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Cost of Iran war explodes as toll on US air fleet nearly doubles

2026-10-07T13:57:10-04:00 / Fox News

Congressional research warns losses among aging fleets like the E-3 Sentry could create capability gaps in other theaters

By Morgan Phillips Fox News

Published October 7, 2026 1:57pm EDT

Video shows US military effort to rescue crew of downed F-15E

Video from Iran shows US military aircraft appearing to conduct search for crew of downed F-15E Strike Eagle.

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The U.S. military has lost or sustained damage to at least 81 aircraft during the war with Iran — nearly double the number identified five months ago, according to a new government analysis that warns replacing some of the critical vehicles could strain the military’s ability to meet demands elsewhere.

The aircraft include some of the military’s most advanced fighters and critical support aircraft, as well as dozens of drones, the Congressional Research Service (CRS) noted in its report.

The tally is nearly double the 42 aircraft CRS identified in May as lost or damaged, although the increase partly reflects additional information becoming publicly available and does not mean all 39 additional aircraft were lost or damaged since that assessment.

ALARMING MISSILE REPORT DRAWS FORCEFUL RESPONSE FROM TRUMP AS IRAN WAR TESTS AMERICA’S ARSENAL

An F-15E Strike Eagle takes off for a combat flight in support of Operation Epic Fury during the Iran war at an undisclosed location on March 16, 2026.(U.S. Air Force/Reuters)

CRS, a nonpartisan arm of the Library of Congress that provides research and analysis to lawmakers and congressional committees, identified 12 F-15E Strike Eagles, an F-35A Lightning II, seven KC-135 refueling tankers, an E-3 Sentry airborne warning-and-control aircraft and 45 MQ-9 Reaper drones among those lost or damaged since Operation Epic Fury began on Feb. 28, 2026.

The body also warned that losses among aging, high-demand aircraft could create capability gaps or increase risk in other theaters, while production constraints and competing demands could affect how quickly the military rebuilds its capacity.

The 81 aircraft were lost or damaged through a mix of Iranian attacks, enemy fire, friendly fire, accidents and aircraft deliberately destroyed during rescue operations — though some damaged aircraft have since returned to service.

“We do not comment on reports from outside organizations or non-DOW battle damage assessments,” a Department of War official told Fox News Digital when reached for comment on the report.

HOW IRAN ATTACKS ARE FORCING THE PENTAGON TO RETHINK ITS DECADES-OLD MIDDLE EAST BASE STRATEGY

CRS cautioned that the tally could continue to change because of classification, ongoing combat operations and questions of attribution.

The new accounting comes more than eight months into a war that has strained U.S. weapons stockpiles and raised broader questions about how quickly the defense industrial base can replenish what the military is using. A Pentagon inspector general report last month found that the U.S. had spent an estimated $22.3 billion on munitions through June alone and warned of “strategic inventory shortfalls.”

A US military MQ-9 Reaper drone approaches for landing at Rafael Hernandez Airport in Aguadilla, Puerto Rico, on December 29, 2025.(Miguel J. Rodriguez Carrillo / AFP via Getty Images)

The Congressional Budget Office estimated in September that replacing equipment lost through Aug. 1 could cost between $1.9 billion and $3.3 billion, depending on the Department of War’s replacement plans.

Drones account for more than half of the aircraft in the new tally. At least 45 MQ-9 Reapers have been lost in operations against Iran, according to CRS, along with three MQ-1 drones and an MQ-4C Triton.

But while drones drive much of the raw number, the report also points to losses and damage among scarcer, harder-to-replace aircraft.

An E-3 Sentry was damaged in an Iranian attack on Prince Sultan Air Base in Saudi Arabia in March and was later reported to have sustained a “direct hit.” CRS specifically flagged the aging and limited E-3 fleet as an example of how losses among high-demand aircraft could create capability gaps or increase risks for U.S. forces in other theaters.

Iranian attacks have also inflicted damage on U.S. aircraft while they were on the ground at bases across the region. Five KC-135 tankers were reportedly damaged at Prince Sultan Air Base in March, while eight F-15Es sustained light damage during an Iranian strike on Muwaffaq Salti Air Base in Jordan in September. The eight fighters were returned to service.

At least 18 U.S. service members have also died since the war began, though the Pentagon has divided those deaths between Operation Epic Fury and a separate category for the renewed fighting that began in July.

PENTAGON RACES TO BUY 10X MORE MISSILES AS IRAN WAR DWINDLES ARSENAL, THREATENS READINESS FOR CHINA AGGRESSION

This image from video provided by U.S. Central Command shows a missile being launched from a U.S. Navy ship in support of Operation Epic Fury on Saturday, Feb. 28, 2026.(U.S. Central Command via AP)

Other losses illustrate the dangers surrounding recovery operations. Two MC-130J Commando II special operations aircraft were intentionally destroyed while supporting efforts to rescue the crew of a downed F-15E, while an HH-60W Jolly Green II helicopter was damaged during the same rescue effort. Four AH-6 Little Bird helicopters were later destroyed by U.S. forces during separate rescue operations, according to the Defense Department inspector general.

Three F-15Es were destroyed by friendly fire over Kuwait in the opening days of the war, while an F-35A was later damaged by Iranian ground fire over Iran.

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CRS said the losses could prompt Congress to examine whether the U.S. industrial base can replace aircraft quickly enough to meet military requirements. The report also pointed to a broader operational question: whether the losses reflect changes in Iran’s capabilities that require the U.S. to adjust its equipment, tactics or basing posture.

DHS unloads on teachers union boss over ‘dangerous rhetoric’ and anti-ICE activism

2026-10-07 1:12pm EDT / Fox News

DHS called conditions claims false and encouraged illegal aliens to ‘self-deport’ using the CBP Home App

By Charles Creitz

Randi Weingarten blasts ICE in front of Delaney Hall compound

AFT president Randi Weingarten traveled to New Jersey to criticize conditions at Delaney Hall detention center while schools struggled to recover from the lockdowns she supported. (CREDIT: AFT)

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American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten drew backlash Wednesday after filming a video from a field near Newark’s Delaney Hall migrant detention facility, where she decried alleged conditions inside.

