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Browse major news stories and see what officials have said.

Sep 23, 2026· Updated

A Putin-Allied Russian Oligarch Paid for Donald Trump Jr.'s Island Wedding Celebration — the Couple Call It "an Extraordinarily Generous Wedding Gift From a Friend," the President Says "Not a Big Deal!," and Chris Murphy Tells the Senate "Never Before Has a Foreign Enemy of the United States Paid for the Family Wedding of the President"

On September 14, 2026, ProPublica reported that Umar Kremlev — a Russian oligarch close to Vladimir Putin, secretary general of the International Boxing Association, whose boxing operations are financed by the state energy giant Gazprom — paid hundreds of thousands of dollars in expenses for Donald Trump Jr.'s May 2026 wedding festivities in the Bahamas. According to the report, Kremlev's organization rented a private island for the roughly 50-guest post-wedding celebration at about $100,000 a night, paid an estimated $70,000 for a fireworks show and helped plan the event. Kremlev and a Russian delegation attended; so did Jared Kushner, who is helping lead U.S. negotiations with Russia over the war in Ukraine. President Trump did not attend. Hours after the report, Bettina Trump confirmed on Instagram that Kremlev "very generously hosted two incredible nights of celebrations" as "an extraordinarily generous wedding gift from a friend," writing that "friendship doesn't require a political motive." A spokesperson for Trump Jr. said "Umar is a personal friend of Don." President Trump said he had "no idea who Umar is" and called the party "Not a big deal!" Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT) called it "naked corruption in plain view" on the Senate floor that evening. On September 15, Rep. Robert Garcia (D-CA), ranking member of the House Oversight Committee, sent Trump Jr. a letter demanding he preserve all records of his relationship with Kremlev and any White House communications about the celebration, writing that the reporting "may be the most serious allegation against you to date."

“[T]he last Russia hoax cost this country years of progress. We are not doing it again over a private citizen's wedding. … Don Jr. is a businessman, not an administration official. There is no evidence he sold access to the presidency.”
Jim Banks (R-IN) · Sep 23, 2026

Trump Cuts the Ribbon on a White House Helipad Paid For by Lockheed Martin — Thanking the CEO of a Contractor Holding More Than $40 Billion in Government Work — While Mark Warner Calls It One of the "Crazy Vanity Projects That Only Serve Himself" and Connecticut Democrats Say the Bill May Land on Taxpayers Anyway

On Monday, September 21, 2026, President Trump used oversized gold scissors to cut a red, white and blue ribbon on a new granite helipad on the White House South Lawn, then took Marine One's first flight from it. The roughly $5–6 million landing pad was paid for not by Congress but by Sikorsky Aircraft — a subsidiary of Lockheed Martin — through a contribution routed to the National Park Service. Trump posted afterward that he wanted "to thank Jim Taiclet, CEO of Lockheed Martin, who made this valuable contribution to our Country," adding, "Our Government has been thinking about doing this for 25 years, but was never able to get it done. I get things done!" The donor is also one of the federal government's largest contractors, holding more than $40 billion in new and expanded government contracts, and it had already given $1 million to Trump's inauguration and more than $10 million toward his White House ballroom. The official rationale is that exhaust from Sikorsky's new VH-92 Patriot Marine One helicopters was scorching the South Lawn grass. Democrats have objected since the project was announced in July. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand called it a "joke," contrasting it with a bipartisan housing bill Trump would not sign. Sen. Mark Warner said Trump was "charging taxpayers an extra $875,000 just to speed up construction of his private White House helipad — adding to the hundreds of millions he's spent on crazy vanity projects that only serve himself." Connecticut's delegation — Sens. Richard Blumenthal and Chris Murphy and Reps. John Larson, Joe Courtney and Rosa DeLauro, who represent Sikorsky's Stratford workforce — praised the company's workers but said Trump was "rushing to complete yet another White House project without providing the American people with the transparency they deserve." The ribbon-cutting itself became a second story: the major television networks skipped live coverage in protest of Trump's ban on CNN, MS NOW and Politico from the White House, leaving the president inaudible over helicopter noise on an in-house video feed.

