1. WITH FRIENDS LIKE THESE: President Donald Trump had harsh words for U.S. allies today, saying they should reopen the Strait of Hormuz themselves and seeking to partially wash his hands of the U.S.-Israel war with Iran, per POLITICO’s Gregory Svirnovskiy. “You’ll have to start learning how to fight for yourself, the U.S.A. won’t be there to help you anymore, just like you weren’t there for us,” he wrote on Truth Social. “Iran has been, essentially, decimated. The hard part is done. Go get your own oil!” Not so fast: Trump followed up by telling CBS’ Weijia Jiang that he’s not actually stepping back from the war “quite yet,” though he continued to fume that European and other allies haven’t jumped in to join the U.S. and Israel. On the contrary: Joining Spain’s early resistance, France has now refused to allow the U.S. to use its airspace for the war, Italy declined to let U.S. war planes land at a base there, and NATO allies all around are increasingly inciting Trump’s ire by staying out of a war that has proven unpopular and costly for their populaces. From the Pentagon: At a briefing this morning, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth — who said he went to U.S. Central Command bases this weekend — described Iran as significantly weakened by strikes but still able to launch retaliatory attacks. One example of the Iranian military’s degradation: Joint Chiefs of Staff Chair Gen. Dan “Razin” Caine said the U.S. is now flying B-52 bombers over land in Iran. Hegseth lauded diplomatic talks as gathering momentum, though “we negotiate with bombs.” And he claimed that “regime change has occurred,” despite Iran’s regime remaining in power after the killing of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and other top leaders. Notable quotable: In the wake of Trump threatening strikes on Iranian power and desalination plants — which would likely be a war crime under international law — Caine today said military leaders always weigh civilian risk and legality and “always strike lawful targets in accordance with the normal procedures.” On the ground: New attacks struck Iran, the UAE, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait today, though Hegseth said the number of Iranian projectiles over the past day has fallen to its lowest level yet. Israel’s defense minister threatened to unleash mass destruction across southern Lebanon. The tragic toll: Nearly 3,000 people have been reported killed across the Middle East, along with mass displacement of millions. And a U.N. agency warned today that a month of the war could tip 4 million people into poverty across Arab countries, per NYT’s Erika Solomon. Mark your calendars: Hegseth will testify before the House Armed Services Committee on April 29, per MS NOW’s Mychael Schnell and David Rohde. 2. WEAPONIZATION WATCH: Former FBI agents Michelle Ball, Jamie Garman and Blaire Toleman filed a class-action lawsuit today for what they believe was an illegally retributive dismissal from the bureau following their investigations into Trump’s attempt to subvert his 2020 election defeat, AP’s Eric Tucker reports. As a class-action suit, the case could potentially encompass other agents fired since the beginning of Trump’s second term who want to get their jobs back. 3. PRIORITY CHECK: The Trump administration is coordinating a counter-antifa summit this summer in coordination with other countries, aimed at combating what the Trump administration has framed as far-left extremist groups, Reuters’ Gram Slattery and colleagues scooped. The State Department’s Thomas DiNanno is among the officials organizing the conference, which would seek to share strategies and intelligence across borders, even though experts say antifa is more of a decentralized movement/ideology than a specific entity. 4. TRAIL MIX: American Action Network, a conservative advocacy group, has launched a $10 million ad campaign to showcase Trump’s tax cuts, Fox News’ Paul Steinhauser scooped. The group, closely backed by Speaker Mike Johnson, will run the ad through tax season on broadcast, digital and streaming across 37 competitive House districts. The 2028 policy primary: “Rahm Emanuel announces plan to divert ICE money to community colleges,” by Axios’ Alex Thompson: “Emanuel wants to shift billions of dollars from building new ICE facilities to funding community colleges — arguing they’ll become more critical as AI disrupts the job market.” Emanuel is “proposing to take 20 percent of the $38.3 billion the Trump administration plans to spend on ICE detention centers and divert it to community colleges.” 5. ENVIRONMENTAL DIARIES: The Endangered Species Committee, comprising Trump administration officials and chaired by Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, voted today to exempt oil and gas drilling in the Gulf of Mexico from the Endangered Species Act, AP’s Matthew Brown reports. It was the so-called God Squad’s first meeting in more than three decades, and the exemption came at Hegseth’s urging to help speed up oil production amid the Iran war. Green groups, which had tried to prevent the meeting from happening, warned of deleterious impacts for rare whales and other marine life. Knowing Edward Russo: The only member of the White House Environmental Advisory Task Force (so far) argues that Trump is protecting the environment more than we realize, NYT’s Maxine Joselow writes. “To Mr. Russo’s critics, it’s unclear what, if anything, he has accomplished. … Yet Mr. Russo’s supporters said he has been quietly influential in pushing the administration to take some eco-friendly moves. For instance, they credit him with helping to negotiate an agreement to end the flow of raw sewage from the Tijuana River into California.” 6. FOR YOUR RADAR: “Medicaid cuts threaten hundreds of hospitals, new report finds,” by NBC’s Berkeley Lovelace Jr.: “More than 400 hospitals across the United States are at high risk of closing or cutting services because of the Medicaid cuts in Trump’s ‘big, beautiful bill,’ according to an analysis from the progressive watchdog group Public Citizen. The fallout could make it harder for millions of people to get care and put thousands of health care workers’ jobs at risk as hospitals lose a key source of federal funding.” 7. NEEDING SOME SPACE: NASA officials say they want to create an “enduring presence in deep space” ahead of a launch to orbit the moon tomorrow, which would be the first time astronauts have ventured so far in half a century. Astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch and Jeremy Hansen will board the Artemis II, in a series of firsts. “Glover, a trained engineer who is the pilot for this mission, would be the first Black man to travel as far as the moon. Veteran NASA astronaut Koch would be the first woman. Hansen would be the first Canadian,” NYT’s Aaron Gregg writes.
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