☕ Why George Santos is free

Good morning!

Construction crews have begun demolishing part of the East Wing of the White House, the first step towards building a new ballroom.

Images of the $250m project getting underway were first reported by The Washington Post, and have prompted discussions about the building’s historic integrity. The project is fully funded via private grants, with large contributions from companies like Apple, Amazon, Lockheed Martin and Coinbase.

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Some headlines from this morning:

• A U.S. Appeals Court revoked a lower court’s temporary block on National Troop Deployment in Portland, allowing it to occur while substantive arguments are heard. The court battle follows President Trump's September 27 deployment of 200 National Guard to Portland, which has so far divided the courts. The court ruled 2-1 that the deployment of troops to protect federal buildings against recurring protests outside ICE facilities in Portland was an appropriate response. Dissenting Judge Susan Graber called the decision dangerous.

• Lawyers for Former FBI Director James Comey filed twin motions to dismiss federal charges, claiming procedural unfairness and political prosecution. The dismissal bids address charges of perjury and obstruction of justice related to his work investigating Russian interference in the 2016 election, which made Comey a key Trump rival. Comey was indicted after President Trump publicly pressured the Department of Justice to prosecute Comey and fired a prosecutor who refused to bring charges. This has informed the basis for one of the motions for dismissal, with lawyers claiming Comey is being vindictively prosecuted.

• After nearly two years of political instability, Sanae Takaichi has become Japan’s first female Prime Minister. A majority of MPs in both houses gave their support to Takaichi during a vote in parliament today. The 64-year-old from the right-wing Liberal Democratic Party describes herself as “Japan’s Iron Lady,” and is known for her hardline conservative policies. Takaichi secured the leadership after two previous failed attempts. She has called for stricter immigration policy in Japan, and promised to “clamp down on rule-breaking visitors” to the country.

• A global outage that impacted millions of users across thousands of websites and apps has been resolved, Amazon has confirmed. Amazon Web Services (AWS) is the world’s biggest cloud service provider. A major outage at one of its data centres in the U.S. state of Virginia on Monday meant users could not access the companies, apps, and online services that use AWS to host their processes. Social media, gaming, and streaming platforms, including Snapchat, Reddit, Roblox, Netflix, and Amazon’s own sites, were among the impacted services. Multiple financial and banking apps were also hit by the outage. More than 11 million users reported issues to the global monitoring platform Downdetector during the peak of the outage. After 16 hours of disruptions, Amazon said all AWS services had “returned to normal operations” on Tuesday.

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President Trump and Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese held their first official meeting yesterday at the White House.

A critical minerals agreement between the two countries topped the agenda, aimed at securing supply for technology and defense industries.

The meeting came after months of attempts at formal talks, and follows a brief interaction at the UN General Assembly in New York last month.

Both leaders described the talks as a success, with Albanese saying they were “great friends”.

Rare earths

The two leaders signed a multi-billion dollar critical minerals and rare earth elements agreement, aimed at securing the supply needed for “essential for energy security and defence.”

Rare earth elements are a group of minerals used in many modern products, like smartphones and wind turbines. Australia holds many deposits of these minerals.

Albanese hailed the agreement as a “testament to the trusted partnership” between Australia and the U.S.

Trump described the deal as one the pair has been working on ”for quite a while.”

Defense

Trump and Albanese furthered talks about AUKUS, a defense deal between Australia, the UK, and the U.S.

The agreement involves plans to arm Australia with nuclear-powered submarines within the next 30 years.

The agreement has been broadly seen as an attempt by Western nations to curb China’s influence in the region.

The White House announced earlier this year that it was reviewing the agreement. At a press conference following the meeting, Trump downplayed concerns about its future.

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President Trump commuted the prison sentence of former Republican Congressman George Santos last week, releasing him just 3 months into a 7-year term for fraud. Santos now refuses to confirm whether he will pay back nearly $600,000 in restitution and forfeiture. Here's what you need to know. 

Who is George Santos?

Santos became the first openly gay Republican elected to Congress in 2022. He campaigned as a successful Jewish business consultant with an impressive educational and sporting background.

Less than a year into his term, investigations revealed he was not Jewish, had never worked at Goldman Sachs or Citigroup, had never graduated from college, and was not a star volleyball player.

These revelations led to Santos becoming the sixth member of Congress in history to be expelled. 105 Republicans joined Democrats in voting to remove him.

What were the charges?

Santos pleaded guilty last April to stealing from donors and his campaign, fraudulently collecting unemployment benefits, and lying to Congress about his wealth.

Prosecutors revealed Santos stole the identities of 11 people, including family members. He used stolen money for Botox treatments and OnlyFans subscriptions, among other expenses.

Why did the President commute the sentence?

Santos used his time in prison to write columns for a local Long Island newspaper. In the October 14 issue of the South Shore Press, he appealed directly to Trump.

"I humbly ask that you consider the unusual pain and hardship of this environment and allow me the opportunity to return to my family, my friends, and my community," Santos wrote.

Trump responded on Friday, saying Santos had been "horribly mistreated" and commuting his sentence. A commutation releases someone from prison but does not erase their conviction.

Trump described Santos as a "rogue" while announcing the decision. This marks the most high-profile commutation of Trump's second term.

Has the president commuted other sentences?

Trump has pardoned and commuted sentences for several Republican allies during his second term.

In May, he pardoned former Representative Michael Grimm, who pleaded guilty to underreporting wages and revenue at his restaurant. He also pardoned Connecticut Governor John Rowland, who served two prison terms for corruption.

Trump recently suggested Democrat Richard Blumenthal should be charged after allegations emerged that he lied about his military service.

"This is far worse than what George Santos did, and at least Santos had the Courage, Conviction, and Intelligence to ALWAYS VOTE REPUBLICAN!" Trump posted.

What’s next?

Santos appeared on television two days after his release to praise Trump. When asked if he would repay those he defrauded, Santos replied he would "do [his] best to do whatever the law requires of me."

Santos refused to rule out running for office again but said he would focus on prison reform in the short term.

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