INCOMING! … SPOTTED: Rudy Giuliani on the 1 p.m. shuttle from LGA to DCA.
BULLETIN — ANOTHER DAY, ANOTHER DEM OUT … DANIEL STRAUSS: “Sherrod Brown will not run for president in 2020”: “Brown said in a statement that he was confident other candidates would adopt his political mantra — ‘the dignity of work’ — and that he would continue working against President Donald Trump in the Senate instead of joining the crowded Democratic primary field.” POLITICO
THE DEMOCRATIC CROSSCURRENTS IN THE HOUSE …
— THE HOUSE will vote on a resolution today condemning anti-Semitism and other acts of hate. REP. ILHAN OMAR (D-MINN.) has been under fire for her remarks this week.
— NOT EVERYONE IS PLEASED … FLORIDA DEM REP. TED DEUTSCH TOOK TO THE FLOOR: “When one of our colleagues invokes the classic anti-Semitic tropes, the anti-Semitic language that Jews control the world, that Jews care only about money, that Jews cannot be loyal americans if they also support Israel — this too must be condemned. …
“IT FEELS LIKE WE’RE ONLY able to call the use of anti-Semitic language by a colleague of ours — any colleague of ours — if we’re addressing all forms of hatred and it feels like we can’t say it’s anti-semitism unless everyone agrees that it’s anti-semitism. Who gets to define what counts as stereotypes and discrimination?
“Isn’t it the people who experience the bias, the people who have experience that hatred for thousands of years? … Words matter. For generations they have had dangerous consequences, for me, for my family and for my people. This shouldn’t be so hard.” The clip (h/ts Sarah Ferris and WaPo’s Mike DeBonis)
— NBC’S KASIE HUNT asked SPEAKER NANCY PELOSI if OMAR understood why her “comments were problematic.” PELOSI: “I don’t think that the congresswoman … perhaps appreciates the full weight of how it was heard by other people, although I don’t believe it was intended in an anti-Semitic way. But the fact is, if that’s how it was interpreted we have to remove all doubt as we have done over and over again.”
— ASKED about the “dangers” of policing her members’ speech in light of MICHIGAN DEMOCRATIC REP. RASHIDA TLAIB’S expletive describing the president and OMAR’S comments, PELOSI said: “We’re not policing the speech of our members, we are condemning anti-Semitism, anti-Islamophobia and we are condemning white supremacy. … And anybody who engages in that kind of speech we will condemn.” Full press conference
HEATHER CAYGLE, SARAH FERRIS and MELANIE ZANONA: “Dems look to move past Omar turmoil with speedy vote”: “The House will vote Thursday on a resolution condemning anti-Semitism, an indirect rebuke of controversial comments by Rep. Ilhan Omar that has inflamed the Democratic Caucus and which party leaders are eager to put behind them. House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) made the announcement in a closed-door meeting Thursday morning as senior Democratic staffers were still working to finalize text that could garner support from lawmakers on both sides of the dispute.
“‘It’s going to say that we are against bigotry, we are against prejudice, we’re against hate, against whomever that is directed,’ Hoyer told reporters after the meeting. … Pelosi confirmed the resolution will not mention Omar by name, as some Jewish lawmakers had privately demanded, and will broadly address several forms of hate speech, including anti-Semitism.” POLITICO
Good Thursday afternoon. SPOTTED: Speaker Nancy Pelosi having breakfast this morning at the Four Seasons.
NEW … FROM NANCY COOK: TRUMP TO HEADLINE RNC SPRING RETREAT THIS WEEKEND: The president will speak on Friday night at the RNC spring retreat at Mar-a-Lago, according to a schedule obtained by POLITICO. Other attendees include Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, Small Business Administrator Linda McMahon, Brad Parscale and Chris Carr from the Trump campaign, Donald Trump Jr., and Kimberly Guilfoyle.
ON SATURDAY, the retreat will feature panels on running a campaign in 2020, digital integration in the Republican Party, growing the party and the GOP response to ActBlue. All of the panels are happening at the Four Seasons Resort Palm Beach, while the president’s speech over dinner and cocktails will happen at Mar-a-Lago.
WHAT’S ON THE PRESIDENT’S MIND — @realDonaldTrump at 9:24 a.m.: “It was not a campaign contribution, and there were no violations of the campaign finance laws by me. Fake News!”
… at 9:38 a.m.: “We are on track to APPREHEND more than one million people coming across the Southern Border this year. Great job by Border Patrol (and others) who are working in a Broken System. Can be fixed by Congress so easily and quickly if only the Democrats would get on board!”
COMING ATTRACTIONS … CNN’S ELIZABETH LANDERS: “Lindsey Graham tells CNN: Judiciary Committee to hold gun control hearing March 26”: “The hearing is expected to cover the ‘extreme risk protection’ or ‘red flag’ laws that have been passed in some states and that Graham has supported implementing at a federal level.
“The hearing is significant for the GOP-led Senate, a chamber where most Republicans — and many Democrats — have little interest in diving into the polarizing issue of gun control. The hearing would also follow the House of Representatives’ passage of a pair of bills improving background checks for gun purchases, bills that have not yet been picked up by the Senate.” CNN
— NBC’S ALEX MOE (@AlexNBCNews): “Treasury Secretary [Steven] Mnuchin to testify March 14th before the House Ways and Means Committee on President Trump’s proposed budget.”
— NPR’S HANSI LO WANG (@hansilowang): “NEW: Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross has until 5 p.m. today to confirm he will voluntarily appear at previously scheduled House Oversight hearing & release internal docs abt #2020census #citizenshipquestion on March 14, Chair @RepCummings (D-Md.) warns in letter to @SecretaryRoss.” The letter
JOHN KELLY SPEAKS — NYT’S MAGGIE HABERMAN: “John Kelly, Out of White House, Breaks With Trump Policies”: “The former White House chief of staff, John F. Kelly, on Wednesday declined to answer questions about the existence of a memo he wrote saying that President Trump had ordered officials to give his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, a security clearance in May 2018.
“Mr. Kelly also broke with Mr. Trump on key aspects of his approach to immigration and the NATO alliance, and said that his top concern about decisions made by the president was whether they were objectively right for the country when divorced from political concerns. … Asked specifically about whether he had ever created memos for the record, Mr. Kelly said, ‘I’d prefer not to talk about that.’” NYT
JARED’S GOT IT UNDER CONTROL … THE DAILY BEAST’S ERIN BANCO: “Embassy Staffers Say Jared Kushner Shut Them Out of Saudi Meetings”: “Officials and staffers in the U.S. embassy in Riyadh said they were not read in on the details of Jared Kushner’s trip to Saudi Arabia or the meetings he held with members of the country’s Royal Court last week. And that’s causing concern not only in the embassy but also among members of Congress, according to three individuals with direct knowledge of the matter.
“On his trip to the Middle East, Kushner stopped in Riyadh. While there, he met with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and King Salman to discuss U.S.-Saudi cooperation, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and economic investment in the region, according to the White House. But no one from the embassy in Riyadh was in the meetings, according to two sources. The State Department did have a senior official in attendance, but he was not part of the State Department team in Saudi. He is a senior member of the department focused on Iran, according to a source with direct knowledge of the official’s presence in Riyadh.” The Daily Beast
IMMIGRATION FILES — “Guidelines ask agents to target Spanish speakers at border,” by AP’s Elliot Spagat in San Diego
SHOCK FILES … CAITLIN OPRYSKO: “Aaron Schock won’t rule out another run after settling corruption case”: “‘At 37 years old, I don’t think I’ll ever say never,’ Schock told CBS News in response to a question about his potential future political ambitions. But the former lawmaker said he would more likely enter the private sector and that ‘I have enjoyed being out of politics the last four years.’” POLITICO
TRADE WARS — SABRINA RODRÍGUEZ and ANDREW RESTUCCIA: “White House tries to charm Democrats on new NAFTA”: “Administration officials have been organizing dozens of meetings with rank-and-file lawmakers to try to build bipartisan support for the deal, which restructures trade terms with Canada and Mexico. They’re hoping to recapture the success of criminal justice reform legislation, which marked a rare high-point for White House-Hill relations and passed Congress last year following a monthslong behind-the-scenes campaign led by Jared Kushner.
