The Pentagon has told Congress that the war with Iran has cost $45.1 billion so far. Officials put war costs at $43.6 billion as of 3 September, plus an extra $1.5 billion for fuel, according to two sources familiar with the briefing. The figure is not a full accounting. It leaves out the cost of repairing damaged bases and buildings, and lawmakers did not get the detailed breakdown of indirect operating costs they had asked for. The estimate landed as fuel prices stay high and the midterm election campaign turns on the cost of living. Congress still has to decide how to fund the next phase of operations, and the price tag is expected to keep climbing.
The White House has barred CNN, MS Now and Politico from routine press access, a step the administration links to what it calls unfair coverage. Correspondents for the three outlets have been excluded from briefings and pooled events since September 21, according to reports, and the organisations say they are still reporting from outside the building. Three news companies are now suing the administration, arguing that naming individual outlets violates the First Amendment. On Capitol Hill, the top Democrat on the House Oversight Committee is demanding documents and answers about how the ban was decided. Lawmakers also say they were not briefed before the administration announced a new AI Force, and want details on its size, mandate and budget before any funding moves.
Three White House reporters lost their credentials and were denied entry on September 19 after President Donald Trump banned CNN, MS NOW and Politico from the press pool. Photographs showed CNN's Betsy Klein, MS NOW's Akayla Gardner and Politico's Cheyenne Haslett outside the gates with their hard passes confiscated. The pool is a rotating group of correspondents who travel with the president and share material with the wider press corps, so removing outlets narrows what the public sees. The White House Correspondents' Association objected and media lawyers are weighing a court challenge. Past fights over access have turned on whether a press pass is a presidential privilege or a First Amendment process.
President Donald Trump said he is banning three major news organizations from White House press access, naming CNN, MS NOW and Politico. Politico reported the move after a week in which the administration suffered court setbacks, including a Supreme Court decision that blocked parts of his mail-in ballot plan. The White House has tightened access for reporters it says are unfair, while press groups argue the practice limits public scrutiny of the president. The announcement came the same week Trump said the United States had reached a security and investment agreement with Denmark over Greenland, and as he pressed Republican lawmakers on healthcare and data center rules ahead of the midterms.
President Donald Trump signed a sweeping Russia sanctions bill into law on Saturday, targeting oil revenue while Russian voters cast ballots in a parliamentary election. The measure is named for Republican Senator Lindsey Graham and moved through Congress with support from both parties. Ukraine and Russia both reacted quickly. Voting for all 450 State Duma seats is in its second day; Moscow said its electronic voting system came under a powerful, non-stop cyberattack overnight. Most anti-war candidates were barred before voting began, and President Vladimir Putin accused Ukraine of trying to hinder the vote. United Russia is expected to keep its dominance in the tightly controlled system.
A federal judge ordered the Kennedy Center to give 30 days' notice before demolishing its main building or making other major physical changes, a step that blocks quick action by the Trump administration. Judge Christopher Cooper issued the order on Thursday and denied a request from Rep. Joyce Beatty, an Ohio Democrat on the board, for an emergency hearing. The board, chaired by President Donald Trump, voted on Tuesday to proceed with a $257 million renovation, and the building closed to the public on Wednesday. The closure was justified by structural deterioration that officials called a safety risk. A May ruling had found the center illegally added Trump's name to the building.
President Donald Trump said on Wednesday that the European Union would face very serious tariffs, or a halt to large parts of transatlantic trade, if it moves ahead with a plan to bring Canada in as an associate member. Trump called Canada a terrible trade partner and described the idea as laughable. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has said the EU is opening the door for Canada to become the bloc's first associate member, a category that does not exist in current EU treaties and would need ratification by every member state. Canadian officials say no formal offer is on the table, and EU diplomats describe the plan as a political signal.
The House passed a short-term spending measure on Tuesday to fund the federal government into early December, voting 370-48 to avoid a shutdown during campaign season. The Senate has already approved the bill by a wide margin, so it now goes to President Donald Trump for his signature. Lawmakers needed to act before the fiscal year ends on September 30. The stopgap does not settle the twelve annual appropriations bills, and House appropriators say Senate Democrats have slowed progress. Congress also faces unresolved questions about the cost of the war with Iran, which the Congressional Budget Office puts above $38 billion.
The US Supreme Court late on Monday rejected the Trump administration's plan to give the Postal Service a central role in deciding who can receive a mail ballot, clearing the way for normal mail voting in the November 3 midterms. The 7-2 ruling followed a months-long legal fight and a second federal judge's order blocking the same rules. The plan would have required states to adopt a uniform ballot envelope and upload lists of eligible voters to a federal portal, and the Postal Service could have refused to deliver ballots that failed its checks. A whistleblower report warned millions of ballots might never have been sent.
A federal judge ruled that a Department of Homeland Security plan to cut the Federal Emergency Management Agency's workforce by 50 percent was unlawful. The ruling, issued Friday, is a setback for an administration that has pushed to shrink the disaster agency. A review council had already stepped back from the 50 percent figure in its final report, recommending a staffing review instead. The case lands as Congress weighs bipartisan FEMA reform and as Democrats press claims of political bias in disaster aid.