What a crazy 24 hours it’s been. It’s Monday, October 12, and there’s a lot to get through. Let’s start with the headlines:
Federal agents raided Rep. Ilhan Omar’s home, allegedly over paperwork her late father filed when she was just a child
Iran hit a third supertanker in 2 days, and Brent crude surged past $107
Russia mocked Trump’s “energy ceasefire” within hours, striking Ukrainian energy centers, so Trump naturally got angry at…Zelenskyy
Ukraine knocked 3 Yandex data centers offline, and Russian bot traffic dropped dramatically
The MAGA smear campaign against James Talarico completely collapsed
MAGA Mike Johnson insists high fuel prices have nothing to do with Republicans
Elon musk has now spent a whopping ~$366 MILLION on helping Republicans in the midterms
A federal judge halted taxpayer-funded Trump propaganda TVV ads
Trump’s crews chopped down 529 trees at East Potomac Golf Course despite a judge’s warnings
Trump’s new press secretary is a Pizzagate/QAnon conspiracy thoery peddling nut
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Trump Sics His DOJ on Ilhan Omar
Federal agents raided Rep. Ilhan Omar’s D.C.-area home before dawn this morning. The DOJ confirmed a court-authorized search, and reporting from MeidasTouch reporter Pablo Manríquez on his Substack Migrant Insider says the investigation involved alleged fraud in immigration paperwork completed by Omar’s late father when she was just a child. Omar is a U.S. citizen and has not been charged with anything. She has been an outspoken critic of Trump, and is up for re-election this fall.
Omar’s response on social media:
“I’m ok. Make no mistake: this is an attempt to target political enemies and weaponize federal law enforcement. For ten years, Trump has targeted me with baseless lies and smear campaigns. This is just the latest escalation in his campaign of political intimidation.
I will not be silenced.”
I’ll end this update with a heavy dose of irony. Speaker Johnson warned on CBS this morning that a Democratic House would bring “lawfare on steroids” to this country.
Iran, Hormuz, and Trump’s Diesel Disaster
Iran’s IRGC says it struck and set fire to a third supertanker in the Strait of Hormuz in 2 days, claiming the ship switched off its navigation and ignored warnings. UKMTO separately confirmed an outbound tanker in the Strait was hit by an unknown projectile and reclassified an incident near Sohar anchorage in Oman as a drone attack. For context, Sohar sits on the Gulf of Oman, so the attacks are now reaching beyond the Strait itself.
Brent crude climbed from about $103 to a session high of $107.22 after Iran’s attack and Zelenskyy’s report that Russia struck 6 Ukrainian energy facilities.
U.S. diesel is now near $6.50 a gallon, above the 2022 peak after Russia invaded Ukraine, with the surge beginning at the exact time the U.S. and Israel launched the Iran war.
So Trump is scrambling right now. Canadian PM Mark Carney’s office says Canada will maximize oil and diesel exports to the U.S., yielding over a million barrels of diesel a day. Journalist Catherine Rampell made a great point. The only reason we have a trade deficit in the first place is because we buy so much Canadian energy. Without that energy, we’d run a surplus. So basically, Trump can import more Canadian diesel or shrink the deficit. He can’t do both.
And I’ll circle back to Trump’s Russia diesel deal. The whole thing is maybe 2-3 million barrels, roughly what 1 or 2 of the tankers Iran keeps hitting carry. And here’s maybe the craziest part… Analyst Babak Taghvaee says the diesel may actually be Iranian, since Ukrainian strikes have crippled Russian refining and thousands of Iranian tanker trucks were spotted in Russia in September. I want to be clear this is still unconfirmed, but if true, that means Trump is funneling money to both Moscow AND Tehran. There are senators from both parties now saying the deal violates the 2022 law banning Russian oil imports and a 2017 law requiring congressional review of sanctions relief. And by the way… While Trump may have immunity, Bessent and the officials executing these illegal transactions do not.
Also: Russia’s Rosatom says 135 staff are back at Iran’s Bushehr nuclear plant, up from about 20. And Darline Graham at her debate claimed the war started “under the Democrats.” Um… What?
Trump’s Fake Ceasefire Gets a Reality Check
We were quick to call out Trump’s latest fake “deal” with Russia and Ukraine yesterday. Well, it turns out, so were Kyiv and Moscow. Zelenskyy keeps making clear that he is happy to accept an energy ceasefire if Russia stops attacking Ukrainian energy infrastructure. Zelenskyy even held off on attacks overnight to prove it. So what did Putin do? He struck 6 energy facilities and wounded 33 people. In Kharkiv, Russian drones hit the TPP-5 power plant and a supermarket, killing at least 3. Kyiv is now dealing with blackouts and water outages. Zelenskyy told the Warsaw Security Forum that clearly Putin doesn’t read Truth Social.
