
Susan Monarez, the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, is being ousted from the position less than a month after being sworn in, the Washington Post reported on Wednesday, citing multiple Trump administration officials familiar with the matter.
The Washington Post did not cite a reason for the departure. Citing several anonymous CDC employees, the newspaper reported that Monarez on Friday canceled an agency-wide call that had been scheduled for Monday. The Department of Health and Human Services did not immediately provide comment.
Monarez, a federal government scientist, was confirmed by the Senate on 29 July and sworn in by Robert F Kennedy Jr two day later. Her departure comes after a police officer was killed in a shooting at the CDC.
Here's a recap of the day so far
Donald Trump has ordered the American flag to be flown at half-staff at the White House and across federal buildings until 31 August, following the mass shooting at a Catholic school in Minneapolis which killed two children and injured 17 people. My colleagues are tracking the latest developments here.
Earlier, DC’s mayor, Muriel Bowser, held a press conference to discuss the federal takeover of the DC police. The mayor balanced deference towards Trump with occasional bursts of defiance. Bowser said that while she “greatly appreciates” the impact of the federal law enforcement surge on district crime (pointing to the substantial decrease in carjackings compared to this time last year), there was ultimately a “break in trust” between officers and local residents. “We know having masked Ice agents in the community has not worked, and national guard from other states has not been an efficient use of those resources,” she added.
Bowser said she has a “courtesy meeting” with the president today, where they did not discuss any of his plans to extend the federal takeover beyond 30 days (a move that would require congressional approval). The mayor did say that Trump’s “knowledge of DC” appeared to have “significantly increased” from the first term in office. She declined to offer any details about her “substantive” conversation with attorney general Pam Bondi and White House chief of staff Susie Wiles.
Bowser offered glimpses of pushback against the administration when taking questions from reporters. She said was was “devastated” to hear that immigrants in DC are living in fear of being arrested by Ice agents, and claimed that if the Metropolitan police department had more officers –a recurring plea from DC government – local law enforcement wouldn’t require any federal intervention.
Staying in the nation’s capital, The US transportation secretary, Sean Duffy, said that his department is taking back control of Union Station from Amtrak –the railroad company that receives federal subsidies and has managed the daily operations of the DC transportation hub for over a year. At a launch event for a new fleet of high-speed trains today, Duffy said that the station has been “neglected for decades”. He added that reclaiming station management “will help make this city safe and beautiful at a fraction of the cost.”
Meanwhile, Kevin Hassett, the director of the White House National Economic Council, said on CNN today that Donald Trump hasn’t “made a final call” on when he plans to nominate a replacement for Lisa Cook – the Federal Reserve governor he moved to fire this week. Hassett’s comment came after Trump suggested at the cabinet meeting on Tuesday that he had a candidate in mind. Cook has not been charged with a crime, and is expected to file a lawsuit challenging her attempted firing.
Meanwhile, a federal judge ruled Wednesday that Kilmar Ábrego García cannot be deported again until at least early October. Judge Paula Xinis has set a hearing for 6 October on the administration’s plans to deport Ábrego. His lawyers also said their client wants to seek asylum in the US, for fear of torture and persecution if deported to Uganda.
California Republicans are proposing a “two-state solution” for the Golden State.
James Gallagher, the top Republican in the California assembly, unveiled a resolution on Wednesday that would split the state in two – their response to the Democrats’ attempt to redraw the congressional boundaries in the state, itself a response to a Republican-led redistricting effort in Texas.
The provocatively named proposal – adopting a phrase more often used in reference to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict – is a political nonstarter. But it underscores the new messaging Republicans in the state plan to use to rally opposition to the ballot initiative in November.
Gallagher argued that the redistricting push would further “silence rural voices and rig the political system against them forever” in California.
“I have come to see that the only way we can obtain proper attention is by pursuing our own statehood. With this measure, we will begin the first step of that process,” he said.
The Republican plan would divide California vertically, splitting the deep-blue slice of the coast from the more rural and red inland. According to Gallagher, it would create a state with a population of more than 10 million people – making it one of the 10 most populous states in the US.
“Whether you are from the north state, Central valley, or the Inland Empire, life has become harder and completely unaffordable,” the Republican leader explained. “We have been overlooked for far too long, and now they are trying to rip away what little representation we have left.”
