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胡塞武装再次空袭也门临时首都 亚丁民用机场遭袭

2026-10-17 07:34 / 联合早报

图为2026年10月8日，也门亚丁附近的临时营地收容了因胡塞武装与也门政府军发生冲突而流离失所的民众。 （路透社）

也门胡塞武装再次对也门临时首都亚丁的沙特阿拉伯目标发动空袭，国际承认的也门政府谴责胡塞武装对亚丁民用机场实施打击。

新华社引述胡塞武装控制的马西拉电视台星期五（10月16日）报道称，胡塞武装当天对位于也门南部临时首都亚丁发动袭击，目标是亚丁国际机场附近巴德尔军事基地（Badr Military Base）内的“沙特军队指挥部及武器库”。

报道未提供更多细节。

一名当地政府安全官员当天早些时候告诉新华社，两枚导弹落入亚丁国际机场附近；第三枚则击中亚丁西部布赖卡区（Al Buraiqah）的一处军事基地，那里靠近沙特领导的阿拉伯国家联军指挥部。

新华社记者在现场附近听到三声剧烈爆炸声，并看见多辆救护车驶向遭袭区域。

也门政府新闻部长穆阿马尔（Moammar al-Eryani）星期五晚间在社媒发文说，一架也门航空公司客机当天在亚丁国际机场准备起飞时，胡塞武装发射的两枚导弹落在飞机附近，但机上乘客和机组人员幸免于难。

声明说，这架客机计划从亚丁飞往埃及开罗，两枚导弹落在距飞机约500米、距起飞跑道中部约100米处。

声明谴责袭击民用机场的行为，称此举严重违反国际法。

也门局势日益升级，胡塞武装星期四（15日）向位于亚丁的总统府发射六枚弹道导弹，造成五人死亡、另有16人受伤。

‘I know how I’m going to vote for President’: Pete Buttigieg on his ideal 2028 Presidential candidate

5:10 PM EDT, Fri October 16, 2026 / CNN

By Kasie Hunt, CNN

https://www.cnn.com/2026/10/16/politics/video/the-arena-pete-buttigieg-midterms-2028-democrats

‘I know how I’m going to vote for President’: Pete Buttigieg on his ideal 2028 Presidential candidate

The arena

Former Transportation Secretary, Pete Buttigieg joins Kasie Hunt to discuss the upcoming Midterm elections and the 2028.

7:35 • Source: CNN

DHS Secretary Mullin calls Ilhan Omar probe a “strong case,” says agents executed multiple search warrants

2026-10-16 6:16 PM EDT / CBS News

Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin said federal agents executed multiple search warrants on the same day they searched Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar’s Washington home. While appearing on a podcast Friday, Mullin described the ongoing investigation as a “strong case” while suggesting cases of coordinated immigration fraud could be prosecuted under federal racketeering laws.

In an interview with Andrew Kolvet, who hosts the “Charlie Kirk Show,” Mullin volunteered that multiple warrants had been served on Monday, adding that a judge had authorized the enforcement action and that investigators expected to present their case to a grand jury.

Omar has not been charged with a crime. She has called the investigation politically motivated.

“She wasn’t – or it wasn’t the only place we served the warrant,” Mullin said, referencing the D.C. residence of the Minnesota congresswoman. “There was multiple other warrants served on that same day.”

“We had a judge sign it, and we expect to be able to take the case to a grand jury,” Mullin said, revealing new details about the scope of the operation. “But I will tell you, we wouldn’t move forward, and President Trump didn’t want to move forward either, unless we knew that it couldn’t be politically driven. Now they want to try making it political driven. This individual wants to try making it about themselves. This was about enforcing once again our nation’s laws, and it’s a strong case.”

President Trump previously stated he didn’t know anything about the investigation, which is being handled by DHS’ Homeland Security Investigations division and the Justice Department. Asked about the Omar probe on Monday, Mr. Trump told reporters: “I think she’s a terrible person, but that’s really up to the DOJ.”

Mullin’s remarks came amid a federal investigation into possible fraud involving immigration documents submitted by Omar’s family decades ago. The documents in question date back to Omar’s childhood, involving paperwork completed by her late father when she was a child, CBS News reported earlier this week. Multiple relatives of Omar received grand jury subpoenas as part of the investigation, and the lawmaker’s personal cellphone was taken by DHS, sources told CBS News.

During the interview, Kolvet also asked Mullin about a hypothetical scenario involving a former foreign warlord who entered the United States as a refugee with his daughter. Mullin did not establish that the circumstances applied to Omar’s family. But the DHS secretary did use the hypothetical to suggest that those who submit fraudulent immigration documents and enable others to enter the country under the same purported scheme could very well be prosecuted under U.S. law.

Such conduct, he said, could potentially constitute a violation of the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, or RICO, a federal law used to prosecute organized criminal enterprises.

“If someone … fills out their paperwork illegally, and they claim that they are this person and this is their background, and then underneath that individual, a lot of other people come in. And I’m just saying hypothetically across a whole bunch of cases that’s out there, then that can be considered a RICO case, right?” the DHS secretary offered. “Because there was conspiracy to deceive the American government, and therefore everything else that came in with it could then be looked at [part of] the same case.”

Mullin suggested that a racketeering prosecution could allow investigators to examine conduct extending back decades, arguing that statutes of limitations generally would not apply to such cases.

Under federal law, criminal RICO prosecutions are generally subject to a five-year statute of limitations, although in certain cases prosecutors can incorporate older acts into a timely prosecution involving an ongoing criminal enterprise or conspiracy.

In Grunewald v. United States, the Supreme Court held in 1957 that prosecutors cannot indefinitely extend a conspiracy simply because perpetrators covered it up after it ended.

Mullin did not explicitly indicate that prosecutors were pursuing RICO charges against Omar. But his remarks did suggest investigators are considering whether alleged immigration violations could be examined as part of a broader conspiracy rather than simply as isolated offenses. He said Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) agents had worked closely with the Justice Department to build out the case.

It is unusual for federal officials to speak openly about ongoing criminal investigations beyond confirming that a court-authorized search was conducted, in part due to due process protections and grand jury secrecy rules.

CBS News has reached out to Omar’s attorney for comment.

Earlier this week, Omar — a staunch Trump critic who has drawn the president’s ire for years — denied all wrongdoing and said she “will not be silenced.”

“Make no mistake: this is an attempt to target political enemies and weaponize federal law enforcement,” she wrote on X. “For ten years, Trump has targeted me with baseless lies and smear campaigns. This is just the latest escalation in his campaign of political intimidation.”

Sarah N. Lynch contributed to this report.

Black civic group blasts Talarico campaign over canceled event: ‘Deeply disappointed’

A Central Texas civic group says the campaign left them with ‘irrecoverable financial loss’ and no rescheduled date

October 16, 2026 12:13pm EDT / Fox News

By Leo Briceno , Charles Creitz

President Trump and Texas Republican Senate nominee Ken Paxton are raising questions about Democratic challenger James Talarico’s whereabouts after the candidate has spent nearly two weeks away from the campaign trail.

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Texas Democratic Senate nominee James Talarico is facing lingering frustration from inside his own political backyard over the cancellation of an event that was supposed to take place on Oct. 5 with a Black civic-service group.

The Central Texas African American Civic Engagement Symposium (CT-AACES) expressed deep frustration in an email, sent to the Talarico campaign and obtained by Fox News Digital, after the campaign cancelled an event – which had 325 confirmed registrants – during Talarico’s two-week absence from the campaign trail due to illness.

CT-AACES said the cancellation left them with “irrecoverable financial loss,” and that Talarico’s campaign had not engaged in rescheduling efforts

“While we understand Representative Talarico’s health required priority, we are deeply disappointed by the campaign’s decision to issue a flat cancellation rather than committing to a rescheduled date,” the email reads. “It was a missed opportunity for Representative Talarico to directly address community skepticism and demonstrate the sincerity of his commitment to Central Texas African Americans.”

The cancellation is the most recent instance of the tensions that Talarico’s campaign has faced with the Black community. It also casts doubt on the effectiveness of his efforts to reach Black voteBlack voters through a $25 million outreach pledge aimed at mobilizing black voters is fully reaching the ground.

TALARICO DISAPPEARANCE HAS DEM VOLUNTEERS WORRYING AND TRUMP ASKING, ‘WHAT IS GOING ON?’

