Closing summary
This brings our live coverage of the second Trump administration to a close for the day. We will return on Tuesday, but in the meantime, here are the latest developments:
House Democrats and the Wall Street Journal published an image of the 2003 birthday letter to Jeffrey Epstein, the late sex offender, bearing the name of Donald Trump.
The Republican-led House oversight committee later released the entire birthday album, which was reportedly compiled for Epstein by his former girlfriend, and accomplice, Ghislaine Maxwell.
The White House press office claimed that Trump’s signature, using examples from 2024, is different from the signature on the 2003 letter, but signatures change with age, and other examples from the period, published by the Wall Street Journal, seem to match the signature on the letter to Epstein.
Mary Trump, the president’s niece and fierce critic of her uncle, wrote: “That’s definitely his signature. Just saying.”
JD Vance, the vice-president who had previously suggested that the letter might not exist, dismissed the new evidence and accused Democrats of smearing Trump.
Another letter in the birthday album mentioned Trump. It was from Joel Pashcow, a member of Trump’s Mar-a-Lago club, who made a crude joke about brokering the sale of a woman by Epstein to Trump for $22,500.
The US supreme court overruled a lower court to allow federal immigration agents to proceed with raids in southern California targeting people for possible deportation based on their race or the language they speak.
The supreme court also allowed Trump to fire a commissioner on the Federal Trade Commission, blocking a lower court ruling to reinstate Rebecca Slaughter while the case plays out.
Updated
While there is no evidence yet of the promised Apocalypse Now style assault on Chicago by the president’s “Department of War”, a Fox News reporter announced on Monday that “the surge has begun”.
In a segment that was promoted on social media by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice), the Fox correspondent, Griff Jenkins, reported that while he was embedded with immigration officers, “we arrested” one man suspected of being an undocumented immigrant.
A Florida state appeals court judge who was nominated by Donald Trump to serve as a federal judge after the jurist ruled in favor of allowing Trump’s defamation lawsuit against the Pulitzer prize board to move forward was confirmed along party lines by the US Senate on Monday.
The Republican-led Senate voted 50-43 to confirm the Florida state judge, Ed Artau, to a seat on the US district court for the southern district of Florida.
Moments before the vote, the Democratic minority leader in the Senate, Chuck Schumer, denounced the nomination on the Senate floor, saying:
Mr Artau’s nomination is a textbook example of quid pro quo if there ever was one.
Listen to this: while Mr Artau was actively lobbying the White House for a federal judgeship in the aftermath of Donald Trump’s election last year, while he was begging Donald Trump for a nomination to the bench, while he was meeting with Republican senators to angle for their recommendation, he was at the same time part of a panel of Florida state judges hearing Donald Trump’s defamation case against the Pulitzer Prize Board earlier this February.
Did Mr Artau do the right thing and recuse himself from the case? Of course not.
Did he inform anyone about this potential conflict of interest? Of course not.
Instead, Mr Artau stayed on the case and – surprise, surprise – ruled in favor of Donald Trump.
That is no coincidence. That is no accident. That is Donald Trump rigging our courts with his loyalists.
Updated
Some Trump critics suggest drawing for Epstein looks less like a woman than a girl
After House Democrats released an image of a 2003 birthday letter to Jeffrey Epstein bearing Donald Trump’s name, several Trump critics suggested that the drawing that frames the text looks less like what the Wall Street Journal called “the outline of a naked woman” than the outline of a girl.
Faine Greenwood, a researcher who studies the use of drones in conflict, wrote on Bluesky: “this is actually worse than i imagined it was going to be because this does not look like a drawing of an adult woman, it looks like a drawing of a young girl”.
“This does not look like the body of a grown woman,” the TikTok influencer Suzanne Lambert said. “This looks like the body of a young girl.”
“Just look at it,” Julia Davis an expert on Russia media wrote. “Was he drawing a girl or a woman?”
The distinction matters, given that Epstein was later accused of abusing hundreds of girls during the decade before his 50th birthday, and that Trump had suggested in a 2002 interview with New York magazine that he was aware that the financier was attracted to young women.
“I’ve known Jeff for 15 years. Terrific guy,” Trump told the magazine, three years before a 14-year-old girl’s parents told Palm Beach police Epstein had paid their daughter for a massage.
“He’s a lot of fun to be with,” the future president added. “It is even said that he likes beautiful women as much as I do, and many of them are on the younger side.”
Updated
House oversight committee releases image of entire Epstein birthday album, with letter attributed to Trump
The Republican-led House oversight committee has released digital images of the entire birthday album presented to Jeffrey Epstein for his 50th birthday in 2003, making them available for download. The images include a sexually suggestive drawing and letter bearing the name of Donald Trump.
In a statement, the Republican chair of the committee, congressman James Comer of Kentucky, also scolded House Democrats for “cherry-picking documents and politicizing information received from the Epstein Estate today”.
Democrats on the committee posted an image of the letter attributed to Trump on social media, and of another letter that refers to the current president.
🚨🚨HERE IT IS: We got Trump’s birthday note to Jeffrey Epstein that the President said doesn’t exist.
— Oversight Dems (@OversightDems) September 8, 2025
Trump talks about a “wonderful secret” the two of them shared. What is he hiding? Release the files! pic.twitter.com/k2Mq8Hu3LY
The second letter released by the Democrats was from Joel Pashcow, a member of Trump’s Mar-a-Lago club, who made a crude joke about a woman the Wall Street Journal reports “Epstein and Trump each courted in the 1990s, according to court testimony and people familiar with the matter.”
NEW PAGE FROM EPSTEIN’S BIRTHDAY BOOK: Epstein and a longtime Mar-a-Lago member joking about selling a "fully depreciated" woman to Donald Trump for $22,500. pic.twitter.com/iEMNSRX7X8
— Oversight Dems (@OversightDems) September 8, 2025
Pashcow’s birthday letter included a photo of Epstein holding a giant, mock novelty check for $22,500, made to look like a payment from Trump to Epstein. The photo was captioned: “Jeffrey showing early talents with money + women! Sells ‘fully depreciated’ [woman’s name] to Donald Trump for $22,500. Showed early ‘people skills’ too. Even though I handled the deal I didn’t get any of the money for the girl!”
