Today Donald Trump told the people counting California’s midterm ballots that they “will all go to jail for a long period of time.”
Nobody has charged them with a crime. Yesterday his Justice Department asked a federal judge to stop the state from counting more than 20,000 mail ballots from voters it calls likely noncitizens. Then it warned election officials they could be prosecuted as accomplices if they count them anyway. Trump shared the letter and skipped straight to their punishment.
The warning went to Los Angeles County, the state’s largest, which received the government’s list on a password-protected thumb drive. Any charges there would come from the federal prosecutor’s office in Los Angeles, the same office that filed the day-old lawsuit no judge has ruled on yet.
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State Department ousts envoy Zampolli, the friend who introduced Trump to Melania, hours after Politico revealed his email war with Deputy Secretary Landau.
Today’s GovBrief News
Trump waives the Russia sanctions law he signed last month, citing “national interest,” a week after announcing a deal with Putin for Russian diesel.
Source: CNBC
October 16, 2026Details
Strait of Hormuz shipping attacks hit busiest month since March, with one ship sunk, after Trump rejected Iran’s offer to end the war, monitor says.
Source: CBS News
October 16, 2026Details
US measles cases pass 4,400 as CDC sends investigators to Pennsylvania, where six have died, and Health Secretary Kennedy vows “a quick close.”
Source: ABC News
October 16, 2026Details
Arizona joins Nevada’s lawsuit against the federal government over Colorado River cuts that spare upstream Colorado, Utah, Wyoming and New Mexico.
Source: KNVX Phoenix
October 16, 2026Details
Trump warns California election workers “will all go to jail” if they count ballots of voters the Justice Department flags as noncitizens.
Source: ABC News
October 16, 2026Details
Maryland GOP Rep. Harris declines to apologize to student reporter he threatened with prosecution, saying it’s “not very newsworthy” when liberal media badger conservatives.
Source: USA Today
October 16, 2026Details
Trump tells Georgia rally his $5,000 dividend must be spent in the US, then jokes it buys “one hamburger and a small dessert” at Mar-a-Lago.
Source: Mediaite
October 16, 2026Details
Democratic Rep. Omar’s lawyers say agents ignored a judge’s limits on searching her DC home, demanding the return of her seized phone and passport.
Source: The Washington Post [gift link]
October 16, 2026Details
Justice Department reaches out-of-court deal with Lexington, Mississippi, two years after finding its police committed a pattern of civil rights violations.
Source: WJTV Jackson MS
October 16, 2026Details
Federal appeals judges press Justice Department claim that presidents own their White House records, asking whether one could then sell national security secrets on eBay.
Source: Politico
October 16, 2026Details
Justice Department says federal judge violated separation of powers by ordering Interior Department officials to testify in DC golf course tree-cutting case.
Source: Law & Crime
October 16, 2026Details
White House claims executive privilege over Trump’s Kennedy Center communications in Democratic Rep. Beatty’s suit, which says he’s sued as board chair, not president.
Source: The Hill
October 16, 2026Details
Chicago-area police joined ICE agents’ undercover surveillance of an anti-ICE talk, feeding the conspiracy case against 15 Minnesota activists despite Illinois sanctuary law.
Source: Wired
October 16, 2026Details
ICE officer who broke a Houston worker’s leg with an SUV was chasing a suspect who died years ago, family says, as prosecutor weighs charges.
Source: The Associated Press
October 16, 2026Details
Interior Department’s final plans for Trump’s 250-foot arch omit the drones, snipers and ammunition he said it would house, ahead of possible Nov. 5 approval.
Source: The Washington Post
October 16, 2026Details
Nevada pulls $52 million in pandemic relief from rural broadband near Pahrump after its contractor says it can’t finish by the year-end federal deadline.
Source: The Nevada Independent
October 16, 2026Details
White House press secretary Zacharia is out after five days and one 14-minute briefing, shortly after Trump publicly urged her to reconsider.
Source: USA Today
October 16, 2026Details
White House review finds painting the Eisenhower building white would harm the 138-year-old landmark, but still prefers paint since cleaning won’t match the White House.
Source: The Washington Post
October 16, 2026Details
Boston awards $1 million to six clean air projects aimed at low-income neighborhoods, from daycare air filters to Chinatown heat pump conversions.
Source: Boston.gov
October 16, 2026Details
National Institutes of Health hospital board unanimously rebukes Health Secretary Kennedy, saying his new vaccine injury clinic looks designed to confirm a foregone conclusion.
Source: The New York Times [gift link]
October 16, 2026Details