Protesters collect in Washington DC as federal regulation enforcement officers cease drivers – US politics stay

Donald Trump cold-called Norway’s finance minister final month to ask a few nomination for the Nobel peace prize, Norwegian press reported on Thursday.

The Norwegian outlet Dagens Næringsliv, citing unnamed sources, reported: “Out of the blue, while finance minister Jens Stoltenberg was walking down the street in Oslo, Donald Trump called … He wanted the Nobel prize – and to discuss tariffs.”

The outlet added that it was not the primary time that Trump had raised the query of a Nobel peace prize nomination to Stoltenberg.

In a assertion to Reuters, Stoltenberg, the previous Nato secretary common, mentioned the decision centered on tariffs and financial cooperation forward of Trump’s name with Jonas Støre, the Norwegian prime minister.

“I will not go into further detail about the content of the conversation,” Stoltenberg mentioned, including that a number of White Home officers together with the treasury secretary, Scott Bessent, and US commerce consultant, Jamieson Greer, have been on the decision.

Every year, the five-member Norwegian Nobel committee critiques lots of of candidates earlier than selecting laureates. The committee members are appointed by Norway’s parliament in accordance with the desire of Alfred Nobel, a 19-century Swedish industrialist. Laureates are introduced in October.

Texas Democrats mentioned on Thursday they’re ready to return to the state beneath sure circumstances, ending an almost two-week-long effort to dam Republicans from passing a brand new congressional map that will add 5 GOP seats.

The lawmakers mentioned they’d return so long as the legislature ends its first particular session on Friday, which Republicans have mentioned they plan to do. Texas’s governor, Greg Abbott, has mentioned he’ll instantly name one other particular session.

The Democrats additionally mentioned they’d return as soon as California introduces a brand new congressional map that will add 5 Democratic seats, offsetting the good points in Texas. California’s governor, Gavin Newsom, is predicted to announce what he has teased as a “major” redistricting announcement on Thursday.

Gene Wu, chair of the Texas home Democratic caucus, mentioned in a press release that he and his colleagues “successfully mobilized the nation against Trump’s assault on minority voting rights”.

“Facing threats of arrest, lawfare, financial penalties, harassment and bomb threats, we have stood firm in our fight against a proposed Jim Crow congressional district map,” he mentioned. “Now, as Democrats across the nation join our fight to cause these maps to fail their political purpose, we’re prepared to bring this battle back to Texas under the right conditions and to take this fight to the courts.”

George Chidi

Pam Bondi, the legal professional common, mentioned she has despatched “sanctuary city” letters to the mayors of 32 cities and a handful of county executives, warning that she intends to prosecute political leaders who will not be in her view sufficiently supportive of immigration enforcement.

“You better be abiding by our federal policies and with our federal law enforcement, because if you’re not, we’re going to come after you,” she mentioned, talking to a Fox Information reporter. “Our leaders have to support our law enforcement.”

Bondi’s letter asks the recipients to supply a response by 19 August that “confirms your commitment with complying with federal law and identifies the immediate initiatives you are taking to eliminate laws, policies and practices that impede federal immigration enforcement”.

Bondi cites an govt order issued by Donald Trump on 28 April which known as for the legal professional common to establish jurisdictions that “obstruct the enforcement of Federal immigration laws” then to “notify each sanctuary jurisdiction regarding its defiance of Federal immigration law enforcement and any potential violations of Federal criminal law” as a precursor to prosecution or withholding grants.

Every of the recipients seems to have acquired a near-identical letter, none of which specify what native legal guidelines or practices fail to adjust to Bondi’s assertions.

Preliminary responses from state and native governments receiving the letters embrace a mixture of incredulity and defiance.

Patrick Wintour

Donald Trump has mentioned he believes Vladimir Putin is able to make a deal on the struggle in Ukraine as the 2 leaders put together for his or her summit in Alaska on Friday, however his suggestion the Russian chief and Volodymyr Zelenskyy may “divvy things up” might alarm some in Kyiv.

The US president implied there was a 75% probability of the Alaska assembly succeeding, and that the specter of financial sanctions might have made Putin extra keen to hunt an finish to the struggle.

Trump insisted that he wouldn’t let Putin get the higher of him in Friday’s assembly, telling reporters: “I am president, and he’s not going to mess around with me.

“I’ll know within the first two minutes, three minutes, four minutes or five minutes … whether or not we’re going to have a good meeting or a bad meeting.

“And if it’s a bad meeting, it’ll end very quickly, and if it’s a good meeting, we’re going to end up getting peace in the pretty near future,” mentioned Trump.

He additionally mentioned a second assembly – not but confirmed – between him, Putin and Zelenskyy could be the extra decisive.

“The second meeting is going to be very, very important, because that’s going to be a meeting where they make a deal. And I don’t want to use the word ‘divvy’ things up, but you know, to a certain extent, it’s not a bad term, OK?” Trump informed Fox Information Radio.