Weingarten’s video, filmed within view of the facility, comes as school-choice advocates have criticized her political activism while student academic performance remains below pre-pandemic levels — with one critic recently summing up the contrast as a desire to “dictate … policy on immigration while its own members’ students struggle with basic skills.”

“Dangerous rhetoric from politicians and activists demonizing our brave ICE officers has led to the over 8,000% increase in threats against DHS law enforcement who are heroically performing their congressionally mandated mission to remove criminal illegal aliens from communities across the country,” a DHS spokesperson told Fox News Digital when asked about Weingarten’s visit.

“Any claim that there are subprime conditions at ICE detention facilities is false,” the agency said.

ANTI-ICE PROTESTERS CLASH WITH AGENTS OUTSIDE NEW JERSEY DETENTION CENTER AS GOV SHERRILL DENIED ENTRY

Video

Fox News Digital reached out to Weingarten through AFT for comment. In her video, Weingarten disputed DHS’ characterization of conditions at the facility:

“This is one of the most despicable things that our current government does,” Weingarten said as she was filmed pointing and gesticulating toward Delaney Hall.

“They put people — people have not committed any crimes — they are immigrants. They deport them, or they … detain them and deport them in conditions that are unimaginable.”

Weingarten, who grew up about 40 miles north of New York City in Nyack, New York, said her grandparents came to the U.S. seeking a better life, drawing a comparison to migrants detained at Delaney Hall.

“We saw families coming out [of Delaney] who had just visited their loved ones… They work hard. They play by the rules. They should not be detained or deported because we have a broken immigration system,” she claimed. “We should fix the immigration system, but the cruelty of this government right now is terrible.”

DHS said in response to Weingarten that its mission remains “straightforward” — enforcing laws on the books and protecting America’s national security.

“Being in detention is a choice. We encourage all illegal aliens to take control of their departure with the CBP Home App. The United States is offering illegal aliens $3,000 and a free flight to self-deport now,” the DHS spokesperson told Fox News Digital.

INSPECTION OF DELANEY HALL ICE FACILITY CONTRADICTS CLAIMS IN NEW JERSEY ATTORNEY GENERAL’S LAWSUIT

Video

School-choice advocate Corey DeAngelis responded to Weingarten’s video by arguing that the union leader wants more illegal immigrants enrolled in public schools because their enrollment increases taxpayer funding.

“It’s time to overturn Plyler v Doe and stop forcing taxpayers to fund education for illegals,” DeAngelis tweeted, referencing a 1982 Supreme Court case wherein Eisenhower-appointed Justice William Brennan Jr. ruled for the majority that Texas could not deny undocumented school-age children access to free public education.

A 2026 Annie E. Casey Foundation analysis found that 47 states fared worse on its education index in 2024 than in 2019, with national declines in math proficiency, reading proficiency and preschool attendance. Weingarten has led AFT since 2008. She previously led New York City’s UFT from 1998 to 2009.

DeAngelis previously criticized Weingarten after she encouraged a boycott of Target over the Minnesota-based retailer’s response to ICE operations. DeAngelis wrote for the Heritage Foundation that AFT “wants to dictate corporate policy on immigration while its own members’ students struggle with basic skills. That mismatch should alarm every taxpayer and parent.”

WATCH: WEINGARTEN GESTURES WILDLY DURING ANTI-TRUMP RANT, LATER SAYS HE DRIVES HER TO DRINK

Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, speaks during a rally outside of the U.S. Department of Education headquarters in Washington, DC, US, on Thursday, March 13, 2025. President Donald Trump was sued by a group of mostly Democratic-led states over his alleged plan to effectively dismantle the US Education Department by slashing its workforce in half.(Al Drago/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

The clip of Weingarten drew criticism on X, including from users who argued that the teachers union leader was straying beyond education policy and into the immigration debate.

Other critics shared photos of Weingarten promoting her book “Why Fascists Fear Teachers.”

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“This is wild. Randi Weingarten is bad enough in her education related field (power, indoctrination, control) but now she is expanding into immigration,” another wrote.

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AFT union boss Rhonda “Randi” Weingarten speaks from a podium.(Amanda Andrade-Rhoades/Getty Images)

The clash comes as Weingarten and AFT have become increasingly involved in immigration fights beyond the classroom, including pressuring Target over ICE operations. Critics have pointed to persistent academic setbacks as evidence the union’s leadership should be focused on education, while AFT describes political activism and broader civil-rights advocacy as part of its mission alongside public education.

Fox News Digital also reached out to the Department of Education for comment.

Born and raised in Allentown, Pennsylvania, worked in both the New York and Washington bureaus for Fox News since 2013.

No Surprises Act shielded patients from big medical bills. Now its arbitration system may be raising costs.

2026-10-07T12:08:00-0400 / https://www.cbsnews.com/news/no-surprises-act-medical-bills-arbitration-system-loophole/

A law designed to protect patients from surprise medical bills succeeded in eliminating unexpected charges, but spawned a lucrative arbitration industry with providers and specialized middlemen extracting payments far above benchmark billing rates.

The practice is ultimately driving up healthcare costs for consumers, a CBS News investigation found.

The arbitration system Congress created to settle disputes between insurers and out-of-network providers allows doctors and resolution specialists acting on their behalf to win payments many times higher than typical rates for medical services. Those costs don’t disappear: Much of the money comes from employer-sponsored health plans, meaning workers may ultimately pay through higher premiums or reduced benefits.

Under the arbitration system established by the No Surprises Act, which took effect in 2022, insurers are paying healthcare providers hundreds of dollars for routine lab tests that typically cost between $10 and $30, industry researchers told CBS News. In one instance, a plastic surgeon was awarded more than $400,000 to perform a breast reduction, a procedure the insurer said it had previously paid the doctor between $6,000 and $30,000 to perform.

The plastic surgeon, Dr. Norman Rowe, routinely was awarded around 170 times the benchmark rates for his services under the NSA’s arbitration system, a CBS News analysis of public data shows.

A spokesman for Dr. Rowe told CBS News that insurers had manipulated benchmark rates to lowball doctors and create “artificially low reimbursement rates.”

“Dr. Rowe uses the widely recognized gold standard FairHealth benchmarks set by the independent nonprofit FairHealth.org using reliable and objective market data. FairHealth data is so reliable that it is incorporated into statutes and regulations around the country and serves as the official data source for many state health programs,” the spokesman added.

