Trump says he needs ‘Department of War’ as a substitute of protection division – US politics stay

In a courtroom submitting on Friday, the Trump administration mentioned that it intends to withdraw federal approval for an offshore wind farm off the coasts of Maryland and Delaware.

The submitting, in a case difficult the 2024 approval of US Wind’s Maryland Offshore Wind Undertaking in US district courtroom in Delaware, got here the identical day that the inside division issued a stop-work order that halted the development of an almost full wind farm off the coasts of Rhode Island and Connecticut.

Attorneys for the justice division advised the Delaware courtroom that the inside division, which is now run by the previous North Dakota governor, Doug Burgum, who has shut ties to grease and fuel producers, would transfer to vacate approval of the ability’s development and operations plan by September 12.

When the inside division accredited the offshore wind mission, in December 2024, the federal government mentioned the mission had the potential to energy over 718,000 houses, utilizing as much as 114 wind turbine turbines positioned roughly 10 nautical miles offshore Ocean Metropolis, Maryland, and roughly 9 nautical miles offshore Sussex County, Delaware.

US Wind is owned by funds managed by Apollo International Administration, an American funding agency, and Renexia SpA, a subsidiary of Italy’s Toto Holding SpA. The mission was scheduled to start development in 2026.

After the scuttling of the wind farm off the coasts of Rhode Island and Connecticut was reported over the weekend, Lee Zeldin, the was requested by a Fox Information anchor, “What’s the problem with this wind farm in Rhode Island?”

Zeldin replied: “President Trump has been very consistent: he’s not a fan of wind”.

Donald Trump simply mentioned for the third time at the moment that he plans to rebrand the “Department of Defense” by returning to the pre-1947 title, the “Department of War”.

The president, whose pre-politics enterprise profession was largely targeted on advertising and marketing, first raised the concept on Monday morning, whereas signing government orders within the Oval Workplace together with his protection secretary, Pete Hegseth, standing behind him.

“So Pete, you started off by saying the ‘Department of Defense’, and somehow it didn’t sound good to me, you know, it didn’t sound good. ‘Defense’ what are we ‘defense’, why are we ‘defense’? So it used to be called the ‘Department of War’ and it had a stronger sound”, the president mentioned.

He then advised the handful of officers lined up behind him – specifically: JD Vance, the vice-president; Pam Bondi, the legal professional normal; Kristi Noem, the homeland safety secretary; Stephen Miller, the deputy chief of workers; Terry Cole, the top of the Drug Enforcement Administration; and Hegseth – “if you people want to, standing behind me, if you take a little vote and you want to change it back to what it was when we used to win wars all the time, that’s okay with me”.

Later, whereas taking questions alongside the president of South Korea, Lee Jae Myung, Trump once more raised the concept, out of the blue.

“Pete Hegseth has been incredible with the, as I call it, the ‘Department of War’. You know, we call it the ‘Department of Defense’, but, between us, I think we’re going to change the name”, Trump mentioned throughout a riff about border safety.

By the use of rationalization, the president added: “We won the World War I, World War II, it was called the ‘Department of War’. And to me, that’s really what it is”.

Trump raised the concept a 3rd time throughout a gathering on Monday afternoon with members of the family of 13 US navy personnel who have been killed by an Islamic State suicide bomber, together with 170 Afghan civilians, at Hamid Karzai Worldwide Airport’s Abbey Gate in 2021, because the US withdrew its forces from Afghanistan.

Requested by a reporter how he plans to rename the protection division the ‘Department of War’, since that might require an act of Congress, Trump mentioned: “We’re just going to do it. I’m sure Congress will go along, if we need that, I don’t think we even need that”.

“It just to me, seems like a just a much more appropriate… the other is, ‘Defense is too defensive. And we want to be defensive, but we want to be offensive, too if we have to be. So, it just sounded to me better”.

Tim Walz, the governor of Minnesota and the 2024 Democratic vice presidential nominee, delivered a blistering – and, by his personal account, petty – denunciation of Donald Trump in his remarks to the DNC summer time assembly in Minneapolis.

Had Kamala Harris received the election in November, Individuals would have woken up every morning to an “adult with compassion and dignity and vision and leadership” within the White Home, “not a man child crying about whatever’s wrong with him,” Walz mentioned.

“May his fat ankles find something today,” he added, as the gang of Democrats oohed and clapped. “Petty as hell.”

Walz, thought of a attainable presidential contender in 2028, bemoaned the give attention to Democratic infighting, which he likened to a marital squabble. “Don’t take the bait,” he implored fellow Democrats.

“Think of how easy it would be to be a damn Republican,” the governor went on. “What should I wear today? This stupid freaking red hat. What should I say today? I don’t know. Just make sure it’s cruel. Who do we listen to? ‘That guy.’ ‘Oh, the felon in the White House.?’ ‘Yeah, listen to him.’”

However Walz did weigh in on a number of points roiling the social gathering. Amid requires generational change, he mentioned he wouldn’t inform anybody “you are too damn old” to run once more for workplace. And he boasted that Minnesota was thought of a secure haven for transgender folks within the US.

“Can I just say we can talk about economic growth and feeding children and growing the economy and creating jobs simultaneously with talking about everybody’s human rights matters,” Walz declared to applause. “You can do both.”

The Home oversight committee additionally subpoenaed Jeffrey Epstein’s property at the moment, as a part of their ongoing investigation.

Republican congressman and committee chair, James Comer, wrote that the property is in “custody and control of documents that may further the Committee’s investigation and legislative goals”.

Final week, on the committee’s request, the justice division despatched over the primary tranche of information referring to the late sex-offender.

Comer notes that latest reporting suggests the property is in possession of the infamous “birthday book” – an album of messages to Epstein for his fiftieth birthday, compiled by his affiliate, convicted sex-trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell. Final month, the Wall Road Journal reported that Donald Trump was a contributor.

Chris Van Hollen, the Democratic senator from Maryland, mentioned the Trump administration “continues to spread lies about the facts” of Kilmar Ábrego García’s case. The Maryland man was detained earlier, after reporting to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) brokers in Baltimore.

In April, Van Hollen visited Ábrego García in El Salvador, whereas he was being detained on the Terrorism Confinement Heart, in any other case referred to as Cecot.

In the present day, Van Hollen mentioned that Ábrego was entitled to due course of:

As an alternative of spewing unproven allegations within the press and social media, the Trump Administration must put up or shut up in courtroom and permit Mr. Ábrego García the chance to defend himself.

The Home oversight committee is launching their very own investigation into claims of “manipulated” crime knowledge by the Metropolitan police division (MPD).

In a letter, Republican congressman James Comer, who chairs the committee, requested DC police chief Pamela Smith for transcribed interviews with the seven commanders of DC’s patrol districts. Comer added that the investigation was the results of studies that commander Michael Pulliam was suspended from MPD for allegedly falsifying knowledge. Costs that denies.

Comer additionally notes {that a} whistleblower knowledgeable the committee that “crime statistics were allegedly manipulated on a widespread basis and at the direction of senior MPD official.”

Federal prosecutors have additionally launched a prison investigation into allegations that Washington DC police systematically manipulated crime statistics to make town seem safer than it really is, in accordance with numerous studies.

A reminder that Donald Trump has routinely accused metropolis officers, with out proof, of manufacturing “phoney” crime knowledge.

DNC summer time assembly begins as social gathering faces fundraising and voter registration struggles

Lauren Gambino

Democratic Nationwide Committee (DNC) chair Ken Martin exhorted his social gathering to “fight like hell” towards Donald Trump – and the “weak, spineless Republican rubber stamps who aid and abet him.”

“This is not politics as usual, my friends,” Martin mentioned, in a fiery speech that adopted the social gathering’s extra confrontational flip of late. “This is authoritarianism. It’s fascism dressed in a red tie.”

DNC officers gathered in Martin’s residence city of Minneapolis for a three-day summer time assembly as Democrats seek for a brand new route, and the chair, simply six months into the job, faces questions on his capability to steer the social gathering to victory forward of subsequent yr’s midterm elections.

In his opening remarks on Monday, Martin nodded to a few of the inside disagreements roiling the social gathering: “No one should confuse unity with unanimity.”

He chastised Democratic officers for being too content material “winning arguments” quite than elections. “We need to fight harder, we need to organise smarter, and we need to make sure that people everywhere, no matter where they live, understand that the Democratic Party is their party,” he mentioned.

The session was poignant for Martin. He spoke emotionally about his late pal, the previous Minnesota Home Speaker Melissa Hortman, who prosecutors say was assassinated by a person posing as a police officer, alongside her husband, at their residence in June. Martin acknowledged state senator John Hoffman who was critically wounded, alongside his spouse, by the alleged gunman. Hoffman was in attendance, Martin mentioned.

“If I can leave you with one thing this morning, let it be something that Melissa knew,” he mentioned. “Power is fleeting. We never know when we’ll have it again. So use your power. Use your power when you have it to make the biggest difference you can for as many people as you can.”

• Donald Trump spent quite a lot of time at the moment talking in entrance of reporters. Earlier he signed two government orders aimed toward eliminating cashless bail for folks accused of crimes in Washington DC and different jurisdictions, in addition to an order instructing federal prosecutors to pursue prison costs towards people who burn American flags throughout protests. Trump additionally used the chance to repeat false claims concerning the murder price within the nation’s capital, renew his menace to ship Nationwide Guard troops to blue-cities, and announce his intention for the justice division to sue California over it’s redistricting plan to counter Texas’ new GOP-drawn congressional maps.

• Later, the president welcomed South Korean president Lee Jae Myung to the White Home, and used his Oval Workplace assembly to reply questions on a few of the largest international coverage points in the intervening time. This included re-affirming that he needs Vladimir Putin and Volodymyr Zelenskyy to “work out their differences first” in a gathering with out Trump. He then mentioned, with out a lot rationalization, that there could be a “conclusive ending” to the Israel-Hamas battle throughout the subsequent three weeks.

