Whiplash over ICE arrests exposes disconnect between Trump and Markwayne Mullin

2026-09-30T20:09:04.400Z / CNN

When word of an internal Immigration and Customs Enforcement leadership call over the weekend leaked to media outlets, some Trump administration officials came to believe the agency planned to limit arrests of undocumented immigrants to those with criminal histories.

The perceived softening of the administration’s hardline stance to deport anyone in the country illegally set off President Donald Trump, who immediately sought to clear the record — telling a well-known correspondent at Fox News in a phone call that ICE would continue to arrest anyone in the country illegally, regardless of criminal history.

Behind the scenes, Trump also directed his anger toward Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin, according to a source familiar with the incident and a source close to the White House.

While DHS, which oversees ICE, denies that any such directive was issued, the episode exposed the ongoing disconnect between the White House and the officials charged with carrying out Trump’s mass deportation campaign. And it comes weeks away from the midterm elections, as some Republicans have publicly and privately expressed unease over who the administration is taking into custody.

Immigration remains a key political issue for the White House ahead of the midterm elections, and administration officials have been sensitive to any potential changes in operations that appear to weaken the president’s approach to his mass deportation pledge.

Earlier this summer, Trump was furious over a pause on most vehicle stops conducted by ICE following fatal shootings in Texas and Maine. The decision to pause those stops, which Trump ultimately overturned, immediately received blowback from his political base, who believed it was a sign of the administration going soft on its immigration crackdown.

Mullin has repeatedly said that anyone in the country illegally may be eligible for removal. But the sources told CNN that he privately supports the shift away from what officials call “collateral arrests,” meaning people who may be in the vicinity of an operation or with a person on law enforcement’s radar.

The guidance verbally communicated on the weekend call with some ICE agents appeared to direct them to take a different approach to “collateral arrests” and instead focus on criminals, fueling confusion among the agents, according to three sources briefed on the call.

Mullin, a former GOP US senator from Oklahoma, took the helm of DHS just six months ago when Trump fired his predecessor, Kristi Noem.

While sources insisted there’s no indication that Mullin is at risk of losing his job, that episode reignited concerns among Homeland Security officials and sources close to the White House that Mullin isn’t in lockstep with the president.

“Mullin is definitely out of step with President Trump and the base on immigration,” one of the sources said.

In a statement to CNN, a Homeland Security spokesperson said: “We are all focused on delivering on the President’s mission to deport illegal aliens and are all the same page. Anyone who says otherwise is just trying to sow division and create an illusion of chaos.”

The spokesperson maintained that “no one is off the table,” adding that, “anyone in our country illegally will be arrested and deported.”

White House spokeswoman Lauren Bis said in a statement that Mullin “has helped deliver the most secure border in history and shattered ICE arrest records.”

“President Trump and Secretary Mullin will continue to carry out the agenda the American people voted for,” she added.

The administration’s arrest tactics and decision to increasingly arrest undocumented immigrants without criminal records has fueled criticism among some Republicans, most notably Florida Rep. Maria Elvira Salazar, who represents a heavily Hispanic district. She broke with the president in a recent campaign ad ahead of the midterms.

In her ad, Salazar pointed to statistics she said show that 50% of the people detained by ICE in July “had no criminal record.”

An uptick in ICE activity in southwest Kansas that drew concerns among the agricultural industry also prompted a response from Republican Sen. Roger Marshall, who said in a statement last week that local law enforcement had not been “given advance notice or the level of cooperation we would expect from ICE’s enforcement and removal operations.”

“As a result, there have been mass disruptions to local communities and businesses,” he said, adding that he shared his concerns with DHS.

ICE picked up its immigration arrests over the summer. In August, ICE took around 51,000 people into custody, setting a new monthly high under the Trump administration. The previous high had been set just one month prior when the agency took more than 46,000 people into custody in July.

Since the start of the Trump administration, ICE has been under immense pressure from the White House to arrest hundreds of people daily and over time, cast a wider net of who’s eligible for arrest, beyond those who are public safety or national security threats.

In recent weeks, Mullin, who’s faced backlash from corners of the MAGA base for not being strong enough on immigration enforcement, has forcefully defended the administration’s crackdown, posting photos of deportation flights.

But multiple sources have told CNN that Mullin has had a hard time transitioning to his role. CNN previously reported that Mullin had expressed frustration with working under the close watch of the White House.

“Ultimately, Mullin is no longer a principal — he’s a staffer to the president,” one Trump adviser told CNN. “He’s had a hard time coming to terms with that, like many others before him.”

Mullin also saw his pick for director of ICE Lance Schroyer, a former Oklahoma state trooper, abruptly pulled by the White House after his nomination stalled in the Senate. Mullin had chosen Schroyer after his first proposed pick for the role caused friction with some White House officials.

