Closing summary
This ends our live coverage of the second Trump administration for Wednesday, but we will be back at it on Thursday. Here are the latest developments:
The Texas house approved a plan to redraw the state’s congressional districts, passing a new map on Wednesday by a vote of 88-52 that fulfills Donald Trump’s desire to tilt the US House map in his favor before the 2026 midterm elections. The measure is expected to be approved by the Republican-dominated state senate and signed into law by the state’s Republican governor, Greg Abbott.
The vice-president, JD Vance, the defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, and the White House deputy chief of staff, Stephen Miller, staged a photo op with National Guard troops at Union Station in the nation’s capital. They were roundly booed and jeered on their way in and out of the station.
A federal judge denied the justice department’s bid to unseal records from the grand jury that indicted Jeffrey Epstein in 2019. US district judge Richard Berman said the small number of documents seen by the court pale in comparison with the 100,000 records the government already has on Epstein and that disclosing them could harm victims.
Lisa Cook, the Federal Reserve governor Trump has called on to immediately resign over an accusation that she falsely declared a property she obtained a mortgage on was her primary residence, responded on Wednesday that she has “no intention of being bullied to step down”.
Trump has bought at least $100m of bonds since he returned to office in January, according to a CNBC analysis of new filings from the president with the US Office of Government Ethics.
A young American citizen who was violently arrested by federal immigration officers in Los Angeles county in June, after he objected to the arrest of an older man in a Walmart parking lot, was charged with conspiracy to impede a federal officer.
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White House video erases jeers and boos for Vance at Union Station
A White House social media video of the vice-president, JD Vance, visiting National Guard troops at Union Station in Washington DC on Wednesday covers up the jeers and boos with which he was greeted by protesters with stirring music and audio of his remarks.
At one moment shown in the video, when Vance shook hands with soldiers, video broadcast earlier in the day by C-SPAN shows that protesters could be heard chanting “Free DC!” In the White House edit, the same moment is covered by Vance’s remarks and music.
At another moment shown in the edit, as Vance is seen crossing through the station flanked by Pete Hegseth, the defense secretary, and Stephen Miller, Donald Trump’s deputy chief of staff, video recorded in the station by bystanders shows that protesters were jeering the men.
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US attorney files federal felony charge against US citizen violently arrested by immigration agents
A young American citizen who was violently arrested by federal immigration officers in Los Angeles county in June, after he objected to the arrest of an older man in a Walmart parking lot, was charged with conspiracy to impede a federal officer on Wednesday, the US attorney’s office announced.
The rough arrest of Adrian Andrew Martinez, 20, was caught on video by bystanders and on surveillance cameras. The images prompted street protests in the city of Pico Rivera.
If convicted of the charge, which is a felony, Martinez faces up to six years in federal prison.
When Martinez was first arrested, wearing blue Walmart vest, the acting US attorney for the central district of California, Bilal Essayli, posted some of the viral video of agents hurling him to the ground on X, and claimed that he was “arrested for an allegation of punching a border patrol agent in the face”. When the charges were filed, however, there was no allegation that he punched an officer.
Security camera footage of the entire incident clearly shows that the older man had already been arrested and placed in an immigration enforcement vehicle by the time Martinez pulled up, got out of his car and rolled a wheeled garbage can in front of the vehicle. The images also show that the federal agents initiated contact with him, by shoving him to the ground and roughly arresting him.
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Donald Trump has bought at least $100m of bonds since he returned to office in January, according to a CNBC analysis of new filings from the president with the US Office of Government Ethics.
The broadcaster notes that Trump has invested in debt issued by local authorities, gas districts and major US corporations as president.
The new ethics office filings, which are required by law, show 690 transactions since Trump’s second inaugural The documents were made public on Tuesday.
According to the CNBC calculations, the purchases had a total value of at least $100m, assuming the lower value end listed for each disclosed transaction.
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CDC lays off violence prevention staffers two weeks after attack on its campus
At least 600 employees of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are receiving permanent termination notices in the wake of a recent court decision that protected some CDC employees from layoffs but not others, the Associated Press reports.
The notices went out this week although many people have not yet received them, according to the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE), which represents more than 2,000 dues-paying members at CDC.
The US department of Health and Human Services on Wednesday did not offer details on the layoffs and referred an AP reporter to a March statement that said restructuring and downsizing were intended to make health agencies more responsive and efficient.
AFGE officials said they are aware of at least 600 CDC employees being cut.
But “due to a staggering lack of transparency from HHS”, the union hasn’t received formal notices of who is being laid off, the federation said in a statement on Wednesday.
The permanent cuts include about 100 people who worked in violence prevention. Some employees noted those cuts come less than two weeks after a man fired at least 180 bullets into the CDC’s campus and killed a police officer.
“The irony is devastating: the very experts trained to understand, interrupt and prevent this kind of violence were among those whose jobs were eliminated,” some of the affected employees wrote in a blog post last week.
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Texas house passes partisan Republican congressional map after weeks of protest
The Texas state house – which has a significant Republican majority – has approved a plan to redraw the state’s congressional districts, passing a new map on Wednesday that fulfills Donald Trump’s desire to tilt the US House map in his favor before the 2026 midterm elections.
The vote was 88 in favor and 52 against.
The map could give Republicans five new House seats in 2026 and took more than two weeks to pass, after Democratic state lawmakers staged a walkout over what they describe as “a power grab”. Several legislators fled to states run by Democrats, and the protest ultimately set the stage for a redistricting battle now playing out across the country.
