The Latest: Trump’s emergency order over DC is expiring
By The Associated Press
Congress did not extend President Donald Trump’s Aug. 11 order that federalized the city’s police force and launched a surge of law enforcement into the city. But the National Guard and some other federal agencies will continue their deployment, and it’s not clear when that might end.
Also, this measure of control the city may be regaining comes the same day a House committee begins debating 13 bills that, if approved, would wrest away even more of the city’s governing ability.
Trump’s takeover of Washington, D.C.’s policing and Wednesday’s discussions by the House underscore how interlinked the nation’s capital is with the federal government and how much the city’s capacity to govern is beholden to federal decisions.
The Latest:
Trump appeals ruling blocking Fed firing
The Trump administration is appealing a ruling blocking the president from immediately firing Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook as he seeks more control over the traditionally independent board.
The notice of appeal came hours after the U.S. District Judge Jia Cobb handed down the ruling late Tuesday.
The White House insists Trump has the right to fire Cook over mortgage fraud allegations from before she joined the Fed.
Her lawsuit denies the allegations and says the firing was unlawful.
The case could soon reach the Supreme Court, which has allowed Trump to fire members of other independent agencies but suggested that power has limitations at the Federal Reserve.
Over 40% of arrests in Trump’s DC law enforcement surge relate to immigration, AP analysis finds
Data from President Donald Trump’s federal law enforcement operation in Washington shows that more than 40% of the arrests made in its first 30 days were immigration related.
Trump has portrayed the operation as focused on crime. The data, analyzed by The Associated Press, underscores that the administration continued to advance its hardline immigration agenda in the D.C. operation.
▶ Read more about D.C. intervention
3 fired FBI officials sue Patel, saying he bowed to Trump administration’s ‘campaign of retribution’
Three high-ranking FBI officials were fired last month in a “campaign of retribution” carried out by a director who knew better but caved to political pressure from the Trump administration so he could keep his own position, according to a federal lawsuit filed Wednesday that seeks reinstatement of the agents.
The complaint asserts that Director Kash Patel indicated directly to one of the ousted agents, Brian Driscoll, that he knew the firings were “likely illegal” but was powerless to stop them because the White House and the Justice Department were determined to remove all agents who helped investigate President Donald Trump. It quotes Patel as having told Driscoll in a conversation last month “the FBI tried to put the president in jail and he hasn’t forgotten it.”
The lawsuit was filed on behalf of Driscoll, Steve Jensen and Spencer Evans, three of five agents known to have been fired last month in a purge that current and former officials say has unnerved the workforce. It represents a legal challenge from the top rungs of the FBI’s leadership ladder to a flood of departures under Trump’s Republican administration that has wiped out decades of experience.
Fired agents have leveled unflattering allegations of a law enforcement agency whose personnel moves are shaped by the White House and guided more by politics than by public safety.
▶ Read more about Fired FBI officials
Top US officials speak with their Chinese counterparts
Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth held calls with their counterparts in China.
It comes as Washington and Beijing have expressed interest in U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping meeting later this year or early next year.
Rubio on Wednesday emphasized in a call with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi the importance of open and constructive communication on a range of issues, the State Department said.
A day earlier, Hegseth made clear to Chinese Defense Minister Dong Jun that the U.S. does not seek conflict with China nor is it pursuing regime change but has vital interests in the Asia-Pacific, the Pentagon said.
China’s official Xinhua news agency said Dong told Hegseth by video call Tuesday that Beijing firmly opposes certain countries’ “infringement and provocation” and “deliberate incitement.”
GOP justifies Trump’s Washington crackdown as police takeover is set to expire
Congress did not extend President Donald Trump’s Aug. 11 order that federalized the Washington, D.C., city police force and launched a surge of law enforcement into the city.
The takeover will end at midnight, according to Mayor Muriel Bowser’s office.
