The Daily Brief - Mar. 4, 2026
The latest on Iran, FBI agent firings, the Texas primaries, and more
These are today’s top stories, delivered straight to your inbox. Read below to catch up on all the news you might’ve missed.
Iran
The fifth day of the US-Israel-Iran war saw hostilities stretch across a larger portion of the globe.
A US naval destroyer in the Mediterranean Sea shot down an Iranian ballistic missile speeding toward a base in Turkey that hosts US forces and nuclear weapons. It was the first time Iran had targeted the territory of a NATO country.
In the Indian Ocean near Sri Lanka, a torpedo from a US submarine sank an Iranian warship with a crew of 180, at least 80 of whom were thought to have been killed. American submarines had not fired a torpedo at an enemy ship since World War II.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said that “America is winning, decisively, devastatingly and without mercy,” and that it was still “very early” in the campaign. US officials said that American and Israeli strikes would continue.
Gen. Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said that American forces were now striking “deeper” in Iranian territory and suggested that Iran’s capacity to target the United States and its allies was being degraded.
The most recent Israeli strikes have targeted the infrastructure of Iran’s Basij paramilitary and the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, both of which were used to crush internal protests against the regime in January.
The State Department said it was trying to arrange charter flights to evacuate American citizens in Gulf Arab states, including Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Jordan. Iran has attacked US allies and facilities throughout the region with drones and missiles.
In Iran, Mojtaba Khamenei, the son of former Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, was reportedly a leading candidate to become his father’s successor. The elder Khamenei was killed in an airstrike on the first day of the war, along with several of his senior advisers.
Iran’s main relief organization, the Red Crescent, said that 787 Iranians have been killed in the conflict so far. Six members of the American military have been killed.
Senate Iran Resolution
The Senate was scheduled to vote Wednesday on a resolution that would limit the president’s ability to continue military operations against Iran. The resolution would require the US to cease current hostilities unless Congress formally authorizes them.
Most Democrats are expected to support the measure, and most Republicans to oppose it. If it passes, it will go to the House for a vote on Thursday, and if it reaches the Oval Office from there, President Trump will veto it. A veto override would then require support from two-thirds of Congress.
“I pray that my colleagues will vote to end this dangerous and unnecessary war that has already resulted in the loss of six service members and injured others,” said Sen. Tim Kaine, who sponsored the Senate resolution.
The Constitution requires Congress to make formal declarations of war, but modern presidents have often launched limited military operations without seeking Congress’s consent.
The War Powers Act, passed in 1973 during Vietnam, requires the president to seek congressional approval for any military action — even if not in a declared war — that lasts more than 60 days. The White House also must consult Congress whenever military operations begin, a requirement that the Trump administration maintains it has complied with even as it has cast its compliance as voluntary.
“No presidential administration has ever accepted the War Powers Act as constitutional — not Republican presidents, not Democratic presidents,” said Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
Noem
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem sparred with senators from both parties in an appearance before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Tuesday.
Noem, whose department has overseen controversial immigration crackdowns in Minnesota and elsewhere, faced questions about the deaths of Minneapolis residents Alex Pretti and Renee Nicole Good at the hands of federal immigration agents. Senator Dick Durbin asked Noem whether she retracted statements that Pretti and Good had tried to attack federal agents and commit domestic terrorism — claims that have been contradicted by video footage of Good’s and Pretti’s deaths.
Noem replied that her statements were based on “reports on the ground and agents who are there.” She declined to take back her comments but expressed sympathy for the families of Pretti and Good.
When asked about sending ICE and Border Patrol agents to polling places during the midterm elections in November, Noem declined to rule it out but said there were no such plans, responding “Do you plan on illegal aliens voting in our elections?”
Sen. Thom Tillis, a Republican from North Carolina who has often challenged the administration and is not seeking reelection, accused her department of arresting US citizens during immigration raids and mistreating detainees in custody, leading to several deaths.
“We’re beginning to get the American people to think that deporting people is wrong,” he said. “It’s the exact opposite. The way you’re going about deporting them is wrong.” He called on Noem to resign.
After her testimony in the Senate, Noem was slated to appear before the House Judiciary Committee.
Fired FBI Agents
FBI Director Kash Patel recently fired a number of FBI agents who had worked on investigating the classified documents case against Donald Trump. Sources are now saying the dozen agents and analysts who were fired were from a special counterintelligence unit called CI-12 that was working on monitoring threats from Iran, just before the US launched its military operation. The unit is composed of veteran agents who were also responsible for looking into the mishandling of classified information.
Iran is the world’s largest state sponsor of terror, including assassination and kidnapping plots. When the US took out General Qasem Soleimani, a senior member of Iran’s military, during Trump’s first term, Iran sent operatives to assassinate American officials in retaliation.
A source told CBS that one of the fired agents was a counterintelligence section chief that worked on espionage threats, including from Iran. Another source said the firings were “devastating to the FBI’s Iran program.”
Agents work with confidential informants and sources that they have cultivated over years, so replacing them with new agents won’t necessarily yield the same intelligence.
Many offices in the Justice Department’s National Security Division have lost half their employees (due to firings and resignations) since Trump took office last year, and manpower was depleted even more as counterintelligence agents were pulled off their assignments to help redact the Epstein files before they were released.
Texas Primaries
Some Democratic voters were turned away from voting sites yesterday in two counties in Texas because of confusion about polling place locations.
Months ago, Republicans decided to hold separate primaries from Democrats in two Texas counties: Dallas and Williamson. In the past, when primaries were held jointly, voters could vote at any polling place. But the change meant voters this time around had to find their specific assigned precinct.
