NOTUS

‘Affected By Pests’: Trump’s Chicago Hotel Restaurants Failed Health Inspections In December, city officials flagged flies, faulty dishwashers and wastewater-flooded floors.

Just before Christmas, a city health inspector visited the Trump International Hotel in Chicago.

They didn’t approve of what they saw.

NEW on @notus.com: www.notus.org/health-scien...

Short-Term Excursion

Mission Accomplished? The president talked about Iran yesterday in Florida. A lot. But there’s one word he didn’t use once: war.
https://www.notus.org/newsletters/short-term-excursion

‘Affected By Pests’: Trump’s Chicago Hotel Restaurants Failed Health Inspections In December, city officials flagged flies, faulty dishwashers and wastewater-flooded floors.

Several Trump hotels and golf clubs have been hit over the past year with varying health code violations. In December, Chicago city officials flagged flies, faulty dishwashers and wastewater-flooded floors.
https://www.notus.org/health-science/trump-hotel-chicago-restaurant-inspection-failed-pests

Republicans Try to Craft Their Midterm Pitch Despite Conflicting Iran War Messages House Republicans want to tout tax cuts, but the president’s most recent speech focused on the war in Iran and a voter ID bill.

NEW: Trump and Republicans are not in lockstep on what their 2026 midterm messaging should be

House Rs want to focus on the economy and lowering costs

But Trump is focused on Iran and a voter ID bill

w/ @daniellamicaela.bsky.social @emluetkemeyer.bsky.social
www.notus.org/congress/rep...

The White House’s Financial Disclosures for Top Officials Are Incomplete Border Czar Tom Homan’s financial disclosure has not been finalized by the federal ethics office.

NOTUS has identified at least five top White House officials whose financial disclosures are still missing from the Office of Government Ethics’ database.
https://www.notus.org/trump-white-house/white-houses-financial-disclosures-top-officials-incomplete

Republicans Try to Craft Their Midterm Pitch Despite Conflicting Iran War Messages House Republicans want to tout tax cuts, but the president’s most recent speech focused on the war in Iran and a voter ID bill.

House Republicans want to tout tax cuts and push their affordability messaging ahead of the midterms, but their efforts may be overshadowed by President Trump’s focus on Iran.
https://www.notus.org/congress/republicans-2026-midterm-election-pitch-conflicting-iran-war-middle-east

Republicans Can't Agree on What to Do About Housing The legislation, aimed at building more housing quickly, is poised to get a vote in the Senate as soon as this week.

A package that could be the first housing legislation passed by Congress in more than a decade is facing a number of hurdles — namely, unhappy House Republicans.
https://www.notus.org/housing/republicans-housing-road-legislation

Senate Democrats Threaten to Gum Up the Works With Repeat Iran War Powers Votes “We're not going to let the Senate go on with business as usual.” Sen. Cory Booker told reporters.

Senate Democrats said that they are prepared to use the procedural tools to disrupt the Senate’s normal flow of work to force public debate about the war with Iran.
https://www.notus.org/senate/senate-democrats-iran-war-powers-votes-tim-kaine-cory-booker

Trump Tries to Rebrand His War With Iran as a ‘Little Excursion' The president notably omitted the word “war” from his remarks, despite having described the conflict with Iran that way for more than a week.

President Trump downplayed the conflict with Iran by describing it as a “little excursion,” notably omitting the word “war” from his remarks.
https://www.notus.org/defense/trump-war-iran-israel-timeline-little-excursion

Trump Will Feel the Iran Oil Price Shock, Industry Analysts Say The Trump administration has waved off skyrocketing gas prices as temporary market fear.

Industry experts are increasingly concerned that the Trump administration did not adequately plan for the oil price shocks that are now rippling through the global economy.
https://www.notus.org/energy/trump-iran-oil-price-shock-industry-analysts-say

FBI Subpoenaed Arizona Records as Part of Widening 2020 Election Probe In a post on Truth Social Monday, Trump responded to the news: “Great!!!”

The FBI subpoenaed election records from Arizona’s largest county last week as part of a widening probe into President Trump’s long-debunked assertions that the 2020 presidential race was rigged against him.
www.notus.org/arizona/fbi-...

RFK Jr.'s MAHA Allies Call to Eliminate All Childhood Vaccine Recommendations Inside the MAHA movement's Washington meetup.

Leaders of the MAHA Institute, the RFK Jr.-allied think tank, are calling for the elimination of all childhood vaccine recommendations.
https://www.notus.org/health-science/rfk-maha-allies-childhood-vaccine-recommendations

RFK Jr.'s MAHA Allies Call to Eliminate All Childhood Vaccine Recommendations Inside the MAHA movement’s Washington meetup.

“The childhood vaccination schedule needs to be eliminated."

“The flu shot has given 1,900,000 Americans Alzheimer’s."

“Vaccines are causing autism."

Inside an afternoon with the MAHA Institute:

Rep. Kevin Kiley Announces He’s Leaving the GOP, Effective Immediately He will become the only independent in the House of Representatives.

Rep. Kevin Kiley of California announced that he is dropping his affiliation with the Republican Party, though he plans to continue caucusing with the GOP.
https://www.notus.org/republicans/rep-kevin-kiley-leaving-the-gop-republican-congress-majority

Republican Lawmaker Says Muslim Immigrants ‘Must Be Banned’ Rep. Andy Ogles has in recent days posted multiple disparaging comments on social media about Muslims.

