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TDFP News Roundup – 10/20/26

Writer: Yossi Schmidt
Yossi Schmidt
5 hours ago
8 min read

Today’s 20 stories from The Digital Free Press, led by our exclusive on an HHS inspector general review of how NIH vets scientists at a Montana high-risk pathogen lab, Justice Department grand jury subpoenas to Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner’s office, President Trump’s new women’s health order, and charges against a Kansas man accused of threatening to shoot the president.



Part 1: Top 10 Stories


1. TDFP Exclusive: HHS inspector general opens a review of how NIH vets scientists at a Montana high-risk pathogen lab

The Health and Human Services Department’s Office of Inspector General has opened a review of how the National Institutes of Health vets employees at Rocky Mountain Laboratories in Hamilton, Montana, a federal lab that works with some of the world’s most dangerous pathogens, The Digital Free Press reported. The inspector general’s office says the study “will assess NIH’s general personnel vetting processes for Rocky Mountain Laboratories staff with access to high-risk pathogens.” The review follows a May request from Sen. Tim Sheehy, R-Mont., and federal charges filed in June against two of the lab’s scientists accused of bringing deactivated mpox virus samples into the country without declaring them.


2. DOJ sends grand jury subpoenas to Philadelphia DA Larry Krasner’s office, sources say

The Justice Department sent grand jury subpoenas to Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner’s office in recent days, Fox News reported, citing two sources who said they relate to potential obstruction of justice in the handling of cases before federal judges. The subpoenas follow U.S. District Judge Paul Diamond’s referral of Krasner and his deputy, Matthew Stiegler, to the Justice Department more than a month ago; Diamond wrote that “Philadelphia’s highest law enforcement official and one of his top assistants may have violated the law.” The Justice Department declined to comment, and Krasner’s office did not immediately respond, Fox News said.

Source: Fox News


3. Trump signs a Melania-led women’s health order and puts Wiles and RFK Jr. in charge of a new task force

President Trump on Monday signed an executive order, led by first lady Melania Trump, that creates a White House Women’s Health Task Force co-chaired by Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles, The Digital Free Press reported. The order tells the National Institutes of Health to set up a new Women’s Health Division within 90 days and revokes a 2024 Biden executive order and a 2023 memorandum on women’s health research.


4. Kansas man charged with threatening to shoot Trump before his Wichita rally

Jaden J. Read, 24, of Clearwater, Kansas, was charged Saturday with making threats against the president and arrested the same day, two days before President Trump’s Monday visit to Wichita, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Kansas, Fox News reported. Prosecutors say he wrote under a local news Facebook post, “IK where your speech will be. Already mapped out roofs around.” “Political violence and threats of political violence will not be tolerated,” U.S. Attorney Ryan A. Kriegshauser said.

Source: Fox News


5. Texts allege Ric Grenell promised a billionaire access to Trump for a Kennedy Center donation that never arrived

Ric Grenell, the former executive director of the Kennedy Center, allegedly promised Turkish businessman Turhan Mildon access to President Trump while seeking a $5.6 million donation that was never deposited, the New York Post reported, citing a May 2025 text message first reported by Axios. The White House counsel’s office has been investigating after Mildon’s wife, former acting U.S. Attorney Alina Habba, told Trump her husband was duped into providing the funds, the Post said. Grenell reportedly denied sending the text and did not respond to the Post’s request for comment.


6. TDFP Exclusive: House Science Democrat says Commerce hasn’t produced “a single” document in nearly two years

The top Democrat on the House Science Committee, Rep. Zoe Lofgren, D-Calif., says the Commerce Department has not turned over “a single responsive document, communication, or record” in response to her oversight requests, and she has given Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and Energy Secretary Chris Wright until 5 p.m. on Friday, Nov. 6, to produce the records, The Digital Free Press reported. Both letters open: “Agencies are required to comply with congressional oversight. It is an obligation, not a choice.”


7. UNC settles Trump administration probes into alleged antisemitism and race-based admissions

The Trump administration reached a settlement with the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill that closes 18 active federal investigations and a separate Justice Department compliance review involving alleged antisemitism and race discrimination, the New York Post reported. The deal requires no payment and no admission of wrongdoing, keeps UNC eligible for federal funding, and has the university adopt what the Justice Department called a “color-blind admissions system,” mandatory antisemitism training and a ban on masks used to conceal identity, with some exceptions. “This announcement reinforces our commitment to the fair and equal treatment of everyone at Carolina,” Chancellor Lee H. Roberts said.


8. Homan: worksite enforcement plan is headed to DHS Secretary Mullin

White House border czar Tom Homan said Sunday on Fox News that a plan to expand worksite enforcement “just cleared last week” out of Homeland Security Investigations and that Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin will “probably see it this week or next week,” Breitbart News reported. “It’s about holding employers accountable so they don’t try employing illegal aliens,” Homan said, adding that the plan also targets people who use fraudulent IDs.


