• Minnesota updates: President Donald Trump and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz spoke by phone on Monday to discuss cooperation on the deteriorating illegal immigrant roundup in that state. Also, Trump announced that Border Czar Tom Homan will take over enforcement in Minnesota and will allow a state-level investigation into the killings of two anti-ICE agitators. Walz says that his state has cooperated in handing over criminal illegals and blamed county- and city-level officials for non-cooperation. Gov. Walz is the leader of the Gopher State, and so far, his “leadership” has entailed encouraging agitators and promising to prosecute ICE agents. The intervention of an anti-ICE agitator that turned fatal over the weekend led to the escape of a criminal illegal sought by ICE. If Walz is serious about cooperation, he will need to force the cities and counties in his state to hand over criminal illegals.

• Hotel standoff: On Sunday evening in Minneapolis, a group of anti-ICE agitators surrounded a Home2 Suites by Hilton hotel and smashed windows, destroyed the hotel’s sign façade, graffitied the building with “ICE OUT” and “ICE KILLS” messages, and raised a din of noise. These agitators were members of the Sunrise Movement, a radical leftist outfit that receives funding from nonprofits such as George Soros’s Open Society Foundations, the Ford Foundation, and the MacArthur Foundation. A post on Sunrise’s social media states their objective: “Our strategy to target hotels that are housing ICE agents is WORKING,” adding, “Two hotels in the Twin Cities just decided to pause their operations rather than house ICE agents.” Eventually, heavily armed federal agents arrived and quickly deployed tear gas and flash-bangs to disperse the agitators.

• Midterm conventions? Both the Republican and Democrat Parties are pursuing the idea of holding a midterm convention to boost turnout this November. The Republican National Committee approved a rule change on Friday that would enable its first-ever midterm convention. Democrats are quietly floating the same idea, pulling from their own historical playbook, having held such conventions in the 1970s and ‘80s. The RNC is acting in accordance with the president’s suggestion to hold a convention. RNC Chair Joe Gruters proposed that the event would likely be held in August, which is usual for RNC conventions, and that it would be a “Trump-a-palooza” highlighting the president’s accomplishments and congressional candidates. Eighteen House races are expected to be toss-ups this fall, with the Republicans looking to hang on to a razor-thin majority.

• Venezuela’s shift: The acting president of Venezuela, Delcy Rodríguez, made an appearance on the nation’s state-run TV on Sunday and stated that she has had “enough already of Washington’s orders over politicians in Venezuela.” She called on the Trump administration to allow Venezuela to resolve its internal political differences without U.S. interference. President Trump praised Rodríguez’s leadership just last week, saying she “had done a very good job” of working with the U.S. It’s unclear whether Rodríguez is sending a message to the Trump administration or posing to the cameras to show strength to her own people. Regardless, Rodríguez might want to tread carefully with Nobel Peace Prize recipient María Corina Machado waiting in the wings should Trump decide that Rodríguez is not working out.

• NBC discovers that ObamaCare is lousy: Government healthcare has always been a bad idea. It’s obvious in the UK, where wait times are routinely months or years; it’s obvious in Canada, where the Medical Assistance in Dying scheme has become a leading cause of death; and it’s obvious in the U.S. with the (Un)Affordable Care Act. It’s so obvious that even NBC News is now reporting about the system’s failure. One couple, NBC explains, had to switch to a bronze plan under ObamaCare for economic reasons, leaving them with an $18,000 annual deductible despite only a couple of thousand dollars in savings. The average deductible for an individual on the bronze plan, NBC discovered, is $7,500. NBC is quick to blame the expiration of enhanced subsidies in January as the root issue, but all that the expiration exposed is the unaffordable nature of the Democrats’ healthcare scheme.

• AAP ignores CDC: The American Academy of Pediatrics, which comprises approximately 67,000 pediatricians, released its vaccine recommendations on Monday, standing by its stance from last year and rejecting the CDC’s changes to the schedule. The AAP is refusing to follow the CDC’s lead on removing hepatitis A and B, COVID-19, influenza, rotavirus, and meningococcal immunizations from its list of 18 recommendations. Dr. Sean O'Leary, a pediatrician who chairs the AAP’s committee on infectious diseases, claims the CDC is not making decisions based on science, but rather ideology, and that the AAP is going to continue to make its recommendations “based on what’s in the best interest of children.” A spokeswoman for HHS countered that the CDC’s positions are informed by a whole scientific panel of public health experts, physicians, and scientists, noting that the AAP “is angry that the CDC eliminated corporate influence in vaccine recommendations.”

• Virginia group starts new sanctuary 2A movement: As newly inaugurated “moderate” Democrat Abigail Spanberger continues to push the hardest-left agenda she can think of on the good citizens of the Old Dominion, some are beginning to fight back. The Virginia Citizens Defense League is calling for the “Second Amendment sanctuary movement 2.0,” which would essentially be a reactivation of a movement that swept the Commonwealth in 2019 and 2020 when leftists were pushing gun control laws. At that time, 95% of county leaders in the state pledged not to enforce unconstitutional gun laws. The Lynchburg City Council is set to vote today to reaffirm its Second Amendment sanctuary status in the face of Spanberger’s new spate of gun control laws. VCDL leader Philip Van Cleave says the group is also focused on flipping the control of the Virginia Senate back to Republicans in 2028.

• Last Israeli hostage returned: The remains of 24-year-old Ran Gvili were brought into Israel on Monday, marking the return of the last remaining hostage taken into Gaza by Hamas militants during their October 7, 2023, terrorist attack. Gvili was a police officer who was killed on the day of the attack, and his body was taken into Gaza. The Israel Defense Forces stated that Gvili’s remains were identified and confirmed by the National Center of Forensic Medicine, the Israel Police, and the Military Rabbinate, and his family had been notified. Since the ceasefire agreement with Hamas, the IDF carried out a “large-scale operation” to locate Gvili’s body. The return of the last hostage was “an extraordinary achievement,” said Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. “We promised — and I promised — to bring everyone back. We brought them all back, down to the very last captive.”

• Persecution of Christians rises around the world: According to the Christian organization Open Doors, almost 400 million Christians across the globe face persecution this year. The organization’s 2026 World Watch List notes the top 50 countries, including the likes of Eritrea, North Korea, Somalia, Sudan, and Yemen, where Christians are being threatened with extreme persecution. Nigeria topped the list for the most Christians martyred last year, as the African nation was home to 3,490 of the 4,849 Christians who were killed for their faith in 2025. Syria also rose to the top 10 most dangerous countries for Christians as the Islamic State surged to power. Last June, 22 Christians were attacked and killed in Damascus. American Christians need to pray for their brothers and sisters in the faith across the world who are enduring persecution.

Headlines

• Gregory Bovino relieved as Border Patrol commander-at-large (NewsNation)

• FBI investigating Minnesota anti-ICE Signal group chats (Fox News)

• Federal judge blocks Trump DOJ access to Oregon voter rolls (Fox News)

• Zelensky: U.S.-Ukraine security deal “100% done” after trilateral talks (Washington Times)

• Iran regime reportedly issued nationwide shoot-to-kill orders (Fox News)

The Executive News Summary is compiled daily by Jordan Candler, Thomas Gallatin, Sterling Henry, and Sophie Starkova. For the archive, click here.