Oct 172026

A federal judge in Brooklyn ruled that federal law does not override New York City's limits on helping ICE. U.S. District Judge Ramon Reyes found the government lacked standing to sue. He added that the Tenth Amendment would block relief anyway. It bars the federal government from commandeering local officials.

A federal appeals panel questioned the Justice Department's argument that papers created in the White House belong to Trump rather than the public. The Presidential Records Act, passed in 1978 after Nixon, made such records public property. NPR reports the case could end up at the Supreme Court; conservative lawyer Michael Edney told a Federalist Society webinar the administration "want[s] this to go to the Supreme Court."

Since September 2025, DOJ has sued 30 states plus D.C. for unredacted voter rolls; judges threw out all 26 cases with final rulings, per ProPublica, while four are pending and one state settled.

Trump said on Friday, Oct. 16, that neither he nor Elon Musk ordered this week's speed caps on Starshield, the military Starlink service that Ukraine's drones and air defenses run on. “It wasn't me, and it wasn't Elon, as I understand,” he told reporters, per The Hill. Two U.S. officials and a Western official have told Reuters the order came from the White House. Nine senators, four of them Republicans, have asked the Pentagon's inspector general, Platte Moring, to find out who directed, approved or knew in advance about the caps, per ABC News. Their Oct. 15 letter asks him to confirm an investigation in writing and give a first briefing by Sunday, Nov. 1.

• The Republican signers: Susan Collins (Sen-R Maine), John Cornyn (Sen-R Texas), Lisa Murkowski (Sen-R Alaska) and Thom Tillis (Sen-R North Carolina).
• Trump also said he did not think service had been slowed at all. Zelensky said in Brussels the same day that speed was returning but not fully restored, per NBC News.
• A Ukrainian official told Axios: “Our guys who speak to SpaceX say the White House was involved in the decision.”

Zacharia left Friday, Oct. 16, less than three weeks before the midterms, after holding one 14-minute briefing. The Guardian and The New York Times call it a firing; Trump denied firing her, per Fox News. NBC reports that a replacement is not likely soon.

Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin says Ilhan Omar's (Rep-D Minnesota) case, "a strong case" built on a judge-signed warrant and others served Monday, Oct. 12, will go to a grand jury. Omar is uncharged, her lawyers want the seized items back, and Trump officials who examined her in 2019 found no citizenship problems.

Earlier letters went to at least 26 state election offices and at least 22 offices of congressional Democrats, per NBC News; Pete Ricketts (Sen-R Nebraska) said tests showed the powder sent to his Omaha office was not harmful.

Levine, who was marked as press, is in stable condition in a Ramallah hospital; Netanyahu's office said the facts were unclear, and Post editor Matt Murray replied that the beating was "indisputable."

• About 80 settlers descended on the grove, per Reuters witnesses cited by NBC News.
• Injuries are disputed: a local official told the BBC 12 Palestinians were hurt, four of them Palestinian-Americans; Palestinian medics told NBC 2 went to the hospital.
• NBC counts 170+ settler attacks in the West Bank since Sept. 27.

Warsh said the economy has "broadly conformed" to expectations since September's hike and said "I don't prejudge meetings," pushing CME FedWatch odds of an October hike down to 28%, against 22% before the inflation report.

The CDC counts 4,410 measles cases in 2026, per ABC News. About 96% are among people who are unvaccinated or whose status is unknown. Pennsylvania alone reports 6 measles-related deaths.

Oct. 16 — With Pennsylvania's case count at 1,222, the CDC sent an outbreak investigator to the state.

Centcom chief Adm. Brad Cooper estimates the US naval blockade has cost Iran $25 billion in oil revenue; the reports give no calculation behind the figure, so it is Centcom's own estimate, not an independent count. He said militias across the region are "withholding payments for their soldiers in order to funnel money back to the IRGC, which also isn't paying its troops."

Acting Deputy Attorney General Trent McCotter wrote to L.A. County Counsel, copying Secretary of State Shirley Weber and Registrar Dean Logan, that anyone who "knowingly" counts ballots from voters federal agencies flag as noncitizens risks "becoming aiders and abettors to a federal crime."

Democratic candidates in the 15 Senate races NBC News rates as competitive raised $253 million from July through September. Their Republican rivals raised $56 million, according to Federal Election Commission filings. Republicans raised more in only one of those races: Minnesota, where Michele Tafoya is running against Peggy Flanagan, the state's lieutenant governor. GOP outside groups funded by megadonors are pouring money into ads to make up the gap, NBC reports.

On Oct. 16, Q3 reports showed Talarico raising $64 million in Texas against $18 million for Paxton and his allies. They also showed Democrats outraising Republicans across Senate races, including Troy Jackson's roughly 4-to-1 edge over Susan Collins in Maine.

In Ohio, former senator Sherrod Brown raised $23.1M to Jon Husted's (Sen-R Ohio) $4.8M.

Elon Musk has given more than $276 million to Republican groups for the midterms, ABC News tallies from FEC filings. That nears the $277 million he had given in the 2024 election by December 2024, per CBS News. Year-end filings later put his 2024 total above $290 million, per CNN. Talarico, the Texas Democrat much of the money targets, cast himself as David: "We are going up against our own Goliaths, those billionaire mega-donors," per PBS.

In September, Musk gave the Senate GOP's super PAC, the Senate Leadership Fund, $158 million: $75 million on Sept. 9 and $83 million on Sept. 23. The fund routed it to a Texas super PAC backing Paxton's Senate bid against Talarico.

The Cook Political Report, a nonpartisan election handicapper, moved 11 House races toward Democrats on Friday, Oct. 16, a week after shifting 18, per Newsmax. Nine of the 11 are Republican-held or open seats, and most still favor the GOP. Cook says Republicans' troubles are sharpest in Midwestern red states, where voters are frustrated with how both federal and state governments have handled the economy. For scale: Cook's Oct. 9 ratings had 21 Toss Ups and 213 seats in Democratic columns, five short of a 218-seat majority, per Votendi.

At their final debate on Thursday, Oct. 15, Dan Sullivan (Sen-R Alaska) was asked about the White House decision to let Russian diesel onto the world market. "I just led the effort on a Russia sanctions act that passed the Congress, so I'm opposed to that," he said, per NBC News. Treasury's Oct. 9 license allows the Russian diesel through April 7, 2027. Sullivan also said the Iran war "needs to end soon" because its energy costs are too high. He attacked his challenger, former Democratic House member Mary Peltola, over her lobbying.

Troy Jackson (D-ME) told Susan Collins (Sen-R Maine) "Oh, shut up." She had just called a heckling data-center protester "one of Troy's supporters." Collins later named her vote against Hegseth as a time she changed an outcome against Trump. The moderator replied, "So that didn't change the outcome."

Days after the final Senate debate, Trump rallied in Dalton on Friday, Oct. 16. He repeated false 2020 fraud claims, saying Jon Ossoff (Sen-D Georgia) "was never elected." Georgia certified Ossoff's January 2021 runoff win. About 1,200 people came out for Senate candidate Mike Collins (Rep-R Georgia) and governor nominee Rick Jackson, per the Guardian. Trump again promised a $5,000 "Trump dividend" check. He first pledged it on Sept. 9 to every adult citizen if Republicans keep the House and Senate. Only Congress can authorize the payments (PBS). The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget puts one round at $1.2 trillion, against tariff revenue of under $200 billion a year.