A recap of in a single day occasions in DC
Because the federal takeover of the DC police and deployment of nationwide guard troops entered its fourth night time, right here’s a recap of what occurred in a single day.
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The US legal professional normal, Pam Bondi, ended DC’s “sanctuary insurance policies”. In a directive signed yesterday, she rescinded earlier orders – together with one from the DC police chief, Pamela Smith – that Bondi’s workplace says “restricted” the Metropolitan police division (MPD) from working with federal officers. Bondi has now scrapped guidelines which stop DC police from arresting individuals “solely for federal immigration warrants” and “restricted sure data from being shared with federal authorities,” a justice division spokesperson stated.
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Bondi additionally stripped energy away from Smith, the police chief, and appointed Terry Cole – who leads the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) – as “emergency police commissioner”. In line with her order, the MPD “should obtain approval from Commissioner Cole” earlier than issuing any additional directives.
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And in the present day, the DC authorities introduced it’s suing the Trump administration for its takeover of the DC police. The district’s legal professional normal, Brian Schwalb, wrote: “Part 740 of the Residence Rule Act permits the President to request MPD’s companies … Even when Part 740 is lawfully invoked, the Residence Rule Act retains operational management of MPD with the Mayor and Chief, and the President should request MPD companies via the Mayor.” He added that the federal authorities’s actions are “openly illegal” and “infringe on the District’s proper to self-governance”.
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In the meantime, federal legislation enforcement started conducting sweeps of homeless encampments. Crews tore down a serious encampment close to the Kennedy Heart on Thursday, eradicating residents and clearing out the remaining encampments throughout the town. My colleague Kirstin Garriss has more on the latest here.
Key occasions
Trump confirms plans for ‘economically extreme’ sanctions if Russia would not transfer on Ukraine
My colleague, Jakub Krupa, is bringing you the latest as Donald Trump heads to Alaska to fulfill with Russian president Vladimir Putin in the present day. It’s onerous to stress the stakes of this summit, significantly because the world watches.
Jakub reviews that the president wrapped a gaggle with the press aboard Air Drive One a short time in the past.
Just a few of the important thing strains right here:
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On persevering with Russian assaults on Ukraine, Trump says he thinks Putin “is making an attempt to set a stage” and “in his thoughts that helps him make a greater deal.” However the president says “it truly hurts him, and I can be speaking to him about it.”
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Trump additionally affirms his chief goal of in the present day’s assembly: “I’m not right here to barter for Ukraine. I’m right here to get them at a desk.”
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Trump additionally confirms his earlier menace of “extreme” penalties for Russia if it fails to point out willingness to significantly discuss in regards to the finish of conflict in Ukraine: ““Economically extreme. Will probably be very extreme. I’m not doing this for my well being, okay, I don’t want it. I’d prefer to concentrate on our nation, however I’m doing this to save lots of numerous lives.”
Late yesterday, DC’s mayor, Muriel Bowser, hit again in opposition to Pam Bondi’s transfer to place DEA chief Terry Cole accountable for the capital’s police division. In a post on X, Bowser wrote: “There is no such thing as a statute that conveys the District’s personnel authority to a federal official.”
She additionally stated that her workplace have “adopted the legislation” and supplied the companies of the DC police on the request of the president, as outlined in Part 740 of the Residence Rule Act.
Bowser additionally reposted a letter from DC legal professional normal Brian Schwalb, addressed to the mayor, which stated that Bondi’s order is “illegal” and Bowser is “not legally obligated to comply with it”.
Trump police takeover will create ‘instant, devastating, and irreparable hurt’ for DC, federal lawsuit says
In line with the federal lawsuit filed by the DC government today, the Trump administration has engaged in “a brazen usurpation of the District’s authority over its personal authorities”.
The go well with says that the president’s transfer to federalise the DC police, and legal professional normal Pam Bondi’s order to put in DEA administrator Terry Cole as “emergency police commissioner”, each “exceed the slim delegation that Congress granted the President in Part 740”.
A reminder, earlier this week the president invoked Part 740 of the DC Residence Rule Act, which grants him a 30-day interval to regulate the district’s native legislation enforcement if he declares a security emergency. To get an extension, the president would wish Congress’s approval.
The president has stated that violent crime in DC – which the justice division says skilled a 30-year low in 2024 – is “the worst it’s ever been”.
The lawsuit also states that Part 740 solely requires that the DC mayor “present companies” of the Metropolitan police division (MPD) to federal authorities, however “doesn’t allow the President to grab management of MPD. Nor does it authorize the President to direct MPD within the policing of native crime.”
A recap of in a single day occasions in DC
Because the federal takeover of the DC police and deployment of nationwide guard troops entered its fourth night time, right here’s a recap of what occurred in a single day.
-
The US legal professional normal, Pam Bondi, ended DC’s “sanctuary insurance policies”. In a directive signed yesterday, she rescinded earlier orders – together with one from the DC police chief, Pamela Smith – that Bondi’s workplace says “restricted” the Metropolitan police division (MPD) from working with federal officers. Bondi has now scrapped guidelines which stop DC police from arresting individuals “solely for federal immigration warrants” and “restricted sure data from being shared with federal authorities,” a justice division spokesperson stated.
-
Bondi additionally stripped energy away from Smith, the police chief, and appointed Terry Cole – who leads the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) – as “emergency police commissioner”. In line with her order, the MPD “should obtain approval from Commissioner Cole” earlier than issuing any additional directives.
-
And in the present day, the DC authorities introduced it’s suing the Trump administration for its takeover of the DC police. The district’s legal professional normal, Brian Schwalb, wrote: “Part 740 of the Residence Rule Act permits the President to request MPD’s companies … Even when Part 740 is lawfully invoked, the Residence Rule Act retains operational management of MPD with the Mayor and Chief, and the President should request MPD companies via the Mayor.” He added that the federal authorities’s actions are “openly illegal” and “infringe on the District’s proper to self-governance”.
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In the meantime, federal legislation enforcement started conducting sweeps of homeless encampments. Crews tore down a serious encampment close to the Kennedy Heart on Thursday, eradicating residents and clearing out the remaining encampments throughout the town. My colleague Kirstin Garriss has more on the latest here.
‘We will not let a scientific assault on democracy simply occur,’ Obama says as he praises Texas Democrats
Former president Barack Obama has praised Texas Democrats for protesting in opposition to the state’s gerrymandered GOP-drawn congressional maps by breaking quorum, according to a report from ABC News.
ABC obtained footage of a Zoom assembly on Thursday during which Obama addressed the legislators.
“We are able to’t let a scientific assault on democracy simply occur and stand by and so due to your actions, due to your braveness, what you’ve seen is California responding, different states taking a look at what they’ll do to offset this mid-decade gerrymandering,” he stated.
Within the assembly, Obama additionally stated that the Democrats – who left the state capital virtually two weeks in the past – “helped to guide what will be a protracted battle”.
He added:
It’s not going to be resolved straight away, and it’s going to require, finally, the American individuals understanding the stakes and realizing that we can not take our freedoms and our democracy with no consideration. You’ve helped set the tone for that, and I’m grateful for it.
In an announcement to ABC Information, Texas home minority chief Gene Wu stated Obama’s message to the Democrats is “proof that after they arise and battle again, we don’t stand alone”.
Wu added that “President Obama’s help reveals the entire nation is watching – and Texas home Democrats gained’t be silenced by bullies”.
This comes as Texas Democrats additionally stated they’re ready to return to the state beneath sure situations, ending their efforts to dam Republicans from passing a brand new map that might add 5 GOP seats.
The lawmakers stated they’d return so long as the legislature ends its first particular session on Friday, which Republicans have stated they plan to do. Nevertheless, Texas’s governor, Greg Abbott, has stated he’ll instantly name one other particular session.
Chris Stein
Washington DC’s solely Residence Depot was busy with contractors and clients on Thursday morning – however the Hispanic day laborers who often collect and watch for work beneath the car parking zone’s sparse bushes had been nowhere to be discovered.
Two days earlier, masked federal brokers swarmed the realm and made a number of arrests, which had been photographed by bystanders and posted on social media. Juwan Brooks, a retailer worker who witnessed the raid, stated the brokers grabbed anybody who appeared Hispanic.
“They don’t ask no questions,” Brooks stated. Individuals strolling throughout the car parking zone, getting out of their vehicles and even sleeping of their automobile – all had been grabbed by the brokers, forsaking empty work vans that had been finally towed away.