State Representative James Talarico poses for a portrait at his campaign headquarters after launching his campaign for the seat currently held by Senator John Cornyn in Austin, Texas on Sept. 9, 2025.(Callaghan O’Hare for The Washington Post via Getty Images)

The frustration isn’t isolated to CT-AACES.

At least one Austin-area Democratic operative who has met directly with Talarico told Fox News Digital that she remains frustrated by what she described as uneven follow-through on outreach to Black Democrats and candidates further down the ballot.

“Black voters aren’t a monolith,” the source cautioned, rejecting any blanket assertion that Black Texans distrust Talarico outright. “I think that there are pockets that do. There’s a pocket that doesn’t. And then there’s the pocket that’s really unsure,” she said.

The operative is particularly familiar with the nominee and the Democratic organizing landscape in the Austin region.

Asked about a $25 million investment to focus on door-knocking in Black neighborhoods, in-person community events and engagement with Black churches, the source said those investments haven’t manifested yet.

“We haven’t received the money, but we’re being told it’s coming,” she said of some accounts she has heard from the ground. “We received, you know, one or 2% of what we were told we were going to get. And then it’s been silence since,” she said.

DAVID MARCUS: HOW CROCKETT’S LAST STAND IN TEXAS COULD BRING DOWN TALARICO

Democratic U.S. Senate candidate James Talarico speaks during a press conference at the Hyatt Centric Congress Avenue in Austin, Texas, on July 22, 2026. The discussion comes as data centers have emerged as a major political issue in Texas, with Gov. Greg Abbott calling for stronger oversight of their expansion.(Getty Images)

The comments come after Talarico appeared on a Black voter coalition Zoom last week, delivering brief remarks about “put[ting] in the money … time … and effort to win” before his feed disappeared from the call reportedly without a public question-and-answer session. At the July Houston town hall where Talarico announced the $25 million pledge, nurse Kandice Webber confronted him as the event approached its scheduled end and demanded that he remain to answer questions. “Black people don’t trust you for this reason,” she said, according to the Texas Tribune .

“And you cannot win without us, so you stay here and you answer our questions, or you suffer the consequences,” Webber said.

During his primary, Talarico also encountered controversy over the black vote when reports surfaced the he had characterized rival candidate and former NFL linebacker Collin Allred as a “mediocre Black man.” “He had the audacity to say to a Black woman that he had signed up to run against a mediocre black man,” Allred said in a video response posted to X.

“We should say ‘thank you.’ Thank you for taking off the mask. Thank you for telling us who you really are and what you really think… keep my name out of your mouth while you’re at it.”

Talarico, for his part, described the wording as a mischaracterization, stating that he “described Congressman Allred’s method of campaigning as mediocre” and that he would “never attack him on the basis of race.”

Talarico also received criticism from Rep. Jasmine Crockett, D-Texas, his primary opponent in the Senate primary, after she accused him of darkening her skin in campaign ads against her.

“And you know, I’ve been asked a couple of times about it. And you know, I look at this specifically as a civil rights lawyer, and I see when they’re sending out ads and they’re darkening my skin. And I’m just like, I know what this is, right?” Crockett said at a press conference.

The operative said she personally pressed Talarico during a June meeting to do more to endorse and support down-ballot Democrats after hearing from campaigns that donors had already exhausted their political giving on his Senate bid and were asking whether he had endorsed those candidates.

FOX NEWS POLL: IT’S A LONE STAR SENATE SHOWDOWN BETWEEN TALARICO AND PAXTON

Senate candidate James Talarico waves as he approaches a gas station in Carrollton, Texas, Saturday, September 26, 2026.(Anja Schlein/The Dallas Morning News via Getty Images)

“He was very gracious. He said he understood,” she told Fox News Digital. “I followed up with his staff multiple times and to this day have still not heard anything, which has been really frustrating to me.”

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Fox News Digital reached out to the Talarico campaign for a response to the characterizations and comments.

Leo Briceno is a politics reporter for the congressional team at Fox News Digital. He was previously a reporter with World Magazine.