The woman’s name was redacted in the image of the book provided to the House by the estate of Jeffrey Epstein.
As Leland Nally reported for Mother Jones in 2020, Pashcow’s name and phone number was in a leaked copy of what was said to be Epstein’s personal contact book that was posted online.
Updated
Vance, who previously asked to see the Epstein letter, now calls it 'BS'
The vice-president, JD Vance, who is one of the administration’s most dedicated social media posters, has weighed in on X to accuse Democrats of hypocrisy after they released an image of a sexually suggestive 2003 birthday letter to Jeffrey Epstein, the late sex offender, with what looks like Donald Trump’s signature.
“The Democrats don’t care about Epstein. They don’t even care about his victims,” Vance wrote. “That’s why they were silent about it for years. The only thing they care about is concocting another fake scandal like Russiagate to smear President Trump with lies. No one is falling for this BS.”
In July, when the existence of the letter was first reported by the Wall Street Journal, Vance had demanded to see the letter and suggested that it was suspicious that the paper had not shown the White House a copy.
“Forgive my language but this story is complete and utter bullshit. The WSJ should be ashamed for publishing it. Where is this letter? Would you be shocked to learn they never showed it to us before publishing it?” Vance wrote at the time.
In reference to the text of the letter, which begins with an imagined dialogue between Trump and Epstein, Vance asked: “Does anyone honestly believe this sounds like Donald Trump?”
While the literary device and the formal language used in the dialogue does not sound at all like the way that Trump speaks in public, it is an open secret that he has worked with ghostwriters throughout his career, so it is certainly possible that the letter was commissioned by Trump, but composed by someone else.
In 2000, for instance, when Trump flirted with the possibility of running for the presidential nomination of Ross Perot’s Reform party, Trump published a book of his policy ideas that was actually written by Dave Shiflett, a journalist.
Since that book was published just three years before the Epstein birthday letter, the Guardian contacted Shiflett to ask if it might have been written for Trump by someone else.
“My understanding is that Trump neither writes nor reads his books,” Shiflett wrote back. “Several years back a Washington Post reporter told me he had asked Trump about his books and he had said he never read them.”
Updated
'That's definitely his signature,' Trump's niece says of birthday letter to Epstein
Mary Trump, the president’s niece who is a fierce critic of her uncle, has weighed in on the image of the signed birthday letter to Jeffrey Epstein, the late sex offender, bearing Donald Trump’s name.
“That’s definitely his signature,” the president’s estranged niece wrote on X. “Just saying.”
Another former member of Trump’s inner circle who has turned critic, George Conway, pointed to a Wall Street Journal visual analysis, which compared the signature “Donald” on the sexually suggestive wishes to Epstein on his 50th birthday in 2003 to that on two letters signed by Trump in the same period.
One of those letters was to thank Conway, in 2006. The other was Trump’s remarkably warm letter of congratulations, in 2000, to Hillary Clinton on her victory in the race to represent New York in the senate that year.
.@realDonaldTrump's letter to me, April 13, 2006: https://t.co/3VZ701ipYv pic.twitter.com/FTGHp2oOFH
— George Conway 👊🇺🇸🔥 (@gtconway3d) September 8, 2025
The effusive letter to Clinton congratulated her on a “well-deserved victory” and had the words “great going!” written by hand and underlined twice in black marker next to the signature.
The Journal’s analysis of the letter also points to other reasons to doubt Trump’s denial when first confronted by the letter. “I never wrote a picture in my life. I don’t draw pictures of women”, Trump told the newspaper. “It’s not my language. It’s not my words.”
As the Journal shows, however, Trump did line drawings in a similar style, in a similar black marker, at about that time. He also used the word “enigma”, which is central to the letter, in two of his books; and has frequently used the phrase “a wonderful thing”, which also appears in the note, in public remarks.
Updated
Several speakers at the immigrants rights news conference in Westlake quoted from Justice Sonia Sotomayor’s dissent.
“I dissent. We all dissent,” the mayor of Los Angeles, Karen Bass, said.
Bass called the ruling “enraging” and said she had already directed the city to strengthen protocols prohibiting resources from assisting with federal immigration enforcement.
“We will not and we will not participate in these cruel, inhumane tactics,” Bass said.
She warned that undermining the personal liberties of Angelenos would impact all Americans.
“The rule of law used to mean something not just to us, but to the supreme court, but now, with the stroke of a pen, the supreme court has undermined the rights of millions,” she said.
She added: “And how ironic is it that this same supreme court that ruled colleges cannot use race in the admissions process has now ruled that law enforcement can use race to conduct raids and detain people.”
Another speaker, representing the ACLU, also quoted a part Sotomayor’s dissent that stated the situation in stark terms: “We should not have to live in a country where the government can seize anyone who looks Latino, speaks Spanish, and appears to work a low wage job.”
ACLU press conference on Supreme Court decision to stay TRO in LA, allowing immigration agents to resume raids based on race.
— Sergio Olmos (@MrOlmos) September 8, 2025
"We should not have to live in a country where the Government can seize anyone who looks Latino, speaks Spanish, and appears to work a low wage job” pic.twitter.com/bFTnAmCCSu
Updated
Outside a Home Depot in a heavily Latino neighborhood of Los Angeles, immigrant-rights advocates, joined by the city’s mayor, Karen Bass, warned that the supreme court had “effectively legalized racial profiling”.
Cars honked in support as they passed signs that said “Keep Ice out of LA” and one that read simply: “Fuck Trump.”
“We are infuriated because the impacts will continue to show in our community,” Flor Melendez, the executive director of CLEAN Car Wash Worker Center and a plaintiff in the case. “We will continue to feel the pressure, because we could not depend on our legal system.”
She said 81 car washes across the region have been raided since Trump’s crackdown began earlier this summer, some multiple times. At least 247 car wash workers were detained, she added.
“The supreme court of the United States decided not to see this evil that has been visited on our people, not to hear the cries of all who have been victims and witnesses of these actions, and not to use the voice of the court to protect individual rights under the Constitution,” said Angelica Salas, executive director of the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights (Chirla), which was one of the organizational plaintiffs in this case.
“Do the conservative justices not have eyes to see the video evidence, or are they not able to read our multiple collected declarations that we have provided,” Salas added. “Our evidence demonstrated that these are not calm and consensual engagements with individuals who voluntarily offer information about their immigration status.”
Updated
White House claims image of Epstein birthday note 'proves' Trump did not draw or sign it
The White House press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, insists that a photograph of a sexually suggestive 2003 birthday note to Jeffrey Epstein, bearing Donald Trump’s name and signature, released by House Democrats and published by the Wall Street Journal on Monday, is evidence that the president has been framed.
“The latest piece published by the Wall Street Journal PROVES this entire ‘Birthday Card’ story is false”, Leavitt wrote on X. “As I have said all along, it’s very clear President Trump did not draw this picture, and he did not sign it.”
The president’s spokesperson added that his legal team “will continue to aggressively pursue litigation”, against the Journal, which first reported the existence of the note and drawing.
Leavitt also referred to the reporting that Trump contributed the signed drawing and note to a birthday album for the late sex offender as an effort “to perpetuate the Democrat Epstein Hoax!”
Leavitt’s deputy, Taylor Budowich, chimed in on X with what he presented as definitive visual evidence that “it’s not his signature”, in the form of four images of Trump’s signature on cards inserted in copies of a book about the attempt on his life in Butler, Pennsylvania last year.
Time for @newscorp to open that checkbook, it’s not his signature. DEFAMATION! https://t.co/O6iKk4SYF5 pic.twitter.com/T0wlp36P9h
— Taylor Budowich (@TayFromCA) September 8, 2025
However, it appears that all four of those signatures were from 2024, more than two decades after the 2003 birthday note, and it is a documented fact that people’s handwriting and signatures commonly change as they age.
Andrew Feinberg, a White House correspondent for the Independent, posted two images of Trump’s signature from the years before 2003 on X, which appear closer to the one on the note to Epstein.
TWO authenticated letters from @realDonaldTrump that sold at separate auctions. Compare with the signature on the Epstein birthday letter. pic.twitter.com/5DZQdsLPD6
— Andrew Feinberg (@AndrewFeinberg) September 8, 2025
Updated
Newsom accuses supreme court of unleashing 'racial terror in Los Angeles'
Gavin Newsom, California’s governor, has denounced the US supreme court ruling that permits federal immigration agents to demand proof of citizenship from anyone who appears to be of Latin American origin or is speaking a foreign language in Los Angeles, a city with a population that is 35% foreign-born and where 56% speak a language other than English at home, in a county that is nearly 50% Latino.
Newsom said, of the 6-3 ruling by the Republican-nominated majority:
Trump’s hand-picked supreme court majority just became the Grand Marshal for a parade of racial terror in Los Angeles. This isn’t about enforcing immigration laws – it’s about targeting Latinos and anyone who doesn’t look or sound like Stephen Miller’s idea of an American, including US citizens and children, to deliberately harm California’s families and small businesses. Trump’s private police force now has a green light to come after your family – and every person is now a target – but we will continue fighting these abhorrent attacks on Californians.
Updated
Republican senators open investigation of 'botched' response to Palisades fire
Two Republican senators announced on Monday that they are opening a congressional investigation of “the preparation for and response to” the deadly Palisades fire in Los Angeles by state and local officials in California, who are Democrats.
The senators, Rick Scott of Florida and Ron Johnson of Wisconsin, said in a press release that the fire, which burned for 24 days in January and killed at least 12 people, “was more than just a horrific tragedy, it was an unacceptable failure of government to protect the lives and property of its citizens”.
In a separate news release last week, Scott accused California Democrats of having “botched” the response to the California wildfires.
However, the senate investigation appears to focus only on the fire in the affluent Palisades, where Scott was taken on a tour last month by a former reality TV star turned rightwing podcaster, Spencer Pratt, and not on the Eaton fire, which burned through Altadena, a less well-off suburb to the east.
As soon as the investigation was announced, Pratt, a conservative Palisades resident, folded it into a partisan attack on California Democrats in a social media video. “Why is it that only Republicans are interested in finding out why a California city burned to the ground?” Pratt asked.
The Democratic mayor of Los Angeles, Karen Bass, announced three weeks ago that the city had been asked by the justice department to wait until federal investigation is complete to release its “after action report” on the Palisades fire.
Updated
I’ve been speaking with Carl Tobias, a law professor at the University of Richmond, about the ruling from a federal appeals court today which upheld the defamation lawsuit by writer E Jean Carroll, and orders that Donald Trump still pay an $83m judgment.
Tobias said that the ruling is significant because it affirms substantial “punitive damages” – which comprise around $65m of the total award to Carrol. These “send a message” to the president, according to Tobias, to avoid further defamation.
While Tobias isn’t surprised by the ruling, characterizing Judge Lewis A Kaplan – who tried the case in the district court – as a “savvy, experienced jurist, who has resolved many high profile cases” – he fully expects the Trump administration to challenge the decision and attempt to appeal to the supreme court.
Updated
Per my last post, Robert Garcia, a representative who serves as the ranking member on the House oversight committee, said that Donald Trump is lying about the existence of his birthday note to Jeffrey Epstein.
In a video, posted to X, Garcia said that the president is “leading a White House cover-up”. The lawmaker from California added that committee members plan to review the documents that they received from the Epstein estate today.
Updated
House Democrats share Trump 'birthday note' to Jeffrey Epstein
Democrats on the House oversight committee have released a scanned copy of a “birthday note” that Donald Trump allegedly sent to Jeffrey Epstein, that was eventually compiled into an album of messages to celebrate Epstein’s 50th birthday in 2003.
The sexually suggestive note to Epstein includes a conversation between Trump and the late sex offender, with a naked female silhouette drawn around it. The president’s signature is at the bottom of the note.
“Happy birthday – and may every day be another wonderful secret,” the note reads.
🚨🚨HERE IT IS: We got Trump’s birthday note to Jeffrey Epstein that the President said doesn’t exist.
— Oversight Dems (@OversightDems) September 8, 2025
Trump talks about a “wonderful secret” the two of them shared. What is he hiding? Release the files! pic.twitter.com/k2Mq8Hu3LY
The committee recently subpoenaed the Epstein estate for more documents as part of their investigation into the handling of the Epstein case. Trump has denied writing a letter for the birthday book, and even sued the Wall Street Journal for defamation when they first reported his contribution.
Updated
Senate Democratic whip Dick Durbin, of Illinois, called the “Operation Midway Blitz” in Chicago “a waste of money” and “another failed attempt at a distraction” in a statement today.
Durbin, who also serves as the ranking Member of the Senate judiciary committee, said that the surge in immigration enforcement in the city is part of Donald Trump’s “campaign to arrest hardworking immigrants with no criminal convictions”.
He added:
To the hardworking immigrant families who are now scared to send your children to school, go to the hospital, or report crimes to the police: we stand with you … While the President exhibits disdain for immigrants, Chicago embraces them as family who help make our economy thrive and our city strong.”
Here's a recap of the day so far
There have been a flurry of rulings today, with two particularly crucial decisions from the supreme court, in response to emergency requests from the Trump administration.
First, the court allowed federal agents to proceed with raids in southern California targeting people for deportation based on their race or language – a victory for the administration’s hardline immigration agenda. Attorney general Pam Bondi praised the decision on social media, and said that immigration enforcement officers can “continue carrying out roving patrols in California without judicial micromanagement”.
The supreme court also allowed Donald Trump to fire a commissioner on the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) today. It’s the latest decision in a spate of high-profile firings of Senate-confirmed officials in recent months. Chief justice John Roberts issued the ruling, which blocks a lower court’s ruling for the president to reinstate Rebecca Slaughter while the case plays out. A federal district court judge said last week that the administration had violated a federal law which prevents FTC members from removal without cause. Slaughter was one of only two Democratic appointees on the five-member board.
Meanwhile, a federal appeals court in New York did uphold the defamation lawsuit filed by writer E Jean Carroll, and the $83.3m award, after Trump denied her claim that he raped her. The panel of judges also rejected the administration’s argument that the president is protected by the supreme court’s immunity ruling last year.
The administration also filed an emergency request to the supreme court on Monday to block a lower court’s ruling, which stopped the administration from withholding billions of dollars in congressionally appropriated foreign aid. An appeals court ordered the administration to spend the money, upholding the federal judge’s ruling last week, which ultimately prompted the request to the supreme court.
Beyond DC, Trump has pledged more federal force in Chicago. It comes after weeks of deriding the city’s mayor, Brandon Johnson, and Illinois governor, JB Pritzker. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) posted on social media that an operation was under way to remove “dangerous public safety threats from American communities”.
Trump goaded Pritzker on Truth Social earlier, and said that he wanted to “straighten” Chicago out while delivering remarks at the Museum of the Bible in DC. He also used the appearance to tout that DC was now a “safe zone”, since the federal takeover of the DC police and increased federal activity, citing Muriel Bowser’s compliance with the administration.
Updated
Attorney general Pam Bondi called the supreme court’s decision to allow federal agents to proceed with raids in southern California targeting people for deportation based on their race or language a “massive victory”.
She wrote on social media that immigration enforcement officers now can “continue carrying out roving patrols in California without judicial micromanagement”.
US defense secretary Pete Hegseth and air force general Dan Caine, chair of the joint chiefs of staff, arrived in Puerto Rico today as the Trump administration steps up its military operations against drug cartels in the Caribbean.
The arrival comes more than a week after ships carrying hundreds of US marines deployed to Puerto Rico for a training exercise.
Puerto Rico’s governor, Jenniffer González, said Hegseth and Caine visited the US territory to support those participating in the training.
“We thank President Trump and his administration for recognizing the strategic importance of Puerto Rico to U.S. national security and for their fight against drug cartels and the narco-dictator Nicolás Maduro,” González said in comments reported by the Associated Press.
Hegseth and Caine met with officials at the 156th Wing Muñiz Air national guard base in Carolina, a city just east of the capital, San Juan.
González said Hegseth spoke to nearly 300 soldiers at the base and thanked those he described as “American warriors” for their work.
The visit comes as the US prepares to deploy 10 F-35 fighter jets to Puerto Rico for operations targeting drug cartels, a person familiar with the planning told AP on Saturday.
Updated
Seemingly confirming earlier reports of incoming federal activity in Chicago, Ice has posted the following on X:
CHICAGO: a sanctuary city that attracts and protects criminal illegal aliens to the detriment of law abiding citizens. In an ICE-led operation, we are here to remove these dangerous public safety threats from American communities.
It comes as Donald Trump has repeatedly threatened an immigration enforcement crackdown and national guard deployment in the nation’s third largest city.
CHICAGO: a sanctuary city that attracts and protects criminal illegal aliens to the detriment of law abiding citizens.
— U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (@ICEgov) September 8, 2025
In an ICE-led operation, we are here to remove these dangerous public safety threats from American communities. pic.twitter.com/Pgfq23XgdO
Updated
Analysis: Will Republicans in Congress finally stand up to Trump?
Democrat Chuck Schumer returned to the Senate floor last week with some urgent questions. “Will Senate Republicans continue to kowtow to a leader they know is dragging the country down?” he demanded. “That they know is a pathological liar? Or will they, as the Founding Fathers intended, stand up to him? Will they help us fight America’s slide into authoritarianism?”
It was a recognition of how Donald Trump has spent eight months seeking to expand presidential power at the expense of Congress and others. He has signed 200 executive orders – more than Joe Biden in four years – unleashed squadrons of national guard troops in Washington, turned investigators on his political foes and sought to bring academic, cultural, financial and legal institutions to heel.
The capitulation has moved faster and further than even many of Trump’s critics expected and has left them looking for democratic guardrails that might yet constrain him. But as members of Congress returned to Washington this week, there were only flickers of hope that they might heed Schumer and reassert their usurped authority.
Trump’s Republican party holds narrow majorities in both the House of Representatives and Senate and remains overwhelmingly loyal to him. In May, during a debate on their signature tax and spending bill, the House speaker, Mike Johnson, called him “arguably the most powerful, the most successful, and the most respected president in the modern era of the United States”. Congress has in effect become his rubber stamp.
Yet in recent days small fractures appeared in the edifice. Congressman Thomas Massie gained the support of fellow Republicans Marjorie Taylor Greene, Lauren Boebert and Nancy Mace on a discharge petition to force a vote on releasing the Jeffrey Epstein files. Hours after Trump described the issue as a “Democratic hoax”, Greene shot back: “It’s not a hoax because Jeffrey Epstein is a convicted pedophile.”
Some Republicans’ patience is also wearing thin with Trump’s health secretary, Robert Kennedy Jr, over his moves to undermine vaccines and purge leadership at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Senator John Barrasso, a doctor, told Kennedy that he was “deeply concerned” about his leadership on vaccines.
In addition, several Republicans have faced blowback from voters during town halls in their district over the summer. Opinion polls show that Trump’s tax and spending megabill is the most unpopular major piece of legislation in a generation. And Friday’s dismal jobs reports reflected uncertainty around his economic agenda.
If the trend continues, swing-state Republicans might be tempted to distance themselves from him in next year’s midterm elections and then treat him as a lame duck as the race for 2028 heats up.
Thom Hartmann, a political analyst and author of the upcoming book The Last American President: A Broken Man, a Corrupt Party, and a World on the Brink, suggests that Trump’s sway over Congress might be more fragile than it appears.
The simple reality is that five or six Republicans in the House and two or three or four Republicans in the Senate could stop Trump in his tracks. They can put an end to this insanity.
Increasingly, as public opinion is turning against him – he’s polling very negatively in virtually every aspect of his presidency, from the economy to the troops in the streets to destroying federal agencies – at some point some of these Republicans are going to look around and say, you know, maybe the way to ensure my own political survival is to challenge this guy. That day can’t come soon enough for me.
Donald Trump launched a vitriolic attack against Tom Hanks for supposedly being “destructive” and “woke” after one of America’s most beloved actors was snubbed without much explanation by West Point last week.
On his social media site on Monday, the US president applauded the alumni association of the US Military Academy (or West Point) for abruptly calling off a ceremony honoring Hanks, twice an Academy award winner who has played numerous military characters and also has a long history of advocating for veterans.
Trump wrote: “Our great West Point (getting greater all the time!) has smartly cancelled the Award Ceremony for actor Tom Hanks. Important move! We don’t need destructive, WOKE recipients getting our cherished American Awards!!! Hopefully the Academy Awards, and other Fake Award Shows, will review their Standards and Practices in the name of Fairness and Justice. Watch their DEAD RATINGS SURGE!”
Hanks had been scheduled to receive the 2025 Sylvanus Thayer Award later this month for his “service and accomplishments in the national interest”.
Law enforcement officials on Sunday dismantled a peace vigil that had stood in front of the White House for more than four decades, an action taken on orders issued by Donald Trump two days earlier.
The vigil targeted by the president was started in 1981 by William Thomas to promote nuclear disarmament and an end to global conflicts, and it is believed to be the longest continuous anti-war protest in the United States. For decades, volunteers would man the site, just in front of the White House gates in Lafayette Square, to prevent it from being taken down.
A correspondent for the conservative network Real America’s Voice, Brian Glenn, asked Trump about the vigil on Friday. “Just out front of the White House is a blue tent that originally was put there to be an anti-nuclear tent for nuclear arms – it’s kind of morphed into an anti-America sometimes, anti-Trump at many times,” he said. Trump replied that he didn’t know about the tent and then turned to staff to say: “Take it down, right now.”
Will Roosien, a 24-year-old who had been volunteering at the vigil on Sunday, told the Washington Post that officers arrived at 6.30am on Sunday and told him he had 30 minutes to remove a tarp under which he had been sheltering from the rain. He refused and told the Post he was detained while the officers dismantled the tent.
“This is a disgrace, and you should all feel ashamed,” Roosien told the officers, according to video obtained by the Post. “Twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, for 44 years, someone has sat here, advocating for people around the world who we don’t know. Advocating for human rights. Advocating for peace.”
Concurring with the decision, conservative Justice Brett Kavanaugh said that “apparent ethnicity alone cannot furnish reasonable suspicion” but it can be a “‘relevant factor’ when considered along with other salient factors”.
He added: “If the officers learn that the individual they stopped is a US citizen or otherwise lawfully in the United States, they promptly let the individual go.”
Updated
Per my last post, the supreme court’s three liberal justices publicly dissented from the decision, directing pointed criticism at its conservative majority.
The administration “has all but declared that all Latinos, US citizens or not, who work low-wage jobs are fair game to be seized at any time, taken away from work, and held until they provide proof of their legal status to the agents’ satisfaction”, Justice Sonia Sotomayor wrote in the dissenting opinion.
“Rather than stand idly by while our constitutional freedoms are lost, I dissent,” Sotomayor added.
Updated
Supreme court backs Trump on aggressive immigration raids
The supreme court has again backed Donald Trump’s hardline approach toward immigration today, allowing federal agents to proceed with raids in southern California targeting people for deportation based on their race or language.
The court granted a justice department request to put on hold a federal judge’s order temporarily barring agents from stopping or detaining people without “reasonable suspicion” they are in the country illegally, by relying on race or ethnicity, or if they speak Spanish or English with an accent, among other factors.
The court’s three liberal justices publicly dissented from the decision.
Los Angeles-based US district judge Maame Frimpong had issued the order on 11 July, finding that the Trump administration’s actions probably violated the constitution’s fourth amendment protection against unreasonable searches and seizures. The order applied to her court’s jurisdiction covering much of southern California.
The lawsuit alleged a pattern of “roving” patrols by masked and heavily armed agents conducting interrogations and detentions based on racial profiling that resemble “brazen, midday kidnappings”.
One plaintiff, Jason Gavidia, claimed that agents roughed him up after disbelieving his statements to them that he is a US citizen, demanding to know the name of the hospital where he was born.
“Individuals with brown skin are approached or pulled aside by unidentified federal agents, suddenly and with a show of force, and made to answer questions about who they are and where they are from,” the lawsuit stated.
Frimpong issued the temporary restraining order halting agents from using race or ethnicity, language, presence at a particular location such as a car wash or tow yard, or type of work, to carry out stops or arrests, as none of those factors alone can establish “reasonable suspicion” of illegality.
The San Francisco-based 9th US circuit court of appeals on 1 August denied the administration’s request to lift Frimpong’s order.
In a written filing, the DoJ defended targeting people using a “reasonably broad profile” in a region where, according to the administration, about 10% of residents are in the country illegally.
The administration’s request marked its latest trip to the supreme court seeking to proceed with policies that lower courts have impeded after casting doubt on their legality. The supreme court, which has a 6-3 conservative majority, has backed Trump in most of these cases.
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As the president praised the lack of crime in DC while delivering remarks at the Museum of the Bible today, he repeated his desire to send federal law enforcement and national guard troops to “straighten” Chicago out.
“You try and reason with people, like in Chicago, with the governor there, you try and reason with them, and it’s like you’re talking to a wall,” Trump said. It’s part of his frequent refrain that Illinois governor JB Pritzker is reckless for not “asking” for the president’s help. Earlier on Truth Social, Trump insisted that he wants to “help the people of Chicago, not hurt them”.
In his post he continued to deride Chicago’s Democratic leaders, including mayor Brandon Johnson:
“The City and State have not been able to do the job. People of Illinois should band together and DEMAND PROTECTION. IT IS ONLY GOING TO GET WORSE!!! ACT NOW, BEFORE IT IS TOO LATE!!!
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Supreme court upholds Trump decision to fire Federal Trade Commission member
The supreme court has allowed Donald Trump to fire a commissioner on the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). It’s the latest decision in a spate of high-profile firings of Senate-confirmed officials in recent months.
Chief justice John Roberts issued the ruling, which blocks a lower court’s ruling for the president to reinstate Rebecca Slaughter while the case plays out. A federal district court judge said last week that the administration had violated a federal law which prevents FTC members from removal without cause.
Trump moved to fire both Slaughter and Alvaro Bedoya from the FTC earlier this year. Both are the only Democratic appointees of the five-member board.
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Trump is now touting that DC is a “safe zone”, since the surge of federal law enforcement and takeover of the DC police. He adds that the “beautification” project for the DC will continue.
He goes on to say that DC mayor Muriel Bowser has been compliant with the administration’s efforts. “It wasn’t her ideology, but now maybe it is,” Trump says.
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Trump previews order to 'protect' right to prayer in public schools
Trump is now speaking at the Museum of the Bible in DC. He just announced that the Department of Education will be issuing “new guidance protecting the right to prayer in our public schools.”
A short while ago the president brought up a 12-year-old California student who addressed the Religious Liberty Commission. He told a story about how he was “forced” to read My Shadow is Pink – a story book that explores how a young boy explores different parts of his identity that aren’t considered traditionally masculine.
“I knew this was not right, but I was afraid of getting in trouble. After my family spoke up, school treated us badly, and kids started bullying me and my brother because of our faith, and the school did nothing to stop it. It hurt a lot, but I kept trusting God,” she student said today, standing next to Trump.
The president went on to undermine trans rights. “Can you imagine men playing in women’s sports?” Trump said. “Democrats don’t want to give it up.”
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Appeals court upholds defamation lawsuit, ordering Trump to pay more than $80m
A federal appeals court in New York has upheld the defamation lawsuit filed by writer E Jean Carroll, and the $83.3m award, after Trump denied her claim that he raped her.
The panel of judges also rejected the administration’s argument that the president is protected by the supreme court’s immunity ruling last year.
The same appeals court awarded Carroll $5m in 2023, in a separate case that found Trump liable for defamation and sexual abuse.
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Trump administration asks supreme court to allow foreign aid clawback to continue
The Trump administration filed an emergency request to the supreme court on Monday to block a lower court’s ruling, which stopped the administration from withholding billions of dollars in congressionally appropriated foreign aid.
An appeals court ordered the administration to spend the money, upholding the federal judge’s ruling last week, which ultimately prompted the request to the supreme court.
Last month, Trump announced that he did not intend to spend almost $5bn in foreign aid, using a rare tool known as the “pocket rescission”. This involves submitting a request to congress so close to the end of the fiscal year, that it effectively runs out the clock for the 45 days needed for lawmakers to review the request.
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For many Americans, the new Covid vaccine guidelines from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), spearheaded by health secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr and his highly controversial Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) movement, have added another layer of stress to an increasingly inaccessible healthcare system.
The agency authorized Covid vaccines for people 65 and older, who are known to be more at risk from serious illnesses from Covid infections, but younger people will only be eligible if they have an underlying medical condition that makes them particularly vulnerable.
For Madison Heckle, a 33-year-old attorney in the final stretch of wedding planning, the stakes feel personal. She has struggled with frequent illness ever since first contracting Covid in 2021.
“Ever since then, I just catch everything,” she said. Though she expressed her frustrations with a weakened immune system, she had her doubts that she would qualify for vaccine coverage under the new guidelines.
Her immediate worry is simple: not being bedridden on the day she says “I do”. “Weddings are expensive, and I don’t want to be sick that day if I can prevent it, and so I just want to get the vaccine,” she said. “I’ve gotten my booster every year.”
Yet the new rules have complicated what was once routine. Instead of stopping by CVS, as she has in past years, Heckle found herself on the phone with her insurer, navigating coverage questions and learning she’d need to go to a different pharmacy.
“I just am really hoping that I don’t have to risk being sick on my wedding day,” she said.
Read more about the new guidelines are causing fear for those with that their ageing or immunocompromised loved ones.
The president has also spent a fair amount of time on Truth Social today, most recently touting the impact of the surge of federal law enforcement in DC, and the takeover of the Metropolitan police department (MPD).
“Washington, D.C. IS A SAFE ZONE IN JUST A MATTER OF WEEKS. Thank you, President Trump. Who’s Next???,” Trump said, possibly alluding to his frequent threats to send federal agents and national guard troops to Chicago.
Meanwhile, attorney general Pam Bondi said today that since more federal law enforcement began assisting MPD, there have been more than 2,100 arrests in the capital in the last month, and 214 illegal firearms seized.
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Trump says US is ready for second phase of Russian sanctions
Speaking to reporters on Sunday, the president said that he was ready for the second phase of sanctions against Russia. He didn’t elaborate on when those sanctions would take effect, or how severe they would be.
He later said that “no one has been tougher on President Putin” but went on to say that he’s not “thrilled” with the Moscow leader.
“Look, we’re going to get it done. The Russia, Ukraine situation. We’re going to get it done,” Trump added.
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Trump trade adviser demands justice department to vindicate him from subpoena conviction
Intent on vindication after spending four months in prison last year, Peter Navarro asked a federal appeals court on Sunday night to force Donald Trump’s justice department to explain why it would not defend his 2022 conviction for defying a January 6 committee subpoena.
The request to the US court of appeals for the DC circuit is fraught for the department as it would have to confront the appearance that it quietly dropped the case in order to shield Navarro after he was tapped as a senior adviser to the president.
Navarro’s 13-page filing also has the potential to set precedent for years to come over complicated immunity and separation of powers questions concerning the ability of White House advisers to defy congressional subpoenas without facing prosecution.
“The department’s abrupt withdrawal now deprives the court of transparency about the department’s current view concerning the landmark constitutional issues presented, undermines the fairness of the process, and burdens the defense with uncertainty,” the filing said.
Navarro was subpoenaed in 2022 by the House select committee investigating the January 6 Capitol riot for his involvement in a plan to delay Congress’s certification of the 2020 election results to change the outcome, including to recruit state lawmakers to join the effort.
We can expect to hear from Donald Trump at about 10.10am ET today. He’ll speak at the Museum of the Bible in DC, and deliver remarks to the White House religious liberty commission – which the president created via executive order in May.
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US states that protect unions’ collective bargaining rights have experienced an increase in new union members, while states with anti-union “right to work” laws are responsible for declines in union members, a new report reveals.
The report on the state of unions by the Illinois Economic Policy Institute and the Project for Middle Class Renewal at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign found significant discrepancies between the 26 states in the US with “right to work” laws compared with the 24 states and Washington DC that protect collective bargaining rights.
The right-to-work states, concentrated in the south and central US, have a union density of 5.1%, compared with 14.2% for states with collective bargaining rights, concentrated on the coasts and in the north.
Workers in right-to-work states earn about 7% less in wages, accounting for local differences in the cost of living. According to the AFL-CIO, the US’s largest labor federation, states with right-to-work laws received 36% higher discrimination charges from the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission on average.
Right-to-work laws allow workers represented by unions to stop paying dues for the services and benefits they receive through union representation, depleting resources from labor unions. Public sector workers in all 50 states have also had their collective bargaining rights stripped through the imposition of right-to-work laws by the US supreme court’s 2018 decision Janus v AFSCME.
Florida plan to drop school vaccine mandates won’t take effect for 90 days
Florida’s plan to drop school vaccine mandates likely won’t take effect for 90 days and would include only chickenpox and a few other illnesses unless lawmakers decide to extend it to other diseases, like polio and measles, the health department said on Sunday.
The department responded to a request for details, four days after Florida’s surgeon general, Dr Joseph Ladapo, said the state would become the first to make vaccinations voluntary and let families decide whether to inoculate their children.
It’s a retreat from decades of public policy and research that has shown vaccines to be safe and the most effective way to stop the spread of communicable diseases, especially among children. Despite that evidence, Robert F Kennedy Jr, the health secretary, has expressed deep skepticism about vaccines.
Florida’s plan would lift mandates on school vaccines for hepatitis B, chickenpox, Hib influenza and pneumococcal diseases, such as meningitis, the health department said.
“The department initiated the rule change on September 3 2025, and anticipates the rule change will not be effective for approximately 90 days,” the state told the Associated Press in an email. The public school year in Florida started in August.
The former US congressman John Burton, a salty-tongued and unabashedly liberal San Francisco Democrat who stood up for the working class and nurtured countless political careers, including that of Nancy Pelosi, died Sunday. He was 92.
Burton died in San Francisco of natural causes, his family said in a statement.
Tributes poured in from California’s top politicians, who recalled Burton as a fierce and tireless advocate for laborers, foster children and the environment. Over the years, Burton mentored Pelosi, former US senator Barbara Boxer, current US senator Alex Padilla and countless other California officials.
“There was no greater champion for the poor, the bullied, the disabled, and forgotten Californians than John Burton. He was a towering figure – a legendary force whose decades of service shaped our state and our politics for the better,” said Governor Gavin Newsom, a former mayor of San Francisco, in a statement.
Another former San Francisco mayor, Willie Brown, said that death had managed to separate him from a dear friend who was by his side for decades – as college students where they first met, as fellow newbies in the state Assembly and as influential members of California’s Democratic political machine.
“John Burton may have been the best person with whom I served as a member of the legislature,” said Brown.
Trump issues ‘last warning’ to Hamas to accept Gaza ceasefire deal
Donald Trump on Sunday issued what he called his “last warning” to Hamas, urging the Palestinian militant group to accept a deal to release hostages from Gaza.
“The Israelis have accepted my Terms. It is time for Hamas to accept as well,” Trump said in a post on his Truth Social platform. “I have warned Hamas about the consequences of not accepting. This is my last warning, there will not be another one!”
Hamas said in a later statement that it received some ideas from the US side through mediators to reach a ceasefire deal in Gaza.
The group said it was discussing with mediators ways to develop those ideas, without giving specifics.
Hamas also reiterated its readiness for negotiations to release all hostages in exchange for a “clear announcement of an end to the war” and the complete withdrawal of Israeli forces from the enclave.
The Republican senator who heads the homeland security committee has criticized JD Vance for “despicable” comments apparently in support of extrajudicial military killings.
