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Sam Levin in Los Angeles (now) and Joan E Greve in Washington (earlier)

Jeffrey Epstein autopsy concludes death was a suicide – as it happened

Jeffrey Epstein in 2008.
Jeffrey Epstein in 2008. Photograph: Zuma/REX/Shutterstock

Summary

That’s all our live coverage for today, thanks for following along. Some key links and developments from the day:

The president says he is dining tonight with Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO:

A reminder of how the president addressed Cook earlier this year:

Some Democratic members of Congress are now considering action against emissaries of the Israeli government and the Trump administration over Israel’s widely criticized decision to block two American congresswomen from entering the country, according to a Miami Herald report:

The newspaper reported that roughly a dozen lawmakers, including senior Jewish members, were discussing a possible statement of no confidence in Israel’s ambassador to Washington and the US ambassador to Israel.

Our earlier coverage:

Trump administration launches new attack on trans rights

The Trump administration has submitted a brief to the Supreme Court this afternoon arguing that transgender people should not be protected by a key federal anti-discrimination law:

The Justice Department’s brief argues that Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, which prohibits sex discrimination, should not include trans people. That means, the Trump administration is pushing to abandon existing protections for trans people, which would, at the federal level, legalize firing workers simply because they are trans.

Here’s the response from Sarah Warbelow, legal director of the Human Rights Campaign (HRC):

The Trump-Pence administration’s filing today is both legally and morally unjustifiable. Their argument is un-American, anti-business, and flies in the face of decades of federal case law, including established Supreme Court precedent. There can be no justification for such a narrow interpretation of the term ‘sex.’ Our community will not be silent, and we will not be erased.

HRC and other civil rights organizations have long argued that LGBTQ people are protected under existing “sex discrimination” laws, which federal courts have repeatedly affirmed. The anti-discrimination laws carry implications for employment, housing, healthcare, education and more.

The medical examiner’s statement on Epstein’s death was brief, saying the determination of suicide came “after careful review of all investigative information, including complete autopsy findings”. Here’s the full release:

And here’s a relevant thread about the Washington Post’s earlier coverage on the findings that Epstein had broken bones, which had fueled speculation and questions about the cause of death.

Read the full story on the medical examiner’s report here:

The president has tweeted, without any comment, a video of himself saying he will “never bow to a foreign nation”. The tweet comes after a meeting with top advisers about possible troop withdrawal from Afghanistan.

In the clip, the president said:

I love of our country. I’m the president of the United States of America. I’m not the president of the world. And as long as I’m president, America will never bow to a foreign nation like we were for so many years.

US Customs computer system down nationwide

Hello - Sam Levin in Los Angeles here, taking over our live coverage for the rest of the day on this busy Friday.

The computer system of US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) is apparently down, causing major problems at international airports in Los Angeles, New York and elsewhere, officials said:

CBP described it as a “temporary outage”, saying the agency was using “alternative procedures” until the systems were back online.

Kennedy airport in New York tweeted, “Customs is experiencing a system shutdown nationwide. They are processing passengers manually until the system comes back online.”

That’s it from me this week. I’m turning the blog over to my West Coast colleague Sam Levin for the next few hours.

Here’s where the day stands so far:

  • New York City’s chief medical examiner confirmed that Jeffrey Epstein died as a result of suicide by hanging, shutting down many conspiracy theories to the contrary.
  • Trump is meeting with senior officials to discuss a gradual withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan, despite concerns that such a move could disrupt American counterterrorism operations in the region.
  • A federal appeals court narrowed an injunction on the Trump administration’s asylum restrictions, ruling that the policy could go into effect in the border states of Texas and New Mexico.
  • California and a group of non-profits filed two more lawsuits against the administration’s “public charge rule,” which penalizes green-card applicants who use public benefits.
  • Representative Rashida Tlaib decided she would not travel to Israel despite the country’s announcement that it would allow her to visit as long as she agreed not to discuss her support of the movement to boycott Israel. Tlaib said she would not concede to such restrictions, which she slammed as an effort to humiliate her.

