SUMMARY:
This week, Scott is joined by Republican State House candidate Maggie Davis and returning guest Bryce Greene for a show spanning foreign conflict, disinformation, and a long run of Indiana news. They open in the Middle East, where Saudi-Houthi fighting continues and Israel is blocking the first outpost of Trump's "Board of Peace" in Gaza alongside a wave of West Bank settler violence, then turn to Russia and Ukraine, where Trump's "energy ceasefire" quickly broke down, Starlink access was throttled, and a viral claim that Ukrainian strikes had silenced pro-Trump bot networks that may not have been all it seemed. From there it's a run of disinformation and administration turmoil: Elon Musk's record midterm spending, a debunked smear against Texas Senate candidate James Talarico, Meta's role in election interference abroad, a scrapped plan to livestream a military execution, and the fast exits of a press secretary, an ambassador, and a special envoy amid scandal. A weaponization segment on the federal search of Rep. Ilhan Omar's home and a think tank's blueprint for refusing to seat newly elected members of Congress leads into broader worries about the 2026 midterms, including a federal fight over California's voter rolls and threats to prosecute local election officials, before an economic stretch covering Trump and Governor Braun's underwater approval in Indiana, rising inflation, and a Republican rift over free-market economics. The back stretch is all Indiana: skepticism over the state's data-center tax abatements and a newly approved AES-Google data center deal, a run of deceptive attack ads across several state races, a Fayette County council candidate's viral, unpolished forum appearance and Lieutenant Governor Micah Beckwith's mockery of her despite another controversy of his own; finally a look at the big money four-way Secretary of State's race.
Guest info:
Magdalaine Davis: https://www.electmagdalainedavis.com/
Bryce Greene: https://brycegreene.substack.com/
TABLE OF CONTENTS:
00:00:00 - Opening: Overview, Housekeeping, and Panelist Welcomes
00:04:30 - Middle East: The Saudi-Houthi Conflict
00:11:44 - Israel: The Blocked Gaza “Board of Peace” Base and West Bank Settler Violence
00:20:23 - Russia-Ukraine: Trump’s Broken “Energy Ceasefire” and the Yandex Strikes
00:31:39 - Disinformation: Musk’s $276 Million, the Talarico Smear, and Meta’s Global Election Interference
00:46:42 - Propaganda: Taxpayer-Funded Ads, the Fort Hood Firing Squad, and CREC
00:53:47 - Personnel: Katie Zacharia, Kimberly Guilfoyle, and Paolo Zampolli’s Ousters
01:02:16 - Weaponization: The Ilhan Omar Raid and Vought’s Plan to Steal the Election
01:09:16 - Voting: California’s Noncitizen Ballot Fight and Threats to Prosecute Election Workers
01:18:56 - Economy: Republicans underwater in Indiana, Inflation, and the Daniels-Vance Free Market Feud
01:31:20 - Indiana Economic Development: Tax Abatements and the AES-Google Data Center Deal
01:40:50 - AI Campaign Ads: Spartz-Ford, Data Center Dave, and the Foust-Mears Race
01:47:44 - Fayette County: Jaime West Goes Viral
01:55:34 - Micah Beckwith: Mocking Jaime West and the Judge Phone Call
01:57:24 - Secretary of State’s Race: Bayh, Engling, Ballard and Big Money Donors
02:05:15 - Wrap-Up: Thanks and Where to Find the Panelists
02:06:59 - Sign-Off
NOTES:
Middle East
Saudi-Houthi Conflict
Iran giving Yemen’s Houthis target intelligence for drone, missile strikes on Saudi Arabia - report (Jerusalem Post)
Iran is supplying targeting intelligence for many recent Houthi drone and missile strikes on Saudi Arabia, the Wall Street Journal reports.
A former head of Israeli military intelligence’s Iran branch called the link “very, very strong on the operational level,” saying Iran benefits because the attacks harm Saudi Arabia and push up oil prices.
A Yemen expert says Iranian support “undeniably paved the way” for the Houthis’ rapid military gains over the past few months.
Iran’s Foreign Ministry insists the Houthis are “entirely independent actors,” though members of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard have publicly praised the strikes.
Why are the Houthis attacking Saudi airports and how are the missiles getting through? (Guardian)
A Houthi missile hit Riyadh’s international airport Saturday, the deadliest of a series of strikes on the airport that have now killed 19 people and wounded hundreds. These are the deadliest attacks on Saudi Arabia in a decade.
A Houthi missile hit Riyadh’s international airport Saturday, killing 13 and wounding hundreds, and another strike Sunday killed one. These are the deadliest attacks on Saudi Arabia in a decade.
Airlines across Europe and Asia suspended flights. Riyadh businesses told staff to work remotely, and schools moved online.
The Houthis say they’re retaliating for Saudi strikes on territory they control, warning “worse is yet to come.” The escalation follows a Saudi-backed Yemeni government counteroffensive to push them back from the Bab al-Mandab.
Saudi Arabia is the world’s eighth-largest weapons spender but can’t stop the missiles. “Saudi Arabia is so large that it’s simply impossible for them to consistently defend themselves,” one analyst said.
Houthis Strike Yemen’s Presidential Palace as Saudi Arabia Reports Attacks (Haaretz)
The Houthis struck the Yemeni government’s presidential palace in Aden for the first time in this conflict, killing five people. The prime minister and cabinet were unharmed. The Houthis claim they hit a Saudi military headquarters, which Reuters couldn’t verify.
The Saudi-led coalition says the Houthis launched 20 attacks on Riyadh’s King Khalid International Airport this month and have targeted dozens of airports, ports and oil sites.
A coalition spokesperson says the Houthis got ballistic missiles, drones and explosive-laden fast boats with help from “regional actors.” Iran denies arming them.
The Houthis declared Saudi airspace and airports unsafe, excluding Mecca and Medina, and the UN’s civil aviation body condemned the attacks on civilian airports.
UAE agrees with Saudi Arabia to re-enter Yemen conflict amid Houthi gains (Guardian)
The UAE will reportedly resume funding southern Yemeni forces fighting the Houthis, including the effective Giant Brigades, with Saudi Arabia providing air cover. It’s the first sign of a thaw after a bitter Saudi-UAE split over Yemen in January.
