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LIVE: Obama attends Ossoff, Bottoms rally ahead of Georgia election

 

White House Has Tight Grip Over FBI in Pursuing Trump Targets, Agent Says

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 Summary

Agent Bryan Witt testified that FBI director Kash Patel ordered investigations into Nikki Floris and Bradley Benavides following President Trump’s directives. Witt called the inquiry a “witch hunt,” noting Patel’s aggressive oversight. Judge Zia M. Faruqui criticized the Justice Department’s unprecedented amended complaint.

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Oct. 27, 2026Updated 8:52 p.m. ET

White House Has Tight Grip Over F.B.I. in Pursuing Trump Targets, Agent Says

In court testimony, the agent outlined the willingness of Kash Patel, the F.B.I. director, to take orders from President Trump to investigate his perceived enemies.

Bryan Witt, an F.B.I. agent, said the inquiry mandated by Kash Patel, the bureau’s director, was generally viewed inside his office as a “witch hunt.” Alex Kent/The New York Times

By Alan Feuer

Reporting from the Federal District Court in Washington

In mid-July, President Trump gave a prime-time speech in which he raised concerns about a disputed F.B.I. report that China had tried to interfere in the 2020 election in an effort to defeat him.

At the heart of his address was a bitter complaint: that some of the bureau’s intelligence officials had purposefully sought to play down the report to undercut his claims about the race.

One day after Mr. Trump attacked those officials on TV, calling for their prosecution, Kash Patel, the F.B.I. director, sent a letter to the U.S. attorney’s office in Kansas City ordering that some of them immediately be investigated for obstruction and conspiracy, one of the agents assigned to the case testified on Tuesday.

The agent, Bryan Witt, said that even though the inquiry was generally viewed inside his office as a “witch hunt” and that he himself had concerns it was “political,” it nonetheless moved forward. And last week, one of the intelligence officials whom Mr. Trump had complained about was charged along with a colleague with lying to Congress about the roles they had played in another one of the president’s longstanding obsessions: the investigations into Hunter Biden, the former president’s son.

Mr. Witt’s explosive testimony, offered at a hearing in Federal District Court in Washington, was the latest account of just how tight a grip the White House has on decision-making at the F.B.I. and just how willing Mr. Patel has been to take orders from the president to go after people he believes to be enemies.

A veteran agent, Mr. Witt asserted from the stand that he had never before worked on a case where instructions came directly from the F.B.I.’s director. He added that Mr. Patel and his deputies often checked on his progress, pressing him and his colleagues to move as aggressively as possible.

The daylong hearing was nominally held so that lawyers for the two defendants — Nikki Floris and Bradley Benavides — could question the basis of the criminal complaint that was filed on Friday. It accused them of lying to the House Judiciary Committee in 2023 when they were questioned about the roles they had played in the F.B.I.’s investigations into Mr. Biden and his ties to foreign nationals and companies.

But as the day went on, the proceeding gradually turned into something more substantial as the lawyers got Mr. Witt to expose the ways in which Mr. Trump had directed Mr. Patel to use the power of the F.B.I. to investigate people he believed had cast doubts on both his lies about the 2020 election and his unsubstantiated claims that his opponent in that race, Joseph R. Biden Jr., had engaged in corrupt dealings in Ukraine while Hunter Biden had been working there.

Mr. Witt testified that he was originally instructed by Mr. Patel to investigate Ms. Floris and other F.B.I. intelligence officials after they had questioned a report from an informant developed by the bureau’s Albany field office that China had sought to tip the 2020 election in Mr. Biden’s favor.

But after he and his colleagues were unable to find evidence to support the claims, he said the inquiry quickly pivoted toward the testimony that Ms. Floris and Mr. Benavides had given three years ago in front of the House committee, which had been looking into Hunter Biden’s business dealings overseas.

Both Ms. Floris and Mr. Benavides served on the F.B.I.’s Foreign Influence Task Force, a group created after Russia interfered in the 2016 election. It helped intelligence agencies monitor clandestine efforts by foreign governments to manipulate American politics, including by issuing warnings about covert foreign meddling to politicians and social media companies.

