The briefing for Thursday, April 2.

Four astronauts embarked on a high-stakes flight around the moon Wednesday evening from Kennedy Space Center, marking humanity's first lunar voyage in more than 53 years. The crew—Commander Reid Wiseman, pilot Victor Glover, Christina Koch, and Canada's Jeremy Hansen—launched aboard NASA's Space Launch System rocket at dawn before tens of thousands of spectators. It represents the most diverse lunar crew ever, with the first woman, person of color, and non-U.S. citizen riding in NASA's new Orion capsule.

The 10-day test flight will take the astronauts closer to the moon than any humans before them. They'll spend the first 25 hours checking out the capsule in Earth orbit before firing the main engine toward the moon. During Monday's lunar flyby, they'll pass within viewing distance of features never before seen through human eyes, and may catch glimpses of a total solar eclipse. The crew will venture 4,000 miles beyond the moon—farther from Earth than anyone has ever been—before making a U-turn and heading home to a Pacific splashdown.

The mission is a critical test for NASA's Artemis program, which aims to establish a permanent lunar presence and eventually reach Mars in the 2030s. Following the unmanned Artemis I mission in 2022, this crewed flight will validate systems needed for future moon landings. NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman told reporters the launch marks NASA's return to "the business of sending astronauts to the moon" after a half-century hiatus. Launch director Charlie Blackwell-Thompson told the crew before liftoff: "On this historic mission, you take with you the heart of this Artemis team, the daring spirit of the American people and our partners across the globe, and the hopes and dreams of a new generation."

President Trump said Wednesday night that U.S. military operations in Iran could wrap up within two to three weeks, claiming "core strategic objectives are nearing completion" in his first national address since the war began. In a 20-minute primetime speech from the White House, Trump vowed to hit Iran "extremely hard" in the coming weeks and finish the job "very fast," though he provided no clear timeline for ending the conflict or reopening the Strait of Hormuz, which has been effectively closed by Iranian attacks.

Trump offered little new information about the path forward, leaving critical questions unanswered. He made no mention of the 15-point peace plan the White House had urged Iran to accept just days earlier, and provided no details on whether Israel agrees with his timetable. The president also gave conflicting guidance on the Strait of Hormuz, at one point telling allies to "go to the strait and just take it" themselves, and later saying it would reopen "naturally" when the war ends. He threatened to bomb Iran's power grid if negotiations fail, but offered no specifics on those discussions.

Oil markets responded negatively to the lack of clarity, with Brent crude rising 7.4% to $108.69 per barrel after the speech. According to the Associated Press, world shares fell as investors expressed disappointment at Trump's failure to articulate a concrete exit strategy. The president is facing sliding approval ratings and gas prices above $4 per gallon as the war continues into its fifth week, with midterm elections looming in November. According to U.S. Central Command, American forces have struck more than 12,300 targets across Iran since Operation Epic Fury began, but Iranian attacks across the region continued Wednesday, including strikes in the UAE and Qatar.

House Speaker Mike Johnson and Senate Majority Leader John Thune announced Wednesday a plan to end the record-setting partial shutdown of the Department of Homeland Security, now in its 47th day. The agreement returns to a bipartisan Senate approach that would fund most of DHS—excluding Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Border Patrol—while Republicans later attempt to fund those agencies through party-line spending legislation that could take months to complete. President Trump has given his support to the strategy.

The Senate could approve the measure as soon as Thursday morning through unanimous consent, though it remains unclear how quickly the House will act. The plan represents a reset after Johnson rejected the same Senate approach last week, instead proposing to fund all of DHS for 60 days—a move that resulted in Congress leaving for a two-week recess without resolving the impasse. Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer credited Democratic unity for forcing the GOP's new strategy, saying "Republican divisions derailed a bipartisan agreement, making American families pay the price for their dysfunction."

The most conservative House Republicans are likely to oppose the plan, arguing it leaves border enforcement agencies unfunded. Rep. Scott Perry, R-Pa., posted on X: "Caving to Democrats and not paying CBP and ICE is agreeing to defund Law Enforcement and leaving our borders wide open again. If that's the vote, I'm a NO." The vast majority of Homeland Security workers have continued reporting to work during the shutdown, though many thousands went without pay until Trump issued an executive order for backpay. The shutdown led to Transportation Security Administration agents calling out from work, creating frustrating security lines at major airports that have begun clearing this week.

