What to know about the Iran war today:Ships remain exposed to “indiscriminate attacks” in the Strait of Hormuz, even if they try to hide their movements by switching off tracking systems, a maritime monitor said Thursday, confirming three strikes on vessels in the waterway this week.The Houthis on Thursday launched a strike against the presidential palace in government-controlled Yemen. The attack caused multiple death and injuries among the security staff, according to the internationally recognized government.The Saudi-led coalition battling the Iran-backed Houthis in Yemen said Thursday it had intercepted a cruise missile over Saudi Arabia’s western Medina region. The Houthis called the claim “a shameless and brazen lie.” Ousted general warned of years-long missile defense shortage before Iran war In late December, two months before the U.S. war with Iran began, Army Chief of Staff Gen. Randy George warned that his service was critically short on missile defense munitions and that the shortage would last another five years, according to multiple U.S. officials familiar with the matter. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth ousted George in April, as the Iran war was underway.George’s risk analysis appeared in the Pentagon’s Global Force Management Allocation Plan, a defense secretary-approved annual order determining where  troops and weapons will be allocated across the globe, according to the U.S. officials who spoke to CBS News. He warned that the stockpile of Terminal High Altitude Area Defense batteries and Patriot missiles would continue to be strategically low until 2030. His assessment was written for the Defense Department’s plan for fiscal year 2027 and before the outbreak of the U.S.-Israel-led war with Iran, now in its seventh month. U.S. officials who spoke to CBS News under condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly said his assessment stemmed from the transfer of Patriots to Ukraine after Russia’s invasion in 2022, the expenditure of munitions to defend Israel, and the reduced capacity of the defense industrial base.Read more here.   Asian Tour golf postpones Saudi Arabia finale The Saudi International, the final event of the Asian Tour golf season, was postponed on Thursday following several deadly attacks on the kingdom by Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthis.The tournament was originally scheduled to take place from Nov. 18 to 21 in Riyadh and no alternative date has been announced.”The Asian Tour remains in direct contact with its players and members regarding the schedule and next steps,” read a joint statement from Saudi Golf and the Asian Tour, saying the competition was postponed due to “logistical challenges.”The tournament, which was part of the European Tour from 2019 to 2021, is backed by Saudi Arabia’s Private Investment Fund.The postponement follows that of the Six Kings Slam tennis exhibition, which was pushed back from next week until December on Wednesday.Earlier this week, three Saudi Pro League football matches, including one involving Cristiano Ronaldo’s Al Nassr, were also postponed. Lebanese president asks Rubio to press Israel to stop “assaults” in southern Lebanon Lebanese President Joseph Aoun asked U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio to press Israel on its assaults on southern Lebanon and stand by the trilateral agreement signed in June.The president’s office said on X it received a call from Rubio “during which they discussed the general situation in Lebanon and the region in light of recent developments.”Aoun said he requested Israel stop bulldozing operations, enable farmers to use their fields and stop targeting them, according to the Lebanese president’s office. Israel patrols a so-called “security zone” in southern Lebanon to prevent attacks by the Iran-backed Hezbollah militant group. As part of the trilateral agreement, Israel was supposed to progressively give control over to official Lebanese army forces. However, Israel has said they will only do so when Hezbollah completely disarms, which the group said it will not do. Aoun told Rubio that Lebanese forces have been “fully carrying out their duties in implementing decisions related to preventing armed displays” in a nod to them carrying out their part of the trilateral agreement.The State Department has not yet released a readout of the call from its side.  Saudi-led coalition says Houthis attacked Riyadh airport 20 times in October The Saudi-led coalition said on Thursday that the Iran-backed Houthis had attacked Riyadh’s airport 20 times in October, as the Yemeni group escalated its strikes on the kingdom’s transport hubs and oil facilities.During a presentation in Riyadh covering the strikes, coalition spokesman Turki Al-Malki said, “The Houthis must immediately cease all terrorist operations targeting civilians and civilian facilities, including airports, ports, oil facilities, and infrastructure.” Saudi Arabia says Iran continues to arm, train and support Houthis A Saudi foreign ministry official on Thursday accused Iran of encouraging the Houthis in their ongoing fight with the kingdom, adding Tehran continues to arm and train the group.”Iran continues to arm, train and support the Houthi militia in violation of U.N. security council resolutions,” Rayed Krimly, deputy minister for public diplomacy at the foreign ministry, said during a virtual briefing with reporters, according to the AFP news agency.”We think that the escalation by the Houthis at this latest stage of the conflict is encouraged by Iran,” he added later.Saudi Arabia said Thursday it had intercepted a ballistic missile in the Medina area, home to one of the holiest cities in Islam. The Houthis swiftly denied they were responsible.CBS/AFP Houthi attack on presidential palace in Yemen’s Aden kills 4: AFP sources The Houthis carried out a missile attack on the Yemeni government’s presidential palace in the interim capital of Aden on Thursday, with government military sources reporting four killed.Residents of the southern city reported hearing explosions on Thursday, while a journalist saw smoke rising from the site, which also serves as the headquarters of the internationally recognized government.Three local police sources said on condition of anonymity that “Houthi missiles targeted the Al-Maashiq presidential palace.”Four people were killed and 10 others wounded in the attack, government military sources later said.Media affiliated with the pro-Iran Houthis said they had targeted “the headquarters of military operations, led by Saudi officers, at the Al-Maashiq Palace in Aden, as well as weapons depots belonging to them.”Government forces also said on social media Thursday that the Houthis had fired “several ballistic missiles” at the central city of Marib, which sits in a strategic oil-rich region. Houthis say Saudi airspace and airports are unsafe The Houthis reiterated their threats against Saudi airports and airspace on Thursday.Houthi military spokesperson Brig. Gen. Yahya Saree said in a post on X that Saudi Arabia had carried out more than 270,000 airstrikes on Yemen over the past 12 years, and more than 2,350 since the resumption of hostilities in summer between the Saudi-led coalition fighting with the Yemeni government and the Iran-backed Houthis.”Whoever attacks our country should not expect us to salute him,” wrote Saree. “We have repeatedly warned all air navigation companies, throughout all previous periods, that Saudi Arabia’s airspace and airports are unsafe, with the exception of the sacred airspace over Mecca and Medina,” he added. “Now, we reiterate the same warning.”  EU seeks more ships for Red Sea mission amid Houthi attacks The European Union has urged member states to deploy more ships to its Red Sea naval mission to escort commercial vessels through sea and the Bab el-Mandeb Strait amid continued Houthi attacks, EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said on Thursday.Kallas described the Houthi attacks as “indiscriminate” and “totally unacceptable,” stressing that the EU was acting as a security provider in the region through its Operation ASPIDES naval mission.”What we are pushing also the Member States, is to bring more ships on Operation ASPIDES, so that we can escort more ships out of the Bab el-Mandeb and out of the Red Sea because it is a vital trade route,” Kallas said.Kallas added that the EU was discussing its role with Gulf partners, who are interested in greater European involvement in regional security. Iran’s military says oil tanker on fire in Gulf of Oman Iran’s military on Thursday said an oil tanker caught fire in the Gulf of Oman as it was attempting to pass through an area deemed prohibited, according to state television.”A few hours ago … surveillance teams of the army’s navy identified a non-compliant oil tanker that had caught fire,” state television cited a military statement as saying. “The offending tanker had switched off its tracking systems and was attempting to pass through the prohibited area.”Earlier Thursday, Greek maritime monitor Marisks warned that ships face “indiscriminate attacks” regardless of whether they turned off their tracking systems, which many ships have been doing to avoid being spotted.CBS/AFP Hezbollah says explosives seized by authorities belong to them A Hezbollah lawmaker in Lebanon acknowledged in a rare admission Thursday that a 1,100 pound shipment of explosives seized last week by national authorities belonged to the Iran-backed group.”The vehicle and its cargo belong to the resistance” against Israel, lawmaker Hassan Fadlallah said, calling for the immediate release of those arrested during the seizure.The explosives were seized on a road linking eastern Lebanon to Beirut, saying it constituted “capabilities” used by Hezbollah against Israel.Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam has said the government will no longer tolerate any possession of “illegal weapons” by non-state groups.He has vowed that authorities will “identify all individuals involved in this criminal operation and those who ordered it,” referring to the recent seizure.Since a ceasefire in June, Hezbollah has not claimed any further attacks against Israel. Israel has said it will only withdraw its troops to the border between the two countries if Hezbollah disarms, which the group has refused to do.CBS/AFP Trump administration considering easing Iran sanctions to reduce shipping costs, Reuters says The United States is considering easing sanctions on Iran’s shadow fleet tankers to reduce record-high global shipping costs, the Reuters news agency reported Thursday, citing an unnamed U.S. official.The proposal would allow companies, subject to U.S. Treasury approval, to transport non-sanctioned oil on previously sanctioned vessels, according to the Reuters report. However, the move would be unlikely to significantly lower freight rates, as many tankers are old and insurers would remain bound by EU and U.K. restrictions, market analysis firm Energy Aspects told its clients, Reuters reported.The discussions are reportedly taking place days after President Trump paused sanctions on Russian diesel, a decision criticized by Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, European nations and some Republicans in the U.S. Senate. U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright told the World Petroleum Congress in Riyadh via video that the measure would not facilitate Russian oil shipments, Energy Aspects told clients. 2 men convicted in Germany of planning attacks on pro-Israel figures on behalf of Iran A German court on Thursday jailed two men convicted of planning attacks on prominent pro-Israel public figures and spying on Jews on behalf of Iranian secret services. The court in Hamburg sentenced a Danish national named as Ali S. to eight-and-a-half years in prison for planning deadly attacks on targets including the head of the German-Israeli society, Volker Beck, and the head of the Central Council of Jews in Germany, Josef Schuster.An Afghan accomplice, Tawab M., was sentenced to four-and-a-half years in prison. Prosecutors said he had agreed to recruit a third man and provide him with a weapon for the attack on Beck.S. took orders from the Quds Force, the elite foreign operations branch of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, in early 2025, prosecutors said.The two men were remanded in custody in Germany following their arrests and extraditions last year in Denmark.Their convictions came days after Britain’s domestic spy chief warned of Iran’s evolving “hybrid tactics” aimed largely at Jewish communities and groups in the U.K. and across Europe.CBS/AFP EU and Persian Gulf nations postpone summit in Saudi Arabia amid Houthi attacks A summit between the European Union and Persian Gulf countries that was scheduled to take place at the end of this month in Saudi Arabia’s capital Riyadh has been postponed, the EU said Thursday, as Saudi Arabia faces attacks from Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels.”The second Summit between the European Union and the Gulf Cooperation Council, originally planned for 24 October 2026 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, has been postponed. A new date will be announced in due course,” the EU’s governing body, the European Council, said in a statement.The Saudi-led coalition fighting in support of Yemen’s government said Thursday it had intercepted a ballistic missile in the region of Medina.The Houthis swiftly denied launching an attack on the Islamic kingdom’s second holiest city.CBS/AFP Yemen urges U.N. to take urgent action to lift Houthi siege of Taiz Yemen’s government has urged the United Nations and the U.N. Security Council to take urgent action to end what it described as a tightening Houthi siege of the southwest city of Taiz, warning of a looming humanitarian catastrophe affecting more than four million people.In a letter sent on Wednesday to senior U.N. officials and the International Committee of the Red Cross, Foreign Minister Afrah Al-Zouba warned that the Houthis’ escalating siege on the government-held city had worsened humanitarian conditions, including in areas around Taiz where displaced people have sought shelter.The government called in its statement for the immediate lifting of the Houthi siege, the reopening of all access routes for civilians and supply chains, and unimpeded access to food, fuel and water. It also urged stronger monitoring and accountability mechanisms to document alleged violations and hold those responsible to account.Al-Zouba called for concrete international measures to protect civilians and prevent access to humanitarian essentials being used for political pressure.She said the situation required urgent action beyond expressions of concern, including ending the siege, restoring essential supplies and protecting civilian facilities. Saudi Arabia says cruise missile intercepted in the kingdom’s Medina region The Saudi-led coalition battling the Iran-backed Houthis in Yemen said Thursday that it had intercepted a cruise missile over the Medina region in western Saudi Arabia.”Interception and destruction of a cruise missile in the Medina region,” coalition spokesman Turki al-Maliki said in a post on X.He did not say where the missile came from, but the Houthis, who have been peppering the kingdom with airstrikes over the past week, said “the Saudi enemy’s claims of an attack on Medina are a shameless and brazen lie.”Medina is the second holiest city in Islam, after Mecca. In September, the Saudis accused the Houthis of attacking Mecca, the holiest city for Muslims, which they denied. “Strait of Hormuz is closed,” says Iranian naval officer, citing U.S. gas prices An Iranian naval officer renewed Iran’s claim on Thursday that the Strait of Hormuz is closed, saying U.S. gas prices wouldn’t be so high otherwise.”The Strait of Hormuz is closed; if it were not closed, oil would be passing through it and gas prices in the United States would not have increased,” Iranian Army Coordination Deputy Rear Admiral Habibollah Sayyari told reporters on the sidelines of a ceremony honouring army nurses in Tehran, according to Iran’s official IRNA news agency.He said the naval forces of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ had a strong presence west of the strait, while the Iranian army was deployed east of the waterway and as far north as the Gulf of Oman, exercising what he called “100% control and supervision” over the area.”If any transit takes place, it must be coordinated; otherwise, you can see in the news what happens,” Sayyari said.  Ships in Strait of Hormuz remain exposed to “indiscriminate attacks,” says monitor, as 3 more strikes confirmed Ships in the Strait of Hormuz remain exposed to “indiscriminate attacks,” regardless of the nations to which they are registered, the cargo they are carrying, their direction of travel, or whether they turn off their tracking devices, Greek maritime monitor Marisks said Thursday.Marisks said it had confirmed that three merchant vessels were struck by unidentified projectiles on Tuesday – incidents it said “demonstrate the indiscriminate nature of the current threat environment in the Strait of Hormuz.”Marisks said the vessels were all navigating with their tracking devices turned off, a common tactic for boats trying to get through the waterway unnoticed, which shows it “does not provide effective protection against attack,” the monitor said.The continued strikes on vessels in the strait show that, “although successful passages continue,” ships in the strait are exposing themselves to a “critical and highly unpredictable maritime security threat,” Marisks wrote, “with merchant vessels exposed to potentially indiscriminate attacks regardless of flag, cargo or direction of transit.”Three of the ships struck this week were operated by the same firm, they added in their bulletin, which also “raises concerns regarding possible operator-linked targeting.” Tehran must be prepared for war amid peace talks, Iran’s parliament speaker says Iran must be prepared for war even as it negotiates with the U.S., the country’s parliament speaker said Wednesday.Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf said in a televised speech that his country’s main concern is preventing the U.S. from attacking again. But, he added, a signed agreement with Washington is no guarantee.”They break their promises,” said Qalibaf. As a result, Iran must be prepared to fight “against a bullying enemy,” and “we must truly fight courageously on the battlefield.””That is when we will have achieved sustainable deterrence,” he said. “America must be punished. America must change its behavior. It must understand that it has to come to terms with the Iranian people.” Trump on reports U.S. considering Iran strikes before midterms: “Leakers should be shot” Speaking about news reports that the U.S. is considering potential strikes against Iran before the midterms in November, President Trump said Wednesday it was his opinion that “leakers should be shot.””In the old days, we used to shoot leakers,” Mr. Trump said during a campaign rally speech in Bullhead City, Arizona. “When they leak what time you’re going to attack a country, and the reason you’re attacking is really for defense, because you don’t want them to have a weapon that can blow up millions of people in one shot.””Now, leakers should be dealt with very, very strongly,” he added. “To me, they’re the scum of the earth.”The Atlantic first reported on Oct. 7 that the Pentagon was developing strike options against Iranian targets, but no final decisions had been made. The next day, the president said on Truth Social that the U.S. would not attack Iran before the midterm elections, which take place on Nov. 3. U.S. military destroyed Iran-affiliated vessel in Gulf of Oman last week, CENTCOM says U.S. forces destroyed an Iran-affiliated vessel in the Gulf of Oman last week, the U.S. Central Command said on Wednesday.CENTCOM said the dhow, a generic name for an Arab sailing vessel, was conducting surveillance and targeting U.S. Navy ships. The ship’s crew members were “safely removed prior to destruction of the dhow,” the military command said in a social media post.It’s unclear if the crew members were taken into custody or released. Yemen wants training, intelligence assistance from U.S., foreign minister says Yemen has asked the U.S. for training and intelligence support for the Yemeni armed forces and coast guard, as well as continued political, economic and humanitarian support, but their foreign minister made no mention of military support in a briefing to reporters Wednesday.Afrah Alzouba, Yemen’s first female foreign minister, spoke in a briefing on several topics related to the ongoing Yemen-Houthi war, but did not explicitly mention requests for military support. In addition to intelligence and training, Alzouba requested the U.S. expand sanctions against the Houthis. She also asked for the EU and Washington to coordinate more closely on sanctions.She struck an aggressive tone when asked about possible negotiations with the Houthi militia, saying, “We are not calling for starting any negotiations.” The Yemeni government eventually wants a peaceful settlement but is prioritizing military operations to end Houthi control, she said.She also emphasized Yemeni ownership of ongoing operations with air support from coalition partners: “The decision is Yemeni. The command is Yemeni. The soldiers are Yemenis.”The Saudis are the strongest backers of the official Yemeni government forces, which has earned the ire of the Houthis. They have repeatedly targeted civilian infrastructure in Saudi Arabia in recent weeks, including a strike that killed 13 people at Riyadh’s King Khalid International Airport. A four-year ceasefire between the two sides fell apart this summer.Alzouba said the contacts cited last month by President Trump between the U.S. and Houthis, which surprised some in the U.S., involved “warnings” against further attacks. She did not elaborate on timing or channels. A look at the Iran- and Russia-linked hybrid attacks the U.K. spy chief says are flourishing The head of Britain’s top domestic spy agency MI5, Sir Ken McCallum, painted a dark picture Tuesday of the changing national security threats facing the U.K. and the world. “We have entered a new era of national security, requiring a new response,” he said in his annual threat update at MI5 headquarters in London. “Those who mean the U.K. harm aren’t attacking things government owns or controls. … They’re aiming at people, businesses, communities.”Iran has used and continues “using criminal proxies to try to intimidate oppositionists, Iranian media organizations, and Israeli sites,” McCallum said. But analysts have also seen “Iran, like Russia, attempting to expand their hybrid campaign,” he said, leading to more than 50 arrests in the U.K. over the last year alone. “Sadly, much of this aggression has been aimed at British Jewish communities,” McCallum said, speaking of incidents this year that included “a wave of arson and sabotage incidents targeting Jewish communities in the U.K. and other European nations,” but also acts targeting “harder targets, like military sites.”Read more here. Attacks in Strait of Hormuz reach highest level since start of war, data shows At least 10 vessels have been attacked in or near the Strait of Hormuz since Sunday, a high since war broke out between the United States, Israel and Iran, security data showed Wednesday.Four vessels were struck on Tuesday and six on Sunday — the highest number of attacks in a single day since the start of the conflict — according to data from security firm Vanguard, the International Maritime Organization and the British maritime agency UKMTO.Two seafarers have been reported missing and a container ship reportedly sank as a result of recent attacks, according to the maritime sources.Merchant vessels transiting the vital passage were first targeted by Iran in March in retaliation for U.S.-Israeli strikes on its territory, and Tehran has continued to strike vessels passing through the strait via routes it has not approved.The attacks have disrupted shipping through the strait, which is normally one of the busiest routes for exporting oil and other commodities from Gulf countries.Twenty-three attacks have been recorded since the start of October, almost double the average monthly number of incidents since the start of the war.”Gulf oil flows have been recovering, with traffic through Hormuz recently returning to around 80 percent of pre-war levels despite the conflict,” Vanguard analyst Barun Gupta told AFP on Wednesday.”Increasing the tempo of attacks therefore gives Tehran a way of demonstrating that it can still disrupt that recovery and impose costs on commercial shipping and global energy markets,” Gupta continued. Yemeni government speaks to Chinese officials about Houthis developing advanced missiles The Yemeni government has spoken with Beijing about the Houthis’ alleged attempts to utilize Chinese-made technology for weapons, a Yemeni minister said on Wednesday.”The Chinese are partners and we have discussed with them about, you know, the use of dual products,” Foreign Minister Afrah al-Zouba said in response to an AFP question about reports the Iran-backed group was trying to secure Chinese components to help manufacture weapons.”They were very keen for any sort of information so they can investigate it. Their support to the Yemeni government is clear,” Zouba added.The minister spoke to journalists via a virtual press conference to address the war in Yemen, which has also drawn in the government’s main backer, Saudi Arabia.The comments came after a recent report by the Conflict Armament Research group alleged the Houthis were attempting to produce advanced medium-range ballistic missiles.Conflict Armament Research also suggested the group was “expanding its supply chains beyond Iran-linked supply networks, with several purpose-built missile components found alongside shipping documents that listed a Chinese supplier.” Saudi-Houthi war in Yemen cutting off food assistance to 800,000 people, U.N. says The escalating war between the Iran-backed Houthis and Saudi-backed Yemeni government forces is cutting off lifesaving food supplies to about 800,000 people in the region, according to the U.N. World Food Programme.Many parts of Taiz, Yemen’s third-largest city, which is located in Houthi-controlled territory, is completely inaccessible to the nonprofit, the WFP said. There are more than 600,000 people, including 200,000 women and children, in Taiz who depend on humanitarian aid, according to the agency.”We are critically concerned about the escalating conflict, but even more so about the growing number of people we can no longer reach because of it,” El-Khidir Daloum, WFP representative and country director in Yemen, said in a statement Wednesday. “Many of the families affected have been displaced multiple times and were already struggling to afford even basic food items. This is the kind of situation that can rapidly spiral into a humanitarian catastrophe if assistance cannot move safely and reach those who need it most.”The hunger situation in Yemen is among the worst in the world. Ten out of 16 districts in Yemen are categorized as being at emergency levels of food insecurity, the WFP said. About 500,000 children in Yemen under the age of 5 suffer from severe acute malnutrition, according to the group.There are also 37 WFP employees currently being held by the Houthis, the group said, calling for their immediate release. Saudi Arabia postpones Netflix tennis tournament featuring top stars The chairman of Saudi Arabia’s General Entertainment Authority on Wednesday said the exhibition Six Kings Slam tennis tournament has been postponed for logistical reasons, after Yemen’s Houthis carried out several deadly attacks on the kingdom.”The Six Kings Slam tournament has been postponed due to logistical reasons and will now take place on December 27,” wrote Turki Alalshikh on X, sharing a statement from the Riyadh Season entertainment program.The tournament, while not officially sanctioned as an ATP event, features some of the top players in the world vying for millions of dollars and airs live on Netflix. It had initially been scheduled to air Oct. 21 to 24.The men’s-only event features Carlos Alcaraz, Novak Djokovic, Alexander Zverev, Taylor Fritz, Alex De Minaur and Learner Tien, who replaced Jannik Sinner due to injury.  