Transcript: Trump War Takes Dark Turn as Leaks Unnerve Dems: “Madness”  —  The following is a lightly edited transcript of the March 20 episode of the Daily Blast podcast.  Listen to it here.  —  Greg Sargent: This is The Daily Blast from The New Republic, produced and presented by the DSR Network.

Trump Friend Asked ICE to Detain the Mother of His Child  —  Last year, Paolo Zampolli, the former modeling agent who famously introduced Donald and Melania Trump, asked the administration for a favor.  —  Megan Twohey  —  Zampolli was in a custody battle with his Brazilian ex-girlfriend over their son.

Top Disaster Response Official Claims He Teleported to a Waffle House  —  FEMA's Gregg Phillips says he has experienced multiple “scary” episodes of sudden teleportation  —  Far-right activist turned high-ranking FEMA official Gregg Phillips has a problem.

Judge sides with New York Times in challenge to policy limiting reporters' access to Pentagon  —  A federal judge agreed Friday to block the Trump administration from enforcing a policy limiting news reporters' access to the Pentagon, ruling that key portions of the new rules are unlawful.

Elon Musk misled Twitter investors ahead of $44 billion acquisition, jury says … A jury in California found that Elon Musk misled Twitter shareholders during the runup to his $44 billion acquisition of the social media company, according to a verdict issued on Friday.

Iran War Puts Global Energy Markets on the Brink of a Worst-Case Scenario  —  “This will be so, so, so, so, so bad,” one analyst says.  —  The war in Iran reached a new extreme this week, as both Israel and Iran launched strikes on oil and gas production and export facilities.

Cuba rejects U.S. Embassy request to bring in fuel, calls it ‘shameless’  —  An effective U.S. oil blockade has worsened the island's energy crisis.  The U.S. Embassy in Havana, too, is feeling the effects.  —  The Cuban government this week refused a request by the U.S. Embassy in Havana …

CBS News will end radio service as Weiss struggles to right ship  —  The troubled network is eliminating its century-old CBS News Radio division and laying off more staff.  —  CBS News will end its nearly century-old radio service, CBS News Radio, and cut more jobs amid a rocky turnaround effort under …

Putin offers to stop sharing intel with Iran if US cuts off Ukraine  —  Moscow proposed a quid pro quo to the U.S. under which the Kremlin would stop sharing intelligence information with Iran, such as the precise coordinates of U.S. military assets in the Middle East, if Washington ceased supplying Ukraine with intel about Russia.

Preserving America's Game  —  By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, it is hereby ordered:  —  Section 1.  Purpose.  For over a century, the Army-Navy Game, known as “America's Game,” has stood as a symbol of excellence and the American spirit.

House GOP pushes spy powers vote to April amid opposition  —  House Republicans leaders will not bring a “clean” reauthorization of foreign surveillance powers up for a vote next week as they had hoped, a source familiar with the schedule confirmed to The Hill, as opposition to the program in both parties prevents swift passage.

Feds move to dismiss charges against officers accused of falsifying warrant in Breonna Taylor raid  —  Federal prosecutors have asked a judge to dismiss the charges against two Louisville officers accused of falsifying the warrant that led police to raid Breonna Taylor's apartment the night she was killed six years ago.

Trump administration waves the white flag in some ICE cases … The new phenomenon is the latest manifestation of the extraordinary strain that the administration's mass deportation effort — compounded by the mass detention of people who have lived for years without incident in the U.S. interior — has exacted on the justice system.

Google Search is now using AI to replace headlines  —  We're seeing Verge headlines rewritten by Google AI. … Since roughly the turn of the millennium, Google Search has been the bedrock of the web.  People loved Google's trustworthy “10 blue links” search experience and its unspoken promise …

Defense workers' morale has plunged under Trump, survey finds  —  The Defense Department's civilian workforce is reporting a precipitous drop in job satisfaction, according to a survey released Thursday, following a year of cuts and a hiring freeze that has left many offices understaffed …

U.S. Prosecutors Investigate Colombia's President, a Onetime Trump Foe  —  The Justice Department is examining whether President Gustavo Petro of Colombia has ties to drug traffickers.  —  President Gustavo Petro of Colombia, who has had a volatile relationship with President Trump …

Deferring to Trump, G.O.P. Lawmakers Resist a Public Accounting on Iran  —  Nearly three weeks into a war that polls show is unpopular, top Republicans have yet to call administration officials to testify about it, arguing that hearings would put divisions on display.

Record Number of Student Loan Borrowers Are in Delinquency and Default  —  Recently released data from the Education Department showed that by the end of last year, 7.7 million borrowers had defaulted on $181 billion in federal student loans.  —  A record number of borrowers have fallen far behind …

“He needs to go”: Dems rage over Fetterman's DHS vote  —  Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.) is under heavy fire from fellow Democrats for casting the deciding vote to advance Sen. Markwayne Mullin's (R-Okla.) nomination for DHS Secretary, with some openly calling for his ouster.

After yesterday's revelation that the Department of Justice (DOJ) is blocking the release of a memo related to a Drug Enforcement Agency investigation into sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein and 14 co-conspirators, Attorney General Pam Bondi added more evidence to the idea that the DOJ is engaged …

The US is on the verge of an all-time heat record for March.  Yes, it's climate change  —  An unprecedented heat wave in the West is on the verge of breaking the record for the hottest March temperature anywhere in the United States: 108 degrees.  It's an alarming signal of how hot the planet is getting and how fast it's happening.

A Georgia appeals court rules Fulton County can reject GOP election board picks  —  A Georgia appeals court ruled on Friday that the state's largest county doesn't have to appoint two Republican nominees to the county election board, a decision that could tamp down GOP challenges to how elections …

TSA lines are miserably long.  Don't miss your flight because of them.  —  Monitor security checkpoint wait times, register for expedited security programs and invoke the “flat-tire” rule.  —  On Tuesday, a sign at a TSA security checkpoint at Miami International Airport said the wait time was 18 minutes.

Oz Escalates Medicaid Fraud Claims Against States After Focus on Minnesota  —  The Trump administration has signaled a willingness to halt billions of dollars in federal health payments to multiple states, mirroring moves they made against Minnesota.  —  The specific target is Medicaid …