Trump defends gifted Air Force One from Qatar and makes 2nd Amendment pitch as he campaigns for GOP
KALISPELL, Mont. (AP) — President Donald Trump used a Western campaign swing on Wednesday to pitch Republicans as vigilant supporters of gun rights and to defend his acceptance of a luxury jet from Qatar to use as Air Force One.
At an evening rally in Montana, Trump hewed close to the kind of attack lines that his party wants to hear as the president travels the country, and he warned that the Second Amendment would be “under siege” if Democrats win in November’s midterm elections.
But his message was more off script earlier in the day as he visited an economically struggling corner of rural Arizona. Trump opened his remarks there by describing how the new jet parked behind him was a gift from the Qatari royal family.
“When you’re given gifts, you take ’em, right?” Trump told the crowd in Bullhead City. “When they give you a 747 you say two words: ‘thank you.’”
Trump’s comments came during the second and final day of a Western swing, part of a midterm roadshow designed to rally the Republican Party ahead of Nov. 3 elections that will determine control of Congress. His first stop was Alaska on Tuesday, where he announced Taiwan would purchase gas from a proposed mega-gas project there and pardoned two Alaskans who had pleaded guilty in 2022 to Clean Air Act violations.
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Justice Department threatens California with legal action over claim of noncitizens on voter rolls
LOS ANGELES (AP) — The U.S. Department of Justice has threatened California with possible legal action over what it says are noncitizens believed to have received mail ballots for next month’s midterm elections.
A letter sent Tuesday to Secretary of State Shirley Weber from Trent McCotter, the acting deputy U.S. attorney general, says the department has provided officials in Los Angeles County with a password-protected thumb drive that contains a list of names the federal government believes are likely noncitizens who were sent ballots to participate in the Nov. 3 election.
California mails ballots to all registered voters.
The letter obtained by The Associated Press gives the state 48 hours to determine whether any citizens are included on the list. For individuals whose citizenship cannot be independently verified, the state is to instruct local election officials to segregate their mail-in ballots until their status can be determined, and to not provide a ballot to anyone who has not yet received it. The letters warns that legal action may follow if the state does not meet the 48-hour deadline to review the list.
“If you cannot implement this process by then, given the ongoing federal election, the United States will have no choice but to seek emergency relief,” the letter states.
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Inflation worsened last month to 3.7% in sign that prices remain elevated as midterm elections near
WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. inflation accelerated last month as gasoline and many other goods and services became more expensive, evidence that rising prices remain an economic challenge just a few weeks before midterm elections that have focused heavily on affordability.
The consumer price index rose 3.7% in September compared with a year ago, the Labor Department said Wednesday, up from 3.4% in August. On a monthly basis, costs jumped 0.6% from August to September, the biggest gain in five months, up from a 0.4% increase the previous month.
The figures underscore the lingering impact of the Iran war on gas prices and the stubborn persistence of inflation, which has ticked higher since the war began in late February. The rise isn’t all linked to oil and gas, as surging investment in data centers and AI has also pushed up prices for computer chips and the consumer electronics that use them. Elevated inflation has posed political problems for Republicans in Congress and is a challenge for the Federal Reserve, which is required by Congress to seek stable prices.
Excluding the volatile food and energy categories, core prices rose 2.6% in September from a year ago, up from 2.4% the previous month and higher than economists had expected. And they climbed 0.3% from August to September, an elevated pace that, if it continued for a year, would run well above the Fed’s 2% target.
Higher inflation will likely put more pressure on the Fed to lift its key interest rate at its next meeting Oct. 27-28. Economists noted that the report showed price increases were spread more broadly across the economy than in recent months.
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Social Security recipients to get 3.6% cost of living boost, an average of $75 per month
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Social Security Administration projected Wednesday that the annual cost-of-living adjustment for older adults and people with disabilities will go up by 3.6% beginning in 2027, with some recipients complaining that is not enough to offset soaring prices.
The adjustment translates to $75 extra per month for the nearly 72 million people who receive monthly Social Security benefits and about 7.3 million beneficiaries who get Supplemental Security Income.
The announcement comes as inflation adds pressure on household budgets and businesses and as midterm elections are weeks away.
The cost-of-living adjustment, or COLA, for retirees and disabled beneficiaries is financed by payroll taxes collected from workers and their employers, up to a certain annual salary. That is set to increase to $192,300 in 2027, from $184,500 in 2026.
The agency’s commissioner, Frank Bisignano, said in a statement that the adjustment will give recipients “greater financial stability.”
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ICE rejects suggestion that its officers wear body cameras that automatically activate
WASHINGTON (AP) — Federal immigration officials need to ensure that body cameras worn by officers are uniformly activated when needed, a government report released Wednesday said, following a series of contentious shootings and aggressive arrests by ICE officers.
The agency rejected the recommendation, saying that using cameras that automatically activate when an officer pulls their weapon or activates a car siren could risk privacy concerns.
ICE has come under intense scrutiny after numerous incidents where officers have opened fire during enforcement operations and the agency has claimed they were under threat but officers weren’t wearing body cameras. Critics say the cameras could help hold officers accountable and promote transparency at a time when the agency is operating at a high tempo across the country and increasingly accused of excessive use of force. The report by the Government Accountability Office covers the period from February 2025 until September of this year. The report, conducted at the request of Democratic members of Congress, delves into policies governing the use of body-worn cameras by ICE and U.S. Customs and Border Protection and details improvements both agencies can make to improve their programs. But it did not go into any of the high-profile ICE-involved shootings that have focused attention on the agency’s body-worn camera usage, such as the shooting deaths of Renee Good in Minneapolis or Lorenzo Salgado Araujo in Houston.
Former Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem announced in February that every Homeland Security officer on the ground in Minneapolis would be issued body-worn cameras. Noem, who was later fired by Trump, said officers across the country would receive them as funds became available.
The department later received $20 million from Congress to finish the ICE body-camera rollout plan. But then came a shooting in July of Salgado Araujo, when Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers shot and killed the Mexican man who lived in the U.S. for more than 35 years. Those officers were not wearing body cameras, raising questions about why the agency still hadn’t gotten the cameras out to officers in the field. Homeland Security said after Salgado Araujo’s death that body cameras had been deployed to more than half of ICE field offices and that the remainder would get them in the next 60 days. In the GAO report, DHS said all ICE offices had received the body-worn cameras as of Aug. 5 and that officers were being trained on their use.
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Cornell president pressed by faculty frustrated by his handling of fraternity rape allegations
ITHACA, N.Y. (AP) — Cornell University President Michael Kotlikoff faced off with angry members of the school’s faculty Wednesday at a meeting that underscored deep frustration on campus over his administration’s handling of a woman’s report that she was gang raped at a fraternity house in 2024.
Kotlikoff addressed members of the university’s Faculty Senate, and took their questions, as it began considering a no-confidence resolution in his administration.
The meeting was closed to the media, but some faculty members leaving the session described the mood as leaning heavily against Kotlikoff, who has publicly acknowledged errors in the school’s handling of the rape allegation.
Richard Bensel, a professor of government, said Kotlikoff was poised and the debate was civil, but he estimated 80% of the faculty members present have lost confidence in the administration.
“The faculty were extremely angry. They gave him a hard time, I think appropriately so,” Bensel said. He said the Faculty Senate had spent years passing resolutions calling for reforms to university disciplinary procedures, only to have its recommendations ignored.
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Police investigate report of sexual assault at a fraternity party near the University of Chicago
CHICAGO (AP) — Police are investigating a woman’s report that she was sexually assaulted during a fraternity party near the University of Chicago campus, an allegation that comes at a time of heightened awareness of sexual violence on college campuses.
Chicago police said no one had been charged Wednesday, a day after university officials posted an alert saying that a person of interest had been identified.
The Chicago case comes amid an uproar over Cornell University’s handling of a woman’s allegations that she was drugged and gang raped by fraternity members in 2024. A campus investigation led to internal disciplinary action by the university, but no criminal charges were ever filed.
The University of Chicago, a top-ranked U.S. research school with an enrollment of 18,000 students, said in a statement that a woman reported being sexually assaulted early Sunday during a party at the Alpha Epsilon Pi fraternity house.
The university said the perpetrator fled the house after being confronted by another person.
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Trump press secretary Katie Zacharia faces scrutiny over claims she’s a lawyer
NEW YORK (AP) — The new White House press secretary is facing mounting questions about her background and resume as she transitions into her role as the public face of the Trump administration.
Katie Zacharia has long described herself as a lawyer as she has worked to establish herself as a commentator for conservative outlets like Fox News and Newsmax. But so far, she and the White House have offered no evidence that she passed the bar exam in any state or in China, where she worked for a large law firm years ago.
The questions add to the confusion surrounding President Donald Trump’s decision to hire Zacharia, who had worked for his social media company for only a few months when he announced her appointment and whose debut at the podium on Tuesday has been widely panned.
Afterward, the president was asked by reporters where Zacharia had passed the bar exam, following a report by the independent outlet Popular Information that she did not appear to be licensed in any state.
Trump stepped aside to allow Zacharia to answer.
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Rep. Ilhan Omar’s phone seized and relatives subpoenaed in criminal probe, AP source says
WASHINGTON (AP) — Federal authorities investigating Minnesota Rep. Ilhan Omar seized the Democratic lawmaker’s phone and have issued more than a dozen grand jury subpoenas, including to some of her relatives, according to a person briefed on the probe.
The subpoenas were issued for a grand jury collecting evidence in Minnesota as federal authorities probe potential fraud in Omar’s immigration paperwork, said the person, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss an ongoing investigation. The investigation led to federal agents searching Omar’s Washington, D.C. home on Monday just weeks before the November midterms, in which Omar is seeking reelection.
The scope of the investigation into Omar is unclear, though Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin has suggested that authorities were examining potential crimes related to her family’s immigration paperwork.
On Tuesday, Washington D.C. U.S Attorney Jeanine Pirro said in a Fox News interview that “there are several investigations going on” related to Omar and that her office is also probing issues concerning the lawmaker’s financial disclosures.
“If there was a crime that was committed, it will be prosecuted,” Pirro said.
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US stocks drop to their worst day since July as inflation worsens
NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stocks dropped to their worst day since July on Wednesday following the latest signal that inflation is getting worse.
The S&P 500 sank 1.1% for a fifth loss in the six days since setting its all-time high. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 48 points, or 0.1%, and the Nasdaq composite slid 1.9% as stocks in the artificial-intelligence industry led the way lower.
Stocks felt pressure from rising yields in the bond market, where worries grew after a report said U.S. consumers had to pay prices for fuel, food and other costs of living last month that were 3.7% higher overall than a year earlier. That means inflation accelerated from its 3.4% rate in August and was worse than the 3.6% that economists expected.
Inflation has remained more painful than anyone would like since the economy catapulted out of the crevasse created by the COVID-19 pandemic. It’s accelerated recently in part because of jumps in fuel prices caused by the war with Iran, and the price for a barrel of Brent crude added 0.4% Wednesday to $106.06.
That has added to the longstanding worries about fast-rising debt loads for governments, signals that the U.S. economy is still growing and other factors that have sent bond yields to their highest levels in years.