Senate committee advances Trump's Federal Reserve nominee

The U.S. Secret Service said it initiated an internal review and one of its employees was placed on administrative leave after a guest brought a firearm into Trump's Virginia golf club last month while he was on site.

“The Secret Service initiated an internal review into employee conduct after a member of a Virginia golf club notified the agency that they inadvertently brought their firearm into a protective site on August 31," the agency said in a statement today.

"Video surveillance indicates the club member was never in close physical proximity to the President’s location at any point while at the golf club," it added.

Ahead of Sergio Gor’s confirmation hearing to be U.S. ambassador to India, New Delhi’s envoy to Washington offered a rare public show of support, signaling a priority on mending U.S.-India relations strained by recent tensions over trade and differences over Russia’s Ukraine war. 

Gor, a powerful Trump aide who now serves as the president’s personnel director, is set to appear before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Thursday.

India’s ambassador to the U.S., Vinay Mohan Kwatra, wrote on X that Gor’s appointment “is viewed as a sign of importance and priority of India-U.S ties, and a commitment to strengthen the bridges and deepen the bonds of friendship between our two countries.” 

The statement comes as the relationship faces new strains. U.S. tariffs have pushed India to explore closer economic ties with China and Russia, straining the strategic partnership. Images last week of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi holding hands with Vladimir Putin and speaking warmly with Xi Jinping drew concern in Washington, with one administration official telling NBC News the optics were “not great.”

Speaker Johnson will swear in James Walkinshaw this afternoon after he won the special election last night to fill the seat left vacant by the death of Virginia Rep. Gerry Connolly. 

Walkinshaw, a Democrat, had asked to be sworn in today.  

This will bring the total number of members in the House to 432, with 219 Republicans and 213 Democrats. This means that if all members vote, Republicans can afford only two defections to gain a majority.

Lawmakers are now considering whether to advance a bill that would impose penalties for “camping outdoors on public property” in D.C., which would effectively affect homeless people who sleep in tents.

Rep. Robert Garcia, D-Calif., said he strongly opposed the bill, arguing that it criminalized homelessness. The bill would impose a maximum $500 fine or imprisonment for up to 30 days for someone who sleeps outside in a tent in D.C., the bill summary details.

"A bill that makes it a crime to be unhoused or poor is wrong and immoral," Garcia said, going on to emphasize that someone living in a tent cannot pay a $500 fine.

Rep. William Timmons, R-S.C., sponsored the bill and argued that it was immoral to allow people to sleep outside, like under bridges.

"This is not going to result in criminal penalties," he asserted. "This is going to give law enforcement the tool to get these people the help that they need."

The Labor Department has announced an inquiry into the Bureau of Labor Statistics over recent changes to its data practices.

In a letter published today, the office of the inspector general for the Labor Department cited BLS’s recent decision to reduce data collection activities for two key inflation reports, as well as the large downward revision in employment estimates it announced Tuesday. It said it is reviewing the “challenges” the agency has faced “in collecting and reporting closely watched economic data.”

The probe comes one month after Trump fired the head of the BLS as part of a broader pressure campaign that critics say has risked politicizing a part of the government that has long played a crucial role in the business world. BLS, which is tasked with collecting data on economic indicators such as jobs and inflation, had generally been left alone by previous administrations.

Read the full story here.

BENSENVILLE, Ill. — U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi and Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. were in the Chicago area today to announce joint seizure operations of illicit vaping sales — a move that comes as the White House has been threatening to send the military into the city.

The operation, by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and the Food and Drug Administration, was executed across six states Wednesday morning and targeted five distributors and nine retailers with civil enforcement action.

Bondi and Kennedy were both present at the site of the largest seizure in Bensenville, Ill., where 600,000 units of illegal product was seized.

Read the full story here.

Three former top FBI officials have sued FBI Director Kash Patel and Attorney General Pam Bondi, saying their firings were mandated by the White House and Department of Justice and that Patel followed their orders to keep his job.

Patel, the suit claimed, “explained he had to fire the people his superiors told him to fire, because his ability to keep his own job depended on the removal of the agents who worked on cases involving the President. Patel explained that there was nothing he or Driscoll could do to stop these or any other firings, because ‘the FBI tried to put the President in jail and he hasn’t forgotten it.’”

Read the full story here.

As Trump's federalization of the D.C. police reaches its 30-day endpoint today, a White House spokesperson said the president had "transformed" Washington with the surge of federal law enforcement and National Guard troops to the area.

“In a short period of time, President Trump has transformed DC from a crime-ridden mess into a beautiful, clean, safe city," White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson said in a statement. "Federal law enforcement officers, in close coordination with local partners, have removed countless dangerous criminals and illegal drugs from the streets, they have arrested MS-13 and TdA gang members, and they have helped rescue missing children."

"D.C. today is far safer than it was a month ago thanks to President Trump’s bold leadership. The Trump Administration looks forward to continued coordination with local leaders and encourages other Democrats to follow Mayor Bowser’s lead," Johnson said.

Sen. Maggie Hassan, D-N.H., a member of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions, is requesting an independent analysis of the potential health and economic costs of Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s “abrupt cancellation” of nearly $500 million in mRNA-related research and development contracts from the Center for Infectious Disease Modeling and Analysis at the Yale School of Public Health.

In a letter to the center shared exclusively with NBC News, Hassan is seeking a comprehensive assessment of how Kennedy’s abandonment of the research could impact American lives and health.

“I am deeply concerned about the impacts of the Secretary’s decision to cease mRNA research, especially for Americans of all ages who live with cancer and other diseases that could soon be treated or even cured with mRNA,” wrote Hassan. “The mRNA vaccine platform is one of the most powerful new medical technologies to be discovered and used in the last decade.”

Hassan said that funding for research could be used to develop treatments and cures for deadly diseases, including cancer.

Rep. Yassamin Ansari, D-Ariz., criticized Trump as "a dictator" during her remarks introducing an amendment during a markup of D.C. crime-related legislation by the House Oversight Committee.

"He has deployed the U.S. military to its streets because he wants to feel powerful, because he is a dictator and he wants to deflect from the fact that the biggest criminal in this city is himself, sitting and occupying the White House at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue," she said.

Ansari's comments were met with light applause.

After his floor speech this morning, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., made a surprise procedural move to force a vote on an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act that would require the Justice Department to release all of the Epstein files within 30 days of passage. 

It’s not clear when the vote will happen, and the vote could instead wind up being on a Republican motion to table the amendment. But the vote will be significant either way because Senate Republicans have largely avoided voting on the issue of the Epstein Files.

The Senate is currently plodding through consideration of the defense bill, which is not expected to be completed this week. 

Schumer’s office says the amendment he brought to the floor is identical to one Reps. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., and Ro Khanna, R-Calif., introduced in the House.

Democrat James Walkinshaw, who won a special election last night in a deep-blue House district in Virginia, said today that he plans to sign a discharge petition in Congress that would force a vote on legislation to require the Trump administration to release the Epstein files.

"I will sign the discharge petition today" if sworn in, Walkinshaw told MSNBC today.

He added that he expects to be the 217th House member to sign the petition, led by Democratic Rep. Ro Khanna and Republican Rep. Thomas Massie. The petition needs 218 votes to be approved in the House.

"My hope is I’ll be the 218th signature because one of my Republican colleagues finds their conscience today," he added.

A total of 133 people were arrested in D.C. last night as part of the federal law-enforcement crackdown in the city, a White House official said.

The official said that includes 30 undocumented immigrants, and that many of those arrested had prior criminal histories and prior criminal arrests for felony assault and battery on a law enforcement officers, identity theft, driving under the influence, and soliciting prostitution.

The official did not release detailed information about how many of those arrested had records, or what the outcomes of their prior arrests had been.

The other arrests included a person who had a warrant for assault with intent to kill while armed, another who was arrested for theft, and one who was arrested for assaulting a police officer. Details on those arrests were not released either.

In all, there have 2,310 arrests since the operation was launched last month, the official said.

The president will head to the United Kingdom for a state visit alongside the first lady next week, Buckingham Palace said in a statement today.

The Trumps "will pay a State Visit to the United Kingdom as the guests of Their Majesties The King and Queen, from Wednesday 17th September to Thursday 18th September 2025," the statement said, adding that they will stay at Windsor Castle.

The trip would be Trump's second state visit to the United Kingdom, which is unprecedented. No American president has ever been invited for a second state visit to the country, although Trump was elected to two nonconsecutive terms.

When former Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama visited the U.K. in their second terms, they were invited to meals with the royal family.

During a House Oversight Committee meeting to consider D.C. crime-related legislation, Rep. Maxwell Frost, D-Fla., clashed with Rep. Clay Higgins, R-La., over the crime rates in Louisiana.

Frost argued that "you are more likely to be shot standing on a random street in your state than you are in Washington, D.C." He asked where was Higgins' bill addressing safety in his own state, prompting Higgins to say he supported states' rights and his state's efforts to address crime.

The two ultimately talked over each other, with Frost trying to reclaim his allotted time to speak.

"You're here because you're lapdogs to the president of the United States," Frost said.

Higgins asked for the words to be taken down, prompting the committee chairman, James Comer, R-Ky., to call a short recess. Frost ultimately asked to withdraw his remark.

FDA Commissioner Marty Makary argued in an interview on CNN this morning that the federal government has not imposed regulatory barriers preventing accessing the Covid vaccine despite concerns over the FDA only authorizing shots for seniors, children and adults with medical conditions.

“There is absolutely no regulatory barrier preventing somebody from getting it whatsoever. Now you can’t get it at every Starbucks, but there is no rule that somebody cannot get it,” Makary said.

Starbucks did assist with Washington state's vaccine rollout in 2021.

New Mexico will become the first state in the country to begin offering free universal child care, Democratic Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham announced.

The move amounts to an expansion of an existing program that went into effect three years earlier that has aided thousands of families in the state.

Read the full story here.

Trump weighed in this morning on Russia's violation of Poland's airspace with drones today as it attacked Ukraine.

"What’s with Russia violating Poland’s airspace with drones? Here we go!" he wrote on Truth Social.

Poland, with the help of NATO allies, shot down the drones.

Trump is expected to speak with Polish President Karol Nowrocki at some point today, a White House official told NBC News, as the White House closely monitors the situation.

Trump said trade talks with India were continuing, suggesting a reset after weeks of tension with India and its leader Narendra Modi over issues including the doubling of U.S. tariffs to 50% as punishment for buying Russian oil.

“I am pleased to announce that India, and the United States of America, are continuing negotiations to address the Trade Barriers between our nations,” Trump said yesterday in a Truth Social post. “I look forward to speaking with my very good friend, Prime Minister Modi, in the upcoming weeks.” 

“I feel certain that there will be no difficulty in coming to a successful conclusion for both of our Great Countries!” he added. 

Responding in a post today on X, Modi said the U.S. and India were “close friends and natural partners” and that he was also looking forward to speaking with Trump. “I am confident that our trade negotiations will pave the way for unlocking the limitless potential of the India-U.S. partnership,” he wrote.

Rep. Robert Garcia, D-Calif., condemned a Republican bill that would establish a "D.C. Safe and Beautiful Commission," codifying an executive order by Trump to form a task force aimed at refurbishing and fighting crime in the nation's capital.

"The people of D.C. need more ability to make their own future and control their own community, not less," said Garcia, the top Democrat on the House Oversight Committee.

He criticized the impact of the bill on deportation efforts in the city, saying, "We do not need to be supporting efforts where masked men are kidnapping people and residents off the streets."

Rep. John McGuire, R-Va., who helped spearhead the bill, criticized those who called the bill "extreme," arguing that people were dying.

"The bottom line is people are dying," he said, pointing to crime in the city. "So this is not extreme, this is required. We must keep the American people safe."

Trump's 30-day federal takeover of the D.C. police will lapse after today.

Rep. Garcia: Trump and Republicans' actions on D.C. are 'blatant power grab'

00:49

Rep. Robert Garcia, D-Calif., slammed GOP legislative efforts targeting crime in the capital, arguing Republicans were "pushing a blatant power grab by hijacking authority from local Washington, D.C. leaders and residents."

He accused Congress of trying to use the capital "as a political prop." His comments came during a hearing over GOP efforts to consider crime-related legislation.

"Quite frankly, if the president is so obsessed with governing D.C., he should step down as president and run for mayor," said Garcia, who is the top Democrat on the House Oversight Committee.

The Senate Banking Committee advanced to the full Senate the nomination of Stephen Miran to fill an open seat on the Federal Reserve's Board of Governors.

The panel reported his nomination favorably out of committee in a party-line 13-11 vote.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., top Democrat on the committee, sharply criticized Miran moments before the vote over his refusal to resign as chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers if confirmed to the Fed.

"He will be sitting down the street from the White House, and he has refused to disclose any of the communications he has with the president or the White House while he’s at the Fed," Warren said, adding that his position would be an "obvious Trump loyalty test."

"He knows that every vote he takes determines whether he can go back to his White House job — that is not independence, that is servitude," she said. "He will have zero credibility with markets, zero credibility with businesses, and zero credibility with the public."

Former Vice President Kamala Harris opened up about former President Joe Biden’s decision to seek re-election in her forthcoming campaign memoir, writing that deferring to the Bidens to make the decision on their own was “recklessness.”

“‘It’s Joe and Jill’s decision.’ We all said that, like a mantra, as if we’d all been hypnotized,” Harris said.

“Was it grace, or was it recklessness? In retrospect, I think it was recklessness,” she continued. “The stakes were simply too high. This wasn’t a choice that should have been left to an individual’s ego, an individual’s ambition. It should have been more than a personal decision.”

The comments in Harris’ upcoming book “107 Days” mark her harshest criticism of the Bidens’ circle yet, laying bare divisions in the White House and grappling with the former president’s decision to seek a second term despite widespread concerns over his age. 

Harris opens up about Biden’s decision to run for re-election

00:39

Read the full story here.

Trump called this morning for the suspect accused of fatally stabbing a 23-year-old Ukrainian refugee on a train in Charlotte, North Carolina, to face the death penalty.

"The ANIMAL who so violently killed the beautiful young lady from Ukraine, who came to America searching for peace and safety, should be given a 'Quick' (there is no doubt!) Trial, and only awarded THE DEATH PENALTY. There can be no other option!!!" Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social.

The suspect, Decarlos Brown Jr., who's been accused of fatally stabbing Iryna Zarutska in August, was charged yesterday with the federal crime of committing an act causing death on a mass transportation system. The Department of Justice said that if convicted, he could either face life in prison without parole or the death penalty.

Court records show that Brown has a criminal history spanning more than a decade and some have questioned whether he has mental health issues.

Even before his second term began, Trump called for expanded use of the death penalty across the country. After he was sworn in, he signed an executive order that directed the attorney general to pursue the death penalty “for all crimes of a severity demanding its use.”

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. released a new report on kids’ health yesterday that provides recommendations to help curb childhood illnesses, but while many health officials agree with the problems raised by Kennedy, there is some question about how much substance there is around his proposals to address them. NBC’s Ryan Nobles reports for "TODAY."

RFK Jr. releases child health report without clear policy change

02:20

Sens. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., and Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., are renewing their call for the U.S. to ramp up sanctions on Russia after its recent strike on Kyiv.

In a statement from the senators, who serve as co-chairs of the Senate NATO Observer Group, they said that Russia "deliberately struck EU diplomatic facilities and other Western assets in Kyiv — a calculated provocation against America’s allies."

They said that as Russian President Vladimir Putin escalates the war in Ukraine, the U.S. "appears to be cutting back" certain programs, such as some that are "lifelines for NATO’s eastern flank."

"The message this sends is dangerous: that the United States is pulling back just as the stakes in Ukraine and for NATO’s security are at their highest," they said. "Our adversaries are taking note that they can wait out American support — that does not make America safer."

Poland also said earlier today that during an attack on Ukraine, Russian drones had entered the NATO countrty's airspace and were shot down.

Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor was a guest on “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” last night and discussed her dissent in a recent Supreme Court ruling that lifted limits on roving immigration patrols in the Los Angeles area.

The Senate Banking Committee will vote this morning on the nomination of Stephen Miran to fill a vacant seat on the Federal Reserve's Board of Governors.

Democrats have been demanding that he resign from his job as chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers if he's confirmed by the Senate. Miran, however, testified last week that he plans only to take a leave of absence from his current job instead of resigning.

The Council of Economic Advisers is an agency within the White House that advises the president on economic policy, while the Federal Reserve is supposed to maintain independence within the government. If confirmed, Miran would hold a spot on the Federal Open Market Committee, which sets interest rates and the Federal Reserve is soon expected to cut them.

Trump nominated Stephen Miran in August to fill the seat of Adriana Kugler, who resigned early from her 14-year term that expires in January. At that point, Miran would need to be re-nominated and re-confirmed in order to continue to serve on the board.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth spoke with his Chinese counterpart via video teleconference from the Pentagon yesterday, according to two U.S. officials familiar with the call. 

Chief Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell later confirmed the call, saying the two officials "exchanged views in a candid and constructive manner."

"Secretary Hegseth made clear that the United States does not seek conflict with China nor is it pursuing regime change or strangulation of the PRC," Parnell said. "At the same time, however, he forthrightly relayed that the U.S. has vital interests in the Asia-Pacific, the priority theater, and will resolutely protect those interests." 

This is the first time Hegseth is known to have spoken with Chinese Defense Minister Dong Jun. There was potential for them to meet at the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore in May, but Dong did not attend, instead sending a delegation of other officials. 

At the conference, Hegseth called on U.S. allies in the Indo-Pacific to increase their defense spending to counter the threat from China. 

“There’s no reason to sugarcoat it. The threat China poses is real, and it could be imminent,” Hegseth said.

Republican Vivek Ramaswamy has landed another labor endorsement in his bid to be Ohio’s next governor.

The Central Midwest Regional Council of Carpenters, which represents 37,000 trade workers in Ohio, Indiana and Kentucky announced its support for the Trump-backed candidate today.

“The CMRCC appreciates your commitment and support to our member’s priorities and values,” Jason Clark, the group's senior political adviser, wrote in an endorsement letter to Ramaswamy that was shared first with NBC News. “Your leadership and dedication to stand shoulder to shoulder with the men and women we represent is well documented. We look forward to working with you and further strengthening our relationship.”

It’s the third union endorsement in recent weeks for Ramaswamy, an unsuccessful presidential candidate in 2024 who later helped Trump and Elon Musk establish the federal Department of Government of Efficiency. In recent days the biotech entrepreneur has also secured support from the Northwest Ohio Building & Construction Trades Council and the Cleveland Building & Construction Trades Council.

“The carpenters, millwrights and skilled tradespeople of Ohio represent the engine that drives our economy,” Ramaswamy said in a statement shared by his campaign. “As governor, I will work to expand vocational training, partner with CMRCC on their priorities, and invest in infrastructure so that union workers and all Ohioans can thrive.”

Poland said a number of Russian drones entered its airspace during an attack on Ukraine early Wednesday and were shot down with the help of NATO allies, a first since Moscow’s full -scale invasion of its neighbor.

Leaders across Europe condemned the incident as the latest sign of escalation from the Kremlin, which has rebuffed President Donald Trump’s bid to broker peace talks.

Russia labeled the accusations “groundless.”

Damage to a home in Wyryki, Poland, following the downing of several Russian drones today. Kacper Pempel / Reuters

Read the full story here.

Trump told reporters last night that he plans to announce a crime crackdown in another city “probably tomorrow.”

He made the remarks as he was lauding his administration’s crackdown in Washington while he was going into dinner at tJoe’s Seafood, Prime Steak and Stone Crab in downtown D.C.

He added that he loved working with Democratic D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser and Police Chief Pamela Smith. Fellow Democrats rebuked Bowser last month after she said crime in the district has gone down since Trump’s surge of federal law enforcement in the city.

A bipartisan group of staffers from the House Oversight Committee will travel to New York City today to meet with lawyers for Jeffrey Epstein’s estate and view unredacted versions of the documents the estate is turning over to the committee, according to a source familiar with the visit.

NBC News has reported that materials the estate is transmitting are redacted but that the committee staff members will be able to view the original unredacted versions in person.

“As agreed with the Committee, the Co-Executors will make the original ‘birthday book’ and unredacted versions of documents, records and other materials available to Committee members and their staff for their personal examination and review,” the lawyers for the Epstein estate wrote in their production cover letter to the committee yesterday.

The lawyers referred to the materials transmitted yesterday as the “first production of documents.”

Trump’s rare outing to a local restaurant last night got off to a rocky start tonight when he came face to face with protesters.

Trump, accompanied by Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and other administration officials, arrived by motorcade at Joe’s Seafood, Prime Steak and Stone Crab less than a quarter-mile from the White House.

Trump briefly spoke to reporters on the street outside the restaurant, where he was met with cheers and some chants of “free Palestine.”

Once he was inside, as he greeted restaurant patrons, a group of protesters holding Palestinian flags began chanting, “Free D.C., free Palestine, Trump is the Hitler of our time.”

Read the full story here.

A federal judge granted a temporary restraining order blocking Trump’s firing of Federal Reserve governor Lisa Cook for now.

Yesterday's ruling means Cook will remain on the board of the central bank until her case is heard at length. She is allowed to continue carrying out her work during that time.

Read the full story here.

Democrat James Walkinshaw has won Virginia’s deep-blue 11th Congressional District, NBC News projects, an expected win for his party that adds another Democrat to the narrowly divided House of Representatives.

The seat that had been vacant since Rep. Gerry Connolly, who had esophageal cancer, died in May at age 75. Walkinshaw spent a decade as a top aide to Connolly.

Democrats will have 213 representatives in the House once Walkinshaw is sworn in, while Republicans have 219 representatives, with three seats still vacant because of deaths and resignations. A number of key votes loom on the horizon.

Read the full story here.