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TDFP News Roundup – 10/28/26

Writer: Yossi Schmidt
Yossi Schmidt
1 day ago
9 min read

Today’s 20 stories from The Digital Free Press, led by a TDFP exclusive on a Saudi university fund’s $4 million investment in an American rare-earth refiner, a grand jury’s refusal to indict Cassidy Hutchinson, a federal ruling that Bill Essayli is unlawfully serving as a “de facto” U.S. attorney, and a judge’s plan to vet DOJ’s list of 20,000 alleged noncitizen California voters.



Part 1: Top 10 Stories


1. TDFP Exclusive: Saudi university KAUST’s U.S. fund put $4 million into an American rare-earth refiner, filing shows

Capital K, a Silicon Valley venture firm registered with the Justice Department as a foreign agent of Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), put $4 million into Cincinnati rare-earth refiner Rare Earth Technologies in August, according to a Foreign Agents Registration Act filing reviewed by The Digital Free Press. The deal was the largest of six U.S. startup investments totaling $11.15 million that the firm reported for KAUST between June and August. FARA registration is a legal disclosure requirement and does not by itself indicate wrongdoing.


2. Grand jury declines to indict Cassidy Hutchinson over her Jan. 6 committee testimony

A federal grand jury in Washington declined to indict former White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson, whom Republicans had accused of lying under oath in her 2022 testimony to the House Jan. 6 committee, Breitbart News reported, citing people familiar with the case who spoke to the Associated Press. The details of prosecutors’ allegations were not made public. Hutchinson has said she stands by her testimony, and Breitbart noted that the grand jury’s decision does not establish whether it was true or false.


3. Federal judge rules Bill Essayli is unlawfully serving as a ‘de facto’ U.S. attorney in Los Angeles

U.S. District Judge J. Michael Seabright ruled Tuesday that Bill Essayli, the Trump administration’s top federal prosecutor in Los Angeles, is unlawfully serving as a “de facto” U.S. attorney and disqualified him from supervising two criminal cases, according to a 32-page order reviewed by The Digital Free Press. The judge found that a revised designation order from Attorney General Todd Blanche did not change the outcome, but he refused to dismiss the indictments. Essayli told Fox News he disagrees and expects the Supreme Court to decide the question.


4. Judge weighs a special master to vet DOJ’s list of 20,000 alleged noncitizen California voters

U.S. District Judge David O. Carter said Tuesday he is considering appointing a special master to evaluate the Trump administration’s claim that some 20,000 noncitizens are on California’s voter rolls and whether counties could separate their ballots, the Associated Press reported. Carter said ruling now would be too rushed and that the review could finish before the state’s Dec. 11 certification deadline; he said he would issue an order Wednesday. First Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli told the court, “Our goal is not to prosecute tens of thousands of people. It’s to safeguard the election.”


5. James Comey hit with a third federal case, accused of leaking national defense information

Prosecutors unsealed a new case Monday accusing former FBI Director James Comey of two Espionage Act violations over an alleged October 2016 disclosure of national defense information to a reporter, the Daily Wire reported, the third criminal case brought against him since President Trump returned to office. The charges were filed under seal on Oct. 5 by criminal information, which the Justice Department said was meant to beat the 10-year statute of limitations; Comey’s lawyers have moved to dismiss. Comey says he is innocent and called the case “an appalling abuse of the Department of Justice,” while Trump called him a “dirty cop.”


6. Judge rebukes DOJ for overnight bid to add charges against two ex-FBI officials in the Hunter Biden case

U.S. Magistrate Judge Zia Faruqui on Tuesday rejected a superseding complaint that prosecutors filed hours before a preliminary hearing, seeking to add felony obstruction charges against former FBI officials Nikki Floris and Bradley Benavides, Fox News reported. The two are accused of misrepresenting their role in the Hunter Biden investigations to Congress. Faruqui said the unsigned, unsworn complaint should not have been filed without judicial approval, and the hearing went forward on the original allegations.

Source: Fox News


7. House Judiciary report says NYC prosecutors tailored plea deals to help noncitizens avoid deportation

A report from the Republican-led House Judiciary Committee says district attorneys in all five New York City boroughs gave noncitizen defendants “preferential treatment” to limit immigration consequences, Fox News reported, citing nonpublic documents the committee obtained. It alleges Bronx prosecutors were told to leave firearm references out of conviction records for “immigration-conscious plea bargaining.” The Staten Island DA’s office called the report “flagrantly false and patently political,” and Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg’s office called its 2022 policy “outdated.”

Source: Fox News


8. TDFP Exclusive: Dashcam shows Texas trooper doubting a U.S. citizen’s legal status before his deportation

Dashcam and in-car footage obtained by The Digital Free Press through a Texas public records request shows how an April window-tint stop near Fredericksburg turned into a Border Patrol referral for two passengers, including Brian Morales García, the Austin man who says he is a U.S. citizen and was removed to Mexico days later. On the recording, the trooper says the men “may not be able to leave” because he is “not sure if they’re legal.” His report says Morales García claimed to be born in the United States but had no identification to prove it.


9. Haitian man charged in Pennsylvania Walmart killing entered the U.S. through Biden-era parole, DHS sources say

Destino Jean-Louis, 23, is charged with murder in the Oct. 21 shooting death of a Walmart employee outside a store in Cheltenham Township, Pennsylvania, and DHS sources told Fox News he entered the U.S. in November 2023 under the Biden administration’s CHNV parole program. DHS said his status was revoked in June 2025 and that ICE arrested him Oct. 23 before transferring him to local authorities. Investigators allege the killing followed the collapse of a marriage meant to help him obtain a green card, local outlets reported.

