Trump blames Republicans for Ken Paxton struggling in Texas Senate election
Hello and welcome to the US politics live blog.
Donald Trump has accused fellow Republicans of “doing everything possible to make it hard” for Ken Paxton, the Republican nominee in the Texas Senate race.
In a post on Truth Social, Trump lambasted incumbent senator John Cornyn and political strategist Karl Rove, claiming that they were “sadly, and very stupidly” working against Paxton due to personal jealousy towards him, and accused the pair of “hurting Texas and, more importantly, hurting the United States of America!”
He added: “If Ken Paxton loses, it will be because of WEAK and INEFFECTIVE Political Hacks like John Cornyn and Karl Rove, who have ineffectively opposed me for my entire political career.”
Despite Texas being seen a Republican safe seat by many in the party, polls show the Democratic nominee James Talarico having a slight lead on Paxton, who has served as the attorney general of Texas since 2015.
A loss for Paxton would be seen as a major blow for Trump and the GOP, and would be the first time that a Republican hadn’t won a Senate election in Texas since 1988.
In other developments:
Katie Zacharia, the White House’s new press secretary, has stated that it is “unknown” how much she will engage with the press or hold briefings with reporters, as questions about her legal credentials continue to be asked following revelations that she failed to pass failed the California bar exam after graduating from law school.
Donald Trump has labeled a series of Ukrainian strikes on Russian oil refineries as a “disgrace” while describing the the country’s president Volodymyr Zelenskyy as “more difficult to deal with than Putin”.
Updated at 07.23 EDT
Key events
Donald Trump will begin the day in Washington, before he resumes his midterms campaign blitz and heads to Dalton, Georgia for a rally at 2.45pm ET.
We’ll bring you the latest lines as that gets under way.
The president will then travel to Palm Beach, Florida, for a Republican National Committee event which will be closed to the press.
Trump is also spending his Saturday on the trail, when he heads to Highland Heights, Kentucky – which sits on the border of Ohio – for another midterms rally.
Fabiola Cineas
Organisers for the No Kings movement are set to hold over 3,000 events across all 50 states and Washington DC this weekend in order to get people to the polls early for the upcoming US midterm elections.
No Kings, a movement led by a coalition of protest groups that began during Donald Trump’s second presidential term, are aiming to make Saturday the largest single day of early voting in US history while also creating a network of volunteers who can defend the democratic process against any possible sabotage.
Hunter Dunn, a member of anti-fascist group 50501 who is a part of the movement, said that the movement’s goal “isn’t just to demonstrate people power. It’s to channel people power into something useful.”
A Trump ally has been fired from his role as a special envoy hours after it was reported that he had engaged in a months-long email fight with the deputy secretary of state.
Paolo Zampolli, an Italian-born former modelling agent and a personal friend of the president, was ousted from his role as the United States special representative for global partnerships on Thursday after a story by Politico showed that he had been clashing with Christopher Landau.
Messages obtained by Politico showed that the pair disagreed on numerous issues, including Zampolli overstepping his remit and Landau blocking him from making certain trips, which Zampolli threatened to complain to Trump about. Throughout the feud, emails exchanged between the two were also sent to “more than a dozen government officials”, including the presidential personnel director Dan Scavino.
Zampolli also accused Landau of leaking information, which the latter denied, replying: “Your threats and accusations are getting more and more bizarre, defamatory, and inappropriate for broad dissemination on email. I have no idea what you are talking about and categorically deny being the source of anything.”
Updated at 07.26 EDT
Trump blames Republicans for Ken Paxton struggling in Texas Senate election
Hello and welcome to the US politics live blog.
Donald Trump has accused fellow Republicans of “doing everything possible to make it hard” for Ken Paxton, the Republican nominee in the Texas Senate race.
In a post on Truth Social, Trump lambasted incumbent senator John Cornyn and political strategist Karl Rove, claiming that they were “sadly, and very stupidly” working against Paxton due to personal jealousy towards him, and accused the pair of “hurting Texas and, more importantly, hurting the United States of America!”
He added: “If Ken Paxton loses, it will be because of WEAK and INEFFECTIVE Political Hacks like John Cornyn and Karl Rove, who have ineffectively opposed me for my entire political career.”
Despite Texas being seen a Republican safe seat by many in the party, polls show the Democratic nominee James Talarico having a slight lead on Paxton, who has served as the attorney general of Texas since 2015.
A loss for Paxton would be seen as a major blow for Trump and the GOP, and would be the first time that a Republican hadn’t won a Senate election in Texas since 1988.
In other developments:
Katie Zacharia, the White House’s new press secretary, has stated that it is “unknown” how much she will engage with the press or hold briefings with reporters, as questions about her legal credentials continue to be asked following revelations that she failed to pass failed the California bar exam after graduating from law school.
Donald Trump has labeled a series of Ukrainian strikes on Russian oil refineries as a “disgrace” while describing the the country’s president Volodymyr Zelenskyy as “more difficult to deal with than Putin”.
Updated at 07.23 EDT