The Patriot Post® · Wednesday Executive News Summary

The Israeli election has yet to be decided
Polls are closed after a record-turnout election in Israel, and most votes have been counted, but the final results are still to be determined. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s party appears to have won the largest share of the vote, but it’s nowhere close to a national majority. In a multi-party parliamentary system, the prime minister must have formal support from the majority of Israel’s 120-seat Knesset. Projections say Netanyahu will win 27 seats, and leading opposition leader Gadi Eisenkot will win 21. However, those same projections suggest Eisenkot can successfully recruit a majority of the coalition. The swing group will likely come from Israel’s Arab regions, as they are more neutral on Netanyahu and his nationalist tendencies. Time will tell whether either major candidate can win a majority and form a new government.

Bolsonaro flees corrupt government
Flavio Bolsonaro, the son of imprisoned former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, unexpectedly lost in the second round of the Brazilian presidential election this week and then suddenly vanished. After highly irregular election interference by the Brazilian Supreme Court, the court ordered Bolsonaro to surrender his passports, citing the risk that he would flee the country. His lawyers reported that they couldn’t find him to hand over the passports. Brazilian media reported that Bolsonaro slipped across the border into Argentina and fled to America. Indeed, video showed him landing in Miami this morning. U.S. officials have confirmed that they would grant him a visa.

Confucius Institutes are a threat
War Secretary Pete Hegseth recently announced that the Confucius Institutes at American universities threaten U.S. national security. On the surface, Confucius Institutes promote cultural and educational programs. However, they are funded by the Chinese International Education Foundation, an organization that serves the Chinese Communist Party. Hegseth said China seeks “to steal intellectual property and to infiltrate the minds of American students.” Congress has previously taken action to prevent China’s propaganda and espionage, but 80 new cells have popped up under different names in 30 schools, including Harvard University. Similarly, Hegseth said that when the Pentagon tries to stop DEI practices, the Left simply rebrands the ideology. Universities that engage with the Confucius Institutes or any organizations on the War Department’s threat list will lose all defense funding.

Grand jury rejects indictment of former WH aide
Former White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson, who served during President Donald Trump’s first term and testified against him during the Democrats’ second impeachment following the January 6 Capitol riot, had a Justice Department indictment against her rejected by a grand jury on Tuesday. The DOJ’s specific allegations against Hutchinson were not revealed. Republican lawmakers accused Hutchinson of lying under oath during her testimony, wherein she relayed information regarding Trump’s behavior during the riot that was subsequently contradicted by eyewitnesses. Specifically, the driver of Trump’s presidential SUV testified, “I didn’t see [Trump], you know, lunge to try to get into the front seat at all.” However, during her testimony, Hutchinson did admit she had not witnessed Trump’s alleged behavior. The grand jury’s rejection of an indictment against Hutchinson suggests the DOJ lacked evidence to support its accusation.

DC dedicates new Gulf War memorial
Construction of a Gulf War memorial was recently completed in Washington, DC. In August 1990, Iraqi forces invaded Kuwait to claim its oil resources. Under President George H.W. Bush, the U.S. launched two operations to liberate Kuwait and protect neighboring Saudi Arabia. In 1991, roughly 700,000 U.S. military personnel joined Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm to drive back Iraq, and about 300 U.S. troops lost their lives. Thirty-five years later, the National Desert Shield and Desert Storm Memorial was dedicated on the National Mall, not far from the Vietnam Veterans Memorial. The Gulf War memorial identifies the countries that united to liberate Kuwait and reflects on the desert environment with dune-like curved stone.

