[Up First] Pushback On Trump’s Russia Policy, Competitive Midterm Races, DOJ Noncitizen Voting

President Trump has taken a series of steps to ease pressure on Russia, including lifting Treasury Department sanctions on Russian diesel fuel and effectively suspending a recently signed sanctions law. He also signaled willingness to hold peace talks with Russia and China without Ukraine present — a move that alarmed allies. Ukrainian officials additionally reported a temporary loss of access to Starlink and Starshield satellite services, which are critical for battlefield communications, and President Zelenskyy publicly suggested the U.S. was responsible.

Trump’s approach appears driven by a desire to secure a foreign policy deal: he cited ongoing negotiations with Russia over energy, American hostages, and limiting Russian support for Iran. However, a former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine noted that direct American financial and military assistance to Ukraine has fallen by roughly 95%, leaving intelligence sharing and satellite access as the last significant forms of U.S. support. In a video call with members of Congress, Zelenskyy made the extraordinary move of directly accusing the Pentagon of delaying missile deliveries already paid for by Ukraine’s partners.

The bipartisan fallout was swift.

Republican and Democratic lawmakers alike criticized the purchase of Russian diesel, with one Republican congressman arguing it was putting money directly into Russia’s hands. Critics noted that Trump’s confrontation with Iran had driven up U.S. energy prices, inadvertently handing Russia leverage to push Washington toward a quick resolution in Ukraine.

Two weeks before Election Day, the political landscape has shifted dramatically. President Trump is campaigning in states that Republicans have rarely needed to defend — Kansas, Iowa, Florida, and Georgia — a travel schedule that itself signals the party’s anxiety. Kansas has not elected a Democratic senator in nearly a century, yet polls now suggest it is competitive. In Iowa, Democrats have a real chance to flip the governor’s office, multiple House seats, and the Senate seat, driven by broad Republican unpopularity.

In Georgia, the Senate race that was once considered a marquee contest has become less competitive.

Democratic incumbent Jon Ossoff raised over $100 million and built crossover appeal with an anti-corruption tack, pulling support from some Republicans.

Georgia’s governor’s race, however, remains a toss-up, with a billionaire healthcare executive spending more than $100 million of his own money to hold back a Democratic surge.

On the money front, Republican outside groups have gone largely dark in North Carolina, effectively conceding the Senate race there. Party strategists appear to be prioritizing the Senate majority over the House, where the political environment is more difficult. Democrats, meanwhile, are expanding their offensive map, forcing Republicans to spend defensively in territory they expected to hold easily.

The Justice Department has charged 28 California voters it alleges are noncitizens, escalating a broader legal conflict with the state over election integrity. Separately, the DOJ asked a federal judge to prevent thousands of additional ballots from being counted, arguing they may have been cast by ineligible voters. The charges represent the criminal dimension of a fight that last week included a federal lawsuit against California seeking to halt those ballots.

California officials have pushed back, contending that the DOJ’s actions amount to voter suppression and that its evidence does not support the sweeping claims being made.

The conflict reflects a wider Trump administration effort to use the DOJ to crack down on alleged election fraud ahead of and during the midterm cycle.