Just nowMarco Rubio says he has ‘no plans at this time’ to run for presidentSecretary of State Marco Rubio weighed in on 2028 speculation, saying he currently has “no plans” to run for president — but left the door open to doing so.“I don’t know what the future holds, but I have no plans at this time,” Rubio told Colombian station RCN.Read the full story here.30m ago / 4:44 PM EDTJames Talarico calls deepfake videos of him ‘lies’ that voters are ‘fed up’ withDemocratic state Rep. James Talarico today characterized campaign ads using AI-generated videos of him as “lies” and asserted that voters are “fed up” with them, one day after his opponent in Texas’ Senate race posted a deepfake video of him.“They are lying about a candidate in this race, and so I think Texans are fed up with these kind of lies in our politics,” Talarico said in an interview with NBC News in Dallas. “They want elected leaders who are going to shoot straight with them about their record and about what they’re going to do for the people of Texas, and so these AI deepfake ads don’t add anything to our civic discourse.”In a video released by state Attorney General Ken Paxton’s campaign yesterday, which the Texas Tribune reported will air on Newsmax this week, Talarico is depicted writing with a crayon in a “King James Talarico” bible with audio clips of separate remarks he’s made in the past about gender and feminism but spliced together without context.It’s not the first time Republicans have posted deepfake videos of Talarico. In March, shortly after he won the Democratic nomination for Senate, the National Republican Senatorial Committee posted a video of an AI-generated Talarico reading excerpts of previous posts of his on X.At the time, a spokesperson for Talarico told CNN that Republicans were “scared” of him. “While they spend their time making deepfake AI videos to mislead Texans, we are uniting the people of Texas to win in November,” the spokesperson said.In today’s interview, which came after Talarico hosted an event counter-programming the GOP’s midterm convention in Dallas, he also addressed recently resurfaced remarks he made in 2020 calling capitalism an “oppressive system.”“I’ve missed the mark on statements that I’ve made in the past. I’ll be the first to admit that,” Talarico said. “What I was talking about when you listened to my entire comments was not capitalism, but crony capitalism, which is what we have today.”He pointed specifically to the Republican candidates and donors gathering this week in Texas to promote their policy agenda ahead of the midterms, saying, “The only people who succeed in this economy are those who can pay for politicians, like the megadonors who are in that convention center across the street, and that’s what we have to dismantle.”Talarico also spoke about Democrats’ yearslong efforts to win a statewide contest in Texas, addressing hopes from members of his party that he could be the one to “turn Texas blue,” in November.“I’m actually not interested in turning Texas blue. I know my party wants to turn Texas blue. The Republican Party wants to keep Texas red. I think the best color for Texas is purple,” he said. “When you have competitive elections, it forces every politician at every level to stay on their toes and compete to serve the people of the state and to operate within the 40-yard lines. Right now, one-party rule leads to extremism and corruption, no matter what state.”41m ago / 4:34 PM EDTTrump administration proposes excluding huge swath of immigrants from U.S. censusThe Trump administration proposed on Wednesday changing the national census to include only U.S. citizens and permanent residents, a move that could significantly change how much political representation and federal funding each state receives.The U.S. Census Bureau submitted the proposal just over a year after President Donald Trump ordered its parent agency to craft a new census that would block immigrants in the U.S. illegally from being counted. The bureau will conduct the next full census in 2030.Read the full story here. 2h ago / 4:05 PM EDTTrump vows to get gas prices below $2 after the midtermsTrump told reporters that he would get gas prices down to below $2 a gallon, but only after the midterms.The comments came as Trump was answering a question regarding how he would explain high gas prices to voters. “Well, I think it’s very easy to explain to America. All you have to do is say, ‘Will you let Iran have a nuclear weapon?’ And the answer is no,” Trump said.“So for a little while, I would say this: shortly, but right after the election, because they’d like to have it that way, but right after the election, oil prices are going to be tumbling downward. They’re going to be tumbling down, and we’ll get them down. I think for gasoline, we’ll get them below $2 a gallon,” Trump added.Pressed on the timing of the predicted decrease, Trump said: “I think it’s going to take a little bit longer than the midterm.”The national average cost per gallon is $4.22, representing a 41.7% increase since the start of the Iran war. 2h ago / 3:52 PM EDTTrump says he would consider pardoning Michael CohenTrump said today that he would consider pardoning his former fixer Michael Cohen.“If everything is checking out, it’s something I would consider. Yeah. I mean what they did to Michael Cohen was a disgrace. They forced him to say things that he didn’t want to say and that he didn’t believe, and I appreciate that at least he came out, although late, he came out and rectified the situation,” Trump told reporters today.In 2018, a federal court judge sentenced Cohen to 3 years behind bars for what the judge called a "veritable smorgasbord" of criminal conduct, including lying to Congress about Trump's business dealings, failing to disclose millions of dollars in income and making secret payments to women who claimed they'd had affairs with Trump. Trump's comments today come after Cohen, Trump’s former lawyer who once testified against Trump in Congress and in court, interviewed the president for his radio show last month.During that show, Cohen and Trump appeared to bury the hatchet, with Cohen emphasizing the theme of “forgiveness.”Cohen didn’t request a pardon from Trump during their conversation, but he told CNN in an interview before that he had submitted an application to the administration. Trump previously refused to pardon Cohen.2h ago / 3:44 PM EDTTrump says not all Republicans are attending the midterm convention because there isn't enough roomTrump told reporters this afternoon that not all Republican lawmakers are attending the midterm convention in Texas this week because there isn't enough room. "The reason that some people are not coming is because we don’t have room for 500 politicians. We have room for the ones that have a close race, if they’re slightly behind, or slightly ahead, or tied," Trump said on the tarmac at Joint Base Andrews before leaving for the convention. "But we don’t have rooms for people that are 35 points up and don’t need to be there. We said stay back and campaign. Every politician that we’ve wanted to be there is there," he added. And as Trump faces a low approval rating, some Republicans in competitive election races said they aren't going to Dallas for the convention. An NBC News count found that while 29 House Republicans said they would attend the event, 33 said they wouldn't. 2h ago / 3:23 PM EDTTrump says war will end after the midtermsTrump told reporters today that he predicted the Iran war would end after the midterms.“I think the war is going to end immediately after the election,” Trump said while waiting to board Air Force One to travel to the GOP midterm convention in Texas.Asked why, Trump said it would end then “because they can’t hold out any longer.”“They’re desperate to try and affect the election so that we can get a nice weak group of people in there and leave them alone and let them have their nuclear weapon,” Trump said.3h ago / 2:49 PM EDT‘South Park’ is now ‘South America’ in dig at Apple and Google for observing Trump’s Lake Ontario order“South Park” creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone renamed their long-running animated TV show “South America” in a not-so-subtle dig at the White House, big tech and the pair’s own corporate bosses, the producers said yesterday.And by this morning, Comedy Central’s website listed the show under its new MAGA-mocking title, “South America.”Trump has long demanded that well-known geographic locations be changed to U.S.-centric titles, with his latest call to flip Lake Ontario to “Lake America” — name changes that Google and Apple have agreed to on their map apps.Read the full story here.4h ago / 1:37 PM EDTTexas Democratic Party chair vows outreach to voters on 'suspense' listTexas Democratic Party Chair Kendall Scudder said today that Democrats will reach out to residents on the state's "suspense" voter list, which requires those listed to update their addresses before voting.Scudder said at a news conference with other Texas Democratic leaders that they are working their way through the list and would make "direct contact with those people instead of hoping that they watch the news, instead of hoping that they see digital ads." "We’re going to go to their doors, we’re going to make phone calls to them," he said, adding, “We want to make sure that every person who legally has a right to cast a ballot in Texas has the ability to do that.” More than 1.2 million people have been placed on the state’s suspense list as of March, according to Texas Secretary of State Robert Howden’s website. Howden's spokesperson, Alicia Pierce, said the list was created in response to the National Voter Registration Act and aims to maintain accurate voting rolls."County election officials add registrations to the list if they have reason to believe a voter moved — often because of a returned voted registration card," she said.People on the list have to update their addresses by an Oct. 5 deadline to vote in the November election, Pierce said. But she added that "even after that date, voters have options to cast a ballot."5h ago / 1:04 PM EDTData center backlash is everywhere. The biggest pro-AI group is getting ready to fight back.Backlash against the nationwide data center buildout is threatening to shape the 2026 midterm elections. But the lead strategists behind one of the biggest pro-AI groups believe the political and policy fights around AI and data centers are merely “in the early innings” — and they’re eager to shape the next ones.People protest data center expansion at a rally at the Texas Capitol in Austin before a state Senate Finance Committee hearing in July. Jay Janner / The Austin American-Statesman via Getty Images fileIn the meantime, with the midterms just two months away, the Democratic and Republican co-chairs of the pro-AI super PAC Leading the Future are detailing their efforts at “fighting back” against what they see as increasingly extreme voices on both sides of the aisle. For the moment, those voices are the ones doing the most to shape the debate over America’s approach to AI.Read the full story here.5h ago / 12:53 PM EDTHouse Republicans split over attending ‘Trumpapalooza’ convention as president’s approval ratings slideRep. Derrick Van Orden, R-Wis., is angry. Facing a tough re-election bid this fall, the two-term congressman vented to NBC News that Republicans — who control both chambers of Congress and the White House — aren’t getting the credit they deserve for achievements like plummeting illegal border crossings and tax breaks on tips and overtime pay.So he plans to go to his party’s midterm convention in Dallas, which the Republican National Committee chair has nicknamed “Trumpapalooza,” to tell the story.Read the full story here.6h ago / 12:09 PM EDTJB Pritzker says Republicans are trying to 'rig' the 2026 midterm electionsIllinois Gov. JB Pritzker accused Republicans of making efforts to try to "rig" the 2026 midterm elections in remarks today at a press conference in Dallas.Pritzker, who is considered a potential 2028 presidential candidate, said Trump is trying to have the U.S. Postal Service interfere with mail-in ballots across the country. Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker criticized Trump's effort to vet voters who send in ballots by mail. John J. Kim / Chicago Tribune via Getty ImagesThe Trump administration asked the Supreme Court on Sunday to temporarily allow the Postal Service to proceed with a new rule that would allow it to track mail-in ballots and potentially reject any from voters not included in a federal database used to verify citizenship. "Republicans know that they can’t win on the merits of their unpopular policies, so they’re working to rig the 2026 election," Pritzker said at the event, which featured Texas Democrats and was billed as counterprogramming to the GOP's midterm convention. "It’s a disgraceful attack on Black and Hispanic citizens and civil rights activists who shed their blood, and others who lost their lives, to secure our right to vote," he continued. He later warned that “if Democrats don’t win, if they don’t win in this election, we may not have other elections, or certainly we’re going to have future elections, every single one of which will be rigged.”6h ago / 12:01 PM EDTTroves of new 9/11 docs suggest NYC officials knew of air quality health risksNew York City released about 170,000 pages of documents related to post-9/11 air quality and health risks yesterday — a trove of paperwork within which some notes suggest city officials knew of the potential environmental dangers and legal exposure in the early aftermath of the terrorist attacks.One undated internal document — a letter to then-Deputy Mayor Robert Harding — listed various potential grounds for lawsuits against the city, including health advisories that caused people to return to the area too soon, causing toxic exposure, rescue workers being provided with faulty equipment and police failing to secure businesses from looters.Read the full story here.6h ago / 11:40 AM EDTSen. Ted Cruz says he would give Trump an 'A' on the economy and pricesSen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, said in an interview on ABC's "The View" that he would give Trump an "A" on the economy.Asked which grade he would give the president on the economy and prices, Cruz at first defended the president by comparing gas prices during the Trump administration to gas prices during the Biden administration.Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, on Aug. 29. Charlie Neibergall / Getty ImagesBut pressed repeatedly to provide a letter grade, Cruz ultimately said, "I would give him an A."The audience groaned and the hosts pushed back, prompting Cruz to defend his answer."I recognize that the day he came in, you guys didn’t like him, and you still don’t like him," he said. "That’s OK. That’s the beauty of democracy. You can have different views."The national gas price average today stands at $4.22, which is up nearly 42% since before the Iran war began. At the same time, Brent crude again hit $100 per barrel for the first time since July. Last week, the jobs report indicated that the U.S. economy added 162,000 jobs, which was much higher than expected.7h ago / 11:03 AM EDTFord pushes back on Trump administration criticism over deals with Chinese firmsFord Motor Co. pushed back against criticism from the Trump administration that its business deals with Chinese companies raise national security concerns, saying its licensing deal with a Chinese battery maker will strengthen American manufacturing.The White House said yesterday that Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy had sent a letter to Ford CEO Jim Farley urging him to cut ties with Chinese companies such as CATL, a world-leading battery manufacturer whose technology Ford is licensing at its plant in Marshall, Michigan. CATL is on a Pentagon list of companies accused of having ties to the Chinese military, which it denies.Duffy, whose comments came as major automakers push Congress to tighten a ban on Chinese vehicles in the U.S., also cited Ford’s ties with Chinese automakers Geely and BYD.Ford said Duffy’s letter was “a wrongheaded attempt to capture headlines,” noting that the Michigan facility is Ford-owned and -operated. “While others continue to import Chinese batteries, Ford is investing to build batteries here in America,” the company said in a statement yesterday, adding that the Michigan project was touted in a White House news release last week.7h ago / 11:01 AM EDTWhite House removes ‘Build the Wall’ game from website after Tetris posts warningThe White House removed a MAGA-themed game called "Build the Wall" from its website this week after the Tetris Co. issued a statement online alluding to copyright infringement.The White House created an online arcade featuring the now-removed "Build the Wall" game, which was similar to "Tetris." Jon Elswick / APLast week, the White House unveiled a series of video games centered on President Donald Trump’s agenda, which mirrored popular games such as "Tetris," "Snake" and "Flappy Bird."Read the full story here.8h ago / 10:14 AM EDTTrump says firefighters near ground zero carried him to safety ‘right after’ 9/11 attackAt an event ahead of the 25th anniversary of 9/11, Trump told a story yesterday in which he said two firefighters picked him up off the ground near the U.S. Steel Building close to ground zero “right after” the terrorist attacks and whisked him away because they thought the building was going to collapse on them.Trump, who said in his remarks that he was “down there right after this happened,” later said on Truth Social that he was not at the World Trade Center “on the same day as the collapse, but shortly thereafter.”“Everything I said was exactly accurate,” he said of his remarks at the Ellipse outside the White House, sharing a TV news clip of him speaking after the attacks.He has spoken many times about what he saw on Sept. 11, 2001, and his actions in the immediate aftermath. Here’s a look back at what he has said, much of which has not been independently verified.Read the full story here.8h ago / 9:59 AM EDTConflicting court rulings leave Missouri’s congressional map in limboA fast-moving fight over whether Missouri Republicans can use a redrawn congressional map for this fall’s midterm elections was cast into chaos on Tuesday with two different courts issuing conflicting rulings.In one, the U.S. Supreme Court, in an order issued by Justice Brett Kavanaugh, left in place a Missouri Supreme Court ruling from last week that said the map could not be used while a ballot initiative that could lead to voters rejecting the newly drawn district lines moves forward. Kavanaugh handles emergency requests that arise from Missouri.Read the full story here.8h ago / 9:40 AM EDTOil hits $100 a barrel for first time in months as Middle East conflict intensifies againThe price of oil breached the $100 threshold today for the first time in months, as new flare-ups in the United States’ war with Iran stoked fresh concern for global energy markets.The spike came a day after the U.S. military said it destroyed five Iranian tankers in response to attempted missile attacks on a Navy warship. Tehran responded with attacks on U.S. ships and a base in Jordan, the latest bout of fighting in a conflict that remains unresolved after months of disruption.Read the full story here.8h ago / 9:26 AM EDTTrump gave $45,000 holiday gifts to Natalie Harp and two other White House aidesTrump gave sizable holiday gifts to four White House aides, according to new financial disclosures released by the administration.The gifts of $45,000 each to executive assistant Natalie Harp, communications adviser Margo Martin and deputy director of Oval Office operations Chamberlain Harris, as well as a $20,000 gift to director of Oval Office operations Walt Nauta, were noted in the staffers’ annual financial disclosure forms that were published by the administration last week.Natalie Harp and President Donald Trump on July 22. Kevin Dietsch / Getty ImagesHarp, Martin and Harris make $150,000 annually and Nauta is paid $175,000 a year, according to the White House’s salary disclosure report to Congress.Read the full story here.8h ago / 9:20 AM EDTA New Hampshire political dynasty could continue after House primary resultStefany Shaheen, a health advocate and former local government official whose mother is New Hampshire's senior U.S. senator, won the Democratic primary for the 1st Congressional District, NBC News projects.Shaheen won the crowded and, at times, contentious, primary featuring a swirl of candidates from different backgrounds and ideological parts of the party. Her nearest rival was Maura Sullivan, a former national security official who had unsuccessfully sought the seat in 2018. As the Democratic primary winner, Shaheen will be the front-runner to succeed Democratic Rep. Chris Pappas, who is running for Senate. Democratic Sen. Jeanne Shaheen is retiring this year after serving three terms.9h ago / 9:03 AM EDTIran attacks American warships and base after U.S. sinks five Iranian tankersThe U.S. military struck five Iranian tankers linked to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps in response to attempted attacks by the IRGC on an American warship, according to U.S. Central Command.