The referendum, led by the state’s Democratic governor, Gavin Newsom, will ask voters to approve a gerrymander aimed at securing five more Democratic House seats in California to offset the five new Republican-heavy districts created by the Texas legislature.
“We will not be subject to a state that deprives us of a fair voice,” he said. “Gavin, let my people go.”
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‘Alligator Alcatraz’ to be vacated in compliance with court order to shut it
Florida’s immigration jail known as “Alligator Alcatraz” will probably be empty of detainees within days, a state official has said, indicating compliance with a judge’s order last week that the facility must close.
The Republican governor Ron DeSantis’s administration appealed the order by federal court judge Kathleen Williams that the tented detention camp in the Florida Everglades, which attracted criticism for its harsh conditions, must be dismantled within 60 days.
But in an email reported Wednesday by the Associated Press, Kevin Guthrie, executive director of the Florida department of emergency management, which operates the jail on behalf of the federal government, appeared to confirm it would be shuttered.
“We are probably going to be down to 0 individuals within a few days,” Guthrie wrote to Mario Rojzman, a Miami Beach rabbi who has been helping to arrange chaplaincy services.
Representatives for Rojzman confirmed the authenticity of the memo to the news agency. Guthrie’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The Miami Herald had previously reported that hundreds of detainees were moved from “Alligator Alcatraz” to other immigration facilities in the state in advance of Williams’s’ ruling.
Trump orders US flag to be flown at half-staff following Minneapolis school shooting
Donald Trump has ordered the American flag to be flown at half-staff at the White House and across federal buildings until 31 August, following the mass shooting at a Catholic school in Minneapolis which killed two children and injured 17 people.
A reminder that my colleagues are bringing you the latest developments from Minneapolis.
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Grand jury declines to indict alleged Washington DC sandwich thrower
Grand jurors have rebuffed federal prosecutors by refusing to approve a criminal indictment against a man who allegedly threw a sandwich at a law enforcement agent in protest against Donald Trump’s deployment of armed troops on the streets of Washington DC.
It is the second time in recent days that a grand jury had declined to vote to indict a person accused of assaulting a federal officer and signaled strong public objection to Trump’s decision to send national guard troops and federal agents onto the streets of the US capital, purportedly to crack down on violent crime.
The case of Sean Charles Dunn, who was accused of hurling the sub-style sandwich, became a cause celebre after video of the episode went viral on social media.
Dunn, 37, a former justice department paralegal, was initially charged on 13 August after being accused of throwing a sandwich at a Customs and Border Protection officer who was patrolling an area of Washington’s north-west district known for its bars and restaurants with other agents.
The DC mayor said officials will “answer any questions” that are posed to local government, when it comes to the House oversight committee’s investigation into allegations of manipulated DC crime statistics.
On Monday, Republican congressman James Comer, who chairs the committee, asked the DC police chief, Pamela Smith, for transcribed interviews with the seven commanders of DC’s patrol districts.
Bowser also confirmed today that there was no update on the internal Metropolitan police department investigation – after local reports of a former DC commander facing accusations from the police union of falsifying data.
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Earlier, Bowser said that she was “devastated” by immigrants in DC living fear during the surge of federal law enforcement in the nation’s capital.
I think you know very clearly how I feel about our nation needing comprehensive immigration reform, about Congress establishing a pathway to citizenship for hardworking people who came to this country for a better life, and who are not criminals, who are law abiding. And I think when that question is finally answered, that’s the only way to deal with this fear, or to deal with these agencies going after law-abiding people.
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Bowser is now addressing a direct question from a reporter about whether she pushed back in her meeting with the president, particularly when it comes to the anger from DC residents at the federal law enforcement presence in the district, and the use of masks covering the faces of agents.
She characterizes her discussion with Trump as a “courtesy meeting”, but says that she had a “substantive” conversation with the US attorney general, Pam Bondi, and Trump’s chief of staff, Susie Wiles, but declined to discuss the details of her meeting.
Boswer confirms that the Metropolitan police department is “supporting the ask” of the administration to assist Ice agents with immigration enforcement efforts.
