Trump says Space Command headquarters is moving from Colorado to Alabama

Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., said today that he surprised his fiancée when he proposed to her on the Hawaiian island of Kauai.

“I don’t think she was expecting something like this till the end of the year, and I spent a lot of time planning, and very creatively, I think at least, I got her to believe that she was sort of giving me a surprise,” he said.

Booker is engaged to Alexis Lewis, a vice president of investments at the real estate investment firm Brasa Capital Management. Before that, according to the firm’s website, she worked in economic policy management for the Los Angeles Mayor’s Office of Economic Development. Lewis received a bachelor of arts degree in marketing from New York University and an M.B.A. from Cornell University.

“I have waited my entire life to meet her, and I’m excited to get married as quickly as possible,” Booker said.

A three-judge panel on the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit ruled 2-1 tonight to reverse the Trump administration's firing of Rebecca Kelly Slaughter, a Democrat on the Federal Trade Commission.

In the majority's ruling, the two judges cited a unanimous Supreme Court ruling 90 years ago upholding the constitutionality of the Federal Trade Commission Act’s for-cause removal protection for commissioners at the agency, which focuses on consumer protection and antitrust laws.

“Over the ensuing decades—and fully informed of the substantial executive power exercised by the Commission—the Supreme Court has repeatedly and expressly left Humphrey’s Executor in place, and so precluded Presidents from removing Commissioners at will,” they wrote.

“To grant a stay would be to defy the Supreme Court’s decisions that bind our judgments. That we will not do," they added.

Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., the chair of the health committee, is holding his cards close to the vest, declining to elaborate after he saidhe will conduct “oversight” of the country’s top health official and a recent shake-up at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Cassidy, a doctor who has been supportive of vaccines, is in a delicate position as the top Republican on the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee who provided a pivotal vote to confirm Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. after having secured assurances on vaccines. Cassidy is also running for re-election next year.

Cassidy declined today to say whether he regrets his vote for Kennedy or whether he has confidence in him after Kennedy triggered CDC Director Susan Monarez’s removal, leading to a spate of resignations by top CDC employees who accused Kennedy of undermining an influential vaccine committee.

“I am reserving judgment because we don’t know who’s right or wrong,” Cassidy told NBC News in the Capitol. “But the president of the United States wants radical transparency. I totally agree with Donald J. Trump. We need radical transparency because what is at stake here is children’s health, and we need to focus on those issues related to children.”

Read the full story here.

Rep. Clay Higgins, R-La., introduced a privileged motion on the House floor tonight to censure Rep. LaMonica McIver, D-N.J., and remove her from the Homeland Security Committee over a confrontation she had in May with law enforcement at an immigration detention center in New Jersey.

House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., has two days to bring the censure resolution up for a vote on the floor, where it will need a simple majority to pass. It will be Higgins’ second time introducing the resolution.

McIver was indicted in June on federal charges in connection with the incident at the Newark detention center. She pleaded not guilty, calling the case “a brazen attempt at political intimidation."

Higgins introduced the censure resolution days after he stepped down from his post on the Homeland Security Committee over what he described in a letter addressed to Johnson as differing views on “core principles and agenda” with the panel's newly elected chairman, Andrew Garbarino, R-N.Y.

Rep. Ashley Hinson, R-Iowa, announced today that she will run for the Senate seat being vacated by Republican Sen. Joni Ernst, who is not seeking re-election.

“I’m all in. I’m running for the United States Senate to fight alongside President Trump and deliver on the America First agenda,” Hinson said on X.

“From securing our border and deporting illegal aliens, to keeping men out of girl’s sports and cutting taxes for working families, I will fight every day for Iowans and our conservative values,” she added.

Ernst said in a video on X earlier today that she will not seek a third term, citing a need to “give back” to her family.

Read the full story here.

A handful of Republicans have signed a discharge petition filed by GOP Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky and Democratic Rep. Ro Khanna of California to force a floor vote to compel the Justice Department to release all files tied to Jeffrey Epstein's case:

• Rep. Nancy Mace of South Carolina
• Rep. Lauren Boebert of Colorado
• Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia

Six women who say they were sex trafficked by Jeffrey Epstein or convicted co-conspirator Ghislaine Maxwell shared a unified message today as they implored the federal government to release more documents related to the case and urged Trump to pledge he won’t pardon Maxwell.

Epstein was a “master manipulator,” said Jess Michaels, who alleges the late financier raped her in 1991 when she was a 22-year-old professional dancer. “That was a strategy that was honed. That was a strategy that no young woman, no teenage girl had a chance — not a chance against his psychopathic skills.”

Epstein accusers call potential Maxwell pardon a 'slap in the face'

03:31

NBC News brought together a panel of women who included accusers and three relatives of Virginia Roberts Giuffre, a prominent Epstein and Maxwell accuser who died by suicide in April.

While all but one of the women have spoken publicly over the years about the sexual abuse they say Epstein perpetrated before his death in 2019, the conversation Tuesday comes at a pivotal moment as Democrats and some Republicans in Congress renew a push to make all investigative files related to him public.

Read the full story here.

The online world had its doubts, but yes, Trump is alive.

Trump’s televised appearance in the Oval Office today doubled as a proof-of-life test for the conspiracy-minded after a week’s worth of speculation that he was gravely ill or worse.

The topic “#Trumpdead” had been trending on X. Yet there he was, indisputably among the living and taking swipes at the usual foils: California Gov. Gavin “Newscum,” the “fake news,” mail-in voting and crime in Democratic-run cities. He even worked in a mention of the once-mighty University of Alabama football team’s losing to Florida State on Saturday.

When did he learn of his demise? a reporter cheekily asked him.

Read the full story here.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent will begin interviewing candidates to be the next Fed chair starting Friday, a person familiar with the plans told NBC News.

There are nearly a dozen candidates on Bessent's list, including Fed officials Michelle Bowman and Christopher Waller, as well as National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett and former central bank officials and economists. Bessent has said his plan is to present Trump with a narrowed-down list in the coming months.

Fed Chair Jerome Powell's term ends in May, but Trump has pushed to name a replacement much earlier than that amid his attacks against Powell and the level of interest rates.

The Fed and the administration are awaiting the outcome of a lawsuit over Trump's attempted firing of Fed governor Lisa Cook. A panel of judges in a separate case ruled Trump's sweeping country-specific tariffs as illegal Friday, most likely leading to more uncertainty for the economy.

Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson said in an MSNBC interview this evening that Trump is "not serious" about combating violence, hours after Trump said federal forces would go into the city at some point.

"If he were, he would be talking to mayors like myself and asking us what’s working. There’s a lot of work to be done," Johnson said.

"He’s trying to get us to submit our humanity to his will. That’s not what we’re going to do in the city of Chicago. We’re going to stand up for working people, make the necessary investments, hold the people accountable who are causing harm. But we need this president to actually show up with real investments," he added.

Trump said "we're going in" when he was asked at the White House today whether he’d be sending National Guard troops to Chicago.

After Trump's remark, Johnson called on him at a news conference alongside Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker this afternoon to "end the mass-trafficking of guns in our city."

The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee released its first batch of documents related to the Jeffrey Epstein case, which the Justice Department handed over in response to a subpoena issued by committee Chair James Comer, R-Ky.

Many of the documents are public filings in the criminal cases involving Epstein associate Ghislaine Maxwell.

Read the developing story here.

D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser today issued an executive order that she said provides a "pathway forward beyond the Presidential emergency" by continuing to work with the Trump administration to combat crime.

The order says that "violent crime in the District has noticeably decreased" since Trump announced his emergency surge of federal law enforcement last month, and it directs continued collaboration between the city and the federal government "to the maximum extent allowable by law" moving forward.

It also establishes an emergency operations center to handle coordination between city and federal agencies.

The order is open-ended. Trump's 30-day emergency order is set to expire in the coming week.

Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., announced on Instagram that he is engaged. A Booker aide told NBC News that his fiancée's name is Alexis Lewis, who works for a real estate investment firm, and that they have been dating for about 16 months. They met on a blind date set up by a mutual friend, the aide says.

“Alexis is one of the greatest unearned blessings of my life. She has transformed me, helping me to ground and center my inner life, and discover the joys of building a nurturing home with someone you love,” Booker wrote. “I’m thrilled to share: Alexis and I are engaged!”

'We're going in': Trump asked about deploying troops to Chicago

01:03

Asked whether he'd be sending the National Guard into Chicago, Trump said, "We‘re going in."

"I didn’t say when, but we’re going in,” he told reporters in the Oval Office.

"This isn't a political thing. I have an obligation. When we lose — 20 people are killed over the last 2½ weeks."

He made similar remarks in an interview earlier in the day on Scott Jennings' radio show, taking aim at Illinois' Democratic governor, JB Pritzker. "The governor doesn't have a clue," Trump said, and Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson is "worse than him."

Trump responds to weekend speculation surrounding his health

01:41

Trump shot down speculation that his health has been poor as he answered reporters’ questions in the Oval Office.

Unfounded conspiracy theories spread over the weekend after Trump went several days without public appearances. Some of the online theories claimed he was seriously ill or potentially even dead.

“About a big viral social media trend over the weekend. How did you find out over the weekend that you were dead?” a reporter jokingly asked Trump, referring to the speculation.

Trump said that he did not see the trend but that he “heard that” and got “reports.”

“I didn’t do any [news conferences] for two days, and they said there must be something wrong with him. Biden wouldn’t do them for months. You wouldn’t see him. And nobody ever said there was ever anything wrong with him, and we know he wasn’t in the greatest of shape,” Trump said.

Trump says he will appeal Friday's ruling that blocked his global country-specific tariffs to the Supreme Court tomorrow.

Trump said he will also request an "expedited ruling."

He said of the ruling that "on a legal basis they have no legal basis whatsoever. But on a commonsense basis, it would destroy America" if tariffs can't continue.

Trump told Salem Radio earlier in the day that the White House would also hold an "emergency meeting" on the topic tomorrow.

Trump announced that U.S. Space Command’s headquarters will move to Alabama from Colorado, reversing a decision President Joe Biden made about its main location.

Trump said at the White House that he was making the shift in part because of Colorado’s mail-in voting system. Colorado holds in-person elections, but every voter automatically receives a mail-in ballot, and the vast majority of voters send in their ballots that way.

“The problem I have with Colorado, one of the big problems, they do mail-in voting, they went to all mail-in voting, so they have automatically crooked elections. And we can’t have that when a state is for mail-in voting. That means they want dishonest elections, because that’s what that means. So that played a big factor also,” Trump said, flanked by members of Congress from Alabama. 

Trump is speaking in the Oval Office now after he announced that U.S. Space Command HQ will relocate to Huntsville, Alabama, from Colorado.

Massie filed a discharge petition this afternoon to force a floor vote compelling the Justice Department to release all of the files from the Jeffrey Epstein case.

It’s one of the first House actions as lawmakers return to Washington from their five-week summer recess. And the issue is sure to dominate Capitol Hill this week, as sexual abuse victims of Epstein — the convicted sex offender who died by suicide in prison in 2019 — meet with key lawmakers today and hold a much-anticipated news conference tomorrow.

Massie and the petition's co-author, Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., said they will begin collecting signatures for their Epstein resolution starting today. They need at least 218 signatures — half the members of the House — to force a vote. Khanna told NBC News he is certain that all 212 Democrats will sign on, along with at least six Republicans.

Read the full story here.

A federal grand jury in Washington declined to indict a woman accused of threatening Trump on social media, another sign of pushback from D.C. residents over the use of federal law enforcement and deployment of National Guard troops in the city.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia accused Nathalie Rose Jones of Indiana of threatening to take the life of the president and transmitting threats over state lines on Instagram and Facebook.

