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With 100% of the vote counted, Brazil’s electoral court announced that the soon to be 81-year-old Lula had a lead of nearly 4.4 million votes over opponent Flávio Bolsonaro, giving him 51.8% of the total vote. Bolsonaro quickly refused to concede defeat and asked for the election results to be annulled after an evening of chaos at some polling places that followed a last-minute decision to extend voting by two hours.
Bolsonaro is the son of former President Jair Bolsonaro, whom Lula defeated to take the presidency in 2022.
Lula's triumph bucks a regional trend of victories for right-of-center presidential candidates allied with Trump. It also means Latin America’s largest economy, with a GDP of $2.6 trillion per year, will likely continue defying Trump’s demands, despite the pressure of increased tariffs.
A video published by Lula’s campaign shows the veteran leader celebrating with First Lady Rosângela da Silva and allies after his runoff victory was confirmed by Brazil’s electoral court. Wearing star-shaped red glasses, he kissed his wife.
Speaking to his supporters, thousands of whom gathered on Sao Paulo's main artery and in Rio de Janeiro's Cinelandia Square, Lula expressed his gratitude to the Brazilian people, and pledged to respect all Brazilians, regardless of gender or religion. He also attacked Bolsonaro.
“This was a defeat for denialism and lies. I must confess that every time I attended a debate, I felt embarrassed,” he said.
He also doubled down on his commitment to Brazil’s sovereignty.
“Either the homeland remains free, or we die for Brazil,” he said. “This country will not accept being anyone’s backyard.”
In Rio de Janeiro, cars beeped their horns and a woman dressed in red — the color of Lula supporters — shouted “You lost! Cry harder!” to four men in yellow and green sipping beers, Bolsonaro's signature colors. A huge roar echoed in the street as the result was confirmed.
Rodrigo Valentim, a 51-year-old businessman and supporter of Bolsonaro, said that another Lula government would harm the economy. He pointed to financial markets’ positive reaction to the result of the first round, when Bolsonaro bested Lula.
“I don’t understand how people can vote for Lula,” he said. “The country is collapsing.”
Lula is set to begin his fourth non-consecutive term as president on Jan. 5, 2027.
The electoral court's announcement ended an evening of confusion at polling places after Brazilian Supreme Court Justice Cristiano Zanin ruled three minutes before the scheduled end of voting to keep polls open for two more hours, following requests by both candidates. Lula’s request came after issues with buses that provide transportation to polls in Sao Paulo and Salvador, two cities that tend to favor the incumbent. Bolsonaro’s request was due to heavy rains in Brazil’s south, where he is favored.
The decision delayed tallying the votes by two hours. It was unclear how many polling stations stayed open after the scheduled closing time. Polling stations in Brasilia and Rio de Janeiro closed shortly after the original 5 p.m. deadline, reporters for The Associated Press observed.
Bolsonaro, whose father is serving a 27-year prison sentence for attempting a coup after he lost the 2022 presidential election to Lula, pointed out that Zanin is Lula’s former lawyer and criticized him for “changing the rules of the game in the middle of the game.”
“It's impossible to recognize the results of the election in the context of these things that happened,” he said.
It's not clear if Bolsonaro’s complaint could meet the legal threshold to annul the results. Bolsonaro also has the right to request a recount if he has evidence of fraud, but that might not change the results.
The president of the electoral court, Kassio Nunes Marques, who was appointed to the Supreme Court by former President Bolsonaro, said that the extension of voting hours did not impact results.
Joao Pedro Padua, a law professor at the Fluminense Federal University, said that Bolsonaro can file a lawsuit directly with the country’s electoral authorities or the Supreme Court, asking for the elections to be declared null and void.
“But there isn’t much legal basis for that,” Padua said. “The extension of voting hours is unusual, but for it to invalidate the elections, the candidate would have to prove that it affected voters’ ability to freely express their will. There doesn’t seem to have been any such impact.”
Bolsonaro bested Lula by more than 2.2 million votes in the first round of the election earlier this month. Sunday night's victory by Lula marked the first time since Brazil’s military dictatorship ended in 1985 that the second-highest vote-getter in the first-round elections won the presidency.