Sam will have more on the Epstein case and Trump’s Afghanistan meeting, so stay tuned.

In the hours after Epstein’s death was reported, Trump was among the many people spreading conspiracy theories about the now-confirmed suicide, resharing a tweet suggesting that Bill and Hillary Clinton may have been involved.

The president was quickly denounced for spreading the conspiracy theory, but he defended his actions while speaking to reporters on Tuesday. “The retweet — which is what it was, just a retweet — was from somebody that’s a very respected conservative pundit, so I think that was fine,” Trump said, adding that he had “no idea” whether the Clintons played a role in Epstein’s death.

A spokesperson for the former president responded to Trump’s initial retweet by suggesting he should be removed from office.

The Washington Post was the first outlet to report yesterday that Epstein broke several bones in his neck, including the hyoid bone. Such a bone break is possible in suicides but is more consistently associated with homicide or strangulation, a fact that the Post’s story emphasized.

But CNN spoke to multiple medical experts who downplayed the neck injuries, arguing that such bone breaks are consistent with a suicide by hanging for a man of Epstein’s age.

“The presence of other broken bones in his neck, from a guy hanging 66 years old, is very consistent with suicidal hanging,” said Gerald Rodts, chief of spinal surgery at the Emory Clinic.

Bill Lloyd, a surgeon board-certified in ophthalmology and anatomic pathology, added, “You can twist the hyoid bone theory to tell whatever story you want to tell. It just gives naysers the ability to advance whatever conspiracy theories they want to tell.”

Epstein autopsy results show death was a suicide

New York City’s chief medical examiner said that the autopsy of financier and alleged sex-trafficker Jeffrey Epstein revealed he died as a result of suicide by hanging.

The AP reports:

Epstein, 66, was found dead in his cell at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in New York City on Aug. 10, touching off outrage and disbelief over how such a high-profile prisoner, known for socializing with powerful people including presidents Donald Trump and Bill Clinton, could have gone unwatched.

The Bureau of Prisons said Epstein had apparently killed himself, but that didn’t squelch conspiracy theories about his death. ...

The Washington Post and The New York Times reported Thursday that the autopsy revealed that several bones in Epstein’s neck had been broken, leading to speculation his death was a homicide.

Chief Medical Examiner Barbara Sampson issued a statement Thursday in response to those articles, saying: ‘In all forensic investigations, all information must be synthesized to determine the cause and manner of death. Everything must be consistent; no single finding can be evaluated in a vacuum.’

The White House said Trump would donate his second-quarter salary to the office of the surgeon general to fund an upcoming public health advisory.

Trump said during the 2016 campaign that he would not accept his $400,000 annual salary, instead opting to donate the money back to various areas of the government.

Previous recipients of the president’s salary donations have varied from the Small Business Administration to the Department of Transportation. But Trump has previously been criticized for donating to agencies whose budgets he has simultaneously proposed cutting, such as the National Park Service.

Castro releases another ad slamming Trump

Democratic presidential candidate Julián Castro has released another ad that delivers a scathing, straight-to-camera condemnation of Trump’s leadership.

“I’m sorry that your presidency is failing,” Castro says in the ad ⁠— going on to slam Trump for worsening drug prices, immigration and the deficit. “Not a lot to run on there.

“So you’re trying to distract us and divide us with dangerous and hateful rhetoric,” Castro continues. “I won’t be distracted.”

The former San Antonio mayor released a similar ad earlier this week blaming Trump for intensifying US racism, which he said had led to the mass shooting in El Paso. It played during Fox News programming in Bedminster, New Jersey, ensuring the president would see it.

Castro remains one poll away from making the cut for the fall debate stage and has less than two weeks to qualify.

The chair of the Federal Elections Commission said the agency’s Republican members had shut down an effort to further investigate Russian efforts to influence the 2016 election by funneling money to the National Rifle Association.

