Trump Vows to Stump for Vulnerable Republicans as Court Weighs Mail Voting Rule

President Donald Trump has told Republican lawmakers facing difficult re-election battles to embrace his White House record, even as his public approval remains under pressure. At a dinner in the Rose Garden, Trump promised to campaign in the roughly three dozen races that are expected to decide control of Congress, urging his party's most vulnerable incumbents to present a confident message to voters.

"All you have to do is talk about it, and you're going to win and you're going to win big," Trump said, according to remarks at the event. The gathering comes a week before Republicans hold an unusual midterm convention in Dallas, with the party hoping to counter voter anxiety over the economy and the ongoing conflict with Iran.

In a separate development, a federal judge in Boston is set to hear arguments on Thursday over whether to extend a block on a U.S. Postal Service requirement that states adopt a new mail balloting system for the midterms. The requirement stems from an executive order signed by Trump. U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani previously imposed a 14-day temporary restraining order, which is set to expire next week as more states begin mailing out ballots. The hearing takes place one day before the first state is scheduled to send ballots to voters.

The president also took the unusual step of correcting Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, who had said in a CNBC interview that no American forces had died in the Iran war. Trump posted on social media that Lutnick had been thinking of Venezuela when he made that statement, adding that 18 people were killed in Iran. Lutnick had described the conflict as an "economic chokeout."