Members of the task force had relayed warnings from the intelligence community about a covert Russian disinformation operation aimed at helping Mr. Trump win re-election in 2020 by amplifying claims that the elder Mr. Biden had engaged in corrupt dealings in Ukraine, where his son held a board seat on an energy firm, Burisma.

The case against Ms. Floris and Mr. Benavides is largely based on discrepancies between what they told Congress about their participation in the Biden investigations, what witnesses have said and what documents emerging from the inquiries have shown. Their lawyers spent much of Tuesday trying to persuade the magistrate judge handling the case, Zia M. Faruqui, that their clients had not lied to Congress and that the statements they had made had not materially affected the work of the House committee.

From the start, the prosecution has been marked by a series of unusual procedural maneuvers — including the fact that Ms. Floris and Mr. Benavides were charged in a criminal complaint, not an indictment. Complaints are typically used when prosecutors need to act quickly or have fears that defendants might flee. But Judge Faruqui said in court on Tuesday that both of the defendants are well-respected former agents and that the underlying facts of the case are more than three years old.

Judge Faruqui also expressed concern about another unorthodox tactic the Justice Department has used in the case. Late Monday night, prosecutors filed an amended complaint, adding a new charge of obstruction of Congress. But in an extraordinary break from standard legal practice, the prosecutors issued the new complaint without first seeking judicial approval, effectively asserting that they could accuse the defendants of additional crimes without the traditional checks and balances.

One of the prosecutors on the case, John Borchert, acknowledged it was a “novel” move to seek a criminal charge without first getting the approval of a jurist or grand jury. But Judge Faruqui said it was far more serious than that.

“It’s not just novel, Mr. Borchert,” he said. “It’s never been done before.”

Alan Feuer is a reporter for The Times who covers the effects President Trump has had on the courts, the Justice Department and the broader rule of law.“

Blue Wave for WAR CRIME impeachment? Hegseth eyes EXIT as Dems ready probes

 

 

Israel Election Live Updates: Rivals Strike Tone of Triumph, but Outcome Is Far From Clear

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“Addressing supporters after midnight, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Gadi Eisenkot, who leads a bloc of opposition parties, both expressed confidence that they will lead Israel’s next government. Vote counting could take days.

Updated 

Oct. 27, 2026, 10:42 p.m. ET26 minutes ago

Current time in

Jerusalem5:08 a.m. Oct. 28

Israeli exit polls showed early Wednesday that the opposition bloc, led by Gadi Eisenkot, was roughly even with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s bloc, with neither winning a parliamentary majority.By Alisa Shodiyev Kaff

Pinned

Israelis voted in the largest numbers in a generation on Tuesday, and exit polls suggested that a bloc of opposition parties was roughly even with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s alliance in what many described as a make-or-break moment for the nation.

The election did not appear to immediately determine who would lead the country next, even as the leading candidates — Mr. Netanyahu and the leader of a coalition of opposition parties, Gadi Eisenkot — struck tones of victory in late-night addresses to supporters. Vote counting was expected to last days, followed by a potentially lengthy effort by the blocs to assemble a parliamentary majority.

The exit polls, if accurate, suggest that neither Mr. Netanyahu’s bloc nor the one led by Mr. Eisenkot, a former military chief whose son was killed in the Gaza war, will be able to form a government without relying on two Arab parties that were projected to win as many as 17 or 18 seats in Parliament. Mr. Netanyahu effectively ruled out including them in a governing coalition, and Mr. Eisenkot and his partners have balked at the idea, too.

One option analysts are already weighing is whether Mr. Netanyahu, who has led the most far-right government in Israeli history, could join with Mr. Eisenkot or others in the opposition to form a unity government. But a unity government would face major obstacles, given how deeply Mr. Eisenkot’s voters despise Mr. Netanyahu, and because the two would have to agree on which of them would serve as prime minister. Mr. Netanyahu is unlikely to give up control, while Mr. Eisenkot has called the prime minister unfit to lead Israel.

Much remained unclear early Wednesday morning in Israel. Making matters even murkier, Israel’s exit polls have a spotty history of accuracy, particularly in tight races.

Mr. Eisenkot appeared onstage past midnight at his post-election party and attempted to strike a tone of triumph — as well as defiance toward Mr. Netanyahu.