McClatchy reported last year that the FBI was investigating whether former Moscow banker Alexander Torshin had used the NRA to illegally influence the campaign as the lobbying group spent a record $30 million supporting Trump’s candidacy.

That report came shortly before gun-rights activist Maria Butina, who spent years cozying up to the NRA, pleaded guilty to being a Russian influence agent. In her plea agreement, she admitted to attempting to “establish unofficial lines of communication with Americans having power and influence over US politics.”

The NRA’s connections to Torshin and Butina have raised questions about the group’s ties to Russia as it simultaneously undergoes major leadership turnover.

Trump held a conference call on Wednesday with three Wall Street CEOs as US stocks took their worst hit of the year.

CNBC reports:

Trump held the call with J.P. Morgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon, Bank of America’s Brian Moynihan and Citigroup’s Michael Corbat, according to people with knowledge of the situation. The Dow plunged 800 points, or 3%, in its worst day of the year on Wednesday amid a recession warning from the bond market.

The president asked the three men to give him a read on the health of the U.S. consumer, according to one of the people. The executives responded that the consumer is doing well, but that they could be doing even better if issues including the China-U.S. trade war were resolved, this person said.

Updated

Representative Jim Jordan, a Republican congressman and Trump ally, argued against red flaw laws in response to a story about the House judiciary committee holding a September hearing on several gun bills.

Red flag laws, already enacted in 17 states and the District of Columbia, allow judges to take guns away from people deemed to be dangerous. Trump has voiced support for such laws, but some of his allies have pushed back against the idea.

For example, Jordan’s tweet echoes a talking point from the National Rifle Association, who warned last week that no one should have their guns confiscated without “due process.”

Congressional Republicans have circulated a memo falsely describing the El Paso shooting, carried out by a man spewing white supremacist views, as “violence from the left.”

The Tampa Bay Times reports:

A document obtained by the Tampa Bay Times and sent by House Republicans provides a framework for how to respond to anticipated questions like, ‘Why won’t you pass legislation to close the ‘gun show loophole’ in federal law?’ and ‘Why shouldn’t we ban high-capacity magazines?’ The answers are boilerplate Republican arguments against tougher gun restrictions.

But it also included this question: ‘Do you believe white nationalism is driving more mass shootings recently?’ The suggested response is to steer the conversation away from white nationalism to an argument that implies both sides are to blame.

‘White nationalism and racism are pure evil and cannot be tolerated in any form,’ the document said. ‘We also can’t excuse violence from the left such as the El Paso shooter, the recent Colorado shooters, the Congressional baseball shooter, Congresswoman Giffords’ shooter and Antifa.’

A spokesperson for a Republican congressman claimed that the inclusion of El Paso was a mistake and that it was meant to refer to the Dayton shooting. But the motivation of the Dayton attacker is much less clear than that of the El Paso shooter, who posted an anti-immigrant screed online shortly before killing 22 people.

Obama was initially skeptical of Biden running for president, report says

Barack Obama reportedly expressed concerns to Joe Biden earlier this year about the former vice president’s plans to launch a White House bid.

The New York Times reports:

The two men spoke at least a half dozen times before Mr. Biden decided to run, and Mr. Obama took pains to cast his doubts about the campaign in personal terms.

‘You don’t have to do this, Joe, you really don’t,’ Mr. Obama told Mr. Biden earlier this year, according to a person familiar with the exchange.

Mr. Biden — who thinks he could have defeated Donald Trump four years ago — responded by telling Mr. Obama he could never forgive himself if he turned down a second shot at Mr. Trump.

But Obama has since warmed up to Biden’s presidential campaign⁠ — even going so far as to request a briefing from the candidate’s team before he officially launched his bid.

Trump speaks with Pakistan's prime minister

Trump spoke by phone with Pakistan’s prime minister, Imran Khan, “to discuss regional developments and to follow up on the Prime Minister’s successful visit to Washington, D.C., last month,” the White House said in a statement.

