Donald Trump won’t say whether Mary Peltola joins the Senate, even if Alaska voters elect her.
The New York Times reported Wednesday that people working with her campaign helped recruit a second man named Dan Sullivan onto the ballot against the Republican incumbent, a tactic both parties have used and Alaska law doesn’t forbid. That night, the governor ordered state troopers to investigate her. Trump’s Justice Department sued last week, before the Times story ran, to have every vote for the other Sullivan counted for the Republican, and to block certification if that changes the winner.
JD Vance isn’t sure it’s a crime. “Whether it’s criminal or not, she certainly has committed, I think, a great moral failing,” he said Thursday, “and hopefully the voters of Alaska punish her.” They get that chance Tuesday. Trump’s talking as though their choice needs his approval.
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Minneapolis-area prosecutor charges Project Veritas founder O’Keefe and an associate with unlawful voting, saying they used real voters’ names, including dead ones, at primary polls.
Today’s GovBrief News
Rubio signs memo diverting nearly $49 million Congress set aside for contraception in low-income countries to energy costs for unnamed partners.
Source: The New York Times [gift link]
October 29, 2026Details
Iran says four oil tankers struck its sea mines in the Strait of Hormuz, accusing them of using an illegal shipping lane the US promotes.
Source: CBS News
October 29, 2026Details
Alaska Gov. Dunleavy orders a state police probe of Democratic Senate candidate Peltola over a New York Times report Democrats recruited a spoiler, which state law doesn’t bar.
Source: The Alaska Beacon
October 29, 2026Details
Federal judge orders the Justice Department to reveal which states besides California and Washington got letters demanding they set aside suspected noncitizens’ ballots.
Source: Roll Call
October 29, 2026Details
Justice Department subpoenas Los Angeles County election workers to a grand jury the day after the midterms, having warned California counters of criminal liability.
Source: NPR
October 29, 2026Details
Defense Secretary Hegseth fires the Joint Chiefs’ top military planner as an unnamed Pentagon official accuses him of leaking classified Iran war information.
Source: The Associated Press
October 29, 2026Details
Administration finally concedes in court that Trump ordered DC’s East Potomac golf course closed by Nov. 15, as records show $1.2 million budgeted for felling its trees.
Source: The Washington Post [gift link]
October 29, 2026Details
Vietnam Veterans of America president says he was misled before his group joined a brief backing Trump’s arch and dismissing veterans suing to stop it.
Source: The Washington Post
October 29, 2026Details
Agriculture Department sends new relocation notices to conservation employees despite a federal judge’s order barring “any other notice” of reassignment, Government Executive reports.
Source: Government Executive
October 29, 2026Details
Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool reopens after months closed for the administration’s repaint, whose peeling Trump still blames on vandals though the vandalism charge was dropped.
Source: WUSA Washington
October 29, 2026Details
Health research agency director Jackson officially endorsed dropping hormone therapy’s black box warning while holding at least $115,000 in a menopause-care company she founded, ProPublica finds.
Source: ProPublica
October 29, 2026Details
Trump tells allies his former lawyer Habba should give part of her $50 million deal with a pardon seeker’s family to his presidential library.
Source: The New York Times [gift link]
October 29, 2026Details
Minneapolis City Council approves staffed overnight lots where homeless residents can sleep in their cars without being ticketed or towed, pending Mayor Frey’s signature.
Source: WCCO Minneapolis
October 29, 2026Details
Federal judge blocks an administration rule narrowing who counts as “medically frail” and exempt from Medicaid work requirements, siding with 25 states and DC.
Source: NBC News
October 29, 2026Details