00:01Iran vows revenge after the killing of its top security chief, as a top U.S. intelligence official quits, saying
00:08the war should never have started.
00:10Plus, voter ID and proof of citizenship head to the Senate floor. Republicans push ahead, but don't have the votes
00:17to finish it.
00:18And folks on the East Coast are still talking about it this morning.
00:21A meteor rips across the eastern sky, setting off a loud boom. It was enough to shake homes and rattle
00:28nerves.
00:31The stories that matter, clear and credible, from across the country to around the world.
00:37These are your unbiased updates from Straight Arrow News.
00:43Good morning, I'm Craig DeGrelli. We begin with Iran vowing revenge after the killing of a top security official.
00:50And Israel is now under fresh attack. Sirens sounding across central Israel overnight as air defenses work to intercept a
00:58new wave of Iranian missiles.
01:00Iran's military says the strikes were in retaliation for the killing of Ali Larajani, a top national security advisor who
01:08was killed in an Israeli strike.
01:11Iranian state TV has now confirmed his death, and officials are promising a, quote, decisive response.
01:17The missile barrage hit areas around Tel Aviv, including Ramat Gan, killing at least two people and sparking fires and
01:24damage in residential areas.
01:25Israel says it intercepted many of the incoming missiles, but some debris and warheads made it through.
01:32Israel is also expanding its response, launching strikes inside Lebanon.
01:39At least six people were killed in two strikes in central Beirut, including one that brought down a multi-story
01:45building after an evacuation warning.
01:48The U.S. is deepening its role, targeting Iranian military sites along the Strait of Hormuz.
01:54American forces used heavy bunker-buster bombs aimed at hardened missile positions, part of an effort to limit Iran's ability
02:01to target shipping in the region.
02:03Back in Iran, strikes continue around Tehran, with damage reported at security sites and checkpoints like the one you see
02:10here.
02:11Iranian leaders say more attacks are coming, warning the response will be more devastating in the days ahead.
02:18President Trump says the United States is not pulling back, at least not yet, even as he signals a possible
02:24exit ahead.
02:26Look, if we left right now, it would take 10 years for them to rebuild.
02:32But we're not ready to leave yet, but we will be leaving in the near future.
02:38We'll be leaving in pretty much the very near future.
02:41But right now, they've been decimated from every standpoint.
02:46And again, we've had great support from countries in the Middle East, great support.
02:51But we've had no support from, essentially, no support from NATO.
02:57Meantime, a top U.S. counterterrorism official is out, resigning over President Trump's war in Iran.
03:04And now the president is responding.
03:05Joe Kent, who led the National Counterterrorism Center, announced he's stepping down on Tuesday, effective immediately.
03:12In a letter posted online, Kent said he could not support the war in good conscience,
03:18writing that Iran did not pose an imminent threat to the United States.
03:22The resignation marks the highest profile break yet from inside the Trump administration over the war, which is now in
03:29its third week.
03:29Kent had been a close ally of Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard and aligned with the administration's more skeptical
03:37view of foreign interventions.
03:38He's also a former Green Beret whose wife was killed by ISIS in Syria in 2019.
03:44His exit also highlights a growing divide among some Trump supporters,
03:48with figures like Tucker Carlson criticizing the war, even as most Republicans continue to back it.
03:55President Trump responded, saying he's glad Kent is gone.
03:59I didn't know him well, but I thought he seemed like a pretty nice guy.
04:04But when I read his statement, I realized that it's a good thing that he's out,
04:09because he said that Iran was not a threat.
04:13Iran was a threat.
04:14Every country realized what a threat Iran was.
04:17The question is whether or not they wanted to do something about it.
04:20Trump has defended the strike, saying Iran posed a real threat.
04:24While some lawmakers and former officials say there was no clear evidence of an imminent attack.
04:30To a different topic now, the Senate has now opened debate on President Trump's elections bill,
04:36setting up a prolonged fight over voting rules in the United States.
04:40Senators voted 51 to 48 to take up the House-passed Save America Act,
04:46a bill that would require proof of citizenship to register to vote and a photo ID to vote.
04:52Republicans say it's a common-sense step to secure elections.
04:56Democrats say it would block millions of eligible voters from casting a ballot.
05:00The debate could last days, even weeks, with leaders promising an open floor and multiple votes.
05:07Senate Majority Leader John Thune says the process will play out in real time.
05:12How it ends remains to be seen.
05:14There will be a point at which it will end, and there will be a series of votes that come
05:19with that.
05:20But at the end of the day, I just don't know how you defend a position that you need to
05:25be a citizen in this country,
05:26not only to register to vote, but also to be able to show an ID when you vote.
05:30The bill does not have the 60 votes needed to pass,
05:34but Republicans are using the floor fight to force votes and keep the issue front and center.
05:39President Trump has called the bill his top priority and is pressuring lawmakers to get it to his desk.
05:45Democrats are digging in, promising to drag out the process and block the bill.
05:50If MAGA Republicans want to bog down the Senate over a debate on voter suppression, Democrats are ready.
05:58We're ready to be here all day, all night, as long as it takes to ensure the powers of voter
06:04suppression do not win the day.
06:07Let me be very clear.
06:09The SAVE Act is not a voter ID bill.
