The Daily Brief - Apr. 8, 2026
The latest on the Iran war ceasefire, April election results, another ICE shooting, and more
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Iran War
A day after agreeing to a two-week ceasefire with the US, Iran closed the Strait of Hormuz again today. Tehran had allowed the first two oil tankers through earlier in the day under Iranian military escort, but halted further passage after Israel launched a wave of strikes on Lebanon.
Israeli strikes hit commercial and residential areas in central Beirut today without warning, killing at least 112 people and wounding hundreds across Lebanon, according to the AP. But Al Jazeera, citing Lebanese officials, put the toll higher — 254 dead and 1,165 wounded.
The White House demanded Iran reopen the strait immediately.
The sides disagree on what the ceasefire deal covers. Iran said the ceasefire framework includes a halt to fighting on all fronts, including Lebanon — a position shared by Pakistan. But Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Lebanon is not part of the agreement. Trump told PBS News that Israel’s ongoing strikes in Lebanon are “a separate skirmish” and that Lebanon was not included in the deal.
The US and Iran also disagree on logistics around passage through the Strait of Hormuz. Trump said the US “will be helping with the traffic buildup,” but Iran’s foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, said yesterday the passage would occur only “via coordination with Iran’s Armed Forces.”
The fate of Iran’s nuclear program remains unresolved. Trump said the US would work with Iran to remove buried enriched uranium and that there would be “no enrichment.” Tehran has not confirmed that.
The ceasefire agreement, brokered by Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, came hours before President Trump’s deadline to destroy Iran’s power plants and bridges — a threat he escalated yesterday by warning “a whole civilization will die tonight.” It pauses US and Israeli strikes on Iran in exchange for Tehran reopening the Strait of Hormuz. Both the US and Iran have claimed military victory in the war that began with the joint US-Israeli strikes on Feb. 28.
April Elections
Democrats posted significant swings in two races yesterday, outperforming recent election results in both: a special election to fill the House seat vacated by Republican Marjorie Taylor Greene in Georgia’s 14th District, and the election for a seat on the Wisconsin Supreme Court.
Republican Clay Fuller, a district attorney and Air National Guard lieutenant colonel, won the Georgia runoff, defeating Democrat Shawn Harris, a retired Army brigadier general and cattle farmer, by roughly 56% to 44% — about 12 points. But that margin represents a 25-point leftward swing from Trump’s 37-point win in the district in 2024, the largest such shift in any special election since Trump returned to office.
Fuller will serve the remainder of Greene’s term. He faces another Republican primary on May 19 — against 10 other GOP candidates — and if he wins that, he will have to run again in the general election in November for a full two-year term. Once Fuller is sworn in, the House stands at 218 Republicans, 214 Democrats, 1 independent, and 2 vacancies.
In Wisconsin, Democrat-backed Judge Chris Taylor defeated Republican-backed Judge Maria Lazar, expanding the liberal majority on the seven-member state Supreme Court to 5–2.
ICE Agents Shoot Man
ICE agents shot and wounded a man during a traffic stop in Patterson, California, yesterday.
The Department of Homeland Security said the man, Carlos Ivan Mendoza Hernandez, tried to run over officers with his vehicle, prompting agents to open fire. Video footage shows the car reversing, striking another vehicle, then moving forward and veering left while a federal agent runs out of the way. The car is seen crossing into an oncoming lane. The FBI is investigating.
Hernandez was hospitalized and is in stable condition. His attorney disputes ICE’s account, and tells the AP that agents may have mistaken his client for another person.
Since Trump’s second inauguration in January 2025, ICE and CBP agents have killed or wounded dozens of people in shootings, according to a tally by The Week. At least eight have been fatally shot, including three US citizens.
Newsbreak
In The Book of Delights, award-winning poet Ross Gay has put together a collection of short essays that remind us to celebrate ordinary wonders. Written over the course of a single tumultuous year, his funny and poetic writings take pleasure in a friend’s unabashed use of air quotes, the sensation of cradling a tomato seedling aboard an airplane, and the silent nod of acknowledgment between the only two black people in a room. But Gay never dismisses the complexities, even the terrors, of living in America as a black man. It’s a powerful and necessary reminder that we can, and should, stake out a space in our lives for delight.
