What Happened Today – October 19, 2026

Donald Trump’s Homeland Security appointees asked the agency that protects America’s voting machines to secretly hack one and keep what it found from the manufacturer.

ProPublica disclosed today that the request came last year, with the findings meant for the White House. Career staff told the appointees it couldn’t be done, and they stopped asking. The agency has lost a third of its people under Trump, and state election officials criticized its absence as they prepared for the midterms.

Finding flaws in voting machines is part of the agency’s job. Telling the maker so it can fix them is the whole point. These appointees wanted them kept secret.

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Today's Quote
And he was given a bum rap, because he was mandated by law to request — strongly — money owed from patients. You’re not allowed not to do it. You have to, by law, go after those people. And they made it like, oh, he was some kind of a Shylock type guy.
Donald Trump, speaking in Wichita, Kansas, on October 19, 2026, in defense of Sen. Roger Marshall (R-KS), who sued more than 700 of his medical patients for unpaid bills.
Yesterday's Most Read

AP finds racial slurs and Nazi sympathies on the fan forum Trump-endorsed Nevada House candidate O’Donnell runs and taps for campaign cash.

Today’s GovBrief News


Foreign Relations 1 of 16

Florida charges former Cuban leader Raúl Castro, 95, in the 1996 shootdown of two Miami exile planes, five months after a federal murder indictment.

Conspiracy to commit first-degree murder

Source: WTVJ Miami

October 19, 2026Details

Foreign Relations 2 of 16

Trump tells Kansas rally France was “burned to the ground by migrants, jihadists, and communists,” though its protests are over schools and fuel prices.

Costs rose after US shut Hormuz

Source: The Guardian

October 19, 2026Details

Foreign Relations 3 of 16

Ukrainian President Zelenskyy says Pentagon is holding Patriot missiles Europe paid for, as Trump says it’s time for “somebody else to negotiate” for Ukraine.

Awaiting Defense Secretary Hegseth’s signature

Source: Euronews

October 19, 2026Details

War 4 of 16

Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu releases call telling Trump they have “a job to finish” in Iran, eight days before Israel votes.

Hegseth visited Israel unannounced Monday

Source: CBS News

October 19, 2026Details

Health 5 of 16

Pennsylvania warns doctors of measles passed to newborns, unseen in the US for decades, as its outbreak reaches 1,286 cases and six reported deaths.

53 pregnant patients infected

Source: Ars Technica

October 19, 2026Details

Voting Rights 6 of 16

Election offices in at least 32 states were targeted with suspicious letters two weeks before the midterms, WIRED finds, with five evacuated over white powder.

FBI won’t say how many

Source: Wired

October 19, 2026Details

Voting Rights 7 of 16

Justice Department charges 28 California green-card holders who registered to vote as citizens, and sues the state over a federal list of 20,000 suspected noncitizens.

Three days after Trump’s jail threat

Source: KTLA Los Angeles

October 19, 2026Details

Voting Rights 8 of 16

Trump’s Homeland Security appointees asked its cybersecurity agency to secretly get and hack a voting machine for the White House, ProPublica reports.

Told not to warn the manufacturer

Source: ProPublica

October 19, 2026Details

Economy 9 of 16

Trump announces $8 billion in one-time diesel relief payments to farmers at a Kansas rally, crediting Republican Sen. Marshall 15 days before the midterms.

$6.32 a gallon, up from $3.63

Source: The Hill

October 19, 2026Details

Courts 10 of 16

Federal judge says she’ll find DC tree cutting was part of Trump’s golf course overhaul, hours after he called her a “crazed lunatic.”

Death threats reported by hearing’s end

Source: The Washington Post

October 19, 2026Details

Criminal Justice 11 of 16

Mississippi Attorney General Fitch clears officer who shot at shoplifting suspects’ car, killing a 1-year-old inside, but the toddler’s mother says investigators never interviewed her.

No body camera footage released

Source: Mississippi Today

October 19, 2026Details

Immigration 12 of 16

Homeland Security Department keeps deportation protections for 100,000-plus Ukrainians and Sudanese past their expiration with no end date, two weeks before the midterms.

Already terminated for 1 million others

Source: The Associated Press

October 19, 2026Details

Immigration 13 of 16

ICE says Dallas painter who died in its Laredo jail was a green-card holder accused of hiding a 2004 theft arrest, which his daughter disputes.

Jailed at border returning from Mexico

Source: The Texas Tribune

October 19, 2026Details

Education 14 of 16

Justice Department closes 18 civil rights probes of the University of North Carolina as the school agrees to “color-blind” admissions, antisemitism training and a mask ban.

Keeps school eligible for federal grants

Source: WRAL Raleigh

October 19, 2026Details

Propaganda 15 of 16

Trump again says New Mexico should “immediately” rename itself “New America,” saying it’s known for “crooked elections,” as both parties’ governor nominees reject the idea.

Hand-marked paper ballots, mandatory audits

Source: KOB Albuquerque

October 19, 2026Details

Good Government 16 of 16

Broward County, Florida, school board approves free menstrual products in student restrooms at least seven schools in a one-year pilot.

District pays for dispensers, restocking

Source: Coral Springs Talk

October 19, 2026Details

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