SCOOP: The Pentagon asked the White House today for more than *$200 billion* for Iran war supplemental, sources say Some in WH think Congress won't support b/c it's so big Will tee up giant battle in Congress My last story for WaPo: www.washingtonpost.com/national-sec...

If you’re someone who wants to chat — inside government, outside government, reader/potential reader, or just someone interested in da news — feel free to reach out on Signal: 9178872891

Some personal news: This is my last week at The Washington Post. I’ve loved so much of the last 9 years here, but my faith in the paper’s current leadership is broken beyond repair. Incredibly excited to get to work w/ the newsroom below (I start in June) Get in touch on Signal : 9178872891

New: Bernie Sanders to unveil $4.4 trillion tax on America's ~1,000 billionaires, saying it would pay for: — Medicare to cover dental/vision/hearing — Teacher pay at $60K/yr min. — $3K/person checks (under $150K/yr) — Universal childcare — Housing expansion www.washingtonpost.com/business/202...

NEW: Behind the scenes, a lobbying alliance of Saudi Arabia's MBS and Israel's Netanyahu urged Trump to level a major strike against Iran in the days before the president's decision (even as as Riyadh publicly advocated for diplomacy) www.washingtonpost.com/politics/202...

NEW: We obtained 911 audio from the Texas detention center housing hundreds of immigrant kids and their parents. Since mid-September, EMS crews have been dispatched to Dilley at least 11 times to treat children in medical distress. Burning fevers. Low oxygen. Seizures. A broken leg. My report:

Numismatic glorification: Trump team wants his image on a second coin, this time in gold. But an obscure panel is blocking it. "Only those nations ruled by kings or dictators display the image of their sitting ruler on the coins of the realm.” www.nytimes.com/2026/02/25/u...

NEW: A federal judge said in an opinion issued today that the Trump administration violated the tax law “approximately 42,695 times” in turning over immigrant data to ICE

SCOOP: Trump aides are struggling to spend an extra $500 billion on the military, delaying budget Trump agreed to Hegseth’s bid for *~50%~* military spending boost Vought & others objected internally It’s so much $ they can’t figure out how to spend it www.washingtonpost.com/business/202...

The @washingtonpost.com won a Loeb Award for best international reporting last night for "The Money War," our 2024 series on unintended consequences of the massive rise in U.S. financial sanctions — great to celebrate with @jeffstein.bsky.social, @foianate.bsky.social, @federicacocco.bsky.social

Statement from @postguild.bsky.social on the firing of Karen Attiah:

Excellent coverage about how the Trump administration has axed nearly two dozen projects addressing health and environmental issues in Southern Black communities www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2025/...

Some personal news: I am taking leave from The Washington Post for at least 5 months to write the definitive biography of Bernie Sanders It's going to be a fascinating read about The Big Questions in America & you wont want to miss it; sign up to follow along open.substack.com/pub/jeffstei...

“No question — this is definitely the biggest cut. It’s the biggest rollback in federal support for health care ever” the incomparable @larrylevitt.bsky.social “You can very safely say this is the biggest cut to programs for low-income Americans ever” me @jeffstein.bsky.social on what's at stake

Health care of 11.8 million at risk in GOP tax bill www.tiktok.com/t/ZP8rK4eP9/

NEW: The US is effectively giving up on taxing large inheritances GOP bill would permanently raise to $15 million - $30M for couples - amount that can be passed on tax free Estate tax already reaches 1/4 of the households it did in 1934, when US was much smaller www.tiktok.com/t/ZP8rf51c9/

GOP rejects ‘millionaire tax’ pitch, advancing breaks for rich Americans "The biggest beneficiaries of the bill would be those earning between $460,800 and $1.1 million per year" www.washingtonpost.com/business/202...

Scoop: We've obtained internal cables showing how the U.S. government is pushing countries facing tariffs to clear way for Musk's Starlink State Dept says it's good to encourage Starlink adoption Others point to blurring of Musk's private/government roles ... www.washingtonpost.com/business/202...

Scoop: Senior aides across Trump admin holding high-level meetings over China curbs on rare earths critical to huge range of U.S. economic activity Deep concern about impact; no easy answers Companies relying on reserves that wont last forever May help explain Trump blink

Bannon: Elon Musk should be required to submit a certified inventory of all the fraud and waste he found while in government, and there should be full disclosure of any non-governmental entities to have obtained sensitive federal data through DOGE

President Trump’s abrupt shift in rhetoric Tuesday toward Federal Reserve Chair Jerome H. Powell reflected the private lobbying of some of his senior advisers, who urged the president to back off his incendiary attacks.

