Live updates: Trump hosts House GOP in Miami; new poll gives president negative marks on immigration and economy
Catch up with NBC News Clone on today's hot topic: Trump Poll Immigration Economy Tariffs Elections Dhs Live Updates Rcna262253 - Politics and Government | NBC News Clone. Our editorial team reformatted this story for clarity and speed.
President Donald Trump has been pressing lawmakers for passage of a bill that would require proof of citizenship in order to register to vote.
Donald Trump will give remarks today at the House Republicans' annual retreat at his golf resort in Miami. Saul Loeb / AFP - Getty Images
What to know today...
- TRUMP HOUSE GOP: President Donald Trump is hosting House Republicans at his golf resort in Miami for their annual retreat, which kicked off earlier today. Trump said he will hold a news conference this evening before returning to Washington, D.C.
- TRUMP DISAPPROVAL: Majorities of registered voters disapprove of how Trump has handled the issues that defined the first months of the midterm election year, including immigration, tariffs, the war in Iran and the cost of living, according to a new national NBC News poll. Meanwhile, Democrats have a 6-point edge in the fight for control of Congress.
- ELECTIONS BILL: Trump is vowing not to sign any legislation until Congress passes a bill titled the SAVE America Act that would overhaul voting laws and require proof of citizenship to register to vote.
- 'ISIS-INSPIRED' NYC INCIDENT: An improvised explosive device thrown near New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s residence during weekend protests is being investigated as an act of “ISIS-inspired terrorism,” the city’s police commissioner said today.
California Rep. Kevin Kiley leaves GOP, will run for re-election as an independent
California Rep. Kevin Kiley has dropped his Republican Party affiliation and has registered under "no party preference," making him the only independent member of the House of Representatives, he announced on a Zoom call today.
“I think that this really reflects the way that I have always approached my role as a representative," Kiley said on the call. "I’ve always said I’ll be an independent voice for our district.”
On the call, Kiley pointed to the “redistricting war” in California that drew him out of his current 3rd Congressional District, and his “frustration with partisanship itself” as factors in his decision.
As a result of his move, the House now has 217 Republicans and 214 Democrats, with one independent. But Kiley said he will still caucus with the GOP, so functionally, the margin doesn’t change as long as he continues to vote with his party.
Kiley said he did not speak with Republican or Democratic leaders before making his decision. His announcement comes after he said Friday that he would seek re-election as an independent but would remain a Republican for the duration of his term.
NBC News has reached out to Kiley about what prompted him to change course and switch his affiliation now.
Kiley has said he is running in the newly redrawn 6th Congressional District, which includes the Sacramento area, leans Democratic and voted for former Vice President Kamala Harris by about 9 points, according to University of Virginia's Center for Politics. This means Kiley would have very little chance of winning as a Republican.
Trump says it’s ‘too soon’ to talk about seizing Iran’s oil — but doesn’t rule it out
Trump today left open the prospect of acquiring Iranian oil as the U.S. proceeds with a war officials have said is aimed at depriving Iran of a nuclear weapon and defanging it so that it no longer poses a threat to the U.S. or Middle East neighbors.
Trump told NBC News that he did not want to discuss whether he would like the U.S. to seize Iranian oil, but added: “Certainly people have talked about it.”
He mentioned Venezuela, where the U.S. launched a raid in January that captured the country’s leader, Nicolas Maduro. Since then, the Trump administration has taken steps to secure and tap Venezuela’s oil reserves. In his State of the Union speech last month, Trump said that the U.S. has already gotten more than 80 million barrels of oil from Venezuela.
Trump to hold a news conference at his Miami golf resort this evening
Trump said in a post to Truth Social that he will hold a news conference at his golf club in Miami this evening before leaving for Washington, D.C.
The news conference will take place at 5:30 p.m. at Trump National Doral Golf Club, where House Republicans kicked off their annual retreat earlier today. Trump is expected to update reporters about Iran and answer questions.
Trump said in his post that he would be attending a fundraiser with House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., before the news conference.
In Wisconsin, another conservative state Supreme Court justice is not running for re-election
Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice Annette Ziegler, a conservative, announced today that she will not run for a third term in 2027, creating yet another opportunity for liberals on the state’s technically nonpartisan court to expand their narrow majority.