The event premiered in 2024 with Sinner winning each of the first two competitions. Sinner, Alcaraz, Djokovic or Zverev has won every major since Wimbledon in 2022.CBS/AFP Israel signs deal with Pentagon to acquire 12 Apache attack helicopters Israel has signed a deal with the Pentagon to acquire 12 Apache helicopters from Boeing, according to the Israeli Ministry of Defense.”The procurement of Apache helicopters is a critical step in building the IDF’s force capabilities; it will strengthen operational readiness against a wide range of threats and contribute to the security of the State of Israel for years to come,” Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said in a statement.The helicopters, the newest Apache E model, can carry 16 HELLFIRE missiles, 76 2.75-inch rockets and 1,200 30 mm chain gun rounds, according to Boeing. While the deal was signed Wednesday, it will be a while before they are in combat. They are “scheduled for delivery early next decade,” according to the Israeli defense ministry. Israel already has older models of the Apache helicopter.Israel agreed to buy a second squadron of F-15IA fighter jets from Boeing earlier this year. They initially purchased a squadron in 2024. Hassett blames disappointing inflation numbers on Houthi attacks Kevin Hassett, the White House’s top economic adviser, blamed the disappointing inflation numbers for September on attacks against Saudi oil assets.”What happened was that because the Houthis started attacking the Saudi pipeline and other Iranian proxies from Iraq were attacking refineries and so on, we had a negative shock to energy again in September,” Hassett told Fox Business on Wednesday.”A lot of Trump policies are helping to keep inflation down, but the energy shock is really the headline story today,” he said.Hassett said much of the energy concerns had “abated,” and while the East-West pipeline is back up and running, the Houthis have also stepped up attacks in Saudi Arabia. In addition to targeting civilian airports, they have targeted Aramco, the world’s largest oil producer, facilities and even the executive headquarters overnight Wednesday.The price of Brent crude, the international standard for oil, was hovering around $105 on Wednesday, up from $98 on the last day of September. Saudi offers alternative travel routes for investment conference: AFP sources Saudi Arabia plans to move ahead with a major investment conference in Riyadh despite Houthi attacks on the kingdom, offering on-site and virtual attendance as well as alternative air and land travel routes, diplomatic sources told AFP.Riyadh usually hosts a packed calendar of events, but it has recently seen escalating military tensions with the Iran-backed Yemeni group, which has intensified attacks on the kingdom’s airports and oil facilities.Saudi Arabia’s Future Investment Initiative Institute hosts an annual forum dubbed “Davos in the desert,” which usually draws foreign leaders and business titans, and this year it is scheduled to be held in Riyadh from Oct. 26 to 29.In order to prevent cancellation, organizers reached out to embassies and foreign companies to explore “hybrid” participation options, allowing officials and business executives to attend either in person or virtually, diplomatic sources said.They have even discussed arrangements for participants to fly by private jet to Dhahran airport in eastern Saudi Arabia before traveling by road to Riyadh.A diplomat from an Asian country said “they contacted us and offered that attendees travel to Manama or Doha,” referring to the capitals of Bahrain and Qatar respectively, and then drive by land to the Saudi capital.Riyadh’s international airport, a main target for Houthi attacks, suspended operations last week after 13 were killed in a strike there, with no clear timeline for when air traffic would reopen. U.S. inflation accelerated to 3.7% as energy costs soared Inflation accelerated across the U.S. in September, rising at an annual rate of 3.7% as energy prices soared, according to new government data.Inflation picked up after two months of holding steady at an annual pace of 3.4%. Core CPI, which excludes the more volatile energy and gas categories, rose 2.6% from a year ago, accelerating from a 2.4% rate in August and higher than economists’ forecast of 2.5%.Inflation has risen sharply since the start of the year due to soaring energy prices, sparked by the war in Iran and Russia’s war with Ukraine. The Labor Department said Wednesday that gasoline prices, which rose 9.1% in September from the prior month, accounted for more than half the monthly increase in the CPI report. Energy prices rose 20.4% from a year ago, while gasoline jumped 34.2%.Prices at the pump have cooled slightly in recent weeks but remain elevated. The national average for a gallon of gasoline was $4.33 a gallon on Wednesday, AAA reported, up from $2.98 before the war started. The national average for diesel, which hit a record high in late September, was $6.29 a gallon.Read more here. Lebanese, Iranian foreign leaders discuss situation in the Middle East Lebanese President Joseph Aoun received a call from Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi on Wednesday to discuss the situation in the Middle East, according to the Lebanese president’s office.Both sides “discussed the current situation in the region in light of recent developments and agreed on the necessity of supporting diplomatic solutions as the best means to put an end to the conflicts in the region,” the Lebanese presidency said in a statement about the call.The Iran-backed Hezbollah militant group has been waging war with Israel in the southern part of Lebanon for months, with the official Lebanese government attempting to cool the conflict down with ceasefire agreements. Those have all been dismissed and ignored by Hezbollah.Meanwhile, Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Saeed Khatibzadeh arrived in Lebanon for talks with several groups. He was greeted by Lebanese Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, who is pro-Hezbollah, and other Hezbollah representatives, according to the official Iranian news outlet IRNA.The meeting comes amid an increase in attacks by another Iran-backed proxy group, the Yemen-based Houthis.”During his visit, Khatibzadeh is scheduled to hold a series of meetings with senior Lebanese officials and prominent figures to discuss bilateral relations and explore opportunities to broaden cooperation between the two countries,” according to IRNA. 2 more ships attacked in Hormuz: U.K. navy reports Two ships sustained minor damage after coming under attack in the Strait of Hormuz, a British maritime agency reported Wednesday.Both vessels were struck on Tuesday by an “unknown projectile,” bringing to four the number of attacks on ships in Hormuz that day.Iran and the United States continue to vie for control of the waterway, a vital shipping route for Gulf energy exports.Tehran regularly targets ships it accuses of transiting without its permission, while Washington has imposed a naval blockade on Iranian ports.The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations Centre said a 50,000-ton container ship and another 19,000-ton vessel were struck but continued on their way after sustaining only minor damage.No casualties were reported in the attacks.British security firm Vanguard also said attacks had targeted four ships. It identified the vessels as the GFS Pride and GFS Giselle, both sailing under Singaporean flags, and the Alfonso, which was flying a Barbados flag. The fourth ship was identified as the Al Saadiyat, sailing under the Marshall Islands flag.According to Vanguard, the GFS Pride, a container ship, sank, while the fate of the Alfonso, a tanker, remains unknown. Iran says cargo ship sinks after hitting naval mine in Strait of Hormuz Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said Wednesday that a cargo ship had sunk after hitting a naval mine in the Strait of Hormuz. It is the first time Iran has reported a ship sinking after hitting a mine during the war.There were few details, including about the fate of the crew. Iranian state TV quoted a statement from the IRGC saying the ship was traveling on what Iran considers an illegal and dangerous route – likely the shipping lanes the U.S. has urged vessels to use, close to Oman’s coast – when it hit the mine Wednesday morning.It said the ship was carrying 2,500 containers when it first caught fire. Iran has repeatedly warned ships against trying to transit the strait without its approval. At the end of August, President Trump declared the strait free of sea mines, saying U.S. forces had “totally cleared the strait of mines … Any boat goes through with a mine, we take it out.” There was no immediate verification of the sinking and no report by the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations monitor.CBS/AP Houthis warn attacks on Saudi airports, oil infrastructure will continue The Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen said Wednesday that they would continue targeting Saudi Arabia’s international airport and oil infrastructure in the coming days.In a televised statement, Houthi military spokesman Brig. Gen. Yahya Saree said the attacks were “in response to the treacherous Saudi aggression against the capital Sanaa and the free governorates” and part of the group’s “deterrence operations against the Saudi aggressor.”Saree also warned international shipping companies, civilians, and employees working at the targeted airports and businesses to “stay away from them and evacuate them immediately,” as they would be considered legitimate targets. Saudis say another Houthi ballistic missile targeting Riyadh was intercepted A spokesperson for the Saudi-led coalition forces said Wednesday they had intercepted an attack from the Iran-backed Houthi militia.Coalition spokesman Turki al-Maliki said in a post on X a ballistic missile “launched by the terrorist Houthi militia towards Riyadh has been intercepted and destroyed.”Earlier, residents in the Saudi capital had reported hearing explosions. Residents in Saudi Arabia’s capital say they have heard new explosions in