Good morning and welcome back. Since our last issue a week ago, President Donald Trump has taken successful aim at… a bad painting of him hanging in the Colorado State Capitol. He called it “purposefully distorted to a level that even I, perhaps, have never seen before.” We’re not sure it was on purpose, but it definitely does look like a chubby, chinless Donald Trump-Shane Gillis love child. Legislative leaders said the portrait would be taken down.

WHITE HOUSE

💬 Liberal reporter accidentally added to White House group chat

Imagine fat-fingering some random name into a work group chat. Now imagine you’re the president’s national security advisor, that group chat is about a military attack in the Middle East, and that wrong name is a reporter who hates your boss. Oops!

What happened? National security advisor Mike Waltz accidentally added Jeffrey Goldberg, editor-in-chief of The Atlantic and noted anti-Trump critic, to a group chat in the Signal messaging app. The conversation centered on a plan for U.S. airstrikes against Houthi rebels in Yemen — the guys who’ve been attacking passing ships in the Red Sea.

• Waltz said he takes “full responsibility” for the mistake but claimed that the wrong name just miraculously got “sucked in.”

• The White House says Elon Musk’s “technical experts” are investigating how Goldberg was added to the group.

Who else was involved? The group contained 18 national security officials. Pretty much everyone who is anyone is on the list. That includes Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, CIA Director John Ratcliffe, and White House chief of staff Susie Wiles.

Signal? Signal is an encrypted instant messaging app commonly used by journalists to receive tips and discuss hush-hush stories and leaks. It was named in 2024 by the Biden administration as a reliable, encrypted communications app, and Gabbard claimed it comes “pre-installed” on government devices. Ironically, The Atlantic in 2017 called Signal the “gold standard of encrypted messaging” and noted its use by Obama staffers. What they used it for we do not know.

• Signal messages generally auto-delete after a set period. That could pose a legal problem since government records have to be kept long-term.

• The existence of this conversation seems to indicate that this isn’t the first time these guys have used Signal for official business.

Are heads rolling? Nobody’s taken the fall yet. Trump said the actual operation was “a tremendous success” and called Waltz “a good man” who’s “learned a lesson. He later blamed a "lower level" Waltz staffer for the mistake.

• Democrats want Trump to fire Defense Sec. Pete Hegseth. While he didn't create the chat or add the wrong person, he did use the chat to share some operational details.

• Bipartisan Senate leaders want an investigation ASAP, and some members of the group have already testified before the House on what went down.

What exactly was discussed? The White House says no classified information was sent. So, obviously, The Atlantic figured it was safe to go ahead and release a full transcript of the conversation. Most of it is the group discussing the pros and cons of striking the Houthis.

• To that point, JD Vance was apprehensive about “bailing Europe out again” by freeing up a trade route they rely on. Hegseth shared those concerns.

• The message causing the most trouble is a single text from Hegseth with specific operational time details.

A lawsuit has already been filed claiming the use of Signal violates recordkeeping laws. Which judge was that coincidentally assigned to? James Boasberg — the same guy involved in a holy war last week to stop Trump’s deportation flights to El Salvador.

GOVERNMENT

🗳️ President Trump signed an executive order on Tuesday designed to overhaul U.S. elections by enforcing "basic and necessary” security measures. Federal elections are run by the states. But certain aspects, like the date of Election Day, are controlled by federal law. Trump's order says enforcing those rules requires changes. He wants all mail-in votes to be received by Election Day and wants states to verify the citizenship status of all voters. The order is already facing legal fights as opponents dispute Trump's authority on the matter.

🔫 In a 7-2 ruling, the Supreme Court upheld a Biden-era rule targeting so-called "ghost guns." Per Justice Neil Gorsuch’s written opinion, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF) did not exceed its authority by regulating kits to build untraceable, homemade guns the same as fully assembled weapons. The rare (but narrow) loss for gun rights advocates hinged on the definition of “weapon” rather than the Second Amendment itself.

