top of page
Search

TDFP News Roundup – 11/08/26

Writer: Yossi Schmidt
Yossi Schmidt
7 minutes ago
8 min read

Today’s 20 stories from The Digital Free Press, covering the weekend: President Trump confirms new strikes on Iran and declares Alaska’s Senate race over as counting continues, Democrats eye the national popular vote compact, and three TDFP reports, led by the TDFP exclusive on Taiwan hiring a Trump fundraiser’s lobbying firm, New York’s Nov. 25 deadline for ICE jail contracts and a German state’s letter to Senate Armed Services Chair Roger Wicker.



Part 1: Top 10 Stories


1. EXCLUSIVE: Taiwan hires Trump fundraiser Jeff Miller’s lobbying firm at $50,000 a month

Taiwan’s representative office in Washington, TECRO, has hired Miller Strategies, the lobbying firm of Republican fundraiser Jeff Miller, for a monthly retainer of $50,000, according to Foreign Agents Registration Act filings reviewed by The Digital Free Press. The term runs from Oct. 26, 2026, to April 25, 2027, which would total $300,000 over the six months, and the firm reports a first $50,000 payment on Nov. 3. The contract bars the firm from representing the government of the People’s Republic of China during the term.


2. Trump confirms new U.S. strikes on Iranian air defenses as talks turn to nuclear inspectors

President Trump confirmed U.S. strikes on Iranian air defenses on Qeshm Island, calling them “minor strikes” and saying “we knocked it out in about 15 minutes, maybe five,” the New York Post reported. They were the first strikes since Tuesday’s midterms. Under the latest Qatari proposal, as the Post reported citing the Guardian, the U.S. would lift its blockade in the Strait of Hormuz and release some frozen Iranian assets, while Iran would allow International Atomic Energy Agency inspectors back to bombed nuclear sites.


3. Trump declares Alaska’s Senate race “over” with votes still being counted

President Trump wrote on Truth Social that “the Alaska Race is OVER. Dan Sullivan WON, BY A LOT!” (his claim, not verified), arguing that votes for candidate Daniel J. Sullivan, whom he called a “decoy,” and for Gerald Heikes should count for Sen. Dan Sullivan, the New York Post reported. The Post reported that Sullivan was trailing former Rep. Mary Peltola by fewer than 700 votes, with 74% of precincts reporting when Trump posted. Alaska allows 10 days after Election Day for ballots to arrive and uses ranked-choice voting.


4. Peltola campaign sues for the names of Alaska voters whose absentee ballots were rejected

A group backing Democrat Mary Peltola’s Senate campaign, Alaskans for Mary, sued the Alaska Division of Elections on Friday in Anchorage Superior Court seeking the names of voters whose absentee ballots were rejected and the reasons, Breitbart News reported, citing the Alaska Beacon. The group asked for an injunction and a temporary restraining order before the election is certified later this month. State Department of Law officials said nothing requires the state to release the preliminary information, according to Alaska Public Media.


5. New York tells sheriffs to end ICE jail contracts by Nov. 25

New York’s attorney general has told sheriffs and county leaders that any agreement to house or detain people for federal civil immigration violations must be ended by Nov. 25, 2026, and that such agreements are “void, and unenforceable” after that date, according to a Nov. 6 letter reviewed by The Digital Free Press. The letter summarizes the state’s Local Cops, Local Crimes Act. It says jails may still hold people facing pending federal criminal charges and may comply with court orders and judicial warrants.


6. Democrats’ midterm wins open a path for the national popular vote compact by 2028

Democrats now control the governor’s office and both legislative chambers in Michigan, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Nevada, Fox News reported, which could put the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact within reach. The compact, enacted by 18 states and Washington, D.C., has 222 electoral votes pledged, 48 short of the 270 it needs to take effect; the four states’ 50 votes would push it to 272. National Popular Vote says it has legislative sponsors in each target state and expects bills early in the 2027 sessions.

Source: Fox News


7. New Jersey township reveals $26 million wire-fraud theft five weeks later, days after Election Day

Cranbury Township in Middlesex County announced Friday that about $26 million meant for buying property to meet its affordable housing obligations was stolen in a fraudulent wire transfer on Sept. 28, Fox News reported. Investigators have frozen nearly $17.3 million, leaving about $8.7 million outside the freeze, according to the township. Residents questioned why the theft was disclosed only after Tuesday’s election; the mayor said their concerns “are legitimate.”

Source: Fox News


8. Interior moves to “right-size” conservation zones on a tenth of America’s land

The Interior Department said it wants to rewrite the planning rules the Bureau of Land Management has followed since 1979 and “right-size” its Areas of Critical Environmental Concern, focusing on what each designation protects “rather than on oversized buffer zones,” the Daily Caller reported. The BLM manages about 245 million acres, roughly a tenth of all U.S. land. The proposal is not final and will get 60 days of public comment once it appears in the Federal Register.