Lula faced a tough reelection battle because of concerns about the cost of living and security. Bolsonaro made a tough-on-crime approach the cornerstone of his campaign and pledged to bring down food costs while Lula, trying to lure undecided voters, has invested in costly incentives.
Both have been hit by corruption suspicions involving family members and allies, with Bolsonaro implicated in a sprawling scandal rocking Brazil. Lula previously spent more than a year in prison on corruption convictions that were eventually annulled.
This will likely be the last victory of the veteran leader’s political career. Lula began his political career in the 1970s as a union leader. He then helped found the Workers’ Party, which he represented as a presidential candidate three times until he finally won it in 2002. He was reelected four years later and was succeeded by one of his cabinet ministers, Dilma Rousseff, in 2010. She was reelected in 2014 but impeached two years later.
Lula tried to run for president again in 2018 but was jailed in March after being convicted. He was released from prison after 580 days and saw Brazil’s Supreme Court annul his sentence after police found messages that showed the judge who convicted him was biased. He quickly became one of Jair Bolsonaro’s biggest critics and narrowly beat him in 2022.
Since he lost the first round, Lula reorganized his campaign, appealed to young voters, put millions of Brazilians on the streets to defend democratic values and his legacy, raised fears of another Bolsonaro administration and boosted several government initiatives.
He joins Trump and Nicaragua’s President Daniel Ortega — all aged 80 — as one of the oldest presidents in the Americas.
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Savarese reported from Sao Paulo. Brigida reported from Brasilia.
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Follow AP’s coverage of Latin America and the Caribbean at https://apnews.com/hub/latin-america
This article originally appeared on Associated Press at https://www.yahoo.com/news/politics/articles/brazil-faces-tense-lula-vs-050015086.html
When footage of a man being hit by federal immigration officers’ SUV in Northern California became public, the Department of Homeland Security responded by saying the man had jumped on the vehicle’s hood.
Local police raised doubts about federal officials’ account as they announced a criminal investigation into Tuesday morning’s incident involving the pedestrian, 37-year-old Antonio Moreida, citing video footage that contradicted DHS’ statement.
Footage from a nearby surveillance camera, a bystander’s cellphone recording and Moreida’s GoPro, which had already been made public at the time of the agency’s statement, told a different story of what happened on a residential street in Woodland, an agricultural city just outside of Sacramento. The incident is the latest in which DHS’ account has been contradicted by officials and video evidence amid the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown.
In a statement Wednesday morning, DHS said Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers didn’t hit a pedestrian.
“An agitator jumped onto the hood of an ICE vehicle and the officer driving applied the brakes,” a DHS spokesperson said in a statement in response to CNN’s request for information. “The agitator slid off the hood. ICE immediately contacted EMS and the Woodland Police Department. Flopping for the camera is dangerous, especially when it interferes with a federal law enforcement operation,” apparently accusing the man of faking his injuries.
After the incident on Tuesday, Woodland Police Chief Ryan Kinnan said in a statement he found footage of the incident troubling. Investigators were working to gather evidence and statements and to review available audio and video related to the incident, including video taken from multiple perspectives, police said in a Facebook post. Woodland Police didn’t take part in the ICE operation the agents were involved in that morning, police said.
The following day, Woodland Police called DHS’ account “inconsistent.”
“Certain claims made in the DHS statement are inconsistent with the video evidence obtained and reviewed by Woodland Police investigators,” Kinnan said in an update Wednesday. The update said investigators had established, based on video evidence, the pedestrian had been hit by the vehicle driven by ICE agents and that he had not jumped onto the vehicle.
The local police department is conducting a criminal investigation into the events leading up to the collision and the actions of those involved, Kinnan said Wednesday.
By Thursday, in response to follow-up questions about the video footage, federal officials no longer said the person jumped on the hood.
“This individual chose to directly impede a law enforcement action and stand in the middle of an active road,” an ICE spokesperson said in a statement to CNN. “Our officers deliberately attempted to avoid making contact with this anti-ice protestor and drive around him, while also braking. We strongly urge individuals to not stand in the middle of active roadways while a law enforcement vehicle is approaching.”