He was referring to the likelihood that Zelenskyy must settle for “land swaps” – in apply the handing over of Ukrainian territory to Russia, probably together with some not captured by Moscow.

Newsom says California will push to redraw maps in riposte to Texas plan

Lauren Gambino

Gavin Newsom, California’s governor, mentioned on Thursday state Democratic lawmakers would transfer ahead with a redistricting plan to counter the Republican-led map-drawing effort in Texas aimed toward securing a Home majority after the midterm elections.

As he spoke on the Japanese American Nationwide museum’s Nationwide Middle for the Preservation of Democracy – a venue intentionally chosen for its symbolism – federal brokers, armed and masked, fanned out throughout the advanced, led by Gregory Bovino, head of the border patrol’s El Centro sector. Native information footage confirmed a person being led away in handcuffs.

Newsom, joined by congressional Democrats and legislative leaders, unveiled a plan, referred to as the election rigging response act, that will override California’s unbiased redistricting fee and draw new congressional traces – a direct counter to a Texas effort, sought by Donald Trump, to push by way of mid-cycle maps that would hand Republicans 5 further US Home seats. The governor vowed the transfer would “neuter and neutralize” Texas’s proposal.

“Today is liberation day in the state of California,” Newsom declared at a rally in Los Angeles, during which he formally known as for a 4 November particular election to approve a brand new congressional map. “We can’t stand back and watch this democracy disappear district by district all across the country.”

After the rally, Newsom known as the presence of border patrol brokers “sick and pathetic” and accused Trump of ordering the operation to intimidate Democrats. “Wake up, America,” Newsom warned. “You will not have a country if he rigs this election.”

Los Angeles mayor Karen Bass, a Democrat who was not attending the occasion, arrived on the scene to sentence the raid. In remarks to reporters, she argued that it was not “a coincidence” the raid occurred steps from the place Newsom was talking.. “The White House just sent federal agents to try to intimidate elected officials at a press conference,” she mentioned in a social media put up. “The problem for them is Los Angeles doesn’t get scared and Los Angeles doesn’t back down. We never have and we never will”.”

Good morning and welcome to the US politics stay weblog. My identify is Tom Ambrose and I’ll be bringing you all the newest information traces over the subsequent few hours.

We begin with information that Donald Trump has falsely claimed crime in Washington DC is “the worst it’s ever been” on Thursday, amid a federal takeover of town’s police division and deployment of the nationwide guard and federal brokers within the metropolis.

“Washington DC is at its worst point,” Trump mentioned from the Oval Workplace. “It will soon be at its best point.” He additionally baselessly accused DC regulation enforcement officers of giving “phony crime stats” and mentioned “they’re under investigation”.

The president’s feedback got here after protesters heckled federal regulation enforcement officers as they reportedly stopped dozens of vehicles at a checkpoint alongside a busy avenue in Washington DC on Wednesday evening.

About 20 regulation enforcement officers, a few of whom gave the impression to be from the Division of Homeland Safety, pulled over drivers for infractions comparable to damaged taillights and never sporting seatbelts, in accordance with the Washington Publish.

Not less than one lady was reportedly arrested as greater than 100 protesters gathered and reportedly yelled issues like “get off our streets”, in accordance with NBC Information. Some protesters started warning drivers to keep away from the world, the outlet reported.

Town’s homeless encampments, which Trump has lengthy fixated on, got here beneath goal Thursday evening as metropolis police started eradicating residents. Officers in Washington DC and advocates for the unhoused had warned folks residing in camps to relocate to shelters earlier than the federal sweeps started.

“We do not have enough shelter beds for everyone on the street,” mentioned Amber W Harding, govt director of the Washington Authorized Clinic for the Homeless. “This is a chaotic and scary time for all of us in DC, but particularly for people without homes.”

Learn the total story right here:

In different developments:

• As a part of its promoting blitz to draw new recruits, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) launched a social media video on Thursday that makes use of a music by the rapper DaBaby and reveals company automobiles that seem like painted in the identical pink, blue and gold model as Donald Trump’s non-public airplane, which was featured in the opening sequence for The Apprentice.

• New York’s mayor, Eric Adams, confirmed on social media {that a} federal constructing the place protesters held a silent vigil on Thursday towards Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) was evacuated after “envelopes containing white powder were discovered”.

• In one other signal that the Trump presidency is basically made-for-TV, the White Home and Fox Information revealed that Trump will seem on Fox Information each earlier than and instantly after his summit assembly with Vladimir Putin on Friday.

• 4 days after Trump ordered the unhoused residents of Washington DC, whom he sped previous in his motorcade for a golf outing, to depart town, native officers helped clear encampments earlier than introduced sweeps by federal brokers.