Friday, August 22 | By Alexis Simendinger & Kristina Karisch |
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| ▪ Trump touts DC crime crackdown ▪ Newsom signs redistricting plan ▪ Are firms' AI investments paying off? ▪ Russia slow-walks Ukraine peace |
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© The Associated Press | Jacquelyn Martin |
Trump hails summer of power, 'victories'
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President Trump this week dominated the airwaves and optics in his roles as an urban crime fighter, peace-seeker, deal maker and leader of the Republican Party. Congress ceded its summer stage to the president, who canceled his New Jersey vacation, booked an Alaskan summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin and confided to reporters, "I like to fix things." Russia and Ukraine still remain far apart, but Trump has skipped ahead to a political agenda that pleases his base. "We're having a lot of victories," he told federal and D.C. law enforcers and National Guard members assembled by the White House to herald what the president described as four consequential days spent making "Washington, D.C., great again." "Let's take care of these criminals," Trump said to applause after motorcading in the Beast, his fortified limousine, to a U.S. Park Police operations facility in Southeast Washington on Thursday. "We're going to put them where they have to be," he added after inviting the uniformed agents, officers and soldiers to dine on hamburgers cooked for them by White House chefs, along with takeout pizza. Trump said "everyone feels safe" now in D.C., adding he plans to "rebuild all of your parks," replace signs in Washington he says "look like hell," tackle broken curbs and rescue green spaces with sprinkler systems. "I'm very good at grass," the president told the law enforcers, "because I have a lot of golf courses all over the place. I know more about grass than any human being I think anywhere in the world." The unprecedented presidential order on Aug. 11 that federalized D.C. police and the use of hundreds of National Guard troops from a handful of states is unpopular among a majority of the city's 700,000 residents, many of whom say they value autonomy of governance regardless of their concerns about violent crime, according to recent polling. ▪ Fox News: D.C. recorded no homicide over seven days. Carjackings decreased 83 percent, robberies by 46 percent, car thefts by 21 percent, and overall violent crime dropped by 22 percent. Amid the crackdown, the Trump administration appears to be using the 30-day emergency to ramp up immigration enforcement within the District, targeting moped drivers and others in the city. The thank-you events involving military troops began Wednesday with Vice President Vance in Washington's Union Station, alongside Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller, known for crafting Trump's immigration policies. Vance was booed by some protesters, while Trump's motorcade back to the White House on Thursday sped past a few onlookers who made crude hand gestures. But within the president's base, being tough on crime and on illegal immigration — while suggesting D.C.'s experience could be a model for federal action in other large cities — wins applause. Trump on Thursday also celebrated what appears to be his successful push in Texas to redraw congressional district borders to gain five additional seats in the House. (More on the redistricting battles in Texas and California below.) And Trump hailed another "big victory" on Thursday after an appeals court ruled he does not have to pay a $500 million civil fraud judgment in New York, which the judges said was "excessive." The underlying fraud conviction, which Trump and his legal team are appealing, stands for now. "It was a witch hunt," the president said during his celebration with crime fighters in Washington. New York Attorney General Letitia James (D), one of the president's foremost adversaries, pledged to appeal. ▪ The Hill: Alina Habba, a former Trump defense lawyer before being named as New Jersey's top prosecutor, has been unlawfully serving in that federal role since July when her interim term ended, a federal judge ruled on Thursday. ▪ The Hill: A federal judge in Florida ordered that some of the "Alligator Alcatraz" facility be shut down for a lack of environmental reviews, dealing a blow to the administration as it ramps up its immigration crackdown. |
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Smart Take
with Blake Burman |
| I spoke with former Vice President Mike Pence last night on a variety of issues, including his assessment of where the negotiations stand between President Trump, Vladimir Putin and Volodymyr Zelensky. Pence made it clear he believes it is time for Congress to move forward with sanctions. "I really do believe at his core, Putin doesn't want peace," Pence told me. "He wants Ukraine. And Putin will not be stopped until he is stopped and giving the president that Senate bill, giving him those secondary sanctions, even while he continues to vigorously pursue the diplomatic course, I think, is the most certain pathway toward a peaceful and lasting conclusion." The summer recess is almost over, while the discussions on the war progress to a new level. We'll see how loud the calls could soon grow for Congress to give Trump a potential leverage point. |
Burman hosts "The Hill" weeknights, 6p/5c on NewsNation. |
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- The State Department is vetting more than 55 million U.S. visa holders for deportable offenses. The administration said it is also pausing the issuance of visas for foreign truck drivers in the U.S.
