Politics

Obama and Trump both plunge into Ohio's toss-up Senate race with three weeks to go

Barack Obama will campaign for Sherrod Brown in Cleveland on Oct. 24, answering Donald Trump's own escalating campaign swing for Sen. Jon Husted, as independent polling shows one of the cycle's most competitive Senate races narrowly tilting toward the Democrat.

Trump says leakers 'should be shot,' then turns on reporters at Arizona rally

At a midterm rally in Bullhead City, the president called for government leakers to be shot over a disputed account of a delayed Iran strike, then told journalists in the crowd they were "almost as bad" — language landing atop a year of subpoenas, a reporter's home search and Pentagon polygraph tests.

OCC finds all nine largest U.S. banks debanked customers over politics or religion

A two-year federal review of JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America and seven other lenders concluded that vague "reputation risk" policies disadvantaged customers over their political and religious beliefs, the sharpest escalation yet in the Trump administration's campaign against what it calls politicized debanking.

Fed Governor Lisa Cook Seeks to Delay White House Hearing on Her Removal

Lisa Cook's lawyer asked the administration to postpone a Nov. 5 White House hearing on whether to remove her from the Federal Reserve's board, the latest turn in a fight over mortgage allegations that has already reached the Supreme Court and raised questions about the central bank's independence.

Supreme Court to Decide Whether DOGE Must Open Its Records to the Public

The justices agreed Tuesday to hear the Trump administration's appeal seeking to shield the Department of Government Efficiency from the Freedom of Information Act, taking up a transparency fight that has already reached the Court once before.

Federal judge halts further tree removal at D.C.'s East Potomac golf course

A federal judge extended a restraining order after government lawyers acknowledged crews cut down 430 trees at the public golf course over the Columbus Day weekend, accusing the administration of defying her earlier warnings as it pursues President Trump's plan to rebuild the course.

Federal Agents Search Rep. Ilhan Omar's Washington Home in Widening Immigration Investigation

Homeland Security Investigations agents executed a search warrant at the Minnesota Democrat's residence Monday morning, the most concrete step yet in a yearslong Trump administration effort to examine her 2009 marriage and immigration history.

Army Sets Dec. 3 Execution Date for Fort Hood Shooter as Trump Weighs Livestream

The Army has ordered former Maj. Nidal Hasan executed by firing squad at Fort Hood on Dec. 3, the first U.S. military execution in 65 years — but President Trump has given conflicting answers on whether it will be livestreamed, as planned by the Pentagon, drawing bipartisan objections in Congress.

Judge Strikes Down Justice Department's Nationwide Program to Screen State Voter Rolls

A federal judge in Washington vacated the Justice Department's year-long effort to collect and cross-check state voter registration data, finding the program exceeded the agency's legal authority weeks before the midterm elections.

Chief Justice Roberts Freezes Order Forcing FCC to Rule on Campaign Ad Rates Before Midterms

A Fourth Circuit panel accused the FCC of “gamesmanship” and ordered it to decide within 48 hours who gets discounted political ad rates. Chief Justice John Roberts froze that order Thursday, leaving the question of which committees get the cheapest airtime before Nov. 3 unresolved.

Trump names Katie Zacharia press secretary; Kalshi probes bets that called it early

Hours after President Trump ended a six-week vacancy by naming Truth Social adviser Katie Zacharia as press secretary, Kalshi disclosed it is investigating a string of well-timed trades that correctly predicted the pick — the second such episode involving the exchange and Trump's inner circle this year.

Trump Says U.S. Will Get Diesel From Russia, Reversing His Own Sanctions Push Before Midterms

The president said a phone call with Vladimir Putin produced a deal to import millions of tons of Russian diesel to ease pump prices before November, even as his own sanctions law targeting Russian energy exports nears its enforcement deadline.

The suspension freezes new green-card sponsorship for eight companies with large H-1B workforces, after Vice President JD Vance accused Microsoft of replacing laid-off American workers with foreign labor. India's government called his description of visa holders "deeply offensive."