The announcement by Ziegler, 62, opens up another race next year. Wisconsin voters are already heading to the polls next month for a state Supreme Court race between lower-court judges Chris Taylor, a liberal candidate, and Maria Lazar, a conservative one, to fill the seat held by retiring conservative Justice Rebecca Bradley.
Liberals on the battleground state’s high court hold a 4-3 advantage. They regained the majority in a 2023 election win and kept it last year with another victory. A win next month would give liberals a 5-2 majority.
After 2027, three other justices are set to face re-election from 2027 to 2030.
Iran war elevates Marco Rubio in Trump’s 2028 succession jockeying
In the early hours of Feb. 28, Trump and his administration joined Israel in launching a wave of strikes on Iran that would reverberate across the Middle East. That night, he was schmoozing at Mar-a-Lago with some of his top administration officials and political donors, with a pressing question: Marco or JD?
With a group of roughly 25 GOP donors, including New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft and billionaire Georgia gubernatorial candidate Rick Jackson, Trump asked the room whom they would prefer he support for president in 2028. Attendees overwhelmingly indicated Secretary of State Marco Rubio through their cheering, according to two people who were at the event.
Explosive thrown near NYC mayor’s home being investigated as 'ISIS-inspired terrorism,' officials say
An improvised explosive device thrown near New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s residence during weekend protests is being investigated as an act of “ISIS-inspired terrorism,” the city’s police commissioner said today.
The two suspects will be prosecuted in federal court in connection with Saturday’s incident, New York City Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch said at a news conference. The device was thrown during an anti-Islam demonstration and a counterprotest.
Politicians are starting to pay a lot more attention to the plight of white-collar workers
Blue-collar workers have been at the center of political messaging for years. Politicians meet with waitresses at a diner to pitch raising the minimum wage, tour a factory to spotlight job growth or tell stories of their family’s hardscrabble bona fides while visiting cities such as Detroit or Pittsburgh.
Lately, though, a different group has been getting more attention: white-collar professionals. And Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is at the forefront of this development. The Republican governor expressed concern in August that “some of these white-collar jobs … could end up being obsolete” due to advancements in AI. In September, he said the H-1B visa program was “especially galling” at a time when AI “is forecast to reduce a significant number of white-collar jobs.” And in November, he worried about predictions that AI is “going to really undercut a lot of jobs — a lot of white-collar jobs.”
Sen. Cory Booker, a 2028 potential, to unveil bill making $75,000 in income tax-free
Sen. Cory Booker, a potential 2028 Democratic presidential candidate, told NBC News he’ll introduce a tax bill this week to significantly expand the standard deduction, effectively lowering taxes on low- and middle-income earners.
The New Jersey senator’s plan would set the standard deduction at $75,000 for married couples, or $37,500 for individuals. That’s more than double what it is today: $32,200 for couples filing jointly and half that for single filers.
Trump to address lawmakers at House Republican retreat
House Republicans are kicking off their annual retreat today at the Trump National Doral Golf Club in Miami. The retreat is expected to last through Wednesday, and the president is expected to address the lawmakers later today.
The retreat comes amid the war in Iran, a Department of Homeland Security shutdown and the president's pressure on lawmakers to pass the SAVE America Act, which would require proof of citizenship to register to vote.
Oil hits $100 per barrel for first time since July 2022
The price of Oil continued its recent surge yesterday, hitting $100 per barrel for the first time since July 2022 as the ripple effects from the U.S. war on Iran continued to hit global markets.
U.S. crude oil futures rose more than 25%, to nearly $115 per barrel, while Brent, the international benchmark, jumped more than 20%, to $110 per barrel.
In addition to oil’s rise, S&P 500 futures plunged 2.3%, Dow futures plummeted more than 1,000 points, and Nasdaq 100 futures slid 2.7%, indicating U.S. stocks were poised to continue last week’s descent.
Oil’s remarkable jump came despite a record 35% rise last week. In addition to surging oil prices, U.S. retail gas prices also soared to a national average of more than $3.45 per gallon.
U.S. strikes alleged drug boat in the eastern Pacific Ocean, killing 6
The U.S. struck a vessel in the eastern Pacific Ocean yesterday, killing six people, U.S. Southern Command said.
