TRUMP AT THE UN: Trump on Tuesday is set to address the United Nations General Assembly for the first time during his second term as the international community faces a litany of pressing issues.
A busy agenda awaits the 80th session of the U.N. General Assembly, with two major wars raging in Ukraine and the Gaza Strip, and neither having a clear end in sight. Meanwhile, Russia has appeared to be pushing the boundaries on NATO territory with incursions over the airspace of two members this month.
First, Russian drones crept into Polish airspace during an attack on Ukraine before Polish forces, with help from NATO partners, shot them down almost two weeks ago. The incident alarmed NATO members as the most significant violation of NATO airspace since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine began in 2022.
The Kremlin said the drones' entering Poland was unintentional, but NATO leaders rejected that explanation and maintained it was a provocation.
Another incident occurred on Sunday as Estonia reported three Russian fighter jets flew into the country's airspace. The Estonian Foreign Affairs Ministry said the U.N. Security Council would meet Monday to discuss "this breach of territorial integrity."
The incursions are notable given Article 5 of the NATO charter, which considers an attack on one member country an attack on all, potentially leading to a much wider conflict with Russia.
This will mark an early test for Mike Waltz, who was just confirmed as U.N. ambassador at the end of last week. He condemned the jets' incursion into Estonian airspace in remarks at his first U.N. Security Council briefing Monday.
"And I want to take this first opportunity to repeat, and to emphasize, the United States and our allies will defend every inch of NATO territory," he said, adding Russia "must urgently stop such dangerous behavior."
But the table has already been set for some divisions among the U.S. and its European allies, as several are recognizing a Palestinian state in tandem with the assembly meeting this week.
France formally recognized a Palestinian state on Monday at the start of the meeting, joining the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia and Portugal, all of which gave recognition on Sunday. A few others like Luxembourg and Malta are also expected to grant recognition this week.
While the moves are mostly symbolic, they threaten to drive a divide between the U.S. and Israel and an increasing number of their European allies. Israel has become more and more isolated over the past two years amid mounting criticism of its handling of the war against Hamas in Gaza.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu denounced the countries' recognition of a Palestinian state as rewarding Hamas for its Oct. 7, 2023, attack on the country that killed 1,200 people and resulted in hundreds being taken hostage.
The U.S. doesn't recognize a Palestinian state and has generally taken the position that recognition would be part of negotiations for a peace agreement. But the Trump administration has taken a harder stance, expressing opposition to a Palestinian state and considering it counterproductive to ceasefire talks.
How Trump addresses both issues will be on top of mind for his fellow world leaders and other observers around the globe.
The Hill's Alex Gangitano and Laura Kelly have five things to know ahead of Trump's address.
▪ Politico: "No one's laughing at Trump at the UN this year."
▪ Wall Street Journal: "How French President Emmanuel Macron, Saudi Arabia turned the tide on Western support for a Palestinian state."
KIMMEL RETURNS TONIGHT: Late-night host Jimmy Kimmel is set to return to air tonight after a nearly weeklong suspension and firestorm surrounding comments he made about Charlie Kirk.
Disney, which owns ABC, the network that has aired "Jimmy Kimmel Live!" for more than two decades, said in a statement that it took Kimmel off the air to "avoid further inflaming a tense situation at an emotional moment for the country" but that he would be back Tuesday.
Kimmel's return comes just more than a week after the comments he made on an episode of his show in which he accused conservatives of using Kirk's death to try to score "political points" and compared Trump's mourning of his longtime ally to how "a 4-year-old mourns a goldfish."
The comments spurred widespread conservative backlash, including from Federal Communications Commission Chair Brendan Carr, who called for Kimmel to be punished and urged stations not to air his show.
After Nexstar Media Group, the largest owner of local stations in the country that also owns The Hill, announced that it wouldn't air Kimmel's show on its ABC affiliates, Disney said it was suspending Kimmel. The decision received mixed reactions, with some conservatives slamming Kimmel's comments as insensitive but others like Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) expressing concern about government censorship.
Trump praised the decision to suspend Kimmel's show, taking it a step further in suggesting that networks shouldn't be allowed to be overwhelmingly critical of him.
But plenty rallied to support Kimmel, including his fellow late-night hosts, who satirically heaped praise on Trump in line with the president's calls for more positive coverage. Hundreds of celebrities, including actors, musicians and comedians, signed a letter from the American Civil Liberties Union declaring their support for Kimmel.
Still, Kimmel won't yet return to all stations, as Sinclair Broadcast Group, which is the second-largest owner of local stations in the country, said its stations would preempt Kimmel on Tuesday night.
Sinclair said discussions with ABC are "ongoing" as it considers Kimmel's possible return to their airwaves.
Viewers are waiting to see how Kimmel will address the controversy, his comments and where his show will go from here.
▪ The Hill: John Oliver calls for viewers to cancel Hulu, Disney+ accounts over Kimmel suspension.
▪ The Hill: Zohran Mamdani cancels WABC News town hall over Kimmel suspension.
HARRIS LAUNCHES BOOK: Former Vice President Kamala Harris conceded she might have been "too cautious" in not choosing former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg as her running mate during the 2024 race.
Harris made the acknowledgement during an interview Monday night with MSNBC's Rachel Maddow to launch her book tour for "107 Days," which publishes Tuesday. Excerpts about Buttigieg and others have already sparked pushback.
Maddow asked Harris about the excerpt in which Harris said she felt she couldn't pick Buttigieg as her running mate because a ticket with a Black woman and a gay man would have been politically risky. Buttigieg has told Politico he was "surprised" to hear about Harris's thinking.
"I think Pete is a phenomenal, phenomenal public servant. And I think America is and would be ready for that. But when I had to make that decision with two weeks to go, and maybe I was being too cautious," Harris told Maddow.
Harris said the decision made her "very sad," but she felt the stakes were too high. She pointed to the relatively short period of time she had to decide while noting she might have been overly cautious.
Other sections of the book have also yielded some criticism of her.
Democrats don't seem necessarily eager for Harris to come back into the public sphere at a time when the party is trying to rebuild and move on from its disappointing November.
"Salt, meet wound," one Democratic strategist told The Hill's Amie Parnes. "Couldn't come at a worse time for our party."
Harris will likely continue to be in the news for weeks as she embarks on a book tour throughout the fall.
Although she publicly backed former President Biden's ill-fated reelection campaign, she called the decision from him and former first lady Jill Biden to seek another term "recklessness."
Harris told Maddow that she as vice president was also "reckless" not to say anything to Biden about not running for another term.
"When I talk about the recklessness, as much as anything, I'm talking about myself," Harris said Monday night, adding she was worried about coming off "as being completely self-serving" if she urged Biden to reconsider his bid since it would position her to run.
She also commented in the book on another one of her possible running mate choices, Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro (D).
Shapiro pushed back on Harris's claim that he was more interested in his own role in a possible administration than helping her win. He maintained his past statement that the decision on whether he would be the running mate was a personal one for both of them.
He told Stephen A. Smith that Harris will need to explain why she didn't raise concerns about Biden sooner.
Harris on Monday also avoided saying whether she is considering another presidential run in 2028, telling Maddow, "That's not my focus right now."
She previously ruled out running for governor of California next year as she said she wanted to spend some time out of public office.
▪ Axios: Harris calls Biden's Gaza response "inadequate."
AUTISM REPORT: Experts are raising doubts about the validity of Trump's announcement linking the use of acetaminophen to autism after months of his Health and Human Services secretary, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., vowing to find possible causes.
Trump said on Monday that pregnant women shouldn't take acetaminophen, the active ingredient in Tylenol, for pain relief. The announcement is particularly impactful because Tylenol has been considered one of the only over-the-counter pain medications considered safe for pregnant women, The Hill's Nathaniel Weixel and Joseph Choi report.
Trump and Kennedy said the Food and Drug Administration would start updating labels on acetaminophen and notifying doctors that Tylenol can be "associated with a very increased risk of autism."
But top medical organizations pushed back on the administration's conclusion, insisting that evidence doesn't show acetaminophen is tied to causing autism.
"Despite recent unfounded claims, there's no clear evidence linking prudent use to issues with fetal development," the American College of Obstetricians & Gynecologists said in a statement ahead of Trump's announcement.
The president of the Society of Maternal Fetal Medicine said the "weight of scientific evidence" that acetaminophen use during pregnancy is tied to autism or ADHD is "inconclusive." Major medical societies do recommend that pregnant women consult a doctor before taking acetaminophen.
Kennedy has made finding an explanation for a significant increase in the number of cases of autism a personal mission in his capacity leading the country's health agencies. But experts have generally said the increase in number of reported cases is a result of better awareness and diagnosis criteria rather than an actual increase in cases.
One near-certainty is that the announcement will likely increase scrutiny of Kennedy and his oversight of the agencies after already facing pushback over the controversies surrounding the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
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