The Treasury Department says automatic enrollment is complete for nearly 70 million children's federal investment accounts, but Democrats and libertarian critics are already challenging the program's legal basis and its ties to retirement policy.

DNC and Common Cause sue Trump administration over taxpayer-funded ad campaign

Two federal lawsuits filed within hours of each other accuse the White House of using $20 million in Homeland Security funds to air pro-Trump television spots ahead of the midterms, in violation of a decades-old ban on government propaganda.

Trump pitches his Florida golf club as a future "presidential retreat"

President Trump wants Palm Beach County to help turn his West Palm Beach golf club into a government-linked retreat for his successors, reviving long-running questions about how closely his private business is intertwined with the office he holds.

Rubio Declines to Address Guilfoyle Misconduct Allegations

The secretary of state defended Ambassador Kimberly Guilfoyle's work in Greece while declining to discuss a Wall Street Journal investigation that has prompted congressional Democrats to call for her removal.

Supreme Court weighs whether Air Force must study impact of bombing Guam beach

Justices heard arguments Wednesday over whether a 1976 hazardous-waste law lets the Air Force skip a full environmental review before continuing to detonate munitions on a Guam shoreline that sits above the aquifer supplying most of the territory's drinking water.

Trump distances himself from top advisers over paid work for pro-Russian Bosnian government

President Trump said he would fire political strategists Chris LaCivita and James Blair "immediately" if a conflict is found, after a report that Bosnia's Republika Srpska government paid them to advise on its elections, reviving scrutiny of the administration's posture toward a Kremlin-aligned Balkan leader.

Senate Democrat lays out a plan to police advanced AI, but she hasn't written a bill

Sen. Maria Cantwell's six-point framework calls for mandatory federal testing of the most powerful AI systems, drawing a line against a Republican-led Senate bill that would let companies test their own models.

Appeals court presses Trump administration on frozen vaccine panel picks

A federal appeals panel in Boston questioned the Trump administration's bid to revive Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s picks for the CDC's vaccine advisory committee, with no federal flu-shot recommendation issued this season and a ruling not expected for weeks or months.

Musk and Luckey to Lead Pentagon's Future-Warfare Study, Raising Conflict-of-Interest Questions

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth put two defense contractors with billions in Pentagon business in charge of a study that will shape future weapons buying — and the Department won't say what ethics rules apply to them.

Pennsylvania lawmaker moves to bar ICE agents from polling places

A Philadelphia Democrat's bill would close what he calls a loophole in state law, as the Trump administration keeps open the possibility of sending immigration agents near polls on Election Day.

Death toll in Pentagon's boat-strike campaign nears 240 with no evidence made public

A strike off the Caribbean coast over the weekend pushed the death toll from a 13-month campaign against suspected drug boats past 235, as lawmakers, a federal lawsuit and a United Nations investigator keep pressing the Trump administration for proof the vessels were smuggling narcotics.

Supreme Court considers whether veterans can challenge benefit cuts in federal court

The justices heard arguments Monday in the case of an incarcerated Army veteran who sued Congress over a law that slashed his disability pay, a dispute that could decide whether veterans can challenge benefits statutes directly in federal court or only through a specialized review system.

Trump signs order deferring federal diesel tax as harvest-season prices hit record highs

The executive order, signed as the national average for diesel topped $6.30 a gallon, defers the federal fuel tax through year's end and lets truckers and drivers use tax-exempt "dyed" diesel normally reserved for farm equipment.

Supreme Court Opens New Term With a Climate Liability Showdown

Justices hear argument Monday in a Boulder, Colorado lawsuit against Exxon and Suncor that could decide the fate of dozens of similar climate-damage suits pending against the oil industry nationwide.

Cruz and Vance trade public barbs over 2028 ambitions as midterms near

Vice President JD Vance's suggestion that Sen. Ted Cruz is already running for president drew a sharp rebuke from the Texas Republican, the latest sign that the GOP's next presidential contest is surfacing in public weeks before this year's midterm elections.

