Tuesday, March 18 | By Cate Martel |
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It's Tuesday. You know what week this is? The one when you help your family members remember their ESPN, Yahoo or CBS Sports passwords for their March Madness brackets. 🏀 You have until Thursday at 12:15 p.m. for the men's bracket and Friday at 11:30 a.m. for the women's. | Israel escalates Gaza war, kills 400+ Palestinians Trump required to rehire 24K federal employees Stranded astronauts return to Earth Schumer does damage control
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Roberts weighs in as Trump attacks judge: |
Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts has issued a rare statement rebuking a push to impeach judges, hours after President Trump echoed such calls amid a clash with a federal judge over migrant deportations. Quick primer: U.S. District Judge James Boasberg halted flights carrying Venezuelan migrants to El Salvador over the weekend. The Trump administration bypassed the order and continued the flights. Boasberg then at a Monday evening hearing. Then this morning: Trump said he wants the judge, who was appointed by former President Obama, to be impeached. (It's highly unlikely this would ever happen. It would require a House majority and two thirds of the Senate to agree.) Republican allies have also made such calls. 🚨 Then this: Roberts on Trump's wish to impeach the judge over disagreements in his decision. "For more than two centuries, it has been established that impeachment is not an appropriate response to disagreement concerning a judicial decision. The normal appellate review process exists for that purpose," Roberts said. Tidbit — This is how a White House spokesperson described the disagreement: "The president will always follow the law, but this judge was too slow. We played a little game of 'catch me if you can,' and guess what, the judge wasn't able to catch us on this one," White House deputy press secretary Harrison Fields told NewsNation's "Morning in America." |
Trump holds high-stakes call with Putin: | Strikes upend Israel-Hamas ceasefire: |
Israel launched a deadly attack on the Gaza Strip early this morning, breaking the nearly two-month ceasefire with Palestinian militant group Hamas and killing more than 400 Palestinians. Why?: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said it was because Hamas refused to release Israeli hostages. The attack follows weeks of unsuccessful negotiations to extend the ceasefire. Who was Israel targeting?: Israel was targeting Hamas's leadership and infrastructure, but the 404-person death toll does not distinguish between civilians and combatants. At least five senior Hamas officials have been killed, according to The New York Times. By the way, the White House knew this was coming: Israel notified the Trump administration before launching the attack, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told Fox News on Monday night. What's still unclear: Whether a ceasefire returns. It's possible the full-scale war between Israel and Hamas, which started 17 months ago, could resume. It's also possible Israel's attack was one burst of force to test Hamas in negotiations. |
Butch and Suni are finally headed home: |
Astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams are returning to Earth today after being stuck on the International Space Station (ISS) since June. When?: Their capsule is expected to splashdown off the Florida coast at 5:57 p.m. At 4:45 p.m.:💻 NASA's live coverage of their return At 7:30 p.m.:💻 Watch NASA's press conference Reminder: Their mission was supposed to last for one week. That turned into a nine-month mission. These are some crazy stats: Wilmore and Williams "orbited Earth more than 4,500 times, traveling more than 120 million miles on the orbiting laboratory at a speed of 17,500 mph, according to NASA." How this mission became political: Trump criticized the Biden administration for "abandoning" the two astronauts who couldn't leave the space station due to thruster issues. He asked his top adviser, SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, to help bring them home. However, Williams and Wilmore pushed back on that claim and said they "don't feel abandoned." "We don't feel stuck. We don't feel stranded," Wilmore told CNN last month. "I understand why others may think that. We come prepared. We come committed." |
Trump said he will release 80,000 pages of unredacted files about former President John F. Kennedy's assassination. |
The Trump administration is rehiring 24,000 probationary workers at 18 federal agencies after a court determined it was unlawful to terminate their employment. And they must be given their old jobs: A federal judge told the Trump administration they have to give those workers their jobs back, not just place them on administrative leave. Reminder: Probationary workers are people hired within the last year or two (depending on the agency.) |
➤ BUT THERE ARE PLANS TO CUT EVEN MORE JOBS: |
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is considering cutting its scientific research arm and would fire most of its employees, according to documents reviewed by Democratic staff on the House science committee. That could mean as many as 1,155 scientists could be cut. Some of what the office does: "[It] provides the independent research that undergirds virtually all of the agency's environmental policies, from analyzing the risks of 'forever chemicals' in drinking water to determining the best way to reduce fine particle pollution in the atmosphere. It has researched synthetic playground material made from discarded tires; found that hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, can contaminate drinking water; and measured the impact of wildfire smoke on public health. The office also helps state environmental agencies figure out how to address algae blooms, treat drinking water and more." (The New York Times) |
Trump swipes at Atlantic journalist: |
President Trump denied a request to be interviewed by The Atlantic over one of its recent hires, three-time Pulitzer Prize winner and former Washington Post reporter Ashley Parker. Trump posted on Truth Social: "Ashley Parker is not capable of doing a fair and unbiased interview. If you have some other reporter, let us know, but Ashley is not capable or competent enough to understand the intricacies of High Level politics." What's his beef with The Atlantic?: The Atlantic published a story in 2020 that claimed Trump called members of the military "suckers and losers." He has fiercely denied this accusation. 🔎 Read Trump's response to The Atlantic |
The New York Times: Trump Says a Recession Might Be Worth the Cost. Economists Disagree. The Wall Street Journal: Trump Team Explored Simplified Plan for Reciprocal Tariffs
Vox: This is why Kamala Harris really lost: TikTok is making young voters more Republican? The Washington Post: Four friends said they agreed to be deported. Now they're likely in a Salvadoran prison. The Atlantic: The Political Fight of the Century |
Chuck Schumer and the terrible, horrible, no good, very bad week: | "Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer (N.Y.) is facing the toughest fight of his Senate leadership career amid sharp attacks from his party's base over his vote to advance a House Republican-drafted funding bill," reports The Hill's Alexander Bolton and Aris Folley. Why his colleagues are mad: They don't think Schumer had a clear, effective strategy to combat Republicans. That led to Schumer ultimately backing Republicans' bill to fund the federal government for the next six months. "The legislation cut $15 billion from nondefense programs and didn't include guardrails to slow Elon Musk's assault on the federal bureaucracy." Read what Democrats are saying about Schumer 👀 Yes, but don't expect Schumer to be ousted anytime soon: His colleagues are frustrated and are questioning his decisionmaking, but they don't expect him to go anywhere as the Senate Democratic leader. Schumer is trying to do damage control: Politico reports that Schumer has been talking with liberal groups to smooth things over since last week's government funding vote, but it reportedly hasn't been going well. At least one of the conversations between Schumer and a progressive group was described as "tense and unproductive." Plus, Schumer defended himself this morning: Schumer appeared on CBS "This Morning" and discussed the internal pushback he's receiving. "Here's what I say — I'm the best leader for the Senate. I am the best at winning Senate seats," Schumer said. "I knew I'd get a lot of flak [for last week's vote]. I took some bullets." 📹 Watch Schumer's CBS interview |
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The House and Senate are out. President Trump and Vice President Vance are in Washington. (All times EST) |
3:30 p.m. Trump signs executive orders in the Oval Office.
6:30 p.m. Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz (D) holds a town hall in Eau Claire, Wis. 7:30 p.m. NASA officials hold a news conference on the return of the stranded astronauts. 💻 Livestream |
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🍔 Celebrate: Today is National Sloppy Joe Day. 🔐 Protection revoked: The Trump administration revoked Secret Service protection for two of former President Biden's children, Hunter Biden and Ashley Biden. |
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