Closing summary
This liveblog is now closing. Here’s a summary of today’s developments:
The federal prosecutor for the eastern district of Virginia resigned Friday under intense pressure from Donald Trump, after his office determined there wasn’t sufficient evidence to charge New York’s attorney general, Letitia James, a political rival of the president, with a crime. Erik Siebert told colleagues he was resigning in a letter sent Friday, NBC News reported. Hours earlier, Trump bluntly told reporters in the Oval Office: “I want him out.” The president claimed he soured on Siebert because Virginia’s two Democratic senators had endorsed his nomination, but also claimed that James “is very guilty of something”. ABC News reported earlier on Friday that Trump decided to fire Siebert after he failed to obtain an indictment against James. More here.
Donald Trump signed a proclamation on Friday that would impose an annual $100,000 fee on H-1B visa applications, dealing a potentially major blow to the US tech industry, which relies heavily on workers from India and China. The US commerce secretary, Howard Lutnick, said at a Friday press briefing that “all the big companies” had been briefed on the new fee. More here.
The Trump administration asked the US supreme court on Friday to intervene for the second time in a case involving its bid to end deportation protections the former president, Joe Biden, granted to hundreds of thousands of Venezuelans in the United States. The justice department filed an emergency application asking the justices to lift a federal judge’s ruling that the homeland security secretary, Kristi Noem, lacked the authority to end the protections for Venezuelans under the temporary protected status, or TPS, program. More here.
Donald Trump announced on Friday that the US military had carried out another deadly strike on a vessel in the Caribbean, killing three men on board the vessel whom Trump alleged had been trafficking illicit narcotics. “On my orders,” Trump wrote in a social media post shared by the White House and defense secretary, “the Secretary of War ordered a lethal kinetic strike on a vessel affiliated with a Designated Terrorist Organization conducting narcotrafficking in the USSOUTHCOM area of responsibility.” More here.
The acting inspector general of the Department of Education, Heidi Semann, said that her office would be launching an investigation into the department’s handling of sensitive data. It comes after several Democratic lawmakers, led by the senator Elizabeth Warren, wrote to the department’s watchdog, asking her to review the so-called “department of government efficiency’s” “infiltration” of the education department.
The House passed a stop-gap funding bill – written by Republicans to stave off a government shutdown – only for Democrats to reject it in the Senate. In kind, GOP lawmakers blocked a Democratic version of the bill. Funding expires at the end of September, and with congressional lawmakers on recess next week, the threat of a shutdown is perilously close.
In response, legislators from both sides of the aisle spent the day shirking blame and claiming the other party would be responsible for a shutdown on 1 October. Senate majority leader John Thune said: “Democrats are yielding to the desires of their rabidly leftist base and are attempting to hold government funding hostage to a long list of partisan demands.” His counterpart, Chuck Schumer, said that Republicans “want” the shutdown to happen. “They’re in the majority. They don’t negotiate, they cause the shutdown – plain and simple,” he said.
A resolution honoring murdered rightwing activist Charlie Kirk passed the House of Representatives with bipartisan support, but only after causing considerable consternation among Democrats. All Republicans in attendance voted in favor of the resolution, which describes Kirk as “a courageous American patriot, whose life was tragically and unjustly cut short in an act of political violence”. Ninety-five Democrats supported the resolution, while 58 opposed it. Several Democrats who opposed the resolution said they condemned Kirk’s murder, and political violence at large, but could not support a figure who used his speech. More here.
A federal judge dismissed Donald Trump’s $15bn defamation lawsuit against the New York Times over its content. US district judge Steven Merryday said Trump violated a federal procedural rule requiring a short and plain statement of why he deserves relief. He gave Trump 28 days to file an amended complaint, and reminded the administration it was “not a protected platform to rage against an adversary”. More here.
The Trump administration also asked the supreme court on Friday to intervene in a bid to refuse to issue passports to transgender and non-binary Americans that reflect their gender identities. It’s one of several disputes in regard to an executive order Trump signed after returning to office in January that directs the government to recognize only two biologically distinct sexes: male and female. A lower court judge had blocked the policy earlier this year, and an appeals court let the judge’s ruling stay in place. More here.
Donald Trump and Xi Jinping “made progress on many very important issues” during their call this morning, according to a Truth Social post from the president. Trump said that the pair discussed “trade, fentanyl, Russia’s war in Ukraine, and the TikTok deal”. The president also said he and Xi would have a face-to-face meeting at the APEC summit in South Korea next month, he would travel to China “in the early part of next year”, and Xi would also come to the US at a later date.
Updated
President Donald Trump took an out-of-the-blue jab at the retired late-night host David Letterman on Truth Social on Friday.
“Whatever happened to the very highly overrated David Letterman, whose ratings were never very good, either,” Trump said. “He looks like hell, but at least he knew when to quit. LOSER!!!”
Letterman has denounced the move to indefinitely suspend “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” amid the host’s comments around the Charlie Kirk shooting this week.
Letterman told a crowd attending a panel at the Atlantic Festival on Thursday that Trump’s presidency is an “authoritarian criminal administration.”
“You know, I just, I feel bad about this because we all see where this is going, correct? It’s managed media. And it’s no good. It’s silly. It’s ridiculous,” Letterman said as he was introduced by Atlantic editor Jeffrey Goldberg. “And you can’t go around firing somebody because you’re fearful or trying to suck up to an authoritarian criminal administration in the Oval Office. That’s just not how this works.”
Prosecutors are requesting a prison sentence of at least 30 years for the person who admitted attempting to kill the US supreme court justice Brett Kavanaugh at his Maryland residence in 2022.
Prosecutors described Sophie Roske’s actions as “bone-chilling”, adding that her carefully planned attempt to assassinate Kavanaugh in order to influence the decisions of the supreme court’s conservative majority justified a harsh penalty, according to a court filing.
“The defendant’s objective – to target and kill judges to seek to alter a court’s ruling – is an abhorrent form of terrorism and strikes at the core of the United States Constitution and our prescribed system of government,” US attorney for Maryland Kelly Hayes and other prosecutors wrote.
Roske’s defense attorneys revealed that she is transgender. In their filing, prosecutors referred to her by her legal name.
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Pentagon to restrict access to journalists who pledge not to publish certain information
The Pentagon announced that reporters covering the agency could enter the building only if they agreed not to publish certain information, marking an unprecedented move that gives the department overarching control over what the media can report.
Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell told journalists on Friday that they may continue entering the defense department only if they pledge not to publish classified material or even less sensitive documents that aren’t officially marked as secrets.
The rule will take effect in two to three weeks, Politico reports.
“[Defense department] information must be approved for public release by an appropriate authorizing official before it is released, even if it is unclassified,” read the note for reporters to sign. “Failure to abide by these rules may result in suspension or revocation of your building pass and loss of access.”
“The ‘press’ does not run the Pentagon – the people do,” defense secretary Pete Hegseth said in a Friday night post on X. “The press is no longer allowed to roam the halls of a secure facility. Wear a badge and follow the rules – or go home.”
Updated
The Trump administration asked the US supreme court on Friday to intervene for the second time in a case involving its bid to end deportation protections the former president, Joe Biden, granted to hundreds of thousands of Venezuelans in the United States.
The justice department filed an emergency application asking the justices to lift a federal judge’s ruling that the homeland security secretary, Kristi Noem, lacked the authority to end the protections for Venezuelans under the temporary protected status, or TPS, program.
“So long as the district court’s order is in effect, the secretary must permit over 300,000 Venezuelan nationals to remain in the country, notwithstanding her reasoned determination that doing so even temporarily is ‘contrary to the national interest’,” the justice department said in its filing.
The supreme court previously sided with the administration in May to lift a temporary order that US judge Edward Chen in San Francisco issued at an earlier stage of the case that had halted the TPS termination while the litigation played out in court.
Chen issued a final ruling in the case on 5 September finding that Noem’s actions to terminate the program violated a federal law that governs the actions of federal agencies.
Read the full story here:
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Trump says US carried out strike on vessel in US southern command's 'area of responsibility'
Donald Trump said that Washington had carried out a strike on a vessel in the US southern command’s “area of responsibility”, killing three men on board whom Trump alleged were trafficking illicit narcotics.
The Pentagon “ordered a lethal kinetic strike on a vessel affiliated with a Designated Terrorist Organization conducting narcotrafficking in the USSOUTHCOM area of responsibility”, Trump said on Truth Social on Friday.
“Intelligence confirmed the vessel was trafficking illicit narcotics, and was transiting along a known narcotrafficking passage enroute to poison Americans,” he added.
US southern command (Southcom) is the US military’s combatant command that encompasses 31 countries through South and Central America and the Caribbean.
The strike comes four days after the US carried out a strike on a second Venezuelan boat and killed three alleged terrorists Trump claimed had been transporting drugs.
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DHS announces it will end temporary status for about 4,000 Syrians
The Department of Homeland Security announced on Friday that it will end temporary status for about 4,000 Syrians, the latest move from the Trump administration to make more immigrants in the US eligible for deportation.
The temporary protected status has allowed about 4,000 Syrians to live and work in the US for more than a decade.
During the Biden administration, the number of people protected by temporary protected status grew to more than 1 million. Trump has already ended the status for Venezuelans, Hondurans, Haitians, Nicaraguans, Ukrainians and thousands of others.
DHS spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin said conditions in Syria had improved and “no longer prevent their nationals from returning home”. She said Syrians who were protected by temporary protected status have 60 days to voluntarily depart the US.
After that, they will be detained and deported, she said.
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In a post on X, The New York Times’ Glenn Thrush shared an email by US Attorney Erik Siebert sent to staff, submitting his resignation.
“For the last eight months, I have had the pleasure of leading the finest and most exceptional of DOJ employees, who care deeply about our nation and our EDVA community,” reads the email. “Thank you for the lessons you have taught me, the sacrifices you have made, and the pursuit of justice you strive for every day.”
US Attorney to resign after Trump’s remarks calling for his removal over Letitia James investigation - reports
US attorney Erik Siebert told employees on Friday that he intends to resign, according to several reports, after President Donald Trump said he wants him “out.”
Siebert was pushed by the Trump administration to bring charges against New York attorney general Letitia James and former FBI director, James Comey, two longtime Trump rivals. Investigations failed to find clear evidence that they committed crimes.
Earlier today, Trump said, “I want him out,” referring to Siebert. The US attorney reportedly told employees about his departure at his office in Alexandria, Virginia, after these comments.
Updated
The US attorney investigating New York attorney general Letitia James was also looking into former FBI director James Comey, according to the New York Times.
Erik Siebert’s office ran into obstacles in its probe of Comey over allegations that he lied under oath.
Last week, prosecutors subpoenaed Daniel Richman, a Columbia law professor and close friend of Comey, to investigate whether Comey had authorized Richman to leak information to the media, The Times reports. Richman’s statements to prosecutors were not fruitful in their efforts to build a case against Comey.
US attorney investigating Letitia James mortgage fraud claims reportedly ousted
The US attorney whose office has been investigating mortgage fraud allegations against New York attorney general Letitia James has been told he is being removed from the position, a person familiar with the matter told the Associated Press on Friday, amid a push by Trump administration officials to bring criminal charges against the perceived adversary of the president.
The move to replace Erik Siebert, a career prosecutor in the prestigious eastern district of Virginia, was described by a person who was not authorized to discuss the matter and spoke on the condition of anonymity. It was unclear which official told Siebert he was being removed, what reason was given or who might replace him.
The status of any leadership change remained unclear as no public announcement had been made by Friday afternoon. Spokespeople for Seibert’s office and the justice department declined to comment.
The development comes as Trump administration officials have been aggressively pursuing allegations against James arising from alleged paperwork discrepancies on her Brooklyn townhouse and a Virginia home. The justice department has spent months conducting the investigation but has yet to bring charges, and there has been no indication that prosecutors have managed to uncover any degree of incriminating evidence necessary to secure an indictment.
Here’s the full story:
Ty Cobb, a former White House attorney under Donald Trump, said that the Trump administration is undermining constitutional freedoms, especially under the First Amendment, after ABC pulled Jimmy Kimmel’s late-night show off the air.
During an interview with NBC’s Meet the Press NOW, Cobb made historical parallels to authoritarian regimes that silenced dissent, including under dictator Adolf Hitler in Nazi Germany.
“In 1939, Doctor Goebbels and Hitler, as an instruction, removed five comedians—or witticists, as they were called at the time—from the airwaves in Germany for criticizing or making fun of the government and a number of satire way,” Cobb said.
“These people are abandoning our constitutional rights and our constitutional freedoms,” Cobb added. “I think this is really tragic. And I think, as Carr said yesterday, there will be more shoes to drop. I think we can count on that. This will be 3.5 more years of vengeance.”
Politico is reporting that the Treasury Department has ordered a federal advisory committee for the IRS to pause public meetings while the White House reviews the panel’s membership.
An email dated 17 September says that all 75 volunteer members of the Taxpayer Advisory Panel, which provides recommendations to the IRS on tax forms and taxpayer assistance centers based on public feedback, are undergoing the White House’s vetting process.
Two members of the panel have so far said they are stepping down because of the directive.
“I didn’t care to go through the additional vetting,” said a former panel member to Politico. “I had to be fingerprinted. I gave them, I recall, permission to review my tax returns. There was a significant amount of vetting already.”
During his remarks in the Oval Office, President Donald Trump pushed back against a UN panel that found Israel is committing genocide in Gaza.
When asked about the report that was issued by the international body this week, Trump didn’t directly answer whether he believes Israel is committing genocide. Instead, he noted the atrocities committed by Hamas.
“Did anybody commit genocide on October 7? What do you think about that?” Trump asked. “That was genocide at the highest level. That was murder, genocide, you can call it whatever you want.”
A team of independent experts commissioned by the United Nations Human Rights Council concluded that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza, issuing a report Tuesday that calls on the international community to end the genocide and act to punish those responsible for it.
Here’s more on the report:
President says attorney investigating Letitia James - the New York attorney general who prosecuted Trump - should be sacked
President Donald Trump said that he wants the US Attorney investigating New York’s attorney general, Letitia James “out.”
During his remarks in the Oval Office, Trump said, “I want him out,” referring to Erik S Siebert, the US attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia.
The Trump administration has pushed Siebert to seek an indictment against James, his political rival, in a probe of potential mortgage fraud.
The investigation is at a standstill because federal agents and prosecutors don’t believe they have enough evidence to get a conviction if the case were to go to trial.
On Friday, Trump criticized the fact that Siebert was approved through the Senate’s “blue slip” process, which allows senators to influence judicial appointments in their state.
“I learned that he was blue slipped through by two Democrats, senators in Virginia, people that would never vote for the people - that haven’t voted for us for probably years,” Trump said.
The president called Virginia senators Tim Kaine and Mark Warner “two bad guys, bad senators, too.”
Updated
Trump signs order raising H1-B visa fee to $100,000
The Trump administration officially announced plans to raise the fee companies pay to sponsor H‑1B workers to $100,000, claiming the move will ensure only highly skilled, irreplaceable workers are brought to the US while protecting American jobs.
“I think it’s going to be a fantastic thing, and we’re going to take that money and we’re going to reduce taxes, we’re going to reduce debt,” Trump said.
Lutnick criticized the H‑1B visa program, saying it has been “abused” to bring in foreign workers who compete with American employees.
“All of the big companies are on board,” Lutnick said.
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Foreigners who pay $1m to get faster visa pathway, says Trump
President Donald Trump, along with commerce secretary Howard Lutnick, unveiled a new immigration program called the “Gold Card,” which would create an expedited visa pathway for foreigners who pay $1 million to the US Treasury.
If visa holders are sponsored by a corporation, they must pay $2 million.
“Essentially, we’re having people come in, people that, in many cases, I guess, are very successful or whatever,” Trump said. “They’re going to spend a lot of money to come in. They’re going to pay, as opposed to walking over the borders.”
Updated
After a reporter asked President Donald Trump about his thoughts on cancel culture amid surging debates about free speech, the president claimed that networks gave him overwhelmingly negative coverage, citing - without evidence - that more than 90% of stories about him were “bad.”
“I think that’s really illegal,” he said.
Trump told reporters that the level of negative coverage made his election victory “a miracle” and said that the networks lack credibility with the public.
He also repeated a false claim that the Federal Communications Commission licenses US TV networks. While the FCC requires the owners of local television stations, which are often affiliated with national networks that produce programming, to obtain licenses, the FCC states on its website: “We do not license TV or radio networks (such as CBS, NBC, ABC or Fox) or other organizations that stations have relationships with, such as PBS or NPR.”
Trump holds press briefing in Oval Office where he is expected to sign an executive order
President Donald Trump scolded House Democrats who voted against a resolution honoring slain conservative activist Charlie Kirk.
In a 310-58 vote, the resolution passed nine days after a gunman assassinated Kirk while he was speaking to a crowd at Utah Valley University. Several Democrats who opposed the resolution said they condemned Kirk’s murder, as well as political violence, but could not support a figure who used his speech. Many critics have pointed out that Kirk had disparaged Martin Luther King Jr. and called the Civil Rights Act of 1964 a “huge mistake.”
“Just today, the House Democrats voted against condemning the political assassination of Charlie Turk,” the president said during his remarks at the White House today. “Who could vote against that?”
Updated
President Donald Trump is expected to announce a new $100,000 fee for H-1B visa applications, Bloomberg reports, in what marks the administration’s latest move to deter legal immigration.
The presidential proclamation is slated to be signed today.
Trump aides have previously argued that the H-1B program, designed to bring skilled foreign workers to the US, suppresses wages for Americans and discourages US-born workers from pursuing STEM fields.
The additional fee would add to the already costly process to obtain an H-1B visa, which could go from about $1,700 to $4,500. About 85,000 H-1B visas are granted every year. More than half a million people are authorized to work in the US under H-1B visas. While these are temporary, and typically granted for three years, holders can try to extend them, or apply for green cards.
Republican senator Ted Cruz compared Federal Communications Commission chair Brendan Carr’s threats to revoke ABC’s broadcast license to “mafioso” tactics similar to those in Goodfellas, the 1990 mobster movie.
On his podcast Verdict with Ted Cruz, the Texas Republican called Carr’s comments “unbelievably dangerous” and warned that government attempts to police speech could ultimately harm conservatives if Democrats return to power.
“He threatens explicitly: ‘We’re going to cancel ABC’s license. We’re going to take him off the air so ABC cannot broadcast anymore’... He says: ‘We can do this the easy way, but we can do this the hard way.’ And I got to say, that’s right out of GoodFellas. That’s right out of a mafioso coming into a bar going, ‘Nice bar you have here. It’d be a shame if something happened to it,’” Cruz said.
“I hate what Jimmy Kimmel said. I am thrilled that he was fired,” Cruz said. “But let me tell you: If the government gets in the business of saying, ‘We don’t like what you, the media, have said. We’re going to ban you from the airwaves if you don’t say what we like,’ that will end up bad for conservatives.”
Education department inspector general launches investigation into Doge access to data
The acting inspector general of the department of education, Heidi Semann, said that her office would be launching a probe into the department’s handling of sensitive data.
It comes after several Democratic lawmakers, led by senator Elizabeth Warren, wrote to the department’s watchdog – asking her to review the Department of Government Efficiency’s (DOGE) “infiltration” of the education department.
“Because of the Department’s refusal to provide full and complete information, the full extent of DOGE’s role and influence at ED remains unknown,” the letter states.
In response, Semann – whose office serves as an independent entity tasked with rooting out waste, fraud and abuse within the agency – said the following: “Given the sensitive nature of the data it holds, it is crucial that the [education] Department ensures appropriate access to its data systems and maintains effective access controls for system security and privacy protection purposes.”
Here's a recap of the day so far
On Capitol Hill today, a flurry of action and inaction, after the House passed a stopgap funding bill – written by Republicans to stave off a government shutdown – only for Democrats to reject it in the Senate. In kind, GOP lawmakers blocked a Democratic version of the bill. Funding expires at the end of September, and with congressional lawmakers on recess next week the threat of a shutdown is perilously close.
