FBI invites elections officials nationwide to a call on ‘preparations’ for midterm elections
The Department of Justice (DOJ) seal on the J. Edgar Hoover Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) building in Washington, DC, US, on Friday, Jan. 2, 2026. (Aaron Schwartz/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
(WASHINGTON) — The FBI has invited elections officials around the country for a call later this month on the agency’s “preparations” for the high-stakes midterm elections, according to a letter sent to election officials and reviewed by ABC News.
The letter, which went out earlier this week, states that the FBI call will also include election officials from the Department of Homeland Security, Department of Justice, United States Postal Inspection Service and Election Assistance Commission.
“To prepare for the 2026 US midterm elections, your election partners at the FBI, DOJ, DHS, USPIS, and the EAC would like to invite you to a call where we can discuss our preparations for the cycle, as well as updates and resources we can provide to you and your staff… We look forward to speaking with you in support of the 2026 midterm elections,” FBI staffer Kellie Hardiman, who signed the letter with the title “FBI Election Executive,” wrote.
The letter went to most election officials in the United States, according to a source familiar with the letter.
The offices of Arizona’s secretary of state and Utah’s lieutenant governor — the office that oversees elections in that state — confirmed to ABC News that they are among the offices that received the invite for the briefing, set to be held on Feb. 25.
The letter was first reported by Crooked Media.
Although it’s not unusual for government officials to have an election-security dialogue, the invite comes amid President Donald Trump’s ongoing false claims of voter fraud and the recent FBI raid of an elections office in Fulton County, Georgia.
The stakes are high for the upcoming midterm elections with the House majority on the line — as Republicans have a slim majority in the chamber.
Long Island Rail Road (LIRR) workers picket outside of Penn Station in New York, US, on Saturday, May 16, 2026. (Victor J. Blue/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
(NEW YORK) — For the first time in 32 years, tens of thousands of New Yorkers are bracing to begin the workweek without the Long Island Rail Road (LIRR)after workers at the busiest commuter railroad in North America went on strike over the weekend.
More than 300,000 daily commuters rely on the LIRR to get from Long Island to New York City. State and local officials were scrambling over the weekend to get contingency plans in place, but warned commuters to expect New York City buses and subways to be crowded on Monday.
Queens Borough President Donovan Richards told WABC in New York that he is expecting his borough to be a bottleneck on Monday as the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) is planning to use shuttle buses to transport essential workers from Long Island to subway stations in Queens.
“That’s not enough when our buses are overcrowded,” Richards said of the shuttle bus plan.
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul said on Sunday that commuters will also be allowed to park in the Citi Field parking lot, which is within walking distance to the 7 train on the New York City subway system.
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani asked subway riders to be patient, but cautioned them to “prepare for heavier-than-usual traffic, crowded transit options and additional travel time.”
LIRR trains came to a halt at midnight on Saturday after the union representing thousands of rail workers and the MTA failed to reach an agreement on a new contract.
Kevin Sexton, the national vice president of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen (BLET), one of the five unions representing LIRR workers, told reporters that he and other leaders could not come to an agreement over salary increases and health care costs before the negotiation deadline ended.
“We are far apart at this point and we feel it’s unnecessary because we went through the process,” Sexton said of the strike.
MTA CEO Janno Leiber said during a Sunday press conference with New York Gov. Kathy Hochul that what the unions have asked for would force riders to “pay the cost of a labor settlement that blew up the MTA budget.”
“We said right up to the deadline that the unions had imposed, ‘Let’s talk, let’s keep talking,’ and we sat there in the hallway, so they couldn’t even avoid seeing us, that we were available to talk to them right up to and through the deadline,” Leiber said.
Leiber said the unions chose to “walk out” on the negotiations.
The LIRR unions called the job action an “open-ended strike,” telling ABC News that, despite claims from Leiber and Hochul, MTA officials had not reached out to them about negotiations.
It was unclear on Sunday afternoon whether any new negotiations are scheduled.
According to the union statement, talks broke down when the MTA added “healthcare takeaways and other concessionary issues to the table literally in the 11th hour before a midnight strike deadline. These regressive management demands had never been raised previously.”
But in an interview on Sunday with ABC New York City station WABC, Leiber denied the unions’ assertion that a disagreement over health insurance prompted the strike, calling it “complete nonsense.”
