🇺🇸America Tonight🇺🇸
Press secretary out • Guyger released • Oregon bystander named 👇
📅 October 16th, 2026AD
THE FIVE NATIONAL STORIES AMERICANS SHOULD KNOW TODAY
📋 TONIGHT’S FIVE
1. 🎙️ Press secretary out
2. ⚖️ Guyger released
3. 🚨 Oregon bystander named
4. 📜 Records law on appeal
5. 💵 Senate money race
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🎙️ KATIE ZACHARIA OUT AS WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY AFTER FIVE DAYS
Katie Zacharia is out as White House press secretary after just five days on the job, NBC News reported Friday, citing administration officials.
She is moving into a new role in the administration that will be announced later, two sources told ABC News.
Her exit followed a widely panned first briefing and the revelation that she had represented herself as a lawyer but did not pass the bar exam, NBC reported.
Earlier Friday, President Trump said he told her, "Katie, you know, you don't have to do this if you don't want."
Two sources told NBC News it is highly unlikely Trump will pick a new press secretary any time soon. The job opens up less than three weeks before the midterm elections.
📍 Washington
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⚖️ FORMER DALLAS OFFICER AMBER GUYGER RELEASED FROM PRISON ON PAROLE
Amber Guyger, the former Dallas police officer convicted of murdering her neighbor Botham Jean, left prison in Gatesville on Friday, NBC News reported.
She served seven years of a 10-year sentence for the 2018 killing. Jean, 26, lived one floor above her. Guyger testified she mistakenly entered his apartment, thinking it was her own.
The Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles approved her parole Oct. 1, citing her conduct in prison and the programs she completed.
She will be under strict parole supervision until her sentence expires in 2029, officials told CBS News Texas.
Jean's family opposed the parole. "A 10-year sentence was already a fraction of what was lost," family attorney Lee Merritt said.
📍 Gatesville, Texas
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🚨 BROTHER IDENTIFIES BYSTANDER WHO STOPPED OREGON SCHOOL GUNMAN
The man who stopped Thursday's gunman at Silver Rail Elementary School in Bend, Ore., is Kaylub Giamanco, 36, his brother, Kyle Giamanco, told NBC News.
Giamanco, a carpenter and father of two girls at the school, saw the gunman go in and followed him inside, according to his brother.
He does not want to speak out because he feels guilty that he could not save more children, his brother said.
The 16-year-old suspect was fatally shot by the armed bystander, police said. Three children, ages 5, 8 and 11, and a teacher were killed.
A 7-year-old and a 54-year-old teacher were taken to a hospital with critical injuries, police said.
The suspect's mother bought the shotgun he is believed to have used, officials told NBC News.
📍 Bend, Ore.
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📜 APPEALS JUDGES QUESTION TRUMP BID TO STRIKE DOWN PRESIDENTIAL RECORDS LAW
A federal appeals court panel in Washington questioned Trump administration lawyers Friday over their claim that the Presidential Records Act is unconstitutional, Bloomberg Law reported.
The law, passed in 1978 after Watergate, requires the preservation of records created by presidents and their staff.
Justice Department lawyer John Bailey argued it puts unconstitutional burdens on the president and could chill aides from giving candid advice.
"You want to go from one regime to zero," Judge Patricia Millett told him.
A May order from U.S. District Judge John Bates requires White House officials to keep complying with the law, including preserving records. NPR reported the case could end up at the Supreme Court.
📍 Washington
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💵 DEMOCRATS FAR OUTRAISE REPUBLICANS IN KEY SENATE RACES, NEW REPORTS SHOW
Democratic candidates in more than a dozen competitive Senate races raised a combined $253 million from July through September, NBC News reported.
That is more than four times the $56 million raised by Republican candidates in those races, according to new Federal Election Commission reports.
Republicans were outraised by Democratic or independent opponents in all but one of the 15 races the NBC News Decision Desk rates as competitive. Minnesota was the exception.
In Texas, Democratic state Rep. James Talarico raised $60.2 million, compared with $10.2 million for state Attorney General Ken Paxton. Talarico and Georgia Sen. Jon Ossoff were the top Senate fundraisers of the quarter.
Republican outside groups are pouring hundreds of millions of dollars into ads to help make up the difference, NBC reported.
📍 Washington
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WASHINGTON WATCH
SATURDAY, OCTOBER 17th, 2026AD
🕒 1 p.m. Central: President Trump is scheduled to speak at a midterm rally at Truist Arena in Highland Heights, Ky.
🕒 6 p.m. Central: Trump has a MAGA Inc. meeting and dinner in Palm Beach, Fla., closed to the press, per the White House schedule.
That’s America Tonight.
The headlines change every day.
The consequences last for years.
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