In response, legislators from both sides of the aisle have spent the day shirking blame and claiming the other party would be responsible for a shutdown on 1 October. Senate majority leader John Thune said that “Democrats are yielding to the desires of their rabidly leftist base and are attempting to hold government funding hostage to a long list of partisan demands.” While his counterpart, Chuck Schumer said that Republicans “want” the shutdown to happen. “They’re in the majority. They don’t negotiate, they cause the shutdown – plain and simple,” he said.
Also on the Hill today, a resolution honoring murdered conservative activist Charlie Kirk passed the House of Representatives with bipartisan support, but only after causing considerable consternation among Democrats. All Republicans in attendance voted in favor of the resolution, which describes Kirk as “a courageous American patriot, whose life was tragically and unjustly cut short in an act of political violence”. Ninety five Democrats supported the resolution, while 58 opposed it. Several Democrats who opposed the resolution said they condemned Kirk’s murder, and political violence at large, but could not support a figure who used his speech.
Meanwhile, a federal judge dismissed Donald Trump’s $15bn defamation lawsuit against the New York Times over its content. US district judge Steven Merryday said Trump violated a federal procedural rule requiring a short and plain statement of why he deserves relief. He gave Trump 28 days to file an amended complaint, and reminded the administration it was “not a protected platform to rage against an adversary”.
The Trump’s administration also asked the supreme court on Friday to intervene in a bid to refuse to issue passports to transgender and non-binary Americans that reflect their gender identities. It’s one of several disputes in regard to an executive order Trump signed after returning to office in January that directs the government to recognize only two biologically distinct sexes: male and female. A lower court judge had blocked the policy earlier this year, and an appeals court let the judge’s ruling stay in place.
And on foreign policy, Donald Trump and Xi Jinping “made progress on many very important issues” during their call this morning, according to a Truth Social post from the president. Trump said that the pair discussed “trade, fentanyl, Russia’s war in Ukraine, and the TikTok deal”. The president also said he and Xi would have a face-to-face meeting at the APEC summit in South Korea next month, he would travel to China “in the early part of next year”, and Xi would also come to the US at a later date.
A top donor to Donald Trump and other Maga Republicans has privately mocked the US president’s longtime position that he has an upper hand in trade negotiations with China, in a sign that even some loyal supporters have been uneasy with the White House strategy.
Liz Uihlein, the billionaire businesswoman who co-founded office supply company Uline with her husband, Richard, sent an email to her staff earlier this year that contained a cartoon in which Trump can be seen playing cards with Chinese president Xi Jinping. In the cartoon, Trump claims: “I hold the cards”, to which Xi responds: “The cards are made in China.”
The email, seen by the Guardian, appears to have been sent in April by an administrative assistant on Liz Uihlein’s behalf. Uihlein prefaced the cartoon with a short remark: “All – The usual. Liz”.
The barb is significant because it was sent by an important political ally to Trump and his movement. Liz and Richard Uihlein were the fourth largest political donors in the presidential election cycle, having given $143m to Republicans, according to Opensecrets, which tracks political giving.
A Uline spokesperson said Liz Uihlein had no comment. A White House spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment.
Former US attorney who negotiated Epstein's 'sweetheart deal' appears before Oversight committee in closed-door deposition
Also on Capitol Hill today, Alex Acosta, the former US attorney for southern Florida who also served as the labor secretary during the first Trump administration, testified before lawmakers on the House Oversight Committee today in a closed-door deposition.
Acosta negotiated the deal in 2008 that saw Jeffrey Epstein plead guilty and receive no federal charges for soliciting minors. At the time he served a 13-month prison sentence in a county jail and received various work privileges.
Then, in 2019, Epstein was eventually charged with federal sex trafficking crimes, which shone the spotlight back on Acosta – now the labor secretary under Trump – who resigned from his cabinet position.
The 2008 plea deal has come up again throughout the Oversight committee’s investigation into the handling of the Epstein case. Democrats on the committee have called it a “sweetheart deal”, and after today’s deposition several of those lawmakers characterised Acosta was “evasive” and “non-credible”.
“It’s very difficult to get straightforward answers out of him regarding what happened during this time, what he knew of the relationship between Donald Trump and Jeffrey Epstein,” said congresswoman Yassamin Ansari, a Democrat who sits on the Oversight committee.
Earlier today, Republican congressman James Comer said that the committee, which he chairs, has begun receiving documents from the treasury department relating to the Epstein case.
“When we met with the victims, and we said, ‘what can we do to expedite this investigation to be able to provide justice for you all?’, they said, ‘follow the money, follow the money’,” Comer told reporters today.
Updated
A reminder, government funding lapses on 30 September. The Senate isn’t back from recess until 29 September, meaning that any vote to avoid a shutdown would need to happen less than 48 hours before the deadline.
Both parties blame the other as potential of government shutdown looms
In response, congressional Democrats just wrapped a press conference where they said that any blame for a government shutdown lays squarely at the feet of their Republican colleagues.
“The bare minimum here is for Republican leadership to simply sit down with Democratic leadership to hammer out a path forward. Now they’re leaving town instead of sitting down with Democrats,” said Democratic senator Patty Murray, who serves as the vice-chair of the Senate appropriations committee.
Minority leader Chuck Schumer said today that plans by House lawmakers to not return from recess until 1 October – effectively stymieing Democrat’s hopes of negotiations before government funding expires at the end of this month – was proof that Republicans “want” the shutdown to happen.
“They’re in the majority. They don’t negotiate, they cause the shutdown – plain and simple,” Schumer added.
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Top Republican senator says 'ball' to keep government funded is in Democrats' court
Per my last post, on the Senate floor today, majority leader John Thune said he is unlikely to call back lawmakers next week (when Congress is on recess). Instead, he shirked any blame for government funding expiring, and said the“ball is in the Democrats’ court” now.
“I can’t stop Democrats from opposing our nonpartisan continuing resolution. If they want to shut down the government, they have the power to do so,” the South Dakota Republican said. “If they think they’re going to gain political points from shutting down the government over a clean, non partisan CR, something they voted for 13 times under the Biden administration, I would strongly urge them to think again.”
Updated
Senate fails to pass short-term funding bill that would avert government shutdown
The Republican-controlled Senate has failed to pass a short-term funding bill that would prevent a government shutdown at the end of the month.
Earlier, continuing resolution (CR) cleared the House, but ultimately stalled in the upper chamber – unable to reach the 60 votes needed to overcome the filibuster.
Democrats remain resolute that they will continue to block any bill if it doesn’t include significant amendments to health care provisions. Today, senator John Fetterman, of Pennsylvania, was the lone Democrat to vote for the GOP-drawn CR. While Republican senators Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, and Rand Paul of Kentucky, joined their colleagues across the aisle and voted no.
Senate rejects Democrats' alternative stopgap funding measure
As expected, the Senate has rejected congressional Democrats’ alternative to the short-term funding bill that passed the House earlier – which was drafted by Republicans.
The version by Democrats kept the government funded for a month, and had a number of health care provisions baked in. It also included measures that would stop Donald Trump from clawing back appropriated funds.
The House passed bill is up next. We’ll bring you that update as we get it.
Education department issues 'denial of access' letter to Harvard, citing failure to provide admissions data
The department of education has issued a ‘denial of access’ letter to Harvard University, claiming that the institution has failed to “provide documents and information” as part of the ongoing investigation by the Office of Civil Rights (OCR) to determine if the university “is illegally considering race in its undergraduate admissions process”.
“The highest court in our nation ruled conclusively that Harvard was illegally using extreme racial preferencing in their admissions processes,” said education secretary Linda McMahon, referring to the supreme court’s 2023 decision that said race based admissions policies violated the Equal Protection Cause of the Fourteenth Amendment. “For all their claims, they [Harvard] refuse to provide evidence necessary for the Department to make that determination. What are they hiding?”
In a statement, the education department said that Harvard has 20 calendar days to provide the OCR with the requisite data or “face further enforcement action”.
Harvard, the oldest and wealthiest university in the US, has been the frequent target of the Trump administration since the president returned to the White House. Earlier this year, the university fought back and sued the administration for its cuts to federal funding.
In a surprise move, the influential committee that advises the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on vaccine policy decided Friday morning to drop a planned vote on whether to immunize all newborns against hepatitis B, an incurable infection that can lead to liver disease and death.
The CDC has recommended that all US-born babies receive the first of three shots against hepatitis B shortly after birth for more than 30 years. Over that time frame, the lethal illness has virtually vanished among American children. Yet the panel, the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP), had intended to vote on recommending whether to delay the first shot until a child is at least a month old, as long as the child’s mother does not have hepatitis B.
While parents could still choose to get their baby vaccinated at birth, the committee’s recommendations typically determine which vaccines are provided free of charge through the US government, shape state and local laws around vaccine requirements, and influence which vaccines health insurers tend to cover.
But rather than proceeding, the vote over hepatitis B descended into confusion, as some members pointed out inconsistencies in the wording of the vote and suggested that they would prefer to recommend delaying the hepatitis B vaccine until even later in a child’s life. Although voting had begun, the members ultimately decided to postpone the vote until at least their next meeting.
The committee’s two-day meeting, which started on Thursday, has already sparked intense debate. After Robert F Kennedy took control of the Department of Health and Human Services, he fired the previous iteration of the committee and replaced it with his own handpicked advisers. Some of whom have little to no documented experience with vaccines, while others have criticized them.
The members’ lack of experience with the panel’s workings became evident on Thursday, when some of its members seemed unsure of what they were voting on and were unfamiliar with Vaccines for Children, a US government program that provides free vaccines to low-income children.
The panel did, however, vote to recommend that children receive multiple vaccines against mumps, measles, rubella and varicella – or chicken pox – rather than a combined vaccine, as was previously recommended. Parents could already decide to give their children separate vaccines, and many do.
On Thursday, the panel had voted to let Vaccines for Children continue providing coverage for the combined vaccine if parents want it. On Friday morning, however, the panel reversed that decision and instead voted to recommend that Vaccines for Children no longer do so.
Updated
Photos: mass arrests outside immigration court in New York
Per that last post, here are some of the images of local elected officials and immigration rights activists who protested outside the Jacob K Javits Federal Building, New York’s largest federal immigration court, on Thursday.
See more images in our gallery here.
Yesterday, New York lawmakers, immigrants’ rights activists and religious leaders were arrested at protests both inside and outside the complex in lower Manhattan where federal officials have been routinely detaining immigrants amid the Trump administration’s anti-immigration agenda.
Eleven elected New York officials tried to gain access to an Ice detention facility, while immigration activists tried to block vans carrying detained migrants.
Here’s the story in pictures:
Judge strikes Trump's $15bn lawsuit against New York Times over its content
A federal judge has struck Donald Trump’s $15bn defamation lawsuit against the New York Times over its content.
US district judge Steven Merryday said Trump violated a federal procedural rule requiring a short and plain statement of why he deserves relief, and that a complaint is not “a public forum for vituperation and invective” or “a protected platform to rage against an adversary”.
Merryday gave Trump 28 days to file an amended complaint.
House passes bipartisan resolution honoring Charlie Kirk
A resolution honoring murdered conservative activist Charlie Kirk passed the House of Representatives with bipartisan support on Friday, but only after causing considerable consternation among Democrats.
All Republicans in attendance voted in favor of the resolution, which describes Kirk as “a courageous American patriot, whose life was tragically and unjustly cut short in an act of political violence”.
Ninety five Democrats supported the resolution, while 58 opposed it. Thirty eight voted present, and 22 did not vote.
Kirk was instrumental in building support for Donald Trump and conservative causes among younger voters, often by using racist and discriminatory language and arguments.
Several Democrats who opposed the resolution said they condemned his murder, but could not support a figure who used his speech.
“We should be clear about who Charlie Kirk was: a man who believed that the Civil Rights Act that granted Black Americans the right to vote was a ‘mistake’, who after the violent attack on Paul Pelosi claimed that ‘some amazing patriot out there’ should bail out his assailant, and accused Jews of controlling ‘not just the colleges – it’s the nonprofits, it’s the movies, it’s Hollywood, it’s all of it,’” said New York’s Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who voted no.
She went on: “His rhetoric and beliefs were ignorant and sought to disenfranchise millions of Americans – far from ‘working tirelessly to promote unity’ as asserted by the majority in this resolution.”
“I cannot vote yes on this resolution because it grossly misrepresents Charlie Kirk’s methods, views, and beliefs while citing Christian nationalist language. I will always condemn heinous acts of violence, but this resolution ignores the false and hateful rhetoric that was too often present in his debates,” said Colorado’s Diana DeGette, who voted present.
Maryland’s Jamie Raskin said he voted yes on the measure because it “repeatedly condemns all political violence, extremism and hatred in unequivocal terms”, while adding: “We should overlook whatever surplus verbiage is contained in this resolution designed to make the vote difficult for Democrats. We cannot fall for that obvious political trap and should rise above it.”
Congressman Dan Goldman, who voted present said: “I condemn political violence of any kind, including the horrific assassination of Mr Kirk. I cannot vote no on a resolution that condemns political violence. I do not support - and indeed condemn in the strongest possible terms - many of the hateful views Mr Kirk espoused. I cannot vote yes on a resolution that celebrates those views.”
Updated
Reuters is reporting that a federal judge has struck Donald Trump’s $15bn lawsuit against the New York Times. I’ll bring you more on this as we get it.
Trump asks supreme court to enforce passport policy targeting transgender people
Donald Trump’s administration asked the supreme court on Friday to intervene in a bid to refuse to issue passports to transgender and nonbinary Americans that reflect their gender identities.
Reuters reports that the justice department filed an emergency request to lift a federal judge’s injunction barring the state department from enforcing a policy it adopted at Trump’s direction.
The dispute is one of several concerning an executive order Trump signed after returning to office on 20 January directing the government to recognize only two biologically distinct sexes, male and female.
Updated
in Chicago
Federal law enforcement officials in Chicago have used tear gas and pepper balls in an attempt to disperse a group of around 100 protesters who assembled in the early hours of Friday morning at an Ice facility in the suburbs.
Protesters, who remained peaceful throughout had attempted to block a number of large SUVs entering the facility throughout the morning at an Ice detention and operations facility in Broadview.
At least two protesters were arrested by masked agents in a number of small skirmishes, which escalated after agents fired volleys of pepper balls and multiple canisters of tear gas following orders to disperse. Masked agents shoved protesters and arrested one using zip ties as two large SUVs exited the building, which is surrounded by razor wire.
Protesters chanted the name of the Silverio Villegas González, a 38 year-old father of two who was fatally shot by an immigration officer during a traffic stop in the Chicago area last Friday. Earlier in the morning agents arrested another protester after a group of agents swarmed out from the facility to escorting another vehicle. The protester was dragged inside by two masked agents.
The background on that is a federal judge in Boston ruled back in June that transgender and intersex people could obtain passports that align with their gender identity, in a rebuke to a January executive order from Donald Trump that said passports must conform to the sex citizens were assigned at birth.
US district judge Julia Kobick issued a preliminary injunction that expanded an earlier order she issued in April that had stopped the US state department from enforcing the policy in the case of six people, after finding the order was probably unconstitutional.
Her June order meant that all trans citizens would be able to update their gender markers on their passports while the case against Trump’s order proceeds.
After the president signed an executive order on the first day of his term in January, Defending Women from Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government, the US state department announced that it would “no longer issue US passports or Consular Reports of Birth Abroad (CRBAs) with an X marker. We will only issue passports with an M or F sex marker that match the customer’s biological sex at birth.”
We’re seeing a line on the wires from Reuters that the Trump administration has asked the supreme court to intervene after a lower court required the state department to issue passports that reflect an individual’s gender identity. I’ll bring you more on this as it comes through.
Trump says he and China's Xi made progress on TikTok and trade, and will meet soon
Donald Trump and Xi Jinping “made progress on many very important issues” during their call this morning, according to the US president, including on trade, fentanyl, Russia’s war in Ukraine, and the TikTok deal.
Trump also said he and Xi would have a face-to-face meeting at the APEC summit in South Korea next month, he would travel to China “in the early part of next year” and Xi would also come to the US at a later date.
The statement did not spell out the terms of an agreement between the leaders on TikTok, only that Trump “appreciates the TikTok approval”.
Trump just posted on his Truth Social platform:
I just completed a very productive call with President Xi of China. We made progress on many very important issues including Trade, Fentanyl, the need to bring the War between Russia and Ukraine to an end, and the approval of the TikTok Deal. I also agreed with President Xi that we would meet at the APEC Summit in South Korea, that I would go to China in the early part of next year, and that President Xi would, likewise, come to the United States at an appropriate time. The call was a very good one, we will be speaking again by phone, appreciate the TikTok approval, and both look forward to meeting at APEC!
Updated
Per my last post, here’s some helpful context on the next steps for the CR.
Next week, lawmakers will be on a week-long recess. So, to avoid the shutdown stress that has been customary when it comes to stopgap spending bills, congressional Republicans are hoping that it passes the Senate today.
Here’s why that might be unlikely.
They’ll need at least seven Senate Democrats to vote yes on this funding extension as it stands. So far, Democrats in both chambers argue that they had no input on the GOP-written CR, and it lacks several health care provisions that, they say, are non-negotiable. In response, Democrats have even released their own version of the stopgap bill, which also includes measures to inhibit Donald Trump from clawing back congressionally approriated funds.
Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer is under pressure from House Democrats to make sure that their Senate counterparts don’t cross the aisle, like what happpened in March. They want to call Republicans’ bluff and force them to shoulder the blame for a possible shutdown if they don’t get any say in the CR.
Both versions of the short-term funding bill are likely to fail on the Senate floor on Friday, as they’ll need 60 votes to overcome the filibuster. That means a vote on any revised legislation might not happen until 29 September – perilously close to a shutdown that would begin on 1 October.
Updated
House passes stopgap funding bill to avert government shutdown
The US House passed a stopgap funding bill, known as a ‘continuing resolution’ (CR) – which would keep the government funded until 21 November.
Lawmakers in the lower chamber passed the bill 217-212, with two Republicans voting against it, and one Democrat – congressman Jared Golden of Maine – voting for it.
The CR now advances to the Senate, where it needs 60 votes to overcome a filibuster.
A reminder, that a government funding expires at the end of the month if lawmakers can’t pass this short-term solution.
Updated
According to the White House press pool Donald Trump actually began his call with Xi Jinping at 8am EST today A White House official declined to say whether the call had concluded, but said updates about the conversation will be shared by the president on Truth Social.
Updated
Per my last post, the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) responded to the Thursday’s vaccine advisory panel meeting with a statement that said the committee (which health secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr completely replaced earlier this year) “promoted false claims and misguided information about vaccines as part of an unprecedented effort to limit access to routine childhood immunizations and sow fear and mistrust in vaccines”.
The academy also reshared their guidance for vaccines, which includes “giving newborns a dose of the hepatitis B vaccine within 24 hours of birth” and a combination MMRV vaccine should “remain an option” for families. The AAP advises that children receive the shot “at 1 year and again at 4-6 years”.
Updated
We’ll get more from the second day of the advisory committee on immunization practices (ACIP) later. A reminder that on Thursday the panel voted on recommending that children receive multiple vaccines to protect against measles, mumps, rubella and chickenpox (MMRV), instead of a single vaccine that can protect against all four diseases.
As my colleague, Carter Sherman, reports, the committee is scheduled to focus on Covid vaccines today. It will also hold two votes on the recommended timing of the vaccine for hepatitis B – an incurable infection that can lead to liver disease and death.
The committee was originally scheduled to vote on the hepatitis B vaccine on Wednesday, but delayed the vote after the committee chair, Martin Kulldorff, noticed “slight discrepancies” in the wording of the planned votes.
Updated
Following Kirk shooting, new poll shows drop in positive direction of the country among Republicans
A new Associated Press-NORC poll shows that there has been a significant drop, among Republicans, that the country is heading in a positive direction.
51% of Republicans said the country is heading in the wrong direction, in a poll conducted between 11 and 15 September. A 22-point increase from the 29% of Republicans who expressed the same feeling in June of this year.
For Democrats, 92% say the country is heading in the wrong direction – a number that’s stayed consistent since Donald Trump returned to the White House for a second term.
More broadly, 39% of adults approve of the way Trump is handing his job as president, while 60% disapprove.
Updated
Congress prepares to vote of funding bills to avert government shutdown
Today, lawmakers in the House will vote on legislation, known as a “continuing resolution” (CR), to prevent a looming government shutdown at the end of September.
