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Browse major news stories and see what officials have said.

Sep 29, 2026· Updated

Former Special Counsel Jack Smith Testifies Before Congress

Jack Smith testified publicly before the House Judiciary Committee on January 22, 2026, defending his investigations into President Trump across roughly five hours of sometimes heated questioning, a month after a closed-door appearance before the same committee. "Donald Trump is the person who caused January 6," Smith stated, adding "No one should be above the law." Chairman Jim Jordan (R-OH) framed the prosecutions as political; Ranking Member Jamie Raskin (D-MD) defended Smith's conduct. Trump responded on social media calling for Smith's prosecution. The federal cases against Trump were dropped after his 2024 election victory per DOJ policy barring prosecution of sitting presidents. Six months later, on July 22, 2026, Jordan formally referred Smith to the Justice Department for possible prosecution over alleged false statements in that testimony, a move Raskin called baseless and vindictive. On Sept. 29, 2026, Smith testified publicly before the Senate Judiciary Committee at a hearing Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) titled "Oversight of Jack Smith's Abuse of Authority and the Targeting of Republicans and Related Matters." Republicans focused on Arctic Frost, the FBI inquiry that preceded Smith's election case, and on his team obtaining toll records of Republican lawmakers' phones and the content of some members' texts to White House staff. House Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan had referred Smith to the Justice Department in July, alleging he misled the House about those texts. Smith said he stood by both indictments and would not be "silenced by the continued threats of prosecution." Ranking member Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) noted that Smith had offered to testify publicly for more than a year.

“I don't think you know that we have this stuff, so I'll give you a second to process it so you don't, you know, perjure yourself. … I think you've already perjured yourself. … You may think you're a hero in this story, but let me tell you something: you're the villain. You will go down as a total dirtbag.”
Eric Schmitt (R-MO) · Sep 29, 2026

Sep 27, 2026· Updated

Xi Arrives in Washington Expecting Trump to Freeze Taiwan Arms Sales Under a 1982 Communiqué — the $14 Billion Package Congress Approved in January Is Still Unsigned, John Moolenaar Says Beijing’s Objections Should Be "Rejected Out of Hand," and Pete Ricketts Says China Is "Not Going to Be Allowed to Take Taiwan by Force"

Xi Jinping arrives in Washington on Wednesday, September 23, 2026, for the first Chinese state visit to the United States in eleven years, with formal talks on Thursday. Reuters reported on September 22 that Xi is expected to press President Trump to halt arms sales to Taiwan under the 1982 US–China joint communiqué, in which Washington said it intended to gradually reduce such sales — a commitment Ronald Reagan conditioned in an accompanying memo "absolutely upon the continued commitment of China to the peaceful solution" of its differences with Taipei. The immediate stake is a $14 billion arms package for Taiwan that Congress approved in January and that Trump has never formally notified. It covers F-16 upgrades, ground-based air defenses, anti-ship missiles, anti-drone systems and surveillance infrastructure. Trump put the package "in abeyance" after his own May visit to Beijing, telling Fox News it was "a very good negotiating chip for us," and Taipei Times reported on September 21 that there is a strong possibility he extends the delay to the end of the year. Beijing had already signaled it would cancel the summit outright if the sale were approved beforehand; Congress did not act, and a White House official said only that Trump would make a determination "in a fairly short time." Republicans who work on China policy have spent the week publicly warning Trump against trading Taiwan for a deal. House Select Committee on the CCP Chairman John Moolenaar said Chinese objections to US arms sales and security cooperation with Asian allies should be "rejected out of hand," calling China the United States' "foremost foreign adversary and greatest external threat." Sen. Pete Ricketts, who chairs the Senate Foreign Relations subcommittee on East Asia, said the message to Beijing has to be that "they're not going to be allowed to take Taiwan by force." Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi, the Select Committee's ranking Democrat, had warned in May that consulting Beijing on Taiwan arms at all was "a troubling break" from four decades of bipartisan practice.

