Morning Wire is The Investigative Journal’s daily digest of overnight breaking news and early-morning developments across government, courts, and international affairs. Today’s edition covers Friday’s late-day Iran war powers showdown, Saturday morning fallout from Capitol Hill’s record shutdown vote, fresh whistleblower allegations at the Justice Department, and a tense weekend on three foreign fronts.
Government
Trump tells Congress War Powers clock is suspended; Senate rejects resolution. President Donald Trump formally notified Congress on Friday that the active ceasefire with Iran has paused the 60-day clock under the War Powers Resolution and that, in the administration’s view, the 1973 statute is “unconstitutional” as applied to the current Middle East campaign. The notice arrived hours after senators voted 47-50 to reject a war powers resolution that would have required congressional authorization before further strikes on Iran.
The administration’s constitutional claim — that Article II commander-in-chief authority overrides the resolution’s reporting and termination provisions — is a legal posture no prior president has formally adopted in writing. Reporting indicates that the Office of Legal Counsel’s underlying memo has not been released, leaving senators in both parties asking for the legal basis before the next vote cycle.
For tij.news readers tracking accountability, the right of reply on this question runs through the Senate Foreign Relations and Armed Services committees, where Democratic and Republican members have signaled separate inquiries.
Congress ends 76-day DHS shutdown — partially. The House on Thursday approved by voice vote the partial Department of Homeland Security funding bill the Senate had cleared more than a month earlier, ending 76 days without appropriations for most DHS components. The measure restores funding for the Coast Guard, TSA, Secret Service, FEMA, and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, but pointedly carves out Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Border Patrol pending a separate party-line package.
Records suggest Republican leadership is using budget reconciliation to advance a follow-on enforcement package, with adoption of a framework this week that unlocks special budget powers to bypass the Senate filibuster. The President is expected to sign the partial bill imminently. Legal challenges from federal employee unions over backpay procedures remain pending in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.
White House Correspondents’ Dinner shooting: suspect identified, agent hospitalized. Filings and statements from federal law enforcement identify the suspect from last weekend’s shooting at the Washington Hilton as Cole Tomas Allen of Torrance, California, who was reportedly armed with a shotgun, a handgun, and multiple knives. Coverage of the event shows the President was evacuated within seconds of the first shots; he was not injured. A Secret Service agent wearing a bullet-resistant vest was struck and remains hospitalized as of Friday evening.
The incident is the third documented attempt on the President’s life since 2024 according to public records, following the July 2024 shooting near Butler, Pennsylvania, and the September 2024 incident at his West Palm Beach golf course. The administration has indicated the dinner will be rescheduled within 30 days. The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia is expected to announce charging decisions in the coming days.
Trump signs TrumpIRA executive order. The President signed an executive order Thursday directing the Treasury Department to launch TrumpIRA.gov by January 1, 2027 — a federal portal through which workers without employer-sponsored 401(k) plans can enroll in private-sector IRAs and, for low-income workers, receive up to $1,000 per year in matching contributions deposited directly into their accounts. The fact sheet, posted on the White House website, frames the order as targeting independent contractors, part-time employees, and workers at small businesses.
Courts
Supreme Court signals it will side with Trump on TPS. The Supreme Court on Wednesday heard oral arguments in Mullin v. Doe, the case testing whether the administration may terminate Temporary Protected Status for Haitian and Syrian nationals before previously announced expiration dates. Argument transcripts indicate the six-justice conservative majority is likely to back the administration, with several justices probing whether federal courts have jurisdiction to review TPS designations at all.
A ruling is expected by late June or early July. The decision, if it follows the questioning, would affect the program’s roughly 1.3 million beneficiaries from 17 countries. The case turns on statutory text in the Immigration Act of 1990 and the Administrative Procedure Act; lower courts had ordered the administration to maintain protections pending fuller administrative records.
Voting Rights Act ruling reshapes 2026 maps. In a 6-3 ruling along ideological lines, the Court struck down Louisiana’s 2024 congressional map as an unconstitutional racial gerrymander. Justice Samuel Alito, writing for the majority, held that the state lacked a compelling interest to draw a second majority-Black district. Justice Elena Kagan’s dissent accused the majority of further hollowing out Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act.
State legislatures in Alabama, South Carolina, and Georgia are already reviewing their post-2020 maps in light of the ruling, and the Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division has paused several pending Section 2 enforcement actions.
Second Circuit denies Trump rehearing in Carroll defamation case. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit on Wednesday denied the President’s petition for rehearing en banc in the E. Jean Carroll defamation case, leaving in place the $83.3 million jury verdict. The President’s legal team has signaled an intent to seek certiorari at the Supreme Court. Carroll’s counsel filed a notice with the district court Friday seeking to begin collection proceedings; pending cases bar premature execution while a stay request is under consideration.
