The Latest: Mike Waltz will face questions over Signal chat at Senate hearing for new UN job
He is set to appear before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee at 10 a.m. ET.
The hearing will provide senators with the first opportunity to grill Waltz over revelations in March that he added The Atlantic editor-in-chief Jeffrey Goldberg to a private text chain on an unclassified messaging app that was used to discuss planning for strikes on Houthi militants in Yemen.
Waltz has spent the last few months on the White House payroll despite being removed as national security adviser. The latest list of White House salaries, current as of July 1, includes Waltz earning an annual salary of $195,200.
Here's the latest:
Inflation rose last month to its highest level in 4 months
Worsening inflation poses a political challenge for Trump, who promised during last year's presidential campaign to immediately lower costs. Higher inflation will also likely heighten the Federal Reserve's reluctance to cut its short-term interest rate, as Trump is loudly demanding.
The Labor Department said Tuesday that consumer prices for things like gas, food and groceries rose 2.7% in June from a year earlier, up from an annual increase of 2.4% in May. On a monthly basis, prices climbed 0.3% from May to June, after rising just 0.1% the previous month.
Trump's sweeping tariffs are also pushing up the cost of a range of goods, including furniture, clothing, and large appliances.
Trump urged supporters to see conspiracies everywhere. With Epstein, that's coming back to haunt him
As his supporters erupt over the Justice Department's failure to release much-hyped records in Jeffrey Epstein's sex trafficking investigation, President Trump's strategy has been to downplay the issue.
His problem? That nothing-to-see-here approach doesn't work for those who have learned from him that they must not give up until the government's deepest, darkest secrets are exposed.
On Saturday, Trump used his Truth Social platform to again attempt to call supporters off the Epstein trail amid reports of infighting between Attorney General Pam Bondi and FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino over the issue. He suggested the turmoil was undermining his administration, but that did little to mollify Trump's supporters, who urged him to release the files or risk losing his base.
The political crisis is especially challenging for Trump because it's one of his own making. The president has spent years stoking dark theories and embracing QAnon-tinged propaganda that casts him as the only savior who can demolish the 'deep state.' Now that he's running the federal government, the community he helped build is coming back to haunt him. It's demanding answers he either isn't able to or does not want to provide.
Trump sounds more positive about NATO
Trump hailed as 'amazing' the news from the NATO summit last month that member countries will increase defense spending to 5% of their gross domestic product.
'Nobody thought that that was possible,' Trump told the BBC.
He has complained for a long time that the U.S. shoulders too much of the NATO burden and has demanded that countries devote more of their budgets to defense.
Reminded that he previously had called NATO 'obsolete,' Trump said, 'I think NATO is now becoming the opposite of that. I do think it was past.'
Trump says he wants to have a 'good time' on his upcoming UK state visit
Speaking about British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, Trump noted in the BBC interview, 'I really like the prime minister, even though he's a liberal.'
Trump and Starmer have met several times, including in the Oval Office, and the prime minister was quick to negotiate a trade framework with the United States to avoid the steep tariffs Trump is imposing on other countries.
Trump is due to visit Britain in mid-September for an unprecedented second state visit. Asked about his goals for the trip, Trump said, 'I want to have a good time and respect King Charles, because he's a great gentleman.'
Trump and his wife, first lady Melania Trump, are set to visit the U.K. between Sept. 17 and 19 and will be hosted by King Charles III and Queen Camilla at Windsor Castle.
No U.S. president has been invited for a second state visit. Trump previously enjoyed state visit pomp and pageantry in 2019 during his first term when he was hosted by Charles' late mother, Queen Elizabeth II.
Trump says he's 'disappointed' but not 'done' with Putin, dodges on whether he trusts Russia's leader
Asked about Putin in a telephone interview with the BBC that aired on Tuesday, Trump said, 'I'm disappointed in him. But I'm not done with him, but I'm disappointed in him.'
Trump said he thought he and Putin had reached a deal several times to end Russia's invasion of neighboring Ukraine, only to find out that Russia had just attacked Kyiv again.
The president dodged when asked if he trusts Putin. 'I trust almost nobody, to be honest with you,' Trump said.
The Kremlin says more US weapons for Ukraine will extend the war
The Kremlin said Tuesday that new supplies of U.S. weapons to Ukraine announced by President Trump will extend the conflict.
