President Donald Trump’s campaign rally in South Carolina on Wednesday night was repeatedly disrupted, with at least six protesters interrupting the event during its first 20 minutes.

The interruptions came as Trump campaigned for Darline Graham, the sister of the late Senator Lindsey Graham and the Republican candidate he has selected to succeed him in the US Senate.

Trump also renewed his attacks on Graham’s Democratic challenger, Annie Andrews. He again used the derogatory nickname “Tranny Annie” while criticizing what he described as her support for transgender policies.

Addressing the protesters from the stage, Trump alleged that they had been paid to disrupt the rally.

“It’s all paid for. They’re a bunch of losers. They’re terrible people. They’re terrible,” Trump said. “The people that pay them are sick, and they want to destroy our country.”

He then urged his supporters to turn out in force at the polls, telling them to approach the election as though he himself were on the ballot.

“In this election, I’m asking you to pretend I’m on the ballot because when I’m on the ballot, we get 29 percent more votes, all three times,” Trump said.

Several minutes later, another protester rose in the crowd directly in front of the former president.

A Trump supporter then appeared to punch the protester, drawing praise from the president.

Trump paused to ask whether people in the audience were safe before commenting on the confrontation from the stage.

“That was incredible,” Trump said. “Who threw that punch?”

“The guy stood up, and he just let that little—and he got whacked, man,” Trump added.

Trump compared the supporter who appeared to throw the punch to Evander Holyfield, the former American professional boxing champion who competed from 1984 to 2011. Holyfield was also attending the South Carolina rally in support of Trump and Graham.

Earlier this month, Andrews responded to Trump’s insult at another campaign appearance, describing the name-calling as a distraction.

“If name calling would help lower gas prices and grocery prices, he can call me all the names he wants,” Andrews said at the time.

Roughly an hour into Wednesday night’s event, a further protest interrupted Trump’s remarks, prompting supporters to respond with chants of “USA, USA.”

Trump thanked law enforcement officers for quickly escorting the protesters from the venue.

He also repeated his earlier pledge to send $5,000 checks to every American adult if Republicans retain control of both the US House and Senate following the November midterm elections.

This is a developing news story. Check back for more updates.

Michigan Senate candidate Mike Rogers sharply criticized his Democratic opponent, Abdul El-Sayed, during Wednesday’s debate over alleged ties to the Muslim Brotherhood.

Rogers, a former Republican congressman and retired FBI agent, cited an open letter to the terrorist group that El-Sayed reportedly signed in 2012. El-Sayed declined to comment on the matter when questioned by The New York Times.

“So — being bought off by the Muslim Brotherhood, having donors to his campaign from Hamas that support Hezbollah, is not a problem?” Rogers said.

“If you are going to go to the United States Senate, we need to know, are you for America? Or are you for these terrorist groups overseas?” he continued. “You can grin, and you can smile, and you can talk real pretty, but I’m going to tell you what, that is a risk to our national security.”

El-Sayed, a former public health official, later expressed anger that Rogers had questioned his allegiance to the United States.

“To bring into question my commitment to the Constitution is really beneath you,” he said.

The clash was the second and final debate between the two candidates.

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During their heated first debate earlier this month, El-Sayed repeatedly declined to say whether he viewed Iran or Israel as the “greater threat to the United States,” dismissing the question as “ridiculous.”

Rogers, meanwhile, said he would no longer support Israel if the country used nuclear weapons.

El-Sayed also accused Rogers of accepting corporate money and being controlled by donors. Rogers, in turn, sought to associate his Muslim opponent with Islamic extremism.

The contest for the seat held by retiring Sen. Gary Peters, D-Mich., has emerged as one of the most combative races of the midterm election cycle. The result of the Nov. 3 election could determine which party controls the Senate next year.

Polling has consistently characterized the Michigan Senate race as a toss-up.

