Good morning and happy second-to-last day of February. Tomorrow is Leap Day. If you happen to know someone born on February 29, be sure to tease them for turning 6 tomorrow (they'll love it). You might also let them know they can get a dozen free donuts from Krispy Kreme for their troubles.

If you ever have trouble keeping track of leap years, pro tip: they're presidential election years.

GOVERNMENT

🥬 Government vs. grocery

This week the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) sued to block the $25 billion merger between Albertsons and Kroger. If approved, this would be the largest supermarket merger in U.S. history.

The companies claim it would allow them to save $500 million per year and pass those savings on to consumers. Unlike many grocers, these two employ largely unionized workforces. They say combining forces would make them more competitive against non-union stores like Walmart and Costco.

• The two companies own dozens of grocery chains.

• That list includes Safeway, Jewel-Osco, Acme, Vons, Harris Teeter, and more.

• They hired former House Speaker John Boehner (allegedly pronounced BAY-ner) to lobby Congress on their behalf.

The FTC says this deal is anti-competitive and would hurt consumers. If allowed to merge, the government says, grocery prices would actually rise, not fall. They cited the already-rising cost of groceries.

• The companies said they'd sell off 400 stores to appease the anti-competitive concerns. No dice, though.

• Congress created the FTC to protect consumers from overly powerful companies. To wield that power, they often sue to stop big mergers or to break up companies that get too large.

• It's run by a commission (hence the name) of five people. Only three can be from the president's party.

Future: Biden’s FTC, under the leadership of Chair Linda Khan, has been pretty active in this area. She’s sued Microsoft, Amazon, Meta, and others. But these things take time. Nobody ever accused the government of moving too quickly. If this moves too slowly and Trump wins the election, there’s a chance his FTC drops the case. That's not guaranteed, though. A growing number of Republicans oppose big mergers like this.

Over in Congress: They’re back in D.C. and working overtime to avoid a government shutdown. If they can’t pass a budget by Friday at midnight, big chunks of the federal government will shut down. House and Senate leaders met in the Oval Office with President Biden and VP Harris to work out a deal. We’ll have more on that and what “shutdown” even means on Friday.

CONGRESS

🏛️ Congressional defamation

Montana Rep. Matt Rosendale (R) is an odd duck. He lost a Senate race in 2018 against incumbent Jon Tester (D) but won a seat in the House in 2020. He’s spent much of the last year drumming up support for another Senate bid but didn’t do much fundraising.

He launched that bid on Feb. 9 but dropped out six days later. He claims it’s because Donald Trump endorsed his Republican primary opponent. But former North Dakota Sen. Heidi Heitkamp (D) has a different idea. On a podcast, she said:

• “There’s a reason why Rosendale backed out of that Senate race — the rumor is he impregnated a 20-year-old staff person.”

• She speculated Rosendale would be forced to resign from Congress ASAP as a result.

Rosendale is furious (understandable, assuming it’s false). His spokesperson said:

• “This is 100% false and defamatory and former Senator Heitkamp will be hearing from our lawyers soon.”

If the story’s true, it wouldn’t be the first time something like this occurred (one senator even fathered a child with another senator’s daughter).

And if it’s false? Rosendale could have a tough time with that defamation suit. It’s famously difficult to defame politicians.

POLITICS

⚪ Last night in Michigan, Donald Trump easily won the Republican presidential primary. He defeated hnly remaining opponent, Nikki Haley, by about 40%.

On the Democratic side, Joe Biden sailed to an easy victory against token opposition. But more than 10% of Democratic primary voters, unhappy with his position on Israel, voted for “uncommitted” instead of backing the president. If many of those voters stay home in November, it could spell disaster for President Biden's chances in a state where Trump has a polling average lead of more than five points.

🔴 Extreme longshot presidential candidate Ryan Binkley (R) dropped out of the race and endorsed former President Donald Trump. Binkley is a rich Texas pastor who spent $8 million of his own money earning just 2,156 votes across the first four states. Before you whip out the calculator app, we’ve got you covered: this guy spent $3,710 per vote. Woof.

🔵 The House voted two weeks ago to impeach Homeland Security Sec. Alejandro Mayorkas. But it’s up to the Senate to hold a trial in which 67 votes would be needed for conviction and removal from office. But Democrats control the Senate. And they’re not interested in the Republican push to boot Mayorkas. Senate Democrats (endangered moderates included) are considering avoiding a trial altogether with a “motion to dismiss.” That would only need 51 votes — the exact number in the Democratic Caucus.

🔴 The drama in President Donald Trump's Georgia criminal case continues. Ex-law partner Terrance Bradley testified he had no clue when the romance between District Attorney Fani Willis and special prosecutor Nathan Wade began. But his text messages say it "absolutely" started before Willis hired Wade. Bradley claimed that was just speculation. If Willis and Wade began dating before she hired him, that could get them both kicked off the case. And that would be good news for Trump. The longer these cases get pushed back, the better for his political future.

TRIVIA

We all know every fourth year is a leap year. But that’s not technically true. We skip Leap Day every 100 years…unless that year is divisible by 400. So 1700, 1800, and 1900 weren’t leap years. But 2000 was.

Because of this, terms for presidents in 1800 and 1900 were one day shorter than all the others. Which two presidents did this affect?

WORLD

🇺🇸 United States: The twenty-five-year-old who set himself on fire outside the Israeli Embassy in Washington, D.C. died on Monday. Aaron Bushnell, 25, was an active-duty member of the Air Force. He shouted "Free Palestine!" as he self-immolated on Sunday. A similar tragic incident took place outside the Israeli Consulate (sub-embassy) in Atlanta in December.

🇸🇪 Sweden: Hungary relented this week after 18 months of delay and became the final, 31st NATO member to approve Sweden's membership. It'll be official upon completion of a few formalities. Sweden is ditching 200 years of neutrality to join the Western defense pact in reaction to Russia's 2022 invasion of Ukraine.

🇮🇶 Iraq: Iraq and a U.S.-led military coalition met this week to discuss a troop drawdown. Coalition forces (including 2,500 Americans) have been stationed in Iraq for years to fight the Islamic State (ISIS). Iraq is an ally of both the United States and Iran, which has lately proven to be a difficult balancing act.

BRIEFS

• Alabama’s legislature plans to clarify that IVF is legal in the state after controversial court ruling

• Texas is suing PornHub, alleging the site isn't properly verifying the age of users

• New York City is suing social media apps, claiming they cost the city $100 million in mental health services

• Netflix is forcing anyone paying through Apple to switch methods and lose any grandfathered-in cheaper price

• Treasury Sec. Janet Yellen wants to use $300 billion in frozen Russian assets to rebuild Ukraine

• German police arrested an alleged Red Army Faction terrorism fugitive after 30 years on the run

• Immigration is now America's top concern, with 28% calling it their biggest issue, up from 20% last month.

• Macy's will close 150 stores to focus on new, smaller stores and its Bluemercury and Bloomingdale's brands

• The U.S. Army will slash its size by ~16,500 troops in a restructuring, but won't force anyone out

• A Dutch court sentenced the head of the Angels of Death drug "super cartel" to life in prison

• Sony is cutting 900 jobs at PlayStation and canceling games from in-house studios

QUOTE

SNACKS

👾 Pokémon: The Pokémon Company announced a slew of upcoming products at its Pokémon Presents event. Want to impress the nerd in your life? Ask their thoughts on Pokémon Legends Z-A.

💻 Tech: Constantly frustrated by your inability to see your desk through your laptop screen? Lenovo's got you covered with a wild new prototype. Their Project Crystal laptop has a completely transparent screen.

🦖 Dinosaurs: Ever panic about what you might do if forced to host a prehistoric dinner party? Turns out professional chefs have thought about this. Triceratops shish kabobs would hit the spot.

🛰️ Read: How the Pentagon and CIA used a Grindr data loophole to track Putin. Hint: it’s the targeted ads.

ANSWER

The two guys who got shorted a day by weird leap year math were John Adams in 1800 and William McKinley in 1900. The next president affected by this will be elected in 2096.