Asked about comments by Trump, who threatened Russia with steep tariffs if it fails to agree to a peace deal in 50 days and announced a rejuvenated pipeline for American weapons to reach Ukraine, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that 'such decisions made in Washington, in NATO members and in Brussels are perceived by the Ukrainian side as a signal for continuing the war, not a signal for peace.'
He reaffirmed that Russia is open to continuing the talks with Ukraine in Istanbul, but is still waiting for Kyiv to offer a date for their new round. 'We are ready to continue the dialogue,' he said, adding that 'we haven't yet received signals about the third round and it's hard to say what's the reason.'
Supreme Court allows Trump to lay off nearly 1,400 Education Department employees
The Supreme Court is allowing President Donald Trump to put his plan to dismantle the Education Department back on track and go through with laying off nearly 1,400 employees.
With the three liberal justices in dissent, the court on Monday paused an order from U.S. District Judge Myong Joun in Boston, who issued a preliminary injunction reversing the layoffs and calling into question the broader plan.
The layoffs 'will likely cripple the department,' Joun wrote. A federal appeals court refused to put the order on hold while the administration appealed.
The high court action enables the administration to resume work on winding down the department, one of Trump's biggest campaign promises.
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Global News
24 minutes ago
- Global News
Canada's premiers set for 3-day meeting in Ontario with trade top of mind
Tariffs and trade are top of the agenda as the country's premiers arrive in Ontario's cottage country for a three-day meeting that comes at a pivotal time for both Canada-U.S. and domestic relations. The premiers' summer gathering in Muskoka will also feature a Tuesday meeting with Prime Minister Mark Carney, as trade talks with the United States are expected to intensify. Most of what the premiers are likely to discuss stems from U.S. President Donald Trump's tariffs: trade negotiations, the direct impact on industries such as steel and aluminum, the increased pushes to remove interprovincial trade barriers and speed up major infrastructure and natural resource projects to counteract the effects of tariffs, as well as Indigenous communities' concerns about them. 1:07 Canada 'pretty difficult to deal with,' White House says as trade agreement deadline looms Day 1 of the premiers' meeting involves discussions with Indigenous leaders including the Assembly of First Nations, the Métis National Council and the Native Women's Association of Canada. Story continues below advertisement Carney himself is fresh off a meeting with hundreds of First Nations chiefs, many of whom have expressed concerns about their rights being sidelined as the prime minister looks to accelerate projects in the 'national interest.' Some of the top priorities premiers are pushing include pipelines and mining in Ontario's Ring of Fire region, and chiefs have said that must not happen by governments skirting their duty to consult. Ontario Premier Doug Ford, who has served for the past year as head of the Council of the Federation, is host of the meeting and said in a statement that protecting national interests will be top of mind. 'This meeting will be an opportunity to work together on how to respond to President Trump's latest threat and how we can unleash the full potential of Canada's economy,' Ford wrote. Get breaking National news For news impacting Canada and around the world, sign up for breaking news alerts delivered directly to you when they happen. Sign up for breaking National newsletter Sign Up By providing your email address, you have read and agree to Global News' Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy Trump and Carney agreed in June at the G7 summit to try and reach a trade deal by July 21 but Trump recently moved that deadline to Aug. 1, while telling Carney he intends to impose 35 per cent across-the-board tariffs on Canada that same day. 5:51 Carney doubles down with counter tariffs Carney has said Canada is trying to get an agreement on softwood lumber exports included in the negotiations with the United States. Story continues below advertisement British Columbia Premier David Eby said he intends to raise the issue and others of particular importance to B.C. at the meeting. '(We want to) get access to the same level of attention, for example, on the softwood lumber as Ontario gets on the auto parts sector, (and) that we get the same amount of attention on capital projects as Alberta is currently getting in relation to their proposals,' Eby said last week in Victoria. Alberta Premier Danielle Smith has been making a big push for new pipelines, but said during a press conference Friday that her focus would also be on premiers working together to address the tariff threat, including interprovincial trade. 'I was really pleased to sign (a memorandum of understanding) with Doug Ford during the time he was here in during Stampede, and other provinces are working on those same kind of collaborative agreements,' she said. 