Biden judge rejects Obama CIA chief’s legal bid against Trump over one key problem

October 16, 2026 3:09pm EDT / Fox News

The former CIA director faces grand jury probes into alleged Russia collusion inquiry misconduct and Steele dossier claims

By Elaine Mallon

DOJ stepping up investigation into former CIA Director John Brennan

Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, discusses how federal authorities are advancing the investigation into former CIA Director John Brennan on ‘Hannity.’

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A Biden-appointed judge dismissed former CIA Director John Brennan’s lawsuit against President Donald Trump and senior administration officials, ruling that his concerns about the potential destruction of evidence needed for a future criminal defense were too “speculative.”

The dismissal comes as Brennan faces two federal investigations, including a Justice Department probe into whether former intelligence officials conspired to violate Trump’s civil rights through investigations into alleged ties between his 2016 presidential campaign and Russia.

A separate investigation is examining whether Brennan made false statements during 2023 congressional testimony about the Steele dossier’s role in a 2017 intelligence assessment of Russian interference in the presidential election.

FORMER CIA DIRECTOR BRENNAN SUBPOENAED TO TESTIFY IN FEDERAL TRUMP CONSPIRACY CASE

Trump has repeatedly accused Brennan, President Barack Obama and other former intelligence officials of orchestrating the “Russia collusion hoax,” but they have rejected those accusations, claiming that the administration is attempting to discredit legitimate intelligence findings about Russian interference in the 2016 election.

While Judge Jia Cobb called Brennan’s allegations that the Trump administration was targeting him for opposing the president “deeply concerning,” she ruled that he lacked standing to sue because he had not shown that officials were likely destroying records relevant to a potential defense, and the injury he feared depended on a series of events that had not yet occurred.

Former Director of the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency John Brennan testifies before the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence on Capitol Hill May 23, 2017, in Washington, D.C.(Alex Wong/Getty Images)

“For Brennan’s constitutional injury to actually accrue, a series of dominoes must fall, and Defendants’ deletion of records is just one of those dominoes,” Cobb wrote. “There is no dispute about this: Defendants describe this domino chain in their motion to dismiss…and Brennan accepts it in his response.”

Brennan has been identified as a target in two federal investigations that have involved three grand jury inquiries — two in the Southern District of Florida and one in Washington, D.C. — but he has not been charged with a crime. The former CIA director was subpoenaed to testify before a federal grand jury in Fort Pierce, Florida, on Oct. 15, though his scheduled appearance was postponed.

Brennan filed his lawsuit naming Trump, FBI Director Kash Patel, Attorney General Todd Blanche, CIA Director John Ratcliffe, and other officials on July 1, 2026. The 46-page lawsuit, accused the Justice Department of handling its investigation into Brennan with “unprecedented, irregular conduct” that was driven by the “president’s retribution agenda.”

DELETED EMAIL DETAILS ALLEGED TRUMP-TARGETING PUSH INSIDE LETITIA JAMES’ OFFICE: ‘FIND AND PURSUE CRIMES’

Former President Barack Obama and former CIA director John Brennan in the East Room at the White House Jan. 7, 2013, in Washington, D.C.(Mark Wilson/Getty Images)

Brennan argued that key evidence could disappear before he had a chance to challenge any future indictment. He pointed to deleted social-media posts, the administration’s use of Signal and other messaging tools with auto-delete features, unpreserved texts and direct messages, AI queries, Microsoft Teams chats, and alleged failures to preserve discovery in other cases, including the prosecution of Rep. LaMonica McIver, D-N.J. He said the loss of those records could make it harder to determine whether the investigations were based on legitimate law enforcement concerns or political retaliation.

“With this lawsuit, Director Brennan has served notice that the government’s conduct and its document preservation will be carefully scrutinized in the event of any future indictment. Director Brennan will continue to vigorously defend himself against these baseless investigations, and he will challenge any attempt to use the criminal justice system for personal and political retribution,” Brennan’s lawyers, Ken Wainstein and Dan Gelber told the AP.

The lawsuit also pointed to what it described as irregularities in the Justice Department’s handling of the investigation.

It cited the removal of longtime DOJ prosecutor Maria Medetis Long, who was reportedly taken off the Brennan investigation in April 2026 after expressing doubts about the strength of the case, as evidence of what it described as irregular conduct. She was replaced by Trump ally Joseph diGenova, who later resigned from his role overseeing the investigation amid reported internal disagreements over the handling of the case.

