Washington, DC

1. Harris 2028?
2. Iran ups the ante
3. Inflation rises on gas prices
4. Navy’s fleet shakeup
5. China’s Africa power play

Software stocks continue to tumble, ▼ 26% year-to-date, as investors and the public try to grapple with the impact of AI.

Harris tells Black voters she may run in 2028

NEW YORK — Kamala Harris told Rev. Al Sharpton that she “might” run for president again in 2028, electrifying the crowd at the civil rights activist’s annual National Action Network meeting. “I know what the job is,” Harris said. “I know what it requires.” Harris drew by far the biggest crowd of the nine potential Democratic presidential candidates who attended Sharpton’s gathering — with chants of “run again” when she said it would take multiple elections to clean up after Trump. A slightly thinner afternoon crowd heard former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg denounce the war in Iran and the Trump administration’s elimination of programs designed to help Black people. Both Democrats said Trump had misled voters to win in 2024, and that they could win back those voters. “He said on Day One he was going to bring down prices and costs, and he lied,” said Harris.

— David Weigel

Iran makes demands ahead of peace talks

Iran is leaning into its leverage over global energy markets ahead of peace talks that start tomorrow in Pakistan. The speaker of Iran’s parliament, Mohammad-Bagher Ghalibaf wrote on X today that negotiations wouldn’t begin until Israel agreed to a ceasefire in Lebanon and the US unfreezes Iranian assets. President Donald Trump posted a few hours later that the “Iranians don’t seem to realize they have no cards, other than a short term extortion of the World by using International Waterways.” The Strait of Hormuz remains in Iran’s control, and today only one tanker passed through it. As the energy crisis deepens in Asia and spreads through the West, Iran is heading to the negotiating table playing a strong hand. Meanwhile, representatives from Israel and Lebanon are set to meet for their own preparatory talks in Washington next week, The New York Times reported.

White House looks for good news in bleak inflation report

Inflation rose three times faster in March than the previous month as the war in Iran spiked fuel prices, the Labor Department reported today in the government’s first look at the conflict’s effect on the economy, reports Semafor’s Eleanor Mueller. Inflation outside of food and energy rose slightly less than forecasters had predicted, but not enough to put interest rate cuts back on the table at the Federal Reserve. Higher prices on other goods, combined with a report today showing consumer confidence dropped to its lowest on record in April, further complicates the Trump administration’s wartime messaging to voters. White House officials moved quickly to highlight the report’s findings about cheaper specific goods, including groceries like eggs, butter, and beef. But unless gas prices stabilize, retailers can be expected to raise their prices.

Navy inactivates sub after $800 million cost run-up

The Navy is inactivating a nuclear-powered attack submarine that’s been sidelined for a decade as the Trump administration continues to push forward with its massive naval expansion efforts, Semafor’s Shelby Talcott scoops. The Los Angeles-class USS Boise has seen years of delays and lost its dive certification in 2017. Navy Secretary John Phelan told Semafor that the attack submarine has cost the US almost $800 million, but only 22% of scheduled overhaul work has been completed. The decision to inactivate the USS Boise is just the start of Phelan’s shakeup plans: He’s reviewing every program as the service shifts to implementing Trump’s “Golden Fleet” initiative to build up new battleships and revamp the Navy, following years of concerns about the US fleet size. “We screwed up,” said Phelan. “Time to move on, and try to get going in the future and move forward.”

View / China builds more than roads in Africa

China’s state-owned enterprises aren’t just building roads and railways across Africa, they are reshaping markets and, increasingly, the policy environment itself. That was the central warning of a report last month by the US government-backed Africa Center for Strategic Studies. The authors argue that Chinese operators function as instruments of state power, able to “blur the line between commercial and geopolitical goals” in ways no private US competitor can replicate. Examples abound: In DR Congo and Zambia, Chinese firms dominate mining and power infrastructure. In Kenya and Ethiopia, Chinese enterprises financed, built, and even still operate railways. The report calls this “market capture.” Commercial dominance, held long enough, becomes political leverage. The report landed amid Washington’s scramble to catch up with its own state-backed push for strategic assets on the continent.

Bluesky has a reputation as a politically charged platform — but COO Rose Wang says the company is reimagining social media through a more decentralized model. On this week’s episode of Mixed Signals, Max and Ben sit down with Wang to examine Bluesky’s rapid growth, its evolving identity, and the challenge of turning a utopian vision into a real business.

Campaigns

• A woman who worked for Rep. Eric Swalwell for two years has accused him of twice sexually assaulting her when she was too intoxicated to consent. Swalwell, a leading candidate for California governor, denies the accusations and a lawyer sent the accuser a cease and desist letter on his behalf. — San Francisco Chronicle

White House

• President Trump promised during a recent meeting to “pardon everyone who has come within 200 feet of the Oval.” — WSJ
• Officials unveiled the design for Trump’s 250-foot triumphal arch, a project slated for Memorial Circle, near Arlington National Cemetery. — WaPo
• The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid admitted that a glaring numerical error was the basis for its major fraud investigation into New York’s Medicaid program. — AP

Technology

• San Francisco police arrested a 20-year-old man on Friday morning for allegedly hurling a Molotov cocktail at the home of OpenAI CEO Sam Altman.
• Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell summoned bank CEOs for a meeting about the emerging cyber threat posed by new AI models like Anthropic’s Mythos. — Bloomberg

Iran War

• UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer spoke with President Trump yesterday about the practicalities of reopening the Strait of Hormuz, including the potential cooperation of a coalition of 30 countries.
• The US may ask Iran to release six Americans during peace talks in Pakistan. — WaPo
• Pakistan asked airlines to allow journalists covering negotiations to travel without visas, as they’ll receive paperwork on arrival.

Energy

• Asian nations are pushing the US to extend sanctions waivers on Russian and Iranian oil amid the ongoing energy shock. — Bloomberg
• Airports across Europe will face a jet fuel shortage if the Strait of Hormuz isn’t operating fully in three weeks, a group representing airports warned. — Financial Times

Courts

• The White House won’t ask the Supreme Court to overturn lower-court decisions blocking a policy to cap operating costs for federal science grant recipients at 15%. — STAT News
• Amid rising threats to their safety, state judges report spending thousands of dollars on protection, including buying guns. — NYT

World

• Chinese leader Xi Jinping met with a Taiwanese opposition leader, the first meeting of its kind in a decade, and said unification with the mainland is a “historical inevitability” and warned against any moves towards “independence.” — FT

— Vice President JD Vance before boarding Air Force II for peace talks in Pakistan.

Semafor DC Team

Laura McGann, editor

With help from Elana Schor, senior Washington editor, and Morgan Chalfant, Washington briefing editor

Brendan Ruberry, copy editor

Contact our reporters:

Burgess Everett, Eleanor Mueller, Shelby Talcott, Nicholas Wu, David Weigel