- Famine has been confirmed in Gaza City and its surrounding area for the first time. Israel has denied the U.N.-backed report.
- Wildfires could be raising local death rates by two-thirds, according to a new study.
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© The Associated Press | Godofredo A. Vásquez |
GOLDEN STATE RULES: Democrats notched a win in the nationwide redistricting battle on Thursday when California's Democratic-controlled Legislature formally approved a plan to redraw the state's congressional lines, teeing up a special election this fall that will let California voters weigh in on mid-decade redistricting. Both the State Assembly and Senate approved three pieces of the "Election Rigging Response Act" legislative package, which include a proposed constitutional amendment and two separate bills that lay out the logistics for the special election and map proposal. Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) signed them Thursday afternoon. The move puts "the maps in front of the voters," Newsom said ahead of signing the legislation, adding California is "the first state in U.S. history to — in the most Democratic way — submit to the people of our state the ability to determine their own maps." The ballot measure comes in response to redistricting pushed by Trump and other Republicans in Texas, which is expected to net the GOP five seats in the 2026 midterm elections. Newsom said he felt it necessary to sign the legislation due to the president's actions while in office. "They fired the first shot, Texas," Newsom said. "We wouldn't be here had Texas not done what they just did, Donald Trump didn't do what he just did." ▪ The Hill: Newsom raises $6.2 million for redistricting fight in a week. ▪ Politico: A majority of Democrats in a new national survey say they support California's effort to combat Republican redistricting in Texas — despite disliking gerrymandering itself. Texas state senators are reconvening this morning ahead of a vote on the redistricting plan after the state House approved it Wednesday. Gov. Greg Abbott (R) is expected to sign the legislation once it's sent to his desk. "Big WIN for the Great State of Texas!!!" Trump wrote on Truth Social on Wednesday. "Everything Passed, on our way to FIVE more Congressional seats and saving your Rights, your Freedoms, and your Country, itself." The scramble for the new seats has already begun: Texas state Rep. Briscoe Cain (R), filed paperwork to run for the newly drawn 9th Congressional District on Thursday, kicking off an expected scramble among Republicans for several new seats. CONGRESS ROUNDUP: ▪ The Hill: Rep. Lloyd Doggett (D-Texas) said Thursday that if the courts approve the Republican congressional maps in Texas, he will not seek reelection in the redrawn 37th Congressional District. ▪ The Hill: Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas) is headlining a wave of members of the hardline House Freedom Caucus who are seeking higher office. ▪ The Hill: Sen. Jon Husted (R-Ohio) holds a 6-point lead over former Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) in a poll released this morning. BIG, BEAUTIFUL BILL: Vance spoke in Georgia on Thursday, promoting tax cuts included in Trump's megabill. Speaking in an Atlanta suburb, Vance said the legislation was reflective of a "government that stands up for you instead of fights against you." Polls have shown voters opposed to some key provisions of the law, which moved resources away from the social safety net toward tax cuts, increased immigration enforcement and other White House priorities. The megabill is under a microscope in the Peach State as a Georgia rural hospital says it might have to eliminate its ICU because of Medicaid and budget cuts and the hospital's anticipated budget shortfall. While in Georgia, Vance headlined a Republican National Committee (RNC) member meeting. The RNC will vote today to elect its new chair; Trump threw his support behind Florida state Sen. Joe Gruters (R) to serve as the next head of the committee. LOUDSPEAKER: Trump has been using the bully pulpit of his presidency to go after the Federal Reserve with a vengeance, and Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) chief William Pulte has acted as his megaphone-in-chief throughout his pressure campaign. Pulte has lambasted Fed Chair Jerome Powell in social media posts and television interviews, called for lower short-term interest rates, and exhorted Congress to probe the Fed over a cost overrun. On Wednesday, he alleged that Fed board member Lisa Cook committed mortgage fraud by designating both her Atlanta condo and her Michigan home as her primary residences. "We're not going to be intimidated," Pulte told Bloomberg TV and radio, declining to identify the outside