“We still have an acting director there and ICE’s mission doesn’t change. Lance is a very good man,” Mullin said in a Fox interview earlier this month. “The truth is the president gets to pick his team, and I support the president doing this. The White House decided to go a different way.”

What is red-dyed diesel and can it help lower prices, as Trump wants?

2026-09-30 / Reuters

By Nicole Jao

September 30, 2026 9:21 PM UTC Updated 2 hours ago

blob:https://www.reuters.com/32dd3c9d-0dcf-443e-8157-be7abdf7dca3

‘We use it in our tractors, we use in our booster pumps, we use in our trucks.’

NEW YORK, Sept 30 (Reuters) – The White House is considering regulatory relief that would expand sales of red-dyed diesel, a tax-exempt fuel typically used for farming, as prices surge following supply disruptions linked to the US conflict with Iran, Ukrainian strikes on Russian refineries and declining global inventories.

Analysts warn ​such relief would do little to combat the problem of shrinking supply that has driven prices to record levels. Here ‌is more about the problems plaguing the diesel market, and what effect, if any, broader use of red-dye diesel may have:

The Reuters Power Up newsletter by columnist Ron Bousso provides everything you need to know about the global energy industry. Sign up here.

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WHAT IS THE WHITE HOUSE PROPOSING TO DO?

Diesel prices in the US reached a record $6.53 per gallon last week, according to Energy Information Administration data, due to a combination of a reduction in supply from the Middle East and ​interruptions to refining, in part because of Ukraine’s attacks on Russian energy facilities.

The spike has prompted the White House to consider allowing ​broader sales of red-dyed diesel, as President Donald Trump and his administration face pressure to ease fuel costs ahead of November’s ⁠midterm elections. It has also weighed a blanket diesel export ban, by refiners, and has urged the European Union to release emergency diesel stocks ​to help ease prices.

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WHAT IS RED-DYED DIESEL?

Red-dyed diesel is essentially diesel but exempt from highway fuel taxes.

It is generally sold for use in equipment and vehicles ​that are not usually operated on public roadways, but for places like farms and construction sites. Because it is intended for off-road use, it is exempt from taxes applied to diesel fuel sold for highway transportation.

The fuel is almost chemically identical to on-road diesel. The red dye serves as a tax-enforcement marker, indicating that highway taxes have not ​been paid. Using dyed diesel in vehicles operated on public roads is illegal and can result in significant fines because it constitutes tax evasion, not ​because the fuel differs from standard diesel.

Several states have relaxed restrictions on dyed diesel amid surging fuel costs.

Item 1 of 3 A driver fills his semi with diesel at a truck stop in Dunnigan, California, U.S., September 28, 2026. REUTERS/Fred Greaves

[1/3]A driver fills his semi with diesel at a truck stop in Dunnigan, California, U.S., September 28, 2026. REUTERS/Fred Greaves Purchase Licensing Rights, opens new tab

HOW MUCH TAX DO DRIVERS PAY ON A GALLON OF DIESEL FUEL?

Highway ‌diesel fuel ⁠in the United States is subject to both federal and state excise taxes.

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Federal levies include a diesel tax of 24.3 cents per gallon and a 0.1-cent-per-gallon underground storage tank fee, together accounting for roughly 4% of a $6-a-gallon diesel.

State diesel taxes average about 35.5 cents per gallon, representing roughly 5% of current diesel prices.

HOW MUCH DIESEL DOES THE US CONSUME?

Off-road diesel accounts for about 30% of total US distillate consumption at roughly 18.2 billion gallons annually, according to ​Jim Mitchell, an analyst at consultancy ​Wood Mackenzie.

The U.S. transportation sector consumes ⁠nearly 123 million gallons of diesel daily, or about 45 billion gallons annually, according to federal data. That represents roughly 75% of total US distillate consumption of nearly 60 billion gallons per year.

WHAT DO ANALYSTS THINK THESE MEASURES ​WOULD DO?

“One doesn’t have to pay federal and state excise taxes on dyed diesel, but it really doesn’t ​shift the amount of ⁠overall diesel manufactured for domestic purposes,” said Tom Kloza, chief energy adviser at Gulf Oil.

“It would help less than it sounds like, and the version the administration can do without Congress wouldn’t lower pump prices at all,” said Gregg Ibendahl, an agricultural economics professor at Kansas State University. “It’s a much safer idea than the ⁠export ban — ​mostly because it does less.”

“While expanding access to the tax-exempt diesel could provide some relief ​to eligible end-users, it would not change the underlying wholesale diesel price,” said Preben Sørli, analyst at Rystad Energy. “Refiners would still receive market price for their fuels, and the main effect ​would be lowering federal tax revenues. It would do little to change supply or market fundamentals.”