In addition to the typical benchmark rate arbitrators consider (known as the “qualifying payment amount,” or QPA), FairHealth provides another rate that can be used during the dispute resolution process. Medicare rates, meanwhile, may not be considered.

CBS News found that another doctor — Long Island spine surgeon Vadim Lerman — was being awarded an average of 280 times the benchmark rates in arbitration. He declined an interview, but a spokesman for Lerman said that “the suggestion that a physician is receiving ‘hundreds of times’ above benchmark rates is incorrect. No comparison should be made to the insurer’s initial offer — which can be inappropriately low for a complex surgical procedure — and the award given to the physician.”

“Baseball-style arbitration”

Insurers have, in many cases, been forced to pay high rates like those Dr. Rowe charges under the law’s so-called “baseball-style” or “pendulum” arbitration system.

In an arbitration under the No Surprises Act, insurers and providers each propose a rate for a given service. There’s no room for negotiation, as an arbitrator must choose between one of the two parties’ suggested figures.

Arbitrators side with providers in more than 85% of the cases, according to Leland Robbins, a product leader at Turquoise Health, a data transparency startup. Some arbitrators – officially called certified Independent Dispute Resolution, or IDR, entities – have track records of siding with providers in an even larger share of cases, according to Robbins’ group.

He told CBS News that while patients are no longer being surprised by large medical bills, there is a catch to the new system.

“The transaction didn’t go away. It went behind closed doors and has moved into this arbitration process when a payer and a provider can’t agree what the fair price should be,” Robbins said. “Given that 70% of these awards are being taken out of employer-sponsored health plans, consumers are going to start seeing it when it comes time for open enrollment.”

He added, “You know, employers are not able to withstand and absorb these kinds of big fees. They’re going to be probably not paying for as much of your premiums.”

Last year, 15 government-certified arbitrators earned fees per case, with 17 arbitrators designated to do this work today. Each side in the dispute — the healthcare provider and the insurer — pays into the process prior to the arbitrator making any decision.

During the first six months of 2025, insurers and providers submitted 1.2 million new disputes to the arbitration portal, while federal officials had only expected approximately 17,000 cases per year, research from the Center on Health Insurance Reforms (CHIR) at Georgetown University’s McCourt School of Public Policy shows.

However, HaloMD, a company that files cases on behalf of providers, told CBS News that the initial estimates “were objectively flawed in how they calculated expected volume.”

TeamHealth, HaloMD and Radiology Partners accounted for the most arbitration cases under the No Surprises Act. CBS News/Georgetown University Center on Health Insurance Reforms

Collectively, arbitrators making the decisions have earned more than $2 billion in fees. None agreed to on-camera interviews with CBS News.

New Jersey House Rep. Frank Pallone, a Democrat and the lead sponsor of the No Surprises Act, blames private equity, in part, for breaking the system he helped create.

He said just a few private equity firms – which are increasingly buying up anesthesiology, radiology and emergency room practices — are driving arbitration cases.

Pallone told CBS News that doctors should be paid the equivalent of in-network rates for the services they provide, but said “we had no choice” but to introduce the arbitration system “if we wanted to actually get rid of surprise billing.”

“I knew it was not going to go well, but I didn’t know it was going to be this bad,” he added.

Dispute resolution cottage industry

The law’s arbitration provision has also created an opportunity for intermediaries to guide providers through the process and rake in profits by taking a cut of bills that are up to 1,000% above the benchmark rate for a service, CBS News found. Critics argue that such firms demand more money on providers’ behalf, leading to the large settlements that drive up everyone’s costs.

HaloMD bills itself as “the expert” in arbitration cases brought under the No Surprises Act. Founded by Texas couple Scott and Alla Laroque in 2022, the same year the No Surprises Act took effect, the company is one of the fledgling industry’s biggest players.

Private equity firms also sometimes own both physician staffing firms and Independent Dispute Resolution entities, creating a conflict of interest and undermining the law’s fairness. HaloMD is not private equity-backed, but Halo and two other groups with investments from buyout firms collectively handled more than 75% of disputes settled in arbitration last year, according to Georgetown University’s Center on Health Insurance Reforms.

According to Halo, the firm made more than $1 billion for its clients, routinely earning awards that are nine times the benchmark rates for services. Halo takes a cut of the payouts but has not disclosed the amount.

Halo chief external affairs officer Patrick Velliky told CBS News that insurance companies, not firms like his, are responsible for driving up consumer healthcare costs by either not participating in the arbitration process or submitting ludicrously low offers.

“24% of the time, insurers lose by default. They didn’t submit an offer at all. Another 9 1/2% of the time, insurers submit an offer, like a dollar or less,” Velliky told CBS News. “So what that actually looks like, a patient goes to the E-D with a heart attack, we go to arbitration and the insurer is offering a total of $1.00.”

He also said that insurance companies are offering misleading information about the benchmark rate. “Whatever the actual median in-network rate is, it’s not what the insurer presented,” Velliky told CBS News. “They’re miscalculating it.”

A federal court sided with providers on the issue this summer, saying the benchmark rate is “artificially low,” pulled down by insurers’ $0- or $ 1-reimbursement offers to doctors.

Proposed reforms

Pallone wants to reform the law to gut what he sees as the root of the issues arising from the No Surprises Act: arbitration.

He plans to introduce legislation this week to eliminate the arbitration process and stipulate that providers be paid in-network rates, even if they are out-of-network. Pallone’s office also told CBS News that so-called ghost rates, which often drag the benchmark rate down, will be excluded from calculations moving forward.

“Whether it’s the hospitals, the doctors, the nurse, they’re really trying to care for people. Of course, all of them should have a decent income so they can live,” the New Jersey lawmaker said. “But why should these outside investors be making all this money off the backs of, you know, your insurance premiums, essentially?”

Edited by Alain Sherter and Aimee Picchi

Christa Pike suffering from pneumonia, unable to move arms after botched execution, lawyers say

2026-10-07 14:41:00 EDT / CBS News

By Emily Mae Czachor News Editor
Emily Mae Czachor is a reporter and news editor at CBSNews.com. She typically covers breaking news, extreme weather and climate. Emily Mae previously wrote for outlets like the Los Angeles Times, BuzzFeed and Newsweek.

