The US justice department is attempting to prosecute the former FBI director for the third time
Sign up for the Breaking News US email
2h ago‘I’m still innocent,’ says Comey as Trump calls him a ‘dirty cop’
Hello and welcome to the US politics live blog.
Donald Trump has called the former FBI director, James Comey, a “dirty cop”, Reuters reports. The US justice department is attempting to prosecute Comey for a third time, on the grounds of sharing sensitive national security information in 2016, according to court documents made public on Monday.
The case was revealed in a court document known as a “criminal information” that the justice department said it filed to stop the 10-year statute of limitations on the offense from expiring earlier this month.
The document, filed in Washington federal court, charges Comey with transmitting and conspiring to transmit national defense information. It alleges he shared classified information with a reporter from the New York Times in October 2016.
“I think he’s a dirty cop,” president Trump told reporters at Joint Base Andrews, Maryland, when asked about Comey. “I don’t know much about it,” he said.
Comey said in a video on Instagram that “they’re back again” and referenced the Justice Department, but did not provide further details. “I’m still innocent,” he added. Comey’s lawyers have already asked a judge to dismiss the case, arguing it is legally improper.
Donald Trump campaigned in Corinth, Mississippi in support of Republican senator Cindy Hyde-Smith and told the crowd his rallies have “totally changed the dialogue”. “Nobody’s ever campaigned like I have for midterms,” he said.
A vocal protester then attempted to engage the president in some dialogue, on the subject of his ballroom, and where it might be most appropriately located.
Trump lashed out in racist terms at his predecessor, Barack Obama, for joking over the weekend that his renovation of the White House, with “gold everywhere”, has “the White House looking like Saddam Hussein open a Cheesecake Factory.”
Trump told reporters that Obama “doesn’t notice dirt and filth” of the White House before he rehabilitated it. Trump said then that he was “a very clean person” but, “you have to explain that to Obama” because the former president doesn’t understand and is “not smart at all.”
Trump said that the comeback victory of Brazil’s president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, over his far-right opponent, Flávio Bolsonaro, “looked like another rigged election, frankly.”
While Donald Trump is heading to Texas, JD Vance, his vice president and a top MAGA campaign surrogate, will be in Howell, Michigan, campaigning for Republicans in the state.
The stop in Michigan is part of a campaign blitz that just yesterday took Vance to Montana and Kansas. The latter of those two states has become the site of an unexpectedly competitive Senate race, with Democrat Adam Hamilton mounting a strong challenge against the Republican incumbent Roger Marshall.
Vance has already made multiple midterm stops in Michigan, where the Senate race between Abdul El-Sayed, a Democrat, and Mike Rogers, the Republican, has seen some of the fiercest campaigning of this election season.
Vance and El-Sayed have repeatedly sparred over campaign remarks. The vice president has called El-Sayed “very evil,” and El-Sayed, a Muslim who has faced frequent GOP attacks on his faith, has accused Vance of Islamophobia. We’ll see if that back-and-forth continues today.
Three tankers carrying Russian diesel are en route to the United States, with a fourth expected to depart Wednesday, Moscow has said, part of a deal that triggered a fierce Ukrainian and European backlash.
US president Donald Trump this month struck an agreement with Russia’s president Vladimir Putin to ease sanctions in exchange for Moscow releasing diesel onto global markets.
The measure was seen as an attempt to lower fuel prices for American consumers ahead of the US midterm legislative elections on 3 November and drew sharp criticism from Ukraine and its allies.
“At present, three tankers” with Russian fuel are on their way to the United States, Russian deputy prime minister Alexander Novak told reporters on Tuesday.
A fourth was expected to set off on Wednesday, he added.
Social media feeds are awash with an unprecedented flood of AI-driven disinformation ahead of November’s US midterm elections, according to experts, who warn many posts are likely “slipping through the cracks”.
As tens of millions of Americans prepare to cast their vote, social media companies have scaled back their efforts to protect voters from lies meant to manipulate elections.
While the backlash against Facebook after the Cambridge Analytica scandal prompted social media giants to bolster their trust and safety operations, a counter-backlash from the right over fears of speech restrictions – which intensified after Elon Musk’s takeover of X, formerly Twitter, and the election of Donald Trump in 2024 – has led to significant layoffs from relevant teams.
Artificial intelligence has made it easier than ever to launch a disinformation campaign. And platforms are increasingly relying on AI, rather than human intervention, to respond.
“You can run an information operation now with quality that was impossible in 2016 for super, super cheap,” said Frances Haugen, a former Facebook data engineer turned whistleblower and advocate for transparency and accountability in Big Tech. Operatives playing dirty tricks can get around content moderation rules “because you can just keep tweaking the post a little bit each time you create them, and some of them are going to get through”, she said.
President Donald Trump and secretary of state Marco Rubio on Tuesday plan to show off a newly arrived oil tanker filled with Venezuelan crude to be processed in Texas refineries, according to a congressional aide and two US officials.
The visit to Port Arthur, Texas, comes on the same day that Trump is campaigning in the state for Republican candidates in the midterms, AP reported.
The president has rallies scheduled in Corpus Christi and Lubbock. Trump is trying to shore up support for US Senate candidate Ken Paxton, who is locked in a tight race with Democratic candidate James Talarico.
It’s not clear whether Rubio, who also serves as Trump’s national security adviser, would take part in any campaign events. But it’s the first time that he’s hitting the road with Trump as the president barnstorms the country.
The two US officials and the congressional aide spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss Rubio’s plans before they were publicly announced.
It’s highly unusual for the nation’s top diplomat to participate in political travel. Rubio’s trip would be the latest example of how Trump’s second presidency has blurred the lines between governing and campaigning. Attorney-general Todd Blanche has already been appearing at rallies alongside Republican candidates.
Rubio previously ran for president in 2016 and is considered a top prospect in 2028. He has not said whether he will run, and his political activities have been limited since becoming secretary of state.
US politics live with Shrai Popat