06:12It is in every sense a voter suppression bill.
06:16It could purge millions of American citizens from the voter rolls.
06:21Under current law, non-citizens are already barred from voting in federal elections.
06:26But this bill would require voters to show documents like a passport or birth certificate,
06:32and states would have to verify citizenship through federal data.
06:36Republicans argue that only builds confidence in elections.
06:39Democrats say it risks disqualifying legal voters who don't have those documents readily available and that voter fraud is rare.
06:47Attorney General Pam Bondi is being forced to testify about the government's handling of the Epstein files.
06:54House Oversight Chair James Comer issued a subpoena requiring Bondi to sit for a closed-door deposition next month.
07:01In a letter to Bondi, Comer said the committee has questions about how the Justice Department reviewed and released documents
07:08under a law passed last year.
07:10The move follows a rare bipartisan vote, with five Republicans joining Democrats to force her testimony.
07:17Lawmakers from both parties have expressed frustration over redactions and the pace of the release.
07:22The Justice Department tells Straight Arrow News the subpoena is unnecessary, adding Bondi has offered briefings and made files available
07:30for lawmakers to review.
07:32Only about half of the documents in the department's possession have been released so far, out of millions of pages
07:38reviewed.
07:39The Oversight Committee is also expanding its investigation, having subpoenaed former President Bill Clinton and former Secretary of State Hillary
07:47Clinton to testify and heard from both.
07:49Bondi and her deputy are expected to brief lawmakers behind closed doors as early as today.
07:56Illinois voters have set up two major November contests, a rematch for governor and an open U.S. Senate seat
08:02in a deep blue state.
08:04For Governor, incumbent Democrat J.B. Pritzker is headed for a rematch with Republican Darren Bailey, the same matchup from
08:112022.
08:12Pritzker was unopposed in his primary and is now seeking a third term.
08:17Bailey, a farmer from southern Illinois and former state lawmaker, won the GOP primary and returns after losing to Pritzker
08:24by 13 points.
08:26Pritzker used his victory speech to take direct aim at President Trump, casting Washington as a threat to Illinois and
08:33pointing to the state's pushback on last year's federal immigration crackdown in Chicago.
08:38Bailey is framing the race around cost of living and leadership, saying Pritzker is out of touch and blaming him
08:45for rising costs.
08:46In the Senate race, Illinois Lieutenant Governor Julianna Stratton beat U.S. Reps Raja Krishnamoorthy and Robin Kelly in the
08:54Democratic primary.
08:55She now faces Republican Don Tracy, the former state GOP chair.
08:59Stratton's win is also a boost for Pritzker, who backed her and spent heavily to help her defeat better funded
09:05rivals.
09:06In a state where Democrats hold a clear advantage, she enters the general election as the frontrunner to succeed retiring
09:13Democrat Dick Durbin.
09:15Finally this morning, a lot of people heard it.
09:18Some people saw it and cameras captured it.
09:20A seven-ton asteroid traveling at 45,000 miles an hour when shooting across the eastern sky Tuesday morning.
09:28Take a look.
09:29A worker at the National Weather Service in Pittsburgh, right there, captured this image of the fireball racing across the
09:35sky.
09:36Witnesses in 10 states, along with Washington, D.C. and Ontario, Canada, saw it.
09:41It was accompanied by a loud boom.
09:44NASA posted this image on X.
09:46You can see the green dot there.
09:48The National Weather Service in Cleveland says the boom was likely caused by a meteor.
09:52Listen to this.
09:54As that massive chunk of space rock broke apart, it released the energy equivalent to about 250 tons of TNT,
10:03which explains the sound.
10:04Some homes even shook, like an earthquake.
10:07Experts believe it fragmented over Valley City, Ohio, with pieces likely falling in Medina County, just west of Akron and
10:15about 45 miles south of Cleveland.
10:16NASA meteor expert Bill Cook says it could have been a small asteroid that burned up in the atmosphere, or
10:24a fragment from a larger one.
10:26They're still working to pin that down.
10:28Either way, it created quite a spectacle along Lake Erie, and it's still a big talker this morning.
10:33Yeah, I've looked at it about four or five times.
10:35It's one of those things, kind of like an eclipse.
10:37It'd be really cool to see, but somewhat frightening, right, to live through it and feel the loud boom and
10:43wonder, what's that?
10:44All right, a very busy day in Washington.
10:47Here's what we're tracking.
10:48The latest producer price index is out this morning, a key read on wholesale inflation and where prices might be
10:54heading.
10:54At 9.30, Senator Mark Wayne Mullen faces lawmakers as he makes his case to lead the Department of Homeland
11:01Security, replacing Kristi Noem.
11:03At 10, the nation's top intelligence and security officials testify before the Senate, including Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard.
11:11This will be the first time she's spoken since the Iran war began, so a moment to watch for sure.
11:18Later this afternoon, President Trump participates in a dignified transfer ceremony at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware.
11:25Hey, thanks for making us part of your morning routine.
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11:41All right, those are your Unbiased Updates for this Wednesday.
11:43We'll see you back here tomorrow.
11:44For all of us at Straight Arrow News, I'm Craig DeGrelli.
11:47Have a great day.
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