Read Full Bio

Updated on: October 7, 2026 / 3:00 PM EDT / CBS News

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Christa Pike’s attorneys said she has pneumonia, a blood clot, couldn’t swallow, and is unable to move her arms or hands once she regained consciousness in a Tennessee hospital, days after the death row inmate survived a botched execution by the state.

“Her hands looked like if you were to blow up a surgical glove,” said one of Pike’s attorneys, Randy Spivey, at a Wednesday news conference. “It was extraordinary.”

Spivey said he and Pike’s other attorneys were told she was brain-dead on Monday and expected her to be removed from life support. But by the next day, she had woken up and started talking, he said.

“I don’t have an explanation for what happened,” the attorney told reporters after a hearing at Davidson County Chancery Court. He said that Pike was confused and disoriented at first, but she began to remember details of the execution attempt on Wednesday.

In addition to the lung infection, a blood clot in her arm, and an issue swallowing that had prevented her from eating, Pike’s arms and hands are “tremendously swollen,” said Spivey, adding that “we don’t know what function she will regain.”

Pike is the only person known to have survived an execution attempt in the U.S., according to the Death Penalty Information Center.

Court grants request for evidence

Before Pike’s attorneys shared updates on her health outside of the Davidson County court on Wednesday, they attended an emergency hearing in which they requested Tennessee’s correctional department to preserve records and other evidence of her failed lethal injection.

Chancellor I’Ashea Myles granted the order and said the state would be mandated to preserve “relevant evidence” of its failed attempt to put Pike to death on Sept. 30, including “drugs, IV lines, needles, catheters, medical supplies, restraints, gurneys” and anything else in the execution chamber at the time of the procedure.

Myles said waste, such as packing supplies and labels, and all written or digital records, including records of communication through encrypted platforms, witness accounts, and correspondence regarding equipment or drug administration issues, must be preserved, too.

She explicitly directed the state “not to lose, misplace, accidentally delete, any information that may be pertinent to this litigation.”

“To any extent that any information or any evidence has already been discarded, deleted, destroyed or no longer exists, I want [the Tennessee Department of Correction] to take an affirmative step to try to claw back that information and put in policies and procedures, while this incident litigation is pending, to ensure that no information is discarded or destroyed,” said Myles.

Execution aftermath

Staff had given Pike, 50, two doses of a lethal injection drug, but her legal team confirmed shortly after the failed procedure that, in an unprecedented turn, she was alive and had been hospitalized. Her legal team said on Tuesday that she had regained consciousness and was speaking from her hospital bed.

Pike’s attorneys also said Tuesday she was continuing “to receive critical medical care” as hospital workers attempted to clear her system of the lethal drug pentobarbital. Her prognosis remained unclear, they added, but she was expected to face, at minimum, “a long recovery.”

The legal team has renewed its calls for Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee to commute Pike’s death sentence, pushing him to change the sentence to life in prison without parole so that the state can’t attempt to execute Pike a second time, which is the usual course of action after an inmate survives botched execution proceedings. However, while others have survived botched procedures before, Pike is the only known inmate in the United States’ modern death penalty era to remain alive after actually receiving lethal chemicals.

“The state has made no promises that Ms. Pike will not be subject to a future execution,” Luke Ihnen, one of Pike’s attorneys, said in court on Wednesday. Evidence sought by the defense for the correctional department to preserve could help them build future arguments to prevent that from happening, Ihnen added.

Attorneys for Pike had filed an emergency motion Friday asking that the correctional department be required to “preserve all relevant physical, written and electronic evidence” of the failed execution, which, they said, amounted to “evidence of TDOC [Tennessee Department of Correction] inflicting a cruel and unusual punishment on Ms. Pike through its deliberate indifference to her basic medical needs and reckless disregard of basic medical practices and their own lethal injection protocol.”

They accused correctional staff tasked with handling Pike’s execution of failing to properly establish an IV line through which to administer lethal drugs, and then failing to realize she had a “blown vein,” allegedly allowing pentobarbital to spread through her body and causing a painful, botched procedure. In court, Ihnen also referenced the secrecy that shrouds execution protocols and proceedings in Tennessee and elsewhere across the U.S., which makes arguing death penalty cases particularly challenging.

“We don’t know what they have, because they won’t tell us,” Ihnen said in court. “And so the preservation order seeks the broadest possible preservation of evidence.”

Case history

Lee had denied Pike’s request for a commuted sentence before her execution date last week, rejecting her clemency petition in the days leading up to it. In its aftermath, he canceled the one remaining execution scheduled to take place in Tennessee by the end of the year and said an investigation would be conducted to determine what went wrong. The now-former Tennessee correctional commissioner stepped down from his post, although an official statement from the agency claimed it had followed protocols.

Pike was convicted in 1995 of the brutal murder of her classmate, 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer. Pike was 18 at the time of the killing and spent more than three decades on Tennessee’s death row. As the only woman awaiting execution in the state for a vast majority of that time, she was alone for almost the entirety of her incarceration. She was the first woman Tennessee attempted to execute in more than 200 years and the first person the state attempted to execute in modern times for a crime they committed at age 18, 19 or 20.

Prior to Pike’s botched injection, her case had garnered public interest as human rights leaders and advocacy groups rallied against her death sentence, raising issues with her age at the time of her conviction and long history of mental illness and childhood abuse. But those who strongly support her execution, including prosecutors and jurors in Pike’s original trial as well as judges who presided over that case and many of her appeals, have countered that capital punishment is warranted given the horrific nature of her crime. Among them is Slemmer’s mother, May Martinez.

Florida GOP hopeful on backing Trump in Iran: ‘This is about ending a long war, not starting a war’

October 7, 2026 3:03pm EDT / Fox News

Congressional candidate asks on Iran: ‘What’s the butcher’s bill you’re willing to tolerate of dead Americans?’

By David Unsworth, Fox News

Florida GOP candidate Dan Green takes aim at Democrat Darren Soto as he campaigns to flip newly redrawn FL-9

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For GOP congressional candidate Dan Green, the military confrontation with Iran isn’t the start of a new war — it’s the long-overdue resolution of a conflict that began in 1979.

