Good evening. With 31 days until the midterms, Donald Trump is entering desperation mode. In the past 24 hours alone, he appeared to post a Republican senator’s personal cellphone number over daylight saving time, renewed his promise of $5,000 checks if Republicans keep Congress, announced $90 payments to 20 million seniors weeks before Election Day, and told a half-empty arena in Alabama, a state he won by 30 points, to “pretend I’m on the ballot.”
The panic is spreading through his party. Republicans are now on track to spend more than $200 million trying to rescue Ken Paxton in Texas, with one GOP senator calling it “a five-alarm fire,” and Paxton’s own estranged wife, who is divorcing him, appeared in a new ad urging voters to look past “individual players” and support the whole Republican ticket. Plus, new records show the prosecutor in the Cornell case never reviewed witness statements before declining charges, and the Trump administration has walked away from decades-old protections that let disabled Americans live in their communities instead of institutions.
On Monday, I’m publishing my deep-dive investigation into how Trump has used taxpayer money for his own benefit, from the “God Made Trump” ads paid for with border security funds to the checks landing in battleground states, laying out exactly where the money came from, where it went, which laws may have been broken and where investigators should look. It’s the most comprehensive piece I’ve written, and I’ve put my lawyer’s hat back on to do it.
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Here’s the news:
Republicans Panic Over the Soaring Cost of Saving Ken Paxton as Trump Posts a GOP Senator’s Phone Number and Rallies to Empty Seats
With his approval at record lows and Republicans privately bracing to lose the House, Trump is entering desperation mode, and the past 24 hours show it. He appeared to post Republican Sen. Tom Cotton’s personal cellphone number on Truth Social, urging Arkansans to call him over his opposition to making daylight saving time permanent. He renewed his promise of $5,000 checks to every adult if Republicans keep the House and Senate, a roughly $1 trillion pledge that 66% of voters call “inappropriate” and 61% don’t believe he’ll deliver, while announcing one-time $90 payments, which he called “nearly $100,” to more than 20 million seniors just weeks before Election Day. He warned that a Democratic victory would bring “a 1929 disaster,” invoking the crash that triggered the Great Depression, and told a Mobile, Alabama, rally to “pretend I’m on the ballot” as entire rows of seats sat empty behind him in a state he won by 30 points. Meanwhile, his Justice Department held a high-profile news conference to announce charges against a Utah mail carrier who admitted dumping mail out of “laziness,” with the acting deputy attorney general insisting, “Remember, folks. Voting fraud is real,” and calling it “just the tip of the iceberg” without offering evidence.
Republicans are panicking over the skyrocketing cost of rescuing Ken Paxton’s Texas Senate campaign, with one GOP senator calling it “a five-alarm fire.” The Senate Leadership Fund poured another $60 million into Texas this week, bringing its spending there to a record $131 million, and with MAGA Inc. and other reservations, outside Republican groups are on track to top $200 million to save Paxton, Politico reports. “This is a slow-moving car crash,” one Texas Republican strategist said, putting the chance of a “catastrophic” outcome for the GOP Senate majority at 75%. GOP operatives in Michigan and New Hampshire are now complaining that money flowing to Texas should be going to their states, with one ally of New Hampshire nominee John Sununu asking, “Why? We’ve never had a problem in Texas.” Most public polling over the past two months shows Democrat James Talarico with an edge, though Paxton released an internal poll showing himself up 48% to 45%.
Senior Republicans have been privately pushing Trump’s team to spend more on Paxton, worried MAGA Inc. won’t come through after his leaked audio trashing Trump’s convention. A Trump operative said MAGA Inc. and its affiliates expect to spend about $45 million in Texas through Oct. 12, up from $20 million, but would not commit to spending beyond that date. The concerns escalated after the New York Times reported audio of Paxton telling donors “everybody’s numbers dropped” after Trump’s Dallas convention, and Trump told a Texas crowd that Paxton “can be a pain in the ass sometimes.” One Republican senator said of Paxton’s unforced errors, “Sometimes, I think [Paxton] wants to lose,” while a Texas Republican official said, “all this spend hasn’t changed anything.” White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles reassured Senate Republicans this week that there will be enough money for competitive races in the final stretch.
