Week 101 — The Return – The Weekly List

With three weeks until midterms, and Trump’s approval at an all time low amid rising inflation, plunging consumer confidence, and an endless unpopular war with Iran, Trump offered a new giveaway in his effort to buy votes. At a rally in Alaska, Trump started awarding pardons on stage, while continuing to promise $5,000 checks if Republicans held the House and Senate, all while his regime sent $90 and $500 checks to millions of Americans. Trump spent much of the week jet-setting to rallies, many in states that had not gone for Democrats in decades, only to find empty seats and, at times, empty sections in venues smaller than those he filled in 2024 — a testament of how out of touch he has become with the electorate.

In his desperation to staunch the spike in diesel prices, Trump inexplicably agreed to buy energy from Russia, giving Russian President Vladimir Putin not only billions to spend on the war, but also an upper hand in what had become a stalemate. Trump also pulled back other support, and chastised Ukraine. Bipartisan Senators objected, but with Congress out of session until after midterms, their pushback was toothless, once again abdicating power to Trump.

This week, Trump remained focused on targeting his perceived enemies and his petty grievances, targeting Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar, Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook, and former White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson. Corruption continued to run rampant among Trump, his family, and his regime, with backroom deals being made and investigations dropped. Kimberly Guilfoyle was the sacrificial lamb this week, forced to resign as U.S. Ambassador to Greece. Notably, Guilfoyle’s resignation, amid reports of far worse among Trump’s family and his regime, marked the fifth major firing of a high profile woman in Trump’s orbit, while the men played through.

Some other of the autocratic acts this week were especially alarming. Defense Department Secretary Pete Hegseth promised to livestream a firing squad execution. Trump continued to use taxpayer money to broadcast propaganda ads. Trump spent days stewing about not being awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. Trump’s regime continued to thumb their noses at federal judges, including in their targeting of media outlets, and more. An alarming week with three weeks until the election.

A Reuters/Ipsos poll found that 86% of Americans believed it was inappropriate to use taxpayer money to pay for election-related TV ads featuring the president or his cabinet, including 80% of Republicans, while 9% said it was appropriate.
Late Sunday, days after Trump falsely claimed that his Super PAC had started to pay for ads, a federal judge issued a temporary order blocking the Trump regime from airing taxpayer-funded campaign ads, saying the regime must “cancel or cause to be cancelled” ads by Sunday night.
Two of the ads continued airing numerous times after the 6:45 pm ET deadline on Sunday night. On Monday, the White House claimed in a statement that “DHS did not receive notice from the court in time to cancel the ad buys.” All $20 million of taxpayer funds had been spent.
WSJ reported that anti-Trump Republican Rep. Don Bacon and Democrat Rep. Josh Gottheimer circulated a pledge to members of Congress, asking them to promise they will accept midterm-election results, citing Trump’s fraud claims and the Jan. 6 insurrection.
The letter opposed “efforts to undermine free and fair elections …including any attempt to refuse or delay the seating of any Member-elect.” The Heritage Foundation had claimed that GOP leaders did not need to accept states’ results that were not accurate or fair.
WSJ reported changes made to Trump Accounts, for which 60 million children were automatically enrolled in Week 100, meant that children would receive donated stock, and children and parents could not pick stocks or reject donated shares, and could not sell for five years.
The changes were made without notice to accounts that were originally marketed as cash donations of $1,000 per newborn, that encouraged children to be invested broadly in U.S. companies. The regime fielded questions as to whether it would let people opt out of the accounts.
On Wednesday, Trump posted on Truth Social that he would “terminate” ties with his longtime political advisers Chris LaCivita and James Blair, after an NYT article in Week 100 reported that the two were paid advisors for a Russia-aligned government in Republika Srpska, “if there’s a conflict.”
NYT reported that Brian J. Visalli, a 24-year I.R.S. veteran who became a whistleblower, sued the agency, saying it leaked his confidential personnel records to federal prosecutors, after he spoke out about the agency’s failure to rein in multinational companies from tax dodging.
WSJ reported that ahead of her confirmation hearings to become U.S. ambassador to Greece, Kimberly Guilfoyle pushed Trump donor Eric Deters to pay off her $100,000 American Express bill, posting on Signal, “It won’t show up anywhere if you wire money to American Express.”
Deters had promised payments of up to $1 million to Guilfoyle if she could use her influence to help get attention from the Trump regime on some personal tax and legal issues. She later forwarded his concerns to the IRS chief. Deters denied he ever made the AMEX payment.
On Tuesday, the newly appointed White House press secretary, Katie Zacharia, told reporters that Trump had asked Guilfoyle to resign. Shortly after, Guilfoyle resigned. Notably, Guilfoyle was the latest woman in the regime to be fired, including four cabinet members.
Zacharia had a very bumpy first briefing that lasted 14 minutes, with her taking three questions from friendly media outlets. White House officials off the record called her performance “brutal,” and others questioned why she was sent out so quickly, or how long she would last.
CNN reported that Zacharia had a history of posting about baseless conspiracy theories, including the “Pizzagate” theory and “Stop the Steal” claims of fraud. She also posted extremist positions about suspending habeas corpus for migrants. Several posts were deleted.
Trump had called Zacharia “an attorney,” and she identified herself as a lawyer on Fox News appearances. When a reporter asked in which state she passed her bar exam, she said, “When I moved to China.” There was no evidence she was admitted to practice law in the U.S.
Asked by reporters about the Guilfoyle resignation, Trump dismissed his close relationship with her, saying, “she wasn’t a member of my family. She, I guess, dated my son a long time ago.” Notably, she was engaged to Donald Jr. and had close ties to Trump.
WAPO reported former Trump regime officials are finding new jobs at companies looking to profit off of Venezuelan oil. Brittany Kelm, a former top liaison to the oil and gas industry, worked at Sable Offshore, which was in advanced talks with the Venezuelan government.
Michael Jensen, who was a top Trump regime official for Latin America policy, took a job as operations executive at Primavera, a new energy company launched by the chief executive of Coinbase, and flew down to Venezuela to scout for oil deals.
FT reported Katie Wiles, daughter of Trump’s chief of staff Susie Wiles, was a partner at Continental Strategy, and had visited Republika Srpska in mid-August in connection with a lobbying contract. Continental also signed a contract to lobby for Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Bloomberg reported Commodity Futures Trading Commission forensic analysts were told to drop their analysis of a spike in suspicious oil energy trades on March 23, made minutes before Trump posted about a change in strategy in Iran, and which had netted millions in profits.
An investigation was opened after a referral. Mel Gunewardena, a senior adviser to CFTC Chair Michael Zelig, and who served in the CFTC during the first regime, told the supervisor to retract the referral. Experts said dropping the investigation was unprecedented.
NYT reported that after Joseph diGenova and Kurt Olsen resigned from Trump’s “grand conspiracy” investigation of those who investigated Trump, dozens of other DOJ prosecutors were still being pressured by DOJ leadership to fast-track cases against Trump’s perceived enemies.
Leadership of the effort was moved to DOJ headquarters in D.C., and assigned to one of Attorney General Todd Blanche’s top deputies, Aakash Singh. It was unclear if charges would be filed, but Trump did instill fear, and cause his enemies to incur significant legal bills.
The investigation upended the U.S. attorney’s office for the Southern District of Florida, led by Trump appointee Jason A. Reding Quiñones, which lost almost half of its staff to firings and resignations, and had low morale. Important cases were halted to focus on retribution.
NYT reported Trump ally John Solomon, who chaired a White House “transparency” task force, released selective call logs, and omitted related context, which far-right media outlets used to manufacture a narrative about the “weaponization” that led to Trump’s indictments.
On Thursday, Trump formally established a “committee of inquiry,” and appointed three loyalist members, to investigate allegations that Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook made false statements related to “one or more mortgage instruments.” The amount in dispute was roughly $50.
The Supreme Court had ruled against Trump for failing to have a process. The hearings would start two days after midterms. Lawyers for Cook disputed the legitimacy of the inquiry, but said she would participate to “clear her name” and show there was no basis to fire her.
Punchbowl News reported Trump’s DOJ was seeking a federal criminal indictment of former White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson, over her alleged lies to Congress during her Jan. 6 testimony. It was unclear what parts of her testimony were at issue.
In an unusual move for this type of case, the Civil Rights Division was handling the investigation, rather than Jeanine Pirro, the U.S. attorney for D.C. It was unclear why.
On Monday, Homeland Security officials raided Democrat Rep. Ilhan Omar’s residence, as part of a criminal investigation, reportedly related to her immigration paperwork. Omar was a frequent target of Trump, who has said she “should be in jail” and be “sent back to Somalia.”
The raid was highly unusual given DOJ practice in recent history, which advised prosecutors not to take any overt investigative steps against members of Congress or candidates within 60 days of an election. Omar was up for re-election in 22 days.
Days earlier, Trump had also sent a series of anti-Somali and anti-Muslim posts, including baselessly claiming, “The once Great State of Minnesota is being taken over by Somali Immigrants. There is Violence, Murder, and Mayhem all over the State.” Omar is from Minnesota.
Trump encouraged the people in Minnesota to “Fight back Minnesota, fight back!” adding, “They view you as weak and stupid people.” After the raid, Trump called Omar “totally crooked,” but claimed the raid had “nothing to do with me.”
Omar called the raid an “attempt to target political enemies and weaponize federal law enforcement,” noting Trump had targeted her for ten years with lies and smears, and this was “just the latest escalation in his campaign of political intimidation.”
WAPO reported that Homeland Security Investigations had reopened an investigation of Omar, after the agency had declined to move forward years earlier, on claims that she or her late father may had lied on decades-old immigration paperwork, while she was a teenager.
On Tuesday, U.S. Attorney Pirro told Fox News that she had launched a separate inquiry into Omar’s financial disclosure forms. Trump posted on Truth Social on Tuesday, “America wants answers, and we want them, NOW!”
PBS News reported according to a new internal DOJ memo, Senate-confirmed appointees were exempt from strict restrictions that govern the political conduct of most senior officials, breaking decades of precedent, and allowing Blanche and other senior regime officials to be on the campaign trail.
On Thursday, new data from the CDC showed the number of teens who identified themselves as gay or bisexual had fallen sharply, especially among young teenage girls. Conservative activists celebrated the news, and thanked Trump, although the direct cause was unclear.
On Thursday, the New York Fed found in its data that the cost of 67 categories of goods had risen during 2025 into early 2026 as a direct result of Trump’s tariffs, and that without tariffs the prices would have fallen.
On Friday, the U.S. consumer sentiment for early October fell to 44.7, the lowest level on record, and down from 50.9 in early September, as views of economic conditions hit an all-time low and consumers worried about inflation.
On Thursday, an attorney for CNN, MS NOW and Politico asked the federal judge to prevent Trump from barring the outlets from the White House, saying Trump’s ban was “viewpoint discrimination,” and violated the outlets’ First Amendment rights.
On Friday, major TV networks, including ABC, CBS, CNN, NBC, and Fox News, were notified by Trump’s DOJ that they were being investigated over whether they had violated antitrust laws by suspending their pool coverage of Trump when the other networks were banned.
In a statement on Saturday, the DOJ claimed, “Group boycotts among commercial competitors can violate the Sherman Act.” The DOJ demanded copies of communications between the networks. The investigation marked a significant escalation by the regime.
On Tuesday, the federal judge again blocked Trump from banning CNN, MS NOW, and Politico from the White House, citing the ban had violated their rights to due process, and added that it had violated their First Amendment rights. The ruling did not address their pool assignments.
On Tuesday, the BBC asked a judge to compel Trump to sit for a deposition as part of his $10 billion defamation lawsuit against the broadcaster, after his lawyers said he was “no longer available” for a scheduled deposition on Friday, “nearly eight months into discovery.”
On Tuesday, the Pentagon named one of its public affairs officials, Christian Devine, to act as publisher of Stars and Stripes, while maintaining his role in public affairs. It was unclear if he would have editorial say in the temporary role.
On Thursday, at a press conference, Vice President JD Vance accused Microsoft, Adobe, and six IT services companies of abusing the visa system by prioritizing foreign workers over Americans, and froze their access to H-1B visas and green cards for workers.
Vance told companies not to lay off Americans and “replace them with foreign indentured servants.” India’s Ministry of External Affairs said in a statement that Vance had used “terminology that carries painful historical and colonial legacy connotations.”
The announcement came hours after Trump honored tech billionaires, including Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, who once ⁠held an H-1B visa, as did Elon Musk, who was also honored.
CNN reported that according to Trump’s August disclosures, he purchased $5 million bonds in Musk’s SpaceX, just two days before his regime launched an effort to slash red tape for commercial space transportation.