Lieber said the rail workers’ unions “rejected every single idea that we put on the table, and there were many.”
The unions are demanding wage increases of 14.5% over four years, WABC reports, while MTA officials have offered slightly smaller increases and a lump-sum payment in the contract’s fourth year to make up the difference. The proposed pay bumps are largely in line with contracts accepted by the LIRR’s conductors and New York City Transit workers, WABC reports.
In a statement released on Saturday, Gov. Hochul said the unions “represent the highest-paid workers of any railroad in the nation, yet they are demanding contracts that could raise fares as much as 8%, pit workers against one another, and risk tax hikes for Long Islanders.”
During her news conference on Sunday, Hochul struck a more conciliatory tone.
“The work you do is absolutely vital. I value your labor and I believe that you deserve fair wages and benefits. But this strike has put all of that at risk,” Hochul said.
The governor added, “Just three days of a strike would erase every dollar of additional salary that workers would receive under a new contract.”
A Frontier Airlines plane lands at San Francisco International Airport on April 15, 2025, in San Francisco, California. (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)
(DENVER, Colo.) — Passengers on a Frontier Airlines flight were forced to deplane at the gate Sunday evening in Denver after an ammunition magazine was found on the aircraft as it was preparing for departure, according to the airline.
Frontier says preliminary investigation indicates the magazine belongs to a law enforcement officer who may have left it behind on a previous flight.
There were no injuries, officials said. All passengers were deplaned and rescreened out of precaution, and the plane also went through a security sweep, and nothing additional was recovered from the flight, according to the airline.
Flight 4765 was scheduled to travel from Denver to Phoenix. Due to the delay, the flight crew exceeded their duty time, and passengers were booked on another flight, which departed Monday morning, according to Frontier Airlines.
TSA says it is aware of the incident, and the FBI is leading the investigation.
In this May 4, 2015, file photo, Australian-born presenter, Savannah Guthrie poses alongside her mother Nancy Guthrie during a production break while hosting NBC’s “Today Show” live from Australia at Sydney Opera House in Sydney. (Don Arnold/WireImage via Getty Images, FILE)
(NEW YORK) — “Today” show host Savannah Guthrie is begging for answers in the abduction of her mother, Nancy Guthrie, saying that “someone knows something.”
“How can someone vanish without a trace?” Savannah Guthrie said in the final part of her emotional interview with her friend and former co-host Hoda Kotb.
Nancy Guthrie, 84, was abducted from her Tucson, Arizona, house in the early hours of Feb. 1, authorities said. Investigators have released surveillance images from outside Nancy Guthrie’s house, but the person who took her remains unidentified.
“Our anguish is real. We need help,” Savannah Guthrie said. “We need someone to tell the truth. I have no anger in my heart — I have hope in my heart. I have love. But this family needs peace — I don’t think we deserve anything more or less than any other person.”
“It is never too late, and when you do, the warmth of love and forgiveness that will come will be greater than can be imagined,” she said.
As she waits for answers, Savannah Guthrie said she’s leaning on her faith, and is inspired by the deep faith her mother’s had through hard times, like after Savannah Guthrie’s father died when the “Today” host was a teenager.
“I saw her grieve, I saw her world shatter,” Savannah Guthrie said.
“And I saw her get up and I saw her believe and I saw her love. And I saw her hope and I saw her smile and I saw her laugh. I saw her joy. … I saw her faith,” she said.
“She taught me, she taught all of us,” Savannah Guthrie continued.
“I may not do it as well as her, but I will do it. I will do it for my kids. I will. I will not fall apart,” she said through tears. “I will not let whoever did this take my children’s mother from them. I will not let them take my joy.”
“Faith is how I will stay connected to my mom. … And I won’t let sadness win for her,” she said through tears.
Kotb has been filling in for Savannah Guthrie on “Today” since Nancy Guthrie’s disappearance. Savannah Guthrie plans to return to “Today” on April 6.
“I’m not gonna be the same,” she said.
But she added, “I want to smile, and when I do, it will be real. And my joy will be my protest.”
Anyone with information is urged to call 911, the FBI at 1-800-CALL-FBI, or the Pima County Sheriff’s Department at 520-351-4900.
