The Pentagon told Central Command to ready new Iran strike options that the White House wants usable before the Nov. 3 midterms.
U.S. officials told Axios that no launch date is set and Trump has not made a final decision. Central Command runs U.S. operations across the Middle East. If major combat resumes, targets would include Iran’s energy, infrastructure and nuclear sites.
Trump’s national security team met for several hours at Camp David on Friday, Oct. 2. An Israeli official said part of that meeting covered resuming combat.
October 8, 2026 · Six stories, illustrated
“It would make the president look like he got a win and that gas prices would start going down.”A Republican familiar with the deliberations, to The Atlantic
Supporters inside the administration admit limited strikes would not lower gas prices before Election Day; they argue the strikes would let Trump claim a win. The Atlantic’s own reporting: crude has usually gone up, not down, when strikes resumed after a pause.
One lane is one million barrels a day; the last lane in each channel is partial. Figures from the U.S. Energy Information Administration.
The strait figure is oil that flowed in the first half of 2025. The pipeline figure is how much Saudi and UAE pipelines can carry around the strait; the reporting does not say how much of that is already in use.
- Before the election, the chances are
“not high but we don’t rule it out”
- And
“after the midterms the chances of it happening increase significantly.”
Still open: the size and targets. The war is in its eighth month, and about 50,000 U.S. troops in the region are within reach of Iranian retaliation.
Read the reporting
Minutes of the Fed’s September meeting show most officials expect another rate hike by year end.
The Federal Reserve released them on Wednesday, Oct. 7. At that Sept. 15-16 meeting it raised its target a quarter point, its first hike in about three years. Futures traders bet it holds at its October meeting and waits until December.
officials projected at least one more increase this year.
- It never came
A majority of Fed officials also judged one more hike likely. July 2023 stayed that cycle’s last increase, at a 5.25%-5.5% peak, 1.5 points above today’s range.
- 3.75%-4%
The target after September’s quarter-point hike, which every official backed. It came after a run of rate cuts across 2024 and 2025. August PCE inflation, the Fed’s preferred gauge, was 3.4%, against a 2% target.
- The late October meeting
- About 80.6% the odds futures traders give a hold, per The Hill. They expect a hike in December.
- Slower to commit
- More data first That is what Vice Chair Philip Jefferson and New York Fed President John Williams have signaled since the meeting.
“In my base case, further policy adjustments are likely to be needed to ensure inflation comes down to target in a timely fashion.”Fed Governor Michael Barr
Read the reporting
The Kremlin says it is open to a Trump-Putin call about the Siberian plague-lab worker’s death, but none has been scheduled.
Russia says it would set up the call “promptly.” Trump said U.S. officials do not think the death of Darya Shipilova, 28, is linked to a bioweapon. The U.S. has sent Moscow a démarche, a formal diplomatic demand for information.
of 200 contacts screened for plague had it, Russia says. About 5,000 lab tests on contacts found no dangerous pathogens.
- Quarantined contacts
- 90% have been released
- Still the official cause of death
- Pneumonia of unknown origin
- The cause of death
- The pathogen that set off Russia’s precautions
- Clarity on reports that a second employee has pneumonia
It is waiting for Russia to hand over the medical evidence through its formal verification process under the International Health Regulations, the treaty rules for reporting outbreaks.
“…the vast majority of what the media are reporting about this situation is false information.”Dmitry Peskov, the Kremlin’s spokesman
Only the lung form of plague, pneumonic plague, spreads between people. Untreated, it can kill within 18 to 24 hours, though early antibiotics cure it, per the WHO. The CDC sees no sign of a broader U.S. threat.
Read the reporting
The DNC sued to block pro-Trump TV ads it says the White House paid for with $20 million in border-agency funds.
The suit, filed in federal court in Washington on Wednesday, Oct. 7, says the White House budget office moved Customs and Border Protection money to pay for the spots. They kept airing, marked “Paid for by the U.S. Government,” after Trump said on Monday, Oct. 5, that his super PAC would pay for them.
Bush’s Education Department, for secretly paying commentator Armstrong Williams
- Hidden sponsorshipThe ruling turned on it
- Self-praise
- Purely partisan material
Obama’s EPA, for covertly promoting its water rule
- Hidden sponsorshipThe ruling turned on it
- Self-praise
- Purely partisan material
These ads, which carry a disclaimer: Paid for by the U.S. Government
- Hidden sponsorshipDisclosed
- Self-praiseThe DNC’s case rests on it
- Purely partisan materialThe DNC’s case rests on it
GAO ruled against the Education Department and the EPA, and both cases turned on concealment. These spots say who paid for them, so the DNC’s case rests on the self-praise and partisanship tests.
The DNC wants a judge to declare the spending unlawful and block any more taxpayer-funded spots; ads paid for privately are not covered. The suit cites the law barring agencies from spending on “publicity or propaganda,” the Anti-Deficiency Act and the Purpose Statute.
- Moved, the suit says
- $20 million of Customs and Border Protection money, by the White House budget office
- Aired so far
- More than $12 million in taxpayer-paid airtime, AdImpact counts. Politico’s count on Tuesday, Oct. 6, was $11.6 million.
- Late September
- 2,311+ local TV airings of the ads in four days (Axios)
- Call such ads appropriate
- 9% of Americans, of taxpayer-paid election ads featuring the president (Reuters/Ipsos, via Axios)
Still open: NBC reports the government’s existing ad buy ends this week, and the White House declined to say when Trump’s money actually takes over. Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer said he would file an FEC complaint, though only 2 of the commission’s 6 seats are filled.
Read the reporting
Kimberly Guilfoyle asked a Trump donor to wire $100,000 to her American Express bill before her confirmation hearing, messages show.
Guilfoyle, now U.S. ambassador to Greece, asked while preparing for her Senate confirmation hearing, according to messages The Wall Street Journal reviewed. The same messages show her offering the donor access to top administration officials.
- One excerptGuilfoyle, on Signal
“It won’t show up anywhere if you wire money to American Express. Please.”
- Another
The donor wrote that he had already paid her $300,000 over the years, and:
The donor“I need results.”
Guilfoyle answered“Stop papering all these things. It’s really dangerous. Just call me on Signal.”
Signal is an encrypted messaging app. The excerpts are shown apart because the reporting does not give their order. The same messages show her offering the donor access to top administration officials.
Still open: the published excerpts do not show whether the requested money was sent, or what the donor’s earlier payments bought.
- Already paid, the donor wrote
- $300,000 to her over the years
- The closest recent precedent
- About $23,000 paid by a businessman’s company in 2019 toward Nadine Menendez’s mortgage, part of the bribery scheme for which former Sen. Bob Menendez, a New Jersey Democrat, is serving 11 years in prison
“A strong ambassador.”Secretary of State Marco Rubio, on Wednesday, Oct. 7, with Guilfoyle seated in front of him in Athens
Guilfoyle, a former California prosecutor and Fox News host, ran fundraising for Trump’s 2020 campaign and was engaged to Donald Trump Jr. The Daily Beast identifies the donor as Eric Deters, a former congressional candidate from Kentucky.
Read the reporting
The FBI charged a Minnesota 18-year-old with plotting an ISIS-inspired Mall of America shooting, after an undercover FBI employee sold him an AK-47.
Sheikhdoon Abdullahi Mohamud, of Richfield, Minnesota, paid the undercover employee, who was posing as an ISIS member, $600 for the rifle and 200 rounds. The rifle had been made inoperable; the ammunition was live, per Fox News.
December 2024 An FBI informant begins messaging him.
About 22 months of contact before the arrest
Tuesday, Oct. 6 Arrested in a park after paying $600 for the AK-47 and 200 rounds
18 days
Saturday, Oct. 24 The mall’s Hmong Arts Celebration, the date prosecutors say he picked
The reporting gives only the month the informant began, December 2024, so the whole month is hatched. The dashed stretch is the 18 days from the arrest to the date prosecutors say he planned the attack for.
Prosecutors say he told contacts he meant to kill 30 to 60 people. Asked if he was serious, he allegedly replied:
“yes i am 100% sure ... I would have backed out by now if I wasn’t sure.”As quoted by prosecutors
He is charged with receiving a firearm and ammunition knowing they would be used in a federal crime of terrorism. The charge rests on the purchase itself.
“A radicalized young man who needed to be watched.”
U.S. Attorney Daniel RosenCalled for “major coordinated investments in anti-terrorism and local law enforcement.”
Sen. Amy Klobuchar, the Democratic nominee for Minnesota governor