The Investigative Journal’s Afternoon Wire is a daily digest of the day’s developments across Washington, the federal courts, and the world. Every item below is attributed to a public record, an official statement, or on-the-record reporting. Pending matters are flagged as such.
The dominant story this Saturday unfolded offshore: U.S. and Iranian forces traded fire in and around the Strait of Hormuz, putting the most serious strain yet on a six-week-old understanding meant to wind down a war now in its fourth month. In Washington, the week closed with an unusual standoff between President Trump and a bipartisan congressional majority over housing and election legislation, while the Supreme Court’s end-of-term rulings continued to reshape immigration and Second Amendment law. Here is where things stand this afternoon.
Government
Trump withholds signature from bipartisan housing bill, demanding an election law first
President Trump this week declined to sign the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act, the most sweeping housing measure to clear Congress in years, telling lawmakers he would withhold action until they pass the SAVE America Act, an election bill that would require documentary proof of citizenship to register to vote. The housing measure had passed the House 358–32, according to NPR, and was designed to expand housing supply and to limit large institutional investors from buying certain single-family homes.
In a social-media post, the president described the housing legislation as “of minor importance” and redirected attention to the election bill, which his team has made a centerpiece of the second-term agenda. Time reported that, because the bill has already passed both chambers, it can still become law even without the president’s signature if he neither signs nor vetoes it within the constitutional window while Congress remains in session. Supporters drawn from both parties said the delay leaves a rare consensus measure in limbo; the outcome remains unresolved.
Senate adopts war-powers rebuke as White House seeks $87.6 billion for the Iran campaign
On June 23 the Senate adopted a resolution directing the president to halt hostilities with Iran or seek congressional authorization to continue them, The New York Times reported — a largely symbolic step that drew a handful of Republican defections. The House had passed a companion war-powers resolution earlier in the month, according to NPR.
The reprimand is not expected to bind the administration, and the White House has continued to prosecute its campaign. The Times also reported that the administration asked Congress to approve roughly $87.6 billion in additional spending this year for the war effort and several unrelated programs, a request that lawmakers in both parties signaled was unlikely to advance in its current form. The dispute underscores a widening rift between the president and members of his own party over the scope and cost of the Iran operation.
President signs a package of bills, including “Lulu’s Law”
On Friday, June 26, the White House announced that the president signed S. 1003, known as “Lulu’s Law,” which directs the Federal Communications Commission to permit wireless emergency alerts to mobile phones in the event of a shark attack. The administration said the president also signed a separate package of measures — S. 216, S. 284, S. 2878, H.R. 187, H.R. 410 and H.R. 1491 — reflecting the narrower, bipartisan business that has continued to move even amid the larger legislative standoff.
USDA advances a “regenerative” feedstock rule alongside a new executive order
The Department of Agriculture said the president signed an executive order on June 25 advancing “regenerative agriculture,” paired with a USDA “Regenerative Feedstock Rule.” According to the department, the rule establishes a framework to connect corn, soybean, sorghum and spring-canola growers to new markets within the biofuel supply chain. Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins described the measures as a market-driven effort to reward producers who voluntarily adopt regenerative practices. The rule will take effect through the standard regulatory process.
Courts
Supreme Court clears the way to end Temporary Protected Status for Haitians and Syrians
In one of four opinions issued Thursday, June 25, the Supreme Court ruled 6–3 in Mullin v. Doe that the Temporary Protected Status statute bars courts from reviewing the Homeland Security secretary’s determinations on TPS designations. The holding, SCOTUSblog reported, allows the administration to end removal protections for Syrian and Haitian nationals living in the United States under the program. Justice Samuel Alito wrote the majority opinion; Justice Elena Kagan dissented, joined by Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Ketanji Brown Jackson.
The Department of Homeland Security characterized the rulings as a series of wins for its enforcement agenda. The same day, the court also decided Mullin v. Al Otro Lado, a separate immigration case concerning the treatment of migrants turned back before setting foot on U.S. soil. NPR reported on June 27 that some demographers, including the Cato Institute’s David Bier, expect the rulings to accelerate a projected slowdown in U.S. population growth — an analysis that remains a forecast rather than a settled outcome.
Justices strike Hawaii’s firearm-carry restriction in Wolford v. Lopez
By the same 6–3 margin, the court in Wolford v. Lopez struck down a Hawaii law that made it a crime to carry firearms onto private property open to the public without the owner’s express consent. The justices sided with Maui concealed-carry permit holders who argued the law violated the Second Amendment. SCOTUSblog noted the decision also reaches similar laws in California, Maryland, New York and New Jersey. The full opinion is posted on the Supreme Court’s website.
