A US federal judge publicly criticised a Department of Justice official over their handling of a case linked to a Trump golf-course project, prompting fresh questions about DOJ independence in the matter.
Key Facts President Trump’s approval rating has hit a new low for his term, according to polls released on October 18 by the Washington Post, NBC News and Axios, with multiple independent surveys pointing in the same direction. Negative sentiment is rising simultaneously across three tracks — economic anxiety, foreign-policy disagreement and dissatisfaction with government operations — handing Democrats a clear edge in the midterms. Open discussion of the polling outlook has begun inside the Republican Party, and several congressional campaigns are being forced to shift resources from an expansionary footing to a more defensive mobilisation strategy. ...
U.S. President Donald Trump signed an executive order on October 17 bypassing a Congress-passed Russia sanctions bill named for the late Senator Lindsey Graham, citing ’national interests.’ Ukrainian President Zelenskyy immediately warned the move amounted to ‘rewarding Putin’ and would extend the war. The bill was set to take effect in 11 days, and Trump simultaneously waived tariffs on the largest buyers of Russian oil, prompting bipartisan criticism and concern from European allies.
President Trump signed an executive order on Oct. 16 formally exempting Russia from multiple curbs under a new congressional sanctions law, covering energy, finance and individual designations, the New York Times, the Guardian and the BBC report. The order was signed during the window before the legislation took effect, widely interpreted as a defining move by the Trump administration to unilaterally reshape U.S. policy toward Moscow. The move triggered strong pushback from Congress, European allies and Ukraine, with Kyiv having resumed long-range strikes on Russian energy infrastructure — strikes Trump publicly called ‘a disgrace’.
U.S. President Donald Trump publicly criticised Ukraine on October 16 for resuming long-range drone strikes on Russian oil refineries, calling the campaign a ‘disgrace’ and exposing fresh divergence over diplomatic tempo and strategic end-state.
US President Donald Trump announced on October 15 that he is withdrawing a Pentagon plan to livestream the execution of the Fort Hood shooter. The plan had drawn strong bipartisan congressional opposition along with criticism from religious leaders and military ethics experts who warned it would set a dangerous precedent across civil-military relations, military discipline and public ethics. Trump abandoned the plan under pressure, though the episode itself has exposed deep tensions between the US military justice system and public opinion.
President Donald Trump publicly said it was time for Ukraine to get a new president, denouncing a recent diesel trade deal between Kyiv and Moscow as funding the Kremlin’s war effort. In parallel, House Republicans introduced a measure invoking Cold War-era legislation to block Russia-related energy agreements from entering the US market, intensifying the trilateral energy game between Washington, Kyiv, and Moscow.
Hours after the 2026 Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to South African jurist Navanethem Pillay, US President Donald Trump publicly questioned the committee’s choice, using the phrase ’no one ever heard of her’ to criticise international institutions. The award recognises Pillay’s decades of work in international criminal justice and human rights.
A senior US official says President Trump decided to deal directly with Russian President Vladimir Putin on energy and sanctions after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky repeatedly declined the requests he was making. The disclosure, first reported by Axios, has reignited debate in Washington and Europe over cracks in transatlantic coordination on Russia.
Axios, Fox News and NBC News reported that the US military has been ordered to prepare for possible strikes on Iran, with the White House weighing the timing ahead of the midterm elections. Oil prices rose and risk-off sentiment strengthened on Middle East tensions.