Drawing on his own military tours in Iraq, the Navy veteran running in Florida’s 9th Congressional District argues that America is finally settling decades-long strife with Tehran, even as he faces a tough domestic battle over inflation, kitchen-table economics, and a 10-year Democrat incumbent in the newly redrawn Orlando-based suburban district.

“I think one thing to know about Iran is that they’ve been at war with us since the 1970s, when they seized our embassy in Tehran and they took our Americans hostage. So to me, this is about ending a long war, not starting a war.

“Whether it’s the Marine Corps barracks in the 80s when Iran bombed those, the Khobar Towers in Saudi Arabia, and also with my tours in Iraq, the Iranians were killing a lot of our soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines.

TOP DEM LEGAL BOOGEYMEN TEE UP ‘BATTLE ROYALE’ IN RED STATE’S REDISTRICTING CRUSADE

Rep. Darren Soto, D-Fla., left, and GOP congressional candidate Dan Green are locked in a battle for the state’s 9th Congressional District.(Getty Images)

“So, the question is, what’s the butcher’s bill you’re willing to tolerate of dead Americans? And we also know they plotted to kill and assassinate our president.

So, to me, this has been a long time coming, but I think what we really need to focus on is how do we get a successful termination of this conflict and stability back in the Middle East?”

Green is running in a district that voted for President Donald Trump by a large margin in 2024, yet the Republicans face headwinds as inflation and energy prices remain a persistent preoccupation for voters. Yet, he remains confident in the appeal of the GOP brand, compared to the Democratic alternative.

“I think the Democrats have a huge problem right now. I don’t think they know what they’re really about,” Green said. “As you know, they have a democratic socialist wing that is rising in power throughout their party, and a lot of moderate members are finding they have to make peace with that, or even liberal members as well.”

He continued: “We’ve got a lot of members getting elected now across the country who are democratic socialists who believe in this radical ideology, who want to frankly destroy our Constitution in so many ways: they want to abolish the U.S. Senate, they want to bring back woke ideology, transgender ideology, and higher taxes. So I think in some ways we know what they are going to bring, but it’s not a good future.”

GOP CHALLENGER TEARS INTO DEM’S ‘MODERATE’ IMAGE: ‘VOTES WITH THE SQUAD 90% OF THE TIME’

Green seeks to unseat the Democrat incumbent from the House of Representatives.(Al Drago/Bloomberg via Getty Images, File)

Florida’s ninth district, like much of the state, contains a large Latino population, which has been pivotal in shifting the state from purple to red. Green argues that while Republicans must appeal to voters on kitchen table economics, ultimately they need to be the party that upholds the rule of law.

“I think Americans of all backgrounds, regardless of race or ethnicity, are concerned about the cost of living these days. What we’ve been campaigning on is making America affordable again,” Green said. “So these kind of kitchen table issues of grocery prices, gas prices, property insurance rates — they resonate irrespective of background, I would say.

“But the cornerstone of our republic is the rule of law, making sure we adhere to it and we follow it. There are ways of being compassionate with how we do that. There are ways of implementing that law more effectively. At the end of the day, we’re either a nation of laws or we aren’t. And so we need to do what’s required to make sure the law is enforced.”

The ninth district, which stretches from Orlando to the south, has a distinctly conservative bent, which Green argues will enable to him to compete against the advantages of incumbency.

FLORIDA GOP NOMINEE BLASTS 20-YEAR DEM INCUMBENT AS A ‘SOCIALIST’ RUBBER-STAMP WITH ’PRECIOUS LITTLE TO SHOW’

Green says the Democratic Party has “a huge problem” with its “democratic socialist wing rising in power throughout their party.”(Spencer Platt/Getty Images North America, File)

“My opponent is an incumbent and sometimes with that come some advantages; name ID, access to greater resources,” Green said. “But I think the district fundamentally is a conservative district and I think even non-party-affiliated members who aren’t Democrat or Republican tend to be conservative.

“So I think we have a lot of great strength in this district for our campaign. I have worked in the military, I can put a plan together, and we’re executing a good campaign plan to take the seat back and flip it from blue to red.”

Finally, Green said he believes Soto’s votes on economic policies will be key to building a contrasting vision for the voters of the ninth district.

“Well, he’s been reelected from a portion of our district, not the rest of the district. Most of the district has never voted for him or really seen him,” Green said. “To me, you’ve got a decade of not solving our district’s problems.

“He has voted against eliminating taxes on Social Security. He’s voted against eliminating taxes on overtime. He’s voted against eliminating tax on tips. To me, when you have the sort of affordability issue right now, those are not the right votes to take for this district. His values are also not aligned with our voters, as well.

“You know, he voted to not prohibit transgender care. He’s also not done anything to stop insider trading for 10 years … and also, frankly, the democratic socialists are taking over the Democratic Party. You know, a vote for him is a vote for them, and I think that’s not what this district wants.”

David Unsworth reports on Latin America. You can follow David Unsworth on Twitter @LatinAmerUpdate

Trump floats firing top political advisers after report they helped a pro-Russian government

2026-10-07 12:41 PM ET / CNN

By Alayna Treene, Kevin Liptak

Political advisors to President Donald Trump, James Blair, left, and Chris LaCivita.

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President Donald Trump on Wednesday distanced himself from two of his top political advisers — less than 30 days before the midterm elections — writing that if their outside work presents a conflict, “I will terminate them, immediately!”

Trump’s warning came after The New York Times published a report detailing how James Blair, one of the president’s former deputy chiefs of staff who now leads his outside political operation, and Chris LaCivita, Trump’s 2024 co-campaign manager, traveled to the Balkans last week for paid work on behalf of a pro-Russian government.

Trump, who has been actively campaigning for Republicans ahead of November’s midterms, suggested he had nothing to do with his advisers’ lucrative work outside the United States.

“Chris LaCivita and James Blair are outside consultants. They do not work for me, other than as outside consultants. They most likely have numerous clients, but for that, you would have to ask them,” Trump posted on Truth Social on Wednesday.

According to the Times, Blair and LaCivita traveled to Republika Srpska, a territory in Bosnia and Herzegovina, ahead of elections there on Sunday. The trip came as polls show Republicans are facing severe electoral challenges in the United States.

“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!” Trump wrote.

Blair and LaCivita “were paid hundreds of thousands of dollars each through a Washington-based law firm that was retained by Republika Srpska’s government to provide counsel on voting issues,” the Times reported.

They said the work was for the government and not the nationalist party that controls it, though they are essentially one and the same.

Blair currently leads Trump’s super PAC, MAGA Inc., and has been tasked with heading up the president’s midterm elections strategy. LaCivita is a senior adviser at MAGA Inc.

The group has been spending tens of millions of dollars trying to bolster Republican candidates ahead of the midterms, including some in reliably red territory who now appear vulnerable.

Trump is betting the third time will be the charm to hold ‘em in Texas

2026-10-07T18:09:22.453Z / CNN Politics

By Dana Bash, CNN

Published 2:09 PM EDT, Wed October 7, 2026

Trump is betting the third time will be the charm to hold ’em in Texas

Inside Politics

President Trump is taking his brand of campaigning back to the Lone Star state for the third time in the last month. This visit, he’s focusing on the southern part of the state for the first time, alongside senate candidate Ken Paxton and House candidate Carlos de la Cruz. The Inside Politics panel helps break down what has put a number of south Texas seats back on the map for Democrats, after Trump swept them just two years ago.

3:34 • Source: CNN

Rubio calls for “unapologetic pursuit of national power,” invoking ancient Greece in Acropolis speech

2026-10-07 1:20 PM EDT / CBS News

By
Olivia Gazis
Olivia Gazis covers intelligence and international security matters for CBS News. Twice Emmy-nominated, she has traveled worldwide with the secretary of state and contributes reporting on intelligence, foreign policy and other security topics across CBS News broadcast, radio, online and streaming platforms.

Read Full Bio

Athens— As the United States wages a costly war with Iran and Europe struggles with the grinding conflict in Ukraine, Secretary of State Marco Rubio stood before the Acropolis on Wednesday and reached back more than two millennia to argue that the answer to the West’s current problems can be found, at least in part, in ancient Greece.

In a speech timed to the sunset from the Pnyx, where Athenians gathered for their democratic assembly, Rubio cast ancient Greece as the source not only of Western democracy and philosophy, but of what he described as the character that fueled the West’s rise.

“Here, in Athens, we found the first full realization of all the essential traits that would come to define the West,” Rubio said, citing “fierce individuality and relentless ambition,” and “a yearning for discovery, for adventure, risk and glory.”

He argued that those modern Western societies had allowed those qualities to erode.

“The ideal of many ideologies in our time has, frankly, become a world of perfect safety, a world devoid of risk or failure, where neither the glory of victory, nor the shame of defeat,” Rubio said. “We hold the most exceptional things among us hostage to the average, the ordinary, the mediocre.”

His remarks were delivered before roughly 250 invited guests, including senior Greek government officials, members of the diplomatic corps and representatives of the business, educational and cultural sectors, according to a senior State Department official.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio speaks at the Pnyx hill, where ancient Athenians held democratic assemblies, with the ancient Parthenon temple atop the Acropolis in the background, on Wednesday, Oct. 7, 2026. AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein, Pool

The speech expanded on themes Rubio laid out at the Munich Security Conference in February, when he warned that Europe faced “civilizational erasure” and argued that the U.S. and Europe needed to recover a shared Western identity. Still, his conciliatory tone in Munich came as a relief to European officials after Vice President JD Vance had used the same stage a year earlier to sharply rebuke the continent’s leaders.

In front of the Acropolis, Rubio traced the development of the West from ancient Greece through Rome, European Christianity and eventually the United States, citing Alexander the Great, Caesar, Charlemagne and Columbus along the way. He portrayed America’s frontier expansion, industrial development and space program as later expressions of the same drive.

Rubio said the West now stands at a crossroads, “because the next decade and the decisions we make will write the story of the next century.”

“The course we take will determine whether the West maintains its place at the head of the world or resigns itself to a future of atrophy and servitude and decline. We will either choose to act now or lose the choice to act at all,” he said.

“Under President Trump, the United States has made its choice,” Rubio continued. “We choose the unapologetic pursuit of national power, to take back control of our critical supply chains, to reindustrialize our economy, to rebuild our defense, to fight for dominance of the technologies and industries of the future.”

The history Rubio presented was arguably selective. He spoke relatively little about democracy or political equality at a site closely associated with both, focusing instead on competition, national loyalty and the willingness to take risks. He argued that modern societies too often seek “perfect safety” and concern themselves more with “the comfort of the worst than the potential of the best.”

“The men who made the Parthenon, they built upwards. They held that the highest and most noble aspiration in life was to surpass all others, to strive to be the best in all things,” he said.

The highly produced speech came during a trip largely devoted to more immediate questions of American power: where U.S. forces can operate, how NATO allies can help counter Russia and Iran, and how American energy can displace Russian supplies in Europe.

Greece was the second stop on a three-country tour that began in Iceland and ends in Portugal on Thursday. In Iceland, amid growing U.S. attention to Arctic security, Rubio left open the possibility of an increased American military presence, saying, “We’d never do anything without cooperating with officials here about what’s available. I think there is a willingness to do more together.”

In Athens, Rubio met Greek Foreign Minister George Gerapetritis for the sixth U.S.-Greece Strategic Dialogue, focused on defense, energy and regional security. At a news conference Wednesday, Rubio called Greece a “strong and model NATO ally,” while Gerapetritis said Greece could provide maritime assistance in the Strait of Hormuz if a viable peace process is established.

Rubio was also asked by CBS News whether he was confident U.S. Ambassador Kimberly Guilfoyle’s tenure had complied with State Department ethics rules, amid congressional scrutiny over allegations that Guilfoyle used her diplomatic position to benefit private business interests in Greece.

“This is not the format where we’re going to address this,” Rubio said. “Suffice it to say our embassy has been doing a great job. Our ambassador has been a strong ambassador.” Guilfoyle has denied wrongdoing.

Rubio’s visit and Acropolis address come at a complex moment for the Trump administration.

The U.S. is seven months into its war with Iran and has yet to secure an agreement to end it. Vice President JD Vance said this week that Iran would need to make a “meaningful” reduction in its uranium enrichment capacity, raising questions about whether the administration was backing away from its earlier insistence on zero enrichment.

