The Latest: Homeland Security agents searched Rep. Ilhan Omar's home
Homeland Security agents searched the Washington, D.C., home of Rep. Ilhan Omar early Monday as part of a criminal investigation. The Justice Department said agents used a judicially authorized search warrant but provided no other details. Omar has not commented.
A senior U.S. official said President Donald Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio are considering firing U.S. Ambassador to Greece Kimberly Guilfoyle after a series of reports alleging she has engaged in improper and possibly illegal conduct before and during her tenure in Athens.
The U.S. Department of Justice meanwhile is investigating whether it was a violation of antitrust law when the White House television press pool collectively halted coverage of Trump last month after he banned CNN, MS NOW and Politico from the White House.
And a bipartisan group of senators is calling on the Trump administration to “immediately reverse course” on a plan to purchase diesel from Russia despite a U.S. sanctions law.
The Latest:
Spanish-language radio show airs voter frustration in battleground Pennsylvania
“Una sola cosa” — Just one thing. That’s all Victor Martinez asked of listeners to his Spanish-language radio station — to say one positive thing about Trump.
The calls started rolling in. Someone mentioned the $5,000 payout that Trump promised if Republicans keep control of Congress, which Martinez thought was so hilarious that he played a laugh track. Then a trucker shared a silver lining from high diesel prices — he’s taking an unplanned vacation because he can’t afford to fill up his rig.
Latino’s represent nearly 1 in 4 people in Pennsylvania’s Lehigh Valley, where Martinez hosts his show. So many are flooding his phone with frustrations over higher prices that he thinks Republicans could soon face election consequences.
“It’s the economy, stupid. That’s what it is. I mean, things have gotten so bad,” Martinez said. “People didn’t think Biden did a good job. Everything was expensive and now it’s worse.”
Judge orders halt to tree cutting at historic DC course
District Judge Ana Reyes Monday ordered a 24-hour halt to tree cutting at the historic East Potomac Golf Course while she decides on an emergency order from plaintiffs concerned that Trump’s plans for the course are moving forward despite the court case.
“Tree removal for routine maintenance is not exempt from this Order. Plaintiffs are likely to suffer immediate and irreparable harm in the absence of preliminary relief,” she wrote. “The removal of hundreds of trees from East Potomac Golf Course is permanent.”
The emergency hearing for later Monday was prompted by a National Park Service statement Friday that it is cutting 500 trees “that do not contribute to the historic landscape” at the park.
The judge’s order lays out questions she wants answered by Kevin Griess, the superintendent of the National Mall and Memorial Parks, including the timeline for the removal and who ordered the work.
Zelenskyy says Russia attacked gas infrastructure despite Trump’s energy ceasefire announcement
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Monday on Fox News that his country is prepared to engage in an energy ceasefire but that Russia had attacked Ukraine’s gas infrastructure as Russian President Vladimir Putin refuses to pause the war.
“I am not sure Putin is ready,” he said.
Zelenskyy said that after Trump announced the energy ceasefire on Truth Social, Ukraine didn’t carry out attacks, but Russia continued to strike Ukrainian infrastructure.
“The communication from Russia was very clear that they don’t know anything about energy ceasefire,” he said.
Darline Graham and Annie Andrews argue over who’s less qualified to be a US senator
Sen. Darline Graham, R-S.C., and Democratic nominee Annie Andrews sparred for an hour in their only debate in a race that’s become unexpectedly close.
On questions bouncing from Iran to the economy and artificial intelligence, their answers Sunday night boiled down to who’s less qualified.
Andrews brought up Graham’s Republican runoff debate flub when she struggled to answer whether the U.S. has a national security interest in Taiwan and the South China Sea — a longstanding contention of both Democratic and Republican administrations — before admitting, “National security is not my thing.”
“If your surgeon said that appendectomies aren’t really his thing, would you still hand him a scalpel? No,” Andrews said, calling Graham “unserious and unqualified.”
“Your thing apparently is not being honest with people of South Carolina. At least I’m honest. If I don’t know something, I am glad to say it, and I’ll say it again tonight,” said Graham.
Barack Obama adds Mississippi Senate nominee Scott Colom to his endorsement list
Accelerating his midterm involvement, the 44th president released a video Monday backing the Democrat’s bid to unseat Republican Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith.
“Mississippi, it’s time for a change,” Obama said, praising Colom as “a devoted husband and dad, a 7th-generation Mississippian” and successful local prosecutor.
Obama was the first Black president. Colom would Mississippi’s first Black senator since post-Civil War Reconstruction.
Colom has tried to get more national Democratic backing, arguing Hyde-Smith’s low profile, voters’ frustration with the economy and Trump’s lagging popularity make an upset possible.
