Beltway NewslettersPunchbowl News: Seventy-two percent of senior Capitol Hill staffers predicted that Kamala Harris will win the November presidential election. Playbook: Republican groups are spending twice as much on the Senate race in Pennsylvania than they are in Michigan. WaPo: Tom Nides, the former US ambassador to Israel under President Biden, insisted that the notion the Democratic Party has shifted on Israel in the past year “is just not true.” Axios: House Democrats are launching billboards in two-dozen districts criticizing Project 2025, leaning into those attacks in the final weeks of campaign season. White House- President Biden is planning more student loan relief. — Bloomberg
- Vice President Harris said on CBS 60 Minutes that the US would not stop “putting that pressure” on Israel to reach a ceasefire agreement with Hamas. She also wouldn’t say whether the US has a close ally in Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
- FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell criticized Donald Trump for spreading “ridiculous and just plain false” information about the Biden administration’s disaster relief efforts following Hurricane Helene.
CongressOutside the BeltwayBusiness- Activist investor Starboard Value now has a $1 billion stake in struggling pharmaceutical giant Pfizer and wants it to turn around its performance. — WSJ
- Boeing and striking machinists will return to the bargaining table today.
On the TrailBrian Snyder/Reuters- Donald Trump returned to the site of the attempted assassination against him in Butler, Pa., over the weekend to campaign with Elon Musk.
- Kamala Harris is trying to figure out how to put more distance between herself and President Biden. — CNN
- Democrats hope that Barack Obama’s purple state magic could help them hold onto the Senate in November, Semafor’s Burgess Everett and David Weigel reported.
Foreign Policy- Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout, also known as the “Merchant of Death” and exchanged in late 2022 for American basketball player Brittney Griner, is brokering a deal with Iran-backed Houthi militants in Yemen for small arms. — WSJ
- China and North Korea marked 75 years of diplomatic ties and reaffirmed plans to deepen cooperation.
- One year after Oct. 7, many residents in Israeli villages most damaged by the Hamas attack are still living in temporary housing. — NYT
Energy- Oil companies are telling Republicans not to gut the Inflation Reduction Act. — WSJ
Media- New York Sun owner Dovid Efune is nearing a deal to acquire UK newspaper The Telegraph for at least $720 million. — FT
Big Read- The Wall Street Journal examines the growing influence of Donald Trump Jr. in his father’s orbit, including convincing him to name JD Vance as his running mate. “I expended about 1,000% of my political capital” convincing Donald Trump to choose his friend Vance, Trump Jr. told the publication, which labels the former president’s eldest son the “crown prince of MAGA world.” One former administration official said that Trump Jr. has filled the vacuum left by Jared Kushner, who along with his wife Ivanka Trump is sitting out a possible second Trump term.
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: A man set himself on fire during a pro-Palestinian demonstration in Washington, DC, over the weekend. What the Right isn’t reading: The Biden administration directed $100 million in emergency funding to fix roads and bridges in North Carolina that were damaged by Hurricane Helene. Principals TeamEditors: Benjy Sarlin, Elana Schor, Morgan Chalfant Reporters: Burgess Everett, Kadia Goba, Joseph Zeballos-Roig, Shelby Talcott, David Weigel |