The Latest: National Guard troops arrive in Washington DC as Trump's federal takeover begins
President Donald Trump took unprecedented steps toward federalizing Washington, D.C. on Monday, saying it's needed to fight crime even as city leaders pointed to data showing violence is down.
He took command of the police department and deployed the National Guard under laws and Constitutional powers that give the federal government more sway over the nation's capital than other cities. Its historically majority Black population wasn't electing its own city council and mayor until 1973, when Republican President Richard Nixon signed the Home Rule Act.
Here's the latest:
Republican US Rep. Barry Moore joins the race for Alabama's open Senate seat
Moore, a member of the conservative Freedom Caucus, was first elected to Congress in 2020. He has the rare distinction of winning elections in two different congressional districts.
Last year, a federal court ordered Alabama to use a new congressional map, which put Moore's home outside his own district. Rather than moving to seek his old seat, he opted to challenge his fellow GOP incumbent in a hard-fought primary for the more solidly Republican 1st District.
Now he's seeking the position being vacated by Sen. Tommy Tuberville, who's running for governor. The rare open Senate seat is expected to draw a number of candidates and Alabama's Republican attorney general has already entered the race.
A UFC fight at the White House? Dana White says it's happening as part of deal with Paramount
Hours after Paramount and UFC announced a billion-dollar rights deal, Dana White said he had yet to hear from his friend, President Trump, on his thoughts about the fight company's new streaming home.
That was fine with White. The UFC CEO was set to travel to Washington on Aug. 28 to meet with Trump and his daughter, Ivanka, to catch up and discuss logistics on the proposed Fourth of July fight card next year at the White House.
Trump said last month he wanted to stage a UFC match on the White House grounds with upwards of 20,000 spectators to celebrate 250 years of American independence.
'It's absolutely going to happen,' White told The Associated Press. 'Think about that, the 250th birthday of the United States of America, the UFC will be on the White House south lawn live on CBS.'
▶ Read more about the UFC and the White House
Judge orders Trump administration not to withhold funds from National Endowment for Democracy
The federal judge ordered the administration to stop withholding funding approved by Congress for the nonprofit that aims to strengthen democratic institutions around the world.
U.S. Judge Dabney Friedrich in Washington said Monday it was clear the State Department was blocking the money for 'impermissible policy reasons,' and she rejected the department's explanation that it was trying to ensure the endowment had funding for the upcoming year.
'Before and during litigation, the defendants obstructed routine drawdown requests on money already set aside in the Endowment's Treasury account, imposed and then abandoned a novel waiver requirement, and delayed the obligation of apportioned funds,' she wrote. 'These actions vitiate any inference that the defendants' concern has been to 'ensure' the Endowment's 'level of funding in the coming fiscal year.''
Friedrich granted a preliminary injunction sought by the endowment for its remaining 2025 funding — $95 million, or about a third of its annual funding.
The State Department did not immediately have comment.
George Washington University pressed to reach deal over antisemitism findings
A Justice Department investigation concluded that leaders of George Washington University were 'deliberately indifferent' to complaints of antisemitism stemming from pro-Palestinian protests last year.
In a Tuesday letter to the university's president, the Justice Department said George Washington violated Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 by failing to address the harassment of Jewish students amid a campus tent encampment. The department said it will pursue enforcement action unless the university agrees to a voluntary resolution agreement.
The university did not immediately comment.
The Trump administration has issued similar findings at Harvard, Columbia and the University of California, Los Angeles. The government has used a deal with Columbia as a template for agreements with other universities.
The tent encampment at George Washington lasted about two weeks starting in April 2024 before it was cleared by police.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis picks state Sen. Jay Collins to be state's lieutenant governor
It's a closely watched appointment by the two-term governor, who can't run for reelection in 2026 and has been working to cement his legacy as his time leading the state winds down.
If Collins, an Army combat veteran and nonprofit executive, decides to launch a bid to succeed DeSantis, the move could tee up another proxy fight between the popular GOP governor and President Trump, who's already endorsed U.S. Rep. Byron Donalds for the job.