In practical terms, what citizens see might not change much: D.C. guard members’ orders have been extended through December, and they are under the president’s direct command, unlike in the states, where governors command their National Guard contingents.
Meanwhile, a House committee has begun debating 13 bills that, if approved, would wrest away even more of the city’s governing ability. Republicans argue that continued federal intervention is needed to bring safety to the nation’s capital and is justified by D.C.’s unique status as subject to the authority of Congress.
Trump’s takeover of D.C.’s policing and Wednesday’s discussions by the House underscore how interlinked the nation’s capital is with the federal government and how much the city’s capacity to govern is beholden to federal decisions.
Asked about Kamala book excerpt, Jeffries says Biden was right not to seek reelection in response
House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries declined to directly address newly released an excerpt from former Vice President Kamala Harris’s forthcoming book, in which she writes that Joe Biden’s decision to run for a second term “should have been more than a personal decision.”
But Jeffries did make clear that he supported Biden’s eventual withdrawal from the race.
“I’m not in a position to comment, having not read the excerpt and certainly not having read the book,” Jeffries said. “Joe Biden made the correct decision not to seek reelection.”
Trump energy czar moves to strike Biden public lands rule
Interior Sec. Doug Burgum on Wednesday proposed cancelling a public lands management rule that put conservation on equal footing with development.
The move is in line with the Republican administration’s agenda to open more taxpayer-owned tracts to drilling, logging, mining and grazing.
Industry and agriculture groups were bitterly opposed to the Biden-era rule and lobbied Republicans to reverse it. Supporters argued that conservation was a long-neglected facet of the Bureau of Land Management’s mission under the 1976 Federal Lands Policy Management Act.
The bureau oversees about 10% of the land in the U.S. — an area larger than Texas.
White House looks to include DC funding fix in gov’t funding bill
The District of Columbia’s budget would get a boost under changes the White House is seeking as part of a stop-gap spending measure Congress must pass this month to avoid a government shutdown.
In March, Congress omitted standard language regarding the city’s budget, which resulted in the District keeping funding at 2024 levels. At the time, city officials projected the omission would lead to significant cuts to police, education and other services.
The White House request just submitted to Congress clarifies the district has the authority to spend in fiscal year 2026 the money it raises through local taxes.
The request is part of an 18-page list of adjustments that the White House wants including in any stopgap funding bill. It’s a positive signal for the district after the Republican-led House had declined for months to take up a DC funding fix.
Senate Democrats to force vote on releasing Epstein files
Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer is forcing a vote on a measure to force the Department of Justice to release the case files on the late Jeffrey Epstein.
Schumer, a New York Democrat, is proposing an amendment to the Senate’s annual military authorization bill that would force Attorney General Pam Bondi to release the Epstein files. Congressional Democrats have been hammering on the issue for weeks as President Donald Trump has resisted releasing the information.
“We’re going to keep fighting until these files are fully released,” Schumer said in a video on social media shortly after he filed the amendment.
The Senate will vote on the defense bill this week, but the timing of the vote on Schumer’s amendment was unclear.
Trump offers curious first take on Russian drone incursion in Poland’s air space
“What’s with Russia violating Poland’s airspace with drones? Here we go!” Trump said in a posting on his Truth Social platform late Wednesday morning.
White House officials did not immediately respond to queries about Trump’s first comments after Poland announced that several Russian drones entered its territory over the course of many hours and were shot down with help from NATO allies.
Trump was scheduled to speak on Wednesday with Polish President Karol Nawrocki.
Trump is set to host a dinner for Cabinet and White House staff
The president on Wednesday night is hosting the second gathering at what he’s dubbed the “Rose Garden Club,” where he paved over the lawn of the White House Rose Garden and installed tables and chairs.
Wednesday’s guests are set to include members of the president’s Cabinet and White House staff, according to two White House officials who were not authorized to speak publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.
Last week, Trump hosted Republican members of Congress in the space for a dinner.