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A notable exchange at this press conference. A reporter asked how Bowser can be sure that MPD officers wouldn’t have made all the arrests illustrated today on those charts without the additional federal law enforcement.
“Let me put it this way, if there were 500 additional MPD officers…that same activity, arrests and gun recovery would have likely been made,” Bowser said, underscoring the city’s aim to increase the number of local police.
Bowser also just said that when she spoke to the president earlier today, they didn’t talk about his possible plan to try to extend the federal takeover of the DC police beyond 30 days. A reminder: Trump would need congressional approval for an extension, according to section 740 of the DC Home Rule Act.
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Reporters are now asking questions, and the mayor says the number of cited arrests (more than 1,500) represents a combined number – from both the Metropolitan police department (MPD) and federal law enforcement.
However, she says this number might not include all federal arrests.
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Bowser says there is a 'break in trust' between DC law enforcement and locals
The DC mayor says that despite statistics that show a reduction in crime, the “break in trust” between police and the local community is “not working”. She says this is particularly apparent between federal law enforcement and DC locals.
“We know having masked Ice agents in the community has not worked, and national guard from other states has not been an efficient use of those resources,” she adds.
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A short while ago, Muriel Bowser said that her office “will be supportive” of Donald Trump’s $2bn “beautification” request to Congress.
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Bowser says she 'greatly appreciates' impact of federal law enforcement surge on DC crime rate
“We greatly appreciate the surge of officers that enhance what MPD has been able to do in this city,” Bowser says.
She cites police data which shows there has been an 87% reduction in carjackings in DC over the last 20 days, compared to the same period last year.
Boswer then says she spoke with Donald Trump today, and that she was “reminded” of their first meeting after his re-election earlier this year.
“We discussed shared priorities for the district,” Bowser adds. “I was reminded that the president’s interest in cities predates his time in office, and his knowledge of DC had significantly increased from the first time he was in the White House.”
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The deputy mayor for public safety and justice, Lindsey Appiah, is now talking about the hiring push for the DC police department. “We continue to do that work to stabilize, and to increase our for strength to what we believe is where we need to be – 3,800 to 4,000 officers,” she says.
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Bowser is now speaking, and says she’s providing a “situational update” on the surge of federal law enforcement in DC.
“I always want to remind people give you a quick little primer of who we are in Washington, DC,” Bowser adds. “We function as a city, county and state…We pay federal taxes. In fact, we pay more per capita than most places, and we get back less.”
The pre-amble that Boswer is giving seems to be a pointed refresher on what the limited rights and representation of the district.
The mayor of DC, Muriel Bowser, is about to hold a press conference to give an update on the federal takeover of law enforcement in the nation’s capital.
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Trump administration moves to tighten duration of visas for students and media
The Trump administration aims to tighten the duration of visas for students, cultural exchange visitors and members of the media, according to a proposed government regulation issued today, part of a broader crackdown on legal immigration.
This latest move would create new hurdles for international students, exchange workers and foreign journalists who would have to apply to extend their stay in the US rather than maintain a more flexible legal status.
The proposed regulation would create a fixed time period for F visas for international students, J visas that allow visitors on cultural exchange programs to work in the US, and I visas for members of the media. Those visas are currently available for the duration of the program or US-based employment.
There were about 1.6 million international students on F visas in the US in 2024, according to US government data. The US granted visas to about 355,000 exchange visitors and 13,000 members of the media in fiscal year 2024, which began on 1 October 2023. The student and exchange visa periods would be no longer than four years, the proposed regulation said. The visa for journalists – which currently can last years – would be up to 240 days or, in the case of Chinese nationals, 90 days. The visa holders could apply for extensions, the proposal said.
The Trump administration said in the proposed regulation that the change was needed to better “monitor and oversee” the visa holders while they were in the United States.
The public will have 30 days to comment on the measure, which mirrors a proposal put forward in 2020 at the end of Trump’s first term in office.
The Trump administration has increased scrutiny of legal immigration, revoking student visas and green cards over ideological views and stripping legal status from hundreds of thousands of migrants.
In a 22 August memo, US Citizenship and Immigration Services said it would resume long-dormant visits to citizenship applicants’ neighborhoods to check what it termed residency, moral character and commitment to American ideals.
