October, 07 2025, 10:30am EDT
The Human and Financial Costs of the Post-10/7 Wars, Two Years Later
New Research Reveals U.S. Spending of $31 Billion and Counting; Over Ten Percent of Gaza Population Killed or Injured; and Displacement in Region Tops 5.27 Million
Two years after the October 7, 2023 Hamas attack on Israel, the U.S. government has spent a total of $31 billion combined on military aid to Israel and U.S. military operations in the region, according to the latest research from contributors to the Costs of War project, housed at Brown University’s Watson School of International and Public Affairs. The research series reveals that this U.S. spending in the post-10/7 wars has come with an extensive human toll: over ten percent of the population of Gaza has been killed or injured, while at least 5.27 million people have been displaced in Gaza and the wider region.
As of October 3, 67,075 people in Gaza have been killed and 169,430 people injured according to the Gaza Ministry of Health, out of the approximately 2.2 million people living there in July 2023. These 236,505 casualties (people who have been killed and injured) constitute more than 10 percent of the pre-war population of Gaza. The research underscores that the Gaza Ministry of Health numbers are “not an exaggeration,” as some critics argue; they are likely an undercount.
“Most of the deaths in Gaza have been civilians, many of them children,” said Neta Crawford, co-founder of Costs of War and author of the new report, The Human Toll of the Gaza War: Direct and Indirect Death from 7 October 2023 to 3 October 2025. “The pace and scale of direct killing and injury by the Israel Defense Force bombs and bullets will only be exceeded by the long-term death and misery due to starvation, displacement, destruction of health care facilities and the inadequate level of humanitarian assistance.”
Between October 2023 - September 2025, the U.S. spent $21.7 billion on military aid to Israel. This figure does not include the tens of billions of dollars in arms sales agreements that have been committed for weapons and services that will be paid for and delivered in the years to come. During the same period, an additional $9.65 - $12.07 billion was spent on U.S. military operations in Yemen, Iran and the wider region, totaling $31.35 - $33.77 billion in U.S. spending on the post-10/7 wars.
“The devastating damage the current Israeli government has done to Gaza and its people would not have been possible without U.S. financing, U.S.-supplied weapons, and U.S. assistance with spare parts and maintenance,” said Bill Hartung, senior research fellow at the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft and author of the new report, U.S. Military Aid and Arms Transfers to Israel, October 2023 – September 2025, co-published with the Quincy Institute. “But despite this dependence, neither former President Joe Biden nor current President Donald Trump have used Israel's reliance on U.S. weapons as a tool to pressure Tel Aviv to change its conduct.”
“The American public has a right to know how U.S. funding is used in conflict, and to recognize that our military activities in the Middle East carry significant costs that are often hidden,” said Linda J. Bilmes, the Daniel Patrick Moynihan Senior Lecturer in Public Policy and Public Finance at the Harvard Kennedy School and author of the new report, Costs of United States Military Activities in the Wider Middle East Since October 7, 2023. “These financial and social costs should be weighed alongside policy decisions.”
Additionally, mass population displacement has been a significant feature of the violence experienced in Gaza, Iran, Israel, Lebanon, the West Bank, and other parts of the Middle East since October 7, 2023, where at least 5.27 million people have fled or been forced to leave their homes (as of early September 2025). This total includes an estimated 1.85 million displaced children under 18 years old. Some of these people have since returned home, while many others have not. (This figure does not include Syria and Yemen, where there is a lack of data documenting how the post-10/7 wars have caused displacement.)
“The displacement of over 5 million people to date plus the potential displacement of millions more underscores the urgency of ending the violence as quickly as possible, of allowing the displaced to return home as international law requires, of ensuring reparation for the displaced, and of holding the perpetrators accountable for crimes committed,” said David Vine, political anthropologist and longtime Costs of War contributor, and author of the new report, Mass Displacement since October 7, 2023: Flight from War, Genocide, and Expulsion in Gaza, Iran, Israel, Lebanon, and the West Bank.
“For well over a decade, the Costs of War project has shed light on the costs of the so-called U.S. ‘war on terror’; now we’re examining the devastating costs of U.S. military spending and operations in the post-October 7 wars – which in the case of Gaza, many experts call a genocide,” said Stephanie Savell, Director of Costs of War. “Our research highlights numbers, but we must never lose sight of this key fact: what we’re talking about is human suffering. This research shows that the suffering is unthinkably vast. The research will inform efforts to stop the mass killing and displacement, move beyond the war paradigm, and explore true solutions towards peace.”
The Costs of War Project is a team of 50 scholars, legal experts, human rights practitioners, and physicians, which began its work in 2010. We use research and a public website to facilitate debate about the costs of the post-9/11 wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and the related violence in Pakistan and Syria. There are many hidden or unacknowledged costs of the United States' decision to respond to the 9/11 attacks with military force. We aim to foster democratic discussion of these wars by providing the fullest possible account of their human, economic, and political costs, and to foster better informed public policies.
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Over a Million Seniors Sent Scrambling as Medicare Advantage Giants Slash Plans Under Trump
Medicare Advantage giants are seeking to boost their profits by cutting benefits and exiting counties across the US—despite receiving a big payment boost from the Trump administration.
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In Minnesota, an analysis by the Star Tribune found that around two-thirds of state residents enrolled in Medicare Advantage—around 340,000 people—will have to find new coverage for the coming year due to private insurers' cuts.
