With help from Eli Okun, Garrett Ross and Bethany Irvine
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In today’s Playbook …
▶ President Donald Trump rejects an Andrew Jackson Moment
▶ Fed publishes quarterly report at 2 p.m. with red lights flashing for the U.S. economy
▶ Pressure mounts on Chuck Schumer as first Dem congressman calls for him to quit
THIS FAR BUT NO FARTHER: Donald Trump vowed last night that he has never, and will never, defy the courts — even as his war on the judiciary hits new heights. In an interview with Fox News (by my count, the fifth of his eight-week presidency), Trump bluntly told the MAGA faithful that “you can’t” just ignore the rulings of the judicial branch. It comes with the president still locked in a ferocious battle with U.S. District Judge James Boasberg over the government’s deportation of around 250 Venezuelan migrants Saturday, despite a court order blocking their removal. Boasberg has given the administration until midday to provide details of what happened.
Filter out the noise: This was a TV moment that actually mattered. Trump gave a similar response at a brief press huddle last month — but last night was a sit-down interview on MAGA TV, and came in the context of this week’s relentless attacks on the judiciary from Trump world. The president blustered and raged plenty more through the interview — but on the substantive point, he was clear. “I never did defy a court order,” he told Laura Ingraham. Pressed if he might do so in the future, he said: “No, you can’t do that.” Watch the clip.
On the other hand: “However, we have bad judges,” Trump said. “I think at a certain point, you have to start looking at what do you do when you have a rogue judge?” Watch that clip here.
The context: Even by Trump’s standards, his assaults on the courts these past few days have been pretty extreme — drawing a rare rebuke from Chief Justice John Roberts. Trump continued his diatribe on Fox News last night and was still going on Truth Social after midnight. His supporters are wading in too, with policy guru Stephen Miller tweeting 17 times about the judiciary yesterday, and MAGA podcaster Charlie Kirk and White House adviser Elon Musk adding to the noise. There should be more action today when press secretary Karoline Leavitt holds a 1 p.m. briefing.
But Trump has set his boundary … for now, at least. The Trump 2.0 project has pushed the limits of executive action like nothing before, often slowing or watering down the courts’ interventions. But despite calls from MAGA supporters for radical action against the judiciary, there has been no outright call on Trump’s part for an act of defiance, no (apocryphal) Andrew Jackson Moment. Strikingly, Leavitt pushed back hard when it was suggested Boasberg’s order was “defied” on Saturday night.
A trend worth noting: Opinion pieces in the Rupert Murdoch-owned press are certainly clear where the line should be drawn. “Sorry, Elon: Even deporting illegal gangbangers must heed the rule of law” (NY Post editorial board, 3/16) … “He campaigned on deporting gang members, but he can’t defy court orders” (WSJ editorial board, 3/17) … “Chief Justice Roberts Speaks Up for the Judiciary” (WSJ editorial board, 3/18) … “Trump, don’t heed the dangerous urge to attack the rule of law” (Isaac Schorr, NY Post, 3/18) … It all reads like a collective warning shot at the White House.
The latest MAGA rage points: “Judge blocks Trump’s effort to ban transgender troops,” by POLITICO’s Kyle Cheney. This one dropped last night and Trump world is already going nuts about it, with expectations high in the legal world that it will be shunted up to the Supreme Court in a matter of weeks. … And ICYMI yesterday: “Musk effort to dismantle USAID likely violated Constitution, judge rules.” That one’s still leading plenty of news sites this morning, and — needless to say — the White House is unimpressed.
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FIRST IN PLAYBOOK: Indeed, the constant Trump world rage at the justice system — and the campaign of retribution the administration is waging against Big Law firms that have represented his critics — is now causing major firms to think twice about taking up cases which might draw the wrath of the president, POLITICO’s Daniel Barnes writes. That marks a major and potentially consequential change from his first term, when “attorneys at Big Law firms lent thousands of pro-bono hours to legal efforts to stymie the administration’s most controversial policies,” Daniel writes. As one former partner at a major firm told him, back then, “nobody was thinking, I’ve got to worry whether it could really hurt my law firm if I took this on. And that’s the huge change we’re in now.”