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US special envoy Steve Witkoff’s announcement that Donald Trump is to chair a “large” White House meeting on Gaza later today to discuss the “comprehensive plan” the administration is putting together for the so-called day after is notable as it appears this is the first time that Witkoff has revealed the existence of such a plan, the Times of Israel writes.
He told Fox News yesterday: “Many people are going to see how robust it is and how well-meaning it is, and it reflects President Trump’s humanitarian motives.”
You may remember that Trump made headlines last month when he said he’d be unveiling a new plan to get aid into Gaza, but never followed through.
With so much at stake for Palestinian people still in Gaza, we’ll bring you more on the meeting as we get it through the afternoon.
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Former British prime minister Tony Blair and Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner will participate in the meeting on Gaza at the White House later today and present the president with ideas for a post-war plan, Axios is reporting, citing two sources with knowledge.
The meeting will also include a discussion of how to increase aid flows into Gaza, according to Axios. The devastated territory is experiencing a widespread, man-made famine, with a quarter of all Palestinian people there starving as a result of Israel’s obstruction of aid.
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My colleague, Tom Ambrose, is covering the developments in the Middle East today, as Israel carries out a raid in the in the old city of Nablus, and ten Palestinians have died from starvation in the last 24 hours, according to the Gaza Health Ministry.
Today, Donald Trump is also expected to chair a meeting on Gaza at the White House, according to special envoy Steve Witkoff.
Tom will bring you the latest as it happens.
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Senior Trump official says president hasn’t decided when to nominate replacement for Lisa Cook
Kevin Hassett, the director of the White House National Economic Council, said on CNN today that Donald Trump hasn’t “made a final call” on when he plans to nominate a replacement for Lisa Cook – the Federal Reserve governor he moved to fire this week.
Hassett’s comment came after Trump suggested at the cabinet meeting on Tuesday that he had a candidate in mind. Asked about possible replacements for Cook during his marathon televised cabinet meeting, Trump said: “We have some very good people for that position.”
“I think, maybe in my own mind, I have somebody that I like,” Trump added, before saying that he would also consult Scott Bessant, the treasury secretary, and Howard Lutnick, the commerce secretary.
A reminder that Cook has not been charged with a crime, and her lawyer has said the president has “no authority” to remove her from her position. Trump has claimed that Cook has engaged in mortgage fraud, and noted that he has “some very good people” in mind to replace her while taking questions during his three-hour long cabinet meeting on Tuesday.
In his CNN interview, Hassett said that the president would “respect judgment of the legal system”, possibly referring to the lawsuit that Cook is expected to file to challenge her attempted firing.
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Department of Transportation to take back control of DC's Union Station
The US transportation secretary, Sean Duffy, said that his department is taking back control of Union Station from Amtrak –the railroad company that receives federal subsidies and has managed the daily operations of the DC transportation hub for over a year.
At a launch event for a new fleet of high-speed trains, Duffy said that the station has been “neglected for decades” and is “showing its age”.
“By reclaiming station management, we will help make this city safe and beautiful at a fraction of the cost,” Duffy added.
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Trump briefed on Minneapolis school shooting
Donald Trump said that he has been “fully briefed” on the school shooting in Minneapolis, Minnesota, today. “The FBI quickly responded and they are on the scene. The White House will continue to monitor this terrible situation. Please join me in praying for everyone involved,” the president wrote on Truth Social.
Local authorities said a shooting occurred during at Annunciation Catholic school in south Minneapolis. At least five children have been injured.
The shooter has been “contained” and there is no “active threat” to residents, according to Minneapolis city officials.
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Kilmar Ábrego García's lawyers reopen immigration proceedings to seek asylum
Earlier today, Kilmar Ábrego García’s lawyers said their client wants to seek asylum in the US, for fear of torture and persecution if deported to Uganda. The district federal judge presiding, Paula Xinis, said that this would be operate on a “separate track” from the habeas corpus lawsuit Ábrego’s lawyer filed this week.
Judge Xinis has set a hearing for 6 October on the administration’s plans to deport Ábrego.
The judge added that Ábrego cannot be deported until then, extending the temporary restraining order which stipulates that Ábrego must remain at the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) facility where he is currently detained.
