Oct 142026

The disclosures under review valued husband Tim Mynett's two businesses at $15,000–$51,000 for 2023 and $6 million–$30 million for 2024. Omar has not been charged with anything.

Homeland Security Investigations agents (ICE's criminal-investigation arm) searched the Washington home of Ilhan Omar (Rep-D Minnesota) on Monday, Oct. 12, under a court-authorized warrant. The probe reportedly centers on immigration paperwork her late father filled out when she was a child. The search came 22 days before the Nov. 3 midterms.

The second probe. On Tuesday, Oct. 13, U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro said her office is also examining Omar's financial disclosures.

The White House. Trump called Omar "a terrible person" and "a terrible congresswoman" but said "I don't take a position" on deporting her and that the case is up to the Justice Department.

The Justice Department. It rejected the claim that its policy bars investigative steps within 60 days of an election. ([TS]True to the letter: there's no fixed blackout, but DOJ's manual bars timing any step to sway an election.)

Omar. She called the search "an attempt to target political enemies and weaponize federal law enforcement" and turned it into a fundraising appeal. Democrats say privately they expect more "October surprises."

Still open. Neither probe has produced a charge, and the reporting has not shown that the immigration case and the money review are connected.

U.S. diesel futures rose 5% by midday Tuesday, Oct. 13, to their highest in weeks, as doubts mounted that the deal would bring prices down, per NBC News.

Twelve senators sent Donald Trump a letter on Tuesday, Oct. 13, demanding he rescind the deal that lifted U.S. sanctions on Russian diesel. They called it "a gift to our adversary and a betrayal of our Allies."

The signers. Richard Blumenthal (Sen-D Connecticut) led the letter. The six Republicans are Thom Tillis (Sen-R North Carolina), Susan Collins (Sen-R Maine), Lisa Murkowski (Sen-R Alaska), Mitch McConnell (Sen-R Kentucky), John Cornyn (Sen-R Texas) and Alan Armstrong (Sen-R Oklahoma).

The law. Tillis and Lloyd Doggett (Rep-D Texas) say the waiver breaks the 2022 Ending Importation of Russian Oil Act, the law that banned Russian oil imports after the invasion of Ukraine. Doggett sponsored it and says Trump is "directly violating that law."

Trump's answer. He now says: "It's not a deal with me. It's a deal for the world. That's not a USA deal." ([TS]Treasury's own license lets Russian diesel be imported into the U.S. until April 7, 2027.)

The supply. Trump promised 300,000 tons of Russian diesel at once and 500,000 tons in November. Analysts put the best case at less than two weeks of U.S. diesel demand.

Trump accuses the Houthis of pushing up oil prices before the Nov. 3 midterms; a Houthi official threatens U.S. interests if America joins the fight.

Saudi-led coalition jets struck Houthi-held oil facilities and a key fuel depot in Yemen, payback for the Houthi strike on Riyadh's King Khalid airport. The Houthis are the Iran-backed rebel group that holds much of Yemen. That Saturday, Oct. 10 strike killed at least 13, including an American, and injured more than 300, per AP; a second strike on Sunday, Oct. 11 killed one more, bringing the airport toll to at least 14. Houthi attacks kept coming.

Trump. On Truth Social, he accused the Houthis of trying to drive up oil prices before the midterms (the congressional elections on Tuesday, Nov. 3): "I'm not running in the Elections... but I'll be there after the Elections, and I will never forget!" He is not on the ballot but stays president after the vote. Brent, the global benchmark, settled at $105.69 a barrel on Tuesday, Oct. 13, a day after its highest close since Sept. 15; U.S. crude settled at $94.14, per Reuters.

The Houthis. An official told AFP that if the U.S. joins, "there will be a swift and painful response targeting the US and all its interests in the region."

Still open. The week's death toll. CBS counts at least 20 killed in Houthi strikes on Saudi Arabia, including one American; NBC counts at least 14.

She called the allegations false and gave no date for leaving; she served less than a year in Athens.

