The Daily Brief - May 14, 2026
Xi offers to broker Iran peace, GOP’s Iran split, Medicaid cuts, and more
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Xi Offers to Broker Peace with Iran
President Trump said Chinese President Xi Jinping has offered to broker an end to the war in Iran during their closed-door summit in Beijing yesterday. In an interview with Fox News after the meeting, Trump said that Xi also pledged that China would not supply Iran with military equipment, though Xi made clear China intends to keep buying Iranian oil. China is Iran’s largest oil customer.
But Xi paired the diplomatic opening with a sharp warning on Taiwan, saying that differences over Taiwan could jeopardize US-China relations. According to the Chinese foreign ministry, Xi told Trump that Taiwan is the most important issue in the relationship between the US and China. Taiwan is a self-governed island democracy that China claims as its territory and has threatened to take by force. The US does not formally recognize Taiwan as independent, but is its most important security partner.
But the White House summary of the meeting did not mention Taiwan. Instead, it said the two sides agreed the Strait of Hormuz must remain open to global energy flows and that Iran must never obtain a nuclear weapon. Each government issues its own summary of such meetings.
At the state banquet in Beijing yesterday evening, Xi called the US-China relationship “the most important bilateral relationship in the world” and said the two countries “must make it work and never mess it up.” Trump invited Xi and his wife for a return visit to the White House on Sept. 24. The two sides are expected to hold more talks ahead.
White House Withholding $1.3B in Medicaid
The Trump administration is withholding $1.3 billion in Medicaid reimbursements to California, saying the state has failed to combat fraud, particularly in its hospice program.
Vice President JD Vance announced the plan to withhold funds at a news conference yesterday, calling California’s response to the alleged fraud insufficient. He heads the White House antifraud task force, formed in March, which has alleged misconduct in both Democratic and Republican states.
Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) separately suspended 800 hospice programs in the Los Angeles area, where CMS Administrator Dr. Mehmet Oz said operators have been billing Medicaid for end-of-life care for people who aren’t dying. Oz said only 20 of the 800 suspended hospices contacted CMS to dispute the action. Oz said the state’s record contains “major red flags,” including $630 million in disputed billings, $500 million tied to home health services, and $200 million in what he called questionable expenses.
Medicaid is the joint federal-state program that provides health coverage to low-income Americans. The federal government pays 62% of the costs; California pays the rest. California has already reimbursed providers who treated patients in the program, but CMS said it will not pay the federal share unless the state proves that it is billing for the services provided to eligible patients. Gov. Gavin Newsom’s office pushed back, saying CMS has refused to share the underlying data on the suspended hospices, “preventing the state from going after bad actors.”
CIA Officer Alleges Coverup of Covid Origin
At a Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee meeting convened by Republicans yesterday, a CIA officer accused the Biden administration of altering intelligence assessments to suppress evidence that Covid-19 originated in a Chinese lab.
Testifying before the committee yesterday, CIA officer James Erdman said the agency’s scientific analysts concluded multiple times between 2021 and 2023 that the virus most likely leaked from a laboratory in Wuhan, China. He singled out Dr. Anthony Fauci, the former federal infectious disease chief, saying Fauci intentionally helped shape the official narrative against the lab-leak theory. Erdman alleged that the conclusions were deliberately suppressed by senior intelligence officials.
The CIA rejected Erdman’s claims. In a statement issued before the testimony, agency spokesperson Liz Lyons said his account “amounts to nothing more than dishonest political theater masquerading as a congressional hearing.” She also accused the committee of “bad faith” for subpoenaing Erdman after obtaining earlier closed-door testimony from him.
Sen. Josh Hawley of Missouri used the hearing to argue that the Biden administration violated the COVID-19 Origin Act — legislation Hawley sponsored — which required full declassification of intelligence on the Wuhan Institute of Virology’s possible links to the pandemic.
All seven Democrats on the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee skipped the hearing. Republicans accused them of avoiding a politically uncomfortable topic. Democrats have not publicly explained the boycott.
Newsbreak
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Judge Orders US to Return Colombian Woman Deported to Congo
A federal judge ruled yesterday that the Trump administration likely violated the law by deporting a Colombian woman to the Democratic Republic of Congo in April and ordered the government to bring her back as soon as possible.
Adriana Maria Quiroz Zapata is being held at a hotel outside Kinshasa with 14 other migrants deported by ICE. Congolese authorities have refused to admit her on medical grounds — she has diabetes and other illnesses.
Quiroz Zapata entered the US in August 2024 and was later detained by ICE, according to court filings. She said she fled Colombia to escape an abusive former partner, an officer in the Colombian national police, who she said raped and beat her while on duty.
After several federal courts ruled that the government cannot deport migrants back to countries where they might face persecution or torture, the Trump administration has been sending them to third countries willing to accept them.
More GOP Senators Join Democrats to End the War in Iran
Senate Republicans blocked another Democratic effort to end US military involvement in Iran.
The proposal was a war powers resolution introduced by Sen. Tim Kaine (D-VA). It would have required President Trump to withdraw US forces from hostilities with Iran unless Congress explicitly authorized the war. The proposal failed 50-49. Republican Sens. Rand Paul, Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski voted with Democrats to require congressional approval for further military action against Iran. Sen. John Fetterman of Pennsylvania was again the only Democrat to vote against it.
The administration notified Congress on March 2, two days after Operation Epic Fury began, starting the 60-day clock that expired May 1. Trump administration officials argue the conflict effectively ended with the April 7 ceasefire with Iran, and that the ceasefire altered the War Powers timeline. The ceasefire remains in effect but both the US and Iran have fired at each other’s ships and other targets.
The next congressional action on the war is unclear. Ahead of the vote, Sen. Kaine said that there “will be a day, and it might be soon… where this Senate will say to the president, ‘stop this war.’”
White House to Host 9-Hour National Prayer Event
Top Trump administration officials will headline a day-long prayer gathering on the National Mall on Sunday that organizers say will celebrate the nation’s Christian heritage and spark “a movement of renewal” in America.
The event, “Rededicate 250: National Jubilee of Prayer, Praise & Thanksgiving,” is tied to the country’s 250th anniversary and is partly funded through Freedom 250, the Trump administration’s official initiative marking the semiquincentennial of American independence.
Rev. Paula White-Cain, a senior White House faith adviser, said the gathering “is about the history and the foundations of our nation, which was built on Christian values, on the Bible.” It will feature evangelical and Catholic leaders and high-ranking Trump administration officials, including House Speaker Mike Johnson, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth. President Trump is expected to send a video message.