Washington, DC

1. FBI probes Kent
2. Iran overtakes WH agenda
3. Debate over war funding
4. Bondi in hot seat
5. Dems’ affordability push
6. GOP debates filibuster
7. Housing chief’s plan
8. New capital rules

PDB: The happiest countries in the world are …

Intelligence officials appear before House … Reuters: US could send thousands more troops to Middle East … WaPo: Drones sighted over base where Rubio, Hegseth live

FBI opens probe into Joe Kent

The FBI has opened a leak investigation into National Counterterrorism Center Director Joe Kent, whose resignation Tuesday exposed the widening rift on the right over the Iran war, Semafor’s Shelby Talcott scooped. The probe, which predated Kent’s exit, is focused on allegations that he improperly shared classified information. In his resignation letter, Kent wrote that Iran “posed no imminent threat to our nation” and accused President Donald Trump of starting the war because of “pressure from Israel and its powerful American lobby.” Trump and his aides and allies denounced Kent as a leaker immediately after his resignation became public; Vice President JD Vance, known in the administration for his isolationist foreign policy tilt despite his stated support for Trump’s war, said Tuesday it was “a good thing” Kent had resigned. Kent, meanwhile, doubled down on Wednesday in an interview with Tucker Carlson.

Iran dominates White House’s agenda

Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi visits the White House later today, as the Iran war continues to preoccupy the Trump administration. A meeting that otherwise would have been about China and trade will now focus on the conflict in the Middle East, as Takaichi navigates Trump’s demands that Japan help reopen the Strait of Hormuz. (Most NATO members have already said no.) Because of the war, Trump is delaying his China trip, jettisoning efforts to squeeze Russia’s oil revenue, and searching for fixes to high gas prices. Europe is particularly attuned to how the conflict has diverted the White House’s attention from Russia’s war in Ukraine. “We feel it’s important to keep high the attention on Ukraine,” one European official said ahead of today’s meeting of EU leaders in Brussels.

— Morgan Chalfant

White House weighs Iran funding request

The debate in Washington over approving more money for the Iran war is heating up. The Pentagon asked the White House to request more than $200 billion from Congress to fund the US war effort, The Washington Post scooped, though it’s unclear how much it will actually ask for. It came as Iran retaliated for Israel’s Wednesday attack on the South Pars gas field with strikes on Qatar’s energy infrastructure, while Saudi Arabia and the UAE said they had intercepted ordnance. The Wall Street Journal reported that Trump backed Israel’s attack “as a message to Tehran over its block of the Strait of Hormuz.” But Trump late Wednesday said the US “knew nothing” about the strike and that US forces would “massively blow up” the gas field if Iran attacks Qatar’s facilities again. European gas prices rose 20% on the disruption, while oil topped $115 a barrel.

Democrats walk out of Bondi briefing

A closed-door House Oversight Committee briefing with Attorney General Pam Bondi Wednesday night went off the rails when Democrats walked out. They left to protest the format and after the panel’s Republican chair, Rep. James Comer, R-Ky., said one of the Democrats was “b*tching.” Rep. Robert Garcia, D-Calif., the panel’s top Democrat, criticized the briefing as a way for Bondi to avoid “answering questions under oath and to the public.” She’d been subpoenaed by the panel as part of its investigation into the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein and faces a scheduled deposition next month. Further incensing Democrats, Bondi told them she would “follow the law” about appearing for the deposition, which panel Democrats took as a sign she would not commit to showing up. Comer said Bondi’s briefing was productive and dismissed Democrats as playing a “political game.”

— Nicholas Wu

Senate Dems press Trump on affordability

Three of the Senate’s highest-ranking Democrats will call on Trump today to abandon his tariffs, issue refunds, and end the war in Iran, offering a preview of their party’s economic messaging leading up to November’s midterm elections. “Trump promised to lower costs ‘on Day One,’ but he’s doing the exact opposite: stealing taxpayer dollars with his illegal tariffs, while his war of choice in Iran burns through billions of dollars abroad and drives up prices at home,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y. — along with the top Democrats on the Senate banking and finance committees, Sens. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., and Ron Wyden, D-Ore. — said in a statement shared first with Semafor. “Donald Trump must immediately terminate his destructive tariffs, refund the unlawfully collected tariff money, and bring his Iran war to an end to prevent even further economic disaster.” Their demands will be ignored by the White House, which is already taking steps to replace the tariffs struck down by the Supreme Court.