The resignation. New White House press secretary Katie Zacharia announced on Tuesday, Oct. 13, that Trump had asked Kimberly Guilfoyle to resign. About two hours later, Guilfoyle confirmed the resignation on X.

The allegation. Wall Street Journal reports say she pressed donor Eric Deters to pay a $100,000 American Express bill, compared with about $300,000 he says he paid her over the years, in exchange for access before her July 2025 confirmation hearing. Deters says he never paid it. "It was a quid pro quo," he told NBC.

“She wasn't a member of my family. She, I guess, dated my son a long time ago We didn't like what we were reading.”Donald Trump

What next. House Oversight Democrats want her messages and financial records by Thursday, Oct. 22. Two people familiar with the probe told NBC News on Oct. 9 that the State Department inspector general (the department's internal watchdog) is investigating her and the Athens embassy; the watchdog does not confirm investigations, and the State Department declined to comment.

A second night of strikes, Tuesday, Oct. 13, killed one person in Kyiv and hit the Darnytska CHP-4 power plant, two days after Trump announced an energy ceasefire.

Five Russian ballistic missiles hit Kyiv on Monday night (Oct. 12) without the early warning Ukraine normally gets from its partners. The Kyiv Independent identified them as S-400s; Ukraine's Air Force logged them as Iskander-M/S-400 missiles.

Kyiv's account. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Ukraine got "no early warning from our partners." A senior Ukrainian official told the Kyiv Independent: "The Americans said they just didn't see (the launch)... That's a weak excuse."

Washington's answer. Trump said: "We are helping them, and we are sharing intel. We want the war to end." Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha also said sharing continues. Kyiv Independent sources said the same.

The ceasefire. Russia has launched more than 100 weapons at Ukraine since Monday evening (Oct. 12), per NBC News. On Tuesday night (Oct. 13), a strike on a Kyiv apartment block also hit the Darnytska CHP-4 heat-and-power plant, killing one person and injuring 13, the BBC reported. In Kharkiv, a destroyed apartment building killed four and wounded 41.

Britain's UKMTO shipping office counted six vessels attacked on Sunday, Oct. 11 alone; the previous two-week high was 13 ships, in early March.

Iran attacked 24 tankers and other vessels in and around the Strait of Hormuz in the two weeks to Sunday, Oct. 11, by the Financial Times' count from UKMTO and European security reports, the worst stretch since the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran began Feb. 28 (the next worst, early March, had 13). Iran's army also announced it has deployed units east of the strait, in the Arabian Sea and the Sea of Oman, the open water ships enter after leaving the Gulf.

Sunday, Oct. 11. UKMTO counted six vessels attacked. The Joint Maritime Information Center's report that day details three tankers hit; a fourth ship, the Ocean Molica, was struck by U.S. forces, not Iran.

Still open. The FT has not published a ship-by-ship list, so how many of the 24 were damaged, disabled or lost crew is not yet known.

What the three confirmed Oct. 11 tanker hits did, per the Joint Maritime Information Center:

• One tanker lost power and had to be towed
• One caught fire; the fire was put out
• One took damage to its steering room and water tanks; all three crews reported safe

He faces up to five years in prison if convicted; a detention hearing is set for Oct. 19.

Alfozan, 35, a Saudi national at OpenAI since July 2025, allegedly hid an encrypted recorder, wrapped in toilet paper, in a TV's USB port in a room where OpenAI leaders discuss research, products and government work, per the Justice Department.

What he's charged with. One wiretap-law count: using or trying to use a device to intercept private conversations. Arrested Friday, Oct. 9; first court appearance Tuesday, Oct. 13.

How it was found. Staff found the device Sept. 30, about two days after it went in. OpenAI says its AI models helped trace it to him; it alerted the FBI and fired him, per the BBC.

The catch. The contents were encrypted, and DOJ has not said any audio was recovered. OpenAI sees no sign model weights, source code or customer data were taken. Officials call it a national-security case, but the public allegations name no foreign government, buyer or motive, Newsweek notes.

What next. A judge decides Oct. 19 whether he stays jailed until trial.