Today in one sentence: Trump doesn't have enough money to post the $464 million appeal bond he owes in his New York civil fraud case; the EPA banned asbestos in the United States; Mike Pence declared that he will not endorse Trump in the 2024 general election; Biden and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu held their first phone call in a month amidst growing disagreements over the war in Gaza.


1/ Trump doesn’t have enough money to post the $464 million appeal bond he owes in his New York civil fraud case, according to a court filing by Trump’s attorneys. Trump needs to post the appeal bond in order to prevent New York Attorney General Letitia James from seizing his real estate assets. Trump’s legal team said they spent “countless hours” contacting about 30 surety companies through four separate brokers to try and raise the money, but none were willing to underwrite the bond. They ultimately concluded that raising the money for the appeal bond was “a practical impossibility.” Trump would need nearly $1 billion in cash reserves in order to convince the companies to help him out, which neither Trump nor the Trump Organization possesses. In the filing, Trump’s lawyers asked a panel of five Manhattan appeals court judges to allow him to hold off on posting the bond while he appeals the verdict. If the request is denied, AG James could start seizing Trump’s properties on March 25. (CNBC / New York Times / NBC News / CNN / Axios / Wall Street Journal / Washington Post / ABC News)

2/ The EPA banned asbestos in the United States, a carcinogen linked to more than 40,000 American deaths annually. The rule bans the use of chrysotile asbestos, the only form still used in the U.S., which is found in products like brake linings, gaskets, and in chlorine bleach and sodium hydroxide production. Exposure to asbestos is known to cause lung cancer, mesothelioma and other cancers. The ban is a significant expansion of an earlier EPA regulation under the 2016 Frank Lautenberg Chemical Safety Act and will be implemented in phases, with immediate effects on imports and gradual prohibitions on other uses over the next two to five years. The rule does provide an exception for the Savannah River Site in South Carolina until 2037 to ensure the safe disposal of nuclear material. (ABC News / NBC News / Wall Street Journal)

3/ Mike Pence declared that he will not endorse Trump in the 2024 general election. Pence cited “profound differences” between their views on various issues, including Trump’s stance on the national deficit, abortion, the TikTok ban reversal, and the Jan. 6 insurrection. Pence also criticized Trump for a political platform that he said is “at odds with the conservative agenda” they followed during their administration. Pence declined to say who he would personally vote for in the 2024 election, but said he would “never” vote for Biden. Pence said he plans to instead focus on promoting a “broad mainstream conservative agenda” for the remainder of the year. (Wall Street Journal / ABC News / The Guardian)

  • Trump once again described immigrants as criminals who are “poisoning the blood” of the country and compared them to animals released from prisons and mental institutions. During a nearly hourlong interview on Fox News, Trump also discussed his stances on abortion, NATO, and the potential TikTok ban, while continuing to falsely claim that the 2020 election was rigged. (New York Times)

  • Trump called for the imprisonment of Liz Cheney and other members of the January 6 committee in a series of posts on his personal social media platform. He also claimed that they suppressed evidence that would exonerate him from charges related to the Jan. 6 insurrection and said they should “go to jail along with the rest” of the January 6 “unselect” committee. Cheney responded by saying Trump was “afraid of the truth.” (The Guardian)

4/ Biden and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu held their first phone call in a month amidst growing disagreements over the war in Gaza. A White House spokesperson said the two discussed “the latest developments in Israel and Gaza, including the situation in Rafah and efforts to surge humanitarian assistance to Gaza.” Netanyahu also complained about a speech by Chuck Schumer that was critical of Israel’s actions in Gaza, which Biden endorsed, while defending his leadership and questioning the influence of domestic politics on Gaza war policy. (Axios)



Three years ago today: Day 58: "Strings attached."
Four years ago today: Day 1154: "Just in case we need it."
Five years ago today: Day 788: Pathetic.