Florida Republican gubernatorial candidate U.S. Rep. Byron Donalds (R-FL) on Sept. 9, 2026, in Dallas, Texas. (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)
(WASHINGTON) — When Republican Rep. Bryon Donalds announced his campaign for Florida governor on Fox News in February 2025, he said he was “excited to have the full endorsement of President Trump,” and his campaign website described him as a “Trump-Endorsed Proven Conservative Fighter.”
This week, with Trump’s approval ratings hitting lows in the final stretch of the midterm campaign season, Donalds adjusted his website, removing several mentions of the president.
His site now features video of Donalds campaigning and appearing on stage in front of supporters with his family — with Trump’s endorsement reduced to one of several from prominent Republicans rolling across the page.
Responding to the attention to his updated site, Donalds shared an updated image of his endorsements page, saying, “I am proud to have President Trump’s endorsement.”
“While everyone is focused on our website, check out our policy proposals to make life more affordable for Floridians,” he added.
The changes, similar to other GOP candidates, come as some Republicans are taking steps to distance themselves from Trump amid voters’ frustrations with the Iran war and rising gas and diesel prices.
Donalds’ home page also no longer features a photo of Donalds and his wife posing with Trump, or a section called “On the Issues,” that says Donalds “is committed to implementing President Trump’s Make America Great Again agenda so that our state and our nation’s best days are still ahead.”
A spokesman for Donalds said the congressman is “proud” to have Trump’s endorsement. Donalds, unlike some Republicans running for re-election, appeared on stage at the GOP midterm convention in Dallas earlier this month, helping the party sell Trump and Republicans’ legislative record.
“Our campaign website reflects Byron’s focus on the issues that matter most to Floridians — affordability, insurance costs, and government transparency. He’s running to be the next Governor of Florida, is proud to have President Trump’s endorsement, and has real policy proposals to tackle those issues,” Gates McGavick told ABC News in a statement.
Sen. Alex Padilla listens as Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer speaks during a press conference at the U.S. Capitol, Sept. 14, 2026, in Washington. (Finn Gomez/Getty Images)
(WASHINGTON) — The Department of Homeland Security has allegedly directed hundreds of agents to attempt to access voter rolls, even if they must “misrepresent themselves” to do so, and “fabricate” evidence of voter fraud ahead of the midterm elections, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and California Sen. Alex Padilla said Monday, citing what they said was information from a whistleblower.
“A DHS whistleblower warns that the department is pulling hundreds, hundreds of federal agents from national security rolls and sending them on a wild goose chase,” Schumer said at a press conference. “The goal: to try and prove Trump’s sad, tired, and long-debunked election conspiracy theories.”
“The length Trump will go to cheat, lie, and steal in this upcoming election are simply beyond the pale,” Schumer said.
“Apparently, agents are being commanded to violate state laws to access private voter information and fabricate law enforcement records as part of DHS’s quote ‘Unlawful Voter Initiative,’” Schumer said, adding that DHS agents allegedly were “hunting for, or worse, manufacturing evidence of voter fraud claims.”
The allegations and the whistleblower claims were enumerated in a letter from Schumer and Padilla sent Sunday to DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin, in which the lawmakers demanded that DHS both explain the alleged actions and end them immediately.
The Department of Homeland Security has been ramping up efforts to look for voter fraud across the country through its investigative arm, Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), multiple sources familiar with the operation told ABC News earlier this month. The effort will include help from investigators from U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, the sources said.
“The Department accessed publicly available data from states’ voter rolls and cross referenced them with known aliens in our systems. It’s not rocket science; it’s an easy step to secure our elections,” DHS said in a statement to ABC News, in response to the whistleblower allegations.
“While ICE Homeland Security Investigations is not able to comment on any active investigations, HSI is actively rooting out and investigating election fraud wherever it can be found,” the DHS statement further said. “We have repeatedly demonstrated that aliens can and do vote in our elections. Under President Trump, HSI is committed to restoring integrity to our election systems and ensuring that American citizens and only American citizens are electing American leaders.”
“They’re even asking people to lie about their identities, so they can create this illegal scheme,” Schumer said Monday of DHS agents’ alleged activities. “We are weeks from the midterms. Americans should not have to fear being targeted by their own government because of how they’re registered to vote.”
Padilla also highlighted the allegation, saying Monday that the whistleblower claimed DHS agents were “ordered to misrepresent themselves to access state voter systems, systems explicitly warning that accessing another voter’s information without authorization is against the law.”
Padilla further alleged the federal government is taking this route to access voter data because states such as his have not complied with demands for them to provide those records.
“But even more troubling is that when officers have raised questions about the legality of this initiative, they’ve reportedly been told to proceed anyway and promise that they won’t be held quote personally liable,” Padilla said, citing the whistleblower claims. “That’s what’s coming from superiors in response to officers who are raising these concerns. If this effort is truly legal, then why does DHS leadership have to promise its officers that they’re not going to be held liable? That says a lot.”
Padilla alleged the Unlawful Voter Initiative is “pretext” for the Trump administration to use “manufactured evidence to intimidate voters, to disenfranchise eligible Americans, and even undermine or challenge this November’s election results.”
Former NIH Director Anthony Fauci testifies before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee hearing on July 29, 2026, in Washington, D.C. (Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
(WASHINGTON) — Republicans on the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee on Thursday voted to hold Dr. Anthony Fauci in contempt of Congress.
