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Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito has confirmed that he is considering retirement, leaving open the possibility that he could leave after next year’s term and hand another nomination to President Donald Trump.

Alito said in excerpts of a CBS News interview released Friday that he thought about retiring this year and will do so again in 2027.

“It’s something that I think that somebody at my age has to think about every term,” the 76-year-old said in the interview scheduled to air Monday. “But I thought that I could still make a valuable contribution, which is why I became a justice and a judge in the first place.”

Alito’s interview, the first in a number of expected appearances to coincide with the release of a book about his judicial philosophy, raises the possibility that Trump, whose judicial picks shifted the Supreme Court to the right, may get an opportunity to nominate a fourth justice.

The president, who expressed regret in a recent interview about several nominees who ruled against his administration on some issues, would have a harder time getting a fourth pick through the Senate if Democrats win control in the midterms.

Alito, in the CBS interview, pushed back on concerns that the timing of his retirement and his replacement could potentially unravel his work on the bench.

“It’s too hard to predict what the political situation will be and what any president might do with respect to a replacement,” he said.

Alito also defended his majority opinion in June 2022 that struck down Roe v. Wade and overturned the constitutional protections for abortion that had prevailed for decades. The decision closely matched one that had leaked a month earlier.

“We didn’t know it when we produced the draft that was leaked, but it required courage to go ahead with that because of the implications,” he said.

He said the decision resulted in the loss of old friendships.

“That’s something you have to live with,” he said, adding, “It’s part of the job that you’re going to displease people by making decisions on controversial matters, because one side or the other is going to really dislike you because of the decisions.”

This article originally appeared on Politico at https://www.politico.com/news/2026/10/02/alito-supreme-court-retirement-01105789

President Donald Trump said Friday he was ruling out a diesel export ban and never really considered one in the first place, hours after Europe caved to U.S. pressure and agreed to release fuel from its stockpiles.

The announcement appears to put to rest more than a week of frantic lobbying across two continents after surging fuel prices — caused by the ongoing war against Iran as well as Ukrainian attacks against Russian refineries — have angered farmers and put pressure on the Trump administration to act ahead of the November midterm elections.

"Europe has a lot of diesel, and they're going to be making a major world contribution, and so are we," Trump told reporters as he left the White House for a campaign trip. "And we're not going to be doing the export ban.

"It was never really ever on the table, but what Europe did was a great thing," he added.

Trump had repeatedly said over the last two weeks that he was open to suspending exports of the fuel, which would have been the first restriction on U.S. energy exports since the Obama administration lifted a decades-old ban on oil exports in 2015. The president said just over a week ago that "I've called for that" when asked about a possible ban.

But Energy Secretary Chris Wright and the president's allies in the oil industry publicly condemned the idea, warning it could pose major economic problems for foreign countries who rely on U.S. imports and eventually result in higher pump prices at home as refiners scaled back production.

Those advisers urged Trump instead to push Europe to release fuel from its stockpiles, prompting a frantic public and private campaign of European governments by Trump administration officials. The G-7 announced Friday morning they would release 100 million barrels of diesel and crude oil from their strategic reserves over the next four months, beginning with a "frontloaded substantial diesel release within the first 20 days."

POLITICO reported earlier Friday that the U.S. had essentially strong-armed hesitant EU governments into releasing their diesel supplies with the threat of an export ban, with one European diplomat labeling it "blackmail."

Trump told reporters Friday that he had "asked for" Europe to tap its stockpiles, but maintained that the Europeans had decided to tap their stockpiles out of their own volition.

"We have a very good relationship with Europe, and they wanted to do it because they have a lot of diesel," Trump said. "I said it would be great if you put it out to the markets, and they did it."

The Trump administration could still announce further measures on diesel prices short of a ban next week, according to two people familiar with the discussions. Among the ideas being evaluated are pushing more states to lift restrictions on red-dyed off-road diesel and suspend excise taxes on diesel sales.

Meredith Lee Hill and Ben Lefebvre contributed reporting.

This article originally appeared on Politico at https://www.yahoo.com/news/politics/articles/trump-rules-diesel-export-ban-213037393.html

Correction: An earlier version of this story mistakenly said the emergency court hearing request was granted by a judge.

An Oct. 2 emergency court filing seeks to preserve all evidence related to Tennessee's failed execution of Christa Pike, arguing the state botched the lethal injection procedure.

A judge was considering the request shortly after it was filed. While an unsigned document for the hearing was filed in the court system, no date or time was immediately listed.

Pike was set to be executed by the Tennessee Department of Correction on Sept. 30, but survived two doses of pentobarbital. The document, filed in Davidson County Chancery Court on Oct. 2, revealed more details about Pike's condition. It said she is intubated, on a ventilator and unconscious, and that both her arms were swollen, burned and blistered. As of the night of Oct. 1, Pike was still in critical condition at a Nashville-area hospital, the motion said.

"Hospital staff are working to save Ms. Pike's life and to clear the pentobarbital from her system," the Oct. 2 motion stated.

Pike was convicted in 1996 for the first-degree murder and torture of 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer in Knoxville.

'She's still talking': Inside each minute of Christa Pike's failed execution attempt

Pentobarbital is the single drug required under the state's lethal injection protocol. The failed execution attempt came after a complex legal back-and-forth delayed her execution several hours that day, which was originally set for 10 a.m. Media witnesses of the procedure said the blinds to the observation room were opened and closed multiple times between around 7:40 p.m. and 8 p.m. As they were shuffled out of the room at 8:53 p.m., media witnesses said they could still hear Pike breathing.

"Apparently at no point did any member of the execution team realize that the IV lines were not correctly placed or that the veins had blown and that the pentobarbital was, in whole or in part, entering Ms. Pike's body," the emergency motion stated. "Instead of remedying this failure, TDOC elected to prepare a backup set of syringes (if they were not also prepared earlier that day) and then administered another lethal dose of pentobarbital."

The motion said the state committed a "manifest violation" of Pike's constitutional rights and called its actions "reckless" and "incompetent."

After the attempted execution, the state said that it had "followed every step" of its protocol. TDOC officials said the protocol did not allow them to perform additional procedures.

In an Oct. 1 news conference, Pike's attorney Randy Spivey said she was alive, in critical condition and receiving medical care.

"We don't have a sense of her prognosis or much update on her health at the moment, but we do know that she is alive right now and receiving life-saving medical care," Spivey said.

No other information on Pike's condition was available as of 2 p.m. Oct. 2.

Pike and her boyfriend Tadaryl Shipp beat Slemmer to death on Jan. 12, 1995. Pike was 18 at the time, while Shipp was 17. Both were convicted of first-degree murder the next year.

Slemmer was born and raised in Orange Park, a suburb of Jacksonville, Florida. She was known for computer skills and her volunteer efforts, including helping out with painting her school and during Special Olympics competitions. 

At the time of the murder, Pike said she thought Slemmer was romantically interested in Shipp. The couple lured Slemmer to a Knoxville park, then beat and tortured her. A pentagram was also carved into Slemmer's body. Pike delivered the fatal blow. Investigators said Pike later bragged about the murder and showed part of Slemmer's skull to others. 

A third person, then-18-year-old Shadolla Peterson, was arrested but given probation after agreeing to testify against Pike and Shipp.

Tennessee's history of execution failure, issues

Pike's survival of state-administered lethal injection drugs appeared to be unprecedented in the modern history of the U.S. death penalty. Medical experts told The Tennessean that a problem with Pike's IV or the delivery of the pentobarbital is among the most likely explanations for her survival, though exactly what happened remains unknown.

The failed execution is expected to intensify ongoing litigation over Tennessee's lethal injection procedures. Pike's attorneys had raised concerns before the execution about her thrombocytosis, a blood condition they argued could make lethal injection unnecessarily painful. They also questioned the state's ability to establish reliable IV access.

More: Christa Pike's veins, blood disorder were the focus of a three-day hearing

"Her concerns were called 'speculation,'" the Oct. 2 emergency motion stated. "They were laughed off, scoffed at, and dismissed. In the words of one media witness: we have a lot of questions, and the Department of Correction has a lot of answers that it needs to provide to the public about what happened here. We agree."

In May, execution personnel repeatedly tried to establish IV access for death row prisoner Tony Carruthers but could not properly place the second line required under the state's protocol. Dr. Mark Fowler then unsuccessfully attempted to place a central line. After Carruthers spent more than an hour strapped to the execution gurney, the state abandoned the execution.

Fowler had not placed a central line in at least 13 years, according to his deposition in litigation over Tennessee's execution procedures. Fowler testified that he had placed about a dozen central lines during his career and had no current hospital privileges. Fowler was also set to oversee Pike's execution on Sept. 30, according to news reports.

In 2022, Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee temporarily halted executions after TDOC acknowledged it had failed to follow its own execution protocol. An independent investigation found systemic failures stretching back years, including the department's failure to consistently test lethal injection drugs for potency, purity and contaminants. The state resumed executions in 2025.

More: Unsuccessful Christa Pike execution follows years of lethal injection issues

Lee halts Tennessee executions as TDOC scrutiny grows

Meanwhile, Lee has halted executions in Tennessee for the rest of the year and ordered a comprehensive, third-party review into what went wrong during Pike's attempted execution. TDOC has not said if any accountability measures will be taken or released details on what the investigation entails.