Egypt’s President Sisi is convening an emergency session of parliament to authorize military action in defense of Saudi Arabia, though he insists Egypt would act only defensively.
The Houthis’ advance across Yemen has alarmed rival Gulf rulers into cooperating. The government’s counteroffensive to retake Sana’a has had limited success so far.
Southern separatists are demanding a referendum to restore the pre-1990 split of North and South Yemen. Neither Saudi Arabia nor the UAE has responded.
Houthi missiles struck Aden’s airport Friday, landing about 500 meters from a passenger plane preparing for takeoff. More than 200,000 people have been displaced since August, per the UN.
Trump: Abraham Accords back on the table, Israel has helped Saudi Arabia against Houthis (Ynet)
Trump says Saudi Arabia joining the Abraham Accords is back on the table, “maybe more than ever,” claiming “Israel has been very helpful to Saudi Arabia” against the Houthis.
He didn’t specify how. Regional sources say Israel has been passing intelligence through US Central Command but hasn’t joined the fighting.
When US officials asked whether Israel could strike the Houthis, IDF chief of staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir warned it could spark a wider war involving Iran and force Israel to postpone its Oct. 27 election.
Sources say Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman doesn’t trust Netanyahu and is waiting on Israel’s election, hoping for new leadership before any normalization.
Riyadh still insists on a credible path to a Palestinian state as its condition for diplomatic ties.
Israel-Palestine
Israel blocks construction of key Gaza base created by Trump peace board (Guardian)
Israel is blocking construction of the first project by Trump’s Board of Peace: a rudimentary outpost for 150 international troops, the vanguard of a stabilization force for Gaza. Two months after the contract was awarded, Israel still “won’t open the border,” a source says.
Without that base, the rest of the plan can’t start. “There’s no security... You can’t even start putting utilities,” the source said.
The board believes Israel will allow it after its Oct. 27 election. Israel and the board declined to comment.
Trump chairs the board for life, with Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff on its executive board. It unveiled a $2.45 billion first-phase plan last month toward a $71 billion, 10-year reconstruction.
Trump counts Gaza among the eight wars he claims to have ended, yet Israeli strikes have killed about 1,400 people there since the October 2025 ceasefire, per Gaza health authorities.
Israeli settlers attack Palestinians during West Bank olive harvest and beat U.S. photojournalist (PBS)
Israeli settlers attacked at least eight Palestinian villages across the northern West Bank Friday during the olive harvest, burning cars and trees and beating residents. At least four Palestinians have been killed and more than 100 injured since the harvest began this month.
Masked settlers beat Washington Post photographer Heidi Levine for about 10 minutes. She was hospitalized and credits her helmet and “PRESS” vest with preventing worse injuries.
Rights groups say the Israeli military aids or stands by during attacks. In Abu Falah, soldiers later shot an unarmed village council member. The military claims he ran at them with a sharp object, which villagers deny.
The UN counted more than 1,600 settler attacks from January through August, with violence spiking ahead of Israel’s Oct. 27 election. Even the British government has accused Israel of turning a “blind eye” to what it calls ethnic cleansing.
Netanyahu condemned the violence but recast it as outnumbered Israeli youths clashing with Palestinians and activists, warning against efforts to “demonize” settlers.
Russia-Ukraine
Zelenskyy says Russia strikes energy facilities despite Trump claim of an energy ceasefire (AP)
Trump announced an immediate “energy ceasefire” between Russia and Ukraine, but hours later Russia struck a Kharkiv power plant, a gas production facility and a gas station, Zelenskyy said. The Kremlin wouldn’t confirm it had agreed.
Trump insisted it’s in place: “They agreed. Because I said, ‘You agree.’ That’s why they agreed. Because I said they agree.” Pressed on Russia’s strikes, he cited “violations on both sides.”
It’s Trump’s second such announcement. A Sept. 14 energy truce also never took hold.
Trump blames Ukraine’s refinery strikes for record US diesel prices. Zelenskyy countered that “everybody understands” prices depend on the Strait of Hormuz.
Six senators, four of them Republicans, urged Trump to “immediately reverse course” on his Russian diesel deal, warning against giving Putin “a financial lifeline.”
US threatening to cut off intel, weapons to Ukraine (The Hill)
The Trump administration threatened to cut off intelligence sharing and US weapons sales to Europe for Ukraine unless Kyiv stops deep strikes on Russian energy infrastructure, per the Financial Times and CNN.
The State Department and Pentagon delivered the warnings over the weekend, with the US military telling Ukrainian commanders directly. “They are calling everyone,” one European official said.
The threat targets the NATO-run program Europe uses to buy American weapons for Ukraine.
Zelenskyy says Ukraine backs an energy truce but won’t stop retaliatory strikes unless Russia stops hitting Ukraine’s energy grid.
Ukraine says new Starlink restrictions disrupt military as it reels from intel gaps and Trump clash (NBC)
SpaceX imposed speed limits on Ukraine’s military-grade Starlink overnight without warning, causing drone missions to fail. Ukraine learned of the change only after complaining to customer support.
Musk put it on Trump, saying the military version is owned and controlled by the US government: “Any limits on speed or usage are decided by the US military and ultimately POTUS.”
Ukraine also received no warning before two Russian ballistic missile strikes on Kyiv this week. “This doesn’t look like a coincidence,” a Ukrainian official said, though Trump insists the US is still sharing intelligence.
It comes days after Trump struck the Russian diesel deal, demanded Ukraine stop hitting refineries, and called for Zelenskyy to be replaced. Zelenskyy said he feels betrayed: “It’s a pity that we are losing strong partner.”
At least 600,000 Ukrainians lost power after Russia’s latest strikes, in clear violation of Trump’s own “energy ceasefire.”
Volodymyr Zelenskyy feels ‘betrayed’ by Donald Trump over Starlink access (Guardian)
Zelenskyy said he feels betrayed by Trump and accused the US of deliberately throttling Starlink: “I am sure they knew what they did... This decision will bring a lot of human losses... of course, people will die.”
The restriction cripples the interceptors Ukraine uses against Russia’s jet-powered Shahed drones. Interception rates had already fallen from over 90% to about 60% after Russia upgraded the drones.
Ukraine is already barred from using Starlink to strike targets inside Russia, so the restriction does nothing to stop the refinery attacks Trump wants halted. It only weakens Ukraine’s air defense and frontline operations.