Source: Fox News


10. AP review finds ICE has held a mentally ill man for nearly a year despite records showing he was born in Florida

Immigration authorities have detained Phillip James, 39, for nearly all of 2026 and sought to deport him to Jamaica based on his own claim of Jamaican birth, which court-filed medical reports describe as a delusion, an Associated Press review found. The AP said documents support his mother’s and lawyers’ account that he was born in Florida, and Jamaican officials deny any record of him. DHS disputes that he is a citizen, alleges his birth certificate was fraudulent and says ICE does not detain U.S. citizens.


Part 2: 10 More Stories, Only on TDFP


11. Green-card holder pleads guilty to illegally voting in Wyoming’s 2024 presidential election

Maksim Sergeevich Shakirov, 30, a lawful permanent resident who is not a U.S. citizen, pleaded guilty Tuesday in federal court in Cheyenne to voting in person in Carbon County on Election Day 2024, Cowboy State Daily reported. According to an investigator’s report, he had checked the box swearing he was a citizen on his voter registration form. Secretary of State Chuck Gray said Shakirov was flagged in October 2025 after Wyoming gained access to the federal SAVE citizenship database, by which time his ballot had already been counted.


12. DOJ sues Maryland’s Anne Arundel County schools over gender identity records, says an August policy fix fell short

The Justice Department sued the Anne Arundel County Board of Education on Tuesday, alleging the school system’s gender identity policies deny parents rights under two federal student privacy laws, FERPA and PPRA, The Digital Free Press reported from the 31-page complaint. The filing shows the board revised part of its policy in August after the Education Department found it out of compliance, a change the department says does “not adequately protect parents’ rights.” The complaint’s allegations have not been tested in court.


13. Pentagon bars personnel from betting on military operations with inside information

An Oct. 20 memo from Secretary of War Pete Hegseth bars service members and civilian employees from using nonpublic information to bet on military operations on prediction markets, naming Polymarket and Kalshi, the Daily Caller News Foundation reported. The memo warns such wagers can generate signals that adversaries’ intelligence services could exploit. “The lives of our service members often depend on the enemy not knowing what is coming,” it reads.

Source: Daily Caller


14. New FBI rule lets gun dealers run free federal background checks on their own employees

Federally licensed firearms dealers will be able to use the FBI’s National Instant Criminal Background Check System to screen current and prospective employees for free under a new rule taking effect Nov. 27, the Daily Caller News Foundation reported. The rule creates a voluntary Firearms Handler Check stemming from the 2022 Bipartisan Safer Communities Act. The National Shooting Sports Foundation praised it, and its spokesman Mark Oliva said the Biden Justice Department had ignored the group’s requests for the tool.

Source: Daily Caller


15. ICE arrests Honduran man convicted in Tennessee shooting after he received probation

ICE agents this month took custody of Aldo David Herrera-Andino, 22, of Honduras, after he pleaded guilty to felony aggravated assault in a Davidson County, Tennessee, shooting and was sentenced to five years of probation, Breitbart News reported. “Herrera-Andino shot a man in the face, left him fighting for his life, and fled the scene,” ICE spokesperson Micah Bock said. According to Breitbart, he was arrested by Border Patrol after crossing the southern border illegally in March 2021 and released into the country.


16. Illinois man charged with mailing white powder to members of Congress in letters bearing his own return address

Matthew G. Unglesbee was charged Monday with false information and hoaxes and mailing threatening communications after four members of Congress in northern Illinois, including a senator, received letters containing a white granular substance, Fox News reported, citing a criminal complaint. The letters were marked with his name and return address, and an FBI tip came from someone who overheard him at a restaurant, the complaint says. Unglesbee told the FBI the substance was salt and the letters were a joke, according to the complaint; preliminary tests found no toxins.

Source: Fox News


17. Brooklyn jury convicts American of receiving ISIS military training in Syria

A federal jury in Brooklyn on Tuesday convicted Halima Salman, 27, a U.S. citizen and former Brooklyn resident, of receiving military-type training from ISIS in Syria, the Justice Department announced. Prosecutors said her family left the U.S. for ISIS-held territory in 2016. “With today’s verdict, Salman is held accountable for joining forces with a terrorist organization,” said U.S. Attorney Joseph Nocella Jr.; the New York Post reported she testified her father forced her to marry a fighter and that she faces up to 10 years in prison.


18. Alexander brothers each sentenced to 30 years in federal sex-trafficking case

U.S. District Judge Valerie Caproni sentenced former luxury real estate brokers Tal Alexander, 40, and his twin brothers Oren and Alon, 39, to 30 years in prison each on Tuesday, the New York Post reported. A federal jury convicted the three in March of sex-trafficking charges. The judge said the brothers were “a lot like Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde” and called their conduct “monstrous” after 11 victims addressed the court.


19. Flávio Bolsonaro and family land in Miami after fleeing Brazil following his election loss

Defeated Brazilian presidential candidate Flávio Bolsonaro and his family have landed in Miami after leaving Brazil through Argentina and Ecuador, the Associated Press reported, a day after the Trump administration granted them U.S. visas. Bolsonaro had refused to concede to President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and threatened to seek to annul the result. He is under investigation by Brazil’s Supreme Court for alleged corruption, money laundering and tax evasion, and the court had ordered him to surrender his passports by noon Tuesday.


20. FTC sues Dollar General, alleging shoppers were charged more at checkout than advertised prices

The Federal Trade Commission sued Dollar General on Monday, alleging the discount retailer repeatedly charged customers more at the register than prices advertised on shelves, in weekly flyers and on its website, the Washington Examiner reported. The suit alleges the problems persisted for years despite thousands of failed inspections, tens of thousands of consumer complaints and multiple enforcement actions. The allegations have not been proven in court.


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