The Final 5: October 14, 2026

All right, small businesses across the country are discovering a new and effective way to attract customers, cats. No, not the long-running Broadway musical. The real thing. Think of them kind of like store mascots drawing in shoppers and building loyal followings online. Some stores feature their cats on social media where they rack up views and help turn online attention into in-store visits. Hope you have a good night. Here's the Final Five with our Jim Lokey. All right, now in the Final Five, President Trump admits he may have gone too far with the war in Iran. a confrontation at one of Congressman Andy Harris' events, and the literal names Hitler and Mussolini are on the ballot for some voters. That's your Final Five. Let's do this. Welcome to the Final Five. It's Wednesday night, and wars overseas are dominating the national conversation as new numbers paint a grim picture of the American economy. In recent weeks, President Trump has broadly blamed the war in Ukraine for things like high diesel prices, and tonight, tensions are rising between the U.S. and Ukraine as Russia steps up its attacks. Kiev claims the U.S. has now stopped or held back some intelligence sharing, which they say opened the door for surprise attacks from Russia. The White House denies the claims. It comes after a three-day Russian onslaught on Ukraine's power grid. At least 600,000 people are now without power. Meanwhile, attacks by Iran and its proxies are escalating as the war in the Middle East drags on. Despite President Trump's claim the U.S. controls the Strait of Hormuz, at least 10 vessels, including two cargo ships in the United Arab Emirates, have been targeted or sunk in recent days. Meanwhile, Yemen's Houthi rebels have launched a fresh drone and missile strikes against Saudi Arabia, hitting the Aramco headquarters and targeting Riyadh's airport. Negotiations remain at a standstill. Their radar is gone. Their anti-aircraft is gone. Their leaders are gone. That's one of the problems. I might have gone too far. I don't know who the hell to deal with. Their first level leaders are gone. They picked the second level. Their second level leaders are gone. They picked the third level. Half of them are gone. They made me promise not to take out anymore, and I did. I promised them. Well, while the president is holding his rallies, federal data shows soaring energy prices are driving up inflation. New numbers from the Bureau of Labor Statistics show gas prices have jumped more than 9 percent in the last month, with fuel oil and heating oil going up 15 percent. But Trump officials have insisted energy costs would drop once the war with Iran ends. They blame the most recent jump on those Houthi attacks. Remember, the central promise of this president and this congressional GOP was that on day one, they would lower our costs. And instead, the new inflation numbers came out today. They are confirming what Americans are already feeling, which is that inflation today is higher than it was on day one. They have done the exact opposite of what they promised. Well, was it 9 percent in the Biden administration? And you're right. It's not where the Fed wants to see it quite yet. It was 3.0 percent on day one of this administration. The high price of fuel frequently comes up for members of Congress who are back in their home states and districts campaigning until after Election Day. That includes Maryland Republican Congressman Andy Harris. He blamed the Biden administration, you know, the Biden administration that left office two years ago for high prices at a recent town hall. And this is how that went. The facts are that diesel prices have gone up. There's no question about it. Why has it gone up? Because the Democrats have environmental regulations have not. Ma'am, I got to tell you that this this is the this is the problem. You all say you believe there's a First Amendment, but only if you agree with you. You should let me finish the sentence, ma'am. You are rude. Now, that was a delightful statement by the congressman about the First Amendment because he was at another event in Queen Anne's County where he accused a news reporter of breaking state law, which she didn't. We need to put that out there. Capitol News Service reporter Kat Murphy, who's a master's student at the University of Maryland, was part of a post-debate press conference when Harris went after her and the Baltimore Banner caught the confrontation on camera. You do not have my permission to record. If you record, we will refer you to the prosecutor. Everyone in here is recording. But you are not allowed to. We are in a two-party state. You are not allowed to record. Take her camera. You're going to have to take her camera. She is violating the law. In fact, get an officer in here. She's violating the law on two-party recording. The officer. We need an officer. All right, let's break down what happened there. Harris was talking about Maryland's two-party consent law. It requires somebody's permission to record another person. But here's the thing. That law applies to private conversations like phone calls. What you saw there was a press conference with an elected official speaking out with other members of the press. You cannot pick and choose who in the press you talk to in a public place. We learned that certainly over the last couple of weeks with the White House and their futile attempts to block MS, now CNN and Politico from the White House. Now, we should point out that we did reach out to Harris for an interview today. He agreed, but then later canceled, citing scheduling conflicts. But back to the election. Now, Virginia's attorney general is launching a new voter protection unit, in part because of what he calls President Trump's, quote, relentless attacks on our democracy. That group will be responsible for handling complaints, including things like intimidation or harassment at the ballot box. In recent months, the administration has refused to rule out allowing federal agents at ballot boxes. The White House responded to the move with a statement saying, quote, This is nothing more than a political stunt, with President Trump fighting every day to ensure that only American citizens elect American leaders and to enact common-sense measures like voter ID. Jones says that while he wants Virginia voters to know his office is ready to act, he expects the election to go smoothly. We know that Donald Trump has tried to mess with elections across this country. We know that they've tried to sow chaos, confusion, and fear. We want to make sure that we're protecting the Constitution of the United States and enforcing the laws on the books here in Virginia to make sure that everybody who registered has the opportunity to go and make their voices heard in what is going to be a very consequential election. With Election Day less than three weeks away, there's no shortage of questions about voting itself. As mentioned, Virginia's attorney general launching his new voter protection unit in D.C. National Guard troops near a ballot drop box is raising concerns about potential voter intimidation. And with all the changes and attempted changes to election laws, how confident should you be that your vote will count? Selena Stewart's back in here in the studio. She leads up the League of Women Voters, and she's up late with me tonight here on The Final Five. Welcome back. Thank you. It's good to be back. Okay. There's a lot to get to. I mean, here's the thing. Last time I talked with you, we still had no clear idea what could change on the federal level with voting. That certainly will not be the case right now. But, you know, we're seeing all these changes. We mentioned about Virginia. Yeah. How important is it on on the state level for these for these jurisdictions to embark on their own election protection, voter protection efforts? I think it's pretty innovative, especially in Virginia, where they're focusing on voters and what voters need to kind of combat. I think some of the federal interference that's floating around the conversation about that. So I as long as the voter remains centered, I think this is actually they're leading the way and that more states should do it as long as they are focusing on voter. And it's for the purpose of lowering intimidation to voters and their participation. There have been efforts, and I know there's also been hotlines and ways that voters can reach out if they need assistance on Election Day. Have those efforts, have they expanded or have they been curtailed a little bit in recent months? So they continue to grow cycle after cycle. But I think the 1-866-OUR-VOTE is particularly going to be pretty busy. But a lot of people are voting early, which I think is good because it allows us to see what issues may come up earlier. and so we can plan for those things. But yes, 1-866-OUR-VOTE is definitely out there. People, as they're making their voting plans using vote411.org, make your plan early, get out there. But yes, lots of people who are engaged to do the right thing, trying to do the right thing, I think, right now. It's interesting because on the level of us in the media, like covering Election Day, it used to be just one day, you had the lines, you had everybody gearing up there, and then all of a sudden, I shouldn't say all of a sudden, but there have been efforts to try to make it a little more accessible, a little bit easier to cast your votes. In D.C., obviously, we have the mayoral election where the ballots have gone out. People are already having their ballots. They're getting the text message saying their ballots have been counted so far. And that's good. In 47 states across the country, you can vote by mail early. And so all of those states have also ballot tracking. So there's actually a barcode on your envelope that you can track and see. So I highly recommend people voting early or using a ballot box to drop their ballots. But yeah, it's a busy season. We're already seeing numbers coming in that's trending a little higher than 2022. And I think that's good. I think that's good news. You mentioned the ballot boxes. There were some pictures that went viral in the last couple of days. National Guard troops who have been on the streets of D.C. There are these these ballot drop boxes. And I know that the pictures went viral. The word was they were just standing on a street corner. It happened to be just an inopportune location for them. But people see that. And it's a lot about the imagery right now. Just like President Trump has said, the idea of putting National Guard on the streets of DC is to project this idea that it is a safe place to be, that we're keeping you safe. But that said, when you see troops outside of ballot boxes, I think a lot of people have a right to say, hey, you know, this makes me a little uncomfortable. Yeah, and that happens. We saw that happen in Arizona in 22. We saw this happen in 2024. Anytime there is presence of military or law enforcement, it can create intimidation. It can make people feel like they're being watched or that there's something amiss. And I think that we have to be very careful about that. We do not want to chill participation. So what we're talking to people about is what can you do? So if there are people near your polling location or ballot box, you can call the election administrator, the board of elections. You can also call 866-OUR-VOTE. But get the information out early so people know so that we can do what we can to make sure voters are protected. The last conversation that you and I had was around the time that the Congress was trying to passed the SAFE Act or the president wanted to see Congress pass the SAFE Act. It did not happen here. But there were a lot of people that were sort of thrown at wondering, you know, would I still be registered? Would I have to re-register? I mean, have you seen an end result where people aren't sure if they're registered or not? Yeah, well, what we have seen from the election administrators is a sigh of relief that they're not going to have to figure out these rules at the last minute, which is good. I think for voters, voters just need to know that they can confidently go. So we have been really pressing at the league to say, here's what's happening. The rules are still the same. Here's where you can find out. Here's where your polling place is. So people can make an effective voting plan. So we haven't seen a chilling quite yet, and we don't want to. We want to make sure we are pouring education information out so people continue to feel confident in the election. That's what's most important right now. The question, though, is after all this is said and done, if Republicans are still, if they have control of the House, they have control of the Senate, if there's a renewed push to change voting laws, change registration laws on the federal level, the argument that many groups had was, well, it's only 40, 50, 60 days out from the election. If you start talking, if you start having that conversation in January, that sort of does away with that argument that the election's around the corner, you can't change the rules now. Right. Well, there are rules that say you can't take, you can't make any changes within a particular window before the election. But yeah, we do have to think about what happens afterwards. So the National Voter Registration Act is the law, and the League was very instrumental in moving that with the coalition in 1992. too. But I think that we do have to confront what happens after this election. The most important thing is that people continue to have access, that people still have their access to the ballot, and that people can vote freely. That is a right in this country. It's not a privilege. And so making sure that people understand that we'll continue to fight, whether it's before Election Day or after. The fight still continues. Selina Stewart from the League of Women Voters, great to see you again. Always appreciate having you in. We're back after this here on The Final Five. U.S. Ambassador to Greece Kimberly Guilfoyle was forced to resign this week after reports surfaced that she asked a donor for $100,000 to pay off an American Express bill, among other things. It's one of the reasons my first guest tonight is calling for an investigation into the process. Congressman James Walkinshaw from Virginia up late with me tonight here on The Final Five. Sir, thanks for joining us again tonight. Good to see you again. Thanks for having me, Jim. Let's talk about Kimberly Guilfoyle here. This report came out from The Wall Street Journal. It was a pretty quick process here. There wasn't a whole lot of a denial, although she did deny any wrongdoing on her part. But just yesterday, it came out that the president asked for her resignation. Why isn't this an open and shut case? Well, I think the question is, what do we not know? What more is there? We know that she demanded a $100,000 Amex bill payment from a gentleman who was seeking assistance with an IRS issue. We also know about her that she was jet setting around Greece and Europe on a private plane owned by a Greek tycoon. And if one believes what we saw in that text message, and clearly President Trump does, someone who's willing to do that, to use her official role as U.S. ambassador to try to extort $100,000, what else is she willing to do and what else did she do? I think the American people deserve to know that. There needs to be a full investigation. Okay, so we're here 20 days or so before the midterm elections. Republicans still have control, oversight chair is James Comer. I mean, what are the chances that he reacts to your letter and he responds in any way, shape, or form? An important point here is the gentleman in question here, the donor who was asked to pay the $100,000 Amex bill, says that he has been sending text messages to Chairman Comer, the Republican chairman of the Oversight Committee, describing this quid pro quo as he termed it. I wanna know whether Chairman Comer has responded to those text messages and why he didn't act on them. And if he hasn't yet, why isn't the Oversight Committee investigating it now? That's what we should be doing. Ranking member Robert Garcia has called for an investigation, committed to pursue an investigation if Democrats have the opportunity to lead that in the next Congress. So as we see all this play out now, when we look at ambassadorships, and you mentioned quid pro quo, this seems to be the one position in government where if you are a loyal donor, if you are a loyal political foot soldier, often when a new administration comes in, you are rewarded with an ambassadorship. It seems to me in this case, it's just that working in the opposite direction here. Yeah, that's right. And look, historically, that has been the case that especially plum ambassadorships go to close political allies or campaign donors of presidents. that's not new. It's traditionally seen as a reward for loyalty, hopefully somebody who's up to the job and capable of doing the job honorably. And by and large, that has been the case. Here we see Kimberly Guilfoyle getting this very important position as a US ambassador to Greece and using it to A, raise her own profile, and it seems try to line her own pockets at the same time. That's a line that shouldn't be crossed. A lot of comparisons have been made to just the fact that if she's trying to profit off this, we've seen people in the administration, the president, his family, they've made millions if