Environmental Groups Sue Trump Administration Over Rollback of Car Mileage Standards

A coalition of advocacy groups is challenging a new federal rule that loosens fuel-economy requirements, arguing it will cost drivers money and worsen pollution just as gas prices near $4.40 a gallon.

Trump administration to send $90 Medicare rebate to 20.8 million seniors a month before midterms

The payment draws on a federal account Congress created in 2008 for unspecified program "improvements," making it the latest in a string of election-season payouts the president has promised as voters cite the cost of living as their top concern.

Miami federal judge strikes down ban on noncitizen voting as unconstitutional

In a ruling believed to be the first of its kind, a Biden-appointed judge dismissed charges against a Jamaican woman, holding that only states — not Congress — may set voter qualifications. The Justice Department is appealing, but the decision complicates dozens of pending prosecutions nationwide.

Trump orders federal agencies to drop "AI" for "Super Intelligence," as Democrats push to ban it

A new executive order tells every federal agency to replace "artificial intelligence" with "Super Intelligence" in official use. Days earlier, Senator Bernie Sanders and Representative Greg Casar introduced legislation to ban superintelligent AI outright and create a new federal agency to police it.

Trump Opens Midterm Blitz in Reliably Red Oklahoma and Alabama, Not the Battlegrounds He Promised

The president launched a monthlong campaign sprint with rallies in Durant, Okla., and Mobile, Ala. — states he carried by roughly two-to-one margins in 2024 — rather than the 35 competitive races he vowed in January to prioritize, a choice both parties are reading as a sign of Republican anxiety five weeks before Election Day.

Veterans and lawmakers renew push to block Trump's 250-foot Arlington arch

At a protest beside Arlington National Cemetery, veterans and members of Congress demanded the Trump administration abandon its triumphal arch, as a lawsuit over the project's legality awaits a federal judge's ruling and ground-clearing work proceeds without final approval.

Federal judge bars ICE from arresting immigrants at courthouses nationwide

A Manhattan federal judge vacated nationwide the Trump administration's 2025 policy expanding ICE arrests at immigration courts, the second such ruling this year, finding the agency never explained why it discarded narrower Biden-era limits.

California leads seven states suing Trump administration over $810 million "pocket rescission"

A coalition of Democratic-led states says the administration's move to cancel congressionally approved funding violates the Constitution, a day after the Government Accountability Office concluded the maneuver is already unlawful.

Judge permanently dismisses Reflecting Pool case against ex-Olympian, citing Trump pressure

A D.C. Superior Court judge barred prosecutors from ever recharging former Olympic canoeist David Hearn over damage to the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, ruling that President Trump's public campaign to revive the case created the kind of "exceptional circumstances" that justify a permanent dismissal.

Senate Republicans' data center electricity bill falls short in key vote

A GOP push to make AI data centers cover their own share of rising electricity costs collapsed in the Senate on a 57-43 vote, with Democrats calling the measure toothless just weeks before the midterms.

Senate confirms Keith Sonderling as labor secretary in party-line vote

The Senate voted 47-41 along party lines to confirm Keith Sonderling as labor secretary, ending a five-month vacancy left by Lori Chavez-DeRemer's resignation and closing out the chamber's business before lawmakers head home to campaign ahead of the midterms.

Pentagon drops 'never lived in the U.S.' option from overseas voter forms weeks before midterms

Using emergency authority that bypassed the usual public comment process, the Department of War rewrote the federal ballot-request forms used by Americans abroad, eliminating a category for citizens who have never lived in the United States — a group Republicans have been suing in eight states to disqualify from voting.

Senate blocks stock-trading ban after Republicans attach voter ID mandate

The Senate fell seven votes short Wednesday of advancing a House-passed bill restricting lawmakers' stock trading, after Democrats said the measure was full of loopholes and carried an unrelated voter ID requirement Republicans had attached to it.

Supreme Court lets Trump resume third-country deportations, sets December arguments

A divided court granted an emergency Justice Department request to lift a lower-court order requiring notice and a safety hearing before migrants are deported to countries they have never lived in, while agreeing to rule on the underlying policy by next year.