Footage reviewed by CNN shows Moreida, a Woodland resident, in the middle of the street at around 9:40 a.m. Tuesday. Moreida said he had responded to a call that morning by NorCal Resist, a group which monitors immigration operations, about ICE activity in Woodland, he told CNN on Tuesday, hours after the incident.
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-He said he was trying to record agents’ unmarked vehicles. He had been recording one vehicle, standing on the car’s driver’s side, when it turned left and drove off, which he said pushed him into the middle of the street.
Video from Moreida’s GoPro shows him following a black Dodge Durango with tinted windows as it drives down the street.
Then, he said he heard a loud engine before seeing the agents’ black Chevy Tahoe drive toward him, which is shown in his GoPro footage, though the video has no audio.
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-Down the street, the bystander’s cellphone video shows the Durango pass the Tahoe, which has tinted windows, on a residential street. In the video’s background, people can be heard blowing whistles, presumably to alert people nearby of ICE’s presence in the neighborhood.
The ICE agent driving the Tahoe moves toward Moreida and between the cars with its brake lights on, footage shows. In the bystander’s video, Moreida isn’t yet visible.
The SUV’s wheels begin to turn to the left only a few feet from Moreida, a wider angle of surveillance footage from a home shows.
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-“The individual was standing in the street long enough that a reasonable person should be able to see them and recognize that they were there,” said Ryan Schwank, a former ICE attorney and training instructor who reviewed the videos provided by CNN.
Schwank also took issue with ICE’s characterization that Moreida was standing in the middle of an active road and impeding law enforcement’s actions.
“When we’re looking at Antonio’s actions, he’s not impeding. He’s not standing blocking the vehicle from moving,” he said. “He’s standing and filming, and that’s well within his bounds to do. He’s well within his rights to do what he was doing.”
Moreida’s GoPro appears to show when he’s struck by the front-right side of the vehicle before he drops his camera.
“Before I knew it, it just drove straight into me,” he said. “I took the hood of the car straight to the chest. It initially took the wind out of me and I couldn’t breathe.”
The surveillance footage shows Moreida take a step back when he appears to make contact with the car. He is then seen falling toward the ground, off the front-right side of the car, the footage shows.
In the bystander’s footage from behind, a screeching noise is heard before the Tahoe jolts forward. The SUV veers left before straightening out, the video shows.
The bystander’s angle shows the Tahoe brake lights turn off. Moreida is then visible in the bystander’s video, falling to the ground and rolling, first on his back with his legs swinging above him. He then appears seated upright in the nearby surveillance footage, this time facing the sidewalk.
The SUV’s brake lights turn back on briefly before it drives farther down the street, the surveillance footage shows.
The driver, an ICE agent, stayed near the scene and called local dispatch, Woodland Police said. The agent cooperated with police during the initial investigation, the local agency said.
Moreida said an off-duty EMT provided him aid at the scene before Woodland Police officers arrived. Federal agents didn’t approach him after he was hit by the SUV, he said.
Moreida said he was eventually transported to the hospital. He said he had X-rays taken of his swollen knees, where he said he had the most damage. In addition, he said he has bruises and cuts from the road.
ICE has reduced the amount of training for officers, including in vehicle operations and how to deal with confrontations, said Schwank, who is now an agency whistleblower after resigning in February.
On Saturday, ICE said it is instituting additional training for officers.
“ICE training will now be extending to 72 days. The change, effective June 2, 2026, will apply to all new academy classes beginning July 1, 2026. All graduates of the previous academy curriculum will attend follow-on training at the Advanced Field Officer Training Program,” an ICE spokesperson said in an emailed statement to CNN. “As we have said all along, ICE training does not end when recruits graduate from the academy. ICE officers go through a rigorous on-the-job training and mentorship. This additional training is tracked online and monitored closely.”
Soon after it became public, local officials expressed dismay over the incident, which occurred in a rural Northern California community that’s about half Latino. More than a fifth of the population is foreign-born, according to US Census estimates.
“The lack of truth in the Department of Homeland Security’s statement is evidenced by video taken at the scene,” Woodland Mayor Tom Stallard said in a statement issued Wednesday. “All of us can be assured that the Police Department’s investigation into this disturbing incident will continue to be speedy, fair, and impartial.”
