PRESIDENT TRUMP will sign an an executive order Friday formally changing the name of the Department of Defense to the Department of War, as U.S. tensions grow with Venezuela, China, Russia and India.

Republicans in Congress unveiled companion legislation to make the rebranding permanent.

Sens. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) and Mike Lee (R-Utah) are leading the effort in the upper chamber, while Rep. Greg Steube (R-Fla.) is taking the lead in the House.

“The United States military is not a purely defensive force,” Scott said. “We are the most lethal fighting force on the face of the planet — ready to defeat any enemy when called upon.”

Rep. Ryan Zinke (R-Mont.) told NewsNation’s Blake Burman that the mission will remain the same despite the rebrand.

“The world is unstable. We have villains out there — Putin and North Korea and Iran being probably the top three,” Zinke said. “There’s a projection of power the United States has to have.”

Venezuela is the latest foreign power to find itself on the receiving end of U.S. saber-rattling after the military bombed a boat in the Caribbean Sea earlier this week, killing 11 Venezuelan drug traffickers.

Late Thursday, the Pentagon said two Venezuelan aircraft flew close to a U.S. Navy vessel.

The Defense Department responded over X:

“This highly provocative move was designed to interfere with our counter narco-terror operations. The cartel running Venezuela is strongly advised not to pursue any further effort to obstruct, deter or interfere with counter-narcotics and counter-terror operations carried out by the U.S. military.”

The Hill’s Ellen Mitchell reports that the boat bombing raised questions about whether the U.S. violated maritime law or human rights conventions.

The U.S. military on Friday deployed 10 fighter jets to Puerto Rico to assist in the fight against Latin American cartels.

Chinese President Xi Jinping this week hosted Russian President Vladimir Putin, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, with the leaders pledging deeper ties amid tensions with the West.

“Looks like we’ve lost India and Russia to deepest, darkest, China,” Trump posted Friday on TruthSocial.

The Hill’s Brett Samuels writes:

“Experts viewed the meeting as an indication the three nations were forming a closer partnership to counter the U.S. and its allies. India in particular was viewed as moving closer to China and Russia after the Trump administration slapped New Delhi with additional tariffs due to its purchase of Russian oil, a White House effort to undercut Moscow’s war efforts in Ukraine.”

Putin is showing no indication he intends on drawing down the war against Ukraine, despite Trump’s repeated attempts to bring peace.

The Russian leader warned Friday that any Western troops deployed to Ukraine would be considered “legitimate targets.”

Trump spoke with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Thursday to discuss “maximum protection” for Ukraine’s skies.

“We talked about how to push the situation toward real peace,” Zelensky posted on X. “We discussed different options, and the most important is pressure, using strong measures, particularly economic ones, to force an end to the war. The key to peace is depriving Russia’s war machine of money, depriving it of resources.”

💡Perspectives:

• The Hill: China’s impressive military parade masked shortcomings.

• MSNBC: Trump’s strike on a boat from Venezuela was an act of war.

• AMAC: Leftists add narcoterrorists to their Mt. Rushmore.

• Washington Examiner: Those who wish Trump dead.

• The Liberal Patriot: The trouble with catastrophe politics.

Read more: 

• Trump administration investigating Medicaid spending on immigrants.

• DOJ sues Boston, mayor over sanctuary city law.

• Immigration authorities raid Hyundai EV plant in Georgia.

• Mexico’s president backed against a wall in managing Trump relationship.

• Incoming Democrats are poised to advance legislation forcing the Trump administration to release all federal files on Jeffrey Epstein. Three of the four vacant House seats are likely to be filled soon by Democrats, giving the discharge petition from Reps. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) and Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) the support it needs to pass.

   

• CBS News says it’s changing its policy on how it airs interviews with top government officials following complaints from Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, who accused the network of selectively editing footage of her recent interview.

   

• Tesla proposed a new pay package for CEO Elon Musk that could make him the first-ever trillionaire.

©  AP

The U.S. economy added 22,000 jobs in August, falling short of expectations, according to the first federal jobs report released since President Trump fired the head of the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS).

Economists had expected an addition of 75,000 jobs last month.

The unemployment rate ticked up from 4.2 percent to 4.3 percent.

Trump sought to get ahead of the bad data by casting doubt on the new numbers in a post on TruthSocial, saying the “real numbers” that matter “will be in a year from now.”

Moody’s Chief Economist Mark Zandi called it it a “jobs recession.”

“Payroll employment declined in June, and while it was up in July and August, the increases were on the margin and seem likely to be revised away,” Zandi said on X. “The goods side of the economy, including manufacturing, mining, and construction, is losing a significant number of jobs, as is the federal government. Only healthcare and hospitality are adding to payrolls. It’s not a full-blown recession, as GDP, incomes, and profits are still slowly growing. But for how much longer, if the economy continues losing jobs?”

The soft labor data increases the likelihood the Federal Reserve will cut rates next month, which Trump has been agitating for.