'We need to do more to trade with each other, and I hope that that's the spirit of the discussion.' Smith and Ford signed an MOU earlier this month to study new pipelines and rail lines between provinces, and both premiers also talked about wanting Carney to repeal a number of energy regulations like net-zero targets, the West Coast tanker ban and a proposed emissions cap. Ford has also taken a lead role on increasing interprovincial trade, signing MOUs with several provinces and enacting a law to remove all of Ontario's exceptions to free trade between the provinces and territories. Story continues below advertisement 6:11 Mapping Canada's strategy to combat U.S. tariffs Nova Scotia's Tim Houston is another premier banging the drum of interprovincial trade, saying the trade war is forcing action on it. 'We're seeing the benefit of working together to respond to economic threats from the U.S. by breaking down internal trade barriers and opportunities to expand in other international markets,' he wrote in a statement. Ford has said the premiers will also talk about emergency management, energy security, sovereignty and national security, health, and public safety. The premiers have also been pushing the federal government to reform bail laws and Carney said last week that legislation will be introduced in the fall and he expects to discuss the issue with the premiers on Tuesday. The premiers' summer meeting also signals a changing of the guard, with the role of chair of Council of the Federation moving between provinces annually. Story continues below advertisement 0:52 Mexico, Canada coordinate as Trump warns of new USMCA tariffs But after Ford is no longer chair, he's not expected to take too much of a back seat on all of the aforementioned issues. He is still premier of the most populous province, has built a strong relationship with Carney, often singing the prime minister's praises, and has done frequent American TV interviews making the case for increased trade over tariffs. Those network appearances, in part, earned him a nickname of 'Captain Canada' — a persona he used to massive political benefit. Ford made the fight against tariffs and Trump the central part of his re-election campaign and voters returned him to government with a third consecutive majority.
Winnipeg Free Press
24 minutes ago
- Winnipeg Free Press
The 2026 Senate map is tough for Democrats, but Republicans have their own headaches
WASHINGTON (AP) — Republicans are encountering early headaches in Senate races viewed as pivotal to maintaining the party's majority in next year's midterm elections, with recruitment failures, open primaries, infighting and a president who has been sitting on the sidelines. Democrats still face an uphill battle. They need to net four seats to retake the majority, and most of the 2026 contests are in states that Republican President Donald Trump easily won last November. But Democrats see reasons for hope in Republicans' challenges. They include a nasty primary in Texas that could jeopardize a seat Republicans have held for decades. In North Carolina and Georgia, the GOP still lacks a clear field of candidates. Trump's influence dials up the uncertainty as he decides whether to flex his influential endorsement to stave off intraparty fights. Republicans stress that it remains early in the election cycle and say there is still plenty of time for candidates to establish themselves and Trump to wade in. The president, said White House political director James Blair, has been working closely with Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D. 'I won't get ahead of the president but look, him and leader Thune have been very aligned. I expect them to be aligned and work closely.' he said. Trump's timing, allies say, also reflects the far more disciplined approach by him and his political operation, which are determined for Republicans to gain seats in both the Senate and the House. Here's what's happening in some key Senate races: An ugly Texas brawl Democrats have long dreamed of winning statewide office in this ruby red state. Could a nasty GOP primary be their ticket? National Republicans and GOP Senate strategists are ringing alarm bells amid concerns that state Attorney General Ken Paxton, who is facing a bevy of personal and ethical questions, could prevail over Sen. John Cornyn for the nomination. They fear Paxton would be a disastrous general election candidate, forcing Republicans to invest tens of millions of dollars they believe would be better spent in other states. Texans for a Conservative Majority, a super political action committee supporting Cornyn, a onetime Trump critic, began airing television ads this past week promoting his support for Trump's package of tax breaks and spending cuts. Don't expect the upbeat tone from the pro-Cornyn super PAC to hold long. Paxton was acquitted after a Republican-led impeachment trial in 2023 over allegations of bribery and abuse of office, which also exposed an extramarital affair. His wife, Angela, filed for divorce on July 10, referring to 'recent discoveries' in announcing her decision to end her marriage of 38 years 'on biblical grounds.' 