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The Trump administration wanted an AI dragnet for weeding out illegals trying to vote - however a federal judge says it's catching legal citizens in the process and has put a stop to it. 

Late Wednesday, U.S. District Judge Araceli Martínez-Olguín of the Northern District of California, a Biden appointee, issued a preliminary injunction barring the Department of Homeland Security from election-related field operations in nine states when the targets are people agents "know, suspect, or should reasonably know or suspect are U.S. citizens." The ruling lands in a week full of voter-roll news. This morning we reported that the LA County registrar admitted it has no way to check the citizenship of 20,000 voters flagged by DOJ, which came on the heels of the Trump admin's lawsuit against the state.

Judge Araceli Martínez-Olguín's core finding on Wednesday, however, was that there was a "high likelihood of error" (California Nurses Association v. Mullin, No. 4:26-cv-10680):

"Even under the best conditions, there is a high likelihood of error in review because there is no federal database containing citizenship status of U.S. residents."

In other words, DHS cannot reliably tell who is a citizen.

Below we walk through how the target lists were built, what the judge actually blocked (it is narrower than the headlines suggest), the administration's case, and why the real deadline is 5pm Friday.

DHS focused their searches on California, Connecticut, Georgia, Missouri, Nevada, New York, Pennsylvania, Washington and Wisconsin. The raw material was 48.2 million records received "through independent sources" the judge deemed to have "questionable provenance," plus 50.6 million records from DOJ. Those came from state voter rolls or, where states refused to share, "unreliable commercial versions." DHS then "enriches" the data through a system called iLab, "using unknown artificial intelligence tools." USCIS staff then had to whittle the list down:

"...a minimum of 40 suspected subject reviews, which requires officers to take no more than twelve minutes to eliminate a person from the target list using the commercial databases."

That said, the ruling doesn't mean DHS can't investigate voter fraud.

"Plaintiffs do not claim, nor does the Court find, that it is unlawful for federal officials to undertake investigations into unlawful voting in federal elections."

The order runs until 8:00pm on Nov 3 or when polls close.

Most incumbents worry about their opponent. Dan Sullivan has to worry about his name (remember the two Dan Sullivan thing?).

Dan Sullivan (R) the incumbent: 

Dan Sullivan (R) the challenger: 

At Wednesday evening, a few hours after his South Carolina rally, President Trump took to Truth Social with a fresh grievance about Alaska's US Senate race, where Republican incumbent Dan S. Sullivan shares the ballot with a retired Petersburg schoolteacher named Daniel J. Sullivan Jr. The post, in full, per the Newsweek write-up and an X mirror of Trump's posts:

"I am very concerned about the Dan S. Sullivan Race for the U.S. Senate in Alaska in that it is totally confusing, with the Dumocrats putting up another man, totally unrelated to Politics, named Daniel J. Sullivan, Jr. It's ridiculous that the Court didn't stop this SCAM. Even 1, 2, or 3% could make the difference. Dan S. Sullivan is leading by a lot, but this is CHEATING in an Election, and the Judge that allowed this to happen should be ashamed of himself. We are looking at powerful legal options to remove the fraudulent Daniel J. Sullivan Jr. from the Ballot, and holding the Democrats accountable for their Election Interference, in the pursuit of Justice and Fairness. President DONALD J. TRUMP"

The MAGA side of X took it from there:

???? JUST IN - President Trump just flagged a major problem in the Alaska Senate race where Democrats put up a man named Daniel J. Sullivan, Jr. who has nothing to do with politics?

Trump called the situation totally confusing and said it is ridiculous that the Court did not... pic.twitter.com/qD2UtUUTeN

— The Patriot Oasis™ (@ThePatriotOasis) October 22, 2026

In other words, the president is promising to litigate a ballot that Alaska's courts have already ruled on, 12 days before the vote, over a candidate who couldn't crack 3%. Below we walk through who the "fraudulent" Sullivan actually is, what the courts said, and why "leading by a lot" and "1, 2, or 3% could make the difference" don't sit well in the same sentence.

Daniel J. Sullivan Jr. is a 69-year-old retired elementary-school teacher who has lived in Petersburg for 46 years and worked for the US Forest Service. He's not related to the senator. Here's where it gets interesting: he's a registered Republican, not a Democrat. He was a member of the Alaska Independence Party and registered as a Republican after that party dissolved late last year, per Newsweek. In June correspondence with state investigators he said he had had no contact with the campaign of Democrat Mary Peltola. He has denied being a plant, saying he entered the race out of frustration with the senator.

Alaska News adds that no Division of Elections record supports the claim that Democrats put him up. So the "Dumocrat" plant is a Republican. Brave.