“President Trump continues to say, 'Hey, we sell arms to other people around the world.' … He actually asked President Xi, would he like to buy some, at one point. … [Trump] is as strong on Taiwan as I've ever seen anybody.”
David Perdue (R-GA) · Sep 27, 2026

Sep 27, 2026· Updated

Eight Weeks Out, House Democrats Say Out Loud What a Majority Would Do — Raskin Says a Third Trump Impeachment Is "Not a Taboo With Us" but "Not a Panacea," and Jason Crow Says He Would Start With the Pentagon

On Sunday, September 6, 2026, with the midterms eight weeks away, the House Democrats who would run the investigative committees in a new majority described their plans on the record for the first time. Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.), the ranking member of the Judiciary Committee and the lead impeachment manager in both of Trump's prior Senate trials, told NBC's "Meet the Press" that the president has "undoubtedly" committed impeachable offenses in his second term and that a third impeachment would be "a critical tool in the toolbox for constitutional self-defense" — while insisting "it's not a fetish with us" and that health care and "ending the lawlessness" rank higher. Rep. Jason Crow (D-Colo.), who sits on Armed Services and Intelligence, told Fox News he would "start on the Department of Defense" because "our service members are being put at tremendous risk," and would not rule out impeachment of Trump or his appointees, calling it "one of several tools." Rep. Robert Garcia (D-Calif.), the ranking member on Oversight, named his first two targets: "Trump family corruption" and "the Jeffrey Epstein investigation." House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries has repeatedly declined to be pinned down on impeachment. The remarks give Republicans a concrete campaign argument and mark the clearest public accounting yet of what Democratic oversight would look like in 2027.

“Don't be impeaching anybody. Let's just get back to work. … I would rather move the ball forward and to the benefit of the American people.”
Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) · Sep 27, 2026

Sep 27, 2026· Updated

Eleven Weeks Out, Republicans Start Saying Out Loud That the Iran War Is Going to Cost Them the Midterms — "You People Are Living in a Cave"

With the November 2026 midterms about eleven weeks away, Republicans who have spent months declining to criticize President Trump's Iran war began describing it publicly as a political emergency for their party. Sen. Jim Justice (R-W.Va.), one of Trump's closest Senate allies, told reporters in Washington on Monday, August 17, 2026, that the war has become a "mess," that "this situation in Iran is causing repercussions like you can't imagine," and that Republicans were "scared to death about the midterms." Rep. Zach Nunn (R-Iowa), a frontline member in a competitive district, pressed for the war to be wrapped up. Speaker Mike Johnson, campaigning in Virginia Beach with Rep. Jen Kiggans on the same day, volunteered the connection between the war and pump prices — "The Iran conflict has been the cause, of course, of gas prices going up" — while promising a "new phase" that would bring them back down. The anxiety is not new inside the conference. Days earlier, Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.), a member of Senate Republican leadership, described a "fatigue factor," and Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) said he wished the president "were more clear about what his objectives are." Democrats are pressing the advantage: Sen. Jon Ossoff (D-Ga.), on the ballot in November, told an Atlanta rally that there is "something uniquely despicable about lying a nation into war." Polling has been consistently bad for the war — a late-July Quinnipiac survey found 60 percent of voters opposed U.S. military action against Iran — and gas prices and oil have climbed as the Strait of Hormuz blockade has dragged on. What has changed is that Republicans in cycle are now saying so on the record.

“I would like to see him give a nationwide address. Or let Rubio and General Caine do it and explain why we went into Iran, why we're winning, and how we're going to get out.”
John Kennedy (R-LA) · Sep 27, 2026

Sep 25, 2026· Updated

Democrats Introduce Bill to Block Trump's 250-Foot Triumphal Arch in DC

In late May 2026, approximately two dozen House Democrats introduced the Arlington National Cemetery Viewshed Protection Act to block federal funding for President Trump's proposed 250-foot triumphal arch near Arlington National Cemetery. The bill, led by Rep. Don Beyer (D-VA) and Rep. Dina Titus (D-NV), argues the project violates the Commemorative Works Act, which requires congressional approval for new memorials on federal land in Washington, D.C. Trump officials have argued they do not need congressional authorization because Congress authorized a similar structure more than a century ago. A Trump-packed Commission of Fine Arts approved a modified design on May 21, 2026, despite more than 600 public comments submitted — 99.5% in opposition. The project has drawn criticism from historic preservation groups including the National Trust for Historic Preservation and the DC Preservation League. Republicans including Sen. Jim Banks (R-IN) have defended the arch as a sign of the administration's commitment to classical architecture. With Republicans controlling Congress, the Democratic bill faces long odds of passage.

