Newly released White House documents pull back the curtain on the FBI’s secret “Plasmic Echo” surveillance of the Trump family, a former congressman is sentenced to a decade in prison over a $50 million Venezuela lobbying scheme, and Nepal formally closes its deadly flood rescue effort. In Washington, Alex Ovechkin announces his farewell season and the Kennedy Center Honors find an unlikely new stage, while American bombers leave Britain and Tehran declares the U.S. war a failure.
In This Roundup
- White House releases files showing FBI tracked Melania and Barron Trump’s travel, tapped Susie Wiles’ phone
- Former Rep. David Rivera sentenced to 10 years over secret Venezuela lobbying
- U.S. pulls all Air Force bombers from British base as Rubio calls move routine
- Iran claims U.S. forces have ‘fled’ 1,000 km from its borders
- Alex Ovechkin announces this will be his final NHL season
- Kennedy Center Honors moves to Capital One Arena amid fight over Trump’s name
- Nepal ends flood search and rescue, turns to rehabilitation
- Swiss president begins India visit as border tensions with Pakistan simmer
1 White House releases files showing FBI tracked Melania and Barron Trump’s travel, tapped Susie Wiles’ phone
The White House on Monday released documents showing the FBI monitored the travel of Melania and Barron Trump and tapped the cellphone of future White House chief of staff Susie Wiles as part of special counsel Jack Smith’s investigation into classified documents kept at Mar-a-Lago. The surveillance, conducted under the Biden administration, was part of a secret probe titled “Plasmic Echo,” according to documents released by the White House Government Transparency Task Force.
Then-Attorney General Merrick Garland approved the wiretaps on the advice of then-FBI Director Christopher Wray, who warned in a May 2022 memo that the investigation could prove disruptive to the democratic process if disclosed before an election — and urged approval anyway. The family’s trips were traced as agents plotted the timing of the August 2022 Mar-a-Lago search, while Wiles’ phone was tracked in the months after the raid to monitor her communications with Trump’s defense attorneys.
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Source: New York Post
2 Former Rep. David Rivera sentenced to 10 years over secret Venezuela lobbying
Former Republican congressman David Rivera of Miami was sentenced Friday to ten years in prison for running a secret $50 million lobbying campaign on behalf of Venezuela during President Donald Trump’s first term. Prosecutors said Rivera worked to influence American policy toward the Maduro government without registering as a foreign agent, as federal law requires.
The sentence closes one of the more striking foreign-lobbying cases of recent years, in which a former member of Congress was accused of quietly advancing the interests of an adversarial government while it was happening. Rivera’s fall — from onetime rising Florida Republican to convicted felon — drew national attention to how aggressively the Justice Department is enforcing foreign-agent laws.
Source: Reuters
3 U.S. pulls all Air Force bombers from British base as Rubio calls move routine
The United States has removed all of its Air Force bombers from RAF Fairford in Britain, a move that drew immediate scrutiny amid the ongoing confrontation with Iran. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Monday the withdrawal was part of regular rotations and not a direct response to any new threat.
The repositioning comes as the administration’s war with Iran grinds on and Tehran claims the American campaign has failed. Military analysts will be watching where the bombers land next — and whether the move signals a quiet shift in how Washington is posturing its long-range strike capability in the region.
Source: ANI
4 Iran claims U.S. forces have ‘fled’ 1,000 km from its borders
A senior Iranian commander said Monday that U.S. forces have withdrawn more than 1,000 kilometers from Iran’s borders, describing the pullback as a direct result of Iranian military pressure. Rear Admiral Ali Fadavi, a senior adviser to the IRGC commander-in-chief, said in a televised interview that for the first time no American vessels are present in the Persian Gulf, the Strait of Hormuz, the Sea of Oman, or the northern Indian Ocean.
Fadavi claimed the Strait of Hormuz has been under Iranian control for months and warned that ships using the U.S.-supervised southern route could face Iranian naval action. The remarks extend Tehran’s running claim that Washington’s campaign has failed, even as the U.S. maintains its naval blockade of Iranian ports.
Source: Hatha Alyoum
5 Alex Ovechkin announces this will be his final NHL season
Washington Capitals captain Alex Ovechkin announced Monday that this season will be his last in the NHL, setting up a farewell tour for one of hockey’s greatest goal scorers. The 41-year-old has spent his entire career in Washington since being drafted first overall in 2004.
Ovechkin’s announcement guarantees an emotional season in the capital, where he delivered the franchise’s first Stanley Cup in 2018 and became the face of D.C. sports for two decades. Every road arena on the schedule now doubles as a potential goodbye.
Source: NHL.com
6 Kennedy Center Honors moves to Capital One Arena amid fight over Trump’s name
This year’s Kennedy Center Honors will be held at Washington’s Capital One Arena instead of the Kennedy Center itself, amid an ongoing fight over adding President Trump’s name to the performing arts institution. The move shifts one of the capital’s glitziest traditions from the Potomac riverfront to a sports arena.
The venue change follows months of turmoil at the Kennedy Center, where closures and political battles have disrupted its programming. Organizers have not detailed how the arena setting will reshape the ceremony, but the relocation marks a striking break from decades of tradition.
Source: Associated Press
7 Nepal ends flood search and rescue, turns to rehabilitation
Nepal on Monday formally ended search and rescue operations for those still missing after the devastating August 26 floods, with officials saying hope of finding survivors has faded. At least 1,455 people were killed and 5,285 remain missing after the flood that originated near Nepal’s border with China’s Tibet region; another 13,795 people were rescued.
“We are moving from the search and rescue phase to the search and rehabilitation phase,” Phanindra Paudel, chief of the National Emergency Operation Centre, told Reuters. Authorities say they need nearly $5 billion for early recovery and rehabilitation, and are beginning the legal process of declaring the missing dead so families can settle insurance, banking, and other formalities.
Source: Reuters
8 Swiss president begins India visit as border tensions with Pakistan simmer
Swiss President Guy Parmelin arrived in New Delhi on Monday for a three-day visit at Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s invitation, with trade, investment, and the India-EFTA economic partnership topping the agenda. Parmelin will hold bilateral talks with Modi and attend the India-EFTA Prosperity Summit on October 7.
The visit comes as India and Pakistan trade diplomatic protests over an October 2 border incident in Punjab in which two men were killed — suspected infiltrators, according to India’s BSF; unarmed civilians who crossed inadvertently, according to Islamabad. Both countries have summoned senior diplomats, keeping regional tensions firmly in focus alongside the trade diplomacy.
Source: NewKerala
Editor’s Note: This roundup was prepared with the assistance of AI tools. Virginia Times gathered the source material from multiple sources and thoroughly reviewed the information before publication.
