Hegseth fires top general amid Iran strike plans; Alaska governor orders ballot probe

Another top general is out at the Pentagon. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth fires the military's top planner as the U.S. weighs new strikes against Iran. Plus, a federal judge blocks the Trump administration from setting aside thousands of California mail ballots. Why he says the government's evidence doesn't hold up. And two candidates, same name. Now a state investigation. Alaska's governor orders a probe into alleged Democratic efforts to confuse Senate voters. The stories that matter. The facts you can trust. From across the country to around the world, this is Unbiased Updates from Straight Arrow. Hey everybody, I'm Christian Bryant. It's Thursday, October 29th. Hope your morning is off to a great start. Let's get you caught up and ready for the day ahead. This morning, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has fired another top general at the Pentagon, just as President just as President Trump is weighing new military strikes against Iran after next week's midterms. Lt. Gen. Brett Sylvia was abruptly removed from his post earlier this week. He led the Joint Staff Strategy and Planning Office, known as J-5, which helps develop military plans and advise the chairmen of the Joint Chiefs. No public explanation for his firing and no replacement has been named. He's the second Gen. Hegseth has removed from that same job in just over a year, part of a much broader shakeup of the military's top ranks. And his departure comes at a particularly sensitive time. The Associated Press reports U.S. officials have warned several Middle Eastern countries to prepare for possible new American strikes against Iran after Tuesday's elections and potential Iranian retaliation. But there's also a new diplomatic effort underway. The Wall Street Journal reports Vice President J.D. Vance sent a letter to Iran's top national security official trying to restart negotiations. Trump says he didn't direct Vance to open peace talks, but did give him the okay to reach out. He described the contact as an effort to get medical supplies to Iranians. No, what that is, is they need help with medical supplies and various things. He asked me what I thought. I said, if you want to do that, that's okay. Basically, it's getting supplies in to help people that are not well. The Journal reports the outreach hasn't produced a specific peace proposal. So far, the discussions have focused on whether the two sides can even get negotiations started again. With the midterms just days away, a federal judge has blocked the Trump administration's effort to set aside thousands of mail-in ballots in California. The Justice Department claims the voters may not be U.S. citizens, but the judge says the government hasn't made a credible case. In a ruling Wednesday, Judge David Carter rejected the administration's request to set aside ballots for more than 20,000 voters while their citizenship is checked. He says that would violate long-standing constitutional principles, giving states control over their elections. And Carter didn't mince words. Carter wrote, quote, Never before in American history has the federal government, on the eve of an election, sought to coerce a state and local government to abandon their own constitutional elections procedures and bend to the will of the executive branch. He also warned the move would, quote, wreak havoc on voting that's already underway. And he questioned how the Justice Department put together its list of suspected noncitizens, saying the process wasn't credible. The Justice Department says it plans to appeal. Remember that strange Senate race in Alaska where two guys named Dan Sullivan are in the ballot? Well, we're learning a lot more about how that happened. The New York Times reports aides to Democrat Mary Peltola worked behind the scenes with national Democratic operatives to recruit candidates who could take away votes from Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan. And yes, that included looking for other people with his exact name. One of them, a retired teacher, ended up on the ballot. The Times says it reviewed text messages and other documents and spoke with people involved in the effort. Now the report doesn't establish that Peltola herself was directly involved. Her former campaign manager claimed Peltola knew about the operation, but later contacted the Times asking to retract her statements. Peltola's campaign denies any involvement, saying it didn't recruit candidates or work with either Sullivan campaign. The National Democratic Senate Campaign Committee also denies involvement. After the report, Peltola told reporters, quote, "'This is just another distraction. "'Every day it's some new, you know, "'look over here moment. "'This is all stuff to sell newspapers. "'This is all stuff to get subscriptions. "'Nobody at the New York Times "'cares about affordability in Alaska.'" Republicans have tried to get the other Sullivan removed from the ballot, but Alaska's Supreme Court rejected that effort in June. Now Alaska's Republican governor is ordering a state investigation. Mike Dunleavy says state police will look into whether the recruitment effort broke Alaska law and whether criminal charges or civil penalties are warranted. The Justice Department has also sued Alaska, seeking to block certification of the Senate results if the second Sullivan costs the incumbent the election. President Trump accused Democrats of fraud and perjury and told reporters Peltola should drop out of the race. They said they didn't do it and we caught them cold. And Mary Peltola should resign from the race. I think she should be prosecuted criminally for what she did. Remember, Alaska uses ranked-choice voting so voters can rank both Sullivans. The incumbent is also the only one identified as a Republican on the ballot. Now to Israel, where votes are still being counted and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's party is already making accusations of election fraud. So far, there's no clear winner, and neither side has enough seats to form a government on its own. With about 91 percent of the vote counted, Netanyahu's political allies are projected to win 53 seats in parliament. The opposition bloc, led by Gadi Eizenkot, is on track for 48. And Arab-led parties are headed for a record 19 seats. It takes 61 to control Israel's 120-seat parliament, so coalition talks are getting underway. But Netanyahu's Likud party is now accusing the Arab-led parties of stealing the election through widespread fraud without providing evidence. In a post on social media, it's calling on police and Israel's internal security agency to investigate. And the country's far-right national security minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir, wants Arab party leaders arrested over unsubstantiated claims of foreign funding. But Israeli police say there's no evidence to back up the fraud allegations. And the country's Central Elections Committee says it will review Likud's complaint as part of its normal post-election process. The Federal Reserve is holding interest rates steady even as inflation keeps climbing. And with the midterms just days away, Fed Chair Kevin Warsh is pushing back on any suggestion that politics played a part. The Fed voted Wednesday to keep its benchmark rate between 3.75 and 4 percent. at 3.7 percent in September, well above the Fed's 2 percent target. Higher energy costs are helping drive that increase. And after raising rates last month, the Fed says it wants more economic data before making another move. President Trump has repeatedly called for lower rates. Warsh was asked whether the upcoming election influenced the decision. Politics played no role in the decision. I just spent two days with my colleagues upstairs. I didn't hear an utterance about politics. I didn't hear a reference to politics, elections, what's happening in the next week or so. Didn't hear anything about it. And I don't believe it had any role in the decision, not just for me, but my colleagues around the room. The vote wasn't unanimous. Fed Governor Lisa Cook and Cleveland Fed President Beth Hammack both wanted to raise rates by another quarter point. Cook is also fighting President Trump's effort to remove her from the Fed. And Warsh announced a change to how the Fed operates. Starting next year, it'll reduce the number of meetings where it votes on interest rates from eight to seven. That drops to six in 2028. The Fed's next rate decision comes in December when another increase is on the table. Finally this morning, if you stayed up late watching the World Series, you got to see a little baseball history. The Milwaukee Brewers are World Series champions for the first time ever. They beat the Tampa Bay Rays 4-1 in Game 5, taking the series four games to one. Pitcher Jacob Mizorowski threw five and two-thirds scoreless innings before a calf cramp forced him out. And rookie Cooper Pratt drove in two runs, setting a World Series rookie record with six straight hits. Now keep in mind, Milwaukee is the smallest market in Major League Baseball, and Brewers fans have waited a long time for this. The franchise has been around for 57 years. — its only other World Series appearance — was back in 1982. So after 44 years of waiting to get back, Milwaukee finally has its first championship. Before we head out, here's what we're tracking today. At noon Eastern, Maria Corina Machado holds her first news conference since returning to Venezuela. At 12.30, President Trump headlines a midterm campaign rally in Rock Hill, South Carolina. Then at 5, former Vice President Kamala Harris campaigns with Senator John Ossoff in Atlanta, and at 5:30, Trump and First Lady Melania Trump host Halloween at the White House. Folks, we're here to get you caught up, not worked up. Watch unbiased updates at SAN.com or our app, or join our growing audience on YouTube, Spotify, or your favorite podcast app. We're glad to be a part of your morning routine. And hey, it's Thursday, which means a new episode of Offscript is coming your way. That's our new podcast where we sit down with Straight Arrow news reporters and dig a little deeper into the stories they're covering. And as always, yours truly is hosting. Subscribers can watch the full episode later today on SAN.com or our app, and we'll post a free preview on YouTube and Spotify. That's Unbiased Updates for this Thursday. For the Unbiased Updates team and all of us at Straight Arrow, I'm Christian Bryant. Thank you so much for watching, have a good one, and we'll see you back here tomorrow.