US Rep. Mike Thompson, a Democrat whose district includes Woodland, said ICE’s statements about the facts surrounding the incident were disappointing but not surprising.
“ICE has a history of trying to hide the facts and mislead the public,” he told CNN. “And this is another example of that happening.”
On the day of the operation, Thompson called on Acting ICE Director David Venturella to investigate the collision, including by preserving evidence and cooperating with local authorities. As of Friday, the congressman had yet to receive a response to his letter, his office told CNN.
CNN’s Taylor Galgano contributed to this report.
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This article originally appeared on CNN at https://www.cnn.com/2026/10/25/us/woodland-man-struck-by-ice-vehicleThe elevator dinged open. A year ago in this building, surgeons removed Banda’s right breast, and she still didn't know whether treatment had expunged the cancer from her body. Doctors had told her it would be tough to beat.
“I’m more of a positive person myself,” Banda said, now sitting with a white wristband in a dim waiting room. But the bills are harder to dismiss, and the single mother with six children in her care repeated something like a mantra. “Keep the house. Keep the cars. And just keep the kids stable.”
That’s true for many Americans, as rising healthcare costs leave more families with a sinking feeling after seeing the bill for surgery or medication. Heading into the Nov. 3 midterm elections, about half of registered voters said healthcare costs are a major problem for them and their families, up from a little more than one-third four years ago, according to a Fox News poll from September.
With party control of Congress at stake, registered voters are nearly twice as likely to say they trust Democrats over Republicans to handle healthcare, according to an Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research poll from the same month. Those frustrations, combined with broader concerns over rising prices, have sapped support for President Donald Trump and his Republican Party.
Banda knows how that feels. She backed Trump in each of his three campaigns, motivated by her opposition to abortion. But when cancer came, the ensuing scramble to make ends meet was painful enough to rearrange her priorities, and she started to think about voting Democratic for the first time.
The 46-year-old was ushered into a sterile room for her appointment, her phone lit up with a text. “Please contact TD Auto Finance.”
“This one’s $1,300,” she said of the car payment bill. “I have to go back to work.”
She had been on sick leave from her job selling internet service for one year, and she needed the income to support her three kids and three more she had taken in after her sister's death.
The doctor said her reconstruction surgery could be scheduled early next year. “I was hoping for maybe December,” Banda said, “only because I've met my deductibles.” Come January, she would have to pay down the $7,500 again. Earlier may be possible, the doctor replied, if the skin around her surgical scar loosens.
The evening had cooled slightly by the time she walked back through the rows of parked cars, their ebb and flow marking the tide of sickness, survival and death in a small corner of a colossal healthcare industry that saves lives while taking in over $5 trillion every year.
Banda paid $8 for parking as she left.
Two weeks later, Banda was back at work, making door-to-door rounds to sell Spectrum's Wi-Fi in McAllen, her city along the U.S.-Mexico border in the Rio Grande Valley. Banda, holding blue flyers, walked along a row of storefronts, some that shuttered since she last was in the area.
She hadn't had a sale and commission since October of last year, after the biopsy and diagnosis.
The doctor who gave her the news had hugged Banda, and she sobbed even though she never really sobs in front of other people. During chemo, her children took turns buzzing off her wispy hair. When her 9-year-old daughter's hand quivered, a teenage cousin helped guide the clipper over her mother’s scalp.
Banda’s first impulse was to maintain normalcy, stability, for the children.
But that requires roughly $7,000 a month for utilities, mortgage, car payments and groceries, along with the two water leaks. Then, even with insurance through her job, the surgeries, chemo and radiation added up to over $25,000 that she's been paying off, making Banda one of tens of millions of other people in the United States in medical debt.
Banda tries not to dwell on death and debt.
“It’ll consume you,” she says. She smothers those thoughts beneath her bubbly demeanor and avoids being alone. But that truce, between her insistence on positivity and the fears that it covers, is brittle.
Certain thoughts still arrive uninvited. Banda’s late sister, Melissa, didn’t have life insurance. Banda makes sure it's a payment she never misses.
“Sometimes I think, and I shouldn’t think like this, but I’m worth more gone than here,” she said one day. “Obviously, the goal is not that, the goal is to beat it,” she continued, “to keep the house and keep the cars.”