Among Trump’s 517 trades were also the purchase of $25 million in Meta stock, and $6 million of Microsoft stock. These trades occurred weeks before Trump convened an AI Summit at the White House, that included the chief executives of SpaceX, Meta, and Microsoft.
NYT reported Musk had become the biggest donor of the 2026 midterms, quietly pouring $276 million into Republican groups since July, bringing his known federal political giving for the 2025–26 cycle to roughly $366 million, eclipsing the $290 million he spent in 2024.
The $276 million number was based on what is publicly known. The NYT noted Musk also made some seven-figure donations to groups that are not required to disclose donors. Musk spent heavily in Texas where several of his businesses were headquartered or did manufacturing.
Musk also promoted a fringe conspiracy theory on X to his 241 million followers about the Democrat running in Texas, amplifying an obscure false claim to make it mainstream. His control of X also gave him an outsized influence in spreading information and misinformation.
NYT reported that after Turkish billionaire Turhan Mildon became engaged to Trump insider Alina Habba, his extensive business interests in Venezuela, which were at risk after Nicolás Maduro was toppled, saw a vast improvement with Delcy Rodriquez given his Trump alliance.
Mildon has previously tried to build ties between a close confidant of Maduro and Republicans in Trump’s orbit. The Trump regime considered placing sanctions on Mildon. He networked in Trump’s circles, met Habba earlier in 2026, and broke off a prior engagement.
On Friday, the 2026 Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to Navi Pillay, a South African human rights lawyer and international judge. Shortly after, Trump attacked Pillay on Truth Social posts, sharing a post that called her “an unabashed hater of America and Israel.”
Hours later, the Trump regime imposed sanctions on the International Criminal Court, on which Pillay was a former judge. Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced, “We will ban transactions with this rogue court, cutting off their resources and crippling its ability to operate.”
Later Friday, at a rally in Syracuse, Trump gave a 10 minute tirade about not getting the prize, saying Pillay was a “mystery person” he had never heard of, adding, “We will not forget, Norway, that you didn’t give this prize.”
Trump also attacked New York AG Letitia James, who was running for re-election in November, calling her “corrupt,” and referring to her as “that disgusting Leticia dog,” and adding that she was “being looked at for prosecutorial misconduct.”
Later Friday, Trump sent a 600-word Truth Social post, claiming that he “should have won 8 Nobel Peace Prizes, not just 1,” and calling the decision “an indelible stain on Norway.”
Trump posted again early Saturday, baselessly claiming that in addition to the eight wars he had settled, he “won a war in Venezuela, and captured the violent dictator” and “stopped the number one state sponsor of terror,” yet “did not get the Noble Peace Prize. WOW!”
On Thursday, Trump posted on Truth Social that his regime considers anyone “that uses the term, ‘Artificial Intelligence,’” instead of his term
“‘Super Intelligence,’” would be considered “THE ENEMY!” The term superintelligence had a separate meaning for academics.
Trump also posted that he would not attack Iran before midterms, claiming the two countries were “having productive discussions.” The posts came as the U.S. military prepared options to restart major combat operations, after threats by Trump of a major strike.
Later Thursday, ICE agents shot at Oscar Belgal in his car with his 5 year-old son, as part of a targeted operation in the Bronx. An ICE official claimed the agents shot because they believed “their life and the life of their partners and the general public were in danger.” Protests erupted.
NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani called Trump and asked for the man’s release, which was not granted, and said the agents wore clothes making them unidentifiable. Video footage released Friday showed an agent wearing a yellow vest and plain clothes.
WIRED reported the ICE agent involved in the shooting, supervisor Brenden Cuni, had a history of alleged violent arrests, and was named in multiple lawsuits for using excessive force, including tackling a pregnant woman. Several of his arrests were found to be unlawful.
NYT reported that Homeland Security was considering using ships to deport migrants to Central and South America. The journey would take days. Former immigration officials compared the idea to the notion of prison ships, given how transport would be conducted.
On Thursday, Defense Department Sec. Pete Hegseth announced the Pentagon would publicly livestream the firing squad execution of Nidal Hasan, at the Texas base where he carried out the 2019 massacre of 13 U.S. troops. The firing squad execution would be the first in decades.