Reporting by Nicole Jao in New York; Editing by Liz Hampton

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Hegseth announces new autonomous weapons command while repeating attacks on ‘woke’ culture during speech to troops

2026-09-30T20:29:14.072Z / https://www.cnn.com/2026/09/30/politics/hegseth-speaks-to-military

Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth announced a new Pentagon autonomous warfare command in a speech on Wednesday to troops at the military base in Quantico, Virginia, a sequel to the speech he delivered last year to senior officers that focused on fitness and culture.

Hegseth said the new Autonomous Warfare Command, which will focus on AI robotics and autonomous weapons, will be led by a four-star general, a sign that it will have a key role in future military operations.

“The autonomous and robotic revolution has enormous implications for equipment, doctrine, organization, and the assumptions that have governed warfare for decades,” Hegseth said. “Lasting change must be anchored in military command structures.”

The Pentagon chief cited lessons learned from the war in Ukraine as motivation for the new command and said that a complementary effort known as Project Agincourt will work to clear the way for the new command and overhaul how the military acquires, tests, and fields drones and other similar weapons.

A memo released by the Pentagon said that the new command aims to go online in October 2027.

The speech also included Hegseth repeating a number of his past criticisms of military culture and saying that he had ordered further cuts to the ranks of senior officers to continue to remove “woke” policy.

He doubled the percentage target for cutting general and flag officer positions in the ranks to 20%, up from a 10% reduction of generals and admirals he had directed in a May 2025 memo.

Hegseth has fired more than two dozen senior officers across the military — many with little to no explanation, to the dismay of lawmakers on both sides of the aisle. The military services have also reduced the number of available four-star jobs, forcing some senior officers to leave the military.

Hegseth announces new military command for robotic warfare
https://www.cnn.com/
Hegseth announces new military command for robotic warfare

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Frustration over the firings was in part responsible for the resignation of former Army Secretary Dan Driscoll. CNN previously reported that Driscoll “brought up concerns with the administration surrounding Army transformation and readiness and Hegseth’s blocking those efforts specifically by firing the generals who were responsible,” in his resignation.

Some of the speech’s attendees included Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich, and Palmer Luckey, founder and head of defense tech company Anduril. Hegseth announced that the three will chair a new future of warfare study group known as Project Meridian.

Another set of initiatives laid out in Hegseth’s speech aim to modernize US bases and get them onto their own power grids, boost the resilience of defense supply chains, build reserves of key commodities like fuel and medicine, and solicit “pitches” from governors on where the Pentagon should build a new mid-sized military base to house up to 25,000 troops.

The address comes on the anniversary of his September 30, 2025, speech at Quantico to many of the military’s generals and admirals. In that speech, Hegseth railed against what he described as “the woke department,” describing his preferred vision for how the military will look (no “fat troops” or “beardos”) and act. He said the Trump administration would “rip out the politics” of the Pentagon and that the “only mission” would be “warfighting, preparing for war and preparing to win.”

Hegseth repeated many of those criticisms on Wednesday, while also using a slur to describe transgender service members as he outlined his continued efforts to reshape the force.

“We are no longer the woke department or the weak department,” he said. “Simple translation of that: No fatties, no trannies, no beardos, no weirdos, no wimps, no radicals, just warriors, just tough, ready, committed troops.”

This year’s attendance list was different. Hegseth’s office invited around 600 junior officers and noncommissioned officers — lower-level leaders who carry out the day-to-day work of the military — to attend Wednesday’s event as his primary audience.

In Wednesday’s speech, he blasted the media’s coverage of US military operations, likening it to “treason” while also conceding that a “free press” is “important.”

As Hegseth listed his oft-aired grievances against the media, past Defense Department leadership, so-called “woke” military leaders and Ivy League universities – the young leaders largely sat silently and stone-faced. The group included personnel from all branches of the military.

The few moments of clearer reaction from the crowd came when Hegseth impersonated President Donald Trump, saying the kind of people needed in the military are those from “central casting,” and when the room applauded for Deputy Secretary of Defense Steve Feinberg, who is overseeing an ambitious effort to revive America’s defense industrial base.

Hegseth’s address leaned into the Christian religious messaging that has characterized much of his Pentagon stint. The secretary quoted Bible verses and detailed new reforms to the military chaplaincy intended to raise their profile within the Pentagon bureaucracy.

“Decisions about faith and religion were made by secular careerists in cubicles and lawyers running around with red tape,” he argued.

The defense secretary also cited internal Pentagon data to say that 95% of the military “recognizes an Almighty God,” in seeming supporting his focus on the chaplaincy.

One of the newly announced initiatives — “America’s Corps of Cadets” — tapped Hillsdale College and Liberty University as new “Distinguished Military Colleges” that will receive Pentagon resources to train new officers for the military. In addition to the two conservative-leaning Christian colleges, the initiative also includes Louisiana State University, Mississippi State University, and the historically Black Tuskegee University.

Hegseth’s Wednesday speech also comes on the day US troops completed their withdrawal from Iraq. The move marked the end to the Iraq chapter of the US mission that launched in 2014 to combat ISIS as the terrorist group swept across the region, capturing major cities in Iraq and Syria.

This story has been updated with additional reporting.

Davis Winkie’s work at CNN is supported by a partnership between Outrider Foundation and Journalism Funding Partners (JFP). CNN retains full editorial control of the reporting.

Election denier Kurt Olsen steps down from “grand conspiracy” case, but remains on DOJ payroll, official says

September 30, 2026 / 4:32 PM EDT / CBS News

Kurt Olsen, an election denier who attempted to overturn the 2020 election results in favor of President Trump, is resigning from his role in the “grand conspiracy” investigation targeting Obama- and Biden-era officials, a Justice Department official said on Wednesday.

Olsen announced his intention to depart from the case in an email on Monday to the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of Florida.

CBS News reported on Monday that Olsen was resigning from the Justice Department, after DOJ officials in both Miami and Washington misinterpreted Olsen’s email and thought he was leaving the federal government altogether, a department official said on Wednesday.

It was only after multiple media outlets ran stories about his resignation that Olsen later called Justice Department officials to clarify that he still intends to remain employed there as an attorney, the official said.

Olsen did not return an email seeking comment.

Confusion over Olsen’s role spilled into public view earlier on Wednesday, when Attorney General Todd Blanche was asked about the news reports of Olsen’s resignation during an unrelated press conference.

“Kurt Olsen has not resigned,” Blanche said, adding that there was an “incredible amount of fake news” out there.

When pressed whether Olsen had left the investigation, Blanche replied: “He’s still employed exactly where he was before.”

But a department official later clarified that while Olsen will still be on staff as senior counsel, he will not be assigned to the grand conspiracy matter.

It remains unclear what work Olsen will be performing in the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Southern District of Florida, since another obstacle has emerged.

Before he submitted his email resigning from the case, a problem arose with his security clearance, two sources with knowledge of the matter told CBS News.

The lack of a security clearance means Olsen could not effectively work on the grand conspiracy investigation, which entails reviewing classified evidence related to a variety of topics — ranging from the intelligence assessment on Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election to the investigation by former special counsel Jack Smith into President Trump’s retention of classified records.

Two sources said that Olsen has expressed an interest in possibly transferring to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of North Carolina to work for Dan Bishop on election matters, but it is unclear whether that will materialize.

Olsen is the third prosecutor this year to step down from working on the grand conspiracy case and a separate related probe into whether former CIA Director John Brennan lied to Congress about the agency’s role in the intelligence assessment on Russian interference in the 2016 election.

Maria Medetis Long, the head of the national security section in the Southern District of Florida, was removed from the case in April after she raised concerns about the strength of the evidence.

She was quickly replaced by Joe diGenova, a former federal prosecutor in the 1980s who returned to the Justice Department to spearhead the grand conspiracy case.

Even as witnesses were preparing to appear for testimony before the grand jury in Florida, diGenova abruptly resigned in September amid tensions with the Deputy Attorney General’s Office over the management of the case.

He represented Mr. Trump’s campaign in its failed attempt to overturn the 2020 election results.

He has long railed against Brennan’s role in assessing that Russia tried to meddle in the 2016 election, referring to him in one interview as the “primogenitor of the entire counterintelligence investigation.”

Olsen joined the Southern District of Florida as a senior counsel sometime in the spring.

He previously worked in the White House as a “Presidentially appointed Director of Election Security and Integrity,” the FBI said. In 2020, Olsen was an attorney working with Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton to urge the Supreme Court to overturn the election results.

Earlier this year, Olsen made the Fulton County election case referral to the FBI, prompting agents to execute a search warrant earlier this year. They seized dozens of boxes of ballots and other materials from the 2020 election, an FBI affidavit revealed.

Olsen has also made several other 2020 election-related referrals to the Justice Department, including one in Arizona, according to a source with direct knowledge.

Fox News Poll: Michigan voters split between El-Sayed and Rogers

2026-09-30T18:00:08-04:00 / Fox News

More Rogers backers say they could reconsider their vote than El-Sayed supporters

By Dana Blanton, Fox News

Published September 30, 2026 6:00pm EDT

Ex-Clinton advisor slams El-Sayed as ‘unacceptable’ Senate candidate

Former Clinton advisor and pollster Mark Penn breaks down the latest election polling data, analyzing shifting voter sentiment, key demographic trends and critical economic concerns shaping the electorate.

NEW You can now listen to Fox News articles!

Michigan voters have concerns about both candidates in the U.S. Senate race and that leads to a tight contest, according to a new Fox News poll.

Democrat Abdul El-Sayed has a slim 1-point edge against Republican Mike Rogers, 50-49%, among Michigan likely voters. The survey, released on Wednesday, is the first Fox News Poll this season among likely voters, so a direct comparison can’t be made to previous polls.

Yet among registered voters, the preference is almost identical, 51% El-Sayed vs. 48% Rogers. That’s a reversal since August, when Rogers was ahead by 4 points among registered voters, 51% to El-Sayed’s 47%.

FOX NEWS POLL: VOTERS QUESTION WHETHER AI’S PROMISE OUTWEIGHS ITS RISKS

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The analysis below is among likely voters, unless otherwise noted.

More of El-Sayed’s backers feel certain of their choice (87%) than Rogers’ (80%). Overall, 15% say they could switch their pick before voting, including 18% of Rogers’ supporters and 12% of El-Sayed’s.

FOX NEWS POLL: SQUEEZED BY COSTS, FRUSTRATED VOTERS TURN TO THE DEMOCRATS

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Here’s why the race is tight.

Roughly equal numbers of Michiganders say they are extremely concerned Rogers is too close to President Donald Trump (39%) as say El-Sayed’s views are too liberal (36%).

And their favorable ratings are also close: 47% view El-Sayed positively compared to 44% for Rogers. Among registered voters, positive views of El-Sayed increased by 5 points since August while Rogers’ declined by four points.

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El-Sayed’s best groups include those who traditionally go Democratic: women, Black voters and those with a college degree. He’s also ahead with voters under age 45 and the small subgroup of union households.

The groups giving Rogers some of his strongest support include men, rural voters, White evangelical Christians, married voters and Whites without a college degree.

Both candidates receive near-universal backing from their party. Rogers receives 95% among Republicans, while it’s 93% for El-Sayed among Democrats. In addition, Rogers gets 99% of MAGA Republicans and 88% of non-MAGA Republicans, while El-Sayed garners 98% of DSA Democrats and 90% of non-DSA Democrats. The small number of independents narrowly favor El-Sayed.

This year’s political landscape favors El-Sayed. The Democrats hold a 5-point advantage when voters are asked which party they want to control the Senate, 52% to 47%. But to capitalize on that, he’ll need to consolidate Democratic support after a contentious primary because 11% of likely voters who backed his primary opponent Haley Stevens say they plan to vote for Rogers.

CLICK HERE FOR CROSSTABS AND TOPLINE

“The Michigan Senate race is unique in that short-term political forces favoring the Democrats are somewhat offset by concerns about the Democratic candidate,” says Republican pollster Daron Shaw, who conducts the Fox News Poll with Democrat Chris Anderson.

“The bad news for Rogers is El-Sayed has made progress shoring up Democratic support and has room to grow given voter concerns about the economy.”

Four in ten Michiganders say they are falling behind financially, and they back El-Sayed by 25 points. But the largest share, nearly half, describe their family as holding steady, and they favor Rogers by 13 points, while the small number who are getting ahead prefer Rogers by 36 points.

Still, for 7 in 10 voters, the cost of living will be extremely important to their Senate vote, and they back El-Sayed by 13 points. He also has advantages among the 4 in 10 focused on U.S. policy toward Israel (+8 points) and AI technology (+17 points). Conversely, Rogers is favored by 26 points among the 44% focused on immigration.

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Half of Michigan voters consider Trump extremely important to their Senate vote, and they favor El-Sayed by 22 points.

In 2024, Trump won Michigan by less than two percentage points, while Rogers lost to Democrat Elissa Slotkin by less than half a point.

Voter frustration with the administration is a drag on Rogers, as nearly 6 in 10 disapprove of the president’s performance. While 40% approve, not all support Rogers (93%). He remains competitive with support from 19% of Trump disapprovers overall, even as 28% who only “somewhat” disapprove of Trump prefer El-Sayed.

In the gubernatorial race to replace term-limited Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, Democrat Jocelyn Benson leads Republican John James 54% to 45% among likely voters.

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Twelve percent of those backing Rogers in the Senate race cross-party lines to favor Benson.

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Conducted September 24-28, 2026, under the joint direction of Beacon Research (D) and Shaw & Company Research (R), this Fox News Poll includes interviews with a sample of 1,203 Michigan registered voters randomly selected from a statewide voter file. Respondents spoke with live interviewers on landlines (114) and cellphones (794) or completed the survey online after receiving a text message (295). Results based on the registered voter sample have a margin of sampling error of ±2.5 percentage points and for the subsample of 1,028 likely voters it is ±3 percentage points.