So far she has, with the help of others.
On top of child support, the father of Banda's 9-year-old often pays $400 a week for a nanny to help with the kids. Banda’s own father sent her $700 before for her recent Houston appointment, one of his many cash infusions. Her high school classmates, who she hadn’t been in close touch with in decades, fundraised by selling grilled chicken, rice and beans from a roadside tent. Two GoFundMe fundraisers raised nearly $30,000 and Banda rented her late sister’s house while putting her own in forbearance.
But months of insecurity takes its own, sleepless toll. She needed to sell some internet services to catch up.
After sticking the Spectrum Wi-Fi flyers onto empty storefronts, she drove to pick up her kids from school. The following day she had a morning meeting at a barbershop for what would be her first sale back at work.
A lifelong Christian, Banda had voted her anti-abortion stance in past elections. When her sister was kidnapped and murdered by her ex-husband in 2020, Banda retreated from religion. The cancer brought her back to church with an apology to God, but it also made her rethink her politics.
She voted for Trump in 2016, and his first four years seemed steady, so she voted for him again in 2020. Democratic President Joe Biden's tenure, including the tail end of a global pandemic and rising inflation, felt like bedlam, so she voted for Trump to return to the White House in 2024.
But two years later and fighting an expensive disease, she had found no respite from high prices.
So when James Talarico, a Presbyterian seminary student running for U.S. Senate as a Democrat, visited one of Banda’s fundraisers — speaking about his diabetes and his work in the Texas Statehouse to lower the price of insulin — it moved her. “Imagine if he can do that for the cancer,” she said.
Talarico and his Republican opponent, state Attorney General Ken Paxton, have different approaches to healthcare. Talarico wants all Americans to be able to join Medicare; Paxton proposed a $25,000 tax deduction for out-of-pocket medical expenses.
Talarico also supports a law guaranteeing abortion access nationwide, which Banda has voted against for years. But after she slid into debt to stay alive, after her grocery bills mounted and the high school had to comp the kids' soccer gear she couldn't afford, Banda’s anti-abortion concerns have been superseded by costs.
“Because it’s what I’m living,” she said. “I'm living it.'
Banda cast an early ballot for Talarico. “Never voted Democrat before today!!” she wrote in a text with blue heart emoji.
Banda had just started a new cancer-targeting medication that cost $16,000 a month, reduced to $500 by insurance. By the afternoon, she was nauseous and fatigued, unable to eat. The malaise would keep her home the next day. She would miss the meeting with the barbershop to close her first deal since getting sick, though she felt confident it was in the bag.
But Banda pushed through the discomfort one evening to join her family as they replaced the flowers at her sister's tomb.
She drove past the headstones and oak trees in the evening’s slanting light, and the family gathered around Melissa Banda's tomb in an open-air mausoleum. There was no speech. Their eulogy was her father, Fidel Banda, methodically clipping and arranging the flowers for his daughter.
Banda walked along the wall of tombs. She will find out on Election Day whether the cancer is in remission or whether it's spread to her organs.
“This one’s for me,” she said, pointing to a blank tomb next to her sister's.
“Mom!” said her daughter with the huffiness of a 9-year-old. “Why would you say that?”
Banda smiled and added, “in a hundred years.'
This article originally appeared on Associated Press at https://www.yahoo.com/news/us/articles/she-voted-trump-every-time-123400184.htmlMost Read from Bloomberg
“I have a decision to make: Do I finish it off, which would be very easy to do, or do I make a deal? That’s all,” Trump said in an interview with Fox News’ Sunday Morning Futures. “We don’t play games.”
Trump has suggested that US strikes on Iran could resume after the Nov. 3 midterm elections and he has sent additional forces, including a third aircraft carrier group, toward the Persian Gulf.
Officials warn the period between the election and the new Congress taking office could be particularly dangerous, with a negotiated deal seen as the most likely way to end the conflict.
The US is reducing diplomatic and military staffing in parts of the Middle East amid growing threats from Iran and the Iran-backed Houthi militants in Yemen.