El-Sayed holds a narrow 2-percentage-point lead over Rogers in the latest RealClearPolitics polling average.

This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.

A retired police officer has been arrested after authorities said he fatally shot a New York City utility worker on the George Washington Bridge Tuesday.

The NYPD identified the suspect as Victor Romero, 62, of Haverstraw. He is facing a murder charge in the shooting death of Con Edison employee Koran Irvine, 46, of Valley Cottage.

The incident appeared to stem from a road-rage confrontation between the two Rockland County residents, the New York Post reported.

Romero is a former NYPD detective who left the department about 25 years ago, according to the Post.

Police said the shooting took place at approximately 7:18 p.m. Tuesday.

Irvine was driving across the bridge when he was struck in the shoulder by gunfire. His vehicle crashed into a median, and he was later pronounced dead at a hospital, News Media has confirmed.

“Police responded to a 911 call of a male shot on the outbound, upper level roadway of the George Washington Bridge,” the NYPD said.

Responding officers found Irvine unconscious and unresponsive in the driver’s seat. He had suffered a gunshot wound to the back of his right shoulder.

He was transported to Englewood Hospital, where he died, police said.

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Romero was behind the wheel of a black Range Rover during the incident, according to the New York Daily News.

Irvine had recently marked 20 years with Con Edison, according to his social media accounts. He shared a post about the milestone in September.

“We are heartbroken by the tragic loss of a member of the Con Edison family in this senseless act of violence,” the company said in a statement, FOX 5 New York reported. 

“Our deepest condolences go out to his family, friends, colleagues and everyone who knew and loved him.”

A fundraiser established for Irvine’s family described him as “a man full of life, love, and dedication to the people who meant the most to him.” The fundraiser said his family was his world and that he worked tirelessly to support his wife, Patricia, and their children, Lea and Hiro. It added that he loved deeply, valued his relationships and always sought to give his family the best life possible.

News Media has contacted the NYPD and Con Edison seeking comment.

A rare 16-foot sea creature linked in folklore to natural disasters has washed ashore in South America, prompting online speculation that a powerful earthquake could strike the seismically active region.

The giant oarfish, known in Japanese folklore as a “Doomsday fish,” was discovered Tuesday on a beach in Mejillones, northern Chile.

The elusive sea serpent is rarely seen by people. Since the 1600s, sightings have featured in Asian legends, where the creatures were often viewed as warnings from mythical deities.

Scientists have found no meaningful evidence connecting oarfish appearances with natural disasters. Nevertheless, beach strandings have repeatedly been associated by the public with deadly earthquakes and tsunamis that occurred weeks or months afterward.

The latest sighting comes as South America and the Caribbean experience a series of major earthquakes, fueling fears that Chile—or even the vulnerable US West Coast—could be next.

“Not a good omen,” one person wrote. Another claimed, “An earthquake is coming to the north.”

Geophysicist Stefan Burns, who has predicted that a major earthquake could hit the California coast by 2030, also reacted to the discovery, writing: “Here we go again.”

At least two other oarfish sightings have been reported in 2026, and both were followed within days by earthquakes or volcanic eruptions.

On August 25, a dead oarfish washed up on a beach along the southeastern coast of Indonesia’s Komodo Island.

Six days later, six Indonesian volcanoes either erupted or displayed signs of eruptive activity at the same time.

A magnitude 5.2 earthquake struck the same region in early October. No injuries or deaths were reported following any of the incidents.

In late February, two American tourists experienced what was described as a “one-in-a-billion chance” encounter when two live oarfish came ashore at a beach in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico.

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The simultaneous appearance of two oarfish is considered exceptionally rare. The species normally lives more than 3,000 feet beneath the ocean surface, in the so-called “Twilight zone,” one of the least explored environments on Earth.

After the unusual discovery, a magnitude 4.1 earthquake was recorded less than 15 miles from Cabo San Lucas on March 23. There were no reports of injuries or significant damage.

