Good morning! Today is Wednesday, April 29th 2026, and this is The American Conservative's Morning Brief. Former FBI Director James Comey has been indicted a second time under the Trump administration, this time accused of threatening the president's life over an Instagram post of seashells spelling "86 47.". The acting U.S. ambassador to Ukraine is reportedly preparing to retire over frustration with the administration's Kiev policy, becoming the second chief of mission to step down in a year as peace talks stall. Day twenty-one of the U.S.–Iran ceasefire brings dueling claims over the Strait of Hormuz, oil above $110 a barrel, and fresh arguments in TAC that Washington's backing of Israel's regional project has locked America into open-ended conflict. and now for the details. We begin this morning in Washington, where former FBI Director James Comey has been indicted for the second time under the Trump administration. The Justice Department charged Comey on Tuesday with threatening the life of President Trump over an Instagram post that depicted seashells arranged to spell out "86 47" — "eighty-six" being slang for cancel or remove. FBI Director Kash Patel announced the indictment, accusing Comey of disgracefully encouraging a threat on the president's life. Comey responded that he is, in his words, "still innocent, still not afraid," and still has faith in the federal judiciary. As Joseph Addington reports for The American Conservative, this is the second prosecution of Comey by the Trump Justice Department. The first, last year, charged him with lying to Congress about the Clinton email investigation, but those charges were dismissed by the trial judge. Addington notes the indictment comes just three days after a gunman attempted to breach the White House Correspondents' Dinner with the apparent intent of assassinating the president. Turning to the State Department: Julie Davis, the acting United States ambassador to Ukraine, is reportedly preparing to retire in the coming weeks. According to a Financial Times report cited by Joseph Addington, Davis has grown frustrated with what she sees as the administration's lack of support for Kiev. She would be the second chief of mission in Ukraine to step down over policy disagreements with the Trump White House, following Bridget Brink, who resigned the post last April. The State Department disputes the framing. Spokesman Tommy Pigott called Davis a steadfast proponent of the administration's peace efforts and said she will continue advancing the president's policies until her formal departure in June. Addington notes that the broader peace negotiations have stalled, with administration attention drawn instead to operations in Venezuela and the war with Iran. That war remains the dominant story in the region. Tuesday marked day twenty-one of the ceasefire between the United States and Iran, and as Harrison Berger reports, the path to renewed talks remains uncertain. President Trump posted on Truth Social that Iran had told the United States it is in, quote, a "state of collapse," and had asked Washington to open the Strait of Hormuz. Iranian officials dispute that account. Tehran says it will not reopen the strait until the U.S. naval blockade imposed earlier this month is lifted, and Iran's vice president warned that any damage to Iranian oil infrastructure would be answered with four times the damage to Gulf state infrastructure. Brent crude rose above $110 a barrel for the first time in three weeks. The national average gas price, according to AAA, now stands at $4.18. Berger also notes an NBC News report that damage to U.S. assets and bases across the Middle East exceeds $5 billion at more than a hundred sites in at least seven countries. The United Arab Emirates, meanwhile, announced it is leaving OPEC. Stepping back from the day's developments, Jon Hoffman argues in TAC that the Iran war is not an isolated event but the culmination of a broader Israeli project, backed by Washington, to remake the Middle East after October 7th. Hoffman writes that this vision rests on three maximalist objectives: entrenching Israeli control over Palestinian territory, dismantling Iran-backed militant networks, and neutralizing Iran itself. Across each theater — Gaza, the West Bank, Lebanon, Syria, Yemen, and now Iran — Hoffman argues the use of force has produced unstable outcomes and committed the United States to open-ended conflict. He points to the Pentagon's request for at least $200 billion to compensate for the war with Iran, on top of a proposed $1.5 trillion defense budget for 2027, and to the depletion of American weapons stockpiles. Hoffman concludes that lockstep American backing has fueled hostility toward the United States while perpetuating the very causes of regional unrest, and he calls on the Trump administration to make clear that U.S. support for the project is over. Peter Van Buren takes a longer view in his column, asking simply: how does this wa