Lee called the failed execution “deeply disturbing” and said the review would seek to determine exactly what happened. The pause postpones the execution of Gary Wayne Sutton, which was scheduled for Dec. 3.

Tennessee's candidates for governor quickly distanced themselves from TDOC Commissioner Frank Strada after the failed execution of Pike. Democratic nominee Jerri Green called for his immediate resignation on Oct. 2. Representatives for Republican nominee Sen. Marsha Blackburn and independents David Hatley and Lauren Pinkston told the USA TODAY Network in Tennessee they would not allow Strada to keep his job if they are elected. The election is set for Nov. 3.

Knox News reporter Allie Feinberg contributed to this story.

Reach Tennessean reporter Rachel Wegner at RAwegner@tennessean.com. Reach Tennessean reporter Kelly Puente at KPuente@tennessean.com.

This story has been updated to add more information and to add video.

This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Christa Pike unconscious, burned and intubated, court filing shows

This article originally appeared on The Tennessean at https://www.tennessean.com/story/news/courts/2026/10/02/christa-pike-intubated-burned-unconscious-new-court-filing/92055766007/

Christa Pike was placed on a ventilator and unconscious in a hospital in the hours after her failed execution in Tennessee, her attorneys said in a court filing Friday.

Hospital staff, her lawyers said, were working to save Pike’s life and clear the two doses of the drug that the state uses to execute prisoners.

The stunning failure in Tennessee’s execution chamber on Wednesday has left both sides on the death penalty debate demanding answers. The state's governor has ordered an independent review.

In the court filing, Pike’s attorneys said they believed problems with the IV lines caused the lethal drug pentobarbital to flow into her body instead of her bloodstream.

“Apparently at no point did any member of the execution team realize that the IV lines were not correctly placed or that the veins had blown and that the pentobarbital was, in whole or in part, entering Ms. Pike’s body,” they wrote.

Instead of “remedying this failure,” they prepared and administered a backup set of pentobarbital syringe, her lawyers said.

State officials have not offered any explanation about what went wrong during the execution attempt

Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee demanded a review of the state’s execution procedures and indefinitely postponed Pike’s execution and another one slated for this year. Other Republican political leaders in Tennessee said the state should review whether to stop single-drug lethal injections and consider other options to carry out death sentences.

The execution team worked for an hour to administer the lethal drugs, said Pike's defense lawyer Randy Spivey, who counted at least seven needles in her left arm.

Neither the initial nor the backup dose of pentobarbital worked. Pike was still snoring when the execution chamber’s microphone was cut off more than an hour into the attempt.

This article originally appeared on Associated Press at https://www.yahoo.com/news/us/articles/christa-pike-ventilator-unconscious-failed-183858410.html

MIAMI (AP) — A former Miami congressman and longtime friend of U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio was sentenced Friday to 10 years in prison in connection with a secret $50 million lobbying campaign on Venezuela’s behalf during the first Trump administration.

Republican David Rivera has been jailed since jurors found him guilty in May on all counts, including failing to register as a foreign agent and conspiracy to commit money laundering as part of his work for former Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro ’s government.

Rivera, 61, appeared stone-faced as Judge Melissa Damian denounced him for betraying his life’s mission, saying he would surely have been judged harshly his many friends had the millions of dollars come from the Cuban regime instead of its allies in Caracas.

“Nobody would accept that’s ok and I don’t think this is different,” the judge said. “There’s no dispute this money came from the Maduro regime.”

The seven-week trial offered a rare glimpse into Miami’s role as a crossroads for foreign influence campaigns aimed at shaping U.S. policy toward Latin America, highlighting the city’s reputation as a magnet for both anti-communist crusaders and corruption among its sizable exile population.

It included testimony from President Donald Trump’s secretary of state, Rep. Pete Sessions of Texas and a top Washington lobbyist — all of whom testified they felt betrayed when learning of Rivera’s mammoth consulting contract with a U.S.-based affiliate of Venezuela’s state oil company, PDVSA.

Attorneys for Rivera plan to appeal and in June applied for a presidential pardon. Rivera faces additional federal charges in Washington, D.C., in a related foreign lobbying case.

Prosecutors said betrayal featured coded figures — ‘Sombrero’ and ‘Miss Clairol’

In an indictment unsealed in 2022, prosecutors alleged that Rivera was tapped by then Foreign Minister Delcy Rodríguez — now Venezuela’s acting president — to work Republican connections to get the first Trump administration to abandon its hard line and crippling sanctions on Venezuela.