not billions on meme coins, on investments, on government contracts that benefit companies linked to their own interests here. It seems as though when you have Gilfoyle, this is not necessarily the most pressing example of that in this second iteration of the Trump administration. Well, it may not be the largest in terms of dollar figures, at least that we know of. But I do think it's emblematic of the culture of corruption that's taken hold in this administration and in Washington. I think the American people increasingly are connecting that culture of corruption to the cost of living crisis that they're facing. Because while they're struggling to put gas in the tank or afford groceries, Trump and those closest to him are lining their own pockets in their own bank accounts. With that, and you mentioned Congressman Garcia who might become Chairman of Oversight if Democrats flip the house here. After the midterms, let's say your party wins control here. The clock starts on a lot of these promises that you and your colleagues are making when it comes down to the cost of living, when it comes to cracking down on corruption. Because the second, presumably, Hakeem Jeffries gets the gavel, does it become the Democrats' burden now to prove all this? though you still have President Trump in the White House for two more years? Well, in that scenario, we'll have divided government with Congress, I hope, controlled by Democrats and President Trump still in the White House. And I think we as Democrats will have to go to work on day one passing legislation to bring down costs for the American people. I think you'll see us very quickly passing legislation to bring down healthcare costs, to roll back the tariffs, to facilitate an end to the war in Iran, all of which will bring down costs for the American people. But we also have to have accountability for anyone who's been ripping off the American people. And that process will take some time. Those investigations will take time. We have to follow the facts and follow the evidence. Congressman James Walkinshaw joining us tonight here on The Final Five. We appreciate it. Thanks, Jim. We'll be back after this. Welcome back. Time now for the third block. And we start with three names you're probably familiar with Hitler, Mussolini and Peru I like that uh Peru of course is just the country of Peru in South America but when you're Hitler you probably think of that guy and Mussolini usually refers to the fascist Italian leader who rose to power in the 1920s so what does this have to do with Peru this guy Peruvian voters just elected in the mayor of Carapalca a remote district in the Andes mountains his name quote Hitler Mussolini Simeon Flores and if you recognize this story it's probably because he actually won a different mayoral election back in 2018 reports say he quote beat rival candidate Lenin Vladimir Rodriguez Valverde after campaigning on the slogan I'm the good Hitler Lenin of course not to be confused with Vladimir Lenin the first leader of the Soviet Union state gun are on the ballot next month in Idaho and when you hear that sentence you might think there's some kind of voter referendum on gun control but that is not the case there are literally six guns on the ballots two Winchesters including the so-called gun that won the West an M1 rifle a Remington 700 bolt action rifle a Colt 45 even a Colt Peacemaker like the one from Back to the Future voters will have to pick one of them in response to the question quote which of the following guns should be designated as the state gun of Idaho the state house approved the ballot referendum in honor of America 250 and while some are celebrating the country's 250th anniversary the Navy is turning 251 years old this year it was technically founded the year before the U.S. declared independence on October 13th of 1775. Georgia Republican Governor Brian Kemp celebrated with some kind words about the Navy's standing watch over the country, along with some pictures of some naval warships. But there's one problem. If you go back to the U.S. Navy website where Kemp apparently found the pictures and look at the info for that exact same picture, the site itself points out the ships are three Indian Navy frigates during a training exercise with the U.S. back in 2008 Wall Street Journal's Dave Brown was first to point that out saying quote those are Indian warships he also pointed out quote and now we've got Russian warships in response to a happy birthday navy post from a state legislator in Ohio next an excuse for speeding that is so off the wall we have to name the person who said it tonight's maybe a dumb this one takes us to Greensboro North Carolina where police had to put out a public service announcement saying quote raise hell praise Dale is not an appropriate response when we ask you while you were speeding that of course a reference to Dale Earnhardt Jr who by the way responded quote surely that should reduce it down to 10 miles an hour or less over the speed limit right the agency disagreed saying quote sir that will make it 107 they did not say if this was in regard to an actual incident or just friendly online banter we reached out and have yet to receive a response hence the maybe coming up next to the final five one more thing stick around you know with all the talk about the midterms it is worth a reminder to you that if you want your voice to be heard remember early voting is already underway in certain places Virginia for one of them where they're seeing record numbers in some localities in Maryland you have to wait a little bit october 22nd is when early voting centers open it's october 26th in DC we'll of course talk more about that we still have a long way to go then again it's only 19 days away we're back at it tomorrow at 11 30 in the morning cruise here at 4 a.m have a great night go to bed