“It was cool when Trump was saying it, however to really see it first-hand? I didn’t prefer it,” Brooks stated. The day laborers “usually are not unhealthy individuals”, and he questioned what occurred to the youngsters of the lads that had been taken away.
4 days after Trump ordered federal brokers and nationwide guard on to the streets of Washington DC to battle a criminal offense wave that metropolis leaders say will not be taking place, residents of the capital have gotten used to the presence of teams of armed males of their neighborhoods, and the aggressive techniques they use.
Stephanie Kirchgaessner
When the director of the Nationwide Institutes of Well being (NIH) this week stated funding for the event of mRNA vaccines – the spine of Covid vaccines – was being wound down as a result of that they had did not “earn public belief”, it was met, publicly and privately, with exasperated incredulity.
Critics say few have performed greater than Jay Bhattacharya and different high well being officers within the Trump administration to sow doubts about public well being establishments and, by extension, the worth of the vaccines which have saved tens of millions of lives world wide.
“It’s astounding that Bhattacharya has the audacity to assert to know that Biden-era insurance policies are liable for mistrust of mRNA vaccines, when he and his associates have performed a lot to decrease the appreciation of those necessary medical accomplishments,” Jeremy Berg, the previous director of the Nationwide Institute of Normal Medical Sciences on the NIH, stated in an announcement to the Guardian.
Bhattacharya’s feedback appeared in an op-ed in the Washington Post during which he defended a current announcement by the well being secretary, Robert F Kennedy Jr, who’s anti-vaccine, to terminate $500m in federal funding for mRNA vaccine analysis, which Kennedy justified by claiming he had “reviewed the science”. Consultants say the evidence Kennedy reviewed didn’t help ending the analysis.
Whereas the mRNA platform was “promising” and will ship breakthroughs within the therapy of most cancers and different ailments, Bhattacharya stated it had failed the check of use for a public well being emergency as a result of it had not earned public belief.
My colleague Jakub Krupa is operating our Europe dwell weblog in the present day, with all the most recent information strains forward of the Trump-Putin assembly later.
The summit is ready to start out 11am Alaska time, which for us in Europe is 8pm British time, 9pm central Europe time, beginning a flurry of diplomacy between the 2 delegations in a wide range of codecs: one-on-one and in bigger teams.
It’s anticipated to conclude some seven hours later, in response to the schedule, with plans for a joint press convention with each leaders. At the very least that’s the plan for now.
Native residents are torn between pleasure over high-profile go to and trepidation over what US-Russian leaders would possibly agree, with some even joking: “Please don’t promote us again.” (The US purchased Alaska from the Russian empire in 1867).
Observe all of the buildup right here:
Trump forward of Putin assembly: ‘excessive stakes!’
Properly, the president is awake and has made his first Reality Social submit of the day.
Forward of his assembly in Alaska with the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, Donald Trump says:
HIGH STAKES!!!
Extra on this as we get it …
Maya Yang
Donald Trump cold-called Norway’s finance minister final month to ask a couple of nomination for the Nobel peace prize, Norwegian press reported on Thursday.
The Norwegian outlet Dagens Næringsliv, citing unnamed sources, reported: “Out of the blue, whereas finance minister Jens Stoltenberg was strolling down the road in Oslo, Donald Trump referred to as … He needed the Nobel prize – and to debate tariffs.”
The outlet added that it was not the primary time that Trump had raised the query of a Nobel peace prize nomination to Stoltenberg.
In a statement to Reuters, Stoltenberg, the previous Nato secretary normal, stated the decision targeted on tariffs and financial cooperation forward of Trump’s name with Jonas Støre, the Norwegian prime minister.
“I cannot go into additional element in regards to the content material of the dialog,” Stoltenberg stated, including that a number of White Home officers together with the treasury secretary, Scott Bessent, and US commerce consultant, Jamieson Greer, had been on the decision.
Every year, the five-member Norwegian Nobel committee opinions lots of of candidates earlier than selecting laureates. The committee members are appointed by Norway’s parliament in response to the need of Alfred Nobel, a 19-century Swedish industrialist. Laureates are introduced in October.
Sam Levine
Texas Democrats stated on Thursday they’re ready to return to the state beneath sure situations, ending an almost two-week-long effort to dam Republicans from passing a brand new congressional map that might add 5 GOP seats.
The lawmakers stated they’d return so long as the legislature ends its first particular session on Friday, which Republicans have stated they plan to do. Texas’s governor, Greg Abbott, has stated he’ll instantly name one other particular session.
The Democrats additionally stated they’d return as soon as California introduces a brand new congressional map that might add 5 Democratic seats, offsetting the beneficial properties in Texas. California’s governor, Gavin Newsom, is anticipated to announce what he has teased as a “main” redistricting announcement on Thursday.
Gene Wu, chair of the Texas home Democratic caucus, stated in an announcement that he and his colleagues “efficiently mobilized the nation in opposition to Trump’s assault on minority voting rights”.
“Dealing with threats of arrest, lawfare, monetary penalties, harassment and bomb threats, we’ve got stood agency in our battle in opposition to a proposed Jim Crow congressional district map,” he stated. “Now, as Democrats throughout the nation be part of our battle to trigger these maps to fail their political function, we’re ready to deliver this battle again to Texas beneath the suitable situations and to take this battle to the courts.”
Bondi sends ‘sanctuary cities’ letters to mayors of 32 cities
George Chidi
Pam Bondi, the legal professional normal, stated she has despatched “sanctuary metropolis” letters to the mayors of 32 cities and a handful of county executives, warning that she intends to prosecute political leaders who usually are not, in her view, sufficiently supportive of immigration enforcement.
“You higher be abiding by our federal insurance policies and with our federal legislation enforcement, as a result of for those who’re not, we’re going to come back after you,” she stated, speaking to a Fox Information reporter. “Our leaders need to help our legislation enforcement.”
Bondi’s letter asks the recipients to offer a response by 19 August that “confirms your dedication with complying with federal legislation and identifies the instant initiatives you’re taking to eradicate legal guidelines, insurance policies and practices that impede federal immigration enforcement”.
Bondi cites an executive order issued by Donald Trump on 28 April which referred to as for the legal professional normal to determine jurisdictions that “impede the enforcement of Federal immigration legal guidelines” then to “notify every sanctuary jurisdiction concerning its defiance of Federal immigration legislation enforcement and any potential violations of Federal prison legislation” as a precursor to prosecution or withholding grants.
Every of the recipients seems to have acquired a near-identical letter, none of which specify what native legal guidelines or practices fail to adjust to Bondi’s assertions.
Preliminary responses from state and native governments receiving the letters embrace a mixture of incredulity and defiance.
Patrick Wintour
Donald Trump has stated he believes Vladimir Putin is able to make a deal on the conflict in Ukraine as the 2 leaders put together for his or her summit in Alaska on Friday, however his suggestion the Russian chief and Volodymyr Zelenskyy might “divvy issues up” could alarm some in Kyiv.
The US president implied there was a 75% probability of the Alaska assembly succeeding, and that the specter of financial sanctions could have made Putin extra keen to hunt an finish to the conflict.
Trump insisted that he wouldn’t let Putin get the higher of him in Friday’s assembly, telling reporters: “I’m president, and he’s not going to fiddle with me.
“I’ll know inside the first two minutes, three minutes, 4 minutes or 5 minutes … whether or not or not we’re going to have a superb assembly or a foul assembly.
“And if it’s a foul assembly, it’ll finish in a short time, and if it’s a superb assembly, we’re going to finish up getting peace within the fairly close to future,” stated Trump.
He additionally stated a second assembly – not but confirmed – between him, Putin and Zelenskyy could be the extra decisive.
“The second assembly goes to be very, essential, as a result of that’s going to be a gathering the place they make a deal. And I don’t wish to use the phrase ‘divvy’ issues up, however you already know, to a sure extent, it’s not a foul time period, OK?” Trump informed Fox Information Radio.
He was referring to the likelihood that Zelenskyy should accept “land swaps” – in apply the handing over of Ukrainian territory to Russia, doubtlessly together with some not captured by Moscow.
Newsom says California will push to redraw maps in riposte to Texas plan
Lauren Gambino
Gavin Newsom, California’s governor, stated on Thursday that state Democratic lawmakers would transfer ahead with a redistricting plan to counter the Republican-led map-drawing effort in Texas aimed toward securing a Home majority after the midterm elections.
As he spoke on the Japanese American Nationwide Museum’s Nationwide Heart for the Preservation of Democracy – a venue intentionally chosen for its symbolism – federal brokers, armed and masked, fanned out throughout the advanced, led by Gregory Bovino, head of the border patrol’s El Centro sector. Native information footage confirmed a person being led away in handcuffs.
Newsom, joined by congressional Democrats and legislative leaders, unveiled a plan, referred to as the “election rigging response act”, that might override California’s impartial redistricting fee and draw new congressional strains – a direct counter to a Texas effort, sought by Donald Trump, to push via mid-cycle maps that would hand Republicans 5 additional US Home seats. The governor vowed the transfer would “neuter and neutralize” Texas’s proposal.
“At the moment is liberation day within the state of California,” Newsom declared at a rally in Los Angeles, during which he formally referred to as for a 4 November particular election to approve a brand new congressional map. “We are able to’t stand again and watch this democracy disappear district by district all throughout the nation.”
After the rally, Newsom referred to as the presence of border patrol brokers “sick and pathetic” and accused Trump of ordering the operation to intimidate Democrats. “Get up, America,” Newsom warned. “You’ll not have a rustic if he rigs this election.”
Los Angeles’s mayor, Karen Bass, a Democrat who was not attending the occasion, arrived on the scene to sentence the raid. In remarks to reporters, she argued that it was not “a coincidence” the raid occurred steps from the place Newsom was talking. “The White Home simply despatched federal brokers to attempt to intimidate elected officers at a press convention,” she stated in a social media post. “The issue for them is Los Angeles doesn’t get scared and Los Angeles doesn’t again down. We by no means have and we by no means will.”
Trump makes false claims about crime in Washington DC as homeless camps are cleared
Good morning and welcome to the US politics dwell weblog. My identify is Tom Ambrose and I’ll be bringing you all the most recent information strains over the following few hours.
We begin with information that Donald Trump has falsely claimed crime in Washington DC is “the worst it’s ever been” on Thursday, amid a federal takeover of the town’s police division and deployment of the nationwide guard and federal brokers within the metropolis.
“Washington DC is at its worst level,” Trump stated from the Oval Workplace. “It can quickly be at its finest level.” He additionally baselessly accused DC legislation enforcement officers of giving “phony crime stats” and stated “they’re beneath investigation”.
The president’s feedback got here after protesters heckled federal legislation enforcement officers as they reportedly stopped dozens of vehicles at a checkpoint alongside a busy road in Washington DC on Wednesday night.
About 20 legislation enforcement officers, a few of whom gave the impression to be from the Division of Homeland Safety, pulled over drivers for infractions resembling damaged taillights and never carrying seatbelts, according to the Washington Post.
At the very least one girl was reportedly arrested as greater than 100 protesters gathered and reportedly yelled issues like “get off our streets”, according to NBC News. Some protesters started warning drivers to keep away from the realm, the outlet reported.
The town’s homeless encampments, which Trump has lengthy fixated on, got here beneath goal Thursday night time as metropolis police started eradicating residents. Officers in Washington DC and advocates for the unhoused had warned individuals dwelling in camps to relocate to shelters earlier than the federal sweeps started.
“We should not have sufficient shelter beds for everybody on the road,” stated Amber W Harding, government director of the Washington Authorized Clinic for the Homeless. “It is a chaotic and scary time for all of us in DC, however significantly for individuals with out properties.”
Learn the total story right here:
In different developments:
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As a part of its promoting blitz to draw new recruits, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) launched a social media video on Thursday that makes use of a tune by the rapper DaBaby and reveals company automobiles that look like painted in the same red, blue and gold style as Donald Trump’s non-public aircraft, which was featured in the opening sequence for The Apprentice.
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New York’s mayor, Eric Adams, confirmed on social media {that a} federal constructing the place protesters held a silent vigil on Thursday in opposition to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) was evacuated after “envelopes containing white powder had been found”.
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In one other signal that the Trump presidency is essentially made for TV, the White Home and Fox Information revealed that Trump will seem on Fox Information each earlier than and instantly after his summit assembly with Vladimir Putin on Friday.
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4 days after Trump ordered the unhoused residents of Washington DC, whom he sped past in his motorcade for a golf outing, to depart the town, native officers helped clear encampments earlier than introduced sweeps by federal brokers.