ADMINISTRATION

💰️ Trump makes history, hires man as U.S. Treasurer

Donald Trump just made history by selecting Georgia State Senator Brandon Beach as the next Treasurer of the United States. Why is that notable? Because no man has served in that role since 1949. And that guy? Well, he was hired way back in 1933.

• President Truman broke the mold by appointing a woman in 1949. Every president since has just kind of rolled with it (including Trump in 2017).

Secretary of the Treasury? No. Finance Guy™ Scott Bessent serves in the Cabinet and leads the Treasury Department as secretary of the Treasury. Our man Beach here will serve as the super differently named U.S. Treasurer.

As Treasurer, Beach will get his name on paper money (which is cool) and serve as an advisor to Bessent. Other than that? He’ll manage the money-makers at the U.S. Mint (coins) and the Bureau of Engraving and Printing (bills) — two agencies that already have their own directors and are overseen by both Bessent and his deputy.

• The job is more significant than it is important. History speaks for itself: The office has sat vacant for a combined total of more than six years since 2001.

So, congratulations to Brandon Beach. Assuming the U.S. Senate confirms the appointment, going from the Georgia legislature to having your name on money is a nice upgrade. But not one that comes with a lot of real power.

Related: The Treasury Department plans to lay off a "substantial number" of employees to increase efficiency by rolling back "wasteful Biden-era hiring surges."

TRIVIA

Women may be losing their 76-year record of holding down the fort at the U.S. Treasurer’s office, but their power in the U.S. Senate has never been greater. How many current U.S. senators are women?

Hint: It’s in the neighborhood of one-fourth.

WORLD

🌍️ Trump suggests U.S. could join Commonwealth

The Commonwealth of Nations might soon have a new member. President Donald Trump indicated the U.S. might join the group should the U.K.’s King Charles III extend the invite, saying, “I love King Charles. Sounds good to me!”

Join the what, now? The Commonwealth of Nations is a group of 56 “independent and equal countries” that speak English and have common roots in the British Empire. It's a loose association focused on closer government relations and cultural links like the K-Mart Olympics Commonwealth Games. The British monarch is the group's ceremonial leader.

• Members include Canada, Australia, New Zealand, India, Pakistan, Malaysia, South Africa, and Jamaica.

• Commonwealth countries have a total population of more than 2.7 billion.

An invitation hasn’t been formally extended, and the original report claimed the U.S. would join as an “associate” member. King Charles recently invited Trump to the United Kingdom for an official state visit. That hasn’t been scheduled yet but could reveal more on this possibility. Until then? The backlash flows freely.

BRIEFS

● Canada will hold a much-anticipated federal election on April 28, new Prime Minister Mark Carney announced. Carney took power on March 14 after winning a party leadership race. Polls show his Liberal Party now leading amid rising anti-U.S. vibes.

● President Trump announced Boeing as the big winner in the battle for the $20 billion contract to build the Air Force's next-gen F-47 jet. The sixth-generation fighter will be manned, have stealth, and coordinate fleets of nearby drones.

● The Trump administration slashed its plan to sell off hundreds of federal buildings around the country. The GSA's original list showed 440 properties on the chopping block. After a backlash, that’s been reduced to just eight.

● Americans are losing their faith in the economy. Consumer confidence dropped to a four-year low this week amid market volatility and nonexistent rate cuts. Stocks fell Wednesday afternoon on news that Trump would hit foreign cars with a 25% tariff.

● VP JD Vance and his wife will visit a U.S. Space Force outpost in Greenland on Friday. Plans for Usha Vance's solo trip to a dogsled race changed after Denmark's prime minister criticized the U.S. for putting "unacceptable pressure" on Greenland.

QUOTE

ANSWER

Upon the appointment of Ashley Moody (R-FL) in January, the U.S. Senate tied its previous record of 26 female members — 16 Democrats and 10 Republicans. Elsewhere in government, women are 28% of the U.S. House, 24% of U.S. governors, and 38% of Trump’s Cabinet.