Welcome to Washington Today on C-SPAN Radio for Friday, October 16th, 2026. President Donald Trump says he told the new White House press secretary, Katie Zacharia, she should reconsider whether she wants to continue in that job less than a week after she started. President Trump held a campaign rally in Georgia where there are competitive races for governor and US senator.
Debates in the tight US Senate races in Maine and Alaska. We'll hear from the candidates and talk about the Alaska contest with Alaska Public Media reporter Liz Ruskin.
Cook Political Report moves 11 more US House races toward the Democratic side. We'll hear from House Speaker Mike Johnson and Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries who've been campaigning with House candidates across the country. Plus an update on the mass shooting at the elementary school in Oregon.
Federal Reserve Chair Kevin Warsh speaks at the IMF World Bank meeting in Bangkok on the economy, high prices, and the impact of AI. And Cuba's ambassador to the UN criticizes the US trade embargo and accuses US Secretary of State Marco Rubio of having an obsession with Cuba. That and more coming up on Washington Today.
NBC News writing that Katie Zacharia is out as White House press secretary after just 5 days on the job. A senior administration official and a source familiar with the decision said following a widely panned first press briefing and the revelation that she represented herself as a lawyer but did not pass the bar exam. Earlier Friday, President Donald Trump said he would let Zacharia decide whether to remain as his press secretary after he suggested she was treated harshly by the media during her first week on the job.
Zacharia held a brief press conference on Tuesday just 1 day after she started the job and came under scrutiny after she had represented herself as a lawyer but acknowledged this week that she did not pass her bar exam following law school. That was from NBC News. Here's President Trump speaking to reporters leaving the White House.
Wait, Mr. President, wouldn't you have liked to have known that Katie Hill had not passed the bar exam?
Well, Katie's been treated very badly by the media. Very, very badly, very unfairly, I think. And I just spoke to her about it. I said, "Katie, is this for you?" Because, you know, she's been treated very rough.
And she's a nice person, very nice person. I've watched her for years on television, but I said, "Is this for you, Katie?" Because, honestly, you don't need this. You don't have to be treated that... I would say the fake news, but just generally the media's been very rough. But she was on Sean Hannity last night, and Sean was a little bit tough.
And she did... I saw Fox and Friends this morning, they were a little tough. She's been treated, I would say, pretty nastily. And I said to Katie, just 2 minutes ago, I said, "Katie, you know, you don't have to do this if you don't want."
She said, "This is a lot tougher." I said, "Welcome to the world of Trump." I don't know. We'll see. I'm going to let her make that decision.
It's up... yeah. Look, she's a nice person, a great person. And she's been treated roughly, you know. I said, "Do you want to really live like this?" I don't think they'll ever ease up.
And you know, Caroline did a very good job. I think Katie maybe would do, but Katie's off to a start that the news has been so nasty to her. I've never seen anything like it, actually.
And I said to her, "Honestly, if I were you, I'd reconsider. You think about it, but I would reconsider." She's got a beautiful husband and family. I met the family yesterday. Beautiful kids, just like from a picture postcard. And I said, "You should reconsider because you don't want to go through this."
What do you want her to do?
I just want her to be happy. Look, she has suffered over the last few days. And I'm not saying, you know, I mean maybe it's not for her. But I said, "You want to be happy in life..." I'll do whatever she wants.
I'll talk to her when I get back. We're going over to... We have a big, big rally, lots of cars, lots of people, big crowds, you know that. And I'll talk to her tonight or tomorrow. I just said, "I think you should reconsider because I think the press is really being very unfair."
President Donald Trump with reporters outside the White House before he boarded Marine One to head to Joint Base Andrews to fly to Georgia for that campaign rally. White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany was interviewed by Fox News host Sean Hannity Thursday night. Here is an exchange on one of the controversies of her brief tenure.
Why not just say I went to Pepperdine Law School and then took a different career path and I took the bar once and didn't pass it? Why get into this long drawn-out definition between the difference between a lawyer and an attorney cuz I don't think most people see much of a distinction. Why didn't you just say I never practiced law?
Well, Sean, when I moved back from the United States, I didn't retake the bar. I had four kids in 6 years. It was never my intent to go into the practice of law. When I went to go engage in media and give legal analysis, I consulted attorneys and legal professionals as to whether or not they agreed that I could be labeled a lawyer both because I had a valid Juris Doctor from a good law school, a reputable law school, Pepperdine Law School, and in conjunction with the fact that I did have actual substantive legal experience.
I wasn't providing any legal analysis, Sean, or excuse me, legal advice. I wasn't being paid for legal advice. I was giving a general review of the legal circumstances surrounding it.
White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany on Fox News Thursday night. New York Times posting on X breaking news, President Trump's new press secretary was fired after less than a week on the job, according to people familiar with the matter. And President Trump leaving the White House said, "Katie, this is for you because honestly, you don't need this. You don't have to do this if you don't want to. Honestly, if I were you, I'd reconsider. You should reconsider."
The previous White House Press Secretary, Caroline Levitt, the only one of President Trump's second term, resigned at the end of August. President Trump today also said that reports he's looking to replace White House Chief of Staff, Susie Wiles, are false. Here he is again with reporters leaving the White House.
And are you shopping around for a new Chief of Staff?
No, that's a false report. That was written by Politico. It's fake news. I could not be more happy with Susie. She's done a great job from day one. She just recovered from a big problem and she's fully recovered. She is cancer-free, as they say. Two nice words, cancer-free.
She was very brave in fighting it. And she's been fantastic. It's been one of the most successful administrations in the world and she's a part of it. That story in Politico, I guess it was, is a total fake story. And we told them before they wrote it.
So, they put my disclaimer in there. They said, "Oh, you know, I disagree." But I said that story is false. Don't write that story. But they put it in anyway cuz they're fake. That is a totally false story.
President Trump holding a news conference with reporters outside the White House, the noise of Marine One, the helicopter, in the background. Politico's Playbook newsletter reported on Thursday Trump has been soliciting allies' views of Wiles and musing about replacements for his top aide, according to four people with direct knowledge of the conversations. We're told Trump is getting plenty of encouragement from rivals to Wiles and people who felt burned by his loyal enforcer.
This is C-SPAN Radio's Washington Today. Washington Post dateline Dalton, Georgia, where President Trump traveled today for a campaign rally, writing that the president has spent the closing stretch of the midterm campaign barnstorming deep red parts of the country trying to mobilize voters already inclined to support him. But in Dalton, the carpet capital of the world with an economy deeply dependent on immigrant labor, Trump's presence and rhetoric could create complications for the Republicans sharing his stage.
That's especially true for Rick Jackson, the GOP nominee for governor, who was scheduled to attend a rally Friday with Trump even as he has increasingly emphasized his independence from the president. Recent polls have shown Jackson holding only a narrow lead over Keisha Lance Bottoms, the Democratic nominee, with several surveys putting the gap at about two percentage points. That was from the Washington Post.
The other prominent race in Georgia is for US Senator, the incumbent Democrat Jon Ossoff, getting challenged from Republican nominee Congressman Doug Collins. C-SPAN spoke this morning with Steven Fowler, NPR Politics political reporter, about both races.
According to the average of Real Clear Politics polls, Jon Ossoff, the incumbent Democrat, leads 51.3% to Mike Collins, the congressman, 43.2%. So, he's got about an 8-point advantage here. Has that been consistent and for how long?
It's been really consistent. I mean, the thing about Ossoff is he is a very, very skilled fundraiser. He's a very strong campaigner. And a lot of what even Republicans in the state tout with Ossoff is his constituent services as a senator. So, in a world where Georgia is typically a, you know, 50-50-ish purple state, Ossoff has the advantage of having more Republican support than you would expect from some of the other Democrats on the ticket because of how he has operated as a US senator and how he comports himself on the campaign trail.
President Trump won the state by two percentage points in 2024. You mentioned the governor's race and that the Republican there, Rick Jackson, is leading in polls. Why is it that we have this split between these two statewide races?
Well, one is money. Rick Jackson is a billionaire who poured in more than a hundred million dollars of his own money into the campaign and most of that money has gone towards hammering Keisha Lance Bottoms, the former Democratic mayor of Atlanta.
She was a one-term mayor. She opted not to run for re-election. She ran the city during the 2020 period of racial unrest and a lot of incidents in the city. And so he's painted her as a bad mayor who would make a bad governor. And in a lot of Atlanta's northern suburbs, the same voters who voted for Democratic Senator Raphael Warnock and Republican Governor Brian Kemp, there is a big audience there for people who would maybe support a Democratic Senate and a Democrat in the House, but are okay with a more moderate Republican governor in how Rick Jackson has pushed himself.
What are voters telling you about who they favor in those two contests and why?
The governor's race is interesting. Georgia has had Republican governors for about two decades and the type of Republican that wins statewide in that race has brought about this sort of economic, demographic, and cultural change in Georgia that has brought in more Democrats and made Georgia a more competitive state. And so in this national environment where things are looking a little dire for Republicans, it's a little bit different in Georgia when it comes to the governor's race because the Georgia governor, being a Republican now, isn't necessarily a penalty in the same way some other Republican states are seeing.
