Morning Report is The Hill’s a.m. newsletter. Subscribe here.
In today’s issue:
▪ Trump eyes more cities for crime crackdown
▪ Redistricting may spread beyond Texas, California
▪ Will crypto campaign cash clobber Democrats?
▪ Vance: Peace still possible in Ukraine
President Trump has escalated his threat to deploy National Guard troops to major cities to address crime as the federal crackdown in Washington, D.C., enters its third week.
Trump expanded his federal policing push over the weekend by suggesting he would turn next to Baltimore and Chicago, cities like D.C. that are overwhelmingly blue and represented by Democratic mayors.
But unlike D.C., where the federal government has some authority to exert over policing, other cities retain more local control. Trump issued an emergency order Aug. 11 to federalize crime fighting in Washington for 30 days under a law unique to D.C. Trump also controls the D.C. National Guard, while governors typically command other states’ Guards.
Maryland Gov. Wes Moore (D) and Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker (D), both touted by Democrats as potential 2028 presidential contenders, have rebuffed Trump’s threat to send troops and pull federal funding for their state’s largest cities.
Trump threatened to send the National Guard to Baltimore to “quickly clean up the crime,” squaring off with Moore, who invited Trump by letter last week to join him for a public safety walk through Charm City.
“As President, I would much prefer that he clean up this crime disaster before I go there for a walk,” Trump wrote. He suggested he could rescind federal funding for the Francis Scott Key Bridge’s nearly $2 billion reconstruction in Baltimore while separately swiping at Moore’s Bronze Star, received last year.
“After only one week, there is NO CRIME AND NO MURDER IN DC!” the president wrote, labeling Moore a “failing, because of Crime, Governor.”
The comments spurred Moore to hit back in his own social media posts Sunday, writing at one point, “Donald Trump can stay obsessed with me – that’s fine – but I’ll stay obsessed with working in partnership to continue our historic success of driving down crime in Baltimore.”
Chicago, according to The Washington Post, is part of Pentagon plans for deployment of several thousand National Guard troops. Trump bashed the Windy City on Friday, while Mayor Brandon Johnson (D) warned the president’s deployment of troops would be an illegal abuse of power.
Pritzker rebuffed the White House on social media. “The State of Illinois at this time has received no requests or outreach from the federal government asking if we need assistance, and we have made no requests for federal intervention,” the governor posted on Saturday.
The president says law and order, removal of homeless encampments and urban upkeep are his policy goals.
The Justice Department and D.C.’s police union released interim data showing a decrease in reported violent crimes and zero murders during the president’s public safety crackdown. The union, the administration and Republicans in Congress want to repeal the D.C. Council’s police reforms, passed in 2020 and again in 2022, as dangerously lenient, including with teenage carjackers, while being too restrictive with law enforcers.
While the president has boasted that Washington is crime free after just days of federal intervention, news outlets, lawyers, advocacy groups and eyewitnesses assert a centerpiece of the government’s crackdown in D.C. appears to be arrests of migrants without legal status.
As of Friday morning, 300 of the 719 people arrested in D.C. as part of the federal crackdown on crime were migrants without legal status.
White House immigration czar Tom Homan told NewsNation the administration envisions the deployment of 1,700 troops across 19 states as a “force multiplier” for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
▪ NBC News: ICE agents may enter D.C. schools this year, the federal government says.
▪ The Hill: Trump said he will request $2 billion from Congress for Washington, D.C., beautification and improvement projects and anticipates bipartisan support.
Trump in Los Angeles in June tested his federal authority to deploy active-duty Marines and National Guard members to bolster immigration enforcement amid pushback from Gov. Gavin Newsom (D), whose legal challenge is being tested in the courts as the president expands his authority in the nation’s capital. Trump removed the troops he mobilized in California a month later.
In Washington, the Pentagon says 2,200 National Guard troops deployed as of Sunday are to be armed, even as news outlets report they’re mobilized in the city’s safest areas.
▪ The Hill: A possible government shutdown at the end of September coincides with tensions over the District’s budget.
▪ Fox News Sunday: Congress will need a continuing resolution at the end of the fiscal year to keep the government operating because there is insufficient time to complete Senate appropriations bills, Sen. James Lankford (R-Okla.) predicted.
▪ The Hill: Maryland Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D) vowed on Sunday to advocate for Kilmar Abrego Garcia’s due process after the undocumented migrant accused of federal crimes, deported and then returned to the U.S. was temporarily released from a Tennessee prison and joined his family. Abrego Garcia must report this morning to an ICE field office in Baltimore. His lawyers say the government threatens to deport the 30-year-old sheet metal worker to Uganda if he does not plead guilty to human smuggling charges.
3 Things to Know Today
1. Triple-digit heat on the West Coast may ease today in some states. A Napa Valley wildfire in California was contained overnight.
2. Here’s why COVID is spreading again in most states this summer.
3. Eric Trump is one of crypto’s biggest evangelists. Here’s how the president’s son got the first family into the business.
