Today’s notice: The president abides. Why members of Congress refuse to retire. Day 2 of DNC drama. RFK Jr. is keeping his lips zipped about what causes autism.
THE LATEST
Fed up: “This is going to cause tremors in the foundation that underpins monetary policy in the United States, and those tremors will be felt in financial markets domestically and around the world,” David Wilcox, the director of U.S. economic research at Bloomberg Economics and a former Fed Board research director, told The Wall Street Journal of Donald Trump’s attempt to fire Federal Reserve governor Lisa Cook.
Market close: Just a day later, however, stocks were unbothered by the news. The Dow, Nasdaq and S&P 500 closed higher than they did on Monday, while the bond market showed little movement.
One possible reason: The Fed is pushing back. “The Federal Reserve will continue to carry out its duties as established by law,” a spokesperson said in a statement to NOTUS’ Taylor Giorno. “Long tenures and removal protections for governors serve as a vital safeguard, ensuring that monetary policy decisions are based on data, economic analysis, and the long-term interests of the American people.”
So is Cook herself: Trump’s “attempt to fire her, based solely on a referral letter, lacks any factual or legal basis.” Cook’s high-powered lawyer, Abbe Lowell, told NOTUS in a statement. “We will be filing a lawsuit challenging this illegal action.”
Trump responds: The president said Tuesday that he would “abide by the court” if it declared the firing unlawful.
But the warnings have been loud: In front of the camera this week, Trump has repeatedly referenced a growing drumbeat of accusations that he’s acting like a dictator. A White House official said the claims are “not anything new.”
“He’s just pushing back on eight years of this stupid assertion,” the official added. “Everything we do, Democrats will say he’s a dictator. Everything that has happened, we talked about on the campaign trail. People forget about that.”
Open tabs: Cracker Barrel returns to old logo after backlash (USA Today); FEMA employees put on leave after criticizing Trump admin (WaPo); Dan Scavino tapped for WH personnel job (NOTUS); Whistleblower Says DOGE Put Millions of SSNs at Risk (NOTUS); Dems flip Iowa state Senate seat, breaking supermajority (The Hill)
From the White House
Howdy, Hoosiers: Trump met Tuesday with Republican state lawmakers from Indiana, as part of an apparent effort to push more red states to redraw their congressional districts in ways that favor the GOP in next year’s midterms.
What they’re saying: A White House official touted a recent report on declines in Democratic voter registrations, which they said provided the administration with a new slate of reasons to create more safe Republican seats.
“Democratic registration has plummeted,” the official told Jasmine, noting also a gap between fundraising and cash on hand between the Republican and Democratic parties. “These are the factors that make everyone confident that we’re right on this.”
In local news: “Anybody murders something in the capital: capital punishment,” Trump said Tuesday during a televised Cabinet meeting.
- The catch: D.C.’s city council repealed capital punishment in 1981. District residents voted to uphold the council’s decision in a congressionally mandated referendum in 1992.
From the Hill
Why retire? That appears to be the general consensus among Congress’ oldest members.
NOTUS’ Em Luetkemeyer reports that 50 members ages 75 and older are up for reelection next year, and nearly 70% of them have plans to run again, according to interviews, public comments and official statements. Most of the lawmakers in this group are Democrats.
One possible motivation: “For Democrats, there’s real potential to be a majority after the next election, which is why the redistricting fight is front page across the country now,” former Republican Rep. Fred Upton told NOTUS over the phone while on a fishing trip in Alaska. “There’s a real difference between being in the majority or the minority.”
From the DNC
Surprise! An Israel–Palestine task force: The resolution calling for an arms embargo on Israel failed Tuesday at the party’s summer session. But DNC Chair Ken Martin withdrew support for his own pared-back resolution (which had already been approved) and announced a new task force on the issue instead.
“There is a divide in our party on this issue. This is a moment that calls for shared dialogue and calls for shared advocacy,” Martin said. “We need to keep working through this. We have to find a path.”
NEW ON NOTUS
Are you going to travel? That’s what voters in New Orleans want to know from their mayoral candidates, NOTUS’ Torrence Banks reports, amid backlash to current term-limited Mayor LaToya Cantrell’s penchant for leaving the city. “I would be shocked if people didn’t ask at the debates, ‘What’s your plans on travel?’ and ‘What do you think about the current situation?’” former Democratic city council member Arnie Fielkow said.
Trump judge backs judges: Thomas T. Cullen, a Trump-appointed federal district judge, dismissed the administration’s lawsuit against all federal judges in Maryland. Cullen called it a “concerted effort by the Executive to smear and impugn individual judges who rule against it” that is “both unprecedented and unfortunate.”
Autism answers? RFK Jr. told Trump that he knows the cause of rising autism rates. But he didn’t say what it was. Trump, for his part, was excited for the announcement: “I think we maybe know the reason, and I look forward to that press conference.”
Tax credit scramble: Midsize developers are expected to be hit the hardest by the new restrictions to clean-energy tax credits going into effect Sept. 2, experts say. “It is important to see this as what it is, which is additional — really anti-free-market — rules that are coming down and are rather arbitrarily being placed on our industry,” community solar advocate Liz Perera told NOTUS’ Shifra Dayak. “It’s causing a lot of upheaval.”
More: 2020 Election Denier Given Key DHS Election Integrity Post, by Samuel Larreal and Torrence Banks
NAACP Files Lawsuit to Stop New Texas Maps, by Amelia Benavides-Colón
NOT US
- Donald Trump’s Big Gay Government, by Shawn McCreesh for The New York Times
- The electric scooter sharing scam that fleeced millions of dollars from Americans, by Erik Ortiz, Bracey Harris and Kevin Collier for NBC News
- The Trump administration’s new weapon against foes: Mortgage filings, by Rachel Siegel for The Washington Post
- Democratic leaders look to derail Trump as he threatens to send National Guard to more cities, by Joey Cappelletti and Bill Barrow for the Associated Press
BE SOCIAL
It’s giving “‘Pokémon Go’ to the polls.”
My heartfelt congratulations to Ohio native Travis Kelce on his engagement to Pennsylvania native Taylor Swift. Now that I have your attention—we must do everything we can to protect Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid before it is too late. People in both our states and… pic.twitter.com/t1vesALZgI
— Rep. Marcy Kaptur (@RepMarcyKaptur) August 26, 2025
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