Donald Trump has come under pressure from Fox News host Laura Ingraham over his pledge to pay every American adult a $5,000 "dividend" if Republicans retain control of both chambers of Congress in the midterm elections. Ingraham pressed him directly on why the payment could not be made immediately if the funds were genuinely available, exposing the lack of detail behind an announcement that has already unsettled sections of his own party.

Trump made the unscripted-sounding pledge at the GOP midterm convention in Dallas on Wednesday evening, telling the crowd the money would need to be spent within the US, though he gave no detail on funding or congressional approval for what would be an estimated $1.3 trillion outlay. He told Ingraham the payment could not come now because "the Democrats can't do it," pointing instead to tariff revenue and claims of $21 trillion in federal income, even though tariff receipts to date are thought to total only a few hundred billion dollars and the Supreme Court has ruled the underlying tariff programme was improperly implemented. Senior Republicans, including Senator Ted Cruz and Congressman Thomas Massie, criticised the plan as costly and akin to a vote-buying "bribe," while donor Joe Lonsdale voiced similar unease.