Washington Today

In this weekend's episode, three segments from this past week's Washington Journal. First: A discussion on polling & how MAGA has impacted the Republican Party with Mark Mitchell, founder of The Honest Poll. Then: Jessica Tarlov, Democratic strategist and co-host of Fox News Channel's "The Five," discusses her new book "I Disagree: Winning Arguments Without Losing Friends." Finally: The winner of the 2026 National Civics Bee Championship, Peter Daniell from Broomfield, Colorado, discusses the competition and the importance of civics education. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

President Donald Trump says he told the new White House Press Secretary Katie Zacharia she should reconsider whether she wants to continue in that job less than a week after she started; President Trump holds a campaign rally in Georgia, where there are competitive races for governor and U.S. Senator; Debates in the tight U.S. Senate races in Maine and Alaska. We will hear from the candidates and talk about the Alaska contest with Alaska Public Media reporter Liz Ruskin (25); Cook Political Report moves 11 more U.S. House races towards the Democratic side. We'll hear from Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) and Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY), who have been campaigning with House candidates across the country; Bend Police provide an update on the mass shooting at an elementary school; Federal Reserve Chair Kevin Warsh at the IMF-World Bank Meeting in Bangkok on the economy, high prices and the impact of AI; Cuba's Ambassador to the UN criticizes the U.S. trade embargo and accuses U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio of having an 'obsession' with Cuba. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) campaigns in Michigan for Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed, saying special interest money is being used to make sure no one can 'open their ears and their eyes to even give this guy a shot'; Nebraska's 2nd Congressional District race is a prime example of a Republican held seat that Democrats are hoping to flip on their way to getting majority control of the House. We will hear the candidates debate and talk about the race with Margery Beck, Flatwater Free Press Elections Reporter (14); Rep. Andy Harris (R-MD) defends telling a UMD student reporter that she must stop filming his news conference; President Donald Trump says the execution of the Ft. Hood mass shooter will not be livestreamed; former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton presents the annual Hillary Rodham Clinton Awards for Advancing Women in Peace and Security; Health & Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. is asked about the growing deadly measles outbreak in Pennsylvania; Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-CA) and former Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R-CA) celebrate the 20th anniversary of a climate change law. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Final Commerce Department inflation report before the midterm elections show the Consumer Price Index increasing 0.6% in September and 3.7% year over year; U.S. Senate race in New Hampshire is a close one that could help decide which party controls the Senate in the next Congress. We will hear from the candidates John Sununu (R) and Chris Pappas (D) on Social Security at an AARP forum and talk with Andrew Sylvia, Assistant Editor of Manchester Ink Link (11); President Donald Trump campaigns in Arizona for Rep. Andy Biggs (D-AZ), who is challenging incumbent Gov. Katie Hobbs (D-AZ); Health & Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. announces cuts to Affordable Care Act subsidies for nearly 200,000 enrollees because of duplicate coverage or the recipients are deceased; Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is heckled by anti-war protesters at the annual meeting of the U.S. Army, and he defends the Trump Administration's request for a large, one-time increase in the defense budget; Supreme Court hears a case asking whether a 1980's law barring the disclosure of consumer information from a 'subscriber of goods or services from a video tape service provider,' at the time VHS tapes, applies to modern day online sites with videos. Tonight is the National Civics Bee Championship brought to you as a partnership between C-SPAN and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

U.S. Ambassador to Greece Kimberly Guilfoyle resigns amid allegations she asked a Republican donor to pay off a $100,000 credit card debt in exchange for political access; new White House Press Secretary Katie Zacharia holds her first White House news conference; President Donald Trump answers questions about continuing military strikes by Russia and Ukraine against each other targeting energy infrastructure despite the President announcing an 'energy ceasefire'; President Trump flies to Alaska to campaign for Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan's reelection; Vice President JD Vance is back in Texas in support of Republican U.S. Senate candidate Ken Paxton, after the spread of false rumors that Democratic opponent James Talarico was not off the campaign trail sick with the flu, but supposedly getting mental health treatment in Ohio; U.S. Attorney for DC Jeanine Pirro talks about a joint U.S.-UK-technology company operation to close down online scammers based in Africa; former First Lady Jill Biden speaks at an event in Delaware for Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Federal agents search the home of Minnesota Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar, prompting reactions from both parties just weeks before the midterm elections. A bipartisan group of senators calls on President Trump to reverse his agreement with Russian President Vladimir Putin to allow Russian diesel sales in an effort to lower fuel prices. Plus, with just 22 days until the midterm elections, we examine key congressional races in Iowa, Michigan, and Pennsylvania. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this weekend's episode, three segments from this past week's Washington Journal. First – On Wednesday President Trump made his third trip to Texas in a month to support Republican Governor Greg Abbott and Senate candidate Ken Paxton who are facing stiffer-than-expected political headwinds. We'll dig into some Lone Star state politics with Spectrum News Texas reporter Reena Diamante. Then: The debate over whether and how to regulate artificial intelligence continues here in Washington as the President huddled with tech leaders again at the White House earlier this week. We break it down with Cato Institute's Jennifer Huddleston & AI Now Institute's Sarah Myers West. And finally: This week marked the 3rd anniversary of the October 7th attack on Israel. We speak with Aaron David Miller of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace on where the conflict stands today between Israel and Hamas. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin criticizes New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani's response to the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) involved shooting in the city. Mamdani again called for ICE to be abolished. Mullin says Mamdani's 'words are dangerous and incite hostility'; President Donald Trump celebrates at the White House the Columbus Day federal holiday, which is Monday, saying Columbus is a hero, and decrying the tearing down of Columbus statues, as happened in many cities during the racial justice protests in 2020; Vice President JD Vance campaigns in Ohio for Sen. Jon Husted's reelection; Michigan U.S. Senate Democratic nominee Abdul El-Sayed says he welcomes former President Barack Obama campaigning for him, even though he was critical of Obama in the past; Nobel Peace Prize is awarded to Navi Pillay, former judge on the International Criminal Court and former United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights; Secretary of State Marco Rubio announces new sanctions against the ICC; Leader of the British Green Party suffers what could be a devastating loss for a party that had been seeing gains. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Vice President JD Vance announces Microsoft and some other technology firms have been suspended from sponsoring foreign workers with H-1B visas. He says Microsoft has been undercutting U.S. workers and treating foreign workers like indentured servants; President Donald Trump awards Microsoft's CEO the National Medal of Technology and Innovation, one of six technology & science medals he handed out today. President called another recipient, Elon Musk, head of Tesla and SpaceX, a 'modern day Thomas Edison'; New York Times Columnist Thomas Friedman argues for greater regulation of AI at an American Bar Association conference on AI and national security; House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) & Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) talk about the midterm elections, now less than four weeks away; President Trump says he will not attack Iran again before the U.S. election; New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani (D) is asked about being booed by protesters at a vigil Wednesday night on the third anniversary of Hamas' attack on Israel; Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) holds a briefing on preparing for the first hurricane of the season to make landfall; Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR) gets a question on his public disagreement with President Trump on the wisdom of making Daylight Saving Time permanent. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth speaks aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier off the coast of California as the ship returns from a record-setting deployment in support of combat operations against Iran, blaming some in the media for highlighting reports of poor conditions and crew morale; Solemn remembrances on this third anniversary of Hamas' military attack on Israel; Secretary of State Marco Rubio gives a speech at historic Pnyx Hill in Athens, warning that Western civilization and its values derived from ancient Greece is at a critical inflection point; World Health Organization seeks more information from Russia about a suspected second employee at a plague laboratory developing pneumonia; President Donald Trump celebrates autoenrollment of tens of millions of children in so-called Trump Accounts that provide growth with tax advantages, before heading to Texas to campaign for Republican Senate candidate Ken Paxton; Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) debates her Democratic opponent Troy Jackson. One key topic in that border state is tariffs; Randy Spivey, lawyer for Tennessee death row inmate Christa Pike, gives an update on her condition after her recent failed execution attempt; British Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch at her party convention promises to abolish the inheritance tax and denounces identity politics. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Gov. Wes Moore (D-MD) debates his reelection opponent Dan Cox (R); Gov. Moore says the White House blocked him from speaking at an announcement of a multi-billion dollar defense company investment to build a submarine shipyard in Baltimore; reaction today to President Donald Trump's remarks Monday night at a rally in Nebraska suggesting Iran could 'take out' Los Angeles or San Diego; California ballot measure Prop 40 to impose a one-time tax on billionaires is attracting major money for ads and national figures such as Sen. Bernie Sanders. We will hear from him and talk about it with Politico California Senior Politico Reporter Jeremy B. White (23); U.S. trade deficit tops $100 billion in August; World Health Organization gives an update on the reported plague death in Russia; U.S. Ambassador to the UN Michael Waltz speaks a commemoration on the third anniversary of Hamas' October 7th military attack on Israel; Professor Geoffrey Hinton, known as the Godfather of Artificial Intelligence, is asked how President Trump has been handling AI. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Supreme Court opens its new term with arguments in a case involving efforts by state and local governments to hold fossil fuel companies responsible for damages linked to climate change. Plus, U.S. B-1 bombers return home from a British air base following an alleged terror threat, and with 29 days until the midterm elections, we check in on key races in Alaska, Colorado, Ohio, Michigan, and New Hampshire. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this weekend's episode, three segments from this past week's Washington Journal. First: Gas prices around the country continue to rise as the conflict with Iran drags on. We speak with Patrick De Haan -- head of petroleum analysis for GasBuddy – about what's behind the rise in gas prices – the impact on consumers - and who been profiting. Then: The looming crisis in Social Security is forcing many Republicans to re-think the party's long-standing position against raising taxes. We'll dig into the debate with anti-tax advocate Grover Norquist - president and founder of Americans for Tax Reform - and Chuck Blahous who served as a Republican trustee of the Social Security program. Finally: A conversation with longtime consumer advocate & former Presidential candidate Ralph Nader – on his monthly publication "Capitol Hill Citizen" – and how HE'S viewing the midterm elections. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jobs report for September comes in far lower than expected. Labor Department says 29,000 jobs were added and the unemployment rate increased from 4.1 to 4.2 percent; With diesel fuel at record high prices, President Donald Trump posts, 'Europe has just agreed to release a massive amount of their heavily stocked Diesel. The process will begin immediately'; President Trump heads out again to campaign for Republican candidates, this time in Alabama, after yesterday's stops in Texas & Oklahoma. We will hear from him and Democratic Pollster John Anzalone about how things look a month out from election day; Gov. Kathy Hochul (D-NY) appoints New York Attorney General Letitia James (D) as special prosecutor in the Cornell University fraternity sexual assault case,  saying, 'In what world would the police learn from the victim that she had been literally been gang raped' and that she believed '100%' she had been raped and not elevate those allegations; New Supreme Court term starts Monday. We get a preview of two high profile cases: whether cities and states can sue energy companies for damage caused by climate change and whether laws banning AR-15 style assault weapons violates the Second Amendment; fired publisher from the military newspaper Stars & Stripes discusses the importance of a free press; a new online way to track the rebuilding of the Key Bridge in Baltimore. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

President Donald Trump heads out on the campaign trail with just over a month until election day, and is asked why he is filling the itinerary with red states where his Republican party is already strong; Senate adjourns until after the midterm elections, but not before Democrats try and fail to reverse President Trump's over $800 million in spending cuts; Veterans and lawmakers rally at Memorial Circle near Arlington National Cemetery against the building of President Trump's proposed 250-foot triumphal arch; Gov. Bill Lee (R-TN) orders a suspension of executions for the rest of the year and calls for an investigation after a failed attempt to execute a death row inmate Wednesday night by lethal injection; New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani (D) celebrates the groundbreaking of a community park project in Brooklyn, twenty years after construction was promised; NASA successfully launches SpaceX Crew 13 to the International Space Station; Sebastian Gorka, a senior White House counterterrorism adviser, speaks about Trump Administration foreign policy goals at the Nixon Foundation's 'Grand Strategy Summit'. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Senate Democrats block a Republican-drafted bill on making tech companies pay for additional electricity costs from data centers, saying it does not have enforcement provisions; Bipartisan group of Senators unveil a bill to reform energy project permitting, but by agreement it will not be debated or voted on until after the midterm elections in November; President Donald Trump announces $200 billion in South Korean investments in U.S. energy projects, including more than $50 billion in Alaska, which has a very competitive U.S. Senate race this year; Candidates in the U.S. Senate contest in Texas – Democrat James Talarico & Republican Ken Paxton – discuss immigration policy with the US Hispanic Business Council; Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth gives a 'State of the Force' address, announcing a 20% reduction in generals and admirals; Last U.S. troops leave Iraq; Louisiana, Alabama & Arkansas sue California, Massachusetts and New York over abortion medication flowing across state lines; Massachusetts Attorney General releases a report finding 'more than 270 Catholic clerics abused nearly 1,000 children across three dioceses' and 'behind every one of those numbers is a child whose safety was violated, a family that was changed forever.' Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Former Special Counsel Jack Smith tells the Senate Judiciary Committee his investigation proved 'beyond reasonable doubt' that President Donald Trump engaged in 'serious crimes,' but some Republicans on the committee accuse him of weaponizing the Justice Department when he sought records of their phone calls with the President after the January 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol Building; President Trump and House Speaker Mike Johnson meet with the CEOs of technology companies at the White House to discuss the future, and any government or voluntary limitations, of AI (Artificial Intelligence), while the President says he will officially rename it SI (Super Intelligence) by Executive Order; Trump Administration unveils an AI-powered website, America.gov,  designed to be a one-stop-shop for dealing with the federal government and a replacement for the current tens of thousands of government websites; Trump Administration's ban on $1 billion worth of Canadian goods goes into effect, covering dairy products, alcoholic beverages and motor vehicles; Second annual Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) Summit is held in Washington, DC; New British Prime Minister Andy Burnham speaks to his first Labour Party Conference about getting the government more involved in delivering vital services to the British people. He says it's a rollback of the privatization movement of former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher in the 1980's. We will talk about that, and the recent apparent foiled terror attack on a base in Great Britain used by the U.S. military, with Peter Knowles, C-SPAN's Westminster Correspondent. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Trump administration rolls back fuel economy standards for cars and light trucks, and the White House announces a new tariff agreement with China. Plus, the Senate begins its final scheduled work week before the midterm elections, lawmakers debate college athlete compensation, and we check in on key races in Iowa, Maine, Ohio and New Jersey. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this weekend's episode, three segments from this past week's Washington Journal. First: The future of Artificial Intelligence was among the topics in the high-profile summit this week between President Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping. We speak with former Biden Defense Department A-I official Gregory Allen about what's at stake. Then: The Trump administration said this week they will remove several hundred thousand people off the ACA rolls who THEY say fraudulently enrolled. We did into the allegations and the fallout with Paragon Health Institute President Brian Blase – a former economic adviser in President Trump's first term. Finally: Author, columnist, and constitutional Law Professor Kim Wehle discusses Trump administration efforts to influence the 2026 elections – and how the judicial system – including the Supreme Court – is responding. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Chinese President Xi Jinping finishes a state visit hosted by President Donald Trump with tea at the White House and a trip to the National Archives; this time it is all on network TV, as the White House TV pool is back in operation now that the President has allowed CNN to return to the pool rotation, after a federal judge ordered it; Supreme Court lifts restrictions on the Trump administration use a federal database to identify voters suspected of being non-citizens; North Carolina Senate race is a top one to watch this year. We will hear from Republican nominee Michael Whatley & Democratic nominee Roy Cooper; Pope Leo XIV warns about the dangers of artificial intelligence, in his words, 'losing our humanity amid a paradise of machines invading and conditioning our daily lives'; Sen. Ruben Gallego (D-AZ) speaks at the Symposium of Young American Men; former Housing & Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson is at the Family Research Council's Pray Vote Stand Summit; former first Lady Jill Biden and former President Joe Biden speak at a Delaware Planned Parenthood fundraiser. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices