Overnight Defense: VA nominee on the ropes | White House signals it will fight for pick | Trump talks Syria with Macron | McConnell tees up Pompeo vote

View in your browser     THE TOPLINE: President Trump's pick to run the Department of Veterans Affairs is still soldiering on with his nomination, even as the Senate Veterans' Affairs Committee has indefinitely postponed his confirmation hearing citing "serious allegations" and with questions about the White House vetting process.   How we got here: Committee leaders on Tuesday said they were halting the hearing to look into "new information presented to the committee" about nominee Ronny Jackson, who has been serving as the White House physician. "We will continue looking into these serious allegations and have requested additional information from the White House to enable the committee to conduct a full review," Chairman Johnny Isakson (R-Ga.) and Sen. John Tester (Mont.), the panel's ranking Democrat, said in a statement.     The allegations: The committee statement did not offer details on the allegations faced by Jackson, but Tester later said Tuesday that the allegations "fall in three areas ... Improper dispensing of prescription drugs, repeatedly drunk while on duty while traveling and creating a toxic work environment." Tester also spoke on Jackson allegedly being abusive toward staff. "Some of the exact words were that were used ... were abusive toward staff, very explosive personality," he said. "Belittles the folks underneath him. ... Basically creating an environment where the staff felt like they needed to walk on eggshells."   And a 2012 Inspector General report found that Jackson acted unprofessionally amid a power struggle with another doctor over the White House medical unit.   White House backs Jackson, but gives cover for withdrawal: Earlier Tuesday, Trump repeatedly said the choice to withdraw was Jackson's, but he also questioned why the nominee would want to go forward and take the "abuse" from politicians. "It's totally his decision, he'll be making a decision," Trump said when asked about the nomination of Jackson, who is the White House physician to the president.  The president said he told Jackson "this is a vicious group of people that malign. What do you need this for? ... You're too fine a person."    Where we are now: Jackson, for now, will not withdraw his nomination, and said says he is "looking forward" to "answering everybody's questions." In a statement to NBC News, Jackson would not address the allegations but said he was "disappointed" to hear his hearing had been postponed. "I'll just say that I was looking forward to the hearing tomorrow. Kind of disappointed that it's been postponed, but I'm looking forward to getting it rescheduled and answering everybody's questions," said Jackson.   The White House is also signaling that it is ready to fight for Jackson. "Dr. Jackson's record as a White House physician is impeccable," said a senior White House official. "He has improved unit morale, received glowing reviews and promotions under Republican and Democrat presidents, and has been given a clean vet from the FBI." Jackson met Tuesday afternoon with Trump, a meeting that one official described as "positive" and that addressed the president's concerns.     MACRON AND TRUMP TALK SYRIA: Trump said Tuesday that he wants to pull U.S. troops out of Syria "relatively soon," but cautioned that such a move might not happen right away. Trump said he and French President Emmanuel Macron agreed on the importance of not allowing Iran "open season" on the region. "We want to come home, we'll be coming home but we want to leave a strong and lasting footprint and that was a big part of our discussion," Trump said during a joint press conference with Macron.   The stipulations: Trump said that other countries would have to pay for a continued military presence in Syria, while shouldering some of the military commitment themselves. "The countries that are there that you all know very well are going to have to pay for this," Trump said. "And they will pay for it. The U.S. will not continue to pay. And they will also put soldiers on the ground, which they're not doing." POMPEO UPDATE: Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) is teeing up CIA Director Mike Pompeo's nomination to be secretary of State as Republicans aim to confirm him this week.  McConnell filed cloture on Pompeo's nomination Tuesday.    What that means: Under Senate rules, that would set up an initial procedural vote for Thursday, unless senators agree to speed things up. After clearing that hurdle, opponents could drag his nomination out for another 30 hours, potentially forcing a rare Friday session.    Background: The floor action comes after Pompeo received a favorable recommendation from the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Monday in a dramatic party-line vote.  