President Donald Trump speaks during a Purple Heart Day event in the East Room of the White House in Washington, D.C., Aug. 7, 2025(Eric Lee/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

TRUMP SAYS HE WILL NOMINATE ACTING AG TODD BLANCHE TO PERMANENTLY LEAD JUSTICE DEPARTMENT

Brennan’s attorneys accused the Justice Department of “judge-shopping” by trying to steer grand jury proceedings toward Trump-appointed Judge Aileen Cannon in Fort Pierce, Florida, rather than allowing the case to proceed through the court’s normal assignment process. They also questioned why prosecutors were pursuing the investigation in Florida when much of the allegations occurred in Washington, D.C.

The complaint also accused DOJ and FBI leaders of improperly discussing details of the investigations publicly, raising questions about whether officials disclosed information that should have remained confidential.It cited Attorney General Todd Blanche’s statements that DOJ had issued “200 grand jury subpoenas” and was investigating a “pattern of behavior” to “destroy” Trump, as well as FBI Director Kash Patel’s public discussion of the investigations and their targets.

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Fox News Digital reached out to the Justice Department for comment.

Elaine Mallon is a writer for Fox News Digital and Fox Business covering national politics.

Americans back Trump’s decision against livestreaming Nidal Hasan’s firing squad execution

War Secretary Pete Hegseth previously said the firing squad execution would be livestreamed

October 16, 2026 12:04pm EDT / Fox News

By Hannah Brennan

WATCH: Americans react to Trump’s reversal of decision to livestream Fort Hood shooter’s execution

Americans are backing President Donald Trump’s announcement that Nidal Hasan’s execution will not be publicly livestreamed. (Credit: Nicholas Ballasy for Fox News Digital)

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Americans interviewed by Fox News Digital were overwhelmingly pleased with President Donald Trump’s decision to call off livestreaming the Fort Hood shooter’s planned firing squad execution after the Pentagon had announced it would be livestreamed for public viewing.

“I’m really glad that he called it off, because I feel like it’s not really a deterrent, it’s more like a shock effect,” Sylvia from Arizona told Fox News Digital. “I don’t think we really need that in this country right now.”

“The only other countries that really do that are like North Korea,” David from Arizona said. “We don’t want to be North Korea.”

AMERICANS DRAW THE LINE AT LIVESTREAMING ‘SPECTACLE’ OF FORT HOOD SHOOTER’S EXECUTION: ‘IT’S AN ABOMINATION’

President Donald Trump and North Korea’s leader Kim Jong-un talk before a meeting in the Demilitarized Zone on June 30, 2019, in Panmunjom, Korea.(Brendan Smialowski/AFP via Getty Images)

“I never approved of the idea of it being public in the first place,” Nate from Virginia said. “I think it’s just ridiculous to make a spectacle out of an execution, especially in 2026 of all time.”

War Secretary Pete Hegseth announced earlier this month that Nidal Hasan’s execution, set for Dec. 3, would be publicly available via livestream.

Trump took to Truth Social on Thursday to announce that while livestreaming the execution could serve as a deterrent to terrorism, the execution would not be available for public viewing as he acknowledged that many Americans would rather not witness Hasan’s death.

“He will die, as scheduled, by firing squad, but this event will not be streamed,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.

FORT HOOD SURVIVORS PRAISE TRUMP FOR SCRAPPING HASAN EXECUTION LIVESTREAM: ‘WE’RE NOT BARBARIC’

President Donald Trump announced that the execution of convicted Fort Hood shooter Nidal Hasan would not be livestreamed, reversing an earlier Pentagon announcement that the execution would be livestreamed to the public.(Aaron Schwartz/Getty Images; Bell County Sheriff’s Office via Getty Images)

Despite the execution not being publicly available, Trump confirmed that the family members of the victims who died in the 2009 shooting “deserve to witness JUSTICE” and will be permitted to attend in person.

“Well, maybe he has a conscience now,” one person said about Trump’s reversal of the Pentagon’s decision to livestream the execution.

Some Americans who spoke with Fox News Digital argued that Trump’s decision to call off the livestreaming was to save face after criticism of the proposal was circulating, with many arguing that livestreaming the execution would turn it into a spectacle and could easily be exposed to children.

