• Trump picks Warsh as Fed chair: President Donald Trump has announced his nomination of Kevin Warsh to replace the soon-to-be outgoing chair of the Federal Reserve, Jerome Powell. “I have known Kevin for a long period of time,” Trump wrote on Truth Social, “and have no doubt that he will go down as one of the GREAT Fed Chairmen, maybe the best. On top of everything else, he is ‘central casting,’ and he will never let you down.” Trump has repeatedly criticized Powell for not, in his opinion, acting quickly enough to lower interest rates, arguing that it could have saved the government “hundreds of billions of dollars.” Back in 2017, Warsh was among the candidates Trump considered before deciding on Powell. Warsh holds degrees from Stanford University and Harvard, worked at Morgan Stanley, and in 2006 became the youngest member to serve on the Fed’s board at age 35.

• Shutdown avoided, funding for Fiscal Year 2026 secured: Funding for almost every part of the federal government has been secured through September 30, 2026. The Department of Homeland Security is the lone exception. Senate Democrats threatened a shutdown this week, insisting on renegotiating DHS funding. Late Thursday, a deal was reached with the White House that will pass funding for the Pentagon and Departments of State, Health, Education, Labor, and Transportation through FY 2026, while floating DHS funding for another two weeks to allow for further negotiations. Technically, funding will still lapse at midnight on Saturday unless the House can reconvene in time to vote on the new language. But even if funding lapses until Monday, the Office of Management and Budget may not declare a shutdown, since many government services do not operate over the weekend.

• Minnesota update: Border Czar Tom “Families Can Be Deported Together” Homan was probably always the right choice to run an intense immigration enforcement operation. Unfortunately, he can only be in one place at a time, and Joe Biden dispersed millions of illegal immigrants as far across the nation as he could. Now that Homan has arrived in Minneapolis, where enforcement has been impeded by a multi-week riot, including harassment of border agents and interference with arrests, the situation is calming down. Homan met with leaders in Minnesota, including Attorney General Keith Ellison, and reached an agreement for ICE to be notified of the release date of criminal illegals held in county jails so they can be detained safely. Homan promises that as long as cooperation from Minnesota authorities actually materializes, the massive deployment of immigration agents in the Gopher State can be “drawn down.”

• Illegal immigrant involved in fatal shooting: Another fatal shooting involving an illegal immigrant occurred late Tuesday night in Springfield, Missouri. Investigators on the scene in Greene County said the victim, Marvin Rodriquez Sanchez, 26, of Mexico, was shot in the chest “over a dispute about smoking in a house in the 1900 block of North Burton Avenue,” according to reporting by KY3. Sanchez died at a Springfield hospital from the gunshot wound. Nineteen-year-old Christopher Salazar-Montes from El Salvador has been arrested by the U.S. Marshals, and the county prosecutor has charged him with second-degree murder and armed criminal action. Investigators found that the suspect had not appeared at a municipal court summons in November 2024. Remember the sheer number of illegals that were allowed in under the Biden administration with virtually no vetting? The majority of them were single young men.

• Don Lemon arrested: “Journalist” Don Lemon was arrested Thursday night as he was covering the Grammy Awards in Los Angeles. The belated arrest is due to his invasion of a church service, shutting down that service, and disrupting that congregation’s First Amendment rights. Lemon’s attorney, Abbe Lowell, argued in a statement that Lemon’s actions were protected by the First Amendment, which Lowell said “exists to protect journalists.” Unfortunately for Lemon and Lowell, the entire event, in which Lemon and leftist agitators invaded and shut down a church service, was live-streamed by Lemon himself. The footage clearly shows that Lemon was not merely following protesters and acting as a journalist; he was coordinating with them and berating the congregation over their different views of the immigration enforcement actions in Minnesota. Lemon promises to fight the unrevealed charges in court.

• Clintons courting contempt: In response to Bill and Hillary Clinton’s refusal to comply with congressional subpoenas related to its Jeffrey Epstein investigation, the House moved forward on holding the Clintons in contempt. On Monday, the House Rules Committee will vote on whether to bring the contempt measure to the House floor. It is widely expected to pass. Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer observed, “Subpoenas are not mere suggestions; they carry the force of law and require compliance. Former President Clinton and Secretary Clinton were legally required to appear for depositions before this Committee. They refused.” While most Democrats will likely vote against the measure, some have sided with Republicans on the issue. Meanwhile, the Clintons have continued to resist the subpoenas, claiming they’ve already given the committee the “little information we have.”

• Labor secretary misconduct? Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley has asked Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer for an explanation of some troubling allegations. Chief among the allegations is the possibility that Chavez-DeRemer used her position to “travel for pleasure, while having the American taxpayer foot the bill.” It also appears that the secretary may have taken staff to an Oregon strip club just after being confirmed by the Senate. She may have also been pursuing an extramarital affair with one of her bodyguards. Two of Chavez-DeRemer’s staffers and the bodyguard have been placed on leave or similarly benched during this investigation. So far, the White House is standing by the secretary, and she attended the most recent televised cabinet meeting, although she was not asked to speak.

• Trump raises $10B lawsuit against IRS: During Donald Trump’s first term, Charles Littlejohn, an IRS contractor, collected and leaked the tax records of Trump and his sons Eric and Donald Jr. to The New York Times. Littlejohn was eventually identified, charged, found guilty, and is currently serving a federal prison sentence. On Thursday, Trump filed a $10 billion lawsuit against the IRS, contending that the tax agency was obliged but failed to screen and monitor Littlejohn as it does with IRS employees. Trump argues that Littlejohn was, for all practical purposes, an employee of the IRS. Littlejohn admitted that he took the job with the aim of gaining access to Trump’s tax records. Democrat Sen. Ron Wyden blasted Trump for trying “to abuse his office in an attempt to steal $10 billion from the American taxpayer.”

• Republicans introduce bill requiring approval for any climate treaty: In an effort to prevent the executive branch from unilaterally entering into climate treaties or agreements, 23 Senate Republicans led by Majority Whip John Barrasso have introduced the No Climate Treaties Act. This bill is specifically aimed at the infamous Paris Agreement, which Barack Obama initially joined by bypassing the Senate, despite the constitutional requirement of a two-thirds ratification vote in that chamber. The climate agreement imposed a costly greenhouse gas emissions reduction target on the U.S. While Trump formally withdrew the U.S. from the Paris Agreement, Biden rejoined it, and Trump has since withdrawn again. Barrasso explained that the legislation was needed because “Democrat administrations have a history of ignoring the will of the American people and bypassing Senate approval to unilaterally join costly international climate treaties.”

Headlines

• Trump claims Putin agreed to one-week ceasefire (National Review)

• Maxwell claims 25 Epstein accomplices reached “secret settlements” (NY Post)

• Trump creates federal program to treat addiction as chronic health issue (Washington Times)

• American life expectancy reached an all-time high of 79 years in 2024 (Washington Times)

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