As part of the charm offensive, Rivera and a co-defendant, political consultant Esther Nuhfer, sought to manipulate influential friends, including Rubio and Sessions. Their goal was to normalize relations with the new Trump administration even as the Maduro government faced sanctions over serious accusations of human rights violations.

But Rivera and Nuhfer didn’t disclose their lobbying work as required, for fear it would have ended Rivera’s political career as an anti-communist stalwart, prosecutors argued at trial.

“The United States and the public were the true victims of this fraud,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Roger Cruz said in urging a stiff sentence. “He used his position of trust — and betrayed it consistently and repeatedly.”

To hide his work, prosecutors allege, Rivera also set up an encrypted chat group called MIA — for Miami — with his main conduit to the Maduro government: Venezuelan media tycoon Raúl Gorrín, who was subsequently charged in the U.S. with bribing top Venezuelan officials.

Members of the group used playful code words to discuss their activities: Maduro was the “bus driver,” Sessions “Sombrero,” Rodríguez “The Lady in Red,” and their windfall payments “La Luz,” Spanish for “The Light,” according to copies of text messages presented to the jury. Rubio was known as “Miss Clairol,” because rubio means blond in Spanish.

Defense said only missing paperwork made the $50 million contract illegal

At Friday’s sentencing, attorneys for Rivera repeated their trial argument that the former congressman believed he was under no requirement to disclose the work. The three-month, $50 million contract with Rivera’s one-man consulting firm, they said, was focused on luring oil giant ExxonMobil back to Venezuela — commercial work that is generally exempt from the Foreign Agents Registration Act.

“David Rivera does not deserve to die in prison because he failed to file a FARA registration,” defense attorney Ed Shohat said at Friday’s hearing. “If he had filed that paper, that form, everything he did, including the $50 million contract, which totally distorted this case, is perfectly legal.”

Wholly distinct from that consulting work, they say, were Rivera’s meetings with Rubio and Sessions, which were focused on ushering in leadership in Venezuela that would be less hostile to the U.S. – not supporting Maduro in normalizing relations with the U.S.

“There’s not one word in any chat, not one document, not one thing he did to help Nicolás Maduro,” said Shohat.

Prosecutors said Rivera used the contract with the affiliate, New York-based PDV USA, as cover for illegal lobbying.

“This is a classic money laundering case,” the judge said Friday in rejecting Rivera’s motion to lower the federal guidelines range.

Where did the money go? A luxury yacht, among other things

The partners tried to hide the work — backdating documents and coming up with sham agreements, like one to justify a wire transfer of $3.75 million to a South Florida company that maintained Gorrín’s luxury yacht, prosecutors said.

The political activity included setting up meetings for Rodríguez in New York, Caracas, Washington and Dallas. As part of the effort, Rivera roped in Sessions, who later tried to broker a meeting for Rodríguez with the ExxonMobil executive who took over as CEO when Rex Tillerson became Trump’s first-term secretary of state. After a secret meeting in Caracas with Maduro, Sessions also agreed to deliver a letter from the Venezuelan president to Trump.

The outreach quickly unraveled, however. Within six months of taking office, Trump sanctioned Maduro and labeled him a “dictator,” launching a “maximum pressure” campaign to unseat the president.

And now, nearly a decade later, Rodríguez has emerged as the second Trump administration’s trusted partner after the U.S. military’s ousting of Maduro.

Rubio's former housemate faced scandal before, but Cuban Americans support him

Before being elected to Congress in 2010, Rivera was a high-ranking Florida legislator and shared a Tallahassee home with Rubio, who eventually became the Florida House speaker.

Rivera faced earlier controversy, including allegations that he secretly funded a Democratic spoiler candidate in a 2012 congressional race. Last year, federal prosecutors dropped that case after an appeals court threw out a sizable fine imposed by a lower court. Rivera was also investigated — but never charged — for alleged campaign finance violations and a $1 million contract with a gambling company while serving in the Florida Legislature.

Despite all that, Rivera remains popular among Miami’s Cuban American establishment.

Friends of the former congressman, including the former president of Florida International University and Miami-Dade County’s supervisor of elections, packed the courtroom to show their support.

Sessions, in a letter seeking leniency that was read into the record by his chief of staff, said his former congressional colleague devoted decades to public service, much of it focused on defending liberty and democracy.

“I don’t think it’s productive for society by sending David away for a long, long time,” testified Liliana Ros, a longtime Miami GOP committee member.

This article originally appeared on Associated Press at https://www.yahoo.com/news/politics/articles/former-gop-rep-david-rivera-182044649.html

By Maria Tsvetkova

ITHACA, New York, Oct 2 (Reuters) - Cornell University student Sophia Riley Sim skipped classes this week, consumed by allegations in a lawsuit that several members of a fraternity raped a young woman in 2024 and troubled by how her university handled the case.

