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TDFP News Roundup – 10/26/26

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

Today’s 20 stories from The Digital Free Press, led by a Ninth Circuit panel questioning the Justice Department’s bid to set aside 20,000 California mail ballots, Lula’s reelection in Brazil as Flávio Bolsonaro rejects the results, Catherine Herridge’s Supreme Court fight to protect her sources, and thousands of tips to DOJ’s new fraud tip line.



Part 1: Top 10 Stories


1. Ninth Circuit panel questions DOJ bid to set aside 20,000 California mail ballots

A three-judge Ninth Circuit panel on Sunday questioned the Justice Department’s emergency request to force California to set aside roughly 20,000 mail ballots tied to people the department suspects are noncitizens, The Digital Free Press reported. The panel did not rule after nearly two hours of argument in a rare weekend hearing, and a district court hearing is set for Tuesday. The Justice Department wants the ballots held while eligibility is reviewed rather than counted with other votes.


2. Lula declared winner in Brazil as Flávio Bolsonaro rejects the results and asks for annulment

Brazil’s electoral court said President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva won Sunday’s runoff with 51.8% of the vote and a lead of nearly 4.4 million votes over Sen. Flávio Bolsonaro, the Associated Press reported via the Washington Examiner. Bolsonaro quickly refused to concede and asked for the results to be annulled after an evening of chaos at some polling places that followed a last-minute decision to extend voting by two hours, according to the AP. Lula, a vocal critic of President Trump, will serve a fourth term.


3. Catherine Herridge asks the Supreme Court to protect her sources as $800-a-day contempt fines loom

Former investigative reporter Catherine Herridge is asking the Supreme Court to shield her confidential sources after a federal court held her in contempt and ordered her to pay $800 a day for refusing to name who helped her 2017 reporting on Yanping Chen, Fox News reported. Herridge’s reporting raised questions about Chen’s alleged past as a colonel in China’s People’s Liberation Army; Chen, who was investigated but never charged, is suing the government over alleged leaks. Herridge’s lawyers say the Pentagon later cut off about $200,000 a month in taxpayer-funded tuition assistance to Chen’s university.

Source: Fox News


4. DOJ’s new fraud tip line draws thousands of tips in days, “fraud czar” says

Assistant Attorney General Colin McDonald, who heads the Justice Department’s National Fraud Enforcement Division, said Saturday that the new fraud whistleblower tip line has received “thousands of tips” in just a few days, Fox News reported. President Trump announced the Fraud Whistleblower Incentive Program on Tuesday, saying qualifying tipsters would receive a 1% commission, subject to applicable laws and rules. McDonald said tipsters can be paid upfront when there is an arrest, though submitting an allegation alone does not qualify for a reward.

Source: Fox News


5. Fox News review links an Ohio mosque to cited trucking companies and Uzbek officials

A Fox News Digital review found that the Islamic Center of Maineville, a mosque under construction in a village of about 1,400 people in Warren County, Ohio, received substantial donations from trucking companies that government records show were cited for serious safety and compliance violations. The mosque’s Telegram channel, with about 3,600 members, also displayed associations with people identified as current or former officials of Uzbekistan’s government, according to Fox News. The report is part of a Fox News Digital series on trucking fraud and public safety in southwest Ohio.

Source: Fox News


6. Mike Rogers tells “Meet the Press” host she is giving Abdul El-Sayed “a pass” on the Muslim Brotherhood

Michigan Republican Senate nominee Mike Rogers clashed with NBC “Meet the Press” moderator Kristen Welker on Sunday over his allegations about Democratic opponent Abdul El-Sayed and the Muslim Brotherhood, The Digital Free Press reported. “You are giving him a pass on something he should be accountable for,” Rogers said, after Welker said El-Sayed had already disavowed any ties to the group. Rogers said he has never called El-Sayed a terrorist; El-Sayed denies any ties and accuses Rogers of exploiting his faith.


7. Justice Department survey: serious violent crime fell 25% in 2025

Serious violent crime fell 25% and property crime 19% in 2025, according to preliminary Bureau of Justice Statistics findings obtained by Breitbart News. The National Crime Victimization Survey estimates about 669,000 fewer serious violent victimizations than in 2024, with the rate dropping from 9.9 to 7.4 per 1,000 residents age 12 and older, Breitbart reported. Vehicle thefts fell from 1.19 million to about 841,000, and households saw about 3.5 million fewer property crimes, according to the findings.


8. María Corina Machado makes a surprise return to Venezuela after nearly a year abroad

Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado returned home Sunday for the first time since December, writing on social media, “I’m here. With you all,” Fox News reported. Venezuela remains led by acting President Delcy Rodríguez, a longtime Maduro ally backed by the Trump administration, with no presidential election scheduled, according to Fox News. Asked about her return in Port Huron, Michigan, President Trump said he was unaware of it but hoped she is safe, adding, “We’re doing really well in Venezuela.”

Source: Fox News


9. Trump says he told Macron “You are destroying France” as nearly 1,000 are arrested in renewed unrest

President Trump said on “Sunday Morning Futures” that he told French President Emmanuel Macron early on, “You are destroying France. You’re letting people come in that hate your country,” Fox News reported. Trump’s comments came after nearly 1,000 people were arrested in France on Saturday as nationwide protests resumed, according to French Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez. Macron has said his government will move to ban protests organized by groups “with no legitimate authority” and blamed “ultra-left groups” for the riots.