Sampling error for results among subgroups is higher. In addition to sampling error, question wording and order can influence results. Sources for developing weight targets include the most recent American Community Survey, Fox News Voter Analysis and voter file data. Weights are generally applied to age, race, education and area variables to ensure the demographics of respondents are representative of the registered voter population. Likely voters are based on a probabilistic statistical model that relies on past vote history, interest in the current election, intention to vote, age, education, race, ethnicity and marital status. Results among subgroups are only shown when the sample size is at least N=100.

Fox News’ Victoria Balara contributed to this report.

As head of the polling unit, Dana Blanton runs the Fox News Poll and oversees the Fox News Voter Analysis election survey.

Trump deflects on leaked audio of Ken Paxton calling Texas midterm convention a drag on his poll numbers

2026-09-30T18:14:00-0400 / CBS News

By

Updated on: September 30, 2026 / 6:15 PM EDT / CBS News

President Trump deflected on Wednesday when he was asked about leaked audio of his close ally, Texas Republican Senate candidate Ken Paxton, who reportedly told donors that “everybody’s numbers are down” after the recent GOP midterm convention in Dallas.

Mr. Trump said in the Oval Office that he “hadn’t heard that” about Paxton’s comments, adding: “But I can tell you that the convention was amazing, as you probably know.” He then touted the convention’s viewership and argued that “other people were helped greatly” by the two-day event, which touted Republican candidates and focused heavily on Mr. Trump’s record.

Paxton’s comments were leaked to The New York Times, which published the clip on Wednesday. CBS News has not independently verified the audio.

In the excerpt, Paxton was asked, “Do you feel like he’s a little bit of a drag?” although it’s unclear who the question was referring to. It was recorded during a private event with lobbyists and donors in South Texas, according to the Times.

Paxton responded: “So to be honest with you, the numbers — when we did that convention — it dropped our numbers. Everybody’s numbers dropped. Right now, yeah, not good.”

In response, Paxton spokesperson Nick Maddux said it was “manipulated nonsense to create a story that doesn’t exist” and pointed to an internal poll that showed Paxton leading his Democratic opponent, James Talarico, by three points.

Mr. Trump is scheduled to make a campaign stop in Denton, Texas, on Thursday, although it’s unclear if Paxton will be there. The president’s visits to the area are slated to happen as the region faces the threat of heavy rain and flooding. Storms are forecast to develop on Wednesday, with some showers and thunderstorms moving into the Dallas-Fort Worth area late that afternoon and into the early evening.

In September, Mr. Trump headlined an unprecedented two-night midterm convention in Dallas that was intended to drum up support for GOP candidates as Republicans head into a hostile election environment this cycle. While it may have seemed like the GOP candidate for Senate in Texas would be the star of such an event, support for Paxton has been muted among many Republicans after the bruising primary with incumbent Sen. John Cornyn, a key party fundraiser.

Mr. Trump has long sparred with Cornyn, and the president issued an 11th-hour endorsement to Paxton, a longtime ally. Paxton came out ahead of Cornyn, a four-term senator, in a runoff, triggering an earthquake in Texas politics.

At the convention, Mr. Trump said Paxton “may not dress right,” “may not talk exactly perfectly” and “may not be the best-looking guy I’ve ever seen.” But he added that Paxton is “the greatest attorney general in America, and he deserves to be your next senator.”

There has not been a Democrat elected statewide in Texas since 1994, and Democrats have recently flamed out in the past few cycles with exciting candidates who were also prolific fundraisers. But Mr. Trump’s low approval ratings — especially among Hispanic voters — and Paxton’s polarizing past have given Democrats renewed hope this year.

Recent polls have shown Paxton trailing Talarico. Talarico appeared at an event virtually on Wednesday but did not mention the Paxton comments.

The Texas Democratic Party issued a statement on Wednesday saying Paxton is “loyal to nobody but himself” and calling the comments “embarrassing to the president.”

When asked Wednesday about the audio, Cornyn said “whoops!” When pressed further by CBS News, he added that Paxton has not led public polls and warned, “it’s a tough environment, period.”

“I don’t know what’s going to happen, but we haven’t elected a Democrat since before 1994 in Texas, and I think we’re at risk,” Cornyn said. He also told CBS News that he does not believe he would have been in a similar situation, with his numbers “dropping,” if he were the nominee.

Nikole Killion contributed to this report.

GOP senator blocks resolution that criticized Trump’s taxpayer-funded ads

2026-09-30 4:07 PM ET / CNN

By Morgan Rimmer

Updated Sep 30, 2026, 5:40 PM ET

PUBLISHED Sep 30, 2026, 4:07 PM ET

US Sen. Cynthia Lummis of Wyoming speaks to reporters outside of the Senate Chambers during a vote in the US Capitol Building on May 11 in Washington, DC.

Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images

A GOP senator blocked a resolution on Tuesday that criticized the Trump administration’s recent taxpayer-funded ads promoting President Donald Trump.

Republican Sen. Cynthia Lummis of Wyoming objected to the Democrat-led measure, which stated that taxpayer funds should not have been used for the controversial ads.

The measure, from Democratic Sen. Maggie Hassan of New Hampshire, slammed the administration for using government funds for the White House’s recent advertisements. “It is the sense of the Senate that the advertisements promoting President Donald Trump that aired in September 2026, which included the direct language ‘paid for by the U.S. Government,’ should not be paid for by the United States government,” it read.

Senators on both sides of the aisle have criticized the president for using taxpayer dollars for the ads. Senate Majority Leader John Thune told reporters on Monday, “It’s a great message. I like the message, but it shouldn’t be paid for with taxpayer dollars,” and retiring GOP Sen. John Cornyn of Texas added, “no” it’s not appropriate. “It’s not even a close question,” he said.

On the Senate floor on Tuesday, as she introduced her resolution, Hassan said, “The American people want their tax dollars to go towards helping them and keeping them safe, not propaganda campaigns for a president. He’s welcome to run whatever ads he wants with his own riches, but with taxpayer dollars, money that people have worked hard to earn, he needs to follow the law.”

Lummis echoed the White House’s own argument that the ads are comparable to public service announcements released during previous administrations, and are not campaign ads.

“Presidents of both parties have used public service announcements to speak directly to the American people for decades,” the Wyoming Republican said. “The message at the heart of these PSAs is a simple one: American values are worth defending against the failed ideologies of communism and socialism. If that is what has the senator from New Hampshire concerned, I’d suggest the concern says more about her side of the aisle than it does about the PSA.”

One recently released taxpayer-funded television ad features imagery of Trump walking down a hall as audio plays of him saying “this is the final battle.”

“We will cast out the communists, Marxists, and fascists. We will throw off the sick political class that hates our country. We will rout the fake news media, and we will liberate America from these villains once and for all,” Trump says in the ad.

Hassan attempted to pass the resolution criticizing the use of taxpayer funding for the ads via a fast-track process known as a unanimous consent request. Any single senator can object to such a request.

President Donald Trump on Wednesday defended the ads, arguing they are not political because he is not on the ballot.

“Well, I’m not running for office, first of all, and so the ads are given by me, but I’m not running for office, and I don’t talk about anybody,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office.

The president described the spots as patriotic messaging rather than campaign material. “But when I’m talking about making America great, making our country great, that’s a countrywide ad. That’s an ad for the spirit of our country,” he said.

This story has been updated with additional details.

CNN’s Alejandra Jaramillo contributed to this report.

Trump unveils South Korean investment in pipeline in Alaska, site of a tight Senate race

September 30, 2026 / 6:55 PM EDT / CBS/AP

President Trump announced plans Wednesday for South Korea to invest in exporting natural gas from Alaska, a project long backed by Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan, who is in a competitive reelection contest there.

It marks the second time in three days that the president has sought to highlight planned foreign investments in states where Republican Senate candidates are in tight election campaigns. Mr. Trump made a similar Oval Office announcement on Monday for a massive steel plant in Iowa, another state where Republicans are defending a Senate seat.

The project consists of an 807-mile natural gas pipeline connecting Alaska’s petroleum-rich North Slope to a liquefied natural gas export terminal in southern Alaska. It will eventually reduce energy costs for the state’s residents by providing a reliable and secure supply, the White House said. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said liquefied natural gas could also be exported to Asia.

Officials said during the Oval Office event that building the pipeline will take three years and that exports of liquefied natural gas would begin two years after that — but that was dependent on financing coming through fully.

It was not clear how quickly South Korea’s government would approve the project and how much it planned to spend.

The pipeline is part of a series of projects that Mr. Trump said would get nearly $200 billion in South Korean funds, including a power plant in Texas and eight “large-scale” nuclear power plants. Further details on those investments are not clear.

The investment comes from pledges made as part of a 2025 trade deal with South Korea, which included promises of $350 billion in investments in the United States in exchange for lower U.S. tariffs on South Korean cars, auto parts and other products.

Mr. Trump credited his controversial tariff strategy for making the announcement possible, saying, “Our trade agreement with South Korea, they have to invest hundreds of billions of dollars.”

The president credited Sullivan during the Oval Office event.

“He’s got my ear, and he’s had my ear for a long time on Alaska,” Mr. Trump said. The president added that “all these energy projects are all mine, and I got ’em done working with Dan Sullivan.”

Sullivan said, “the sky is the limit when we get this project done.”

“Mr. President, this one is huge for Alaska,” Sullivan said, adding that he’d been working on it “relentlessly.”

