• Maricopa County election-records subpoena: A grand jury subpoena allowed the FBI to expand its investigation into voting irregularities in Arizona’s largest county, state officials confirmed on Monday. FBI agents have received terabytes of electronic election data, including images of now-destroyed ballots from the 2020 election, as well as data from the 2024 election. Maricopa County is notorious for slow reporting and poor vote-counting processes. An Arizona Senate investigation found that Maricopa had more than 200,000 “uncured” ballots with mismatched signatures following the 2020 election, far more than the 25,000 the county acknowledges. Naturally, the Leftmedia is quick to explain that this investigation is a witch hunt and there is no fraud to be found.

• Trump’s Iran press conference: President Donald Trump answered questions about the war with Iran during a press conference held in Florida on Monday. With his usual ebullient optimism, the president suggested that Operation Epic Fury is “very far ahead of schedule” and may be “ended soon.” He expressed disappointment that the Islamic regime has appointed Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei as the new supreme leader and hoped there may be a path to working with a future supreme leader, as the U.S. is working with the acting president of Venezuela.

• Iran school bombing: On February 28, the opening day of Operation Epic Fury, a bomb struck an Iranian girls’ school, killing 168 people. The school was near an Iranian military facility and barracks. Preliminary assessments indicate a strong possibility that the U.S. military was unintentionally responsible for the strike. The munition responsible for the strike was reportedly a Tomahawk missile, which is only being used by U.S. forces in this war. President Trump, however, suggested, “Whether it’s Iran or somebody else … a Tomahawk is very generic.” Secretary of War Pete Hegseth noted that the U.S. is still investigating. If it is confirmed that U.S. munitions are responsible, it would simply reaffirm the reality that warfare is difficult, and unfortunately, mistakes are made that cost the lives of innocent civilians. It should also be noted that Iran intentionally placed this military facility next to a school.

• Iranian athletes push for asylum: With Iranian state-run TV having recently branded the Iranian women’s national soccer team “wartime traitors” over their refusal to sing their national anthem before a recent match in Australia, President Trump called on the Aussies to grant the team asylum. Trump shared that he had spoken with Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese on behalf of the Iranian players, observing, “Some, however, feel they must go back because they are worried about the safety of their families, including threats to those family members if they don’t return. In any event, the prime minister is doing a very good job having to do with this rather delicate situation. God bless Australia!” Thus far, five of the Iranian women’s soccer team members have opted to stay in Australia for their own safety.

• Arizona governor vetoes Kirk license plate: Arizona Democrat Gov. Katie Hobbs vetoed a bill that would have honored one of the state’s favorite sons on license plates. The bill to honor martyred activist Charlie Kirk passed the state Senate in a 16-2 vote and the state House in a 31-23 vote, but the governor refused to allow it to become law. The proposal would have allocated $17 of the $25 cost of the optional license plate to the Conservative Grassroots Network Special Plate Fund, which would in turn donate to an organization that supports voter registration on high school and college campuses. Arizona state senators and TPUSA officials have decried Hobbs’s partisan veto.

• GOP rep files independent: On Monday, California Rep. Kevin Kiley announced that he is leaving the Republican Party and registering as an independent. With a razor-thin House majority, Republicans cannot afford to lose any seats. Therefore, Kiley, while registered as an independent, will caucus with Republicans to help maintain the majority. Kiley explained that his decision to go independent was in response to Gov. Gavin Newsom’s gerrymandering in the Golden State. “There’s a way we can fight back and protect our democracy from his partisan games: by removing partisanship from the equation,” Kiley posted on X. “This means I will not have a party affiliation on the ballot or as an officeholder. That’s how it already is with most offices in our state: mayors, city councilors, school board members, county supervisors, sheriffs, and DAs are all nonpartisan.”

• Rolling Stone defames Brandon Herrera: Leftmedia rag Rolling Stone called Brandon “The AK Guy” Herrera, a GOP House candidate in Texas, an “apparent neo-nazi” in a defamatory headline last Friday. Herrera is a well-known internet personality with a large YouTube account and co-host of the “Unsubscribe Podcast.” Rolling Stone based its lie on a clip from “Unsubscribe” in which Herrera mocks Mein Kampf and Adolf Hitler’s writing relentlessly — a key fact Rolling Stone omitted. Unfortunately for the Leftmedia, anyone can go watch the clip for themselves. Herrera responded to Rolling Stone’s article on X, suggesting he would sue if the defamation continues.

• Virginia Dems pass “assault rifle” ban: Virginia has essentially declared war on the Second Amendment, sending a slew of gun bills to Gov. Abigail Spanberger’s desk. Senate Bill 749 bans “assault firearms” and “large capacity” magazines. Senate Bill 727 forbids carrying semiautomatic firearms on public property, including those that have a fixed magazine with more than 10 rounds. Senate Bill 27 and House Bill 21 implement standards for “responsible conduct” for firearm manufacturers, distributors, and retailers. These bills will also make it easier for the state attorney general, local prosecutors, or individuals to sue firearm businesses. House Bill 40 will make “building, importing, selling, transferring or possessing unserialized or plastic firearms a Class 5 felony,” The Washington Times reports. Firearms Policy Coalition President Brandon Combs warns, “Tyrants in Richmond have voted to gut the Constitution and turn peaceable gun owners into felons.”

• Anthropic sues Pentagon: The Trump administration has followed through on its threat against the AI company Anthropic by not only canceling the Pentagon’s contract with the firm but also listing the company as a “supply-chain risk to national security.” Anthropic responded by raising a lawsuit against the federal government, alleging that the Trump administration has engaged in an “unlawful campaign of retaliation.” Anthropic says that its “reputation and core First Amendment freedoms are under attack,” and it aims to avoid being banned from government use. White House spokeswoman Liz Huston responded that the Trump administration is “ensuring America’s courageous warfighters have the appropriate tools they need to be successful and will guarantee that they are never held hostage by the ideological whims of any Big Tech leaders.”

Headlines

• Cory Booker proposes Keep Your Pay Act, eliminating federal income tax on first $75k (Fox News)

• Trump rejects shielding Biden records from Senate probes in executive privilege showdown (Fox News)

• ISIS-inspired NYC bomb throwers hoped attack would be deadlier than Boston Marathon bombing (NY Post)

• Apple News goes from 0% to 2% content from right-leaning outlets (Washington Times)

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