President Donald Trump spent Saturday, Oct. 31, at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Fla., placing midterm tele-rally calls, posting more than 80 endorsements and briefly taking questions from reporters at his club’s Halloween party, three days before the Nov. 3 midterm elections. Asked about costumes, he said, “I came as Donald Trump,” and added, “I had 10 minutes” (transcript). This edition covers 7:02 a.m. PDT Saturday to 7:02 a.m. PST Sunday, a 25-hour span because daylight saving time ended overnight, and quotes him from the Factba.se transcript, White House video and his own posts. Topics run by policy weight, then attention.

Highlights. He called the reported Habba Mildon contract “not acceptable” and said he told her he did not want her paid (transcript). He described Iran talks as “going fine” while calling Iran “not very reliable” and asking a New York Times reporter, “Why would you ask such a stupid question?” about a return to war (transcript). And he said a second Dan Sullivan on Alaska’s ballot amounted to “a Democrat con job” for which Democrats “should be held criminally responsible” (transcript).

1. Alina Habba Mildon and the Herrera pardon. Asked about the Times report, he said, “I thought it was terrible,” that “it's one thing for a person to get paid legal fees or whatever. She's a lawyer,” and “I thought it was totally obnoxious and outrageous and, uh, it's not acceptable” (transcript; ). Asked whether he expected her to donate to his library, he said, “No, not her” (pool report). Reuters, citing the Times, reports that the family of Venezuelan banker Julio Herrera Velutini guaranteed her more than $50 million over four years through Concord Partners, and that he pardoned Herrera on Jan. 15, 2026 (Reuters via New Straits Times). She says she never got paid for a pardon, never met anyone at the White House or Justice Department about one and never worked on one (Reuters via New Straits Times).

2. Iran. Asked about the state of the talks, he said, “They're going fine, but you know, I, they're not very reliable, I will tell you. They make a deal and then they back out,” and “we're not in that much of a hurry from the standpoint that we've knocked out their navy” (transcript; ). He said the US still has to deal with “one or two sites” and added, “You probably can look at Pickaxe Mountain, you have to take care of that” (transcript). Asked by a New York Times reporter whether he expected to go back to war this week, he said, “Why would you ask such a stupid question? New York Times… Let's say I did. Would I tell you?” (transcript; ). CNBC reports Qatari mediators held talks in Tehran; Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Iran has no plans to meet US officials (CNBC).

3. Michigan Senate race. Asked about “the fissure in the Democratic Party between Abdul El-Sayed and Haley Stevens,” he said Stevens “almost won,” that “They spent a day together and she realized he's a, he's an absolute jihadist,” that “he is a person that hates Black people, hates Jewish people, and I think probably hates all people,” and that El-Sayed “should not be in the Senate” (transcript; ). The desk found no public statement from Stevens saying so and no support for those claims in the sources it read. AP reported last week that El-Sayed, who would become the first Muslim US senator, calls such attacks “shameful,” and that Bishara Bahbah, a founder of Arab Americans for Trump, called earlier Trump remarks on El-Sayed “racist” (AP via WSLS).

4. Alaska’s second Dan Sullivan. He said of the lesser-known Daniel J. Sullivan on Alaska’s Senate ballot, “nobody can find him now. So he knows he's guilty,” called the episode “a fraud on the people” and “a Democrat con job, and it was done by Schumer,” named lawyer Marc Elias, and said “they should be held criminally responsible” (transcript; ). CBS reports that Sullivan left his hometown, that the Peltola campaign and national Democrats deny any connection, that the Justice Department has stepped up a criminal probe and that “Nobody has been charged with a crime” (CBS News).

5. Jensen Huang and a China spy report. Asked about a Times report that a Chinese spy plot targeted the Nvidia chief, he said, “I have a lot of respect for Jensen… We're gonna check it out very closely,” and, asked whether Huang will remain one of his science and technology advisers, “I would like to say yes. I mean, unless we find out something's in the contrary. I've always found Jensen Huang to be very above board” (transcript). China dismisses the report as “groundless speculation” (CNA).

6. The Memorial Circle arch. On a lawsuit by Virginia and the District of Columbia, he said, “They've sued me on everything. They've lost every lawsuit,” that the arch will look “more beautiful than the Arc de Triomphe” and “They take a vote next week” (transcript; ). Virginia Attorney General Jay Jones and D.C. Attorney General Brian Schwalb wrote that construction “will inflict immediate and irreparable harm on the District and Virginia”; White House spokesperson David Ingle said the arch “is going to be one of the most iconic landmarks” and did not address the suit; the planning commission votes Nov. 5 (NBC News; ABC News).

7. Russia, Ukraine and Brazil. On a US warning to Russia about a possible attack in Moscow, he said, “They're gonna be, uh, reporting to me tomorrow” (transcript); Russia’s FSB said it “verified” the US information and that “a Russian minor was detained” (NBC News). He said “the war between Ukraine and Russia is going to come to an end in the not too distant future” and, asked about inviting Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to the G20, “I would. I would. No problem” (transcript; ). Of Flávio Bolsonaro he said, “he can stay here as long as he wants… the election was a disgrace” (transcript; ).

8. Midterm turnout and endorsements. He posted tele-rally notices for Pennsylvania (“I am doing a TeleRally, NOW”), Ohio, Florida, New York and Michigan on X (, , , , ) and Truth Social (), plus early-voting calls () and 84 endorsement posts. At the gaggle he said of Tuesday, “I feel like we're doing well,” and later, “Those rallies are hot” (transcript). He also said “we've made $25 trillion” in investment, a figure the desk could not verify (transcript). On Truth Social he previewed an Iowa rally for Ashley Hinson and Zach Lahn ().

9. Images and memes on Truth Social. He posted a photo of Reuters White House correspondent Jacob Bogage with the words “Reuters (One of the Worst!) Reporter.” and the caption “Put yourself in shape. You look like hell!”, repeating a Thursday exchange (; Newsweek). He also posted a “Wake up America!” cartoon showing a turbaned figure with a torch, standing on a rug labeled “Islam,” burning doors labeled Norway, England, Sweden and France (); an image of Winston Churchill saying “Donald, you're doing a Superb Job” that could not have come from Churchill, who died in 1965 (); a “Life Before Obama” list (); and a “WELCOME TO GREENLAND” graphic ().

10. Election-integrity post and other remarks. In a long post praising Bill Essayli, the acting federal prosecutor in Los Angeles, he wrote, “He caught a massive number of Illegal Votes, 20,000, but potentially Hundreds of Thousands, and maybe even Millions, and the Court has just ruled against it. Why would they reject fixing Election Fraud?” (). AP reports a 9th Circuit panel ruled 2-1 against segregating about 20,000 Los Angeles ballots and that California calls the underlying list unreliable (AP via NBC Los Angeles). On the Binance hack he said, “we don't know if it's North Korea, but if it is, we'll talk to North Korea about it” (transcript). On El Salvador and Haiti he said he told President Nayib Bukele, “You're running your country, you have to do what you have to do” (transcript). And he called Florida Democratic Senate candidate Angie Nixon “a low IQ person” (transcript; ).

Deep dive: distance from a former lawyer. The Habba Mildon answer stands out because she worked as one of his lawyers before serving as acting US attorney in New Jersey (Reuters via New Straits Times). He drew a line between ordinary fees (“She's a lawyer”) and the reported contract, which he called “obnoxious and outrageous” (transcript). He did not address his own Jan. 15 pardon of Herrera in his answer; the Times report and Reuters tie her contract to the period before that pardon, while she denies any pardon work (Reuters via New Straits Times). The Justice Department did not immediately respond to Reuters (Reuters via New Straits Times).

What the record shows. His spoken wording matches the Factba.se transcript and the White House video (White House video). The Habba contract figures come from the New York Times as reported by Reuters; the desk did not read the Times story. The Alaska fraud allegation, the El-Sayed claims, the “$25 trillion” figure and the Essayli “Millions” claim remain unproven. The Huang spy report rests on unnamed US intelligence officials cited by the Times (CNA).

Responses. Supportive: White House spokesperson David Ingle defended the arch as a tribute to “American heroes” (NBC News), and Russia’s FSB credited the US warning (NBC News). Critical: Jones and Schwalb sued over the arch (NBC News); Bahbah called earlier El-Sayed remarks “racist” (AP via WSLS); China called the Huang report “groundless speculation” (CNA); and Heather Delaney Reese, a partisan Substack critic, called some of his Saturday posts “deeply racist” (Substack). The desk found no named supporter defending the “Wake up America!” cartoon.