In today’s issue:
▪ Trump threatens DC takeover after DOGE staffer attacked
▪ White House reignites Obama feud with grand jury
▪ Rules reform hits a wall in the Senate
▪ Netanyahu plans for “full occupation” of Gaza
Texas Republicans are amping up calls to apprehend Democrats who fled the state in an effort to block new political maps that favor the GOP, with President Trump suggesting federal law enforcement could get involved.
Sen. John Cornyn (R), Texas’ senior senator, made the request for the FBI to intervene on Tuesday, sending a letter to FBI Director Kash Patel urging the agency to take “any appropriate steps” to help local law enforcement bring back the Democrats.
Trump, asked if the FBI should get involved, told reporters “they may have to.”
“I know they want them back, not only the attorney general, the governor wants them back,” he said, adding “a lot of people are demanding they come back.”
The group of more than 50 Texas Democratic lawmakers has scattered to several blue states to prevent their Republican colleagues from passing what they see as a heavily gerrymandered congressional map during a special legislative session. The map is designed to give Republicans five additional House seats in the midterm elections, aimed at helping ensure the GOP maintains its slim majority in the lower chamber.
Trump on Tuesday told CNBC’s “Squawk Box” that Republicans are “entitled” to the five seats.
“We have an opportunity in Texas to pick up five seats. We have a really good governor, and we have good people in Texas. And I won Texas,” the president said. “I got the highest vote in the history of Texas.”
Since some Texas Democrats left for other states including Illinois and New York, Cornyn said the Texas Department of Public Safety may need help in tracking them down and arresting them. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) ordered their arrests on Monday after the state House was unable to conduct business, arguing they violated their oath of office.
“In a representative democracy, we resolve our differences by debating and voting, not by running away,” Cornyn said. “I request the FBI’s assistance, as federal resources are necessary to locate the out-of-state Texas legislators who are potentially acting in violation of the law.”
Cornyn is running for reelection and has been courting Trump’s endorsement as he faces a bitter primary fight against Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton (R).
Paxton, who is running a right-flank challenge to Cornyn, said Tuesday he will ask the courts to declare the Democrats’ seats vacant beginning on Friday.
“The people of Texas elected lawmakers, not jet-setting runaways looking for headlines. If you don’t show up to work, you get fired,” Paxton said in a statement.
Meanwhile, Abbott on Tuesday sued to remove Texas House Democratic Caucus Chair Gene Wu from his seat amid the redistricting showdown.
“What is at stake here? Nothing less than the future of Texas,” Abbott’s emergency petition to the Texas Supreme Court reads. “If a small fraction of recalcitrant lawmakers choose to run out the clock today, they can do so for any, and every, Regular or Special Session, potentially bankrupting the State in an attempt to get their way.”
The Hill’s Caroline Vakil breaks down what comes next for Texas lawmakers.
▪ The Hill: Does Abbott have the power to vacate Texas House seats?
▪ The Texas Tribune: Powered by People, a Democratic political group started by former Rep. Beto O’Rourke (D-Texas), has emerged as a top funder covering the costs of the lawmakers’ out-of-state decampment.
JUMPING INTO THE FRAY: California and New York are signaling they will move forward with plans to redraw their own congressional lines as Democrats look to counter the Texas GOP.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) said Monday that Democrats are moving forward with a plan to put mid-decade redistricting before voters, which could be “triggered” by what happens in Texas.
And New York Gov. Kathy Hochul (D), appearing alongside Texas Democrats who fled to her state over the proposed maps on Monday, embraced exploring “every option” to redraw congressional lines.
However, both states face challenges with their plans and are unlikely to have new maps before next year’s midterm elections.
“What Texas has done now is that: If you drive the car all the way off the cliff, there’s no road,” Justin Levitt, a law professor at Loyola Marymount University who founded the database All About Redistricting, told The Hill’s Julia Mueller. “And I don’t know if they realize exactly how far they may have pushed some other actors around the country.”
▪ The Hill: Former President Obama on Tuesday blasted the Texas GOP’s attempts to redraw their congressional map as “a power grab” that threatens democracy.
▪ The Hill: Rep. Mike Lawler (R-N.Y.) said what Texas Republicans are doing is “wrong.”
‘NOT A GOOD THING FOR THE COUNTRY’: GOP Rep. Kevin Kiley (Calif.) on Tuesday called out Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) over their responses to redistricting efforts across the country, saying the chaos needs to end.