Mississippi has the largest proportion of Black voters of any U.S. state, but its Black voters typically turn out at lower rates than whites. Colom needs to raise Black turnout and exceed Democrats’ usual share of white voters.
“Mississippi, your vote matters,” Obama said, nodding at those dynamics.
Agents searched Omar’s home in Washington early Monday
More details about the investigation and its focus were not immediately clear, though Vice President JD Vance last May signaled that the Trump administration would investigate Omar for immigration fraud allegations, which she has denied.
An email seeking comment was sent Monday to a representative for Omar.
The Justice Department said in a statement Monday that HSI agents executed a judicially authorized search warrant secured by the department in the Washington, D.C., area but provided no other details. “This enforcement action is part of an ongoing federal criminal investigation,” the department said.
A message left with the Department of Homeland Security, of which Homeland Security Investigations is part, was not immediately returned.
Omar, 44, represents Minnesota’s 5th District, including Minneapolis. She was first elected to the House in 2018 and has been known as a member of what’s called The Squad of female lawmakers known for their progressive views and pointed opposition to the Republican president.
Trump shows no signs of budging from trade policies many Americans don’t like as elections loom
Trump’s import taxes have stoked inflation and there’s been no big manufacturing renaissance yet, as the Republican had promised.
The president believes imposing the highest import duties on U.S. trading partners since the Great Depression is a winner, but a recent poll suggests that’s a big gamble as voters prepare to cast ballots in the Nov. 3 elections. Most U.S. adults disapprove of his trade policies, with more than 64% saying he has gone too far with his latest tariffs, compared with 58% in January.
Trump is taking a sledgehammer to a relatively open global trading system that many mainstream economists think has benefited the U.S. enormously.
Trump’s plan to buy Russian oil runs counter to congressional efforts to pressure Putin
Trump also said Sunday that Russia and Ukraine had agreed to an “energy ceasefire ” in the 4 1/2-year-old war, but offered no details and Kyiv reported attacks by Moscow on energy sites after his statement.
The plan runs counter to U.S. efforts to cut the flow of money Russia gets from oil and gas sales that can be used to pay for its war against Ukraine. Trump’s announcement came just a few weeks after Congress passed legislation that directed Trump to impose substantial tariffs on the top importers of Russian oil or natural gas, with an exception for countries that import less than 15% of Russia’s natural gas exports and have taken significant steps to reduce those imports.
Brent crude tops $105 a barrel after Trump says US will buy Russian diesel
The price of Brent crude, the international standard, rose 1% to $105.74 per barrel on Monday and U.S. benchmark crude oil gained 1% to $92.77 per barrel after Trump’s plan to purchase diesel from Russia drew bipartisan criticism in the Senate.
Oil prices have continued to yo-yo because of uncertainty about when the war with Iran will allow the global energy industry to return to normal.
Trump announced Friday that he struck a deal to buy Russian diesel with Russian President Vladimir Putin, aiming to stop a spike in fuel prices ahead of the Nov. 3 U.S. elections. Trump said Russia will immediately supply more than 300,000 tons of diesel to the American and global market, followed by 500,000 tons in November, 1 million tons “immediately thereafter” and 3 million tons “within a short period of time” after that.
Republican legislators describe tighter voting laws as common sense changes
Republican-controlled states began imposing restrictive rules in 2021 after Trump’s false claims of widespread fraud in his 2020 presidential election loss to Democrat Joe Biden. Trump’s continued false claims have resonated with Republican voters, a majority of whom believe Biden was not legitimately elected despite all evidence to the contrary. Trump lost dozens of court challenges, his own attorney general found no evidence of widespread fraud, and reviews, audits and recounts in the battleground states where he contested his loss all affirmed Biden’s victory.
Among the changes confronting voters as early voting gets underway: Students in New Hampshire can no longer use student IDs; Utah voters returning mail ballots must include more information on the envelope; and some voters in Mississippi might need birth certificates or passports to verify their identities.
Many GOP states have imposed new voting rules this year, some mirroring Trump’s midterm proposals
Trump has pushed Congress to pass a proof-of-citizenship law, signed an executive order seeking a national voter ID requirement and tried to limit mail voting through U.S. Postal Service changes, but none of those moves succeeded in time to affect this year’s midterm elections.
It’s a different matter in the states.
More than three dozen voting laws passed in Republican-controlled states are taking effect for the first time this year, many of them containing elements of Trump’s stalled proposals. They include changes to what IDs are acceptable to register for the first time and requirements to show proof of citizenship, an issue the Republican president has tried but failed to get through Congress.