"Cornell has failed our community ‌through its lack of accountability, transparency, and failure to address the state of the Cornell student body at this time," Sim, a junior, said at a ‌public hearing on sexual assault organized by Cornell's Student Assembly on Thursday.

"There has been a lack of meaningful communication from university leadership, administrators, and faculty."

The Ivy League school has defended its handling of the matter, saying it ​launched a comprehensive investigation and barred the Chi Phi fraternity involved in the alleged assault from campus. The school said it imposed a range of disciplinary measures, including expulsions.

It did not immediately respond to a request for additional comment.

The hearing, held in one of Cornell's historic halls, came days after the allegations became public with the filing of a civil lawsuit and the announcement that a criminal investigation would be reopened.

The case has reignited scrutiny of how law enforcement and universities handle sexual assault complaints, with students questioning whether processes are enough to protect ‌them. It has also drawn the attention of New York ⁠state officials, who have appointed a special prosecutor to investigate.

FEELING UNSAFE

At the Assembly hearing, speakers recounted experiences with sexual assault, broke down in tears and criticized the response of the prestigious university.

The Student Assembly - which represents Cornell's undergraduate students and can make proposals to the university's ⁠bodies or officers - unanimously approved a resolution calling on Cornell administrators to provide a full account of how the investigation was handled. It also asked the university to disclose any disciplinary measures imposed on the accused students, and publish annual reports on the outcomes of any future sexual misconduct cases.

Organizers asked that many of the dozens of speakers at the hearing not be identified or ​recorded.

One ​student said she had worked all her life to be accepted to Cornell and now felt that ​it had not been worth it. Several others said they did not ‌feel safe on the 2,300-acre campus in New York's Finger Lakes region.

Thirty-five percent of undergraduate women reported experiencing nonconsensual sexual contact involving force or incapacitation since entering Cornell, according to a university survey conducted in 2025 and published on its website. That figure was up from 20% in 2021.

"WE ARE GOING TO FIGHT"

The lawsuit alleges fraternity members supplied the woman with alcohol, marijuana and ketamine before sexually assaulting her after she became incapacitated. It also alleges Cornell failed to adequately punish some of the accused students and allowed some to seek reduced penalties by writing essays. Cornell denied that essays were the only punishment meted out.

The New York Times, citing internal Cornell documents, said the men all denied any ‌wrongdoing, with some saying the sex was consensual and others denying participation.

Cornell students have scheduled a rally ​for Monday to call for additional measures to protect victims.

Jane Wang, a public policy major, said she ​had reported a sexual assault to the university and that the process caused ​additional distress.

"In the midst of all of my mental, physical, and emotional recovery from the assault, I was also met with an abundance of ‌paperwork, very little instruction on how to navigate it, and no ​follow up from our office about an outcome," ​she said.

The Ivy League school said in a statement on its website that it could not provide full information regarding individual students and disciplinary outcomes because of restrictions imposed by privacy laws.

"Our adherence to privacy laws should not be interpreted as indifference to the seriousness of the conduct at issue," the statement said.

A handful ​of other female students told the hearing they had been ‌sexually assaulted on Cornell's campus in the past, without sharing details.

Saanya Agarwal, Cornell University's student women's issues representative, said the findings of the 2025 survey on ​sexual assaults were unacceptable.

"Clearly, this is an issue our campus and campuses throughout the United States... it's something that we're not going to accept," said ​Agarwal. "We are going to fight."

(Reporting by Maria Tsvetkova; editing by Paul Thomasch and Deepa Babington)

This article originally appeared on Reuters at https://uk.news.yahoo.com/cornell-rape-allegations-spark-outrage-172822680.html

WASHINGTON (AP) — The FBI has released a classified report to its workforce examining what it says are chapters from the bureau's history “where this institution fell short,” according to an internal message obtained Friday by The Associated Press.

It was unclear what episodes from the FBI's past are chronicled in the new “Patel Report.” But the document's existence is in keeping with Director Kash Patel's frequent criticism of the leaders who preceded him as well as with his determination to rid the FBI of agents and other employees he contends have politicized the bureau in the past. Patel's critics, however, accuse him of politicizing the FBI.

Though Patel pledged at his confirmation hearing last year that he would not look “backward,” he has encouraged investigation of former senior officials and has presided over waves of terminations, including of employees who participated in years-old investigations of President Donald Trump, were photographed taking a knee during a 2020 racial justice protest and contributed to a disputed analytical memo about Catholic extremism.

“The Patel Report looks backward because accountability demands it,” says a memo to the workforce signed by the FBI's co-deputy directors, Christopher Raia and Andrew Bailey, that describes the document as marking the “closing of one chapter in our history and the beginning of another complete with a brighter future ahead.”