Trump’s response has been to get mad at… Zelenskyy. A White House official told Barak Ravid at Axios that Trump is “really mad” and feels that Zelenskyy is taking the U.S. for granted. The Financial Times reports the Trump regime threatened to halt PURL, the NATO mechanism allies use to buy U.S. weapons for Ukraine.
Ukraine has answered Russia’s attacks by hitting Yandex, essentially Russia’s Google. At least 3 data centers have been hit thus far. Cloudflare reported Yandex network bot traffic collapsing. Zelenskyy noted that social media got noticeably less hateful when Yandex went offline. Even Trump sycophant Mark Levin posted that it’s Putin who should be stepping down.
The Talarico Smear Goes Down in Flames
James Talarico missed about 9 days from the campaign trail with the flu and was back at Austin City Limits on October 9 and 10, meeting with supporters and appearing with Kacey Musgraves. Trump operatives and MAGA propagandists got to work pumping fake stories in his absence. Trump fundraiser and strategist Caroline Wren posted flight data for a random private Cessna flying from Ohio to Austin. Nothing was there connecting Talarico to this private jet. That didn’t stop them from weaving their fantasy tales. MAGA operative Rhein Amacher called the Lindner Center of Hope near Cincinatti, a random mental health facility in Ohio, and posted a deceptive clip claiming a staffer said Talarico had been discharged. MAGA operative Nick Sortor repackaged the call as a “BREAKING EXCLUSIVE.” Elon Musk amplified the lies. Libs of TikTok, DC_Draino, Eric Daugherty, and other MAGA influencers flooded the zone.
It quickly fell apart. The Lindner facility said that Talarico “has never received treatment” there. Talarico noted he’s never even been to Ohio. The 6-minute tape of the MAGA operative’s conversation with the facility was then released, and it was revealed the employee repeatedly said she did not have anyone by the name James Talarico in her system. Amacher said he shopped the cooked up story to outlets including The Blaze and the Daily Mail, who both passed on the story following a legal review. He then gave it to an influencer, noting influencers don’t have the standards that legitimate outlets do. He had tweeted during this saga that his goal was “public humiliation” of Talarico. Facts be damned. And by the way, knowingly trying to obtain private health information, even if the person in question was never even at the facility, can be a federal crime.
After it was revealed the whole thing was fake news, a MAGA operative named Andrew Kolvet said it actually doesn’t matter whether he had the flu or was in a mental hospital. ????
I wrote an in-depth piece on this latest MAGA scam on Meidas News. You can read it here.
Meanwhile, it’s been more than 85 days since Talarico asked Paxton to debate. Talarico even agreed to do it on Fox News. Paxton continues to refuse. Talarico is now asking for “proof of spine” from Paxton.
GOP Midterm Panic
Johnson told CBS that Republicans earned an “A grade” on the economy, that fuel prices aren’t related to anything Republicans have done, and blamed Biden for current inflation, despite the fact that inflation was lower when Biden left office.
Steve Bannon warns that a Democratic House means impeaching RFK Jr. and Hegseth and daily subpoenas. The horror!
Trump rallies in Youngstown for Jon Husted and Vivek Ramaswamy tonight, then Alaska.
And get this: Elon Musk has now spent roughly $366 MILLION to try to boost Republicans in this midterm cycle, $276 million since July alone, per the NYT.
In The Courts…
A federal judge in New York temporarily blocked DHS-funded Trump TV propaganda ads, ordered placements canceled, and required a compliance report within 24 hours.
In D.C., after a judge warned the Trump regime to give notice before major action at East Potomac Golf Course, it announced at 4:55pm Friday that tree clearing would start 12 hours later. By Sunday, 529 trees were torn down, including healthy mature oaks and maples. The D.C. Preservation League filed for an emergency restraining order.
OK, that was a lot. But it’s a good place to stop for now. Ron Filipkowski will be back later with his full bulletin of all the day’s news, and we’ll be bringing you more content throughout the day on all our platforms.
ONE MORE THING: Our book WTF America?!: The Way Out of This Hell and Back to Democracy comes out NEXT WEEK 😳. It’s our life’s work and it’s dedicated to you, the Meidas Mighty. Consider preordering it today if you haven’t yet. I just received the first prints of the hardcover, and I have to say, I got the chills when I opened the box. I cannot wait for you to read it.
Shoutout to the Meidas Mighty!
This FBI raid on Omar is state sponsored terrorism. If the DOJ can do this to a sitting congress member then what protection do any of us have.
Thanks so much for the update, Brett. These people are pure evil and Trump needs to be stopped and I can only hope it will be in November