tip he said the FHFA received and pursued about Cook's alleged mortgage misdeeds. "We have made mortgage fraud a huge issue," he said, adding the agency has made multiple referrals to the Justice Department each week. The Hill's Tobias Burns breaks down what you need to know about the key Trump ally. BLUNT INSTRUMENT: GOP political influencers are flexing their muscle in the Trump era, none more so than right-wing firebrand Laura Loomer. Her inflammatory posts and close relationship with Trump have resulted in firings across multiple government agencies and the curtailing of visas for Palestinians from Gaza seeking medical care in the U.S. And she's nowhere close to done. While Loomer might have few friends in the West Wing, she has the ear of the president — and inspiration in the form of former Sen. Joseph McCarthy (R-Wis.), notorious for his rooting out of alleged communist sympathizers in the 1950s. "Joseph McCarthy was right," Loomer recently told The Atlantic. "We need to make McCarthy great again." ▪ The New York Times's "The Daily": Loomer: The right-wing provocateur who has Trump's ear. ▪ The Hill: A federal judge in Florida ordered that some of "Alligator Alcatraz" be shut down for a lack of environmental reviews, dealing a blow to the administration as it ramps up its immigration crackdown. |
- Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell at 10 a.m. EDT will address a much-watched annual economic policy symposium at Jackson Hole, Wyo., hosted by the Kansas City Fed. Watch the livestream here.
- The Republican National Committee will vote on a new chair at 10:30 a.m. (watch here via C-SPAN).
- The president makes an Oval Office announcement at noon.
- The House will hold a pro forma session at 9 a.m. and will return to work in Washington on Sept. 2.
- The Senate will hold a pro forma session at 9 a.m.
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© The Associated Press | David Zalubowski |
RISKY BUSINESS? Despite making substantial investments in artificial intelligence (AI), companies are questioning their profit expectations. Even with investment of $30 billion to $40 billion into generative AI, 95 percent of organizations get zero return on investment, according to from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. "My fear is that at some point people wake up and say, alright, AI is great, but maybe all this money is not actually being spent all that wisely," Steve Sosnick, chief strategist at Interactive Brokers, told Axios. After months of spending huge sums on big-name hires, Meta is freezing its recruitment of AI researchers and restructuring its AI team. Its efforts have been part of a broader talent war across the sector that has seen Big Tech splurge for talent, but which experts warn could ultimately harm industry competition. GOVERNMENT ASSISTANCE: ▪ Semafor: With the U.S. government's help, Anthropic built a tool designed to prevent its AI models from being used to make nuclear weapons. The company already deployed the tool on its Claude models and plans to share its approach with a broader AI industry body, the Frontier Model Forum, to help other companies build similar tools. ▪ The Hill: Google will provide its Gemini AI tool to federal agencies for 47 cents, a nod to Trump, the 47th president. MENTAL HEALTH: Schools grappling with teen mental health problems face new challenges in keeping their students safe in the age of AI. Studies show AI has been giving dangerous advice to people in crisis, with some teenagers reportedly pushed to suicide by the new technology. But many students lack the resources to access mental health professionals, leaving them with few options as schools and parents try to push back on the use of AI counseling. "People wouldn't inject a syringe of an unknown liquid that had never actually been through any clinical trials for its effectiveness in dealing with a physical disease," said Imran Ahmed, CEO of the Center for Countering Digital Hate. "So, the idea of using an untested platform for which there is no evidence that it can be a useful for therapy for mental health problems is kind of equally bananas, and yet that is what we're doing." VACCINE BATTLES: The American Academy of Pediatrics this week broke with the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) over COVID-19 vaccination guidance. The group on Tuesday released guidance recommending the COVID-19 vaccines for all infants and children 6 months through 23 months, directly challenging the policies of HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. ▪ The Hill: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is releasing tens of millions of dollars in grant money blocked by the Trump administration. |