California’s Democratic governor, Gavin Newsom, has advanced an effort to offset the gerrymandering in Texas by redrawing his state’s map to flip five Republican seats, pitting the nation’s most populous Democratic state its most populous Republican one.
The new Texas map will have to be reconciled with the state senate’s version, which advanced on Sunday. Republicans hold nearly twice as many seats in the Texas state senate as Democrats.
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'I have no intention of being bullied to step down', Federal Reserve governor attacked by Trump says
Lisa Cook, the Federal Reserve governor Donald Trump has called on to immediately resign over an accusation that she falsely declared a property she obtained a mortgage on was her primary residence, responded on Wednesday that she has “no intention of being bullied to step down”.
Cook, the first Black woman to sit on central bank’s board, who was appointed by Joe Biden, said in a statement to reporters: “I learned from the media that FHFA Director William Pulte posted on social media that he was making a criminal referral based on a mortgage application from four years ago, before I joined the Federal Reserve. I have no intention of being bullied to step down from my position because of some questions raised in a tweet. I do intend to take any questions about my financial history seriously as a member of the Federal Reserve and so I am gathering the accurate information to answer any legitimate questions and provide the facts.”
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Pentagon press aides falsely accuse Washington Post of endangering Hegseth
The Pentagon’s press office falsely accused Washington Post reporters of endangering the defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, by reporting on Wednesday that his “unusually large personal security requirements are straining the Army agency tasked with protecting him”.
The pushback, using vitriolic language, came after the Post reported that agents from the Army’s Criminal Investigation Division, or CID, the agency that provides security for Pentagon officials, have been pulled from criminal investigations to safeguard Hegseth family residences in Minnesota, Tennessee and Washington DC, and residences belonging to the Hegseths’ former spouses.
The social media campaign to attack the Post reporters began with a response to a post on X by Dan Lamothe, one of the reporters who conducted the investigation.
“When left-wing blogs like the Washington Post continue to dox cabinet secretaries’ security protocols and movements, it puts lives at risk,” Sean Parnell, the chief Pentagon spokesperson replied to Lamothe’s post.
“It is flatly false that The Washington Post doxxed anyone,” Lamothe replied.
Kingsley Wilson, the Pentagon press secretary who was appointed despite having repeatedly spread an antisemitic conspiracy theory, then falsely accused the Post of “publishing details about Secretary Hegseth’s security protocols” and “actively putting him and his family in danger for clicks.”
“These ‘reporters’ are disgusting,” Wilson added.
Wilson then boosted posts from three more Pentagon press aides who all echoed the false claim that the reporters had endangered Hegseth and his family and used increasingly extreme language. One, Jacob Bliss, referred to the reporters as “scum”; a second, Riley Podleski, asked “How do these reporters sleep at night?”; a third, Joel Valdez, wrote “there should be severe punishment” for what the three reporters had done, by reporting on concerns from inside the Pentagon that Hegseth’s security demands were excessive.
“There looks to be a coordinated reaction to The Post’s reporting today that falsely accuses the paper of publishing specific security vulnerabilities,” Lamothe responded on X. “Reaction like this comes after a string of undisputed WaPo scoops that have detailed dysfunction on Secretary Hegseth’s team.”
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Amid the Donald Trump administration’s heavy-handed review of Smithsonian museums, the Guardian has seen a document compiled by the White House that argues the widely visited cultural institutions have overly negative portrayals of US history, from a Benjamin Franklin exhibit that links his scientific achievements to his ownership of enslaved people and a film about George Floyd’s murder that it says mischaracterizes the police.
The document, based on public submissions shared with the administration, shows that seven museums have so far been flagged for review: the National Museum of American History, National Museum of the American Latino, National Museum of Natural History, National Museum of African Art, National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian American Art Museum and National Museum of Asian Art.
“President Trump will explore all options and avenues to get the Woke out of the Smithsonian and hold them accountable,” a White House official said. “Until we get info from the Smithsonian in response to our letter, we can’t verify the numbers of artifacts that have been removed because the Smithsonian has removed them on their own.”
Trump announced the initiative on Truth Social earlier this week, writing: “The Smithsonian is OUT OF CONTROL, where everything discussed is how horrible our Country is, how bad Slavery was, and how unaccomplished the downtrodden have been.”
The administration argues exhibits at these museums focus excessively on oppression rather than American achievements. At the National Museum of American History, the document flagged the ¡Presente! Latino history exhibition for allegedly promoting an “anti-American agenda” by examining colonization effects and depicting the US as stealing territory from Mexico in 1848.
Examples from the document also shames the museum’s Benjamin Franklin exhibit for linking his scientific achievements to his ownership of enslaved people, and the Star-Spangled Banner display for focusing on American historical failures and controversies rather than celebrating national achievements.
The National Portrait Gallery is being singled out for focusing on how the Chinese Exclusion Act and other racist immigration laws contradicted the Statue of Liberty’s welcoming message. The African art museum is targeted over the George Floyd film. And the Asian art museum is flagged for exhibitions for claiming to impose western gender ideology on traditional cultures.
Here's a recap of where things stand so far
The Texas house is getting down to legislative business today. The Republican majority is poised to pass the new congressional map that would give the GOP five more US House seats in 2026. As I write this, members have spent the last several hours handling and voting down a number of amendments to the bill, filed by Democrats. My colleague, George Chidi, has been covering the action in and around the house chamber today.
A reminder that Texas Democrats broke quorum for two weeks in protest of the gerrymandered map set to pass today. Their walkout set the stage for a wider redistricting battle that’s now playing out across the country. In fact, Axios reports (citing an internal memo from Gavin Newsom’s longtime pollster) that the California governor’s bid to offset Texas’ gains and redraw his state’s congressional seats to create more Democratic-friendly districts – has a 22-point advantage in support among Californian voters.
When it comes to the federal takeover of DC police, and the deployment of national guard troops, vice-president JD Vance, defense secretary Pete Hegseth, and the White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller met with soldiers at Union Station in the nation’s capital. The visit involved a photo op at Shake Shack, with Vance asserting “we brought some law and order back” as he handed out burgers to the troops. As the trio left the station they were heckled and booed by a crowd.
Meanwhile, the administration said federal law enforcement has made 550 arrests since the surge in officers and agents in DC, which began almost two weeks ago. In recent days, six Republican-led states have also pledged to send more than 1,200 national guard troops to DC.
And when it comes to the Epstein saga that continues to plague the Trump administration, a federal judge today denied the justice department’s bid to unseal records from the grand jury that indicted Jeffrey Epstein on sex trafficking charges. US district judge Richard Berman said the transcripts pale in comparison to the documents the government already has on Epstein and that disclosing them could harm victims.
Updated
Just a quick update from our earlier reporting where attorney general Pam Bondi said there were 61 arrests by federal law enforcement in DC on Tuesday. A White House official says there were actually 91 arrests. The official added that agents arrested 25 undocumented immigrants.
The official didn’t elaborate on the discrepancy between the White House’s numbers and the attorney general’s.
Updated
Nicole Collier, a Texas Democratic state representative, Democrat who has refused to permit state capitol police to shadow her while the legislature debates the redistricting bill, abruptly abandoned a livestream from the women’s bathroom at the capitol minutes ago, saying she was threatened with a felony for being there.
“Sorry, I was asked to leave. They said it’s a felony for me to do this,” she said on the Zoom call with the DNC chair Ken Martin, the California governor Gavin Newsom and the Democratic senator Cory Booker of New Jersey.
“Apparently, I can’t be on the floor or in the bathroom.” Collier spoke hurriedly with someone off camera, saying “Well, you told me I was only allowed to be here in the bathroom. No? Hang on.” She turned to the camera, and said “Bye, everybody. I’ve got to go,” dashing away.
The four of them had been discussing the redistricting, and broader efforts by Democratic lawmakers and leaders to resist authoritarian actions taken by the Trump administration. Booker was taken aback by Collier’s exit.
“Hey, that’s … that is outrageous,” Booker said. “First of all, let me tell you something, representative Collier in the bathroom has more dignity than Donald Trump in the Oval Office ... what they’re trying to do, right there, is silence an American leader, silence a Black woman. And that is outrageous. And I hope everybody took note of that. The fact that she can’t even let her voice be heard is freaking outrageous, yes, and this is what we’re fighting for here.”
Updated
More than 750 current and former federal health employees on Wednesday accused health and human services (HHS) secretary, Robert F Kennedy Jr, of fueling harassment and violence directed at government healthcare staff.
In a letter sent to Kennedy and members of Congress, the group accuses RFK Jr of contributing to “the harassment and violence experienced by Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) staff”, citing decisions such as removing members from a CDC vaccine advisory panel, questioning the safety of the measles vaccine, and firing key CDC staff as actions that sow distrust in federal medical professionals.
The group says Kennedy’s rhetoric played a role in the 8 August attack at the CDC’s headquarters in Atlanta, where a Georgia man opened fire on four CDC buildings, firing dozens of shots and killing a police officer. Law enforcement officials said the gunman blamed a Covid-19 vaccine for making him feel depressed and suicidal.
After the attack, Kennedy refused to confirm the motive of the shooter in an interview. He described political violence as “wrong” but neither he nor Donald Trump have spoken publicly about the motive, despite law enforcement officials making clear the shooter targeted the CDC over the vaccine.
The health workers are now asking Kennedy to “cease and publicly disavow the ongoing dissemination of false and misleading claims about vaccines, infectious disease transmission, and America’s public health institutions”.
Obama calls California redistricting effort 'responsible'
Speaking at a National Democratic Redistricting Committee event on Tuesday, former president Barack Obama called California governor Gavin Newsom’s plan to counter the new Texas congressional map, by launching an effort to redraw his own state’s map and create more Democrat-friendly districts, “a responsible approach”.
He went on to say:
I want to see as a long-term goal that we do not have political gerrymandering in America. That would be my preference…but we cannot unilaterally allow one of the two major parties to rig the game.
Obama also called Newsom’s strategy “measured”, as it only temporarily grants the California legislature with the ability to redraw maps mid-decade. “The fact that California voters will have a chance to weigh in on this makes this act consistent with our democratic ideals, rather than in opposition to our democratic ideals,” the former president said.
Updated
As we reported earlier, there are protests outside the Texas house chamber in the capitol rotunda. Congressman Greg Casar spoke a short while ago, leading the crowd in a chant of “we’re not going back”, as demonstrators held “put Texans first” signs behind him.
He added:
Let’s have a government where people get to elect and unelect their leaders. No president, no politician, gets to make this decision for you. That is the fight we’re all in.”
The new GOP-drawn map would put Casar’s Austin-area seat at risk, by essentially merging with congressman Lloyd Doggett’s constituency, another Democrat, and leading to a possible primary battle.
