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.
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“For ten years, Trump has targeted me with baseless lies and smear campaigns,” she said. “This is just the latest escalation in his campaign of political intimidation. I will not be silenced.”
Trump and fellow Republicans from the highest ranks of party leadership have repeatedly and publicly criticized the Somali-born Omar over her status as an immigrant and her progressive views. Trump as recently as this past weekend brought up Omar at a rally in Tennessee, where he attacked her upbringing and suggested that Vice President JD Vance “and our people” were investigating her.
Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin said last month that there was an “ongoing investigation” related in part to whether Omar lied on her immigration forms and that “something’s going to happen.”
“For years, Donald Trump and far-right extremists have relentlessly targeted Congresswoman Omar with vile personal attacks and baseless accusations,” House Democratic leaders said in a statement. “Now, less than 30 days until the midterm election, his violent mass deportation machine has descended upon the home of a duly elected Member of Congress and her family.”
The search of the Minnesota congresswoman ’s home so close to next month’s midterm contests that will determine control of the House and Senate was swiftly condemned by top Democrats in Congress and raised questions about the timing given longstanding Justice Department protocol to avoid overt investigative steps involving political candidates in the direct run-up to an election.
As of Sept. 25, YouTube, Meta, TikTok and X had all refused advertisements for the film paid by its distributor, Bleecker Street. YouTube and Meta later reversed course, saying the trailer had been flagged for “political content.”
There are also concerns about whether “Musk” will eventually land on HBO as originally planned, in the aftermath of the Skydance merger created by Paramount’s takeover of Warner Bros. Discovery. CEO David Ellison’s father, Larry Ellison, is friendly with Musk.
“Would Musk be able to call Larry or David and say, you know, don’t put this doc on? Yeah,” Gibney said in an interview with the AP.
Gibney wrote on X that his film is “about a ‘free-speech absolutist’ who has threatened a lawsuit to try to stop the film from being seen.”
Elon Musk has called filmmaker Alex Gibney a lot of names leading up to this week’s nationwide release of the documentary “Musk,” a sweeping portrait of the power and influence of the world’s richest man.
The nearly four-hour film features interviews with Musk’s family, journalists, business associates, former friends, colleagues and government officials as it charts his rise from Silicon Valley through SpaceX, Tesla and DOGE, the Musk-led Department of Government Efficiency that overhauled the federal workforce.
Musk has posted on X that Gibney is an “idiot,” a “horrible human,” a “shill for the far left,” and a “tinfoil hat crackpot” with “zero credibility.” After its Venice Film Festival premiere, Musk wrote that dog feces are “worth more respect than Gibney.”
The Oscar-winner said he learned from making his Scientology documentary “not let them get inside your head.”
“We also have a lawyer who’s really, really good,” Gibney said. “Because, of course, we vet this stuff very carefully.”
Navi Pillay, the South African-born jurist who was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize last week, told The Associated Press in an interview Monday that “it does affect the whole world if the rule of law is not respected.”
Pillay had sharp words for Trump, who has coveted the peace prize for years, calling Washington’s attacks on the International Criminal Court “completely unlawful” as well as “negative and cruel.”
Pillay’s career has ranged from defending the rights of an imprisoned Nelson Mandela to leading a panel that found that Israel committed genocide in Gaza to serving as a judge on three international courts. Pillay’s win is seen as a high-profile rebuke to Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Both have rejected the findings of the U.N. commission she led on Gaza and criticized the International Court of Justice and the International Criminal Court, where she has served as a judge.
Interviews with more than a dozen Democratic senators in recent weeks indicate that Schumer has recovered his political standing with many in his caucus. If Democrats gain seats in the election, colleagues expect him to easily win enough support in the closed-door leadership election, likely the week after Election Day.
Interviewed by The Associated Press earlier this month, Schumer stated unequivocally that he’s running for another term as leader and that Democrats have a shot at winning the majority after fighting Trump’s tariffs, forcing more than a dozen votes to end the war in Iran and focusing on affordability, corruption and healthcare.
“I think our caucus is strong, it’s united,” Schumer said. “A year ago, everyone said it was out of reach. Today, we have a broader map, strong candidates, a clear contrast.”
Chuck Schumer has won and lost Senate majorities since becoming Democratic leader a decade ago. But this year’s midterm elections could be his most important yet, with some in the party having said he needs to step down and make way for a new generation.
Schumer, who has directly or indirectly overseen his party’s Senate campaign arm in almost every election cycle over the last 20 years, has regained trust within his caucus, for now, as Democrats are hopeful of making gains in the midterm elections despite a difficult map that favors Republicans.
Allies of the New York Democrat say it’s a significant turnaround from last year, when the party was still reeling from major election losses. A low point came in the spring of 2025, when the party’s base erupted at Schumer for voting to keep Trump’s government open.
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The world’s only trillionaire has donated more than $276 million since July to try to save the GOP’s control of Congress.
The numbers, first reported by the New York Times ahead of this week’s federal filing deadline, were confirmed by Andrew Romeo, a spokesperson for Musk’s super PAC.
Musk’s $158 million to the Senate Leadership Fund, the main super PAC supporting Republican Senate candidates, is one of the largest known political donations in American history. Another $76 million went to a Musk super PAC that has built out a major turnout operation like the one it used to help elect Trump in 2024. And $10 million went to a PAC supporting Republican Senate nominee Ken Paxton in Texas.
It’s a dramatic turnaround since last May, when Musk said he intended to cut back on future political spending.
Details about what Homeland Security agents were looking for in their search of the Minnesota Democrat’s home early Monday have not been announced, and Omar has yet to comment.
In the past, the vice president has accused her of committing immigration fraud, without providing details, and has said that he and deputy White House chief of staff Stephen Miller were trying to figure out how to investigate the congresswoman.
Omar has broadly denied the allegations as “disgusting lies.” Her office in March dismissed Vance’s claims as fabricated and defamatory.
“This is rich coming from someone who literally said they were willing to ‘create stories’ to redirect the media,” Omar’s chief of staff, Connor McNutt, said in a statement.
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“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.”
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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.
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.
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.
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.
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’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.
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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.
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-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.
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.”
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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
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.”
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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.
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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.
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— By Matthew Lee