“The Federal Reserve has to cut in September. And maybe October now,” Heather Long, the chief economist for the Navy Federal Credit Union, posted on X. “The US economy lost -13,000 jobs in June –>The first negative month since December 2020 (!) There’s barely been any job growth in the past 4 months. Almost all the jobs added are in healthcare. Without healthcare, job growth would be NEGATIVE in the past few months.”

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) said Friday that Democrats “will force votes” on Trump’s tariffs, calling the jobs data a “blaring red light warning to the entire country that Donald Trump is squeezing the life out of our economy.”

The Hill’s Tobias Burns has five takeaways from the latest jobs report.

💡Perspectives:

• Time: Inside the CDC exodus and RFK Jr.’s anti-vaccine crusade.

• Washington Times: Kennedy strikes back.

• American Prospect: Pritzker shows how to handle Trump.

• L.A. Times: Armed troops at the Washington Monument is not normal.

• The Nation: Does DC have a Vichy mayor?

Read more: 

• Rising electric bills become political problem for Trump, GOP.

• DOJ investigating Fed governor Lisa Cook: Reports.

• Trump’s Cabinet members call multiple homes their primary residences.

• Trump presses tech CEOs on American manufacturing investments.

Here’s who’s talking Sunday…

NewsNation’s “The Hill Sunday”: Reps. Kevin Hern (R-Okla.) and Gabe Vasquez (D-N.M.).

Fox News’ “Fox News Sunday”: Education Secretary Linda McMahon and New York Gov. Kathy Hochul (D).

NBC’s “Meet the Press”: Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent; Maryland Gov. Wes Moore (D); Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.).

CNN’s “State of the Union”:  Border czar Tom Homan.

CBS’s “Sunday Morning”: Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett.

Also on tap…

• President Trump will attend the men’s U.S. Open final in Flushing Meadows on Sunday.

• The White House will host an Ultimate Fighting Championship event in June, with weigh-ins happening at the Lincoln Memorial.

— Liz Crisp contributed.

©  Mark Schiefelbein, Associated Press

It’s been a rough stretch for President Trump in the courtroom

This week alone held a string of defeats for the administration:

• A court voided the administration’s efforts to choke off more than $2 billion in research funding to Harvard University.

• A judge declared Trump’s deployment of the National Guard in Los Angeles earlier this year to have been illegal.

• A court prevented Trump from using the Alien Enemies Act to deport Venezuelan migrants.

• A court ruled in favor of the Federal Trade Commissioner that Trump sought to oust.

• A federal court rejected an appeal by the Trump administration to deny transgender and nonbinary Americans passports reflecting their gender identity.

• A judge ordered the Trump administration to release billions in foreign aid approved by Congress.

The Hill’s Niall Stanage writes:

“Even if Trump challenges the decisions, which seems almost certain, the verdicts at the least have the capacity to disrupt his efforts to asset his power in ever more expansive ways.”

The Harvard victory is particularly meaningful, The Hill’s Lexi Lonas writes:

“The win comes at a pivotal time as multiple other colleges are in talks with the Trump administration to strike deals to restore funding and end federal investigations against their institutions. It is unclear if the judge’s decision will end Harvard’s own negotiations with Team Trump, but, if not, it will likely give the school the upper hand after the administration previously sought for the university to pay $500 million in a potential deal to both restore the funding and close down the federal probes.”

MEANWHILE…

• Two California Democrats sit at the top of the presidential primary polls.

The latest Yahoo/YouGov survey finds Gov. Gavin Newsom in the lead at 21 percent support, followed by former Vice President Kamala Harris at 19 percent.

Rounding out the Democratic list is Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (N.Y.) at 12 percent, former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg at 10 percent, Illinois Gov. JB Prtizker at 7 percent, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz at 4 percent, Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro at 4 percent and Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer at 2 percent.

• New York City Mayor Eric Adams, a former Democrat running for reelection as an independent, is considering dropping out of the race, according to the New York Times.

The Times reports that Adams met privately with Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff in Florida this week. Adams denied a report that he’d been offered a job at Housing and Urban Development.

Democratic socialist Zohran Mamdani is the favorite to win the race in a crowded field of candidates, which currently includes Adams, former Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who is running as an independent after losing to Mamdani in the Democratic primary, and Republican Curtis Sliwa.

Trump has expressed an interest in winnowing the field of candidates so that one person can take Mamdani head-on.

“I’d prefer not to have a Communist mayor of New York City …so I would like to see two people drop out and have it be one-on-one and I think that’s a race that can be won,” Trump said Thursday.

• Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) endorsed Rep. Ashley Hinson (R-Iowa), a third-term member of the House, giving her leg up in the race to replace retiring Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa).

💡Perspectives:

• The Hill: California’s gerrymander is an act of democratic self-defense.

• The Hill: Non-establishment Democrats: Run for president and save the party.

• The Hill: Democratic disarray opens door to socialism.

• RealClearPolitics: Pennsylvania turned red. Will it last?

Read more: 

• GOP senators signal to Trump that Kennedy is on thin ice.

• Search warrant reveals what feds seized at John Bolton’s home.

• Biden had procedure to remove skin cancer from forehead.

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