IT’S POLITICAL:  The four top Congressional leaders are expected to meet with President Biden today as he attempts to avert a partial government shutdown. On the agenda is legislation to keep funding the federal government past midnight Friday as well as billions of dollars to assist with the wars in Ukraine and Israel.

  “A basic, basic priority or duty of Congress is to keep the government open,” said White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre. “So, that’s what the president wants to see.”

  Far right legislators are looking to attach abortion restrictions to funding legislation, which could sink it. In the bigger picture, House Republicans say they want legislation to tighten border control even though they just blocked a bill to give them more than they’ve previously been offered on immigration.  

ORANGE ALERT: Manhattan prosecutors have asked for a gag order on Donald Trump in advance of his March criminal trial for his payment to cover up his affair with porn actress Stormy Daniels.

  The gag order, if approved, would bar Trump from “making or directing others to make” statements about witnesses in the case. District Attorney Alvin Bragg also asked that Trump be barred from commenting on prosecutors and court staff, other than Bragg himself. 

  In the Manhattan criminal case, Trump is charged with 34 felonies, claiming he falsified business records in order to pay off Daniels, avert a sex scandal, and influence the outcome of 2016 presidential campaign. This is the first of four cases in which Trump could get a criminal conviction.

  Trump yesterday filed his appeal in the New York Civil fraud case. But to keep the judgements in that and the E. Jean Carroll defamation case from being enforced while he appeals, he’ll have to put up $537 million, which is a lot of cash for a guy whose wealth is tied up in real estate.

MURDER and POLITICS: The murder of a 22-year-old nursing student off a wooded trail at the University of Georgia is feeding the illegal immigrant controversy after the arrest of an undocumented migrant from Venezuela.

  The suspect, 26-year-old Jose Ibarra entered the country illegally, was paroled, and has an arrest record. Donald Trump called Ibarra, a “monster,” and blamed Joe Biden for an “invasion” that is “killing our citizens.” Georgia Republican Rep. Mike Collins, wrote on social media: “The blood of Laken Riley is on the hands of Joe Biden, Alejandro Mayorkas and the government of Athens-Clarke County.” 

THE WAR ROOM: President Biden said he hopes to be able to announce a deal for a cease fire and hostage release in Gaza by next Monday.

  In the meantime, Israel is pursuing Yehiya Sinwar, the man described as the chief planner of the Oct. 7th attacks, who is believed to hiding in the labyrinth of tunnels beneath southern Gaza, possibly behind a human shield of hostages.

  The Washington Post reports that they are told by current and former Israeli officials that the operation in Gaza cannot conclude until Sinwar is either captured, killed, or no longer able to run the Hamas organization. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the military sweep through the southern city of Rafah will happen regardless of any cease fire.

THE GROCERY AISLE: The federal trade Commission and nine states have sued to block the merger of Kroger and Albertsons, the country’s two largest supermarket chains. The companies say they must merge to survive, but the FTC says the merger of Kroger with its biggest grocery rival would lead to higher prices, lower-quality products and services, and “eliminate fierce competition.”

THE SPIN RACK: Hungary’s parliament approved Sweden’s bid to join NATO, clearing the way for the Swedes to join the western military alliance after nearly two years of negotiations. Sweden is buffered from Russia only by Finland. — Dr. Ruth Gottesman, the 93-year-old widow of a Wall Street financier, has donated $1 billion to the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in the Bronx to make the school tuition free. Gottesman is a former professor at Einstein. Her late husband David made a fortune with Berkshire Hathaway, the Warren Buffett conglomerate. — Alexander Smirnov, the former FBI informant charged with providing a false report that President Biden and his son Hunter had accepted bribes, will be held in custody because he’s a flight risk, a judge in California ruled yesterday. Smirnov had been released and re-arrested. — Monica Lewinsky, the woman in the President Bill Clinton sex scandal, is now the face of the new women’s fashion brand “Reformation.” Time flies … she’s 50 now. — The US airman who set himself on fire in front of the Israeli embassy in Washington to protest to the war in Gaza has died. Aaron Bushnell, 25, live streamed his self-immolation. — Kellogg’s CEO Gary Pilnick is facing backlash after suggesting in an interview that people pressed for money to buy food should eat cereal for dinner because it’s a cheap meal.

BELOW THE FOLD: Joe Biden appeared last night on “Late Night With Seth Meyers,” joking about his age and Donald Trump’s verbal foibles. Meyers brought up the conspiracy theory that the President and Taylor Swift “are working in cahoots.” Biden snapped back, “Where are you getting this information? It’s classified. That’s classified information!”

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