Airport Scraps Islamic Foot-Washing Stations; Leavitt Succession Race Is On | 8/17/26 FIRST LOOK

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0:33Hey everybody, I'm Dave AI and this is First Look. It's Monday, August 17th, 2026. We've got a packed show for you today. Dallas-Fort Worth Airport scraps its controversial plan to install Islamic foot washing stations after Texas Governor Greg Abbott steps in hard, ordering a review of state grants and referring the airports to the Department of Transportation. White House Press Secretary Caroline Levitt is stepping down at the end of the month to focus on her family, and the shortlist of possible replacements is heating up with some very familiar MAGA names. Oscar winner Matthew McConaughey met Pope Leo XIV at the Vatican and starts talking religion, AI, moral values, and even a future constitution that all faiths could get behind, raising fresh questions about whether the aggressively centrist Texas star is eyeing politics.

1:35Let's dive in. Texas stands up. DFW Airport kills Islamic foot washing station plan. Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport has officially abandoned its plan to install Islamic ablution or foot washing stations after a wave of public pushback and decisive action from Governor Greg Abbott. Abbott directed a full review of state grants to the entities operating both DFW and Houston's George Bush Intercontinental Airport. He's looking at possible revocation of existing grants and denial of future funding. He also referred both airports to the U.S. Department of Transportation for investigation. In a post on X, the governor made the principle crystal clear.

2:24Government-owned airports cannot favor one religion over all others. DFW plans to install Islamic voodoo washing facilities are illegal. I've directed a review of all state grants to both airports for possible revocation and refer DFW and IAH to USDOT for investigation, Texas will not allow illegal religious discrimination at taxpayer-funded facilities. DFW told Fox News it had been evaluating an internal proposal to add the washing stations on the pre-security side of Terminal D, the international terminal. The airport said it accelerated that review because of elevated public attention this week and ultimately decided not to move forward.

3:15The reason they gave, the project would not deliver the originally anticipated operational benefits. The project had already been registered with the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation on July 31st. The filing listed it as privately funded, put the cost at$300 ,000, and projected completion by the end of the year. DFW later claimed those details were administrative errors by its outside design firm. A spokesperson said the$300 ,000 figure was only a preliminary high estimate, and that the real cost would have been closer to$120 ,000. The firm also wrongly marked the project as privately funded.

3:58DFW said airport funds would have paid for it, just like every other project. DFW insists it doesn't use taxpayer dollars for operations and instead relies on parking, concessions, and other revenue. Abbott's office noted that George Bush Intercontinental in Houston already has an ablution station and an adjoining prayer room. In a letter to Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, Abbott asked the Department of Transportation and the Federal Aviation Administration to review religious facilities and accommodations at both airports. These ablution facilities appear designed to single out one subset of the population for special treatment based on religion.

4:42That is illegal, Abbott wrote. Both airports are government-owned facilities. The federal and state constitutions prohibit government from facilitating this sort of discrimination. Just as the government cannot favor the secular over the sacred, it also cannot favor one religious view over all others. Recipients of state grants must certify they comply with anti-discrimination laws. Similar low-level basins and interfaith spaces exist at other major U.S. airports, including Chicago O 'Hare, but that doesn't make special religious accommodations at government-owned facilities legal or right. Abbott is drawing a bright line, and DFW just back down.

5:28Who will succeed Caroline Levitt? White House Press Secretary Caroline Levitt announced last week that she is leaving the role at the end of the month. At 28, she is the youngest person ever to serve as White House Press Secretary. She's stepping down to spend more time with her family after the birth of her second child in May, and is expected to remain a close advisor to President Trump. Trump praised her as one of his most trusted aides, and called her one of the best White House press secretaries in the history of the office. No replacement has been named yet, but several strong conservative names are circulating.

6:04Political commentator Scott Jennings is reportedly among the leading contenders. He has public relations experience, served in the George W. Bush administration as a special assistant to the president and deputy director of political affairs, and later worked as an advisor to then Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, helping with several of McConnell's reelection campaigns. When asked on CNN's News Night whether he was interested in the job, Jennings did not give a clear yes or no. He simply praised Levitt and wished her well as she returns her focus to her family. Sources told the New York Post that Alina Habba, Trump's former defense attorney and former acting U.S.

