TIMELY VISIT: NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte is set to visit the White House today at a critical time for relations between the U.S. and its Western allies.
The trip comes as the U.S. has grown increasingly isolated over its war with Iran, with most European allies keeping their distance from the conflict and some denouncing the operations despite pressure from Trump to get involved.
Their refusal has added to Trump’s years-long frustration with NATO, leading him to escalate his threats last week to withdraw the U.S. from the alliance, in one of his strongest rebukes yet of the organization.
The comments spurred backlash from European allies, Democrats and even some Republicans, as critics noted that withdrawing from NATO requires congressional approval, a prospect that seems highly unlikely.
As The Hill’s Ryan Mancini reports, Rutte’s visit could shake up the state of play on two fronts — the paused U.S. offensive against Iran and the U.S.’s future in NATO.
Rutte has enjoyed a strong working relationship with Trump over the past year, becoming known as NATO’s “Trump whisperer,” on account of his ability to diffuse conflicts between the U.S. and Europe. He was credited with helping to cool tensions over Trump’s monthslong demands that the U.S. be allowed to acquire Greenland.
“He does seem to have a way of speaking to Trump that keeps the United States and the Trump administration engaged in NATO in a constructive way,” Matthew Kroenig, vice president and senior director of the Atlantic Council’s Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security, told The Associated Press.
Still, the task before Rutte may be among the most challenging he’s faced as relations are even more strained.
▪ DW: Europe mulls prospect of NATO without U.S.
▪ The Hill: Trump’s threats stoke war crimes debate.
DHS DISSENT: The conservative House Freedom Caucus came out against a two-step proposal backed by the president to reopen the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), adding an obstacle to getting the plan across the finish line.
The House is set to take up a Senate-passed bill to fund all of DHS except for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Border Patrol as soon as next week, when the chamber comes back from recess. After passing that, the plan would be to move additional funds for ICE and Border Patrol through the reconciliation process, which can pass without Democratic votes.
But the Freedom Caucus said Tuesday that those immigration enforcement agencies can’t be left hanging on the hopes that reconciliation, a difficult process, is successful.
“We must provide robust funding for ICE and CBP, and it should be done with all of DHS in reconciliation 2.0. We can fund DHS for the rest of the President’s term to ensure Democrats can never again take our nation’s security hostage,” the caucus said in a post on X.
The caucus members’ opposition will add to what was already going to be a difficult task for House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.). House Republicans during a private call last week raged over the plan and Johnson’s flipping after initially being opposed to the idea.
Trump said he wants the reconciliation bill to reach his desk by June 1, but the Freedom Caucus said it could “tightly control this process.”
▪ The Hill: GOP congresswoman calls for two members’ ouster.
MAJORITY EXPANDED: Liberals expanded their majority on the Wisconsin Supreme Court on Tuesday as Democratic-backed candidate Chris Taylor easily cruised to victory over her Republican-backed opponent.
Taylor defeated Maria Lazar, a fellow appellate court judge, in the race for retiring conservative Justice Rebecca Bradley's seat on the court. Taylor leads by more than 20 points, as of the latest vote count.
The pickup for the court's left wing will expand their current 4-3 majority to 5-2, ensuring its control stays in place at least through the end of the decade.
The race was formally nonpartisan, but Democrats and Republicans rallied behind opposing candidates. Wisconsin Supreme Court races have been a common occurrence in recent years gaining national attention, and liberals have now won multiple contests in a row.
And another race is already on the horizon as conservative Justice Annette Ziegler doesn't plan to seek reelection to another term next year.
▪ The Hill: Democrats build on overperformance streak.
EPSTEIN TESTIMONIES: A string of notable individuals with ties to Jeffrey Epstein or the investigation into him are set to testify in the coming months as a House committee continues its probe.
A person familiar with the matter told The Hill’s Miranda Nazzaro on Tuesday that Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates will appear before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee in June, one of the most high-profile figures to testify.
Gates received attention earlier this year after his name appeared in released Epstein files, showing he communicated with the disgraced financier years after Epstein’s 2008 sex crimes conviction.
The scheduling of Gates’s testimony is the latest of a few that have been put on the calendar in the last couple days. Multiple outlets reported Monday that Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick agreed to testify in May following revelations that he was in touch with Epstein years after he originally indicated he had cut off contact.
Tova Noel, a corrections officer who was on duty when Epstein died by suicide in federal custody in 2019, is scheduled to testify in May, and Epstein’s former personal assistant, Lesley Groff, is also set to testify in June.
The interviews will likely keep the spotlight on the Epstein controversy even as the Department of Justice (DOJ) has said it has released the documents required under the law.
▪ CBS News: Details emerge about Epstein’s lenient plea deal.
▪ NPR: Will we ever get to the bottom of the Epstein files?
FIRST IMPRESSION: Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche gave his first press conference Tuesday since taking over leadership of the DOJ, defending the president’s vision for the department.
“Nobody has any idea why the attorney general is no longer the attorney general and I’m the acting attorney general except for President Trump,” he said about why former Attorney General Pam Bondi was fired.
Blanche said he wasn’t sure how Trump views DOJ’s leadership, including whether he would be nominated as attorney general permanently, return to his former role as deputy attorney general or do something else.
“I love working for President Trump. It’s the greatest honor of a lifetime. And if President Trump chooses to keep me as acting, that’s an honor. If he chooses to nominate me, that’s an honor,” he said.
“If he chooses to nominate somebody else and asks me to go do something else, I will say, ‘Thank you very much. I love you, sir.’ So I don’t have any goals or aspirations beyond that,” Blanche added.
▪ The Hill: Blanche says DOJ providing legal counsel on Iran strikes.
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