'Ken Paxton has embarrassed himself, his family, and we look forward to exposing just how bad he's embarrassed our state in the coming months,' said Aaron Whitehead, the super PAC's executive director. Trump adviser Chris LaCivita, who comanaged Trump's 2024 campaign, is advising the group. But Cornyn has had a cool relationship with Trump over the years, while Paxton is a longtime Trump ally. And Paxton raised more than three times as much as Cornyn in the second quarter, $2.9 million compared with $804,000, according to Federal Elections Commission reports. Rep. Wesley Hunt is also weighing a run. Will Trump be persuaded to endorse or will he choose to steer clear? Will North Carolina have a Trump on the ballot? The surprise retirement announcement by two-term Sen. Thom Tillis has set off a frenzied search for a replacement in a state widely seen as Democrats' top pickup opportunity. He had repeatedly clashed with Trump, including over Medicaid changes in the tax cut bill, leading the president to threaten to back a primary challenger. All eyes are now on Lara Trump, the president's daughter-in-law, who is mulling whether to run in her home state as other potential candidates stand by. A familiar national Republican face as co-chair of the Republican National Committee during Trump's 2024 campaign, Lara Trump is now a Fox News Channel host. She also had been a visible surrogate during previous campaigns, often promoting her North Carolina roots and the fact that she named her daughter Carolina. Having a Trump on the ballot could boost a party that has struggled to motivate its most fervent base when Donald Trump is not running. But Lara Trump currently lives in Florida and has so far sounded muted on the prospect of a Senate run. Other potential contenders include RNC chair Michael Whatley, who led North Carolina's GOP before taking the national reins and is considered a strong fundraiser and Trump loyalist, and first-term Reps. Pat Harrigan and Brad Knott. While Lara Trump and Whatley are better known nationally, Harrigan is a West Point graduate and Knott is a former federal prosecutor. Democrats are waiting on a decision from former two-term Gov. Roy Cooper, who is seen as a formidable candidate by both parties in a state Trump carried by just 3.2 percentage points last year. Former Rep. Wiley Nickel has entered the race, but it's unclear what he would do if Cooper ran. In Georgia, a pickup opportunity with no candidate yet Republicans see Georgia and the seat held by Democrat Jon Ossoff as one of their best pickup opportunities. But the party remains in search of a well-known challenger after failing to persuade term-limited Gov. Brian Kemp to run. A growing potential field includes Reps. Buddy Carter, Mike Collins and Rich McCormick, Insurance Commissioner John King and Derek Dooley, a former University of Tennessee football coach. The president is still meeting with possible candidates and is expected by many to wait to weigh in until his team has fully screened them and assessed their chances and after his budget priorities make their way through Congress. Ossoff took in more than $10 million in the second quarter of the year, according to federal filings, after raising $11 million from January through March. He ended June with more than $15.5 million cash on hand. That money will matter in what is sure to be an expensive general election. The Senate races in 2020, when Ossoff and Raphael Warnock narrowly won and flipped control to Democrats, cost more than $900 million combined. Michigan GOP waits on Trump Republicans hope the retirement of Democratic Sen. Gary Peters and a crowded, expensive Democratic primary will help them capture a seat that has eluded them for more than three decades. Here, too, all eyes are on Trump. Republicans are rallying around former Rep. Mike Rogers, who came within 20,000 votes in 2024 against then-Rep. Elissa Slotkin and had Trump's endorsement. Rogers now appears to have momentum behind him, with the support of Thune, the National Republican Senatorial Committee and former Trump campaign veterans LaCivita and Tony Fabrizio. But other Republicans could complicate things. Rep. Bill Huizenga has said he is waiting for guidance from the president on whether he should run. 'When people are asking why haven't you announced or what are you going to do, it's like, look, I want to get the man's input, all right?' Huizenga told reporters last month. A spokesperson for Huizenga added that the congressman has spoken to Trump on the phone multiple times and has yet to be told not to run. Still, White House officials have on more than one occasion encouraged Huizenga to stay in the House, according to one person familiar with the conversations who was not authorized to publicly discuss the private discussions and spoke only on condition of anonymity. Democrats have their own messy primary, with state Sen. Mallory McMorrow up against Rep. Haley Stevens, state Rep. Joe Tate, and former Wayne County Health Director Abdul El-Sayed. They were pleased to see that, even without any declared challengers, Rogers' main campaign account raised just $745,000 during the second quarter, lagging Huizenga and several Democrats. (He brought in another nearly $779,000 through a separate joint fundraising