Riyadh Residents in Saudi Arabia’s capital say they have heard new explosions in Riyadh.The residents spoke on condition of anonymity for their safety. One lives in northern Riyadh, where King Khalid International Airport is located.The source of the explosions wasn’t immediately clear. The Saudi civil defense reported air raid alerts in Riyadh and Kharj province southeast of the capital. Kharj is home to the state-owned Military Industries Corporation and Prince Sultan Air Base.The airport in Riyadh has been targeted several times in the past week with deadly attacks. Iran-backed Houthi rebels in neighboring Yemen have claimed responsibility. Intercepted missiles over Riyadh injure at least 4 people, officials say Saudi Arabia’s Civil Defense said debris from two intercepted Houthi missiles fell on residential areas in Riyadh on Tuesday, injuring four people and damaging 15 homes.State-run Saudi Press Agency reported the injured included two women, a man and a child. Images released by Saudi’s Civil Defense showed broken windows caused by what it said was fallen shrapnel.CBS/AP Building fire reported in Aramco compound targeted by Houthis, Saudi officials say The Saudi Ministry of Energy said Tuesday a limited fire broke out in an administrative building in Aramco, one of the world’s largest oil facilities, that was targeted in the country’s Eastern Province. The ministry said no injuries were reported.The attack comes as the Iranian-backed Houthis and the Saudi coalition exchanged attacks Tuesday night. It marks a fresh escalation in the widening Middle East crisis and came shortly after the Saudi coalition reported a series of alerts for incoming missiles heading for the country’s Eastern Province, a major oil-producing region and the capital Riyadh. Saudi-led forces confirm strikes on Yemen oil sites The Saudi-led coalition battling the Iran-backed Houthis confirmed it struck oil sites across western Yemen on Tuesday, including in the capital Sanaa, in response to the deadliest attack on the kingdom’s soil in years.Blasts were heard shortly after in Saudi capital Riyadh and at an oil giant Aramco facility in eastern Saudi Arabia, witnesses and journalists told AFP.Tuesday’s coalition strikes in Yemen’s Sanaa and the western provinces of Dhamar and Saada targeted facilities used to “supply the war effort” by the Houthis to “threaten the kingdom, Yemen, the southern Red Sea and waterways,” coalition spokesman Turki al-Maliki wrote on X.An AFP correspondent in Sanaa reported an explosion, while a breaking news alert on the Houthi-affiliated Al-Masirah TV channel said earlier that “Saudi aggression” targeted the oil firm.This article originally appeared on CBS News at https://www.cbsnews.com/live-updates/iran-war-us-houthi-saudi-arabia-trump/

Washington — White House press secretary Katie Zacharia said Thursday that she never passed the bar, although she’s called herself a lawyer and President Trump has referred to her as an attorney.Zacharia made the comment in an interview with conservative commentator Jack Posobiec after the Wall Street Journal  reported that she failed the bar exam in California in 2011 and did not pass the bar in any other U.S. state in which she’s lived. Zacharia graduated from Pepperdine University’s law school.Zacharia told Posobiec she took the bar exam in California but didn’t pass, saying she was distracted by her plans to get married and move to China for her husband’s work around the same time. She said she “didn’t think much” of the results, and said she didn’t need to pass the exam to do her work in China. Zacharia also said she never described herself as an “attorney at law,” and said there’s a “lot of misinformation around the fact that I labeled myself a lawyer.” She said she consulted with multiple experts. “I was very careful how I executed this. I never came across as someone who was an attorney at law,” Zacharia said. Earlier this week, as President Trump was departing for a trip to Alaska, when reporters asked her where she had passed the bar exam, Zacharia responded, “I went to China,” sparking confusion about her law background. A White House official said Zacharia earned her juris doctor from Pepperdine, which the university confirmed to CBS News. The White House official said Zacharia then moved to China with her husband for his job at an American private equity firm, while she worked on international transaction law. Zacharia told CBS News in a statement Thursday she “practiced international transaction law, with all the appropriate credentials,” although it’s not clear which credentials she meant. Only Chinese nationals may take the bar exam in China. On Fox News in April, Zacharia said she “lived in Beijing as a corporate lawyer for three years.”Zacharia’s Instagram bio also says that she is a lawyer. On Truth Social, Mr. Trump called her “a distinguished Graduate of Pepperdine University, and the Pepperdine Caruso School of Law, an attorney.”But whether it’s true that she can say she’s an attorney or lawyer is being disputed — and it’s a question Zacharia has considered. She told The New York Times that as she was beginning to appear on cable news, she talked with Pepperdine’s president about how she could describe herself. The Times said, “She said she was warned not to use the words ‘attorney” or ‘esquire,’ but that ‘lawyer’ was OK.”But CNN on Thursday reported that Zacharia shared at least 15 social media posts identifying herself as an “attorney” over the last two years. The White House said Zacharia is “uniquely qualified” for the White House press secretary role. “Katie is a fabulous and wonderful addition to the team,” White House communications director Steven Cheung said in a statement to CBS News. “She is uniquely qualified and whip smart to help inform the American people about all the great things President Trump and his Administration have been doing, and she will do an incredible job as Press Secretary.”On Wednesday, the Campaign for Accountability, a liberal nonprofit watchdog, filed a complaint with the State Bar of California, questioning whether she had violated California law in referring to herself as a lawyer without having passed the bar. She had been living in California with her family until she became White House press secretary. The Campaign for Accountability pointed to California Business and Professions Code Section 6126, which says, “Any person advertising or holding himself or herself out as practicing or entitled to practice law or otherwise practicing law who is not an active licensee of the State Bar, or otherwise authorized pursuant to statute or court rule to practice law in this state at the time of doing so, is guilty of a misdemeanor.” “Ms. Zacharia has represented herself as a lawyer repeatedly to buttress her reputation and credibility as a television legal commentator and now as the White House spokesperson, yet it seems it was all a lie,” Campaign for Accountability executive director Michelle Kuppersmith said in a statement. “In California, calling yourself a lawyer without a license isn’t puffery; it’s a crime. The State Bar should investigate whether Ms. Zacharia has misled the public about her credentials and hold her accountable if she has.”Cheung blasted the left-leaning ethics group.”This group that filed the ‘complaint’ is a radical leftist-organization run by rabid numbskulls suffering from a severe case of Trump Derangement Syndrome,” Cheung posted to X. “Nobody takes them seriously because they are deranged low lifes.”Nora Freeman Engstron, a law professor at Stanford Law School, said the language in California’s law isn’t ambiguous or unclear. “California law is crystal clear: You can’t hold yourself out as a lawyer unless you’re authorized to practice law,” she told CBS News. “And the law doesn’t just prohibit the unauthorized practice of law. It also prohibits the unauthorized pretense of being a lawyer.””California law doesn’t just prohibit people from practicing law without a license,” she added. “It also prohibits them from pretending they’re entitled to practice law. You don’t have to set foot in a courtroom or represent a single client to run afoul of the statute.”This article originally appeared on CBS News at https://www.cbsnews.com/news/white-house-press-secretary-katie-zacharia-lawyer-no-bar-exam/