“I think it was trying to save his image,” Ivy from Georgia said.

“He doesn’t wanna look like a bad person, but at the end of the day, we all know who he really is — a piece of s—,” Ivy said.

“I think it was just so clearly an unpopular thing to do that he realized it would probably do more harm to his public image than good,” Nate said.

Hasan, an Army psychiatrist at the time of the shooting, killed 13 and injured 32 people when he shouted “Allahu Akbar” and opened fire at a military base in Texas. The mass killer is now 56 years old and uses a wheelchair after he was left partially paralyzed from being shot by police officers during his arrest almost 17 years ago.

TRUMP CLEARS WAY FOR FORT HOOD TERRORIST TO FACE ARMY FIRING SQUAD NEARLY 17 YEARS AFTER MASSACRE

Major Nidal Malik Hasan, the U.S. Army doctor identified by authorities as the mass shooter at the U.S. Army post in Fort Hood, Texas, is seen in this undated handout photo from a PDF file of the U.S. Government Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences downloaded on Nov. 6, 2009.(Reuters/Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences/Handout)

Only one person who spoke with Fox News Digital argued that livestreaming the execution would have been a good idea, even adding that he would have watched the livestream himself.

“Yeah, I would watch,” Daniel from Virginia said. “Because I wouldn’t want somebody to kill another person, you know what I mean? That person should be held wrong for what he’s done.”

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Hasan was sentenced to death during his 2013 military trial after being found guilty on all 42 counts. His execution is set to be the first U.S. military execution in over six decades.

Hannah is a Production Assistant for the Politics team at Fox News Digital.

Trump on Katie Zacharia’s WH press secretary role: ‘Maybe it’s not for her’

2026-10-16T17:55:18.289Z / By Samantha Lindell, CNN Updated 3:44 PM EDT, Fri October 16, 2026

President Donald Trump has fired Katie Zacharia as press secretary, advisers to the president said, ending her turbulent five-day stint as the White House’s top spokesperson. Trump told CNN’s Kristen Holmes he felt she had been treated unfairly, “I don’t want her to have a life like she’s led in the last three days.”

2:19 • Source: CNN

‘Buck’ stops at Walz: Flanagan ducks Minnesota fraud blame as GOP rival exposes glaring contradiction

Flanagan pointed to Gov Tim Walz as bearing responsibility, while Tafoya called her attempt to deflect unconvincing

October 16, 2026 2:53pm EDT / Fox News

By Leo Briceno

Minnesota showdown: Michele Tafoya says Peggy Flanagan deserves a ‘pink slip,’ not a promotion

Minnesota Republican U.S. Senate nominee Michele Tafoya, in a Fox News Digital interview, targeted Democratic rival Peggy Flanagan’s record and says voters are ‘angry’ over fraud scandals.

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Michele Tafoya, the Republican nominee for U.S. Senate in Minnesota and a former broadcaster, aggressively sought to put her opponent, Democratic Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan, on the defensive during a debate Friday afternoon over the billion-dollar fraud schemes that drew national attention to the state earlier this year.

Early in the debate, Tafoya pressed Flanagan on her qualifications for federal office, pointing to her record as lieutenant governor.

“My opponent has been second in command in this state for eight years, drawing a taxpayer-funded paycheck. And what do we have to show for that? We have massive fraud, historic fraud. We have test scores down. We have crime spiking. We have a massive surplus turned into a deficit,” Tafoya said.

TAFOYA MAKES ‘COMMON SENSE’ PITCH TO DISAFFECTED DEMOCRATS AS SHE VOWS TO FIGHT MINNESOTA’S ‘SOCIALIST LURCH’

Michele Tafoya says Peggy Flanagan represents a shift toward “democrat socialism” in Minnesota.(Fox News Digital ; Stephen Maturen/Getty Images)

“This election is about Peggy Flanagan.”

Local and federal investigators have uncovered myriad fraud schemes involving daycare centers, food programs, health clinics and other operations accused of defrauding the state of up to $9 billion. Investigators say fraudsters either inflated the number of people they allegedly helped or fabricated their services altogether — all while receiving government dollars.