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© The Associated Press | Vyacheslav Prokofyev, Sputnik |
'HOPELESS VENTURE': One week after their summit in Alaska, the White House is still trying to get Russian President Vladimir Putin to the negotiating table as Moscow seeks to slow-walk a peace deal with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. The Russian president's conditions for peace are steep, Reuters reports. Putin is demanding Ukraine give up all of the Donbas region, renounce its goal of joining NATO, remain neutral and keep out Western troops. The demands run counter to what Kyiv and its European partners have been working toward as they seek security guarantees for Ukraine. After his summit with Putin in Alaska, Trump said on Monday he had begun arranging a meeting between the Russian and Ukrainian leaders, to be followed by a trilateral summit with the U.S. president. But the president on Thursday appeared to offer a rationale for Ukraine to go on offense. "It is very hard, if not impossible, to win a war without attacking an invaders country. It's like a great team in sports that has a fantastic defense, but is not allowed to play offense," Trump said on Truth Social. "There is no chance of winning! It is like that with Ukraine and Russia." Following overnight missile attacks on Ukraine by Russia, Zelensky said Moscow is not looking for peace after it launched the new strike "as if nothing had changed at all. As if there were no efforts by the world to stop this war." Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov criticized Western powers for pushing for a ceasefire and security guarantees for Ukraine without input from Moscow. He further accused the "Coalition of the Willing" of undermining progress made in Alaska. "All the different [ideas], all the unilateral [moves] are an absolutely hopeless venture," he said. "As the current discussions between the West and the Ukrainian side are essentially linked to providing guarantees in the form of the foreign military intervention of a certain part of the Ukrainian territory." ▪ The New York Times analysis: Trump's bold talk aside, Russia and Ukraine remain miles apart on peace. ▪ Politico: A veteran diplomat on the "big tactical error" in the Russia-Ukraine negotiations. GAZA INCURSION: Israel is moving forward with a new offensive in Gaza, despite condemnation abroad and mounting protests at home. Explosions hit neighborhoods in Gaza City on Thursday in the first stage of a planned assault that includes calling up 60,000 Israeli reservists. The operation has sent civilians fleeing once again, intensifying fears about the humanitarian crisis unfolding in the territory. The announcement today from the world's leading authority on hunger that officially confirmed famine in part of northern Gaza, including Gaza City, comes as deaths from starvation rise across the enclave and 500,000 people experience "catastrophic" hunger. The expanded campaign also throws into question ceasefire talks, after Hamas said it had accepted a new proposal. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday said Israel was resuming negotiations for the release of all hostages. ▪ ABC News: The "horror" in Gaza is "incomprehensible," said a U.S. doctor who treated patients there. |
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© The Associated Press | AP Photo |
And finally … 👏👏👏Kudos to this week's Morning Report Quiz winners! Trump's meetings with Putin and Zelensky inspired a puzzle about presidents and treaties. Here's who went 4/4: Sari Wisch, Chuck Schoenenberger, Richard Baznik, Stan Wasser, Jim Madaffer, Fred Lewis, Tom Chabot, Harry Strulovici, Jeremy R. Serwer, John Vandoremalen, Marcia Gatlin, Phil Kirstein, Jess A. Elger, Jeff Gelski, Lynn Gardner, Pavel Peykov, Neil Bergsman, Jenessa Wagner, Ned Sauthoff, Brian Hogan, Henry P. Friedman, Joe Atchue, Karen Mitchoff, Rick Schmidtke, Laura Rettaliata, Luther Berg, Terry Pflaumer, Stanton Kirk, Mark R. Williamson, Wiley and Jane Pearson, Steve Comer, Mark Roeddiger, Bill Moore, Joseph Tacquard, Steve James, Patti Fleschner, Stewart Baker, Tim Burrack, David Faunce, Gary Kalian, Linda L. Field, Sharon Banitt, Carmine Petracca, JA Ramos and Walter Fair. Readers knew that Jimmy Carter presided over the Camp David Accords, signed between Israel and Egypt, which marked the first peace treaty between Israel and an Arab nation. In 1919, President Woodrow Wilson personally delivered the Treaty of Versailles to the Senate, marking the end of World War I. Former President Harry S Truman signed and ratified the North Atlantic Treaty, which forms the legal basis for NATO. Representing the United States, former President Barack Obama signed a climate change treaty known as the Paris Agreement. |
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