FBI raids home related to Swalwell investigation
Yesterday, the FBI raided a Beverly Hills mansion owned by billionaire Stephen Cloobeck as part of its continuing investigation into Eric Swalwell. Swalwell stayed at the home several times while campaigning for California governor and used it for political events before the sexual misconduct allegations became public in April, forcing him to drop out of the race and resign from Congress. Cloobeck, a well-known figure in Democrat politics, backed Swalwell after his own long-shot bid for California governor failed. The FBI raided Swalwell’s Washington home in August, confiscating his electronic devices. Agents also executed a search warrant at Swalwell’s Dublin home this past summer. He faces a federal probe as well as local investigations in Los Angeles and New York, yet he continues to deny all accusations of rape and sexual assault.

White House warns Gulf states of re-escalation with Iran post-midterms
Evidence suggests the U.S. and Israel are concentrating forces in anticipation of a fresh bombing campaign against Iran after the Israeli and U.S. elections conclude. An additional Patriot system is being sent to Israel from Texas; U.S. forces have been restocking munitions; and an additional aircraft carrier strike group is in place to join the armada in the Middle East. Experts hold mixed views on a renewed set of strikes. Some say that the intractable Iran will simply dig in further and express doubt that anything could turn it away from missile and nuclear programs. Others suggest maintaining the economic and naval blockade without further escalation. Alternatively, a new round of strikes could be used to declare American victory and pull back from the Iran war, regardless of the state of the Iranian regime.

SCOTUS blocks Biden rule allowing judges to pause deportations
In a win for the Trump administration, the U.S. Supreme Court rejected a request from Democrat-run cities to reinstate a Biden-era immigration regulation that had permitted judges to intervene in DHS deportation proceedings. Led by the legal outfit Centro Legal de la Raza, the cities of Baltimore, Maryland; Columbus, Ohio; and New Haven, Connecticut, sought to stop DHS from ending the Biden-era regulation, claiming the Trump administration, along with Texas, had sidestepped a public rulemaking process requirement when it changed the regulation. The regulation in question was supposedly aimed at protecting juveniles and crime victims, but Texas alleged it was drastically expanded under the Biden administration to allow illegal aliens to remain in the U.S. indefinitely. The Justice Department argued that the plaintiffs lacked legal standing to bring the challenge and would suffer no legal harm.

Trump announces end of Biden-era methane rule, saving billions
During a campaign rally in Lubbock, Texas, President Trump announced that his administration is terminating Joe Biden’s “expensive and unnecessary” methane regulations on oil and gas drilling. He said it will save consumers and energy producers $45 billion and unlock 210 million barrels of oil as well as “vast quantities of Texas natural gas.” As part of the push to increase domestic energy production, EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin announced last month that the agency is ending its “Super Emitter Program,” which requires companies to find and fix major methane leaks. He said the EPA is also loosening rules for smaller oil and gas wells. Environmental groups have been up in arms, claiming the rollbacks will increase pollution, as methane is the main component of natural gas and a major source of greenhouse gas emissions.

DOJ to send thousands of election monitors on Election Day
Amid concerns about election interference, the Justice Department is sending thousands of monitors to oversee election administration and execution nationwide. This would go down as the largest election monitoring effort in American history. Leftists are outraged about this, as many would like to see migrants and other non-Americans vote, and they are planning to send observers of their own to observe the government observers. Clearly, a lot of observing will take place. Democrats and affiliated nonprofits are training thousands of watchdogs, which will likely create havoc at polling sites across the country. The standoff does highlight the need to prevent election interference in an important midterm. Preventing false votes from going through is critical to a truly free and fair midterm election.

Headlines

• ICE calls out CBS for leaving out deported alien’s apparent immigration fraud (The Federalist)
• Catholic archbishop apologizes for praying with President Trump (RedState)
• GOP Sen. Lisa Murkowski backs Democrat in Alaska gubernatorial race (Washington Examiner)
• Democrats will try to nationalize Elon Musk’s companies (Washington Examiner)

The Executive News Summary is compiled daily by Jordan Candler, Thomas Gallatin, Sterling Henry, Jacob Geoffrey, Hudson Baldwin, and Sophie Starkova. For the archive, click here.