Summary
Closing summary
Our live coverage is ending now. In the meantime, you can find all of our live US politics coverage here. Here is a summary of the key developments from today:
Donald Trump delivered a more than 90-minute, rambling, campaign-style address broadly focused on “affordability” to a rally of supporters in Pennsylvania today. The speech marked the first of several the president is expected to deliver in a slate of domestic appearances he said his chief of staff Susie Wiles encouraged him to give ahead of the 2026 midterms.
Two American fighter jets flew over the Gulf of Venezuela the same day that Trump administration officials briefed the “gang of eight” on ongoing military strikes on boats in the Caribbean. Democratic leaders Chuck Schumer and Hakeem Jeffries called the briefing “very unsatisfying” and called for the “full video” of the “double tap” strike on a suspected drug-trafficking boat be released.
Miami elected its first Democratic mayor in nearly 30 years. County commissioner Eileen Higgins defeated investment manager Emilio Gonzales, who was endorsed by Donald Trump. Higgins’ victory in the Latino majority city comes as Latino and Hispanic voters increasingly disapprove of Trump.
More than 200 former employees in the justice department’s civil rights division signed a letter released on Tuesday decrying the “near destruction” of the agency that is supposed to enforce America’s civil rights laws. They accused political leadership of waging a campaign to purge career experts from its ranks.
A federal judge in New York has granted the justice department’s request to unseal grand jury documents in the sex-trafficking case against Ghislaine Maxwell – the companion and accomplice of the late sex-offender Jeffrey Epstein. It comes after the passage of the Epstein Files Transparency Act, which Trump signed last month.
Bill Cassidy, the Republican who chairs the Senate health committee, pushed back against the recent decision from the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) to limit the hepatitis B vaccine. “We should be informed by medical science and empiricism, not by personal prejudice. And right now with ACIP, I see far more being informed by a personal prejudice,” he said.
In an interview with Politico published on Tuesday morning, Trump said defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, should testify under oath before Congress about a “double tap” strike on an alleged drug-ferrying boat “if he wants”. He added: “I don’t care. I would say do it if you want, Pete.”
Updated
California governor Gavin Newsom will publish a memoir in February 2026.
Newsom announced the release of his book, “Young Man in a Hurry”, in a video on social media today.
“Nobody’s story is tidy, and I’m no different,” Newsom said. “A lot of people look at me in the stark white shirt, the blue suit and yeah, the gelled hair, and they think, ‘Oh I know this guy. I know him better than I’d ever want to know him.’ I get it.”
“It’s definitely not the book that you’d expect me to write,” he said.