During a Tuesday news conference announcing his pick, DeSantis praised Collins for having strong conservative principles.
Collins was then sworn in minutes after the announcement.
The seat had been vacant since February, when then-lieutenant governor Jeanette Nuñez was appointed to lead one of the state's public universities.
▶ Read more about Florida's lieutenant governor
Trump will join virtual meeting on Ukraine organized by German Chancellor Friedrich Merz
That's according to a White House official.
The Europeans hope to use the Wednesday meeting to rally Trump to Ukraine's cause ahead of his Friday summit in Alaska with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Trump has disappointed allies in Europe by saying Ukraine will have to give up some Russian-held territory. He also said Russia must accept land swaps, although it was unclear what Putin might be expected to surrender.
Trump said Monday he's 'going to get everybody's ideas' before meeting with Putin.
DC mayor arrives for Justice Department meeting
Mayor Muriel Bowser was seen exiting a black SUV in the Justice Department courtyard and walking into the building ahead of her meeting with Attorney General Pam Bondi.
RFK Jr.'s formula to 'Make America Healthy Again' won't be made public — for now
The White House is holding off on publicly releasing the much-anticipated 'MAHA' strategy report that's supposed to provide a policy road map for making Americans healthier.
The policy recommendations are a follow up from the MAHA report released in May, which focused on ultraprocessed foods, prescription drugs, vaccines, screentime and pesticides.
The initial report had already divided some conservatives, with farmers concerned about its focus on pesticides and some from Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s coalition upset that the report didn't call for a ban on those chemicals.
White House spokesperson Kush Desai said in a statement that the report is 'on track' to be submitted to President Trump on Tuesday and will be unveiled to the public 'shortly thereafter.'
Attorney General Pam Bondi meeting with Washington officials after police takeover
The attorney general is expected to meet Tuesday with D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser a day after the president put the city's police force under federal control.
Metropolitan Police Chief Pamela Smith was also seen entering Justice Department headquarters ahead of the planned meeting.
Trump said Monday that Bondi would assume responsibility for the police department in the hopes of reducing crime, even as city officials stressed crime is already falling.
Trump threatens lawsuit against Federal Reserve Chair
Trump called Fed chair Jerome Powell a 'loser' Tuesday and demanded that he cut the central bank's short-term interest rate. Such rate reductions can, over time, reduce borrowing costs for mortgages, car loans, and business loans.
Trump also said he might allow a 'major lawsuit' to proceed against the Fed over the burgeoning cost of its massive renovation of two office buildings, currently expected to cost $2.5 billion, up from a previous estimate of $1.9 billion. It's not clear what lawsuit Trump was referring to.
Europe's sidelined leaders urge Trump to defend security interests at his summit with Putin
It was unclear whether even Ukraine will take part in the summit. Trump has said he wants to see whether Russian leader Vladimir Putin is serious about ending the war, now in its fourth year.
Trump has disappointed allies in Europe by saying Ukraine will have to give up some Russian-held territory. He also said Russia must accept land swaps, although it was unclear what Putin might be expected to surrender.
The Europeans and Ukraine are wary that Putin, who has waged the biggest land war in Europe since 1945 and used Russia's energy might to try to intimidate the EU, might secure favorable concessions and set the outlines of a peace deal without them.
▶ Read more about the war in Ukraine
Wall Street climbs toward records on expectations for a coming cut to interest rates
It comes after data suggested inflation across the country was a touch better last month than economists expected.
The S&P 500 rose 0.6% and was on track to top its all-time high set two weeks ago. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 251 points, or 0.6%, as of 9:35 a.m. Eastern time, while the Nasdaq composite was 0.7% higher and also heading toward a record.
Stocks got a lift from hopes that the better-than-expected inflation report will give the Federal Reserve more leeway to cut interest rates at its next meeting in September.
Lower rates would give a boost to investment prices and to the economy by making it cheaper for U.S. households and businesses to borrow to buy houses, cars or equipment. President Trump has angrily been calling for cuts to help the economy, often insulting the Fed's chair personally while doing so.
▶ Read more about the financial markets
Trump backs Burt Jones in Republican race for Georgia governor in 2026
It's a boost to the incumbent lieutenant governor's effort to set himself up as the 2026 frontrunner for the GOP nomination.
Trump announced the nod Monday, noting Jones was among the first Georgia Republicans to endorse Trump's first bid for the White House in 2016 and saying Jones 'worked tirelessly to help us win' in all three of Trump's bids.
'He has been with us from the very beginning,' Trump wrote on social media. 'I know his family well and have seen Burt tested at the most difficult levels and times.'
Republicans including Attorney General Chris Carr are vying with Jones to be their party's nominee to succeed Gov. Brian Kemp, who can't run again because of term limits. Other Republican candidates who could enter the race include Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger.
▶ Read more about the race for Georgia governor
Guard troops start streaming in
National Guard troops are beginning to arrive at the Washington, D.C., armory. They were seen arriving this morning at the Guard's headquarters in the city.
Trump said Monday that in hopes of reducing crime, he would be taking over Washington's police department and activating 800 members of the National Guard. The crime Trump talked about is the same crime that city officials stress is already falling noticeably.
Trump says recipients of Kennedy Center Honors will be revealed on Wednesday
The Republican president, who had himself installed as chairman of the Kennedy Center's board, said in a social media post that the to-be-named nominees are 'GREAT.'
'GREAT Nominees for the TRUMP/KENNEDY CENTER, whoops, I mean, KENNEDY CENTER, AWARDS,' Trump wrote in a social media post. 'They will be announced Wednesday.
'Tremendous work is being done, and money being spent, on bringing it back to the absolute TOP LEVEL of luxury, glamour, and entertainment,' he said, without offering details.
The Kennedy Center Honors program typically tapes in December for broadcast later in the month on CBS.
Trump spurned the performing arts center in his first term after some honorees refused to attend a traditional White House event recognizing their achievements to protest Trump's policies, including those toward the arts. He did not attend the taping of the awards program during those four years in office.
Trump's Tuesday schedule
There is nothing on the president's public schedule today. However, press secretary Karoline Leavitt will hold a briefing at 1 p.m. ET.
Trump's moves toward taking over Washington are unprecedented. Here's what the law says
Trump took command of the police department and deployed the National Guard under laws and Constitutional powers that give the federal government more sway over the nation's capital than other cities. The measure still leaves significant power to the president and Congress, though no president has exercised the police powers before.
Here's a look at what the law says about Trump's actions:
1. Trump activated the National Guard. The president can still call up the National Guard in Washington. His authority is less clear in Los Angeles, where a legal battle continues over his recent deployment of the National Guard despite the objections of Gov. Gavin Newsom.
2. Trump took over the local police. Section 740 of the Home Rule Act allows for the president to take over Washington's Metropolitan Police Department for 48 hours, with possible extensions to 30 days, during times of emergencies. No president has done so before.
3. Trump didn't specify how long the takeover would last. Congress still has power over things like the budget and laws passed by the city council, but would have to repeal the Home Rule Act to expand federal power in the district.
