The Interior Department’s inspector general has launched an investigation into ethics complaints leveled against the agency’s new secretary, David Bernhardt, who was confirmed by the Senate last week, the New York Times reports.
Details: Mary Kendall, the agency’s deputy inspector general, told the 8 Democratic senators who requested a formal investigation that she had received 7 complaints from "a wide assortment of complainants alleging various conflicts of interest and other violations" by Bernhardt. Recent reporting by the Times revealed that Bernhardt, a former lobbyist for oil and gas companies, had used his position in the Trump administration to promote a policy advocated by his former client, among other things.
Former Massachusetts Gov. Bill Weld is the first Republican to announce he will challenge President Donald Trump in the 2020 presidential race. Weld, a popular former governor who has tended to support more liberal social issues, ran on the 2016 Libertarian ticket with Gary Johnson.
Washington Gov. Jay Inslee told Politico Monday that his 2020 presidential campaign raised $2.25 million in the first quarter of 2019.
The big picture: Inslee, who has made fighting climate change the core issue of his 2020 run, did not disclose the number of individual donors or the average contribution to his campaign. Inslee is one of the few Democratic candidates being backed by a super PAC, known as Act Now On Climate.
2020 Democratic candidate Julián Castro's campaign announced Monday that it had raised $1.1 million from 20,319 unique donors during the first quarter of 2019.
The big picture: Castro is bringing up the rear among the Democratic candidates who have released their Q1 fundraising totals. However, the total haul announced by his campaign is slightly more impressive: He has pulled in approximately $2 million from 50,000 donors since December — as well as an additional $572,000 since the beginning of April.
Three House committee chairs sent a letter to the White House and the Department of Homeland Security on Monday requesting documents related to President Trump's desire to send detained migrants to Democratic-leaning "sanctuary cities."
The big picture: The idea, reportedly first debated last November and confirmed by Trump in a tweet last week, has been legally rebuffed by Immigration and Customs Enforcement. In the letter, House Judiciary chair Jerry Nadler, House Oversight chair Elijah Cummings and House Homeland Security chair Bennie Thompson question the legality of Trump's proposal and call out the administration for "manipulating release decisions for purely political reasons."
While campaigning in Iowa today, 2020 candidate Sen. Cory Booker unveiled a new policy called the "Rise Credit" that aims to expand eligibility for the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) to more working and middle-class families.
Why it matters: Expanding the EITC is an example of some of the niche policy ideas that are becoming mainstream among 2020 Democrats. It's often referred to as a "cost-of-living refund" by activist groups.
President Trump floated that a fix and a "REBRAND" could save Boeing's embattled 737 MAX plane in a Monday morning tweet.
"What do I know about branding, maybe nothing (but I did become President!), but if I were Boeing, I would FIX the Boeing 737 MAX, add some additional great features, & REBRAND the plane with a new name. No product has suffered like this one. But again, what the hell do I know?"
The big picture: As Axios' Andrew Freedman noted, the problems for Boeing go well beyond a financial hit, which could ultimately come in between $1 to $2 billion. The aircraft maker, which has a strong reputation among pilots at Boeing-centric airlines, could face industry backlash and a damaged reputation after its use of the MCAS software system that led to two 737 MAX crashes.
Details: Airlines are planning for a lengthy grounding as Boeing and the FAA work to re-certify it as safe to fly. Southwest and American Airlines have each canceled their 737 MAX flights through August, indicating they do not expect the plane to resume flights anytime soon.
The 2020 Democrats "are spending too much time talking about esoteric issues like the Senate filibuster and the composition of the Supreme Court and not enough time speaking the language of workers, several union officials said."
Why it matters: "Those ideas may excite progressive activists, they said, but they risk alienating working-class voters ... 'They've got to pay attention to kitchen-table economics,' said Ted Pappageorge, president of the Las Vegas Culinary Union that represents 60,000 hotel and casino workers. 'We don't quite see that.'"
BOWLING GREEN, Ohio — Ohio voters who have flipped between parties in past presidential elections and supported Donald Trump in 2016 now say their first choice in 2020 is ... Barack Obama.
Why it matters: Obama isn't running. And none of the 18 Democrats actually running have broken through in rural Ohio as the antidote to President Trump.
President Trump is coming up empty handed on his promises to bolster America’s ailing coal and nuclear power industries.
The big picture: For a president who has aggressively pushed the legal and political boundaries to make good on policy priorities, particularly immigration, the lack of action in this area is striking two years into Trump’s administration.
Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) said Sunday she'd received an increase in death threats since President Trump tweeted a spliced video featuring her remarks on the 9/11 attacks, saying such action endangers lives: "It has to stop."
What she's saying: "Violent crimes and other acts of hate by right-wing extremists and white nationalists are on the rise in this country and around the world,” she said in a statement posted to her Twitter account. “We can no longer ignore that they are being encouraged by the occupant of the highest office in the land."
Democratic presidential hopeful Andrew Yang told a CNN town hall that giving every American adult a $1,000 per month "freedom dividend" would help stimulate the economy.
What he's saying: "This would create 2 million new jobs in our economy," he said, in response to a question on artificial intelligence contributing to job losses. "It would make children and families stronger and healthier and help tens of millions of Americans transition through what is the greatest economic and technological transformation in our country’s history."
Nancy Pelosi clapped back at President Trump after he took the unusual step of using Twitter to go after the House speaker for her interview on CBS' "60 Minutes" Sunday night.
Why it matters: While Trump has traded barbs with several Democrats on Twitter, it is unusual for him to single out Pelosi on the social media platform. Earlier Sunday, the House speaker demanded Trump remove a video he tweeted Friday showing footage of the September 11 attacks spliced with edited remarks by Muslim Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.), claiming the president's "hateful and inflammatory rhetoric creates real danger."