• Past Washington, Kilmar Ábrego García – the Maryland man who was wrongly deported to El Salavador earlier this yr – has been detained after reporting to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) brokers in Baltimore on Monday, simply three days after his launch from prison custody in Tennessee. Ábrego Garcia faces deportation to Uganda – which his attorneys are difficult – after lately declining a proposal to be deported to Costa Rica in trade for remaining in jail and pleading responsible to human smuggling costs.

• Again within the capital, legal professional normal Pam Bondi mentioned at the moment that there have been 1,007 arrests in DC because the starting of the federal regulation enforcement surge earlier this month.

When requested if the president would contemplate sending nationwide guard troops to “red cities” which can be experiencing excessive crime, Trump mentioned that “there aren’t that many of them”.

He then mentioned “if you look at the top 25 cities that the crime, just about every one of those cities is run by Democrats”. However in accordance with a report by Rochester Institute of Know-how, which analysed FBI knowledge from 2024, two of the cities within the record of highest murder charges have Republican mayors. And out of the 24 cities in that record, six states are led by GOP governors.

The president continued to repeat the false declare that it’s been “many years” since DC skilled seven days with no homicide. Metropolis police knowledge reveals that as lately as July of this yr, the capital skilled every week with no murder. There have additionally been a number of earlier intervals all through 2025 with no homicide in DC for greater than a seven day stretch.

The president mentioned a short time in the past that the US is sending $60m value of meals and assist to Gaza, because the humanitarian disaster within the area continues.

The president then mentioned the top of the battle is in sight, however provided few particulars to broaden on his reasoning:

I believe throughout the subsequent two to 3 weeks, you’re going to have a reasonably good, conclusive ending. It’s a tough factor to say, as a result of they’ve been preventing for 1000s of years. You need to know that’s a that’s been a hotbed eternally, however I believe we’re doing an excellent job. Nevertheless it does must it does have to finish.

When Trump was requested about whether or not there was a “diplomatic push” to finish the battle, he merely punted to particular envoy Steve Witkoff who additionally gave no additional particulars, however provided obscure and heaping reward on the president:

We wouldn’t be wherever, however for the President’s reality [post] final week, which was an announcement to Hamas that they higher get their act collectively and get to the peace desk. However for that, it will have been all stalled. In order standard, he’s the person who strikes it.

Trump provides that he has a “great relationship” with the North Korean supreme chief Kim Jong-un. “I have a very good relationship. I understand them. I spent a lot of free time with them, talking about things that we probably aren’t supposed to talk about.”

The president is now speaking about how his 2016 election victory averted a nuclear struggle between North and South Korea.

I believe you’ll have had a nuclear struggle. It could have taken place, and it will have been horrendous for everyone, together with them. It could have been very dangerous for them, as a result of we might have needed to enter the image, and we’re probably the most highly effective nuclear nation on this planet by far.

The president is now taking questions from reporters, and says that he’d like for Vladimir Putin and Volodymyr Zelenskyy to satisfy first.

“I may be there. I may not. I’ll see but I wanted them to work out their differences first, because it is ultimately between them,” he provides. “This is a whole new form of war, but it’s a violent war, and there’s been nothing like this since the second world war. So we’ll see what happens over the next week or two.”

Earlier, I spoke with Democratic congressman Glenn Ivey, who represents the district in Maryland the place Kilmar Ábrego García and his household stay.

Ivey mentioned that Ábrego García’s detention at the moment was a “total abuse of power” by the Trump administration, and finally a tactic to save lots of them from “being embarrassed” in courtroom. “They know they don’t have the goods, they don’t have the evidence to prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt,” the congressman added, referring to Ábrego García’s pending prison case in Tennessee.

Based on Ivey, Ábrego García’s case has additionally minimize via the political noise amongst his constituents. “It’s been on the front burner for a lot of people in the district who don’t necessarily always pay attention to what’s going on in politics,” he mentioned, recalling Donald Trump’s assembly with president of El Salvador, Nayib Bukele. The congressman remembered how Trump’s friendliness with the Salvadoran chief within the Oval Workplace earlier this yr – notably claims that “homegrown” US criminals could be despatched to the nation – jolted many in his district. “I think folks know that that could be us. And so we need to try to nip this in the bud as fast as possible,” Ivey added.

On the cellphone, the congressman was additionally satisfied that his district’s motivation to decry Ábrego García’s detention is unlikely to dampen. “I think if they [the administration] are waiting for people to forget about it or get tired of it, they’ve gotten a big surprise on that front,” he mentioned.

Trump advised reporters that he and his South Korean counterpart Lee Jae Myung would have very severe discussions on commerce.

Thus far Lee has praised Trump as a “peacemaker” and mentioned the US president is “the only person who can solve the North Korean issue”.

Lee added that he hoped to broaden cooperation with the US Non shipbuilding and different manufacturing sectors.

A short time in the past Donald Trump welcomed the president of South Korea, Lee Jae Myung, to the White Home. It’s their first assembly and comes at a time when the connection between their international locations is strained.

We’ll deliver you any key traces that come out of their Oval Workplace assembly.