The region was later hit by several hurricanes, including Polo, Simon and Rachel in September and October. The storms caused flooding, landslides and deaths along the Pacific coast.

Chile’s most recent major earthquake struck offshore slightly more than a year ago, on October 10, 2025. The magnitude 7.6 quake occurred in the Drake Passage, south of the country, triggering tsunami alerts along the coasts of South America and Antarctica.

‘The earthquake is coming!’ one commenter claimed after the Marine Fauna Research and Cetacean Watching Center in Chile announced the discovery on social media Tuesday.

However, despite the apparent timing of some oarfish strandings, a 2019 study found no credible evidence that the creatures are harbingers of disaster.

A team from Tokai University in Japan examined 336 reports of deep-sea fish appearances and 221 earthquakes stronger than magnitude 6.0 around the country between 1928 and 2011.

Their findings, published in the Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America, did not find a statistically significant link between the appearances of Doomsday fish and natural disasters, calling the myth an ‘illusory correlation’ rather than a reliable warning sign.

In the US, a 2018 study published in the Bulletin of the Southern California Academy of Sciences had found that there were only 19 oarfish strandings or sightings along the California coast over the last century.

Although scientists have claimed there is no connection to a future earthquake along the South American coast, Chile sits along one of the world’s most active tectonic boundaries capable of producing massive shockwaves.

The oceanic Nazca Plate has been steadily sliding under the South American Plate, which continues to build up the Andes Mountains, fuels volcanic activity and stores enormous stress along the two connecting plates.

AOC launches effort to reactivate tens of thousands of inactive New York City voters

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is urging her activist supporters to help locate as many as 80,000 “inactive” city voters and encourage them to participate in upcoming elections that could benefit Democratic candidates.

A voter’s registration is automatically designated inactive if they do not vote in two consecutive federal elections or fail to respond to a Board of Elections notice concerning a change of address.

“These voters are at risk of being purged from the voter file. In New York City alone, there are over 80,000 inactive voters,” Team AOC said in a message to supporters about the New York City edition of its “Project Reactivation” program.

However, the city Board of Elections said its rolls include 446,479 voters listed as inactive.

“This does not prevent you from voting. Your name will still appear in the poll pads and you could still vote on the machines,” said BOE spokesman Vincent Ignizio.

“But, if you are in inactive status and you miss two successive federal elections, the law says that you are then removed from the rolls and you would have to re-register to vote.”

AOC’s campaign staff is scheduled to hold a training session Monday focused on mobilizing “the most unlikely voters.”

“The stakes are too damn high,” the AOC email blast, obtained by the Post, said. “Every Democrat’s vote must be counted, so we are calling on you to join us for a training in New York City on how YOU can help inactive voters protect their right to vote and update their registration status from inactive to active.”

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“The pathway to win back the House is increasingly proving to be through New York State.”

The initiative comes as Ocasio-Cortez appears to be exploring a potential 2028 campaign for president or the US Senate. She recently began an upstate tour that included stops in Buffalo, Syracuse, Binghamton and Ithaca.

Her upstate tour also included the launch of the “inactive voter training” program.

Ocasio-Cortez, who represents parts of Queens and The Bronx, is now turning her attention to inactive voters in her home territory through Project Reactivation NYC.

Voting experts cautioned that the effort could face significant challenges because many, and possibly most, people on the inactive list no longer live locally—or are deceased.

“In most cases they moved or they died,” said Jerry Skurnik, a senior consultant with Engage Voters US, which maintains voter databases and sells them to clients.

Skurnik said Ocasio-Cortez’s campaign will probably succeed in reengaging only a small number of voters.

He added that many candidates do not purchase inactive voter lists because they can be unreliable, difficult to reach and not worth the expense.

Ignizio said the number of inactive voters generally remains stable from year to year. Some voters are removed after officials receive evidence that they moved or died, while others are added to the inactive list.