Zelenskyy told NPR his military advisers received US threats that intelligence sharing could be limited.
The Kremlin claims it’s honoring Trump’s energy truce because it “was not specified in detail,” even after launching 39 ballistic missiles and 120 drones at Ukrainian power plants.
Trump puts new Russia sanctions that he recently signed into law on hold, citing national interest (AP)
Trump signed an executive order suspending the sweeping Russia sanctions law he signed just last month, two days before it was set to take effect, citing the “national interest.” The White House didn’t explain how.
The law, named for Lindsey Graham after his sudden death in July, targets Russian officials, banks and Moscow’s shadow tanker fleet, and calls for tariffs up to 100% on top buyers of Russian oil and gas.
It passed with large bipartisan majorities. Co-author Sen. Richard Blumenthal said the waiver has “everything to do with sucking up to Vladimir Putin.”
It follows Trump’s diesel deal with Putin, panned by both parties as aiding Russia’s war without meaningfully lowering prices driven by the Iran war.
Darline Graham, who said she was “so proud” to help pass it, now says it’s up to Trump “whether or not he wants to use it.”
Did Ukraine’s strikes on data centers really silence Russian bots? (Mashable)
Ukrainian drones struck three data centers belonging to Yandex, “Russia’s Google,” between Oct. 8 and 11, knocking out services including its AI chatbot and smart-home devices.
Zelenskyy claimed “everyone noticed” a drop in Russian bot activity online, and users across Western countries reported less right-wing content in their feeds, from pro-GOP accounts to Germany’s far-right AfD.
Cloudflare data shows automated traffic from Yandex’s network nearly vanished, falling to 0.3% of its peak at one point.
But most automated traffic is mundane, like search crawlers, and there’s no published evidence linking Russian influence operations on X or Reddit to Yandex’s servers. Influence campaigns can run on infrastructure anywhere.
Not all of it is bots: operatives in Eastern European countries like Latvia are paying people $3 per 1,000 views to post pro-GOP talking points, per The Atlantic.
Drone Strikes Didn’t Take Out a Russian Bot Farm, But We Were Primed to Believe It (Mother Jones)
Zelenskyy claimed that after the Yandex strikes, “it suddenly became a little easier to breathe on many social media platforms.” Viral claims followed of plunging MAGA, Reform UK and AfD activity, including one that AfD bot activity fell 56%, a post viewed millions of times and later deleted.
Disinformation trackers found no evidence. One firm compared 76 AfD politicians and 136 MAGA Facebook accounts against their normal activity and found AfD posting changed -8% to +5% and MAGA +4% to +10%: “ordinary day-to-day noise.”
A known Russian disinformation network, Matryoshka, was still active days after the strikes.
Georgetown disinformation researcher Renee DiResta said the story spread because it “supports the comforting belief that your political enemies aren’t even real.”
Propaganda
Musk/X
The Right’s Desperate Conspiracy Theory About James Talarico Goes Up In Flames (Rolling Stone | No Paywall)
Right-wing influencers claimed Texas Democratic Senate candidate James Talarico had secretly been treated for a psychotic breakdown at an Ohio mental health facility while off the trail for nine days. His campaign says he was home in Austin with the flu.
Ken Paxton fueled the rumor by claiming Talarico had been “missing” for over two weeks. Influencers tied a private jet flight to Ohio to him with no passenger manifest.
Their “proof,” an edited call recording, fell apart. The full calls showed a staffer telling a caller with a made-up patient code that no one by that name was on the roster, and the timeline had Talarico “discharged” the night he was at a Kacey Musgraves concert in Dallas.
The Lindner Center of Hope said flatly that Talarico “has never received treatment” there. “I’ve never even been to Ohio 😂,” Talarico posted.
Elon Musk, Paxton’s biggest financial backer, amplified the theory himself on X, posting: “The Talarico campaign is hiding something big that voters ought to know about.”
Anatomy of a lie: James Talarico got the flu – sending rightwing midterm misinformation machine into overdrive (Guardian)
The rumor grew from an anonymous X account to Steve Bannon’s War Room to Ken Paxton, who posted Talarico on a “Wanted” poster demanding “proof of life.” Trump joined in at a rally, claiming without evidence that “Tala-freako” was sick from being “forced to eat meat.”
Musk amplified it: “The Talarico campaign is hiding something big that voters ought to know about.” Election law expert Rick Hasen calls Musk “a vector for spreading the misinformation” on the platform he owns.
Lincoln Project co-founder Reed Galen warned that even if Talarico wins, the smear succeeded at making a fake story an issue: “If you do it a lot, sometimes you’re gonna have success.”
Defenses are weaker: Rubio shut down the State Department’s foreign disinformation office last year, and X and Meta have gutted their trust and safety teams.
Elon Musk gives $276 million to Republican groups, becomes biggest known 2026 midterm donor (CNBC)
Elon Musk has given more than $276 million to Republican groups since July, making him the biggest known donor of the 2026 midterms. His cycle total of roughly $366 million already tops the $290 million he spent on the 2024 election.
His $158 million to the Senate Leadership Fund, the main GOP Senate super PAC, ranks among the largest known individual political donations in US history.
He also gave $76 million to his America PAC, $20 million to the House GOP super PAC, and $10 million to a PAC backing Ken Paxton in Texas.
In May 2025, Musk said he’d do “a lot less” political spending.
Musk keeps deep ties to the federal government through SpaceX’s NASA and Pentagon contracts, and Hegseth recently named him co-director of the Pentagon’s Project Meridian on the future of warfare.
Scoop: Inside Elon Musk’s massive Texas rescue mission (Axios)
Late August polling showed Paxton sinking against James Talarico, who dominated Texas TV while Paxton’s campaign was dark.
Musk’s team proposed a matching deal, and within days Republicans had raised $20 million to get Paxton on air, including $10 million from Musk.
Musk then gave $158 million to the Senate Leadership Fund in September alone, nearly 58% of everything it raised that quarter.
His money let Republicans flood Texas’ expensive TV markets without draining resources from other Senate battlegrounds.
Axios calls Musk “single-handedly keeping the Republican Party afloat in some of its most vital races.”
International Influence
How Alberta separatism went from fringe cause to referendum (AP)
Alberta votes Monday on whether to begin the legal process toward a future referendum on leaving Canada. About 23% supported starting it in a recent poll.
Separatism drew 1% to 2% of the vote for decades until the pandemic and the 2022 Freedom Convoy. “It’s the same people,” said former Premier Jason Kenney, who also sees heavy overlap between separatist activists and Putin supporters.
Kenney says MAGA has been “inspirational” for separatist activists, and they’ve taken their case to Washington. Leaders say they met State Department officials three times to pitch an independent Alberta, including a pipeline through the US to the Pacific. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent calls Alberta “a natural partner,” and Kenney calls the outreach “bonkers.”
Prime Minister Mark Carney, unusually popular in Alberta for his pro-energy policies and resistance to Trump’s trade war, urged unity: “We are stronger together.”
Quebec also returned the separatist Parti Québécois to power Oct. 5, though its leader says he won’t hold a referendum while Trump is president.
From August: The Russian Money Behind Alberta’s Separatist Movement (The Walrus)
Russia’s Pravda News Network published dozens of stories portraying Alberta as exploited by Ottawa, and a Russian influence campaign created sites like albertaseparatist.com spreading fabricated claims. RT and Sputnik amplified them, alongside US influencers on YouTube and X.
The Alberta Prosperity Project isn’t registered with Elections Alberta, so it faces no ban on foreign donations. It has raised over $1 million and won’t name its donors, after meeting State Department officials and seeking a $500 billion US line of credit.
Take Back Alberta’s founder was fined more than $120,000, including for accepting contributions from outside Canada.
Canada has no integrated system to detect illicit foreign political money, and disclosures can take a year, potentially until after the vote.
Meta employees say Lula’s accounts restricted in Brazil election: Report (Al Jazeera)
Meta employees acknowledged in internal messages that Brazilian President Lula’s Instagram accounts were hit by restrictions during the election, while the platform recommended challenger Flavio Bolsonaro’s profile and WhatsApp channel, per Folha de S. Paulo.
Lula’s party says some of his posts appeared without share buttons or reaction options and had reduced reach.
Brazil’s top electoral court ordered Meta to treat both candidates equally ahead of the Oct. 25 runoff, including applying identical criteria in its AI tools, or pay about $98,700 a day in fines.
Meta says the technical issues were already public and the messages concerned their severity, not political interference: “Any suggestion that Meta favors one side is false.”
Bolsonaro performed stronger than expected in the first round and polls show him holding an edge.
Trumpaganda
Taxpayer-funded Trump TV ads continued to air after judge ordered halt (Courthouse News)
A federal judge in New York extended her order blocking the administration’s $20 million taxpayer-funded Trump ad campaign through Nov. 8, after the ads kept airing following her initial order.
Common Cause says AdImpact data shows 570 airings after the judge emailed her order Sunday evening, mostly overnight into Monday.
The DOJ’s lawyer took the blame: “It was my bad. I messed up compliance with the TRO on Sunday night.” He said he was at the theater and didn’t see the order until afterward, and speculated local broadcasters ran makeup ads.
The judge named DHS’s ad contractor, LMD Agency, in the order. DHS says LMD had bought $19 million in airtime across Fox, CNN, MS NOW, Newsmax, network Sunday shows and football broadcasts.
Oral arguments are set for Nov. 4, the day after the election. The DNC has filed a separate suit in Washington.
Trump calls off livestream of Fort Hood shooter’s execution (Politico)
Trump called off the livestream of Fort Hood shooter Nidal Hasan’s Dec. 3 firing-squad execution, overriding Hegseth after a week of bipartisan backlash.
Trump still defended the idea as “a strong deterrent” against “SCUM like Hasan,” but said “many very good and well meaning people would rather not watch him die.”
Hasan will still be executed by firing squad as scheduled.
Opposition came from Republicans, Democrats, Vance, and the Catholic Church, whose archbishop for the military said Catholic soldiers shouldn’t serve on the firing squad.
Hegseth church allies backed plan for ‘public’ execution of Fort Hood shooter (Guardian)
Leaders of Hegseth’s church, the Communion of Reformed Evangelical Churches (CREC), backed his scrapped plan to livestream Hasan’s execution. Co-founder Douglas Wilson said he “prefer[s] public executions to private” and favors firing squads over “medicalized” methods like Tennessee’s botched injection.
CREC pastors have long called for the death penalty for adultery, abortion and homosexuality. Joshua Haymes, a podcaster tied to Hegseth’s former Tennessee church who has hosted Hegseth, said of pornography producers: “Hang them in the streets... We need to bring back public executions.”
Haymes also claimed public executions would make killings in “high-density Black areas” “fall to the floor,” and defended it with a crime statistic the ADL lists as white supremacist propaganda.
CREC figures are openly hostile to Islam, calling Allah “a real demon God” and urging officials to “outlaw mosques” and deport Muslims.
Pope Leo and the Vatican’s secretary of state condemned the plan, with Cardinal Parolin calling it “certainly unacceptable to turn death into a spectacle.”
Personnel
Trump’s New Press Secretary Supports Death Penalty for Abortion Patients (Abortion, Every Day)
Until February, Katie Zacharia sat on the advisory board of the White Rose Resistance, whose founder, Seth Gruber, says women who have abortions should be executed “in the public square” and that pro-choice Americans shouldn’t be allowed to hold public office.
The group’s national outreach director was charged with felony stalking of an abortion provider in 2022.
Zacharia herself has falsely claimed abortion medication uses “the same chemicals that they used in the extermination camps.”
Students for Life, one of the most powerful anti-abortion groups, now says abortion patients should “eventually” face homicide charges, reversing years of opposing punishing women.
In June, JD Vance raised the “abolitionist” movement unprompted, saying the government must win the “persuasion battle” before arresting women.
Katie Zacharia out as White House press secretary after first week on the job (CBS)
Katie Zacharia was removed as White House press secretary after five days, amid a widely panned first briefing and questions over whether she misrepresented herself as a lawyer. She graduated law school but failed the California bar in 2011. Sources say she’s transitioning to a new role in the administration.
At her only briefing, she read prepared remarks for about 10 minutes and took questions from just three outlets: Breitbart, Fox News and the Daily Mail.
Hours before the news broke, Trump said he’d told her, “Honestly if I were you, I’d reconsider,” blaming a press that had “been so nasty to her.”
Some White House staff learned she was out from news coverage. One aide said “no one thought she was sticking around long enough to even involve her in actual decision-making.”
Anthony Scaramucci, who lasted 11 days as communications director in Trump’s first term: “Records are made to be broken.”
White House ousts Kimberly Guilfoyle as US ambassador to Greece (CNN)
Kimberly Guilfoyle, Trump Jr.’s former fiancée, was forced out as US ambassador to Greece after reports she sought money for access to administration figures, accepted lavish gifts and brought a Greek construction lobbyist into official meetings. Zacharia announced it at her lone briefing: “She was basically fired on live TV,” one source said.
Former Trump donor Eric Deters says that before her confirmation, Guilfoyle asked him to wire $100,000 to pay off her American Express bill, promising to be his “ride or die” in the administration. “No question it was a quid pro quo,” he said.
Guilfoyle’s lawyers say Deters owed her for speeches and consulting work: “Asking a client to pay for work already done is not corruption.”
The State Department’s inspector general is investigating, but her resignation could stall it. Whether it continues may depend on whether Trump’s DOJ opens its own case, and findings could take a year.
Rubio publicly defended her in Athens days earlier, scolding reporters that their sources aren’t “the gospel,” but privately pushed for her ouster. Trump said “I didn’t like what I read,” adding she “wasn’t a member of my family.”
Trump ally ousted from administration after messy email fight goes public (Politico)
Paolo Zampolli, a personal friend of Trump, was fired as special envoy hours after Politico detailed his months-long email feud with Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau. He said he had “absolute zero surprise.”
Zampolli was Melania Trump’s modeling agent in the 1990s and introduced her to Trump. Trump later put him on the Kennedy Center board and made him special representative for global partnerships.
Hired as a cultural envoy, he met with foreign officials on non-cultural matters, per emails obtained by Politico.
He accused Landau, on an email chain with more than a dozen officials, of leaking a story to the Times. Landau called his accusations “bizarre, defamatory” and ordered him to stop sending “unhinged emails.”
That Times story reported Zampolli asked ICE to deport the mother of his son to Brazil to help him win custody. Zampolli denies asking ICE to detain her.
Weaponization
Agents search Rep. Omar’s Washington home in criminal probe as she vows she won’t ‘be silenced’ (AP)
Homeland Security agents searched Rep. Ilhan Omar’s Washington home in a criminal probe, carrying out boxes labeled “Seized Property Evidence,” three weeks before she faces reelection.
The DOJ has historically avoided overt investigative steps involving candidates within 60 days of an election. Omar called it an “attempt to target political enemies,” vowing, “I will not be silenced.”
The probe appears focused on long-running, unproven allegations of fraud in her family’s immigration paperwork, which Omar calls “disgusting lies.” Vance has said, without evidence, that she “definitely committed immigration fraud.”
The search was foreshadowed. Last month, DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin told Benny Johnson’s podcast, “Something’s going to happen,” and days before the search Trump told a rally that Vance “and our people” were investigating Omar. Hours after it, Trump claimed he had “nothing to do” with it.
House Democratic leaders called it the “continued corrupt weaponization” of government against Trump’s perceived enemies.
Rep. Ilhan Omar’s phone seized and relatives subpoenaed in criminal probe (AP)
Investigators seized Omar’s phone and have issued more than a dozen grand jury subpoenas, including to some of her relatives, as a Minnesota grand jury examines her family’s immigration paperwork.
DC US Attorney Jeanine Pirro said on Fox News that “there are several investigations going on” into Omar, including her financial disclosures. Federal prosecutors typically don’t publicly discuss ongoing investigations, let alone on cable news.
Omar’s attorneys are demanding the return of property seized in the search.
Russell Vought’s 7 Point Plan To Steal the Election. (UNFTR)
Trump said Oct. 6 that OMB Director Russ Vought will be “one of the very important people in the history of our country,” teasing “big surprises coming up in another few weeks.” Days later he said Vought is “working on something that’s going to be so good for our country.”
The same day, Vought’s think tank, the Center for Renewing America, published a guide for the House to refuse to seat elected members it claims can’t take the oath in good faith, targeting DSA members and a “Red-Green Alliance” of Marxists and “anti-Western Muslims.” It lists “Muslim” movements while insisting it isn’t a religious test.
Its seven steps: (1) build a file on the member-elect before Jan. 3; (2) treat state certification as a claim, not a right to serve; (3) object when the member is called to be sworn in; (4) make them stand aside while others take the oath; (5) withhold their oath pending review; (6) vote that they can’t take it in good faith; (7) declare the seat vacant. The think tank says it “welcomes” the litigation that follows.
Rep. Joe Morelle has warned that if Democrats win narrowly, Speaker Johnson could replace the nonpartisan House clerk, who controls the roll of members-elect before a Speaker is chosen, with a loyalist who leaves contested names off.
UNFTR’s theory: the Omar raid is the opening move. A federal immigration probe could be used to challenge the citizenship of a Muslim, Somali-born, naturalized member, one of the few qualifications the Constitution actually sets, and block her from being seated Jan. 3.
Election ‘26
Attack on Voting
Trump administration sues California to block counting of alleged noncitizen mail ballots (PBS)
The Trump administration sued California to block counting mail ballots from 20,000 voters it calls “likely” noncitizens until their citizenship is confirmed, after the state didn’t meet a 48-hour deadline to review the list.
The DOJ delivered that list on a thumb drive with the password handwritten on a sticky note. LA County’s registrar said he didn’t consider it a secure device.
Similar claims just collapsed in Nevada: DHS alleged nearly 16,000 noncitizens on Nevada’s rolls, and the state found every one of them was a US citizen.
The administration’s own number keeps shrinking. DHS claimed 190,000 noncitizens on California’s rolls this summer, now the DOJ says 20,000. “What happened to those 170,000? They just got those wrong,” said AG Rob Bonta.
Secretary of State Shirley Weber called it “an emergency of the DOJ’s creation,” and Bonta says it violates a federal ban on changing voter rolls within 90 days of an election.
DOJ asks court to let it continue its voter roll purging program despite block (Democracy Docket)
DOJ asked a federal court to pause its Oct. 9 ruling blocking the department from collecting state voter rolls and running them through DHS’s flawed SAVE database to flag alleged noncitizens, so it can keep going while it appeals.