“The President conveyed the importance of India and Pakistan reducing tensions through bilateral dialogue regarding the situation in Jammu and Kashmir,” the statement added. “The two leaders further discussed how they will continue to build on the growing relationship between the United States and Pakistan and the momentum created during their recent meeting at the White House.”

While Khan was visiting the White House last month, Trump said of the war in Afghanistan, “I have plans on Afghanistan that if I wanted to win that war, Afghanistan would be wiped off the face of the earth, it would be over in literally in 10 days and I don’t want to do that -- I don’t want to go that route.”

The president is reportedly meeting with senior officials in New Jersey today to discuss a gradual withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan.

The Israeli newspaper owned by Republican megadonor Sheldon Adelson went with this headline to cover the fallout over blocking Tlaib and Omar’s travel, per a Politico reporter:

Democratic presidential candidate Steve Bullock trolled Trump over reports that he has inquired about the US purchasing Greenland.

The Montana governor’s tweet links to a website kindly informing visitors that Greenland is not for sale and asking them to donate to his campaign. (Bullock has not yet hit the 130,000 required donors to make the fall debate stage.)

Omar outlines would-be Israel itinerary

Representative Ilhan Omar, one of two congresswomen blocked from entering Israel, pushed back on claims from the country’s prime minister that the lawmakers did not schedule any meetings with Israeli officials.

In a Twitter thread, the Minnesota Democrat outlined the stops that she and Representative Rashida Tlaib planned to make while visiting the region.

More lawsuits filed against Trump's 'public charge rule'

A group of nonprofits and California have separately sued the Trump administration over its proposed rule to penalize green-card applicants who use public benefits.

Nine nonprofits serving immigrant communities ⁠argued in their lawsuit that the “public charge rule” was an unconstitutional effort to discriminate against nonwhite immigrants.

Xavier Becerra, California’s Democratic attorney general, said the rule “would force working parents and families across the nation to forego basic necessities like food, housing and healthcare out of fear.”

The lawsuits are only the latest challenges to the rule, which was announced on Monday. A group of 13 attorneys general, led by Washington’s Robert Ferguson, filed a lawsuit on Wednesday, and representatives for Santa Clara County and San Francisco are seeking a temporary injunction to block the policy.

Federal appeals court narrows injunction on asylum restrictions

The San Francisco-based Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeal ruled that a trial judge was wrong to impose a nationwide injunction on harsh Trump administration rules restricting asylum applications from Central American immigrants.

Under the policy, asylum applications are effectively barred from Central American immigrants who pass through another country before reaching the United States.

The federal appeals court ruled that the administration had not sufficiently showed the policy was lawful, and thus it could not be implemented within the West Coast circuit, which includes the border states of California and Arizona.

But the court also decided that the injunction on the restrictions could not apply to states outside the circuit, namely Texas and New Mexico.

The conservative LGBT group Log Cabin Republicans has chosen to endorse Trump’s re-election bid after declining to support his 2016 campaign.

The group’s chairman and vice chairwoman, Robert Kabel and Jill Homan, write in a Washington op-ed:

For LGBTQ Republicans, watching the 2016 GOP convention before Donald Trump took the stage was like a dream fulfilled. The distance between that event and Pat Buchanan’s hate-filled exhortation against the LGBTQ community in Houston in 1992 is a powerful measurement of how far we’ve come. ...

[S]ince taking office, President Trump has followed through on many of his commitments to the United States, including taking bold actions that benefit the LGBTQ community. ...

While we do not agree with every policy or platform position presented by the White House or the Republican Party, we share a commitment to individual responsibility, personal freedom and a strong national defense. ...

To be treated equally, fairly and justly under the law is our goal, and we know that “Inclusion Wins” is a mantra we share with the president. The Log Cabin Republicans endorse Donald Trump for reelection as president.

Here’s where the day stands so far:

  • Representative Rashida Tlaib announced she would not travel to Israel at this time after officials there said she could visit if she agreed not to speak out about her support of the movement to boycott Israel. Tlaib said she would not concede to such restrictions, which she denounced as an attempt to humiliate her.
  • Trump is meeting with senior officials in New Jersey to discuss a gradual withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan. But worries persist that the move will complicate America’s counterterrorism operations in the region.
  • Democratic presidential candidate Beto O’Rourke released his plan to license guns and enforce a mandatory buyback program of assault weapons, a sweeping proposal that goes further than most of his 2020 opponents.

The blog is still covering the latest from Trump’s meeting on Afghanistan and reaction to Tlaib’s announcement, so stay tuned.

Mitch McConnell underwent surgery yesterday to repair a shoulder fracture he suffered earlier this month.

The Senate majority leader sustained the injury in a fall at his Louisville home and has been recovering in Kentucky during the August recess.

Another House Democrat, Representative Anthony Brown of Maryland, announced his support for launching an impeachment inquiry against Trump.

Brown becomes the 126th House Democrat to back launching impeachment proceedings, according to Politico’s count. A majority of the Democratic caucus now supports impeachment, putting pressure on Nancy Pelosi to take up the issue when the House returns next month.

A senior official told CBS News that Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is in New Jersey to meet with Trump about the plan to gradually withdraw US troops from Afghanistan. The secretary’s official schedule today just said he had no public appointments.

And a Washington Post reporter said the commander of US forces in Afghanistan is supportive of a partial withdrawal to maintain a counterterrorism presence:

House judiciary committee announces hearing to consider gun bills

The House judiciary committee has announced it will hold a hearing on several gun bills when lawmakers return to Capitol Hill next month.

The Sept. 4 hearing will include consideration of a ban on high-capacity magazines, an expansion of background checks and red flag legislation.

But even if the bills pass the Democratic-controlled House, they are unlikely to make it through the Republican-controlled Senate and even less likely to be signed into law by Trump.

Mitch McConnell, the Senate majority leader, has consistently refused to commit to taking up gun legislation in the wake of the El Paso and Dayton shootings. Trump has repeatedly said McConnell supports expanding background checks, but the Kentucky Republican himself has made no such admission.

A new poll showed that Joe Biden is still leading the field of Democratic presidential candidates, although his lead has narrowed.

According to the Fox News poll, Biden retains the support of 31 percent of Democratic primary voters, 11 points ahead of Elizabeth Warren at 20 percent. The poll also found 10 percent of voters supporting Bernie Sanders and another 8 percent backing Kamala Harris.

Biden and Harris’ levels of support are the same that they were in Fox’s March poll. But in that same time, Sanders has lost ground while Warren has picked up significant speed. Sanders has dropped 13 points, and Warren has seen a 16-point increase.

The poll also found all four of the top-polling Democrats beating Trump in a hypothetical general election, with Biden once again leading the pack. The poll found the former vice president would defeat Trump by 12 points in a potential match-up, which Biden’s camp rushed to boast about.

One of Trump’s congressional allies, Senator Lindsey Graham, urged the president to carefully consider the ramifications of withdrawing US troops from Afghanistan as he prepared for a meeting with advisers to discuss such a move.

“Any peace agreement which denies the US robust counter-terrorism capability in Afghanistan is NOT a peace deal,” the South Carolina Republican warned. “Instead, it is paving the way for another attack on the American homeland and attacks against American interests around the world.”

Trump to meet with advisers about Afghanistan withdrawal

Trump is expected to meet with senior officials in New Jersey today to map out a gradual withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan.

The Washington Post reports:

The session will review results of months of diplomatic outreach by Trump’s special envoy, former U.S. Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad, and military plans to begin a phased withdrawal of U.S. forces and end the longest U.S. war.

The Trump administration would withdraw thousands of troops from Afghanistan in exchange for concessions from the Taliban, including a cease-fire and a renunciation of al-Qaeda, as part of an initial deal to end the nearly 18-year-old war.

