Key events

Four Democratic members of the House of Representatives are heading to Dallas to stump for the party ahead of the Republican National Committee’s 2026 midterm convention, which is set to take place in the city next week, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries said in a statement Friday.

The Democrats’ delegation includes Reps. Robert Garcia, Jason Crow, Madeleine Dean, and Sydney Kamlager-Dove. The four will partner with members of the Dallas area’s congressional delegation and the Texas Democratic Party, according to the statement.

Texas, where the RNC is hosting its event, has only a few competitive House races this November. But it’s also the site of a close-run and consequential Senate race between Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, a Republican, and James Talarico, a long-serving House Democrat.

“While swing seat House Republicans try to hide from their record of raising costs on working families, gutting Medicaid to fund tax breaks for billionaire donors and supporting a reckless war of choice in Iran, House Democrats will be present to hold them accountable,” Jeffries said in the statement.

The Missouri Supreme Court on Friday morning shot down a request from the state to delay an order to revert the state’s congressional districts to their earlier borders, before a Trump-backed redistricting effort by state Republicans.

Missouri’s Secretary of State, Denny Hoskins, requested the delay in order to appeal the case to the US Supreme Court.

The new map tossed out by the court was put into place by Missouri Republicans in 2025, and would’ve carved up a Democrat-held seat based around Kansas City. The court ruled that voters would need a chance to weigh in on the new Republican-drawn map before it could take effect, meaning it couldn’t be used for this year’s midterm election.

Here's a recap of the day so far:

The US added an estimated 162,000 jobs in August, according to the Department of Labor. An unexpectedly strong August jobs report showed a rebound in hiring after a bleak summer for the labor market, with US firms adding jobs at a rapid clip despite economic headwinds downstream of the war in Iran. It’s also a valuable economic win for the Trump administration ahead of the midterms, as Republicans seek to tamp down unease over inflation and soaring gas prices.

Trump threatened to axe trade with dozens of countries unless the Federal Reserve agrees to cut interest rates. The President cited the strong August jobs report in a social media post pressuring his new Fed chair, Kevin Warsh, to cut interest rates, a move Trump argues will juice the economy but that could also spark higher inflation. Should the central bank refuse, Trump said, he’d halt all trade between the US and nations with which it maintains a trade deficit — a long list of countries that includes the biggest US trading partners.

A report found that Lori Chavez-DeRemer, Trump’s former labor secretary, created a ‘toxic, intimidating and humiliating’ work environment. An investigation by the Department of Labor’s Office of Inspector General found that she had violated several department rules, including misusing public funds for travel, mistreating staff and carrying on an inappropriate relationship with a member of her security detail. The report surfaced new details on the series of scandals that led to Chavez-DeRemer’s resignation back in April.

John Fetterman is avoiding his work in the Senate, according to a report by the Wall Street Journal. A scathing report by the paper found that Fetterman, the Pennsylvania Democrat whose views have increasingly diverged from those of his party, is frequently skipping constituent appointments and committee meetings. Instead, he’s focused on advocating for the US alliance with Israel and appearing in conservative media, as he gains in popularity with Republican voters.

Missouri’s supreme court struck down a Republican-drawn congressional map that would’ve carved up a Democrat-held district. The new map, backed by Trump, was gerrymandered to dismantle a congressional district currently held by Representative Emanuel Cleaver, a Democrat. The ruling, which held that voters would need to weigh in on the proposed changes, provoked outrage from Trump and Republican state lawmakers, and dealt a blow to Republican efforts to use redistricting to preserve their control of the House.

The justice department on Friday indicted an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent for allegedly lying in an attempt to justify shooting a man in Minneapolis during an immigration crackdown earlier this year.

According to the indictment unsealed Friday, Christian Castro, the ICE agent, had initially told investigators he shot a man in self-defense after multiple assailants tried to beat him with a shovel and a broom.

In reality, according to the indictment, Castro had faced no such threat. Instead, he allegedly shot the wounded man, Julio Sosa-Celis, through the door of his residence as he fled from Castro.

Before the shooting, Sosa-Celis allegedly rushed out of his residence to try to help extricate another man Castro was attempting to arrest, and who had fled on foot from a traffic stop. After a brief scuffle, the two men fled back inside the house, where the other man also lived.

According to the indictment, the altercation that preceded the shooting had lasted roughly 11 seconds, not three minutes, as Castro first reported.