The bigger picture: The courts have provided the only real opposition to Trump 2.0 so far, with the Dems in meltdown and Congress supplicant. And as Playbook’s editor Zack Stanton notes in a savvy thought-bubble message to your author, Trump makes no distinction between legal fights and political ones — hence the constant attacks on judges like Boasberg who stand in his way.
In summary: 2024 was supposed to be the court-case campaign, Zack adds. The E. Jean Carroll case, the hush money trial, the Jack Smith investigation on Jan. 6, the classified documents case. We’ve now moved to the court-case presidency. It’s a nice line.
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THE ECONOMY, STUPID
FED UP: With red lights flashing all over the dashboard, the Federal Reserve will today publish a highly-anticipated quarterly update on the state of the U.S. economy. Given all the noise of the past few weeks, with Trump’s tariffs causing shockwaves and the stock market tumbling, the White House will be watching keenly how this plays out. The report is published at 2 p.m. after officials wrap up their regular meeting, and Chair Jerome Powell will hold a news conference at 2:30 p.m.
First things first: Nobody expects a shift in interest rates this time round, CNBC’s Jeff Cox reports.
Cards on the table: “Powell has avoided commenting on Trump’s tariff threats and other sweeping moves as much as possible,” POLITICO’s economics guru Victoria Guida writes in our Morning Money newsletter, “but those policies are increasingly shaping prospects for the economy this year. That means central bank policymakers will have to at least partially show their hand on what they think new tariffs will mean for inflation, the labor market and interest rates.
And guess what? “Increasingly, other forecasters see trouble ahead,” Victoria notes. “Even as the underlying economy remains strong, researchers at megabanks like Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan Chase have slashed their estimates for how much GDP will increase this year.”
The view from Wall Street: The market also took another tumble yesterday, with many of the heavy-hitting Big Tech players leading the downswing, AP’s Stan Choe writes.
But who cares about any of that? Because the wholesale price of eggs has “dropped sharply since the beginning of March” after soaring for months, NYT’s Danielle Kaye writes, though it may take a few weeks for grocery shoppers to see the decline.
NEWS FROM THE WILDERNESS
TIME TO CHUCK CHUCK? The pressure on Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer intensified last night with the first public call from a Democratic member of Congress for him to step down. Rep. Glenn Ivey (D-Md.), who hails from a deep-blue district in the D.C. suburbs, said new leadership is needed after Schumer helped push the GOP’s short-term spending plan through Congress, HuffPost’s Igor Bobic reports from Suitland, Maryland.
Ivey’s poison: “I think he had a great, long-standing career, did a lot of great things, but I’m afraid that it may be time for the Senate Democrats to get a new leader,” Ivey told a town hall last night. Bobic reports: “The crowd of about 800 people at a high school auditorium in Prince George’s County, home to many federal workers near Washington, D.C., burst into applause.”
Talking tactics: Ivey’s comments follow the cutting remarks from former Speaker Nancy Pelosi yesterday — “I myself don’t give away anything for nothing,” she said — and reveal a growing divide as the Dems seek a way out of the wilderness, NYT’s Katie Glueck and Lisa Lerer write. “For an unpopular Democratic Party that is struggling to find a way forward, the most significant dividing line — for now — is not one of ideology. Instead, as Democrats try to craft a new vision, they are clashing over a simpler question: How hard should they resist?”
Won’t go away This is the question facing every Democratic leader in the country right now. Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), who opposed Schumer’s stance on the CR last week, would not address his leadership position last night. “I think Chuck Schumer is wrong,” Warren said at a town hall, per the Boston Globe’s Matt Stout. He adds: “But she did not say whether Schumer should still be the Democrats’ leader, instead saying what Democrats ‘have to do now is get focused on this tax fight.’”
