Trump says he has ‘no regrets’ about endorsing Ken Paxton amid leaked recordings
Donald Trump said he has “no regrets at all” about endorsing Ken Paxton in the Senate race in Texas.
Paxton, the Republican nominee in one of the most anticipated competitions of this midterm cycle, reportedly complained about the impact of the Iran war and high gas prices on his precarious performance. A number of polls have Paxton trailing his Democratic rival, James Talarico, and Republican groups are spending tens of millions of dollars to support his election bid.
“He was a great attorney general, I think he’ll be a great senator,” Trump told reporters today.
According to an audio recording obtained by Axios, Paxton can be heard responding to questions about the main issues affecting his race at a fundraiser in Washington DC. “It’s not tariffs,” he said. “It’s the war, it’s gas prices, it’s diesel.”
Paxton noted that the ability to end the conflict with Iran, and ease prices is beyond his control, according to the audio shared with Axios. “So many factors in this federal race are uncontrollable,” the Republican nominee said. “I don’t make the decisions.”
Key events
Hegseth welcomes USS Abraham Lincoln crew back to US after record-breaking deployment
Pete Hegseth, the defense secretary, welcomed back the crew of the USS Abraham Lincoln back to the US in San Diego today.
A reminder, the aircraft carrier was at sea for more than 300 days, after its deployment was extended in May, amid the ongoing Iran war.
“You responded from minute one, constant combat operations, which Iran never expected-the kind of fire and fury that you were able to bring off this flight deck, along with other incredible Americans,” Hegseth said. “The only reaction the American people and the American media should have is pride.”
However, time on the ship has been marked by controversy. According to Hung Cao, the acting US navy secretary, eight US navy personnel assigned to the Lincoln carrier strike group attempted suicide since the start of their lengthy assignment – a Navy record for the longest continuous period at sea without a port call.
Last week, Hegseth appeared to reference the mental health crisis while speaking to lower-ranking troops at the Marine Corps Base, insisting there are “disingenuous headlines about deployment lengths, patently false claims of low troop morale, or flat-out propaganda, as if it’s written by our adversaries”.
MS Now also reported in August on alarming allegations of mold in the ship’s showers and dwindling supplies of food and soap, among other basic necessities. At the time, Hegseth dismissed reports about deteriorating conditions on board as “completely misrepresented”.
My colleague, Anna Betts, has been speaking to families of crew members ahead of the Lincoln’s return. You can read her full report here:
In the Oval Office, Trump dismissed any concerns about Mike Rogers’ recent campaign ad, where the Republican nominee for US Senate in Michigan calls to “end this tariff war – now”.
The spot appears to be another instance of Rogers trying to create daylight between his bid and the administration’s policies. “Here in Michigan, we know that Canada is not our enemy,” he says in the ad.
Trump, however, said he “viewed it as though [Rogers] wanted Canada to make a deal”, before launching into a familiar rant about how the country has been “ripping off” the US for “many, many years”.
A reminder that trade talks broke down in August between the US and Canada – resulting in a flurry of reciprocal tariffs of up to 50% between the countries.
A reminder that Trump will be back in Texas later today, where he’ll rally alongside Ken Paxton in San Antonio.
The presidnt most recently traveled to Denton, Texas less than a week ago – a sign that the Senate race is one of the his top midterm priorities.
Democrats haven’t won a statewide election in Texas in more than 30 years, but James Talarico’s rising star and performance on the campaign trail, coupled with favorable polling, has concerned local and national Republicans about the party’s grip on the Lone star state.
Trump says he has ‘no regrets’ about endorsing Ken Paxton amid leaked recordings
Donald Trump said he has “no regrets at all” about endorsing Ken Paxton in the Senate race in Texas.
Paxton, the Republican nominee in one of the most anticipated competitions of this midterm cycle, reportedly complained about the impact of the Iran war and high gas prices on his precarious performance. A number of polls have Paxton trailing his Democratic rival, James Talarico, and Republican groups are spending tens of millions of dollars to support his election bid.