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Attorney general says 84 arrested on Tuesday in DC
The US attorney general, Pam Bondi, said that federal law enforcement made 84 arrests on Tuesday in the nation’s capital. She added that there have been 1,178 total arrests since the beginning of the surge in DC earlier this month.
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Catalina “Xochitl” Santiago had already made it past the security line at the El Paso airport when two border patrol agents called her in for questioning and whisked her away to an immigration detention center.
Nearly a month after her arrest, she and her family still aren’t clear why she is detained. Santiago is a beneficiary of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (Daca) program – which has allowed her to legally live and work in the US.
“They have no legal basis for why they detained her or why they’re holding her or why they’re trying to deport her,” said her spouse, Desiree Miller. And immigration officials have yet to provide her or her family any clear answers, she added.
Since her arrest on 3 August, Santiago’s case has alarmed immigration advocates across the US, as it illustrates the increasing vulnerability of hundreds of thousands of young people who arrived in the US as children and were granted temporary protections from deportation through the Obama-era Daca program.
Although there have been no regulatory changes to the program, the administration has tried to strip 525,000 Daca recipients, also known as Dreamers, of benefits. In July, Tricia McLaughlin, a Department of Homeland Security assistant press secretary, claimed, falsely, that “Daca does not confer any form of legal status in this country” and urged recipients to self-deport.
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A reminder that my colleague, Jakub Krupa, is covering the latest news out of Denmark, following local media uncovering a network of “at least three” people working on “influence operations” in Greenland to drive a wedge between Denmark and the territory, in a bid to pave the way for it to get closer to the US.
Denmark has summoned theacting US diplomat. This all comes as Donald Trump has expressed unrelenting interest for the US to acquire Greenland, despite Denmark’s insistence that the island is not for sale.
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The president posted up a storm on Truth Social overnight.
“Republicans: BAN MAIL-IN VOTING!!!” Trump wrote just hours ago, renewing his most recent calls to undermine mail-in ballots – a voting method that he and the first lady have used in the past. It’s worth noting that almost a third of voters used mail-in ballots in the 2024 election, according to a report from the US Election Assistance Commission.
In an earlier post, the president said that the House speaker, Mike Johnson, and the Senate majority leader, John Thune, were working with him on a “comprehensive crime bill” with the promise that he’ll eventually reveal more details about the legislation.
Trump has said that he’s also speaking with both leaders about potentially billions of dollars in congressionally guaranteed funds to help with his “beautification” project in DC.
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The president doesn’t have any events on his public schedule from which we can expect to hear from him today.
He’s due to have lunch with JD Vance at 12:30pm ET, and special envoy Steve Witkoff said, in an appearance on Fox News, that the president would also chair a meeting on Gaza at the White House on Wednesday.
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The US treasury secretary, Scott Bessent, said on Wednesday that “everything is on the table” in trade talks with China and that he will be meeting again with his Chinese counterpart at the end of October or beginning of November.
“It’s a very complicated relationship,” he said in an interview on Fox Business’ Mornings With Maria program.
“We are moving very deliberately on this. Both sides have approached it with great respect.”
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Journalists in Lebanon have demanded an apology from a senior US envoy after he told them to “act civilized” and not be “animalistic”.
As reporters shouted questions after the US delegation’s meeting with the Lebanese president, Joseph Aoun, on Tuesday, Tom Barrack, the US ambassador to Turkey and special envoy to Syria, stepped up to the podium in the packed room and said: “We’re going to have a different set of rules … please be quiet for a moment.
“The moment that this starts becoming chaotic, like animalistic, we’re gone,” he said.
“Act civilised, act kind, act tolerant, because this is the problem with what’s happening in the region,” added Barrack, who has recently been leading talks with Lebanese officials.
The Lebanese presidency in a statement on X expressed regret at “remarks made inadvertently from its podium by one of its guests”, affirming its appreciation for the journalists and media representatives.
The information minister, Paul Morcos, in a statement also expressed regret at the remarks “by a member of the foreign delegation towards media representatives at the presidential palace”.
The photojournalists’ syndicate called Barrack’s comments “a direct insult” that set “a serious and totally unacceptable precedent”.