committee.) McMorrow, by comparison, raised more than $2.1 million. In Louisiana, another Trump antagonist faces voters Republican Sen. Bill Cassidy has faced scrutiny from his party, in no small part for his 2021 vote to convict Trump after the president's second impeachment. Will Trump seek retribution against the two-term senator or ultimately back him? Though Cassidy already faces two primary challengers, Louisiana is a reliably Republican state, which Trump won last year by 22 percentage points. Democrats are hoping a strong contender — potentially former Gov. John Bel Edwards, who has attracted Republican votes in the past — might mount a competitive challenge. Republicans are awaiting word on whether Rep. Julia Letlow will run. In May, Gov. Jeff Landry and Trump privately discussed the two-term congresswoman entering the race. Letlow and Landry appeared together at a congressional fundraiser for her in Lafayette, outside her northeast Louisiana district, on June 30, fueling speculation about her plans. The governor's discussion with Trump of a new challenger to Cassidy reflects the Trump base's unease with Cassidy, not simply over the impeachment vote, but also Cassidy's concerns about installing Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as the nation's health secretary. Cassidy ultimately backed Kennedy, a move some saw as an effort to ease tensions. Among Cassidy's Republican challengers so far are state Treasurer John Fleming and state Sen. Blake Miguez. Letlow, serving in the seat her husband held before he died of COVID-19, is considered a rising star in the Louisiana GOP. A wavering incumbent in Iowa Two-term Republican Sen. Joni Ernst has not said whether she plans to seek a third term. Ernst would be expected to win in the state Trump carried by 13 percentage points last year. But she has come under some criticism from Iowa Republicans, including for saying she needed to hear more from Trump's pick for defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, before committing to support his nomination amid allegations of sexual assault that Hegseth denied. The senator, a combat veteran and sexual assault survivor, eventually voted to confirm him. Though a final decision awaits, Ernst has named a 2026 campaign manager and has scheduled her annual Iowa fundraiser for October. ___ Beaumont reported from Des Moines, Iowa. Associated Press writers Joey Cappelletti and Seung Min Kim contributed to this report.
Winnipeg Free Press
an hour ago
- Winnipeg Free Press
Texas Republicans aim to redraw House districts at Trump's urging, but there's a risk
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — U.S. Rep. Vicente Gonzalez, a Texas Democrat who represents a slice of the Rio Grande Valley along the border with Mexico, won his last congressional election by just over 5,000 votes. That makes him a tempting target for Republicans, who are poised to redraw the state's congressional maps this coming week and devise five new winnable seats for the GOP that would help the party avoid losing House control in the 2026 elections. Adjusting the lines of Gonzalez's district to bring in a few thousand more Republican voters, while shifting some Democratic ones out, could flip his seat. Gonzalez said he is not worried. Those Democratic voters will have to end up in one of the Republican districts that flank Gonzalez's current one, making those districts more competitive — possibly enough so it could flip the seats to Democrats. 'Get ready for some pickup opportunities,' Gonzalez said, adding that his party is already recruiting challengers to Republicans whose districts they expect to be destabilized by the process. 'We're talking to some veterans, we're talking to some former law enforcement.' Texas has 38 seats in the House. Republicans now hold 25 and Democrats 12, with one seat vacant after Democrat Sylvester Turner, a former Houston mayor, died in March. Gonzalez's district — and what happens to the neighboring GOP-held ones — is at the crux of President Donald Trump's high-risk, high-reward push to get Texas Republicans to redraw their political map. Trump is seeking to avoid the traditional midterm letdown that most incumbent presidents endure and hold onto the House, which the GOP narrowly controls. Trump's push comes as there are numerous political danger signs for his presidency, both in the recent turmoil over his administration's handling of the Jeffrey Epstein case and in new polling. Surveys from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research show most U.S. adults think his policies have not helped them and that his tax cut and spending bill will help the wealthy. Republicans risk putting their own seats in jeopardy The fear of accidentally creating unsafe seats is one reason Texas Republicans drew their lines cautiously in 2021, when the constitutionally mandated redistricting process kicked off in all 50 states. Mapmakers — in most states, it's the party that controls the legislature — must adjust congressional and state legislative lines after every 10-year census to ensure that districts have about the same number of residents. That is a golden opportunity for one party to rig the map against the other, a tactic known as gerrymandering. But there is a term, too, for so aggressively redrawing a map that it puts that party's own seats at risk: a 'dummymander.' The Texas GOP knows the risk. In the 2010s, the Republican-controlled Legislature drew political lines that helped pad the GOP's House majority. That lasted until 2018, when a backlash against Trump in his first term led Democrats to flip two seats in Texas that Republicans had thought safe. In 2021, with Republicans still comfortably in charge of the Texas Statehouse, the party was cautious, opting for a map that mainly shored up their incumbents rather than targeted Democrats. Still, plenty of Republicans believe their Texas counterparts can safely go on offense. 