▶ Read more about the laws pertaining to Trump's DC police takeover
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USA Today
12 minutes ago
- USA Today
Trump-Putin summit spotlights Alaska's strategic importance, vulnerability
Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson is a prime midway rest stop for dignitaries on the route from Washington to eastern Asia. WASHINGTON − The summit meeting between President Donald Trump and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin will focus on ending Putin's war in Ukraine, with Alaska's awesome beauty and vulnerabilities as its backdrop. The two world leaders will meet at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, the post that crowns Anchorage to its south. It's an installation that teems with airmen and soldiers − plenty of moose and bears, too, befitting its location on the edge of Alaska's vast stretches of black spruce-fringed wilderness. Cold, dark and snowy in the winter, the base gets near round-the-clock sun at summer's peak. It's a prime midway rest stop for dignitaries, like presidents and cabinet secretaries, on the route from Washington to eastern Asia. The flight from the East Coast to the southern coast of Alaska takes roughly eight hours, about the limit for air crews before mandated rest, and a convenient, secure location to refuel. Long before air travel and a superpower summit, U.S. and Russian leaders haggled over Alaska. In 1867, Secretary of State William Seward secretly negotiated with Russian officials to buy the territory of Alaska for $7.2 million. Derided at the time as Seward's Folly, the deal worked out for the Americans. Alaska – its people, awesome landscape and enormous natural resources – joined the union in 1959. Before statehood, the Army established the base that would become Elmendorf-Richardson in 1940 during the runup to World War II. Since then, soldiers and airmen along with smaller contingents from the Navy and Marine Corps have called the base home. In all, the joint base hosts about 30,000 service members, their family members and civilian employees. Its key location – near Russia and close to Arctic resources eyed by China – has made Elmendorf-Richardson and other Alaskan military installations increasingly valuable to the Pentagon. More personnel and money have been streaming into Alaska in recent years to bolster northern defenses. The base takes part in some of the military's most intricate annual war games, featuring sophisticated weapons like the F-22 fighter. Alaska is the land of superlatives. The state is more than twice the size of Texas; its 46,000 miles of shoreline are more than the lower 48 states combined; Denali's snow-capped peak towers over the interior at more than 20,000 feet. Brown and black bears, moose and wolves, roam tundra and black spruce forests. Temperatures routinely drop to 50 degrees below zero in the interior, where Fort Wainwright sits on the edge of Fairbanks. Dim sunlight smudges skies for only a few hours in the depth of winter. Cabin fever can be very real. In the summer, it truly is the Land of the Midnight Sun. Perpetual daylight has its downside, disrupting sleep, leading to irritability – and worse. Alaska routinely ranks among the nation's leaders in alcohol abuse and suicide. In recent years, Alaska's strategic, remote location has exposed its vulnerabilities. Suicide among soldiers spiked to alarming levels. Reporting by USA TODAY revealed a shortage of mental personnel to help them. The Army and Congress intervened, dispatching dozens of counselors and spending millions to improve living conditions for troops there. Suicide rates declined. Efforts by Chinese spies to gain access to Alaskan bases hasn't, however, USA TODAY has reported. The bases contain some of the military's top-end weaponry, sophisticated radars to track potential attacks on the homeland and missiles to intercept them. Russia, too, regularly probes America's northern flank. As recently as July, 22 the North American Aerospace Defense Command detected Russian warplanes operating in the Alaskan Air Defense Identification Zone. When aircraft enter the zone, they must be identified for national security purposes. The Russian planes remained in international airspace, a tactic they employ regularly. Mildly provocative, the flights are noted by NORAD but not considered a threat. Meanwhile, global warming has thawed permafrost beneath runways and rising water levels have damaged coastal facilities requiring remediation costing tens of millions of dollars. A skeptic of climate change, Trump could view for himself its effects, including cemeteries eroded by rising sea levels disgorging coffins of flu and smallpox victims from more than a century ago. The potential release of ancient pathogens from melting permafrost has captured the Pentagon's attention, too. Alas, Alaska may have been Putin's last, best choice for a summit. His brutal, unprovoked invasion of neighboring Ukraine has made him an international pariah. Denied entry into Europe, he and Trump could not repeat their summit in Helsinki, the capital of Finland that is now a member of NATO − due mainly to the invasion. Luckily for Putin and Trump, Anchorage is a delightful city, cool in midsummer and far from the death and destruction Putin he has wrought in Ukraine.
USA Today
12 minutes ago
- USA Today
What is Trump's approval rating? See states where he is most, least popular
President Donald Trump's approval ratings nationally are in the red, but for about half of the states, more people approve of his job peformance. State legislatures could determine Trump's political future. Texas' push to redraw its Congressional map to add more Republican seats has dragged the states into a bit of a standoff, as heavy hitter Democratic states threaten to do the same if Texas moves forward. That's because Democrats are looking to take back control of the U.S. House in the midterm elections, and doing so would subvert Trump's efforts for his last two years in office. While Trump's approval rating nationally remains historcially low, a look at state-by-state survey results show a more complicated picture. Here is what we know: More: Did Trump remove the Rose Garden? He has pushed these White House renovations Trump has positive approval rating in 27 states Trump's approval rating is above water in 27 states. That is according to an Aug. 12 update from Morning Consult, which gathers polls over the course of three months to get a look at state-level data among registered voters. The number of states is unchanged from July's update. Trump is most popular by Morning Consult in Wyoming, where 66% of voters approve of his job performance, and least popular in Vermont, where 64% disapprove of his job performance. But his approval is net negative in two states with gubernatorial races this fall: New Jersey and Virginia, according to Morning Consult. In Texas, 53% of voters approve of Trump's performance while 44% disapprove. In California, where Gov. Gavin Newsom has threatened to counter changes in Texas' redistricting, 41% approve of Trump's job peformance while 56% disapprove. California is Trump's seventh worst rating among the states, according to Morning Consult. What is Trump's approval overall? RealClearPolitics Poll Average shows Trump's approval rating was becoming more negative throughout the first few weeks of July before buoying toward the end of the month. Aggregated polls by the New York Times show a similar trend. As of Jan. 27, Trump received a +6.2 percentage point approval rating, but as of March 13, it flipped to slightly negative, the RealClearPolitics graphics show. The approval rating reached its most negative on April 29 at -7.2 percentage points, which fell around Trump's 100-day mark. It came close to that low again on July 22 and 23 at -7.1 percentage points, as the controversy over Epstein carried into its third week. His average approval rating margin as of Aug. 12, according to RealClearPolitics, is -5.4 percentage points. The approval margin according to the New York Times aggregator on Aug. 12 is -8 percentage points. How does Trump's approval rating compare to previous presidents? A historical analysis by Gallup shows Trump's approval ratings in July of his first years in office − both as the 45th and 47th presidents − are lower than any other modern president at the same time in their administrations. In a Gallup poll conducted from July 7-21, 37% approved of Trump's job performance. Here is how that compares to other presidents in July of their first year of their term, according to Gallup: Kinsey Crowley is the Trump Connect reporter for the USA TODAY Network. Reach her at kcrowley@ Follow her on X and TikTok @kinseycrowley or Bluesky at @
Boston Globe
12 minutes ago
- Boston Globe
Trump deploys National Guard for D.C. crime but called Jan. 6 rioters ‘very special'
On Jan. 6, 2021, a pro-Trump mob committed a month's worth of crime in the span of about three hours. The FBI has estimated that around 2,000 people took part in criminal acts that day, and more than 600 people were charged with assaulting, resisting or interfering with the police. (Citywide, Washington currently averages about 70 crimes a day.) But President Donald Trump's handling of the most lawless day in recent Washington history stands in sharp contrast to his announcement Monday that he needed to use the full force of the federal government to crack down on 'violent gangs and bloodthirsty criminals' in the nation's capital. Get Starting Point A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday. Enter Email Sign Up After a prominent member of the Department of Government Efficiency, known by his online pseudonym, 'Big Balls,' was assaulted this month, the president took federal control of Washington's police force and mobilized National Guard troops. His team passed out a packet of mug shots, and Trump described 'roving mobs of wild youth, drugged-out maniacs and homeless people.' Advertisement President Trump speaks at a rally near the White House in Washington on Jan. 6, 2021, before some supporters marched to riot at the US Capitol. KENNY HOLSTON/NYT That was nothing like the message he delivered to the mob of his supporters on Jan. 6, when he told them, as tear gas filled the hallways of the Capitol: 'We love you. You're very special.' 