• U.S./China summit: President Donald Trump landed in Beijing on Wednesday, along with his son Eric, daughter-in-law Lara, and a host of top CEOs, including Elon Musk. The Chinese rolled out the red carpet, and a formal banquet is planned for Thursday evening, with talks throughout Thursday and Friday. Creating a Board of Trade is on the agenda to help achieve global economic stability and advance peace efforts. Among the hottest topics of discussion will be the Iran war and the $11 billion U.S. arms sales to Taiwan approved in December. Trump stated that the meeting was to be about “trade more than anything else,” especially regarding American soybeans, beef, and aircraft. Trump touted that the U.S. and China will have “a great relationship for many, many decades to come.”

• Warsh confirmed: On Tuesday, the Senate voted 51-44 to confirm Kevin Warsh to the Federal Reserve’s Board of Governors. The vote sets up the final step for Warsh, President Trump’s nominee to head the Federal Reserve, for a vote later this week to replace outgoing Chair Jerome Powell. Now confirmed to the board, Warsh takes the seat temporarily held by Stephen Miran, who was filling a vacancy on the board. While stepping down from the chair, Powell plans to remain on the board through the conclusion of the Fed inspector general’s probe into cost overruns related to the renovation of the Federal Reserve building.

• Makary “resigns”: Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Marty Makary resigned on Tuesday after rumors that a plan to fire him was approved by President Trump. Makary had earned Trump’s ire for slow-walking the approval of fruit- and menthol-flavored vaping products. Pro-lifers may be surprised that e-cigarettes seem to have been more important to the “most pro-life president in history” than Makary’s slow review of the abortion pill. Mifepristone has been approved for mail order without any in-person medical visit, which has led to massive abuse and threatened the lives of many mothers, along with killing more babies yearly than any other source of abortion. The FDA regulations governing the pill are crying out for review, which Makary had little interest in pursuing. Deputy FDA Commissioner Kyle Diamantis, who has represented Planned Parenthood in court, will serve as the acting commissioner.

• Patel vs. Van Hollen on alcohol: Alcohol has a long history in the U.S., but an argument over the subject derailing an FBI budget request before Congress is not ideal. FBI Director Kash Patel appeared before the Senate Appropriations subcommittee on Tuesday to deliver a $12.53 billion budget request. Unfortunately, it devolved into a sparring match with Sen. Chris Van Hollen, who attacked Patel with a hit piece in The Atlantic that alleges Patel binge drinks on the job. Patel has already filed a $250 million lawsuit against The Atlantic. In the hearing, Patel called the accusations “a total farce” before attacking Van Hollen over his own alleged issues with alcohol. Van Hollen famously sat down with a criminal alien for margaritas in a successful effort to return him to the U.S. Patel also alleged that Van Hollen ran up a $7,000 bar tab with campaign funds.

• VA Dems send petition to wrong supreme court: Virginia Attorney General Jay Jones, who famously wished for the death of his colleagues’ children, does not run a tight ship. He has filed two motions with the U.S. Supreme Court seeking reinstatement of the Virginia gerrymander map, which would likely grant Democrats 10 of Virginia’s 11 House seats. The first motion was riddled with typos and referred to the state of “Virgnia.” The new motion is not much better. “Virginia” is correctly spelled, at least until page 53, but this time the motion was incorrectly addressed to the Supreme Court of Virginia. Virginia Democrats are so desperate to suppress Republicans that they’ve evidently forgotten about proofreading.

• Court pauses Trump’s $83M defamation payout to Carroll: The Second Circuit of Appeals agreed to a request from President Donald Trump’s lawyers to delay the $83 million defamation payment to advice columnist E. Jean Carroll. Having rejected Trump’s appeal for a full court review of the case, the court agreed to suspend enforcement of the payment penalty until the U.S. Supreme Court has an opportunity to consider the appeal. Trump’s legal team believes they have a strong case for overturning the judgment on presidential immunity grounds. In the meantime, Trump was ordered to post a $7.4 million bond to cover any additional interest costs while awaiting SCOTUS’s response.

• Trans student filmed bathroom users in Loudoun County: Loudoun County schools have become ground zero for transgender lunacy, and this newest story just adds fuel to the fire. An unnamed student who apparently identifies as transgender is accused of filming other students using bathroom stalls. The problem goes back years, and there are “dozens” of victims. There is no official word yet on the sex of the offender or the victims of this campaign of perversion, but common sense suggests that a boy identified as trans in order to peep on his female classmates. Loudoun County has previously suspended boys who objected to a girl sharing their locker room and fired teachers for refusing to use incorrect pronouns. Families in the area should think twice before subjecting their kids to these village academies.

• Another multibillion-dollar company flees CA: KB Homes, a home construction company headquartered in Los Angeles since 1964, announced it will be pulling up stakes and moving to Arizona. CEO Robert McGibney explained that the move “positions KB Homes to operate more effectively and supports the next phase of our growth.” KB Homes becomes the latest multibillion-dollar company to join a growing list of businesses fleeing the Golden State’s onerous tax environment. According to the Public Policy Institute of California, 789 corporate headquarters left the state between 2011 and 2021, and over the last decade, 1,884 businesses have exited the state. Indeed, California’s Democrat leadership has fueled this business exodus, raising the top income tax rate from 13.3% to 14.4% in 2024. As National Taxpayers Union Foundation’s Andrew Wilford observed, “California answers every budget problem with new taxes, and every other problem with more regulation.”

• Billionaire acquires BuzzFeed, aims to turn into YouTube rival: Byron Allen, a billionaire comedian, has become the majority owner of Leftmedia outfit BuzzFeed. Allen, whose company, Allen Family Digital, owns The Weather Channel and several other TV channels, plans on turning BuzzFeed “into free-streaming video, audio and user-generated content” as a rival to YouTube. By purchasing BuzzFeed, Allen also gains control of HuffPost, which BuzzFeed acquired in 2021. Allen explained, “As of this moment, with the power of AI, BuzzFeed is officially chasing YouTube to become another premier free video streaming service.”

Headlines

• Immigration judges processed 80k voluntary departure orders in the first three months of 2026 (Not the Bee)

• Greek officials warn at least 500k new migrants are massing in North Africa to surge into Europe (Not the Bee)

• DOJ announces criminal charges in Baltimore bridge collapse (Just the News)

• Putin hails Russia’s test launch of new ICBM known as Satan II (CBS News)

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