The Latest: Trump will rally Georgia Republicans despite party divisions in the battleground state

President Donald Trump’s midterm campaign blitz arrives in Georgia on Friday for a rally with top Republican candidates in a state that has long been the epicenter of the president’s false claims about election fraud.

New White House press secretary Katie Zacharia defended her legal background and justified her truncated inaugural briefing on Thursday as she navigates a rocky first week as the president’s chief spokeswoman . Zacharia said she did not have time to fully prepare for her first briefing on Tuesday and that keeping it short was always the plan because Trump would field questions from journalists later that morning.

Alaska’s major U.S. Senate candidates clashed over the Iran war , soaring consumer prices and personal credibility Thursday during a high-stakes debate in a contest that will play into control of the closely divided chamber .

The Latest:

Democrat Mary Peltola said the U.S. should be doing all it can to help support Ukraine and not bolster Russia. The Alaska U.S. Senate candidate said a Trump administration plan to buy diesel from Russia was “foolish.”

“I do not think there’s any way, shape or form the U.S. should be buying anything from Russia,” she said.

Peltola made the comments during a late Thursday debate with Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan.

Sullivan said he’s been “one of the strongest supporters of Ukraine” before pivoting to national security and saying Democrats were always “cutting our military, undermining readiness.”

He said he opposed buying diesel from Russia.

The two major candidates in Alaska’s U.S. Senate race agreed Thursday that President Donald Trump is not allowed to seek a third term.

The question arose in a debate between Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan and Democrat Mary Peltola, a former congresswoman. Some people were wearing or selling T-shirts and sweatshirts emblazoned with “Trump 2028 (Rewrite the Rules)” at Trump’s rally for Sullivan in Wasilla.

The candidates were asked if they’d support a third term. Both said no.

Peltola said the law calls for two terms. Sullivan, a former state attorney general and Trump ally, said a third term would be unconstitutional.

Alaska Republican U.S. Sen. Dan Sullivan questioned the use of notes during a debate late Thursday by his main opponent in his reelection bid.

Democrat Mary Peltola, a former congresswoman, referred numerous times to a stack of notes during the one-hour debate, seemingly reading from them at times. At one point, Sullivan asked: “We weren’t supposed to get these questions beforehand, were we?”

The moderator said neither had received any questions in advance. Peltola said she was prepared.

After the debate, Sullivan brought the issue up again. “You can’t cue card your way to the U.S. Senate,” he told reporters.

Sullivan has tried to characterize Peltola as ineffective during her time in the U.S. House.

The Peltola campaign released a statement saying Sullivan had “copied” answers from Peltola in a prior meeting, but “this debate he got mad that she was too prepared.”

At a packed rally in Texas on Thursday, James Talarico compared his U.S. Senate campaign to David — who fought Goliath — as the Democrat faces more than $158 million in outside spending by Republican leadership and the world’s richest man, Elon Musk.

Talarico told rallygoers under bright lights that David may not have had Goliath’s strength, but he had a slingshot.

“You are my slingshot,” he continued, without mentioning Musk or the other spending against him. “We are going up against our own Goliaths.”

The description falls in line with Talarico’s past rhetoric painting politics not as right versus left, but the ultrawealthy versus everyone else, as he tries to become the first Democrat to win statewide in over 30 years. Talarico’s own campaign has raised record amounts of money in one of the nation’s more expensive and competitive Senate races.

The national conversation around Talarico’s campaign has evolved over the past months. Initially, the state lawmaker was considered just the latest of several Democratic candidates over the past years who gave the party hope of flipping Texas, only for that hope to deflate come Election Day.

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Alaska’s major U.S. Senate candidates clashed over the Iran war , soaring consumer prices and personal credibility Thursday during a high-stakes debate in a contest that will play into control of the closely divided chamber.

Two-term Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan said the war needs to end soon, and he wants the Strait of Hormuz to open and a deal to prevent Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons. Democrat Mary Peltola , a former congresswoman, said an agreement is “so far out of sight” and lamented the deaths of 20 military personnel.

“This war is driving up our energy bills and hurting Alaskans with no end in sight,” she said.

Sullivan said the best way to bring down energy costs “is to produce more Alaskan energy by and for Alaskans.”

The debate followed contours of Senate contests around the country, with Peltola blaming the Trump administration for rising gas and consumer prices and pulling back from traditional alliances around the globe, while Sullivan warned that Democratic leadership in Congress would undercut the military and curb domestic energy production.

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New White House press secretary Katie Zacharia on Thursday defended her legal background and justified her truncated inaugural briefing as she navigates a rocky first week as the president’s chief spokeswoman.

Zacharia sat down for an interview with conservative media. She told the conservative Human Events outlet that she did not have time to get fully prepared ahead of her first briefing on Tuesday and that it was always the plan to keep it short because President Donald Trump would field questions from journalists later that morning.

“It was absolutely my goal to keep it short, considering he is his own best spokesperson, and he would love -- and does love -- gaggling with the media as he goes to Marine One,” Zacharia said. “So I wanted to give ample deference and not barge into his time.”

The initial briefing materials were given to Zacharia on Monday evening, then completed Tuesday at 8 a.m., less than two hours before she would appear before the White House press corps. She had been up since 3 a.m. preparing, Zacharia said.

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Donald Trump’s midterm campaign blitz arrives in Georgia on Friday for a rally with top Republican candidates in a state that has long been the epicenter of the president’s false claims about election fraud.

In Dalton, the population center of conservative northwest Georgia, Trump will appear with Senate candidate Mike Collins and gubernatorial nominee Rick Jackson as part of the White House effort to boost Republican enthusiasm in an election that could reshape the final years of Trump’s second presidency.

“President Trump is the unequivocal leader, best messenger, and unmatched motivator for the Republican Party,” said White House spokesperson Davis Ingle.

Yet unlike some of Trump’s recent trips to solidly Republican states — Alabama, Montana, Tennessee — Georgia is a critical battleground. That means Jackson, a billionaire businessman, and Collins, a two-term congressman, need more than Trump stalwarts to defeat their respective Democratic opponents, former Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms and Sen. Jon Ossoff.

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