Democrats critique administration shuttering gun violence prevention programs while issuing an anti-crime crackdown
Democratic Rep. Lateefah Simon, who represents Oakland, Calif., critiqued the White House for shuttering its Office of Gun Violence prevention and ceasing funds for some community service programs meant to promote public safety with precautionary measures.
“If we want safe communities, we will fully fund teachers in the city of Washington, DC, there are a limited amount of fully funded services for young people with mental health issues, so let’s fully fund that,” Simon said. “Let’s fully fund job programs for every young person.”
“You can’t incarcerate your way out of out of substance abuse disorder,” said Democratic Rep. Wesley Bell, who represents Ferguson, Mo. Bell introduced an amendment that would boost funding for addiction remediation programs and other anti-crime efforts.
“If you send somebody with mental health to jail, they’re just going to come out with a worse problem and they’re likely to graduate to violent crime.”
Republicans: Vote out Democrats after Charlotte train stabbing
Republicans in Charlotte say the stabbing death of a woman on a commuter train signals it’s long past time local residents vote out Democrats leading North Carolina’s largest city. GOP candidates for mayor and city council joined state party officials for a news conference at a light rail station the day after the city’s primary election.
Police say Iryna Zarutska was fatally stabbed on a train Aug. 22. A man with a lengthy criminal record has been charged with murder.
Four-term Democratic Mayor Vi Lyles easily won her primary Tuesday and will face Republican Terrie Donovan in November’s general election. Republicans have accused Lyles and other Democrats of failing to keep the transit system safe and for other loose criminal justice policies.
“This is no longer a matter of voting red or voting blue. This is a matter of voting for common sense,” Donovan said at the news conference. “We don’t just deserve change, we demand change.”
There hasn’t been a GOP mayor in Charlotte since 2009. Success for Donovan and other GOP candidates likely will depend on the city’s large bloc of unaffiliated voters.
‘You are living in a city filled with crime,’ Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene tells DC residents
She told dozens of Washington residents attending the hearing that safety concerns justify expanding military deployments in cities across the country, following Trump’s surge of federal troops and law enforcement agents into the nation’s capital.
“You know it because in your communities, you know people and you witness it, there’s drive by shootings, there’s drug deals, and the youths of this community are being done wrong, absolutely being done wrong,” the Georgia Republican said, repeating dystopian rhetoric about public safety in the capital and other cities.
“And I, 100%, and some of my colleagues, 100% support the use of the National Guard to clean up the crime and stop the criminals from murdering and raping and stealing and making cities unsafe,” said Greene. “And that’s the reality of where we are today. And so this debate can continue back and forth, but it is ridiculous. Fighting for criminals is a losing argument.”
Democrat calls his GOP colleagues ‘lapdogs’ for Trump in tense exchange
“This body is full of lap dogs doing exactly what the President wants, when he wants. It’s not pushing back,” said Rep. Maxwell Frost, a Florida Democrat and the youngest member of Congress.
Frost accused his Republican colleagues on the Oversight Committee of hypocrisy as they try to undo home rule in the nation’s capital, contrary to GOP rhetoric about “a party that’s supposed to be about states’ rights and local rule and people the consent of the governed, which is fundamental to our Constitution and this country.”
Frost then called for DC statehood, saying city residents “want to be represented by the government that they pay taxes to.”
Several dozen attendees wearing “FREE DC” shirts and hats clapped and cheered at his remarks.
DC’s representative accuses GOP of lying about nation’s capital
Rep. Eleanor Holmes Norton, DC’s non-voting member of Congress, said that several bills being debated on the House Oversight Committee would limit Washington’s ability to govern itself in the limited manner afforded to it by federal law.
“This bill disparages DC and perpetuates the misinformation and disinformation the Trump administration and Republicans in Congress have spread about the safety and beauty of DC,” Norton said. “I encourage tourists to continue to visit DC, and businesses and people to continue to move this wonderful city. DC is a world-class city, full stop.”