— Eleanor Mueller

Republican floats vote on filibuster

More Republican senators want to kill the 60-vote threshold for legislation in the upper chamber if Democrats block new ID requirements for voters. The loudest proponent of changing the rules, Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., told Semafor he is not trying to use the “nuclear option” to do it. “I would suggest we vote on a rule change at a 67-vote threshold,” Johnson said. Such a vote — which is bound to fail but would put senators on the record — differs from using a simple majority to change the Senate rules, a vote a senator could force after an unsuccessful vote to break a filibuster. Most agree the filibuster isn’t going anywhere. “The tide will turn, and we will appreciate the leverage that the filibuster gives us to negotiate when we are once again in the minority,” said retiring Sen. Cynthia Lummis, R-Wyo.

— Burgess Everett

FHFA chief teases new housing policy

The Federal Housing Finance Agency will announce a new proposal “in the next week or two” to “further reduce the cost of the home-buying experience,” Director Bill Pulte told Semafor. The agency on Wednesday eased requirements for homeowners insurance, which Pulte said could save millions of homeowners between $30 and $50 a month. “We are continuing to look at every part of the cost structure that goes into buying a home,” Pulte said. “Not everyone will be happy about [the forthcoming policy], but the American people will be happy.” He said it would affect “industries that have ripped off American consumers for too long,” without elaborating. Pulte also teased “more mortgage fraud referrals” and declined to rule out buying more mortgage bonds: “All options are on the table.” He said Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac “haven’t fully executed” their $200 billion purchase yet.

— Eleanor Mueller

Banks set to see looser rules on capital

US banking regulators are expected to vote this morning on their latest attempt to overhaul capital requirements following years of intense lobbying. Federal Reserve Vice Chair for Supervision Michelle Bowman said last week the new proposals would loosen rules rather than tighten them, earning praise from banking trade associations like the American Bankers Association (though the groups hedged that “the details will matter”). Because easing requirements will mean that banks can keep less cash on hand to cover potential losses, progressives like Warren have warned that doing so risks another financial crisis. The banks counter it will bolster economic growth by freeing up capital for investment. With the Basel III regulations requiring the EU and UK to implement similar changes, the bloc is set to again delay its rules so its financial institutions aren’t at a disadvantage.

— Eleanor Mueller

View: Why AIPAC shouldn’t be celebrating

There was a clue that Daniel Biss was about to win his close, hard-fought primary: AIPAC stopped talking about him, Semafor’s David Weigel writes. The pro-Israel group had hoped to take down Biss, the well-known mayor of Evanston who was running to replace Rep. Jan Schakowsky, with her endorsement. He offered a one-for-one upgrade — an elderly progressive Jewish critic of Israel under Benjamin Netanyahu replaced by a middle-aged progressive Jewish critic of Israel under Netanyahu. “I think of myself as a progressive Zionist,” Biss told Semafor last week. In Illinois, AIPAC declared victory over two more avowedly pro-Palestinian candidates in the Biss race and mocked progressives for being unable to win two other seats it invested in. But the primary night was a mixed bag for AIPAC, which is facing an existential threat as Democrats increasingly sympathize with Palestinians over Israel.

Semafor has announced the agenda and a new slate of CEOs and global leaders joining more than 450 top executives at the 2026 Annual Convening of Semafor World Economy, taking place April 13–17 in Washington, DC. As the definitive live journalism platform on the new economy, the convening will bring together US Cabinet secretaries, central bank governors, finance ministers, and Fortune 500 CEOs for five days of onstage conversations and in-depth interviews uniting private and public sector leaders to exchange ideas that will shape the future of the world economy.

Applications for Semafor World Economy Principals are open — apply now.