And in the Senate race in particular, you know, there's just a lot of support behind Jon Ossoff, bipartisan support in some cases, and the question is with the governor's race, can the hundred plus million dollars that Rick Jackson spends convince enough people that they should reelect a Republican to the governor's race to act as sort of a check on having two Democratic US senators presuming Ossoff wins.
Stephen Fowler, NPR Politics political reporter on C-SPAN's Washington Journal program this morning. Senator Jon Ossoff, Democrat from Georgia, was on MSNBC Now Thursday night and asked about President Trump's rally today.
Senator, Donald Trump is coming to your state. Is that something you are welcoming?
Lawrence, thank you for having me and to be honest with you, yes. I'd be delighted for the president to come every day between now and the election. I mean, you heard from the truck driver featured in that video and I hear it every day from folks in South Georgia, Middle Georgia, Metro Atlanta, in the mountains, folks involved in agriculture, folks in every industry. The public is turning against this administration.
And they see on the one hand the total incompetence, the nation plunged recklessly into a war that they don't know how to win or to end, a global energy crisis, record high diesel prices, record high prices for healthcare. It costs more today than ever before in our country's history to fill up your truck, to stock your fridge, to power your home.
And then everybody can see that at the same time the first family's raking in billions of dollars from all over the world, the president's adorning his office in gold. People are fed up and they've had enough. And you played a clip, by the way, in which I challenged Mike Collins about senior folks in his political organization having ties to the Klan.
That's Congressman Collins' so-called convoy captains program. We just learned today that more campaign leaders in the Collins organization have serious criminal histories, including criminal histories against children. And tonight, Lawrence, I am calling on Congressman Mike Collins to disband his convoy captains program, which now has reported links to the Klan and folks with serious criminal histories targeting children.
Senator Jon Ossoff, Democrat from Georgia, on MSNBC Now, Thursday night. President Trump held a campaign rally in Dalton, Georgia, today. And speaking ahead of him, the man who is running against Senator Ossoff, Congressman Mike Collins.
Well, hello, Georgia! Woo! It is great to be with you today to welcome President Trump back to Georgia again.
Thank you, President Trump, for joining us. Thank you for staying in the fight with us, as well. For those of you that don't know me, I'm Mike Collins. Y'all, I'm just an old blue-collar trucker from Jackson, Georgia.
Now, for those of you that don't know my opponent, Jon Ossoff, let me tell you a little bit about him. You see, Jon Ossoff's a guy who wants to talk like Obama, wants to look like a Kennedy, lie like Pinocchio, and vote like Bernie Sanders.
Y'all, this guy is nothing but a trust fund kid who's never had a real job in his life. The only thing he knows how to work is the ATM machine getting his granddaddy's money out.
You see, this guy has never seen a tax increase that he didn't like. A DSA candidate that he wouldn't support. A wide-open border that he didn't like. Or a Bernie Sanders bill that he wouldn't vote for. Now, does that sound like Georgia to y'all? No. No.
It's because he likes representing Hollywood Hills more than he does these North Georgia mountains. Yeah. And now, here's the scary part. Y'all, Jon Ossoff, he ain't nothing but a test-tube Democrat. A test-tube Democrat that was created in a lab by Chuck Schumer.
To make our life less safe, more expensive, and worse off. Well, I'll tell you what now, November the 3rd, we going to take that lab experiment, we going to throw it in the garbage can, Dalton.
Congressman Mike Collins, Republican from Georgia US Senate candidate in Dalton, Georgia ahead of President Trump speaking at this same rally. Congressman Collins is running against incumbent Democratic Senator Jon Ossoff. President Trump will continue his campaign rallies Saturday in Highland Heights, Kentucky and next week scheduled for Wichita, Kansas on Monday, Greenville, South Carolina on Tuesday, on Wednesday Clemson, South Carolina, and Sioux City, Iowa on Thursday along with Florida on Friday.
Turning to the state of Maine, Associated Press writing that Democratic Senate candidate Troy Jackson told Republican Senator Susan Collins to shut up during a heated final Maine US Senate debate that also included an interruption from a data center protester. Thursday night's debate in a Bangor theater was the last of four meetings between Collins and Jackson who are running for a seat that's considered crucial in the fight for Senate majority.
The debate, like those that preceded it, included several testy exchanges over issues including national debt, Collins' relationship with President Donald Trump's administration, and the candidates' respective roles in worsening partisan divisions. That was from AP. Here's part of that debate Thursday night that included the shut up line.
My name is Burke Kemmiskey. I'm a student at UMaine, and this is my question. Can you give me an example of a time you stood up to your own party on an issue that is important to Maine? And what did you accomplish by doing so?
I mean, I think there's a number of times. I mean, but the one I think of right now is rejecting corporate PAC money. I think the Democrats are still too close to that. I don't accept corporate PACs. I don't accept corporate money. This is a campaign about fighting for everyday working class people and that's one thing that I've been consistent on.
Two issues. And I'm sorry somebody's interrupting. We'll have our security deal with that. So, this is obviously one of Troy's supporters.
Oh, shut up. I didn't even know that kid.
Senator Collins, we'll give you the full minute to respond to the question from the video when...
Do you want to repeat the question?
Would you like the question repeated from Brett Kominsky? He wants to know if you can cite a time in which you differed from your party on an issue that was important to Maine.
Yes. And the big beautiful bill is the perfect example. Troy keeps saying that that bill would have died if I had not voted to bring it to the floor. That's just not true. The fact is that the Vice President would have broken any kind of tie vote and we would have proceeded.
And it was far better to bring the bill to the floor so that I could add to it a $50 fund for rural health care. That is something Troy never could have gotten done. So, I nevertheless voted against the bill even though it was the president's top legislative priority. I've also voted nine times against the president on the Iran war.
Senator Susan Collins, Republican from Maine, debating challenger Democratic nominee Troy Jackson, their final debate Thursday night in Bangor, Maine. Collins is the only Republican senator seeking re-election in a state that was won by Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris in 2024 over Republican nominee Donald Trump. Most analysts consider this Senate race a toss-up, the poll so close that either has a decent chance to win.
From MSNBC Now, Alaska Republican incumbent Senator Dan Sullivan failed an attempt at a gotcha moment against former Democratic Congressman Mary Peltola as they clashed Thursday in their final debate ahead of November's midterm elections. The pair, who are competing in a key US Senate race that could determine which party controls the upper chamber, traded quips over the impact of President Donald Trump's policies on Alaska's economy and their plan to deliver for the state if elected.
In one testy exchange, Sullivan, a close ally of Trump who's running for a third term with the president's endorsement, made a blunder when he accused Peltola of having received the questions in advance of the debate. That was from MSNBC Now. The debate was held in Anchorage, Alaska. Senator Sullivan asked that question at the end of an exchange about affordability.
Alaskans say they're having a hard time paying for groceries, housing, and gas. And in rural Alaska, the average price of a gallon of heating fuel reached a record, nearly $8 in August. How will you work in Congress to make it more affordable to live in this state? Mr. Sullivan, you have 90 seconds.
Well, first off, these are really challenges. And this is a huge issue that is hurting people across the state. You know, the spikes in inflation started under the Biden administration. Same with the spikes in fuel prices. But, this is a problem that we need to address immediately.
I've had the White House launch their Alaska energy task force that is helping to directly address specific Alaska problems in terms of energy. Let me give you an example. We had LIHEAP funding. That's for low-income Alaskans to get more benefits and relief from high costs with regard to their utility costs. We've doubled that.
But, as I mentioned, we also need to make sure that we are producing more Alaskan energy for Alaskans. We're doing it. Mary Peltola, when she was in Congress, did nothing when the Biden administration issued 70 executive orders...
Shut down our oil lands here.
You're not supposed to be interrupting here. Can I get a couple seconds back from that interruption?
We'll give you 5 more seconds, Senator.
70 executive orders that shut down our state, killed our jobs, and she did nothing to address that. The other thing we need to do is put more money in the pockets of Alaskans. We're doing that with tax breaks for seniors and working families. My opponent is actually for tax...
Thank you, Senator. Let's wrap it up. Leave it there. Thank you. And now, Ms. Peltola, you have 90 seconds.
Thanks. Well, everything costs too much and people are living paycheck to paycheck and even moving to the lower 48. Corporate greed and party politics are hurting us and stripping Alaskans of our resources while driving up costs that only benefit them.
I'll work to make sure Alaska is more affordable by increasing Alaska oil, gas, and renewable energy, eliminating the income tax for middle and working-class Alaskans, cracking down on health care insurance companies while they profit on people's worst moments and force impossible choices on Alaska's families.
We need to cap out-of-pocket costs on more prescription drugs, and we need to crack down on corrupt corporations who are jacking up our prices. I do not think we need any more studies. And I think we need to go so far beyond LIHEAP, the low-income heating assistance program.
Everyone, regardless of income, is being crippled by these prices. And it's not just heating oil. Our electricity across rural Alaska is powered by diesel generators. I was up in Northwest Arctic Borough the last few days. I heard of a case where in villages there are homes paying $1,500 a month just for their electricity. That's not even including their heat.
Unfortunately, Dan Sullivan has supported a war in Iran that's raised prices on everything from gas to groceries, and it's put all of us in a crunch.
Thank you, Ms. Peltola. I have a moderator question. We weren't supposed to get these questions beforehand, were we?
Neither one of you got questions beforehand.
No, that is absolutely not...
