Good afternoon everyone. I just returned from Union Station in Washington, D.C., where veterans are staging a sit-in, standing toe-to-toe with the National Guard and vowing not to leave until the troops are gone. Earlier, I sat down with the mother of a 19-year-old nursing student trapped in detention, describing the inhumane and life-threatening conditions her daughter is enduring.
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With that, here’s the news:
A federal judge ordered that Kilmar Ábrego García, the Maryland man previously unlawfully deported to El Salvador, must remain in the US while he challenges the Trump administration’s plan to deport him to Uganda; Judge Paula Xinis cited due process concerns and barred his removal, as his lawyers argue the government is retaliating against him for fighting his wrongful deportation and refusing a plea deal that would have sent him to Costa Rica.
A group of veterans in Washington, D.C. have begun a sit-in near Union Station to protest the deployment of the National Guard to the city. They tell me that they will not leave until the National Guard leaves, potentially setting up a major showdown between the veterans and the National Guard.
Trump threatened ABC and NBC on Truth Social, calling them “AN ARM OF THE DEMOCRAT PARTY” and saying he would support the FCC pulling their broadcast licenses, escalating his long-running attacks on media outlets he accuses of spreading “Fake News.”
The House Oversight Committee, led by Chairman James Comer, subpoenaed Jeffrey Epstein’s estate for documents including a “birthday book” tied to Ghislaine Maxwell, as part of its probe into Epstein’s dealings; the panel also announced former U.S. Attorney Alex Acosta will testify Sept. 19 about the 2008 plea deal, while seeking testimony from Bill and Hillary Clinton, James Comey, and written declarations from former attorneys general stating they have no relevant information.
Trump signed two executive orders: one aimed at eliminating cashless bail in Washington DC and other jurisdictions, and another instructing federal prosecutors to pursue charges against people who burn American flags during protests.
Trump falsely claimed that nearly all of the top 25 high-crime cities are Democrat-run and that DC hasn’t had a murder-free week in years, but FBI data shows some are led by Republicans and police records confirm multiple murder-free weeks as recently as 2025.
I interviewed the mother of Allison Bustillo, a 19-year-old undocumented nursing assistant detained for six months at Stewart Detention Center in Georgia, who shared her fear that her daughter may not survive; Allison suffers from severe scoliosis and panic attacks but is being denied medical care, while detainees report poor sanitation, lack of hygiene supplies, and neglect in the for-profit facility—reflecting a broader crisis in Georgia’s detention centers.
Trump adviser Kevin Hassett said the U.S. could expand equity stakes in private companies, framing the recent $8.9B purchase of nearly 10% of Intel as a “down payment on a sovereign wealth fund”; the administration has also taken a golden share in U.S. Steel and negotiated revenue deals with Nvidia and AMD, moves Trump touted as reshaping U.S. industrial policy but which have drawn bipartisan criticism, with some Republicans warning Intel will become “a test case of what not to do.”
The Daily Beast reports that Dr. Aseem Malhotra, a close adviser to HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., claims the Trump administration plans to pull COVID-19 mRNA vaccines from the U.S. market “within months,” citing disputed research on vaccine risks, growing skepticism within Kennedy’s circle, and potential backing from members of Trump’s family—though public health officials, medical experts, and over 750 CDC/HHS/NIH staff strongly reject these claims as misinformation that threatens public safety.
Several European and Asian postal agencies have begun pausing or cutting off shipments to the U.S. ahead of Trump’s August 29 repeal of the de minimis tariff exemption, which previously allowed packages under $800 to enter duty-free; the move threatens to halt the flow of hundreds of millions of small-dollar packages annually, making low-cost global goods more expensive for American consumers and escalating trade tensions.
Supreme Court Justices Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh warned lower court judges against defying high court rulings, siding with Trump in multiple emergency cases including canceling $800M in NIH research grants; their sharp rebukes reflect frustration with lower courts’ handling of Trump policies, while liberal justices Sotomayor and Jackson condemned the court for “rewarding lawlessness” and “Calvinball jurisprudence,” highlighting ongoing battles over the scope and transparency of the Supreme Court’s emergency docket.
More than 180 current and former FEMA employees warned Congress in a “Katrina Declaration” letter that Trump’s overhaul of the agency is undoing two decades of reforms since Hurricane Katrina, citing unqualified leadership appointments by DHS Secretary Kristi Noem, strict spending controls that delayed disaster response, mass staff departures, and deep funding cuts; they urged making FEMA an independent Cabinet-level agency to prevent another catastrophe and warned Trump’s plan to phase it out risks the “effective dissolution” of the agency.
Trump met with South Korean president Lee Jae Myung, reaffirmed that Putin and Zelenskyy should meet without him to resolve their differences, and predicted a “conclusive ending” to the Israel-Hamas conflict within three weeks.
Attorney general Pam Bondi announced that 1,007 arrests have been made in DC since the start of the federal law enforcement surge earlier this month.
The House Oversight Committee, led by Rep. James Comer, launched an investigation into allegations that DC’s Metropolitan Police Department manipulated crime data, citing a whistleblower claim of widespread falsification, the suspension of commander Michael Pulliam, and a parallel federal criminal probe—while Trump has repeatedly accused city officials of producing “phony” statistics without evidence.
Lil Nas X (Montero Lamar Hill) was charged in Los Angeles with four felonies — three counts of battery with injury on a police officer and one count of resisting an executive officer — after allegedly charging at officers who confronted him while he was walking naked on Ventura Boulevard; he was hospitalized on suspicion of overdose before being booked into jail, and is set to be arraigned Monday.
Nevada state government offices were closed Monday after a “network security incident” caused significant degradation of state systems; officials are working to restore services, the FBI is assisting in the investigation, and the state attorney general’s office confirmed the closures due to the disruption.
Good news:
In Logan, Australia, postal worker Gurpreet Singh was hailed as a “laundry hero” after security footage showed him taking a minute to pull in a homeowner’s laundry and place it by the door to keep it dry during heavy rain while delivering a package; the simple act of kindness went viral, earning praise across Australian and Indian media and even from Priyanka Chopra, who called him a “real life hero.”
A man with type 1 diabetes became the first patient in the world to produce his own insulin after receiving a transplant of donor islet cells edited with CRISPR to evade immune attack; though he still needs daily injections, the transplanted cells continued producing insulin after 12 weeks, marking a major breakthrough toward a potential cure according to a study published in the New England Journal of Medicine.
See you in the morning.
— Aaron
