The Daily Brief — Mar. 27, 2026
TSA Agents will (apparently) get paid, House Democrat found to violate ethics rules, FBI director’s email hacked, and more
These are today’s top stories, delivered straight to your inbox. Catch up here on all the news.
Iran
Iran’s state media reported Friday that two of the country’s nuclear facilities, one in the city of Arak and the other in Yazd Province, had been struck. Israel claimed responsibility for the attacks, and Iran quickly threatened to retaliate.
The strikes come as the Pentagon plans to deploy up to 10,000 additional ground troops to the Middle East, a development reported by The Wall Street Journal yesterday. The troops would join roughly 4,500 Marines and about 3,000 paratroopers from the 82nd Airborne Division already ordered to deploy
Iran continued its own attacks. Several Gulf countries intercepted a barrage of drones and missiles from Iran. Two Kuwaiti ports were struck, and one missile landed in Jordan.
The Strait of Hormuz remains largely closed to shipping traffic. Two Chinese container vessels were turned back today.
TSA Pay
After Congress failed to reach a deal to end the partial government shutdown, President Trump signed an executive order today directing federal officials to pay TSA agents.
During the middle of the night, the Senate passed a bill that would fund DHS, excluding ICE and CBP. Speaker of the House Mike Johnson then refused to bring that bill to the floor for a vote, leaving funding in limbo for two weeks as Congress heads out on its spring break.
President Trump then issued an order saying that funds already appropriated for other things should be redirected for TSA pay, and that when TSA was finally funded, the other pool of money should be repaid. The order did not mention other DHS employees, like the Coast Guard, who are also affected by the six-week partial government shut down.
FBI Hack
Hackers linked to Iran breached FBI Director Kash Patel’s personal email, a Justice Department official said Thursday.
The hacking group, which calls itself Handala Hack Team, posted a sample of the material online, and the Justice Department official said the material appeared authentic. The documents include a mix of personal and work correspondence dating from 2010 to 2019, according to an analysis by Reuters.
Handala describes itself as a pro-Palestinian vigilante hacking group. The Justice Department says it is a “faketivist” persona operated directly by Iran’s ministry of intelligence and security.
Earlier this month, Handala claimed responsibility for a destructive malware attack against Stryker, a Michigan-based medical technology company.
Anthropic Wins
A federal judge on Thursday temporarily blocked the Pentagon from labeling AI company Anthropic a “supply chain risk,” ruling that the designation appeared arbitrary and could “cripple” the California-based company.
“Nothing in the governing statute supports the Orwellian notion that an American company may be branded a potential adversary and saboteur of the U.S. for expressing disagreement with the government,” US District Judge Rita Lin wrote in her ruling.
The Pentagon designated Anthropic a supply chain risk after the company refused to allow its AI model, Claude, to be used to help operate autonomous weapons systems or conduct mass surveillance. After Anthropic went public with its concerns on Feb. 27, President Trump ordered all federal agencies to stop using Anthropic’s products.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth soon followed, directing the department to designate Anthropic a supply chain risk and barring any defense contractor from doing business with the company. Anthropic sued the Pentagon in response.
Judge Lin blocked all three actions — Trump’s order, Hegseth’s order, and the formal supply chain designation — because they were retaliatory.
Anthropic is the first American company to receive the supply chain risk designation, which has typically been applied to foreign firms.
Judge Lin’s order takes effect in one week. It does not require the Pentagon to use Anthropic’s products.
Newsbreak
A Flower Traveled in My Blood tells the story of the Abuelas de Plaza de Mayo, the Argentine grandmothers who fought to find the babies stolen by the military dictatorship during the country’s brutal “Dirty War.” After pregnant women were kidnapped, forced to give birth in captivity, and then disappeared, their children were secretly placed with other families, often tied to the regime itself. Through courage, persistence, and groundbreaking genetic research, the grandmothers challenged a terrorized nation and built one of the most extraordinary human rights movements in modern history.
Trump Signature
The Treasury Department announced yesterday that President Trump’s signature will appear on all new US paper money. The department described the move as part of the commemoration of the country’s 250th anniversary.
It would be the first time a sitting president’s signature has appeared on US currency. Since paper currency was first printed in 1861, bills have carried the signatures of the Treasury secretary and the US treasurer — not the president. Under the new arrangement, Trump’s signature will appear alongside that of Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent. The signature of US Treasurer Brandon Beach will not appear on the new bills.
Medical Schools Under Probe
The Justice Department has opened investigations into the admissions policies of three medical schools over possible unlawful consideration of race in admissions. Such consideration would run contrary to the US Supreme Court’s 2023 ruling in Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard, which sharply limited the use of race in college admissions.
Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights Harmeet Dhillon sent letters to Stanford University, the University of California San Diego, and Ohio State University outlining the investigations. Dhillon confirmed the investigations in a post on X on Wednesday, publishing a photo of herself signing the letters.
The schools have been ordered to provide “extensive lists of data” by April 24 or “risk interruptions to essential federal funding.”
Trump has also threatened to withhold federal funding from universities over other issues, including diversity initiatives, climate programs, transgender policies, and pro-Palestinian protests against Israel’s military campaign in Gaza after Hamas attacked Israel in October 2023.
Florida Democrat
The House Ethics Committee on Friday found Democratic Rep. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick of Florida in violation of several campaign finance laws and regulations. The committee announced the finding after a public hearing on Thursday — a departure from the panel’s standard practice of meeting behind closed doors.
Cherfilus-McCormick, a three-term congresswoman, was indicted in November on federal charges of allegedly stealing $5 million in FEMA disaster relief funds for her campaign. She has pleaded not guilty.
The ethics panel said it would wait until after Congress’s April recess to recommend disciplinary action, which could include expulsion from the House. At least one Democrat publicly called on her to resign.
“You can’t crime your way into legitimate power,” Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez (D-WA) posted on X. “She should resign or be removed.”
There is precedent for expelling a member before a criminal conviction. In 2023, the House voted to expel Rep. George Santos (R-NY) before the conclusion of his federal criminal case.
Insider Trading
California Gov. Gavin Newsom said Thursday he would sign an executive order banning appointed state officials with access to non-public information from trading on prediction markets — online platforms where users can bet money on almost any outcome, such as whether a sports team will win a game, whether a legislature will pass a law, or whether a war will break out somewhere by a given date.
The order follows concerns over suspiciously well-timed trades of stocks and oil contracts ahead of several of President Trump’s major announcements.
Lawmakers from both parties have called for greater regulatory scrutiny of prediction markets. On Monday, a bipartisan pair of senators — Adam Schiff, a Democrat from California, and John Curtis, a Republican from Utah — introduced the Prediction Markets Are Gambling Act. It would make prediction markets subject to gambling laws rather than treating them as a form of financial trading.
Two major prediction market platforms announced new restrictions earlier this week.
Kalshi said it would ban political candidates from trading on their own campaigns and block anyone involved in college or professional sports from trading contracts related to their sport.
Polymarket said users cannot trade on contracts if they might possess confidential information or could influence the outcome — a restriction that could apply to athletes, company officials, and policymakers.
Prediction Markets Are Gambling Act = P-MAGA. We'll played.
Ha, ha, Trump’s putting his childish signature on cash, which most people don’t use much anymore. This will be one more reason not to.