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TDFP News Roundup – 10/19/26

Writer: Yossi Schmidt
Yossi Schmidt
2 hours ago
7 min read

Today’s 20 stories from The Digital Free Press, led by our exclusive on a DEA order that says a Yonkers physician assistant wrote opioid prescriptions for a patient in jail, federal arrests of noncitizen voting suspects across California, our exclusive on the libel suit filed by DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin’s wife, and Barack Obama’s defense of Rep. Ilhan Omar.



Part 1: Top 10 Stories


1. TDFP Exclusive: DEA says a Yonkers physician assistant wrote opioid prescriptions for a patient in jail

The Drug Enforcement Administration has revoked all three federal registrations that let Yonkers, New York, physician assistant Vladimir Romaniv prescribe controlled substances, after finding he wrote opioid prescriptions for a patient who was in New York City jail custody at the time, The Digital Free Press reported. According to the final DEA order, he issued at least eight prescriptions to the patient while the patient was incarcerated and noted in his records that he had evaluated the patient “at the clinic.” The order takes effect Nov. 9.


2. Feds go after noncitizen voting suspects across California in “Operation Protect the Vote”

Federal agents began arresting suspects across California on Monday morning, seeking more than two dozen foreign nationals charged with fraudulently registering to vote, most of whom allegedly cast illegal ballots, the New York Post reported. One of them, Alexander Muñoz, a 72-year-old Belizean national, is accused of registering in 2019 and voting in 2020, twice in 2022 and in 2024. “Today’s arrests confirm what we suspected and what we put California on notice for: Noncitizens are voting in California elections which is unconstitutional and illegal,” said Bill Essayli, the top federal prosecutor in Los Angeles; local officials have denied that noncitizen voting is a widespread problem.


3. TDFP Exclusive: DHS Secretary Mullin’s wife sues the Daily Mail for libel

Christie Mullin, the wife of Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin, has sued the Daily Mail in federal court in Washington, alleging the paper falsely reported that her husband was trying to put her on the DHS payroll so he would not have to pay for her flights, The Digital Free Press reported. Asked whether the department told the Daily Mail before publication that the story was false, a DHS spokesperson told The Digital Free Press: “Yes. DHS debunked many false claims.”


4. Obama says the Trump administration is targeting Ilhan Omar for criticizing the president

Former President Barack Obama wrote Sunday that “the full weight of the federal government is being brought down on a law-abiding elected official because she has dared to criticize the president,” calling the federal investigations into Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., “appalling,” Fox News reported. Conservatives answered by pointing to the IRS targeting of Tea Party groups and the Crossfire Hurricane probe during Obama’s years. “Unlike Joe Biden, President Trump has not weaponized the Department of Justice against his political foes,” White House spokeswoman Lauren Bis said.

Source: Fox News


5. Florida issues a no-bond arrest warrant for Raúl Castro over the 1996 shootdown

Florida has obtained a state arrest warrant for former Cuban leader Raúl Castro on a no-bond charge of conspiracy to commit first-degree murder in the Feb. 24, 1996, shootdown of two Brothers to the Rescue planes, an attack that killed four men, The Digital Free Press reported. The warrant was issued in Miami-Dade County after an investigation by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement.


6. Musk pledges a SpaceX share to “every kid in America” next year

Elon Musk wrote on X early Monday, “Next year, I will give one of my SpaceX shares to every kid in America,” and teased that the giveaway “will be the first of many,” the New York Post reported. Musk did not say how the shares would be handed out. The Post estimated the gift at around $10.5 billion, based on 72 million U.S. children and SpaceX’s Friday closing price of $146.03.


7. Reid Hoffman’s $500,000 for a Kentucky Democrat’s super PAC draws “Epstein class” attack

LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman gave $500,000 on Sept. 24 to Kentuckians Not Corruption, a super PAC backing Democratic House nominee Zach Dembo in Kentucky’s 6th District, according to FEC records cited by Fox News. Dembo’s Republican opponent, former state Sen. Ralph Alvarado, called it “dirty Epstein class money,” pointing to Hoffman’s past ties to Jeffrey Epstein, and urged Dembo to disavow it. Fox News said Dembo’s campaign did not respond to repeated requests for comment.

Source: Fox News


8. National Guard member shot breaking up a fight in D.C.; suspect wounded as Guard returns fire

A National Guard member was shot in the leg late Sunday after Guard members stopped to break up a fight in Washington’s Eastern Market neighborhood, and the suspected gunman was shot when Guard members returned fire, The Digital Free Press reported, citing police. Both are expected to survive, and the suspect is hospitalized in custody.


9. Trump rallies in Kansas for Sen. Roger Marshall

President Trump is scheduled to rally in Wichita on Monday for Republican Sen. Roger Marshall, who faces Democrat Adam Hamilton, a Methodist minister, in a competitive race in a state long considered safely Republican, Fox News reported. The stop is part of Trump’s expanding midterm push as the GOP works to defend its Senate majority.