Whistleblower allegations at Main Justice over SPLC indictment. Lawmakers disclosed Friday that whistleblowers inside the Justice Department allege Associate Deputy Attorney General Aakash Singh ordered the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Alabama to “rush through” the indictment of the Southern Poverty Law Center over the objection of line prosecutors who had concerns about the strength of the case. The Alabama grand jury returned an indictment alleging fraud and money laundering tied to more than $3 million in payments to informants embedded with extremist groups the SPLC was monitoring.
The SPLC has denied the allegations and has the right of reply through its filings. The case is in pre-trial posture; the indictment is an allegation, not a finding. House Judiciary Committee Democrats have requested all internal communications related to the charging decision.
International
Russia launches 210 drones overnight; Putin floats May 9 ceasefire. Ukrainian air defense and rescue services reported an overnight barrage of more than 210 Russian drones striking Odesa residential towers and Kharkiv fueling stations, with one fatality reported in Dnipro and dozens wounded across multiple regions. Ukraine’s Navy separately reported using sea drones to strike two Russian vessels in the Kerch Strait, the patrol boat Sobol and the Grachonok.
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said Moscow does not require Kyiv’s consent to implement President Vladimir Putin’s proposed Victory Day ceasefire on May 9. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Friday his team is seeking specifics from Washington about the proposal — particularly whether it covers “a few hours of security for a parade in Moscow or something more” — and reiterated Ukraine’s preference for a longer-term ceasefire.
Iran war hits Day 63; gas at $4.30 a gallon. The U.S.-Israeli campaign against Iran passed the 60-day War Powers Resolution mark on May 1, with the administration disputing the deadline’s applicability. Reporting from the region indicates Tehran’s air defenses activated for roughly 20 minutes Thursday night against drones approaching the capital. The President said Friday he is “not satisfied” with the latest Iranian proposal — relayed through Pakistan — that would trade Iranian withdrawal from the Strait of Hormuz for U.S. lifting of its blockade of Iranian ports.
The average U.S. gasoline price has climbed to $4.30 per gallon, according to Energy Information Administration tracking, as the administration weighs whether to extend its blockade. Records suggest the Strategic Petroleum Reserve has not been drawn down at the rate seen in earlier supply shocks.
Lebanon ceasefire fraying; trilateral talks proposed. The U.S. Embassy in Beirut called Friday for an urgent meeting between Lebanese and Israeli officials after the Lebanese health ministry reported at least 15 killed in Israeli strikes on the country’s south despite the standing ceasefire. The President said he hopes to host Lebanese President Joseph Aoun and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Washington “over the next couple of weeks” for direct negotiations.
Trump signs Cuba sanctions order; auto tariffs on EU rise. The administration issued an executive order Friday imposing new unilateral sanctions on Cuba, according to a White House fact sheet. Separately, the President announced increased automobile tariffs on the European Union, accusing the bloc of non-compliance with the trade framework signed last year, and ordered the withdrawal of 5,000 U.S. troops from Germany amid an ongoing dispute with Chancellor Friedrich Merz. Pentagon notification to Congress on troop movement orders is pending.
Worth Watching
Disney/ABC license filings deadline approaches. The FCC has directed Disney’s ABC to file license renewals for all of its owned-and-operated TV stations by May 28. The agency frames the inquiry as related to a probe of the company’s diversity initiatives; broadcast law analysts and the National Association of Broadcasters have flagged the order as without modern precedent in scope. Comments and reply briefs are expected on the public docket through May.
SCOTUS opinion days. The Supreme Court is in its final two months of opinion releases. Decisions still pending include the Haitian/Syrian TPS case (Mullin v. Doe), several major administrative law cases testing Loper Bright‘s application, and a closely watched Second Amendment challenge to a state assault weapons ban. Opinion days for May are scheduled Tuesday and Thursday mornings; opinions typically post at 10:00 a.m. Eastern at supremecourt.gov.
Senate ICE/Border package floor action. Senate Republicans intend to bring up the immigration enforcement reconciliation package the week of May 4 under expedited procedures. The Congressional Budget Office score is expected Monday morning. Whip counts in both chambers remain fluid; the bill’s passage is the proximate test of the post-shutdown coalition.
Iran war powers re-vote. Senator Tim Kaine (D-Va.) has indicated he will reintroduce a war powers resolution on Iran in the coming days, citing the administration’s Friday letter as new grounds for a privileged vote. The resolution would force a Senate floor vote within days of introduction.
Ukraine ceasefire window. President Zelenskyy’s team is expected to receive U.S. clarifications on the Putin May 9 proposal by Monday. The European Union foreign ministers’ meeting in Brussels on May 5 is expected to address sanctions extensions and the proposed ceasefire framework.
SPLC arraignment. The arraignment in the Middle District of Alabama is set for the week of May 11. Defense motions challenging venue and grand jury procedure are anticipated.
Morning Wire is researched and edited by Eduardo Bacci for The Investigative Journal. Reach the desk with tips at editorial@tij.news. Sources are linked inline; corrections and right-of-reply requests are welcomed.