Leavitt says Trump threat to end mail-in ballots is a ‘priority’, signals push after Congressional recess
In today’s press briefing Karoline Leavitt says that there will be “many discussions” with members of Congress when they return from recess about the president’s push to end mail-in ballots and the use of voting machines.
Leavitt says that the administration will also be “talking to our friends in state legislatures across the country to ensure that we’re protecting the integrity of the vote for the American people.”
A reminder that, legally, the decision to end mail-in voting, and overhaul the way states conduct their elections is not up to the executive branch. The US constitution gives states the power to regulate the “The Times, Places and Manner” of federal elections. Congress can override those rules by passing federal laws.
Yesterday, the president said that “an executive order that’s being written right now” to end mail-in voting – repeating baseless claims that the process is “corrupt”.
Today Leavitt doubles down on Trump’s plans:
I think Republicans generally, and the president generally, wants to make it easier for Americans to vote and harder for people to cheat in our elections. And it’s quite mind boggling that the Democrat party could stand in opposition to common sense. He wants to ensure election integrity…I can assure you, this is a priority for the president.
Key events
CA Republicans ask state supreme court to block redistricting push
Lauren Gambino
Republican lawmakers in California filed an emergency petition with the state supreme court that seeks to block governor Gavin Newsom’s fast-track redistricting effort designed to counter a redrawn congressional map sought by Donald Trump in Texas.
The Democratic-led California legislature set to work this week advancing a series of bills that they need to pass by the end of the week in order to get the redistricting measure on the ballot in time for a special election this November.
The lawsuit, filed Monday, argues that the state legislature is violating California’s constitution by advancing the bills before a required 30-day review period. Democrats, who hold a supermajority in both legislative chambers, introduced the redistricting bills on Monday and aim to pass them by Thursday.
“Instead of a months-long transparent and participatory process overseen by an independent citizens redistricting commission for such a sensitive matter,” the lawsuit states, “the public would be presented instead with an up-or-down vote on maps unilaterally prepared in secret by the Legislature.”
The Republicans’ case centers on when a bill is officially “introduced” under the state Constitution. In the lawsuit, the Republicans argue that the clock should start on after full legislative text is available, while Democrats say the initial drafts and bill numbers are sufficient to begin the review period. The Republicans also raise concerns about the potential impact of redistricting on Asian American and Hispanic communities, saying the rushed process limits input and debate.
The redistricting fight in California is part of a widening redistricting arms race pitting red and blue states against each other in a battle that was kicked off when Trump asked Texas to redraw its congressional map to help Republicans maintain control of the US House in the midterm elections. Texas Democratic lawmakers fled the state to deny Republicans the quorum necessary to pass their redistricting plan – and used their time to call on other blue states to respond.
After Newsom announced that California would ask voters to temporarily override the state’s independent redistricting commission and approve a US House map that would deliver five additional seats for their party in a tit for tat with Texas, the lawmakers returned to the Austin state capitol this week.
The Republican lawmakers asked the California state supreme court to weigh in by Wednesday.
Leavitt says Trump threat to end mail-in ballots is a ‘priority’, signals push after Congressional recess
In today’s press briefing Karoline Leavitt says that there will be “many discussions” with members of Congress when they return from recess about the president’s push to end mail-in ballots and the use of voting machines.
Leavitt says that the administration will also be “talking to our friends in state legislatures across the country to ensure that we’re protecting the integrity of the vote for the American people.”
A reminder that, legally, the decision to end mail-in voting, and overhaul the way states conduct their elections is not up to the executive branch. The US constitution gives states the power to regulate the “The Times, Places and Manner” of federal elections. Congress can override those rules by passing federal laws.
Yesterday, the president said that “an executive order that’s being written right now” to end mail-in voting – repeating baseless claims that the process is “corrupt”.