The announcement was met with bipartisan condemnation. GOP Sen. Thom Tillis posted on X, “Public executions are what oppressive dictatorships” do. The U.S. Archbishop called the plan “a barbaric promotion of a culture of death and must be reconsidered.”
On Friday, Trump told reporters that he “absolutely” approved of live-streaming the execution. Vance said he would not watch the live-stream and was skeptical it would happen. FCC Chair Brendan Carr told CNBC that his agency would defer to the Pentagon.
On Sunday, House Speaker Mike Johnson told CBS News the execution video could become “a recruiting tool for future terrorists.” He also said he planned to stay if the GOP lost control of the House in midterms, after previously suggesting that he would return to Louisiana.
On Friday, Trump hosted hundreds of Italian Americans at the White House, and cast himself as the protector of Christopher Columbus, days before the holiday, “saying the radical left communists hate Columbus and they want to abolish Columbus Day.”
On Friday, with 25 days left until midterms, Trump announced on Truth Social that after a “highly successful” call with Russian President Putin, Russia would supply diesel to “the American and Global Marketplace,” claiming prices would be “COMING DOWN…AND FAST!”
Analysts said the deal was unlikely to lead to lower sustained diesel prices. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky criticized the deal announced while a Ukrainian envoy was in the U.S., saying, “Gifts to Putin will not bring peace or any benefit to the civilized world.”
On Saturday, Trump told reporters that Ukraine should get a new president “who can make a deal,” blaming Zelensky for higher diesel prices. A recent AP-NORC poll found that most Americans disapproved of Trump’s handling of the Iran war, and blamed him for higher prices.
On Sunday, Trump declared on Truth Social that “Effective immediately, there is an ENERGY CEASEFIRE” between Russia and Ukraine. Shortly after, Ukraine said Russia had hit at least six energy targets, with Zelensky posting “Russia is unwilling to accept an energy ceasefire.”
On Sunday, FT reported that the State Department and Pentagon threatened Ukraine that the U.S. would suspend intelligence sharing and allowing European countries to purchase weapons for Ukraine, unless Ukraine stopped its strikes on Russian energy facilities.
On Sunday, a bipartisan group of six Senators called on the Trump regime to “immediately reverse course” on his plan to purchase diesel from Russia, saying the U.S. “should not provide Putin with a financial lifeline while Russia continues to kill Ukrainian civilians.”
The Senators also noted that in 2022, Congress explicitly banned the U.S. from importing Russian energy, to prevent the U.S. from financing Putin’s war on Ukraine. Tillis also refuted Trump, telling “Meet the Press” that “We were very clear that Russia is the aggressor.”
On Monday, Trump defended his decision to import Russian diesel, posting on Truth Social, “I made the right choice for ⁠the American People — ALWAYS, AMERICA FIRST! President DONALD J. TRUMP.”
NYT reported that as the front lines of the Russia-Ukraine war were frozen, Trump’s purchase of diesel would give Russia the upper hand by pumping $4 billion of U.S. money into the Russian economy, and the push to halt Ukraine’s refinery strikes would also be a major win.
Later Monday, Trump posted denying comments by “the Radical Left Morons and Lunatics” that Russia and China were enabling Iran in its war with the U.S., saying if so, “it’s at a very low level, but I don’t believe they are at all,” claiming, “they have too much to lose.”
On Tuesday, twelve Senators, six from each party, wrote in a letter to Trump that allowing Russian diesel into global markets would have a negligible impact on pricing, and would finance Russia’s “desired war of attrition” and “endanger” troops that are part of Operation Epic Fury.
On Wednesday, Ukrainian officials said without warning, they had lost access to a military version of Elon Musk’s Starlink, a pillar of their battlefield communications, allowing Russia to fire dozens of ballistic missiles at their energy infrastructure.
On Tuesday, a federal magistrate judge rebuked Musk and former DHS Sec. Kristi Noem for “outrageous” targeting of ex-FEMA CFO Mary Comans, saying the attacks on her were based entirely on false information” and many officials “knew [they] were untrue.”
The judge said as head of DOGE, Musk “engaged in a coordinated public relations campaign to impugn the personal and professional integrity of Ms. Comans,” and his attacks of her on X were “little more than state sanctioned intimidation.” The judge cleared Comans’ name.
