What to know today
- TEXAS REDISTRICTING: Texas Republicans were blocked for the second day in a row from moving forward with a redistricting plan after dozens of Democratic lawmakers fled the state over the weekend in protest. Gov. Greg Abbott subsequently filed a lawsuit with the state Supreme Court seeking to remove the House Democratic caucus chair from office.
- JEFFREY EPSTEIN: The House Oversight Committee issued subpoenas to former President Bill Clinton, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and several top former Justice Department officials for testimony about Jeffrey Epstein. The committee also subpoenaed the Justice Department for records related to Epstein.
- TARIFF TALK: President Donald Trump said in an interview with CNBC this morning that the European Union would face a 35% tariff on its goods if it doesn't follow through with a planned $600 billion investment in the United States. Meanwhile, Switzerland's president and vice president are traveling to the United States today to work out a trade agreement that would reduce the high tariff it faces.
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Trump threatens federal control of D.C. following attack on administration staffer known as ‘Big Balls’
Trump threatened today to have the federal government take control of Washington, D.C., after an assault on a well-known original staffer for the Department of Government Efficiency in the nation’s capital over the weekend.
Edward Coristine, also known by his online name, “Big Balls,” and a woman characterized in a police report as his significant other were the victims of an unarmed attempted carjacking early Sunday.
Washington Metropolitan Police today announced the arrests of two 15-year-old suspects from Maryland.
In a social media post that did not mention Coristine by name, Trump described crime in Washington as being “totally out of control.”
Trump administration considers releasing transcripts of recent Maxwell interview with DOJ official
The Trump administration is considering publicly releasing the transcripts of Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche’s two-day interview with Epstein co-conspirator Ghislaine Maxwell, according to a source familiar with the matter.
“We’re leaning toward transparency,” the source told NBC News.
Obama calls GOP redistricting plans in Texas a 'power grab'
Former President Barack Obama criticized the GOP's congressional redistricting plans in Texas on social media this evening, saying the proposed revisions would undercut democracy.
"We can’t lose focus on what matters — right now, Republicans in Texas are trying to gerrymander district lines to unfairly win five seats in next year’s midterm elections." Obama wrote on X. "This is a power grab that undermines our democracy."
Texas Democrats left the state to delay votes on the plans, which would almost certainly give the GOP five more House seats in Congress. Their departure has outraged Republicans, with Gov. Greg Abbott suing to remove Texas House Democratic Caucus Chair Gene Wu from office.
Rhode Island lawmakers grilled about Gaza during town hall
Rep. Seth Magaziner and Sen. Jack Reed — two Democratic lawmakers from Rhode Island — have been interrupted numerous times at a joint town hall in Johnston by people asking about Israel's war in Gaza.
Several people have asked them to take tougher stances against Israel and to call the loss of life in Gaza a “genocide” and for them to stop taking money from the American Israel Public Affairs Committee.
Reed called the conflict “complicated,” which elicited an audible laugh from an audience member who yelled in response that it wasn’t.
Magaziner called the scenes in Gaza “horrific,” adding later that neither he nor Reed had “anything kind to say about” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Sen. Michael Bennet tells town hall he’s 'incredibly angry' at Democratic Party for losing 2024 election to Trump
Sen. Michael Bennet, D-Colo., told a supportive crowd at a town hall today that he is “incredibly angry” at his party for losing last year's presidential election to Trump.
“We should never have lost this election," Bennet said at the event in Durango, part of the congressional district represented by GOP Rep. Jeff Hurd.
Bennet, who is running for governor, said that the election loss has been "catastrophic" and that the party was unprepared last year when it came to its policy platform.
"You tell me what the Democrats’ education policy was in the last election. You tell me what the Democrats’ health care policy was. You tell me if Democrats had an immigration policy that made any sense," Bennet said.
Bennet added that he is "not here to blame them for that, but that’s part of what we have to figure out, as well."
Responding to a question about Medicaid cuts by the Trump administration, Bennet said he would fight “to the death” for protections, adding that Democrats should message on the consequences of cuts to health care programs.
“People need to know what these Medicaid cuts are doing to our community. They have to know the unfairness of the tax bill that Donald Trump just pushed through, the cult of personality that he has in the U.S. Senate and other places. And we have to carry that message forward,” he said.
An attendee said Colorado “needs” Bennet in the Senate and shared her concerns about finding “someone equally competent” to replace him should he become governor.
“This decision was, for me, a matter of conscience. This was a moral decision,” Bennet said.
“This is not about quitting. It’s not about being worn out. It’s not about giving up. It’s not about even not wanting to spend one more day in the Senate with Ted Cruz, even though I don’t honestly want to do that,” he continued as the audience laughed. “It’s about being in the fight that you want to be in and making sure we can win that together.”
Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs has reached out to Trump about pardon, source says
Sean “Diddy” Combs’ defense team has reached out to Trump seeking a pardon after his conviction on prostitution-related offenses, a source close to the legal team told NBC News today.
In an interview with Newsmax on Friday, Trump said “they have talked to me about Sean” when he was asked about pardons, but Trump did not announce any decision.
The source close to Combs’ legal team confirmed that it has been in contact with Trump.
Combs, a musician and hip-hop mogul, was convicted in July of two counts of interstate prostitution and faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison when he is sentenced in October.
Texas governor sues to remove Texas House Democratic Caucus chair
Gov. Greg Abbott filed an emergency petition today with the Texas Supreme Court to remove state Rep. Gene Wu from office after Wu and other Democrats left the state to delay efforts by Republicans to redraw congressional district lines.
The lawsuit argues that Wu, the Texas House Democratic Caucus chair, violated the state Constitution and that his absence amounted to his abandonment of office.
Wu did not immediately respond to a request for comment this evening.
Abbott said in a statement that Wu and more than 50 other Democrats who left the state had failed to meet quorum requirements in refusing to return.
"Representative Wu and the other Texas House Democrats have shown a willful refusal to return, and their absence for an indefinite period of time deprives the House of the quorum needed to meet and conduct business on behalf of Texans,” Abbott said. “Texas House Democrats abandoned their duty to Texans, and there must be consequences.”
Abbott had warned in a statement Sunday that he would seek Democrats' removal if they weren't present when the House convened the next day.
Michigan Sen. Elissa Slotkin urges fellow Democrats to ‘go nuclear’ in redistricting fight
Sen. Elissa Slotkin, a rising Democratic star from Michigan, told NBC News that Democrats should “go nuclear” to counter Republicans’ push in Texas and other red states to redraw congressional maps in their favor.
Slotkin, a first-term senator who was chosen to deliver the Democratic rebuttal to Trump’s joint address to Congress this year, said Democrats have to fight fire with fire.
“I’m going to urge and encourage blue states like a California or Chicago or Illinois to do the same thing. I don’t want to do that. I want the country to have a completely nonpartisan drawing of the lines based on the census. But if they’re going to do that and go nuclear, so am I,” she said in an interview after her first and only town hall of the August congressional recess last night.
A Republican got jeered at a town hall. He plans to hold more.
Rep. Mike Flood, R-Neb., faced off with a raucous crowd that hurled boos, jeers and middle fingers at him at a town hall in Lincoln yesterday.
He said he has no regrets and would do it all over again.
“I don’t regret it at all,” Flood said in a phone interview today. “Every member of Congress has to do it the way they see fit. But for me, this comes with the territory. And I feel like you got to put yourself in the town square if you want to be a member of Congress for your district.”
“And if you feel strongly about how you’re voting and the choices you’re making,” he added, “you should be able to stand on the town square and be accountable for those votes and tell people why you did it and take their input.”
Trump says FBI 'may have to' get involved in locating and arresting Texas Democrats who left state
Trump said federal authorities "may have to" get involved in locating and arresting Texas Democrats who absconded from the state to block Republicans from moving forward with mid-decade redistricting plans.
Asked by a reporter today whether the federal government and the FBI should get involved in locating and arresting the more than 50 Democratic lawmakers, Trump said, "Well, they may have to, they may have to."
“A lot of people have demanded they come back. You can’t just sit it out. You have to go back. You have to fight it out. That’s what elections are all about," he added.
Yesterday, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott ordered the state’s Department of Public Safety to arrest Texas Democrats who left the state after the Texas House voted to compel the sergeant-at-arms to “send for” the return of the lawmakers “under warrant of arrest, if necessary.”
