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“Iranian operatives have been digging out underground missile bunkers and silos struck by American and Israeli bombs, returning them to operation hours after an attack, according to U.S. intelligence reports,” the New York Times reports.
“Iran has also retained a significant amount of its missiles and mobile launchers, the reports say.”
“President Trump’s pick to replace Pam Bondi will face the same conundrum that every attorney general he has hired and fired has confronted: It is hard to steer the Justice Department when the president is grabbing the wheel and stepping on the gas,” the New York Times reports.
“Mr. Trump is searching for a tougher version of Ms. Bondi but the fault lies not in the shirking weakness of those he has called upon to execute his will, but rather in the impossibility of his request — to bring criminal charges against political targets with little to no evidence or legal justification.”
“An Iranian drone attack last month on the U.S. Embassy in Saudi Arabia did more extensive damage than previously disclosed, current and former American officials said, showing Iran’s ability to hit Washington’s assets in the kingdom,” the Wall Street Journal reports.
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“After ousting two of his highest-profile Cabinet members from their posts, President Donald Trump is considering making more changes to his administration’s top leadership, according to advisers — a decision that would accelerate the once-slow pace of his second-term staff departures,” the Washington Post reports.
“But Trump, who sought to avoid high-profile departures during the first year back in the White House — often publicly standing by Cabinet members even as they faced scrutiny — is also reluctant to engage in a large-scale shake-up of his Cabinet, and in some cases has pushed to counter reporting that he has soured on certain officials.”
“Tulsi Gabbard is ‘safe’ in her role for the time being… Two others in his Cabinet may be less secure. Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick have both been under Trump’s scrutiny for a possible exit.”
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has asked the American people to pray “every day, on bended knee” for a military victory in Iran “in the name of Jesus Christ,” the New York Times reports.
Pope Leo XIV, the first U.S.-born pontiff, has a starkly different take on what should be done in Jesus’s name.
In a homily during a Mass on Thursday morning before Easter, the pope said that the Christian mission has often been “distorted by a desire for domination, entirely foreign to the way of Jesus Christ.”
A U.S. A-10 aircraft has been hit by Iranian air defenses, Iranian state media reported, the AP reports.
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Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth’s “paranoia” about Army Secretary Dan Driscoll taking his job fueled the firing of the Army’s top general, the New York Post reports.
Said one administration official: “This is all driven by the insecurity and paranoia that Pete has developed since Signalgate. Unfortunately, it is stoked by some of his closest aides who should be trying to calm the waters.”
CBS News: “Officials from 23 Democratic states and the District of Columbia filed a lawsuit Friday seeking to block President Trump’s latest executive order that aims to restrict mail voting, arguing the directive unconstitutionally attempts to interfere with states’ administration of elections.”
Wall Street Journal: “A federal judge denied the Justice Department’s request to reconsider his decision to quash a pair of subpoenas issued to the Federal Reserve, rejecting the government’s arguments in a sharply worded six-page opinion.”
The Verge: “Despite recent signs of life, another week has come and gone without the Trump T1 Phone. We’re now over nine months since its announcement in June of last year, and it just keeps missing ship dates.”
NOTUS: “Cybersecurity researchers warn that the White House’s new app regularly shares users’ IP addresses, time zones and other data to third-party services. But most of its users wouldn’t know that, because the app doesn’t disclose its data sharing the way most others do.”
President Donald Trump is seeking $152 million to cover the first year of costs to reopen the infamous Alcatraz prison as a secure facility, CNN reports.
Politico: “Trump is right: The flow of oil from the Persian Gulf to the U.S. is far less than it used to be. But no matter what he says, the industry is keenly aware of how important that oil still is. That’s why CEOs have been pleading with Trump for weeks to end Iran’s stranglehold on the Strait, which remains vital to the global market in which they operate.”
Bloomberg: “French President Emmanuel Macron is calling on medium-sized powers to join forces and stand up to the US and China.”
“Macron hammered the message during his tour of Asia this week, where he discussed maritime security in the Strait of Hormuz and closer cooperation with South Korea and Japan — two countries badly suffering from high energy costs as the war in Iran keeps the strait closed.”
A new Reuters/Ipsos poll finds 86 percent of Americans are concerned for the lives of U.S. military personnel in Iran — and 56 percent believe the war will have a negative impact on their personal financial situation.
Andrew Sullivan: “Compared with before the war, Iran’s strategic position is enhanced, not weakened, because a regime that survives this kind of asymmetric war wins it. Buoyant oil prices are now providing Iran with twice the oil revenue it had before the war! IRGC control of the Strait of Hormuz opens another stream of tolls — up to $2 million a ship — for the regime, funding rearmament.”
“If Iran ends the war with strategic control of almost a fifth of the world’s oil supplies, the Gulf states will have to accommodate it. That’s a huge strategic defeat for us.”
“And for what? Iran’s nuclear threats had already been defanged last year. There was no immediate threat. There was no looming threat. There was simply an immediate temptation: to exploit Iran’s weakness by launching Netanyahu’s long-sought-for war. And Trump was dumb enough and vain enough to fall for it.”
Associated Press: “It’s hard to overstate how dramatically the political landscape has shifted.”
“At this time last year, many Republican leaders believed there was a path to preserve their narrow House majority and easily hold the Senate. Now they privately concede that the House is all but lost and Democrats have a realistic shot at taking the Senate.”
“Republicans are also struggling to coalesce around a clear midterm message on Iran.”
Taegan Goddard is the founder of Political Wire, one of the earliest and most influential political web sites. He also runs Political Job Hunt, Electoral Vote Map and the Political Dictionary.
Goddard spent more than a decade as managing director and chief operating officer of a prominent investment firm in New York City. Previously, he was a policy adviser to a U.S. Senator and Governor.
Goddard is also co-author of You Won - Now What? (Scribner, 1998), a political management book hailed by prominent journalists and politicians from both parties. In addition, Goddard's essays on politics and public policy have appeared in dozens of newspapers across the country.
Goddard earned degrees from Vassar College and Harvard University. He lives in New York with his wife and three sons.
Goddard is the owner of Goddard Media LLC.
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