28 SEP 26 SITREP

• The White House press access dispute started last week when President Donald Trump banned CNN, Politico, and MS NOW from the White House, opening television pool roles to Lindell TV and Real America’s Voice and disrupting the traditional network-controlled pool rotation.
• The dispute escalated over the weekend when Trump traveled to Knoxville, Tennessee, to attend the Tennessee Volunteers and Texas Longhorns football game, with traditional television networks saying there was no television pool camera traveling with the president and no traditional television pool coverage of the trip while Real America’s Voice continued supplying presidential footage.
• Real America’s Voice launched RAVPool.org to distribute its presidential coverage directly to the public and other networks, combining a clean, unedited live video feed with a real-time White House schedule, photographs, pool notes, and continuing written updates on Trump’s movements, meetings, locations, and activities.
• RAVPool.org operates 24-7 and activates whenever live video becomes available from the White House or presidential travel; when video is unavailable, personnel on the ground provide continuing written updates, while users can subscribe by email at no charge and receive new pool information as it is published.

• President Donald Trump announced at the White House that Mesabi Metallics will build what he called the largest steel plant in American history in Iowa, with the facility expected to produce 10 million tons of steel annually using iron ore supplied by the company’s Minnesota mining operation as part of an $18 billion investment.
• The Minnesota operation was presented as the first new iron ore mine in the United States in more than 50 years, with company representatives saying approximately $3 billion is being invested there and 1.3 million pounds of explosives were detonated 10 days earlier to begin mining; the resulting iron ore will be processed into pellets and transported by American rail to the Iowa plant.
• Trump administration officials tied the project to 50% tariffs on foreign steel and Section 232 policy, with Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick saying the tariffs made the Minnesota mine and Iowa steel plant economically viable and would reduce reliance on iron ore pellets imported primarily from Brazil; the Export-Import Bank assisted financing for the mine while the steel plant is being funded with private capital.
• Iowa officials said the southeastern Iowa plant will create 6,000 construction jobs and approximately 1,700 permanent jobs, support family incomes exceeding $100,000, and require expanded natural-gas, electricity, rail, and road infrastructure, while the resulting domestic steel supply was also connected to national-security production including aircraft and 2,000 army tanks.

• The Iran war has fueled dissatisfaction among Gen Z voters, with GOP support among younger voters already down and opposition to the conflict particularly strong; younger voters characterized the war as a “rug pull” after previous Republican messaging focused on avoiding new foreign wars.
• While answering reporters’ questions in the Oval Office following the White House announcement of the Mesabi Metallics $18 billion steel project, Trump said Iran would never obtain a nuclear weapon, predicted the United States would win the war very soon, said the conflict would then be over, and argued that gas prices would “come tumbling down.”
• A reporter asked Trump about Republican performance in Iowa Senate and House races ahead of the midterms. Trump responded by criticizing Democrats on several issues, including Iran, saying they had been unwilling to stop Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon while his administration had stopped Iran from acquiring one and insisting that Iran would never possess a nuclear weapon.
• A reporter asked Trump about five British men in their 20s from London who were arrested early yesterday near RAF Fairford in Gloucestershire after three suspicious vans and a group of masked men were reported near the U.S.-used airbase. The men were arrested on suspicion of explosives offenses and later on suspicion of preparing an act of terrorism; all five were released on police bail today under strict movement and contact restrictions while remaining under investigation. Trump said the case “might be” connected to Iran, criticized the decision to grant bail, and when pressed on whether Iran was involved said, “I mean, I know the answer. I can be very specific, but I’d rather not say it.”