Voters who showed up anywhere other than their assigned precinct were turned away, and had to figure out the right place to vote. Complicating things even further, recent redistricting made it more difficult for people to find their polling site.
In response, Dallas County’s chief executive, Judge Clay Jenkins – a Democrat – ordered Democratic polling places in that county to remain open two hours later than the planned closing time, until 9pm.
But Republican Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, who is running for Senate, blocked Jenkins’s order, and the state Supreme Court backed him. They ruled any votes cast by people who weren’t in line by the 7pm poll closing time should be separated.
Rep. Jasmine Crockett, who represents Dallas, said that voters “have been disenfranchised.” She lost her race to State Rep. James Talarico last night, and has since conceded.
Dallas County Democratic Party Chair Kardal Coleman said the party was “consulting counsel” on how to proceed.
On the Republican side, the Senate primary will go to a runoff after neither Sen. John Cornyn nor Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton surpassed the required 50% threshold in yesterday’s election. The two candidates will face each other again on May 26.
In the House races, Republican Rep. Dan Crenshaw lost to his primary challenger, State Rep. Steve Toth. Crenshaw, a former Navy Seal who lost an eye fighting in Afghanistan, is currently serving his fourth term in Congress. He has supported Donald Trump, but he also worked with Democrats on immigration legislation, and criticized Trump’s claims that the 2020 election was stolen.
And Republican Rep. Tony Gonzales, who has been asked to resign by members of his own party over allegations he had an affair with a staffer, also did not get the necessary 50% of the vote. His race will also go to a runoff against far-right activist Brandon Herrera.
Epstein Testimony
The House Oversight Committee has sent letters asking seven people in the Epstein files to sit for interviews, including Bill Gates and former Obama White House counsel Kathryn Ruemmler. Both have agreed to the interviews, which will happen in the coming months.
The five others who received letters are:
Doug Band, a former aide to Pres. Bill Clinton and CEO of Teneo
Leon Black, the co-founder of Apollo Global Management
Ted Waitt, a former romantic partner of Ghislaine Maxwell
Lesley Groff and Sarah Kellen, both assistants of Epstein’s
And Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick has also volunteered to talk to the committee, saying “I look forward to appearing before the committee. I have done nothing wrong and I want to set the record straight.” That interview will be behind closed doors, but a transcript will be released.
Lutnick has not been accused of wrongdoing, but had previously said he cut ties with Epstein in 2005. But the Epstein files showed he continued to socialize with him for years after that.
The committee also subpoenaed Attorney General Pam Bondi, which will require her to appear and answer questions before members of Congress. The resolution to compel Bondi to appear passed in a bipartisan vote, with Republican Reps. Lauren Boebert, Tim Burchett, Michael Cloud, and Scott Perry voting with the Democrats.
Apalachee School Shooting Parent Verdict
The jury in the trial of Colin Gray, the father of the accused shooter in the deadly 2024 shooting at Apalachee High School in Winder, Georgia, found Gray guilty of 27 charges on Tuesday, including second-degree murder, involuntary manslaughter, and cruelty to children. He faces up to 243 years in prison, but the judge has not yet set a date for sentencing.
His son, now 16-year-old Colt Gray, committed a mass shooting with an AR-15 style rifle in 2024 that killed four people and injured nine others before he was captured and arrested. Prosecutors said Colin had given Colt the gun as a Christmas gift despite knowing his son was struggling with his mental health and had an unusual fixation on school shooters. In addition, the year before the shooting, authorities said police went to Gray’s home and questioned him and his father about online threats he’d made about committing a mass shooting. Georgia law makes it illegal to give minors access to guns, with limited exceptions.
Gray’s conviction marks the second time in recent years that the parent of a school shooter has been convicted in connection with their child’s actions — in 2024, the parents of Oxford High School mass shooter Ethan Crumbley were sentenced to 10 to 15 years in prison for involuntary manslaughter after purchasing a gun for their son and, the judge said, ignoring signs his mental health was deteriorating.
According to Barrow County District Attorney Brad Smith, Gray’s mother urged Colin to stop giving Colt access to guns before the shooting, citing the Crumbley case.
“I think you saw in this case that the mother actually reviewed what happened in Michigan... and she then, as a result of that, asked her husband to remove the weapons,” Smith said. “It could have ended this tragedy. So Michigan was able to move the needle to the point that almost stopped this tragedy… We hope we move the needle a little further.”
A trial date for Colt Gray has not yet been scheduled.
Law Firm Executive Orders
The Trump administration reversed course on Tuesday and decided to defend its executive orders targeting law firms disliked by the president. In 2025, the administration issued executive orders that canceled security clearances, government contracts, and access to government buildings from WilmerHale, Susman Godfrey, Jenner & Block, and Perkins Coie — all law firms that either represented or employed people the administration sees as adversaries. For example, Perkins Coie has previously represented former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, while WilmerHale hired former special prosecutor Robert Mueller, who investigated Trump after his first term.
The law firms challenged the executive orders in court, and four federal judges found them unconstitutional, saying they violated the firms’ First Amendment rights to work on legal causes the president disagreed with and employ people of their choosing. Several other law firms settled with the Trump administration after being targeted rather than fighting in court, including Paul Weiss and Skadden Arps.
On Monday, the administration announced in a court filing that it wouldn’t appeal the judges’ decisions, only to file a new request on Tuesday stating that it wanted “to pursue this appeal” after all.
Several of the firms celebrated the initial abandonment of the appeal. “We fought for ourselves, but we fought for bigger things, too,” said a statement by Susman Godfrey. “For a Constitution that protects our freedoms; for a legal profession that depends on equal justice under the law; and for the people across this country who refuse to back down in the face of an administration that seeks to silence and intimidate them.”
The administration didn’t give a reason for changing course.