Pompeo had been expected to be the first secretary of State nominee since at least the mid-1920s to fail to win over the panel. But he was spared the dubious distinction after Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) made a last-minute switch to support Pompeo amid an intense pressure campaign from President Trump and the White House.  With another committee Republican, Sen. Johnny Isakson (Ga.), absent for a funeral, the vote was formally tied at 10-10. But Democratic Sen. Christopher Coons (Del.) agreed to change his vote to present, allowing Pompeo to advance with the panel's endorsement. Pompeo ultimately has the votes to be confirmed by the Senate, where nominations only need a simple majority.      HOUSE LAWMAKERS RENEW PUSH FOR WAR AUTHORIZATION: A bipartisan quartet of lawmakers is pushing their House colleagues to support their effort for a new war authorization to fight terrorism, framing theirs as a "more robust" version than was recently introduced in the Senate. "Given the recent and ongoing military operations in which the U.S. is involved in the Middle East, we believe it is long past time for Congress to revisit this important issue," the lawmakers wrote in a "Dear Colleague" letter circulated Tuesday to gain support for their authorization of the use of military force (AUMF).   What the House AUMF does: Last year, the quartet introduced an AUMF that would authorize operations against al Qaeda, the Taliban, the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) and associated persons other than a sovereign nation. The authorization would end after five years. The president would also have to submit a report to Congress every 90 days on actions taken under the AUMF. The resolution would also repeal the 2001 AUMF passed after the Sept. 11 attacks and the 2002 AUMF that authorized the Iraq War.   What the Senate AUMF does: The Senate AUMF bill, introduced by Corker and Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) would authorize force against al Qaeda, the Taliban, ISIS and "associated forces." But the Corker-Kaine bill would also require the president to notify Congress 48 hours after striking a new associated force or using military action in a new country. It would also give Congress a 60-day window to block further military action against that group or in that country. The bill would also establish a process for reviewing the AUMF every four years without sunsetting the authorization in an effort to address administration concerns.     ALLIES ON EDGE OVER TRUMP SUMMIT WITH NORTH KOREA: Trump's goal of winning a historic deal with North Korea is worrying allies who fear he will give away too much to score a political victory. A rushed deal is of particular concern to Japan and to a lesser extent South Korea, both of which question whether Trump's "America First" mentality will result in a deal that keeps America safe but not its allies. "I know the Koreans and the Japanese are anxious about a number of issues," said Robert Manning, a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council. "[Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo] Abe was very adamant on that issue [when he visited Trump last week] -- you may be worried about [intercontinental ballistic missiles], but we're worried about medium-range missiles, and that all has to be part of the package. My sense is that there's the same sentiment on the part of the Koreans."   The background: The Trump administration is preparing for a historic summit between Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, which is expected to take place in May or June. On Friday night Washington time, North Korea announced that it "no longer need[s]" to conduct nuclear and missile tests because the country has "verified the completion of nuclear weapons." As such, Pyongyang said it would stop testing and shutter its Punggye-ri nuclear test site.   What this means: Many analysts took Friday's announcement as a sign that Pyongyang is solidifying its status as a nuclear state, rather than announcing its intention to give up its weapons. North Korea's announcement could also be an attempt to get on Trump's good side ahead of the summit in hopes for concessions such as sanctions relief, said Harry Kazianis, director of defense studies at the Center for the National Interest.   'Very honorable': Trump raised eyebrows on Tuesday when he also called North Korean leader Kim Jong Un a "very honorable" person. "He really has been very open and, I think, very honorable from everything we're seeing," he told reporters, and expressed high hopes for their future meeting.     ON TAP FOR TOMORROW: The House Appropriations Committee will hold a closed hearing on the fiscal 2019 Defense Department posture and budget with Defense Secretary Jim Mattis, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Joseph Dunford, and DOD Comptroller David Norquist at 1 p.m. in the House side of the Capitol Building room 140.      