LEBANON CEASEFIRE: An obstacle toward a permanent peace agreement with Iran may have been partially cleared Thursday as Israel and Lebanon agreed to a 10-day ceasefire after its officials met in Washington, D.C., earlier this week.
However, Hezbollah, the Iranian proxy group in Lebanon that has been fighting Israel, was not party to the talks or the agreement, casting doubt on how long it might hold.
Trump said he had an “excellent conversation” with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Lebanese President Joseph Aoun and that they agreed to a ceasefire starting 5 p.m. EDT Thursday.
“Both sides want to see PEACE, and I believe that will happen, quickly!” he said in a post on Truth Social.
Although a Hezbollah official had said ahead of the talks that the militant group wouldn’t abide by any deal reached from the meeting, Trump said it is included in the ceasefire.
Iran has insisted that the two-week ceasefire it agreed to with the U.S. includes Israel pausing its attacks on Hezbollah. The U.S. and Israel had said the ongoing ceasefire with Iran does not include Lebanon, but the president has pressed Netanyahu to deescalate the situation after a wave of deadly attacks last week.
Trump said Netanyahu and Aoun would meet in Washington in the next week or two, which would mark the first direct talks between the two countries in more than 40 years.
But significant hurdles remain in the way of the U.S. and Iran achieving a permanent end to the war. Talks in Islamabad, Pakistan, last weekend failed to produce an agreement, and the ceasefire with Iran is set to expire in the middle of next week.
The U.S. blockade of the Strait of Hormuz is adding pressure on Tehran to continue peace talks but also risks roiling global energy markets if it isn’t lifted soon, The Hill’s Ellen Mitchell reports.
Trump has suggested another round of talks could happen soon, but nothing has been scheduled yet.
▪ The Hill: Trump says he may go to Islamabad if deal is reached there.
▪ The Hill: Budget director declines to share cost of Iran war.
EXTRA TIME: The House voted early Friday to give itself more time to reach a deal extending the country's foreign spy powers after a group of GOP holdouts rejected a last-minute deal.
The chamber voted unanimously to push the expiration date of Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) from this Monday until April 30. The bill now goes to the Senate, which must pass it and get it to Trump's desk ahead of the Monday deadline to prevent any gap in implementation.
The provision of FISA permits the federal government to spy on foreigners located abroad without getting a warrant, but some privacy-minded lawmakers have expressed concerns about Americans' communications with those under surveillance getting swept up along the way. They've demanded reforms to the law before agreeing to an extension.
House Republican leadership put forward a late compromise measure to extend Section 702 by five years while adding in new language on warrants and enhanced penalties for violations. But 12 Republicans voted with almost all Democrats against the proposal, forcing leadership to settle on the short-term measure.
NEW CDC NOMINEE: Trump announced Thursday that he’s nominating Erica Schwartz, who served as deputy surgeon general during the president’s first term, as his pick to become the next director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Schwartz’s nomination is the president's third for the role since returning to office and comes more than six months after Trump fired Susan Monarez in August, less than a month after she was confirmed to the role by the Senate. The position has been vacant since then, with former Deputy Secretary of Health and Human Services Jim O’Neill and National Institutes of Health Director Jay Bhattacharya leading the agency in acting roles.
Trump also announced he chose Sean Slovenski to serve as the agency’s CEO, Jennifer Shuford to be its chief medical officer and Sara Brenner to be Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s senior counselor for public health.
Politico notes Schwartz is considered an establishment pick for the role, without ties to the Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) movement.
▪ The Hill: Kennedy grilled over vaccines, MAHA in congressional hearings.
▪ The Hill: Kennedy’s new podcast.
SPECIAL ELECTION: Democrat Analilia Mejia won an open House seat in New Jersey in a special election Thursday, setting her party up to further narrow the GOP’s majority.
Mejia, who served as a top aide for Sen. Bernie Sanders’s (I-Vt.) 2020 presidential campaign, defeated Republican Joe Hathaway for the seat vacated by New Jersey Gov. Mikie Sherrill (D). Her victory in the left-leaning district didn’t come as a surprise.
But the win is critical for Democrats to put more pressure on the tight Republican majority in the House. Once she is sworn in, Republicans will hold a 217-214 advantage, with one independent caucusing with the GOP.
▪ The Hill: Candidate announces run for Wisconsin Supreme Court.
MURDER-SUICIDE: Former Virginia Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax (D) shot and killed his wife before killing himself Thursday amid divorce proceedings in which he lost custody of his children, according to court records.
Fairfax had been ordered to leave his family’s home after years of becoming increasingly isolated and acting erratically, The Washington Post reported Thursday.
Fairfax County Police Chief Kevin Davis told reporters that the former state official appeared to have fatally shot his wife, Cerina, multiple times in the basement of their home in Annandale before shooting himself with the same firearm in the main upstairs bedroom.
Fairfax and his wife had continued to live in the same house but were staying in separate bedrooms as divorce proceedings played out. Their two teenage children were home at the time of the shootings, and their son called 911, Davis said.
Fairfax served as lieutenant governor of Virginia from 2018 to 2022 under former Gov. Ralph Northam (D). He had been considered a top possible candidate to succeed Northam, but two women’s accusations of sexual assault against Fairfax derailed his career.
Fairfax denied the allegations and stayed in office, but he came in fourth place in the 2021 Democratic gubernatorial primary.
▪ The Washington Post: Fairfax’s rapid rise flamed out after scandal.
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