Dancing the Walz: Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz also criticized Schumer, in his case on California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s podcast. But the real kicker? Newsom’s conversation with Walz was rerecorded on Monday — after Walz specifically asked the governor’s team for the chance to address the news, POLITICO’s Amanda Friedman and Christopher Cadelago reported.
REVIEWS ARE IN: As if Schumer needed more to worry about, the reviews are in for his new book — and they’re not great. WaPo headline: “Chuck Schumer’s book might offer another reason to get mad at him.” Emily Tamkin writes: “This book comes across as earnest and heartfelt. Reading it, however, made me realize that I didn’t want a warning on antisemitism. I wanted the highest-elected Jewish official in American history to meet a moment that has already arrived.” Oof. Schumer has already postponed his book tour over fears of mass protests.
2028 Watch, part I: Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker is headlining a dinner at the DNC’s finance retreat in Florida next week, NYT’s Teddy Schleifer reports. (Pritzker also said yesterday that he “vehemently” disagrees with Schumer’s vote to join Republicans in avoiding a shutdown.)
2028 Watch, part II: There’s already a “Draft Rahm” website up and running, my Illinois Playbook colleague Shia Kapos reports, courtesy of a pro-Rahm Emanuel committee set up by a group of Chicago businessmen. Shia has tracked down those involved and they insisted they don’t actually know the ex-Chicago mayor — but are big fans. Asked about it, Emanuel shrugs innocently: “I know nothing,” Only three and a half years of this to go …
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BEST OF THE REST
PUTIN ON THE BLITZ: Following Trump’s call yesterday with Russian President Vladimir Putin — in which the White House insisted progress toward a ceasefire was made, but Moscow laid out steep demands for a pause in hostilities — the big takeaway was that the negotiations, and the fighting, will continue. “That limited deal fell far short of what the White House had forecast in recent days, and it now confronts Trump with a dilemma,” The Atlantic’s Jonathan Lemire writes. “In order to secure the peace he has promised, he might have to engage in something he has yet to do: get tough with Putin.”
Further reading: “Trump fails to get Putin to stop the shooting,” by POLITICO’s Jamie Dettmer, who says the call “was long on the idea of a broad Washington-Moscow reset — on topics ranging from economic cooperation to ice hockey — and short on anything that looked like a meaningful peace deal for Ukrainians.” A real breakthrough, he adds, looks like a “remote prospect.”
FILE CABINET: The Trump administration yesterday released “what it said were all of the government’s classified files on the 1963 assassination of President John F. Kennedy,” USA Today’s Josh Meyer writes. “Historians quickly said they would need time to assess the flood of files to understand if they were significantly different from previous releases.” So far, nothing new of significance seems to have emerged … but do please email Playbook with any Grassy Knoll updates.
JUST VANCE: VP JD Vance is taking on an “unprecedented” gig serving as the RNC’s finance chair, Fox News’ Brooke Singman reports. It marks the first time ever that a sitting VP is taking on the role. Related read: “Can JD Vance Bridge the Tech-MAGA Divide?” by POLITICO Magazine’s Ian Ward
TRACKING TRUMP’S TRAVEL: The president is set to attend the NCAA wrestling national championship in Philadelphia this Saturday, POLITICO’s Jake Traylor reports. It follows Trump’s recent trend of making fewer trips outside of D.C. or his Mar-a-Lago compound — other than to big sporting events like the Daytona 500 and Super Bowl.
SCORING BROWNIE POINTS: Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is making calls to deep-pocketed lobbyists in the Sunshine State urging them not to support Rep. Byron Donalds’ gubernatorial bid while DeSantis’ wife, Casey, mulls her own run to succeed her husband, NBC’s Matt Dixon reports. “There are no threats or anything direct like that, but come on. When you get a call from the governor, or anyone around them, in this sort of context, it’s a message-sender,” said one lobbyist.