The State Department had initially acknowledged departures only from Saudi Arabia, but an American official told Bloomberg News Friday that staffing changes are taking place more broadly as Iran intensifies attacks on ships near the Strait of Hormuz.
Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek
2026 Bloomberg L.P.
This article originally appeared on Bloomberg at https://finance.yahoo.com/economy/policy/articles/trump-says-decision-time-nears-145705688.htmlIn an at-times contentious interview with CNN’s “State of the Union,” Blanche pointed out that according to the Constitution, Congress can create laws at any time to regulate elections. But when host Dana Bash asked what crime the administration was arguing was being committed, Blanche replied, “It depends.”
“There could be a crime,” said Blanche. “But the real wrong here is that Alaskans are going to be confused and will not have their vote heard. So an Alaskan intends to vote for one candidate, but is confused because of a second candidate with exactly the same name who has voted Democrat his entire life, who donated money to the other Democrat opponent, is running.”
Bash pressed Blanche on how it is illegal for two candidates with the same name to be on a ballot at the same time.
'It is an obligation of the states to avoid confusion, among other things, confusion in the minds of voters in the election process,” Blanche replied. “So the question is whether Alaska, by allowing this to happen, is violating the law and the federal law and the constitution by allowing confusion in the ballot.'
The Alaskan Supreme Court in June ruled that both Sullivans may remain on the ballot as the incumbent faces off in a tight reelection battle with former Democratic Rep. Mary Peltola. The four-person Senate ranked-choice ballot for the general election specifies that Dan S. Sullivan is a 'Registered Republican' and the 'incumbent' — no information is listed after Dan J. Sullivan Jr's name.
Regardless, in the suit filed Thursday, DOJ argued that Dan J. Sullivan Jr.’s name on the ballot constitutes a purposeful effort to mislead voters.
Still, it’s unclear how much the court can do about the Justice Department’s lawsuit. With ballots secret, it is virtually impossible for the Justice Department to identify specific voters and clarify which Sullivan candidate they meant to vote for.
Blanche, though, seemed unconcerned about that hurdle.
“There are a number of scenarios where it could be obvious that a voter was confused by the way they wrote down candidates,” said Blanche.
Republican groups have worked to differentiate between the two Sullivans.
President Donald Trump on Friday said the legal challenge was his idea, though Blanche on Sunday declined to state whether the president had directed him to file the suit.
'I will never talk about any communications I have with the president of the United States,” he said.
Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), who is not up for reelection this year, said Friday that the lawsuit is unnecessary.
“Alaskans don’t need any help voting for their preferred candidates, and the State of Alaska has already handled this by clearly distinguishing the candidates on this year’s ballot,” Murkowski said in a post on X. “The Department of Justice should never have filed this lawsuit.”
Her comments drew the ire of Trump, who on Saturday called Murkowski “Republicans’ Worst Senator, by far,” in a post to Truth Social.
Trump said that Alaska’s ranked choice voting system is “a TOTAL DEMOCRAT SCAM meant to confuse the Voter, so that Senator Dan Sullivan will lose Votes to a man who has never participated in Politics before, named Daniel J. Sullivan, Jr.”
“He is only there because the Democrats want to steal the Election, and Murkowski probably wants that to happen, which is why she is against the DOJ filing a Lawsuit in order to stop this impending crime and tragedy,” Trump added. “I have delivered for Alaska at Historic Levels, nobody has ever seen anything like it, and all I’m asking for is a FAIR AND HONEST SENATORIAL ELECTION! Lisa Murkowski is a DISGRACE to Alaska and our Country. You just don’t get any worse!'
Democratic leaders have also widely condemned the lawsuit, arguing the president is attempting to lay the foundation to overturn the midterm election results if their candidates win critical elections — something Bash asked Blanche about on Sunday.
“One of the big questions is whether or not the president is laying the groundwork for a scenario where, whether it's Alaska or somewhere else, there is, in your words a couple of days ago, a 'doomsday scenario' and we could be in a situation where President Trump tries to overturn the election and the result of that could be, god forbid, what we saw after January 6th,” Bash said.
Blanche quickly fired back: “Oh stop it. You gotta stop it with that. You're not being a real person. You set me up. You're saying, “'Mr. Attorney General, because the president of the United States wants to stop fraud and confusion in Alaska, is he going to do something crazy?' That is not a real question.”
Bash replied that she did not think it was an unfair question, but Blanche argued that the premise of the question was untrue.
“Instead of focusing on how we can address that and how we can remedy that, you're talking about January 6th,” he said. “That's so embarrassing to this network that that's what you're talking about.”
“Oh, come on,” Bash said.
'Don't “oh, come on” me,” replied Blanche. “There's literally confusion.'
It wasn’t the only tense interview Blanche had Sunday.
In an appearance on CBS’ “Face the Nation,” Blanche accused host Margaret Brennan of lying over the wording of the Justice Department’s lawsuit.
“The Alaska Supreme Court did take on this matter,” Brennan began, referring to the court’s June decision.
“No, they didn't. That's a state law,” interrupted Blanche.
“In this country, the states administer the elections. This is how the state came up with the issue and how to handle any confusion,” Brennan said as the Alaskan ballot was shown on the screen.
“You’re not telling the truth,” said Blanche.
Brennan asked why identifying Sullivan as the incumbent is insufficient for the administration.
“Well, listen, I don't know if it's sufficient,” said Blanche. “But I can tell you this: that the director of the Alaska election system has said that it will likely cause confusion.”
Brennan pointed out that the ballots are already circulating, and voting may already be underway, as many vote by mail in Alaska. She then pressed Blanche on Trump claiming responsibility for the lawsuit, to which Blanche reiterated that he will not share his communications with the president.
“The president of the United States said this on camera,” Brennan replied. “He said, 'I told them to do it.' Did he tell that to you?”
“He didn’t say that on camera,” argued Blanche, before adding Trump had been looking at the situation for “months and months and months.” He later added that he had “no idea” who Trump was referring to, and even if he did, he would “most certainly not” talk about it.
Brennan then pivoted to read several lines from DOJ’s lawsuit, including that the suit defined voter confusion as Sen. Sullivan not winning the election and that had all votes cast for Daniel J. Sullivan been cast for the incumbent then he would have won.
As she spoke, Blanche interrupted again.
“That’s not what it says,” he said.
“I’m quoting from it,” Brennan replied, holding up a printed version of the suit. “You are telling them not to certify it. What right does the federal government have telling a state not to certify or how to certify?”
After a moment of crosstalk, Blanche stated: 'If you talk the whole time you're not going to get answers out of me. If you let me answer your question I can address your question.' He then said the suit does not call for officials to avoid certifying the election.
“All we're doing is trying to put guardrails in place so that if that happens there's a system allowed where the ballots are kept in a way so we can determine whether there was confusion,” he explained.
In his interview with CNN, Blanche denied any political motivations were behind the Justice Department’s lawsuit.
“It's important the American people understand that we are not — President Trump is not trying to take over a state election in any way, shape or form,” he said. “What we're trying to do is make it clear that if it is obvious after the election, that confusion led to an improper and illegal result that the Alaskan system should be able to address that.”
In an interview with NBC’s “Meet the Press” on Sunday, Sen. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) argued the administration has no standing to bring the Alaska lawsuit, and he lambasted Blanche for leading a “disgraceful campaign.”
“This suit has no chance of succeeding,” said Schiff. “But the fact that Todd Blanche and the Justice Department are willing to go along with it, they're willing to put their name on it, is an indication of how far they will go after this election is over to try to challenge the results.”
This article originally appeared on Politico at https://www.politico.com/news/2026/10/25/blanche-alaska-lawsuit-could-be-crime-01134861Why are major Democrats and Republicans flocking to Mississippi in recent weeks?
In a climate where polls show President Donald Trump's approval ratings cratering, Democrats are unusually optimistic about Scott Colom's chances of flipping the Senate seat held by incumbent Republican Cindy Hyde-Smith -- even in deep-red Mississippi.
'We got to have a senator that looks out for Mississippi, that puts Mississippi farmers first, Mississippi small businesses first, represent our values by not allowing corruption to ruin our country and actually delivers on the commitments to put America first,' Colom told ABC News in an interview earlier this week.
The incumbent's campaign dismisses the Democratic push as the last-ditch effort of a campaign that will fall short.
Gov. Wes Moore says key races in South 'in play,' Democrats 'made mistakes' not investing earlierColom is a district attorney for four counties along the Mississippi-Alabama border and a former nominee to become a U.S. district judge. He would be Mississippi's first Black U.S. senator since Reconstruction.
Democrats have argued that Colom's prominent credentials, as well as voter pushback against Republican incumbents and motivation among Democratic-leaning Black voters, could help boost him. Mississippi's population is around 36% Black, according to U.S. Census data.
Colom faces an uphill battle, as Mississippi has not elected a Democrat to the U.S. Senate since 1982 and voted for Donald Trump in 2024 by around 20 points. ABC News rates the race solid Republican.
But he has gotten the attention of national Democrats; major party figures such as former former Vice President Kamala Harris and Georgia Sen. Raphael Warnock have campaigned with him. Former President Barack Obama also recorded an ad for him released earlier this month.
Harris, during a rally with Colom on Thursday, told attendees, 'I've been in those rooms where there's no cameras, it's senators talking to each other... When you have a voice like his in that room, just think about the impact that's going to have on the decisions coming out of that room. Think about that. This is no ordinary time, and this is no ordinary man.'
Colom also went viral online last week after a social video he posted showed Hyde-Smith, during a local news interview from February, saying 'You have so many proteins to choose from' while discussing how to deal with higher prices on meat and other goods. In the interview, Hyde-Smith also spoke about working on regulations that would help energy production, and tax incentives to help development.
But it was the proteins part that Colom's campaign seized on, with a punchy video that featured voters mocking the senator's words, with one saying, 'Pick another protein ... I'd rather pick another Senator instead.' (The campaign has confirmed to ABC News that the video has been turned into a campaign ad.)
One concrete sign of confidence among Democrats over Colom's chances came on Tuesday, when the Senate Majority PAC, an outside group aligned with Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, announced it would spend $1.2 million on an ad campaign across broadcast TV and digital for ads for Colom.
Asked what signs the group sees in Mississippi that makes it worth investing in, spokesperson Lauren French wrote, 'Cindy Hyde-Smith has spent a decade in Washington without passing a single piece of legislation, and Mississippians have noticed.'
Hyde-Smith has cosponsored legislation that has passed into law but legislation she initially sponsored or reintroduced has not become law, according to congressional records. Asked to respond to Senate Majority PAC, Hyde-Smith's campaign pointed to how bills from lawmakers 'are often passed as part of larger legislative packages,' and that has been true for some of Hyde-Smith's bills, including the first one she introduced. The campaign also pointed out that she is running for only her second full term.
French said Colom is running a 'disciplined campaign' with messages resonating with voters.
Colom and Hyde-Smith have some history, as she blocked his nomination for federal judge in 2023. She cited his support for transgender rights and having previously been boosted by a George Soros-linked PAC, according to the Mississippi Free Press.
He insists his bid for Senate is not motivated by a desire to get back at her.
'It has nothing to do with the run for me ... as a Christian, I forgive her. It's about the people in Mississippi,' Colom told ABC News.
Hyde-Smith dismissed Colom's chances.
'We are confident that Mississippians will once again send Cindy Hyde-Smith back to the U.S. Senate on November 3rd. This is simply Washington insiders making a last ditch effort to give life to Scott Colom's failing campaign,' campaign manager Jake Monssen told ABC News in a statement.
Hyde-Smith's supporters may be more motivated after a boost from President Donald Trump, who's set to hold a rally in Mississippi on Monday as part of a swing of campaign rallies mostly in red states.
The Republican National Committee announced the rally around a week after Colom's social video went viral, although Trump and the group have not indicated why they are doing the rally there and Trump has expressed confidence in Hyde-Smith.
'Cindy Hyde-Smith's very popular ... So if I need to get her over the top, I would go there [to Mississippi]. She's great. Cindy Hyde-Smith is great,' Trump told reporters when asked Thursday about the Senate election.
Hyde-Smith will be attending the rally, according to her campaign.
This article originally appeared on ABC News at https://abcnews.com/Politics/democrats-aim-deep-red-mississippi-senate-seat-scott/story?id=137484924
