The PI and the Swalwell Staffer

Good afternoon. This is the Final NOTUS newsletter for April 24, 2026. You can get it in your inbox every day by signing up here — it’s free!

THE LATEST

First on NOTUS: A private investigator working for former Rep. Eric Swalwell’s lawyers called a former Swalwell staffer asking questions about their time working in his office, the person who received the call told NOTUS’ Reese Gorman. The investigator told the source she was mainly focused on sexual assault allegations and wanted to talk to the former staffer about their time in Swalwell’s office, the source said.

• The source did not want to cooperate and the call ended.

• Swalwell, who resigned from Congress last week, has been accused by several women, including former staffers, of sexual harassment and assault. He has denied any wrongdoing.

Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner will go back to Pakistan for more negotiations with Iran as the conflict stretches into its eighth week. Donald Trump, meanwhile, is placing economic sanctions on a China-based oil refinery and roughly 40 shipping companies and tankers involved in moving Iranian oil, The Associated Press reported.

Pete Hegseth sidelined the Pentagon press corps after a news conference this morning on the conflict, but he did take a question from TMZ’s new Washington team, NOTUS’ Joe Gould reports. “What’s going through your mind and your body? Do you have, like, an adrenaline rush? Are you scared? Do you feel like you’re on a power trip?” TMZ’s Jacob Wasserman asked.

Hegseth called the question “very TMZ” but said he wants troops to feel empowered “to bring maximum violence to the enemy” so that “our guys come home and their guys do not.”

THE CAMPAIGN TRAIL

Scoop: A Bush-era war spokesperson is fundraising for a Democrat in Virginia. Torie Clarke, the chief Pentagon spox during the Iraq War, is hosting a fundraiser next week for Dorothy McAuliffe’s congressional campaign. Clarke, who helped craft the untrue narrative that Iraq had “weapons of mass destruction” before the U.S. invaded the country in 2003, will be joined by Center for American Progress founder John Podesta, among others.

THE ADMINISTRATION

The DOJ will close its criminal investigation into Jerome Powell, U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Jeanine Pirro announced this morning. The move likely clears the way for Kevin Warsh’s confirmation to lead the Federal Reserve: Sen. Thom Tillis vowed to block the confirmation unless the Trump administration dropped the investigation.

• “I will not hesitate to restart a criminal investigation should the facts warrant doing so,” Pirro wrote in a post on X.

The DOJ will bring back the firing squad, readopt the lethal injection protocol of the first Trump administration and streamline internal processes to expedite death penalty cases, the department announced. It’s part of a broader move to strengthen the process leading to the federal death penalty, which Joe Biden placed a moratorium on in 2021 before commuting the sentences of nearly all convicted felons on federal death row.

The FDA will offer a faster review process for three psychedelic drugs being developed for mental health conditions like depression and PTSD, the agency announced. The decision follows a recent executive order directing federal agencies to expedite research and loosen restrictions on psychedelics.

HAPPY WHCD WEEKEND!

Thank you for reading! Today’s newsletter was produced by Matt Berman and Andrew Burton. If you liked it, please forward it to a friend. If someone shared it with you, please subscribe — it’s free! Got a tip or comments to share? Email us at finalnotus@notus.com.