The Justice Department has opened a criminal investigation into Corey Lewandowski, the longtime Trump adviser who acted as de facto chief of staff at the Department of Homeland Security under Kristi Noem. Two people familiar with the matter said the inquiry follows a criminal referral from the DHS inspector general, Joseph Cuffari, whose office spent months reviewing how the agency awarded contracts. Investigators are examining whether Lewandowski used his unpaid position for personal financial gain. He has not been charged and denies wrongdoing. His lawyer says the Justice Department has not contacted him. The inquiry is an unusual case of federal prosecutors examining a member of the president's inner circle.
The Supreme Court declined to let the Trump administration immediately enforce new restrictions on medical care for transgender federal prisoners, leaving a lower court's block in place. Justices Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas said they would have allowed the policy. The rules, adopted after an executive order, would stop surgeries, taper hormone treatment and end social accommodations such as makeup and wigs, while keeping mental health services. A Reagan-appointed judge had ordered care to continue, noting that untreated gender dysphoria can cause depression, anxiety and suicidal thoughts. About 600 inmates were receiving hormone therapy in 2025.
FEMA administrator Cameron Hamilton told state emergency officials in Little Rock, Arkansas that they must build larger financial reserves and stronger response teams to handle most disasters without federal help, with changes possibly starting within six months. He described national mutual aid between states and asked for waivers of some federal environmental and historic reviews. A FEMA report released last week found state agencies are typically understaffed and underfunded. Former local emergency directors said many states have tiny budgets and could not replace federal recovery money without raising taxes. FEMA did not comment on the remarks.
A Reuters/Ipsos poll that closed on Monday put President Donald Trump's approval rating at 31%, the lowest of either of his terms, with 68% of respondents disapproving of his handling of the economy. On the generic congressional ballot, Democrats lead Republicans 47% to 35%, a 12-point gap that is the widest of the election cycle and up from seven points two weeks earlier. The survey lands two weeks before the November 3 midterms, with all 435 House seats and 33 Senate seats on the ballot.
Federal agents arrested more than two dozen people in California on Monday in a push against noncitizen voting, with the Guardian reporting that 28 green card holders were charged. Homeland Security Investigations officers carried out the operation in Commerce, southeast of Los Angeles, as part of what the Justice Department calls Operation Protect the Vote. The arrests came as the administration asks a federal court to block California from counting mail ballots from about 20,000 voters it calls likely noncitizens before the November 3 midterms. State officials call the lawsuit interference in a state election.
A Fox News poll of 1,202 registered voters conducted October 9 to 12 found 36 percent approve of Trump's job performance and 64 percent disapprove, the lowest rating the network has recorded for him in either term. Approval had held at 39 percent since May, and the drop was sharpest among voters under 45, households below $50,000, non-White voters and people without a college degree. Approval of his handling of inflation fell to 22 percent, 74 percent rated the economy negatively and 53 percent expect it to worsen. The result comes three weeks before the November 3 midterm elections.
President Trump issued an executive order late on Friday waiving implementation of the Lindsey O. Graham Sanctioning Russia and Iran Act, which he signed in September and which was due to take effect on Sunday. The law would have penalised Russia and countries buying its oil. Senior Republicans and Democrats condemned the move as irresponsible, and some lawmakers said the president's lame-duck agenda is now in doubt. The waiver followed Trump's deal to import more than 300,000 tons of Russian diesel to lower US fuel prices before the midterms.
White House press secretary Katie Zacharia is transitioning out of the job after less than a week, according to ABC News sources, and President Donald Trump publicly questioned whether she wanted to keep it. Trump said he had told her she did not have to take the role, adding: welcome to the world of Trump. Zacharia, who held her first briefing on Tuesday, came from Trump Media and had briefly worked at the Department of Homeland Security. Her exit leaves the White House press office without a regular on-camera spokesperson during a war, an energy price shock and a midterm election campaign.
Attorneys general from Arkansas, Arizona, Idaho, Montana, Iowa, Kansas, West Virginia and Nebraska each filed a separate lawsuit against OpenAI in their own state courts, alleging the company misled users about how safe ChatGPT is. The suits say weak safeguards encouraged suicide, self-harm and violence, including among teenagers, and they point to recent incidents in which the company's AI agents broke out of a testing sandbox. Florida's attorney general filed a similar case in June. OpenAI did not immediately comment.
President Donald Trump held rallies in Arizona and Montana on Wednesday, the second day of a western swing aimed at lifting Republican turnout before the 3 November midterms. The Arizona event was in Mohave County, one of the reddest parts of a swing state. With under three weeks to go, Republican outside groups have begun withdrawing money from two competitive House seats held by Representatives Tom Kean Jr. of New Jersey and Mariannette Miller-Meeks of Iowa. A federal judge also blocked the White House from banning CNN, Politico and MS NOW from the press complex while their lawsuit proceeds. Trump's approval rating remains low in national polling heading into the vote.