As She Divorces Ken Paxton, His Wife Appears in an Ad Urging Texans to Vote for the GOP Ticket. Angela Paxton, a Republican state senator divorcing Ken Paxton on grounds of alleged adultery, appears in a new ad urging Texans to back the entire Republican ticket, telling voters, “it’s not as much about the individual players on the team. It’s about getting the whole team across the finish line.” She doesn’t mention her husband by name, but addresses “the elephant in the room,” warning, “Either we hold every Republican seat, or we hand the future of Texas to the other team.” The ad, funded by a PAC affiliated with Senate Republicans’ main super PAC, comes as Paxton trails Democrat James Talarico in every recent poll, including a New York Times/Siena poll released Saturday, and signals GOP concern about his standing with women. At a recent speech to Republican women, Angela Paxton acknowledged the party has “some vulnerabilities on our ballot” that have been “particularly alienating to women,” though her spokesman has declined to say whether she’ll vote for her husband. Paxton, who has weathered a fraud indictment, impeachment on bribery and abuse of office charges and other scandals without a conviction, denies wrongdoing, while his campaign released its own ad this week featuring his daughter Mattie.
Trump appeared to post Republican Sen. Tom Cotton’s personal cellphone number on Truth Social, urging Arkansans to call him over his opposition to making daylight saving time permanent. “Tom Cotton, a friend of mine, is holding up a very important Bill,” Trump wrote of the Sunshine Protection Act, adding, “Call Tom on his cellphone... and let him know.” In a third post, Trump said if Cotton “were putting Arkansas first, he would give them an extra hour of daylight.” Cotton fired back that Congress has enacted permanent daylight saving time before and repealed it “once Americans experienced absurdly late sunrises in the winter,” adding, “Arkansans don’t want their kids going to school in the pitch dark, and I’ll always put Arkansas first.” The House passed the bill in July with bipartisan support, but the Senate has yet to take it up, and Trump has also touted support from PGA Tour CEO Brian Rolapp, who he said needs it so golf tournaments don’t “run out of sunlight.”
Trump spoke to rows of empty seats at a rally in Mobile, Alabama, failing to fill a 10,041-seat arena in a state he won by 30 points. The Daily Beast reported that entire rows behind the president at the University of South Alabama’s Mitchell Center sat empty as he tried to rally support for Republicans ahead of the midterms. The sparse crowd came even as Trump bragged at the rally that he had received “the highest vote total of any candidate in Alabama history.” Alabama Democrats had cast the visit as a sign of GOP nerves, with gubernatorial nominee Doug Jones saying Trump “sees what we’re doing in this state.” It’s the latest stop in a campaign swing through deep-red states that has also taken Trump to Texas and Oklahoma, rather than traditional battlegrounds.
Cornell DA Never Reviewed Witness Statements Before Declining Charges, as Data Shows the University Rarely Expels Students for Sexual Assault
Tompkins County District Attorney Matthew Van Houten based his decision not to charge anyone in the alleged Cornell gang rape on Jane Doe’s initial six-page statement, without reviewing witness interviews and other evidence police collected, according to records obtained by NBC News. On Nov. 25, 2024, when a campus police investigator approached his office about interviews they’d conducted, an investigator in Van Houten’s office replied that several attorneys “had read [Jane Doe’s] statement” and “all agreed that, based on [Jane Doe’s] statement, criminal charges would not be pursued.” Van Houten told NBC “there was nothing to review” because the interviews flagged were frat members “declining to speak on the advice of their attorney,” but he didn’t respond when asked whether he knew about interviews with other fraternity members or tips from callers. Gov. Kathy Hochul, announcing Attorney General Letitia James as special prosecutor, asked, “In what world does the district attorney not even interview her or anyone else involved, or even request the full transcript?” Jane Doe has sued Cornell and seven Chi Phi members, alleging they sexually assaulted her over several hours while she was under the influence of ketamine, alcohol and marijuana.
New records also show Jane Doe wasn’t told about the decision not to prosecute for nearly two months, and her lawyer says she missed a critical chance to preserve evidence. Police informed her of the DA’s Nov. 25 decision only on Jan. 21, 2025, and her attorney, Thomas Giuffra, said she believed during that time that “they were still investigating,” adding, “If so, that is worse than I thought.” Van Houten said his office had “no part in the timing” and never interviewed her. Giuffra said that shortly after the alleged assault, she went to the university health center for a urinary tract infection she described as being “of a traumatic origin” but was not offered a rape kit, which he called “the first failure post assault when she was trying to get help,” noting DNA might have been recoverable within 48 hours. She underwent a sexual assault exam two weeks later, and Cornell did not immediately respond to NBC’s request for comment.
The records reveal police obtained part of a Snapchat thread in which one fraternity member announced there was “free p----” in the room where the alleged assault occurred. Van Houten said that material came from a witness rather than police, so there was “nothing to review.” But on Nov. 26, 2024, the day after the DA’s decision, police requested a fuller data history from Snapchat and received 1,665 pieces of data from five accounts in December. A campus police investigator wrote that only three snaps included Jane Doe or mentioned the incident and that none showed “anything that can be construed as being criminal in nature.” It’s unclear whether Van Houten knew about the request, and the attorney general’s office is now reviewing whether charges are warranted.
A USA TODAY analysis found Cornell rarely expels or suspends students accused of sexual violence, even as reported assaults on campus appear to be rising. Of more than 1,200 incidents of sexual assault, dating and domestic violence and stalking reported to Cornell’s Title IX office from 2018 to 2024, the school filed disciplinary charges in 162 cases, found someone responsible in 51, and issued just 14 suspensions and seven expulsions, with most of those found at fault receiving sanctions like probation or training. Cornell suspended or expelled people found responsible only 41% of the time, compared with 59% across 26 large New York colleges. Meanwhile, Cornell’s campus climate survey found 35% of undergraduate women reported unwanted sexual contact or penetration in 2025, up from 23% in 2023, even as reports to the Title IX office fell 41% from their 2018 peak. “Those two trendlines tell me that all students, including victims and perpetrators, believe that there is impunity for sexual assault at Cornell,” sociologist Nicole Bedera said, as the Trump administration formally reinstated its 2020 Title IX rules, which made it harder for schools to find students at fault, on Sept. 28.
Trump Administration Abandons Decades-Old Protections Letting Disabled Americans Live in Their Communities Instead of Institutions
A federal judge stripped “integration” requirements from a landmark disability rights regulation after the Trump administration switched sides in a lawsuit and asked the court to throw out its own rules. For nearly 50 years, federal regulations under Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act have required federally funded programs to serve people with disabilities in “the most integrated setting” possible, rather than in nursing homes or institutions. The case, Texas v. Kennedy, began in 2024 as a challenge by Republican-led states to Biden-era protections for transgender people, but it morphed into an attack on the integration mandate, and by September the Trump administration joined the remaining five states, Alaska, Florida, Louisiana, Montana and Texas, in asking the court to strike it. “It is pretty significant and pretty unprecedented to see the federal government asking a court to vacate its own rules,” said disability rights lawyer Jennifer Mathis. Bruce Darling of the Center for Disability Rights said the ruling felt “like a knife in your chest,” adding that people are hearing the federal government “has made a determination that [disabled people] don’t have a right to live in freedom, that they can be locked up against their will.”
The ruling is part of a broader retreat from enforcement that is already hitting families, including medically fragile children in Florida. In June, the Justice Department issued an opinion saying it no longer reads federal law to require states to serve disabled people in the most integrated setting, even acknowledging its position is “out of step with the common understanding” of the Supreme Court’s 1999 Olmstead decision. In August, the department asked a court to throw out its own 2023 victory requiring Florida to provide in-home care so children with complex medical needs wouldn’t be placed in nursing facilities, and it dropped out of a long-running case over Texas allegedly placing thousands of disabled people in nursing homes. Mathis called the Florida reversal “incredibly heartless,” saying it means “ripping children away from families” and forcing them “to grow up in an institution.” The states argue the rules restricted how they could spend strained Medicaid budgets, with Florida’s attorney general’s office saying it joined the suit “to serve as a check on federal power, not to deny care,” while experts warn that without federal enforcement, disabled people may have to sue states themselves to get services.