Rep. Guy Reschenthaler (R-Pa.), who recently separated from his wife, is reportedly now dating Fox News scoop machine Brooke Singman, according to Page Six. Reschenthaler and his wife split in November, and the Pennsylvania Republican began dating Singman in January, Page Six reports. Sources say the two were seen “having dinner during an event at the Library of Congress last week.”
Eduardo Bolsonaro, the son of Jair Bolsonaro, said he plans to seek political asylum in the U.S. as he faces what he says is persecution for defending his father’s right-wing movement.
Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin reportedly discussed holding hockey games between teams from the NHL and Russia’s KHL, per ESPN.
AND THE AWARD GOES TO — The 86th annual Overseas Press Club Awards announced its full slate of winners, with the NYT dominating the list, taking home eight awards — four of which came for the paper’s Gaza coverage. Al Jazeera English, The New Yorker and WaPo each won two awards. See the full list of winners
IN MEMORIAM — “Anthony Dolan, Speechwriter Who Gave Reagan ‘Evil Empire,’ Dies at 76,” by NYT’s Sam Roberts: “Dolan was one of the youngest winners of a Pulitzer Prize in journalism. … After serving for eight years as a speechwriter in the Reagan White House, he was a special adviser to Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld and a senior adviser to Secretary of State Colin Powell during the administration of President George W. Bush. He was a White House special assistant during Donald J. Trump’s first term, and in January was recruited as a special assistant by the president’s Domestic Policy Council.”
OUT AND ABOUT — A24 hosted a D.C. premiere of its upcoming film “Warfare,” opening April 11, at the Motion Picture Association last night featuring a reception and conversation with filmmaker Alex Garland, U.S. Navy SEAL Ray Mendoza and military adviser Brian Philpot, moderated by Jon Simkins. SPOTTED: Alex Horton, John Hudson, Kathy Roth-Douquet, Jay Greenberg, Ron Keohane, Wes Wheeler, Pasha Palanker and Anna Cherepnina.
MEDIA MOVE — Nicole Goodkind is joining Barron’s as a senior writer covering the Federal Reserve and economic policy. She previously was a senior reporter at CNN Business.
TRANSITIONS — Lauren Reamy is now an SVP at Penn Avenue Partners. She previously was deputy chief of staff and legislative director to Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.). … Ellie Dougherty is now comms director for Sen. Jon Ossoff’s (D-Ga.) reelect. She previously was a regional press secretary at the DCCC. … Brian Benko is now deputy comms director for the House Select Committee on China. He previously was a director at Targeted Victory and is a Tim Scott and Marco Rubio alum. …
… Clay Armentrout is joining Allen Control Systems as SVP of government relations. He previously was chief of staff for Sen. Katie Britt (R-Ala.). … Bryson Morgan is now donor and institutional relations coordinator at National Ground Game. He previously was a Florida state House candidate. … Alexandria Phelps is now an EVP at BerlinRosen. She previously was director of strategic comms for USAID and is a Vivek Murthy, HHS, Kirsten Gillibrand and Chuck Schumer alum.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY: Ed Rollins … Axios’ Kayla Cook … Anatole Jenkins … Carla Frank … Tara Dawson McGuinness … ABC’s Pierre Thomas, Katie Bosland Kastens and Van Scott … Mary Streett … KPMG’s Ian Hainline … John Gossel … UPS’ Annie (Policastro) Lawrence … Bristol Myers Squibbs’ Ali Chartan … NBC’s Emma Gottlieb … Sarah Pulliam Bailey … Yujin Lee … T. Christian Miller … Julien Rashid … Drew Marrs of Norfolk Southern … Jake Westlin … Jose Borjon of Akin Gump … Leah Schaefer … Jill Abramson … Lynda Bird Johnson Robb … former Rep. Mike Coffman (R-Colo.) … Trey Hardin … Liz Plank … Zach Parkinson … Betsy Barrows … Leah Daniels
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Corrections: Yesterday’s Playbook misstated when the fatal crash near Reagan National Airport occurred and also misstated Karrah Kaplan’s work affiliation.
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