The Courts Already Spoke

This isn't a new fight. Per Newsweek, Alaska's Division of Elections, overseen by Republican Lt. Gov. Nancy Dahlstrom, moved in June to remove him, concluding his candidacy was intended "to confuse or mislead and to thereby compromise the ballot's fairness or neutrality." A judge overturned that decision, and the Alaska Supreme Court ruled in late June that he could stay on the ballot. To tell the two apart, the ballot lists the incumbent as "Sullivan, Dan S." with an incumbent tag and the challenger as "Sullivan, Daniel J. Jr.," and leaves the challenger's party line blank.

Under Alaska's top-four primary, he finished third on Aug. 18 with 2.47% (4,107 votes), per state results, which put him on the November ranked-choice ballot. Trump had already warned voters before the primary, calling him an "imposter" and urging Alaskans to "VOTE FOR THE REAL DAN SULLIVAN."

About that: The latest Data for Progress poll (Oct. 8-16) had Peltola 47%, Sullivan 44% on first choices, and 51-49 Peltola after ranked-choice reallocation. Rasmussen (Oct. 12-15) had Peltola 44-42. Averages put the Democrat up roughly 2-3.5 points.

Jared Kushner is denying explosive allegations that, while serving as a senior White House adviser in Trump's first term, he had access to secret foreign bank accounts stocked with roughly $2 billion from Gulf royals - and that Dutch intelligence watched him use one of them through his hacked iPhone.

The claims come from an excerpt of investigative journalist Matthew Cole's forthcoming book Princes and Thieves, published Thursday by Vanity Fair. Cole alleges that Saudi and Emirati money funded a roughly $750 million account in the UAE that Kushner helped manage as an off-the-books foreign policy fund, and that UAE leader Mohamed bin Zayed moved another roughly $1 billion to Israel for Kushner - money a source told Cole was meant for his "personal benefit."

Cole, a former national security reporter at The Intercept who previously produced investigations for ABC and NBC News, says the reporting took him four years. His book is published by Atria/One Signal, a Simon & Schuster imprint.

October is the month of political surprises. If substantiated, this would be a big one. It's also sure to provide endless headlines after midterms, if (when) Democrats take the House. 

Kushner fired back on X. "The allegations made by this author are completely insane, categorically false, and never happened," he wrote. "No bank statements, wire transfer records, account numbers, transaction dates, or other verifiable details were provided to support these extraordinary accusations."

He called the excerpt "a mixture of fantasy, fiction, and advocacy, written by someone who is either deeply disturbed or acting with sinister intent." His lawyer told Cole that "there are no accounts and never were."

.@VanityFair posted an excerpt from a book containing outrageous and categorically false allegations. The allegations made by this author are completely insane and never happened. We denied every one of these claims on the record, yet the author failed to provide a single shred of evidence to substantiate any of them. No bank statements, wire transfer records, account numbers, transaction dates, or other verifiable details were provided to support these extraordinary accusations. During the period in question, I was one of the most scrutinized people in the world, subjected to intense media coverage, multiple congressional investigations, and a special counsel investigation. I voluntarily cooperated with these investigations, providing over 30 hours of testimony. None of these allegations ever surfaced, because none of these events ever happened. These are outrageous fabrications being presented as investigative journalism. This is not journalism. It is a mixture of fantasy, fiction, and advocacy, written by someone who is either deeply disturbed or acting with sinister intent.

— Jared Kushner (@jaredkushner) October 22, 2026

Watched through his iPhone

Here's the story. The usual grains of salt apply.

Cole's account begins in late 2017, when Dutch military intelligence learned that a Russian GRU operative - a dark web hacker specializing in stolen bank data - was headed to the UK. With British cooperation, the Dutch gave him a choice: work for them or face espionage charges. He flipped.

The Russian gave the Dutch access to a GRU server in Rostov, where they found screenshots of Kushner's iPhone. By early 2018, Dutch hackers had found their own way into the phone. They couldn't turn it into a microphone, but they could see his screen. They watched him log into a UAE bank account that had received hundreds of millions of dollars from a bank in Azerbaijan, Cole writes.

Cole's first tip, in the spring of 2020, went further. A source told him Kushner appeared to have moved significant sums from the account to people including "a warlord, a mercenary and a one-time hit man." Cole writes that he told the source it sounded preposterous. Six months later, a second source confirmed knowing about Kushner and transfers from a UAE account.

The accounts

According to Cole, the arrangement grew out of a bigger offer. Early in Trump's first term, bin Zayed and Saudi Arabia's Mohammed bin Salman discussed putting more than $10 billion into a slush fund to advance the new administration's foreign policy goals - including, Cole writes, helping pay for Trump's border wall to secure a second term. The idea fizzled.

Instead, the two royals put at least $2 billion into at least two accounts for Kushner, whose family company at the time faced a billion-dollar loan coming due on its flagship Manhattan tower, 666 Fifth Avenue.

