Friday, October 2nd, 2026 - Trump's Insurrection Act Threat, Letitia James Takes Cornell, US Tourism Tanks

Today's Headlines: Trump told TIME he won't rule out invoking the Insurrection Act around the midterm elections, threatened to "annihilate" Iran again, and expressed enthusiasm for data centers — while separately telling reporters that Iran was probably behind the pilot stabbing on the FlyDubai flight and that if confirmed, "Iran will be hit very hard, don't worry." A third aircraft carrier and 9,000 more troops are headed to the region, and Trump won't rule out restarting full strikes after the midterms, so the war that was declared over multiple times is very much still running. In other news, the family of Renee Good — killed by ICE — filed lawsuits against the agent who shot her and multiple Trump administration officials including Stephen Miller, Kristi Noem, Tom Homan, and former ICE director Greg Bovino. A Tennessee death row inmate named Christa Pike survived two doses of lethal injection drug pentobarbital in an unprecedented execution failure and is now in critical condition receiving life-saving care. On teh Cornell 7, New York Governor Hochul appointed Letitia James as special prosecutor to oversee the reopened Cornell gang rape case, citing lost confidence in the county DA's ability to handle it after newly released information raised serious questions about the original 2024 investigation. And finally, overseas tourism to the US has dropped nearly 2 million visitors year-over-year — down 20% from 2019's peak — with former allies like Canada and European countries leading the decline, making the US the only major country in the world losing tourism, even in a World Cup hosting year. Resources/Articles mentioned: Time: Read TIME’s ‘What Trump Has Built’ Interview Transcript AP News: Third aircraft carrier and thousands of troops head to Mideast as Trump weighs new Iran strikes CNN: Family of Renee Good sues US government and Trump officials over her death Axios Nashville: Lawyers: Pike getting "life-saving care" after failed execution AP News: New York's governor removes DA in Cornell rape allegations, appoints AG Letitia James to take over https://www.semafor.com/article/09/29/2026/decline-in-tourism-hits-us-economy Subscribe to the Betches News Room and join the Morning Announcements group chat. Go to: betchesnews.substack.com Morning Announcements is produced by Sami Sage and edited by Grace Hernandez-Johnson Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices