If it’s FRIDAY… President Biden, at Camp David, meets with the leaders of Japan and South Korea and holds a joint news conference with them at 3:00 pm ET… Donald Trump seeks to delay his federal trial on election interference until April 2026… Ron DeSantis debate memo urges him to defend Trump and attack rivals like Chris Christie and Vivek Ramaswamy… And GOP presidential hopefuls — minus Trump — gather in Atlanta for confab hosted by conservative radio host Erick Erickson, per NBC’s Nnamdi Egwuonwu.
But FIRST… After former President Donald Trump’s four indictments in the last four and a half months, it’s often difficult to remember if GOP presidential contest is about anything else.
Yet while the candidates have different positions on major issues facing the country, they broadly agree on the idea of taking a sledgehammer — not a scalpel — to the federal government.
The most-covered aspect of this comes from Trump’s plan to slash the federal bureaucracy by reclassifying tens of thousands of employees to make them easier to fire. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and businessman Vivek Ramaswamy have floated similar plans, both claiming they’d cut the federal bureaucracy in about half.
DeSantis and former Vice President Mike Pence have both talked about cleaning house at the top of the FBI. Ramaswamy wants to shut down the FBI down entirely, and namechecked the IRS, ATF, CDC and Education Department as other “government agencies that should not exist” during a speech in Iowa this month.
DeSantis, meanwhile, wants to ax the departments of Education, Commerce and Energy, as well as the IRS.
Just this week, Pence also proposed to eliminate the Education Department as part of a broader plan that called for federal welfare and housing assistance to be converted into block grants, and to dramatically reshape the Affordable Care Act.
And other candidates have espoused similar ideas, too, like former Ambassador Nikki Haley during the Iowa State fair.
“We need to put more money in your pocket. And you know the way we’re going to put more money in the pocket is make sure we move a lot of the services from the federal government down to the states. Think benefits, think health care, think education,” she said.
The motives here appear two-fold.
Some want revenge (like Trump, or those connecting gutting the FBI to the investigation into the former president).
But for others, it appears to be an escalation of the decades-long fight from the right to whittle away at the federal government — a double down from some of the policies that regularly pop up on the campaign trail.
Headline of the day
Data Download: The number of the day is … almost 3
That’s how many years from now former President Donald Trump’s attorneys want to start the federal trial in the case involving Trump’s alleged interference in the 2020 election.
Trump’s lawyers recommended in a court filing on Thursday that the trial start in April 2026, writing, “This is an unprecedented case in American history. The incumbent administration has targeted its primary political opponent—and leading candidate in the upcoming presidential election—with criminal prosecution.”
The filing comes after federal prosecutors recommended the trial start on Jan. 2, 2024, which is about two weeks before the Iowa caucuses. Trump’s lawyers wrote that the proposed trial date should be rejected, arguing, “The government’s objective is clear: to deny President Trump and his counsel a fair ability to prepare for trial.”
Other numbers to know
27 to 33 years: The length of sentences federal prosecutors are seeking for the Proud Boys members who were found guilty of seditious conspiracy.
35%: New Jersey Democratic Sen. Bob Menendez’s approval rating in a new Monmouth University poll, which has dropped in light of a new federal investigation into the senator, Politico reports.
30%: The portion of Spanish-language calls to Florida’s Medicaid call centers that were dropped before callers reached a representative, sometimes leading to the program lacking critical information from those it insures.
7.16%: The average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate home mortgages last week, an increase for the third straight week.
Over 21 years: The prison sentence of a Canadian woman who sent poison-laced letters to Trump and Texas law enforcement officials in 2020.
120 miles per hour: The strength of winds expected near the West Coast when Hurricane Hilary approaches on Saturday morning.
Eyes on 2024: GOP hopefuls arrive in Atlanta
Several Republican presidential candidates — excluding Donald Trump — are heading to Atlanta on Friday and Saturday to address conservative radio host Erick Erickson’s “The Gathering Event,” NBC News’ Nnamdi Egwuonwu reports.
The event brings the GOP field to the state at the center of Trump’s latest indictment for election interference. And while few candidates have criticized Trump’s most recent indictment in Georgia, Erickson has been critical of the former president in the past. After Trump was indicted earlier this week, Erickson posted on X, the social media site previously known as Twitter, “Well, I’ve said for two years that the election in Georgia wasn’t stolen. Now, all those claims Trump supporters made, including in state hearings, are at stake in the trial.”
Egwuonwu reports that the event will involve one-on-one conversations between Erickson and the candidates. And according to Erickson, the potential topics include “candidates’ visions for the future, the problems with AI, how to deal with China economically and as a matter of national security, the rise of Christian nationalism in America, how to restrain government and how to deal with ESG investment standards.”
Friday’s event will feature four GOP presidential candidates: South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott, former Vice President Mike Pence, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, and former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley. Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and businessman Vivek Ramaswamy will appear at the event on Saturday.
Egwuonwu adds that other guests include Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp, Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin and Sens. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, and Tom Cotton, R-Ark.
In other campaign news…
Trump backtracks: Trump reneged on his plan to hold a press conference on Monday to unveil what he billed as an “irrefutable” report on election fraud in Georgia, NBC News’ Vaughn Hillyard and Garrett Haake report. Trump wrote on his social media platform that his lawyers would “prefer” to put the information in “legal filings.”
Debate drama: A super PAC backing Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis posted a memo online detailing advice for the governor in next week’s GOP debate, along with a slew of research on the other candidates who are expected to participate, per NBC News’ Allan Smith and Matt Dixon. The advice included taking a “sledgehammer” to Ramaswamy, defending Trump, “showing emotion” when mentioning his family.
Knowing Vivek: TIME has a deep dive on Ramaswamy as he gains traction in the GOP primary, traveling with the businessman in New Hampshire.
Sinema speaks: Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, I-Ariz., who has not yet said if she is running for re-election, weighed in on Alabama GOP Sen. Tommy Tuberville’s blockade of military promotions over the Defense Department’s abortion policy, per NBC News’ Allan Smith and Sahil Kapur. She urged Tuberville and Biden to find “middle ground” and said she volunteered to help find a solution.
Tar Heel changes: North Carolina legislators, led by Republicans, passed a bill making sweeping changes to the state’s elections laws, and it could have enough support to overcome a veto from Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper.
Getting some back-up: Election officials in five battleground states will get an extra boost from a new $10 million effort from the Democratic Association of Secretaries of State, which will involve efforts to “ pay for private security for election officials of both parties, register new voters and try to combat disinformation,” per the New York Times.
ICYMI: What ELSE is happening in the world:
Herman Andaya, the administrator of the Maui Emergency Management Agency, resigned Thursday amid criticism for failing to activate warning sirens during the destructive wildfires. Federal investigators with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives have also been sent to Maui to determine the cause of the fires.
A space race has ensued between Russia, the U.S., China and India to reach the lunar south pole, NBC News’ Tom Costello and Dareh Gregorian report.
A federal judge dismissed misdemeanor tax charges against Hunter Biden Thursday, but the president’s son is still expected to face new or similar charges in the future.
Top White House lawyer Stuart Delery will leave his post next month after a three-year tenure.