The bill, introduced by Republicans, would fund the government until 21 November. According to Politico, House GOP whip Tom Emmer was confident, as of Thursday, that his party had enough votes. “We’re going to pass this,” he said in an interview.
A reminder, Republicans only have a very thin majority in the lower chamber, and have already heard push back from some members on certain provisions in the bill.
Democrats have, almost unanimously, said they’re bucking the CR as is, taking issue with its lack of health care provisions. “The House Republican-only spending bill fails to meet the needs of the American people and does nothing to stop the looming healthcare crisis,” senate minority Leader Chuck Schumer and House minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries said in a joint statement.
Democrats in the lower chamber also released their own legislation that would keep the government funded until the end of October.
For their part, GOP lawmakers only need a simple majority for their CR to advance to the Senate, where Democrats can use the filibuster to tank it if it lacks 60 votes. However, that requires Schumer to ensure that moderate members of his party don’t end up voting for the legislation if the threat of a shutdown inches closer.
This is the problem the top Democrat faced the last time this happened, back in March, when Schumer ended up voting for the Republican-written bill that kept federal agencies funded. At the time, Schumer faced immense pressure from his Democratic colleagues in the House to push back, but ultimately believed a shutdown would carry “consequences for America that are much, much worse”.
Trump expected to focus on TikTok and trade in call with Xi Jinping
The president doesn’t have any public events scheduled today, according to the White House.
He’s due to sign executive orders at 3pm EST, but that is closed press for the time being. We’ll let you know if that opens up.
In less than an hour, Trump is expected to have a call with Chinese leader Xi Jinping. It’s the first time the pair have spoken since June, and Trump said to reporters yesterday that they’ll focus on TikTok and trade on their call. “We’re very close on all of it,” the president added.
When we have a readout we’ll make sure to bring you the latest lines.
Updated
US president Donald Trump suggested that TV networks which cover him “negatively” could be punished by the government, after celebrating ABC suspending late-night host Jimmy Kimmel.
Speaking to reporters on his flight back to the US from his state visit to the UK, the president said major US networks were “97% against me”, though he did not offer evidence to prove this figure or detail how this conclusion was evaluated.
Taiwan’s top representative in the United States met privately in Washington this month with a little-known group of intelligence advisers.
The meeting with Alexander Yui, Taiwan’s de facto US ambassador, was described by two sources with knowledge of the matter and amounted to one of the higher-level Taiwan-US contacts to date during Donald Trump’s second term, Reuters reports.
It was also an unusually sensitive meeting for the previously obscure group, the President’s Intelligence Advisory Board (PIAB), which includes members who have jobs outside of the federal government and has historically played a low-key role in policymaking.
A White House official downplayed the encounter, saying it was not an official, sanctioned PIAB gathering but rather an informal conversation between some PIAB members and a foreign diplomat that was put together by a mutual contact.
Kamala Harris critical of Joe Biden in new book: ‘angry and disappointed’
Kamala Harris has revealed she was left “angry and disappointed” when Joe Biden called her hours before her US presidential debate with Donald Trump to suggest powerful associates of Biden’s brother refused to support her.
The former vice-president and Democratic nominee recounts the episode – and other criticisms of Biden – in her campaign memoir 107 Days, obtained by the Guardian before its publication next week.
Harris writes that in September she was in a hotel room in Philadelphia, poised to take on Trump in a potentially decisive debate, when the then president called to wish her good luck – and to ask if she would be back in Philadelphia before the election.
Harris wondered why Biden would ask such a non sequitur. According to the book, he told her: “My brother called. He’s been talking to a group of real power brokers in Philly.” He offered several names and asked if Harris knew them. She did not.
Harris writes: “Then he got to his point. His brother had told him that those guys were not going to support me because I’d been saying bad things about him. He wasn’t inclined to believe it, he claimed, but he thought I should know in case my team had been encouraging me to put daylight between the two of us.”
The then vice-president asked Biden to put the group in touch with her directly. But he was not done with the call. He sought to rewrite the history of his own disastrous debate performance against Trump three months earlier.
Updated
The indefinite suspension of Jimmy Kimmel’s late-night show has prompted impassioned calls for a boycott against Disney, ABC’s parent company, and other major media conglomerates that have refused to air Kimmel’s show.
Boycott calls grew after ABC announced it would indefinitely suspend the popular show following complaints from the Federal Communications Commission chair, Brendan Carr. Carr’s complaints stem from Kimmel’s recent monologue in which he addressed the killing of the rightwing activist Charlie Kirk by saying:
Many in Maga land are working very hard to capitalize on the murder of Charlie Kirk.
Carr, who was appointed by Donald Trump earlier this year, said Kimmel’s comments were “truly sick” and that ABC had violated its “public interest” broadcast obligations. ABC’s suspension of the show also came after Nexstar Media, one of the US’s largest owners of TV stations, said it “strongly object[ed]” to Kimmel’s comments and would pre-empt, or halt, any of the show’s episodes set to air on its stations “for the foreseeable future”.
Meanwhile, the conservative TV conglomerate Sinclair announced it would run a tribute to Kirk during Kimmel’s time slot on Friday. It also called on Kimmel to issue a formal apology and make a personal donation to Kirk’s family and his rightwing political advocacy group, Turning Point USA.
Overnight, calls to boycott ABC and Disney emerged, with Nelini Stamp, organizing director of the pro-labor union political group Working Families Party, sharing a viral boycott resource guide online that says:
Jimmy Kimmel wasn’t suspended because of what he said. He was suspended because the FCC threatened his employer. That’s state-sanctioned censorship and it is a giant red flag … Authoritarianism isn’t coming, it’s already here. Today it’s Jimmy. Tomorrow it’s the rest of us.
A Los Angeles protester charged with assaulting a border patrol agent in June was acquitted on Wednesday after US immigration officials were accused in court of lying about the incident.
The not guilty verdict for Brayan Ramos-Brito is a major setback for the Donald Trump-appointed US attorney in southern California and for Gregory Bovino, a border patrol chief who has become a key figure in Trump’s immigration crackdown. The 29-year-old defendant, who is a US citizen, was facing a misdemeanor and was the first protester to go to trial since demonstrations against immigration raids erupted in LA earlier this summer.
Border patrol and prosecutors alleged that Ramos-Brito struck an agent during a chaotic protest on 7 June in the south Los Angeles county city of Paramount outside a complex where the Department of Homeland Security has an office. But footage from a witness, which the Guardian published days after the incident, showed an agent forcefully shoving Ramos-Brito. The footage did not capture the demonstrator assaulting the officer.
The jury delivered its not guilty verdict after a little over an hour of deliberations, the Los Angeles Times reported. Bovino testified earlier in the day and faced a tough cross-examination from public defenders.