“[Letter to Hegseth and the FAA on plans to house drones and military equipment in the arch:] The FAA and DoD must reject this foolhardy plan and instead focus on increasing the safety of the airspace.”
Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) · Sep 25, 2026

Six Weeks Before the Midterms, the Senate Rejects the House-Passed Resolution to End the Iran War 49-50 — Thom Tillis Joins Paul, Collins and Murkowski, Saying "We've Got to Break the Cycle," While Tim Kaine Says Republicans Have Been "Carrying Water for This Ridiculous and Illegal War"

On Thursday, September 24, 2026, the Senate voted 49-50 against H.Con.Res. 89, the House-passed concurrent resolution directing President Trump to remove U.S. forces from hostilities against Iran unless Congress authorizes the war. It was the 14th time the Senate has taken up an Iran war powers measure since the war began on February 28. Because it is a concurrent resolution, the measure would not have gone to the president and would not have had the force of law. The vote was mostly symbolic, but it was one of the Senate's last votes before the November elections. Four Republicans voted yes: Rand Paul of Kentucky, Susan Collins of Maine, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Thom Tillis of North Carolina. Tillis is retiring, and he said he doesn't usually back "show votes" but wanted to signal that it is time to engage Congress. Democrat John Fetterman of Pennsylvania voted no, and Democrat Angela Alsobrooks missed the vote. Together those two votes decided the outcome. The vote came two days after Trump's U.N. speech asking whether to make a deal with Iran "or do I annihilate the Islamic Republic." Diesel prices are above $6 a gallon, and several Republicans who voted no have said publicly that the war needs to end. The White House said Congress cannot force the president to end the campaign this way and that Trump has sufficient authority under Article II. Pentagon figures put the toll at 19 U.S. service members killed and more than 820 wounded, and the cost at about $43.5 billion.

“I think there are a lot of Republican members, yes, obviously. Everybody wants to see wars come to a conclusion. We are hopeful that the administration's efforts will lead to getting … the shipping lanes open and taking some of the pressure off of the American peoples' pocketbooks via a lower price at the pump for gasoline. … It's an economic frustration. That's why again I hope that the administration is laser-focused on trying to get the strait open. [Thune called the Democratic-forced vote "political."]”
John Thune (R-SD) · Sep 24, 2026

Sep 21, 2026· Updated

Eight Days Before Xi Comes to the White House, His Wife Testifies to Congress That an American Scholar Has Been Held in China Since June — Young Kim Says Beijing "Wanted to Send a Message," Ro Khanna Calls It "Appalling," and a Bipartisan Senate Resolution Demands His Release

Sylvia Zin told the House Foreign Affairs Committee's East Asia and Pacific Subcommittee on September 17 that her husband, Myanmar scholar and UC Berkeley-affiliated researcher Min Zin, has been held by Chinese state security since June 3 on unspecified national-security allegations after arriving in Kunming for an academic workshop. The State Department has formally designated him wrongfully detained. Her testimony, alongside the son of jailed Hong Kong publisher Jimmy Lai, came eight days before President Trump is scheduled to host Xi Jinping at the White House on September 24. Subcommittee Chairwoman Rep. Young Kim (R-CA) said Beijing "wanted to send a message to those whose research inconvenienced it" by detaining Min Zin ahead of the summit, while voicing confidence Trump would secure his release. The same week, Sens. Adam Schiff (D-CA), Ed Markey (D-MA) and Ted Budd (R-NC) introduced a bipartisan resolution condemning China's "repeated pattern" of wrongfully detaining American academics. On Face the Nation the following Sunday, Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA) said he stood with Secretary of State Rubio on the case and called the detention of Americans over what they say or research "appalling" and "unacceptable." The case adds another point of friction to a US-China relationship already strained ahead of the Trump-Xi meeting.