The agreement would require the Taliban to begin negotiating a larger peace deal directly with the Afghan government, a sticking point that has left the U.S.-allied Kabul government fearful that Trump is abandoning them.

Khalilzad has publicly assured Kabul that the U.S. will not ‘cut and run,’ but Trump alarmed the Afghans by saying last month that he could end the war ‘in a week’ by dropping huge bombs, but would not do so.

The withdrawal U.S. officials plan to present to Trump could cut the number of American troops in the country from roughly 14,000 to between 8,000 and 9,000, said the officials, who requested anonymity to discuss internal deliberations. That number would be nearly the same as when Trump took office.

Rally attendee mocked by Trump as overweight turns out to be a supporter

Trump has reached out the man whom he mocked as overweight during his New Hampshire rally last night. Despite initial indications that the man was there to protest the president, the White House said he turned out to be a Trump supporter.

After a protester appeared to interrupt Trump’s speech last night, the president said, “That guy has got a serious weight problem. Go home, start exercising.” (Ironically, this came moments before Trump told the crowd, “Our movement is built on love.”)

But it appears the man Trump was referring to was actually one of his supporters. The White House said the president had left a voicemail for the man while flying back to Washington on Air Force One.

Trump’s own weight attracted headlines earlier this year, when his annual physical revealed he had officially become obese.

Warren releases plan on Native Americans and tribal rights

Democratic presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren has released a new plan to aid Native Americans and bolster tribal rights.

The plan includes draft legislation written with Representative Deb Haaland, one of the first two Native women elected to Congress who recently endorsed Warren. It calls for funding critical programs for Native Americans and creating a cabinet-level White House Council on Native American Affairs, among other initiatives.

“We must recommit to the principles of protecting Tribal sovereignty and advancing Tribal self-determination in all federal decisions that affect Native communities,” Warren wrote in a Medium post. “I have fought for this brighter future during my time in the Senate. And I am committed to achieving it as President of the United States.”

The proposal does not mention Warren’s past claims of Native American ancestry, which have been a recurring point of criticism against the presidential candidate. Trump has sought to capitalize on the controversy by giving Warren the racist nickname of “Pocahontas.”

Just last night at his New Hampshire campaign rally, the president said he hoped to resurrect the issue. “I did the Pocahontas thing,” Trump said. “I hit her really hard and it looked like she was down and out but that was too long ago, I should’ve waited. But don’t worry, we will revive it.”

A foreign policy adviser to Bernie Sanders hit back against a growing talking point against Tlaib after the congresswoman decided not to visit Israel under the government’s conditions:

Tlaib’s grandmother, Muftiyah Tlaib, said she was “proud” of her granddaughter after getting into a diplomatic spat with Israel.

“I am proud of her,” the elder Tlaib told the Washington Post. “Who wouldn’t be proud of a granddaughter like that? I love her and am so proud of her.”

Tlaib’s grandmother lives in the village of Beit Ur al-Fauqa in the West Bank, about 15 miles from Jerusalem. She said she didn’t understand why her granddaughter, as a US congresswoman, should not be allowed to visit her family.

“She’s in a big position and she cannot visit her grandmother,” she said. “So what good is the position?”

Ashraf Samara, the head of the village council, said the conflict between Israel and Tlaib was reflective of many Palestinians’ experience in the West Bank. “This is all very strange for the media,” Samara told the Post. “But not for me as a Palestinian because I know the reality of occupation.”

Israel’s interior minister responded to Tlaib’s announcement by claiming she allowed “her hate for Israel” to outweigh “her love for her grandmother.”

The official also interestingly tagged Trump’s Twitter handle in the message, indicating Israel may be hoping for back-up from the president after Tlaib’s latest announcement.

Tlaib was facing pressure from Palestinians and their supporters to abandon plans for the trip amid complaints that acquiescing to Israel’s demands would weaken her stance on the issue.

The chair of the board that sponsored Tlaib and Omar’s initial trip emphasized that a “humanitarian” visit would not make up for Israel blocking their travel:

The leaders of the movement to boycott Israel applauded Tlaib for not bowing to Israel’s conditions:

An Israeli journalist and activist said this before Tlaib announced her decision to cancel the trip:

Al Jazeera’s former correspondent for the West Bank replied:

Updated

Tlaib slams 'racist treatment' by Israeli government

Tlaib has issued a longer statement condemning Israel’s behavior toward her and confirming that she will not travel to visit her family in the West Bank at this time.

“In my attempt to visit Palestine, I’ve experienced the same racist treatment that many Palestinian-Americans endure when encountering the Israeli government,” Tlaib said. “I have therefore decided not to travel to Palestine and Israel at this time.

“Visiting my grandmother under these oppressive conditions meant to humiliate me would break my grandmother’s heart.”

Updated

Tlaib said last night after a town hall in her Michigan district that she thought Israel had made a “huge error” in blocking her entry to the country.

The congresswoman emphasized that her primary goal was to see her grandmother. “My grandmother is in her 90’s,” Tlaib said. “Her granddaughter is a United States congresswoman. She should be able to see me, to touch me, to hug me. And so I’m going to continue to fight back.”

Tlaib added that despite Israel’s reputation as a democratic country, “it’s very obvious that they’re trying to limit what I do when I get there.”

The letter that Tlaib sent to the Israeli interior minister requesting permission to visit her grandmother is dated yesterday and specifically states she would “respect any restrictions” and “not promote boycotts against Israel during my visit.”

But in her tweet thread this morning, Tlaib said that visiting under “these oppressive conditions stands against everything I believe in--fighting against racism, oppression & injustice.”

Tlaib indicates she will not go ahead with Israel visit

Representative Rashida Tlaib indicated in a Twitter thread that she would not visit her family in the West Bank, despite Israel’s announcement that it would approve her travel on “humanitarian” grounds.

“I have decided that visiting my grandmother under these oppressive conditions stands against everything I believe in--fighting against racism, oppression & injustice,” Tlaib wrote.

The freshman congresswoman was originally set to arrive in Israel on Sunday, but that was thrown into question when Israeli officials announced yesterday that it would block the entry of Tlaib and her colleague, Representative Ilhan Omar, over their past criticism of Israel.

But Israel said today that Tlaib had written a letter requesting to see her grandmother and promising not to express certain views while in the country. “This could be my last opportunity to see her. I will respect any restrictions and will not promote boycotts against Israel during my visit,” Tlaib was quoted as saying. It’s unclear what caused the lawmaker to change her mind.

Updated

O'Rourke backs mandatory gun buyback program

Happy Friday, live blog readers!

One day after returning to the campaign trail, Democratic presidential candidate Beto O’Rourke is out with a proposal to license guns and enforce a mandatory buyback program for assault weapons, a bold plan that goes further than most of his 2020 opponents.

The policy announcement is a tragically fitting return to presidential politicking for the former congressman, who took nearly two weeks off from the campaign trail to comfort his hometown of El Paso as it mourned the 22 community members lost in a recent mass shooting.

O’Rourke’s mandatory buyback plan could mark a turn in gun politics — even though only other candidate, Kirsten Gillibrand, has voiced support for a similar program. For years, Democrats avoided such proposals out of fear of being hit with Republican accusations that liberals were “coming to take your guns”. But after yet another mass shooting and dozens more lives lost, that calculus could be changing.

Here’s what else the blog is keeping its eye on:

  • Donald Trump is still on vacation in New Jersey and is retweeting compliments from his advisers about his campaign rally last night.
  • Multiple presidential candidates – including Pete Buttigieg, Cory Booker and Julián Castro – are in Georgia for the Black Church Presidential Candidate Conversation Series.
  • Joe Biden is in his home state of Delaware.

The blog is covering all of that, so stay tuned.

Updated

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