“Tonight we got the answer: The public wants change,” he said.

Mr. Netanyahu addressed his supporters a few hours later, invoking his relationship with President Trump and repeating his pre-election talking points about removing the threat of Iran. He sounded triumphant, saying it was clear that Likud had emerged as the largest party in Israel and mocking months of pre-election polls that showed his party trailing behind that of Mr. Eisenkot.

“We must form a strong right-wing government,” he declared.

In the coming days, after official vote totals are released and parliamentary seats are allocated to parties, Israel’s president, Isaac Herzog, will invite the party leader he thinks has the best chance to assemble a governing coalition. Such a coalition would usually have to be made up of at least 61 lawmakers, though Mr. Eisenkot has floated the idea of forming a minority government.

One factor not reflected in exit polls are the hundreds of thousands of votes cast by Israelis at special polling stations, including at military bases, hospitals, prisons and embassies. In the previous election, those votes tended to favor the coalition of Mr. Netanyahu and his allies.

Here’s what else to know:

• Arab parties: The exit polls pointed to at least one surprise in projecting that two Arab parties would win as many as 17 or 18 seats in the 120-seat Parliament. That would be their strongest showing ever, and potentially give them an important role in forming the next government. Read more ›

• War fears: Amid reports that Mr. Netanyahu has been pushing for renewed attacks on Iran, Mr. Eisenkot warned him in his speech to supporters not to abuse his power as caretaker prime minister to influence the process of forming a new government. “Netanyahu, don’t dare use Israel’s security for your political needs,” he said.

Oct. 27, 2026, 9:55 p.m. ET1 hour ago

It’s nearly 4 a.m. in Israel, and there is no clear winner. News is expected to slow down in the coming hours, but pick up again in the morning, when party leaders are expected to begin discussing potential alliances. The official results are still a long way off: Election authorities have so far counted nearly a million votes, about a fifth of the total votes cast.

Oct. 27, 2026, 9:40 p.m. ET1 hour ago

In a nod to the fact he is now a caretaker prime minister pending the formation of a new government, Netanyahu said the exit polls were only a preview and he was waiting for official results. Yet he sounded triumphant, if not quite saying he had won the election. He said it was clear that his Likud party had emerged as the largest party in the Parliament, and he mocked months of pre-election polls that showed Likud trailing behind the party of his main rival, Gadi Eisenkot.

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Four Ways Israel’s Election Could End. Eventually.

No party is expected to achieve a clear victory, which means the election will likely only be the first step in determining who will form the next government. Here’s how that might unfold.

Oct. 27, 2026, 9:37 p.m. ET2 hours ago

Listing Israel’s enemies who have now been killed, including Ayatollah Ali Khamenei of Iran, Netanyahu declared, “Iran is weaker than ever, Israel is stronger than ever.”

“But it’s still not over,” he said, adding that with his “friend” President Trump, it would be possible to remove the threat from Iran once and for all, repeating his pre-election talking points.

Oct. 27, 2026, 9:35 p.m. ET2 hours ago

Netanyahu showed no hint of extending a hand to the opposition as he addressed supporters early Wednesday. Arriving onstage at 3:15 a.m., looking reinvigorated and in an ebullient mood, he declared, “We must form a strong right-wing government.”

Oct. 27, 2026, 8:52 p.m. ET2 hours ago

One updated exit poll has given Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s bloc a small edge over the opposition. The exit polls by Israel’s three largest television networks at first projected a small lead for Gadi Eisenkot’s anti-Netanyahu alliance, but now one has Netanyahu and his allies ahead, and the other two show the two blocs even. Exit polls have not always been reliable indicators of the result, and the official count is far from complete. But it appears that neither side has a clear path to forming a government without the help of the Arab parties, unless one or more parties defects from one of the main blocs. 

Oct. 27, 2026, 7:53 p.m. ET3 hours ago

Gadi Eisenkot, Netanyahu’s main rival, took the stage in the early hours of Wednesday morning like a winner, embracing members of his Yashar party who were waiting for him there and waving to an enthusiastic crowd of flag-waving supporters who hailed him as the next prime minister. 