“He was a great attorney general, I think he’ll be a great senator,” Trump told reporters today.
According to an audio recording obtained by Axios, Paxton can be heard responding to questions about the main issues affecting his race at a fundraiser in Washington DC. “It’s not tariffs,” he said. “It’s the war, it’s gas prices, it’s diesel.”
Paxton noted that the ability to end the conflict with Iran, and ease prices is beyond his control, according to the audio shared with Axios. “So many factors in this federal race are uncontrollable,” the Republican nominee said. “I don’t make the decisions.”
Answering reporters, the president said the administration does not view the suddent death of a lab technician in Siberia as a “bio-weapon” incident.
“If you listen to them, it’s under control,” Trump told reporters at in the Oval Office.
A reminder that Darya Shipilova, a 28-year-old employee at the anti-plague institute in the city of Irkutsk, became ill at work. She died two days later. It remains unclear how she became unwell. Unconfirmed reports in Russian media have suggested Shipilova may have been infected by a pneumonic plague, after a mishap at the laboratory.
Christian Lindmeier, a WHO spokesperson, said on Tuesday that there was no sign of a wider outbreak. “All of the patients’ contacts have reportedly been identified and are being monitored for illness, and none to date have shown symptoms of illness,” he said.
On Tuesday, Marco Rubio, the secretary of state, said that it is “incumbent upon Russia to obviously share more information with the world”.
Donald Trump is now speaking in the Oval Office, where he announced that “every eligible minor child in America” has now been automatically enrolled in a Trump account – a savings vehicle named after the US president which receives $1,000 from the government.
Parents, friends and employers will be able to deposit as much as $5,000 a year into the accounts.
Created by the One Big Beautiful Bill Act – the signature domestic policy measure of Trump’s second term that congressional Republicans passed last year – the accounts will be controlled by parents and guardians until their children turn 18, after which they will take responsibility and be able to use saved-up funds to pay for college, buy a home or start a business.
Trump says he will fire top political advisers ‘if there’s a conflict’ following reported trip to Russia-aligned Bosnian territory
Donald Trump on Wednesday said he would “immediately” fire his political advisers Chris LaCivita and James Blair “if there’s a conflict,” following a New York Times report that the two political operatives visited the Russian-aligned Bosnian territory of Republika Srpska.
The New York Times on Tuesday reported that LaCivita and Blair had visited the territory in Bosnia and Herzegovina ahead of elections there on Sunday, and were paid hundreds of thousands of dollars through a DC-based law firm, retained by the territory’s government.
Trump had chosen the two to lead campaign operations ahead of the 3 November elections. LaCivita was formerly a senior adviser on the president’s 2024 campaign, and Blair was formerly a White House adviser who took a temporary leave of absence to head up Maga Inc – the Trump-aliged Super Pac.
In a Truth Social post, Trump said the two advisers “do not work for me, other than as outside consultants,” adding: “They are allowed to do work for others, just like all consultants in Washington, D.C. I do not have any idea who else they work for but will, on reflection, ask them and, if there’s a conflict, I will terminate them, immediately!”
Housing officials in the Trump administration are launching a probe into Wells Fargo over programs and commitments the bank made nearly a decade ago to increase homeownership among Black Americans, according to a report from the Wall Street Journal.
The Journal cited a letter from the Department of Housing and Urban Development sent to Wells Fargo CEO Charlie Scharf on Wednesday, which reportedly said the body would examine whether the bank violated fair-lending laws by favoring Black or other minority homeowners.
In January 2025, Donald Trump ended diversity, inclusion and equity (DEI) practices within the federal government with executive orders and has continued to threaten companies that still support it.
In a new campaign ad, Mike Rogers – the Republican nominee for the open US Senate seat in Michigan – is trying to show a bit of daylight between his platform and the Trump administration’s trade war with the state’s neighbor, Canada.
“Here in Michigan, we know that Canada is not our enemy,” Rogers, a former congressman, says while perched at a sports bar drinking a Canadian beer. “We need to end this tariff war – now.”
