Morning Report — Biden courts donors; Trump seeks legal cash

Follow the money: The 2024 general election financing season is in full swing.

President Biden and former President Trump, who have clinched enough delegates to win their parties’ nominations for November’s election, are raking in cash. But the two candidates’ approaches to fundraising — and the messages they’re sending as they court donors — could not be more different.

BIDEN’S CAMPAIGN is pulling out all the stops for a major fundraiser today in New York City, which will reunite him with former President Obama and former President Clinton, as well as a bevy of celebrities. The Hill’s Brett Samuels reports the star-studded night comes as the Biden campaign looks to bring in a massive haul before the close of the quarter to further cement his lead over Trump in the cash race. It will also serve as a preview of the kinds of names Biden will rely on to help generate enthusiasm among Democratic voters in November’s general election. Biden’s campaign announced the event is expected to net $25 million.

“We understand the importance of the three of them being together. This is going to be an important event,” said White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre. “These are presidents…that believe in what we’re trying to do.”

Tonight’s event, paired with strong fundraising numbers after Biden’s State of the Union, could lead to an eye-popping first quarter fundraising total and allow the campaign to invest heavily in advertising and on-the-ground resources in battleground states at a time when the Trump campaign has lagged. Biden and his campaign are already messaging to those swing state voters through local media more than national outlets, writes The Hill’s Amie Parnes.

CASH CRUNCH: Trump, meanwhile, is staring at a cash deficit as he faces various civil and criminal legal troubles and is looking to licensing opportunities to make up the dividends. Last month, he debuted $399 “Never Surrender” sneakers, and this week he announced he was licensing his image to sell $59.99 Bibles. Some of Trump’s products are designed to raise money for his campaign, but others are providing him with a personal funding source as he faces a cash crunch. On Monday, a New York appeals court lowered the bond the former president must post to hold off enforcement of a $454 million civil fraud ruling against his real estate empire. The bond is now $175 million (The Washington Post).

GRIEVANCE CAMPAIGNING: Trump, using his social media platform Wednesday, bashed Acting Justice of the New York State Supreme Court Juan Merchan, a day after Merchan imposed a gag order on the former president. The restriction does not apply to the judge or the prosecutor. Trump asserted that the president and the U.S. attorney general are “tracking and following me all across the country.” Trump’s platform has begun trading as “DJT” and soared in paper valuation this week, opening a potential new avenue for conflicts of interest. Wielding claims of victimization on Truth Social is a money-maker for the former president and his campaign coffers.

The Hill: Trump is proving slow to invest in states that could decide election as some in GOP fear a “skeleton” campaign.

The Biden campaign’s big-ticket donor events and aggressive media strategy reflect Democrats’ fears of a second Trump term; a new The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs poll found 66 percent of Democrats surveyed are extremely fearful of Trump’s reelection, while about 49 percent of Republicans surveyed said they are scared of Biden being reelected.

The president maintains a narrow lead against Trump in a Wednesday Quinnipiac University poll, but the survey found Trump benefits from the inclusion of independent and third-party candidates. One of those candidates is Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who this week named as his VP pick Silicon Valley lawyer Nicole Shanahan. Kennedy has so far only officially qualified for the ballot in Utah (though he is fighting for inclusion on Nevada’s presidential ballot).

OUTSIDE CAMPAIGNS like Kennedy’s, the bipartisan group No Labels and other third-party options stand ready to attract voters unhappy with the two major parties’ presumptive nominees. And while none of these alternative candidates has much chance of winning, their campaigns could help influence — or, as some might say, “spoil” — the outcome of the 2024 contest (ABC News).

Trump, for one, said Wednesday he thinks Kennedy’s VP announcement is “great for MAGA,” saying on Truth Social, “He is Crooked Joe Biden’s Political Opponent, not mine. I love that he is running!”

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LEADING THE DAY

INFRASTRUCTURE

In Baltimore, a federal investigation is ongoing as the city’s port remains closed and cargo ship Dali remains immovable under a web of crumpled steel (The Baltimore Sun). Other Eastern Seaboard ports are picking up cargo slack as leaders at the state and federal levels begin to plot out funding and a reconstruction timeline for an infrastructure rebuilding project considered economically important for supply chains well beyond Maryland.

Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, speaking at the White House Wednesday, said, “Rebuilding will not be quick, or easy or cheap, but we will get it done.”

The Coast Guard and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers must dismantle the remains of the bridge and stabilize the cargo ship, which dropped some of its 4,700 containers into the river, to safely unblock the port.

Four men are missing — all immigrants from El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Mexico — and two bodies were recovered Wednesday among those who plunged into the Patapsco River when the ship slammed into Baltimore’s Francis Scott Key Bridge. Two other workers survived Tuesday’s pre-dawn calamity.

The National Transportation Safety Board presented a preliminary timeline of the collapse drawn from the ship’s data recorder. It captured “sounds consistent with the collision” Tuesday at 1:29 a.m. The NTSB is creating a transcript and continuing to gather evidence and data. Port Authority video captured the moment of the collapse.

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ZOOM IN

CONGRESS

If April is the cruelest month, as T.S. Eliot wrote, seriously embattled Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) is in for some pain.

TO RECAP: Critics to the Speaker’s right, chiefly Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.), suggest they might remove Johnson from his leadership role if he cuts more legislative deals with the White House and Democrats after funding the government. Conversely, his role as Speaker could be propped up with help from Democrats, says Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.), but with a legislative IOU in return. Bypassing his conservative colleagues guarantees punishment.

But Johnson has said the House will consider more funding for Ukraine next month, an endeavor opposed by some in his party, but possible with Democratic votes. The Speaker has not disclosed a strategy. Most Republicans want tough border security restrictions to be the priority, but Democrats are opposed to the GOP’s measure. The Ukraine debate has simmered for months; meanwhile, Johnson’s tiny majority leaves no room to maneuver.