“The U.S. warship successfully evaded the attempted Iranian attacks and continued to patrol regional waters. No American personnel were harmed,” CENTCOM said in a post on X.Two American warships were attacked and damaged by ballistic missiles, the IRGC said in a statement, according to the semi-official Fars news agency.The IRGC also said in a statement yesterday that it had retaliated by launching missiles at American forces on the Al Azraq military base in Jordan, according to Fars.Read the full story here.9h ago / 8:26 AM EDTGOP Gov. Kelly Ayotte and Democrat Cinde Warmington to face off for New Hampshire governorshipNew Hampshire Gov. Kelly Ayotte, a Republican, will face off against Democrat Cinde Warmington in November’s general election, NBC News projects, as she seeks another two-year term.Ayotte did not face any major challenges in the GOP primary; Warmington ran unopposed in the Democratic primary.New Hampshire is one of two states — Vermont is the other — where Republican governors are up for re-election after then-Vice President Kamala Harris won the state in 2024.Read the full story here.10h ago / 7:28 AM EDTTrump escalates trade war with Canada, moving to ban imports of some motorcycles, dairy and alcoholTrump moved yesterday to sharply escalate the trade war with Canada, seeking to block imports of some motorcycles, dairy products and alcohol.Senior Trump administration officials said in a call with reporters that the move was in direct response to Canada’s latest retaliatory tariffs, which took effect at 12:01 a.m. Tuesday.Read the full story here.10h ago / 7:28 AM EDTRepublican John Sununu and Democrat Chris Pappas win New Hampshire Senate primaries, setting up battleground raceThe battleground New Hampshire Senate race is set between Republican former Sen. John Sununu and Democratic Rep. Chris Pappas, NBC News projects, after both prevailed in their primaries last night.Pappas defeated scientist Karishma Manzur, a member of the Democratic Socialists of America, in his primary, leading 62% to 36% with about one-fifth of the vote counted. But it appears he could fall short of the support from primary voters that his campaign touted in recent internal polling.The race could be key to the fight for the Senate majority in November. Read the full story here.10h ago / 7:28 AM EDTRhode Island’s Democratic governor may fall in his primary because of a bridgeRhode Island Democratic Gov. Dan McKee is at risk today of becoming the first sitting governor in the country to lose a primary in eight years — and it might be all because of a bridge.Public polls have shown McKee, who is running for re-election for a second full term, trailing by double digits to Democratic challenger Helena Foulkes, a wealthy former CVS executive, whose campaign has outspent his on the airwaves 3 to 1. And while there has been a wave of anti-incumbent energy in Democratic primaries throughout the year, Rhode Island’s contest hasn’t broken along generational or ideological lines. Foulkes, 62, isn’t running to the left or to the right of McKee, 75. Rather, the race has been defined by hyperlocal issues. In Rhode Island, the smallest state by area in the U.S., it may be McKee’s decision to close a major bridge for safety reasons that is to blame for his potential political demise. His 2023 closure of the Washington Bridge in Providence has created huge traffic problems in the state’s largest city — and problems for him politically. Read the full story here.10h ago / 7:28 AM EDTRepublicans gather in Dallas for Trump’s unusual midterm conventionRepublicans will descend on Dallas this week for a two-day convention dreamed up by Trump to rally his supporters for this year’s midterm elections.Republicans have never held a midterm convention before, although Democrats did in the 1970s and 1980s. More than 100 Republican House members and candidates are expected to be in Dallas, according to a person familiar with the event who requested anonymity before it begins. Mark Felix / Bloomberg via Getty ImagesMidterms are often difficult for the party in power in Washington, and Trump believes the event can juice enthusiasm for the party and boost turnout among his voters.Republicans said the event will help catapult its candidates into November, but it will also showcase the first two years of Trump’s term. Although the president’s poll numbers are sagging, he insists that running on his record will give Republicans their best shot at winning.More than 100 Republican House members and candidates are expected to be in Dallas, according to a person familiar with the event who requested anonymity before it begins. They were required to pay $25,000 for tickets and lodging, which the person described as typical for political conventions.Some lawmakers in competitive races have indicated they won’t go or hadn’t determined their plans less than a week before the convention.Today, Trump is delivering a keynote address. Tomorrow, he’s scheduled to appear again after a speech from Vice President JD Vance. A long list of speakers includes members of Trump’s Cabinet such as Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent.The party’s candidates will be showcased, including Ken Paxton, the Texas Senate hopeful, whom Trump controversially threw his support behind instead of backing incumbent Sen. John Cornyn. But much of the program is focused on Trump’s agenda, from his crackdown on immigration, efforts to lower prescription drug prices, the sweeping tax cuts and spending law he signed last year and his tariffs, along with a partisan case against Democrats. Expect many of the speakers to echo Trump’s attack lines portraying Democrats as communists.