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Today's Brief: Omar, Houthis, and Ukraine

The Homebrew · · Posted · AI-drafted daily brief, synthesized from Left, Center, and Right coverage. Facts may be inaccurate — verify with the cited sources below.

Federal agents searched the Washington home of Rep. Ilhan Omar on Monday as part of what the Justice Department called an ongoing federal criminal investigation, and Omar called the search an attempt to "target political enemies." Saudi aviation officials said attacks on the kingdom's airports between Oct. 6 and Oct. 11 killed 20 people, according to ABC News, while President Trump weighed whether to join Saudi strikes on the Houthis. Trump said Monday that Russia and Ukraine had agreed to his "energy ceasefire" because "I said they agree," as Ukraine's president said Russian strikes on the power grid went on. A federal judge halted tree cutting at a Washington golf course Trump wants to remake, and the military's Catholic archbishop condemned the Pentagon's plan to livestream a firing-squad execution. Two Americans won the Nobel prize in economics, and Pope Leo XIV is due to enter the hospital Tuesday.

Ilhan Omar: federal agents search her Washington home. Homeland Security Investigations agents "executed a judicially authorized search warrant" at Omar's Washington home Monday morning, the Justice Department said in a statement to NPR, calling it part of an "ongoing federal investigation." The BBC and the Washington Examiner quoted the department as calling it an "ongoing federal criminal investigation," and the BBC said no further details were given. A current official told NPR that the search is part of a multi-year probe that includes whistleblower complaints, and a former official told NPR it deals with immigration fraud allegations. Fox News, citing two unnamed sources, reported that the search was related to a criminal fraud investigation, the Guardian said; the BBC said Fox reported it concerned immigration paperwork filed by her late father when Omar was a child.

Omar, a Minnesota Democrat, denies the accusations against her, NPR and the Guardian reported. "Make no mistake: this is an attempt to target political enemies and weaponize federal law enforcement," she posted, according to NPR. "I will not be silenced." Trump told reporters the investigation is "up to the DOJ" and that "I have nothing to do with it," the Washington Examiner reported. Border czar Tom Homan told Fox News the investigation had been "ongoing for a while," Breitbart reported. The BBC noted that the search came 22 days before the November midterm elections, in which NPR said Omar is seeking reelection, and that the Justice Department has a longstanding policy against most enforcement actions that could be seen as aimed at affecting an election.

Saudi Arabia and the Houthis. Twenty people were killed and 356 injured in attacks on Saudi airports between Oct. 6 and Oct. 11, according to Saudi Arabia's General Authority of Civil Aviation, ABC News reported. Saudi officials have blamed the Iranian-backed Houthi rebels, ABC said. CBS News said at least 20 people, including a U.S. national, were killed in a week of attacks blamed on the Houthis. Of those, CBS said, the Oct. 10 strike on Riyadh's King Khalid International Airport alone killed at least 13 people and wounded over 300, according to two regional officials. Those officials told CBS that Saudi Arabia has opened an investigation into why its air defenses did not intercept the missiles and drones. That Riyadh toll was first reported as 12; NPR said India's embassy reported that one of its citizens died Sunday of injuries from the attack, which would bring it to 13.

On Monday, Saudi-led coalition forces said they intercepted a ballistic missile fired toward Riyadh, and a Houthi spokesperson claimed the group had targeted the airport, ABC reported. ABC said the U.S. Embassy urged Americans to take "extreme caution" if they use Saudi airports. Trump told ABC News the United States "may" join Saudi strikes on the Houthis. CBS reported that Brent crude reached over $105 a barrel early Monday, and that Delta pushed its planned Atlanta-to-Riyadh flights to March 2027.

Trump's "energy ceasefire" for Russia and Ukraine. Trump wrote on Truth Social on Sunday that "there is an ENERGY CEASEFIRE in the War between Russia and Ukraine. Both parties have agreed," NBC News reported. Asked Monday why neither side had committed, he said, "They agreed because I said they agree," according to the Washington Examiner. The Kremlin neither confirmed nor denied agreeing to a deal, NBC said.

Speaking in Warsaw on Monday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he was "surprised" by Trump's post and that "If Russia does not agree to an energy ceasefire this winter, we will respond," the Guardian reported. Zelenskyy said Russia bombed six energy facilities Monday and injured 33 people, according to the Guardian. Brent settled up 1.8% at $106.65, according to Dow Jones Market Data. NBC reported that the national average price of diesel was $6.26 a gallon Monday, according to AAA. The Guardian said Republican and Democratic politicians have criticized Trump's Friday move to lift sanctions on Russian diesel, saying it violates a U.S. law blocking Russian energy imports.

Judge halts tree cutting at East Potomac golf course. U.S. District Judge Ana Reyes on Monday ordered a 24-hour halt to tree removal at East Potomac Golf Links in Washington, which Trump wants to remake, the Guardian and NBC News reported. NBC said a government lawyer told the court notice was filed shortly before 5 p.m. Friday and that 430 trees were removed when work began the next morning. After the lawyer said "we did our best," the judge replied, "You did not do your best. You did your absolute worst," according to NBC. ABC News quoted Reyes as saying, "I am just beyond disappointed in the government." In her order, Reyes wrote that "the removal of hundreds of trees from East Potomac golf course is permanent," the Guardian reported. The challenge was brought by the D.C. Preservation League, ABC said.

Plan to livestream a military execution draws objections. Archbishop Timothy Broglio, who oversees the Catholic Church's pastoral services for the U.S. military, condemned the proposed livestream of Nidal Hasan's firing-squad execution and said Catholic soldiers assigned to the firing squad should ask to be excused, the Associated Press reported via ABC News. Hasan, an Army psychiatrist convicted of killing 13 people at Fort Hood in 2009, is scheduled to be executed Dec. 3, according to ABC and the Guardian. The Guardian said Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced last week that the execution would be public and that the Pentagon later confirmed it would be livestreamed. "Does exposing the public to his execution serve any purpose?" Broglio asked, according to the Guardian. Mother Jones reported that House Speaker Mike Johnson told CBS News a livestream could be used by terrorist groups to recruit, and that Anduril co-founder Palmer Luckey wrote on X in support of public executions.

Nobel economics prize and Pope Leo XIV. Robert Hall of Stanford University and Michael Woodford of Columbia University won the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences on Monday for work on households' and businesses' decisions on purchases and pricing that became the foundation of the "New Keynesian" approach, NPR reported. Prize committee chairman John Hassler said a key goal for governments and central banks is to "reduce the amplitude of these swings," according to NPR.

Pope Leo XIV will be admitted to the hospital Tuesday, the Vatican announced, CBS News reported. CBS said the Holy See press office did not say when the operation to remove a lung nodule would take place but said it will require a weeklong hospital stay. The Vatican said Monday that no particular issue prompted the tests, according to CBS.

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