9. Judge withdraws order to name DOJ career lawyers after D.C. golf course hearing

U.S. District Judge Ana Reyes withdrew her order that would have forced the Justice Department to refile a brief with the names of the career attorneys who agreed with it, after a hearing of more than six hours on the administration’s plan to renovate East Potomac Golf Links in Washington, the Washington Examiner reported. “Having spoken with my clerks and thought about it a little bit more, I am going to withdraw the request,” Reyes said. Associate Attorney General Stanley Woodward had called the order “incredibly untenable” and had asked the judge to recuse herself, which she declined to do.


10. Trump announces $8 billion in diesel relief for farmers at a Kansas rally

President Trump announced Monday night at a rally in Park City, Kansas, for Republican Sen. Roger Marshall that the Agriculture Department will pay farmers $8 billion to help cover diesel costs this harvest season, The Digital Free Press reported. USDA said the one-time Harvest Fuel Relief payments will be based on a share of estimated 2026 crop-year losses, with payment rates for major crops due in November.


Part 2: 10 More Stories, Only on TDFP


11. Trump renews his push to rename New Mexico “New America”

“New Mexico should immediately change its name to New America. We are not Mexico, we are the United States of America!” President Trump wrote on Truth Social, Fox News reported. Trump said the new name “would add great value and prestige to the State” and that “Home Values and Incomes would rise.”

Source: Fox News


12. United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby calls for a national wealth tax

United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby, who took home about $32.3 million in total compensation in fiscal 2025, called for a national wealth tax and inheritance taxes approaching 100% for some estates, the New York Post reported, citing his interview with The New York Times. “We should have a national wealth tax — it won’t work by state because people will just move,” Kirby said. “And I think we should have inheritance taxes that get close to 100 percent at some level. I would pay them.”


13. State Department sanctions five entities tied to an engineer convicted of stealing Google’s AI secrets

The State Department on Monday sanctioned five entities connected to Chinese national Linwei Ding under the Protecting American Intellectual Property Act, the department said. A federal jury convicted Ding on Jan. 29, 2026, of seven counts of theft of trade secrets for stealing thousands of pages of confidential Google information related to “super intelligence (SI) technology,” according to the department.


14. Navy quadruples its contract ceiling for AI ship-inspection robots to $300 million

The U.S. Navy is raising the ceiling on its contract with Pittsburgh-based Gecko Robotics for AI-powered robots that inspect warships from $71 million to $300 million, Fox News reported. “While the U.S. may not be able to out-manufacture faster than China, we can outsmart the ways that we maintain, operate and are ready with our vessels,” Gecko CEO Jake Loosararian told Fox News Digital.

Source: Fox News


15. South Korea’s president wants wartime command of his forces back from a U.S. general

South Korean President Lee Jae Myung said Monday that his country should take over wartime operational control of its forces, a role now held by an American general, the Daily Caller News Foundation reported. “To put it plainly, we should take back wartime operation control at an early time,” Lee said, according to Reuters. A White House official said the United States “intends to transfer wartime operational control to South Korea when the agreed conditions have been met.”


16. Mamdani and Democratic officials ask parking lot owners to turn away ICE

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani and about 100 Democratic officials signed a letter asking parking lot and garage owners to tell Immigration and Customs Enforcement and other federal officers they are not welcome, Breitbart News reported, citing Gothamist. “Make it known to ICE that it is not authorized to use your garages and lots,” the letter says; signers include Sens. Chuck Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries. A DHS spokesperson said federal immigration operations would continue.


17. Joe Manchin to campaign in Maine for Republican Sen. Susan Collins

Former Sen. Joe Manchin, who left the Democratic Party to become an independent, will campaign in Maine on Wednesday for Republican Sen. Susan Collins, her campaign confirmed to Fox News Digital. Collins is in a close race for a sixth term against Democrat Troy Jackson, a former Maine state senator. Manchin told Semafor, which first reported the visit, that he wants to show voters Collins’ bipartisan record, according to Fox News.

Source: Fox News


18. Alberta votes to stay in Canada

Albertans voted overwhelmingly to remain part of Canada in Monday’s independence referendum, the Washington Examiner reported. With 1.5 million votes counted, 76% were for staying and about 24% backed independence, according to Elections Alberta. “Albertans and all Canadians will move forward together with renewed purpose and high ambition,” Prime Minister Mark Carney said.


19. Lula in Brazil’s debate: if he wins a fourth term, “people will say: Brazil is finished”

Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva said in his closing remarks at Sunday’s debate, “in this fourth term, people will say: Brazil is finished,” before saying Brazil would be “a great country, a developed country,” Breitbart News reported. It was Lula’s first debate against conservative Sen. Flávio Bolsonaro, the front-runner in the Oct. 25 presidential runoff.


20. North Korea releases new photos of Kim Jong Un after rumors of his death

North Korean state media published photos Monday of Kim Jong Un at a clothing and shoe expo after rumors of his death spread on social media over the weekend, the Washington Examiner reported. Kim appeared well in the images; the unverified rumors claimed he had fallen into a coma and died of a brain hemorrhage.


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