By Daniel Flynn and Max Hunder KYIV, Oct 15 (Reuters) – Ukraine struck a Russian oil refinery on Thursday, after President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said Kyiv was “done” supporting a ceasefire on energy targets announced by US President Donald Trump and ignored by Russia. Russian President Vladimir Putin played down the effect of Ukrainian long-range attacks on Russian refineries, saying they had caused “nothing particularly significant.” Since Trump’s surprise announcement on Sunday that Russia and Ukraine had agreed to halt ‌attacks on energy, Kyiv had suspended attacks on Russian refineries, which Trump blames for raising diesel prices on global markets. But in the days that followed, Russia rained down missile and drone strikes, including on energy targets such as power ‌stations, knocking out power to hundreds of thousands of people. In an interview with the Financial Times published on Thursday, Zelenskiy said Ukraine’s patience had run out. “The block (on attacking refineries) is out. We’re done,” he told the newspaper. Zelenskiy also criticised what he saw as Trump’s willingness to strike deals with Russia, apparent admiration for Putin ​and an affinity for those wielding power or considerable wealth. “He (Trump) speaks about it openly and loudly that he loves such people and he respects such people,” the FT quoted him as saying. “Because for him people who can be leaders 20 years, 30 years, 40 years, it means they can be very strong.” Zelenskiy, who was due to attend a European Union summit on Friday, also made clear he believed that changes in the capability of the military version of SpaceX’s Starlink receptors this week, which have curbed Ukraine’s ability to use them to pilot its drones, were a policy decision. “It was not a technical problem, it was the will,” he told the FT. In a social media post overnight, SpaceX boss Elon Musk said usage of the military version of Starlink, known as Starshield, was ultimately up to Trump as president of the United ‌States. “Starshield systems are owned and controlled by the US government. Any limits on speed or ⁠usage are decided by the US military and ultimately POTUS,” Musk wrote. BIGGEST RIFT WITH WASHINGTON OF THE WAR By effectively walking away from Trump’s demand that Ukraine halt attacks on refineries, Zelenskiy risks deepening the biggest rift between Kyiv and Washington since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Although Trump has described the ceasefire as a requirement for both Moscow and Kyiv, his public comments have focused mainly on Ukraine’s ⁠attacks on Russian refineries, which he said over the weekend had “damn well better stop”. Trump has long had a testy relationship with Zelenskiy and berated him in the White House in February 2025. But his sharp turn against Kyiv in recent days has little precedent. He first angered Ukraine last week by abruptly lifting sanctions on Russian diesel, and then called for Zelenskiy to be replaced. Ukrainians worry that the rift could have severe consequences on the battlefield, where the Ukrainian military still depends on technology provided by Washington. For several days, Ukrainian officials say they have not received the usual warnings ​from ​Western allies about incoming Russian missiles, which rely on US satellite detectors. Trump has denied withholding intelligence. At the same time, military-grade Starlink receptors have stopped working ​in Ukraine when mounted on fast-moving objects, interfering with the performance of Ukrainian drones that rely on ‌them for onboard guidance systems over Ukrainian territory. A source in Ukraine’s defence ministry said on Thursday that the receptors were now working when in motion, but only at speeds of up to 100 miles per hour (160 kph). Ukrainian officials say that is too slow for mid-range attack missions and interceptor drones that defend against Russian drones. Defence experts and a Reuters analysis of satellite imagery, meanwhile, showed that Russia had in just six weeks nearly finished building a major base in southern Russia for launching jet-powered drones. REFINERY SUPPLYING MOSCOW HIT Ukraine has been using its long-range drones to target Russian refineries and logistics in recent months, which it says is its only answer to nearly five years of relentless Russian bombardment. The attacks have caused fuel shortages in Russia. Trump is under pressure, with his Republicans facing midterm elections in less than three weeks, to lower fuel prices. Prices for diesel have reached record highs since he launched a war against Iran in February, though Trump says the Ukrainian attacks are driving up global prices. Ukraine’s latest target was a refinery in the ‌Ryazan region southeast of Moscow, which is owned by state oil major Rosneft and accounts for nearly 5% of Russia’s refinery throughput, helping supply the ​capital. Regional governor Pavel Malkov said on Telegram that a major Ukrainian drone attack had caused a fire at the refinery. A Ukrainian official confirmed that Ukraine had ​hit a Russian refinery in response to Moscow’s ballistic missile and drone attacks this week that violated the energy truce. In ​the Black Sea, rescuers searched for seven missing sailors after drones struck two chemical tankers near Romania’s Black Sea coast, setting them ablaze in the latest attack on shipping along a vital route used by ‌Ukraine. Romanian President Nicusor Dan said the two ships had been struck by drones but declined to say ​whether Russia was responsible. A NATO source said the drones came ​from Russia. The Kremlin said on Thursday that Ukraine’s targeting of Russian energy infrastructure ran counter to US peace efforts. It said earlier this week that the scope of the energy ceasefire had never been determined and work was ongoing to do so. BREAKDOWN IN RELATIONS Ukraine’s rift with Washington has raised concern in Kyiv and European capitals about the heavy reliance in Ukraine on US intelligence and technology. Under Trump, Washington has already halted weapons supplies to Ukraine while allowing its European allies ​to continue buying US arms on Kyiv’s behalf. But Europe has no ready-made alternatives to Starlink, or ‌to US satellite systems used to detect Russian missile launches. Zelenskiy has said that Ukrainian military officials had been warned by US counterparts that Washington would block intelligence unless they halted strikes on Russian energy infrastructure. Asked whether Ukraine ​would be open to halting energy strikes as a way of repairing relations with the White House, Zelenskiy told the FT he could agree only if in return he were given more US-made Patriot interceptors as a “minimum”. (Reporting ​by Daniel Flynn, Max Hunder, Dan Peleschuk, and Lina GolovnyaEditing by Tom Hogue, Edwina Gibbs, Jason Neely, Peter Graff and Nick Zieminski) This article originally appeared on Reuters at https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/zelenskiy-says-ukraine-resume-strikes-060307306.html

By Andrew Goudsward and Luc Cohen WASHINGTON, Oct 15 (Reuters) – The US Justice Department sued California on Thursday, asking a federal judge to block the state from counting mail ballots for the November 3 midterm elections from more than 20,000 voters the Trump administration alleges are ‌likely noncitizens. The lawsuit marks the latest effort by President Donald Trump’s administration to boost the federal government’s role in elections ahead of the ‌midterms, with his Republican Party locked in a tight battle to retain control of both houses of Congress. The US Constitution assigns the responsibility of administering elections to individual states, though the federal government ​has some oversight role. Trump has repeatedly claimed that voting by noncitizens – which is illegal – is widespread, despite multiple studies showing it is rare. A Reuters investigation published in July found that just 129 people had been prosecuted for noncitizen voting since the statute criminalizing it passed in 1996. The Justice Department has ramped up such prosecutions in recent months. In the lawsuit filed in federal court in Los Angeles, the Justice Department sought a court order preventing California from “tabulating in federal elections vote-by-mail ballots received” ‌from more than 20,000 voters until their immigration status is ⁠verified. Reuters previously reported that the department sent California a letter giving it a 48-hour deadline on Tuesday to review the list of alleged noncitizen voters. The list was provided on a thumb drive. CALIFORNIA SAYS DOJ SEEKS CHAOS The lawsuit marks an escalation ⁠in the federal government’s pressure on state election officials over alleged noncitizen voting. The Justice Department has warned election officials in all 50 states that they could face criminal prosecution if they knowingly allowed noncitizens to remain on their voter rolls or cast ballots. It has sued 30 states and Washington DC for refusing to provide complete voter rolls including voters’ ​sensitive ​personal data, but has lost 26 of those cases so far without winning one. In Thursday’s ​lawsuit against California, the Justice Department said the Department of Homeland ‌Security had identified the 20,000 alleged noncitizens by comparing voter rolls to its own internal databases. Voting rights activists have expressed concern that many citizens who are naturalized could be wrongly flagged as noncitizens due to outdated DHS data. California Secretary of State Shirley Weber and Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder Dean Logan, who were named as defendants in the lawsuit, did not immediately respond to requests for comment. In a statement on Wednesday about the letter, Weber said California’s safeguards against noncitizen voting were robust. “The USDOJ’s relentless efforts to unlawfully gain access to states’ protected voter data and purge voter rolls serve only to cause chaos and fuel public distrust in ‌our elections,” Weber said. NONCITIZENS HAVE BEEN REGISTERED THROUGH ERRORS Though states may have added more than ​30,000 noncitizens to their voter rolls since 2000 due to software glitches and clerical errors, Reuters ​found in September, it was unclear how many had cast a ballot. ​Experts said the numbers were too small relative to the country’s 170 million registered voters to affect elections. Rick Hasen, a law ‌professor at the University of California, Los Angeles, and an expert ​on election law, said the DOJ’s request ​would potentially cause California to violate a federal law barring states from conducting mass purges of voter rolls within 90 days of an election. The Trump administration has argued in another case that such restrictions should not apply to removal of noncitizens because they were not legally authorized to ​register in the first place. Hasen said the DOJ lawsuit would ‌likely face legal hurdles. “The federal government doesn’t have any business directly telling states what ballots they can or cannot send out or ​not count,” he said. “I just don’t see the federal authority to do that over a state.” (Reporting by Andrew Goudsward in Washington and Luc ​Cohen in New York; Editing by Michelle Nichols, Matthew Lewis and David Gregorio) This article originally appeared on Reuters at https://www.yahoo.com/news/politics/articles/doj-sues-california-block-votes-171601356.html

