🚨 HAPPENING RIGHT NOW 🚨
The U.S. is sending the USS Theodore Roosevelt Carrier Strike Group and the 13th Marine Expeditionary Unit to the Middle East, adding roughly 10,000 sailors and Marines by late November and marking the third aircraft carrier in the region. Crude prices jumped more than $4 a barrel on the news, with Brent settling at $102.31 and WTI at $92.87. President Trump said the Iran nuclear threat was eliminated “in one night,” while Treasury slapped fresh sanctions on an Iranian shadow banking network and reported Iran loaded zero barrels of crude in September under “Operation Economic Outcast.”
FRIDAY, OCTOBER 2nd, 2026
Before we get to today’s news, here’s what happened on this date in history.
Thurgood Marshall, the great-grandson of an enslaved man, was sworn in on October 2, 1967 as the first Black justice on the U.S. Supreme Court, with Chief Justice Earl Warren administering the oath. Born in Baltimore in 1908, Marshall had already made history as the NAACP’s chief counsel, architecting the legal strategy that dismantled official school segregation and winning the landmark 1954 case Brown v. Board of Education. President Lyndon Johnson nominated him in June 1967, and the Senate confirmed him 69-11 that August. Marshall went on to serve 24 years on the bench, championing civil rights and opposing capital punishment before retiring in 1991.
Singer-songwriter Don McLean was born in New Rochelle, New York on this date in 1945, and would go on to write one of the most enduring songs in American pop music. His 1971 single “American Pie,” a sprawling folk-rock meditation on lost innocence inspired partly by the 1959 plane-crash deaths of Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and the Big Bopper, dominated the charts for decades and was Grammy Hall of Fame-inducted before Taylor Swift finally dethroned its record for longest song to top the Hot 100 in 2021. McLean has racked up more than 40 gold and platinum records and still tours today.
💣 Energy Department Employee Charged With Trying to Aid Iran-Backed Houthis, Allegedly Bought Drone and Explosive Parts
The DOJ charged Ashton Hamed Ellaboudy, a Department of Energy employee based at Washington state’s Hanford Site, with attempting to provide material support to the Houthis after he allegedly traveled to Yemen on an official U.S. passport under false pretenses and purchased drone-construction parts and chemical precursors used in explosives.
Ellaboudy allegedly took sick leave claiming nitric acid exposure while he was actually acquiring materials for explosive devices and drones capable of delivering them
The Assistant Attorney General for National Security said he “traveled overseas and used his specialized expertise in an attempt to aid the Houthis,” a designated foreign terrorist organization
He was arrested in Washington state and is scheduled to appear in court Friday; DOE says the investigation found no threat to the Hanford Site or its workforce
✈️ Netanyahu Says FlyDubai Co-Pilot Underwent ‘Islamist Radical Indoctrination,’ Israel Joins Hunt for Iran Link
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the Omani co-pilot who tried to crash FlyDubai Flight FZ1073 “underwent Islamist radical indoctrination,” while cautioning it’s “too early to say” whether he had ties to Iran as Israeli investigators head to the UAE to join the probe.
Netanyahu and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi both said the wounded captain and passengers who stormed the cockpit “prevented another 9/11”
President Trump suggested Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps “could have been” involved, though no confirmed link has been established
Captain Smit Machchhar, stabbed in the head and arm, is recovering in a UAE hospital; FlyDubai has suspended all Israel flights pending the investigation’s outcome
🗳️ Trump Barnstorms Texas and Oklahoma for Midterms, Appears With Dennis Rodman at Rally
President Trump campaigned for Republicans across two red states Thursday, stopping at a Denton, Texas truck factory before headlining a midterm rally in Durant, Oklahoma, where former NBA star Dennis Rodman made a surprise appearance on stage.
The swing comes as the GOP tries to shore up vulnerable seats four weeks out from Election Day, with the White House pointing to the economy and border security as closing arguments
Trump touted falling gas prices and the administration’s energy agenda to the Oklahoma crowd
Republican leaders in both states framed the visit as a turnout push in races seen as competitive this cycle
📺 White House Drops CNN From Trump’s Travel Press Pool Again Ahead of Texas-Oklahoma Trip
The White House again barred CNN from the traveling press pool for President Trump’s trip to Texas and Oklahoma, reviving a fight over network access that first erupted in September and has already triggered a boycott threat from rival TV pool members.
This is at least the second time the administration has pulled CNN’s pool credentials since the dispute began, despite a judge’s earlier order on access
Network pool members previously suspended their own coverage in solidarity with outlets banned from the pool
CNN’s lawyers have called the repeated removals a “blatant violation” of press-access norms
🕌 Immigration Judge Clears Deportation of Wisconsin’s Largest Mosque’s President Over Terror Ties
An immigration judge ruled Wednesday that the Trump administration can deport Salah Sarsour, president of the Islamic Society of Milwaukee and a 30-year U.S. resident, after the government cited decades-old Israeli convictions and alleged Hamas-linked fundraising as national-security grounds.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio invoked federal immigration law in 2025, determining Sarsour’s presence “could have potentially serious adverse foreign policy consequences”
DHS alleges he “engaged in terrorist activity or supported a terrorist organization,” pointing to a 2001 FBI memo on Holy Land Foundation fundraising
Sarsour says he will keep fighting the ruling, calling it retaliation for his Gaza advocacy; his attorneys dispute the allegations and say he was never convicted of some of the claims against him