It’s a rare case of Trump’s Justice Department charging an immigration officer in connection with a use of excessive force, after several such high-profile shootings have soured the public on his mass deportation campaign.

Details of the indictment were previously reported by the Associated Press on Thursday. The outlet reported today that Mr Castro pleaded not guilty during his Friday hearing.

Donald Trump is expected to sign an executive order related ⁠to beef today, ⁠sources told Reuters.

One of the sources said ⁠the order would pertain to country-of-origin labeling for beef. Trump is scheduled to sign ⁠the executive order behind closed doors at 1.30pm ET, the outlet reported.

Trump ‌said last week he would look into whether there were too many regulations restricting ranchers from slaughtering their own cattle. He also signed last week an order to temporarily increase imports of ‌some lower-tariff beef in an effort to bring down consumer beef prices, which ​have hit record highs this year.

Trump has been sharply criticized, including from members of his own party, since announcing the US will temporarily import up to 300,000 metric tons of foreign beef without charging higher tariffs.

Trump’s departed labor secretary created 'toxic, intimidating and humiliating' environment, report says

Lori Chavez-DeRemer, who was Trump’s first pick to run the US Department of Labor before resigning in April amid a flurry of scandals, broke several of the agency’s rules during her chaotic tenure, the agency’s internal watchdog found in a report published yesterday.

Chavez-DeRemer’s violations included – among other things – abusing public funds for personal travel, regularly drinking alcohol during work, and having “an inappropriately close and unprofessional relationship” with an agent on her protective detail, according to the report.

She also had government workers carry out personal tasks for her and accepted gifts without reporting them through the official channels, the department’s office of inspector general found. The office noted that 38 witnesses described the environment created by Chavez-DeRemer and her top staff, as “toxic, intimidating and humiliating”.

The report shed new light on the excesses of one of Trump’s lesser-known, but highly embattled, cabinet picks. Details of the investigation, including allegations of employee abuse, workplace drinking, and an affair between Chavez-DeRemer and a colleague, have been reported on since early this year.

The US Department of Transportation opened an inquiry on Thursday into Tesla’s new CyberCab, the company’s latest take on a self-piloting robotaxi.

The service debuted this week in Austin, Texas. Tesla’s founder, Elon Musk, billed it as “the future of transportation” in a post to social media.

Just one problem, according to the Department of Transportation: Tesla informed regulators that the vehicles were compliant with the agency’s Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards. But the CyberCab lacks some crucial components, namely “conventional manual controls, such as a brake pedal, gas pedal, steering wheel, and mirrors,” which would typically be necessary to meet those criteria, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

Now, the agency is reviewing how Tesla decided its vehicle met federal guidelines.

“Among other things, NHTSA will consider the extent to which Tesla’s certification depended on determinations that certain FMVSS are inapplicable to the Cybercab,” the agency continued.

Trump threatens to halt some trade unless Federal Reserve lowers interest rates

President Trump threatened in a social media post on Friday to stop trade with some countries unless the US Federal Reserve moves to cut interest rates.

Trump cited August’s strong jobs report as sufficient justification to lower rates, and warned that, if the central bank didn’t go along, he’d halt trade between the US and any nations with which it maintains a trade deficit.

“LOWER THE RATE OR I’LL STOP TRADING WITH COUNTRIES WITH WHICH WE HAVE A DEFICIT,” Trump wrote in a Truth Social post, aiming the appeal directly at his handpicked new Federal Reserve chairman, Kevin Warsh.

“The Fed Board, with its great new leader, must get smart - BE PATRIOTS for a change,” Trump wrote.

The US runs a trade deficit – meaning it imports more goods from those nations than it exports to them – with dozens of countries, including some of its closest trading partners, among them Mexico, Canada and China.

Trump has long tried to lean on the US central bank to lower interest rates, a move that, according to conventional monetary policy wisdom, can stimulate economic growth but risks worsening inflation. Despite Trump’s pleas, Warsh has hinted the Fed may instead raise interest rates to curb inflation, which remains well above its target of 2%.

Warsh suggested the possibility of a rate hike during a speech at a summit in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, late last week. The Federal Reserve committee responsible for setting interest rate targets will meet on 15-16 September and announce whether the body will hike, maintain, or lower the current rate.