Source: Fox News


10. Libya summons the top U.S. diplomat over Trump’s “terror-infested” rally remark

Libya’s foreign ministry summoned the U.S. chargé d’affaires on Sunday to protest President Trump calling Libya “terror-infested” at a rally in Perry, Georgia, The Digital Free Press reported, citing Reuters. The ministry called the remarks “offensive.” Trump later wrote on Truth Social that the U.S. respects the Libyan people but that Libya “cannot remain a corridor for illegal migration.”


Part 2: 10 More Stories, Only on TDFP


11. New Pentagon UFO files: FBI agents saw a silent black triangle shoot off like a fighter jet

FBI agents reported seeing a dark, nonreflective triangular object with an estimated 9- to 15-foot wingspan hover silently above a mountain ridge before accelerating into a canyon at speeds comparable to a fighter jet, according to newly released Department of War records reported by Fox News. The agents saw no visible exhaust or conventional propulsion, the 2026 FBI report says. The release also covers decades-old military encounters and reports of unexplained lights at a Utah ranch.

Source: Fox News


12. Meta offers Zuckerberg an incentive to stay as he weighs leaving California over a wealth tax

Meta disclosed in an SEC filing that Mark Zuckerberg told a special committee he was evaluating moving his primary residence out of California, Breitbart News reported, citing Politico, as voters weigh a billionaire wealth tax in November. To keep him “in close proximity to Meta Superintelligence Labs,” Meta agreed to gradually lift restrictions on his ability to sell certain shares over eight years, tied to him staying in a leadership role near the company’s Silicon Valley headquarters, according to the filing.


13. Democratic Socialists target NTSB chair Jennifer Homendy as “too chummy” with Republicans

Members of the Democratic Socialists of America criticized National Transportation Safety Board Chairwoman Jennifer Homendy, the lone Democrat leading an agency in the Trump administration, during an Oct. 19 virtual DSA meeting, the New York Post reported. The criticism irked congressional Democrats, sources told the Post. Homendy has been appointed to the NTSB by presidents of both parties.


14. ICE arrests 82 criminal illegal aliens in a three-day Massachusetts operation

ICE officers arrested at least 82 illegal aliens with criminal charges or histories, including assault, strangulation, extortion and drunken driving, during a three-day operation in Massachusetts, Breitbart News reported, citing ICE. ICE Boston Field Office Director Joseph Sher said sanctuary politicians have made “the dumbfounding choice to prioritize dangerous criminal illegal aliens rather than their law-abiding American citizens.”


15. Jane Fonda’s Climate PAC has spent $5 million on candidates ahead of the midterms

Jane Fonda’s Climate PAC has spent about $5 million on congressional, state and local candidates after raising $8 million, Breitbart News reported, citing the New York Post. The money includes $5,000 contributions to candidates in competitive House races in Pennsylvania, North Carolina and other states, according to the report, which says the PAC has backed socialist candidates.


16. Democrats have spent more than $36 million on Epstein-related midterm ads

Democrats have spent more than $36 million on ads related to Jeffrey Epstein in the 2026 midterms, the Washington Examiner reported, citing an AdImpact analysis reported by Politico. Senate Majority PAC, aligned with Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, said it alone spent more than $20 million on such ads in Senate races in Maine, Iowa, Ohio, Kansas, Georgia and Alaska, according to the report.


17. Japan indicts a U.S. Marine on robbery and murder charges in the killing of a woman in Okinawa

Japanese prosecutors indicted Lance Cpl. Devin Jacob Ballard, stationed at Marine Corps Air Station Futenma, on charges of robbery and murder in the death of a 39-year-old woman at a hotel in Naha earlier this month, Reuters reported via the New York Post, citing Japanese media. Prosecutors allege he strangled her and stole a backpack containing a wallet, public broadcaster NHK reported. Ballard has denied the allegations.


18. Activists say a Mexican cartel has kidnapped more than 100 farmers in Guerrero

Activists in Mexico say La Familia Michoacana is holding more than 100 farmers in Guerrero state to pressure locals into letting it set up a base in the region, Breitbart News reported. Father Filiberto Velázquez, director of a victims’ rights center, said the cartel has stayed one step ahead of Mexican security operations, according to the report. Details remain unclear; the issue surfaced when farmers protested for the release of seven captives.


19. Chicago ringleader of fake-robbery visa scheme gets two years in prison

Parth Nayi, 29, was sentenced to two years in prison for organizing hundreds of staged armed robberies at Chicago-area restaurants, convenience stores and gas stations from 2022 to 2024 so migrants could use police reports to apply for U visas, Breitbart News reported, citing CWBChicago. The U visa program, created by Congress in 2000, is meant for crime victims who help police.


20. Animal rights groups protest a $200 million startup’s plan for genetically engineered war dogs

Animal rights groups are condemning Warhound, a $200 million startup founded by Anduril’s Palmer Luckey and biotech entrepreneur Ben Lamm that plans to clone and genetically modify dogs for dangerous military operations, the Daily Caller reported. The company plans to alter military working dogs to improve their health and possibly their physical abilities, with Anduril supplying body armor and sensors, according to the report.

Source: Daily Caller


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