HAPPENING TODAY: Trump meets today with German Chancellor Angela Merkel just days after fellow signatory to the Iran Nuclear Agreement French President Emmanuel Macron pressed Trump to stick with the agreement. Merkel will be making a similar argument, but lacks the buddy-buddy relationship Macron enjoys with Trump.

One glance at the White House schedule shows the difference. While Macron had three days of pomp, the circumstances of Merkel’s visit are more modest. A five-minute arrival ceremony, 30 minutes one-on-one with Trump in the Oval Office, followed by a 90-minute working lunch, a 30-minute news conference, and wrapping up at 2:20 p.m. with Merkel’s departure. Just over two hours total.

MATTIS OFF MESSAGE: Twice in his testimony before the Senate Armed Services Committee yesterday, Defense Secretary Jim Mattis appeared to diverge from the policies of his boss, the commander in chief.

On the Iran nuclear deal, Mattis allowed that while he considered the Obama-era deal “an imperfect arms control agreement,” he said the inspection regime is actually “pretty robust,” and seemed to be suggesting that provision alone might make it worth keeping. “Whether or not that is sufficient I think is a valid question,” Mattis said. “I think we need to focus on what is in the best interest of Middle East stability and the threat that Iran poses … with this nuclear program, if [the nuclear deal] does not get extended and maintain the intrusive verification that we need.”

On Syria, Mattis seemed to reject Trump’s idea of having a force of regional troops replace the U.S. ground presence to provide stability after the Islamic State is defeated. “Is it fair to say that a holding force, right now, without us, would be a risky proposition?” asked Sen. Lindsey Graham. “I am confident that we would probably regret it,” Mattis replied.

“President Trump's right that the Arabs need to pay more and other countries need to contribute more,” Graham said, but then put this question to Mattis: “Do you agree with the following statement? There is really no substitute for the American military when it comes to a holding force. We have capabilities most people don't.” Mattis replied, “That's correct, sir.”

BLOCKING F-35s TO TURKEY: A new bill introduced by Sens. James Lankford, Jeanne Shaheen and Thom Tillis would stop the transfer of Lockheed Martin F-35 joint strike fighters to NATO ally Turkey. “President [Recep Tayyip] Erdogan has continued down a path of reckless governance and disregard for the rule of law. Individual freedoms have been increasingly diminished as Erdogan consolidates power for himself, and Turkey’s strategic decisions regrettably fall more and more out of line with, and at times in contrast to, US interests,” Lankford said in a statement. Turkey is looking to buy 100 of the high-tech, fifth-generation fighter jets.

Under the proposed bill, Trump would be able to waive the ban on sales if he can certify to Congress that Turkey is not working in ways that degrade the NATO alliance, buying weapons from countries targeted by U.S. sanctions, and not “wrongfully or unlawfully” detaining U.S. citizens. “Erdogan and his government must abide by the rule of law within his own country and abroad, and release Pastor Andrew Brunson and other Americans unlawfully held in Turkey,” Shaheen said. Brunson has been imprisoned in Turkey since 2016 and was indicted on charges related to terrorism and espionage that 66 senators recently called bogus.

PRESSURE ON BOEING: Rep. Peter Roskam is pushing Boeing to take the final step of canceling an agreement to sell dozens of jetliners to Iran under an agreement reached after the 2015 implementation of the nuclear deal between the regime and leading world powers.

HASC WRAPS MARKUPS: Six House Armed Services subcommittees completed their National Defense Authorization Act markups on Thursday. The details of the bills were released this week. The votes wrap up the first phase of writing the language of the annual defense policy bill and tees up the release of the Chairman’s Mark version slated for May 7. Armed Services will then hold its marathon NDAA amendment session on May 9 where many of the most controversial member proposals will be debated and voted on. We have a detailed breakdown of the markups here.

NIGER LEAK PROBE: Details of the Pentagon’s finished but unreleased investigation into four soldier deaths in Niger were leaked to the press this week, and Rep. Mac Thornberry is not happy about it. The House Armed Services chairman called it an “unconscionable breach of faith” with families of the soldiers who had not yet been fully briefed and said he has ordered an inquiry into whether anyone on his committee leaked the report details. The Pentagon probe found the military made numerous missteps that led to the deadly ambush of the Army unit in October.

“The families who lost loved ones to this tragedy have suffered enough,” he said in a statement. “They deserve the space to process the findings of this investigation before it is debated in the media. No one, whether in the legislative branch or the executive branch of government, has the right to take that space from them.” He said “a number of important oversight issues” remain for the committee and it is awaiting a briefing by U.S. Africa Command.

PUBLIC RELEASE SOON: In his Senate testimony, Mattis confirmed that the investigation found what he called “the crux of the problems — not problem, but problems” that contributed to the deaths. The investigation runs 6,300 pages, with a 200-page classified summary that’s already been given to Congress. Mattis said the last family will be briefed Monday, and results will be made public after that. “It was not a delegation of authority problem,” Mattis said. “So we know immediately how to address and those — we are doing that right now, addressing those problems.”

MATTIS VS. GILLIBRAND: After questioning the service chiefs this month, Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand finally faced off with Mattis over his proposed transgender service policy during the Armed Services hearing Thursday. “This seems to me to be the same uninformed and unfounded concerns that led to the opposition to repealing Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, integrating women into the military, integrating African-Americans into the military, and I think you need to do a lot more work on this topic to inform yourselves,” Gillibrand told Mattis. Under her earlier questioning, the service chiefs of the Army, Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps each testified they had no reports of issues with morale, unit cohesion or discipline related to transgender troops.

Mattis said, “I regret the way you characterized it.” The service chiefs actually had their hands tied during their testimony by the current Obama administration policy, which prohibits the release of information that could show transgender troops are problematic, Mattis told her. “The questions you’ve asked the service chiefs and the chairman are ones that right now the [former Defense Secretary Ash] Carter policy prohibited that very information from coming up because it is private information ... so it’s impossible for them to have responded to you,” he said.

HALF THE SENATE OPPOSES: The policy proposed by Mattis would roll back the Obama administration’s open service and bar transgender people diagnosed with the common condition gender dysphoria from serving. On Tuesday, 49 senators led by Gillibrand wrote a letter to Mattis saying the restrictions would harm the military. Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska was the lone Republican to sign. They claim Mattis’ 44-page review and policy recommendation on the new policy misrepresents the scientific consensus on gender dysphoria and falsely claims transgender troops cannot meet military standards.

But Mattis pushed back on Thursday. “If gender dysphoria has anxiety or it has some kind of depression, we don’t let anyone in with that. I would have to make a special category that said you can have these disqualifying factors only if you’re transgender and then we can bring you in,” Mattis said. “I think you can understand why [we] have not chosen to do that.”

HEADS WILL ROLL: A Pentagon contractor accused of misspending about $50 million in taxpayer money on luxury cars, spouse salaries, alcohol and guns is under investigation and will likely face criminal charges, Mattis said Thursday during his Senate Armed Services Committee testimony. “There is the ongoing investigation and because it may — will likely result in criminal charges, we can’t go into a lot of detail in public because we’re not supposed to when something is under investigation,” Mattis said. Sen. Claire McCaskill released a new investigative report that found New Century Consulting is still working as a subcontractor for Raytheon after an Army audit found the array of inappropriate expenses while it was working on a program to train Afghan intelligence officers between 2008 and 2013.

“What is wrong with the debarment process? This is the whip cream and cherry on top of this incredible scandal: They are still a contractor,” McCaskill said. “They are getting taxpayer money as we speak. Why in the world when you have audit evidence of this kind of egregious — I don’t know at what point it becomes criminal or just gross — mismanagement by the Pentagon?” You can see the video of the exchange here. McCaskill said “somebody’s head has got to roll” and requested Mattis turn over a list of Pentagon officials who oversaw the contract.

NAME IN THE MIX: Trump is looking seriously at former House Veterans' Affairs Committee Chair Jeff Miller to lead the Department of Veterans Affairs, a senior White House official told the Washington Examiner’s Gabby Morrongiello.

The retired Florida congressman left the House in 2016 after serving eight terms on Capitol Hill, during which he became a major advocate for the nation's veterans. Miller, a conservative Republican, helped usher a $16 million bipartisan VA reform plan through Congress in 2014 when the agency was beset by scandals.

STILL SECRET AFTER ALL THESE YEARS: Trump agreed Thursday that withholding records related to the assassination of President John F. Kennedy should be permitted, pending review of information that could pose concerns to national security.

SILLY STUNT: The United Kingdom on Thursday dismissed as a stunt Russia's attempt to show that no one died in this month's suspected chemical attack in Syria. Russia presented 17 Syrians at the headquarters of an international monitor based in Europe to argue that the recently reported chemical weapons attack was staged.

THE RUNDOWN

AFP: Generation gap: South Koreans fear, welcome and ignore the North

Daily Beast: I Got Pills from Ronny Jackson. But That’s Not the Part I Regret.

Defense News: Lawmakers propose creating new US Space Command in defense policy bill

Air Force Times: How the US dropped more munitions in Afghanistan this year than it has since the height of the war

Defense One: The Pentagon’s New R Chief Has a Mandate for Change

Marine Corps Times: Most Navy C-130s remain grounded nearly one year after fatal crash

New York Times: In Talks With Kim Jong-un, South Korean Leader Will Keep One Eye on Trump

The Hill: Report: Pentagon's own data contradicts recommendations on transgender troops

Foreign Policy: Merkel to Press Trump on Russia Sanctions