Trump Midterm Campaigning, Rep. Omar Home Searched, Europe Pushes Back on Russia Deal

President Trump's rallies for other candidates sound a lot like rallies for Trump himself. Other Republicans share the stage briefly, overshadowed by a president who says it's like he's on the ballot. How much of candidates getting out of that? I mean, Martinez, that is Steven Skeep, and this is up first from NPR News. Congresswoman Elon Omar says the Justice Department made her a political target federal agency search for home on Monday, 22 days before the election, it's not clear what investigators are looking for, but they work for an administration that has claimed immigration fraud. Also U.S. allies do not like the president's plan to buy Russian diesel. They're tightening sanctions on Moscow instead. How far apart of the U.S. and Europe, stay with us, we've got the news you need to start your day. Trump has picked up the pace of his campaign travel ahead of the midterm elections. The president held a rally in Youngstown, Ohio last night and travels to Alaska today before doing still more events later in the week. NPR White House correspondent Daniel Kurtzlavin was in Youngstown last night, Daniel. So tell us how the president is trying to fire up his base. Well, there's this one line he keeps saying in his speeches. Just pretend that I'm on the ballot, because in a way I am on the ballot, because they will try and destroy everything we've done. Now it does feel like he's on the ballot when he says this in the sense that these events resemble very much his 2024 presidential campaign rallies. He gets up there and talks about his accomplishments. He calls out his super fans, the front row Joe's, he insults Democrats, he dislikes. But in addition, last night I'll add, he was interrupted twice by protesters. It appears that one really got kind of roughed up before law enforcement removed them. Trump for his part made fun of the protesters wait. So yeah, it was an eventful rally, but also very much a Trump rally like many others. Now, to be clear, the president is not on the ballot, but do the candidates who are on the ballot get any attention at these events. They do some Ohio GOP gubernatorial candidate Vivek Ramaswami spoke for a few minutes as to GOP Senator John Houston, who's in a tight race against former Democratic Senator Chair and Brown. But still it's striking. Trump is out campaigning for others, but these rallies are so much of Trump being Trump. The insults the classness using a swear word or two, it all just emphasizes that the GOP is still his party, even while his approval continues to sink. So you got to wonder for candidate like Ramaswami or Houston, what's the return here on appearing with Trump? Yeah, that's the thing because a lot of these rallies are being held in states which Trump won by a lot. So what's the logic behind even doing these events? You know, Trump has said recently that he thinks these events really do help get out the vote. In addition, earlier this month, he was asked about going to red states and he said he was going, quote, just to make sure. Now in recent weeks, like you said, he's spoken in Ohio and Texas, which both have tight Senate and governor's races in 2024. He won those states and Alaska where he's headed today by more than 10 points and he's been doing rallies in even deeper red states like Tennessee and Alabama. Now of course, we don't know how this helps turn out, but it's also possible he's just hoping for good optics with these events to show himself drawing enthusiastic crowds of thousands. All right. So that's where Trump is going. But what about the rest of the GOP? Where are they putting their resources? Well, looking at ad money, that's a way to show what parties and packs are thinking now. The most expensive races in that sense are no surprise. It's Senate races in Texas, Ohio and Michigan. But lately, we've seen a GOP ad spending uptick in some other places like Iowa and Kansas both of which have been pretty red in recent years. And that possibly signals new concerns about those red states. Plus, there's been a pullback in spending in the North Carolina Senate race, which the Cook Political Report now considers a likely democratic win. Now, none of this tells you who's going to win, but it can give some hints as to what party operatives are thinking. Omar is a Democrat on Monday morning, federal immigration agents searched her home in Washington, DC. NPR's Luke Garrett was there as federal agents took over a city block to execute their search warrant. And now he's in our studios. Welcome to 31. Morning, Steve. So what happened? So early Monday, federal agents searched Congress for an Omar's home in Northeast DC. One of her neighbors, 79-year-old Sharon Jackson, said she woke up to loud knocking at 4.30 a.m. I got awakened by boom, boom, boom, boom. Jackson says she walked out her front door. She said she saw vans and agents with gloves walking to and from Omar's home. Just across the street. And she said she was worried. If you talk to Miss Omar, tell her that your neighbor with the other Teddy dog says she's in my prayers. By the time I got there around 10 a.m., federal agents had closed off the entire block. Neighbors, other journalists, myself, we were all watching. Okay, so why were federal agents doing this? The agents there that I talked to didn't comment, but the Department of Justice says agents with Homeland Security Investigations, quote, "executed a traditionally authorized search warrant." Each SI is an arm of U.S. immigration and customs enforcement, often known as ICE. The DOJ says the search of Omar's home was part of what they call an ongoing federal criminal investigation. Okay, I guess useful to know that they say it's a criminal investigation, but what's the alleged crime or suspected crime? So Steve, we just haven't gotten the full picture yet. But a current official, not authorized to speak publicly about this, told me this search of Omar's home is part of a multi-year probe that involved numerous whistleblower complaints. And a former official, who also wasn't authorized to speak publicly, but who had been briefed about this very investigation, says the home search deals with allegations of immigration fraud. Now, Vice President Shady Vance has previously alleged Omar committed immigration fraud. It's something she denies. And you know, Steve Omar is an American citizen. She came to the U.S. as a refugee from Somalia. Okay, what is this United States citizen saying? Right. Congresswoman Omar put out a statement and went on social media Monday afternoon. She called the search an attempt to target political enemies and weaponize federal law enforcement. She also wrote