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Jeffrey Epstein grand jury records to remain sealed, judge rules
A federal judge has denied the justice department’s bid to unseal records from the grand jury that indicted Jeffrey Epstein on sex trafficking charges.
Manhattan-based US district judge Richard Berman’s decision came as Donald Trump tries to quell discontent from his conservative base of supporters over his administration’s handling of the case.
Trump had promised to make public Epstein-related files if reelected and accused Democrats of covering up the truth. But in July, the justice department declined to release any more material from its investigation of the case and said a previously touted Epstein client list did not exist, angering Trump’s supporters.
Evidence seen and heard by grand juries, which operate behind closed doors to prevent interference in criminal investigations, cannot be released without a judge’s approval. Trump in July instructed attorney general Pam Bondi to seek court approval for the release of grand jury material from Epstein’s case.
The grand jury that indicted Epstein heard from just one witness, an agent with the FBI, the justice department said in a court filing in July.
On 11 August a different Manhattan-based judge, Paul Engelmayer, denied a similar request by the justice department to unseal grand jury testimony and exhibits from the case of Ghislaine Maxwell, Epstein’s longtime girlfriend and accomplice. She is serving a 20-year prison sentence following her 2021 conviction for recruiting underage girls for Epstein to abuse.
Engelmayer wrote that the public would not learn anything new from the release of materials from Maxwell’s grand jury because much of the evidence was made public at her month-long trial four years ago. The grand jury testimony contained no evidence of others besides Epstein and Maxwell who had sexual contact with minors, Engelmayer wrote.
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The trio’s visit to national guard troops at Union Station involved a photo opp at Shake Shack, with the vice-president asserting “we brought some law and order back” as he handed out burgers to the troops. “We appreciate everything you’re doing,” he told them.
Per the Associated Press, citing the protesters whose shouts echoed through the station, Vance said: “They appear to hate the idea that Americans can enjoy their communities.”
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JD Vance, Pete Hegseth and Stephen Miller booed at DC's Union station
As vice-president JD Vance, defense secretary Pete Hegseth and White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller left Washington DC’s Union Station a short while ago, they were heckled and boo’d by a crowd inside the station.
Here’s an example from social media via a HuffPost reporter:
Vance and Hegseth leaving Union Station, lots of boos pic.twitter.com/oRT9wOca8c
— Igor Bobic (@igorbobic) August 20, 2025
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Newsom pollster finds growing majority of California voters support redistricting - report
California governor Gavin Newsom’s bid to redraw the state’s congressional seats to create more Democrat-friendly districts – in an effort to offset Texas’ move to redraw its state map to flip five Democratic-held US House seats – has a 22-point advantage in support among Californian voters, Axios reports citing an internal memo from Newsom’s longtime pollster.
From Axios’ report:
David Binder, a prominent Democratic pollster who has long worked for Newsom, found that 57% of California voters backed the redistricting measure, while 35% opposed and 8% were undecided.
Voters’ support appears to have increased as they’ve learned more about the measure, Binder said: A July survey had found that 51% favored Newsom’s redistricting push.
Binder also wrote that ‘Democrats are almost fully united in their support, with 84% in support and 13% opposed’, while Republicans are similarly united against the measure with 79% opposed.
‘Voter trends on this measure closely mirror the presidential election results of November 2024, in which Kamala Harris defeated Donald Trump in California by 58% to 38%. Poll results indicate that Proposition 50 will fall along similar partisan lines,’ Binder concluded.
Binder wrote that support for the redistricting measure changes based on how it’s pitched to voters.
If Proposition 50 is framed as doing away with the state’s independent redistricting commission that is meant to avoid partisan gerrymandering, the measure appears to have less support, Binder concluded, citing other surveys.
‘When voters hear that Proposition 50 allows new maps to be designed on a temporary basis, triggered by partisan action in other state such as Texas, and retains the independent redistricting commission, they support the measure by a double-digit margin,’ Binder wrote.
Updated
In other news across Texas, a federal judge has blocked a state law that requires all public elementary and secondary schools to display the Ten Commandments in every classroom.
District court judge Fred Biery said that the law violated the first amendment protections which separate church and state.
“Public schools are not Sunday schools,” said Heather L Weaver, senior counsel for the ACLU’s program on freedom of religion and belief. “Today’s decision ensures that our clients’ schools will remain spaces where all students, regardless of their faith, feel welcomed and can learn without worrying that they do not live up to the state’s preferred religious beliefs.”
In June, a group of parents sued the Texas Education Agency and certain school districts, saying the state law forced religious mandates on public schools.
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We’re getting a bit more from Union Station in DC. JD Vance, defense secretary Pete Hegseth, and White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller are currently meeting with national guard members at the station.
The vice-president told the press pool that he would speak to them afterwards.
Updated
The White House press pool says that vice-president JD Vance is now at Washington DC’s Union Station. We’ll bring you any lines as they come through.
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Donald Trump has called on a Federal Reserve governor to immediately resign, renewing his extraordinary attack on the central bank’s independence as officials mull next steps on interest rates.
A close Trump ally accused Lisa Cook, an appointee of Joe Biden, of “potentially committing mortgage fraud” and urged the US Department of Justice to investigate. The claims have not been confirmed.
The US president has repeatedly broken with precedent in recent months to demand the Fed cut rates and urge its chair, Jerome Powell, to quit after disregarding such calls.