“Ultimately I think that the Speaker needs to step up and show some leadership here because even our own members in states that might in some theoretical way, mathematical way stand to benefit from new maps, they don’t like what’s going on either,” Kiley told MSNBC’s Chris Jansing. “They don’t like the prospect of having their district broken up or having communities they’ve represented, been voted in by, taken out of their district.”
Kiley, who represents a competitive House district, said he will introduce legislation on Monday that would block states from redrawing their congressional districts prior to the 2030 census.
“It’s not a good thing for either Democrats or Republicans,” he said. “It’s certainly not a good thing for the country.”
Smart Take with Blake Burman
Are we close to putting a nuclear reactor on the moon? Transportation Secretary and acting NASA Administrator Sean Duffy confirmed Tuesday that a plan was in place to get it done. The administration says we’re in a race with China to put a base on the moon, and we’ll need energy to accomplish that goal.
Former NASA astronaut José Hernández told me we’re close to getting nuclear power sources to space.
“We are so ready to have nuclear power in space,” he said. “We need a power source aside from the solar panels. There’s parts of the moon where solar panels aren’t going to be friendly, aren’t going to produce enough energy, and the only other source is nuclear power.”
The idea might seem far-fetched to most of us. But some of the biggest voices in space — billionaires Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos — have talked about the need for the U.S. to look beyond Earth for years. Perhaps this step to build infrastructure on the moon will help bring the idea more mainstream.
Burman hosts “The Hill” weeknights, 6p/5c on NewsNation.
3 Things to Know Today
- Trump threatened a federal takeover of Washington, D.C. and called for changes to its crime laws after a former Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) employee was beaten in an attempted carjacking in D.C. over the weekend.
- Violent crime nationally declined by 4.5 percent in 2024, the FBI said. The decline follows a 3 percent drop in 2023 and continues a general downward trend seen since levels peaked during COVID-19.
- Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. canceled nearly $500 million of grants and contracts for developing mRNA vaccines. The technology enabled the rapid development of the first COVID vaccines.
Leading the Day
THE TRUMP ADMINISTRATION is pursuing a probe against Obama-era officials’ actions assessing Russia’s influence in the 2016 election, raising the question of whether the Department of Justice (DOJ) could bring charges against former government officials.
The DOJ has moved to convene a grand jury this week to investigate claims that Obama officials politicized intelligence about Russian interference in Trump’s campaign against Democrat Hillary Clinton to give Clinton an edge over Trump, who was at the time known primarily as a billionaire businessman and reality television host.
“It doesn’t get more serious than this. This is a criminal conspiracy. The evidence is clear there’s a criminal conspiracy here and nobody is above the law,” Mike Davis, a Trump ally who runs the Article III Project, said on Fox News.
Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard released a statement last week accusing Obama-era officials of “treasonous conspiracy” over alleged attempts to thwart Trump’s election and cast a shadow over his first presidency. Gabbard criminally referred the case to the DOJ.
In today’s The Gavel newsletter coming later this morning, The Hill’s Zach Schonfeld and Ella Lee look at several key questions facing the administration as it convenes the grand jury. (Click here to sign up to get it in your inbox.)
▪ More from The Hill: Four key questions as Attorney General Pam Bondi orders Trump-Russia grand jury probe into Obama officials.
▪ The Hill: Pentagon seeks to slash red tape for mass drone production.
EPSTEIN LATEST: House Oversight Chair James Comer (R-Ky.) is seeking information from the DOJ and several high-profile former government officials, including former President Clinton and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, as his members press for investigations into Jeffrey Epstein.
Comer issued several subpoenas on Tuesday, following a bipartisan subcommittee vote last month in favor of releasing some files on the disgraced financier and convicted sex offender. The move also comes after the administration last month interviewed former longtime Epstein associate Ghislaine Maxwell, who is serving a 20 years in prison.
“While the Department undertakes efforts to uncover and publicly disclose additional information related to Mr. Epstein and Ms. Maxwell’s cases, it is imperative that Congress conduct oversight of the federal government’s enforcement of sex trafficking laws generally and specifically its handling of the investigation and prosecution of Mr. Epstein and Ms. Maxwell,” Comer wrote in a letter to Bondi on Tuesday.
Top Trump administration officials are expected to meet at the vice president’s house at the Naval Observatory tonight to discuss whether records from Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche’s recent meetings with Maxwell should be publicly released, CNN reported.
The outlet reported the confab’s expected attendees include Vice President Vance, Blanche, Bondi, White House chief of staff Susie Wiles and FBI director Kash Patel.
