Washington Today

The Congressional redistricting battle in the two most populous states moves from debate to votes. In Texas, Republicans are seeking to gain five more U.S. House seats for their party, and California, the exact opposite, with Democrats drawing a new map favoring their party in five more seats. We will hear debate from the Texas House of Representatives and Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-CA); Vice President JD Vance travels to Union Station in Washington to visit with and thank National Guard troops President Donald Trump has called up to deal with what he says is an out of control crime and homeless problem in the city; DC Mayor Muriel Bowser is asked about the Justice Department reportedly investigating whether DC manipulated crime statistics so they would appear lower than they really are; President Trump calls on Federal Reserve Board member Lisa Cook to resign after allegations she committed mortgage fraud; Gov. Josh Stein (D-NC) tells residents of his state to take the threat of Hurricane Erin seriously, even though it is not expected to make landfall; Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov says Russia needs to be involved in developing Ukrainian security guarantees as part of a peace agreement to end to the war between Russia & Ukraine. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Boston Mayor Michelle Wu says Boston will not comply with the ultimatum from Attorney General Pam Bondi to give up sanctuary city policies, saying,, "This has always been a city of revolution, of innovation, of standing up for the public good and never bowing down to tyranny"; California Assembly & Senate committees begin work on a new congressional districts map to favor Democrats to balance Republicans in Texas rewriting U.S. House seat lines to favor Republicans; President Donald Trump says there will be no U.S. troops in Ukraine as part of any security guarantees connected to a peace agreement with Russia; Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick confirms that Intel must give the U.S. government equity in the company in exchange for billions of dollars in grants from the CHIPS Act for building semiconductor manufacturing facilities in the U.S. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

President Donald Trump holds high level meetings with the President of Ukraine and the leaders of major European nations, and the NATO Secretary General, on how to end the war in Ukraine. President Trump not ruling out sending U.S. troops as part of security guarantees, and sounding hopeful that a trilateral meeting with himself, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky could be set up soon. Some of the European leaders express their preference for a ceasefire before a peace agreement, something President Trump says is not necessary; Texas House Democrats end their protest blocking Congressional redistricting written the Republicans, returning to Texas and allowing the House to establish a quorum, after California's Democratic Governor leads an effort to redistrict to neutralize any Republican gains in Texas; former Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH), who lost reelection, announces he is running for Senate again, against Sen. Jon Husted (R-OH); Washington, DC Mayor Muriel Bowser (D) responds to the news over the weekend that several Republican Governors have authorizing sending National Guard troops to DC to join the DC Guard that was called up by President Trump; former Attorney General Bill Barr gives the first deposition in the House Oversight Committee investigation the case of the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein; Canada Industrial Relations Board declares a strike by 10,000 Air Canada flight attendants illegal, but union leaders says they will not return to work without a new contract. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this weekend's episode, three segments from this past week's Washington Journal. First: With this week's federal takeover of the DC police, we speak with Jillian Snider – a senior fellow at the R Street Institute and former NYPD officer - about the opportunities – and challenges – of the crackdown. Then: Axios Senior Economics Reporter Courtenay Brown discusses the controversy over the President's pick for the Bureau of Labor Statistics – and if Americans can trust future jobs reports. Finally: National Journal's Kirk Bado (BAY-doh) discusses the electoral landscape ahead of the 2026 midterm elections including redistricting battles and races to watch. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin shake hands on the tarmac at U.S. military base in Anchorage, Alaska, the start of a historic summit on how to end the war between Russia and Ukraine; District of Columbia sues the Trump Administration after U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi announces that an expansion of federal control of the city’s police department by installing an “emergency police commissioner” and revoking policies that limited officers’ cooperation with immigration enforcement; Gov. Greg Abbott (R-TX) announces the start of a second special legislative session after Democrats have successful blocked for two weeks passage of a redrawn congressional district map that would increase the number of Republican U.S. House seats; Mike Castle, former Republican Congressman and Governor from Delaware, has died at age 86. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Gov.  Gavin Newsom (D-CA) announces his state will redraw Congressional district lines with the express purpose of Democrats gaining five U.S. House seats to offset what is happening in Texas where republicans are trying to pass a new map to net five seats for their party.  Gov. Newsom calls it "liberation day for California"; President Donald Trump claims that the official crime data for Washington, DC is fake, and that crime in the nation's capital is the “worst it’s ever been”,  as his deployment of federal law enforcement and National Guard troops is ramping up; President Trump signs a proclamation on this 90th anniversary of the creation of Social Security, saying his administration is protecting and strengthening those programs. Democrats say that is not true; Wholesale inflation comes in unexpectedly hot in July; President Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin on their meeting tomorrow in Anchorage, Alaska on the war in Ukraine; Israel announces a major expansion of settlements in the West Bank; Hunter Biden says he will not apologize for saying the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein introduced First Lady Melania Trump to President Trump, after Melania Trump threatens to sue for $1 billion in damages. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