“We are just leaving the White House Lawn on the maiden voyage from the newly built, and very beautiful, Heliport! I want to thank Jim Taiclet, CEO of Lockheed Martin, who made this valuable contribution to our Country. Our Government has been thinking about doing this for 25 years, but was never able to get it done. I get things done! Also, and most importantly, THANK YOU to the Great Construction Workers and Stone Masons of the Washington, D.C., area, who created something very special, and to Clark Construction for its wonderful supervisory work. GOD BLESS AMERICA!”
Donald Trump (R-FL) · Sep 21, 2026

The House Censures Chuck Edwards 413-2 After the Ethics Committee Finds Two Years of "Persistent Unprofessional and Inappropriate Conduct" Toward Two Young Female Staffers — and He Calls the Investigation "a Russian Show Trial"

On September 1, 2026, the House voted 413-2 to censure Rep. Chuck Edwards (R-NC), the first time the Ethics Committee has recommended a censure since 2010. The only two no votes were Edwards himself and Rep. Ralph Norman (R-SC), who said he would not vote to censure Edwards while House Republicans had declined to censure Del. Stacey Plaskett over her contacts with Jeffrey Epstein. The bipartisan Ethics Committee found substantial evidence that Edwards violated the chamber's prohibition on sexual harassment through "persistent unprofessional and inappropriate conduct towards two young female staffers" over roughly two years — deeply personal late-night text messages, poetry, one-on-one dinners and trips, and a stream of gifts that included jewelry, guns, shoes, a KitchenAid mixer and a robotic vacuum. The panel stopped short of finding a quid pro quo, resting instead on a hostile work environment, and wrote that Edwards had "refused to acknowledge the reality of the power imbalance between a Member of Congress and young staffers." Edwards had already abandoned his re-election bid on August 5, after the committee recommended censure. He nonetheless fought the vote, circulating a twenty-page letter to colleagues and using his floor time to argue the findings did not amount to harassment. After the vote he stood in the well of the House while Speaker Mike Johnson read the resolution aloud, and told reporters on his way out that the investigation was "very much akin to a Russian show trial." All thirteen of Edwards's North Carolina colleagues voted to censure him. Rep. Teresa Leger Fernández (D-NM), who chairs the Democratic Women's Caucus, argued censure was far too light a penalty and called for rules changes stripping committee assignments or allowing expulsion; she and Rep. Kat Cammack (R-FL), her Republican Women's Caucus counterpart, have been drafting a bipartisan overhaul of how the House handles sexual misconduct.

“I am imperfect. I have made mistakes. But I do not believe I committed sexual harassment, and the factual findings of this investigation do not justify branding me as though I did.”
Charles (Chuck) Edwards (R-NC) · Sep 1, 2026

Nine Aircraft Were Sent to a Seven-Acre Fire Near a Trump Official’s 480-Acre Idaho Ranch — Including After He Phoned Forest Service Offices in the Middle of the Night — and Three Senators Ask the Agriculture Secretary Who Authorized It

On July 12, 2026, roughly nine aircraft — helicopters, air tankers and tactical planes — responded to the Cabin Creek Fire, a seven-acre blaze in Idaho's Sawtooth National Forest. The effort lasted a few hours and cost nearly $115,000 in federal money. Some of those aircraft were pulled off fires elsewhere in Idaho. The fire was near the 480-acre ranch of Michael Boren, the Under Secretary of Agriculture for Natural Resources and Environment — the official who oversees the U.S. Forest Service. Two agency officials told The Washington Post that Boren phoned regional and national offices repeatedly that day, including once in the middle of the night, demanding to know why more aircraft were not already in the air. On August 28, 2026, Sens. Ron Wyden, Amy Klobuchar and Martin Heinrich wrote to Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins demanding a full investigation and asking what safeguards exist to keep officials from steering wildfire response toward their own property. The letter landed in the middle of a record fire season: more than two million acres have burned in Oregon alone this year, and Wyden's office says fires threatening Oregon communities drew fewer resources than the seven-acre fire near Boren's ranch.

“Mr. Boren's actions constitute potentially a misuse of taxpayer funds and put American families at further risk by diverting scarce resources from high-priority wildfires threatening communities elsewhere in the region and country.”
Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) · Aug 28, 2026

Trump Discloses More Than 1,000 Stock Trades in a Single Month — Including Oil Companies Made Richer by the War He Started — and Joint Economic Committee Democrats Put His Gain at $15.5 Million

Two disclosures landed a few days apart in late August 2026 and, read together, put a number on what the Iran war has been worth to the president's own portfolio. On Aug. 24, Democrats on Congress's Joint Economic Committee, led by ranking member Maggie Hassan, reported that President Trump's oil and gas holdings had risen roughly 39 percent through Aug. 17 — a gain of as much as $15.5 million — putting their estimated value between $17.2 million and $61.1 million. The committee also found he had bought up to $3.6 million in additional oil and gas stock in the first three months of 2026, the quarter the war began. Then on Aug. 27 a periodic transaction report showed more than 1,000 individual trades in June alone, an average of over 30 a day, worth between $78 million and $263 million. Among them were repeated trades in companies directly exposed to the war: two sales and a purchase of ExxonMobil, three sales of ConocoPhillips, a sale of Valero Energy, and a purchase of Occidental Petroleum. Reporters also flagged the timing of trades outside energy, including a Boeing purchase on the day the Navy awarded the company an $880 million contract and an ExxonMobil sale on the day Trump declared a ceasefire. The White House says the president has no hand in any of it: spokesman Davis Ingle said the portfolio is run by outside institutions through computer-driven model portfolios replicating indexes such as the Schwab 1000. The disclosures land ten weeks before the midterms and alongside a separate demand from Sens. Elizabeth Warren and Rep. Robert Garcia that Trump name the managers behind his accounts.

“Trump's only focus is enriching himself at the expense of the American people.”
Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) · Aug 27, 2026

Warren and Garcia Demand Trump Name the Managers Behind 21,000 Stock Trades and Explain Purchases That Preceded His Own Policy Announcements

On August 12, 2026, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Rep. Robert Garcia (D-Calif.) sent President Trump a 17-page letter — first reported by CNBC on August 13 — demanding he identify the money managers he says control his investment accounts and explain dozens of stock trades that lined up with official government actions or market-moving presidential statements. The letter covers more than 21,000 trades reported in 2025 and roughly 3,500 more in the first quarter of 2026 alone, an average of about 50 trades every day markets were open. Warren and Garcia asked Trump to list "all third-party institutions and managers that direct your trades," explain how they were selected, what mandate they were given, and what investment processes they follow. They flagged 15 instances they characterized as Trump buying into a company shortly before an official announcement favorable to it — including purchases of Nvidia and Advanced Micro Devices on January 6, a week before the administration loosened chip export controls affecting sales to China, and a February 10 purchase of between $1 million and $5 million in Axon Enterprises, the Taser manufacturer, two weeks before ICE announced a $220 million Taser contract. The New York Times has reported there is no indication Trump holds a true blind trust; the lawmakers pressed that point, noting Trump personally signed a financial disclosure certifying his awareness of thousands of individual stock transactions. The White House dismissed the inquiry. Eric Trump said the president's holdings are held in fully discretionary accounts run by independent third-party institutions using automated, model-based portfolios, and the Trump Organization called the letter "just another baseless political stunt." Warren and Garcia set an August 28 deadline for a response.

“the same, tired narrative that Democrats have pushed against President Trump, his family, and his administration for a decade”
Anna Kelly (R) · Aug 13, 2026

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Jul 22, 2026

House Passes Stock Trading Restrictions 232-198, but Exempts the President

On July 22, 2026, the House passed the Stop Insider Trading Act 232-198, with 13 Democrats joining Republicans. The bill bars members of Congress, their spouses and dependent children from buying individual publicly traded stocks, and requires public notice 7 to 14 days before any covered sale, published online by the Clerk of the House or Secretary of the Senate. Lawmakers may keep stocks they owned before entering Congress, may still buy private stock, and may hold certain investment funds. Most House Democrats voted no, objecting that the measure stops short of a full trading ban and exempts the president, vice president and cabinet — an exemption that drew particular attention given Trump's roughly 3,600 reported first-quarter trades. Republicans also attached a federal voter ID amendment, deepening the Democratic split. The bill's path in the Senate remains uncertain.

“If you want to day trade, there's a place for that. It's called Wall Street.”
Bryan Steil (R-WI) · Jul 22, 2026

Trump Bought TKO Stock Before Hosting UFC Fight on White House Lawn, Raising Conflict of Interest Concerns

Financial disclosures filed May 12, 2026 revealed that President Trump purchased between $15,001 and $50,000 in TKO Group Holdings stock on March 25 — two weeks after a UFC fight card was formally announced for the White House South Lawn on June 14, his 80th birthday and America's 250th anniversary. TKO is the parent company of both UFC and WWE. Critics and ethics watchdogs argue that Trump's official promotion of the event could inflate TKO's stock price, constituting a textbook conflict of interest. The White House says Trump's investments are managed by independent financial advisers and that he does not make individual trading decisions.

“The president doesn't sit at the Oval Office on his computer on his Robinhood account buying and selling stocks. That's absurd. He has independent wealth advisers who manage his money.”
JD Vance (R-OH) · Jun 2, 2026

Rep. Tony Gonzales Resigns Amid Affair and Ethics Probe

Republican Rep. Tony Gonzales of Texas announced his resignation from Congress on April 13, 2026, hours before a bipartisan expulsion vote was expected. The House Ethics Committee had opened an investigation on March 5 into an affair Gonzales had with a staff member who later died by suicide after setting herself on fire. Gonzales initially denied the affair for months before admitting to it on a podcast, stating both he and the staffer had been married at the time. His resignation came the same day as Rep. Eric Swalwell's (D-CA), as Congress confronted dual sexual misconduct scandals across party lines.

“There is a season for everything and God has a plan for us all. When Congress returns tomorrow, I will file my retirement from office. It has been my privilege to serve the great people of Texas.”
Tony Gonzales (R-TX) · Apr 13, 2026