Rogers doesn’t mention Donald Trump in the spot, but says he will “bring both parties together to lower your prices” if he is elected. And slams his rival, Abdul El-Sayed, claiming that the Democratic nominee’s policies will lead to steep tax hikes for Michiganders.
Recently, Rogers also broke with the president by calling for an end to the war in Iran in another campaign ad, as gas prices continue to climb. This comes after Rogers initially supporting the conflict in its early months.
Helena Smith
Reporting from Athens
More from the Greek capital where US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, is set to deliver a speech shortly.
In a day packed with talk of energy and defense, gas ‘corridors’ and trade, counter-terrorism and US military bases – all earning Greece the encomium of being the region’s “pillar of stability” according to Rubio – it is the foreign policy chief, himself, who has made the news.
Rubio’s decision to use the trip to deliver a major address “on democracy and its future”, from the ancient Pnyx has imbued the visit with an air of excitement.
Until late last night it was far from sure that the US secretary of state would have access to the august setting because of security reasons.
Only hours before more than 1,500 protestors, appalled by the war in Iran, had marched through the streets of central Athens waving banners declaring him persona non grata.
From the earliest days of Athens democracy, the Pnyx was a meeting place for popular assemblies and is now among the greatest photo-ops on Earth. But set among the rocky hills beneath the fifth century BC Acropolis, it is also notoriously hard to secure. Former US president Barack Obama had also wanted to make a speech from the hill – during his last official trip overseas – but was denied the pleasure because of security concerns. Excerpts of Rubio’s address released by the state department suggest he will focus on the shared values that have united Americans and Europeans in what has also been described as a rallying cry for “a great renewal of the western spirit.”
But there are also fears the US secretary of state may use the dramatic setting to make a speech in the spirit of the blistering attack on Europe issued by vice-president JD Vance at the Munich Security conference last year.
ICE investigated voting rights non-profits, internal documents show
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) investigated hundreds of non-profit groups that helped people register to vote, according to internal government documents obtained by legal non-profit Democracy Forward.
The documents show that the probes were conducted by Homeland Security Investigations (HSI). One of them reads: “Future [undercover]-related operations may involve utilizing [undercover agents] to target identified organizations and engage in communications with these entities to substantiate recruitment methods and activities related to illegal alien voter registration”.
Donald Trump has repeated, relentlessly, that he wants to tackle rampant voter fraud and non-citizens casting ballots, when experts note that the practoce of non-citzens voting in elections is extremely rare.
The document also said the covert efforts “will support broader investigative and enforcement actions, leveraging [undercover] findings to initiate prosecutions and dismantle illicit facilitation networks.”
Dozens of groups, from across the country, were investigated. Some of these non-profits partner with larger groups, like Voto Latino – which focuses on voter registration and get-out-the-vote efforts for Hispanic and Latino citizens.
José Olivares
A group of people detained inside a privately run Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) jail in Georgia have launched a mass hunger strike this week to protest against their prolonged detention and the facility’s conditions, according to advocates and family members.
Advocates estimate at least 73 detained immigrants are participating in the hunger strike inside the Folkston D Ray James ICE processing center in south-east Georgia. The Folkston facility, a former state prison, is run by the private prison company GEO Group under a contract with ICE.
Some of the men participating in the hunger strike released a video and an open letter, requesting they be released while they continue pursuing their asylum and immigration cases.
Two Russian asylum seekers detained in Folkston also released a document they wrote, outlining what they claim to be “violations” inside, including allegations of substandard medical care, threats by GEO Group guards, moldy food and a lack of due process.
“Many of us have been separated from our families,” reads the open letter, which was signed this summer by 45 detained immigrants and published this week, as dozens joined in to stage the hunger strike. “We have missed births, funerals, years of our lives while sitting behind fences without having committed any crime.”
The hunger strike appears to transcend nationality, language and race, according to the detainees’ video, letter and report. The majority of the men who signed the letter are asylum seekers from a wide range of countries, including Russia, China, Sudan, Afghanistan, Nepal and others.
Read the full report here:
