DC’s mayor Muriel E Bowser and attorney general Brian L Schwalb were outside the courthouse celebrating the outcome, according to the New York Times.
“My expectation is the key issue with respect to control and command of our MPD has been resolved today, and that it is clear as a matter of law that it is under the chief of police appointed by the mayor,” Schwalb said.
Trump administration to scale back federal control of Washington DC police department
The Trump administration and attorneys for Washington DC have agreed to scale back, in part, attorney general Pam Bondi’s executive order, NewsNation is reporting, specifically the aspect that puts DC metropolitan police department fully under the control of DEA administrator Terry Cole, rather than DC police chief.
I’ll bring you more on this as we get it.
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Closing summary
The Trump administration and attorneys for Washington DC have agreed to scale back, in part, attorney general Pam Bondi’s executive order, NewsNation is reporting, specifically the aspect that puts DC metropolitan police department fully under the control of DEA administrator Terry Cole, rather than DC police chief. DC’s mayor Muriel E Bowser and attorney general Brian L Schwalb were outside the courthouse celebrating the outcome, according to the New York Times. “My expectation is the key issue with respect to control and command of our MPD has been resolved today, and that it is clear as a matter of law that it is under the chief of police appointed by the mayor,” Schwalb said.
Meanwhile, Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin began their historic summit in Alaska as the US president tries to negotiate an end to Russia’s war in Ukraine. With the meeting expected to last late into the evening, my colleague Robert Mackey is covering it in detail here.
Earlier, en route to Alaska, Trump told reporters he wanted a ceasefire rapidly, adding: “I’m not going to be happy if it’s not today.” He also said he “would walk” if the meeting didn’t go well.
Trump earlier confirmed his previous threat of “severe” consequences for Russia if it fails to show willingness to seriously talk about the end of war in Ukraine: “Economically severe. It will be very severe. I’m not doing this for my health, OK, I don’t need it. I’d like to focus on our country, but I’m doing this to save a lot of lives.”
California Democrats are set to unveil a new map today that could allow the party to claim up to five additional seats in Congress, according to multiple reports. More on that here.
Texas governor Greg Abbott called a second special legislative session this afternoon, in an effort to hike pressure on Democratic lawmakers who have fled the state to stymie Republican plans to redraw political maps at the behest of Trump. More on that here.
Health and human services secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr has said he will not repeat his 2024 bid for the presidency in 2028. More on that here.
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In the CFPB ruling, US circuit court judge Gregory Katsas, who was joined by circuit judge Neomi Rao, said that, despite factual findings that the Trump administration intended to destroy the CFPB, the lower court had acted outside its authority.
“We hold that the district court lacked jurisdiction to consider the claims predicated on loss of employment, which must proceed through the specialized-review scheme” under laws governing the civil service, Katsas wrote for the majority. Other objections raised by the plaintiffs did not concern final decisions made by the agency and so could not be reviewed in court, according to Katsas and Rao, both Trump appointees.
In a dissent, circuit judge Cornelia Pillard said the lower court had acted properly in blocking the Trump administration from eradicating the CFPB entirely as the lawsuit played out.
“But it is emphatically not within the discretion of the President or his appointees to decide that the country would benefit most if there were no Bureau at all,” wrote Pillard, who was appointed by Barack Obama.
Two watchdog organizations, the Federal Reserve’s inspector general and Congress’s Government Accountability Office, launched investigations earlier this year into the Trump administration’s actions at the CFPB.
In a post on X, senator Elizabeth Warren, the top Democrat on the Senate banking committee and an early driver in the CFPB’s creation, said the court had wilfully ignored the Trump administration’s “lawless attempt” to destroy the agency. But she noted officials were still barred from resuming mass firings for now: “The fight continues.”
Congress created the CFPB in the wake of the 2008 financial crash to police consumer finance industries whose activities generated the toxic assets underlying that crisis. Conservatives and industrial lobbies have long reviled the agency, accusing it of weighing on free enterprise and acting outside the bounds of the law to pursue politicized enforcement.
Trump officials have appeared to vacillate this year concerning their plans for the CFPB, with Trump and erstwhile adviser Elon Musk saying it should be eradicated outright, even though senior officials have said in court they plan to shrink the CFPB, not eliminate it.
Lawyers representing workers and consumer groups, however, rejected this, saying witness testimony showed top officials did not intend to maintain a functioning CFPB but instead to wipe it out completely.
In court, they produced evidence and testimony showing the attempted mass dismissals of March and April were so rushed and widespread they completely vacated entire offices or left them so understaffed as to be incapable of performing functions required by law.
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Appeals court clears way for Trump to restart CFPB mass layoffs
A divided federal appeals court has cleared Donald Trump to resume mass firings at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, ruling that a lower court had lacked jurisdiction in temporarily blocking this.
However, the US court of appeals for the District of Columbia circuit said its decision would not take immediate effect, allowing lawyers representing CFPB workers and pro-consumer organizations to seek reconsideration by the full court of appeals, meaning any dismissal notices were likely to have to wait for now.
The decision nevertheless imperilled the employment of perhaps 1,500 workers at the CFPB whose mass firing was blocked in April by a trial court, which found the attempted purge violated a March injunction temporarily halting the administration’s efforts to shut the CFPB down.
Representatives for the CFPB did not respond to a Reuters request for comment.
Attorney general Pam Bondi hailed the decision on X, saying that it marked “another win for President Trump” and would free the CFPB “to right-size itself”. She also referred to “our effort to dismantle” the agency, though the administration has asserted in court they plan to let it live on in some reduced form.