“Their goal is to get a vote on the pact by late summer. But their efforts still may come to nothing: While Pelosi hasn’t yet staked out a definitive position on the agreement, factions of Democrats are already saying they’re not going to vote for it unless there are changes to key provisions, possibly requiring new negotiations with the two U.S. trading partners. Plus, Democrats and GOP lawmakers alike are telling the president they won’t consider the deal until he lifts lingering tariffs on steel and aluminum from Mexico and Canada.” POLITICO
ON THE WORLD STAGE — “Huawei sues U.S. government in growing counteroffensive against purchasing ban,” by WaPo’s Gerry Shih in Shenzhen, China: “In a lawsuit filed in federal district court in Texas, Huawei argued that a section of the 2019 National Defense Authorization Act passed into law in August, which prohibits federal agencies and contractors from buying Huawei equipment on national security grounds, unfairly punished the Chinese company without due process and without providing proof that Huawei posed an espionage threat to the United States.
“The complaint adds a new subplot — in American courts — to the sprawling standoff between the Trump administration and a tech firm seen as an icon of China’s rise into a world power. The lawsuit comes at a time when decades-old Chinese policies locking out American companies — from the financial to automotive to Internet sectors — lie at the heart of the current bilateral trade dispute.” WaPo
WASHINGTON INC. … BLOOMBERG’S NAOMI NIX: “Amazon Is Flooding D.C. With Money and Muscle”: “The Seattle-based company is pushing aside trade groups it doesn’t like and creating new ones it does. It’s dispatching senior executives to woo antitrust enforcers. And it’s poaching senior staff from government agencies and congressional offices.
“Federal records show that Amazon.com Inc. lobbied more government entities than any other tech company in 2018 and sought to exert its influence over more issues than any of its tech peers except Alphabet Inc.’s Google. Last year, Amazon spent $14.2 million on lobbying, a record for the company, up from its previous high mark of $12.8 million in 2017. … Amazon is also showing a new level of assertiveness in advancing its corporate interests, though largely out of the public eye.” Bloomberg
MEDIAWATCH — “U.S. Cancels Journalist’s Award Over Her Criticism of Trump,” by Foreign Policy’s Reid Standish and Robbie Gramer: “Jessikka Aro, a Finnish investigative journalist, has faced down death threats and harassment over her work exposing Russia’s propaganda machine long before the 2016 U.S. presidential elections. In January, the U.S. State Department took notice, telling Aro she would be honored with the prestigious International Women of Courage Award, to be presented in Washington by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.
“Weeks later, the State Department rescinded the award offer. A State Department spokesperson said it was due to a ‘regrettable error,’ but Aro and U.S. officials familiar with the internal deliberations tell a different story. They say the department revoked her award after U.S. officials went through Aro’s social media posts and found she had also frequently criticized President Donald Trump.” Foreign Policy
— Holly Bailey will be a national political reporter for WaPo focusing on the 2020 presidential election. She currently is a national correspondent for Yahoo.
SPOTTED at a launch event for Rep. Patrick McHenry’s Innovation PAC at Mission in Navy Yard on Wednesday afternoon: Rep. Steve Stivers (R-Ohio), Rep. Andy Barr (R-Ky.), Rep. Ann Wagner (R-Mo.), Rep. Anthony Gonzalez (R-Ohio). … Joey Kouri, a Darin LaHood staffer, on “Wheel of Fortune.” He came in second. Pic
TRANSITION — Maura Keefe has launched Keefe Strategies, a new public affairs firm. She was previously chief of staff for Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.).
ENGAGED — Alex Schriver, EVP at Targeted Victory and former COS for Rep. Bradley Byrne (R-Ala.), proposed to Tracey D’Antuono, VP at Bank Policy Institute and a NAM alum. The couple “celebrated with friends and family at Convivial where we had our first date exactly a year ago. … Her best friend and my best friend work together at Williams & Jensen and set us up.” Pic … Another pic
.. bootUp 
Daily Trends Hunter 