Bovino was one of four border patrol agents who testified as witnesses, but was the only one to say he saw the alleged assault by Ramos-Brito, according to the LA Times. Videos played in court captured the agent shoving Ramos-Brito, sending him flying backward, and showed the protester marching back toward the agent, the paper reported. The videos did not capture Ramos-Brito’s alleged assault.
There were multiple factual discrepancies in DHS’s internal reports on the protest, which initially led to charges against five demonstrators, the Guardian reported in July. A criminal complaint suggested Ramos-Brito and others had attacked agents in protest of the arrests of two sisters, but records showed the women had been arrested in a separate incident that occurred after Ramos-Brito’s arrest.
A supervisor later documented the correct timeline and “apologized” for errors, records showed.
DC Democrat challenges long-serving House delegate amid age concerns
Washington DC’s long-serving delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton is under renewed pressure to step down after a city council member announced on Thursday he would challenge her in next year’s election, saying the federal district needs its “strongest fighters” as it faces unprecedented interference from Donald Trump and the Republican party.
Robert White’s decision to jump into the race for the non-voting role in the House of Representatives comes amid mounting concern over the 88-year-old Norton’s ability to continue doing the job at a tense moment for the city.
Trump in August ordered a temporary federal takeover of the Washington DC police department and dispatched national guard and federal agents onto its streets to fight what he called an “out-of-control” crime wave, a claim city leaders disputed.
In a video announcing his candidacy, White, an at-large council member who made an unsuccessful bid for mayor in 2022, referred to Norton as “our lion on the Hill” but implied it was time for new leadership.
“I have never seen my city more vulnerable than we are right now, and in this entire Congress, there is one person whose job it is to protect and stand up for our residents, and we need our strongest fighters,” said White. “I’m ready to take this torch.”
The announcement comes days after Donna Brazile, a former chief of staff to Norton who rose to serve as interim chair of the Democratic National Committee, said that she should not seek a 19th term in the office she has held since 1991.
Though not allowed to cast votes in the House, Norton was known as a tenacious advocate for the rights of the federal district, but has appeared subdued in recent years.
She had been pictured requiring the help of an aide at public appearances, and reads haltingly from prepared remarks at committee appearances, even when the topic concerns contentious proposals to change Washington DC’s laws.
Representatives Don Bacon and Ro Khanna plan to introduce bipartisan legislation that would exempt coffee products from any tariffs imposed after 19 January, the Washington Post reported on Friday, citing a copy of the draft legislation.
The exemption would apply to roasted and decaffeinated coffee, as well as coffee husks, skins, and other drinks or substitutes containing coffee, the report said.
Republican Bacon and Khanna, who is a Democrat, said they focused on coffee because they want to help Americans save on a daily staple, according to the report.
“Why are we tariffing American citizens on something that we don’t even grow? It doesn’t make sense,” Bacon told the newspaper. Representatives for Bacon, Khanna and the White House did not immediately respond to Reuters requests for comment.
Coffee is one of the items that are keeping food prices in the United States persistently high since the Trump administration applied a 50% tariff on Brazilian imports at the end of July, including green coffee.
Prices for arabica coffee, the mild variety mostly used by coffee chains such as Starbucks and Dunkin’ Donuts, have since jumped around 50% at the Intercontinental Exchange in New York. Brazil used to supply a third of all the coffee used in the US, but shipments have dried up since the tariffs were imposed.
Opening summary
Hello and welcome to the US politics live blog. I’m Tom Ambrose and I will be bringing you the latest news lines over the next few hours.
We start with news that Donald Trump suggested on Thursday that TV networks which cover him “negatively” could be punished by the government after his celebration of ABC suspending late-night host Jimmy Kimmel.
On Air Force One, the president spoke to reporters on his flight back to the US from his state visit to the UK. The president said major US networks were “97% against me”, though he did not offer evidence to prove this figure or detail how this conclusion was evaluated. He said he read the statistic “someplace”.
“Again, 97% negative, and yet I won easily. I won all seven swing states,” Trump said. “They give me only bad press. I mean they’re getting a license. I would think maybe their licenses should be taken away.”
The president’s claim that US TV networks need to be licensed by the government to operate is, however, incorrect. While local TV stations do require a license from the Federal Communications Commission, the FCC says clearly on its website that it does “not license TV or radio networks (such as CBS, NBC, ABC or Fox)”.
Trump supported ABC’s decision to suspend Jimmy Kimmel’s late-night show, saying that the comedian was “not a talented person” who “had very bad ratings”.
“Well, Jimmy Kimmel was fired because he had bad ratings more than anything else, and he said a horrible thing about a great gentleman known as Charlie Kirk,” Trump told reporters during his state visit to the United Kingdom, adding “they should have fired him a long time ago”.
According to Nielsen ratings as reported by LateNighter, although Stephen Colbert’s Late Show leads the time slot in total viewers with 2.42 million, Kimmel’s show averaged 1.77 million viewers in the second quarter of 2025 and edged out Colbert in the key 18-49 demographic.
However, there was an 11% drop-off in his show’s viewership the last month. Kimmel also has over 20 million subscribers on YouTube.
Read the full story here:
In other developments:
Barack Obama condemned what he called a “dangerous” escalation by the Trump administration over the suspension of Jimmy Kimmel’s show. “After years of complaining about cancel culture, the current administration has taken it to a new and dangerous level by routinely threatening regulatory action against media companies unless they muzzle or fire reporters and commentators it doesn’t like,” Obama wrote on X.
The indefinite suspension of Jimmy Kimmel’s late-night show has prompted impassioned calls for a boycott against Disney, ABC’s parent company, and other major media conglomerates that have refused to air Kimmel’s show. Boycott calls grew after ABC announced it would indefinitely suspend the popular show following complaints from the Federal Communications Commission chair, Brendan Carr.
Kamala Harris watched mortified as her running mate, Tim Walz, fell into JD Vance’s trap in last year’s vice-presidential debate and “fumbled” a crucial answer, she writes in a campaign memoir. The former Democratic presidential nominee also admits that Walz had not been her first choice for vice-president in her book 107 Days, obtained by the Guardian ahead of its publication next week.
The Trump administration asked the US supreme court to allow it to fire the Federal Reserve governor Lisa Cook, as it continues its extraordinary attack on the central bank’s independence. In a filing on Thursday, Donald Trump’s officials requested an emergency order to remove Cook from the Fed’s board of governors, after an appeals court refused to go along with efforts to oust her.
Donald Trump accused Vladimir Putin of letting him down in a joint press conference with Keir Starmer during which the US president piled criticism on his Russian counterpart. Trump said he had hoped to broker a peace deal between Russia and Ukraine soon after entering office, but that Putin’s actions had prevented him from doing so.
Erika Kirk, the widow of Charlie Kirk, has been appointed as the new CEO and chair of the board for Turning Point USA. The organization announced on Thursday that the late CEO and co-founder of Turning Point USA, who was shot and killed at an event last week, had previously expressed that he would want his wife to lead in the event of his death.