Source: Fox News


10. Massachusetts GOP lieutenant governor nominee suspends his campaign after OUI arrest

Shawn Oliver, the Republican nominee for Massachusetts lieutenant governor and a New Bedford city councilor, suspended his campaign Sunday after police arrested him following a late-Saturday rollover crash involving five parked vehicles, Fox News reported. Police charged him with operating under the influence of liquor, negligent operation, a marked lanes violation and speeding. GOP governor nominee Mike Minogue, who asked Oliver to step aside, wrote, “There is no excuse for driving under the influence.”

Source: Fox News


Part 2: 10 More Stories, Only on TDFP


11. Warnock on impeachment: “Donald Trump is a crook and he’s got to go”

Sen. Raphael Warnock, D-Ga., said Sunday on NBC’s “Meet the Press” that “Donald Trump is a crook and he’s got to go” when asked whether Democrats should impeach the president if they win back the House, Breitbart News reported. Warnock said “the people who are enabling him, they all have to be held accountable,” and also urged Democrats to “end this war,” stop the tariffs and fix health care.


12. Kansas Democrat who rails against billionaires reports a net worth of up to $20 million

Adam Hamilton, the Democratic megachurch pastor challenging Sen. Roger Marshall in Kansas, has campaigned against billionaires and special interests, but his financial disclosure shows a net worth of up to $20 million and a $394,239 salary from the Church of the Resurrection, Breitbart News reported. The disclosure also lists $417,372.70 in publishing royalties, according to Breitbart.


13. Putin floats a Trump-Xi-Putin meeting in China to end the Ukraine war

Russian President Vladimir Putin proposed a three-way meeting with President Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping on the sidelines of next month’s Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Shenzhen, China, The Daily Wire reported, citing The Wall Street Journal. Secretary of State Marco Rubio acknowledged a meeting had been discussed but said nothing was certain yet, while Ukraine’s top diplomat, Andrii Sybiha, blasted the idea of peace talks without Ukraine.


14. Booker’s GOP rival Justin Murphy says he “shoots from the hip” after his viral debate moment

New Jersey Republican Senate nominee Justin Murphy, a Navy veteran and former Tabernacle deputy mayor, told Fox News Digital he has no speechwriter or teleprompter after his debate answer that President Trump should “finish” the Iran war went viral, Fox News reported. “I shoot from the hip because I want people to see a very sincere, genuine and authentic Justin Murphy,” he said. The last Republican to represent New Jersey in the Senate, Clifford Case, was last elected in 1972.

Source: Fox News


15. Man shot dead on a Midtown subway platform identified as a 26-year-old security guard

The man fatally shot Saturday on the 53rd Street/7th Avenue subway platform in Manhattan has been identified as Darell Rodriguez, 26, of the Bronx, who sources said was heading home from his job as a security guard, the New York Post reported. Police said the gunman fled and is still on the loose. It is the seventh murder in the city’s transit system this year, according to NYPD statistics cited by the Post.


16. Ex-NYC Buildings Commissioner Eric Ulrich goes on trial on bribery charges

Former New York City Buildings Commissioner Eric Ulrich, a onetime Republican city councilman, faces a bench trial starting Monday before Manhattan Supreme Court Judge Daniel Conviser, more than three years after he was indicted, the New York Post reported. Prosecutors allege he traded political favors for bribes, including Mets season tickets, custom suits and a painting by an apprentice of Salvador Dalí. He was charged in September 2023 with 16 felonies across five indictments.


17. Four New York lawmakers haven’t set foot in the Capitol all year, records show

Four New York State lawmakers have not been to the Capitol in Albany once this year, according to attendance records the New York Post obtained through a public information request. The 10 most-absent lawmakers racked up 442 absences combined, 39% of all absences since January, the Post reported. They include two 89-year-old Assembly members battling long-term illnesses who did not seek reelection, and a Navy reservist who was deployed to the Middle East.


18. Florida man, 71, killed by a 12-foot alligator while fishing

Steven Hamilton, 71, of Winter Garden, Florida, was killed by an alligator Friday evening while fishing along the shore of Lake Apopka, the Daily Caller reported, citing the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. The roughly 12-foot alligator was trapped and killed, according to police. State officials say it is Florida’s second fatal alligator attack of 2026.


19. Firefighters save the “Godfather” church from a Staten Island warehouse blaze

More than 200 firefighters and EMS personnel fought a four-alarm fire Saturday evening in a vacant warehouse on the Mount Loretto grounds in Staten Island, sparing the nearby Old Church of St. Joachim and St. Anne, seen in the baptism scene of “The Godfather,” Fox News reported. The warehouse roof collapsed, and one firefighter was injured.

Source: Fox News


20. Campaigns have spent nearly $80 million on AI-made political ads

Campaigns and outside groups had spent nearly $80 million on at least 164 political ads made or enhanced with artificial intelligence as of Sept. 4, according to the Wesleyan Media Project, the Daily Caller reported. The ads have run in key Senate and governor races, and critics online have mocked some of them as “AI slop.”


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