When the issue resurfaced later in the debate, the moderator asked Flanagan directly whether, in her view, she had “any ownership over the fraud.”

Flanagan sought to distance herself from the issue, pointing to Walz’s acknowledgment that responsibility for oversight rested with him.

“The governor has been very clear that the buck stops with him,” Flanagan said.

“He was the one who had oversight here. I’ve led on issues like paid family and medical leave, nation-leading child tax credit, making sure that kids get breakfast and lunch at school. Those are the things and those are the areas where I took the lead.”

When Flanagan then redirected the conversation to criticism of President Donald Trump, Tafoya went on the attack.

DAVID MARCUS: PEGGY FLANAGAN’S DEI RECORD AND FRAUD SCANDAL PUT MINNESOTA SENATE RACE IN THE SPOTLIGHT

Minnesota Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan visited a Somali market wearing a hijab in December alongside Nimco Ahmed, who runs an autism center that is now under investigation.(Somali TV Minnesota)

“Peggy, Donald Trump isn’t on the ballot. You and I are on the ballot, and only one of us let $9 billion walk out the door to fraud to suggest that we that she somehow is going to be a fraud czar all of a sudden,” Tafoya said.

“My goodness, she was second in charge in this state, and she’s just going to point her finger at Gov. Tim Walz when she demanded to be in the room where everything happened. But, suddenly, she has nothing to do with this. Again, sell it to someone else,” she added.

Flanagan has served as Minnesota’s lieutenant governor for nearly eight years, taking office in 2019. By the time Walz announced that he would not run for re-election as governor amid political scrutiny for the fraud, Flanagan had already announced her bid for U.S. Senate.

Responding to Tafoya, Flanagan doubled down on her criticism of Trump, noting that the president had recently endorsed Tafoya.

“Donald Trump doesn’t just endorse anybody. In fact, he endorses against people in his own party if they dare to take him on. Michele Tafoya passed his litmus test with flying colors,” Flanagan said.

Tafoya then laid out her own proposals for combating fraud, including tougher consequences for noncitizens who defraud Americans.

“No. 1, if you’re a guest of this country, and you defraud Americans, you must leave. You must leave, and you should have no pathway back,” she said.

FRAUD EXPERT EXPOSES HOW HIDDEN NETWORKS DROVE MINNESOTA FRAUD, OTHER MAJOR SCAMS: ‘CRIMINAL ENTERPRISE’

Michele Tafoya, a Republican candidate for U.S. Senate, votes in the primary election at Shepherd of the Hills Church in Edina, Minn., Aug. 11, 2026.(Leila Navidi/The Minnesota Star Tribune)

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“No. 2, if you’re an American and you defraud your fellow Americans, we should be talking about mandatory prison minimums. Tough sentences, not an easygoing slap on the wrist.

“And No. 3, if you’re a state like Minnesota who cannot keep your financial house in order, why would the federal government release billions and billions of dollars to you, only to see it go to fraud?”

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After securing their respective parties’ nominations earlier this year, Flanagan and Tafoya will face off in the state’s Nov. 3 general election.

Leo Briceno is a politics reporter for the congressional team at Fox News Digital. He was previously a reporter with World Magazine.

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Trump says ‘zero chance’ he’s replacing chief of staff Susie Wiles

2026-10-16T17:32:33.980Z / CNN

By Kit Maher

Updated 16 min ago

Updated Oct 16, 2026, 2:56 PM ET

PUBLISHED Oct 16, 2026, 1:32 PM ET

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White House chief of staff Susie Wiles looks on as President Donald Trump speaks to the media on the South Lawn of the White House, on October 6, 2026.

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President Donald Trump said Friday there is “zero chance” he’s considering replacing White House chief of staff Susie Wiles after reports that suggested as much.

“The Susie Wiles story was a fake story,” Trump told CNN’s Kristen Holmes in reference to Politico reporting earlier this week about the president surveying allies about Wiles and musing about potential replacements.

“She’s been incredible,” Trump said of Wiles. “She’s smart and tough; she just went through a lot with the cancer surgery,” he added, referring to her breast cancer diagnosis. Wiles recently announced she is cancer free.

“Susie is here and she’s gonna be here for a long time,” Trump added.