On Wednesday, Trump leaped on the allegations about Cook. The governor “must resign, now!!!” he wrote on Truth Social, his social media platform.
Cook and the Fed did not respond to requests for comment.
Cook, whose current term on the Fed’s board extends until 2038, previously served on the council of economic advisers under Barack Obama. When she took office in May 2022, she became the first Black woman to sit on the central bank’s board.
Outside the house chamber, there is a small protest happening in the Texas capitol rotunda, according to a video posted by Alejandro Serrano, a reporter at the Texas Tribune. Demonstrators are holding up banners which read “put Texans first” and “end gerrymandering, save democracy”.
Happening now: Protest in the Texas Capitol rotunda. Their chants can be heard — albeit faintly — inside the House, where reps are scheduled to vote on proposed congressional redistricting. #txlege pic.twitter.com/Hl3f6bvzWh
— Alejandro Serrano (@serrano_alej) August 20, 2025
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Environmental and health advocates are dressing down Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) officials this week over a proposed repeal of a landmark scientific finding.
Late last month, the EPA announced their intention to roll back the 16-year-old “endangerment finding” – which forms the legal basis of virtually all US climate regulations – along with a greenhouse gas rule for auto vehicles.
At the agency’s virtual public hearings on the proposals this week hundreds of advocates are critiquing the plan.
“EPA is not providing enough time or space for people and communities to adequately respond to these two proposals,” Mariela Ruacho, a manager at the American Lung Association, testified on Wednesday. “These are drastic departures from the norm, and should truly be in two separate hearings versus rolling back multiple policies at once.”
Jaime Butler, communications associate at Young Evangelicals for Climate Action, said she believes there is a “moral and biblical mandate to defend all human life from harmful climate warming pollution from power plants, vehicles and other sources.”
Earlier this month, she noted, she saw historic floods overwhelm her hometown of Milwaukee, Wisconsin. “We cannot afford to be making decisions that would continue to increase the frequency and intensity of flooding or other extreme weather events like this,” she said.
EPA livestreamed hearings for the proposals began on Tuesday this week, and will continue through Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. Officials will also accept written comments on the plans through 22 September.
The Department of Energy is also taking comment through 2 September on a report it produced in defense of the endangerment finding rollback, which seeks to undermine the scientific consensus on the climate crisis.
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Texas House reconvenes, ready to pass GOP-drawn map
The Texas house is starting up for legislative business again. The Republican majority is poised to pass the new congressional map that would give the GOP five more house seats in 2026.
Right now, state representative Gina Hinojosa, a Democrat, is making a parliamentary inquiry with the Republican house speaker Dustin Burrows – asking why the lower chamber is not leading the special session with legislation focused on relief for victims of the devastating July floods in Texas.
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Texas Democrat will force vote to release Epstein files ahead of GOP congressional map taking effect
Today, as the Texas house is set to advance a GOP-drawn congressional map, the minority leader Gene Wu is set to introduce an amendment that would require the release of the Epstein files before the map goes into effect. In an attempt to force Republicans’ hand Wu said the vote “forces Republicans to choose between their loyalty to Trump and their obligation to expose sexual predators.”
He added:
We all know Trump is desperately afraid of what’s in those documents, and now we’ll see if Texas Republicans are willing to demand transparency or if they’ll continue the coverup.”
The legislature is set to reconvene at around 11am ET, and we’ll bring you the latest as it happens.
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Trump administration says 66 arrests made on Tuesday
Attorney general Pam Bondi said that federal law enforcement made 66 arrests on Tuesday 19 August. Bondi added that agents seized eight illegal firearms.
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Military vehicle crashes into car in DC - report
We’re getting more information about a military vehicle that has crashed into a car in the Capitol Hill area of DC.
The city’s local CBS station first reported on the incident, and cited confirmation from the DC fire and emergency services. On social media, the department said that one person was extricated and transported with “minor injuries”. A Reddit user posted a video of the collision’s aftermath – showing a Humvee-style vehicle and a shattered silver SUV.
The DC fire department hasn’t responded yet to the Guardian’s request for comment and further details on the crash.
This comes as six Republican-led states have all pledged to send at least 1,200 National Guard troops to DC, to assist the president’s crackdown on “bloodshed, bedlam, and squalor” in the nation’s capital, despite a falling crime rate.
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In Sand Point, Alaska, the radio dial is mostly empty. For a commercial broadcaster, running a station in this Aleutian Island fishing town of about 600 people just is not worth the cost of doing business.
But KSDP, the local public radio station for Sand Point, is a community anchor, bringing listeners music, emergency alerts, live color commentary of high school sports, state and local news. Without a newspaper specifically serving the town, the station is residents’ resource for all things local.
On 1 August, for example, KSDP hosted an interview with local fish biologist Matthew Keyes. Asking the questions was Austin Roof, general manager of the station. Over fuzzy microphones, the two volleyed stats back and forth about the escapement rates of “pinks” and “kings” (colloquialisms for two of the most fished species of salmon).
In just the past few summer months KSDP has brought listeners not only crucial information about local fisheries, but also delivered updates and orders to get to high ground in the wake of two tsunamis. All the while, legislators 4,000 miles away in Washington DC were solidifying a decision that will fundamentally alter the media available to millions of Americans, especially in rural areas: on 17 July, Congress voted to rescind all funding for public broadcasting.
Within hours of Roof’s fishery interview, the hammer dropped: the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB), through which federal funding is disbursed to public radio and television stations, announced it will close down at the end of September.
“The rural communities are definitely gonna be hit the hardest,” Roof says. “How do you prepare for the end of the world? The loss of federal funding is truly that seismic for us.”
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When it comes to California’s rapid plan to counteract Texas’s GOP-drawn map – Republican congressman Kevin Kiley has called on House speaker Mike Johnson to take up his bill to end mid-decade redistricting.
Kiley’s California seat would be vulnerable if new maps are passed in a special election in November.
“Mr. Speaker, these are nice words but we need action,” Kiley wrote on X. “You can stop Newsom’s Redistricting Sham and save our taxpayers $250 million by bringing my mid-decade redistricting bill to the Floor.”
But Kiley’s efforts are in vain, given that Texas’ push to redraw the state’s congressional map was at the behest of Donald Trump. The president has also set his sights on other red states – like Indiana, Ohio and Missouri – to pressure Republican leaders to drum up new maps that could retain a GOP House majority.
Kamala Harris said Texas state representative Nicole Collier, who has been protesting the latest surveillance protocols set by Texas Republicans, is among the “heroes of the moment”.
On Tuesday, the former vice president and Democratic presidential nominee called Collier as she camped out on the House floor and refused to be escorted home by a state trooper – one of the conditions set by the Texas GOP to ensure that Democratic lawmakers would return to the Capitol after their two-week quorum break.
“You know you are among those who history will reveal to have been heroes of this moment,” Harris said on the phone call.
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Bondi says 550 arrested in DC since surge of federal law enforcement
Attorney general Pam Bondi has said that federal law enforcement has made 550 arrests since the surge in officers and agents in DC, which began almost two weeks ago. She added that “76 illegal firearms” have also been seized.
We’re waiting on the White House for the updated number of arrests made on Tuesday 19 August.
Updated
Also, when it comes to the day’s schedule, and things we’re watching. The Texas house vote on the GOP-drawn congressional map will take place today. The lower chamber will kick off the day’s legislative business at 10am CT/11am ET, so we’ll be watching closely.
The map, which saw Texas Democrats break quorum for two weeks, and has inspired a redistricting arms race across the country, is set to pass. It’ll then head to the state Senate.
The president’s schedule is pretty quiet today for official business, per the White House. The only listed event is a swearing in-ceremony for the US ambassador to the EU at 4pm ET. That’s closed press for now, but I’ll let you know if that changes throughout the day and the president opens it up.
More than 2.8 million people now identify as transgender in the US, including an estimated 724,000 youth, according to a new data analysis that is the largest of its kind to date.
Researchers from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) Williams Institute used federal surveys and data from state health agencies to identify the size and demographics of the trans population in each state.
The analysis, shared with the Guardian and released on Wednesday, documented thousands of trans youth living in all 50 states and the District of Columbia. The findings counter Donald Trump’s aggressive efforts to deny the existence of trans minors, as his administration removes references to trans people across federal agencies and widely erodes protections and programs for LGBTQ+ communities.
The report builds on federal data collection efforts that the White House is now eliminating. The authors warn their study could be the last comprehensive portrait of the nation’s trans population for a decade or more as trans people are erased from vital US surveys, including health reports and crime data analyses.
Boston’s mayor Michelle Wu has hit back sharply at the Trump administration’s legal threats over sanctuary city immigration policies, declaring that “Boston will not back down”.
Wu told a news conference outside Boston’s city hall on Tuesday: “The US attorney general asked for a response by today, so here it is: stop attacking our cities to hide your administration’s failures. Unlike the Trump administration, Boston follows the law. And Boston will not back down from who we are and what we stand for.”
Last week, the US Department of Justice sent letters to 13 states, from California to Rhode Island, and 22 local governments, from Boston to Seattle, that it has deemed “sanctuary jurisdictions”, threatening their leaders with prosecution for allegedly “undermining” and “obstructing” federal immigration enforcement.
The letters warned that they could lose federal funds or face legal action if they do not assist with Donald Trump’s sweeping, aggressive and highly controversial immigration enforcement and mass deportation efforts.
Attorney general Pam Bondi has warned that she intends to prosecute political leaders who are not – in her view - sufficiently supportive of immigration enforcement.
Bondi’s letter asked recipients to provide a response by 19 August that “confirms your commitment with complying with federal law and identifies the immediate initiatives you are taking to eliminate laws, policies and practices that impede federal immigration enforcement”.
Uganda has not agreed with US to take illegal immigrants, foreign affairs official says
Uganda has not reached any agreement with the United States to take in illegal immigrants because it lacks necessary infrastructure to do so, a senior foreign affairs ministry official said on Wednesday.
“To the best of my knowledge we have not reached such an agreement. We do not have the facilities and infrastructure to accommodate such illegal immigrants in Uganda. So, we cannot take in such illegal immigrants,” Henry Okello Oryem, state minister for foreign affairs, told Reuters in a text message.
On Tuesday, CBS News, citing internal documents, reported that Washington had reached deportation deals with Honduras and Uganda as part of its effort to strike more agreements with countries that would accept migrants deported from the US who were not their citizens.
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The White House launched an official TikTok account on Tuesday, as Donald Trump continues to permit the Chinese-owned platform to operate in the US despite a law requiring its sale.
“America we are BACK! What’s up TikTok?” read a caption on the account’s first post, a 27-second clip, on the popular video-sharing app.
The account had about 4,500 followers an hour after posting the video. Trump’s personal account on TikTok meanwhile has 15.1 million followers, though his last post was on 5 November 2024 – election day.
Trump has a soft spot for the popular app, crediting it with helping him gain support among young voters when he defeated Kamala Harris, his Democratic opponent, in the November 2024 presidential election.
“The Trump administration is committed to communicating the historic successes President Trump has delivered to the American people with as many audiences and platforms as possible,” Karoline Leavitt, the White House press secretary, said as the account went live.
A federal law requiring TikTok’s sale or a ban on national security grounds was due to take effect the day before Trump’s inauguration on 20 January.
Household electricity bills have increased by 10% since Donald Trump re-entered the White House, a new report has found, with its authors highlighting the impact of the president’s datacenter boosterism and cuts to clean energy projects as part of the cause.
The analysis comes as the US energy secretary, Chris Wright, said he knows rising energy prices could be a political challenge for the GOP ahead of next year’s midterm elections, but claimed Democrats were to blame for the cost increases.
“The momentum of the Obama-Biden policies, for sure that destruction is going to continue in the coming years,” he told Politico in an interview published on Tuesday. “That momentum is pushing prices up right now. And who’s going to get blamed for it? We’re going to get blamed because we’re in office.”
Trump has repeatedly promised to lower utility bills. And in his Politico interview, Wright insisted that the Trump administration’s war on renewable energy is not inflating electricity costs.
But studies have found that Trump’s pro-fossil fuel, anti-renewable energy policies will raise prices. A July report from climate thinktank Energy Innovation, for instance, found that the Republicans’ spending megabill that the president signed last month could increase wholesale electricity prices by as much as 74%, largely due to its repeal of many Biden-era green energy incentives.
Texas Republicans set to approve Trump-backed new congressional map after lengthy fight
Texas Republicans on Wednesday will take up a new state congressional map intended to flip five Democratic-held U.S. House seats in next year’s midterm elections, after dozens of Democratic lawmakers ended a two-week walkout that had temporarily blocked its passage.
Republican state legislators have undertaken rare mid-decade redistricting at the behest of Donald Trump, who is seeking to improve his party’s odds of preserving its narrow US House of Representatives majority despite political headwinds.
The gambit has triggered a national redistricting battle, with governors of both parties threatening to initiate similar efforts in other states.
Democratic California governor Gavin Newsom is advancing an effort to offset Texas’ move by redrawing his state’s map to flip five Republican seats, pitting the nation’s most populous Democratic state against Texas, its most populous Republican one. The Texas map aims to flip five Democratic seats.
Other Republican states including Ohio, Florida, Indiana and Missouri are moving forward with or considering their own redistricting efforts, as are Democratic states such as Maryland and Illinois.
Redistricting typically occurs every 10 years after the US Census to account for population changes, and mid-decade redistricting has historically been unusual. In many states, lawmakers manipulate the lines to favor their party over the opposition, a practice known as gerrymandering.
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A southern California community is calling for the release of a high school student whom US immigration agents arrested earlier this month while he was walking his dog.
Benjamin Marcelo Guerrero-Cruz was supposed to be starting his senior year of high school at Reseda charter high school this month. But just days after his 18th birthday, masked Ice agents detained him as he walking his dog in the Los Angeles neighborhood of Van Nuys in what his family described as a kidnapping.
The agents allowed his dog to run loose, and treated Guerrero-Cruz like a criminal and joked while arresting him, his family said in a GoFundMe.
“He is more than just a student – he is a devoted son, a caring brother, a loyal friend, and a valued member of our community,” the family wrote, adding that he helps care for his younger brothers. “He is a good student, with a kind heart, who has always stepped up for his family.”
Educators and advocates held a rally to bring attention to Guerrero-Cruz’s detention, demand his release, and call for answers from local officials, such as the Los Angeles unified school district superintendent, about the unmarked vehicle and plainclothes, masked men who took him on the morning of 8 August.
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Federal prosecutors have launched a criminal investigation into allegations that Washington DC police systematically manipulated crime statistics to make the city appear safer than it actually is.
The probe, anonymous sources tell the Washington Post, NBC News and Fox News, being conducted by the US attorney’s office for the District of Columbia under Jeanine Pirro, is the latest escalation between the Trump administration and DC officials over federal control of local policing.
The justice department did not respond to a request for comment on the investigation.
Trump somewhat confirmed the investigation on Monday, writing on social media that DC provided “fake crime numbers” to create a “false illusion of safety” and officials were “under serious investigation”.
Trump again attacks Fed chair, says Powell 'hurting' the housing industry
Donald Trump said on Tuesday that Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell is “hurting” the housing industry “very badly” and repeated his call for a big cut to US interest rates.
“Could somebody please inform Jerome ‘Too Late’ Powell that he is hurting the Housing Industry, very badly? People can’t get a Mortgage because of him. There is no Inflation, and every sign is pointing to a major Rate Cut,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
Inflation is well off the highs seen during the pandemic, but some recent data has given a mixed picture and inflation continues to track above the Fed’s 2% target range.
Trump’s latest salvo against Powell comes ahead of the Fed chair’s Friday speech at the annual Jackson Hole central banking symposium, where investors will cleave to his every word for hints on his economic outlook and the likelihood of a coming reduction to short-term borrowing costs.
The Fed’s next policy meeting will be held on 16-17 September.
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Donald Trump suggested on Tuesday he will pressure the Smithsonian Institution – a premier museum, education and research complex for US history and culture – to accept his demands, just like he did with colleges and universities by threatening to cut federal funding, Reuters reports.