Writing for the majority, Justice Alito said the Second Amendment “has the same meaning in all parts of the United States.” In dissent, Justice Jackson wrote that “the Court’s objective is protecting guns, not consistently preserving any principle of law,” per quotations compiled by SCOTUSblog. The ruling is the latest in a line of decisions expanding the scope of the Court’s 2022 Bruen framework for evaluating firearms regulations.
Federal judge blocks core of the administration’s mail-voting order
U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani in Boston on June 25 blocked key parts of the president’s March executive order on mail voting, finding that the Constitution assigns authority over federal election rules to state legislatures and Congress rather than the president, NPR reported. Votebeat reported the order would have directed the creation of federal voter lists and instructed the Postal Service to deliver mail ballots only to certain voters. The administration is expected to appeal, and the matter remains pending.
Term winds down with major cases still pending
The Court is in the final stretch of its term, with several closely watched cases still unresolved. SCOTUSblog lists outstanding disputes that include the administration’s effort to end birthright citizenship, a campaign-finance challenge, and additional Second Amendment questions. Decisions in those cases are expected before the justices recess for the summer, and this Wire will track them as they are released.
International
U.S. and Iran trade strikes around the Strait of Hormuz
U.S. Central Command struck “an unspecified number of Iranian missile and drone storage sites and coastal radar sites” on June 26 in response to an Iranian drone attack on a Singapore-flagged cargo ship, the M/V Ever Lovely, in the Strait of Hormuz, according to the Institute for the Study of War. NPR reported the U.S. strikes followed the ship attack a day earlier, in what it called the most serious test yet of an interim understanding the two countries reached on June 17.
President Trump called the drone attack a “foolish violation of our Ceasefire Agreement,” NBC News reported, while Iranian officials countered that their actions amounted to “ceasefire management” rather than a breach. Iranian state media said on June 27 that U.S. military sites in the region had been “targeted” in response to the American strikes; that claim could not be independently verified and is attributed here solely to Iranian state outlets. ISW assessed that Tehran is using force in an attempt to maintain control over the strait while it seeks long-term recognition of that control from Gulf states.
The exchange has snarled traffic through one of the world’s most important oil chokepoints. ISW reported that Oman and the International Maritime Organization established a joint mechanism to move vessels through a designated safe route, and that the United States and Gulf Cooperation Council ministers issued a joint statement on June 25 rejecting “any tolls, fees, or attempts to assert control over the strait.” Energy markets are likely to react when trading resumes.
U.S. brokers an Israel–Lebanon “framework agreement”
The United States, Israel and Lebanon signed a trilateral framework agreement on June 26 after days of U.S.-mediated talks in Washington, the State Department announced. Secretary of State Marco Rubio called it a “first step” toward peace, according to The Associated Press. The State Department said the agreement establishes a U.S.-facilitated Military Coordination Group and outlines a structured process for disarming Hezbollah and enabling an eventual Israeli withdrawal.
The details remain partly unsettled. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israeli forces would, for now, remain in their “security zone” in southern Lebanon, Axios reported, with a “pilot zone” in two villages where the Lebanese Armed Forces would backfill Israeli positions under U.S. oversight. Hezbollah rejected the arrangement; the group’s parliamentarian Hassan Fadlallah condemned the signing and said the Lebanese government could not implement it without risking internal conflict, per reporting compiled by ISW. Implementation, not the signing, will determine whether the framework holds.
Venezuela reels from twin earthquakes
Recovery efforts continued in Venezuela after two powerful earthquakes — measured by the U.S. Geological Survey at magnitude 7.5 and 7.2 — struck the country’s north on June 24. CNN reported widespread damage in and around Caracas and the coastal state of La Guaira. Officials and relief organizations, including World Vision, have reported hundreds of deaths and thousands of injuries, with tallies still being revised as rescue teams reach affected areas. USGS records the mainshock as the strongest in Venezuela in more than a century.
Tomorrow’s Watch
Sunday, June 28 brings a full slate. The 2026 FIFA World Cup, co-hosted across U.S., Mexican and Canadian cities, holds its final group-stage matches and opens the new Round of 32, with fixtures including Jordan against Argentina, Algeria against Austria, and South Africa against Canada in Los Angeles, per ESPN’s schedule. On the diplomatic front, oil markets and shippers will watch whether the Oman–IMO “safe passage” mechanism in the Strait of Hormuz holds, with the 60-day U.S.–Iran understanding still serving as the diplomatic backstop after this weekend’s strikes.
In Lebanon, the first moves of the new Military Coordination Group and the “pilot zone” handover will offer an early read on whether the trilateral framework can survive contact with reality. At the Supreme Court, the term’s remaining opinions — including the birthright-citizenship case — could land in the coming days. And in Venezuela, search-and-rescue operations and the early international relief response will continue. The Investigative Journal will report each as the record develops.