The Supreme Court on Wednesday refused to allow the Trump administration to immediately enforce new medical restrictions for transgender people in prison. An executive order by President Donald Trump had called on the Bureau of Prisons to revise its medical care policies so that federal funds aren’t spent “for the purpose of conforming an inmate’s appearance to that of the opposite sex.” The new policy, blocked earlier by a lower court, would halt surgeries, taper off hormones and end social accommodations like makeup and wigs.
Meanwhile, Trump plans to visit South Carolina on Wednesday to boost U.S. Sen. Darline Graham, whose stumbles in her first campaign since replacing her late brother have Democratic voters hopeful — but not necessarily optimistic — that their candidate can break Republicans’ grip on the state.
Here's the latest:
A campaign sign that appears to be for Republican Illinois governor candidate Darren Bailey is actually the handiwork of Democratic Gov. JB Pritzker, who is trying to remind voters about his opponent’s political connections to President Donald Trump.
The bright blue yard sign features Bailey’s name in bold white letters across the top, with “Trump” underneath and “endorsed by” in between.
But in small letters at the bottom, it shows that Pritzker paid for it.
Bailey, a former state lawmaker in Illinois, is running in a rematch against Pritzker after losing by 12 points in 2022.
Pritzker has been hammering Bailey for his close ties to Trump, including the yard signs and a new campaign ad showing Bailey speaking at a Trump rally in 2022 when the president first endorsed him.
Bailey’s campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment Wednesday.
The vice president was asked by a reporter to explain his comments in a recent interview that he wouldn’t endorse Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for reelection by claiming, “I endorse American candidates,” even though he endorsed Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban in the spring and even campaigned for him in Hungary.
Vance said he has endorsed only one foreign candidate for election and it “didn’t go particularly well,” as Orban lost the election.
But Vance went on and said that was in April and now, “We’re in the middle of an American election cycle where I’m very focused on candidates getting elected in the United States of America.”
He said he wasn’t attacking Netanyahu by not endorsing him but said, “I’m not endorsing any more foreign candidates now or in the future.”
Despite backlash from some of their fellow Republicans for Trump’s envoy calling the Russian President Vladimir Putin a “humanitarian,” Vance said, “I agree with Steve Witkoff saying something nice to a person who just released an American hostage.”
Witkoff made the comments as he thanked Putin for releasing an American who had been jailed for more than four years.
The vice president called Witkoff “a diplomat” and said he was in Russia to get a job done.
“I care much less about what Steve said than about the fact that he is bringing an American hostage home to his family. We should all be celebrating that, not be complaining about what Steve Wikoff said in order to get it done.”
Vice President JD Vance said it was “not really my concern” whether the ad was appropriate and said he’s focused on supporting Republican candidates in midterm races.
“I’m a little bit disgusted when I see Republicans across the country who are whining more about that advertisement than they are about what the congressional Democrats and other Democrats want to do to the United States of America,” Vance said in his first public comments on the ad.
He added: “Politics is a tough business. And my message to my fellow elected Republicans is: If you actually believe in the things you say you believe in, stop whining about an advertisement and go win the race in 13 days.”
Republican Vivek Ramaswamy’s team took credit for the ad featuring the estranged mother of featuring of Amy Acton in the Ohio governor’s race.
Maine Republican Sen. Susan Collins on Wednesday said a new ad calling her Democratic opponent, Troy Jackson a “freak” and a “creep” because “he has two kids with his cousin” should be taken down.
The ad, which has attracted attention this week, is from the Senate Leadership Fund, which is backing Collins as she seeks reelection. Democrats are hoping Jackson will win the seat in their pursuit to take back control of the Senate.
Collins distanced herself from the ad on Wednesday, saying that the ad “should be taken down” and she “had nothing to do with that ad.”
In a Politico story earlier this year, Collins referenced Jackson having a relationship with his second cousin. Jackson’s longtime partner, Lana Pelletier, released an op-ed Wednesday criticizing Collins and her supporters’ attacks on her family, saying she never thought they “would stoop this low.”
The Supreme Court on Wednesday refused to allow the Trump administration to immediately enforce new medical restrictions for transgender people in prison.
The decision leaves in place a lower-court block on the policy. It was adopted after an executive order from President Trump, who’s taken several steps to roll back transgender rights during his second term.
Justices Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas would have allowed the policy to be enforced.
The Supreme Court has previously allowed other policies for transgender people to move ahead for now, including restrictions on military service and passport sex markers.
Trump’s order called on the Bureau of Prisons to revise its medical care policies so federal funds aren’t spent “for the purpose of conforming an inmate’s appearance to that of the opposite sex.”
The new policy would halt surgeries, taper off hormones and end social accommodations like makeup and wigs. Prisons would continue to offer mental health services.
▶ Read more
Rubio said Ukraine would no longer exist if it wasn’t for U.S. support.
Rubio’s comments to reporters in Mumbai, India, came as the administration has been taken to task for curtailing intelligence sharing and the supply of weaponry for Ukraine. He said the administration would no longer take such criticism without a response.
