The Daily Brief — Apr. 20, 2026
The latest on the US-Iran peace talks, the Strait of Hormuz, Louisiana mass shooting, tariffs refund and more
These are today’s top stories, delivered straight to your inbox. Catch up here on all the news.
Vance to Lead US Team in New Islamabad Talks
The United States and Iran will meet again soon in Pakistan to resume negotiations on ending the war. Vice President JD Vance will be joined by special envoy Steve Witkoff and President Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner.
JD Vance
A first round of face-to-face talks in Islamabad on April 11–12 broke down after 21 hours, with Vance saying Iran refused to accept the terms on nuclear enrichment that were proposed by the US.
As negotiations resume, the sticking points remain the same: Iran’s nuclear program, the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz, Iran’s frozen assets in European banks, and US and EU sanctions. The current two-week ceasefire expires Wednesday.
Trump warned on Truth Social that if Iran does not accept a deal, the US will “knock out every single Power Plant, and every single Bridge, in Iran.” International law experts have said that deliberately destroying civilian infrastructure can constitute a war crime under the Geneva Conventions. Trump has previously said he does not care about war crimes.
US Seizes Iranian Ship Off Oman Coast
The US Navy fired on and disabled an Iranian-flagged cargo ship near the Strait of Hormuz yesterday, and then sent Marines aboard to take custody of the vessel.
Ships and boats in the Strait of Hormuz
The US Navy fired several rounds into the engine room of the nearly 900-foot Touska after the ship ignored warnings over a six-hour period, US Central Command said. Iran’s state media said its military would “respond soon.” Iranian officials have termed it a violation of the ceasefire but did not elaborate on the nature of the threatened response.
Man Kills Eight Children in Louisiana
A 31-year-old Louisiana man shot and killed eight children — seven of them his own — early yesterday morning before police shot him dead during a chase into the neighboring parish. The children, five girls and three boys, ranged in age from three to 11. He also shot his wife and another woman.
A man lighting a candle during a prayer vigil for the victims
Police identified the gunman as Shamar Elkins, a former Louisiana Army National Guard member. He and his wife were in the process of separating and were due in court today, according to a relative of one of the wounded women. Elkins used an assault-style weapon.
Elkins first shot his wife at her home, police said. He then drove to a second home where he shot his seven children and a second woman believed to be his girlfriend. Both women survived. Elkins’s wife has “very serious” injuries and the second woman has life-threatening injuries, police said. The eighth child killed was a cousin of the others. A teenage boy who jumped from the roof of the second house to escape the shootings suffered non-life-threatening injuries.
The incident is the deadliest mass shooting in the US so far this year. The Gun Violence Archive, which defines a mass shooting as one in which four or more people are shot, excluding the shooter, has tracked114 in the US in 2026.
SCOTUS to Weigh Religious Exemption in Colorado Pre-K Case
The Supreme Court will decide whether Colorado can exclude two Catholic preschools from its publicly funded universal pre-K program because they refuse to admit children of same-sex or transgender parents.
Archdiocese of Denver campus
Colorado’s program pays families to send their children to the preschool of their choice, public or private, including faith-based ones, but participating schools must follow the state’s anti-discrimination rules. Two Catholic parish preschools in the Denver area sued when the state refused them an exemption and argue that admitting children from these families would violate their religious convictions. A federal district court ruled that the state had the authority to deny those schools an exemption, and the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals concurred.
The justices will hear the case after the next term begins in October. Religious groups have largely prevailed in similar cases before the Supreme Court in the last decade, including a 2018 ruling for a Colorado baker who refused to make a wedding cake for a same-sex couple and a 2021 decision allowing a Catholic foster-care agency in Philadelphia to refuse to work with same-sex couples.
Newsbreak
If you’re enjoying The Preamble, you’ll definitely want to check out the private book club and community led by Sharon: Governerds Insider. Each season features two books, live conversations with the authors, expert workshops, and a members-only space that’s fun, fascinating, and completely off the public grid. This season, authors Dr. Jill Biden and Marjan Kamali will be in conversation with us, along with live events featuring Ibram X. Kendi, Bob Crawford of the Avett Brothers, and law professor Steve Vladeck. Enrollment is open now, but only for a limited time until seats are filled. Click here to learn more and register.
FBI Director Sues the Atlantic for $250 Million
FBI Director Kash Patel is suing The Atlantic and reporter Sarah Fitzpatrick, seeking $250 million in damages over a story alleging Patel had “episodes of excessive drinking and unexplained absences” that colleagues feared were compromising the FBI during the war with Iran.
Kash Patel
Fitzpatrick, citing current and former officials, wrote that Patel “is known to drink to the point of obvious intoxication” at Ned’s, a private club in DC, and at the Poodle Room, a members-only club atop a hotel in Las Vegas. The magazine also reported that members of his security detail on multiple occasions had trouble waking him because he was apparently intoxicated, and that aides once requested “breaching equipment” — the tools SWAT teams use to force entry into locked rooms — because Patel was unreachable behind a locked door. The story said his “irregular presence” at FBI headquarters and field offices had delayed time-sensitive decisions requiring the director’s input.