The push to deliver big projects in areas where GOP candidates could use a boost comes as Mr. Trump’s approval ratings have sunk to nearly historic lows ahead of midterm elections. Republicans are also contending with voters’ historical tendency to reject whichever party controls the White House during the midterms.

Even Mr. Trump himself has begun acknowledging that Republicans could face an uphill climb in their push to retain control of both chambers of Congress after November, but suggests it is because his administration hasn’t done enough to promote its accomplishments.

“I’ve done a very bad job of explaining,” the president said during an event in the White House’s East Room, which came before the subsequent announcement on the Alaska investment.

He’s promised to help rectify that by spending much of the next 30 days on the road, campaigning ahead of the midterms — though he is beginning that swing with trips to Texas, Alabama, Ohio and Nebraska, which are all normally solidly red states.

Sullivan, who has been a persistent advocate for the Alaska natural gas project and has encouraged South Korean investment, is a two-term senator facing a competitive challenge from Democratic former Rep. Mary Peltola.

Wednesday’s Alaska event came two days after Mr. Trump announced plans for a $15 billion steel plant to be built in Iowa by a Minnesota company owned by an Indian industrial conglomerate.

In Iowa, Republican Rep. Ashley Hinson is in a close U.S. Senate contest with Democratic state Rep. Josh Turek for the seat being vacated by retiring two-term Republican Sen. Joni Ernst. Hinson spoke in the Oval Office during the announcement.

Alaska and Iowa — where Mr. Trump won comfortably each time he has run for president — are among the states where Democrats are targeting Republican-held Senate seats in the 2026 midterm elections, less than five weeks away.

Democrats need to gain a net of four seats in the 100-member Senate to overtake Republicans in the majority.

https://www.cbsnews.com/video/trump-announces-54-billion-south-korean-investment-in-alaska-natural-gas-project/

Trump announces $54 billion South Korean investment in Alaska natural gas project

赫格塞斯：美军将军和海军上将人数已削减20%

2026年10月1日 07:03 / 联合早报

美国战争部长赫格塞斯星期三（9月30日）在匡蒂科军事基地发表讲话，强调美军只要战士，只要强悍、时刻准备就绪且忠诚的部队。 （法新社）

美国战争部长赫格塞斯说，美国已将将军和海军上将人数削减20%，此举旨在落实问责制。

法新社报道，赫格塞斯星期三（9月30日）在匡蒂科（Quantico）军事基地告诉美军初级军官和士兵：“负责统计数据的人员指出，我们已经解雇全军10%的将军和海军上将，还把将军级职位总数额削减10%。所以没错，我军整体裁员幅度达到20%。”

他接着表明：“媒体称这是‘清洗’，但我称之为问责，而且早该这么做了。”

去年，赫格塞斯也曾发表类似讲话，当时听训的是美军高级将领。他那时批评美军机构臃肿，过度关注左翼“觉醒”理念，并称军队须要进行重大整顿。

他在这次的匡蒂科讲话中说，那些对之前演讲“积极响应”的高级将领，如今正“领导着目标明确、被赋予新权能且纪律严明的部队”；那些未予配合的人，“已不在这里任职了”。

特朗普整顿军方高层 开除参联会主席
五角大楼“瘦身” 美防长下令削减20%四星将领

他再次强调：“我们不再是那个推崇‘觉醒’理念的部门，也不再是软弱无力的部门。简而言之，我们不要胖子，不要变性人，不要大胡子，不要怪人，不要懦弱者，不要激进分子。我们只要战士，只要强悍、时刻准备就绪且忠诚的部队。”

自去年1月底重返白宫以来，特朗普已裁撤多名军事高官，其中包括原参谋长联席会议主席布朗。

赫格塞斯坚称，总统只是在挑选自己属意的军事领。民主党议员则担忧，传统上保持中立的美国军队可能面临政治化问题。

赫格塞斯去年5月下令大幅精简美军，举措包括把将军和海军上将的总数削减10%，并将最高级别的四星将领人数削减20%。

截至当月底，美军现役将军和海军上将共有831人。

然而，五角大楼截至今年7月底的最新可用数据显示，美军高级将领人数实际上不降反升，总数达到851人。

五角大楼并未回应20%的减员计划是否已经完成，还是仍在进行中。

Retired Army Major General slams Hegseth’s ‘extremely dangerous’ cut to senior officer ranks

2026-09-30 6:39 PM EDT / CNN

By Jake Tapper, CNN

Published 6:39 PM EDT, Wed September 30, 2026

Retired Army Major General slams Hegseth’s ‘extremely dangerous’ cut to senior officer ranks

The Lead

Retired Army Major General Randy Manner joins The Lead.

0:57 • Source: CNN