Comer said the “Make the District of Columbia Safe and Beautiful Act” would benefit residents by establishing a commission charged with administering the city. The legislation also would codify Trump’s executive order federalizing the city’s police force and supplant municipal policies.
Republicans justify DC crackdown by highlighting city’s unique constitutional status
Washington Mayor Muriel Bowser and congressional Democrats have called for greater autonomy — and voting rights in Congress. But House Republicans say the Constitution provided otherwise.
“There is no other municipality addressed in Article I, Section VIII of the Constitution,” said Rep. Andy Biggs of Arizona. He argued that residents should understand and accept the city’s unique constitutional situation. “You chose to live in it,” he said.
GOP says DC residents don’t need more representation
“It was clearly recognized that DC was going to have a unique role to play for the entire republic and the citizens of the envisioned capital would enjoy a special access to government to be uniquely represented,” said Rep. Clay Higgins, a Louisiana Republican.
The District of Columbia is a federal district. While Congress delegated much of the city’s day-to-day operational authority to the local government under the Home Rule Act of 1973, Congress reserves the power to reinforce its authority over the city, and federal laws passed by Congress itself govern how interventions by Capitol Hill or the White House are carried out.
This access to lawmakers effectively removed the residents’ need for other forms of representation, Higgins argued. “This is the way the nation’s capital governance was envisioned.”
Oversight Committee begins debate on home rule in District of Columbia
Oversight Chairman James Comer accused local officials of allowing crime to “flourish” in Washington, D.C. before opening debate on “several pieces of legislation to reinforce President Trump’s efforts to make Washington, D.C. safe again.”
Ranking member Robert Garcia, a Democrat, called it a “blatant power grab” by Republicans who are “hijacking authority” from local leaders and residents.
The Oversight Committee is working a slate of bills related to D.C. that it aims to send to the GOP-led House for votes.
Democrats say North Carolina Republicans share blame for deadly violence
They say the GOP is misleading the public while failing to support law enforcement with more funding in a state budget that the Republican-controlled General Assembly was supposed to approve months ago.
The U.S. Senate campaign of Democrat Roy Cooper points to what it considers his long history fighting crime as governor and attorney general.
Cooper’s likely Senate rival, the former Republican National Committee chairman Michael Whatley, tried to link the violence to Cooper’s creation of a task force on solutions to racial bias in the criminal justice system. But Cooper never gave the task force any authority to release state prisoners.
Charlotte, NC, mayor says Republicans must help provide solutions
Mayor Vi Lyles posted an open letter on social media late Monday, calling the refugee’s death a “tragic failure by the courts and magistrates.”
“Our police officers arrest people only to have them quickly released, which undermines our ability to protect our community and ensure safety,” Lyles added. “We need a bipartisan solution to address repeat offenders who do not face consequences for their actions and those who cannot get treatment for their mental illness and are allowed to be on the streets.”
Caine sees ‘a lot of frothiness’ in global security
Caine told attendees at the Billington Cybersecurity Summit in Washington that there are a “number of serious and simultaneous events” including conflicts in the Middle East and Ukraine and escalating tensions in Asia and the Western hemisphere. With such upheaval in the world, sharing information is even more critical, he said.
“It’s always been a frustration from our allies and partners, and understandably so,” Caine said of the flow of defense information from the U.S. “I think we’re doing a good job at that. We could always do better.”
Caine told the crowd of mostly tech industry insiders that the Pentagon must also improve its relationship with the private sector to make it easier for start-ups and established companies to do business with the government, and to ensure America’s military is equipped with the latest technology.
Top US military officer says rising conflicts demonstrate need for US partnerships
Air Force Gen. Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, says the U.S. must improve its sharing of intelligence and information with key allies as global tensions rise and America’s adversaries grow more technologically sophisticated.
