🚨 HAPPENING RIGHT NOW 🚨
A federal appeals court holds an emergency hearing Sunday afternoon over California's handling of roughly 20,000 mail ballots the Justice Department suspects went to noncitizens, with a three-judge 9th Circuit panel set to hear an hour of arguments from DOJ lawyers and Los Angeles County starting at 1 p.m. PT. The clash erupted after a federal judge missed the DOJ's deadline to rule on its demand that the ballots be set aside and left uncounted until citizenship can be verified; California says it lacks the authority or federal records to screen voters, and Los Angeles County has processed 331,000 ballots.
SUNDAY, OCTOBER 25th, 2026
Before we get to today's news, here's what happened on this date in history.
A future titan of modern art entered the world on October 25, 1881, when Pablo Picasso was born in Málaga, Spain, to a father who taught drawing and pushed him toward an academic art career from childhood. Picasso held his first exhibition at just 13 before leaving formal art school to chase bolder, experimental styles, and by 19 he remained largely unknown outside Barcelona despite having already produced hundreds of paintings. A 1901 show at a prestigious gallery on Paris's rue Lafitte changed that, drawing favorable reviews that convinced him to stay in the city for the rest of that year and, eventually, for good.
Imperial Japan unleashed a terrifying new weapon on October 25, 1944, when the first wave of kamikaze suicide planes struck the U.S. Navy off the Philippines during the Battle of Leyte Gulf. A squadron of about six Japanese Zero fighters, stripped down and loaded with more than 500 pounds of explosives, sank the escort carrier USS St. Lo within 30 minutes and killed 134 of its crew, while four more American carriers were hit that same day in the opening stage of a campaign that would eventually sink or damage roughly 130 U.S. warships by war's end.
🪪 Ilhan Omar Insists Her Name 'Has Always Been' Ilhan Omar After DOJ Court Filing Lists Her Under an Alias
Rep. Ilhan Omar pushed back Friday after a Justice Department court filing seeking to delay records tied to an Oct. 12 search of her Washington, D.C. home referred to her as “Ilhan Nur Said Elmi, a/k/a Ilhan Abdullahi Omar,” prompting President Trump to question her identity and accuse her of using a fake name.
Omar told Fox News Digital “It's Ilhan Abdullahi Omar” and posted on X that “my name has always been Ilhan Omar,” telling Trump to focus on Vice President JD Vance's name instead.
Her spokesperson called the alternate-name claim “completely false” and labeled related allegations about her marriage history a “disgusting conspiracy theory.”
Federal agents searched her home Oct. 12 and seized devices and documents as part of a probe into possible immigration fraud involving Omar or her father; the warrant records remain sealed.
— Daily Wire, BPR
🗳️ DOJ Sues to Block Alaska Senate Certification if GOP's Dan Sullivan Loses, as Trump and Obama Blitz Michigan Before Midterms
The Justice Department has sued to prevent certification of Alaska's U.S. Senate race if Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan loses to Democrat Mary Peltola, arguing a ranked-choice ballot featuring a second candidate also named Daniel J. Sullivan could confuse voters, with President Trump confirming he personally directed the lawsuit.
Alaska courts have already rejected efforts to remove the second Sullivan from the ballot, and Democrats and voting-rights groups are fighting to get the DOJ's suit dismissed.
Nine days before the midterms, Trump campaigns in Port Huron, Michigan on Sunday for GOP Senate candidate Mike Rogers, a day after Barack Obama rallied in Detroit for Rogers's rival, Abdul El-Sayed.
Former press secretary Karoline Leavitt told Fox News Digital “the president is defiant, and he always is optimistic” about the midterm landscape despite inflation and gas-price headwinds.
🎤 Obama Mocks Trump's 'Cheesecake Factory' White House Makeover and Hegseth's Focus on 'Jawlines and Testosterone' at Ohio Rally
Former President Obama ridiculed President Trump's White House renovations and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth's leadership style at a Cleveland rally Friday, telling the crowd Trump's taste for gold décor left the mansion “looking like Saddam Hussein opened a Cheesecake Factory” and joking that Hegseth seems “squarely focused on the jawlines and testosterone levels of our troops.”
Obama said Trump “should be on HGTV” over his focus on the Rose Garden, a new ballroom and a South Lawn helipad, drawing laughs from a crowd backing Ohio Democrats Sherrod Brown and Amy Acton.
He also blamed Trump's Iran conflict for higher energy costs, saying Trump “decided to start an unnecessary war that nobody asked for and nobody voted for.”
The White House did not respond to Fox News Digital's request for comment on Obama's remarks.
🔫 Backlash Mounts After Podcaster Jennifer Welch Urges Followers to Keep 'Pistols Firing' at JD Vance
Podcaster and former reality TV star Jennifer Welch is facing growing blowback after a video showed her telling followers to keep “pistols firing” at Vice President JD Vance and calling him a liar who “acts like” the Antichrist, days after she separately called Elon Musk a “white nationalist” and a “Nazi” on a podcast.
Musk responded “You're right” when a user suggested he sue Welch over her remarks, though no lawsuit had been filed as of Friday.
Fellow social-media personality Joanne Carducci drew separate criticism for a profane post attacking Vance that also targeted his mother.
Conservative commentators say Welch could face a visit from the Secret Service, though that has not been confirmed.
🕵️ CIA Contractor Charged Under Espionage Act After Allegedly Feeding Classified Secrets to Journalist Girlfriend's Substack
The FBI arrested Washington, D.C. contractor Ian Brinksman, 42, on Friday and charged him under the Espionage Act after accusing him of leaking Top Secret national defense information to a woman he began dating in November 2025 who writes a Substack newsletter on Congress and war.
Investigators say Brinksman contributed to five of the woman's articles between March and October, believing she intended to publish the classified material, and he faces up to 10 years in prison if convicted.
Attorney General Todd Blanche said the case shows a contractor who “exempted himself” from the law protecting classified information, and vowed continued leak prosecutions.
FBI Director Kash Patel and CIA Director John Ratcliffe both said their agencies have zero tolerance for leaks and will pursue violators to the fullest extent of the law.