The Investigative Journal’s daily digest of overnight breaking news and early-morning developments across government, courts, and international affairs. Friday, April 24, 2026.
The Trump administration begins Friday pressing a diplomatic and military double-track on Iran, with envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner set to leave for Islamabad on Saturday for fresh nuclear talks while the U.S. Navy continues an active blockade of Iranian ports and clears mines in the Strait of Hormuz. In Washington, the Justice Department abruptly closed its criminal inquiry into Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, clearing a major obstacle in the confirmation path for Trump’s pick, Kevin Warsh. In Brussels, the European Union formally adopted a 20th sanctions package against Russia and released a €90 billion loan to Ukraine after Hungary and Slovakia dropped their vetoes. The following wire summarizes the overnight developments that will shape the day’s news cycle.
Government
DOJ drops Powell probe, clearing path for Warsh confirmation
The Justice Department on Thursday closed its criminal investigation of Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, removing what had been the most consequential procedural hurdle to Senate confirmation of Kevin Warsh as Powell’s successor. CNBC reported that Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.), who had said he would not support Warsh while the Powell inquiry remained open, is now expected to clear the nomination through the Senate Banking Committee.
Department records indicate the inquiry, which had focused on questions surrounding Fed building renovations, closed without charges. Powell’s term expires May 15. Warsh, a former Fed governor, testified before the Senate Banking Committee on April 21, pledging in his confirmation hearing that he would not be the president’s “sock puppet” and would preserve the central bank’s operational independence.
The dropped probe removes a politically sensitive layer from a transition that markets have watched closely. With the GOP majority behind him and Tillis’s red line now addressed, Warsh appears positioned to be confirmed before Powell’s departure, narrowing the risk of a vacancy at the top of the central bank.
Pentagon fires Stars and Stripes ombudsman
The Pentagon has dismissed Jacqueline Smith, the congressionally mandated ombudsman charged with protecting the editorial independence of Stars and Stripes, according to The Washington Post. Smith said she was given no explanation and that her last day in the role will be April 28.
In a column published Wednesday, Smith wrote that the Pentagon was “trying to silence” her after she criticized a January directive by senior Pentagon official Sean Parnell to overhaul the military newspaper. Congressional Democrats, including Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.), had raised concerns in an April 15 letter to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth about reported political interference in the paper’s editorial line. The Hill reported that Smith was dismissed six days after that letter.
Stars and Stripes, which has operated with statutory editorial independence since World War II, has been under intense scrutiny since a March 9 memo from Deputy Secretary Steve Feinberg barred the paper from reprinting commercial wire copy and syndicated columns. The National Press Club has requested a briefing from Pentagon leadership on the paper’s governance structure.
Senate budget vote reopens DHS; chamber adjourns until Monday
The Senate voted 50-48 early Thursday to adopt a budget plan reopening the Department of Homeland Security and funding Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Border Patrol operations. Senate roll-call records show S.Con.Res. 33 was adopted with an amendment after an overnight session. The chamber adjourned at 3:46 a.m. and will reconvene at 3 p.m. Monday, April 27.
Democratic leadership opposed the measure, arguing that the resolution locked in expanded enforcement funding without accompanying oversight provisions. Republican leaders framed the package as a baseline funding measure necessary to end the partial shutdown affecting DHS operations. The concurrent resolution sets budgetary levels for fiscal years 2027 through 2035 and will now frame the appropriations sequence in the weeks ahead.
Courts
Federal judge enjoins administration’s clean-energy slowdown
Chief Judge Denise J. Casper of the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts issued a preliminary injunction on Tuesday blocking several Trump administration actions that had slowed federal approvals of wind and solar projects, U.S. News reported. The ruling targeted a requirement that every solar and wind project on federal lands or waters be personally approved by Interior Secretary Doug Burgum.
Casper found that a coalition of renewable energy developers was likely to prevail on the merits of claims that the administration’s actions violated federal statute, and that continued enforcement would cause irreparable harm. The decision is among the first high-profile injunctions issued since the Supreme Court’s ruling last summer in Trump v. CASA, Inc. narrowed the scope of nationwide injunctions, and court filings indicate the administration is expected to seek a stay in the First Circuit.
Army soldier indicted in Polymarket-classified-info case
The Justice Department unsealed an indictment against Army soldier Gannon Ken Van Dyke, charging him with unlawful use of classified information, theft of nonpublic government information, commodities fraud, wire fraud, and making an unlawful monetary transaction. Prosecutors allege Van Dyke made more than $400,000 on the prediction market Polymarket by placing wagers informed by classified intelligence regarding the timing of a U.S. operation to capture Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro.
Filings indicate Van Dyke’s trades were tied to narrow windows in which classified operational timing information had been shared across limited channels. The case marks a rare application of commodities-fraud statutes to event-contract markets, and court records suggest prosecutors will rely on trading pattern data to establish a nexus between classified access and wagering behavior. The indictment lists charges only; the defendant is entitled to the presumption of innocence.