Iowa Appeals Court Allows Book Ban
A federal appeals court has allowed Iowa to enforce key parts of a 2023 law restricting school library books and limiting classroom discussion of gender identity and sexual orientation.
The Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the state can implement the measures while legal challenges proceed. The law requires removal of books containing “descriptions or visual depictions of a sex act” from public school libraries and bars instruction on gender identity or sexual orientation in kindergarten through sixth grade.
Book publishers and authors — including Jodi Picoult, who was featured in a recent episode of The Preamble Podcast — sued over the book restriction; Lambda Legal and the ACLU of Iowa sued over the curriculum provision. Both lawsuits argue the law violates the First Amendment.
Artemis II Mission
The Artemis II crew — NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, and Christina Koch, and Canadian Space Agency astronaut Jeremy Hansen — are on their way home after completing a lunar flyby two days ago.
NASA will host a media call with the crew at 9:45 p.m. EDT today. Splashdown is expected in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of San Diego at approximately 8:07 p.m. EDT on April 10.
Swalwell, Gonzales Face Allegations
California gubernatorial candidate and US congressman Eric Swalwell’s campaign is denying claims that multiple women plan to come forward with allegations about sexual misconduct.
Several left-leaning influencers, including Cheyenne Hunt, executive director of Gen-Z for Change, wrote on X that she is working with women who allege harassment and abuse by Swalwell.
Swalwell’s campaign called the claims a “false, outrageous rumor” spread “by flailing opponents who have sadly teamed up with MAGA conspiracy theorists.” The crowded California gubernatorial primary includes eight Democrats and two Republicans. Under California’s open primary system, two candidates with the most votes, regardless of the party, advance to the general election. The primary will take place in June.
Separately, the San Antonio Express-News reported that Rep. Tony Gonzales (R-Texas) allegedly sent lewd texts to a female campaign staffer during his first congressional run in 2020, including requests for sex and nude photos. Gonzales last month acknowledged a separate affair with a district staffer who later died by suicide. He has not responded to the latest allegations. Gonzales has dropped out of reelection bid but has refused to resign his seat.
DOJ Investigates Jan. 6 Witness
The Justice Department has assigned its civil rights division to investigate Cassidy Hutchinson, a former aide to White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows during Trump’s first term, for allegedly lying to Congress.
In June 2022, Hutchinson delivered televised testimony to the House Select Committee investigating January 6 — the bipartisan panel that spent 18 months examining the Capitol attack and concluded Trump was “directly responsible” for the riot. She also testified that she heard that Trump lunged at a Secret Service agent in the presidential vehicle when told he could not join supporters at the Capitol — a claim other witnesses later contradicted. Hutchinson said she heard it from the White House deputy chief of staff Tony Ornato — with Secret Service agent Bobby Engel present and not objecting. Engel, Ornato, and the vehicle’s unnamed driver all later disputed that account through sources close to the Secret Service. Engel and Ornato said they were willing to testify under oath but neither did so publicly before the committee concluded its work.
The investigation is unusual on multiple fronts. Perjury cases involving congressional testimony would typically be handled by the US Attorney’s Office in Washington, run by Jeanine Pirro. Instead, DOJ leadership bypassed Pirro and gave the case directly to Harmeet Dhillon, who heads the Civil Rights Division — a unit that normally focuses on systemic civil rights abuses such as police misconduct and racial discrimination. The inquiry was opened after a criminal referral from Rep. Barry Loudermilk (R-Ga.), who chaired a House subcommittee that reinvestigated the Capitol attack.
The New York Times reported the investigation was opened weeks ago by former Attorney General Pam Bondi before she was fired by Trump last week.
Wondering how we can support Cassidy Hutchinson. She was so brave to come forward.
The evil will keep coming after those he speak up. I bet Cassidy Hutchinson is scared. I will keep her in my thoughts and will pray for her.