🚨 HAPPENING RIGHT NOW 🚨
President Trump campaigns in Iowa and then Kansas on Sunday, two days before Tuesday’s midterms, stumping for Sen. Roger Marshall against Democrat Adam Hamilton. Trump has spent the campaign’s final stretch in states he already won, casting the election as a referendum on his agenda as Republicans lean on his base appeal to offset voter unease over inflation, fuel prices and the Iran war. House Speaker Mike Johnson, campaigning in Michigan for Senate candidate Mike Rogers, predicted Republicans would defy history and beat back the usual midterm losses, citing underestimated GOP turnout.
SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 1st, 2026
Before we get to today’s news, here’s what happened on this date in history.
A trio of massive earthquakes flattened Lisbon, Portugal on All Saints’ Day, November 1, 1755, killing as many as 50,000 people in a single catastrophic morning. The strongest tremor, estimated at an 8.0 magnitude, struck as worshippers filled the city’s churches for holiday Mass, collapsing stone naves onto the faithful before a 20-foot tsunami and raging fires finished off what remained of Portugal’s capital. The disaster destroyed the royal palace and wiped out centuries of the nation’s art, books and architecture. The Marquis of Pombal rebuilt the city from scratch with wide avenues and some of the earliest prefabricated buildings, while Voltaire, who witnessed the chaos, later mocked religious leaders’ claims of divine punishment in his novel “Candide.”
Just over two weeks after a bruising Senate confirmation fight marked by Anita Hill’s sexual harassment allegations, Clarence Thomas took the judicial oath as the 106th justice of the U.S. Supreme Court on November 1, 1991, becoming only the second Black American to sit on the nation’s highest court. Thomas, nominated by President George H.W. Bush to replace the retiring Thurgood Marshall, would go on to become one of the Court’s most consistently conservative voices and, decades later, its longest-serving current member.
🗳️ Alaska Fights Back Against Trump’s ‘Meritless’ Bid to Freeze Senate Certification if Sullivan Loses to Peltola
Alaska’s Republican-led state government asked a federal judge Saturday to toss out the Trump administration’s lawsuit seeking to block certification of the state’s U.S. Senate race if GOP Sen. Dan Sullivan loses to Democrat Mary Peltola, calling the suit “meritless” and legally unworkable.
The DOJ complaint, filed at Trump’s direction, argues a second candidate sharing Sullivan’s name on the ranked-choice ballot may have confused voters and diverted votes from the incumbent.
Alaska’s attorney general’s office told U.S. District Judge Sharon Gleason there is “no reason for this Court to entertain this meritless lawsuit any longer,” and election-law experts have widely criticized the complaint.
Peltola has denied recruiting the second “Dan Sullivan” to the race, which both parties agree could help decide control of the Senate.
💻 FBI Blames North Korea for $6 Billion Binance Hack, the Biggest Crypto Heist in History
The FBI said Saturday that North Korean hackers, in an operation it’s calling “TraderTraitor,” stole more than $6 billion in cryptocurrency from exchange Binance — the first public confirmation from U.S. federal investigators after Binance disclosed the Thursday breach and estimated the loss at $6.3 billion.
The FBI, Secret Service and IRS Criminal Investigation watched the hackers convert the stolen assets mainly into Ethereum, and officials expect further laundering through DeFi platforms and instant exchange services.
Binance says it has already replenished about 90% of the stolen funds and will “absorb the financial impact” itself, insisting major cryptocurrencies remain fully backed.
President Trump said his administration is still gathering information — “we don’t know if it’s North Korea, but if it is, we’ll talk to them about it” — while warning of a coming “bloodbath of AI hacking.”
⚖️ Emergency Hearing Held as Veterans, Arlington County Race to Block Trump’s 250-Foot Triumphal Arch
Vietnam War veterans, a historian and Arlington County, Virginia are racing to stop President Trump’s planned 250-foot triumphal arch near Arlington National Cemetery, with an emergency hearing held Friday before U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan as excavation continues and construction could begin as soon as Nov. 5.
The veterans argue the arch — which would include a military observation deck — lacks congressional approval and would disrupt historic sightlines between the Lincoln Memorial and the Robert E. Lee Memorial.
The Justice Department called the plaintiffs’ arguments “breathless” and said they lack legal standing, while Arlington County separately alleges the administration bypassed required environmental reviews.
Chutkan has already ordered the federal government to give 48 hours’ notice before any construction begins; excavation began in September.
📁 Comey Seeks to Toss His Criminal Case, Accusing Trump Administration of ‘Vindictive’ Prosecution
James Comey’s lawyers moved this week to dismiss the former FBI director’s criminal case, arguing the prosecution pursued at President Trump’s direction is “vindictive” and legally improper, as the Justice Department presses ahead with its third attempt to indict him over an alleged 2016 classified leak.
The Justice Department filed its own response denying Comey’s selective-prosecution claims, and separately sought removal of one of his defense lawyers over an alleged conflict of interest.
A federal judge previously ordered the DOJ to hand over grand jury materials to Comey’s team, citing possible prosecutorial missteps.
Comey has said he’s “still innocent” and expects “a couple of years” of legal fighting ahead.
🚔 Michigan Man Charged With Threatening to Kill FBI Director Kash Patel
Federal prosecutors charged 42-year-old Michigan resident Anthony Daniel Palazzolo on Friday with threatening to kill FBI Director Kash Patel and one of his associates, at least the third publicly known threat case against Patel this year.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Michigan announced the charge of interstate communications involving threats, a felony punishable by up to five years in prison.
Palazzolo was arrested Friday and has already made a court appearance.
Men in Massachusetts and Arizona have separately been charged this year over threats against Patel and his fiancée.