Rep. Andy Ogles posted multiple anti-Muslim comments on social media, including calling for the deportation of U.S. citizens and saying that Muslim immigrants “must be banned.”
https://www.notus.org/congress/andy-ogles-muslim-immigration-posts

Trump's Pressure Campaign on Voter ID Isn't Working on Senate Republicans Republicans don't want to change filibuster rules, not even for the SAVE Act.

The SAVE Act would require photo ID at the ballot box and proof of U.S. citizenship to register to vote. While Senate Republicans say they support the policy, most are staunchly against lowering the threshold of votes needed to pass it over Democratic opposition.
www.notus.org/congress/tru...

Anthropic Sues Over the Pentagon’s Effort to ‘Punish’ It for AI Restrictions The Pentagon designated Anthropic a “supply chain risk,” limiting its use by the federal government.

Anthropic is suing the Defense Department, arguing that the Trump administration is attempting to “punish” the company for refusing to allow the Pentagon unfettered use of its AI.
https://www.notus.org/courts/anthropic-lawsuit-pentagon-ai-supply-chain-designation

Federal Judge Stops DOJ From Automatically Dismissing Immigration Appeals DOJ sought to shut down cases on appeal without “meaningful consideration,” the judge ruled.

A federal judge ruled that the DOJ’s plan to automatically dismiss immigration cases on appeal is unlawful.
https://www.notus.org/immigration/federal-judge-immigration-court-rule-automatically-dismissing-appeals

Sen. Chris Murphy Says Democrats Need to Block Legislation Until There’s an Iran War Authorization Vote The Democratic senator from Connecticut says his party “should not just pretend like this is normal.”

Sen. Chris Murphy says Democratic senators should block or delay all legislation until a war authorization for President Trump’s military intervention in Iran gets a vote in the Senate.
https://www.notus.org/senate/chris-murphy-iran-war-powers-authorization

House Defense Committee Leaders Don’t Know How AI Is Being Used in Iran “My plate is full already, I’m not looking for detail like that,” the House Armed Services Committee Chair told NOTUS.

Top House Armed Services lawmakers say they don’t know how the U.S. military is using AI in the ongoing war with Iran.
https://www.notus.org/defense/defense-committee-ai-use-military-iran-strikes

The National Security Crisis No One in D.C. Is Talking About When the Potomac Interceptor sewer line collapsed, the nation’s capital narrowly avoided a drinking water crisis — again.

NEW: DC has narrowly avoided a national security crisis 3 times in 6 years.

The Pentagon, the White House, the Capitol building: They’re all screwed if something happens to Potomac. It’s an obvious vulnerability.

With no plan to fix it.

Rules-Based Order

In the newsletter:
- The tension over “rules of engagement” rhetoric
- The truth about how fragile the D.C. water supply is
- And: Trump branding meets America’s 250th
https://www.notus.org/newsletters/rules-based-order

‘My Last Chance’: Perennial Candidate Ammar Campa-Najjar Believes He Can Finally Win an Election The California Democrat has strong support in Washington, including from his partner, Rep. Sara Jacobs. But local Democrats have accused him of having “a lack of clear principles.”

California Democrat Ammar Campa-Najjar has strong support in Washington, including from his partner, Rep. Sara Jacobs. But local Democrats have accused him of having “a lack of clear principles.”
https://www.notus.org/2026-election/ammar-campa-najjar-midterm-democrats

The National Security Crisis No One in D.C. Is Talking About When the Potomac Interceptor sewer line collapsed, the nation’s capital narrowly avoided a drinking water crisis — again.

When the Potomac Interceptor sewer line collapsed, the nation’s capital narrowly avoided a drinking water crisis — again.
www.notus.org/climate-envi...

Trump Org Files Trademarks to Put the President’s Name Front and Center at ‘America 250’ In one filing submitted on Friday, a “Trump 250” image was trademarked to be used on a variety of merchandise.

SCOOP: The Trump Org filed previously unreported trademark applications in connection with America’s 250th anniversary celebration, all featuring the president’s name as a centerpiece.

— w/ @ameliacolon.bsky.social of @notus.com
www.notus.org/donald-trump...

Republican Senator Says Stephen Miller Should Be Next to Go “I believe we have got qualified Cabinet members there that sometimes are doing less than what they want to because of his direction and his outsized influence,” Sen. Thom Tillis said.

The next Trump administration official on the chopping block should be deputy White House chief of staff Stephen Miller, one Republican Senator said publicly on Sunday.

Trump Org Files Trademarks to Put the President’s Name Front and Center at ‘America 250’ In one filing submitted on Friday, a “Trump 250” image was trademarked to be used on a variety of merchandise.

The Trump Organization filed several previously unreported trademark applications last week in connection with America’s 250th anniversary celebration, all featuring the president’s name as a centerpiece of the highly-anticipated festivities.

Trump Says He Plans to Block All Legislation Until the SAVE America Act is Passed The bill passed the House last month but has stalled in the Senate.

Trump on Sunday said he wouldn’t sign any legislation until the SAVE America Act is passed.

Oil Tycoon and GOP Donor Harold Hamm Asked Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt for Senate Appointment Hamm is one of the wealthiest people in America and a Trump ally. He also called the White House about the job.

In addition to asking the Oklahoma governor, Hamm also called the White House to express interest in the job, two sources say https://www.notus.org/senate/harold-hamm-markwayne-mullin-senate-appointment-ask

A Judge Is Again Ordering FEMA to Restore a Key Disaster-Prevention Program FEMA was hit Friday with a “motion to enforce” a court order after failing to restore a hazard-mitigation and disaster-prevention program mandated by Congress.

FEMA was hit with a “motion to enforce” a court order after failing to restore a hazard-mitigation and disaster-prevention program mandated by Congress. https://www.notus.org/courts/fema-court-order