The president said the White House told Politico that its reporting about Wiles was incorrect before publication. “Susie Wiles is my loyal and longest serving Chief of Staff — there is a reason for that,” he said in a statement to Politico, adding that she “has my COMPLETE confidence.”

“The only one that matters is me because I’m the one that makes the decision,” Trump told reporters on Friday.

Wiles told Trump she had early stage breast cancer in March, and he urged her to start treatment immediately and take as much time away from the White House as she needed. But Wiles made clear she wasn’t going anywhere, insisting on continuing to serve as Trump’s top aide while undergoing treatment.

In announcing last month that she was cancer free, Wiles thanked the president and nodded to her continued service.

“A special thank you to President Trump for his unwavering support. I am deeply grateful and will continue to work to advance his America First Agenda,” she wrote on X.

A mainstay in Trump’s orbit for the past several years, Wiles helped steer his successful 2024 campaign before joining the White House as chief of staff. That appointment made her the first woman to hold the job.

This story has been updated with additional information.

Trump fires Katie Zacharia as White House press secretary after five days, advisers say

2026-10-16T17:16:48.489Z / CNN

By Kristen Holmes, Alayna Treene, Kevin Liptak

Updated 47 min ago

Updated Oct 16, 2026, 2:16 PM ET

PUBLISHED Oct 16, 2026, 1:16 PM ET

White House Press Secretary Katie Zacharia takes questions during her first briefing in the Brady Press Briefing Room of the White House, on October 13.

Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

President Donald Trump has fired Katie Zacharia as press secretary, advisers to the president said, ending her turbulent week-long stint as the White House’s top spokesperson.

Trump told reporters earlier he had asked Zacharia to reconsider her role, all but declaring her brief tenure in the job over.

“Honestly, if I were you, I’d reconsider,” Trump said he told Zacharia on Friday morning.

He said they would speak when he returned to the White House and he would leave the decision to her. But he did not sound particularly encouraging of his embattled press secretary.

“Katie, do you need this?” he said he told her. “I don’t think you need this.”

It was a remarkable vote of no confidence in Zacharia, who entered the job a week ago. Her shaky debut in the briefing room on Tuesday and persistent questions about her background had led to immense scrutiny from the media and fellow Trump aides. A White House official told CNN that Zacharia was “transitioning out” of the press secretary role, and a Trump adviser said she’d be leaving the White House in the next few days.

Speaking as he was leaving the White House for a political rally in Georgia, Trump said Zacharia had been mistreated by the media and praised her as a loyal supporter.

But he made clear he did not believe Zacharia was suited to speak on his behalf as the government’s top spokesperson.

“Maybe it’s not for her,” he conceded.

A source close to the president told CNN that Trump still respects and likes Zacharia as a person, insisting the way Trump described the conversation with Zacharia was accurate.

That source and another also said that Zacharia and her family are having dinner with Vice President JD Vance and his family Friday night at the vice president’s residence, a signal that the administration still holds her in high regard.

Zacharia had captured Trump’s attention as a conservative commentator on television, and her hiring occurred quickly after other candidates were deemed ineligible because of critical comments they made about Trump.

Her inexperience was revealed quickly, however. At the White House lectern on Tuesday, she appeared nervous and only took three questions. Later in the day, she offered a confusing answer to a question about where she had passed her bar exam, since she’d been described by Trump as an “attorney” when he announced her hiring.

As it turned out, she had never passed the bar exam, she explained in a series of surprisingly tense interviews on Fox News. And she was vague about whether she would appear again in the briefing room.

It all led to deepening questions inside the White House about how long Zacharia could possibly last in the job.

Trump did not initially think Zacharia’s performance at her first press briefing was as bad as some of his advisers had, two sources familiar with the discussions said. However, her interviews that followed — specifically her Thursday night appearance on Fox News with Sean Hannity — and conversations he subsequently had with his allies convinced him that it was untenable for her to remain in the role, they added.

Trump remarked to allies and advisers this week that perhaps she “wasn’t ready for prime time,” one person with direct knowledge of his comments told CNN.

Her five-day-long tenure ultimately came in shorter than that of Anthony Scaramucci, whose 11-day tenure as White House communications director in 2017 is now used as a measuring stick for the relative longevity of embattled White House officials.

This is a developing story and will be updated.