The first account, which Cole calls "Alpha," was held at First Abu Dhabi Bank, chaired by bin Zayed's brother Tahnoon bin Zayed. Starting in 2017, the Saudis and Emiratis allegedly moved roughly $750 million into it through Azerbaijan, where, Cole writes, some banks will swap riyals or dirhams for dollars for a 6 to 7 percent fee, leaving auditors nothing to trace.

The account belonged to the Watani Al Emarat Foundation, a government-funded charity Cole says doubled as a cover for the UAE's secret military and intelligence operations abroad, including weapons purchases. Kushner was allegedly a signatory, with access to a fund he and bin Zayed partly managed as they chased a grand bargain on Israel.

A source who knew of the deal told Cole that Kushner promised bin Zayed he would push the UAE's agenda with Trump if the Emiratis joined the fund. Such slush funds are routine for the Gulf monarchies, the source said: "A billion or two is nothing for them."

Kushner's lawyer denied that he had any knowledge of or connection to the charity, its then-director Dherar Belhoul Al Falasi, or any UAE bank account, and said he complied with all legal requirements in dealing with foreign governments.

By the spring of 2018, Cole writes, bin Zayed had moved roughly another $1 billion to Israel, again via Azerbaijan. A person briefed on the arrangement said Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu encouraged Kushner to keep it at Israel's central bank, which handles only government money, where it would look like a government account.

Netanyahu required Kushner to notify him before making any transactions, Cole writes, with messages relayed through then-U.S. Ambassador David Friedman. A person who helped Kushner move money out of Israel told Cole much of it went to accounts in Cyprus.

Friedman denied any knowledge of UAE money for Kushner or passing messages on his behalf. "I know absolutely nothing about any of these allegations," he said, calling the claims about his own role "100% false." Cole acknowledges it is unclear whether the Dutch ever saw this second account.

Cole also describes a third account. As Kushner helped negotiate a secret Israeli commitment to defend the UAE from a major Iranian attack, the Emiratis allegedly sent another transfer to Israel's central bank to cover the cost - a rainy-day defense fund.

As a White House employee with access to classified information, Kushner was required to disclose any account on which he was a signatory or beneficiary. Cole says four senior Trump administration officials - two national security advisers, a White House chief of staff and a CIA director - knew of no presidential authorization for him to access a foreign government's bank account.

A former Mueller prosecutor said that if Kushner promised the royals anything in return - even just a word with his father-in-law - he may have violated federal bribery law and the Foreign Agents Registration Act. Kushner's lawyer said he broke no laws while in the White House, and that every arrangement he made with foreign leaders was agreed to by Trump and in America's interest.

Not the first Gulf windfall

In May 2017, Kushner's sister Nicole Kushner Meyer pitched Chinese investors in Beijing on One Journal Square, a Kushner Companies tower in Jersey City seeking money through the EB-5 program, in which a $500,000 investment buys a path to a green card. She told the room her brother had left the business to join the Trump administration, and the company later apologized.

In February 2018, The Washington Post reported that officials from the UAE, China, Israel and Mexico had privately discussed exploiting Kushner's business dealings and inexperience, with Emirati officials viewing him as particularly manipulable. His security clearance was downgraded around the same time.

Trump ordered chief of staff John Kelly to grant Kushner a top-secret clearance anyway, over the concerns of career intelligence officials and White House counsel Don McGahn, The New York Times reported in 2019 - weeks after Trump told the paper he had not intervened.

In 2017, Kushner Companies reportedly sought a billion-dollar bailout from Qatari officials while Kushner advised Trump to back the Saudi-led blockade of Qatar, according to Senate Finance Democrats. The next year, Brookfield rescued 666 Fifth Avenue with a $1.3 billion, 99-year lease. Qatar's sovereign wealth fund was a major Brookfield backer, though the firm said Qatari representatives had no involvement, and Sen. Ron Wyden and Rep. Joaquin Castro later probed whether the deal shaped Trump's Qatar policy.

Six months after Kushner left the White House, Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund put $2 billion into his new firm, Affinity Partners - overruling its own screening panel, which had flagged the "inexperience" of Kushner's team and called its operations "unsatisfactory in all aspects," The New York Times reported. The fund is run by bin Salman.

By 2024, roughly 99% of Affinity's money came from foreign sources, mainly the sovereign wealth funds of Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Qatar, according to Wyden, then the Senate Finance chairman, who said those governments were paying Kushner tens of millions of dollars in fees a year. In September 2025, Affinity joined PIF and Silver Lake in a $55 billion deal to take Electronic Arts private.

Kushner is now back inside the administration as Trump's special envoy. In March, Wyden - who had already referred Kushner to the Justice Department over possible foreign-agent violations - and House Oversight's top Democrat, Robert Garcia, demanded answers about Kushner soliciting billions from Gulf sovereign wealth funds while co-leading U.S. Middle East negotiations. Wyden said Kushner is "on the payroll of the Saudi government."