Leading the Day
BROADENING HORIZONS: Buoyed by their success in Texas, Republicans are plowing forward with plans for redistricting in several other states.
Observers say the GOP is setting its sights on states such as Florida, Indiana and Missouri, signaling a new phase of the fight. Some states may only be able to add one or two seats, but that could prove critical to next year’s election results.
“Every state matters when it comes to a House majority that’s this close,” Ohio Republican strategist Mark Weaver told The Hill’s Jared Gans.
The Lone Star State kicked off the redistricting arms race when Republicans in the Texas Legislature agreed to move forward with rewriting their congressional lines at Trump’s insistence. The legislation, approved by the state Legislature last week, is en route to Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s (R) desk, and he has promised to sign it “swiftly.”
Vice President Vance said on NBC News’s “Meet the Press” that Republicans are “trying to make the situation a little bit more fair.”
“All we’re doing, frankly, is trying to make the situation a little bit more fair on a national scale,” Vance said. “The Democrats have gerrymandered their states really aggressively. We think there are opportunities to push back against that. And that’s really all we’re doing.”
Texas’s redistricting efforts will likely net the GOP five additional House seats. But if California voters approve a ballot measure to let the state Legislature redraw its map for the rest of the decade, Democrats could also pick up as many as five additional seats there in the midterms.
▪ The Hill: Five things to know about California’s special election on redistricting.
▪ The Hill: The Texas redistricting battle is entering a new front as the fight turns to the courts, where Democrats are expected to challenge the newly passed maps.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) further opened the door to more Democratic redistricting efforts across the country, as he pledged to respond “appropriately” to any similar actions undertaken by the GOP.
“House Democrats are going to respond from coast to coast and at all points in between, as has been done in California, forcefully, immediately, and appropriately to make sure that Donald Trump cannot steal the midterm elections,” Jeffries said on CNN’s “State of the Union.”
▪ The Wall Street Journal: Texas vs. California vs. your state? What’s next in the redistricting fight.
▪ The Hill: Moore said he is actively looking into redistricting options in Maryland as the partisan effort expands across the country.
STILL IN CONTENTION: While the GOP redistricting efforts are throwing a wrench in the Democrats’ plans to win back the House, The Hill’s Mike Lillis reports, they won’t knock them out of contention altogether.
A number of factors beyond redistricting leave Democrats well positioned to seize the chamber, according to election handicappers, who say the national mood favors the more energized Democrats.
Republicans are defending a razor-thin House advantage that leaves them little room for defeat, and historic trends predict significant midterm losses for the party of the sitting president. That combination puts Democrats in striking distance of the Speaker’s gavel.
“Democrats won 235 seats in 2018 on a map that was a little bit more skewed towards Republicans than the one that is in place currently,” David Wasserman, senior elections analyst for the Cook Political Report, told The Hill. “And we’re looking at a political environment that’s similar to 2018, based on the enthusiasm gap between the parties and the off-year election results so far.”
👉 The Democratic National Committee convenes for its summer meeting in Minneapolis today, where Chair Ken Martin will speak about the future of his party.
▪ Politico magazine: The DNC will have no choice but to restore New Hampshire’s first-in-the-nation role.
▪ The Hill: Trump raised the possibility of launching a criminal probe into former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) and his alleged involvement in the “Bridgegate” scandal of 2013, which saw two of Christie’s allies convicted for a scheme to punish a Democratic mayor who refused to back Christie’s reelection.
Where and When
- The president will sign executive orders at 10 a.m. Trump at noon will welcome South Korean President Lee Jae Myung to the White House before their bilateral meeting at 12:15 p.m., followed by lunch at 12:45.
- The House will hold a pro forma session at 11 a.m. on Tuesday and will return to work in Washington on Sept. 2.
- The Senate will hold a pro forma session at noon on Tuesday.
Zoom In
2028 VISION: Vance says Trump wants him to focus on the work of the current administration, brushing off questions over whether he is the president’s preferred GOP successor in 2028.
The vice president said Trump “talks about everything” when asked by NBC’s “Meet the Press” moderator Kristen Welker if he has had conversations with Trump about the president passing the torch to him.
Trump earlier this month said it was too soon to settle on a successor to serve as the Republican nominee in 2028, but he acknowledged Vance is the “most likely” pick. The president suggested Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who ran for president in 2016, could make a formidable ticket with Vance.
When asked if he sees himself as the heir apparent of the MAGA movement, Vance said, “No. I see myself as a vice president who’s trying to do a good job for the American people.”
CRYPTO TALKS: Former Senate Banking Committee Chair Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) is returning to the political fray with a Senate bid at a moment when the crypto industry, which poured $40 million into ousting Brown last year, is emboldened by its political successes.
Brown last week launched a campaign for Sen. Jon Husted’s (R-Ohio) seat, seeking to win back a spot in the upper chamber he lost last year after three terms. His tenure was marked by a four-year stint as chair of the Senate Banking Committee, and he was one of the more outspoken voices calling for comprehensive crypto legislation in the wake of FTX’s implosion in 2022.
