Trump won't rule out Insurrection Act
President Donald Trump isn't ruling out invoking the Insurrection Act around the midterm election, USA Today reports. Asked by Time in a Sept. 28 interview whether he would rule out emergency action, Trump answered:
I don't rule anything out or in.
"We'll see," Trump added, then raised the law himself: "You mean the Insurrection Act?" He said he has "never used it" but "could use it," because "a lot of people think I should use it sometimes." The 1807 law allows a president to deploy the military on U.S. soil during civil disorder.
Trump previously threatened to invoke it amid tensions in Minneapolis after two shootings involving immigration agents. Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Dan Caine has written that there are "no plans to send Federal military personnel or Federalized members of the National Guard to polling places during the 2026 elections." Trump also told Time he hasn't thought about sending ICE officers to the polls, but he didn't dismiss the idea. Steve Bannon, a close ally, said in February: "We're going to have ICE surround the polls come November."
Judge says Trump can't fire Seattle prosecutor
A federal judge blocked Trump's firing of Roger Rogoff as the top federal prosecutor in Seattle, CBS News reports. Attorney General Todd Blanche announced in July that Trump had fired Rogoff less than an hour after he was sworn in on July 15.
U.S. District Judge Stanley Bastian ruled from the bench: "The president cannot unilaterally fire a United States attorney appointed by the district court." He reinstated Rogoff until the Senate confirms a replacement and said Charles Neil Floyd, the first assistant who had been leading the office, "is not the United States attorney." The Justice Department says it will appeal and will immediately seek to halt the ruling.
Trump says he regrets picking all three justices
Trump told Time, in an interview published Oct. 1, that he regrets nominating Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett, USA Today reports. "I put them in. They voted against me too often," he said.
The trigger is a string of Supreme Court losses this year on tariffs, birthright citizenship and mail voting. On Sept. 14 the court ruled 7-2 against his plan to use the Postal Service to restrict mail voting. Only Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito dissented. Asked about loyalty, Trump first said "I do like loyalty, yeah," then, pressed again: "No, I don't want loyalty. I want good decisions."
Judge orders release of boat strike memo
A federal judge ruled the Trump administration must turn over a Justice Department memo that legally authorizes the Pentagon's lethal boat strikes in the Caribbean and Pacific. U.S. District Judge Paul Engelmayer rejected two of the administration's three arguments for keeping it secret, in a 66-page opinion.
The New York Times notes that since September 2025, the Pentagon campaign has carried out 70 known boat strikes. Those strikes have killed more than 230 people in the Caribbean Sea and eastern Pacific Ocean.
Mamdani's antisemitism plan skips the definition
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani unveiled an Interagency Task Force to Combat Antisemitism without defining antisemitism, Fox News reports. Fox also notes he did not formally recognize the existence of Israel in the announcement.
Per NYPD figures cited by Fox, the city recorded a 16% hate crime uptick in the first eight months of 2026, including 181 hate crimes against Jews. Of those, 131 are felony offenses. The strategy document says existing definitions are "useful" but the administration won't adopt any: "New York City can and will leverage all of the tools at its disposal to combat antisemitism effectively without needing to adopt a definition for this specific form of hate."