SPLC fraud case draws legal skepticism
Following the April 21 federal grand jury indictment of the Southern Poverty Law Center on eleven counts of wire fraud, false statements to a federally insured bank, and conspiracy to commit money laundering, former federal prosecutors have publicly questioned the legal theory underlying the charges. The case centers on allegations that between 2014 and 2023 the organization paid roughly $3 million to informants embedded in extremist groups without adequately disclosing the arrangements to donors.
House Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) has demanded documents related to SPLC’s informant program and internal accounting. The SPLC has said it will “vigorously defend” itself and its staff, describing the allegations as false. The case remains at the indictment stage; no findings of guilt have been made, and the defendant is presumed innocent.
International
Witkoff, Kushner depart for Islamabad as Iran talks resume
Special envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner will travel to Pakistan on Saturday for a renewed round of direct talks with Iran, the White House confirmed. Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi landed in Islamabad Thursday night, according to reporting by Axios, which said the U.S.–Iran session is expected to take place Monday following separate bilateral meetings with Pakistani mediators.
Vice President JD Vance, who led a prior U.S. delegation to Islamabad, is not expected to attend the weekend round. The first round of Islamabad talks, which concluded April 12, did not produce a resolution on Iran’s nuclear program or the maritime confrontation in the Persian Gulf.
Trump orders Navy to “shoot and kill” mine-laying boats in Hormuz
President Trump on Thursday ordered the U.S. Navy to “shoot and kill” any boat laying mines in the Strait of Hormuz, according to a White House statement summarized by multiple outlets. Pentagon officials confirmed that the U.S. blockade of Iranian ports remains in place and that minesweeping operations have been “tripled up.” Reporting by Axios indicates Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps navy laid additional mines in the strait this week.
The strait carries roughly 20 percent of seaborne global oil. U.S. officials say unmanned underwater vehicles and specialized mine-hunting aircraft are operating in the waterway. Brent crude traded above $105 a barrel overnight as markets digested the escalation.
EU approves €90B Ukraine loan and 20th Russia sanctions package
The Council of the European Union formally adopted its 20th package of sanctions against Russia on Thursday, adding 120 individual listings and targeting 36 companies across the Russian oil supply chain. The package also blacklists 46 additional “shadow fleet” tankers, bringing the total to 632 designated vessels.
Concurrently, the EU unlocked a €90 billion loan to Ukraine after Hungary and Slovakia dropped their vetoes following the resumption of Russian oil transit through the repaired Druzhba pipeline, Euronews reported. Half of the loan is set to be disbursed in 2026 and half in 2027, covering roughly two-thirds of Ukraine’s projected financing needs over that period.
Zelenskyy holds defense talks with Saudi crown prince in Jeddah
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy met with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in Jeddah on Friday in a surprise visit focused on air-defense cooperation and regional security, RFE/RL reported. Zelenskyy posted on X that Kyiv is “advancing agreements with Saudi Arabia in the areas of security, energy, and infrastructure.” The visit follows a defense cooperation agreement signed last month that envisions a decade of joint air-defense production.
Kyiv has leveraged its battlefield experience with Russian drone attacks to broker drone-defense arrangements with several Gulf states since the U.S.–Israeli war with Iran began. Overnight, Russia launched 155 drones and missiles at Ukraine; Ukrainian air defenses intercepted 139, but an attack on Odesa killed two and injured at least 15.
Worth Watching
Monday, April 27 — Senate reconvenes at 3 p.m. The chamber is expected to take up appropriations follow-on measures after the Thursday budget-resolution vote. Watch for further movement on the Warsh confirmation calendar now that the Powell probe is closed.
Monday — U.S.–Iran round in Islamabad. The Witkoff–Kushner delegation is expected to sit down with Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi after bilateral sessions with Pakistani mediators. Markets will be watching for any signal of movement on nuclear-program parameters or Hormuz de-escalation.
Supreme Court order list. Cornell’s LII will post the next Supreme Court order list Monday morning. Tuesday’s Enbridge and Hencely rulings left several pending petitions unresolved, and Court watchers are tracking emergency-docket activity linked to the administration’s pending stay requests, including expected filings in the First Circuit on the Massachusetts clean-energy injunction.
Stars and Stripes ombudsman departure, April 28. Jacqueline Smith’s final day as ombudsman. Congressional offices are expected to press the Pentagon for a replacement plan and clarity on the paper’s editorial governance.
Upcoming White House briefings. The White House press schedule is expected to include readouts on the Israel–Lebanon ceasefire extension (now three weeks) and continuing Hormuz operations. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is expected to speak to the port-blockade posture after the weekend.
Reporting compiled from primary government records, wire services, and verified press accounts. The Investigative Journal corrects promptly. Send tips to tips@tij.news.