President Donald Trump’s diesel deal with Russian President Vladimir Putin has been criticized by both Republicans and Democrats as fueling Russia’s war against Ukraine, violating existing U.S. laws and drawing the U.S. closer to Russia. It joins a growing list of instances where the president has sided with Putin, often at the expense of Ukraine — and U.S. interests.
Most Americans think Donald Trump is profiting off the presidency in unethical or illegal ways and is focused more on his wealth than helping people like them, a new AP-NORC poll finds.
Trump on Tuesday is planning to devote a big chunk of his dwindling time ahead of crucial midterm elections to fly all the way to Alaska, attempting to bolster a Republican incumbent senator in another sign that the GOP fears losing control of Congress.
The Latest:
New press secretary takes just three formal questions
After a lengthy wind-up, Zacharia fielded questions from just three outlets: Breitbart News, Fox News and the Daily Mail.
Breitbart asked about her commitment to “new media” in the White House press corps and the president’s future travel plans.
Fox News queried her about Ukraine, and Zacharia deferred, saying “I’ll have to get back to you on that.”
It was in response to the third question, from the Daily Mail, that Zacharia dropped major news: that the administration has asked embattled U.S. ambassador to Greece, Kimberly Guilfoyle, to resign.
“She has been a wonderful asset to the team and we wish her well,” Zacharia said.
New WH press secretary ends her first briefing after about 15 minutes, having taken few questions
Roughly half of Katie Zacharia’s first news briefing as the White House press secretary was a topper in which she read out Trump’s achievements.
Zacharia then took a few questions and finished her first briefing in about 15 minutes total.
She called on three reporters for questions, but received shouted questions after announcing the briefing was over.
New WH press secretary says her job is to ‘amplify’ what Trump is doing
At her first news briefing, White House press secretary Katie Zacharia said her job inside the administration would be no different than her advocacy for Trump while outside the government.
“I get to do what I was doing on the outside already, which was hoping to amplify, multiply and expand upon President Trump’s incredible agenda for the American people,” she said.
Zacharia said her goals is to “amplify” what Trump is doing and that the president is “his own best spokesperson.”
Kimberly Guilfoyle, Trump’s ambassador to Greece, is asked to resign
Trump appointee Kimberly Guilfoyle, the U.S. ambassador to Greece, has been asked to resign from her post, the new Trump press secretary Katie Zacharia said Tuesday, after coming under severe criticism over allegations she has engaged in improper and possibly illegal conduct before and during her tenure in Athens.
Guilfoyle’s requested departure comes after its possibility was previewed to The Associated Press over the weekend and the president registered his unhappiness with reports about Guilfoyle’s alleged conduct.
“Well, we’re looking at it,” Trump told reporters on Monday. “We’re not happy.”
The Associated Press, citing a senior U.S. official, had reported that Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio were “extremely pissed off” by Guilfoyle’s reported conduct.
Zacharia’s first question is to Breitbart
The new press secretary took her first briefing question from Breitbart News, the right-wing outlet who has become more influential in the Trump era.
Breitbart is sitting in the briefing room as part of the “new media” rotation, which was created under her predecessor to bring additional media outlets into news briefings and the White House press pool.
“We are absolutely going to keep it,” Zacharia said of the new media seat. The White House will expand it to the extent possible, she added.
Zacharia starts with prepared remarks on Trump’s midterm blitz
Before taking questions from reporters, Zacharia read slowly from an opening statement that began with a focus on Trump’s recent campaign rallies ahead of the midterm elections.
Zacharia cited what she called a “blockbuster” rally in Youngstown, Ohio, on Monday along with planned visits to Alaska, Arizona and Montana, where Zacharia said she will join the president.
“He is an energetic president,” Zacharia said.
Her prepared remarks went on to cover a range of other topics including Trump’s policies on the economy and the U.S. border.
Saudi Arabia has been pushing for more direct US military support in fight against Houthi
The U.S. has provided intelligence sharing, target identification and planning for a Saudi-led offensive, but has held off on carrying out strikes against the Houthis.
A U.S. intervention could prompt the Houthis to try to halt shipping through the Bab el-Mandeb, restricting the flow of oil out of the Persian Gulf.
Trump told reporters in Washington on Monday that the Houthis were “misbehaving very badly,” but didn’t say anything about whether the U.S. would respond to the rebels.
Saudis and Yemen’s Houthi rebels exchange threats to escalate regional conflict
Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels and a Saudi Arabia-led coalition threatened Tuesday to carry out new strikes against each other, a fresh escalation in the widening crisis in the Middle East.
The coalition asked civilians in Houthi-controlled Sanaa to evacuate a Yemeni Oil Company site ahead of a possible strike. Houthi military spokesman Brig. Gen. Yahya Saree responded that any attack on Sanaa would be met with a “firm and painful” response in Riyadh.
Saudi Arabia is scrambling to determine how its air defenses failed to intercept a barrage of missiles and drones fired by the Houthis, including an attack on Riyadh’s international airport on Saturday that killed at least 13 people and wounded over 300. The latest conflict began after rebels seized key areas along the Bab el-Mandeb Strait and threatened transports of Gulf oil through the Red Sea.
Zacharia begins first briefing as press secretary
Katie Zacharia, the newly appointed White House press secretary, has taken the podium to take questions from reporters during her first press briefing on Tuesday.
Zacharia started the job Monday after Trump announced last week that he had chosen her to replace Karoline Leavitt, who left the post in August.
Zacharia is a conservative commentator who previously worked as a senior communications adviser for Trump Media & Technology Group, the company behind the president’s Truth Social platform.
Supreme Court sides with Trump administration in lawsuit seeking records about Elon Musk’s DOGE
The Supreme Court, siding with the Trump administration, agreed on Tuesday to hear arguments in a watchdog’s lawsuit seeking public records about billionaire Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency.
The high court is intervening for a second time in the case brought by Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, which seeks access to records from DOGE operations in the early days of Trump’s second term.
Last year, the high court reined in a district court’s order for the government to produce DOGE-related records to CREW. The high court’s conservative majority concluded in June 2025 that U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper ruled too broadly in ordering documents to be turned over to the group.
AI data centers are coming for federal land. They’re roiling the Nevada governor’s race
Voters across the United States are worried about the effects artificial intelligence data centers are having on electricity bills, water and the environment.
The data center issue has dominated the competitive governor’s race in Nevada, where 80% of the land is owned by the federal government. Republican Gov. Joe Lombardo is fighting Democratic challenger Aaron Ford, the state’s attorney general. The winner will see the state through the push by Trump’s Republican administration for AI data center development including on public lands.
Lombardo doesn’t outright oppose building data centers on public lands, as long as they have community support. Ford pledges to oppose data centers on public lands.
A curious mix of policing, policy and politics is playing out on the US-Mexico border
The Army has been inviting reporters to the Rio Grande Valley as it deploys hundreds more soldiers to the region this month by shifting some of the thousands of troops already serving along the 2,000-mile border. U.S. officials said the troop surge follows signs of elevated activity from drug cartels and has been accompanied by increased cooperation from the Mexican military.
With Republican candidates facing headwinds due to Trump’s unpopularity, persistently high prices and the fallout from the war in Iran, border security has remained a relative bright spot in Trump’s polling numbers, with about half of Americans saying they approve of his performance there.
But some experts question the need for such a large military presence. Illegal border crossings have plummeted due in part to asylum restrictions that began before Trump returned to the White House, and a large percentage of the drugs seized along the border is being smuggled through checkpoints.
Speaker Mike Johnson plans to stay put as House GOP leader
The House speaker recently told CBS News that win or lose the House majority, he plans to run again to lead House Republicans in the party’s internal elections this fall.
“In the unlikely scenario where we lost the majority, I would expect my colleagues would ask me to continue leading this conference,” Johnson told CBS News.
Johnson, who is crisscrossing the country to campaign for Republicans, caught attention last week after having quipped to Fox News that if Republicans lose power he may return to his Shreveport, Louisiana hometown and start a lawn care business, if that’s God’s plan for him.
The speaker remains upbeat that House Republicans will retain their majority despite what’s traditionally a difficult midterm election for the party in power.
US law requires halting Russian oil imports. Trump has other plans
Congress approved legislation in response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine in spring of 2022 to ban the import of Russian energy products as the financial fuel for Putin’s military assaults. It passed the House 414-17 and unanimously passed the Senate before President Joe Biden signed it.
The law says the president can seek to lift the prohibition only if an agreement has been reached to withdraw Russian troops from Ukraine and cease military activity — and even then such a proposal would need to be reviewed by Congress and to have been “accepted by the free and independent government of Ukraine.”
“Trump is directly violating that law,” said Rep. Lloyd Doggett, D-Texas, the bill’s chief sponsor, in a statement Monday.
Last month, Congress approved a sweeping Russian sanctions bill, named after the late GOP Sen. Lindsey Graham, that would slap tariffs on countries that continue importing Russian oil. Trump signed the bill into law.
