Good evening. Here’s the latest at the end of Wednesday.
Republicans threaten to block Blanche nominationThe Senate was scheduled to vote this week on whether to advance the nomination of Todd Blanche, President Trump’s pick to lead the Justice Department. But that plan is now in doubt after two key Republicans threatened to block Blanche’s confirmation over a deal he cut to settle the president’s lawsuit against the I.R.S. The senators, John Cornyn of Texas and Thom Tillis of North Carolina — both of whom are soon leaving Congress after clashing with Trump — have accused Blanche of refusing to put on paper a vow to kill the $1.8 billion fund that was once part of the deal. They also want him to clarify which audits Trump and his family would be immune from. Cornyn said today that he was not “prepared to vote yes” — at least, until he received those assurances. The senators’ support would be required for Blanche’s nomination to move forward. But it might not matter: Law and precedent allows him to continue as acting attorney general for years. In other Trump administration news:
Fauci refuses to answer questions on Capitol HillAnthony Fauci invoked the Fifth Amendment around 100 times today to avoid answering any questions from a Senate committee investigating the origins of Covid-19. He accused the committee’s Republican chairman, Rand Paul, of having an “unhinged obsession with me.” Paul warned that there would be “repercussions” for Fauci’s refusal to testify. Fauci received a pre-emptive pardon from Joe Biden when he was in office, but that only protects Fauci from federal prosecution for actions he took through the date the pardon was issued: Jan. 19, 2025. For more: Over the weekend, Paul released private diary entries that Fauci had written while serving as a top health official. Many muse on his new status as a worldwide celebrity.
New strikes engulfs more countries in U.S.-Iran conflictSaudi Arabia officially, if a bit reluctantly, entered the U.S.-Iran war today, carrying out airstrikes against Iranian-linked militias and their Iranian advisers in Iraq. Iran also fired missiles at U.S. military bases in Jordan, developments that ended a dayslong pause in direct fighting. Egypt, too, was pulled into the conflict. Just off its Mediterranean coast, two ships, including a U.S.-owned tanker, caught fire after an explosion that a maritime tracking company described as a drone attack. This afternoon, Trump suggested that Iran was responsible and indicated that U.S. forces would soon “be hitting them very hard.” For more:
The Fed faces inflation pressuresThe Federal Reserve announced today that it was keeping borrowing rates at the same level they had been at since January. Three of the central bank’s 12 voting policymakers dissented, calling on the Fed to increase interest rates to tamp down inflation after five years of overshooting its 2 percent target. The divisions underscore the tough spot that Kevin Warsh, the Fed’s new chairman, finds himself in. He has been explicit that officials should have “no tolerance” for elevated inflation, but Trump, who appointed him, has urged the central bank to cut rates. More top news
This question comes from a recent edition of the newsletter. Click an answer to see if you’re right. (The link is free.) For “The Odyssey,” the composer of the soundtrack used what ancient instrument — which looks like two recorders, joined at a player’s mouth — for the scene in which the sirens sing to Odysseus?
Readers can’t get enough of Emma M. LionThe traditional publishing route wasn’t working for Beth Brower. So she decided to begin self-publishing, with help from her family (her sister edits, and her brother-in-law designs the covers). In 2019, she introduced the world to the cheeky “journals” of Emma M. Lion, a young woman in Victorian England — changing her life. Huge numbers of readers came across the stories of Emma through word-of-mouth recommendations. The first volume has now garnered more than 100,000 Goodreads reviews, and fans continue to obsess over the subsequent seven books, as well as clues as to when the ninth volume will drop later this year.
The happiest U.S. citiesNo major American city gets more sleep than South Burlington, Vt., and none has better income growth than Miami. But according to a study by the company WalletHub, the happiest big city in the U.S. is Fremont, Calif., on the southeastern shore of the San Francisco Bay. Fremont benefited from having the lowest separation and divorce rate in the country, as well as the fifth-highest average life expectancy. See the 20 happiest cities.
Dinner table topics
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