“We’re no longer going to be defensive about this topic. If it were not for the assistance of the United States, including under the Trump administration, there would be no Ukraine right now,” Rubio said. “Ukraine as a sovereign state would not exist.”
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio is insisting that President Trump and the U.S. government more broadly had nothing to do with interruptions to Ukraine’s access to crucial satellite data that Ukrainian officials say have compromised their ability to counter Russian attacks.
Speaking to reporters in India on Wednesday, Rubio said for the third time in four days that any throttling of network access to Ukraine was not directed or ordered by Trump or anyone else in his administration. He suggested, though, that the owner of the system, Elon Musk, may have been involved.
“What I can tell you with certainty is the president of the United States nor anyone in our system ever requested that any changes to that system be made, and that’s what we said repeatedly,” Rubio said. “The president has nothing to do with the decisions that are made by Starlink and Starshield and by Mr. Musk. That’s a private company. The president doesn’t run that company and can’t direct that company to do anything.”
That’s Neil Bush, the brother of one Republican president and the son of another, who authored a long Facebook post Tuesday night saying he voted early, and for Talarico over Republican Senate candidate Ken Paxton.
Bush said his decision was two-pronged. Paxton’s past, particularly his spearheading of a failed lawsuit to challenge the 2020 election results, “was an affront to our democratic institutions,” Bush wrote. Those who have “enabled” Trump, he continued, “have done enormous damage to the Republican Party.”
Turning to Talarico, Bush noted that he’d never met the candidate, but that he’s been “enormously impressed” and has seen “integrity, civility, humility” and an openness to listen to those who disagree with him.
“I have been a Republican for most of my life, and I still believe deeply in many traditional Republican principles,” Bush wrote, “but character matters more than party affiliation.”
Some Republican lawmakers are reacting with dismay in response to Trump special envoy Steve Witkoff’s praise of Russian President Vladimir Putin as a “humanitarian.”
“No. Putin is stone cold killer,” said Republican Sen. John Cornyn in a social media post on X.
“Another embarrassment,” said Republican Rep. Don Bacon, including a clip of Witkoff’s remarks, in his post.
“What an embarrassing and outrageous thing to say,” said Republican Sen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina. “You should go back to Ukraine and ask the families of the children Putin has kidnapped and murdered whether they agree your friend Putin is a ‘humanitarian.’”
Witkoff’s description came as he thanked Putin for releasing an American who had been jailed for more than four years on charges of fighting as a mercenary in Ukraine.
Collins made the campaign stop at a hot dog restaurant in Maine on Wednesday morning with former Sen. Joe Manchin as she tries to win reelection to her seat.
Collins, a five-term Republican senator, is in a tough reelection fight with Democrat Troy Jackson. Manchin touted her as a longtime moderate voice during a brief appearance after the morning campaign event.
Manchin, a longtime Democrat who became an independent shortly before retiring from the Senate, called Collins “the soul of the Senate.”
The two are also scheduled to appear at a New Balance sneaker facility in Maine later Wednesday.
To voter Roy Lyons, Los Angeles has been losing luster for years. A homeless crisis endures despite billions of dollars of spending. City Hall’s budget keeps swelling — as do the taxes needed to support it.
As the retired insurance broker from the Sherman Oaks neighborhood ponders his pick in the upcoming mayoral election, he’s leaning toward the unpopular incumbent, Mayor Karen Bass, over her fellow progressive Democrat Nithya Raman, a little-known city council member who’s backed by the Democratic Socialists of America. She endorsed Bass before changing her mind and entering the race.
Neither choice gives him confidence about the future.
“Is this the best we can do?” asked Lyons, a Democrat, who attended a recent candidate forum. “I don’t think either one shines.”
If Bass wins the Nov. 3 election, it will be because she was able to persuade voters like Lyons to give her a second chance after a rough first term that included the deadly Palisades Fire, which ignited when she was out of the country and caught the fire department unprepared.
▶ Read more
Russian President Vladimir Putin’s foreign affairs adviser Yuri Ushakov told reporters after a meeting between Putin and U.S. President Donald Trump’s envoy Steve Witkoff that the Russian leader has agreed “in principle” to resume the trilateral talks after Nov. 10.
Witkoff held talks with Putin in St. Petersburg on Wednesday about Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, as Trump pushes Kyiv to make a deal that stops the fighting.
▶ Read more
The Justice Department’s inspector general has declined to investigate the handling of the criminal case against a former Olympian cleared of accusations that he intentionally damaged the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, according to a letter Wednesday from the man’s lawyers.
The internal watchdog told David Hearn’s lawyers the allegations of professional misconduct they made fall outside its jurisdiction and are instead within the purview of the department’s Office of Professional Responsibility, according to the letter, which urges Inspector General Don R. Berthiaume to reconsider the decision.