Judge Sparkle Sooknanan’s nationwide block bars DOJ from even using voter data some states handed over voluntarily: “DOJ cannot run roughshod over longstanding laws that were carefully crafted to protect the rights of the American people.”
DOJ now claims there is no such policy and that its demands weren’t mandatory because the letters only asked states to “please” provide data. It then sued 30 states plus DC for refusing.
DOJ is 0 for 26 in court cases demanding states’ unredacted voter rolls.
In California, DOJ has threatened election officials with criminal exposure if they don’t purge voters it has flagged as noncitizens.
Trump administration threatens to prosecute local California election workers (ABC)
The DOJ threatened to criminally prosecute California election workers who “knowingly tabulate ballots cast by individuals identified by federal agencies as noncitizens,” warning they “risk becoming aiders and abettors to a federal crime.”
Trump reposted the letter, adding: “They will all go to jail for a long period of time!!!”
It echoes DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin’s summer warning that election officials could face “fines, penalties, and even... prison time.”
Experts say the lawsuit is unlikely to succeed but fear the damage to public confidence in elections.
The administration appears to be “laying the groundwork to challenge results after Election Day,” said the Brennan Center’s Sean Morales-Doyle. “They’re putting a nail in the wall for something to hang their hat on later.”
Competing Plans
GOP senator: Cancel Thanksgiving recess if we lose (Axios)
Sen. Bernie Moreno (R-Ohio) wants Republicans to work straight through the holidays if they lose Congress, jamming through “everything that we could possibly get” in a “Last Supper” reconciliation bill: “We’ll have turkeys here for Thanksgiving.”
Reconciliation needs only a simple majority. Budget Committee chair Ron Johnson says Republicans are already working with the House and White House on what to include.
The lame-duck to-do list is long: funding the government past Dec. 11, emergency defense spending, raising the debt ceiling, the NDAA, FISA reauthorization and the farm bill.
Odds are uncertain. Republicans couldn’t pass a megabill this summer, and departing holdouts like Cornyn, Tillis, Cassidy and McConnell won’t feel election pressure.
Trump priorities like Golden Dome, autonomous weapons and F-35 upgrades are counting on that bill, and Hegseth says the Pentagon needs “a minimum” of $350 billion to “rebuild the military.”
Here’s what’s on House Democrats’ agenda if they sweep to power in midterm elections (PBS)
House Democrats are preparing a 100-days agenda, launched in the first 100 hours of a new Congress, focused on affordability and oversight of the Trump administration.
Jeffries says Democrats will unite “right out of the gate” on restoring ACA tax credits, reversing the Republican Medicaid cuts and work requirements, undoing Trump’s tariffs, and forcing more war powers votes on Iran.
Five working groups, each co-led by a progressive and a centrist (like AOC and Rep. Terri Sewell on healthcare), are drafting plans on healthcare, housing, groceries, gas and utilities, and caregiving.
The top Democrats on the Oversight and Judiciary committees are preparing investigations into Trump, his family and his administration. Jeffries says impeachment is neither on nor off the table.
“We need to lower the cost of groceries and gas. Two, we need to make healthcare affordable for every single American. Three, we’re going to hold the crooks accountable who’ve visited unprecedented corruption on the American people,” Jeffries said. “Beginning on day one.”
Economy
New poll shows Trump’s approval ratings falter in Indiana (FPI)
Trump’s approval in Indiana is underwater, 44% approve to 54% disapprove, with 48% strongly disapproving, in a state he won by nearly 20 points in 2024. Independents disapprove 69%.
Democrats are far more fired up: 58% say they’re more enthusiastic to vote than usual, versus just 34% of Republicans.
Gov. Mike Braun is also underwater, 38% approve to 48% disapprove, and 47% say Indiana is on the wrong track.
Braun’s gas tax suspension and push on utility bills haven’t helped. “The president is the brand, and if the president’s brand is not doing well, then the whole thing goes down with him,” said Ball State political scientist Chad Kinsella.
Hoosiers ranked government corruption as their top concern, ahead of even the cost of living.
Inflation worsened last month to 3.7% in sign that prices remain elevated as midterm elections near (AP)
Inflation accelerated to 3.7% in September from 3.4% in August, the last major inflation report before the midterms. Prices jumped 0.6% in a single month, and inflation-adjusted paychecks shrank from a year ago for the first time since May.
Gas prices rose 9.1% in one month, and airfares are up 22% from a year ago, both driven by the Iran war.
Core inflation, which excludes food and energy, rose to 2.6%, higher than economists expected. “Price increases were widespread,” one economist said.
The Fed, which already raised rates in September for the first time in three years, could hike again at its Oct. 27–28 meeting, though higher rates can’t fix supply shocks like the Iran war.
Companies are passing costs on: PepsiCo is raising prices on Doritos, Ruffles and some sodas, and Nintendo raised the Switch 2’s price 11%.
IMF warns global economy ‘could soon test the limits of resilience’ (Guardian)
The IMF warned the global economy “could soon test the limits of resilience,” saying it has weathered the Iran war better than feared but that resilience “is reaching its limits.”
Emergency oil stocks, released in record amounts since March, are now depleted. High government debt leaves little room to shield consumers from another price spike.
Risks are “skewed to the downside,” the IMF said, citing a prolonged stalemate or escalation in the Middle East, attacks on energy infrastructure and an AI-driven market crash.
Global inflation is forecast at 4.7% this year, and growth is expected to “edge down” in 2027 as high energy prices and interest rates bite.
Analysts say Trump’s Russian diesel deal will have little “meaningful” effect on prices.
Mitch Daniels rebukes JD Vance over free-market retreat (Politico)
Former Gov. Mitch Daniels, whom Vance once called his “political hero,” said Vance and other Republicans are “in error” to retreat from free-market economics: “It’s the only mechanism, in my view, for preserving the American dream.”
Vance has criticized free-market icon Milton Friedman and defended Trump’s tariffs as ending “40 years of a failed bipartisan consensus.” Critics see it as a populist pitch ahead of a 2028 run.
Daniels called Trump both “a symptom” and “a propellant” of voters’ feeling of being “condescended, looked down on, ignored, disrespected.”
He said Trump’s GOP has opened room for a “pro-freedom party”: “Whether that is the next iteration of this Republican Party or you find some other vehicle, I don’t know.” Asked whether Vance could be that candidate: “It’s all TBD.” Daniels sidestepped a question about his own party identification.
