Welcome to the online edition of From The Politics Desk, an evening newsletter that provides the latest reports and analysis from the NBC News Politics team’s White House, Capitol Hill and Campaign Trail.
Happy Friday! Government closures are avoided, but democratic internal conflict is only just beginning. Kristen Welker will look at how tensions boiled inside the party this week. Additionally, Ken Dianian explores how President Donald Trump placed his stamp on the Justice Department. Henry J. Gomez asks Vice President J. Vance about the future of Tiktok in the US
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– Adam Walner
The shutdown showdown highlights the deep division of the Democrats
By Kristen Welker
With just hours left before the midnight deadline, the Senate passed a Republican suspension funding bill, keeping the government open after days of indications from Democrats that closures could be imminent.
The vote was 54-46, with two members of the Democratic Caucus supporting all but one Republicans and sending the bill to President Donald Trump’s desk for signing. But before the final passing, Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer, DN.Y. , and nine other Democrats helped clear the 60-vote procedural hurdle in the GOP-controlled room.
It was that decision that surprised Democrats and deep divisions considering how they responded to Trump.
Tensions erupted after Schumer first announced Thursday. He voted in favor of moving the GOP spending bill forward despite democratic concerns that the measures passed in the House would be Trump and Elon Musk to fire more government workers and eliminate the program without congressional input.
However, Schumer took him back to the Senate floor this morning, claiming that shutting down the government would only burn Trump and Musk.
“Musk told everyone he wanted a shutdown because he knows it will help him achieve his horrific goal of dying the federal government from one end to the other,” Schumer said. “In other words, if the government is shut down, Doge has a plan to take advantage of the crisis for its greatest destruction.”
Trump praised Schumer for the true society and called his announcement a “really good, clever move” that incorporates “courage and courage.” Caucus Speaker Pete Aguilar, California House Democrats’ Caucasian Speaker, responded to the president’s post. “When Donald Trump wakes up in the morning and says, ‘You’re doing the right thing to Senate Democrats,’ I don’t think that’s the right place. ”
The response from the Democrats is furious. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, DN.Y., Schumer’s move is a major progressive opposition to bills called “catastrophic” and “face slap.”
In a surprising move, former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi issued a statement protesting Schumer and calling on democratic senators to reject the bill. And Hakeem Jeffries (DN.Y.), a minority leader in the House, declined at a press conference to answer whether it was time for new leadership in the Senate.
I have spoken to many democratic sources, and while some have been relieved by Schumer’s move, one Congressional aide told me to expect a “severe” blow from the base. The aide also said the gap appears to have fallen primarily along generational boundaries, with some of the Senate’s latest voices being some of the most solid enemies to Schumer’s strategy.
Why is it repulsed? Well, for one, many vulnerable House Democrats in the Trump district opposed the bill earlier this week, and now they feel they’ve voted tough for no reason. Second, some Democrats feel that leaving the government open is essentially giving Trump and Musk a green light to move forward with their deep cuts. And thirdly, perhaps most importantly, many of the parties saw this fight as the best opportunity to oppose Trump. The question is, if not now, when?
This episode was a real test of Schumer’s leadership at a critical moment when Democrats were still trying to find their footing. He also highlights the deep disparity in the parties about the best way to take on Trump in the months leading up to his second administration.
With our new NBC News vote, we will get the first real sense of how voters are responding to every move from Washington. And we’ll talk to Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Senator Chris Murphy (D-Conn).
Things you need to know from today’s President Trump
Exclusive Interview: Vice President JD Vance told NBC News that he has “a high-level agreement” to sell Tiktok and keep social media apps running in the US by the April 5 deadline. Agents executed search warrants at two Columbia University homes days after the arrest of graduate student and Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil was arrested by immigration authorities.
Follow the live update →
Pam Bondi changes DOJ around Trump’s priorities
By Ken Dianian
President Donald Trump’s choice to become Attorney General was first to sigh in some democratic and legal circles.
Trump’s first pick, it was repeated at the time. Matt Getz, who was being investigated by the Justice Department in connection with the sex trafficking allegations, denied the allegations and the DOJ decided not to bring about accusations – was deemed a person chosen to do anything Trump wanted, regardless of ethics or law.
Bondi was considered an expert with deep legal experience. She served as Florida Attorney General for 10 years. It was true that she served as one of Trump’s lawyers in his first blast-each trial and supported his conspiracy theories about the 2020 election. Still, Democrats and Republicans who knew her believed she was the one who stood up to Trump.
But since Bondi took the reins, the Justice Department has been operating dramatically on how Attorney General John Mitchell was run 50 years after he was sent to prison for his role in the Watergate scandal.
It occurred during the Biden administration, vowing to end the politicization she said, and Bondy implemented her own politicization regime, critics say. It appears that the Trump administration, with the help of Bondi, is trying to turn the Justice Department into a presidential political measure. That’s not done by Republicans or the Democratic administration since Richard Nixon.
Read more from Ken→
Related: Trump calls for his recognized enemy to be imprisoned in a Justice Department speech by Nnamdi Egwuonwu and Ryan J. Reilly
today’s other top stories
🇨🇦Ah, Canada: Canadians and Republicans are equally confused, and Trump is increasingly tying his push to America’s northern neighbors and trade war. The US clashes over tariffs also obscured the G7 diplomat meeting. Read more → 🧑🌾Tough Position: From financing cuts to tariffs, farmers have found themselves struggling to find a market for their products and are facing the risk of sudden losses over the next year. Read more, Democrats are planning to hold a series of city halls in districts owned by the GOP. Read more →⚖ →In the Court: Dare Gregorian, Gary Grunbach and Lawrence Hurley have a summary of Trump’s week in court. Read more →
For now, it’s all from the political desk. Today’s newsletter was compiled by Adam Wollner.
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