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A federal judge on Tuesday dismissed an unprecedented lawsuit filed by the Trump administration earlier in the summer against all 15 judges serving on Maryland’s federal district court – a case that opposed pausing some deportations from the state.
In a 37-page ruling, US district judge Thomas Cullen of Virginia’s western district – who was nominated and confirmed to his position during Donald Trump’s first presidency – wrote that “any fair reading of the legal authorities cited by defendants leads to the ineluctable conclusion that this court has no alternative but to dismiss”.
“To hold otherwise,” Cullen added, “would run counter to overwhelming precedent, depart from longstanding constitutional tradition, and offend the rule of law.”
The Trump administration had challenged an order issued by Maryland’s chief district judge that temporarily barred the government from deporting undocumented immigrants for two business days if they filed challenges to their detention. Trump’s justice department argued that the order exceeded the court’s authority and violated federal law.
But Cullen, who was nominated to the bench by Trump in 2020 and was assigned the case because all Maryland district judges were named as defendants, wrote that the judges were “absolutely immune” from lawsuits over their judicial actions. And Cullen said that instead of suing, the administration should have challenged the order though other legal channels, such as appealing against the order.
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Texas’s redrawn congressional maps have drawn a lawsuit from the NAACP, which accuses the state of committing a racial gerrymander with its maps that strip Black voters of their political power.
The lawsuit, joined by the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, names Texas’s Republican governor, Greg Abbott, and secretary of state, Jane Nelson, as defendants.
It asks a federal judge for a preliminary injunction preventing the use of the redrawn maps, arguing that the redistricting violates the US constitution by improperly reducing the power of voters of color. It also argues that the maps violate section 2 of the Voting Rights Act.
“We now see just how far extremist leaders are willing to go to push African Americans back toward a time when we were denied full personhood and equal rights,” the president of the Texas NAACP, Gary Bledsoe, said in a statement.
“We call on Texans of every background to recognize the dangers of this moment. Our democracy depends on ensuring that every person is counted fully, valued equally and represented fairly. We are prepared to fight this injustice at every level. Our future depends on it.”
Texas Republicans passed a redrawn map on Saturday, with the expected result of an increase in Republican representation by five seats in the next Congress. Democratic state legislators are a minority in both chambers of the Texas legislature, leaving them with few options to block it.
A group of state house representatives spent nearly a month away from the state to deny Republicans a quorum. That maneuver ended last week, after California’s governor, Gavin Newsom, and the state legislature began a process to counter the Republican gerrymander with a Democratic gerrymander of their own.
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Donald Trump said on Tuesday that his administration “wants nothing less than $500m from Harvard” as a condition for restoring billions of dollars in federal funding to the Ivy League university.
“Don’t negotiate with them, they’ve been very bad,” Trump told his education secretary, Linda McMahon, in a cabinet meeting.
Trump’s comments came amid reports that his administration and Harvard are moving toward a potential settlement that could bring an end to their months-long battle over the government’s allegations that Harvard has not done enough to crack down on antisemitism tied to pro-Palestinian protests.
In April, Harvard became the first – and so far only – university to sue the Trump administration over the funding cuts. It sued again the following month over the government’s efforts to block the school from enrolling international students.
Harvard has argued that the administration unlawfully slashed $2.6bn in research funding from the university in retaliation for the school’s refusal to comply with a series of demands laid out in an 11 April letter from a federal antisemitism taskforce. Those demands related to campus protests, academic policies and admissions practices.
A US district judge heard arguments from both Harvard and the Department of Justice last month.
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Trump administration pulls another $175m from California’s high-speed rail
The Trump administration is cancelling another $175m in funding for California’s high-speed rail, marking another setback for the state’s much-delayed project.
The US transportation department said on Tuesday it was withdrawing $175m for grade separation, over-crossing and design work and to build a high-speed rail station in Madera. The move follows the cancellation earlier this summer of $4bn in federal grants for the state’s ambitious but long-overdue plans.
California in July sued to challenge the withdrawal of funding, calling the decision illegal.
The funding cuts are another hurdle for the 16-year effort to link Los Angeles and San Francisco by a three-hour train ride, a project that would deliver the fastest passenger rail service in the United States.
The rail system, whose first $10bn bond issue was approved by California voters in 2008, has built more than 50 major railway structures, including bridges, overpasses, under-crossings and viaducts, and completed 70 miles (113km) of guideway.
The project has also faced numerous delays and spiraling costs, with no section of the railway currently operational and a completion date still years away.
The San Francisco-to-Los Angeles route was initially supposed to be finished by 2020 at a cost of $33bn; the projected cost has since risen from $89bn to $128bn, with the start of service along a portion of the line in the Central valley only expected by 2033. On Monday, state lawmakers suggested the project would require a $1bn-per-year investment to continue in light of the federal funding cuts.
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Fed governor's lawsuit could be filed today, CNBC reports
US Federal Reserve governor Lisa Cook’s lawsuit against Donald Trump could be filed as soon as today, CNBC reported on Wednesday citing sources.
More to follow on this as we get it.
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The US transportation department said Wednesday it plans to reclaim management of Washington DC’s Union Station.
In March, the White House forced Stephen Gardner, the CEO of US passenger railroad company Amtrak, to step down after president Donald Trump sought the changes.
Trump this month deployed hundreds of national guard troops to Washington.
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62% of Americans support sanctions on Russia's trading allies, Reuters/Ipsos poll finds
Most Americans support a bid to sanction Russia’s trading partners as a way to put pressure on Moscow to end its war with Ukraine, according to a new Reuters/Ipsos poll.
The three-day poll, which concluded on Sunday, showed 62% of respondents back sanctioning Russia’s trading partners, a strategy that US president Donald Trump has partially embraced and has threatened to expand to include China.
Trump has in recent weeks engaged in intense diplomacy, meeting Russian president Vladimir Putin in Alaska but so far failing to stop the conflict, a goal he had pledged to accomplish on his first day in office.
India hopeful US will review extra 25% tariff for Russian oil purchases, Indian government source says
India is hopeful that the US will review the additional 25% tariff imposed on Indian goods as penalty for its Russian oil purchases, a government source told reporters on Wednesday.
The Indian government is holding talks with exporters to increase shipments of textiles, leather, gems and jewellery to other countries, and is likely to provide financial assistance to affected businesses, the source said.
The US Transportation Department said Tuesday it will withhold federal funding from California, Washington State, and New Mexico unless they adopt English proficiency requirements for commercial truck drivers.
The administration of president Donald Trump has taken a series of steps to address concerns about foreign truck drivers who do not speak English, and last week secretary of state Marco Rubio said the United States was immediately pausing the issuance of all worker visas for commercial truck drivers.
In April, Trump signed an executive order directing enforcement of a rule requiring commercial drivers in the US to meet English proficiency standards.
Transportation secretary Sean Duffy said the department could withhold about $50 million in federal funding if the states do not comply in 30 days and could take further action.
Washington State said its state patrol was currently reviewing the matter with its state transportation partners and will have a detailed response soon.
New Mexico’s transportation department did not immediately respond, Reuters reported.
The Senate Banking Committee will hold a hearing next week to consider president Donald Trump’s nomination of White House economic adviser Stephen Miran as a Federal Reserve governor, Bloomberg News reported on Tuesday, citing a person familiar with the matter.
Reuters could not immediately verify the report.
Some Fema staff are put on leave after signing dissent letter
Some employees of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (Fema) who signed a public letter of dissent earlier this week were put on administrative leave Tuesday evening, according to documents reviewed by the Associated Press.
More than 180 current and former Fema employees signed the letter sent to the Fema Review Council and Congress on Monday critiquing recent cuts to agency staff and programs, and warning that Fema’s capacity to respond to a major disaster was dangerously diminished.
Thirty-five signed their names while 141 signed anonymously for fear of retribution.
The Associated Press has confirmed that at least two of the signatories received notices Tuesday evening informing them they would be placed on leave indefinitely, with pay and that they must still check in every morning confirming their availability. It was unclear what the status was for other signatories.
The notice said the decision “is not a disciplinary action and is not intended to be punitive.”
President Donald Trump said on Tuesday that US colleges would struggle without Chinese students, amid a backlash from his base after he suggested he could let 600,000 Chinese college students into the country as part of trade talks with the economic rival.
Guo Jiakun, a spokesperson for China’s foreign ministry, said on Wednesday that the ministry hoped the US would follow through on Trump’s statement welcoming Chinese students and stop the “unprovoked harassment, interrogation, and deportation” of Chinese students.
Denmark’s foreign minister has summoned the top US diplomat in Copenhagen over Danish intelligence reports that US citizens have been conducting covert influence operations in Greenland, the ministry said on Wednesday.
Public broadcaster DR cited unnamed sources as saying the government believed at least three US nationals with ties to president Donald Trump’s administration had been involved in influence operations aimed at promoting Greenland’s secession from Denmark to the United States.
“We are aware that foreign actors continue to show an interest in Greenland and its position in the Kingdom of Denmark,” foreign minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen said in a statement.
“It is therefore not surprising if we experience outside attempts to influence the future of the Kingdom in the time ahead,” Rasmussen said.
Neither the broadcaster nor the ministry named the individuals flagged in the intelligence reports. The US embassy in Copenhagen did not immediately respond to a request for comment, Reuters reported.
European Union mulls removing US tariffs this week, Bloomberg News reports
The European Union is aiming to expedite legislation to remove all tariffs on US industrial goods by the end of the week, a demand made by president Donald Trump before the US will lower its duties on the bloc’s automobile exports, Bloomberg News reported on Wednesday.
Reuters could not immediately confirm the report.
Trump’s 50% tariffs on India come into force as president puts pressure on country over Russian oil supplies
Hello and welcome to the US politics live blog. My name is Tom Ambrose and I will be bringing you all the latest news lines over the next few hours.
We start with news that president Donald Trump’s doubling of tariffs on goods from India to as much as 50% took effect as scheduled on Wednesday, escalating tensions between the world’s two largest democracies and strategic partners.
A punitive 25% tariff imposed due to India’s purchases of Russian oil adds to Trump’s prior 25% tariff on many products from India. It takes total duties to as high as 50% for goods such as garments, gems and jewellery, footwear, sporting goods, furniture and chemicals – among the highest imposed by the US and on par with Brazil and China.
India and the US have held five rounds of discussions since April to reach a trade agreement, but differences over the opening up of India’s vast farm and dairy sectors, and its purchases of Russian oil led to a breakdown of talks.
The new tariffs threaten thousands of small exporters and jobs, including in prime minister Narendra Modi’s home state of Gujarat, Reuters reported.
An Indian commerce ministry official said on condition of anonymity that exporters hit by tariffs would receive financial assistance and be encouraged to diversify to markets such as China, Latin America and the Middle East.
In other developments:
Donald Trump held a televised, three-hour cabinet meeting, in which various secretaries seemed to compete to praise him in more effusive terms, and he took questions from reporters from partisan outlets.
Trump told reporters that “I think, maybe in my own mind, I have somebody that I like” to take the place of the Federal Reserve governor he is trying to force out, Lisa Cook, who is fighting to keep her place.
Two reporters for pro-Trump outlets offered testimony about crime in Washington DC to support the president’s claims.
Texas’s redrawn congressional maps have drawn a lawsuit from the NAACP, accusing the state of committing a racial gerrymander with its maps that strip Black voters of their political power.
A whistleblower complaint alleges that Elon Musk’s so-called “department of government efficiency” (Doge) copied and uploaded the sensitive Social Security data of hundreds of millions of Americans to a vulnerable cloud server, potentially violating federal privacy laws. One of the Doge staffers accused in the complaint is Edward Coristine, whose recent assault in Washington DC provided the pretext for Trump’s federal takeover.
In a deeply partisan press release, Sean Duffy, the former Republican congressman and Fox host serving as Donald Trump’s transportation secretary, announced the cancellation of $175m in funding for four projects related to what he called “California’s High-Speed Rail boondoggle”.
The Trump administration retaliated against some Federal Emergency Management Agency staffers who signed a letter of dissent about the agency’s leadership, the Washington Post reports.
A local television outlet in Washington DC recorded video of “a full busload of National Guard members … picking up trash in Lafayette Park, just outside the White House”.
Cracker Barrel announced that it is scrapping its new logo, and returning to its old one, hours after Donald Trump joined the conservative backlash to the change.
Updated