6:47attorney for New Jersey, is considered a strong candidate. Habba was a frequent public face for Trump during his New York civil fraud trial in 2024. Breitbart Washington bureau chief Matthew Boyle is another name in the mix. Trump has given Boyle multiple interviews, including a recent Oval Office sit-down. Boyle's background in investigative reporting that targets public figures and his close coverage of the Trump movement demonstrate an ability to handle tough PR challenges. White House communications director Stephen Chung is also under consideration. He already performs some of the press secretary's duties, regularly meeting with reporters and helping shape the administration's messaging, though he has not routinely taken on-camera briefing duties.

7:34Taylor Budowich, Trump's former White House deputy chief of staff for communications, previously played a key role in communications strategy and was involved in changes to the White House press pool that expanded access for smaller outlets. Other potential candidates include White House Deputy Press Secretary Anna Kelly, a former beauty pageant winner who previously served as National Press Secretary for the Republican National Committee, Monica Crowley, the longtime journalist and former Fox News host who now serves as U.S. Chief of Protocol, and Katie Miller, a former aide to Elon Musk at Doge and the wife of Deputy Chief of Staff for Policy, Stephen Miller.

8:16Whoever gets the job will have big shoes to fill. Levitt set a high bar for energy, loyalty, and effectiveness in the briefing room. Matthew McConaughey meets the Pope and talks faith, AI, and politics. While in Italy earlier this month, actor Matthew McConaughey greeted Pope Leo XIV during the Pontiff's weekly general audience at St. Peter's Basilica in Vatican City. The 56-year-old Oscar winner said he had a few things he wanted to raise with the Holy Father, though he didn't prepare a formal speech. That's kind of like preparing a speech for winning an award that you don't know you're going to win yet, McConaughey told USA Today.

8:55It's a bit of a coup de grace. Don't do it because it's not going to go as you expected. So I had some ideas. I wanted to talk to him about religion in today's world and where it sits with him as our moral compass. Where is religion today? Why has it declined? Why do we see a surge in youth running toward it? They've tried other things that they're seeing are vapid and don't really work because they're looking for more. He said young people today are looking for some structure. They're trying to get more than what the world around them has given them. It's a good reason to pick some things out of religion for sure.

9:30McConaughey, who is Christian, also wanted to discuss the rapid rise of artificial intelligence and how it reflects our values. Going forward, what are the standards going to be with AI, he asked. There are already people looking to AI as their digital god. Whether we like what it looks like or not, it is going to represent a true image of mankind by the questions we ask of it and the results we want of it. We may not like what we see when we look in the mirror, but we could also love what we see. It could be a greater truth. So there's great upside, and I'm excited about it. At the same time, there's a definite need for caution going forward because we're going to have to be the users of that tool and not let it tool us, so to speak.

10:17For years, McConaughey has been asked whether he would run for political office, including governor of Texas. He has described himself as aggressively centrist and told People Magazine last year he wouldn't consider pivoting to politics at least until his three kids are fully grown. Asked by USA Today whether the meeting with the Pope changed his perspective, he remained diplomatic but pointed to deeper values. Look, I'm going to use this word religion, even though some people are going to tune out when they hear that word. Life is essentially a religious experience. There's a lot of things we can learn about living life, how to treat others and how to treat ourselves through religious texts and teachings.

11:01Even though I agree with the separation of church and state, the values of those should bleed down into the values of any political system. There's still a constitution out there to be written that all religions could agree on. There's so much commonality. It's a constitution that I'm excited about seeing, I don't know, maybe even adding to or working on. That would be a great thing to share. Whether that means a future run or simply a more public voice for faith and traditional values, McConaughey is clearly thinking bigger than Hollywood right now. And that's your first look this Monday. Quick recap, Texas Governor Greg Abbott forced DFW Airport to scrap its Islamic foot washing station plan and is reviewing state grants while referring the airports to federal investigators.

11:53Caroline Levitt is leaving the White House press secretary post at month's end, with names like Scott Jennings, Alina Habba, Matthew Boyle, and others in the mix. And Matthew McConaughey met Pope Leo XIV and started talking openly about religion's role as a moral compass and even a shared constitutional framework rooted in common values. We'll keep following all of it. I'm Dave AI. Thanks for starting your day with First Look. See you tomorrow. Thank you.