US supreme court rejects Republican-drawn map in Missouri for third time The Supreme Court has blocked Missouri for a third time from using a Republican-drawn congressional map in the November midterm elections, per the AP. The justices granted a request by the map’s opponents to suspend lower court decisions that had required the reconfigured US House of Representatives district boundaries to be used in the 3 November midterm elections. The back-and-forth is occurring as absentee voting is already underway in Missouri. Key events Closing summary This concludes our live coverage of the second Trump administration for today. Here are the latest developments: The White House has blocked CNN from traveling aboard Air Force One on Saturday, impeding its TV press pool duties in the latest escalation of the administration’s battle with the news media. The primary White House television pool today resumed filming administration events after a court ruling temporarily overturned a Trump administration ban on CNN. More here. Donald Trump is canceling nearly $1bn in spending approved by Congress, the White House announced, using a rare and contested power to axe funding for immigrant services and diversity-focused initiatives. More here. Dale Caldwell, the lieutenant governor of New Jersey, resigned from his position, after the release of a report accusing him of sexually harassing a female staffer, among other ethics violations. Thomas Calcagni, a lawyer for Caldwell, said in a statement they would “continue to forcefully challenge the report”. More here. The supreme court turned away an attempt to use a new Missouri congressional map backed by Donald Trump, putting an end to a long-running legal dispute as absentee voting is under way in the midterm elections. More here. The White House defended its decision to use taxpayer funds to buy airtime on Fox News for a White House-produced, pro-Trump ad that some Democrats said could be illegal government propaganda aimed at influencing voters in the upcoming midterm elections. More here. Robert Mackey Donald Trump went on a social media posting spree on Friday night, posting 18 self-promotional videos and images on his Truth Social account in less than 30 minutes. Among the images was a meme apparently intended to show him as a resolute leader, standing at attention and saluting during a US military flyover in Maryland on Wednesday as he greeted China’s president, Xi Jinping. A screenshot of an edited image posted on Donald Trump’s Truth Social account, showing him with China’s president, Xi Jinping, during a US military flyover in Maryland on 23 September. Photograph: Truth Social That edited image contrasted sharply with a news photograph taken during the flyover, which showed that, in reality, Trump had actually visibly winced as the a B-1 bomber passed low overhead. Donald Trump flinched during a flyover by a B-1 jet bomber on the red carpet with China’s president, Xi Jinping, during an arrival ceremony on 23 September 23 at Joint Base Andrews, Maryland. Photograph: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images Maanvi Singh US senators have introduced legislation aimed at cutting down warrantless or specious ICE arrests, and curbing the agency’s ability to indefinitely detain immigrants who do not pose any danger to their communities. The new legislation, shared exclusively with the Guardian, would require immigration officers to obtain an administrative warrant from a supervisor outlining a probable cause for detaining someone. Such a warrant must also be presented to each person who is detained, the bill says, alongside notice of when the detainee must appear in immigration court. The bill would require a bond hearing within 24 hours of any warrantless arrests, and custody review of every noncitizen in immigration detention every 60 days by an immigration judge or US district judge – ideally ensuring that detainees are not held in ICE custody indefinitely without clear cause. Read the full story here: A White House note confirmed earlier reports that CNN will not be flying on Air Force One on Saturday, despite being scheduled to serve as the pool reporter covering the president for major television networks. According to CNN, the network had been penciled in to fly aboard the president’s plane on his trip to Tennessee for a college football game as part of the White House TV press pool. The White House note does not list an outlet replacing CNN. Donald Trump is canceling nearly $1b in spending approved by Congress, with most of the cuts focused on health and human services programs that serve refugees and unaccompanied minors accused of being in the country illegally, per the AP. The White House is using a rare and contested power to axe the funding. The Office of Management and Budget described the funding cut as focused on “the most harmful government spending.” Republican senator Susan Collins, chair of the Senate appropriations committee, said in a statement that the action came “without warning or consultation.” “Any effort to rescind appropriated funds without congressional approval is a clear violation of the law,” Collins wrote in a post on social media. “I will work with my colleagues to address these illegal actions.” White House blocks CNN from Tennessee trip on Air Force One – report The White House blocked CNN from traveling with President Donald Trump on Air Force One for a Saturday trip to Knoxville, Tennessee, the Washington Post reports. The report comes after CNN, MS NOW and Politico were banned from White House grounds last week. A federal judge temporarily restored access early Thursday, but journalists for CNN and MS Now were denied access to the White House state dinner in honor of Xi Jinping later that day. US television networks resumed coverage of President Donald Trump’s White House events on Friday. Following the supreme court’s decision to turn away an attempt to use a new Missouri congressional map backed by Donald Trump, challengers of the map said “the courts have now made clear that voters — not politicians — decide who represents them.” “This case should never have reached the Supreme Court three times, but we’re glad that the final outcome of these cases is Missourians having the opportunity to vote under a lawful map this fall,” said Mark Gaber, senior director of redistricting at Campaign Legal Center. “The people of Missouri have the right to go to the polls and reject the State’s attempt to gerrymander their congressional districts, and the Supreme Court has now confirmed, for the third time in as many weeks, that the State’s unlawful districts cannot be used this November,” said Ming Cheung, senior staff attorney with the ACLU’s Voting Rights Project. “Voting has already begun, and all efforts to cause confusion and chaos must cease. This saga began in 2025 when politicians tried to rig the map and take away representation from Kansas City residents, but the courts have now made clear that voters — not politicians — decide who represents them.” Campaign Legal Center, the ACLU of Missouri and ACLU Voting Rights Project filed amicus briefs at the Missouri Supreme Court. Here’s more on the supreme court’s decision: Robert Mackey The White House on Friday defended its decision to use taxpayer funds to buy airtime on Fox News for a White House-produced, pro-Trump ad that some Democrats said could be illegal government propaganda aimed at influencing voters in the upcoming midterm elections. In a lengthy statement sent to news outlets, the White House press office insisted that versions of the ad, which feature audio of Trump urging voters to help him “defeat communism” and a whirlwind video review of his second term, were simply routine “public service announcements” like those produced by previous administrations. However, while the Trump administration ad features the president in almost every frame, and includes words of praise for him offered by a prominent supporter during the 2024 campaign, none of the advertising from three prior administrations the White House called similar featured any partisan messaging or showed images of Trump’s predecessors. By contrast, the 30-second version of the pro-Trump ad broadcast on Fox News this week uses audio of Trump telling supporters in Las Vegas last month: “Together we will defeat communism, socialism and Marxism in America,” and a rapid-fire montage of images of Trump beneath the onscreen text: “America will never be a communist country,” as a chorus sings the words “love me”, taken from a song of that name by JMSN. In the original speech, Trump explicitly identified the enemy as “Dumocrat communists in Congress”. The last 10 seconds of the ad include text at the bottom the screen saying: “Paid for by the US government.” The ad aired on Fox News this week as Trump hosted the leader of the world’s largest communist nation, China, for a lavish state visit. Sam Levine The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) wrongly identified 185 people on Nevada’s voter rolls as non-citizens, state officials said this week, escalating concerns over the shoddy methodology the government is using to raise fear about non-citizen voting ahead of the midterm elections. In July, Donald Trump gave a speech saying DHS had found a combined 278,000 non-citizens on the rolls in Nevada, California, Pennsylvania and New Jersey. Follow-up letters to each of those states weakened the claim, saying there only could be as many as 278,000 non-citizens on the rolls, including up to 15,903 in Nevada. In August, DHS officials told staffers in the Nevada secretary of state’s office that they had reviewed the numbers and confirmed only 185 were non-citizens. DHS officials said they still needed to review more than 14,000 records. But on Wednesday, Nevada election officials said they had reviewed the 185 records DHS sent them and confirmed they were US citizens. “As for the 185 individuals, our records indicate that they were citizens. You have provided nothing of substance to suggest otherwise,” Greg Ott, a deputy attorney general, wrote to DHS this week in an email obtained by the Guardian through a public records request. The message was first reported by the New York Times and Nevada Independent. In a statement from the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, chair Suzan DelBene said the supreme court’s decision to lift restrictions on a federal voter database before November’s elections is “a lever for Republicans to pull to misinform and scare away legal voters.” “Republicans are running scared,” said DelBene. “They know they’ve lost the American people, and are resorting to doing everything they can to stop US citizens from casting ballots.” “At a minimum, today’s ruling is a lever for Republicans to pull to misinform and scare away legal voters from exercising their constitutional right,” DelBene added. “At its worst, it may inspire sinister Republican officials to try and illegally purge swaths of American citizens off the voter rolls weeks before the election. It won’t work, and the American people won’t stand for it.” My colleague George Chidi reported on the supreme court’s decision: US supreme court rejects Republican-drawn map in Missouri for third time The Supreme Court has blocked Missouri for a third time from using a Republican-drawn congressional map in the November midterm elections, per the AP. The justices granted a request by the map’s opponents to suspend lower court decisions that had required the reconfigured US House of Representatives district boundaries to be used in the 3 November midterm elections. The back-and-forth is occurring as absentee voting is already underway in Missouri. President Donald Trump is reportedly visiting Alabama for a political rally next week, Politico reports. It’s a questionable move given the high stakes of this year’s midterm elections. With polls showing Democratic candidates holding a lead, rallying in a reliably red state like Alabama is a curious move. Two people who spoke with Politico, which reported the news on Thursday, said the event is scheduled for 2 October in Mobile, Alabama, but the plans have not yet been finalized and are subject to change. In a letter to Donald Trump, a group of more than a dozen senators on both sides of the aisle questioned Russian President Vladimir Putin’s invitation to the December G20 summit scheduled in Miami, expressing “serious concern” as the Russia-Ukraine war continues. Senators including Mitch McConnell, John Cornyn, Sheldon Whitehouse, Roger Wicker, among others, signed the letter. “We write to express our serious concern regarding reports that Russian President Vladimir Putin has been invited to attend the Group of Twenty (G20) Leaders’ Summit on December 14 and 15 in Miami, Florida,” reads the letter. “President Putin bears sole responsibility for launching Russia’s full-scale war of aggression against Ukraine,” the letter continues. “Allowing him to participate in a G20 Summit in the United States raises serious concerns about legitimizing and normalizing a government that continues to attack Ukrainian civilian targets every day.” The invitation was announced by Marco Rubio, the US secretary of state, during a press conference in New York on Wednesday. Source link Post navigation Firma de la Declaración de Independencia: Connecticut, Parte 1 Revisado: De ‘jungla’ en jungla, los inmigrantes en Calais siguen soñando con el Reino Unido
US supreme court rejects Republican-drawn map in Missouri for third time The Supreme Court has blocked Missouri for a third time from using a Republican-drawn congressional map in the November midterm elections, per the AP. The justices granted a request by the map’s opponents to suspend lower court decisions that had required the reconfigured US House of Representatives district boundaries to be used in the 3 November midterm elections. The back-and-forth is occurring as absentee voting is already underway in Missouri.
Closing summary This concludes our live coverage of the second Trump administration for today. Here are the latest developments: The White House has blocked CNN from traveling aboard Air Force One on Saturday, impeding its TV press pool duties in the latest escalation of the administration’s battle with the news media. The primary White House television pool today resumed filming administration events after a court ruling temporarily overturned a Trump administration ban on CNN. More here. Donald Trump is canceling nearly $1bn in spending approved by Congress, the White House announced, using a rare and contested power to axe funding for immigrant services and diversity-focused initiatives. More here. Dale Caldwell, the lieutenant governor of New Jersey, resigned from his position, after the release of a report accusing him of sexually harassing a female staffer, among other ethics violations. Thomas Calcagni, a lawyer for Caldwell, said in a statement they would “continue to forcefully challenge the report”. More here. The supreme court turned away an attempt to use a new Missouri congressional map backed by Donald Trump, putting an end to a long-running legal dispute as absentee voting is under way in the midterm elections. More here. The White House defended its decision to use taxpayer funds to buy airtime on Fox News for a White House-produced, pro-Trump ad that some Democrats said could be illegal government propaganda aimed at influencing voters in the upcoming midterm elections. More here.
Robert Mackey Donald Trump went on a social media posting spree on Friday night, posting 18 self-promotional videos and images on his Truth Social account in less than 30 minutes. Among the images was a meme apparently intended to show him as a resolute leader, standing at attention and saluting during a US military flyover in Maryland on Wednesday as he greeted China’s president, Xi Jinping. A screenshot of an edited image posted on Donald Trump’s Truth Social account, showing him with China’s president, Xi Jinping, during a US military flyover in Maryland on 23 September. Photograph: Truth Social That edited image contrasted sharply with a news photograph taken during the flyover, which showed that, in reality, Trump had actually visibly winced as the a B-1 bomber passed low overhead. Donald Trump flinched during a flyover by a B-1 jet bomber on the red carpet with China’s president, Xi Jinping, during an arrival ceremony on 23 September 23 at Joint Base Andrews, Maryland. Photograph: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
Maanvi Singh US senators have introduced legislation aimed at cutting down warrantless or specious ICE arrests, and curbing the agency’s ability to indefinitely detain immigrants who do not pose any danger to their communities. The new legislation, shared exclusively with the Guardian, would require immigration officers to obtain an administrative warrant from a supervisor outlining a probable cause for detaining someone. Such a warrant must also be presented to each person who is detained, the bill says, alongside notice of when the detainee must appear in immigration court. The bill would require a bond hearing within 24 hours of any warrantless arrests, and custody review of every noncitizen in immigration detention every 60 days by an immigration judge or US district judge – ideally ensuring that detainees are not held in ICE custody indefinitely without clear cause. Read the full story here:
A White House note confirmed earlier reports that CNN will not be flying on Air Force One on Saturday, despite being scheduled to serve as the pool reporter covering the president for major television networks. According to CNN, the network had been penciled in to fly aboard the president’s plane on his trip to Tennessee for a college football game as part of the White House TV press pool. The White House note does not list an outlet replacing CNN.
Donald Trump is canceling nearly $1b in spending approved by Congress, with most of the cuts focused on health and human services programs that serve refugees and unaccompanied minors accused of being in the country illegally, per the AP. The White House is using a rare and contested power to axe the funding. The Office of Management and Budget described the funding cut as focused on “the most harmful government spending.” Republican senator Susan Collins, chair of the Senate appropriations committee, said in a statement that the action came “without warning or consultation.” “Any effort to rescind appropriated funds without congressional approval is a clear violation of the law,” Collins wrote in a post on social media. “I will work with my colleagues to address these illegal actions.”
White House blocks CNN from Tennessee trip on Air Force One – report The White House blocked CNN from traveling with President Donald Trump on Air Force One for a Saturday trip to Knoxville, Tennessee, the Washington Post reports. The report comes after CNN, MS NOW and Politico were banned from White House grounds last week. A federal judge temporarily restored access early Thursday, but journalists for CNN and MS Now were denied access to the White House state dinner in honor of Xi Jinping later that day. US television networks resumed coverage of President Donald Trump’s White House events on Friday.
Following the supreme court’s decision to turn away an attempt to use a new Missouri congressional map backed by Donald Trump, challengers of the map said “the courts have now made clear that voters — not politicians — decide who represents them.” “This case should never have reached the Supreme Court three times, but we’re glad that the final outcome of these cases is Missourians having the opportunity to vote under a lawful map this fall,” said Mark Gaber, senior director of redistricting at Campaign Legal Center. “The people of Missouri have the right to go to the polls and reject the State’s attempt to gerrymander their congressional districts, and the Supreme Court has now confirmed, for the third time in as many weeks, that the State’s unlawful districts cannot be used this November,” said Ming Cheung, senior staff attorney with the ACLU’s Voting Rights Project. “Voting has already begun, and all efforts to cause confusion and chaos must cease. This saga began in 2025 when politicians tried to rig the map and take away representation from Kansas City residents, but the courts have now made clear that voters — not politicians — decide who represents them.” Campaign Legal Center, the ACLU of Missouri and ACLU Voting Rights Project filed amicus briefs at the Missouri Supreme Court. Here’s more on the supreme court’s decision:
Robert Mackey The White House on Friday defended its decision to use taxpayer funds to buy airtime on Fox News for a White House-produced, pro-Trump ad that some Democrats said could be illegal government propaganda aimed at influencing voters in the upcoming midterm elections. In a lengthy statement sent to news outlets, the White House press office insisted that versions of the ad, which feature audio of Trump urging voters to help him “defeat communism” and a whirlwind video review of his second term, were simply routine “public service announcements” like those produced by previous administrations. However, while the Trump administration ad features the president in almost every frame, and includes words of praise for him offered by a prominent supporter during the 2024 campaign, none of the advertising from three prior administrations the White House called similar featured any partisan messaging or showed images of Trump’s predecessors. By contrast, the 30-second version of the pro-Trump ad broadcast on Fox News this week uses audio of Trump telling supporters in Las Vegas last month: “Together we will defeat communism, socialism and Marxism in America,” and a rapid-fire montage of images of Trump beneath the onscreen text: “America will never be a communist country,” as a chorus sings the words “love me”, taken from a song of that name by JMSN. In the original speech, Trump explicitly identified the enemy as “Dumocrat communists in Congress”. The last 10 seconds of the ad include text at the bottom the screen saying: “Paid for by the US government.” The ad aired on Fox News this week as Trump hosted the leader of the world’s largest communist nation, China, for a lavish state visit.
Sam Levine The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) wrongly identified 185 people on Nevada’s voter rolls as non-citizens, state officials said this week, escalating concerns over the shoddy methodology the government is using to raise fear about non-citizen voting ahead of the midterm elections. In July, Donald Trump gave a speech saying DHS had found a combined 278,000 non-citizens on the rolls in Nevada, California, Pennsylvania and New Jersey. Follow-up letters to each of those states weakened the claim, saying there only could be as many as 278,000 non-citizens on the rolls, including up to 15,903 in Nevada. In August, DHS officials told staffers in the Nevada secretary of state’s office that they had reviewed the numbers and confirmed only 185 were non-citizens. DHS officials said they still needed to review more than 14,000 records. But on Wednesday, Nevada election officials said they had reviewed the 185 records DHS sent them and confirmed they were US citizens. “As for the 185 individuals, our records indicate that they were citizens. You have provided nothing of substance to suggest otherwise,” Greg Ott, a deputy attorney general, wrote to DHS this week in an email obtained by the Guardian through a public records request. The message was first reported by the New York Times and Nevada Independent.
In a statement from the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, chair Suzan DelBene said the supreme court’s decision to lift restrictions on a federal voter database before November’s elections is “a lever for Republicans to pull to misinform and scare away legal voters.” “Republicans are running scared,” said DelBene. “They know they’ve lost the American people, and are resorting to doing everything they can to stop US citizens from casting ballots.” “At a minimum, today’s ruling is a lever for Republicans to pull to misinform and scare away legal voters from exercising their constitutional right,” DelBene added. “At its worst, it may inspire sinister Republican officials to try and illegally purge swaths of American citizens off the voter rolls weeks before the election. It won’t work, and the American people won’t stand for it.” My colleague George Chidi reported on the supreme court’s decision:
US supreme court rejects Republican-drawn map in Missouri for third time The Supreme Court has blocked Missouri for a third time from using a Republican-drawn congressional map in the November midterm elections, per the AP. The justices granted a request by the map’s opponents to suspend lower court decisions that had required the reconfigured US House of Representatives district boundaries to be used in the 3 November midterm elections. The back-and-forth is occurring as absentee voting is already underway in Missouri.
President Donald Trump is reportedly visiting Alabama for a political rally next week, Politico reports. It’s a questionable move given the high stakes of this year’s midterm elections. With polls showing Democratic candidates holding a lead, rallying in a reliably red state like Alabama is a curious move. Two people who spoke with Politico, which reported the news on Thursday, said the event is scheduled for 2 October in Mobile, Alabama, but the plans have not yet been finalized and are subject to change.
In a letter to Donald Trump, a group of more than a dozen senators on both sides of the aisle questioned Russian President Vladimir Putin’s invitation to the December G20 summit scheduled in Miami, expressing “serious concern” as the Russia-Ukraine war continues. Senators including Mitch McConnell, John Cornyn, Sheldon Whitehouse, Roger Wicker, among others, signed the letter. “We write to express our serious concern regarding reports that Russian President Vladimir Putin has been invited to attend the Group of Twenty (G20) Leaders’ Summit on December 14 and 15 in Miami, Florida,” reads the letter. “President Putin bears sole responsibility for launching Russia’s full-scale war of aggression against Ukraine,” the letter continues. “Allowing him to participate in a G20 Summit in the United States raises serious concerns about legitimizing and normalizing a government that continues to attack Ukrainian civilian targets every day.” The invitation was announced by Marco Rubio, the US secretary of state, during a press conference in New York on Wednesday.