Trump brags about his White House ballroom and seeks to deflect blame for GOP midterm drubbing
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump reacted Wednesday to Republicans' midterm election losses by showing off the White House ballroom he's building as he demonstrated the kind of detached behavior that voters around the country said was a key reason they opted to punish his party.
In an extraordinary scene, Trump summoned reporters to the hulking construction site that he demolished the East Wing to make room for and the Republican president spoke for nearly 20 minutes about minute building details. He did not mention his party losing control of Congress after defeats in some of the country's deepest GOP strongholds, including Texas and South Carolina, or voter concerns about the high cost of living and federal corruption that helped cause the election losses.
“This has been a structure the likes of which has never been seen anywhere,” Trump said, speaking into a microphone that sent loud feedback echoing around the cavernous space.
He talked at length about how the ballroom would be the ”safest place in Washington" upon completion, stretching five stories underground and featuring a cut of marble that he called “a vein that people have been after for 50 years.”
“We have large staircases coming from the kitchen. If I put the kitchen on top, you would lose three walls, because a kitchen takes about 30% of the space,” Trump said of his choice to make the ballroom's kitchen subterranean.
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Democratic sweep of Congress ushers in a new era as Trump acknowledges impact of the Iran war
WASHINGTON (AP) — The midterm election blowout delivered a new era in Washington, with Democrats in Congress eager to meet voter demands for change while Republicans watched their majorities evaporate after a revolt against President Donald Trump and his party in power.
Democrats ousted Republicans from coast to coast, with many surprising places in between, in a decisive rejection of unified GOP control for the promise of something different for the country. Their majorities will be padded by unusually wide margins in both the House and the Senate.
The staggering results are setting up a starkly divided government, with an emboldened Congress poised to reassert itself as a coequal branch when Democrats take over in the new year. They are ready to launch a 100-day agenda to lower the costs of gas, groceries and healthcare and conduct vast oversight and investigations into Trump and his administration, with impeachment an option.
“We hear you,” said House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York, who would make history as the first Black speaker of the House if his colleagues elect him to the job when the new Congress begins on Jan. 3, 2027.
Jeffries called the election a “stunning rebuke of MAGA extremism” and “a great victory for the American people.”
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FACT FOCUS: False claims of rigged elections are limited as midterm vote heavily favors Democrats
WASHINGTON (AP) — After President Donald Trump said he would accept the results of his party’s midterm rout, many of his loyalists followed suit even though they, too, are always a hair trigger away from branding a losing election rigged.
To be sure, there were diehards on social media. “This is how the Left steals elections,” Katie Miller, wife of Trump aide Stephen Miller, posted of the equipment malfunction that delayed ballot counting in Westchester County, New York, on Tuesday. Posted far-right activist Laura Loomer: “Of course. Democrats love cheating.”
Yet across the country, great numbers of defeated Republican candidates conceded, congratulated their Democratic opponents in moments of grace and bowed to their fate.
While there were the same typical voting problems that show up every Election Day, there was little conspiracy theorists could use to offset the massive Democratic victories. Most notably, there was no day-after wave of court actions challenging the outcome, despite the Trump Justice Department's laying of preelection groundwork to do just that.
Republican Rep. Mike Lawler of New York conceded his race before thousands of set-aside Westchester County ballots were even counted, intent on tamping down the conspiracy theories that others were floating to explain his loss in that district. “No shenanigans,” he assured supporters. He said it was obvious his totals would fall short in any event.
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Vance tries to distance himself from Iran war after GOP's deep losses in midterm elections
WASHINGTON (AP) — JD Vance publicly broke from President Donald Trump 's defense of the Iran war Wednesday after the Republican Party's deep losses in the midterm elections, attempting to distance himself from voters' clear rebuke of the president as the vice president faces questions about his own political ambitions.
Vance, who has said he would decide after the election whether to run for president in 2028, issued a lengthy social media post blaming the unpopular conflict with Iran for the GOP's drubbing. Vance said, "If you’d like to argue it was worth it, that losing the Senate for the next 6 years was worth it, then do so.”
But arguing that the war was worth it is what Trump repeatedly did on the campaign trail, continued to do in interviews as election results came in and did again Wednesday morning. As he led reporters on an impromptu visit to the ballroom he's constructing at the White House, Trump said, “The Iran thing, we had to do and we continue to do it."
Trump said he spoke to Vance on Wednesday morning and, when asked about the vice president's post, he called it “good” and said, “I know how he feels about it," and “I think it was fine."
The president also said he “knew the war was going to impact” the midterm elections but again defended his actions.
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Speaker Johnson won't seek reelection as House Republican leader after party's midterm losses
WASHINGTON (AP) — House Speaker Mike Johnson will be stepping aside from Republican Party leadership after the GOP’s wipeout in the midterm election, declining to seek support to stay on as House minority leader in the new Congress, according to two people familiar with his decision Wednesday.
Johnson is expected to retain his seat as a rank-and-file member of the House from Louisiana when Congress convenes in January. He won reelection from his Shreveport-area district for a sixth term in office.
It’s a swift rise and fall for Johnson, often seen as an accidental speaker, who nevertheless drew close to President Donald Trump and led the House GOP during a tumultuous era, with one of the slimmest majorities in modern times.
And it sets up a fierce internal party battle for the new GOP leader after Democrats swept to power.
Rep. Steve Scalise of Louisiana, the House majority leader, said in a letter to colleagues that “the election was far worse than any of us expected” and he is running for the minority leadership post because “the stakes couldn't be higher.” Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio sent a letter to colleagues describing himself as “battle-tested” as he announced his bid for the job.
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El-Sayed tells AP Michigan rejected ‘hateful, spiteful campaign’ after months of Republican attacks
WASHINGTON (AP) — Sen.-elect Abdul El-Sayed told The Associated Press on Wednesday that Michigan voters had rejected “a hateful, spiteful campaign” after months of Republican attacks on his Muslim identity in one of the nation’s most closely watched Senate races.
El-Sayed said he was “running on adrenaline and caffeine” after his race with Republican Mike Rogers was called early Wednesday, giving Democrats another significant victory in a premier swing state as they won a substantial majority in the Senate in Tuesday’s midterms.
Throughout the cycle, Republicans sought to demonize El-Sayed, who was born in the U.S. after his parents immigrated from Egypt. President Donald Trump repeatedly called him a “jihadist” who was “on the side of the terrorists.”
“Michigan proved just how big we are. Rejected a hateful, spiteful campaign that had nothing to say about the issues and only wanted to point to my name and my face,” El-Sayed said. “Michiganders rejected that. Every single county, every single one, pushed against that.”
In a sign of how combative the race had become, Rogers and El-Sayed had not spoken as of Wednesday afternoon, even after Rogers issued a statement conceding the race. In 2024, Rogers called then-Rep. Elissa Slotkin to concede on Wednesday morning, before the AP had even called the race.
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Stocks surge, and the Dow soars 1,500 points as oil prices tumble following the US midterm elections
NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stocks soared Wednesday after President Donald Trump’s party lost its sole control of Washington in the midterm elections.
Stocks generally do well in the months following any midterm U.S. election, regardless of who wins, and the S&P 500 jumped 1.6% for its best day in three months. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rallied 1,569 points, or 3%, and the Nasdaq composite climbed 1.4%.
Stocks of hospital owners and dollar stores serving low-income Americans helped lead the widespread rally following the nationwide losses for Republicans. Investors, meanwhile, see risks ahead for Trump’s social-media company, the artificial-intelligence industry and businesses owned by Elon Musk, who donated heavily to Republicans.
The price for a barrel of Brent crude oil also tumbled below $95 and touched its lowest level in two months. Vice President JD Vance blamed Republicans' midterm losses on the war with Iran, which caused a spike in oil prices.
Strategists along Wall Street had been urging investors not to get swept up in the election because it may not matter much for the broad market in the long term. Prices for stocks depend more on where profits for companies and interest rates are heading than on who controls what in Washington.
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Florida authorities say 2 dead at Tampa office complex, including gunman shot by security guard
TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — A gunman plowed a car into a courtyard on Citibank's sprawling Tampa business campus on Wednesday and opened fire with a rifle, killing a woman before a security guard fatally shot him, authorities said.
The Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office did not give a motive for the shooting or say whether the gunman and his lone victim knew each other.
The attack sent workers scrambling as the suspect crashed his car among outdoor tables where people were eating lunch, then started shooting, said Chief Deputy Frank Losat of the sheriff’s office. He said 3,200 people were on the campus at work during the attack.
The gunman fatally shot the woman before a security guard confronted him in a cafeteria, Losat said. The guard and the gunman exchanged fire, and the guard killed him, Losat said.
“Was there a potential for further violence? Absolutely," Losat told a news conference. "So kudos to that security guard.”
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Authorities are trying to piece together how an escaped Tennessee inmate evaded capture for 10 days
Authorities on Wednesday were still trying to piece together how an escaped Tennessee prisoner convicted of murder evaded capture for more than a week before being tracked down hundreds of miles away in Missouri.
Jacob Morley, who was serving a life sentence for killing a co-worker four years ago, was apprehended Tuesday near Kansas City, Missouri, authorities said. Morley was found after troopers used roadside cameras and a helicopter to track him down and his truck got stuck in the mud. Two rifles and a shotgun were recovered from the truck.
Authorities believe Morley found his way to a farm near Marion, Illinois — about 127 miles (204 kilometers) away — in the days after his escape, spending some time in a shed that was used periodically by hunters.
Investigators found evidence that he drank beer and prepared garlic bread and other food — and that he left behind an apologetic handwritten note after stealing a truck from the farm, according to Williamson County Sheriff Jeff Diederich. Morley is also suspected of stealing clothes and the three firearms from the property.
Diederich believes Morley walked about 3 miles (5 kilometers) to the farm after abandoning a different truck he had driven after his escape. Security cameras captured Morley walking away from the truck and at a couple of locations along Route 13, but the terrain — which includes fields and woods — would have made it tough for him to be spotted, Diederich said.
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Report: LIV's financial backer dropping plan for new league in 2027
LIV Golf's main investor to help it emerge from Chapter 11 bankruptcy is scrapping plans for a new version because it lacked enough player support, The Financial Times reported Wednesday.
BC Partners Credit had pledged as much as $300 million for what was called “LIV 2.0,” which was planning at least 10 tournaments, an emphasis on teams and equity for players. LIV CEO Scott O'Neil had called the equity a “second bite of the apple.”
But that required enough players to sign up for LIV 2.0. Four players, including Brendan Steele and Cameron Tringale, publicly stated their support. LIV was believed to have as many as 30 players who were willing to stay with the league, but it was lacking the star power.
Ted Goldthorpe, partner and head of BC Partners Credit, said at a Sportico conference in September, “A lot of the money that was spent created the ecosystem and infrastructure that exists today. We think we can run this in a financially sustainable way because much of that spending went to getting the players, and the players are here.”
Jon Rahm was released from his contract in a deal that was to be approved at a hearing Thursday in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in New Jersey. Now, the Financial Times reported that hearing would shift toward LIV seeking liquidation of its assets.
