The Daily Brief - Apr. 23, 2026
The latest on insider trading, the conflict in Iran, the Warner Bros/Paramount merger, a potential pardon for Ghislaine Maxwell, and more
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Iran War
The US military boarded another tanker that it said was carrying Iranian oil near the Strait of Hormuz today, and the president ordered the navy to “shoot and kill” any Iranian boats trying to place mines underwater. The US-Iran ceasefire Trump unilaterally extended on Tuesday still holds, but barely.
Iran hasn’t committed to a second round of negotiations because of the blockade of the Strait of Hormuz.
Meanwhile, President Trump announced this afternoon that the Israel-Lebanon ceasefire has been extended by three weeks after he hosted talks between Israeli and Lebanese representatives at the White House. “The Meeting went very well! The United States is going to work with Lebanon in order to help it protect itself from Hezbollah,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
Warner Bros. Shareholders Approve Paramount Deal
Warner Bros. Discovery shareholders approved an $81 billion takeover by Paramount Skydance this morning, handing CNN — a network Trump has long attacked — to a media company run by the Trump-aligned Ellison family. The deal still needs federal regulatory approval and is expected to close by year’s end.
Paramount Skydance already controls the Paramount Pictures studio, Paramount+ streaming service, and CBS News. Netflix had been the frontrunner to buy the film studio, but ultimately walked away after saying it was “no longer financially attractive.”
Journalists at CNN, speaking to NBC News, said they are fearful and concerned about the potential loss of editorial independence if Paramount owns the cable news network. After the Ellisons took over CBS news, staffers at “60 Minutes” have reported editorial interference, particularly on stories critical of Trump.
Senate Passes $70B for ICE and CBP
The Senate approved a budget resolution for $70 billion in funding for ICE and Customs and Border Protection through 2029 after an overnight session. Since Senate Republicans used budget reconciliation — a process that bypasses the 60-vote filibuster threshold and allows spending bills to pass on a simple majority — they didn’t need Democratic votes.
The vote was along party lines with two defections: two Republicans crossed over to vote no, joining all Democrats.
DHS funding lapsed in mid-February. The most visible fallout has been at airports, where thousands of TSA officers either quit or called in sick once paychecks stopped. Trump ordered the DHS secretary to pay TSA agents using money that was appropriated last year. Homeland Secretary Markwayne Mullin warned that payments to TSA would stop beginning next month if Congress does not resume funding.
Newsbreak
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Hegseth Fires Secretary of the Navy
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth fired Navy Secretary John Phelan yesterday — while the Navy is actively blockading Iran’s ports. Phelan’s deputy, Hung Cao, has replaced him as acting Navy secretary.
Hegseth and Phelan had been feuding for some time now. Hegseth believed Phelan was going around him to talk to Trump directly about military matters; Phelan and Trump are Palm Beach neighbors. “Phelan didn’t understand he wasn’t the boss,” a source told Axios. “His job is to follow orders given, not follow the orders he thinks should be given.”
Before being ousted, Phelan was managing the biggest Navy shipbuilding expansion since 1962 — Trump’s “Golden Fleet,” including two planned “Trump-class battleships” and 34 other new ships at a projected cost of $65.8 billion in the next fiscal year.
The day before he was fired, Phelan told reporters the Navy was studying whether to build some of those ships in South Korea or Japan because US shipyards can’t keep up, essentially suggesting outsourcing American warship construction to foreign allies. Less than 24 hours later, he was out.
Phelan, a billionaire and major Trump donor, lasted 13 months. Hegseth has now dismissed more than half a dozen senior military leaders, including Army Chief of Staff Gen. Randy George three weeks ago.
Kalshi Suspends Three Candidates for Betting on Their Own Races
Prediction market Kalshi banned three congressional candidates from its platform yesterday for betting on their own elections — what the company called “political insider trading.”
All three are running in 2026: Mark Moran, an independent Virginia Senate candidate; Matt Klein, a Minnesota state senator running for Congress as a Democrat; and Ezekiel Enriquez, a former Republican House candidate in Texas. Kalshi fined them between $539 and $6,229, and banned them for five years. Klein acknowledged the bet, saying he put $50 on himself to win his primary.
Prediction markets like Kalshi, Polymarket, and PredictIt — where users bet real money on elections, sports, weather, and more — are currently under scrutiny from lawmakers after a pattern of unusually well-timed trades ahead of major Trump announcements.
Meanwhile, a US Army Master Sergeant involved in the capture of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro was arrested and charged today with betting on that operation, netting him $400,000 in profits on Polymarket. According to the indictment, Master Sergeant Gannon Ken Van Dyke, opened a Polymarket account in late December and wagered about $32,000 that Maduro would be “out” by January.
EU Clears $106B for Ukraine After Hungary Stands Down
The European Union approved a $106 billion, two-year financial and military package for Ukraine. The package was made possible after the Hungarian election that ousted Viktor Orbán from power. Hungary had previously vetoed the assistance.
EU decisions require unanimity among the 27 member states, so a single holdout can stall any package.
The EU also cleared a new round of sanctions that Hungary had been blocking: a ban on servicing ships that move Russian oil, plus new sanctions on more than 40 vessels tied to Russia’s fleet. A separate set of sanctions targets Russian energy flowing through Eastern European pipelines.
House GOP Split on Pardon for Ghislaine Maxwell
Republicans on the House Oversight Committee are divided over whether Ghislaine Maxwell should be pardoned in exchange for testimony about Jeffrey Epstein’s network and crimes. Maxwell is the former girlfriend and accomplice to convicted sex trafficker Epstein, and is currently serving a 20-year sentence that began in June 2022.
Maxwell invoked the Fifth Amendment and declined to answer questions when she was deposed over video by the committee earlier this year. Her lawyers have since said she’ll testify if Trump pardons her. Short of that, they’ve rejected further committee appearances otherwise.
The president has the power to pardon people convicted of federal crimes. Trump — whose name appears thousands of times in the released Epstein files — has said he’s open to pardoning Maxwell.
Committee Chair James Comer said “a lot of” members want the pardon to happen but that he’s not one of them. “I think it looks bad,” Comer said. “Honestly, other than Epstein, the worst person in this whole investigation is Maxwell.”