Washington, DC

1. ‘Spicy’ Senate primaries
2. DHS talks heat up
3. Iran’s potential escalation
4. War price tag, in context
5. White House AI plan’s reality

Wall Street’s fear gauge ▲ 18% as US dispatches Marines to the Gulf.

Senate Dems side against each other in key primary battles

After years of leaders crowning the party’s nominees in Senate races, Democratic senators are taking different sides in Michigan, Minnesota, Maine, and Iowa — a new dynamic for a tight-knit caucus that evokes the debates about energy, age, and ideology coursing through the party, Semafor’s Burgess Everett reports. “It’s because we haven’t had the spicy primaries,” said Sen. Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii. Just this week, centrist senators Maggie Hassan, D-N.H., and Catherine Cortez Masto, D-Nev., backed state Rep. Josh Turek in Iowa. Then Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., endorsed his opponent state Sen. Zach Wahls as well as Mallory McMorrow in Michigan and Graham Platner in Maine. Not to be outdone, Cortez Masto on Friday endorsed Rep. Haley Stevens in Michigan. “We’re getting behind the people that we think can win,” said Sen. Tammy Baldwin, D-Wis., who is backing Rep. Angie Craig in Minnesota.

Bipartisan shutdown meeting tonight as things get ‘dumb’

A bipartisan group of senators will meet with White House border czar Tom Homan this evening for the second time this week, just after Senate Democrats again blocked a Department of Homeland Security funding bill. “At least we’re talking. I think that’s the main point,” said Sen. Angus King, I-Maine, who is in the talks. “I think we’re going to know today whether they’re really serious,” Senate Majority Leader John Thune said of Democrats. Several Republicans said privately they don’t see things going anywhere and are mulling a plan B; meanwhile, security lines at airports are growing nationwide. “It’s stuck,” agreed Sen. Gary Peters, D-Mich. Democrats want to fund TSA, FEMA and other agencies and leave out immigration enforcement. Could Republicans ever go for that? “That’s ridiculous … it’s dumb enough that we’re sitting here now, waiting,” said Sen. Kevin Cramer, R-N.D.

— Burgess Everett

Troop movements keep Iran war raging

Signs the war in Iran could escalate continued today: President Donald Trump told reporters “I don’t want to do a ceasefire” after news broke that the Pentagon has made heavy preparations for ground troops and deployed three warships and thousands of additional Marines to the Middle East. Trump and his aides have said that while they haven’t taken ground troops off the table, there are no current plans to use them. Meanwhile, the war’s effects on global security are growing: US weapons sales to the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, and Jordan have topped $23 billion, with some sidestepping congressional review, The New York Times reported. The United Kingdom fulfilled a promise to permit the US to use its military bases, and US troops began aerial attacks from them today as part of the massive effort to reopen the Strait of Hormuz.

How Trump’s likely $200B for Iran stacks up against past conflicts

As the Trump administration prepares to seek $200 billion for war with Iran, lawmakers in both parties are struggling to square that price tag with the president’s insistence on a short conflict. That figure is about $67 billion more in today’s dollars than what former President George W. Bush first sought for an Iraq war that wound up costing nearly $1 trillion in military engagement alone. In comparison, the US has allocated $188 billion to aid Ukraine against Russia and an estimated $895 billion on military engagement in Afghanistan. The impending Iran war funding request also doesn’t cover already-spent funds. After officials told lawmakers that its first six days cost $11.3 billion, another independent estimate pegged its first 12 days at $16.5 billion. Already, Congress has enacted $150 billion in defense spending via Republicans’ megabill and authorized an additional $901 billion.

— Eleanor Mueller

Why the White House AI framework may not move ahead

The White House’s artificial intelligence policy framework released today is designed to nudge Congress toward superseding federal regulations that would curb states’ ongoing AI regulatory efforts. But it’s not clear that lawmakers have any appetite or bandwidth for such a massive push this year, and critics panned the proposals as too light on the tech industry. Proponents of the White House framework hailed it for striking a balance between permitting state rules aimed at protecting children from harmful AI chatbots while making it easier for AI companies to gain permits to build massive “AI factories,” or data centers needed to power the new technology wave. One reason the framework may sit for a while: Many of the harms of AI are still theoretical. The buildout has hardly begun, and nobody knows exactly how powerful the technology will become, or what risks it might bring.

— Reed Albergotti

Twitch creators Douglas Scott Wreden and Aiden McCaig turned their gaming audience into a loyal following for business, tech, and politics. On this week’s episode of Mixed Signals, the Lemonade Stand podcast hosts join Ben and Max to unpack how they carved out success in niche channels, and why Twitch audiences are fundamentally different from TikTok and YouTube. Plus, how they built a deeply engaged community across platforms—and what it says about the future of media.

Iran

• The war in Iran has prompted an unexpected reshaping of the US-South Korea security alliance. — WSJ
• Iran executed three people convicted of killings during recent anti-government protests, including a 19-year-old wrestler.
• The United Nations secretary-general told Politico there is reason to believe war crimes have been committed by both sides in the US-Israel war in Iran.

Foreign Policy

• US Southern Command said that three people survived today’s latest strike on an alleged drug boat in the Pacific.
• President Trump’s Board of Peace has given Hamas a proposal to disarm that it is weighing, which could help facilitate an enduring pause in Gaza hostilities. — NYT
• Russia proposed an arrangement, rejected by the US, in which it would stop sharing intelligence with Iran in exchange for no more US intelligence-sharing with Ukraine. — Politico Europe

Trump Administration

• US prosecutors are investigating Colombian President Gustavo Petro for possible ties to drug trafficking. — NYT
• Three brothers convicted of federal sex-trafficking charges, Tal, Oren, and Alon Alexander, are reportedly pursuing a presidential pardon. — NYT
• The National Guard’s presence in DC is set to continue until the end of President Trump’s second term under a new Pentagon plan. — ABC

Courts

• The Trump administration has sued Harvard University, alleging civil rights violations related to its handling of protests against the Israeli government.
• Two fired FBI agents have sued, alleging “political retribution” by Attorney General Pam Bondi and FBI Director Kash Patel in response to their widespread removal of FBI employees who worked on investigations into President Trump. — NYT
• The Supreme Court unanimously backed a lawsuit by a Mississippi evangelist who was challenging future application of a city ordinance, reversing lower-court decisions.

Media

• CBS News Radio will cease operations in May after a century on the air, with more than 60 laid off.
• The prediction market Polymarket has posted “false and misleading information” on its social media accounts while trying to market itself as “News 2.0.” — NYT

— President Donald Trump, commenting on his own new order requiring the Army-Navy football game to get exclusive broadcast rights.

Semafor DC Team

Laura McGann, editor

With help from Elana Schor, senior Washington editor, and Morgan Chalfant, Washington briefing editor

Brendan Ruberry, copy editor

Contact our reporters:

Burgess Everett, Eleanor Mueller, Shelby Talcott, Nicholas Wu, David Weigel