The upcoming Labor Day weekend is set to be the most expensive on record for travelers paying at the pump, according to data from AAA. Americans will pay an average of about $4.15 for a gallon of gas this weekend – more than any other Labor Day weekend on record.

At the same time, the price of diesel fuel has hit an all-time high of $5.85.

Bringing down gas prices was a central promise of President Trump’s 2024 campaign, but that pledge has been undercut by the war in Iran and the closure of the strait of Hormuz, which has strangled energy markets.

A Trump administration official told the Washington Post that President Trump is planning a trip to Ireland next week onboard his Qatari-gifted Air Force One – the same jet whose security vulnerabilities led Trump to secretly switch planes using a catering truck back in July.

In Ireland, Trump reportedly plans to meet with Irish leaders and attend a golf tournament hosted at one of his golf clubs located in Doonbeg, Ireland, the Post reported on Friday.

Trump had previously said that the aircraft’s security features would be beefed up before it returned to service. The scope of that work, as well as when, or if, it was fully completed, remains unclear.

North Carolina is slated to begin sending out mail-in ballots today for November’s midterm elections, the first state to do so in spite of President Trump’s efforts to curtail voting by mail.

More states are planning to follow North Carolina’s lead and start sending ballots in the coming weeks. As they do, the administration’s plan to overhaul mail-in voting may increasingly collide with the efforts of state elections officials trying to gear up for the midterms.

Trump first issued an executive order in March seeking to impose new restrictions on voting by mail, mandating that states turn over voter data and only send ballots to a list of confirmed US citizens, to be compiled by the federal government. Under the plan, USPS could refuse to deliver ballots in states that didn’t go along. (Under the US constitution, states run their own elections, not the federal government.)

Months of legal wrangling ensued. As things currently stand, a federal judge’s order has temporarily blocked the Trump administration from fully enforcing its new plan. The Trump administration has asked the supreme court to toss that order.

A strong August jobs report estimated 162,000 new jobs in the US economy

The US Department of Labor dropped its August jobs report on Friday, and it was an unexpectedly strong showing for the US labor market, with American firms adding an estimated 162,000 new roles for the month.

After a slow summer for hiring, the rosy August report will likely be a boon to the Trump administration. It arrives as Republicans, bracing for the midterms, seek to downplay the economic side effects of the escalating war in Iran, including creeping inflation, high gas prices, and turmoil in the bond market.

According to the report, the added jobs have had little effect on the unemployment rate, which is holding at 4.1%. The report also revised up job growth estimates from the two previous months, including bumping July up from an estimated loss of 23,000 jobs to an increase of 21,000.

John Fetterman is reportedly skipping his Senate duties to focus on Israel and conservative media appearances

More than three years into his Senate term, Pennsylvania Senator John Fetterman has been frequently dodging work, as well as his own constituents, the Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday evening.

Fetterman, a Democrat from Pennsylvania, was once a darling of his party, but has aligned himself more closely with Republicans since his 2022 election. Now, the Journal is reporting that Fetterman has forgone many of the duties of his office to focus on supporting Israel and making the rounds in conservative media.

Fetterman has reportedly made a habit of denying or canceling meetings with constituents, including, in one case, bailing on a group of paralyzed veterans who’d arrived at his office. Not long after informing his staffers he wasn’t feeling well enough to take the meeting, Fetterman allegedly turned up at the office looking none the worse for wear, telling staff that he had an interview with Fox News he didn’t want to miss.

In another notable incident, Fetterman reportedly declined to attend a funeral for three police officers killed near York, Pennsylvania, after learning the event would take three hours or longer.

“This may be a nonstarter,” Fetterman reportedly told the staffer who informed him of the event’s expected duration.

Russian state news agency Tass said the two US envoys ⁠seeking to end the war between Russia and Ukraine would visit both countries on Saturday and Sunday, but the Kremlin declined to comment.

President Donald ​Trump’s envoys, Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, last visited Moscow in January, when they held four hours of late-night talks with President Vladimir ⁠Putin in the Kremlin.

“I wouldn’t make any announcements right now, but we will inform you when these contacts take place,” Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told reporters when ⁠asked about the Tass report.

Uwa Ede-Osifo

A Missouri House race has been rocked by the Wednesday arrest of Republican candidate Thomas Ross, whom prosecutors accuse of attempting to frame his primary opponent Louise Secker for cocaine possession.

