The Daily Brief - Apr. 28, 2026
The latest on former FBI director’s new indictment, the royal couple’s US visit, federal agents raid daycare centers in Minneapolis, and more
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Former FBI Director Indicted Again
Former FBI Director James Comey was indicted today on charges of making and transmitting threats — the Justice Department’s second attempt in seven months to prosecute him.
The charges stem from an Instagram post Comey made last year after walking on a North Carolina beach. He photographed seashells arranged to read “86 47” and shared the image online. Republicans read it as a threat against Trump, the 47th president — “86” is slang for getting rid of something or someone. Comey said he had not arranged the shells himself, called the post a political message rather than a call to violence, and deleted it.
The first indictment against Comey, filed in 2025, accused Comey of lying to Congress about an FBI leak investigation. A federal judge threw it out, ruling that the prosecutor who brought the case had been appointed unlawfully and that the indictment was therefore invalid.
Trump has publicly pressed his Justice Department to investigate Comey for years, along with other perceived adversaries — including New York Attorney General Letitia James, who won a civil fraud judgment against Trump in 2024.
British Royals Visit the US
King Charles III addressed a joint session of Congress this afternoon, telling lawmakers that despite recent disagreements, the United States and the United Kingdom have always found ways to come together. The speech was the centerpiece of a four-day state visit timed to America’s 250th anniversary; Queen Elizabeth made a similar visit to the US during the bicentennial celebration in 1976.
The visit includes a state dinner at the White House this evening, and stops in Virginia and New York.
House FISA Renewal Stalls Again
FISA — the warrantless surveillance law — expires Thursday, and House Republicans still cannot agree on how to renew it. The House Rules Committee recessed this morning without taking further action on it.
FISA allows US intelligence agencies to collect the electronic communications of foreign nationals located outside the country — without obtaining a warrant. The government says the program is one of its most important tools for tracking terrorism, cyberattacks, and foreign espionage.
At least 10 Republicans oppose extending the program in its current form. Many want a warrant requirement before agents can search the database for Americans’ communications, which can be incidentally swept up when they interact with the targeted foreigners. The Senate is scheduled to hold its own procedural vote on a three-year extension this afternoon.
Congress passed a 10-day extension on April 17 to keep the program alive through April 30.
Newsbreak
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Trump Family Demands ABC Fire Jimmy Kimmel
President Trump and the first lady are demanding that ABC fire late-night host Jimmy Kimmel over a joke from last week. During a sketch on his show, “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” last Thursday, Kimmel had described the first lady as having a “glow of an expectant widow.”
“People like Kimmel shouldn’t have the opportunity to enter our homes each evening to spread hate,” the first lady wrote on X. “Enough is enough. It is time for ABC to take a stand.”
Trump tied the joke to Saturday night’s shooting outside the White House Correspondents’ Dinner. Writing on Truth Social, he said: “I appreciate that so many people are incensed by Kimmel’s despicable call to violence, and normally would not be responsive to anything that he said, but this is something far beyond the pale.”
In yesterday’s monologue, Kimmel called the line “a very light roast” and said it was “not by any stretch of the definition a call to assassination,” adding that he has spoken out against gun violence for years.
Trump has repeatedly attacked Kimmel over his monologues. ABC briefly suspended “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” last September after Kimmel mocked the MAGA response to the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk. But the network reinstated the show after a viewer backlash.
Meanwhile, the Trump-aligned Federal Communications Commission has moved to challenge the network’s station licenses — setting up a potential legal clash with parent company The Walt Disney Company.
In an order released today, the FCC directed ABC to submit renewal applications for all of its broadcast licenses within 30 days. The FCC moved to call in the broadcast licenses of eight ABC-owned stations for early renewal — including stations in New York and Chicago that are not due to be renewed for years.
Appeals Court Sides with Pentagon on Press Restrictions
A DC appeals court yesterday temporarily allowed the Defense Department to limit reporters’ movement inside the Pentagon. The department has put a restriction in place requiring official escorts for journalists inside the building.
The fight between the Pentagon and the press began last September, when Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth required reporters who worked in the building to sign a pledge to only publish authorized information. The New York Times sued in December, and in March, US District Judge Paul Friedman struck the pledge down as a First Amendment violation. The Pentagon then issued a revised policy that dropped the pledge but barred reporters from their longtime workspace inside the building and required escorts at all times. Friedman ruled this month that the policy was an end-run around his order.
Yesterday’s 2-1 stay from the DC Circuit lets the escort rule stand during the Pentagon’s appeal. The majority accepted the department’s argument that unauthorized disclosures had dropped since the policy took effect. Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell said the policy “has never been about limiting journalism” but about “safeguarding classified information.” A Times spokesperson said the paper would “oppose vigorously” the Pentagon’s actions.
The UAE Leaves OPEC
The United Arab Emirates announced today that it will leave OPEC and OPEC+ on May 1. OPEC is the cartel of oil-producing countries that regulates how much crude its members pump in order to keep global oil prices stable.
The UAE has complained for years about the quota imposed by OPEC, currently around 3.2 million barrels per day, and has been building capacity to pump close to 5 million barrels a day. By leaving, it can sell as much oil as it wants. If the UAE increases its output, it could push global prices down.
Federal Agents Raid 22 Daycare Centers in Minneapolis
Federal agents executed 22 search warrants across the Minneapolis area this morning, raiding more than 20 childcare centers in what authorities described as an ongoing investigation into fraud against taxpayer-funded programs. The FBI and Homeland Security Investigations led the operation, with help from state and local agencies.
The targets were largely Somali-owned daycares — including Quality Learning Center, Mako Childcare Center and Baby Halimo Child Care — that allegedly billed for children they were not actually caring for.
Governor Tim Walz and other authorities stressed the raids were not immigration-related. “If you commit fraud in Minnesota you’re going to get caught,” Walz said, adding that state agencies had flagged the suspicious billing to federal investigators.
Judge Lets Fired Federal Prosecutor Sue Trump Administration
Maurene Comey, the former federal prosecutor fired by the Trump administration last summer, can sue the government in federal court for wrongful termination, a Manhattan judge ruled today.
Comey, the daughter of former FBI director James Comey, claims she was fired in July 2025 because of her father’s long feud with President Trump or because of her own perceived political views. Comey was an assistant US attorney in the Southern District of New York, where she helped prosecute Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell, supervised the bribery case against former Senator Robert Menendez, and led the team that convicted rapper Sean “Diddy” Combs on prostitution-related charges two weeks before her dismissal.
The Justice Department argued that she wasn’t allowed to immediately sue, and that she first had to take her complaint to the Merit Systems Protection Board, an agency that handles routine federal-employee disputes.
The only reason the government had given for firing Comey, Judge Jesse Furman noted, was that the president has the constitutional authority to fire her. That kind of firing, the judge said, isn’t what the Merit Systems Protection Board exists for. The board handles ordinary workplace disputes between federal employees and their agencies. Comey’s case is about whether the president can fire a career prosecutor for political reasons, and that is a constitutional question for a federal court, not an administrative one, he said.