The Daily Brief
Today
Good morning. [Leaked emails reveal Britain's domestic spying service attempted to recruit a high-ranking BBC board member as a key agent of influence](https://thegrayzone.com/2026/08/18/mi5-sought-to-infiltrate-bbc) while the state broadcaster was embroiled in a bitter legal and journalistic battle with MI5. ABC sued the FCC, [arguing the agency is waging a retaliatory campaign of censorship against the broadcast network, violating its right to free speech, and wielding regulatory power to punish and pressure the company through investigations and threats to strip local licenses](https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/abc-says-fcc-waging-a-retaliatory-campaign-violating-free-speech-rights).
[The Trump administration ignored Justice Department investigators who told it to ditch a case that lacked any factual basis, per The New York Times](https://www.rawstory.com/trump-doj-2677723495), and instead pushed investigators to find civil rights violations at three Ivy League institutions. The White House sanctioned the ICC prosecutor pursuing warrants for Israeli officials.
The Education Department confirmed Federal Student Aid identified "multiple PSLF counter code errors" as the Trump administration rolls back forgiveness for some borrowers. [A historic preservation group urged the Supreme Court to block Trump's emergency ballroom construction on the White House grounds](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/aug/18/trump-ballroom-project-supreme-court), arguing the president lacks authority to erect new buildings on government property after the president made an emergency bid for construction to continue.
[Trump will welcome the leaders of major cryptocurrency and prediction-market companies to the White House on Wednesday to discuss how they should be regulated](https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2026/08/trump-conflicts-interest-crypto-world-liberty-financial-prediction-markets-polymarket-kalshi-corruption-cftc), [a potential make-or-break moment for nascent industries that have struggled to establish themselves as credible and legal](https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2026/08/trump-conflicts-interest-crypto-world-liberty-financial-prediction-markets-polymarket-kalshi-corruption-cftc). ICE has banned its agents from wearing Meta's smart glasses, joining a growing number of workplaces rejecting surveillance devices that have spurred privacy concerns.
Workers are hopped up on chemical stimulants just to make it through the working day. A transgender CIA veteran who served four administrations warns of "palpable fear" inside security agencies [and says the Trump administration has abandoned the principle that "a person should be able to rise as far as their talents can take them."](https://www.ms.now/news/julia-curlee-cia-national-security-trump) [In Florida's 6th Congressional District, GOP primary voters face a choice between a rabid antisemite and a racist Islamophobe](https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2026/8/18/800086185/elections/this-florida-republican-primary-is-a-rancid-race-to-the-bottom).