The US national debt continues to grow. It crossed the $40 trillion mark in August, when it reached $40.047 trillion, according to Treasury Department data cited by Reuters.
As of October 19, the total debt was $40.396 trillion. This represents an increase of about $349 billion in approximately two months. In some publications, the increase is rounded to “nearly $400 billion“.
Of the total, $32.533 trillion is owed to public creditors, and $7.863 trillion is owed to the government. The data includes both government bonds held by investors and foreign governments, as well as obligations between federal funds.
The federal budget deficit for fiscal year 2026 has reached about $ 2 trillion. Interest costs on the debt were $ 1.052 trillion and exceeded defense spending. According to Axios, interest payments have become one of the largest expenses of the US government.
Trump team requested secret hacking of a voting machine
Politically appointed officials at the US Department of Homeland Security have asked the federal cybersecurity agency CISA to secretly acquire and hack a voting machine. The goal was to examine the machine and provide the results to the White House, Defense One and ProPublica reported.
The request was made several months into President Donald Trump's second term. According to two former administration officials familiar with the matter, CISA was supposed to find the machine itself and analyze its security.
The agency's employees were instructed not to notify the manufacturer if vulnerabilities were found. This has raised concerns among career officials, as such an approach differs from the usual practice when working with election equipment manufacturers. “This goes against everything CISA stands for“, said one former employee quoted by the media.
He said the employees feared that the results could be used to challenge election results that the administration did not approve of. CISA has repeatedly explained that the operation could not be carried out. Subsequently, political appointees stopped insisting, and the planned hack did not take place.
The White House rejected criticism of the president's policy. Spokeswoman Lauren Biss said that “President Trump has done more than any other president to ensure fair and free elections“. The Department of Homeland Security and CISA did not respond to detailed questions about the case.
Sources: defenseone.com, investing.com, axios.com