“[In a letter to President Trump urging him to use Xi Jinping's state visit to secure the release of wrongfully detained people, including American citizen Min Zin:] Even a single mention of a detainee's name by a senior U.S. official, let alone by yourself, can significantly increase that individual's chances of clemency or improved treatment.”
Jeff Merkley (D-OR) · Sep 21, 2026

Sep 20, 2026· Updated

A Trump-Backed Miami Republican Tells Him in a New Ad His Immigration Enforcement Has "Gone Too Far" — Trump Answers "I Got Her Elected. Without Me She Wouldn't Have Gotten Elected"

Six weeks before the midterms, Rep. Maria Elvira Salazar (R-FL), who represents a 74% Hispanic Miami-area district, released a campaign ad warning President Trump that "some of your immigration enforcement efforts have gone too far" and that the Hispanic voters who backed him in 2024 "feel betrayed." She cited a statistic that half of those detained in July had no criminal record and urged the White House to "be careful what your advisers are telling you." Trump responded dismissively on Friday, September 18, calling Salazar "a nice person" while crediting himself for her election ("Without me she wouldn't have gotten elected") and defending his enforcement posture. Salazar repeated her warning two days later in a nationally televised Sunday show interview, again urging Trump to "preserve that fortune" he built with Hispanic voters. The public break is one of the most direct challenges to Trump's immigration crackdown from a sitting Republican ahead of the midterms, and comes as other battleground-district GOP members have quietly shifted their own messaging.

“Please preserve that fortune that you have brought to the party.”
Maria Salazar (R-FL) · Sep 20, 2026

Sep 20, 2026· Updated

Trump Promises Every Adult Citizen a $5,000 "Dividend" — but Only if Republicans Keep the House and Senate — and Within a Day a Republican Senator Is Drafting the Bill, a Republican Congressman Is Asking Who Pays for "Well Over $1 Trillion," and a Democratic Governor Calls Him the "Briber in Chief"

Closing the first night of the Republican Party's midterm convention in Dallas on September 9, 2026, President Trump promised to send every adult US citizen a $5,000 "dividend" — explicitly conditioned on Republicans holding both the House and the Senate in the November 3 midterms. "If the Republicans win, you win with us," he told the crowd, framing the payment as the kind of cash distribution "a successful company will do" for its shareholders, and saying at least part of it would come from tariff revenue. Independent estimates put the cost between $1.15 trillion and $1.35 trillion, and the pledge drew pushback from both parties within hours. Sen. Bernie Moreno (R-OH) said he would have a bill ready to pass "immediately after the November 3rd election." Vice President JD Vance narrowed the offer in a Fox News interview, suggesting wealthy Americans would not qualify and pointing to tariff collections as the funding source. Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX) publicly asked how the administration intended to pay for it, and Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) mocked the figure outright. Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear (D) accused the president of making himself the "briber in chief," noting that the $2,000 tariff rebates Trump promised in November 2025 never arrived. Federal law makes it a crime to offer or make a payment to induce someone to vote for or against a candidate, and legal commentators raised that statute immediately.

“It's absolutely inflationary. If Joe Biden had proposed that, conservatives would have been all against it. … [I]f the government borrows money, it's going to drive up how much somebody pays for their mortgage, for their car note, perhaps for their credit card.”
Bill Cassidy (R-LA) · Sep 20, 2026

The Pentagon’s Europe Review Puts Its First Numbers on Paper — 25,000 to 40,000 of the 80,000 U.S. Troops in Europe, Below the Floor Congress Set in Law — and Eight Senate Democrats Tell Rubio That American Ambassadors Have Been "Excluded From Consultations"

The Europe Force Posture Review, launched in June 2026 and run out of the office of Under Secretary of Defense for Policy Elbridge Colby, is due to deliver a final recommendation to Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth on November 6, 2026. On September 17 and 18, Reuters and NBC News reported the first numbers the review has put on paper: options to withdraw between 25,000 and 40,000 of the roughly 80,000 U.S. military personnel stationed in Europe, along with aircraft and ships, with Germany, Italy and Spain among the countries hosting the largest affected deployments. Either figure would take the U.S. presence below the 76,000-troop floor Congress wrote into the fiscal 2026 National Defense Authorization Act, which bars a reduction below that level without a prior security assessment and certification to lawmakers. On September 17, Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.), the ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, led seven Senate Democrats in a letter to Marco Rubio — who holds the dual role of Secretary of State and National Security Advisor — objecting that the review is being conducted without meaningful State Department participation, and that U.S. ambassadors in the countries that would be affected have been kept out of it. The senators wrote that the Pentagon had sent allied governments a questionnaire covering diplomatic priorities that properly sit with the State Department. The same week, Trump posted that "major progress" was being made toward a U.S. Army base in Poland — the administration’s answer to the drawdown reporting being that forces are being repositioned toward NATO’s eastern flank rather than pulled off the continent. A final recommendation is not due until November 6, three days after the midterm elections.