Disability advocates say the right to community living still exists under the Americans with Disabilities Act and Olmstead, but “the right is only as good as the enforcement,” and they’re fighting back as the administration also targets disabled voters. A bipartisan group of lawmakers introduced a resolution reaffirming Olmstead, 100 members of Congress have urged the Justice Department to rescind its June opinion, and Delaware has already written the stripped regulations into state law, with George Washington University professor Alison Barkoff saying at least a dozen state leaders have called her about doing the same. Advocates are also pushing the bipartisan Latonya Reeves Freedom Act to codify the integration mandate in federal law. At the same time, a proposed rule from Russell Vought’s budget office would bar federal grant money from being used for voter registration drives, threatening $10 million a year Congress provides to help people with disabilities register, which ProPublica reports has helped narrow the voting gap affecting about 740,000 disabled voters. A former OMB general counsel called the voter rule “a massive across-the-board power grab,” while Cravins, a Louisiana mother whose toddler with Down syndrome relies on publicly funded therapies at home, put the stakes simply: “This affects children, this affects adults, it affects your elderly parents. It affects everyone.”
Other news:
Ted Cruz Calls JD Vance “Insecure” as Their 2028 Rivalry Spills Into Public. Sen. Ted Cruz fired back at JD Vance on Saturday after the vice president told NBC News, “It is really obvious to me that, at this very moment, Ted Cruz is running for president,” while insisting he himself is focused on electing Republicans. “In my experience, people engage in political bomb-throwing when they’re feeling insecure,” Cruz told Politico, adding that he’s focused on “helping us win on Election Day in the next 30 days.” Cruz pointed to his campaign travel in Georgia, Iowa, Nebraska, South Carolina and Texas, with trips planned to Alaska, Florida and North Carolina, and boasted that no Republican has campaigned for more candidates over the past decade. He also noted the irony that he “spent a full day on the road with JD Vance” during his 2022 Ohio Senate race, saying, “I was very glad to help him.” The clash comes as Vance is widely seen as the GOP’s 2028 frontrunner, though Cruz has said he doesn’t believe Vance is a sure thing and that he’ll “certainly be part of the discussion.”
Moldova’s President Slams Russia After Missile and Drone Debris Explodes on Moldovan Soil. Moldovan President Maia Sandu condemned Russia on Saturday after three missiles and two drones violated the country’s airspace during a Russian attack on Ukraine, with debris exploding on Moldovan territory. “Its war is dangerously reaching Moldova,” Sandu wrote, saying the weapons, including Banderol missiles, “violated our airspace and exploded on our soil.” Fragments were found in the eastern districts of Hincesti, Anenii Noi and Causeni, sparking a fire but causing no casualties, while Russian attacks across Ukraine killed at least eight civilians and injured 83 over the past day. It’s the latest in a string of incidents for Moldova’s pro-EU government, which faced three separate airspace violations last Wednesday alone. Meanwhile, Lithuania briefly shut down Vilnius airport and scrambled NATO jets Saturday after a dangerous object was spotted in its skies, possibly crossing from Belarus, as Europe faces a growing wave of airspace violations, sabotage attempts and hybrid attacks tied to Russia.
Tennessee’s top prison official is resigning after the botched execution of Christa Pike, days after reports revealed he oversaw five “botched” executions across two states. Gov. Bill Lee announced Saturday that Corrections Commissioner Frank Strada will step down later this month as the state launches an independent investigation into what went wrong. Strada said he still believes the department “carried out its responsibilities in accordance with the established protocol,” but that stepping aside “is in the best interest of Tennesseans as the independent review moves forward.” Pike remains unconscious and on a ventilator, with her lawyers saying hospital staff are working to clear the two doses of pentobarbital from her system, which they believe entered her tissue rather than her bloodstream because of IV complications. “Frank Strada’s resignation does not change the fact that Tennessee is shrouding its executions in secrecy,” said federal public defender Kit Thomas, noting Strada’s troubled Arizona record “was well known” when Lee hired him. The head of the US Campaign to End the Death Penalty said advocates had long warned the governor about the state’s execution process, adding, “They were ignored,” while Pike, who was sentenced to death for the 1995 killing of classmate Colleen Slemmer, would have been the first woman executed in Tennessee in more than 200 years.
