Federal Bureau of Investigation

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, FBI Director Kash Patel, CMS Administrator Mehmet Oz and FTC Chairman Andrew Ferguson held a news conference in St. Cloud, Minnesota, branding the state "ground zero" for fraud. Officials touted the administration's "War on Fraud" agenda, including a new whistleblower incentive program offering up to $30,000 for tips leading to convictions. They highlighted recent FBI raids in Minneapolis tied to a 26-indictment Medicare fraud probe and criticized Gov. Tim Walz's administration for lax oversight, citing the shuttered housing stabilization services program. The event followed a Senate Democrats' report alleging CMS targeted blue states in fraud enforcement, which Bessent disputed.

The Justice Department's Civil Rights Division is sending roughly 1,000 federal monitors nationwide for Election Day, including to Pennsylvania counties where state law bars them from entering polling places. DOJ has said ICE and FBI personnel won't serve as monitors, though staff from agencies like the DEA, ATF and Federal Bureau of Prisons may participate without firearms or enforcement authority. Chicago has coordinated security with police, the FBI and emergency officials amid concerns over immigration enforcement near polling sites, while a coalition of civil rights groups is deploying lawyers and poll monitors. California is separately sending attorneys and observers to battleground districts, and DOJ continues legal challenges over noncitizen voter rolls.

Cuyahoga County, Ohio election records show that officials accepted provisional ballots from nine voters in the November 2022 election after voter-registration organization Black Fork Strategies submitted forms that changed addresses without voters' knowledge. Officials verified the ballots by matching signatures against older registration records, and two additional voters had addresses corrected before voting early. The county board referred the matter to the Ohio secretary of state's office in 2023.

The issue has resurfaced after Secretary of State Frank LaRose asked the FBI and federal prosecutors to investigate new allegations that Black Fork, also known as Field Forward Ohio, submitted thousands of registration forms late in Summit and Hamilton counties ahead of a recent deadline.

Ohio Democrats head into this year's elections with what analysts call their best shot in years to break the GOP's grip on statewide offices, though Republicans retain a clear structural advantage. Separately, a new state law requires mailed absentee ballots to reach county election offices by 7:30 p.m. on Election Day with no grace period, prompting Secretary of State Frank LaRose to urge voters to use drop boxes or deliver ballots in person. The Ohio Auditor's office also took its web systems offline after a cyberattack possibly involving foreign actors, though officials say no financial data appears compromised. LaRose separately sought a federal probe into a voter-registration group's activity in Cuyahoga County.

Since 2001, Lakewood Township has transferred 220 acres of public land near the Jersey Shore BlueClaws stadium at no cost to a development arm of Beth Medrash Govoha (BMG), a large Orthodox Jewish yeshiva. The entity, Cedarbridge Development, has resold the land to builders for nearly $70 million, while developers have saved over $8.6 million through local tax breaks (PILOTs) since 2018. A 2010 lawsuit challenging the deal as unconstitutional was dismissed. Constitutional experts say the arrangement may violate the state constitution's "gift clause" barring giveaways of public property without clear public benefit.

The New Jersey State Commission of Investigation is now examining similar municipal land deals involving PILOT tax breaks statewide, without confirming whether Lakewood is a specific target. The scrutiny comes as Lakewood faces a budget shortfall, a hiring freeze, and warnings of 2027 layoffs.

FBI agents executed a search warrant at a Beverly Hills mansion owned by a Swalwell donor, part of an escalating investigation into former Rep. Eric Swalwell, sources told multiple outlets. The California Democrat resigned from Congress and dropped out of the state's gubernatorial race in April amid sexual misconduct allegations from at least five women, including a former staffer, which he has denied.

The mansion search marks the second major FBI operation tied to Swalwell in recent months, following an August search of his Washington home and the seizure of his electronic devices at San Francisco International Airport. Federal prosecutors are examining possible civil rights violations tied to his conduct in office, while separate investigations continue in New York and Los Angeles County, including scrutiny of his campaign finances over legal payments to an attorney. The probe comes as declassified FBI records resurfaced showing Swalwell acknowledged a past relationship with suspected Chinese intelligence operative Christine "Fang Fang" Fang.

Federal prosecutors have charged Matthew Unglesbee, 37, of Quincy, Illinois, with mailing threatening communications and perpetrating a hoax after at least four envelopes containing a white powder, postmarked in Springfield on Oct. 19, were sent to Illinois congressional offices, including Reps. Brad Schneider, Mike Quigley and Jan Schakowsky, with a fifth unmailed envelope addressed to a Washington, D.C. office found during a search. Notes read "HA HA" and "HAH enjoy the gift." Testing found the substance harmless; Unglesbee admitted using salt because it resembled anthrax, telling agents it was a joke inspired by similar nationwide mailings. The FBI arrested him at his mother's Quincy home; he has a prior criminal history including threatening a public official.