that Trump has targeted her for a decade with what she called smear campaigns. She also said she wouldn't be silenced by this. Trump certainly has been vocal about Omar. What is he saying now? Yes, he continued that trend on Monday night. Trump called Omar totally crooked just before boarding Marine one at the White House. He said he had nothing to do with the actual investigation into Omar. That's up to the DOJ, Trump said. But Steve, we do know that senior DOJ leadership, including acting deputy attorney general Trent McCodder, you know, they all were consulted before this search and sources, you know, familiar told our colleague, Ryan Lucas, that the DOJ approved this. And we should note the Trump administration has been explicit that the Department of Justice should follow Trump's orders in all matters. I want to ask you about the timing of this. 22 days before the midterm election. And there is a rule at the Department of Justice that they should not make public moves and investigations that relate to officials or candidates within 60 days of the election. How do they explain this? So you're right, Steve. There is a rule, but it's just not legally binding. It's been more of a norm, an unwritten understanding. It's all meant to protect elections from, you know, politicized use of law enforcement. But the DOJ has really been inconsistent about this over the past few election cycles. Okay. And Pierre is Luke Garrett. Thanks for coming by. You bet. Leaders in Europe do not like President Trump's latest moves in the war in Ukraine. Now, Trump demanded that Ukraine stop its attacks on Russian oil refineries. Trump also said that there was a ceasefire on attacks against energy infrastructure, which neither Ukraine nor Russia seemed to know about. The president also lifted sanctions on Russian diesel fuel, even as Europeans imposed new sanctions on the Russian military complex. Terry Schultz is following all this from a European security conference in Warsaw, Poland. Welcome. Thank you. So what is it about the president statements that concerns allies of Ukraine? I think there's just really no faith in these moves by the White House, Steve. You know, President Zelensky spoke here remotely in Warsaw and said that even as this ceasefire was announced by President Trump, Ukrainian oil refineries were being bombed. So European officials and experts treated this basically as one more attempt by the White House to pressure Ukraine in favor of Russia. Now one of the strongest reactions came from Trump's former Ukraine envoy, Keith Kellogg, who shared what he would advise Zelensky to do in quite colorful language. I'd burn down every one of the goddamn refineries that he Russia has today. Take them all out. And I said, you make them pay the price. You take it home. It's a military target, take those targets out. Now Kellogg left his position in January and has been pretty outspoken about his support for Kiev since. Now here's an interesting thing. President Trump has said that Ukraine should get a new president, that Zelensky should leave office. And I understand Zelensky responded with a proposal of sorts. That's right. Zelensky said if Trump gets Russian President Vladimir Putin to agree to a 60-day ceasefire, he's Zelensky would work on getting the laws changed to hold elections in Ukraine. I asked former Estonia Defense Minister Hanup Evkor what he thought of Trump's demand. Zelensky was very clear about it. He is not afraid of the elections, he is ready to do that, but to put in this to keep the world. And we've seen throughout the history that Putin is never keeping the world. So, Evkor thinks it's a long shot that this will happen. Okay. So, how are Europeans responding to this other development? The United States has very high diesel fuel prices, and the president suddenly announced an agreement of some sort for the U.S. to buy diesel fuel from Russia. More of the same from the European perspective, but in the meantime, the European Union even intensified its efforts to stem the Kremlin's war effort. Now, it takes a long time to tee up sanctions, so this is not in reaction specifically to these latest U.S. moves. At the EU, just imposed its largest ever-package of sanctions against almost 1,600 individuals and companies related to Russia's military industry. And while it appears that no one knew in advance about Trump's diesel deal, analyst Maida Ruger from the European Council on Foreign Relations says it wasn't exactly a surprise. Trump's personal desire for economic reset with Russia and announcing business deals has really been the only consistent element of Trump's Russia-Ukraine policies. Let me come back to this security conference where you're at. What are NATO officials saying the North Atlantic Alliance? Well, there's a lot of concern in Europe about U.S. plans to withdraw troops and military assets. So, U.S. Air Force General Alexis Grinkewitch, and he's NATO's Supreme Allied Commander Europe, used this conference to make sure there's no misunderstanding in Moscow that NATO's resolve is weakening. He unveiled what he called the theory of victory, describing how NATO would use its entire range of capabilities to respond to any attack. Our alliance exists to preserve peace, but let there be no doubt, should war come, we will block, blunt, any attack, and then if it does not cease, we will break the forces conducting aggression against us, where rehearsed and we're ready. And Grinkewitch's speech comes as Europe is experiencing an increasing number of Russian threats, including sabotage, cyber attacks, disinformation. And that's in addition to the concerns about the U.S. commitment. So, this speech was definitely meant to reassure allies that NATO's got things covered in all contingencies. Terry Schultz is reporting from Warsaw. Thanks so much. You're welcome. Right now, you can watch a new special report from Michelle Martin. It's called Going There, a matter of life and death. Michelle looks at rising suicide rates among black Americans. She talks with experts and families and people who struggled with suicidal thoughts to dispel myths that can keep people from getting the help they need. This is really compelling. You can watch the full conversation on NPR's YouTube page. And that's up first for this Tuesday, October 13th. I'm Steve Inskeep. And I mean, Martinez, today's episode of a first was edited by Miguel Macias, Pablo Narama, Tina Kriah, Mohamed Elbar, DC, and Alice Wolfley, it was produced by Ziat Butch and Mia Dumas. Our director is Christopher Thomas. We get engineering support from Stacey Abbott. Our technical director is Karli Strange. And our supervising senior producer is Vincent Pearson. Join us again tomorrow. [MUSIC]