Trump heads to rallies in Arizona and Montana after campaign stop-off in Alaska – US politics live

Donald Trump will attend campaign rallies in Arizona and Montana later today, having spent the past 24 hours in Alaska – a sign of his party’s recent polling woes.

Conservative Alaska is one of several where the Democrats have a chance of flipping a Senate seat amid voter dissatisfaction with the cost of living and the Iran war.

Polling has shown Democratic candidate Mary Peltola tied ⁠or slightly ahead of incumbent Republican senator Dan ⁠Sullivan in a state the president carried by 14 percentage points in 2024.

Here, as in much of the United States, the president’s approval rating is flopping, hit by rising diesel and gasoline prices and a conflict in the Middle East that has proven deeply unpopular with voters.

Opening for Trump, Sullivan acknowledged that Alaskans face “challenges” when it comes to energy costs. But “the conflict in the Middle East is temporary,” he said. “The true forever war is the national Democrats’ war against Alaska oil and gas ⁠and our jobs.“

The president has taken to campaigning in conservative-leaning ​parts of competitive states, rather than in more politically diverse areas with more votes potentially up for grabs.

At one point, Trump pardoned two local repair shop owners who were convicted of violating the federal Clean Air Act for removing pollution controls on diesel engines.

He also encouraged Republicans to vote by mail – a process he has repeatedly sought to curtail and discredit. Trump will spend Wednesday campaigning in Arizona and Montana.

In other developments:

• In Alaska, Donald Trump repeated his false claim that he had to start his war on Iran because, “they were two weeks away from having a nuclear weapon”. In fact, US intelligence agencies reported to Congress in 2025 that Iran had suspended its pursuit of nuclear weapons in 2003. Despite that assessment, in the summer of 2025, Trump ordered the US bombing of Iran’s nuclear enrichment facilities which he later claimed had “obliterated” the country’s nuclear program. Eight months after that, he launched a full-scale war on Iran justified, he now says, by Iran being just weeks away from getting the bomb.

• Aboard Air Force One on his way to Alaska for a campaign rally, the president of the United States posted video of a British man who was fatally mauled by a tiger last week on his social media platform with the mocking caption: “Don’t ever mess with nature!”

• The new press secretary, Katie Zacharia, passed on an opportunity to set the record straight on whether she is licensed to practice law anywhere in the United States. Asked “Where did you pass the bar exam?” Zacharia just said: “I moved to China.”

Key events

• 17m ago

  Judge extends White House access to banned media outlets CNN, MS Now and Politico

• 40m ago

  Family of man killed by tiger criticise online content as Trump mocks fatal incident

• 1h ago

  Trump heads to Arizona and Montana after campaign stop-off in conservative Alaska

The United States has “not changed” its policy on sharing intelligence with Ukraine, a US official said Wednesday, after Kyiv accused Washington of not warning it about incoming strikes.

“The US has not changed its policy on intel-sharing with allies and partners, such as Ukraine,” the US official told AFP, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Russian strikes hit multiple regions across Ukraine overnight after President Volodymyr Zelensky said Kyiv had received no advance warning from Western allies before a strike on a power plant in the capital.

Ukraine relies heavily on Western intelligence to detect incoming Russian attacks and help identify targets of its own, but renewed strain with US President Donald Trump has cast doubt on those arrangements.

A senior Ukrainian official, speaking to AFP on condition of anonymity Wednesday, said the United States was essentially “helping Russia” by not warning Kyiv about incoming strikes and slowing Starlink.

A federal judge ordered the White House on Tuesday to continue allowing journalists from CNN, MS Now and Politico to access the building as the media coalition’s lawsuit against the Trump administration plays out.

Timothy Kelly, a district court judge, had on 24 September granted a 14-day reprieve for the news organizations, which six days earlier had been banned by the president in an extraordinary move from entering the White House grounds “as a result of their constant ‘reporting’ FAKE NEWS”.

“Defendants (except for President Trump) and their agents, representatives, and all persons or entities acting in concert with them, shall not execute, implement, or enforce the September 18, 2026, decision to revoke the White House ‘hard pass’ press credentials held by employees of CNN, MS NOW, and POLITICO, thereby maintaining the status quo since the Court’s entry of a temporary restraining order on September 24, 2026,” the judge wrote in granting a preliminary injunction requested by the plaintiffs.

The organizations filed a lawsuit on 21 September seeking to overturn the ban as a violation of their rights under the US constitution. But that temporary restraining order expired on Tuesday, bringing the media companies into court late last week to ask for a preliminary injunction that would lift the ban during the duration of the lawsuit, which could take months.

During arguments at the E Barrett Prettyman Federal Courthouse in Washington, Kelly seemed inclined to lift the ban indefinitely, telling a lawyer for the federal government that his side had “a notice problem” that was “probably the biggest hurdle” they had to overcome.

The family of a British man who was killed by a tiger at a wildlife park have spoken of their “severe distress” after Donald Trump shared a video of the incident on social media.

The president posted footage of William Chapman, 23, being fatally attacked by a tiger at the Yorkshire Wildlife Park to 13m followers on his Truth Social platform on Tuesday evening.

Trump accompanied the short clip – which showed the animal biting and clawing Chapman as he sat in the enclosure, but not him being killed – with the signed message: “Don’t ever mess with nature!”

On Wednesday morning Trump followed this up with another post – this time an AI-generated video of him grappling with a tiger, which appears to mimic the original.

The clip, which is accompanied by the song ‘The Lion Sleeps Tonight’, features the president copying the pointing gesture made by Chapman and ends with him hugging the animal.

Chapman’s family said in a statement that “deeply offensive media content is causing them severe distress”.

They also posted a tribute describing him as a “bright, warm and engaging young man” and questioning what part his “significant mental illness over a number of years” and prescribed strong medication played in the incident.

Hello and welcome to the US politics live blog.

Donald Trump will attend campaign rallies in Arizona and Montana later today, having spent the past 24 hours in Alaska – a sign of his party’s recent polling woes.

Conservative Alaska is one of several where the Democrats have a chance of flipping a Senate seat amid voter dissatisfaction with the cost of living and the Iran war.

Polling has shown Democratic candidate Mary Peltola tied ⁠or slightly ahead of incumbent Republican senator Dan ⁠Sullivan in a state the president carried by 14 percentage points in 2024.

Here, as in much of the United States, the president’s approval rating is flopping, hit by rising diesel and gasoline prices and a conflict in the Middle East that has proven deeply unpopular with voters.

Opening for Trump, Sullivan acknowledged that Alaskans face “challenges” when it comes to energy costs. But “the conflict in the Middle East is temporary,” he said. “The true forever war is the national Democrats’ war against Alaska oil and gas ⁠and our jobs.“

The president has taken to campaigning in conservative-leaning ​parts of competitive states, rather than in more politically diverse areas with more votes potentially up for grabs.

At one point, Trump pardoned two local repair shop owners who were convicted of violating the federal Clean Air Act for removing pollution controls on diesel engines.

He also encouraged Republicans to vote by mail – a process he has repeatedly sought to curtail and discredit. Trump will spend Wednesday campaigning in Arizona and Montana.

In other developments:

• In Alaska, Donald Trump repeated his false claim that he had to start his war on Iran because, “they were two weeks away from having a nuclear weapon”. In fact, US intelligence agencies reported to Congress in 2025 that Iran had suspended its pursuit of nuclear weapons in 2003. Despite that assessment, in the summer of 2025, Trump ordered the US bombing of Iran’s nuclear enrichment facilities which he later claimed had “obliterated” the country’s nuclear program. Eight months after that, he launched a full-scale war on Iran justified, he now says, by Iran being just weeks away from getting the bomb.

• Aboard Air Force One on his way to Alaska for a campaign rally, the president of the United States posted video of a British man who was fatally mauled by a tiger last week on his social media platform with the mocking caption: “Don’t ever mess with nature!”

• The new press secretary, Katie Zacharia, passed on an opportunity to set the record straight on whether she is licensed to practice law anywhere in the United States. Asked “Where did you pass the bar exam?” Zacharia just said: “I moved to China.”