Asked Wednesday by CBS News to clarify the U.S. position, Rubio declined to say what level of enrichment, if any, Washington might accept.

“I don’t understand what the confusion is about the nuclear program. Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon. Simple, period and end of story,” he said. “I’m not going to go into, you know, into the details about what would be acceptable or not.”

The war has also helped push oil and gasoline prices sharply higher, adding an economic and political cost at home as the midterm elections approach.

In his remarks before the Acropolis, Rubio directly raised Iran. After invoking the Spartans at Thermopylae and Achilles’ pursuit of glory at Troy, he contrasted Western ideas of sacrifice with what he called a “cult of death” among Iran’s “radical mullahs.”

“Our heroes may be willing to die for their cause, but they do not worship death,” he said.

The speech also comes as Rubio’s own political future attracts increasing attention. President Trump has publicly raised both Rubio and Vice President Vance as possible future standard-bearers for his movement.

Rubio did not overtly mention his own ambitions Wednesday, but pointed to recent administration achievements, including the Greenland deal he helped broker last month.

“It is a vision we saw in action,” Rubio said, arguing the agreement would “reshape the Arctic and bolster the security of all of NATO.”

“We want to win together,” he said. “We must win together.”

Imperiled House Democrat gets ripped by left and right after flip-flop on transgender sports

October 7, 2026 12:10pm EDT / Fox News

Rep Marcy Kaptur’s anti-trans sports ads drew progressive backlash, while Republicans call them ‘lies’

By Elizabeth Elkind Fox News

Trump says he hopes Democrats keep fighting for men in women’s sports

Trump argued Democrats’ continued support for transgender athletes could give Republicans a key issue heading into the midterm elections.

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One of the most vulnerable House Democrats of the 2026 election cycle is being hammered from the left and right for her stance on transgender youth.

Longtime Rep. Marcy Kaptur, D-Ohio, is facing one of her toughest re-election battles yet, partially thanks to Buckeye State Republicans redrawing the boundaries of her district to include more GOP voters.

In what appears to be an appeal to those voters, Kaptur recently sent out mailers touting her opposition to biological males playing on girls’ school sports teams. “Unlike the far left, I believe boys shouldn’t play girls’ sports,” the mailed campaign ad, obtained by Fox News Digital, said.

The other side touted that Kaptur “voted to ban schools from touting gender ideology in classrooms.”

VULNERABLE DEMOCRATS FLIP ON WOMEN’S SPORTS VOTE AFTER OPPOSING SIMILAR BILLS AS MIDTERMS LOOM

Rep. Marcy Kaptur, D-Ohio, attends a news conference being conducted by Speaker Mike Johnson in the Rayburn Room at the U.S. Capitol on Oct. 29, 2025, in Washington, D.C.(Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

The moderate Ohio Democrat was referring to her vote in May of this year in favor of the Stopping Indoctrination and Protecting Kids Act, which would condition federal funding to public elementary and middle schools on those schools obtaining parents’ permission before any sex or gender accommodations for students are made.

POWERFUL LGBTQ+ GROUP’S ENDORSEMENTS COULD TANK VULNERABLE DEMS OVER RADICAL YOUTH TRANS AGENDA

She also referenced that vote in a campaign ad, in which she said, “I voted with Republicans to keep transgender ideology out of our schools, because parents know best for their kids. And boys should not play in girls’ sports.”

House Republicans’ campaign arm pointed out, however, that Kaptur is also a supporter of the Equality Act. That bill, introduced in April 2025, includes language to prohibit public schools from discriminating based on sexual orientation or gender identity. Kaptur is a co-sponsor of the bill.

Demonstrators listen to speakers during an “Our Bodies, Our Sports” rally for the 50th anniversary of Title IX at Freedom Plaza in Washington, D.C., on June 23, 2022.(Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

VULNERABLE DEM’S CAMPAIGN PITCH CLASHES WITH ‘RADICAL’ VOTING RECORD ON TOP CULTURE WAR ISSUE

She also voted against the GOP-led Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act in April 2023 and January 2025. The former instance received no Democratic support, while two Democrats voted with Republicans on the bill last year.

“Lies from desperate Democrat Marcy Kaptur can’t erase her radical record. Kaptur is in damage control, and she must remove herself as a co-sponsor of the Equality Act and disavow her previous votes or remove her lies from the airwaves,” National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) spokesman Zach Bannon told Fox News Digital.

That stance is creating political headaches for Kaptur on the other side of the aisle, as well.

Ohio progressives are accusing Kaptur of throwing transgender kids under the bus to score electoral points. LGBTQ advocacy group Equality Ohio graded Kaptur a “D” for having “recently released anti-trans ads.”

Lucas County Stonewall Democrats wrote in an open letter to Kaptur, “Shame on you and your campaign staff for pushing this incredibly harmful anti-Trans rhetoric.”

Rep. Marcy Kaptur, D-Ohio, is the longest-serving woman in House history and is running for her 23rd term in a key battleground race this November.(Getty Images)

And an opinion piece in the Buckeye Flame, an LGBTQ news site, stated, “[A]s a 27-year-old working journalist who challenges oppression and interrogates transphobia daily, I am embarrassed at Rep. Kaptur’s name on my resume. So much so that I removed it.”

Kaptur has survived prior redistricting bids by Republicans to serve her Toledo-area district for over four decades.

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But in an election cycle where turning out the base matters to both sides, it’s not clear what kind of effect her position on the issue will have. Fox News Digital reached out to Kaptur’s campaign but did not receive a response.

Elizabeth Elkind is a politics reporter for Fox News Digital leading coverage of the House of Representatives. Previous digital bylines seen at Daily Mail and CBS News.

Follow on Twitter at @liz_elkind and send tips to elizabeth.elkind@fox.com

Trump makes third trip to Texas in less than a month despite Paxton audio leaks

2026-10-07T18:59:41.030Z / https://www.cnn.com/2026/10/07/politics/trump-texas-ken-paxton

San Antonio—

President Donald Trump is making his third trip to Texas in less than a month to stump for a Senate candidate who’s privately questioned his political capital and whom the president has publicly insulted in personal terms.

Such is the final sprint to the November 3 midterm elections as the GOP faces an increasingly uphill battle to hold on to the Senate, with the path to the majority running through Texas.