If Johnson has a failsafe plan in mind for April, it’s wrapped in fog. House Democrats say forging an opportunistic alliance with fed-up Republicans might be the last best chance for Congress to bolster Ukraine’s military before November’s elections (The Hill). 

“If the choice is between Ukraine aid and providing a vote to stop a motion to vacate, or no Ukraine aid, I think there’s a lot of Democrats who would be willing to assist in getting it done,” Rep. Jim Himes (D-Conn.) said Wednesday. 

The Hill: Greene says she won’t take the blame if Jeffries becomes Speaker.

ACROSS THE CAPITOL, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) aims to do everything humanly possible to help his party hold the White House and the Senate majority after November. His springtime legislative priorities include bipartisan measures that take aim at tech companies, railroad safety (think Ohio, where Sen. Sherrod Brown, a Democrat, seeks another term in a state Trump won by 8 points in 2020), banking reforms, and emergency federal funding to rebuild Baltimore’s economically important, collapsed bridge. Then there’s the ongoing battle over supplemental assistance for Ukraine. A tall order.

Punchbowl News notes that the House in January also sent to the Senate a bipartisan tax bill, the Tax Relief for American Families and Workers Act, and a controversial bipartisan measure that would ban TikTok if the popular short-video platform doesn’t shed its Chinese owner. Both await Senate action.

Which lawmakers’ earmarks made it into law, courtesy of the government funding legislation enacted through Sept. 30, although they voted against the $1.2 trillion measure? Punchbowl News has a spreadsheet HERE. Among examples: Sens. Michael Bennet (D-Colo.), Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.).

RIP: Joe Lieberman, a vice presidential candidate on the 2000 ticket with Al Gore who served four terms as a Connecticut senator, died Wednesday at 82 from complications after a fall. Lieberman, a gentlemanly politician who valued bipartisanship and became an independent after losing a 2006 Democratic primary, was the nation’s first Jewish candidate on a major-party presidential ticket.

REVISION & DELETION: Several House Democratic lawmakers withdrew their support for legislation condemning sexual violence, claiming they were unaware the measure included controversial language on Israel. But an email obtained by The Hill shows the lawmakers were notified of changes two weeks before introduction of the measure and they were offered an opportunity to remove their names (The Hill).

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ELSEWHERE

INTERNATIONAL

DELEGATION REVERSAL: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is planning to send two Israeli officials to Washington for talks about a possible military operation in Rafah as early as next week. The move marks a sharp reversal after Netanyahu canceled the same delegation’s trip on Monday in protest of the U.S. not vetoing a United Nations Security Council resolution calling for a cease-fire in Gaza (Axios).

A MAJORITY OF AMERICANS now disapprove of Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza, with support dropping from 50 percent in November to 36 percent this month, according to a new Gallup poll. The number who disapprove increased from 45 percent in November to 55 percent in March (The Hill).

Russia may have executed more than 30 recently captured Ukrainian prisoners of war over the winter months, according to United Nations reports. From December to February, as President Vladimir Putin’s invading forces were rapidly advancing in the Donetsk and Zaporizhzhia regions, dozens of execution videos were posted on social media. In eight of the reported cases, videos showed Russian service members killing Ukrainian POWs who had laid down their weapons or using other captured Ukrainian POWs as human shields (Politico).

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COURTS

ABORTION RIGHTS GROUPS are sounding the alarm that conservative Supreme Court justices are drawing a road map for a nationwide abortion ban. The Hill’s Nathaniel Weixel writes Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito repeatedly invoked the Comstock Act during oral arguments Tuesday in a case about the Biden administration’s efforts to expand access to mifepristone.

While the 151-year-old law has not been enforced for a century, the end of Roe v. Wade gives anti-abortion activists an opening. Working with former Trump administration officials, the activists have been laying the groundwork for the next Republican administration to apply the Comstock Act to prevent the mailing of any abortion drugs and materials, effectively banning all abortions without needing Congress.

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THE CLOSER

Take Our Morning Report Quiz

And finally … It’s Thursday, which means it’s time for this week’s Morning Report Quiz! More alert to athletic headlines than usual, we’re eager for some smart guesses about recent developments in the sports world.

Be sure to email your responses to asimendinger@thehill.com and kkarisch@thehill.com — please add “Quiz” to your subject line. Winners who submit correct answers will enjoy some richly deserved newsletter fame on Friday.

NFL owners on Monday voted for a rule change to ban ______?

1. Recreational marijuana in stadiums during games
2. String bikini costumes on cheerleaders
3. The hip-drop tackle, a swivel technique
4. Illegal contact foul penalties

What scandal this week involving interpreter Ippei Mizuhara engulfed Los Angeles Dodgers baseball phenom Shohei Ohtani, who speaks only Japanese?

1. Mistaken R-rated translation to English during a California news conference
2. The two men were arrested in L.A. following a late-night fender bender
3. Mizuhara quit and returned to Japan after a wage dispute
4. Ohtani alleged his interpreter stole from his account to pay gambling debts

What caused a 30-minute delay while a fix was worked out Friday ahead of a U.K. Women’s Super League soccer game while nearly 33,000 fans waited?

1. Really bad weather
2. Teams showed up wearing matching socks
3. Large flock of geese clogged the field
4. Staff forgot to unlock the stadium gates

What forced NCAA’s Utah Utes players and their traveling party to leave a hotel in Idaho on Monday, according to their coach?

1. Safety concerns prompted by multiple racial taunts and slurs
2. No hotel heat
3. Utes lost against Gonzaga Bulldogs
4. Snow emergency

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