President Trump tweeted Wednesday that he has instructed Secretary of State Mike Pompeo not to allow Hoda Muthana, a 24-year-old Alabama woman who traveled to Syria in November 2014 to join ISIS, to return to the U.S.
The big picture: Muthana who is presently detained in a Kurdish refugee camp, has pleaded with the U.S. government to allow her to return with her toddler son and stand trial, telling The Guardian that she regrets joining the terrorist group. Earlier on Wednesday, Pompeo said Mathana would not be re-admitted into the country because she has no "legal basis" to claim American citizenship. However, a representative for Muthana claims she is a citizen and that she was born to a former diplomat in Hackensack, New Jersey, in 1994.
Jessica Denson, a former staffer on President Trump's 2016 campaign, filed a class action suit on Wednesday to annul every nondisclosure and non-disparagement agreement the campaign required employees, volunteers and contractors to sign, BuzzFeed News reported.
The details: The lawsuit, filed before the American Arbitration Association, argues that the language of the NDA is "impermissibly vague" and unlawful. If the NDAs are invalidated, former staffers would be able to speak openly about their time on the campaign trail without fear of facing financial penalties. Denson was ordered to pay nearly $50,000 to the campaign after filing a separate 2017 suit alleging that she experienced discrimination and harassment.
Sen. Bernie Sanders' presidential campaign estimates he raised $5.9 million from 225,000 individuals donors in the first day following his official announcement on Tuesday morning.
The big picture: Sen. Kamala Harris, the biggest fundraiser in the race to date, raised $1.5 million from 38,000 online donors in the 24 hours after she announced her presidential bid last month. The individual donors, who on average donated $26 to Sanders' campaign, reflect the established power of his fundraising machine as he kicks off his second White House campaign.
Fox News has run more coverage on Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) than on any of the likely or possible 2020 Democratic presidential hopefuls apart from Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), the Washington Post reported Wednesday.
The big picture: The WashPost analyzed data to uncover which 2020 Democratic candidates and potential runners had the most Fox News airtime since the midterm elections. Coverage of Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Warren soared when they entered the race, but they were often mentioned on Fox News even before announcing their presidential ambitions.
Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan told CBS News that he still isn't ruling out a Republican primary challenge against President Trump in 2020, saying Trump "does things in a way that aren't great for the Republican Party, or for the country."
What he's saying: "I was just sworn in a month ago for my second term," said the popular centrist governor, who has publicly shunned Trump. Hogan has planned a March trip to Iowa as vice chair of the National Governors Association. "I've got a lot of work to do here in Maryland. … I would say I'm being approached from a lot of different people and I guess the best way to put it is, I haven't thrown them out of my office."
Dan and Axios' Mike Allen discuss how Republicans plan to frame 2020 around a new paradigm, and if it's a plan that would have worked better in 1988 than in 2018.
White House officials and sources close to President Trump are treating Andrew McCabe's book as an opportunity.
What's happening: These people plan to keep promoting bits from "The Threat," which has rocketed past Michelle Obama's "Becoming" to #1 on Amazon's best-sellers list, that support their "deep state" narrative. They also plan to argue that the rest of the former FBI deputy director's claims are a pack of lies.
Democrats seem to be addicted to old age ahead of the 2020 presidential election.
By the numbers: Sen. Bernie Sanders, 77 (five years older than President Trump, a spry 72), jumped into the race yesterday. And Sen. Elizabeth Warren, 69, was one of this cycle's first to announce. For some in the party, former Vice President Joe Biden, 76, is the savior.
The era of the geek candidacy is over. For the first time, the ability to understand the impact of technology and explain it to the American voter isn’t something that sets a Democratic presidential aspirant apart — it’s expected.
Why it matters: The debates that drive presidential races — like how to create economic opportunity, protect national security and safeguard democratic institutions — are all being shaped by rapid technological change.
The U.S. ambassadors appointed by President Trump have given more financial support to his election than any cohort of ambassadors in recent history, even as they demonstrated fewer qualifications for the job, according to a new study of ambassadorial appointments over the last three decades.
President Donald Trump late Tuesday announced his intention to nominate Jeffrey Rosen to serve as the Justice Department's new deputy attorney general.
The big picture: Rosen, who is currently deputy transportation secretary and has previously been confirmed by the Senate, will replace Rod Rosenstein, who is reportedly expected to step down by mid-March. Rosen previously worked for nearly 30 years at the law firm Kirkland & Ellis, where recently-confirmed Attorney General William Barr also worked prior to his nomination.
In a video announcing his bid for president today, Bernie Sanders, the grandfatherly senator from Vermont, brought up an unusual talking point: artificial intelligence and robotics.
What he said: Right at the halfway mark of the 10-minute video, Sanders took a stance on the future of work. "I'm running for president because we need to understand that artificial intelligence and robotics must benefit the needs of workers, not just corporate America and those who own that technology," Sanders said.
Beto O'Rourke, who reportedly plans to decide whether to run for president in the next 10 days, said Tuesday at an honorary luncheon in El Paso that he would not rule out the VP slot in a 2020 presidential election, AP reports.
Between the lines: In December, former Vice President Joe Biden's camp said they were eyeing O'Rourke to share the 2020 ticket. At the time, O'Rourke said he wouldn't dismiss the idea. O'Rourke is also reportedly toying with the idea of challenging Texas Sen. John Cornyn, the Republican whip.
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