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      Judge blocks White House from defunding 34 municipalities over ‘sanctuary’ policies

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      A federal judge has blocked the Trump administration from cutting off federal funding to 34 “sanctuary cities” and counties that limit cooperation with federal immigration law enforcement, significantly expanding a previous order.The order, issued on Friday by the San Francisco-based US district judge William Orrick, adds Los Angeles and Chicago, as well as Boston, Baltimore, Denver and Albuquerque, to cities that the administration is barred from denying funding.Orrick, an Obama appointee, previously ruled it was unconstitutional for the Trump administration to freeze funding to local governments with “sanctuary” policies, limiting their cooperation with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice).The April ruling came after cities including San Francisco, Sacramento, Minneapolis and Seattle sued the administration over what they claimed were illegal executive orders signed by Donald Trump in January and February that threatened to cut off funding if Democrat-controlled cities do not cooperate.Cities and counties suing the administration contend that the executive orders amount to an abuse of power that violate the constitution. The administration argues that the federal government should not be forced to subsidize policies that thwart its control of immigration.The administration has since ordered the national guard into Los Angeles and Washington DC, both cities with sanctuary designations, under a law-and-order mandate. On Friday, Trump said Chicago is likely the next target for efforts to crack down on crime, homelessness and illegal immigration.“I think Chicago will be our next,” Trump told reporters at the White House, later adding: “And then we’ll help with New York.”The number of people in immigration detention has soared by more than 50% since Trump’s inauguration, according to an Axios review published Saturday, reaching a record 60,000 immigrants in long-term detention or around 21,000 more than at the end of the Biden administration.Separately, the US attorney general, Pam Bondi, last week issued fresh threats to 30 Democrat-led cities and states, including to the governors of California, Illinois and Minnesota, and the mayors of New York, Denver and Boston, to drop sanctuary policies.Bondi said in the letter that their jurisdictions had been identified as those that engage “in sanctuary policies and practices that thwart federal immigration enforcement to the detriment of the interests of the United States”.“This ends now,” Bondi wrote.skip past newsletter promotionafter newsletter promotionDemocrat leaders uniformly rejected the Trump administration’s assertion. Minnesota’s governor, Tim Walz, said in response that Bondi’s order was “some kind of misguided political agenda” that “is fundamentally inconsistent with our founding principles as a nation”.The accelerating confrontation between the administration and Democratic-led jurisdictions comes as the Pentagon began ordering 2,000 national guard troops in Washington to carry firearms.US officials told NBC News that the US defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, had authorized national guard members who are supporting local law enforcement will probably carry weapons but troops assigned to city beautification roles would not.The official said troops supporting the mission “to lower the crime rate in our nation’s capital will soon be on mission with their service-issued weapons, consistent with their mission and training”, according to the outlet. More

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      Republican-led Texas legislature to vote on new gerrymandered district map – live

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      The Texas house is getting down to legislative business today. The Republican majority is poised to pass the new congressional map that would give the GOP five more US House seats in 2026. As I write this, members have spent the last several hours handling and voting down a number of amendments to the bill, filed by Democrats. My colleague, George Chidi, has been covering the action in and around the house chamber today.

      A reminder that Texas Democrats broke quorum for two weeks in protest of the gerrymandered map set to pass today. Their walkout set the stage for a wider redistricting battle that’s now playing out across the country. In fact, Axios reports (citing an internal memo from Gavin Newsom’s longtime pollster) that the California governor’s bid to offset Texas’ gains and redraw his state’s congressional seats to create more Democratic-friendly districts – has a 22-point advantage in support among Californian voters.

      When it comes to the federal takeover of DC police, and the deployment of national guard troops, vice-president JD Vance, defense secretary Pete Hegseth, and the White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller met with soldiers at Union Station in the nation’s capital. The visit involved a photo op at Shake Shack, with Vance asserting “we brought some law and order back” as he handed out burgers to the troops. As the trio left the station they were heckled and booed by a crowd.

      Meanwhile, the administration said federal law enforcement has made 550 arrests since the surge in officers and agents in DC, which began almost two weeks ago. In recent days, six Republican-led states have also pledged to send more than 1,200 national guard troops to DC.

      And when it comes to the Epstein saga that continues to plague the Trump administration, a federal judge today denied the justice department’s bid to unseal records from the grand jury that indicted Jeffrey Epstein on sex trafficking charges. US district judge Richard Berman said the transcripts pale in comparison to the documents the government already has on Epstein and that disclosing them could harm victims.
      The Pentagon’s press office falsely accused Washington Post reporters of endangering the defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, by reporting on Wednesday that his “unusually large personal security requirements are straining the Army agency tasked with protecting him”.The pushback, using vitriolic language, came after the Post reported that agents from the Army’s Criminal Investigation Division, or CID, the agency that provides security for Pentagon officials, have been pulled from criminal investigations to safeguard Hegseth family residences in Minnesota, Tennessee and Washington DC, and residences belonging to the Hegseths’ former spouses.The social media campaign to attack the Post reporters began with a response to a post on X by Dan Lamothe, one of the reporters who conducted the investigation.“When left-wing blogs like the Washington Post continue to dox cabinet secretaries’ security protocols and movements, it puts lives at risk,” Sean Parnell, the chief Pentagon spokesperson replied to Lamothe’s post.“It is flatly false that The Washington Post doxxed anyone,” Lamothe replied.Kingsley Wilson, the Pentagon press secretary who was appointed despite having repeatedly spread an antisemitic conspiracy theory, then falsely accused the Post of “publishing details about Secretary Hegseth’s security protocols” and “actively putting him and his family in danger for clicks.”“These ‘reporters’ are disgusting,” Wilson added.Wilson then boosted posts from three more Pentagon press aides who all echoed the false claim that the reporters had endangered Hegseth and his family and used increasingly extreme language. One, Jacob Bliss, referred to the reporters as “scum”; a second, Riley Podleski, asked “How do these reporters sleep at night?”; a third, Joel Valdez, wrote “there should be severe punishment” for what the three reporters had done, by reporting on concerns from inside the Pentagon that Hegseth’s security demands were excessive.“There looks to be a coordinated reaction to The Post’s reporting today that falsely accuses the paper of publishing specific security vulnerabilities,” Lamothe responded on X. “Reaction like this comes after a string of undisputed WaPo scoops that have detailed dysfunction on Secretary Hegseth’s team.”Amid the Donald Trump administration’s heavy-handed review of Smithsonian museums, the Guardian has seen a document compiled by the White House that argues the widely visited cultural institutions have overly negative portrayals of US history, from a Benjamin Franklin exhibit that links his scientific achievements to his ownership of enslaved people and a film about George Floyd’s murder that it says mischaracterizes the police.The document, based on public submissions shared with the administration, shows that seven museums have so far been flagged for review: the National Museum of American History, National Museum of the American Latino, National Museum of Natural History, National Museum of African Art, National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian American Art Museum and National Museum of Asian Art.“President Trump will explore all options and avenues to get the Woke out of the Smithsonian and hold them accountable,” a White House official said. “Until we get info from the Smithsonian in response to our letter, we can’t verify the numbers of artifacts that have been removed because the Smithsonian has removed them on their own.”Trump announced the initiative on Truth Social earlier this week, writing: “The Smithsonian is OUT OF CONTROL, where everything discussed is how horrible our Country is, how bad Slavery was, and how unaccomplished the downtrodden have been.”The administration argues exhibits at these museums focus excessively on oppression rather than American achievements. At the National Museum of American History, the document flagged the ¡Presente! Latino history exhibition for allegedly promoting an “anti-American agenda” by examining colonization effects and depicting the US as stealing territory from Mexico in 1848.Examples from the document also shames the museum’s Benjamin Franklin exhibit for linking his scientific achievements to his ownership of enslaved people, and the Star-Spangled Banner display for focusing on American historical failures and controversies rather than celebrating national achievements.The National Portrait Gallery is being singled out for focusing on how the Chinese Exclusion Act and other racist immigration laws contradicted the Statue of Liberty’s welcoming message. The African art museum is targeted over the George Floyd film. And the Asian art museum is flagged for exhibitions for claiming to impose western gender ideology on traditional cultures.

      The Texas house is getting down to legislative business today. The Republican majority is poised to pass the new congressional map that would give the GOP five more US House seats in 2026. As I write this, members have spent the last several hours handling and voting down a number of amendments to the bill, filed by Democrats. My colleague, George Chidi, has been covering the action in and around the house chamber today.

      A reminder that Texas Democrats broke quorum for two weeks in protest of the gerrymandered map set to pass today. Their walkout set the stage for a wider redistricting battle that’s now playing out across the country. In fact, Axios reports (citing an internal memo from Gavin Newsom’s longtime pollster) that the California governor’s bid to offset Texas’ gains and redraw his state’s congressional seats to create more Democratic-friendly districts – has a 22-point advantage in support among Californian voters.

      When it comes to the federal takeover of DC police, and the deployment of national guard troops, vice-president JD Vance, defense secretary Pete Hegseth, and the White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller met with soldiers at Union Station in the nation’s capital. The visit involved a photo op at Shake Shack, with Vance asserting “we brought some law and order back” as he handed out burgers to the troops. As the trio left the station they were heckled and booed by a crowd.

      Meanwhile, the administration said federal law enforcement has made 550 arrests since the surge in officers and agents in DC, which began almost two weeks ago. In recent days, six Republican-led states have also pledged to send more than 1,200 national guard troops to DC.

      And when it comes to the Epstein saga that continues to plague the Trump administration, a federal judge today denied the justice department’s bid to unseal records from the grand jury that indicted Jeffrey Epstein on sex trafficking charges. US district judge Richard Berman said the transcripts pale in comparison to the documents the government already has on Epstein and that disclosing them could harm victims.
      Just a quick update from our earlier reporting where attorney general Pam Bondi said there were 61 arrests by federal law enforcement in DC on Tuesday. A White House official says there were actually 91 arrests. The official added that agents arrested 25 undocumented immigrants.The official didn’t elaborate on the discrepancy between the White House’s numbers and the attorney general’s.Nicole Collier, a Texas Democratic state representative, Democrat who has refused to permit state capitol police to shadow her while the legislature debates the redistricting bill, abruptly abandoned a livestream from the women’s bathroom at the capitol minutes ago, saying she was threatened with a felony for being there.“Sorry, I was asked to leave. They said it’s a felony for me to do this,” she said on the Zoom call with the DNC chair Ken Martin, the California governor Gavin Newsom and the Democratic senator Cory Booker of New Jersey.“Apparently, I can’t be on the floor or in the bathroom.” Collier spoke hurriedly with someone off camera, saying “Well, you told me I was only allowed to be here in the bathroom. No? Hang on.” She turned to the camera, and said “Bye, everybody. I’ve got to go,” dashing away.The four of them had been discussing the redistricting, and broader efforts by Democratic lawmakers and leaders to resist authoritarian actions taken by the Trump administration. Booker was taken aback by Collier’s exit.“Hey, that’s … that is outrageous,” Booker said. “First of all, let me tell you something, representative Collier in the bathroom has more dignity than Donald Trump in the Oval Office … what they’re trying to do, right there, is silence an American leader, silence a Black woman. And that is outrageous. And I hope everybody took note of that. The fact that she can’t even let her voice be heard is freaking outrageous, yes, and this is what we’re fighting for here.”More than 750 current and former federal health employees on Wednesday accused health and human services (HHS) secretary, Robert F Kennedy Jr, of fueling harassment and violence directed at government healthcare staff.In a letter sent to Kennedy and members of Congress, the group accuses RFK Jr of contributing to “the harassment and violence experienced by Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) staff”, citing decisions such as removing members from a CDC vaccine advisory panel, questioning the safety of the measles vaccine, and firing key CDC staff as actions that sow distrust in federal medical professionals.The group says Kennedy’s rhetoric played a role in the 8 August attack at the CDC’s headquarters in Atlanta, where a Georgia man opened fire on four CDC buildings, firing dozens of shots and killing a police officer. Law enforcement officials said the gunman blamed a Covid-19 vaccine for making him feel depressed and suicidal.After the attack, Kennedy refused to confirm the motive of the shooter in an interview. He described political violence as “wrong” but neither he nor Donald Trump have spoken publicly about the motive, despite law enforcement officials making clear the shooter targeted the CDC over the vaccine.The health workers are now asking Kennedy to “cease and publicly disavow the ongoing dissemination of false and misleading claims about vaccines, infectious disease transmission, and America’s public health institutions”.Speaking at a National Democratic Redistricting Committee event on Tuesday, former president Barack Obama called California governor Gavin Newsom’s plan to counter the new Texas congressional map, by launching an effort to redraw his own state’s map and create more Democrat-friendly districts, “a responsible approach”.He went on to say:
      I want to see as a long-term goal that we do not have political gerrymandering in America. That would be my preference…but we cannot unilaterally allow one of the two major parties to rig the game.
      Obama also called Newsom’s strategy “measured”, as it only temporarily grants the California legislature with the ability to redraw maps mid-decade. “The fact that California voters will have a chance to weigh in on this makes this act consistent with our democratic ideals, rather than in opposition to our democratic ideals,” the former president said.As we reported earlier, there are protests outside the Texas house chamber in the capitol rotunda. Congressman Greg Casar spoke a short while ago, leading the crowd in a chant of “we’re not going back”, as demonstrators held “put Texans first” signs behind him.He added:
      Let’s have a government where people get to elect and unelect their leaders. No president, no politician, gets to make this decision for you. That is the fight we’re all in.”
      The new GOP-drawn map would put Casar’s Austin-area seat at risk, by essentially merging with congressman Lloyd Doggett’s constituency, another Democrat, and leading to a possible primary battle.A federal judge has denied the justice department’s bid to unseal records from the grand jury that indicted Jeffrey Epstein on sex trafficking charges.Manhattan-based US district judge Richard Berman’s decision came as Donald Trump tries to quell discontent from his conservative base of supporters over his administration’s handling of the case.Trump had promised to make public Epstein-related files if reelected and accused Democrats of covering up the truth. But in July, the justice department declined to release any more material from its investigation of the case and said a previously touted Epstein client list did not exist, angering Trump’s supporters.Evidence seen and heard by grand juries, which operate behind closed doors to prevent interference in criminal investigations, cannot be released without a judge’s approval. Trump in July instructed attorney general Pam Bondi to seek court approval for the release of grand jury material from Epstein’s case.The grand jury that indicted Epstein heard from just one witness, an agent with the FBI, the justice department said in a court filing in July.On 11 August a different Manhattan-based judge, Paul Engelmayer, denied a similar request by the justice department to unseal grand jury testimony and exhibits from the case of Ghislaine Maxwell, Epstein’s longtime girlfriend and accomplice. She is serving a 20-year prison sentence following her 2021 conviction for recruiting underage girls for Epstein to abuse.Engelmayer wrote that the public would not learn anything new from the release of materials from Maxwell’s grand jury because much of the evidence was made public at her month-long trial four years ago. The grand jury testimony contained no evidence of others besides Epstein and Maxwell who had sexual contact with minors, Engelmayer wrote.The trio’s visit to national guard troops at Union Station involved a photo opp at Shake Shack, with the vice-president asserting “we brought some law and order back” as he handed out burgers to the troops. “We appreciate everything you’re doing,” he told them.Per the Associated Press, citing the protesters whose shouts echoed through the station, Vance said: “They appear to hate the idea that Americans can enjoy their communities.”As vice-president JD Vance, defense secretary Pete Hegseth and White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller left Washington DC’s Union Station a short while ago, they were heckled and boo’d by a crowd inside the station.Here’s an example from social media via a HuffPost reporter: More

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      JD Vance booed during hamburger handout to national guard troops in DC

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      JD Vance was booed and heckled with chants of “Free DC!” during a photo op with national guard troops at Union Station in Washington on Wednesday afternoon.Handing out burgers to troops deployed last week by Donald Trump, at the station’s Shake Shack alongside the defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, and White House deputy chief of staff, Stephen Miller, Vance told soldiers “we appreciate everything you’re doing” and asserted: “We brought some law and order back.” Meanwhile, a crowd of demonstrators protested outside.The crowd shouted slogans such as “Free DC!” and “From DC to Palestine, occupation is a crime.” Some also shouted expletives as the three men walked into Union Station and gathered at the restaurant, and continued as they tried to speak to reporters and eventually left.Asked why the troops were at the station instead of parts of the city where crime rates were statistically higher, Vance claimed it was being overrun with “vagrants, drug addicts, the chronically homeless and the mentally ill” and that visitors didn’t feel safe. “This should be a monument to American greatness,” he said, later adding: “We do not have to live like this.”Addressing the protests, Vance said: “It’s kind of bizarre that we have a bunch of old, primarily white people who are out there protesting the policies that keep people safe when they’ve never felt danger in their entire lives.”skip past newsletter promotionafter newsletter promotionAppropriating the protesters’ chants, he added: “Let’s free Washington DC, so that young families can walk around and feel safe and secure. That’s what we’re trying to free DC from.”His sentiments were echoed by Miller, who belittled those who had gathered in protest as “crazy communists”. “We’re going to ignore these stupid white hippies that all need to go home and take a nap because they’re all over 90 years old, and we’re going to get back to the business of protecting the American people and the citizens of Washington DC,” he said.Last week, the president federalized the city’s Metropolitan police department and directed Hegseth to mobilize national guard troops, claiming he was cracking down on “crime, bloodshed, bedlam and squalor” in the nation’s “lawless” capital, despite a sharply falling crime rate with violent crime at a 30-year low.An estimated 1,900 troops are being deployed in DC. More than half are coming from Republican-led states including Louisiana and South Carolina. Besides Union Station, troops have mostly been spotted in downtown areas, including the National Mall and metro stops. More

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      Trump administration’s anti-woke campaign targets seven flagship museums

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      Amid the Donald Trump administration’s heavy-handed review of Smithsonian museums, the Guardian has seen a document compiled by the White House that details examples of how the widely visited cultural institutions have overly negative portrayals of US history.The document, based on public submissions shared with the administration, points to what it says are problematic exhibits at seven different museums, including a Benjamin Franklin exhibit that links his scientific achievements to his ownership of enslaved people and a film about George Floyd’s murder that it says mischaracterizes the police.“President Trump will explore all options and avenues to get the Woke out of the Smithsonian and hold them accountable,” a White House official said. “Until we get info from the Smithsonian in response to our letter, we can’t verify the numbers of artifacts that have been removed because the Smithsonian has removed them on their own.”Trump announced the initiative on Truth Social earlier this week, writing: “The Smithsonian is OUT OF CONTROL, where everything discussed is how horrible our Country is, how bad Slavery was, and how unaccomplished the downtrodden have been.”The seven museums that have so far been flagged for review include the National Museum of American History, National Museum of the American Latino, National Museum of Natural History, National Museum of African Art, National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian American Art Museum and National Museum of Asian Art.The administration argues exhibits at these museums focus excessively on oppression rather than American achievements. At the National Museum of American History, the document flagged the ¡Presente! Latino history exhibition for allegedly promoting an “anti-American agenda” by examining colonization effects and depicting the US as stealing territory from Mexico in 1848.Examples from the document also shames the museum’s Benjamin Franklin exhibit for linking his scientific achievements to his ownership of enslaved people, and the Star-Spangled Banner display for focusing on American historical failures and controversies rather than celebrating national achievements.The National Portrait Gallery is being singled out for focusing on how the Chinese Exclusion Act and other racist immigration laws contradicted the Statue of Liberty’s welcoming message. The African art museum is targeted over the George Floyd film. And the Asian art museum is flagged for exhibitions for claiming to impose western gender ideology on traditional cultures.Last week, the White House budget director, Russ Vought, sent letters to eight museums demanding information about exhibits within 30 days and instructing officials to implement “content corrections” including replacing “divisive” language.The review follows similar Trump administration pressure on universities, which resulted in institutions paying hundreds of millions to the government and walking back diversity initiatives.Separately, the Smithsonian has already made changes to exhibits referencing Trump, removing all mention of his impeachments from a presidential power display at the American history museum in July, leaving only generic references to three presidents facing potential removal from office.The Smithsonian Institution did not immediately respond to requests for comment. More

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      Federal prosecutors launch inquiry into Washington DC police over allegedly fudged crime statistics

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      Federal prosecutors have launched a criminal investigation into allegations that Washington DC police systematically manipulated crime statistics to make the city appear safer than it actually is.The probe, anonymous sources tell the Washington Post, NBC News and Fox News, being conducted by the US attorney’s office for the District of Columbia under Jeanine Pirro, is the latest escalation between the Trump administration and DC officials over federal control of local policing.The justice department did not respond to a request for comment on the investigation.Trump somewhat confirmed the investigation on Monday, writing on social media that DC provided “fake crime numbers” to create a “false illusion of safety” and officials were “under serious investigation”.The federal investigation reportedly started after Cmdr Michael Pulliam was suspended in May by the Metropolitan police department for allegedly altering crime data. The local NBC station reported last month that Pulliam, the former commander of Washington DC’s 3rd district that patrols the Adams Morgan and Columbia Heights neighborhoods, faced accusations from the police union of falsifying data, including misreporting stabbings and carjackings as lesser offenses. Pulliam denies the charges.But federal prosecutors are now examining potential wrongdoing by multiple police and city officials, according to law enforcement sources.DC’s mayor, Muriel Bowser, has repeatedly cited police data showing violent crime down by 27% over the last year to argue against Trump’s federal takeover of local police. The department has separately reported that violent crime fell by 35% in 2024.The chief of DC’s police union, Gregg Pemberton – who supports federal control – calls both sets of statistics “preposterous”, and said officers know the reality on the streets.“We go call to call to call – robbery to carjacking to stabbing to shooting,” Pemberton told NBC News Washington last week. “Crime is ubiquitous in every quadrant of the city.”Pemberton claimed that Washington DC police have a directive to underreport violent crimes.“What we’ve heard through our members and through members of management that were willing to talk with the union is that this is a directive from the command staff … that they wanna make sure that these classifications of these reports are adjusted over time to make sure that the overall crime stats stay down,” he told NBC. “And this is deliberately done.” More

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      Washington DC restaurants suffer sharp drop in diners since Trump crackdown

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      The number of people eating at restaurants in Washington DC has plummeted since Donald Trump deployed federal troops to the city, according to data, as the president’s purported crackdown on crime continues.Research by Open Table found that restaurant attendance was down every day last week compared with 2024, with the number of diners dipping by 31% on Wednesday, two days after Trump ordered the national guard to patrol Washington.Trump announced the move on 11 August, claiming that Washington had been “overtaken by violent gangs and bloodthirsty criminals, roving mobs of wild youth, drugged out maniacs and homeless people”. His claims contradicted official statistics which show that violent crime in the capital is at a 30-year low.Data from Open Table shows that the number of people making online reservations dropped by 16% on Monday compared with the previous year. The number fell by 27% on Tuesday and 31% on Wednesday, as military vehicles and armed troops were deployed to the city.Metropolitan Washington Summer Restaurant week in 2024 was from 12 to 18 August. The 2025 edition of the event, during which diners are generally offered premium experiences at more affordable prices than usual, began on Monday. The data did not immediately make clear to what extent that may have factored into the year-to-year drop.On Friday, Democrats introduced a joint resolution to end what they described as “egregious attacks on DC home rule”, stating that Trump was overreaching in his actions in Washington.The Democratic US congressman Jamie Raskin of Maryland issued a statement saying Trump’s decision to send the military into the nation’s capital was meant to distract the public from the president’s “close friendship” with the late convicted sex offender and disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein.Raskin’s statement also alluded to broken promises from the Trump administration to fully divulge all files pertaining to the prosecutions of Epstein and his associate, the convicted sex trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell.“The only emergency here is a lawless president experiencing a growing public relations emergency because of his … stubborn refusal to release the Epstein file despite his promise to do so,” Raskin’s statement said.Other Democrats echoed the sentiment that Trump’s move was an attempt to distract from criticism over Epstein and an economy that was struggling amid the passage of his congressional agenda bill, which included a historic $1tn cut to Medicaid.“What’s happening here in Washington DC is just a stunt. Donald Trump didn’t like the fact that the walls were closing in on him, that his own base was questioning why he wouldn’t release the Epstein files, why he was protecting very powerful people,” Chris Murphy, the US senator from Connecticut, told NBC on Sunday.“He didn’t want to talk any more about the fact that our healthcare system is about to collapse because of the cuts that they have made, that premiums are going to go up by 75% on Americans. And so true to form, he just decided to create a new news cycle.”Murphy added: “He’s just trying to distract from the stories he doesn’t want Americans to be talking about.” More

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      West Virginia governor says deploying national guard to Washington DC is ‘show of commitment to public safety’ – US politics live

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      Hello and welcome to the US politics live blog. I’m Tom Ambrose and I will be bringing you all the latest news lines.We start with news that three states have moved to deploy hundreds of members of their national guard to the nation’s capital as part of the Trump administration’s effort to overhaul policing in Washington through a federal crackdown.West Virginia said it was deploying 300 to 400 guard troops, while South Carolina pledged 200 and Ohio said it would send 150 in the coming days.The moves announced on Saturday came as protesters pushed back on federal law enforcement and national guard troops fanning out in the heavily Democratic city following Donald Trump’s executive order federalizing local police forces and activating about 800 District of Columbia national guard members.West Virginia governor Patrick Morrisey’s office said in a statement that the deployment was “a show of commitment to public safety and regional cooperation” and the state would provide equipment and “approximately 300-400 skilled personnel as directed”.The statement came after Donald Trump ordered hundreds of Washington DC national guard troops to mount a show of force and temporarily took over the city’s police department to curb what the president depicts as a crime and homelessness emergency in the nation’s capital.Data compiled by the DC police department shows that violent crime was actually at a 30-year-low when Trump returned to office in January, and has declined a further 26% since then.Read the full story here:In other developments:

      In a combative series of interviews on Sunday, the US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, said that “both sides are going to have to make concessions” for there to be a peaceful resolution to the war that erupted when Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022. “You can’t have a peace agreement unless both sides make concessions – that’s a fact,” the Trump administration’s top diplomat said Sunday on ABC’s This Week.

      A Texas judge has expanded a restraining order against former congressman Beto O’Rourke and his political organization over its fundraising for Democratic state lawmakers who left Texas to prevent a legislative session on congressional redistricting.

      The US state department announced on Saturday that it would stop issuing visas to children from Gaza in desperate need of medical care after an online pressure campaign from Laura Loomer, a far-right influencer close to Donald Trump who has described herself as “a proud Islamophobe”.

      When Donald Trump’s Department of Justice requested the release of grand jury transcripts in criminal proceedings against sex-traffickers Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell, the move did little to quiet an ever-growing chorus of critics frustrated by the US president’s backtracking over disclosing investigative files. Read the full story here.
      White House trade adviser Peter Navarro said India’s purchases of Russian crude were funding Moscow’s war in Ukraine and has to stop, while adding that New Delhi was “now cozying up to both Russia and China.”“If India wants to be treated as a strategic partner of the US, it needs to start acting like one,” Navarro wrote in an opinion piece published in the Financial Times, adding that it was risky for American companies to transfer cutting-edge military capabilities to India.Hello and welcome to the US politics live blog. I’m Tom Ambrose and I will be bringing you all the latest news lines.We start with news that three states have moved to deploy hundreds of members of their national guard to the nation’s capital as part of the Trump administration’s effort to overhaul policing in Washington through a federal crackdown.West Virginia said it was deploying 300 to 400 guard troops, while South Carolina pledged 200 and Ohio said it would send 150 in the coming days.The moves announced on Saturday came as protesters pushed back on federal law enforcement and national guard troops fanning out in the heavily Democratic city following Donald Trump’s executive order federalizing local police forces and activating about 800 District of Columbia national guard members.West Virginia governor Patrick Morrisey’s office said in a statement that the deployment was “a show of commitment to public safety and regional cooperation” and the state would provide equipment and “approximately 300-400 skilled personnel as directed”.The statement came after Donald Trump ordered hundreds of Washington DC national guard troops to mount a show of force and temporarily took over the city’s police department to curb what the president depicts as a crime and homelessness emergency in the nation’s capital.Data compiled by the DC police department shows that violent crime was actually at a 30-year-low when Trump returned to office in January, and has declined a further 26% since then.Read the full story here:In other developments:

      In a combative series of interviews on Sunday, the US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, said that “both sides are going to have to make concessions” for there to be a peaceful resolution to the war that erupted when Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022. “You can’t have a peace agreement unless both sides make concessions – that’s a fact,” the Trump administration’s top diplomat said Sunday on ABC’s This Week.

      A Texas judge has expanded a restraining order against former congressman Beto O’Rourke and his political organization over its fundraising for Democratic state lawmakers who left Texas to prevent a legislative session on congressional redistricting.

      The US state department announced on Saturday that it would stop issuing visas to children from Gaza in desperate need of medical care after an online pressure campaign from Laura Loomer, a far-right influencer close to Donald Trump who has described herself as “a proud Islamophobe”.

      When Donald Trump’s Department of Justice requested the release of grand jury transcripts in criminal proceedings against sex-traffickers Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell, the move did little to quiet an ever-growing chorus of critics frustrated by the US president’s backtracking over disclosing investigative files. Read the full story here. More

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      ‘We’re anti-federal chaos’: Democratic cities prepare for worst after Trump’s tirades against DC and LA

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      As sand-colored Humvees rolled down Washington DC streets against the wishes of local leaders, mayors around the country planned for what they would do if the Trump administration comes for them next.Donald Trump’s disdain for Democratic-run cities featured heavily in his 2024 campaign. The president vowed to take over DC – a promise he attempted to fulfill this week. Earlier this year, he sent national guard troops to Los Angeles amid protests despite California opposing the move, which led to a lawsuit from the state.City leaders say there are appropriate ways for the federal government to partner with them to address issues such as crime, but that Trump is using the pretext of crime and unrest to override their local authority, create chaos and distract from a bruising news cycle about his ties to Jeffrey Epstein.Many cities have worked to bring down violent crime rates – they are on the decline in most large cities, though mayors acknowledge they still have work to do to improve the lives of their residents.“President Trump constantly creates a narrative that cities like Seattle are liberal hellholes and we are lawless, and that is just not the fact,” said Bruce Harrell, the mayor of Seattle. “We are the home of great communities and great businesses. So his view of our city is not aligned with reality. It’s to distract the American people from his failures as a president.”By sending in the military, some noted, Trump was probably escalating crime, contributing to distrust in the government and creating unsafe situations both for residents and service members.Even Republican mayors or mayors in red states have said they don’t agree with Trump usurping local control for tenuous reasons. The US Conference of Mayors, currently led by the Republican mayor of Oklahoma City, David Holt, pushed back against Trump’s takeover of DC, saying “local control is always best”.“These mayors around the country, by the way, from multiple ideological backgrounds, they love their city more than they love their ideology,” said Jacob Frey, the mayor of Minneapolis.Mayors told the Guardian they are ready to stand up for their cities, legally and otherwise, should Trump come knocking. They are working with their chiefs of police to ensure they agree on the chain of command and coordinating with governors in the event the national guard is deployed. Because Trump has so frequently brought up plans to crack down on cities, large Democratic cities have been strategizing with emergency planning departments and city attorneys.But Trump has shown he’s willing to bend and break the law in his pursuits against cities. The Pentagon is reportedly planning to potentially put national guard troops at the ready, stationed in Alabama and Arizona, to deploy to cities experiencing unrest. He has indicated this is just the beginning of an assault on cities. His attorney general sent letters to a host of Democratic cities this week, threatening to arrest local leaders if they don’t cooperate with federal authorities on immigration enforcement.The idea that troops could be on the ground for any number of reasons in cities around the US should alarm people, said Brett Smiley, the Democratic mayor of Providence, Rhode Island.“This is not something that we should be used to, and we shouldn’t let this administration break yet another norm or standard in our society, such that a couple years from now, we don’t think twice about when we see troops in our cities,” Smiley said.Why Trump is going after citiesThe roots of Trump’s battle with cities stretch back to his first administration, and they align with common narratives on the right about how cities today have fallen off because of liberal policies. Project 2025, the conservative blueprint, called for crackdowns on cities, including withholding federal funds to force compliance with deportation plans.His campaign promises included a commitment to “deploying federal assets, including the National Guard, to restore law and order when local law enforcement refuses to act”. In a video from 2023, he explained: “In cities where there has been a complete breakdown of law and order, where the fundamental rights of our citizens are being intolerably violated, I will not hesitate to send in federal assets including the national guard until safety is restored.”In 2020, he reportedly wished he cracked down much harder and faster on protesters and rioters during the demonstrations after George Floyd’s murder. Now, he’s using smaller problems – anti-immigration protests and crime against a government employee – to declare emergencies.Minneapolis, where the protests began after a police officer killed Floyd, has at times made Trump’s list of rundown cities. Frey, a Democrat, said he didn’t know whether 2020 protests played a role in Trump’s current actions.“I don’t think anybody can pretend to know what’s in Donald Trump’s head,” Frey told the Guardian. “It’s an utter mess of idiocy. I don’t know what he’s thinking. I don’t know what he’s thinking or what the rhyme or reason is. I mean, clearly there’s a focus on Democratically run cities.”When Trump called out other cities on his radar, he named blue cities run by Black mayors – Baltimore, Oakland, Los Angeles, Chicago.“The fact that my city and all the others called out by the president on Sunday, led by Black mayors, are all making historic progress on crime, but they’re the ones getting called up – it tells you everything that you need to know,” Baltimore’s mayor, Brandon Scott, said in a press call this week.DC is differentThe federal government can often partner with cities to address crime – several Democratic mayors noted that they worked with the Biden administration on this front successfully. But those partnerships are mutually agreed upon collaborations, not overrides of local policing.“We’re not anti-federal help. We’re anti-federal chaos,” Frey said.Detroit’s mayor, Mike Duggan, said in a statement that his city is seeing its lowest homicides, shootings and carjackings in more than 50 years, crediting a partnership with federal agencies and the US attorney as a major part of that success.“This partnership is simple and effective: DPD does the policing and the feds have strongly increased support for federal prosecution,” Duggan said. “We appreciate the partnership we have today and are aware of no reason either side would want to change it.”Mayors are not saying they have solved the issue of violent crime, Scott said, though they are acknowledging they have reduced it and will continue to work toward further reductions. “We need folks that want to actually help us do that, versus try to take and show force and make us into something other than a representative democracy that we all are proud to call home,” he said.Mayors throughout the US made a clear distinction between Trump’s authority in Washington DC compared to other cities. Washington has a legal provision in the Home Rule Act of 1973 that allows for a president to take over its police department during an emergency on a temporary basis, though Trump is the first to use this power. Other cities have no similar concept in law.Even with the Home Rule Act, Washington officials sued Trump after his attempt to replace the city’s police chief, saying the president was mounting a “hostile takeover” of DC police. Trump and the city agreed to scale back the federal takeover on Friday, keeping DC’s police chief in place.“We know when people want to say they’re going to be a dictator on day one, they never voluntarily give up that aspiration on day two,” Norm Eisen, an attorney who frequently sues the Trump administration, said in a press call this week. “That is what you are seeing in the streets of the District of Columbia.”Cities are preparingIn Minneapolis, Frey said the city has prepared operational plans with police, fire and emergency management and readied itself legally.“Our chief of police and I are lockstep, and he reports up to the commissioner of safety, who reports up to me,” Frey said. “There’s no lack of clarity as to how this reporting structure works, and it certainly does not go to Donald Trump. Doing something like that in Minneapolis, it would be just a blatantly illegal usurpation of local control were this to happen here. Of course, we would take immediate action to get injunctive relief.”Trump’s decision to send in national guard troops to Los Angeles is also legally questionable. Governors typically direct guard troops. The California governor, Gavin Newsom, sued Trump for using the military for domestic law enforcement in defiance of the Posse Comitatus Act. The case was heard by a judge this week.Harrell, of Seattle, said he is confident he will be able to protect his police department and the city’s residents if Trump sends troops.“What I have to do is make sure that the people under my jurisdiction as mayor feel confident in an ability to fight his overreach, and that our law department is well geared to advance our legal arguments,” he said.Scott, of Baltimore, said he was prepared to take every action “legally and otherwise”.Still, there is some uncertaintyand unsteadiness about how cities can respond if Trump calls up the national guard.“It’s very difficult to know what our options are, because we’re in unchartered territory here,” Smiley, of Providence, said. “It’s unprecedented and I don’t know what my options are with respect to preventing troops from coming in, which is one of the reasons that I’m trying to be so proactive about making it clear that it’s not necessary, it’s not wanted.” More