Jennifer Bennett, an attorney for the plaintiffs, said the decision threatened to leave the public unprotected from the misdeeds of bad actors in the market for consumer finance.
“Without the full force of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau - an agency Congress created specifically to protect consumers - millions will lose critical safeguards against predatory financial practices. If this decision is allowed to stand, it will shift the balance of power toward corporations at the expense of American families’ financial security,” Bennett said in a statement without addressing plans for further appeal.
The US Africa Command (Africom), the branch of the US military responsible for overseeing operations across the African continent, held a ceremony today in which its most senior commander, General Michael E Langley, passed the torch to his successor, General Dagvin R M Anderson.
The first member of the air force to lead Africom, Anderson, said he isn’t “new to the challenges of Africa” and is “incredibly familiar with the rising threats around the world that are vying for influence on the continent, seeking to destabilize and undo the world order that we enjoy [while undermining] the way of life that we all defend.”
Langley took charge of Africom in 2022, ending his three year tenure this week. In May, he said the US was reviewing its presence on the African continent.
His tenure at Africom has been marked by setbacks for the US and the west more broadly across Africa, as the US has appeared to de-prioritise the continent. Military juntas, staffed by soldiers that in many cases were trained by the US, have seized power across the Sahel, who also have close ties with Russia; China has gained further ground as a primary trade partner for many countries in Africa; and jihadist organisations now control more territory than ever before, an area roughly the size of Tanzania, according to one report.
Analysis: Trump is targeting sanctuary cities to settle political scores and potentially arrest his opponents
It’s not about immigration – or rather, it’s not just about immigration.
Pam Bondi, the US attorney general, sent letters this week to dozens of cities and counties around the country, warning them that their leaders could be prosecuted and federal funds stripped from their cities if they don’t “cooperate” with Donald Trump’s deportation scheme.
The threats against cities come amid a backdrop of a crackdown on crime in Washington DC, where Trump, after similar actions in Los Angeles, has sent in the military against the wishes of local leaders.
The attacks on cities will not stop with Washington.
Using immigration as a pretext, the Trump administration wants to go after Democratic-run cities across the country to settle political scores, assert the president as a strongman and, potentially, arrest his opponents.
Trump-Putin meeting on Ukraine war gets under way in Alaska
All eyes are on Alaska as the highly anticipated summit between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin, and their respective delegations, is now underway.
Here are some pictures from the leaders’ arrival and a reminder that my colleague Shrai Popat is covering it all in detail here.
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RFK Jr says no plans for 2028 presidential run
Health and human services secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr has said he will not repeat his 2024 bid for the presidency in 2028.
The Kennedy family scion ran as nominee for the Democrat party nomination, before switching to become an independent candidate, before switching again to throw his weight behind Donald Trump. Trump later rewarded him with a cabinet level post with a mandate to “Make America Healthy Again”.
“The swamp is in full panic mode. DC lobby shops are laboring fiercely to drive a wedge between President Trump and me, hoping to thwart our team from dismantling the status quo and advancing [Trump’s] ‘Make America Healthy Again’ agenda,” Kennedy Jr said in an X post on Friday.
Kennedy added that the so-called swamp, a Republican term for what they see as an entrenched Washington bureaucracy, was “pushing the flat-out lie that I’m running for president in 2028”.
He continued: “Let me be clear: I am not running for president in 2028. My loyalty is to President Trump and the mission we’ve started. Their attacks on my staff, especially Stefanie Spear - a fierce, loyal warrior for MAHA who proudly serves in the Trump Administration and works every day to advance President Trump’s vision for a healthier, stronger America - are proof we’re over the target.”
Kennedy continued with an overt expression of obeisance for his White House boss and erstwhile political patron.
“We’ll keep moving forward, we’ll keep delivering wins, and no smear campaign will stop us. President Trump is delivering on every promise beyond my wildest dreams — ending war, protecting free speech, rebuilding American industry and the American middle class, delivering transparency and gold standard science, and breaking the grip of entrenched interests,” he wrote.
Kennedy concluded by saying Trump had “made himself the answer to my 20-year prayer that God would put me in a position to end the chronic disease epidemic — and that’s exactly what my team and I will do until the day he leaves office”.
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During Friday afternoon’s hearing on Washington DC’s request for a temporary restraining order seeking to block the Trump administration’s takeover of the city’s law enforcement, the judge suggested that the law likely doesn’t grant the president full control over DC’s police.
“The way I read the statute, the president can ask, the mayor must provide, but the president can’t control,” said US District Judge Ana Reyes, who is overseeing the hearing, according to the Associated Press.
The Judge overseeing today’s hearing on Washington DC’s request for a temporary restraining order to halt the Trump administration’s takeover of the city’s police force has reportedly taken a brief break and urged both sides to try to come to an agreement.
According to reporting from CNN and the New York Times, Judge Ana Reyes has taken a short recess and has encouraged the attorneys representing both the Trump administration and DC to confer and explore possible modifications.
Trump-Putin meeting no longer one-on-one
As opposed to a one-on-one meeting, Donald Trump will now be joined by secretary of his state, Marco Rubio, and special envoy Steve Witkoff in his discussion with Vladimir Putin, the White House confirmed.
The meeting will now be three-on-three, with two additional officials on the Russian side as well, Fox News reported.
Then, at a lunch following the meeting, Rubio, Witkoff, treasury secretary Scott Bessent, commerce secretary Howard Lutnick, defense secretary Pete Hegseth and Trump’s chief of staff Susie Wiles will also be present, the White House said.
This is notable because earlier today Trump noted that Putin was bringing many Russian businessmen with him to Alaska. Trump said he was willing to talk about business and trade with the Russian president, as the inclusion of these members of his cabinet in the meeting potentially demonstrates.
But he also said that he was not ready to expand commercial ties unless the fighting stops in Ukraine. “I noticed he’s bringing a lot of business people from Russia, and that’s good,” Trump told reporters on Air Force One earlier. “I like that because they want to do business, but they’re not doing business until we get the war solved.”
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Trump and Putin land in Alaska ahead of pivotal Ukraine war meeting
The plane transporting Vladimir Putin and other Russian government officials landed in Anchorage, Alaska, a short time ago, and Air Force One has just now touched down at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson.
Putin’s meeting with Donald Trump is due to kick off in less than an hour. This will be their first meeting of Trump’s second term in office – and their seventh in total.
My colleague Shrai Popat is covering all the latest over on our dedicated blog, which you can follow here:
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Judge hears DC’s challenge to Trump's federal takeover of police department
Protesters that were gathered near the Metropolitan police headquarters in Washington DC have spilled down into the streets around the federal courthouse, where the emergency hearing challenging the takeover began moments ago.
The city’s suit argues that Donald Trump’s move to federalize the city’s police department was a “brazen usurpation of the district’s authority” that exceeded the president’s authority.
The city’s motion for a temporary restraining order includes a declaration by the Metropolitan police chief, Pamela Smith, in which she said the department was unaware of the president’s plans to take control of the force “until he announced it at a press conference”, according to the New York Times.
Per the Times, Smith said that Pam Bondi’s order installing a federal official as an “emergency police commissioner” also came without warning. “In my nearly three decades in law enforcement, I have never seen a single government action that would cause a greater threat to law and order than this dangerous directive,” she wrote.
I’ll bring you more from the hearing as we get it.
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California Democrats set to unveil new map that would give them five more seats in Congress
California Democrats are set to unveil a new map today that could allow the party to claim up to five additional seats in Congress, according to multiple reports.
The new map would transform the districts currently held by Republican representatives Darrell Issa, Kevin Kiley, Ken Calvert and Doug LaMalfa into Democratic-friendly districts, the Washington Post reported. It would also add more Democratic voters to the districts currently represented by Republican David Valadao. Valadao won the district by about seven points in 2024 and Donald Trump carried it by an even smaller margin.
At least two of the districts, the ones currently represented by Issa and Valadao, could still be competitive in November, according to Punchbowl News.
Governor Gavin Newsom unveiled his plan to move ahead with the effort yesterday, which will require California voters to approve a constitutional amendment. Under the state’s constitution, redistricting is handled once per decade by an independent commission.
The referendum, if approved, would allow California to adopt new maps in response to other states, such as Texas, changing their district lines. Redistricting would revert back to the commission after the 2030 census.
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Hundreds of demonstrators have gathered outside the Metropolitan police headquarters in Washington DC, here are some pictures:
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in Anchorage, Alaska
I am now sitting in a press tent where TVs are showing what is presumably the stage for a post-summit press conference.
The stage has a blue backdrop with the words “pursuing peace” printed in white several times. There are two lecterns with microphones on a beige floor as well as US and Russian flags. Staff are carrying out sound checks.
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Redistricting fight continues as Texas governor Abbott calls second special legislative session
As we previewed earlier, Texas governor Greg Abbott called a second special legislative session this afternoon, in an effort to hike pressure on Democratic lawmakers who have fled the state to stymie Republican plans to redraw political maps at the behest of Donald Trump.
Trump wants to use redistricting to help maintain the GOP’s slim control of Congress in next year’s midterm elections, but the plan has sparked strong opposition from Democrats who have threatened to retaliate.
Abbott said in a written statement that the second session would begin at noon local time today and that producing new maps that could give Republicans five more seats in Congress was on the agenda.
Yesterday, California’s Democratic governor Gavin Newsom unveiled a redistricting plan in his state that he says would give Democrats there five more Congressional seats, possibly offsetting Republican gains in Texas.
Democratic members of the Texas House left the state earlier this month to deny Republicans the quorum needed to vote on legislation. Republicans have maintained control over Texas politics for more than two decades, and Democrats in the state have broken quorum several times, trying mostly in vain to halt deeply conservative legislation.
Abbott said that redistricting plans, legislation to increase flash flood safety in the wake of devastating flooding last month, and other legislative work remains undone because Democrats had refused to show up.
“We will not back down from this fight,” Abbott said. “That’s why I am calling them back today to finish the job.”
Many of the more than 50 Texas Democrats who fled the state have been staying in Illinois, out of reach of civil arrest warrants that could be acted on within Texas.
When the Democrats might return remains unknown.
The Texas House Democrats said in a written statement yesterday that they will only return to Texas if their state’s special legislation is ended and once California’s redistricting maps were introduced.
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Congressional Democrats introduce resolution to end Trump's 'raw power grab' in DC
House and Senate Democrats introduced a joint resolution today to terminate Trump’s federalization of the DC Metropolitan Police Department.
Representative Jamie Raskin of Maryland, Eleanor Holmes Norton, the nonvoting delegate from the District of Columbia, and representative Robert Garcia of California are leading the effort in the House, while senator Chris Van Hollen of Maryland introduced the legislation in the Senate.
The resolution, which has little chance of advancing under the Republican-controlled Congress, says the president “has failed to identify special conditions of an emergency nature that compel the use of the Metropolitan Police Department for Federal purposes in the District of Columbia”.
Under the District of Columbia Home Rule Act, a president can order DC’s mayor to give him temporary control of the police, but Congress can terminate that authority.
In their resolutions, the lawmakers cite statistics showing that violent crime is at a 30-year low in DC as evidence that there is no emergency to justify the president’s actions.
“The only emergency here is a lawless president experiencing a growing public relations emergency because of his close friendship with Jeffrey Epstein and his stubborn refusal to release the Epstein file despite his promise to do so,” said Raskin, the top Democrat on the judiciary committee.
“Trump was AWOL when the District of Columbia actually needed support from the National Guard to protect it from an insurrectionist mob on January 6,” Van Hollen said.
He called Trump’s moves “an abuse of power” and a “raw power grab”. “It is a direct attack on the ability of the people of the District of Columbia to govern their own affairs,” he said.
in Anchorage, Alaska
Greetings from Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, a cold war-era military installation on the outskirts of Anchorage, Alaska, that will play host to Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin today.
I am among an estimated 700 journalists from all over the world. We were greeted at the Anchorage international airport by the sight of a majestic brown bear slain by Governor Mike Dunleavy and displayed as a trophy in a glass case.
The media gathered downtown at 5.30am local time today and were bused to the air force base under a big sky with picturesque mountains. The airbase is like a small city with housing, children’s playgrounds, nondescript three-storey lodgings, a church with stained glass windows and great grassy expanses. The temperature is a crisp 50F.
Earlier, Reuters reported: “The Kremlin press pool was housed in an Alaska Airlines Center, where a semi-open-plan room was subdivided by partitions and some reporters were seen making their own camp-style beds. They were fed for free at a nearby university campus, Russian reporters said.”
Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson was crucial to countering the Soviet Union during the cold war. It continues to play a role today, as planes from the base still intercept Russian aircraft that regularly fly into US airspace. Putin’s foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, arrived in a sweatshirt with “CCCP” – the Russian letters for USSR – across the front.
Today’s meeting could prove a win-win for the two leaders. Putin, an alleged war criminal who had been an international pariah, gets to meet the US president on American soil. Trump, for his part, gets to play global statesman in a massive media spectacle where no one is talking about Jeffrey Epstein (well, almost no one).
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Trump says he wants 'to see a ceasefire rapidly', adding he's 'not going to be happy if it's not today'
Donald Trump was asked earlier what would make his summit with Vladimir Putin a success. He told reporters aboard Air Force One:
I can’t tell you that.
I don’t know it’s there’s nothing set in stone. I want certain things. I want to see a ceasefire.
This is not to do with Europe. Europe’s not telling me what to do, but they’re going to be involved in the process, obviously, as well Zelenskyy, but I want to see a ceasefire rapidly.
I don’t know if it’s going to be today, but I’m not going to be happy if it’s not today. Everyone said it can’t be today, but I’m just saying I want the killing to stop.
I’m in this to stop the killing. You know, we’re not putting up any money. We’re making money. They’re buying our weapons, and we’re sending them to Nato, and Nato is sending us big, beautiful checks.
But that I don’t care about … But what I do care about is they lost last week 7011 people, almost all soldiers; 36 people in a town which got hit by a missile.
Over 7,000 soldiers. It’s crazy.
You can watch the clip here.
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Trump says he 'would walk' if Putin meeting doesn't go well
Donald Trump has told Fox News’s Bret Baier that if his meeting with Vladimir Putin doesn’t go well today, he would walk.
“We’re going for a meeting with President Putin in Alaska. And I think it’s going to work out very well, and if it doesn’t I’m going to head back home real fast,” Trump said.
Asked by Baier if that means he would walk if it doesn’t go well, the president replied: “I would walk, yeah.”
Trump earlier confirmed his threat of “severe” consequences for Russia if it fails to show willingness to seriously talk about the end of war in Ukraine.
He told reporters on Air Force One:
Economically severe. It will be very severe. I’m not doing this for my health, okay, I don’t need it. I’d like to focus on our country, but I’m doing this to save a lot of lives. Yeah, very severe.
US aid cuts to Ukraine raise risk of waste and fraud, say watchdogs
USAID is concerned that the Trump administration’s cancellation of independent aid monitoring contracts for Ukraine has increased the risk of waste, fraud and abuse, according to three US watchdog agencies.
“The termination of third-party monitoring contracts has further limited USAID’s ability to oversee programs,” the state department, Pentagon and USAID inspectors general said in a report issued today.
The US Agency for International Development was the main American agency that administered civilian foreign aid for more than 60 years. It is being dismantled by the Trump administration – which claims to be tackling waste, fraud and abuse in federal spending – and is scheduled to be closed on 2 September.
The three inspectors general submit quarterly reports to Congress on their oversight of US civilian support for Ukraine in its fight against Russia’s full-scale invasion launched in February 2022.
In January, Donald Trump froze all US foreign assistance programs pending a review of their alignment with his “America first” policies, and ordered the dismantling of USAID, which stopped disbursing funds in July.
As part of this decision, Elon Musk’s so-called “department of government efficiency” oversaw the termination of 83% of USAID programs, including some that supported Ukraine.
The watchdogs’ report said that USAID managed $30.2bn in direct support for the Ukrainian government’s budget, and provided a guarantee that secured a $20bn loan for Kyiv.
It said that in the three months ending 31 June, 25 civilian aid programs for Ukraine were terminated, while 29 active programs, five under stop-work orders and four of unknown status were transferred to the state department.
The terminated programs included contracts with third parties that provided independent tracking of USAID funds to ensure that they were spent as intended and that helped “inform both current and future decision-making”, it said.
“USAID said that without independent monitoring, it cannot verify that programs are being implemented in line with award terms, increasing the risk of waste, fraud and abuse,” the report said.
This is especially true in conflict-affected areas “where there is a heightened potential for diversion of funds”, it warned.
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White House defends federal takeover of police in Washington
A federal judge will hold a hearing today on the lawsuit filed by the DC government – challenging the Trump administration’s federal takeover of the DC, including Pam Bondi’s move to install the DEA chief Terry Cole as “emergency police commissioner”. Judge Ana Reyes will hold today’s hearing at 2pm ET.
In response to the lawsuit, White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson said the following in a statement to the Guardian:
The Trump Administration has the lawful authority to assert control over the D.C. Police, which is necessary due to the emergency that has arisen in our Nation’s Capital as a result of failed leadership. The Democrats’ efforts to stifle this tremendous progress are par for the course for the Defund the Police, Criminals-First Democrat Party.
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White House says 33 arrested in Thursday night operations in DC
A White House official tells the Guardian that 33 people were arrested on Thursday night by federal law enforcement. Almost half of these arrests were undocumented immigrants, according to the official.
The White House also said that 1,750 officers took part in Thursday’s operations.
Yesterday, the Pentagon said that all 800 national guard troops had been mobilized, with about 200 soldiers at a time taking turns to assist federal agents and the Metropolitan police department (MPD). The national guard troops are not making arrests at this time, but protecting federal property and aiding law enforcement.
The MPD has not yet provided the number of arrests made by local police on Thursday.
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Hillary Clinton would consider nominating Trump for Nobel peace prize if he brokers successful peace deal
As the president prepares for his pivotal meeting with Vladimir Putin in Alaska, he’s received an unlikely vote of confidence from a longstanding rival.
Former secretary of state Hillary Clinton – also the 2016 Democratic presidential nominee – said in a podcast interview released today that she would consider nominating Donald Trump for the Nobel peace prize if he could successfully broker a peace deal with the Kremlin leader that doesn’t put Ukraine “in a position where it had to concede its territory to the aggressor”.
Clinton added some crucial caveats while speaking on the Raging Moderates podcast. She said that any potential award endorsement would require Trump to do the following:
Make it clear that there must be a ceasefire, there will be no exchange of territory, and that over a period of time Putin should be actually withdrawing from the territory that he has seized, in order to demonstrate his good-faith efforts, let us say, not to threaten European security.
If Trump were “the architect” of that kind of deal, Clinton said she would nominate him for a Nobel peace prize.
“My goal here is not to allow capitulation to Putin, aided and abetted by the United States,” she added.
This comes after Trump reportedly cold-called Norway’s finance minister last month to ask about a nomination for the Nobel peace prize, according to Norwegian press.
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Texas house ends special session, as Democrats again break quorum
With only 95 of the 100 representatives needed to achieve quorum, the Texas house has moved to end the August special session four days early.
House speaker Dustin Burrows told members to “not go very far, as I believe our governor will be calling us back for another special session”, referring to Greg Abbott’s plans to immediately call a second session. Local reports say the next session will begin at noon local time today.
For their part, Texas house Democrats have said they would return as long as the first special session adjourned on Friday, and California introduced its own new congressional map to offset the gains by Republicans. California’s governor, Gavin Newsom, announced on Thursday that its maps would be coming shortly.
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DC’s mayor, Muriel Bowser, confirmed that she will be back in DC today, after travelling to Martha’s Vineyard on Wednesday to pick her daughter up from summer camp.
In a post on X, Bowser clarified her schedule, after Donald Trump posted a local report which said Bowser had “left town” for the Massachusetts island.
“I am in constant contact with my senior team and have been in constant consultation with our partners throughout a short swing out of the District,” she wrote.
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When Donald Trump announced a federal takeover of the Metropolitan police department in Washington DC on Monday, he left room for the possibility of making a similar move in other cities across the US, alluding to their high crime rates.
“You look at Chicago, how bad it is. You look at Los Angeles, how bad it is. We have other cities that are very bad,” Trump said. “We’re not going to let it happen, we’re not going to lose our cities.”
But both experts and elected officials have been quick to counter Trump’s claims, pointing out how major cities are in fact experiencing dramatic decreases in violent crime rates since they peaked during the pandemic.
“Every category of crime and every population group that the FBI covers is reporting a drop pretty much nationwide,” said Jeff Asher, an analyst who studies criminal justice data, adding that there was no disparity in the trend between red and blue cities or states.
The downward trend has been consistent nationally since around 2022, as the country began to recover from the pandemic, experts said.
“It’s clear that a lot of what we saw during the Covid-19 era has been reversed,” said Ames Grawert, senior counsel at the Brennan Center for Justice who researches crime trends.
While it’s impossible to isolate the exact causes of the spike in crime during the pandemic, several experts point to the collapse of social services as one cause. Since then, state and federal agencies poured money into communities for projects like gun violence prevention programs as well as more streetlights on local roads.
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Trump confirms plans for 'economically severe' sanctions if Russia doesn't move on Ukraine
My colleague, Jakub Krupa, is bringing you the latest as Donald Trump heads to Alaska to meet with Russian president Vladimir Putin today. It’s hard to emphasise the stakes of this summit, particularly as the world watches.
Jakub reports that the president wrapped a gaggle with the press onboard Air Force One a short while ago.
A few of the key lines here:
On continuing Russian attacks on Ukraine, Trump says he thinks Putin “is trying to set a stage” and “in his mind that helps him make a better deal”. But the president says “it actually hurts him, and I will be talking to him about it”.
Trump also affirms his chief aim of today’s meeting: “I’m not here to negotiate for Ukraine. I’m here to get them at a table.”
Trump also confirms his earlier threat of “severe” consequences for Russia if it fails to show willingness to seriously talk about the end of war in Ukraine: “Economically severe. It will be very severe. I’m not doing this for my health, OK, I don’t need it. I’d like to focus on our country, but I’m doing this to save a lot of lives.”
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Late yesterday, DC’s mayor, Muriel Bowser, hit back against Pam Bondi’s move to put DEA chief Terry Cole in charge of the capital’s police department. In a post on X, Bowser wrote: “There is no statute that conveys the District’s personnel authority to a federal official.”
She also said that her office have “followed the law” and provided the services of the DC police at the request of the president, as outlined in Section 740 of the Home Rule Act.
Bowser also reposted a letter from DC attorney general Brian Schwalb, addressed to the mayor, which said that Bondi’s order is “unlawful” and Bowser is “not legally obligated to follow it”.
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Trump police takeover will create 'immediate, devastating, and irreparable harm' for DC, federal lawsuit says
According to the federal lawsuit filed by the DC government today, the Trump administration has engaged in “a brazen usurpation of the District’s authority over its own government”.
The suit says that the president’s move to federalise the DC police, and attorney general Pam Bondi’s order to install DEA administrator Terry Cole as “emergency police commissioner”, both “exceed the narrow delegation that Congress granted the President in Section 740”.
A reminder, earlier this week the president invoked Section 740 of the DC Home Rule Act, which grants him a 30-day period to control the district’s local law enforcement if he declares a safety emergency. To get an extension, the president would need Congress’s approval.
The president has said that violent crime in DC – which the justice department says experienced a 30-year low in 2024 – is “the worst it’s ever been”.
The lawsuit also states that Section 740 only requires that the DC mayor “provide services” of the Metropolitan police department (MPD) to federal government, but “does not permit the President to seize control of MPD. Nor does it authorize the President to direct MPD in the policing of local crime.”
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A recap of overnight events in DC
As the federal takeover of the DC police and deployment of national guard troops entered its fourth night, here’s a recap of what happened overnight.
The US attorney general, Pam Bondi, ended DC’s “sanctuary policies”. In a directive signed yesterday, she rescinded previous orders – including one from the DC police chief, Pamela Smith – that Bondi’s office says “limited” the Metropolitan police department (MPD) from working with federal officers. Bondi has now scrapped rules which prevent DC police from arresting people “solely for federal immigration warrants” and “restricted certain information from being shared with federal authorities,” a justice department spokesperson said.
Bondi also stripped power away from Smith, the police chief, and appointed Terry Cole – who leads the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) – as “emergency police commissioner”. According to her order, the MPD “must receive approval from Commissioner Cole” before issuing any further directives.
And today, the DC government announced it is suing the Trump administration for its takeover of the DC police. The district’s attorney general, Brian Schwalb, wrote: “Section 740 of the Home Rule Act permits the President to request MPD’s services … Even when Section 740 is lawfully invoked, the Home Rule Act keeps operational control of MPD with the Mayor and Chief, and the President must request MPD services through the Mayor.” He added that the federal government’s actions are “brazenly unlawful” and “infringe on the District’s right to self-governance”.
Meanwhile, federal law enforcement began conducting sweeps of homeless encampments. Crews tore down a major encampment near the Kennedy Center on Thursday, removing residents and clearing out the remaining encampments across the city. My colleague Kirstin Garriss has more on the latest here.
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'We can't let a systematic assault on democracy just happen,' Obama says as he praises Texas Democrats
Former president Barack Obama has praised Texas Democrats for protesting against the state’s gerrymandered GOP-drawn congressional maps by breaking quorum, according to a report from ABC News.
ABC obtained footage of a Zoom meeting on Thursday in which Obama addressed the legislators.
“We can’t let a systematic assault on democracy just happen and stand by and so because of your actions, because of your courage, what you’ve seen is California responding, other states looking at what they can do to offset this mid-decade gerrymandering,” he said.
In the meeting, Obama also said that the Democrats – who left the state capital almost two weeks ago – “helped to lead what is going to be a long struggle”.
He added:
It’s not going to be resolved right away, and it’s going to require, ultimately, the American people understanding the stakes and realizing that we cannot take our freedoms and our democracy for granted. You’ve helped set the tone for that, and I’m grateful for it.
In a statement to ABC News, Texas house minority leader Gene Wu said Obama’s message to the Democrats is “proof that when they stand up and fight back, we don’t stand alone”.
Wu added that “President Obama’s support shows the whole country is watching – and Texas house Democrats won’t be silenced by bullies”.
This comes as Texas Democrats also said they are prepared to return to the state under certain conditions, ending their efforts to block Republicans from passing a new map that would add five GOP seats.
The lawmakers said they would return as long as the legislature ends its first special session on Friday, which Republicans have said they plan to do. However, Texas’s governor, Greg Abbott, has said he will immediately call another special session.
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Washington DC’s only Home Depot was busy with contractors and customers on Thursday morning – but the Hispanic day laborers who usually gather and wait for work under the parking lot’s sparse trees were nowhere to be found.
Two days earlier, masked federal agents swarmed the area and made several arrests, which were photographed by bystanders and posted on social media. Juwan Brooks, a store employee who witnessed the raid, said the agents grabbed anyone who appeared Hispanic.
“They don’t ask no questions,” Brooks said. People walking across the parking lot, getting out of their cars or even sleeping in their vehicle – all were grabbed by the agents, leaving behind empty work trucks that were eventually towed away.
“It was cool when Trump was saying it, but to actually see it first-hand? I didn’t like it,” Brooks said. The day laborers “are not bad people”, and he wondered what happened to the children of the men that were taken away.
