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 announced he will deploy the national guard to Memphis during an Oval Office ceremony attended by the Tennessee governor Bill Lee. He added that he is considering sending national guard troops to “Chicago probably next” and floated cities such as St Louis may follow.
A US appeals court ruled that Lisa Cook can remain on the Federal Reserve board, denying Trump’s attempt to remove Cook from the body ahead of a policy meeting scheduled to begin tomorrow. Trump will likely appeal the ruling to the supreme court. Meanwhile, Reuters reported that the city of Ann Arbor, Michigan, has “no reason to believe” that Cook broke any tax rules involving a home she declared her primary residence.
The Senate voted to approve Stephen Miran to the Federal Reserve board in a narrow 48-47 vote largely along party lines. Miran, a Trump ally, currently serves as the White House’s chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers. The vote comes just as the Fed is scheduled to gather for a two-day policy meeting where it is expected to vote on cutting interest rates.
JD Vance guest-hosted the late Charlie Kirk’s podcast today live from his office in the White House complex. Vance was joined by key conservative voices, and members of the Trump administration, including Stephen Miller, Trump’s deputy chief of policy and architect of the administration’s hardline immigration policy, press secretary Karoline Leavitt, chief of staff Susie Wiles and health secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr. Earlier in the day, secretary of state Marco Rubio doubled down on the administration’s pledge to deny and revoke visas for anyone perceived to be celebrating the killing of Charlie Kirk and FBI director Kash Patel has said that DNA evidence found by investigators links the man accused of killing Kirk to the fatal attack despite his alleged refusal to cooperate with authorities after his arrest. Later, House Speaker Mike Johnson held a prayer vigil for Kirk, which was widely attended by Republican lawmakers.
With Congress facing an end-of-the-month deadline to prevent a government shutdown, Trump encouraged Republicans to pass spending legislation without Democratic votes after the minority party’s leaders announced they would not support any bill that does not address their healthcare priorities.
Marco Rubio met Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem today. Rubio will travel to Qatar tomorrow.
Trump announced that the US military had conducted a strike on a second Venezuelan boat which he said was transporting narcotics. Trump said three men had been killed in the strike and that no US forces were harmed. Democratic lawmakers called for investigations into the legality of the strikes.
Treasury secretary Scott Bessent has said the commercial terms for a TikTok deal have been agreed upon between the US and China. The news comes just days before a deadline Donald Trump set for TikTok to find a non-Chinese buyer was set to expire. Trump is scheduled to speak with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping on Friday.
Donald Trump has threatened to call a national emergency and federalize Washington DC after the city’s mayor, Muriel Bowser, said its police would not cooperate with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice), whose agents have been taking suspects into custody and have been accused of racially profiling people in doing so.
Maurene Comey, a former federal prosecutor who brought criminal cases against Jeffrey Epstein associate Ghislaine Maxwell and music mogul Sean “Diddy” Combs, has sued the Trump administration over her abrupt July firing, according to court records reviewed by Reuters.
Democratic leaders are criticizing the Trump administration’s strike on a second Venezuelan boat.
Jack Reed, the top Democrat on the Senate armed services committee, said: “No president can secretly wage war or carry out unjustified killings – that is authoritarianism, not democracy.
“These reckless, unauthorized operations not only put American lives at risk, they threaten to ignite a war with Venezuela that would drag our nation into a conflict we did not choose. The American people deserve to know what is being done in their name and why,” Reed said in a statement. “Congress must demand answers, force transparency, and hold this administration accountable before it plunges us into another needless war.”
Senator Adam Schiff of California, said in a social media post that he is drafting a war powers resolution in response to the military strike.
“I’m drafting a resolution and forcing a vote to reclaim Congress’s power to declare war,” Schiff wrote. “Before Trump’s actions provoke one.”
Here’s more on the Trump administration’s recent attacks on Venezuelan boats:
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