- Breaking: President Donald Trump threatens to abandon the recovery effort in Puerto Rico. On Thursday morning the President tweeted “We cannot keep FEMA in PR forever” [Washington Post].
- President Trump’s latest media target is NBC News. Trump lashed out at NBC’s report that he called for a massive increase in America’s nuclear arsenal, saying news organizations should not be allowed “to print whatever they want” [Washington Post].
- Former White House strategist Steve Bannon says he thinks there’s only a 30% chance that President Donald Trump completes his first term in office. Aides and confidantes say Trump is “unstable,” “losing a step,” and “unraveling” [Vanity Fair].
- House lawmakers plan to release the Facebook ads purchased by Russian agents during the 2016 election to help elect Donald Trump [Recode].
- President Trump pitches his tax reform plan in Pennsylvania [Politico].
- President Donald Trump plans to issue an executive order to weaken Obamacare through the creation of cheaper health care plans that would pull healthier consumers away from the Obamacare exchanges [Politico].
- Aides to President Donald Trump say the chief executive was “livid” and “threw a fit” in July when advisers suggested he stay with the Iran deal brokered by President Obama [Washington Post].
- President Trump may sit down for a meeting with special counsel Robert Mueller in order to help Mueller wrap up his probe of Russia’s interference in the 2016 election [Politico].
- President Donald Trump nominates Kirstjen Nielsen to be Homeland Security Secretary. Nielsen is currently the chief deputy to White House chief of staff John Kelly [Axios].
- The death toll in Puerto Rico following Hurricane Maria has risen to 45. Most of the island remains without basic services [CNN].
- The wildfires in Northern California have killed 23 people so far. Firefighters worry the blazes could gain momentum on Thursday [Associated Press].
- The Boy Scouts announces they will allow girls to join the Cub Scouts. The organization will also create a program for girls to attain the rank of Eagle Scout [BSA].
On this day in history:
- 1492 – Christopher Columbus’s expedition makes landfall in the Caribbean.
- 1692 – The Salem witch trials are ended by a letter for Massachusetts Governor Sir William Phips.
- 1810 – First Oktoberfest: The Bavarian royalty invites the citizens of Munich to join the celebration of the marriage of Crown Prince Ludwig of Bavaria to Princess Therese von Sachsen-Hildburghausen.
- 1892 – The Pledge of Allegiance is first recited by students in many public schools as part of the celebration marking the 400th anniversary of Columbus’s voyage.
- 1901 – President Theodore Roosevelt officially renames the “Executive Mansion” to the White House.
- 1960 – Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev pounds his shoe on a desk at the United Nations General Assembly meeting.
- 1973 – President Richard Nixon nominated House Minority Leader Gerald Ford for the vice presidency to replace Spiro Agnew, who had resigned two days earlier.
