If it’s FRIDAY… Southern border braces for influx of migrants after Title 42 is lifted… President Biden’s debt-ceiling meeting with congressional leaders gets delayed… Biden, at the White House, meets with Spain’s president at 2:00 pm ET… Criminal investigation into Sen. Bob Menendez, D-N.J., expands… And fallout from Donald Trump’s town hall continues.
But FIRST… As both Donald Trump and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis visit Iowa on Saturday, DeSantis’ 2024 campaign in-waiting still believes the GOP wants to move on from Trump — despite the current polling and the cheering town-hall audience that greeted the former president in New Hampshire.
That’s the reporting from Politico’s Jonathan Martin, who gets plenty of on-the-record quotes from DeSantis’ high command.
“Everyone knows the majority of the Republican Party wants to move on,” Generra Peck, DeSantis campaign manager and closest aide, tells Martin.
But is that right?
On the one hand, our NBC News poll from last month — conducted after Trump’s indictment and arrest in that hush-money case in New York — found a majority of Republicans (54%) considering themselves more supporters of the party rather than supporters of Trump (37%).
That suggests an opening for a non-Trump candidate.
On the other hand, our same poll found a whopping 68% of GOP primary voters believing the multiple investigations into Trump are politically motivated and that they need to defend him, versus 26% saying the party needs to find a different nominee who won’t be distracted.
That suggests a GOP that isn’t willing to move on from Trump.
Politico’s Martin makes one other important point in his column: Time isn’t necessarily on DeSantis’ side.
“Upon entering the race in the coming weeks, [DeSantis] will effectively have six months to forge a disparate coalition of GOP voters, nudge his non-Trump rivals out of the race, convince them to rally to his side, or at least resist deal-cutting with the former president, and then pursue the mano-a-mano campaign he needs to seize the nomination from a feral political fighter who craves winning like oxygen.”
That’s a lot of work — in little time.
Headline of the day
Data Download: The number of the day is … 11,000
That’s how many migrants were apprehended at the southern border between the U.S. and Mexico on Wednesday, NBC News’ Julia Ainsley reports. This came hours before Title 42, a pandemic-era immigration rule that allowed fewer migrants to seek asylum and expelled many more migrants that crossed the border, expired.
As the restriction ended on Thursday night, migrants at the border cheered before they were loaded onto vans and buses by border patrol agents to be processed in the U.S., NBC’s Daniella Silva reported from El Paso, Texas.
Title 42’s expiration has the potential to affect the lives of thousands of migrants, but all eyes are on President Joe Biden, NBC News’ Natasha Korecki and Alex Seitz-Wald report, as state and local leaders across the country brace for an influx of migrants into their cities and blame Biden for mishandling this crisis.
Other numbers to know
2: The number of House Republicans who voted against a GOP border bill on Thursday. Kentucky Rep. Thomas Massie and California Rep. John Duarte joined all Democrats to oppose the measure.
3: The number of judicial nominees approved by the Senate Judiciary Committee on Thursday with Sen. Dianne Feinstein’s vote, as she returned to the Senate following a long absence as she recovered from shingles.
90%: The portion of their carbon dioxide emissions that U.S. coal and gas plants would have to reduce or capture under a new EPA rule proposed Thursday.
65%: The share of small businesses in the U.S. who believe they would be negatively affected by a debt default, according to a new survey by Goldman Sachs.
1.1 million: The number of people in the U.S. who have died from Covid since the start of the pandemic in 2020, according to the U.S. The federal public health emergency for Covid ended Thursday.
4: The number of days in a row that the Dow closed more than 200 points down.
Eyes on 2024: Fallout from Trump’s town hall continues
Fallout from former President Donald Trump’s CNN town hall continued on Thursday, with some Republicans taking issue with Trump’s comments on Ukraine.
During the event, Trump declined to say whether he would like to see Russia or Ukraine win the war, and he refused to say Russian President Vladimir Putin is a war criminal. That drew criticism from some Senate Republicans, NBC News’ Liz Brown-Kaiser, Garrett Haake and Dareh Gregorian report.
One of Trump’s potential rivals for the GOP nomination, former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, also sharply criticized Trump calling the former president a “puppet of Putin” during an interview with Hugh Hewitt.
And although the super PAC supporting Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ expected presidential run blasted Trump during the town hall, DeSantis himself has been quiet. But Politico reports that DeSantis is expected to strongly push back on Trump once he’s actually a candidate.
Trump’s comments during the town hall defending his decision to take classified documents from the White House could also complicate the investigation into the handling of his documents, since he appeared to contradict his lawyers, per NBC News’ Ken Dilanian.
In other campaign news…
Iowa boost: Ahead of his trip to Iowa this weekend, DeSantis picked up two endorsements from high-ranking GOP legislators: Senate President Amy Sinclair and House Majority Leader Matt Windschitl, per the Des Moines Register.
Trump appeal: Trump signaled in a court filing Thursday that he plans to appeal the recent verdict that found him liable for sexual abuse and defamation against writer E. Jean Carroll.
Biden vs. ‘MAGA Republicans’: Biden continued to draw a contrast with Republicans on Thursday, saying during a speech that “extreme MAGA Republicans” are holding the economy “hostage” over the debt ceiling, and warning that proposed GOP spending cuts would have dire consequences for firefighters, park rangers and conservation efforts, per NBC News’ Katherine Doyle.
Big bucks: DeSantis raised $4.3 million for state and local Republican groups since March as he’s appeared at fundraisers across the country, Fox News reports, citing figures from DeSantis’ team.
Menendez watch: An investigation into Sen. Bob Menendez, D-N.J., continues to move forward, with a new round of federal grand jury subpoenas issued this week, NBC News’ Jonathan Dienst and Courtney Copenhagen report. Menendez, who is up for re-election next year, is being investigated over allegedly accepting cash and gifts from owners of a halal meat business. He has denied any wrongdoing.
Also for Alsobrooks: EMILY’s List, a group that backs women candidates who support abortion rights, announced Thursday it is endorsing Prince George’s County Executive Angela Alsobrooks in Maryland’s Senate race. Democratic Rep. Kweisi Mfume endorsed Alsobrooks as well, per the Washington Post.
Wisconsin wish: National Republican Senatorial Committee Chairman Steve Daines, R-Mont., told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel that he would like to see GOP Rep. Mike Gallagher run for Senate in Wisconsin.
Third time’s the charm? Politico reports that some progressive groups are still hoping to defeat Rep. Henry Cuellar, D-Texas, in a primary, despite two recent failed attempts.
ICYMI: What ELSE is happening in the world
A Marine veteran who put Jordan Neely in a chokehold on the New York City subway before he died will be charged with second-degree manslaughter.
The CIA announced new measures to handle sexual misconduct cases after allegations the agency mishandled the issue in the past.
A judge in Virginia ruled Thursday that a law banning firearm dealers from selling to adults under 21 is unconstitutional.