ICYMI: -- The Hill: Air Force pilot ejects at Arizona airport in latest military crash -- The Hill: Dems warn school vouchers for military families could 'derail' annual defense bill -- The Hill: Senate panel advances nominees to lead US military in Asia-Pacific, North America -- The Hill: US scales back war game exercises with S. Korea ahead of summit -- The Hill: Senate confirms Trump's new NSA director -- The Hill: Trump's CIA pick facing brutal confirmation fight -- The Hill: Iran says it will 'most likely' abandon nuke deal if Trump withdraws -- The Hill: Opinion: We need more congressional oversight on matters of war -- The Hill: Opinion: Trump should follow his instincts, de-escalate in the Middle East and pivot to great powers     Please send tips and comments to Rebecca Kheel, rkheel@thehill.com, and Ellen Mitchell, emitchell@thehill.com. Follow us on Twitter: @thehill, @Rebecca_H_K, @EllenMitchell23         Did a friend forward you this email? Sign up for Defense Newsletters     Forward Defense Newsletters       Privacy Policy  |  Manage Subscriptions  |  Unsubscribe  |  Email to a friend  |  Sign Up for Other Newsletters   The Hill 1625 K Street, NW 9th Floor, Washington DC 20006 ©2016 Capitol Hill Publishing Corp., a subsidiary of News Communications, Inc.

Overnight Finance: Stocks fall hard | Trump sending delegation to China for trade talks | SEC fines Yahoo $35M over breach | Dodd-Frank rollback dominates banking conference

View in your browser     Happy Tuesday and welcome back to Overnight Finance, a very honorable newsletter. I'm Sylvan Lane, and here's your nightly guide to everything affecting your bills, bank account and bottom line. See something I missed? Let me know at slane@thehill.com or tweet me @SylvanLane. And if you like your newsletter, you can subscribe to it here: http://bit.ly/1NxxW2N.   THE BIG DEAL: U.S. stocks took steep losses Tuesday despite solid corporate earnings reports as rising interest rates spurred uncertainty among investors. The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed 424 points lower, a 1.74 percent drop, after falling more than 600 points at midday. The Nasdaq fell 1.7 percent on the day, while the S&P 500 sunk 1.34 percent. The yield on 10-year Treasury bonds rose to 3 percent for the first time since 2014 on Tuesday, a threshold that investors generally associate with a fading stock market. Sectors posting the biggest losses included tech (2 percent), materials (2.69 percent) and industrial (2.82 percent) stocks. Tuesday's losses reflect a growing belief among investors that the forces behind last year's rampant stock gains would continue to fade. The U.S. economy is still on track for a strong 2018 with record low unemployment and steady growth, but rising interest rates and inflation could spur a slowdown in equities investment. I've got more here.     ON TAP TOMORROW House Ways and Means Committee: Hearing entitled "Jobs and Opportunity: Employer Perspectives on the Jobs Gap," 11:30 a.m. House Small Business Committee: Hearing entitled "American Infrastructure and the Small Business Perspective," 11:30 a.m. House Financial Services Committee: Hearing entitled "HUD's Role in Rental Assistance: An Oversight and Review of Legislative Proposals on Rent Reform," 2 p.m.   LEADING THE DAY Trump sending delegation to China for trade talks: President Trump on Tuesday said he will send top administration officials to China next week to work on carving out a deal that would resolve long-standing trade disputes. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer are expected to travel to China "in a few days" to talk trade with Beijing, Trump said during a meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron. "I think China is very serious, we're very serious," Trump said at the White House. "And we have no choice but to be very serious," he said. Here's more from The Hill's Vicki Needham on what they hope to accomplish.   SEC fines Yahoo $35 million over 2014 email breach: Yahoo has agreed to pay a $35 million penalty after failing to properly notify customers and investors that hackers had compromised hundreds of millions of user accounts, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced Tuesday. Yahoo, which was rebranded after being purchased by Verizon last year, first learned about the cyber intrusion in December 2014, but did not alert the public until December 2016, according to the SEC's order.  While Yahoo agreed to pay the charges without admitting or denying wrongdoing, this settlement marks the first time the SEC has pursued a company for failing to properly disclose a cyber breach. The Hill's Olivia Beavers tells us more here.   FINANCE IN FOCUS Dodd-Frank rollback bill dominates talk at banking conference: The American Bankers Association (ABA) kicked off their annual government relations summit this week, and featured speeches from Acting CFPB Chief Mick Mulvaney, Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.) Reps. Blaine Luetkemeyer (R-Mo.) and Patrick McHenry (R-N.C.). While all of the featured speakers backed rolling back Dodd-Frank in some form, they exposed the deep divides between Senate moderates pushing their bipartisan plan to loosen the law and House Republicans seeking to add their own measures to the bill. Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) has vowed to freeze the Senate bill until senators agree to negotiate changes. ABA has called on the House to pass the Senate bill and the trade group's top officials spent the morning rallying bankers from across the US to push their representatives to support the measure. "I cannot tell you how difficult it is to get anything through the Senate, let alone with 67 votes," said James Ballentine, ABA executive vice president of congressional relations. "The appetite to get some more done is not there in the Senate at this time." "Our view is let's try to get as much done through all the means as possible," added ABA president Rob Nichols. Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.), a co-sponsor of the Senate Dodd-Frank rollback, said it was essential for the House to pass the bill without delay, citing the threat of Trump thrusting Congress into chaos by firing Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein or special counsel Robert Mueller. "We know we could be in for some choppy times," said Warner, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, which is probing potential connections between Trump and Russia. "Please make sure we get this legislation to the president's desk." Warner also insisted that there is no way to amend the Senate bill without costing the support of its Democratic sponsors, dooming the measure for failure. He's previously said that Democrats backing the bill vowed to vote against it as a bloc it if it comes back to the Senate with changes. "We've stretched this bill as far it could go," Warner said. "Urge [House Financial Services Committee Chairman Jeb] Hensarling and the speaker to pass this legislation."   House Republicans on the Financial Services panel brushed back at Warner and those pushing the lower chamber to clear the Senate bill without a chance to amend it. "If we don't push back on this bill as the House, every single bill for the next seven, eight months will be a jam job," said Luetkemeyer. "That means the whole system is going to rely on the Senate. That can't happen." "There's a lot of reasons why this has an opportunity to pass," he added. "We don't want to kill the bill. We want to make it better." McHenry told reporters after his speech that the Senate deal "would have been called a technical corrections bill" three decades ago, when Congress operated in a more bipartisan fashion. "Eight years after Dodd-Frank, it is heralded as a fantastic breakthrough moment because the Senate has not been able process anything meaningful since Dodd-Frank on the Senate Banking Committee jurisdiction," McHenry said. "And that's unfortunate."   GOOD TO KNOW  Senators sparred over the new tax law's deduction for pass-through businesses and its impact on the national debt in a Finance Committee hearing on the new measure Tuesday. The acting director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau on Tuesday said that he might remove a database of complaints to the agency from public view. Trump has tapped Jeffrey Gerrish to be acting president of the Export-Import Bank as business leaders are enormously frustrated by Congress's inaction, asserting that lucrative overseas deals are slipping away from American companies. The Treasury Department released a report Tuesday promoting its efforts to scale back regulations, a key priority of the Trump administration. A bipartisan group of lawmakers on the House Ways and Means Committee is asking the IRS questions about the technical difficulties that led the agency to extend the tax-filing deadline.  Voters' concerns over rising deficits and the national debt grew in April as the GOP tax law and $1.3 trillion spending bill went into effect, according to a monthly poll from the Peter G. Peterson Foundation, which advocates for lowering the debt.   ODDS AND ENDS The CFPB has requested that the Associated Press change its entry in the AP Stylebook to refer to the agency as the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection amid a push to rebrand the agency. U.S. distillers are on a spending spree thanks to an amendment in the new tax law, according to The New York Times. Pimco's new bond king could be a robot in Austin, according to The Wall Street Journal.     Write us with tips, suggestions and news: slane@thehill.com, vneedham@thehill.com, njagoda@thehill.com, and nelis@thehill.com. Follow us on Twitter: @SylvanLane,  @VickofTheHill, @NJagoda, and @NivElis.         Did a friend forward you this email? Sign up for Finance Newsletters     Forward Finance Newsletters       Privacy Policy  |  Manage Subscriptions  |  Unsubscribe  |  Email to a friend  |  Sign Up for Other Newsletters   The Hill 1625 K Street, NW 9th Floor, Washington DC 20006 ©2016 Capitol Hill Publishing Corp., a subsidiary of News Communications, Inc.

