Mike Rogers now distancing himself from Trump on tariffs

NEW: Ted Cruz is working behind-the-scenes to bolster Paxton in TX — offering advice, making intros to donors, hosting fundraisers, and buying ads with his PAC As Cruz mulls a 2028 run, TX-SEN will be a test of his influence "I am all in" on Paxton, Cruz told me politico.com/news/2026/10/06…

In Bethlehem, Mike Johnson jokes that he's "not the biggest fan of the Senate right now" as he takes a jab at the DSA: "They want to remove the president, pack the Supreme Court, and abolish the U.S. Senate. I'm not the biggest fan of the Senate right now, but I don't want to abolish it."

Mike Johnson defends Trump over his campaign-style PSAs while addressing the WH’s switch to PAC funding. Asked by @meredithllee if Trump should reimburse or refund the amount already spent by DHS, Johnson says: “Look, they're making their decisions on funding campaigns and the content of all of it. The one I saw, I've seen one — I don't have time to sit around and watch TV right now. I'm on the road constantly. The one I saw looked like a public service announcement. It was talking about America's greatness and the economy coming back, and it wasn't a plea to vote for anybody. It was just pro-Americana.” “Previous administrations, Democrats have done exactly the same thing. They have advanced their viewpoints and their policies on the airwaves, and that's what the president did. If it’s the super PAC’s funding, then that's good.”

Speaker Johnson says in Bethlehem, PA, that Ryan Mackenzie’s district is a “top 3 race in America right now.” He’s making a campaign swing through the state today in support of several vulnerable incumbents. “The entire country is watching what happens in about four districts in Pennsylvania, and this is a top 3 race in America right now.”

Encouraging sign for the Senate-passed college sports bill: Tim Burchett, who opposed the House push, appears to be on board. Says he spoke with Marsha Blackburn about it. Asked if he’ll vote yes, tells me: “I think so. I think it cleared up a lot of problems I had. I think it's a better deal.”

New: I got my hands on an advance copy of Thom Tillis' new book (coming out tomorrow). Interesting details on how the WH leaned on him to vote "yes" on Hegseth, including a Situation Room briefing with Vance. Tillis was noncommittal, but cast the deciding vote after he couldn't find a "smoking gun that would pry more votes away from him." Calls Hegseth's confirmation the "biggest regret of my career." Similar comment about his support for RFK, telling GOP colleagues at the time that he'd vote no if they "came out and gave me a reason to do so." He didn't want to be the "lone voice in the wilderness." "I should’ve stopped Kennedy," Tillis says. "I know that now." washingtonexaminer.com/news/…

New: NRSC chairman Tim Scott says Ken Paxton was "just wrong" to ding Trump's midterm convention “The truth of the matter is, President Trump and the midterm convention was a boost in the right direction,” Scott told reporters in a Wednesday press call. His comments follow leaked audio of Paxton suggesting his internal polling dropped after the convention washingtonexaminer.com/news/…

Here's Lankford's take on Trump stumping in red states like Oklahoma: "He is not only rallying -- he's fundraising." "And so, while he's rallying in one area with a strong base that's very supportive of him, he's fundraising in that area as well, so we can actually allocate dollars in other places."

For the record, John Kennedy won’t challenge Thune in November: “I don't aspire to anything like that.” Not that he’s expressed interest in the position before, but Kennedy has been openly critical of Thune and fundraising quite a bit on behalf of Rs. “I will never completely fit in. It's one of my best qualities. I go my own way, and my colleagues know that. But I'm not going to bullshit. I mean, I'm going to call it like I see it.”

New: Sen. John Kennedy (R-LA) is proving to be an unassuming yet prolific campaign asset for his party as he crisscrosses the country to fundraise and boost morale for Senate candidates. He expects to raise and spend up to $8M this cycle for others and credits his demand, in part, to his willingness to dish out hard truths. "I’m not going to tell the voters, ‘Oh, it’s President Biden’s fault, and it’s not that bad. You shouldn’t believe your own lying checkbooks,’” he said. “But I’m also very careful to point out to them that the ‘Lulu Lenin’ wing of the Democratic Party is in control." W/@DISivak washingtonexaminer.com/news/…

Thune emphasizing that the House already passed both the Ratepayer Protection Act and the stock trading bill: "It's a chance to actually make law -- it's not just making a point here. We have two pieces of legislation that, if the Senate picks up and passes, go to the president's desk and will be signed into law."

Thune's messaging on Dems and the bills they're expected to block on data centers/stock trading tomorrow: "I think what you're seeing is that this is the party of no. The party that can't take yes for an answer, and is interested in just trying to politicize everything going into the election."

Thune suggests he and Susie Wiles discussed Trump's midterm travel schedule, including concerns over the wisdom of campaigning so heavily in red territory "As is usually the case, I share my views in those meetings on a range of issues, but ultimately, the White House will have to decide how they want to deploy the president, where they think it makes the most sense, and where he can make the biggest difference."

Joni Ernst tells me she’s planning to join Ashley Hinson’s bus tour “towards the middle of October.”

Rand Paul also had this to say: “I think the bill is predicated upon protectionism, and really, if people look around, it's protectionism that's killing Republicans in Iowa, Ohio, Maine. You know, all the areas where we're having trouble right now in the election are due to the protectionism.”

Rand Paul tells me on the Moreno-Slotkin bill on Chinese cars: “We put forward some ideas, and they have them now.”

Spotted entering Thune’s office: Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei