The Narativ | Know Sooner
Tuesday, September 29, 2026
👀 THE FRONT PAGE
⚖️ SMITH TESTIFIES
Jack Smith told the Senate Judiciary Committee under oath this morning that his team developed "proof beyond a reasonable doubt that President Trump engaged in serious crimes against our nation." He stood by both indictments, the plot to overturn the 2020 election and the classified files at Mar-a-Lago, and said he "will not be silenced by the continued threats of prosecution." Trump says he did nothing wrong. Not one Republican senator argued the crimes didn't happen. Chairman Chuck Grassley answered Smith's evidence with a claim about whose bank records his team pulled. Louisiana's John Kennedy told Smith, "You make me want to throw up in my mouth." Missouri's Eric Schmitt accused him of perjury over a basketball game, then mixed up the Atlanta Hawks with the Iowa Hawkeyes. Grassley put a number on what Smith's team collected, the one Republicans hope outlasts the testimony. It's in the full story.
🤖 AI LUNCH
Trump ruled out any AI venture with China this morning while launching America.gov, the government's new AI-run services site, ahead of this afternoon's White House lunch with Mark Zuckerberg, Anthropic's Dario Amodei and the industry's chiefs. "It's all between us and China," he said. Across town Ted Cruz blocked the Democrats' bid to pass an AI safety board by unanimous consent. The industry has the White House. Nobody has the rules. The government's own new chatbot has an opinion on that, in the full story.
🇬🇧 FAIRFORD CLAIM
Marco Rubio told Fox News on Monday night that the RAF Fairford plot "clearly involves the hands of a foreign actor," promised "repercussions," and offered no evidence. British police freed all five suspects within a day of arresting them and have published no link to any foreign government. Who the five actually are is in the full story.
💰 BOND PORTFOLIO
Trump now holds more than 1,000 municipal bond positions worth up to $1 billion, CNBC found, in cities, hospitals and coal plants his own administration regulates. He buys; he never sells. Meanwhile taxpayers pay nearly $1.5 million for the ads carrying his message, as we reported Friday. Who ordered those ads, and whose budget paid, is in the full story.
🎖️ HEGSETH CUTS
Pete Hegseth will cut 20% of generals' and admirals' jobs by New Year's Day, doubling the 10% he ordered in May 2025. He ordered the Pentagon to hunt foreign election meddlers. Hegseth's exact words are in the full story.
🎯 THE BIGGER PICTURE
Jack Smith spent the morning telling senators, under oath, that the president committed serious crimes. Trump spent it launching a chatbot and setting a lunch table for the men who own the machines, while CNBC counted his bond portfolio toward $1 billion. Ted Cruz blocked the Democrats' safety-board bill. Five weeks from the midterms, the prosecutor has the facts and the president has the industry, the money and the Senate floor. Republicans don't need to beat Smith's evidence in a courtroom. They only need to outshout it until November 3.
🔴 LIVE TODAY ON NARATIV
1:30 PM ET — Narativ live with Ellie Leonard and Anne P. Mitchell
3:00 PM ET — FiveStack with Dean Blundell.
📚 READ THIS ON NARATIV
Monday's FiveStack: British police freed the Fairford five a day after Trump said he caught them.
From the archive: Smith told the House in January that no one is above the law. Today he told the Senate the same thing under a criminal referral.