In a social media post, Trump complained about what he called excessive focus on “how bad Slavery was”.
“I have instructed my attorneys to go through the Museums, and start the exact same process that has been done with Colleges and Universities where tremendous progress has been made,” Trump said on Truth Social.
The Smithsonian, which was established in 1846 and includes 21 museums and galleries and the National Zoo, had no immediate comment. Most of its museums are in Washington, DC.
The White House said last week it will lead an internal review of some Smithsonian museums after Trump earlier this year accused it of spreading “anti-American ideology” and raised alarm among civil rights advocates.
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Musk quietly puts brakes on plans for new political party, WSJ says
Billionaire Elon Musk is quietly putting the brakes on plans to start his new political party, telling allies he wants to focus on his companies, the Wall Street Journal said on Tuesday, citing people with knowledge of the plans.
Musk, without commenting further on the report, said in an X post: “Nothing @WSJ says should ever be thought of as true”.
Musk, the world’s richest man, unveiled the ‘America Party’ in July after a public dispute with Donald Trump on the tax cut and spending bill.
He has recently been focused in part on maintaining ties with vice-president JD Vance, the paper said, and has acknowledged to associates that forming a political party would damage his relationship with Vance.
Musk, the world’s richest man, and his associates have told people close to Vance that the billionaire is considering using some of his financial resources to back Vance if he decides to run for president in 2028, the paper said.
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Norwegian and Swedish-Danish postal groups Posten Bring and PostNord are pausing parcel shipments to the United States ahead of the scrapping of a US customs tax loophole that allows duty-free entry for low-value packages, they said on Wednesday.
Donald Trump’s administration said last month it would suspend the global “de minimis” exemption, which also allows minimal paperwork, for international shipments under $800 from 29 August.
“Due to the short time-frame to adapt to the new requirements, PostNord is temporarily halting shipments,” the company owned by the Swedish and Danish governments said in a statement.
Under the executive order suspending the “de minimis” exemption, low-value packages sent to the US will face “all applicable duties”, according to the White House.
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Gabbard strips security clearance from dozens of intelligence officials
Good morning and welcome to the US politics live blog. I’m Tom Ambrose and I will be bringing you all the latest news lines over the next few hours.
We start with news that national intelligence director Tulsi Gabbard said on Tuesday that she had stripped security clearances from 37 current and former national security officials, including some who worked on the intelligence community’s assessment that Russia interfered in the 2016 presidential election.
In a memo posted on X, Gabbard accused the targeted individuals of having engaged in “politicizing and manipulating intelligence, leaking classified intelligence without authorization, and/or committing intentional egregious violations of tradecraft standards”.
This move is the latest in a series of retributions by the Trump administration against national security officials and political opponents he views as adversaries.
“These are unlawful and unconstitutional decisions that deviate from well-settled, decades-old laws and policies that sought to protect against just this type of action,” Mark Zaid, a national security lawyer whose own clearance was revoked by the Trump administration, said in a statement.
He called it hypocritical for the administration to “claim these individuals politicized or weaponized intelligence”.
In March, Donald Trump revoked security clearances for Joe Biden, Kamala Harris, and several other Democrats and critics. The order also stripped access from former secretary of state Antony Blinken, former representatives Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger, New York attorney general Letitia James – who prosecuted Trump for fraud – and Biden’s entire family.
In other developments:
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced it will open a new migrant detention facility in Nebraska as part of President Trump’s ongoing efforts to bolster Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (Ice) detention network. The facility, located in the southwest part of the state, has been called “Cornhusker Clink” by the department and will hold undocumented migrants arrested by Ice. The project is a partnership between the Nebraska Department of Correctional Services and Ice, adding up to 280 new detention beds.
National guard members from West Virginia, South Carolina, Mississippi and Louisiana began arriving in Washington on Tuesday, the Associated Press reports, to help with Trump’s federal crackdown on crime and homelessness. The Joint Task Force District of Columbia, the military unit overseeing the guard, told the news wire that those troops will perform similar duties to local guard members already on the streets. These tasks include protecting landmarks and crowd control.
The White House launched an official TikTok account, joining the social platform with more than 150 million US users. Reuters first reported the move. The first video posted by the White House on TikTok shows a video montage with a Trump voiceover saying: “Every day I wake up determined to deliver a better life for the people all across this nation. I am your voice.” More here.
Texas Democrats are tearing up the “permission slips” they signed in order to leave the chamber, joining state representative Nicole Collier ahead of Wednesday’s vote on the controversial Texas congressional redistricting maps. The slips are part of new surveillance protocols set by Texas Republicans in the House chamber, stating that Democrats would “be granted written permission to leave only after agreeing to be released into the custody of a designated [Texas department of public safety] officer” who would ensure their return to the chamber.
Federal prosecutors have launched a criminal investigation into allegations that Washington DC police systematically manipulated crime statistics to make the city appear safer than it actually is. The probe, anonymous sources tell the Washington Post, NBC News and Fox News, being conducted by the US attorney’s office for the District of Columbia under Jeanine Pirro, is the latest escalation between the Trump administration and DC officials over federal control of local policing. More here.
The Trump administration said on Tuesday that it will look for “anti-American” views, including on social media, when assessing the applications of people wanting to live in the United States. In an announcement, US Citizenship and Immigration Services, which handles requests to stay in the United States or become a citizen, said it would expand vetting of the social media postings of applicants and that “reviews for anti-American activity will be added to that vetting”. More here.
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