In June, Ross allegedly gave his former campaign manager, identified by the initials “CS” in court documents, a bag of cocaine and Adderall. The two allegedly devised a plan for the former manager to stash the drugs in Secker’s purse or vehicle.

On 21 June, prosecutors said, Ross asked for an update on the plot.

“Taking it no luck with the substance of it all?” he wrote in a text to his staffer. “Substance” was a euphemism for the narcotics, authorities say.

“I am actually creeping down to the car show right now and seeing if I can see your car. I have had it on me for a couple days in order to be able to take full advantage of any opportunity that arises,” the former manager replied, according to court documents.

“I thought I had it at the forum Walter went to, but never got close [and] car was locked.”

The Joplin police department in Missouri alerted the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) on 30 July to a public corruption matter. It’s unclear how the police were alerted to the alleged scheme. The next day, the federal agency gave the former manager a covert recording device, which he used to tape a conversation with Ross.

President Donald Trump said on Thursday he will ask Europeans to repay the American aid provided to Ukraine under the administration of his predecessor Joe Biden.

Trump has long demanded that Europeans shoulder more of the cost of Western support for Ukraine in its war with Russia, which began more than four years ago.

“Hundreds of Billions of Dollars was given to Ukraine and NATO, free of charge, that Europe would have paid for – If they were only asked, but we will be asking for that money, though somewhat belatedly!” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform on Thursday.

The president did not specify which countries he believed should pay.

Battle lines drawn as Missouri court blocks Trump-backed US House map

Hello and welcome to the US politics live blog.

The Missouri supreme court blocked a Republican-drawn new congressional map ⁠from being used in November’s midterm ⁠elections, a blow to the party’s ​odds for maintaining its narrow US House majority.

The ruling could save the House seat of longtime Democratic U.S. Representative Emanuel Cleaver. His Kansas City-based district had been dismantled under the redrawn map.

“Despite the cynical and deeply shameful attempt to silence many of our neighbors, the people fought back and won,” Cleaver said in a social media post on Thursday.

The decision marked a setback for Republicans in a national redistricting battle, AP reported, as Republicans had hoped Missouri’s new congressional boundaries could help them win an additional seat and hold on to their slim House majority in the midterms.

“The referendum petition was legal, sufficient, and timely, and the secretary incorrectly concluded otherwise,” the court said in its ruling. The legislation containing the new districts “did not go into effect and will not go into effect unless and until approved by the voters.”

As a result, the congressional map adopted after the 2020 census “remains in full force and effect for the November 2026 general election.”

Missouri attorney general Catherine Hanaway, a Republican, said she would immediately appeal to the US supreme court, asserting that the decision “has thrust our state into a full‑fledged constitutional crisis.”

Meanwhile, Missouri governor Mike Kehoe, a Republican who backed the redrawn map, said on X: “We are extremely disappointed in today’s decision by unelected judges and their lack of respect for the legislative process.”

Trump condemned the ruling in a post on Truth Social, saying it was “a Dark Day for ’Justice’ in Missouri!”.

But Richard von Glahn, executive ⁠director of People Not Politicians, told reporters that “the Missouri constitution says what it says, and those words matter.”

He added: “This is what democracy looks like. The people of Missouri demanded a voice, and the court just confirmed what we’ve been saying all along. People, not politicians, will have the final say.”

In other developments:

• The Trump administration filed an emergency request asking the US supreme court to lift order blocking USPS from implementing mail-in voting restrictions. Chuck Schumer said the president was “[attempting] to destroy the integrity of our elections” with the move.

• Excavation work on Donald Trump’s “Great Triumphal Arch” project in Washington is set to begin in the coming weeks, interior secretary Doug Burgum said. Congressman Don Beyer, whose district includes Arlington National Cemetery, described the arch project as “illegal, gridlock-increasing [and] narcissistic”.

• Maryland’s supreme court has decided that a Democrat-backed congressional redistricting amendment can go before voters in the state in November in a win for Democrats.

• Donald Trump announced an interim replacement for army secretary, Dan Driscoll, who suddenly resigned earlier this week amid reports of tension between him and defense secretary Pete Hegseth.

• Los Angeles mayor Karen Bass has been asked to testify before a congressional subcommittee as part of an investigation into the “potential misallocation” of federal funds by the region’s Homeless Services Authority. Congressman Robert Garcia described the move as “another attempt by Donald Trump and House Republicans to launch a witch-hunt against Mayor Karen Bass and Los Angeles.”