“Thanks to the bold leadership of my friend, Karol Nawrocki, President of Poland, major progress is being made toward establishing a U.S. Army base in Poland.”
Donald Trump (R-FL) · Sep 17, 2026

The Administration Notifies Congress of a $24.3 Billion Sale of 48 F-35s to Saudi Arabia as a House Intelligence Democrat Warns It Could "Put the Crown Jewels of American Military Technology Within Reach of the Chinese Communist Party" and Ed Markey Moves to Block a Separate $5 Billion Saudi Bomb Sale

On September 17, 2026, the State Department formally notified Congress of a proposed $24.3 billion Foreign Military Sale to Saudi Arabia of 48 Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II fighters, 49 Pratt & Whitney engines and associated equipment. If completed, Saudi Arabia would be the first Middle Eastern country other than Israel to fly the F-35. The State Department said the sale "will not alter the military balance in the region" and that "President Trump has made clear that Saudi Arabia is an anchor for regional security." Its notification certified that the sale does not erode Israel's legally protected qualitative military edge; reports said Saudi jets could be fitted with a less capable software suite than Israel's. U.S. intelligence analysts have repeatedly warned that the kingdom's ties to Beijing could expose F-35 technology to China through espionage or partnership. The notification lands in the middle of a Saudi-Iran proxy war in Yemen and the U.S. war with Iran, and weeks after Trump sent Congress a civil nuclear cooperation agreement with Riyadh. Congress has 30 days to object. The same week, Sens. Ed Markey, Jeff Merkley and Bernie Sanders introduced a joint resolution of disapproval against a separate $5 billion sale — notified September 4 — of more than 10,000 JDAM guidance kits and 500- and 2,000-pound bombs.

“The United States must not send thousands of conventional weapons to Saudi Arabia or allow it to develop a nuclear program. I am deeply concerned by the Kingdom's human rights abuses, the security of the region as the war in Iran rages on, and the proxy war that is escalating between Iran and Saudi Arabia in Yemen.”
Ed Markey (D-MA) · Sep 17, 2026

Three Months After House Democrats Filed Articles Against Her, Senate Democrats Start Saying It Out Loud About the Education Secretary — Chris Van Hollen Says Linda McMahon "Should Be Removed," Angela Alsobrooks Says She Is "Unlawfully Trying to Eliminate the Department of Education," and the White House Answers That She Is "Returning Education Back to the States Where It Belongs"

In June 2026, Reps. Suzanne Bonamici (D-Ore.) and John Garamendi (D-Calif.) introduced H.Res. 1391, three articles of impeachment against Secretary of Education Linda McMahon, joined by sixteen other House Democrats. The articles accuse McMahon of illegally dismantling the Department of Education — including an interagency agreement moving enforcement of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, Title IX, the Americans with Disabilities Act, the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 and the Age Discrimination Act to the Justice Department — and of making false statements to the Senate HELP Committee at her confirmation hearing, where she assured senators she would award the funds Congress appropriated and then canceled or withheld hundreds of grants. On September 16, 2026, the effort moved to the Senate. Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) and Sen. Angela Alsobrooks (D-Md.) both called publicly for McMahon’s removal, and lawmakers joined three former education secretaries — Arne Duncan, John B. King Jr. and Miguel Cardona — and the American Federation of Government Employees in requesting an inspector general investigation into the mass firings at the department and what they cost taxpayers. It makes McMahon the second Cabinet secretary facing impeachment articles in as many days, after Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) filed eight articles against Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth. The White House rejected the premise, with Assistant Press Secretary Liz Huston saying McMahon is carrying out the president’s mandate to return education to the states. With the House adjourned until after the November 3 midterms, no impeachment vote can occur this Congress.

“Someone who’s in the process of doing that has no business being the secretary of Education. … So why is she secretary of Education? She should be removed.”
Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) · Sep 16, 2026

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