Indiana Stories
Economic Development
Report finds tax abatements may not be effective. Republicans aren’t so sure (WFYI)
A report from Indiana’s nonpartisan fiscal office found little evidence that property tax abatements, the state’s most-used economic development incentive, actually persuade businesses to locate somewhere they wouldn’t have anyway.
Annual abatement tax savings have nearly doubled, from $182 million in 2017 to $322 million in 2026.
Sen. Scott Baldwin (R-Noblesville) repeatedly pushed back, eventually saying he simply disagreed with the findings.
Likely incoming Senate leader Chris Garten (R-Charlestown) said abatements are local decisions and pointed to 200,000 people moving to Indiana in five years, though he didn’t tie that growth to abatements.
Sen. Fady Qaddoura (D-Indianapolis) said data centers had been offered roughly $694 million in promised abatements as of June: “I’m completely perplexed by the idea that Mark Zuckerberg and Jeff Bezos need tax incentives from Hoosiers.”
Indiana approves AES plan to power Google data center in Monrovia (WFYI)
Indiana utility regulators unanimously approved AES Indiana’s $1.3 billion plan for the solar, battery storage and power lines needed for Google’s 390-megawatt data center in Monrovia, the first project under a 2025 law requiring data centers to cover at least 80% of their costs.
AES and Google say Google pays for everything, but the order lets AES put $73.8 million in transmission upgrades into its rate base, recovered from all customers.
“We already have high bills here in Indianapolis,” said Citizens Action Coalition’s Ben Inskeep. “We don’t need more rate increases caused by data centers.”
Key terms, including dollar amounts, rates and timelines, are redacted as trade secrets.
Google also landed Morgan County tax abatements, including a 50% property tax break for 10 years on its buildings, with the state estimating $168 million in total tax savings over 35 years.
AI Campaign Ads?
Could data center opposition boost Democrats in Indiana House races? (ICC)
Democrats are running on data center opposition in key Indiana House races, aiming to gain the four seats needed to break the GOP’s 70-30 supermajority, which they’ve failed to do for six straight cycles. Their mailers say Republicans “sold us out to data centers.”
It’s a popular message: in this month’s Free Press Indiana poll, 69% of likely voters opposed new data center construction, with only 18% in favor.
The top target is the House District 25 rematch between Rep. Becky Cash (R-Zionsville) and Democrat Tiffany Stoner, after Cash won by just 64 votes in 2024. Cash complains that Democrats have “the same messaging in every district.”
In northwest Indiana, House utilities chair Ed Soliday (R-Valparaiso), who sponsored the 2019 data center sales tax exemption, faces Democrat Ryan Kominakis, who says Soliday “quite literally authored himself” the laws “screwing over regular people.”
Soliday dismisses the backlash as “a hysteria right now, where at public hearings there is a lot of screaming.”
AI or an actress? Spartz sends cease-and-desist over Ford’s attack ad (IndyStar)
Rep. Victoria Spartz sent cease-and-desist letters accusing Democrat J.D. Ford’s ad “The Heist” of using AI to depict her burglarizing a home, taking a bribe and cutting power to a hospital, citing an Indiana law requiring disclaimers on digitally altered political media.
It wasn’t AI. IndyStar confirmed the “Spartz” in the ad is a Chicago actress, and Ford’s campaign says none of the footage was AI-generated.
A separate letter accuses the Ford-linked Commonsense Hoosiers PAC of using “obviously AI-generated” images on mailers, including one of Spartz yelling “Buy! Buy!” at stock monitors. The PAC couldn’t be reached.
Spartz says Ford’s side has been “fabricating lies” to “cover up Mr. Ford’s extreme and corrupt record.” It’s her campaign’s third cease-and-desist since September.
At least 164 political ads nationally have been generated or enhanced with AI this cycle, per the Wesleyan Media Project. One expert said the harm lies in the deception, not the tool: “What difference is there between [using AI or an actress] if they’re both realistic?”
More Like This
D-Data Center Dave Hall (Indiana House Democratic Caucus)
Democrat Amy Huffman Oliver’s campaign brands Republican Sen. Dave Hall “Data Center Dave” in a 30-second ad, using a Hall look-alike and a Clippy-style paper clip that announces, “Data Center Dave really likes data centers.”
The narrator claims Hall has “invested thousands in the AI companies building them, and taken tens of thousands in campaign cash from the companies behind them.” On-screen sourcing cites his economic interest statement and campaign finance records.
It accuses him of voting to “fast-track” data centers, “let utilities charge us for it, and give them tax breaks we’re on the hook for,” citing House bills.
A family gets utility-bill alerts on their phones before Hall bursts in with hard-hat crews: he “wants to bring a data center to your backyard without your approval.”
It closes: “Don’t let Data Center Dave bulldoze our community. Vote him out November 3rd.”
R-Fed up, Marion County? Vote Foust for Prosecutor (Philip Foust)
Philip Foust’s campaign for Marion County prosecutor is running an AI-generated ad attacking incumbent Prosecutor Ryan Mears, labeled “AI actors” in small on-screen text.
Two AI-generated men watch a gym basketball game. One says Mears “spends more time on his jump shot than prosecuting criminals.”
They complain about “teenagers getting a slap on the wrist,” calling the juvenile system “a joke” amid “carjacking, shootings, high-speed chases.”
One AI character says he’s “a lifelong Democrat” but is “voting for Foust for prosecutor,” closing with: “Mears had his shot. Nice sneakers though.”
It ends: “Fed up? Vote Foust for Prosecutor.”
Fayette Co. Candidate Goes Viral
‘We have guns too’: Indiana Democratic candidate goes viral for bizarre interview (IndyStar)
Jaime West, a Democratic candidate for Fayette County Council, went viral after a local TV forum where she appeared to slur and stutter her words. Asked for an unpopular policy she’d pursue, she stared into the camera and said: “Firing all Republicans.”
She distinguished “good Republicans” from “MAGA,” calling the latter “racist” and “not very intelligent,” and said she’s been threatened by the nephew of a local sheriff. Her closing words to voters: “We have guns, too.”
She also claimed a Connersville fire station would close because of the state’s property tax law, SB 1. The fire chief publicly denied it: “There will not be any fire station closures in Connersville,” adding he has no ties to Democrats.