Although Eisenkot’s path to forming a government is far from clear, he gave what amounted to a victory speech for the opposition bloc, declaring, “We’ve made history.” Describing the election as a referendum on who should lead Israel in the coming years, he added: “Tonight we got the answer. The public wants change.”

In an unusual and pointed message, Eisenkot told the country’s security chiefs and public servants that Netanyahu now heads a transitional government that has lost the confidence of the people. “Stand strong and firm against any attempt to challenge you,” Eisenkot said. “You have my clear backing.” Amid reports that Netanyahu has been pushing for renewed attacks on Iran, Eisenkot said, “Netanyahu, don’t dare use Israel’s security for your political needs.”

Oct. 27, 2026, 7:53 p.m. ET3 hours ago

Two Israeli news channels have recently updated their exit polls, which now show a tie between the bloc led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and that of his main challenger, Gadi Eisenkot. Neither bloc, however, has enough seats to form a government without the support of Arab parties. Earlier versions of the same exit polls had shown small leads for the opposition alliance. The official vote count is still too preliminary to draw any conclusions, and counting will take days.

One of the most striking results from the election in Israel on Tuesday was the unusually strong showing by two leading Arab parties, whose voters turned out in record numbers to express their opposition to the government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

The final results have not been announced, but a range of exit polls conducted by Israeli broadcasters suggest that two of the parties — the socially conservative United Arab List, or Raam, and the left-wing Joint List — may have won a historically large number of seats in parliament and an important role in the formation of the country’s next government.

Oct. 27, 2026, 7:38 p.m. ET3 hours ago

Scores of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s supporters and lawmakers from his Likud party are gathered at the party’s election-night headquarters, in a conference hall in Jerusalem. It’s past 1:30 a.m., and some of the crowd here is ecstatic, waiting for the prime minister to come and speak onstage. Activists are wearing “Make Israel Great Again” baseball hats and throwing the party’s voting slips like confetti. But others, including party officials, acknowledged to me their path to forming a coalition is narrow, and feelings here are mixed.

Natan Odenheimer/The New York Times

Oct. 27, 2026, 7:10 p.m. ET4 hours ago

Bezalel Smotrich, the current finance minister and leader of the far-right Religious Zionism party, focused his post-election speech on delegitimizing the predominantly Arab parties whose support could help the anti-Netanyahu bloc form a government. “Parties that are unable to condemn the massacre of Oct. 7 and are not willing to declare Hamas as a terrorist organization are not legitimate actors in Israeli politics,” Smotrich told his supporters.

Oct. 27, 2026, 7:04 p.m. ET4 hours ago

Naftali Bennett, who leads a party in the alliance opposing Benjamin Netanyahu’s bloc, said the sitting prime minister had lost the election. In a fiery televised address to a gathering of supporters, he tied Netanyahu to the Hamas-led attack on Oct. 7, 2023, Israel’s worst security failure in decades. “The government of Oct. 7 will go home,” he said.

He said the anti-Netanyahu parties “will do everything, setting ego aside” to form a government that will insist on conscription of ultra-Orthodox Jews into the military. He did not address whether that might include Netanyahu’s Likud party, or one or more Arab parties.

Oct. 27, 2026, 6:30 p.m. ET5 hours ago

Not reflected in exit polls are hundreds of thousands of ballots cast at special polling stations, including on military bases, in hospitals, prisons, and embassies. In the previous election, those votes leaned toward Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition. This year, the election authorities estimated that roughly 600,000 such votes would be cast, accounting for about 10 percent of eligible voters. Results from those ballots are not expected to be announced before Thursday.

Oct. 27, 2026, 6:01 p.m. ET5 hours ago

Itamar Ben-Gvir, the far-right national security minister, was the first leader of a party in Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition to speak following tonight’s exit polls. He neither declared victory for his bloc nor conceded defeat. “The night is still young,” he told supporters at a televised gathering. He said he hoped that the bloc led by Netanyahu “was close to forming a right-wing government.”

