunday's Super Bowl that he "would have a hard time" if his 12-year-old son, Barron, decided to play football, which he called a "dangerous sport."
Details: Trump said that while he wouldn't steer Barron, a noted soccer fan, away from football if he wanted to play, he doesn't "like the reports that I see coming out having to do" with the sport. President Obama, the father of two daughters, told the New Republic in a 2013 interview that if he had a hypothetical son, "I'd have to think long and hard before I let him play football" due to the risk of head injuries.
Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.), 49, would be the country's first self-described vegan president, the LA Times' Nardine Saad writes.
What he's saying: "I find myself more and more rejoicing in the delicious simplicity of a whole food, plant based diet,” Booker wrote on Facebook last March, sharing a picture of a roasted-cauliflower lunch.
