Will 'all Trump, all the time' help the GOP in the midterms?

President Donald Trump is betting that his ubiquitous role in the midterm elections — all Trump, all the time — will pay off for Republicans trying to hang onto their perilous majorities in Congress.

Trump's campaign said Tuesday it will spend more than $20 million on the November elections, including $6 million in national TV and digital ads beginning Oct. 29, and the president will be holding at least 10 more of his signature rallies through the election. Since July 5, Trump has held 20 of his "Make America Great Again" rallies around the country and is staging three more this week in Wisconsin, North Carolina and Illinois.

With two weeks until the election, the White House is battling against history as it tries to defend a lengthy slate of seats held by congressional Republicans. Democrats need to flip 23 House seats to win back the majority, a target that falls in line with the typical losses of about two dozen seats for a first-term president in midterm elections. Republicans are playing on a friendly Senate campaign terrain but can ill afford any mistakes with a narrow 51-49 majority.

Former President Barack Obama, who rallied Nevada Democrats on Monday, suffered crushing losses during his two midterm elections in 2010 and 2014, and Democrats often sought to distance themselves in parts of the country where Obama wasn't popular.

Trump has taken the opposite approach, actively seeking to nationalize the congressional races and casting them as a choice between his policies and the Democrats' agenda during a time of low unemployment rates and economic expansion.

Here's a look at midterm campaign activities Tuesday:

ABRAMS-FLAG BURNING

The campaign of Georgia Democratic gubernatorial hopeful Stacey Abrams defended her involvement in burning the state flag — featuring a prominent Confederate symbol at the time — during a college protest more than two decades ago.

The issue surfaced ahead of Abrams' Tuesday night debate against her Republican opponent, Brian Kemp.

Abrams' role in the protest emerged after The New York Times published a story citing a June 1992 Atlanta Journal-Constitution article. A photo caption identifies Abrams as a woman standing with her arms crossed, watching three other protesters burn the flag.

Kemp, Georgia's secretary of state, faces Abrams, the former state House minority leader, in one of the nation's most competitive races for governor. Abrams is trying to become the nation's first black female governor.

Abrams' spokeswoman Abigail Collazo said Abrams was involved in a "permitted, peaceful protest against the Confederate emblem in the flag" while a student at Spelman College in Atlanta in 1992.

The Confederate battle flag was added to Georgia's state flag in 1956 as a rebuke of the growing civil rights movement. Decades later, political pressure to remove what many considered to be a symbol of white supremacy grew as Atlanta drew international attention by hosting the Olympics in 1996. The Confederate symbol was phased out of the flag in 2001.

BIDEN

Former Vice President Joe Biden campaigned for a second day in Florida, making a quick visit to a Tallahassee coffee shop before heading to a rally at the University of Central Florida in Orlando.

Biden urged students and others milling around the shop to vote for Democratic Sen. Bill Nelson over his Republican opponent, Rick Scott, and stopped for several selfies with the crowd that surrounded him.

"For many of you, this is your first vote, but I tell you: Whether you're your age or my age, this is an election that is bigger than politics," Biden said, citing President Donald Trump's comments after an anti-Nazi demonstrator was killed at a violent white nationalist rally last year in Charlottesville, Virginia.

"This is much bigger than any single issue. It's about decency; it's about respect," Biden said.

Before departing, Biden was asked about the prospect of running for president in 2020. "We'll see," he said as the car began to pull away.

Associated Press writers Ben Nadler in Atlanta and Gary Fineout in Tallahassee, Fla., contributed.

WASHINGTON (AP) — A U.S. airstrike in Syria in May 2023 that was targeting an al-Qaida leader killed an innocent civilian instead, U.S. Central Command said Thursday, confirming early reports from residents and family members shortly after the attack.

U.S. Central Command said an investigation into the May 3 strike concluded that U.S. forces misidentified the intended al-Qaida target “and that a civilian, Mr. Lufti Hasan Masto, was struck and killed.”

Shortly after the drone strike, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an opposition war monitor, said it had hit a chicken farm near the town of Harem, killing one person. And just days later, relatives and neighbors told The Associated Press that the person killed was a farmer who raised sheep, chickens and cattle and had no involvement with armed groups.

Masto’s brother, Mohamed Masto, said reports that his brother, 60, was involved with al-Qaida were “absolute lies” and his killing was “an injustice and an aggression.” Instead, Masto was simply tending his sheep when the strike hit.

Central Command said the investigation into the strike was completed last November — but it wasn't released publicly until Thursday.

In a statement, Central Command said much of the investigation and findings are classified but acknowledged it revealed “several issues that could be improved.”

“What we can share is the investigation concluded the strike was conducted in compliance with the law of armed conflict as well as Department of Defense and CENTCOM policies,” the statement said. “We are committed to learning from this incident and improving our targeting processes to mitigate potential civilian harm.”

The Defense Department has come under fire over the course of the wars in Iraq, Afghanistan and Syria for killing civilians in airstrikes. It set up a detailed investigation and review process for strikes when there are allegations of innocent people being killed.

The U.S. also continues to target al-Qaida and Islamic State leaders in Syria, including the 2017 airstrike that killed Abu al-Kheir al-Masri, a former aide to Osama bin Laden and al-Qaida’s second in command in Syria.

FILE - Mohammed Hassan Masto sits next to the grave of his brother Lutfi on May 7, 2023, in the village of Qorqanya, a rural area in northern Idlib province, Syria. Central Command said Thursday, May 2, 2024, an airstrike in Syria that was targeting an al-Qaida leader misidentified the intended target and killed Lutfi Hassan Masto instead. The investigation confirms early reports from residents and family members shortly after the attack. (AP Photo/Omar Albam, File)