Oct. 27, 2026, 5:47 p.m. ET5 hours ago

The leader of the Democrats party, Yair Golan, declared victory on Tuesday night for the opposition bloc, which includes his party, and asserted that the exit polls showed that the Israeli public had “fired Netanyahu and Likud.” Addressing supporters, Golan urged opposition leaders to swiftly form a “change government” without letting ego or political calculations delay the process. “From tonight, Israel can breathe,” he said. “Tomorrow, we begin rebuilding.” He expressed a willingness to rely on support from outside the opposition alliance to secure a parliamentary majority, an apparent reference to the Arab parties.

Oct. 27, 2026, 5:44 p.m. ET5 hours ago

Another surprise in the exit polls was Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s apparent surge on Election Day. While the most recent pre-election surveys showed his Likud party with about 20 seats in Parliament, the exit polls show Likud winning 24, more than any other party. That is an important symbolic victory for Netanyahu, and one that few could have foreseen for the prime minister who was in charge on Oct. 7, 2023.

It suggests that Netanyahu’s hair-on-fire appeal to voters on Election Day worked — but only so much. The extra four seats he picked up, according to the exit polls, came at the expense of his allies, not the opposition bloc.

Oct. 27, 2026, 5:42 p.m. ET5 hours ago

Judging by exit polls, one major suprise in this election is the high turnout among Israel’s Arab citizens, who were furious at the current government over its housing policies and its failure to curb violent crime in Arab communities. 

Pre-election surveys suggested that the two main Arab parties would win about 13 seats, but the exit polls suggest they will end up with closer to 17 or 18 seats. In the past, Arab parties have never won more than 15.

Mansour Abbas, the leader of the Raam party, told a television interviewer on Tuesday night that the turnout showed that “frustration and despair” in Israel’s Arab society had “turned to hope.”

Oct. 27, 2026, 5:42 p.m. ET5 hours ago

Mansour Abbas, the leader of an Arab party that could prove pivotal to the opposition’s efforts to form a majority coalition, said he wanted to replace Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government “in every possible way.” In an interview with Israel’s Channel 12, he said his immediate priority was to “ensure that there is a chance of forming a government” opposed to Netanyahu. “And then, we will discuss the details,” he said, “and address the challenges.”

Oct. 27, 2026, 5:27 p.m. ET6 hours ago

Initial exit polls suggest that Arab parties are likely to win a historic number of seats in Israel’s Parliament.

The polls released by Israeli TV channels gave Raam and the Joint List, the two major Arab parties, either 17 or 18 of the Knesset’s 120 seats.

“The Arabs feel this government did everything to marginalize them and even incite against them,” said Thabet Abu Ras, an expert in Arab-Jewish relations and an Arab citizen of Israel. “They understood they needed to fight for their citizenship and play the political game fully.”

Oct. 27, 2026, 5:22 p.m. ET6 hours ago

Israel’s Central Election Committee just updated the country’s turnout rate to 77.7 percent, the highest since 1999. Israelis headed in large numbers to the polls on Tuesday, particularly among the country’s Arab minority, who were spurred by a desire to unseat Benjamin Netanyahu’s hardline coalition.

Oct. 27, 2026, 5:19 p.m. ET6 hours ago

In 2021, Israel’s short-lived anti-Netanyahu government included for the first time an independent Arab party, Raam. The backlash to that catapulted anti-Arab politicians like Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich into the next government. According to exit polls, the backlash to that government appears to have resulted today in a record showing for Israel’s Arab parties.

Oct. 27, 2026, 5:05 p.m. ET6 hours ago

The exit polls suggest Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition may well be deadlocked with his Jewish opponents, and neither would be able to form a government on their own without relying on Arab parties. One option already being weighed by analysts is whether  Netanyahu and his main rival, Gadi Eisenkot, could form a unity government of Israel’s right-wing and centrist parties. Such an alliance might be hard for Eisenkot to accept given how deeply his own voters despise Netanyahu. And then there’s also the question of who would run the government. Netanyahu is unlikely to give up control, and Eisenkot has vowed not to join a government run by someone he has called unfit to lead Israel.

Oct. 27, 2026, 4:53 p.m. ET6 hours ago

There have been precedents in the past where the party with the most seats in Parliament does not end up forming a government. In Israel’s 2009 election, Tzipi Livni’s centrist Kadima party won 28 seats, narrowly beating Benjamin Netanyahu’s conservative Likud, which won 27. But Netanyahu had more support from allied parties and came back as prime minister after a decade spent out of politics or in the opposition.