Jones iat the time s accused of calling Trump a “terrorist” and a “Nazi” in a voluntary interview with the Secret Service. She attended a march in Washington on Aug. 16 that went around the White House complex and was then arrested; she said that she had no desire to harm Trump. Friends wrote in letters to the court that Jones has had mental health issues.

Read the full story here.

Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., is meeting with victims of Jeffrey Epstein along with a bipartisan group of members of the House Oversight Committee.

The meeting is taking place in a private setting. It's unclear who is participating.

Victims of Epstein's abuse are also expected to attend a news conference tomorrow morning held by Reps. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., and Ro Khanna, D-Calif., who are trying to force a vote to direct the Justice Department to release the documents from the Epstein case.

U.S. stocks tumbled Tuesday as investors digested new economic data as well as Friday’s ruling that most of President Donald Trump’s sweeping country-specific tariffs are illegal.

The Nasdaq Composite slid more than 1.5% and the S&P 500 dropped more than 1.3% as of midday trading. The Dow Jones Industrial Average also fell more than 500 points.

Read the full story here.

Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, announced today that she is not running for re-election after news of her decision broke last week.

"Now as our family ages and grows, it's my time for me to give back to them," Ernst said in a video posted on X. "After a tremendous amount of prayer and reflection, I will not be seeking re-election in 2026."

Ernst referred to her background in the Iowa National Guard and her first race for Senate in 2014, when she grabbed national headlines for touting her experience castrating pigs.

"Eleven years ago, Iowans elected me as the first female combat veteran to the U.S. Senate, and they did so with a mission in mind: To make Washington squeal. And I’m proud to say we have delivered," Ernst said.

"We’ve cut waste, fraud and abuse across the federal government and reined in overburdensome rules and regulations. We protected the lives of the unborn, prevented violence against women, supported our hard working farmers, families and small businesses, honored and fought for our fellow veterans and strengthen our military and the brave men and women who choose to serve," Ernst added. 

GOP Rep. Ashley Hinson is expected to jump into the race to replace Ernst, and multiple candidates are already running on the Democratic side.

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., said in a letter to the House Democratic Caucus this morning that their members will not accept "partisan" government funding legislation pushed by Republicans.

Jeffries noted that government funding expires at the end of the month and Congress must pass another spending package by Oct. 1 to prevent a shutdown.

"House Democrats have repeatedly made clear that we are prepared to pass a bipartisan spending bill in advance of this deadline," he wrote.

"However, any agreement must meet the needs of the American people in terms of their health, safety, national security and economic well-being," Jeffries wrote. "We will not rubber stamp partisan Republican legislation that hurts everyday Americans and continues their unprecedented attack on healthcare."

Trump is demanding that pharmaceutical companies release data about the success rate of their Covid drugs. NBC News’ Garrett Haake reports on the president’s demand and how it fits into the administration’s approach to health care.

Trump demands pharmaceutical companies release Covid drug success rates

02:38

Seventy people were arrested in D.C. overnight as a result of the federal takeover of law enforcement activities, including 27 undocumented immigrants, a White House official said today.

The official said many of those arrested had prior criminal histories, including assault, driving while intoxicated, fraud and burglary charges, but did not give an exact number or more details on the allegations.

Others arrested yesterday include someone who allegedly assaulted a 77-year-old woman and stole her purse, another person who allegedly choked a victim in a domestic dispute, another who allegedly assaulted a police officer, and three people who had warrants for their arrests.

Law enforcement officers also seized three firearms, the official said.

In all, there have been 1,669 arrests since the federal action was launched on Aug. 7, the official said.

Gregory Bovino, the Border Patrol official who led immigration enforcement efforts in Los Angeles, will be the lead field commander heading up operations in Chicago this month, two federal law enforcement sources familiar with the decision said.

Bovino is the Border Patrol chief of the El Centro, Texas, sector. His role in the Chicago operation indicates the Trump administration may want to use the same aggressive tactics there.

In Los Angeles, Bovino coordinated Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers, Border Patrol agents and Justice Department agents to increase arrests, beginning with the June 6 sweep through the garment district, and most recently, Operation Trojan Horse, in which Border Patrol agents jumped out of a Penske truck in a Home Depot parking lot to make arrests.

Bovino is also known for social media posts in which he criticizes Democratic officials and publishes highly edited videos of Border Patrol agents arresting immigrants set to music. 

California Gov. Gavin Newsom is launching an aggressive ad campaign today to boost his quest to revamp the state’s congressional maps in response to Republican maneuvering in Texas.

The initiative — which will involve 10 ads across television and digital by the week’s end — is the first major push by Newsom’s ballot measure committee aimed at blanketing Democrats with information on the remap question, called Prop 50, and driving out turnout for the Nov. 4 special election. In all, the undertaking — including ground organization and ads — could cost some $100 million.

Read the full story here.

Lawmakers are back on Capitol Hill facing a long to-do list, including tackling Trump’s crime crackdown and funding the government to avoid another government shutdown as money runs out at the end of the month. It comes as Jeffrey Epstein survivors are expected on Capitol Hill to tell their stories and as senators look for answers from Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on why he pushed out the director of the CDC. NBC’s Ryan Nobles reports for "TODAY."

Congress back in Washington with 4 major issues on the table

01:47

Sen. Lisa Murkowski slammed the White House's plans to withdraw nearly $5 billion in funding that was approved by Congress.

"I strongly object to the Office of Management and Budget’s unlawful attempt to pursue a nearly $5 billion pocket rescission," Murkowski, R-Alaska, said in a post on X. "Congress alone bears the constitutional responsibility for funding our government, and any effort to claw back resources outside of the appropriations process undermines that responsibility."

Murkowski argued that the move would "only threaten the good bipartisan work that has been done in committee and on the floor, and risk throwing the entire process into chaos."

Her criticism comes after Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, slammed the so-called rescissions package last week, saying that "any effort to rescind appropriated funds without congressional approval is a clear violation of the law."

Rudy Giuliani, the former New York mayor and personal lawyer for Trump, has been discharged from a New Hampshire hospital after being injured in a car crash over the weekend, his spokesman said in a statement this morning.

“Mayor Giuliani is progressing well following the motor vehicle accident that occurred Saturday evening, shortly after the mayor and I stopped to help what appeared to be a person in need of immediate assistance," said the spokesman, Ted Goodman.

"He has been discharged from the hospital and appreciates the love, well wishes and prayers,” he added

Giuliani’s head of security, Michael Ragusa, said Sunday that Giuliani sustained injuries including a spinal fracture after he was “struck from behind at high speed” while riding as a passenger in a vehicle on a highway in New Hampshire.

The president is expected to announce this afternoon that U.S. Space Command’s headquarters will move from Colorado Springs, Colorado, to Huntsville, Alabama, two defense officials said. Two other sources familiar with the White House’s plans confirmed the 2 p.m. Oval Office announcement today would indeed focus on U.S. Space Command.

The site of the command’s headquarters has been something of a political football, reaching back across the last two administrations, with the Colorado and Alabama congressional delegations jostling to land the site.

Last week Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey seemed to tease the decision, saying she had been in touch with the president and was “very optimistic” the move would soon be announced. 

U.S. stocks and bonds fell sharply this morningy, with the S&P 500 sliding more than 1.2%, the Nasdaq falling 1.4% and the Dow Jones Industrial Average falling about 400 points.

U.S. Treasury yields also rose to highs not seen for months. The higher that the yields are, the more costly it is for the U.S. government to borrow money.

Those moves came after a panel of judges ruled Friday that most of Trump's sweeping country-specific tariffs are illegal. However, tariffs can stay in place while the legal process plays out.

The ruling has raised concerns that the U.S. might have to refund more than $120 billion in tariff revenue collected so far this year. That amount of refunds could force the government to tap the markets to borrow more money and would mean that the tariff funds are not helping to reduce the country's debt.

More than 450 economists from private industry and academia have signed an “open letter” to Trump and Congress expressing "our strong support for Federal Reserve Board Governor Lisa Cook and for the longstanding principle of central bank independence.”

Some of the notable signatories include Trevon Logan, an economics professor at Ohio State University who has co-written a number of papers with Cook; former Fed economists Claudia Sahm and Julia Coronado; former chairs of the White House Council of Economic Advisers Christina Romer (under Barack Obama), Jared Bernstein (under Joe Biden) and Joseph Stiglitz (under Bill Clinton).

"Good economic policy requires credible monetary institutions," the letter says. "Credible monetary institutions, in turn, require the independence of the Federal Reserve. A large body of research confirms that countries with more independent central banks achieve better economic outcomes."

Cook is suing Trump over what she is calling his "unprecedented and illegal" effort to remove her from the Fed.

Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., is expected to file a discharge petition this afternoon to try to force a floor vote on requiring the Department of Justice to hand over files related to the Jeffrey Epstein case.

Massie had originally introduced the petition in July with Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif.; now that Congress is back from recess, they will need to gather 218 signatures to force the vote.

House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., has rejected the effort, arguing that the DOJ is already cooperating with the House Oversight Committee.

GOP leaders have also added a bill to the list of legislation the House will consider this week that would direct the House Oversight Committee to “continue its ongoing investigation into the possible mismanagement of the Federal government’s investigation of Mr. Jeffrey Epstein and Ms. Ghislaine Maxwell.”

The bill is unnecessary from an investigative standpoint because the Oversight Committee does not need the full House to approve or direct its efforts. The legislation could be a way for the speaker to placate members of the party who would like to see members vote on something Epstein-related amid criticism from Democrats who have been pushing for the release of the files.

Rep. Jerry Nadler, D-N.Y., released a statement detailing his decision not to seek re-election after decades in Congress.

"This decision has not been easy," he said. "But I know in my heart it is the right one and that it is the right time to pass the torch to a new generation."

Nadler laid out his career highlights, including legislation "on voting rights, women’s rights, LGBTQ2+ rights, immigration and gun safety," he said.

Nadler told The New York Times, which first reported the news of his retirement, that "watching the Biden thing really said something about the necessity for generational change in the party, and I think I want to respect that."

A federal grand jury sitting in Washington declined to return an indictment against a woman whom the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia accused of threatening to take the life of the president and transmitting threats over state lines on Instagram and Facebook.

Nathalie Rose Jones of Indiana allegedly threatened Trump and called him a “terrorist” and a “Nazi” in a voluntary interview with the Secret Service. She attended a march Aug. 16 that went around the White House complex and was then arrested, although she said she had no present desire to harm Trump.

In a motion yesterday, her defense attorneys disclosed that a grand jury didn’t indict Jones.

“A grand jury has now found no probable cause to indict Ms. Jones on the charged offenses,” her federal public defenders wrote.

Friends wrote that Jones had mental health issues. 

NBC News reported last week that a federal grand jury declined to indict a former Justice Department employee who was seen on camera throwing a hoagie at the chest of a federal officer deployed in the nation’s capital.

A federal judge in California today ruled that the Trump administration violated a 19th-century law when it mobilized 4,000 National Guard troops and 700 Marines to Los Angeles in June.

Lawyers representing California argued during a three-day trial last month that Trump had exceeded his authority by deploying federal troops after thousands of protesters took to the streets of downtown L.A. to protest his immigration policies. 

Read the full story here.

Republican Jack Ciattarelli has launched his first TV ad of the general election in New Jersey governor’s race, one of two gubernatorial contests this year. In the ad, Ciattarelli looks to head off attempts to tie him to Trump and links his Democratic opponent, Rep. Mikie Sherrill, to the state’s current Democratic governor, Phil Murphy.