President Donald Trump speaks with European leaders & Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky about this his meeting Friday in Alaska with Russian President Vladimir Putin, warning of "severe consequences" if Putin does agree to end the war in Ukraine and saying that if the first meeting goes well, a second meeting with both Putin & Zelensky could happen soon; President Trump says he will ask Congress to extend beyond 30 days the federal takeover of the Washington, DC police force and suggests that he could extend it on his own by declaring a 'national emergency'; President goes to the Kennedy Center to announce this year's Kennedy Center Honorees that he says he had a large hand in choosing: singers George Strait & Gloria Gaynor, rock band KISS and actors Sylvester Stallone & Michael Crawford; Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent calls on the Federal Reserve to cut interest rates half a point in September; House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) speaks about the Democratic Party agenda at a meeting of Illinois Democratic Party officials in Springfield; survivors of the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein will speak at a news conference in Washington when Congress returns in September, invited by one Republican and one Democratic House Member, who are pushing for the president to releases all the files on the federal investigation of Jeffrey Epstein. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Washington, DC Mayor Muriel Bowser and Police Chief Pamela Smith meet with U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi about implementing President Donald Trump's putting DC police under federal control and calling out the DC National Guard to deal with crime & homelessness; Georgia Bureau of Investigation says the gunman in the deadly shooting at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention last week died by a self-inflicted gunshot wound and had written that he “wanted to make the public aware of his public distrust of the COVID-19 vaccines”; Labor Department says the Consumer Price Index for July was 2.7% year over year, same as June; President Trump has extended trade talks with China for another 90 days, preventing a dramatic increase in tariffs. We will talk about it with Trevor Hunnicutt, Reuters White House Correspondent (23); Gov. Greg Abbott's (R-TX) threat to call endless special legislative sessions if Texas House Democrats continue denying a quorum to pass a new Congressional redistricting map written by Republicans could be tested as early as this week; Latest on preparations for the meeting between President Trump & Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska on Friday to discuss the war in Ukraine; U.S. indicts a notorious gang leader in Haiti who is trying to overthrow the government. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

President Donald Trump places the Washington, DC, police department under federal control and deploys the DC National Guard to address, in his words, “crime, bloodshed, bedlam and squalor,” calling it “liberation day in DC"; Washington, DC Mayor Muriel Bowser says she is not surprised by the president's actions, but this is legally an obligation under the Home Rule Act to provide the federal government police services, and DC Police Chief Pamela Smith is still the chief, and also she thinks the president's views are wrongly colored by the crime rate increase during the COVID-19 pandemic; still no quorum in the Texas House of Representatives for Republicans to pass their new congressional redistricting map favoring their party, as the standoff with Democratic representatives who have fled the state begins a second week; President Trump says his summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin Friday in Alaska is a "feel-out meeting" to urge Putin to end the war in Ukraine, and a deal would include "some swapping, changes in land"; Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese says his country will recognize a Palestinian state when the UN meets in September, joining France, Britain and Canada as major powers indicated they would do so. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this weekend's episode, three segments from this past week's Washington Journal. First, there's been a flurry of economic news in recent days from the July jobs report to the President's tariffs agenda. We break it all down with Mike Konczal of the Economic Security Project -- and E.J. Antoni of the Heritage Foundation. Then, the Trump administration rolled out its "A-I Action Plan" in recent week. We speak with Josh Smith of The Abundance Institute about what's in it - and how it could transform the energy sector in this country. Finally, a conversation with investigative journalist Dave Levinthal on a revived effort in Congress to ban lawmakers from trading stocks. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices