The White House told Republican lawmakers Monday that “America will win” and “the terrorist Iranian regime will be defeated” as it seeks to address criticism of the shifting war aims being put forward by President Donald Trump and his deputies following Saturday’s initial strikes.

A memo from the administration’s legislative affairs office sent to Hill Republicans on Monday afternoon laid out four military objectives, including “annihilating” Iran’s navy and assuring it can never produce a nuclear weapon. The elimination of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the memo said, was a “byproduct” of those aims.

But while a set of talking points shied away from saying the operation is aimed at regime change, it predicted nonetheless that would be the outcome of the operation, which it did not describe — as Trump has — as a “war.”

“President Trump should be commended for killing terrorists and finally having the courage to do what American presidents for nearly 50 years have all contemplated but failed to execute,” the document said. “The rogue Iranian Regime, under the evil hand of the Ayatollah, has killed and maimed thousands of U.S. soldiers over the years. Their brutal attacks and threats will end under President Donald J. Trump. America will win – the terrorist Iranian regime will be defeated.”

Elsewhere it reads, “Though the regime has changed, this operation is about ending the threat posed to the United States by the Iranian Regime.”

The White House messaging guidance comes as Trump supporters outside of government have started to voice misgivings about the president’s decision to strike Iran. House Republicans have been quieter so far, but some are wary of a prolonged war — especially ahead of the November midterm elections.

Rep. Warren Davidson (R-Ohio) posted on X after the strikes that “America First is supposed to be a policy mindset, not another empty slogan with hollow promises” and that Congress needed to have a role in authorizing the conflict.

The memo seeks to play down any concerns about an open-ended commitment to the Iran operation without specifying exactly how long it might last.

“A long and drawn-out war is not the President’s intention,” the White House memo says. “The President has estimated this operation will last approximately 4-5 weeks.”

The House Ethics committee is launching an investigation into whether Rep. Nancy Mace (R-S.C.) improperly collected over $9,000 in reimbursements meant to subsidize housing costs for members of Congress.

A new referral from the Office of Congressional Conduct, the nonpartisan entity charged with reviewing ethics complaints against lawmakers, recommended the committee investigate Mace after finding “substantial reason to believe” that she “engaged in improper reimbursement practices”

The referral alleges Mace received the maximum amount lawmakers can expense for lodging at her D.C. property over 13 months in 2023 and 2024 at a total greater than the cost of her actual expenses at the property. The report claims Mace collected $9,485.46 in excess reimbursements.

Mace did not participate in the probe, and her office did not immediately respond to a request for comment. An attorney for Mace submitted a response to OCC in December accusing her former fiance Patrick Bryant of providing records and sharing “false narratives and spurious characterizations” with OCC. Bryant did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Mace’s breakup with Bryant exploded into headlines last year when she accused Bryant and three other South Carolina men of sexual abuse during a House subcommittee hearing last year. Bryant has denied Mace’s allegations.

The release of the report falls just ahead of the 60-day window when the House Ethics committee would be forbidden from taking on new investigations ahead of an election in which the subject of the probe is a candidate. Mace is running for governor of South Carolina, which is holding its primary on June 9th.

The reimbursement practices Mace is alleged to have violated are relatively new for House members. In April 2023, lawmakers for the first time were able to claim reimbursement for meals and lodging on a voluntary basis. The cash comes from the same office accounts that fund their official travel and staff salaries. Mace’s case is one of the first House Ethics cases dealing with the relatively new rules, which were the first update to Congress’ financial operation in decades.

Lawmakers haven’t raised their own pay since the depths of the Great Recession and have voted each year to block cost-of-living increases for fear of political backlash. But lawmakers on both sides of the aisle lamented the cost of maintaining two residences on their $174,000 annual salaries and the reimbursement process was intended to lessen the out-of-pocket load for lawmakers.

Katherine Tully-McManus contributed to this report.

The House committee charged with investigating Jeffrey Epstein has released more than nine hours of video footage from last week’s closed-door depositions with Bill and Hillary Clinton.

The former president and secretary of State testified in compliance with congressional subpoenas to members of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, where they were grilled at a performing arts center in Chappaqua, New York, over what they recall about Epstein and his longtime co-conspirator, Ghislaine Maxwell.

The committee asked Bill Clinton, who testified last Friday, about the photos he appeared in as part of the Justice Department’s Epstein files release and the relationship Epstein had with the Clinton Global Initiative.

Asked about President Donald Trump’s relationship with Epstein, Bill Clinton told the committee he recalled Trump saying the two had “a falling out over a land-deal, property deal.”

“He said, ‘I’m sorry it happened,’ that’s all,” the former president said, referring to Trump.

Rep. Robert Garcia of California, the top Democrat on the panel, asked whether he believed Trump should answer the committee’s questions, Bill Clinton responded, “That’s for you to decide.”

He added: “But he did know him well, and I once had a brief discussion with [Trump] about it.”

Trump has denied the accusations and has insisted he cut off ties with Epstein years before the convicted sex offender was put in jail.

Bill Clinton has maintained he had no knowledge of Epstein’s sex crimes and that he severed ties with the disgraced financier years prior to his arrest in 2019. Hillary Clinton, whose interview was the day before, insisted she didn’t recall ever meeting Epstein and considered Maxwell a casual acquaintance.

Neither of the Clintons have been accused of wrongdoing in connection with Epstein.

But Republicans considered their testimony critical to their probe. Bill Clinton has been featured heavily in the Epstein files released by the Justice Department, and some in the GOP have sought to make him an alternative bogeyman to Trump, who also had a rapport with Epstein.

Their depositions also came just as Democrats on the Oversight panel announced an investigation into whether the DOJ withheld or took down materials from its database around allegations that Trump sexually assaulted a minor.