Today’s notice: A model for Trump’s potential National Guard expansion. It’s education, stupid. A dispatch from the DNC. And: The DOJ’s shrinking National Security Division.
THE LATEST
Readying the troops: “We’ve done a similar thing in LA. It will look something like that,” a Trump administration official told NOTUS’ Violet Jira about the White House’s possible plans for Chicago.
Donald Trump is escalating: On Monday he called Chicago a “killing field,” after signing an executive order tasking Pete Hegseth with creating a D.C. National Guard “public safety” unit that’s “resourced, trained and available for rapid nationwide deployment.”
The administration’s justification: “The numbers do not lie. They’re doing funny math. Crime is down if you take into consideration the past decade. When it’s up year to year in the immediate, it doesn’t matter. It’s what people feel now,” the official said of Chicago.
Chicago’s numbers: Mayor Brandon Johnson’s office on Monday put out those year-to-year numbers showing violent crime from Jan. 1 to Aug. 23 down 21.6% compared to the same dates from last year.
Remember: The White House is currently facing a lawsuit for sending troops to Los Angeles. And Gov. JB Pritzker made it clear he does not support troops coming to Illinois, legally complicating what the guards can do.
“Authoritarian creep”: That’s what Pritzker, during a press conference Monday in downtown Chicago, called Trump’s threats. “If I sound alarmist, it is because I am ringing an alarm,” he added.
Open tabs: Congress investigating D.C. crime stats (WaPo); Trump eases tone on South Korea after meeting country’s president (Axios); Oversight Panel Subpoenas Epstein’s Estate (NOTUS); Feds fight to keep ‘Alligator Alcatraz’ open (AP)
From the White House
You’re fired! Trump has moved to terminate Federal Reserve governor Lisa Cook from her position, “effective immediately,” according to a letter he posted to Truth Social late Monday night.
The reasoning? Trump cited a “criminal referral” from the director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, Bill Pulte, alleging mortgage fraud. “In light of your deceitful and potentially criminal conduct … I do not have such confidence in your integrity,” the president wrote.
The bar is high for what Trump is trying to do. Under the Federal Reserve Act, a Fed governor can only be removed “for cause.” The Supreme Court in May ruled that Trump can fire members of independent federal agencies — but said the Fed, as a “uniquely structured, quasi-private entity,” falls under a different set of rules. This case will almost surely be decided in court as well.
From the campaign trail
It’s education, stupid: “In 30 years of polling, I have never seen education outdistance the kind of standard, top issues of the economy, taxes and crime. And it’s quadruple any one of those by itself,” Oklahoma Republican pollster Pat McFerron told NOTUS’ Em Luetkemeyer.
It all goes back to Ryan Walters, the state’s MAGA-faithful superintendent. His headline-grabbing agenda isn’t sitting well with Oklahoma’s Republican candidates for governor, who have been campaigning on the state being ranked near the bottom on education — and dinging Walters in the process.
“Listen, the proof is in the pudding. Our state superintendent of education has not got the job done,” Charles McCall, a gubernatorial candidate and former speaker of the Oklahoma House, told Em.
From the DNC
Sick and tired: “Look, folks, I’m sick and tired of this Democratic Party bringing a pencil to a knife fight,” DNC Chair Ken Martin told a room of applauding party members at the committee’s summer meeting. “We cannot be the only party that plays by the rules anymore. We have to stand up and fight. We’re not going to have a hand tied behind our back anymore. Let’s grow a damn spine and get in this fight, Democrats.”
Martin wrote the fiery speech himself, a DNC official told NOTUS’ Alex Roarty.
THE BIG ONE
Who’s handling the nation’s most sensitive cases? We’re talking about Russian spy operations, China stealing military technology and Americans leaking classified information.
Inside the DOJ’s National Security Division: In just over three weeks, the Counterintelligence and Export Control Section has had three different chiefs. Top attorneys have left the office, and there’s a backlog of espionage criminal cases that require the office’s consultation and approval, sources who spoke on the condition of anonymity told NOTUS’ Jose Pagliery.
“I have no idea who or how the department would handle a major espionage case right now,” a former DOJ employee said. “It’s a real problem.”
A shrinking team: CES is now down to 27 attorneys from 40 earlier this year. Current leader Scott Lara spent his first week on the job “unable to occupy an office” at Main Justice because he lacked the top secret clearance to enter his own team’s secured offices, Jose reports.
“The magnitude of the loss of attorneys in CES is potentially very damaging for the national security of the United States,” said David Laufman, who led the team from late 2014 until early 2018.
DOJ weighs in: Shannon Shevlin, a national security spokesperson for the department, called the descriptions “uninformed allegations” and “a disservice to the over 220 dedicated national security prosecutors and other attorneys working in the division.”
NEW ON NOTUS
‘Department of War’: Hegseth and Trump are exploring a name change for the Department of Defense that would be more war-forward. Hegseth said the change was “coming soon.”
Trump: “It just sounded bad to me, ‘On behalf of the Department of Defense.’ Defense? I don’t want to be defense only,” he told reporters Monday. “We want defense, but we want offense too, if that’s OK. As the Department of War, we won everything, and I think we’re going to have to go back to that.”
FEMA warning: “Our shared commitment to our country, our oaths of office, and our mission of helping people before, during, and after disasters compel us to warn Congress and the American people of the cascading effects of decisions made by the current administration,” more than 180 FEMA employees wrote in a letter sent to Congress on Monday warning of another “Katrina”-like response.
Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia’s case is still in limbo after a federal judge ruled Monday that he must be kept in the United States while the court weighs his due process rights. The Trump administration wants to deport him to Uganda.
More: Ken Paxton Directs Schools to Follow Law Blocked by Federal Court, by Samuel Larreal
NOT US
- In Private Deal, the D.N.C. Covered $20 Million in Harris Bills Post-Election, by Shane Goldmacher for The New York Times
- Inside the Lobbying Push That Put Ukraine’s Missing Children on Trump’s Agenda, by Matthew Luxmoore and Vera Bergengruen for The Wall Street Journal
- The Nightmare Redistricting Scenario for Democrats, by Benjamin Hart for New York magazine
- The Endless August Recess, by Antonia Hitchens for The New Yorker
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