Today in one sentence: FEMA warned that false claims and conspiracy theories pushed by Trump and his supporters related to hurricanes are hurting recovery and relief efforts, and putting hundreds of thousands of lives at risk as Milton — an extremely dangerous Category 4 hurricane – barrels toward Florida; the Supreme Court seemed likely to uphold the Biden administration’s restrictions on ghost guns; Biden’s EPA finalized a rule requiring water utilities to replace all lead pipes within a decade; Trump’s White House limited the 2018 FBI investigation into allegations of sexual misconduct against Brett Kavanaugh, which threatened his Supreme Court confirmation; and Trump secretly sent Covid-19 testing equipment to Putin for his personal use during the height of the pandemic.

1/ FEMA warned that false claims and conspiracy theories pushed by Trump and his supporters related to hurricanes are hurting recovery and relief efforts, and putting hundreds of thousands of lives at risk as Milton — an extremely dangerous Category 4 hurricane – barrels toward Florida. “It is absolutely the worst I have ever seen,” FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell said. “It’s creating distrust in the federal government, but also the state government, and we have so many first responders that have been working to go out and help these communities.” Trump and other Republicans have spread misinformation that the federal government is intentionally withholding aid to people in Republican areas and instead diverting it to immigrants. “It’s profound and it is the height of irresponsibility and, frankly, callousness,” Harris said of Trump’s claims about FEMA’s response to Hurricane Helene. “Lives are literally at stake right now.” The National Weather Service, meanwhile, warned that “If Milton stays on its course, this will be the most powerful hurricane to hit Tampa Bay in over 100 years.” (Axios / Washington Post / ABC News / Associated Press / Politico / CNN)

2/ The Supreme Court seemed likely to uphold the Biden administration’s restrictions on ghost guns – self-assembly firearm kits that produce untraceable weapons and skirt existing regulations. In 2022, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives issued new rules treating ghost gun kits and partially assembled bodies of guns as traditional firearms, requiring dealers to serialize the weapons, perform background checks on buyers, and enforce minimum age limits. The industry sued to block it. During oral arguments, the justices mused about grocery orders, asked whether eggs, chopped ham, peppers and onions could be considered a western omelet, and whether the gun kits are “analogous” to the challenges of assembling IKEA furniture. By the end, it appeared that the rule would likely get enough votes from the justices to survive a challenge from makers of the products. (Politico / Associated Press / Washington Post / ABC News / NBC News / New York Times / CNN)

3/ Biden’s EPA finalized a rule requiring water utilities to replace all lead pipes within a decade. The rule is the strongest overhaul of lead-in-water standards in roughly three decades. The EPA estimates the new standard will prevent up to 900,000 infants from having low birthweight, avoid up to 1,500 premature deaths a year from heart disease, and will prevent up to 200,000 I.Q. points lost among children. (Associated Press / Washington Post / New York Times)

4/ Trump’s White House limited the 2018 FBI investigation into allegations of sexual misconduct against Brett Kavanaugh, which threatened his Supreme Court confirmation. Following Christine Blasey Ford’s widely reported testimony that Kavanaugh had groped her and tried to take off her clothes at a high school party more than three decades earlier, Trump approved a limited, one-week-long FBI investigation into the allegations. Trump vowed that the FBI would have “free rein” to investigate the claims, and later claimed that the FBI was “talking to everybody.” The White House, however, instructed the FBI to only interview 10 witnesses, according to a new report by Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse. “The FBI’s supplemental background investigation into the sexual assault allegations against Kavanaugh was unreliable, not because of FBI ineptitude, but because the Trump White House tightly controlled the scope of the investigation,” the report reads. (Washington Post / Axios / CNN)

  • 📌 Day 629: FBI Director Christopher Wray told the Senate that the White House limited the Brett Kavanaugh investigation. The FBI’s “supplemental update to the previous background investigation was limited in scope and that … is consistent with the standard process for such investigations going back a long ways,” Wray said. (Politico)
  • 📌 Day 623: The White House is “fully confident” that Brett Kavanaugh will be confirmed by the Senate after receiving the FBI report. The White House said it found no evidence in the FBI report corroborating Christine Blasey Ford’s allegations of sexual assault against Kavanaugh. Mitch McConnell scheduled a procedural vote for Friday. If the motion passes, senators will have 30 hours to debate Kavanaugh’s confirmation before making the final decision. (Washington Post / NBC News / Wall Street Journal)

5/ Trump secretly sent Covid-19 testing equipment to Putin for his personal use during the height of the pandemic, according to Bob Woodward’s new book, “War.” Putin, according to the book, told Trump: “I don’t want you to tell anybody because people will get mad at you, not me.” While U.S. and Russian officials in 2020 did publicly announce that “some testing equipment as well as ventilators” had been sent to Russia, officials never disclosed that it was for Putin’s personal use or that had urged Trump to keep their conversation secret. Woodward also reports that Trump has spoken to Putin “maybe as many as seven” times since leaving office in 2021. Harris, meanwhile, called the reporting “just the most recent stark example of who Trump is. People in America were struggling to get tests, and this guy is sending them to Russia, to a murderous dictator for his personal use?” (New York Times / Washington Post / CNN / Axios / Associated Press / NBC News / Politico / Bloomberg)

  • 📅 The WTFJHT Calendar: Now until then.

  • 📺 Oct. 8: Trump town hall
    📺 Oct. 10: Harris town hall
    ⛔️ Oct. 14: Indigenous Peoples’ Day – No WTFJHT.
    📺 Oct. 23: [Proposed] Presidential debate.
    🗳️ Nov. 5: Election Day.
    ⚖️ Nov. 26: Trump is sentenced.
  • ✅ Get election ready: Register to vote, update your address, or request an absentee ballot at Vote.org, TurboVote.org, RocktheVote.org, or VoteFromAbroad.org.

  • 📈 Election Polling Tracker

  • Harris +3.0 points (New York Times)
    Harris +2.7 points (538)
    Harris +3.1 points (Nate Silver)
    Harris +2.9 points (The Economist)
    Harris +2.0 points (RealClearPolitics)
    Trump +1.2 points (Election Betting Odds)

  • 🔮 Election Forecast Tracker

  • Harris wins 55 times out of 100. Trump wins 45 times out of 100. (538)
    Harris wins 55 times out of 100. Trump wins 45 times out of 100. (Nate Silver)
    Harris wins 50 times out of 100. Trump wins 50 times out of 100. (The Economist)