The clip has spread to TMZ, Fox News and Libs of TikTok. Her Republican opponent, Gary Keener Jr., skipped the forum and submitted a written statement instead.
West wore merch for Victoria Martz, the Democrat challenging Rep. Lindsay Patterson in Indiana House District 55, and Republicans are now using the clip to attack Martz. Martz didn’t respond to IndyStar.
Candidate’s remarks go viral: Fayette County woman clears the air on slurred speech, statements made (Connersville News-Examiner)
West says she drank a Coors Light before the forum but took no drugs or medication, attributing her slurred speech to a traumatic brain injury in 2020: “That is just how Jaime is.”
Her claim on air that the “Sheriff’s nephew threatened to blow my head off” drew denials from Fayette County’s sheriff, who has no nephews. West now says she meant the Union County sheriff’s nephew, and that sheriff says he doesn’t know how that could have happened.
On the fire station, the chief’s full statement partly backs her: some local officials warn SEA 1 cuts could make “manpower cuts... unavoidable,” and the department “cannot man all three fire stations with less manpower.” She overstated it as a confirmed closure.
She says she’s turned down CNN, Fox News, TMZ and others on her lawyer’s advice, but may do Piers Morgan, and is directing would-be donors to the Fayette County Democrats.
She says she’s received both “bullying” and support from “all around the world,” with people calling her “the queen.” Her closing message this time: “I spoke from the heart, man. I wish everybody the best; hang in there. Be kind.”
Micah Beckwith
Beckwith Mocks Jaime West (Facebook)
Lt. Gov. Micah Beckwith posted a still from West’s viral forum appearance, showing her with a skeptical head tilt, captioned: “Whenever someone tries to educate me on the separation of Church and State.”
The joke uses a local Democratic candidate’s viral moment to mock defenders of church-state separation, a principle Beckwith, a pastor, has long disputed.
It’s the second straight week Indiana’s second-highest official has weighed in on a viral controversy with a meme, after his “It’s Okay to Sign” post defending the OK hand gesture.
Beckwith office initiates ex parte communication with judge (ICC)
Lt. Gov. Micah Beckwith’s office phoned the judge in an inmate’s criminal case. The judge refused to consider it, ruling it an improper ex parte communication, meaning contact with the court that excludes the other parties.
Because it was a phone call, there’s no record of what was said. Beckwith’s office hasn’t responded to the Capital Chronicle’s repeated requests since Sept. 29.
The inmate, Jordan Wadle, is serving 16 years after a 2015 bar fight in Fayette County. Per the Indiana Supreme Court, he struck a retreating man with his car, then hit him again, pinning him under a guardrail, and sped off with a blood-alcohol level nearly twice the legal limit. The victim survived with a fractured skull and broken ribs after nearly 60 days in intensive care. Wadle was acquitted of aggravated battery, and his only remaining conviction is felony leaving the scene.
The judge’s order came the same day Wadle’s family filed a handwritten request for him to attend his father’s funeral. His father, Larry Wadle, was a former Fayette County sheriff and, like Beckwith, a pastor. The judge struck the request without ruling.
Wadle is due for release Nov. 15. The judge had already denied his 2025 bid for early release to be tested as a kidney donor for his father.
Secretary of State’s Race
Democrat keeps up fundraising advantage in secretary of state’s race (ICC)
Democrat Beau Bayh spent $3.9 million from July through September, more than double Republican Max Engling’s $1.6 million, a rare spending advantage for a statewide Indiana Democrat.
Bayh went up on TV in August, a month before the GOP, spending $3.3 million on ads. Republicans have spent $1.3 million on ads for Engling, mostly paid for by the state party.
Both parties are bankrolling their candidates. Bayh has since reported $1.5 million from the state Democratic Party, and Engling nearly $600,000 from the state GOP.
Evan Bayh’s old Senate fund transferred $700,000 to a state Democratic federal committee. Engling’s campaign claims the money went to Beau and expects the total to reach $2.3 million.
Lincoln Party candidate Greg Ballard has $278,000 on hand after spending over $800,000 just to make the ballot: “The law is on their side. The history is on their side.”
Who’s donating to Bayh, Ballard and Engling in pricy secretary of state race? (IndyStar)
Beau Bayh’s biggest donors this quarter were philanthropist Deborah Simon ($150,000), developer Michael Browning ($100,000) and Connecticut billionaire Robert Johnson ($100,000), plus nearly $700,000 from the state Democratic Party, unions, and $10,000 from Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker.
Bayh has raised more than $4.7 million this year but nearly drained his account, with most of his spending going to a New York ad firm.
Half of Max Engling’s quarter came from a single $1 million state GOP ad buy, after his slow start prompted Gov. Braun and the party to step in.
Engling’s other big donors are mostly fellow Republicans’ political groups, including $55,000 from Sen. Todd Young’s PAC and money tied to Rep. Jefferson Shreve and former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy.
Greg Ballard’s donors lean old-guard Indianapolis establishment, led by retired Eli Lilly CEO John Lechleiter ($150,000).
Who’s ahead in Indiana’s secretary of state race? We asked voters (FPI)
Democrat Beau Bayh leads the secretary of state race 43% to 35% over Republican Max Engling, with Libertarian Lauri Shillings at 6% and Lincoln Party candidate Greg Ballard at 5%. A Democrat hasn’t won statewide since 2012 or held the office since 1994.
Republicans are less united: 68% back Engling while 9% cross over to Bayh, versus 85% of Democrats backing Bayh. Independents favor Bayh 39% to 9%.
Name recognition is a big gap: nearly half of voters have never heard of Engling, versus 27% for Bayh. Engling’s campaign says the poll under-samples Republicans.
Ball State’s Chad Kinsella credits Trump and gas prices more than the Bayh name, and the mood reaches past this race: Hoosiers prefer Democrats for Congress 45% to 44%, in a state where Republicans hold seven of nine House seats. “There are just lots of red flags and alarm bells everywhere for Republicans,” Kinsella said.
Down-ballot, Democrat Jessica Bailey edges Republican incumbent Comptroller Elise Nieshalla 39% to 36%, and Republican incumbent Treasurer Daniel Elliott leads Democrat Coumba Kebe 43% to 38%.