DHS diverts $20 million in border funds to pro-Trump ad blitz, drawing bipartisan fire

A taxpayer-funded ad campaign built around the song "Love Me" has grown from a $14,000 cable buy into a roughly $20 million push airing during NFL and college football games, with officials confirming part of the money came from Customs and Border Protection funds — and Republicans joining Democrats in calling it illegal.

News Outlets Ask Court to Permanently Block Trump's White House Press Ban

CNN, MS NOW and Politico told a federal judge the administration has kept violating a two-week restraining order and asked for a preliminary injunction before it expires next week.

Second prosecutor quits Justice Department probe of Trump's perceived enemies

Kurt Olsen's resignation from the "grand conspiracy" investigation is the second senior departure in a month, leaving a politically charged inquiry into former intelligence chiefs without an indictment more than a year after it began.

Trump hosts AI industry leaders at White House, unveils new federal website

The president dismissed calls for AI safety regulation as executives including Mark Zuckerberg, Sundar Pichai and Jensen Huang joined a White House lunch marking the rollout of a new government web portal, America.gov.

Alito steps aside from major Supreme Court climate case after scrutiny over oil stock holdings

Justice Samuel Alito will not hear Suncor Energy v. Boulder County, reversing the court's own position from months earlier, after advocacy groups tied his personal stock holdings in ConocoPhillips and Phillips 66 to the case's outcome.

Jack Smith set to testify publicly for first time before Senate Judiciary on 'Arctic Frost' records fight

Former special counsel Jack Smith appears Tuesday before the Senate Judiciary Committee, capping a yearlong standoff over his public testimony and facing Republican allegations that his investigators improperly obtained phone and text records from dozens of lawmakers.

Senate nears final passage of bill rewriting NCAA pay and antitrust rules

The bipartisan Protect College Sports Act would let schools pay athletes up to roughly $50 million a year and give the NCAA a limited shield from antitrust suits, but the NAACP, the Congressional Black Caucus and labor groups say it strips away athletes' bargaining leverage. The Senate could pass it as soon as Monday evening, sending it to a House that isn't due back in force until after the midterms.

Record diesel prices push rural Republicans into open break with Trump on exports

President Trump says he is looking "very seriously" at banning U.S. diesel exports after fuel costs tied to the Iran war hit record highs, but his own agencies are split and Democrats call the idea a distraction from ending the war.

ICE Sweeps Through Kansas Beef Country Draw Rare GOP Pushback as Senate Race Tightens

A week of ICE operations in southwest Kansas meatpacking towns disrupted the beef supply chain and pushed two Republican senators into open friction with the Trump administration, five weeks before a midterm election that could cost the GOP a Senate seat it has held since 1932.

Whistleblowers say Kennedy Center leaders sat on funded repairs, then cited the damage to justify closing it

A Senate Democrat has given the arts center two weeks to explain $9.3 million in shelved repair funds, adding a financial-mismanagement claim to an already active court fight over its renaming and closure.

Fetterman rejects talk of leaving the Democratic Party as his standing erodes at home

At a Texas festival appearance capping months of criticism over his voting record and work habits, the Pennsylvania senator said he has "no path as a Republican," even as new polling shows a majority of the state's Democrats now view him unfavorably.

White House Cancels $810 Million in Funds Congress Already Approved

Using a rarely invoked "pocket rescission," the administration voided money for refugee, housing and education programs five days before it would have expired — a maneuver the Government Accountability Office has called illegal and that the Senate's own Republican Appropriations chair calls unlawful.

Trump, Xi Strike Narrow Trade Truce as Senate Democrats Warn on Taiwan

A three-day state visit produced a $30 billion tariff-relief deal and an extended trade truce, but 21 Senate Democrats say the summit left Taiwan's delayed security assistance and China's chip access unresolved.

Watchdog Finds ICE Wasted Tens of Millions in Rushed Detention Expansion

A new Government Accountability Office report says Immigration and Customs Enforcement expanded detention capacity without a strategic plan, wasting money on warehouses it later moved to sell.