Republicans are pouring millions into bolstering state Attorney General Ken Paxton, who polls have shown is facing a closer-than-expected race against Democrat James Talarico in a state Trump carried by more than 13 points in 2024 and that hasn’t elected any Democrats statewide since 1994.

Trump’s Wednesday appearance in San Antonio, one Texas GOP strategist said, will be closely watched for whether it can improve Paxton’s standing — which could determine continued investment in the state.

The president’s latest Texas trip — which comes less than a week after his last stop here — is part of an aggressive midterm travel blitz that has taken him to traditional red strongholds he overwhelmingly won two years ago, including Alabama, Oklahoma and Nebraska. The president has repeatedly told his rally crowds to “pretend” he’s on the ballot this fall, and his advisers believe their best hope for November is boosting base turnout.

But some Republicans, even in these red states, are looking for distance from the unpopular president. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott will not be at Trump’s Wednesday evening rally, citing scheduling conflicts. He skipped last week’s Trump appearance too.

“It’s pretty clear to me the Paxton team has made the calculation that they believe it’s absolutely worth it,” the Texas GOP strategist said.

But as Trump arrives Wednesday, Paxton is also making headlines for seeming to blame the president and some of his agenda for his struggles.

The GOP nominee told a group of donors and lobbyists last month that the Iran war and high gas prices are hurting his campaign, according to audio obtained by Axios on Wednesday. “I don’t make the decisions, and I don’t … know what’s behind some of the decisions,” he said, according to Axios. CNN has not independently verified the audio.

Paxton’s campaign dismissed the story. “The Attorney General said what every Texan already knows: gas and diesel prices are too high, and hardworking Texans are struggling at the pump and at the grocery store,” spokeswoman Madison Cercy told CNN in a statement, adding that Trump “is doing everything he can to bring prices down.”

But that followed The New York Times last week publishing audio of Paxton complaining that Trump’s midterm convention, held last month in Dallas, wasn’t helpful.

“So to be honest with you, the numbers — when we did that convention — it dropped our numbers,” the Texas attorney general said. In a statement to CNN, Paxton senior adviser Nick Maddux called the Times story “manipulated nonsense” to “create a story that doesn’t exist.”

Paxton has been plagued by his own set of scandals, including securities fraud charges, which ended in a pre-trial agreement; allegations of infidelity; and a 2023 impeachment in the state House (the Senate acquitted him). But that baggage didn’t stop Trump from backing Paxton over incumbent Sen. John Cornyn in a primary runoff earlier this year.

Their relationship, however, has appeared fraught, even as Trump told reporters in the Oval Office Wednesday that he has no regrets about backing Paxton.

At a stop in Denton, Texas, last week, the president called Paxton “one of the most loyal people” — but also “a pain in the ass sometimes.”

Then there’s his frequent ribbing of the state attorney general’s appearance.

“Some may not like the way he dresses,” Trump said during a speech at the Dallas convention: “I don’t.”

Will Trump repeat that refrain Wednesday night?

The president “understands how important Texas is to efforts to try to keep the Senate in Republican control, so I think he can put all that aside and probably focus on the bigger picture,” said one Texas GOP operative unaffiliated with the Paxton campaign, granted anonymity to speak freely.

“But I’m sure he enjoys making Paxton squirm at the same time,” the operative added.

CNN has reached out to Paxton’s campaign about Trump’s latest visit.

Paxton’s comments reported by the Times underscore how the president’s unpopularity — his approval rating is 34% in the latest CNN Poll of Polls — may make him an unwelcome guest for some candidates.

And he is losing support among a group that helped propel him to victory in 2024. His approval rating among Latino voters was just 27%, according to a NBC News/Telemundo poll earlier this week. Trump may be looking to turn that tide with his visit to San Antonio, where the population is 64.6% Hispanic or Latino.

But that visit, the Texas Republican strategist said, comes with its own risk.

“Why go where you can potentially motivate the other side, rather than going to places like Lubbock or Amarillo or East Texas, where you can try to use that brand to actually motivate, you know, the type of voter that needs to turn out for Paxton to win?” the strategist said.

And Democrats see Trump’s return to Texas as a good sign for their side.

“If you have to pull in Donald Trump four times in the closing stretch of the campaign in Texas, then you have given up on independent voters. This is a loss mitigation strategy,” said one Texas Democratic operative.

The Senate race — and the GOP primary and runoff leading up to it — is already on track to be one of the nation’s most expensive.

The GOP-aligned bill in Texas is expected to exceed $300 million, with the party and its affiliated groups outspending Democrats by more than 5-to-1, CNN has previously reported. Since the end of the GOP runoff in late May, Republicans have spent $158 million on ads, with an additional $38 million in upcoming ad reservations, according to the ad tracking firm AdImpact. Democrats, meanwhile, have spent about half that: $75 million on ads between late May and Tuesday, with $6 million reserved.

But that level of spending in deep-red Texas comes with consequences for the rest of the Senate map.

“A lot of us are very disappointed that our predictions have proven correct, and it’s going to cost somewhere between $100 and 200 million to save Ken Paxton as the Senate nominee,” said a Texas GOP strategist who had raised concerns about Paxton during the state’s primary.

“If we save Ken and lose the Senate majority because we’ve lost Alaska, Maine, North Carolina, Iowa and Ohio, the Monday morning quarterbacking is going to be biblical,” they added.

But Texas has seen close Senate races before, with Democrats’ hopes dashed at the ballot box. Eight years ago, Trump was a key surrogate for Ted Cruz when the senator faced then-rising Democratic star Beto O’Rourke. Cruz, unencumbered by the personal baggage Paxton is carrying this year, won his race by just 2.6 points.

That’s led to a debate about how much of this year’s close race is a reflection of the candidate matchup or the national environment and an unpopular president.

“If Paxton was a normal person, he probably would still eke it out. I mean, the state’s still structurally conservative,” said one DC-based GOP operative.

And the stakes of this year’s race could be bigger than just control of the Senate in 2027; it could carry ramifications for 2028 and beyond.

The Texas Republican operative compared a potential Talarico win to a “hole in the dam” that could give Democrats momentum to turn the state blue at the presidential level.

Paxton appears to recognize the stakes.

“If we lose Texas, we lose America,” he said in a social media post announcing Wednesday’s rally.