Caine was speaking at a cybersecurity conference on Wednesday when he said the U.S. and its allies have improved their technical cooperation in the face of threats from China, Russia and Iran.
But technological innovations by adversaries as well as enhanced cyber threats show more must be done, Caine said. Autonomous systems, cyber warfare and artificial intelligence mean information about weapons, tactics and capabilities is more important than ever, he said.
Trump wants ‘inappropriate’ material removed from national parks
The National Park Service had until July 18 to flag “inappropriate” signs, exhibits and other material, according to a document shared with the AP by the National Parks Conservation Association, which obtained internal information from an anonymous source within the Interior Department. The public was also encouraged to participate.
And the administration said it would remove all “inappropriate” material by Sept. 17, according to The New York Times, citing internal agency documents.
“Pretending that the bad stuff never happened is not going to make it go away,” said Alan Spears, a senior director with the National Parks Conservation Association, a nonpartisan group separate from the national parks system that advocates for it. “We need to be able to talk about these things if we’re going to have any hope of bringing people together.”
▶ Here’s a look at some of the material flagged for review
From slavery to pollution, National Park employees flagged material deemed ‘disparaging’
Does the Everglades National Park represent a slight to development in America? Does mentioning missionaries, who sought to destroy the language and culture of Alaska Natives, cast American history in a negative light? How about the memoir of an enslaved girl for sale in a park’s bookstore?
These are some of dozens of items National Park Service employees flagged as potentially “disparaging” to Americans, according to screenshots shared with The Associated Press.
Trump ordered park employees to flag any public materials that “inappropriately disparage Americans past or living,” and instead “focus on the greatness of the achievements and progress of the American people or, with respect to natural features, the beauty, abundance, and grandeur of the American landscape.”
Transportation secretary announces security probe of Charlotte, NC, trains after killing
Sean Duffy also threatened to pull federal funding if his department’s investigation finds security problems in the North Carolina city’s mass transit system.
Duffy and Trump are pointing to last month’s killing of Ukrainian refugee Iryna Zarutska on a train last month as evidence that cities led by Democrats aren’t doing enough to combat crime.
Duffy blamed her death on the “soft on crime policies” of local leaders and said this continues to put the traveling public at risk. His department said there have been six attacks on transit workers in Charlotte this year, up from just one last year, and higher than the national average.
Teachers unions sue Trump administration over immigration enforcement
Two unions representing millions of school employees nationwide are joining a federal court challenge of the Trump administration, saying immigration arrests near schools are terrorizing children and teachers, leading some students to drop out.
A day after he took office, Trump rescinded a Department of Homeland Security memo that urged immigration agents to steer clear of schools and churches.
The American Federation of Teachers and the National Education Association say the move was illegal. The unions are joining an ongoing lawsuit filed by a farmworker union and a group of churches. The amended lawsuit was filed Tuesday in a federal court in Eugene, Oregon.
Trump to speak with Polish leader
The U.S. president will speak on Wednesday with Polish President Karol Nawrocki, according to a White House official who was not authorized to speak publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.
Trump has not yet made any public comments yet about Poland’s report Wednesday that it shot down Russian drones that violated its airspace.
Lisa Cook to remain Fed governor for now, despite Trump’s efforts to fire her
The ruling Tuesday by a federal judge, which almost certainly will be appealed, is a blow to the Trump administration’s efforts to assert more control over the U.S. central bank, which is traditionally independent from day-to-day politics so that it can better achieve its congressionally mandated goals of stable prices and maximum employment.
U.S. District Judge Jia Cobb ruled that Cook’s challenge would likely prevail. A Trump appointee accused Cook of mortgage fraud, saying she simultaneously claimed two properties she bought before joining the Fed were her “primary residences,” which could have resulted in lower down payments and mortgage rates.
But the judge said such allegations don’t legally justify her firing, since by law, Fed governors can only be removed “for cause,” which Cobb said was limited to actions taken during a governor’s time in office.