For @thedodgemag.bsky.social I wrote a meditative short story about deer hunting (or about the pleasures of simply waiting in the woods, as the case may be). Big thanks to @addisonzeller.bsky.social for giving this piece a home. www.thedodgemag.com/sephmurtagh1

If BlueSky aware that over on Twitter a bunch of finance type accounts spread a fake rumor that the WH was considering a 90 day tariff pause, after which markets rose, and then the WH came out and called it fake news, after which markets sank

I feel for the Silicon Valley & Wall Street types surprised by Trump’s tariffs. Who could have even thought to pay attention to his speeches, the positions on his website, hundreds of newspaper articles, or nationally televised debates. The information was practically impossible to come by

I do think one amusing thing is that all the industry titans thought if they got on Trump's good side they could protect their own companies, which of course discounted the possibility they could be simultaneously crushed

SCOOP: Trump personally selected now widely-mocked formula for determining country-specific tariffs from a menu Numerous aides had for weeks been at work crafting country-specific tariffs that took into account a broad range of tariff & non-tariff barriers www.washingtonpost.com/politics/202...

JPMorgan raises recession odds to ***60%*** www.cnbc.com/2025/04/04/j...

Tfw you have erected tariff and non tariff barriers

All within a few hours --> Howard Lutnick: “I don’t think there’s any chance Trump is going to back off his tariff" Peter Navarro: “This is not a negotiation" Donald Trump: "The tariffs give us great power to negotiate. They always have.”

Internal White House talking points tell advisers not to suggest that the "reciprocal" tariffs are up for negotiation, @jeffstein.bsky.social and Natalie Allison report www.washingtonpost.com/business/202...

I know I’ve been tweeting about this a lot but what’s striking to me is not just that Wall Street so badly underestimated downside risk — it’s that they piled all-in on post-election euphoria that assumed, contrary to all reporting, the tariffs wouldn’t happen

50% tariffs on the roughly 6,000 people who live in Saint Pierre and Miquelon

Trump says the US was proportionally the richest it ever was in late 1880s/early 1900s, before in 1913 establishing the federal income tax "for reasons unknown to mankind" (??), which led to the Great Depression, which "would never have happened if they stayed with the tariff policy" (???)

Crazy chart from @josephpolitano.bsky.social

Like many things we've covered at the IRS, this is a sea change. Tax administration is supposed to be non-political. Tax *investigations* are supposed to be super non-political. And tax *criminal investigations* are supposed to be walled off from anything remotely political.

👀 NEW at the IRS: The Trump admin is gaining power over criminal tax investigations -- the first time that's happened since Nixon. Trump installed an Hunter Biden "whistleblower" as deputy of the criminal division. Gary Shapley has told confidants he expects to soon be in charge.

This in fact would have been an important news story to break in 1939? As someone whose grandfather barely escaped the Nazis?

If you want to understand how the US went from the triumphalism of the post-Cold War era to the rise of economic nationalism today, you might consider my new book, now available for pre-order www.publicaffairsbooks.com/titles/david...

Scoop: White House officials are studying the costs of taking over Greenland, attempting to determine price-tag to maintain & what revenue could be gained, per sources Government officials working on Greenland www.washingtonpost.com/politics/202...

Photo from Reuters today in a Vancouver liquor store ->

By definition people should stop calling them “reciprocal” tariffs if they’re a flat universal rate on everyone

Claims of 600bln/yr in tariff revenue are impossible. When prices rise, real demand falls reducing possible revenue, with the multiplier usually much higher than 1x overall. Even optimistic assumptions require implausibly high rates to get there. h/t @jeffstein.bsky.social

@jeffstein.bsky.social hasn’t posted this here yet but worth sharing

No criminal record No tattoos No due process Father of a 9 year old, loving pet owner Family insistent that he has no gang affiliations Sent to prison camp amp.miamiherald.com/news/local/i...

New: Trump privately pushing aides to go bigger on tariff policy ahead of April 2 "Liberation Day" Has recently revived idea of single flat rate on most imports, which had been shelved Stephen K. Bannon says Liberation Day should be a national holiday www.washingtonpost.com/business/202...

Scoop: Internal White House document details layoff plans across U.S. agencies. Officials stressed the estimates were subject to change. If you have more information, my Signal is 202-412-9091. W/ @jeffstein.bsky.social www.washingtonpost.com/politics/202...

Unidentified men grabbing someone off the street and putting her in a car because she wrote an op-Ed. This as flatly authoritarian as anything we’ve seen in this country in a very long time.

The Trump administration's attacks on law firms are making it hard for his adversaries to find lawyers www.washingtonpost.com/politics/202...

Social Security in turmoil: — SSA website crashed four times in 10 days this month — Phone service a mess following Musk-led cuts — Agency no longer has a system to monitor customers’ experience due to DOGE — Major staff exodus www.washingtonpost.com/politics/202...

BREAKING: Yuval Abraham, co-director of Oscar-winning documentary "No Other Land," says Israeli settlers beat his co-director Hamdan Ballal, injuring his head and stomach — and then Israeli soldiers invaded the ambulance he was in and seized him. Ballal's whereabouts are now unknown.