'If we want to look at marauding mobs, look at Jan. 6,' said Mary McCord, the director of the Institute for Constitutional Advocacy and Protection at Georgetown Law and a former federal prosecutor. 'If you want to look at criminal mobs, we had a criminal mob and he called them peaceful protesters.' Advertisement In one of his first actions upon retaking the presidency, Trump issued a sweeping grant of clemency to all of the nearly 1,600 people charged in connection with the Capitol attack. The president issued pardons to most of the defendants and commuted the sentences of 14 members of the Proud Boys and the Oath Keepers militia, most of whom were convicted of seditious conspiracy. He has sought to rewrite the history of the riot and called those arrested 'hostages.' He has selected a passionate defender of Jan. 6 rioters to run the U.S. attorney's office in Washington, and his administration even hired a former FBI agent who was charged with encouraging the mob to kill police officers. The agent, Jared L. Wise, has been named as an adviser to the Justice Department task force established to seek retribution against Trump's political enemies. 'He is showing one-sided support for violence that supports his political agenda,' said Robert A. Pape, a professor of political science at the University of Chicago who has studied the Jan. 6 defendants for more than four years. Pape said the hiring of Wise only underscored the message sent by the pardoning of the rioters. 'What he is doing, of course,' Pape said, 'is sending the signal to everybody that you will not just be pardoned, he will not just give you moral support, but he will reward you with high-level positions and opportunities.' Advertisement Trump has also shifted his position on police officers who used deadly force, based on the circumstances involved. Casting himself as a champion of the police, Trump issued full and unconditional pardons this year to two D.C. police officers who were convicted after a chase that killed a young Black man in 2020. But Trump took the opposite view of the use of deadly force during the Capitol riot, condemning the police officer who shot and killed Ashli Babbitt and calling the officer, who is Black, a 'thug.' The president's crackdown on Washington was put in motion by an assault against 19-year-old Edward Coristine, who was part of Elon Musk's job-slashing effort. Trump shared a photograph that appeared to show Coristine sitting in the street around 3 a.m., bleeding and shirtless. Two teenagers have been arrested in the case. 'If D.C. doesn't get its act together, and quickly, we will have no choice but to take Federal control of the City,' Trump said. Crime in Washington is declining, a point many Democrats have made as they railed against Trump's actions as federal overreach. Last year, violent crime hit a 30-year low. 'Donald Trump delayed deploying the National Guard on January 6th when our Capitol was under violent attack and lives were at stake,' Rep. Nancy Pelosi, the former House speaker, wrote on the social platform X. 'Now, he's activating the DC Guard to distract from his incompetent mishandling of tariffs, health care, education and immigration — just to name a few blunders.' Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton suggested that Trump's takeover of Washington's police force was unjustified. 'As you listen to an unhinged Trump try to justify deploying the National Guard in DC, here's reality: Violent crime in DC is at a 30-year low,' she wrote on social media. Advertisement Karoline Leavitt, the White House press secretary, hit back at critics of the president's crackdown. 'I think it's despicable that Democrats cannot agree that we need more law and order in a city that has been ravaged by violence, crime, murders, property theft,' Leavitt said. Pape said that while Coristine's injuries were troubling, they were similar to those suffered by police officers on Jan. 6. The indictments against Jan. 6 defendants, Pape said, were full of photos of 'cops getting beaten up unbelievably with metal poles and all kinds of things, and they're being beaten pretty severely.' McCord said she believed Trump's takeover of the Washington police would most likely be 'performative' and not make a lot of difference functionally on crime. 'This feels like very much a way to send a message: I have control. I can use it, and I will use it,' she said. But the move also reeks of hypocrisy, McCord said. 'It's the hypocrisy of saying essentially that he supports our police, our law enforcement across the country, and wants to enact policies that support the police,' she said, 'yet that didn't apply when it came to all of the law enforcement officers on Jan. 6.' This article originally appeared in .