Today Leavitt doubles down on Trump’s plans:
I think Republicans generally, and the president generally, wants to make it easier for Americans to vote and harder for people to cheat in our elections. And it’s quite mind boggling that the Democrat party could stand in opposition to common sense. He wants to ensure election integrity…I can assure you, this is a priority for the president.
In today’s press briefing Karoline Leavitt calls the new nominee for co-deputy director of the FBI, Andrew Bailey, “extremely qualified”.
“He’s been brought on as another set of very credible and experienced hands to work alongside the current deputy director, Dan Bongino”.
Bailey, who currently serves as Missouri’s attorney general, will share the role with Bongino, as the FBI continues to draw headlines over the ongoing case tied to the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. Bailey said his last day in office will be 8 September. Missouri governor Mike Kehoe will announce his appointment for Bailey’s replacement on Tuesday.
Leavitt adds that she doesn’t have a timeline for how long the national guard can expect to be mobilised in DC.
She notes that right now there is a meeting between agencies that comprise the taskforce managing the federal law enforcement surge in the nation’s capital.
The press secretary also repeats the latest statistics from the White House which claim that nearly half of all the non-immigration-related arrests have occurred in Wards Seven and Eight in DC (both of which have high crime rates). She also undermines recent reporting which showed few interactions have been witnessed in the parts of the city with the highest rates of crime.
White House confirms ‘no US boots on the ground in Ukraine’
Leavitt confirms the “president has definitively stated, US boots will not be on the ground in Ukraine, but we can certainly help in the coordination and perhaps provide other means of security guarantees to our European allies”.
When asked about the change of plan (moving from a trilateral meeting to a one-on-one meeting with Putin and Zelenskyy first), Leavitt adds: “he [Donald Trump] wants these two countries to engage in direct diplomacy. He said that from the very beginning.”
A reminder that my colleague, Lucy Campbell, is covering the latest developments on Europe, and the war in Ukraine in detail. You can follow along here.
White House heralds Trump as the ‘peace president’, disparages media coverage
Press secretary Karoline Leavitt has kicked off the White House briefing. She summarised the last week in foreign policy, and praises Donald Trump as the “peace president”, adding that without the president “this deadlock with Putin would not have been broken. He is the only one who could do this.”
She also quickly criticised the media’s coverage of Trump’s recent moves to end the war in Ukraine.
Diplomacy is a delicate process, and instead of reporting the facts about what is happening here at this White House and what is happening between this President and other leaders around the world, many outlets in this room continue to try to actively undermine the president and sabotage the efforts towards peace.
We’ll hear from White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt shortly.
She’ll take questions from reporters, and we can expect to hear more about the ongoing negotiations between the US and European allies about security guarantees for Ukraine; the federal takeover of the DC police and the increase in national guard troops from other GOP led states; and the president’s baseless claims undermining mail ballots and voting machines.
Dharna Noor
Trump tariffs and green energy rollbacks push household electricity bills up 10%
Household electricity bills have increased by 10% since Donald Trump re-entered the White House, a new report has found, with its authors highlighting the impact of the president’s datacenter boosterism and cuts to clean energy projects as part of the cause.
The analysis comes as the US energy secretary, Chris Wright, said he knows rising energy prices could be a political challenge for the GOP ahead of next year’s midterm elections, but claimed Democrats were to blame for the cost increases.
“The momentum of the Obama-Biden policies, for sure that destruction is going to continue in the coming years,” he told Politico in an interview published on Tuesday. “That momentum is pushing prices up right now. And who’s going to get blamed for it? We’re going to get blamed because we’re in office.”
Trump has repeatedly promised to lower utility bills. And in his Politico interview, Wright insisted that the Trump administration’s war on renewable energy is not inflating electricity costs.
But studies have found that Trump’s pro-fossil fuel, anti-renewable energy policies will raise prices. A July report from climate thinktank Energy Innovation, for instance, found that the Republicans’ spending megabill that the president signed last month could increase wholesale electricity prices by as much as 74%, largely due to its repeal of many Biden-era green energy incentives.
