Trump Rallies in Arizona, Montana Over False Election Claims

President Donald Trump spent Wednesday on a two-state Western swing, praising a foreign government’s $400 million-class gift jet, repeating debunked claims about Arizona’s 2022 election and saying “leakers should be shot.” Rallies in Arizona and Montana came as Republicans pulled back from some battleground House races and Democrats sought money for candidates who’d seemed like long shots earlier in the year.

On the Trail in the West

Trump opened in Bullhead City, in Mohave County, one of the reddest corners of a swing state. He campaigned for Rep. Andy Biggs, who’s running for governor against incumbent Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs. Arizona also has several competitive House contests. Later, in Kalispell, Montana, he backed Republican congressional candidate Aaron Flint, who’s locked in a close race with Democrat Sam Forstag in the state’s 1st District.

Montana’s Senate contest features Trump-endorsed Republican nominee Kurt Alme. Democrats there are split over whether to back their party’s nominee, Alani Bankhead, or independent candidate Seth Bodnar. The stops followed a Tuesday visit to Alaska, where Trump campaigned for Sen. Dan Sullivan, who faces Democrat Mary Peltola in a tight race.

A Gift Jet and Election Claims

In Arizona, Trump spent a good stretch of his speech on the 747 the Qatari government gave him for use as Air Force One. “You know, when you’re given gifts, you take them, right?” he said. “When they give you a 747, you say two words: thank you.” He said Qatar gave him the plane because he was their “friend.” The aircraft had drawn concerns about its security capabilities compared with the previous plane, and Trump said over the summer he’d send it away for upgrades.

He also returned to the 2022 Arizona election, calling it “rigged” and claiming without evidence that Republican Kari Lake had beaten Hobbs. Election officials said at the time that some Maricopa County machines temporarily malfunctioned by not accepting ballots, rather than misreading them, and that officials fixed the problem on Election Day afternoon. Trump again repeated his false claim that the 2020 presidential election was rigged.

Targeting a Congresswoman, Threatening Leakers

Trump again went after Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., whose Washington, D.C., home federal agents searched Monday. Agents seized her phone, and people familiar with the probe said investigators sent roughly a dozen subpoenas in an investigation into potential immigration-related crimes. Trump called Somalia, where Omar was born, a “ninth-rate” country, saying, “All they have is crime and anguish.” He accused her on Truth Social of financial and immigration fraud.

Omar called the search “an attempt to target political enemies and weaponize federal law enforcement.” She added: “For ten years, Trump has targeted me with baseless lies and smear campaigns.”

Trump also told the crowd that “leakers should be shot,” referring to people who disclose the timing of a military attack. “The leakers should be dealt with very, very strongly,” he said, calling them “the scum of the Earth.” He warned that Iran could strike the U.S. West Coast, saying that with a nuclear weapon, “within 24 hours they would use it.” Earlier this month he said Iran could “take out” Los Angeles and San Diego; days later, he said, “We protect our cities.”

Remembering Charlie Kirk, and a Montana Warning

Trump marked what would have been conservative activist Charlie Kirk’s 33rd birthday, telling Kirk’s widow, Erika Kirk, “We love you.” He urged voters to turn out in Kirk’s honor. Kirk moved Turning Point U.S.A.’s headquarters to Arizona in 2018 and lived there with his wife and two children before someone shot and killed him the previous year. Boxer Floyd Mayweather also joined Trump onstage. “America is the best country in the world,” Mayweather said.

In Kalispell, Trump made his first visit to Montana’s Flathead Valley at Majestic Valley Arena, which lists capacity at 7,000. It filled, and security turned people away. The last sitting president to visit the region was Gerald Ford 51 years ago, in 1975. There, Trump warned, “If the Democrat communists win, they will pack the Supreme Court with radical Marxists. Take away your guns.” He added that wild animals “that like eating you” would love that outcome.

Meanwhile in Ukraine

In separate coverage, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy voiced outrage Wednesday over Russia’s continued strikes on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure, which he said defied Trump’s ceasefire demand. Russian forces hit the power grid and oil and gas facilities for a third consecutive night, he said. Trump had claimed the two sides agreed to avoid such attacks, 4 ½ years after Moscow’s forces invaded. Zelenskyy agreed to halt Ukraine’s monthslong campaign against Russian oil refineries; its last reported refinery strike was the previous Friday. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said officials were still deciding details of the energy ceasefire. Trump’s efforts to stop the fighting have made no progress.

Why This Matters:

Two threads in Wednesday’s rallies carry weight beyond the campaign trail. First, the president again told large crowds that a fair election was rigged, despite election officials’ explanation that Maricopa County’s 2022 machine problems involved ballots not being accepted and officials fixed them the same day. Four years later, repeating that claim keeps doubt alive about the machinery of voting just weeks before ballots are cast.

Second, a federal search of a sitting congresswoman’s home, paired with presidential attacks on her birthplace and citizenship, raises questions about how law enforcement is used against political opponents—questions Omar herself has put on the record. Add a remark that leakers “should be shot” and the unresolved Ukraine ceasefire, and voters are weighing a president whose words and promises carry real consequences for institutions, accountability and people’s safety.