 Beltway NewslettersPlaybook: Vice President Harris’ campaign aides have been asking reporters who she should sit down with for her first interview. Axios: Harris’ pledge to sign the bipartisan border security bill means she supports spending hundreds of millions of dollars on the wall the Trump administration built along the southern border, despite previously calling the wall project “un-American.” White House- White House national security spokesman John Kirby said Israel’s exchange of attacks with Hezbollah did not affect ongoing negotiations about a Gaza ceasefire. “There continues to be progress and our team on the ground continues to describe the talks as constructive,” he told reporters.
- The White House condemned Russia’s massive attack targeting Ukraine’s energy infrastructure, but signaled it would not relax current policy restricting Ukraine’s use of American weapons inside Russia despite calls to do so from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. “What we’re focused on … is making sure that they have as robust an air defense capability as possible,” Kirby said.
Congress- House Speaker Mike Johnson said he would award the Congressional Gold Medal posthumously to the US service members who died in the Kabul airport bombing three years ago during the US withdrawal from Afghanistan.
- Bipartisan lawmakers pressed the USDA on problems with a food distribution program that serves Native American reservations.
Outside the Beltway- A Latino civil rights organization filed a civil rights complaint with the Justice Department, asking for a probe of raids on Latino activists and operatives in Texas in what the state’s Attorney General Ken Paxton says is an election integrity investigation.
- Georgia Democratic officials sued state election officials, alleging that new rules allowing local officials to delay the certification of the presidential election were illegal. Meanwhile, Gov. Brian Kemp has asked his attorney general for guidance on if he has the power to remove State Election Board members, per the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. The board’s right-wing majority has made decisions that have drawn the ire of voting rights groups, Democrats, and some Republicans.
- California may soon pass a first-ever law making undocumented immigrants eligible for home loan support in the state.
Economy- Canada plans to impose a 100% tariff on Chinese-made electric vehicles, following in the footsteps of the US.
- The possibility of Donald Trump returning to the White House threatens the prominence of Beijing-based Bitmain Technologies Ltd. in the cryptocurrency space. — Bloomberg
- A new pair of analyses from the Penn Wharton Budget Model scored the economic proposals of former President Donald Trump and Vice President Harris. The group found that Trump’s proposals would add anywhere from $4 trillion to about $6 trillion over ten years to the deficit, depending on economic effects. For Harris, that sum ranged between $1.2 trillion and $2 trillion.
Business- The Chamber of Commerce outlined its tax priorities as Congress prepares to deal with expiring parts of the GOP tax law next year. High on the organization’s list are goals like keeping the 21% corporate tax rate (which some Republicans have toyed with increasing), restoring immediate expensing for research and development spending, and preserving the 20% passthrough deduction for certain business income.
Courts- Special counsel Jack Smith appealed Judge Aileen Cannon’s dismissal of Donald Trump’s classified documents case in Florida, calling the move “at odds with widespread and longstanding appointment practices in the Department of Justice and across the government.”
- The Justice Department subpoenaed chip equipment maker Applied Materials for information relating to the company’s application for federal grants. — Bloomberg
- French President Emmanuel Macron said the arrest of Telegram CEO Pavel Durov over content moderation failures was not a “political decision.” Durov, who has not been charged, was arrested as part of a larger investigation into the distribution of child pornography, money laundering, and drug sales, French prosecutors said.
On the Trail- Donald Trump said he would rather have the microphones unmuted during the September presidential debate but that his campaign agreed to the same rules as the previous debate with President Biden when the microphones were muted. “The agreement was that it would be the same as it was last time, in that case it was muted. I didn’t like it last time, but it worked out fine,” he told reporters, accusing Vice President Harris’ campaign of “trying to change” the rules to get out of the debate. The Harris team has requested microphones be unmuted this time.
- Trump blamed Harris for the chaotic US withdrawal from Afghanistan.
Foreign Policy- Joint Chiefs of Staff Chair Gen. CQ Brown said the risk of a broader Mideast war has somewhat eased after Israel and Hezbollah traded fire over the weekend without escalating further, but Iran is still a significant threat as it considers a strike against Israel. — Reuters
- A Chinese military plane encroached into Japanese airspace for the first time.
- Dozens of people were killed in attacks by militants in Pakistan’s Balochistan province.
Technology- Apple is expected to announce new iPhone and Apple Watch models on Sept. 9
- X altered its AI chatbox after top election officials in five states said it was spreading election misinformation.
MediaBig Read Vice President Harris was concerned about the Biden campaign’s challenge with Latino voters back in February and wanted to help with outreach, Adrian Carrasquillo writes for Politico Magazine. Two April focus groups that the campaign subsequently put together revealed that they needed to do a better job defining Harris. “Participants knew Harris’ name. They knew she had run for president against Biden and that Maya Rudolph played her on Saturday Night Live. But that was about it,” Carrasquillo writes. 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: Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., accused the FBI and Secret Service of “dragging their feet” on the Senate’s investigation into the attempted assassination of Donald Trump. What the Right isn’t reading: Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s daughter once recounted a story about him sawing off a dead whale’s head. Principals TeamEditors: Benjy Sarlin, Morgan Chalfant Reporters: Kadia Goba, Joseph Zeballos-Roig, Shelby Talcott, David Weigel |