Patel’s 19-page complaint lists 17 statements from the article his lawyers say are false and defamatory. It denies that he “drinks to excess” at those establishments “or anywhere else” and says that the director’s drinking “has not, and has never been, a source of concern across the government.” The suit says the April 10 incident Fitzpatrick opened the piece with — in which Patel was reportedly locked out of an FBI computer system and believed he had been fired — was a routine technical issue that was quickly resolved. The Atlantic called the suit “meritless” and said it stands by the reporting.
Businesses Can Start Claiming Tariff Refunds
Importers can begin filing today for refunds on tariffs the Supreme Court struck down in February — more than $166 billion plus accrued interest. Customs and Border Protection, the federal agency that assesses and collects tariffs, launched a refund portal this morning. It says processing will take 60 to 90 days after a claim is approved.
Shipping containers at a Los Angeles port
The tariffs were imposed by President Trump last April on imports from more than 100 countries, including several with which the US runs a trade surplus — meaning it exports more to those countries than it imports. Trump adjusted the rates repeatedly before the Supreme Court ruled that only Congress has the constitutional authority to impose tariffs under the legislation he’d used.
Refund claims must document payments tied to the invalidated tariffs. Consumers and retailers who paid higher prices on imported goods are unlikely to recover anything; only the importers of goods can file for reimbursement of tariffs paid.
The money comes from the US Treasury’s general fund, into which all tariff receipts flow. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent was ordered to begin processing them after a federal judge and the US Court of International Trade ruled that companies that paid the invalidated tariffs are entitled to their money back. The tariffs were imposed by President Trump last April on imports from more than 100 countries.
LA Arrest in Alleged Iran–Sudan Arms Deal
A California resident was arrested at Los Angeles International Airport over the weekend, accused of brokering covert weapons deals worth $60 million between the Iranian government and Sudan’s defense ministry, both of which are under US sanctions.
Shamim Mafi being arrested outside LAX (USAO Central District of California)
Shamim Mafi, 44, was boarding a flight to Turkey when she was detained, said Bill Essayli, an assistant US attorney for the Central District of California. Federal prosecutors allege in a 69-page complaint that Mafi, a legal US resident originally from Iran, set up a front company and acted as a middleman between Tehran and arms buyers. Prosecutors describe her as a proxy for Iranian intelligence operating in Los Angeles.
DOJ Demands Wayne County Ballots From 2024
The Department of Justice has demanded all ballots and records from the 2024 elections in Michigan’s Wayne County, which includes Detroit and is a reliably Democratic stronghold. The April 14 letter, from Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon, who oversees the Civil Rights Division, threatens a court order if the records are not turned over within 14 days. Michigan Democrats released a copy yesterday.
Voting booth at a church in Detroit
Dhillon wrote that the DOJ wants the ballots, envelopes, and receipts to determine whether 2024 election laws were followed in a county with a “history of fraud convictions and other allegations.”
The letter lists eight specific items: three individual Michigan convictions and five allegations drawn from a single 2020 lawsuit. None of the three convictions are from 2024, and each involved a single family member or caregiver rather than anything systemic. The five other allegations in Dhillon’s letter are lifted directly from Constantino v. Detroit, a lawsuit filed days after the 2020 election and claiming that Detroit election workers had processed invalid ballots, backdated absentee ballots, and counted “tens of thousands” of unsealed ballots. A Wayne County circuit judge dismissed the suit, finding the claims “incorrect and not credible.”
A 2021 Republican-led investigation by a committee in the state senate later found “no evidence of widespread or systematic fraud” in Michigan’s 2020 election.
Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel said her office was “prepared to protect the people’s right to vote” if the administration pursues the request.
The move follows FBI seizures of ballots in Fulton County, GA, last year and a California sheriff’s seizure of more than 650,000 ballots from a 2025 redistricting-related special election. Both cases are in court. Trump and his allies have alleged widespread voter fraud without producing evidence; no federal or state investigation has substantiated the claims.
Trump Orders $50 Million for Psychedelics Research
President Trump signed an executive order late last week directing $50 million in federal funds toward expanding access to psychedelics, a class of drugs that includes LSD and psilocybin — the active compound in “magic mushrooms.”
President Trump signing an order to fund psychedelics research
The drugs are said to alter a person’s perception of reality and help in mental health treatment.
The money will largely flow through the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health, a federal research-funding arm, to universities, hospitals, and pharmaceutical firms conducting the trials. The order also instructs the US Food and Drug Administration to fast-track the review of psilocybin and ibogaine, a plant-derived psychedelic studied for treating opioid addiction.
Under federal law, both substances are currently classified as Schedule I — the government’s most restrictive category, reserved for drugs it deems to have no accepted medical use. A 2025 study in the Journal of the American Medical Association found that a single dose of LSD eased anxiety and depression symptoms for months.
The order funds clinical trials and a review of regulatory barriers; it does not legalize recreational use.