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Nationwide, more than half of the Medicare-eligible population is enrolled in Medicare Advantage plans, which are notorious for overbilling the federal government and denying coverage for necessary care—increasingly using artificial intelligence technology.
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The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, which announced the payment boost, is currently headed by Mehmet Oz, who once proposed a healthcare plan dubbed "Medicare Advantage for All."
The advocacy group Families USA called the 2027 payment increase for Medicare Advantage insurers "a big giveaway" that could have gone toward "bolstering benefits in Medicare for all seniors and people with disabilities."
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Another possible Democratic presidential contender says the party needs to pursue “Medicare for All” as a solution to America’s healthcare crisis should the US Senate flip blue in November.
“The reality is people are facing huge increases in premiums and copays. So we need a Medicare-for-All-type solution,” Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) said in a Monday report from Politico. “This is the kind of debate we need to have.”
Van Hollen joins a list of potential 2028 hopefuls who have endorsed the idea of a single-payer healthcare system—including Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) and Ro Khanna (D-Calif.), who have championed the policy for years, following the lead of Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.).
Democratic California Gov. Gavin Newsom has also declared that he believes in “universal healthcare” and “Medicare for All” but has not yet released a concrete proposal for what his version of the policy would look like.
Van Hollen, who previously backed a public health insurance option to compete with private insurance, supported Sanders' Medicare for All bill in December as premiums were set to skyrocket after Republicans allowed enhanced Affordable Care Act insurance subsidies to expire.
He declared that Congress "must stop tinkering around the edges of a broken healthcare system," pointing to the massive administrative costs and poor health outcomes under the for-profit status quo.
Medicare for All could also face a more favorable climate in the Senate than it did during the Biden presidency.
If Democrats retake the chamber this November—buoyed by promises to tackle the high costs of everything from healthcare to energy to food—Sanders is expected to once again be appointed chair of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee.
Sanders led the committee from 2023-25, a time when Medicare for All lacked any chance of passing out of a Republican-controlled House of Representatives.
While a new Medicare for All bill would likely be routed through the Senate Finance Committee, chairing HELP would give the Vermont socialist the power to frame the debate on healthcare by holding hearings that could address problems with private insurance and launching investigations into industry practices, while making the case for a single-payer system.
In an April 2026 letter, co-signed by Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), Sanders called for a series of high-profile Senate hearings grilling insurance CEOs over rising premiums, coverage denials, executive compensation, and industry consolidation.
“The American public deserves to know why the big insurance executives... continue to get richer and richer, while over one-third of people with health insurance have been forced to skip or delay getting the care they need because of the outrageous cost,” Sanders and Wyden wrote. “It is time for our committees to hold the chief executives of the major health insurance companies accountable for their greed and to address the healthcare crisis in America."
A strong showing for Democrats in November's midterms could bring a new crop of Medicare for All supporters to Congress, such as former Detroit public health official Abdul El-Sayed and labor leader Troy Jackson, who are leading their Senate races in Michigan and Maine.
As private insurance premiums spike and millions of Americans lose coverage after the Trump administration imposed the largest federal healthcare spending cut in the nation's history, Medicare for All also has more public support than it has had in years.
A September survey by KFF found that 66% of adults said they’d favor “a national health plan in which everyone gets insurance from a single government plan.” Support came from 84% of Democrats, who’ve long backed it, as well as nearly three-quarters of independents and even just over a third of Republicans.
“If I have anything to say about it… the agenda of the Democratic Party is going to be extremely bold. It is going to take on high costs,” Sanders told Politico. “The super [political action committees] are not going to run the agenda anymore. We’re going to do what the American people want.”
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Human rights groups on Monday implored the international community to act in the face of Israel's accelerating ethnic cleansing of West Bank Palestinians following a resistance attack that killed two Israel Defense Forces soldiers and ahead of Tuesday's Israeli elections.
Al Jazeera reported that more than 3,000 Palestinians have been forced from their homes in Hebron in the illegally occupied West Bank, a city long beset by Israeli settlement expansion and displacement. In addition to a military lockdown, Israeli occupation forces have detained scores of Palestinians since two IDF soldiers were shot dead on Friday.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu—whose far-right coalition is trying to shore up support ahead of Tuesday's elections—and other senior officials have openly indicated plans to ramp up the ethnic cleansing of the area. Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich have vowed to treat the West Bank like Gaza, where more than 250,000 Palestinians have been killed or wounded and around 1.9 million others have been forcibly displaced amid a "complete siege" since the Hamas-led attack of October 2023.
“This is not only a humanitarian crisis but a deliberate assault on the economic foundations of Palestinian life, as families lose their homes and livelihoods," Mustafa Tamaizeh, Oxfam International's West Bank response lead, said Monday. "The destruction of factories, workshops, and business premises is wiping out years of investment and hard work."
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“In recent days, high-ranking Israeli officials have openly acknowledged they are considering plans for the largest military operation in the West Bank since 1967, with calls for operations in the West Bank to be conducted like those in Gaza," he added. "Against this backdrop Oxfam is calling for urgent action by the international community to stop Israel’s campaign of mass forced displacement, demolitions, and state-backed settler violence, which amount to a policy of ethnic cleansing.”
The International Commission to Support Palestinian Rights (ICSPR) said Monday that it "strongly condemns the escalation of Israeli occupation crimes across the occupied Palestinian territory, including the siege, raids, home demolitions, and forced displacement of residents in Hebron and other areas of the West Bank."
"These violations coincide with raids on more than 15 towns and cities in the northern West Bank, the arrest of numerous Palestinians, escalating settler attacks, and road closures, alongside the continued mass killings and war crimes against civilians in the Gaza Strip," ICSPR continued.
"ICSPR calls on the United Nations and the states parties to the Geneva Conventions to take immediate and binding measures to halt Israeli occupation crimes and provide international protection for civilians in Gaza, the West Bank, and occupied East Jerusalem," the group added. "It calls for an end to forcible evictions, home demolitions, settler attacks, and settler terrorism."
United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres weighed in Monday, invoking the "specter of ethnic cleansing" and calling for "the realization of the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people to self-determination."
Community Peacemaker Teams (CPT), a Christian human rights group, also condemned Israel's actions, issuing a statement Monday asserting that “families should never have to live in fear of being forced out of their homes or separated from the places where they have built their lives."
CPT stressed that "every Palestinian has the right to live safely and with dignity in their own home." The group urged the international community "and diplomatic missions to act now to protect civilians in Hebron," and "people of faith and conscience to contact their elected representatives and call for action to protect Palestinian civilians."
At least one Israeli rights group also condemned the government's and IDF actions.
“The world cannot stand by," B'Tselem said, "as Israel continues its assault on Palestinians, waiting for yet more neighborhoods to be emptied and erased before intervening."
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Trump Doesn't 'Give a Damn' About Iran War Price Hikes—His Oil and Gas Holdings Are Up to $81.6 Million
"Trump's Iran War has forced Americans to pay much more at the pump while Big Oil rakes in profits and the president's own stock wealth in the oil and gas industry continues to balloon."
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After US President Donald Trump spent the weekend reminding midterm campaign rally attendees that he doesn't "give a damn" about soaring gasoline prices from his illegal Iran War, congressional Democrats on Monday released a report showing that his oil and gas stock holdings could now top $80 million.
During a Saturday rally in Georgia, Trump highlighted that due to his war of choice, the US fossil fuel industry is "making hundreds of billions of dollars," and predicted his comments will be turned into "fake headlines," but he added: "I don't give a damn, I'm going to say it: We're making a freaking fortune."
Just how much extra is the public paying at the pump because of the eight-month conflict? As of Monday, the national average was $4.29 a gallon for gasoline and $6.35 for diesel, according to the American Automobile Association.
An online tracker from the Costs of War Project at Brown University estimates US residents have paid at least $144.6 billion more for fuel—$79.8 billion for gasoline and $64.79 billion for diesel. That's over $609 per household, just for gasoline.
Data from the congressional Joint Economic Committee suggest the impact could be even worse. As JEC Democrats' Monday report notes, the panel found that US households "have now spent an additional $101 billion on gasoline since the start of the Iran War, or an average of $856 in gas costs per family."
A state-by-state breakdown in the report—released just days ahead of the midterm elections that will determine control of Congress for the remainder of Trump's second term—reveals that price increases for gasoline have hit some areas particularly hard. Wyoming, a Republican stronghold, has had the highest hike per household, at $1,454.
Rounding out the top 10 are Utah ($1,240), Alabama ($1,232), Montana ($1,180), Mississippi ($1,141), South Dakota ($1,122), Idaho at ($1,108), North Dakota ($1,087), New Hampshire ($1,029), and Iowa ($1,010). Trump won all of those states but New Hampshire in 2024—when he campaigned on a promise to serve the interests of the climate-wrecking fossil fuel industry if its executives dumped $1 billion into his run, while also claiming he would lower costs for working people.
Meanwhile, the report stresses, Trump's oil and gas holdings could have nearly doubled this year, growing by as much as $35.8 million, for a total of up to $81.6 million—and 94% of his 2026 industry stock purchases occurred after he went to war with Iran, which has restricted ship traffic through the Strait of Hormuz.
The document details Trump's holdings—which are reported in ranges—in Chevron, ConocoPhillips, ExxonMobil, Marathon Petroleum, Occidental Petroleum, Phillips 66, Valero Energy, and Williams Companies. It also warns that "the true value may in fact be higher given that Trump has yet to report stock transactions for September or October, and because he has a history of filing his transactions much later than the law requires."
The graph published by the congressional Joint Economic Committee on October 26, 2026 shows US President Donald Trump's stock holdings in oil and gas companies.
Sen. Maggie Hassan (D-NH), the JEC's ranking member, declared that "Trump's Iran War has forced Americans to pay much more at the pump while Big Oil rakes in profits and the president's own stock wealth in the oil and gas industry continues to balloon."
Trump has faced scrutiny and criticism for cashing in on the conflict he created, which the White House has tried to dismiss by pointing out that the president's "stock and bond portfolio is independently managed by third-party financial institutions."
Such comments have not appeased critics, including Hassan, who said that "as Trump—the country's highest-ranking public employee—continues to own and trade stocks in companies that stand to benefit from his decisions, his actions raise major concerns about conflicts of interest. Unfortunately, this is nothing new from this administration and only reinforces that the president puts his own financial interests above the American people."
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‘Good Day for Democracy’: Lula's Win in Brazil and Serbia Ousting Vučić Show Strength of ‘People Power’
"Israel could be next on Tuesday, then the US midterms the following week," said one human rights advocate. "The best case against the autocrats is the autocrat."
Oct 26, 2026
"There is nothing inevitable about the far right," said one former Obama administration official Sunday night as supporters of the left-wing Student List in Serbia poured into the streets of Belgrade and other cities across the Balkan country, celebrating their defeat of right-wing President Aleksandar Vučić, who has led the nation for nearly a decade and has been accused of corruption and autocratic rule.
The Student List's victory coincided with that of Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, who was also backed by a student-led movement that marched through Rio de Janeiro and other cities in recent weeks, as US President Donald Trump was accused of election interference on behalf of right-wing Sen. Flávio Bolsonaro, Lula's opponent.
Both countries reported high voter turnout in the pivotal elections, proving, as journalist Anne Applebaum said, "that voters can alter what feels like a historical shift."
In Serbia, Vučić said it was "clear that we have lost the election,” as results showed his Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) had won about 105 seats while the Student List had won at least 135.
The Student List movement, officially registered by the Republic Electoral Commission as “Studentska lista—Studenti pobeđuju” (Student List—Students Win) began in November 2024 after the concrete roof of a newly renovated train station in Novi Sad collapsed, killing 16 people. Students and other Serbians blamed corruption and negligence by Vučić's government, and soon began blockades at a majority of the country's higher education institutions.
Rallies in the coming year drew hundreds of thousands of people. The political movement that grew out of the sustained protests called for an independent judiciary, a special prosecutor to hold public officials accountable, independent reviews of major infrastructure projects, a higher minimum wage, and better funding for education, healthcare, and agriculture.
A cardiologist and professor from Novi Sad, Ilija Srdanović, topped the list of 250 candidates that the Student List put forward ahead of the snap elections on Sunday, but the movement has said Srdanović will not automatically be its choice for prime minister. The list of candidates for Serbia's 250-seat Parliament includes doctors, farmers, activists, athletes, and actors.
“Never again tyrants in our country," Srdanović said after the defeat of Vučić, who was prime minister before becoming president in 2017 and has been Serbia's central political figure since 2012, developing a reputation for threatening his critics and cracking down on press freedom.
One Student List supporter, Sara, told The Guardian in Belgrade, “It’s very strange that on the very streets where the police beat us, on the streets where we retreated countless times in the face of the gendarmerie, we are now standing here as the victors."
Nebojsa Cosic said to Reuters: “The people have won! The people defeated a dictator! The people will lead Serbia!”
In Brazil, thousands rallied ahead of the runoff election between Lula and Bolsonaro, the son of convicted former President Jair Bolsonaro, a close Trump ally who is serving a 27-year sentence under house arrest for orchestrating a coup attempt after his election loss in 2022.
Right-wing candidates won a significant number of seats in the earlier elections, which followed Trump's push to secure partnerships across Latin America—stoking fears that Bolsonaro could win Sunday's runoff and pushing students to lead pro-Lula rallies and marches across the country.
At a Copacabana Beach rally in Rio on Saturday, supporters carried a yellow and green banner that read, "We are going to turn this around!"
Isabella Graze, a retired teacher who joined a 10-million member WhatsApp group aimed at mobilizing pro-Lula voters, told The Guardian that “being a soldier in Lula’s army... means fighting for Brazilian democracy. This isn’t a normal election."
The Serbian and Brazilian elections came two days before Israelis are set to vote, potentially ending the long-running term of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, an accused war criminal whose US-backed government has waged war on Gaza, killing more than 74,000 Palestinians, and pushed to violently take control of more of the occupied West Bank.
They also came just over a week before the midterm elections in the US, with Democrats pushing for congressional control to rein in Trump for the final two years of his term. The campaign has been marked by openly racist, anti-Muslim attacks by Trump and his allies on Michigan US Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed, a Republican ad claiming that Ohio Democratic gubernatorial candidate Amy Acton lied about her abusive childhood, and persistent claims by the president that the cost of living is down, contrary to all evidence.
"Feeling so much hope from the results out of Serbia and Brazil," said Rep. Yassamin Ansari (D-Ariz.). "This took tremendous people power, organizing, and grit. Now it’s time to turn our country around, too."
Kenneth Roth, former executive director of Human Rights Watch, said Sunday was "a good day for democracy."
"Israel could be next on Tuesday, then the US midterms the following week," said Roth. "The best case against the autocrats is the autocrat."
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'I'll Be Senator Mohamed to You, Bro': El-Sayed Hits Back at Trump's Islamophobic Attacks
“I don’t care how he pronounces my name,” the Michigan Democrat said. “Because he can just go on and call me senator after November.”
Oct 26, 2026
Abdul El-Sayed, the Democratic candidate for US Senate in Michigan, remained undeterred on Sunday night after President Donald Trump and his supporters ramped up their overt attacks on his Muslim faith at a rally earlier that day.
Continuing to refer to the former public health official by his middle name “Mohamed,” Trump told a frothing crowd in Port Huron on Sunday afternoon that El-Sayed—who would be the first Muslim elected to the Senate—was a “jihadist Muslim Brotherhood member,” escalating the false attacks made by his Republican opponent, former US Rep. Mike Rogers.
"I get that the president takes personal offense to my first name," El-Sayed said at his own rally in Grand Rapids later that evening. "He doesn't mind as much when it's the Saudis who are funding his son-in-law's private equity. Doesn't seem to mind as much when it's the Qataris who are giving them a $400 million private jet. He just seems to have trouble pronouncing it when it's my name."
"I don't care how he pronounces my name. I don't even care that he remembers my whole name. Because he can just go on and call me senator after November," he continued. "I'll be Senator Mohamed to you, bro."
The continued attacks on El-Sayed’s name and Muslim faith were part of a barrage of racist and Islamophobic remarks from Trump and his allies at the rally, which several observers on social media, including the prominent left-wing streamer Hasan Piker, compared to a “Klan rally.”
Portraying El-Sayed as a terrorist, Trump said the Democrat should not be allowed to fly on airplanes and, if elected, should be required to pass through a metal detector when entering the Senate.
Contrasting El-Sayed with Rogers, whom he described as American as “apple pie,” Trump said that El-Sayed, who has frequently emphasized his commitment to religious pluralism on the campaign trail, wanted to impose Sharia on the United States.
He also directed his ire at Jewish voters who may vote for El-Sayed, a frequent critic of US support for Israel.
“Any Jewish person that supports this guy should be ashamed of themselves,” Trump said, again invoking the antisemitic trope that Jewish Americans hold dual loyalty to both the US and Israel. “I’m polling 99% in Israel, and I cannot understand how anybody who’s Jewish can even think about voting for this guy.”
Trump compared stopping El-Sayed to stopping the 9/11 hijackers. Underscoring the point, he brought out David Beamer, whose son Todd died fighting the hijackers aboard Flight 93, to deliver more blood-and-soil invective.
"Mike Rogers is an American. Abdul has a birth certificate. The birth certificate says he's a citizen of America," Beamer said. "A birth certificate doesn't make you an American."
"He has a birth certificate, but he's not an American," he said of El-Sayed, who was born and raised in Michigan. "He had the choice. He had the choice to be an American or not. He has chosen otherwise. He has blood that's red. However, he has chosen to remove any strain of the white and blue part in his blood."
"We cannot, cannot allow this man to invade and occupy our country," Beamer said.
Though Rogers has attacked El-Sayed’s religious background relentlessly in the final months of the campaign, an average of polls from FiftyPlusOne shows El-Sayed with roughly a three-point lead just over a week before Election Day.
Rogers has struggled to defend Trump’s unpopular record as El-Sayed has hammered him over inflation, corruption, and the Iran war. El-Sayed, meanwhile, has stayed focused on a three-part pitch to Michiganders: “Money out of politics, money in your pocket, Medicare for All.”
Joining El-Sayed in Grand Rapids, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) suggested Republicans were resorting to Islamophobia because they had nothing of substance to offer voters on the economy.
“Mr. President, instead of slandering Abdul and his family, what are you going to do about the healthcare crisis in America? What are you going to do about the housing crisis? What are you going to do about income and wealth inequality?” Sanders asked. “These guys have nothing to say about the real issues impacting working families, and all they can do is foment hatred and divisiveness.”
"The reason that in many respects this race here in Michigan is... the race that people all over the world are looking at, is whether or not the people of Michigan are going to stand up to that vile racism," Sanders continued. "And I have every confidence in the world that's exactly what you're going to do."
Republican attacks seem to have alienated some of the Arab American voters who unexpectedly broke for Trump in 2024 over the Biden administration's support for Israel's genocide in Gaza.
"The remarks are out of line and crazy," said Bishara Bahbah, a founder of Arab Americans for Trump. "I mean, no sane individual would say these things."
"They are crossing a red line. They are racist," Bahbah told The Associated Press. "The president of the United States saying that about a person because of his religion, that is just not acceptable. And people are going to remember that on November 3."
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DOJ 'Appears to Be Covering Up' Trump-Epstein Connections, Dems Say in New Report
"Trump’s Justice Department has shut down investigations, deliberately withheld evidence and, through Todd Blanche, prevented Ghislaine Maxwell from discussing a survivor whose account implicated Trump."
Oct 26, 2026
Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee published a report Monday alleging that the US Justice Department is engaged in a "desperate" attempt to cover up President Donald Trump's connections to the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, citing a growing body of documentary evidence and witness testimony.
The 53-page report, released days before the midterm elections, lays out the accounts of 11 women who have connected Trump to Epstein and the latter's sex-trafficking operations. Five of those women—identified as Beatrice Keul, Stacey Williams, Jill Harth, Katie Johnson, and Jane Doe—"directly accused Trump of raping or sexually assaulting them in Epstein’s company or direct physical presence," according to the new report, which calls for a special counsel investigation into "Epstein's co-conspirators" and the alleged coverup by the DOJ, currently headed by former Trump lawyer Todd Blanche.
“Trump says he knew Jeffrey Epstein ‘just like everybody in Palm Beach knew him.’ Not exactly," said Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.), the ranking member of the House Judiciary Committee. "Evidence involving 11 women tells a completely different and far more damning story about their relationship and the abuse of young women and girls that took place in their network."
"Five women have directly accused Trump of rape or sexual assault in Epstein’s company or presence; others have indicated that Epstein or Maxwell attempted to traffic them to Trump," Raskin continued. "These women have spoken to investigators and, in some cases, testified under oath, yet Trump’s Justice Department has shut down investigations, deliberately withheld evidence and, through Todd Blanche, prevented Ghislaine Maxwell from discussing a survivor whose account implicated Trump—all while insisting there is no basis upon which to investigate Epstein’s possible accomplices. Trump’s Justice Department appears to be covering up these crimes to protect the president."
The report accuses the Justice Department's leaders—including Blanche and former Attorney General Pam Bondi, who oversaw the legally mandated release of some of the Epstein files—of operating "like a private legal defense firm" for the president, who has repeatedly downplayed his past relationship with Epstein and condemned the furor over the files as a "hoax."
Among the allegations featured in Democrats' report is that Trump raped Beatrice Keul in a hotel suite during his American Dream Pageant in 1993. Keul, who was 24 at the time of the alleged assault, told committee staff that Trump promised to arrange a visa for her.
The report continues:
According to Keul, after Trump stepped away from their conversation, Epstein immediately approached her saying 'I’m Jeffrey, Don’s best friend.' Epstein then spent at least 10 minutes talking to Keul, all the time looking over and grinning at Trump, who had remained in the room and was watching their conversation from afar. Epstein also made similar promises as Trump and asked Keul to attend a party at Mar-a-Lago in the coming months...
Later that day, Donald Trump’s representative invited Keul to go upstairs at the Plaza Hotel to meet with Trump. Believing this meeting to be a lucky break for the purpose of furthering her career and education, Keul accompanied Trump’s representative upstairs. He ushered her into the suite, where upon entering, Trump reportedly grabbed Keul from behind and forcibly raped her; in the process, tearing her dress and causing bleeding and bruising on multiple parts of her body.
Two allegations detailed in the House Judiciary Committee report involve allegations that Trump sexually assaulted two 13-year-old girls.
Katie Johnson, a pseudonym, "alleged to the FBI that Trump and Epstein repeatedly raped her at Epstein’s New York residence in 1994, when she was 13," the report states. "She said the men argued over who would take her virginity. Whistleblower information obtained by the committee indicates that documents linked to a case number involving Katie Johnson have been withheld from Congress and the public."
A spokesperson for Trump's White House told MS NOW in response to the report that "none of these allegations are true" and said, falsely, that Trump "has been fully exonerated of anything related to Epstein."
Raskin said Monday that "the women who survived Epstein deserve to be heard, Congress must have the complete files required by law, and an independent special counsel must investigate Epstein’s co-conspirators and DOJ’s coverup and ensure that state and foreign prosecutors have the evidence they need to pursue justice."
In addition to the grave allegations against Trump, the report suggests Blanche potentially engaged in "witness tampering and obstruction of an official proceeding—serious felonies." The report points to a 2025 conversation between Blanche and convicted sex trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell, a longtime Epstein companion and co-conspirator.
"The whole point of the conversation was not to uncover information but to create a conspiracy of silence and strategically deter Ghislaine Maxwell from sharing information that was not public at the time regarding the relationship between Trump and Epstein," the report says.
The Democrats' report expresses doubt that the Trump administration will take the "minimal step" of appointing an independent special counsel to investigate matters related to Epstein and the president.
"Accordingly," the report concludes, "Congress must continue to use its legislative and oversight powers to pursue justice for survivors and bring an end to the Trump administration’s shameful, bureaucratic, and political cover-up."
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US Urged to Recognize Lula's Win as Trump Ally Flávio Bolsonaro Demands 'Annulment'
"The Trump administration, which has close relations with the Bolsonaro family, could help defuse this threat by joining other governments in recognizing the election outcome."
Oct 26, 2026
Pro-democracy campaigners urged governments around the world, including in the US, to formally recognize Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva victory in Sunday's runoff election as his far-right challenger, Sen. Flávio Bolsonaro, refused to accept the results, sparking fears of political violence and another coup attempt.
"It is impossible to recognize the results. I am going to request the annulment of these elections," said Bolsonaro, the son of former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, who was convicted last year over a plot to violently maintain power following Lula's 2022 election win. On Sunday, the younger Bolsonaro pointed to the Brazilian Supreme Court's decision to keep polls open for two hours past the scheduled deadline as a reason to dispute the results—even though both Lula and Bolsonaro pushed for the extension, for different reasons.
Numerous world leaders, including Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum and Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, congratulated Lula on his reelection win over Flávio Bolsonaro, an ally of US President Donald Trump. The US-based Center for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR), which sounded the alarm about the Trump administration's attempts to interfere in the Brazilian elections ahead of Sunday's runoff, said in a statement on Sunday that "governments—including the Trump administration—should immediately recognize the outcome, to prevent a possible coup or further violence."
"It’s likely that Flávio Bolsonaro will, like his father in late 2022, encourage his supporters to mobilize in order to try to overturn the election results, which could trigger a new wave of political violence,” said Alex Main, CEPR’s director of international policy who was in Brazil for the elections. "The Trump administration, which has close relations with the Bolsonaro family, could help defuse this threat by joining other governments in recognizing the election outcome."
Trump, who hosted Bolsonaro at the White House in May, has yet to comment on the Brazilian election results, as of this writing. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, whose department led the effort to tilt the election in Bolsonaro's favor, has also not publicly commented on Sunday's results.
Mark Weisbrot, CEPR's co-director, called Lula's win "a victory for democracy and independence in the Americas against the massive intervention from the Trump administration in favor of the Bolsonaro team."
"This included politically driven tariffs and other efforts to influence the campaign," said Weisbrot. "Trump also tried to stop the trial of Jair Bolsonaro, who—like Trump—refused to accept his defeat in a presidential election, and was convicted of attempting a coup d’état and attempted violent abolition of the democratic rule of law."
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Brazil's Lula Wins 'Historic Victory' Against Right-Wing Trump Ally Flávio Bolsonaro
"This shows that Trumpismo is waning, and it is our responsibility now to make sure that we kill the beast," Pennsylvania Democratic House nominee Chris Rabb said.
Oct 25, 2026
In a historic comeback, Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva triumphed in Sunday's run-off election over right-wing challenger Flávio Bolsonaro, the son of former Brazilian President and convicted coup-plotter Jair Bolsonaro.
Lula's victory comes despite the best efforts of US President Donald Trump and his Big Tech backers, as Trump's administration openly intervened on behalf of Bolsonaro and Meta boosted pro-Bolsonaro over pro-Lula content on its social media platforms.
"Lula won, Brazil won, democracy won, the Americas won," said Pennsylvania Democratic House nominee Chris Rabb from Lula's campaign headquarters in Sao Paulo, Brazil, after the results were announced around 9:15 pm Brasilia time. "They declared victory for Lula da Silva for his fourth term against a raging fascist, rubber-stamped for Donald Trump."
"These elections have represented a historic victory for the majority of the Brazilian people, who mobilized to defend democracy against the threat of fascism."
Rabb noted that Lula's victory marked an important turning point for the left in Latin America, as far-right parties had won every other national election in the region since the start of Trump's second term. "This is the first victory for democracy in this hemisphere since Trump took office," Rabb said.
With 99.99% of the votes counted, Lula won by 51.79% to Bolsonario's 48.21%, making him the first Brazilian candidate since the restoration of democracy in 1985 to win a second-round election after coming in second in the initial round.
“I would like to thank the Brazilian people for the generosity they have shown me for a long time,” Lula said in his victory speech in São Paulo late Sunday. “And, in this second round, I want to thank the generosity of the Brazilian youth, who took to the streets to defend democracy.”
After finishing two percentage points behind Bolsonaro in the October 4 poll, Lula re-energized his campaign by finally shortening the Brazilian workweek from six to five days, as his supporters launched demonstrations against the far-right.
"These elections have represented a historic victory for the majority of the Brazilian people, who mobilized to defend democracy against the threat of fascism," Francesca Emanuele, senior international policy associate with the Center for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR), told Common Dreams from Sao Paulo, Brazil, where she was monitoring the elections. "It was the Brazilian people themselves (students, working-class, and middle-class Brazilians) who took to the streets and mobilized tirelessly from the very first day after the first round of voting to overturn the first-round results and secure Lula’s victory."
Reginaldo Lopes, a federal deputy for Lula's Workers' Party, told The Guardian: “I feel incredible… This is Brazil telling the world that the extreme right is fascist, that the extreme right is against Black people, is against the poor, against the state, against gay people... We are going to reorganize the democratic forces [in this country.]"
Sunday's victory did not come easily, as the Lula campaign complained of bus shortages in the key cities of Salvador and Sao Paulo, requesting that the Brazilian Supreme Court extend the voting by two hours. The court granted the request, so polls closed at 7 pm Brasilia time instead of 5 pm.
"Lula’s win is the first good news for the planet in a while!"
"Lula has won despite the unfair practices his campaign has faced from Meta, interference from the Trump administration, and severe disruptions to public transportation on election day in major cities (where up to 50% of bus fleets were reportedly out of service)," Emanuele told Common Dreams. "These disruptions disproportionately affected working-class voters, who rely heavily on public transportation and have historically been a key part of Lula’s electoral base."
She continued: "Despite all these obstacles, Lula’s campaign managed to turn around a first-round result that, just a few weeks ago, had seemed extremely difficult to reverse. This is a major victory for the majority of the Brazilian people."
Several advocates and lawmakers hailed the election results as a rebuke to the far-right and the Trump administration in particular.
"During his campaign, President Lula characterized 2026’s elections as a choice between 'sovereignty or submission.' Brazil has clearly chosen sovereignty," the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA), who sent a delegation to observe both rounds of Brazil's elections, wrote in a statement.
Progressive Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) posted on social media: "People all across the world are fighting back against extremism. With Lula in Brazil, they just won. Authoritarian leaders always attack democracy because they stand no chance against the will of their people. Trump must respect the results and not undermine Brazil’s elections."
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) said: "Congratulations to Lula on his extraordinary reelection victory in the Brazilian presidential election. Lula has stood up for Brazilian workers & democracy—and will continue to do so in the next four years."
"Lula's hard-fought victory is an indictment on the right-wing wave sweeping through Latin America," Joseph Bouchard, a journalist and researcher who focuses on Latin America, told Common Dreams. "Except for [ Salvadorian President Nayib] Bukele, the right across the region is still incredibly unpopular, and rightly seen as corrupt, autocratic, and uncommitted to fixing systemic issues. Lula shows there is still a fight for democracy worth having, while the region is plunged into its darkest, most regressive period since the Cold War. The entire region is populated by vassal states for US interests, who have declared states of exception to curtail rights, freedoms, and basic principles of social democracy, in the name of a failed and anti-human war on drugs."
Lula's victory also has planetary consequences, as he brought deforestation in the Amazon rainforest back down to record lows after it accelerated during the tenure of Jair Bolsonaro, who attacked environmental protections and Indigenous rights.
"Lula’s win is the first good news for the planet in a while!" wrote 350.org and Third Act co-founder Bill McKibben. "I bet it shaves a tenth of a degree off how hot our Earth eventually gets, which will save millions of lives. Thank you Brazil!"
Lula still faces a fight ahead, as Bolsonaro announced it was "impossible to concede the election result" due to the extension of polling hours, even though his team had also sought an extension in parts of southeastern Brazil because of unfavorable weather.
Bouchard pointed out that "Lula will fight an uphill battle with a far-right Congress, inept Supreme Court, and constant outside pressure.."
"Trump's silence on the result is worrisome, with Flavio not conceding and demanding an annulment," he told Common Dreams. "Sadly, much of the corporate press has legitimated these claims, despite the right's concerted efforts at destroying democracy. No matter how much the authoritarians try to tip the scales, the people can still prevail, if the left is willing to fight. This might prove to be a confidence boost to the demoralized and overpowered left all over the region, and may hopefully set the region back toward progress, hard fought after decades of dictatorship and neoliberal transitions."
US-based Lula allies urged others in the US to defend Brazil's democracy from Trump administration interference and to take their own stand against the far-right in the upcoming midterm elections.
The DSA wrote:
However, the fight continues—the thin margin of this victory indicates that continued struggle and mobilization will be crucial. As global capitalism fails to solve worsening problems of its own making, the capitalists turn to right-wing authoritarianism. Brazil’s left-wing coalition will face a right-wing Congress at home, a hostile Trump administration in the US, and hostile capitalists both [at] home and abroad in the years ahead. We of the DSA stand in solidarity with our comrades in the PT [Lula's Partido dos Trabalhadores], PSOL [Brazil's left-wing Socialism and Liberty Party], and Brazilian social movements in this fight for democratic self-determination.
This solidarity means recognizing our country’s role in the threat to Brazilian democracy. These elections were marred by interference from the US, whether by Trump’s politically motivated tariffs, or by manipulation of social media by US-based tech companies like Meta. They aimed to subvert Brazil’s democracy to favor its far-right allies grouped in the "Shield of the Americas," and to get their hands on crucial natural resources, such as lithium, cobalt, and rare earth minerals as well as petroleum and iron ore, which Brazil possesses in abundance and which Lula has sworn to protect as national patrimony. The DSA categorically denounces these meddlesome, imperialist efforts. We fight for a working-class foreign policy—one which centers peace, multilateralism, and respects national self-determination, free from US interference.
Rabb concluded his message with a call to action, and a celebration: "This is a big deal for us in the United States. This shows that Trumpismo is waning, and it is our responsibility now to make sure that we kill the beast. That beast is injustice, it's oligarchy, it's neoliberalism. All of these things. Now it's our turn, folks. November 3 is right around the corner, but right now I'm going to party with these Brazilians."
Update: This piece has been updated with commentary from Joseph Bouchard.
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'A Vote for Rogers Is a Vote for the Trump Agenda' Says El-Sayed as Rogers Hedges in Interview
Appearing on NBC's "Meet the Press" on Sunday, Michigan Republican Senate candidate Mike Rogers twice dodged questions about his support for President Donald Trump and the MAGA movement.
Oct 25, 2026
In another indication that the cratering popularity of President Donald Trump and his policies is making GOP midterm candidates nervous, Michigan Republican Senate candidate Mike Rogers stammered before saying there was something wrong with his earpiece when asked if a vote for him was "a vote for the Trump agenda."
The moment came during an interview with Kristin Welker on NBC's "Meet the Press" Sunday morning.
"I'm apologizing, I'm having some difficulty in my earpiece, but, 'Is a vote for you...' I'm not sure, I'll tell you what a vote for me is, it's a great day for the state of Michigan," Rogers said.
His midterm opponent, Democratic Michigan Senate candidate Dr. Abdul El-Sayed, shot back on social media: "Lemme pick that up for him: Yes, yes it is. A vote for Rogers is a vote for the Trump agenda."
Lemme pick that up for him: Yes, yes it is. A vote for Rogers is a vote for the Trump agenda.
— Dr. Abdul El-Sayed (@AbdulElSayed) October 25, 2026
Throughout the interview, Rogers hedged on his relationship to the president and the MAGA movement that put him in power. In his extended answer to the first question, he mentioned that there were things that he disagreed with Trump on, namely some of the Canadian tariffs and the Iran War, but argued that a Republican majority was better placed to "work with" Trump on those issues rather than "just go back to poke him in the eye." He did not say why a Republican Congress had not been able to make progress on either ending the war or mitigating the tariffs to date.
However, when Welker then asked him if he would vote to repeal some of Trump's tariffs, Rogers also sidestepped the question, saying, "The best way to do this is walk in and say, 'Can we work this out?'"
Toward the end of the same interview, Rogers also would not answer directly when Welker asked, "Big picture: Do you consider yourself to be a MAGA Republican?"
Rogers responded by calling the question "a little bit disgusting" and spending the rest of the interview talking over Welker about Democrats who had told him they would not vote for his opponent El-Sayed.
Oh my goodness -- for nearly 3 minutes, Mike Rogers refuses to answer Kristen Welker's repeated questions about if he considers himself to be "a MAGA Republican" https://t.co/q4uSP5hgam
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) October 25, 2026
"He’s too afraid to admit he’s a MAGA Republican and he’s too afraid to admit he’s not," writer and director Andy Ostroy wrote on social media. "Mike Rogers is a weak, feckless coward who has nothing to offer Michiganders except outrageously racist lies about @AbdulElSayed, and the good people of Michigan know it. Which is why Abdul is going to win…"
Rogers' flailing came days after Trump's net approval ratings fell to a new career low of 31%, according to Reuters/Ipsos polling.
Social media account The Measured Take noted that "Mike Rogers has tied himself to Donald Trump for years. With nine days until the election and Trump’s approval rating in the low 30s, he sees the writing on the wall and is trying to distance himself."
The interview reflects a growing trend of Republican midterm candidates tepidly and belatedly criticizing some of Trump's policies, especially the war with Iran, without taking any real action to back up their words.
El-Sayed had previously slammed Rogers for reversing course on the war in late September.
“You’ve spent your entire campaign supporting the war in Iran," he said. "Liar, coward, fraud.”
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