The Daily Brief - Apr. 15, 2026
The latest on Trump’s threat to fire the Fed Chair, Iran, Jan. 6 rioters, and more
These are today’s top stories, delivered straight to your inbox. Catch up here on all the news.
Trump Says China Not Giving Arms to Iran
After news of US intelligence assessments indicating that China may be preparing to ship air-defense systems to Iran within weeks, President Trump today claimed that China has agreed not to provide weapons to Iran. Trump said that he sent Chinese President Xi Jinping a letter raising concerns about a potential weapons transfer, and that Xi responded. He did not say when the two leaders exchanged the letters. A spokesperson for the Chinese Embassy denied the reports that China was planning on sending arms.
Meanwhile, the US naval blockade of Iranian ports, imposed Monday after the Islamabad peace talks collapsed, enters its third day. The Pentagon said no ships “made it past” the blockade in the first 24 hours and six merchant ships coming from Iranian ports were turned around. 10,000 US sailors and Marines aboard more than a dozen warships are enforcing the operation. Iran has threatened to strike the ports of its Middle East neighbors in retaliation for the blockade.
Yesterday, Israeli and Lebanese ambassadors met in Washington for the first direct talks between the two countries since 1993. Israel has continued to strike Lebanon throughout the war, killing more than 2,100 people, and maintains that Lebanon is not covered by the April 8 ceasefire with Iran — a position that Iran and ceasefire mediator Pakistan dispute. The talks are aimed at reaching a broader agreement on the countries’ shared border and the disarming of Hezbollah, the Iran-aligned militant group based in southern Lebanon.
A US State Department statement said the sides held “productive discussions.” Additional rounds of direct negotiations are expected.
Fed Chair
President Trump said today he will fire Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell if Powell does not leave the central bank when his term as chair expires May 15. Under the Federal Reserve Act, the president can only remove Fed officials “for cause.”
Powell said last month he would remain as chair “pro tem” if Trump’s nominee, former Fed Governor Kevin Warsh, is not confirmed by May 15 — a standard practice under Fed regulations where a Fed chair remains temporarily in the role until a successor is confirmed. Powell also said he would not leave the Fed board (his separate board term runs until January 2028) until the DOJ’s criminal investigation into his handling of a $2.5 billion headquarters renovation “is well and truly over, with transparency and finality.”
A federal judge recently blocked DOJ subpoenas in the case, concluding they were driven by political animus. The DOJ said it would appeal but has not yet done so. Warsh’s confirmation hearing before the Senate Banking Committee is scheduled for April 21.
Pardoned Jan. 6 Rioter
Pardoned Jan. 6 rioter David Daniel of North Carolina has agreed to plead guilty on federal charges of sexually exploiting a child under 12 and possessing sexually explicit images of children. According to court filings, Daniel enticed a minor to engage in sexually explicit conduct to produce visual depictions; prosecutors say he did the same to a second minor in 2021.
The federal judge ruled earlier this year that the pardon for Daniel’s Jan. 6 conviction did not apply in this case, writing that “child exploitation is not ‘conduct related to the events at or near the United States Capitol on January 6, 2021.’” Daniel was previously convicted of assaulting police officers during the Jan. 6 Capitol riot, for which President Trump pardoned him.
Daniel is one of several pardoned Jan. 6 rioters to face separate child exploitation charges. After receiving a pardon for the Capitol riot, Andrew Paul Johnson of Florida was sentenced to life in prison earlier this year for sexually abusing children. Last month, a federal judge in Massachusetts sentenced another Jan. 6 rioter, Daniel Tocci, to four years in prison for possession of child pornography.
Newsbreak
A Marriage at Sea is a nonfiction book that reads like a novel. It tells the story of Maurice and Maralyn, a couple who decided in 1972 to quit their jobs, buy a boat, and sail away. For nearly a year all went well, until deep in the Pacific, a breaching whale knocked a hole in their boat and it sank beneath the waves. The book follows their fight to survive in the wild ocean, with little hope of rescue, where they’re left to find not only ways to stay alive but ways to get along, as their marriage is put to the greatest of tests. This extraordinary story pairs an adrenaline-fueled high seas adventure with a moving love story that asks why we love difficult people, and who we become under the most extreme conditions imaginable.
DOJ Report on FACE Act
The Justice Department released nearly a 900-page report yesterday accusing the Biden administration of weaponizing federal law to target anti-abortion activists.
The report alleges that prosecutors used the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act — a 1994 law meant to protect access to abortion clinics and religious sites — to disproportionately pursue anti-abortion protesters while ignoring attacks on pregnancy resource centers and houses of worship.
It says the Biden DOJ collaborated with abortion-rights groups — including the National Abortion Federation and Planned Parenthood — to identify targets, sought longer sentences for anti-abortion defendants compared to pro-abortion defendants, and knowingly withheld evidence from defense attorneys.
NPR confirmed at least four DOJ employees were fired in connection with the report’s findings.
Stacey Young, executive director and founder of Justice Connection, an organization of former DOJ staffers, said, “[DOJ’s current leaders] have put career employees on notice: if they do their jobs, they face potential termination if future political leadership disagrees with the policy goals of prior leadership.”
FISA Surveillance Extension
House Republicans delayed a key procedural vote today that would allow the full House to consider an 18-month extension of Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. The law, which expires on April 20, allows the US government to collect communications of targeted foreigners outside the country without a warrant.
Some members of both parties remain opposed to extending warrantless surveillance powers without reforms, like requiring warrants if the government intends to collect data of American citizens. Writing on Truth Social today, Trump called on Republican members to unify and pass the rule “to bring a clean Bill to the floor.”
Jan. 6 Seditious Conspiracy Convictions
The Justice Department asked a federal appeals court on Tuesday to vacate the seditious conspiracy convictions of 12 Proud Boys and Oath Keepers members, including Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes, who was sentenced to 18 years in prison for his role in the attack.
Trump commuted the sentences of 14 such defendants rather than pardoning them, which ended their prison time but left their convictions fully intact and unforgiven on the record. Two have since had their cases resolved separately. Yesterday’s motion covers the remaining 12.
If the court grants the motion to vacate, the defendants’ guilty verdicts would be voided, and they’d be free to say they have never been convicted for their crimes.
Europe Plans Hormuz Coalition — Without the US
New reporting from the Wall Street Journal says that a coalition of other nations is drafting a naval plan that would secure the Strait of Hormuz after the war ends. The plans exclude the US, Israel, and Iran, as they are viewed as “belligerent” parties.
The plan has three goals: free the hundreds of ships currently stuck in the strait due to Iran’s restrictions on passage and the US naval blockade; clear the mines Iran has placed in parts of the waterway; and maintain naval escorts and surveillance to reassure shipping companies.
On Friday, French President Emmanuel Macron and UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer will host a meeting of several dozen countries to discuss policing Hormuz once hostilities end. The US has not been invited, British and French officials said. China and India have been invited to join, but have not committed.