The Daily Brief — July 8, 2026
Trump wants Greenland again, DOJ warns states, more Platner accusations
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Iran War Resumes
President Trump says the ceasefire with Iran is over. Yesterday, Iran attacked three commercial ships in the Strait of Hormuz, and the US responded by hitting more than 80 Iranian targets, including air-defense systems and radar sites. Iran retaliated with missiles and drones aimed at Kuwait and Bahrain. No injuries were reported in these attacks by Iran.
The US and Iran signed an interim 60-day agreement last month to pause their war, which began in February. Under the deal, the Strait of Hormuz reopened to commercial shipping and the US lifted its naval blockade of Iranian ports, while both sides began negotiating over a final agreement on the future of Iran’s nuclear program.
Trump said the US will likely strike Iran again tonight, and could reimpose the blockade on Iranian oil exports. He also renewed his previous threat to strike Iran’s power and water plants and seize Kharg Island, Iran’s key oil-export hub.
NATO Summit Ends
NATO’s annual summit concluded today, with the alliance’s 32 members, including the US, pledging continued support for Ukraine and reaffirming Article 5, the NATO provision that requires members to treat an attack on one as an attack on all.
The recommitment to mutual defense is notable given that some European allies had doubts about whether the US would defend them against Russia.
On Ukraine, there was a broad commitment to military aid for 2026 and 2027, according to a draft declaration. Trump said the US would let Ukraine build Patriot air defense systems in Europe. These defense systems are proprietary US technology and the manufacturing rights are held by US companies, so no country can make them without a US license. Zelensky has long sought the defense system to thwart Russia’s missile attacks on his country.
Denmark Rebuffs Trump
Denmark’s prime minister, Mette Frederiksen, said again today that Greenland is “not for sale,” after President Trump renewed his push for the US to control the Danish territory at the NATO summit. Frederiksen said Denmark is “ready to defend every inch of NATO, including our own territory.”
Greenland is the world’s largest island and an autonomous Danish territory in the Arctic. Trump has pursued US control of the island since his first term.
DOJ Warns States on Voting
The Justice Department sent letters to election officials in all 50 states and Washington, DC, yesterday, warning they could face criminal prosecution if they knowingly allow noncitizens to vote or remain on voter rolls. The letters, sent by the department’s civil rights division, gave officials five days to explain how they intended to comply with federal voter eligibility rules.
Noncitizen voting in US elections is extremely rare. A 2016 Brennan Center study of 42 jurisdictions that counted 23.5 million votes found just 30 instances of suspected noncitizen voting. The libertarian Cato Institute, after separately reviewing state investigations into voter fraud allegations, found the practice virtually nonexistent.
After receiving the letter, Utah’s top election official, Republican lieutenant governor Deidre Henderson, wrote in a social media post that she and other election officials are being targeted “for following state and federal laws by resisting DOJ’s demands for private voter data that have thus far been ruled illegal by at least a dozen courts.”
Newsbreak
From bestselling author Eric Jay Dolin comes the story of the American whaleship Mentor, wrecked in 1832 on a remote reef in the western Pacific. With supplies dwindling, the eleven surviving crewmen faced not only the miseries of shipwreck in unfamiliar territory but also the profound uncertainty of contact with the Indigenous people of the Micronesian archipelago of Palau, who within days approach them brandishing axes, clubs, and spears. Illustrated with more than 100 images and maps, The Wreck of the Mentor is at once a powerful story of survival and a revealing window into the great Age of Sail.
Judge Blocks DOJ in Georgia
A federal judge blocked the Justice Department yesterday from seeking the names and contact information of election workers who served in Georgia’s Fulton County during the 2020 election.
The department had issued a grand jury subpoena in April seeking the information as part of an investigation tied to President Trump’s false claims that fraud in the county — a Democratic stronghold Biden won in 2020 — cost him the state.
Fulton County argued that the subpoena was meant to “target, harass and punish the President’s perceived political opponents.” Federal district judge William Ray agreed, writing that the subpoena’s scope was “staggering” and that turning over personal details on thousands of election workers was “unreasonable.”
A DOJ spokesperson said the department is “considering all options” to challenge the ruling.
More Platner Accusations
A former girlfriend of Graham Platner, Maine’s Democratic nominee for US Senate, said in a CNN interview yesterday that he removed condoms during sex without her consent. Lyndsey Fifield, who accused Platner of physically abusive behavior in a New York Times article last month, made the new allegation a day after another former partner, Jenny Racicot, accused Platner of rape.
Platner’s campaign called Fifield’s claim “categorically false and politically motivated.”
Platner is deciding whether or not to drop out of the race. Under state law, Platner must withdraw by July 13 for the party to name a new nominee, and Democrats would then have until July 27 to do so.