Happy Halloween.
Happy Halloween. Win McNamee / Getty

• Instead of condemning the Saudi government for allegedly carrying out the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, Trump is wagging his finger at the country for not hiding it better. CNBC:

U.S. President Donald Trump said on Tuesday that Saudi authorities staged the “worst cover-up ever” in the killing of prominent journalist Jamal Khashoggi this month.

Asked by a reporter in the White House Oval Office how the Khashoggi killing could have happened, Trump said: “They had a very bad original concept. It was carried out poorly, and the cover-up was one of the worst in the history of cover-ups.”

• Trump is just sad and feels betrayed by those clumsy Saudis, writes CNN:

In recent days, the President has complained about the negative coverage blanketing cable television and told confidantes he feels betrayed by the Saudis, who have presented shifting accounts about what happened to the journalist after he entered the Saudi consulate in Turkey three weeks ago to obtain a marriage document and never left.

The President, who spoke Sunday with Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, is privately blaming them for making him look badly. At times he has talked about how much he has done so much for the Saudis, complaining that they put him in this position.

God, it must suck when you've bent over backward for a foreign regime and then have to backtrack your praise for them after they allegedly murder a US resident with a bone saw.

• Republicans are trying to get Trump to avoid discussing Saudi Arabia and stay on what they believe is their winning issue before the midterms, per Fox News:

President Trump on Tuesday accused Democrats of possibly funding the caravan of migrants from Central America that is currently making its way through Mexico.

Speaking to reporters in the Oval Office, the president offered no proof that the Democrats were funding the migrant caravan, but was reacting to an announcement by Vice President Mike Pence that the caravan was being backed by “leftist organizations” and “Venezuela.”

“Maybe they made a bad mistake,” Trump said of the Democrats.

• Is it just me, or is it rare that Fox News calls out Trump for offering "no proof" for a claim? Whatever, Pence is backing him up. Take it away, ABC News:

Pence backed up President Donald Trump's statements that people from the Middle East were mixed in with the thousands of migrants traveling to the nation's southern border to escape violence and poverty in their countries. Trump made the comments in a tweet Monday and repeated them during a campaign rally in Houston later that night, also claiming that MS-13 gang members were part of the caravan.

• Is this stressing you out? It's not just you! It's also stressing out the global stock market! From Business Insider:

All major Asian indexes lost ground during Tuesday's session, with the FTSE China A50 the biggest casualty, down more than 3%. Other mainland Chinese indexes lost more than 2%, with the Shanghai and Shenzhen Composite indexes both down around 2.2%.

Losses were not contained to China, however, with Japan's Nikkei losing 2.7%, and Hong Kong's Hang Seng dropping close to 3% after a sharp fall into the close.

There was no single catalyst for the losses, with growing geopolitical tensions between Saudi Arabia and the West over the death of journalist Jamal Khashosggi [sic], resurfaced fears about President Trump's trade war, and generally waning confidence in the Chinese economy all partially to blame.

• More yikes! (But that's why you're reading, right? Because you love to be scared?):


Some fact-checking to close out the day, from HuffPo:

San Juan Mayor Carmen Yulin Cruz, who has frequently tangled with Trump since Maria, wasted no time responding to the smear. Within the hour, Cruz tweeted that none of the relief funds will be used to pay back creditors, which include American hedge funds.

“We finally AGREE on something,” Cruz told Trump.

It was unclear where Trump got the idea that Puerto Rican officials were attempting to alleviate the island’s $70 billion debt with federal relief money.

Facts have been passĂŠ for at least 641 days.