'Smart map-drawing can yield pickup opportunities while not putting our incumbents in jeopardy,' said Adam Kincaid, executive director of the National Republican Redistricting Trust, which helps coordinate mapmaking for the party nationally.. Democrats contemplate a walkout Republican Gov. Greg Abbott called a special session of the Legislature, which starts Monday, to comply with Trump's request to redraw the congressional maps and to address the flooding in Texas Hill Country that killed at least 135 people this month. Democratic state lawmakers are talking about staying away from the Capitol to deny the Legislature the minimum number needed to convene. Republican Attorney General Ken Paxton posted that any Democrats who did that should be arrested. Lawmakers can be fined up to $500 a day for breaking a quorum after the House changed its rules when Democrats initiated a walkout in 2021. Despite the new penalties, state Rep. Trey Martinez Fischer, who led the walkout in 2021, left open the possibility of another. 'I don't think anybody should underestimate the will of Texas Democrats,' he said. Texas is not the only Republican state engaged in mid-decade redistricting. After staving off a ballot measure to expand the power of a mapmaking commission last election, Ohio Republicans hope to redraw their congressional map from a 10-5 one favoring the GOP to one as lopsided as 13-2, in a state Trump won last year with 55% of the vote. GOP sees momentum after 2024 presidential election Democrats have fewer options. More of the states the party controls do not allow elected partisans to draw maps and entrust independent commissions to draw fair lines. Some party leaders, such as California Gov. Gavin Newsom, are maneuvering to try to find ways around their commissions to counter Texas, but they have few options. The few Democrat-controlled states that do allow elected officials to draw the lines, such as Illinois, have already seen Democrats max out their advantages. Trump and his allies have been rallying Texas Republicans to ignore whatever fears they may and to go big. On Tuesday, the president posted on his social media site a reminder of his record in the state last November: 'Won by one and a half million Votes, and almost 14%. Also, won all of the Border Counties along Mexico, something which has never happened before. I keep hearing about Texas 'going Blue,' but it is just another Democrat LIE.' Texas has long been eyed as a state trending Democratic because of its growing nonwhite population. But those communities swung right last year and helped Trump expand his margin to 14 percentage points, a significant improvement on his 6-point win in 2020. Michael Li, a Texas native and longtime watcher of the state at the Brennan Center for Justice in New York, said there's no way to know whether that trend will continue in next year's elections or whether the state will return to its blue-trending ways. 'Anyone who can tell you what the politics of Texas looks like for the balance of the decade has a better crystal ball than I do,' Li said. Aggressive redistricting also carries legal risks One region of the state where Republican gains have been steady is the Rio Grande Valley, which runs from the Gulf of Mexico along much of the state's southern border. The heavily Hispanic region, where many Border Patrol officers live, has rallied around Trump's tough-on-immigration, populist message. As a result, Gonzalez and the area's other Democratic congressman, Henry Cuellar, have seen their reelection campaigns get steadily tighter. They are widely speculated to be the two top targets of the new map. The GOP is expected to look to the state's three biggest cities to find its other Democratic targets. If mapmakers scatter Democratic voters from districts in the Houston, Dallas and Austin areas, they could get to five additional seats. But in doing so, Republicans face a legal risk on top of their electoral one: that they break up districts required by the Voting Rights Act to have a critical amount of certain minority groups. The goal of the federal law is to enable those communities to elect representatives of their choosing. The Texas GOP already is facing a lawsuit from civil rights groups alleging its initial 2021 map did this. If this year's redistricting is too aggressive, it could trigger a second complaint. 'It's politically and legally risky,' Li said of the redistricting strategy. 'It's throwing caution to the winds.' ___ Riccardi reported from Denver.