A Florida jury acquitted former sheriff’s deputy Eddie Duran in the fatal shooting of Roger Fortson, a Black Air Force airman killed in his own apartment after a false domestic disturbance call. The jury deliberated for about two hours after a four-day trial before finding Duran not guilty of manslaughter with a firearm, a charge that carried up to 30 years in prison. Body camera footage showed Fortson answered the door holding a handgun pointed at the ground, and Duran fired multiple times before telling him to drop it. Duran, who was fired from the Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office after the shooting, had his lawyer argue he was “doing his job” and that Fortson would still be alive if he hadn’t armed himself before answering the door. Fortson’s mother said she wasn’t surprised by the quick verdict and that the trial forced her to confront details she’d spent two years avoiding, adding, “I’m never going to hear my baby’s voice no more.” Attorney Ben Crump said the family will pursue accountability through a pending federal civil rights lawsuit, saying, “Roger’s life and his service will always matter.”
The Coast Guard is searching for an air ambulance jet with six people aboard that disappeared off the coast of Massachusetts during a medical evacuation flight from Bermuda to Boston. The FAA issued a search-and-rescue alert for the Canadian-registered Gulfstream G-100 around 1:20 a.m. Saturday after it lost contact, with four crew members and two passengers on board. Air and surface crews are searching an area off Nantucket, and ABC News reported, citing a source, that officials believe the plane rapidly descended 7,500 feet before hitting the water and that no Americans were aboard. The operator, Latitude Air Ambulance, said a delay in hearing from its crew “doesn’t mean that the worst has happened.” Massachusetts port officials confirmed the plane never arrived at Boston Logan, saying, “Our thoughts are with those onboard and their loved ones as the search continues.” The FAA is coordinating with the Coast Guard and the Rescue Coordination Center, and the identities of those on board have not been released.
The TSA is banning airport security officers from sitting down while checking travelers’ IDs and boarding passes, drawing fierce pushback from their union. The agency said the change keeps officers “on their feet and alert” and reinforces “our commitment to hospitality,” adding that all officers must meet fitness-for-duty requirements. The American Federation of Government Employees, which represents TSA officers, said it wasn’t consulted and that the chairs provide “basic ergonomic and safety support” for workers standing on hard surfaces all day, calling the move “basic safety and common decency for the workforce.” The union called it part of “a broad pattern” of disregard for employees, and urged workers and lawmakers to join a “collective resistance against this regime that is literally attempting to take out our workforce.” The change comes after a brutal year for TSA workers, who went unpaid for weeks during a 76-day government shutdown that drove some to quit and caused security lines to balloon. The union is also weighing legal action against the administration’s push to privatize security checkpoints at three airports.
Southern California is sweltering under a late-season heatwave, with temperatures expected to hover near 100 degrees in downtown Los Angeles and climb well into the triple digits inland. The National Weather Service expects temperatures 15 to 20 degrees above normal to last at least a week, raising the risk of heat-related illness and wildfires amid low soil moisture. A UCLA professor said Friday was nearly 7 degrees hotter than the hottest Oct. 2 on record and about 30 degrees above the historical average. Experts say the heat is being fueled by a marine heatwave driving a strong El Niño, and that climate change is making longer, more intense heatwaves more frequent, with one UCLA physicist saying, “it’s hard to escape that a warmer climate adds to the strength of heatwaves.” The one silver lining is that forecasts don’t call for the strong winds that would spread wildfires, though officials are urging residents to “stay cool, stay hydrated” and limit sun exposure. The heat coincides with Saturday’s first game of the Dodgers-Braves National League Division Series, and one researcher urged governments to invest in shade, calling it the “most effective way to keep people safe.”
See you soon.
— Aaron