A federal judge ruled Tuesday that President Trump is not immune from civil claims that he incited the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol attack, finding that his remarks at the "Stop the Steal" rally near the White House "plausibly" amounted to incitement not protected by the First Amendment. U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta said Trump's Ellipse speech cannot be understood as falling within his presidential duties and therefore he is not shielded from liability for his conduct that day, including the speech and many of his social media posts.

Mehta, who was nominated by President Barack Obama, concluded that Trump's words during the rally plausibly constituted incitement. Trump closed his speech by saying, "We fight. We fight like hell and if you don't fight like hell, you're not going to have a country anymore." The 79-page ruling does allow Trump to be held immune for some official acts that day, including his Rose Garden remarks during the riot and his interactions with Justice Department officials. Trump remains free to reassert official-acts immunity as a defense at trial, though the burden will be his under a higher standard of proof.

The decision sets the stage for a possible civil trial in the same courthouse where Trump was criminally charged for his Jan. 6 conduct before his 2024 election ended that prosecution. The case was brought by Democratic members of Congress, including Rep. Bennie Thompson of Mississippi, along with law enforcement officers who guarded the Capitol that day. The civil claims survived Trump's sweeping act of clemency on his first day in office, when he pardoned or commuted sentences in all 1,500-plus criminal cases stemming from the riot. More than 100 police officers were injured defending the Capitol.

Israel's parliament passed legislation Monday establishing the death penalty by hanging for Palestinians convicted of murdering Israelis, sparking protests across the West Bank and international condemnation. The measure orders West Bank military courts—which try only Palestinians—to make capital punishment the default sentence except in special circumstances. The bill is set to take effect in 30 days, though implementation could be delayed by pending court proceedings at Israel's Supreme Court, and the measure is not retroactive.

Hundreds of protesters took to the streets Tuesday across the Palestinian territories, with the Fatah political party calling a general strike for Wednesday in the northern West Bank. "Time is running out and silence is deadly," read signs carried by protesters in Nablus, alongside images of prisoners wearing the Palestinian keffiyeh scarf next to a noose. The legislation, championed by Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, was celebrated with champagne-popping after the final vote. Ben-Gvir described the law as long overdue and a sign of national strength and pride.

The Palestinian Foreign Ministry called for sanctions on Israel's parliament and its suspension from international bodies, saying "the law represents a critical turning point in the formalization of extrajudicial killings under a legal guise." Amnesty International said the use of the death penalty under the new measure could violate the right to life and the prohibition of torture as enshrined in international law. The law extends to Israeli courts as well, giving them the option to impose death sentences on Israeli citizens convicted of nationalistic murder—language that legal experts say effectively excludes Jewish Israelis and confines those eligible for execution to Palestinian citizens of Israel. A coalition of Israeli rights groups and opposition lawmakers announced they are launching a petition to Israel's Supreme Court to declare the law null and void.

President Trump said Wednesday he is "strongly considering" pulling the United States out of NATO, sharply escalating his criticism of European allies who refused to join the Iran war. In an interview with Britain's The Telegraph, Trump called the alliance a "paper tiger" and suggested the trans-Atlantic rift over the Middle East conflict may have reached a point of no return. Asked whether he would reconsider U.S. membership after the war ends, Trump replied: "Oh yes, I would say (it's) beyond reconsideration."

Long-simmering tensions within NATO have intensified over the Iran war, with Trump calling allies "cowards" for refusing to send ships to help reopen the Strait of Hormuz. Secretary of State Marco Rubio told Fox News Tuesday that the U.S. may need to "reexamine whether or not this alliance that has served this country well for a while is still serving that purpose." Rubio raised questions about whether NATO has "become a one-way street where America is simply in a position to defend Europe—but when we need the help of our allies, they're going to deny us basing rights and they're going to deny us overflight."

The criticism threatens to weaken the alliance's deterrence against Russia, which relies on convincing Russian President Vladimir Putin that NATO will retaliate if he expands Moscow's war in Ukraine beyond that country's borders. A U.S. pullout would essentially spell the end of NATO, which has flourished for decades under American leadership. Britain is working on plans to help assuage Trump, with Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper hosting a virtual meeting Thursday of 35 countries to help ensure security for shipping in the Strait of Hormuz after the war. However, NATO operates by consensus, and alliance members have not intervened in the Iran conflict as it has not met the threshold for invoking Article 5, the collective security guarantee.