The briefing for Wednesday, September 23.

The US, Denmark and Greenland signed a defense agreement Tuesday allowing Washington to build two new military bases in the Arctic territory while reaffirming Copenhagen's sovereignty over it. Signed at the UN General Assembly, the deal amends a 1951 defense agreement and permits new US installations at Narsarsuaq and Mestersvig, in addition to the existing Pituffik Space Base. President Trump said the US would "immediately begin the process of developing a large military presence in the appropriate locations."

The agreement caps more than a year of tension after Trump repeatedly suggested the US should acquire or even take Greenland by force, citing its strategic Arctic location and mineral wealth. Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen and Greenlandic Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen both framed the deal as a "win-win-win," stressing it respects Danish sovereignty and Greenland's right to self-determination. The pact also guarantees Greenland would remain in NATO even if it eventually gained independence from Denmark, and bars any non-NATO country from establishing military installations there.

The deal leaves key details unresolved, including the specific size and timeline for the new bases, which must still be mutually agreed upon by all three parties. It also mentions Trump's proposed "Golden Dome" missile defense system only once, without a concrete proposal, despite the president's earlier arguments that Greenland was essential to that plan. The agreement matters beyond its immediate terms: it defuses a rift that had unsettled NATO allies and Greenland's roughly 56,000 residents, while formalizing an expanded American military footprint in a region reshaped by melting Arctic ice and new shipping routes.

Top US and Iranian officials held talks at the UN in New York on Tuesday, the first since a June ceasefire collapsed, hours after President Trump said in his UN address that he could "annihilate" the Islamic Republic if the conflict remained unresolved. The meeting, mediated by Qatar, involved Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi and Trump envoy Steve Witkoff. Witkoff described the roughly three-hour session as "very productive" and said discussions had been completed "that we hope will prove constructive and promising," though no breakthrough was reported.

Iran reiterated its demand that the US end its "acts of aggression," according to an Iranian foreign ministry spokesman. The talks come after the US and Israel struck Iran on February 28, prompting Iranian retaliation against Israel, US bases in the Gulf, and a blockade of the Strait of Hormuz — a waterway that once carried roughly 20% of the world's oil and gas trade. Since the ceasefire fell apart, both sides have continued intermittent strikes, and the US has maintained a blockade of Iranian ports.

Trump framed his approach as "peace through strength," telling the UN he believed a deal with Iran would come only after November's midterm elections. The remarks illustrate his broader strategy of combining threats of overwhelming force with an open door to negotiation. With global oil markets and Gulf security still destabilized by the closed strait, the outcome of any renewed diplomacy carries significant economic and geopolitical stakes.

Vice President JD Vance announced Tuesday that the administration will remove 760,000 people from ACA marketplace plans, canceling roughly 315,000 enrollments that officials allege were fraudulent or tied to people who do not exist. Vance said the move, part of a broader anti-fraud push he leads, would save $2.2 billion. An additional 419,000 enrollments covering more people will undergo further eligibility verification, and the administration is suspending new insurance brokers for six months, citing them as a major source of fraud.

The Government Accountability Office has found some fraud risk in ACA subsidy programs — a December report showed the federal marketplace approved coverage for nearly all 24 fictitious applicants in a GAO test — but the scale of fraud nationally remains unclear. Roughly 19.2 million Americans are currently enrolled in ACA marketplace plans. Democratic lawmakers criticized the move; Rep. Richard Neal called it part of an effort to make the "worst healthcare crisis ever" even worse.

The announcement lands amid rising ACA premiums, which have doubled or tripled for many enrollees since Republicans in Congress declined to extend COVID-era subsidies that expired this year. With affordability emerging as a central issue ahead of the fall midterms, the removals add a new flashpoint to the debate over healthcare costs and the future of the federal exchange program.

The fight over Missouri's congressional map returned to the US Supreme Court for a third time in three weeks after a federal appeals panel ordered the state to revive new districts backed by President Trump — even after the Supreme Court had twice blocked that map. The Missouri Supreme Court had ruled Sept. 3 that the Republican-drawn map, designed to help the GOP pick up an additional US House seat, could not take effect unless approved by voters in a referendum. The state court instead ordered use of the districts in place during the 2022 and 2024 elections.

A three-judge panel of the 8th US Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Monday that the US Constitution bars changing congressional districts between a primary and general election, citing the fact that more than a million Missouri voters — about 1 in 4 statewide — would be shifted between maps without having had a say in the primary. That ruling directly conflicts with the state court's decision, which the US Supreme Court had already left standing. Opponents of the new map now plan to ask the justices to intervene again.

The dispute has left absentee voters in limbo, with ballots already being cast under the 2022 map even as legal uncertainty continues. The new map would reshape a Kansas City-based district currently held by Democratic Rep. Emanuel Cleaver and could help Republicans win seven of Missouri's eight House seats. With control of Congress at stake in the midterms, the Supreme Court's next move could set a precedent for redistricting fights playing out in roughly a dozen states nationwide.

President Trump met Tuesday with Venezuela's interim President Delcy Rodríguez at the UN General Assembly, their first face-to-face encounter since the White House backed her to take over the country's government. Rodríguez succeeded Nicolás Maduro after US forces raided Caracas and seized him; he is now awaiting trial in New York on drug trafficking charges. Rodríguez said the two discussed "advancing a cooperation agenda in strategic areas such as energy, mining, and security."

The meeting follows an agreement giving the US control over more than 65 billion barrels of Venezuelan oil — more than a fifth of the country's reserves — through 100-year concessions on 17 oilfields granted to a US-led company. Trump has called it "the biggest oil deal in world history," and told the UN this week that the US and Venezuela together control more than 60% of the world's oil. Rodríguez, a former Maduro vice president once sanctioned by the US, had those sanctions lifted in April before being sworn in as interim president with Washington's blessing.

The meeting cements a rapid and dramatic US realignment with Venezuela following Maduro's ouster, reshaping regional dynamics around one of the world's largest oil reserves. Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado has been repeatedly barred from re-entering the country, raising questions about the durability and legitimacy of the new government as it moves closer to Washington.