Bailey announced his resignation earlier this week, and his last day is Friday. The FBI declined to comment on the report.

The message also says: “We cannot change what happened before we arrived. But we can confront it honestly. We can recognize failures instead of protecting them. We can hold people accountable. We can fix what was broken. And we can build safeguards strong enough to ensure the mistakes of the past are never allowed to define this institution again. These steps are consistent with any institution of excellence that is constantly striving for improvement."

It was unclear if the report made recommendations or demanded any action to address past shortcomings.

The FBI message says the report is meant to "promote fierce organizational accountability” and rebuild “public trust.”

But Patel’s critics say the politically charged investigations into perceived adversaries of Trump that the FBI has started under his watch, as well as the punishment of agents who participated in investigations into the Republican president to which they were assigned, have eroded faith in the nation’s premier federal law enforcement agency.

___

Follow the AP's coverage of the FBI at https://apnews.com/hub/us-federal-bureau-of-investigation.

This article originally appeared on Associated Press at https://www.yahoo.com/news/politics/articles/fbi-releases-classified-patel-report-171408613.html

Brazil's President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and U.S. President Donald Trump are seen in this combination of pictures created on Dec. 2, 2025. —Pablo Porciuncula, Andrew Caballero-Reynolds—Getty Images

President Donald Trump on Thursday said he is following the upcoming Brazilian election “very closely,” referring to Brazil as a “very important" country. "The people of Brazil are fantastic people,” he told reporters outside the White House. “It’s a very important election.”

The U.S. State Department later announced the suspension of its consular services in Brazil ahead of the election taking place on Sunday, citing unspecified security concerns. “U.S. citizens seeking emergency assistance during this time should not come to the Embassy, the Consulates, or other U.S. diplomatic facilities,” the security alert advised.

Brazilians are heading to the polls for a set of federal elections spanning congressional and gubernatorial races, alongside the first round of the presidential election votes. It’s set to be a decisive moment for Latin America’s largest nation, as the region has seen a shift toward the right in recent years. An Oct. 25 runoff is expected, as polls show a tight contest between leftist President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and far-right Sen. Flávio Bolsonaro, the son of former President Jair Bolsonaro, who was convicted last year for plotting a coup to overturn his 2022 election loss. Trump led the conservative voices denouncing the conviction, referring to the trial as a “witch hunt.”

While Trump has acknowledged his active interest as Brazil votes on its political future, there are concerns he could be too involved. Trump and his Administration have been accused of attempting to interfere with the high-stakes overseas election.

In a letter sent to Secretary of State Marco Rubio in late September, Democratic lawmakers expressed “grave concern” over what they referred to as “the Administration’s coordinated effort to threaten our strategic alliance with Brazil and undermine the Western Hemisphere’s second-largest democracy ahead of its upcoming presidential election.”

“Over the course of President Trump’s second term, we have seen U.S. officials engage in a sustained, multifaceted campaign of interference and destabilization in Brazil,” the lawmakers said in the Sept. 24 letter, signed by 30 House Democrats and Independent Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, who caucuses with the Democratic Party.

In another letter sent to Rubio on Monday, three Democratic Senators voiced similar concerns about potential U.S. interference.

“This effort first escalated sharply during the summer of 2025, with the [U.S.] Administration deploying tariffs and targeted sanctions to attempt to shape the Brazilian Supreme Court’s verdict in the trial of former President Jair Bolsonaro on charges of attempting to foment a military coup to stay in power,” said the Senators, noting that the tariff pressure escalated in July this year when the Trump Administration moved to impose a new 25% tariff on many imports from Brazil—a decision labeled a “lamentable milestone” by Lula’s office.

The Senators argued that the “campaign directed at Brazil’s authorities resumed with the appointment of Darren Beattie as a senior advisor on Brazil issues in the State Department.” Beattie served as a White House speech writer in Trump’s first term, but was axed for attending a gathering of white supremacists. He returned to the fold early on in Trump’s second term. When serving as undersecretary for public diplomacy and public affairs last year, he called one of Brazil’s Supreme Court Judges a “key architect of the censorship and persecution complex directed against Bolsonaro and his supporters.” 

Accusing the Trump Administration of using “diplomatic, economic, and political pressure in ways that risk weakening [Brazil’s] democratic institutions [and] undermining confidence in Brazil's electoral process,” the Senators closed the letter by asking the Administration to “commit to recognizing the certified outcome of Brazil's 2026 democratic elections.”

The White House has staunchly rejected claims of interference in Brazil’s elections.

“Conservative leaders are winning elections across the Western Hemisphere on their own merit because everyone sees the success of President Trump’s policies,” said White House spokesperson Anna Kelly in a statement to TIME. “These claims are nonsense.”

