RFK Jr. upends health policy amid turmoil  

Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s fiery appearance on Thursday in the Capitol exposed the country’s still simmering discord about vaccines, COVID-19 and the future of public health during President Trump’s watch.

Kennedy clashed with members of the Senate Finance Committee over newly restricted COVID vaccine access for healthy children and younger adults, as federal guidance is still taking shape under a new immunization advisory board. The board has been criticized for including skeptics and individuals whom some Democratic senators disparage as conspiracy theorists. That group, handpicked by the secretary, will meet virtually later this month. 

After three hours of barbed exchanges, senators sounded increasingly worried about the confusion they are hearing from constituents about inoculations, access to COVID-19 shots this fall and assertions that supporting scientific data are still needed for public health interventions that are well-established in the U.S. and globally.   

▪ The Hill: Five takeaways from the Kennedy hearing. 

▪ The Hill: GOP senators signal to Trump that Kennedy is on thin ice.

The administration’s evolving guidance and questioning of scientific and pharmaceutical company clinical trials have sparked adaptations by states to try to clear the tangles. Colorado won’t require COVID-19 prescriptions, hoping to open available vaccine supplies to more residents who want the shots, Gov. Jared Polis (D) announced. Hawaii on Thursday joined California, Oregon and Washington in a new West Coast Health Alliance, which says it is providing unified recommendations on immunizations to residents based on science.   

The health chief defended his recent firing of Susan Monarez, who briefly directed the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), while attacking her trustworthiness. Her departure prompted resignations among top infectious disease experts at the CDC. 

Ahead of the hearing, 11 of the 12 Democrats on the committee demanded Kennedy’s resignation, arguing the nation’s top health official “endangers the lives of all Americans.” 

Monarez, who penned a Thursday op-ed for The Wall Street Journal, says she’s willing to share her views with lawmakers. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), a member of the Finance and Health committees, said he wants to hear from Monarez, who was terminated 29 days after taking the CDC’s reins. 

“What we’re going to do is reorganize CDC,” Kennedy told senators. “We are the sickest country in the world. That’s why we have to fire people at CDC. They did not do their job. This was their job to keep us healthy.”

Monarez criticizes what she calls the Trump administration’s “deliberate effort to weaken America’s public-health system and vaccine protections.” 

Finance Committee member Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.), who is not seeking reelection next year, joined two physicians, Sens. Bill Cassidy (R-La.), who faces voters in 2026, and Wyoming’s John Barrasso, the second-ranking Senate Republican, in challenging Kennedy, who once called the COVID-19 shot the “deadliest vaccine ever made.” 

Tillis asked why Kennedy’s praise for Monarez during her confirmation hearing turned into bitter accusations within a month. 

“Effectively, we’re denying people vaccines,” Cassidy told the secretary, suggesting that pharmacies may no longer offer COVID vaccines because the administration narrowed the population it recommends for shots, leaving out healthy children and adults under 65.

“You’re wrong,” Kennedy replied.

▪ The Hill: CVS is withholding COVID-19 vaccines in 15 states and Washington, D.C., citing the “regulatory environment.”

Barrasso said he’s grown “deeply concerned” since the secretary narrowly cleared Senate approval to lead the sprawling department. “In your confirmation hearings, you promised to uphold the highest standards for vaccines,” he noted.

Vice President Vance defended the secretary on social media on Thursday while referring to some Democrats’ support for gender-affirming medical care for minors and adults.

“When I see all these senators trying to lecture and `gotcha’ Bobby Kennedy today all I can think is: You all support off-label, untested, and irreversible hormonal `therapies’ for children, mutilating our kids and enriching big pharma,” he wrote. “You’re full of s— and everyone knows it.”

▪ The Hill: Parents, according to a new survey, say they still support vaccine mandates for measles and polio.

Smart Take with Blake Burman

Late Thursday, White House officials confirmed that President Trump would give the Department of Defense a new name: the Department of War, a name it previously held. 

The president is set to sign an executive order adding the new name as a secondary title. Rep. Ryan Zinke (R-Mont.), a former Navy SEAL, told me the new name only changes the letterhead and not the mission.  

“In the background again, the world is unstable. We have villains out there — Putin and North Korea and Iran being probably the top three,” Zinke said. “There’s a projection of power the United States has to have.”   

This announcement comes just days after the leaders of Russia, North Korea and China appeared together at a military parade in Beijing, and as peace talks between Russia and Ukraine have appeared to stall. 

This announcement is a big statement for a president who promised not to get entangled in forever wars, and who believes in “peace through strength.”  

Burman hosts “The Hill” weeknights, 6p/5c on NewsNation.

3 Things to Know Today

1. Medicaid spending in at least six states with Democratic leadership is part of the administration’s probe focused on undocumented immigrants and federal benefits. The states under scrutiny: California, Colorado, Illinois, Minnesota, Oregon and Washington.  
2. Employment numbers for August, to be released this morning, will get plenty of attention because the president, unhappy with a weakening employment picture, recently fired the commissioner in charge of the federal data. Trump said on Thursday the “real” job numbers will emerge “a year from now.”  
3. Trump on Thursday night hosted top tech executives in a one-of-a-kind White House event, during which he asked attendees to say how much their companies were investing in U.S. manufacturing. Elon Musk was not in attendance.