MEANWHILE… Trump said Tuesday that he wasn’t given a heads up that Maxwell, who he’s been associated with in the past along with Epstein, would be relocated to a lower-level facility while serving her 20-year prison sentence.
Maxwell, after meeting two days with Blanche to discuss particulars of the Epstein case, was moved from a federal prison in Florida to the Texas site last week.
“I didn’t know about it at all, nope. I read about it just like you did,” the president told reporters Tuesday.
Maxwell has petitioned the Supreme Court to overturn her conviction and her attorney has sought clemency from the president in exchange for her cooperation on exposing other Epstein associates.
Meanwhile, Maxwell doesn’t support Trump’s push to unseal grand jury transcripts in her case. Trump has backed the release as he has faced pressure from his base to expose potential elite associates who were involved in assaulting minors.
But Maxwell’s attorney David Oscar Markus argued in a new court filing that Epstein’s ex “has no choice” but to oppose the request because she’s not had a chance to review material before it’s released.
“Jeffrey Epstein is dead. Ghislaine Maxwell is not,” Markus wrote in his appeal to the court.
▪ PolitiFact: Have Democrats always been interested in Epstein case transparency? We looked back.
▪ The Daily Beast: Epstein victims tear into Trump in desperate plea to judge.
SO LONG: The Trump administration has bid adieu to the DOGE-led initiative of requiring federal workers to report their weekly accomplishments in five emailed bullet points or risk losing their jobs.
The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) had tracked the responses since February, when Musk started the directive. The protocol was later phased out at some agencies, but the endeavor was fully nixed Tuesday.
“We communicated with agency HR leads that OPM was no longer going to manage the five things process nor utilize it internally. At OPM, we believe that managers are accountable to staying informed about what their team members are working on and have many other existing tools to do so,” OPM Director Scott Kupor said in a statement.
When and Where
- The president will speak from the Oval Office at 4:30 p.m.
- The House and Senate are in recess until September.
Leading the Day
SENATE MAJORITY LEADER John Thune (R-S.D.) faces a difficult test rallying GOP senators to change the chamber’s rules to speed up confirmation of dozens of Trump’s nominees when Congress reconvenes in September, The Hill’s Alexander Bolton reports.
Several GOP senators, including Thom Tillis (N.C.), Lisa Murkowski (Alaska) and Susan Collins (Maine), have raised concerns about forging ahead with the “nuclear option” of a simple-majority vote, which would bypass input from Democratic colleagues.
Senate infighting over nominees has spilled over to unrelated chamber feuds, as lawmakers on both sides face pressure to ramp up partisan fights. The Hill’s Al Weaver reports there is no obvious off-ramp in sight.
The Senate adjourned Saturday — delaying any major action until next month after skirmishes over the confirmations of dozens of Trump’s lower-level nominees.
While the Republicans debate the issue, Democrats are also facing increased pressure from their base to block Trump.
SUCCESSION: Trump said Tuesday it was too soon to settle on a successor to serve as the Republican nominee in 2028, but he acknowledged Vance is the “most likely” heir apparent.
“I think most likely, in all fairness,” Trump said when asked if he would clear the field by backing Vance. “So it’s too early to talk about it, but certainly he’s doing a great job, and he would be probably favored at this point.”
Trump suggested Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who ran for president in 2016, could make a formidable ticket with Vance. Earlier Tuesday, Trump said he would “probably not” seek a constitutionally prohibited third term.
CALLING THE SHOTS: Trump has waded into unusual territory for a president, trying to hash out a simmering debate over pay for college athletes.
Name, image and likeness deals are everywhere now, and athletes are raking in big bucks, but the president has signaled he wants to reshape the already rocky terrain. He recently signed an executive order that has little legal force but signals how Trump and his allies view what’s next for college athletes.
“It’s very clear that President Trump is very interested in the sports issues, and it’s very clear that he has inserted himself into this debate, and that’s really the background of that executive order,” Fordham University law and ethics professor Mark Conrad told The Hill.
▪ Yahoo Sports: Trump’s executive order on college sports: Here’s what it actually means.
▪ Yahoo Sports: Could collective bargaining be the answer for college sports? Some ADs are ready to say the quiet part out loud.
▪ Slate: The Presidential Fitness Test is good, actually.
IVY LEAGUE BLUES: The Trump administration will soon have access to standardized test scores and grade point averages of all applicants at Brown and Columbia universities — including racial data about applicants.
The New York Times reports the agreements, which were reached to settle ongoing feuds with the White House over admissions standards based on diversity, equity and inclusion, had largely been overlooked amid reporting on the multimillion-dollar payouts the colleges offered to appease Trump.
Conservative groups who cheered the 2023 Supreme Court decision that barred the consideration of race in college admissions could use the data to identify schools that “seem not to have gotten the message,” said Adam Mortara, one of the lawyers for Students for Fair Admissions, the plaintiff in the Supreme Court case.
“If this information were obtainable by a Freedom of Information Act request or made public, it would be of great interest,” he told the Times.
Elsewhere
ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER Benjamin Netanyahu is expected to push to “occupy all of the Gaza Strip” as ceasefire talks with Hamas falter. A bid by Netanyahu to occupy all of Gaza would follow similar calls from members of his far-right government, and could mark a significant shift in policy since Israel withdrew from the territory in 2005.
The hunger crisis in the besieged Palestinian enclave is spiraling. Israel has faced growing international condemnation over conditions in the enclave, where more than 1 in 3 people are not eating for days in a row, according to the U.N.’s World Food Programme. The “worst-case scenario of famine” is unfolding in Gaza, the world’s leading body on hunger said last week. Most of its residents have been driven from their homes and more than 60,900 have been killed, including thousands of children.
Special envoy Steve Witkoff and Trump on Monday discussed plans for the U.S. to significantly increase its role in providing humanitarian aid to Gaza. Axios reports it was decided that the White House will “take over” management of the humanitarian effort in Gaza because Israel isn’t handling it adequately.
▪ The Washington Post: Momentum builds toward Netanyahu’s plan to occupy all of Gaza.
UKRAINE: Witkoff is in Moscow for his fifth visit this year and will meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Trump has described the meeting as pivotal in determining whether the U.S. goes ahead with new sanctions against Russia on Friday, when the president’s deadline for a ceasefire with Ukraine runs out.
Trump has cast doubt on Putin’s willingness to stop the fighting, while Putin has continued Moscow’s barrage of attacks on Ukraine with the goal of seizing vast territory.
Four European countries are buying U.S. military equipment valued at roughly $1 billion for delivery to Kyiv’s forces, in one of the clearest demonstrations of how the West’s approach to arming Ukraine is shifting under Trump.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Tuesday on the social platform X that he had discussed the European purchases with Trump and “our bilateral defense cooperation with America.”
“We already have commitments from the Netherlands, Sweden, Norway, and Denmark – over one billion dollars for American weapons that Ukraine will receive. Thank you! This cooperation with NATO countries will continue,” Zelensky wrote.
▪ The Washington Post: Trump ceded leverage over Putin by pausing sanctions, a Democratic Senate report says.
INDIA: Trump’s anger toward India’s trade imbalance with the U.S. and relationship with Russia is fracturing what once was a flamboyant bromance between the president and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The breakup risks endangering a partnership that both Republicans and Democrats view as essential in challenging China.
Trump has singled out India as a particularly egregious trade foe amid his global trade war, citing a trade deficit of about $46 billion. India is also the second-largest importer of Russian oil after China.
“What people don’t like to say about India, they’re the highest tariff nation,” Trump said Tuesday. “They have the highest tariff of anybody. We do very, very little business with India because their tariffs are so high.”
▪ The Hill: The Trump administration is slashing red tape to quickly equip troops with more small, easily replaced drones in a bid to keep up with the likes of Russia and China, according to the Pentagon’s chief technology officer.
▪ The New York Times: A Brazilian Supreme Court justice’s order to place former President Jair Bolsonaro under house arrest could complicate efforts to negotiate over Trump’s steep tariffs.
Opinion
- The Democratic protectorate of Illinois, by The Wall Street Journal editorial board.
- I’m a Democrat who left Texas. New GOP maps will silence Latino voters, by Texas Rep. Gina Hinojosa (D), USA Today.
The Closer
And finally … 🗳️ It’s the 60th anniversary of the Voting Rights Act. President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the landmark voter equality legislation into law on this day in 1965.
Johnson urged Congress to pass the law during a historic speech in March that year focused on “the dignity of man and the destiny of democracy.”
“It’s all of us who must overcome the crippling legacy of bigotry and injustice and we shall overcome,” he said. “This great, rich, restless country can offer opportunity and education and hope to all — Black and white, North and South, sharecropper and city dweller. These are the enemies: poverty, ignorance, disease.”
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