Four days after Trump ordered federal agents and national guard on to the streets of Washington DC to fight a crime wave that city leaders say is not happening, residents of the capital are becoming used to the presence of groups of armed men in their neighborhoods, and the aggressive tactics they use.
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When the director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) this week said funding for the development of mRNA vaccines – the backbone of Covid vaccines – was being wound down because they had failed to “earn public trust”, it was met, publicly and privately, with exasperated incredulity.
Critics say few have done more than Jay Bhattacharya and other top health officials in the Trump administration to sow doubts about public health institutions and, by extension, the value of the vaccines that have saved millions of lives around the world.
“It is astounding that Bhattacharya has the audacity to claim to know that Biden-era policies are responsible for distrust of mRNA vaccines, when he and his associates have done so much to diminish the appreciation of these important medical accomplishments,” Jeremy Berg, the former director of the National Institute of General Medical Sciences at the NIH, said in a statement to the Guardian.
Bhattacharya’s comments appeared in an op-ed in the Washington Post in which he defended a recent announcement by the health secretary, Robert F Kennedy Jr, who is anti-vaccine, to terminate $500m in federal funding for mRNA vaccine research, which Kennedy justified by claiming he had “reviewed the science”. Experts say the evidence Kennedy reviewed did not support ending the research.
While the mRNA platform was “promising” and could deliver breakthroughs in the treatment of cancer and other diseases, Bhattacharya said it had failed the test of use for a public health emergency because it had not earned public trust.
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My colleague Jakub Krupa is running our Europe live blog today, with all the latest news lines ahead of the Trump-Putin meeting later.
The summit is set to start 11am Alaska time, which for us in Europe is 8pm British time, 9pm central Europe time, starting a flurry of diplomacy between the two delegations in a variety of formats: one-on-one and in larger groups.
It is expected to conclude some seven hours later, according to the schedule, with plans for a joint press conference with both leaders. At least that’s the plan for now.
Local residents are torn between excitement over high-profile visit and trepidation over what US-Russian leaders might agree, with some even joking: “Please don’t sell us back.” (The US bought Alaska from the Russian empire in 1867).
Follow all the buildup here:
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Trump ahead of Putin meeting: 'high stakes!'
Well, the president is awake and has made his first Truth Social post of the day.
Ahead of his meeting in Alaska with the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, Donald Trump says:
HIGH STAKES!!!
More on this as we get it …
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Donald Trump cold-called Norway’s finance minister last month to ask about a nomination for the Nobel peace prize, Norwegian press reported on Thursday.
The Norwegian outlet Dagens Næringsliv, citing unnamed sources, reported: “Out of the blue, while finance minister Jens Stoltenberg was walking down the street in Oslo, Donald Trump called … He wanted the Nobel prize – and to discuss tariffs.”
The outlet added that it was not the first time that Trump had raised the question of a Nobel peace prize nomination to Stoltenberg.
In a statement to Reuters, Stoltenberg, the former Nato secretary general, said the call focused on tariffs and economic cooperation ahead of Trump’s call with Jonas Støre, the Norwegian prime minister.
“I will not go into further detail about the content of the conversation,” Stoltenberg said, adding that several White House officials including the treasury secretary, Scott Bessent, and US trade representative, Jamieson Greer, were on the call.
Each year, the five-member Norwegian Nobel committee reviews hundreds of candidates before choosing laureates. The committee members are appointed by Norway’s parliament according to the will of Alfred Nobel, a 19-century Swedish industrialist. Laureates are announced in October.
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Texas Democrats said on Thursday they are prepared to return to the state under certain conditions, ending a nearly two-week-long effort to block Republicans from passing a new congressional map that would add five GOP seats.
The lawmakers said they would return as long as the legislature ends its first special session on Friday, which Republicans have said they plan to do. Texas’s governor, Greg Abbott, has said he will immediately call another special session.
The Democrats also said they would return once California introduces a new congressional map that would add five Democratic seats, offsetting the gains in Texas. California’s governor, Gavin Newsom, is expected to announce what he has teased as a “major” redistricting announcement on Thursday.
Gene Wu, chair of the Texas house Democratic caucus, said in a statement that he and his colleagues “successfully mobilized the nation against Trump’s assault on minority voting rights”.
“Facing threats of arrest, lawfare, financial penalties, harassment and bomb threats, we have stood firm in our fight against a proposed Jim Crow congressional district map,” he said. “Now, as Democrats across the nation join our fight to cause these maps to fail their political purpose, we’re prepared to bring this battle back to Texas under the right conditions and to take this fight to the courts.”
Bondi sends 'sanctuary cities' letters to mayors of 32 cities
Pam Bondi, the attorney general, said she has sent “sanctuary city” letters to the mayors of 32 cities and a handful of county executives, warning that she intends to prosecute political leaders who are not, in her view, sufficiently supportive of immigration enforcement.
“You better be abiding by our federal policies and with our federal law enforcement, because if you’re not, we’re going to come after you,” she said, speaking to a Fox News reporter. “Our leaders have to support our law enforcement.”
Bondi’s letter asks the 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”.
Bondi cites an executive order issued by Donald Trump on 28 April which called for the attorney general to identify jurisdictions that “obstruct the enforcement of Federal immigration laws” then to “notify each sanctuary jurisdiction regarding its defiance of Federal immigration law enforcement and any potential violations of Federal criminal law” as a precursor to prosecution or withholding grants.
Each of the recipients appears to have received a near-identical letter, none of which specify what local laws or practices fail to comply with Bondi’s assertions.
Initial responses from state and local governments receiving the letters include a mix of incredulity and defiance.
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Donald Trump has said he believes Vladimir Putin is ready to make a deal on the war in Ukraine as the two leaders prepare for their summit in Alaska on Friday, but his suggestion the Russian leader and Volodymyr Zelenskyy could “divvy things up” may alarm some in Kyiv.
The US president implied there was a 75% chance of the Alaska meeting succeeding, and that the threat of economic sanctions may have made Putin more willing to seek an end to the war.
Trump insisted that he would not let Putin get the better of him in Friday’s meeting, telling reporters: “I am president, and he’s not going to mess around with me.
“I’ll know within the first two minutes, three minutes, four minutes or five minutes … whether or not we’re going to have a good meeting or a bad meeting.
“And if it’s a bad meeting, it’ll end very quickly, and if it’s a good meeting, we’re going to end up getting peace in the pretty near future,” said Trump.
He also said a second meeting – not yet confirmed – between him, Putin and Zelenskyy would be the more decisive.
“The second meeting is going to be very, very important, because that’s going to be a meeting where they make a deal. And I don’t want to use the word ‘divvy’ things up, but you know, to a certain extent, it’s not a bad term, OK?” Trump told Fox News Radio.
He was referring to the possibility that Zelenskyy will have to accept “land swaps” – in practice the handing over of Ukrainian territory to Russia, potentially including some not captured by Moscow.
Newsom says California will push to redraw maps in riposte to Texas plan
Gavin Newsom, California’s governor, said on Thursday that state Democratic lawmakers would move forward with a redistricting plan to counter the Republican-led map-drawing effort in Texas aimed at securing a House majority after the midterm elections.
As he spoke at the Japanese American National Museum’s National Center for the Preservation of Democracy – a venue deliberately chosen for its symbolism – federal agents, armed and masked, fanned out across the complex, led by Gregory Bovino, head of the border patrol’s El Centro sector. Local news footage showed a man being led away in handcuffs.
Newsom, joined by congressional Democrats and legislative leaders, unveiled a plan, known as the “election rigging response act”, that would override California’s independent redistricting commission and draw new congressional lines – a direct counter to a Texas effort, sought by Donald Trump, to push through mid-cycle maps that could hand Republicans five extra US House seats. The governor vowed the move would “neuter and neutralize” Texas’s proposal.
“Today is liberation day in the state of California,” Newsom declared at a rally in Los Angeles, in which he formally called for a 4 November special election to approve a new congressional map. “We can’t stand back and watch this democracy disappear district by district all across the country.”
After the rally, Newsom called the presence of border patrol agents “sick and pathetic” and accused Trump of ordering the operation to intimidate Democrats. “Wake up, America,” Newsom warned. “You will not have a country if he rigs this election.”
Los Angeles’s mayor, Karen Bass, a Democrat who was not attending the event, arrived on the scene to condemn the raid. In remarks to reporters, she argued that it was not “a coincidence” the raid took place steps from where Newsom was speaking. “The White House just sent federal agents to try to intimidate elected officials at a press conference,” she said in a social media post. “The problem for them is Los Angeles doesn’t get scared and Los Angeles doesn’t back down. We never have and we never will.”
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Trump makes false claims about crime in Washington DC as homeless camps are cleared
Good morning and welcome to the US politics live blog. My name is Tom Ambrose and I’ll be bringing you all the latest news lines over the next few hours.
We start with news that Donald Trump has falsely claimed crime in Washington DC is “the worst it’s ever been” on Thursday, amid a federal takeover of the city’s police department and deployment of the national guard and federal agents in the city.
“Washington DC is at its worst point,” Trump said from the Oval Office. “It will soon be at its best point.” He also baselessly accused DC law enforcement officials of giving “phony crime stats” and said “they’re under investigation”.
The president’s comments came after protesters heckled federal law enforcement officials as they reportedly stopped dozens of cars at a checkpoint along a busy street in Washington DC on Wednesday night.
About 20 law enforcement officers, some of whom appeared to be from the Department of Homeland Security, pulled over drivers for infractions such as broken taillights and not wearing seatbelts, according to the Washington Post.
At least one woman was reportedly arrested as more than 100 protesters gathered and reportedly yelled things like “get off our streets”, according to NBC News. Some protesters began warning drivers to avoid the area, the outlet reported.
The city’s homeless encampments, which Trump has long fixated on, came under target Thursday night as city police began removing residents. Officials in Washington DC and advocates for the unhoused had warned people living in camps to relocate to shelters before the federal sweeps began.
“We do not have enough shelter beds for everyone on the street,” said Amber W Harding, executive director of the Washington Legal Clinic for the Homeless. “This is a chaotic and scary time for all of us in DC, but particularly for people without homes.”
Read the full story here:
In other developments:
As part of its advertising blitz to attract new recruits, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) released a social media video on Thursday that uses a song by the rapper DaBaby and shows agency vehicles that appear to be painted in the same red, blue and gold style as Donald Trump’s private plane, which was featured in the opening sequence for The Apprentice.
New York’s mayor, Eric Adams, confirmed on social media that a federal building where protesters held a silent vigil on Thursday against Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) was evacuated after “envelopes containing white powder were discovered”.
In another sign that the Trump presidency is largely made for TV, the White House and Fox News revealed that Trump will appear on Fox News both before and immediately after his summit meeting with Vladimir Putin on Friday.
Four days after Trump ordered the unhoused residents of Washington DC, whom he sped past in his motorcade for a golf outing, to leave the city, local officials helped clear encampments before announced sweeps by federal agents.
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