Source: Daily Caller


9. German state home to Ramstein Air Base writes to Senate Armed Services Chair Wicker, plans December delegation

The German state of Rheinland-Pfalz, host to Ramstein Air Base, has written to Sen. Roger Wicker, R-Miss., chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, and plans to send a staff delegation to Washington on Dec. 8 and 9, according to materials its lobbying firm DLA Piper filed under the Foreign Agents Registration Act, reviewed by The Digital Free Press. The state’s interior minister, Achim Schwickert, writes that it is home to about 50,000 Americans and wants to “continue and enhance” its dialogue with Washington.


10. House Democrats pledge “aggressive” oversight of Trump after midterm wins

Democratic members of Congress’s chief investigative committees pledged at Crooked Con, a progressive convention in Washington, on Saturday to launch sweeping oversight of President Trump and his allies, the Washington Examiner reported. They also threatened to use the courts to enforce their investigative authority. Democrats take control of both chambers when the new Congress is sworn in in January.


Part 2: 10 More Stories, Only on TDFP


11. NYC educator paid a $192,374 principal’s salary for a school that never opened

A New York City Department of Education employee is being paid a $192,374 principal-level salary as “project director” of a proposed technology high school that was never approved or opened, the New York Post reported. Caleb Haraguchi-Combs was picked in January to lead the planned Next Generation Technology High School, a promotion that came with a $50,000 raise, according to the Post. Schools Chancellor Kamar Samuels dropped the proposal in April.


12. Blue Angels pilot removed from the team for “failing to uphold” its standards

Maj. Scott Laux, Blue Angel No. 6, was removed from the Navy’s flight demonstration team for “failing to uphold the standards expected of members,” the Chief of Naval Air Training said in a statement, Fox News reported. The team flew a five-jet show at its season finale in Pensacola. The removal comes months after a low Pensacola Beach flyover in July drew public-safety concerns.

Source: Fox News


13. Trump says the Senate is “getting nothing passed” before the new Congress arrives

Asked about his priorities before the new Congress takes office, President Trump told reporters at the Kennedy Space Center that “the Senate has to act” and that it “is getting nothing passed and it’s just killing our country,” Breitbart News reported. Trump said “Democrats vote in a block.” The Senate went on recess Sept. 30, ahead of the midterms, according to the report.


14. Former Jim Jordan aide says House Republicans need Jordan as a “wartime consigliere”

Russell Dye, who spent nearly a decade as communications director for Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, and the House Judiciary Committee, said on Breitbart News Saturday that Republicans should make Jordan their top leader in the House minority instead of Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La. “We need that wartime consigliere. We need a fighter,” Dye said, arguing Jordan is best placed to answer the investigations Democrats plan.


15. Sen. Jon Ossoff wins a 2028 straw poll at a progressive convention

Sen. Jon Ossoff, D-Ga., was the first choice of 38.4% of 990 respondents in a 2028 straw poll at Crooked Con, a progressive convention in Washington hosted by Crooked Media, the Washington Examiner reported. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., was second with 16.6%, and former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg was third with almost 14%.


16. Two men arrested after a Turning Point USA event at the University of New Mexico

University of New Mexico police arrested Kevin Castro and Harrison Magnus after a Turning Point USA event on campus, Fox News reported, citing KRQE. Court documents say Castro threw a lacrosse ball toward the crowd, nearly hitting someone; he faces charges including aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and conspiracy. Magnus faces charges of conspiracy, disorderly conduct and concealing identity.

Source: Fox News


17. Washington ranchers fined $267,540 over stockwater ponds take their fight toward a jury

Washington’s Department of Ecology fined the owners of King Ranch in Grant and Douglas counties $267,540 in 2023, saying ponds they dug for their cattle damaged regulated wetlands, Fox News reported. The owners say the areas are longstanding stockwater ponds, not wetlands, and are seeking a jury trial. “Losing this fight would be an existential threat,” rancher Wade King told Fox News Digital.

Source: Fox News


18. Train robberies surge across Southern California’s rail network, investigators say

More than 65,000 train heists happen nationwide each year, and 25% to 40% of them hit Southern California, investigators told The California Post, the New York Post reported. Investigators said cartel-run crews break into containers for shoes, clothing, tools and electronics that are quickly resold online, with losses in the tens to hundreds of millions of dollars. Many thefts go unreported, they said.


19. Army looks for quieter power as noisy generators give troops away to drones

The Army and the Pentagon’s Defense Innovation Unit are turning to companies that build hybrid battery systems so small field teams can shut off generators whose noise and heat can reveal them to enemy drones, the Daily Caller News Foundation reported. Rep. Pat Harrigan, R-N.C., a House Armed Services Committee member, said he is “absolutely interested in funding hybrid generators and battery systems” in the next defense bill.

Source: Daily Caller


20. France’s National Rally vows to classify Antifa as a terrorist group if it wins power

National Rally party leader Jordan Bardella said that if he becomes prime minister he will call on the European Union to “include ‘Antifa’ militias and all far-left organisations on the list of terrorist organisations,” Breitbart News reported. Bardella, speaking on CNews, said such groups act as an “armed wing” on the streets. France holds its presidential election next spring.


Hold Everyone Accountable.

Comments

Rated 0 out of 5 stars.
No ratings yet
Add a rating*
bottom of page