“It’s pretty clear that there’s going to be significant crypto money put against his campaign again like we saw last year, and I think that that will continue to pose an uphill challenge for Brown to overcome,” said Owen Tedford, a senior research analyst at Beacon Policy Advisors. “But I think that the larger political environment may end up being more decisive in the ultimate outcome of the race than crypto fundraising.”
VIRGINIA: Three months out from the gubernatorial election, Republicans in the commonwealth are increasingly pessimistic, fearing the race could affect GOP candidates further down the ballot. Polling released last week shows a tightening race between former Rep. Abigail Spanberger (D-Va.) and Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears (R).
Some outside groups appear to be taking a hint.
Earlier this month, the Virginia Police Benevolent Association backed Spanberger along with Republican lieutenant gubernatorial nominee John Reid. The split endorsement marked a blow to Earle-Sears, whom the group backed four years ago.
Elsewhere
PEACE OUT OF REACH: Vance said on “Meet the Press” on Sunday that he still believes the administration can broker peace between Russia and Ukraine, despite the lack of progress.
The vice president said he believes “the Russians have made significant concessions to President Trump for the first time in three and a half years of this conflict.”
“They’ve actually been willing to be flexible on some of their core demands,” Vance added. “They’ve talked about what would be necessary to end the war. Of course, they haven’t been completely there yet, or the war would be over. But we’re engaging in this diplomatic process in good faith.”
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov poured cold water on Vance’s optimism. Speaking on the same program, Lavrov lowered expectations that Trump will usher in a swift end to the war in Ukraine.
The foreign minister said there was no meeting planned between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and that key issues — including security guarantees for Ukraine and territorial disputes — remain unresolved. Lavrov told NBC that Ukraine “has the right to exist” but added a caveat to that right related to Ukraine’s willingness to cede territory.
▪ The Wall Street Journal: The Pentagon has quietly blocked Ukraine’s long-range missile strikes on Russia.
▪ The New York Times: Why haven’t sanctions on Russia stopped the war? The money is still flowing.
ESCALATION: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu continues to press a major offensive in Gaza amid Palestinian famine. Aid groups are pleading with the U.S. to exercise its influence to help alleviate the humanitarian crisis, where more than half a million people face starvation. And Israelis advocating for a ceasefire deal to secure the release of at least 20 living and 30 deceased hostages are pleading for Trump to turn his attention to the Middle East.
“You have spoken powerfully about ending wars and bringing peace. As you work to resolve the conflict in Ukraine, we pray you will apply that same determination to end this nightmare in Gaza,” the Hostages and Missing Families Forum, which represents many families of captives in Gaza, wrote in an open letter to Trump last week.
Israeli planes and tanks pounded the eastern and northern outskirts of Gaza City over the weekend, where about half of Gaza’s roughly 2 million people live.
“I stopped counting the times I had to take my wife and three daughters and leave my home in Gaza City,” Mohammad, 40, told Reuters. “No place is safe, but I can’t take the risk. If they suddenly begin the invasion, they will use heavy fire.”
▪ CBS News: Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.) said Israel’s blockade of Gaza aid is a “shameful black mark on humanity.”
▪ The New York Times: Ultra-Orthodox Israelis are now being drafted after decades of exemption from military service. Their rage is dividing Israel.
▪ NBC News: An Israeli airstrike hit southern Gaza’s main hospital, killing at least 15 people, including four journalists.
▪ PBS NewsHour: Israeli airstrikes hit Yemen’s capital on Sunday, just days after the Houthi rebels fired a missile toward Israel.
▪ The Hill: France summoned Charles Kushner, the American ambassador to Paris, after he wrote a letter to French President Emmanuel Macron alleging the country did not do enough to combat antisemitism.
Opinion
- Trump’s stunning power grab on elections, by Barton Gellman, guest essayist, The New York Times.
- Uncle Sam shouldn’t own Intel stock, by The Wall Street Journal editorial board.
The Closer
And finally … ⚾ Tryouts conclude today in Washington, D.C., for 150 national players eager to join the Women’s Professional Baseball League (WPBL), which aims to play its first season with six teams next spring featuring athletes invited in October to the draft. The league opened tryouts to all women.
In baseball history, opportunities beyond youth leagues often required female players to take unusual paths, most of them alongside men.
“We keep saying how much strides we’re making,” Victoria Ruelas told The Associated Press. “But they’re so slow in coming. It just should be faster. … There’s so much more of us out there that play.”
“I never thought I’d see this, ever,” said Monica Holguin of Burbank, Calif., and the mother of two. “You’re told when you’re younger, ‘Hey, you have to transition from baseball to softball because there’s no future in [baseball] for women.’ And so you just do it.”
Holguin, 45, tried out at third base. “You know, I really did it. I wanted to come out here, compete, and I wanted to show my kids, it doesn’t matter how old you are, you can chase a dream,” she added.