President Lula has also expressed concern over Trump’s interest in his country’s election. “I have already told President Trump it is very important that the U.S. do not interfere in Brazil’s elections,” he said in a Sept. 22 interview. “Brazilian elections are the concern of the Brazilian people. American elections are the concern of the American people.”

Lula added that he is “very worried about Marco Rubio,” claiming that the U.S. Secretary of State “is very closely connected to Bolsonaro’s people,” though he stressed that this was only “suspicion.” TIME has reached out to the State Department for comment.

How the Trump Administration has been accused of meddling in Brazil’s affairs

Trump has not formally endorsed either candidate in Brazil’s presidential race, but his defense of former Brazilian President Bolsonaro, who was last year sentenced to 27 years in prison, is well documented.

After Trump criticized the trial proceedings as a “terrible thing” in July 2025, the Trump Administration increased pressure on Brazil’s government by imposing punishing 50% tariffs— extended in part due to Bolsonaro’s treatment in the courts—and directing the office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) to investigate trade relations with the country.

The State Department added to the pressure later that same month, when Rubio called Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes’ actions a “political witch hunt against Jair Bolsonaro” and announced visa restrictions on Moraes, unspecified judicial allies, and their immediate families.

Feliciano de Sá Guimarães, an associate professor at the Institute of International Relations at the University of São Paulo, says Lula was able to turn the economic pressure into a political argument of his own.

“Lula realized that he could play [these threats] in his favor for electoral purposes,” he says, explaining that Lula used the concept of “rally round the flag,” meaning that once a country is targeted by another, “the incumbent President can rally the people and say, ‘look our sovereignty is under attack.’”

The theme of sovereignty has featured prominently in Lula’s 2026 government manifesto, which points to Trump’s tariffs as damaging the Brazilian economy.

Guimarães says the U.S. Administration has since slightly altered its strategy, favoring an approach that could instead benefit Lula’s opposition.

Flávio Bolsonaro met with Trump, Rubio, and Vice President J.D. Vance at the White House in May. Trump later described the Brazilian lawmaker as a “smart young man, who loves his country very much.” Shortly after that meeting, the U.S. Administration on May 28 designated Primeiro Comando da Capital and Comando Vermelho—two Brazilian gangs—as terrorist organizations, with Bolsonaro appearing to take credit for the move in the media.

Guimarães says the issue may have resonated in Brazil due to public concerns about crime.

“Brazilians are so desperate with the situation of crime in the country that they are resorting to support any initiative, whether it's coming from the federal government or a foreign power to fix the problem,” Guimarães explains, so the move could be seen to strengthen Bolsonaro’s chances with the electorate.

Economic pressure has continued as well. After ordering the USTR to investigate Brazil’s trade practices last year, the office imposed 25% tariffs on the country in July under Section 301, for what it described as unfair trade practices.

Other disputes have further heightened diplomatic tensions. At the end of July, Brazil denied visas to two U.S. State Department officials, accusing them of trying to interfere in the upcoming election. Shortly afterward, Brazilian Ambassador Maria Luiza Ribeiro Viotti had her U.S. visa revoked.

Is the Trump Administration influencing Latin America’s rightward-turn?

Since returning to office, Trump has sought to exert U.S. influence more directly across Latin America.

In November 2025, the Trump Administration released its National Security Strategy, which highlighted a return to U.S. dominance in the Western Hemisphere and the beginning of the implementation of the "Donroe Doctrine," an informal term for Trump’s reinterpretation of the 19th-century Monroe Doctrine.

“The corollary of the ‘Donroe Doctrine’ is trying to stop the influence of extra regional powers in Latin America, mainly China,” says Guimarães.

Trump has also showcased his support for right-wing candidates across the region.

In 2025, he endorsed close ally Javier Milei in Argentina’s midterm elections and supported Tito Asfura to become the next President of Honduras.

In June, he gave his “complete and total endorsement” to right-wing challenger Abelardo de la Espriella in Colombia's June presidential election. (The Trump-backed populist went on to win the race.)

In response to Trump’s endorsement, House Democrats had sent a letter to Rubio expressing concern over what they said was “the brazen interference of senior U.S. officials, including President Trump” in Colombia’s election. “This interference involves the full-throated endorsement of Abelardo de la Espriella, a candidate with a profoundly troubling record that appears to run counter to U.S. interests and potentially to U.S. laws,” the lawmakers said.

But perhaps one of the most significant displays of American power came when the U.S. military captured Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his wife during an overnight operation in January and brought them to New York to face narco-terrorism and drug trafficking charges.