Trump rally in Ohio included scuffle with protester
A protester wearing a “Release The Epstein Files” shirt disrupted Trump’s Ohio rally on Monday night.
Before the person was escorted from the event, video showed other attendees grabbing, shoving and pulling the protester’s hair.
The president mocked the protester from the stage and said people who disrupt his rallies are “scum.”
Messages seeking more information were left with the Youngstown police and Mahoning County sheriff’s office.
New White House press secretary Katie Zacharia to hold first briefing
Zacharia officially started the job on Monday and watched from the sidelines as Trump answered questions from reporters as he departed the White House for a campaign trip to Ohio.
Her first press briefing was scheduled for 9:30 a.m. Tuesday.
Zacharia is a conservative commentator and had been a communications adviser to the media company that Trump owns and operates his social media site.
Trump announced her appointment last week. Zacharia succeeds Karoline Leavitt, who stepped down in August following the birth of her second child.
FACT FOCUS: Posts falsely claim Democratic Senate candidate James Talarico was at a mental facility
Republican officials and conservative social media users spread unfounded rumors in recent days that state Rep. James Talarico, the Democratic nominee in a competitive Texas Senate race, had suffered a mental health crisis.
Questions about Talarico’s whereabouts began spreading after the candidate was not seen in public for nine days. But he and his campaign have repeatedly attributed his absence to the flu.
Here’s a closer look at the facts:
CLAIM: Democratic Senate candidate James Talarico was being treated in an Ohio mental health facility last week.
THE FACTS: This is false. The facility where he was said to have been treated has denied he was ever a patient there. Both he and his campaign have said he was recovering from the flu. Talarico has type 1 diabetes, which means he has a higher risk of developing complications from the flu. Regardless, Talarico’s schedule doesn’t align with what was presented as evidence of his stay at the mental health facility and images reviewed by The Associated Press showed Talarico at home over several days last week.
Federal judge orders Trump administration to halt work for a day on historic DC golf course
U.S. District Judge Ana Reyes on Monday ordered a 24-hour halt to tree-cutting at the East Potomac Golf Course, a historic D.C. course that has been part of President Donald Trump’s plans to remake the city.
Reyes issued the order following a tense three-hour hearing in which she harshly criticized the government for having deceived her with its actions over the holiday weekend.
Reyes said the 24-hour temporary order could be extended to 14 days if necessary. It was limited to one day while the government tries to find a key Trump administration official to discuss why a massive tree-cutting at the park needed to occur over the holiday weekend, with little notification to plaintiffs in a lawsuit trying to halt renovation plans or the judge.
It’s the latest example of the erosion of trust between the government and the independent judiciary, as the Trump administration tries to steamroll scrutiny of its actions, from the White House ballroom to immigration enforcement.
Trump is heading all the way to Alaska in a sign of just how close its Senate race may be
It’s a long way from Washington, has a small population and hasn’t backed a Democrat for Senate in nearly 20 years.
Yet Trump on Tuesday will devote a big chunk of his dwindling time ahead of crucial midterm elections to head all the way to Alaska — attempting to bolster a Republican incumbent senator in another sign of GOP fears about retaining control of Congress after Election Day on Nov. 3.
Trump is headlining a rally for Sen. Dan Sullivan in Wasilla, about 45 miles (72 kilometers) north of Anchorage — famous for being the hometown of former Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin and the headquarters of the Iditarod sled dog race across the state.
Trump’s stop is part of a western swing also taking him to rallies in Arizona and Montana on Wednesday.
“Dan Sullivan’s a great senator,” Trump said last week, adding, “You look at the things he’s done. He would call me all the time because I think — I definitely know — nobody has helped Alaska like Donald Trump.”
Trump’s diesel deal with Putin draws criticism from a frustrated Congress
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi stood before Donald Trump during his first term at the White House and pointed a finger, declaring that with this president, “All roads lead to Putin.”
The stark assessment years ago from Pelosi echoed anew after Trump’s surprise announcement last week that he struck a deal with Russian President Vladimir Putin to import tons of Russian diesel to the U.S. as a way to ease sky-high prices at the pumps for Americans ahead of the midterm elections.
Trump’s diesel deal with Putin has been criticized by both Republicans and Democrats as fueling Russia’s war against Ukraine, violating existing U.S. laws and drawing the U.S. closer to Russia. It joins a growing list of instances where the president has sided with Putin, often at the expense of Ukraine — and America’s own standing.
“The harm to the Ukrainians is real,” said William Taylor, a former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine, now a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council, in an interview Monday.
“And the cost to us, the United States, is high.”