Oct. 27, 2026, 4:52 p.m. ET6 hours ago

A few activists were celebrating at the Likud Party’s election headquarters in Jerusalem even though most exit polls suggested that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s alliance of parties had won fewer seats than the bloc of parties seeking his ouster. “Bibi is the king! The king is Bibi!” they shouted, using a nickname for the Israeli leader.

Natan Odenheimer/The New York Times

Polls have closed in Israel, and initial exit polls by Israeli broadcasters are expected to be released shortly afterward. But it will be hours before the definitive results are known, and it could be weeks until a new government is formed. 

Here’s what to know:

• Early indicator: Exit polls in Israel can be useful to get a sense of each party’s relative strength, but they are not considered a reliable gauge of precise results — particularly in a tight race like this one.

• Vote-counting: Votes are tallied in Israel by hand, with ballot slips tabulated at more than 12,000 polling places across the country. The counters are monitored by camera-toting election observers.

• First results: After the hand count is completed, paper tallies are taken to regional hubs where the results are recorded electronically. The whole process takes hours, and the authorities begin to release the results once they are completed. 

• Possible delay: Israel is a parliamentary democracy, and no party is expected to win anywhere near an outright majority of the votes. Once the results are in, the process of forming a government will begin. That could take weeks or even months.

• Next government: The party with the most votes and the most seats in the Parliament may not be the one to form a government. In 2021, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party won the most seats but was unable to assemble a majority coalition. Instead, after months of wrangling, an eclectic coalition of anti-Netanyahu forces cobbled together a single-seat majority in Parliament. 

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s governing coalition has the distinction of surviving for a full four-year term in office, something no government in Israel has achieved for more than 30 years. Since first taking office in 1996, he has tallied 19 years in power and become Israel’s longest-serving prime minister by far.

On Tuesday, he is seeking a seventh term, in Israel’s first parliamentary election since the deadly Hamas-led attack in 2023 that prompted its devastating war in Gaza.

Days before Tuesday’s pivotal Israeli election, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu shocked his country by offering a bleak economic forecast that critics said could make Israel more like Iran, Russia and North Korea.

Mr. Netanyahu told an Israeli financial journalist on Friday that he was preparing for international sanctions against Israeli banks by drawing up plans for a “bypass economy” based on cryptocurrency. He also told Israelis to prepare for the end of billions of dollars of annual American assistance. 

The stakes of the Israeli elections are high for Palestinians in the West Bank, but they do not have the right to vote in them.

In interviews, some Palestinians voiced objections to not being allowed to vote, especially as they felt Israel’s occupation of the West Bank was becoming more permanent.

The election in Israel on Tuesday is unlikely to yield quick answers about who might lead the next government.

Voters don’t directly pick a prime minister in Israel’s proportional parliamentary system. They choose a party or slate, the first step in determining who may be selected to try to form a government. The process is not guaranteed to succeed and can lead to another election if it does not. Here are four things to watch for.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel accused Arab citizens of “trying to steal the elections” on Tuesday, as he repeatedly used brazen and overtly racial appeals to push his right-wing base to vote. 

“There are buses heading to the polls and long lines in Arab towns. Meanwhile, right-wing strongholds have yet to wake up!” he said on social media. “If we don’t go vote now, we will find ourselves with a government of Arab parties.”

Several people whose relatives were killed or taken hostage in the Hamas-led attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, are running for office in Tuesday’s election, the first national vote since the assault, which shook the country’s foundations and ignited its longest war.

The October 2023 assault looms large over this week’s vote. There are sharp divisions over who was to blame for failing to prevent the worst military, intelligence and policy disaster in Israel’s history.

For decades, Israel had virtually unanimous support among Republicans and Democrats in Congress, a reflection of a broader consensus in the United States in favor of strong backing for the Jewish state.

But that consensus began to fray several years ago and has recently threatened to unravel altogether as Democrats have shifted drastically and rapidly from unequivocal support for Israel, reflecting a sea change in Americans’ views.“