White House Furious Over Leaked Demolition Photos and Demands Employees Stop Sharing
White House furious over leaked demolition photos and demands employees stop sharing, ICE purchases guided missiles components and surveillance equipment, nuclear agency furloughs employees, and more
Good morning, everyone. The White House is in turmoil after leaked photos revealed Donald Trump’s ongoing demolition of the East Wing. In response, staff in the neighboring Treasury Department have been ordered not to share any more images or videos of the destruction, even though Trump previously insisted the project would not affect the existing White House structure.
At the same time, ICE is undergoing an alarming transformation, pouring millions into militarization by acquiring guided missile components, heavy armor, and advanced surveillance tools such as biometric ID systems and hacking technologies.
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With that, here’s what you missed:
The Trump Administration is upset that images of the White House demolition were leaked and have now ordered Treasury Department employees not to share any images or video of the demolition. This comes months after Donald Trump said that his new ballroom would not impact the existing structure of the White House. This image begs to differ:
This is Donald Trump just a few weeks ago claiming that it would not impact the current structure of the White House building:
ICE is using billions from Trump’s “One Big Beautiful Bill” to massively expand its surveillance infrastructure, investing in biometric ID systems, cellphone tracking, and other electronic monitoring tools — a move critics say diverts funds meant for hiring agents and building detention facilities.
ICE weapons spending has skyrocketed 700% under Trump, with the agency purchasing over $71 million in small arms, armor, explosives, and even guided missile components, signaling a dramatic militarization of immigration enforcement as part of the administration’s broader crackdown on U.S. cities and expansion of federal policing power.
Trump’s plan to double the ICE workforce is faltering as over a third of recruits fail basic fitness tests, with officials reporting “athletically allergic” candidates who misrepresented their condition, raising concerns about the agency’s ability to meet its aggressive hiring goals without compromising standards.
House Speaker Mike Johnson continues to label the peaceful “No Kings” protests as “hate America rallies,” doubling down on Republican efforts to discredit the nationwide demonstrations against authoritarianism and government overreach.
The CIA is reportedly providing real-time satellite and signal intelligence for U.S. airstrikes on suspected drug boats in the Caribbean, playing the “most important part” in President Trump’s covert operations against Venezuela-linked traffickers. Sources say the CIA identifies targets while the military carries out missile strikes, though the evidence remains classified. Legal experts warn the actions may violate international law as unauthorized lethal force against civilians.
The U.S. National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) is furloughing about 1,400 employees as the government shutdown reaches its 21st day, leaving fewer than 400 workers on duty to maintain the nation’s nuclear arsenal. This marks the first furlough in the agency’s history since its founding in 2000. Officials said operations remain secure but warned that modernization and weapons maintenance will be delayed.
As the U.S. government shutdown drags into its third week, states are warning that millions of Americans may not receive November food stamp (SNAP) benefits. Agencies in Pennsylvania, Texas, West Virginia, Minnesota, and Illinois said payments could be halted starting October 16 unless Congress restores funding. The USDA has told states not to load benefits onto EBT cards “until further notice”, citing insufficient funds for roughly 42 million people.
A U.S. appeals court panel ruled 2–1 to let Donald Trump deploy Oregon National Guard troops to Portland, but a Ninth Circuit judge has requested a full court rehearing that could overturn the decision. Oregon officials argue the move is unconstitutional and unnecessary, calling Trump’s claims of “rebellion” exaggerated, while the dissenting judge warned the ruling undermines state sovereignty and free speech rights.
A growing number of U.S. judges — including several appointed by Donald Trump — are rebuking his administration’s sweeping claims of emergency powers, striking down or restraining actions on immigration, crime, and National Guard deployments. Judges like Karin Immergut in Oregon and April Perry in Chicago have ruled Trump’s justifications “untethered to the facts,” prompting appeals and Supreme Court challenges.
The University of Arizona became the seventh U.S. university to reject the Trump administration’s “Compact for Academic Excellence”, a proposal tying federal funding to adherence to conservative policies on race, gender, admissions, and campus culture. University President Suresh Garimella reaffirmed commitments to academic freedom and merit-based research, joining institutions like MIT and Brown in rejecting the compact, which critics say threatens institutional independence and anti-discrimination principles.
Navy veteran Richard Osthoff, who says George Santos defrauded him of $3,000 meant for his dying service dog, condemned Donald Trump’s decision to commute Santos’s prison sentence, calling it “a knife to the gut” and “disrespectful to veterans.” Santos, expelled from Congress and convicted of fraud, served three months of a seven-year term before Trump’s commutation. The move sparked bipartisan outrage, with Osthoff accusing Trump of repeatedly dishonoring the military and labeling him “a walking middle finger.”
NASA Acting Administrator Sean Duffy signaled that the agency may sideline SpaceX from its $2.9 billion Artemis III lunar lander contract, citing delays in Starship’s development and the need to “beat China back to the Moon.” Duffy said NASA will open the contract to competition, allowing companies like Blue Origin and potentially others to propose faster alternatives.
California health officials confirmed the first U.S. spread of the severe clade I mpox strain, with three hospitalized patients in Long Beach and Los Angeles showing infections unrelated to travel; authorities urge vaccination with the two-dose Jynneos shot, which protects against both clade I and II.
An American Airlines flight operated by SkyWest made an emergency landing in Omaha, Nebraska, after pilots lost communication with flight attendants and heard knocking on the cockpit door. The FAA later said the issue stemmed from a malfunctioning intercom system, and there was no security threat. The Embraer ERJ 175 jet landed safely just 18 minutes after takeoff, with emergency crews responding on the tarmac.
A major Amazon Web Services (AWS) outage on Monday caused widespread disruption across the U.S., exposing the internet’s dependence on a handful of cloud giants. The outage crippled services from Starbucks mobile orders to hospital communications, halted smart devices, and disrupted financial platforms like Chime and Venmo. Analysts estimate billions in economic impact, calling AWS a “single point of failure” for global digital infrastructure.
Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy entered Paris’s La Santé prison to begin a five-year sentence for criminal conspiracy, convicted of seeking illicit campaign funds from Muammar Gaddafi’s Libyan regime for his 2007 election.
A Slovak court sentenced 72-year-old Juraj Cintula to 21 years in prison for a terrorist attack after he shot Prime Minister Robert Fico in May 2024. Cintula admitted to targeting Fico over disagreements with his government’s pro-Russian stance, anti-Western policies, and decisions like ending aid to Ukraine.
American chess grandmaster Daniel Naroditsky, a child prodigy who became a grandmaster at 18 and one of the most popular chess educators online, died at age 29, according to the Charlotte Chess Club. Known for his deep strategic insight and engaging Twitch and YouTube streams, Naroditsky was a top-200 classical player and ranked among the world’s top 25 in blitz chess, recently winning the 2025 U.S. National Blitz Championship.
Good news:
Niger has become the first African nation to eliminate river blindness, achieving this milestone after 40 years of nationwide Ivermectin treatments that also wiped out lymphatic filariasis, marking a major victory for global health and disease eradication efforts.
Japanese scientists have developed a new vitamin K-based compound that boosts neuron formation by 300%, showing potential to slow or reverse Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, and Huntington’s disease, marking a major breakthrough in neurodegenerative treatment research.
A 5-year-old boy in New Jersey celebrated a Jimmy Carter-themed birthday party, complete with Carter memorabilia and a life-size cutout, after becoming fascinated by the former president’s humanitarian work; Carter’s daughter Amy even sent him gifts from the president’s 100th birthday celebration.