Leading the Day

© The Associated Press | Jose Luis Magana

WASHINGTON, D.C., TAKEOVER: District of Columbia National Guard troops who are deployed as part of Trump’s federal law enforcement intervention in the District have reportedly had their orders extended through December.

D.C. Attorney General Brian Schwalb (D) on Thursday sued Trump and his administration over the deployment of the Guard, describing it as an illegal “military occupation” that has turned domestic troops into local police. In his suit, Schwalb argued that their presence has been “harmful” to the city and its residents.

“None of this is lawful,” Schwalb wrote.

D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser (D) has taken a different approach, signing an order Tuesday authorizing coordination between local police and federal forces extending beyond Trump’s declared emergency in the nation’s capital.

Bowser on Wednesday clarified that her order does not extend Trump’s crime emergency.

“It does the exact opposite,” Bowser said. “It lays out a framework to exit this period.”

Leaders in the House and Senate are not planning to hold votes to extend Trump’s temporary control of D.C. police before it expires next week, The Washington Post reports.

“This is by mutual agreement with the White House,” a senior Senate staffer said of the decision not to hold an extension vote. The staffer said the White House was “mollified by Bowser’s promise of cooperation and support.”

▪ The Washington Post: How Stephen Miller is running Trump’s effort to take over D.C.

WINDY CITY: Trump wants to send the National Guard into Chicago, a move that would set him up for a bigger legal challenge and riskier political move compared to his crackdown in Washington, D.C. 

Chicago officials and residents are preparing to fight back against the potential crackdown, which Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker (D) said could begin as early as this weekend.

Pritzker vowed Thursday to immediately challenge any order by Trump to deploy the National Guard to Chicago, demonstrating a power struggle that’s sure to spotlight how Democrats will handle Trump on the matter.

“We’re going to immediately go to court, if National Guard or other military troops are sent to, deployed to the city of Chicago, immediately go to court,” Pritzker said.

Meanwhile, Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson (D) and the city’s Office of Immigrant, Migrant and Refugee Rights rolled out an updated website with step-by-step guidance on how immigrants can protect themselves, including with user-friendly content explaining their rights.

“My administration will not allow our communities to be consumed by fear and uncertainty,” Johnson said. “We will continue to provide updated information so that all of the families of Chicago are prepared.”

▪ CNN: Here’s how Chicago is preparing as a possible National Guard deployment looms.

▪ The Washington Post: The Pentagon has approved the use of a Navy base on the outskirts of Chicago as a staging ground for immigration enforcement.

▪ Chicago Sun-Times: Michael Schill, the president of Northwestern University near Chicago, resigned under GOP pressure amid a loss of more than $790 million in federal research funding.

Where & When

▪ The president will receive an intelligence briefing at 10:30 a.m. Trump will participate at noon in an Oval Office ambassadorial credentialing ceremony. He will sign executive orders at 2 p.m. in the Oval Office and make an announcement there two hours later. 

▪ The House will convene on Monday at noon.

▪ The Senate will meet on Monday at 3 p.m.

▪ The Labor Department at 8:30 a.m. will release a closely watched employment report for August. Here’s what analysts expect.

Zoom In

© The Associated Press | Mark Schiefelbein

COURT BATTLES: Trump has been handed a series of defeats by the courts in quick succession in recent days. The issues at hand have included hot-button issues such as tariffs, deportations, the deployment of the National Guard and his battle with Harvard. 

Those battles are not over and Trump has a friendly Supreme Court to which to appeal. 

But the losses are, at the least, disruptive to his efforts to take sweeping action, The Hill’s Niall Stanage writes in The Memo, and they fuel criticism from liberals that he is expanding his power in unjustified ways.

According to Just Security’s tracker, of the 391 cases filed through Sept. 2 against the Trump administration, 127 led to orders blocking at least part of the administration’s efforts. And 148 cases awaited a ruling. 

JUDGES SPEAK OUT: In a dozen rare and unattributed interviews, 10 federal judges told NBC News they are frustrated with the Supreme Court for overturning lower court rulings involving the Trump administration with little or no explanation. 

With tensions so high, four of the judges said they believe the Supreme Court, and specifically Chief Justice John Roberts, should do more to defend the courts. 

“It is inexcusable,” one judge said of the Supreme Court justices. “They don’t have our backs.” 

The Supreme Court has an obligation to explain rulings in a way the public can understand, a third judge said, adding that when the court so frequently rules for the administration in emergency cases without fully telling people why, it sends a signal. What is different now is the role that emergency cases are playing in public discourse.

▪ CBS News: Justice Amy Coney Barrett said the court should not impose its values on the American people because that’s up to the political process.

▪ The Hill’s The Gavel: It’s book tour-palooza at the Supreme Court, headlined by Coney Barrett.

FEDERAL RESERVE: The Department of Justice has reportedly opened a criminal investigation into Federal Reserve Board of Governors member Lisa Cook over allegations of mortgage fraud.

The probe, reported by several outlets on Thursday, follows two criminal referrals by Federal Housing Finance Agency Director Bill Pulte that claimed Cook submitted false information in her mortgage application.

Trump pointed to those allegations as a reason to fire her from the central bank, a move that threw into question the institution’s historical independence from political influence. Cook has sued over Trump’s attempt to remove her from her post.

Cook’s lawyer, Abbe Lowell, said in a statement that the reported probe shows the administration is “scrambling to invent new justifications for its overreach” in seeking her removal.

▪ ProPublica: Trump is accusing foes with multiple mortgages of fraud. Records show three of his Cabinet members have them.

▪ The Washington Post: Stephen Miran, Trump’s pick to replace Cook, plans to keep his White House job while on Fed.

ON OUR RADAR:

▪ The Hill: Rising power prices are becoming a political liability for Republicans as electricity costs outpace inflation. 

▪ Politico: Hawaii and Wisconsin join blue-state opposition to Trump’s electric vehicle attacks.

Elsewhere

© The Associated Press | Ludovic Marin, AFP

SECURITY GUARANTEES: Twenty-six countries have pledged to provide postwar security guarantees to Ukraine, which will include an international force on land and sea and in the air. French President Emmanuel Macron announced the plan after a summit meeting of Kyiv’s allies on Thursday.

Trump held a virtual meeting on Thursday with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and a group of European leaders to discuss the stalled diplomatic efforts to end the war. Zelensky said he is ready to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin, but Moscow insists the terms and objectives of the meeting must be negotiated ahead of time.

At the summit, held in Paris, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said the countries had an “unbreakable pledge” to Ukraine, which was backed by the U.S.

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said following the meeting that the first priority was to secure a ceasefire and then provide “strong security guarantees.”

Trump remains committed to pursuing a peace agreement between Russia and Ukraine, despite stalled progress of peace talks, he told CBS News on Wednesday.

Face-to-face talks between Putin and Zelensky, but Trump said he remains optimistic.

“I’ve been watching it, I’ve been seeing it, and I’ve been talking about it with President Putin and President Zelensky,” Trump said in a phone interview. “Something is going to happen, but they are not ready yet. But something is going to happen. We are going to get it done.”

▪ The Washington Post: Encouraged by Trump, Europeans plan to send troops to secure postwar Ukraine.

▪ CNN analysis: Trump and Putin both agree to blame Europe as Ukraine peace effort languishes.

▪ Financial Times: The U.S. will cut some security funds for European countries bordering Russia.

STRIKE IN THE CARIBBEAN: The Trump administration has offered few details about a U.S. military strike on a boat in the Caribbean that it said killed 11 Venezuelan drug traffickers, raising questions as to whether it violated maritime law or human rights conventions. The Hill’s Ellen Mitchell reports the Pentagon has not released any specifics about the strike, including how it was carried out and how much and what kind of drugs were on board. 

The administration faced a Thursday legal deadline to outline a justification for the strike, which it said fell under the president’s authority to defend the U.S. It’s the rationale officials used to authorize airstrikes against three Iranian nuclear sites in June and repeated attacks on Yemen’s Houthi group.

▪ The New York Times: Hamas has expressed readiness for a comprehensive deal to end the Gaza war and release all hostages in exchange for Palestinian prisoners. Israel rejected the announcement as “spin.”

▪ NPR: Denying famine conditions in Gaza, Israel threatens more curbs on humanitarian aid.

Opinion

1. The D.C. attorney general’s lawsuit to expel the National Guard could backfire, by The Washington Post editorial board.
2. Jeffrey Epstein won’t break Trump’s Coalition, but the fissures are starting to show, by Michelle Goldberg, columnist, The New York Times.

The Closer

© The Associated Press | Evan Vucci

And finally … 👏👏👏Kudos to this week’s Morning Report Quiz winners! They didn’t skip a beat when pondering bits of White House and Pentagon trivia.

🧩 Here’s who went 4/4: Richard E. Baznik, Jess A. Elger, Stan Wasser, Rick Schmidtke, Carmine Petracca, Joe Atchue, Lynn Gardner, David Faunce, Linda L. Field, Jenessa Wagner, Mark Williamson, Ned Sauthoff, Jett Hawk, Kenny Huston, Michael B. Kitz, Brian Hogan, Savannah Petracca, John Trombetti, Steve James, Daisy Espinoza, Robert Bradley, Jay Rockey, Julie Barnes, M. Whitehouse, Don Swanson, Alan Johnson, Chuck Schoenenberger, Peter Spofera and Pam Manges.

A tan suit worn in 2014 by then-President Obama triggered a sartorial stir amid a televised press briefing about terrorism.

In 1992, then-Vice President Dan Quayle misspelled potato during a school event in Trenton, N.J.

Social media posts have posited that an increase in takeout pizza orders near the Pentagon is an indicator of U.S. military activity.

As president, George H.W. Bush compared his dog, Ranger, to a blimp in a playful memo to White House staff noting a need to curb doggie treats because of canine corpulence.