The kinetic strike, ordered by the commander of Southern Command, Marine Gen. Francis L. Donovan, SOUTHCOM said on X, targeted a boat operated by what it called “Designated Terrorist Organizations.”
“Six male narco-terrorists were killed during this action. No U.S. military forces were harmed,” the post added. The post said the vessel was “engaged in narco-trafficking operations” and “transiting along known narco-trafficking routes.” No additional evidence for the claims was provided.
The U.S. has conducted more than 40 strikes in the Caribbean and the eastern Pacific since September, killing more than 140 people.
Judge orders Trump administration to provide update on tariff refunds
The Court of International Trade has ordered the Trump administration to submit by Thursday afternoon a progress report on the process of issuing refunds, with interest, for the tariffs struck down by the Supreme Court last month.
While there is already an existing process to generate tariff refunds, it is designed for refunds on single imports or items and is not meant to handle thousands of importers seeking to be reimbursed at once.
Currently, if a U.S. importer accidentally pays the wrong amount in tariffs, or the wrong tariff is assigned or there’s a clerical error, it is easy to file and get a refund. What the court is asking the Trump administration to do is to scale this up for the $130 billion or more in tariffs that have been collected across industries.
Since the Supreme Court decision, more than 400 lawsuits have been filed in the New York-based Court of International Trade by businesses large and small looking to get their money back from the Trump administration.
Airports grapple with long wait times and TSA staffing shortages amid partial government shutdown
Travel at major U.S. airports turned into a nightmare yesterday, with up to three-hour security wait times and a shortage of Transportation Security Administration workers at the start of spring break travel amid the partial government shutdown.
Department of Homeland Security spokeswoman Lauren Bis said travelers are facing missed flights and massive delays. She blamed the chaos on congressional Democrats’ refusal to fund DHS, which led to the partial shutdown.
Trump says he won’t sign any bills until SAVE America Act passes
Trump said yesterday that he will not sign any bills until the SAVE America Act is passed, adding that a “watered down” version of the act would not do.
The legislation, which would overhaul voting laws and require proof of citizenship nationwide to register to vote, faces an uphill battle in the Senate. Noncitizen voting is illegal and uncommon.
“It supersedes everything else. MUST GO TO THE FRONT OF THE LINE. I, as President, will not sign other Bills until this is passed, AND NOT THE WATERED DOWN VERSION — GO FOR THE GOLD: MUST SHOW VOTER I.D. & PROOF OF CITIZENSHIP: NO MAIL-IN BALLOTS EXCEPT FOR MILITARY — ILLNESS, DISABILITY, TRAVEL: NO MEN IN WOMEN’S SPORTS: NO TRANSGENDER MUTILIZATION FOR CHILDREN! DO NOT FAIL!!!” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
Poll: Primary voters prize ideology over electability as their parties get low marks
As party primaries kick off ahead of the pivotal battle for control of Congress this fall, Democrats — and especially Republicans — say they are prioritizing ideological alignment instead of electability when they pick candidates, according to a new national NBC News poll.
Meanwhile, the nation overall has a negative view of both parties, led by independents. The survey asked primary voters whether they prefer to vote for a candidate who comes closest to their views on issues over a candidate who has the best chance to win in November. Seven in 10 Republican primary voters prefer a candidate who comes closest to their views, while 27% prefer a candidate who has a better chance of winning the general election.
Democratic primary voters were more evenly split on the question: 56% say they prefer the candidate closest to their views, while 42% want a candidate more electable in a general election, according to the poll, which was conducted by the Democratic polling firm Hart Research Associates and the GOP firm Public Opinion Strategies.
Poll: Trump struggles on immigration, prices and Iran as Democrats hold a midterm edge
Majorities of registered voters disapprove of how Trump has handled the issues that defined the first months of a tumultuous midterm election year, as Democrats maintain an advantage in the battle for control of Congress, according to a new national NBC News poll.
Voters give Trump poor marks for his handling of immigration after his administration surged federal agents into the heart of American cities and immigration officers in Minnesota killed two U.S. citizens in January. They are down on his tariffs after the Supreme Court struck down his main tariff program in February and Trump later reimposed some of those levies. And they don’t like his actions on Iran, with the U.S. now at war with the nation after Trump ordered strikes starting last weekend — strikes a majority say should not have happened.
