Washington, DC

1. Israel’s interceptor shortage
2. Iran’s MidEast targets
3. DC in wartime
4. Another Warsh delay
5. Dems’ voting strategy
6. Dem pile-on in California
7. The presidential cell phone
8. Trump’s West Africa pivot

PDB: Trump still mulling Texas Senate endorsement

Trump pushes to remove judge from Powell case … Tornado warning as dangerous storm set to hit DC … Brent crude rises to $106 a barrel

War depletes Israel’s interceptors

The Israel military is insisting that it has enough missile interceptors for a “prolonged conflict” with Iran, after Semafor’s Shelby Talcott scooped that Israel had informed the US that it is running critically low on ballistic missile interceptors. Despite claims from Israeli officials, one US official said the administration has been aware of the problem for months. As the war drives gas prices higher, Energy Secretary Chris Wright told NBC the conflict would likely last “a few more weeks”; President Donald Trump later told the network that Iran is ready to strike a ceasefire deal, though Tehran’s terms “aren’t good enough yet.” Trump is pressuring other countries to help reopen the Strait of Hormuz, even threatening to delay his summit with Chinese leader Xi Jinping until Beijing pitches in, but Australia and Japan said they have no plans to send ships, while the UK and China were non-committal.

Iran targets Middle East sites

Iranian drones hit an Emirati port and targeted neighboring Saudi Arabia and Bahrain as the widening Middle East conflict entered its third week. Though Washington has presented conflicting information about the war’s planned end, hostilities appeared set to expand as the US sent thousands more troops to the region, while Israel said it would strike thousands of targets across Iran. Trump is facing rising domestic opposition to the war, with his energy secretary warning there was “no guarantee” that fuel prices would drop soon. Elsewhere, Israel is expanding its offensives against neighbors, planning a massive ground invasion of Lebanon, and hitting targets across Gaza and the West Bank.

View: Put out more flags?

As the Iran war dominates global economic calculations, media and social media alike, there’s one place where it’s been strangely absent: Washington, DC. The American capital in the second Trump administration has developed a bit of a devil-may-care, drink-with-lunch spirit captured in the Pentagon’s cheerily bellicose memes. Still, when I was in DC last week, I was surprised by the total absence of yellow ribbons, patriotic banners, or the usual wartime acknowledgements of fallen troops and the many others in danger. Even as many in Congress raged against the new conflict, elements of business mostly proceeded as usual. The Senate jammed through a controversial housing package. Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer told me in an interview that she’d been by the White House to talk about a domestic peril: invasive Asian carp. All this is a far cry from Washington’s mood in earlier 21st-century conflicts.

Senate still waiting on Warsh paperwork

Federal Reserve nominee Kevin Warsh has no confirmation hearing scheduled in the Senate Banking Committee yet in part because the panel has not received the necessary paperwork from the White House, multiple people familiar with the process told Semafor. Trump formally tapped Warsh, who met with several panel Republicans last week, to take over from Fed Governor Stephen Miran on March 4. One likely paperwork holdup: complicated financial disclosures, which also delayed SEC Chair Paul Atkins’ hearing last year. Like Atkins, Warsh married into a billionaire family — in his case, cosmetic juggernaut Estée Lauder’s. The White House and Senate Banking Chair Tim Scott, R-S.C., did not comment. A bigger problem: Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., who remains committed to preventing Warsh’s nomination from advancing after US Attorney Jeanine Pirro pledged Friday to appeal a federal judge’s decision to toss her subpoenas of the central bank.

— Eleanor Mueller

Dems plot defeat of Trump’s voting bill

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer says Democrats gamed out every conceivable scenario for the GOP’s plans to vote this week on a bill requiring photo ID and proof of citizenship for voting. Democrats are ready for “every single thing they might do. We’re prepared to meet each one and defeat this bill,” Schumer told reporters on Sunday afternoon. Senate Republicans will likely hold a vote to proceed to the House-passed legislation on Tuesday afternoon, with a simple majority needed to advance it. That will trigger a lengthy debate that Senate Majority Leader John Thune will eventually move to end at a 60-vote threshold. That might not be the final word, though. “We should see if there’s a must-pass bill that we can attach” the voting restrictions to, said Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla. Options include government funding legislation or an upcoming surveillance reauthorization.

— Burgess Everett

Dem infighting intensifies in CA

Democratic candidates are turning their fire at each other in a crowded primary to flip a must-win seat in Southern California. Ammar Campa-Najjar and Vista City Councilmember Corinna Contreras are going after San Diego City Councilmember Marni von Wilpert for a polling memo they say included racist lines of attack. That polling had von Wilpert initially trailing Campa-Najjar but gaining support when voters were read attacks knocking Campa-Najjar, for running “three campaigns from four different addresses under two different names.” “I will never apologize for my name or my heritage,” said Campa-Najjar, who has talked about changing his last name to honor his mother. Dan Rottenstreich, a von Wilpert campaign consultant, said in a statement Campa-Najjar “has a long, established pattern of changing who he is depending on the campaign — his politics, his district, his stances on abortion and Trump, even his name.”

— Nicholas Wu

Why everyone is cold-calling Trump

Trump’s Palm Beach number has become the ultimate status symbol in a town obsessed with proximity to power and influence, Semafor’s Max Tani reports. In the two weeks since the US and Israel began military operations in Iran, Trump has done more than 30 cell phone interviews. But Trump isn’t taking these calls that seriously, noted one White House official. When the president picks up, “he is often preoccupied, puts them on speaker in front of a large group of people, and he is loosely chatting and has fun messing with them,” the official said. And journalists are also beginning to realize they aren’t entirely in on the joke. As The Atlantic dryly noted, “Few of these interviews have led to a lasting impact on the nation’s understanding of the war.”

WH pivots toward African military-led states

The Trump administration is accelerating its pivot toward military-led governments in West Africa, with a senior State Department official making the second trip to the Sahel in a month and Washington nearing an intelligence-sharing deal with Mali, Semafor’s Adrian Elimian reports. Nick Checker, head of the State Department’s Bureau of African Affairs, met with officials in Burkina Faso and Niger. The visits show intensifying diplomatic engagement with the members of the Alliance of Sahel States, a coalition of military-run governments that have largely shut out Western powers. Efforts toward normalization with the juntas are “not an endorsement” of how they came to power, Checker told Semafor earlier this month, adding that the US is instead focused on “pragmatic cooperation” with these governments. Reuters reported that the US is nearing an agreement with Mali that would restore American operations over the country’s airspace.

Blindspot: College Republicans and DOGE

Stories that are being largely ignored by either left-leaning or right-leaning outlets, curated with help from our partners at Ground News.

What the Left isn’t reading: The University of Florida closed its chapter of the College Republicans following allegations of misconduct and antisemitism.

What the Right isn’t reading: Two former DOGE employees defended their work to reduce the size of what they called “useless agencies” and said they didn’t regret that people lost their income, according to newly released depositions. 

This April, Larry Coben, Chair & CEO of NRG Energy, Inc., will join global leaders at Semafor World Economy — the premier convening for the world’s top executives — to sit down with Semafor editors for conversations on the forces shaping global markets, emerging technologies, and geopolitics. See the first lineup of speakers here.

Applications for Semafor World Economy Principals are now open — apply now.