Wednesday, March 25th, 2026 - Trump holds TSA hostage for SAVE Act; MBS pushes Iran ground troops; Kushner fund hits $6.2B

Today’s Headlines: The DHS shutdown is now an explicit ransom situation. Trump won't reopen it — or pay TSA workers — until Democrats support the SAVE Act, his voter restriction bill that would ban most mail-in voting and require a passport or birth certificate to register. He rejected a bipartisan fix. He also voted by mail yesterday in a Florida special election his party lost. Steve Bannon called ICE agents at airports "a test run for the 2026 elections," which is the part you're supposed to notice. A California sheriff running for governor also seized 656,000 ballots from last year's redistricting election claiming fraud — officials say the actual discrepancy was 103 votes. Markwayne Mullin was confirmed as DHS Secretary 54-45, Rand Paul the only Republican no vote, Fetterman voting yes. Delta revoked all congressional airport perks until the shutdown ends — the lawmakers who created the TSA crisis now wait in the same lines. The NTSB investigator sent to the LaGuardia crash was stuck in a TSA line for hours getting there. On day 25 of the Iran war, Pakistan is emerging as the leading host for peace talks, with JD Vance as likely U.S. negotiator — because Iran refused to meet with Kushner and Witkoff, which tracks. The Times reported MBS has been privately urging Trump to intensify the war, calling it a "historic opportunity," and suggesting U.S. ground troops seize Iranian energy infrastructure. Trump confirmed it unprompted, calling MBS "a warrior." Meanwhile Kushner's firm Affinity Partners — backed almost entirely by Saudi, UAE, and Qatari sovereign wealth — grew from $3 billion to $6.2 billion since he left the White House, tracking his deepening foreign policy role almost perfectly. He also quietly reversed his pledge to stop fundraising. OpenAI shut down Sora six months after launch — downloads down 45%, a $1 billion Disney deal collapsed before any money changed hands. The official reason is "compute resources," which is what you say when your product turned out to be deeply unsettling and nobody wanted to keep using it. Resources/Articles mentioned in this episode:  CNN: Trump casts a mail-in ballot in Florida special election as he tries to sharply limit absentee voting The Hill: Trump tells lawmakers ‘don’t worry about Easter’ to force vote on DHS, SAVE Act  The Guardian: California sheriff running for governor seizes over 650,000 ballots from 2025 election  CNN: Chad Bianco: Riverside County, California, sheriff seizes more than a half million ballots from 2025 election CNBC: Senate confirms Markwayne Mullin as next DHS secretary CNBC: Delta suspends 'specialty services' perk for members of Congress, cites DHS shutdown NPR: Trump declares victory and claims Iran offers a 'prize' in talks Iran has denied having AlJazeera: Pakistan ‘ready to host US-Iran talks’: But can latest peace push work? NYT: Saudi Leader Is Said to Push Trump to Continue Iran War in Recent Calls  Bloomberg: Kushner’s Affinity Partners Assets Surge to $6.2 Billion on Mideast Backing Axios: OpenAI will shutter Sora video app Subscribe to the Betches News Room and join the Morning Announcements group chat. Go to: ⁠⁠⁠betchesnews.substack.com Morning Announcements is produced by Sami Sage and edited by Grace Hernandez-Johnson Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices