Tensions flared on Wednesday at Donald Trump's rally at South Carolina's Clemson University, where multiple protesters were removed. One demonstrator was apparently socked by a rally attendee, much to the president's delight. "That was great, man. Wow. Man, I loved that," Trump said. "Who's the guy that threw the punch?" he continued. "You know, you reminded me of Evander. The real deal Holyfield," referring to the former heavyweight champion. "You gotta give them credit. It takes courage to do that." Because nothing says presidential leadership like praising a sucker punch.
Aggression wasn't in short supply. Footage emerged online of another apparent Trump supporter striking a different protester - being escorted out by police - in the back of the head. Trump dismissed the hecklers as paid operatives.
Trump was in South Carolina to stump for Darline Graham, who is running to replace her late brother Lindsey Graham's congressional seat. Last week, Graham was at odds with the president after he put on hold a new sanctions package targeting Russia. The legislation had been named for the late South Carolina senator Lindsay Graham - Darline's brother - who was the primary backer of the package that sanctions Russian officials, banks and a shadow fleet of tankers key to Russian energy. Graham said she was proud to help get the legislation passed, but that it was up to Trump how he chose to implement it. He ultimately opted to waive the sanctions before they went into effect. "Personally, I would choose to put the pressure on Russia to end the war and get gas prices down," Graham said at a campaign event, according to the New York Times. "Because I don't trust Putin, and I don't trust Russia." It had been a key accomplishment cited by Darline Graham as she campaigns for the Senate with a brief record after being appointed to serve out the remaining months of her brother's term. Her campaign has been dogged by questions about her political inexperience, notably after she struggled to answer a question about Taiwan and US national security.
At the Wednesday evening rally, Trump also repeated a transphobic slur he has used before to deride Graham's Democratic opponent, Annie Andrews.
Meanwhile, in Ohio, Amy Acton responded to the controversy over Vivek Ramaswamy's campaign ad featuring her estranged mother, telling a group of voters her opponent shouldn't have "exploited her." "I haven't seen my mother since I was 12, and obviously we were removed from her custody. And she's not well and they shouldn't have exploited her," Acton said. She went on to describe it as "another sign of this time, where enough is enough … [This] do anything, say anything just to get ahead. And I think Ohioans are smarter than that." In the ad, her mother, Donna Arthur, was critical of Acton and called her a liar. Amy Acton was sexually abused by her mother's husband when she was 12, her brother Phillip Stearns said. After his arrest, their mother remained married to her husband, even though Acton and Stearns were removed from her care. The controversy around the ad continues to grow as it emerged that another Republican candidate in Ohio had asked Ramaswamy not to run the spot. A Republican operative told CNN that a candidate "personally asked" the GOP gubernatorial candidate not to air the ad, and that "Republicans in the state probably couldn't be more pissed at him." The ad has drawn criticism from some prominent Republicans although others have defended it, including JD Vance, who told Republicans "stop whining about an advertisement and go win the race in 13 days." Vance later added at a campaign stop in Cincinnati: "I have to admit that I'm a little bit disgusted when I see Republicans across the country who are whining more about that advertisement than they are about what the congressional Democrats and other Democrats want to do to the United States of America." Meanwhile, footage surfaced on Wednesday of Ramaswamy describing Acton as a candidate who has no vision "other than to complain about what someone else did to her."
In other news, Nancy Pelosi's office received "a suspicious letter" on Wednesday in what appears to be the latest incident of ill-intentioned mailings targeted at US Congress members before the midterm elections. Earlier this week, the Guardian reported that the offices of more than three dozen members of Congress across the political spectrum received envelopes containing white powder. One lawmaker's office said preliminary tests indicated the powder was not hazardous. A spokesperson for Pelosi said the letter was "consistent with mailings reported by other congressional offices" and that everyone in the office was safe. "Speaker Pelosi remains focused on serving the people of San Francisco and is concerned for the members and staff whose offices have experienced similar incidents," Nicholas Martin, a spokesperson for the speaker emerita, said in a statement. "She is grateful for the efforts of the US Capitol Police, the San Francisco police department and other law enforcement agencies to thoroughly investigate this series of intimidation across America." More than 100 letters thought to contain white powder were reportedly thought to be circulating in the US mail system. Election offices across the US have also reported receiving suspicious mail. The mailings are under investigation by the FBI, the Capitol police and the US Postal Inspection Service. The FBI declined to confirm "specific instances or letters", but said in a statement earlier this week: "The FBI and US Postal Inspection Service are investigating a series of suspicious mailings sent to various addresses nationwide, including secretary of state offices and their related election offices, and congressional offices."
Aipac, the most powerful pro-Israel lobby in the US, will cease issuing endorsements and directly contributing to candidates through its political action committee, according to a report from Jewish Insider. Since 2022, the group has been directly involved with elections through its Pac and Super Pac and spent hundreds of millions of dollars on US races, though its brand has become increasingly toxic in recent years. "To win the fight for the future of the country and the US-Israel alliance, we must build a more strategic, consequential, and nimble political operation. We will prioritize increasing direct, organized contributions from individual Americans to candidates - expanding upon our current efforts - and maximizing the emerging political fundraising tools," Aipac leadership said in a letter, according to Jewish Insider. "Endorsements, direct PAC contributions, and earmarking will no longer be part of our approach so we can expand individual giving and utilize new tools to help our friends win." Historically the group has spent most in Democratic primaries, and donated more to Democrats, rarely backing Republicans in competitive races during general elections. It emerged this week, however, that Aipac made a significant donation to Republican Mike Rogers, who is running against Abdul El-Sayed. The group, which spent tens of millions to defeat El-Sayed in the Democratic primary, plans to donate as much as $9m to support Rogers, the New York Times reported.
Elon Musk - the tech billionaire, Trump ally, and founder of Tesla and Space X - has threatened to home in on Democrats who pursue him in the next Congress. "Live by the sword, die by the sword," Musk wrote on X, the social media platform he bought in 2022. "Those who pick fights with me should understand that I will find out who is really pulling the strings and come for them, not just their puppets." This comes after Politico reported earlier today that Democratic lawmakers were considering how best to investigate Musk, and his businesses, if the party gains control of Congress following the midterm elections.
US envoy Steve Witkoff announced this morning that Russia authorities had freed Stephen Hubbard, the first American known to be convicted of fighting as a mercenary in Ukraine. Hubbard was arrested when the Russians briefly took over the Ukrainian city of Izium at the start of the ongoing conflict in 2022. Donald Trump welcomed the news, noting the prisoner release was the result of a direct request he made to Putin in a telephone call last week. Meanwhile, after Witkoff's discussions with Putin in St Petersburg, he flattered the Russian president by calling him a "humanitarian". The emissary's comments drew bipartisan backlash, but Trump defended them: "I guess you could say for that particular purpose, for the purpose of allowing a man who was thinking he was going to be in prison for life, out," the US president told reporters in the East Room. Witkoff also said that his discussions with Putin were "constructive", and "will continue with trilateral talks between the United States, Russia and Ukraine at the technical level". This comes after Trump's reignited feud with Zelenskyy after he urged Kyiv to end its attacks on Russian refineries and waived sweeping sanctions against Moscow.
New polling from the New York Times and Siena University shows that likely voters prefer Democratic candidates over Republicans running for office by 11 percentage points. Meanwhile, Trump's approval rating dropped to a new low for this particular survey - 36%.