“Given the substantial public attention devoted to this matter, and the significant questions raised concerning the conduct of federal officials, declining independent review would risk undermining public confidence in the Department’s ability to police its own conduct. Such a result would be inconsistent with the purposes for which Congress established the OIG and would be a betrayal of its mission,” the letter says.
▶ Read more
The White House says the administration is using every tool available to stop foreign-based organized criminal organizations that exploit Americans online.
According to data supplied by the White House, federal authorities have seized more than 500 fraudulent cryptocurrency investment websites.
They’ve also interrupted millions of social media, email and internet accounts used by foreign criminal organizations to hunt victims in America, and have identified and warned nearly 9,000 people while they were in the process of being victimized, preventing an estimated $562 million in losses.
President Trump will visit South Carolina on Wednesday to boost Sen. Darline Graham, whose stumbles in her first campaign since replacing her late brother have Democratic voters hopeful — but not necessarily optimistic — their candidate can break Republicans’ grip on the state.
Although South Carolina isn’t typically a midterm battleground, Trump has been deeply invested in Graham. He supported her appointment to replace Lindsey Graham after his death in July, and he backed her in a special primary when she faced several more experienced Republican opponents.
Now the party wants to make sure Annie Andrews, the Democratic nominee and a pediatrician, doesn’t pull off an upset victory. More than $34 million has flowed into the race, and Republicans have hammered Andrews as a “radical liberal” and accused her of supporting surgeries for transgender minors, which she denies.
▶ Read more
Russia on Wednesday freed an American who’d been jailed for more than four years on charges of fighting as a mercenary in Ukraine, in a deal completed during a visit by a top U.S. envoy and at a time when President Trump has taken a series of actions meant to benefit Moscow.
Trump said in a Truth Social post that he had asked Russian President Vladimir Putin during a phone call last week to free Stephen Hubbard, and that, unlike previous releases, his had not required the U.S. to give up anyone in return.
“Welcome home, Stephen, it’s great to have you back,” Trump said.
Hubbard, a 74-year-old former teacher from Michigan, was on his way home following a visit to St. Petersburg by U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff, who also held talks with Putin about Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, as Trump pushes Kyiv to make a deal that stops the fighting.
▶ Read more
The Ukrainian president told Fox News on Wednesday that he would agree to a ceasefire with Russia, freezing control of land as it currently stands more than four years since Russia invaded Ukraine, provided the U.S. provides security guarantees as a permanent peace deal is negotiated.
“Freeze and talks and security guarantees,” Zelenskyy said.
Still, Zelenskyy said during the interview that Ukraine does not want to yield any land permanently.
“They are not winning on the battlefield,” he said of Putin’s forces. That’s why Putin is trying to “push us from our land” at the negotiating table, Zelenskyy said. “It’s not fair.”
Republican Vivek Ramaswamy ’s team confirmed late Tuesday that it produced a controversial advertisement featuring the estranged mother of Amy Acton, and the campaign said it will spend $4 million to promote it despite facing bipartisan rebuke for dredging up the painful childhood of his Democratic opponent in Ohio’s governor’s race.
The decision exacerbates a deeply personal element in one of the country’s most closely watched and expensive campaigns for state office. Questions about the video will likely shadow Ramaswamy, a biotech billionaire who previously ran for president but has never before held public office, in the final two weeks of the contest. Democrats said he was growing desperate at a moment when more than 676,000 people have already cast ballots in Ohio.
The advertisement features Acton’s birth mother, Donna Arthur, calling her “a liar” and insinuating she has mental health issues. Acton, Ohio’s former public health director, has made no secret of facing homelessness and abuse as a child. Arthur lost custody of her children after their stepfather was indicted for raping Acton.
Acton spent Tuesday condemning Ramaswamy for the ad even before his campaign confirmed its provenance.
▶ Read more
President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance on Tuesday announced a $25 million program to encourage the public to blow the whistle on suspected fraud in the U.S. government as they ramp up efforts to end the abuse of federal programs and dollars.
The White House said that under the Fraud Whistleblower Incentive Program, anyone who submits a tip that leads to a fraud conviction or a significant federal enforcement action is eligible to receive up to $30,000, and that the Justice Department will administer the program.
During the announcement, Trump said payments will amount to a 1% commission on the amount of fraud the tip helps uncover. Trump also said he will decide who gets reward money in cases where more than one person claims to have provided the tip.
“I will be the arbitrator of all of these decisions,” Trump said in the Oval Office with Vance and other administration officials standing behind him. “It’ll be a binding arbitration.”
▶ Read more
President Donald Trump speaks at a campaign rally at Pitt–Greenville Airport, Tuesday, Oct. 20, 2026, in Greenville, N.C. (AP Photo/Matt Ramey)
President Donald Trump arrives on Air Force One, Tuesday, Oct. 20, 2026, at Joint Base Andrews, Md. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
President Donald Trump speaks in the Oval Office of the White House, Tuesday, Oct. 20, 2026, in Washington, as Vice President JD Vance listens. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)
