Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) has built his presidential platform around criticizing the wealthy and big corporations, but he addressed his recent millionaire status at a rally on Saturday in Iowa, reports CNN.
"I didn't know that it was a crime to write a good book which turns out to be a bestseller."
President Trump said his administration is strongly considering placing "illegal immigrants" in sanctuary cities on Friday, marking an increase in the extremity of his immigration ideas.
Be smart: Senior White House officials and immigration lawyers have told Axios that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) would not have enough funds for this and there would be major liabilities if anyone got hurt while being transferred. Regardless, Democratic mayors have said their cities would welcome migrants immigrants if Trump's idea came to fruition.
Vice President Mike Pence stood by the president's assertions on Friday that the administration does not plan to reinstate its policy of separating migrant families at the border, following an NBC report that 3 U.S. officials said Trump has urged a return of the policy.
The bottom line: Multiple sources told CNN the same thing, and said that Trump also advocated for separating families that entered through legal ports of entry. Whether the administration plans to bring back the policy or not, Trump is embracing increasingly extreme immigration ideas.
Arab Americans still don't have the option to select a race or ethnicity beyond "white, black, Asian, American Indian, Alaska Native, Native Hawaiian Pacific Islander" on the U.S. census, the Associated Press reports.
Reality check: The Arab American Institute says there are 3.6 million Arab Americans in the country, not the 2 million estimated by the U.S. census, per the AP. Census underreporting, which leads to a lack of representation, health and social services, is ongoing in a community that advocates say grew 72% between 2000 and 2010.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer has been “relentless but thoughtful” in his attempts to get former Georgia gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams to make a run for Senate in 2020, Buzzfeed News reports.
The bottom line: Abrams said she wants to make a decision on a Senate run by the end of April, per The Hill. "And I don’t think you actually have to make a decision about the White House before the fall,” she added, in an interview on MSNBC's Morning Joe. Abrams has kept several options on the table after denying the possibility of running on a joint ticket with former Vice President Joe Biden in 2020 last month.
As the 2020 Democratic candidates campaign to secure support from black Americans — a voter segment that will play a crucial rule in choosing the party’s next nominee — reparations for the descendants of enslaved men and women has emerged as something of a litmus test.
The big picture: Many of the candidate have voiced their support for some form of reparations to redress the legacies of slavery and discrimination, but not all are embracing the issue in the traditional sense (direct compensation).
Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) would be America's second black president if elected in 2020, but he'd also be the country's first bachelor president since Grover Cleveland was elected in 1886, who married in his first term.
Why it matters: Booker, who has never married and is reportedly dating actress Rosario Dawson, told the Washington Post that President Trump has “broken the mold” by being elected after 3 marriages. As LGBTQ political candidates reach diversity milestones in the 2020 race and other elections, the idea of a "bachelor" president bringing diversity could seem like a stretch to some. But it would still break the mold in a presidency that has been marinated in traditional nuclear family values for most of the country's existence.
President Trump is embracing increasingly extreme immigration ideas, in part because he is furious at his inability to get instant border results through executive fiat, top officials tell Axios.
Why it matters: Trump is drawn to maximalist, click-your-fingers ideas that can be legally dubious or outright illegal.
Puerto Rico policy officials are unsure if or when more federal disaster relief funding will come to the island, as Congress entered recess this week without reaching an agreement on any additional spending to send natural disaster relief to the Midwest and Puerto Rico, NBC reports.
The bottom line: Americans in Puerto Rico and across the country are affected by the stalemate between Congress and the White House, from "farmers in the Southeast who are still grappling with large crop losses from Hurricane Michael last October ... to officials in small-town Iowa and Missouri who are still bailing out from some of the worst floods in recent memory," the New York Times reports.
Rep. Dave Loebsack (D-IA) announced he will be retiring when his term ends in 2020, possibly leading to a competitive congressional race in Iowa's 2nd district.
Why this matters: Loebsack has represented Iowa's 2nd Congressional district for 14 years. His district has consistently voted for Democrats, but, in 2016, went for President Trump by 4 percentage points, per Politico. In his statement, Loebsack said he had no intention of being in office for more than 12 years, but "after Donald Trump assumed the presidency, it became apparent that I needed to run for at least one more term in the hopes that I could provide a check on his worst impulses."
President Trump's ban on transgender military personnel has evolved after a lengthy battle with multiple federal court injunctions, and the latest version goes into effect April 12.
Where it stands: The current version of the ban prohibits new military recruits from transitioning and also allows the military to discharge those currently serving if they do not present as their birth gender. This policy battle started before Trump took office.
Details: It's still unclear if this was part of a protest, per the Washington Post. The man was riding a motorized wheelchair when he set his jacket on fire. He is presently in the custody of the Secret Service and is being treated for wounds, per NBC Washington. The North Lawn of the White House was cleared as well as Lafayette Square and the front sidewalk. Traffic is also blocked off in the surrounding area.
The big picture: Immigration and Custom Enforcement's legal department previously rebuffed this proposal, reportedly first floated on Nov. 16 and again in February during the government shutdown. The White House and a DHS spokesman told the Washington Post earlier this week that the proposal was no longer on the table, saying: "This was just a suggestion that was floated and rejected." The plan would hit back at Trump's political rivals.
Samuel Patten, a former associate of Paul Manafort, was sentenced to probation Friday by a federal judge after he pleaded guilty last year to helping steer Ukrainian money into President Trump's inaugural committee, the Washington Post reports.
The backdrop: Patten, whose case was spun off from special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation, sought probation after providing assistance across other investigations. He previously worked with Cambridge Analytica during the 2014 election cycle, and had a "long relationship" with Russian intelligence agent Konstantin Kilimnik.
2020 candidate Pete Buttigieg's increasingly toughback-and-forth with Vice President Mike Pence is only the latest chapter in a political saga that predates the 2016 election and Buttigieg's 2020 presidential run, the AP reports.
Why it matters: Buttigieg, the mayor of South Bend, Ind., would be the first openly gay U.S. president if elected, and Pence, who previously served as Indiana's governor, has a history of taking a stance against LGBTQ rights largely on the grounds of religious freedom.
Herman Cain's candidacy for the Federal Reserve's Board of Governors is collapsing.
The bottom line: President Trump hasn't even formally nominated him, but a growing number Republicans are privately saying he’ll be confirmed over their dead bodies.
White House officials tried to pressure immigration authorities into releasing detained immigrants into sanctuary cities in retaliation against President Trump’s Democratic rivals and "send a message," according to a Washington Post report late Thursday.
Details: Senior Trump adviser Stephen Miller reportedly pitched the proposal two times since November to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The plan was also intended to ease the bed shortage at detention centers and target Democratic strongholds, including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's district in San Francisco, sources at the Department of Homeland Security told the Washington Post.
Acting Deputy Director Matthew Albence is expected to lead U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement following Acting Director Ronald Vitiello's official resignation on Wednesday, Buzzfeed reports.
Details: Per The Huffington Post, Vitiello named Albence as his replacement in an email sent to his colleagues on Thursday, stating: "Beginning tomorrow I will be out of the office, during which time Acting Deputy Director Matt Albence will be leading the agency."