“Trump’s attacks on our elections are deeply damaging, but they are not happening in isolation,” said Sophia Lin Lakin, director of the American Civil Liberties Union’s Voting Rights Project. ”Across the country, states are also advancing restrictions that make it harder for eligible voters to cast a ballot.”
Federal agents searched Omar’s home as part of criminal investigation: AP sources
Federal agents have searched Democratic U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar’s home as part of a criminal investigation, according to people familiar with the matter.
The people say the search was conducted by Homeland Security Investigations agents. The people were not authorized to publicly discuss an ongoing investigation and spoke on the condition of anonymity.
Details about the investigation are unclear. The Justice Department said in a statement Monday that HSI agents executed a judicially authorized search warrant secured by the department in the Washington, D.C., area but provided no other details.
An email seeking comment has been sent to a representative for Omar.
— By Alanna Durkin Richer
Judge orders the Trump administration to cancel taxpayer-funded promotional TV ads
Trump must cancel any remaining television commercials paid for with millions of dollars in taxpayer money to promote his political message, a federal judge ordered Sunday night, even as the administration said the ad campaign was coming to an end.
U.S. District Judge Jennifer L. Rochon in New York sided with a coalition, including the nonpartisan watchdog Common Cause, that challenged the ads as an illegal misuse of funds. She told the administration to cancel any remaining ads, including any set to air Sunday night, in granting a temporary restraining order.
Asked for comment, the White House referred to an Oct. 5 social media post from Trump in which he defended the taxpayer-funded ads as “rather standard” but, amid backlash, said he would pay for them from his political fundraising. In a court filing late Saturday, the Justice Department argued that the temporary restraining order was unnecessary because “the alleged offending conduct will end tomorrow.”
DOJ says it’s investigating whether White House TV pool’s coverage halt violated antitrust law
The U.S. Department of Justice is investigating whether the decision of the White House television press pool to halt coverage of Trump last month violated antitrust law, an agency spokesperson said Saturday.
Emily Covington, a spokesperson for the department, said group boycotts among business competitors might violate U.S. law. “The Antitrust Division is simply investigating to determine whether these news organizations have violated the antitrust laws,” she said.
The announcement came after the television pool of five broadcasters last month ceased presidential coverage after the administration barred CNN, MS NOW and Politico from the White House.
Messages were sent late Saturday to the five outlets seeking comment: ABC, CBS, CNN, FOX and NBC.
The White House press pool, which is a rotating cast of news outlets that covers the president, has become a proxy for the wider fight over whether the president, or anyone, can control the content of news reports — a type of free speech, pillar of American democracy.
Six senators call for Trump administration to ‘immediately reverse course’ on Russian diesel plan
The price of a gallon of diesel fuel is shown electronically on a pump at a QuikTrip station Thursday, Oct. 1, 2026, in Greenwood Village, Colo. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)
A bipartisan group of six senators on Sunday called for Trump’s administration to “immediately reverse course” on a plan to purchase diesel from Russia as part of an effort to lower high fuel prices.
Trump shocked lawmakers when he announced on social media Friday that he struck a deal with Russian President Vladimir Putin in a phone call. He said Russia will immediately supply more than 300,000 tons of diesel to the American and global market, followed by an additional 500,000 tons in November and 1 million tons “immediately thereafter.” Russia will deliver an additional 3 million tons “within a short period of time” after that, he wrote.
Four Republican senators and two Democratic senators signed onto the statement released Sunday in protesting the deal. They said the administration failed to consult with Congress or submit any explanation to justify its decision as required by statute.
“The United States should not provide Putin with a financial lifeline while Russia continues to kill Ukrainian civilians. The Administration must immediately reverse course,” they wrote.
Trump and Rubio weigh firing US envoy to Greece after mounting reports of improper conduct, AP source says
President Donald Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio are considering firing U.S. Ambassador to Greece Kimberly Guilfoyle after a series of reports alleging she has engaged in improper and possibly illegal conduct before and during her tenure in Athens.
A senior U.S. official said Sunday that Trump and Rubio are “extremely pissed off” by Guilfoyle’s reported conduct and would likely decide on what action to take this week after Monday’s Columbus Day holiday.
The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss internal deliberations, said Rubio had been particularly angry, not least because he visited Athens just last week and Guilfoyle attended most, if not all, of his events and greeted him on his arrival with a bear hug as the allegations swirled.
In a series of stories, The Wall Street Journal has reported questionable conduct by Guilfoyle, including an alleged threat to a host country official, accepting improper gifts and services and offering to use her influence inside the administration in return for the payment of a large credit card bill.
— By Matthew Lee