• Tangling over the Strait of Hormuz: On Friday, President Donald Trump announced that the Strait of Hormuz was open, adding that Iran agreed to “never close the Strait again” and to “suspend its nuclear program indefinitely.” However, hours later, Iran’s navy was intercepting and firing on ships transiting the Strait. Meanwhile, the U.S. imposed its own blockade on Iranian shipping, and on Sunday, the U.S. Navy intercepted an Iranian-flagged tanker attempting to evade the blockade. Trump warned that the U.S. would take out every power plant and bridge in Iran. “NO MORE MR. NICE GUY!” he declared. “If they don’t take the DEAL, it will be my Honor to do what has to be done, which should have been done to Iran, by other Presidents, for the last 47 years. IT’S TIME FOR THE IRAN KILLING MACHINE TO END!”

• Patel sues The Atlantic for defamation: On April 17, The Atlantic published an article outlining FBI Director Kash Patel’s many alleged faults. From binge drinking to being out of contact for long periods to outbursts over IT issues, author Sarah Fitzpatrick breathlessly hammered the Trump appointee. The problem for The Atlantic is that the FBI denies every word. Patel filed a lawsuit Monday seeking $250 million in damages in the District of Columbia District Court. Fitzpatrick says she stands by every word and touted the prowess of her attorneys. Fitzpatrick was also the author of the never-corroborated hit piece alleging that Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh spiked a punch in college in order to assault women. Hopefully, a lawsuit forces The Atlantic to stop publishing uncorroborated attacks on its political enemies. We won’t hold our breath.

• Utah judge scandal may cost GOP a House seat: Utah Supreme Court Justice Diana Hagen is accused of failing to disclose an alleged romantic relationship with attorney David Reymann. The stakes are high, as the failure to disclose came while Reymann was arguing a redistricting case before the Utah Supreme Court. The decision in that case overturned a safe Republican district, resulting in a map that could lead to a Democrat win. Justice Hagen’s ex-husband shared allegations of the relationship between Hagen and Reymann with another attorney, Michael Worley, who said his status as an attorney of the bar required him to disclose the information. The Utah governor, Senate president, and speaker of the House are calling for an investigation into Hagen’s alleged wrongdoing.

• 10% of U.S. births were anchor babies: Birthright citizenship has been the issue of the day across news media for weeks as the Supreme Court recently heard arguments on President Donald Trump’s challenge to the traditional understanding of the term. Most Americans don’t know the facts of the issue — 320,000 (10%) of all babies born in the U.S. in 2023 were anchor babies, according to Pew Research. Roughly 245,000 of those were born to parents who are strictly illegal aliens with no legal status whatsoever, another 15,000 were born to mothers with Temporary Protected Status, and 60,000 were born to illegal mothers, but the fathers were citizens or those with legal status. The staggering number of illegal aliens giving birth has risen for three consecutive years, though the record was set way back in 2010, when 325,000 babies were born to illegal immigrants.

• Duffy battles New York: Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy announced that the department will withhold $73 million from New York due to the Empire State’s refusal to revoke 33,000 commercial driver’s licenses it had given to illegal aliens. Duffy noted that immigrants make up roughly 20% of all truck drivers, but non-domiciled licenses are only permitted to represent 5% of CDL drivers. In December, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration found that in New York, “out of 200 sampled records, 107 [non-domiciled CDLs] were issued in violation of federal law — a failure rate of over 53%.” Furthermore, the state’s “DMV’s systems defaulted to issuing 8-year licenses to foreign drivers for non-REAL ID licenses, regardless of when their legal status expired.”

• Omar blames accounting error for massive net worth decrease: Rep. Ilhan Omar and her husband aren’t worth $6-$30 million in assets. No, they only have between $18,000 and $95,000. “While the error is of course unfortunate,” explained Omar’s attorneys, “there is nothing untoward and nothing illegal has occurred.” Nothing to see here — those silly accountants just inflated the Somali congresswoman’s net worth by an order of magnitude. That does seem to be Omar’s story: her accountants failed to account for the liabilities of her husband’s winery and venture capital firm, which reduced the value from millions to nearly worthless. If, for some reason, Omar’s newest story isn’t taken quite at face value, she may face an investigation from President Trump and House Republicans.

• Louisiana father murders children: A horrific massacre took place in Shreveport, Louisiana, early Sunday morning as 10 people, including eight children, were gunned down. The assailant has been identified as 31-year-old Shamar Elkins, who shot and killed eight children ages 1-14, with seven of them reportedly his own. Two adult women survived. One of the women shot was the mother of the children. Shamar was killed by law enforcement as he was attempting to escape in a stolen car. “This is a tragic situation, maybe the worst tragic situation we’ve ever had in Shreveport,” the police chief said, noting that the crime scene includes three homes as well as the carjacking. Shamar had served in the Louisiana Army National Guard from 2013 to 2020, was never deployed, and left the Army as a private. Shreveport police are asking anyone with information to come forward.

• The missing scientist enigma: The FBI is looking into a “troubling” number of deaths of nuclear scientists and researchers in the U.S. who at some point in their careers had access to classified information. Over the last few years, at least 11 nuclear scientists have died or disappeared in what appear to be strange or unusual circumstances. “No stone will be unturned in this effort, and the White House will provide updates when we have them,” White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt promised. President Trump also weighed in, saying, “I hope it’s random, but we’re going to know in the next week and a half.” One example was the 2022 suspicious death of 34-year-old researcher Amy Eskridge. She was involved in “antigravity” research, and in 2020, she and her research team began to face harassment and threats associated with her research. She reportedly committed suicide two years later.

• Gavin Newsom’s “bestseller”: Apparently, California Governor and presumed Democrat presidential candidate Gavin Newsom is a big fan of himself — or at least his autobiography, Young Man in a Hurry. His campaign used $1.5 million for the purchase of 67,000 copies of his book to give to donors — a move that allowed Newsom to boast that his book is a New York Times bestseller. On March 4, Newsom’s team claimed that his book, released in late January, had sold 91,000 copies, “through organic, in-person and online, non-bulk purchases in the United States,” putting it “on bestseller lists within hours of its release.” Yet 73.6% of those sales came from Newsom’s PAC, which constitutes “bulk sales.” The Newsom team has since claimed that the book sales “were individual sales done through a new, innovative approach that allows his list to receive copies of the book early.”

• America 250 and the Bible: Seven straight days of reading through the Bible to commemorate America’s 250th birthday kicked off today at 9 a.m. at the Museum of the Bible in Washington, DC, and will involve 500 different Americans reading publicly from Genesis to Revelation. President Trump was specifically asked by Bunni Pounds, founder and president of Christians Engaged, to read 2 Chronicles 7. Pounds noted that the passage, particularly verse 14, has been an important part of American history for the last 50 years. Pounds said that Trump’s reading of the passage is “sending a message that faith matters in this country, and that it’s important not only personally, but for our nation overall.” The White House underscored the event’s importance, calling the Bible “indelibly woven into our national identity” and urging Americans to “rediscover” its role in shaping the nation.

Headlines

• Businesses can claim refunds for Trump tariffs ruled unconstitutional starting today (CNBC)

• Supreme Court backs oil companies in climate change lawsuit (Washington Times)

• PM Carney says Canada’s U.S. ties have become a weakness (Reuters)

• Pentagon approaches automakers, manufacturers to boost weapons production (WSJ)

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