“Killing cartel members who poison our fellow citizens is the highest and best use of our military,” the vice-president said in an X post on Saturday, in defense of Tuesday’s US military strike against a Venezuelan boat in the Caribbean Sea, which killed 11 people the administration alleged were drug traffickers.
Vance added: “Democrats: let’s send your kids to die in Russia. Republicans: actually let’s protect our people from the scum of the earth.”
Donald Trump has vowed additional military action against purported traffickers, who are not military targets, after the boat strike, saying “there’s more where that came from”.
The controversial attack inflamed already-high tensions between the US and Venezuela. In August Trump dispatched war ships and marines to the Caribbean, which his supporters say is in aid of efforts to oust Venezuelan’s authoritarian leader, Nicolás Maduro. On Friday, reports revealed that Trump was sending 10 F-35 fighter jets to Puerto Rico to support US military action against drug traffickers.
US treasury secretary denies Trump tariffs are tax on Americans
US treasury secretary Scott Bessent has refused to acknowledge that the sweeping trade tariffs imposed by Donald Trump around the world are taxes on Americans.
In a new interview on Sunday with NBC host Kristen Welker, Bessent, a former billionaire hedge fund manager, dismissed concerns from major American companies including John Deere, Nike and Black and Decker who have all said that Trump’s tariffs policy will cost them billions of dollars annually.
Addressing Welker, Bessent said: “You’re taking these from earnings calls, and on earnings calls, they have to give the draconian scenario. There aren’t companies coming out and saying, ‘Oh, because of the tariffs, we’re doing this.’”
He went on to add: “If things are so bad, why was the GDP 3.3%? Why is the stock market at a new high? Because, you know, with President Trump, we care both about big companies and small companies.”
As concerns continue to grow over American companies trying to pass on the cost of US tariffs on to everyday Americans, Welker asked: “Do you acknowledge that these tariffs are a tax on American consumers?” To which Bessent replied: “No, I don’t.”
300 South Koreans detained at Hyundai plant in US to be released, says Seoul
South Korea announced on Sunday that the roughly 300 of its nationals detained during an immigration raid in Georgia would be released and flown home, as the sudden detention of workers appeared to strain the longstanding diplomatic and economic relationship between the two nations.
Nearly 500 workers, among them at least 300 South Koreans and at least 23 Mexicans, were arrested at the Hyundai-LG battery plant in the city of Ellabell on Thursday.
US authorities released footage of the raid, which showed detained workers, restrained in handcuffs and ankle chains, loaded on to buses. The raid marked the largest single site sweep carried out under Donald Trump’s nationwide anti-immigration campaign.
“As a result of the swift and united response … negotiations for the release of the detained workers have been concluded,” Kang Hoon-sik, chief of staff to South Korea’s president Lee Jae Myung, told reporters.
“Only administrative procedures remain. Once these are completed, a chartered flight will depart to bring our citizens home,” he said.
LG executive Kim Ki-soo flew to Georgia in an apparent effort to slow the fallout. “The immediate priority now is the swift release of both our LG Energy Solution employees and those of our partner firms,” Ki-soo reportedly said before boarding a plane.
Trump tells foreign companies to ‘respect’ immigration law after Hyundai Ice raid
Hello and welcome to the US politics live blog. I’m Tom Ambrose and I’ll be bringing you all the latest news lines over the next couple of hours.
We start with news that Donald Trump has told foreign companies that they must hire and train American workers and respect immigration laws, after a raid at a Hyundai Motor manufacturing facility in Georgia saw about 300 South Koreans detained.
Nearly 500 workers in total were detained in the raid on Thursday, with US authorities releasing footage showing them restrained in handcuffs and ankle chains, loaded on to buses.
The raid marked the largest single site sweep carried out under Trump’s nationwide anti-immigration campaign and appeared to strain the longstanding diplomatic and economic relationship between the US and South Korea.
“I am hereby calling on all Foreign Companies investing in the United States to please respect our Nation’s Immigration Laws,” Trump wrote on Truth Social on Sunday, adding “Your Investments are welcome, and we encourage you to LEGALLY bring your very smart people … What we ask in return is that you hire and train American Workers.”
Trump made the post shortly after telling reporters he would look at what happened but that the incident had not harmed his relationship with South Korea.
Meanwhile, Hyundai Motor advised staff who were about to go on business trips next week to the US to delay them unless considered indispensable, a South Korean newspaper reported on Monday.
And in other developments:
US treasury secretary Scott Bessent has refused to acknowledge that the sweeping trade tariffs imposed by Donald Trump around the world are taxes on Americans. In a new interview Bessent, a former billionaire hedge fund manager, dismissed concerns from major American companies including John Deere, Nike and Black and Decker who have all said that Trump’s tariffs policy will cost them billions of dollars annually.
The Republican senator who heads the homeland security committee has criticized JD Vance for “despicable” comments apparently in support of extrajudicial military killings. “Killing cartel members who poison our fellow citizens is the highest and best use of our military,” the vice-president said in an X post on Saturday, in defense of Tuesday’s US military strike against a Venezuelan boat in the Caribbean Sea, which killed 11 people the administration alleged were drug traffickers.
President Trump on Sunday suggested a Gaza deal could come soon to secure the release of all the hostages held by Hamas, after earlier issuing what he called his “last warning” to the Palestinian militant group. Trump, speaking to reporters after landing in the Washington area on Sunday evening following a brief trip to New York, said he had been discussing the issue on the plane.
Trump was booed and cheered at the US Open during the national anthem before Sunday’s men’s final. Prior to the match, US Open broadcasters were asked not to show any negative crowd reactions to the president at the event.
Nine attorneys – who have represented approximately 50 Jeffrey Epstein survivors – have told the Guardian they have not been recently contacted by the justice department, despite the president’s promises to get to the bottom of the deceased financier’s crimes.
As Chicago braced for an immigration enforcement crackdown and a possible national guard deployment, churches across the city have urged congregants to carry identification, stay connected to family and protest.
Trump said on Sunday that individual European leaders would visit the United States on Monday or Tuesday to discuss how to resolve the Russian-Ukraine war. Speaking to reporters, Trump also said he would speak to Russian president Vladimir Putin soon.