US producer prices unexpectedly fell last month, Labor Department says
The department’s producer price index — which captures inflation in the supply chain before it hits consumers — showed that wholesale inflation decelerated by 0.1% in August after advancing 0.7% in July. It’s a possible sign that retailers and wholesalers are absorbing the cost of Trump’s sweeping taxes on imports, and it makes it even more likely that the Fed will cut its benchmark interest rate next week for the first time this year.
Excluding volatile food and energy prices, so-called core producer prices also fell 0.1% from July and were up 2.8% from a year earlier.
The numbers were lower than economists had forecast. Trump’s tariffs were widely expected to send prices higher, but so far their impact has been muted. “The big picture remains that tariff effects are feeding through only slowly,’′ economist Stephen Brown of Capital Economics wrote in a commentary.
Florida Democrat Jenkins challenges Republican Moody for US Senate
A Democratic former school board member who garnered attention for defeating a future cofounder of Moms for Liberty has announced her 2026 bid for the U.S. Senate in Florida.
Jennifer Jenkins unseated Tina Descovich on the Brevard County School Board in 2020 in a county that Trump had carried by nearly 20 points. Now she’s challenging Republican Sen. Ashley Moody, who faces a special election to hold on to her seat after Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis appointed her to succeed Marco Rubio, who was tapped by Trump to become secretary of state.
“Ashley Moody doesn’t know what it’s like to struggle paying for food, housing, health care and day care. But I do,” Jenkins said in a campaign launch video.
Trump calls for death penalty for suspect in Charlotte train killing
The president in a post on his social media network Wednesday morning referred to the suspect in the stabbing death of a Ukrainian woman on a train in Charlotte, N.C. as an “ANIMAL” and said he should be tried quickly “and only awarded THE DEATH PENALTY.”
“There can be no other option!!!” he wrote.
The suspect, Decarlos Brown Jr., had served time in prison, been briefly committed for schizophrenia and was arrested earlier this year after repeatedly calling 911 from a hospital. Then a judge released him without bail.
The Supreme Court to consider Trump’s tariffs power
The justices will hear the case in November, a lightning-fast timetable by the court’s typical pace. The tariffs will stay in place in the meantime.
The court agreed to take up an appeal from the Trump administration after lower courts found most of his tariffs illegal. The small businesses and states that challenged the tariffs on goods from almost every country in the world say they have driven businesses nearly to bankruptcy.
Trump weighs in on Israeli strike in Qatar
Trying to walk a delicate line following Israel’s attack on Hamas officials in Doha, he said he was “not thrilled” about the strike while stopping short of condemning Israel for carrying out an audacious military operation on the soil of another major U.S. ally.
Qatar has played a key role mediating between the U.S. and Iran and its proxies, including during talks with Tehran-backed Hamas as the war with Israel in Gaza grinds on.
▶ Read more about Trump, Qatar and Israel
Trump asserts that his Epstein connections are a ’dead issue’
After House Democrats released a picture of a birthday message, which features the drawing of a curvaceous woman, purportedly signed by Trump for Jeffrey Epstein, Republicans rushed to support the president’s assertions that he had nothing to do with the letter.
Trump on Tuesday said he wouldn’t “comment on something that’s a dead issue.” Trump sued the Wall Street Journal and its owner over a report that described such a page in detail.
US Secretary of State to meet with his South Korean counterpart following raid
The meeting between Marco Rubio and South Korea’s Foreign Minister Cho Hyun is set for the White House Wednesday morning.
A total of 475 workers, more than 300 of them South Koreans, were rounded up in the Sept. 4 raid at the battery factory under construction at Hyundai’s sprawling auto plant west of Savannah. Some were shown being shackled with chains around their hands, ankles and waists in video released by U.S. authorities.
Hyun traveled to Washington tasked with bringing them home. South Korean media reported that a charter plane left for the U.S. to bring them back.