“We all know it. New Jersey’s a mess, and all Mikie Sherrill wants to talk about is President Trump,” Ciattarelli says in the ad in a quintessential New Jersey diner. “Come on, what does the president have to do with rising property taxes and higher electricity bills?” 

“New Jersey’s a mess because out-of-touch politicians like Phil Murphy and Mikie Sherrill care more about pronouns and sanctuary cities than they do solving our problems,” Ciattarelli says. “That changes when I’m governor. I’ll lower electricity bills, cut and cap property taxes, and keep our community safe. Folks, it’s time to fix New Jersey. When I’m governor, we will.” 

Sherrill is also hitting the airwaves this week, with her ad buy set to start tomorrow, according to AdImpact. 

Trump is set to make an announcement from the Oval Office today focused on defense, a senior White House official said.

The White House has not provided further details.

The year’s lone pair of gubernatorial elections are only two months away, providing one of the biggest tests for both parties since the 2024 presidential contest.

In New Jersey, Democrat Mikie Sherrill and Republican Jack Ciattarelli are locked in a competitive race that has been defined by affordability issues and the popularity of Trump and Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy.

In Virginia, Democrat Abigail Spanberger has seen success in polls by blasting Republican Winsome Earle-Sears over Trump’s massive tax cut and spending law and putting economic issues at the forefront of her message. But Earle-Sears, the state’s lieutenant governor, seems to have made up ground during the summer, with early voting kicking off in just over two weeks.

Read the full story here.

Trump pointed to crime in Chicago over the holiday weekend, claiming in a post on Truth Social that Chicago is "the worst and most dangerous city in the World, by far."

"Pritzker needs help badly, he just doesn’t know it yet," he said, referring to Illinois' governor. "I will solve the crime problem fast, just like I did in DC. Chicago will be safe again, and soon."

Trump has previously floated sending troops to Chicago as he did in Washington, D.C. Many D.C. residents have criticized Trump's deployment of troops in the city as unnecessary and an overreach.

An Axios analysis of FBI crime data found that Chicago’s homicide rate is the 20th highest in the country.

Protesters in Washington, D.C., pushed back against Trump’s use of federal forces on Labor Day as crowds in Chicago demand he not expand his federal law enforcement surge there. The president also faces questions over his vaccine policy after he appeared to question the effectiveness of the Covid shots, which were first developed during his first term. NBC’s Garrett Haake reports for the "TODAY" show.

Protesters push back against Trump’s use of federal forces

02:52

The battle lines are being redrawn literally and figuratively for Trump’s second and final midterm election, as the contest for the House of Representatives heats up this summer with showdowns over redistricting and Trump’s big, new law pushing his domestic agenda.

August saw the beginning of a heated national fight over attempts to redraw congressional districts in various states, after Texas Republicans moved to eliminate as many as five Democratic-held seats and California Democrats moved to counter them. It means that the 2026 battlefield of competitive House races is shrinking even as the fight for the majority intensifies.

Read the full story here.

Longtime Democratic Rep. Jerry Nadler, a liberal lion and the longest-serving member of Congress from New York, will not seek re-election.

Nadler represents a significant swath of the borough of Manhattan and had served as the chair and ranking member of the powerful House Judiciary Committee, which put him at the center of three presidential impeachments.

Read the full story here.

A government shutdown deadline, a standoff over Trump’s nominees and a renewed clash over the Jeffrey Epstein files await Congress as it returns today after a monthlong August recess.

The top item on the agenda is the government funding deadline of Sept. 30 to avoid a shutdown. An unusual Republican and Democratic pairing say they believe they’ll have the support they need to force a House vote requiring the Justice Department to release the Epstein files. And Republicans are hatching plans to change Senate rules to speed up confirmation of Trump’s personnel, amid drama over the firing and exodus of top public health officials from the Trump administration.

Read the full story here.