Delcy Rodríguez, Venezuela’s acting president, has since adopted a friendlier posture toward the U.S. Administration, enabling access to the country’s oil. In an interview with TIME conducted in late September, Trump heralded the operation in Venezuela as an “incredible” feat and one of the “great things” he’s achieved in his presidency.

“The main reason the [U.S. Administration] will always prefer a right-winger more aligned with the United States, is so they can sell to domestic audiences that, at least in Latin America, Trump's policy is to some extent an effective foreign policy,” Guimarães says.

The State Department under Rubio’s direction has been key in the Trump Administration’s approach to Brazil, Guimarães says.

He cites the creation of the Shield of Americas, a U.S.-led security and political coalition launched in March to fight drug cartels and transnational crime across the Western Hemisphere, as an example. Brazil has not joined the initiative.

Guimarães calls it an “initiative launched by Rubio who wants to bring all Latin American countries under the yoke of the United States to fight organized crime,” and argues that Lula’s resistance could fuel Rubio’s interest in seeing a right-wing government take power, as Bolsonaro has promised to integrate Brazil into the security initiative if he wins the presidential election.

This article originally appeared on Time at https://time.com/article/2026/10/01/trump-brazil-election-interference-accusations-lula-bolsonaro-tensions/

This year's Kennedy Center Honors will be held at Washington's Capital One Arena, not the riverfront building that's been at the center of a legal fight over adding President Donald Trump's name to the building.

The 49th annual awards are set to take place at Washington's downtown arena, a Kennedy Center spokesperson said Friday. Few other details were immediately available, and an explanation for the change wasn't given.

The center's board voted last month to close the iconic performing arts venue along the Potomac River waterfront after a federal judge blocked the institution from returning Trump's name to the building.

Trump has said in social media posts that the center needed to close for safety repairs. But he said the repairs would only happen if the board was allowed to move forward with plans to add his name to the building.

A federal judge has twice said that can’t happen without the approval of Congress, which has allocated $257 million for repairs.

The president hosted the 2025 awards, whose honorees included Sylvester Stallone and George Strait. He said at the time that he would rename the facility the “Trump Kennedy Center,” and not long after workers began adding his name to the building.

The board of trustees, named by Trump, voted unanimously for the change, which has been challenged in court since.

Congress named the performing arts center as a living memorial to John F. Kennedy in 1964, the year after he was assassinated.

The law explicitly prohibits the board of trustees from making the center into a memorial to anyone else, and from putting another person’s name on the building’s exterior.

The Kennedy Center Honors, which recognize people for lifetime contributions to American culture through the performing arts, was established in 1978. The 2026 honorees are set to be named at a later day, the center's spokesperson said. The event will take place on Dec. 7.

This article originally appeared on Associated Press at https://www.yahoo.com/news/politics/articles/kennedy-center-honors-held-capital-160207821.html

President Donald Trump warned Republicans that Texas and Michigan are among the states the party is “worried about” ahead of the 2026 midterm elections, while speaking to voters in Oklahoma on Thursday.

Fresh off an event in Texas, Trump told a crowd in the reliably Republican state that he was not concerned about Oklahoma but that Republicans needed to turn out voters in other states.

"I feel a little foolish, you know. I’m saying, 'go out and vote, go out and vote.' You’re gonna, they’re gonna win in the last half, but still go out and vote," Trump said. "But we’re not worried about them. We’re worried about Michigan. We’re worried about Texas. We’re worried about a few states."

Trump later said Republicans need to get the word out about the midterms, citing what he described as 35 to 40 races that the party is concerned about.

"But we have to get the word out because we have to win in those 35. Maybe you could even say 40 places, 40 races," Trump said. "You have many, you have hundreds of races, but it’s all about 40."

Trump also again urged supporters to imagine that he himself was on the ballot.

"So you have to pretend I’m on the ticket and turn out for a midterm victory that’s really too big to rig," Trump said.

Kent Nishimura/AFP via Getty Images - PHOTO: Donald Trump raises his fist after delivering remarks at the Peterbilt Motors facility in Denton, Texas, on October 1, 2026.

Trump sought to rally Republicans by attacking Democrats over inflation and immigration, repeating claims about the number and backgrounds of migrants who entered the country during the Biden administration.

Trump has repeatedly made claims about millions of migrants entering the U.S. from prisons and mental institutions, but those claims have been disputed and are not supported by evidence showing that foreign governments emptied prisons or institutions and sent those people to the United States.

The president also said his administration was running the country well but criticized Republicans for what he called poor "public relations."

ABC News' Jon Haworth contributed to this report.

This article originally appeared on Good Morning America at https://abcnews.com/Politics/trump-warns-republicans-texas-michigan-ahead-midterms/story?id=136946201