According to the new report from advocacy group Climate Power, which is based on an analysis of data from the US Energy Information Administration, those price increases are already beginning to take hold.
Air Force chief of staff General David Allvin announced yesterday that he plans to retire in the fall, a surprise move just halfway into his four-year term leading the military service, Politico reports.
He didn’t give a specific reason for leaving but, as Politico notes, he is now the fourth US military service chief to depart since Donald Trump took office in January (Trump fired the other three). Allvin’s retirement will mark the shortest tenure of an Air Force chief in over three decades.
DC residents question troops’ focus on low-crime areas amid Trump takeover
Kira Lerner
As Donald Trump’s federal takeover of Washington DC’s police entered its second week, and six states vowed to send hundreds of additional national guard troops to assist the administration, residents questioned why federal agents seem to be largely patrolling high-profile but low-crime parts of the nation’s capital.
The Washington Post has tracked where federal forces are patrolling the city, finding that few interactions have been witnessed in the parts of the city with the highest rates of crime. The White House rejected that claim today, saying that “nearly half of non-immigration related arrests have happened in the most crime-hit areas in DC”, but before today, the White House had been releasing data showing many of their arrests were of undocumented immigrants, and few federal agents have been spotted addressing or responding to violent crime.
Instead, Washingtonians have seen officers from the FBI, Department of Homeland Security and other offices standing around prominent tourist sites and nightlife corridors, responding to minor disturbances and creating disturbances of their own.
Over the weekend, several military vehicles were seen outside Union Station, positioned next to where passengers find their ride share vehicles. The Department of Defense posted a photo of a tan Humvee outside the train station on X on Saturday and said: “This We’ll Defend.”
Federal agents and vehicles have also been spotted across the National Mall, including the Lincoln Memorial, where violent crime is virtually nonexistent. Visible confrontations between federal officers and protesters have also occurred along 14th Street, a popular nightlife destination.
Amanda Moore, a Washington-based writer and researcher, wrote on X early on Saturday morning that she witnessed “15 federal agents call an ambulance for a very, very drunk and sick girl” in Dupont Circle, another center of nightlife. Stan Veuger, a senior fellow at the conservative American Enterprise Institute thinktank, joked on X, referring to the “department of government efficiency”: “I was wrong about Doge. The federal government is efficient now.”
In the Mount Pleasant neighborhood, which is home to a large Hispanic population, US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) shared a video on Sunday of at least seven agents taking down a banner supporting immigrant neighbors from a public park. “Mount Pleasant melts Ice,” the banner read.
After removing it, a masked agent says: “Mine. We’re taking America back baby.” According to a local reporter and a neighbor’s surveillance camera footage, the agents left a dildo in its place. The banner was quickly replaced.
Missouri attorney general to serve as co-deputy director of FBI
Attorney general Pam Bondi and FBI director Kash Patel have tapped Missouri attorney general Andrew Bailey to serve as co-deputy director of the bureau alongside Dan Bongino, Fox News reports.
Bondi told Fox News, of Bailey:
He has served as a distinguished state attorney general and is a decorated war veteran, bringing expertise and dedication to service. His leadership and commitment to country will be a tremendous asset as we work together to advance President Trump’s mission.
Three US destroyers will arrive off Venezuela coast as part of effort against drug cartels – report
Three US Aegis guided-missile destroyers will arrive off the coast of Venezuela in the next 36 hours as part of an effort to address threats from Latin American drug cartels, two sources briefed on the matter told Reuters yesterday.
According to the sources, the ships are the USS Gravely, USS Jason Dunham and the USS Sampson.
Earlier this month, the New York Times (paywall) reported that Donald Trump had secretly signed a directive to the Pentagon to begin using military force against certain Latin American drug cartels that his administration has deemed terrorist organizations, providing an official basis for the possibility of direct military operations at sea and on foreign soil against cartels.