The committee’s party-line vote of 8-5 comes after Fauci invoked the Fifth Amendment against self-incrimination and declined to answer questions at a hearing last week about his role in handling the COVID-19 pandemic and its origins.
A contempt resolution would normally now head to the full Senate, where it would require 60 votes. It is unlikely the Fauci resolution would receive enough support in the full Senate to pass.
Democrats attempted several times on Thursday to table the resolution but were unsuccessful.
Republican Sen. Rand Paul, the committee’s chair, said Fauci could not plead the Fifth Amendment given he was preemptively pardoned by President Joe Biden out of fear of political prosecution.
“Dr. Fauci’s assertion of the Fifth Amendment privilege was unsupported in light of the pardon and the testimony he offered in his opening statement,” Paul said ahead of the vote.
“We are voting on whether a witness who has received the benefit of a sweeping federal pardon can be ordered by this committee to answer questions and then defy that order without consequence,” Paul added.
Democratic Sen. Gary Peters, the committee’s ranking member, criticized the vote and the “damaging precedent” it sets, saying this “could harm our ability to conduct future investigations and disregards constitutional protections long recognized by the U.S. Senate.”
“This resolution will not provide the committee with any additional information, or compel Dr. Fauci to provide answers to our inquiries. Criminal contempt is punitive; it does not compel a witness to answer questions or produce the documents we’d all like to see,” Peters said.
Peters also condemned Paul’s suggestion of possibly referring the contempt resolution directly to the Department of Justice after the vote, saying “that would be even more dangerous and widely unprecedented move.”
Jay Clayton testifies during a Senate Appropriations Subcommittee hearing on Capitol Hill May 8, 2019 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Mark Wilson/Getty Images)
(WASHINGTON) — Jay Clayton, President Donald Trump’s pick to serve as director of national intelligence, is appearing before the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence for his nomination hearing on Wednesday.
The hearing could clear a path for lawmakers to replace the director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency and Trump loyalist Bill Pulte as acting director of national intelligence and could pave the way for an extension of a lapsed surveillance authority.
Clayton’s hearing comes weeks after the president abruptly canceled his previously scheduled confirmation hearing. Lawmakers had urgently scheduled a nomination hearing for Clayton in an effort to block Pulte from temporarily taking on the role, but Trump derailed the effort.
Pulte has been serving as the acting director since June 19.
Trump derails confirmation process
Trump, last month in an early morning social media post, said the confirmation process for Clayton would not continue until his pick to replace Clayton as U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, Jamie McDonald, was confirmed.
“Regarding the approval of our Great Patriot, Jay Clayton, we are cancelling the Senate Hearing RE: DNI today, and will not be going forward until Jamie McDonald is approved to be U.S. Attorney,” Trump wrote. “In the meantime, Bill Pulte will remain as the Acting Director of National Intelligence.”
Pulte, who has no prior national security experience, is best known in the Trump administration for launching probes into several of the president’s perceived political enemies over allegations of mortgage fraud and possible misuse of authority.
Targets of the investigations include Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook, New York Attorney General Letitia James, Democratic Sen. Adam Schiff and former Democratic Rep. Eric Swalwell.
All have denied wrongdoing.
Pulte drew bipartisan concern on Capitol Hill after he sought to accelerate his predecessor’s departure from the role. The former DNI, Tulsi Gabbard, announced her intention to resign from the role in May, citing a desire to step away from public service to support her husband following his cancer diagnosis. Gabbard ultimately left the role on June 18, days earlier than planned.
In his short tenure as the acting director of national intelligence, Pulte made good on threats to cut hundreds of jobs at the Office of the Director of National Intelligence by mass firing employees in June.
It’s unclear how many jobs had been affected, but sources told ABC News last month that the National Counterterrorism Center was expected to be hit hard. Trump, for his part, had made clear he had instructed Pulte to slash jobs at the agency.
Pulte’s appointment also stalled efforts to renew Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, which allows the federal government to collect communications of foreigners abroad without a warrant. The program’s legal authorization lapsed in June.
Scrutiny from skeptical lawmakers
It’s not clear how long the Intelligence Committee will take to consider Clayton’s nomination, but he could potentially be confirmed by the Senate by the end of next week if there is unanimous agreement to speed up his consideration.
Clayton may face questions from senators on the Trump administration’s decision to issue subpoenas on Friday to several journalists who work for The New York Times after the news outlet reported last week on security concerns involving Trump’s new Qatari-donated Air Force One.
Clayton, as U.S. attorney in Manhattan, issued the subpoenas. In a statement on Saturday, a Justice Department spokeswoman said that “reporters are not the targets, those leaking classified information are.”
Clayton, prior to his role as the U.S. attorney, was also the former chairman of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
Apart from the national security cases he oversaw while serving as U.S. attorney, Clayton also lacks experience in intelligence-gathering and national security matters.
Clayton spent the bulk of his career as a corporate attorney, and prior to his appointment as U.S. attorney last year, lacked meaningful experience in criminal matters.
He has spent the last year overseeing one of the country’s highest profile federal prosecutor’s offices — focusing on drugs, gangs, immigration and fraud cases. Clayton also oversaw the unsealing of grand jury materials related to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, prompting complaints from victims about the disclosure of their sensitive personal information.
Clayton was never confirmed by the Senate as U.S. attorney, though his nomination was approved by the federal judges in the district and was seen then by many as a steady hand to lead the high-profile office.
ABC News’ Aaron Katersky and Peter Charalambous contributed to this report.
