“It is difficult to imagine a more authoritative source on these issues than Mr. Smith,” the network’s lawyers explained in a court filing.

Tuesday, October 20, 2026

 

TODAY'S TOP MADDOWBLOG POSTS

Why the BBC wants to talk to Jack Smith, and why Team Trump wants to block his testimony

Why the BBC wants to talk to Jack Smith, and why Team Trump wants to block his testimony

“It is difficult to imagine a more authoritative source on these issues than Mr. Smith,” the network’s lawyers explained in a court filing.

MORE
 

Trump takes transactional politics to a new level at latest campaign rally

Trump effectively told Kansans he’s prepared to hurt the state on purpose if he dislikes an election result, which is every bit as remarkable as it sounds.

MORE

Trump takes transactional politics to a new level at latest campaign rally

Trump effectively told Kansans he’s prepared to hurt the state on purpose if he dislikes an election result, which is every bit as remarkable as it sounds.

MORE

As Trump profits off the presidency, JD Vance is surprisingly unobservant

The American mainstream has clearly noticed the president using his office to enrich himself. The vice president, however, claims he hasn’t noticed.

MORE

As Trump profits off the presidency, JD Vance is surprisingly unobservant

The American mainstream has clearly noticed the president using his office to enrich himself. The vice president, however, claims he hasn’t noticed.

MORE

The problem(s) with the White House’s new women’s health initiative

Under the circumstances, it’s probably best to keep expectations low as the White House’s efforts on this issue get underway.

MORE

The problem(s) with the White House’s new women’s health initiative

Under the circumstances, it’s probably best to keep expectations low as the White House’s efforts on this issue get underway.

MORE
 

MORE FROM THE MADDOWBLOG

  • 'POLITICALLY INSANE': Trump sets bad policy time bomb for after midterms
  • 'WHY NOW?': Trump goes all for Putin as election security concerns peak

  • Trump’s latest example of antisemitic rhetoric was hardly his first
  • Trump’s own team hedges on ‘military complex’ component of ‘triumphal arch’
  • White House approves yet another bailout for farmers hurt by Trump’s agenda
  • Tuesday’s Campaign Round-Up, 10.20.26: Socialist candidate in Ohio receives GOP support
 

WEB EXTRA BONUS CLIP!

Maddow: DeSantis feels the heat from climate activists

Rachel Maddow reports on a statue of outgoing Florida Governor Ron DeSantis unveiled in the state capital, Tallahassee. Placed by climate activists, the artwork, called "Denial," is made of a metal with a very low melting point so as it sits in Florida's heat, the governor's likeness melts into a puddle leaving behind his skeleton in a business suit. 

 

OTHER STORIES ON OUR RADAR?

  • “A comparable scenario would have been President Franklin Roosevelt siding with Hitler or Stalin in 1939. 'Mind-boggling that we have a president in this position'...”

    Trump Finally Making Real History Through De Facto Alliance With Putin In War Of Conquest
    (HuffPost)
  • ICE agents who injured Long Beach man must be pulled off the streets and investigated, mayor says
    (Long Beach Post)

  • GOP lawmakers scramble to spare Ukraine from Trump — Lawmakers are struggling to find a way to convince the president to stop cozying up to Russia.
    (Politico)

  • Republican governor -- without consulting residents or local officials -- offers to make his state a repository for radioactive nuclear waste from all over the country.

    Hilarity ensues.
    (Rachel shares the Washington Post)
  • Trump Admin siccing debt collectors on as many as 10 million Americans:

    "The Treasury Department is moving forward with plans to hire private debt collectors, possibly as soon as November... the plans are unlikely to be announced before the midterm elections"

    Trump Aides Are Getting Ready to Penalize Defaulting Student Loan Borrowers
    (Rachel shares the Washington Sun)
  • “We want people to see what it really looks like,” she said of ICE flights. “It’s when the shackles are all laid out on the pavement, and the sun is shining on them, and you see them getting put on people, and people struggling to walk. People should know.”

    Colorado activists call for transparency measures as they attempt to track ICE flights out of Denver
    (News from the States)
  • 7th person dead in ICE custody this year in Texas alone:

    "His daughter said her dad had a heart condition, diabetes and high blood pressure. He had medicine with him when he was detained, but she said staff at the center wouldn’t 'give him his medications'...”
    (Texas Tribune)

  • Georgia: 40% increase in first-day turnout compared with the 2022 midterms, and more than double the first-day participation seen during the 2018 midterms.

    "Early ballots in North Carolina and Maine are up 38% from the last midterms, while Iowa has seen a 61% increase"
    (KARK)
  • Trump administration holds up Patriot missiles for Ukraine — Delays in approving transfers from partner countries coincide with a worsening rupture between President Donald Trump and Volodymyr Zelensky.
    (Washington Post)

  • "The survey lands amid a quiet civil war within American Christianity over who deserves empathy."

    America's deep religious divide over empathy
    (Axios)
  • "Democrats are eyeing many targets as they make plans to probe corruption in and around President Donald Trump’s administration should they win control of the House next month.

    Few loom larger than Elon Musk."
    (Politico)

  • When Idaho Banned Abortion, OB-GYNs Fled. The Doctors Who Stayed Are Cracking. — From childbirth to miscarriages, women’s health care in the state has become increasingly dangerous.
    (New York Times)

  • "The Trump administration’s cuts to weather satellites will set the country back nearly a decade, experts say. The loss of data used to observe, forecast and research extreme weather could prevent the country from making major advances in weather prediction in the coming years."
    (CNN)


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