A list obtained by The Washington Post reveals all the major donors to President Donald Trump’s White House ballroom project, including previously undisclosed contributors who have benefited from regulatory decisions, government contracts and, in one case, a pardon for a family member. Tech giants Nvidia and Apple each committed $25 million, the top contribution amount, the list shows. The Adelson family, one of the GOP’s largest donor dynasties, committed that sum as well, as did billionaire Charles Ergen, co-founder and chairman of telecommunications company Dish Network. Subscribe to The Post Most newsletter for the most important and interesting stories from The Washington Post. Absent from the list is Trump himself, who has said that he is helping to pay for the project. “It’s being paid for a hundred percent by me and some friends of mine,” he said last year, days after demolition began on the old East Wing. The White House publicly identified 37 people, companies and foundations as donors last October, without revealing the amount of their individual gifts. The list obtained by The Post, an internal spreadsheet used to track contributions for the fundraising effort, contains the source, date and amount of all 67 donations above $10,000 recorded as of late last month. It shows a total of $333 million from private donors, aligning with the administration’s public statements. Additional records, also internal to the fundraising effort, provide more detail about the donations and indicate that at least $77 million came from donors who requested anonymity. The list and other documents offer a panoramic view of a fundraising campaign that is extraordinary both for its size and opacity. Ordinary political giving requires public disclosure and is subject to campaign finance rules. The ballroom donations are collected by a nonprofit and then channeled to the government and into a White House account the president directly controls. Independent experts and scholars have expressed alarm at the potential the arrangement has for influence buying and coerced giving. Some donors on the list obtained by The Post cut large checks, while others created installment plans that are still being paid off, the additional records show. The list does not include in-kind contributions. The Post’s reporting does not establish a connection between the donation commitments and favorable actions by the Trump administration. But the documents show that the vast majority of the funds raised came from companies and wealthy individuals with interests before the federal government. Companies or executives of firms that have had contracts with the federal government during Trump’s second term accounted for about half of the total, The Post found. After reviewing the list obtained by The Post, White House spokesman Davis Ingle declined to discuss individual donations but described the ballroom donors as “a wide array of great American companies and generous individuals, all of whom are contributing to make the People’s House better for generations to come.” “The same critics who are alleging fake conflicts of interests, would also complain if American taxpayers were footing the bill for these long-overdue renovations,” he said. He added that the administration will “relentlessly pursue those responsible for this cowardly leak while continuing to protect all those who give.” The Post is publishing the names of the 57 donors listed as having committed to giving $100,000 or more. The additional records detailing donors’ preferences show at least nine wanted to remain anonymous. The Post attempted to reach all the donors whose names appear in this report. Most did not respond or declined to comment. Those who did comment said that there was no connection between their donations and any favorable government actions. Nvidia, the world’s most valuable public company, became a top contributor to the ballroom in October 2025, nearly three months after it struck a groundbreaking pact with Trump to sell advanced microchips to China despite national security concerns. CEO Jensen Huang told reporters at the time that the company was contributing to Trump’s ballroom “in a small way” but did not provide a dollar amount. Documents show Nvidia requested that its $25 million donation be kept anonymous. “As an American company, our support for the United States is paramount, and independent of any business interests,” Nvidia spokesperson John Rizzo said in response to questions from The Post. “We were proud to be able to make a donation to a nonpartisan trust that serves all Americans and have said so publicly since the donation was made.” Major GOP donor Joseph Popolo Jr., Trump’s ambassador to the Netherlands, and his wife contributed $1 million from their family fund to support the ballroom project in late 2025, the records show. Their donation – made two months after Popolo’s confirmation – has not been previously reported. Trump Cabinet member Kelly Loeffler of the Small Business Administration and her husband Jeff Sprecher, former chairman of the New York Stock Exchange, promised $5 million for the project, the list shows. Brandon Lutnick, chairman of investment bank Cantor Fitzgerald and the son of Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, donated stock worth more than $2.5 million, the records show. Popolo, Loeffler, Sprecher and the Lutnicks did not respond to requests for comment. More than three-quarters of the money for the ballroom came in commitments of $5 million or more. Among the top donors are some of America’s blue-chip companies, including Amazon, Caterpillar, Comcast, Microsoft and T-Mobile. (Amazon Executive Chairman Jeff Bezos owns The Post.) Cryptocurrency companies, now under loosened regulations from the Trump administration, and their investors promised more than $18 million. The largest portion came from Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss, co-founders of the Gemini crypto exchange, who together donated bitcoin valued at $5,050,018, the records show. The Winklevoss brothers did not respond to requests for comment. The ballroom project has also received dozens of small contributions, some as low as $10. The list and additional documents show the source of all but $24,000 of the total donations. The total fundraising amount falls short of the $400 million Trump has said he intends to raise for the work. The cost of building the new East Wing, which includes the ballroom, office space and an underground military facility, was projected in March to have increased to $600 million, an estimate previously reported by The Post. The White House has used taxpayer dollars to cover some of the construction cost, records show. The ballroom donations are routed through the Trust for the National Mall, a D.C.-based nonprofit whose mission is to restore and preserve the National Mall and the White House grounds. Nonprofits are not generally required to disclose their donors. Prospective donors were sent a “pledge agreement form,” a copy of which was obtained by The Post, for giving toward the “Donald J. Trump Ballroom.” The form lists Meredith O’Rourke, the top fundraiser for Trump’s 2024 campaign, as the main contact. O’Rourke referred questions to the White House. A 12-page agreement between the government and the Trust requires that the Trust “maintain the anonymity of Project donors to the extent provided by law and not publicly recognize any such donor unless explicitly authorized in writing” by staff in the White House’s Executive Residence unit. Democratic lawmakers have denounced the fundraising for the ballroom as secretive and potentially transactional. They have demanded that the administration and the Trust provide details about the donors and circumstances of the gifts. Those demands have been rebuffed. In a statement the Trust said: “In philanthropy, it is not uncommon for donors to request their gifts remain anonymous. The Trust is committed to honoring donors requesting anonymity.” Pardon for international banker One of the earliest commitments to donate to the ballroom, from Sept. 23, 2025, came from the daughter of Julio Herrera Velutini, an international banker and dual Venezuelan-Italian citizen. In 2022, the Justice Department indicted Herrera Velutini, then 50, on bribery charges, accusing him of helping finance the campaign of Puerto Rico’s then-governor in exchange for the removal of a regulator investigating his bank. The former governor and a political consultant were also charged. Herrera Velutini and his attorney unsuccessfully tried to get the case dismissed, claiming prosecutors were criminalizing lawful political activity. After Trump’s victory, Herrera’s daughter, Isabela Herrera, made two donations to Trump’s MAGA Inc., a political action committee, totaling $3.5 million, campaign finance records show. The donations prompted the nonprofit Campaign Legal Center to file a complaint with the Federal Election Commission alleging that Isabela Herrera was serving as a “straw donor” for her father. The organization described her as a self-employed financial consultant in her mid-20s whose only prior political donation was $20 to Pete Buttigieg, a 2020 Democratic presidential candidate. The organization said it got no response from the FEC, which declined to comment for this story. In August 2025, Herrera Velutini’s charges were reduced to a misdemeanor as part of a plea agreement. The following month, Isabela Herrera committed to donating $2.5 million for the ballroom, which has not been previously reported. Records show she paid a first installment of $835,000 on Oct. 14, 2025. Trump pardoned Herrera Velutini in January. Herrera’s second payment was due this month, the records show. Amid a wider Justice Department retreat from sweeping public corruption investigations, Trump also pardoned the former governor and the political consultant. The White House said the prosecutions had been politically motivated. After the pardon, an attorney for Herrera Velutini issued a statement saying his client was “profoundly grateful to President Donald J. Trump for bestowing the grace of his benevolent pardon.” Neither Herrera Velutini nor his daughter responded to requests for comment. A dropped investigation Last year, Ergen, the telecommunications executive, found his company EchoStar in the Trump administration’s crosshairs. Brendan Carr, the chair of the Federal Communications Commission, wrote Ergen in May to inform him that the agency had begun investigating EchoStar. Carr threatened to yank government licenses that were critical to the survival of the business, accusing EchoStar, owner of Dish Network, of not following through on promises it had made to upgrade its cellphone network. The following month, Ergen met with Trump and Carr behind closed doors to discuss the investigation, according to Bloomberg. The outlet, citing unnamed sources, said the June 11 discussion included a brief exchange about Ergen’s political donations and whether he gave to candidates in both political parties. The company referenced a June 11 meeting between Ergen and Carr in a regulatory filing and wrote that Trump “subsequently encouraged the parties involved to reach an amicable resolution.” Ergen negotiated a deal to sell some of the company’s licenses to AT&T in August, subject to approval of the FCC and Justice Department. Carr dropped the investigation the following month, thanking Ergen for his responses and for information he had provided. In December, with the sale still pending, Ergen committed $12.5 million to Trump’s ballroom, according to the donation list. Records indicate Ergen requested that the source of the donation remain anonymous. The donation has not been previously reported. He committed another $12.5 million in February, according to the list. In May, the FCC and the Justice Department each gave EchoStar approval for the sale. Through a spokesman, Ergen and EchoStar declined to comment. The FCC and Carr did not respond. DOJ did not provide comment for this story. The donor list also shows $5 million “pledged” by AT&T, the only line item on the list described that way. Every other amount is listed as “won.” In a statement to The Post, AT&T spokesperson Megan Ketterer said the company appeared to have been listed in error. “We have no idea what list you are talking about and have no plans to contribute to the Trust for the National Mall,” Ketterer said. An approval, then a donation Another top donor was a subsidiary of Rocket, the Detroit-based housing, finance and tech company founded by Daniel Gilbert, owner of the NBA’s Cleveland Cavaliers. In March 2025, Rocket said that it planned to acquire two competitors: the home search site Redfin and the mortgage site Mr. Cooper. The moves would give Rocket a much larger share of the real estate market. Federal agencies tasked with protecting against anticompetitive business practices declined to challenge the deals, allowing them to proceed. Five Democratic senators wrote to the Justice Department and Federal Trade Commission in protest. To acquire Mr. Cooper, Gilbert also needed approval from the Federal Housing Finance Agency. The FHFA approved the deal on Aug. 26, 2025. The Rocket subsidiary committed $10 million to the ballroom three weeks later. Records show it requested anonymity. A Rocket spokesperson said the approvals and donation were not connected. “Rocket and its related companies have supported the Trust for the National Mall and other nonpartisan organizations in Washington for more than a decade,” said spokesperson Aaron Emerson. “We’re proud to join dozens of companies and individuals in improving our nation’s capital.” An FTC spokesperson said Rocket received no special treatment, pointing to a lawsuit the agency brought against Redfin for anticompetitive practices days after the donation. The FHFA and the Justice Department did not provide comment. Software contracts One of the country’s leading software providers, Salesforce, has significantly grown its government contracting business during the second Trump administration. Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff has attended exclusive dinners and events with Trump, including a state dinner hosted by King Charles III at Windsor Castle in September 2025 and a business summit in Japan the following month. While there, Trump thanked Benioff for previously putting him on the cover of Time magazine, which Benioff owns. “Marc has some pretty good suggestions,” Trump said of the CEO. The following day, Benioff committed $1 million to the ballroom, according to the list. The donation has not previously been reported, and Benioff asked that it remain anonymous. Salesforce separately made two $1 million commitments to the ballroom, one last Christmas Eve and another Jan. 29 of this year, the list shows. The donations have not been previously reported. In between, the Army awarded the company a contract worth up to $5.6 billion through 2035, which appears to be the largest public government contract in Salesforce’s history, according to a review of public contracting records. Announcing the contract, the Pentagon said “bids were solicited via the internet with only one received.” Benioff and Salesforce did not respond to requests for comment. In a statement, a Pentagon official said: “Outside affiliations, investors, or political connections play absolutely no role in the Department’s funding decisions.” After this article published, an Army spokesperson said in a statement that contracts are awarded in strict compliance with federal law and are “determined exclusively by validated mission requirements, technical capability, and best value.” One of Salesforce’s competitors, ServiceNow, also donated to the ballroom. Last September, the General Services Administration announced what it called a “landmark” agreement with ServiceNow that would make the company’s AI-driven software available to federal agencies at a discount. “When President Trump says the federal government needs to operate like a best-run business, he means it,” CEO Bill McDermott said as part of the announcement. The next month, ServiceNow committed $5 million to the ballroom, a donation that has not been previously reported. The GSA said in a statement that ServiceNow has been a federal contractor for more than a decade, adding that “its charitable or political donations – like those of any company – have no bearing on GSA’s decision to include them in federal buying catalogs.” ServiceNow said in a statement that negotiations for the deal had been underway for a “considerable period of time.” Its government business is “separate and unconnected to any donations we make to any cause,” it said. Of the donation, the company said: “Many of our partners and peers were also contributing to the project. We chose to join them.” Venezuelan oil interests Nearly $10 million for the ballroom was committed by two Trump political donors who have pursued large investments in Venezuelan oil – a market Trump has gained influence over since the U.S. seizure of President Nicolás Maduro in January. Billionaire financier Paul Singer committed to donate $5 million through his foundation in October 2025, a month before his hedge fund received court approval to pursue a purchase of Venezuelan oil giant Citgo for $5.9 billion. The deal will require approval from multiple federal agencies, including the Commerce Department, Energy Department, State Department and Treasury Department. It has stalled amid ongoing negotiations with the South American country’s U.S.-backed administration. The Oklahoma oil and gas company Continental Resources and its chairman emeritus, billionaire and GOP megadonor Harold Hamm, both promised donations to the ballroom in October 2025 totaling just under $5 million. This year, in response to the Trump administration’s call for energy companies to invest in the Venezuelan oil industry, Continental struck a tentative agreement with the country’s state-run oil company to develop 126,000 acres of untapped oil fields. Singer declined to comment. Neither Hamm nor Continental responded. Unlisted Two companies and one individual the White House has publicly named as donors do not appear on the list obtained by The Post. The companies are Hard Rock International, the hospitality chain owned by the Seminole Tribe of Florida, and Tether America, a cryptocurrency firm. The individual is Paolo Tiramani, a modular homes company executive who told the Times of London that he had donated $10 million in stock. None of the three answered The Post’s questions or explained why they are not recorded as having contributed to the ballroom fundraising campaign. Neither did the Trust for the National Mall or the White House. Kevin Crowe, Samantha Schmidt, Dan Lamothe and Alex Horton contributed to this report. – – – Graphics: Donations by date Major donors Related ContentThis article originally appeared on Washington Post at https://washingtonpost.com/investigations/2026/10/15/secret-documents-reveal-donors-behind-330-million-trumps-ballroom/