On Saturday, at a rally in Tennessee, Trump suggested renaming either the Atlantic or Pacific Ocean, saying, “We’ve got the gulf. We’ve got a beautiful lake…We need a river. We need an ocean,” adding, “We call it ‘Trump Ocean’ or, or, ‘Ocean of the Americas,’ something like that.”
Trump continued to brag that his rallies were “legendary” and packed, and “there are lines that are two miles long outside. They can’t get in.” Media outlets continued to show empty seats, at times entire sections empty, in venues much smaller than where his 2024 rallies were held.
On Saturday, Trump promised a payment on Truth Social, saying, “If Republicans win the House of Representatives and the Senate, I’m going to give all adult citizens in the United States of America $5,000,” warning of an “economic depression, much like 1929,” if Democrats win.
Late Friday, in a court filing, although Trump claimed he had no final plans to remake the East Potomac Golf Links, the National Park Service said it would remove 529 trees that it claimed did not contribute to the “historic landscape,” to address years of deferred maintenance.
Under the proposed plan, 169 trees would be removed in the first phase, and 90 trees in a second phase, with an many as 529 eventually coming down. NPS did not give information on cost, funding, or closure, but describe it only as a “potential project” that remains under evaluation.
On Monday, U.S. District Judge Ana C. Reyes held an emergency hearing after 430 trees were removed on Saturday, and another 299 were targeted for removal, and lambasted the Trump regime for starting work without giving notice to the court in advance as promised.
Reyes issued an order, saying, “I have no faith that the government isn’t going to cut them down” without an order in place, and scolded the DOJ attorney, saying if the regime violated her order “by two seconds,” it would prompt contempt proceedings.
On Monday, the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool was being refilled again, after a tumultuous summer, and after the regime was forced to admit that the coating peeled because of what the DOJ called a “botched” installation.
On Tuesday, WAPO reported an inspector general report of the pool, dated August 6, found that the blue coating applied had failed in at least 85 places. Notably, even after the report, Trump continued to publicly blame vandalism for the damage.
NYT reported, based on more than 100 open records requests, that threats of political violence against elected officials of both parties, including members of their families, had caused many to leave office or not seek re-election, and deterred many others from running for office.
On Monday, Trump posted a meme of Denzel Washington saying, “I’ve never met anyone braver, smarter, or who cares more about America than Donald Trump.” His agent said the quote was “not real.” The quote had also been attributed to Matthew McConaughey and Mick Jagger.
Trump also repeated his promise of $5,000 checks, posting a video saying, “I’m going to give all adult citizens in the United States of America $5,000,” and adding, “Democrat policies won’t allow this to happen. In fact, the opposite. They’re going to raise your taxes.”
On Monday, at a rally in Ohio, a woman in the crowd wearing a “Release the Epstein Files” shirt was punched in the face by a crowd member, while attendees chanted, “USA.” Trump mocked her as a “paid protester,” “scum,” a “fat guy,” and said she “needs to go on a diet.”
On Tuesday, Trump posted a 24-second compilation of lions attacking people, accompanied by music. It was unclear if the images were real, or generated by AI.
Shortly after, Trump reposted actual video footage of a man being fatally attacked by a 420 pound Siberian tiger at a British wildlife park, after he climbed into the enclosure to take a photo with the tiger. It was unclear why Trump posted either video.
On Tuesday, at a rally in Alaska, Trump called Zachary Czubak and Patrick Fleming, who pleaded guilty to violating the Clean Air Act by modifying diesel vehicles, up on stage, and granted them pardons, saying, “That means you’re as clean as a newborn baby’s ass.”
The two men then spoke to the audience. The pardons were the latest example of Trump giveaways, three weeks ahead of midterms. Trump also reiterated his promise that if Republicans retain control of the House and Senate in midterms, he would deliver a $5,000 payment.
Trump also brought members of his cabinet on the eight hour flight to his rally, including Commerce Department Sec. Howard Lutnick, Interior Sec. Doug Burgum, and FCC Chair Brendan Carr, and joked about all the billionaires in his cabinet.
On Wednesday, in the final report ahead of midterms, inflation rose to a 3.7% annual pace in September, higher than expectations, and up 3.4% in August. Surging energy costs primarily due to Trump’s Iran war were the main culprit in the rise.

Homeland Security officers carry boxes from the Washington residence of Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., Monday, Oct. 12, 2026, during a search. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)