![](https://img.semafor.com/42db91521cfe471582311c8e285e7a0e0054159c-3840x1400.png?rect=2,0,3837,1400&w=1140&h=416&q=95&auto=format) Beltway NewslettersPunchbowl News: Republican hawks are downplaying the impact Sen. JD Vance’s opposition to Ukraine would have on the policies of a second Donald Trump administration. “I am very high on JD Vance and I think he’s for a strong national defense,” said Sen. Roger Wicker, the top Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee. “Clearly we are not 100% together on the Ukraine issue, but I think President Trump is closer to my position.” Playbook: Some Democrats are worried Vice President Harris’ campaign is not spending money fast enough on advertisements to define her. “We’re working to get up ads as quickly as we can (though it’s only been 3 days) and in the meantime she’s dominating earned media,” one campaign official countered. WaPo: The liberal group Indivisible is launching a new push called “All in for Kamala” to recruit volunteers and voters for Harris. Axios: The iconic photo after the attempted assassination against Trump will be on the book cover for the former president’s forthcoming book “Save America.” White House- President Biden and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will meet with the families of American hostages being held by Hamas today following their bilateral meeting.
- Vice President Harris is delivering a keynote address at the American Federation of Teachers conference in Houston before heading back to DC.
Congress- The House canceled votes next week — meaning lawmakers won’t return until Sept. 9 after votes today.
- The House unanimously passed legislation setting up a task force to investigate the assassination attempt against Donald Trump.
- Sen. Mark Kelly, D-Ariz., will back the pro-labor PRO Act amid speculation he is on Vice President Harris’ shortlist of possible running mates. Some progressives and labor unions were angered that Kelly did not co-sponsor the legislation that would make it easier to create unions and for workers to join them.
- Elon Musk was in the House chamber for Netanyahu’s address.
- The Senate will hold a procedural vote on the Kids Online Safety Act and Children’s and Teens Online Privacy Protection Act today.
- Rep. Bill Pascrell, D-N.J., remains hospitalized and is receiving breathing assistance following a “setback” after entering the hospital on July 14. — New Jersey Globe
- Sen. Cynthia Lummis, R-Wyo., criticized Republicans who have attacked Vice President Harris as a “DEI hire,” including Wyoming Rep. Harriet Hageman. She said the party should focus instead on Harris’ record, particularly on the Southern border. “I think we need to take her seriously,” Lummis told Semafor’s Joseph Zeballos-Roig. “And I think part of taking her seriously is disregarding issues of race and sex and just going at policy.”
CourtsBoeing finalized a deal with the US government to plead guilty to criminal conspiracy over two deadly 737 Max crashes. PollsDonald Trump leads Kamala Harris 49% to 46%, according to a poll from CNN that was conducted by SSRS after President Biden dropped out of the race. The result is within the poll’s margin of error, and closer than earlier polling by CNN this year on the race between Biden and Trump. On the Trail![](https://img.semafor.com/dd8fe8ed6d6b396cc4e439281b526cba65895e63-1194x1072.png?rect=1,0,1193,1072&w=1140&h=1024&q=95&auto=format) - Democratic National Convention delegates will meet virtually in the next two weeks to confirm Vice President Harris as the party’s presidential nominee and her running mate, who has yet to be named.
- Fox News has reached out to the Harris and Donald Trump campaigns to propose a debate on Sept. 17 in Philadelphia and suggested Bret Baier and Martha MacCallum as moderators, Semafor’s Shelby Talcott reports.
- Trump told a rally in North Carolina Wednesday that Harris is “totally against the Jewish people.” Harris’ husband, Doug Emhoff, is Jewish.
- Trump donated $5,000 to the campaign of then-California Attorney General Harris in 2011 and $1,000 in 2013.
- Sen. Mark Kelly, D-Ariz., a possible Harris running mate, said Republican vice presidential nominee JD Vance would “abandon” Ukraine in its war against Russia’s invasion. — Politico
- Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has been absent from the campaign trail as Trump shored up Republican support after the assassination attempt and a strong GOP convention and while Harris has assumed the Democratic nomination after President Biden dropped out.
National SecurityThe US warned that adversaries, including China, are making investments in technology startups to get access to sensitive information and threaten national security. Foreign Policy- The UK and Germany, two major donors of European aid to Ukraine, signed a cooperation pact amid fears a possible Donald Trump win in November could be a disaster for Europe’s security.
- German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said he will seek a second term, despite poor approval ratings and polls indicating just one-third of the members of his party favor him leading them into the country’s next election.
TechnologyCrowdStrike said a bug in one of its quality-control tools to check updates to its system allowed a critical flaw to be pushed to users’ devices. The issue caused a worldwide technology outage that affected multiple industries last Friday that were still being felt into Wednesday. Media- A federal judge ruled Donald Trump’s lawsuit against ABC News and host George Stephanopolous can proceed, rejecting the network’s efforts to get the case dismissed. According to the lawsuit, Stephanopolous defamed the former president several times during the March 10 airing of “This Week” by saying he raped writer E. Jean Carroll. Trump was found liable by a Manhattan jury for sexual abusing and defaming Carroll and not technically liable for rape, which has a narrow definition in state law.
- Rupert Murdoch is in a legal fight with three of his children over the future of the family’s media empire, as he seeks to preserve it as a conservative force after he dies. — NYT
Big ReadDonald Trump’s nephew says the former president told him some people with disabilities “just should die” due to “the shape they’re in, all the expenses” after a meeting between advocates and the then-president, according to an upcoming book from Fred Trump III that The New York Times obtained. Fred Trump’s son was born with a rare medical condition that caused development and intellectual disabilities. A couple of years later, when Fred Trump reached out to Donald Trump for help since the fund for his son’s care was nearly of money, Fred Trump said his uncle replied: “I don’t know. He doesn’t recognize you. Maybe you should just let him die and move down to Florida.” BlindspotStories that are being largely ignored by either left-leaning or right-leaning outlets, curated with help from our partners at Ground News. What the Left isn’t reading: Axios accused Republicans of falsely saying Vice President Harris was President Biden’s ‘border czar,’ three years after it reported she was. What the Right isn’t reading: Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer signed a bill banning “gay and trans panic” defenses in criminal trials. Principals TeamEditors: Benjy Sarlin, Jordan Weissmann, Morgan Chalfant Reporters: Kadia Goba, Joseph Zeballos-Roig, Shelby Talcott, David Weigel |