Overnight Tech: Cambridge Analytica whistleblower meets House Dems | SEC fines Yahoo $35M over email breach | Senators unveil internet privacy bill

View in your browser     DEMS HEAR FROM CAMBRIDGE ANALYTICA WHISTLEBLOWER: Democrats from the House Judiciary and Oversight Committees interviewed Christopher Wylie, the Cambridge Analytica whistleblower, today in a closed-door hearing. Members leaving the hearing said they also want to hear from Steve Bannon, the former White House adviser, and GOP megadonor Robert Mercer, two of the founders of Cambridge Analytica.   Here's what Democrats said in a statement after the session: "Mr. Wylie's statements today demonstrate why it is so important that our Committees prioritize investigating foreign interference in our elections. We need interviews, documents, and hearings without delay. Instead, Reps. Goodlatte and Gowdy have spent their time on repeated investigations of Hillary Clinton's emails and holding sham hearings centered on the theory that conservatives are unfairly censored on social media. "Jared Kushner, Senior Advisor to President Trump, once credited Cambridge Analytica with the President's victory, but the interview with Mr. Wylie today raises serious questions and concerns about our security. We must do more to learn how foreign actors collect and weaponize our data against us, and what impact social media has on our democratic processes. Cambridge Analytica is not the first company to engage in these types of tactics, nor will they be last if we fail to conduct oversight and investigate this matter thoroughly. We demand that Chairman Goodlatte and Chairman Gowdy hold immediate hearings and call in additional witnesses without delay."   --The Cambridge Analytica scandal prompted Mark Zuckerberg to appear in two separate congressional hearings this month, as lawmakers from both parties lashed out at him for Facebook's handling of the data leak.   What's next: Tomorrow, Wylie will visit with Democrats on the House Intelligence Committee. "Mr. Wylie has agreed to testify Wednesday as part of our continuing investigation into Russian meddling in our democracy," Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), the panel's top Democrat, told The Hill in a statement. "We believe Wylie will further our understanding of Cambridge Analytica's role in the 2016 election, its reported interactions with Russian figures, and how the company used Facebook personal data in their efforts."   Welcome to Overnight Tech! Please send your tips, comments and favorite Kanye tweets to (abreland@thehill.com) and Harper Neidig (hneidig@thehill.com) and follow us on Twitter: @alibreland and @hneidig. We're also on Signal and WhatsApp. Email or DM us for our numbers.     SEC FINES YAHOO $35 MILLION: Altaba, formerly known as Yahoo, agreed to pay a $35 million fine for failing to disclose "one of the world's largest data breaches," the SEC announced Tuesday. "Although information relating to the breach was reported to members of Yahoo's senior management and legal department, Yahoo failed to properly investigate the circumstances of the breach and to adequately consider whether the breach needed to be disclosed to investors," the SEC said. The agency said that the company misled investors in not revealing the breach. Why this is so big: This settlement reportedly marks the first time the SEC has pursued a company for failing to properly disclose a cyber breach.   FACEBOOK WILL ALLOW USERS TO APPEAL CONTENT REMOVALS: Facebook announced today that it will allow users to appeal when their posts are taken down. The company also made its community standards public for the first time. "First, the guidelines will help people understand where we draw the line on nuanced issues. Second, providing these details makes it easier for everyone, including experts in different fields, to give us feedback so that we can improve the guidelines -- and the decisions we make -- over time," Facebook vice president Monika Bickert wrote in a blog post.   --In related news, YouTube revealed today that it deleted eight million videos in 2017 for violating their content policies.   --Meanwhile, the House Judiciary Committee on Thursday will hear from social media personalities Diamond and Silk on Facebook's attitude towards conservatives. Conservatives are raising concerns that their views are being censored by Facebook. Diamond and Silk are two prominent Trump video bloggers.   STOLEN IDENTITIES ON FACEBOOK: Facebook has hosted data posted by cyber criminals including stolen identities and Social Security numbers. Motherboard, which first reported on the Social Security numbers, which were publicly posted on Facebook. Some of the posts selling Social Security numbers had been on Facebook for several years. Motherboard successfully verified some of the identities and numbers posted on Facebook.   --Facebook's response: "We work hard to keep your account secure and safeguard your personal information. Posts containing information like Social Security numbers or credit card information are not allowed on Facebook, and we remove this material when we become aware of it."   SENATORS UNVEIL BIPARTISAN PRIVACY BILL: Sens. John Kennedy (R-La.) and Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) introduced their internet privacy bill on Tuesday, just weeks after grilling Mark Zuckerberg over Facebook's data scandal. The bill would force websites to be more transparent about their data collection practices and to offer users the option to opt-out of being tracked. "I don't want to hurt Facebook, and I don't want to regulate them half to death, either," Kennedy said in a statement. "But I have a job to do, and that's protecting the rights and privacy of our citizens."   TWITTER PREPS FOR EU DATA LAW: Twitter said on Tuesday that it would be making changes to its privacy policy in order to make its practices more transparent to users. The company said the changes would go into effect on May 25, the same day that the EU's General Data Protection Regulation will be implemented. "As part of our ongoing commitment to transparency, and in preparation for new data protection laws that take effect next month, we're updating our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy to empower you to make the best decisions about the information that you share with us," Twitter wrote in a blog post.   ON TAP: The National Telecommunications and Information Administration's Commerce Spectrum Management Advisory Committee will hold an open meeting at 9:00 a.m. The FCC's Broadband Deployment Advisory Committee will hold a meeting at 9:00 a.m. The Senate Commerce Committee will consider the FTC nomination of Democrat Rebecca Slaughter during an executive session at 9:45 a.m. The Information Technology Industry Foundation will hold an event on social contracts for data at 1:30 p.m. The Senate Small Business and Entrepreneurship Committee will hold a hearing on cybersecurity and small businesses at 3:30 p.m.   IN CASE YOU MISSED IT: BuzzFeed News: YouTube hosted graphic images of bestiality on its platform The Guardian: Facebook in 'PR crisis mode' over Cambridge Analytica scandal Motherboard: Facebook has hosted stolen identities and Social Security numbers for years TechCrunch: Instagram launches "Data Download" tool to let you leave Op-ed: Congress is walking the online privacy tightrope with oversight Gizmodo: A key player just joined the lawsuit against the FCC to save net neutrality         Did a friend forward you this email? Sign up for Technology Newsletters     Forward Technology Newsletters       Privacy Policy  |  Manage Subscriptions  |  Unsubscribe  |  Email to a friend  |  Sign Up for Other Newsletters   The Hill 1625 K Street, NW 9th Floor, Washington DC 20006 ©2016 Capitol Hill Publishing Corp., a subsidiary of News Communications, Inc.