Federal grand jury, Washington
Cassidy Hutchinson
Lying to Congress
Oct. 27, 2026
No bill
01 / The no billWashington
A grand jury refuses the Justice Department’s bid to charge Cassidy Hutchinson with lying to Congress about Jan. 6.
A federal grand jury in Washington returned a “no bill,” a formal refusal to approve charges, on Tuesday, Oct. 27. Prosecutors wanted to charge the former Trump White House aide with lying in her 2022 testimony to the House Jan. 6 committee. DOJ’s Civil Rights Division, run by Trump appointee Harmeet Dhillon, brought the case, and prosecutors can still try again.
- 2022Her testimony to the Jan. 6 committee. The reporting gives only the year.
- Oct. 27The grand jury returns a no bill, four years on.
- About 2027The five years run out, if the general limit applies.
The case grew out of a referral from House Republicans, reportedly from Rep. Barry Loudermilk, a Georgia Republican. In a 2022 Truth Social post, Trump asked, “What is the Justice Department going to do about this?” The Civil Rights Division ran the case rather than the D.C. U.S. Attorney’s Office, a choice CBS said went unexplained. Which statement prosecutors called a lie has not been reported.
A second try would need
- Approval from the responsible U.S. attorney, under Justice Manual §9-11.120
- Prior sign-off from DOJ’s Criminal Division, required for any perjury-before-Congress case
Grand jury, Virginia
Letitia James
Asked to re-indict after a judge threw out her first indictment
Dec. 4, 2025
Refused
Grand jury, Virginia
Letitia James
Asked again
Dec. 11, 2025
Refused
Read the reporting
02 / The leaks · Long readUnited States
Trump announces an EPA plan to loosen the 2024 methane rules for oil and gas wells and scrap the Super Emitter Program.
Trump announced the proposal Tuesday, Oct. 27, at a Lubbock, Texas, rally for Ken Paxton, the Republican Senate candidate, pitching it as a way to cut fuel costs. EPA’s own announcement gives no cents-per-gallon or gas-bill estimate to back that up.
Less than 5% of U.S. oil and gas
Nearly 50% of the industry’s methane
Each track is the whole, from zero. Output is less than 5%, so its bar is a ceiling.
The plan eases the 2024 standards for these low-producing, high-leaking “marginal” wells and relaxes limits on routine flaring, burning off unwanted gas at the well. EPA says it would save industry money but has not said over what period, and it has published no estimate of how much more methane the change would release.
What ending the Super Emitter Program takes off the books
- Trigger
- An outside monitor reports a leak of at least 100 kilograms of methane an hour within 15 days of spotting it
- Operator
- Begins investigating within five days of EPA’s notice and reports within 15
- Status
- Never run; its start was already pushed to Jan. 22, 2027
Trump’s first term tried six times to roll back the 2016 EPA and Bureau of Land Management methane rules. Courts or Congress undid five.
Read the reporting
03 / The outbreak · Long readCongo
Congo’s Bundibugyo Ebola outbreak passes 10,000 confirmed cases, with 4,887 deaths.
Congo’s public health institute counted 10,060 confirmed cases and 4,887 deaths through Oct. 25, its first report above 10,000. That makes it the second-largest Ebola outbreak on record.
10,060 Congo, confirmed cases through Oct. 25
More than 28,600 West Africa, 2014–2016, the only larger outbreak on record
149 Uganda, 2007–2008, the strain’s previous record
Congo counts confirmed cases only; 107 suspected cases were still awaiting investigation. West Africa’s count is a floor. Uganda’s is WHO’s; CDC lists 131.
No vaccine or drug is approved for this strain. On Oct. 23 a trial in the city of Bunia began giving Ervebo, the vaccine licensed against Ebola’s Zaire strain, to people around each new case. Whether it protects against Bundibugyo at all is still open. WHO’s expert advisers called the evidence limited and inconclusive on May 28, and the trial is meant to settle it.
Anyone who has been in Congo in the past 21 days, Americans included, cannot board a commercial flight bound for the U.S. On Oct. 27, CDC rated the chance of a case reaching the U.S. “very low.”
Read the reporting
04 / The suitAlaska
Alaska’s Republican-led state government joins Peltola in asking a judge to end DOJ’s certification suit.
The suit would block certifying Alaska’s Senate race if Sen. Dan Sullivan, an Alaska Republican, loses narrowly. U.S. District Judge Sharon Gleason’s first order, on Monday, Oct. 26, stressed that DOJ filed after Alaskans began voting.
Asking the judge to end it
- Democrat Mary Peltola’s campaign
- The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee
- Alaska’s Republican-led state government New
Brought it
- The Justice Department
“I’m the one that said do it.”Trump, to reporters
Only if
Sullivan loses but would have won had every Daniel J. Sullivan vote gone to him under ranked-choice counting. Daniel J. Sullivan, a retired teacher, won 2.5% in Alaska’s top-four primary.
Read the reporting
05 / The exit pollsIsrael
Israel’s exit polls give no bloc the 61 seats to govern, and late updates show a tie or a Netanyahu edge.
Exit polls are estimates; the official count comes later. The first ones, from Kan, Channel 12 and Channel 13, put Eisenkot’s bloc ahead. Netanyahu’s coalition holds 68 seats now, and both men have ruled out governing with the Arab-led parties, Al Jazeera reports.
First exit polls
Kan, Channel 12 and Channel 13
50
52-53
By early Wednesday, Oct. 28
Kan
51
51
Channel 13
51
51
Channel 12
52
49
The updates are as the Times of Israel reported them. Arab-led parties, projected at 18-19 seats, are in neither bloc.
Likud still leads all parties at a projected 27 seats in the updated polls; Eisenkot’s Yashar is at 21-22. Final turnout was 77.7%, the highest since 1999, the Central Elections Committee said.
Read the reporting
06 / The outageWashington
The FEC takes its online filing system offline, citing an attempted breach, a week before the midterms.
Since about 10 p.m. ET Monday, Oct. 26, groups cannot file the FEC’s 24- and 48-hour reports. Past reports remain searchable, and voting is unaffected. The FEC has not said when filing will return or whether any data was compromised.
What can’t be filed
- Outside groups
- Spending of $1,000 or more on a race, reported by the next day, in the final 20 days
- Campaigns
- Gifts of $1,000 or more, reported within 48 hours
“We have a bad actor attempting to breach FEC systems.”FEC filings officer, to compliance firms
“I’ve never seen this in 26 years,” compliance consultant Steven Mele said of the outage.